I Corinthians

Three Biblical Principles

25 Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

27 Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

29 What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—34 and his interests are divided.

An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

36 If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.

37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.

39 A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40 In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 7:25-40 NIV)

We have been studying Corinthians 7.  This is our fourth week in this chapter.  It is one of the longest chapters in I Corinthians.  It begins the second part of the book.

In the second part of the book, Paul answers questions about all kinds of topics.  This doesn’t just give answers to their questions.

It gives answers from an actual apostle of Jesus Christ.  These are not just answers to questions.  They are inspired answers.

The first series of questions deals with personal relationships.  Many people have questions about relationships.  This is the one chapter of the Bible that deals with it.

It seems like a strange chapter to us today.  It deals with virgins.  Jesus told a parable about ten virgins.  We don’t have too many of those today.

Not too many exist.  We have many single people but most of them are not virgins.  We talk about technical virgins but not too many virgins.

In this chapter, Paul answers the question, is it better to be married or to be single?  That is one of the most important decisions that you will ever make.  Of course, there is no right or wrong answer to that question.

Paul did not give any commands.  He did NOT command everyone to get married.  He did NOT command everyone to stay single, but he gave some advice.

Paul gave a command about divorce, but he did NOT give a command about whether people should get married or not get married.

Pastoral Counseling

In I Corinthians 7, we do not see Paul the apostle.  We do not see Paul the preacher.  We see Paul the counselor.  Paul does some pastoral counseling in this chapter.  He gives counseling to three groups of people.

1) Counseling for singles

Case number one deals with premarital counseling. It deals with counseling for the unmarried and widows (I Corinthians 7:8-9).

Paul addresses whether they should get married or remarried.  He said, “It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do” (I Corinthians 7:8 NIV).

Many think they can only be happy if they are married.  Paul was single and he loved it.  He recommended other people to be single as well, but he doesn’t forbid marriage, if you feel called to marriage and fell that is God’s will for your life.

Paul does not say that you can’t get married.  He said that everyone has different gifts from God (I Corinthians 7:7).  You are allowed to get married, as long as you marry a believer (I Corinthians 7:39).

2) Counseling for the married

Case number two involves marriage counseling (I Corinthians 7:10ff.).  Paul addresses sex in marriage.  He addresses problems in marriage.  He addresses divorce.  He addresses what you should do if your spouse leaves you.

3) Counseling for the engaged

Case number three deals with the engaged.  It deals with people pledged to be married or what they were called in Bible times “betrothed” (I Corinthians 7:27ff.)

This was not like an engagement today.  Betrothal was a binding contract that was taken very seriously in that day.

The only way to break off betrothal was through divorce.  Couples in biblical times who were betrothed were considered legally married.

A Translation Issue

There is a translation issue in I Corinthians 7:38. We do not know if it is talking about a father and daughter or a man and his fiancée.

The KJV believes it refers to a man and his daughter.  So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better (I Corinthians 7:38 NKJV).

In Paul’s day, there were arranged marriages.  Most commentators and translators believe this is talking about a man and his girlfriend.

That is the way the NIV takes it.  So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better (I Corinthians 7:38 NIV).

Paul says if two people are engaged and their passions are too strong and they feel they ought to marry, they should get married. They are not sinning.  On the other hand, if they decide not to get married, they also do the right thing.

Paul concludes with these words.  So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better (I Corinthians 7:38 NIV). He said something that no pastor ever says to couples.

When a Christian couple is madly in love and planning on getting married, they come to a pastor for premarital counseling.  They want to do it right. If they are both believers, no pastor would recommend that they stay single.

No pastor would ever say, “You would be better off if you don’t get married, because you will have more problems and headaches if you choose to get married.  It is too hard.”

That is precisely what Paul said.  Why?  Many throughout church history have misinterpreted what Paul said.  They think that if you are single, you are holier.

That is why Catholics have monasteries.  It is why they have nuns.  It is why their priests are not able to get married.  He did not say this because marriage is BAD but because marriage is HARD.

Paul told people not to get married, not because they would be holier but so they would be happier.  Paul said, “In my judgment, she is HAPPIER if she stays as she is” (I Corinthians 7:40 NIV).  That is how the chapter ends.

Why would she be happier?  Paul says that if you are married, you will have trouble in this life.  But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this (I Corinthians 7:28).

Jimmy Evans said, “Leave it to the Apostle Paul to speak hard truths.”[1]  Paul does not sugar-coat things.  He does not romanticize marriage.

Paul says if you get married, you will not just have troubles.  You will have MANY TROUBLES.  It makes you wonder if Paul used to be married.  It makes you wonder if he knew about these troubles from experience.

Paul does not give us the Hallmark version of marriage but what Paul says is true.  The honeymoon stage does not last forever.  Marriage is a blessing, but it is also a challenge.  It can be hard.  It can be difficult.

Spouses sometimes fight.  They sometimes yell at each other.  Sometimes, they can’t stand each other.  This is the raw truth about marriage.  Every couple planning on getting married should agree to stay married through the good times and the bad times.

In each of the three cases Paul said the same thing.  He said to stay in the state God called you.  Paul says Christians should stay single.  They should not immediately rush off and try to get married.

They should only get married if they are completely miserable being single, don’t have the gift to be single and feel that God is calling them to be married.  For some people, remaining in a single state will only cause them to sin.

If you are married, Paul says to stay married, even if you have a difficult marriage.  Stay in the situation, even if it is hard.  Paul says to stay married even if you are married to an unbeliever.

Today, we are not going to look at this final section of the chapter verse-by-verse.  Paul makes the same point all through the chapter and we have already covered it.  This is our fourth lesson in I Corinthians 7.

Today, we are going to look at these three important principles: the time principle, the use principle and the care principle.

These are three practical principles for daily living. This passage is all about living in light of eternity.  That applies to marriage, but it applies to every other thing in life.  It applies to everything that we do.

The Time Principle

The first principle is the time principle.  Paul says something very important about time in the passage.  He says, “the time is short” (I Corinthians 7:29 NIV).  It is running out.  If it was short in Paul’s day, it is really short two thousand years later.  What would he say today?

What does he mean by that?  Our lives are short.  We do not know how much longer we have to live.  We may not live another day. We do not know what is going to happen tomorrow.

The Bible says that our lives are a vapor.  They are “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).

The older we get, the more we see this.  I look back and it was not that long ago that I was in college.  It was not that long ago that my wife and I were home taking care of five kids.  Now, they are all out of the house and we have grandkids, but Paul means something else.

Time is short, not just because our lives our short but because Jesus is coming back soon.  Paul says, “For this world in its present form is passing away” (I Corinthians 7:31 NIV).

The Apostle Peter says that this world one day is going to burn up.  Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away (Matthew 24:35).

What is the application?  We don’t have a whole lot of time on this earth to do the things that we need to do.

The time principle says that time is short.   We need to make the best use of our time and not waste our life.  Paul says that we are to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16).

The Use Principle

From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. (I Corinthians 7:29-31 NIV)

The second principle is the use principle.  We are to use the world, not abuse it.  Paul says, “Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them” (I Corinthians 7:31 NLT).

Now, Paul does NOT say that we are not to use the world.  He doesn’t say that the world is so evil that you can’t use anything in it.  We live in the world.  We can be in it but not of it.  We can use it but not abuse it.

There are all kinds of things we abuse today.  Some abuse food.  Some abuse alcohol.  Some abuse medication.  There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but some abuse them.

Some use money and some abuse it.  Some make a god out of money.  They worship money.  Some use social media and some abuse it.

Some abuse the internet.  They use it for things they shouldn’t.  They use it to access porn.

Some use their cell phones.  Some abuse them.  They are always on it.  They are addicted to it.

Paul mentions four common aspects of life today.  These are four things that some use and some abuse or use to excess.  Paul mentions marriage, grief, joy and shopping.

These four things are almost universal.  Everyone does not get married, but everyone gets happy.  Even depressed people cheer up once a year for their birthday.

Everyone gets sad.  Everyone has been to a funeral.  Everyone buys some things.  We have to eat.  We make all kinds of purchases.  Paul mentions marriage, mourning, merriment and merchandise.[2]

There is nothing wrong with any of them.  There is nothing wrong with getting married.  There is nothing wrong with going on a honeymoon.  There is nothing wrong with being really happy and celebrating.

There is nothing wrong with getting sad and bawling your eyes out.  Even Jesus wept.  He did not just weep in private.  He wept out loud in public.  People heard him.

The Bible says that “There is a time for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

It says that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4 NIV)

So what exactly is Paul’s point?  All of these things are good.  None of these things should be worshiped.  None of them should be put first in our life.

1) Marriage should not be first

Paul says that “those who have wives should live as if they do not.”  That is some husband’s favorite verse.  It is one passage never read by preachers during a wedding ceremony.  What does that mean? 

He is not saying to neglect or ignore your spouse.  He is telling husbands not to talk to their wives or spend any time with them.

He is not telling husbands to run around with other women and pretend they are not married.  He is not telling husbands to abandon their responsibility to their wife and kids.

How do we know?  That would contradict what he said in the first part of the chapter when Paul gave instructions to husbands and wives (I Corinthians 7:2-5).

Paul is saying that marriage is important, but it should not be the main thing in your life.  It should not be the number one priority in your life.  If it is, it is idolatry.

Our relationship with Jesus is more important than our relationship with our spouse.  Marriage is temporary.  It is until death.  We won’t be married in the next life.

I have been married for thirty-six years.  It is a little sad to think that marriage is temporary, but it is.  My wife is probably looking forward to when the fool is gone.

Many commit idolatry in marriage.  They depend on the other person to find happiness and fulfillment.  Their spouse takes the place of God.

Some use their marriage as an excuse not to serve God.  One man told me “I don’t come to church because I am working on my marriage.”

Paul never says that you cannot be a Christian if you are married but the most important thing in your life should be your relationship with Jesus.

It is more important than your relationship with your husband.  It is more important than your relationship with your wife.

Paul said, “for me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21 NIV).  Could we say what Paul said?  Paul said that from a Roman prison.

Is Jesus the most important think in our life?  Paul lived for Jesus.  Jesus was the center of his life.

It is important to have a marriage ministry in your church.  It is important to have strong marriages but there is a problem with many marriage ministries.  I know from experience.  I have been involved in them.

In many marriage ministries, the focus is just on marriage.  They study one marriage book and then another and another.  That is all they study.

They would never study the Bible, just books about marriage and many of those books are not based on the Bible but on psychology and worldly wisdom.

David McGee said, “If you want to work on your marriage, put God first and watch what he does.  if you want to destroy your marriage, put your marriage first and watch it fall apart.”[3]

2) Mourning should not be first

Paul said that those who mourn are to mourn as if they did not.  What does this mean?  Is he saying that we should not mourn?  Is he saying that never be sad?  No. He says, “those who mourn, as if they did not.” 

Is he saying that those who mourn should pretend they are not mourning?  No.  Paul’s point is that mourning is appropriate at times.  Solomon said that there is a time to weep.

There is a time to mourn but mourning should not be excessive.  There is a time to weep but if you do it all of the time, it is excessive.

3) Happiness should not come first

It is not a sin to be happy.  Paul is not saying that we should not be happy, but some people put their personal happiness first.

For many people, their goal in life is to be happy. I know one woman who divorced her husband without biblical grounds.  Why did she do it?  She said that God wanted her to be happy.

Jesus said that the way to be happy is not to put yourself first but last.  He said, “If you want to be first, be a servant.”  Paul said that those who are happy are to live as if they were not

4) Commerce should not come first

Many put business first in their life.  They put making money first.  They put getting rich first.  The goal is material prosperity.  The goal is not material or financial success.

Paul said, “Those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep.”  That does not mean that we do not own things or buy things.  He does not say that possessions are bad.  We can have goods, but goods should not have us.

The Worry Principle

32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—34 and his interests are divided.

An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

What is the third principle mentioned by Paul?  This is an application for me.  Many of us tend to worry about things.  Paul says we are to live our lives free from concern or free from worry.

Do you worry about things?  Jesus said, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” (Matthew 6:25 NIV).

Marriage can cause worry.  There are more responsibilities.  There are more mouths to feed, especially if you have five kids, like we did.  The truth is that you can be married and worry.  You can be single and worry about things.  We are to live a worry-free life.

What have we learned from our passage?  Time is short.  We need to make the most of it.  Jesus should come first in our life.  He is coming back soon.  We should not be too attached to things and should live a care-free life, fully devoted to God.

[1] https://xomarriage.com/articles/an-optimistic-view-of-marriage/

[2] John G. Butler, Analytical Bible Expositor: I & II Corinthians (Clinton, IA: LBC Publications, 2009), 70–71.

[3]https://www.youareloved.org/Media/select.php?request=select&id=2124&teacher=Pastor%20David%20McGee&title=1+Corinthians+7:26-31+Time+is+Not+on+Your+Side&play_type=audio

Radical Contentment

Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches. 18 Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.

19 Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters. 20 Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.

22 For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person is to remain with God in the situation in which he was called. (I Corinthians 7:17-24 CSB)

The Bible is not just a book of doctrines and mysteries.  It is not just a book of theology.  It is not just a book of end-time prophecies.  It is a practical book.  Today, we come to a very practical topic.

This section is all about contentment.  Today, we are going to talk about contentment.  We are not just going to talk about contentment.  We are going to talk about radical contentment.    Are you a contented Christian?

Most of us would say we are content.  Are we really?  Are you content when things are bad or just when they are good?

It is easy to be content when things are going great.  Are you content when you are in a difficult trial?  Are you content when you are suffering?

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  (James 1:3-4 NIV)

The Apostle Paul said something very important in Philippians.  Very few people could say what Paul said.  He may have been the greatest Christian who ever lived.  He learned how to be content in any situation.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV)

Paul said that from a prison cell.  He wrote Philippians from a Roman prison.  Paul says that we should be content in every circumstance.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (I Thessalonians 5:18 NIV).  What are some applications to this?

If we are single, we should be content.  If we are engaged, we should be content.  If we are married, we should be content.

If we are divorced, we should be content.  If our spouse dies, we should be content.

If our spouse leaves us, we should be content.  That would make some people happy, if only the fool husband would leave.

Paul says if we are a slave, we should be content.  That seems unthinkable to be content even in an oppressive or abusive situation.

Paul does not say that we can never better our situation.  He does not say that we can never change jobs or careers.

He does not say no matter how poor and miserable you are, you have to suck it up and stay unhappy.  He says if slaves are able to get free, they should take it.

He says if you are single, you can get married.  If you don’t have the gift to be married, you should get married.

God may call you to be get married.  He may call you to change jobs or careers, but you can be content in any job.

You can serve God in any circumstance.  Paul did.  He served God from a prison cell.  That is where He wrote Scripture.

Joseph served God growing up in a large family.  God spoke to him.  He gave him revelation.  He gave him some prophetic dreams.  He served God after he was sold into slavery by his brothers.

It was a bad situation.  It was a terrible situation to be sold into slavery by your own brothers and sent to another country, never to see your family again.

It was a disappointment, but God was with him, and he blessed him, and his master saw it.

Joseph was accused of rape, convicted of a sex crime and thrown into prison.  He lost his reputation and his freedom again, but God was with him, and he still used him.

He still spoke to him and gave him a revelation in prison.  He gave him another prophetic dream.  He had a prison ministry.

The Contentment Principle

This is completely radical.  It goes against the whole idea of prosperity theology.  Contentment has NOTHING to do with your outward circumstances.

You can be filthy rich and be content.  You can be dirt poor and be content.  You can be healthy and be content.  You can be sick and be content.

You can be single and be content.  You can be married and be content.  You can be free and be content.  You can be a slave and be content.

You can be locked up in prison and be content.  You can also have everyone one of those things and be miserable and unhappy.

Paul lays out a really important principle.  It is not just a principle for the Corinthians.  It is a principle for us today.  It is a principle for everyone.  Notice what Paul says.

Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in ALL THE CHURCHES. (I Corinthians 7:17 CSB)

This principle is not only apostolic; it is universal. it is a principle for Christians everywhere.  It has been called the contentment principle.

This principle says that true contentment is not found in your outward circumstances.  We should not focus on our outward circumstances. We should not be preoccupied with our outward circumstances.[1]

The big lie is that if you could just change your circumstances, you would be happy.

If you could just get married, if you could just get divorced, if you could just have kids, if you could just have a different job, if you could just make more money, then you would be happy.

Three times in this chapter, Paul told the Corinthians to be content in their life situation.

Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches. (I Corinthians 7:17 CSB)

Let each of you REMAIN in the situation in which he was called. (I Corinthians 7:20 CSB)

Brothers and sisters, each person is to REMAIN with God in the situation in which he was called. (I Corinthians 7:24 CSB)

Three times, he told them to REMAIN. He said “remain, remain, remain.” Remain in your family.  Remain in your home.  Remain in your job.  Serve God where you are.

If you become a new believer in Christ, you don’t have to immediately quit your job.  You don’t have to have a career change, unless you work as a porn star or in a strip club or are a drug dealer.

Paul says three times to remain.  Whenever anything is important, you repeat it.  My wife has to use repetition with me sometimes.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn’t.

Jesus used repetition.  He used repetition with the Apostle Peter. He said, “Do you love Me?  Feed my sheep.  Do you love Me?  Feed my sheep.  Do you love Me?  Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

The repetition drove Peter crazy, but he needed to hear it.  He had just denied Jesus three times.  It is an exhortation that some leaders have forgotten about.

Areas of Contentment

Today, we are going to look at five areas of contentment that Paul talks about in I Corinthians 7 and in some of his other epistles.

1) Contentment in your Possessions

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (I Timothy 6:6-7 NIV)

Notice that Paul said that godliness with contentment is not just gain but “great gain.”

Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15 NIV).

He also said, “Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25)

Jesus told several parables about this topic.  In our society, especially living in America, there is the temptation to get more and more and never be satisfied with what we get.

The opposite of contentment is covetousness, which is one of the Ten Commandments.  Paul called covetousness idolatry (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5).

2) Contentment in your Finances

The Bible talks not only about contentment in your possessions and property but in your finances.

Jesus said that you cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24 NIV).  Choose your master.  You can’t serve both.

John the Baptist said that to the Pharisees says, “Be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14 KJV).

How many of us are content with our paycheck?  That rarely happens.  We are always fighting for more.  That’s why we have unions.

Paul talked about the love of money.  He talked about people who want to be rich.  Some preachers today almost encourage it.

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (I Timothy 6:9-10 NIV)

That is an interesting passage.  There is a connection between your view of money and your faith.  Paul says that some who wanted to become rich have wandered from the faith.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV)

3) Contentment in your Relationships

Many people who are single think that have to immediately run off and get married.  If they do not do it now, it will be too late.  They will marry anyone just to get married and make the biggest mistake of their life.  It happens every day.

Paul says in this chapter not to do that.  If you are married, stay in the marriage. If you are single, don’t rush into marriage. But if you do get married, you haven’t sinned. (I Corinthians 7:27-28 TPT)

Paul says if you are single, stay single.  If you are married, stay married.  You can serve God as a single person but if God calls you to get married, you should do so.

4) Contentment in your Identity

Now we come to a passage which may seem strange to modern readers.  It deals with circumcision.

Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches.

18 Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.

19 Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters (I Corinthians 7:17-19)

None of us when we become a Christian immediately rush off to have surgery on our sex organs.  What is the big deal about circumcision?

Well, circumcision today is different from circumcision in Paul’s day.  Circumcision today is just a medical procedure.  It is just done for medical or health reasons.

Paul was circumcised but it was not for medical reasons.  He was circumcised for religious reasons.

To the Jews, circumcision is not just a medical procedure, it is a religious rite.  It is a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant.  It refers to being Jewish (Galatians 6:13).  It is a mark of being Jewish.  It was part of the conversion process for Gentiles to Judaism.

Paul says if you are saved as a Gentile, stay a Gentile.  If you are saved as a Jew, stay a Jew.  Paul took pride in his Jewish heritage.  He came from the Tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5).

When Paul became a Christian, he did not stop being a Jew.  He still went to the synagogue.  You always see him in the Jewish synagogue in the Book of Acts (Acts 13:14, 14:1, 17:1-2, 17:10, 17:16-17, 18:4, 18:19, 19:8, 28:17)

Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters.

That is interesting.  Paul believed in salvation by grace, but he still said that keeping God’s commandments matters.  It doesn’t matter if you have a Jewish or Gentile background, that is what matters.

Was Paul against circumcision?  How could he say that circumcision does not matter, just keeping God’s commandments when circumcision is one of God’s commandments.  It is part of the Abrahamic Covenant, so it is not nothing.  It definitely has value.

In the OT, if you were not circumcised, you were cut off (a play on words with circumcision).  You were outside of the covenant.  Moses had two sons (Gershom and Eliezar).  They were born in Midian.  One was circumcised.  One was not.

God appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  He gave him a mission to do.  On the way back to Egypt, God was angry at Moses and almost killed him.  Why?  One of his sons was not circumcised.

In fact, he would have died if his wife Zipporah didn’t step in and come to his rescue.  His wife saved his life.  This is a Bible story you don’t hear too much in church.

Moses didn’t circumcise his oldest son Gershom, so Zipporah did it in protest.  She did it but she was furious with Moses.  She was hot.

She called Moses “a bridegroom of blood” (Exodus 4:20-26).  Moses had both God and his wife mad at him at the same time.

Was Paul against circumcision?  Why did he say circumcision was nothing?  He said it twice (I Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 5:6).  Paul was not against circumcision but the misuse of circumcision.

Paul circumcised Timothy in Acts 16:1-3.  He is dealing with false teaching (Judaizers).  Paul believed in circumcision, but it has nothing to do with salvation.  It is irrelevant to your standing with God.

Most members of the church were converted Gentiles.  Most were uncircumcised.  The big question of the day was this.  If I become a Christian, do I need to get circumcised?

If you came from a Jewish family, you would have already been circumcised but do Gentiles need to be circumcised to become Christians.

Paul said “no.”  The Jerusalem council in Acts 15 also said it was not required for Gentiles.  You could do it for medical reasons, but it is not required for religious reasons.

Paul said that a man should not change his state.  If he is uncircumcised, he should not try to be circumcised by surgery and vice versa.

Today, he would say something else.  If you are male, don’t try to become female.  If you are female, don’t try to become male.

5) Contentment in your Social Status

Now, we come to a social issue.  Paul addresses a social issue in his day.  It was the issue of slavery.  We have different issues today.  What are some of the social issues people talk about today?

What do you hear talked about in the media?  You hear talk about racism.  There is talk about climate change.  There is talk about immigration.  There is talk about abortion.  People talk about gender identity and transgenderism  They talk about gay marriage.

Paul does not write an essay on slavery, but he does address the topic in several of his epistles.

Slavery was a big part of the ancient world.  It played a big role in Roman society.

Scholars estimate that one third of the city of Corinth were slaves.  Some became Christians.

Slavery was different from the slavery we think of today.  Western slavery was race-based.  It was based on racism.  Roman slavery was not based on race.

In the first century. slaves could work for pay.  They could earn income and could buy their freedom.

What does Paul say about slavery?  He talks about it in several epistles.  He never says that slavery was good.

It was bad.  Slaves had no rights.  They were regarded as property. They could be bought, sold, and mistreated but what he says is radically different from what we hear in society.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.

7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. (Ephesians 6:5-9 NIV)

Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. (Titus 2:9-10 NIV)

Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.

22 For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people. (I Corinthians 7:21-23 NIV)

1. God does not play favorites

He treats everybody equally.  He does not give slaves special treatment or masters special treatment.  Both will be judged by the same God.

Paul did not just give instructions to slaves and tell them to obey their masters.  He told masters not to mistreat slaves and not to threaten them.

Masters have to be careful how they treat slaves because they will one day be held accountable.

2. Don’t be preoccupied with freedom

Going back to the contentment principle, Paul does not focus on their outward situation.  He does not tell them to demand their rights, although if they get a chance to be free, they should take it.

He does not encourage slaves to rebel against their masters.  He did not encourage civil disobedience.  He was not a social activist.  He was an apostle.

3. Serve God where you are

Even people on the lowest end of the social class can serve God.  Even they can worship God.

They should serve their masters wholeheartedly as if they were serving the Lord.  They were to obey them just as if they were obeying Christ.

Christian slaves were not to do anything to ruin their testimony.  Paul says that slaves were to make the teaching about Jesus attractive in every way.

[1] https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1830/christians-and-social-revolution

Marriage and Divorce

To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.

14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (I Corinthians 7:10-16 NIV)

We are studying the Book of I Corinthians.  We are continuing our study of one of the longest chapters in the book.  It is I Corinthians 7.  The Corinthians got to have a Q & A with an apostle.

It’s good to ask questions.  If they did not ask questions, we would not have most of I Corinthians. If you could write a letter to an apostle and ask him anything, like the Corinthians did, what would it be?

How would you like to get counseling from a real apostle?  He probably would not spend a lot of time talking about your childhood.  Paul does some marriage counseling and premarital counseling in this chapter.

The second part of the book is all answers to questions.  I Corinthians 7:1 begins with the words, “Now concerning the matters you wrote about” (BSB)

The first question that he answered had to do with relationships.  We still have all kinds of questions about relationships today.  We might not ask some of the questions the Corinthians asked.

We might ask some different questions, but the question Paul answers today is very relevant in our day.  It is about marriage problems.  We have plenty of those today.  We have plenty of those in the church.

Last week, we looked at the question, is it better to be married or single?  There’s no right or wrong answer to that question.  We like everything black and white.  Many things are not black and white.

Paul gave his opinion on the question.   He was single.  He liked being single.  He recommended to others.  He wished everyone was single.

For the dangerous ministry God called him to do, he needed to be single, but what he did not do is to command everyone to be like him.  Hew knew that would be foolish.

It is a matter of gifts.  Paul says that some have the gift of marriage.  They would be miserable being single and some have the gift of singleness.  They would hate being married.

The next question they asked as about sex in marriage.  Should married couples try to have a spiritual marriage and abstain from sex?

Paul said, “No.”  Practicing abstinence is a good idea if you are single.  It is a bad idea if you are married.  Paul says it will only set you up to temptation.

If you are single, don’t live like you are married.  If you are married, don’t live like you are single.  If you are married, you should act like you are married.

Paul says that husbands are not to defraud their wives.  Wives are not to defraud their husbands.  Paul said something that was way ahead of his time.

There is complete equality here.  The husband does not have full authority over his body.  The wife does not have complete authority over her body.

Today, we are going to look at another question.  It is not about singleness and marriage.  It is about marriage and divorce.

What if you are married and have a terrible marriage?  What if you are married but are miserable?  Should you get a divorce?

What does the Bible teach about divorce?  That is a controversial topic today.  A lot of preachers will give different answers to these questions.

Last week, we looked at Paul’s inspired teaching on singleness and marriage.  Today, we are going to look at Paul’s inspired teaching on marriage and divorce.

Is Paul’s Teaching Authoritative?

Paul tells us what he says about the topic.  He tells us what Jesus said about the topic.  These verses have been misunderstood.

Some say, “I want to know what Jesus said.  I don’t care what Paul said.  Some say that what Paul says here is not authoritative or inspired.  Paul is just giving his opinion.

Paul says in I Corinthians 7:10, “To the married I give this command (NOT I, BUT THE LORD): A wife must not separate from her husband” (NIV)

Two verses later, Paul says, “To the rest I say this (I, NOT THE LORD): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her” (I Corinthians 7:12 NIV)

Paul is NOT saying, “This is just my advice, but it is not inspired.  It is not Jesus talking.”

At the end of the chapter, he says, “In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.” (I Corinthians 7:40 NIV)

That is kind of funny.  Paul was a real apostle.  He performed miracles.  He raised people from the dead.  He wrote Scripture and he says, “and I think I have the Spirit of God.” I also think he had the Spirit of God.

If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. (I Corinthians 14:37 NIV).

Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ.  He wrote scripture under divine inspiration.  He is not saying that what he writes is not inspired or authoritative.

Paul tells us what he says about the topic.  He tells us what Jesus said about the topic. Jesus never addressed some of the questions they asked him in His earthly ministry.

Jesus did not specifically talk about some of the topics that Paul addresses. He did not give a previous command about it.  This is new revelation.  Paul got some things from Jesus and some things from the Holy Spirit.

Divorce Today

Today, we want to talk about a painful reality that you never hear in church.  Young couples are never told this before marriage.  Marriage is hard.

Spouses fight.  Sometimes they can’t stand each other.  Marriages break up.  The marriages of Christians break up.  Divorce is a reality.  One preacher called divorce “the number one problem with the American family.”[1]

Divorces are common.  The US does not have the highest divorce rate in the world, but it is in the top ten.[2]  Let me share with you some statistics.  A divorce takes place every forty-two seconds in America.  There are 82 divorces every hour and over 2,000 per day and 747,000 a year.[3]

Divorce is prevalent in our society and prevalent in the church.  Christians get divorced.  Some of us in this room may have gone through a divorce.

The only to question to ask is, What does the Bible say?  The Bible has a lot to say about the topic.  It is in the OT and the NT.  It deals with everyday topics.

What God said about Divorce

We want to look at what God says about divorce.  We want to look at what Jesus says about divorce.  We want to look at what Paul says about divorce.  What did God say about divorce?

13 This is another thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with your tears. You cry and moan, because he does not accept your offerings and is not pleased with what you bring. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD sees how you treated the wife you married when you were young. You broke your promise to her, even though she was your partner and you had an agreement with her.

15 God made husbands and wives to become one body and one spirit for his purpose—so they would have children who are true to God. So be careful, and do not break your promise to the wife you married when you were young.

16 The LORD God of Israel says, “I hate divorce. And I hate people who do cruel things as easily as they put on clothes,” says the LORD All-Powerful. So be careful. And do not break your trust.” (Malachi 2:13-16 NCV)

God does not just say that divorce is not a good plan.  He does not just say that it is not His best for you.  He says that “I HATE divorce.”  It may be necessary.  It may be unavoidable.  It is not always a sin, but God hates it.

God did not say that He hates divorced people, just divorce.  He hates sin, not the sinner.  He forgives all sin, including marriage sins and divorce is not the unpardonable sin.

The problem today is that we have disposable marriages.  We have the concept that if there are problems, just throw the whole thing away and start over.  It is easy.

There is a spirit of divorce in the land and even in the church.  Couples today go into a marriage with prenuptial agreements in case a divorce happens.  They are anticipating and planning for it to happen.  That sets you up for failure.

My wife and I have had some marriage problems, like any couple.  My daughter is here today and will testify that our marriage is not perfect but we never talked about divorce.  We never even considered it.

That’s what happens when you marry the right woman.  That’s what happens when you marry a Jersey girl.  My wife is from New Jersey.  No.  That is what happens when you marry a strong Christian who is a solid believer.  What did Jesus say about divorce?

What Jesus said about Divorce

Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied. 4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’

So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Mark 10:1-9 NIV)

The Pharisees came to trick Jesus. They did not do this once.  They did it repeatedly.  On this occasion, they came up with a trick question.  It happened to be a question about divorce.

“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”  They were not coming to learn from Jesus but to try to accuse Him, to try to trip Him up.

What did Jesus say?  Jesus answered their question with a question. They asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He said, “What did Moses command you?”

He answered their question by going back to the Bible.  We need to do the same thing today.  What does the Bible say, not what does society say but what does God say?

When Jesus told them, what does the Bible say?  They went to Deuteronomy.  Jesus went back to Genesis.  He went back to the beginning.  He went back to the first marriage in the Garden.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh

This is some strange math.  One plus one equals two. God says in marriage one plus one equals one.[1]  In marriage math, two become one.  It is the math of a good marriage.

What about divorce?  Jesus said, “what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  Moses did not say that.  Jesus did.  There are some powerful marriage principles. Let’s look at five marriage principles.

Marriage Principles

Principle 1 – God is the one who joins married couples together (Mark 10:9).  We may fall in love, but God joins people together.

Principle 2 – Marriage results in a one flesh union (Mark 10:8).  The two become one flesh.

Principle 3 – What God has joined together, let no one separate (Mark 10:9). That is a command.

Principle 4– Divorce is permitted in some circumstances (Mark 10:4).  Jesus could have said that it is never permitted but He did not.

Principle 5 – It is permitted because of sin (Mark 10:5).  It is permitted because of the hardness of people’s hearts.

Jesus says the Pharisees asked the wrong question.  They asked if divorce was lawful.  It is.

Even Jesus says, not in Mark but in Matthew, it is permitted in the case of “sexual immorality” (Matthew 19:9 NIV).  The word used for immorality (πορνείᾳ) refers to sexual sin.

Even though divorce is lawful in some situations and even though it is legal, it is not God’s original intention for marriage.  It is not part of God’s original plan or design for marriage, and He was the one who created it.

What Paul said about Divorce

What does Paul say?  He repeats what Jesus says and then he adds new revelation on marriage and divorce.  He deals with three situations.  One situation deals with marriage in general.  Two situations deal with mixed marriages.  Let’s look at these three divorce scenarios.

Scenario One

To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. (I Corinthians 7:10-11 NIV)

Scenario one is a general prohibition of divorce.  It is just a summary of what Jesus said.  Paul said, “I don’t give this command.  The Lord does.”   What Jesus said to Jews applies to Jews.  It applies to Christians.  It applies to everyone.

Marriage is good but it is not easy. It is not a union of two angels.  It is a union of two sinners.  Even saved sinners are still sinners.  We are not completely sanctified yet.

Divorce is not an option.  Counseling may be but not divorce.  If you separate, Paul says there should be NO divorce and NO remarriage.  The goal is reconciliation.

What about the exceptions?  Paul quotes Jesus.  Jesus said that divorce was allowed in the case of sexual immorality.  Paul is not writing a treatise on marriage.  This is not a dissertation.  Paul is not writing a marriage manual, just a summary of what Jesus said.  He is just answering questions.

Scenario Two

12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.

14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. (I Corinthians 7:12-14 NIV)

What does this second scenario deal with?  Mixed marriages.  A mixed marriage is the marriage between a believer and an unbeliever.  The Bible teaches that mixed marriages are wrong.

If you are a Christian, you are to only marry another Christian.  In fact, Paul says that in this chapter.

A married woman is not free as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, then she is free to be married to any man she wishes, but only if he is a Christian (I Corinthians 7:39 GNT)

Mixed marriages are wrong but what if two unbelievers get married and one gets saved.  This is a new situation.  Jesus never said anything about this.  He never covered this new situation.

Should you dump your unbelieving spouse and go find a Christian man or woman, if the person has not committed adultery?  Should the person stay married or get a divorce?

What if your husband is an idol worshiper?  What if he is a member of a cult?  What if he is a flat-out atheist?  Should I get a saved spouse so I can serve God better?

If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must NOT divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must NOT divorce him. (I Corinthians 7:12-13 NIV)

Our biggest problem today is not Christians divorcing unbelievers who want to still stay married, although that still happens today.  A bigger problem is Christians wanting to marry unbelievers in the first place.

Paul gives another reason why believers should not divorce their spouses who want to remain married.

Meaning of I Corinthians 7:14

14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. (I Corinthians 7:14 NIV)

What is that talking about?  This is a passage that has been misinterpreted by some Christians.  We practice believers’ baptism in our church.  The only people who are baptized in the Bible are believers.

They may be big believers or little believers but they are believers.  The command is to “believe and be baptized.”  It is never “be baptized and then believe later.”  Some teach infant baptism.  Whole denominations teach this.  They baptize little babies.

One of the verses they use to justify it is I Corinthians 7:14. Paul says that the children of believers are holy and so they say that they are part of the church.  They are holy.  You can baptize them. That is not what Paul is saying.

There is nothing about baptism in this verse. With this logic, if you can baptize unbelieving children because they are holy, then you could also baptize an unbelieving spouses, because they are also said to be holy.

Furthermore, just because you have Christian parents does not make you saved.  Salvation is NOT genetic.  There is no salvation by association.  Children have to believe to be saved.  They have to accept the gospel for themselves.

What does it mean that the children are said to be “holy.”  The word “holy” is not the same as the word “saved.” Notice what Paul says that in I Corinthians 7:16.

16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (I Corinthians 7:16 NIV)

The word holy simply means “set apart”.  You can be set part and be saved.  You can be set apart and not be saved.

How does a believer sanctify the unbelievers in the home?  If you are saved, there is a spiritual influence in the home.  There is a godly presence there.  You get to shine the light of Christ there every day.  You get to be a channel of witness and blessing to the rest of the family.  There is biblical precedent for this.

God blessed Laban’s livestock because of Jacob (Genesis 30:29-30).  God blessed Potiphar’s house, because of Joseph (Genesis 39:5).  Potiphar could see that God was with him and granted him success in everything that he did (Genesis 39:2-3).

Scenario Three

But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. (I Corinthians 7:16 NIV)

In the last situation, the unbeliever wants to stay in the marriage.  In this scenario, the unbeliever wants to get out of the marriage and leaves the marriage.  What are you supposed to do?

Paul says to let the spouse go.  He doesn’t deal with what to do if the spouse takes the kids with him or her.  That is a different issue.

What he says is that in this case, the believer is not bound.  The believer is not under bondage.  That is another way of saying that the believer is free.

Free means free to divorce and free to remarry (cf. I Corinthians 7:39-40).  If you can’t remarry, you are not really free.

That seems to be the end of it.  Right?  Maybe not.  There are some words in the passage that many of us skip over.

But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. (I Corinthians 7:16 NIV)

Wayne Grudem points out that the Bible doesn’t just say that the brother or the sister is not bound but that the brother or the sister is not bound in SUCH CASES.

He has studied every use of this phrase in ancient Greek in the plural and it is not limited to the original situation.[6]

If that is the case, divorce, while not God’s original intention, is permissible, not just for adultery and desertion for other reasons as well (e.g., abuse/domestic violence).

[1] https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/10466/jesus-on-divorce/#

[2][2] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/divorce-rates-by-country

[3] https://www.wf-lawyers.com/divorce-statistics-and-facts/

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLE_cz6IYjo

[5] https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/10466/jesus-on-divorce/#

[6] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/quick-to-listen/wayne-grudem-divorce-abuse-complementarianism.html.  Grudem provides evidence for this view in his book What the Bible Says about Divorce and Remarriage (Crossway, 2021).

Singleness & Marriage

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 

Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 

I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (I Corinthians 7:1-9 NIV)

Today, we came to one of the longest chapters in the whole book.  It is forty verses long.  It is the second longest chapter in the book.  The longest chapter is I Corinthians 15.

I Corinthians 7 is a chapter that deals with marriage counseling.  How would you like to get marriage counseling from the Apostle Paul?

We would probably have less marriage problems if counseling was done by apostles.  Paul does not just give marriage counseling in this chapter.  He gives premarital counseling for singles.

Paul was not just an apostle.  He was a pastor.  He was a pastor of the church.  He founded it.

In I Corinthians 6, Paul dealt with sexual purity.  In I Corinthians 7, he deals with singleness and marriage.  He also deals with marriage and divorce.  He deals with divorce and remarriage.

He also deals with desertion.  He deals with abandonment in marriage.  He even deals with marriage to an unbeliever.

I Corinthians 7 begins the second part of the book.  In the second part of the book, Paul answers questions.  Notice how the chapter begins.  Now for the matters you wrote about (I Corinthians 7:1 NIV).

The Corinthians wrote Paul a letter and asked him some questions and he answered their questions.

Unfortunately, we don’t know what their questions were.  We only have Paul’s answers.  We can only hear one side of the conversation, but we can guess what the questions were from Paul’s answers.

It is good to ask questions.  It is the best way to learn.  One of the best ways to do Bible study is to ask questions of the text.  If we don’t know the answers, we should seek out the answers.  We should ask people who know more than we do.

When we don’t ask questions, we miss out.  If the Corinthians did not ask these questions, we would not have most of I Corinthians.

Wouldn’t it be great if we were able to ask Paul anything we wanted?  Wouldn’t it to be cool to have a Q & A with a real apostle.  What were some of the questions that the Corinthians had?

Possible Questions

If you are single, should you rush to get married or should you stay single?

What is the role of sex in marriage? If you are married, should you have sex with your spouse or try to be spiritual and abstain from sex in marriage?

If you are not getting along with your spouse, should you get a divorce?

If you are an unbeliever, marry an unbeliever and later you become a Christian, should you get a divorce, since you are now unequally yoked?

What should you do if your spouse leaves you?  Can you remarry?  Are you free to do that?

If you are a slave, should you remain in slavery or try to become free?

It is a fascinating chapter.  It applies to all of us.  All of us are either single or married.  What does this chapter say about our situation?

Paul tells us what Jesus said about it, but he also deals with some specific topics that Jesus never addressed in the Gospel.

We are going to look at four topics that Paul addresses in these nine verses.  He addresses singleness, marriage, and sex.  Let’s look at each one.

Singleness

There are four things that Paul got right about singleness.  We see it in this chapter.  There is some confusion about what Paul meant.

1) Singleness is good

We live in a day in which there is a stigma placed on being single.  If you are single, people think there is something wrong with you.  They might ask, “Why aren’t you married?”  That is wrong.

You can spend your whole life as a single person, never marry and your life is not wasted, if that is what God is calling you to do.

I never received that call but there are some famous people in the Bible who never married.  Jeremiah never married.  John the Baptist never married.  Mary Magdalene never married, as far as we know.  Jesus never married.  Paul never married.

It is GOOD for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” (I Corinthians 7:1 NIV).

Notice, Paul does NOT say that it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with his wife.  He says, “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with A WOMAN.”

What does he mean that it is good?  It doesn’t mean morally good.  If it is good not to touch a woman, does that mean it is bad to touch one?  That is what some of the church fathers said.

That is why Catholics do not allow their priests to marry.  That is why they used to encourage people to be monks and nuns.  That is why there were so many monasteries.

Jerome said, “If it is good not to touch a woman, it is bad to touch one: for there is no opposite to goodness but badness” (Against Jovinianus Book I, 7).[1]

Paul said the idea that marriage is bad or should be forbidden “a doctrine of demons” (I Timothy 4:1-3). It is not just false; it is demonic.  That is what some of the cults believed (e.g., the Shakers). That comes straight from the pit of hell.

Paul is NOT saying marriage is bad, because later in the chapter, he says that if you get married, you have not sinned.  It is not a sin to be married or to get married.  He called it a gift from God (I Corinthians 7:7).

If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is NOT sinning. They SHOULD get married. (I Corinthians 7:36 NIV)

It is good to be single in the sense that it is profitable.  It is useful.  It is beneficial.  It is worthwhile.  It has some advantages, as we will see.

Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is GOOD for them to stay unmarried, as I do. (I Corinthians 7:8)

Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is GOOD for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do NOT look for a wife (I Corinthians 7:25-27)

So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her DOES BETTER. (I Corinthians 7:34 NIV)

A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40 In my judgment, she is HAPPIER if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 7:39-40 NIV)

2) Singleness has some advantages.

There are all kinds of advantages to being single.  Paul says so.  What did he say was the advantage to being single?

I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. (I Corinthians 7:32-35 NIV)

There are many other advantages.  You have the freedom to do whatever you want when you want.  You don’t answer to anyone, except Jesus.  You don’t have to listen to a husband or wife.

If you want to throw your clothes on the floor, you can.  If you want to stay up late or go out of town, you don’t have to tell anyone.  You have more freedom.

The contemporary Christian musician Rich Mullins once said that the difference between being married and single is that when you are single, you can pick up hitchhikers.

Paul needed to be single.  He was persecuted.  He was constantly beaten.  He was jailed.  He eventually had his head cut off.  He had the kind of ministry that is hard to do when you have family responsibilities.

3) Singleness is not for everyone

Paul says that people have different gifts.  Each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. (I Corinthians 7:7 NIV).

Some have the gift of marriage, and some have the gift of singleness.  Paul calls them a χάρισμα. That is the same word that he uses later in the book for a “spiritual gift.”

Some should never be married. They would hate it.  Some should never be single.  They were not made for marriage. They would be miserable.

What Paul did not say is that everyone should be single.  Paul did NOT command people to be single (I Corinthians 7:25, 40).  He did not say that it is for everyone.

Jesus said, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given” (Matthew 19:11 NIV).  He said, “The one who can accept this should accept it” (Matthew 19:12 NIV).

The truth is that everyone cannot accept it.  It has not been given to everyone.  We should live according to our gifts.

4) If singleness is your gift, you will like it

If you have the gift of being single, you will not be single by circumstances but by choice.  You will want to be single.  You will like it.  You will have no desire to get married.

Paul was single. He liked being single.  He was happy being single.  He said that being single is good.  He recommended it to others.  He said, “I wish that ALL OF YOU were as I am.” (I Corinthians 7:7 NIV).

Paul was single.  He loved being single and he wanted everyone to be single, but he knew that everyone would not be single.  If they did, the whole race would die out.

Marriage

What does the Bible say about marriage?  What does Paul say?  It may surprise you.  He is not writing a treatise on marriage.  He is answering questions but there are several things we can say about marriage.

1) Marriage is good

It could not be wrong.  It was created by God.  It was His idea.  The government did not create marriage.  God did.  It is a God-ordained institution.

Marriage is good.  God called it good.  He said, “It is NOT GOOD for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18 NIV).

While there are some advantages to being single, there are some advantages to being married.  Some ministries can be done better as a couple.  The Bible says, “Two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

The poverty rate is higher for people who are not married.  Families headed by single parents have a far higher poverty rate than families headed by two parents.

Marriage improves your health.  Numerous studies tell us that married people live longer than those who are single, divorced or widowed?  They have a lower mortality rate.  Marriage improves your life expectancy.

Marriage is good.  It is not perfect.  We live in a fallen world.  Marriages have problems.  We will see that next week.

The problem today is that many people think that they don’t need to get married.  They can just live together and skip marriage.  They do not see marriage as good.

2) Marriage is lifelong

A woman is bound to her husband AS LONG AS HE LIVES (I Corinthians 7:39 NIV).  Marriage is a lifelong commitment.  It is not something to rush into.

Paul says, “Are you bound?  Don’t seek to be loosed.  Are you free, don’t seek to be bound.”  That describes marriage as bondage.  Marriage is not slavery, but it is a lifelong commitment to someone.

“If you are married, stay in the marriage. If you are single, don’t rush into marriage. 28 But if you do get married, you haven’t sinned.  It’s just that I would want to spare you the problems you’ll face with the extra challenges of being married. (I Corinthians 7:28-29 TPT)

One of the biggest mistakes that people make today is that they rush into marriage.  They want to be in a relationship.  They want to get married so badly that they will marry anyone.

I work in a high school, and I see some of the guys that girls date and I shutter.  I know that 99% of those relationships will not last.

You don’t want to make that kind of a commitment with just anyone.  You do not want to take that commitment lightly.

3) Marriage is sanctifying

Marriage can make you holy.   For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. (I Corinthians 7:14 NIV).

If there is sanctification when only one spouse is a believer, how much more if both are believers.  They would sanctify themselves.

Marriage can make you holy.   Marriage can prevent sin.  Married couples can still struggle with lust, but Paul says that marriage can prevent sexual immorality.

“It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” BUT SINCE SEXUAL IMMORALITY IS OCCURRING, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. (I Corinthians 7:1-2 NIV)

But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion (I Corinthians 7:9 NIV)

Does this mean that Paul had a low view of marriage?  Is marriage just a deterrent to sexual sin for sex craved singles who are burning with lust?

Paul does NOT say that this is the only reason for marriage.  The reason given in the Book of Genesis is that Adam was lonely.

It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18 NIV).

Adam did not need to get married to avoid sexual immorality but to avoid loneliness.

Marriage is not just to get a sex partner.  It is to get a life partner, someone to share life with.  There are many other reasons as well.

Paul did not have a low view of marriage.  Paul described the marriage relationship as a picture of our relationship to Christ.

He said that husbands are the head of their wives as Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). He said that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25).

4) Marriage is sexual

There were two extremes in the Corinthian Church.  On the one extreme was to be sexually immoral.  Some in the church were visiting prostitutes.  Then there was the other extreme was to abstain from sex altogether.

It is good to abstain from sex before marriage.  Some thought it would be a good idea to abstain from sex after marriage.

If sex is so bad and so wicked, married couples should not have sex. They should just have a “spiritual marriage.”

Paul says the exact opposite.  He says if you are married, you should act like married people.

Withdrawal from sex in marriage is not spiritual.  It is sinful.  What is spiritual outside of marriage is sinful inside of marriage.

You should not only have sex, but you should also have it regularly.  He says you should stop only for a short time.

Paul gives us a biblical view of married sex.  He gives us a brand-new perspective on sex in marriage.  What he said was radical in his day.  He was way ahead of him time.

There are abuses of sex today.  Some use it as a weapon in marriage.  Some use it to control their spouse to get what they want.  That is wrong.  Paul calls that defrauding your spouse.  It is cheating them.

In the ancient world, sex in marriage was one-sided.  A husband could do what he wanted with his wife.  She was little more than a slave.  She was a sex slave for her husband.

Paul says something that no one had ever said in the ancient world.  He not only said that the body of the wife belongs to the husband, he said that the body of the husband belongs to the wife.

There is complete equality here.  It is not pictured as one spouse dominating their spouse, demanding sex against his or her will.  Paul is talking about something that is completely mutual and voluntary.

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. (I Corinthians 7:3-4 NIV)

Biblical Principles of Sex

1) Sex was created by God.  God, not Hollywood, came up with the idea.  He invented it.

2) God created sex exclusively for the marriage relationship.

3) Sex was designed by God to be enjoyed between a husband and wife in heterosexual relationship.

4) Sex is not only allowed in marriage; it is commanded

5) Sex was not designed strictly for procreation.  It is fun.

6) Sex in marriage is to be regular and frequent.

7) Sex is about giving, not taking. The husband is to meet the sexual needs of his wife. The wife is to meet the sexual needs of her husband.

8) Sex is not to be used as a weapon or bargaining chip in marriage.

9) All things must be done in moderation.

10) All things must be done in love.

5) Marriage is restricted

It is restricted to the opposite sex.  Paul does not believe in gay marriage.  He says, “Each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.

There is nothing about gay marriage here.  A man is to have his own wife, not his own husband.  A woman is to have her own husband, not her own wife.

It is also restricted to Christians.  The one passage in the NT that explicitly says this that Christians are to marry Christians is found in I Corinthians 7.

Unfortunately, many do not follow this today.  Plenty of young people today fall in love with someone and get married, even though that person is not a believer. Paul talks about widows at the end of the chapter.  Notice what he says.

A married woman is not free as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, then she is free to be married to any man she wishes, but only if he is a Christian. (I Corinthians 7:39 GNT)

Marriage is a lifelong commitment.  At death, a widow is free to remarry.  She can marry anyone she wants.  There is only one stipulation.  She can only marry a Christian.  She can only marry someone in the Lord.

[1] https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/30091.htm

 

Sexual Sin

12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.  18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (I Corinthians 6:12-20 NIV)

Today, we will be talking about sex in church.  This passage has some adult content.  It mentions female prostitutes.

We will be talking about something that is very relevant in the day in which we live.  It is the problem of sexual sin.  It is one of the greatest problems in the church today.

There is a plague of immorality and abuse going around in some churches.  It is going on in society and in the church, both Protestant and Catholic churches.

We have people living together.  They are allowed to join churches and, in some cases, doing ministry.

We have same sex couples married in church and sometimes the pastor is gay or lesbian.

We have the problem of adultery in the church.  Adultery is not just limited to affairs.  Some second marriages result in adultery.  Jesus said so.

I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery. (Matthew 19:9 NIV)

When was the last time you heard that in church? If you marry someone, fall in love with someone else, get a divorce and remarry that person, you are committing adultery.

We have other Christians are addicted to pornography and that includes some pastors.

Did you know that, according to a recent poll from Barna, 21% of youth pastors and 14% of pastors admit they currently struggle with using porn?

Did you know that 12% of youth pastors and 5% of pastors say they are addicted to porn?  That is from the same 2016 poll.[1] It is a fairly recent poll but the real figure is probably much higher than that.

Focus on the Family came out with a survey in 2008 and, in that survey, not 5% but 25%.  It said that 25% of pastors admitted to currently battling with pornography or sexual addiction.[2]

What’s so bad is that these are not just church members.  There are the leaders of the church.  These are the pastors.

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:3-4 NIV).

Paul says that not only should not be any immorality among believers but there should not even be a hint of it.  We should not even be immoral in our talk and in our jokes.

Today, we are going to look at what the Bible says about sexual immorality.  We are going to look at what the Bible says about the body.  Paul gives us a theology of the body in this passage.

We are also going to look at what the Bible says about addictions.  Are you addicted to anything?  Paul has something to say about it in our passage.

Paul is writing to the Church of Corinth.  It was an immoral church.  A member of the church was sleeping with his stepmother.

Another member of the Corinthians church was visiting a prostitute.  Paul mentions many examples of sexual immorality.

He mentions incest (I Corinthians 5:1).  He mentions those who have sex within the family.

He mentions fornicators.  He mentions those who sleep around and commit pre-marital sex (I Corinthians 6:9).

He mentions adulterers (I Corinthians 6:9). He mentions those who break their marriage vows.

He mentions prostitutes (I Corinthians 6:15-16).  Two days ago, a prostitution ring was discovered by the authorities in Burlington, NC.  Prostitutes were more accessible in Paul’s day.  They had them at the local temple.  You could get them at church.  They were part of pagan worship.

He mentions male homosexuals, those who go to bed with other males (I Corinthians 6:9).

All of that is mentioned in I Corinthians.  In Romans, Paul mentions female homosexuals, lesbians (Romans 1:26-27).

What does God say about sexual immorality?  It is very different from what the world says about it.

Five Lies about Sex

Lie #1 – We make the rules

The first lie about sex is that we make our own rules.  We decide what is right and wrong.  We decide morality.

We do not determine right and wrong.  We are not God.  God determines what is right and wrong, and He determines what is right and wrong when it comes to sex.

God is not against sex.  He is not against marriage.  He created both.  They were His idea.  Since He created both of them, He has the right to come up with rules for both.

Lie #2 – Sex is just about pleasure

You have a natural appetite for food and a natural appetite for sex. Both are physical appetites. God created both. Both are not wrong. They are perfectly legitimate.

This is what the Corinthians were saying. They were saying that food is for the stomach, like the body is for sex.”   It is just about biological urges, like eating and drinking.

Food for the stomach and the stomach for food (I Corinthians 6:13 NIV).  Of course, God did create the urge to eat, drink and have sex but all three can be abused.

That is what we are taught in society.  It is the Hugh Hefner philosophy.  It is what kids are taught in school.  Sex is just what two adults do to give themselves pleasure.  It is just play for grown-ups.

There is nothing wrong with pleasure.  God created it but this definition takes love out of sex.  It takes commitment out of sex.  It takes a relationship out of sex.  Sex is not just about pleasure.

Lie # 3 – Pornography is harmless

It seems harmless.  That is what society says.  You can’t get an STD from pornography.  You can’t get anyone pregnant that way.  It sounds harmless but God calls sexual fantasies adultery, not entertainment.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28 NIV)

Lie # 4 – Sexual sin is no big deal.

Everyone does it.  It is no big deal.  We saw that was not true, last time.  Sexual sin leads to eternal consequences.

Paul said that fornications, adulterers and homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God.  They will not be in heaven.  That makes it a very big deal.

Lie # 5 – Sexual sin is unforgiveable

That is not true.  No sin is too dirty to be cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ.  We saw from I Corinthians 6 that even the worst sexual sins can be forgiven.  Purity can be restored.  Sexual sin can be forgiven.

Sexual Sin Principles

Today, we are going to see what God says about sexual sin in I Corinthians 6.  We are going to look at four principles.

1) Sexual sin does not result in freedom but bondage

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. (I Corinthians 6:12 NIV)

Sexual immorality enslaves people. Sexual immorality is highly addictive, because it sends a chemical to the brain.

People can be in slavery to all kinds of things.  We can be addicted to all kinds of things.  Some are addicted to drugs.  Some are addicted to nicotine or alcohol.

Some are addicted to caffeine.  Some are addicted to pornography.  Some are addicted to video games.  Some are addicted to their cell phones.  They never put it down.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34 NIV).  Sexual sin leads to sexual bondage.  It leads to slavery.

Paul said, “I will not be mastered by anything” (I Corinthians 6:12 NIV).

The NLT reads, “I must not become a slave to anything.”  The ESV reads, “I will not be dominated by anything.”   Are you a slave to anything?  How would you know?  What are some of the signs of addiction?

Signs of an Addiction

1) If you are addicted to something, you do it out of compulsion. You are driven to do it against your will.  That is the first sign of an addiction.

2) If you are addicted to something, it becomes a preoccupation and an obsession.  It controls your life.

It is something that you do, despite the negative consequences. You continue to do it, even though it may be harmful to the body.

3) If you are addicted to something, you feel that you cannot change. You feel powerless to stop.

It is wrong to be addicted to things. Are you enslaved to anything?  Are you mastered by anything?  Do you let anything control you?

It is not wrong to enjoy things.  The Bible says that God has given us all things richly to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17), so it is not wrong to enjoy things. It is not wrong to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning.  It is wrong to be controlled by things.

2) Sexual sin is a misuse of your God-given body

Our Bodies are Special

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

The Greeks despised the body. They believed that matter is evil.  The believed that the soul is good and the bad is bad.

They called the body a tomb. The Greeks did not believe in the resurrection of the body.  They focused on the soul, rather than the body.

Paul said that your body is not a tomb but a temple and it will be resurrected one day.  By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also (I Corinthians 6:14 NIV)What does it mean that our body is a temple?

A temple is a sacred building. The Greek word he uses (ναός) does not just mean the temple in general but the most sacred part of the temple (the Holy of Holies).  We need to treat our bodies with reverence.

In I Corinthians 3, Paul said that the local church is a temple.  God dwells in a local assembly.  In I Corinthians 6, he says that the Christian body is a temple.  It is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  That should change the way we think about the body.

It is sacred. It is holy. Psalm 139 says that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. If the Holy Spirit made a temple out of our bodies, there must not be anything wrong with our bodies.

Sins against the Body

Temples can be desecrated.  Just as a physical temple can be defiled and desecrated, we can defile our own bodies certain behaviors and practices. We can pollute the temples of our bodies.

We do not pollute our bodies by sex but by sexual immorality.  The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality (I Corinthians 6:13 NIV)

All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body (I Corinthians 6:18 NIV)

Paul says that sexual sins are different from other sins. They are in a completely different kind of category.

What does Paul mean that only sexual sins are sins against the body?  Isn’t drunkenness and drug addiction a sin again the body?  Isn’t self-mutilation a sin against the body?  Isn’t suicide a sin against the body?

The answer is yes but sexual sin is still in a completely different category than all of those other sins.  People can eat too much and drink too much, but you cannot become one flesh with alcohol or food.

Those other sins are external to the body but sexual sin is “entirely and exclusively initiated by, and carried out by the body”[3]  Because sex with a prostitute is “uniquely body joining, it is uniquely body-defiling” (Fisk 1996: 558)[4]

Glorify God in your Body

Paul says, “honor God with your bodies. (I Corinthians 6:12-20 NIV).  How do we do that?  How do we glorify God with our bodies?  We can do it several different ways.

Three Ways to Honor God in your Body

1. Honor God by taking care of your body.

We need to take care of what God has given us. That is good stewardship. We can do that by proper diet, exercise and by avoiding food or activities that are bad for the body. You can’t really glorify God in your body if you don’t take care of it.  It is a sin to harm your body.

2. Honor God by using your body for God.

Paul said that we are to present our body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).  Do we use our body to serve God?

Do we use it to worship God?  Do we use it to help others and do good, not evil.  That is another way to honor God.

3. Honor God by not sinning against your body

When we commit sexual immorality, we are not glorifying God with our bodies.  When we use our body to sin (hands, feet, eyes, tongue), we are not glorifying God in our body (cf. Romans 6:13).

3) Sexual sin is a betrayal of your Christian identity

Sexual sin is incompatible with your Christian position.  We are not just followers of Jesus.  We are joined to Jesus.  We are members of His body.

When Paul persecuted Christians, Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute ME” (not them)?”

Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! (I Corinthians 6:15 NIV).  Notice how the chapter ends.

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (I Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)

Let’s summarize this.  Your body is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit.  He lives inside of us.  Paul says that we were bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:20 NIV).  Jesus bought us with His own blood.  He died for us.

Our body belongs to Him.  We can’t say, “My body, My choice.”  It is His body.  The parts of your body are the members of Christ.  Our bodies are to glorify God the Father.  The entire Trinity is involved.

None of this is consistent with an immoral lifestyle.  When we commit sexual immorality, we sin against God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  We sin against the Holy Spirit who indwells us.  We sin against the Son who redeemed us.  We sin against the Father who created us.

4) Sexual sin requires a radical response

Jesus taught this.  He said if you hand offend you cut it off.  He did not mean that literally.  The point is to take sin seriously and to deal with it radically.

Paul taught the same thing.  Paul did not say to abstain from sexual immorality, although we need to do that.

Many in the world do not abstain from sexual immorality.  They practice it.  They excuse it.  They justify it.  They are proud of their sexual immorality.

Paul does not say, “Reject sexual immorality.  Reject all of the immoral practices of the world today.  Say No to it.”  That needs to be done but is not what Paul says.

He does not even say, “Resist sexual immorality.  Fight it as much as you can.”  He says, “FLEE from sexual immorality” (I Corinthians 6:18 NIV).

He does not say, “Run from sex.”  He says, “Run from sexual immorality.” The world runs to it.  Christians are to run from it.

That’s what Joseph did.  Potiphar’s old lady tried to seduce her attractive young foreign slave.  She tried to take advantage of him and tried repeatedly to no avail.  It is the definition of sexual harassment today.

It is the most famous seduction scene in the Bible.  You can read about it in Genesis 39.  Joseph said No.  Very few men, especially young men, would have had the strength to do what Joseph did.

When he was left alone with her and had no other option, he ran.  It didn’t keep him out of jail, but it kept him out of sin.

The OT said the same thing.  Solomon talked about the adulterous woman.  One of the things he said was, “Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house” (Proverbs 5:8 NIV)

We do the exact opposite today.  We play with fire.  People try to get as close to it as they can (technical virgins).  God says to get as far as away from sin as you can.

[1] https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/

[2] https://gitnux.org/adultery-in-the-church-statistics/

[3] Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 472.

[4] David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 238.

Don’t Be Deceived

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (I Corinthians 6:9-11 NASB)

We are studying the Book of I Corinthians.  Today, we come to a very important passage.  Today, you are going to hear some things you don’t normally hear in church.

We are going to be looking at a controversial passage.  It is a passage that many hate.  They despise it.  They try to reinterpret it because it condemns their sins.

Paul uses some strong language here.  He is not politically correct.  He is not woke.  What he says is diametrically opposed to mainstream culture.  It completely contradicts what we are told in the world.

It is a passage that is extremely relevant to the day in which we live.  It is shocking how relevant it is to our day.

It is a radical passage.  It is so radical that it has even become a crime to say some of the things that Paul says here.

Did you know that in 2010 a Christian in Britain named Dale McAlpine was arrested in Britain for simply saying that homosexuality is a sin?[1]

Just saying that was considered a hate crime and yet Alpine said it in public.  He was a street preacher.  He claimed in court he was wrongfully arrested and was awarded seven thousand British pounds (about $9,000).

It happened again in England in 2023.  This time with an American preacher named Ryan Schiavo.  He was arrested for reading the Bible and evangelizing during a LGBT Pride Event.[2]

The charges ended up being dropped but it shows you the attitude of society to criminalize simply calling something a sin or just reading the Bible in public.

If you live in Canada, you can’t do conversion therapy.  It is illegal.  You can’t tell anyone what the Bible says about homosexuality.  It is called the Gay Conversion Bill which was passed in 2021.

Three Kinds of Deception

Our passage begins with a strong exhortation.  The Apostle Paul exhorts the Corinthians.  It is an exhortation about deception.  Today, we are going to talk about deception.

Jesus said, “Do not be deceived.”  Paul said, “Do not be deceived.”  Why do they say that?  Deception is a real problem in our world today.  We live in a world full of all kinds of deception.

There is political deception all over the place. There is moral deception.  There is religious deception.  Many are deceived today in the area of sexuality and gender.

The one behind the deception is Satan.  In Revelation 12:9, we learn that the Devil is the one who deceives the whole world (NKJV).

We are going to look at several forms of deception based on this text.  There is the deception that sin is not sin.  There is the deception that people are too bad to be saved.  They are too wicked.  There’s no hope.

There is the deception that everyone is going to heaven and there is the deception that it doesn’t matter how you live.  All of those ideas are addressed in these three verses.

Deception about Sin

The first way to be deceived today is to be deceived about sin.  This is a problem today.  It is a big problem.  Many have no idea what sin is.  They have no concept of sin.  If it feels good, do it.  If society says it is okay, it is.

What God says is okay and what the world says is okay are two completely different things.  The Bible says that God’s thoughts are NOT our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The things that God hates and calls sin, the world thinks are virtues.  God says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20 NIV)

In fact, Jesus said, “What is HIGHLY ESTEEMED among men is DETESTABLE in God’s sight” (Luke 16:15-16).

That is interesting.  Jesus does not just say that God thinks differently than we do.  He says the things that we highly esteem and think are great, He hates.

The things that the world loves, God hates.  He can’t stand them.  He thinks they are detestable.

There is a sin list in this passage.  Paul gives us a vice list.  He gives us a list of ten sins.  It is Paul’s top ten list.   It is not a complete list of the wicked.

There are all kinds of wicked people not on this list.  Rapists and serial killers are not on the list.  Child molesters are not on the list.  This is just a sample.

As we look at the list, we find that most of the sins on the list are legal.  They are socially acceptable.  Some are popular.  They are not considered wrong today.

They do not seem that bad.  They are esteemed.  They are almost exalted in society.  They are considered hip.  They are considered cool. Many of the things on his list are not regarded as wrong today.

Homosexuality is acceptable today. We are told people are born that way and that it is natural and cannot even be changed.

We have gone from making homosexuality a sin or an abomination to honoring it with Gay Pride celebrations).  It has gone from sin to a sacrament.

Fornication is not seen as a sin today.  Immorality is common today.  It seems like everyone is doing it.

Greed is not seen as a sin today.  It is part of the American Dream.

Drunkenness is not seen as a sin today but as a disease.  It is just a sickness.

This is a passage that mentions ten different kinds of sinners.  Apparently, there are different types of sins and different types of sinners.  These ten sinners make up five different categories.

Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers.

These sins are very different.  Some involve sex.  Some do not.  Some involve violence.  Some do not.

Some involve outward actions.  Some just involve thoughts.  Covetous is a sin of the mind.  It is a sin of thoughts, like hatred.  Let’s look at these five categories.

1) There are SEXUAL SINS

Many think that sexual sins are not a big deal.  Paul mentioned them first.  Moral sins were the first category of the unrighteous.

The majority of the sins on Paul’s list were sexual. Four of the ten sins on this list are sexual sins (fornicators, adulterers, effeminate and homosexuals).

Paul mentions all kinds of sexual sin.  He mentions homosexual sin.  He mentions heterosexual sin.  He mentions sexual sin in married people.  He mentions sexual sin in the unmarried.

First on the list is πόρνοι (fornicators).  We get the word “pornography” from that word.  The pornography that we see today did not exist in the first century.

Sexual sin is something that exists in our world and is worse today than it was in Paul’s day.  The big debate is over homosexuality.  We will deal with this at the end but Paul says several things about homosexuality.  What does he say?

In Romans, he says it is unnatural.  Read Romans 1.  It goes against nature.  It is unnatural.  It is immoral.  It is a sin.  Paul puts it on a sin list.  He says it keeps people out of heaven.  It keeps them out of the kingdom.  He also says it is a sin that can be saved.  It can be redeemed, like any other sin.

According to Paul, you can not only be saved but you can be cleansed from that sin.  You can be washed.    He also says that those who commit this sin can change.  He says, “such were some of you.”  They were no longer homosexuals after they became Christians.

2) There are SANCTUARY SINS

Category two is sins of worship.  Paul mentions idolatry.  Idolatry is false worship.  It means worshipping a false god and it comes in many different forms.  It is not limited to worshipping sticks and stones.

These are sins of the heart.  idolatry is a heart sin.  It is what you put first in your life.  It is interesting that “idolaters” is found between the word “fornicators” and “adulterers.”

Sex can be an idol in people’s lives.  The sexually immoral person is an idolater.  Immorality comes first in their life, and they do not care what God or the Bible says.

There was also a connection between sex and idolatry in the ancient world.  Most fornication took place at the temple.  It was part of pagan worship.  That was the way they worshipped.

Idolatry is not a little sin.  It is a big sin.  We need to watch out for it in our own lives.  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21 KJV).  John tells that to Christians.

3) There are STEALING SINS

Category three is money sins.  It deals with money.  Paul speaks of the covetous, thieves, and swindlers.

Paul gives two different words for stealing (robbers and extortioners). Why are there two different words?  There are different kinds of thieves.  Not all take things violently.  Not every thief has a gun.

The greedy do not necessarily take other people’s possessions but they want to.  Their sin is internal.  They are thieves at heart.  They make a god out of wealth.  Paul said that greed is a form of idolatry (Ephesians 5:5).

Some of the Corinthians were greedy.  They were cheating and ripping off their own brothers and sisters in court and they were motivated by greed.  We saw that in the beginning of the chapter.

One of the apostles was guilty of this sin.  Judas was a thief (John 12:4-6).  He was the treasurer.  He carried the money bag.  He wanted the expensive perfume sold, not poured on Jesus’ feet, so he could get some of the money.

4) There are SPEECH SINS

Category four is speech sins or sins of the tongue.  He mentions “revilers” (KJV) or “slanderers” (NIV).  They don’t steal other people’s stuff.  They do not sleep around.

They just have foul mouths.  They are vulgar.  They are abusive.  They insult people.  They mock people.  They lie about people.  They blaspheme God.  They blaspheme the Bible.

We think nothing of it today.  We call it “free speech.”  God calls it sin.  He takes it seriously.  He takes words seriously.

Jesus said that men will give an account on the day of judgment of every idle word that they say (Matthew 12:36).  That is a terrifying thought.

If we are going to give an account of every idle word, how much more every abusive word?  How much more will we give an account for every hateful and hurtful word we have uttered?

5) There are SUBSTANCE ABUSE SINS

Category five deals with substance abuse or addictions.

Paul doesn’t say that everyone who drinks alcohol is excluded from the kingdom.  That would mean that Jesus was excluded.  He drank wine.

The Bible only condemns drunkenness.  Paul said in Ephesians “Don’t be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit.”  He did not say “do not drink wine but be filled with the Spirit.”

Paul is not talking about occasional drinkers.  He is not talking about people who drink in moderation.  He is talking about drunkards.  He is talking about people who drink to excess.

He is talking about people who become addicted to alcohol.  He is talking about people who make a god out of alcohol.  It completely controls them.  They put it first in their life.

Deception about Heaven

Now, we come to the second big deception.  It is about heaven.  The world says that everyone is going to heaven.  That is the doctrine of universalism.  It teaches that everyone will be saved.

The Bible teaches that some will enter the kingdom, and some will not. Some will possess the kingdom, and some will be excluded. Some will inherit the kingdom, and some will not.  Some will go to Heaven and some will go to Hell.

Paul did not just say this once.  He said it three times.  He says it in I Corinthians 6.  He says it in Ephesians 5.  He says it in Galatians 5.  He has a long list of sins and says those who do this will not inherit the kingdom.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 NIV)

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them. (Ephesians 5:5-7 NIV)

Many in the LGTB community hate I Corinthians 6, because it says that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom.

We have gay churches today.  We have gay denominations.  We have gay ministers and yet Paul says that they will not inherit the kingdom.

The Bible says that they will not go to heaven.  Paul does not say they will not get any rewards in heaven.  He says that they will not be there.  These are not my words.  I did not write them.  These are God’s Words.

You say that sounds a little harsh.  Was Paul homophobic?  Calling a particular activity or behavior sinful is not the same thing as hating anyone.

Paul says that a lot of heterosexuals will NOT be in heaven either.  He does not just single out homosexuals. He says the same thing about adulterers and fornicators.

Hebrews 13:4 says, “fornicators and adulterers, God will judge” (NKJV).

Can you be a gay Christian?   No.  Homosexuals cannot inherit the kingdom.  We can no more have gay Christians than we can have Christian idolaters, Christian fornicators, or Christian adulterers.  That is an oxymoron.

Deception about Salvation

Let’s look at the third deception found in our text.  It is a deception about salvation.  It comes in two forms.

1) No Hope of Salvation

Some think that are too wicked to be saved.  God could never forgive them.  God says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18 NIV)

The Bible teaches that any sinner can be saved.  Fornicators can be saved.  Adulterers can be saved.  Murderers can be saved.

Crackheads can be saved.  Homosexuals can be saved.  Child molesters can be saved.  Prostitutes can be saved.

Some of the members of the Corinthian Church were former homosexuals. Some were former adulterers. Some were former idolaters.  Some used to be fornicators and they were in the Corinthian Church.

2) False Hope of Salvation

Many think they are saved who are not.  Many people think that they are going to heaven.  They have been baptized.  They go to church every Sunday, but they are not going to heaven.

There is a heresy today called the free grace doctrine.  Free grace theology takes repentance out of the gospel.  It says that you can live any way you want.

It doesn’t matter how you live, because you are going to go to heaven anyway.  You can live like the devil, according to this teaching.

Paul would say that you are just deceiving yourself. The wicked will not inherit the kingdom.  James says that faith without works is dead.

I believe in eternal security but many who think they have eternal security are not even saved.

Jesus said that on the last day many will call him Lord, claim to be believers, and He will tell them that He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23).  Some just use salvation as an excuse to sin.

Paul says to the Corinthians, “and such WERE some of you” (I Corinthians 6:11 NIV). That is who they WERE (past tense).

Paul does not write to homosexual Christians in Corinth.  “He addresses former homosexuals who were now Christians.” [3]

They did not become Christians and continue as homosexuals or fornicators or idolaters or adulterers.

This shows the power of the gospel. This refutes the idea that “once gay always gay” or “once an alcoholic always an alcoholic.”  This refutes the idea that sexual orientation can’t change.

Now Christians are not sinless, and they can fall into sin.  David committed adultery and murder and Noah got drunk, but true Christians will not live in sin.  They will not continue in sin without repentance.

Salvation produces real change. The Bible teaches that when you get saved, there is a change in your life.

There will be a radical change, as you go from darkness to light.  If you claim to be a Christian but there is absolutely no change in your life after you claim to come to Christ, you are not saved.

Notice the three buts in I Corinthians 6:11. There are some big buts in this passage.

And such were some of you: BUT ye are washed, BUT ye are sanctified, BUT ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (I Corinthians 6:11 KJV).

Notice the three things that happen at salvation. All Christians are washed.  They are sanctified and they are justified.  They are not perfect, but they are washed, sanctified and justified.

They are not made sinless, but they are cleansed.  Why do they need to be cleansed?  Because they are dirty.  We get a bath at salvation.  We are spiritually washed.  We are made right with God, and we are made holy.

Paul on Homosexuality

The big debate in this section is over what Paul said about homosexuality.  Many say that they love Jesus but hate Paul.  He says that homosexuals cannot enter the kingdom.  He uses two Greek words for homosexuality.

What he said is hated by many.  His words have been misunderstood throughout history and have been abused today by the LGTB community.

Critics say that Paul wrote in Greek. He never once used the word “homosexual” in his list of sins. That is true.  Paul wrote in Greek, not English.  Homosexual is an English word.

The word was first coined in the 19th century.  It didn’t even show up in English translations of the Bible until 1946.

However, just because the English word for “homosexual” began in the nineteenth century does not mean that the practice started in the nineteenth century.

It existed in the ancient world.  Paul used other Greek words to refer to the practice (effeminate and homosexual).  There have been some ridiculous interpretations of these words.

Some have held that these words refer to masturbation and that keeps you out of the kingdom.

The old Baptist scholar John Gill, who lived in the 18th century, believed that it was a reference to masturbation.[4]

Others have held that “abusers of themselves with mankind (KJV) is also a reference to self-abuse.

However, Paul says nothing about masturbation in this verse.  There were many different Greek words for masturbation in ancient Greece (δέφειν, δέφεσθαι, χειρουργειν, ναφλᾶν, ποτυλοῦν, ποσκολὐπτειν, ναφλὐστηρ)[5]  None of those words were used by Paul.  What does μαλακός and ἀρσενοκοίτης actually mean?

Effeminate

The Greek word used by Paul is μαλακός.  The word μαλακός literally means “soft.”  It is used four times in the NT (I Corinthians 6:9; Matthew 11:8 [2]; Luke 7:25).

It is used once in I Corinthians and twice in the Gospels.  In the Gospels, it is used of CLOTHES that are soft.  In I Corinthians, it is used of PEOPLE who are soft.

The word “effeminate” refers to a man who one who has rejected his masculinity.  He rejects his God-given identity as a man.

This is a man who acts like a woman.  He may put on make-up or wear women’s clothes.  He may try to turn himself into a woman through surgery.

We live in a day when there is a war on masculinity.  People talk about toxic masculinity, and you can see how relevant this is.  However, Paul is not just talking about a weakling or a sissy.

The word is used in a sexual sense.  The word μαλακός is linked or paired with homosexuals in the text.

Sex involves two people.  The Greeks distinguished between the active and passive roles in a homosexual relationship.

A consensus of NT scholars believe Paul is talking about active and passive homosexuality here.  That is the view of NT Wright, F.F. Bruce, C.K. Barrett, Joseph Fitzmyer, Anthony Thiselton and others. [6]

The person in the dominant role was considered more masculine.  The passive partner in a homosexual relationship was considered effeminate (so Philo).[7]

The Greek word μαλακός can refer to this passive partner.  That is documented from the standard Greek lexicons (e.g. Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich).

Paul is not talking about an abusive situation.  He is talking about someone who chooses to do it and allows it to be done.  He is not talking about someone who is forced to do it against his will.

Homosexuals

The word used here is ἀρσενοκοίτης.  It is only used two times in the NT (I Corinthians 6:9; I Timothy 1:10).

It is a compound Greek word.  It is the combination of the word for BED (κοῖτης) and the word for MALES (ἄρσην).

It means a man who goes to bed with another man.  Paul coined the term.  Where did he get it?  It comes right out of Leviticus.

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination (Leviticus 20:13 ESV).

In fact, the LXX reads ἄρσενος κοίτην.  These are the same two words that Paul uses in I Corinthians 6:9).

Critics argue that Paul is not condemning all homosexuality.  He is only condemning pedophiles.  He is only condemning child abusers.

The problem with that view is that Paul does not use the word παῖς.  He mentions the word “bed” and the word “males.”  He does NOT mention the word “bed” and “boys” or “children.”

Others try to limit the word to prostitution (Boswell) but there is nothing in the word that indicates that meaning.  It simply means a man who goes to bed with another man.

[1] https://original.religlaw.org/index.php?pageId=25&linkId=160&contentId=1653&blurbId=868

[2] https://www2.cbn.com/news/world/cop-reportedly-arrests-street-preacher-reading-bible-evangelizing-during-lgbt-pride

[3] James R. White & Jeffrey D. Niell, The Same Sex Controversy: Defending and Clarifying the Bible’s Message About Homosexuality, p. 131

[4] https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/1-corinthians-6-9.html.  Cf. Richard A.. Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: 1 Corinthians (p. 85). Abingdon  Press. Kindle Edition; New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967),  http://healingreligion.com/PS2010/html/new_catholic_encyclopedia_masturbation.htm

[5] Hans Licht, Sexual Life in Ancient Greece (London, 1932), p. 313.

[6] Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 449.

[7]Philo, Special Laws III.7. 39-41.

 

Christian Lawsuits

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? 2 Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. (I Corinthians 6:1-8 NIV)

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians. It is a book that is very relevant to the day in which we live.  It is a book that could come out of the 21st century, rather than the first century.

It is a letter written to the American Church. Ancient Corinth was like America today. This was not your grandma’s church. We saw last week that people in the church were sleeping with their mammas.  It is a book that deals with some adult topics.

Every problem they had in the Church of Corinth is a problem for churches today. Today, we come to a new topic.

Today, we are going to talk about lawsuits. We are going to talk about God’s House and the Court House. We are going to talk about the gospel and your rights.

The Bible talks about this. Did you know that both Jesus and Paul specifically said something about lawsuits. What did they say? Do you know?

What do you do when someone wrongs you? What do you do when someone rips you off and cheats you? What do you do when it is done by someone who is a member of your local church?

Is it ever right for a Christian to file a lawsuit against someone? Is it ever right for a Christian to go to court to get justice? We come to a passage that answers that question.

There are some shocking verses in this chapter.  Paul says that we will judge the world (I Corinthians 6:2).  Isn’t God going to judge the world?  Why does Paul say that we will judge the world.

He also says that we will judge angels.  What does that mean?  Angels are greater beings than we are.  How are we going to judge them?

A Worldly Church

We are going to talk about the world entering the church. That is what we see in I Corinthians 6. The world crept into the church. We have the same problem today. Whatever way society changes, the church changes, even if those changes contradict Scripture.

There was no gay marriage anywhere in the world for five thousand years. Then gay marriage entered society and not long after it entered the church, even though there is nothing like it in Scripture.

There is no gay marriage in the Bible. If you read the Bible cover to cover, you won’t find it anywhere.  God was the one who created marriage. He started it and He started it with Adam and Eve, not with Adam and Steve and for good reason.

The whole race would have died out after the first humans. Nowhere in Scripture is an alternative lifestyle acceptable, not the NT or the NT. If you want to see what Paul said about homosexuality, we will see next week what he said about it in I Corinthians 6.

Another example is the theory of evolution. Darwin comes up with evolution, society accepts it and then many churches accept it.  They claim to believe both the Genesis and Evolution.  A big church in Elon celebrates Evolution Sunday.

You say, “What’s the problem?  Science is good.  Progress is good.  Technology is good.”  That is true but everything in Genesis 1 completely contradicts the theory of evolution.  You have to tear that chapter out of the Bible.

Evolution is a way to explain the universe without God. God is not necessary to believe in evolution. You can be a complete atheist and believe in evolution. Evolution explains origins by a completely natural process.

In I Corinthians 6, we see the world creep into the church at Corinth. It crept in with lawsuits. People were dragging fellow church members into court before pagan judges.

The Corinthians loved to go to court, like Americans do today. It was in their blood. They lived in ancient Greece. The Greeks loved to argue and debate. The Greeks loved to go to court.

It was a way of life for the Greeks. They were a litigious society. It was part of their culture.

It was entertainment. They didn’t have television.  They would have loved Judge Judy. The courtroom was in the public square or the marketplace.

The Corinthians were a litigious church. It was an apostolic church, and it was a carnal church. It was a worldly church.

Forbidden Lawsuits

The world entered the Church of Corinth and Paul wrote to address the problem.  He has some strong words for this church. The gloves come off in this chapter.  Paul gives the Corinthians a strong rebuke in this chapter.

In I Corinthians 4, he told the Corinthians that he did not write to shame them. He said, “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children” (I Corinthians 4:14 NIV)

In I Corinthians 6, he writes to shame them.  Notice how the chapter begins.

If any of you has a legal dispute against another, do you dare go to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? (I Corinthians 6:1 HCSB)

Paul says, How DARE you do such a thing? He says in I Corinthians 6:5 “I say this to your shame!” (HCSB)

Christians were taking other Christians to court. It was Saint versus Saint in a secular court.  This was not just a sin.  It was a disgrace.

Paul was Jewish. The Jews believed that it was wrong to take their disputes before pagans.  They considered it a form of blasphemy to take another Jew to court. That was the rabbinic view.

Misunderstood Text

Many Christians have misquoted and misapplied what Paul says here. Paul says that believers should not go to court against other believers. That raises an important question.

The question is this: Can a Christian ever take legal action? Can a Christian file a lawsuit? Is it wrong for a Christian to use the legal system? No. Paul does not say that courts are evil.  He did not say that courts are bad.

Courts are not perfect.  Judges are not perfect. Jesus didn’t get a fair trial, but Paul is NOT attacking the government here.  He is not attacking the justice system here. He is not attacking the legal system here.

There is a legitimate use of government. There is a legitimate use of the legal system. They have a place in society. That is clear from Romans 13.  They are God-ordained institutions.

Sometimes believers may have to go to court, even if it is a last resort. Paul is dealing with believers going to court against other believers. That is what is forbidden here.

But instead, one BROTHER takes ANOTHER to court—and this in front of unbelievers! (I Corinthians 6:6 HCSB)

Paul is specifically dealing with believers in the church who bring trivial cases before pagan judges. Notice what he is not dealing with.

1) Paul is NOT dealing with violent crime.

Paul is not dealing with that situation.  He is dealing with civil matters, not criminal matters.  He is not dealing with sexual assault. He is not dealing with child abuse.

He is not dealing with armed robbery.  He is not dealing with domestic violence.  He is not dealing with someone breaking into your home.  He is dealing with trivial matters.

He says, “Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest cases?” (I Corinthians 6:2 HCSB).

These were all trivial cases.  They were small matters.  These are what we would call today “frivolous lawsuits.”

Paul calls them “a dispute” (1 Cor. 6:1).  He calls them “trivial cases” (1 Cor. 6:2).  He mentions property crimes, like cheating people (I Corinthians 6:7).  These had to do with civil matters.

If a person commits a criminal act against you and they are a professing Christian and attend church every Sunday, you should do something different than what Paul says here because it is a different situation.

Some churches make a big mistake when someone in the church commits a major crime, a felony, and they do not report it to the police.  A youth pastor abuses children, and they sweep it under the rug, because it happened in church.  That is wrong.

2) Paul is NOT dealing with lawsuits against non-Christians

Paul was talking about fellow believers who cheat you.  He was not dealing with the situation of people outside of the church doing it.

That is a different situation, and we are not to judge unbelievers in the world.  We are to judge believers in the church.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? (I Corinthians 5:12 NIV)

Seven Penetrating Questions

Paul deals with this problem by asking seven penetrating questions.  He used the Socratic Method.  He asks the Corinthians seven questions in eight verses.

It shows the power of questions.  He didn’t immediately start teaching them about lawsuits and rights.  He asked them a series of questions.  What were the questions?

1. Why do you take your disputes before the ungodly?

2. Do you not know that God’s people will judge the world?

3. Are not believers in Christ competent to judge trivial cases?

4. Do you not know that saints will judge angels?

5. Why do you ask for a ruling from those who have no standing in the church?

6. Why would you not rather be wronged?

7.  Why would you not rather be cheated?

Some of these questions are radical.  They are unnatural.  They are counter-cultural.  He tells them to do the exact opposite of what you would expect people to do and what they would normally do.

Question about Testimony

Why do you take your disputes before the unrighteous?  This is a bad testimony.  Christians are supposed to be know for their love.

Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:13 NIV)

We are supposed to be known to the world by love and yet what they see is Christians fighting with one another and dragging them to court.  Are we concerned with our testimony?

Everything we do in the world affects our testimony before the world.  We represent Jesus.  What type of testimony do you have at work or in the community?  Is it good or bad?

Question about Prophecy

Do you not know that God’s people will judge the world?  Do you not know that the saints will judge angels?

These are questions about prophecy.  They are questions about end-time prophecy.  How well do you know prophecy?  We just finished a study of the Book of Revelation.

The problem of the Corinthians, and the problem of many Christians today, arose out of ignorance.  There were some things about the Bible that they did not know.

Paul asked them the question, Do you not know?  In fact, he asked them that question repeatedly.  He asked it six times in I Corinthians 6.  It is a problem today.

How many Christians today have a similar problem?  Many Christians do not know the Word and have no desire to know it deeply.  We have whole churches like that.

How many spiritual problems today do we have because we don’t know some things that we should know.  There are many examples of this.

People say, “I am born gay, so just accept it.  God made me that way.”  Even if the premise is true and some people are born gay, there is a flaw in the argument.

The Bible says that we are born sinners.  We are born with all kinds of evil desires and impulses.  It is called a sin nature.  It may manifest itself in homosexuality or it may manifest itself in some other sin.

Do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? I Corinthians 6:2

Do you not know that we will judge angels? (I Corinthians 6:3)

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? (I Corinthians 6:9)

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself (I Corinthians 6:15)

Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? (I Corinthians 6:16)

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? (I Corinthians 6:19)

How will we judge the world?  How will we judge angels?  We will not judge the good angels, but we will be involved in the judgment of bad angels (demons).

That is an interesting thought.  We do not have to tremble before demons.  One day we will judge them.  We will be involved in their judgment.  We will be involved in the judgment of the world.

Jesus will judge the world, but the saints will rule and reign with Jesus.  We have no idea what that will be like?

If we are going to judge demons and the world, we can decide a few minor squabbles in the church. As Paul says, are not believers in Christ competent to judge trivial cases?  We are.

Question about Their Judgment

Why do you ask for a ruling from those who have no standing in the church?  Why are you going to pagan judges to resolve this trivial church problem.

You are going to unrighteous judges to resolve this problem.  These are the same unrighteous judges that you will be judging one day.  That makes absolutely no sense.

Going to the unsaved to revolve a minor contract dispute between Christians would be like going to nonbelievers to resolve a theological dispute.  That would be disastrous.  That would only give you worldly or demonic wisdom.

Question about Mistreatment

This is perhaps the hardest for us to accept.  Paul asks the Corinthians two questions.  Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?  Why would he say this?

Paul tells the Corinthians to allow themselves to be defrauded, to be cheated, to be ripped off.  He tells them to allow people to scam them.

That seems little un-American.  Why didn’t he tell them to stand up for themselves?  Why didn’t he tell them to fight for their rights?  That is what we are told to do in society today.

It is not wrong to stand up for your rights.  There are times when we need to do that.  In fact, Paul did that.  He did not do it for a trivial matter.  He did it to prevent being flogged and put to death.

Paul used his legal rights as a Roman citizen to keep from being flogged (Acts 22:22-29).  He asserted his rights as a Roman citizen.  He said, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?” (Acts 22:25 NIV)

When Paul was falsely accused by the Jews. The Sanhedrin brought serious charges against Paul, some worthy of death. He appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:1-12).

That was his right as a Roman citizen to have your case tried in Rome. Romans could appeal their case to a higher court.

He didn’t just say, “I will be defrauded and take the wrong”. He took advantage of his rights as a Roman citizen, and we can take advantage of our rights as American citizens.

There are other times when we should take wrong.  There is a place to JUDGE WRONG.  We see that in I Corinthians 5.  There is also a place to TAKE WRONG.  We see that in I Corinthians 6.

Jesus did not stand up for His rights when he was arrested and beaten.  There are times we need to give up our rights for the gospel.

We also should not be tied to our possessions.  If we have to give them up, we should be able to.

 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. (Matthew 5:40 NIV) 

The Jews wore a shirt and a coat or tunic.  Here someone wants to take you to court.  They want to sue you for the very shirt on your back.

Jesus says “Don’t fight him for it.  Go ahead and give him not only your shirt but give him your coat as well.

A coat is more valuable.  It keeps you warm when it is cold.  It was used as a coat and a blanket in Jesus’ day.  We should not be tied to our possessions.

Our Christian testimony is more important that our money.  It is more important than our possessions.  Better to lose a few dollars and have a good testimony than to gain a few dollars and make the name of Christ look bad.

Paul says, “The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already” (I Corinthians 6:7 NIV).

He says if choose to take another believe to court over a trivial matter before a pagan judge, and if you win, you actually lose.  You win the case but lose your Christian testimony and the testimony of the local church.

 

Church Discipline

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 

3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 

11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”  (I Corinthians 5:1-13 NIV)

Today, we are going to talk about church discipline.  We are going to talk about tough love.

When a person is on a path to destruction, sometimes a family member or parent has to step in and provide some tough love.  Sometimes a church needs to do the same thing.

Today, we are going to talk about excommunication.  Few understand it.  Many churches abuse it.  They excommunicate people for the wrong reasons.

Some of the greatest Christians throughout church history have been excommunicated by churches.

Five hundred years ago, in Germany, a monk named Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X on January 3, 1521, and declared a heretic.

He was excommunicated for simply saying that salvation is by grace and not by works.  Interesting, ten months later, that pope was dead.  He died December 1521 of pneumonia.

He was excommunicated for teaching the Bible.  Instead of being rewarded, you are punished by church leaders.  He was excommunicated for telling people what Paul said.  They would have excommunicated the Apostle Paul.

Throughout history, many churches have gone to extremes when it comes to excommunication but today few churches even practice biblical church discipline today.

Church discipline is not too popular today but is not man’s idea but God’s idea.  It is biblical.  Paul talks about it in I Corinthians 5.  Jesus talks about it in Matthew 18.

What exactly is excommunication?  When should a church resort to it?  Why should they do it?  All of these questions are answered in I Corinthians 5.

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians.  We learn in this chapter that I Corinthians is really II Corinthians.

Paul says in this chapter that he wrote a letter to them before I Corinthians.  It is a letter that we do not have (I Corinthians 5:9).

That does not mean that there are some lost books of the Bible.  Not everything that Paul wrote was inspired but it would be good to find this lost letter of Paul.

Not everything that Paul wrote was inspired.  Not everything that King David wrote was inspired.  He wrote the Psalms but he also wrote an assassination letter for Uriah and ordered his execution.  That was not inspired.

I Corinthians is a letter written to the American Church.  It was the church with problems.  This was not your grandma’s church.  In I Corinthians 5, Paul deals with a sex scandal in the Corinthian Church.

We have seen all kinds of sexual scandals in churches today and not just in the Catholic Church.

We have seen them in some evangelical churches.  We have seen them in Southern Baptist churches and often the pastor is involved.

That is not just a modern problem.  There were sex scandals in churches in the first century.

Today, we will be talking about sex, because Paul talks about it.  It is in our chapter.

I Corinthians 5 is a passage that deals with a difficult topic.  It deals with an adult topic.  It deals with incest.

That is not something that we talk that much about in church.  It is not easy to talk about, especially over the pulpit and yet that was the sin taking place in this church.

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate.  A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. (I Corinthians 5:1 NIV)

This gives us a problem which was happening in the Corinthian Church.  What type of sin was this?

The Corinthians Sex Scandal

1) This was a SEXUAL SIN

There was a sex scandal in the church.  It involved sexual activity.

2) This was a FAMILY SIN

A man was in a sexual relationship with his stepmother.  It was a case of incest.

You say this is not something that happens today but it does.  Woody Allen married his stepdaughter in 1997 and it became one of Hollywood’s biggest scandals.

Incest in the state of North Carolina is not limited to biological family members and it is not limited to them according to Scripture.  It includes any family members.

A stepmom is still a mom.  A stepdad is still a dad.  Adopted children are still your children.  If you have any question about this, read Leviticus 18.  It lists the relationships that God approves and the kind that He does not approve of.

3) This was PROVEN SIN

It was not just a rumor.  It was well known in the community.  It was not a private sin.  It was a public sin.  The facts were beyond dispute.

4) This was DEPRAVED SIN

The behavior was so bad that even the unsaved pagans did not approve of it.  The pagans approved of all kinds of depravity and debauchery but not incest.  This sin made even the unsaved blush.

5) This was CHURCH SIN

This was not a shocking sin in the world but in the church.  This man was a member of the Corinthian Church.  He was in good standing. The church did not do anything about it.

6) This was UNREPENTANT SIN

The man was unapologetic.  He was not sorry for what he had done.  He did not think he was doing anything wrong, like sin today.

7) This was SURPRISING SIN

This all took place in a church founded by an apostle.  You would expect people in apostolic churches to behave better but they acted no different from people today.

Instructions on Church Discipline

Now, we come to instructions on church discipline.  As bad as this sin was, Paul does not focus on it.  There were two sins involved here.  Most of us just focus on the one sin.

There was the sin of the man.  There was a depraved sexual sin from a professing Christian.  That was bad but the sin of the church was even worse.  Paul condemned the man but focused on the sin of the church.

The church did not judge this sin.  They did not deal with it.  They did not even think it was wrong.

Paul said that they were proud (I Corinthians 5:2).  They were not weeping about the sin and loss of testimony in the church.  They were proud.  They almost seemed like a modern church.

They believed in grace.  They believed in liberty.  They believed in tolerance.  They believed in love.  They believed in acceptance.  These are modern virtues.

Paul he told the Corinthians what they needed to do to solve this problem.

So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (I Corinthians 5:4-5 NIV)

Notice what Paul says in this chapter.  He uses some strong language.  What does he tell them to do?

Put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this (I Corinthians 5:2)

EXPEL the wicked person from among you (I Corinthians 5:13 NIV).

HAND THIS MAN OVER TO SATAN for the destruction of the flesh (I Corinthians 5:5 NIV)

Do not ASSSOCIATE with him.  Do not even EAT with him (I Corinthians 5:11)

JUDGE him (I Corinthians 5:12 NIV)

He didn’t tell them to love him, accept him and tolerate him.  He told them to judge him.  He told them to get rid of him.  He told them to expel them.

In fact, Paul did not just say, “kick him out.”  He said, “Hand him over to Satan.”  That sounds a little scary.

Why would any Christian want to hand a sinner over to Satan?  Aren’t we supposed to be snatching people from Satan, not giving them to him?

That sounds a little harsh.  It sounds a little unloving.  It sounds un-Christian.   Paul added one more detail.

Not only were they to judge the man, kicked him out and remove him from church membership.  Not only were they to hand the man over to Satan but they were not even to eat with him.

You must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. DO NOT EVEN EAT WITH SUCH PEOPLE. (I Corinthians 5:11 NIV).

Biblical Teaching on Excommunication

What does the Bible teach about excommunication?  It teaches several things.

1) Excommunication is reserved for the worst sins

Excommunication is reserved for the worst sins.  Some have been excommunicated for things that are not sins at all.  Some churches have excommunicated believers who have not done anything wrong.

Six hundred years ago, in France a peasant girl named Joan of Arc was excommunicated because she heard the voice of God.  God spoke to her.

She was excommunicated for getting a haircut and not wearing a dress when she went off to battle.  None of those are biblical grounds for excommunication.

She was burned at the stake in 1431.  It was such a clear miscarriage of justice that twenty years later, she was retried and found not guilty.  In fact, a hundred years ago, a pope canonized her as a saint (1920).

It is not for minor things.  In Corinthians 5 it is for incest, but it is not limited to sexual sins.  Paul says it can be done for idolatry, slander, drunkenness, and theft.

It is not talking about someone who falls into any of these sins.  Anyone can.  It is talking about someone who claims to be a Christian and lives in blatant sin without repentance.

Excommunication is not limited to a wicked lifestyle.  It applies to doctrinal, as well as moral issues.

Holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. (I Timothy 1:19-20 NIV)

Here are two men who Paul excommunicated for false teaching.  They were excommunicated for false doctrine.

2) Excommunication is a long process

It is the last step in a long process.  Jesus gives us the steps in Matthew 18.

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17 NIV)

If a person in the church is living in open sin or teaches false doctrines.  If a person has been confronted multiple times but refuses to submit to the leadership of the church.

If a person says is unrepentant and says, “I have done nothing wrong.  I am going to continue do it anyway.  I am proud of my actions.”  That is the type of person who should be excommunicated from a local assembly.

You can’t stop people from showing up at church, but you can remove people from church membership.

You can withhold communion from people who are excommunicated and keep them from doing ministry in the church when they are living in open sin. You can also stop fellowshipping with them.

3) Excommunication is a radical act

It turns a person over to Satan. This is frightening.  What is that all about?

When a person in the church lives like the world, refuses to repent, he or she should be sent back into the world.  When a person lives like the Devil, he is sent back to the Devil.  He is sent back to the place where he came from.

The world is the domain of Satan.  Satan is called “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV).  He is described as “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Ephesians 2:2 NIV)

When we get saved, we are taken out of Satan’s kingdom.  We are rescued from Satan’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13).  We are brought out of darkness into light.

We become part of the church.  Paul said that the church is the temple of God.  The Spirit of God dwells in the church.  It is the place of the presence of God.

There are special benefits and blessings to being in a local church.  It is a place of protection.  There is a hedge or of protection around church members, just like there was over Job.

When a person is placed back in the world and back into the dominion of Satan, the hedge of protection is removed.

Satan is given permission to work on that person.  Satan has the ability to afflict the body (Job 2:4-10; Mark 9:17-25).  That is clear from the book of Job.

4) The goal of excommunication is salvation

The goal of excommunication is not to hurt people but to help them.  The purpose of excommunication Is not to condemn people to hell or to consign them to outer darkness.

Paul says, “Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be SAVED on the day of the Lord.” (I Corinthians 5:5 NIV)

The ultimate goal is for the man to repent and be saved.  The implication here is that the man in I Corinthians 5 was not saved if he still needed to be saved.  Not everyone in church is saved.

Applications for Today

1. Take sin seriously

The man in this chapter did not take sin seriously.  He did not take sexual sin seriously.  The church did not take sin seriously.

A man was committing blatant sin in the church.  He did not even try to hide it and the church did not think it was a big deal.  That was a big mistake.

Paul gives a special title of Jesus in this chapter.  He is described as the Passover Lamb who was sacrificed for us (I Corinthians 5:7).

Paul used a cooking analogy.  It is a baking analogy.  He said, “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?(I Corinthians 5:6 NIV).

The NLT reads, “a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?”

It only takes a little yeast.  It only takes a little sin. One sin ruined the whole race.  One sin can ruin a whole church.  Even a little sin that goes unchecked can destroy a church.  It spreads like cancer.  Sin spreads.

Do you take sin seriously?  Do you take sin seriously in yourself?  Do you take it seriously in your sin or is sin so prevalent today that you do not even notice it anymore, because it no longer bothers you?  We have become desensitized to sin.

2. Watch your Christian testimony

Are you aware of the testimony you have among those around you?  Is it good or bad.  That is a major lesson from this chapter and the next chapter.

The man in I Corinthians 5 was not a professing Christian who lived like the world.  That is bad enough.

This man was a professing Christian who lived worse than the unsaved.  Unbelievers were more righteous than he was.  That is embarrassing.

Greek and Roman law prohibited the behavior of the man in this chapter.  There are some things that even the unsaved think are bad.  They usually do not speak too highly of child molesters and rapists.

What kind of testimony do you have in the world? The Apostle Paul said of some people that “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24 NIV)

In I Corinthians 6, we will see another example of a poor testimony.  Christians were taking other Christians to court.  It made the church look bad.  These pagan judges saw Christians fighting other Christian in court.

3. Fight for the purity of the church

We need to fight for the purity of the church.  We need to fight for the moral purity of the church.  We need to fight for the doctrinal purity of the church.

In this chapter, leaven is described as sin.  It is described as sexual sin.  He said, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (I Corinthians 5:6)

In Galatians 5:9, Paul said, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” and there he is talking about false teaching.  He is talking about the Judaizers.

This is where tough love comes in.  In order to have a pure church, certain people have to be removed.  There are certain people you should not eat with.

That does not mean that you are to have absolutely no contact with the individual or talk to that person.  It doesn’t mean that we are rude and unfriendly.  It is an act of tough love.

There is a difference between ministering to someone and fellowshipping with someone.  Paul is talking about fellowship.

Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer. (II Thessalonians 3:14-15 NIV)

You can’t warn or admonish someone if you have no contact with them, but you do not treat them the same either.

4. Don’t judge the world

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 

11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”  (I Corinthians 5:9-13 NIV)

Paul talks here about insiders and outsiders. We are to treat the church different from the world.

The unsaved are spiritually dead.  They do not know Jesus.  They don’t know the Bible.  They do not have the Holy Spirit.  Paul says we are not to judge the world.

That does not mean that we cannot preach against sin.  We can proclaim truth.  Speaking the truth is not the same as judging.

Paul preached against sin.  He has long lists of sin in his epistles.  He condemned the sin in his day.  Noah condemned the world of his day (Hebrews 11:7).

We can take a stand for righteousness, but it is not our job to judge the unsaved.  That is God’s job.  Our job is to preach the gospel.

Paul did not encourage us all to become monks and nuns and isolate from the world.  We are to associate with sinful people in the world.  That is the only way to reach them.

Do you have some contact with non-Christians, or do you only spend time with fellow Christians?  We are to live in the world.  We are to be salt and light.

Fools for Christ

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.

10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

 I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15 Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 

16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?

Today, we are going to be talking about fools.  We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians.  It is an incredible book about a dysfunctional church.  It is a book written to the church with problems.

Every Christian should read and study this book.  Many churches in America look like the Church of Corinth.  What Paul said to this church applies to churches in our own day.

We have been looking at I Corinthians 4.  We spent several weeks in this chapter.  Today, we are going to finish the chapter.  We are going to look at three things that Paul says to us today.

1) Listen to your spiritual leaders

That is something the church needs to hear today.  All of us have spiritual leaders.  There are spiritual leaders in every congregation.

They are not infallible.  They are not perfect.  They are sinners.  They need accountability but the Bible tells us to honor them.

It tells us to submit to their authority, even when we do not always agree with them.

Many Christians today have a problem with that.  Many have a problem with authority.  It is a problem in society as a whole.

People have a problem with parents.  They have a problem with teachers.  They have a problem with law enforcement.  They have a problem with all politicians.

Paul was the spiritual leader of the Corinthians.  He was not just an apostle.  He was not just their pastor.  He was not just the one who founded their church.  He did start it.

He was the one who led them to the Lord.  They were his spiritual children.  He calls the Corinthians “his dear children” (I Corinthians 4:14).

As far as we know, Paul did not have any physical children, but he was still a father.  He had some spiritual children.

Do you have any spiritual children?  Are there any that you have evangelized or discipled?  There were many people he led to Christ.  He tells the Corinthians, “I am your daddy.”

For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel (I Corinthians 4:15 NJKV).

They had many teachers.  They listened to many preachers, but they only had one spiritual father.  There was only one person who led them to Christ.  They were led to Christ by the Apostle Paul.

When you have children, you have to discipline them.  Anyone who has kids knows that children need discipline.  Kids need correction.  Some need it more than others but they all need it.

Some parents do not give kids that today. They use the hands-off approach to child-rearing.  They let kids raise themselves.  That is one of the reasons they act like a fool in the classroom.

Paul gave his children correction.  The Corinthians were his problem. children.  He wrote a letter to them.

He uses some strong language.  Sometimes we need to use strong language with fellow Christians, but we need to do it in love.  The Bible says to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Paul used strong language.  He rebuked the Corinthians.  He admonishes them (I Corinthians 4:14).  He even used some sarcasm in this chapter.

Is it ever right to use sarcasm?  Most sarcasm is sinful.  It is used to mock people and ridicule them but in the Bible sarcasm is used to mock idols.

The prophet Elijah used it with the prophets of Baal.  He had a contest with them on Mount Carmel.  It was a contest to see who the true God was.

It was a contest to see which would answer by fire.  The prophets of Baal went first.

They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. (I Kings 18:26 NIV)

Finally, Elijah mocked them.  He told them to yell louder.  He can’t hear you.  Elijah said that maybe he is sleeping or on a trip or going to the bathroom (I Kings 18:27).  There are other places in the Bible where we see it as well.

Paul used strong language.  He also said that he was going to send Timothy to Corinth.  Timothy was much younger than Paul but he knew him well.

They worked together on the mission field.  He was a faithful worker.  Paul trusted him.

For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (I Corinthians 4:17 NIV)

Timothy had not arrived yet.  In the last chapter, he tells the Corinthians that when he comes to treat him well (I Corinthians 16:10-11).

Finally, he said that he was going to come to Corinth to visit them.  Some of the Corinthians said that he was never coming.

Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing (I Corinthians 4:18-19 NIV)

A fool spurns a parent’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence. (Proverbs 15:5 NIV).  A fool also spurns a spiritual parent’s discipline.

2) Do not be afraid of suffering

The Corinthians did not know the role of suffering in the Christian life.  Most Christians today do not know it either, especially in America.

The prosperity gospel popular in many circles.  What does the prosperity gospel teach?  In different churches, it is presented in different ways.

It says that God blesses people financially.  It says that wealth is a sign of his favor.  Some even teach that it is God’s will for every believer to be rich.  It is called the health and wealth gospel.

It is a message that people want to hear.  Who would not want to be told that, if you are a Christian, you will never be sick and you will never be poor?

Who would not want to be told that you will never have problems in your life?  You will have health, wealth.  You will have prosperity.  The Corinthians believed in prosperity theology.

They were strong.  They were honored.  They were respectable.  They were popular with the world (I Corinthians 4:10).  They acted like royalty.

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! (I Corinthians 4:8 NIV)

They were reigning as kings.  They thought they were in the Millennium.  There are some Christians that think that today.  They are called amilllennialists.

Is prosperity theology biblical?  No.  It is not biblical but, as with most false teachings, they have an element of truth in them.  That is the way that Satan deceives people.  He mixes truth in with a bunch of lies.

God does bless people financially.  The Bible says so explicitly.

The blessing of the Lord brings wealth. (Proverbs 10:22 NIV)

The LORD will make you prosper abundantly in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land, in the land the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. (Deuteronomy 28:11 NIV)

“The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels, and donkeys. (Genesis 24:35 NIV)

God does bless people financially but is this the will of God for every believer?  No.  It was not even the will of God for the apostles.  We see that clearly in I Corinthians 4.

If there was anyone you would think that God would bless financially it would be the apostles.  If there were any believers that you would think should be wealthy, it would be the apostles.

They were the super Christians.  They spent time with Jesus.  They had special powers.  They could perform miracles and raise the dead.

They were the real deal.  They were not like Christians we see today.  They were not like the fake apostles that we see in some churches.

They were real apostles and they did not live in prosperity.  Everything did not always go well with them.  They did not have it easy.  Notice what the Apostle Paul said.

24 FIVE TIMES I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 THREE TIMES I was beaten with rods, ONCE I was pelted with stones, THREE TIMES I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move.

I have been in DANGER from rivers, in DANGER from bandits, in DANGER from my fellow Jews, in DANGER from Gentiles; in DANGER in the city, in DANGER in the country, in DANGER at sea; and in DANGER from false believers.

27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (II Corinthians 11:24-27 NIV)

That is interesting.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  All of these bad things were happening to the Apostle Paul.

Most preachers are dressed fairly well.  They live in a nice home.  They have plenty of food to eat.  Sometimes, too much.

Paul was hungry.  He was thirsty.  He was sleepy.  He was cold.  He was naked.  He was beaten.  He was homeless.

He had to work and he did not work in an air conditioned office.  He had to work with his hands.  He was in danger all of the time.  Wherever he went, his life was in danger.

Where is God in that?  We see God in success but not in failure.  Paul was right in the will of God when all of this was happening to him.  God was with him.  He wasn’t being punished.

You say, that is just Paul.  What about the rest of the apostles.  I Corinthians 4, Paul talks about the rest of the apostles.

Paul describes how the Corinthians were treated by the world and compares it to how he and the other apostles were treated.

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as LAST of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,

12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. (I Corinthians 4:9-12 NIV)

How were they treated?  The apostles will be rewarded in heaven.  How did the world treat them?  Did they exalt them?  Did they offer them to speak at their universities?  Did they invite them as guests to speak on their TV shows?

The world treated them like entertainment.  Paul uses the Greek word θέατρον in I Corinthians 4:9. We get our word “theater” from this Greek word.  It is a public show for the entertainment value (cf. Acts 19:29, 31).

The world treated them like criminals.  They put them on death row.  They treated them like garbage (περίψημα).  They treated them like trash.  They treated them like scum.

The world treated them like fools (μωρός).  In I Corinthians 1, the Christian message, the gospel, is called foolish to the world.  The preaching of the cross to those who are perishing is foolishness.  In I Corinthians 4, Christian people are called foolish.

Seven Types of Fools

There are many different kinds of fools in the Bible.  Here are seven of them.

1. The Simple Fool

The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps (Proverbs 14:15 NIV).  Fools are gullible.  They are naïve.  They believe everything you tell them.  They are perfect targets for scammers and for fraud.

2. The Skeptical Fool

One type of fool believes everything.  Another type does not believe anything.  They do not believe in the Bible.  They do not believe in sin.  They do not believe in guilt.

Fools mock at sin (Proverbs 14:9 NKJV).  The whole concept of sin is a joke to fools.  It is prehistoric.  That is the view of modern society.

They do not believe in sin.  They do not believe in Hell.  They do not even believe in God. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1 NIV).

Not all fools have a low IQ.  Fools may be smart.  They may be educated.  They can teach at Princeton or Harvard, and still be fools.

Atheists think that they are smart.  They think that they are advanced.  Other people may call them smart.  God calls them fools.

3. The Ignorant Fool

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7 NIV).  That is one of the signs of a fool.  You can see it in kids.  You can see it in adults.

4. The Arrogant Fool

The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. (Proverbs 12:15).  Every fool thinks he is right.  He cannot be convinced otherwise.  When you can never tell a person anything, he or she is a fool.

5. The Material Fool

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ (Luke 12:16-20)

This fool is materialistic.  He is covetous.  He has no interest in God or spiritual things.  He lives only for this world.

6. The Mocking Fool

Fools mock at sin (Proverbs 14:9 NKJV).  They mock at guilt.  The whole concept of sin is a joke to fools.  It is prehistoric.  That is the view of modern society.

7. The Christian Fool

Paul calls himself a fool.  He was a fool apostle.  Some people are just fools.  Paul was a fool for Christ.  What does it mean to be a fool for Christ?

It is someone who is willing to be ridiculed and mocked by the world.  It is someone who accepts being hated by the world and does not try to compromise his faith to fit in.

You say that is great for Paul and the apostles but not us.  Paul says, “IMITATE ME.” Therefore I urge you to imitate me. (I Corinthians 4:16 NIV)

That does not mean that we all should be homeless.  He was not homeless by choice, but he was not afraid to take a stand for Christ and suffer for his faith.  The Christian life is a life of suffering.

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (II Timothy 3:12 NIV)

3) Don’t just talk about your faith

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (I Corinthians 4:20 NIV)

This is an important verse.  How genuine is your Christian life?  Christianity is more than saying the right words.  It is more than taking a catechism class or a new believer’s class and being able to recite all of the creeds or doctrines of the faith.

It is about power.  But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NIV)

If you have the Holy Spirit in you, you have power, supernatural power.  It does not necessarily mean you will be able to break things, like the Faith Force

It does mean that you will have a changed life, if you are genuinely saved.  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.  Jesus has the power to completely change and transform lives.

This is one of the ways to choose a good church.  Many of us go where there are good words.  We go where you can hear a good sermon.

That’s great but is there any power?  Some of the best preachers live lives that completely contradict what they say.

Having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (II Timothy 3:5 NIV)

You can have a church with good words.  You can have a church with good rituals.  You can have a church with outward forms of religion without any power or you can have a church with all of those things with supernatural power.

 

 

 

Proud Christians

Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (I Corinthians 4:6-7 NIV).

Today, we are going to talk, not about pride in the world but pride in the church. We are going to talk about proud elders and proud deacons.

We are going to talk about proud pastors and proud churches.  We are going to talk about proud Christians.

Are you guilty of pride?  How would you even know if you have a problem with pride?  One writer lists forty-one ways to know if you struggle with pride.[1]

We are studying the Book of I Corinthians.  It is a book that is relevant to the American Church.  Corinth is the most American city in the NT.

It is the church with problems, like most churches today.  Just about every problem that churches have today, the church of Corinth had two thousand years ago.

The first problem that Paul dealt with was division. It was not sexual sin.  It was not homosexuality.  It was prostitution.  It was not shacking up.  It was not having affairs.

It was division.   Paul spent the first four chapters of I Corinthians on the topic of division. That may not even make our top ten list.  It was number one on Paul’s list.

A church that struggles with division will not last long as a church.  It will lead to the destruction of a church.

Today, we are going to look at the cause of division in a church.  Paul goes back to the root cause.  The root cause is PRIDE.  Pride is mentioned three times in this chapter (I Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19).

Pride is the oldest sin ever committed.  It goes back to Satan who said, “I will ascend to the heavens.  I will raise my throne above the stars of God…  I   will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14 NIV).

Augustine said, “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”

We do not even think pride is a problem today.  The world thinks it is a good thing, not a bad thing.  It celebrates pride.

It has pride days and yet, the Bible calls pride a sin.  It was the first sin ever committed.  It is not just a small sin; it is a big sin.

The world likes pride and says it is a good thing.  God hates pride and says it is a bad thing.  We are told that three times in Proverbs.  Solomon mentions seven thongs that God hates and pride is number one on the list.

There are six things the Lord HATES, seven that are detestable to him: 17 HAUGHTY EYES, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. (Proverbs 6:16-19 NIV)

To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate PRIDE AND ARROGANCE, evil behavior and perverse speech. (Proverbs 8:13 NIV)

The Lord detests ALL THE PROUD OF HEART. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished (Proverbs 16:5 NIV).  The NKJV reads, “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.

God not only HATES pride; He RESISTS it.  We are told in the Bible that God resists the proud.  He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

We are told that three times in the Bible: once in the OT (Proverbs 3:34) and twice in the NT (James 4:7; I Peter 5:5).

God knows how to deal with people who are proud.  One way He does that is through sickness.  Nothing humbles you more than being sick and in bed.

The pagan king Nebuchadnezzar found that out.  He was proud.  He said, ““Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30 NIV). God made him eat grass for seven years (Daniel 4). He acted like an animal. He struggled with mental illness.

Herod found this out.  He was worshipped as a god but then was struck with worms.  He was eaten by an animal.  He not only got sick; he died (Acts 12).  He was struck down by an angel of the Lord (Acts 12:23).

King Uzziah found it out as well.  The Bible says that “his pride led to his downfall” (II Chronicles 26:16 NIV).  He was a believer.  He went into the Temple to burn incense on the altar.  Only the priests were allowed to do that.  God struck him with leprosy (II Chronicles 26).

Pride in the Church

In I Corinthians 4, Paul is not talking about pride in the world.  He is talking about pride in the church.  The Corinthians were believers.  Paul called them saints.

He wrote this letter to “the church of God at Corinth” and yet this was a church full of spiritual pride.  Paul told them not to be puffed up.  That is the way that Paul describes them is puffed up.  They are filled with hot air.  They are inflated.

This was a proud church and there are many churches like them today. The word for “puffed up” is φυσιόω.  It is used seven times in the NT.

Six of the seven times, it is used of the Church of Corinth (I Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4).  It is used of Christians.

Many problems in the church are caused by pride.  Many arguments among Christians are rooted in pride.

Many divisions in church come from pride.  No church is perfect.  No pastor is perfect.  Christians get mistreated.  They get offended.  Rather than dealing with this biblically, they get mad.  They leave the church.  They get others to leave.

What are some of the ways that we see pride in the church?  How is it manifested?

Signs of a Proud Christian

How does pride manifest itself in the church today?  What makes a proud Christian?  There are many signs.  Here are four.

1) Criticism

A proud person is critical and judgmental.  Now all criticism is not wrong, otherwise Paul could not criticize the Corinthians.  This is unjust, unbiblical, excessive judgment.  A discerning spirit is different from a critical spirit.  That is a spirit rooted in pride.

It is a faultfinding spirit.  It is an obsession with pointing out the minor flaws of other people.  It is being the sin police.  It is looking for specks in other people’s eyes, instead of focusing on the beam in our own eyes.

We like to criticize everything.  Paul says do not go around judging other Christians, because you will be judged yourself by Jesus.

We have had a lot of people leave our church recently.  We had dinner with some of them to find out why.  When one young couple explained why, I was shocked.

Everything they said was minor.  They even admitted the reasons they were leaving were minor.  You should never leave a church over minor things.

Just because we do not like something doesn’t make it wrong.  It might be a question of style or taste.

2) Stubbornness

A proud person is stubborn.  They have no interest in listening to the other side of an argument.  They just want to express their opinion.

Proud people think they are always right. They wouldn’t listen even if the church leaders (pastor, elders, deacons) correct them.  The Corinthians church wouldn’t even listen to an apostle.

They would not even listen to the apostle who wrote most of the books of the NT.  They knew better than Paul.  That was a sign of pride.

There are Christians today that have some strange beliefs.  They do not live their lives according to Scripture.

They would not be corrected if a genuine apostle told them that they are wrong.  They wouldn’t listen even if the Bible corrects them.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and STUBBORNNESS is as iniquity and idolatry. (I Samuel 15:23 KJV)

3) Superiority

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. (Romans 12:3 NIV)

Proud people think that they are better than other Christians.  They look down on them.  How do we do this today?

Some churches think they are the only ones who believe the Bible.  They are the only true church or denomination on the planet.  They are the only ones who teach the truth.

All other groups are off doctrinally in these days of apostasy.  Some charismatic groups think that they are the only ones who have the Holy Spirit.

Some in the house church movement told me that they would never set foot in a church, because there are too many demons on people.  That is pride.  They are too good to set foot in church.

Paul talks about one group of Christians feeling superior over another group.  He tells Gentile Christians not to feel superior to Jewish Christians.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. (Romans 11:19-21 NIV)

We do not have that problem Gentile Christians feeling superior over Jewish Christians but we have the same problem today.

Charismatics who are cast out demons and live in the supernatural feel superior to the typical Baptists down the street who cannot do these things.  That is pride

People in big city churches feel superior to people who attend small country churches.  American Christians feel superior to Christians in third world countries.  That is pride.

4) Boasting

Boasting occurs when you put those feelings of superiority to words.  You can boast in all kinds of things (e.g., gifts and abilities).  You can boast that you speak in tongues and have a beautiful voice, while the rest of us cannot sing on pitch.

You can boast in your church.  You can boast in your preacher or your favorite bible teacher.  That is what the Corinthians were doing.  Some said, “I follow Paul.”  Other said, “I follow Apollos.”  Others said, “I follow Peter.”

Paul makes a very important statement.  He gives an exhortation to the Corinthians.  It is an exhortation we need to hear today.

Don’t Go Beyond What is Written

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. (I Corinthians 4:6 ESV)

The exhortation is to keep it biblical.  Why is it important that we don’t go beyond what is written?  That is what the Corinthians were doing.  It is what Christians do today in many churches.

Many Christians unfortunately go beyond what is written.  Many do not even know what is written.  Many do not know the Word very well.  They have been in churches for years and they still do not know it.

That is why we need to be read and study God’s Word.  We need to be exposed to expository preaching.  Not every preacher does that.  Not every preacher believes in it.

What is expository preaching?  Expository preaching occurs when the sermon comes right out of the text.  It is preaching through the Bible chapter by chapter.  Nothing is ignored or skipped.

That exposes people to the whole counsel of God.  If you don’t do that, you get imbalanced.  You overemphasize one topic.  You have a favorite doctrine or passage that you keep preaching on.

You end up ignoring many other passages of Scripture.  How do Christians do we go beyond what is written today?  Let me suggest four ways this is done today.

1) We go beyond what is written by ignoring Scripture

That is what the Corinthians were doing.  They were following men.  They were exalting preachers.  It was going beyond what is written.

It is not going beyond what is written to have a favorite preacher.  Some preachers speak to you better than others.  We all have our personal preferences.

The problem is when we reject everyone else and say there is only one true preacher and one true church.  All of the other ones are false.

Society rejects it and goes beyond what was written in Scripture when it comes to marriage.  It goes beyond what was written in Scripture when it comes to gender.

2) We go beyond what is written by adding to Scripture

Cults do this.  False religions do this.  They have all kinds of books to the Bible (The Koran, the Book of Mormon).

That is adding to what is written.  The canon of Scripture is closed.  God is not writing any more books of Scripture.

3) We go beyond what is written by adding church rules

There is nothing wrong with church rules, but legalists (modern-day Pharisees) add binding rules on Christians that go beyond Scripture.

You can’t do this and you can’t do that, not because the Bible says it is wrong but because a church says it is wrong.

When churches follow these rules for years, they become tradition.  Many Christians follow their traditions, rather than Scripture.

We have whole denominations based on church traditions.  They have gone beyond what is written.

4) We go beyond what is written by following an experience.

There is nothing wrong with experience.  We should all have them, but we should not base our doctrine on our experiences.  That is what many do in the charismatic movement.

There is a famous quote by Leonard Ravenhill.  Ravenhill was a great preacher.  He said, “A man with an experience of God is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.”

That is a true statement but there are all kinds of false religions that have incredible experiences.  Truth is not based on our subjective experiences.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have their experiences.  Mormons have their experiences.  Muslims and Hindus have their experiences.  Truth is not based on those experiences.

Three Powerful Questions

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (I Corinthians 4:7 NIV)

We come now to three questions.  Paul asks the Corinthians three powerful questions from one verse.  Jerry Vines called these “three bible pins to pop prideful Christians.”[2]

These are questions we need to think about.  The first is a WHO question.  the second is a WHAT question.  The third is a WHY question.

1) Who makes you different from anyone else?

Are we different from one another.  Yes.  We are very different.  We all have different gifts and abilities.  He made us differently.

We did not make ourselves different.  God did.  John the Baptist said, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27 ESV).  Today, we take God out of the equation.

2) What do you have that you did not receive?

Everything we have is a gift.  That goes against the view that everything we have, we did.  We worked for it.  We earned it.  That is the self-made man view.  That is the secular view.

The problem with that approach is that you could not do anything unless God provided the job, gave you the mind and health to work.  God gives us the air we breathe.  He gives us the clothes on our back.

Absolutely everything is a gift.  Jesus had a conversation with Pontius Pilate.  Pilate asked him a question.  Jesus did not answer him.

Pilate said, “Don’t you know that I have the power to let you go or to crucify you?”  Jesus said, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” (John 19:11 NIV).

3) Why do you boast as though you did not receive it?

Why are you proud?  Why are you boasting?  If you do very well in school and have the highest GPA, you can’t boast about it.  God is the one who gave you your mind.  He gave you your IQ.

There is absolutely no basis for pride.  God gives people special gifts and abilities and then they go around boasting about them, thinking that they are special.

In Acts 3, we encounter a poor beggar who could not walk.  People carried him and put him by the temple to beg.  He wanted some money.

Peter says, “I don’t have any money but, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk.”  He grabs him by the arm, helps him up and he walks.

People could not believe what happened.  They were shocked.  They were amazed.  Peter said, “Why does this surprise you? … It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see” (Acts 3:12, 16 NIV)

[1] https://preachitteachit.org/archives/3140

[2] https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/10163/bible-pins-for-puffed-up-christians/

Christian Leadership

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (I Corinthians 4:1-5 ESV)

Today, we come to an important passage on Christian leadership.  We are going to talk about Christian leaders.  The world is in desperate need of good leaders.  This passage raises a bunch of questions.

What is a leader?  The biblical definition is radically different from the secular definition.  Leaders in the church should look different than leaders in the world.

What is a leader?  What makes a good leader?  What does a successful leader look like? What does a successful ministry look like?

What does a failure in ministry look like?  How are leaders evaluated?  This section deals with judging pastors.  It deals with judging preachers.

It tells us how to respond when people criticize you.  It tells you how to respond when your leadership comes under attack.

The first five verses tell us how to think about leaders.  They begin with the words, “This is how you ought to regard us” (I Corinthians 4:1 NIV).

This is how you are to think about the Apostle Paul.  This is how you are to think about your pastor.  This is how you are to think about your elders.  This is how you are to think about the leaders in your church.

Today, we are going to look at three qualities of leaders from this passage.  Some may say, “What does this have to do with me?  I am not a pastor.”  There is more than one way to lead or have influence over someone.

You can lead a home.  You can lead a family.  You can lead a small group.  You can have leadership roles at work or in the community but, even if you do not lead anyone directly, these three qualities are true of every Christian.

Three Qualities of Leaders

1. Leaders SERVE

The first quality of leaders is that they are servants.  This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ (I Corinthians 4:1 NIV).  True leading is serving.  That is radically different from what we see in society.  Christian leaders are to be servants.

There are different Greek words for “servant” in the NT.  The two main words are δοῦλος and διάκονος.  We get out word “deacon” from διάκονος.

Paul said, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants (διάκονος), through whom you came to believe” (II Corinthians 3:5 NIV).

Paul calls himself “a minister (διάκονος) of the new covenant” (II Corinthians 3:6)

Paul begins the Book of Romans with the words, “Paul, a servant (δοῦλος) of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1 NIV).

Jesus said, “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24 NIV).  The main word for slave in Greek is δοῦλος.

In I Corinthians 4, Paul uses a different word for servant.  It is not the normal word for servant.  The word used in I Corinthians 4:1 is ὑπηρέτας. It is used of anyone under the authority of another (cf. Matthew 26:58; Mark 14:54, 65).

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants (ὑπηρέτας) would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36 NIV)

Now, that does not sound very glamorous.  The first thing Paul says about Christian leaders is that they are servants.

What do we know about servants? They are people who are owned by another person.

They cannot do their own thing.  They cannot do their own will.  They do the will of another.  They belong to someone else.  They cannot make independent choices about their life.

They don’t go around barking out orders.  They are under orders.  The term “servant” implies subordination.

Real ministers are servants.  They are servants of Christ.  Now, not every pastor acts like a real servant.  Some want others to serve them.  It is all about them.

Many pastors do not act like servants but dictators.  They lord it over the flock (I Peter 5:2).  They are not humble servants but tyrants.  Beware of these types of leaders.

The world’s leaders are different from God’s leaders.  God’s leaders are servant leaders.  That is a completely different style of leadership.

In the traditional pyramid of leadership, the person at the top is the boss, or the CEO.  Upper management is at the top.

The president of the company is at the top.  Employees are at the bottom.  That is the hierarchical leadership structure.

In the Bible, we see an inverted pyramid.  The leaders are not at the top but at the bottom.  They are the servants.  They put other people first.  They lead by example.

Jesus said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26 NIV).  To be great in the kingdom, you must be a servant.

He said, “whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:27-28 NIV)

This is a message that is relevant today.  Just a few days ago, I read a news article about a pastor of a mega church in Tennessee who resigned.  I was reading the article to find out why.

I expected it to be because of some major moral problem, like running off with the secretary.  Instead, I found out that he resigned because of an unhealthy leadership style.

You say, “I am not a leader.”  You may not be, but all Christians are servants.  We are servants of Christ.  He is our Master.

He bought us with His own blood.  He owns us.  We will see this in I Corinthians 6.  Paul says that our body is not even our own.

This is completely counter cultural.  The world says that slavery is bad.  Human slavery is bad but slavery to God is good.

One of the greatest titles anyone can give you is that you are a servant of the living God.  That does not lead to bondage but freedom.

It is not done against your will.  People choose to become Christians.  They accept the gospel and believe.

2. Leaders MANAGE

That is the second thing that Paul says about Christian leaders is that they are stewards.

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ AND stewards of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 4:1 ESV).

What is a steward?  A steward is someone who is entrusted with something of value.  It is someone who is entrusted with something which belongs, not to them but to someone else, and the steward is to take care of it.

A steward is a position of trust.  It is a position of responsibility.  Servants do not have a special position, but stewards do.

That raises two important questions.  What has God entrusted to us?  What have we done with what God has entrusted to us?  We are entrusted with all kinds of things by God.

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (I Corinthians 4:7 NIV).

We are entrusted with a body.  We are entrusted by God with a mind.  We are entrusted with gifts, talents and abilities.  We are entrusted with financial resources.  What are we doing with it?

We are given other things as well.  We are given revelation.  We are given the Bible.  Paul says, we are “stewards of the mysteries of God.”

The Mysteries of God

What is that talking about?  All of the gospel centered churches (e.g., J.D. Greear) say that this is talking about the gospel.  That is part of it, but Paul does not say “mystery” (singular).  He says “mysteries” (plural).  What are some of the things that Paul calls a mystery?

1) Jesus is a mystery.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ (Colossians 2:2 NIV)

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. (Colossians 4:3 NIV)

2) The Gospel is a mystery

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19 NIV)

3) The church is a mystery

The relationship of Christ to the church is called a mystery (Ephesians 5:32).  The idea of a church made up of Jew and Gentile in one body is called a mystery (Ephesians 3:6).  That was not revealed in the OT.  Paul said that it was kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints (Colossians 1:27).

4) The rapture is a mystery

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed (I Corinthians 15:51 NIV)

Prophecy is a mystery.  It deals with future events.  There are several mysteries in the Book of Revelation.  There are many mysteries in the Bible.

What is the common denominator?   What do all of these mysteries have in common?  They are all revealed.  They are all in God’s Word.  It is our job to share these mysteries with others, not keep them to ourselves.

3. Leaders GIVE AN ACCOUNT

Leaders are accountable to Jesus.  They are going to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ.  We will all stand before this judgment seat.

Paul said so but leaders will have a stricter judgment than non-leaders.  They will have greater accountability before God.

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1 NIV).

That is a terrifying verse for every pastor and for every Sunday School teacher.  It is a warning for every Bible teacher.  To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48)

How will leaders be judged.  Paul said, “it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (I Corinthians 4:2 NIV).

What is God looking for? Faithfulness. What makes a great ministry?  Faithfulness

It is not intelligence.  It is not education.  It is not fame.  Some leaders have big names.  Everyone knows who they are.

It is not success.  You don’t have to pastor a mega church to be successful in God’s eyes.  It is faithfulness.

We see that in the Parable of the Talents.  God gave one servant five thousand dollars.  He gave one servant three thousand dollars.  He gave another servant one thousand dollars.  he gave the4m a job to do. He told them to make good use of that money.

Then, there was an accounting.  He met up with each one and said, “How did you do with what I gave you?”  What did He say to the servants who did what He asked them to do?  “Well done, good and FAITHFUL servant!” (Matthew 25:21, 23)

Applications for Today

What are the applications for us?  There are three important applications that come right out of this passage.

1) Are we faithful to Christ?

All of us are stewards of something.  We have all been given something.  Are we faithful with what we have been given?  Are we faithful with what God has called us to do?

Are we faithful to the ministry He has given us?  Are we faithful with all of the things that God has entrusted to us?  Are we faithful, day after day and year after year?

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms (I Peter 4:10 NIV)

There are many who are not faithful.  Some come to church only twice a year (Easter and Christmas).  One pastor used to say to those type of people on Easter, “See you at Christmas.”

There are many leaders who are not faithful.  They do not faithfully teach the Word.  Some start out their ministry great but end it in scandal and disgrace.

God is looking for faithfulness.  The world is looking for that as well.  Employers look for that.  They look for people who come to work every day and do their job.

Christians are to be faithful.  In fact, in the Book of Revelation, Jesus tells us to be faithful unto death (Revelation 2:10)

2) Do we respond properly to criticism?

One thing that all leaders face is criticism.  It comes with the territory.  No matter what they do, they will be criticized.  Not everyone will be happy.  You can never please everyone.

If you can’t deal with criticism, never be a leader.  How do you respond to criticism?  No one likes it but you can actually learn a lot from your critics.

A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool. (Proverbs 17:10 NLT)

Even the Apostle Paul was criticized in his day.  Many in Paul’s day criticized him.  They said that he was not a real apostle.  He was not one of the Twelve.  He did not follow Jesus around for three years, see His miracles and hear His teaching.

You can learn from your critics, but you should not let what they say bother you.  Paul didn’t care what other people thought of his ministry. 

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. (I Corinthians 4:3 NIV)

Paul didn’t care what other people thought of him.  He didn’t care what the government thought of him or what other Christians thought of him.

He didn’t even care what he thought of himself.  He only cared what the Lord thought of him.

Are we obsessed with what other people think of us?  Are we people pleasers?

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10 NIV)

3) Do we judge other Christians?

One of the biggest problems with Christians today is that they are always judging people.  There are some really judgmental Christians.  There are some big critics in church.

It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do NOT pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

We need to be careful about going around and judging another Christian.  Paul talks about this in Romans.

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. (Romans 14:4 NIV).

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. (Romans 2:1 NIV)

Is All Judgment Wrong?

How many times have you heard people say, “Don’t judge.”  Jesus said, “Don’t judge.”  He said, “Judge not that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1 NKJV).  This is  favorite bible verse.  Atheists love this verse.  “Don’t judge.”

Paul said, “Don’t judge.”  Paul said, “Judge NOTHING before the time” (I Corinthians 4:5 NIV)

Is all judging wrong?  No.  Jesus did not say that.  Paul did not say that.  It is the danger of taking verses out of context.

It is the danger of reading only half of the Bible.  That is what many people do.  That is what many non-Christians do but many Christians do it as well.

Jesus said, “Judge not that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1 NKJV).  That sounds final.  Don’t judge and yet in this same passage He talks about judging other people.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15 NIV).

Jesus says to look out for false prophets who don’t look like false prophets.  You have to identify them.  That requires judgment.

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:5 NIV)

Here, Jesus says it is okay to judge your brother if you are trying to legitimately help him, once you first judge yourself.

Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.” (John 7:24 NIV)

Paul said, “Judge NOTHING before the time” (I Corinthians 4:5 NIV).  That sounds like an absolute prohibition.  Nothing means nothing or are we allowed to judge some things?

The person with the Spirit makes judgments about ALL THINGS (I Corinthians 2:15 NIV)

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? ARE YOU NOT TO JUDGE THOSE INSIDE? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (I Corinthians 5:12-13 NIV)

There are clearly some things we are to judge as Christians and there are some things we are not to judge.  How do we distinguish the two?

There is a big difference between judging and being judgmental.  There is a difference between discerning right from wrong and hypocritical, self-righteous judgment.

The first involves basic discernment.  The second involves being part of the sin police.  Often, those judges are guilty of the same sins they are so passionately condemning.

There is a difference between judging actions and judging motives.  We can only judge actions.  Only God can judge motives.  He is the only one who can judge hearts.  We can’t speculate about motives.

God searches hearts.  He is the only one with all of the facts. God sees everything.  He hears everything.  He knows everything.  He is omniscient.  He is all-knowing.

He will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. (I Corinthians 4:5 NIV)

 

 

Self-Deception

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (I Corinthians 3:18-23 NIV)

Today, we want to talk about self-deception.  It is a big problem today.  It is even a problem for Christians.  Paul warned the Corinthians about it. What is self-deception?  Are we guilty of it in any area of our life?

We are finishing the third chapter of I Corinthians today.  It is Paul’s letter to the problem church.

The first problem that he deals with is the problem of divisions.  He spends four chapters on the topic.  It is a common problem in churches today.

Paul dealt with that problem first, even before he dealt with the problem of sexual sin in the church.  Division is a huge problem in families today.  It leads to the tragedy of divorce.

Division is a big problem in the church today.  There is no fight like a church fight.  Division leads to church splits.  It leads to people leaving churches and going to another church.  It can lead to a church closing.

It is a huge problem in our nation today.  America is an incredibly divided country.  A year from now, we will be going to the polls to vote for a president and the country is completely divided along party lines.

Today, we are going to see what causes divisions.  Divisions are not just behavioral issues but heart issues. Paul points out two things that cause divisions.

The two causes of division are thinking too highly of yourself and thinking too highly of others.  There are two commands here.  There are two prohibitions: Do not deceive yourself and do not boast in men.  Let’s look at these two causes.  Let’s look at them.

Thinking Too Highly of Yourself

The first cause is self-deception.  Paul says, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise” (I Corinthians 3:18 NIV).

Self-deception is a result of pride.  People think too highly of themselves.  They always think they are right.  They always think they know everything. 

We think we are wise, and everyone should listen to us.  When they don’t, we get mad.  We get in arguments with other believers and sometimes leave the church.

Division is an issue of self-deception.  How were the Corinthians self-deceived?  The Corinthians thought they were wise, but they weren’t.

Paul said that they needed to do some things to become wise.  They needed to become fools to become wise.

Two Forms of Deception

Let’s talk about deception.  There are really two forms of deception.  There is deception when other people trick us and there is deception when we trick ourselves.

1) Deception from others

How does that happen?  Scammers and con artists who tell us things that are not true.  People believe them and they get duped.  It happens every day.

Religious deception happens as well.  False teachers tell us things that are not true.  There are many examples of this in Scripture, but we are told not to be deceived.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. (Ephesians 5:6 NIV)

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. (II Thessalonians 2:3 NIV)

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. (I John 3:7 ESV)

These were false teachers in the first century.  There are many false teachers today in our own day.

What false teaching looks like today may be a little different than what it looked like in the first century, but the result is the same.

Many Christians believe some things that are not true.  They are deceived.  They have little discernment.  The only way to avoid it is to know the truth.

If you read God’s Word, study it, memorize it and meditate on it and obey it, you will not be deceived when false teachers appear and you will not be tossed back and forth with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14).

Sometimes they come into churches.  You can’t tell they are false teachers at first.  They blend in with everyone else.

2) Deception from yourself

This is not a deception from others, but a deception from yourself.  It is bad enough if other people tell you things that are not true and deceive you.

It makes you mad when someone rips you off.  It makes you angry.  You might have lost a lot of money because of it.

This is when you deceive yourself.  The worst form of deception is self-deception.  It is bad enough when someone else lies to you.  It is even worse when you lie to yourself.

Why would people lie to themselves?  The Bible teaches that the heart is deceitful.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NJKV)

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV).

It is not talking about the organ in our chest that pumps blood through every part of our body.  The biblical definition of the heart is different from the medical definition.

The Bible speaks of your heart as the center of your being.  It is the core of your being.  Notice what the Bible says about it.

This says three things about the human heart.  The human heart is WICKED.  It does some terrible things.  It is shocking what some people do to other people.

The human heart is DECEITFUL.  It can deceive us.  It can make us believe all kinds of things that are not true.

It is also SICK.  It is sick beyond repair.  The NIV says that it is “beyond cure.”  This word is used in Jeremiah of wounds that will not heal (Jeremiah 15:18; 10:19).

That is why we need a new heart.  We need regeneration.  We need to be born again.  The old heart cannot be repaired. The only solution is a heart transplant.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13 NIV).  Sin can deceive us.  It deceived Adam and Eve and can deceive us as well.

What is shocking is that unbelievers are not the only ones who can deceive themselves.

It is not just the unsaved but Christians who are capable of doing this.  We know that because Paul told the Corinthians not to deceive themselves.

That means it was possible for it to happen.  We can’t criticize the ignorant Corinthians for doing this.  We do it as well.  Is there any area of your life where you have deceived yourself?

Areas of Self-Deception

1. Health

Some of us deceive ourselves about our health.  We may have serious health problems.  We know we have a problem, but we live in denial.  We tell ourselves that we are fine.  We nationalize it.  We tell ourselves that we are fine.

2. Addictions

We can deceive ourselves about addictions.  We can tell ourselves that we do not have a problem with drinking or drugs, when we know that we do have a problem.  We tell ourselves that the addiction is under control.  That is self-deception.

3. Spiritual Condition

We can deceive ourselves about our spiritual state. There are plenty of serial killers who don’t think they are that bad. They are blind to their own spiritual state.

Some live a life completely out of the will of God but think they are fine.  Some professing Christians are like that.  They think they are spiritual but they are not.

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. (Revelation 3:17 NIV)

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (I John 1:8 NIV)

We may think we are doing great spiritually when we are doing terribly.  Some claim to be without sin but none of us are without sin.  If anyone claims to be without sin, that person is lying.  It is self-deception.

4. Eternal Destiny

We can deceive ourselves about salvation.  We can deceive ourselves about our eternal destiny.  We think we are going to heaven.  We tell ourselves we are going to Heaven when we are actually going to Hell.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)

Here you have people who are professing Christians.  They are doing evil.  They know they are doing evil but believe that they will be going to heaven and they are shocked when Jesus tells them that they are not.  They were self-deceived.  They told themselves lies.

5. Importance

Another area of self-deception comes from an over-inflated ego.  That is one way where we can deceive ourselves.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. (Romans 12:3 NIV)

If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. (Galatians 6:3 NIV)

That is the cause of many divisions in the church.  We think we are something when we are nothing.  We are the experts.  We are the smartest ones in the room.

We think too highly of ourselves and when others do not listen to us, we are upset.  How many of us think too highly of ourselves?  Do we think we are better than other people?  Do we look down on people who are not as educated or as smart or as wealthy as we are?  That is self-deception.

6. Obedience

Another way we deceive ourselves is in the area of obedience.  Hearing the Word preached is not enough.  Coming to church every week is not enough.  We must do what the Word says.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1:22 NIV)

7. Intelligence

A final way that people deceive themselves today is in the area of intelligence.  It is in the area of wisdom.  How do we deceive ourselves with wisdom?  We claim to be wise when we are not.

Just spend some time ith teenagers.  You can’t tell them anyhting.  They know everything.  they are wise in their own eyes.  The Corinthians thought they were wise but Paul said that they were not.  They needed to become fools to be really wise.

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

Questions about Wisdom

This is one of the strangest passages in the book.  It raises this question:  Is God against wisdom?  Is He against smart people?  He catches the wise in their craftiness.  Why is the wisdom of the world foolishness in God’s sight?

Why does Paul say if you want to become wise, you have to become a fool.  That’s a Bible paradox.  There are a lot of paradoxes in the Bible.

If you want to go up, go down.  If you want to be exalted, you have to be humbled (Luke 14:11). If you want to be first, be last (Matthew 19:30).  If you want to be strong, be weak (II Corinthians 12:10).

If you want to get, you have to give.  Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38).  If you want to find your life, you have to lose it (Matthew 10:39).

If you want to save your life, you have to lose it (Mark 8:35). If you want to be great, you have to serve (Matthew 20:26).

These are paradoxes of the Christian life.  Weak is strong.  Giving is getting. First is last.  Humbled is exalted.  Finding is losing.  Saving is losing.  Greatness is serving others.

Now, we have another paradox.  Foolishness is wisdom.  Paul says, “If you want to be wise, you must be a fool.”  You must be God’s fool.  Paul called himself a fool for Christ (I Corinthians 4:10).

1. Is the Bible against Wisdom?

The answer is clearly No.  The Bible exalts wisdom.  The Bible commands us to get wisdom.

For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. (Proverbs 8:11 ESV))

How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! (Proverbs 16:16 NIV)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10 NIV)

Get wisdom, get understanding (Proverbs 4:5 NIV)

Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7 NIV)

The Bible is NOT against wisdom.  Paul is talking about secular wisdom.  He is not saying that wisdom is foolishness in the sight of God.  He is saying that “the wisdom of this world” is foolishness in the sight of God.  Sometimes worldly wisdom creeps into the church.

In I Corinthians 1, we saw that the preaching of the cross, the gospel, is foolishness to the world.  I Corinthians 3, we see that the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God.  Paul quotes two OT verses to prove it.

Many of the things that you hear in the world and in the media everyday are absolute foolishness to God.

The world does not turn to the Bible for its source of morality.

The world says that it is okay for a woman to kill her own children.

The world says that it is okay for two men or two women to get married.

The world says that it is okay for a boy to say he is a girl or for a girl to say that she is a girl.

The world says that it is okay for a boy to use the girls bathroom.

The world says that it is okay for a boy to use women’s locker rooms.

The world says that it is okay for a boy to play in girl’s sports.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22 KJV)

2. Does the Bible encourage people to be fools?

The answer again is No.  Read Proverbs.  There are all kinds of verses against fools.  It tells us not to be like them.  It tells us to stay away from them (Proverbs 14:7).  It tells us not to speak to fools (Proverbs 23:9).

Why does Paul say that we have to become fools to be wise?  If you become a Christian and believe the Bible, the world will call you a fool.

It will call you intolerant to call certain behaviors sinful or immoral.  It will call you unscientific if you believe in creation or believe that miracles are possible.

It will call you not inclusive to say that people who reject Christ will go to hell.  The world says that there are many paths to God.  To say that there is just one is intolerant and narrow-minded.

You can either follow the wisdom of the world or the wisdom of God.  The only way to be truly wise is to become a fool in the world’s eyes and accept Christ.

Thinking Too Highly of Others

So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

This passage deals with the relationship of Christians to ministers. The Corinthians not only exalted human wisdom; they exalted human leaders.

That is another cause of division in the church today.  If you love just one preacher and follow that one preacher, you become divisive.  You are not open to listening to anyone one else in the church.

God has given gifts to more than just one person in the church.  We have Christians today who exalt human leaders.

The Corinthians BOASTED in their leaders (I Corinthians 3:21).  They liked some better than others because they were better preachers.  They were better speakers.  They were better communicators.

Now we should submit to the leaders of our church.  We are to honor our leaders.  We should honor our pastor.  We should honor our elders and our deacons, but we should beware of preacher worship.

We should beware of treating the pastor like a celebrity or a rock star.  In some cases, you have to wonder if Christians are worshipping God or the pastor.  Some never dare question what the pastor says.  That is a form of idolatry.

All Things Are Yours

What does Paul mean that all things are yours?  That is one of the strangest statements in the Bible.

He told the saints at Corinth this.  Paul said it, not once but twice (I Corinthians 3:21, 22).

What does it mean?  Paul did not say that some things are yours.  He said that ALL things are yours.

If all things are yours, does this mean that your car is my car, and your house is my house?

Can we ask the owner of a fifty-million-dollar home to hand over to us the keys and the title to the property because all things are ours?

That sounds like communism.  Everybody owns everything.  That is not what it is talking about.  It is also not talking about prosperity theology.

Prosperity preachers abuse this verse.  They would say pray for anything and everything and you will get it, because God has already given it to you.  All things are yours.

Is that what Paul is talking about?  What is the context of the passage? It is not dealing with possessions but preachers.  What is Paul saying?

He is saying that the preachers are not your masters.  They are your servants.  You said, “I belong to Paul” or “I belong to Apollos.”  You got it backwards.

Paul and Apollos belong to you.  We don’t have to divide between Paul and Apollos.  We can have them both.

Every teacher of the church belongs to you.  Jesus gave them to you (cf. Ephesians 4:11).  We should not limit ourselves to following just one man.[1]

Paul then moves beyond teachers and ministers.  He says, “all things are yours.”  He then mentions five categories (the world, life, death, the present, the future)

Someone said that the things that enslave us, the things that hold us in bondage, control us any longer.

The world is ours.  Life is ours.  Death is ours.  We don’t have to be afraid of it.  Death is our servant, not our master.

If you have cancer and you are dying, you don’t have to worry about death.  It is just going to lead us into the presence of God.

The present is ours and so is the future.  We know what will happen in the future.  We know biblical prophecy and we know what happens at the end.

For I am convinced that neither DEATH nor LIFE, neither angels nor demons, neither the PRESENT nor the FUTURE, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 NIV)

Why is this true?  Because we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.  If we were not Christ’s, none of this would be true.  We are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).  We are going to rule and reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4).

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (II Peter 1:3 ESV)

[1] William Hixson, I Corinthians 3:18-23 (spoken recording)

God’s Temple

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. (I Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV)

Today we come to two short verses.  They are two very important verses.  These verses were a rebuke to the Corinthians, and they have something to say to us as well.  They are fascinating.

They are misunderstood.  People misquote them all of the time.  Some preachers misquote these words of Paul.  They contain a very serious warning.

They contain a solemn warning about temple destroyers.  It is probably one of the strongest warnings in the Bible.  What does the warning say?

If anyone destroys God’s temple, GOD WILL DESTROY THAT PERSON; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple (I Corinthians 3:17 NIV).

What does that mean?  What does it mean to DESTROY God’s temple?  What is God’s Temple?  How do you destroy it?  Do you do that by smoking?  Do you do it by taking drugs?  Do you do it by overeating?

Do you do it by self-harm or suicide?  If you commit suicide, does this passage mean that you can’t be saved?  Is suicide an unforgivable sin?

What does it mean that God will DESTROY the person who destroys His temple?  Does it mean you will die?   Does it mean you can lose your salvation?  As you see, these two verses raise all kinds of questions.

They also contain a very important truth about the church that we have lost sight of today.  Ever since COVID, we have this idea that we can have church but not meet in person.

These verses tell us the church is important and why we need to meet in person and be involved in a local church

They tell us what God thinks of the church.  We have seen in I Corinthians what God says about preachers.  This passage tells us what God thinks of the church.

This is an important verse.   This passage will radically change how you view the church.  My wife said that she has been in church for fifty years and never heard the message contained in these verses.

3:16 Passages

It is found in one of the 3:16 passages of the Bible.  Everyone knows John 3:16 but many do not know the many other important 3:16 passages of the Bible.  Let’s look at a few of them.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16 NKJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (II Timothy 3:16 NKJV)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (I John 3:16 NIV)

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16 NIV)

Paul’s Questions

Today, we come to another 3:16 passage of Scripture.  Paul begins with a probing question.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (I Corinthians 3:16 ESV)

Paul did not just teach.  He did not just preach.  He asked questions.  That is one of the best ways to teach. I was not aware that he asked so many questions.  Paul did this in many of his letters.

He asked a lot of questions in the Book of Romans.  One man online listed fifty questions in the first eight chapters of Romans.[1]  Did you know he asked so many questions in Romans? That is just the first eight chapters.

Paul did the same thing in Corinthians. He asks many questions.  Over and over again in the book he says to them, “Don’t you know?”  Let’s look at some of them.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  (I Corinthians 3:16 ESV).  That is a question about the local church.

Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? (I Corinthians 5:6 NIV).  That is a question about cooking.

Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? (I Corinthians 6:3 NIV).  That is a question about prophecy.

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?  (I Corinthians 6:9 NIV)

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? (I Corinthians 6:15 NIV).  That is two questions: one about your body and one about prostitution.

Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body?  (I Corinthians 6:16 NIV).  That is a question about sexual immorality.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  (I Corinthians 6:19 NIV).  That is a question about your body.

Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? (I Corinthians 9:13 NIV).  That is a question about religion.

Eight times Paul asks the Corinthians a rhetorical question.  Rhetorical questions are questions with an understood answer.

These questions are asked not to get information but to give information.  Eight times he tells them, “Don’t know something that you should know?”

It makes us wonder how many times today would Paul ask a question like this to the American Church?  There are many things that Christians today should know but don’t.

There are some basic things that Christians do not know.  Some have been in the church for forty years and they still know very little.  Some leaders, some small group leaders and some elders do not know basic things.

Four Important Truths about the Church

Today, we are going to look at four important truths that we desperately need to see today.

1) The local church is God’s Temple

We think of the church as a hospital for sinners.  Jesus is the great physician and there a lot of sick people with all kinds of addictions, sins and problems.  They come to church to find answers.

We think of the church as a family, and it is a family.  God is our Father.  We have brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world in all different races.

We think of the church as a body, and it is.  It is a body of believers.  It makes up the body of Christ.  Jesus is the head.

Paul says that the church is not just a hospital or a family or a body, it is a TEMPLE.  He says it three times in two verses.  Every church is a temple.

The Jews had a temple in the OT.  It was a beautiful temple.  It was massive.  It was tall.  It was ornate.  It had tons of gold and silver in it.

The old temple had a Holy of Holies.  It had the Ark of the Covenant in it with the Ten Commandments in it.

There are plenty of pagan temples in the world today.  There were plenty in Corinth.  God does not have a physical temple today on earth.

We can argue about whether there will be one in the future but right now, there is none.  The Romans destroyed it in 70 AD, and it has never been rebuilt.

There is no temple on earth with the ark of the Covenant in it, but God still has a temple today.  God has a temple today on earth.  It is the local church.

Even imperfect churches are temples of God on earth.  Even dysfunctional churches with imperfect leaders (which describes many churches today) are temples of God on earth.

The Corinthian Church was a temple of God, and it was carnal.   You don’t have to be a Spirit-filled church with a twenty-four-hour prayer meeting to be a temple of God.

In I Corinthians 6, Paul says that every Christian individually is a temple of God but in I Corinthians 3 he says that Christians collectively are the temple of God. The pronoun “you” in Greek is plural (ὑμεῖς), not singular (σύ).

Paul says in I Corinthians 3:16, “You (plural) are a temple (singular) of God” (I Corinthians 3:16 ESV).  He did not say that they were a bunch of temples.[2]

He said that the local church collectively was a temple.   Paul says that “you together are that temple.” (I Corinthians 3:17 NIV)

The OT Temple was a physical temple.  The NT temple is a spiritual temple.  Israel HAD a temple in the OT, but the church IS a temple.  What does this mean?  That is the big question.

A temple is a place where God dwells.  It is a place that God inhabits.  He dwells in us and walks among us.  That is an incredible privilege.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells IN YOUR MIDST? (I Corinthians 3:16 NIV)

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my DWELLING among them and WALK among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (II Corinthians 6:16 ESV)

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a DWELLING in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21-22 NIV)

That should radically change the way we view church.  Many professing Christians say that they don’t need church.  They can worship God on their own.

They can watch the service online, eating a bag of chips, like they are at a football game.  That is not worship but it also has another problem.

When we stay at home, we miss out on the presence of God in the midst of the church.

Church is not just a worship center, but the place of the divine presence.  When the church gathers together, God is present.  Are you committed to regular church attendance?

In the OT, the Shekinah Glory dwelt in Solomon’s Temple.  You could see it.  A cloud filled the Temple (II Chronicles 5:13-14).

I have been in many churches.  I have been in many different kinds of churches.  I have never seen this cloud in the service, but God’s presence is still manifested in the gathering together of believers.  He is still at work, even if you can’t see Him.

Jesus is there.  He said, “For where two or three are gathered together (not just one but two or three)  in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20 KJV)

The Holy Spirit is there. It is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  That proves that the Holy Spirit of God.

He does not just indwell us individually.  He is in the midst of the local church corporately.  That is the context of the passage.

Some do not believe that the Holy Spirit is God.  Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that the Holy Spirit is God.

In fact, they do not believe that the Holy Spirit is even a person.  They believe that the Holy Spirit is just an impersonal force.

This passage proves that that the Holy Spirit is God.  The church is called a temple.  A temple is where God lives.  God dwells in the midst of the church.

2) The local church is holy

Temples are holy.  They are considered sacred spaces.  There is something special about the church.  There is something sacred about the church.

Paul says that the Corinthians Church was holy (I Corinthians 3:17 ESV).  It is sacred (I Corinthians 3:17 NIV)

He does not just call them a temple.  He calls them “the Holy of Holies.” There are two Greek words for “temple.”  There is the word ἱερόν and there is the word ναός.

The word ἱερόν refers to the outer sanctuary.  It refers to the whole building but ναός does not refer to the whole building.

It refers to the inner sanctuary where the Holy of Holies was located.  It was so holy that only the High Priest could go into it and then only once a year.

That is the word used three times in I Corinthians 3:16-17.  The church is not just the temple of God.  It is the inner sanctuary.  It is the Holy of Holies.

Does that mean that little children run in church because it is the house of God?  What is sacred is not the building but the people.  God does not dwell in a building today. He dwells in people.

Many churches today have some incredible buildings.  That is not wrong, but the early church did not even have a church building.  They did not exist in the early church.  Church buildings did not exist until the third century.

Where does the Bible say that God dwells in people?  Paul says to the Corinthians, “YOU are God’s building” (I Corinthians 3:9 NIV).  He says, “YOU are God’s temple” (I Corinthians 3:16 NIV).

He does not say that you worship in God’s temple.  He says YOU are the temple.  Peter says that this building is made up of living stones, not dead stones.

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house (I Peter 2:5 NIV).

God is not dwelling in a temple made of stone today.  He is dwelling in living stones. These stones are alive.  They are flesh and blood.

The temple is made up of real people.  It is made up of living stones, not lifeless bricks.

3) The local church can be destroyed

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person.  That implies that God’s temple can be destroyed.  That does not make any sense if the temple cannot be destroyed.

The KJV reads, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”  The NJKV is very similar.  It reads, “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.”

The problem is that the word “defile” and the word “destroy” are the same word in Greek.  The same verb is used in both clauses (φθείρω).  It should read, ““If anyone DESTROYS God’s temple, God will DESTROY that person.” “

Didn’t Jesus say that the church could not be destroyed?  Didn’t He say to Peter, “on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it?” (Matthew 16:18 NKJV)

Satan cannot destroy the universal church, but he can destroy local churches.  He can destroy local manifestations of God’s Temple today, as C.K. Barrett points out.[3]

Many churches close their doors all of the time.  Many are up for sale.  Between four to five thousand close every year.

The next question is this:  How are churches destroyed?  There are many ways a church can be destroyed.

It can be destroyed by persecution from the outside.  It can be destroyed by the inside.  It can be destroyed by false teachers who come into the church.  People start believing false doctrine.

It can be destroyed by division.  That is what was happening at Corinth.  Division not only divides a church; it can destroy a church.  Disunity can destroy a church.  It can destroy a marriage.  It can destroy a family.

4) Be careful about hurting the church in any way

We need to be very careful how we treat God’ temple.  There is a serious warning in this passage.  It is a stern warning.  It is one of the strongest warnings in the NT.

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person (I Corinthians 3:17 ESV)

The punishment will fit the crime.   The same thing that they did will happen to them.  God will destroy the destroyer of His temple.

What does that mean?  Many people have completely misinterpreted it.  It has been used to apply to people who damage their body.

We should not sin against our body, but this verse has absolutely nothing to do with smoking.  One preacher delivered a sermon on this passage against cigarettes.

The preacher meant well.  Smoking is bad for the body, but it has absolutely nothing to do with this text.  We should glorify God with our body, but this passage is not talking about your body.

The temple in I Corinthians 3:16-17 is not the body.  It is the local church.  Other preachers have used this passage to say that if you commit suicide you will go to hell. “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person.” 

Now suicide is a terrible thing.  It is not God’s will for anyone but, once again, this verse is not talking about suicide.  It has nothing to do with suicide.

It is not talking about doing harm to your body.  It is talking about doing harm to a local church.  It is talking about destroying a local church.

One of the most dangerous things a person can do is to destroy a church.  God says that He will destroy the person who does this.

There are two types of people: builders and destroyers.  Paul mentions two types of builders.

Both built on the foundation of Jesus.  They used different materials.  Some were better builders than others, but they were both builders.

In I Corinthians 3:17, Paul is not talking about builders but destroyers.  He is talking about someone who wants to destroy the church.

He is talking about someone who wants to destroy God’s Temple.  They are not part of the construction crew but the wrecking crew.

The question for us is this: Are you a builder or a destroyer?  Are you a good builder?  Do you build with gold, silver or previous stones?

Are you a bad builder?  Do you build with wood, hay or straw?  Are you a destroyer?  Are you tearing down the temple?

The person who builds even with bad materials will be saved but this individual will not be saved but destroyed.  Which are you?

[1] https://leadingwithquestions.com/latest-news/you-missed-the-big-10-year-anniversary-party-good-news-you-can-now-view-the-recording-2-2/

[2]https://s3.amazonaws.com/austinbiblechurch/www.austinbiblechurch.com/MP3s/sermons/2003/12_07/20031210_1930_Pastor_Bob_Bolender_ABC_1_Cor_160.mp3

[3] C. K. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Harper NT Commentary), 91.

Final Exam

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (I Corinthians 3:10-15 NIV)

Today, we come to a passage that affects all of us.  It is relevant to every Christian.  This is a powerful passage.

It is a passage that deals with prophecy.  It is a passage that deals with a prophetic event.  It is a passage that deals with judgment.

It is a passage that deals with the judgment of believers.  It is a passage that deals with not only judgment but judgment by fire.

It is a passage that deals with our final exam.  We will all have a final exam.  Some will pass it.  Some will fail it.

Some will get a lot of questions right and a lot wrong.  Some did a lot of good in their life.  They did a lot of things right and they did a lot of things wrong.

We have all taken final exams in college.  We have all had a lot of stress over them.  We would have all liked to have had the questions in advance for that test.[1]  That would make it easier to study.

Every Christian will one day take a final exam but, if we read Scripture carefully, we can have some idea what will be on this test.  We can find out how to pass it.  That is what we are going to study today.

We are going to look at what the Bible teaches about the Judgment Seat of Christ.  We are going to look at five important truths about this judgment.

We are going to find out how we can prepare for it.  We are going to find out how this judgment should change us today.  Let’s look at five truths about this judgment.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

1) This will be a judgment of believers

Paul describes two different builders in our passage.  Both build a building but they use completely different materials.

One builds with wood, hay and straw.  One builds with gold, silver and precious stones.

Both builders are judged. Both builders pass through the fire.  The fire tries every man’s work (I Corinthians 3:13).  Augustine pointed this out in the fourth century.[2]

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will ALL stand before God’s judgment seat. (Romans 14:10 NIV)

For we must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (II Corinthians 5:10 NIV)

Every Christian will appear before this judgment seat.  Ordinary church members will stand before this judgment.

Sunday School teachers will stand before this judgment seat.  Deacons will stand before this judgment seat.

Elders will stand before this judgment seat.  Pastors will stand before this judgment seat.

Missionaries will stand before this judgment seat.  Even apostles will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ.  Paul says, “WE must all appear” before this judgment seat.

There are many who teach that believers will not be judged.  Only unbelievers will be judged.  It is the unbelievers who will stand before a holy God in their sins.

They will stand before the Great White Throne Judgment.  The books are opened.  All of their sins are recorded in a book.  They will be judged according to their works (Revelation 20:12, 13).

If their name is not written in the Book of Life, they are thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15) where they are tormented day and night (Revelation 20:10).

Most Christians believe that if you have faith in Christ, you are saved.  You have nothing to worry about.  You will never be judged.  Are they right?  Some passages support that view.

Therefore, there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1 NIV)

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me HAS eternal life and WILL NOT BE JUDGED but has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24 NIV)

On the other hand, there are other passages teach that believers one day will be judged by God.  We have to read the whole Bible.

If we just read half of the Bible, we will read verses out of context and not see what they really mean.  That is how cults start.

The apostle Paul clearly says that believers will be judged.[3]  Not just the carnal ones but even the most spiritual believers will be judged.

We will be judged individually, not just collectively.  The Apostle Paul said, “each of us” will appear before this judgment.

We all have a court date.  Today, some get out of court.  We will have a summons to appear before this judgment seat.

If you get a summons for jury duty, you can be excused from serving for certain reasons (e.g., medical condition).

No one will be excused from this summons.  We are all going to have to give an account to God for how we lived our life and what we did while we were on earth.

It is possible to stand before a judge and not get justice.  Not all judges are fair.  It is possible to get an evaluation at work that is not fair.  I have had some of them.  Perhaps you have as well.

One day we will be evaluated by God.  His evaluation will be fair.  He sees the good and the bad.  He knows your thoughts.  He knows your actions.  He knows your motives.

We will be judged by Jesus Himself.  Paul called it “the Judgment Seat of Christ.”.  He is the one with the eyes of fire (Revelation 1:14)

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22 NIV).

Christ is the judge because He is God.  Only God could be the judge of mankind.  Only God can read people’s hearts and determine their eternal destiny.

2) This judgment will involve fire

That is strange.  How can Christians face fire?  Most teach if you are saved, you will avoid fire.  You will have fire insurance.

Paul describes this as a judgment of fire (I Corinthians 3:13).  There is going to be a building inspection and buildings that are not up to code will burn.

What is this fire?  It is not hell.  The workers are not burned up.  Their works are.  It is not purgatory. Roman Catholics believe in something called purgatory and use this verse to support it.[4]

They teach that bad people go to hell.  Good people go to heaven.  People in between go to purgatory to burn off some sins.  Depending on how many sins they have determines how long they stay there.

This passage is not talking about purgatory.  This fire is not for bad Christians.  It is for all Christians (spiritual and carnal Christians).

The fire is not for the people but for their works.  It does not purify people and make them fit for heaven.  It does not make them better people.

The purpose of the fire is not to purify or to purge but to test for a reward.[5] This fire is not a punishment but a test.  The fire shall test every man’s work (I Corinthians 3:13 NIV).

It tests the quality of their works.  The fire simply determines which works are worthy of a reward and which are not.

All the fire does is to TEST works.  It evaluates works to see what kind they are and what they are really made of.

3) This judgment does not determine salvation

It does not determine salvation.  The purpose of this judgment is not to punish.  It is not punitive.

This is not a criminal court. Christ already bore our punishment on the cross.  This is for rewards.

If Olympic athletes lose a race, we didn’t take them out and shoot them, although that may happen in some countries. We don’t punish them. They are just not rewarded with a gold or silver medal.

If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss BUT YET WILL BE SAVED—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

You can be saved but have very little to show for it.   If anyone lost their salvation, you would expect it to be this builder.

The built the building with wood, hay and straw does not go to hell. Paul says that the builder will be saved.

Does that mean you can make a profession of faith and live any way you want, because you will go to heaven anyway?

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)

We need to be careful here.  There will be some people on Judgment Day who call Jesus Lord and think they are saved but are not.

On the other hand, apparently, it is possible to get to heaven empty handed.  Think of all the sermons, teaching, lectures and books that will be burned up because they were completely worthless.

4) This judgment will involve a life review

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. HE WILL BRING TO LIGHT WHAT IS HIDDEN IN DARKNESS AND WILL EXPOSE THE MOTIVES OF THE HEART. At that time each will receive their praise from God. (I Corinthians 4:5 NIV)

All of your works will be exposed on that day and brought out into the light.  They will be open.  There will be no secrets.  The good will come to light.  The bad will come to light.  Secret sins will be exposed on judgment day.  The work of every person will be revealed.

What we did will be revealed and why we did it will be revealed as well.  Jesus searches the hearts.

Everything you do in your life, everything you say, every ministry you perform for Jesus will one day will be tested.  It will be examined.  It will be scrutinized.  It will be tried by fire.

Are you ready for your life review?  We will all have a life review.  We will get to see key events in our life from the time we were born to the time we die.

Can you imagine what it will be like to see yourself being born?  Can you imagine what it will be like to see yourself in middle school or high school.  We will see yourself getting saved.

We won’t see everything.  We will see what God thinks is important.  It may not be the things that we think are important.  It will also be some of the small things.

We will see the actions we did on earth.  We won’t just see them.  We will re-live them, and we will see how what we did has affected others.

What the builders built in this will be revealed.  It will be revealed by fire.  Paul said that the day would declare it.

If they built things with gold, silver and precious stones, it will be revealed.  If they built things with worthless wood, hay and stubble, that will be revealed as well.

11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 THEIR WORK WILL BE SHOWN FOR WHAT IT IS, BECAUSE THE DAY WILL BRING IT TO LIGHT. (I Corinthians 3:11-13 NIV)

5) This judgment will involve rewards

For we must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us MAY RECEIVE what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (II Corinthians 5:10 NIV)

This judgment will result in us receiving things.  It will result in some rewards.

You don’t have to be perfect to get a reward, otherwise no Christian would get one.

You don’t have to do great things to get rewards.  You don’t have to be a pastor of a mega church to get a reward.

Jesus said that you can get a reward for doing something small, like giving someone a cup of cold water (Matthew 10:42).

We will not all get the same reward. We are not going to get the same reward as those who were tortured and killed for their faith.

Some will get more rewards than others.  Some may not get any rewards.

Paul described two builders.  Both were Christians.  Both were saved.  Both built something on the foundation of Christ.  One was rewarded and one was not.

Salvation is not based on works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Rewards ARE based on works.  Salvation is based on what Jesus did.  Rewards are based on what we do.

I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. (Revelation 2:23 NIV)

Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. (Revelation 22:12 NIV)

There used to be a sign in the registrar’s office of Dallas Theological Seminary that said, “Salvation is by grace. Graduation is by works.”

Some say that God does not reward us.  All of our rewards are here on earth but that is not what the Bible teaches.

It is not what Jesus taught.  Notice what He said in the Sermon on the Mount.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward IN HEAVEN, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 NIV)

Jesus said that not only would some receive a reward in heaven, but it would be great.  In the Book of Revelation, we see elders sitting on thrones with golden crowns on their heads.

Jesus promised when he returns, He will return with a reward to give people (Revelation 22:12).  We will not get that reward until the Second Coming. The Bible is full of the topic of rewards.

Paul is primarily talking about rewards for pastors in I Corinthians 3.  Paul laid the foundation, and he said others built on it.  He started the church, but others came after and ministered in Corinth.

It is talking about ministers, but the principle is the same for every Christian.  Every Christian will stand before the Judgment of Christ.

Every Christian will face the fire and that fire will judge every one of their works as well, not just ministers.

Applications for Today

What are some applications for us in light of this judgment seat.

1) Watch your life

We should all live in light of eternity knowing that one day we will stand before Jesus, the one who sees and knows all, and give an account.

Paul points out that we need to be careful going around other Christians.  All of us do it but We will one day be judged by Jesus.  We need to worry more about ourselves than others.

All of us are going to have a life review one day.  Are we living a life that pleases Christ?  Does it glorify Him?  Are we living a life of obedience?

2) Watch your ministry

There is an important exhortation here that Paul gives us.  

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. BUT EACH ONE MUST BE CAREFUL HOW HE BUILDS. (I Corinthians 3:10 BSB)

There are some ministries characterized by gold, silver and precious stones.

There are other ministries characterized by wood, hay and stubble.

They may spend a lot of time building with these materials.  They may think they are pleasing God.  They may be sincere but can still have the whole building they built completely burned up and get nothing in return.  They wasted their time.

One ministry lasts and one does not.  What is the difference?  What are the shoddy building materials today that will be burned up?

Just think how many sermons will be burned up that are preached every Sunday.  Much of it has no content.  There is nothing of substance said.  God’s Word is not taught or preached.

Wood, Hay, Stubble Ministry

It is ministry that is based on entertainment.  It is ministry that is based on the philosophy of the world.

It is ministry that is humanistic, secular and worldly.

It is a ministry just based on positive thinking.  It is ministry based on pride, rather than humility.

It is ministry that does not glorify God.  It glorifies and exalts man.

It is ministry based on self-reliance than the power of the Spirit.

It is a ministry based on carnality, rather than spirituality.

Gold, Silver, Precious Stones Ministry

What ministry is gold, silver and precious stones?  What goes on forever?

Preaching the Word is gold, silver and precious stones.  God’s Word will never pass away.  Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35 NIV)

Prayer is gold, silver and previous stones.  Your relationship with God is gold, silver and previous stones.

Sharing the gospel is gold, silver and previous stones.

Living a godly life, showing compassion to people in need is gold, silver and previous stones.

Faithfulness is gold, silver and previous stones.  “Well done, you good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23 ESV)

[1] The title for the lesson comes from Jeremy Ballinger’s sermon on the topic (https://www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=5819174732)

[2] Augustine, Enchiridion, 68 (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm).

[3] This is not a contradiction.  Jesus and Paul are talking about two different things.  One is talking about salvation, and one is talking about rewards.

[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 12:3 (https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM)

[5] https://tms.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/tmsj1c.pdf

God’s Ministers

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. (I Corinthians 3:5-9)

We are studying the Book of I Corinthians.  This is a book that is extremely relevant to our own day.  Corinth was the most American city in the New Testament.

The church of Corinth was the church with problems.  It was the dysfunctional church.  This church had some of the same problems churches deal with today.  Today, we are only going to look at five verses.

These verses deal with preachers.  They deal with Christian ministers.  Today, we are going to answer one question: What does He say about pastors?  What does He say about the leaders of the church?

The question is not, what did the Corinthians think of preachers?  The question is not, what do we think of preachers? The question is not, what do they think of themselves?

We will see that many of us have over-inflated views of our preachers and many of them have over-inflated views of themselves.  Some of the most arrogant people on the planet are preachers.  This passage tells us what God says about them.

You say, “What does this have to do with me?  I am not a preacher.  Most of us will never stand up in a pulpit and preach a sermon but there are some important truths in these five verses about ministry.

These principles apply to every ministry.  They do not just apply to pastors, and preachers.  They do not just apply to Sunday School teachers.  They do not just apply to missionaries.  Let’s do a little review.

Last week, we talked about the carnal Christian and what that Christian looks like.  The Corinthians were a whole church of carnal Christians.  We have many carnal Christians and carnal churches today.

Paul said that carnal Christians are like spiritual infants.  They are spiritual babies.  They can only take milk.

They have been saved for twenty years and they are still in the new believer’s class.  That describes many Christians today.

They have been in church for forty years.  They have heard thousands of sermons preached but still do not know what the Bible teaches.  They know the four spiritual laws but have never read most of the books of the OT.  They are afraid of the word “theology.”

There is another characteristic of carnal Christians.  They live like the world.  The first way that it manifested itself in the Corinthian church was through divisions.

It manifested itself in the way the Corinthians related to one another in the church.  That was the first problem Paul dealt with in this book.

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? (I Corinthians 3:3-4 NIV)

The Problem of Divisions

The first problem that Paul addressed in this book was not prostitution or homosexuality but division in the church.

They did not even think it was a problem, but God did.  Paul not only mentioned it; he mentioned it first.

The first problem was the problem of division or sectarianism.  We would call it denominationalism today.

People do not say, “I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos.”   They say, “I am of Martin Luther.  I am Lutheran.”  They say, “I am of John Calvin.  I am Presbyterian or Reformed.” They say, “I am of Charles Wesley.  I am Wesleyan or Methodist.”

Did you know that there are 45,000 denominations in the world?  There are not 45,000 churches in the world.  There are 45,000 denominations.[1]

It is not wrong to be in a denomination.  It is wrong to say that your group, your denomination, or your church is the only true church.

It is also wrong to say that your preacher is the only true preacher.  That was what the Corinthians did.  Every member of the church had their favorite preacher.

Some liked Paul who founded the church.  They were faithful to him.  Soe liked Apollos.  He was dynamic and charismatic.

He was a great public speaker.  He was a better public speaker than Paul.  He was a better preacher.  The Jewish Christians liked Peter the best.

It is not wrong for you to like certain kinds of preachers.  We all might have a favorite preacher.  There might be one that we really like and is anointed.

There may be one that really speaks to us.  We get more out of some preachers than other preachers.  Some like preachers that shout and scream.  Some can’t stand preachers who shout and scream.

It is not a problem to think that one preacher is good.  It is not a problem to think that all the other ones are bad.  It would be like saying, “I don’t like Paul.  I only like Peter or James.”

It would be like only reading one Christian author and rejecting all of the other ones.  That is wrong.  It is unbiblical.  God has given more than one teacher to the church.  He has given many gifts.

Three Ministry Principles

Paul says three things about ministers in this passage and he gives us a proper view of ministry.  There are many wrong concepts of the ministry.

You say, “I am not a preacher.  I have not been to seminary.  I am not ordained.”  These principles apply to every ministry in the church, not just the pastor.

The three principles are the God gives us different gifts.  We serve Him and He rewards us.

Principle One – God Gives us Gifts

Each Christian is unique.  We all have different gifts.  God calls us to do different things.  What gifts has God given you?

6 We have DIFFERENT GIFTS, according to the grace given to each of us.  (Romans 13:6 NIV)

There are DIFFERENT KINDS OF GIFTS, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are DIFFERENT KINDS OF SERVICE, but the same Lord. There are DIFFERENT KINDS OF WORKING, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. TO ONE there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, TO ANOTHER a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, TO ANOTHER faith by the same Spirit, TO ANOTHER gifts of healing by that one Spirit,

 10 TO ANOTHER miraculous powers, TO ANOTHER prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, TO ANOTHER speaking in different kinds of tongues, and TO STILL ANOTHER the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (I Corinthians 12:4-11 NIV)

We all have different gifts and so do ministers.  They are unique.  We see that in this class.  There are three different leaders of the class and we are very different.  We have different styles.

God gives ministers different gifts.  He has given them different ministries.  They all have different roles.  One might be the pastor of a large church.  One might be the pastor of a small church.

Planting and Watering

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it (I Corinthians 3:5-6 NIV)

Did the Apostle Paul ever have a garden?  Was he ever a farmer?  We do not know but this section deals with planting and watering.  Paul PLANTED and Apollos WATERED.  It deals with the basics of gardening.

The church is described as a garden.  It is God’s Garden.  Paul and Apollos are described as gardeners.  They did not do the same thing.  They had different jobs to do.

Apollos did NOT plant, and Paul did NOT water.  Paul started the church, and someone came along after him.

We have something very similar in our own church happening now.  Pastor Brian started Lambs Chapel and now we have a different pastor.

The Corinthians argued over ministers.  They formed different factions.  Some liked Paul over Apollos.  Some liked Apollos over Paul but both were needed.

The Corinthians should never say that “Paul is great.  We don’t need Apollos.”  They should never say that “Apollos is great.  We don’t need Paul.”

Both planting and watering are needed.  You also cannot expect anything to grow if you just plant seeds in the ground but never water those plants. Plants need to be watered and sometimes more than once a day.

You also cannot expect anything to grow if you just water the ground and never plant anything in it.  You have to plants seeds in the right spot with good soil.  What is the lesson for today?

We have some people who are really big on evangelism and leading people to Christ.  They talk about it all of the time, but they are not too much into discipleship.

All they talk about is getting saved.  That’s great but it is not the whole counsel of God.  I have been in churches that preached the same message every single week.

When I was a young Christian, I attended a church where the pastor preached the salvation message every week, using a different text.

Other churches are big on discipleship but not too big on evangelism.  We need both.  We need to plant and to water.  We should not argue with one another over which one is better.

Stages of Ministry

The point here is that there are different types of ministries and there are different stages of ministry.  Some ministers and some people are better are different stages.  Let me list seven different stages of ministry.

1. There is the pre-salvation stage

This is the planting stage.  Some just plant seeds.  They say something to someone or witness to someone but do not see any results.  There may not be any results for several years.

It takes years for some spiritual seeds to produce fruit.  Eventually, someone may look back and think about those words.  Many are good at planting.

2. There is the salvation stage

Some are good at leading people to Christ.  They are good at delivering babies.  They are spiritual obstetricians.  They are spiritual OBs.

These are the evangelists, the Billy Grahams.  They get conversions and baptisms.  Some are really good at this stage.  They know exactly what to say to people.

3. There is the new believer stage

Some people are really good at discipling new believers. don’t love going deep.  They love to teach them the basics.  They love to teach baby Christians.  They love to teach the new believer’s class.

4. There is the child believer stage

Some love working with children.  They love working in the nursery.  Other people would hate doing that, but God calls different people to do different tasks and we need people who are gifted and called to work with children.

5. There is the young adult stage

Some love working with young adults.  They love discipling middle school or high school students.  It takes a special person to work with this group.

You have to be young.  You have to have a few pairs of ripped jeans.  You have to have a lot of energy.  You have to like playing games.

6. There is the old believer stage

Some do not like working with young believers.  They like working with old believers.  They like working with mature Christians who have been believers for fifty years.

It takes a special gift and calling to work with this group as well.  What can you possibly tell them that they have not already heard before?

7. There is the ministry trainer stage

Some are good at training other people to lead others.  They are good at training and mentoring.

Seminary professors are ministry trainers.  They train pastors for ministry.  They teach them how to study the Bible.  They teach them how to preach.

Principle Two – We Serve Him

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe (I Corinthians 3:5 NIV)

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (I Corinthians 3:7 NIV)

Paul says that God’s ministers are not special.  They are not anything.  The most gifted and talented Christians in history are not anything. They are only servants.

We think ministers are special.  They are not.  They are just ordinary people that God uses.

They have frustrations.  They have disappointments.  They have struggles.  They have sins.  They have trials.  They are normal people that God calls and uses.

Paul says that no minister can cause growth.  They can plant.  They can water but only God is the one who causes growth.  Only He can give the increase.

That does NOT mean that we do not do anything.  We just sit back and watch it happen.  We still have a job to do.  We have to plant and water.

Paul says, “For we are co-workers in God’s service.”  We are to make disciples.  Jesus builds the church.  He said, “I will build My church” but we are to make disciples.

The Corinthians were boasting in men.  They were boasting in ministers, rather than in God.  Ministers are not special.

That is something that we need to hear today.  One problem in some churches is preacher worship or minister worship.  They idolize their pastor.

They put the pastor on a pedestal.  He is God’s anointed.  No one can ever challenge or criticize him.  He is accountable to no one.

Many preachers have groupies.  They follow him wherever he goes.  They are not following the Lord.  They are following a man.

When the preacher dies, the church is over.  Everyone leaves, because they only wanted to hear that one man.

We see it especially in big churches.  We see it in mega-churches.  The pastor writes books.  He is on TV.  He is on the radio.  He is rich.  He is famous.  Some pastors have been invited to the White House.

We see some pastors as super-stars.  We see some of them as celebrities.  There is a cult of celebrity pastors in the land.

God sees them, not as celebrities, but as servants and so should we.  Pastors should not be seen as rock stars but as servants.  All of us are just servants.

There should not be any pride or ego among pastors.  How often do we see this?

Pastors should be humble.  There should not be any competition between pastors.  That is a sign of carnality.

Paul was not jealous of Apollos, even though Apollos had some gifts that he did not have.  Are you jealous of someone else’s ministry or gifts?

Principle Three – He Rewards Us

God is a rewarder.  He loves to reward people.  That is part of His nature.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NASB)

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:42 NIV)

And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (Revelation 22:12 NKJV)

Paul said, “they will each be rewarded according to their own labor (I Corinthians 3:8 NIV).

He will reward us for our labor as well.  We are going to talk about this more as our next topic in I Corinthians 3 will be the Judgment Seat of Christ.

[1] https://www.ocregister.com/2023/04/07/you-might-be-surprised-at-how-many-christian-denominations-there-are-in-the-world/

Carnal Christianity

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? (I Corinthians 3:1-4 NKJV)

Today, we come to a huge topic.  It is a controversial topic.  What does it mean to be a spiritual Christian?  Do you have to speak in tongues to be spiritual?

What does it mean to be a carnal Christian?  It raises this important question.  Are we spiritual Christians or carnal Christians?

Carnality is a big problem today.  It is a big problem in the church.  It is a big problem in the American Church.

Much of the American Church today is carnal.  Most churches do not even have a prayer meeting.

Many people who do not come to church regularly.  They are not committed. When they come, they are not involved.  They are just spectators.  They don’t use their spiritual gifts.

They are not too excited about spiritual things.  They are lukewarm. They are not living according to Scripture.  Some live in open sin and are unrepentant.

They don’t know the Word but are not too interested in learning it either.  They have no appetite for Bible study.  They would consider that boring.

They have no desire to be in a Sunday School class.  They are happy with being shallow.  They are happy with not going too deep in their faith.

Some claim that the carnal Christian does not exist.  It is a contradiction of terms.  It is even heresy. Albert Martin holds that view.[1]

If you read I Corinthians 3, it is clear that there is such a thing as a carnal Christian.  It is undeniable from this chapter.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. (I Corinthians 3:1 NKJV)

Paul called them carnal (I Corinthians 3:1, 3).  He also called them “saints” (I Corinthians 1:2).  He called them “brothers and sisters” (I Corinthians 3:1 NIV).  He said that they were “in Christ” (I Corinthians 3:1).

Should Christians sin?  No.  Can you be a Christian and sin?  Yes.  Can you be a Christian and fall into little sins?  Yes.  Can you be a Christian and fall into deep sin?  Yes.

We have examples in the OT of people who did this.  We have examples in the NT as well.  King David was Israel’s greatest king.  He was a man after God’s own heart.  He committed sexual sin.  He committed adultery.  Some believe that he also committed rape.

He also killed a man.  The man he killed was a godly man, and the murder was premeditated.  Was what he did bad?  Yes.  It was terrible.  Did he lose his salvation?  No.

The Apostle Peter was one of the greatest apostles.  The church was built on him.  Three thousand people were converted from just one of his sermons and yet he was not perfect.

After Jesus was arrested, a servant girl said to him, “You were with Jesus” but he denied it.  He said, “I don’t know the man.  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

When more people confronted him, he did it again and again.  He said that he did not know Jesus.  Peter was an apostle.  He was one of Jesus’ closest followers and he did not want to be identified with Him.

Peter denied Jesus publicly.  He did it three times.  He even denied him under oath.  Later, he felt bad, repented, and wept bitterly (Matthew 26:69-75).  Did he lose his salvation?  No.

Our kids can do something stupid or something bad.  They can even bring disgrace to our family name, but they do not cease to be our kids.

The Corinthians were carnal Christians.  They were a whole church of carnal Christians.  The whole book was written to carnal Christians.

Is it okay to be a carnal Christian?  No.  Paul rebuked them for being carnal.  He gave them a scathing rebuke.

It is not a good thing to be a carnal Christian.  It is a bad thing.  It is when a Christian lives like the world.

It is not normal.  It is not natural.  It is like having a baby who stays a baby and never grows up.  It is not normal for a Christian to be living in sin.

Paul said that the carnal man cannot please God (Romans 8:8) and he said that “to be carnally minded is death” (Romans 8:6 NKJV).

Jesus said, “If you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16)

Many people  go to church, but they live like the world.  They do not live holy lives but they think that they will go to heaven.  They think they are carnal Christians but they might not be saved at all.

On the other hand, there are genuine believers who fall into sin and do not always live lives that please God.  Let’s review what we learned last week.

The Natural Man

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (I Corinthians 2:14 NKJV)

Paul talked about “the natural man.”  The NIV says, “The person without the Spirit” but that is a paraphrase.  It means “natural man” (ψυχικoς)

Now, we use the term “natural” in a good sense.  We talk about natural foods or natural supplements which are not artificial or synthetic.  We talk about a natural athlete or natural leader.

There was a good movie about a baseball player with incredible talent called “the Natural.”  Paul used the term natural man to refer to something bad, not good.

It refers to someone who is natural, not supernatural.  This individual does not have God living inside him.  He has his spirit inside of him but not the Holy Spirit.

These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. (Jude 19 NIV)

This is Paul’s term for the unsaved.  It is his term for the unregenerate, those who have never been born again.

The majority of people on the planet are in this category.  You know a lot of them.  They may be family members.

They may be coworkers.  The natural man is the unsaved man.  The natural man focuses on this world.

The natural man is not necessarily a rapist or murderer.  He is not necessarily a demon-possessed madman.  He is not necessarily immoral.

He may even be religious.  The natural man may attend church.  Many of them do but he is still unsaved.

He lives on the natural level.  He sleeps.  He eats.  He works.  He may be extremely gifted and talented but he does not know God.  He does not have the Holy Spirit living inside him.

He is dominated by his soul (ψυχη).  He is under the influence of the lower part of his being.  It is the same level that animals live on.

He does not have a personal relationship with God.  He lives to gratify his five senses.  He lives to get his needs met.

Paul tells us something else about the natural man.  He does not just reject spiritual things, he mocks them.  He mocks God and the Bible.  He thinks the preaching of the cross is foolish.  He thinks that people are stupid to believe the Bible.

What is the lesson here?  Everyone is either saved or lost.  Everyone is either a sheep or a goat.  The whole world can be divided up into these two groups.

We either stand before God in our sins condemned, or we stand before God completely forgiven and justified.

Everyone is either a child of God or a child of the Devil.  Everyone is either a child of light or a child of darkness.  The question is, Who’s your daddy?

In I Corinthians 3, we learn another truth.  Paul says that there are three groups of people in the world, not just two.

Why three?  Not every believer is a mature Christian.  There are two groups of Christians: carnal Christians and spiritual Christians.  Which one are you?

The Corinthians were not spiritual.  They also were not unsaved.  Paul called them “carnal.”

Carnal Christians

and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. for where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 for when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? (I Corinthians 3:1-4 NKJV)

Much of the church falls into this category.  It looks like this.  What does a carnal Christian look like?  What are some characteristics of carnal Christianity?  Paul mentions three characteristics.

1) Carnal Christians are spiritual babies

There are many people in the church today who are still spiritual babies.  They are still in diapers.  They are spiritual infants.

Everyone loves little babies.  They are cute.  They are sweet. They are innocent, but no one likes an adult who acts like a child.  Most people mature as they get older.  They grow up.

Even Paul said, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (I Corinthians 13:11 ESV).

Paul said that when he got older, he gave up his childish ways.  Somehow, I cannot picture the Apostle Paul as an old man playing video games.

Healthy things grow.  That is normal.  Plants grow.  Animals grow.  People grow.  Unfortunately, not everyone grows up.  We call it the Peter Pan Syndrome.

The Peter Pan Syndrome refers to adults who don’t want to grow up.  All of us may know people who are very immature.  They may be forty or fifty years but still act very mature.

Paul says that the Church of Corinth was just like this spiritually.  It had people in the church who had been Christians for several years.  The church was five years, but they were still spiritual babies.  They had not matured spiritually.

Today, we have Christians like that today.  We have people who have been in church for forty years, but they know nothing about their faith.

They do not know how to pray.  They do not know how to witness.  They do not have any spiritual discernment.  That is one of the characteristics of children.  They are gullible.  It is easy to trick them.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. (Ephesians 4:14 ESV)

Baby Christians are also very easy to deceive. If someone gives them that is doctrinally way off base, they will take it, read it and believe every word.

They do not know which preachers and pastors are sound and which are not.  They do not know which books are solid and which are trash.  Everything sounds good to them.

They know very little about the Bible.  They have never read it or studied it on their own.  They know John 3:16. They know the gospel.  They know the four spiritual laws, but that is all that they know.

Sometimes that is their fault and sometimes it is the preacher’s fault.  Pastor Chuck Smith once said that some preachers actually keep their church in a state of infancy.[2]  They do not preach the Bible.

They do not preach the whole counsel of God.  There are whole churches that give people milk and not meat.  In fact, if you go to most churches, you will not learn anything too deep.  You will hear shallow sermons.  Shallow sermons lead to shallow Christians.

The Corinthians did not have that excuse.  They had good preachers.  The Apostle Paul founded their church, and they were still spiritual babies.  You can’t blame the pastor on that one.

2) Carnal Christians have a poor diet

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready (I Corinthians 3:2 NIV)

A Spiritual Diet

This is where it gets interesting.  The Bible teaches three truths about our spiritual diet.

1. The Bible contains both milk and meat

Paul mentions two types of food people eat.  He mentions milk and solid food.  What is the difference?

Milk refers to the basic teachings, simple doctrines.  When a person gets saved, they learn very simple truths about the Bible.

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:1-2 NIV)

When people get saved, they learn the basics.  They learn that there is an OT and a NT.  They learn that there is one God.  They learn about salvation.  They learn about heaven and hell

They eventually some learn deeper truths, like the doctrine of predestination or the prophecies of Ezekiel or Revelation.

The Book of Hebrews mentions moving from simple to more complex truths, like learning about Melchizedek.

In a sense, every doctrine has both milk and meat.  Doctrines that you teach to children and some that you teach to mature Christians on different levels.

You can teach your kids basic truths about God, and about heaven and hell. You can teach the same thing on a much deeper level, dealing with all kinds of different questions and issues.

2. Mature Christians can eat solid foods

13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14 NIV)

Mature Christians can eat meat.  Milk is easier to swallow.  You don’t have to chew it but if you just drink milk, you will be malnourished.  You don’t grow properly.

Many Christians are malnourished.  They are not on a healthy spiritual diet and are not growing properly.

Mature Christians do not just know the Bible, they use it and apply it in their life.  That is what Hebrews 5 says.

3. Carnal Christians can only take milk

It was not just in Corinth that this was a problem.  The author of Hebrews wrote about the same problem with other Christians.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! (Hebrews 5:11-12 NIV)

We need both milk and meat as Christians.  Far too many Christians live on a diet of milk.  Babies are only on a milk diet for about six months.  After that time, they are supposed to begin eating solid foods.

Many Christians can only take milk. They like milk and are content with milk.  They can’t take any more.   They had been Christians for five years and were still in the new believer’s class.

Paul did not explain any deep doctrines to this church because they could not take it.   We don’t see any deep doctrines in I Corinthians.  Instead, we see Paul telling them basic things, like not sinning with their body.

Some churches are just milk churches.  They just give people milk.  They do not go very deep. They don’t offer any deep Bible studies.

Many Christians like spiritual baby food. They like devotional books.  They like biographies. What they don’t like is anything with too much theology in it.

They can’t read anything that deals with doctrine.  That describes much of the church today.  It is shallow.  There are many shallow Christians in the church today.  Does this describe you?

3) Carnal Christians live like the world

That is the final sign of carnality – worldliness.  Notice what Paul said.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are ENVY, STRIFE, and DIVISIONS among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? (I Corinthians 3:1-4 NJKV)

When Christians live like the world, they live like carnal Christians.  The word “carnal” comes from the word for “flesh” (σάρξ).

The word “carnal” (σάρκινος) means fleshly.  It means worldly.  Many in the church live like the world.  It is still a problem in the church today.

It is still a problem in the American church.  It may not be characterized by jealousy and quarreling, although that still takes place today.  The church compromises with the world in many other ways today.

Hope for Carnal Christians

There is good news for bad Christians.  There is hope for a carnal Christian.  They still have time to grow up spiritually.  They can still mature in the faith.  How can they do this?

They need to turn from some sins and repent.  They need to spend time with older Christians.  They need to get in the Word.  They need to learn the whole counsel of God.  Even mature Christians have a long way to go.

The Apostle Paul said of himself, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect” (Philippians 3:12 ESV)

The great scientist Isaac Newton said, “To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me”[3]

Even mature Christians have to beware of carnality.  We have to beware of thinking and living like the world.

Spiritual Christians

The third category of people Paul mentions are spiritual Christians.  They are not carnal.  They are spiritual.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to SPIRITUAL people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. (I Corinthians 3:2 NKJV)

Signs of a Spiritual Christian

Are you a spiritual Christian?  What type of people are spiritual people?  Based on our passage, what do we know about them?

Several things stand out to me, based on this passage.  There are five signs of a spiritual Christian in this passage.

1) A spiritual Christian is a growing Christian

They did not stop growing once they became a Christian.  They continue to grow in holiness.  Are you continuing to grow spiritually?  Some Christians plateaued twenty years ago and stopped growing.

2) A spiritual Christian has an appetite for the Word

They can take meat, as well as milk.  They know more than the ABCs of the faith.  They know more than the basics.  Are you a mature Christian?

3) A spiritual Christian lives a godly life

A spiritual Christian lives different for the world and thinks different from the world.  Do you live differently from the world?

4) A spiritual Christian lives a supernatural life

They do not live on the natural level.  They live on a whole different plane of existence.  Do you live a natural or a supernatural life?

5) A spiritual Christian is involved in ministry

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! (Hebrews 5:12 NIV)

Spiritual Christians are teachers, not just students.  They are involved in ministry.  They are not just spectators.

They use their spiritual gifts in some capacity in the church.  A spiritual Christian uses the gifts of the Spirit that God has given him or her for His glory.

[1] https://www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=11110485122.

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU6JjYxT3iM

[3] The last two quotes came from Stanley Toussaint’s unpublished notes on I Corinthians.

God’s Wisdom

Today, we want to talk about wisdom.  What does the Bible say about wisdom?  What does the Bible say about knowledge?  Is the Bible anti-intellectual?  Is God against reason?  Is He against knowledge?  Is God against logic?

This is a topic that many Christians get wrong.  It is a topic that many preachers get wrong.  This is a big chapter on wisdom and different types of wisdom.  Not all wisdom is the same.  We will see two different types of wisdom.

I Corinthians 2 is an important chapter.  It talks about wisdom.  It talks about evangelism. It shows us how Paul witnessed when he arrived in Corinth.

It is a passage that talks about the spiritually mature (I Corinthians 2:6).  Are all believers spiritually mature?  No.  We will see that next week (cf. I Corinthians 3:1).

This is an important chapter on God.  This chapter mentions THE TESTIMONY OF GOD (I Corinthians 2:2).

It mentions THE POWER OF GOD (I Corinthians 2:5).  Does our faith rest on the wisdom of men or on the power of God?

It mentions THE WISDOM OF GOD (I Corinthians 2:7).  It even mentions THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD (I Corinthians 2:10 NIV).  What are the deep things of God?

It mentions THE PLANS OF GOD (I Corinthians 2:9), the incredible things that God prepared for those who love him.

They are described as something that no eye has ever seen, and no ear has heard, and no human mind has ever conceived.  What are they?

It is an important chapter on Jesus.  This passage mentions THE MIND OF CHRIST (I Corinthians 2:16 NIV).  What does that mean?  It doesn’t mean that we know all things.  It means that we think like Jesus.  He lives inside of us.

Jesus is called in this chapter THE LORD OF GLORY (I Corinthians 2:8).  It is one of the greatest titles of Jesus in the Bible.  It is proof that Jesus is God.

Jesus is called “the Lord of Glory” two times in the NT, once by Paul and once by James (I Corinthians 2:8; James 2:1).  A divine person came down from heaven to earth, became a man, died a violent death by crucifixion but also rose from the dead.  He is the Lord of Glory.

This is a very important chapter on the Holy Spirit.  This chapter is all about the Holy Spirit.  There is nothing in it about speaking in tongues or healing but a lot about the Holy Spirit.

The chapter mentions two spirits – the SPIRIT OF THE WORLD and the SPIRIT OF GOD.  They are contrasted in I Corinthians 2:12. What does it say about the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit is an INDWELLER. He indwells every believer.

The Holy Spirit is a REVEALER.  He reveals things to us about God (I Corinthians 2:10).  He is also a TEACHER.  He teaches us things.  He teaches us what God has freely given us (I Corinthians 2:12).

The Spirit teaches us things that we can’t learn from people.  We see that in I Corinthians 2:13. Paul says that if you have the Holy Spirit, you understand some things that other people cannot know.

In fact, without the Holy Spirit, you think that spiritual things are absolute foolishness.  They are stupid.  They are a waste of time but if you have the Holy Spirit, you have a completely different perspective.

There are three important Christian doctrines taught in this chapter: the doctrine of revelation (I Corinthians 2:10), the doctrine of inspiration (I Corinthians 2:13) and the doctrine of illumination (I Corinthians 2:12, 14).  All of them involve the Holy Spirit.

Do you know the difference?  REVELATION is truth is communicated by God in a special way.  It is when you learn something supernaturally that you could not have learned naturally.

INSPIRATION is when he puts that revelation down on paper.  Inspiration is verbal.  The thoughts of the Bible are not just inspired but he the actual words.

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught WORDS. (I Corinthians 2:13 NIV)

ILLUMINATION takes place when people understand what the Spirit has written in inspired scripture.

Paul’s Testimony

2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (I Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV).

Paul begins the chapter telling us how Paul ministered in Corinth.  It is not the way most pastors would describe their ministry today.  It gives us some tips on evangelism today.

Tips on Evangelism

1) Present the gospel and leave the results to God

It is our job just to present the message.  We don’t have to convert anyone.  We don’t have to convince anyone.  That takes all of the pressure off.  All we have to do is to present the gospel.  That is all that Paul did.

He simply declared the gospel.  He preached a simple message and let the Holy Spirit do the persuading.  We are in charge of preaching the message.  God is in charge of the results.

Many preachers act like high pressure salesmen who try to sell you something that you don’t want.  They use high pressure tactics to get conversions.  They don’t last.  Paul did not do that.

He preached a simple message.  All he did was to deliver the message of the gospel.  He did not jazz it up.  He didn’t use big words.  He wasn’t eloquent and yet he got results.

2) Rely on God, not your own strength

I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.  Have you ever been physically weak?  Have you ever been afraid of something?  Have you ever felt inadequate?  Have you ever felt unable to do something that you needed to do?  Have you ever been afraid of failure?

Paul came to the Corinthians in weakness with great fear and trembling.  Most pastors do not experience fear today.  Most preachers don’t either.

What was Paul afraid of?  Was he afraid for his own safety in Corinth?  No one knows exactly.  Paul does not tell us why he was afraid or why he was trembling.

Why was he weak?  Was he sick?  Did the apostles ever get sick?  Apparently, Paul did.  He was sick when he ministered to the Galatians.

As you know, it was because of AN ILLNESS that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. (Galatians 4:13-14 NIV)

There is an important truth here that Paul teaches.  Paul teaches a theology of weakness.  The way to become strong is to become weak.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” For when I am weak, then I am strong (II Corinthians 12:9, 10 NIV).

It is a Bible paradox.  It is the exact opposite of what we would expect to be true.  We would think when we are weak, we are weak, but Paul said, “When we are weak, we are strong.”

When we minister, we should not rely on our own gifts and abilities but on God.  Paul did not rely on his eloquence.  He did not rely on his education.

He studied under the great Gamaliel.  He did not rely on his rabbinical training.  He did not rely on his evangelism techniques.  He relied on God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God (II Corinthians 3:5 ESV)

3) Look for a demonstration of divine power.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

Paul did not preach eloquently.  He was not a great public speaker but his preaching was powerful.  Some preaching today is powerful, and some is not.

 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. (I Thessalonians 1:5 NIV)

What made Paul’s preaching of the gospel powerful?  Why was it powerful?  The gospel has the power to save a sinner from Hell.  Paul said that it is the power of God UNTO SALVATION (Romans 1:16).

The gospel does not just have the power to SAVE but to SANCTIFY.  It has the power to completely transform lives that are broken and messed up.

Paul also had miracles that accompanied his preaching.  He was a genuine apostle.  He may not have been a great orator but after he spoke miracles took place, like in Acts 20.

While Paul was preaching a man fell out of a three-story building and died.  That is further proof that Paul was not a great preacher.  He put people to sleep when he preached but he went and raised him from the dead on the spot.

True Wisdom

Now, we come to a big topic.  In this chapter, Paul talks about wisdom.  Many preachers think that wisdom is bad.  Knowledge is bad.  Preachers say that.  The Bible does not.

Jesus is NOT against wisdom.  Paul said that in Jesus is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3 NIV).

God is NOT against logic and reason.  He says, “Come now, let us REASON together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 ESV)

The Holy Spirit is not against wisdom.  Two gifts of the Spirit are the word of WISDOM and the word of KNOWLEDGE (I Corinthians 12:8)

Paul is not against wisdom.  He says, “We do, however, speak a message of WISDOM among the mature” (I Corinthians 2:6 NIV)

When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he REASONED with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. (Acts 17:1-3 NIV)

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he REASONED in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:1-4 ESV)

Types of Wisdom

Paul makes a very important observation about wisdom in this chapter.  There are two types of wisdom.

There is God’s wisdom and Man’s wisdom.  There is God’s wisdom and the world’s wisdom.  There is earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom, “the wisdom that is above” (James 3:17).

They are not the same thing.  They are very different.  We think that God is just like us and He thinks like us.  The opposite is true.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

There are two kinds of wisdom.  What’s the difference?  Which one are we going to follow?  Whose wisdom are we listening to?  Whose wisdom are we going to build our life on?  This is a huge topic.

Whose wisdom do we follow in the area of marriage?  Whose wisdom do we follow in the area of sexuality?  Whose wisdom do we follow in the area of morality?

Whose wisdom do we follow in the area of ethics?  Whose wisdom do we follow in the area of gender?  Whose wisdom do we follow in the area of child-rearing?  The list could go on.  What is the difference between the two types of wisdom?

Worldly Wisdom

What is worldly wisdom?  It is wisdom that we get from reason and logic.  It is wisdom that we get from other people.

1. Its Value

Is there any value in worldly wisdom?  Yes.  Education is good.  It has all kinds of value.  I have a few diplomas myself.

I work in that field myself. There are some things you can learn in the world that you can’t learn in the Bible.

You learn in the world how to read and write.  You learn in the world how to add, subtract, multiply and divide.  You learn in the world how to speak a foreign language.  You don’t learn that from the Bible.

You learn how to cook.  You learn how to ride a bike and swim.  You learn about nutrition.  You can’t learn that in the Bible.  You learn important things from school as well.

If you want to become a doctor, you go to medical school.  If you want to know how to become a lawyer, you go to law school.  If you want to know how to become a pilot, you go to flight school.

Worldly wisdom is valuable.  It is important.  It is wisdom that comes from schooling.  It comes from education.  It is wisdom that comes from experts.  It comes from teachers.  It comes from society.

2. Its Problem

What’s the problem?  You can learn a lot of things from the world, but there are some things the world doesn’t teach you. In fact, the most important things in life cannot be taught by the world.

If you look to the world for answers to ultimate questions, you will get the wrong answers.  Try looking to the world to find the true religion.

Try looking to the world to interpret the Bible.  You can study the Bible in secular universities.  Without the Holy Spirit, you will come up with some crazy interpretations.

The world can’t teach you morality.  You won’t learn in school what is right and what is wrong.

It can’t teach about heaven and hell.  It can’t teach you if God really exists or how to know Him. The world did not know God through wisdom (I Corinthians 1:21 ESV)

Worldly wisdom will not give us God.  The world not only rejects the things of God but mocks the things of God.

For the message of the cross is FOOLISHNESS to those who are perishing (I Corinthians 1:18 NIV)

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them FOOLISHNESS, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (I Corinthians 2:14 NIV)

Worldly wisdom will NOT get you salvation.  It will NOT lead you to God.  It will fill your head with facts, but it won’t lead you to God, no matter how smarter you are, no matter how educated you are.

You can be the smarted person in the world and not know God.  You can have an IQ of 300.  You can be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon and not know God.  Pontius Pilate is a good example.

Pilate was the judge in the trial of Jesus.  He was well educated.  You do not get to that position without being smart.  He knew many languages.

When he was crucified, he put an inscription over his head that said, “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews” and he put it in Greek, Latin and Hebrew (John 19:20).

He knew politics.  He knew that the Jews delivered Jesus up for envy.  He knew when to send Jesus off the Herod.  He would have made a great political commentator today.  He would probably be working for CNN.

He knew a lot, but he was clueless when it came to spiritual things.  He was the one who said, “What is truth?” (John 18:38).  He was the one who crucified Jesus.

Pilate wasn’t too smart because he crucified the Lord of Glory (I Corinthians 2:8).  He committed a huge miscarriage of justice.  He also wasn’t too smart because he didn’t listen to his wife (Matthew 27:19-20).

Many people say, “I follow science.  I believe in science” (almost like it is a religion).  Science doesn’t have any final answers.  It can’t teach you morality.  It doesn’t have answers to life’s most important questions either.

Science is constantly changing. The science of today is completely different from the science of one hundred years ago. A hundred years ago, we did not know anything about DNA.

There are some things that science used to say that we now know are false.  Science used to say that the Sun went around the earth.

What society says today is not what society said a hundred years ago or even fifty years ago and what one society and culture says is different from what another society says.

Divine Wisdom

Paul says that there is another kind of wisdom.  It is completely different from worldly wisdom.  What is the difference between human wisdom and divine wisdom?  There are two main differences.

1) Divine wisdom is supernatural, not natural

Human wisdom you can come up with yourself.  You can learn it yourself.  It is not the result of a lot of study.  It is not the result of a high IQ.

Divine wisdom has to be revealed by God.  If God does not reveal it to you, you won’t have it.

God doesn’t reveal it necessarily to the really smart people. He often reveals it to people who aren’t that smart.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Matthew 11:25 NIV).

Harry Ironside was a famous preacher.  He was a pastor of Moody Church in Chicago in the 1930s. Ironside once made a rather propound statement.

“Take a poor, simple, ignorant Christian who can barely read or write and put him down over his Bible in dependence on the Holy Spirit of God, and he will get more out of a given passage of Scripture in half an hour than a Doctor of Divinity … who studies it with a lot of learned tomes about him depending on his intellect instead of upon the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God opens the truth to those who depend on Him.  I am afraid that many of us are absolutely careless of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

We are trying to make our own way through the world to find out what is right and wrong in spiritual things, instead of handing over everything to the Spirit of God and depending on Him to guide and lead and open the Scriptures.  He came to do this very thing and He delights to fulfill this mission.”[1]

What kinds of things does He reveal?  He reveals mysteries or what we would call secrets.  We declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began (I Corinthians 2:7 NIV).

He reveals things that you cannot learn by your five senses.  He reveals things that you cannot learn by reason and logic.  He reveals things that you cannot learn by intuition.

As it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him. (I Corinthians 2:9 NIV)

That is one of the most misinterpreted and misquoted verses in the Bible.  Many preachers have quoted this verse out of context.

The problem is that we only read half the verse.  There is a danger in only reading half of the Bible.

That is a big problem today.  It is a problem for Christians.  That is why some Christians have bad theology.  They are not balanced.

They see the truth in Scripture.  They teach it and emphasize it, but they don’t talk about other truths that are also in the Bible.  They have their favorite pet doctrines.

The Jews in Jesus day and most today believe that when the Messiah comes, He will rule and reign.  He will bring peace.  That is true but He was also predicted to suffer and die.  They read only half of the OT.

We use this verse in I Corinthians 2:9 to talk about heaven.  We use it to show that heaven is beyond our wildest dreams.  It is beyond our imagination.

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

That is obvious until we read the next verse.  These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

It is not just talking about things that will be revealed when we get to heaven and get to see what God prepared for us.  It is talking about things that He reveals to us now.  It is talking about the plan of salvation.

2) Divine wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit

This type of wisdom has to be revealed and it has to be revealed by the Holy Spirit.

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him—10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 2:9-11 NIV)

That proves the Holy Spirit is God.  No one knows the thoughts of man but man.  No one knows the thoughts of God but God.  The Holy Spirit knows them.  He knows all of the thoughts of God, even the deep things of God.

John mentions that some were learning “the deep things of Satan” (Revelation 2:24).  Paul mentions “the deep things of God” (I Corinthians 2:10).

You can get the deep things of Satan in the world.  You get the deep things of God in the Scriptures.  Some would rather learn the deep things of Satan.  I am more interested in finding out about the deep things of God.

3) Divine wisdom can only be understood by certain people

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (I Corinthians 2:14 NIV)

Non-Christians do not know about this wisdom.  It is hidden from them (cf. I Corinthians 2:7).  If you are unsaved, you will not understand this wisdom at all.

The chapter ends with a confusing verse.  The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. (I Corinthians 2:15 ESV).  What does that mean?

What does it mean that the spiritual person is judged by no one?  Does it mean that Christians are immune from criticism?

Does it mean that we can live any way we want, and no one has the right to judge us, even if we break the law and commit crimes?  No.  That would not be a spiritual person.  It would be the opposite of a spiritual person.

What it means is that Christians understand this world and spiritual truths as well, but the world does not really understand Christians.

[1] Harry Ironside, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 98.

Effective Preaching

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:18-31 NIV)

One of the things the church needs today is good preachers.  The land is full of churches but how many have Spirit-filled preachers.  How many preach God’s word, not their own ideas, with conviction, authority and power?

We have many good teachers but not as many good preachers.  Today, we come to one of the greatest passages on preaching in the Bible.  It is a great passage on apostolic preaching.  Paul was an apostle.

This passage tells us how the Apostle Paul preached.  The word “preach” or “preaching” is used four times in this section (I Corinthians 1:17, 21, 23; 2:4).  This passage gives us a theology of preaching.

Now, everyone preaches a little differently.  In fact, no two of them preach exactly the same.  Even the Apostles did not preach exactly the same.  Everyone has a different gift from God.

Learning how to preach well takes some time.  Billy Graham was the most famous evangelist of the 20th century.  He has been called the most famous evangelist since the Apostle Paul.  He was not always a great preacher.

What was his first sermon like?  He never took any classes on preaching.  He never took any classes on public speaking.  He never even went to seminary.  He never took a course on homiletics.

He just had a Bible college degree.  He did want to preach, so he taught himself.  He got a book of sermons by a Southern Baptist Pastor named Lee Scarborough.

He said that he practiced four of those sermons outside forty or fifty times.  He had them all memorized.  The first time he preached a sermon was in 1937.

He was a skinny eighteen-year-old kid from Charlotte. He was nervous.  His knees were knocking but he felt confident because he had memorized these sermons.

Each one of these sermons was supposed to last forty minutes long.  When he was done preaching only eight minutes had gone by.

Today, we see how how Paul preached.  We will see that it is the exact opposite the way people preach today.  Modern methods are very different from Paul’s methods.

You say, “That is interesting, but I do not do any preaching.”  Most people do not stand up in a pulpit and deliver a sermon.  Very few people do that.  That is not the type of preaching Paul is talking about.

He is talking about preaching the gospel and that is something all of us should do.  He is talking about preaching the gospel (εὐαγγελίζω).  We see that in I Corinthians 1:17. How do we do that effectively?

Five Principles of Preaching

1) Follow a call to preach

You have to be called to preach.  You have to be sent to preach.  “Do not go unless you are sent”[1]

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-15 NIV)

Paul was sent to preach.  God calls people to do some things and He calls people from some unusual backgrounds.  Paul was sent and he was a former persecutor of Christians.

For Christ did not SEND me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (I Corinthians 1:17 NIV).

That sounds a little strange.  Paul said, “For Christ did NOT send me to baptize.”  He must not have been a BaptistCan you imagine a Baptist saying this?  Why would he say this?

Some have misunderstood this verse.  Paul was not against baptism.  He believed in baptism.  He was baptized by Ananias in Acts 9.  Paul is just saying that this was not his primary mission.

Last Sunday, we had some baptisms after our church service.  Some were planned and some were spontaneous.  In fact, it was a record number.  We have never had as many people getting baptized before.

If you noticed, the one who baptized people was not the preacher.  It was not our pastor.  Someone else did the baptizing.  That is all Paul was saying.  His calling was not to baptize but to preach.

It is not that he didn’t believe in baptism or never baptized.  He says that he baptized a whole household (the household of Stephanos).  He was called to preach.

Not everyone who preaches today is called.  We have people who claim to be apostles and prophets who are not called.  They called themselves.  God did not send them.

I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. (Jeremiah 23:21 NIV)

All of us are called to preach the gospel.  It is part of the Great Commission which is for every Christian.

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21 NIV).  We are all sent.  We all have a special mission.

2) Preach the right message

Many today preach many other things besides the Bible.  They preach other things than the cross.

Many preach human wisdom and philosophy.  Many preach politics.  We should address moral issues in society but not partisan politics.

Many preach prosperity.  The sermons are all about getting rich.  The sermons are all about having your best life now (to use Joel Osteen’s words).

It is the gospel of success.  It is a feel-good message that feeds everyone’s egos.  It is the health and wealth gospel.  That was not what Paul preached.  What did he preach?

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach THE GOSPEL (I Corinthians 1:17 NIV)

 For the message OF THE CROSS is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (I Corinthians 1:18 NIV)

We preach Christ Crucified (I Corinthians 1:23 NIV)

I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. (I Corinthians 2:2 NIV)

The focus of his Paul’s message was Jesus.  It is not the focus of many preachers today.  They preach on all kinds of other things, but Paul focused on Jesus.

He didn’t just focus on his miracles and His teaching but His death.  He said, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:2 NIV).

Was this the only topic Paul preached?  Did he just talk about the death of Christ?  No.

Paul preached the gospel (I Corinthians 1:17) and he tells us in I Corinthians 15 that the gospel involved the death, burial AND resurrection of Jesus.  We know that he preached that from the Book of Acts.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. (Acts 17:16-18 NIV).

Paul focused on the cross.  He loved the cross.  He was not ashamed of the cross of Jesus.  He boasted in the cross.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14 NIV)

There were enemies of the cross in Paul’s day and there are enemies of the cross in our own day.

For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. (Philippians 3:18 NIV)

Many today do not talk much about the death of Jesus.  They do not believe in substitutionary atonement.  They do not believe in penal substitution.

In fact, some even mock that doctrine that Christ died FOR us. They say God did not send His son to die.  That would be cosmic child abuse.  Paul loved the doctrine of the cross and focused on it.  Without the cross of Christ, there is no Christianity.

3) Don’t be afraid to be ridiculed

When you preach the gospel, you are often ridiculed by people.  The unsaved not only reject the Bible; they mock it.  They laugh at it.  It is a joke to some.

For the message of the cross is FOOLISHNESS to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (I Corinthians 1:18-25 NIV)

There are two different responses in the world to the gospel.  Some reject it because it is offensive.  That is what the Jews thought.  It was a stumbling block (I Corinthians 1:23).

Why were there different responses?  God does not do things the way we think he would do. In fact, he does the exact opposite of what we think He should do.

The gospel is a stumbling block today.  It is offensive.  Paul talked about “the offense of the cross” (Galatians 5:11).  What is so offensive about the gospel?

Four Ways the Gospel is Offensive

1. The gospel says that everyone is a sinner

That is offensive to people who believe that people are basically good. It is offensive to admit that you have a problem.  It is a sin problem.  We are born with this problem.

Now, this offends human pride. If you live a moral life and are religious, you might be offended by this, because you don’t see yourself as a sinner.  Most people do not see themselves as God sees them.

2. The gospel says that judgment is coming

God is going to judge sinners.  People don’t like to talk about a fiery hell.  That is offensive.

3. The gospel says that we can’t save ourselves

There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. That is offensive to people who are very self-sufficient. That offends human pride.  We think we are the master of our own destiny and we can save ourselves.

4. The gospel says that there is only one way to God

It says that all religions are not equal. That is offensive to the pluralistic world in which we live. Pluralism says that one religion is as good as another.

There are just different roads toward God.  Jesus is the only way. That is offensive to people. It is exclusive, narrow-minded and intolerant. The only way to God is through the cross.

Paul mentions two common responses to the gospel.  We see these today.  Some say that the gospel is OFFENSIVE.  Others say that it is FOOLISH.  Christians worship someone who was crucified.

They worship a crucified Savior.  The Jews could not imagine a crucified Messiah. The Messiah they were waiting for would not be crucified.  He would rule and bring peace.

NT Wright said, “No Jew of the time was expecting a Messiah who would be executed by Rome; a Messiah ought to be defeating the pagans, not being killed by them!)”[2]

That would have been an oxymoron.  It would have been contradictory to everything they thought about the Messiah, as S. Lewis Johnson noted. [3]

Others say that the message of the cross is stupid.  It is ridiculous.  It is a silly message, not a saving message.

It is foolish. In fact, we get the word “moron” from the Greek word (μωρία).  The word “foolish” or “foolishness” is used all through this section (I Corinthians 1: 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27)

What sounded so ridiculous about the gospel?  The NT is full of incredible miracles.  They reject the idea of these miracles (e.g., virgin birth, resurrection) as fairy tales.

Unfortunately, they don’t look at the evidence of the resurrection.  Luke said that there were many infallible proofs of the resurrection.  The unsaved are not open to any of these proofs.

They also think that it is silly that the salvation of the world would come from a poor Jewish carpenter.  They think it is absurd that it would come from a convicted felon.  It came from an executed criminal.  Jesus was executed by the state for a capital crime (treason).

He died a shameful death.  He was crucified.  He was crucified in weakness.  That was a death reserved for the worst of criminals.  He was a convicted felon, convicted by a kangaroo court.

It was a miscarriage of justice.  Jesus did not do anything wrong.  He went about doing good and was punished for it by the state.

Many today preach a watered-down gospel.  They mention the gospel but do not mention sin.  Many preachers do not talk much about sin.

They don’t talk about repentance.  They don’t talk about Hell.  That is NOT the gospel.  It is NOT the gospel that Paul preached.

Paul did not change his message.  He did not water down his message to fit his audience.  He was not a man-pleaser (Galatians 1:10).

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (II Timothy 4:2-5 NIV)

People reject the truth.  They turn to teachers who will tell them what they want to hear but Paul tells people not to change their message.  He tells them to continue to preach the Word in season and out of season.

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (I Corinthians 1:22-23 NIV).

Jews demanded one thing.  Gentiles demanded something else.  Paul didn’t give them either.  He preached Christ to both of them. Even when the message offended people, Paul did not stop preaching it

4) Preach it in the right way

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—NOT WITH WISDOM AND ELOQUENCE, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (I Corinthians 1:17 NIV).

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (I Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV)

Paul was a preacher.  He was not an orator.  You don’t have to use big words to be an evangelist.  You don’t have to be a great public speaker.

You don’t have to use flowery language. The power is not in us.  The power is in the gospel itself.  Paul called it “the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18).  He called it “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (I Corinthians 1:18 NIV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16 NIV)

D.L. Moody was the greatest evangelist of the nineteenth century and yet, he never went to college.  He never went to seminary.  He only had a fifth-grade education.

In the 1800s, he worked in a shoe store.  Someone came in and witnessed to him and he got saved.  He felt called to be an evangelist.

He did not have a great education.  All he had was the Holy Spirit and a call to serve. That was all he needed.

5) Give God all of the glory

Some preachers draw a lot of attention to themselves.  It is all about them.  Paul said, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:31 NIV).  This is a quotation from Jeremiah.  Let’s look at the passage in the OT.

This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,

24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV)

Many people like to boast.  We think we are better than other people. Muhammad Ali boasted that he was the greatest.  We boast and brag about all kinds of things.  There are several things we brag about.

We boast about our POSSESSIONS.  We boast how rich we are or what kind of car we drive or what kind of house we live in.

We boast about our WEALTH.  We boast about our salary.  We boast about investments in the stock market.  We boast about our 401K.  The rich tend to look down on the poor.  We talk about them (white trash)

We boast about our GIFTS.  We may have a special gift that no one else has and are really good at it (e.g., a musical gift or athletic gift).  We boast about that gift.

We boast about our KNOWLEDGE.  They boast about how smart they are.  They boast about how educated they are.  They boast about how high their GPA is or their IQ is.

We boast about where we went to college.  Graduating from Harvard or Princeton is not the same as graduating from Alamance Community College.

We boast about how many degrees we have.  If they have a PhD, they look down on people who only have a college degree or never went to college or never learned how to read.

We boast about our STRENGTH.  We boast about how strong we are.  We boast about how much they can lift.  That is what bodybuilders do.

If we are muscular, they look down on people who do not go to the gym and work out.  Kids brag about all of the fights they have won and how no one messes with them.

We boast about our ACCOMPLISHMENTS.  If we have achieved a lot in life and have made it to the top of our profession, it is easy to do this.  You can acknowledge your strengths without bragging or boasting.

Paul says that the only thing we should boast in is God.  Notice how the chapter ends.  Paul makes an incredible statement, and it applies to us today.

A Church of Nobodies

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:26-31 NIV).

Most of us are nobodies.  We are normal people.  We are not anything special in the eyes of the world.  We are not rich and famous.  We are not well known.

The Corinthians church was a church of nobodies.  Paul said, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.”

What was true of the Church of Corinth is true of most churches today. Most of the people that God saves are simple people.  The people that God chooses are not the type of people we would choose.

Most of the people God chooses are nobodies.  They are not movie stars.  They are not heads of state.  There are not many intellectuals.  There are not many college professors.

In fact, God delights in saving nobodies.  He chooses them.  If he chooses them, we should not ignore the poor and lower class.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5 NIV)

It may be strange but Jesus actually thanked God for hiding God from some people.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Matthew 11:25 NIV)

There is a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln.  He said that “God must like common people because He made so many of them.”

Most people look normal.  They look average.  Most people on the street do not look like supermodels.

It is also true that God must like common people because He saved so many of them.  So many of them are in the church.

You don’t have to be special to be saved.  You don’t have to be special to be saved to be used by God.  Peter and John were called “unlearned and ignorant men” (Acts 4:13 KJV).

Peter was a fisherman.  His job was to catch, clean and sell fish and Jesus made him His chief Apostle.[4]

This does not mean that God does not save any wealthy person or famous person.  It does not mean that He can’t use a smart person or a wealthy person.

He doesn’t just use the weak.  He also uses the strong.   He uses the Power Team.  He uses Faith Force.  He used Samson.

Paul did not say “not any were chosen.” He said, “not many were chosen.” One wealthy woman said that she was saved by the letter “M”.  If Paul said, “not any were called,” she would not be saved.

[1] John G. Butler, Sermon Starters, vol. 4 (Clinton, IA: LBC Publications, 2014), 150.

[2] Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone – I Corinthians, 26.

[3] https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sljinstitute-production/new_testament/1Corinthians/05_SLJ_1Corinthians.pdf

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axoVSIKCUlU

Church Fights

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas[b]”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (I Corinthians 1:10-17)

Today, we want to talk about one of the greatest problems in the church today.  It is the problem of divisions.  Divisions are poisonous to a church.  They are toxic.

Division can destroy a local church. Divisions can destroy a country.  Division led to a civil war in our country.  It is a problem that we are dealing with right now in many churches.

Last week, we began a new study on the Book of I Corinthians.  It is the letter written to the American church.  Corinth was the most American city in the New Testament.  This is a book very relevant to our own day.

It was a letter written to a church with problems.  Members of the church were visiting prostitutes, sleeping with their mammas, getting drunk.

In the first six chapters of the book, we have Paul’s response to the various problems.  He does not ignore them, like many pastors do.  He deals with them.

Today, we will see the first topic that Paul addressed.  What he talked about first is not what we would talk about first.  The first topic that Paul dealt with in this church was NOT sex.

It was NOT fornication.  It was NOT adultery.  It was NOT prostitution.  It was NOT homosexuality.  It was NOT incest.  It was DIVISION.  That was number one on Paul’s list.

That is something that may not seem like a big deal to us but it is a big deal wot God.  One of the greatest problems in the world today is division.

The US is more divided than it has ever been.  Some have called it the most divided country in the world.

The US is a polarized country.  It is politically polarized.  Everyone is split along party lines.  Everyone is either Republican or Democrat. Most people seem to be on the far right or the far left politically.

It is not wrong to have different opinions on politics.  We all think differently.  The problem is that people feel so strongly about them that often the two sides cannot even be friends.

They can’t even talk to each other without shouting and screaming.  All you have to do is to go home for Thanksgiving and spend some time with family members who think differently than you do.

Today, we are going only going to look at a few verses in I Corinthians.  We are going to look at what the Bible says about division.  You might be surprised by what it says.

Divisions Today

This is a topic we need to hear about today.  The thing that was happening in Corinth is happening in our church right now.

Instead of working to promote unity, some promote divisions in the church.  They get mad.  They leave.  They get other people to leave. Some even promote rumors, gossip and lies about the church.  It is wrong.  It is sin.

Divisions in Corinth

What was the division in Corinth about?  It was over minor things.  Most divisions are over minor things.  Most arguments of spouses are over minor things.

All it takes is one word and a husband or wife is upset and mad and the two are not talking.  The Corinthians were NOT arguing over something important.

They were arguing over who their favorite preacher was.  It was a division over ministers.

One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” (I Corinthians 1:12 NIV)

Instead of following Christ, they were following people.  People still do that today.  We have some celebrity preachers in big churches.  They are famous.

They are on TV.  They are rich.  They write many books.  Some are like rock stars.  They even go to the White House.  Many follow them.

This was NOT a truth issue.  It was NOT a doctrinal issue.  It was a relational issue.  The Corinthians were not arguing over doctrine.  They were arguing over people.

Peter, Paul and Apollos had the same doctrine.  None preached a different gospel.  They said the same thing, but some of them were more popular than others.  They liked some more than others, just as we do today.

There are all kinds of different preachers today.  Some preachers are better speakers.  They are more eloquent.  Some are not.

Some preachers gave you more information when they speak.  You learn some things from them.  Other preachers give you very little information.  You don’t really learn anything in many sermons.

Some preachers move you more emotionally.  They speak more to your heart than to your head.  Those are the ones who like to shout and scream at the top of their lungs.

Some preachers put your right to sleep.  They are dry as dust.  They are boring.  Some are more interesting.  Some talk too long.  They go on forever.

The Corinthians heard different preachers and they had their favorite.  They argued with other members of the church as to which was the best one.

A difference of opinion led to a dispute.  It led to a quarrel.  Everyone took sides and said the other side was wrong.  These different groups and factions led to division in the church.

Four Groups

There were four distinct groups in Corinth.  The church was divided into four factions.  Can you imagine one church divided into four parts?  Let’s look briefly at these four groups in the church.

You can see which one appeals to you the most.  If I was in that church, I would have had my preference for one of them.

All four approaches are wrong.  Paul does not even say that the ones who followed him were right.

1) The Loyal Group

They liked Paul the most.  They said, “I follow Paul.”  He founded the church at Corinth. He started it.  He was the pastor.  They were loyal to him.  Most of the people would have been his converts.

He was the greatest apostle.  He worked harder than all of them (I Corinthians 15:10).  He performed miracles.  He even raised the dead.

Paul wrote half of the books of the NT.  He wrote 13 or 14 books of the 27 books of the NT.  In terms of words, it is about 30% of the NT.

Most of our deep theology that in the church we have comes from the Apostle Paul.  It comes from his writings.  He may not be a great preacher but he was a deep theologian.

2) The Charismatic Group

This group liked Apollos the most.  They said, “I follow Apollos.” Why did they like him?  He had some gifts that the Apostle Paul did not have.

Paul was a good writer.  Apollos did not write any books but he was a much better preacher.  He was a good public speaker.  He was articulate.  He is eloquent.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. (Acts 18:24-25 NIV)

Apollos had a lot of good points.  He was a good speaker.  He spoke with great fervor.  He knew the Scriptures very well.  He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.”

He was not only a good preacher and Bible scholar; he was an apologist.  He held debates with the Jews over Christianity, and he did it in public.

He vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah (Acts 18:28 NIV)

That aspect about Apollos appealed to many people.  It would be good to have a man like that in your church.

3) The Rival Group

Another group liked Peter the most.  They said, “I follow Cephas.”  Cephas was the Aramaic name for Peter.

The Jewish Christians in the church were probably part of this group.  There were some Jews in Corinth.  There was a synagogue there (Acts 18:1-8).

Paul was an apostle, but they liked a different apostle better.  Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles.  Peter was the Apostle to the Jews (Galatians 2:7-8).

Paul was a good apostle, but Peter was one of the Twelve.  He lived with Jesus for three years, heard all of his teaching and witnessed all of His miracles.

He was part of Jesus’ inner circle of disciples (Peter, James and John) and was called “one of the pillars of the church” in Galatians 2:10. He is the rock of the church.

Roman Catholics would have been a part of this group because they believe he was the first pope.  Jesus built his church on him.  Jesus gave him the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:19).

He preached the sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2 and three thousand people got saved from his one sermon.

4) The Spiritual Group

This group says they just followed Christ.  Aren’t we supposed to follow Christ?  Yes.  The problem was that apparently, this group didn’t believe in human leaders.  They just followed Jesus.

It is not wrong to say that you follow Christ.  It is wrong to reject all human leadership.

It is wrong to think that you are better than other Christians and that you do not even need to go to church.  You can just read the Word and let Jesus speak directly to you.

People today are NOT saying, “I am of Paul or I am of Apollos or I am of Peter” but they are saying, “I am of Brian” or “I am of Scott.”

We have people following men today.  They become the focus.  People start to idolize them.  They are the attraction.  That is what draws them to the church.

The pastor becomes a personality cult.  They are not coming to church because of Christ but because of the celebrity pastor.

It leads to the problem of church groupies.  Some become groupies, rather than disciples.  People become groupies for some preachers, especially the preachers of big churches.

It is not just a problem today.  It was a problem in the first century.   Even apostolic churches had this problem.  Churches founded by an apostle had this problem.

In fact, the church of Corinth was not the only church that struggled with division.  The Church of Philippi also struggled with division in the church.

Euodia and Syntyche

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:2-3 NIV).

What do we know about these two women with the funny names?

1) They were members of the church

Paul mentioned their names in his letter to that church.  Apparently, they were members.  It must have been embarrassing to attend church and have this letter read out loud and hear your name mentioned in it.

2) They were genuinely saved

Paul said they were saved.  He said their names were in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3).  Their names were not only in the Book of Philippians.  Their names were in the Book of Life.

Their names were not just in Paul’s book.  Their names were in God’s book.  Just because they sinned, their names were not taken out of the Book of Life.  If that were the case, none of our names would be in the book, because we all sin.

3) They were involved in ministry

They helped Paul found the Church of Philippi.  They did ministry.  That is important, because not everyone in church actually serves but they did.

4) They worked hard

Paul said that they LABORED side by side with me in the gospel (Philippians 4:3 ESV).  They were hard workers.  That is what the word “labored” implies.  They were not lazy.

5) They couldn’t get along

Probably at one time they were close.  They worked together and got along but then something happened.  Something was said and the other was offended.

Their disagreement was not over doctrine.  It was not over theology.  They just did not like each other.  It was a personality clash.

They are mentioned nowhere else in Scripture.  It is pretty bad that your name got in the Bible just for fighting with fellow Christians.

One is named “odious” and one has the word “sin” (sin-ticky) in their name but that is only true in English, not Greek.

Clement was mentioned for doing something good.  They were mentioned by Paul for doing something bad.

What is God’s solution to conflict in the church?  How did Paul deal with this problem?

He addressed both of them (I plead with Euodia AND I plead with Syntyche).

He did NOT take sides.  He did not say which side was right and which side was wrong.

He told them to work out their problem.  He told them to be of the same mind in the Lord.

He told someone to help them get along.  Paul also told the Corinthians to do something similar.

Five Truths about Division

What does the Bible say about division?  It says several things.

1) There are some good divisions

There are some good divisions in the Bible.  Not every division is bad.  There are some divisions that God creates.  Division goes all the way back to creation.  God said, “Let there be light” and He divided the light from the darkness.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Matthew 10:34-35 NIV)

Salvation results in a division.  It results in a division in families.  There are children of God and children of the Devil.  There are children of light and children of darkness.  Jesus divides people.  The gospel divides people.  Truth divides people.

On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 

42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were DIVIDED because of Jesus. (John 7:40-43 NIV)

The Jews who heard these words were again DIVIDED. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

21But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:19-21 NIV)

At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. 4 The people of the city were DIVIDED; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. (Acts 14:1-4 NIV)

All division is not necessarily bad, and all unity is not necessarily good.  In the Tribulation, we are told that the Antichrist will have unity.  The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast (Revelation 13:3 NIV). 

And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 13:7-8 NIV)

2) Most divisions are sinful

There is a good division but there is also a bad division.  Most divisions are sinful.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, DISSENSIONS, DIVISIONS, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV)

Bad division is a division OF BELIEVERS.  It is division IN the church. Paul said, Is Christ divided? (I Corinthians 1:13).  No.  Jesus is not divided, and His body should not be divided.

Paul said that there should be NO division in the body but that its parts should have equal concern for each other (I Corinthians 12:25 NIV).  There should not be division in our physical body or the body of Christ.

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be NO DIVISIONS among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. (I Corinthians 1:10 NIV)

Some of the worst disagreements are found in church.  Someone has said that “There is no fight like a church fight.”

All you have to do is to show up at a typical business meeting in many churches and you will see this in action.  People shout and scream at each other.

There should be a division between the saved and the unsaved but there should NOT be a division between Christians. This is an issue that is affecting our own church right now.  That makes this section extremely relevant.

3) We should strive for unity in the church

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3 NIV)

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ALL of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be NO divisions among you, but that you be PEFECTLY united in mind and thought. (I Corinthians 1:10 NIV)

Paul gives a strong exhortation to the Corinthians about unity.  When he deals with the problem of division, the first thing he does is to APPEAL to them.  He does not yell at them.  He does not scold them.  He pleads with them.

He pleads with them as family (brothers and sisters), and he does it in the name of our Lord Jesus.  Before giving an exhortation, he points them to the name of Jesus, the name above all names.

Then, he gives them three exhortations.  One, we are to agree in what we say.  Two, we are to have no divisions.  Three, we are to be perfectly united in mind and thought.

In what ways are we called to unity in the church?  We are to be united with other believers in mind, in thoughts, in words.  In fact, we are to be PERFECTLY united with them and have no divisions.

How is it even possible?  How is it possible to agree with everyone in what we say?  How can we possibly be perfectly united in mind and thought?  We would have to all be robots and all think the same thoughts at the same time.

There is diversity in unity.  We see this in marriage.  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 ESV)

There is all kind of diversity in the body of Christ.  It is made of of Jew and Gentile in one body.  There were both slaves and masters in the same body and the church has many gifts.

We will see that in I Corinthians 12.  He describes the church as a body and each Christian is a different part of the body.

We don’t look alike.  We have the same gifts.  We don’t talk alike.  We don’t think alike.  On many topics, we have differences, but we can have differences without division.

We can be perfectly united in mind and thought on all of the major doctrines of the faith.  We can say the same thing.  There is one faith.

We do not have to compromise truth for the same of unity.  We should take a stand for truth.

Jude 3 says that we should contend for the faith once entrusted to the saints, but we can have differences of opinion on minor things and still have unity.

We can even like some different preachers better than others.  Some preachers put you right to sleep.

That is different from saying that that there is only one preacher on the planet who faithfully teaches the Word, and all of the rest are false teachers.

Paul did some things to prevent division in the church.  Not all preachers do that.  Some preachers like to have followers.  It feeds their big egos.

Paul did not want people following him.  He wanted people following Jesus.

Paul did say, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1), but he never told people to just be followers of him.

Paul told people that he did not die for them, and they were not baptized in his name.

In fact, he baptized very few people at all.  It is not that he was against baptism.  Other people did the baptizing.

4) We should avoid people who cause disunity

The Bible says we are to not to cause divisions and we are to avoid people who cause divisions in the church.  Paul said both things.  There are some people in church you should avoid.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. (Romans 16:17 NIV)

5) Divisions reveal your heart

In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. (I Corinthians 11:19-20 NIV) 

Divisions are a test.  There are some things that they reveal.  There MUST be divisions among us to reveal who has God’s approval. What does it mean?  Someone called this a forgotten verse.[1]

Divisions are hard and painful but when they happen, they reveal certain attitudes.  Some people have trouble with authority and that comes out in division.

Some act in an unloving manner in divisions.  Some have truth but not love.  That can come out in divisions.  Some are not genuine believers.  They were never saved in the first place.  Divisions may reveal that.

Practical Applications

There are several applications here.  There are several questions we need to ask yourselves.  Let’s take the unity test.  How would you answer these questions.

Do you promote unity in church or do you promote division in church?

Is there someone in the church you are not getting along with, just as Euodia and Syntyche were not getting along?

Are you in a quarrel with someone in the church right now?  Is there someone you need to reconcile with?

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24 NIV)

Do you like to fight with other Christians and argue with them, especially about minor non-essential issues that don’t matter?

Are you part of any cliques or factions in church which divide people?

Do you listen to only one preacher?  That is a sign of a problem.  I listen to all of them, although some I like better than others.

Do you follow people?  Do you follow people over Christ?  That could be true politically, as well as religiously.

Do you idolize your preacher?  There is a danger in exalting people too much.  Leaders are imperfect.

People will disappoint you.  Some famous celebrity preachers end up in sin and disgrace.  Many end up in some type of scandal.  Some end up in prison.  We cannot put our trust in people.

On the other hand, we can put Christ first in our lives and still respect our leaders.  We should do that.

Do you do anything to prevent division from happening, like Paul did?

[1] http://www.bibletruths.net/archives/BTARO96.htm

The American Church

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.

7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (I Corinthians 1:1-9 NIV)

Today, we begin a new series on the Book of I Corinthians.  It is a fascinating book.  It is a practical book.  It is a relevant book.

It is the greatest chapter on love in the Bible.  It contains the Bible’s love chapter, the one that is often read at weddings (I Corinthians 13).

Pentecostals the book of I Corinthians.  It is one of their favorite books of the Bible.   It was an epistle written to a charismatic church.

Paul said that they did not lack any spiritual gift (I Corinthians 1:7).  The Corinthians spoke in tongues.  They prophesied.  They performed miracles.

Feminists hate this book, because Paul said something about women being silent.  Why did he tell women to shut up in church?  Was he a male-chauvinist?  We will find out.

One thing is for sure.  This book does not tell us what Paul thinks.  It tells us what God thinks.  It is a book that is inspired by God.  Paul wrote it under divine inspiration.

If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. (I Corinthians 14:37 ESV).

Paul was not just the founder of the church or pastor of the church.  He was a genuine apostle, an apostle of Jesus Christ.  He tells us that in the first verse of the book.

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes (I Corinthians 1:1 NIV)

Paul was an apostle, NOT by the will of man, but by the will of God.  Some are apostles today but the will of man but not by the will of God.

They are NOT divinely called to that position. They are self-appointed.  Paul was called to be an apostle.  He was called by God.  God calls everyone to do something.

What has He called you to do?  We are all called to do something.  Some are called to be teachers.  Some are called to be doctors.

Some are called to be construction workers.  Some are called to be homemakers.  Paul was called to be an apostle.  That was his job and mission.

A Controversial Book

This book deals with some interesting topics.  It deals with spiritual growth.  It deals with baby Christians who can only drink milk and mature Christians who can eat meat (I Corinthians 3).

It deals with the Christian and rewards (I Corinthians 3).  It deals with career changes (I Corinthians 7).  It deals with legal matters.  It deals with lawsuits (I Corinthians 6).

It deals with singleness and marriage (I Corinthians 7).  It deals with marriage and divorce (I Corinthians 7).

There are a lot of different views on divorce.  What did the apostle Paul say about it?  We find out.

One prominent evangelical believes that the Bible allows divorce in the case of abuse (so Wayne Grudem).  He bases it on one statement of Paul in this book (I Corinthians 7:15).

I Corinthians deals with some adult topics.  It deals with sex.  It even deals with sex in marriage (I Corinthians 7).

It deals with sexual sin (I Corinthians 5-6).  It deals with incest.  It deals with prostitution.  In fact, the Greek word for “harlot,” which we see in I Corinthians, is the word πόρνη (from which we get the word “pornography”).

It deals with homosexuality.  Paul talks about same-sex attraction.  He deals with the LGTB question.  What does he say?  We will find out.

Paul talks about spiritual gifts in this book.   One of the major passages on spiritual gifts in the NT is found in I Corinthians.  That is a highly controversial issue today.  That is one of the topics that divides Christians today.

This book mentions a lot of charismatic gifts (I Corinthians 12-14).  It mentions speaking in tongues, and prophecy.

It mentions gifts of healing, and the ability to perform miracles.  It mentions the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge.

It mentions the Baptism of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12).  What is that?  Is it a Second Blessing?

Is it a second work of grace?  How do you get it?  Do you have to speak in tongues to get it?

What is speaking in tongues?  Should everyone in the church speak in tongues?  Does the gift still exist today?

Some say that one verse in the book proves that many of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit ceased at the end of the first century (I Corinthians 13:10). Are they correct?  We will see.

A Difficult Book

The Apostle Peter said that some of Paul’s writings were hard to understand.

He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (II Peter 3:16 NIV)

That is interesting.  Peter was a fellow apostle and yet he said that some things that Paul wrote went right over his head.  Peter was a simple fisherman.  Paul was a theologian.

Most of the book is easy to understand but there are some difficult verses in the book.  Here are just a few of them.

I Corinthian 11:5, 10

Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved” (I Corinthians 11:5 NIV)

It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels (I Corinthians 11:10 NIV).  

Why does it dishonor your head to pray with your head uncovered?  Do women have to wear head coverings?  Some we follow these instructions today, like some Brethren churches do?

Why would angels care if the heads of women are covered or not covered?  There are some strange ideas about this verse.

One of the church fathers in the second century (Tertullian) believed they were to do this to keep the angels from being seduced by beautiful women.

That is a little ludicrous.  Women walk down the street scantily clad and half-naked, but angels lust after women in church who do not have their head covered.  That does not make much sense.

I Corinthians 14:34-35

Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church (NIV)

Are women not allowed to talk in church?  Why are they to be quiet in church?  Why does Paul say this?  What does he mean?  Does he hate all women?  We will discuss it.

I Corinthians 15:29

Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? (NIV)

That is a strange verse.  It mentions baptism for the dead.  What does that mean?  Cultists have some strange interpretations of that passage.

Mormons believe you have to be baptized to go to heaven. If people die without being baptized, that is okay.  We can still baptize them after they die.

That is utter foolishness.  We are all accountable to God ourselves.  No one can believe for us.  No one can repent for us.  No one can be baptized for us.  We are all individually accountable before God.

A Relevant Book

Today, we want to look at why we should study this book today.  We will see that this book is relevant to the day in which we live. Ray Stedman called I Corinthians “an epistle for the 21st century.”[1] Here are four things that you need to know about this book.

1) The city of Corinth was similar to many cities today

Cities get reputations for many things.  Some have good reputations, and some have bad reputations.  Some have good schools.  Some have bad schools.

Some have reputations for being safe.  Some have reputations for being unsafe.  Some cities have high crime rates.  Some are places that tourists want to visit, and some are not.

In Acts 17, Paul went to Athens.  Athens was a center of learning.  It was the birthplace of philosophy.  That’s what it was known for.

Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates were all from Athens. Some of the sharpest minds who ever lived came from Athens.

In Acts 18, Paul went to Corinth.  It had a reputation for immorality.  It was the Los Vegas of the ancient world.  Corinth was known as “sin city.”

It was a wicked city.  It was NT Sodom.  Corinth had a bad reputation.  The name had a bad connotation.

In fact, when you called someone a “Corinthian girl” (Κορίνθιος κόρη), it was an insult.  It meant a prostitute.  The verb for “to corinthianize” in Classical Greek (κορινθιάζομαι) meant to commit sexual sin.[2]

There were a thousand prostitutes in the Temple of Aphrodite, and it was perfectly legal.  The historian Strabo says, “it was also on account of these women that the city was crowded with people and grew rich.”[3]

Paul wrote the Book of Romans from the city of Corinth.  When he looked at the depravity in his day, he was describing what people in Corinth did.

He described people worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator, by exchanging the glory of the immortal God for birds and animals and reptiles (Romans 1:25, 23).

This was idolatry he witnessed at Corinth.  There were all kinds of temples in Corinth to Greek and Roman gods.

He described people given over to a depraved mind, engaging in shameful lusts, men with men and women with women (Romans 1:26-28).  Those were sexual sins prevalent in Corinth.

Corinth was like some American cities today.  It was the most American city in the New Testament.

Ray Stedman was the pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in California for forty years.  He died in 1992.

He said, “There is no church in the New Testament that is more like the churches of California than this Corinthian church.”[4]

In fact, when he began his exposition of the book, he asked people to turn to the book of “First Californians”[5]

Some cities are centers of sin, like Corinth was.  They are cities with a lot of drinking, clubs, and prostitution.  There may be a Corinth, USA near you.

Actually, there are a few cities in the US named Corinth.  There is a Corinth, Mississippi and a Corinth, Texas but I don’t know if there are any brothels there.  These are cities in the South.  They are in the Bible belt.

2) The Church of Corinth had problems, like most churches today

Most churches today have problems.  They are messy.  The Corinthians were “Paul’s problem children.”[6] The Church of Corinth had problems.  They had all kinds of problems.

There is a lot that the modern church can learn from this church in ancient Greece.  We have a lot of the same problems this church had.

It was written to first century Christians but deals with twenty-first century problems.[7]

There is no other epistle in the New Testament which so directly deals with the problems of the church in our day.

Many people think that modern churches are bad.  They are corrupt.  They are worldly.  There are fog machines in the worship service.  If you want to go back to a pure church, you have to go back to the first century.

That is a complete myth.  It is an idealized view of the first century church.  The truth is that some NT churches were good, and some were bad.

Even some churches that were founded by apostles turned out bad.  There is no perfect church.  Churches today are not perfect.  First century churches were not perfect.  Apostolic churches were not perfect either.

We see that from the Church of Corinth.  It was a church started by the Apostle Paul and it had all kinds of problems.  It was an immoral church.

The Church of Corinth was not only a church with problems; it was a church with scandals.  There were some sex scandals in the church.

You have heard of Girls Gone Wild.  This was “The Church Gone Wild.”  This was “Christians Gone Wild.”

Some members of the church were visiting prostitutes.  A man was living with his father’s wife.  He was sleeping with his mamma or step-mamma.

Paul said that these Christians were actually living worse than the unsaved.  They had gross sin in the church, and they boasted about it.

That sounds familiar.  It sounds like today.  We have pride days celebrating sin and glorifying it, instead of repenting of it.  They glory in their shame, except this was happening in the church, not the world.

Paul said, “Your church services do more harm than good” (I Corinthians 11:17).  You go to church and find half the people drunk.

They didn’t get drunk before they came to church. They got drunk at church while they were taking communion. That seems a little strange to us. You can’t get drunk on grape juice.

Apparently, the early church drank wine at communion. Paul did not condemn them for using wine at communion. He condemned them for getting drunk.

Why in the world would the early church have used real wine at communion?  We have taken communion out of its Jewish roots.

Jesus was a Jew. He wasn’t a Baptist.  Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during a Jewish Passover Seder meal.  Jews drink wine at Passover and still do today.

This church had all kinds of problems and it was a church that Paul started.  He planted the church in Acts 18.  This was an apostolic church.  Wrap your mind around that.

Paul was their spiritual father.  He led them to Christ.  He said, “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (I Corinthians 4:15 NIV).

He was the one who laid the foundation of the church.  He said, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it” (I Corinthians 3:10 NIV).

Some churches have problems, and the pastor does not deal with them.  This church had problems. Paul did not ignore the problems or pretend that they didn’t exist.

He dealt with them head on.  He did not beat around the bush.  He was blunt.  He was direct. In the first six chapters of the book, Paul deals with the concerns that he had.

In other epistles, like Galatians, Paul corrects DOCTRINAL errors.  Christians had some false ideas, and he corrected their false thinking with truth.  That needs to be done today.

There are all kinds of false ideas that Christians have.  There are some crazy things on the internet and some Christians believe it.

In this book, he corrects MORAL errors.  The problem was not so much false thinking as false living.  That is also important today.

We have Christians today not living like they are supposed to.  Their lives do not line up with Scripture.  They may line up with society but not with Scripture.  The Bible says that we are not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2).

There is some doctrinal teaching in I Corinthians.  It was written by the Apostle Paul.  Paul was the greatest theologian of all time.  He can’t avoid doctrine.

There is some teaching in I Corinthians.  There is even some teaching on prophecy in this book.

The book mentions the resurrection.  There are fifty-eight verses on the resurrection of the body. It is the greatest chapter on the resurrection in the Bible.

The book mentions the Kingdom.  It mentions the Rapture.  The Second Coming is mentioned in the very first chapter.

Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 1:7-8 NIV)

Most of the book is NOT doctrinal.  It is extremely practical.  It is about ethics.  It is about how to live in the world as a Christian in a way that honors God.

3) The Church of Corinth teaches us to ask important questions.

The first part of the book deals with CONCERNS.  Paul shares the concerns he had about this church.

The second part of the book deals with QUESTIONS.  They did not have the NT.  It wasn’t written yet, so the Corinthians asked Paul some questions.

If there was a genuine apostle on earth, who followed Jesus for three years, heard his teaching and saw his miracles and you could ask him any question, what would it be?

We do not have their questions, but we have Paul’s response to them.

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. (I Corinthians 7:1-2 NIV)

Now about food sacrificed to idols… We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that There is no God but one…7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge…Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak…. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (I Corinthians 8:1, 7, 8, 13 NIV)

Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. (I Corinthians 12:1 NIV)

This was a young church.  It was a church of baby Christians.  It was a church of brand-new believers.  This church was only five years old when Paul wrote the book.

This church came out of a background of raw paganism.  They were former pagans.

You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. (I Corinthians 12:2 NIV)

It was a predominantly Gentile church.  Most were Greek.  Corinth was a city in Greece.

When you get new Christians, they have a lot of questions. They want to know what the Bible says about this topic and that topic.  The questions are endless.

Unfortunately, the older you get, the less questions you often ask.  When we get older, we think we know all of the answers or, if we don’t know, we pretend like we know everything, so we don’t ask questions.

We need to follow the example of the Corinthians and to seek out answers to the questions we have from Scripture.  We also need to follow Paul’s answers to come up with Christians answers.

We need to come up with biblical answers to questions that people raise in our own day.  The questions today will be a lot different than they were two thousand years ago.

In the last ten chapters of the book, Paul answers six questions that the Corinthians had.  He answered questions about marriage.

He answered questions about food.  It was not a question about what foods are healthy and what foods are unhealthy.  It was what foods make you sin when you eat them (devil’s food cake).

He answered questions about spiritual gifts.  He spent more time answering this question than any other.  We still have questions about spiritual gifts today.  He answered a doctrinal question about the resurrection.

They are not the burning questions of our day.  We do not deal with eating offered to idols in a pagan temple but there are principles that we can apply from all these questions. We don’t have the letter that they wrote but we have Paul’s answer to their letter.

How did they get this letter?  It was probably hand delivered from three men (Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus)

I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. (I Corinthians 16:17 NIV).

4) The Church at Corinth teaches us the importance of discovering our identity in Christ.

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Notice how the book begins.  It is NOT the way I would begin the letter.  It does NOT begin with a rebuke.  It does NOT begin with criticism.  It does not begin with an ultimatum.

It does NOT begin with a sin list.  Paul does not begin railing on the church because of all of the homosexuals.  The book begins on a positive note.

It begins with thanksgiving.  I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus (I Corinthians 1:4 NIV).

Paul beings with thanking them for the blessings they received at salvation in the past and for the blessing they would receive at glorification.

Paul did not begin every letter with thanksgiving.  He did not begin the letter to the Galatians with thanksgiving.  He did not have a single word of praise for them.  They were following a false gospel, but the Corinthians were genuinely saved, even though they were messed up.

Paul reminds them who they are.  The first few verses show us believers as God sees us.  He shows them their identity in Christ.  Even though they sinned, their position in Christ had not changed and God has not changed.

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours (I Corinthians 1:2 NKJV)

Good News for Bad Christians

There are four things that were true of the Corinthians and are true of us as well.

1) We are part of God’s Church

Now, there are many churches.  There are many denominations.  Churches have many labels but if the church is made up of true Christians, they are part of the one Church of God.  This was not Paul’s church.  It was God’s church.

The Church of God was not just made up of the Corinthian Church.  It was made up of wall who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  There are members of this church all over the world in every country.  Every believer is a member of this church.

The church in Corinth had many problems but they were still members of the Church of God.  It had many sins, but it was still the Church of God (I Corinthians 1:2).

Apparently, you don’t have to be a perfect church to be a true church.  Even weak churches are true churches.  Even churches with some sin issues can be real churches.

2) We are sanctified

This is a topic that has confused many people.  What is sanctification?  It means to set something apart or consecrate it.  It also means to wash or make holy.

There are different stages of sanctification, but sanctification begins at salvation.  The Corinthians were sanctified in Christ Jesus (I Corinthians 1:2 NIV)

Paul said that the Corinthians were sanctified (sanctified in Christ Jesus).  What does this mean?  When they got saved, they were sanctified.  Paul says to them, “you were (past tense) sanctified” (I Corinthians 6:11 NIV)

‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:16-18 NIV)

We are set apart at salvation.  It is called positional sanctification but sanctification is also a process that continues the rest of our life (called progressive or practical sanctification (cf. John 17:17).

We never become sinless in this life.  In heaven, we have the final state of sanctification (perfected or final sanctification).

3) We are saints

What do you think about when you think of a saint?  When we think of a saint, we may think of someone who died.

That is how saints are in the Catholic Church.  They are all dead believers who were elevated into sainthood after they died by some pope but Paul calls living believers “saints.”

When we think of a saint, we may think of Super-Christians.  We think of someone who can walk on water.

We think of someone who can perform miracles and raise the dead.  We think of someone who can glow in the dark.  That is not what the word means.

Paul is writing to the Church of Corinth.  There were spiritual and unspiritual people there.  Paul did not call some of the Corinthians saints.  He called them ALL saints.

Every believer is a saint. Every Christian is a saint. I am St. Louis.  Not all saints act like saints.  The Corinthians did not act very saintly.  They acted more like sinners than saints.

They were worldly.  They were carnal.  They were getting drunk.  There was sexual sin going on in the church.  They were fighting with each other in church and taking one another to court.  They were saints and were to live like saints.

But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, AS IS FITTING FOR SAINTS; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5:3-4 NKJV)

4) We are gifted

For in him you have been enriched in every way—with ALL kinds of speech and with ALL knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack ANY spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

The Corinthians prided themselves on their gifts.  They prided themselves on their knowledge.  They had problems in these areas, but Paul still praised them for what they had

They did not lack any spiritual gift.  There are twenty-one gifts of the Spirit listed in the NT.  The Corinthians had them all.  You can have all of the gifts and not be too spiritual.  You can have all of the gifts and not be loving.  Paul deals with that in this book.

[1] https://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/1-corinthians

[2] Henry George Liddell & Robert Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, new edition (1968), p. 981.

[3] Strabo, Geography, 8.6.20 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/8F*.html)

[4] https://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/1-corinthians/the-corinthian-crisis

[5] Ibid.

[6] Tommy Nelson, “When a Church Loses Its Sense of Grace” (https://dentonbible.org/sermon/when-a-church-loses-its-sense-of-grace/).

[7] The Word in Life Study Bible (New King James Version), 1996, p. 2056.

Final Words

We have gone through the whole Book of Revelation chapter by chapter.  Today, we come to the final message on the book, as we look at the last chapter.

Revelation is one of the most important books of the Bible.  It is also one of the most neglected books of the Bible.  Many never preach from this book.

It the only book of the Bible that promises a special blessing.  I trust, as you have been with me through this study, that you have received a blessing.

Revelation 22 brings us, not just to the end of the Book of Revelation.  It brings us to the end of the Bible.  If you don’t know where it is, go to the last book of the Bible and turn to the last page.

Today, we are going to look at the last words of this incredible revelation.

Last words are always important.  How well do you know Bible trivia?  I want to test your knowledge.  What were the last words before Jesus died?  His last words were a prayer.

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46 NIV)

What were the last words before Jesus ascended into heaven?  His last words were a prediction.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. (Acts 1:8-9 NIV).

Today, we see what are the last words of Jesus in the Bible.  They are found in the Book of Revelation.  His last words are “I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20 NIV).  Adrian Rogers calls that “the Bible’s last prophecy.”[1]

Revelation 22 gives us the last words of the Word of God.  They give us the final words of God to man.

The last two weeks we have been looking at heaven.  We talked about what heaven will be like, but John does not end his book describing the glories of heaven.

He could have done that, but he didn’t. The last part of the Book of Revelation is application.

We have seen some incredible prophecies and visions found in this book.  We have seen visions of angels and demons.

We have seen visions of Satan, the great red dragon with the long tail, who tried to eat a pregnant woman’s baby and then went after her other children.

We have seen monstrous politicians on earth who persecute and slaughter believers on the earth.

We have seen terrifying visions of judgment falling on the earth and all kinds of different plagues on the land, on the sea, in the sky and on people themselves.

We have seen Jesus returning triumphantly as King of kings and Lord of lords with the armies of heaven.  We have seen Him ruling on the earth for a thousand years with his saints.

We have seen a final rebellion and fire falling from heaven.  We have seen a terrifying scene of the Great White Throne Judgment, as God sits on his throne, opens the books and decides the eternal destiny of sinful people.

We have seen the earth passing away and a new heaven and earth created.  We discussed what life will be like in heaven with God for all eternity.  Now, it is time for some applications.

How should we respond in light of the truths of this book?  How should it change our lives?  What impact should this book have on us personally?

How should believers respond to this revelation?  How should unbelievers respond to it?  That is all addressed in Revelation 22.  Today, I want to look at five final applications, as we conclude our study of this book.

Five Final Applications

1) BELIEVE these prophetic words, because they are absolutely trustworthy.

The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” (Revelation 22:6 NIV)

Jesus is called “faithful and true” (Revelation 19:11 KJV).  This book is also called “faithful and true” (Revelation 22:6).  What is true of the Living Word is also true of the Written Word.   It is the same words in Greek.

We are told that this book is “trustworthy and true” (NIV) and we are told that from an angel.  What it says is true.  You can believe it.

Everything in the book is true.  It is going to happen.  Some things are described symbolically but they are all going to take place.  What is true of the Book of Revelation is true of the rest of the Bible.  It will all be fulfilled.

When it says that Jesus is coming back soon and it says it three times in this chapter, it means He is coming back soon.

You say, “It has been two thousand years.  That does not seem soon.”  God’s timetable is different from ours (cf. II Peter 3:8-10) but it will happen.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but MY WORDS will never pass away. (Matthew 24:35 NIV) and these are His words.  Behold I am coming soon (Revelation 22:7, 12).

2) RESPECT these prophetic words, because they are inspired by God.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. (Revelation 22:18-19 NIV)

This book ends with a serious warning.  The Bible contains many warnings. The one in Revelation 22 is the last warning found in Scripture.  It is one of the strongest warnings found in Scripture.  It is a warning against doing two things.

It is a warning against ADDING WORDS to the book (Revelation 22:18).  It is a warning against TAKING AWAY WORDS from the book (Revelation 22:19). It is a double warning.  Some might be tempted to add words.  Some might be tempted to take away words.

It is specifically talking about the Book of Revelation (the words of the prophecy of THIS BOOK) but the same principle applies to every book of Scripture. It is interesting that the Bible begins and ends with this topic.

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must NOT eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it YOU WILL CERTAINLY DIE.” (Gene3sis 2:16-17 NIV)

You will NOT CERTAINLY DIE,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 NIV)

Satan contradicted what God says.  God said, “you will certainly die.”  Satan said, “You will not certainly die.”  So, let’s talk about these two sins today.

First, there is the sin of ADDING to Scripture.  This is still happening today.  Some add tradition and say it is just as important as Scripture.  The Bible is not enough.

Genesis describes a marriage between a man and a woman.  That is really clear.  Some want to add the marriage of a man and a man or a woman and a woman.

Genesis says that God created everyone male and female.  Today, we are told that there are many more genders.  There is a joke that says, “God created man and woman.  Democrats created all of the other genders.”

The Bible says that if you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life.  Many will add, if you believe in Buddha or Muhammad, you will also be saved.

Some don’t just add doctrines but whole books of the Bible.  Mormons add Another Testament of Jesus Christ (the Book of Mormon) or The Pearl of Great Price.  That is what cultists do. They add false scriptures to true scriptures.

“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar (Proverbs 30:5-6 NIV).

Second, there is also the sin of TAKING AWAY from Scripture.  That is what Satan did in Genesis 3.  He said to Eve, “I know God said you would die if you eat from the fruit of the tree but don’t believe Him.  It is not true.”

Liberals take away from what God says all of the time.  They say that the Bible is unscientific.  One preacher said that pencils come with erasers, but the Bible does not come with an eraser.[2]

We can’t erase the parts of it that we don’t like or that offend us.  All of it is inspired by God.  We can’t edit out certain things or try to modernize the Bible.  That is what some denominations have done (Methodist Church)

By the way, this verse is proof that the Bible is inerrant.  If there are errors in it, you could take them out, but nothing is to be taken out or removed from the Word of God.

Here is the shocker.  Did you know that how you treat the Bible determines your eternal destiny?  How you treat God’s Word affects where you will spend eternity.  We we will see this in Revelation 22.  What should our attitude to Scripture be?

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who TREMBLE at my word. (Isaiah 66:2 NIV)

There are many different attitudes toward the Bible.  Some love it.  Some hate it.  Some are apathetic.  Some mock it but very few actually fear it.

Who does that these days?  I don’t see people in church doing this.  When was the last time that you trembled at God’s Word?  That is the type of person that God favors and blesses.

There is a good example in Scripture of mistreated God’s Word.  He was an OT king.  His name was Jehoiakim.  You can read about what he did in Jeremiah 36.  It is a fascinating story.

The word of the Lord came to the Prophet Jeremiah and God commanded him to write it down, so Jeremiah dictated it to a scribe named Baruch.  What did it say?  The country is sinful.  God is angry.  Judgment is coming.  The nation needs to repent.

Someone took it to the king.  The king had someone read it to him.  After he heard it, he was angry.  He cut it up with a knife and threw it into a fire.  His advisors told him not to burn it, but he did it anyway.

That is what we are told not to do in our passage in Revelation 22.  Notice what the punishment is.  The punishment fits the crime.

If anyone ADDS anything to the Revelation, God will ADD to that person the plagues described in this book.  If anyone TAKES AWAY from this book, God will TAKE AWAY some things from him.

You will suffer in this life (plagues) and in the next life. You will miss out on future blessings (tree of life and the holy city).  God warned that bad things would happen to Jehoiakim because of what he did.

He said, “his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night” (Jeremiah 36:30).

What Jehoiakim did to the Scriptures was done to him.  He cut the Scriptures up and he was cut up by a sword and died.

He threw the Scriptures away.  His body was thrown away.  It was thrown over the city wall and he was not buried.[3]

Is this sin unforgivable?  No.  Any sin can be forgiven through repentance.  We saw that last week.  Murderers, idolaters, sexually immoral, and liars are excluded from heaven but this is talking about an unrepentant lifestyle.

King David was both a murderer and immoral and he will be in heaven.  Abraham was a liar and yet he will be in heaven.  John worships an angel.  He was an idolater and yet he will be in heaven

Can Salvation be Lost?

Revelation 22:18-19 raises an important question.  Can Christians can lose their salvation?  Arminians believe that you can lose your salvation.  This is one of their proof texts.  They would point out several things from this passage.

One, the book is addressed to Christians.  It was not written to non-Christians.  It was written to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 1:4).

Two, it is a warning of loss of salvation.  It mentions losing their share in the tree of life and the holy city (Revelation 22:19 NIV).  You can’t take away something that you never had to begin with.

The first point is correct.  The book was written to Christians, but the warning is to EVERYONE who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll (Revelation 22:18 NIV).

Believers are not the only ones who hear and read the book.  Both Christians and non-Christians read the Book of Revelation.

The second point is misleading.  It is NOT necessarily talking about losing salvation but not making it to heaven (missing out on the blessings of heaven).

And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any SHARE in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll (Revelation 22:19 NIV).

Everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of the book would not have an actual share.  Only believers would have that.  This is talking about potential share, not actual share.

Unbelievers do not have an actual share in these blessings.  They were never saved in the first place.  Their part or share is in Hell.

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have THEIR PART in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 NKJV)

A better question is this: Would a true believer commit this sin?  Let’s compare this to another warning in Revelation.

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27 NIV).

Notice the contrast.  There are the impure, the shameful and the deceitful.  That is one group.  That group will not enter the New Jerusalem.  Then, there are those who are written in the Book of Life.  They will enter the city.

What does this tell us?  Those written in the Book of Life are not impure, shameful or deceitful.  They are not sinless, but their life is not characterized by these activities.

Genuine born-again, Spirit-filled believers are also not characterized by tampering with the Word of God.  They do not add or subtract from the Bible.

3) OBEY these prophetic words, because they guarantee a blessing.

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll. (Revelation 22:7 NIV)

There is a special blessing promised to everyone who keeps the words of this book.  What does it mean to be blessed?  It doesn’t mean you will be healthy and wealthy, as some preachers say.  It doesn’t always mean that good things will happen to you.

Some of these Christians were martyred.  Jesus told some of them, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer… Be faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10 NIV).  You can have bad things happen to you and still be blessed.

A special blessing is promised here but notice who gets the blessing.  It is NOT a blessing just to everyone who reads the words of the book.

It is NOT a blessing just to everyone who hears the words of the book.  It is a blessing to everyone who KEEPS the words of the book.  We are told that twice (Revelation 1:3; 22:7).

Do you want to be blessed?  Keep the words of this book.  What does that mean?  How do you do that?

To keep it means to follow it.  It means to obey it.  It means to do what it says.  Apparently, Revelation is NOT a book that just gives us knowledge about future events.

Many look at Revelation that way.  The only thing they get out of the book is information and ammunition to use against other Christians who have a different viewpoint on bible prophecy.  Many just use it to debate other Christians.  That is a misuse of the book.

There are commands in this book.  There are some things we need to keep.  What are they?  I have never heard any preacher mention any.  Let’s look at three of them.  Three that stand out to me, although there are more.

One way to keep the words of this book is to REPENT.  Believers who live in sin are COMMANDED to repent. Are you living in sin?  Do you have unconfessed sin in your life?  Then, this book is for you.

Jesus wrote letters to seven churches in John’s day.  He told five out of seven churches to repent.  He was not talking to pagans.  He was talking to Christians.

Five out of seven is a high number.  That is like telling 71% of American churches today that they are out of the will of God and need to repent?  That would not go over too well.

Consider how far you have fallen! REPENT and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:5 NIV)

REPENT therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Revelation 2:16 NIV)

1 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they REPENT of her ways. (Revelation 2:21-23 NIV)

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and REPENT. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Revelation 3:3 NIV)

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent (Revelation 3:19 NIV)

A second way to keep the words of this book is to PERSEVERE in the faith.  There is a lot in the book about perseverance.  Christians are defined by faithfulness.  They are faithful to Jesus until the end.

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and REMAIN FAITHFUL TO JESUS. (Revelation 14:12 NIV).  Enduring patiently is a command.

Jesus said, “Since you have kept my COMMAND to ENDURE PATIENTLY, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth” (Revelation 3:10 NIV).

Jesus said, “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; HOLD IT FAST.” (Revelation 3:3 NIV).  He said, “Hold On to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” (Revelation 3:11 NIV).   He said, “HOLD FAST to what you have UNTIL I COME” (Revelation 2:25 NIV).

He said,” To the one who is victorious and does my will TO THE END, I will give authority over the nations” (Revelation 2:26 NIV).  Christians are defined in Revelation as those “who keep God’s commands and HOLD FAST their testimony about Jesus” (Revelation 12:17 NIV).

One of the big things to keep in the book is NOT denying Jesus’ name.  Jesus said, “you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (Revelation 3:8 NIV).

A third way to keep the words of this book is to LISTEN to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Jesus says this seven times (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).  Jesus also said it during his earthly ministry (Matthew 11:15; 13:9; 13:43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8; 14:45).  Jesus said, “Whoever has ears, let them hear” three times in Matthew, two times in Mark and two times in Luke.

It is the most repeated exhortation of Jesus in the Bible, and it is something that we desperately need to hear today in the church.  We need to listen to what the Spirit says to us.

The Holy Spirit still speaks today.  He did not just speak to people in Bible times.  He speaks to people today.  He has something to say.  Are you listening?

Sadly, many Christians are not.  Many churches are not.  They are not open to hear what the Spirit is saying today.  Instead, they follow what their denomination or church tradition says.

4) SHARE these prophetic words, because the events will take place soon.

Then he told me, “Do NOT seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near” (Revelation 22:10 NIV).

What does this mean?  What does it mean not to seal up the book?  Don’t seal up the book means to make it known.  It means to reveal it.  It means to proclaim it and not hide it.

It means to tell people about it, because the time is near.  It means to share it.  There are many churches today which do not even preach through the Book of Revelation.  It is not shared.  It is not studied.

Many act like the Book of Revelation is completely sealed.  No one can understand it.  No one can understand what the 666 means, so there is no use trying but John is told the book is not sealed and not to be sealed.

5) PREPARE for these prophetic events, because Jesus is coming back.

Jesus is coming back.  He says that three times in this chapter.  He says, “I am coming soon!” three times (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20 NIV).  Jesus is coming back.  How do you prepare for His return?

One way to prepare for these events is to get saved. There will be a final judgment.  It is called the Great White Throne Judgment.  If you are not in the Book of Life, you will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15)

There are two destinies.  We will either end up in heaven or we will end up in hell.  We will either end up in the New Jerusalem or we will end up in the Lake of Fire. People that end up there will be THE GREATEST LOSERS.

The time to get saved is now.  Sinners need to wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14 NIV)

When Jesus comes back, it will be too late and He is coming back soon.

Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy. (Revelation 22:11 NIV)

That is one of the strangest verses in the Bible.  What does it mean?  The end of the verse makes sense (let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy). 

What does the first part mean?  Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong.  Why would God tell the wicked to keep being wicked?  Why would He tell them to keep being evil?

When Jesus returns, whatever condition you are in, you will be in for all eternity.  Your state will be irreversible.  Change will be impossible.  Repentance will be impossible.  Your spiritual state will be fixed for all eternity.  That is why you need to get saved now.

Change is possible now.  Repentance is possible now.  Salvation is possible now.  In fact, The Book of Revelation ends with a gospel call.  It is a final altar call.

John writes the Book of Revelation.  Before he writes the last few verses, God says, “Wait a minute John.  Don’t close the book yet.  Don’t write the last ‘Amen’ until I give one more urgent invitation to sinners.”[4]  Revelation 22 gives us the last invitation to lost sinners in the Bible.

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life (Revelation 22:17 NIV)

Who is invited to come?  Thirsty sinners.  The one who is thirsty can come and “whosoever will” (KJV) can come.  This is a good verse on free will.  Anyone who wants to can come.

There is no restriction.  It does not matter how sinful you are.  It doesn’t matter what kind of past you have had.  It doesn’t matter what you have done.

Here is the shock.  It is free.  All you have to do is to take it.  You don’t do anything to earn it.  Let the one who wishes take the FREE GIFT of the water of life.

Another way to prepare for these events is to get to work.  Be faithful to Christ.  Not too many Christians today are faithful.  Jesus is coming back.  Are you ready to meet Him?  Are you living for Him?

Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. (Revelation 22:12 NIV).  He is coming back with rewards.  Will you be getting one?

Do you need to get right with Him?  Do you have any sins to confess?  Christians are not sinless.  None of us are perfect.  Even the Apostle John wasn’t perfect.

Let’s think about this.  John was not only a Christian.  He was a mature Christian.  He had been a Christian for sixty years.  He was in his nineties when he wrote Revelation.

He was not just a Christian; he was a first-century Christian.  He saw the teaching and miracles of Jesus firsthand.  He was an eyewitness of Christ.

He said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (I John 1:1 NIV)

John was not just a first century Christian; he was an actual apostle.  He was one of the Twelve.  In fact, he was not just one of the Twelve, he was part of the inner circle.  He got to see some things that the other apostles did not.

In fact, he was not just an apostle; he was given an incredible revelation that no one else was given.  He was raptured (taken up) into the very throne room of God.

He saw the future.  He did not just predict what would happen.  He saw it.  He had visions of the future and yet even this mature seasoned apostle was not perfect.

In fact, John did not just fall into little sins.  He fell into big sins.  He fell into idolatry.  That was a sin punishable by death in the Law of Moses.

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.

9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” (Revelation 22:8-9 NIV)

Now, it is very easy for us to criticize John here.  Why is falling down before an angel but some of us might have done the same thing.  How would we respond if some bright shiny angel appeared to us?

We might not be tempted to commit idolatry, but we might be tempted to do something else.  Is God the center of our life or is something else the center and primary focus?

Notice how the book ends.  It ends with a prayer and with a benediction.  It ends with grace.

The OT ends with a curse.  It ends with the words “lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:6 NKJV).  The NT ends with grace.

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. (Revelation 22:20-21 NIV)

[1] https://www.lwf.org/sermons/video/the-lamb-has-overcome-2373

[2] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-bible-doesn-39-t-come-with-an-eraser-jerry-cosper-sermon-on-bible-245350

[3] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews X.6.3

[4] W. Herschel Ford, Simple Sermons on Conversion and Commitment, p. 50.

False Heaven Exposed

Last week, we began a fascinating study of heaven.  Heaven will be beyond our imagination.  It comes from God out of heaven.  The streets are made of gold.

We talked about what heaven will be like.  It is a big city.  It is bright.  It shines with the glory of God.  It is absolutely beautiful.  It will be stunning.

There are all of these precious stones there. and people will be happy there.  There will be no sorrow or suffering there.

If you did not see out study last week, you need to take a look at it.  It is a topic we could spend a month studying.  Randy Alcorn wrote a 500 page book on heaven.

There has also been some really good preaching on this topic.  One preacher mentioned seven things that will be missing from heaven from Revelation.

Keith Peters points out that in heaven, there will be no DARKNESS.  There will be no DANGER.  There will be no DEATH.  There will be no DECEPTION.  There will be no DEFILEMENT.  There will be no DISEASE.  There will be no DEVIL.[1]

Another preacher pointed out some special blessings in heaven.  David Nolte mentions four special blessings that we will have in heaven.  It is all based on the last two chapters of Revelation [2]

There will be CHRIST, NOT A CURSE: “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it.”

There will be SERVICE, NOT SLAVERY: “His bond-servants will serve Him.”

There will be SIGHT, NOT SPECULATION: “And they shall see His face.”

There will be RELATIONSHIP, NOT REJECTION: “And His name shall be in their foreheads.

Satan has two main tactics when it comes to heaven.  Satan hates heaven.  He used to live there and then he was kicked out.

His first tactic is DENIAL.  Some deny that heaven even exists.  The Cambridge scientist Stephen Hawking called heaven a fairy tale.  He says that it is not real. [3]

Very few people believe Hawking, so Satan users another tactic.  His second tactic is not denial but DISTORTION.

Last week, we looked at “Heaven Revealed.”  Today, we want to look at “False Heaven Exposed.”

There are many false ideas that people have about heaven.  There are some false ideas about heaven in other religions.  Today, we are going to look at seven false ideas about heaven.

The Moralist Heaven

What is the moralist heaven?  A good moral life will get you to heaven.  On Judgment Day, God will look at your life and place all of your deeds on a scale.  If your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you are in.

If you live a good decent life, God will let you into heaven.  That is the humanist heaven.  That is the error of legalism.  It is the error of works-salvation.  It is the error of merit theology.  It is the view of many world religions.

The Bible teaches, “there is no one righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:11).  It teaches, “there is none that doeth good, no not one” (Romans 3:12).  Not only are there NONE that do good; there are NO exceptions to the rule (“no not one”)

The only way to get into heaven is to have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  That is clear from the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 20:15 says, “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (NIV)

If your name is not written in that book, it doesn’t matter what you have done.   It doesn’t matter if you come from a Christian home.

It doesn’t matter if you attend church.  It doesn’t matter if you give to the poor.  If doesn’t matter if you read your Bible and pray.  We are saved by grace, not by works.

The Inclusive Heaven

The inclusive heaven says that everyone goes there.  That is what universalism teaches.  That is what Unitarians believe. All people go to heaven.

According to universalism, you don’t have to accept Christ as Savior to go to heaven.  Jesus is a way of salvation but there are other ways as well.

You don’t have to be a Christian to go to Heaven.  All religions are true and lead to God in some form or another.  There are many roads to God.

Atheists will be there.  If everyone goes to heaven, then even Hitler would be there.  If Hitler goes to heaven, it would not be heaven. All religions do NOT lead to God.  There are not many ways to God.

Jesus said, “I am THE way and THE truth and THE life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV)

The Apostle Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 NIV)

According to Revelation, everyone does not go to heaven.  Not everyone will be there.  Certain people won’t get in.  In fact, we are told that three times.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (Revelation 21:8 NIV).  Here are eight types of people who will not be there.

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful” (Revelation 21:27 NIV).  Here are three types of people who will not be there.

In fact, John uses a double negative in Greek.  In English, a double negative is bad grammar.  In Greek, double negatives (ού μή) are used for emphasis.  It is used to emphasize that certain people will NOT be there.  The impure will never ever  enter it by any means.

Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Revelation 22:15 NIV).  Here are seven types of people who will not be there.

Excluded from Heaven

What do we learn from these three lists of people?  Some groups of people on the list are who we might expect and some are not.

We would expect no murderers to be in heaven (Revelation 21:8; 22:15) but you could actually be outwardly moral and not get into heaven.   You don’t have to be an ax murderer or serial killer to not go to heaven.

Plain UNBELIEVERS won’t be in heaven (Revelation 21:8).  Some of them might even be religious.  COWARDS won’t be in heaven (Revelation 21:8) either.

Why would God keep cowards out of heaven?  If God against weak people who are timid and fearful?  The KJV translates δειλοῖς as “the fearful.”

Is it a sin to be a coward?  Is it a sin to be afraid?  No.  It is a sin to refuse to take a stand for Christ out of fear.  That is why Peter denied Jesus three times.  That is why many in the Tribulation Period will take the Mark of the Beast.

Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32 NKJV)

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35 NIV)

Another strange group on the list is those who practice the MAGIC ARTS (NIV) are excluded.  We are told that twice (Revelation 21:8; 22:15).  What is that about?

It is not talking about someone doing a magic trick.  It is talking about witchcraft and the occult (Ouija boards, vision boards, tarot cards, palm reading, healing crystals, spell books).

It is not talking about magicians.  It is talking about sorcery.[4]  Witchcraft is on the rise today (the modern Wicca movement).

Our society says that there are good and bad witches.  There are no good witches in the Bible.  God says that those who practice witchcraft will NOT be in heaven.

What sin is repeated in all three lists?  There are two of them.  What are they?  They are not serial killers.  Murderers are listed in two of the lists (Revelation 21:8; 22:15).

That is a big deal, but it is not mentioned in all three lists.  The sexually immoral are mentioned each time (Revelation 21:8; 27; 22:15).  In our society, we do not think that is even wrong.  It is socially accepted today.

In fact, in certain portions of society, we celebrate immorality.  We glorify it (Pride Day) and yet three times we are told that the sexually immoral and the impure will not enter heaven.

The other sin that is mentioned in all three lists is lying (Revelation 21:8, 27; 22:15).  But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (NASB)

I guess this means that no politician will be in heaven.  We don’t think lying is that serious.  Everyone does it and yet here we learn that lying can cost you your soul.

This raises a really important question.  If all liars go to Hell, then every person on the planet would go to Hell, because we have all told a lie.

The truth is that you can commit all of these sins and still go to heaven.  David committed murder.  He committed adultery and murder.  Will he be in heaven?  Yes.  Why?

He repented.  Revelation is talking about people who commit these sins without apology.  They don’t feel bad.  They don’t repent.  In fact, they justify their behavior, and it becomes a pattern of life.

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Revelation 9:20-21 NIV)

We are all sinners.  We all have dirty robes.  Some wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14; 22:14) and get them clean.  Some do not.

The Immaterial Heaven

We could call this the Hindu heaven or the new age heaven.  We all reach Nirvana.  It is the view of the Christian Science cult.[5]  This is the eastern view of heaven.  Heaven is just a state of mind.

Many Christians have a similar view.  They think that heaven is spiritual, not physical.  It is nonmaterial.  Are they right?  They are partially right.

Heaven is being in the presence of God.  It is more of a relationship than a location.  Right now, if you die and are saved, you go to heaven.  It is an immaterial place.

It is different from earth.  Earth is down here.  Heaven is up there.  Heaven is in the North.  The Bible says that Jesus looked up to heaven to pray (Mark 7:34; John 11:41).

Jesus did not pray the way we pray.  When we pray, we fold our hands, close our eyes and look down.  When Jesus prayed, he opened His eyes and looked up to Heaven.

We will not be taken up to heaven.  Heaven will come down to us.  For all eternity, heaven will be on earth.

That is one thing that the Jehovah’s Witnesses got right.   There will be another paradise on earth.

It is the only thing they got right.  It is the only thing they got right.  They are wrong about the 144,000.  They are wrong about who Jesus is.

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God and yet Jesus sits on a throne with the Father in heaven (Revelation 22:3).

Jesus is not only a son of David; He is the root of David.  He is the Root and the Offspring of David (Revelation 22:16 NIV).  He is not only David’s descendant; He is David’s Creator.

Jesus is also worshipped in heaven.  We will see next week that angels do not receive worship (Revelation 22:8-9) but Jesus did, which shows that He is not an angel, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach.  Jesus was worshipped in Revelation.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne AND TO THE LAMB be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:13-14)

Heaven is a real place.  We will spend eternity in a material heaven.  We will eat and drink on the new earth.

We will not spend eternity floating in space on some ethereal cloud.  Jesus said, “I go to prepare a PLACE for you” (John 14:3 NIV).

Heaven is a real city.  It is as real as Charlotte or Los Angeles. It is called a city fifteen times in this section (Revelation 21:2, 10, 14, 15, 16 (2), 18, 19, 21, 22, 23; 22:2, 3, 14, 19).

The city is given a name, the New Jerusalem.  It was named after the old Jerusalem, which was a real city.

It has real streets (Revelation 21:21; 22:2).  You can walk on those streets.

It has real dimensions (Revelation 21:16-17).  You can measure them.

It has a real mountain (Revelation 21:10).

It has real walls (Revelation 21:15, 19).

It has real gates (Revelation 21:12, 13).

It has a real foundation (Revelation 21:14, 19).

It has real rivers (Revelation 22:1-2).  One river is called the River of the Water of Life.

It has real trees in it.  They are fruit trees with real fruit on it, different kinds of fruit.

These trees contain fruit you can actually eat.  There will be real food in heaven.  We will eat in heaven.  You can’t get any more physical than that.

The Marital Heaven

This is the Mormon heaven.  We believe in the concept that marriage is “until death do us part.”  Mormons believe in the concept of ETERNAL MARRIAGE.  It is one of their doctrines.  That is the goal of every Latter Day Saint.

What is an eternal marriage?  In Mormonism, if you exchange vows in a Mormon Temple by a Mormon priest and kneel at a sacred altar, you are pronounced husband and wife for time and all eternity.[6]

Marriage is ordained by God.  He was the one who created it.  Marriage is holy.  It is sacred.  There was marriage in the world before there was sin.   Will there be marriage in heaven?

23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 

26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:23-30 NIV)

A woman was married seven times.  Which husband will she have in heaven?  Jesus said that she won’t have any in heaven.  Now Mormons have an answer to Jesus.

Mormons would say that Jesus is right.  In heaven, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage.  There won’t be any marriage in heaven.

The question is whether marriages on earth go into eternity.  If we were married on earth, would we still be married in heaven?  There is only one problem with that argument.

That was the very question that Jesus was answering.  He was dealing with a marriage that took place on earth.  He said that there will not be that type of relationship in heaven.

If that bothers you, it shouldn’t.  Even if you have been married for fifty years, you won’t miss it in Heaven.  Heaven will be so amazing that the former things will not even come into mind.

We won’t be married in Heaven, so if you want to get married, you better do it now.   Some say, “If we wont be married in Heaven, I don’t want to go to heaven.”  Well, there won’t be any marriage in hell either.

We won’t be married in heaven.  It does not mean we won’t recognize our spouses in heaven.  It doesn’t mean we won’t have a relationship with our spouses.

I hope my wife will invite me over to her mansion in heaven, but we won’t be married.  It will be a different type of relationship.  It will be better than the relationship we have now.

The Sensual Heaven

This is the playboy heaven.  This is the hedonist heaven.  Hedonists are pleasure seekers.  They believe that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life.  This is the Muslim heaven.

That is why Muslim terrorists carry out so many suicide attacks.  They believe it will guarantee a sensual paradise with seventy virgins in heaven.  Heaven will be a sexual paradise.  There are several problems with that view.

Intentionally committing the mass murder of innocent people will not guarantee you get to heaven.  It will guarantee you won’t be there, unless you repent.

How terrible it will be to die and get the shock of your life.  You think you did a good deed, and you did a bad deed.  You think you are going to heaven, and you are going to hell.  You expect to be rewarded. Instead, you are punished.

Revelation 21 says that murderers will NOT be in heaven (Revelation 21:8; 22:15).  I John teaches the same truth.

Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (I John 3:15 NIV).

However, this does raise an interesting question.  Will there be sex in heaven?  The Bible does not say but it gives a big hint.  It says that there will not be marriage in heaven.

According to Scripture, sex was destined by God for the marriage relationship and there will not be any sex outside of marriage there either, because there will be no immoral person there (Revelation 21:8; 27; 22:15).

You say that sounds like bad news.  Some people could not even imagine heaven without any sex.  It wouldn’t be any fun.  The truth is that there is nothing wrong with pleasure.  God created it.

There will be pleasure in heaven.  Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (NKJV).

Pleasures in heaven are infinitely greater than any pleasure we could have on earth.  You say, “I can’t imagine anything better than that.”  That is like a three-year-old child who can’t imagine anything better than a happy meal at McDonalds.

The Parochial Heaven

The parochial heaven is small.  It is filled with people just like you.  There is not a lot of diversity in this heaven.  Everyone is the same color and same denomination.

Many think that the only people going to heaven are members of their church or their denomination.  Catholics say that outside of the Catholic Church there is no salvation.”  Some Baptists think that no Pentecostals will be in heaven.

What is the problem with this view?  Heaven will be big.  It is a place that will be big enough for everyone.  Look at the size of the New Jerusalem and it is just one city on the new earth.

When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles (Revelation 21:16 NLT).

There will be a lot of people in heaven, and there will be a lot of different kinds of people.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people (Revelation 21:3 NIV)

You wouldn’t know it by reading this in English but in Greek, the word “people” both times in plural, not singular.  God’s dwelling place is now among the people (ἀνθρώπων).  They will be his people (λαοι).  It is literally, they will be “his peoples.”

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10 NIV)

There will be people from every nation, tribe, people and language.  There will be people there from every race and ethnicity.  Every color will be there.

There will be both Jew and Gentile there.  There will be Jews there.  The city is called The New Jerusalem.  The twelve tribes of Israel are written on the gates (Revelation 21:12).

We are also told that “the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it” (Revelation 21:26 NIV).  That is a reference to Gentiles.

The Boring Heaven

Many think heaven is boring. Satan’s two tactics are to deny heaven exists or to say that if it does exist, it is so boring that you would not want to go there.

Some say that they would rather go to hell and have some fun, rather than go to heaven and be bored.  We will be sitting on a cloud playing a harp for all eternity in utter boredom.

Everything about that picture is completely false.  You won’t have fun in Hell.  It is a place of torture.  It is a place of torment in a lake of fire.  Heaven, by contrast will be a place without any pain or any suffering.

There is nothing boring about being in God’s presence.  We will be face to face with Jesus.  In God’s presence is “fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11), not boredom.

We will not be bored in heaven.  We will have something to do.  We are told that his servants will serve him (Revelation 22:3 NIV).  How we will serve Him we are not told but we will have something to do.

We will work but it will not be like work on earth.  We will not be exhausted from our job.  We will not be under the curse (Revelation 22:3).  It will be like working our dream job times a thousand.

[1] Keith Peters, “Things Missing in Heaven” (https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/things-missing-in-heaven-keith-peters-sermon-on-heaven-158429)

[2] David Nolte, “Things in Heaven” (https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/four-special-blessings-in-heaven-david-nolte-sermon-on-heaven-251245)

[3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephen-hawking-in-2011-heaven-is-a-fairy-story/

[4] James Hope Moulton, Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, 664.  It is translated “sorcerers” by the KJV, ESV, NASB, NKJV.

[5]Mary Baker Eddy defines heaven as “Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 587).

[6] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-38-eternal-marriage?lang=eng

 

Heaven Revealed

What will heaven be like?  What will it be like beyond the grave?  Many think they know.  Many claim to know.  Many say they have been there and tell us what they saw.

Many have written books on the subject.  They are called heavenly tourism books.  Some of these books have been made into movies.  They are all based on near death experiences.  Some were clinically dead and came back to life.

They describe the amazing things, the supernatural things that they saw.  In 2016, I had a heart attack on the softball field and almost died.  I was in the ER and started to go unconscious.  I felt like I was going right to sleep.

All of the sudden, I felt this terrible pain.  The doctor used electric shock to wake me up.  It worked quickly.  I felt this sharp pain and woke up quickly.

Later, he asked me if I saw any lights.  I did not see anything. I was not unconscious but was very close to dying.  Many have become unconscious and claimed to see things afterwards.

For the next two weeks, we are going to be talking about heaven.  John has a vision of heaven.  He is taken on a tour of heaven by an angel.  This topic is absolutely fascinating.  It is mind-blowing.

John saw what heaven looked like and he told us what he saw.  He not only give us gives us eyewitness testimony, he gives us inspired, apostolic eyewitness testimony about heaven.

God says, “these words are TRUSTWORTHY and TRUE” (Revelation 21:5 NIV)We can trust what it says.  They are reliable.  Not every story about the afterlife is trustworthy.

In 2004, six-year-old Alex Malarkey and his father were in a horrific car accident in Ohio.  Alex was paralyzed.  He was left a quadriplegic

He claimed to go to heaven.  In 2010, he wrote, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven: A True Story.  It was a best-seller.  The only problem is that it was all a lie.

In 2015, he admitted that he never went to heaven.  His dad made up the story.  His last name should have been a hint.  The word “malarkey” refers to something that is not true.

This is John’s final vision in the book.  He has had many visions.  He saw the Antichrist coming out of the sea.  He saw believers persecuted and martyred on earth.  He saw judgment coming down on earth.

He saw Jesus coming back to earth with the armies of heaven.  He saw the binding of Satan and the thousand-year reign.  He saw the Great White Throne Judgment.  John’s final vision is of heaven.  It is of the eternal state.

You can spend a lot of time studying prophecy and very little time studying heaven.[1]  You can spend a lot of time arguing about the Rapture.  Will it be before the Tribulation, at the middle of the Tribulation or at the end of the Tribulation?

You can spend a lot of time arguing about the Millennium (premillennialism, amillennialism or postmillennialism) and yet, if you are saved, the New Jerusalem is where we are going to be for all eternity.

Some preachers only talk about these verses when they are conducting a funeral.  They contain some of the most comforting passages in the Bible.  They make a really good funeral text. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 21:4 NIV)

How much do you actually know about heaven?  For the next two weeks, we are going to think about heaven.  This may completely change the way you think about heaven.

Today, we want to answer one question.  What will heaven be like? The opening verses of Revelation 21 describe three new things that we will encounter in heaven: a new home, a new life and a new relationship.  That is what we are going to be looking at today.

A New Home

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband (Revelation 21:1-2 NIV)

The first thing we will get in heaven is a new home.  The old home will be gone.  It will be gone forever.  The first heaven and earth will pass away.  If you are expecting it to stay, it will not.  It will be gone.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will PASS AWAY, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35 NIV)

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them…The world and its desires PASS AWAY but whoever does the will of God lives forever (I John 2:15, 17 NIV)

“You look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the DESTRUCTION of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat” (II Peter 3:12 NIV) [2]

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. they will PERISH, but you remain; they will all WEAR OUT like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. (Psalm 102:25-26)

The old heaven and earth will be gone, and we will get a new heaven and earth.  It is interesting that the Bible ends just like it began.

The Bible began with CREATION.  It ends with CREATION.  Genesis 1 begins with creation.  Revelation 21 ends with the new creation.

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (NIV).  Revelation 21:1 says, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth” (NIV).

Three biblical writers mention a new heaven and a new earth.  John predicts it.  Peter predicts it.  Isaiah predicts it.  Isaiah actually mentions it twice.  Let’s read all three in order.

I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17 NIV; cf. 66:22).

You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (II Peter 3:11-13 NIV)

This may mean that we will get a brand-new planet but most Christians see this as a restored or renewed earth.  The Bible describes another passing away and does not involve a complete destruction and re-creation.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).

When we got saved, God did not destroy the old person completely.  We have the same DNA but we are changed on the inside.  We experience the new birth.  We got a new nature.

Whether God creates a brand-new earth or completely transforms it, the result is the same.  It will be completely different.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea (Revelation 21:1 NIV)

There will not be any sea in the new earth.  That is 70% of the planet now.  There will be water in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:1-2).  It mentions a river there but no sea.

In the new earth, there will not be day and night.  In the old earth, God said, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:22 NIV)

In the new earth, there will be no night (Revelation 22:5).  It will be day all of the time.  The new earth may not need to rotate every twenty-four hours.  It may not even have a Sun.

Revelation 21 describes our new home.  It mentions a NEW HEAVEN, a NEW EARTH and a NEW CITY.  John heard God, the one who was sitting on the throne saying, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5 NIV).

We like new things (new house, car, clothes, shoes). We like the way new things look. We even like the way they smell.  God does not say, “I make some things new.” He says, “I make ALL THINGS new.”   In heaven, everything will be new all the time.

A New Life

We are not just going to get a new home, we are going to get a new life.  This is a life that is completely different from the life we live now.  This is where it gets very interesting.

Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. (Revelation 7:16 NIV)

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain.” (Revelation 21:4 NIV)

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 NIV)

 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. (Revelation 21: 22-23 NIV)

On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there (Revelation 21:25 NIV)

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. (Revelation 22:5 NIV)

Heaven will be a completely new form of existence.  Life will be radically different.  Heaven will be beyond our imagination but let’s think of what heaven will be like.

1) We will never divided from other Christians in heaven.

There will not be any denominations in heaven.  There will not be Baptists and Methodists in heaven.  There will not be Charismatics and Non-Charismatics there.  There won’t be the black church and the white church.  We will just be saints in heaven.

2) We will never argue about theology in heaven.

We will not have theological debates in heaven.  We spend a lot of time, much of it is pointless, arguing theology.  There won’t be any fights in heaven.  All of our doctrinal disagreements will be settled forever.   If you have a question about what any of the Apostles meant, you could just go ask them in heaven.  All of our theology will be corrected in heaven.

3) We will never be hungry in heaven.

There are many silly questions that people have about heaven.  Will my pet be in heaven?  Revelation answers that one.  There will be cats in heaven but no dogs.  Revelation 22:15 says, “Outside are the dogs” (NIV).  It not talking about animals but people (cf. Philippians 3:1).

It is talking about people who act like dogs.  We have some of those in our world.  Unclean animals stand for unclean people.  There won’t be any dogs and probably no snakes or serpents in heaven either.

Will there be sports in heaven?  Will there be football in heaven?  Will we eat in heaven?  What will we eat?   We will eat in heaven.  Revelation 22 is clear.  It mentions a fruit tree with twelve different kinds of fruit on it (Revelation 22:2).

Revelation mentions us eating food in heaven.  Will we just eat fruit in heaven, like some health nuts or will we be able to eat a nice juicy steak in heaven?  Will there be cheesecake in heaven?

Will there be sweet tea in heaven?  Will there be coffee in heaven?  Will there be Starbucks in heaven?  Will there be Big Macs in heaven?  My kids used to ask that question.

There are many things we don’t know.  What we do know is that we will not have any unsatisfied desires in heaven.  If those things are not there, we will not desire them or miss them.

God is going to create a new heaven and earth and He says, “The former things will NOT be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17 NIV).

Heaven will be so great that we will never think about earth.  We will not think about how great it was on earth.  We will not miss anything we had on earth.  In fact, it won’t even come to mind.

4) We will never get sick in heaven.

We won’t have a fever in heaven.  We won’t have any headaches.  We will never have any aches or pains.  We won’t have any joint pain (no arthritis).  We won’t have back pain in heaven.

We won’t have any chronic pain.  We won’t have any more broken bones.  There won’t be any cancer in heaven.  We won’t need a root canal in heaven.

No one will be deformed.  No one will have defects.  No one will have disabilities.  There won’t be people in wheelchairs in heaven.  There won’t be anyone who can’t stand up or walk.

Everyone will be perfect.  We will be perfectly healthy in mind, in body and in spirit.  No one will be blind in heaven.  We will all have perfect vision.  We won’t need glasses.  This city will be perfect.  It comes from God (Revelation 21:2).

5) We will never need medicine in heaven.

We won’t need any painkillers.  We won’t need any pills.  We won’t need Advil or Tylenol. We won’t have any inflammation. We won’t need any antibiotics.  We won’t need a first aid kit.

7) We will never need a doctor in heaven.

You won’t need a primary care doctor in heaven.  You won’t need a dentist.  You won’t need to see a surgeon.  You won’t need to go to the hospital in heaven.

8) We will never have any accidents in heaven.

We won’t need to call an ambulance. We won’t need to go to the ER.  We won’t even be able to stub our toes.  How many times do we have accidents on earth? We won’t have them in heaven.  Every day will be a good day.  We will never have to say, “Have a good day to people.”

9) We will never get tired in heaven.

At the end of the day, we are exhausted and fall asleep at night.  There will not be any night in heaven.  We won’t be tired.  We won’t be sleepy.  We won’t have any chronic fatigue in heaven.  We will not need a caffeine fix in heaven to wake up.

10) We will never be sad in heaven.

We won’t be depressed. No one will be bipolar in heaven.  There won’t be any mentally ill people in heaven.  People will be happy all of the time.  We won’t be sad.  We won’t be cranky.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21:4 NIV)We have real tears.  God sees them and knows about them.  In heaven, not only will our tears be gone but EVERY TEAR will be gone.  They will be gone because God will wipe them away.

God cares about our tears.  God has compassion on us when we suffer.  He does not enjoy seeing us suffer.  God will do what loving parents do to their children.  They wipe away their tears.  There are a lot of tears on earth.  There won’t be any in heaven.

11) We will never get old in heaven.

There will be no gray hairs and no wrinkles on your face.  You will be forever young.  You won’t need any wrinkle cream or make-up to make you look better.  We will all look like we are in our 20s or 30s.  There will not be any funeral homes in heaven.  They will not be needed.

12) We will never die in heaven.

In heaven, there will be no more death (Revelation 21:4 NIV).  If there is no more death, there will be no more graves.  There will be no more cemeteries.

There will be no more tombstones. There will be no more funerals.  There will be no more eulogies about departed loved ones.

In heaven, we won’t die.  Death is a big part of our world today. People die every day. Every time we breathe someone dies.

According to the World Death Clock, 106 people die every minute.  Every day, 153,000 people die.  Those are current statistics.

In heaven, no one will die.  The death rate will go from one hundred percent to zero percent.  We will be immortal.  We will live forever.  John said it and so did Jesus (Luke 20:34-36).

The Tree of Life, the symbol of immortality, will be right in the middle of heaven. That tree was in the Garden of Eden.

If you ate the fruit from that tree, you could live forever (Genesis 3:22).  After Adam and Eve sinned, they were kicked out of the garden, so that they did not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever.

That same tree will be in the new Jerusalem, and we will be able to eat from it.  In heaven, everyone will have full access to that tree.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7 NIV).

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the TREE OF LIFE, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1-2 NIV)

13) We will never feel unsafe in heaven

We won’t need to protect ourselves in heaven.  We won’t need to buy a gun.  You won’t need any pepper spray.  We won’t need to study martial arts for self-defense.  You won’t need a big dog to protect your house.

Most big cities in the US are not safe.  They have high crime rates.  They have violent crime.  The New Jerusalem will be a big city and it will be perfectly safe all of the time.  It won’t have any crime.

On no day will its gates ever be shut (Revelation 21:25 NIV).  Gates of a city were normally shut.  We won’t even need to lock your doors in heaven.

These gates will be guarded.  There are twelve gates to the city and there will be twelve angels there as well (Revelation 21:12).  One angel for each gate.

14) We will never be poor in heaven.

We won’t have to worry about finances.   No one will be poor in heaven.  We will have mansions in heaven (John 14:2 KJV).  There won’t be any ghettos in heaven.  There won’t be any slums in heaven.  There won’t be any bad parts of heaven.

We will be walking on streets of gold (Revelation 21:21).  There will not just be gold there but PURE GOLD (Revelation 21:18).

There will not just be valuable precious stones but EVERY KIND of precious stone. (Revelation 21:19 NIV) and pearls there (Revelation 21:21).  Even the measuring sticks in heaven are made of gold (Revelation 21:15).  A member of my class suggested that he used a “golden rule.”

An angel measured the city and measured the walls of the city with these golden measuring sticks (Revelation 21:15-17).  Apparently, even in heaven we will still do math.  Maybe we will some type of heavenly calculus.

14) We will never sin in heaven.

We will be perfect.  We won’t face temptations.  Can you imagine being sinlessly perfect all of the time?  Can you imagine never being tempted by sin again?

People will not walk around with their head down staring into their phones.  There won’t be any addictions in heaven. We live in a world full of sin.  We live in a world full of sinners.  Can you imagine living in a world without either one?

We live in a world full of sin.  We live in a world full of sinners.  Can you imagine living in a world without either one?  There will not be any annoying people in heaven, because we will all be perfect. All of our rough edges will be gone.

The first two chapters of the Bible describe a perfect paradise.  Adam and Eve lived in paradise.  There was no sin, no Satan and no curse.  The last two chapters of the Bible also describe a paradise.

II Peter 3:13 says, “we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, WHERE RIGHTEOUSNESS DWELLS.” 

The earth today is the home of sin and wickedness.  Sin reigns on the planet. It is where depravity dwells.  The new earth will be the home of righteousness.

There won’t be any pornography in heaven.  Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful (Revelation 21:27 NIV).  Nothing there will be impure or unclean.

A New Relationship

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:3 NIV)

The best part of heaven will not be the gold streets or the great architecture, although they will be amazing.

The best part will not be the food.  We will be able to eat whatever we want, and we won’t gain any weight.  Foods that taste good won’t hurt us because we will be immortal.

The best part of heaven will not be our glorified bodies.  Think of all of the cool things we will be able to do with them.

We will be able to do some things with a resurrection body that we can’t do with our bodies now.  We will have a supernatural body.  It will be like Jesus’ body.

You will be able to walk through walls.  Jesus did that.  You could go anywhere you want.  You won’t need transportation.

You could jump off of a skyscraper and not die.  There are some high walls mentioned in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:11).

The best part of heaven will not be the angels.  We will get to see them and talk to them.  It will be cool to have a conversation with an angel.

The best part of heaven will not be the people we meet.  It will be the greatest reunion ever.  We will get to reunite with loved ones.  We will get to meet relatives who died a long time ago.  We will recognize them.

We will get to meet the Apostles.  We will get to meet our favorite Bible characters in person.  We will get to meet our favorite Christian in church history.

The greatest thing about heaven is not that we will meet Luther, Calvin, Moody or Spurgeon.  The best part of heaven will not be any of these things.

The best part of heaven is that God will be there.  Jesus will be there.  We will be in the immediate presence of God.

We will be face to face with God.  We will have face-to-face fellowship and communion with God for all eternity.  Everyone wants to know what Jesus looked like.  One day, we will see His face.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads (Revelation 22:4 NIV)

Now we can have a special relationship with God now.  God dwells with us.  He is inside us.  We are His children but there is one difference.

Right now, we walk by faith. We don’t see Jesus right now but in Heaven, we will see his face.  Now, God is near now.

God is near to the brokenhearted, but His presence is not manifested physically.  There is no bright light in the room.  We don’t see a burning bush outside, but God’s immediate presence will be in this city and will NEVER leave it.

In the first two chapters of the Bible, God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden.  In the last two chapters of the Bible, God will with people in a city, not a garden.

If you are saved, this is your inheritance.  This is what you have to look forward to.

Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children (Revelation 21:7 NIV).

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4 NIV)

Billy Sunday is the famous baseball player who turned into a preacher.  “One night in 1887, after a game in Chicago, Sunday went drinking with his teammates. As they sat on the steps outside a saloon, he overhead a group of urban missionaries singing hymns. Sunday experienced a religious conversion. Within a few years, he quit drinking, married, and became an evangelical preacher.” [3]

The great evangelist Billy Sunday once said, “When I reach Heaven I won’t stop to look for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, David, Daniel, Peter or Paul. I will rush past them all saying, “Where is Jesus? I want to see Jesus who saved my soul one dark, stormy night in Chicago in 1887.”[4]

[1] Randy Alcorn, Heaven, pp. 9-10.

[2] The  word “destroyed” does not necessarily imply annihilation.  Things that are burned are not annihilated but change form.  Furthermore, the same word is also used in the same chapter of something that is not annihilated. Through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water (II Peter 3:6 NASB).  Noah’s Flood destroyed the antediluvian world but did not annihilate the planet.

[3] https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/evangelist-billy-sunday-draws-70000-to-boston-revival.html#:~:text=One%20night%20in%201887%2C%20after,and%20became%20an%20evangelical%20preacher.

[4] Curtis Hutson, ed., Great Preaching On: Heaven, Great Preaching Series (Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1987), 85.

Final Judgment

Today, we come to one of the most tragic passages in the Bible.  It is the scariest passage in the Bible.  It is found in the book of Revelation.

It is without question the most frightening picture in the entire Bible.  It is absolutely chilling.  It is a sobering passage.

Many avoid this section.  No one likes to talk about judgment.  That is too negative.  It is much more popular to talk about Heaven, rather than Hell (streets of gold, pearly gates).

This passage deals with the Lake of Fire.  It tells you what Hell will be like.  It deals with the Second Death.

In 2021, Richard Osman wrote a bestselling book entitled, The Man Who Died Twice.  It is a novel.  In Revelation 20, we see it actually belong fulfilled.  Some people will die twice.

If we are saved, we only die once.  The unsaved die twice.  They die physically.  They are resurrected and die a second time in Hell.

This passage deals with Final Judgment.  John got to see it.  We see what Judgment Day looks like in this passage.  It will not look like many think it will look like.

It looks like a courtroom.  Most of us have had some experience with the court system (served on a jury or received a few speeding tickets).  If we haven’t, we have probably seen a few court dramas on TV.

This will be a courtroom like no other.  God will hold court and sinners will be on trial.  All of humanity will be on trial.

There will be a summons.  Everyone will have a court date.  We are used to seeing a bailiff entering the room and saying “all rise” as the judge enters.

The defendants rise.  Our passage says that the dead, small and great, will stand before God. The judge enters the courtroom and sits down on a great throne and opens the books.

There will be defendants.  There will be a judge.  There will be a prosecution.  There will be evidence presented.  There will be an indictment.  There will be a verdict.  There will be a sentence.

It will be the Supreme Court of Heaven.  America has a Supreme Court, but it is really not supreme.  We call it the Supreme Court, but it is really not the Supreme Court.

This will be a court of no appeal.  One day, each one of the judges that sits on the Supreme Court will stand before another judge and be held accountable before a holy God.  They will have to answer to a higher power.

This will be the real Supreme Court.  On this day, every dead person will have a court date.  They will be given a summons from their cells to appear before a judge.

They will stand before that judge.  A jury will not decide their fate.  A Judge will determine their eternal destiny.

He will determine if they spend eternity in heaven or in hell.  When the verdict is read, the sentence will be final and irreversible.  There will be no appeal.  The sentence is not ten or twenty years.  It is not even sixty years.  It is forever.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens FLED from his presence, and there was no place for them. (Revelation 20:11 NIV).

It is a terrifying scene.  It is so terrifying that creation is banished.  It is scary scene for unrepentant sinners to stand before a holy God.  It is scary because it involves a place called the Lake of Fire

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31 NASB)

This chapter raises the question, Are you ready for eternity?  Are you ready for final judgment?  Are you ready to stand face to face before God?

Let’s look at a statistic.  Every minute one hundred and seven people die.[1] The Bible says, “It is appointed for man to die and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27 KJV).

All of us have an appointment with God.   Paul said, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed” (Acts 17:31 NIV).  There is a day already set for that judgment.

Amos 4:12 says, “Prepare to meet your God.”  Judgment is coming.  We will all stand face to face before God one day.

The problem is that most people in the world do not prepare for that moment.  We live like God does not exist.  We live like this day will never come.

There is good news in this passage.  There is a way to avoid the Lake of Fire.  It is right in the text.  Most of us read right past it.  The text says if your name is not in the Book of Life, you will be cast in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15)

That implies if your name is in the Book of Life, you will not enter the Lake of Fire.  That is mentioned three times in two verses (Revelation 20:14-15).  Is your name in that book?

If you are saved, your name is in it.  The problem is that not everyone who thinks they are saved is saved.  Not everyone who attends church is saved.

Jesus said, on Judgment Day, many are going to think they are saved and are going to call Jesus Lord and He is going to say to them. “Depart from Me.  I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23).  They knew Jesus but He did not know them.

If you are saved, and it is possible to know for sure, you will not be sent to this place, because your name is in the Book of Life.  Is your name in the book?

If you are saved, you will experience the First Resurrection.  If you experience the First Resurrection, the second death will have no power over you (Revelation 20:6).  It will not be able to hurt you.

The other reality of this chapter is that if you refuse mercy, you get justice.  All who reject Christ now will stand before a holy God in his or her sins.  Everyone will either face Jesus as Savior or Judge.

Last week, we began looking at Revelation 20.  It is one of the most controversial passages in the Bible.  It is the great chapter in the Bible on the Millennium, which will take place on earth after He returns with the armies of heaven.

We saw that there are four lessons in this chapter.  Last week, we saw that God wins.  Jesus comes back and rules and reigns four a thousand years.

We saw that Satan loses in this chapter.  He is thrown into the Abyss.  He is locked up, bound and chained for a thousand.  He is let out for a while and then thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Now, the entire Satanic Trinity is in the Lake of Fire (Satan, Beast, and the False Prophet) but they will not be the last people sent there.  At the end of the chapter, more people join them.

Today, we are going to look at two more lessons from this chapter: The saints will be rewarded, and sinners will be held accountable.

The First Resurrection

 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

During the Tribulation Period, the Antichrist will persecute and kill believers.  He will wage war on them and overcome them (Revelation 13:7).

Believers will not be able to buy food and provide for their families because they refuse to take the Mark of the Beast.  Many are martyred.

During the Fifth Seal, John saw the souls who were slain because of the Word of God.   They cried out in a loud voice, “How long will it be until you avenge our blood?” (Revelation 6:9-10)

In Revelation 20, see these saints rewarded.  They are rewarded in two ways.  They are brought to life and reign on thrones.

1) Dead believers will be raised

We are told in this passage that souls that were beheaded will come to life.  Those without heads will get their heads back and they will come to life.  It is called “the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:6)

Is this literal?  Is it talking about literal bodies coming to life physically or is it talking about people who are dead in trespasses and sins who come to life spiritually?  Many spiritualize this and they get it from John 5:25.

Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. (John 5:25 NIV)

There is only one problem.  Revelation 20:4 deals with people who already have faith.  They were beheaded FOR their faith in Christ.  They were already saved and the word “resurrection” in the NT (ἀνάστασις) only means a physical or bodily resurrection.[2]

These believers will be literally raised, just as Jesus was literally raised from the dead.  He said, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever” (Revelation 1:18 NIV)

2) Resurrected believers will rule and reign

The tables are completely turned.  The ones who were persecuted and martyred are now ruling.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21 NIV)

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28 NIV)

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? (I Corinthians 6:2 NKJV)

Truths about Final Judgment

That brings us to the topic of the Great White Throne Judgment.  This will be the judgment of the unsaved dead at the end of the Millennium.  What does this judgment say to us today?  It says four things.

1) It will be a Day of Resurrection

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28-29 NIV)

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2 NIV)

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne (Revelation 20:12 NIV).

John says, “I saw the DEAD STANDING”.  They were dead and now they are standing. Their soul will become united with their body. They are resurrected.

One day, everyone who is dead will be raised.  Every dead body one day will be raised.  Many Christians believe that there will be only one final resurrection but it does not fit this chapter.

There are two separate resurrections in Revelation 20.  The first is for believers (who cannot be hurt by the second death) and the second is for unbelievers (who are hurt by the second death).

We will all rise from the dead one day.  It may not be at the Second Resurrection, but we will all rise from the dead.

That is not just a NT teaching.  It is an OT teaching.  We see it in the Book of Daniel.  In fact, Job said, “after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:26 NIV)

You can picture this Second Resurrection in your mind.  All over the world, in every country on the planet, bodies will be coming out of the grave and going up to heaven.

No one can stop it.  If you died and were buried, you will be raised.  If you died and were not buried, you will be raised.  If you died at sea, you will be raised.

The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them (Revelation 20:13 NIV).

If you were cremated, you will be raised.  Cremation is not a problem for God.  God said after you die, you turn back to dust (Genesis 3:19).  Cremation turns us back to dust but is not a problem for God.

This resurrection will involve billions and billions of people.  The Great White Throne Judgment will be a judgment of all of the unsaved dead throughout history.  That must be a big courtroom.

These people will come from all different time periods and from different countries.  They will be from all different races.  John says that both the small and great will be there.

The GREAT will be there.  They are big shots, the movers and shakers, celebrities and athletes, movie stars, CEOs and even heads of state (kings, presidents).  They are the famous people that everyone knows. They are the highly educated (PhDs)

The SMALL will be there.  They are poor, uneducated and unsuccessful.  They are part of the lower class, the dropouts, drunks, prostitutes, homeless, and illiterate who cannot read or write.

There will be some very wicked people at this judgment.  Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Jack the Ripper, Osama Bin Laden and all of the mass murders and serial killers throughout history will be there.

Many moral people will be there as well.  Some of your own family members may be there.  Big sinners and little sinners will stand before this throne.  There may be some Baptists there.  One of the Apostles will be there (Judas).

All of the people who mocked God and the Bible will be there.  All of the atheists and agnostics (Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris) will be there.  Every unbeliever will be there.  Everyone who worshipped a false god will be there.

Everyone who followed a false religion will be there.  Every cult leader will be there.  Buddha will be there.  Muhammad will be there.  Joseph Smith will be there.

2) It will be a Day of Reckoning

God will hold sinners accountable for their actions.  God will not only hold people accountable.  He will also hold angels accountable.

Many today think that there is no God, they can live any way they want and will not answer to anyone.  It all goes back to Satan’s first lie in the garden.  “You can sin and you will not die.  There will not be any consequences.”

People still believe that lie today.  Not only will unbelievers give an account before God but so will we.

So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12 NIV)

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God (Romans 14:10 ESV)

Paul said that all of us will do this.  He said that each one of us will face this judgment seat. Apparently, even Paul will have to give an account as well us.  Even the apostles did not get off.

But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. (Matthew 12:37 NIV)

We will not just give an account for every curse word or every profane word but for every careless word, but the Great White Throne Judgment is not dealing with the judgment of believers.

3) It will be a Day of Revelation

It will be a revelation of the books.  There is some information that is going to come out during this trial.  There are some secrets that are going to come out.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. (Revelation 20:12 NIV)

Here is some good news for all book lovers.  There will be books in heaven.  Revelation 20 mentions books (plural) in heaven.

Just because there will be books in heaven does not mean that there will be fiction in heaven.  There are two kinds of books mentioned in this chapter.  There is a book of names, and there are books of deeds.

The Book of Life is the important one.  It is your ticket in.  If your name is not in the book, you don’t get in.  It doesn’t matter if you have been baptized.   It doesn’t matter if you have been a church member for fifty years.

It doesn’t matter if you teach Sunday School.  It doesn’t matter if everyone in your family is a Christian.  The only thing that matters is if your name is in the book.  The Book of Life that has the names of all of the people who are saved.

Two Stage Trial

The Great White Throne Judgment will come in stages.  There will be two stages to the trial.  Each stage will involve a test.

STAGE ONE is the GUILT PHASE of the trial.  It will involve a SALVATION test.

If your name is in the Book of Life, you pass the salvation test.  That is what saves people, not their works.

Most people think that on Judgment Day, there are two sets of books: books of good works and books of bad works.  Whichever one is heavier, determines where you spend eternity.

That is incorrect.  The Book of Life determines heaven.  If your name is in it, you will enter heaven.

STAGE TWO is is the PENALTY PHASE of the trial.  It will involve a WORKS test.

Works do not determine salvation but determine the degrees of reward or punishment.  Judgment will be based on what is written in the book of works.

The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books” (plural).

God keeps records of everything.  He has record books in heaven.  God is keeping a book on you. He has your life recorded.  He records everything you have done in your life. He records the things that no one else knows.

That is a scary thought.  God has a record of sins, recorded in a book.  The Psalmist says, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3 NIV).

Can you picture billions and billions of these books stacked up?  Each book contains a list of good deeds and bad deeds.  Could you imagine a list of ALL of the sins you have committed in your entire life?

It would be a pretty long list.  God keeps perfect records of everyone’s life.  All the skeletons will come out of the closet on this day.  All of the secret sins will come out.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14 NIV)

 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. (I Corinthians 4:5 NIV)

4) It will be a Day of Retribution

We always wonder why certain people commit horrible crimes and never get caught.  They seem to escape justice.  They may escape it on earth but one day, it will catch up with them.

Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15 NIV)

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 NIV)

This brings us to the topic of Hell.  The Book of Revelation gives us one of the strongest passages on hell in the entire Bible.  It is the book that talks about the Lake of Fire and Fire and Brimstone.

It seems to be the favorite topic of some preachers. There are some hell, fire and brimstone preachers. That is the favorite topic of some Baptist preachers.

Other preachers never seem to even mention the topic. There are very few sermons on hell in some churches.

There are a lot of myths about Hell.  There are myths in the Roman Catholic Church.  There are myths in Seventh Day Adventism.  There are myths taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Four Truths about Hell

Let’s review four truths about Hell that are found in the Book of Revelation.  It refutes four lies about Hell that are found in society today.

1. Hell is a place of Terror

Some have said that they want to go to Hell so they can be with all their friends, but this is a place that no one wants to go to.  You have to be thrown into it.

They are thrown alive into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).  All of the unsaved will be thrown into it as well (Revelation 20:15).  They go kicking and screaming.

Preachers always say that God never sends anyone to Hell.  He sends people to Hell in Revelation 20.  They are thrown there.   Jesus told the goats, “DEPART from me into eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41).  That sounds like He sends some people to Hell.

2. Hell is a place of Fire

Many say that Hell does not exist or if it does exist, it is nothing to be afraid of.  The second truth we learn is that Hell is a place of fire. Fire will be the instrument of punishment.

Wherever, you see Hell in the Bible, you see fire.  In Revelation, it is called a Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10, 14, 15).  It is described as Fire and Brimstone four times in the book (Revelation 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8)

Paul describes hell as “blazing fire” (II Thessalonians 1:7).  Jude describes hell as “eternal fire” (Jude 7).

Jesus speaks of “hell fire” (Matthew 5:22; 18:9), “everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:46), “a furnace of fire” (Matt 13:42, 50) and an “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12; Mark 9:43).

3. Hell is a place of Torment

Many today teach the doctrine of annihilationism.  Jehovah’s Witnesses teach it.  Seventh-Day Adventists teach this doctrine but that is not what the Book of Revelation teaches. The First Death did not mean annihilation.  Why would the Second Death mean that?

The wicked are not extinguished and annihilated.  They are tormented, according to the Book of Revelation.  If there is annihilationism, there is no torment.  You have to be conscious to be tormented.  Hell is torment.

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be TORMENTED day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10 NIV)

They, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be TORMENTED with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their TORMENT will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:10-11 NIV)

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in TORMENT, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am IN AGONY in this fire.’ (Luke 16:19-24 NIV.)

NT scholar C. K. Beale notes, the Greek word for “tormented” (βασανισμος) ONLY means conscious suffering in the Apocalypse (Revelation 9:5; 11:10; 12:2; 18:7, 10, 15; 20:10).

That is how it is used in the rest of the NT (Matthew 4:24; 8:6, 29; 28:34; Mark 5:7; 6:48; Luke 8:28; 16:23, 28; II Peter 2:8).  It NEVER means annihilation.[3]

4. Hell is a place of hopelessness

There is never any hope of getting out.  Here you think of Dante’s Inferno.  When he takes a tour of Hell, he sees an inscription on the outside that says, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”  There’s no escape and no release from this place.

They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Revelation 20:10 NIV).

The smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night (Revelation 14:11 NIV). 

That phrase “forever and ever” occurs thirteen times in Revelation and always refers to eternity.[4]

It always means “forever and ever” (Revelation 1:6, 18; 4:9, 10; 14; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 14:11; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5).

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! (Revelation 1:18 NIV)

the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. (Revelation 4:10 NIV)

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15 NIV)

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5 NIV)

If Hell is not Eternal, they heaven is not eternal, and God is not eternal.  Some say that hell does not last forever, only the consequences last forever. With that logic, you would have to say that heaven does not last forever, just the consequences of heaven.

Applications for Today

This passage looks like all bad news.  There is good news in this passage.  Here is the good news

1) Hell was created for the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41)

2) God does not want anyone to perish (II Peter 3:9). No one has to go to Hell.

2) If we turn from our sins and accept Christ as Savior, we can get saved now our name is written in the Book of Life.

3) We can know we are saved now. We don’t have to wait until Judgment Day.  Are you saved?  Is your name in the Book of Life?  Do you know for sure?

4) Once we get saved, all of our sins will be forgiven.  He forgave us ALL our sins (Colossians 2:13 NIV).  You wont have to worry about a Book of Sins.  Everything in the Book of Works will say “forgiven.”

5) Not only will we be forgiven but we will not be condemned.

There is NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in Christ” (Romans 8:1 NIV)

Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come (I Thessalonians 1:10 NIV).

 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24 NIV)

If we are saved, we only die once.  We will not experience the Second Death.  As Martin Luther said, “Born once – die twice; Born twice – die once”.

Here is the catch get saved is before we die.  Now is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:2 KJV)There is no second chance after death.

6) If we reject grace, we will grace justice.  If we reject Jesus as Savior, we will face Him as Judge.

[1] https://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/world-death-clock.asp

[2] Matthew 22:23, 28, 30, 31; Mark 12:18, 23; Luke 2:34; 14:14; 20:27, 33, 35, 36; John 5:29; 11:24, 25; Acts 1:22; 2:31; 4:2, 33; 17:18, 32; 23:6, 8; 24:15, 21; 26:23; Romans 1:4; 6:5; I Corinthians 15:12, 13, 21, 42; Philippians 3:10; II Timothy 2:18; Hebrews 6:2; 11:35; I Peter 1:3; 3:21; Revelation 20:5, 6.

[3] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 764.

[4] Ibid.

God Wins

We are studying the Book of Revelation and today we come to the end of the book.  We only have three chapters left in the book and the best part of the book is at the end.  Today, we will be looking at Revelation 20.  It is one of the most important chapters in the Bible.

Today, we will not be learning the basics.  This chapter is deep.  It is advanced.  It is a gold mine.  It is a short chapter.  It is only fifteen verses but there is deep theology in this chapter.

It is the chapter that deals with the thousand-year reign of Christ.  There is a lot of confusion today about the Millennium (what it is, when it happens, how long it lasts). There is confusion among Christians.

Revelation 20 is a very important chapter for the study of biblical prophecy.  There are eight major prophetic events found here.

Eight Prophetic Events

  1. Satan’s Imprisonment (Revelation 20:1-3)
  2. The First Resurrection (Revelation 20:4)
  3. Christ’s Reign (Revelation 20:4, 6)
  4. Satan’s Final Deception (Revelation 20:7-8)
  5. Man’s Final Rebellion (Revelation 20:9)
  6. Satan’s Eternal Destiny (Revelation 20:10)
  7. The Second Resurrection (Revelation 20:5, 12)
  8. The Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15)

 

A Word of Caution

Revelation 20 is one of the most controversial chapters of the Bible.  Entire schools of interpretation have arisen over this one chapter (amillennialism, premillennialism, post millennialism).

Three different schools of prophetic interpretation come out of this chapter.  Entire denominations have been formed over the interpretation of this chapter.  Churches have split over this one chapter of the Bible.

Whatever your view of the millennium, it should not be a test of fellowship.  This is the only chapter in the Bible that talks about the thousand-year reign of Christ.

How you interpret this one chapter should not be made a test of fellowship among Christians. There will be people in heaven who held all three views.  There are people who believe that the Bible is the Word of God who hold all three views.

That doesn’t mean that all three views are correct.  It does not mean that you should not have your own personal conviction.  You should recognize at the outset that there are some really good people who hold all three views.

Critical Issue

What is the difference between these views?  There are three main views but they all boil down to one question.  Do you take the chapter literally or do you spiritualize it?  Do you take it for what it says, or do you allegorize it?  Is it literal or symbolic?

The chapter begins with an angel coming down from heaven, seizing the dragon, putting a chain on him and throwing him into the Abyss. Is that literal?  Will it happen literally or is it all symbolic?

How can you put a physical chain on a spirit being?  What can a steel chain do to a spirit?  Spirits are immaterial.  Can you bind a spirit?

Satan may not be bound by a steel chain, but he can still be bound.  Satan puts chains on all kinds of people today and they are not physical chains.  He puts people in complete bondage and slavery.

If this is spiritual, is it happening now?  Some say that it is.  Some say that Satan is bound right now.  It is hard to say when you see that Satan is at work in the world today.  He is very active in the world today.

The chapter mentions two resurrections.  Are both literal?  Are both spiritual?  Is one literal one figurative?  The real debate is with the first resurrection.

At the first resurrection, souls come to life and reign with Christ.  Is this literal?  Does it describe a physical resurrection or some type of a spiritual resurrection?

Is this talking about dead bodies who come to life physically or is it talking about people who are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins who instantly come to life through faith.  Is the first resurrection spiritual or physical?

Revelation 20 mentions Jesus reigning for a thousand years.  Is this literal or is it spiritual?  Is the Millennium happening now or will it happen in the future?

Which view is correct?  We will find out.  One view makes perfect sense in the chapter, while other views make absolute nonsense of the text but whichever view you take, the applications are the same.

There are four important applications in this chapter.  One, Jesus wins. Two, Satan loses.  Three, the saints will be rewarded, and four, sinners will be held accountable.  All four applications are found in this chapter.

Today, we are only going to have time to look at the first two of these applications.

Jesus Wins

This chapter is all about Jesus winning.  Jesus comes back as a winner.  He comes back with the armies of heaven and as He is coming back, He encounters armies on earth, who try to attack Him.

It will be the shortest battle in history.  The battle will be over even before it starts.  This battle will be over in seconds.

Jesus will return on a white horse with a sword coming out of His mouth and eyes as a flame of fire.  All of the armies of the Antichrist will be instantly destroyed and there will be all these dead soldiers lying on the ground.

Jesus is not only going to win in battle; He is going to rule and reign after the battle is over.  He is going to reign for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4).

Satan will no longer be reigning.  Jesus will be reigning.  One preacher called this the coming theocracy.  It will be the climax of human history.  Jesus will come back as King of kings and Lord of lords.

He will be the supreme ruler over the whole earth.  His rule will not look anything like the type of government we have today.  The Book of Revelation says that He will rule the nations with a ROD OF IRON (Revelation 12:5; 19:15).

His rule will not be a democracy.  The people will not be ruling.  Jesus will be ruling, and He is not going to follow the US Constitution.  It is going to be a divine dictatorship.  He will possess absolute power, but He will not use it in a sinful way.  He will rule the world IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Four Millennium Myths

Myth 1 – The Millennium will not be a thousand years

Many do not believe the Millennium will last a thousand years.  Many believe that this period is symbolic.  It does not mean a thousand years.  It just means a long period of time.  The only chapter of the Bible that talks about a thousand-year reign is the Book of Revelation.

Revelation is the most symbolic book of the Bible.  Other numbers in Revelation are symbolic, so this number MUST be symbolic as well but there are other reasons to see this as literal.

The phrase “thousand years” does NOT occur once in this chapter.  It does NOT occur twice in the chapter.  It occurs six times.  The phrase “thousand years” occurs in Revelation 20:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.  If God wants to emphasize something in the Bible, He says it repeatedly.

God says, “a thousand years…a thousand years…a thousand years…a thousand years…a thousand years…a thousand years…a thousand years.”  If you claim that the Millennium is not a thousand years, it makes a mockery of the text.

It is true that Revelation is a symbolic book but not everything in the book is symbolic.  Some numbers in the book are literal. All numbers in the book are not symbolic.

When it mentions 1260 days (Revelation 11:3; 12:6), it means 1260 days. When it mentions 42 months (Revelation 11:2), it means 42 months.

When it mentions two witnesses (Revelation 11:3), it means two witnesses.  When it says that 7000 people will be killed in an earthquake (Revelation 11:13), means 7000 people.

That raises a really important question.  How do you know when to take something literally in the Bible and when to take it symbolically?

There is a famous rule of biblical interpretation.  If the literal sense makes sense, seek no other sense.  If the literal sense does not make sense at all, it is clearly symbolic. When a literal interpretation would lead to complete absurdity, it is symbolic.

Jesus is not a literal door, even though He said, “I am the door”.  He is not a literal lamb, even though He is called the Lamb in the Book of Revelation.  The devil is not a literal dragon with a long tail.  He is not a literal roaring lion.

The Antichrist is not a literal beast with seven heads and ten horns but Jesus ruling on earth for a thousand years is not ridiculous.  It makes perfect sense.

Myth 2 – The Millennium will not be on earth

Revelation 20 talks about reigning with Christ for a thousand years

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4 NIV).

However, it does not say where they are reigning.  It does not say that they will reign on earth.  Some Christians believe that the millennium will not be on earth.  Will the Millennium be on earth?  Yes. There is evidence in the Book of Revelation of an earthly reign.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom OF THE WORLD (not of heaven) has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15 NIV)

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign ON THE EARTH” (Revelation 5:10 NIV).

Saints will reign on the earth and since they are reigning with Jesus, according to Revelation 20:4, Jesus will reign on the earth.  The Second Coming is a coming TO EARTH.  He is coming with the saints.  When He comes back, He is going to rule and reign on the earth.

At the end of this reign of Jesus, a rebellion takes place.  What is the rebellion?  It will be a rebellion of the nations in the four corners OF THE EARTH (Revelation 20:8 NIV)

The concept of earthly reign is also found in the OT.  The OT teaches the same thing.

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:2-4 NIV)

The LORD will be king over THE WHOLE EARTH. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name. (Zechariah 14:9 NIV)

The very same chapter of Zechariah which talks about Jesus returning to earth and standing on the Mount of Olives in Israel also talks about the Lord being king over the whole earth.

Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth (Jeremiah 23:5 NKJV).

The Jews believed that the Messiah would come back and one day rule on the earth.  The earliest Christians also believed that. There is no debate about that point.

Philip Schaff is a famous church historian.  He wrote an eight volume History of the Christian Church.

Schaff points out that this was the predominate view of the Ante-Nicene church (before the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD).  People like Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian held this view.

What does this tell you?  It is not heresy to believe in a literal thousand-year reign on the earth.  Some have called this view heresy.  If that is the case, you would have to call all the Ante-Nicene fathers heretics.

It is also not a view that is recent.  It is not just the view of some crackpot dispensationalists.  It was the view of the early church.  Irenaeus and Tertullian were the first theologians and some of the men on that list were disciples of John himself.

Papias knew the Apostle John.  He sat under him.   Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp who sat under the Apostle John.  He was placed as leader in the Church of Smyrna by the Apostle John.

Myth 3 – We bring in the Millennium

Post millennialists teach that a millennium will take place on earth and then Jesus will come back.  That is not what we see in Revelation.  The world does not get progressively better in the Tribulation.  The Tribulation gets progressively worse.

When Jesus comes back, He does not encounter a revival taking place on earth.  He encounters war.  People want to attack and kill Him.  We do not bring in the Millennium.  Jesus does.

The Millennium does not come before Jesus returns.  It comes after He returns.  He returns in Revelation 19.  The Millennium is in Revelation 20.  That is why we believe in premillennialism.

Myth 4 – The Millennium is already here

It has already come.  We are living in it.  That has to be the dumbest idea on the planet, but some people believe it.  It is absolute nonsense.

All you have to do is to watch the news and you will see we do not live in a millennium.  We live in a world full of high crime.  People are kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered every day.

It is not even safe to walk the streets at night in some places.  That is not much of a Millennium.  Christians are persecuted all over the world.  They are tortured and executed in some countries.  Anyone can tell we are not living in the Millennium.  How do we know the Millennium is not here now?

1) The Millennium will be a world WITHOUT SATAN

He will be thrown in the abyss for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3).  You can’t have a millennium with Satan or demons running around tempting, deceiving and enslaving people.

That does not describe today.  The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8).

2) The Millennium will be a world WITHOUT WAR

That is not the world in which we live.  Every day, there is a war going on somewhere in the world.  In the Millennium, warfare will be abolished.

In fact, weapons will be abolished.  No one will need a sword or a gun.  Nations will not need tanks or missiles to defend themselves.

They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:4 NIV)

And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. (Hosea 2:18 NIV)

3) The Millennium will be a world WITHOUT VIOLENCE

Our world is full of violence.  People will not worry about violent crime in the Millennium.  No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders (Isaiah 60:18 NIV).

People will feel safe outside.  They will not even have to worry about dangerous animals that might attack you.  They won’t attack themselves.

“The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord” (Isaiah 65:25 NIV).

They will be so harmless that people will let their kids play with them and not be afraid for their safety.  The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. (Isaiah 11:8 NIV).

4) The Millennium will be a world WITHOUT IDOLATRY

We have all kinds of cults and false religions in the world today but not in the Millennium.

“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 13:2 NIV)

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9 NIV)

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:34 NIV)

Satan Loses

The second thing we see in this chapter is that Satan loses.  God will not only win but Satan will lose. Now, in many ways it looks like Satan has been winning.

He got one third of angels in heaven to leave and go with him.  That is not a half but is a good amount of angels.

God creates a perfect world and he completely ruined it.  He got the first people to sin.  That wrecked the entire race.  We are all born sinners.

He has become the god of this world.  He has become the ruler of this world.  He is the one who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9).Satan is very active in the world in which we live.

During the Tribulation Period, he will persecute believers on the earth, possess politicians, supernaturally empower them to perform miracles so the whole world will worship the Antichrist.

He has influence even in some churches.  Some in the church of Thyatira were taught “the deep secrets of Satan” (Revelation 2:24).  He is not only deceiving the world; he is deceiving some Christians.  Satan has his own synagogues (Revelation 2:9).  He has his own churches.

It sounds like he is winning but if you look a little closer, you will see that he is losing.  In the Book of Revelation, we see that Satan is on his way down and it actually describes his doom.

Seven Specific Defeats

1) Satan loses an important battle in heaven

In Revelation 12, there was a great battle in heaven between Satan and his angels and Michael and his angels.  Satan is defeated (Revelation 12:7-8).  The angels defeat him.

2) Satan is kicked out of heaven

Satan will not only lose that battle; he will be cast out of heaven and flung to the earth, along with all of his angels (Revelation 12:9).  It was embarrassing and he was mad. He did not want to be limited to earth.  He not only had a defeat; he experienced a demotion.

3) Satan’s demonically inspired politician is defeated

Satan supernaturally empowers and possesses the Antichrist.  He gets the whole world to worship him.  He gives him his power.  The dragon gives his authority to the beast (Revelation 13:4).  He becomes a world dictator but that power does not last long, and the Antichrist is thrown alive into the Lake of Fire.

4) Satan is cast into the Abyss

After the Battle of Armageddon, Satan is grabbed by the scruff of his neck, chained and thrown into the Abyss for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3).  He goes from heaven to earth to the Abyss but that is not his final destination.

5) Satan’s final act of rebellion fails

After a thousand years later, Satan is let out of the Abyss.  He deceives people all over the earth to rebel against the rule of Christ on the earth.  Fire falls from heaven (Revelation 20:7-9) and Satan’s plan is a failure.

6) Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire

After tormenting people for thousands of years and ruining their lives, the devil is now tormented in a lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10).

The Devil will not be alone there.  The Beast and the False Prophet will be there.  They have been there for a thousand years.

Now, the three big enemies in the Tribulation Period are the Beast, the False Prophet and the Dragon (the Satanic Trinity) are gone.  The demons will be sent there as well.  Jesus said that the Devil and his angels will end up in the same place.

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41 NIV)

The Binding of Satan

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. (Revelation 20:1-3 NIV)

An angel comes down from heaven with two things – a chain and a key.  Satan is seized.  He is arrested.   It will only take one angel to arrest him, not all the armies of heaven.

In Christian circles, we talk a lot today about binding Satan.  We talk about binding the enemy in spiritual warfare.  We have the binding of Satan in Revelation 20 but do not do this binding.  Jesus does not do it.  An angel does it.

It does not even say there was a fight.  This angel will grab him and take him.  He has a warrant for his arrest.  Apparently, Satan will be seized not by some strong or mighty angel but an ordinary one.

He will bind him.  He will put a chain on him and incarcerate him.  Satan will become an inmate in a maximum-security prison.  This angel will throw him in the Abyss.

Why the Abyss?  It is a special place of punishment for demons.  We saw that in Revelation 9.  It is where the worst of the worst go.  It is not on earth but under the earth.  Satan is thrown in the Abyss, and it is locked, so he can’t get out.

Satan will be on death row.  He will be chained.  He will be imprisoned and there will be no escape for a thousand years.  That is a long prison sentence.  It is a long time to be in prison.

This is poetic justice.  For thousands of years, Satan has been enslaving other people and putting them in chains.  Now, he is in chains himself.  He bound others.

Luke 13 describes a woman who was cripples by a spirit for eighteen years (Luke 13:11).  Jesus called her a “daughter of Abraham” and said that Satan kept her bound for eighteen years (Luke 13:16).

In fact, the Greek word for “bound” in Luke 13 is the same word used in Revelation 20.  Satan loves to bind others and in Revelation 20 he is bound, and he is bound with shackles.

Common Misinterpretation

There is a very common interpretation in the church today.  It is held by a lot of people.  There are many who believe that Revelation 20:1-3 is being fulfilled right now.  It is present, not future.  Satan is bound today.

Some say that just because Satan is bound today does not mean that he can’t harm people.  It doesn’t mean that he isn’t active or doesn’t tempt people.  He can still do a lot in the world today.  He is very active but has some limitations.

He is not able to deceive the nations.  That is the one thing mentioned in the text that he cannot do when he is bound.  If he is bound today, he would not be deceiving nations.

The problem is that Satan is still deceiving the nations today.  He is called “the ruler of this world” three times in John (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).

Paul calls him “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2 KJV).  He calls him “the god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4 KJV).  Revelation 12:9 says that he deceives the whole world right now.

Satan has a lot of power today.  Revelation 20 is a picture of total powerlessness.  He is chained, thrown in the Abyss and it is locked.  It is a completely different picture.

The other big problem is that Satan is not confined right now.  He is not in the Abyss right now.  He has access to the earth.

“Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and from walking back and forth in it.” (Job 1:7 NIV)

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (I Peter 5:8 NIV)

According to that passage, the Devil is out prowling around looking for someone to devour.  He is not locked up in the Abyss today.

Some Christians point out that there is another place in the Bible that talks about Satan being bound.  In fact, the same word used for “bind” (δέω) in Revelation 20:2 is used in Matthew 12:29 and Mark 3:27.

The verse is mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke.  Each one adds a different detail.  Matthew gives us the context.

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matthew 12:22-24 NIV)

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.  (Mark 3:23-27 NIV)

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. (Luke 11:21-22 NIV)

Luke calls it a parable.  We could call it “The Parable of the Strong Man.”  It is a parable that most Christians have never heard before.  It is only one or two verses.

In this parable, a man guards a house.  He is strong.  He is armed.  Luke tells us that he has weapons (Luke 11:21).  The only way to get in the house and take things is to beat up the strong man and tie him up or bind him.

It is a strange parable.  It is even stranger when you find out that the one who attacks and overpowers the strong man is Jesus.

It looks like Jesus is pictured as a thief or burglar, until you realize that the strong man in the parable represents Satan.  It is not a home invasion but a rescue mission.  Jesus is freeing people in bondage.  To do that, he has to be stronger than Satan.

The Parable of the Strong Man

What is the point of the parable?  It says several things to us today.

1) We have an enemy.  It is a real person.  The person is not a physical being but a supernatural spiritual being.

2) The enemy is Satan.  His kingdom is pictured as a household.

3) This enemy is strong.  Never underestimate him.  He has power over people’s lives.  In this parable, he is armed.

4) Jesus is stronger.  He can overpower him.  Jesus is stronger than Satan.  Never forget that.

5) When an exorcism takes place, Satan is overcome.  His kingdom is plundered, and people are rescued.  The captives are set free.

A Different Binding

Revelation 20 is talking about something completely different.  Some have called the binding of Satan in the gospels an initial binding.  This is his final binding.

  1. The binding of Satan in Revelation 20 follows the Second Coming, not the First Coming.
  2. The binding of Satan in Revelation 20 takes place in the Abyss, not earth.
  3. The binding of Satan in Revelation 20 affects nations, not just individuals.
  4. The binding of Satan in Revelation 20 deals with deception, not just exorcism.

The Return

Today, we are going to go deep.  Get ready to have your mind blown.  Our topic today is the Second Coming.  It is the most significant event in Bible prophecy.  Jesus is coming back.  That is good news.   It is an exciting subject for all Christians.

The Second Coming is the theme of the Book of Revelation.  Everything in the book builds up to this point when Jesus returns and sets foot on the earth.  It will be the climax of human history.

Did you know that the first prophecy ever uttered by man is about the Second Coming of Christ?  It was uttered by a man named Enoch.  Enoch lived before the Flood.  He delivered the first prophecy in the Bible and Jude tells us it was about the Second Coming, not the First Coming.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”  (Jude 14-15 NIV)

Many do not believe it, but Jesus is coming back.  How do we know?

The OT predicted that Jesus will come back.  Zechariah predicted it.

Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west (Zechariah 14:3-4 NIV)

The city of Jerusalem is at risk of an earthquake.  There is a geographic fault line in the city, and it goes through the Mount of Olives.  It is just waiting for Jesus to return and set his foot on it again.

The NT predicts that Jesus would come back. The Apostles predicted it.

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20 NIV)

We wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13 NIV)

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4 NIV)

The Apostle Paul describes the coming of the Lord in I Thessalonians 4.  Many today don’t believe that Jesus will come back.  It has been two thousand years and He has not come.

Skeptics in the first century did not believe He would come back.  Scoffers said, “Where is this coming that He promised?  Whatever happened to that promise?  That hasn’t happened yet.”  Peter addresses that objection in II Peter 3.  We have scoffers today.

The Second Coming is predicted, not only by the OT & NT, but also by angels.  Two angels said, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11 NIV).

Jesus also predicted that He would come back.  He told parables about Him coming back.  He also talked about His Second Coming many times.

I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3 NIV)

He gave a teaching on the Mount of Olives on prophecy.  In that teaching, He said that one day, the Son of Man will come “on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30 NIV)

He said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne” (Matthew 25:31 NIV).  That hasn’t happened yet, but one day, it will.

Jesus predicted that He would come back in the Gospels and He predicted it in the Book of Revelation.   In fact, the last word of the Bible. Jesus says, “Yes, I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20 NIV)

Jesus is coming back one day.  He is coming back to earth.  He will not just return; He will have a dramatic return.  It will be the most spectacular event in history.

John received a vision of the Second Coming.  He got to see what it will look like.  That would be cool to watch.  Let’s look at five truths about the Second Coming from the Book of Revelation.

Five Truths about the Second Coming

1) The Second Coming will be unexpected

We have already seen this in the Book of Revelation.  Jesus is going to come as a thief in the night (Revelation 16:15).  He will come when people are not expecting him to come.  He will surprise people by his coming.

2) The Second Coming will be spectacular

Revelation 19 gives us one of the most vivid pictures of Jesus coming back.  Heaven opens for the second time in the book.  First, it opened to let John in.  The second time, it opened Jesus returns to earth.

 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. (Revelation 19:11 NIV)

Heaven opens and Jesus returns on a white horse (this is a flying horse), riding on the clouds (not rain clouds but glory clouds) and followed by the armies of heaven (not one army but many armies, human and angelic armies).  Those armies will also be riding white horses.

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him (Matthew 25:31 NIV)

Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones (Jude 14 ESV)

He is going to return with his bride.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14 NIV)

Jesus said that he was coming back IN GLORY (Matthew 16:27). In fact, he said that He was not only coming back in glory but in POWER AND GREAT GLORY (Matthew 24:30).

Jesus does not return as president or prime minister but as king.  He does not just return as king but as King of kings and Lord of Lords.

On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords. (Revelation 19:16 NIV)

3) The Second Coming will be visible

When He returns, everyone will see it and know it.  When He returns, everyone will know that He came back.  There will not be any skeptics.  EVERY eye will see him.  His coming will be visible.  It will be witnessed in every country on the planet.

For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:27 NIV)

Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him (Revelation 1:7 NIV)

This refutes all the cults who teach an invisible coming.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jesus returned in 1914 but no one saw him. Preterists believe that Jesus returned in 70 AD, but no one saw him.

There is another possible reason why everyone will see Jesus hinted at in the Gospels.  Just before Jesus returns, the earth will be covered in complete darkness.  Jesus’ coming will light up the sky and everyone will see him.

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 30 Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. (Matthew 24:29-30 NIV)

4) The Second Coming will be emotional

There will be an emotional reaction to the return of Jesus.  Both Jews and Gentiles will have this reaction.

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will MOURN for him as one mourns for an only child, and GRIEVE BITTERLY for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the WEEPING in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. (Zechariah 12:10-12 NIV)

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will MOURN when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30 NIV)

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will MOURN because of him.” (Revelation 1:7 NIV)

5) The Second Coming will be violent

That is what we see in Revelation 19.  Jesus returns and a lot of people die.

The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. (Revelation 19:21 NIV)

You should NOT feel sorry for these people.  They are not innocent people that Jesus kills as He returns to planet earth.  As Jesus returns, notice what happens.

The beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war AGAINST the rider on the horse and his army (Revelation 19:19 NIV)

Armies see Jesus returning and actually try to attack Him.  What is strange is that no one in any of the armies that returns with Jesus is armed.  None have armor.

How can you have an army without weapons?  In fact, how can you have an army all dressed in white.  That is not how soldiers dress when they go out into battle.

The armies come to share in the victory, but we do not do any of the fighting.  They just follow Him.  The sheep follow the Lamb wherever he goes (Revelation 14:4).

Jesus returns with armies, but He is the only one who does any fighting.  He will not need any help.  He will do all of the fighting and He will do it without any weapons

A sword is mentioned but that is not in his hand.  This sword is symbolic.  It is an apocalyptic picture.   What good would a sword do against a gun or a missile or a bomb.  This sword comes from his mouth.

Notice how short the battle is.  One word is spoken, and the battle is over.  The battle will be over before it even starts.  Jesus doesn’t even need to get off his horse.  He fights while he is sitting on his horse without using any weapons.

This battle will not take seven years, like some battles.  This battle will be over in seconds and the victory will be total.

There will be no doubt about who wins.  The side that lost is lying dead soldiers on the ground.  All of the armies of the Antichrist are instantly destroyed, except for two people.  Two people are NOT killed.

Two people in the OT never died (Elijah and Enoch).  Now, two people in the NT do not die (Antichrist and the False Prophet).  Two never died because they were so righteous and two never died because they were so wicked.

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. (Revelation 19:19-20 NIV)

The Beast and the False Prophet. They will be captured alive and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).  They become the first two people to go to Hell.  They get there before Satan.  He does not get there until a thousand years later.

What followed after this battle was a great feast.  There are two great feasts in this chapter. Revelation 19 is the tale of two suppers – the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and the Supper after the Battle of Armageddon.  There is a big contrast between those suppers.

One supper was a blessing, and one was a curse.  In the first supper, the invited guests get to eat a meal.  In the second supper, guests are the meal.  They are the main course.  They are on the menu.

There are all these birds feasting on the bodies of the armies of the Antichrist.  They do not just eat; they gorge themselves on all of the dead bodies.  There will be so many of them.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” (Revelation 19:17-18 NIV)

Portrait of Jesus

Revelation 19 gives us a portrait of Jesus.  It begins with the Marriage of the Lamb and is followed by Jesus returning on a white horse. We learn all of these names of Jesus in this chapter.

Jesus is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11), unlike the Antichrist.  He is Faithful and True in our lives as well.  He is also called Word of God (Revelation 19:13).

He is called King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).  He is sovereign over every ruler on earth.  He is ruler over all of the rulers and He has a name that nobody knows (Revelation 19:12). That may be the same name that Christ will write on overcomers (see Revelation 2:17; 3:12).

This chapter is all about Jesus.  We are also told something very important about Jesus in Revelation 19.  The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10 ESV).

The spirit of prophecy is NOT our testimony.  It is the testimony of Jesus.  There is a connection between Jesus and biblical prophecy.  It is all about Jesus.  He is the theme of prophecy.  It all ultimately points to Him.

He is the theme of the book.  It is called “A Revelation of Jesus Christ,” not “A Revelation of the Antichrist or “A Revelation of the Woman Riding the Beast.”  Jesus is the theme of the Book of Revelation. He is the theme of the whole Bible.

Many study the Book of Revelation and miss Jesus.  One of the greatest mistakes today in interpreting The Book of Revelation is it ONLY through the lens of future events.

Many study the Bible and miss Jesus.  That is very common when non-Christian scholars at secular universities with degrees from ivy league schools try to interpret the Bible.

They have Ph.Ds.  They are great scholars, but they don’t have God.  They don’t have the Holy Spirit.  The Pharisees were like this in Jesus’ day.  Notice what He said to them.

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39-40 NIV)

If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. (John 5:46 NIV)

The Biblical Jesus

There is something shocking in this chapter.  Most Christians do not worship the Jesus found in this chapter.  Many do not know the real Jesus.  In fact, they would be shocked to find out what this chapter says about Him.  What is so shocking here?

1) Jesus judges people

The Jesus of Revelation 19 does not save people.  He judges people.

The First Coming Jesus came to save.  He came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (I Timothy 1:15 NIV).

“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:17 NASB 1995)

During the Second Coming, Jesus will judge people.  In fact, He will judge people at the Great White Throne Judgment.

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he JUDGES (Revelation 19:11 NIV)

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 NIV

2) Jesus goes to war

Most people think that Jesus was a pacifist.  Most people in the world believe that Jesus is against war.  Many think that He is anti-war.

Some have bumper stickers that say, “War or Peace – What Would Jesus Do?”  Some wear t-shirts that say, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?”  Are they right?  Is Jesus a liberal?

He taught people to turn the other cheek.  He taught us to love our enemies and forgive people.  He taught us not to return evil for evil.  He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Sermon on the Mount.

When Jesus comes back, He makes war.  After a wedding, there is a war.  In righteousness he judges and makes war (Revelation 19:11 ESV).

If Jesus is against war, if He is anti-war, then why when He returns does He make war on people?  Why does He wage war when He returns (Revelation 19:11)?

Many people think that war is wrong.  They think that war is inherently wrong.  It can’t be because Jesus will go to war.

Now, most wars on earth lead to the slaughter of innocent men, women and children.  Most wars on earth are wicked.  Jesus will wage war IN RIGHTEOUSNESS (Revelation 19:11 KJV, ESV).  The Antichrist will make war in unrighteousness.

In the First Coming, Jesus came to make PEACE.  He came to make peace between God and man.  He is called “the Prince of Peace.”  That is one of his names.  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6 NIV).

Right after He was born, there was a message of people.  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14 ESV).

In the Second Coming, Jesus comes to make war.  In fact, He leads an army into battle.  He returns not only as king but as a military leader.  He returns as a general.

3) Jesus kills people

Most people were never taught this about Jesus.  The Jesus that we worship saves people.  He has compassion for people.  This Jesus kills people.  That is not the Jesus that most Christians worship.

When Jesus comes back to earth, a lot of people will die.  Revelation 19 is one of most violent chapters in the Bible.

Jesus’ eyes are like blazing fire.  A sharp sword comes out of His mouth.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood.

There is a textual variant.  We don’t know if it should be translated “dipped in blood” (NIV) or “sprinkled with blood” (ASV)

This battle ends with dead bodies all over the battlefield and birds eating all of the dead bodies and feasting on them.  It is not really a battle.  It is more of an execution.

Life Lessons

1) Who do we worship?

We need to be careful who we worship.  John fell down and worshipped an angel in this chapter.  He was not only a mature Christian.  He had been a believer for decades and he was an apostle.  He had been with Jesus for three years. If he could commit this sin, we could as well.

2) Do we have a biblical view of Jesus?

Do we follow the the Jesus of the Bible or some other Jesus?  Not every Jesus presented, even by preachers, is necessarily the Jesus of Scripture.

3) Are we ready for Jesus to return?

Many will not be ready.  He will come back unexpectedly.  He will not announce when He is coming back.  Do we live each day like we are ready?  We should be more focused on preparing than predicting, as one preacher put it.

4) Which supper will we be attending?

Will we attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb or the Supper of the Great God?  Are we a part of the Bride of Christ?  Do we follow the Lamb wherever He goes, or will we be followers of the Antichrist and even defend and fight for him in battle, as many will do?

Jesus and His Bride

We are coming to the end of the Book of Revelation.  There are only four chapters left in the book.  Revelation 19 brings us to three great events in biblical prophecy.

Those three events are the Marriage of the Lamb, the Second Coming of Christ and the Battle of Armageddon. Today, we will be looking at the Marriage of the Lamb.  The Bible begins and ends with a marriage.

The Marriage of the Lamb is a love story.  Many think that the Book of Revelation is a horror story.  There are demons and dragons.  There are seven headed monsters.  There are demon-possessed politicians.

There are demon-possessed insects in the book.  There are locusts that torture people so much that they want to kill themselves.  God’s people are slaughtered and butchered in this book.

The truth is that Revelation is not a horror story but a love story.  The whole Bible is a love story between God and people.  It is the story about how a bride is chosen for His Son.

It is the story of how Jesus paid the dowry price for his bride.  He gave up His life for his bride.  Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25 NIV).

It is the story of how Jesus protects His bride.  He defeats the enemies of His bride.  The Beast conquered the saints and overcame them, but Jesus overcame the Beast.

It is the story of how Jesus prepares a home for His bride (the New Jerusalem).  He will come back to get his bride and take them to that home.

The wedding of the Lamb is an event that should be important to each one of us.  This will not just be a wedding.  It will be our wedding.  We will be there.  We are part of the bride.

Everyone loves a wedding.  Weddings are times of great joy. They are great times of celebration. There is a lot of food at weddings. They are big events. They are planned for months.

We dress up for weddings. We have a photographer take pictures so we will not forget the event. We spend a lot of money on weddings. Many spend thousands of dollars. The average cost of a wedding in the US is about $30,000.

A Royal Wedding

Even more spectacular than a regular wedding is a royal wedding, when a king or someone with royal blood gets married. The last one I watched was the marriage of was the wedding of William and Kate in 2011.  They are now the Prince and Princess of Wales.

They had a wedding in London. They had 1900 invited guests.  Millions watched the event on television all over the world.  That wedding did not cost $30,000.  It cost thirty-four million dollars.

The wedding in Revelation 19 will be a royal wedding. It will be the wedding of King Jesus.  It will be the greatest wedding in history.

It will be the ultimate wedding.  Jesus and His bride get married and live happily ever after.  It will be a wedding like no other.  How will this wedding compare to weddings today?

In some ways this wedding will be similar to weddings today.  In some ways, it is even similar to western weddings.  In other ways, it is completely different.

An Unusual Wedding

This will be an unusual wedding.  There will be no best man at this wedding.  There will be no bridesmaids.  There is no ring.  There will be no rehearsal practice.  Three things will make this wedding very unusual.

1) It will be a corporate wedding

Jesus will NOT be marrying one person.  He will be marrying a group of people, a very large group of people (men and women).

2) It will be a divine wedding

This is not just a marring between humans but a marriage between God and humans.  Jesus is a man, but He is also God.

3) It will be a symbolic wedding

We know that from the name, the Marriage of the Lamb.  It is the marriage of a lamb.  Lambs can’t get married.  This is not a literal, physical marriage.  We also know it from the wedding clothes.

Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people (Revelation 19:8 NIV)

We are told that these wedding clothes are symbolic, not literal.  This marriage is a symbolic union.  Marriage is the closest relationship on earth between two people.  It is the most intimate bond between two people.

That is a picture of the relationship of God and His people.  It was a picture of the relationship between God and the covenant people in the OT.  It is a picture of Jesus and the church in the NT but it is just a picture.

In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30 ESV).

Jesus said that in heaven we will not be married, and we won’t be getting married.  Mormons believe there will be marriage in heaven.

They believe in something called “celestial marriage,” but Jesus said, “in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

You won’t be married to your spouse in heaven.  There will be no marriage in heaven and because there will be no marriage, there will be no sex and no children born in heaven.

Five Important Takeaways

Even though there are some differences, there are some ways that this wedding is similar to weddings today.  I want us to see some of these similarities.

1) This wedding will be an occasion of great joy

All weddings are joyful occasions.  Weddings are times of celebration.  There is music.  There is dancing.  Everyone smiles.  They wear their best clothes.  The wedding of the Lamb will be an occasion for rejoicing as well.

Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us REJOICE and BE GLAD and GIVE HIM GLORY! For the wedding of the Lamb has come” (NIV).

This is a huge contrast from the last chapter.  In Revelation 18, there was not a lot of rejoicing. There were THREE WOES (Revelation 18:10, 16, 19).   There was a lot of mourning.  People were sad and crying.  They were weeping.  Why?  Babylon was destroyed.

When we get to Revelation 19, the mood changes.  People are happy, not sad.  They are not morning.  They are celebrating.  They are having a big party and are loud.

In Revelation 19, we go from lamentation to praise.  We go from lamentation on earth to praise in heaven.  There are FOUR HALLELUJAHS in this chapter (Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6).  We go from a funeral to a wedding.

There was a funeral in Revelation 18.  In Revelation 19, we do not see a funeral but a wedding.

2) You have to be invited to this wedding.

We receive invitations to weddings.  We have to RSVP.  There is an invitation to this wedding.  Did you receive an invitation?  Have you been invited?  Do you have a wedding invitation?

Blessed are those who are INVITED to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”  (Revelation 19:9 NIV).

You have to be invited to this wedding.  Many think that all people are invited, but it is our decision whether we accept the invitation or not.  That would be the Arminian way to read this, but it is not what this it is talking about.

Not everyone is invited to this wedding supper.  The unsaved are not invited to this wedding.  Only the saved are invited.  How do we know?  This is a beatitude.

Remember, there are seven beatitudes in Revelation.  Seven times we see the word “blessed” in Revelation. Each time we see that word in the book, the blessing only goes to some people.  It does not go to everybody.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (Revelation 1:3 NIV)

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” (Revelation 14:13 NIV)

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.” (Revelation 22:7 NIV)

3) There will be a dress code at this wedding.

Brides usually wear white.  It is traditional.  It is the symbol of purity and innocence.  This bride will wear white.  She will be dressed differently from the prostitute.  The prostitute wears red and purple (Revelation 17:4). The bride of Christ will wear white.

Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Revelation 19:8 NIV).

You might think this makes the bride rather plain looking (no gold, pearls and jewels) but keep in mind that fine linen was expensive.  It was a luxury item in the ancient world.[1]  The same Greek word (βύσσινον) is used of the wealthy woman in the last chapter.  She was also dressed in fine linen.

“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; FINE LINEN, purple, silk and scarlet cloth (Revelation 18:12 NIV)

‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, dressed in FINE LINEN, purple and scarlet,
 and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! (Revelation 18:16 NIV)

What does the fine linen represent?  Not just salvation.  Our wedding garments are not salvation.  The bride is not saved by good works.  The bride had some dirty robes that needed to be washed in order to get saved.

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14 NIV).

These garments represent good words.  They stand for the “righteous acts” (NIV) or “the righteous deeds” (ESV) of the saints.  It is in the plural.

What does that tell you?  It tells us that the bride was known for righteous deeds.  The harlot, the counterfeit bride, was known for uncleanness, sin and abominations.

We are not saved by good works, but true believers will have some.  We were created for good works.  We were chosen by God for good works.  If you are really saved, you will have some.

4) There will be preparation for this wedding

Many brides today spend a lot of time getting ready for their wedding.  They spend hours putting their make-up on and doing their hair.  This bride will prepare for her wedding as well.

For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. (Revelation 19:7 NIV)

This is interesting.  The bride MADE HERSELF ready (19:7). She has to prepare herself for this event. That is her responsibility.

It doesn’t say that God made her ready.  We make our wedding garments now.  We make our wedding garments by how we live on earth.

5) This wedding will be followed by a reception

Most weddings have a reception afterwards.  Some serve alcohol and some don’t but they all usually have really good food.

The marriage of the Lamb will be followed by a marriage supper.  It will be followed by a wedding feast.  Sorry Baptists, but this feast will involve wine.

Jewish weddings always have wine.  In fact, Jesus made some wine miraculously at a Jewish wedding in His day.  In fact, at the Last Supper, when Jesus ate a Passover meal with his disciples and what did He say?

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:27-29 NIV)

There will be a lot of other food as well, although one preacher assured me that there will not be any squash on the menu.  Now, when we go to a wedding reception, it is just a meal.  The Jews had a wedding feast that lasted for about a week.

Many believe that the wedding feast in Revelation 19 will take place during the Millennium.  It will last a thousand years.  If that is the case, it will be the longest wedding feast in history.

Who is the Bride?

There is a controversial question in this section.  It is a deep theological question.  Who is the bride?  We know who the groom is.  The groom is Jesus.  This is called “the marriage of the Lamb.”  Who is the bride?  There are two views.

1. The bride represents the church

Many believe that the bride represents the church.  She represents NT believers.  Paul compared the relationship of Christ and the church to a husband/wife relationship (Ephesians 5:25-27).  The church began at Pentecost.

If this is the case, then the bride would NOT include OT saints.  She would NOT include Tribulation saints.  That is a very popular view in some circles, especially if you believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church.

In fact, some believe this passage is proof of the pre-trib rapture of the church.  The bride is in heaven before the return of Christ to earth.

The argument is that the church must have already been caught up to heaven.  This is a marriage in the sky, as one preacher described it.

One argument in support of this view is that the chapter also mentions invited guests (Revelation 19:9).

The bride can’t possibly be the same as the invited guests.  They must refer to OT stands and others who are saved but not part of the church.

Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Job will all be there as invited guests but not as the bride.  That is the standard position in some circles but there is a second view.

2. The bride represents all of the redeemed

A second view is that this represents all of the redeemed.  The bride will not comprise just NT Christians but every person that Jesus died for. She represents everyone whose name is in the Book of Life.  There are three reasons for this view.

1) The bride is made up of saints

It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints (Revelation 19:8 ESV).

Who are the saints in the Book of Revelation?  They represent saved people but not saved people from one time period.  The word is used of Tribulation saints.

The saints will be alive on earth when the Antichrist comes to power because he will make war with the saints and overcome them (Revelation 13:7).

The saints will be killed by the prostitute woman.  She will be drunk with the blood of the saints (Revelation 17:6).

We are told that “in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.” (Revelation 18:24 ESV)

2) The bride is dressed like other believers

There is no hint here that the bride wears one thing and everyone else wears something else.  All of the saints wear the same thing.  Jesus promised, “The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white” (Revelation 3:5 NIV)

Revelation 19:14 says, “The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

These armies that return with Jesus wear the exact same thing that the bride is wore just eight verses earlier in Revelation 19:8. They have to refer to the same group of people.

Everyone agrees that when Jesus returns, He is going to return with all believers who ever lived, not just the NT church.

3) The bride lives where other believers live

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:9-10 NIV)

Where will the bride’s home be?  It will be the New Jerusalem.  It will be the capital of the eternal state. It is where the people of God will live for all eternity.

It is where God will dwell with people. “They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).

It is where all of the people of God will live, not just some of them.  There will not be any second-class citizens in heaven.

There will be guests there as well as the bride, but it is possible to see them, not as two different groups, but as the same group looked at two different ways.

It is possible to see them as pictures of the same group.  We are both the bride collectively and guests individually.  There are many MIXED METAPHORS in Revelation.  It is common in apocalyptic literature.  Jesus is both the Lamb and the Shepherd at the same time (Revelation 5:5; 7:17).

In an earlier chapter, John was crying because he could not open a scroll.  One of the twenty-four elders said, “Don’t’ cry. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is able to open it and he turns and sees a lamb.” (Revelation 5:1-6).  Jesus is both a lion and a lamb.

Applications for Today

What are the applications from this passage for us today?  There are several.

1) Be Saved

If we are not saved, we will not get an invitation to this wedding.  We will not be part of the bride.  We will miss the wedding supper.  We will not be at this event.  We will not be clothed in white.  Are we part of the bride of Christ?  Are we saved?

2) Be Righteous

We have already seen that the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.  The first question is, are we saints?  The second question is, Do have righteous deeds?

Is our life characterized by righteous deeds?  What are we doing to make our wedding garments?  That is how we glorify God.  We do not do all of these deeds in our own strength and power.

We are told that fine linen, bright and clean, WAS GIVEN her to wear.”  They are not our robes by nature.  We did not have these robes before. They had to be given to us by God.  God is the one who empowers and enables us to do good deeds.

3) Be Faithful

The Bible describes believers as married to Jesus.  Paul says, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him” (II Corinthians 11:2 NIV)

We have a spouse.  Are we faithful to our spouse?  Do we live our lives faithful to him?  We will be presented as pure to our bridegroom.  It is a picture of physical purity.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! (I Corinthians 6:15 NIV)

This goes beyond physical purity.  God’s people in the OT also entered into a marriage relationship.  Israel was the wife of Jehovah. God described the nation in the OT as an adulteress wife.  She committed idolatry and child sacrifice.  She worshipped all kinds of gods.  How faithful are you to Jesus?

[1] David E. Aune, Revelation 17–22, vol. 52C, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 1030.

Biblical Separation

We have come in our study of the Book of Revelation to the topic of Babylon.  Two whole chapters of the book are devoted to that topic (Revelation 17-18).

Last week, we looked at the strange, mysterious woman found in Revelation 17.  It is the chapter about the filthy rich prostitute with the golden cup full of abominations sitting on a seven-headed blasphemous beast.

There are a lot of things that we don’t know about this woman.  She is a mystery, but we know that she represents a false religious system, a one-world prostitute religious system that will exist in the Tribulation Period.

We don’t know exactly what this system will look like, but it certainly will not be limited to the Roman Catholic Church, as some preachers have said.  In fact, it will not be limited to false Christianity.  It will involve false religion.

The last verse of the chapter tells us something else about this woman.  The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:18 NIV).  The woman also represents a real city.

City and System

Babylon will be both a city and a false religious system.  That raises this question.  How can cities represent things?    How can Babylon be both a city and a system?  Cities are known for things.  They get a reputation for certain things.

Madison Avenue is a real place in New York City.  It also stands for something.  It is home to some of the most extravagant shops in the entire world.  It stands for advertising.

Wall Street is another real street in New York City, but it also stands for the financial center of the country.  It is the largest stock exchange in the world.  It is the home of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Washington, D.C. is a real city.  People live there.  It is also where our government is located – all three branches of government.  The White House is there.  This city is famous, not for advertising or finance but for politics.

Las Vegas is a real city in Nevada, but it also has a reputation for some things.  It has a reputation for casinos and gambling.  It is known as “Sin City”.  It is modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.

Nevada is the only place in the U.S. state where prostitution is legal.  Surprisingly, it is not legal in Las Vegas (where most people think it is), but it is legal in other countries in Nevada.

Hollywood is a city in California, but it also stands for the movie industry.  That is where television and movie studios are located.  It is where movies are made.  When you think of Hollywood, you think of movie stars.

Some cities have a reputation for crime.  Many big cities have a high crime rate.  It is not safe to be in them.  The woman of Revelation 17 was both a city and a symbol.

When we come to Revelation 18, we see the destruction of the actual city.  We do not know what city it is, but it was a real city.  We do not know where this city is located but in Revelation 18 that city is completely destroyed.  It is wiped out.

This city will not be destroyed by some natural catastrophe or natural disaster.  It will be destroyed by God.  It will be destroyed violently (Revelation 18:21).  How do we know?  This will be divine judgment.

Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God WHO JUDGES HER. (Revelation 18:8 NIV)

“Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For GOD HAS JUDGED HER with the judgment she imposed on you.” (Revelation 18:20 NIV).

For her sins are piled up to heaven, and GOD HAS REMEMBERED HER CRIMES. (Revelation 18:5 NIV).  God destroyed cities in this past and He will destroy this city.

Four thousand years ago, God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire.  He destroyed the city of Babylon.

Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isaiah 13:19 NIV).

This makes you wonder when judgment is coming to America.  What does this chapter say to us today?  We learn some things about God’s judgment in this chapter.

Six Truths from Revelation 18

1) God’s Judgment is Certain

King Solomon said, “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11 NIV).

Criminals are emboldened to commit crimes because there is no punishment.  They commit crimes because they can get away with it.

Sinners think they can get away with rebellion.  They can defy God and disobey His Word.

Judgment may be delayed but it is not denied.  Judgment is certain.  It is going to take place.  We see that in our chapter.

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted: ‘FALLEN! FALLEN is Babylon the Great!’ (Revelation 18:1-2 NIV)

It is announced by an angel, a bright angel, shining with the glory of God.  One angel can make the whole earth bright.  This radiant angel makes a special prophecy.  With a mighty voice he shouted: ‘FALLEN! FALLEN is Babylon the Great!’

He says it twice, not because it will happen twice (a double fall), as some have suggested, but for emphasis.  It is so sure that it will take place that it is put in the past tense as if it already happened.  It is guaranteed to happen.

In fact, this is not the first time an angel gave this message.  We saw another angel say this in Revelation 14.  A second angel followed and said, “‘FALLEN! FALLEN is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries (Revelation 14:7 NIV).

2) God’s Judgment is Fair

That is clear from this section.  This punishment is deserved.  God will give her back as she has given (Revelation 18:6). This was not only a great city; it was a wicked city.

This city not only had some sins, it had a lot of them.  Her sins are piled up to heaven (Revelation 18:5 NIV).  That makes you wonder if America’s sins are piled up to heaven.

Not only did this city have a lot of sins, God knew what they were and remembered them.  God has remembered her crimes. (Revelation 18:5 NIV).

That is interesting.  If we are saved, God doesn’t remember our sins.  We are forgiven, not some of them but all of them.

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12 NIV)

as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12 NIV)

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NIV)

If we are saved, God forgives our sins, even bad sins are forgiven.  He does not just forgive them; He forgets them.  If we are unsaved, He remembers everything we do.  In fact, He has a book of works which contains all of it.  That is a terrifying thought.

3) God’s Judgment is Surprising

God’s judgment will be a surprise.  It will come when people least expect it.  That is why Jesus said that He will come as a thief in the night.

People were surprised when God sent a flood which destroyed everything on the planet (men, women, children, animals).

They were shocked when God rained fire down from heaven and wiped out the wicked city of Sodom and Gomorrah four thousand years ago.  There is archeological evidence to confirm its destruction.

They were shocked when Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead in the Book of Acts.  They were Christians.  They had been baptized.  They were members of the first church in Jerusalem.  There were apostles in that church and God judged them.

People will be shocked when this city falls.  The one thing that people thought would never happen and could never happen will happen.

Not only will a city fall but a great city, a powerful city, a wealthy city, a famous city will fall, and people will be shocked.

When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ (Revelation 18:18 NIV).

4) God’s Judgment is Terrifying

When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 TERRIFIED at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!’ (Revelation 18:9-10 NIV)

The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, TERRIFIED at her torment. They will weep and mourn (Revelation 18:15 NIV)

“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city? (Revelation 18:18 NIV)

Everyone stands afar off, all of the monarchs, mariners and merchants.  They don’t want to get too close to the ashes.  The politicians do not want to get too close.  Neither do the businessmen and sailors.

They are both sad and afraid.  When God’s judgment falls, people are terrified.  It is an absolutely terrifying thing for a person to face the judgment of God.

That is why the Bible says that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 ESV).

It is a fearful thing for sinners to fall into the hands of an infinitely holy God. It is scary. We have seen this in the Book of Revelation.  We saw it with the Sixth Seal Judgment.

When the Sixth Seal was opened, there was a great earthquake, the Sun turned black.  The Moon turned red.  The stars fell.  The heavens receded and the mountains moved.

Apparently, everyone knows who is causing it.  It is God and He is angry.  Everyone begins to hide.  They hide in caves and under rocks.  They would rather die than face God, who was sitting on the throne. They would rather die than face the wrath of the Lamb.

That is not the God of modern Christianity.  It is not the God that most Christians worship.  God is loved but not feared.  We do not see God as anyone to be afraid of.  That is not the God of the Bible.

5) God’s Judgment is Swift

It will not be gradual.  It will not take place over a long period of time.  It will take place quickly.  That is the big problem with identifying this city completely with Rome.

That is the most common view among biblical scholars today.  Rome is called Babylon in the NT (I Peter 5:13).  It seems like Rome.  This was the city that killed the prophets and saints (Revelation 18:24).

The harlot woman of Revelation 17-18 is Rome, and this is talking about the Fall of Rome.  There is only one problem.  It is a big problem, in my opinion.  The Fall of Rome did not happen quickly.

Historians agree that it happened gradually over hundreds of years.  Rome was not built in a day and did not fall in a day.  The city in this chapter fell very quickly.  We are told that four times in the chapter.

Therefore in ONE DAY her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her (Revelation 18:8 NIV).

Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In ONE HOUR your doom has come!’ (Revelation 18:10 NIV)

In ONE HOUR such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’ (Revelation 18:17 NIV)

They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In ONE HOUR she has been brought to ruin!’ (Revelation 18:19 NIV)

This has happened in our history.  It happened when the stock market crashed in 1929 (Black Monday and Black Tuesday) but there it only lost half of its value. In Russia (1917) and China (1949), it went down to zero.  There is talk now that if the US defaults on its debt, there will be an economic catastrophe.

6) God’s Judgment is Permanent.

This city was going to fall.  It was never going to come back.  That is mentioned six times in the chapter.

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, NEVER to be found again.

22 The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters, will NEVER be heard in you again. No worker of any trade will EVER be found in you again.

The sound of a millstone will NEVER be heard in you again. 23 The light of a lamp will NEVER shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will NEVER be heard in you again.  (Revelation 18:21-23 NIV)

One imaginative preacher entitled this chapter, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”[1]

Two Commands

What bearing does this chapter have on us today?  We don’t even live in the Tribulation Period.  Things are not falling from the sky.  We have not seen any demonic locusts.  The Antichrist has not revealed himself yet.  How does this apply to us?

This chapter applies to believers today who do not live in the Tribulation Period.  There are two commands in this chapter to believers.  We need to see what these two commands are.

Come Out of Babylon

The first command in this chapter is a command to separation.  This time God speaks directly.  He talks directly to His people.  Notice what He says.

Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues (Revelation 18:4 NIV)

Apparently, there will be believers living on earth during the Tribulation Period.  Apparently, some of them will be living in Babylon.  There were some advantages to living there.  You could get rich living there.

God says, “come out”.  This is an allusion to Isaiah 52:11, which is talking about Babylon. Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure (NIV).

That was a command for Levites and priests but Paul quotes that verse in II Corinthians 6:14-18 and applies it to us today.

In Revelation 18, it is applied to Babylon.  Touch not the unclean thing.  There were a lot of unclean things in Babylon (unclean spirits, unclean birds, unclean animals, unclean moral practices, like prostitution).  The great harlot held a gold cup in her hand full of all kinds of unclean things.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11 NIV)

God commands believers to come out of Babylon, not to stay in it.  If you don’t come out of Babylon, God says that you can share in its sin.

If you live in a very wicked environment, it is easy to act like the people around you.  What does that mean not to be Babylonian?  What is the spirit of Babylon?

What is the Spirit of Babylon Today?

1)  The Spirit of Wickedness

Babylon was a wicked city. This city was known for wickedness.  Sexual immorality was part of it.  Its name was “Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.” (Revelation 17:4)

Its sins reached up to heaven (Revelation 18:5). It had a reputation for sin. Sin was open and celebrated in Babylon. Does that sound familiar? What God called evil; Babylon called good.  Included in the list of sin was slavery.

The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore… cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves (Revelation 18:11, 13 NIV)

Sex trafficking is still going on today.  It is a modern Babylonian practice.  It takes place in America today.  It is in the news but most sex trafficking in the world is in Asia (India, China, Thailand).

Countries treat this very differently.  In some countries it is illegal and prosecuted, like the US.  In other countries, it is allowed, and nothing is done to stop it.

This city was not only wicked; it was demonic.  There were demons in this city.  It was a habitation of devils.  There were evil spirits in the place.

She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. (Revelation 18:2 NIV)

You have heard of haunted houses.  This was a haunted city, a dwelling place for demons.  It was not limited to future cities.  There are cities like this today.  It makes you wonder what the most demonic city is today.

Are you a part of the wickedness of your city or do you stand out from it?  Are you involved in any form of demonic activity in your personal life?

2) The Spirit of Greed

This city was known for its wealth.  It was known for its luxury.  It was known for its prosperity and materialism.

There is nothing wrong with being wealthy but you don’t want to live in luxury and ignore the needs of those around you, as many do.  Many turn wealth into idolatry.  They begin to worship stuff.  They feel like they no longer need God.

Paul said that covetousness is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).  That is what the monarchs, merchants and mariners did. They laid up treasure on earth. Their god was money and wealth.

Their whole life was tied up in the city of Babylon and, when it was gone, they were devastated. Their fortune was lost.  That is why they were weeping.  They got rich from Babylon (Revelation 18:3, 15, 19).

The Bible does not teach that it is a sin to be rich, but it does teach that it is a sin to be greedy.  Are we greedy?  Are we covetous?  Do we make a god out of material wealth?

Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15 NIV)

As we get older, we tend to accumulate a lot of things.  We cannot even find a place to put them.

3. The Spirit of Pride

In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ (Revelation 18:7 NIV)

It became wealthy and then it became proud. Wealth can lead to pride. Ezekiel 28:5 says, “By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud” (NIV)

People who get wealthy sometimes look down on poorer people and call them names (like “white trash”). We tend to think that we are better than them just because we have more money than other people.  That is pride.

The Bible says that Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18 NIV)This city was proud and will suffer destruction, complete destruction.  Is pride something that we struggle with on a personal level?

4. The Spirit of Idolatry

Babylon was a center of idolatry.  It is where idolatry began.  It began at the Tower of Babel.  It was a center of organized rebellion and defiance against God.

This city deceived the nations by her sorcery (Revelation 18:23).  This city was in the business of deception.  God’s people are to come out of this false religious system.

It is a call to separate from Babylon, not from other Christians but sometimes a spirit of Babylon can take over a whole church or denomination.

Many recently broke away from the Methodist Church, because Babylon has entered the church. It was good for Martin Luther to come out of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, even though he did not do it by choice.

There is a time to work within a church and a time to leave, especially when false doctrine has infiltrated the place.

Rejoice

What is the second command?  It is a command to rejoice.  Notice the end of the chapter.

“REJOICE over her, you heavens! REJOICE, you people of God! REJOICE, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” (Revelation 18:20 NIV)

This is strange.  Heaven does not just rejoice over the fall of Babylon; they are commanded three times to rejoice over the fall of Babylon.  People in heaven and God’s people are COMMAND to rejoice.

Why are they told to rejoice?  God judged Babylon.  Is this unchristian?  Is it vindictive?  No. It is celebration of the justice of God.  God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.

The judgment was fair.  Jesus said, “in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2 NIV)

This is something that we NEVER do in church.  We celebrate grace.  We celebrate when we don’t get what we deserve.  Here, we are commanded to celebrate God’s justice, not just His grace.

We are not to render evil for evil.  We are not to take vengeance on people ourselves, but God can render evil for evil.  It is His job.  We live in a world when we rarely even see justice at work.  What does God say?

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19 NIV).

[1] https://drjustinimelsr.com/sermon-on-revelation-ive-fallen-and-i-cant-get-up-revelation-181-8/

False Religion

Today, we come to one of the most mysterious and intriguing chapters in the Book of Revelation.  It is the famous chapter about the scarlet woman with the golden cup.  It is a strange chapter in the Bible.  It is the story about a prostitute and her lovers.

John is carried away by an angel to see a hooker, and it was not for the purpose of evangelism.  Not too many angels take believers out to see prostitutes these days.

Here, an angel carries away an apostle of Jesus Christ in the Spirit to see a prostitute and not just any prostitute but a great prostitute (Revelation 17:1, 3).

Today, we want to look at who this woman is.  What does she represent?  How does it apply to us, even if we don’t live in the Tribulation Period.  We will try to see this chapter in a way you have never seen it before.

It is one of the most difficult chapters in the whole Book of Revelation.  We are told that this chapter calls for a mind with wisdom (Revelation 17:9 NIV).

Apparently, we don’t have wisdom.  Most of us don’t know what the chapter is about.  Who is the woman and who is who the beast she is riding?

Who is the woman?  Is the woman literal Babylon? That was a city that sits on many waters.  It was constructed on a canal system.

Is the woman Rome. That was the view of the early church.  It is the view of most modern scholars.

Is the woman Jerusalem?  God said of the city of Jerusalem, “See how the faithful city has become a prostitute!” (Isaiah 1:21 NIV).  That is interesting but Jerusalem is not a city on seven hills.

Is the woman the US?  There are plenty of websites and some books that take this view.

Is the woman the United Nations?  That is the view of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Is the woman the Catholic Church.  That was the view of the Reformers and many today.

Who is the woman?  Who are the ten kings?  What are the seven heads?  Are they kings or are they kingdoms?

Many who think they knew what the chapter is about are completely wrong.  That is not surprising.  It is called a mystery.  We see that word twice in this chapter.

The word “mystery” is used four times in Revelation (Revelation 1:20; 10:7; 17:5, 7).  The last time that we see the word “mystery” in the Bible is with regard to Revelation 17.[1]

Incidentally, if people say that they can explain everything in the chapter perfectly, don’t believe them.  There are some things in the chapter that are clear, but some things are a mystery.

The good news is that the chapter not only has a vision but an interpretation of the vision.  We have the VISION in Revelation 17:1-6.  We have the INTERPRETATION in Revelation 17:7-18.

Who does the interpretation?  An angel.  An angel interprets the vision for us.  We do not have to guess what it means.

We have the inspired interpretation.  The problem is that even with the interpretation, we still do not know completely what it means.

It is almost as if the angel is deliberately vague because this is a mystery.

The angel says that the woman is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:18).  What city is it?  Is it Nashville?  Is it LA or New York?  Is it Rome?  Is it Jerusalem?

The angel says that the seven heads are seven hills (Revelation 17:9) but does not tell us which hills.

Incidentally, some churches teach what is called seven mountain theology. It is supposedly based on Revelation 17.  The seven mountains are key institutions.

They are family, religion, education, the media, entertainment, business, and government.  They come up with the seven-mountain mandate based on this chapter but there is a problem.

The angel did NOT say that the seven heads are seven institutions but that the seven heads are seven hills or seven mountains (Revelation 17:9).  There is no reason not to take that literally.

A Graphic Chapter

This chapter should come with a content advisory warning. This is a graphic chapter.  It is not a good chapter for children’s church.  It uses graphic language.  It uses sexual imagery.  There is a great whore in the chapter (Revelation 17:1).

There is sexual immorality.  Kings commit sexual immorality (Revelation 17:2).  There is marital unfaithfulness.

There is seduction in this chapter.  The inhabitants of the earth will be seduced by this woman (Revelation 17:2)

There is prostitution all through this chapter.  In fact, the root word for “prostitute” in Greek is PORN.  The root word porn is used six times in the chapter.[2]

Revelation 17:1 – I will show you the great πόρνης (prostitute)

Revelation 17:2 – With her the kings of the earth have committed ἐπόρνευσαν (adultery)

Revelation 17:4 – She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her πορνεας (adulteries)

Revelation 17:5 – The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of πορνῶν (prostitutes)

Revelation 17:15 – the waters you saw, where the πόρνη (prostitute) sits

Revelation 17:16 – The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the πόρνην (prostitute).

There is drunkenness in this chapter.  It not only has a prostitute but a drunken prostitute in it (Revelation 17:6).

There is blasphemy in this chapter.  The scarlet beast is covered with blasphemous names (Revelation 17:3).

There are all kinds of filth in this chapter, a gold cup full of filth.  It is a cup of unclean things (Revelation 17:4).

There is violence.  There is murder in this chapter.  This woman is drunk with the blood of God’s people (Revelation 17:6).  Not only are the saints killed in this chapter but so is the prostitute (Revelation 17:16).

There are wicked politicians and kings who use people for their own purposes.  Politicians still do this today.

The clients of this prostitute use her and then get rid of her.  Her former lovers hate her and kill her (Revelation 17:16).

There is nudity in this chapter.  There is cannibalism in the chapter.  The beast and the ten kings leave her naked and eat her flesh (Revelation 17:16).

That shows the self-destructive nature of evil.  Evil is self-destructive. Evil turns on itself.  Evil destroys evil. The prostitute of Babylon is destroyed by someone more wicked than she is.

What is even stranger is that the beast and the ten kings actually do the will of God. When they kill the prostitute, they do what God wanted them to do.

We are told in this chapter that God “put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose” (Revelation 17:17 NIV).

How is that possible?  He uses evil people as instruments of judgment.  He used wicked Babylon and Assyria to judge His own people.

A Symbolic Chapter

We will see this woman is not pornographic; she is prophetic.  She is symbolic.  A woman rides a beast in the chapter (Revelation 17:3).

She is not a literal woman and the animal she rides, the seven-headed beast with blasphemous names, is not a literal beast.

The woman is called a harlot, but she is not a literal harlot. She is not a physical prostitute.  She is a spiritual prostitute.

Kings of the earth commit fornication with her, but it is not literal fornication.

The harlot sits on many waters, but these are not literal waters. These waters represent something.  They represent peoples, multitudes, nations and languages (Revelation 17:15 NIV).

This woman is also said to be drunk.  This is a drunken prostitute but she is not drunk on wine but on blood.  It is a different type of drunkenness.

In fact, not only is the woman drunk but so are the nations. You have drunken nations in this chapter, intoxicated from this woman.  The whole chapter is an allegory.

Five Characters

Who are the two main characters in the chapter?  A woman and a beast.  If you look carefully, you will see five characters in this chapter.

1) The filthy prostitute with the golden cup

2) The seven-headed beast with blasphemous names on it

3) The ten kings who are aligned with the Beast

These ten kings have not yet received a kingdom (Revelation 17:12 NIV).  They are not on the scene right now but one day they will be, and they will give their power and authority to the beast (Revelation 17:13 NIV).  They help support him and give him his power.

4) Jesus the Lamb

In this chapter, Jesus is attacked.  The Beast and the ten kings “will wage war against the Lamb” (Revelation 17:14 NIV).

They will not just wage war against Christians.  They will wage war against Jesus.  They will wage war against God himself.

He is not only attacked; He is victorious.  The Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of king (Revelation 17:14 NIV).

He will defeat them at the battle of Armageddon.  All of the forces of evil and all of the powers of Hell cannot stand up to the Lamb.

It is a little ironic that a lamb defeats them.  He is not just the Sacrificial Lamb.  He is the Warrior Lamb.

There is a lesson here.  Evil can be powerful.  Evil can be organized.  Evil can be frightening.  It can be intimidating but one day, evil will come to an end.

One day, evil will be destroyed.  That is hard to imagine in the day in which we live where we see evil every day on TV.  Can you imagine living in a world without evil?

The Beast will triumph over the prostitute.  He will triumph over the saints and overcome them, but Jesus will triumph over the Beast.

5) Believers

What are we told about believers in this chapter?  They will be persecuted.  Many will be martyred.  This woman who was drunk with their blood (Revelation 17:6).

Believers are described by three words: called, chosen and faithful followers (Revelation 17:14 NIV).  They are also described as those who bear testimony to Jesus (Revelation 17:6).

Description of the Beast

We know a lot about the Beast.  What are we told about him in this chapter?

1) He will have demonic influence

He will come out of the Abyss (Revelation 17:8).  He will be superhuman.  He will get his power from the dragon.  The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. (Revelation 13:2).  He will be the incarnation of Satan.

2) He will live twice.

Revelation 17 mentions three phases of the beast.  He once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss (Revelation 17:8 NIV).

That is a parody of God.  Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8 ESV).

It is a parody of Jesus who died and came back to life.  The beast also will die and come back to life (Revelation 13:2, 12, 14).

3) He will have allies.

Ten kings will give their authority to the Beast (Revelation 17:13).  They will support him politically.

4) He will be profane.

We are told that this beast will be covered with blasphemous names (Revelation 17:3 NIV).  We saw the blasphemy of the beast earlier in the book.

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. (Revelation 13:5-6).

5) He will be murderous.

He is a scarlet beast (Revelation 17:3 NIV).  The scarlet beast is like the scarlet prostitute.  The beast and prostitute are the same color of Satan.  He is described as a big red dragon (Revelation 12:3).

6) He will be popular

He will be popular but only with the unsaved, those whose names are not in the Book of Life.

The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. (Revelation 17:8 NIV)

7) His reign will be short.

He will not be around long.  He must remain for only a LITTLE WHILE (Revelation 17:10 NIV)It will be forty-two months (Revelation 13:5).

Like the ten kings, he will have a short tenure.  The ten kings will receive authority only for ONE HOUR (Revelation 17:12), perhaps just the first half of the Tribulation.

8) He will end up in Hell.

We are told that he “is going to his destruction” (Revelation 17:11 NIV).  He will be cast in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10).  Paul calls the Antichrist “the son of perdition” (KJV) or “the son of destruction” (ESV) in II Thessalonians 2:3.

“The two books the devil hates most are Genesis and Revelation. Why? In Genesis the devil’s doom is pronounced.  In Revelation it’s carried out. It is the Devil’s Obituary”[3]

There is a famous quote about Satan.  “The next time Satan reminds you of your past. Remind him of his future.”

False Religious System

What is this chapter really about?  How does it apply today?  Many read Revelation 17 and miss the whole point of the chapter.

This chapter is all about false religion.  The Tribulation will be a time full of religion.  Everyone will not become a atheist at that time.

In the Tribulation, we will see a false end-time religious system appear.  It will be the final form of world religion.  It will be a great world church.  It will be a one-world religion.

It certainly will not be limited to the Catholic Church, as some think. It will not be limited to liberal Christianity.  It will include non-Christian religions, as well.

This religion will be liberal. It will be apostate. It will be unbiblical. It will be idolatrous.  It will be blasphemous.  It is called Babylon because that was where idolatry began.

Some would object to this and say that the woman is not a church.  She is a city.  The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18 NIV).  Are they right?  No.

This woman has to represent a religious system.  It has to represent a counterfeit church.  It is easy to prove.  Let’s compare two passages.  Compare the two women of Revelation at the end of the book.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. (Revelation 17:1 NIV)

9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:9-10 NIV)

Both times John was taken away in the spirit by an angel to see a woman.

Both angels were one of the angels who had the seven bowls of wrath.

Both times, the woman that John saw was described as a city.  One city was called Babylon.  One city was called Jerusalem.

One woman was the bride, and one woman was the prostitute.  One woman represented the true church, and one woman represented the counterfeit church.  The harlot and the bride are both pictured as a city.

There is a big contrast between the two.  One is faithful and the other is unfaithful.  One is a pure and spotless bride and one is a harlot.  God demands purity in worship.

One woman was stripped naked, and one was clothed with fine linen (Revelation 17:16; 19:8).

One wears purple and red (Revelation 17:4).  The other wears white (Revelation 4:4; 7:9, 13; 19:14)

One woman is with Christ and one woman is allied to people who fight Christ.

What is the application?  There are two groups of people.  You are either part of the bride or you are part of the harlot.  Which group are you a part of?

Characteristics of False Religion

The woman represents the religious system that will exist in the Tribulation Period but there are some ways it applies to us today.  We see several characteristics of false religion from this prostitute.

1) False Religion is Seductive

The woman in Revelation 17 was seductive.  She seduced people all over the world.  Kings were seduced by her.

There must be something seductive about prostitution or it would not be called “the world’s oldest profession.”

False religion is also seductive.  People are attracted to false churches and to cults.  There is some appeal or people would not be joining.  Don’t be seduced.

2) False Religion is Hypocritical

This woman looked beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside.  She had glittering jewels.  She was clothed in red and purple.

Purple dye was expensive in the ancient world.  She had this golden cup in her hand that was extremely valuable, but it was full of abominations.

Many churches look great on the outside.  They have a great building and stained-glass windows but may not teach things that are lined up with Scripture.  Is you religion hypocritical?

3) False Religion is Wicked

This woman has evil written on her forehead in big letters and is proud of it.  She doesn’t hide it.  She would wear it in a pride festival.

She has a gold cup in her hand.  It does not just have some unclean things in it.  This cup is FULL of unclean things.

This cup was “filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries” (Revelation 17:4 NIV).

God says in the next chapter that “her sins are piled up to heaven” (Revelation 18:6 NIV)

False religion does not only contain false doctrines but also false practices.  The two go together.  False doctrine leads to false living.  Liberal churches ordain homosexuals.  They support and encourage immorality.

4) False Religion is Intolerant

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. (Revelation 17:6 NIV)

This woman was drunk with blood of the saints.  She killed believers.  She executed Christians.  That is why she wears the color red.  She stands for bloodshed.  That is a sign of false religion.  False religion always attacks the people of God.

At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. (Galatians 4:29 NIV)

5) False Religion is Political

In Revelation 17, the woman rides on the top of the beast.  She rides on top of the state.

There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:3 NIV)

Here, religion and government are combined.  This is a union of church and state, and the church controls the state.  It dominates and controls government.

The church should never be involved in government.  The state uses religion for its purposes.  Stalin used the church and then tries to destroy it.  Hitler used the Catholic Church and then persecuted it.

Notice who this woman is associated with.  She is not just associated with the state but with a demonically controlled government that opposes Christ.

The Beast is the one who comes out of the Abyss (Revelation 17:8). He is covered with blasphemous names (Revelation 17:3).

There is a hideous, horrible looking, seven headed, blasphemous beast.  Most people would be afraid of this animal, but she is not.  She associates with it proudly.

She had a partnership with the beast.   She sits on the one who eventually kills her.  Be careful who you associate with.  Be careful who your friends are.  They can get you killed.  You can end up dead like the prostitute in Revelation 17.

6) False Religion is Temporary

Notice how the chapter begins.  One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters (Revelation 17:1 NIV)

One day, false religion will come to an end.  Islam will come to an end.  Hinduism will come to an end.  Buddhism will come to an end and so will all the cults.

That is one thing that stands out clearly from this chapter.  All worship will be destroyed, except the worship of the Antichrist.  Eventually, the Antichrist will be destroyed.

[1] There is a translation note here.  The Revelation 17:5 KJV reads the words, “Mystery, Babylon the Great.” written on her forehead.  Mystery is part of her title in the KJV.  The NIV reads, “The name written on her forehead was a mystery: babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.” In the second reading, the name is “Babylon the Great”.  Both readings are possible, but four times in Revelation her name is “Babylon the Great” (Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2).  Nowhere else in Revelation is mystery a part of her name.

[2] https://www.universityreformedchurch.org/sermons/revelation-171-18/

[3] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100464/genesis-and-revelation-by-dr-larry-petton

The Last Pandemic

We have been studying the judgments of the Tribulation Period.  To many, they seem too hard to imagine ever happening in our world today.  That was until 2021 when we encountered a worldwide pandemic.

Schools were closed.  Churches were closed.  We couldn’t meet in large groups.  We all had to wear masks and that was for something that was a man-made virus.  How much worse will plagues that come directly from God.

We live in a world full of DISEASE.  Sometimes diseases affect more than one country.  We call those diseases PANDEMICS. Some wiped out entire civilizations.  When diseases cross international boundaries and are worldwide, we call them GLOBAL PANDEMICS.

Revelation 16 describes a global pandemic.  It will be the greatest pandemic the world will ever see.  Revelation 16 describes the last plagues on planet earth.  They will be the final judgments of the Tribulation Period.

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the SEVEN LAST PLAGUES—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. (Revelation 15:1 NIV).

These plagues will be worse than any before them. They will affect health and safety.  They will cause water pollution.  They will affect the food supply. They will affect the water supply.  They will affect the environment.  They will affect the weather.  They will affect power sources.  They will affect electricity.

Rivers will turn into blood.  The Sun will be so hot, it will burn people up.  People will have sores all over their body and no water to drink.  Hundred-pound hailstones will fall on people’s heads (Revelation 16:21).  The heaviest hailstone that has ever been recorded was only 2.25 pounds. [1]  These hailstones will be a hundred pounds or more.

Some have called these seven bowls, “The seven super bowls” (to use a football analogy). They describe the end of the world, as we know it.  After these seven bowls, the Tribulation comes to an end, Jesus comes back and the kingdom begins.

What we are going to do today is to see what these bowl judgments are.  We will see where they come from and why they will come to planet earth.  We will see what people’s reaction to these judgments will be.

We will also look at how this chapter applies to us today.  How does it apply to people who are not living in the Tribulation Period?  Before John describes the final plagues on earth, He has a vision of heaven in Revelation 15.  He has a vision of the sea of glass.  He sees a heavenly temple or tabernacle.  The earthly one was just a copy of the heavenly one (Hebrews 8:5).

A Heavenly Vision

In Revelation 15 is the shortest chapter in the Book of Revelation.  In fact, it is the shortest chapter in the NT.  It is only eight verses long.  It is another vision of heaven.  John has seen many of them.

What does John see in heaven?  He sees God in His temple and the Temple is full of smoke from God’s glory.  He sees Jesus.  He sees two groups of people: saints and angels.  The saints SING and the angels SERVE.

He saw the 144,000 in heaven with harps, and they are singing.  They are singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. We know why they are singing the song of the Lamb.  Why are they singing the song of Moses?

The Jews sang the song of Moses after they crossed the Red Sea.  They sang it after they were victorious over Pharaoh.  The 144,000 will be victorious over death.

They will be victorious over the Antichrist.  The Antichrist thought he was victorious when he killed them but they are in heaven and they are singing.

He also sees seven angels with shiny clothes, and a golden sash around their chest.  They have golden bowls of wrath.  They are given a special command from God.  They are given a direct order by God.

These seven angels are given a special job to do.  They are given a special commission.  Their job is to pour out bowls of wrath on the earth.  They did not pour out their bowls all at the same time but one at a time.

Bowl

Location

Effect

Judgment

One On the body Health and Appearance Ugly and painful sores on people who have the mark of the beast and worship his image (Revelation 16:2)
Two On the sea Food Supply The sea turns into blood, and every living creature in the sea dies (Revelation 16:3).  In the trumpet judgments, some fish died (Revelation 8:9).  Now EVERYTHING in the sea dies (Revelation 16:3)
Three On the rivers Water Supply The rivers became blood (Revelation 16:4).  In this bowl, we learn that that there is an angel of the waters (Revelation 16:5).  You can only go a few days without water, so these judgments must last long.
Four On the Sun The Weather People are scorched from the sun (Revelation 16:8-9).
Five On the land Energy Supply The kingdom of the beast is plunged into darkness.  The people are in so much agony that they bite their tongues (Revelation 16:10-11)
Six One river Military Preparation Some of the bowl judgments seem pretty bad but all that happens when sixth bowl judgment is poured out is that a river dries up.

That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it will lead to the greatest battle in history, the Battle of Armageddon.  It will take place in the Middle East, and it will be inspired by demons from Hell.

Seven On the air Lightning, thunder, a severe earthquake, islands disappearing, mountains falling, destruction of Babylon and hundred-pound hailstones falling from the sky (Revelation 16:17-21)

Four Shocking Truths

1) These terrible judgments will happen in the future

These bowls are literal.  They will all literally be fulfilled one day.  There are some who interpret all of this figuratively.  They say that it is all symbolic.  Many preachers say that Revelation 16 was all fulfilled in 70 AD.

Are they right? No. That makes absolute nonsense of the text.  When in 70 A.D. did all the rivers turn to blood?  When did the seas all turn to blood?  When did the Euphrates River dry up.

The truth is that Revelation is a symbolic book.  There are lots of symbols in this book.  Seven angels pour out bowls of wrath on the earth.  How can you have bowls of wrath?  How can judgment be placed in a bowl?  How can it be poured out like a liquid?

There are some symbols in this chapter but the judgments themselves are literal.  How do we know?  Many of these plagues resemble other plagues in the Bible that were clearly literal, the Plagues of Egypt.

If the plagues in Exodus were literal, and everyone agrees that they were, then, the plagues in Revelation must be literal as well.  If the historical plagues were literal, then these prophetic end-time plagues must be literal as well.  History is going to repeat itself.

There were Ten Plagues in Egypt in the Book of Exodus.  Some of the plagues in Revelation 16 are just like these plagues.  There is a bowl judgment of boils.  There was an Egyptian plague of boils.

It went on everyone in Egypt, including the magicians.  It broke out on every person and animal (Exodus 9:9).  In fact, the word for “sores” in Revelation 16 is the same Greek word (ἕλκος) used of the sores of the sixth plague of Egypt (Revelation 16:2; Exodus 9:6 LXX).

There was an Egyptian plague of darkness.  There was darkness over all Egypt for three days and it was total (Exodus 11:21-23).  The Fifth Bowl Judgment is darkness on the kingdom of the Antichrist.

One of the plagues of Egypt was the plague of blood.  Moses turned the Nile River into blood.  All of the fish died, the river stunk, and they could not drink any water (Exodus 7:14-23).  The second and third bowl judgments will be almost identical to this plague.

There was a plague of frogs in Exodus and there are frogs in Revelation 16. We see three of them there, the three frogs of Revelation.  These will be demonic frogs.  They will be demons.  They represent three powerful demons.

Three evil spirits come out of the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet (Revelation 16:13).

How would you like to have demons coming out of your mouth?  Talk about having a frog in your throat and the Jews regarded frogs as unclean animals (Leviticus 11:10).

God dried up the Red Sea.  In the Tribulation Period, He will dry up the Euphrates River.  The Euphrates Rivers is one of the most important rivers in the world.  It is one of Iraq’s two main rivers.  It is 1800 miles long.

I learned something this week.  Did you know that the river right now is drying up?  It is in the process of drying up.  It has been drying up for years because of low rainfall and other reasons.

Scientists believe that it will completely dry up, possibly by the year 2040 unless action is taken.[2] That is an example of reading the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other hand.

In Revelation 9:14-16, four demons bound at the River Euphrates were released.

In Revelation 16, the Euphrates River dries up and three demons bring all the nations to that location to fight a battle.  There will be end-time demonic activity during the Tribulation.

They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty (Revelation 16:14 NIV).

How will they convince everyone?  They will have the power to perform miracles.  Now, in the OT, we are told that God will gather the nations to battle for Armageddon.

A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. (Zechariah 14:1-3 NIV)

“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land… Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. (Joel 3:1-2, 12 NIV)

The OT says that God will draw the nations to this battle.  Revelation 16 says that demons will do it.  God is sovereign over evil.  He is sovereign over Satan.  He uses Satan for His own purposes.  Both statements are true.

2) These bowls will come from God Himself

These bowl judgments actually come from God.  Here is the shocking truth.  These terrible disasters do NOT come from Satan.  They come from God Himself.  He sends them.  How do we know?  These bowls are poured out by angels from heaven.

They are not poured out by demons but by seven righteous angels, who are clothed in pure, bright and shining clothes (Revelation 15:6).  There are seven angels with seven plagues (Revelation 15:1), not seven demons with seven plagues.

They come from the Temple.  The Temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God.  These bowls issue from God’s presence.

These angels walk out of the temple with a bowl, and they hear a loud voice FROM THE TEMPLE saying, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth” (Revelation 16:1 NIV).  They get a command from God to pour the bowls out.  It is the voice of the Shekinah Glory.

Many people think that good things come from God and terrible things must come from Satan but here are a bunch of bad things come from God.  These judgments come from God.  That raises this question: Does God cause sickness?

Some preachers say that only Satan does that.  They have not read their Bible.  Prosperity preachers will say that God does not cause sickness.  He does not cause disease, but God sent boils on the Egyptians.  He sent tumors on the Philistines and He sent the bowl judgments in Revelation 16.

THE HAND OF THE LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and HE terrified and afflicted them WITH TUMORS, both Ashdod and its territory. (I Samuel 5:6 ESV)

This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. (Zechariah 14:12 NIV)

There are also passages where He did this to believers.  Miriam opposed Moses publicly and God gave her leprosy (Numbers 12). She was a believer and so was King Uzziah.  In fact, he was called one of the good kings of Judah but at the end of his life he sinned and God gave him leprosy.

16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in.

18 They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him. (II Chronicles 26:16-20 NIV)

He wasn’t content with being king.  He wanted to be the high priest as well and God made Him sick.  God also warned the Jews of diseases for disobedience.

The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured… The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. (Deuteronomy 28:27, 35 NIV)

In Revelation 16, God sends the bowl judgments.  The first judgment affects people’s health, but it only comes on the worshippers of the Antichrist.  Believers are not affected.  They are excluded.

We care about our health.  We do all kinds of things to stay healthy but there will be absolutely nothing you can do if you get these ugly sores in the Tribulation Period.   Doctors will not be able to help.  Medicine will not work.  Shots will not work, because it is not natural but supernatural.

These will not be just natural pandemics.  They will be supernatural pandemics.  People will have sores that will not heal and there is nothing they can do.  Doctors can cure it because it is not natural but supernatural.

3) The bowls will be judgment on sin

The Fourth Bowl results in global warming but it has nothing to do with fossil fuels or greenhouse gases.  It has to do with the judgment of God on sin.

These are not just bowls.  These are called bowls OF WRATH.  They are “the seven bowls of God’s wrath” (Revelation 16:1 NIV).  Each one of these bowls is a judgment on sin.

They are targeted judgments.  They are not random plagues.  They are targeted plagues. They resemble the plagues of Egypt which came on the Egyptians, not the Israelites.

The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. (Revelation 16:2 NIV)

The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. (Revelation 16:10 NIV)

These are not judgments on believers but are judgments on unbelievers.  They are judgments on those who take the Mark of the Beast.  They come on the kingdom of the Antichrist.

The Euphrates River will dry up to draw unbelievers to Israel to wipe them off the map.  All of these anti-Semitic nations will come to fight Israel, but it will be a death trap.

4) The bowls will be perfectly fair judgments

Parents overreact.  They get angry sometimes and over punish their kids.  God’s punishments are always fair.  God is not just going to judge the world.  He is going to judge the world IN RIGHTEOUNESS (Psalm 96:13; Acts 17:31).  We see that in this chapter.

Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are JUST in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; 6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink AS THEY DESERVE.” (Revelation 16:5-6).

This angel says they got what they deserved.  People shed blood.  They killed the righteous and now are given blood to drink.  Pharaoh drowned the baby Hebrew boys in the sea and his troops drown in the Red Sea.

Even Abraham recognized this truth.  He said, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 NIV)

The Bible says that God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11).  He does not show partiality.  He does not treat the rich differently from the way He treats the poor.  He does not treat one race any differently than He treats another race.

Applications for Today

What are the applications of these two chapters for us today?  How does it apply to us.  There are three applications.

1) If you rebel against God, expect consequences

Judgment is coming to planet earth.  Many think they can sin with no consequences.  Society thinks that.

See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer. (Isaiah 26:21 NIV)

I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. (Isaiah 13:11 NIV).

2) If you are judged by God for sin, repent

If you are judged by God for your sins, what should the proper response be?  Repentance but that is not what the wicked do.

When Moses told Pharaoh that God ordered him to let the Hebrews go, he said, “no.”  He responded arrogantly.  And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. (Exodus 5:2 NKJV).

When God sent plagues on the land, he did not repent.  He just hardened his heart.  People do that today.  Instead of repenting, they just harden their hearts.  Are our hearts hard or soft?  The Bible says, “Don’t harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:8)

The same thing happens when the bowl judgments fall.  These terrible judgments fall on the land and on people’s bodies.  The wicked know where they are coming from.

They know who is sending the plagues, but they do not repent.  It just makes them mad.  It makes them mad at God.  That happens three times in the chapter.

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. (Revelation 16:9-10 NIV)

10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. (Revelation 16:10-11 NIV)

Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they CURSED GOD on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. (Revelation 16:20-21 NIV)

That raises a very interesting question.  Will people repent in hell?  Can people repent and get out of Hell?  That does not seem fair.  The truth is that there is no evidence that anyone repents.

People will experience God’s wrath in the bowl judgments and none of them repent.  They refuse to repent.  They will experience His wrath in the trumpet judgments and will not repent (Revelation 9:20-21).

Everyone would repent to avoid punishment.  They would repent to get out of hell.  People make apologies all of the time to avoid consequences, not because they are really sorry.  Hell would be empty if people did that but that is not the same thing as repenting of your sin.

Everyone in Hell will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.  Every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord but that is not the same thing are repenting.  The demons acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.

People do not stop sinning in Hell.  They will continue to curse God and blaspheme God, like people do when the wrath of God falls on them in Revelation 16.

3) When God judges on a wicked world, we should praise Him

That is what the saints and angels do in this section.  They praise God for what He does.

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. JUST and TRUE are your ways, King of the nations. 4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are HOLY. All nations will come and worship before you, for your RIGHTEOUS ACTS have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:21-4 NIV)

Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are JUST in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were…7 And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, TRUE and JUST are your judgments” (Revelation 16:6-7).

4) We all need to get ready for the return of Christ

This brings us to one of the strangest verses in Revelation.  It is Revelation 16:15. It is one of the seven beatitudes in the book (Revelation 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14).

“Look, I come like a thief! BLESSED is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” (NIV)

This is strange.  It says, “Stay awake and make sure that you are not naked when Jesus returns.  Make sure you have your clothes on when Jesus returns.”

Jesus compares Himself to a thief.  That is strange for Him to compare himself to a criminal.  Jesus is not a thief.  He is not a robber but all through the NT we are told that Jesus will come like a thief in the night.

Peter said it (II Peter 3:10).  Paul said it (I Thessalonians 5:2).  Jesus said it (Matthew 24:43; Revelation 16:15). What does it mean?

Jesus will return like a thief in the night. Thieves do not announce when they will come. People are always surprised when someone breaks into their house.

Jesus’ coming will be a big surprise as well.  He will appear unexpectedly when He returns.  Would you be ready for Him if He came today?

Many think that only unbelievers have to worry about Jesus coming as a thief in the night.  He only comes as a thief in the night to them.  Is that true?

The interesting thing is that Jesus told the same thing to a church.  He told it to the church of Sardis.  But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Revelation 3:3 NIV)

[1] https://wmo.asu.edu/content/world-heaviest-hailstone

[2] https://www.iflscience.com/euphrates-river-is-drying-up-and-crisis-looms-just-as-the-bible-warned-67934 is recent and from a non-Christian source.  Even they acknowledge that the Euphrates is drying up.

Grapes of Wrath

Today, we come to a section of Scripture that probably is not anyone’s favorite Bible verse.  It is not a warm and fuzzy chapter.  It is a disturbing passage.

It is graphic.  It is gruesome.  It is gory.  It is violent.  It is bloody.  It describes a winepress of God’s wrath.  It describes a river of blood that is two hundred miles long.

It is one of the most vivid pictures of judgment in the entire Bible.  The concept has made it into pop culture.  It has made its way into movies, literature and music.

There are plenty of horror movies about the Grim Reaper.  John Steinbeck wrote a novel called Grapes of Wrath based on this chapter.  The Battle Hymn of the Republic (1862) talks about God “trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.”

Today we are going to read some obscure passages in the OT.  We want to look at this passage and see what it is talking about.  We also want to see what it says to us today.  What are the takeaways from this section for us today?

Overview

Revelation 14:14-20 describes two reapers and two harvests.  There are two reapers with sharp sickles.  Who are the two reapers?  Jesus and an angel.  Before the reaping begins, an angel from heaven says it is time to begin reaping.

What are the two harvests in this section?  There is a GRAIN harvest and a GRAPE harvest.  There is a gathering of grain and a gathering of grapes.

What do they represent?  The second harvest is called a winepress of God’s wrath with blood everywhere.  It is clearly a judgment harvest.  There is no question about that.

The big question is, what does the grain harvest represent?  Some believe that it is a harvest of salvation, not a harvest of judgment.  There are two harvests.  One is a good harvest, and one is a bad harvest.  There are some verses that talk about a salvation harvest.

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35 NIV)

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12 NIV)

That is a different picture.  Revelation is not dealing with wheat and chaff.  It is dealing with wheat and grapes.  If you want to know what it is talking about in the Book of Revelation, you have to go back to the OT.

OT Background

If you do not understand the OT, if you do not understand Joel and Isaiah, you will not understand Revelation 14.  It is easy to prove from the Book of Joel that both of the harvests in Revelation 14 are judgment scenes.

There are two harvest judgments.  God’s judgment on the wicked is pictured as a harvest.  There are two harvest judgments.  How do we know?  We can prove this from Joel 3.

“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. 3 They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine to drink.

Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”

11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, Lord!

12 “Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to JUDGE all the nations on every side. 13 SWING THE SICKLE, for the HARVEST is ripe. Come, TRAMPLE THE GRAPES, for the WINEPRESS is full and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!” (Joel 3:1-3, 9-13 NIV)

Cut them down like grain. The harvest is ripe.  Stomp on them as you would stomp on grapes. The winepress is full. The vats overflow. The nations are very wicked. (Joel 3:13 GWT)

What are the similarities between the two passages?  Both mention the harvest being ripe. Both mention the grain harvest and grape harvest.  Both deal with the Battle of Armageddon.

Both mention the sickle being swung and the grapes being trampled.  Both mention a winepress.  Both are clearly judgment scenes.  Joel 3 is a judgment scene and even tells why the nations are judged.

The main reason they are judged is because of how they treated the nation of Israel.  Nations will be judged based on their foreign policy.  Anti-Semitic nations will be judged for how they treat Israel.

The nations scattered the Jews and dividing up the land (Joel 3:2). The world tries to divide up the Promise Land and say that Palestinians get part, and the Jews get part.

It is called the two-state solution. All politicians advocate some form of it.  It is dividing the land up for peace and security.  God calls it sin.  It is an abomination to divide up the Holy Land.

It brings His judgment.  Why?  God made a special covenant with the Jews.  He gave them the land.  He says that it is their land.  There are other sins mentioned as well, like sex trafficking (Joel 3:3).  Apparently, God takes that very seriously.

If you read the whole chapter, you will have some idea what is going on in Revelation 14.   Joel 3 describes the Jews return to their land (cf. Joel 3:1).

It also describes an end time invasion of Israel by Gentile armies from all over the world.  They pour into Israel from all sides (Joel 3:11-12).  They are crammed into a huge valley to attack and wipe them off the map.

This is not going to involve some nations or a lot of nations but all nations (Joel 3:2).  They gather against God and His people, and they are armed.

They will surround Israel in a final climactic battle.  They will want to destroy Israel, but they are the ones who get destroyed instead.  God actually draws them there to judge them (Joel 3:2).

When they get to the battlefield, they do not face another human army.  They will face God Himself.  Jesus returns to earth.  He wipes them out instantly.  He is a one-man army.

There are other armies there (armies from heaven), but Jesus does all the fighting.  In fact, Jesus does not have to do much fighting.  Paul says they will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming.

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. (II Thessalonians 2:8 NIV)

The Grain Harvest

First, there is the grain harvest. “The imagery of rebellious humanity being summarily cut down like stalks of grain at the edge of a sickle.”[1]  In Revelation 14, Jesus holds a sickle and swings it.

It is a sharp sickle (Revelation 14:14 NIV).  A sickle is used for cutting.  Here, it is not an instrument of farming or agriculture, but an instrument of judgment. Both grain and grapes are cut by sickles.  Jesus is using it on grain.

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. (Revelation 14:14 NIV).

Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. (Revelation 14:15-16 NIV)

When he was on earth, he was the suffering servant.  He was arrested, beaten and crucified.  In Revelation 14, He is wearing a golden crown on his head and he is sitting on a cloud.  He is swinging a sickle and judging the world.

The Grape Harvest

The second harvest involves a winepress.  The way wine was made in John’s day was to put grapes in a vat and people would step on them and crush the grapes.  That is not how we make wine today.  That does not seem too sanitary but it was the old way to make wine

17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. (Revelation 14:17-19 NIV)

It is a terrifying scene.  It is not really a battle.  It is a massacre.  It is a bloodbath.  There’s no battle; just an execution.  Jesus comes back.  The nations gather to fight and are armed and everyone drops dead.  A sword comes out of His mouth, and everyone is wiped out.

Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (Revelation 19:15 NIV).

When Jesus returns to earth, people are going to die, a lot of them.  There’s going to be dead bodies and blood everywhere.  When Jesus comes back, there will be a bloodbath and it will happen in a moment.

It is called the Battle of Armageddon, but it will not really be a battle.  It will be a massacre and it will result in a river of blood.  In fact, it will be so bloody that Jesus will have blood on Him and will not be His blood.  We see that in the Book of Isaiah.

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.” 2 Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?

3 “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. 4 It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come.

5 I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. 6 I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.” (Isaiah 63:1-6 NIV)

Isaiah sees the image of a conquering warrior who has just returned from battle.  He returns victorious.  He proclaims victory (Isaiah 63:2) but he is drenched in blood.  They are stained crimson (Isaiah 63:1).

Isaiah asks two questions:  Who is this person coming from Edom and why are his garments red?  It is Jesus.  He just trampled the nations in His anger.

This chapter is another winepress scene, and it is also bloody.  There is blood everywhere, even on Jesus’ clothes.  He is described as the blood-stained man.  That sounds like someone who committed a crime, but it is not a crime but an execution.

On the cross, Jesus shed His blood for His enemies.  At the Second Coming, blood will be shed again but it will be the blood of His enemies who rejected Him.  He will be covered in their blood.

Three Takeaways

1) God gets angry

Some preachers say that God never gets angry.  He is all love and mercy.  God is not mad at you. Joyce Meyer wrote a book with that title.  God doesn’t get mad.

In this section we see a winepress of God’s wrath.  God is slow to anger but He gets angry.  God’s wrath is His anger over sin.  We get angry for many reasons.  Sometimes our anger is sinful.  God gets angry because His is a holy God.

See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. (Isaiah 13:9 NIV)

Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. (Nahum 1:6 NIV)

Many have a completely false view of God.  Many in the church have a false view of Jesus.  Many preachers today do not talk about God having wrath.  They do not talk about judgment.

They never preach on Hell.  It has gone out of style.  It is unpopular.  It is not positive and uplifting.  That is not good news.  There are very few hell, fire and brimstone preachers today.

Many think that a God of love would never punish people. He would never take vengeance on people.  What does the Bible teach?

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. (Nahum 1:1-3 NIV)

O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! (Psalm 94:1 ESV)

I will take vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations that have not obeyed me. (Micah 5:15 NIV)

God is a God of salvation and a God of judgment.  He is a God of love and a God of vengeance.  He is mighty to save (Isaiah 63:1) and mighty to judge.  In Revelation 14 we see His judgment.  We see the great winepress of God’s wrath.  We see God in His wrath, not God in His love.

2) Judgment is coming

One day, Jesus will judge the world.  We see that from the two harvest judgments.  They do not describe hell but judgment on earth, because it mentions blood outside the city.[2]

Jesus is not only Savior but the Judge.  He is the one who is going to judge the world.  Judgment is coming.  The Jesus has a sharp sickle in His hand.  The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son (John 5:22 NIV).

God commands people to repent “because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31 ESV).

Judgment is not just coming to INDIVIDUALS; it is coming to THE WORLD.  Amos 4:12 says, “prepare to meet your God.”  Most people that meet him will not be prepared.  We will see that next week.

You say, “If it is coming, why hasn’t it happened yet?”  God waits until the fruit is ripe for judgment.   God promised Abraham the Promised Land but said that He can’t give it to Him now “because the iniquity of the Amorites is not full” (Genesis 15:16).

The Amorites were Canaanites.  They were wicked but not ripe for judgment yet.  The Jews had to wait several generations to get the Promised Land.  God waits until the grapes are ripe and bursting with juice.

He waits until people are extremely wicked and ready for judgment.   It makes you wonder when America will be ripe for judgment.  We saw in Joel that that judgment came when the winepress was not only full, but the vats were overflowing (Joel 3:13).

Judgment is coming and it is coming to everyone.  No one will escape it.  You say, “We will.  We are believers.  We are not going to be judged.”  We will escape condemnation.

Paul said, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NIV).  We will escape condemnation, but we will not escape judgment.  Judgment is also coming to CHRISTIANS.

Paul also said, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (II Corinthians 5:10 NIV)

Not only are we going to appear before this judgment seat but ALL of us are going to appear before it.  You will appear before it.  I will appear before it.  Paul said that he would appear before it.

We will all face some type of judgment.  There is a difference between judgment of the wicked and judgment of believers, but we will all be judged by God.

3) Judgment is terrifying

The Bible says that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 ESV).  Many have no fear of falling into God’s hands.  If God is love, why is it a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God?  God is not only a God of love but of wrath.

We see very clearly in the Book of Revelation that divine judgment is terrifying.  We saw it in the Sixth Seal Judgment.  It is so terrifying that people want to kill themselves.  They want the rocks and mountains to fall on them but there’s nowhere to run.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:15-17 NIV)

Revelation 14 describes a winepress.  It will be a divine winepress.  This will be a winepress of God’s wrath and people are put into this winepress.  It will not have grapes in it.  It will have people in it.  You do not want to be placed into this winepress.

There is no mercy or grace in this winepress.  It is a picture of “unmitigated judgment.”[3]  Sinners are being trampled and not a single person will escape the wrath of God.  “The clusters of grapes were trampled and trampled until every single grape was crushed. So shall the wrath of God be.”[4]

This winepress will not produce wine, like ordinary winepresses do.  This winepress will produce blood.  This winepress of divine wrath produces a river of blood that is one hundred eighty miles long.  This river is also four to five feet deep.  It is up to the horse’s bridle.

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle. (Revelation 14:19-20 NLT)

This is NOT literal, but it is a picture of the terror of divine judgment.  How do we know that this is not literal?  It is in an apocalyptic book.  There are lots of symbols in Revelation.  There are lots of symbols of judgment in this chapter.

Judgment of the world is not going to be a literal grain harvest.  It is not going to be a grape harvest.  They will not be trampled to death.  The wicked are not going to be squashed in a literal winepress, like grapes.

Jesus will not swing a sickle at people’s heads.  That sounds like a horror movie.  There will not be a literal river of blood five feet deep, but the Battle of Armageddon will be a massacre.  There will be a lot of dead bodies everywhere.

We know that this is symbolic because the same figure was used in other apocalyptic books in the first century and afterwards.  We also see it in the first-century, Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote about the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD.

And the horse shall walk up to the breast in the blood of sinners, And the chariot shall be submerged to its height (I Enoch 100:3 Charles).[5]

They shall clash against one another and shall pour out a heavy tempest on the earth, and their own tempest; and there shall be blood from the sword as high as a horse’s belly 36 and a man’s thigh and a camel’s hock. 37 And there shall be fear and great trembling on the earth; those who see that wrath shall be horror-stricken, and they shall be seized with trembling (II Esdras 15:35-37 NRS).[6]

Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did nowhere appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them  (Josephus, Jewish War, VI.5.1).[7]

Nor was there any place in the city that had no dead bodies in it, but what was entirely covered with those that were killed either by the famine or the rebellion; and all was full of the dead bodies of such as had perished, either by that sedition or by that famine. (Josephus, Jewish War, VI.7.2).[8]

The whole city (was) run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these men’s blood. (Josephus, Jewish War, VI.7.5).[9]

[1]Fanning, Revelation [Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament], 399)

[2] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Revelation, 92-93.

[3] F. F Bruce, ed, New International Bible Commentary, 1618.

[4] The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible, III, 1222.

[5] https://www.billkochman.com/Articles-Non-BBB/enoch-08.html

[6] https://www.biblestudytools.com/nrsa/2-esdras/15.html

[7] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm#link62HCH0004

[8] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm#link62HCH0004

[9] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm#link62HCH0004

Six Spiritual Realities

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

We are studying the Book of Revelation.  Today, we are going to look at only two new verses in the book.  We want to look at this section practically.  The goal is to not only learn what Revelation teaches but apply it to our own lives.

We want to look at Revelation 14 practically, not just prophetically.  That is the goal of the book. Let’s begin with a little review.

Last week, we looked at the ministry of three angels.  These angels will have a special ministry in the Tribulation Period.  They will be preaching angels.

Each one will preach a different message.  One had a message of salvation.  One had a message of judgment, and one had a sober warning about the afterlife.

What is the message to us who don’t necessarily live in the Great Tribulation Period.  Practically, these verses in Revelation 14 say six things to us today.

The Reality of Angels

The first reality found in this chapter is the reality of angels.  Many do not believe in angels but angels are real.  We can’t see them unless they appear to us.  Most of us will never see one but they exist.

They serve God in heaven and sometimes He sends them to earth on a mission.  During the Tribulation, they will have a new mission.  They will do something that they are not doing now.  They will preach the gospel, the eternal gospel, to every nation on the planet.

The Reality of Sin

This is our greatest problem.  Man’s greatest problem is sin.  It is not just man’s greatest problem; it is society’s greatest problem, and it will only get worse in the Tribulation Period.

Man’s greatest problem is not education. If we just educate everyone, that will solve everyone’s problems.  It won’t, as important as education is.

Man’s greatest problem is not the environment.  It is not climate change.  Man’s greatest problem is not crime.  It is not even violent crime. It is not sex crime.  It is not terrorism.

Man’s greatest problem is not racism.  It is not poverty.  Solving the problem of income inequality will not change human nature. It will not solve all of society’s problems.

Man’s greatest problem is not sickness, disease and worldwide pandemics.  All of these things are problems.  Some of them are big problems but they are not man’s greatest problem.

Man’s greatest problem is sin.  Our greatest problem is not on the outside, it is on the inside.  Internal rot is the cause.  The problem is our heart.  We were all born with a bad heart.

Jeremiah said that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV).  We all have heart disease.  We all need a new heart.  We need a spiritual heart transplant.

We like to focus on symptoms.  If some lunatic creates a mass shooting, we blame guns or we blame mental illness or his upbringing.

The problem is not guns.  Banning guns is not the solution.  The problem is not even crime or disease.  It is not mental illness.  The problem is SIN which causes the crime.  That is exactly what Jesus said.

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them. (Matthew 15:17-19 NIV)

The Reality of Judgment

Hell is our greatest fear.  We have all kinds of fears, some are real, and some are imagined.  Some have a fear of insects, little bugs.  Some fear public speaking.

Some have a fear of heights.  Some have a terrible fear of being a victim of a violent crime. The greatest fear is not what people can do to us.  It is what God can do to us.  Should we ever be afraid of God?  Is it wrong to fear God?

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28 NIV)

Jesus says that we should fear God.  The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).  It is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13).  You don’t hear this preached too much in church.  Our problem today is that we have lost the fear of God in the world.

We have also lost the fear of God in the church.  Christians don’t seem to have any fear of deliberately disobeying what God’s Word says.  They will even say, “I know the Bible says one thing, but I am going to do something else.”

Revelation 14 is one of the most terrifying pictures in the Bible.  The scariest thing in Revelation is not the big red baby-eating dragon with seven heads.  The dragon that tried to eat baby Jesus just after He was born.

It is NOT the Beast demands to be worshiped, wages war on the saints and overcomes them.  The scariest thing is NOT martyrdom.  It is not being tortured for your faith.  It is not being fed to lions.

The scariest thing is to die in your sins, stand before a holy God and to be sent to Hell forever and ever.  Every time in Revelation we see the words “forever and ever,” they mean forever and ever.

Jesus was dead but now he is alive forever and ever, never to die again (Revelation 1:18).  The one who sits on the throne in heaven is said to live forever and ever (Revelation 4:9-10).

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15 NKJV).

The wicked will be sent to Hell where they are not extinguished and annihilated.  They are tormented.  They are tormented forever and ever.  Just as Jesus will live and reign forever; they will be tormented forever.

It is a horrible thought.  There is perhaps no greater description of Hell in the Bible.  No one would want to go to this place.

The Reality of Salvation

Salvation is our greatest gift.  The greatest gift ever given is not something wrapped up under a tree or something that we received on our birthday.  The greatest gift is the gospel.

It is good news.  It is called the “eternal gospel” in Revelation 14.  It will be preached by an angel in the Tribulation to every country.  It is not being preached by angels today.

The gospel is the greatest gift ever given.  It is the gift of salvation.  It is the gift of eternal life.  It is the gift of forgiveness of sins. It is a gift that affect where we will spend eternity.  Paul called salvation “the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8)

It is an expensive gift.  It is more valuable than gold and silver.  Jesus had to come to earth and become a man for you to receive this gift.  He had to die for you to receive this gift.  He had to die a violent, painful death for you to have that gift.

The Apostle Peter said that we were not redeemed with perishable things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ (I Peter 1:18-19)

It is a powerful gift.  The gospel is “the POWER OF GOD unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).  It brings brings life to spiritually dead people.  It can save anyone, not matter how bad.  This gospel changes people’s lives.  People chained by sins and addictions are set free by the gospel.

It is a free gift.  You can’t buy it in a store to earn it.  It is absolutely free.  All you have to do is to receive it.  You have to accept the gift of God.  Some accept it and some reject it.

The Bible says, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (II Corinthians 9:15 CSB) and it should lead to worship.  We need to give God glory and worship Him every day of our lives.  We should praise his name.

The Reality of Commands

Now, we come to a topic that many do not like.  God’s people have some commands to keep.  They had commands to keep in the OT and commands to keep in the NT.  Revelation 14 gives us our greatest obligation.

There are actually three of them.  There are three characteristics of a Christian here.  There are three signs of salvation.  This is important for us to see.  Many in the church miss this today.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (Revelation 14:12 ESV)

What are the three signs of a Christian?  The three signs are faith, obedience and perseverance.

In the modern church today, we often focus on the first sign.  The first sign is FAITH.  If we are Christians, we are believers.  We believe and are saved.  That is absolutely true.

The problem is that this verse Revelation 14 does not stop with faith.  The Bible does not just stop with faith.  There are many other things God requires of believers.  James says that faith without works is dead.

The second sign is OBEDIENCE.  This is very important to get.  The saints in Revelation 14:12 are defined, not only as those who believe some things, but also those “who KEEP the commandments of God.”  That tells us several things.

1) We have some commandments

I have heard some Christians say that we do not have any commandments to follow.  That is ridiculous.  Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

In the church today, we do not hear much about commandments for Christians.  Instead, we hear a lot about commandments for Jews in the OT but there are commandments for Christians as well.  “There are 1,050 commands in the New Testament for Christians to obey.”[1]

2) True believers keep them

Here in Revelation, 14:12, the saints are defined, not only as those who believe, but as “those who keep the commandments of God” (ESV).

We see it also in Revelation 12.  The children of the symbolic woman in that chapter represent believers.  How are they described?  They are called “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (Revelation 12:17 ESV)

Why is this important today?  There are many who teach that you can be a Christian and not keep God’s commandments.  That is the view of the modern church.

There are some who teach that you can live any way you want as long as you believe in Jesus.  You can blaspheme God.  You can even commit murder.  The only important thing is that you believe.

That is not only ridiculous; it is demonic.  Based on Revelation 14:12, if you don’t keep the commandments of God, you are not a saint.  You are not saved.  One of the signs that you are saved is that you keep God’s commandments.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (I John 2:3-4 NKJV)

Now this doesn’t mean that salvation is by works.  Obedience to God is NOT a condition of salvation. Salvation is not by works but works are evidence of salvation.

One of the characteristics of the sheep is that they follow Jesus.  Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27 NKJV).  If you don’t like the idea of having to keep commandments I John 5:3 reminds us that “His commandments are not burdensome” (NKJV)

The third sign is PERSEVERANCE.  It is not enough to believe in Jesus.  It is not enough to keep His commandments.  We must also persevere in the faith.  In this chapter, there is a call for the endurance or perseverance of the saints (Revelation 14:12).

Many make a profession of faith but don’t persevere.  They go to church.  They make a profession of faith.   They get baptized.  They join a small group but five years later don’t even believe in God.

This is a huge problem today.  How many young people grow up in church, go to youth group, go to college and throw away their faith.  They lose their faith in college.  The biblical term for this is apostasy.

Some worship leaders have given up their faith and so have some pastors.  A lead vocalist and lead guitarist for Christian band Hawk Nelson did not persevere.  His name is Jonathan Steingard.  He sang songs about Jesus but in 2020, he announced on Instagram that he no longer believes in God,

A song writer for Hillsong Worship and United, Delirious, and Young & Free did not persevere.  His name is Marty Sampson.  He wrote songs about Jesus for years.

In 2019, Sampson said, “Time for some real talk … I’m genuinely losing my faith … and it doesn’t bother me.” He also said that Christianity is just another religion.

A famous Christian author did not persevere.  His name was Joshua HarrisHe wrote the bestseller I Kissed Dating Goodbye (1997).  About twenty years later, everything changed for Harris.

In 2019, he divorced his wife and disowned Jesus and announced, “I am not a Christian.”  The same man who kissed dating goodbye, also kissed marriage goodbye, kissed Christianity goodbye and kissed Jesus goodbye.

This happens all of the time.  There is an evangelist who preached with Billy Graham in the 1940s and 1950s who helped found Youth for Christ International.

His name was Charles Templeton.  He became an agnostic and then an atheist.  When he was 80, he wrote a book called Farewell to God (1999).  Two years later, he died and jumped into eternity.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, IF you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (I Corinthians 15:1-2 NIV)

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 IF indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Colossians 1:21-23 NIV)

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, IF indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end (Hebrews 3:12-14 NIV)

The one who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13 ESV)

Perseverance is essential to salvation.  If you endure to the end, you will be saved.  If you don’t endure to the end, you won’t be saved.  True believers endure.  Let me show you how that will work in the Tribulation Period.

During the Tribulation Period, people will be tempted to take the Mark of the Beast.  It will be required and yet if you take it, we are told in Revelation 14 that you can’t be saved.

What would happen if a professing Christian takes the Mark of the Beast?  Will he lose his salvation?  No.  The Bible says that those who take the mark do not have their names in the Book of Life.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8 NIV)

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8 NIV)

The Reality of Heaven

13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

This verse gives us an unusual blessing.  It is the second blessing in the Book of Revelation.  The first one was blessed are those who read the Book of Revelation and apply it to their lives (Revelation 1:3).  The second is blessed are the dead (Revelation 14:13).

That seems strange.  Death is a curse.  Death came into the world as a result of the fall.  It came into the world as a result of sin.  How could death be a blessing?

Many of the beatitudes in the Bible seem backwards.  Blessed are the poor (Luke 6:20).  Blessed are the hungry (Luke 6:21).  Blessed are the dead (Revelation 14:13).  Blessed are the persecuted (Matthew 5:10).

That seems strange.  Poverty is not a blessing.  Persecution is not a blessing.  Hunger is not a blessing.  Death is not a blessing, but they are all called blessed.

It is NOT a blessing for everyone.  The worshippers who die are not blessed.  They are tormented day and night.

It ONLY a blessing for those who die in the Lord.  There are only two ways to die.  You can die in your sins or you can die in the Lord.  Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24 KJV).  Revelation 14:13 says, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” (KJV)

The Blessing of Death

There is a special blessing to every Christian who dies, whether you die for your faith or die of natural causes.  How can death be a blessing for believers?  Let’s think of the many reasons why death can be a blessing for believers.

1) There is life after death

Death is not the end.  We have something to look forward to.  We have hope.  That is something that non-Christians do not have.

2) There will be reunions

You will get to meet family member who died before you who knew the Lord.  That is something I look forward to.  Women who lost babies in childbirth will see those babies in heaven for the first time.

3) You will get to see Jesus

The best blessing you could possibly have to see Jesus face-to-face.  I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (II Corinthians 5:8 NIV)

4) You will be in heaven

You will live in a perfect world and no longer will have a sin nature.  Who would not want to die and leave this wicked fallen world and go to a sinless world.

5) You will be rewarded

We are promised REWARDS and we are promised REST.  There will be no rest day or night for the worshippers of the Beast after they die but those who follow the Lamb will rest after death.

There is a different between gifts and rewards.  Gifts are unearned.  Rewards are earned.  In heaven, we will received rewards for what we have done on earth.

Our works will follow us.  God sees everything you do for Him and your labor for the Lord is not in vain.  Everything you did for him will be rewarded, no matter how small.

We all want to hear these words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:21 NIV).

What did the Apostle say at the end of his life just before his death?

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (II Timothy 4:8 KJV)

[1] https://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201407/r1308729_17984331.pdf

The Three Angels

In Revelation 14, John sees several incredible visions.  He saw a vision of the 144,00 standing on Mount Zion in victory.  They are standing with Jesus, and they are worshiping.  They are in a heavenly choir, and they are singing.

Today, we come to a second vision.  The first was a vision of the 144,000.  The second was a vision of three angels.  Each one of these angels had a message to proclaim to people on earth.  Each message was different.  We are going to learn something about the ministry of angels.

You might be shocked to learn some of the things that angels do today.  When most of us think of angels, we think of guardian angels.  The job of angels is to guard and protect us. That is one of their jobs.

In Revelation 14, they do two other things.  They preach and they are involved in judgment.  We are going to see preaching angels and judging angels in this chapter.

Angels do something in this chapter that angels do not do anywhere else in the Bible.  They preach the gospel. God gave us the job to preach the gospel to people.  He gave us the Great Commission.

That was not given to angels but to people but, near the end of the Tribulation Period, He will use some angels to preach the gospel and they will probably do a better job than people do.

Some would say that this is what has happened for the last two thousand years.  The gospel has gone out all over the world.  That is true but it has not gone out by an angel flying in the sky preaching.  They will not only preach the gospel; they will do it from the sky.

This is the only time in the Book of Revelation that the word “gospel” (εὐαγγέλιον) is used.  It seems strange to us that angels would do any preaching, but this is not the first time that God used angels to preach.

Angels were the first to announce the birth of Jesus.  In Luke 2, a group of shepherds were the first people to get the message that Jesus was born, and they got that message, not from people, but from angels.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. (Luke 2:8-11 NIV).

Angels were the first to preach the resurrection of Jesus.  When the women went to the tomb on Easter Sunday, they encountered an angel at the tomb.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” (Matthew 28:5-7 NIV)

The men got the message of the resurrection from the women, but the women learned about it directly from angels, because they were the first ones to get to the tomb.

Tribulation Grace

Revelation 14 shows us grace in the Tribulation Period.  The Tribulation will be the darkest time on earth.

There will be demon possessed politicians and false worship.  People will be worshiping the Antichrist.  There will be false miracles.  Believers will be killed.

It will be like the time before the Flood.  The Bible says that there was violence in the earth.  People were demon-possessed, and the Bible says that people were only evil continually.  While the world was completely wicked, God sent one righteous man to that dark pace (Noah).

The Tribulation will be bad, but God will still show up. God does the same thing to us.  He shows up in our darkest hour when we are in a pit and there is no one else to help.  God will do three things to reach out to people in the Tribulation Period.

First, He will send the 144,000 on earth.  God’s servants minister in the Tribulation.

Second, He will send two prophets in Jerusalem to preach to people and perform incredible miracles.

Third, He will send an angel to preach the gospel.  In Revelation 14, humanity is given one final warning.  God gives everyone one final warning before Jesus returns.  Everyone gets one last chance to believe.

There will be all kinds of deception in the Tribulation.  There will be false miracles and lying signs.  If people do not get saved during that time, it will be their own fault.  They will hear the message from an angel.

God is not just going to send one angel; He is going to send three angels.  Each will have a different message to proclaim but they are related.  Let’s look at these three angelic messages.

The First Angel – Message of Salvation

What was the message of the first angel?  The message of the first angel in the Tribulation will be for people to repent, get saved and worship God.  There are four things to notice about the message of the first angel.  Several things stand out.

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:6-7 NIV)

1) This angel will preach the eternal gospel

It is not just good news.  That is what “gospel” means.  It is ETERNAL good news.  We live in a world where we hear all kinds of bad news all of the time.  You can’t watch the news and not hear bad news every day.

This is not only good news; it is eternal good news.  It is a message not just of life but of ETERNAL LIFE.  It is not just life we get after we die.  We can have eternal life now (John 5:24).

This angel will preach the eternal gospel.  There are all kinds of gospels being preached today.  The Mormons have their gospel.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses have their gospel.  We are to preach the eternal gospel, the same gospel that has been preached through history.

Some of the old dispensationalists taught that this gospel was different from the gospel of grace.  It is a gospel of judgment, which does not sound like much of a gospel.

Judgment is bad news, not good news but this was the view of C.I. Scofield and John Walvoord.[1]  Charles Ryrie corrects this old dispensationalist view in his Ryrie Study Bible.

The problem with the old dispensationalist view is that this is not called “The Tribulation Gospel” or “The Seven Year Gospel.”  It is called “The Eternal Gospel” (εὐαγγέλιον αἰώνιον).

2) He will preach it to everyone on earth

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people (Revelation 14:6 NIV)

This will be a global message to every country and every race.  It will be preached in Russian, Chinese and Hindi.  It will be preached in every language and dialect.  This angel must be multilingual. He will preach the gospel and he will do it in a loud voice.  He won’t be whispering.

This will help us to understand what Jesus meant in Matthew 24.  He said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14 NIV)

Jesus will not come back until this message is proclaimed to every nation.  We work hard to get that accomplished and we should.  I have always wondered when that prophecy will be fulfilled.

Has everyone all over the globe heard the gospel?  No.  Jesus said that He can’t come back until it is fulfilled.  This prophecy may not be completely fulfilled by people.  Angels may help fulfill it in the Tribulation Period.  It may be fulfilled by one angel in Revelation 14.

There is no evidence that a great revival will take place after this message goes forth.  It does not mention a lot of conversions taking place.  The angel may get the same reaction that Noah did in his day.

3) This message will be about Jesus

The eternal gospel deals with Jesus.  It deals with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  Is all through the NT.  We do not see this in this chapter.  The 144,000 were redeemed from the earth (Revelation 14:3, 4).  This is how people get redeemed.

They are redeemed by the death of Christ.  They get redeemed by the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:6).  Jesus was not only slain; He was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8)

Jesus is worthy because he was slain and with his blood “purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9 NIV)

The angels do not mention Jesus specifically.  There is no mention here of any invitation but keep in mind that this is just a summary. It is not everything that the angel will say.

4) This message will require a response

He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:7 NIV)

The gospel always requires a response from people.  The response is to accept the message, bow down and worship the Creator, the One who made the heavens and the earth.  Paul preached the same message.

Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. (Acts 14:14 NIV)

This angel does not just preach the gospel; he applies it.  He tells people to not only accept the gospel but to worship God.  Give Him glory.

If you notice, the angel mentions creation.  They preached the gospel of creationism.  God created the world and one day we will all stand before that Creator.

Most scientists today believe in evolution.  Some in the church believe in evolution.  Christians believe in evolution.  In some liberal churches, they have an Evolution Sunday.  The Bible teaches creation.  It teaches the exact opposite.  Evolution teaches that we are getting better through time.

The Bible teaches that Adam and Eve were created perfect.  They sinned and humans did not get better, they got worse.  They are getting worse today.

This angel will not say a word about evolution.  He will not praise evolution for getting us here.  He will praise God for creating everything on the planet.

There is no good news in evolution.  It is random chance.  It is survival of the fittest.  There is good news in creation.  Evolution cannot solve our problems, but the gospel of Jesus can.[2]

Many think that creation is a minor doctrine.  It is not a minor doctrine.  It is a major doctrine.  If humans evolved from lower life forms, then Adam and Eve were not the first humans and the whole human race did not come from them.

If there was no literal Adam and Eve, then there is no original sin.  They did not cause the first human sin and death on the planet.  If there is no original sin, there is no need for Jesus to come to earth to save sinners.

Apparently, this angel thought creation was important enough to mention it as he proclaims the eternal gospel to people all over the globe.  Creation is the foundation of the gospel.[3]

The Second Angel – Message of Judgment

A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” (Revelation 14:8 NIV)

The first angel preached a message of salvation to individuals.  The second angel preaches a message of judgment.  It is a message of judgment on a whole city, the city Babylon.

This is the first time we see the word Babylon in Revelation.  We will learn more about it later in the book.  It will not be literal Babylon, but it does represent a city.

Babylon represents a real city.  From this one verse, we learn that this city will be powerful.  It will be wicked.  It will be influential.  It will be destroyed.  The city will also represent an anti-God system.  It is a system that is in complete rebellion to God.

This city will be powerful.  It is called Babylon THE GREAT. It will be a world power.  It will be the capital of the Antichrist, but it will also be wicked It will be a city that promotes idolatry and sin.  It will be a city that encourages religious persecution of believers.

This will be influential.  We are told that Babylon will get other nations to drink the wine of her adulteries.

It is encouraging to know that no matter how wicked a city is, no matter how much it persecutes the church, no matter how much power it has over people’s live and over believers, one day that city and system will fall.

Nazi Germany had incredible power over people.  It was a police state led by a dictator and mass murderer.  It was led a totalitarian leader, and he was popular, but that country did not last forever.

One day that country fell.  Hitler said that the Third Reich would last a thousand years.  He thought it would last forever.  It only lasted twelve years.

The fall of Babylon is so certain that this second angel describes it in the past tense as if it had already occurred.  The angel does NOT say, “Babylon will fall.”  He says “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon” before it had fallen.  Babylon does not fall until Revelation 17-18.

The Third Angel – Message of Warning

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:9-11 NIV)

The third angel has a message of warning.  Don’t take the mark of the Beast.  Don’t worship the Beast.  If you do, you will suffer in Hell forever.

This brings us to one of the most terrifying pictures in all the Bible.  No other passage of the Bible describes the terrors of Hell than this passage.  This is one of the most sobering passages in the Bible.

In many churches today, we have a different message preached.  We hear the message of love, mercy and compassion and God is not angry with you.  He would never send anyone to Hell.

Many preachers today no longer preach this doctrine.  There are not too many Hell, Fire and Brimstone preachers.  That is not very positive.  Preachers today like to deliver positive messages that encourage people.

They won’t come back if you talk about Hell Fire and Brimstone.  We need to preach the whole counsel of God.  We need to preach the parts people like to hear and the parts we don’t like to hear.

The third angel preaches a message that says, “Don’t worship the Beast” and says what will happen if people do worship the Beast.  If they worship the Beast, they will drink of the wine of God’s wrath.  If they drink Babylon’s wine, they will drink God’s wine.

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured FULL STRENGTH into the cup of his wrath.(Revelation 14:9-10 NIV)

In the Tribulation, people will think the mark will protect them.  They will get to buy food.  They will get to live.  The truth is that the mark will not protect them; it will doom them.  It will seal their fate.

We are going to see five truths about Hell from this passage.  Many don’t believe these truths.  Some Christians don’t believe them, but they are clearly taught in this passage.

Five Truths about Hell

1) Hell is a place of TORMENT

Many do not believe that.  Many think that when people die, they cease to exist.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that.  It is the doctrine of annihilationism.  People don’t go to hell after they die, they are just annihilated.  They cease to exist.

There is a problem with this idea in the Book of Revelation, a big problem.  People who take the Mark of the Beast do not cease to exist.  They are punished.

They will be TORMENTED with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their TORMENT will rise for ever and ever” (Revelation 14:10-11 NIV).

Many believe that the wicked will be destroyed in Hell, but this passage says that they will be tormented.

K. Beale notes, the word βασανισμός (“torment”) in Rev. 14:10–11 is used nowhere in Revelation or biblical literature in the sense of annihilation of personal existence. Without exception, Revelation uses it of conscious suffering on the part of people (9:5; 11:10; 12:2; 18:7, 10, 15; 20:10).[4]

That is how that word is used in the rest of the NT (Matthew 4:24; 8:6, 29; 28:34; Mark 5:7; 6:48; Luke 8:28; 16:23, 28; II Peter 2:8).  It NEVER means annihilation.

Of course, you have to be conscious to be tormented. A punishment that is not felt is not punishment. Jesus told the story about a wicked rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus in Luke 16.

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in TORMENT, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am IN AGONY in this fire.’ (Luke 16:19-24 NIV)

2) Hell is a place of FIRE

They will be tormented with BURNING sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the SMOKE of their torment will rise for ever and ever.  (Revelation 14:10-11 NIV)

Fire is the instrument of punishment in the Book of Revelation for the wicked.  They will be case into a lake of fire (Revelation 20:10, 14, 15).  Jesus called it “a furnace of fire” (Matt 13:42, 50).

Most people don’t like Fire and Brimstone preachers.  They are too negative.  They scream at people.

Hell is described as Fire and Brimstone four times in the book (Revelation 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8).

Those who worship the Beast will be tormented with fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:10 KJV)

When Jesus comes back, the Beast and the False Prophet will be cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20 KJV)

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are (Revelation 20:10 KJV)

This is further proof that annihilationism is wrong.  The Beast and the False Prophet and thrown into this place where there is fire and brimstone.  They do not cease to exist.  When Satan is thrown into hell, they are still there and they were not angels, just ordinary people.

The wicked will have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8 KJV)

3) Hell is a place of NO REST

There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:11 NIV)

Hell will be a place of no rest.  There will be no break from the punishment day or night.  Indeed, annihilation would be a kind of rest or relief from the excruciating torment of the brief final judgment.[5]

It will be pure unadulterated wrath.  There will be no mercy, no grace and no pity.  In Revelation 14, some will rest after they die (Revelation 14:13) and some will have no rest (Revelation 14:11).  It is a picture of eternal fatigue.

4) Hell is ETERNAL

And the smoke of their torment will rise FOREVER AND EVER (Revelation 14:11). That phrase “forever and ever” occurs thirteen times in Revelation and always refers to eternity.[6] It always means “forever and ever” (cf. Revelation 1:6, 18; 4:9, 10; 14; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 14:11; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5).

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! (Revelation 1:18 NIV)

the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. (Revelation 4:10 NIV)

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15 NIV)

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5 NIV)

If Hell is not Eternal, they heaven is not eternal, and God is not eternal.  Some say that hell does not last forever, only the consequences last forever. With that logic, you would have to say that heaven does not last forever, just the consequences of heaven.

5) Hell is a place of SEPARATION

The sheep go to one place and the goats to another place. In Luke 16, there is said to be a gulf between the two and the wicked could see heaven from a distance.  They could see what they were missing.  In Revelation 14, we are told that the holy angels and the Lamb could see Hell as well.

They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. (Revelation 14:10 NIV)

Practical Applications

What are the applications from this sobering passage?  There are three.

1) Get saved

Have we accepted the eternal gospel?  Do we know for sure if we are saved? None of us want to go to the Hell described in Revelation 14 (a place of fire and brimstone, a place of torment, a place where there is no rest day or night).

2) Tell others about Jesus

We need to make sure to tell others about Jesus.  Others around us are lost. Many are dying and going to hell every day. Many have never heard the salvation message.  We need to reach out to them in love and share with them the gospel of Christ.

3) Worship God

Worship God our Creator.  Worship the One who created all things.  Praise His name every day.  Give Him glory.

4) Don’t Take the Mark

If we are alive during the Tribulation Period, we need to make sure never to take the Mark of the Beast, no matter how much pressure there is to take it.

[1] See Scofield Reference Bible (1917) and The New Scofield Reference Bible (1967) on Revelation 14:6; John Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ: A Commentary (1966), 217.

[2] https://answersingenesis.org/morality/gospel-can-solve-societys-problems/

[3] Henry Morris, New Defender Study Bible,

[4] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 762.

[5] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 764.

[6] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 764.

Vision of the Redeemed

We have been studying the Book of Revelation.  Today, we come to a great chapter.  It is a chapter that has made its way into pop culture.  One man wrote a novel that won a Pulitzer Prize.

It is a famous book.  It is called The Grapes of Wrath (1939). The title was taken from Revelation 14. It deals with “the harvest of the earth.”  It is the chapter that deals with the two harvests.

A Scary Chapter

This chapter is scary for unbelievers.  It is graphic.  It is violent.  It has the grim reaper in it.  It contains one of the most terrifying pictures of judgment in the Bible.

It describes a river of human blood miles flowing through streets.  This river is that is one hundred eighty miles long and is six feet deep.

That sounds like something right out of a horror movie.  It also has one of the greatest descriptions of Hell in the Bible.  There is nothing anywhere like it in the Bible.

They, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name. (Revelation 14:10-11 NIV)

It is described as a place of fire and brimstone.  It is described as a place where people are tormented.  It is described as a place where there is no rest day or night.  It is described as a place where the smoke goes up forever and ever.

A Comforting Chapter

This chapter is terrifying for unbelievers but for believers, it is comforting.  We see Jesus.  That is the definition of heaven.  When Jesus comes back, we will see him.  We will be like him.  We will be with Him forever.

In this chapter, the 144,000 see Jesus.  They stand with Him on Mount Zion.  They are happy.  Jesus stands with the ones who were faithful to Him.  He will stand with us as well.

There is also a special blessing given to believers in this chapter.  There is a beatitude in this chapter.  It is the second one in the book so far.  We read a blessing to everyone who read this book in Revelation 1 and in Revelation 14 there is another beatitude.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: BLESSED are the dead who die in the Lord from now on” (Revelation 14:13 NIV).

Two Destinies

We see two destinies in this chapter.  There are only two eternal destinies.  Everyone either goes to Heaven or Hell.  There is no third place for people to go.  There is no purgatory, only Heaven and Hell.  We either take Jesus as our Savior or as our Judge.

Revelation 14 describes the salvation of the saints.  It describes the judgment of the wicked.  It describes the reward of heaven.  It describes the punishment of Hell.

It describes one group of people tormented and suffering.  It describes another group of people that are happy.  They are full of joy.

They are singing.  They are with Jesus on Mount Zion in victory (Revelation 14:1-5).  It is a chapter with angels doing some strange things.

When Angels Preach

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:6-7 NIV)

That is strange.  God gave us the job to preach the gospel to people.  He gave us the Great Commission.  That was not given to angels but to people but, near the end of the Tribulation Period, He will use some angels to preach the gospel.

He will not just use angels but flying angels to do it.  They will preach the gospel from the sky.  Supernatural beings will fly in the middle of the sky and preach the gospel to people all over the world.  They will probably do a better job than people do.

Symbolic Language

It is also chapter with a lot of symbols.  There are a lot of symbolic language in this chapter.  If you don’t see this, you won’t understand the chapter.  The symbolic part of the book began in Revelation 12.  This is not exhaustive, but here are some examples.

Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” (Revelation 14:8 NIV)

The city that is fallen is not literal Babylon and this is not literal wine.  It is the wine of adultery and adultery is most likely more than literal adultery.  It is spiritual adultery.

This city will have sexual sin but Babylon will be the capital of the Antichrist.  It will be known primarily for promoting false worship. Idolatry is described as adultery in the Bible.

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. (Revelation 14:9-10 NIV)

Babylon had some wine.  God also has some wine, and it is undiluted. Most wine in the ancient world was diluted with water.  It is also not literal wine.  It is called the wine of God’s fury.  It is the wine of God’s wrath.  It is the wine of His anger.

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. (Revelation 14:19 NIV)

That is not a literal winepress.  A literal winepress produces wine.  This winepress produces blood, and it is human blood (Revelation 14:20).

 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:3 NIV)

There are 144,000 on Mount Zion.  Is this a literal number or a symbolic number?  This group sings a song that only the redeemed can sing.  They sing the song of the redeemed.  No one else can sing this song but them.

There are more than 144,000 people that know that song.  It is a song not limited to Jewish men and not to single Jewish men.  The word “virgins” in Greek is in the masculine.

Is it just a male choir?  Some Jewish women and Gentiles know that song.  That is why this number is probably symbolic.

Are these literal virgins or symbolic virgins?  They can’t be literal virgins because they represent all of those redeemed from the earth.  That is not limited to single men.

Even during the Tribulation Period, more than 144,000 men will be redeemed from the earth.

These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. (Revelation 14:4 NIV)

If you take this verse literally, it sounds like an insult to woman.  Jesus does not stand with women but just with men.  Women are defiling to men.

This is symbolic.  Revelation is an apocalyptic book.  Much of it is symbolic.  Jesus is depicted as a Lamb.  He is not a literal lamb.  The Antichrist is not a literal beast.

John does not hate women.  The church is described as the bride of Christ.  This verse is also not saying that there is anything wrong with marriage.

God was the one who created sex.  Adam and Eve were commanded to reproduce after their kind and the NT says that the marriage bed is UNDEFILED (Hebrews 13:4 KJV).  It is not dirty or sinful.

This is a symbolic picture of moral purity.  It is a picture of extreme devotion.  It is a picture of total dedication.  The church is described symbolically as a virgin bride (Ephesians 5:25-27; II Corinthians 11:2).

A Scene of Triumph

There are three parts to the chapter.  Each part begins with the words, “and I saw” (Revelation 14:1, 6, 14).  John sees three visions.

He sees a vision of the redeemed rewarded in heaven.  He sees a vision of the wicked suffering and tormented in Hell.  He also sees a vision of the end of the world.

We are not going to look at all visions this week.  This morning, we are just going to look at the first vision of Jesus and the redeemed.

It is a scene of triumph.  Revelation 13 was a scene of terror.  It was a scene of horror.  It describes religious deception, false miracles, demon-possessed politicians, false worship, religious persecution and economic hardship.

In the last chapter, the saints suffered.  The whole world is following the beast.  The name of God is blasphemed and slandered.  The Beast is given power to wage war against the saints and to overcome them.  It is a period of GREAT TRIBULATION (not just tribulation but great tribulation).

In this chapter, the saints are vindicated.  They are victorious.  They are standing with Jesus and all of their enemies are gone.  You don’t see them.  Today, we are only going to look at the first five verses of this chapter.  We will, look at the rest of the chapter next week.

Standing With Jesus

Today, we are going to look at the 144,00 but we are going to look at this group practically, not just prophetically.  We are going to look at them in a way you may have not before.

Today, we want to ask this question.  How do the 144,000 apply to us today?  What can we learn from them?  How do they speak to us today?  Ask yourself this question.

Do you want to be blessed by God?  Do you want to be honored like the 144,000 were?  Do you want to stand with Jesus on Mount Zion, like the 144,000 did? The 144,000 will have several characteristics.  We should have them as well.

1) Have you had a genuine salvation experience?

To stand with Jesus, you have to be saved.  You have to be redeemed.  Notice who Jesus does not stand with.

Jesus is NOT standing with atheists.  He is NOT standing with skeptics on Mount Zion.  He is NOT standing with cultists.

He is NOT standing with Hindus or Buddhists.  He is NOT standing with Muslims.  He is standing with people who are saved and know him.

He is not standing with the wicked.  He is not standing with the Beast on Mount Zion.  He is standing with the saved.

Many church choirs have believers and unbelievers in them but everyone in this choir was redeemed.  They are called redeemed, not once, but twice in this chapter.

No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been REDEEMED from the earth. (Revelation 14:3 ESV)

These have been REDEEMED from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb (Revelation 14:4 ESV).

The 144,000 were not perfect.  They had to be redeemed and we had to be redeemed as well.  We are sinners.  We need a Savior.  We need a redeemer.

We need someone to pay for us and deliver us from bondage.  God redeemed the Jews out of Egypt and He redeemed us as well.  Salvation was not free.  A payment had to be made and Jesus made it.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13 ESV)

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (I Peter 1:18-19 NIV)

Everyone is NOT saved.  Everyone on the planet is NOT redeemed.  The 144,000 were purchased from among mankind.

The question is this: Are you redeemed?  Do you have the Father’s name written on our forehead?  Are you saved?  Do you know for sure?  If you are saved, you are secure.  We know that from Revelation 14.

You can’t lose your salvation.  How do we know?  The 144,000 are mentioned two times in the Book of Revelation.  They are mentioned in Revelation 7 & Revelation 14.

In Revelation, 7, the 144,000 are ON EARTH at the beginning of the Tribulation period, surrounded by a hostile environment.  In Revelation 14, they are IN HEAVEN when the Tribulation Period is over.

William Hendriksen said that in Revelation, we see the church militant (Revelation 7).  We see the church triumphant in heaven (Revelation 14).[1]  The church militant refers to believers who are alive on earth.  The church triumphant refers to believers who have died and gone to heaven.

What is interesting is that ALL of them made it to heaven.  There were not 143,000 there.  There were 144,000 there.  None of them were lost.  None of them fell away or gave up the faith or lost their salvation.  None was missing.

37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose NONE of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:37-39 NIV)[2]

2) Are you totally devoted to Jesus?

Many Christians are saved but they are not sold out.  They are not on fire for God.  They are lukewarm.  How are the 144,000 described?

They are described as spiritual virgins (Revelation 14:4), totally dedicated to God.  They are described as firstfruits (Revelation 14:4).  Their life is an offering to God.  They are called His servants (Revelation 7:3).

We are to be sexually pure, although we are not all supposed to be unmarried.  Our lives should be an offering to God and we should serve Him.

Servants serve.  We don’t know how they will serve God in the Tribulation Period.  We don’t know all that they will do but they will do something.

Are we on fire for God?  What are we doing to serve God?  We serve God in different ways.  In what capacity are we serving him?  Some are saved, but don’t serve.  They say that 20% of the people in church do most of the work. That is what we will do in heaven.

I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and SERVE him DAY AND NIGHT in his temple; (Revelation 7:14-15 NIV)

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. (Psalm 2:11 NIV)

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100:2 NIV)

3) Are you a passionate worshipper?

And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:3)

Not everyone who is saved is big on worshiping.  Some Christians never sing in church.  Their mouths are closed.  We do not all have to be in the choir, but we should all be singing.

We should all be worshipping.  The 144,000 were worshipers.  They were singers.  They were musical.  They are singing.  This chapter also mentions harps in heaven.  There will be a lot of music in heaven.

Some churches do not play musical instruments.  They are non-instrumental churches.  That makes absolutely no sense.  Here we see musical instruments in Heaven.

That was one characteristic of the 144,000.  They were singers.  We are told what type of song they sang.  They sang a LOUD song.  It was a loud sound like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder (not just thunder but loud thunder). It was loud but was also soothing and beautiful, like a harp.

They also sang a NEW song. The 144,000 did not just sing an old hymn.  They sang a new song.  This tells us what worship will be like in heaven. It tells us what heaven’s liturgy will be like.  We will not just be singing old hymns, like in gramma’s Baptist church.  God loves new songs.

The Bible tells us to do with that 144,000 will do.  Singing is a COMMAND.  It is not optional.

Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! (Psalm 96:1-2 ESV)

Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. (Psalm 33:3 ESV)

4) Are you bold in your witness for Christ?

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1 NIV)

They have a seal on their forehead and the seal consists not just of one name but two (the name of the Father and of the Lamb).  What is this a picture of?

It is a picture of being a visible follower of Jesus.  He is on your forehead.  There is no hiding it.  Everyone knows you are a Christian.  You don‘t try to hide it.  You are not ashamed of the gospel.  You are not ashamed to be a Christian.

During the Tribulation Period, there will be no neutrality.  Everyone will have some mark.  You will either have the Mark of Jesus and the Father on your forehead or the Mark of the Beast.

Are you a visible believer or are you a secret believer?  Do people know that you are a Christian or would they be shocked if they found out.  Your life should be an outward demonstration of your faith.

5) Is your life completely surrendered to Jesus?

They are followers of the Lamb.  They follow Him wherever He goes.  Here you have sheep following a lamb but the lamb also happens to be their Shepherd (Revelation 7:17).  They follow Christ.  They are committed and devoted followers of Christ.

The Tribulation will be a period of great promiscuity.  There will be a lot of sexual  immorality, like there is today but the 144,000 will stay pure in this time.

While everyone else if following the Beast, this group will be following the Lamb.  They go where He goes.  They do what He tells them to do.  They follow His teaching.  They keep His commandments.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27).  That is the definition of a Christian, a follower of Christ.  It is one of the signs that you are really saved.  Real sheep follow Jesus.

People who are not his sheep do not follow him (cf. I John 2:3-6). They “follow the Lamb WHEREVER HE GOES” (Revelation 14:4).

If he leads you to stay single all of your life, you stay single.  If he leads you to get married, you get married.  If He leads you to move to a different state or country, you move.

When the world goes in one direction and Jesus goes in the opposite direction, they follow Christ.  When their friends go in one direction and Jesus goes in another direction, they follow Jesus.

The 144,000 do not do what everyone else is doing.  They do not follow the crowd.  They follow Christ, even if it leads to martyrdom.  Are you that surrendered to Jesus?

6) Do you glorify God with your words?

This is convicting.  Does that describe us?  Paul described the mouth of the unsaved.  “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” (Romans 3:13-14 NIV).

After salvation, many continue to have bad language.  You can find people in the church, who swear, use profanity and vulgar words. Some preachers use that language.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29 NIV)

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:3-4 NIV)

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6 NIV)

We are told that no lie was found in their mouths (Revelation 14:5 NIV) and they will live in a world full of deception and lies.  In their day, everyone will believe the big lie about the Antichrist, the lie that he is God.

We may not all tell lies to people.  We may not all swear or use off-color language.  We may just use useless, idle words and not words that build people up.  We may not use words of grace.

7) Do you have you a good testimony before the world?

The 144,000 were sanctified.  We are told that they are not defiled.  They did not compromise with the world or with sin and they are said to be blameless (ἄμωμος). Does that describe us?

During the Tribulation Period, this group is described as blameless.  Noah before the Flood was called blameless (Genesis 6:9).  Apparently, it is possible to be blameless when everyone around you is completely wicked.  Are we blameless today?

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be BLAMELESS and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life (Philippians 2:14-16 NIV)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and BLAMELESS.  (Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV)

[1] William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors, 153.

[2] Arminians believe you can lose your salvation based on John 17.  “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled” (John 17:12 NIV).

Jesus lost Judas.  If He lost Judas, other people could be lost as well. None of them was lost, EXCEPT one.  One of the ones that God gave Him was lost but you have to read the rest of the verse.

Jesus is not saying that He tried really hard but lost one.  Jesus is not saying that He was a complete failure when it came to Judas.  He said, “Not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, THAT the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12 ESV).

It was part of the divine plan. It was the fulfillment of Scripture.  Jesus was not caught off guard by what Judas did.   It did not catch Him by surprise.  He did not fail when it came to Judas.  What Judas did was planned long ago, and Jesus did not lose a child of God.  The one who was lost was called “the son of perdition” (ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας).

The Mark of the Beast

Today, we are going to tackle one of the greatest mysteries of the Bible.  We are going to talk about the Mark of the Beast and what that means.  We are going to talk about the mysterious number 666.

There are many things in the Bible no one knows, and no one can know.  God said the secret things belong to Him.  Most people assume this must be one of things, but it is not.

John encourages his readers to solve this mystery and says that they can solve it.  Last week, we looked at the first half of Revelation 13, dealing with the coming Antichrist.

John saw a beast rising out of the sea.  He saw a sea monster.  This was not an ordinary beast.  It was a seven headed beast.  The Antichrist will be a charismatic world ruler and he will be characterized by several things, based on Revelation 13.

He will have supernatural power and authority from Satan himself.  He will have some miraculous powers.  He will persecute Christians.  He will demand to be worshiped by the world.

We also saw last week that the Antichrist is not only future but present, according to Scripture.  We focus on the coming end-time leader who will become the personification of evil.

John speaks of the spirit of the antichrist today.  He said that there were many antichrists in his day and that was two thousand years later.  If there were many antichrist then, there are much more in the world today.  The world has only gotten worse, not better.

We see that spirit manifested not only in bad rulers outside the church who persecute God’s people but in bad teachers in the church who say things about Jesus that are not true.

A Second Beast

Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. (Revelation 13:11-12 NIV)

John does not see one beast but two beasts in this chapter.  One is a land beast, and one is a sea beast.  One is a political leader, and one is a religious leader.

These will be a pair.  They will be a team.  They will be a diabolical duo. Just as the two witnesses were a pair in Jerusalem.  Instead of being God’s men; they will be Satan’s men.

The first beast is more powerful.  He has ten horns on his head.  The second beast only has two horns.  The first beast has crowns on his head (ten crowns). The second beast does not have any crowns on his head.  He is not a politician.

He will work with the Antichrist.  He will be his number two man.  He will run the Antichrist’s propaganda machine.  He will be his spokesperson.  He will be his press secretary.  He will be in charge of the Ministry of Propaganda.

This Beast will be known for three things.  He will be known by his DECEPTION.  He will look like a lamb but speak like a dragon (Revelation 13:11).  He will look like a harmless lamb you want to pet.  He may even claim to be a Christian.

The Bible says that false prophets today are just like him.  Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15 NIV)

We have all had people knock on our door who look very well dressed.  They smile and have a Bible in their hands.  They claim to be Christians.  They don’t look like ax-murderers, but they do not all say things that line up with Scripture.

Two, he will be known by his MIRACLES.  He will use signs and wonders to draw people to the Antichrist.  Notice the two signs he will do.

And it performed GREAT SIGNS, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it DECEIVED the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. (Revelation 13:13-15 NIV)

The Value of Miracles

There is an important lesson for us here regarding miracles.  Many today are crazy about miracles.  They want to see signs and wonders.  That is not all wrong.  We want to see miracles in our lives.

We need to see the value in miracles and the danger in miracles.  What value do miracles have?  They have apologetic value.  They validate the truth.  They confirm it.

How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:3-4 NIV)

Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. (Mark 16:20 NIV)

The Bible teaches that miracles confirm the truth and validate the truth but are NOT the basis of truth.  They can also be used to validate error.  Miracles always have to be lined up with scripture.  They must be lined up with truth.

The Bible teaches that Satan can perform miracles.  The Second Beast will be able to call fire down from heaven.  Pharaoh’s magicians could perform miracles as well.

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts (Exodus 7:10-11 NIV)

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie (II Thessalonians 2:9 NIV)

Do miracles prove that God is working? No. Are miracles always evidence of the power of God? No. We need to test the spirits, as John says (I John 4:1-3)

Three, he will be known for his PROGRAM.  

This false prophet “also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (Revelation 13:16-17 NIV)

He will use economic pressure to get people to worship the Beast.  Now, we come to the fun stuff.  We get to talk about the Mark of the Beast.  It is the only place in the Bible that has a math problem in it.

The Mark of the Beast

This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. (Revelation 13:18 NIV)

We are going to talk about all kinds of things.  We are going to talk about the mark and some misconceptions today about the mark.  We are going to talk about that mysterious evil number 666 and some myths about it.

Provocative Questions

We are going to talk about all kinds of things.  We are going to talk about the mark and some misconceptions today about the mark.  We are going to talk about that mysterious evil number 666 and some myths about it.

This verse raises all kinds of questions.  What is the Mark of the Beast?  How do you calculate the number of a name?  How would you calculate the number of your name?  What does the number 666 mean?

Is it possible to take the Mark of the Beast today?  If so, have any of us already taken it?

If you take it, can you still be saved?  Can you be a Christian and take the mark?  If you receive the Mark of the Beast, can you repent?

We wont be able to answer every question here but there are simple answers to these questions.  This is information that many have not heard before.

This will be new to many people.  It is something that is almost never preached in church.  Let’s look at three basic facts about this mark from Scripture.

Three Basic Facts

1. If you take the Mark of the Beast, you CANNOT be saved

Your eternal destiny is at stake.  If you take the mark, you can’t be saved.  That is why this is extremely important.

The Bible warns us that if we have the mark of the Beast, we will then share the fate of the Beast.

And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, OR FOR ANYONE WHO RECEIVES THE MARK OF ITS NAME (Revelation 14:11 NIV)

If you take this mark, you NOT only will not be saved; you will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  This mark will seal your eternal destiny.

You can repent of any sin you commit but this sin is so serious that anyone who commits it will not repent.

There are plenty of people can repent but won’t.  In fact, Hebrews talks about some people who are IMPOSSIBLE to renew unto repentance (Hebrews 6:4).

2. If you are saved, you CANNOT take the Mark of the Beast.

Only unsaved people can take this mark.  If someone takes this mark, it shows they are not saved.  How do we know?

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. (Revelation 13:8 NIV)

We are in one of two groups.  There are two marks in the Book of Revelation.  There is God’s mark and Satan’s mark.  Believers have God’s mark on them.  Unbelievers have the Devil’s mark on them.  It is a counterfeit mark.  The saved have the name of God written on them.

The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. (Revelation 3:12 NIV)

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” (Revelation 7:1-3 NIV)

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1 NIV)

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:4 NIV)

The unsaved have the name of the Beast written on them (Revelation 13:16-18).  Satan is good at counterfeiting things.  We see counterfeits all the time (like fake Jordans or Rolex watches).  I wear a fake smart watch.  It is not an Apple watch.

We have the true gospel.  Satan has counterfeit gospels.  There is a true Jesus and a false Jesus.  There is a true religion and all kinds of false religions.

3. The mark CANNOT be taken until the Antichrist is revealed

Many Christians have caused needless fear.  They have told people that the Mark of the Beast is in the world today.  It is already here.  It is NOT.

The Mark of the Beast will be around in the Tribulation Period. We are not in the Tribulation Period.  How do we know for sure it is not here?

Five Signs of the Mark of the Beast

There are five signs of the Mark of the Beast.  There are five ways from Revelation 13 that you know that the Mark of the Beast is here.  You have to have all five of these signs present.

1) The Antichrist will be revealed.

This end-time world leader has not been revealed yet.  He may be alive today but has not come onto the world stage yet.

2) The Antichrist will be worshiped as God

That has not happened yet.  He has not been revealed and he has not been worshiped.

3) The same individual will wage war against Christians

There are plenty of people that do that today in many different countries, but it is not being done today by the Antichrist.

4) The false prophet will be performing signs and wonders

The false prophet has not come on the scene, and he is not performing signs and wonders.  No one is calling fire down from heaven or making images come to life.

5)  The Mark of the Beast is tied to commerce

This mark was intended to allow people to buy and sell.  If you don’t have the mark, you can’t do that.  That is not happening today.

No one is prevented from buying or selling. The Mark of the Beast is not here but, at some time in the future, it will be.

Five Common Myths

There are many myths about this mark.  Many Christians have some crazy ideas about the Mark of the Beast that have nothing to do with the text.

Today, we are going to debunk many false ideas people have about the Mark of the Beast.  What are some false ideas about this mark?

1) The Sunday Worship Myth

Seventh Day Adventists teach that worshiping on Sunday is the Mark of the Beast. Sunday worship is not the Mark of the Beast.   It is not a mark you put on your hand or forehead.  That is not in the text at all.

2) The Social Security Myth

Some believe that social security numbers are the Mark of the Beast.  The government gives everyone a number.  One man refused to give his social security number to his work.

He believed it was the Mark of the Beast and refused to give it.  He said that that it violated his religious convictions.  It went to the US Supreme Court in 2021 and they refused to hear the case.

The Mark of the Beast is NOT a social security number or a credit card.  It is not the devil’s credit card.  The Mark of the Beast is not your number or name.  It is HIS number and HIS name (Revelation 13:17-18).

3) The Barcode Myth

The universal product code (UPC) started in 1973.  Mary Stewart Relfe wrote a book in 1982 called The New Money System 666 in which she claimed that the Mark of the Beast has to do with barcodes that can be scanned.

It must be a sign that Satan is taking over the world economic system. That number identifies products electronically.  Each number is different.  It does not identify the Beast.

4) The Implant Myth

A fourth myth is that this will be some kind of microchip in your body.  It makes some good sci-fi movies, but this is not a verse against new technology.  It is a verse against idolatry.

The mark is not in people but on them.[1] The idea that the mark is placed in people is based on the KJV translation of Revelation 13:16; 14;9 but it is a mistranslation.  The Greek is upon (ἐπί), as the NKJV corrects.

5) The COVID Vaccine Myth

One of the most popular myths today is that the COVID vaccine in the Mark of the Beast, as if God is waiting before we get into heaven to make sure we do not have a vaccine card.

Whatever you think of the COVID Vaccine (you can be pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine), it has nothing to do with the Mark of the Beast.

Why? The Mark of the Beast is a religious mark, not a medical mark.  It has nothing to do with a medical procedure.  That is nowhere in the text.

Vaccination needles go into arms, not hands or foreheads.  Who gets a shot in their forehead?

It is not a requirement for buying and selling.  You don’t need to show your vaccine card to buy gas or food.  This will be a “commerce passport,” as Ron Rhodes points out.[2]

We do not know exactly what the mark will be, but it will be an outward visible follower of the Beast in the Tribulation Period. It will be a pledge of allegiance to the Antichrist. “There will be no neutrality; one either belongs to Christ or to the beast.”[3]

The Mysterious 666

Now, we come to the mysterious number 666.  Last week, we saw three applications in this chapter.

There is a call to HEAR this prophecy (Revelation 13:9).  There is a call to ENDURANCE, as believers are being slaughtered (Revelation 13:10).  Serving Jesus may cost you a lot, especially in the Tribulation Period.

There is also a call to WISDOM.  This calls for wisdom. LET THE PERSON WHO HAS INSIGHT calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666 (Revelation 13:18 NIV)

John gives us a riddle.  John says this is a mystery that can be solved.  You can figure it out and it involves a calculation.  What is he talking about?

Almost everything you have heard about this number is wrong.  There are many myths about the number 666.  Revelation 13:18 says that it is the number of a MAN.

It is NOT the number of the Devil.  It is NOT the number of the Roman Catholic Church, as the Reformers taught.  It is NOT the number of sin.  It is NOT the imperfection.  It is the number of a man.

A common view among preachers is that 666 just symbolizes imperfection.  Six symbolizes imperfection.  It is one short of seven and is mentioned three times for emphasis.  Six is the number of man.  Seven is the number of God (the number of perfection).  The number is symbolic, not numerological.

That sounds great but the number of Jesus is not 777 but 888 and this number was to be CALCULATED.  There is nothing to calculate if six is just the number of man and in Greek, the number is NOT triple six but six hundred sixty-six.

Furthermore, we are not even sure if 666 is the number of the Beast. The oldest copy of the book of Revelation that we have reads 616 (Χις), not 666 (χξϛ).

It comes from the third century.   It was discovered by archeologists in Egypt.  It is called Papyrus 115.  It reads 616.  That is a little ironic.

Satanists love the number 666.  A lot of heavy metal bands have used the number 666 written on their album covers and have 666 on T shirts.

Wouldn’t it be funny if the number 666 is not as evil, as people have thought, and the real number was 616?

Irenaeus, as early as the second century, said that some copies of Revelation read 616, although he thought at 666 was the correct reading.

Calculating a Name

How do you calculate a number from a name?  People in John’s day knew how to do it.  They knew how to find a name that added up to 666.  Two thousand years later, people do not know what he was talking about.  He is talking about what the Jews called GEMATRIA and the Greeks called ISOPSEPHY.

It is a way of turning letters into numbers.  The letters of the alphabet have numeric value. Each letter in the alphabet is a certain number.  If you add up all of the letters in your name, you can see what number you name makes.

Every name is actually a number.  Your name is a number. That is how the earliest Christians interpreted Revelation 13 (so Irenaeus, Victorinus).

On the walls of the Roman city of Pompeii, archaeologists have found Greek graffiti by a man who wrote, “I love the girl whose number is 545” (Φμέ) and that is not her phone number.  It is the number of her name.

Gematria in English

Now Greek has 24 letters but you can do this in English. English has 26 letters.  Gematria in English would look like this.

A = 1 J = 10 S = 100
B = 2 K = 20 T = 200
C =3 L = 30 U = 300
D =4 M = 40 V = 400
E = 5 N = 50 W = 500
F = 6 O = 60 X  = 600
G =7 P = 70 Y = 700
H =8 Q = 80 Z = 800
I  =9 R = 90

The Identity of 666

What does the number 666 refer to?  There is no way that anyone in the first century would know the personal name of the Antichrist who will come in the future.

He has not been revealed yet but there is something that they would know.  We don’t even know that but there is something that they would know.  There was someone in the first century would was just like the Antichrist.

When we think of the absolute symbol of evil today, we think of Adolf Hitler.  In the first century, they thought of Nero.  His name was synonymous with evil. He was a monster.  He was a demon-possessed mad man.

Some writers in his day called him a beast.  Apollonius of Tyana said that Nero was more evil than any beast he encountered in the wild.

He was a mass murderer.  He killed his mother.  He killed his adoptive brother Britannicus.  He killed two of his wives.

He committed sexual sins.  He had incest with his mother Agrippina. After both of his wives were dead, he married a man (after he castrated him).

He claimed to be God.  He uttered blasphemous words (Revelation 13:7).  He had a huge hundred-foot-tall statue of himself erected in Rome and put in the Temple of Mars. He was saluted on coins as the god Apollo.

He persecuted the saints (Revelation 13:7) and did it for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5).

He was the first persecutor of the church. He executed the Apostles Peter and Paul. He blames the fire of Rome on Christians. He accused his most loyal subjects of being arsonists.

He fed them to a bunch of hungry lions and invited thousands of people to fill a theater to watch them die.  Some were crucified. Some were set on fire.

Tacitus writes, “People began to pity these sufferers, because they were consumed not for the public good but on account of the fierceness of one man”.

He died from a head wound.  He died by suicide at the age of thirty.  He stabbed himself in the neck on June 9, 68 AD.

Nero died about 2000 years ago. He was dead when the Book of Revelation was written. He will not be alive when Jesus returns.

That is correct.  Nero is NOT the Antichrist.  He is a type of the Antichrist, as some church fathers point out (e.g., Chrysostom)[4].

It doesn’t work in Greek.  In Greek, Nero adds up to 1005.  If you use the Hebrew alphabet, it adds up to 666 (the Greek form of Neron Caesar written in Hebrew).

There is a textual variant that reads 616 and the Latin form of Nero Caesar adds up to 616.

[1] Ron Rhodes, Unmasking the Antichrist: Dispelling the Myths, Discovering the Truth (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2012).

[2] Ron Rhodes, Unmasking the Antichrist: Dispelling the Myths, Discovering the Truth (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2012).

[3] Grant Osborne, Revelation Verse by Verse, 366.

[4] https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/23054.htm

The Last Dictator

Today, we come to an amazing chapter.  The next two weeks are going to be deep, as we look at this section.  You are going to learn some things you may have never heard before.

It introduces us to two new characters in the Book of Revelation: the beast and the false prophet.  We saw five characters in Revelation 12 (the woman, the baby boy, the dragon, Michael and her other children).  Revelation 13 introduces us to two more characters.  It introduces us to two satanic beasts.

It is one of the most controversial chapters in the Book of Revelation.  It is one of the most controversial chapters in the Bible.

It is the only chapter of the Bible with a math problem in it.  It is a chapter that raises all kinds of questions.

What is the mysterious Mark of the Beast?  Is it a barcode?  Is it a computer chip or tattoo?  Is it the COVID vaccine?  What is the meaning of the number 666?  That may be the greatest mystery of the Bible.

Is America prophesied in this chapter?  Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) teach that America is the second beast of Revelation 13.  That is what Ellen White (1827-1915), the founder of the SDA, taught.[1]

Does this chapter refer to the Antichrist or does it not?  If it does, who is he?  People have said that a lot of people in history were the Antichrist.

Some said Nero was the Antichrist.  Luther and Calvin thought the Pope was the Antichrist.  Some said Adolf Hitler was the Antichrist and Joseph Stalin was the Antichrist. Some thought that Obama was the Antichrist.

Some think Vladimir Putin might be the Antichrist.  He seems pretty evil, invading sovereign countries, bombing maternity hospitals but most people do not see him as a Savior but as a bully.

Some thought JFK was the Antichrist at the time.  At the democratic convention in 1956 he received 666 votes.  He was popular and did receive a mortal head wound but never came back to life.

Three Applications

Many get bogged down in the details of the chapter.  They look at the chapter prophetically and that is not wrong, but there are also some applications from this chapter.  There are three calls for believers in this chapter.

There is a call to HEAR.  Whoever has ears, let them hear (Revelation 13:9).  God wants us to hear. Some people are open to what this chapter says, and some are not.  Many are not too interested in the prophetic portions of Scripture.

There is a call to ENDURACE in this chapter. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” (Revelation 13:10 NIV).

Believers will be killed in the Tribulation.  It is going to be hard to be a Christian during that time.  Many will be martyred.  It will be hard to buy food.  Many will go hungry.  It will take endurance and courage to be a believer in that day.

There is a call to WISDOM.  This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666 (Revelation 13:18).

John gives a riddle.  Who is smart enough to figure this out?  Most people don’t know what he is talking about, including most preachers.  We will see if we can figure it out.

A Sad Chapter

Revelation 13 is also one of the saddest chapters in the Bible.  It tells us how bad it will be during the Tribulation Period.

Jesus said that when He returns to earth it will be like the days of Noah.  Those days were so bad that God sent a worldwide flood and wiped out the planet.

During the Tribulation, there will be demon possessed politicians.  They will be deceptive politicians, like many we have today.  They will not all look like monsters.  Some will look like cute, little, harmless lambs that you want to pet but they speak like dragons (Revelation 13:11).

There will be Satan worship.  People will be worshiping the dragon (Revelation 13:4).  There will be intense persecution.  Believers will be slaughtered for their faith.

It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them (Revelation 13:7).

God’s name and His Word will be blasphemed.  It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. (Revelation 13:6 NIV).  People will mock the Bible.

People will not only worship the beast; they will be required to worship the Beast.  It will be mandatory.  All who refuse to worship the Antichrist will be killed (Revelation 13:15).  Christians will be killed.  They will not be able to buy food for their kids.

There will be worldwide deception.  People will think the Antichrist is great. They will say, who is like him? (Revelation 13:4).  He will be very popular.

He will be the most admired man on the planet.  The very they admire is the man who will be man who will be inspired by Satan himself.

One preacher called the Antichrist “Satan’s last victory.”[2]  It will look like Satan is winning and it will look like the saints are losing.  The dragon launches these two monsters in the Tribulation Period.

He supernaturally empowers the Antichrist.  He will perform false signs and wonders.  He will get the whole world to worship him.

He will slaughter the saints.  It looks like Satan is winning but looks can be deceiving.  God will be in control of the worst period of human history.  God actually restrains evil in this chapter.  It looks like Satan is winning but remember three things.

First, just before this, Satan was just defeated in heaven.  Michael the Archangel beats him.  He was defeated, cast out of heaven, and hurled to the earth in disgrace.  That is in Revelation 12.

Second, the Antichrist can only operate under the sovereign will of God.  God allows this to take place, like He allows evil to take place in the world today.

The beast WAS GIVEN a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. (Revelation 13:5 NIV)

It WAS GIVEN power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it WAS GIVEN authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.  (Revelation 13:7 NIV)

The Antichrist will have incredible power, but it will only be for a short period of time.  It will only be for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5).  This reign of terror will only last for three and a half years. That is less than one term as president in our country.

Third, when Jesus returns to earth, He will go to war against Him.  He will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.  He will not even be killed first.  He will be thrown ALIVE into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).

Three Common Myths Today

Before we look at this chapter, we have to talk about three myths that people have about this chapter today.

1) The Beast in Revelation 13 is an empire, not a person

Many argue that this is not talking about a man but an empire.  Revelation 13 is an allusion to Daniel 7.  Daniel saw four beasts coming out of the sea (e.g., lion, leopard, bear).

They represented four world empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome).  John sees one beast coming out of the sea that looked like the lion, leopard and bear.  The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. (Revelation 13:2 NIV)

The leader of a country often represents the country itself.  We say that Hitler killed six million Jews, but he did not actually kill them.  It was done by Nazi Germany.

In the Bible, the king and kingdom went together but Revelation 13 is referring to a person.  How do we know?  The beast is described in personal terms.  He has a throne.  He speaks.  He blasphemes and slanders people.  He wages war.  He has a mortal wound and almost dies.

At the end of the book, the beast and the false prophet are seized and thrown into the Lake of Fire. They are thrown alive into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).  That fits real people.  It does not fit an empire.

There is another reason for believing this.  The number of the beast is 666.  We are told that it is the number of a man (Revelation 13:18), not the number of a nation or an institution, like the Roman Catholic Church.  The Beast is a real man.

2) The Beast of Revelation 13 has already come

Some say the Antichrist refers to someone in the first century.  He already came.  This has already been fulfilled.  There are two problems with that view.  No one in history has done what this man will do.

He will be given authority over all inhabitants of the earth.  He will be worshiped and will force people to receive a mark in order to buy and sell.  That does not describe anyone in history. Another problem with that view is that the Antichrist will be alive when Jesus returns.

When Jesus returns in Revelation 19, he throws this individual into the Lake of Fire. Jesus hasn’t come yet, so the beast has not come.  Jesus will not come until the Antichrist comes first.  That is what Paul said (II Thessalonians 2:3).

3) The Antichrist is only future

That is common error among many in the church today.  Most people on focus on the future Antichrist.  There will be a future Antichrist.  He will be the worst ruler of history.  He will be the incarnation of evil.

The Bible predicts that he will come.  It is all through the Bible.  Daniel predicted him (Daniel 7:8, 20-25).  John predicted him (Revelation 13).  Jesus predicted him (Mark 13:14; Matthew 24:15).  Paul predicted him (II Thessalonians 2:4).

The early church predicted a literal end-time Antichrist (Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Tertullian).  It is not something that began with some dispensationalists in the 1800s.  The Church Fathers spoke of this in the second and third century.[3]

The Bible talks about a future antichrist, but it also of a present antichrist.  It speaks of “the spirit of the antichrist” (I John 4:3).  This spirit was in the world in John’s day and is in the world in our day right now.

In fact, John did not just say that there were some antichrists in his day, he said that there were many of them (I John 2:28).  What is the spirit of the antichrist?

The Beast in Revelation 13 makes war against the people of God (Revelation 13:7) and will kill many of them.  Many governments today persecute God’s people (Communists governments, Muslim governments).  They have the same spirit today.  The same spirit is at work in those places.

There is another spirit of antichrist today.  It manifests itself in doctrinal error, especially about Jesus.

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist (I John 4:1-3 NIV)

Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. (I John 2:22 NIV)

Who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  Many do today.  Islam teaches that God has no son.  Jesus is not the son of God.  That is the spirit of the Antichrist.

Six Signs of the Antichrist

What will this man be like?  How do we know when he comes on the scene?  He will have six traits.

1) Demonic Power

The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. (Revelation 13:2 NIV).

He will have power.  He will have more power than anyone in history.  He will have power, a throne and great authority.

Where did he get his authority?  Where did he get his throne?  Where did he get his power?  Satan gave it to him.  He will have supernatural power. He will not just have political power. He will have demonic power.

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; IT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME, AND I CAN GIVE IT TO ANYONE I WANT TO. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:5-7 NIV)

Satan has incredible power.  He is called “the god of this world” and he can give power to anyone he wants.  This does not mean that all governments are devil and demonic.[4]

It does mean that Satan has power and can give other people power, including political power.  During the Tribulation Period, that is exactly what he will do.

2) Global Dominion

And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. (Revelation 13:7 NIV).  He does not just have authority over one people and nation but over EVERY nation.

Many people have tried to conquer the world (Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler) but only the Antichrist will succeed.  Nations will still exist but the Antichrist will have authority over them.

The Antichrist will be a dictator over more people than anyone in history.  He will be worse than Hitler.  He will rule the whole world for three and a half years.  Hitler did not rule the world, only Nazi Germany.

The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast (Revelation 13:3 NIV)

3) Miraculous Signs

Not only will the two witnesses perform miracles in the Tribulation but, after they are gone, there will be miracles associated with the Antichrist and many people will be deceived.

One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. (Revelation 13:3 NIV).  The fatal wound is mentioned three times in this chapter

And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. (Revelation 13:13 NIV)

This mentions not just signs but GREAT SIGNS being performed and that word “signs” is the same word used of the miracles of Jesus.

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24 NIV)

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (II Thessalonians 2:9-11 NIV)

That raises an interesting question.  What is God doing send a delusion.  That is Satan’s job, not God’s job, and yet this verse said that God will not only send a delusion but a POWERFUL DELUSION so that people will believe, not just a lie but THE lie.

That is strange.  Does God send a strong delusion on people because He hates them and wants to damn them?  Does He do it because He wants people to perish?  No.  That is not what is happening here.

The truth had already been rejected,  They rejected the truth.  God wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth but when you reject the truth repeatedly there are consequences.

When people reject the gospel.  They don’t believe it.  They don’t love the Bible.  They can’t stand it.  They delight in sin; they leave themselves open to judgment.

God just reacts to their decision and choice to reject Him.  God allows false miracles to take place and they believe them.  Why?

When people reject the truth, they open themselves up to error.  When they reject the Bible, they end up believing lies.  That still happens today.

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (II Timothy 4:3-4 NIV)

This is not God causing people to reject the gospel.  This is further judgment on people who have already rejected it it.  He uses Satan as his instrument to punish them.

4) False Worship

People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” (Revelation 13:4 NIV)

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. (Revelation 13:8 NIV).

Who will worship him?  People whose names are NOT in the Book of Life.  People whose names are in the Book of Life will NOT worship him.  Why are so many people going to worship him?  They will see the signs and wonders.

5) Blasphemous Words

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. (Revelation 13:5-6 NIV)

Most politicians are arrogant.  They have power so they say whatever they want.  The Antichrist will not only be pompous; he will be profane.  He will blaspheme God.

He will not only blaspheme God, He will do it right in the Temple in Jerusalem and commit the Abomination of Desolation.

 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (II Thessalonians 2:4 NIV)

The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. (Daniel 11:36 NIV)

6) Religious Persecution

It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them (Revelation 13:7 NIV)

He will kill the two witnesses (Revelation 11:7) and persecute the saints (Revelation 13:7).  Daniel says that he will wear out the saints of the Most High (Daniel 7:25).  Next week, we will look at the rest of this chapter.

[1] https://www.ellenwhite.info/us-in-prophecy-07.htm

[2] Arnold Froese (Revelation Thirteen: Satan’s Last Victory [Olive Press, 2009]).

[3] Augustine in the fourth century quotes II Thessalonians 2 and in the fourth century stated, “No one can doubt that he wrote this of Antichrist (City of God, Book 20, Chapter 19).

[4] https://capmin.org/are-all-governments-evil-and-demonic/

 

Spiritual Warfare

Today, we are going to go deep.  You are going to see some things in a way you may have never seen before.  Revelation 12 is a strange chapter.

It deals with angels and demons, Satan and spiritual warfare.  It deals with strange beasts, hideous looking monsters with seven heads and fiery red dragons.

It is a scary chapter.  A big red dragon tries to eat a newborn baby. A woman gives birth to a baby in great pain and agony and a gigantic dragon waits for the baby boy to be pushed out so he could grab it and eat it.  Most mothers do not worry about a monster eating their baby just after they give birth.

That is a little frightening.  It is almost like a horror movie with multi-headed beasts.  You are going to learn a lot about Satan in this chapter.  You are going to learn who he is, what he does, what his names are.

You are going to learn some things in this chapter about Satan that you don’t see anywhere else in the Bible.  There is some really bad news in this chapter and there is some good news for believers.

We learn how to defeat a dragon in this chapter.  Most of us like to win.  Revelation 12 brings us to the topic of spiritual warfare.

Four Introductory Truths

There are four truths that you need to understand about spiritual warfare before we look at Revelation 12.

1) There are two worlds: a visible world and an invisible world.

The Bible teaches this. Jesus created both worlds, according to Paul.

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, VISIBLE and INVISIBLE, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16 NIV)

Skeptics reject the invisible word but there are real things that exist which we cannot see with the naked eye, like atoms.  We can’t see viruses, but they are real.

2) Our greatest enemy is spiritual, not physical.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12 NIV)

We are in a war.  It is a real war against unseen forces of darkness.  It is a spiritual war.  It is a war with invisible spirit beings.

It is a war that you can’t see with your physical eyes.  It is a war with an invisible enemy.  There is a real battle going on around you.  Revelation 12 describes this battle.

If you don’t like fighting, you won’t like Revelation 12.  There is a lot of fighting in Revelation 12.  There are FOUR BATTLES in this chapter.

There is war between the dragon and the woman.  There is war between the dragon and the woman’s baby boy.  There is war between the dragon and the women’s other children.  There is war between the dragon and an archangel.

Satan fights the angels in heaven, and he fights the saints on earth.  Satan fights God.  He fights other angels, and he fights God’s people.

You may have thought that there is only war on earth, but Revelation 12 describes war in heaven as well.

You may have thought that only people fight but in Revelation 12 we see angels fighting angels.  We see good angels fighting bad angels.  We see angels fighting demons.  How they fight is a bit of a mystery.

How do spirit beings fight?  Guns won’t work.  Knives won’t work.  Do they use hand-to-hand combat?  Do they use some type of angelic kung fu or jiu-jitsu?  No one knows.

3) The invisible world affects the visible world.

We see that clearly in Revelation 12.  There is a direct relationship between war in heaven and persecution on earth.  Satan is defeated in heaven.  He is cast out of heaven, sent to earth and he takes it out on the woman and persecutes her.  The chapter describes war in heaven and woe on earth.

4) Revelation 12 describes this battle symbolically.

The way Paul describes spiritual warfare is very different from the way John describes it.  Paul describes it directly.  John uses symbols to describe it.  Why use symbols?

Symbols are sometimes more powerful than words.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  We see hundreds of symbols every day and know instantly what they mean.  A red heart represents love.  John uses some symbols of spiritual warfare in this chapter.

Revelation 12 begins a new section of the book.  It is the sign section of the book.  There are two signs in this chapter: the sign of the woman (Revelation 12:1-2) and the sign of the dragon (Revelation 12:3-4).  The woman is called “a great sign.”  The dragon is called just “another sign.”

The two witnesses were not called signs but these two are called signs.  What does it mean that they are signs?  They are symbolic.  They stand for something.  They represent something.

Now, all of the Bible is not symbolic.  All of Revelation is not symbolic but the highly symbolic part of the book begins in chapter twelve.  There are things in this chapter and the next chapter that you should not take literally.

The Roman Catholic Church takes the woman literally and believes it is the Virgin Mary.  It sounds like an individual woman.  She gives birth to Jesus, which Mary did, and they develop a whole system of theology based on this passage.

This woman has an exalted position.  She is dressed in the Sun, Moon and stars.  She has the Sun and Moon under her feet and twelve stars on her head as a crown.  Mary is the Queen of Heaven.

What they miss here is that the woman in Revelation is a sign. She has the Sun and Moon under her feet.  The Virgin Mary did not have the Sun and Moon under her feet and did not have twelve stars on her head.

This woman also has two wings and flies (Revelation 12:14).  This woman is a sing, not a literal mother.  How do we know for sure?  After Revelation 12, there are three women in Revelation from this chapter on.

There is a woman mentioned in Revelation, 12, Revelation 17 and Revelation 19.  One a mother.  One is a prostitute and one is a bride.  None refer to an individual woman.  They are all symbolic.

The Sun-clothed mother in Revelation 12 is symbolic.  It refers to Israel.  The clue is what she was wearing (Sun, Moon and stars).  That takes you back to Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37.

Israel is described as a pregnant woman in the OT (Isaiah 26:17-18; 66:7-9; Jeremiah 4:31; 13:21; Micah 4:10; 5:3).  The nation of Israel gave birth to the Messiah.  Jesus was Jewish.

Some say that the woman refers to the church but that does not work.  The church did not give birth to Jesus. Jesus gave birth to the church and the church is the bride of Christ, not the mother of Christ.

The great prostitute or harlot in Revelation 17 is not a literal woman.  That woman is the counterfeit bride of Christ.  The bride of Christ in Revelation 19 is also not a literal bride.  It is symbolic of the church, a whole group of people.

The woman is symbolic.  The dragon on is symbolic.  Israel is not really a woman.  Satan is not really red and is not really a dragon.  He does not really have a big, long tail.  The red dragon is just a symbol of Satan.  We have the idea of a red devil, and it comes from Revelation 12.

We add a pitchfork for Halloween, but this is symbolic.  It is not a description of the Devil’s physical appearance. It is a description of his nature and character.

Five Special Characters

There are five characters in Revelation 12.  Four are good and one is bad.  There is a beautiful pregnant woman.  She is not just pregnant; she is in labor and in great pain.

There is a giant multi-headed dragon with an extremely long tail.  He goes after the baby boy.  Then he goes after the mother.  When he can’t get her, he goes after he other children.

There is a helpless baby boy (a male child).  This is not any child.  This child is destined to rule the world.  One day, Jesus will rule the world.  He will rule all the nations with an iron scepter (Revelation 12:5 NIV).  There is a mighty archangel (Michael).  The final character is the woman’s other children.

Three Future Predictions

Part of this chapter is historical (Revelation 12:1-6) and part of it is prophetic (Revelation 12:7-17).  There are three predictions clear from this chapter.

1) The Tribulation will be a period of intense persecution of the Jews

The Tribulation Period will be a period of terrible antisemitism.  Israel will be subject to the worst persecution in the history of the world.  Satan will begin a period of Jewish destruction.  The Antichrist will attempt to kill every Jew on the planet.  It will be worse than the holocaust which killed six million Jews.

How do we know for sure that this is the correct interpretation?  The OT teaches this will take place as well.  It is clear teaching in Scripture.

Jeremiah predicted the Day of Jacob’s Trouble would come on Israel before the return of the Messiah.  Daniel predicted a time of great distress that would come on the nation during this time.  Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 24.  Daniel even mentions the angel Michael during this time, the same angel mentioned in Revelation 12.

7 How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.  8 “‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them. 9 Instead, they will serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. (Jeremiah 30:7-9 NIV)

“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:1-2 NIV)

For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:21-22 NIV).

2) The Tribulation will be a period of divine protection of the Jewish Nation

The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth (Revelation 12:14-16 NIV)

This is symbolic language.  We don’t know how God is going to do it but He is going to protect and preserve the nation from extinction.  The archangel Michael will help save the nation from extinction.

Archangels are assigned to nations and Michael is assigned to Israel.  His special assignment, according to Daniel, is to protect Israel.  During the Tribulation, Israel will experience terrible trouble but will not be destroyed.

3) The Tribulation will be a period of increased satanic activity

This chapter is all about Satan.  If you want to know who Satan is, what he does, read Revelation 12. It is a major passage on Satan.   He has many names in this chapter.

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. (Revelation 12:9 NIV)

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. (Revelation 12:10 NIV).

Notice Satan’s six names in this chapter.  He is the DRAGON.  He is the SERPENT.  He is the DEVIL.  He is SATAN.  He is DECEIVER, the one who leads the whole world astray.  He is the ACCUSER.  He is the accuser of the brethren.

We learn some things about Satan that we are not told anywhere else in the Bible.  Genesis says that a serpent tempted Eve in the garden.  Revelation 12 tells us who the serpent was or who was inside the serpent talking.  Genesis does not mention Satan or the Devil being there.

Ezekiel mentions the fall of Satan.  Revelation 12 is the only passage in the Bible that tells us how many angels followed Satan in his fall.   We are told that his tail knocked a third of the stars out of the sky.  In apocalyptic writings, stars refer to angels (so I Enoch).

When Satan fell, one-third of the angels went with him (Revelation 12:4). We don’t know how many angels God created but if created three billion, then one billion went with Satan.

Satan’s Three Main Activities

In Revelation 12, we learn more information about Satan’s three main activities.  What are his three main activities?

1) Murder

Where do we see this in the chapter?  He tries to kill the woman’s baby just after it is born.  He goes after the woman.  He tries to drown the woman in the wilderness, and he tries to kill her other children.

He is not only a dragon; he is a red dragon.  He is red, because he is a murderer.  He is stained with the blood of billions of people.

I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word…

As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:37, 40-44 NIV)

Satan is a murderer, and his children are just like him.  Murderers are children of the devil.  They act like their father.  Satan motivates people to kill.  He motivated Cain to kill Abel.  He motivates people to kill today.

When Herod wanted to kill Jesus and killed the babies in Bethlehem, he was motivated by Satan.  When you look at all of the murder and bloodshed in the world today, you know where it comes from.

2) Deception

Satan is not only a murderer; he is a deceiver.  He is a liar.  He is not only described as a dragon in this chapter; he is described as a serpent.  He is described as “the one who deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9 NIV).

He leads the whole world astray.  He is a master deceiver.  He deceived Adam and Eve in the garden and is still in the business of deceiving people today.

He deceives people into believing all kinds of things that are not true.  People believe all kinds of false religions and cults.  They are absolutely convinced that their religion is true, but it is false.

Of course, the best antidote to lies is the truth.  If you know the truth, you won’t be deceived.  That is why we need to know the Word.  We need to know what it says from cover to cover or we will be deceived as well and we need the Hoy Spirit to help understand it.

2) Slander

Satan’s third activity in this chapter is slander.  He is called “an accuser of the brethren.”  He is described as “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10 NIV).

When Satan talks to you about God, he is a deceiver.  When he talks to God about you, he is a slanderer.  There is some irony here.  Satan tempts people to sin and then accuses them for doing what he tempted them to do.

The picture here is a courtroom scene. God is the judge sitting on his throne. The word “accuser” is a legal term. Satan is our accuser.  He brings an indictment against us.

He does it day and night.  While we are sleeping, he accuses us.  He accuses us of not being a child of God.  He accuses us of not being saved.  He points out our sins before God.

He is the great accuser of Christians today.  He is watching you every day to see what he can say to accuse you of.  What is he saying about us right now?

Good News for Believers

What is the good news in this chapter?  It has supernatural beings who hates God and His people.  They are scary looking.  Some of them have seven heads.  They are angry and they are powerful.

He must be powerful if his tail knocked out a third of the stars in the sky.   He must be powerful if he got a third of the angels to followed him.  It is still a minority, but he has a lot of helpers.

Satan has his own angels (Revelation 12:7).  He rules over a kingdom of evil angels, and he has power to attack God’s people on earth, so what is the good news?  There is a lot of good news here.  Heaven praises God in this chapter.

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah.  (Revelation 12:10 NIV)

There are three good news for believers in this chapter.

1) Satan’s FATE is sealed

Satan is going to lose in the end.  Everywhere you look in the Bible, Satan is going down.

– He fell in heaven. He sinned and lost his original position in heaven (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28) but continues to have access to heaven (Job 1:6-12; cf. Ephesians 6:12).

– He fell during the ministry of Jesus.  In the Gospels, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18 NIV).  His power was broken during exorcisms.

– He fell on the cross. He was defeated on the cross.  The moment Christ died, Satan and his angels were defeated.  Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out (John 12:31 NIV)

– He will fall during the Tribulation Period. In Revelation 12, he is tossed out of heaven.  He is banished from heaven.  He won’t be able to go up there anymore.  There will be no more accuser in heaven.  He will be thrown down to the earth.

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation 20:9 NIV)

– He will be thrown into the Abyss before the Millennium. He will go from the earth to the Abyss.  He is not only thrown into the Abyss; it is locked and sealed, so he cannot get out (Revelation 20:3).

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended (Revelation 20:2-3 NIV).

– Finally, Satan will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Revelation 20:15 NIV).

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

2) Satan’s TIME is limited

He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. (Revelation 12:12 NIV).  Satan’s time is limited.  It is limited to forty-two months (Revelation 11:2; 13:4-5).

3) Satan’s POWER is limited

Satan is powerful but he is not all powerful.  He can be defeated.  Michael defeats him in heaven.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 BUT HE WAS NOT STRONG ENOUGH and they lost their place in heaven (Revelation 20:7-8 NIV)

He will be defeated in heaven, and we can defeat him on earth.  We can overcome him.

How to Defeat the Dragon

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:11 NIV)

This tells us how Satan can be defeated. It is the most important statement in the whole chapter. It says, “they triumphed him”. It does not say “Jesus overcame him”.  It says, “they overcame him”.  How did they do it?  Three ways.

1) By the blood of Jesus

How do we overcome the devil by the blood?   The only hope for sinners before we are saved is the blood of Jesus.  The only hope for us after we are saved is the blood of Jesus.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:1-2 NIV)

When Satan accuses us in heaven.  He is heaven’s prosecuting attorney but there is a lawyer who defends us before a righteous God and His name is Jesus.  He our defense attorney (I John 2:1).  He died as a sacrifice for all of our sins.  His blood is our only hope.  Are you trusting in Jesus’ blood or something else?

2) By public testimony

To have a testimony, you have to be saved.  A clear public testimony for Jesus Christ is an effective weapon against Satan. This is a way in which Satan is overcome. When we witness and lead others to Christ, Satan is defeated.

No one can say anything about your testimony.  They can argue about religion and theology all day, but they can’t argue with how God has completely changed your life.  There is no answer to that.  Do you have a testimony?

3) By martyrdom

Satan is overcome, not just by blood and words but by actions (they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death). They would rather die than deny Christ.

Jesus said, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25 NIV)

What is that all about?  One way they defeated the devil was through martyrdom.  It looks like the devil won but he actually lost because they did not renounce their faith.  Do you love your life?  Do you love Jesus?   Would you be willing to give up your life for Him or do you love your life more than you love Him?

Two Powerful Preachers

Who is the greatest preacher that you have ever heard?  Who is the greatest preacher in history? Who was the greatest preacher of all time?

Was it D. L. Moody?  Was it Charles Wesley?  Was it Jonathon Edwards or Charles Haden Spurgeon?  Was it Billy Graham or Billy Sunday?

Today, we are going to be looking at two powerful preachers.  The church has never seen anything like these preachers.  The world has not either.

They will come on the scene in the future during the Tribulation Period.  These will be end-time preachers.  They will be Spirit-filled preachers.  They will be fire-breathing preachers.

There are plenty of preachers like that today.  They get all worked up.  They scream and yell, but they do it from the flesh.

Many screaming preachers have very little biblical content.  They just like to scream at the top of their lungs.  They are angry preachers.  These will be Spirit-filled preachers.

They will be miracle-working preachers.  Most preachers today are not miracle workers, except for charismatic pastors.  These witnesses will breathe fire and shut heaven.  They can stop it from raining.  They will have the power to turn water into blood.

They will have supernatural powers.  Their message will be authenticated with stupendous miracles.

They will be miracle working, Spirit-filled preachers.  They will not just be preachers; they will be prophets, real prophets, like the prophets we see in the OT who spoke with authority.

They will not be prophets like in some Christian churches today.  We have all kinds of people claiming to be have a word from God for people but they cannot distinguish their words from God’s Words

They say that God told them all kinds of things that he didn’t say.  They make all kinds of predictions that never take place.  These will be real prophets. These will be fire-breathing prophets.

God says, “I will grant authority to my two witnesses” (Revelation 11:3 ESV).  They will be given special authority that we do not have today

Revelation 11 deals with three main topics: the MEASURING of the temple, the MINISTRY of God’s two witnesses and the MUSIC of the seventh trumpet.

There are TWO WTINESSES in this chapter and there are TWO TEMPLES in this chapter.  There is on at the beginning and one at the end of the chapter (one in heaven and one on earth).

It is a Jewish chapter.  It describes a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, the city where Jesus died.  It describes the ministry and murder of these two prophets, as well as their glorification.

A Controversial Chapter

There are two completely different ways to read this chapter.  What you hear from one preacher may be completely different from what you hear from another preacher.  If you hear two sermons by different pastors on Revelation 11, they may sound very differently.

What is the big controversy?  Some take the chapter almost all literally and some take it all symbolically.  Both interpretations are wrong, although one is closer to the truth, as we will see.  Let’s look at the two main interpretations.

Symbolic Interpretation

One view that is very popular in many churches is that this chapter is symbolic.  Just about everything is symbolic.  The numbers are symbolic.  Forty-two months is symbolic.  It doesn’t mean forty-two months.

Temple doesn’t mean temple.  It means the church.  The church is described as God’s temple.  Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19).  We are a spiritual temple.

The two witnesses are not two men.  They are symbolic. They are symbolic of the church.  The church is described as a lampstand.  They represent believers in every age, according to this view.

F.F. Bruce, a respectable scholar, says that the two witnesses represent the church “in its royal and priestly functions.”[1]  There are some similarities to the church.

The church is to be God’s witnesses on earth, like these two were.  That is to be the mission of the church.

The church is hated by the world, like these two witnesses were.  Jesus said that the world would hate us (John 15:18-19).

Many Christians are martyred all over the world, like these two were but these two do NOT represent the church.  They CANNOT represent the church.

If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die (Revelation 11:5 NIV)

Does that describe the church today?  Does God kill anyone who wants to harm Christians?  No.  In fact, instead of fire killing the persecutors of Christians, many Christians have been burned at the stake.

The church is to love their enemies (Matthew 5:44) and to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).  They are not to return evil for evil (Romans 12:17).  They are to return good for evil (I Peter 3:9).

They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. (Revelation 11:6 NIV)

Does that describe the church today?  Does the church today control the weather?  Does it stop the rain, turn waters into blood and strike the earth with plagues and do it as often as they want to do it?  No

Some Christians perform miracles.  They heal the sick and cast out demons but do not strike people with plagues.  They do not turn water into blood. That is not a description of the church today or of the church throughout history.

It is not even a description of even the charismatic branch of the church.  You really have to stretch the text and completely spiritualize it to come up with that interpretation.

Literal Interpretation

The other view takes this chapter literally.  People mean people.  Places mean places. Numbers mean numbers.  Temple means temple.  Forty-two months means forty-two months and the two witnesses are two literal men who will have a ministry in Jerusalem during the Tribulation Period.

They do not stand for two churches or two groups of people but are two men who will have a ministry in Jerusalem during the Tribulation Period.  Here we see the power of two.

The Bible says, “two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).  God will not send just one witness.  He will send two witnesses.  He sent the Apostles out two by two.

Many today don’t believe in the literal interpretation, but that is exactly the way the earliest Christians read this passage.  The very first person to write a commentary on Revelation held this view.

His name was Victorinus.  Victorinus believed these were two literal prophets who will be killed by the Antichrist in the future.[2]  He lived in the third century.

Hippolytus lived in the second century to the beginning of the third century.  Hippolytus also believed these were two literal men who will live during the time of the future Antichrist.[3]

No one takes everything in the chapter literally.  The city of Jerusalem is not literally Sodom, and it is not literally Egypt.  It is symbolically Sodom and Egypt.  We are told that in Revelation 11:8.

The two witnesses are not literal lampstands, and they are not literal olive trees, even though they are called this in Revelation 11:4.  These are metaphors.

These men are lampstands.  They shine the light in a dark place or hold up the light.  They are olive trees.  They represent the Holy Spirit.  It comes right out of Zechariah 4.

That is the famous passage that says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).

Who are the Two Witnesses?

We don’t know who they are for sure.  The Bible doesn’t say, but a strong case can be made that they will be Moses and Elijah, the two greatest prophets of the OT.  They were the same two that appeared at the Transfiguration with Jesus.

The two witnesses perform the same miracles that Moses and Elijah did.  Moses turned water into blood.  Moses smote the earth with all kinds of plagues (a plague of boils, gnats, frogs, flies, etc.).

Elijah was known for drought and fire.  He stopped the rain (1 Kgs 17:1; 18:1) for three and a half (Luke 4:25; James 5:17).  He called fire down from heaven (II Kings 1).

In addition, it is a common Jewish belief to this day that before the Messiah returns, Elijah will come.[4]

See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (Malachi 4:6 NIV)

Before Jesus came the first time, John the Baptist came to prepare the way “in the spirit of Elijah” (Luke 1:17).  Before Jesus comes a second time, another Elijah will help prepare the way.

Seven Prophecies of Revelation 11

Today, we want to look at the end times, according to Revelation 11.  We want to look at seven prophecies found in this chapter.

1) God’s temple will be rebuilt

John was given a measuring rod in this chapter and was told to measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers (Revelation 11:1).  This temple had an outer court and an inner court.  What was he measuring?  You can’t measure something that is not there.

He was measuring a temple but what temple?  He was not measuring a temple in his day because there wasn’t one.  It had been destroyed.  When John wrote Revelation, there was no temple in Jerusalem.

Most scholars believe Revelation was written around 95 AD.  The Romans destroyed Herod’s Temple in 70 AD.  They destroyed it twenty-five years earlier.

The Tribulation will be a time of rebuilding.  In John’s day, there was no temple.  In our day, there is no temple in Jerusalem but in the Tribulation apparently there will be one.

Many Christians believe that the temple will be rebuilt.  Many Christians do not believe it.  The Jews have not had a temple in over two thousand years.  There is a Muslim shrine on the Temple Mount now.

The church is described as a temple.  Paul said that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19).  Christ our lamb has been sacrificed for us.  He is our Passover Lamb.  The sacrifices of the temple were fulfilled in Him.

There are several reasons why I believe there will be a Jewish temple rebuilt during the Tribulation Period.

One, Daniel said that there would be a Tribulation Temple

He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the TEMPLE he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” (Daniel 9:27 NIV)

Two, Jesus said that there would be a Tribulation Temple

 “So when you see standing in the HOLY PLACE ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Matthew 24:15-16 NIV)

Three, Paul said that there will be a Tribulation Temple

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in GOD’S TEMPLE, proclaiming himself to be God. (II Thessalonians 2:3-4 NIV)

Four, John said that there will be a Tribulation Temple

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the TEMPLE OF GOD and the altar, with its worshipers. (Revelation 11:1 NIV)

Five, the early church believed there will be a Tribulation Temple

“But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds.” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 30, Sec 4)

Irenaeus lived in the second century.  He was from Smyrna.  According to tradition, he was a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of the Apostle John.

2) God’s city will be trampled

The Tribulation will be a time of antisemitism.  Antisemitism is demonic and yet hatred of the Jewish people has existed in the past.  It exists in the present.

There are Muslim nations that hate Israel and want to wipe them off the map.  Antisemitism existed not only in the past and present but will exist in the future.

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months (Revelation 11:1-2 NIV)

God’s temple stands but God’s city is trampled.  That is why part of the temple is to be measured but not the other part because the temple represents the city.

Jerusalem will be divided.  It is divided today.  In the Tribulation, part of it will belong to the Jews and part of it will belong to the Gentiles and they will trample their part of the city for forty-two months (Revelation 11:2). We will see even more antisemitism, as we look at Revelation 12.

3) God’s message will be proclaimed

The Tribulation Period will be a time of anointed preaching.  It will be a time of powerful preaching.  These two witnesses will preach.  They will have a testimony to give (Revelation 11:7).

These will be old time preachers.  They will look strange and have a strange message.  They will prophesy (Revelation 11:3) which does not just mean that they will predict the future.  They will have a word directly from God, and they will proclaim it boldly and unapologetically.

They will not look like preachers today.  These preachers will not wear fancy clothes, like the TV evangelists.  They will not wear designer clothes.  They will wear sackcloth.

They will not sound like preachers today.  They wont say what people want to hear, like the prosperity preachers.  “God wants you to have a million dollars.”

They will not be all positive like Joel Osteen.  They will have a message of repentance and judgment.  They will preach against sin.  They will be direct.  They will be confrontational.

They will be biblical.  They will be uncompromising.  They will be fearless.  They won’t care what people think of them.

They will not be seeker sensitive.  They won’t be politically correct.  They won’t be woke.  They won’t be popular.

These prophets will speak truth boldly.  They won’t apologize for it.  They will not worry about offending anyone.

That is why people will hate them.  These prophets will torment people with their message.  We are told these two prophets “tormented those who live on the earth” (Revelation 11:10 NIV).

They will have a ministry in Jerusalem to Jews.  They will call Israel to their Messiah.  Many will come to faith through their preaching.

Their preaching will result in a revival.  Good preaching often results in revival.  These two witnesses will help bring about the salvation of Israel.

Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:13 NIV).

4) God’s power will be demonstrated

The Tribulation Period will be a time of incredible miracles.  These witnesses will not just say some things. They won’t just preach. They will perform miracles.

They are not really miracles as we think of them.  They are really supernatural acts of judgment.  They will have four miraculous powers but not the signs and wonders associated with the charismatic movement.

5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. (Revelation 11:5-6 NIV)

They are mentioned in two verses.  They are all negative.  These two witnesses will have power over four things.  They will have power over WEATHER. They can stop the rain. They will have power over NATURE. They can turn water into blood.

They will have power over their ENEMIES. No one will be able to hurt them, and they will have power over HEALTH. They can actually cause plagues to come on people and not just plagues but every kind of plague. That is strange.  They will be able to make people sick.  That does not sound like your ordinary charismatic preacher.

They will have miracles performed when they are alive, and miracles performed after they died.  They will rise from the dead and ascend into heaven.

We need supernatural power today but not that kind of power.  We want the power to help people, not hurt people, although you might want to have that kind of power with some people just occasionally.

5) God’s people will be supernaturally protected

If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die (Revelation 11:5 NIV)

The Tribulation will be a time of divine protection.  These two witnesses will be invincible.  They will be immortal.  They will be hated but no one can hurt them, and no one can kill them.  No one can arrest them.  For a time, they will be completely untouchable.

They will have supernatural protection and they will need it in the Tribulation Period.  They will have not only supernatural power but supernatural protection.  We need to pray for God’s protection today.  We need supernatural protection today.

6) God’s people will experience persecution

The Tribulation Period will be a time of persecution.  It will be a time of intense persecution, satanic persecution.  We saw that earlier in Revelation.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” (Revelation 6:9-10 NIV)

Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.  Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. (Revelation 11:8-10 NIV)

Not only will these two witnesses be killed, people will hate them so much that they will just leave their bodies unburied and they will celebrate their death.  They celebrate the death of Christians.  They rejoice when God’s people are killed.

7) God’s people will be divinely honored

But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. (Revelation 11:11-12 NIV)

Notice how the section ends.  Everyone is celebrating and partying that God’s men are killed and suddenly they come alive right before their eyes and stood up and everyone was terrified.  Then they ascend to heaven right before their eyes.  Those that the world hated and despised, God honored and rewarded.

The chapter ends with the sounding of the Seven Trumpet.  When the trumpet is blown, three things happen: angels in heaven worship, the saints in heaven worship and God’s temple is opened.  They are worshipping because judgment is finally coming, and Jesus will reign forever and ever.

[1] F.F. Bruce, “Revelation” in New international Bible Commentary (Zondervan, 1979), 1612.

[2] https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm

[3] Hippolytus, On Christ and Antichrist, 43ff.

[4] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111833/jewish/Elijah-the-Prophet.htm

 

Eat the Book

We have been studying the Book of Revelation.  Today, we come to Revelation 10.  It is a small chapter.  It is only eleven verses long, but it is not the shortest chapter in Revelation.  That is Revelation 15.  It is only eight verses long.

This chapter is small and raises a lot of questions.  Who is the mighty angel?  What is the little book in his hand?  What are the seven thunders?  Why are they sealed?  Why is John told to not write it down?  Why is John told to eat a book? This chapter deals with book eating.  Why would John eat a book?  How do you eat a book?

Revelation 10 is also supernatural.  John has an angelic visitation.  He gets a revelation.  He got a revelation that he was not allowed to share with anyone.

Revelation 10 deals with about John, a really big angel and a little book.  One preacher entitled it, “A Mighty Angel, Accomplished Mystery & A Tasty Scroll”[1]

We are looking at the Trumpet Judgments in the Tribulation Period which will bring utter devastation on the earth and on people, as God’s Wrath is unleashed on the earth.

Many of these chapters are a bit depressing with all of these plagues and judgments falling on people.  There is an invasion of demons on the earth.  A horde of demons from hell invade the planet and people want to kill themselves.

There are demon locusts which tortured people for five months and a demonic army which wipes out a third of the population.  It does not result in repentance.  A big revival does not break out when this happens.  No one gets saved.  it is all bad news.

Revelation 10 is very different. It is like a breath of fresh air. It is much more positive than negative. It is not depressing at all. No one dies in this chapter. No one is tortured.  No one gets stung by a demonic insect.

God gives us a break from all of the disasters that are taking place on earth. So far, we have seen six trumpets blown.  We would expect to hear the sound of the seventh trumpet.  But we do not hear that trumpet sound until we get to the next chapter (Revelation 11:19).

Instead of encountering a horde of demon locusts, John encounters a heavenly angel.  John sees a spectacular angel coming out of the sky and down to earth

This was not any angel.  It was a special angel.  This angel was wrapped in a cloud.  This angel had a rainbow over his head.  This angel was bright.  He was shiny.

We are told that “his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars” (Revelation 10:1 NIV)He had these legs of fire and his face shined like the Sun.

This was a mighty angel.  He was really strong.  There are no weak Pee Wee Herman angels but, apparently, some angels are stronger than others.  He was not only strong; he was tall.  He was gigantic.

He had one foot on the land and one foot on the sea (Revelation 10:5), like a conqueror taking possession of his territory.  It was like someone taking dominion over a territory.

Debate Over the Mighty Angel

Who is this mighty angel?  Many believe this is a divine being.  Some good scholars hold this view.  Some of the best commentaries on Revelation believe this is a theophany (so Greg Beale[2], David Aune[3]). Many believe that this angel is Jesus.  The word “angel” in Greek just means messenger.

The angel descends from heaven in a cloud. It is how God appeared in a in the OT.  He appeared in a cloud (the Shekinah glory cloud).  Jesus will return with clouds (Revelation 1:7)

The face of this angel is as bright as the Sun. The face of the glorified Christ was as bright as the Sun (Revelation 1:16).

The feet of this angel were pillars of fire. Jesus had feet like bronze glowing in a furnace (Revelation 1:15 NIV).

This angel roars like a lion.  God roared like a lion in Scripture (Amos 1:2; Joel 3:16; Hosea 11:10). Jesus was compared to a lion earlier in the book.  He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5).

These are interesting arguments, but this is probably just an angel.  He is not God but he does represent God, and speak for God.  He is called “ANOTHER mighty angel” (Revelation 10:1)  There are two other mighty angels in Revelation (Revelation (5:2; 18:21).

First, Jesus is never called an angel in the Book of Revelation or anywhere else in the NT.  Jesus is never called a mighty angel in Scripture.  He is described as an angel in the OT (“the angel of the Lord”).

Second, this angel takes an oath.  To take an oath is to call on a higher power or person to witness the truthfulness of a statement. People did this all of the time in the OT. God can take an oath but the only one he can swear by is himself, because there is no one greater than God (Hebrews 6:13-17).

This angel does NOT swear by himself. He lifts up his hands and swears to the one who lives forever and ever. He swears to the one who created the world (Revelation 10:6). There was another angel in the OT who did something similar (Daniel 12:7).

This angel also took an oath.  Some groups believe it is a sin to take an oath.  Mennonites believe it is a sin.

It is not a sin to take an oath.  Paul took an oath (II Corinthians 1:23).  Angels took oaths.  This one in Revelation 10 did.  When Jesus was on trial, He testified under oath (Matthew 26:63-64).  If you go to court and have to testify under oath, that is not wrong.

I had jury duty a few weeks ago.  It was a criminal case.  When I arrived, I came to a room with about forty or fifty people.  There were couches and tables and Bibles everywhere.

One cranky old lady went up to Meredith Edwards, the clerk of court, and said, “I have a complaint.  Why are there so many Bibles here?  I feel like I am in church.”

That grumpy old lady needed to go to church but, as it turned out, the reason there were so many Bibles in the room, was because according to NC Law all jurors have to take an oath.  They have to be sworn in.  Many like to do that holding a Bible.  What oath does this angel take?

Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” (Revelation 10:5-7 NIV)

The KJV gives a mistranslation to Revelation 10:6. It says, “that there should be time no longer.”  You might get the impression from the KJV that when the Seventh Trumpet is blown, time (χρόνος) will cease.

There is a hymn that talks about heaven as a place when time will be no more but that is a compete myth. There will be time in heaven. We saw in Revelation 8 that there was silence for a half an hour in heaven. Even in the eternal state there will be time. We are told that the tree of life will yield different fruit each month (Revelation 22:2).

Even after the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet, time does not completely stop. You still have a thousand-year kingdom.  A better translation is “There will be no more delay,” not “There will be no more time.”

What happens when the Seventh Trumpet is blown?  When the Seventh Trumpet is blown, the seven bowls will be poured out.  Tribulation will be over.  Judgment will be complete.  Human history as we know it will come to an end.

John sees this tall, strong angel descending from heaven, shining like the Sun.  This angel was not only strong, tall and bright, he was loud, really loud.  Many things in heaven are loud. When he shouted, we are told that the voices of the seven thunders spoke.

and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.” (Revelation 10:3-4 NIV).

A revelation about the future came from this angel, the revelation of the seven thunders.

The Seven Thunders

And he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.” (Revelation 10:3-4 NIV)

We are not sure how thunder can speak but these thunders spoke.  John heard them.  He understood.  When he started to do this, a voice from heaven said, “Do not write it down” (10:4). It is the only time in the book that John was ordered NOT to write down what he saw.

How many of us have been told by our spouse, “I have a secret but you can’t tell anyone.”  Some of us have trouble keeping a secret but John knew something probably about future events (since Revelation is prophetic) that he was not allowed to share.

The first part of the chapter, there were some things that John was not allowed to tell.  The second part of the chapter, he heard some things that he was allowed to tell.  He was commanded to tell.  He was given one prohibition and one command in this chapter.

God told John what the seven thunders were.  He was not allowed to tell us.  We don’t know what the seven thunders said.  John knew what they were and was about to write it down.  He heard what they said but was not allowed to write it down or tell anyone.

What did the seven thunders say?  We don’t know.  They have been sealed (Revelation 10:4), but if you want to find out, you can go on the Internet.  There are all kinds of websites which tell you about what they said.

They claim they have an important message for America.  Some Seventh Day Adventists say they know what they are, but we have no idea what the seven thunders are.  They have been sealed.

Then he told me, ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. (Revelation 22:10 NIV)

The Book of Revelation is not a closed book.  It is an open book.  It is a revelation.  It is an unveiling.  The Book of Revelation is not sealed, except for the seven thunders.  Only one part is sealed (not disclosed).

John was not the only one who was not allowed to tell what he saw.  The same thing happened to the Apostle Paul.  Both John and Paul were not permitted to share some supernatural things that God showed them.  We do not have any revelations that we are not allowed to share with people.

Paul’s Supernatural Experiences

In II Corinthians 12, Paul gives his personal testimony.  Paul had a lot of supernatural experiences.  He saw Jesus more than once.  He saw the Resurrected Christ on the Damascus Road.  Before he became a Christian, Jesus appeared to him.

In Acts 22, Paul was in Jerusalem and was praying in the temple and he fell into a trance and saw Jesus (Acts 22:17-21).

In Acts 23, Jesus appeared to Paul again, while he was in prison in Jerusalem (Acts 23:11) but Paul not only saw Jesus several times on earth, he went to heaven.  He was transported to the third heaven.  Three times, John saw Jesus on earth.

Once, he actually went to Heaven.  He was “caught up” to paradise (II Corinthians 12:4).  The word “caught up” is the same word used in I Thessalonians 4 of the rapture of the church (ἁρπάζω).  We will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord.

12 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell…

because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 
(II Corinthians 12:1-4 NIV)

Paul was raptured to heaven.  He saw some things and heard amazing things and he never told anyone about them.  In fact, he never told anyone for fourteen years.

Who would take a trip to heaven and wait for fourteen years to tell anyone?  If that happened today to us, we would share it, go on TV, write a book or start a ministry.

It is not wrong to do those things, but Paul was FORBIDDEN to tell anyone what he saw.  John had a vision of the Lamb on his throne worshipped by all kinds of angels.  He was allowed to tell us what he saw.  He was commanded to write what he saw.

Apparently, this trip to heaven was just for Paul.  It wasn’t for anyone else.  Why?  No one knows, but I have a theory.  This trip to heaven took place in 44 AD before any of his missionary journeys.[4] The reason he was taken to heaven was to prepare him for his three missionary journeys.

He was going to face some very difficult things.  He was going to suffer greatly.  He was going to be beaten, stoned with rocks and eventually martyred.  He needed this trip to heaven before he left for the missionary field.

Paul said, “because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh” (II Corinthians 12:7).

Paul’s trip to heaven led to pride, so God had to use some thorn therapy to treat it, as Church Swindoll calls it.[5]  He still uses thorns to humble us today.  They come in different forms.

Paul doesn’t tell us what his thorn in the flesh was, but it was something that kept him humble.  He implies that it was something physical, and it was demonically caused.  Paul came back from heaven and faced a demon from hell, a messenger of Satan.

We do know that getting a thorn stuck in your body is painful.  The greatest experience of Paul’s life was followed by the most painful experience of Paul’s life.  Paul prayed for God to remove it several times.  God said No.  Even apostles did not always get what they wanted when they prayed.

The TV preachers would have to say that Paul must not have had enough faith, but Paul had plenty of faith.  What Paul says at the end of the chapter is that this thorn taught Paul a lesson. Paul learned some things from his thorn in the flesh that he did not learn from heaven.

What is the lesson for us today from the Revelation 10 for us today?  Two very important lessons for us come right out of this chapter.

Practical Applications

1) Lesson from the Seven Thunders

What do we learn from the seven thunders?  We learn a very important truth.  It is a lesson that many Christians have not learned.  There are some things are hidden and some things are revealed.

We like it when things are revealed.  What we don’t like it that some things are hidden but the Bible teaches both.  There are actually three types of mysteries in Scripture.

Three Kinds of Mysteries

1) God reveals things that were previously hidden

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25-27 NIV)

There are some mysteries in the OT that were not revealed until the NT.

2) God reveals things to some people but not others

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have HIDDEN these things from the wise and learned, and REVEALED them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. (Luke 10:21 NIV)

That is not the God that most Christians worship – a God who hides things as well as reveal things.  Not only does He do it but Jesus thanked God that He does it.

3) God’s revelation is only partial

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV).

God does not reveal everything, even to us.  There are some things not even revealed to us.  They are secrets.  God has some secrets.  Notice the two things mentioned in this passage.

There are SECRET THINGS and there are REVEALED THINGS.  There are things that God has revealed.  We have sixty-six books of revealed truth, inspired truth but there are also secret things.

The seven thunders are secret things.  God revealed the seven seals.  He revealed the seven bowls and the seven trumpets, but he did not reveal the seven thunders.

What does this mean?  It means that there are things about the future that God has not told us.  We do not know everything.  Be careful of people who claim to know everything about end-times.  God has not told us everything.

Be careful about preachers who think they know everything.  They have prophetic charts and think they have a complete picture of end-time events but there are some things we can’t know.

There are mysteries, not only about the future but about our own life.  There are all kinds of questions about our own life that we don’t understand and may never understand.

Why is there evil in the world?  Why does God allow it?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why do babies die?  Why do people get cancer?

There were things that happened to Job that he did not understand.  He lost his family.  He lost his health.  He lost his wealth, and he did not know why.

There are things we may not understand why things happen in our own life.  God has not told us everything.  Some things are secrets.  There are things we don’t need to know right now and will not find out until we get to heaven.

2) Lesson from the Little Book

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’”

10 I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” (Revelation 10:8-11 NIV)

John sees a giant angel, shining as bright as the Sun, with a little book in his hand.  Apparently, angels in heaven like to read but I don’t think they like fiction

It was really not a book as we know it.  They did not have those in John’s day.  It was a little scroll. .  John hears a voice from heaven that tells him to take the little book and eat it.  The book is for him.

When he took it, the angel told him to eat it.  The same thing happened to Ezekiel.  He was given a scroll and told to eat it.  John took a bite out of this scroll that the angel held and ate it.

Chuck Swindoll once said that this was “God’s recipe for Sweet and Sour Scroll.”  We are told what it tasted like.

It was sweet but it gave him heartburn. John needed some Rolaids after eating this scroll. My wife once commented that what John needed was some Scrollaids.

Why was this book both bitter and sweet?  We don’t know exactly what the book was.  Some say it contained the contents of Revelation 16.  We know it contained a revelation of future events.

It was sweet because it was God’s Word, and it was bitter because it was a word of judgment.  That is a hard message to communicate to others.  The Bible contains warnings and promises.

The Bible speaks of heaven and hell. It speaks of sin and forgiveness. It talks about the love of God. It also talks about the wrath of God. It talks about the mercy of God, but it also talks about the judgment of God.

John was given a message to give to people.  It was a prophetic message.  Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” (Revelation 10:11 NIV).

Before he preached, he was to absorb, digest and assimilate the contents of the message.  The prophet of God was to “let the word of God affect him first before he ministers it to others”[6]

We have a message to share with people as well.  God’s Word is is to be food to us, just like it was to Ezekiel and John.  It is compared to bread.  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds. out of the mouth of God.

God’s Word is compared to milk.  It is compared to meat (Hebrews 5:11-14).  Some Christians just have a milk diet.  They do not want anything too deep.  Milk is great for baby Christians.  Mature Christians need more than milk to grow.

It is compared to honey.  David said, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103 NIV).

What God told John and Ezekiel; he tells us to do.  We are to feed on the Word of God daily.  God’s Word is not just a weapon to be used against false teachers and demons.  It is food for us to eat.

We are to eat all of God’s Word, not just a few parts of it.  That is why we study books of the Bible.  When we finish one, we start another one.  We do not just do NT books; we study OT books as well.

[1] https://www.bethelottawa.org/sermons/a-mighty-angel-accomplished-mystery-a-tasty-scroll-revelation-101-11/

[2] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 523.

[3] David E. Aune, Revelation 6–16, vol. 52B, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 557–558.

[4] Ralph Martin, II Corinthians, Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 40), Second Edition, p. 1295.

[5] https://insight.org/general/epochal-events/individual/the-pride-ripping-role-of-thorn-therapy1

[6] Charles Ryrie, Revelation, p. 69.

Demonology 101

We are studying the Book of Revelation, the only prophetic book in the NT. It is the only book of the NT that deals with the future.  It deals with things to come.

Right now, we are in the future period of time called The Tribulation.  It is not just tribulation in general.  It is called in the Book of Revelation “the Great Tribulation” (Revelation 7:14).  Believers will suffer the wrath of man.  Many will be martyred.  Unbelievers will experience the wrath of God.

During the Tribulation, God’s wrath will be unleashed on a sinful and wicked world.  During that time, the world will encounter, not the love and compassion of Jesus.  They will encounter judgment.  They will experience wrath, “the Wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16)

These judgments come in three forms: seals, trumpets, and bowls.  Seven seals are opened.  Seven trumpets are blown.  Seven bowls are poured out and judgment follows each time, different levels of judgment.   They take different forms.

Some of these judgments affect nature.  The first four trumpets affected nature.  Some of them affect people directly.  We will see that today.

Some of these judgments seem natural.  They seem almost providential (disease, famine, warfare).  Other judgments are supernatural.  Some are brought by angels.  Others are brought by demons.

Today, we are going to be talking about demons.  We are going to see what demons are and what they do.  We are also going to see how to overcome demons from this chapter.

There is demonic activity in our world today.  All you have to do is to turn the TV on for one day to see what is going on, but the Tribulation Period, it will be even greater, and it will come from even worse demons than the ones at work in the world today.  Hell will be unleashed on earth.

Right before the return of Christ, there will be an invasion of demons on the earth.  There will be an increase of demonic activity on the earth.  There was a rise of demonic activity on earth right before the Flood.

Jesus said when He comes back that it will be just like it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:47).  Hell will be unleashed on earth.  Franklin Graham said recently, “every demon from hell” has been “turned loose” in our culture today.

The demons in this chapter will NOT attack believers.  They will be attack unbelievers.  They cannot hurt believers.  They cannot hurt anyone with the seal of God on their forehead (Revelation 9:4; 7:3).

These demons know who the unbelievers are.  Jesus knows who His sheep are.  He calls them by name.  The demons also know who they are.  They recognize them but they will not be able to attack them in the Tribulation Period.

Revelation 9 describes two demonic invasions on earth.  It describes on invasion of DEMONIC LOCUSTS, and it describes an army of DEMONIC HORSEMEN.  There will be an invasion of demonic locusts from the bottomless pit.

These will be locusts from hell, demons from the pit. There will also be a huge demonic army of two hundred million horsemen.  One third of the planet will be killed by these demons (Revelation 9:18).

If you think that demonic activity in the world is bad now, it will be ten times worse in the tribulation Period.

During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. (Revelation 9:6 NIV)

That is not happening right now.  Unbelievers are not being stung by locusts and the pain is so great they will not only want to die but try to die but it won’t work.

It is a terrible picture.  It is actually a picture of hell. People will be tormented but never die. That is the way that Hell is described in the Bible. In fact, the word “tormented” and “torment” (Revelation 9:5) in Greek is used later in the book to describe Hell (Revelation 14:10-11).

It is going to be so bad that you are going to think that God is not possible is control.  Evil is in control.  Every time, we see some monstrous evil committed on earth or some terrible natural disaster, we wonder where God is.  Why did He allow it.

The reality of evil is one of the biggest obstacles to faith in Jesus.  That is why many do not become Christians.  It is because of the problem of evil.

The big shock of the chapter is that God is not surprised by what happened.  He is not bothered by what happened.  In fact, He caused it but, as we will see, He is completely sovereign over evil.

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star WAS GIVEN the key to the shaft of the Abyss. (Revelation 9:1 NIV)

And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very HOUR and DAY and MONTH and YEAR were released to kill a third of mankind. (Revelation 9:15 NIV)

God controls exactly WHEN they are released, to the very day and hour.  He controls HOW LONG they are released.  They are only released for five months (Revelation 9:5).  He controlled WHAT they were allowed to do (torture, not kill).  He also controlled WHO they were allowed to attack (unbelievers)

Demons are powerful but they are on a leash.  If God is sovereign over this evil, He is sovereign over the evil that takes places in the world today.  He is sovereign over any evil that takes place in our life as well.

Myths about Demons

Let’s talk about demons.  There are many myths about demons.  Here are four things that demons are not.

1) Demons are NOT just evil forces in our world today

They are more than abstract impersonal forces.  They are supernatural beings.  They are not just metaphors.

2) Demons are NOT just addictions

Demons are more than bad habits.  They are more than sins.  Every sin is not a demon (lust demon, a cigarette demon).  We talk about people battling personal demons, but they are not just figures of speech.

3) Demons are NOT just diseases

Demons can cause diseases.  Satan gave Job some boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head (Job 2:7).

There was a woman in Luke 13 “who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent over double, and could not straighten up at all” (Luke 13:11 NASB).

We are specifically told that this was caused by a demon but not every medical condition is demonic.  Mental illness is not the same thing as demonic possession.  Some people just have a chemical imbalance and when they get that problem fixed, they are fine.

4) Demons are NOT the spirits of dead people

That is the view in Hollywood.  You see it in many horror movies, like Michael Myers, Freddie Kruger, like the Halloween movies and A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Demons are not the spirts of bad people who died.

The Nature of Demons

1) Demons are fallen angels

Demons are fallen angels.  When Satan sinned and fell, he took a third of the angels in heaven with him (Revelation 12:4).  They are his angels (Revelation 12:7; Matthew 25:41).  Satan’s angels are called demons.

2) Some are worse than others

Some people are worse than others (mass murderers, serial killers, child molesters and rapists).  All demons are bad, but some are worse than others.

Most demons that roam the planet are not incarcerated.  Some are so bad that God locked them up.  Some people are in jail because they are so bad.  Some demons are in jail because they are so bad.

And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (Jude 6 NIV)

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment (II Peter 2:4 NIV)

Revelation 9 mentions other bound demons.  Some are bound in the Abyss (Fifth Trumpet) and some bound in the River Euphrates (Sixth Trumpet)

We do not know if it is the same place or a different place, but the Abyss is some type of jail or prison for fallen angels.  Most demons are not in this prison, only the worst of the worst.

The Abyss is mentioned seven times in Revelation (Revelation 9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3).

Some Bibles translate it “the bottomless pit” (KJV, NKJV, NASB, NLT, ESV).  That is probably not what the word means.[1]  That sounds more like the appetite of a teenager, a bottomless pit.  It is a strange concept of a pit without a bottom.  If you drop a rock into it, it will never hit the bottom.  That is NOT the picture here.

The Abyss is not a perpetual falling but a perpetual burning.  It is a place of fire.  How do we know?  When the Abyss is opened, the first thing that came out was smoke.  Where there is smoke there’s fire. Smoke comes from a fire.

The Abyss always means in Revelation a prison for fallen angels.  This jail does not look like the Alamance County Jail.  It is much worse.  It looks more like a furnace.  None of the inmates at the Alamance County Jail are set on fire.

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:1-2 NIV)

This produces not just smoke like a furnace but smoke like a GREAT furnace, not just a little smoke but a lot of smoke, so much that it pollutes the air.  The sky becomes completely black. The smoke blocks the Sun from shining.

It is a place of fire.  There is no escape from it.  The only way to get out is if someone opens it from the outside.  It is a place not only of confinement for demons but of torment.

It so bad that the Gerasene demonic begged not to go there.  He was the naked demon-possessed man who lived in the tombs and cut himself.  Jesus cast the demons out but “they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss” (Luke 8:31 NIV).

The Abyss is located downwards in the earth.  You always read of being going down into the Abyss (Revelation 11:7; 17:8).

This is a strange concept of demons bound on earth or inside the earth.  Hell is on earth.  It is under our feet or at least, the Abyss is.  The prison for fallen angels is in the Earth.

Revelation 9 mentions demons bound at the River Euphrates.  Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. (Revelation 9:14 NIV).  These are demons of the Euphrates in the Middle East.  It is a place of demonic bondage and confinement and four of those demons will be released.

Why would spirit beings be tied up in a river? Why are they in the Euphrates River? Why not the Mississippi River or the Ohio River?

Why that particular river? It is where the Garden of Eden was located. It was one of the four rivers that flowed out of the Garden of Eden. It was where the first sin, the first rebellion and the first murder on the planet took place.

It was the place of Satan’s original deception. The Euphrates is the river that runs through the country of Iraq, past the city of Babylon (the center of idolatry and false religion in Scripture), so it is a fitting place where these demons were bound.

3) Demons take different forms

They take different forms.  When they come out of the Abyss, they look like locusts.  They take the forms of locusts.  These are demon insects.  In Revelation 16, demons take the form of frogs (Revelation 16:13-14).

Demons take different forms today.  They don’t always look like the demons in the horror movies.  Sometimes they look like an angel of light.  Beware of appearances.

By the way, this is the only time in the Bible we see what a demon looks like. They look like hippies with long hair.  They will have the face of a man and the hair of a woman.

Even though they are disgusting creatures, there is something seductive about them.  The Bible says that a woman’s hair is her glory (I Corinthians 11:15).

On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. (Revelation 9:7-9 NIV)

4) Demons love to torture

They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.

Demons live to torture people.  They still do that today.  We have demonic tormentors today.  Satan loves to torture people.  He tortures people physically.  He tortures people psychologically.  He tortures people by addictions.

He tortures people today by bitterness and unforgiveness.  He tortures people by broken homes, and broken families.  He tortures people by broken wedding vows.  He tortures people by sinful thoughts.

People who like to torture others and are sadistic act like demons.  That is what demons do.  What is strange about this is who they attack.  They torture unbelievers (Revelation 9:4).  They torture their own.

Some of these unbelievers worship demons (Revelation 9:20).  They worship the demons who torture them.  They worship their killers.  Why would you worship someone who only hurts you and beats you up?

They keep on worshipping the very demons that are destroying them.  There is a little irony here.  Those who tortured the saints are now being tortured themselves by demons.

5) Demons cause destruction

God creates things.  Satan destroys them.  He does the exact opposite.  It is one of his titles in this chapter – “Destroyer.”  Satan has about thirty names in the Bible.

He is called “the Devil” (Matthew 4:1).  He is called “Beelzebub” (Matthew 12:24).  He is called “the Serpent” (Genesis 3:4).  He is called “the accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10).

He is called a “great red dragon” (Revelation 12:3, 9).  He is called “the god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4).  He is called “the father of lies” (John 8:44).  He is called “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).  He is called “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31).

We get two more titles of Satan in this chapter.  He is called Abaddon (Revelation 9:11) and Apollyon (Revelation 9:11).  It is actually one title in two languages.  Abaddon is Hebrew (אֲבַדּוֹן).  Apollyon is Greek (Ἀπολλύων).

Jesus said that the Devil comes to steal, kill and DESTROY (John 10:11).  Satan’s goal is destruction.  That is all he does.  God created Adam and Eve to live in a perfect world.  Satan destroyed it through sin.

He wants to destroy your life, your marriage, your home.  He wants to destroy your family, your church and your nation.  He wants to destroy America.  He wants to destroy Israel.

He wants to destroy gender roles established by God.  He wants to destroy God’s Word.  He does that by attacking the Bible and questioning it.  He wants to destroy your faith.  He does that by cults, false religion and false doctrine.  Some teach doctrines of demons (I Timothy 4:1).

There are two invasions in this chapter.  The first invasion of the demonic locusts brings TORTURE for five months.

The second invasion is a demonic army that brings DEATH.  It slaughters one third of the planet (Revelation 9:18).  One-fourth of the world population was already killed during the fourth seal (Revelation 6:8).

There are eight billion people on the planet today.  If one third were killed, that would mean that 2.6 billion will die in this Satanic slaughter.  In addition, many believers in the Tribulation will be martyred.

If you do the math, one-third of three-fourths is about a half.  These two judgments result in about one-half the world population being destroyed. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 24 that if this period was not cut short, no one would survive.

Of course, this is a big problem for preterists.  Preterists believe that the Book of Revelation was fulfilled in the first century.

They believe that this was all fulfilled in 70 AD. There is only one problem. One third of the planet did not die from a 200-million-man army in 70 AD. That was the entire population of the world in John’s day.  The earth has never experienced that kind of devastation.

Two Prophecy Questions

1) Is Revelation 9 a description of modern warfare?

John sees future events.  Is this symbolic of modern weapon systems (helicopter, tanks).  John had never seen a machine gun, a missile or a nuclear weapon. That is a common view in some circles, but it does not work in the text.

The locusts do not kill anyone, so that could not be modern weapons.  John does NOT say that he saw an army that looked like horses. Modern weapons do not involve horses.  Modern armies do not need two hundred million people because we have bombs and precision guided missiles.

2) Does Revelation 9 describe 200 million Chinese horsemen?

Who are the horsemen?  Hal Lindsey calls this “the great Asian Invasion”[2]  Many sensationalist preachers say these are Chinese?  Are they right?  There is no evidence of this.  It is not even called an army from the East.

There is an invasion from the East but that is in one of the bowl judgments, not the Trumpet Judgments (cf. Revelation 16:14).  China has the world’s largest army, but it is only two million people, not two hundred million people.

This is not human army.  It is a demonic army.  It is an army of two hundred million demons, not two hundred million Chinese.  Both the fifth and the sixth trumpet judgments involve supernatural animals.

The locusts were not ordinary locusts.  Ordinary locusts eat grass, and they don’t torture people.  The horses are not ordinary horses.  These are fire-breathing horses.

The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur (Revelation 9:17 NIV).

They are part horse, part lion, part serpent and part dragon. These horses will have the head of a lion and the mouth of a dragon.

These are fire breathing dragons with fire and smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths and they have the tail of a serpent.

Four Important Lessons

1) Judgment time is coming

God gives people time to repent.  A time of terrible disasters are coming soon to planet Earth.  Is there any way to stop them?  There is one way and that is to get saved NOW.  These demons only attack unbelievers, not believers.

2) God gives people time to repent

He gave Jezebel time to repent (Revelation 2:21).  Even wicked Jezebel was given time to repent.  He gives people time to repent but the time to repent is NOW.

3) God speaks through natural disasters

Whenever there is a personal tragedy or natural disaster today, like the Tsunami, it should cause us to fall on our knees. While the trumpets are judgments on earth, they were intended to produce repentance.

Sometimes that is the only way to get people’s attention is through pain, disaster, calamity, tragedy.  God sometimes sends a message to people that way.  Is God speaking to you?  Are you listening?

4) Some refuse to repent when tragedy strikes

When bad things happen to people, many become angry.   That is proof of the doctrine of free will.  God does not make people repent.  He gives them a choice.  When tragedy strikes, many hearts become hard.  They become mad at God.

People do not seem to be reformed by punishment. Locking a person up for fifty years does not change his nature. He has to be changed on the inside.  When parents spank their kids, sometimes they just get mad.

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Revelation 9:20-21 NIV).

Why don’t they come to faith?  They don’t want to give up their sins.  What were their sins?  The passage mentions five common sins in the Tribulation period (idolatry, murder, immorality, stealing and sorcery).

All five of these sins are common today (murder, sexual immorality, idolatry and theft).  Sorcery refers to the occult and drugs today. The Greek word sorcery is Φάρμακον (cf. Revelation 18:23; 21:8; 22:15). We get the word “pharmacy” from it.  This is not a verse against natural medicine.  Drug use is part of the occult.

[1] “The rendering ‘bottomless pit’ depends on a false etymology, and is rather absurd when one thinks about it.” (F.F. Bruce, Answers to Questions, [Zondervan, 1973] p. 139).

[2] Hal Lindsey, The Apocalypse Code, 149-180.

Environmental Disasters

Today, we are going to talk about the environment.  Revelation 8 is all about that topic.  There is a lot of talk today about the environment.

We hear it from the media.  We hear it from politicians.  There is a lot of talk today about carbon footprints and climate change.  There is a lot of talk in the media about evil fossil fuels, like coal.

We don’t want to talk about science today, but we do want to look at the environment from a biblical perspective.  Not everything that you hear today from politicians is biblical.

The Bible teaches that God created the world.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them (Exodus 20:11 NIV).

The world belongs to Him.  The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1 NIV).  Every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:10 NIV).

The Bible teaches God created the world, it belongs to Him and He has put people in charge to take care of it.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28 NIV)

We want to take care of it but there is a modern movement today that goes well beyond a natural concern for the environment.  What is the difference between a legitimate concern for the environment and the modern political movement?

Three Problems with Radical Environmentalism

1) Idolatry

Radical environmentalists worship the earth.  They worship nature.  They worship an earth goddess.  We still speak of Mother Earth today. Their motto is “earth first,” not “God first” but “earth first.”

Environmentalist Al Gore likes the Hindu motto, “The Earth is our Mother and we are her children.”  He quotes it approvingly in his book, The Earth in the Balance.[1]

This type of environmentalism is not just an ideology. It is a religion. It is the green religion. It is a mixture of climate change, religion and environmentalism.

2) Deception

Radical environmentalists teach that man-made climate change is the greatest threat to humanity’s future.  It’s not.  They teach that we only have a few more years to live before the human race faces mass extinction.

AOC said, “the world is going to end in twelve years if we don’t address climate change.”[2] That was in 2019.  That means we only have eight years left to go.  Whenever fools predict when the world will end, they are always wrong.  This is true every time, without exception.

3) Misplaced Priorities

Radical environmentalists want to save the dodo birds, and the spotted owl, but do not care at all about saving the unborn.  In their religion, recycling your trash is very important.

Personal morality is not as important.  Sexual ethics is not important.  How you live your life does not matter.  What is important is how you treat the earth.

Environmentalists are not concerned about any of the warnings in the Book of Revelation about the end of the world.  They are not concerned about dying and going to Hell.

They are not concerned about being cast into the Lake of Fire, but they are concerned about what is going to happen to planet earth.  In fact, one out of five children in Britain suffer nightmares about climate change.[3]

The truth is that we should be far more concerned with what God is going to do to the planet than what man can do to it.

What God is going to do is going to be infinitely worse than anything man will do. The Bible teaches that one day God is going to DESTROY the earth.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (II Peter 3:10 NKJV)

In Revelation 8, He is going to bring four terrible judgments on planet earth. God will not just people but the planet itself.  The physical universe will be judged.  Why?

The earth has been cursed because of man’s sin.  The whole planet was affected by man’s sin in the garden.  In Revelation 8, we are studying the future Tribulation Period.  Revelation 7 mentions “the Great Tribulation.”

Major environmental disasters are coming in the Tribulation Period, but they will not be caused by man.  God is going to bring them.  In Revelation 8, we see four environmental catastrophes coming to planet earth in the future.

One disaster will be on the land.  One disaster will be on the sea.  One disaster will be in the rivers and one disaster will be in the sky or outer space.  These are four natural disasters and God is going to do them.

We see good news for believers in this chapter and bad news for unbelievers. Unbelievers are going to face four natural disasters in the Tribulation and at the end of the chapter, we find that it is only going to get worse.  You think it is bad now.  You have not seen anything yet.  There are three woes yet to come.

As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” (Revelation 8:13 NIV)

The good news for believers is that they don’t have to worry about these judgments.  They will be protected from them.  They will be sealed.  In fact, they are sealed before these judgments can even fall.

Silence in Heaven

There is a big mystery as this chapter opens.  Jesus opens each seal one by one and, as he does, bad things happen on earth.  In fact, they get worse and worse.  Seal number six is the worst one.  It is so bad that people want to kill themselves.

When the seventh seal is opened, you expect something really bad to happen.  When it is opened, nothing happens.

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Revelation 8:1 NIV).  Not only did nothing happen but there was complete silence.  That would not be such a big deal, except heaven is a loud place.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a LOUD VOICE, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (Revelation 5:2 NIV)

In a LOUD VOICE they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12 NIV)

Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a LOUD VOICE to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea (Revelation 7:2 NIV)

And they cried out in a LOUD VOICE: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:10 NIV)

Heaven is a place of sound.  It is a place of activity.  Many think that heaven is a quiet, serene place.  It is not.  It is loud.  The twenty-four elders were loud.  The angels were loud.  The martyrs in heaven were loud.  The saints are loud.  Everyone’s loud.

Jesus opens the seventh seal, there is complete silence in heaven.  You can hear a pin drop. No words were spoken. It is not quiet for long.  Soon, this silence will be followed by some loud sounds.  Nature is loud.  John will hear “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” (Revelation 8:5 NIV).

Seven Archangels

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them (Revelation 8:2 NIV).  Who are these angels?  It sounds like a special group (THE seven angels who stand before God).  It has the article.  I am going to mention something that you will never hear in most churches.

Ancient Jews believed in the notion of belief in seven archangels.  We see it in Jewish apocalyptic writings before the time of Christ.  I Enoch gives the names of these seven angels – Uriel, Raguel, Remiel, Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, Saraqael (I Enoch 20:1-8).  All Archangels have “God” on their name.  They all end with the suffix el (“God”) in Hebrew.

In the Roman Catholic Apocrypha, Raphael is called on these angels.  Tobit 12:15 says, “I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of the Lord.”

The idea of seven archangels is in both Jewish and Christian tradition.  We don’t know if it is true.  Michael is the only one in the Bible who is specifically called an archangel (Jude 9) but Daniel 10:13 says that Michael is only “one of the chief princes” (implying that there are others).  The NLT reads, “Michael, one of the archangels”.

These seven special angels are loud.  They were given trumpets and they blow them.  These were musical angels.  Angels can not only sing; they can play musical instruments.  Why trumpets?  Why don’t they pay the violin?   In Scripture trumpets are associated with warfare and judgment.

The animals on earth are also loud.  John hears an eagle saying in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth” (Revelation 8:13).  This was probably an angel in the form of a bird.  It is a talking eagle, a talking animal.

Why the silence?  By the time you get to the seventh seal, we are near the end of the Tribulation. After the seventh seal is over, it is the end.  The coming of Christ is imminent.  The trumpets and bowl judgments do not follow the seventh seal.  They are part of the seventh seal.

These judgments bring us to the end.  Heaven stands in suspense as we come to the end of these dreadful judgments.  They get progressively worse in intensity, but they get shorter in duration.

I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over A FOURTH of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:8 NIV)

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A THIRD of the sea turned into blood, A THIRD of the living creatures in the sea died, and A THIRD of the ships were destroyed. (Revelation 8:8 NIV)

The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and EVERY living thing in the sea died. (Revelation 16:3 NIV)

The devastation goes from one fourth (seals) to one third (trumpets) to everything (bowls).  The judgments get progressively worse, but they also get shorter.  The seals last for years.  The trumpet judgments last for months (Revelation 9:5).  The bowl judgments may only last for weeks.

Literal Plagues

Many believe that the book of Revelation has already been fulfilled. They are called Preterists.  This chapter is a big problem for preterists.  This chapter has not already been fulfilled.

A third of the earth has not been burned up.  That would be like seventeen states burned up.  A third of the trees have not been burned up.  A third of the sea was never turned into blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea have not died.  A third of ships have not been destroyed.  When just one sinks, it makes the evening news.

How do they deal with it?  They spiritualize it.  They make it an allegory.  They come up with some ridiculous interpretations. When it says a third of the grass is burned up, grass must mean people, because of what Isaiah says.

All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. (Isaiah 40:6-7 NIV)

A great star falls from the sky called wormwood and poisons the waters.  Satan in the Bible is called a fallen star (Luke 10:18), so this must be Satan positing society and culture.

The Sun, moon and stars refer to ruling authorities.  The pastors were called stars earlier in the book (Revelation 1:20).  A falling star means political leaders losing their power.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the word “earth” refers to Christendom, which makes up one-third of the population of the earth and the trees to the pastors of those churches.[4]

They are right that statistically, Christianity right now makes up 31% of the earth’s population.[5]  It is a third of mankind.  Are they right?  No.

That is spiritualizing the Bible.  When is it right to take something literally in Scripture and when is it right to take something figurately.  One of the rules of interpreting the Bible is, “If the literal sense makes sense, seek no other sense.”

There is NO evidence in the text that any of these plagues are spiritual.  In fact, this chapter is very similar to what we see in the Book of Exodus.

God sent Ten Plagues on the land of Egypt in the Book of Exodus, and they were literal plagues that fell on the Egyptians.  They weren’t symbolic.  The plagues in Revelation 8 look exactly like the plagues in the Book of Exodus.

History is going to repeat itself. The Plagues of Egypt are going to come back.  Some of these will be repeated in the Tribulation Period.  The Ten Plagues in Exodus were historical.  The plagues in Revelation are prophetic.  Not only will these plagues be repeated; they will be worse.  There was a plague of fire and hail in Exodus.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt—on people and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt.” 23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; 24 hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 25 Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. (Exodus 9:22-25).

What was the First Trumpet Judgment?  It was hail and fire mixed with blood (Revelation 8:7 NIV)

There was a plague of blood in Egypt.  The Nile River turned into blood.

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. (Exodus 7:19-21 NIV)

What will in the Second Trumpet Judgment?  A river will not turn into blood; the sea will.  A burning mountain will fly through the air and fall into the sea and a third of the waters will became blood.

The Third Trumpet Judgment results in contaminated drinking water as well.  Not just one river but a third of all of the rivers became undrinkable.  There are 250,000 rivers in the US.  That would mean that would affect 83,000 rivers.

There was a plague of Egypt that affected drinking water.  We are told that “the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water” (Exodus 7:21 NIV).

There was an OT plague of darkness in the Book of Exodus.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. (Exodus 10:21-23 NIV).

In the Fourth Trumpet, there is also a plague of darkness.  This will not be a plague of total darkness in the Tribulation Period but will limit the amount of light that is available.  It will last more than three days and will affect more than Egypt.

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. (Revelation 8:12 NIV)

We do not know how this will work.  We don’t know how God will do it.  Will God speed up the rotation of the earth, so we have sixteen-hour days, instead of twenty-four-hour days?  Somehow a third of the day will be without light.  Jesus predicted signs in the heavens before He returns.

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Luke 21:25-26 NIV)

What does Revelation 8 have to do with us?  According to the theology of many people, we will not be here.  We will all be raptured.  If we are here, we will be protected from the Tribulation plagues.  We will be sealed with the seal of the living God.  How is this chapter relevant?

Prayers in Heaven

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:3-5 NIV)

There is a huge application for us today from Revelation 8 that I want to share with you.  This chapter is all about prayer.  God wants us to pray.  He compares it to incense (Revelation 5:8; 8:4).

We need to pray and not stop praying.  Don’t stop praying.  “Don’t stop praying for your lost friend, or for your own family, or for that need that you’re living with.”[6]  In Luke 18, Jesus told some parables about why we should always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1).

When I was on vacation, I always find my way into some thrift stores and always gravitate to the used book section.  I have a weakness for books.  I glanced at a book with a strange title. The title was 101 Reasons Why You Should Never Pray.  At first, I passed over it.  That is not a book I want to have anything to do with.

Then, curiosity got to me.  I figured it would be good to see what atheists are saying so you know how to answer them, so I finally picked it up, opened it and found all of the pages blank.  In this chapter, we see three reasons why all of us need to pray every day.

Three Reasons to Pray

1) God hears prayer

God hears every prayer you utter.  That is what we see in this chapter. They ascend to Heaven.  He hears them.  Sometimes we think that God never hears our prayers.  We are wasting our time.  They never get past the ceiling.

In this chapter, we see that the prayers of the saints make it all the way to heaven.  They go further than any rocket sent into our space by NASA.  They go further than Apollo 11 which went to the moon.  Our prayers reach heaven.

God hears our prayers, and He does not forget them.  That is interesting to think about.  God remembers every prayer you ever made to Him.  The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous (Proverbs 15:29 NIV).

How do we know from Revelation that God hears our prayers?  Prayers of the saints are mentioned in two verses in this chapter (Revelation 8:3, 4).  In fact, we were told earlier that they are located in bowls.

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. (Revelation 5:8 NIV)

There is a bowl of incense in heaven and the bowl represents the prayers of the all of the saints.  They are not just in bowls.  They are in golden bowls.

Later in Revelation, we are going to see bowl that contain God’s wrath that are poured out in the earth.  Here, we see, bowls containing the prayers of God’s people and they are in heaven.

2) God answers prayer

In Revelation 8, we see two things: prayer in heaven and judgment on earth.  In fact, the judgment was in response to the prayers of the saints.  They prayed in Revelation 6.

What did the saints pray for in Revelation 6?  They prayed for God to judge their persecutors.  People on earth are murdering believers.  They are executing the saints.  God allowed it but in Revelation 8 their prayers were answered, and judgment falls on the wicked.

God’s judgments in this chapter are an answer to prayer.  They are a DIRECT RESULT of the prayers of the saints.  They are a result of the praying martyrs.

Judgment doesn’t come to earth until the prayers of the saints go up to God. Revelation 8 “may be the most dramatic picture of answered prayer in the Bible.”[7]

3) Prayer is powerful

The prayers of the saints produced the opening of the seventh seal which produced the blowing the trumpets, which led to certain things happening on earth. There is power in prayer. Our prayers are powerful.

They can cause you to live longer.  Hezekiah found that out.  He was given a death sentence, not by a doctor but by a prophet but he prayed and God let him live longer.

They can get you out of prison.  Peter was in prison and was let out supernaturally by an angel because the church prayed for him.

Prayer can heal the sick.  In James, we are told that the prayer of faith will heal the sick.  James 5:15 says, the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up (NIV).

Prayer will get you a spouse.  Isaac got a spouse because the servant who went out looking for one for him prayed that God would give him success (Genesis 24:12-14) and the Bible says that before he finished praying Rebekah walked up to the well to get water.

Jesus taught that prayer moves mountains (Mark 11:22-24).  That is not just difficult; it is impossible.

Prayer can change the weather.  Elijah prayed and changed the weather.  James said that he was a man just like us (James 5:17).  Prayer can stop the movement of the sun and the moon.  Joshua leaned that (Joshua 10:12).

Prayer can shake the earth.   Peter and John prayed in Acts and after they prayed “the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31 NIV).

[1] Al Gore, The Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Houghton Mifflin, 1992), 261

[2] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/426353-ocasio-cortez-the-world-will-end-in-12-years-if-we-dont-address/

[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/climate-change-children/one-in-five-uk-children-report-nightmares-about-climate-change-idUSL1N2AV1FF

[4] https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Revelation-Its-Grand-Climax-At-Hand/Jehovahs-Plagues-on-Christendom/

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations#Notes

[6] The Swindoll Study Bible NLT. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Kindle Edition.

[7] Morgan, Robert J., The 50 Final Events in World History (Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition), p. 59.

 

Mystery of the 144,000

Today, we come to one of the most misunderstood chapters in the Book of Revelation. It is the passage that deals with the mysterious 144,000.  It is a passage that has been badly misinterpreted by the cults.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses used this passage to teach that only 144,000 special people will go to heaven.  They believe that the rest will live on earth but only 144,000 will go to heaven.

There is only one problem with this view.   In Revelation 7, John sees 144,000 people ON EARTH and these people sealed are all JEWISH.  These were 144,000 Jewish Witnesses, not Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are NOT the 144,000.  The 144,000 are the servants of God (Revelation 7:3).  They claim to be the only group with the truth, but they are a cult.  They do not serve God.  They do not even believe His Word.  They don’t believe the Bible.

They do not believe in basic Bible doctrines.  They are not Christians.  They may be great people.  They may make great neighbors, but they are not Christians.

They do not believe in the Deity of Christ.  They don’t believe in the Trinity.  They do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ.  They don’t believe in salvation by grace.

They don’t believe in Hell.  They don’t believe in a literal Second Coming.  Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only ones to misinterpret this passage.  Many Christians misunderstand it as well.

Many have said that, in the Tribulation, there will be 144,000 Billy Grahams.  There will be 144,000 Jewish evangelists.  Have you ever heard that before?  It sounds great.  There is just one problem.

There is nothing in the text that says that the 144,000 will be evangelists.  They are NOT called evangelists.  They are NOT called preachers. They are NOT sealed for ministry.  They are NOT sealed for service but for protection.  They have a safety seal put on them.

Many have called this chapter, “the coming world revival.”  It has been called “the world’s greatest revival meeting.”  It is pictured as the greatest revival in history.  It is said to be a revival greater than any Billy Graham crusade.

That is a bit of a stretch.  The 144,000 do NOT get saved.  They do NOT get sanctified.  They just get SEALED, which is completely different.  It is NOT a sealing of salvation.  It is a sealing of protection.

What is in the chapter?  There is supernatural deliverance in this chapter.  It is angelic deliverance.  There is a heavenly worship service with angels falling down on their faces and worshipping God.  There is a celebration in heaven.

There is an incredible picture of heaven in this chapter.  If you want to know what heaven will be like, look at this chapter.  Some believe that this chapter describes the rapture of the church.  We will see if that is correct. We can only scratch the surface of this chapter today.

To understand Revelation 7, you have to go back to Revelation 5.  In Revelation 5, John sees a mysterious book in the Father’s hand that is sealed and no one in the universe can open.  That is no one, but Jesus.  Jesus can open it because He redeemed sinners by his sacrificial death.

He took the book from the hand of the Father and began to open the seals.  Jesus opened six of the seals in Revelation 6 and then He stopped.  There are seven seals in the book but only six are opened.  Why?

When each seal is opened, it is all bad news.  It is doom and gloom, plagues, sickness, famine and death.  Believers are being slaughtered and all kinds of natural disasters are taking place.  It is a dreadful scene of God’s wrath falling on people without any way to escape.

The chapter ends with a question, a great question.  Who can withstand the wrath of God?  Who can survive it?  We get the answer in Revelation 7.  We see two groups of people who CAN withstand it.

We will see two survivors of the wrath of God.  There is a group in heaven and a group on earth.  John sees two incredible visions in this chapter.  He sees one in Revelation 7:1-8 and one in Revelation 7:9-17.

John sees a vision of the saints sealed on earth and he sees a vision of saints celebrating in heaven.  John has a vision of the saints protected on earth and singing in heaven.  We are going to look at these two visions.

Revelation 6 was all bad news.  Revelation 7 gives us some good news.  He gives us good news for believers.  He gives us good news for God’s people. In Revelation 7, we see grace in the midst of horrific judgment.

All through the Bible we see grace in the midst of judgment.  Adam and Eve sin against God.  God judges them and kicks them out of the garden but before He does, an animal is sacrificed on their behalf, and they are given clothes to wear.

Cain commits the crime on the planet.  He commits the first murder.  He murders his brother.  God did not sentence him to death.  He just exiled him.  In fact, he protected him from death.  He deserved to die but Cain received mercy in the midst of judgment.

Before the Flood, the world was extremely wicked.  It was full of violence, sexual deviance and demonic activity.  It was so bad that Genesis says that the whole earth was corrupt but there was one man who received grace, even in this wicked world, and his name was Noah.

Even in the Tribulation Period, a period of suffering and persecution, a time of wrath, as God’s judgments are poured out on the earth, we see evidence of incredible grace on earth.

In heaven, John sees more people there than he could have dreamed.  He sees people in heaven from all over the world.  He sees more people than he could count, and they were all celebrating. Let’s look at the first vision.

The First Vision

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000. (Revelation 7:1-8 NIV)

What is this mysterious group?  Why are they sealed?  What does it mean for us today?  What message does this have for today?

We come to a very controversial topic.  You are going to hear some things today that you have not heard before.  We will not all agree.  We do not have to.  This is not a major doctrine of the faith.  We can have different views.

It begins with four special angels.  We saw four horsemen in the last chapter.  Angels are used in judgment.  Four angels were sent to dispense judgment on earth.

Before they do it, another angel tells them  in a loud voice not to judge the earth until something takes place.  The 144,000 have to be sealed first with he seal of the living God.  The million-dollar question is, who are the 144,000?  There are two different views.

Identity of the 144,000

They are described as ethnic Jews.  If that is the case, these would be 144,000 Messianic Jews.  That is the plain meaning of the text.  It takes the Bible literally.

If you take the Bible literally, this refers 144,000 literal Jews. “One hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of Israel” means national ethnic Israel.

One reason for this view is that it is very specific.  A specific AMOUNT of people (144,000) from a specific COUNTRY (Israel) were sealed.  Specific TRIBES (12) from that country were sealed and a specific NUMBER from each one of those tribes (12,000) were sealed.  If this is not literal, why is it so specific?

Furthermore, believers in the NT are not called Israelites.  They are not called “sons of Israel.”  They are called “sons of Abraham” by faith but not sons of Israel.

Nowhere are Gentile Christians said to be from any Jewish tribe.  The tribes of Israel refer to ethnic Israel in the NT but there is another view of the 144,000.  Many believe this is not literal.

We all believe in interpreting the Bible literally, but the book of Revelation is symbolic.  It is apocalyptic.  In any other book, this would be literal but not necessarily in the Book of Revelation.  What is some of the evidence it may not be literal?

First, Revelation 7 cannot refer to the literal twelve tribes, because all of the tribes are not even mentioned.  The Tribe of Dan is NOT mentioned at all.  One of the Tribes of Israel was never sealed.

Commentators speculate why Dan was not mentioned (e.g., idolatry) but that misses the point.  All of the Twelve Tribes were not listed.  One of the Tribes of Israel was never sealed.  This cannot be a sealing of twelve of ALL of the tribes of Israel if one tribe is missing.

Second, the sealing is figurative.  It is an invisible mark on the forehead.  People could not see it, but the angels could.  We are sealed with the Holy Spirit and that sealing is invisible.  If the sealing is symbolic, why couldn’t the tribes or number 144,000 be symbolic.

If this is literal, it causes a big problem.  Angels go around and seal the servants of God on their foreheads, but they only seal the JEWISH servants, and we know from Revelation 14 that they only seal men.[1] That is strange.

Why wouldn’t any female believers be sealed?  Why wouldn’t they be protected from the Tribulation plagues?  Don’t women need to be protected as well?  Why would God protect only men?

Why would these angels not seal the Gentile servants as well?  The sealing protects them from the judgment of God.  Why would God send divine judgment on Gentile believers but not on Jewish believers?  Why would one group get special treatment?

If you take this literally, you have a theological problem.  You have God’s wrath falling on some believers in the Tribulation period.  The Bible clearly says that believers cannot experience God’s wrath (cf. I Thessalonians 5:9; Romans 5:9).  Only unbelievers can experience the wrath of God

A strong case can be made that the 144,000 is symbolic.  It represents the complete number of the saints. The number itself is symbolic of completeness (twelve squared times ten cubed)

There is symbolism in the way the tribes are listed. The first one on the list is Judah (Revelation 7:5).  No list of the tribes of Israel had Judah first.  Judah was not the firstborn.  Reuben was and yet Judah was mentioned first.  Why?  Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

The 144,000 may refer to all of the people of God (Jew and Gentile).  It could not refer to the redeemed of all of time but to believers who came out of the Great Tribulation.  What is the evidence they refer to all believers?

They are called “the servants of God” (Revelation 7:3).  That term is not limited to Jewish believers.

They are described as redeemed (Revelation 14:3-4).  That also is not limited to Jewish believers.

They sang the song of the redeemed.  It is a salvation song.  If this refers to literal Jews, they would not be the only ones to sing this song.  Gentile believers who were saved would be able to sing it as well.

The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:2-3 NIV)

This does not necessarily mean that God is through with Israel but it does mean that OT language regarding Israel is applied to the new people of God. There are many similarities between Israel in the church in Revelation.

Both were SLAVES.  The Hebrews were slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years.  They were physical slaves.  We were spiritual slaves.

Both were REDEEMED.  God redeemed the Jews out of Egypt with an outstretched arm.  Jesus “freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5).  He “purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9 NIV)

Both were PRIESTS.  The nation of Israel was described as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5 NIV).  Jesus “made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.” (Revelation 1:5 NIV)

The Second Vision

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:

“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9-14 NIV)

Identity of the Great Multitude

After seeing a group of believers on earth, John sees a group of believers in heaven.  Some believe that these are two different groups.

They look like two different groups of people.  One is in heaven, and one is on earth.  One is Jewish and one is not.  One can be counted, and the other group cannot.  It is innumerable.

Others believe that this is the same group of people.  We have already seen this before in the book.  John hears something and then he sees something.  They seem different but they are the same thing.

In Revelation 5, John HEARD about a lion (the lion of the tribe of Judah) but he turned and SAW a lamb.  Lions and lambs are different animals.  They are opposite animals, but they refer to the same person.

In Revelation 7, John HEARD the number that was sealed on earth (Revelation 7:4-8) but he SAW an innumerable multitude in heaven (Revelation 7:9).

Who were the innumerable multitude?  John didn’t know who they were.  He had to be told by one of the elders.  He was told, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14 NIV)

They did not just come from a background of great suffering.  They came out of THE great tribulation. The Greek has the definite article.

Is this the Rapture?

Some preachers believe the rapture takes place in Revelation 7.  They believe the rapture takes place around the middle of the Tribulation and they think it takes place here.  Here you have all of these people (an innumerable number of them) suddenly show up in heaven.  Is this the rapture?  No.

This is not the entire church throughout history being raptured.  It is not the rapture of every Christian.  Every dead Christian who ever lived was not resurrected at this point.  They do not come out all at once but gradually.  The word “are coming” is a present participle (ἐρχόμενοι).[2]

This does present a huge problem for the advocates of the pretribulation rapture.  They believe that the church was raptured immediately before the Tribulation.  The Antichrist arrives on the scene and begins to persecute and kill believers.

Who do all these believers come from?  Where did the great multitude come from?  Every single believer would have been taken up in the rapture just before the Antichrist appears.

The chapter ends with a picture of heaven.  Two things immediately stand out.

One, there will be a lot of people in heaven.

There will be more than you can count. After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count (Revelation 7:9 NIV).  Some of those people we will recognize.  Friends, family members or ancestors will be there.  We are going to be shocked at how many people are there.

Two, there will be a lot of different kinds of people there.  They will be “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9 NIV).

Heaven will not just be full of Jews.  It will be full of people from every country, every skin color, every race, every nation, every language, and every ethnicity.

There will be people there from every denomination.  There will be Baptists and Methodists there.  There will be Armenians and Calvinists there.  There will be people there who spoke in tongues and some who never spoke in tongues.

Five Pictures of God’s People

1) God’s people protected

We see this at the beginning of the chapter.  The 144,000 are sealed, which is another way of saying that they are protected.  There are terrible things in the world that they were going to be protected from.

This is not to say that they were invincible or indestructible.  They could still be martyred but that seal kept them from experiencing the plagues that were going to fall on the earth.  It kept them from experiencing God’s wrath.

What is the lesson?  They did not have to be afraid of the Tribulation plagues since God would protect them.  We should not be afraid of all of the bad things happening in the world either.  God’s people have divine protection.  Remember what Satan said to God about Job.

“Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. (Job 1:10 NIV).

God’s people were protected in the OT.  They are protected now and will be protected in the Tribulation Period.

2) God’s people cleansed

These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14 NIV)

Believers are people who are cleansed from their sins.  We are not sinless.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9-9 NIV)

No matter how bad the sins are, we can be cleansed.  Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NIV).

We have seen a paradox in Revelation already.  We have seen Jesus as the lion and the lamb.  Now we see people taking dirty robes and washing them in blood to get clean.  They wash them in the blood of Jesus.  Blood does not make anything white.  Blood normally stains clothes.  This blood makes things white.

At the end of the chapter, we see another paradox.  The Lamb is our Shepherd (Revelation 7:17).  That is strange.  Normally a lamb needs a shepherd, but this lamb is the shepherd.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  The Lord will continue to be our Shepherd in heaven.

3) God’s people worshipping

What are believers doing in heaven?  They are serving God.  They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple (Revelation 7:15 NIV).  They are worshipping God day and not, not once a week and they were loud.

And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:10-12 NIV)

Believers are worshipping in heaven and praising God for salvation.  The angels praise God for other things (glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power and strength) but not salvation.  The angels were never lost and never got saved.  If we are saved, we should be praising God right now for what He has done.

4) God’s people rewarded

One day, God’s people will be rewarded and vindicated.  We may not be rewarded on earth, but we will be rewarded in heaven.  We have a picture of the afterlife in Revelation 7.

John sees a great multitude of them.  They are wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.  One of the promises to the Church of Sardis was that the one who overcomes will be dressed in white (Revelation 3:5).

These were people who went through great suffering on earth.  They went through the Great Tribulation, not just tribulation but the Great Tribulation.  Many were martyred. In heaven, they will be rewarded.  God promises to reward us as well.

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews 6:10 NIV)

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. (Matthew 10:42 NIV)

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. (Revelation 22:12 NIV)

5) God’s people comforted

Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ (Revelation 7:16-17 NIV)

Heaven will be a place without any suffering.  Believers will not suffer in any way.  They will not suffer externally (too hot or too cold).  They will not suffer internally either (with hunger or thirst).

There will not be any environmental problems in heaven (no tornadoes or hurricanes).  There won’t be any starvation in heaven.  People will not go around hungry.

They will have no unsatisfied desire.  They will not want anything.  Every need will be met.  We will have a Shepherd in heaven who will take care of that.  The Lamb will feed them.

We are also told that “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. This promise is later repeated for all the redeemed (Revelation 21:4), not just for Tribulation saints.

People in heaven will not be sad.  They will not be depressed.  They will not cry in heaven.  There will not be any tears in heaven.  Imagine what that would be like to live in a world without any tears and without any sorrow.

[1]The word “virgins” in Revelation 14:4 is masculine in Greek.  We are told that these 144,000 male virgins “have not defiled themselves with women”

[2] Renald Showers points this out in https://jashow.org/articles/who-are-the-great-multitude-that-john-saw-in-revelation-7-between-the-sixth-and-seventh-seal/

The Four Horsemen

For many people, the Book of Revelation is one of the scariest books of the Bible.  If Revelation is one of the scariest books of the Bible, then Revelation 6 is one of the scariest chapters in the Bible.  It is scary at the beginning of the chapter and scary at the end of the chapter.

In Revelation 6, Jesus opens the seven-sealed scroll. As He opened the seals, John saw the famous four horsemen.  He had a vision of four horses.  It is one of the most famous images in Revelation.

As Jesus opens the seals, four horsemen are unleashed on the earth.  They bring hell on the earth.  They bring doom, devastation, and destruction.  They bring war, disease, famine, poverty and death on the planet.

The chapter ends with people scared to death.  They are so terrified of the judgment of God that they want to kill themselves.  They would rather die by a bunch of rocks falling on them than to face the judgment of God.

We have a big topic for today.  Revelation 6 begins the main part of the book. We are done with the introduction to the book.  We are done looking at the seven churches and the cosmic throne room.  We begin the prophetic part of the book.

As we enter this section of the book, we have to give a warning.  This part of the book of Revelation is a little more difficult.  It is controversial.

Not everyone agrees on how to interpret it.  Baptists read Revelation 6 very differently than Presbyterian do.

This chapter raises all kinds of questions.  Who are the riders of the Four Horsemen?  Where does this chapter fit on a prophecy timeline?  Are we in the Tribulation Period?  Have the Four Horsemen already appeared?

Did they appear in the past?  Will they appear in the future?  Who is the rider on the white horse?  Is the rider Jesus or someone else?

We are going to deal with some deep topics today.  I want you to think about this chapter in ways you never have before.

In many churches, you only hear one viewpoint and everyone in that circle says the same thing. Once you step outside the church and go to another church or talk to some other Christians, you hear something very different.

I will share with you my understanding of Revelation, but I am also going to mention some views of Christians who hold different view than I do.  That way, you can make up your own mind.

We are going to start by looking at some things that are clear about the Four Horsemen.  Then, we will look at some things that are debatable.  They are controversial.

Today, we will look at the six seals and then we want to look at some applications.  There are some powerful applications from this chapter.  What does this chapter say to us today?

Let’s begin with the mysterious Four Horsemen.  There is a famous painting of the the Four Horsemen by a Russian artist in the 1800s.  It was done by Viktor Vasnetsov in 1887.

What do we know about these mysterious horsemen?   Here are four truths from the text that all Christians can accept.  There is no doubt about them.

Four Horsemen Truths

1) The Four Horsemen are demonic spirits.

It is clear from the text that these are Satanic horsemen.  The one riding each of the four horses was a demon.

There is an old movie called Pale Rider (1985).  It is a good Western.  It is one of Clint Eastwood’s classic movies but the one who rode the Pale Horse was not Clint Eastwood.  It was a demon.

These horsemen were “given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other” (Revelation 6:4 NIV).  Angels do not make people kill other people.  God does not incite people to hate and murder people.  Demons do that.

Read the Book of I John.  Love comes from God.  Hatred comes from Satan.  These four horsemen are demons.  They do not cause peace.  They cause misery and destruction.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10 NIV).

2) The Four Horsemen cause suffering on earth

These four horsemen, these demonic spirits, cause sickness, disease, poverty, warfare and death.  They all go together.

Military conquest leads to war. War leads to Death.  War also leads to food shortages which lead to poverty. These four are related.

Each of these riders has a different mission.  Their mission is symbolized by their color.

WHITE was the symbol of conquest in the ancient world.  It is the color of victory.  RED is the color of blood.  It is the symbol of war.  BLACK is the symbol of starvation and famine.  PALE GREEN is the symbol of death.

3) The Four Horsemen are divinely commissioned

All four horsemen get an invitation to do their work. They told them to COME (Revelation 6:1, 3, 5, 7).  They were given an invitation in a LOUD voice.  They were given an invitation in a voice LIKE THUNDER (Revelation 6:1).  They do not ride at their own command.  They are invited to ride.

How could Jesus send demonic spirits into the world?  How could they be invited to do a task for God?  How could Jesus have any connection to demons?  Where in the Bible does God use evil to accomplish His purposes?  What are some examples?

God sent an evil spirit to torment Saul.  Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. (I Samuel 16:14 NIV)

The wicked Assyrians captured Israel and took the ten tribes into captivity in 721 BC.  God called them the rod of His anger and the club of His wrath (Isaiah 10:5 NIV).  In fact, he said that He raised them up (cf. Habakkuk 1:5-11).

The wicked idolatrous Babylonians captured the southern kingdom of Judah, destroyed the Temple that Solomon built and took them into captivity in 586 BC.  God called pagan Babylon His servant (Jeremiah 25:8-9)

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery.  God used that to get him into Egypt.  Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of a sex crime and put him in prison.  God used that to give him access to Pharaoh.  They meant evil.  God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20).

Judas betrayed Jesus and the Romans crucified Jesus.  That was the greatest betrayal and greatest miscarriage of justice in history.  God used the greatest crime in history that to accomplish the salvation of the world.

4) The Four Horsemen are instruments of judgment

The judgments in Revelation 6 are called the day of God’s wrath.  God’s wrath is unleashed on the planet in this chapter.  It is poured out on a sinful and rebellious world.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of THEIR WRATH has come, and who can withstand it? (Revelation 6:15-17 NIV)

These disasters are not accidents.  They are not providential.  They are not things that occur by chance. These are acts of judgment on a wicked world.  God uses different means to judge people.

For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from man and beast! (Ezekiel 14:21 ESV).

Four Horsemen Controversy

Not everything about these horsemen is clear.  There is a big controversy about these horsemen. There is a big debate about them.

1. Are the Four Horsemen riding today?

Is this chapter a picture of history or is it a picture of prophecy?  Instead of giving you the answer, I want to give you two views.  I want to give you both sides.  You can make up your own mind which position sounds stronger.

Two Views on the Four Horsemen

1) The Four Horsemen are Present

According to this view, the Four horsemen are a picture of history. There has always been military conquest on the planet.   There has always been war.  There has always been pestilence, famine and death.

These things have always existed and always will exist.  There have always been riders on white horses bent on conquest.  We have a crazy demon-possessed ruler of Russia who is bent on conquest right now.

There have always been riders on red horses taking peace from the earth.  The spirit of war is here.  There are wars all over the planet.  We have even had world wars. They are not limited to the Tribulation Period.

There is always someone riding the black horse.  The black horse results in economic problems and poverty.  We have food shortages, inflation, poverty and supply chain problems today.

There is definitely someone riding the green horse today.  All you have to do is to look at all of the epidemics and pandemics we have had in our history that have killed people (Black Plague, Smallpox, AIDS).

Some would say that COVID is just one sign of the green horse.  It is not just a pandemic but a worldwide pandemic.

We have had all kinds of martyrs in the last 2000 years (the fifth seal).  We have had 45 million Christians martyred in the 20th century alone. Two-thirds of all Christian martyrs were martyred in the twentieth century alone.

We have had all kinds of natural disasters in our day. A Tsunami in 2004, which estimated to have released the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It killed 230,000 people in fourteen countries. Hurricane Katrina killed 1838 in four states in 2005. None of these disasters are limited to the Tribulation Period.  Have I convinced you?

2) The Four Horsemen are Future

This view says that the Four Horsemen have not arrived on the scene yet.  All of the things I have described are just a sign of things to come.  They are just a foretaste of worse things.

What we see today is a partial fulfillment but not a complete not a complete fulfillment.  What are some arguments for this view?  What is the evidence that this prophecy has yet to be fulfilled?

a) Revelation 6 is not describing past events

It is not describing past events or present events.  It is describing future events.  War, disease, poverty and death have always taken place, but Jesus told John that he was going to show Him things to come (Revelation 4:1).  Revelation is a PROPHECY, not a history book or a description of current events

b) Revelation 6 is not describing natural events.

Natural disasters that are a part of human history.  Natural catastrophes have been going on for thousands of years.  This chapter is not describing something that is natural.  It is describing something supernatural.

It is describing disasters that are a manifestation of divine judgment.  The first time the word “wrath” occurs in the Book of Revelation is in Revelation 6.

One preacher said that this chapter describes “God’s reign over the present age”[1] but it describes much more.  It describes God’s wrath on the wicked.  It describes the Wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:16).

At no point in our history have people asked the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of the one sitting on the throne. That has yet to be fulfilled.  This was not fulfilled in 70 AD.  It was not fulfilled in the past.  It is not being fulfilled right now.

When have one-fourth of the planet been killed by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:8)?  When has 25% of the world population been wiped out?

2. Who is the rider of the White Horse?

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. (Revelation 6:1-2 NIV)

There is a big debate about that. The first seal involves conquest.  The rider of the horse is a conqueror.  Who is the rider?  Some Christians believe that this is the spread of the gospel throughout the earth with people getting saved.

They say that this is the white horse of the gospel. Many Christians believe that the rider is Jesus.  He rides a white horse.  Good guys wear white.  He is crowned.  He conquers.

That view is almost certainly wrong.  The first rider is known by his company.  The other three seals represent bad things. If the last three seals are evil, the first is not good.

It does not fit.  Jesus’ return is not followed by famine and pestilence. His coming will not be associated with hunger and disease. Jesus will come back on a white horse but not until Revelation 19.

In this passage, Jesus is the lamb, not the horse.  The Lamb is opening the seals.  All of the best scholars on Revelation agree that this is not Jesus.  It can’t be Jesus.  Who is the rider?

There are two possibilities.   The rider on this horse may be the ANTICHRIST (future end-time ruler).  The Antichrist will be a Counterfeit Christ.  He will be an Imitation Christ.  He will be Satan’s demonic messiah.

We know from the Book of Revelation that the Antichrist will be crowned (Revelation 13:1).  A crown represents power or authority.  This individual will be a politician.

This individual is coming to conquer.  We know from the Book of Revelation that the Antichrist will conquer people (Revelation 11:7; 3:7).  This individual will receive worldwide dominion (Revelation 11:7-8)

He will also be a military leader but not at first.  He will be deceptive.  Most politicians are.  He begins peacefully.  He conquers with a bloodless victory.  He will use diplomacy. He will be an instrument of world peace.

If he is conquering militarily, it would be a red horse, not a white horse. The world is looking for a man on a white horse today bringing peace.  He will come as a peacemaker, but it will be a false peace.  If that is the case, do not trust everyone who rides a white horse.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (I Thessalonians 5:2-3 NIV)

The rider on the first horse may represent FALSE RELIGION.  It may represent RELIGIOUS DECEPTION.  That also fits Matthew 24.  It describes people being deceived and making false claims.  That is happening today.  It fits the context of Revelation 6.  The other three seals are general (war, death, poverty).

Revelation 6 parallels Matthew 24.  Jesus was asked, What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

He answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. (Matthew 24:4-5 NIV).

The very first sign of the end of the age in Matthew 24 is false religion.  Jesus said, not one or two, but MANY will claim to be the Christ and will deceive many.  Most of them are in California but there might be some in our area.

The Second Seal

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword (Revelation 6:3-4 NIV)

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (Matthew 24:6-7 NIV)

The second seal shatters the false peace.  This horse is violent.  It is red the color of blood.  It leads to war, genocide and ethnic conflicts.  People are slaughtered and massacred.  The conflicts are international and global.

The Third Seal

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine! (Revelation 6:5-6 NIV)

The third seal is poverty.  Barley and wheat costs more than it used to, and you can’t buy as much.  There is inflation and food shortages, but you can still buy luxury items, like oil and wine.

We had a supply chain crisis with COVID.  There was a shortage of toilet paper but there was plenty of wine on the shelves.  There was a shortage of the things we needed and an abundance of the things we don’t need

The Fourth Seal

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:7-8 NIV)

The Fourth Seal is death.  It is the color of death.  It is the color of a corpse.  It is yellowish green like a decomposing body.  Hades followed after it.  Why?  After death is the afterlife.  This horse can only kill twenty-five percent of the planet.

If this seal were opened today, that would involve the death of two billion people.  There are about eight billion people on the planet.  Twenty-five percent of 8,000,000,000 is 2,000,000,000 but they did not all die the same way.  If there are eight people in your family, two will die.

There are four different methods of death mentioned in the text: death from warfare (sword), death by starvation (famine), death from disease (pestilence) and death by animal attacks.  There are some wild animals that are deadly.  Which is the worse way to die?

The Fifth Seal

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. (Revelation 6:9-11 NIV)

The Fifth Seal deals with martyred believers.  It deals with Tribulation Saints who were killed.  We will find out in Revelation 13 and 17 who killed them.

They are dead.  Notice what they are doing. They are speaking. They are conscious. It refutes the idea of soul sleep. Many people believe that when you die your soul sleeps.

That is not what the Bible teaches. When you die, the only thing that sleeps is your body. Your soul is alive and conscious. We see that in Luke 16. The unsaved rich man is dead, but he is conscious and talking to God.

These believers in heaven are dead but John can see them and hear them.  They are wearing white robes.  They are under the altar.  They offered themselves up as a sacrifice to the Lord.

What did they do?  They cried out to God in a loud voice.  There are a lot of loud voices in heaven.  It is not a quiet place.  They cried, “How long until you avenge our blood?”  That raises an interesting question.  Is that a Christian prayer?  They are not praying, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

This is not so much a prayer for vengeance as for justice.  That is a biblical prayer.  Justice is part of God’s character.  These saints are not taking the law into their own hands.  God says that vengeance is His.  Their blood cried out to God like the blood of Abel cried out to God.

The Sixth Seal

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:12-17 NIV)

Now, we come to the longest of the seven seals.  This seal affects ALL CREATION (earth, sun, moon, stars, heavens, clouds, mountains) and it is not just a natural catastrophe.

It is divine judgment.  It is the wrath of the one sitting on the throne and the wrath of the lamb.  No angels are mentioned in this seal.

Many believe these seals describe the end of the world.  Some think they describes the Second Coming, but it doesn’t.

Jesus does not come back until Revelation 19.  There are thirteen more chapters which must take place on earth before Jesus returns.  What does this chapter say to us today?  How does it apply to us today?

Applications for Today

1) God is sovereign over evil

These four evil horsemen operate under the sovereignty of God.  God is sovereign over evil.  These horsemen can only work after Jesus breaks the seals.  They cannot do anything without the permission of Jesus.

These judgments are all initiated by Jesus.  He causes the seals to occur.  These seals are not sent by Satan.  Satan does not open the seals.  Jesus does.  They only had power to do their work because they were given that power from heaven.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he WAS GIVEN a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. (Revelation 6:2 NIV)

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider WAS GIVEN power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him WAS GIVEN a large sword. (Revelation 6:4 NIV)

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They WERE GIVEN power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8 NIV)

We learn from this chapter that evil is ALLOWED by God.  We learn that evil in this world is LIMITED by God. There is a limit to what the horsemen can do. The fourth horseman is given power to kill a fourth of the earth, not two-fourths or three-fourths of the earth.

If the four horsemen operate under the sovereignty of God, then bad things that happen in our life also operate under the sovereignty of God.  If Jesus is in control of the Four Horsemen, then He is in control of our life as well.  Bad things that happen are under God’s control.

2) Sinners are accountable to God

The seals are divine judgment for sin.  We live on an extremely wicked planet.  People are in rebellion to God.  They reject His authority over their lives.  They reject His Word.  They reject His offer of salvation.

We think we can do what we want and not be held accountable.  We are the master of our own destiny but all of us will be held accountable to God.  One day, judgment will fall.  It will fall on earth.  People will not have to die to face it.

When it falls, it falls on everyone who is lost.  Seven categories of people are mentioned (Here we see seven categories of men (kings, great men, rich men, commanders, mighty men, slaves, every free man).  Being rich will not protect you.  Being famous will not save you.  Being poor will not help you either.

3) God’s wrath is terrifying to face

The Bible says that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 ESV).  There’s nowhere to run.  There’s nowhere to hide.  This Seal Judgment is so terrifying that people want to kill themselves.

They want the rocks and mountains to fall on them (Revelation 6:16).  The preacher Hershel Ford (1900-1976) once called this “the world’s greatest prayer meeting.”[2] They do not prayer to God.  They pray to dead rocks and dumb mountains.  Rather than running to God, they try to hide from Him.

This seal has not been fulfilled yet.  This was not fulfilled in 70 AD.  It was not fulfilled in the past.  It is not being fulfilled right now.

4) There is a way to escape God’s wrath

The chapter ends with a question.  It is a penetrating question.  It is a solemn question.  It is a life-altering question.  For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:17).

How can anyone survive this judgment?  How can they face it?  Where will you be when God judges sin?  Do you have a Savior from sin?  There is a group of people who will stand and can stand when this judgment falls.  We read about them in the next chapter.

If we are saved, we do not have to fear the wrath of God. Jesus is the one who “rescues us from the coming wrath” (I Thessalonians 1:10). It says that if we are saved “shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Christ” (Romans 5:9). The Bible teaches that the saved “are NOT appointed to wrath” (I Thessalonians 5:9).

[1] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=111818939420

[2] Cited by S. Lewis Johnson (https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sljinstitute-production/new_testament/Revelation/15_SLJ_Revelation.pdf)

The Great Paradox

Today, we come to an amazing chapter in Revelation.  It is one of the great chapters in the Bible.  This chapter is the foundation for the the Book of Revelation.  The rest of the book of Revelation is built on what happens in this chapter.

In this chapter, Jesus takes the scroll.  Then, he opens it and once he opens it, judgments fall on the earth and after the judgments take place, Jesus returns.  This chapter is important for three reasons.

One, this chapter is important because it contains one of the great mysteries of the Book of Revelation.

The Book of Revelation contains many mysteries.  That is why so many people like to study it. Everyone wants to find out what they mean.  They want to know what the Mark of the Beast means.  What is the meaning of the number 666?

The latest foolishness is that the Mark of the Beast is the COVID vaccine and if you take the COVID vaccine for medical reasons that you have somehow taken the Mark of the Beast.  If you want to learn more about the Mark of the Beast, you need to come back in a few months when we study Revelation 13.

In Revelation 5, we have a mystery.  There is this cosmic throne scene and the one sitting on the throne has a book in His hand.  Seven times in the chapter it mentions this mysterious book.  What was in the book?  We will find out.

Two, this chapter is important because it is all about Jesus.  Revelation 4 was all about the Father receiving worship.  This chapter is all about the Son receiving worship.

In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12 NIV).

Revelation 5 is proof that Jesus is God, because He is worshiped.  In Revelation 5, Jesus is worshipped, not by one or two people but by every creature in heaven and earth.

If Jesus was just a creature, this would be idolatry. When John tries to worship an angel, they say, “Don’t worship me.  Worship God.”  When Jesus is worshipped in heaven, He doesn’t say, “Don’t worship me.  Worship God instead.”

We get some new titles of Jesus in this chapter. So far in Revelation, Jesus has been called the Son of God and Son of Man.  He is called the faithful and true witness (Revelation 3:14), the beginning of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14).

He is called the First and the Last (Revelation 1:17).  He is called the firstborn from the dead (Revelation 1:5).  He is called the ruler of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5).

In this chapter, Jesus is given three new titles and they are all Jewish.  Jesus is called the lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5).  He is called the root of David (Revelation 5:5) and He is called the Lamb (Revelation 5:6).

The lion of the tribe of Judah goes back to Genesis.  The root of David goes back to Isaiah.  Jesus being our lamb goes back to the Book of Exodus.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb (I Corinthians 5:7).  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Three, this chapter is important because it contains some of the greatest paradoxes in the Bible.  There are many paradoxes in the Bible.  A paradox is two contradictory statements that may be true.  It contains two things that seem to be contradictory but are not.

If I get closer to a fire, I get hot and yet if I climb on top of a mountain, I am closer to the Sun, and yet I am cold.  That is a paradox.  In the Bible, there are some paradoxes as well

The way to become first is to become last.  But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (Matthew 19:30 NIV).

The way to get is to give.  Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Luke 8:38 NIV)

The way to become great is to serve.  Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave (Matthew 20:26-27 NIV).

The way to become strong is to become weak. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” For when I am weak, then I am strong (II Corinthians 12:9, 10 NIV).

There are some amazing paradoxes in this chapter as well.  Jesus is called the root of David (Revelation 5:5).  The root comes before a planet.  Jesus is both the root and descendant of David.  He is both.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David (Revelation 22:16 NIV).  Jesus came from David, but David came from Jesus.

We will see more incredible paradoxes as we go through this chapter.  Revelation four and five go together.  They begin the second part of the Book of Revelation.

The first part of the book deals with present events.  Revelation 1-3 deals with the present.  In Revelation 4, Jesus invites John up to heaven to see the future.  John is given a vision of the future.

The Gospels give us an eyewitness account of past events.  John gets to be an eyewitness to future events and writes them down but before he gets a vision of the future, he gets a vision of God.

John has an out-of-body experience.  His body stays on earth, but his spirit goes to heaven, and he is taken right into the throne room of God.  The word “throne” is one of the key words in Revelation 4.  It is used twelve times in the chapter.

John not only sees God on a throne, he sees some ugly looking angelic being with eyes all over their bodies and strange heads.  He sees twenty-four elders.  He does not see Jesus, but he does see a worship service taking place.

Mystery of the Scroll

Revelation is the same scene.  God is still on the throne but there is a pause in the worship.  John sees a book (βιβλίον) in God’s hand.  That is good news for booklovers.

There will be books in heaven but don’t worry.  There won’t be any trashy novels in heaven.  When we hear of a book, we think of hardback or a paperback.

They did not have any books like that in John’s day.  Their books were all scrolls.  John knew all about scrolls.  He had written some.  He wrote the Gospel of John on a scroll.  When you unrolled it, it was over twenty-three feet long.

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. (Revelation 5:1 NIV)

This was a heavenly book.  It was a long book.  It had a lot of writing in it on both sides.  You normally did not write on both sides of a papyrus. It was also sealed, not with one seal but with seven seals.

Important documents in John’s day, like wills, were sealed with wax.  This was a long book.  It was an important book.  It was a mysterious book.  It was secret.  No one can read it.  It was a sealed book.

What is the scroll?  Many believe this book is the title deed to the universe.  A deed is a piece of paper that gives you ownership to something (like a house).  The idea is that this scroll gave Jesus ownership to the because he bought it.  That is a very common view.

It seems to make sense on one level.  Satan is the god of this world.  He is in control of this world.  That is why so many bad things happen every day and Jesus is redeeming the world back.  He is taking control and it all starts with Jesus getting the title deed to planet earth.

It is true that one day the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Christ (Revelation 11:15) but Jesus doesn’t need a piece of paper or a scroll to become the owner of the earth.  He already owns it.  He created it and He does not take the title deed away from Satan.  He takes it from God the Father.

It is better to see this as a book of destiny, a book of decrees or a book of judgment.  This was a judgment scroll.  It contains the judgments of God on earth.  How do we know?

When the seals are opened by Jesus in Revelation 6 one at a time, terrible judgment falls on the earth.  Each seal brings another judgment on the earth, but this scroll contains more than just Revelation 6.  Remember, this is a big book with a lot of words in it.

Many people believe that there are three separate series of judgments in the Book of Revelation.  After the seven seals come the seven trumpets.  After the seven trumpets come the seven bowls.

In reality, the seven trumpets are part of the seventh seal and the seven bowl judgments are part of the seventh trumpet judgment. What does this mean?  It means that they are all part of the seal judgments.  That means when the last seal judgment takes place, all of these judgments are over.

To understand what this book is, you have to go back to the Book of Ezekiel.  Sometimes, you might want to read Ezekiel 1-2.  Ezekiel and John had a lot in common.

Both wrote Scripture.  Both were captives.  John was on the Island of Patmos for his faith.  Ezekiel was sent to Babylon.  He was in exile in a pagan land.

Both had an amazing vision.  Both saw the heavens opened.  Both had a vision of God sitting on His throne.  Both saw brilliant light surrounding the throne and a rainbow.  Both saw angels.

Both saw the four living creatures.  Both saw the lion, ox, eagle and man heads.  Both also saw a scroll.  Both scrolls were written on both sides.  Ezekiel’s scroll was not sealed but notice what was in the scroll.

Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, 10 which he unrolled before me. On BOTH SIDES of it were written words of LAMENT and MOURNIING and WOE. (Ezekiel 2:9-11 NIV).

Some believe that this scroll in Revelation is broader than just judgment.  Some believe that it contains God’s plan for establishing His kingdom on earth.  It is God’s plan for bringing salvation and judgment to earth.[1]  That is a good possibility.

Angelic Proclamation

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. (Revelation 5:2-3 NIV)

The next scene in the chapter is a proclamation by an angel.  And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (Revelation 5:2 NIV)

I don’t know if there are any weak angels but this was a strong angel.  It was not a Pee Wee Herman Angel.  It gave a challenge to anyone in the universe who was able to take the book and break the seals.  Who was the right person for the job?  That was the question.

The angel did not ask, Who is WILLING to open the book?  Many might be willing to do it.  He did not ask who is STRONG ENOUGH to open it? It did not take much strength to remove the seals. He asks who is WORTHY to open it?

John’s Search

John went on a search looking for the person who could open this scroll.  He searched in heaven.  He searched on earth and under the earth.

It reminds me a little of Dante’s book, The Divine Comedy.  It is a three-volume book.  In that book, a guide takes Dante to heaven, hell and purgatory.

Here John goes to heaven, earth and under the earth.  We all know what heaven and earth refer to but what is under the earth?  This is most likely a reference to Sheol or Hades (the underworld).

These are the three parts to biblical cosmology (heaven, earth and hades).  I guess there is no life on other planets.  Every knee is one day going to bow to Jesus.  Every knee in heaven.  Every knee on earth and every knee under the earth will all bow to Jesus (Philippians 2:10).

John went on a hunt to find who was worthy to do this.  What he found was that no one was worthy.  That is a little shocking.

No one on earth could open it.  No celebrity could open it.  No movie star could do it.  No politician could one it.  No philosopher could open it.  Aristotle and Plato couldn’t open it.  No scientist could open it.  Einstein couldn’t do it.

No Christian could open it either.  The godliest saint could not open it.  Mother Theresa couldn’t open it.  The greatest apostle could not open it.  No apostle, no pastor or missionary could open it.  No martyr could open it.  Joan of Arc couldn’t open it.

No scholar could open it either and that includes biblical scholars.  No theologian could open it.  No seminary professor or eminent Bible teacher could open it.  People on earth are all sinful.

No angel could open it either and angels are sinless.  The greatest angel could not open it.  Gabriel could not open it.  His name means “strength.”

Michael the Archangel could not open it.  The Cherubim could not do it.  The Seraphim could not do it.  No demon in hell could open it either.  Satan could not open the seals.

John’s Response

I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside (Revelation 5:4 NIV).

There are two words used for weeping in the New Testament. One is used in John 11:35, where the Bible says, “Jesus wept.” That word (δακρύω) refers to “silent weeping”.  This word (κλαιω) refers to “uncontrollable sobbing” (Luke 19:41).

This old apostle had an emotional response.  He wept.  He not only wept; he wept loudly.  You have heard of the weeping prophet (Jeremiah). John was the weeping apostle.

John’s Rebuke

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Revelation 5:5 NIV)

John was told to stop crying, because Jesus is worthy to open the book.  Later, John is going to write in Revelation that there is no crying in heaven.  Who told him that there was someone who could take the scroll?  Not the angels but the twenty-four elders.  The elders represent believers in heaven.

They told John that Jesus the lion of the tribe of Judah can open it.  This is where it gets interesting.  It leads to another paradox.

One of the elders told John that he would see a lion.  He expected to see a lion, but he saw a lamb instead.  In Greek, it is a baby lamb (ἀρνίον).  If I said, “look at that big cat over there” and you turned and saw a little dog, you might wonder about me.

A lion and lamb are completely opposite animals.  A lamb is a weak, innocent and harmless animal. It is completely submissive in suffering, even to the point of death.  It is silent when brought to the slaughter. It does not resist or even complain.

A lamb is a picture of weakness, but a lion is a picture of strength. Lions are built for strength. They like to fight and are good at it. They are killing machines. They are predators.

Lions are powerful and dangerous. Some of them weigh six hundred pounds and have sharp teeth and sharp claws.  Lions are kingly animals.  They are called “kings of the beasts.”  They are completely opposite animals but Jesus is both.

He is the Lion and the Lamb.  He is not a literal lamb.  He is not a literal lion. He does not have seven literal eyes.  He does not have seven literal horns.  These are all symbols. They are metaphors.  They are pictures.  They are images.

The lamb refers to the First Coming.  The lion refers to the Second Coming.  Jesus is both a crucified Lamb and a conquering Lion.  Why is this important?  If you do not see Jesus as the Lion and the Lamb, you do not have a full picture of who Jesus is.

Some only see Jesus was weak, passive and submissive.  He does not conquer by force.  He did not conquer the Romans by force.  Some Christians believe that Jesus was a pacifist.

According to them, Jesus had a message of nonviolence.  He taught people to love their enemies, forgive people, not resist evil people and to turn the other cheek when someone slaps you in the face.

The problem is that they have only read half of the Bible.  Many people do that today.  They have their favorite Bible verses.  They have their favorite topics and hobby horses.  They do not teach or preach the whole counsel of God.

I have seen this in many churches.  They are not balanced.  They emphasize part of the Bible.  They are really strong in some areas but do not talk about other areas at all.  How do you stay balanced?  Teach the whole Bible.

Revelation 5 presents a full picture of Jesus.  He is both the lion and the lamb.  In the First Coming, we saw him as the Lamb, offering a sacrifice for the sins of the world.  During the Second Coming, He will return riding a white horse as a Lion.

He will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).  He will not return as Savior but as Ruler and Judge.  His robe will be dipped in the blood of His enemies (Revelation 19:13).

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne (Revelation 5:6-7 NIV)

John was told not to worry that the lion from the Tribe of Judah has triumphed and is able to open the scroll, but the Lion does not open it.  The Lamb does.

The one who overcomes was not a ferocious lion, but a lamb.  It was not an ordinary lamb.  This lamb had seven horns, which represents strength, and it did not overcome by his life but by his death.  It overcame by being slaughtered.  If the lamb is butchered, how could it overcome anything?

When lambs are slaughtered, they fall over.  This lamb had its throat cut but it was standing at the center of the throne (Revelation 5:6).  This lamb did not just die but rose from the dead.  Why was the lamb worthy to take the scroll?

“And they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, BECAUSE you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10 NIV)

Jesus was worthy to do this because of what he did.  He earned the right to take this scroll by his actions.  He purchased people.  He redeemed people by his blood, and he made them a kingdom of priests.  Where does that idea and language come from?

It comes right out of the book of Exodus.  The Jews were in slavery for hundreds of years.  They were in slavery to Pharaoh. God redeemed the Jews out of slavery.  He redeemed them from the land of Egypt and made them a kingdom of priests.

In the Bible, this is a picture of salvation. It is an OT picture of the gospel.  You have terrible bondage and slavery.  You have blood atonement, and you have miraculous deliverance.

In fact, when the Jews went through the Red Sea, Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today” (Exodus 14:13 ESV).

There is another slavery that many people are in all over the world.  It is a slavery to sin.  It is a slavery to Satan, a greater Pharaoh.  It is a greater slavery than the Jews in Egypt faced.

Jesus redeemed us out of that slavery.  The Passover lamb died so that the firstborn son could live.  The lamb died in his place.  He died as a substitute.  Jesus was out substitute.  He died in our place.  He is our Passover Lamb.  He did not just redeem Jews from Egypt but people all over the world in every country.

An Explosion of Worship

Jesus walks over, takes the scroll out of the Father’s hand and, as soon as He does that, an explosion of worship breaks out in heaven.  Universal worship breaks out by all kinds of different beings in heaven.  All of heaven will publicly recognize Jesus’ work on earth as the Redeemer.

This worship builds.  If you do the math, it started in Revelation 4 with four angels (the four living creatures).  They worshipped the one on the throne and said “holy, holy, holy” day and night.  When they begin to worship, the twenty-four elders begin to worship.  Now, there are twenty-eight worshiping.

After Jesus took the scroll the father’s hand, an innumerable host of angels, ten thousand times ten thousand, begin to worship.  In Revelation 4, twenty-eight beings were worshipping God.  In Revelation 5, millions of angels were worshipping with Jesus in the center.

They worshipped with musical instruments (harp) and with singing.  The choir keeps getting bigger and the doxology gets longer.  They are worshipping Him in a loud voice.  They are not whispering it.

By the end, all of creation is worshiping, “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them” (Revelation 5:13 NIV).

Life Lessons

1) Trust that God is in control

God rules the entire universe.  He is the one sitting on the throne of the universe.  He is the one in control.  He is in control of history.  He is in control of the future of our planet.  He is in control of our future as well.  Nothing takes God by surprise.  As one preacher said, He rules the world with his feet up.

God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne (Psalm 47:8 NIV)

The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19 NIV)

When the world looks like it is going crazy, it does not look like God is in control, but He is.  You say, “I thought Satan was running this world.”  He is but God is still in control.  He is still seated on his throne.

2) Worship Jesus passionately

There is no one like Him in all of the universe.  There is no one like him in heaven, on earth or in hell.  He is worthy of our worship and our praise.  He is worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing.  He is worthy to receive our entire lives.  We can worship Him now.  One day, we will be in this choir in heaven when all creation worships Him.

3) Pray daily

He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. (Revelation 5:7-8 NIV).

Prayers are symbolized by bowls of incense.  They go up as incense to God.  He likes it when we pray.  When prayers go up to God, it is like incense going up to God.  It is like perfume.

God wants us to pray to Him regularly.  The Bible says we have not because we ask not (James 4:2).  How many things do not have because we never asked.  God wants a relationship with His people.

4) Serve God in your divinely appointed role

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10 NIV).

Right now, we can function as priests.  Every believer is a priest.  In the OT, you had to be born into a particular tribe and family to be a priest.  If you were not born into the tribe of Levi and if you were not a descendant of the family of Aaron, you could not be a priest.

Now, believers are priests.  It does not matter who your ancestors were.  Every believer is a priest.  Priests in the OT offered sacrifices in the temple.  We can offer spiritual sacrifices to God (Hebrews 13:15).

In the future, we will reign on the earth, according to this chapter.  We are not just going to have some spiritual kingdom.  One day, we will reign on the earth in the Messianic Kingdom.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0-O4r4yw1w&list=PLnNXzYjQerJgjY1cgmGP7EeJ5bjvNrUc_&index=10

Worship Principles

Today, we want to talk about worship and some principles for worship from Revelation 4-5.  What is worship?  What does worship really look like?  What does it look like in Heaven? How is worship on earth different from worship in heaven?  How is what we do in church different from what we see in these chapters?

We do not have any strange mutants in the service with eyes all over their bodies.  We do not have any visible angels present.  God is in our services but we cannot see Him.  We cannot see his throne.  We do not see a throne of glass or seven lamps of fire in the service.  We don’t se any lightening or hear any thunder.

Today, we come to the second part of the Book of Revelation. The book of Revelation can be divided into two sections.  The first part of the book deals with PRESENT EVENTS.  Revelation 1-3 deals with the state of the churches of Asia Minor in John’s day.  We looked at Jesus’ letters to the seven churches.

The rest of the book deals with FUTURE EVENTS.  Jesus told John, “I will show you what must take place AFTER these things” (Revelation 4:1 NASB), not things which “might” or “may” happen but things which MUST happen.   That describes the rest of the book.

Revelation 4-22 deals with the Tribulation Period, the Battle of Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ, the Millennium, the Great White Throne Judgment, the New Heaven and New Earth, the Lake of Fire.

Before John gets a vision of the future, he gets a vision of God.  He gets a vision of the throne room of God.  He gets to see the heavenly throne room.  Other people in the Bible saw it in the OT (Isaiah, Ezekiel).  Now John gets a chance to see it himself.

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” (Revelation 4:1 NIV)

John looks up and sees a door in heaven.  Normally, that door is shut but John sees an open door in heaven.  Then he hears a voice.  It is a voice, like a trumpet.  It is the voice of Jesus.   It must have been a loud voice because trumpets are loud.

Jesus invited him to come on up to heaven. John receives an open invitation to the throne room of God.  He is instantly transported to heaven and gets to see Heaven.

Seeing heaven, even for a second, changes your whole perspective.  All of the bad things taking place on earth look a little different from heaven’s perspective.  Many people who have had near death experiences have been completely changed by what they saw.

Ten to twenty percent of people who almost die have NDEs.  I had a heart attack in 2016, while playing a softball game and almost died.  The ER doctor had to use the defibrillator on me twice to wake me up.

In the ER, I was dying. I was going to sleep.  I was feeling very comfortable.  My cardiologist said, “Oh you were going to sleep alright.  You were going to sleep for a long time.”  Then, I remember feeling this sharp pain.  When I woke up my cardiologist asked me if I saw any bright lights.  I did not see any.  I was not unconscious yet but many people have seen them.

The scene of the book shifts to heaven.  All throughout the Book of Revelation, the scene shifts from heaven to earth.

At first, the focus is on the seven churches on earth.  Then, John was taken to the throne room in heaven (Revelation 4-5).  Being taken right to the throne room of God changes you.

Revelation 6 brings things back on earth (seven seal judgments).  It is rather negative and depressing. Then the next chapter is positive.  We see a great multitude in heaven with all kinds of people and angels around the throne in heaven (Revelation 7).

Revelation 8-11 brings us back to earth with more terrible judgments (the seven trumpets).  They will be like the plagues of Egypt falling on the earth once again.  The whole book shifts back and forth from heaven to earth.

John gets a special invitation and a special privilege.  What John was invited to do, we will one day be invited to do, if we are saved.  Every saved person will one day be permitted to go through this door and enter heaven.  Jesus is the door. He is the door to salvation.  He is the door to heaven.

If we are saved, we will get to enter this door.  We will get to go to heaven.  We will not only get a chance to be observers, like John was, we will get to be participants.  We will participate in worship in heaven but we can worship God now, even though we cannot see Him.

We can still come before God’s throne to “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 NIV).  It is called a throne of grace.  God’s throne in heaven is a throne of grace.  It has a rainbow around it.  We have rainbows on earth and they are a sign of grace.  They are a sign that God will not judge the world with a flood.

There are not only rainbows on earth but will be one in heaven but it does not look like any rainbow you have ever seen.  This will be a green rainbow, an emerald rainbow.

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. (Revelation 4:1 NIV)

The Rapture in Revelation

Before we look at the heavenly throne room, we have to dispel a common myth that many Christians have.  Revelation 4:1 is one of the most misinterpreted verses in the Book of Revelation.

Is this passage talking about the rapture of the church?   Many preachers believe that it is. That is a common interpretation in some circles (e.g., Adrian Rogers, Tommy Nelson, Jack Graham).  The Bible has a lot to say about the rapture.

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. (I Thessalonians 4:13-17 NIV)

What is the rapture?  It is one of the most important events in human history.  Millions of people all over the world will instantly disappear.  They will mysteriously vanish from the face of the earth.  All Christians on earth caught up to meet Jesus in the clouds.

Dead believers will be resurrected and living believers will be raptured.  They will be instantly changed and transformed without dying.  Paul said that “we shall all be changed.” It will all happen very quickly (in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye).

There are some important differences between what John experiences and the rapture.  What are some of the differences?  There are some important differences.

At the rapture, the church will not be given an option or an invitation.  They will be taken.  The word used means to seize or take by force (ἁρπάζω).  Revelation 4 describes an invitation to come to heaven.  John is invited to come to heaven.

At the rapture, millions of people all over the world at the same time will meet Jesus in heaven.   John 4 describes the rapture of John, not the rapture of the whole church.  It describes the rapture of one person.

At the rapture, our entire bodies will be removed from the earth.  John was “in the spirit” when this happened (Revelation 4:1).  His spirit went to heaven, but his body stayed on earth.  He had an out-of-body experience and he did not meet Jesus in the clouds but went straight to heaven.

At the rapture, we will receive glorified bodies.  When John got to heaven, he was not glorified.  He saw God and got some revelation about the future.

As you can see, Revelation 4 has nothing to do with the rapture of the church.  The Book of Revelation does not describe the rapture of the church.  There will be a rapture of all Christians one day, but Revelation 4 is not talking about that event.

John takes a trip to heaven.  He not only got a vision of heaven; he took a trip to heaven.  Jesus said, “come up here” and he went up.  John tells us what he saw and what he heard.  John gives us eye-witness testimony.  What John saw was amazing. What he saw was breathtaking. He saw God.  He also saw some strange beings in heaven.

Four Living Creatures

John also saw four strange looking, supernatural beings there around the throne.  They are called “four living creatures.”

Who are they?  They are a special type of exalted angels.  They are different from any other angels in the Bible.  There are four living creatures in Ezekiel 1.  They are called CHERUBIM, but those angels only had four wings (Ezekiel 1:5-6), and these have six wings (Revelation 4:8).

There are another group of exalted angels in Isaiah 6.  They are called SERAPHIM.  These angels sound like the Seraphim.  They did have six wings (Isaiah 6:2).

The Seraphim said to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3 NIV).  That is very similar to the what the four living creatures of Revelation say.  They say, “

“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8 NIV).

However, the angels in Isaiah 6 are NOT called living creatures.  They did not have strange looking heads.  They are the angels closest to the throne and they function as the worship leaders in heaven.  That brings us to a second group of beings that John saw.

Twenty-Four Elders

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. (Revelation 4:4 NIV)

Who are the twenty-four elders? Many good NT scholars argue that they are angels (so Carson, Osborne, Mounce).  They are way better scholars than I am, but I think they are wrong. There are several hints that the twenty-four elders are people.

The FIRST HINT is that they are called elders. This term is only used of people in Scripture.  There were elders in Israel and elders in the church.  In fact, it is the name of an office in the church.   The term “elder” is never used in the Bible for angels, but the term was commonly used of synagogue leaders and church leaders.

The SECOND HINT is that they sit on thrones.  That was a promise to believers. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne (Revelation 3:21 NIV).  They are throne-sitters.

The THIRD HINT is that they wear a crown.  That was promised to believers in the last two chapters (Revelation 2:10; 3:11).  Jesus promised believers crowns.  Angels in the Bible are never said to wear crowns, but people are.

There are two different Greek words for crowns: στέφανος and διάδημα.  The Diadem Crown is the crown that the Messiah will wear.  Believers will wear the Stephanos Crown.

The FOURTH HINT is that they wear white clothes.  That was also promised to the overcomer.  Jesus promised believers in Sardis that “they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy” (Revelation 3:4 NIV).

Believers in Revelation wear white (Revelation 6:11; 7:9; 19:14).  It is a sign of salvation in the Book of Revelation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14).

Who are the twenty-four elders?  They are the people of God.  The represent the totality of the redeemed.  Twenty-four of them represent the people of God in the OT and in the NT.  There were twelve apostles and twelve patriarchs (cf. Revelation 21:12, 14).

Worship Principles

What does this passage say to us today?  What is the practical application to us today?  Is there one?  Yes.  Revelation 4-5 is all about worship.  It is about worship in heaven.  John went up to heaven and encountered a worship service in heaven.

God was worshiped in heaven by all kinds of beings.  Some of them were strange looking beings.  The four living creatures looked like demons with strange heads (lion, ox, man and eagle) and eyes all over their body in the front and back.  That seems little creepy.  What does this passage say to us today?

1) We were created for worship

People were created for worship.  We are worshipping beings.  They do not all worship the true God.  There are all kinds of false religions and cults.  Some follow Hare Krishna and all kinds of goofy things, but we were created for worship.

Aristotle said, “man is a political animal.”  Adam Smith said man is an economic animal.  Animals don’t trade with other animals and make bargains.  Only people do that.

If you watch Hallmark, you know that man is social animal.  We are created for relationships.  In Scripture, we learn that man is a religious animal.  We were created for a personal relationship with our Creator.  We are created for worship.

What have we learned?  Man is a political animal.  Man is an economic animal.  Man is a social animal.  Man is a religious animal.  Women say that men are just animals.

2) God is worthy of our worship

That is very clear from our passage.  Why are all of these beings and creatures in heaven worshiping God in heaven?

Why God is Worthy

1. God is worthy because He is eternal

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever (Revelation 4:9 NIV)

God is eternal and is the one who sits on the throne, where He rules the world.  He has not abdicated His throne or gotten off this throne.  He is still there.  Every knee one day will bow to this throne.

This throne is full of bright light.  Flashes of lightning came from this throne.  In front of the throne were these seven lamps of fire that were blazing.  The Bible says that God dwells in unapproachable light (I Timothy 6:16).

John does not describe Who he saw on the throne.  How do you describe the indescribable.  He could only describe it by previous stones (jasper and ruby).  Red and purple were the colors of royalty in the ancient world.

2. God is worthy because He is Holy

The four living creatures said, “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8 NIV).  They did NOT say “HOLY is the Lord.”  They did NOT say, “HOLY, HOLY is the Lord.”

They said, “HOLYHOLYHOLY is the Lord God Almighty.”  The word “holy” is used three times (ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος) by the four living creatures.  The Seraphim in Isaiah 6 said it three times as well.

No other attribute of God is emphasized three times.  This is the only one in the Bible.  These angels did not say, “love, love, love.”  They did not say, “mercy, mercy, mercy.”  They did not say, “judgment, judgment, judgment” or “wrath, wrath, wrath.”  They said, “holy, holy, holy.”

The ones who are closest to God and closest to the throne are impressed by the absolute holiness of God.  That is something that we don’t emphasize too much in church today.

We emphasize the love, grace and mercy of God but not the holiness of God.  That does not seem to impress believers too much today, unfortunately.

In fact, some Christians do not even know what the holiness of God is.  It means that God is the Separated One.  He is separate from all sin.  He is also separate from his creation.

It refers to God’s total purity.  It refers to absolute moral purity.  Many believe that it is the supreme attribute of God.  We are to be holy as He is holy.

3. God is worthy because He is the Creator

You are WORTHY, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11 NIV).

Before you see God as Redeemer, you have to see Him as Creator.  God is not always recognized as Creator one earth but He is in heaven.  If your notice, the twenty-four elders did not praise God for evolution but for creation.

Evolution says that there was no design or designer.  Everything happened by chance or because of some natural evolutionary process.  No.  Everything exists because God created it.

This answers the question, Why am I here? We are here because God created us.  He willed us to be here.  We exist because of God’s will and good pleasure (by your will they were created and have their being).

4. God is worthy because He is the Redeemer

You are WORTHY to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10 NIV)

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”  (Revelation 5:11-12 NIV).

4) Worship God humbly

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.  (Revelation 4:9-10 NIV)

 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. (Revelation 5:8 NIV)

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:14 NIV)

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God (Revelation 7:11 NIV)

When we worship God in our modern church services what do we do? We stand up. We sing. If we are charismatic, we might clap our hands or raise our hands. What did they do in heaven?

They fall down on their faces and worship. They get as low as possible as quickly as possible.

The twenty-four elders were seated on thrones but were not too proud to get off their thrones and worship God, the one who was seated on another throne.

They were not too proud to take their thrones off and laid them before the throne.  They did not try to hold on to them.  One of the myths that people have is that one day we will give up all of our rewards.

That is not what the text says.  It simply says that during worship, they took off their crowns and laid them at the feet of the one sitting on the throne (so Frutchenbaum).[1]

4) Worship God creatively

They did not just sing an old hymn.  They sang a new song.  Their worship was fresh and creative.  Many churches only sing old song, ancient hymns that have been around for hundreds of years.  In heaven, they did not just sing old songs but new songs

5) Worship God constantly

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8 NIV)

The four living creatures worshiped God day and night.  They NEVER stop.  They never take a break.  They never take time off to sleep.  You have heard of prayer without ceasing.  They worship without ceasing.

We think of worship as something we do just once a week and some do not do much of that in church.  Worship should be a daily thing.  We should worship God constantly.

[1] https://www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=17192320494694

Lukewarm Christianity

We have been studying the letters of Jesus to the seven churches.  Today, we come to the end of that section in the Book of Revelation.  We saw Jesus standing and walking amongst the churches in Revelation 1. We saw Jesus talking to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3.

He wrote a letter to each one.  Today, we come now to the seventh letter that Jesus wrote to the Church at Laodicea.  This city today is located in Western Turkey.  It is the final letter of Jesus to the church.

Today, we are going to talk about the greatest danger that the church faces today, the danger of lukewarm Christianity.  That describes many churches today.  Many churches today are lukewarm.

The Church of Laodicea church was not a liberal church.  It was not an apostate church.  It was not a dead church.  That was Sardis.  It did not have problems with false teachers.  Jezebel was not in the church.

The Nicolaitans were not there.  No one taught the doctrine of Balaam there.  There were no moral problems in this church.  There were no doctrinal problems there.  The church was just lukewarm.

Many churches today have the same problem.  There are many modern day Laodicean churches.  This letter has an important message to the church today.  This is God’s word to the end-time church.  It is God’s word to the American church.

We definitely live in the end-times, so this is relevant to us today.  We need to pay special attention to this letter.  It not only contains a strong indictment and rebuke on this church but contains an incredible invitation and promise.

Jesus described Himself to this church as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation (Revelation 3:14 NIV).  A witness tells what he has seen.  He is faithful and true.  Jesus inspects each church with those eyes of fire.  What the Son of God says is true.  You can depend on it.

Jesus always starts out on a positive note with each church, telling them the good things they were doing.  When He spoke to this church, Jesus had nothing good to say about them, only criticism. How embarrassing that must have been.

Can you imagine being in that church and hearing this letter read for the first time publicly?  You come expecting to hear something positive.  You expect Jesus to say that the church was doing great, and he says, “You are doing terrible.”

They were doing so bad that they made Jesus sick.  This church nauseated Him.  When you put some disgusting food in your mouth, you want to spit it out.  Jesus said that He wanted to spit this church out of His mouth.  It was so disgusting.  In fact, the Greek is even stronger.

The NIV says, “I want to spit you out of my mouth” but the Greek word ἐμέω means to vomit or throw up (so Thayer).  It means to puke.   Greek has a different word for “to spit” (πτύω).[1]

Some Christians make Him sick.  He still loves them, but they make him want to throw up and they are professing Christians. Are there churches like that today?  Apparently, there are some.

In fact, not only could Jesus not stand this church; He was not even inside it.  That is strange.  It is a Christian church.  It is full of professing Christians, but Jesus is not on the inside.  He is on the outside trying to get in.  He is knocking on the door to get into His own church.

Two Important Questions

That is interesting. Is Jesus inside our church or is He on the outside?  There are some churches, the minute you walk inside you can sense the presence of God.

You can step in other churches where you don’t sense the presence of God.  God is not doing much in those assemblies.  They have genuine believers in them, but nothing is happening there.

Some churches God has left.  Ichabod is written on the door.  They still meet every week, and hold services but God is not there.  That raises two important questions.  Is Jesus in our church?  If Jesus left our church, would anybody notice?  Would they continue as normal?

A.W. Tozer once said, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, ninety-five percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference.”  In some churches, Jesus could leave, and no one would notice for six months.

Three Dangers Today

The danger of the church today is the same danger this church had.  It is the danger of lukewarmness.  What does that mean?  There are three dangers here.

1) The Danger of Powerless Christians

The people in this church met every Sunday.  They were religious.  They called themselves Christians.  They met together.  They sang songs.  They prayed.  They studied the Bible, but they had no power.

Why?  Because Jesus was not in the church.  He was on the outside.  Jesus said without Him we cannot do anything (John 15:5).  We need Jesus.

This was religion without Christ.  There was outward religion without genuine power.  We have all kinds of churches without Christ and without the Holy Spirit.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NIV)

That is a danger today.  The apostle Paul said that some have a form of godliness but deny its power (II Timothy 3:5).  They had a form of godliness.  It looked great on the outside, but it was only on the outside.

Churches today without prayer are powerless.  They can have all kinds of other things.  If they don’t have prayer, they don’t have power.

2) The Danger of Prideful Christians

Pride is a big problem in the church.  Some of the most arrogant people are in church.  Some of them are in the pulpit.  Many Christians look down on other Christians and other churches.

Baptists look down on Methodists.  Methodists look down on ignorant Baptists.

Non-charismatics look down on those crazy charismatics.  Charismatics look down on non-charismatics because they do not operate in the spirit.

Arminians look down on Calvinists.  Calvinists look down on those fool Arminians.  What the Bible say?

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves (Philippians 2:3 NASB)

The Church of Laodicea also had a big pride problem.  This is one of the sins that God says that he hates.  It is one of the things God specifically says He hates (Proverbs 6:16-19)

What did this church say?  They said, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’  (Revelation 3:17 NIV).  This was a rich church.  It was a wealthy church.

Is it a sin to be wealthy?  No.  Some people in the Bible were wealthy.  Is it dangerous to be wealthy?  Yes.  Why?  The more wealth you have, the more you have a temptation to trust in your wealth.

You don’t seem to need God as much.  Wealth can lead to pride.  That is why Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23 NKJV).

This letter is an indictment on prosperity theology.  One of the key tenants of prosperity theology is that when God blesses people, He blesses them financially and wealth is an indication of favor and blessing but it does not work that way in this church.

On the outside, this church looked great.  It had all of the signs of blessings.  It was wealthy.  It looked prosperous on the outside but, on the inside, the church was poor, wretched, blind and naked.  It was the exact opposite of the prosperity theology model

3) The Danger of Passionless Christians

Jesus used the image of lukewarm water to describe the condition of this church.  Jesus takes the spiritual temperature of the church and says that it is lukewarm, not hot or cold but lukewarm.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! (Revelation 3:15 NIV).

Many have misunderstood what Jesus was saying here.  We assume that hot is good and cold is bad.  It makes sense that Jesus would say that it is better for the church to be hot, but Jesus also said that it is better for the church to be cold. Anything is better than lukewarm.

How is it better to be cold than lukewarm?  Isn’t it better to be a weak Christian than a complete pagan?

Isn’t it better to be a backslidden believer than a complete atheist?  Isn’t it better to be alive but sick than to be completely dead?

It is but that is not what Jesus is talking about by these three degrees.  Jesus is NOT saying that hot is good and cold is bad.  He is saying that hot is good and cold is good but lukewarm is bad.

Hot drinks tastes good.  Cold drinks tastes good.  Lukewarm drinks you want to spit out of your mouth.

Jesus compared this church to their water.  We drink most beverages either hot or cold. We drink hot tea, and we drink cold tea. Most of us love a hot cup of coffee in the morning.

Some of us like cold coffee, iced coffee (frappe).   We usually would not want to drink a cup of coffee that has been sitting on the kitchen table for four hours at room temperature.

Jesus is saying that hot can be good.  It can be healing.  A cup of cold water on a hot day can be refreshing but lukewarm is useless and tastes bad.

The city of Laodicea was known for three things.  It was famous for three things: its wealth, its clothing and its medicine.  The one problem they had was bad water.

There was a water problem in the city.  It had no water supply.  They had to get it from other cities. All water in Laodicea was lukewarm by the time it reached Laodicea and it was disgusting.  That is the background to Jesus’ statement.

A wishy-washy church that has lost its passion, fervor and zeal will not make any impact on the world.

“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (I Kings 18:21 NIV)

We need to be on fire for God, on fire for Bible study, on fire for worship, on fire for evangelism, on fire for prayer.

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. (Romans 12:11 ESV)

There is a story of an atheist in a small Tennessee town. He never went to Church.  However, one day the Church caught on fire. There was no fire department in town, so the people formed a bucket brigade.

The atheist stood at the head of brigade dashing water on the flames. The pastor said to him, “This is the first time I ever saw you at Church.” He replied, “Yes, but this is the first time I have ever seen the church on fire.[2]

Warning to a Lukewarm Church

Jesus gives a strong warning to the lukewarm church.  This warning has been misunderstood.  The warning is found in Revelation 3:16.

Everyone knows John 3:16. Everyone has memorized John 3:16.  Not as many people have memorized Revelation 3:16.  Revelation 3:16 contains some graphic language.

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:16 NIV).

What does that mean?  Does this mean that lukewarm Christians can lose their salvation?  Jesus promises to spit them out of His mouth.  That does not sound like eternal security.  What do you think?

Keep in mind the context.  This is addressed to a church, not to individuals.  It is dealing with judgment on a church, not an individual Christian.

There are many who believe that this letter was written to a totally unsaved church.  That is the view of John MacArthur.  Not all hold that view.  This is a church.  It is a lampstand.

It it was a totally unsaved church, it would not be a lukewarm church; it would be a seed church.  it would be the church of Sardis.  Even that church was not completely dead.

Jesus said, “Those I love, I rebuke and discipline” (Revelation 3:19 NIV) and He only disciplines His own kids.   The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son (Hebrews 12:6 NIV; cf. Proverbs 3:11-12)

Jesus warned the church of Ephesus if they did not repent that He would remove their lampstand.  He warned the Church of Laodicea if they did not repent, He would spit them out of His mouth.

What Jesus said to the last church is similar to what he said to the first church.  It is a strong picture of rejection.  Jesus does not want to have anything with this church.  He can’t stand it.  He is warning that He will close the church down.  He will close the doors of the church.

Remedy to a Lukewarm Church

Now, we come to the interesting part.  There was hope for this bad church.  He did not just rebuke it, reject and condemn it.  He reached out to this church.

Jesus gave it some hope.  No matter how bad a church is, there is always hope.  No matter how bad a person is, there is always hope, if he or she repents.  What did this church need to do?  They needed to do three things.

First, they needed to acknowledge that they had a problem.  They thought they were fine.  They thought the church was fine.  Jesus said, “No.  It is wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.”

Two, they needed to repent.  Jesus said to Christians, “be earnest and repent” (Revelation 3:19 NIV).  That is something Christians are almost never told to do in church.

Three, they needed to turn to Jesus to solve their problem.

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I COUNSEL you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. (Revelation 3:17-18 NIV)

Jesus gave some advice to the church.  It comes from the counselor Jesus.  Counseling is big business today. People pay big money to go see a counselor.

Jesus gives some counseling to the Church of Laodicea, and it is free.  He gives better advice.  How would you like to come to Jesus for counseling?

Jesus told this church to get three things from Him: gold, clothes to wear and medicine.  Why did Jesus tell them to get these three things in particular?  These were the three things that the city prided itself on.

It prided itself on its wealth.  It was a big banking center.  It was the wealthiest city in Phrygia.  Jesus says to buy gold but not from Lear Financial but from Him.

It prided itself on its clothing.  They made clothing in Laodicea.  They were famous for their expensive black silk garments.  Jesus says to buy white garments from him.

They also prided themselves in their medicine.  There was a famous medical school there.  They specialized in eye diseases.  Laodicea was known for its world-famous eye salve.

Jesus says that they were sick but the medicine they needed could not come from a human doctor.  They had to go to Jesus to get it.  Doctors can only help with physical blindness.  They had spiritual blindness.

The solution to their problem was Jesus.  He had everything that they needed.  Jesus gave this church a rebuke.  It was a strong rebuke, but it was also a loving rebukeJesus said, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” (Revelation 3:19 NIV).

It is very interesting to me that Jesus wrote letters to seven churches.  He loved all of them, but He specifically told only two churches that He loved them: the good church and the bad church.  He told it to the Church of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:9).  He also told it to the Church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:19)

Invitation to a Lukewarm Church

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me (Revelation 3:20 NIV)

Jesus gave a special invitation to the worst of the seven churches.  This church received the most famous invitation in the Bible.  There have been many famous paintings of this scene from Revelation 3:20.

This is a great picture.  Jesus is at the door.  He is standing at the door, but he does not just stand there.  He knocks. He is waiting for someone to open the door to Him.

It is a great picture of free will.  Jesus stops at the door.  He waits for someone to open the door.  He does not open the door.  He does not force His way in.  You have to open the door.  Some open it and invite Him in. Some do not.

Revelation 3:20 is one of the most misquoted verses in the entire Bible.  It is used as a gospel verse in many evangelistic meetings.  Billy Graham used it many times.  Every heart has a door and Jesus is knocking on the door of the sinner’s heart.

The only problem is that this invitation was NOT addressed to atheists or skeptics.  It was addressed to Christians.  It is addressed to members of the Church of Laodicea.

The invitation does not lead to salvation.  It leads to fellowship with Jesus.  Jesus comes to your house and has dinner with you.  He is seeking a relationship with people.  That is the primary application, but it is not wrong to use it in a different context.

I recently began listening to an audio book called I Dare Call Him Father. It tells an amazing story about a Pakistani woman, who lived in England and how she became a Christian.

It is a true story. It was written in 1978.  It describes a wealthy woman who was raised Muslim.  She normally read the Koran.  She found a New Testament and began reading it.

One day, she fell asleep and dreamed.  She said normally she did not dream but this night she had a vivid life-like dream.  She said, “I found myself having supper with a man I knew to be Jesus. He had come to visit me in my home and stayed for two days. He sat across the table from me and in peace and joy we ate dinner together.”[3]

It was a strange dream.  Much later, she began reading the Book of Revelation.  She did not know anything about the book.  When she read Revelation 3:20, she was completely shocked.  She could not believe what she was reading.

She said that it made the room spin.  She gasped, and the book fall in her lap.  She immediately remembered the dream she had about Jesus having dinner with her for two days.  She could not believe that it was in the Bible.

Jesus gives this church a special invitation of fellowship and a special promise. We get to sit on Jesus’ throne on day.  We will rule and reign with Christ.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21 NIV)

Applications

1) Are we blind to our own spiritual state, like the Laodiceans were? Do we see ourselves as God sees us or does God see us completely differently

2) Jesus knows our works as well.  Do you need to repent?  If you do, Jesus says, “Be zealous and repent” (not be zealous and pray or be zealous and witness but be zealous and repent)

3) What type of Christian are we?  Are we hot, cold or lukewarm?  Are we lukewarm Christians?  Are we spiritually dull, apathetic and okay with it? Do we have a lukewarm spirit or are we fervent and passionate?

4) Do we need to go to Jesus for some counseling about any problem in our life?  Some need to go to Jesus for marriage counseling.  You can come at any time.

5) Is Jesus standing at the door of our heart and knocking?  Have we let him in?  We have accepted him for salvation.  Have we accepted Him for fellowship? Do we have daily fellowship with Jesus?

6) Lastly, do we hear what the Spirit says to the church today? Jesus said this seven times.  The Spirit is speaking.  He has something to say.  Are we listening?

[1] Mark 7:33; 8:23; John 9:6.

[2] Ken Trivette, “Dear_Laodicea_You_Make_Me_Sick_At_My_Stomach” (sermon).

[3] Bilquis Sheikh, I Dared to Call Him Father: The Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman’s Encounter With God (Chosen Books, 1978), 155.

Open Doors

We are studying the letters of Jesus to the seven churches.  Today, we come to letter number six.  The sixth letter was written to the Church of Philadelphia.  This church was not in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

It was in Philadelphia, Asia Minor.  It is in Philadelphia, Turkey today, although it is no longer called Philadelphia.  It is a Turkish city today called Alaşehir (alah-shah-hear), which means “city of God” in Arabic.

This was a letter to a good church. Jesus wrote many letters to bad churches in Revelation.  We have bad churches today and there were bad churches in John’s day.

This letter was written to a good church.  It was written to a great church.  The Church of Philly was a model church.  Jesus is the Son of God.  He had eyes of fire and yet, when He evaluated this church, He had nothing bad to say about it.

He had no criticism.  He had no rebuke.  He did not tell them to repent.  He did not warn them of judgment, like He did to other churches.

The only thing that Jesus told this church to do was to keep doing what it was doing, to hold fast and to not let anyone take their crown.

Wouldn’t it be great if the Lord Jesus evaluated us and had nothing bad to say to us?  Wouldn’t it be great if we just heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant?”

We learn something about Jesus in this letter that is new.  This letter contains a unique description of Jesus.

This letter also talks about open doors.  Have you ever seen God open a door for you?  Have you ever seen God change something in your life, almost overnight?

The Sunday School class is an open door.  I did not have that opportunity a year ago or even six months ago, but God opened the door.  The Bible has a lot to say about open doors.

This letter is important practically.  This letter is also important theologically.  This is the one letter that mentions the future Tribulation Period.  It contains a controversial verse.

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. (Revelation 3:10 NIV)

It deals with a topic we do not all agree on.  It is a minor doctrine.  There are major doctrines that all Christians should agree on, like the Trinity, and there are minor doctrines.  This verse deals with a minor doctrine.  We may not all agree on what it says.  You may not agree with what I have to say.

I ask everyone to do several things.  If you have an hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Have an open mind.  Compare everything I say to Scripture and feel free to ask questions.

Signs of a Philadelphian Christian

1) A Philadelphian Christian is BIBLICAL

If your church is not biblical, it is not a Philadelphian Church.  Jesus says, “you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (Revelation 3:8 NIV).

In many churches, there is a far greater emphasis on being contemporary, hip and relevant, rather than biblical.  Many churches are more interested in tradition or political correctness than in what the Word says.

What does it mean to be a biblical church?  It means you believe the Bible.  You accept the Bible as the Word of God.  Some churches do not believe it.  In fact, some churches mock the Bible.

The world is basically divided into people who believe that the Bible is a book inspired by God and other people who believe it is just a book written by man about God.

A biblical church believes in inerrancy, but a biblical church does NOT just believe the Bible.  It teaches and preaches the Bible.  You can go to some churches for twenty years and not learn what the Bible teaches.  It is never expounded.

Many Christians have never been taught what the Word says, or they have been taught only some of what it says.  One of the biggest problems in the church today is that many Christians only know partof the Bible.

A biblical church does NOT just believe and teach the Bible, it lives the Bible.  It obeys the Bible. The Christians in this church did not deny Jesus’ name.  Are you a biblical Christian?

2) A Philadelphian Christian is BALANCED

The way we know that this church was balanced is that Jesus had nothing bad to say about it.  He had nothing but praise for this church.

The big problem with many churches today is that they are not balanced.  They are good in some areas but weak in other areas.  The big problem with many Christians today is that they are not balanced.

Many in John’s day were not.  Some had a lot of love but no discernment or truth.  They had love for every heretic and false teacher and let them teach in the church (Thyatira).  Others had plenty of discernment but no love (Ephesus).

Many Christians are saved but don’t use their spiritual gifts.  Some Christians are on fire.  They have enough faith to raise the dead or walk on water, but they are weak in other areas.

We need to learn from one another.  We also need to be balanced.  Charles Ryrie many years ago wrote a book called Balancing the Christian Life.  Are you balanced?

2) a Philadelphian Christian is BLESSED

Are you blessed by God?  What does that mean?  If you listen to the TV preachers, it means that you are filthy rich. It means you are rolling in the dough.  This church was blessed, even though it was small and poor.

The Church of Philadelphia was not a mega church.  There is nothing wrong with mega churches, but this church was not one.  Jesus said that this church had little strength (Revelation 3:8).  It was not a big and powerful church.

This was a church of little power.  It was a small church.  This was the smallest church of all of the seven churches of Revelation, but it was also one with one of the greatest blessings given by Jesus.

Big churches have a tendency to look down on small churches and to think that they are superior to them.

Many people like big churches.  I like big churches.  I have been in some good big churches and I have been in some small churches with small-minded people with crazy controlling pastors who acted like dictators.

One preacher pointed out, “Every church is not supposed to be a big church. Every church is not supposed to have multiple campuses. Every church is not supposed to have ten thousand people in the church. Some churches are small.”  All churches should grow but all churches are not mega churches.

Jesus did not commend a great mega church, but a small weak church made up of ordinary people. The issue isn’t big or small but healthy or unhealthy, faithful or unfaithful.

Even though this church was small and poor, it was blessed by God.  How was it blessed?  What does it mean to be blessed?

Signs You are Blessed

1) If you are blessed by God, it will affect your relationships with people.

It will affect your relationship with your husband or wife.  It will affect your relationship with your kids.  It will affect your relationship with your co-workers.  It will affect your relationship with your enemies.

I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. (Revelation 3:8 NIV)

This church had enemies.  It experienced opposition in the community.  Some Jews in Philadelphia were highly antagonistic.  They did not like them.  They persecuted this little church.  Their enemies will honor them.

How is that possible?  Some of their Jewish persecutors are going to come to faith.  They have been persecuting a Gentile church and many will fall down at the feet of these Christians and acknowledge who they are, God’s people.

This is very interesting because the OT says that one day the Gentiles will come and bow down at the feet of the Jews and acknowledge that they are the Chosen People (Isaiah 60:12-14).

When you are blessed by God, you can influence your enemies.  When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7 NKJV).

2) If you are blessed by God, you will be given special opportunities

This church was given a special opportunity.  “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. (Revelation 3:7-8 NIV)

This letter tells us something very important about Jesus.  It is something that you probably have never thought about.  Jesus is the one who has the keys.

Keys are important.  You don’t have a key, you can’t get in.  We use a keys to open doors.  We use a keys to lock doors.

“Jesus has the keys that will open, or lock, any and every door.”[1]  He has the keys to eternal life.  He has the keys of salvation.  He has the keys of the kingdom.

He has the keys of death and hades.  We think that Satan has the keys, but Jesus does.  He is sovereign over death and hades. He has the keys to people’s hearts.  He is the one who can open hearts and change minds.

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. (Acts 16:14 ESV)

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. (Proverbs 21:1 NKJV)

In this letter, we learn that He has another key, the Key of David.  The Son of David has the Key of David.  Keys are symbols of authority in the Bible.  The Key of David is a symbol of kingly authority.  It is mentioned once in the OT (Isaiah 22:22) and once in the NT (Revelation 3:7).

Every believer needs this key.  This key has to do with service.  Jesus not only has the keys of salvation for unbelievers.  He has the keys of service for believers.  He can open doors or opportunity and ministry for us.

Truths about Doors

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. (Revelation 3:7-8 NIV)

1) God is the one who opens doors

We worship a God who opens doors.  He is the door opener.  He opens doors that have been closed.  He opens doors that have been closed for a long time.  He opens doors that are not only closed but locked and deadbolted shut.  He opens doors you think will never be opened or can never be opened.

God does not always open doors right away.  He does not always open doors when we want him to. Sometimes we have to wait. He does not operate on our timetable.  God told King David that he would be king, but he had to wait until King Saul died.  He had to wait about twenty years for that door to be opened.

We think we open doors.  We think if we do the right thing, know the right people, or have the right connections, we can open our own door.  We don’t open doors.  God does.

2) God is the one who closes doors

This is one of the things we don’t like to hear.  You don’t hear too many sermons about God closing doors, just positive, uplifting sermons about God opening the doors of your life.  Sometimes God closes some doors.

Closed doors can be a blessing.  Doors close for a reason. We should thank God for the closed doors in our life.  When He closes one door, He opens another, perhaps a door we never ever thought about.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. (Acts 16:6-7 NIV)

Paul had some plans.  He wanted to visit some churches, but God closed the door.  The door was closed on their Jewish noses. Paul did not know why the door was closed and then he received a vision.

Instead of visiting believers, God wanted him to go to Europe and preach the gospel and start a church there. If that door was not closed, we probably would not be saved today.  The gospel went to Europe and from Europe it came to America.

3) We need to look for open doors

We should not bang on a closed door.  We do not have to break doors down or force them open.  We should look for an open door that God opens.  God opens doors but He does not force us to walk through them.

It is possible to have an open door and not walk through it.  We could walk right past it.  Sometimes God opens a door of ministry or evangelism or even salvation and we do not walk through it.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 19:9 ESV)

Many people walk right past that door and enter another door, one that leads to destruction.

3) If you are blessed by God, you will be given special rewards

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. (Revelation 3:10 NIV)

The word “keep” is found two times in that verse.  The Philadelphian Christians kept Christ’s Word and now He promises to keep them from something.  What are they kept from?  The hour of trial that was going to come on the whole world.  What trial was it?  It was the Tribulation Period.

Now, all of the seven churches were kept from this trial, so what kind of promise was this?  There was probably a trial in the first century that was a precursor to the future Tribulation.  This verse tells us four important things about the Tribulation.

What is the Tribulation Period

Based on Revelation 3:10, what do we know about the Tribulation?

1) The Tribulation is a Future Event

It had not happened yet when Jesus wrote this letter but we are moving closer and closer to it.

2) The Tribulation is a Worldwide Event

It will not be just a local event.  It is going to come on all who dwell on the earth.

3) The Tribulation is a Period of Testing

It will not just be a period of tribulation.  It will be a period of tribulation.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. (Matthew 24:21 ESV)

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1 ESV)

What we learn from Revelation 3:10 is that this period will not just a time of trouble and tribulation, it will be a time of testing.  Some will turn to God during the test, and some will curse God.

4) The Tribulation is a Period of Protection

I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. (Revelation 3:10 NIV)

What does that mean?  Many believe that this means that the church will not go through the Tribulation.  It will be raptured before the Tribulation.  Does this verse proves the Pre-Tribulational rapture of the church?  Is this verse a proof text for this position?

The truth is that there will be a rapture.  The Bible teaches it, but this verse does not mention it.  Revelation 3:10 does NOT mention the rapture at all.

The Church of Philadelphia was not raptured.  Everyone in that church died.  None of them were taken out of the world supernaturally. The Book of Revelation does not promise escape from suffering.

It has already mentioned martyrdom (Antipas) and persecution.  The message of the book is to hold fast and endure to the end.  Jesus is not promising that the church will escape the coming trial but protected in it.

How is that possible?  Jesus said, “I will also keep you FROM the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world” (not in but from).  He promises to keep them, not just from the Tribulation but the hour of it.  It sounds like we will not even be here during that time.

Is that correct?  There is only one other time the word “keep” (τηρέω) and the word “from” (ἐκ) are found in the NT.  The other time those words are used are by Jesus.  He uses these words twice (once in Revelation and once in John).

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15 ESV)

The only other time that these two words are used, Jesus prays that we would be kept from Satan but NOT taken out of the world but protected from something or someone bad. There are other promises that Jesus gives this church

The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. (Revelation 3:12 NIV)

To this church that was weak, Jesus says that He can turn them into pillars.  Jesus is going to put three tattoos on Christians in heaven: the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem and His new name.

Many people love tattoos.  They love this verse.  What is Jesus’ new name?  Is He going to change His name?  Will we all get tattoos in heaven? John Piper calls these “eschatological tattoos.”[2]

These are probably not literal tattoos.  Christians are not going to be literal pillars in a temple.  This is symbolic.

God says that he will write His law on our hearts and that is not literal.  This is a picture of identity.  It is a picture of ownership.  It is a picture of citizenship.  The New Jerusalem is where we will live for all eternity.

Exhortation on Crowns

The letter also has an exhortation.  Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown (Revelation 3:11 NIV).  What does this say to us today?

1) Believers will receive rewards

Crowns represent rewards. We know this from Revelation 4:10.  We will receive rewards in heaven for how we live on earth.  Some will receive more rewards than others.  Every believer who has been martyred will receive a special reward.  Everything we do for Him will be rewarded.

2) Rewards can be lost

Salvation cannot be lost but rewards can be lost. Salvation is a free gift. Rewards are earned. Salvation is not based on works. Rewards are based on works.

Jesus said, “Don’t let anyone take your crown.”  That doesn’t mean that there are thieves in heaven who might take our crown if we don’t put it up.  It means that we can forfeit and become disqualified for certain rewards.

3) We need to hold onto them

They did not need to do anything new.  They just to keep doing what they were doing to hold onto them.  Most of us live our life and do not think about eternal rewards but we should.  Will we have a crown in heaven waiting for us?

[1] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox, 2011), 34.

[2] https://twitter.com/johnpiper/status/944613908811321344

Zombie Christians

We have been studying the letters of Jesus to the seven churches.  Jesus evaluates seven churches in John’s day and tells them what He thought of them.  So far, we have looked at Jesus’ letter to the church of Ephesus, the church of Smyrna, the Church of Pergamum and the Church of Thyatira.

Today, we come to the fifth number five.  It was the letter of Jesus to the church of Sardis.  This is a message that every Christian needs to hear.  We have some Sardis churches today.

Jesus said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:6).  This is a message of Jesus to the church today.

Sardis was the church that couldn’t do anything right.  Jesus had nothing good to say about the Church of Sardis.  It is pretty bad if Jesus can’t say one good thing about you.

This church was opposite of the Church of Smyrna. Jesus did not say anything bad about the Church of Smyrna.  He did not say anything good about the Church of Sardis.

The Church of Sardis was a dead church.  Most people in the church were dead and the rest were dying.  Jesus said that there were only a few good people in the church.

There are many churches like Sardis today.  We will find out how to tell if a church is dead or sleeping.  We will see what that looks like and the only way that dead churches can be revived.

Jesus gave this church a warning.  Several of the churches received serious warnings from Jesus.  That is not the Jesus we hear about in church.  Jesus warned the church of Ephesus if they did not repent that He would remove their lampstand.

He told the Church of Thyatira if they did not repent that they would go through great tribulation.  Some would get sick and die.  Jesus told this church if they did not repent that He would come to them in judgment like a thief in the night.

In the Gospels, Jesus says that He will come as a thief in the night to judge unbelievers (Matthew 24:43; Luke 12:39).  Here He threatens to judge a local church that does not repent like a thief in the night.

This letter is also the only one that mentions the Book of Life.  What is in that book?  Can names be removed from the Book of life?  Could your name be removed?  Can salvation be lost?

There are some in the church who believe you can lose your salvation and some who believe you can’t.  People on both sides are absolutely convinced of their position.

They have verses they use to support their position.  Some believe that there is a verse in this letter that proves you can lose your salvation.  We will see if they are right.

The Dead Church

Jesus said, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1 NIV)

Jesus diagnosed the condition of Sardis and said the church was dead.  It is pretty bad if Jesus looks at your church and says, “You’re dead” (νεκρος). That is about the worst thing that Jesus could say to a local church.

Jesus did NOT say that the church is sick. He did NOT say that the church is weak. He did NOT say that it was unbalanced.  He said that it was DEAD.   This was a pretend church.  It was a nominal church.  They were Christians in name only.  They were just playing church.

Would you be able to recognize a dead church today, if you saw it?  What are some characteristics of a dead church?  What do dead churches look like?

A dead church is big on externals.  A dead church is big on rituals.  They focus on form rather than substance.  They are religious but not righteous. They are religious but not godly. They have a form of godliness but deny its power (II Timothy 3:5).  Here are some of the signs.

Signs of a Dead Church

1)   The gospel is not preached

2) There is no emphasis on evangelism

3) People do not get saved or baptized

4) God’s Word is no longer believed

5) The church becomes secular, liberal and apostate

6) Sermons are no longer based on Scripture

7) Doctrinal and moral error is tolerated

8) Church discipline is not practiced

9) Miracles do not take place

10) Attendance declines and people stop coming

11) There is compromise with the world

12) There is no prayer meeting

13) Worship is stale and mechanical

14) The church makes no impact on the community

15) The church is more concerned with liturgy than life

Five Truths about Dead Churches

1) Some churches die

Churches are born and some churches die.  Big churches die.  Small churches die.

Churches founded by apostles can die.  Churches that used to have great preachers can die.  Megachurches can die.

Jesus said that the Church of Sardis had a name.  It had a great history and a great reputation.  It was a famous church and it died.

Every year, thousands of churches close their doors and die.  They go out of existence.  Many died during the pandemic.

Why do most churches die?  There are many reasons, but someone gets mad, leaves the church and takes people with them.  The church doesn’t have enough money to keep the power on, so they close the doors.

2) Churches can be dead and alive at the same time

People can be physically alive and spiritually dead. Paul said, “But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead EVEN WHILE SHE LIVES.” (I Timothy 5:8 NIV)

Churches can as well.  They are just made up of people.  They can be alive on the outside and dead on the inside.

There is an old horror movie called Night of the Living Dead (1968).  This was the church of the living dead.  If you watch horror movies, you might have seen a few zombie movies.

There is another movie that came out in 2011 called Zombie Apocalypse. We all know what the apocalypse is.  Do you know what the zombie apocalypse is?  The Apocalypse is the book of Revelation.  The first word of the Book of Revelation in Greek is άποκάλυψις.

In this movie, a plague wipes out ninety percent of the US population.  Most of the country is dead.  Only a small percentage survived, and the survivors are attacked by a horde of zombies.  Dead bodies come out of the grave and attack the survivors.

Sardis was a church of zombies.  There were some zombie pastors in the pulpit, delivering dead sermons to dead people.  There were zombie worship leaders, leading worship.  There were zombie Sunday School teachers.

One thing that never makes sense to me is why people go to dead churches.  If people are given a choice between a church that is alive and vibrant and one that is dead, many choose a dead church.  Why?  Some do it because it was grandma’s church.  Some do it for social reasons.

3) Just because a church looks alive does not mean it is alive

Just because a person looks alive does not mean that they are.  They may be big and strong and active but spiritually dead.

A church may look alive.  They think it is alive.  Their doors are open.  They have services every week.  People show up to the church.  The church may do all kinds of things on the outside and have a lot of different ministries.

In addition, the church may even be famous.  It may have a good reputation among people.  Everyone wants to go to a church with a big name.  Appearances can be deceptive.  We look on the outside.  We clean the outside of the cup.  God looks on the inside.

A church may look great on the outside (a fancy building, a huge cathedral, large membership, a big choir) but still be dead.  That is just dressing up a corpse.  Some churches wear great grave clothes but are really a corpse.

4) Dead churches often have some saved people in them

We may know some dead churches in our community.  We think that there is no one saved there but even in dead churches, there are often some true believers.

Jesus said to a dead church, “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy” (Revelation 3:4 NIV).

5) There are only two things that can revive a dead church.

More programs will not revive a dead church.  More rituals will not do it.  More hymns won’t do it.  Creeds will not do it. Only the Word of God and the Spirit of God can do it.

God’s Word brings life.  Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63 NKJV).  We also know that the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV).

God’s Spirit also brings life.  How do you stop a fire from going out?  Blow on the hot coals.  Give it some oxygen.  The Spirit needs to blow on some dead churches.  Only the Holy Spirit can bring life to a dead church.

The Spirit gives life.  A Spirit-filled church is alive.  We often try to have church without the Holy Spirit.  You can walk in a church and tell if the Spirit is present or not.

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life (John 6:63 NIV)The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (II Corinthians 3:6 NIV)

The Spirit gives life.  Jesus said it.  Paul said it.  Ezekiel says it..  The Prophet Ezekiel was in the Spirit.  He has a vision.  God took him, transported him right into the middle of a valley.  There are mountains on one side and on the other side and a valley in the middle.

Ezekiel walks around and look at this valley and sees nothing but dead bones all over the place.  He has to be careful where he walks, so he does not step on any of them.  The bones were not connected and were not buried.

God asked Ezekiel an impossible question.  Can these bones live?  Ezekiel said, “I don’t know but you know.”  Then God told Ezekiel to preach to these dead bones.  He told him to prophesy to the bones.

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU AND YOU WILL LIVE, and I will settle you in your own land. (Ezekiel 37:11-14 NIV)

The Word of God and the Spirit of God can bring the dry bones back to life and can also bring a dead church back to life.  The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ (Revelation 3:6 NASB)

Jesus’ words are God’s words.  They are also what the Spirit says.  Only the Spirit can bring a dead church back to life is the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the source of life.

That is why Jesus introduces himself to the dead church Sardis as the one who holds the seven spirits of God.

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

The seven spirits have to refer to the Holy Spirit.  The seven spirits are another name for the Holy Spirit.  How do we know?  All you have to do is to look at the first time they are mentioned in the book.  That is in Revelation 1:4-6.

John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood (NIV).

The seven spirits are linked together with God the Father and God the Son.  When John sends the Book of Revelation to the seven churches it comes with a greeting.  It is a greeting of grace and peace. This greeting comes from three sources. It is from the entire Trinity.

The order is a little different. We usually think of the Trinity as the Father, Son and Spirit.  John changes the order to Father, Spirit and Son, because he wants to focus on Jesus in the next few verses.

It is a strange way to refer to the Holy Spirit.  We never talk about the Holy Spirit like that.  Is there one spirit or seven spirits?

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV)

There is only one Holy Spirit.  There are not seven Holy Spirits, but this is a special, apocalyptic way to refer to the Holy Spirit.  Seven is the number of perfection and completion.

It is a way to refer to the complete ministry of the Holy Spirit.  It is an allusion to Isaiah 11.  The Holy Spirit is capable of ministering to any need in our life.

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Revelation 3:1-3 NIV)

The Sleeping Church

Here we see, this was not only a dead church; it was a sleeping church. This was the Rip Van Winkle Church.  The elders were asleep. The pastor was asleep. The deacons were all asleep.  What is the lesson here?

You can be saved and spiritually asleep.  You can be a baptized and be asleep.  You can be a member of a local church and be asleep.  You can even be a church leader and be asleep.

Now only does Jesus talk about this, Paul does as well.  Paul talks about this in Romans.  He talks about it in Ephesians.  He talks about it in I Thessalonians.  He talks about this topic at least three times.

Therefore it says, “AWAKE, O SLEEPER, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14 ESV)

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you bare not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

5 For you are all children 2 of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then LET US NOT SLEEP, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (I Thessalonians 5:3-8 ESV)

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to WAKE FROM SLEEP. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:11-14 ESV)

The Church of Sardis did not have problems with persecution from the Jews or the Romans. It did not have problems with false teachers. There is no mention of Balaam, Jezebel or the Nicolaitans in this church.

The sin in this church is that it was asleep.  It is the problem of many churches today.  It is the problem of many Christians today.  How do you know if you are asleep spiritually?  What are some characteristics?

Characteristics of Sleepy Christians

1) Worldliness

That is how Paul described sleeping Christians.  They are Christians who live like the world.  Paul said that we are not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:1-2).

Many in the Church of Sardis were living in sin. Jesus said, “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes” (Revelation 3:4 NIV). What does that imply? It implies that many in Sardis were living in sin.  They were living like the world.

Many Christians think exactly like the world.  They believe everything they are told by the media.  Some believe what the world says about abortion.  Some believe what the world says about sexuality and gender.

2) No zeal

Sleepy Christians have no fire or passion.  They are dull and apathetic.  They are not excited about studying the Bible.  Many professing Christians have no interest in finding out what the Bible says.  They have no interest in studying it in depth.  It seems like almost a waste of time for them.

They are not excited about prayer.  They are not excited about evangelism, leading people to Christ.  They are indifferent to people dying and going to hell.

3) No conviction of sin

They are not bothered much by sin, even sin in the church.  They have become desensitized to sin.  They are not outraged by sin that takes place in the world, in the church or in their own lives.  They have accepted it.  That is another sign of a sleepy Christian.

Commands to a Sleeping Church

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. (Revelation 3:2-3 NIV)

Jesus gives five commands to a sleeping church. Jesus gave a wake-up call to this church.  These are five commands to a dead church.  It is the formula for revival: wake up, strengthen, remember, keep and repent.

The first command is to wake up.  This church was asleep at the wheel.  The elders are asleep. The pastor is asleep.  The deacons were asleep.  They needed to wake up.  Jesus said this two times

Second, they are told to strengthen what remains and is about to die.  Sardis was a dying church.  The church needed to be strengthened before it died completely and was too late.

Third, they are to go back to their roots.  They are to remember what they received. A dead church does not need to hear something new. It does not need to go to a church growth conference and hear the latest fad.

It needs to go back to basics, like the sports coach that teaches the basics. A sleeping church needs to go back to basic Bible doctrine.

That is what Luther did.  The Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages was dead. Martin Luther took people back to the basics (salvation by grace, the authority of Scripture)

Four, they are to keep it.  They are to hold fast to it.  That is the problem today.  Many young Christians learn basic doctrine.  They learn the basic truths of Christianity but give it up and say they no longer believe it.

Lastly, they are told to repent.  The concept of repentance is foreign in many churches.  This command is for professing Christians, not unbelievers.  Jesus tells these church members to repent and ask God for forgiveness.

Why did they need to repent?  This church was not only dead, it was dirty.  They had soiled their garments.  There was sin in their life.  They had stained their clothes.

Jesus said if they did not repent, He would judge the church.  What if they did repent?  Jesus gave them three promises.

Three Promises

The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5 NIV)

The church in Sardis had soiled their clothes but the overcomer in Sardis is promised new clothes in heaven.  Sardis was a city that manufactured clothes (wool garments).

The church in Sardis was dead but the overcomer in Sardis was not only promised life; their name would be in a book of life and not erased.  That is not only salvation but security.

The third promise to the overcomer in Sardis is recognition in heaven. They will not just get to enter heaven.  Jesus will confess their name to the Father.

That is not just a promise to people in that church.  It is a promise to us today.  Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32 NIV).

Confusion about the Book of Life

That brings us to the very interesting topic of the Book of Life.  What I am going to tell you may go against some things you may have heard from preachers.  It may go against some things that you have been taught.

God has a book in heaven.  In fact, He has more than one.  That is good news for those of us who have a lot of books and like books.  There is going to be some books in heaven.

There is going to be a library in heaven.  One of these books is called in Revelation “The Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27).

Revelation mentions this book more than any other NT book.  It is mentioned six times in in the book (Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27) and only once in the rest of the NT (Philippians 4:3).[1]   What is in this heavenly book?

There is a lot of misunderstanding about this book.  There is a lot of misinformation going around about this book.  Some Christians have some false ideas about the Book of Life.

One false idea going around is that everyone is written in this book.  According to this view, everyone who ever lived is in that book.  That would mean the wicked are in this book.  Adolf Hitler would be in the book.

Contrary to many preachers today, the NT Book of Life is NOT a list of everyone who has ever been born.  It is a list of everyone who has been BORN AGAIN.  Only saved people are in this book.  Every saved person who ever lived in is this book.  How do we know?

Revelation says if your name is not in this book, you can’t go to heaven.  Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27 NIV)

In fact, Revelation says that if your name is not in this book, you go to hell.  Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15 NIV)

It also says that some people were NEVER written in this book.  All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world (Revelation 13:8 NIV).

I have heard many preachers say that everyone is in the Book of Life and if you don’t accept Christ, your name is blotted out.  Well, you can see very clearly from Revelation 13:8 that not everyone was written in this book.

It doesn’t say that these people were once were in the Book of Life but when they worshipped the Beast, they were blotted out.  It says they were never written in the book.  Why is this important?

Many think that you can lose your salvation.  If you do something really bad, if you sin, you can be blotted out of this book.  Your name can be erased.[2]  God has a big eraser in heaven.  He has a big bottle of White-Out.  If that is the case, a lot of people would be blotted out.

That misses the whole point of the passage.  This is not a warning.  It is a promise.  Jesus says, “I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life” (Revelation 3:5 NIV).

In Greek, it is a double negative.  In English, a double negative is bad grammar.  In Greek, it is a way to emphasize something.

Jesus says, there is no possible way this will happen and yet some try to come up with some sin if you commit that will cause Jesus to do what He says He will never do.[3]

The real problem is NOT security but false assurance.  The problem is not that Jesus blots names out the Book of Life.  The problem is that some people think they are in the Book of Life who are not.

They live any way they want.  When they die, they will find out that they were never in the Book of life and they will be shocked, because they might have gone to church every Sunday.  They will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Modern Applications

What lessons does this church have for us today?  There are many.  This is a powerful letter.  It raises many questions.

Are we spiritually dead or spiritually alive?  Are we asleep or are we awake?  The church in America needs a revival.  Do we need a personal revival?

Do we need to go back to the basics?  Many Christians today do.

Are our works perfect before God?  That is not talking about sinless perfection.  Are our works complete before God?

Is there something that he wants us to do that we are not doing?  Perhaps we started to do something but did not finish.

Have we soiled our clothes?  Are we wearing dirty clothes spiritually?  Is there anything that we need to repent of?

Is our name written in the Book of Life?  Are we sure that we are saved?  Many think that you can know who is in the book today, but you can.

Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3 NIV)

Paul said that some women in his day, along with Clement and his coworkers all had their names in the Book of life.  How could he say that?  He had never seen the book.  The book is in heaven but Paul already knew that they were in it.

You can tell if people are written in the book or not written in the book by their life.  Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit.  People in the Tribulation who worship the Beast will demonstrate that they are not written in the Book of Life.

Do you know if your name in in that book?  Do we know if we are really saved?  Will Jesus say our name before the Father?  Jesus said that we need to rejoice that our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20).

[1] Compare also Luke 10:20; Heb. 12:23.

[2] “The obvious implication is that the one who does not conquer will not be clothed in white garments and will be blotted out of the book of life and will not be confessed before the Father and the angels. The reference to blotting out of the book of life is especially instructive on the question of salvation security. For blotting a name out of the book of life implies that the name was in the book and that the person identified by the name was saved. But blotting out of the book indicates the removal of salvation and eternal life.” (http://evangelicalarminians.org/the-facts-of-salvation-a-summary-of-arminian-theologythe-biblical-doctrines-of-grace/)

[3] Some would say that Jesus threatens to remove people from the Book of Life in Revelation 22:19 but that is not supported by the vast majority of Greek manuscripts.  The majority text reads “tree of life,” not “book of life” in Revelation 22:19 (MT).

The Spirit of Jezebel

“A good woman is the best thing on earth… An evil woman is the most dangerous thing on earth”[1]

There are many godly women in the Bible.  There are some good role models for women in Scripture.  There is Abigail, Rebekah, Ruth, Esther, Hannah and many others.

There are some in the Bible that you have never heard about.  We just finished a study of II Samuel and found one of the godliest women.  Her name was Rizpah.

There are many good women in the Bible.  There also some very wicked women in Scripture.  Let’s think of just some of the women that would make the top ten bad girls of the Bible list.  They come from all different races.

There is Delilah, who was Samson’s girlfriend. She was a Philistine.  You can read about her in the Book of Judges.  Samson falls in love with a woman, a beautiful woman, a beautiful pagan woman.

Israel was at war with the Philistines, and he falls in love with a Philistine.  He is sleeping with the enemy.  He does not marry her but has a relationship with her.

The enemy finds out about it and bribes Delilah a lot of money to find the secret of his strength.  He refused to tell her, but she kept asking and finally said, “If you really love me, you will tell me.”   He finally tells her in a moment of weakness, and she cuts his hair.

There is Potiphar’s wife.  We read about her in the Book of Genesis.  She was an Egyptian and she was married.  She wanted to have an affair with one of her young attractive foreign slaves, but he said no.  She did not like to be rejected and she was rejected more than once.

As the saying goes, “hell has no fury like a scored woman,” so this seductress ends up framing Joseph for rape.  She falsely accused Joseph of a sex crime and had him thrown into prison.  You can read about that story in Genesis 39.

There is Herodias.  You can read about her in the gospels.  She was a Roman.  She was married to a politician.  She was married to Herod Antipas.  He was the son of Herod the Great, the ruler who tried to murder Jesus when he was an infant.

Antipas was the ruler of Galilee during the ministry of Christ.  Herodias was married to Antipas’ brother, but she had an affair with Antipas, got rid of her old husband and married him.

John the Baptist did something that is not done too much these days.  He preached against sin.  He said that certain things are right and certain things are wrong.  He said that Herodias’ marriage was wrong.

She hated him for that.  She hated him so much that she had his head cut off.  That was how she got her revenge.

The one who has the reputation as the most wicked woman in the Bible was Jezebel.  She was the meanest woman in the Bible.  She was “bad to the bone” as our pastor says.

If Judas was the worst person in the NT, Jezebel was the worst person in the OT.  She was Phoenician.  She was a Phoenician princess.  Her dad was the king of Phoenicia (modern day Lebanon).

She married the king of Israel (King Ahab).  She became this notoriously wicked queen.  You can read about her in I Kings and II Kings.

Today, we learn that there is a Jezebel in the NT, as well as the OT.  Her real name was not Jezebel.  We don’t know what her real name was, but we know that she was not born Jezebel.  Her mom did not call her Jezebel, but Jesus did, because she acted just like Jezebel.

We are going to see today what some characteristics of a modern-day Jezebel look like.  There are many churches today that have a Jezebel in it.  How many?  We do not know.  Some preachers act as if there is one in every church.

Jesus wrote letters to seven churches.  Only one of them had a Jezebel in them.  Only 14% of the churches that Jesus wrote had a Jezebel in the church.  Not every church has a Jezebel in it but some big mega churches might have more than one Jezebel in them.

We are going to look at the NT Jezebel today.  She is found in the fourth of Jesus to the seven churches, the letter to the Church of Thyatira.

It happens to also be the longest letter Jesus wrote to the seven churches.  The shortest letter was to the Church of Smyrna.  The longest letter was to the Church of Thyatira.

Thyatira was a small city.  It was an insignificant city.  It was not important politically.  It was just a trade town, but the church in this small city received the longest letter from Jesus

This was the church that had Jezebel in it.  She was a member of that church.  What was she like?  What is the Spirit of Jezebel?  How are people like her today?  What are some myths about this passage?  How does it apply to us today?

Jesus gives this church a serious warning.  Jesus threatens people in this church with tribulation, sickness and death, if they don’t repent.  That is not the nice Jesus you hear preached in church too much these days.

Jesus says that He will judge us according to our works.  I will repay each of you according to your works (Revelation 2:23).

He also gives them two promises.  He promised that they will share in Christ’s millennial rule on the earth. Jesus says they will have authority over the nations (Revelation 2:26).

That is a very interesting promise to this church because the city of Thyatira was not important politically. It didn’t rule over anything.  He also promised that they will be given the morning star (Revelation 2:28).

Jesus says, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” (Revelation 22:16 NIV).  He promises to give Himself to them.

Christ’s Character

To each one of these seven churches, Jesus tells him something about himself.

To the Church of Ephesus, Jesus holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands (Revelation 2:1)

To the Church of Smyrna, the persecuted church, Jesus is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again (Revelation 2:8).

To the Church of Pergamum, Jesus has the sharp, double-edged sword (Revelation 2:12) and would use that sword against members of the church who did not repent.  That is not the Jesus that you hear much about in church.

To the Church of Thyatira, Jesus is Son of God.  He is not just the human Son of Man.  He is the divine Son of God.  This is the only time in these letters that we see the words “Son of God.”

In fact, Revelation 2:18 is the only time in the whole book that we see the title “Son of God.”  It is common in the NT, but this is the only time in Revelation we see this title of Jesus.

We are also told that Jesus’ eyes are like blazing fire and His feet are like burnished bronze (Revelation 2:18).   It is a picture of omniscience, and it is a picture of judgment.

Jesus said, “I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds” (Revelation 2:23 NIV)

Jesus has penetrating eyes, like a flame of fire.  He sees everything in our church.  He sees everything in our lives.  He sees the good things you do for Him that no one else sees.  He sees the bad.  He can see in the dark. He sees everything (every action, every word, every thought).  He knows everything.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13 NIV)

People can accuse you of all kinds of things, but Jesus is the only one who knows the truth.  He is the only one who searches the hearts. Jesus not only sees; He judges.

Fire is an instrument of judgment.  The wicked will be judged by fire (Revelation 19:11-12; II Thessalonians 1:7-8). The unsaved will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15).

Even Christians will face fire when they see Jesus. The works of Christians will one day face fire and be judged (I Corinthians 3:10-15).  Bronze is also picture of judgment in the Bible.

Christ’s Commendation

Jesus gave this church a mixed review.  There were some things the church was great at doing.  There were other areas it was terrible at doing.  Jesus begins His letter talking about the good things they did.  He starts with a commendation.  He starts positive.

I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and  that you are now doing more than you did at first. (Revelation 2:19 NIV)

Jesus said a lot of good things about this church. This church had four good points.  Jesus commended this church’s LOVE.  He commended their FAITH.  He commended their SERVICE.  He commended their PERSEVERANCE. It was a working church.  They refused to quit.  They kept on ministering.

In many ways, the Church of Thyatira was the exact opposite of the church of Ephesus.  The Church of Ephesus was doctrinally sound.  They did not tolerate false teachers.  They kept them out of the church, but they did not have any love.

The Church of Thyatira had love.  They had plenty of love, but they tolerated false teachers and false prophets in the church.  There are only two times the Greek word for “love” (αγαπη) is used in Revelation.

It is used once in the Church of Ephesus and once in the church of Thyatira.  Ephesus was the church that did not have love. It lost its love.  Thyatira was a church that had love.

The Church of Ephesus’ first works were greater than its last works.  He told the church to go back and do the first works again.  The Church of Thyatira had greater works in the end than they had in the beginning.

Jesus said, “you are now doing more than you did at first” (Revelation 2:19 NIV).  Their last works were greater than their first works.  This was a church that kept getting better.  It kept improving.  It kept making progress.

Their last state was better than the first.  We should be constantly growing and improving spiritually.  Our church should as well.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18 NIV).

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. (II Peter 1:5-7 NIV)

Are you growing?  Are you doing more spiritually than you did ten or twenty years ago or less?

Christ’s Criticism

This was a good church, but Jesus had one criticism, just one.  Just because a church is strong in one area does not mean that it cannot be weak in another area.

We can be very strong in one area.  Some are strong in prayer but weak in bible study.  Some are strong in worship but weak in evangelism.

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:21 NIV).

What was the problem with this church?  It had one fatal flaw.  Many churches today have the same problem.  They allowed a heretic in the church.  Jezebel was in that church and it was their own fault, because they allowed it.  They allowed moral and doctrinal error in the church.

Their biggest problem is that they were too tolerant.  That is what Jesus said.  Nevertheless, I have this against you: You TOLERATE that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet (Revelation 2:20 NIV).

The world praises tolerance.  Tolerance is a virtue today.  Should it be?  Yes and No.  There are some things we should tolerate and some things we should not tolerate.

We don’t tolerate babies playing with sharp objects or kids running out in the middle of the street. We don’t tolerate cancer in your body. We cut it out, because cancer will kill us. We do not tolerate rapists, murderers and child molesters.

Teachers do not tolerate wrong answers on tests.  They do not say that any answer is acceptable.  We should not tolerate sin. The church should not tolerate moral error. It also should not tolerate doctrinal error.

The real problem in this church was NOT Jezebel. Jezebel was just the symptom of the problem.  The real problem in this church was the leaders.  Some church leaders are like dictators.  They try to micromanage everything.  Many of us have been in churches with pastors with big egos.

Other leaders never take a stand on anything.  They avoid conflict and don’t want to offend anyone, because they might leave the church.  Some churches tolerate things that they shouldn’t.

At Thyatira, there was a powerful, influential, strong-willed woman who had a big following.  She publicly promoted error and none of the leaders of the church had the courage to stand up to her.  None of them had any backbone.

Two Common Errors

There is a lot of misunderstanding about Jezebel in the church today.  There are two common errors.

1) The Chauvinist Error

Some men have used this passage to bash women.  One preacher called this the church that had a woman problem.[2] One preacher said their problem was that they let any woman teach in the church.[3]

The Apostle Paul did say, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man” (I Timothy 2:12 NIV).  That is true but the office of prophet in the Bible was not limited to men.

There were female prophets in the OT (Miriam, Deborah).  There were female prophets in the NT (Anna, Philip’s daughters).

In fact, God said in the OT, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons AND DAUGHTERS will prophesy” (Joel 2:28 NIV).  Women in the Bible were allowed to prophesy in the Bible.

Jezebel was not condemned for being a woman or even a strong woman.  Jezebel was NOT condemned for being a woman prophet in the church but for being a FALSE prophet in the church.

2) The Charismatic Error

The second error is very popular in the church today, especially in charismatic churches.  Many in the church today talk about Jezebel as a demonic spirit.

Not only is Jezebel called a demonic spirit, but she is perhaps the most powerful demon in history.  This demon is said to be controlling, domineering, and manipulative.  We do know that there are demons behind false doctrine and false religion.

The Apostle Paul said, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught BY DEMONS.” (I Timothy 4:1 NIV)

On the other hand, Jesus did NOT call this Jezebel a spirit.  He called her a woman.  He said, “You tolerate THAT WOMAN Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet.”  The Jezebel in Revelation 2 was NOT a demon. It was an actual person.

In fact, nowhere does the Bible actually talk about a Jezebel spirit.  That is not to say that it does not exist, but the Bible does not mention it.  Jesus does not mention a demon being in this church.

Jesus does not say that there is a woman in the church, who has a demon.  He does not say that there is a woman in the church who has a Jezebel Spirit, and you need to cast the demon out of her.  You need to have an exorcism.

Whether the Bible does not specifically talk about a demon spirit called Jezebel, there are people today who act just like her.  There are people today who have the spirit of Jezebel.

A Spirit Alive Today

This spirit is alive and well in the body of Christ today.  This spirit can operate in men and women.  It infiltrates churches and can destroy them but what is it?  What does that look like?  What is the spirit of Jezebel?

There are multiple websites about Jezebel.  There are books on Jezebel.  Michael Brown has a book on Jezebel.  This spirit is described in a number of ways.

It is described as a domineering and a controlling spirit.  It is described as an intimidating spirit.  It is described as a spirit of witchcraft and sorcery.  It is described as an emasculating, man-hating spirit. It is described as a radical feminist spirit.

Today, we want to ask this question:  What does the Book of Revelation say about Jezebel?  That is where some people might be shocked.

Jesus does not condemn her for being a feminist or being a witch.  He does not condemn her for being a woman.  He does not call her a demon spirit.  What does Jesus say about Jezebel?

There are people like Jezebel in the church today.  There are some modern-day Jezebels.  What are the signs of a Jezebel spirit from this passage?  Do you have a Jezebel spirit?  Let’s look at four signs of this spirit from Revelation 2.

Do You Have a Jezebel Spirit?

1) You have a Jezebel Spirit,  if you claim to be something you are not

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, WHO CALLS HERSELF A PROPHET (Revelation 2:20 NIV). This Jezebel claimed to be something that she was not.  She called herself a prophet.

God did not call her a prophet.  She called herself one.  She claimed special revelation.  She called herself a prophet.  She was prominent.  Everyone one else respected her.  Jesus insulted her and called her Jezebel.

Her problem is that she did not have a call.  She usurped the office without a call from God.  The tragedy today is that many today think they are prophets.  They call themselves prophets.  Others think they are a prophet, but they are not a real prophet. They are self-appointed and self-proclaimed.

That is a huge problem in the church today.  People go around in the church with big heads.  They think they have a special anointing.  They think that they have special God-given authority.  They think they are apostles, and everyone should listen to them.  Some claim to be Bible teachers who do not teach the Bible.

The Bible says that we are to test the prophets.  There are easy ways to test true and false prophets.  A prophet is someone who speaks for God.  They will claim to have a word from God.  They will say that God spoke to them.

It is very easy to apply two simple tests to these people.  The first test is the SCRIPTURAL TEST.  God has already spoke in His word.  If someone else says that God has spoken again, compare what they say to what God has already said.

What Jezebel taught plainly contradicted what Scripture teaches.  The Bible does not tell us to commit sexual immorality and to commit idolatry. Islam has some false prophets.  There are people that claim to be prophets.  They claim to have a revelation but their revelation contradicts Scripture.  That is the first test.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (I John 4:1-3 NIV)

The second test is the PROPHETIC TEST.  If they make a prediction and if they say that the prediction comes from God, does it come to pass?

Some predicted that Donald Trump would win a second term.  Some said that he would remain president after the election.  It is one thing to say that I think he will win.  I believe he will win the election.  It is another thing to stand up and say that God told me that he will win.

It is very dangerous to not just make a prediction about something and claim to have a word from God and make God out to be a liar.  That is taking the name of the Lord in vain.  God takes that very seriously.  He says that He will not hold the person guiltless who take His name in vain (Exodus 20:7).

 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NIV)

2) You have a Jezebel Spirit, if you have a lot of power and influence

Jezebel had power.  She had power in the OT.  She had power in the NT.  The OT Jezebel had a position of power.  She had a position of power in the government.  She was the wife of the king, and she controlled him, because he was a weak man.

The NT Jezebel also had power in the local church.  She had a strong personality.  She was liked.  She was popular.  She had influence.  She had followers.  She had disciples.  Jesus mentions her lovers and her children (Revelation 2:23).  People came to her for guidance.

They were not literal children.  They were spiritual children.  She had followers and she was given some position in the church.  She was given a platform.  She was allowed to teach or prophecy in the church.

She had a big following.  She claimed to have secret knowledge.  If you come to her, you will learn the deep truths of God.  Jesus said that people who came to her learned some deep truths, but they were “the deep secrets of Satan” (Revelation 2:24 NIV).

3) You have a Jezebel Spirit, if you use that power to deceive others

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she MISLEADS my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (Revelation 2:20 NIV)

The OT Jezebel seduced people.  She led her husband and the ten northern tribes in the worship of Baal.  Jezebel introduced idolatry to the people of God in the OT.

The NT Jezebel introduced idolatry to people in the church.  She used her power and influence to deceive others.  She deceived others doctrinally.  She deceived others morally.  She led them into theological error.  She led them into sin.

She taught the Doctrine of Balaam.  In the Church of Pergamum, there were people who believe the Doctrine of Balaam.  They were called Nicolaitans.  In the Church of Thyatira, a woman was actually teaching this doctrine in the church.

One characteristic of a Jezebel Spirit is deception.  Who was she deceiving?  Christians.  How did she do it?  How could real Christians worship idols and commit sexual immorality?  You say, “They must have been pretty stupid.”

Thyatira was the place known for its trade guilds.  They had a guild for almost every trade.  In order to get a job, you had to be a member of a trade guild. You had to join the union.

The problem is that each guild was dedicated to an idol.  At the guild meetings, they ate food offered to idols.  There was a lot of alcohol consumed at these meetings.  There were a lot of women at these meeting.  Immorality was associated with these guild meetings as well.

The burning question of that day was this: Is it right for a Christian to join a trade guild?  It is not the burning question today.  They did not deal with race issues (BLM, CRT).  They did not deal with people trying to change their gender.  They just dealt with trade guilds and whether they were allowed.

One prominent and outspoken woman in this church said that she had a word from God on the matter.  She said that Christians could participate in these clubs.  She told people what they wanted to hear.  You can fit it with everyone else and not have to be different.

Aftercall, idols were not real.  They don’t exist.  God wants you to support your family.  If you join one of these clubs, you will have more opportunity, make more money and be able to support your family, as you are called to do.  That led to idolatry and immorality.

4) You have a Jezebel Spirit, if you do are not open to biblical correction

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:21 ESV)

A final characteristic of this spirit is stubbornness and pride.  Jesus loves everybody.  He even loved Jezebel. Now, Jezebel was wicked.  She was deceiving and seducing God’s people.  She taught error in the church.  You expect instant judgment, but Jesus was patient with her.

He did not judge her right away.  He gave her time to repent but she refused to repent.  She was not open to correction or rebuke.  She did not think she had done anything wrong.  In fact, she looked down on everyone else.

Jezebel was not submissive to church leaders.  She was not accountable. That is a dangerous place to be in.  Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy. (Proverbs 29:1)

Modern Lessons for Today

1) False teaching takes place in some churches today.

False teaching takes place in bad churches.  It also takes place in some churches that have some really good points.  They might be great worship churches.  They might be good at evangelism or spiritual gifts.  They might be churches where they take care of people.  They love people but still have false teaching in the church.

2) Some leaders allow false teaching to take place.

They do not do anything about it.  They may not encourage it, but they do not stop it.  They don’t stop it for a number of reasons.  Some leaders do not know the Word very well.

Some do not want to offend anyone.  Some want to be inclusive and accept everyone.  Most churches do not practice church discipline today.  We should beware of a church that does that.

3) True believers can be deceived.

They can fall into deep sin.  Many think that if you are a true Christian you cannot fall into sin, especially sexual sin.  All you have to do is to read the Bible.  Many believers fell into sin.  Some fell into deep sin.

Solomon was a believer.  He fell into idolatry.  David was a believer he fell into sexual sin.  Jesus says that true believers can fall into sin.

By her teaching she misleads MY SERVANTS into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:20 NIV).

4) We need to be careful who we follow.

Just because people say they are a prophet does not mean they are one.  Just because someone says that God spoke to him or her does not mean that He has.  Test the spirits.  Some false teachers are extremely gifted.  They may be great public speakers but what they say has to be evaluated with Scripture.

5) Jesus is not pleased with everyone.

He is not pleased with every church.  He is not pleased with every Christian.  Jesus said, “Nevertheless, I have this against you.”  Those are words that no church wants to hear from Jesus.

Those are words that no Christian wants to hear from Jesus: “I have this against you.”  Jesus was not pleased with Jezebel, and He was not pleased with the leaders in the church who allowed her to continue to deceive people.

6) If we sin, we need to repent

We do not talk about this too much in church today.  We only talk about the unsaved needing to repent.  Some Christians need to repent as well.  If we are living in sin, are we open to biblical rebuke or, like Jezebel, do we refuse to repent.

7) If we don’t repent, expect judgment.

This is something else almost never preached in church.  When was the last time that you heard anyone preached in church if you continue to live in open sin and rebellion and profess the name of Christ, you might get sick or die?  Sometimes, we are told the exact opposite.  We are told that God never makes anyone sick but notice the words of Jesus here.

So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. (Revelation 2:22-23 NIV)

The good news is that judgment is not inevitable.  If you repent, you won’t be judged.  Jesus knows the group in the church that followed Jezebel and the group that did not.  He searches the minds and hearts.  Only God can search our hearts.  Jesus is God.

[1] Vance Havner, Repent or Else, 45.

[2] Ken Trivette, “Dear Thyatira:  You have a Woman Problem” (spoken recording), n.d.

[3] Stephen Anderson, Understanding the Book of Revelation, 47.

The Doctrine of Balaam

We are studying the letters of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation.  Today, we come to the third letter of Jesus.  We looked at Jesus’ letter to the Church of Ephesus (the cold church).

We looked at his letter to the Church of Smyrna (the persecuted church).  Today, we look at the letter to the Church at Pergamum (the doctrinally unsound church).  They had people in it who believed all kinds of strange things.

Pergamum was a city in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).  The city was sixty miles north of Smyrna.

This church is very similar to the American Church.  Most churches are not really good or really bad.  They are somewhere in the middle.  Most churches have a combination of good and bad.

They have some really good people in them.  They are faithful.  They are godly.  They are sincere but it also has some people who are not so good in it.

The Church of Pergamum was like that.  It had some godly people in it.  It had some people who took a stand for Jesus.  Jesus said that this church remained true to him.

He said that this church did NOT renounce their faith, even in the midst of intense persecution (Revelation 2:13).  One member of the church, named Antipas, was put to death.

His faith in Christ got him killed.  He did not deny Jesus and he was martyred.  There were other people in the church who were not so good.  Today, I want to look at four lessons from this church.

Modern Lessons from This Church

1) Don’t confuse education and culture with morality

Pergamum was an intellectual center.  It was a center of learning in the ancient world.  It had a huge library there, one of the most famous libraries in the ancient world. The second largest library in the Roman Empire was in Pergamum.

The first largest was in Alexandria in Egypt which contained 500,000. The library at Pergamum had over 200,000 books in it.

These books looked a little different than books today.  These were scrolls, not books. Books did not exist yet. Books were not invented until the fourth century.  This library had 200,000 scrolls all copied by hand because the printing press had not been invented yet.

Pergamum was a center of healing and medicine.  One of the greatest surgeons in the ancient world live there.  Galen was the greatest physician of ancient Rome. He lived a few years after John (c.129-200 AD).

He was also a writer.  He wrote twenty-one books.  Each one was a thousand pages long.  Pergamum was Galen’s hometown.  He was born in Pergamum.

A city may be a great intellectual center.  It may be a great cultural center but never confuse culture with morality.  Never confuse education with spirituality.

This city was a great cultural and intellectual center, but it was also an extremely wicked city.  It was a very dark place for a Christian to live.

Some Christians were martyred in this church.  Antipas was martyred there.  According to tradition, he was the Bishop of Pergamum and was martyred.

2) Don’t confuse your environment with your identity

Jesus said that we are to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:14-18).  He sends us into the world, but we are not of the world.  We are in the world.

All Christians live in enemy territory.  We live in the world.  We are surrounded by unbelievers.  In some cases, we live in a place that is a hostile environment for Christians.  Notice what Jesus said to this church.

To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. (Revelation 2:12-13 NIV)

This church was not located in the Bible belt.  It was located in a center of demonic and satanic activity.  That sounds a little scary.  This church was surrounded by really bad influences.

Satan’s throne was in Pergamum.  Satan is called the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).  He is a ruler.  All rulers have a throne where they rule from.  They all have a seat of government.

In John’s day, Satan’s throne was located in Pergamum.  No one could see his throne.  It was invisible and yet Pergamum was where Satan’s base of operations was located.

Jesus knew all about it.  He said, “I know where you live.”  He knew where members of this church where they lived, and he knows where we live as well. He knew where the Jews lived in Egypt.

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed SEEN the misery of my people in Egypt. I have HEARD them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am CONCERNED about their suffering. (Exodus 3:5-7 NIV).

“Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and YOU LIVE AMONG SCORPIONS. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. (Ezekiel 2:3-6 NIV).

The Church of Pergamum was located near Satan’s headquarters.  Satan has his operations all over the world but apparently his throne, in John’s day, was located in Pergamum.  It was where Satan’s headquarters were located.

This city was a stronghold. It was a satanic stronghold. Satan had special power in that city.  Satan is more active in certain geographic locations.  He manifests his power and authority more in certain places than others.

Why would Satan’s throne be in Pergamum?  Why would he choose this city?

Pergamum was a center of demonic activity.  It was a center false religion.  It was a center of idolatry.  It was a center of immorality.  It was a center of persecution.  One member of this died for his faith in Christ.

Pergamum was full of idolatry.  It was a center of idol worship.  Pergamum is a city on a hill and at the top of the hill is a bunch of pagan temples.

Zeus was worshiped there.  There is a massive fifty-foot statute to Zeus there.  There are temples to other gods there as well.

Asclepius was the Greek god of healing.  Aesculapius was the Roman god of medicine.  Asclepius was worshiped in Pergamum.  There was a large temple built for this god.

Diseased people from all over the Roman Empire flocked to Pergamum.  Sick people would come to the Temple of Asclepius, worship Asclepius and hope to be healed.

The symbol of Asclepius was the serpent.  This picture of a snake on a stick is still the symbol of the medical profession to this day.

Pergamum was also a center of Caesar worship.  The Romans considered their emperors as gods.  They built temples for them.  They worshiped them.

Pergamum was also the first place that worshiped the Roman emperors as God. “It was the first city in Asia Minor to build a temple to a Roman ruler (Augustus)”[1]

What is the lesson for today?  No matter where we live, we can shine the light of Christ.  The darker the location is, the more the light shines, the more it needs the gospel witness.  This church was called a lampstand.  It held up the light in a dark place.

This church ministered in Satan’s territory and remained faithful.  This church stayed faithful in Satan’s city and we can too.  While others said that “Caesar is Lord,” they said, “Jesus is Lord” and remained faithful.

3) Don’t confuse opinion with truth

We all have opinions about things.  You have opinions and I have opinions, but all ideas are not equal.  All opinions are not biblical.  All ideas should not be accepted.

This church had people in the church who believed false doctrine.  There were more than one of them.  There were some in the church who held to the doctrine of Balaam.  They had others in the church called Nicolaitans.

It is also possible that there were only one group in this church that held false doctrine.  They were called the Nicolaitans.  What did they believe?  They taught the Doctrine of Balaam.  Some say that “The teaching of Balaam” is the same as “the teaching of the Nicolaitans” [2]

They are not teaching in the church yet.  In the next church, we see people in leadership position with false doctrine.   They were in the church spreading false doctrine and it was like cancer.  It was destroying the church.  No one was correcting it.

This was a leadership problem in the church.  We have people in the church who believe all kinds of things, some biblical and some unbiblical.  If the church does not do a lot of teaching, it is a big problem.

The Church of Ephesus, the hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:6).  The Church of Pergamum had people who taught the doctrine of the Nicolaitans in their church (Revelation 2:15).  They had people who taught the doctrine of Balaam.

The Doctrine of Balaam

Who was Balaam?  He is a mysterious Bible character.  You do not hear too many sermons on Balaam in church.  Some of the things that people have said about him are not true.

Let’s get some of the facts.  You can read about Balaam in Numbers 22-25. After forty years in the wilderness, Israel was on its way to the Promise Land.  Different nations were being conquered.

The King of Moab was worried that they might attack his country, so he hired a man named Balaam, who lived far away, to curse Israel.  Moab is located in the modern state of Jordan today.

Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.” (Numbers 22:6 NIV)

Balaam had great reputation. He had a special gift. He could curse and what he said came to pass.  He was a sorcerer.  It seemed to work.  What do we know about him?  His brother was a king.[3]

Balaam was not Jewish.  He was not saved.  He was a pagan soothsayer.  He practiced divination (Numbers 24:1; Joshua 13:22). Even though he was a pagan soothsayer, God spoke to him.

God can speak to anyone.  He put His Word in his mouth (Numbers 23:5, 16).

Many call Balaam a false prophet.  Some have called him “the prototype false prophet,”[4] and yet strangely he never utters on false prophecy. Balaam delivered seven prophecies or seven oracles, including one of the coming Messiah (Numbers 24:17).

Balaam was the one who said, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19 ESV)

How many people have quoted that passage and not realized that the one who uttered those words were Balaam.  What he said was true.  Balaam spoke some genuine prophetic words and he was not even saved.

He got to see a real angel.  An angel appeared to Balaam and talked to Balaam. Balaam even says the words, “I have sinned” (Numbers 22:34).  What did Balaam do that was wrong?

He was hired to curse Israel.  He tried to but he couldn’t do it.  He said, “I cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord” (Numbers 22:18).  God would not let him curse them, so he figured out a way around that.

If he could not curse them, he would corrupt them, and God would curse them himself.  Balaam got Israel to sin.  He did it for greed.  He wanted the money.

He used Moabite women, who were probably temple prostitutes, to seduce them into sexual immorality and idolatry (Numbers 31:15-16).  That led to their death.  The Bible says that God got angry, and He judged them.

Twenty-four thousand people died.  How did they die?  They died from a plague (Numbers 25:9).  How did the plague stop?  This is the story in the Bible that many do not like.

Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. (Numbers 25:6-11 NIV)

Phinehas was the grandson of Aaron, Moses’ brother.  He was not a judge but when he saw this, he grabbed a spear, went into the tent and killed these two love birds in the act and the plague stopped.[5]

What is the doctrine of Balaam?  Are there any modern-day doctrines of Balaam?  The good news is that we do not have to guess what the doctrine is.  Jesus tells us.

There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality

1) The doctrine of Balaam involves enticement to sin.

Balaam put a stumbling block before the Israelites.  He seduced a whole nation into sin.

The doctrine of Balaam is tempting people to disobey God, especially in the matters of sex.  It is telling them to do what God has told them not to do.

Balaam tempted the Israelites to disobey God and to do what God told them not to do.  He taught that the people of God could sin with impunity.

There are plenty of people and some religious leaders who teach us not to follow what the Bible teaches, especially in the matter of sexuality.

Homosexuality, and even gay marriage, is encouraged, even though it goes against the clear teaching of Scripture.

2) The doctrine of Balaam involves compromise with the world

The doctrine of Balaam brought idolatry into ancient Judaism.  It brings bringing pagan ideas, philosophies, and ethics into the church today.  It is bringing the world into the church.  Do we have that today?  Is the modern church worldly?

Can there ever be false teaching in church?  Yes.  You can hear all kinds of crazy things in some churches.  Preachers say all kinds of goofy stuff.  How would you know if there are any?

You have to know the Word.  You have to know the difference between true and false doctrine.  Many think that the word “doctrine” is a dirty word.  It is simply saying what the Bible says on a particular topic.

We live in a day when many Christians do not know the Word.  Some leaders do not know it.  Some elders do not know it.  Some deacons do not know it.

They do not know what it teaches on a particular topic.  They do not know any verses on the topic.  They would not know how to answer some cultists who comes to their door with false doctrine.

If that describes you, it is very easy to fix.  Spend time in the Word.  Read some books.  Listen to good preachers.  Ask questions.  Most preachers get nervous when you ask questions but if they are honest questions, you should try to get an answer.

2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure SOUND DOCTRINE, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. (II Timothy 4:2-4 NKJV)

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— 6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. 7 For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by SOUND DOCTRINE, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. (Titus 1:5-9 NKJV)

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for SOUND DOCTRINE: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— (Titus 2:1-3 NKJV)

4) Don’t confuse feeling sorry with repentance

Now, we come to the difficult part of the letter.  Jesus has some difficult things to say to this church.  He confronted this church with sin.

Note how He described Himself to this church.  He came to this church with a sword, a sharp sword, a double-edged sword (Revelation 2:12).  I thought Jesus was always for us.  He did not come to this church all warm and fuzzy.

Here, He brings a sword of judgment against the church if it does not repent.  He stands over this church as a threatening judge.  It is better to face the sword of the Romans than the sword of Jesus.

Jesus is fair.  He praised the church for the good things they were doing.  Most churches have some good points.  After giving the church the good news, He said these words:

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you.  None of us want Jesus to have anything against our church.  Does He have anything against us?  Then He says two words. Repent therefore!  This church needed to repent.

It is interesting to me that five out of the seven churches were told by Jesus to repent.

Consider how far you have fallen! REPENT and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:5 NIV)

REPENT therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Revelation 2:16 NIV)

1 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they REPENT of her ways. (Revelation 2:21-23 NIV)

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and REPENT. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Revelation 3:3 NIV)

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent (Revelation 3:19 NIV)

Jesus is talking to Christians.  He is not talking to pagans.  He is telling Christians to repent.  He tells five out of seven churches to repent.  That is a high number.  It is 71%.

Would He tell 71 percent of American churches to repent?  Would the number be higher or lower?  Would he tell us to repent?

What does repentance involve?  It starts with guilt.  You feel bad about something.  It involves a confession of sin (“I am sorry” or “I have sinned”).  It leads to a change of actions.

In this case, the leaders needed to remove the Nicolaitans from the church.  They needed to do some church discipline.  Few churches do that today.  It is not very popular.

One of the things that is lacking in the modern church is any teaching on repentance.  Preachers rarely talk about repentance in the pulpit. It is almost nonexistent in some churches, even though immorality is rampant in some churches.

Preachers today want to be positive and uplifting.  They want to be inspirational.  They rarely preach about sin.  They rarely preach about judgment.  We can’t be judged.  We are Christians.

That is the lie that we sometimes hear in church.  Notice what Jesus says.  Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.  That is a strange picture.  Jesus is fighting with professing Christians.

God judged Balaam.  He was killed with the sword (Numbers 31:8).  He also judged the Israelites who sinned.  Twenty-four thousand dropped dead.

Paul uses that as a warning to God’s people today.  Paul said that is a warning to us today.  It could happen to us.  When have you ever heard that message in church?

We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. (I Corinthians 10:8 NIV)

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. (I Corinthians 10:12 ESV)

Three Promises

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’ (Revelation 2:17 NIV)

The letter ends with a promise to the overcomer.  Each church has different sins to overcome.  If this church is successful, they are promised three things: hidden manna, a white stone and a new name.

1) They will be given hidden manna

Instead of partaking of heathen feasts in pagan temples, they will get to eat of the hidden manna.  The manna is the bread that God supernaturally provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. They would not have survived without it.

Manna kept the Israelites alive for forty years in the wilderness and ceased to appear when they first harvested their crops near their new homeland (Joshua 5:12). This manna was hidden in the Ark of the Covenant in a golden jar (Hebrews 9:3-4).

It was later put in Solomon’s Temple. When the Temple was destroyed, no one knew what happened to the manna but there is Jewish legend which says the jar of manna that mysteriously disappeared will be revealed by the Messiah. All who overcome will one day receive some of the hidden manna from Jesus.

2) They will be given a white stone

White stones were used for several things in the ancient world. In ancient courts, the accused were acquitted or condemned by vote of a jury. The voting member would cast a white pebble for “acquittal” or a black pebble for “guilty”.

White stones were also used for invitations to certain functions (party) and festivals. You needed a white stone to get in. It was your ticket to get in. That is another possible meaning of the white stone.

3) They will be given a new name

We will not just get a new name.  God will give it to us.   It will not only be a new name; it will be a secret name.  We will get a new name that “no one knows except the one who receives it.” You will not know my new name and I will not know yours.  It does not necessarily mean that we will get rid of our old names.

[1] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 246.

[2] David E. Aune, Revelation 1–5, vol. 52A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1997), 188; G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 251; David L. Mathewson, Revelation: A Handbook on the Greek Text, Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament, (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016), 30.

[3] Balaam was a son of Beor (Numbers 22:5).  King Bela was another son of Beor (Genesis 36:31-32).  Bela lived and ruled in Edom.

[4] Avila, Charlie, Detecting & Dealing With False Teachings: How to Maintain Sound Doctrine in the Local Church (p. 110). Kindle Edition.

[5] https://thewholedangthing.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/numbers-25-what-plague/

Prepare for Persecution

We have been studying the letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation.  Sixty years after Jesus died and rose from the dead, He wrote letters to seven special churches.

Two whole chapters of Revelation are letters.  They are letters from Jesus.  They are letters to churches.  They are personal letters of Jesus dictated to seven churches.

Jesus told these churches what He thought of them.  He gave each church a report card.  He gave some of these churches an A.  He gave some of them a C and He gave some of them an F.  What would He give our church?

Can you imagine what it would be like to go to church and hear one of these letters read for the first time?

The pastor says, “This morning, I have a special message from Jesus to everyone here.  I just received a letter that came straight from Jesus.  It is about our church, and I want to read it to you.  You are going to want to hear what He has to say.”  Before he reads it, everyone is wondering, what did He say?  Is it good news or bad news?

Jesus sees things differently than we do.  He sees people differently.  He sees churches differently.  People would not be impressed with the church that we are going to look at today.

The world saw the church as poor.  They saw themselves as poor.  Jesus said, “You are not poor.  You’re rich.”

We think certain kinds of churches are important but this church was not famous.  It was not founded by an apostle.  It was not big.  It was not wealthy.  It was not prestigious.

It was a small church.  It was a poor church.  It is the only one of the seven churches specifically called poor.  It was a persecuted church.  It was small, persecuted and poor.  Jesus liked this church.

Jesus gave this church a report card.  He had some good things and bad things to say about the Church of Ephesus, but he only had good things to say about this church.  Wouldn’t you want Jesus to only say good things about you?

Jesus had no correction.  He had no criticism.  He had no rebuke.  He said to the Church of Ephesus, “I have this against you.”  He did not have anything against the Church of Smyrna.  This was not a perfect church, yet Jesus had no words of criticism for this church.

Smyrna is the only one of the seven cities that still has a church in it today.  There are several churches in the city today. None of the seven other cities that received a letter from Jesus have a church in them today.

Today, we are going to look at Jesus’ second letter that He wrote to the Church of Smyrna.  Smyrna is forty miles away from Ephesus.  It is north of Ephesus.

It was a big city in John’s day (about 200,000 people).  There are over three million people living there today.  It is called Izmir today.  It is on the west coast of Turkey by the Aegean Sea.

This is a powerful letter.  It is a short letter.  It is only four verses long.  It is the shortest of the seven letters.  It is Jesus’ letter to the suffering church.  It tells us what Jesus thinks of persecution.

The name Smyrna means ”bitter.” It comes from the word ”myrrh.”  This church had a bitter experience.  Myrrh was a symbol of death.  It was a fragrance used to embalm dead bodies.  It was used to prepare Christ’s body for burial.  Some in this church were going to be put to death.

We know from history that sixty years later, a man named Polycarp was put to death in Smyrna.  He was the pastor of the church.  According to church history, Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John.

Jerome says that John had ordained him as a bishop of Smyrna.  He was martyred in 155 A.D.  He may have been in this church when Jesus wrote the letter.  He would have been in his 20s.

This letter seems like the least relevant of the seven churches to us today.  We don’t have to worry about being tortured or martyred for our faith in this country.

When was the last time anyone was put to death in our country for being a Christian.  We have something called religious freedom.  It is written into our Constitution.

This letter may not directly describe our condition, but persecution may come to us one day and we need to be prepared for it.  We may not be persecuted much it describes churches all over the world.  Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.

Christian persecution is a worldwide phenomenon. Christians face harassment.  They face arrest.  They face imprisonment.  They face physical death.

“Every day, 13 Christians worldwide are killed because of their faith. Every day, 12 churches or Christian buildings are attacked. And every day, 12 Christians are unjustly arrested or imprisoned, and another 5 are abducted.”[1]

“Around the world, more than 360 million Christians live in places where they experience high levels of persecution, just for following Jesus. That’s 1 in 7 believers, worldwide.”[2]  In 2021, I in 7 Christians all over the world faced persecution.

According to the Voice of the Martyrs, over sixty countries around the world have persecuted Christians.[3]  My daughter right now is in one of the top ten most persecuted countries where it is hardest to be a Christian.  Pray for her.

Martyrdom didn’t go away with the Middle Ages.  As you know, in many Muslim countries throughout the world, like in Iran, there are apostasy laws.

If you give up your Muslim faith and convert to Christianity, you are executed. Anyone who converts gets the death penalty.  That includes men and women.

We are going to look at this church and then we are going to look at how it applies to us.  What does this church say to us today?

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. (Revelation 2:8-11 NIV)

Satanic Attack

This church was suffering, and Jesus said that it was going to get worse.  This church was under Satanic attack.  Persecution of believers is demonic.  It is satanic.

Jesus said, “THE DEVIL will put some of you in prison to test you” (Revelation 2:10 NIV) 

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV)

Their struggle was not against the Romans, or the Jews and our struggle is not against people.  The real battle comes on a different level.

This persecution was instituted by people but the one driving the persecution was not people but Satan Himself.  The one driving the persecution was a dark invisible force.

Jesus said that the Devil would put them in prison.  He didn’t say that the Jews would do it or the Romans would do it.

Satan uses different groups of people to persecute people.  He used the Jews in the first century to persecute the church.

He used the Nazis to persecute the Jews.  The Holocaust was demonic.  It was done by the Germans, and it was inspired by Satan. It was a far worse persecution than what happened to this church.

Today, he uses many Muslim nations to persecute Christians.  He uses communist governments to persecute believers (e.g., China).  North Korea is the number one persecutor on the planet.  The Bible is banned in that country.

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 NIV).  Jesus said that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44 NIV).

Any persecution of the people of God is demonic.  Jesus called the local synagogue in Smyrna at the time “the synagogue of Satan” because they were instigating it in Smyrna.

It is pretty bad when God’s synagogue turns into Satan’s synagogue.  We see that phrase twice in the Book of Revelation.

I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. (Revelation 2:9 NIV)

I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. (Revelation 3:9 NIV)

What is the lesson for today?  The devil has a church.[4] A church that claims to be a “Church of God in Christ” may be a church of Satan.  You can’t go by the name of the church.  Jesus said, “a tree is known by its fruit.”

Some of the most intolerant people on the planet are religious people.  Religious leaders were behind the crucifixion of Christ.  The Church of Smyrna was a persecuted church and the ones behind it were religious people.

That is strong language.  It does not sound very nice.  It is not politically correct.   Some would say that it sounds like hate speech.  Is this anti-Semitic?  No.  Jesus is talking.  There is no antisemitism here.

The one who said these words was Jewish.  Jesus was a Jew.  The one who wrote the book was Jewish.  John was Jewish.  The Book of Revelation does not promote hatred of Jews.  It does not encourage violence against Jews.

In fact, even though they were physical Jews, Jesus did not recognize them as real Jews.  They are not real Jews.  They were fake Jews.  Jesus said that they say they are Jews and are not (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).

They called themselves Jews.  They looked like Jews by the way they dressed.  Other people called them Jews.  Jesus said that they are not real Jews.  They were Jews on the outside but not on the inside.

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God (Romans 2:28-29 NIV).

How do we apply this today?  We do not have too many people who say they are Jews and who are not.  There are some but we have a different problem today.

Today, we have people who say they are Christians but are not.  There are all kinds of people to claim the name of Christ who do not know Him.  They may go to church every Sunday, but they are not saved.

What message did Jesus have for this church?  First, He told them who He was.  He is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.

To the church who faced death, Jesus tells them that He already conquered death.  He died and came back to life.  What religious leader can say that?  Mohammad can’t say that.  Buddha can’t.  He is also the First and the Last.  He is the God man.

He told the church of Ephesus to get back to where it used to be.  Some mainline denominations need to do that.  They are completely different day from the people who started the church.

Jesus told this church, not to get back to what they were doing but to keep doing what they were doing.

He gave the church two exhortations.  They are two exhortations to every persecuted Christians: do not fear and to be faithful unto death.

Jesus also gave this church two promises.  This church was given a special test.  Jesus promised them a special reward in heaven and promised them that they would not be hurt by the second death.

How to Respond to Persecution

Jesus says four things about persecution that are counter cultural.

1) Be Prepared

Don’t expect a Christian life without troubles, trials, difficulties or persecution.  It is all through the NT.  Jesus said this.  Paul said it.  Peter said this.  Don’t be surprised when persecution comes.

The word Smyrna means “bitter.”  We should not be surprised if persecution happens to us or when bitter things happen to us.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (I Peter 4:12 ESV)

In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33 NIV).

Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20 NIV)

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  (II Timothy 3:12 NIV)

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. (Revelation 2:10 NIV)

Jesus had some bad news for this church.  They already had some hard times and He told them that it would get even worse, and some would die.

Jesus is telling this church that persecution is coming soon.  It hadn’t happened yet, but it was going to soon.  That is what this church had to look forward to.  Persecution was coming and some would die.

A lot of the older translations read that they would suffer TRIBULATION for ten days (KJV). There will be a future Tribulation Period on the earth, but for this church, tribulation was NOT some end-time event that would happen in the future.

It was something that they experienced right now.  For them, and for many Christians around the world, the tribulation is present, not future.

2) Be Joyful

They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, REJOICING because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. (Acts 5:40-41 NIV)

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 REJOICE and BE GLAD, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12 NIV)

Do not be upset if you are persecuted.  Why not?  Let me give you several reasons.

One, Jesus knows all about your problems.  I know YOUR AFFLICTIONS and YOUR POVERTY—yet you are rich! I know about the SLANDER of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. He knows your pain.  He knows your heartache.  He knows your struggles.  Jesus knows about it.  He sees what is happening.  He knows your situation perfectly.  He knows it better than you do.

Jesus not only know about their problems, He knows about your poverty.  He knows about their economic situation.  He knows about your financial situation, whatever it is.  What Jesus says is not what many preachers say.  Prosperity preachers say that God wants everyone to be rich.

They get that by quoting the Bible selectively.  One of the biggest dangers today is to only read half of the Bible. If you only read half of the Bible, you can make it say whatever you want it to say.  Cults do that all of the time.  Preachers sometimes do that.

Creflo Dollar wrote a book entitled, “You’re Supposed to Be Wealthy.”  It is God’s will for everyone.  The book was published in 2014.  Kenneth Copeland says that God has created a wealth generating system for believers.  You just need to use the keys to access this wealth.[5]

This poor church in Smyrna never got that message about the four steps to wealth.  They never heard of these keys.  This church was not rich.  It was poor.  Jesus said they were poor, and He does not condemn them for being poor.  He does not criticize them for being poor.  He did not say that they had a lack of faith.

The truth was that this church was NOT poor and suffering because it was out of the will of God. It was poor and suffering because it was IN the will of God.  It was poor because it was persecuted.  Jesus not only saw their poverty; He saw what people said about them.  He sees everything.

He does not just know about it; He can relate to it because He was persecuted Himself.  Jesus is the one who died and came to life again.

Jesus knows what it is like to be persecuted.  He knows what it was like to be falsely accused. He knows what it was like to be arrested.  He knows what it is like to be tortured.  He was beaten by the Romans.

Jesus knows what it was like to die. He suffered one of the worst kinds of executions that anyone has endured (Roman crucifixion).

Jesus not only knows what we are going through, promises to be with us but He also promises to reward us greatly.  People who are persecuted receive greater rewards in heaven than those who were never persecuted.

He is also in control of what happens.  He is the First and the Last.  In this case, He limits the persecution to just ten days.

3) Be Fearless

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.

God’s Word to every persecuted Christian is not to fear.  That seems strange.  It seems like a hard command to obey.  How is it possible not to be afraid in the midst of fierce persecution and the possibility of death.

How can we not be afraid of suffering? Let me give you two reasons.

We do not need to be afraid because God is with us.  The one who was dead and is alive is with us.  Jesus said He will never leave or forsake us.  If He is with you, you can face anything.  You can face any situation.

We do not need to be afraid because we will not experience the second death (Revelation 2:11).  There is something far worse than physical death.  It is the second death.

The second death is only mentioned in the Book of Revelation, and it is mentioned four times in the book (Revelation 2:11, 20:6, 20:14 and 21:8)

Most people think that there is just one death, but the Bible says that there are two.  Everyone who dies will one day be resurrected, stand before God and some will die a second time.

We are all afraid of the first death.  What we should all be afraid of is the second death. Revelation 20:14 says that the second death is the lake of fire.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28 NIV).

All persecutors can do is to kill the body.  They cannot kill the soul.  It might hurt for a few seconds.  People who are cast into the lake of fire are there forever.

4) Be Faithful

Jesus calls for faithfulness.  How faithful should we be?  Some of us are faithful for a long time, perhaps for years.  Jesus wants us to be faithful TO DEATH.  He said, “Be faithful, even to the point of death.”  Jesus was faithful to death.  We are to take up our cross and follow in his footsteps.

At the end of the letter, we hear these words from Jesus.  Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  He reached out to every member of that church and every member of our church to hear what the Spirit says.

God still speaks today.  The Spirit has some things to say.  The Spirit does speak in still small voice but here the Spirit says what Jesus says.  He says what Scripture says.  Are you listening?  Are you hearing what He has to say?  Next week, we will look at another letter of Jesus to another church.

[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/january/christian-persecution-2021-countries-open-doors-watch-list.html

[2] https://www.opendoorsusa.org/2022-world-watch-list-report/?initcid=2201SRP2&initpkg=2201SRP2-SP2F&cid=7015a000001cwdCAAQ&pkg=a155a000005nQT1AAM&stat=Responded&utm_source=semp&utm_medium=paidsearch&ds_rl=1281464&ds_rl=1281464&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjbyYBhCdARIsAArC6LK57h0owLpeGwqkLlsi0dxXxFdMn5HHMZzznT2lBc0gEkd4-EnvKK0aAkfWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[3] https://vom.com.au/christian-persecution/

[4] Jerry Vines, “The Rich, Poor Church” (spoken recording).

[5] https://blog.kcm.org/8-keys-to-gods-system-of-wealth/

Is the Honeymoon Over?

What does Jesus think of the church?  What would Jesus say if He stepped inside some churches in Alamance County on a Sunday morning?  What would He see?  What would He say?

What does Jesus think about Lamb’s Chapel?  What would He say if he wrote a letter to our church?  It is a question every church should ask.

The important question is not, what do I think about our church?  It is not, what do you think about our church?  It is not, what do the Baptists or Methodists think of our church?  It is not, what does the community think of our church?

The only thing that really matters is what Jesus thinks of our church.  He is the only one we should try to please.  We should not care what other people think about us.

Paul said, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.” (I Corinthians 4:3 NIV).

For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ. (Galatians 1:10 HCSB)

The only thing that matters is what Jesus thinks of us and He does not think the way we do.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

The things that many people think are important in a local church (famous pastor, a fancy building, huge membership, a big budget) are not necessarily what God thinks is important.

We think that the big, wealthy, prestigious churches are successful.  Jesus gave His highest praise to the small, poor, persecuted churches in the community.

Jesus wrote letters to seven churches in John’s day.  We don’t even write letters that much today. They seem a little outdated.  We just send emails, but Jesus sent a personal letter to each one of these churches and told them what He thought of them.

The last words of Jesus to the church are not the Great Commission.[1]  The last words of Jesus to the church are the letters that He wrote to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation.

What do we know about these seven churches that Jesus wrote letters to?  They were seven literal churches.  All of them were located in modern day Turkey.  You can visit the cities today.  Ephesus is in western Turkey.

They were literal churches that existed at the end of the first century.  They were also types of churches.  There are many churches today just like each one of these seven.

Are they the only type of churches?  Are there only seven types of churches in the world today?  No. They were not the only types of churches in the first century.  Other churches, even in NT times, had some different problems.

The Church of Corinth had the problem of lawsuits.  Christians were suing other Christians.  None of these seven churches had that problem.

The Church of Galatia taught a false gospel.  They had people who taught works salvation.  They taught that you had to keep the Law of Moses to be saved.  That is not an issue in any of these seven churches.

Churches today in the modern world have some different problems as well but there are some lessons that all churches can learn today from these seven letters.

Jesus wrote to seven churches.  By writing to seven churches, Jesus is writing to all churches.  These seven letters apply to all churches in every age.  That is a symbolic way to write to them all.  Seven is a symbolic number.

Today, we are going to see what Jesus thought of the first of these seven churches, the Church of Ephesus.  Jesus gave that church a report card. Why did Jesus start with the church of Ephesus?

It is the church that was closest to the island of Patmos.  It was also where John’s congregation was located.  It the most important city in the Roman province of Asia.

What Jesus said about this church is a message that many churches today need to hear.  Many churches today are just like the church of Ephesus.  What kind of a church was it?

It was a loveless church.  It was a cold church.  It was a church with a cold heart.  It was orthodox but cold.  It was doctrinally pure but cold.

We have all visited cold churches.  The people were not very warm.  They are not very friendly.  No one talks to you.  No one seems to care about you. They are negative, critical and judgmental.

It is actually a sign of the last days. Jesus said, “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12 NKJV).  That is true even in some churches.

Jesus gave this church an ultimatum.  The ultimatum was to love or die.  This was the only one of the seven churches that Jesus threatened to remove its lampstand.

He does not say this to the church of Laodicea.  He does not say it to the church of Sardis.  He does not say it to any other church.  He only gives this warning to the Church of Ephesus.

If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:5 NIV)

When I first became a Christian in the 1970s, I was told by friends that you can lose your salvation.  One used this passage as a proof-text.

If you read the context, this was a warning, not to an individual, but to a church.  The seven lampstands represent seven churches (Revelation 1:20).

Jesus warned if they did not repent that He would come in judgment and remove the lampstand.  He was going to turn the lights out and close the doors of the church.  The church is not just going to die.  Jesus is going to kill it.  No one wants Jesus to close their church down.  It is a scary warning.

You can’t lose your salvation but can lose your local church.  A Christian cannot become unsaved, but he can become unchurched.  Did you know that every year thousands of churches close their doors.  Forty-five hundred closed their doors in 2019.[2]

Let’s look at what Jesus said to the Church of Ephesus.  In the last chapter John saw Jesus standing in the midst of seven golden lampstands and in the first verse we see Him walking among the lampstands (Revelation 2:1).

Jesus is in the midst of every single church.  He is in the midst of our church.  He inspects each one.  He knows them perfectly.   He does that today.  He knows their good points and your bad points.

The Church of Ephesus had a lot of strengths.  Jesus was honest about its strengths.  When many people do an evaluation today, it is often biased.  Whenever Jesus judges, His judgment is perfectly fair.  It is not biased.  He has these eyes of fire. He sees everything.  He knows everything.

Jesus started positive.  That is a lesson to anyone who ever had to give a word of rebuke to someone (a child, a spouse, a friend).  Jesus did not start off criticizing this church.  He started off praising it for the good things it did before He began to criticize it.

A Super Church

1) The Church of Ephesus was a historic church

Paul started the church.  This was a church that was founded by an apostle.  How many churches can say that?  Paul was there for three years.  We know that from the Book of Acts.

Paul was there.  Apollos was there, Aquila and Priscilla were there.  Timothy was there.  The Apostle John was there.

This was a church that had great role models and good leadership.  It was a church that had an amazing history.  It was a church that had a rich heritage.

2) The Church of Ephesus was an orthodox church

It was not a liberal church, like the Church of Thyatira.  The Church of Ephesus was a conservative church.  It was a Bible-believing church.

That is not surprising because this church was exposed to some of the greatest Bible teachers of the day.  They had the Apostle Paul preaching in their church for three years.

The church was theologically sound.  It was doctrinally sound.  In many ways, it was way ahead of many churches today.

Many churches today do not teach the Bible and the average Christian in the church doesn’t know the Scriptures. Some churches have bad theology.

They have genuine Christians in the church, but their theology is all messed up.  They have not been taught sound doctrine.  They believe some goofy stuff.

This was a truth church.  Truth churches emphasize Bible study.  They emphasize teaching.  They emphasize doctrine.  They believe in expository preaching.

This church had solid doctrine.  They knew that was true.  They knew what was false.  They knew the Bible.  How well do you know what the Bible teaches?

3) The Church of Ephesus was a discerning church

Not all churches today are discerning.  Not all Christians are discerning. We should be discerning Christians. We should know the difference between truth and error.  Are you a discerning Christian?

In order to be discerning Christians, we have to know the Word. We have to be able to distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirt of error (I John 4:6).

“I know that you CANNOT TOLERATE wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.” (Revelation 2:2 NIV)

There are people today who claim to be apostles today but are not.  They have no special authority.  If someone claimed to be an apostle, this church applied some tests to that person. They did not take them at their word.

The Church of Thyatira let anyone in.  They let anyone teach.  They had false teachers and false prophets in the church.  That is where Jezebel was.  This church kept false prophets out.  They did not tolerate evil people who came in and tried to lead the church..

That sounds a little intolerant. We live in a day when tolerance is in. We look at tolerance as a good thing.  Jesus praised this church for its intolerance.  There is a tolerance that is good and a tolerance that is bad.   There are some things we should not tolerate.

The Church of Corinth had a man living in open sin in the assembly and the church did not have a problem with it. Many churches today would not have a problem with it.

Most churches today do not practice church discipline.  Paul said that you should not tolerate it. They should have removed the man from the church.

We should not tolerate false doctrine in the church.  We should not tolerate it if someone preaches a false gospel in the church.  We should tolerate other Christians who disagree with us on minor doctrines.

There are essential doctrines and non-essential doctrines of the faith. We have to know the difference between the two.  Some Christians fight over everything.

4) The Church of Ephesus was a godly church

This was a church that hated sin.  Jesus said, “But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

What were the deeds of the Nicolaitans?  The Bible does not say.  We do not need to know.  All we need to know is that they had bad deeds and this church hated them and Jesus hated them as well.  This is not the Jesus most people think of.  We think of a Jesus who loves.  The real Jesus also hates some things.

You say, “Aren’t we supposed to love everything?”   Is hatred a Christian virtue?  Are churches supposed to be hate groups?  No.  This church did NOT hate the Nicolaitans.  It hated their deeds.  Hatred should not be directed at people but their works.

That raises a question.  What deeds today do you hate?  Is there anything going on in the world today that bothers you?  Are there some things going on in some churches that bother you?  The Bible says that we are to hate evil.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Hebrews 1:8 NIV)

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9 NIV)

Let those who love the Lord hate evil. (Psalm 97:10 NIV)

5) The Church of Ephesus was a working church

Jesus said, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance” (Revelation 2:2 NIV).  It was a hard-working church.  This church labored to the point of exhaustion.

They had all kinds of different programs and ministries going on.  It had all kinds of outreach.  This was a busy church.  Are you serving the Lord or praying for an opportunity to serve Him in some capacity?

A Fatal Flaw

This church seemed to do everything right.  It seemed like the perfect church.  It seemed like a model church.  This church was started by an apostle.

They believed right.  They lived right.  They hated evil and they worked hard.  Their theology was good, and their life was good.

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:4-5 NIV).

This church had a fatal flaw.  What Jesus says here has the potential to change your life.  Jesus said to the Church of Ephesus these words: “Yet I hold this against you.”  Would Jesus say this to us?  No Christian would want to hear these words from Jesus and no church would want to hear them either.

How do most churches go bad?  They start out great.  They are on fire.  Then, eventually, the church becomes liberal and apostate.  It compromises with the world on sexuality, marriage and gender.  That is one of the signs of the last days.  Paul told Timothy about this.

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (II Timothy 4:3-4 NIV)

That is not what happened to the Church of Ephesus.  This church was completely orthodox.  It believed the Bible completely and it still had a fatal flaw that would destroy the church, if it continued.  What was its problem?

Jesus said, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:4 NIV).  This church had a love problem.

They lost their first love.  Jesus doesn’t say, ‘You have no love.’ He says, ‘You have abandoned the love you had at first.’ Their love was not what it used to be… They still loved the Lord, but not like they did at first.”[3]

What is first love? You start a brand-new job, and you love it.  You can’t wait to go to work.  After a few years, it just becomes a job.  You get married and afterwards go on a honeymoon.

Every couple has a honeymoon phase.  You think your partner is perfect.  You do not see any flaws in your husband or wife.  You do not want to spend any time away from that person.  It is a magical time.

Marriage experts say that the honeymoon phase only lasts a year or two.  After twenty years, you can’t stand the person. You fight.  You argue.  Your spouse gets under your skin.  You no longer think he or she is perfect.

In fact, sometimes you can’t stand the person.  How many couples live together in the same house, but the fire is gone.  There is no love.  There is no spark.  There is no passion.  There is no excitement like they once had when they first got married.

That describes the Christian life.  Paul said that a husband and wife is a picture of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:25-32).  Compare new believers to old believers.  New believers have a sense of wonder and excitement.  They are just learning what it means to be saved and what the Bible says.

They are full of joy.  They are in love with Jesus.  They love to go to church.  They love to worship.  They love to pray.  They love to share their faith.  They love to read the Word.  Twenty years later, they are still saved but they often do not have the same fire and the same passion.  Does that describe us?

Jesus gave this church good news and bad news.  The bad news is that they have a serious problem which will eventually destroy the church.  It can destroy a marriage.  The good news is that the problem can be solved.  Jesus tells them exactly what they need to do to.

Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:5 NIV)

Regaining Your First Love

Jesus tells the church to do three things.  These are three steps to regain first love.  It can work with a marriage.  It can work with your love for Christ.  The steps are remember, repent and repeat.

1. Remember

If your relationship to Christ is not what it was, the first step is to remember the way things used to be.  For those of us who have been married for a while, we need to remember what our relationship used to be like.

This is what the prodigal son did.  He took his inheritance, left the family, and foolishly spent all of his money.  He lived in poverty and then he remembered something.  He remembered what his life used to be like.

When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! (Luke 15:17 NIV).  If you don’t take this first step, things will never change.

2. Repent

Jesus told this church to repent.  How many Christians in church today need to repent?  Immorality is rampant in some churches.  We almost never hear any sermons in church on repentance.

If we do hear it in church, it is always a message for unbelievers, not believers.  In this passage, Jesus calls upon Christians to repent.  Do you need to repent?

Why would they need to repent?  You only need to repent over sin.  Losing your first love is a sin.  Not loving people is a sin.  Not loving God is a sin.  What are the two greatest commandment?  Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40).

3. Repeat

It is not enough to say you are sorry.  You have to change your behavior.   Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth (I John 3:18 NIV).  First love is restored by doing first works.  Do what you did to get where you got.

Do some of the same things you did when you first became a believer.  You say, I don’t have any feelings for my husband or wife anymore.

“Go back and do the things you used to do, and you will feel the things you used to feel.”[4]  Some couples may need a second honeymoon.

A Special Invitation

Whoever has an ear, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Revelation 2:7 ESV)

This is interesting.  After talking to the church as a whole, Jesus talks directly to the individual members in the church.  No matter how bad a church is, Jesus has a message for you personally.

He still speaks to you.  He has a message for you.  You may not hear His voice in church, but you can hear it from Him.  Hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  The Spirit has something to say.  Are you listening?

When the Spirit speaks, it is not some spooky, mysterious thing reserved just for the super-spiritual who watch those special programs on cable TV.  The Spirit says what Jesus says here.  The Spirit says what the Bible says.

It must be very important, because Jesus said this to every single of these churches.  In fact, “Whoever has an ear, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” is the most repeated exhortation of Jesus in the Bible.

It is something that Jesus says seven times (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).  In fact, you don’t have to have two ears, just one to hear Jesus.  Whoever has an ear.  The Greek is singular.  Do you hear what the Spirit says to you?

A Special Promise

To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7 ESV)

It is a promise to the overcomer.  Are we overcomers?  The word means to conquers or be victorious.  In this context, you overcome by loving God and loving people. What is promised to the overcomers?

The overcomers will be able to eat from the tree of life. That is the tree that Adam and Eve never ate from. They were kicked out of the garden before they got a chance to eat from that tree but if we are saved, we will get a chance to eat from that tree.

Is this teaching salvation by works?  Is it teaching salvation by love?  No.  It is not telling how you get to heaven but who will be there.[5]  John tells us in I John that if you do not love people, you are not saved.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death (I John 3:14)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (I John 4:7-8 NIV)

Paul tells us that if you do not love Jesus, you are not saved.  If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. (I Corinthians 16:2 NKJV).

An overcomer is not a special group of Christians who have victory over their sins.  John tells us that every believer is an overcomer.

everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4 NIV).  In Revelation 2, we learn that if you do not love, you are not an overcomer.

Genuine believers will overcome.  This is not a special promise for some Christians.  Jesus is not saying that the ones who really love me will get a chance to eat from the tree of life in heaven.

At the end of the book, we find out that the tree of life will be in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:2) and we are told that the tree will bear twelve crops of fruit on it.  Every believer will have access to that tree.

Why does Jesus give this exhortation and promise?  Apparently, not everyone in the church was saved.  Most churches have saved and unsaved people in them.  Many have religion but not a relationship.  Many do all kinds of good works and are not saved.

Many serve in church and are not saved.  Many attend Bible studies but are not genuinely saved.  We need to make sure that we are saved.  Are you saved?  One sign is that you love God and love people.

[1] Vance Havner, Repent or Else, 9.

[2] https://religionnews.com/2022/03/15/thousands-of-churches-close-every-year-what-will-happen-to-their-buildings/

[3] Strauch, Alexander. Love or Die: Christ’s Wake-up Call to the Church (Lewis & Roth Publishers) Kindle Edition).

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozA-wr5kfAY.

[5] https://dentonbible.org/sermon/peril-of-the-fading-fire/

Vision of the Son of Man

Last week, we began our study of the book of Revelation.  This book is called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”  It is not a Revelation of John.  It is a Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Did you know that there are three visions of Jesus in the Book of Revelation?  There is a vision of Jesus in Revelation 1.  There is a vision of Jesus in Revelation 5 and there is a vision of Jesus in Revelation 19.

John sees Jesus as the resurrected, exalted and glorified Son of Man, the head of the church in Revelation 1.  He sees Jesus as the conquering lion and the crucified lamb in Revelation 5 and he sees Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returning to the earth in Revelation 19.

Jesus of the Apocalypse

This book is a revelation of Jesus Christ.  If you want a full picture of who Jesus is, you have to read the Book of Revelation.

If you just read the Gospels, if you just read the Book of Acts, you will NOT have a full picture of who Jesus really is.  Many Christians today only have a partial picture of Jesus.  The real Jesus may not be the Jesus you think He is.

The Bible says that we will Jesus as He is, NOT as He was (I John 3:2).  Today, we often focus on who Jesus was.  People want to know what color Jesus was.  Was He white?  Was He black?  Was He brown?  John saw Jesus, not as He was but as He is.  He saw Jesus resurrected, exalted and glorified (cf. II Corinthians 5:16).

John knew Jesus of Nazareth pretty well.  He followed Him around for three years.  He heard His teaching.  He saw His miracles.  He was one of His Apostles. John was an eye-witness to the historical Jesus.  He said so.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (I John 1:1 NIV).

This Jesus looked a little different. The first century Jesus never had hair as white as snow.  His face did not shine as bright as the Sun.  He never had fire coming out of his eyes.  The historical Jesus did not have glowing bronze feet.  John heard Jesus’ voice before, and it never sounded like a trumpet.

The truth is that the Jesus of the Book of Revelation is not the Jesus you hear most preachers talk about on Sunday.  He is very different from the Jesus you see in most churches.  He is not the Jesus of many Christians.  He is radically different. Let’s look at a few passages.

Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Revelation 2:16 NIV).

Does Jesus fight against some Christians?  That is what this verse says.  Here, He is not fighting against pagans but against Christians.  That is strange.

I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.

22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. (Revelation 2:20-23 NIV)

Does Jesus make some Christians sick?  That is what the verse says.  You say, “I though Satan did that.”  A bed of suffering is a Hebrew idiom for a sick bed (so KJV).  If some Christians do not repent, Jesus will strike them dead.  That is a message we do not hear too often in church.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne AND from the WRATH OF THE LAMB! 17 For the great day of THEIR WRATH has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:15-17 NIV).

Does Jesus get angry?  Many say that God is not mad at people.  They have not read the Book of Revelation.

People are absolutely terrified to face the judgement of an angry God.  There are terrified to face the judgement of an angry Jesus.  They are hiding from the wrath of God, but they are also hiding from the wrath of the Lamb.

This Lamb got angry, and people were hiding in caves and under rocks.  We get angry when we are moody or temperamental.  Jesus gets angry because He is holy.

Today, we are going to look at an incredible vision of Jesus.  John has a vision.  It is a spectacular vision.  He stands face-to-face with Jesus.  Jesus shows up.  He appears to him.  He talks to him.  He touches him.

John receives a fresh glimpse of the glorified Christ, and we need a fresh glimpse of the glorified Christ.  It changes your whole perspective.  It changes your view of life.  It changes your view of yourself.  It changes your view of Jesus.  It changes your view of the future.

This vision came to John when he was at his lowest point in life.  Jesus still comes to us and speaks to us sometimes at our lowest points.  We can learn a lot through suffering and in suffering.

John received a spectacular vision of vision while he was in a dark Roman prison, doing slave labor. John hated Patmos.  He probably thought to himself what a waste it was for him to be at Patmos.

He thought that he could be so much more effective if he was back in Ephesus with the congregation that he loved but, God ended up using John more at Patmos.  Patmos turned out to be a promotion, not a setback.

According to church history, the Roman Emperor Domitian tried to kill John, but he failed. Tertullian says that John was put in boiling oil, but he miraculously survived.[1]

The Devil figured that if he could not kill John with boiling oil, he could at least imprison him, so he put him in Patmos.  He thought he accomplished something, but that plan backfired.

Patmos was where John had his visions.  It is where he saw Jesus.  In this dark place at Patmos, Jesus shows up.  It is where an angel appeared to him.

Patmos was where John wrote the final book of the Bible.  It was where John had the greatest experience of his life.  Sometimes our greatest trials can turn into our greatest blessings. This was true in biblical times.

Ezekiel went outside, looked up and saw the heavens open.  He received an incredible vision of God when he was in exile in Babylon.

Steven saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God right before he was stoned to death by people who hated him.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego encountered a supernatural being in the fiery furnace. 

Historical Background

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 1:9 NIV)

All of the other apostles were killed.  They died violent deaths.  John is the longest living apostle.  Peter and Paul were martyred thirty years earlier.  John is still alive.  John does not see himself as unique and special.

John does not boast about being an Apostle or even part of Jesus’ inner circle.

He does not call himself the most durable apostle, the longest lasting apostle.

He does not call him the special one that Jesus loved.  He did not say, “I don’t know if He loved the other apostles, but he really loved me.”

He called himself just a brother and a companion in suffering.  He shared the suffering that other believers in his day were experiencing.  If we live a godly life, it will happen to us as well.

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (II Timothy 3:12 NIV). “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22 NIV).

That does not sound like much of a prosperity message. Paul and Barnabas did NOT say that through much prosperity we must enter the kingdom.

They said that through many HARDSHIPS, through many DIFFICULTIES, we must enter the kingdom of God.  Some experience more hardship than others but all must experience some.

John was put in prison.  What crime did he commit? He did not rob a bank.  He was put in prison because of his Christian faith (the word of God and the testimony of Jesus). His crime was that he told people about Jesus.   

We would call him today a political prisoner.  John was put in prison on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea called Patmos.  Patmos is fifty miles from Ephesus.  Have you ever been to Patmos?

Today, people visit islands like this as tourists, like going to the Bahamas, although you cannot fly there, because there is no airport.  John was not there for a vacation.  He was there because he was persecuted by the state.[2]

Most people do not know what happened to John in Patmos.  How long was he there?  Did he die in prison?  We actually know the answers to these questions from church history.

John was put in Patmos by the emperor Domitian.  Domitian was the brother of the Emperor Titus.  Titus was the emperor before him.  He was the one who put a siege around the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70 AD.

Romans worshipped their leaders.  We cannot imagine doing that today.  They worshipped Domitian.  He demanded it.  He thought he was a god.  He demanded that people call him “Lord and god.”  He was a dictator.  Anyone who criticized him was executed or banished.

John was put in prison around 95 AD.  He was put in prison by Domitian.  Domitian died in 96 AD.  He died soon after.  We know from history that He was assassinated.  After Domitian died, his sentences were annulled[3] and John was released.

John was on Patmos for only there a year or a year and a half and then he returned to Ephesus,[4] where he lived two or three more years and then he died.  His grave is still in Ephesus.  The Virgin Mary’s grave is there as well.

A Supernatural Experience

While he was at Patmos, John had a vision.  John is about ninety.  He is old.  He is frail.  He is weak.  He is now in prison.  His back probably hurts and something amazing happened.  Jesus showed up.  Jesus showed up in John’s trial.

He showed up one Sunday, the day that John normally would be back in Ephesus worshipping with his congregation.  John has a powerful encounter with the risen, glorified Christ on Patmos.

John gives us an eyewitness account of this vision.  He tells us where he was when it happened.  He tells us why he was there.  He tells us what he saw and what he heard.  He tells us how he responded to the vision.

This vision started with a supernatural experience.  John was “in the Spirit.”  What does that mean?   Have you ever been in the Spirit?  John has four visions in the Book of Revelation that took place when he was in the Spirit.

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:10-11 NIV)

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. (Revelation 4:1 NIV)

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:3 NIV)

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:10 NIV)

We have all been filled with the Spirit, but this was something different. This is what NT scholars call a vision trance or a revelatory trance.[5]  It involved some type of altered state of consciousness.

John was already in Patmos and now he was in the Spirit.  John was in two locations.  His body was in Patmos, but his spirit was taken to different places where he sees and hears things that no one else could see or hear.

In Revelation 4, his body was in Patmos, but his spirit was taken right into the throne room of God in heaven. This happens to John four times in the book.

In the last time, an angel takes him in the spirit to see the New Jerusalem.  The same thing happened to the Prophet Ezekiel in the OT.  He was in the spirit and was taken to different places.

Can Christians have trances today?  We can have them if God puts us in one but, contrary to what some teach [6], this is not the normal Christian experience.  Most Christians in John’s day (or in our day) do not have this kind of experience.

Peter was in a trance.  Paul was in a trance.  John was in a trance.  None of them prayed for one.  They fell into a trance.  You cannot choose to have a trance any more than you can choose to have God speaking to you in a dream.  This supernatural experience led to a divine encounter.

12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 

14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:12-18 NIV)

What John Heard

John encounters the risen Christ in a trance but before he saw Him, he heard Him.  He heard His voice, before he saw Him.

It began with a trance.  Then John heard something.  When God appeared to Moses, it began with Moses seeing something unusual (a burning bush).  He was about the same age as John.  He was a little younger.  Moses was eighty.

Jesus appeared to John when he was ninety, but it began with him hearing something.  He heard a voice.  The voice told him to write down what he sees into a book and send it to seven churches.  This voice was behind him.  It was no ordinary voice talking to him.  John was hearing the voice of God.

It not a still small voice.  It was not a quiet voice.  It was a loud voice. It sounded like a trumpet.  There was a trumpet sound when God appeared at Mount Sinai and now John hears something that sounds loud like a trumpet.

What John Saw

John turned around to hear this loud voice.  He looked and saw two things.  He saw seven lampstands and a divine figure standing in front of Him.  The lampstands represent seven churches (Revelation 1:20).

First, he saw these lampstands.  The KJV says, “The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:20) but that is a mistranslation.  This was a Jewish Menorah.

Candlesticks did not even exist in John’s day. They did not have wax candles in the ancient world. They used oil candles. Wax candles were not invented until the 1800s.

John saw lampstands.  He saw golden lampstands (Revelation 1:12).  These lampstands were valuable.  The lampstands in the Tabernacles were made of pure gold (Exodus 25:31).

John did not see one lampstand. He saw seven of them.  There was only one lampstand in the Tabernacle with seven lights on it.  There was only one nation.  John saw seven lampstands in a circle.

We know that they represent individual churches (Revelation 1:20).  Seven lampstands represent seven churches.  Some believe in just the universal church, but John did not see one lampstand, he saw seven lampstands.

They represent seven different, independent, autonomous churches.  There is no human head (no pastor or bishop or pope) over all seven.  They are not part of a denomination.

In addition to seeing the lampstands, John saw a divine figure.  This was not a vision of the Father but of the Son. It was a vision of the God-Man.

It was a vision of a real man.  He lived on earth and died.  I am the Living One; I was dead (Revelation 1:18 NIV) but this is not a vision of any man.

This was a vision of the resurrected, ascended and glorified Son of Man.  Jesus died but he is alive for ever and ever! (Revelation 1:18 NIV).  He will never die again.  John saw the glorified Son of Man.

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven” (Daniel 7:13 NIV)

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. (Revelation 1:7 NIV)

This is not just a vision of a man, even a great man.  It is a vision of God.  Revelation 1 is a theophany.  It is an appearance of God.  That is why when John sees Jesus, he does not try to hug him.  He does not say, “What’s up hommie?”  He falls over dead.

In Revelation 1, we see Jesus not only as man but as God.  How do we know from Revelation 1 that Jesus is God? Some of the descriptions of God in the OT are applied directly to Jesus in Revelation 1.

In The Book of Daniel, we have a vision of God the Father (The Ancient of Days), and we are told that “His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool” (Daniel 7:9 NIV).  In Revelation 1, Jesus has hair white like wool (Revelation 1:14).

In the Book of Ezekiel, God’s voice is said to be the sound of many waters (Ezekiel 43:2).  In Revelation 1, Jesus’ voice is like the sound of rushing waters (Revelation 1:15 NIV).

In the Book of Isaiah, God is called the First and the Last.  It means that He is eternal.

Isaiah 44:6 says, “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”  Jesus told John, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last” (Revelation 1:17 NIV).

Life Lessons for Today

What does this vision of Jesus say to us today?  What can we learn from it?

1. We carry the light for a dark world

Jesus said the seven churches are lampstands.  Every church is a lampstand.  They are to be light holders in a dark world.  A lampstand is NOT the light, it just holds the light.  The lampstand was to always give out light day and night (Exodus 27:20-21).  It was to be always shinning.

Every church is to preach the Word of God and proclaim the gospel of Christ.  We are also to be lights in a dark world.  Each Christian is a light (Matthew 5:14-16; Philippians 2:15). Churches should always be shining and so should individual Christians.  We do not shine our own light.  We are to shine the light of Christ.  Are we shinning?

2. Jesus is completely sovereign over our life

He is in control.  Jesus is sovereign over our life.  He is sovereign over our church.  He decided who our next pastor will be.  He holds all of the leaders in his hand.  He holds the seven stars in his right hand (Revelation 1:16).

He holds the keys of death and hades (Revelation 1:18). He is sovereign over the churches and over death itself. Are you worried about when you will die?

Jesus holds the keys to death.   Satan does not hold those keys.  Jesus does.  We will see later in the book that Jesus also has the keys to ministry.  He opens some doors and closes other doors.

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. (Revelation 3:7 NIV)

3. Jesus is actively involved in the church today

Jesus did not forget the church.  He did not leave the church.  He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV).  He said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NIV).

He is actively involved.  He knows everything that happens in the world.  He knows everything that happens in your church.  He knows everything that happens in your life.

His eyes were like a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14 ESV).  His eyes were like a blazing fire.  He can see right through us.  When he looks at us, he knows our thoughts.  He searches our hearts.

He does not just stand in the middle of the seven lampstands (Revelation 1:13). He walks in the midst of these lampstands (Revelation 2:1).  He visits each one of the lampstands.  He inspects then and sees what is going on in them.

He is not just in the midst of these seven churches.  He is in the midst of our church.  “Jesus Christ is walking up and down these aisles. Jesus Christ is moving in and out of these pews.”[7] He is in every Sunday School class. We may not see him.  We may not feel him, but he is here.

4. Jesus gives us a job to do for Him

Jesus spoke to John and gave him a job to do.  Even though John was ninety, Jesus was still giving him work to do for Him.  He gave John a commission.

John’s job was to write a book.  He had already written a few other books.  Jesus says, “I want you to write one more and send it to the churches.”

John’s visions were not just for himself. That is not why Jesus gave them to John.  He gave them to help other people as well. God’s Word is to be shared with others.

Jesus still speaks to us today and gives us a job to do.  Jesus does not always talk to us audibly, but He does talk to us. We do not see him with our eyes like John did.  Our job may not be to write a book.

Jesus gave John three words. Jesus gave John a word of ENCOURAGEMENT.  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18)

Christians today have a very different reaction to this vision of the Son of Man than John did.  We read it and think it is interesting.  When John saw it, he fell over and passed out.  He fainted.

John was petrified.  He was scared.  This was a terrifying vision.  Looking at Jesus’ face was like looking into the Sun.  This vision literally knocked him off his feet.

Jesus touched him and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One.”  He comforted, encouraged and strengthened John.  If you are afraid or worried, this is Jesus’ word to you as well.  “Do not be afraid.”

Jesus tells John, “Do not be afraid.  You are not going to die.  I have the keys of death and hades.”

Jesus gave John a word of EXHORTATION.  The exhortation is to write it down.  Many see the outline of the book in Revelation 1:19.  It is an inspired outline.

Write, therefore, what you have seen (past tense), what is now (present tense) and what will take place later (future tense) –  Revelation 1:19 (NIV).

What does it mean?  There are two main views.  The most popular view is that it refers to a threefold division, dealing with things past, present and future (Thomas, Charles, Swete, Walvoord).  John is told to write down the things he SAW (Revelation 1), the things that ARE (Revelation 2-3) and the things that SHALL BE in the future (Revelation 4-22).

Another view takes this as a modification of that view and makes it a twofold division of the book.  We know that John was to write down everything that he saw (Revelation 1:11), not just the vision of chapter one.

This view would read something like this: “Write, then, the things you see, both the things that are now and the things that will happen afterward” (Revelation 1:19 GNB).

One recent biblical scholar, who wrote a massive three volume, 1200 page commentary on Revelation (Word Biblical Commentary), takes this view. [8]

Finally, Jesus gave John a word of EXPLANATION (The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches). 

He interpreted the vision for John.  He did not give John a vision and leave it up to him to figure out what it meant.  He interpreted it for him.

The million-dollar question is who are the angels of the seven churches?  What does that word “angel” mean here?  If you want to find out what a word in Scripture means, you want to do two things.

To find out the meaning of a word, see how that word is used in the rest of book and see how that word is used in the context.  How is the word “angel” used in the rest of the Book of Revelation?

It is the Greek word άγγελος.  It is used 67 times in the book.  It only means a supernatural being in the Book of Revelation in all of the other passages.  Every other time in the book, it only means a literal angel.

If that is the case, these would be guardian angels.  The idea would be that churches have angels assigned to them.  Next, we look at the context.  Does that make sense in Revelation 1:19?  No.

John did not write a letter to a literal angel.  Have you ever written a letter to a real angel?  Jesus did not rebuke angels for the sins of Christians.  When the Church of Ephesus sinned,  He did not say to some heavenly angel, “I have this against you.  I am going to judge you, if you do not repent.”  That makes complete nonsense of the text.

The word άγγελος simply means messenger and it can refer to a heavenly messenger but it can also refer to a human messenger (cf. Luke 7:24, 27; 9:51).  Here, it has to refer to a human messenger or leader over the church, although some pastors are more angelic than others.

The idea here is that Jesus holds the church and all the leaders of the churches in his right hand.  He does not just protect them; they are under his authority.  Next week, we will look at Jesus’ letter to the first church, the Church of Ephesus.

[1] “Where Paul wins his crown in a death like John’s where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile!” (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 36).

[2] One myth that you often hear from preachers is that Patmos was like Alcatraz or Siberia, but we know from biblical archeology that other people lived there.  There were three temples there.

[3] Eusebius, Church History, III.20.10.

[4] Eusebius, Church History, III.20.11.

[5] David E. Aune, Revelation 1–5, vol. 52A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1997), 82.

[6]https://publications.morningstarministries.org/word-for-the-week/naturally-supernatural-christian%E2%80%94-book-revelation

[7] Jerry Vines, Revelation Sermon Series, “Jesus as He is” (Spoken Recording).

[8]  David Aune writes, “This sentence can therefore be understood “Write what you see, namely [taking καί as epexegetical], the events of the present and of the future.”(Revelation 1–5, vol. 52A, Word Biblical Commentary [Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1997], 106).

 

Why Study Revelation?

We welcome you to a brand-new study on the Book of Revelation.  Many people here are anxious to learn about the end-times.  This study will be a prophecy conference.

Some of you have never studied the Book of Revelation before.  It is your first time.  You do not know anything about this book.  Some others have studied it before, have been in several classes on Revelation and may be experts on the book.

Whatever your background, you should be able to get something from this study. Today will be an important introduction to the book.  Next week, we will look at the first vision of the book.  It is a powerful, life-changing vision of Jesus.  You don’t want to miss next week.

Two Extremes

When it comes to the book of Revelation, there are two extremes in the church today.  Many Christians avoid the book.  The one book of the Bible that God tells us to read is the one book that many Christians avoid.

Some preachers avoid it.  It is too mysterious.  It is too controversial.  It is too impractical.  It is too scary.  Revelation is one of the scariest books of the Bible.

It describes scary demonic beings, seven headed monsters, serpents and a big red dragon.  The angels look a little scary.  They have eyes all over the body on the front and back.  Even Jesus looks a little scary.  John sees Him and He has a sharp sword coming out of his mouth.

In this book, people get unsightly and painful sores.  They go outside and get stung by ugly looking demon locusts from the bottomless pit and get hit in the head by hundred-pound hailstones falling from the sky.  Some Christians avoid this book.

Other Christians are obsessed with this book.  It is their favorite book of the Bible.  Some Christians only read the Gospels.  Some only read the Book of Acts and some only read the Book of Revelation.  They come up with the most bizarre interpretations. They say Obama is the Antichrist or Trump is the Antichrist.

They say the Mark of the Beast is the barcode at the grocery store or the COVID-19 vaccine.  There have been vaccine requirements for travel, eating in some restaurants and conditions for employment.

They say Babylon the Great is the USA.  It is the center of commerce.  It is a financial center with the stock market.  It is full of sexual immorality and greed.  It is symbolized by a woman.  That must be Lady Liberty.

The danger we have to avoid is newspaper exegesis.  That is looking at current events and trying to force those events into Scripture.  That is a common error.  By reading the Bible selectively, you can make anything fit.

Today, we want to ask one question:  Why should we study this book?  Why is the Book of Revelation important for the church today?  We are going to look at seven reasons why every Christian should study the Book of Revelation.

Seven Reasons to Study the Book of Revelation

1) Study Revelation to learn about future events

God wants us to know about prophetic events.  He does not want us to be ignorant of bible prophecy. You will often hear preachers say that knowledge is bad.

That is one of the greatest lies preached in the pulpit.  God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6 KJV).  God does not want us to be ignorant.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant (I Corinthians 12:1 KJV).

God does not want us to be ignorant about spiritual gifts and He does not want us to be ignorant of bible prophecy.

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope (I Thessalonians 4:13 NIV)

Are you interested in learning more about bible prophecy?  Study the Book of Revelation.

Unfortunately, many Christians today in the American Church are ignorant about Bible prophecy.  They have no idea what the Bible says about the future.  They have no desire to study it.

2) Study Revelation to learn more about Jesus

The great Protestant Reformer Martin Luther did not like the Book of Revelation because he did not see Jesus in it.[1]

Luther was wrong.  The Book of Revelation is all about Jesus.  In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is the exalted, and glorified Son of Man.  He is the crucified Lamb, and the conquering Lion.  He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He is ruler of the kings of the earth.

In Revelation, Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. He is the Word of God.  He is Faithful and True.  He is the faithful witness.  He is the root and offspring of David.  He is the Bright and Morning Star.  If you want to learn more about Jesus, study Revelation.

3) Study Revelation to find out what heaven is like

Most people have questions about heaven.   There are a lot of crazy ideas about heaven.  The only way to find out the truth is to read the Word.

The clearest description of heaven in the Bible is found in the Book of Revelation. There are two whole chapters on the topic of heaven in Revelation.

Most of what we know about heaven comes from Revelation. In fact, the word heaven is found more times in Revelation than anywhere else in the NT.  It is used forty-five times in the book. Do you want to know what heaven will be like?  Study the Book of Revelation.

4) Study Revelation to find out what Jesus says to the church

The Book of Revelation is the last word of Jesus to the church.  What would Jesus say to the American church today?   Jesus would say different things to different churches.  Each church is different.  He had different things to say to the seven churches in John’s day.  By reading Revelation, we get some idea what Jesus might say to our local church today.

5) Study Revelation to find hope in dark times

We are living in dark times.  All you have to do is watch the news.  There are school shootings, terrorism, sex crimes and murder every day.  John also lived in a dark time.  In his day, the church was persecuted by the state.

Revelation is a book of hope.  It was written to give hope in the midst of persecution.  It was written to comfort believers and help them find hope in dark times. Revelation describes the darkest time on planet earth.

No matter how dark it gets, we will see that God is still on the throne.  He is still in charge.  One day, Jesus will return to earth to rule and reign on the planet, and we will live in a perfect world, a world with sickness, without disease, without crime and without suffering.

6) Study Revelation to receive a blessing

Do you want to be blessed?  Revelation promises a special blessing, not just once but twice.  We see it once in the first chapter and once in the last chapter of the book.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (Revelation 1:3 NIV)

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll. (Revelation 22:7 NIV)

Now, in America, we associate blessing with prosperity.  John does not promise if we read this book, we will all become millionaires.  The book was written to many poor Christians.  Some of the most blessed churches in the book were the poorest.  The one church that was financially well off was in worse shape spiritually.

This book does not guarantee economic prosperity, but it does guarantee blessing.  One pastor said when he preached through this book, all kinds of things happened in his church: lives were transformed and marriages were restored.

It could happen to you.  One man who read the Book of Revelation every six months of his Christian life to make sure that he did not miss out on this blessing.

7) Study Revelation for practical applications

Blessed are those who hear, AND WHO KEEP what is written in it (Revelation 1:3 ESV)

God did not give the book for speculation but for application.  Revelation is more than a book of doctrine.  It is more than a book of prophecy.  It is a book of practical application.  It was not written just to satisfy our curiosity about the future.  We are not only to hear this book; we are to heed it.

Now, many chapters in the book do not seem to have any application.  They are just plagues falling on people (seal, trumpets and bowl judgments) but there are many applications in the book.  What are some of them?  Let me share ten practical applications found in Revelation.

Practical Applications in Revelation

1) Do you know for sure if you are saved?

You say, “I think I am saved.”  Are you absolutely sure you?  To get into heaven, your name has to be written in a book.  The Book of Revelation describes that book.  It is called The Book of Life.  Is your name written in the Book of Life?  Your eternity depends on it.

2) Do you have any unconfessed sins in your life?

The word “repent” is found ten times in the book.  Jesus writes letters to seven churches.  He writes letters to Christians.  Jesus tells some Christians in Revelation to repent.  Will you need to repent?  Jesus had some things against some of these churches.  Does he have anything against us?

3) Do you know how to worship God?

Revelation is a book of worship.  It tells us how the angels in heaven worship God.  There is music mentioned in the book.  There are some songs in the book. It is the only book of the NT that uses the word “hallelujah.”  Do we know how to worship?

4) Do we listen to the voice of God?

Seven times in the book, we read the words, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  This is the greatest need of the church today.

That is something we need to do today. Some are open to what the Spirit says to the church today and some are not.  Some are stuck in their tradition or denomination.

5) Do we have fellowship with Jesus?

Jesus wants to have fellowship with believers.  .Jesus does not force his way in.  He knocks.  In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is knocking on the door to get in.  Do you fellowship with Christ or does he have to knock on the door of your heart?

6) Do we believe the truths of Scripture?

I have seen people leave our church and join a cult.  There were cults in John’s day.  Jesus rebuked some Christians who held false doctrines.  He rebuked some who held the doctrine of Balaam and some who held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.  Do we hold those doctrines or any other false doctrine?

7) Are we afraid of what people will do to us?

Some Christians in the first century faced persecution.  Some of them faced death.  Jesus told some Christians, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer” (Revelation 2:10 NIV).  He told them, “Be faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10 NIV).  That is a message for persecuted Christians all over the world today. Would we be faithful to death?  Would we deny Christ?

8) Do we know how to do spiritual warfare?

There is a lot in this book about Satan and demons.  Satan is called the accuser of the brethren and the one who deceives the whole world.  He has a lot of power.  He throws some Christians in prison in this book.  Satan hates this book.  It spells his doom.  Do we know how to defeat Satan?

9) Do we share in the sins of others?

Believers are called, not to stay in Babylon, but to come out of it.  Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues (Revelation 18:4 NIV)

10) Are we ready for the return of Christ?

The Book of Revelation is all about getting ready for the return of Jesus.  Jesus is coming back soon.  He could come back in our lifetime. If the time was near in John’s day, it must be really near in our day.

John said, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” (I John 2:18 NIV).  If he lived in the last hour, we must live in the last second.  We live two thousand years later.

Will you receive any rewards when He comes back?  Jesus said, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done” (Revelation 22:16 NIV).

Seven Things to Know about Revelation

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia (Revelation 1:1-4 NIV)

In these first four verses, we learn seven truths about the Book of Revelation.

1) The Book of Revelation is a circular letter

Revelation was not a treatise on eschatology by a biblical scholar, it was a letter.  It was a letter not written to one church but to seven churches.  It was written by John to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 1:4).

Each church got to see what Jesus said to the other church.  If Lamb’s Chapel were one of the churches, they would get to see what Jesus said to First Baptist and vice versa.  That could be a little embarrassing.

2) The Book of Revelation is an unveiling

One of the most common myths that people have about the Book of Revelation is that it is impossible to understand. There are so many interpretations.

No one knows what it means or can know.  It is a book written in code.  It seems like a closed book, but the word “revelation” does NOT mean what most people think it means.

Revelation means “unveiling” or “uncovering”.  It is not a book of concealing but a book of revealing.  It was not meant to hide things, but to reveal things.  It was not given to confuse but to clarify.

3) The Book of Revelation is an unveiling of Jesus Christ

This book is called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”  It is not a revelation of John. It is not a revelation of the Antichrist.  It is not just a revelation of future events.  It is a revelation, an unveiling of Jesus Christ.  There are about thirty-five titles of Jesus in this book. In fact, there are more titles of Jesus in Revelation than in any other book of the Bible.

4) The Book of Revelation is an unveiling about future events

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place… Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. (Revelation 1:1, 3).

The Book of Revelation is a prophecy.  It is called a prophecy (the words of this prophecy) in Revelation 1:3. In fact, it is called a prophecy five times in the book (Revelation 1:3; 22:7, 10, 18, 19).  It is the only prophetic book of the NT and there is no prophecy in the Bible quite like it.

A Special Kind of Prophecy

1. Revelation is a divine prophecy

This is a divine prophecy.  It is an inspired prophecy.  Revelation is a supernatural book. It came from heaven.  It is a book not from this planet.[2] It is a manuscript from outer space, but it did not come from an alien but from God Himself.

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which GOD gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, THE WORD OF GOD and the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 1:1-2 NIV)

It is called “the Word of God.”  Revelation is a divinely inspired book. Because it is inspired, it is trustworthy.  We are told that three times in the book.

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the TRUE WORDS of God.” (Revelation 19:9 NIV)

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are TRUSTWORTHY and TRUE.” (Revelation 21:5 NIV)

The angel said to me, “These words are TRUSTWORTHY and TRUE. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” (Revelation 22:6 NIV)

2. Revelation is an authenticated prophecy

This prophecy was confirmed by an angel.  He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.  None of the other books of the NT were authenticated this way.  We do not see this angel until Revelation 17.  This must have been not just any angel.  John tried to worship this angel at the end of the book.

3. Revelation is an end-time prophecy

It is a prophecy of future end-time events.  It is a prophecy of things that will happen sometime in the future. They have not happened yet.  How do we know that it is an end-time prophecy?  The Second Coming is the theme of the book.  The book begins and ends with a reference to the Second Coming of Christ.

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. (Revelation 1:7 NIV)

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20 NIV)

4. Revelation is a visual prophecy

It is a prophecy of things John sees take place.  The Book of Revelation is an eyewitness account of future events.[3]  The Gospels are an eyewitness account of past events.  This book is an eyewitness account of future events.  He sees them happen.  John is told to write down what he sees and he sees some things that have not taken place yet.

5. Revelation is a guaranteed prophecy

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what MUST soon take place (Revelation 1:1 NIV)

Jesus did not show His servants things that may take place or should take place in the future.  He showed them things that must take place.  They are destined to take place.

6. Revelation is a dated prophecy

Notice the two time-markers mentioned by John in the text.

Revelation 1:1 says, “The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must SOON (ἐν τάχει) take place.”  We are told this twice in the book (cf. Revelation 22:6)

Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is NEAR (γγύς).”

We are told twice, once in the first chapter and once in the last chapter of the book that these things will take place soon (Revelation 1:3; 22:6)

We are told twice, once in the first chapter and once in the last chapter of the book that the time is near (Revelation 1:3; 22:10).

Many say Revelation is not a prophecy of future end-time events.  It is a book written for first century Christians.  It could not be a book written about end-time events, because these events were going to happen soon, not two or three thousand years later.

Some believe that most of the book was fulfilled by 70 AD.  They are called preterists.  The problem with this view is that we are also told that the Second Coming will be soon (Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20) and that the time for that is near (James 5:8) and that has not happened yet

It did not happen in 70 AD.  It did not happen in 1914 like the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach.  When Jesus returns, He will come to the earth in glory with the clouds of heaven and every eye will see Him.

You say, “That does not seem soon.”  It has been two thousand years and it still has not happened.  Time is relative anyway.  God measures time differently than we do.  With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (II Peter 3:8 NIV).

5) The Book of Revelation is an unveiling in symbolic form

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John (Revelation 1:1 KJV)

The word signified or sign-ified means to show by signsA few years ago, Greg Beale wrote a massive commentary that is almost two thousand pages (The New International Greek Testament Commentary, 1999).  Beale argued that the word “show” in Greek (σημαίνω) means to show by symbols.[4]

The Book of Revelation was written in symbols. The Bible is the Word of God.  We interpret it literally, but you cannot take symbols literally.  One commentary on Revelation boasted that it was the most literal commentary on the book ever written.

Churches are called lampstands.  They are not literal lampstands but Jesus called them lampstands.

Satan is described as a big red dragon with a long tail.  Satan does not really have a tail and he is not red, despite all of the pictures of a red devil.  He might be blue (to use a NC joke).

The Antichrist is described as a seven-headed beast.  The real Antichrist will not walk around with seven heads.  This individual will be popular and admired.  He will be charismatic.  They would run from a politician with seven literal heads.

Jesus will return from heaven with a sword in his mouth, but it will not be a literal sword.  What good is a sword against a gun or a bomb or a nuclear weapon?  The sword is symbolic.

There are more symbols in the Book of Revelation than in any book of the NT.  There are about a hundred different symbols in the book.  We get two symbols in the first chapter (seven stars and seven lampstands).

Why does it use so many symbols?  Truth is often expressed more powerfully through symbols than through words alone.  Symbols do not just convey information.  They appeal to your imagination and emotions.  As Pastor Biggers points out, God speaks to us in pictures.  That is why Jesus gave us so many parables.[5]

6) The Book of Revelation is an unveiling for Christians

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show HIS SERVANTS what must soon take place

Revelation is written for believers.  The book was not written for the unsaved people to warn them of what’s going to happen to them.

The first verse of Revelation tells us it is written for saved people.  It was written for Christians.

It was not written for Greek scholars.  It was not written for seminary professors.  It was not written for prophecy experts.  It was written for ordinary Christians.

7) The Book of Revelation promises a special blessing

Revelation is a book unlike any other book in the world.  It is the only book of the Bible that promises a special blessing for reading it.  None of the other sixty-six books of the Bible contain a promise like this. Chuck Missler used to say that “This is the only book of the Bible that says, “Read me.  I am special.”

Some pastors never preach on it.  Some refuse to preach on it.  In many churches, you will NEVER hear a sermon on Revelation. In some churches, you will only hear sermons on the first three chapters of the book. They are missing out on a blessing.

Do you want a special blessing from God?  You don’t have to send a big check to some sketchy TV evangelist.  You just need to read the Book of Revelation and do what it says.  Next wee, we will look at the incredible vision of Jesus in the rest of the chapter.

[1] Luther said in his Preface to the Revelation of St. John (1522), “Christ is neither taught nor known in it. But to teach Christ, this is the thing which an apostle is bound above all else to do; as Christ says in Acts 1[:8], ‘You shall be my witnesses.’ Therefore I stick to the books which present Christ to me clearly and purely.”  The full preface can be accessed at https://www.universitylutheran.church/luther-on-revelation.html

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRoi7RfsX_A

[3] William Hixson, “Revelation 1:1-2” (spoken recording), nd.

[4] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 182.

[3] Brian Biggers, “Pictures of God” (8/14/2022 sermon).

David’s Sinful Census

We have been studying the Book of II Samuel.   Today, we come to the final chapter of the book.   It has taken us a year to get to this point.  II Samuel is a book that deals with the reign of King David.

It deals with David’s successes and failures as king.  David lived a thousand years before the time of Christ.  He was Israel’s greatest king.  He ruled for forty years, so this book covers a forty-year period.

It also deals with one of the greatest covenants in the Bible, the Davidic Covenant.  David called it “an everlasting covenant.”  God promised David that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David and that he would have an eternal dynasty and an eternal kingdom.

Now, we come to the last chapter in the book.  It does not end on a positive note.  It does not end with something that is uplifting.  It ends with God being mad at His own people. It ends with David committing a great sin in his old age.

We will see some lessons for old saints in this chapter.  If you are an older believer in the faith, who has known Jesus for a long time, this chapter may speak directly to you.

There are two chapters in the Bible that tell this story.  This story is found in II Samuel 24 and I Chronicles 21.  You really need to read both chapters.  Each on adds important details to the text.

A Difficult Chapter

This is a difficult chapter.  It is a hard chapter.   It may completely change your view of God.   You may have to revise your theology after reading this chapter.   What happens in this chapter?

The nation sins.  God gets mad.  Satan tempts an old saint.  (We so not see that in II Samuel 24 but we do see it in I Chronicles).  David sins and God brings judgment on the nation.

Judgment comes in the form of sickness.  People get sick and they die.  A lot of them die.  What we see in this chapter seems to completely contradict what a lot of Christians believe.

The God of many Christians is not the God of II Samuel 24.  This God got angry.  In some churches, God never gets angry.  He is all love, but the first verse of the chapter says, “Again the ANGER of the Lord BURNED AGAINST ISRAEL” (II Samuel 21:1 NIV).

God would not be a real person if He never got angry.  The Bible says that God is slow to anger but He does get angry.

God does not get angry the way we get angry.  God does not sin when He gets angry.  Most of the time when we get angry, we sin.  God was not moody.  He was not temperamental.  He did not have a bad day.

Not only does God get angry; He gets angry ar BELIEVERS.  God gets angry at His own people.  He still does that today.  In this chapter, He is NOT mad at the Philistines.  He is mad at Israel, and this was not the first time this happened.  It says this happened AGAIN, so it must have happened before this.

Not only does God get angry at believers; He even makes some of them SICK.  You say, “I thought only Satan did that.  God does not make people sick.”  Notice what II Samuel 24:15 says.

So THE LORD SENT a plague ON ISRAEL from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba DIED. (NIV)

We have had in our history many outbreaks of infectious disease.  The last one was COVID (2020), but we have had many more before that (e.g., polio, measles, HIV, AIDS, flu, diphtheria).  According to this chapter, some plagues actually come from God.

In this chapter, God sent a plague on His own people.  They got sick and died.  Some might say, “God did it but he did it through a demon.   Demons make people sick.”

There is only one problem.  II Samuel says that the being who did this was an angel, not a demon.  He is called an angel but he is not any angel. This angel is called “The Angel of the Lord” (II Samuel 24:16).

This angel was terrifying.  David was afraid of this angel.  We are not told that in II Samuel, but we are told that in I Chronicles.  But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord. (I Chronicles 21:30 NIV).

This was an angel but not the kind of angels we like to talk about in church. This was not the nice guardian angels that protect us when we are in danger or are in trouble.  This was a Judgment Angel or a Destroyer Angel, like the Death Angel that went around and killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt (Exodus 12).

God spoke to a prophet in the chapter named Gad.  Gad received a word from the Lord.  Gad told David that he got to choose what his punishment would be.  It is the only time in the Bible where God let people choose their punishment.

It is like a parent telling a child to choose their switch.  All of the options were bad.  David could have three months of famine, three years of fleeing from enemies or three days of a deadly plague.  He chose the last one.

David repented.  David offered himself to die in the place of the people.  The prophet Gad told him to build an altar.  The altar was the same place where Solomon’s Temple was built and, according to Jewish tradition, where Abraham offered up Isaac on the altar

David bought the threshing floor from a Gentile.  His name is Araunah (II Samuel 24:18) or Ornan (I Chronicles 21:15).  David built an altar and offers a sacrifice to God on a hill outside of the city and the plague is averted.

God’s wrath is appeased by a sacrifice and people are saved from destruction.  It is a picture of what Jesus one day would do on Calvary.  It is a picture of the gospel.  The book ends with an answered prayer.

David’s Great Sin

What we want to do today is to look at this chapter practically.  We want to talk about David’s great sin and what it means for us today.

Most people who study the life of David or preach about him usually talk about David as a young man killing Goliath or a middle-aged man going after Bathsheba.  Very few speak of David as an old man.  In II Samuel 24 we see David as an old man.

What we see is that David blows it in his old age.  He commits a great sin.  He does something that is not only sinful; he did something that was stupid.  He said, “I have done a very foolish thing” (II Samuel 24:10 NIV).

What was David’s great sin?   He conducted a census.  The result of this census was seventy thousand dead Jews.

That is strange. Why would it be so deadly to count people, to number them.   We have one every ten years in our country, and no one drops dead. Why in the world would seventy thousand people die over a census?

What kind of God would kill seventy thousand people over one measly census?  David committed adultery and murder and seventy thousand did not die.

The answer is that seventy thousand people did NOT die because of one census.  God was already angry with the nation before David did this (II Samuel 24:1).

The nation had already sinned against God before this. Many in the nation supported Absalom and Sheba in their rebellion against David.  They fought against the Lord’s Anointed.

It was not a sin to conduct a census.  In some cases, God tells people to conduct a census.  We have a whole book of the Bible called the Book of Numbers.  If you like math, that must be your favorite book of the Bible, because it is called the Book of Numbers.

There are two censuses in the Book of Numbers.  There is one right after the Hebrews left Egypt (Numbers 1) and one almost forty years later right before they entered the Promised Land (Numbers 26).

It is not wrong to have a census, but a census then meant something different than it means today.  In the Ancient Near East, to number something signifies that it is yours and you own it.

The Jews were God’s chosen people.  Israel was a theocracy and God said that whenever they do a census, they were to pay a temple tax and they were to specifically do that to prevent a plague from taking place.  That may seem strange to us but that is what the Law of Moses said.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. (Exodus 30:11-12 NIV)

America is not the chosen people.  God did not make a covenant with our nation like He did with Israel.

We are not under the Law.  These were specific rules given to Israel under the Law

We recognize that all things belong to God. You can count how many shoes you have and still acknowledge that it is all God’s.

We do not have the same command today, but we have the same temptation.  We are tempted to trust in other things rather than in God alone.

I Chronicles 21 tells us that what David told Joab to do was “EVIL in the sight of God” (I Chronicles 21:6 NIV).  It was also demonically inspired.  The one who incited David to do this was SATAN himself (I Chronicles 21:1).

Satan always tempts people to disobey what God says.  He did that in the Garden of Eden.  He still does that today.  All of David’s advisors told him not to do it.  Even Joab told him not to do it and he was not even a spiritual man.

It took nine to ten months to complete the census and I Chronicles 21 says that Joab did not even count everyone.

Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him (I Chronicles 21:6 NIV).  What does that say to us today?  Let’s quickly look at five practical applications from this story for today.

What David’s Sin Says to Us Today

1) Pride is still a problem

David’s big sin was pride.  It is still a big sin today.  It is something that God hates.  The world celebrates pride (Pride Month).  God hates it.  To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech (Proverbs 8:13 NIV).  How did David commit pride?

He was too proud to do what God told him to do in His Word.

He was too proud to listen to advise from all his military leaders

He was too proud to trust in God.  He wanted to trust in his military strength.  He had pride in his military. David does not just count his people; he counts his soldiers.

The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the FIGHTING MEN of Israel. (II Samuel 24:4 NIV)

Joab reported the number of the FIGHTING MEN to the king (II Samuel 24:9 NIV)

Is this a problem that we have today?  Some of the most arrogant people I have met have been in church.  Most of us have never committed adultery but we may struggle with pride.  God wants us to be humble, treating others better than ourselves.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. (Psalm 20:7 NIV)

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength… We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. (Psalm 33:16, 20-21)

2) We make choices

David did not have to sin.  David chose to sin.  Sin was not inevitable.  David did not have to end his life with a big scandal.  That is the way some preachers go out, but you have many others who remain faithful to Christ serving him in their eighties and nineties.

God gives us all a choice.  In order to sin, David had to go against the Word.  He had to go against what Scripture taught and he had to go against what his own friends and advisers told him to do.

Satan tempted him.  He put thoughts in his head and in his mind.  Satan can do that but you do not have to listen to him.  The devil cannot make you do anything.

3) Sin is a lifelong struggle

Don’t expect to reach sinless perfection. Some churches teach that.  They teach that it is possible to be sinlessly perfect in this life.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (I John 1:8 NIV)

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (I John 1:10 NIV)

Serving God when you were younger is no guarantee that you will not act like a fool when you are older.  Even old Christians are not immune to sin.  They can sin.  They can commit big sins. David did.  Many other people in the Bible did.

Noah, the man who walked with God, the preacher of righteousness, after the Flood, was found naked, drunk and passed out in his tent.  He was over 600.  You can read about that in Genesis 9.

Moses sinned when he was over a hundred by striking a rock and taking some of God’s glory to himself and was not permitted to enter into the Promised Land.  You can read about that in Numbers 20.

Solomon worshiped idols in his old age and built temples to pagan gods.  For WHEN SOLOMON WAS OLD his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. (I Kings 11:4 ESV).

Many Christians start well but they do not finish well.  That is why the Apostle Paul said, “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (I Corinthians 10:12 NIV).

4) We should make progress against sin

In the natural realm, we stop growing after a certain age.  Spiritually, we never stop growing.  We should continue to grow spiritually until we go to meet the Lord.  Growth is a part of life. Healthy things grow.

You should be able to look back on your life and see some progress.  If you are saved, if you are a child of God and you look back at how you were as a Christian twenty years ago and there is no change, we have a problem.  Have you made spiritual progress in your own life?

David did.  David was not the same man he was a few years ago.  When David sinned by committing adultery and murder, he had to be confronted by a prophet to his face.  Nathan the prophet had to confront him and say, “You are the man.”  He did not repent on his own.

This time.  David has the soldiers counted.  It takes nine months to complete.  As soon as it was done, we are told that David’s heart smote him.

And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. (II Samuel 24:10 KJV).  His conscience bothered him. Many people can sin and have no problem about it.

Many sin and their heart does not bother them.  They do not think they have done anything wrong.  When David sins, it bothers him.  He is spiritually sensitive.  He was not always that way.  This time, he did not need a prophet to rebuke him.  He rebuked himself.  His own conscience rebuked him.

When David committing adultery and murder, he sinned “I have sinned against the Lord” (II Samuel 7:13 NIV).  That is a rather weak response.

After conducting a sinful census, David said, “I have sinned GREATLY in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a VERY FOOLISH thing.” (II Samuel 24:10 NIV)

He did not have to wait a year later to repent.  As soon as it was done, he repented.  Does that describe you?  Are you spiritually sensitive?  Do you have a tender heart?

There are many other signs of spiritual growth here.  David is told to offer a sacrifice, but he does not want to do it for free.  He wants to pay for it.  He did not pay a cheap amount either. David did not believe in cheap religion.

The king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” (II Samuel 24:24 NIV)

David paid fifty pieces of silver (II Samuel 24:24)) and six hundred pieces of gold (I Chronicles 21:25).  Keep in mind, he paid not only for the animals and altar but for the whole land itself.

David also puts his faith in God rather than man.  When he was given three choices for punishment, he fell at the mercy of the judge.  He trusted God.

Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.” (II Samuel 24:14 NIV).

5) We can expect our spiritual battles to change

This is very interesting.  The sins you struggle with when you are twenty may not be the same ones you struggle with when you are eighty or ninety.  Certain sins are associated with different stages of life. The Apostle Paul says to Timothy to flee youthful lusts (II Timothy 2:22 KJV).

Certain sins are associated with the youth.  What are some of the sins of youth?  Rebellion to authority, drugs, alcohol, violence, illicit sex.  Those can be a problem with older people, but they are especially a problem with young people.  As we get older, our sins may change.

David’s big sin in middle age was LUST.  It was a sin of the flesh.  David had a big sex scandal with Bathsheba in the Palace in Jerusalem.  He committed adultery with another man’s wife, and it resulted in the birth of a child.

David’s big sin in his old age was not lust but PRIDE.  It was a sin of the spirit, not the body.  It is an invisible sin.

Sins of the flesh are external (adultery, drunkenness).  Sins of the spirit are sins of the mind and thoughts.  They are internal (bitterness, unforgiveness).

The elderly are more tempted by sins of the spirit.  They are more tempted by pride.  They tend to be more “arrogant, prideful and judgmental.”[1]  They have lived longer.  They have had more experiences.  They know more things.  They have more accomplishments.  That can lead to pride.

This brings us to the end of the Book of II Samuel.  We have completed our study of the life of King David.  This study has been a blessing to me and, I trust, to you as well.  On August 14, we will begin a new study on the Book of Revelation.  We are looking forward to a study of the last book of the Bible.

[1] https://www.myplainview.com/opinion/editorials/article/Senior-Spotlight-Seniors-face-their-own-set-of-8393848.php

Profiles in Courage

Today, we come to two very different topics: last words and heroes.  This chapter deals with David’s message and David’s men.[1]

II Samuel 23 begins, “These are the last words of David” (II Samuel 23:1 NIV).  Before we look at David’s last words, what will your last words be?  What would you want to tell people before you died?  What would you say to your wife or husband?

What would you say to your kids?  What would you say to your friends?  If you could say anything to anyone before you died, what would it be?  If you are saying goodbye for the last time?

Would it be an apology for something you did?  Would it be a confession?   Would you say, “I love you.”  Would it be a thank you for something that someone did?

There are many last words in the Bible.  The last words of the thief on the cross were “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42 NIV).

Stephen’s last words as he was being stoned was “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 NIV).

Jesus’ last words in the Gospel of John were “It is finished” (John 19:30) but those were not His last words.

His last words are found in Luke.  He says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46 NIV).  Luke says, “When he had said this, he breathed his last.”  Jesus’ last words were a prayer to God.

Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to people.  Many years later, He appeared to the Apostle John and spoke to Him.  In the Book of Revelation, we have the last words of Jesus in the Bible to the church.  He says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:20 NIV).

In II Samuel 23, we have King David’s last words.  He speaks more in this chapter (II Samuel 23:15-17).  He speaks again in II Samuel 24.  These are NOT David’s last spoken words.

They were his last WRITTEN words.  They were his last INSPIRED words.  These were David’s last prophetic utterance.  These are the last words he wrote as Scripture by divine inspiration.

These last words are short.  They are only seven verses long.  They mention the Trinity.

David mentions The Holy Spirit – “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me” (II Samuel 23:2).

He mentions God the Father – “The God of Israel spoke” (II Samuel 23:3).  

He mentions Jesus – “The Rock of Israel said to me” (II Samuel 23:3).  Jesus is described in the NT as a rock (I Corinthians 10:4).  Even some rabbinic writers took this passage as Messianic (Targum of Jonathan).

David describes himself in these last words. He says what he wants people to know about him before he dies but what he says is NOT what you would expect him to say.

David does not describe himself as the one who killed Goliath, the one who killed big giants in the land.  He does not talk about his great exploits with giants.  He does not describe himself by his military accomplishments on the battlefield, defeating the Philistines.

He does not describe himself as the only one who is called “a man after God’s own heart.”  He does not describe himself as the one who was the first king of Israel or the one who captured the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and brought the ark back home.  Instead, he says five things about himself.

These are the last words of David: “The inspired utterance of David son of Jesse, the utterance of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, the hero of Israel’s songs: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue (II Samuel 23:1-2 NIV)

David’s Incredible Story

1) He came from humble beginnings

He calls himself “David the son of JESSE” (II Samuel 23:1 NIV).  He does not mention the name of his mom, but he does mention the name of his dad (Jesse) and he was NOT famous.  David came from humble upbringings in an obscure village.

His family was not famous, and he was the eighth son of the family.  He was young and the baby of the family.  Nobody took him seriously.  His older brothers certainly did not.  As the TV preachers say, “God loves to turn nobodies into somebodies.”

2) He was raised up by God from obscurity

David calls himself “the man EXALTED by the Most High” (II Samuel 23:1 NIV).  David gives God the credit here.  He was the one who raised him up and exalted him.  David did not say, “I raised myself up.  I lifted myself up from my own bootstraps.”

God was the one who exalted David, put him on the throne and made him famous.  David said in the last chapter, “You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low” (II Samuel 22:28 NIV).

God knows how to exalt the lowly and humble those who are proud.  That is what he did for David.  David was a nobody, but he was raised up by God and God still does the same thing today.

3) He was divinely anointed for office

He calls himself “the man ANOINTED by the God of Jacob” (II Samuel 23:1 NIV).  He was anointed right in front of his family.  That was a shock and an insult.  Many of his brothers thought they should have been anointed instead.  They were better qualified.  Samuel anointed him but did not live long enough to see him ever become king.

4) He was used by God as a writer

David was not only a warrior; he was also a writer.  David calls himself “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (KJV, NKJV, NASB).  David was the one who wrote Psalm 23.  He was the one who said, “The Lord is my Shepherd.  I shall not want.”  It may be the most popular book of the Bible.

David wrote at least seventy-three psalms.  He wrote half of the psalms that we have in our Bible.  They are great for doing devotions.  If you want a great passage for use for devotions, choose a psalm.  You can thank David for a lot of your devotions.  He wrote many of those psalms.

5) He spoke for God as a prophet

David was not just a politician.  He was a prophet.  Even the NT calls David a prophet (Acts 2:30).  In this chapter, we are told that David got a word from God, God’s words were on his lips and God spoke through David.

“The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. (II Samuel 23:2 NIV)

“The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me” (2 Sam. 23:3 NIV).

We have people today who claim to be prophets with words from God, but none of them are writing book of Scripture.  David wrote Scripture.  He wrote INSPIED SCRIPURE.  God still speaks to people today, but no one is writing books of the Bible today, like David did.

The INSPIRED UTTERANCE of David son of Jesse (II Samuel 23:1 NIV).

What David says here is a very important passage on the inspiration of the Bible.  The Bible is a book that is inspired by God.  We see that, not just in the NT, but also in the OT.

In this passage, we see that the Bible teaches, not just the inspiration of the Bible but the VERBAL INSPIRATION of the Bible.  The WORDS of Scripture are inspired, not just the thoughts or ideas.

Inspiration goes down to words.  We are told that God’s Word was on David’s tongue (II Samuel 23:2) and God spoke through him (II Samuel 23:2; Acts 1:16).

David’s Three Inspired Statements

1) His statement about ideal rulers

The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, when he rules IN THE FEAR OF GOD, 4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’ (II Samuel 23:3-4 NIV)

David’s first statement is what a good ruler looks like.  We need good rulers today.  We used to live in a day when rulers feared God.  Unfortunately, today that is no longer true.  We live in a secular society.  Rulers today often do not fear God.  Some do not even believe in him and many today do not rule in righteousness.  All you have to do is watch the news for one night.

2) His statement about God’s Covenant

“Is it not my family God has chosen? Yes, he has made an everlasting covenant with me. His agreement is arranged and guaranteed in every detail. He will ensure my safety and success. (II Samuel 23:5 NLT)

This statement focuses on God’s covenant that He made with David.  It was the Davidic Covenant.  He calls it “an everlasting covenant.”  If it is an everlasting covenant, the covenant must still be in effect.  God built David a dynasty.  He promised that the Messiah will come from him.  David’s success all goes back to this covenant.

3) His statement about the wicked

But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand. 7 Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where they lie (II Samuel 23:6-7 NIV).

The wicked will be judged.  People who oppose the will, plan and program of God, and fight against it, will ultimately be judged.  They are compared to thorns which you do not even touch.  You use tools to touch them.  They are thrown in a fire and are burned up.  David must have been a Baptist.

David’s Mighty Men

Now we come to a much different topic. Most people who read the last part of the chapter think it is boring.  You can’t even pronounce all of the names.  Some preachers skip over this chapter.  That is a huge mistake.  This section is fascinating.

It deals with the topic of heroes.  All of these heroes were soldiers.  They were military heroes.  They were heroes on the battlefield.  This chapter contain a list of David’s bravest fighters.  They are called David’s Mighty Men (II Samuel 23:8).

David had a lot of women with all of his wives.  He had a lot of MIGHTY WOMEN around him.  He was a polygamist.  Today, we are going to learn about David’s MIGHTY MEN (gibborim).

His mighty men were an elite group of highly trained soldiers.  They were fighters.  They were not just any fighters.  These fighters were the best of the best.  They were the top fighters of the nation.

These were like thirty Navy Seals or thirty Army Rangers.  These were Jewish Green Berets.  They did special covert operations that no one else would do or could do.

These mighty men were “loved by David, feared by the Philistines and Amalekites, and admired by the Israelite women and children they defend.”[2]  They were also remembered and honored by God.  Why do we have this list?  We have it because “People are important to God.  He knows you name, and He never forgets what you do for him.”[3]

Why is this important to us today?  David had some mighty men in his army.  We need some mighty men in the church today.  We need mighty men in homes.

We do not just need men who are physically strong.  We need men who are spiritually strong.  Some men have all kinds of physical muscles.  They work out but they are spiritually weak and lethargic.

We are in a spiritual war today in the church.  We do not battle flesh and blood.  Our struggle is not physical.  It is spiritual.  We need mighty men of faith.

We need mighty men of courage.  The Marines is looking for a few good men and so is God.  God is looking for people who can do spiritually what these men did physically.

Now, you can see why this chapter has been used in some men’s conferences.[4] It is a big topic for men.  What did these men do?

There are three lists of them in this chapter.  We see the first three mighty men in II Samuel 23:8-12.  They were Josheb-Basshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah. We have the second three mighty men in II Samuel 23:13-23.  We have a bigger list of thirty mighty men in II Samuel 23:26-47.

The number changed as soldiers died and new people were added but it was around thirty. I Chronicles 11 has another list of the thirty with some different names on the list, but that is at the beginning of David’s reign.

Why are there three lists?  Why not just one?  David had a lot of mighty men in his army, but certain ones seem to really stand out above the others.

It is an honor to be included in a special list of David’s mighty men but some of them seem to distinguish themselves even more.  God is looking for men and women today just like them.  How do we become like them today?

How to be Mighty Men and Women of God

1) Take a stand when no one else will

One sign of that you are a mighty man or woman of God is that you are willing to take a stand when no one else will.  It is easy to take a stand for something when everyone else does.  It is easy to do it when it is popular.  It is not so easy to do it when you are the only one doing it.

David fought Goliath when no one else would.  No one else had the courage to go toe-to-toe with the great giant.  David did.  II Samuel gives another example of this.

Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, 10 but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead. (II Samuel 23:9-10 NIV)

Most of the mighty men were from the tribe of Judah but Eleazar was from the tribe of Benjamin.  When the Israelites were fighting the Philistines, everyone retreated, except Eleazar.  He kept fighting.

He kept fighting, even though he faced strong opposition.

He kept fighting, even though he was outnumbered.

He kept fighting, even though the others fled.

He kept fighting, even though his hands were tired.

How many of us have the courage to take a stand alone in these circumstances?

2) Live to serve the needs of others

During harvest time, three of the thirty chief warriors came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. 15 David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”

16 So the three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the Lord. 17 “Far be it from me, Lord, to do this!” he said. “Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?” And David would not drink it. (II Samuel 23:13-17 NIV)

We have another example of three of these mighty men who were known for their loyalty to David.  They did not live to serve themselves.  They lived to serve others.  David just expressed a desire for something, water from Bethlehem.

This was when he was living in caves.  It was when he was on the run from Saul before he became king.  David did not command them to do this.  He just expressed a desire for something and these three mighty men.

These three men are not even named, but they risked their lives, and went into enemy territory to get David some water and they were remembered for what they did.  They risked their lives for something that they did not have to do and were not even commanded to do.

How many of us would put the needs of other ahead of our own safety?  We are thinking about others so much that we do not even think about our own needs.  Does that describe you?

3) Try to do difficult things which challenge you

David killed a giant.  Two of these mighty men also killed a giant.  Sibbekai (II Samuel 21:18; 23:27), and Abishai (II Samuel 21:15-17; 23:18) killed giants.

Benaiah also killed a lion (II Samuel 23:20).  The lion did not attack him.  He went into the pit and attacked a hungry lion.  That is what you call “no fear.”

There are only three people in the Bible who killed a lion and Benaiah was one of them.  The other two were David and Samson.

Abishai defeated three hundred men by himself (II Samuel 23:18-19).

We are not called to do great physical feats but to do great spiritual feats.  We do not battle against flesh and blood.

We are supernaturally empowered by God.  We are filled with the Holy Spirit.  We have Jesus living inside us.  The One living in us is greater that one that is in the world.  We can do supernatural things with God’s help.  We can engage in spiritual warfare against real demonic forces.

4) Be men and women of integrity

Are you a person of integrity and honor?  In order to be a mighty man or woman of God, you have to be a person of integrity.  Notice who is last on the list – Uriah.  David murdered him.  He murdered one of his own mighty men.

Uriah was not only a mighty man; he was a moral man.  He was a man of integrity.  That is why he would not spend time with his wife while the battle was still raging.

Notice the one man who is not on David’s list of might men.  It is Joab.  Joab was his head of the army, but he did not make the cut.  Two of his brothers were on this list mentioned (II Samuel 23:18, 24) and so was his armor bearer (II Samuel 23:37) but he was not.

Joab was a great soldier.  He was a great general, but he was not a great person.  He was cruel.  He was heartless.  He was ruthless.  He was a cold-blooded killer.  Next week, we will look at the last chapter of the book.

 

[1] John G. Butler, Analytical Bible Expositor: I & II Samuel (Clinton, IA: LBC Publications, 2010), 817.

[2] Huffman, John. David’s Mighty Men (Xulon Press). Kindle Edition.

[3] Jerry Vines, “Catastrophic Matters” (II Samuel 24).  Spoken Recording from the series “Your Heart Matters” (1997)

[4] https://mightymen.org

 

David’s Song

How has God done something amazing in your life? Have you ever turned to God in a really desperate situation and turned to God and prayed?  Have you ever had an incredible testimony of answered prayer?

David has one in this chapter.  Psalm 50:15 summarizes this psalm very well.  It is made up of four points which describe the Christian life.

An Amazing Promise

The Bible says, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 NIV)

That is an amazing promise. There are four truths that make up Psalm 50:15.

1. We all have days of trouble.

Trouble comes in all kinds of different forms (financial trouble, medical trouble, car trouble, marriage trouble), but we all have it.

2. In days of trouble, we need to pray.

God wants us to pray.  He tells us to pray to Him for answers.

3. There is a promise of deliverance when we pray.

God says, “I will deliver you.”  This does not mean that we will all be delivered FROM trouble.  David was delivered IN his trouble.

4. After God delivers us, we are to honor Him.

In II Samuel 22, we see David does just that.  He has all kinds of trouble.  He was at the lowest point in his life.

He turned to God in his trouble and prayed and God answered his prayers.  He delivered him and David gave God the glory.  He did not take credit for the victory.  He did not praise his troops.  He praised God who gave him the victory and delivered him from his enemies.

You can find this psalm in another place in the Bible.  It is the same as Psalm 18.  Psalm 18 is almost identical to II Samuel 22.  It is a long psalm.  It is fifty-one verses long.

It is not the longest psalm.  That would be Psalm 119, which is one hundred seventy-six verses long, but it is long.  There are only three psalms longer than Psalm 18.

Why is this chapter in the Bible twice?  Why are two chapters of the Bible the same?  This chapter must be important.  It also helps us understand David a little better.

I & II Samuel deal with the life of King David.  We have seen many sides of David. We have seen David the shepherd boy.  We have seen David the warrior, David the fighter.  We have seen David the king, David the politician.

In this chapter, we see David the writer. He is the writer of Scripture. David writes a psalm in this chapter. David wrote a lot of psalms. The author picked one and included it in II Samuel.

This psalm is also a song.  It is a military song.  It is a victory song.  It is a  a song of praise.  We don’t know what it sounded like, but we know it was a song from the first verse of the chapter.

David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. (II Samuel 22:1 NIV).

Music is an important part of worship. There are two extremes in church.  All you have to do is to look around in any worship service and you will see two things.

Many people don’t sing at all in church.  They just come to be entertained, not to give God anything.  Some Christians sing in church, but they do not sing to God.  Real worship is directed to God, not the congregation.  He did not just sing; he sang TO THE LORD.  David sang a song to God.

The book begins and ends with a song.  It begins with the song of Hannah (I Samuel 2).  It ends with the song of David (II Samuel 22).  I & II Samuel was originally one book in Hebrew, not two.  Those two songs are similar.

Both songs praise God for his deliverance (I Samuel 2:1; II Samuel 22:4).  Both call God a rock and a horn (I Samuel 2:1-2; II Samuel 22:3).  Both say that God alone is a rock (I Samuel 2:2; II Samuel 22:23)

When was it written?  This song is at the end of II Samuel, so most assume that it was written at the end of his life.  David is about seventy.  He is about to die, and he looks back on his life and how God has worked in his life, but that is probably not correct.

It was probably written in the middle of his life.  It might have been written just after he became king.  There are two hints in the text when this was written.

The first hint is found in II Samuel 22:1.

David sang to the Lord the words of this song WHEN the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul (NIV).

The first hint is found in II Samuel 22:21-27.

The Lord has dealt with me ACCORDING TO MY RIGHTEOSNESS; according to the CLEANESS of my hands he has rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I am NOT GUILTY of turning from my God. ALL his laws are before me; I have NOT turned away from his decrees.  I have been BLAMELESS before him and have kept myself from sin.

The Lord has rewarded me according to MY righteousness, according to MY cleanness in his sight… “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, 27 to the pure you show yourself pure (NIV)

Does that describe David at the end of his life?  Could he really say that he was not guilty of turning from God and His decrees?  No. He broke several of the Ten Commandments.  Could he really say that he kept himself from sin?

No.  David coveted and stole another man’s wife.  He committed adultery and possibly rape.  Could he really talk about the cleanness of his hands?  No.  His hands were full of blood.  He committed cold-blooded murder of a righteous man.

Could David really talk about being blameless before God and pure?  Not after the incident with Bathsheba.  He was impure.  This psalm must have been written BEFORE the time of his sin with Bathsheba.

Description of God

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me. (II Samuel 22:3 NIV)

What words would you use to describe God?  David begins this song with a description of God.  It is an eightfold description of God.  How does David describe God?

What eight words does he use to describe God?  God is described as a ROCK, a FORTRESS, a DELIVERER, a STRONGHOLD, a REFUGE, a SHIELD, a HORN and a SAVIOR.

David is not just a writer in this psalm.  He is a poet.  I am not crazy about poetry, but you cannot hate poetry too much.  There is poetry in the Bible. The whole psalm is poetic.

God is not a literal rock.  He is not a literal fortress, and he is not a literal horn.  These are metaphors.  These are pictures of who God is and what he does.

A shield is a defensive weapon.  A horn is an offensive weapon.  We know what a fortress and deliverer is but what does it mean that God is a rock?  How could God be a rock?

In many ways God is not like a rock.  Rocks are cold and inanimate.  They are not living.  They are inanimate.  They do not have any feelings or emotions.

When we think of a rock, we think of a small little pebble that we might have in your driveway.  Don’t think of a little pebble but a massive boulder the size of a house.

It is a picture of strength.  It is a picture of stability.  Rocks are solid.  It is a picture of something that does not change.  God never changes.  Rocks can also be a place of refuge (“my rock in whom I take refuge”). David does not say, “God is a rock.”  He says, God is “my rock.”

“The Lord is MY rock, MY fortress and MY deliverer; MY God is MY rock, in whom I take refuge, MY shield and the horn of MY salvation. He is MY stronghold, MY refuge and MY savior” (II Samuel 22:3 NIV)

Notice that worship has to be personal.  David talks about what God has done for him personally.  He has a personal relationship with God. David says some other things about God in this psalm.

1) God is our lamp

You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light. (II Samuel 22:29 NIV).

We live in a dark world.  Darkness has covered the earth and thick darkness the peoples (ESV).  God turns darkness into light.  Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12). That is the story of salvation.

God transfers people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light at salvation.  Just listen to a salvation testimony.  Each story is different, because everyone’s darkness is different.

“No matter what difficult times you are going through, failures, or loneliness you might be facing, God will be your light in darkness”[1]

2) God is our strength

He gives us strength to do the impossible.  He gives us supernatural strength to do things that we can’t do on our own.  With your help I can advance against a troop with my God I can scale a wall. (II Samuel 22:30 NIV).

What does that sound like?  It sounds like the OT equivalent of “with God all things are possible” or “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  With God’s help, David was able to kill a huge giant that no one else would dare to fight.

Notice what he says a few verses later: It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. (II Samuel 22:33-35 NIV).  David does not take credit for his ability to fight or how strong he is.  He gives God the credit.

3) God is perfect

As for God, his way is perfect: (II Samuel 22:31 NIV).  Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” (NIV).  He is perfect and everything He does is perfect.

Many say that God is not fair.  People blame God for things that happen in their life.  They are angry and bitter and mad at God.  The problem is that we do not have all of the facts.  We can’t see the big picture.

God says that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Our problem is that we think we know better than God, like children think they know better than their parents.  Creatures think they know more than their Creator.

4) God’s Word is flawless

The Lord’s word is flawless (II Samuel 22:31 NIV).

Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar (Proverbs 30:5-6 NIV).

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul (Psalm 19:7 KJV).

The words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace, like gold purified sevenfold (Psalm 12:7 NIV).

God’s word is flawless.  Every book, every chapter, every verse, every word in the original is flawless. That does not mean every translation is flawless.  The problem is that we live in a day in which many do not believe this.

Skeptics deny it.  College professors deny it.  Liberal churches deny it.  They would say that the Bible is not flawless.  It has mistakes in it.  It has errors in it (scientific errors, historical errors).

Jesus said something very different.  Jesus did not say that the Bible is full of errors.  He said, “your word is truth” (John 17:17 NIV).  Truth is the opposite of error.  He said that “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35 ESV).  It cannot be shown to be in error.  It cannot be falsified.  He said that every prophecy MUST be fulfilled (Luke 22:44).

Summary of the Song

1) David’s Trouble

He describes his trouble poetically as waves of death and cords of the grave.  The waves of death swirled about me; he torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 6 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. (II Samuel 22:5-6 NIV).

His enemies are described as violent (II Samuel 22:3, 49).  They are also described as powerful.  He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. (II Samuel 22:18 NIV)

2) David’s Prayer

In His trouble he called to the Lord.   In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. (II Samuel 22:7 NIV).  Sometimes we forget to do that and deal with things ourselves.

3) God’s Answer

From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. 8 The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry. 9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. 10 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. 11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky.13 Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth. 14 The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.15 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. 16 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.

God is pictured as a fire-breathing dragon with smoke coming out of his nostrils and fire coming out of His mouth, thundering from heaven, shooting bolts of lightning at people.  David could have simply said, “God answered my prayer.”  Instead, he described this poetically.  In this section David makes a strange statement.  It raises an important question.

Did David Believe in Salvation by Works?

“The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. 22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I am not guilty of turning from my God. 23 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. 24 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. 25 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. (II Samuel 22:21-25 NIV)

Does David believe in salvation by grace?  If so, why did he say that God dealt with David because of his righteousness?  Is David proud and self-righteous?  No.  We need to understand three things here.

1. This has nothing to do with salvation

It is not dealing with salvation.  That is not what he is talking about.  He is talking about deliverance from physical enemies.

2. This has nothing to do with sinlessness

David is not saying that he is perfect.  Blameless is not the same thing as sinlessness.  We are commanded to be blameless.  It is a condition for elders in the church.  If it meant sinless, then we would not have any church leaders.  None would qualify.  None of us can be sinless in this life but we can be and should be blameless.

3. God rewards good behavior

He blesses obedience.  He rewards it in the next life, and he rewards it in this life (Psalm 1:1-4).  The Bible teaches, “Obey and you will be blessed. Disobey and you will be cursed.”  He rewarded David for his behavior.

4. God also has grace for sinners

People sin.  God can still use believers who sin, if they repent.  Peter denied Christ publicly and repeatedly but God forgave him, used him and blessed him.

4) The Wicked’s Destruction

“I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. 40 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. 41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. 42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the Lord, but he did not answer. 43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets. (II Samuel 22:38-43 NIV).

David completely destroys his enemies.  Some believe that this is messianic.  It is a picture of what Jesus, the Son of David, will do when He returns.

5) God’s Praise

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior! 48 He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me, 49 who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. 50 Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. (II Samuel 22:47-50 NIV).

[1] https://prayertoweronline.org/todays-word-blessing/darkness-into-light

Fighting Giants

Today, we are going to look at only eight verses.  They are found in II Samuel 21:15-22.  We want to talk about giants.  There are a lot of good giant stories.  Kids love them.  We all know the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and there are many other modern books about giants written for kids.  If you Google the topic, forty books will pop up.

The problem is that they are fairy tales.  They are bedtime stories told to children.  The truth is that giants are real.  Does that mean if you walk down the street you might encounter Godzilla or King Kong? No.

On the other hand, there have been giants in the real world. There was a man in the US who lived about eighty years ago and was to be almost nine feet tall.  His name was Robert Wadlow.  He was 8’11”.  He died in 1940.  He died about eighty years ago. He was more than a foot taller than the tallest NBA basketball player in history (which was only 7’7″).

Bible Giants

There are many giants in the Bible.  Many have no idea about these.  Goliath wasn’t the only one.  We want to look at these bible giants.  They are in the OT.  They are all bad.  There are no good giants in the Bible.  There were different names for some of them.  

1) There were giants in the days of NOAH

There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.  (Genesis 6:4 NKJV).

The Hebrew word for “giants” there is Nephilim.  How tall were they?  We don’t know.  The Book of I Enoch says that these giants were three hundred cubits tall (I Enoch 7:2). 

That would make these giants about 450 feet tall.  As my wife pointed out, if he was that tall, he would not fit inside anything.

I Enoch is an old Jewish book.  It goes back to the second century BC but it is not inspired. The Bible doesn’t say how tall they were but there is no evidence that they were five hundred feet tall.  

2) There were giants in the days of MOSES

There was a giant in the days of Moses named Og.  He was King of Bashan, which is in Syria today. He was a Canaanite king.  He was killed along with his whole army by the Hebrews.  You can read about it in Numbers 21 and Deuteronomy 3.

He was also a giant.  He slept in a bed that was nine cubits long and four cubits wide.  Goliath was only six cubits tall (I Samuel 17:4).  Og was not nine cubits tall (fourteen feet tall) but that is how tall his bed was (Deuteronomy 3:11).  He must have been very tall.

3) There were giants in the days of JOSHUA

Before the Hebrews were sent into the Promise Land, twelve species were sent in on a top-secret mission.  They were sent to gather intelligence.  What did they find when they got there?  One thing they encountered were giants.

There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:33 NKJV)

These giants were called the sons of Anak.  They were the Anakim or Anakites.  When we get to Joshua 11, this group of giants is wiped out by Joshua (Joshua 11:21-22)

4) There were giants in the days of DAVID

These giants were not called Anakim but Rephaim or Rephaites.  Now, everyone knows the story of David and Goliath in I Samuel 17.  Almost no one knows the story about David and Ishbi-Benob in II Samuel 21. 

Most Christians barely read I Samuel.  They do not take the time to read much of II Samuel.  Today, we are going to hear the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.

Giants Today

Today, we are going to look at how this applies to us today.  David fought physical giants.  We do not fight physical giants.  The church is not out battling physical giants in the world.  Paul said that our real fight is not even against people, even big strong people, but against supernatural demonic beings.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12 NIV)

We all face giants today, but our giants are moral, spiritual, not physical.  They are supernatural and demonic.  What is a giant today?  What would a giant consist of today?  

Giants represent big problems.  They are not little problems but big problems or situations that you cannot solve and won’t go away.

Giants represent strongholds.  Strongholds were walled cities, fortresses that were impenetrable.  What is a spiritual stronghold?  There are many different kinds.

Strongholds can refer to ways of thinking.  One type of stronghold is an idea of practice that opposes God and His Word but is thoroughly entrenched in our culture and accepted by society.  There are many examples of this in society (evolution, gay marriage, unbiblical genders).

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (II Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV)

We use the word strongholds today to refer to personal addictions.  Spiritual strongholds are not just sin but bondage.  Giants are things that you can’t seem to get victory over no matter how hard you try. There are strongholds in society and in our own life.

We face a giant of addiction, a giant of alcohol, a giant of pornography, a giant of anger, a giant of fear, a giant of depression, a giant of sickness, a giant of loneliness, a giant of unforgiveness.

Four Truths About Giants

There are four things you need to know about killing giants today from this passage.

1) Giants are scary

Giants are big.  They are strong.  They are scary.  They look down on you and mock you.  Goliath taunted David and his brother taunted Israel as well.

there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha…. he TAUNTED Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah (II Samuel 21:20-21 NIV)

Giants are not only strong and intimidating, they are ugly.  They look disgusting.  One had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. They were deformed, grotesque-looking creatures.

Giants are not just scary.  They are not just terrifying.  They are dangerous.  They can not only hurt us.  They can kill us.  They are deadly.

The giant David faced was deadly.  This giant was younger than David, stronger than David and had new weapons.  Ishbi-Benob had a new sword (II Samuel 21:16).  It was sharp.  He wanted to kill David.  He planned to kill David and almost succeeded.

The evil one came to steal, to kill and to destroy.  The devil walks around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may DEVOUR (I Peter 5:8).

We struggle against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  We struggle against supernatural beings, angelic beings that are much stronger than we are.  We struggle against evil demonic beings that we cannot even see.  That puts us at a disadvantage.

Kids often do not see danger.  They go into dangerous situations without realizing it.  We do the same thing as adults.  Christians often do not see the danger.  We dabble in sin.  We play with temptation.  We play with addictions.

2) Giants are persistent

When David killed Goliath, he probably thought that would be the last giant he would ever face but it wasn’t.  He faced more giants later in life.  He faced another giant in II Samuel 21.

Giants kept coming.  They never stopped.  They come in different forms at different times.  David fought giants when he was a kid and he fought them when he was an old man.

Life is full of battles.  We have struggles all of our life.  We fight battles as young Christians.  We fight battles as old Christians.  The battle may look a little different, but it is still a battle.

We never get to the point where we are invincible or untouchable.  We never get to the point where we are sinless.  We never reach perfection this side of the grave.  We never get the point where no longer fight any battles.

We see in our passage that giants keep coming.  II Samuel 21:15-22 contains four battles against the Philistines.

Once again there was A BATTLE between the Philistines and Israel (II Samuel 21:15 NIV).

In the course of time, there was ANOTHER BATTLE with the Philistines, at Gob (II Samuel 21:18 NIV).  That was the battle over the goblet.

In the course of time, there was ANOTHER BATTLE with the Philistines, at Gob (II Samuel 21:19 NIV)

In still ANOTHER BATTLE, which took place at Gath (II Samuel 21:20 NIV)

The Philistines were Israel’s greatest enemy all through I Samuel & II Samuel.  Saul fought the Philistines and David fought the Philistines.

Some of these battles took place on the border between the two countries (Gob).  One battle took place outside of Israel.  Gath was a Philistine town.

During these battles, Israel not only faced the Philistines, they faced some giants.  Each battle they faced a different giant. After facing Goliath, they now face four more Philistine giants.

Who were these four giants?  If you are reading the KJV, you would think that they were Goliath’s sons.  They were junior goliaths.

These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. (II Samuel 21:22 KJV)

The problem is that the word “giant” in Hebrew is most likely a proper name (Rapha) and one of these giants is called Goliath’s brother not his son.  Only one of these giants is said to be in Goliath’s direct family.

In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. (II Samuel 21:19 NIV)

The Hebrew says that Elhanan killed Goliath and so do some other translations.

And there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. (NASB)

Then there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. (NRSV)

There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed Goliath from Gath, whose spear had a shaft as thick as the bar on a weaver’s loom. (GNT)

Which is right?  Is this a contradiction?  Who killed Goliath?  Was it David or Elhanan?  This is not a different Goliath.  This Goliath from Gath.  David clearly killed Goliath.  We have a whole chapter devoted to that in I Samuel.

This is a scribal error.  It is a copyist mistake.  People who copied the Hebrew Bible spent hours copying every word by hand.  Occasionally, they made a mistake and copied the wrong word.

We know this is a scribal error from the parallel passage.  There is a parallel passage to II Samuel 21:19. I Chronicles 20:5 says, “And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”

Elhanan did NOT kill Goliath.  He killed the brother of Goliath and even gives us his name, Lahmi.  That is why many translators of II Samuel 21:19 say that Elhanan killed “the brother of Goliath” (so NIV, NLT, KJV, NKJV).

There is another scribal error in II Samuel 21:8. The Hebrew (MT) says that the five sons of Michal were killed whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai (so KJV).

Two other Hebrew texts and the LXX says it was the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai (so ESV).  Merab married Adriel.  We know that from I Samuel 18:19.

Clearly, it was not Michal.  She married a different husband.  She married Paltiel (II Samuel 3:14-16), and we are specifically told in Scripture that she was childless (II Samuel 6:23).  That is also another clear scribal error in the same chapter.

3) You may need help in battling giants

Sometimes we need help in defeating giants.  David killed Goliath but he could not kill the giant in II Samuel 21.  He did not need any help from the soldiers to help defeat Goliath, but he did need some help to defeat Ishbi-Benob.  He could not defeat him on his own.

David was an old man on the battlefield.  He did not have the strength that he used to have.  He did not have the energy or the endurance.  He was tired.  He was worn out.  He was exhausted.

Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. (II Samuel 21:15 NIV)

There are some things we did when we were younger that we can’t do when we are older.  I have trouble teaching SS as often as I used to after I had my heart attack, working full-time.  Davis needed help when he got older.  He needed help from his nephew Abishai.  He was younger.  He was stronger.  He killed the giant for David.

Then he gave him an order.  He gave the king an order to stay off the battlefield.  David was too old to fight any more.  It was too dangerous.  It was not safe.  This was David’s last battle.

The good news is that you don’t have to be young to do spiritual warfare.  It doesn’t require physical strength and a gym membership.  On the other hand, if we are trapped in a sin or an addiction, we may need to get help from other believers who have struggled with the same thing.

4) Anyone can be a giant killer

You don’t have to be a David to be a giant killer. II Samuel 21 mentioned, not one, not two but four giant killers besides David.

Two of them were related to David.  Two of them were his nephews.  One giant killer was named Jonathon.  He was was the son of David’s brother Shimeah (II Samuel 21:21).

Another giant killed was Abishai.  Abishai was the son of David’s sister Zeruiah (I Chronicles 2:16).  He was also Joab’s brother.  Let’s look at the four giant killers in this section.

The first giant killer was Abishai.  He killed Ishbi-Benob and saved David’s life in the process.

And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.” (II Samuel 21:16-17 NIV)

The second giant killer was Sibbekai.  He killed the giant Saph, which sounds like a tree.

In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha. (II Samuel 21:18 NIV)

The third giant killer was Elhanan. He killed the brother of Goliath.  

In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. (II Samuel 21:19 NIV)

The fourth giant killer was Jonathon. He killed an unnamed giant.  He is described as “a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot”

 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. (II Samuel 21:20-21 NIV)

The only one we have heard about before was Abishai.  The other three we have never even heard of.  They were not famous, but they killed giants. The other two we have never even heard of.  They were not famous but they killed giants.

A Mother’s Love

Today, we come to a Bible story that you probably have never heard.  It is in one of the strangest chapters in the Bible.  Parts of the chapter are hard to understand.

Parts of it seem immoral and unfair.  It is a chapter that may completely change your view of God.  This chapter does not fit the view that most Christians have of God.

It is also an inspiring chapter. It is a chapter that contains one of the greatest women of the Bible and yet most Christians have probably never heard of this woman.  Her name was Rizpah.

There are not too many sermons preached on Rizpah today.  She is only mentioned three times in this chapter (II Samuel 21:8, 10, 11) and what she did is described in just one verse (II Samuel 21:10).  It would be easy to skip over this one verse but that would be a tragedy.

Rizpah is an incredible example of love, courage and heroism.  She is a model for women today.  She is the mother who made a difference.  She is the mother who turned her grief into action.  She turned tragedy into triumph.

A Raging Famine

During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death. (II Samuel 21:1 NIV)

This chapter may seem to go against everything that you have been taught in church.  It begins with a natural disaster.  It begins with a famine.

A famine is a food shortage.  Food becomes scarce.  That sounds like supply chain problems today.  Famines are usually caused by droughts but could be caused by other things as well.

This famine came from God.  It was divinely sent.  That is strange. Does God cause famines?  Does He do it today?  Does He ever cause poverty?  Does He ever cause hunger?

In most churches, we are told that God does not do that.  He is a God of love.  In this chapter, God sent a famine on His own people, not on the pagans. The Jews had a famine.  It came from God and it was a result of sin.

What is even stranger is that this famine was NOT a result of their sin. It was the result of King Saul’s sin, and he was not even alive.  He was dead.

Now, David and the whole nation was experiencing a famine.  People were hungry.  They were starving. They were suffering because of something that someone else did thirty years earlier.  Someone else sinned and the whole nation suffered.  That does not seem fair.

The nation was in trouble because of the sins of the leader.  God brought judgment on the whole nation, because of Saul’s sin.  What does that remind you of?  Adam sinned in the garden and all of us suffer today because of what he did.

Not only did they experience a famine, they experienced it for a long time.  It is one thing to go through some hard times.  It is one thing to experience a famine.  It is another thing when the famine goes on and on.  This one went on year after year.  It went on for three whole years.  David decided to pray about it and got an answer.  The food shortage was due to sin.

Saul committed a national sin.  He was the leader of a nation.  He was the king.  Saul committed a national atrocity against the Gibeonites.  This was a major atrocity.  It was done by God’s own people.  There was never any repentance.  In fact, no one even acknowledged doing anything wrong.

Life Lessons from a Famine

Three lessons or applications immediately arise out of this first verse.

1) There is such a thing as national sin

There is individual sin and there is such a thing as national sin. If there is something as a national sin, it raises the question, what is our national sin as a nation?  We have so many.  Every nation has some national sin.  What is America’s national sin or sin?

2) There is such a thing as national judgment

When sin is not dealt with or repented, God brings judgment.  We do not hear that preached too much these days in churches.  Here we learn that God judges nations, as well as people.  Some natural events have spiritual causes.

God judges sinful people.  He judges sinful nations.  He judges entire nations based on how they treat people, how they treat the least of these.  Some national disasters are divine judgments.

Israel suffered a famine because of sin.  The nation was in trouble because of the sin of its leaders.  Even though something happened a long time ago, God still remembered.  He never forgot.  It makes you wonder how God will judge Russia for what is doing to Ukraine.

Will God ever judge America for its sins?  Would God ever judge America because of the sins of its leaders and elected representatives?  It is a scary thought.  Some of the problems we experience as a nation may be a result of judgment.

3) When God judges a nation, it needs to turn to God

We need to do what David did.  He inquired of the Lord and God gave him an answer (II Samuel 21:1).  The leaders need to do this.  Unfortunately, most of our elected leaders are not know for their spirituality.  Many of them do not know God.  They may be religious.  They may attend church, but they have never been born again.

A Promise Broken

Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them. (II Samuel 21:2 NIV)

Saul’s sin was murder, mass murder.  He committed a national atrocity against the Gibeonites.  They were not Jews.  No one liked them.  They were like the dregs of society.  They were at the bottom.  Saul killed some of them and thought he was doing a good deed.  He was getting rid of undesirables.

Saul not only committed murder, he broke a promise.  Joshua made a covenant with the Gibeonites four hundred years earlier.  He was supposed to destroy them, but they tricked him, and he made a covenant with them.  He promised to preserve them.  He made them slaves but promised not to kill them.

You need to be careful about keeping your word.  You need to be careful about breaking a covenant.  God expects us to keep our promises.  Saul broke Joshua’s covenant.  He expects nations to keep their promises, as many have pointed out

Saul decided to get rid of them and he did it out of zeal.  It was a misguided zeal.  It was an unbiblical zeal.  Here is the irony.  Gold Saul to kill some people.

You can read about it in I Samuel 15.  He told him to kill the Amalekites.  He didn’t do it.  Then he goes and kills some people that he was not supposed to kill.  They were easy to kill.  They were weak and powerless.  They were an easy target.

David’s Mistakes

Did David do anything wrong in this crisis?  At first, he does the right thing.  He prays.  He waited three years, but he finally prayed.  Many of us go to God as a last resort but he did pray.

David prayed and he wanted to do the right thing. A terrible injustice took place, and he wanted to fix it.  He wants to make it right.  So far, so good.  Then, he makes several critical mistakes.

MISTAKE ONE: He turned to the Gibeonites and asks them what he should do to make it right.  He could have asked God but instead, he asked the Gibeonites.  He asked the pagans.  He asked the Canaanites.

David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?” 4 The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death.” “What do you want me to do for you?” David asked.

5 They answered the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, 6 let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and their bodies exposed before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord’s chosen one.”

So the king said, “I will give them to you.” 7 The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul. (II Samuel 21:3-7 NIV).

David asked the Gibeonites what he should do.  He lets them name the penalty.  He let the Canaanites judge the Israelites.  They wanted seven dead bodies.  David was probably expecting some kind of reparation, but they didn’t want money.  They want blood.  They wanted revenge.

They wanted seven bodies but not just seven random bodies.  They wanted seven of Saul’s direct descendants killed.  Why seven?  We don’t know but Jewish tradition says it is because Saul killed seven of their sons (so the Talmud).

Saul killed seven sons of the Gibeonites.  Now seven of his relatives must be killed in retaliation and he gave them over to them to be killed but spares Mephibosheth.  Why?  He wanted to keep the promise that he made to his dad Jonathon.

MISTAKE TWO: He violated Scripture.  David directly disobeyed Scripture.  He violated two biblical laws.  Remember God said that the king in Israel was supposed to study the law.  He was supposed to be a Bible student.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

What laws did King David violate? They are both found in the Book of Deuteronomy.

The first law David violated is Deuteronomy 24:16. “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin” (NIV).

This is a very different view than that of the ancient world.  The Gibeonites wanted life for life. “The Babylonian law code of Hammurabi prescribed that if a builder built a house that collapsed, causing the death of the homeowner’s son, the builder’s son was to be put to death.”[1]

God said that His people were not to follow that logic and yet in this case, these seven boys paid the price for their father’s sinful actions.  They paid for his sin.  This was a direct violation of Scripture.

There is no evidence that these seven sons were the ones who committed this particular crime.  We know Mephibosheth did not do it.  He almost died and he was crippled.  He could not have done it.  He was crippled as a child.  These sons were too young to have participated in this crime.

God did say that Saul had a bloody house (II Samuel 21:1) but that did not mean that everyone in his family, his wife and all of his kids, were ax murderers.  His military would have carried out the orders.  His government was bloody.  These seven men had done nothing wrong.

The second law David violated is Deuteronomy 21:23. “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance (ESV).

A Horrible Crime

But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9 He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and exposed their bodies on a hill before the Lord. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

One mother loses two of her sons.  Another mother loses five of her sons all on the same day.  Can you imagine losing five of your kids on one day?  We are given the names of two of Rizpah’s sons.  We are not told the name of the other five sons.

Parallels With Jesus’ Death

This is a terrible tragedy.  The whole nation suffered because of a sin they did not commit and now seven men die because of someone else’s sin.

In many ways what happened to these seven men is similar to what happened to Jesus.  The parallels are interesting.

1. Both were innocent of the charge

2. Both suffered unjustly

3. Both died because of someone else’s sins

4. Both had public executions

5. Both died on a hill outside of Jerusalem

6. Both were executed by Gentiles (Gibeonites, Roman soldiers)

7. Both were hung or crucified (died on a pole or tree)

8. Both were considered cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:23)

9. Both had moms watched their sons die.

10. Both were taken care of women after they died

11. Both were buried in a borrow rich man’s tomb

12. Both deaths accomplished something good

This brings us to one of the greatest women in the Bible.  Her name is Rizpah.  Most people do not know her name.  She is not famous but what she did was incredible.  If David was a man after God’s own heart, Rizpah was a woman after God’s own heart.

Who was she?  We know four things about her.  She was the daughter of Aiah.  Aiah was her father.  She was the concubine of King Saul.  Saul had one wife (Ahinoam) and one concubine (Rizpah).  I Samuel mentions his wife (I Samuel 14:50).  II Samuel mentions his concubine (II Samuel 3:7; 21:11).  She was also the mother of two sons.  She was also a woman who experienced great pain

Rizpah’s Pain

Many women have experienced great pain.  Many mothers have experienced pain.  The Virgin Mary was told that a sword would pierce her soul (Luke 2:35).  Rizpah experienced great pain.  He experienced great sorrow.  She experienced tragedy.  She experienced trauma.  She was a bereaved wife and mother.

She lost Saul.  Saul died in battle.  King Saul was not just killed.  He was beheaded.  His head was cut off.  Later, she lost her two sons and they were not even allowed to be buried.

Her husband was disgraced and dishonored and now her sons were disgraced and dishonored. She is now a childless widow.  She also may have been experienced sexual assaulted or exploited.  If the allegations against Abner were true (II Samuel 3:7), she was a victim of violence.  Now, she is living through a famine.

In many ways she was completely powerless.  She could not stop anyone from killing her kids.  They were not little kids, but they were still her children.

She had no voice.  She says nothing in this chapter, but she speaks by her actions.  What she did moved kings.  What she did, helped stop a nationwide famine.  Ritzpah is the mother who made a difference.

The famine did not stop when these men died.  It stopped after they were buried.  That only happened because of what one woman did.  This woman not only gave honor to her son’s dead bodies, she helped end a famine.  After these men were buried, God answered prayers to stop the famine (II Samuel 21:14).

Three Life Lessons from Rizpah

1) Don’t put your needs ahead of the needs of others

This woman was selfless.  She put the needs of her kids ahead of her own needs.  She did not want their dead bodies to be desecrated and eaten by birds.  She puts herself in harm’s way, guarding her kid’s bodies day and night.  She even takes care of another woman’s five dead children.  That is a lesson for mother today.  It is a lesson for all of us.

She faced all kinds of problems.  She is guarding, not just one but seven dead bodies.  You can imagine how they smelled in the heat of the Middle East.  They were decomposing bodies.

She is outside exposed to all kinds of wild animals, beating off the wolves and coyotes, but is not afraid.  That took a lot of courage.  Many of us are afraid of a mouse.

She is probably hungry, especially when there is not a lot of food available in the first place.  She is not able to take a bath.  She did not get too much sleep outside.  She makes a bed on a rock, but her needs were not as important as the needs of her kids.

2) Don’t give up when you take a stand for justice

She stands up for justice for her sons.  They died unjustly and they were not buried.  She could not stop them from being killed but she could do something about giving them a proper burial.

She took a stand but it was a nonviolent stand.  She did not attack the king.[2]  She just mourned.  She grieved publicly but she did more than that.

She stood vigil over their dead bodies for months.  She was there about six months.  She is the mother who never gave up.  She was persistent until she got justice for her dead sons.

3) Don’t let personal tragedy cause you to lose hope

All of us have experienced tragedy, grief or pain.  Some much more than others.  It is very easy for many people to be so depressed that they cannot get past their pain.

Rizpah did not do that.  She did not just stay home and grieve.  She went out and did something.  The Bible says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  We all have a tendency to be overcome by evil.  Ritpah turned tragedy into triumph.

[1] https://sbcwheaton.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/5jan2022.pdf

[2] Buttry, Sharon A.; Buttry, Daniel L.. Daughters of Rizpah: Nonviolence and the Transformation of Trauma. Cascade Books. Kindle Edition.

A Mother’s Love

Today, we come to a Bible story that you have never heard before.  Even if you have been in church for thirty years, you probably have never heard of it.  It is in one of the strangest chapters in the Bible.

It is also an inspiring chapter. It is a chapter that contains one of the greatest women of the Bible and yet most Christians have probably never heard of this woman.  Her name was Rizpah.

There are not too many sermons preached on Rizpah today, although feminist scholars love this chapter.  Social activists love this chapter.  There have been tons of books and articles written on this woman.

What she did is described in only one verse (II Samuel 21:10).  It would be easy to skip over this one verse but that would be a huge tragedy.

Rizpah is an incredible example of love, courage and heroism.  She is a model for women today.  She is the mother who made a difference.  She is the mother who turned her grief into action.  She turned tragedy into triumph.

A Raging Famine

During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death. (II Samuel 21:1 NIV)

This chapter may seem to go against everything that you have been taught in church.  It may completely change your view of God.  This chapter does not fit the view that most Christians have of God.

The chapter begins with a natural disaster.  It begins with a famine.  A famine is a food shortage.  Food becomes scarce.  That sounds like supply chain problems today.  Famines are usually caused by droughts but could be caused by other things as well.

This famine came from God.  It was divinely sent.  That is strange. Does God cause famines?  Does He do it today?  Does He ever cause poverty?  Does He ever cause hunger?

In most churches, we are told that God does not do that.  He is a God of love.  In this chapter, God sent a famine on His own people, not on the pagans. The Jews had a famine.  It came from God and it was a result of sin.

What is even stranger is that this famine was NOT a result of their sin. It was the result of King Saul’s sin, and he was not even alive.  He was dead.

Now, David and the whole nation was experiencing a famine.  People were hungry.  They were starving. They were suffering because of something that someone else did thirty years earlier.  Someone else sinned and the whole nation suffered.  That does not seem fair.

The nation was in trouble because of the sins of the leader.  God brought judgment on the whole nation, because of Saul’s sin.  What does that remind you of?  Adam sinned in the garden and all of us suffer today because of what he did.

Not only did they experience a famine, they experienced it for a long time.  It is one thing to go through some hard times.  It is one thing to experience a little famine.  It is another thing when the famine goes on and on.  This one went on year after year.  It went on for three whole years.  David decided to pray about it and got an answer.  The food shortage was due to sin.

Saul committed a national sin.  He was the leader of a nation.  He was the king.  Saul committed a national atrocity against the Gibeonites.  This was a major atrocity.  It was done by God’s own people.  There was never any repentance.  In fact, no one even acknowledged doing anything wrong.

Life Lessons from a Famine

Three lessons or applications immediately arise out of this first verse.

1) There is such a thing as national sin

There is individual sin and there is such a thing as national sin. If there is something as a national sin, it raises the question, what is our national sin as a nation?  We have so many.  Every nation has some national sin.  What is America’s national sin or sin?

2) There is such a thing as national judgment

When sin is not dealt with or repented, God brings judgment.  We do not hear that preached too much these days in churches.  Here we learn that God judges nations, as well as people.  Some national disasters are divine judgments.

God judges sinful people.  He judges sinful nations.  He judges entire nations based on how they treat people, how they treat the least of these.  He judges them based on how they treat ethnic minorities (Gibeonites).

Israel suffered a famine because of sin.  The nation was in trouble because of the sin of its leaders.  Even though something happened a long time ago, God still remembered.  He never forgot.  It makes you wonder how God will judge Russia for what is doing to Ukraine.

Has God ever judged America for its sins?  Has God ever judged America because of the sins of its leaders and elected representatives?  It is a scary thought.  Some of the problems we experience as a nation may be a result of judgment.

3) When God judges a nation, it needs to turn to God for answers

We need to do what David did.  He inquired of the Lord and God gave him an answer (II Samuel 21:1).  The leaders need to do this.  Unfortunately, most of our elected leaders are not know for their spirituality.  Many of them do not know God.  They may be religious.  They may attend church, but they have never been born again.

A Promise Broken

Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had SWORN to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to ANNIHILATE them. (II Samuel 21:2 NIV)

Saul’s sin was murder, mass murder.  He tried to commit genocide.  He committed a national atrocity against the Gibeonites.  They were not Jews.  No one liked them.  They were like the dregs of society.  They were at the bottom.  Saul killed some of them and thought he was doing a good deed.  He was getting rid of undesirables.

Saul not only committed murder, he broke a promise.  Joshua made a covenant with the Gibeonites four hundred years earlier.  He was supposed to destroy them, but they tricked him, and he made a covenant with them.  He promised to preserve them.  He made them slaves but promised not to kill them.

You need to be careful about keeping your word.  You need to be careful about breaking a covenant.  God expects us to keep our promises.  Saul broke Joshua’s covenant.  He expects nations to keep their promises, as many have pointed out

Saul decided to get rid of them and he did it out of zeal.  It was a misguided zeal.  It was an unbiblical zeal.  Here is the irony.  Gold Saul to kill some people.

You can read about it in I Samuel 15.  He told him to kill the Amalekites.  He didn’t do it.  Then he goes and kills some people that he was not supposed to kill.  They were easy to kill.  They were weak and powerless.  They were an easy target.

David’s Response

Did David do anything wrong in this crisis?  At first, he does the right thing.  He prays.  He waited three years, but he finally prayed.  Many of us go to God as a last resort but he did pray.

David prayed and he wanted to do the right thing. A terrible injustice took place, and he wanted to fix it.  He wants to make it right.  So far, so good.  Then, he makes several critical mistakes.

MISTAKE ONE: He turned to the Gibeonites and asks them what he should do to make it right.  He could have asked God but instead, he asked the Gibeonites.  He asked the pagans.  He asked the Canaanites.

David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?” 4 The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death.” “What do you want me to do for you?” David asked.

5 They answered the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, 6 let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed AND their bodies exposed before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord’s chosen one.”

So the king said, “I will give them to you.” 7 The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul. (II Samuel 21:3-7 NIV).

David asked the Gibeonites what he should do.  He lets them name the penalty.  He let the Canaanites judge the Israelites.  They wanted seven dead bodies.  David was probably expecting some kind of reparation, but they didn’t want money.  They want blood.  They wanted revenge.

They wanted seven bodies but not just seven random bodies.  They wanted seven of Saul’s direct descendants killed.  Why seven?  We don’t know but Jewish tradition says it is because Saul killed seven of their sons (so the Talmud).

Saul killed seven sons of the Gibeonites.  Now seven of his relatives must be killed in retaliation and he gave them over to them to be killed but spares Mephibosheth.  Why?  He wanted to keep the promise that he made to his dad Jonathon.

MISTAKE TWO: He violated Scripture.  David directly disobeyed Scripture.  He violated two biblical laws.  Remember God said that the king in Israel was supposed to study the law.  He was supposed to be a Bible student.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

What laws did King David violate? They are both found in the Book of Deuteronomy.

The first law David violated is Deuteronomy 24:16. “Parents are NOT to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin” (NIV).

This is a very different view than that of the ancient world.  The Gibeonites wanted life for life. “The Babylonian law code of Hammurabi prescribed that if a builder built a house that collapsed, causing the death of the homeowner’s son, the builder’s son was to be put to death.”[1]

God said that His people were not to follow that logic and yet in this case, these seven boys paid the price for their father’s sinful actions.  They paid for his sin.  This was a direct violation of Scripture.

There is no evidence that these seven sons were the ones who committed this particular crime.  We know Mephibosheth did not do it.  He almost died and he was crippled.  He could not have done it.  He was crippled as a child.  These sons were too young to have participated in this crime.

God did say that Saul had a bloody house (II Samuel 21:1) but that did not mean that everyone in his family, his wife and all of his kids, were ax murderers.  His military would have carried out the orders.  His government was bloody.  These seven men had done nothing wrong.

The second law David violated is Deuteronomy 21:23. “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall NOT remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him THE SAME DAY, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance (ESV).

A Horrible Crime

But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9 He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and EXPOSED their bodies on a HILL before the Lord. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

It is hard enough to lose one son.  Here, one mother lost two of her sons.  Another mother lost five of her sons all on the same day.  We are given the names of two of Rizpah’s sons.  We are not told the name of the other five sons.

Parallels With Jesus’ Death

This is a terrible tragedy.  The whole nation suffered because of a sin they did not commit and now seven men die because of someone else’s sin.

In many ways what happened to these seven men is similar to what happened to Jesus.  The parallels are interesting.

1. Both were innocent of the charge

2. Both suffered unjustly

3. Both died because of someone else’s sins

4. Both had public executions

5. Both died on a hill

6. Both were executed by Gentiles (Gibeonites, Roman soldiers)

7. Both were hung or crucified (died on a pole or tree)

8. Both were considered cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:23)

9. Both had moms watched their sons die.

10. Both were taken care of women after they died

11. Both were buried in a borrow rich man’s tomb

12. Both deaths accomplished something good

This brings us to one of the greatest women in the Bible.  Her name is Rizpah.  Most people do not know her name.  She is not famous but what she did was incredible.  If David was a man after God’s own heart, Rizpah was a woman after God’s own heart.

Who was she?  We know four things about her.  She was the daughter of Aiah.  Aiah was her father.  She was the concubine of King Saul.  Saul had one wife (Ahinoam) and one concubine (Rizpah).  I Samuel mentions his wife (I Samuel 14:50).  II Samuel mentions his concubine (II Samuel 3:7; 21:11).  She was also the mother of two sons.  She was also a woman who experienced great pain

Rizpah’s Pain

Many women have experienced great pain.  Many mothers have experienced pain.  The Virgin Mary was told that a sword would pierce her soul (Luke 2:35).  Rizpah experienced great pain.  He experienced great sorrow.  She experienced tragedy.  She experienced trauma.

She lost Saul.  Saul died in battle.  King Saul was not just killed.  He was beheaded.  His head was cut off.  He was not just killed.  He was disgraced.  Later, she lost her two sons and they were not even allowed to be buried.

Her husband was disgraced and dishonored and now her sons were disgraced and dishonored. She is now a childless widow, which was also her income in those days.

She also may have been experienced sexual assaulted or exploited.  If the allegations against Abner were true (II Samuel 3:7), she was a victim of violence.  Now, she is living through a famine.

In many ways she was completely powerless.  She could not stop anyone from killing her kids.  They were not little kids, but they were still her children.

She had no voice.  She says nothing in this chapter, but she speaks by her actions.  What she did moved kings.  What she did, helped stop a nationwide famine.  Rizpah is the mother who made a difference.

The famine did not stop when these men died.  It stopped after they were buried.  That only happened because of what one woman did.  This woman not only gave honor to her son’s dead bodies, she helped end a famine.  After these men were buried, God answered prayers to stop the famine (II Samuel 21:14).

Three Life Lessons from Rizpah

1) Don’t put your needs ahead of the needs of others

This woman was selfless.  She put the needs of her kids ahead of her own needs.  She did not want their dead bodies to be desecrated and eaten by birds.  She puts herself in harm’s way, guarding her kid’s bodies day and night.  She even takes care of another woman’s five dead children.  That is a lesson for mother today.  It is a lesson for all of us.

She faced all kinds of problems.  She is guarding, not just one but seven dead bodies and she did it all by herself.  There was no one to help her.  You can imagine how theses decomposing bodies smelled in the heat of the Middle East.

She is outside exposed to all kinds of wild animals, beating off the wolves and coyotes, but is not afraid.  That took a lot of courage.  Many of us are afraid of a mouse.

She is probably hungry, especially when there is not a lot of food available in the first place.  She is not able to take a bath.  She did not get too much sleep outside.  She makes a bed on a rock, but her needs were not as important as the needs of her kids.

2) Don’t give up when you take a stand for justice

She stands up for justice for her sons.  They died unjustly and they were not properly buried.  She could not stop them from being killed but she could do something about giving them a proper burial.

She took a stand but it was a nonviolent stand.  She did not attack the king.[2]  She did not go out and protest in the street or at the palace where the king lived.  She just mourned.  She grieved publicly but she did more than that.

She stood vigil over their dead bodies for months.  She was there about six months.  She is the mother who never gave up.  She was persistent until she got justice for her dead sons.

3) Don’t let personal tragedy cause you to lose hope

All of us have experienced tragedy, grief or pain.  Some much more than others.  It is very easy for many people to be so depressed and so consumed by sorrow or grief that they cannot get past their pain.

Rizpah did not do that.  She did not just stay home and grieve.  She went out and did something.  The Bible says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  We all have a tendency to be overcome by evil.  Rizpah turned tragedy into triumph and is a lesson for us all.

 

[1] https://sbcwheaton.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/5jan2022.pdf

[2] Buttry, Sharon A.; Buttry, Daniel L.. Daughters of Rizpah: Nonviolence and the Transformation of Trauma. Cascade Books. Kindle Edition.

The Spirit of Joab

Today, we will be talking about a man named Joab.  He is a man you probably do not know too much about  There are not too many sermons on Joab. Not too many preachers talk about him.

We are going to see who this many was, why he was important and what the spirit of Joab is today.  We read one chapter today.  He is mentioned in several chapters in II Samuel.  It has been a few months since we have been in II Samuel for a long time, so let’s do a little review.

II Samuel, if you remember, records the reign of King David, the man after God’s heart.  He lived three thousand years ago.  He lived a thousand years before Jesus.  He reigned for forty years.  The book covers a forty-year period.

Whatever you can say about this book, it is not boring.  It has a lot of drama.  It has a lot of action.  It has sex.  It has violence.  This chapter is too violent for church.  In II Samuel 20, Amasa is murdered and left in the middle of the road with his intestines sticking out.  Sheba is beheaded and his bloody head is thrown over a wall.

We have seen a lot of interesting characters in the book.  David is the main character.  We looked at his strengths and his weaknesses.  He made a great king, Israel’s greatest king.  He conquered the Philistines, made Jerusalem the capital city and brought the ark to Jerusalem.

He was a great king but not a great husband or father.  He had multiple wives and cheated on them.  He was also not too involved in the raising of his kids.  He was a passive, indulgent father.  Despite his flaws, God made a special covenant with him in II Samuel 7.

We studied Mephibosheth.  He was Jonathon’s son, a member of a rival dynasty.  He was permanently disabled.  He was physically deformed.  He was hiding from David in fear for his life.  David found him and, instead of punishing him, he rewarded him.  He adopted him into the family and let him eat at his own table.

We studied Amnon and his sister Tamar.  Amnon was the spoiled heir to the throne.  He was the perverted prince.  He is a sexual predator.  He committed rape.

Tamar was the young, beautiful, godly princess.  She was the daughter of the king.  She experiences sexual assault, and the perpetrator gets away with it.  There was no justice and she lived in a day when your life was over after this happened.  There was no coming back.  There was no recovery.  It is a sad story.

We studied Absalom, the rebellious prince.  When no one gave his sister justice, he did.  He killed his brother, which also benefited him because it made him next in line to the throne.  Absalom was a rebel at heart.  He was the prodigal son of the OT.

He eventually became more popular with the people than his father.  He was good looking.  He was charismatic.  He was a smooth talker, like most politicians today are.

Eventually, he took over the throne, and slept with David’s concubines.  He also tried to kill David, but he was the one who ended up dead.  He died a disgraceful death and was not even given a royal funeral, just thrown in the ground like a dog.

In the next two weeks, we will look at two new characters.  Today, we want to look at Joab. Who was he?  What was he like?  He was a man who had some very good and very bad traits.  He was a complicated individual.  What is the spirit of Joab today?

1) The Spirit of Joab is a SUCCESSFUL spirit

Joab was very successful at what he did.  Joab was the commander of the army of Israel.  He was the second most powerful man in the nation.  He was David’s right-hand man.

Joab happened to be related to David.  He was the son of one of David’s sisters.  He was one of David’s nephews.  One of David’s sisters was Zeruiah, and she had three sons: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.

Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel. (I Chronicles 2:16 NIV)

Some people just get a job or a position because they are family (Hunter Biden).  They may not be good at what they do but they are family.

Joab was the commander of the army.  He was related to David, but he was very good at his job.  That is a good thing.  He was a natural leader.  We should all be like him in that respect.

There were always those people in school who always got straight As and were at the top of their class.  Those are the overachievers.  I wish that described me when I was in school, but it didn’t.  We should all strive for excellence in whatever we do.

The problem is that success is not everything.  There are some people who are very successful at their job or very wealthy but are terrible people.  They have no character.

Some people will strive for success at any cost. They will break the rules to get to the top.  They will cut some corners to get to the top.

They will step on people to get to the top.  They will hurt people to get to the top.  They will sacrifice their family to get to the top.  Some will even kill people to get to the top.  That describes the person of Joab.

2) The Spirit of Joab is a BOLD spirit

Joab was daring.  He was courageous.  That goes along with being in the military.  It is a condition of the job.  Soldiers cannot be timid on the battlefield.  Joab was fearless.

He would say what no one else had the guts to say and he would say it to your face.  He did not care what anyone thought.  He did not care what people thought of him.

Joab did not have any problem rebuking people.  He was bold.  He would even rebuke his boss.  He was not afraid to rebuke his superior.  He was not afraid to rebuke the king.

Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. 7 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.” (II Samuel 19:5-7 NIV)

Picture what was going on here.  A civil war just took place and David’s side won but he lost his son in the process.  The king was sad.  He was depressed.  He was weeping.  He just lost his son and Joab does not come in and try to comfort him.  He comes in and rebukes him to his face.  Joab was not perfect, but he said things to David that needed to be said.

David took the rebuke.  He did not get angry.  He did not argue with Joab.  He did not kill Joab, like some kings would have done.  He listened to him.

This was the second time David was rebuked in II Samuel.  He was rebuked by the Prophet Nathan, and he was rebuked by his General Joab.  He was rebuked twice but they did it two completely different ways.

Nathan rebuked him indirectly.  He told him a parable.   David did not even see the rebuke coming.  Joab rebuked him directly to his face.  Joab used a slightly different tact than the one Nathan used on David.  He was blunt.

What is the application to us?  There are three lessons here worth noting.

One, we should not fear people.  Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe (Proverbs 29:25 NIV).  Fear can cause people not to confess their faith.

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue (John 12:42 NIV)

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (Psalm 46:1-3 NIV)

Two, we should be bold. The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1 NIV). Does that describe us?  Are we bold or are we timid?

Three, we need to be able sometimes to say some strong words to people.  Sometimes, we need to be indirect and use some tact. Sometimes we need to be in direct with people.  We need to speak the truth in love, but some NEVER give any rebuke to people.  Most of us shy away from confrontation.  We do not like conflict.

The Bible says that some people need to be rebuked SHARPLY.  Paul told Titus that people in the church who were teaching false doctrine needed to be rebuked sharply.  He said, “Rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13 NIV).

Some people needed correction.  One of the purposes of the Bible is for CORRECTION (II Timothy 3:17).  Some people are good at doing that but most of us are not.

3) The Spirit of Joab is a MURDEROUS spirit

Murder is demonic.  It comes right from Satan.  It is demonically inspired.  Jesus said that Satan was a murderer.  Children of the devil act just like him.  They have his nature.

Jesus said so.  People act like their father.  They act like their physical parents.  They also act like their spiritual parents.  We see this in John 8.  A group of Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus and he said that they were doing the work of their father.

As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father… You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8:40-41, 44 NIV)

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. (I John 3:11 NIV).

John says that we are to be the opposite of Cain.  Instead of hating people, we are to love them.  Instead of hurting them, we are to help them.  Jesus said that we are to be harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).

Joab did not have the spirit of Christ.  He was not warm and compassionate to people.  He was violent.  Some have this spirit today.  You say, “Of course, he was violent, he was a soldier.  He was a military man.  Aren’t all military people violent?”

There is a difference between warfare and murder.  Not all warfare is murder.  Massacring unarmed civilians and pregnant women, like what Russia has done in Ukraine, is murder.

Joab was a murderer.  He was a cold-blooded killer.  He seemed to enjoy killing people.  Who were some of the people he killed?  Joab killed Abner in II Samuel 3.  He killed Uriah in II Samuel 7.  He killed Absalom in II Samuel 18.  He killed Amasa in II Samuel 20.

He killed Abner.  Why didn’t he like him?  He killed Joab’s brother Asahel (II Samuel 2).  he did not want to kill him and tried not to kill him but in the end, he had to.  Joab never forgave him.

He was also the commander of King Saul’s army and Ishbosheth’s army. Abner was a Benjamite like Saul.  That led to a civil war.

The Bible says, “David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker” (II Samuel 3:1 NIV).  Abner wanted to be on the winning side, so he switched sides and began supporting David as king.  Joab did not like him, did not trust him, and killed him.

Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died. (II Samuel 3:27 NIV)

Joab killed Uriah.  Why did he kill Uriah?  David ordered him to kill him in a letter carried by Uriah himself.  Joab did it, even though.  He was a righteous man.  He was a man of integrity.  He was one of Joab’s best fighters.  He is on the list of David’s mighty warriors.  King David wanted him dead, so he could steal his wife.  Joab participated in the crime.

Joab killed Absalom, the son who rebelled against his father and tried to take over the throne.

He also killed Amasa.  Both Amasa and Absalom were both family members.  They were both Joab’s cousins.  Amasa was the son of Joab’s mother’s sister – Abigail (II Samuel 17:25 NIV). Absalom was the son of his mother’s brother (II Samuel 14:25).

Why did he kill Amasa?  Israel just fought a civil war.  The forces of David fought the forces of Absalom.  Joab was David’s general.  Amasa was Absalom’s general.

David’s side won the war, but Joab killed Absalom in the process.  After the war was over, David did something that probably has neverf been done before.  He demoted the victorious general (Joab) and promoted the defeated general (Amasa).  David made Amasa commander of all of his armies.

That made absolutely no sense.  Joab was a better general than Amasa.  He beat him in battle. Amasa was a proven failure, and it was a slap in the face of Joab. After the civil war was over, David gave Amasa a job to do.

Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted, “We have no share in David, no part in Jesse’s son! Every man to his tent, Israel!”  2 So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem. (II Samuel 20:1-2 NIV)

Right after one rebellion ended, another one started.  David just defeated Absalom and now another man (Sheba) starts an insurrection.  We have heard of Shay’s rebellion in American history.  This was Sheba’s rebellion.  David had a problem, so he gave his new general a mission, but he did not quite get it done.

4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 But when Amasa went to summon Judah, he took longer than the time the king had set for him. (II Samuel 20:1, 2, 4-5 NIV)

Amasa does not get that job done, so David sends some other forces under Abishai to take care of the rebellion.  Joab goes with him.  Joab and Abishai were brothers (I Chronicles 2:16).

8 While they were at the great rock in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing his military tunic, and strapped over it at his waist was a belt with a dagger in its sheath. As he stepped forward, it dropped out of its sheath.

9 Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died (II Samuel 21:8-10 NIV)

If Absalom was the prodigal son of the OT, then Joab was the Judas of the OT.  Joab gives Amasa the Judas kiss, the kiss of peace, at the same time that he murders him.  He is a complete and total hypocrite.  This is what he did to his own family.  Joab was a monster.

4) The Spirit of Joab is a REBELLIOUS spirit

This is another spirit we see in our own day.  We see people rebelling against authority (parents, teachers, law enforcement, government).  It is a demonic spirit as well.  Satan was the first rebel.  He rebelled against God’s authority and became the first sinner.  People today act just like him.

We know that God hates rebellion.  He compares it to witchcraft.  He compares it to idolatry.  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry (I Samuel 15:23 NIV).

Joab was a rebel at heart.  Soldiers are supposed to follow orders.  Soldiers who do not follow orders can be court-martialed for insubordination.  Joab was a general.  He followed orders sometimes, but he got a very specific order from the king about Absalom.

So the king stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. 5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders. (I Samuel 18:4-5 NIV)

In II Samuel 19, Joab finds out that Absalom is hanging from a tree.  He goes out and makes sure that he is killed.  He disobeyed a direct order from the king.  He did it deliberately and intentionally.  It was not an accident.

Joab just loved to kill people.  When David ordered him to kill a righteous man, he did it, when he should not have done it.  When David ordered him not to kill his son, he didn’t listen.

It actually turned out better that Absalom was killed.  He deserved to die.  He tries to kill his own father.  He raped David’s concubines. If he was not killed, he would have caused David problems later, but he did have a spirit of rebellion.

The irony here is that Joab killed Absalom for rebelling against David.  Later, another one of David’s sons tried to take the throne.  His name was Adonijah, and Joab joined him in his rebellion (I Kings 1:7).  Do we have a spirit of rebellion? Rebellion is the exact opposite of submission.  Next week, we will look at a new character in the next chapter who does something amazing.

False Gospels Today

Today, we come to the most important message in the world.  It is the most important message that you will ever hear.  Your eternity depends on your response to this message.  Paul called it a message of FIRST importance (I Corinthians 15:3 NIV).

There are essential doctrines and non-essential doctrines of the faith. This is an ESSENTIAL doctrine. There are many doctrines that are minor and you can be off on and still go to heaven.

A person can be wrong on speaking in tongues and still be a Christian. A person can be wrong on the Millennium and still be a Christian.

A person can be wrong on when the rapture takes place and still be a Christian. If you are wrong on the gospel, you can’t go to heaven.  You need this message to be saved.  It is the message of the gospel.

What is the gospel?  What is this message that Paul devoted his life to preach?  There is a lot of confusion today about this topic.  Many misunderstand and misrepresent this message.  There are false gospels today, just as there were false gospels in Paul’s day.

Facts about the Gospel

1) The gospel is God’s idea

This message came from God.  The gospel was not Paul’s idea. He did not come up with (Galatians 1:11-12). No human ever came up with the gospel. In fact, not only was it was God’s idea from the start but it goes completely against human ways of thinking.

Man did not come up with this message and never would have come up with this message because it completely goes against human ways of thinking. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). The message of the cross is foolish to the world (I Corinthians 1:18; 2:14). It is completely ridiculous to the unbeliever.

2) The gospel cannot be changed

This message is unchangeable. It is unalterable. There are no modern revisions to it.  Apostles cannot change it.  Angels cannot change it.  Church leaders cannot change it.  Denominations cannot change it.

Preachers cannot change it. Scholars cannot change it, even if they teach at Harvard or Cambridge.  This message does not need to be revised or updated for the modern era. It does not need to be changed.  It is just as valid today as it was then.

3) The gospel is for everyone

It is universal. It is global.  It is God’s message to every country, culture and people. The rest of the world may think that Christianity is America’s religion. The gospel is not a message just for America or just for the Western World. It actually began in the Far East.

Christianity is an Asian religion. Israel is part of the continent of Asia. The promise of eternal life is for EVERYONE who believes (John 3:16). God does not want ANYONE to perish (II Peter 3:9). He wants ALL people to be saved (I Timothy 2:3-4).

4) The gospel is unique

There is only ONE true gospel. Many preach a different gospel but there is only one gospel. The Judaizers preached another gospel which Paul said “is really NO gospel at all” (Galatians 1:7). The idea that man could be saved by grace and not works is unique. All the religions of the world preach some form of works salvation.

5) The gospel is powerful

Paul said that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone (not just to some people) who believes (Romans 1:16; I Corinthians 1:18). Every preacher likes to point out that the Greek word for “power” is the word δυναμις from which we get the word “dynamite.”

The only problem is that dynamite is destructive. It blows things up. The gospel has the power to save, not destroy. It has the power to save the worst sinner from the wrath of God (I Timothy 1:13-16; I Corinthians 15:9-10).

6) The gospel is good news

It is good news, not bad news.  There are some bad news contained in the message (people are sinners, God judges sin, Hell is real and people must repent), but the gospel message is positive.

It is a message of grace to sinners. It is NOT a message of hopelessness but of hope.  It is a message of grace and mercy.  It is called “the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

Sinners who deserve hell, because of their sins against a holy God, can now be saved because of the death and resurrection of Christ.

7) The gospel is about Jesus

The message is about Jesus.  It is based on three historical events, Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (I Corinthians 2:1-2; 15:1-8).  Paul uses four verbs to describe the facts of the gospel (died, buried, raised, and appeared).

Jesus died and the proof that he died is that he was buried. Jesus rose from the dead and the proof that he rose was the appearances. Paul doesn’t appeal to circumstantial evidence (empty tomb). He limits the evidence to the appearances. Let’s briefly look at these two points.

First, Jesus died. The proof of his death was his burial.  What makes the death of Jesus good news? Normally someone’s death is bad news. This is not just the death of any man but the God-Man, the Messiah (the “Christ”) and it is the death “for our sins.”  The gospel message is that Jesus died as a sacrifice for sins.  He died in our place as our substitute.

Second, Jesus rose from the dead. Paul proves that Jesus rose from the dead. He gives six groups of witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus – Cephas (I Corinthians 15:5), The Twelve without Judas and Thomas (I Corinthians 15:5) , Five hundred (I Corinthians 15:6), James (I Corinthians 15:7), The Apostles (I Corinthians 15:7) and the Apostle Paul (I Corinthians 15:8).

It is one thing to have two or three witnesses to a murder.  It is another thing if five hundred people who saw it take place. How many events in ancient history do we have that five hundred people could verify? Not many.

8) The gospel is biblical

It did not start in the NT. The gospel is that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”  Many gospels today are not biblical. They do not come from Scripture at all.  They are humanistic.

9) The gospel requires a response

The gospel has to be obeyed (II Thessalonians 1:8; I Peter 4:17).  It requires a response from people.  Salvation is conditional.  It is conditioned on faith.

You do not have to do anything to earn this gospel but you do have to accept it.  You have to receive it.  If you not believe, you can’t be saved. If you do not believe, you will not be saved.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. … 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:39-40, 43 NIV)

38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39 NIV)

TEN FALSE GOSPELS TODAY

There were false gospels preached in Paul’s day and there are false gospel preached in our day, as well.  There are some preached in churches.

Paul said, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:8 NIV).  Let’s examine ten false gospel preached today.

The Merit Gospel

This is the performance-based gospel.  It is the do-gooder gospel. It is the morality gospel.  It is the gospel that not only encourages good works but teaches that these good deeds can actually save you.  It is the Pharisaic gospel.

My pastor calls this “a gospel of behavior modification through self-effort.” This is gospel of all of the other religions in the world today.  It is the gospel of works, which is no gospel at all, if salvation has to be earned.

This is the gospel of Buddha (which happens to be the title of a book written in 1894).  It is the gospel of Islam.  It is the Gospel of Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.  It is also the Gospel of the Roman Catholic Church. They believe in justification by faith plus works.

This gospel teaches that salvation is not received as a gift.  It is achieved by human effort.  If we could be saved by works or our own human effort, there would have been no need for Jesus to die.

His death would have been in vain.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21 NIV)

Of course, morals are not wrong.  It is important to have good morals. People should not live immoral lives but good morals do not save people.  Keeping religious rules do not save people.  Following the Golden Rule does not save people.

The Full Gospel

Pentecostals believe that healing is in the gospel.  They believe that it is an integral part of the gospel. They believe that it is in the atonement.  What is the problem with this view?

When Paul gives a detailed explanation of the gospel, he does not say anything at all about healing. Paul says many times that Jesus died for our sins but never says that Jesus died for our diseases.  He says that Jesus became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21).  He does not teach that he became sickness for us.

Paul believed in healing.  God does heal people today.  He did not stop doing miracles in 70 AD.  Healing is one of the spiritual gifts in the NT but it is not part of the gospel. It is NOT a message that you have to believe in order to be saved.

The Prosperity Gospel

This is sometimes called “The Health and Wealth Gospel” or “The Name it and Claim it Gospel.”

It is true that God does bless believers and often blesses them financially.  It is a biblical teaching.  It is all through Scripture.  Proverbs 10:22 says “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth.”

The problem takes place when preachers ABUSE this truth and preach the gospel as a means of financial gain (I Timothy 6:5).  It becomes a get rich scheme.

One prosperity preacher said that there is gold in the gospel. [1]  The gospel is not a message that, if you believe, you will get rich financially. It is a message that, if you believe, you will get saved.

The Self-Esteem Gospel

This gospel is all about you. It has a feel-good message.  It is the feel-good gospel.  This gospel wants you to feel good about yourself.  It gives people what they want, rather than what they need.

It focuses on happiness as the highest goal. It focuses on us.  Jesus becomes just a therapist who meets my felt needs. It is man-centered, rather than God-centered.

One of the leading proponents of this gospel was Norman Vincent Peale, the big proponent of positive thinking. Peale was the author of The Power of Positive Thinking (1952).

It became one of the bestselling religious books of all time.  It is a book that will stroke your ego and make you feel good about yourself.  This is the therapeutic gospel.

Some pastors preach sermons  which are more psychological, than biblical.  They focus on self-help and self-improvement, rather than on holiness.  This is “The Self-Help Gospel” or “The American Gospel.”  It is based on The American Dream.

As John MacArthur put it, “The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment.” [2]  That is the Oprah Gospel, not the gospel of Christ

The Liberal Gospel

This is the liberal gospel.  It is the politically-correct gospel.  It is the gospel of mainline Christendom.  It is the gospel of liberalism.

It rejects the exclusivity of Christ. It accepts other religions as saved.  It is liberal.  It is non-judgmental.  It accepts all lifestyles.  It is ecumenical.  It is is non-offensive.  The gospel Paul preached offended people.

Paul spoke of “the offense of the cross” (Galatians 5:11).  The PC gospel does not have any bad news in it.  Sin is not viewed as man’s greatest problem and there is no Hell for those who reject this gospel.  It is the same as universalism. It teaches that everyone will one day be saved.

The Ritual Gospel

This gospel says that religious rituals are essential to salvation.  It is often known as the Campbellite Gospel.  It was strongly emphasized by Alexander Campbell who was part of the Restoration Movement.

Members of the Disciples of Christ and Church of Christ are big proponents of this gospel but so are many other groups.  The Catholic Church also believes in this gospel.  All of these groups believe in some form of baptismal regeneration.

They believe that you have to be baptized to be saved.  If you are not baptized, you will go to hell.  With this logic, a person who accepted Christ on a plane that crashed would be in hell.  The thief on the cross would be in hell.

They would reply that the thief on the cross lived before Acts 2:38.  He lived before the command to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

The problem with that logic is that these same people use John 3:5 ( No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit) as a proof-text for baptismal regeneration but John was written  before Acts.

There are answers to all of the Campbellite proof-texts which I give elsewhere on this website.  People should be baptized.  Baptism is a command for today but baptism is the outward symbol of faith.  It is not a separate and equal condition of salvation.

The Free Grace Gospel

It is a gospel common in the American church.  It is the Easy-Believism Gospel of the American church.  This is the hyper-grace gospel.

This view says that the gospel can be accepted without any change in lifestyle. Few churches in America seem to even practice church discipline today.  The ones that do are the exception, rather than the rule.

The Free Grace Gospel is a gospel without repentance. It is the Gospel of Larry Flynt.  Flynt was the publisher of Hustler magazine.  He made a profession of faith in 1977 and said he was born again but continued to publish his pornographic magazines without apology.

This brings us to an important question.  What happens if you claim to believe but make absolutely no change to your sinful lifestyle?  What happens to people who continue to live in open sin?

What happens to openly gay couples or unmarried heterosexuals who are living together who say that they believe but do not repent or make any change in their life?  In fact, these people often try to try to justify their sinful behavior?  Are such individuals saved?

Some teachers on the Internet teach that they are.  These false teachers say that you can continue to live in that immoral lifestyle and still go to heaven. You can be a rapist and murder and still go to heaven, just as long as you believe in Jesus.  This is a false gospel.  It is a gospel without repentance.

Paul told Christians not to be deceived.  He said that the unrighteous will NOT inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9).  He taught that people who live this kind of lifestyle have NO INHERITANCE in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5:5).

He said that “because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6) and then exhorts Christians not to be partakers with the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5:7).

This false gospel is called antinomianism, which is a fancy word for “lawlessness.” It was a heresy in the early church. I have heard pastors actually teach that Christians do not have any commands to follow.  It is simply ludicrous. They have not the read the NT.

The Political Gospel

This is The Social Gospel.  It is the gospel of Marxism and Black Liberation theology.  It is a political gospel for the downtrodden and oppressed members of society.  This gospel is political and humanistic.  It is economic and social, rather than religious and spiritual.

There are many fallacies of this gospel.  The church should make an impact on society but this gospel teaches that the primary mission of the church is to feed the poor and fight for social reform.

According to this gospel, man’s greatest need is not sin.  According to this gospel, the solution to man’s problem is political, not spiritual.  The answer is not God, according to this gospel, but human government.

The Restored Gospel

The gospel of the Latter Day Saints is called “The Restored Gospel.” Mormons talk about the restoration of the gospel, although the gospel they end up with is another form of the merit gospel.  Mormons believe that that soon after the apostles died, the church became completely apostate.

They believe that the message of the gospel was completely lost and stayed lost for two thousand years until God revealed it again in 1820 to the “prophet” Joseph Smith and the gospel was restored.  That was when, according to them, the true church has now been restored to the earth.

Critics might say that what Martin Luther did for Protestants is not different than what Joseph Smith did for Mormons.  He rediscovered a gospel that the church had long lost for thousands of years but there is an important difference between the two.

Luther did not get a special revelation, add some books to the bible and change the gospel.  He simply preached the gospel in the Bible that was not being preached in the Catholic Church.

That is a huge difference. Luther preached what Paul preached, namely justification by faith, not works.  Joseph Smith preached a gospel of works.  Mormons today teach a salvation by works.

Joseph Smith claimed to restore the true gospel but ended up coming up with a completely different gospel. Paul warned that if anyone changed the gospel (and even if he changed the gospel), he would be cursed.  He called a curse down, not just on the message, but on the people who preach the unbiblical message (Galatians 1:6-9).

The Roman Catholic Church put a curse or anathema on anyone who taught salvation is by grace, not works (Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 9, 12, 13, 14).  Paul put a curse on anyone who preached a gospel of works and not grace.

This message is unalterable.  APOSTLES cannot change the message. Even Paul, the greatest of the apostles, could not change the message. He included himself in this curse. ANGELS cannot change the message.

How many false religions have began with a supposed angel from heaven, resulting in a false gospel.  Muslims believe that the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad in 610 AD in the country of Saudi Arabia, leading to a book (Quran) which contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture and teaches a false gospel.

Mormons believe that the angel Maroni appeared to Joseph Smith in the US in 1823, resulting in another book (Book of Mormon) which contradicts Scripture and teaches another false gospel.

Did Muhammad and Joseph Smith have a genuine experience with some type of supernatural being?  They may have.  That is not the issue.  The Apostle Paul made it clear that even angels cannot change the gospel.

We are to follow the clear teachings of Scripture, not the teachings in another book by a supposed angel from heaven, which contradicts that book.

The Modern Scholar’s Gospel

Some modern biblical scholars argue that the gospel is not about salvation.  The gospel, according to N.T. Wright, is not a description of how people get saved.  He points out that the gospel is the message about the life of Jesus, His death, burial and resurrection.  Take, for example, what Wright says in his Paul in Different Perspectives:

“when Paul uses the word ‘gospel’, this is the very centre of what he is referring to: the annoucement that Jesus, the crucified Jew from Nazareth, has been raised from the dead by the creator God, and has been exalted as Lord of the world, claiming allegiance from all alike, Jew and Gentile, great and small, from Caesar on his throne to the poorest child of the humblest slave in the farthest corners of the world.

For Paul, what he means by ‘the gospel’ is NOT, despite some of our current usage, the description of a way of salvation… but ‘the gospel’ itself refers to the proclamation that Jesus, the crucified and risen Messiah, is the one, true and only Lord of the world.” [3]

Does Paul agree with the modern scholars in I Corinthians 15?

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV).

Paul calls this message the gospel. The scholars are right that the focus of the message is on Jesus, but the gospel is also said to be the message of salvation, even in I Corinthians 15.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 BY THIS GOSPEL YOU ARE SAVED, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. (I Corinthians 15:1-2 NIV)

Paul called the gospel “the power of God UNTO SALVATION” (Romans 1:16).  That is what makes the gospel “good news” (which is what the word means).  Simply recounting the basic facts of a Jewish man who lived two thousand years again in the Middle East is not good news.

It is the SIGNIFICANCE of this death which turns it into the gospel.  Jesus did not simply die, He died FOR OUR SINS, according to the Scriptures, so that we might be saved.  Sadly, that element is often left out of the modern scholarship gospel.

[1]  Catherine Ponder, The Millionaire from Nazareth: His Prosperity Secrets for You (1979).

[2] John MacArthur, Hard to Believe: The High Cost and Infinite Value of Following Jesus (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003). p. 2.

[3] https://ntwrightpage.com/2005/01/03/paul-in-different-perspectives/

The Gospel According to Satan

Today, we want to look at the gospel according to Satan.  Most people don’t know it, but Satan has a gospel.  He has a message that he tries to get across to people.  Many people believe this message.  This message is pervasive in society.  It is a message about God and a message about people.  What is the message?  It is found in Genesis 3.

Background

One thing that no one can deny is the reality of evil today.  All of us know that there is evil in the world, horrible evil, unspeakable evil.  It is undeniable.  We see it every day.  All you have to do is to watch the news for five minutes and you will see evil in the world.

Despite this fact, there will always be some who try to deny evil in our world.  They do not seem to understand evil or even seem to believe in it.  To some it sounds medieval.  It is not the way that respectable and civilized people behave.

Liberals have a reputation for being soft on crime. Liberal judges often give criminals a light sentence or no sentence sometimes, even for horrific crimes.   When there is a mass shooting, guns or mental illness are always to blame.

Some people have mental illnesses.  They have a disease, but other people are just evil.  Genesis 3 tells us where evil came from.  Genesis 3 is also one of the saddest chapters in the Bible.  It is one of the most tragic chapters in the Bible.

It gives us the origin of evil.  You cannot understand why our world is so messed up today unless you understand Genesis 3.  This is why we have serial killers and rapists.  That is why we have genocide today and diseases like cancer.

All of the bad things that we see in our world today go back to the Fall of Man.  They all go back to Adam and Eve and their decision to listen to the voice of the serpent to disobey God in the garden.

You will not understand why Jesus came and died unless you understand Genesis 3.  If there was no literal fall of man, there would be no need for Jesus to come in the first place.

A Perfect World

Adam and Eve lived a simple lifestyle in the garden.  They lived in a world without modern technology.  They did not live in a house.  They did not drive a car.

They use a cell phone.  They did not wear any clothes.  They did not eat any meat, just plants and vegetables and fruit.  They must have been skinny.  They did not eat any fast food.

It sounds like a hippy paradise.  They had everything they wanted.  They had every need met.  There was no crime.  There was no sin.  There was no sickness or disease.  There was no death.  There were no drugs.  Perhaps it was not a hippy paradise.

The world was perfect.  Adam and Eve got along with each other.  They were madly in love.  They were newlyweds.  They got along well with all of the other living things on the planet, all of the animals. They lived in fellowship with God.

They talked to Him every day and they were not bored.  God gave them something to do.  Adam was put in the garden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15) but there was one rule.

A Special Command

We think of a paradise as a place where you can do anything you want at any time but even in a real paradise there are rules.  Adam and Eve were given one rule.  God gave them just one commandment.

God didn’t give Adam and Eve ten commandments to follow.  He didn’t give them six hundred commandments, like He gave the Jews.  He gave them one, just one prohibition and it was about food.  There was one thing that they were not allowed to eat.  It involved just one tree in the garden.

An Unexpected Visitor

Out of nowhere, a strange visitor shows up in the garden.  It was the serpent.  Why was he?  Where did he come from?  Why was he there?

The only thing the text says is that he was “more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made” (Genesis 3:1 ESV).  He is not called an angel or a fallen angel but one of the animals of the garden, a literal animal.

It is different from the animal that we call a serpent today.  We think of a serpent today as a snake crawling on the ground. We picture some type of ugly, slimy, repulsive reptile.  That is not what Adam and Eve saw.

This was not one of the creeping things, crawling on the ground.  It was one of the wild animals, which was different.  And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds; the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground and the wild animals, each according to its kind” (Genesis 1:24 NIV).  This animal had legs.

A Problem for Skeptics

This chapter creates a huge problem for skeptics.  They mock this chapter.  They laugh at it.  It has a walking snake and it has a talking snake. We know that animals don’t talk. They cannot talk.  Parrots can say some words, but they do not know what the words mean.  They are just mimicking sounds.

Snakes can’t talk.  They don’t even have vocal cords.  The only noise they can make is hissing and that is because air is quickly released or taken in through the snake’s mouth.

Animals do not talk today.  Animals only talk in fables and fairy tales.  Does this mean that the Bible is a fairy tale?  No.

One of the rules of interpreting Scripture is to compare Scripture with Scripture.  You cannot just read Genesis 3.  You have to read the rest of the Bible.  Scripture interprets Scripture.

Let’s compare the first book of the Bible with the last book of the Bible.  In the last book of the Bible, we find out that this ancient serpent was identified with the Devil and Satan.

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation 12:9 NIV)

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:2 NIV).

The critics are wrong.  Genesis 3 does not have a talking serpent.  Animals don’t talk. Satan possessed this animal and spoke through it.  Satan was the one doing the talking and he was doing it through a serpent.

Animals in the Bible do not normally talk, like in fairy tales, but there are two exceptions.  There is one time in Scripture when an animal talked because God made it talk (Balaam’s donkey) and there is another time when an animal talked because Satan made it talk (the serpent).

That raises a huge problem.  If God created a perfect world and put Adam and Eve in a paradise, what is Satan doing there?  Wasn’t paradise supposed to be a safe place?  What is evil doing in paradise?  We try to protect our kids from evil influences. Why didn’t God keep Adam and Eve safe from this serpent?

They were protected. The serpent did not have the power to hurt them, only to tempt them.  He did not even put the fruit in their hand.  He just told them to eat it.  God gave Adam and Eve the ultimate test.  He used the serpent to help administer it.

God created angels perfect, and they were given a choice.  He created humans and give them a choice. They were created with free will.  God gave them a choice.  They chose to disobey God.

Why did they disobey?  They believed lies.  The same reason many disobey today.  Satan still tell lies today. There are many lies that people believe about God.

You will hear some of these lies in church.  You will hear them from some preachers.  You will hear some of them from the pulpit.  These lies are satanic.  They are demonic.  Paul talked about “doctrines of demons” (I Timothy 4:1).

Satan is a master of deception.  He knows how to deceive people.  He knows how to trick people.  He was the one who invented lying. He was the first liar in history.

The first lie in history was found on the lips of Satan.  Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).  He was the first liar.  People who lie today act just like Satan.

The Worst Type of Lie

Satan’s most dangerous lies were half-truths.  A full lie is much easier to detect.  It does not have any truth in it at all, but a half-truth is more effective.  It may have ten percent truth and ninety percent lie.

Most of the lies he told to Adam and Eve were actually half-truths.  Alfred Lord Tennison called half-truths “the blackest of all lies”.  Some of the things Satan said to Adam and Eve were true.

Satan said, “if you eat from the fruit of this tree, you NOT going to die” (Genesis 3:4) and they didn’t die.  They did not suddenly drop dead.  In fact, they went on to live for another thousand years.  Adam lived to be 930 years (Genesis 5:5).

Satan said that when they ate the fruit, their eyes would be OPENED (Genesis 3:5).  When they ate it, their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:7), but that was a bad thing, not a good thing.  Their eyes were opened to their nakedness, their guilt, their shame, and their helplessness.

Satan told Adam and Eve if they sinned that they would become LIKE God (Genesis 3:5). Did they become like God?  Yes.  The Bible says they became like God (Genesis 3:22).  They did not become God, but they became like Him in some way.

Satan’s Four Great Lies

Today, we are going to look at the four lies that he told Adam and Eve.  Satan says the same thing to people today.  He repeats these lies.  The preacher Adrian Rogers called these “Four Lies That Ruined the World.”[1]

These are not Satan’s only lies. He has many more than these four.  Three of these are about God and one lie is about us.  Each lie involves a different strategy of Satan.  When you put these lies together, you get the gospel according to Satan.

1. The Lie about the Word of God

Satan’s first lie started with the three words, “Hath God said?  The oldest lie was about the Word of God.  It was about the Bible.  It is the oldest lie in the book.  Satan took what God said and lied about it.  He still does that today.  It is one of his most powerful lies.  The first tactic that Satan used was DISTORTION.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must NOT eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NIV)

Did God say this?  No.  He said the exact opposite.  “And the Lord God commanded the man, You ARE free to eat from ANY TREE in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

Satan changed what God said to say something completely different.  He said God said that they were not free to eat from any tree in the garden. He still does that today.  People distort Scripture today.

His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people DISTORT, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (II Peter 3:16 NIV)

How Scripture is Distorted Today

How is Scripture distorted today?  There are many ways this is done.

Some distort the Bible by MISTRANSLATION.  If they do not like what the text says or it goes against their theology, they just rewrite it and make it say something different.  Let me give two examples.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the Deity of Christ.  The Bible teaches that Jesus is God, and it teaches it most clearly in Gospel of John.  It says so explicitly in the first verse of the book.

How do the Jehovah’s Witnesses deal with this?  They rewrite the Bible.  Instead of saying, “and the Word was God,” it says, “and the Word was a god” in their Bible (NWT).

The LGTQ community does not like what the Bible says about homosexuality, so it changes some of the verses as well.

“If a man also lie with mankind in the temple of Molech, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13 Queen James Bible).

The sin in the Gay Bible is not homosexuality but pagan worship.  It is committing this in the Temple of Molech.  The only problem is that the Bible does not have the words “in the temple of Molech” in it.

Some distort the Bible by MISINTERPRETATION.  They do not mistranslate it.  They just misinterpret it.  How many times have we been reminded that Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NIV)? Since we are not supposed to judge anyone, it must be wrong to criticize anyone for anything or condemn any behavior.  This is the most abused text in the Bible.

2. The Lie about the Truthfulness of God

Satan’s second lie was about the truthfulness of God.  The first lie involved misquoting God, twisting what He said.  This lie involved contradicting what He said.  This tactic of the Satan was DENIAL. He claimed God said things that were not true.  They were completely false.

God said, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will CERTAINLY die” (Genesis 2:17 NIV).

Satan said, “You will NOT CERTAINLY die,” the serpent said to the woman” (Genesis 3:4 NIV).

We were not given the command about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We do not live in the garden.  We do not have access to that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but we do have a Bible.  We do have the Word of God and Satan uses this tactic quite often in our own day. What God says about a number of issues is vigorously attacked in our own day.

What God says about creation is is denied.  It is unscientific.  Evolution is accepted.

What God says about miracles is denied.  Anything miraculous or supernatural is rejected (the miracles of the Bible, Virgin Birth, the resurrection)

What God says about marriage is denied.  God says that marriage is to be only between a man and a woman.  Society accepts gay marriage.

What God says about gender is denied.  God says that there are only two genders.  God created people male and female.  Society accepts trans and binary people.

What God says about sex is denied.  God says that sex is reserved for marriage.  Society accepts premarital sex and extra-marital sex.

What God says about hell is denied.  The Bible warns about hell.  It warns about people being cast into the lake of fire.  Satan told Adam and Eve “You are not going to die.”  He tells people today, “Don’t worry about hell.  There is no hell.  A loving God would never send anyone there.  He would never punish anyone.”

What is the truth?  God is truth.  His word is truth (John 17:17).  Everything he says is truth.  In fact, He cannot lie.  It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18).

3. The Lie about the Goodness of God

Satan’s third lie was about the goodness of God.  This lie did not say that God was not real.  It said that God is not good.  Adam and Eve knew that God existed.  That talked to Him every day.  This lie said that God was not good.   This tactic of Satan involved DEFAMATION.  It involved SLANDER.

Satan is still slandering God today.  Skeptics of the Bible describe the God of the Bible as an immoral being who commits cosmic child abuse (sacrifices his own son) and exterminates entire nations.  They describe God as unloving and bloodthirsty.

Whenever we hear anything like this, we know exactly where it comes from.  It comes directly form Satan.  Notice what the serpent said to Eve.

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 NIV)

What is the basic lie?  God withholding something back from you that is good for you.  He wants to keep you bring being happy.  He does not really love you.  If he loved you, he would let you have access to this tree in the garden and give you what you want.

Does he use this tactic today? Yes.  The argument used is the existence of evil.  If there is terrible evil, and suffering in the world, God must not be good, because if he was good, He would stop it.  A loving God would not allow people to be raped and murdered and tortured

That is a weak argument.  It does not prove that God is unloving.  All that it proves is that God created people with a free will.  What is the truth?  God is good.

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9 NIV)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34 NIV)

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8 NIV)

God was good to Adam and Eve.  He knew that Adam and Eve would be happier if they were sinless than if they became sinners.  That is when they became unhappy.  He kept them from that tree because He did not want them to die and that was what would happen if they ate from the tree.

4. The Lie about Personal Fulfillment

Satan’s fourth lie was about personal fulfillment.  This is the lie of DEIFICATION.  It is the lie of self-worship.  This is the biggest lie in America today.

What is Satan’s Gospel?

It teaches that God is not good.  He is not true.  What He says is not to be believed or trusted.

It teaches that we do not need God.  We do not have to obey God.  We are better off not obeying him.

It teaches that we can be your own God.  You are in control of your own destiny.

It teaches that we can made up our own rules. We can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. All we need to do is to find what makes us happy.

Everything Satan says is a lie.  He is the father of lies.  God is good.  God is true.  He is a God who cannot lie.  If we choose to disobey Him, we are the ones who suffer.  True happiness and fulfilment is found in God our Creator, not apart from God.

3 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 NIV)

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38 NIV)

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7-14Czmahw

The World’s Oldest Murder

Genesis 4 is a chapter that would be rated R for violence and sex.  It contains one of the most famous stories in the Bible.  In fact, many people who have never read the Bible know the story of Cain and Abel.

It is a well-known story.  It is a powerful story.  It is a fascinating story.  It is full of applications.  The chapter also raises some very difficult questions.  It is a story of SIN.  It is a story of JUDGMENT, and it is a story of GRACE.

It is the story of the first crime ever committed on planet earth.  Adam committed the first sin.  Cain committed the first crime.   What Adam and Eve did seemed minor.  They pulled some fruit off a tree.

Cain committed murder.  It was the first murder. It was the world’s oldest murder. Cain was the first murderer and we have been murderers ever since.  We are a race of murderers.  Every thirty-two minutes, a murder takes place in America. We live in a violent world.  Big cities are full of violence.

We have gone from Cain’s murder of one person to murder of more people.  Serial killers kill repeatedly and habitually.

We have gone from Cain’s murder of one person to murder of more people at a time.  Mass murders kill more than one at a time.  Modern technology has made that easy.  We have weapons of mass destruction.   All of this goes back to the first baby born on the planet.

Adam and Eve were created perfect.  They lived in a perfect world.  When Adam and Eve were tempted, they became sinners.  When they had kids, they gave their sin nature to their children.

You would think that gradually people would get worse and worse.  It would start with some misdemeanors and eventually evolve into some felonies.  Eventually, people would do really bad things, perhaps in Genesis 50, but that’s not what happened. The first sin was found in Genesis 3.  The first murder is found, just one chapter later, in Genesis 4.

“It took only one generation for the sin unleashed in the Garden to lead to the first act of violence.  Cain didn’t just give his brother a bloody nose; he took his life.”[1]  It took just ONE GENERATION for this to take place.

The First Birth

This story is found in Genesis 4. The chapter begins on a positive note.  It begins with sex.  It is the first sex in the Bible.  It is sex between a husband and wife.  Now Adam KNEW Eve his wife (Genesis 4:1 NKJV).  He should have known her.  He married her.

The Bible describes intimacy as knowledge.  It seems like a strange way to describe sex.  It is something that gives you knowledge and makes you smarter.  This is a euphemism.  It is a figure of speech.  It is not the way we talk today.

This knowledge led to pregnancy.  Picture Eve nine months pregnant hobbling around with a big belly.  Pregnancy led to childbirth.  Eve delivered the first baby in history.

She conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 NKJV).  God told Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28) and they are obeying.  Eve gives God credit for his birth. 

This was the first childbirth in history.  Eve had never seen a baby before.  Now she has one and his name was Cain and then had another baby named Abel.  We think of Cain and Abel as little kids but these were adults and they were complete opposites.

Two Brothers

They had different skills and abilities.  They had different personalities and temperaments.  They chose different occupations.  One was a shepherd, and one was a farmer.  Cain was more like his dad.  Cain was a farmer. Adam was a gardener, although he also named the animals and probably liked animals, like Abel did.

They were different spiritually as well.  One was saved and one was lost.  One was a child of God, and one was a child of the Devil.

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. (I John 3:11-12 NIV)

Two Sacrifices

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. (Genesis 4:2-4 NIV)

Cain and Abel worshiped God in their own way.  One brought an animal sacrifice and one brought God some food.  One brought a bloody sacrifice and the other brought God a fruit basket.  Cain brought God some zucchini and some squash.  Abel brought God a lamb.

Cain and Abel were very different, but they had one thing in common.  They both worshiped God.  They both went to church.  They both brought different sacrifices.  They did it different ways but they both worshiped God.  One was saved and one was lost.

Life Lesson

Cain worshiped God.  Many unsaved people worship God.  Many lost people go to church, some regularly. There are many people who are religious who are not saved.

Cain was not an atheist.  He believed in God.  He worshiped God.   He offered God sacrifices.  He was religious but he was unsaved.  Churches are full of saved and unsaved people.  People may attend church for forty years and be lost.

The Jews who wanted Jesus killed were very religious.  Nicodemus was very religious, but Jesus said to him, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NKJV).

There are terrorists who commit all kinds of atrocities are very religious.  There is a difference between religion and salvation.  Not everyone who is religious is righteous.

A Sacrifice Rejected

Then, we get the shock.  God accepted one sacrifice and rejected the other sacrifice.

The Lord looked WITH FAVOR on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did NOT look with favor. (Genesis 4:4-5 NIV)

We want God to look with favor on us.  Why did God accept one sacrifice and reject the other one?  Abel brings a dead animal and Cain brings the fruit of the ground.  Does God have something against fruit?  Does He like lamb chops more than vegetables?   Does God just like shepherds better than farmers?

The Bible does not say why one offering was accepted and one was rejected.  There are two theories.

One theory is that Cain was rejected because he did not bring a dead animal.  He did not want to bring God a bloody sacrifice.  The Bible says, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 HCSB).  That may be true, but the Bible doesn’t say it was the reason.

Another theory is that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because he gave God a high-quality sacrifice.  He brought FAT portions from some of the FIRSTBORN of his flock.  He brought fat animals, not skinny, sick animals, like the Jews did in the Book of Malachi.    

Cain brought an inferior, low-quality sacrifice.  He did not give God his best.  He just brought God the leftovers. Abel gave God his first and his best.  That raises this question: What do we give God?

Three Truths about Worship

1) Worship is something we give to God

It is not something that we get.  That is the way most of us think of worship.  Both Cain and Abel GAVE something to God as worship.

2) All worship is NOT equal

All religions are not equal.  All churches are not equal.  All worship is not equal.  Some is good.  Some is bad.  Some worship honors God.  Some worship does not.

Some worship is acceptable and some is not.  There is a right and a wrong way to worship God.  Abel did it the right way.  Cain did it the wrong way.  The same is true today.

How do we know what is the right way and what is the wrong way?  We have to give God our best, like Abel did.  We have to worship God as He has revealed.  We have to follow the Word.  Do we give God our best?  Are we like Cain or Abel in our worship?

3). All worship is NOT accepted

God rejects some worship.  He did that with Cain and Abel.  He still does that today.  His nature has not changed.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Many teach that God accepts all worship.  He accepts all religions.  There are many different paths to God.  That is universalism.  It is pluralism.  It sounds good.  Many believe that but it is not true.  It’s a myth.

If that was the case, he would have accepted Cain’s sacrifice, as well as Abel’s sacrifice.  The truth is that there is some worship that God rejects.

Jesus said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him MUST worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 ESV).  He said, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV).

There is worship that God rejects and there is some worship that God hates.

“I HATE, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. (Amos 5:21-23 NIV)

Cain’s Response

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7 NIV)

What was Cain’s response?  He was angry.  God knew he was angry, so He talked to him. What does He tell him?  God turned it right back on Cain.  Cain was mad at God.  God said to Cain, “You are the problem.  You offered the wrong sacrifice.  Offer the right one and you will be accepted.”

God acted as Therapist and Counselor.  He asked Cain two questions BEFORE his crime.  Why are you angry?  Why is your face downcast?  God is always seeking sinners. He told him what he needed to do to be accepted next time.

Cain’s Crime

Cain’s crime was premeditated murder.  He was the first one to ever do this.  No one had ever killed anyone before.  Several things made this crime especially bad.

Cain killed Abel intentionally.  This was not accidental. It was intentional and deliberate.  Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:8 NIV).

He lured him out in the field to get him alone.  Abel was completely helpless and defenseless.  He was isolated and alone.  Cain probably said, “Why don’t you show me how to offer a proper sacrifice to God.  Show me the right animals to use” and then he killed him.

Cain killed Abel violently.  He didn’t poison him.  This was a brutal murder.  There was blood everywhere.  God said that Abel’s blood cried out from the ground.

This murder happened right after church.  It took place after a worship service.  It took place right after family worship.  It took place right after both brothers offering a sacrifice to God.

Cain does not just kill a stranger in cold blood. He killed a family member.  He killed a brother.  He killed a younger brother or possibly a twin brother (as some believe).

In fact, Cain did not just kill a brother.  He killed a believer.  He killed a godly man.  He killed a righteous man.  Jesus called him righteous.

And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of RIGHTEOUS ABEL to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:35 NIV)

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as RIGHTEOUS, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4 ESV)

Abel became the first human to die.  He became the first murder victim.  Cain was the first murderer.  Abel was the first martyr.  That brings us to another truth.  You will not hear this preached in church too often.  It is not very popular.

God doesn’t stop all of the evil in the world.  He gives people free will.  That means that evil people will do some bad things and sometimes believers will suffer.  Sometimes they are killed at the hands of wicked people.

The Interrogation

Abel is killed and no one knows where he is or what happened to him.  It is the first unsolved mystery.  Cain thought he committed the perfect crime.  There were no eyewitnesses, but God saw it.

One day, every we will all stand account before God for our sins.  We will face Him, either as guilty sinners or pardoned saints.

After Adam and Eve sinned, God confronted them about their sin.  Now, he confronts Cain about what he did.  Now we see God, not as Therapist, but as Judge.  There is a crime scene investigation.  There is an interrogation and there is a sentence.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. (Genesis 4:9-10 NIV)

God asks Cain two questions after his crime: Where is Abel? What have you done?  They are rhetorical questions.  God already knows the answer.

He asked Adam and Eve, where are you?  They were hiding, so God asked them, where are you? (Genesis 3:9).  He asked Cain: Where is your brother Abel? (Genesis 4:9).  God asked him that, not because he was hiding but because he had hidden the body.

What was his answer?  “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9 NIV).  Cain had a very different response from his parents.

When God confronted them, Adam and Eve about eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, did not deny that they did it.  Adam said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ATE.” (Genesis 3:12 ESV).  He did not deny it.  He just blamed Eve.  Adam confessed.  Cain NEVER confessed to the crime.

God confronted Cain and he lied to God.  He says, “I don’t know where he is” when he did know where he was.  He said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?  He’s not my responsibility.”  He answered God’s question with a question.  It was a sarcastic reply.

Cain asked a very thought-provoking question.  We are to be our brother’s keeper.  We learn that from Matthew 25 (the poor, the naked, the hungry, the stranger)

The Punishment

Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:11-12 NIV)

He is not sentenced to death.  He is sentenced to exile.  Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden and now Cain is exiled from the family.  Adam and Eve have now lost two sons, one to death and one to exile.

Cain is sentenced to walk the earth.  He becomes the first nomad.  Eventually, he settles down.  He became a politician and started a city.  It was the first city.  Cain named the city after his son.  He called it “The City of Enoch” (Genesis 4:17).

It was not a city, like our modern cities with huge skyscrapers.  John C. Whitcomb calls it “a settlement”[2] but it was the first city.  Cain became He became the founder of civilization.  His descendants were not very spiritual, but they were very creative.  They invented iron tools and music.

Did Cain Get Away with Murder?

He was not put to death.  Instead of putting Cain to death, God protected him from death.  He put a mark on him so he wouldn’t be killed.  Cain probably lived a long life.  He eventually got married, raised a family and started a city.  The righteous man died.  The guilty man lived.

Is that fair?  Does it prove that God is against the death penalty?  Does it prove that God is against capital punishment?

God is NOT against capital punishment.  He instituted it in the Law of Moses (cf. Exodus 21:12, 14; 22:18-20; Leviticus 24:17, 21; Numbers 35:15-18, etc.).  In fact, He instituted it BEFORE the Law of Moses.  You see this in Genesis 9:6.  You do not have to leave the Book of Genesis to see capital punishment.

Why was Cain not put to death?  He deserved to die.  He should have been put to death, but this does not prove that God is against the death penalty.  It just proves that sometimes God deals with people in grace and gives them a second chance.

Cain was not executed but he was punished.  He did suffer.  He had a guilty conscience for what he had done. Cain was under a curse.  He was driven from God’s presence.

Cain did not live sixty or seventy years.  Before the Flood, people lived hundreds and hundreds of years.  How would you like to be cursed by God for eight hundred years living outside his blessing and favor.

People did not like him either.  Nobody liked him.  He was despised by people.  He was constantly on the move and was always looking over his shoulder in case anyone was trying to kill him.

He could not make a living farming.  God said, “When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you” (Genesis 4:12).  He traveled everywhere looking for a place to farm but was unsuccessful.

He had to choose a new occupation.  Since the ground opened up its mouth to receive Abel’s blood (Genesis 4:11), it would not give Cain any crops.  He reaped what he sowed.

Cain was punished but there was a reason he was not executed.  There was no state in Genesis 4 to execute Cain.  It had not been created yet.  Capital punishment was to be implemented by the state.

This was to prevent revenge slaying, as Jordan Peterson put it.  “I kill your brother. You kill my two brothers. You kill my whole family. I kill your whole town and then we blow up the world.”[3]

The Way of Cain

Are we like Cain in any way?  You say, “I haven’t killed anyone.”  You might be surprised.  Let’s look at eight signs we might be like Cain.

1. The way of Cain is the way of HATRED

Cain was the first murderer.  He never owned a gun.  He never watched violent movies.  He never saw anyone kill anyone.  He never played violent video games and yet he became the first murderer.

The NT says that that what motivates murder is hatred (I John 3:11-15).  Murder is a hate crime.  It stems from hatred.  If we are full of hatred to anyone, we have the spirit of Cain inside us.

Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him (I John 3:14-15 NIV).

2. The way of Cain is the way of ANGER

but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his face was gloomy. (Genesis 4:4 NASB).  Cain had an anger problem.  He does not just become angry.  He becomes VERY angry.

Cain was not just angry.  He was angry at God.  Many today, like Cain, are angry at God.  Cain is angry at God, but he can’t come after God, so he lashes out at people.  He had a temper problem.  He had a short fuse.  Does this describe us?  Are we like Cain?

3. The way of Cain is the way of VIOLENCE

Cain did not just have hatred in his heart, he acted out on it, like Will Smith did this past week.  He acted out in physical violence.  The spirit of Cain is the spirit of violence.  It is the spirit of bloodshed.  It is the spirt of murder.  Are we physically violent?

4. The way of Cain is the way of FALSE WORSHIP

Cain was religious but his religion was unbiblical.  His worship was unbiblical.  He worshiped God the way he thought he should be worshiped and the way he wanted to worship Him, rather than the way God has revealed himself in His Word.  Is our worship biblical?

5. The way of Cain is the way of UNREPENTANCE

Cain never repented.  He never confessed to his crime.  He never acknowledged doing it.  He never took responsibility for it.  Even Judas confessed his sin.  Even he said the words, “I have sinned” but Cain never said those words.

He was never honest and transparent about what he did.  He never felt bad for what he did.  He had no remorse.  He did not have any feelings or emotions for his dead brother.  He was a cold-blooded killer.  That is the spirit of Cain.

King David committed terrible crimes, but he eventually came to genuine repentance.  Do we take responsibility for our actions?  Do we confess them before God, or do we deny them and try to hide them?

6. The way of Cain is the way of UNTEACHABILITY

Cain was unteachable.  He would not take instruction or criticism, even if it was constructive criticism or even if it came from God Himself.  He was rebellious and defiant. The Bible says that this is a mark of a fool.  A fool does not take correction.  There are professing Christians today who live in sin.  You can show all kinds of verses to them, and it does not make any difference.  They are unteachable, like Cain was.

7. The way of Cain is the way of RESTLESSNESS

The way of Cain is the way of a hard life as a result and consequence of one’s own actions.  Cain had a hard life.  He lived in disobedience to God.  He lived in unrepentance.  He was under God’s curse.  He was a farmer and wherever he went, he could not get crops to grow.  He kept moving but it did not help.

Lots of people have difficult lives.  Some are in prison for their faith in foreign countries.  Cain had a difficult life as a result of disobedience and as a result of rebellion to God.

8. The way of Cain is the way of COMPLAINING

The way of Cain is the way of complaining.  That also is the spirit of Cain. When God tells him what his punishment was, all he did was to whine and complain.  He said, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”  His punishment was less than what he gave Abel, but Cain only thought of himself.

There is a little irony here.  Cain is worried that someone might kill him.  He said, whoever finds me will kill me” (Genesis 4:14 NIV). Who might that be?  That would be Adam and Eve’s other children or their descendants.  Cain kills a family member and is now worried that another family member might kill him.

Do we have a negative complaining spirit?  Do we complain at God and what He does in our life?

Was the Mark of Cain Dark Skin?

The Mormons in the 1800s believed that the mark of Cain referred to dark skin and that all of Cain’s descendants were under black and still under that mark.[4] They used the mark of Cain to justify slavery.[5]

In 1852, Brigham Young made a statement that blacks would join the church and be baptized but could not be ordained to the priesthood because of the “Curse of Cain.”  The Mormon Church did not allow them to be priests until 1978.

Many Presidents of the church of Latter-Day Saints taught that the mark of Cain was dark skin. Joseph Fielding Smith, the tenth president of the LDS Church, said, “It was well understood by the early elders of the Church that the mark which was placed on Cain and which his posterity inherited was the black skin. The Book of Moses informs us that Cain and his descendants were black”[6]

Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS, also said, “Cain slew his brother…. and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.”[7]

Is the mark of Cain dark skin?  No. That view uses the Bible to promote racism.  Here is the problem with that interpretation.

1. The Bible does NOT say that the mark was dark skin.

The reason God put the mark on Cain was to keep him from being killed.  Cain’s skin color would not keep anyone from killing him.

2. This mark went to Cain, not his descendants.

The mark was just for Cain. The Bible does NOT say that the mark was passed down to his descendants.

3. The Cainites all died in the Flood

Even if it was passed down to his descendants, it would NOT explain dark skin today because all of the Cainites died in the Flood.

4. The mark of Cain was NOT a curse.

The mark of Cain is NOT the same thing as the curse of Cain. The mark of Cain had a positive connotation. It did not have a negative connotation.  It kept Cain alive.  He was in the witness protection program.

The curse on Cain prevented him from growing crops.  The mark of Cain was a blessing, not a curse.  Some of the same racists who taught the mark was dark skins used it as an excuse to persecute, enslave and kill black people.

This passage should not be used to justify slavery (as many used the passage in the past).  Genesis 4 doesn’t say anything about Cain’s descendants being slaves to people.

[1] Discover God Study Bible (Bright Media Foundation, 2007), p. 13.

[2] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=23121611312

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44f3mxcsI50

[4] In the Book of Mormon, dark skin is a curse (2 Nephi 5:21; Alma 3:6).

[5] http://mit.irr.org/brigham-young-slavery-because-of-curse-of-cain-5-january-1852

[6] The Way to Perfection, 107.

[7] Journal of Discourses, VII: 290-291.

Return of the King

We have been studying the life of David.  Most people know the story about David killing Goliath and committing adultery with Bathsheba.  This is a chapter that most Christians are not as familiar with.  David reigned as king, but he faced a rebellion in the country, and it was led by his own son.

Absalom not only wanted to take his job, he wanted to kill him.  He was anointed king and he was popular.  David fled the palace.  Absalom moved in and began sleeping with David’s wives. The two sides finally came together and fought in a civil war.

Absalom was the favorite to win.  He had the advantages.  He had more troops.  He had all the momentum

David had the more seasoned fighters.  He had the better strategy.  He had God on his side.  The underdog won.  David wins the war but loses his son in the process.

In these chapters, we see what happened AFTER the war.  We see David the suffering king, David the confronted king and David the returning king.

The Suffering King

As the chapter begins, David is suffering.  He is depressed.  David just lost his son.  When he got the news, he was shaken (II Samuel 18:33) He was devastated.  He was distraught.  He was grieving.  He was mourning. Everyone knew what was going on.  The troops heard about it (II Samuel 19:2).

David turned victory into defeat.  Have you ever done that?  Instead of celebrating, he is weeping.  He is wailing like he lost the battle, rather than won it.  If you lose a loved one, it is normal to grieve but grief can become excessive.  David was so depressed that he was unable to do his job.

God can turn mourning into dancing.  You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness (Psalm 31:11 ESV).  Sometimes we turn dancing into mourning, like David did.

The Confronted King

Before David could be brought back as king until he was first brought back to his senses.  It took a rough military general to accomplish this.  Joab had to come and rebuke him to his face.

Sometimes we get like that.  We are so overcome with something that we can’t see straight.  It takes another person who is objective who can come in and give us clear advice.  Sometimes we have to be the one to give the advice or the rebuke to someone.

5 Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have HUMILIATED all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. 6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you.

I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. 7 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.” (II Samuel 19:4-7 NIV)

Joab confronts David.  He rebukes him.  His soldiers risked their lives for David, and he did not thank them or congratulate them.  He was ungrateful.  He told him that his commanders and soldiers meant nothing to him.

He told him that he cared more for his enemies than for his friends. He said that “You love those who hate you and hate those who love you” (II Samuel 19:6 NIV)

Jesus said that we are supposed to love our enemies and those who hate us, but He did not say that we are to hate our friends.  He never said to stab your friends in the back and hurt those who are trying to help you.

What Joab said is very profound.  Why do you love those who hate you and hate those who love you?  Some in the political left do exactly that.

They hate their own country.  They hate soldiers who fight for their freedom.  They hate the police who risk their life to protect them, and they love América’s enemies.  They love dictators and all over the world who hate America.

Joab told David what would happen if he continued acting this way.  He said, “if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall” (II Samuel 19:7 NIV). He also told him how to fix the problem.  It was an easy solution.  The solution was to go out and encourage his men.

Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.” (II Samuel 19:7 NIV).

We will spend some more time on this next time we meet, as we do another character study.  We are going to look at the character of Joab in depth next week.

That brings us to the third and main part of II Samuel 19.  After seeing the suffering king and the confronted king, we now see the returning king.

The Returning King

In II Samuel 19, King David is brought back and restored.  He comes back to Jerusalem.  He has a homecoming.  People welcome him back.  Why is that important to us?  David is a type of Jesus.  He is a picture of Jesus.  The rejected king returns and sits back on the throne.

Jesus is our king.  He was also rejected by his own people.  Like David, people mocked him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (John 1:11 NIV).  They said, “We will not have this man rule over us” (Luke 19:14 KJV).

One day, our King will return.  The rejected King will come back.  He will return to earth. He will return to Jerusalem. He will defeat his enemies in battle, like David did.  The saints will welcome him back.  He will be restored to His throne.

He will sit on the throne of David.  He will also face one final rebellion against his rule, just like King David faced after he was restored to his throne.  In Revelation 20, there will be one final rebellion on earth and against Jesus and that rebellion will be crushed

Now Jesus’ return will be a little different than King David’s return.  Jesus’ return will be a little different than David’s return.  It will be a little more glorious than David’s was.

Jesus will come on the clouds of heaven with all the angels.  David had to be told what to do by his general.  He had to be rebuked.  No one will need to correct Jesus or make him do the right thing when He returns.  His return will be permanent, not temporary.

After the civil war was over, Absalom was defeated.  He was killed.  David won.  You would expect David to go back home to the palace and continue to reign as king.  The war is over.  The enemies were defeated.  The rebellion was crushed but that is NOT what happened.  Why?

Just because Absalom was dead did not make David king again.  He is living on the other side of the Jordan.  He is not living in Jerusalem and is not going back any time soon.  He is waiting for something.

David lost his kingship.  He was waiting for an invitation to be reinstated as king. He had to be brought back to Jerusalem.  He had to be asked to come back.

David did NOT use force to get back on the throne. He did NOT use his troops to get back on the throne.  Jesus will return with the armies of heaven and with a sword in his mouth but what David did here is a picture of what Jesus does today.

Jesus does not force Himself on people, like Putin does by invading a sovereign country, against its will.  He is not a dictator.  He is not a tyrant.  He will not come into people’s hearts unless he is invited.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20 NIV)

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life (Revelation 22:17 NIV).  They are invited to come.  They are not forced to come against their will.

Political Crisis

After the war was over, the nation had a big problem.  They kicked David out of the palace, crowned Absalom as king and now Absalom is dead, and they do not have a leader.  They have no king.  David was gone.  He was on the other side of the Jordan.  If they wanted him, someone would have to go get him and bring him back.

The nation did something that all of us have done at one time or another.   They took the rightful king off the throne and chose another king to replace him.  Have you ever kicked off the rightful king and replaced him with an imposter?

Have you ever chosen an imposter king?  Have you ever chosen a replacement king?  Have you ever kicked the king off the throne and replaced him with something that looks really good?[1]  Absalom was attractive.  He had some appeal.  Absalom was attractive from his head to the soles of his feet.

Have we ever allowed an Absalom to reign on the throne of our life?  The Jews chose an imposter king named Absalom and now he is dead.  Now the nation does not have a king.  There is no leader.  It is leaderless.  They have a political crisis.

You would expect Judah to be the first to ask David to come back to be king but instead it was the ten northern tribes that began asking if David should return and David heard about it.

9 Throughout the tribes of Israel, all the people were arguing among themselves, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country to escape from Absalom; 10 and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

11 King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Ask the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters? 12 You are my relatives, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?’ 13 And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you are not the commander of my army for life in place of Joab.’”

14 He won over the hearts of the men of Judah so that they were all of one mind. They sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your men.” 15 Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. (II Samuel 19:9-14 NIV)

Responses to the Returning King

The king returns and in II Samuel 19-20 we see different responses to the return of the king by four different people.  They are Shimei (shih-MAY), Mephibosheth, Barzillai (Bar-ZIL-ai) and Sheba.

We want to look at each one of these responses. Many will have these same responses to the return of King Jesus.  It raises the question, how will you meet the king?

1) The Hypocrite Response

The first response is the hypocritical response.  It was the response of Shimei (II Samuel 19:16-23).

16 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17 With him were a thousand Benjamites, along with Ziba, the steward of Saul’s household, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed to the Jordan, where the king was. 18 They crossed at the ford to take the king’s household over and to do whatever he wished.

When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king 19 and said to him, “May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind. 20 For I your servant know that I have sinned, but today I have come here as the first from the tribes of Joseph to come down and meet my lord the king.” (II Samuel 19:16-23 NIV)

Who was Shimei?  What do we know about him? He was the man who came from the same tribe as King Saul.  He was a Benjamite.

He encountered David when he was leaving Jerusalem when he was on the run.  He criticized David.  He mocked him.  He cursed at him.  He threw things at him.  He called David a murderer and said that God was finally judging him for his crimes.  He was the man who was angry, hateful and ugly.

Now he falls prostrate before David, acknowledges that he has sinned and asks David not to hold against him the dumb things that he said.  Now, he acts like he is David’s most loyal follower.  The question is, did he really repent?  Some think that he did, but it seems fairly clear that this was not genuine.

He is repenting ONLY out of self-interest.  He does not want to get killed.  He is not repenting because he is genuinely sorry for what he did.  He still does not like David but the man he supported is now dead.

He looks like he is repentant.  He falls down before David.  He says the right words.  He says that he had sinned.  He says that he was sorry.  David forgives him but he is not genuinely sorry.  This is an example of false repentance.

Shimei brings a thousand men from Benjamin with him, along with fifteen sons and twenty servants.  He brings back up with him.  That was to pressure David and perhaps to intimidate him.  This was insincere, fake, phony repentance.  It was self-serving.

There are many hypocrites today.  There are many in churches all throughout the country.  They claim to love Jesus on Sunday but do not demonstrate that love the other six days of the week.  Some are part of false religions but when Jesus returns, they will be the first to say that they follow Him.       Jesus said that all the hypocrites would end up in Hell.

44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the HYPOCRITES, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:44-51 NIV)

2) The Humble Response

The second response is the humble response.  It is the broken response.  It is the response of Mephibosheth (II Samuel 19:24-30).

Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely. 25 When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”

26 He said, “My lord the king, since I your servant am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled and will ride on it, so I can go with the king.’ But Ziba my servant betrayed me. 27 And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like an angel of God; so do whatever you wish. 28 All my grandfather’s descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?”

29 The king said to him, “Why say more? I order you and Ziba to divide the land.” 30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take everything, now that my lord the king has returned home safely.”

Shimei pretended to be broken.  He fell down before David, but it was all an act.  Mephibosheth represents someone who is completely humble.  He demonstrates it by his actions.

Who was Mephibosheth?  He was King Saul’s grandson.  He was Jonathon’s son.  Jonathan was David’s best friend.  He was also crippled.  He was disabled.  He was completely dependent on others.

David took him in and let him live in the palace.  He gave him land.  Ziba had accused him of being a traitor and wanting to take over the throne after David left and David partly believed him

David came back into Jerusalem and saw Mephibosheth.  He asked him why he did not come with him.  He said because he was lame.  He said that he was planning on visiting him, but Ziba betrayed him.  Apparently, he left without him and when he met David, he slandered Mephibosheth.

How do we know that Mephibosheth did repent?  He showed genuine signs of mourning in his clothing, his beard and his feet.  He did not see David to get anything out of him.  He completely submitted to his authority. The only thing he cared about was David returning back as king.

When Jesus returns, some will be proud, and some will be completely humble. “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ (Matthew 25:37-38 NIV).

3) The Faithful Response

The third response is the faithful response.  It was the response of Barzillai (II Samuel 19:31-40)

31 Barzillai the Gileadite also came down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and to send him on his way from there. 32 Now Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. 33 The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you.”

34 But Barzillai answered the king, “How many more years will I live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? 35 I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is enjoyable and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? 

36 Your servant will cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance, but why should the king reward me in this way? 37 Let your servant return, that I may die in my own town near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever you wish.”

38 The king said, “Kimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever you wish. And anything you desire from me I will do for you.” 39 So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and bid him farewell, and Barzillai returned to his home.

Who was Barzillai?  He was an old man.  He was a wealthy man.  He was not just wealthy.  He was VERY wealthy (II Samuel 19:32).  God had blessed him, and he gave back to people.  He did not spend all his money on himself.

He supported David financially when he needed help.  He represents a godly, mature believer.  He is out serving even as an old man.

David wants to reward him.  He wants him to come to Jerusalem with him, but Barzillai turns him down.  He says that he is too old.  He sends someone else, a servant named Kimham.  He is always thinking of other people.

When Jesus returns, he will encounter some mature Christians who have served him for years.  He will encounter people who are giving.  He will encounter people who think of the needs of others.

4) The violent response

The fourth reaction to the coming of the king was the violent response.  It was the militant response.  It was the response of Sheba (II Samuel 20:1-22).  When Absalom’s rebellion did not work, Sheba tried a second time to overthrow King David.  He was another Benjamite, like Shimei. He got some people to follow him.

He sounded the trumpet and shouted, “We have no share in David, no part in Jesse’s son! Every man to his tent, Israel!” 2 So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem. (II Samuel 20:1-2 NIV)

After David came back to Jerusalem, he did two things.  First, he took care of the concubines and protected them.  Second, he ordered Amasa to take care of the rebellion that was taking place.  Amasa did not get the job done, so Joab took care of and killed Amasa in the process.

The military surrounded the city where Sheba was hiding.  There was no way for food or water to get in.  A woman asked him why they were there.

Joab said that Sheba has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Hand over this one man, and I’ll withdraw from the city.” (II Samuel 20:21 NIV).  The woman told the people and the people cut his head off and threw it over the wall.

Why is this important?  When King Jesus returns, He will also receive a violent response from some.  If you don’t believe me, read Revelations 19.  Some will try to fight him, and it will be instant death.  Jesus will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He will return with a sword in His mouth. The Second Coming will be bloody and gory.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG-ulHeu7xs

Death of a Rebel

Today, we come to a frightening chapter.  It is a sad chapter.  It describes Absalom’s DEFEAT, Absalom’s DEATH and David’s DEPRESSION.  We studied the life of David’s son Absalom.  He was the heir to the throne.  He was a good-looking son but he was also a rebellious son. He was the prodigal son of the OT.

Absalom gathered an army and tried to take over the throne.  Absalom not only tried to kick his father off his throne, but he also tried to kill him.  It is ironic because Absalom has “peace” (shalom) in his name.

His name in Hebrew is pronounced Av-shalom but Absalom was not thinking of non-violence and peace, but bloodshed and murder.  Absalom became another John Wilkes Booth, but he was even worse.  Absalom did not just try to kill the leader of the country.  He tried to kill his own father.  Booth killed a President but never tried to kill his own father.

Absalom was a man who broke the Fifth Commandment.  Honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12 NIV)That is not a commandment that people take too seriously these days. It is routinely mocked.

The Bible says, “The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures. (Proverbs 30:17 NIV).

How do we respond to authority in our lives?  Do we respond like Absalom, or do we respond differently?  How do we treat our parents? Absalom not only committed this sin; he committed rape.  He raped ten of David’s wives.  He had an orgy on the palace roof.

The spirit of Absalom today is the spirit of murder, the spirit of sexual perversion and the spirit of rebellion, rebellion to God-given authority.  Our nation right now is full of it.  In fact, it began in rebellion to another king.  Rebellion is a sin that God hates.

I Samuel 15:23 says, “For rebellion is like the sin of divination” (NIV).  Divination was a capital crime in the OT.  God said that anyone who practices divination commits an ABOMINATON (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

II Samuel 18 describes the judgment of a rebel.  It shows the results of rebellion.  It is not a pretty picture.  This rebellion led to not just a slaughter but a GREAT slaughter (II Samuel 18:7 KJV, NLT), as most war leads to.  We see that in the war against Ukraine.

This war led to twenty thousand deaths.  It led to a dead prince, and it led to a heartbroken father, weeping over his dead son.  It is one of the most emotional passages in the Bible.

In this chapter, we see that the price of rebellion is DEATH, as the rebel prince is killed.  He has a gruesome death. The price of rebellion to God is also death. He had some initial success.  The people loved him.  He took over the palace.  He slept with the concubines, but his success was short-lived.  Rebellion leads to death.

This death could not be stopped.  David tried to stop it.  He told his generals to go easy on him and keep him alive.  He ordered them to do this.  They all heard him.  They understood the order, but they deliberately disobeyed it.  Absalom rebelled against God and His anointed and wrote his own death sentence.  Today, we are going to look at three scenes in this chapter.

A Nation at War

The first part of the chapter describes a nation at war. The last few chapters of II Samuel had been building up.  Absalom started a revolt.  He had the people behind him.  David fled the palace.  In II Samuel 18, the two sides meet on a battlefield in the forest of Ephraim, which today is located in Jordan and the result is war, civil war.  Israelites are going to war against fellow Israelites.

David is outnumbered.  He is the underdog.  Absalom has more troops.  The odds were with Absalom if you were to take a bet, but David made some wise military decisions.

He chose the location of the battle.  He left Jerusalem and went into the forest to fight.  If he stayed in the city, it would have been a bloodbath.

He used guerilla warfare to fight this war.  He used jungle warfare.  That is an effective strategy when you are outnumbered.  David and his men were used to this kind of fighting.  Absalom was not.

He divided his troops into three parts.  David did not keep all of his troops in one place.  He used the Divide and Conquer strategy.  He had three generals who led the army (Joab, Abishai and Ittai).  One was a Philistine.

He took himself out of the battle.  David wanted to go to war.  He asked to go to war.  He might have wanted not to be left behind, like he was at one time, and got in trouble with Bathsheba.  He might have wanted to go to make sure nothing happened to Absalom, but his military advisers told him to stay home.  He took their advice. It saved his life.

David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword. (II Samuel 18:6-8 NIV)

A Prince Executed

The second part of the chapter describes the execution of a prince.  There are all kinds of bizarre ways that people have died.  One lawyer in 1871, named Clement Vallandigham, tried to reenact how a murder victim shot himself and in the process the gun went off in court and he killed himself.

In 1982, a French undertaker named Marc Bourjade died when a pile of caskets in his workshop fell on top of him. He was crushed by his own coffins.  He was later buried in one of them.

Some have died during sex.  That would be embarrassing.  There were four popes who died this way (Pope Leo VII, Pope John XIII, Pope John VII, Pope Paul II).  All of them lived in the Middle Ages.

People have died in some unusual ways.  In fact, in 2018, one woman wrote a book entitled, The Book of Extraordinary Deaths: True Accounts of Ill-Fated Lives.  Well, there are also some bizarre deaths recorded in Scripture.  One of the most bizarre is the death of Absalom.  What happened to him?  Before the battle, King David gave clear orders.

5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders. (II Samuel 18:5 NIV).

This was a command from the king.  The three commanders heard it and so did all of the troops.  During the battle, something happened.

Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”

12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ 13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”

14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him. (II Samuel 18:9-15 NIV)

This was a strange way for a royal prince to die.  Absalom was on the battlefield.  He met some of David’s troops.  He tried to escape.  He was being chased.  He went under a tree and his hair got tangled up in the branches.  The mule rides on and he is stuck in a tree, hanging by his head.  He was obviously in pain.  He was completely defenseless.  He was a sitting duck.  He was completely helpless.

There is a little humor here, a little irony.  The one thing that Absalom prided himself in was his gorgeous hair.  It was his beautiful hair that caused his downfall.  That was not a coincidence. It was not an accident or bad luck.

It was divine providence.  The one who prided himself in his hair is now dangled between heaven and earth, hanging by his hair.  That is what you call a bad hair day.

Is this a good passage to use to say that men should not have long hair?  Some preachers use it to say that.  They say that long hair is a sin.  Paul said that it was a shame for a man to have long hair (I Corinthians 11:14).  They say that Absalom died because of his long hair.  Is it true?

That view misses the point, in my opinion.  The problem was NOT his hair but his pride.  Absalom was a proud man.  He built a monument to himself (II Samuel 18:18).  He prided himself in his good looks.

“But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.” (II Samuel 14:25 NIV). 

He prided himself in his gorgeous hair hair.  He weighed it.  He measured it (II Samuel 14:26).  All long hair is not a sin.  Samson had long hair and it was a good thing.  He was a Nazarite.  They were supposed to have long hair.  They were not supposed to cut their hair (Numbers 6:5).

The Bible says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 NIV).  The Bible says that God opposes the proud.  He resists the proud.  God is against that person.  It was his pride that led to his downfall.

Absalom a life of rebellion to authority.  He conspired against God’s king.  He set himself against the Lord’s anointed and he put himself under the judgment of God.

Absalom was a man of wasted potential. He wasted his life, like a lot of people do today.  He could have become king.  He could have had God’s blessing on him.

He was the most handsome man in the nation.  He was heir to the throne.  He had great potential to be used by God and do great things and yet he completely wasted his life, lived as a fool and died in complete disgrace and shame.

A soldier found him hanging from a tree and told his commander Joab.  Joab told him to kill him, but he refused, so Joab did it.

He took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him. (II Samuel 18:14-15 NIV)

First, Absalom is chased by David’s men.  He is fleeing for his life.  Then, he got his head or hair caught in a tree.  Then, Joab puts three javelins in his heart.

Finally, a mob of angry, bloodthirsty, vindictive soldiers finish him off.  Absalom used a bunch of servants to attack Amnon and now ten soldiers attack and kill him.

They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes. (II Samuel 18:17 NIV)

This handsome prince was killed and thrown in a big hole in the ground, like a dog, and covered with rocks.  No one knows where he is buried.  There is a place called Absalom’s tomb in Israel today, but that was built a thousand years later.

He not only died in pain; he died in shame.  He was the heir to the throne and was not even given a proper funeral.  There was no royal funeral for Absalom.

None of us want to die but we especially do not want to die in an embarrassing way, like Elvis, sitting on the toilet.  That is how Absalom died in total embarrassment.  Absalom died a man under God’s curse, hanging from a tree in shame and humiliation.  It was a terrible way to die.

A Father Heartbroken

Then, David gets the news that his son is dead.  They did not have cell phones or email in that day.  They had to learn by word of mouth, so two messengers ran to tell him the news.  There are two runners in this chapter: one was an Israelite, and one was a foreigner.

The first runner was Ahimaaz.  He was the son of the high priest and apparently, he was a fast runner.  He would have made a great athlete.  The second runner was a Cushite.  He was African.  He was from Ethiopia.  Ahimaaz outran him.  He was probably younger and told him that David won the war.  He also gave God the credit for the victory.

Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.” (II Samuel 18:28 NIV).

David asked him what happened to Absalom, and he said that he did not know.  That was not true, but he could not tell him the bad news.  Then, the Cushite arrives on the scene and David learns the truth, but he does not give David any details.  He is very vague as to what happened.

Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”  (II Samuel 18:31-32 NIV).

This raises all kinds of interesting questions.  How should you respond when a loved one dies?  How should you respond when a child dies?  What if the child is an unbeliever?  What if the child is a complete rebel and goes into eternity as a rebel?  Is it possible to show too much emotion and grief when a child dies?  How can you find comfort if an unsaved loved one dies?

These are important questions.  Fortunately, I have never had to deal with the death of a child, but David did.  In fact, he has had several kids die.  His love child from his affair with or rape of Bathsheba died.

Amnon died when his brother killed him.  Now, Absalom dies by the hand of Joab and his men.  One got sick and died.  The other two died violent deaths from fellow Israelites.  God told David that the sword would not depart from his house.

What do we say to an unsaved loved one who died?  If they are unsaved, we want to try to focus on them and not the person who died.  The destiny of the person who already died is fixed.  It cannot be changed.  That person does not have another chance to repent but the person who is alive does.

If we are talking to a believer who lost an unsaved loved one, there is a different approach to take.  There are five things we can say.

One, God gives people free will.  As much as we can talk to them and preach to them, they make the choice to believe or nor believe.  Parents cannot believe for their children.  One day, everyone will stand individually before God.

Two we do not know a person’s spiritual state when they die, only God does.  We cannot read hearts and minds.  We do not determine a person’s eternal destiny.  Only God does that.

Three, whatever God does is right.  He is perfect.  Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 NKJV)

Four, when we get to heaven, God promises that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4 ESV)

Five, it is appropriate to mourn and grieve when a loved one dies.  Even Jesus did that.  He was not only sorrowful at Lazarus’ tomb.  He was sorrowful at Gethsemane.

It is appropriate to mourn but there is such a thing as inordinate grief.  It is possible to grieve too much.  It is possible to let our emotions get the best of us.  Paul exhorts Christians to not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope (I Thessalonians 4:13 NIV). Paul does not tell Christians not to grieve at all.  There is a grief that is normal.  There is a grief that is unbiblical and excessive.

How do we know?  We have an example of this in I Samuel.  God told the Prophet Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (I Samuel 16:1 NIV).

That is what happened to King David.  The last time his son died, he responded correctly.  When his baby with Bathsheba died, he responded very well.  When Absalom died, his grief was excessive.  He was heartbroken over the death of his one son but did not care too much for the other twenty thousand that were killed.

David wins the war.  Instead of celebrating, he mourns.  He plunges into a deep depression and cannot function as king.  His grief has paralyzed him.  He needed Joab to snap him out of his depression and wake up.  That is where we will pick up next time in II Samuel.

Friends and Enemies

We have been studying the life of King David.  He is experiencing some of the darkest days of his life.  In the last few chapters, his own son is trying to overthrow his governemnt and kill him.  David finds out who his real friends are in these chapters.

He also found out that some of the people that he thought were his friends were actually his enemies.  Today, we want to talk about friendship.  We want to look at some characteristics of good friends and some characteristics of bad friends.

Characteristics of Real Friends

1. Real friends are faithful

The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. 17 So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at the edge of the city. 18 All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king.

19 The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland. 20 You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your people with you. May the Lord show you kindness and faithfulness.”

21 But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”

22 David said to Ittai, “Go ahead, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him. (II Samuel 15:16-22 NIV).

This brings us to a man named Ittai.  No one would call him their favorite Bible character.  Most people do not know him very well.   What do we know about him?  We know three things about him.

One, he was a FOREIGNER.  He was not even Jewish.  He was a Gentile. He came to Israel and brought his whole family with him.  We would call him an immigrant. Ittai was a Philistine. He was a Gittite.  Gittites were people who lived in Gath.  Gath was Goliath’s hometown.

Two, he was a FIGHTER.   Ittai was one of David’s best fighters.  He was part of David’s mighty men (2 Samuel 23:29; 1 Chronicles 11:31).  He was a military man.  He had six hundred Philistine soldiers under him.  He was a leader of a mercenary group of fighters from Gath.

Three, he was FAITHFUL.  He was one of David’s friends.  He arrived on the scene and David told him to go home.  David was now on the run.  David does not know where he is going.  He does not want to subject Ittai to that kind of life.

But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”

He promised to stay with David no matter what happened, whether he lived or died.  He made an oath, a double oath to stay with him, no matter what.  We need to be just as faithful, just as devoted and just as committed to the Son of David

David rewarded Ittai for his faithfulness.  He promoted him.  He made this Philistine immigrant one of his top generals.  He entrusted him with one third of his army to fight the forces of Absalom (II Samuel 18:2).

2. Real friends are generous

27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils, 29 honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.” (II Samuel 17:27-29 NIV

Here is a second sign of a true friend.  True friends are generous.  It mentions three friends who helped David during this time.  They helped him when he was hungry.  They helped him when he was thirsty.  They helped him when he was exhausted and did not have a bed to sleep on.

They provided food and even a bed to sleep on in the wilderness.  One of these friends was a foreigner.  Shobi was an Ammonite.  David went to war with the Ammonites.  This one became his friend.  One of these friends was old.

31 Barzillai the Gileadite also came down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and to send him on his way from there. 32 Now Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. (II Samuel 19:31-32 NIV)

Barzillai sounds like the name of a WWF fighter.  It sounds like someone who is big, strong and muscular.  In reality, he was old, weak and frail.  He was eighty years old.  You are never too old to serve the kingdom.  Barzillai was eighty and serving.  He brought what he had and gave it to the king.

Some of us are generous and some of us are stingy.  Proverbs 11:24-25 says, “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

3. Real friends are self-sacrificial

David had another friend who helped David in another way.  His name was Hushai.  He was probably an older man, because David told him to go back into the city so he would not a burden to them.  He was a Gentile.  He is called Hushai the Arkite.  He was not even ethnically Jewish, but he did something amazing.  What he did saved David’s life.

32 When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go with me, you will be a burden to me. 34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘Your Majesty, I will be your servant; I was your father’s servant in the past, but now I will be your servant,’ then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel’s advice.

35 Won’t the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king’s palace. 36 Their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear.” 37 So Hushai, David’s confidant, arrived at Jerusalem as Absalom was entering the city. (II Samuel 15:32-37 NIV).

What did Hushai do?  He became a spy.  He became a double agent.  He became the biblical James Bond.  He went to the side of the enemy to gather intelligence for David.  He pretended to be on Absalom’s side, but he actually supported David.

Moses sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan to gather intelligence for forty days.  Now, David sends Hushai into Jerusalem as an inside man to get intelligence and he had a communication system.

Hushai was to get information and get it to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests.  They got the information to a servant girl who got it to their two sons, who relayed the information back to David.

It was risky.  It was dangerous.  He could have been killed.  Love is willing to lay down its life for its friends.  Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13 NIV).

What happened to him.  He goes to Jerusalem.  Sees Absalom.  Absalom gets advice from Ahithophel.  He tells Absalom two things to do.

The first thing he told him to do was to rape David’s ten concubines and he did it.  It was also his way of taking the throne.  It would also be one way to get back at David for what he did to Uriah’s wife, his granddaughter.

The first thing he told him to do was to attack David immediately.  “Get him tonight.  Strike while the iron is hot.  He is weak.  He is on the run.  Take quick decisive action.  It would only take twelve thousand men.”  Ahithophel said that he would kill David himself, but Hushai was in the room and Absalom asked him for a second opinion.

What was Hushai’s Plan?  His plan was not to attack now, but to attack later.  He said that David is a fighter.  He is a man of war.  He is a survivor.  He is used to running from Saul.  He said to wait to you can get an entire army of people fighting him with you leading the army and you will crush him, and you will get the glory.

Everyone in the room like Hushai’s Plan.  It sounded better.  It appealed to Absalom’s pride.  It was in answer to David’s prayer.  David prayed, “Lord, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness” (II Samuel 15:31 NIV).

There’s another reason he chose Hushai’s Plan.  It was part of the providence of God.  God planned to bring disaster on Absalom.  For the Lord had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom (II Samuel 17:14 NIV)

We have seen three good friends.  Now let’s look at three bad friends.  We see them in II Samuel 16 & 17.  Their names are Ziba, Shimei and Ahithophel.  They are three types of people you might encounter in your own life.  They may claim to be friends, but they are false friends.

Characteristics of False Friends

1. False friends are deceivers

When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.

2 The king asked Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”

3 The king then asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?” Ziba said to him, “He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the Israelites will restore to me my grandfather’s kingdom.’” 4 Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” (II Samuel 16:1-4 NIV)

Beware of a friend who is not truthful to you.  In II Samuel 16, we see a man named Ziba.  Ziba was Mephibosheth’s servant.  He meets David, bows before him.  He brings him all kinds of food – break, raisins, figs and wine.  There was nothing wrong with that.  Then, he completely lies about Mephibosheth.

He said that Mephibosheth “is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the Israelites will restore to me my grandfather’s kingdom.’” (II Samuel 16:3 NIV).  Ziba was a smooth talker.  He was a flatterer.  He was deceiver.

David fell into a trap.  He believed him.  He said, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” (II Samuel 16:4 NIV).  “That Mephibosheth must be a bad dude.”

What mistake did David make here?  He rushed to judgment.  He jumps to conclusions.  Don’t believe everything you hear.  Don’t believe all of the gossip you hear about people.

Get all of the facts before making a decision on something.  Always hear the other side.  Allow people who are accused of something a chance to defend themselves.  A basic principle of justice in America is called due process.  It is also biblical.

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. (Proverbs 18:13 ESV)

In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines. (Proverbs 18:17 NIV)

2. False friends are defamers

False friends are dishonest.  They say things that are not true.  They are defamatory.  They will try to ruin someone’s reputation and destroy their good name.  That is Shemei.

As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. 6 He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. 7 As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! 8 The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!” (II Samuel 16:5-8 NIV)

We talked about Shimei last week.  Here was a man who hated David.  He is cursing David.  He is spewing all kinds of hate, all kinds of lies and half-truths to hurt someone.  He is throwing things at him.  There are many like him today that will kick you while you are down and while you are hurting.

There are many stone throwers in the media. They are bitter critics and are full of hatred and venom. This is the second type of person you may encounter. This time, David responded correctly.

Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. 12 It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.” (II Samuel 16:11-12 NIV)

We could learn a lot from David here.  It is not the way we normally respond to criticism, especially unjust.  We usually lash back out at people.

When Jesus was reviled, He did NOT revile back. When they hurled their insults at him, he did NOT retaliate; when he suffered, he made NO threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly (I Peter 2:23 NIV).

3. False friends are deserters

False friends are temporary.  They do not stick around.  We have that problem today.  People leave their spouse.  There are plenty of deserters in the Bible.

People left Jesus.  They followed him for a while and then left him and he said to Peter, “Will you also go away? (John 6:67).

The Apostle Paul had people leave him.  Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. (II Timothy 4:10 NIV)

People deserted Paul.  They deserted Jesus.  They also deserted King David as well.  His name was Ahithophel.  Who was he?  He was David’s Counselor (II Samuel 15:12).  He was David’s Advisor.

All political leaders rely on advisors to help them.  They all rely on policy experts.  The President of the US has a cabinet and senior White House advisors.  Leaders are only as good as the counsel they receive.  Ahithophel was King David’s chief advisor.

Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David AND Absalom regarded ALL of Ahithophel’s advice. (II Samuel 16:23 NIV)

Ahithophel was David’s best man.  He was his wisest counselor.  He had been with David for twenty year.  He was very well respected by both sides.  David respected him.  Absalom respected him.  That is like having someone that both Democrats and Republicans like.  Now, he leaves David and goes to the other side.

Ahithophel – The OT Judas

Ahithophel was the OT Judas.  Most don’t know this, but there are two Judas stories in the Bible.  There is one in the OT and one in the NT.  What did these two men, Judas and Ahithophel, have in common?

1) Both held high offices

Both held important positions.  Judas was an apostle of Jesus.  He got to travel around with Jesus for three years, hear all of his teaching and see his miracles firsthand. He was in charge of money.

Judas was the chief financial officer for the Apostles. Ahithophel was chief political advisor to King David.  He had an important political office, rather than an important religious office.

2) Both were traitors

There were many traitors in history.  In America, we always think of Benedict Arnold.  These are the two big traitors in the Bible, Judas and Ahithophel.  What Judas did was far worse than what Ahithophel did.

Ahithophel betrayed David.  Judas betrayed the Son of David.  Judas turned the perfect innocent Son of God over to wicked men to kill him and he did it for money.

3) Both had some regrets

Both realized that they made a mistake.  The difference is that Judas felt bad about what he did and tried to give the thirty pieces of silver back.  Ahithophel did not feel bad for what he did.

Ahithophel felt bad that what he did didn’t work, and he would be caught and executed.  Judas was upset because his plan worked.  Ahithophel was upset because his plan did not work, and he knew that King David would survive.

4) Both commit suicide

When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb (II Samuel 17:23 NIV)

Ahithophel did not get depressed, find a gun and blow his brains out.  His suicide was not impulsive.  It was planned.  It was calculated.  He went home, set his house in order, wrote a will, and killed himself.

Why did he kill himself?  He was not just mad that his advice was not taken.  It was not just a case of wounded pride. He was upset because he knew that if his advice was not taken, Absalom would never become king.

Ahithophel also knew that, if Absalom did not win, he would be executed as a traitor, so he killed himself before David could do it to him.

Ahithophel was a very smart man.  He was a wise counselor.  Smart people sometimes do some really stupid things.  They do some really dumb things.  There is a difference between being smart and being wise.

You can be highly educated, have a high IQ, and not have any spiritual wisdom.  Suicide is never the answer to your problems.  God says to “CHOOSE LIFE” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV).  The Bible says, “Do yourself NO HARM” (Acts 16:28 NIV)

The question is, Why did Ahithophel become a traitor?  Why did he desert King David?  He did it because of unforgiveness.  He was motivated by revenge.  David committed adultery with Bathsheba.  Bathsheba was the daughter of Eliam (II Samuel 11:3).  Eliam, according to Scripture, was the son of Ahithophel (II Samuel 23:34).

Assuming that this was the same Eliam (as Jewish tradition says it was), it means that David raped Ahithophel’s granddaughter, and he probably never got over it.  He never forgave him.  This was his way to get back.

This story shows us the danger of bitterness.  It shows us the danger of unforgiveness.  Unforgiveness eats people alive.  Bitterness will eventually kill you.  It is like cancer to the soul.  It eats you from the inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David’s three false friends were the flatterer, the critic and the deserter.

 

 

 

 

 

3) Ahithophel – the Deserter (a Gilonite)

 

 

 

 

David’s Military Strategy

1. He chose the location of the battle.

By leaving Jerusalem, he saved it from a bloodbath.  A lot of innocent people would have been slaughtered.  David left the city and went out into the wilderness.  He went to the Forest of Ephraim to fight.

2. He chose the type of warfare fought.

3.

4. He avoided the battle.

David wanted to go to war, but his military advisers told him to not fight, and he took their advice.

5. He had good military intelligence.

He had ground intelligence.  A spy on the inside told David what Absalom was doing.

Against overwhelming odds, David’s side wins but he faces one more tragedy.  His son dies in battle. David gave explicit orders for Absalom to be spared but Joab disobeyed those orders. Absalom is killed in the forest, thrown in a pit and is buried.  A pile of rocks was put on top of him.

You can visit something Absalom’s tomb in Israel today.  It is also called Absalom’s Pillars, but he is probably not buried there.  It is in the same area where he died, but that pillar was built a thousand years later.  We do not know where he is actually buried.

 

The battle of Ephraim forrest

2 SAMUEL 18:17—WAS ABSALOM BURIED IN THE FOREST OF EPHRAIM OR IN THE KIDRON VALLEY?

PROBLEM: After Absalom was killed by Joab’s men, they took his body and threw it into a pit and covered him with a large stone. However, according to 2 Samuel 18:18, Absalom had erected his own tomb in the Kidron Valley. Where was Absalom buried?

The Mystery of “Absalom’s Tomb” – Part 1

 

 

3) David had work problems

David does not just have political problems; he has work problems.  He might lose his job.  He might be taken off the throne.  He faces a coup.

There is an attempt to overthrow his government.  Absalom crowned himself king in Hebron, the same place where David was once crowned king.

4) David had safety problems

He is not just down in the polls.  He has to flee the city.  In II Samuel 13, Absalom is forced to leave Jerusalem after he killed his brother.  In II Samuel 15, David is forced to leave the city.  It is nine years later, and now David is fleeing for his own safety.

He has to run for his life.  Absalom and his troops arrive and take over the palace in Jerusalem.  David has lost his home.  He has lost his job and he is worried about losing his life.  The king is barefoot.  His head is covered, and he is weeping

When Life Falls Apart

What did David do when life fell completely apart?  How did he respond?  David was in a bad situation and he did NOT know what God was going to do.  He was God’s anointed, and he did not know what God was going to do.  He says that several times.

It MAY BE that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.” (II Samuel 16:12 NIV)

25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. IF I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; LET HIM DO TO ME WHATEVER SEEMS GOOD TO HIM. (II Samuel 15:25-26 NIV)

David trusts God.  He waits to see what He will do.  He submits to His will.  Notice what he does not do in this situation.  He does not do many things that people do today.

1) He does not blame God for his problems

When life falls apart, many people blame God.  They are mad at God.  That is a common reaction.  “God, why did you allow this to happen to me.  It is not fair.”  David does not have that reaction.  If anything, David blamed himself.  He knew that he was under divine discipline.  This was a consequence of his own sin.

When David committed adultery and murder, the Prophet Nathan said to him, “the sword will NEVER depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own” (II Samuel 12:10 NIV).

He also told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (II Samuel 12:11-12 NIV)

That was fulfilled in II Samuel 16.  Nathan said that someone was going to sleep with David’s own wives like he slept with Uriah’s wife, but he did not tell him that this person would be his own son Absalom.

God did not cause David’s problems.  He brought them on himself, but God did protect and provide for David in this situation.  He protected David.  He was not killed, and his side won in the civil war, even though the other side had far more troops.  God also supernaturally provided for David.

God not only provided for him.  He provided for him in the wilderness with not only food but a bed to sleep on.  We see that in II Samuel 16 and II Samuel 17.

2) He did not try to force God to act

David was in a bad situation.  He had to flee for his life.  He did not know what God was going to do.  He did not try to force God to act, like many Christians do today.  He was helpless but he had control of the ark of the covenant.

What he did not do is to take it with him into battle as a good luck charm.  The priests in I Samuel 4 took it into battle to try to help them win.  It didn’t work.  The high priest left with David, but he sent him back into Jerusalem with the ark (II Samuel 15).

3) He does not try to hide his emotions

If you read the Psalms, you see that David does not hide his emotions to God.  He pours out his heart to God.  We need to do the same thing.  We need to pour out our heart to God in prayer.  The Son of David did not hide his emotions either.  Jesus did not hide his emotions.  He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.

David does not hide his emotions.  He does not hide how he feels.  He does not pretend that things are great and put on a front.  He weeps for his son.  He leaves Jerusalem weeping.  His robe is torn.  He has dust on his head.

But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. (II Samuel 15:30 NIV)

After Absalom is killed, we see David mourning.  He is sobbing.  The day of victory was turned into a day of mourning (II Samuel 19:1).  David was weeping, not just over a son, but over a rebellious son, a traitorous son, a murderous son.  It is one of the most moving passages in Scripture.

The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!” (II Samuel 18:33 NIV)

David loved his son, even though he was completely rotten.  David is weeping over a son who wanted to kill him.  David even says that he wishes that he died in his place.  The coming Messiah, the Son of David, died die for his enemies.  The Good Shepherd gave his life for the sheep.

4) He did not retaliate against his enemies

His own son was trying to kill him, but David said, “If you ever catch him, go easy on him.”

The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders. (II Samuel 18:5 NIV)

In fact, when he left Jerusalem a man came up cursing him, calling him all kinds of names and throwing dirt on him.  He said, “God is repaying you for all of the blood you shed.”

Then Abishai said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head” (II Samuel 16:9 NIV) but David refused to do that.  He said, “Maybe there is some truth to what he is saying.”  We should try that sometime.  Listen to the words of our worst critics.  Listen to our enemies to see if there is any truth to what they say.

5) He did not try to do everything himself

 

Good Friends and Bad Friends

Last week, we studied the life of a young man named Absalom.  He was a son of King David. He was heir to the throne.  The people loved him.  He was popular.  He was good-looking, like his sister Tamar. He was good-looking, like his father David.  He was a smooth politician.  He told people what they wanted to hear.

He was also a bitter and angry man.  He had many reasons to be angry.  Some of his reasons were valid, but he expressed his anger, like a lot of kids do today, in rebellion to authority.  Absalom rebelled against his father.  He hated his dad and tried to kill him.

That makes Absalom worse than even John Wilkes Booth.  Booth killed a president but never killed his own father.  It is ironic because Absalom has “peace” (shalom) in his name.  His name in Hebrew is pronounced Av-shalom but Absalom was not thinking peace but bloodshed.  He was thinking of murder.  He gathered an army and tried to take over the throne.  He instigated a coup.

Now, we see the results of that rebellion.  Absalom ends up dead.  Absalom’s hair is caught in an oak tree.  He dangles between heaven and earth and is stabbed to death.  This section describes the judgment of a rebel. Absalom died a man under God’s curse, hanging from a tree in shame and humiliation.  It was a terrible way to die.

Absalom wasted his life, like a lot of people do today.  Absalom was a man of wasted potential.  What a terrible thing it is to have great potential to be used by God to do great things and yet completely waste your life and die in complete disgrace and shame.

Absalom could have become king.  He could have had the blessing of God on his life.  Instead, he chose to live a life of rebellion to authority, conspiring against God’s king, setting himself against the Lord’s anointed and putting himself under the judgment of God.  “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 NIV)

Today, we want to ask this question.  What do you do when tragedy strikes?  What do you do when your world falls completely apart?  What do you do when life is turned upside down?  What do you do when you don’t know what God is doing in your life?  We will look at what happened to David?  We will look at how he responded to this crisis.

David’s Darkest Hour

David had many high points in his life.  He was anointed king as a young man and that was done right in front of his entire family.  His brothers mocked and belittled him.  The Prophet Samuel anointed him king above all of his brothers.  Talk about a boost to your self-esteem.

He killed a huge giant.  The giant was so big and so strong that no one would even fight him.  Everyone who fought him was destroyed.  David was not even a grown man.

When everyone else was afraid to fight him, David took up the challenge and killed him.  He became an instant hero.    He became famous all throughout the country, even more famous than the king himself.  Songs were sung about him.

He captured the city of Jerusalem, the city on a hill.  He brought the presence of God (the Ark of the Covenant) to the city.  After defeating an unbeatable opponent, he captured an unconquerable city.  No one before had been able to conquer it.

God also gave David a special covenant. He promised that the future Messiah would be one of his descendants and would one day sit on David’s throne.  He promised David a kingdom that was permanent and eternal, but life was not all good for David.  David had some very low points in his life.

One low point was when David spent fifteen years on the run, living in caves and hiding from a demon-possessed king who was trying to kill him.

Another low point was when David lost his best friend Jonathon in battle.  He was absolutely devastated (I Samuel 31; II Samuel 1).  They had a lot in common.  They were both godly men.  They were kindred spirits.  They were close.

Another low point was when David came home from battle one day and found everything gone.  All of the women and children were gone.  The city was on fire.  His home was destroyed.  (I Samuel 30).

A fourth low point in his life was when David committed sexual sin and tried to cover it up with an even worse crime.  David committed adultery and murder.  He does not repent for a whole year.  He had to be confronted by the Prophet Nathan.

As bad as these were, the lowest point in David’s life came later.  The darkest days of David’s life took place when David was now an old man.  He was in his sixties when tragedy struck again.

1) David had family problems

One of his sons was murdered.  One of his daughters was raped.  Another son plotted to overthrow him.  That son was also murdered, and David was completely devastated.

2) David had political problems

David has lost his popularity.  Much of the military has left him. The people love Absalom.  People who worked for him have left him, his friends, and even some of the members of his own cabinet, have abandoned him.

People mock David.  They curse him.  They throw rocks at the King of Israel and there is no consequence.

David becomes the rejected king.  He becomes the cursed king, prefiguring what would happen to the Son of David later.

He does not just face unpopularity; he faces a civil war.  In II Samuel 18, The nation went to war.  The forces of David fought the forces of Absalom.  What happened?  Twenty thousand people died.

David was the underdog.  Absalom had far more forces.  He had numerical superiority, but his side won.  God was on his side and he used a better military strategy than Absalom did.

David’s Military Strategy

1. He chose the location of the battle.

By leaving Jerusalem, he saved it from a bloodbath.  A lot of innocent people would have been slaughtered.  David left the city and went out into the wilderness.  He went to the Forest of Ephraim to fight.

2. He chose the type of warfare fought.

David used guerilla warfare to fight this war.  He used jungle warfare.

3. He divided his troops into three parts.

David did not keep all of his troops in one place.  He used the divide and conquer strategy.

4. He avoided the battle.

David wanted to go to war, but his military advisers told him to not fight, and he took their advice.

5. He had good military intelligence.

He had ground intelligence.  A spy on the inside told David what Absalom was doing.

Against overwhelming odds, David’s side wins but he faces one more tragedy.  His son dies in battle. David gave explicit orders for Absalom to be spared but Joab disobeyed those orders. Absalom is killed in the forest, thrown in a pit and is buried.  A pile of rocks was put on top of him.

You can visit something Absalom’s tomb in Israel today.  It is also called Absalom’s Pillars, but he is probably not buried there.  It is in the same area where he died, but that pillar was built a thousand years later.  We do not know where he is actually buried.

3) David had work problems

David does not just have political problems; he has work problems.  He might lose his job.  He might be taken off the throne.  He faces a coup.

There is an attempt to overthrow his government.  Absalom crowned himself king in Hebron, the same place where David was once crowned king.

4) David had safety problems

He is not just down in the polls.  He has to flee the city.  In II Samuel 13, Absalom is forced to leave Jerusalem after he killed his brother.  In II Samuel 15, David is forced to leave the city.  It is nine years later, and now David is fleeing for his own safety.

He has to run for his life.  Absalom and his troops arrive and take over the palace in Jerusalem.  David has lost his home.  He has lost his job and he is worried about losing his life.  The king is barefoot.  His head is covered, and he is weeping

David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me (II Samuel 16:11 NIV).

When Life Falls Apart

What did David do when life fell completely apart?  How did he respond?  David was in a bad situation and he did NOT know what God was going to do.  He was God’s anointed, and he did not know what God was going to do.  He says that several times.

It MAY BE that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.” (II Samuel 16:12 NIV)

25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. IF I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; LET HIM DO TO ME WHATEVER SEEMS GOOD TO HIM. (II Samuel 15:25-26 NIV)

David trusts God.  He waits to see what He will do.  He submits to His will.  Notice what he does not do in this situation.  He does not do many things that people do today.

1) He does not blame God for his problems

When life falls apart, many people blame God.  They are mad at God.  That is a common reaction.  “God, why did you allow this to happen to me.  It is not fair.”  David does not have that reaction.  If anything, David blamed himself.  He knew that he was under divine discipline.  This was a consequence of his own sin.

When David committed adultery and murder, the Prophet Nathan said to him, “the sword will NEVER depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own” (II Samuel 12:10 NIV).

He also told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (II Samuel 12:11-12 NIV)

That was fulfilled in II Samuel 16.  Nathan said that someone was going to sleep with David’s own wives like he slept with Uriah’s wife, but he did not tell him that this person would be his own son Absalom.

God did not cause David’s problems.  He brought them on himself, but God did protect and provide for David in this situation.  He protected David.  He was not killed, and his side won in the civil war, even though the other side had far more troops.  God also supernaturally provided for David.

God not only provided for him.  He provided for him in the wilderness with not only food but a bed to sleep on.  We see that in II Samuel 16 and II Samuel 17.

2) He did not try to force God to act

David was in a bad situation.  He had to flee for his life.  He did not know what God was going to do.  He did not try to force God to act, like many Christians do today.  He was helpless but he had control of the ark of the covenant.

What he did not do is to take it with him into battle as a good luck charm.  The priests in I Samuel 4 took it into battle to try to help them win.  It didn’t work.  The high priest left with David, but he sent him back into Jerusalem with the ark (II Samuel 15).

3) He does not try to hide his emotions

If you read the Psalms, you see that David does not hide his emotions to God.  He pours out his heart to God.  We need to do the same thing.  We need to pour out our heart to God in prayer.  The Son of David did not hide his emotions either.  Jesus did not hide his emotions.  He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.

David does not hide his emotions.  He does not hide how he feels.  He does not pretend that things are great and put on a front.  He weeps for his son.  He leaves Jerusalem weeping.  His robe is torn.  He has dust on his head.

But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. (II Samuel 15:30 NIV)

After Absalom is killed, we see David mourning.  He is sobbing.  The day of victory was turned into a day of mourning (II Samuel 19:1).  David was weeping, not just over a son, but over a rebellious son, a traitorous son, a murderous son.  It is one of the most moving passages in Scripture.

The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!” (II Samuel 18:33 NIV)

David loved his son, even though he was completely rotten.  David is weeping over a son who wanted to kill him.  David even says that he wishes that he died in his place.  The coming Messiah, the Son of David, died die for his enemies.  The Good Shepherd gave his life for the sheep.

4) He did not retaliate against his enemies

His own son was trying to kill him, but David said, “If you ever catch him, go easy on him.”

The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders. (II Samuel 18:5 NIV)

In fact, when he left Jerusalem a man came up cursing him, calling him all kinds of names and throwing dirt on him.  He said, “God is repaying you for all of the blood you shed.”

Then Abishai said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head” (II Samuel 16:9 NIV) but David refused to do that.  He said, “Maybe there is some truth to what he is saying.”  We should try that sometime.  Listen to the words of our worst critics.  Listen to our enemies to see if there is any truth to what they say.

5) He did not try to do everything himself

Some people are too proud to accept help from people.  David did not reject help from his friends.  In these chapters, we see true and false friends.  Which type of person are you? First, let’s look at David’s real friends.  Each one does something different to help David.  True friends help someone in need.

True Friends

In II Samuel 15, we see two of his friends (Ittai the Gittite and Hushai).  ITTAI was a foreigner.  We would call him an immigrant.  He was a Philistine.  He was not even Jewish.  He came from Gath, Goliath’s hometown.  He had six hundred Philistine soldiers with him.  He had only been with David for one day.  David said he could go home but he chose to stay with him and help him.  He was a faithful friend.

HUSHAI was another friend.  He was an older man.  David recruited him to be a spy. He became a double agent.  It was risky.  He went back into Jerusalem pretended to be on Absalom’s side, but he actually supported David.  It was dangerous.  He could have lost his life, but it worked.

Hushai was an inside man working for David.  He got information and told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, who told a servant girl, who told their two sons, who relayed the information back to David.  We will come back to what Hushai did later.

In II Samuel 17, we see three more of David’s friends (Shobi, Makir and Barzilai).  They bring David and his troops some food.

We are told that they “brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils, 29 honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “’The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.’” (II Samuel 17:28-29 NIV).

False Friends

There are three bad friends.  We see them in II Samuel 16 & 17.  They are three types of people you might encounter in your own life.  They may claim to be friends, but they are false friends.  David’s three false friends were the flatterer, the critic and the deserter.

1. The Gossip

The flatterer is named Ziba.  Ziba was Mephibosheth’s servant.  He meets David, bows before him.  He brings him all kinds of food – break, raisins, figs and wine.  David asks about Mephibosheth and he spreads all kinds of lies about him.

Ziba said to him, “He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the Israelites will restore to me my grandfather’s kingdom.’” (II Samuel 16:3 NIV).  Ziba was a smooth talked.  What he said was a complete lie.  David believed him and said, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” (II Samuel 16:4 NIV).

David made a huge mistake here.  What lessons can we learn?  Don’t believe everything you hear.  Don’t believe all of the gossip you hear about people.  Get all of the facts before making a decision on something.  Allow people who are accused of something a chance to defend themselves.  It is a basic principle of justice (due process).  It is also biblical.

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. (Proverbs 18:13 ESV)

In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines. (Proverbs 18:17 NIV)

2. The Critic

As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. 6 He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. 7 As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! 8 The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!” (II Samuel 16:5-8 NIV)

Here was a man who hated David.  He is cursing David.  He is spewing all kinds of hate, calling him a murderer.  There are many like him today with the same type of political venom and hatred.  They are bitter critics.  Like Shimei, they will kick you while you are down and while you are hurting.

They are stone throwers.  Shimei threw actual stones at David.  This is the second type of person you may encounter.  David had the correct response to this individual.  We could learn a lot from David here.  It is not the way we normally respond to criticism.

When Jesus was reviled, He did not revile back. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly (I Peter 2:23 NIV).

3. The Deserter

The deserter was Ahithophel.  All political leaders rely on advisors to help them.  They all rely on policy experts.  The President of the US has a cabinet and senior White House advisors.  A leader is only as good as the counsel he receives.

Ahithophel was King David’s chief advisor.  He left David and went to the side of Absalom and he was David’s best man.  He was his wisest counselor.

Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice. (II Samuel 16:23 NIV)

Ahithophel was very well respected by everyone, and he left David.  The question is, Why? Why did he desert King David in the first place?  He had been with David for twenty years.

He was very well respected, and he left David.  The question is, Why?  Why did he desert King David in the first place?  He had been with David for twenty years

He did it because of unforgiveness.  Most believe that Ahithophel was motivated by revenge.  David committed adultery with Bathsheba.  Bathsheba was said to be, according to Scripture, the daughter of Eliam (II Samuel 11:3).  Eliam, according to Scripture, was the son of Ahithophel (II Samuel 23:34).

Assuming that this was the same Eliam (as Jewish tradition says it was), it means that David raped Ahithophel’s granddaughter, and he probably never got over it.  he never forgave him.  This was his way to get back.

Unforgiveness eats people alive.  Bitterness will eventually kill you.  It is like cancer to the soul.  It eats you from the inside.  That is what happened to Ahithophel, so he went over to the side of Absalom and gave him some advice.  What advice did he give him?

First, he tells Absalom to sleep with David’s wives.  That would be one way to get back at David for what he did to Uriah’s wife, his granddaughter.  It was also his way of taking the throne.  The first thing he told him to do was to rape David’s ten concubines and he did it.

Second, he told him to attack David now.  Get him tonight.  He is weak.  He is on the run and Ahithophel told him to take quick decisive action.  It will only take twelve thousand men.  Ahithophel said that he would kill David himself but Hushai was in the room and Absalom asked him for a second opinion.

Hushai had another plan.  His plan was not to attack no but to attack later.  He said that David is a fighter.  He is a man of war.  He is a survivor.  He is used to running from Saul.  He said to wait to you can get an entire army of people fighting him with you leading the army and you will crush him, and you will get the glory.

Ahithophel’s plan was better militarily but everyone in the room like Hushai’s Plan.  They went with his plan.  Why?  It appealed to Absalom’s pride.  It was in answer to David’s prayer.  David prayed, “Lord, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness” (II Samuel 15:31 NIV).

There’s another reason he chose Hushai’s Plan.  It was part of the providence of God.  God planned to bring disaster on Absalom.  For the Lord had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom (II Samuel 17:14 NIV)

Ahithophel – The OT Judas

Ahithophel was the OT Judas.  Most don’t know this, but there are two Judas stories in the Bible.  There is one in the OT and one in the NT (Judas and Ahithophel).  What did the OT Judas and the NT Judas have in common?

1) Both held high offices

Both held important positions.  Judas was an apostle of Jesus.  He got to travel around with Jesus for three years, hear all of his teaching and see his miracles firsthand. He was in charge of money.  He was the chief financial officer for the apostles. Ahithophel was chief political advisor to King David.  He had an important political office, rather than an important religious office.

2) Both were traitors

There were many traitors in history (e.g., Benedict Arnold).  These are the two big traitors in the Bible.  Ahithophel betrayed David.  Judas betrayed the Son of David.  What Judas did was far worse than what Ahithophel did.  Judas turned the perfect innocent Son of God over to wicked men to kill him and he did it for money.

3) Both had some regrets

Both realized that they made a mistake.  The difference is that Judas felt bad about what he did and tried to give the thirty pieces of silver back.  Ahithophel did not feel bad for what he did.

Ahithophel felt bad that what he did didn’t work, and he would be caught and executed. Judas was upset because his plan worked.  Ahithophel was upset because his plan did not work, and he knew that King David would survive.

4) Both commit suicide

When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb (II Samuel 17:23 NIV)

Ahithophel did not get depressed, find a gun and blow his brains out.  His suicide was not impulsive.  It was planned.  It was calculated.  He went home, set his house in order, wrote a will, and killed himself.

Why did he kill himself?  It was not just a case of wounded pride. He was not just mad that his advice was not taken.  He was mad because he knew that if his plan was not used, Absalom would lose.  He would never become king.

Ahithophel also knew that, if Absalom did not win, he would be executed as a traitor, so he killed himself before David could do it to him.

Ahithophel was a very smart man.  He was a wise counselor.  Smart people sometimes do some really stupid things.  They do some really dumb things.  There is a difference between being smart and being wise.

You can be highly educated, have a high IQ, and not have any spiritual wisdom.  Suicide is never the answer to your problems.  God says to “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV).  The Bible says, “Do yourself no harm” (Acts 16:28 NIV)

 

David’s Darkest Hour

What do you do on the worst day of your life?  What dio you do when your world falls completely apart?  What do you do when tragedy strikes?  What do you do when life is turned upside down?  What do you do when it seems like God has forsaken you?

What do you do when you face your darkest hour?  It is something that all of us can relate to at some time in our life.  People in the Bible faced the same thing we face.  Even Jesus faced his darkest hour while he was on earth.  Job had his darkest hour.  King David had his.  Of course, he also had many high points in his life.

High Points in David’s Life

The first high point in David’s life was when he was anointed to be king.  His brothers mocked and belittled him.   They teased him.  The Prophet Samuel anointed him king right in front of his entire family.   Talk about a boost to your self-esteem.

The second high point in David’s life was when he killed a huge giant.  The giant was so big and so strong that no one would even fight him.  Everyone who fought him was destroyed.  David was not even a grown man.

When everyone else was afraid to fight him, David took up the challenge and killed him.  He became an instant hero.    He became famous all throughout the country, even more famous than the king himself.  Songs were sung about him.

The third high point in David’s life was when he captured the city of Jerusalem, the city on a hill.  He brought the presence of God (the Ark of the Covenant) to the city.  After defeating an unbeatable opponent, he captured an unconquerable city.  No one before had been able to conquer it.

The fourth high point in David’s life was when he was given a special covenant. God promised David that the future Messiah would be one of his descendants and would one day sit on David’s throne.  He promised David a kingdom that was permanent and eternal, but life was not all good for David.  David had some very low points in his life.

Low Points in David’s Life

The first low point in David’s life was his years as an outlaw.  He spent fifteen years on the run, living in caves and hiding from a demon-possessed king who was trying to kill him.

The second low point in David’s life was when he lost his best friend in battle. Jonathon was David’s best friend.  They had a lot in common.  They were both men of faith.  They were both men of courage.  They were both godly men.  They were close.  When Jonathon died, David was devestated.

The third low point in David’s life was when he came home from battle one day and found everything gone.  All of the women and children were gone.  The city was on fire.  His home was destroyed.  (I Samuel 30).

The fourth low point in his life was when David committed sexual sin and tried to cover it up with an even worse crime (II Samuel 11).  David committed adultery and murder.  He does not repent for a whole year.

He had to be confronted by the Prophet Nathan.  Nathan was the same one who gave David good news about a special covenant.  Later, he has to confront and rebuke the king for his sin,

As bad as these were, the lowest point in David’s life came later.  The darkest days of David’s life took place when David was now an old man.  He was in his sixties when tragedy struck again.  In his darkest hour, he faced family problems.  He faced work problems.  He faced popularity problems.  He faced safety problems.

Today we want to look at his problems and how he responded to them.  What did David do and not do?  You might be a little surprised.

Problem One – Family Problems

In II Samuel, we see what David’s family problems were.  One of his sons was murdered.  One of his daughters was raped.  Another son plotted to overthrow him.  The first son who was murdered was heir to the throne.  The second son who tried to overthrow him also ends up dead.

David now has two kids dead, not counting the baby he had with Bathsheba, who also died.  His daughter Tamar was living but her life was basically over after what her brother did to her.  David had a completely broken family.  The man after God’s own heart had a completely messed up family.

Have you ever had family problems?  If you have ever had a family, you have had family problems but most of us have never suffered what David suffered.  Have you ever suffered the loss, not just of one child but two or three?  David did.

Problem Two – Work Problems

Have you ever had work problems?  If you ever had a job, you have had work problems.  We sometimes have problems with getting along with someone at work.  Some people can’t stand their job or are worried that they could be fired at any time.

King David faced a coup.  There was an attempt to overthrow his government.  There was a revolution taking place in the country.  He was worried that he might lose his job.  He might be taken off the throne.  He might be dethroned.  His son Absalom crowned himself king in Hebron, the same place where David was once crowned king.

Problem Three – Popularity Problems

David has lost his popularity.  He used to be popular.  Everyone used to love him.  Now, people mock David.  They curse him.  They throw rocks at the king of Israel and there is no consequence.  That is what Shimei did.  David becomes the rejected king.  He becomes the cursed king, prefiguring what would happen to the Son of David later.

Much of the military has left him. The people love Absalom.  People who worked for him have left him, his friends, and even some of the members of his own cabinet, have abandoned him.

Absalom ‘STOLE the hearts of the people of Israel’ (II Samuel 15:6 NIV) right away from his own father.  A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the people of Israel are WITH ABSALOM” (II Samuel 15:13 NIV).

David was so unpopular that people were going to war (civil war) to get rid of him.  Have we ever experienced this kind of problem?  Have you ever lost friends, even close friends?  David did.  We will study that next week.

Problem Four – Safety Problems

Have you ever felt your life was in danger?  Have you ever had to run for safety because someone was chasing you?  Have you ever had to hide for your own protection?  David did not just face popularity problems.  He faced safety problems.

He not just down in the polls.  He had to flee the city.  In II Samuel 13, Absalom had to leave Jerusalem after he killed his brother.  He fled the country to live with his grandfather.  In II Samuel 15, the tables are turned and David was forced to leave the city.  It is nine years later, and now David is fleeing for his own safety.  Listen to David in his own words.

David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or NONE of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave IMMEIATELY or he will move QUICKLY to overtake us and bring ruin on us and put the city to the sword.” (II Samuel 15:14 NIV)

The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. 17 So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at the edge of the city (II Samuel 15:16-17 NIV)

The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the wilderness. (II Samuel 15:23 NIV)

But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. (II Samuel 15:30 NIV)

Absalom and his troops arrive and take over the palace in Jerusalem.  He has to run for his life.  David has lost his home.  He has lost his job and he is worried about losing his life.  The king is barefoot.  His head is covered.  He is weeping.  It is a sad picture.

David’s friends turned against him.  The whole country turned against him.  His own family turned against him.  He is exiled.  He did NOT know what God was going to do.  He was God’s anointed, and he did not know what God was going to do.

It MAY BE that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.” (II Samuel 16:12 NIV)

How to Respond to Tragedy

1) Don’t try to hide your emotions

If you read the Psalms, you see that David does not hide his emotions to God.  He pours out his heart to God.  We need to do the same thing.  We need to pour out our heart to God in prayer.  The Son of David did not hide his emotions either.  Jesus did not hide his emotions.  He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.

David does not hide his emotions.  He does not hide how he feels.  He does not pretend that things are great and put on a front.  He weeps for his son.  He leaves Jerusalem weeping.  His robe is torn.  He has dust on his head as a symbol of mourning.

But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. (II Samuel 15:30 NIV)

After Absalom is killed, we see David mourning.  He is sobbing.  He is waling.

The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!” (II Samuel 18:33 NIV)

David loved his son, even though he was completely rotten.  David is weeping over a son who wanted to kill him.  David even says that he wishes that he died in his place.  The coming Messiah, the Son of David, died die for his enemies.  The Good Shepherd gave his life for the sheep.

2) Trust God when things are really bad

David was in a really bad situation.  It was sad.  It was humiliating.  It was scary.  He did not know what was going to happen.  David took action but he trusted God completely in the situation.  He accepted whatever God was going to do.

25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. IF I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But IF he says, ‘I am NOTpleased with you,’ THEN I AM READY; LET HIM DO TO ME WHATEVER SEEMS GOOD TO HIM. (II Samuel 15:25-26 NIV)

Notice two things that David did NOT do.  These are things that many do today.

First, David did not blame God for his problems

When life falls apart, many people blame God.  They are mad at God.  That is a common reaction.  “God, why did you allow this to happen to me.  It is not fair.”  David does not have that reaction.  If anything, David blamed himself.  He knew that he was under divine discipline.  This was a consequence of his own sin.

When David committed adultery and murder, the Prophet Nathan said to him, “the sword will NEVER depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own” (II Samuel 12:10 NIV).

He also told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (II Samuel 12:11-12 NIV)

That was fulfilled in II Samuel 16.  Nathan said that someone was going to sleep with David’s own wives like he slept with Uriah’s wife, but he did not tell him that this person would be his own son Absalom.

God did not cause David’s problems.  He brought them on himself, but God did protect and provide for David in this situation.  He protected David.  He was not killed, and his side won in the civil war, even though the other side had far more troops.  God also supernaturally provided for David.

God not only provided for him.  He provided for him in the wilderness with not only food but a bed to sleep on.  We see that in II Samuel 16 and will see it next week in II Samuel 17.

Second, David did not try to force God to act

Many Christians try to do that today.  If you fast long enough, God will have to give you what you ask.  If you pray hard enough, if you have enough faith, you can get what you want.  Just decree and declare it.  Only, we do not see David doing that here.  He could have tried to do that, but he didn’t.

David was completely helpless but there was one thing he had.  He had the ark of the covenant.  The ark represented the presence of God.  He could have taken the ark with him into battle as a good luck charm.

The wicked priests in I Samuel 4 tried that to help them win a military battle.  It didn’t work.  The high priest left with David, but he sent him back into Jerusalem with the ark (II Samuel 15).

3) Don’t take your pain out on others

There is a saying that “hurt people hurt others.’  David does not do that.  He is in pain.  He is suffering but he does not lash out at other people and make them suffer.  He does not even retaliate against his enemies

In fact, when he left Jerusalem, a man came up cursing him, calling him all kinds of names, and throwing dirt on him.

As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. 6 He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. 7 As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! 8 The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!”

Was it true?  There was some truth to it.  David was a murderer.  He killed Uriah and some other people.  God did repay him for the blood he shed.  This was a consequence of his own actions, but God was NOT giving David’s knigdom into the hands of his son.

Furthermore, David was NOT the one who killed King Saul.  In fact, the opposite was true.  Saul tried to kill David.  When David had a chance to kill Saul several times, he refused to do it.  David did not kill Saul.  The Philistines did.

Joab’s brother Abishai was ready to kill Shimei on the spot.  He was a miltary man.  He said to David, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head” (II Samuel 16:9 NIV)

That is what King Saul would have done.  David refused to do that.  He refused to do that even though much of what Shimei said was clearly wrong.  Why?  He knew that he was palrtially to blame.  He took responsibility annd he was broken.  Some people who go through tragedy because angry and defiant.  David was completely broken.

He said, “Maybe there is some truth to what he is saying.”  We should listen to the words of our worst critics.  We should listen to our enemies to see if there is any truth to what they say.  That is the mark of a humble man.

David did not try to make Shimei suffer and he did not want to make his own son siffer either.  Absalom was trying to kill him, but David said, “If you ever catch him, go easy on him.”

The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be GENTLE with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders. (II Samuel 18:5 NIV)

4) Don’t try to do everything yourself

Some people are too proud to accept help from people.  David did not reject help from his friends.  Next week, we will look at who David’s real friends were and what they did to help him

In these chapters, we see true and false friends.  Which type of person are you? First, let’s look at David’s real friends.  Each one does something different to help David.  True friends help someone in need.  Next week, we will look at some of David’s friends and what they did to help him.

The Absalom Spirit

We have been studying the life of David.  We have seen his successes and his failures.  He was successful as a leader.  He was successful as king.  He was Israel’s greatest king.  He was successful at defeating Philistines.

He was not as successful at parenting.  He was a permissive parent.  He did not discipline his kids.  He let them do whatever they wanted.  He failed as a father.  He failed as a husband.  He did not keep his marriage vows.  He had affairs.

We can be a complete success in one area of our life and a complete failure in another area.  He was a success on the throne but was a complete failure in the home.  As Max Lucado says, “If you do not succeed at home, you do not succeed at all.”[1]

Two Sinful Princes

Last week, we looked at the life of one of David’s sons, Amnon.  Amnon was David’s firstborn son.  He was the oldest.  He was the heir to the throne.  Today, we focus on another son of David, named Absalom.

Both were sons of the king.  Both were royal princes.  Amnon was the perverted prince.  He was the incestuous prince.  Absalom was rebellious prince.  He was the treasonous.  He was the traitorous prince.

Both came to a tragic end.  Both died violent deaths.  Both Amnon and Absalom had no way to defend themselves.  Amnon was drunk when he was killed and Absalom was hanging from a tree by his hair, completely defenseless.

Historical Background

Let’s do a little review.  In II Samuel 13, Amnon commits a brutal rape.  Two years later, his brother, Absalom, killed him and then he fled the country for safety.  He fled to his grandfather in Geshur, which today is in the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria.  It is east of the Jordan River.

David has now lost two sons, one to murder and one to exile.  The heir to the throne was killed and now the next heir is living in another country in exile.  Absalom stayed there for three years (II Samuel 13:38).

Then, Joab stepped in.  Joab was David’s general.  He decided to reconcile father and son.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”  Joab wants to make peace between David and Absalom.

He used a woman who pretended to be a grieving widow who lost a son.  He had her use a fictitious story against him to trap him.  Those were the tactics of the Prophet Nathan.  They worked before.

This wise woman of Tekoa got David to take an oath that he would intervene in the situation. She got David to act one behalf of her son. She got David to do the same thing for his own son.  She said, “Why will you do this to help my son but not your own?”

David agreed to let Absalom to return to the country.  Joab finds him and tells him that he has found favor before David but when he gets back home, David would not see him.  He would not see him for two years (II Samuel 14:28).

At the end of two years, he does have a meeting with David, because Absalom forces a meeting.  He has to start some fires to get people’s attention (II Samuel 14:30-31) but eventually, he gets an audience with King David.  The old preacher Joseph Parker used to say that sometimes God has to do that to us.  He has to do something drastic to get our attention.

At the end of II Samuel 14, David and Absalom finally meet.  David kisses him (II Samuel 14:33).  They reconcile but things are never quite the same.  The real Absalom finally comes out.  We see who he really is.

Prodigal Son of the OT

Absalom is the prodigal son of the OT.  Most people do not know it but there are two prodigal son stories in the Bible.  There is one in the OT and one in the NT.  There are a lot of similarities between the two.

Both were sons.  Both were young.[2]  Both came from wealthy families.  Both rebelled against their father.  They displeased their father.  Both went to another country.

Absalom went to Geshur and the prodigal son in the NT also went to a distant country.  Both finally went home.  Both had a reunion with their estranged father but there were some important differences.

One came back completely humble, not worthy to be a son.  He only wanted to be a servant.  The other came back and wanted to take over the throne.  He did not want to be a servant.  He wanted to be king.

One repented and the other did not.  One came back from the dead and the other ended up dead. Absalom died a complete failure.  He had all kinds of promise.  He had plenty of potential.  He was heir to the throne.  He even looked the part, but he completely wasted his life.

What is an Absalom Spirit?

Today, we are going to talk about the spirit of Absalom.  There are many people like Absalom today.  There are many modern-day Absalom’s in the world and some even in the church today.

The spirit of Absalom is in the world today.  It is a sign of the last days. It is a sign of the end-times. What is an Absalom Spirit? Do we have one?  How much of Absalom is in you today?

Let’s spend some time looking at what this spirit is, by looking at some of the key qualities of Absalom.  As we go through this list, we can see if any of these describes us.

1) An Absalom Spirit is a SPIRIT OF VANITY

In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him. 26 Whenever he cut the hair of his head—he used to cut his hair once a year because it became too heavy for him—he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard. (II Samuel 14:25-26 NIV)

Absalom was not only a prince; he was a good-looking prince.  Two verses are devoted to his physical appearance.  He was attractive, the most attractive man in Israel.  We are told that “From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him.”  He was physically flawless. 

There is nothing wrong with being attractive.  Our society values physical attractiveness.  The problem is that Absalom looked great on the outside but not so good on the inside.  Absalom focused on the outside.

Absalom took great pride in his hair.  Hair is important to women.  They spend a lot of time in the morning on their hair.  The Apostle Paul said that a woman’s hair is her glory (I Corinthians 11:15).  Apparently, it was also Absalom’s glory.  Absalom did two rather strange things with his hair.

The first strange thing that he did is he cut it once a year (II Samuel 14:26).  Most people do not get one haircut a year. Most people might get it cut five or six times a year.  Absalom got it cut once a year.  He must have liked long hair.

The second strange thing that he did is to weigh his hair after it was cut.  We do not do that after we get haircuts.  Does this describe us?  Are we vain?  A vain person is someone who is excessively proud of or excessively concerned about his or her appearance.

What is true of men is also true of women.  I Timothy 2:9 says, “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” (NIV)

The irony is that the very thing he took pride in, his hair, is what led to his downfall.  It got tangled up in a tree and hung him.  He was hung in an oak tree by his hair (II Samuel 18:9).

2) An Absalom Spirit is a SPIRIT OF ANGER

Absalom was an angry man.  He was full of rage.  He knew how to hide it.  He could control it.  He did not show how he felt about Amnon for two years (II Samuel 13:22).  Amnon had many reasons to be angry.

He was angry at his brother for raping his sister.  He was angry at his dad for not doing anything about it.  He was angry that nothing was done about this monstrous crime.  David did absolutely nothing.  Each day that he waited, nothing was done, so Absalom took care of the problem.  He kills Amnon.

Amnon was dead.  He could no longer bother Tamar or anyone else anymore.  He seems to be doing society a favor.  There is one less rapist on the streets.  There is one less sex offender and one less child molester on the planet.  He did the world a favor.

Instead of being rewarded, he has to flee for safety.  He has to flee to another country.  His grandfather Talmai in Geshur protected him for three years (II Samuel 13:37).

When he is allowed to come home, he is not allowed to see his father (II Samuel 14:24).  He is basically put under house arrest.  David lets him come home but completely ignores him.  It is clear that David has not forgiven him.

David gives Absalom mixed signals.  He allows him to come home but will not see him.  This was even more reason for Absalom to be angry.  That is why the Bible says, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4 NIV).  That is exactly what David did for two years.

Are we angry?  Do we have an anger problem?  Anger is not wrong.  There are times that we should be angry.  How do you deal with your anger?  Do we deal with it appropriately?  Do you turn it over to God or live with uncontrollable rage?

3) An Absalom Spirit is a SPIRIT OF POLITICS

In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”

3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” 4 And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.”

5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel. (II Samuel 15:1-6 NIV)

Absalom was a clever politician.  He was a master politician.  He did the same things that politicians do today.

First, politicians campaign for office.

They try to build a political base at the grass roots level. That is exactly what Absalom did.  He stood by the side of the road early in the morning, talking to people.  He was out on the street campaigning for four years.  While he was campaigning, he was pretending to be interest in the needs of people, flattering them.  Politicians pretend to care about people, like Bill Clinton who said, “I feel your pain.”  That is what Absalom did.

Second, politicians focus on problems.

They focus on everything that is going wrong in the country and every country has problems.  There are real problems.  No leader is perfect.  Even King David was not perfect.  There was injustice.  Look what happened to Tamar.  She did not get justice from the king.  There was injustice going on in the country and Absalom was glad to point it out.

Third, politicians criticize the incumbent.

They make fun of the person in power.  There is a little ironic because the person in power in this case was Absalom’s own father.

Absalom did not support his dad.  He did not defend him.  He did not try to make his administration better.  Instead, he undermined him.  Politicians create political division.  They create discontent.  They cater to people’s fears.

Fourth, they promote themselves.  They promote themselves as the solution to the problems. “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.” (II Samuel 15:4 NIV)

Absalom said, in essence, “Elect me and I will solve all of your problems.  Things will get better once the person in power is gone.”  Politicians always make big promises they can’t keep.

Fifth, politicians try to improve their image.

It is important to have a good image while you are campaigning. How you look affects what people think of you.  You want to look presidential. Absalom used a chariot, horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.  That made him look important to have fifty men running before him.

It did absolutely nothing, but it looked good.  It was flashy.  It was extravagant and it worked.  Absalom was popular.  People liked him.  We are told that the hearts of the people were with Absalom (II Samuel 15:6).  We are also told that he “STOLE the hearts of the people of Israel.” (II Samuel 15:13 NIV).

That shows the power of persuasion.  A smooth-talking, good-looking, greasy politician can deceive a lot of people.  It works in the political realm.  It works in the religious realm.  Preachers that don’t preach the Word often have big churches.

Absalom convinced people to leave the Lord’s Anointed king. The people liked Absalom so much that some on David’s side switched over to Absalom’s side and joined the political bandwagon.  He had all of the momentum.  Everyone wants to be with a winner.

Absalom was a thief.  He was like the devil who is also a thief.  He comes to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10:10).  Apparently, there is more than one way to steal.

Some steal people from churches.  It is called “sheep stealing.”  They do not evangelize to get more converts; they just try to get more members from another church to leave their church and switch churches.

4) An Absalom Spirit is a SPIRIT OF HYPOCRISY

Absalom was a complete hypocrite.  What is a hypocrite.  A hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does the exact opposite.  A hypocrite is someone who has rules for other people but not for themselves, like the politicians who insist that everyone wear a mask for safety and then they do not wear one.  What are some examples of Absalom’s hypocrisy?

So Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom. (II Samuel 14:33 NIV)

To his face, Absalom is very respectful, bowing down to the ground, face on the dirt.  Behind, his back, he is talking bad about David, undermining him and trying to take the throne from him.  David talked about people like this.  He said, “His talk is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.” (Psalm 55:21 NIV)

Absalom returns from exile in Geshur.  He meets David two years later and bows his face to the ground in respect.  Just a few years later, he is trying to kill him.

7 At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. 8 While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: ‘If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.’” 9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he went to Hebron. (II Samuel 15:7-9 NIV)

Absalom asks David to go to Hebron to worship.  It was a ruse.  The real reason he wanted to go to Hebron was to start a rebellion.  He did not want to go there to worship.  He could have done that in Jerusalem.  He wanted to go there to start a revolution.

Absalom used worship as an excuse to overthrow the government of his own father.  He used religion to commit evil.  Muslim terrorists do this all of the time.  They invoke the name of God and use it to justify some atrocity.  That is the worst possible sin, to not only sin but to involve God in your sin.

5) An Absalom Spirit is a SPIRIT OF REBELLION

Absalom was a picture of total rebellion to authority.  He was a rebel at heart.  That is something that we can all relate to.  We are Americans.  We have a history of rebellion.  We have rebellion in our past.  That is how the country began.  The thirteen colonies rebelled against the King of England and we are proud of it.

There is a crisis of rebellion in the nation right now.  Some actual think that rebellion is a good thing.  They look at rebels at the good guys.  We have rebellion against parents, rebellion against teachers, rebellion against law enforcement officers, rebellion against the government, rebellion against law and order, rebellion against God’s laws regarding marriage, sexuality and gender.

There is a difference between peaceful protest and flat-out rebellion to authority, looting, rioting, burning down police stations, smash and grab robberies.  The Bible says that God HATES rebellion.  Rebellion is rooted in pride.

Rebellion is not only sinful; it is demonic.  People who rebel against authority repeat Satan’s sin[3]  Satan was the original Rebellious Prince.  The Rebel Prince Absalom followed the path of Satan.  Satan tried to knock God off His throne.  Absalom tried to kick David off his throne and murder him.

Rebellion to God-given authority is one of the worst sins you can commit.  God compares it to idolatry.  

Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. (I Samuel 15:23 NLT).

We think idolatry is bad.  We think witchcraft is bad.  Rebellion is just American.  God says that rebellion to authority is just as bad.  When Absalom rebelled against David, he was rebelling against God.

Absalom did not just rebel against his father.  He did not just rebel against the king.  He rebelled against God, who chose David to be King, who made him to be the Lord’s Anointed and who made a covenant with him.

Next week, we will look at how this rebellion ended.  It did not go well for Absalom.

[1] Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants, 154.

[2] David called Absalom a young man in II Samuel 18:5, 12.

[3] Dave Williams, The Imposter: Unmasking the Absalom Spirit (Decapolis Publishing. Kindle Edition).

 

Sexual Abuse

Many people complain that they come to church and they hear the same thing week after week.  It many cases, they are not wrong.  It is a result of not preaching the whole counsel of God.  Today, you are going to hear some things you have never heard before, at least in church.  You may have read this chapter, but you probably never heard it talked about in church.

For sure, you never heard in Sunday School as a child.  Pastors almost never preach on this in the pulpit.  It is one of the darkest stories in the Bible.  It is a rape story.  It is not a positive, uplifting story.  It is the story of a brutal rape.

It is a chapter of the Bible that should have an R rating.  It is a graphic chapter.  It is a violent chapter.  It is not a chapter that is easy to read.  It deals with rape and revenge.  There are two violent crimes in the chapter: rape and murder.

It begins with sexual abuse.  It begins with sexual assault. It begins with violence against women.  It begins with incest.  It begins with the rape of a sister. It ends with the murder of a brother.

It is one of the saddest stories in the Bible.  It is heartbreaking.  It is a story that does not have a happy ending, not at least for Tamar. That raises this question: Why is it even in the Bible?  That is a question worth asking.

This chapter is in the Bible for two reasons.  One, this chapter shows that the Bible is RELEVANT for our own day.  It has sex and violence. This chapter deals with real world topics.  It deals with some of the same things we see in the world today.

It deals with rape.  It deals with child rape.  It deals with sexual violence.  It deals with domestic violence.  It deals with family violence.  It deals with sexual abuse.  It deals with sexual shame.  It deals with sexual secrets.  It deals with sexual predators.  It deals with sex offenders.  It deals with sexual assault survivors.

Two, this chapter proves the Bible is TRUE.  God predicted this would happen.  David destroyed the happiness of Uriah’s house and now God is destroying the happiness of David’s house.  II Samuel 13 begins the fulfilment of what God said in II Samuel 12.

The prophet Nathan said that because of David’s sin, his biggest problem would not be trouble outside his kingdom but trouble WITHIN his kingdom.  The sword will NEVER depart from his own house.  He would have violence in his family.  He would have family problems.  Many of us have family problems.  King David had family problems, big family problems.

Five Key Characters

There are a lot of different ways we can look at this chapter.  Today, we want to look at five people and six scenes, “six ugly scenes.”[1]  There are six scenes in the chapter and five different people: Amnon, Jonadab, Tamar, David, Absalom.

The story mentions a woman named TAMAR, who was a daughter of King David.  It mentions KING DAVID, her father.  It mentions AMNON, Tamar’s half-brother.  They had the same father but a different mother.  It mentions ABSALOM.  Absalom was Tamar’s full brother.  It also mentions someone called JONADAB.  Jonadab was David’s nephew.  He was the son of David’s brother.

Scene One – The Spoiled Prince

Scene one focuses on AMNON, David’s firstborn son.  He was a spoiled rich kid.  He did not have White Privilege.  He had Jewish Privilege.  He was next in line to take over the throne.  He was the golden child.

David was preparing Amnon to become the next king. He was the entitled, spoiled, selfish, pampered prince.  He was used to getting whatever what he wanted.  He thought every day was his birthday. No one said no to him.

He was not just the Pampered Prince; he was the Perverted Prince.  He was Amnon the sexual predator.  He fell in love with his half-sister.  We are told that three times in the passage (II Samuel 13:1, 4, 15).  Tamar was the one thing that he wanted that he could not have.

She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her (II Samuel 13:2 NIV).  He could not have her, so he took her by force.  Amnon’s sin became an obsession.

This is an example of GENERATIONAL SIN.  Generation sin is behavior that is passed on from one generation to the next generation. The children repeat the sins of the parents.   The sins of the father or mother can be repeated in sons or daughters.  They follow in our footsteps.  That still happens today.  That is why parents need to watch how they live.  Our kids are watching.  They repeat our behavior.  They still do today.

How did Amnon repeat the sins of his father?  What were the similarities?

  • David was snared by outward beauty. Amnon was snared by outward beauty.
  • David has a problem with lust. Amnon had a problem with lust.
  • David violated the law of God (adultery, murder). Amnon violated the law of God (incest).
  • David committed a sexual sin. Amnon committed a sexual sin.  David had sex with another man’s wife.  Amnon had sex with his half-sister.
  • David took Bathsheba by force. Absalom took Tamar by force.  They both saw, wanted and took their victim.
  • David committed a capital crime. Amnon committed a capital crime. The punishment for both crimes was death.

Amnon pretended to be sick, lured his sister into his room and raped her.  What tactics did he use to lure Tamar?

He used TRUST.  He got Tamar to trust him.  She was his half-sister.

He used DECEPTION.  He pretended to be sick.

He used PEOPLE. King David used people to find out who Bathsheba was.  He used people to bring her to him.  He used Joab to send Uriah back home.  He used Uriah to send Joab his death warrant.  Amnon also used people.  He used King David.  He used David to send Tamar to her rapist.

He used ISOLATION.  He sent everyone else out of the room and got Tamar alone.

He used FORCE.  Amnon was older than Tamar and stronger than Tamar.

The Mistakes of Amnon

1) He deliberately violated the law of God

Amnon grew up in church.  His parents were believers.  He was not an atheist.  He was not a pagan.  He was Jew.  He knew what it was like to worship God.  He knew what the Bible said about incest, but he deliberately chose to disobey it.  People still do that today.  Some Christians still do that today.  This was not a crime of passion.  It was planned and premeditated.

2) He listened to the wrong kind of friends

Amnon hung out with people who told him what he wanted to hear, rather than what he needed to hear.  He hung out with Jonadab.  Jonadab asked him what was wrong, and he told him.

Most of us would be too embarrassed to tell someone our deepest and darkest secrets but not Amnon.  How different his life would have been if he surrounded himself with good influences, rather than bad ones? He might have been king.

3) He confused lust with love

Amnon thought he loved Tamar.  When Jonadab asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” (II Samuel 13:4 BSB)

This was not biblical love.  It was lust.  Biblical love is not selfish.  It does not think of itself.  It thinks of the needs of others.  It is not rude.  It does not hurt people.  It helps people.

4) He did not listen to reason

11 But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.” 12 “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. 13 What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you. 14 but he REFUSED to listen to her,” (II Samuel 13:11-14 NIV).

Everything that godly Tamar said was true.  This was a wicked thing.  It was not done in Israel.  He would be called one of the greatest folds in Israel and in biblical history, but he did not listen.  It is one of the characteristics of fools in the Bible.  They are not open to reason and logic.  It goes right over their heads.

5) He used women as objects

Immediately after the rape, we are told that “Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.” II Samuel 13:15 BSB).  Once he got what he wanted from Tamar, he moved on to the next person.  He no longer needed her anymore.  Tamar was not treated as a person but as an object.

6) He did not repent

David committed terrible crimes, but he repented.  It took some time, but he repented, and his repentance was real.  It was genuine.  It was heartfelt.  Amnon never repented.  He never apologized for what he did.  He never said that he was sorry for what he died.  He never felt bad for what he did, and he never repented.  He died a rapist.  Amnon went into eternity in his sin.  He died a rapist, and a drunkard and stood before God in his sins.

Scene Two – The False Friend

Jonadab was an enabler. There are many enablers today.  Many people within your own family enable other members of the family.  They encourage family members or loved ones to continue to engage in destructive or sinful behavior, rather than trying to get them help.  He does not commit the crime, but he helps plan it.

He was a false friend.  Amnon might never have committed this crime if he did not get the encouragement from Jonadab to do it.  He made the mistake of giving bad advice.  Some counselors that we see can give terrible advice.  They can give unbiblical advice.

Amnon liked the advice he gave.  It gave him what he wanted, but it also got him killed.  Be careful who you listen to.  Be careful who your friends are.  Be careful what counsel you listen to.  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the UNGODLY (Psalm 1:1 KJV)

Friends either hurt your or help you.  Amnon was killed because he took the wrong advice.  He listened to his slimy, conniving cousin.  Sometimes, people in your own family can give you very bad advice.

Jonadab is actually a picture of Satan.  He is a type of Satan.  He slithers onto the scene and suggests what is forbidden.  He is called “crafty” (ESV) or “shrewd” (NIV).  He was slick.  He would have made a good politician today.  It is similar to the word used of Satan in Genesis 3:1, although that is a different Hebrew word.  The advice he gives Amnon comes right from the pit of hell.  It was demonic.

Scene Three – The Loyal Daughter

Tamar is one of King David’s daughters.  What do we know about her?  She was a beautiful, young woman.  She was probably in her teens.  She is the polar opposite of Amnon.  She was godly.  She was righteous.  He was selfish.  She was selfless.  She was a woman of honor.  She was a woman of character.

She is modest.  She was not dressed inappropriately.  She was obedient to her father.  She was conscientious and hardworking.  Apparently, she was also a good cook.  She thought of the needs of others, rather than her own needs.  She is caring for the sick and trying to help her brother out when he needs it.

She is not appreciated.  She is not valued.  When she takes the food to him, he doesn’t even eat it.  She gets punished for doing good.  Tamar does a good deed for Amnon and gets raped as a consequence and she was absolutely powerless to stop it.

Tamar reminds us of the sad reality of evil in the world.  Here’s what you don’t hear in church.  Evil is real.  All you have to do is to watch the news for one day.  Evil is real.  Evil can happen to believers.  God does not stop all of the evil in the world.  He did not stop what happened to Tamar and he did not stop what happened to Uriah.  Why?  God created people with a free will.  We are created with the freedom to do incredible good or incredible evil.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), “Every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted…One of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime”[2]

It is a scary statistic.  Sixteen percent of women in America are sexually assaulted.  Evil affects believers.  Sometimes, we experience it firsthand.  Evil can happen to anyone.  Even members of the royal family were not exempt from evil.  Here it happened to the king’s own daughter. Sexual abuse can even happen in the church.

This is one of the four cases of rape in the Bible. Three involved women and one involved a man.  Two involved the rape of a family member.

The four cases of rape in the Bible are the rape of Lot by his daughters (Genesis 19), the rape of Dinah by Shechem (Genesis 34), the rape of Tamar by her half-brother (II Samuel 13) and the rape of an unnamed concubine by the Benjamites (Judges 19).

This rape of Tamar is unique.  It is the only case in Scripture in which we hear the side of the innocent victim in this situation.

Scene Four – The Passive Father

In Scene four, we see a passive father.  He was what we would call today a permissive parent.  He is an indulgent parent.  His son just raped his daughter.  He gets angry but does absolutely nothing.  He was completely passive in the face of evil but there is more.

Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a desolate woman. 21 When King David heard all this, he was furious (II Samuel 13:20-21 NIV)

When King David heard what happened, he was not only angry, he was VERY angry, but he did not do anything.  Why?

We get a hint in the LXX.  II Samuel 13:20 reads in the LXX, “And king David heard of all these things, and was very angry; but he did not grieve the spirit of his son Amnon, because he loved him, for he was his first-born.” [3]

If that is the case, David was not only a permissive parent; he played favorites.  Amnon was his favorite.  David’s two parenting flaws with Amnon were indulgence and favoritism.  Amnon was his favorite son and he did not discipline him.  We still have the same problem today with some parents.

David does not rebuke Amnon.  The only one in this chapter who confronted Amnon for his sin was Tamar.  David does not do it.  He does not discipline his sin or punish him in any way.

When he died, he mourned for him.  He tore his clothes, rolled on the ground and wept bitterly (II Samuel 13:31, 36).  What we don’t see in this chapter is David mourning for Tamar.  We don’t see him weeping for his daughter.  We don’t see him tearing his clothes because of her.  We do not see him comforting his daughter either or trying to protect her.  He is absolutely silent.

What is the lesson?  David was a great king but a terrible parent.  He was great at ruling over an entire kingdom but terrible at ruling over his own household.  This was a character flaw in David.  We see it in other places (cf. I Kings 1:5-6)

The same could be true of us.  We can be great businessmen and terrible parents.  We can be great pastors and terrible parents.  That is why the NT makes this a qualification for elders.  He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect (I Timothy 3:4 NIV).

Scene Five – The Supportive Brother

One brother wants to hurt Tamar.  One brother wants to help her. He comforted his grieving sister.  He takes her into his home and he avenges her rape.  Absalom is the only one of the men who looks good in this chapter.

If you like all of those Clint Eastwood movies, you will see him as the hero. You see him as the good guy in the story.  He is the only man who stood up to evil.  He stood up to the rapist.  He defended his sister. He was the vigilante.

He does not sound like he is too supportive at first  He says, “Be quiet FOR NOW, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” (II Samuel 13:20 NIV) but what he is really saying, if you read between the lines, is, “I will take care of it.  Don’t worry about it.  Just wait.”  Don’t judge him by his words but by his actions.

He throws a party, invites his dad.  He does not come and so he asks Amnon his representative to come.  Amnon comes.  He gets drunk and then Absalom’s servants kill him.  Absalom does not kill him himself, just as David did not kill Uriah himself.  He got other people to do it.  David got Uriah drunk and now Absalom gets Amnon drunk.

Most preachers today see Absalom in a negative light.  We need to give him some credit here.  Two years went by and David did nothing.  David was not just a father; he was the king.  He could have done something.  He did not do anything, so Absalom does.

Many today see him as a murderer.  They see him as someone who takes matters into his own hands.  That is not how he would see himself.  He would see himself as one who was executing justice.  Amnon deserved to die because of what he did.  Since David would not do it.  He does it.

He would see it, not an execution, not a murder.  He was not committing cold-blooded murder.  He was avenging his sister’s rape.  The avenger of blood had the right to execute justice against someone who committed a capital offense.

On the other hand, Absalom was not a saint.  By doing this, it actually put him one step closer to the throne.  He was a bit of an opportunist.  By helping out Tamar, he was helping himself out, but Absalom was far from perfect.

Later in II Samuel, Absalom commits sexual sin himself.  He rapes ten concubines (II Samuel 16:22; 20:3).  That would make a fifth rape in the Bible.  in fact, if you count Bathsheba, that would make seven rapes in Scripture and three cases in II Samuel.

Scene Six – The Desolate Woman

Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornate robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.

20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a DESOLATE woman. (II Samuel 13:19-20 NIV)

Here was see the effect of sexual abuse on people.  Tamar is not the same person.  She is crying out loud.  She is mourning.  She put ashes on her head, and she tore her clothes.  How did the men in her life respond to her?  “Amnon abuses her, Absalom silences her, and David ignores her.”[4]

Tamar askes the question, “Where could I get rid of my disgrace? (II Samuel 13:13 NIV). She asks, How can I get rid of my shame?   Sexual assault still takes places today.  It still causes pain.  It still leads to shame but there are some differences today.

We live in a completely different world.  Three thousand years ago, a woman’s life was over if this happened.  Tamar lived in a society in a completely patriarchal society. She lived in a male-dominated society.  Women had little rights.  She lived in a society in which silence was encouraged.  She lived in a day in which it was much harder to get justice.

We live in a society in which women have more rights.  We live in a society in which silence is discouraged.  People who experience sexual abuse are encouraged to speak out and not keep secrets.  While justice today often does not take place, we have the advantage today of DNA evidence which did not exist three thousand years ago.

Evil seemed to win in Tamar’s life but it does not have to win.  The apostle Paul said, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21 NIV).

That verse tells us two things.  It is possible to be overcome by evil.  The evil in the world is real and it is horrible.  Many are overcome by evil.  They are devastated by it, but Paul says that it is also possible to overcome evil.  Evil does not have to define who you are.  You do not have to be defined by what happens to you. You can choose to let the past go.  You can choose to forgive.  The Bible teaches that God can bring good out of unimaginable evil.  There is healing for sexual abuse.

[1] One of the best sermons on this is by Colin Smith (https://unlockingthebible.org/sermon/abuse/).  It is excellent. I was familiar with the five characters in the passage but got the concept of the six scenes from him, although I different titles.

[2] https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence.

[3] https://www.biblestudytools.com/lxx/kings-ii/13.html

[4] https://unlockingthebible.org/sermon/abuse/

Ten Lies About Sin

Last week, we looked at David’s great sin.  We looked at the fall of a great man in II Samuel 11.  That chapter and the one after it are two chapters that every Christian should study.  They are very important chapters on temptation and sin.  They are very practical.

David’s great sin began with his eyes.  He saw something from the roof of his palace.  He saw a woman bathing, a beautiful woman bathing, a beautiful naked woman bathing.  Men receive sexual gratification through their eyes. Women are different kinds of creatures.  Men are visually stimulated.

This one look led to adultery and premeditated murder.  It all began with a look.  The LOOK led to THOUGHTS.  Thoughts led to DESIRES. Desires led to SIN.  Sin led to a CRIME.  Crime led to a COVER-UP.

Today, we want to What does this story say to us today?   We are going to look at ten lies about sin.  These are ten common things that people believe about sin that are wrong.  You may believe some of these lies.  We are going to look at each one and see why it is a lie from Scripture.

Lie # 1 – Sin is normal and natural

That is the first lie.  Many believe that sin is completely normal.  Sex is a natural drive, like eating and drinking.  Hunger and thirst are natural physical appetites.  Sex is a natural drive created by God.  Therefore, some argue that any type of sexual expression at any time with anyone in any way is normal.

The first lie is that sexual immorality is normal.  Pre-marital sex is normal.  Most do it.  Adultery is normal.  Homosexuality is normal.  It is part of nature.   Haven’t you heard about all of those gay penguins?

There is only one problem.  When David committed adultery and murder, the prophet Nathan said that what he did was evil. Society may approve of immorality.  God says that it is wicked.

Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is EVIL in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. (II Samuel 12:9 NIV)

Sex is created by God.  The sex drive is normal.  It is a natural God-given desire but sex like anything else can be abused and perverted.  The One who created sex also created laws to regulate it.

One of the things the Bible prohibits is sex outside of marriage.  It also prohibits any sex that is not between a man and a woman.  We live in a world in which immorality is socially acceptable that we do not see some of these things as wicked.  We do not see them as God sees them.

Lie # 2 – God is pleased no matter how I live

This lie is called antinomianism.  That was a heresy in the early church.  It said that we can live any way we want.  It is a common myth.  God accepts no matter how we live.  He accepts all people.  He accepts all religions.  He accepts all lifestyles.  It’s not true.

We see that in II Samuel 11.  David commits sins.  His plan works.  He gets what he wants.  He marries Bathsheba.  He takes her as his own and brings her to the palace but notice how the chapter ends.  The last words of the chapter say, “BUT the thing David had done DISPLEASED the Lord” (II Samuel 11:27 NIV).

David was pleased.  He was very happy.  He got what he wanted.  He was pleased but God was not pleased.  What pleases man and what pleases God are two different things, because God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

What do we have to do to please God?  Fear God and keep his commandments.  David’s son Solomon said that this is the “whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

The LORD is pleased with those who fear Him (Psalm 147:11 BSB)

whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. (I John 3:22 ESV)

David did NOT please God in II Samuel 11.  He did NOT keep God commandments.  He broke them.  In fact, he broke six of the ten commandments. He broke commandments one, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

He BROKE them.  He DESPISED them. Nathan says three times that David despised what God said (II Samuel 12:9, 10, 14). David got too powerful.  He was the king.  He thought he could do anything.  He thought he was above any rules or laws. He despised anything that held him back from what he wanted to do.

Many do this today. They know what God says about something but refuse to do it.  In fact, they have CONTEMPT for what the Bible says.  They despise the Bible. That is why many disobey it.  It is outdated.  It is old-fashioned.  It is unscientific.

Society has absolute contempt for what God says and what the Bible says about creation, about marriage, about gender, about sexuality, about abortion.  Do we fear God and keep His commandments, or do we break them?  Do we love the Word of God or do we despise it, like David did?

Lie # 3 – Sin makes you happy

That is why many women have affairs.  They say, “God wants to make me happy.  This will make me happy.”  That is the myth.  Deliberately disobeying God, and living outside His revealed will, never makes anyone happy.

David pursued Bathsheba.  He saw her.  He wanted her.  He coveted her.  He took her.  He married her.  He got to keep her.  On the outside, he was happy.  On the inside he was miserable.

He had a guilty conscience.  He couldn’t worship God.  This went on for a whole year.  Can you image how depressed and irritable he must have been during that time?

Sin separates us from God.  David was living in sin.  He killed man.  He killed a good man.  He betrayed a friend.  He was living in unconfessed sin.  He was out of fellowship with God.

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. (Psalm 32:1-4 NIV)

Many think that if you disobey the Bible and do what you want to do, you will be happy.  You will be fulfilled.  Sin does have pleasures.  In is pleasurable.  It is fun.  If preachers tell you that it is not, they are lying.

The Bible talks about “the pleasure of sin” (Hebrews 11:25) but it says that the pleasures of sin are ONLY “for a season”.  They do not last.  Proverbs 20:17 says, “Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel” (ESV).

Lie # 4 – I can get away with sin

That is the fourth lie.  It is the lie that you can get away with your sin.  You can hide it.  David tries that.  He engaged in the most famous cover-up in history, but it did not work.  It all came out in the end.

You may be sure that your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23 NIV)

You don’t have to read the Bible to know this.  All you have to do is to read the newspaper or watch a few episodes of Forensic Files.  People always think that they can commit the perfect crime and never get caught.

They think they can hide their crime from people.  They think they can destroy all of the evidence and leave no trace of what they did but their sin always finds them out.  It catches up to them, because of modern technology and DNA evidence.

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. (Luke 12:2 NIV)

Do we do what David did?  Do we try to hide our sins?  What does the Bible teach?

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13 NIV)

Lie # 5 – I could never fall into deep sin

David did not just commit a little sin.  He committed a big sin.  He did not commit it before he was saved. He committed it after he was saved.  He did not commit it when he was a young man.  He committed them when he was an older man.

If King David could fall, a real man of God, a man after God’s heart, a great man of faith, a man who could slay giants in his life, then we can fall.  David is the last man we would expect to do this.  Are we overconfident like Peter was?

Many think that they could never fall into deep sin.  This is the lie of overconfidence.  Peter was guilty of it and he was an apostle.

Jesus predicts that ALL of the Apostles would fall away on account of Jesus (Matthew 26:31-34).  It is a very specific prediction.  He even tells when it will happen.  That very night it would happen.

Peter said, “Everyone else will but I won’t.”  He meant well but his mistake was trying to correct Jesus.  It never goes well when you try to tell Jesus that He is wrong.  Jesus said, “Not only will you disown me, but you will do it three times.”  Jesus knew Peter’s heart better than he did.

Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (I Corinthians 10:12 ESV)

Lie #6 – Sinful desires are not wrong if you don’t act on them

We had a professor at a university in Virginia this last week that said this very thing.  He said that you can have desires for children and not be a sex offender.

Most would say that it is okay to have lustful thoughts about someone as long as you don’t act on them. That is the definition of “safe sex”.  You don’t have to worry about STDs.  You don’t have to worry about getting anyone pregnant.

What is wrong with this approach?  One, it contradicts what Jesus plainly taught.  He taught the exact opposite.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has ALREADY committed ADULTERY with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28 NIV)

Jesus did NOT say that it is wrong to appreciate beauty.  He did not say that attraction to the opposite sex is wrong.  He did NOT even say that all sexual lust is wrong.  God was the one who created the sex drive.  What He condemned is thinking about, desiring, lusting after someone who is not your spouse.  The world says it is innocent and harmless.  Jesus says it is adultery.  It is mental adultery.

Two, one sin often leads to another.  Sin is a slippery slope.  It is progressive.  That is what we see in these chapters.  The sins get worse.  David’s sin began with adultery but ended in murder, not just the murder of Uriah but the murder of other soldiers who also died on that day (II Samuel 11:24).  Sin produces more sin. Have we bought into this lie?

Lie # 7 – There is nothing you can do to prevent sin.

This is the next lie.  You can’t do anything to prevent sin.  It just happens.  That lie is completely refuted by this chapter.  We see that in the first verse of the chapter.  In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army…But David remained in Jerusalem. (II Samuel 11:1 NIV)

It was the time when the kings went off the battle.  David was a king.  He should have gone out to battle.  Other kings went out.  He should have been out leading his troops.  Instead, he stayed home.

Now leaders do not always do this today.  When we have a war, the President does not go on the battlefield even though he is the Commander-in-Chief of the army, according to the Constitution. In that day, kings did go out to battle.

David stayed home.  He was not where he was supposed to be.  That made him vulnerable to temptation.  If he went off to battle, he would never have seen Bathsheba.  He never would have sinned.  He could have prevented sin by being in the will of God and by being where he was supposed to be.

All of us have a weakness in some area of our life.  We have sins we struggle with.  What steps are we taking to avoid sinning?  Are we taking any?  Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away… And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. (Matthew 5:29-30 NIV).

On the other hand, you can be right where you are supposed to be and still be tempted.  Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness where He was tempted by the Devil (Matthew 4:1).  He was in the right place.  He was in the will of God.  He was filled with the Spirit and He was still tempted.

David did not go roof with some binoculars looking for naked women.  Now, He was not a Peeping Tom.  He just happened to see one.  It all happened accidentally.  All it took was one look and he was destroyed, and it was an accidental look.

How do you avoid sin in that situation? David should have done what Job did.  Job made a covenant with his eyes (Job 31:1).  What does that mean?  How do we make a covenant with our eyes?  How do we do that?

There are certain things that we do not let out eyes see.  It means we have to avoid looking at certain things (pornography).  It also means if you see something that you shouldn’t see, you turn away.  You don’t keep looking.  David apparently did not do that.

Lie # 8 – I do not need help when I fall into sin

When we sin, we deceive ourselves.  When we sin, we think we can deal with it ourselves.  David tries that and nothing happened.  He commits major sin, multiple major sins, and he does not repent.  Time went by and he still did not repent.

He does not repent on his own.  God has to send someone to confront him.  Sometimes the ONLY way people will repent of for other people to talk to them about their sin.  The Bible was NOT just given for teaching, for doctrine.  It was also given to REPROVING and CORRECTING people (II Timothy 3:16). Some people need to be rebuked. Sometimes, God has to use us to lovingly confront someone else who is in sin.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1 ESV)

Have you ever had to confront someone who was living in sin?  We don’t do it too much today.  Most of us do not like to confront people.  They usually do not respond too well.

God sent someone to confront David. God sent was Nathan.  Nathan was someone David knew, someone David respected.  He had been with David when he was a fugitive (I Samuel 22:5).  He was David’s friend, but he was also a real prophet.  Nathan’s job was to rebuke the king.  He was sent by God to confront his boss.

Notice HOW he did it. What he does is brilliant.  Nathan used wisdom.  He used tact.  Nathan did NOT walk in the door and say, “You filthy sinner, Repent or Perish.”  He did NOT hit him over the head with his sin.  He did not point a finger at David.  He did NOT castigate him for committing deep sexual sin in the royal palace.

Instead, He tells a story.  The story is called a parable.  Jesus did not invent parables.  There are some in the OT.  This story was about animals.  David was an animal lover.  He loved animals.  He used to be a shepherd.  He tells the shepherd David a sheep story.  This story was about a poor man with a pet lamb that he loved.

It is about how a man who was filthy rich and had plenty of animals stole this poor man’s only animal and killed it for a guest.  This story hit a nerve.  It made David angry at the man who did this.  He said that the man should die.  Nathan says, “YOU are the man.  You are the one who did this.”

David had no idea that this rebuke was coming.  He wasn’t expecting it.  Nathan traps him with a harmless little parable.  He let David decide what the punishment should be for this crime.

Nathan shows us how to deliver a rebuke to someone.  He shows us how to speak the truth in love.  He has the perfect balance.  He is NOT all negative and he is NOT all positive.

He tells him that God HAS forgiven him of his sin.  He tells him that he will NOT die.  Both adultery and murder were capital crimes in the OT.  He also tells David to his face that he is GUILTY.  He tells him that what he did was EVIL.  He tells him that he will suffer COSEQUENCES of his life for the rest of his life for what he has done.  David response with genuine repentance.

Lie # 9 – I could never be forgiven for what I have done

That is the lie.  What is the truth?  Sin is forgivable, not just little sins but big sins.  Any sin can be forgiven. You can commit adultery and be forgiven. You can commit homosexuality and be forgiven.  You can commit cold-blooded murder and be forgiven.  No sin is too big to be forgiven.

Every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven (Matthew 12:31 NIV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness. (I John 1:9 NIV)

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool (Isaiah 1:18 NIV).

The Lord has put away your sin” (II Samuel 12:13 NIV). David said that the Lord forgave the guilt of my sin (Psalm 32:5 NIV).

There is just one catch.  In order to be forgiven, there has to be genuine repentance.  We do have to confess our sins.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9 NIV)

Five Signs of a False Confession

Genuine repentance is more than just saying, “I am sorry.” Or “I have sinned.”  Many people say, “I am sorry” and do not really repent.

King Saul said, “I have sinned.”  He said it twice ((I Samuel 15:24, 30) but did not mean it.  What are some signs of a false confession?

1) Your confession is FALSE if you say it for the wrong reason.

Politicians say the words, “I have sinned” all the time when they are caught.  They say it for the wrong reason.

2) Your confession is FALSE if you say it and do not really mean it.

Many say, “I have sinned” but do not really mean it.  They are just a bunch of words.

3) Your confession is FALSE if you say it and do not take full responsibility for your sins.

Many say the words “I have sinned” but do not take FULL responsibility.  They make excuses or blame others for what they have done.

4) Your confession is FALSE if you say it and try to cover up what you have done.

If you try to cover up, hide or minimize what you have done (I did it but it is not a big deal”), you have not genuinely confessed your sin.

5) Your confession is FALSE if you say it and do not make any change in your life.

You have to confess and forsake your sins (Proverbs 28:13).  When the Scribes and Pharisees came to be baptized by John the Baptist, he called them “a brood of vipers”.  He said, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8 NIV).

Lie # 10 – I can sin and not suffer any consequences of my sin

That is the ninth lie.  An old pastor from Chicago used to say, “Choose to sin.  Choose to suffer.”  If you sin, you can be forgiven but forgiveness does NOT remove the consequences of sin.  You can commit murder and be forgiven but you may spend fifty years behind bars as a consequence.  You could lose your marriage or your health.

David faced consequences for his sin.  We see four consequences in this chapter.

CONSEQUENCE ONE: An unwanted pregnancy.  David only had sex with Bathsheba only one time, and she got pregnant and gave birth.  That sounds like a good thing comes out of a bad situation.

CONSEQUENCE TWO: Death of an infant.  Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are NOT going to die. 14 BUT because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.” (II Samuel 12:13-14 NIV)

It got sick and died. After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. (II Samuel 11:15 NIV).  This verse is a problem for some preachers.  How many times have you been told by preachers that God wants everybody healthy, and He never makes anyone sick?

This passage says point blank that the Lord struck the child, and he became ill.  This baby died and it was David’s fault.  He knew it. How did David respond once the child died?

Was he mad at God?  Was he angry and bitter the rest of his life?  No.  He accepted God’s justice.  He went into the house of the Lord and worshipped God.  He returned to his house and ate and comforted his wife (II Samuel 12:20, 24).

CONSEQUENCE THREE: Sexual assault in David’s own family.  David committed sexual sins with another man’s wife and now sexual sin will take place with David’s wives and his own kids. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (II Samuel 12:11-12 NIV).

CONSEQUENCE FOUR: Violence and murder in David’s own family.  Now, therefore, the sword will NEVER depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ (II Samuel 12:10 NIV).

Three of his kids will die violent deaths (Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah).  They all die by the sword. One of them was his firstborn son who he will lose. Children raped each other, killed each other and tried to take over David’s throne.  David’s sin affected the rest of his family.  It did not just affect him.  It affected some of his other wives.  It affected his kids.  Sin has consequences.

Why Did God kill David’s Infant Son for David’s Sin?

Critics raise this objection.   It does not seem right.  It seems wrong.  God says, “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16 NIV).

How can God tell us not to do this and then He does it? Isn’t this a contradiction?  Why did God murder King David’s innocent child?  How do you answer them?  There are a couple of problems with the question.

First, God is NOT killing an innocent child.  Babies are not born innocent.  They are not born drinking whiskey and smoking a cigar, but they are all born in sin (cf. Romans 5:12-19).

Second, it is not murder if God takes a human life.  He is the Creator.  He can do that at any time.  He has the perfect right to do that.  He gives life and He can take it at any time.

Isn’t that punishing the child?  Not really.  It is rewarding the child.  The baby boy went immediately to Heaven.  The child got an upgrade. He had a much better life than living on earth in David’s messed up family, as we will see from the next chapter.

But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (II Samuel 12:23 NIV).

This brings us to a passage that is very important to help people who are grieving the loss of a loved one, especially the loss of a child.  This passage teaches three important truths that every Christian should know.

1) This passage teaches that there is life after death.  David clearly believed in life after death. There is no doubt about it.

2) This passage teaches that infants who die go to heaven.  David’s baby boy went there.  It is not a stretch to assume other babies go there as well.

3) This passage teaches that there will be a reunion of believers and infant children who have died in the afterlife. David says, “I will go to him.”

That should be a comfort to every mother who has lost a child to a miscarriage.  It also helps answer the question of whether aborted babies go to heaven.  The passage is not dealing with abortion, but we can infer from this passage that they do go to heaven after they die.

David’s Great Sin

We are going to look at two important chapters in II Samuel that every Christian should know.  We are going to spend two weeks on these chapters.  We are going to look at these chapters in a completely different way.   We are going to look at David’s sin.

We are also going to see how David’s scandal compared to presidential scandals in our own day.  There are some myths that people have about David and they are some myths that people have about Bathsheba.

Today, we are going to look at the fall of a great man.  David was not just a good man.  He was a great man.   He is one of the greatest men of the Bible.  He was Israel’s greatest king.  He was greater than we will ever be.  He is mentioned in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11.

What we learn from II Samuel 11 is that even great men can fall.  King David was saved.  He was a believer fell into sin.  He did not fall into a little sin.  He fell into some big sins.

David did not want to face a physical battle, so he did not go off to war with everyone else. He stayed behind in the palace and faced another battle, a moral battle. This battle he lost. He could defeat the nine-foot-tall Philistine giant but there was a giant on the inside that he could not defeat.

David slew Goliath but this giant slew David. He was soundly defeated. This was the giant that David could not defeat. Our greatest enemies that we will ever face are not physical. They are not external. They are internal. They are invisible. They are spiritual.

This chapter is SHOCKING.  It describes David’s great sin.  It starts with a sexual SIN.  The sin becomes a CRIME.  The sin leads to violence.  It leads to bloodshed.  It leads to a homicide.  The crime turns into a COVER-UP. The cover-up is always worse than the crime. It still is today.  This led to a SCANDAL in Israel.

Everyone knows two famous stories about David.  Everyone knows the story about David and Goliath.  Everyone knows the story about David and Bathsheba.

The David and Goliath story took place when he was young.  He was so young that no one took him seriously.  David’s defeat of Goliath was the greatest victory in his life.  It was David at his best.

The David and Bathsheba story took place when he was much older.  David was a middle age man.  He was married.  He is not a kid anymore.  The story of adultery with Bathsheba is the story of David’s greatest defeat.  It is David at his worst.

In this chapter, we come to a different David than the David we talk about in church.  Here we see, not David the saint, but David the sinner.  We see David the adulterer.  We see David the murderer, the cold-blooded killer.  We see David the liar and David the deceiver. We see David the hypocrite.

In this chapter, David is NOT the hero.  He is the villain.  It is a different David than we are used to seeing.

We think of David the great giant killer. We think of David, great man of faith.  We think of David as a man after God’s own heart.  We think of David as “God’s anointed.”  He was an anointed king.

We think of the writer of Scripture.  David wrote the best devotional book of all-time.  He wrote the Book of Psalms.  He was the one who wrote “The Lord is My Shephard” in Psalm 23.  In II Samuel 11, we see a different side to David.  This David does not even look like the same man.

The David we learned about in church was a godly, spiritual man.  He wrote Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  This David wrote a letter to have a man killed in cold blood, like he is a member of the mafia.

He doesn’t kill him himself.  He gets hit men, professional killers, to do the job. This was calculated.  It was premeditated.  The same person did both.  It sounds like they are almost two completely different people

The David we learned about in church had compassion on people.  He had compassion on handicapped people and people with disabilities (Mephibosheth).  He forgave his enemies. When he finally got a chance to kill crazy the demon-possessed Saul who had been tormenting him for years, he refused to do it.

David refused to kill a bad man but, in this chapter, he kills a good man.  He kills Uriah, who was one of his best soldiers.  He returned good for evil when it came to king Saul, but he returned evil for good when it came to Uriah.

David’s Scandal & the Clinton Scandal

We have seen plenty of political scandals in our history.  Our last sex scandal in the White house involved Bill Clinton in 1998.  Sex scandals did not begin with Bill Clinton. King David had one three thousand years ago in the palace in Israel.

There are a lot of similarities between Bill Clinton’s scandal and King David’s scandal.

Both were about the same age at the time.  Both were middle-aged men.  David is about fifty.  Bill Clinton was in his fifties during his scandal.

Both were married at the time and had kids.

Both were musicians.  King David played the harp and Bill Clinton played the saxophone.

Both were political leaders (heads of state).  One was a king, and one was a President.

Both committed a secret sin.  God says what David did was in secret (II Samuel 12:12).

Both committed a sexual sin.

Both tried to cover up their sin.

Both continued in office after their sin

Even though there were many similarities, there were some important differences

One, Bill Clinton had sex with a single woman.  David had sex with a married woman.

Two, David’s scandal led to the birth of a child.

Three, David’s scandal led to a bunch of people dying, not just Uriah (cf. II Samuel 11:17). No one died over the Monica Lewinski affair.

What he did was much worse.  Even though David’s crime was worse, when he was confronted about it, he did not deny it.  He didn’t rationalize it.  He confessed his sin.

Myths about David

It is true that David had a problem with sexual lust.  Most men today have the same problem but there is no evidence that he had some kind of sexual addiction. He was not a womanizer.  He did not have continuous affairs with multiple women.  David was not a serial adulterer.  It was a one-time act.  It was a one-night stand.

David had one affair and it became the turning point in his life.  It ruined the rest of his life.  He is never the same after this incident. How many people have done something similar?  They do one stupid thing, and their life is ruined.  It is never the same. Some have lost their job, their reputation or ministry forever.

Summary of Events

The story begins with a war.  Israel is at war with the Ammonites.  Why are they fighting the Ammonites?  You have to go back and read II Samuel 10 to get the answer. Israel eventually defeats them and makes them slaves in II Samuel 12 after they completely humiliated the Jews in chapter 10.

In II Samuel 11, the troops go out to fight but David stays behind in the palace.  Instead of being on the battlefield, he is in the bedroom.  He is in his bed.

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace (II Samuel 11:2 NIV).

Preachers criticize David here.  What was he doing in bed all day?  He wasted the whole day in bed, as they have never taken a nap before.  People take naps today and they took them three thousand years ago.  This was “evening” (NIV) or “late afternoon” (ESV).

After laying down, David gets up.  Perhaps he couldn’t sleep.  He gets up and goes outside.  He walks on the roof to get some fresh air.  The roof was the coolest place in the house.  He did not have air-conditioning.  Why is he going on the roof? We don’t do that today.  We would fall off the roof.  David had a flat roof.

While he was outside from a distance, he saw a woman bathing. He sees a woman.  He sees a naked woman.  He sees a beautiful naked woman.  She was taking a bath and her name was Bathsheba.  What do we know about her?

Who Was Bathsheba?

and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” (II Samuel 11:3 NIV).

What does David find out about Bathsheba?  He learned several things.

One, she was MARRIED.  She was a married woman.  That should have put her off limits to David.  Adultery was a capital crime in the Law of Moses.  Today, adultery is no big deal.  It happens all the time but in David’s time, it was punishable by death.

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10).

Two, she was married to URIAH.  Uriah was one of David’s best soldiers.  He was one of David’s “mighty men” (II Samuel 23:23-39).

It was a select group of elite fighters, like the SEALS today.  He had a Jewish name, but he was a Hittite.  He was a Jewish convert.  Bathsheba might have been a Gentile as well.

Three, her dad’s name was ELIAM.  Eliam was also one of David’s mighty men.  He was also one of his top fighters (II Samuel 23:34).

Four, her grandfather’s name was AHITHOPHEL.  We know that from II Samuel 23:34. He was one of his most trusted advisers.  We know that from II Samuel 16:23. Bathsheba was his granddaughter.  Later in II Samuel, he commits suicide (II Samuel 17:23).

That should have stopped David in his tracks, but it doesn’t.  Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her (II Samuel 11:4 NIV).  Then she goes home.

Myths about Bathsheba

Some male chauvinist preachers actually blame her.  They see her as the bathtub temptress.  Here is a lonely wife.  Her husband was off fighting on the battlefield.   She is left alone at home.

She was beautiful.  She is immodest.  She had her eye on the king all along and used her beauty to entice David and seduce him.  She takes a bath in full view of the king.

This requires a rather creative imagination.  It sounds like a good romance novel.  It reads things into the text that are not there.

The Bible does NOT blame her.  It blames David.  Nathan does not go confront Bathsheba.  He goes and confronts David.  He said, “YOU are the man.”  He places all of the blame on David, not on Bathsheba.

She was minding her business taking a bath.  She did not know anyone was watching.  She was an object of David’s lust.  She was the victim.  She did NOT initiate the encounter.  David did.  David was on the roof and saw Bathsheba.  David investigated who she was, stalked her and took her.  He did not invite her to the palace.  He took her.

This relationship is NOT described as a romance.  It is NOT described as a love story.  It is NOT described as an affair.  David saw her, sent for her, and TOOK her.  It is one-sided.  It sounds more like rape.

David was the most powerful man in the country.  He sent messengers to take her.  We are not told that she is given any choice in the matter.  She has no voice.  She only says three words in the chapter: “I am pregnant.”  It is only two words in Hebrew.

We do not even know if she saw David when she was bathing or even know he was there.  She probably thought he was off on the battlefield.  Let’s imagine what life was like for Bathsheba.  It might look like she had everything.  She was drop-dead gorgeous but she had many problems.  She suffers trauma and tragedy in her life.

1) She did not have any children.  Kids were a big deal in that day.  Married women in that day wanted to have kids and she did not have any yet.  She tried but did not have any, like other women had.

2) She is separated from her husband for months at a time.  He is off fighting the Ammonites in battle (II Samuel 11:1), and she is left home alone.

3) She is raped by the king (II Samuel 11:4 ESV).  The king called her to the palace.   She did not know why.  She probably assumed that he was going to tell her that her husband was killed on the battlefield but finds out that she is called there for another reason.  Women had no rights.  This was a patriarchal society.

4) Her husband is murdered, and she becomes a widower (II Samuel 11:26-27). We are told that she mourned for him.  When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. (II Samuel 11:26 NIV).  She did not want him to die.  She loved her husband. She grieved for him after he died.

5) She gets pregnant, has a baby, and her baby dies.  After losing her husband, who she loved, she loses her baby. It was her first baby.

6) Finally, she is forced to marry her husband’s murderer and rapist.

7) Her grandfather kills himself.  He commits suicide.

Bathsheba did not have an easy life, but she does marry the king, moves into the palace and becomes David’s most famous wife.  One of her sons becomes the next king (Solomon) and she becomes an ancestor to the Messiah.  Bathsheba is in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.

David’s Three Plans

What happens next in the story?  Bathsheba gets pregnant. David now has a problem.  What David did is not what people would do today.  They would just have an abortion.  That is how many today deal with an unwanted pregnancy.  That was not an option for David, so he ordered Uriah home, so people will think it is his child.  There were no DNA tests back then.

Uriah came home to Jerusalem for three days and still did not go home to his wife.  The OT says that soldiers were not to have sex when they were at war (Deuteronomy 23:9-11).

Uriah the Hittite is more righteous than David the Jew.  David did not go to war and had sex with another man’s wife.  Uriah went to war and refused to have sex with his own wife.  The Hittite was living better than the Jew.

When the first plan did not work, David went to Plan B.  He fed Uriah some food and got him drunk.  Drunkenness is a sin.  David led him to sin, but he still refused to sleep with his wife.  Uriah had more integrity drunk that David had sober.

When that did not work, he went to Plan C.  He had Uriah killed.  He did not kill him. He used the Ammonites to do it.  He sends him to the front of the line and pulls the troops back.  David commits adultery and then cold-blooded murder.  He plots a man’s death.

When David hears the words “Uriah your servant is dead,” David did NOT feel guilty.  He felt relieved.  In fact, Joab said when you tell David about how many people died in the battle and you want to cheer David up, just say, “Uriah also is dead.”   Then, David married Bathsheba. David covered up the sin more by marrying Bathsheba, which was legal at this point.

God gave David some time to repent but he didn’t, so he sent Nathan the prophet to him.  Nathan confronts David to his face and says, “You are the man.  You are guilty.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. (II Samuel 12:7-8 NIV)

God blessed David abundantly.  He prospered him.  He gave him all kinds of success and David still commits adultery.

“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.’ (Jeremiah 5:7 NIV).

You can’t feel sorry for David.  It is not like he can’t get his needs met at home.  He’s not sexually deprived.  He had multiple wives.  He had seven wives before Bathsheba.[1] He was married to a lot of beautiful wives already. This was NOT about sex.

After confronting David, Nathan told him what the consequences of his sin would be, consequences he would have to deal with the rest of his life.  One of those consequences is that Bathsheba’s baby will die.  No matter how much he prays and fasts, the baby dies.

What was David’s response?  He could have said, “I did not have sex with that woman.”  He could have pulled a Bill Clinton.

He could have pulled a King Saul and blamed other people.  He could have blamed Bathsheba.

Instead, he confessed.  Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (II Samuel 12:13 NIV).  He took full responsibility for his actions. He says, “It’s my fault. I am to blame.”

Next week, we will look at lessons and applications from the fall of King David.

[1] II Samuel 3:1-5 mentions six wives plus he married Michal.

The Secret to Success

We have been studying the life of King David, Israel’s greatest king.  Last time, we looked at II Samuel 7.  Today, we are going to look at the next three chapters of the book.  They are short chapters.

We see in these chapters that David was not passive.  He was a man of action.  He wanted to do things.  David asks three very important questions.  These are questions that we should ask ourselves today.  These three questions all boil down to loving God and loving people.

The FIRST QUESTION question is, “What can I do for God?”  David had a passion for God, and he wanted to do something for him.  He wanted to build God a temple. God said, “No” but the desire itself was good.  What do we want to do for God?

The SECOND QUESTION is, “What can I do for my country?” The country had enemies that hated the Jews.  It had enemies on all sides which attacked, mistreated and abused his people, as we see in II Samuel 8 & 10.

David smote his enemies.  You say, “That is not very Christian.  Aren’t we supposed to forgive our enemies?”  On a personal level we are.  That command is given to individuals, not nations.  David was the leader of a country.  He was a king.

The THIRD QUESTION is, “What can I do to people in need? What can I do to help people who are suffering? How can I bless people?  How can I show kindness to people?”  He asks this question in II Samuel 9.

II Samuel 9 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  It is perhaps David’s greatest hour.  Someone commented that everyone knows the story of David and Goliath.  Everyone knows the story of David and Bathsheba but not as many know the story about David and Mephibosheth.[1]  It is a powerful story.  It is one of the coolest stories in the Bible.

Today, we are going to talk about success.  Everyone wants to be successful in life.  No one wants to be a failure.  People want to be successful, no matter what they do.  How does that happen?

How do we become successful, not just successful in ministry but in other areas of our life, like at work or at home?  What is the secret to success?  In these three short chapters, we will see the secret to success.  David was extremely successful.

David was at the high point of his career.  He has victory after victory.  He has success after success.  What caused his success?  Why was David so successful?  Today, we are going to look at four principles of success from the life of David.

Before we do that, let’s look at his success in these chapters.  These chapters focus on David’s MILITARY SUCCESS.  They deal with David’s empire.  They are about foreign conquest.  These chapters are violent.  They are bloody.  A lot of people die.  There are mass casualties.

That’s what happens in war.  David kills twenty-two thousand Zobahites (II Samuel 8:5).  He kills eighteen thousand Edomites (II Samuel 8:13).  He kills forty-one thousand Arameans (II Samuel 10:18).

Many criticize what David does in the other two chapters.  If you have a problem with what David does here, you will have a problem with what the Son of David will do in the future.  When Jesus returns to earth, He will return as King of Kings.

Preachers do not talk about this too much but when Jesus returns, there will be a bloodbath.  A lot of Gentiles will be killed.  The Book of Revelation talks about a river of blood that is five feet deep.

What seems hard to understand is what David does to the Moabites.  He had Moabite blood in him.  His great grandmother (Ruth) was ethnically a Moabitess (Ruth 4:17). David left his parents in the care of the king of Moab (I Samuel 22:4) and yet David executes these Moabites.

Why was he so harsh on these Moabites?  We don’t know.  According to Jewish tradition, the king of Moab betrayed David’s trust and killed his parents and possibly his brothers.  That is what Rabbinic tradition says but we don’t know this for sure.

David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute. (II Samuel 8:2 NIV)

It seems cruel and barbaric but there is another way to look at this.  This may actually be a sign of mercy.  I Samuel 27:9 says, “Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive” (NIV).  Here, two-thirds are put to death and one-third are spared.  It is more humane.  He could have killed them all as God’s enemies, but he does not do that.

David does not completely destroy any of these nations.  He doesn’t wipe them off of the map.  He defeats them and he subjugates them.  They pay him taxes, but he doesn’t exterminate them.

Today, we want to talk about the secret to success.  The first ten chapters of II Samuel deal with the TRIUMPHS of King David.  David is on his way up.  By the time we get to these chapters, David is at the top of his career.

He is the definition of success.  He has fame (II Samuel 8:13).  He was a national hero.  There were songs sung about him.  He has wealth, the wealth of a king.  He is living in a brand-new fancy palace.  He has all these beautiful wives.  The country is united.  It is not divided, like our country is today with red states and blue states, liberals and conservatives.

On the battlefield, he has victory after victory and success after success.  He defeats all of his enemies in every direction, north, south, east and west.  He defeated his enemies to the north (the Arameans).  He defeated his enemies south (the Edomites).  He defeated his enemies east (the Moabites, the Syrians) and west (the Philistines).

The last one was a big deal.  The Philistines were a big problem for the Jews.  They were the ones who killed King Saul and his son Jonathon.  David finally defeats them, and you don’t hear about them again unto the time of Hezekiah.  Just by looking at a map, you can see how successful David was.  Israel looked much bigger under King David than it looks today in the modern state of Israel.

The Empire of David

Israel Today

Four Principles of Success

What caused David’s success?  There was only one thing that caused it.  It was God.  Two times in II Samuel 8 we see the words, “The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.”  We see it in II Samuel 8:6 & II Samuel 8:14.

That is the only reason that he was successful and it is the only reason that we are successful today but there are four principles of success that we see in these chapters.

1) Put God first in your life

How did David put God first?  He wanted to build God a temple.  He wanted to bring the ark (the presence of God) to Jerusalem.  When he defeated his enemies, he dedicated the spoils to God.

David took spoils from his enemies and used them to build the temple, articles of silver, of gold and of bronze (II Samuel 8:10). King David dedicated these articles to the Lord, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued (II Samuel 8:11 NIV).

This is very interesting.  The temple was built by the Gentiles.  They provided a lot of money to build it.  That is a type or picture of NT truth.

The NT describes the church as a temple.  We are a temple to God, a spiritual temple. What is this temple made up of?  It is mostly made up of Gentiles.

But seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33 NIV).

Do we put God first in our life?  Does He come second, third or last?

2) Follow Scripture

If you are going to be successful, you have to obey God.  You have to follow Scripture.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8 NIV)

David does this here.  Everything he does here is in the will of God.  David expands the territory of Israel, but David is not an imperialist.  He is not trying to conquer the world.  He’s not Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan.  He is not Adolf Hitler.

These were territories that God gave to the Jews.  They were deeded to Israel.  God owns the whole earth, and He gave certain land the Jews.  He has a right to do that.  He created it.  He owns it.

Are we obedient to the Word?  Do we even know what it says?  Jesus said, “If you love me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 KJV)

3) Live a life of integrity

David did that.  We see that in II Samuel 9.  II Samuel 9 is all about a promise kept.  Jonathon died.  David became king and twenty years later, he remembered a promise he made to Jonathon.

Do you keep your promises?  It is a test of character.  Many don’t.  Many make promises but don’t keep them.  Politicians make campaign promises and don’t keep them.

David promised when he became king that he would always watch out for Jonathon’s family.  He kept that promise even after Jonathon died and even after Jonathon’s dad tried to kill him for years.

David could have held a grudge.  Instead, he kept his promise.  He made a covenant with Jonathon.  He swore an oath to Jonathon, and he kept it.  Do we live a life of integrity?  Would non-Christians say that we live a life of integrity?  Do we keep our promises?

The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; 3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; 4 who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind (Psalm 15:2-4 NIV)

4) Show compassion to people in need

A fourth thing that David does in these chapter is that he shows kindness to people.  He not only shows kindness, he goes out looking for someone to show kindness to.  He goes on a kindness search.

David showed kindness TWICE in our section (once in II Samuel 9 and once in II Samuel 10).  He showed kindness to a Jew in II Samuel 9.  He showed kindness to a Gentile in II Samuel 10.

David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show KINDNESS for Jonathan’s sake?” (II Samuel 9:1 NIV)

In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. 2 David thought, “I will show KINDNESS (same word) to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. (II Samuel 10:1-2 NIV)

He showed kindness to a member of a rival dynasty (Mephibosheth) and he showed kindness to the king of an enemy nation (Hanun).

One act of was received and one was not.  Hanun didn’t trust David.  He thought he was up to no good. When you try to do good to some people, they get suspicious but, in both cases, David had no ulterior motives.  He just wanted to be kind to people.

Does that describe us?  Every Christian should be kind to people.  Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Galatians 5:22 ESV).  We are to be clothed with kindness.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12 NIV).  Are we clothed in kindness?  Do we go out of our way to show kindness to people?

What we learn about David is that he was also a man of mercy and compassion.  He had a heart for people who were suffering.  That is interesting.  David was a strong leader.

He was strong enough to lead a nation and subdue his enemies.  He a military man.  He killed people on the battlefield but there was another side to David.  We see his true nature.

David was kind and compassionate.  He had a compassion for the needy.  Many mock and ridicule these people.  David had a heart for people who were disabled and handicapped.  He had a heart for people with special needs.

The Life of Mephibosheth

That brings us to the story about Mephibosheth.  It is a true story.  What do we know about Mephibosheth?

1) Mephibosheth was a son of Jonathon, David’s best friend

Jonathon was the son of Saul.  That made him Saul’s grandson.  He had royal blood in him.  Saul was Israel’s first king.  Mephibosheth was a physical descendant of Israel’s first king.

2) Mephibosheth experienced incredible tragedy in his life

When he was five years old, three bad things happened to him.  They all happened on the same day.  He lost his father.  He lost his grandfather, and he became crippled (II Samuel 4:4).  He was crippled by a fall. He was hurt by other people.

Many of us are like Mephibosheth.  We have been hurt in life by someone.  Some people hurt you intentionally.  Mephibosheth was hurt because of an accident.  His nurse was trying to help him, but she hurt him accidentally.

3) Mephibosheth was completely dependent on others

Mephibosheth was dropped when he was five.  Now he is a grown man.  This is twenty years later or longer and he is lame, not on one foot but on both feet.  He is permanently disabled.

He can’t walk.  He can’t work.  He cannot earn money.  He has to live with someone because he can’t support himself.  A man named Machir let him live with him.  Machir was a wealthy man.

4) Mephibosheth had a negative self-image

How do we know?  Mephibosheth said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” (II Samuel 9:8 NIV).  Mephibosheth did not say that he was a living dog but a dead dog.  He does not even feel like a real man.

He is married and has a son, but he thought bad about himself.  He could have been a successor to the throne, but he was dropped and then he was damaged and broken permanently.  He had no future. He had no hope.

He had royal blood in him, but he did not see himself as a prince but as a piece of garbage.  He saw himself as completely worthless, like the rest of society saw him.  He did not look good.  He was physically deformed.  He looked like a freak.  He was a social outcast.  Every day, he was angry, bitter and depressed.

5) Mephibosheth lived in hiding every day

Mephibosheth is not only a poor man, living with Machir, he is hiding from David.  Why was he hiding?  Kings in that day typically wiped out the old dynasty.  There was a dynastic slaughterer.

Today, if Democrats take over the White House, Republicans just lose their job or vice versa.  In that day, the old dynasty was slaughtered, so Mephibosheth has to hide.  He hides far away in a place called Lodebar.

Lodebar was a barren wasteland.  It means “a land of no pasture.  It is a place of dryness and negativity.  It was a desert wasteland where many live today.  It was far away from the king.

There is a river between him and King David (the Jordan).  He is living in total fear.  Every day he thinks he might die.  He could be killed at any time.  He was always looking over his shoulder.  He is afraid he might be found.

6) Mephibosheth’s worst fear was finally realized

Job said, “What I always feared has happened to me” (Job 3:25 NLT).  Mephibosheth lives in fear every day and then, one day, it happened.  He was located.  A servant ratted him out.  Mephibosheth hears a big knock on the door.

Who is it?  We are here from the royal palace in Jerusalem.  We are under direct orders to take you to King David immediately.  Mephibosheth was shaking in his boots.

Mephibosheth did not know anything about a covenant between him and his father.  He assumed the worst.  All he knew is that King David was the one his grandfather tried to kill for years and that now the most powerful man in the country suddenly wants to see him and he is absolutely terrified.  He is petrified.

7) Mephibosheth was rewarded beyond his wildest dreams

There is a plot twist in the story.  David does not punish Mephibosheth.  He rewards him.  He expected to be executed on the spot.  Instead of facing the sword, he is rewarded by King David.

David makes him an instant multi-millionaire.  He grants him all of the land that his grandfather Saul owned.  I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul (II Samuel 9:7 NIV).

He goes from completely broke to owning all of his grandfather’s land in Gibeah.  That is great but he can’t take of that land, so David gave him thirty-five people to help him take care of the land he just gave him.

This ugly deformed man was allowed to eat with David’s family as one of his sons.  They adopted him into the family.  He also got to eat at the king’s table, which was a place of honor.  He never has to cook.  He is treated as royalty.

The Gospel of Mephibosheth

What does this say to us today?  What is the lesson for today?  This is a beautiful picture of the gospel.  All of us are like Mephibosheth.  We have all been crippled by a fall.  We have been crippled by the fall of Adam.  All of us have been made lame by sin.  We are helpless.  We have no hope and no way to save ourselves.

We were not seeking God.  We were hiding from Him.  We were running from Him.  God has to see us out.  Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).  We are saved the same way Mephibosheth was saved.  We are saved by grace.

Chuck Swindoll says, “The story of Mephibosheth is the greatest illustration of grace in all the Old Testament”[1]  He did not deserve to sit at the king’s table.  He did not do anything to earn it.  It was given to him.  It was given to him, not because of anything he had done but because of what someone did on his behalf.

He received grace because of an agreement made between David and his dad before he was even born.  We were chosen in Christ before we were born.  We were chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

David accepted Mephibosheth just as he was.  He did not say that once he could learn how to walk that he could eat at his table.  For the rest of his life, he never learned how to walk but he was always accepted at David’s table.

David gave Mephibosheth a new identity.  He adopted him as one of his sons.  When we get saved, we get a new identity.  We become a child of God.

God accepts us just as we are and welcomes us into His family.  He adopts us into His family.  We get to eat at the king’s table.  Because of our salvation, we get to have a person relationship with the Son of David (who was greater than David).

[1] https://www.insight.org/resources/article-library/individual/amazing-grace-on-display

[1] http://73.221.144.249/Audio/Dav13.mp3

 

 

 

 

 

The Davidic Covenant

Last week, we looked at one big topic in II Samuel 7, when God says “No.”  All of us have dreams.  Sometimes, God says “no” to our dreams.  He says “no” to our prayers and to our plans.  David wanted to build God a temple and God said, “no”.  We saw how David responded when that happened and how we should respond.

Today, we want to look at the other big topic in this chapter.  Today, we are going to be looking at a covenant God made to David.  In the Bible, God operates through covenants.

What exactly are covenants?  There are a lot of them in the Bible.  Covenants are agreements between God and people, binding agreements.  When they are between people, they are called contacts but when they are between God and people, they are called “covenants.”

We are affected today by some of these covenants.  We are affected by the Noahic Covenant.  God promises to never again kill everyone on the planet with a flood, even if we deserve it.  The world seems to get worse each year.

If you don’t believe me, just turn on the news but no matter how bad it gets, this will never happen again. God promises.  There are other covenants that we are directly affected by, such as the New Covenant.

If you read II Samuel 7, you will not find the word “covenant” there anywhere, but God makes one with David.  He makes a covenant with David.  He swears by oath.  He gives David some promises and says that He will not lie to David.  He makes a prophecy in the chapter, a messianic prophecy.  It was not just about David; it was about the Son of David.

It is one of the most important covenants in the Bible.  It was probably the most important day in David’s life and yet few Christians know much about it. There are not too many sermons on it.

I have a friend who is going to a conservative seminary in NC.  He is almost through with his Ph.D. and he told me that he did not learn much in seminary on the Davidic Covenant.  Where is this covenant in the Bible?  What did God promise David in this covenant?  Is this covenant conditional, unconditional or both?

It is a covenant found in three main places in the Bible. It is found in II Samuel 7.  It is found in I Chronicles 17, and it is found in Psalm 89.  There are ten specific promises in this covenant.  God makes David ten amazing promises.  God makes ten “I will” statements in this chapter.  There are nine things that God promises to do and one thing that He promises not to do.

Ten Incredible Promises

1) I will make your name great

That is a promise of popularity.  Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth (II Samuel 7:9 NIV)David was unpopular originally.  He was a nobody.  David began as an obscure shepherd boy.  When the Prophet Samuel came to his house, he was not even invited to the dinner table.

He went from being someone that no one thought about to being one of the most famous men in the country.  Songs were written about him.  He took out Goliath with a slingshot.  He was a national hero.  He became the king.  He went from being one of the most famous He was one of the most famous people in the country to being one of the most famous people in history.  People still talk about him today.

2) I will provide a home for my people Israel

And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own (II Samuel 7:10 NIV).  That is a promise of a national homeland for the Jews.  That has been fulfilled.  They had a homeland in David’s day and the Jews have one today.

3) I will also give you rest from your enemies

That is a promise of peace.  I will also give you rest from ALL your enemies (II Samuel 7:11 NIV).  God had already begun to do that.  All of David’s enemies had been defeated (Saul, Ishbosheth, Abner, the Philistines).  The Jews do not have rest from their enemies today.  It has not been fulfilled.

Israel is a small country in the Middle East surrounded by twenty-two Muslim nations.  Not all of them are their enemies but many are.  Some have said that they plan to wipe Israel off the map.  Since 2001, thousands of missiles have been fired into the country.  The Jews are still disturbed today by their neighbors.  They still receive threats from terrorists.

4) I will raise up your offspring to succeed you

That is a promise of a dynasty.  When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood (II Samuel 7:12 NIV). God promised David that not only would he be king but his kids after him would be king (the House of David).

God said, “Before a house a house is built for Me, I will build a house for you.” Saul was king but never had a dynasty that lasted.  He had kids but none of them took over after he died.  One tried, but he did not last long, and was assassinated.  That is what happens when you fight the will of God.  God said David would be the next king.  Someone else tried and it did not work out.

5) I will establish his kingdom

This is the promise of a kingdom, along with a promise of a future temple.  God did that. I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name (II Samuel 7:12-13 NIV). God established Solomon’s kingdom and Solomon built the temple.

6) I will establish the throne of his kingdom.

This is the promise of a long-lasting kingdom.  In fact, it was a kingdom that was not just long-lasting, it was eternal.  I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever (I Samuel 7:13 NIV).  As one preacher put it, sin cannot destroy it (II Samuel 7:14-15).  Death cannot annul it (II Samuel 7:12-13).  Even though David dies, the covenant goes on.  Time will not exhaust it (II Samuel 7:16).[1] This kingdom will last forever.

7) I will be his father, and he will be my son

This is the promise of adoption in II Samuel 7:14. David’s son Solomon was also God’s son.  God called the king his son.  It is a relationship promise.  We can have that same relationship with God that Solomon had.  This is also a promise of intimacy.  We have a father/son or daughter relationship to God.  We get to call God “Father.”  We can have a personal relationship to God.  We are His children if we are saved.

8) When he does wrong, I will punish him

You say, “I thought this was a prophecy of Jesus.  Jesus did not do anything wrong.  He was sinless.”  That is true but the Davidic Covenant was not just about Jesus.  It has dual fulfilment.

Part of it was fulfilled by Solomon and part of it will be fulfilled by Jesus.  Jesus did not do anything wrong, but Solomon did.  Which part will be fulfilled by Solomon and which part will be fulfilled by Jesus? II Samuel 7 focuses on Solomon. I Chronicles 17 focuses on Jesus.

God says, “When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands” (II Samuel 7:14 NIV). God disciplines his children.  That does not mean that God hates us.

It is actually a sign of love.  Proverbs says, “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them” (Proverbs 13:24 NIV).

9) I will NOT take my love away from him

That is the promise of perpetual love.  God tells David that if individual kings’ sin against him, they will get in trouble, God said, “BUT my love will NEVER be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you” (II Samuel 7:15 NIV)

What does that mean?  Individual kings could sin, and individual kings could be judged by God, but individual kings could not do anything to do away with this covenant. God does not take his love away from us either.

It is like our salvation.  If we sin, God chastens us.  God disciplines His children, but they are still his children, but we don’t lose our salvation every time we sin.  We sin every day.  We would have to be, not just born again but born again and again and again.

I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. 29 I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. 30 “If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes,

31 if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, 32 I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; 33 but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

34 I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. 35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—and I will not lie to David— 36 that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; 37 it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” (Psalm 89:28-37 NIV).

“This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, 21 then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne (Jeremiah 33:20-21 NIV)

What is strange is that Solomon sinned worse that Saul.  What did Saul do that was wrong?  He let someone live that he was supposed to kill.  He offered a sacrifice without waiting for the prophet Samuel.  At least he was offering the sacrifices to God.  Solomon became a complete idolater.  He built temples to pagan gods.

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done (I Kings 11:4-6 NIV).

The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command (I Kings 11:9-10 NIV).

God judged Solomon but did not end the Davidic Covenant.  It continued after Solomon.  It continued after the Babylonian Captivity.  How do we know? We know that from the NT.  The Angel Gabriel said to Mary that Jesus, “will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32-33 NIV).

10) I will establish David’s house, David’s kingdom and David’s throne forever.

Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ (II Samuel 7:16).

 Did God Keep His Word to David?

This is the promise of an enduring covenant that is permanent and eternal.  The word “forever” is found two times in the verse.  That leads to a problem.  If you know biblical history, the House of David did NOT last forever.

It only lasted four hundred years.  God did not tell David that his kingdom would last four hundred years.  He said that it would last FOREVER.  No king is sitting on this throne today.  In fact, there is no throne to sit on.  If you go to Israel today, you will not even kind a king.  No king sat on the throne of David since 586 BC.

Is this objection valid?  There are three things to keep in mind here:

1) God promised to establish David’s line forever (Psalm 89:29) and that promise was kept.

David’s line never died out.  Today, no one knows if they are a descendant of King David, but the NT begins with two genealogies of Jesus and they both go back to David. He will come from David’s body.

He was the root and offspring of David (Revelation 22:16).  He was a Son of David (Matthew 1:1).  He had royal blood in him.  It is the first time that we are told that the Messiah would not only be a Jew and not only come from the tribe of Judah but would be a descendant of David.

2) There were conditional aspects to this covenant

God promised that there would always be a descendant to reign on David’s throne (Jeremiah 33:21), which he always had but, because of disobedience, some kings did not get an opportunity to do that, because included in the Aspects of this covenant were conditional.

“I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses.

Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘IF your descendants watch how they live, and IF they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ (I Kings 2:2-4 NIV)

“Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, IF only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ (I Kings 8:25 NIV)

3) The OT prophets predicted that God will restore Davidic kingdom to Israel in the last days.

Even after the Babylonian Captivity, but the OT prophets predicted that one day the House of David would return with a king on the throne of Israel.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. HE WILL REIGN ON DAVID’S THRONE and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV)

’The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. “’In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. (Jeremiah 33:14-15 NIV)

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior. (Jeremiah 23:5 NIV)

For the Israelites will live MANY DAYS without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 AFTERWARD the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days. (Hosea 3:4-5 NIV)

Two Views of the Davidic Covenant

There are two views of the Davidic Covenant in the church today.  They are very different.  What are the two views?

View One – The Davidic Covenant has been fulfilled already

One proponent of this view is Hank Hanegraaff.  He was on the radio at one time.  He had a program for many years called “The Bible Answer Man.”    He believes that this covenant is completely fulfilled today.  Jesus is ruling on the Davidic Covenant in heaven.

Hanegraaff says, “God’s promise to David that his descendants would sit on the throne forever (see II Samuel 2:11-16; cf. Isaiah 9:6) was fulfilled when Christ, ‘the Son of David (cf. Matthew 1:1; 12:23; 21:15; Luke 1:32), ascended to the throne of the heavenly Jerusalem and established his reign and rule over all of the earth.”[2]  He quotes Acts 2 to support this view.

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 

31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. (Acts 2:29-33 NIV)

In order for this view to work you have to spiritualize the Davidic Covenant.

Jesus is sitting on a spiritual throne.  The throne of David is in heaven.

It is a spiritual rule, not over the tribes and Israel and Judah but over the church (the true Jews).

It is a spiritual kingdom, an invisible spiritual rule inside people’s hearts.

It involves a spiritual temple.  Paul said that we are the temple.  The church is the temple today.  That is what God is building, a spiritual house.

It involves spiritual enemies and spiritual peace (It is something inside your heart).

The problem with this view is that the parts of the covenant that were already fulfilled were fulfilled literally. David literally died.  He went to be with his ancestors when his days were over.  He had an heir who literally succeeded him.  His son Solomon succeeded him as king.

Solomon was a literal king.  He had a literal kingdom.  He sat on a literal throne.  He built a literal temple for God.  When he sinned, he was literally punished for disobedience.

The covenant could not be already fulfilled because aspects of it have not been fulfilled yet.  Israel does not live in safety today (Jeremiah 23:5).  Wicked men still oppress the Jews today (II Samuel 7:10).  They do not have rest from all of their enemies (II Samuel 7:11).

The Prince of Peace who will sit on David’s throne will bring peace to the earth, peace that will never end (Isaiah 9:6-7).  That has not happened yet.  His reign will result in justice and righteousness (Isaiah 9:7).  When you look at the earth today, you see the exact opposite.  You see wickedness. You see sin.  You see injustice.

View Two – The Davidic Covenant will not be completely fulfilled until the future

Part of the Davidic Covenant has already been fulfilled but it will not be completely fulfilled until Jesus returns.  Jesus will return to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Some of it has been fulfilled already.  David had a son who sat on his throne and built a temple, like God promised, but Jesus is not currently sitting on the throne of David.

Jesus is sitting on his Father’s throne.  He is sitting on the right hand of God.  There is not peace in the earth.  There is not safety to the Jews living in the land of Israel but when Jesus returns, there will be safety and peace for the Jews.

The advantage to this view is that it takes the covenant literally.  It doesn’t try to spiritualize it. If these parts of the covenant were literal, why wouldn’t the rest of it be literal as well?  This was a covenant that God swore that He will fulfill it by an oath.  He promised to David that He would fulfill it.

[1] https://sermons.faithlife.com/sermons/600504-the-house-that-god-will-build-2-samuel-7

[2] Hank Hanegraaff, The Apocalypse Code, 200.

 

When God Says “No”

II Samuel 7 has two major topics.  One is doctrinal.  One is practical.  One deals with the Davidic Covenant and one deals with prayer.  We will look at these two topics in two separate lessons.

God made a covenant with David in this chapter. He made a promise to David.  He swore an oath that it will come to pass.  It is a messianic chapter.  It is not just about David.

It is also about the Son of David.  It is a prophecy of Jesus.  II Samuel 7 is prophetic.  It is also very practical. This chapter tells us how to pray.  There are some important lessons on prayer.

Have you ever had a dream that never came true?  Have you really wanted to do something, but never got it? Have you ever had one of your dreams completely shattered?  If you did, you are not alone.  The same thing happened to King David in the OT.  David wanted to do something for God.  He really wanted to do something for God and God said “no”.

How did you respond when you had to give up your dream?  Many people respond the wrong way.  We will see how David responded when his dream did not come to pass.  There are some important lessons in this chapter.  What is the background of the chapter?

Setting of the Chapter

As the chapter beings, David is on top of the world.  He has worked his way up from shepherd boy to outlaw to king.  He is a new king.  He is king over the whole nation, all twelve tribes.  He is popular.  Everyone loves him.  He is a national hero.

The new king is living in a new palace.  It has just been built.  He is wealthy.  He is living in the lap of luxury.  God blessed him abundantly.  He has all these beautiful wives.  He has lots of kids.

On top of that, he is at peace.  He has defeated, not just his enemies.  He has defeated ALL of his enemies around him (II Samuel 7:1 NIV).  David could have talked like Nebuchadnezzar did.

29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:29-30 NIV)

David could have said, “Is not this the great Jerusalem that I have built?”  He did conquer the city that no one else could conquer.  It was unconquerable up to that point.  He could have taken credit for it all and boasted.

He could have thought about himself.  He could have said, “I have been running from a demon-possessed king.  I had to leave my family.  I earned this.  I deserve this.  I have been living in caves for the last ten years.  Now, is my time to be pampered in the palace.”

Instead, David is unsettled.  He looks down from the balcony of his luxurious palace and sees God living in a little tent.  He seems to have everything, but he is not satisfied.  He is thinking, “How can I give back?  How can I help others?  How can I do more?  What can I do for God?”

In this world, there are givers and takers.  Some Christians are just takers. Which are you? David wants to be a giver.  He comes up with a plan.  The plan was to build a temple for God.  God has been housed in a tent and David does not think it is right.

He had to tell someone about it, so he told his best friend what he wanted to do for God.  It is important to have someone close that you can talk to about your dreams.  David must not have been close to some of his wives, because we do not hear about him talking to them about his dream.  Some of his wives were not too spiritual (e.g., Michal).

It is really important who you choose to be your friends.  Some can build you up and some can tear you down.  David made close friends with some godly people.  He became close friends with King Saul’s son Jonathon.  Jonathon was older than David was, but they developed a close bond.

Then, Jonathon died in battle.  He was killed by the Philistines.  David was heartbroken but he was also close to two other friends.  They were both prophets.  Their names were Nathan and Gad.  Samuel had a school of the prophets.  Maybe they were part of that school.  Many believe that they wrote II Samuel.

29 Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer (I Chronicles 29:29 ESV).

Gad was with David when he was a fugitive (cf. I Samuel 22:5).  Nathan was David’s advisor after he became king.  Nathan wasn’t just a personal friend of David.  He was a real prophet.  He heard directly from God, not like most people who claim to be prophets today.  He did not always tell people what they wanted to hear but what they needed to hear.

David told Nathan what he wanted to do for God and Nathan said, “That’s great. Do what is in your heart.  God is with you.”  He completely supported David.  He was not speaking as a prophet but as a friend. We should encourage fellow Christians as well.

Nathan did not throw a wet blanket on David’s passion.[1] He did not laugh at the idea.  He did not mock it.  He did not discourage him.  He was an encourager, like Barnabas, but he was also a prophet.

That night, Nathan goes home and goes to bed and something happens.  God speaks to him.  He received a message from God.  Nathan received a word from the Lord.  God didn’t speak to David.  He spoke to Nathan (II Samuel 7:4-16). God said, “It is not my will for David to do this.  David is not the man to build me a house, but I am not going to tell him. You are.”

The next day, Nathan went back to David and told him that he would not be able to build the temple, but his son would.  He also said that He was not going to build a house for God.  God was going to build a house for him.  God is in the house-building business.  He builds houses.  It is a pun on the word “house.”  It is a play on words.

Five Truths about Unanswered Prayer

Today, we are going to look at five truths about unanswered prayer from this passage.  Many Christians have yet to learn these five truths.  All of us have had unanswered prayers.  People in the Bible had them as well.

David does not get what he wants.  It will not be the last time He has an unanswered prayer.  After he has an affair, which results in a baby and the baby dies, he prays for the child to live.  That does not happen.  Have you ever prayed and not gotten what you asked for?  Here are five truths about unanswered prayer.

1) There is a difference between our desires and God’s will

Many do not understand this.  Some Christians do not understand it.  Many think that if they want something really bad, if they believe it will happen, if they have faith, they will receive it.

Jesus said if you have just a little faith, you can move mountains.  If you want to be healed, just have faith but there’s one problem.  If it is not God’s will for something, it doesn’t matter how much faith you have.  You can have mountains of faith.

I John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (NIV). We hear the words, “If we ask ANYTHING, he hears us” but we leave out the words, “if we ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL”

How many women have wanted to marry a man and even prayed about it, but it was not God’s will?  How many men have had a desire to marry a woman, but it wasn’t God’s will?

Our desires are not the same thing as God’s divine will.  We are not always right.  We are not God.  Leaders (including anointed kings) were not always right.  Spirit-filled pastors are not always right.

David had dreams.  He had desires.  They were good desires.  God said that He did not need a temple.  He never asked for a temple. Was it wrong for David to desire to build one?  No.  We know that from what Solomon said.

“My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. But the LORD said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. (I Kings 8:18 NIV)

God knew David’s heart.  He was a man after God’s own heart.  He loved God.  He has a heart for God.  He seems to be putting God first.  He just returned the ark to Jerusalem.  He just made Jerusalem the worship capital of the nation.  He had a good desire to build the temple.  There was nothing wrong with the desire, but it was not God’s will.  David’s plans were not God’s plans.

That is why we have to pray “Thy will be done.” Even Jesus prayed this way and He was perfect.  He prayed, “not my will but your will be done” (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; cf. John 6:38).  how much more do we need to pray this.

2) Sometimes, God says “no”

Here is something that the preachers don’t tell.  They often say to follow your dreams.  They say to pursue your dreams.  It sounds good.  It is not necessarily wrong but, what they don’t tell you, is that God sometimes says “no” to DREAMS.  Sometimes, He says “no” to our PLANS.  Sometimes, God says “no” to our PRAYERS.

David wants to build God a temple.  God says, “It is not the time and you are not the man.”  He did NOT say that a temple for Him could be built, just not now.  He just said that David could not do it.  That must have hurt.  He really wanted to do it.  it was his idea and God said “no.”

We say “no” to our kids.  A parent that gives their child everything they ask for is only raising a monster. That is not what good parents do.  It is not what God does either.  Has God ever said “no” to you?

He says “no” to Apostles.  Paul had a thorn in the flesh.  He asked the Lord to take it away.  He asked three times and God said “no”.  Have you ever had a prayer that God said “no” to?

3) When God says “no” it is for a reason

It is not because God is mean or cruel or unfair.  He has a reason.  We may not know the reason or understand the reason.  God does not have to give us a reason, but He has one.

God does not always give us a reason why he says “no” but he gave David one.  We are not told the reason in II Samuel, but we are told the reason in I Chronicles.

David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. 8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. (I Chronicles 22:7-8 NIV)

King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. 3 But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’ (I Chronicles 28:3 NIV).

God did not want David to build Him a house because he had too much blood on his hands.  The Temple was to be a house of prayer for all of the nations.  David had killed too many Gentiles.  He accepted that reason, as we will see.

4) God often gives us far better than we ask

God’s answer is sometimes far better than our request.  David asked God if he could build him a house.  God said, “No you can’t but I am going to build you one.”  God’s plan was not just to bless David but David’s house, David’s descendants for all eternity.  That was slightly bigger than the request.

The Bible says that God is able to do far more than we ever ask him.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).  That is like asking someone to give you one dollar and they give you a hundred dollars instead.

5) Submit to God’s plan for your life

When God says “no” to us, we get angry.  We get bitter.  We get mad at God.”  God told Saul that he rejected him as king.  Saul fought the will of God.  He tried to kill the man God called to replace him, so the prophecy would not be fulfilled.

He tried to fight God and God’s will.  It only led to his death.  Do we submit to the will of God for our life?  David submits to God’s plan for his life.  That is exactly what he does here.

The first thing he does is he talks to God about it.  He does not immediately go to friends and complain or gossip or whine.  He goes to God.   Then King David went in and sat before the Lord (II Samuel 7:18 NIV).  It is the only tie in the Bible we see anyone sitting when they pray.  David is sitting before the Lord.

David does not say, “This is not fair.”  He says, “I do not deserve what you are about to do for me.” Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? (II Samuel 7:18 NIV)

He praises God.  How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. (II Samuel 7:22 NIV)

He submits himself to God’s will.  He says, “Do as you will.”  And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight. (II Samuel 7:25-26 NIV).

He asks God to do what he said he would do. “And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight. (II Samuel 7:28-29 NIV).

This is the way that we are to pray today.  We are to pray based on the Word of God.  We are to pray the promises of God back to Him.  It is called Scripture based prayer.

[1] Butler, J. G. (2010). Analytical Bible Expositor: I & II Samuel (p. 681). Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

How to Worship

What does real worship look like?  Is what we do in most churches real worship?  Today, we are going to look at an important passage on worship.  It is interesting.  It is practical.  It is thought-provoking.  It raises some questions. As we read the chapter, eight questions stand out to me.

Eight Crucial Questions

Question One – Has God ever been mad at you?

Many preachers have said that God is not mad at you, but it sure looks like He is mad at someone in this chapter.  II Samuel 6:7 says, “The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah” (NIV).  God was angry at Uzzah and Uzzah dropped dead.

God struck him dead and Uzzah was a believer.  He was not a pagan.  He was not an idol-worshipper.  He was a Jew.  His dad was the priest.  It is like one of the pastor’s kids dropping dead.  He will probably be in heaven. God killed him.  That is strange.

God judges two people in this chapter.  He judges a man, and He judges a woman. Uzzah loses his life and Michal, David’s wife, loses her fertility.  Michal was the woman in the window.  Instead of worshipping with David, like she should have been doing.  She is on the outside, criticizing and judging those who are worshipping.

She had a negative, judgmental critical spirit.  She despised her husband in her heart.  She mocked him. God kept her from having any kids. Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. (II Samuel 6:23 NIV)

We think of infertility as just a medical condition today but, in this case, it was divine judgment.  In our culture today, some might see infertility as a blessing but, in that culture, it was considered a curse.

You say, “This is OT.  It is old covenant.  God does not do that today.  He doesn’t get angry at people today.  He does not get angry at believers.”  The only problem is that God’s nature has not changed.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Furthermore, the same thing happened in the NT.  It happened to Ananias and Saphira.  They were Christians.  They were members of the first church in Jerusalem.  Read Acts 5.  It is the NT that says, “our God is a consuming fire.”

Question Two – Have you ever been mad at God?

Many have experienced a terrible tragedy in their life, such as a monstrous crime, the death of a loved one, or loss of a child, and they are mad at God.  Sometimes, we do stupid things, get in trouble and blame God for our problems.

Proverbs 19:3 says, “A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord” (NIV).

Some people in the Bible were mad at God.  Some of the greatest saints in the Bible were mad at God.  David was one of them (II Samuel 6:8) and he was a man after God’s own heart.

David was angry. He was angry at God.  He tried to bring the ark to Jerusalem.  He tried to put God first.  He tried to honor God and a man died.  If people were going to die, he did not want anything to do with it.  He let someone else take it. Some people stay angry and bitter forever.  They never get over it but David didn’t stay angry forever.

Question Three – Have you ever been afraid of God?

Should we be afraid of God? Most Christians have no fear of God.  Many see God just as their friend and buddy. The Bible talks about the FEAR of the Lord.  The Bible says that fear is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).  In this chapter, David was afraid of God (II Samuel 6:9).  Why?

A man in this chapter dropped dead.  God struck him dead, and people were afraid.  The same thing happened in the NT.  When Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead, we are told that, not just fear but GREAT FEAR “seized the whole church and all who heard about these events” (Acts 5:11 NIV)

Question Four – How do you respond when you fail at something?

How do you react when you fail at something?  You try something and it does not work.  Your failure may even be public and embarrassing, like David’s was.  Many of us try something fail and just give up.  David tried to bring the ark into Jerusalem and failed.  Three months later, he tried again and this time he was successful.  He did not give up.

Question Five – Have you ever done the right thing and been punished?

How many of us have done the right thing and got in trouble for it?  In this chapter, the ark of God is being transported.  It starts to fall.  A man reaches out his hand to stop it from falling on the ground and he dies.

That seems a little harsh.  It seems a little excessive.  You touch something and you die.  You touch something that you are trying to protect.  It is like getting in trouble for trying to help someone.

It sounds like he did the right thing. It sounds like he did what anyone else would have done in that situation.  There is only one problem.  God said NOT to touch the ark, or you will die (Numbers 4:15).

The ark was so holy that it could never ever be touched by human hands.  You could not even touch it accidentally.  If anyone did, it would be instant death, like touching a live wire.  Uzzah defied the Word of God.  He defied God’s revealed will and did what seemed right to him.  Many still do that today.

Question Six – Is it wrong to dance in church?

Many churches say that it is.  The Bethlehem Christian Church in Elon, NC adopted a strong stand against dancing over a hundred years ago.  In 1898, it adopted a motion saying, “whereas dancing is a sin, therefore be it resolved that any member of this church engaging in any form of dancing shall be considered guilty of disorderly conduct and dealt with accordingly.” [1]

Many Baptist churches teach that dancing is a sin.  Are they right?  Sometimes dancing is wrong.  Some worldly dancing today is without question sin.  It can also lead to sin.

Herodias’ daughter danced before Herod before John the Baptist was executed (Matthew 14:6).  Erotic dancing involved when Israel worshipped the golden calf (Exodus 32:6) but all dancing is NOT sin.

King Solomon said that there is a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Psalm 150:4 says, “Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!” (NIV).  David dances in this chapter.  He is not just dancing.  He is dancing in worship.

This is a worship dance.  This was not Dancing with the Stars.  It was NOT entertainment.  It was worship.  Our chapter says that “David was dancing before the Lord with all his might” (II Samuel 6:14 NIV).

It is interesting to me that when we think of David in the Bible, we think of David the SHEPHERD.  That is what he was as a young boy.  We think of David the POLITICIAN.  We think of David the king. When we think of David, we think of David the MUSICIAN.  He played the harp.

When we think of David, we think of David the WARRIOR.  He was a military man.  He was a soldier.  He was a fighter.  He knew how to fight.  He knew how to use a slingshot.  He killed Goliath.

When we think of David, we think of David the WRITER.  He wrote Scripture.  When we think of David, we think of David the ACTOR.  He acted like he was completely crazy before the Philistine king.

Now we see another side of David. In II Samuel 6, we see David the DANCER.  He had some moves.  David was definitely NOT a Baptist.  He was leaping (II Samuel 6:14).  He was spinning.  There is a big contrast here between Uzzah and David.  One is dead and one is dancing.  One is face down on the ground and one is leaping in the air. [2]

Question Seven – Have you ever had marriage problems?

Everyone who has been married has some marriage problems.  No one has a perfect marriage.  What we don’t think about is people in the Bible having marriage problems, but they did.  Pastors sometimes have marriage problems.  Apostles had marriage problems.  Prophets had marriage problems.  Anointed kings had marriage problems.

David, a man after God’s own heart, had marriage problems.  Some of those problems were his own fault.  Having multiple wives didn’t help.  Having an affair didn’t help his marriage either.  Other times, they were not his fault.

David just finished blessing the nation, comes home to bless his family and when he gets home, he arrives to a battle zone.  David created a revival in the nation.  He brought unity and worship back in the nation.  People are happy.  They are celebrating but not Michal.  She is angry perhaps because David is more popular than her dad was.  Her dad was King Saul.

Instead of encouraging, and supporting him for what he had done, his wife Michal is angry with David.  She is bitter and sarcastic.  She mocks him.  What is even worse, she criticizes him.  David is out worshipping, and she is critical.  Have you ever criticized the way someone else worshipped?  Many act just like Michal, even today.

Question Eight – Have you ever been falsely accused?

Many of us have been false accused at some time in our life.  Joseph was falsely accused of a sex crime by Potiphar’s wife.  David was falsely accused by his own wife.

Michal accused him of being undignified.  She accused him of unkinglike behavior.  She accused him of immodesty.  She accused him of exposing himself in public.  She accuses him of being an exhibitionist.

When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” (II Samuel 6:20 NIV)

Of course, it was not true.  It was a lie.  David did take off his royal robes, but he was NOT naked, and he did NOT apologize. He does not back down and say, “I am sorry you were offended by what I did.”  In fact, he doubled down and said he would do it again and even more.  He even gets a few digs in about her father, King Saul.

David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” (II Samuel 6:21-22 NIV)

The Return of the Ark

What is going on in this chapter?  The ark gets a new home. What exactly is the ark?  Why is David bringing it to Jerusalem?  Why is it important?  If you don’t understand that, this chapter will not make much sense.

This was the third thing David did since becoming king.  First, he conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital.  Second, he defeated the Philistines in two battles.  Third, he recovered the ark and brought it to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem became not only the political capital; it became the religious capital.  This was huge.

It is hard for us to understand.  We do not have anything like the ark in the world today.  We don’t have anything like it in the church today. The ark goes back to the time of Moses.  It was a little wooden box.  It was covered with gold and it was holy.  It was so holy that you could not see it or touch it.

This box did not just contain some religious relics.  It had some of those.  It had the Ten Commandments written on two stone tablets with the finger of God.  This box represented the presence of God.  It was the place of His presence.  God’s presence and glory filled this box.  This seems a little strange, God in a box.

God is not limited to a box.  He is not limited to the Temple.  He is not limited to church.  God is omnipresent.  He is not confined to a box or one location.  He is everywhere present.  He fills heaven and earth but, in the OT, He manifested His presence in a unique and special way to His people.

God does not manifest His presence on earth today.  God is not doing that today in a physical way.  For over eight hundred years, God manifested his presence on the earth in a theocracy.  We do not have a theocracy today.  We do not have a pillar of cloud by day or a pillar of fire at night.

The Philistines captured it in battle.  They stole it and took it home and put it in one of their pagan temples, but bad things kept happening to them, so they got rid of it.  They put it on a cart and hitched it to some cows who led it for miles to Israel.  What happened to it next?

They brought it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. 2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. (I Samuel 7:1-2 NIV)

Abinadab kept the ark for twenty years.  When David became king, he decided it was time to move it from the border of the country (Kiriath Jearim) to the center of the country (Jerusalem).  David wanted to bring the presence of God back to Jerusalem.  He wanted to bring the presence of God to the capital of the nation.

David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals. (II Samuel 6:1-5 NIV)

Thirty thousand people go to get the ark.  The Philistines’ no longer have possession of it.  Aminadab has it and he lives in Kiriath Jearim.  They get the ark and begin the nine-to-ten-mile trip from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem.

The ark was placed on a new cart.  They did not want to carry it nine miles.  A cart was more convenient, so it was placed on a cart, pulled by oxen and guided by two of Aminadab’s sons.  They were familiar with the ark.  It had been in their house for twenty years.  Everyone is happy.  Everyone is celebrating and then the ark comes to the place of Nakon (which means “to smite”).

Then the oxen started the stumble and the ark started to fall.  Uzzah reaches out to touch the ark and he drops dead.  Suddenly, the music stops.  The worship stops.  David is angry and he is afraid.  He does not want anything to do with the ark, because some other people might drop dead as well, so he took it to the house of Obed-Edom (II Samuel 6:10).

Nobody else wanted the ark.  People were dropping dead but Obed-Edom said, “I will take it.”  Obed-Edom took a risk and invited God into his home and something amazing happened. We are told that God blessed Obed-Edom (II Samuel 6:11).  The ark stayed in his home for three months.

God blessed the fire out of him, as our pastor would say.  He allowed God into his home.  He invited God into his home and God blessed him and his whole family for three months.  What would God do if we invited him into our home?

Apparently, he obeyed what the Bible says about the ark.  He didn’t touch it.  Hopefully, he did not have any little kids running around in his house, playing.  They might see it and say, “What’s this little golden box?  Can we play with it?”  Obed-Edom obeyed the Word and was blessed, and we can be too.

Three Principles of Worship

What is the application from II Samuel 6 for today?  This chapter tells us how to worship.  It gives us three principles of worship.

1) We are to worship biblically

Uzzah died because he didn’t read his Bible.  The Bible said not to touch the ark.  He touched it.  Not knowing the Word cost him his life.  The leaders of the nation did not do things biblically.  They brought the ark back on a cart.  It was a new cart, but it was still a cart.  Leaders of churches today do not always follow the Word either.

What is wrong with carts?  Nothing but God said that the ark was not to be transported that way.  It gave a very specific way to transport the ark.  Only certain people could move it (Levites).  They could move it only a certain way (on poles) and there were certain things they could not do.  They could not touch the ark or look at it.  It had to be covered.

Jesus said that worship has to be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).  It has to be biblical.  Where did the Jews get the idea to bring the ark back on a cart?  They got it from the Philistines.  That was how they moved it in I Samuel 6.

We have some new carts in the church today.  We have churches that throw out what God says and does what the world does.  This is Oxcart Christianity.  It follows the world, rather than God.  We have churches that teach gay marriage and do many other things contrary to Scripture.

2) We are to worship passionately

That is the second thing we see in this passage.  There is praise.  People are blessing God.  There is worship.  People are making animal sacrifices to God (burnt offerings, peace offerings).  There is music, all kinds of music, stringed instruments (lyre) and percussion instruments (harp, cymbal, timbrel, castanet and cistrum).  It was not quiet and somber.  It was loud.

There was shouting (II Samuel 6:15).  There was not just music, loud music (cymbals, trumpets).  There is dancing and leaping.  Psalm 1492-3 says, “Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. 3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp” (NIV)

Does this describe our worship?  It is passionate?  Do we do it with all our might (II Samuel 6:5), like they did or are we half asleep when we worship?  Do we do it before the Lord (II Samuel 6:5).  This was not a performance before people.  It was all for God.  Is there passion, enthusiasm and emotion in your worship?

3) We are to worship reverently

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. (II Samuel 6:6-7 NIV)

Reverence has become a dirty word today but reverence is not a bad thing.  It is a good thing. We can have joy and reverence at the same time.  Uzzah died because of a lack of reverence.  God struck him dead because of his irreverence.  That is what the text says.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably WITH REVERENCE and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29 NIV)

We have a problem today with a lack of reverence in society.  There is no respect for teachers, for parents, for law enforcement, for government leaders.  There is a lack of respect for authority today.  There is a lack of respect for God who is THE ultimate authority.

We see irreverence by comedians.  In fact, when people today talk about a comedian being irreverent, it is seen as a good thing.  The problem is that this same spirit has crept into the church.  Some preachers are irreverent.  They show a lack of respect for God and His Word.  When you mock the Bible, you are not reverent.  When you mock God, you are not reverent.

[1] https://www.bethlehemchristian.org/history/how-things-have-changed.html

[2] Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants, 111.

Sheep and Goats

The final message of Jesus to His disciples before He died is found in what scholars call the Olivet Discourse.  It is found in Matthew 24-25.  It is His sermon before his death, and it deals His return to earth.  It deals with end-times.

Most Christians believe in the Second Coming of Christ.  They believe that one day Jesus will come back to earth, but most don’t have a clue what He will do when He gets here.  When Jesus comes back, judgment will follow.

The Second Coming will look a lot different than the First Coming.  At the Second Coming, Jesus will come in glory.  He will come in the clouds.  There was no cloud of glory at the First Coming.

The first time He came, Jesus came in weakness and humiliations.  He was nailed to a cross.  The next time he comes will be the exact opposite. He will come in strength and power.

The first time He came to save.  The second time He will come to judge.  He will sit on a throne, not in Washington, D.C., but in Jerusalem.  That is where the throne of David was located (cf. I Samuel 2:11). Jesus will sit on David’s throne (Isaiah 9:7).

Today, we will be looking at the final thing Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse.  It is often called the parable of the sheep at the goats in Matthew 25, although it is more than a parable.  It is also a prophecy.

A Shocking Passage

It is a shocking passage.  It is one of the most shocking passages in the Bible.  This passage does NOT fit the Jesus that many people worship.  It does NOT fit the Jesus that we see in some churches today.

Many think that the God of the OT is violent and angry.  He is always punishing people, sending floods and wiping out cities but Jesus is different from that mean God of the OT.  He is gentle and loving.

Most see Jesus as Savior but not as Judge and yet the Bible says that Jesus is the one who will judge the world (Acts 17:31; John 5:22).

Many say that God is not mad at people.  Jesus seemed to be pretty mad at these goats.  He sent them off to eternal punishment, not just punishment but ETERNAL punishment.  The goats have no way to escape.  They do not get a second chance. They can’t appeal the verdict to a higher power.

This is one of the scariest passages in all of the Bible.  Jesus does not call sinners in this passage blessed.  He calls them CURSED.  He does not tell sinners, “Come to Me.”  He tells them, “Depart from Me.”  It gets even worse than that.  Jesus doesn’t just say “Depart from me,” He says, “Depart from Me into ETERNAL FIRE.”

This is absolutely terrifying.  One pastor called Matthew 25:41, “the most terrifying words ever spoken.” Albert Martin called those words of Jesus, “the most terrifying words that the human ears can ever hear.”

On the other hand, this passage also has one of the most comforting passages in all of the Bible.  Jesus commends the sheep for what they did.  It sounds a little like, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).

He calls them blessed, not cursed.  He invites them into the kingdom.  He gives them something. He offers them an inheritance.  He tells them to take it.  He tells them that it was been waiting for them for a long time.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘COME, you who are BLESSED by my Father; take your INHERITANCE, the kingdom PREPARED FOR YOU since the creation of the world. (NIV)

Jesus sounds a lot like Paul.  Paul said that believers were elect or chosen In Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).  Jesus says that believers were chosen in advance and even calls them elect (Matthew 24:31).

That almost sounds like Jesus was a Calvinist.  Their inheritance was prepared for them before they were born or had done any good or evil.  It was prepared for them before they existed. It was prepared for them before anyone existed.  This shows that salvation is not by works.  It is by grace.  This was shocking.

The sheep were shocked by what Jesus said.  He remembered little things that they did not even remember doing for him.  The goats were shocked by what Jesus said as well.  Many of these goats thought they were all going to heaven.  They were not all ax-murderers.  Some of them were religious.  Some of them were church members.  Some churches are full of goats.

A Misunderstood Passage

Many have misunderstood this parable.  They have completely misinterpreted it.  Liberals believe it is just about SOCIAL JUSTICE.  It is a passage about doing things to help people. It is about helping the downtrodden, oppressed and exploited members of society, the lowest members, who Jesus called the least (ἐλαχίστων), like immigrants, and refugees.

Of course, this passage is NOT about the government helping people out or church helping people out but individual Christians reaching out to people in need.  Governments cannot visit people in prison.  Individuals have to do that.  Furthermore, the goats in this parable are on the left side.  The sheep are on the right side.

Legalists use this passage to teach WORKS-SALVATION.  Catholics, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses love this passage.  They use it to teach that salvation is by works.  The Bible teaches that salvation is not by works (Romans 4:3-5; 11:6; Ephesians 2:5, 8-9; Titus 3:5).  That is a clear teaching of the Bible.

Doing good works will not save you.  Feeding the hungry will not save you.  Visiting the sick will not save you.  We should do good works but good works do not save.  They are not the basis of salvation.  They are the evidence or demonstration of salvation.

Today, we are going to look at four things that this passage teaches.  We are also going to look at four false doctrines that many believe today that are refuted by this passage.

Lessons for Today

1) There are two kinds of people

All of the world can be divided up into only two different kinds of people, sheep and goats.  Sheep and goats are two completely different types of people.  They have different personalities and temperaments.  They represent two different kinds of people in the world.  It comes right out of the OT.  God judges between sheep and goats in Ezekiel 34.

Now the world teaches that there are more than two kinds of people.  Society divides people up by gender (male, female, transgendered).  It divides people up by sexual orientation (gay, straight, bisexual).  It divides people up by income level (rich, poor, middle class).

It divides people by political party (Republican, Democrat, Independent).  It divides people up by skin color (black, white or brown).  It divides people up by denomination (Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal).  It divides people up by theology (Arminian, Calvinist, charismatic, non-charismatic).

It divides people up by education level (just a high school diploma, college education and people with advanced degrees).  It divides people up by religion (Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist).  Today, people are divided up into the vaccinated and the unvaccinated camp.

God sees only two types of people: saved and unsaved.  He only sees sheep and goats.  You are either spiritually dead or spiritually alive.  Jesus said this many times in Matthew.  He has talks about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25.  He talks the wheat and the tares, and the good fish and the bad fish in Matthew 13.

The question is, which are you?  Are you a sheep or a goat? Are you saved or lost?  If you are not saved, get saved today. How can you tell if you are saved?  Jesus answers that question, as we will see.  He gives a six-question test.

2) There is a day of judgment coming

The Bible teaches that judgment is coming.  A day of wrath is coming.  No one wants to think about judgment. It is unpleasant.  It is unpopular.  It is rarely preached today.  Some preachers never mention hell.  The trend today is to be positive, encouraging and preach feel-good topics.

The truth is that judgment is real.  It is biblical and it is absolutely terrifying.  The Bible says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Many people do terrible things one earth.  They commit horrendous crimes.  Some criminals are never caught.  It seems like they got away with it.  They escaped justice.

One day, everyone will face justice.  The heavenly judge sees everything and knows everything.  The Bible says that one day all of the secrets will be revealed. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. (Luke 12:2 NIV)

The judge is all-knowing.  He knows everything.  He lined the sheep and goats up on two sides.  The Bible says that He knows who the sheep are.  He calls his own sheep by name (John 10:3 NIV). The Bible says that “The Lord knows those who are his” (II Timothy 2:19 NIV). He also knows who the goats are.  He knows what the sheep and goats have done.

You say that is just for unbelievers.  That is not true.  One day, EVERYONE will be judged.  “For we MUST ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (II Corinthians 5:10 NIV).

Paul said that we are all going to appear before this judgment seat and he was talking to believers.  If Paul is going to one day be held accountable to God for his life, and he was an apostle, we will as well.

Sheep will be judged, and goats will be judged.  Believers will NOT be judged to determine salvation.  Paul said, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NIV) but believers will still be judged.

The problem today is that many think they are saved who are not.  Some have a false sense of security. The parable of the sheep and the goats is the third parable in Matthew 25.  Each one teaches the same lesson.  The first parable is the parable of the ten virgins or the ten bridesmaids (as the NLT renders it).  The second parable is the parable of the talents.

In the parable of the ten virgins, the five foolish virgins say to Jesus, “‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’”  They call Jesus Lord.  They believe in Jesus.  They claim to follow Him, but Jesus says to them, “‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’” (Matthew 25:11-12 NIV).

3) There are two eternal destinies

In this passage, people end up in two places.  Some go to the right hand and some go to the left hand.  Some go to heaven ands some go to hell.  Some get eternal life and some get eternal punishment.  There are two destinies, and both are said to be eternal.

Notice that the word “eternal” is used two times in the last verse of the chapter.  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46 NIV)

The goats receive justice.  They get what they deserve.  The sheep receive grace and mercy.  They get what they do not deserve.  Did Jesus hate the goats?  No.  The kingdom was prepared for the sheep, but eternal fire was NOT prepared for these goats.  God never planned that for them.  They rejected Him and ended up there. There are two destinies.  The question is where are you going? Heaven or Hell?  What will be your destiny?

4) It is possible to tell if you are saved

How do you tell the difference between a sheep and a goat?  This is where it gets interesting.  Jesus gives a way to tell.  He gives a test.  He gives very specific criteria, and it is not what we think.

Jesus did NOT say that you can tell who the sheep are because they believe a set of doctrines or subscribe to a church creed.  You can tell the sheep because they said the sinner’s prayer.  He didn’t say you could tell who the sheep were because they have been baptized.  Many goats have been baptized.

He didn’t say that you could tell who they are because they attend church.  Many goats attend church as well. There are whole denominations of goats.  He did not say that you can tell who the sheep are because they speak in tongues.  They cast out demons.  They prophesy.  They heal people.

The test that Jesus gives is not a charismatic test or a doctrinal test.  It is a MORAL TEST.  It is a love test.  It is a compassion test.  One way to tell the difference between sheep and goats is to look at how they treat people, especially people who are in need and are suffering.  It is one thing to have pity or compassion of people and feel bad for them.  It is another thing to do something to help them.

This test does not require a lot but it instantly reveals if you are a sheep or a goat.  You do not have to do something great.  You do not have to cure cancer or pastor a great megachurch.  You do not have to lead a million people to Christ.   You just have to help people who are suffering.

You don’t need raise people from the dead or walk on water.  You just have to help people in need. That does not take a lot of effort.  In fact, it doesn’t even cost anything, like giving a thirsty person something to drink or visiting someone who is sick or in prison.

Good works do not save people.  They give evidence of salvation.  Good works reveal your spiritual condition.  It reveals your heart condition. It distinguishes the sheep from the goats.

Does this mean that sins do not matter?  Jesus does not care how you live as long as you help people in need?  Is He saying that you can live like the devil, as long as you give to the poor?

That is not what this is saying at all.  The compassion test is one test of salvation.  There are many others.  For that, you need to read the rest of the Bible but, even in this passage, the sheep are called RIGHTEOUS (Matthew 25:46).  The goats by implication are not righteous.  They are wicked.

What did Jesus say about His sheep?  He said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 NIV).  The sheep follow Jesus.  The goats do not.  Other passages also describe them as wicked.

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom EVERYTHING THAT CAUSE SIN AND ALL THAT DO EVIL. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41-42 NIV)

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate THE WICKED from THE RIGHTEOUS 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:49-50 NIV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who DOES the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, YOU EVILDOERS!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)

That raises this question.  How do you respond to the needs of people around you?  The sheep did not just minister to their spiritual needs.  They ministered to their physical needs as well.

Four False Doctrines Refuted

Jesus refutes four false doctrines in this parable that many believe today.  What are they?

1) The doctrine of universalism

The doctrine of universalism teaches that everyone is saved.  God is the father of everyone.  There are not sheep and goats.  Everyone is a sheep.  Many believe that doctrine.  That is refuted in this chapter.  Jesus speaks of two kinds of people.  He speaks of sheep and goats.

2) The doctrine of pluralism

Pluralism teaches that everyone is going to heaven.  All paths lead to God.  It does not matter what religion you practice. God will accept you. Some believe that but it is refuted in Matthew 25.  The sheep go to heaven and the goats go to hell.  They do not both go to the same place.  Jesus not only speaks of two people.  He also speaks of two destinies.

3) The doctrine of annhilationism

Annhilationism teaches that when you die, you cease to exist.  Annihilationism is a cult. Cults take what the Bible clearly teaches and try to redefine it.  They take what a majority of Christians have believed for two thousand years on a major doctrine and try to redefine or reinterpret it.

Matthew 25:46 clearly teaches eternal punishment. The verse specifically mentions the words “eternal punishment” (NIV, NLT, ESV, ASV, NASB).  Cultists say it is not punishment and it is not eternal, but they have huge problem

It is the problem of consistency. The word “eternal” is used two times in the same verse. Eternal modifies the noun “punishment” (εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον).  Eternal also modifies the noun “life” (εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον). The same adjective (“eternal”) modifies two nouns in the same verse and has to mean the same thing both times.

If hell is not eternal, heaven is not eternal. In fact, God is not eternal. The same word is used of God (Romans 16:26). The same word is used of the kingdom of our Lord and Savior (II Peter 1:11).

4) The doctrine of purgatory

Catholics believe in something called purgatory.  If you are really good, you go to heaven when you die.  If you are really bad, you go to hell and if you are only a little bad, you go to purgatory, where you can burn a few sins off for a thousand years and then you are fit for heaven

Jesus said the sheep go to heaven.  The goats go to hell.  He did not say that anyone went to purgatory.  He did not teach that the really bad goats go to hell but those who are not so bad go to purgatory.

The Threefold Anointing

We want to talk about something that you will almost never hear preached in church.  Have you ever heard of the three anointings?  Most Christians have not but, in the church, we often hear people talk about “the anointing.”  We often heard people called “an anointed speaker or “an anointed worship leader.”

You may hear talk, not only about anointing, but also about different types of anointing. There is a musical anointing. There is prophetic anointing. There is evangelistic anointing. There is a teaching anointing.

What does it all mean? Is it even biblical?  Can we be anointed today?  In I & II Samuel we see that anointing IS biblical.  It is a biblical term.  David is a biblical example of someone who was anointed by God.

II Samuel 5:3 says, “When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they ANOINTED David king over Israel. (NIV).

David was anointed, not once, not twice but three times.  Some of us have never been anointed once.  He was officially anointed to ministry three times.

David was NOT an anointed worship leader.  He was NOT an anointed preacher.  He was an anointed POLITICIAN.  That sounds like an oxymoron today.  We often associate politics with corruption.  Most politicians these days are scoundrels by definition but David was an anointed king.

What does it mean to be anointed?  Can we be anointed today?  Why was David anointed three times?  Wasn’t the first anointing good enough?  Why did he have to be anointed three times?

First, we have to get the context.  II Samuel is a book about the reign of King David, Israel’s greatest king.  In II Samuel 5.  David becomes king over the country.  He fights his first battle.  It was a battle against the Philistines.  He only went to war only because he was attacked.

After David became king, he was attacked by the Philistines.  They declared war on David.  They killed the last king of Israel and now come after David after he becomes king of the whole nation.  What did he do?  He hid.  He used guerilla warfare tactics.  He went out to his stronghold (II Samuel 5:17) when he was running from Saul.

God gave the Philistines into David’s hands, not once but twice.  The Israelites not only defeated them; they stole the Philistine gods (II Samuel 5:21) but they did not worship them.  I Chronicles 14:12 says that they burned them with fire.  David accomplished more in two bloody battles that Saul did in forty years against the Philistines.

David expands his power.  He becomes king over the whole country.  He gets crowned as king.  There is a coronation ceremony.  He not only gets a crown.  He gets a castle to live in.  A king needs a palace, so a foreign king gives him the wood and carpenters (II Samuel 5:11).

In this chapter, David expands his POWER.  He expands his TERRITORY.  He expands his FAMILY.  He takes more wives and more concubines. He got more children (sons and daughters).  After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. 14 These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet. (II Samuel 5:13 NIV).

The chapter mentions eleven kids (II Samuel 5:14-15) and he had some children before this.  Some of these kids came later.  The first four were children of Bathsheba.  We know that from I Chronicles 3:5. He has not married her yet.  David wasn’t perfect.  He was not supposed to have all of those wives, but God still blessed him.  We do not have to be perfect for God to bless us as well.  Otherwise, nobody would be blessed.

Lastly, David gets a new capital.  The old capital was Hebron.  David chose Jerusalem as his new capital.  It was called the city of David (II Samuel 5:7, 9). This was the place where Solomon built the temple.  It was where the whole sacrificial system was.  It was where Jesus was killed, just outside the city.

It was a brilliant political move on David’s part.  Jerusalem was in the middle of the country but none of the tribes had conquered it yet.  We think of Jerusalem today as a Jewish city, but it was not always a Jewish city.  David made it a Jewish city three thousand years ago.  It used to be a Canaanite city.  The Jebusites lived there.

David chose a city that was in the center of the country.  It did not belong to any particular tribe, like Washington D.C., which is not part of any state.  It did not show favoritism to any particular tribe.

It did not favor the north or the south. It was the perfect location to unify the country and it was strategically significant. It was built on a steep hill with valleys on the east and the west.

David had one minor problem.  He had to conquer it first.  That wasn’t easy.  No one had done that yet.  The city was a fortress.  It was a city on a hill.  Tall walls protected this city.  It was virtually unconquerable.

David faced Goliath before.  He was an impossible enemy.  He was tall.  He was strong.  He was intimidating and he was confident.  He was undefeated.  He seemed unbeatable.  He mocked David.  He laughed at him.  Now David faces Goliath number two.

The Jebusites also mocked David.  They said that the blind and lame could keep David out.  They told David, “There’s no way you’re getting in.”  When people tell you that you can’t do something, it should only motivate you to prove them wrong.  That is exactly what David did.

How did David conquer the city?  He used military strategy.  He does not use brute force.  He outsmarted them.  He thought outside the box. There was one way to get into the city.  It was through the water shaft (II Samuel 5:8). Archeologists have discovered this water shaft.  It was discovered by British archeologists in the 1800s.  Today, it is called Warren’s Shaft.  That was the one weakness of the city.

Here was a city that had never been  conquered, just like Goliath had never been beaten in battle.  The city was on a hill.  It had tall walls, so David had to get creative.  Max Lucado says that then everyone else saw walls, David saw tunnels.  He came up with a creative way to solve the problem.[1]  He says, “If the wall is too tall, try a tunnel.”[2]

David also promised a reward to anyone who go in.  We know that from I Chronicles.  He said whoever did it would become his commander-in-chief (I Chronicles 11:6), so Joab did it (I Chronicles 11:6).

There is a good animation of how David conquered the city.  It was done by the Megalim Institute in Jerusalem and is very good.  You can watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXHiXuPw7zM.

The key verse in the chapter is II Samuel 5:10. David “became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him” (NIV).  He was not only prosperous.  He was not only blessed.  He was powerful.  He was very powerful.

As Saul lost power.  He lost battles and his sons were dying, David got power politically.  He got more wives.  He had more children.  He formed political alliances (Phoenicians).  He defeated enemies (Philistines).

The Philistines attacked him twice, and both times, they were defeated.  Anyone who opposed David, lost.  Saul lost. Ishbosheth lost. Abner lost.  The Philistines lost.

Why did this happen?  Why did David grow in power?  There were two reasons.

One, God was with him.  He was with him even when he was not in power.  He was also with him when he was on the run from Saul and had to live in caves.  God was with him and He protected David. Jesus is with us today.  He said that he will be with us always.  He will never leave or forsake us.

Two, He was anointed.  He was God’s man.  What does it mean to be anointed?  Why did he have to be anointed three times?

Characteristics of Anointing

To be genuinely anointed, five things have to take place.  You have to have all five of these qualities to be biblically anointed.

1) To be anointed means that you are called by God to do a particular job or ministry.

2) To be anointed means that you are empowered by God to do a particular ministry.

3) To be anointed means that you are recognized by your spiritual leaders to do it.

4) To be anointed means that you are recognized by other people

5) To be anointed means that you are publicly consecrated and set apart to God for service or ministry.

All five of these qualities are found in I & II Samuel.  We will see all of these qualities in David.  David was anointed by a prophet of God.  After he was anointed, he was filled with the Spirit.

He was supernaturally empowered by God.  He was recognized by the rest of the country.  People from all twelve tribes of the country recognized his anointing.

Today, we want to look at the three anointings of David.  They were done at different times.  They were done in different places.  They were done for different purposes.

He was anointed the first time when he was fifteen.  He was anointed the second time when he was thirty.  He was anointed the third time when he was thirty-seven.  The first anointing was in Bethlehem.  The last two were in Hebron.  The first anointing was secret.  The last two were public.

Why was he anointed three times?   What were David’s three anointings?  What did each one mean? David was anointed in stages.  His anointing was progressive.  Each anointing gave David more authority for ministry.

The First Anointing

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” 12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” (I Samuel 16:8-13 NIV)

What did this anointing mean?  What was the significance of the first anointing?  Note four things here.

1) The first anointing was a SECRET anointing

It is found in I Samuel 16.  It took place in Bethlehem.  It was done David’s own house.  David was just a boy or teenager.  He was probably about fifteen years old.  The witnesses were David’s immediate family.  No one else saw it.

2) The first anointing was a PROPHETIC anointing

It was done by a real prophet, not like some fake prophets in some churches today.  David had one of the most famous men in the country unexpectedly show up at his house in Bethlehem.

This anointing was prophetic.  This anointing came from God.  David did not come up with the idea to be king.  The thought probably never entered his head.  God gave him this idea through his prophet.

Samuel only anoints the one God told him to anoint.  In fact, the person Samuel wanted to anoint and thought he should anoint was not the one he anointed.  He only anointed the one God said to anoint.  In Psalm 23:5, David says to God, “You anoint my head with oil.”

3) The first anointing was a CALL anointing

This was when David got his lifelong calling.  The first anointing was David’s call to ministry. After David was anointed by Samuel, he knew what his mission in life would be.  He now knew what God’s will for his life was.  He knew what God was going to do through him.  He now had some dreams for the future.

This was the first stage of David’s anointing, receiving his call by God.  He was filled with the Spirit.  David now knew his mission, but he did not become king yet and start ruling.  That did not happen overnight.  It didn’t happen for years.  Even though Samuel anointed him, he was not king yet.  In fact, he was too young to be king yet.

It took some time.  We saw that last week.  David was anointed to be king at the age of fifteen but did not become king until he was thirty-seven.  He had to wait over twenty years to be king over the whole country.  David had to wait to be used by God.  He had to be prepared to be used by God.

4) This was David’s PROMISE anointing

This anointing was promised to take place.  It was destined to take place.  David may not have realized it at the time, but he was destined to be king.  No one could stop him.  He had a prophetic word.  He had an infallible word from God.  Persecution could NOT stop it.  Trials could NOT stop it.

Threats to his life could NOT stop it.  Saul could not stop him with his three thousand troops.  Abner could not stop him with his troops.  They could delay him from being king, but that delay was actually part of God’s plan, because he was not even ready to be king yet.  He needed more time to grow and develop.

What is the application for us?  God calls everyone to do something. We may have never had a greasy prophet pour some oil over our head but we all have received a special call from God to do something that is unique to us.  We may have had someone in our life with a lot of spiritual discernment who has spoken words of truth into our life.

We may have received a call to do something unexpectedly.  Has God ever put a desire in your heart to do something special?  It may be a call no one else knows about.  This first anointing was in secret.  Very few knew about it.

The Second Anointing

David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns. 4 Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah. (II Samuel 2:3-4 NIV)

1) The second anointing was a PUBLIC anointing

It is found in II Samuel 2.  For the first time, David is anointed publicly in Hebron.  It was done fifteen years later.  David was now thirty years old (II Samuel 5:4).

2) The second anointing was a POLITICAL anointing

After the first anointing, David did not hold office.  Now he is in office, ruling over one tribe as king.  People called him king.

3) The second anointing was a CONFIRMATION anointing

This anointing was done, not just by one person but by more people.  The anointing is growing.  It is getting bigger.  This time it is done by the men of Judah.  They actually went where David was to anoint him.

Not only did David have the call of God on his life but other people outside of his family (inner circle) began to recognize this call.  One whole tribe of Israel recognized it.  The whole Tribe of Judah recognized that he would be king and anointed him in public.  The big area in which he lived (his state) anointed him.

One of the tribes for the first time anoints David as king.  He is still not king over the whole country or even a majority of the country, but God is beginning to work on his behalf.  The promise is beginning to be fulfilled.  This is the anointing of partial fulfillment.

That leads to both encouragement and discouragement.  It is encouraging because David is king.  God does not just give David his calling and dream for the future. He begins to work.  There is partial fulfilment of the promise

It is discouraging because David was only king of one out of twelve tribes.  That could also have David to question whether the promise would be ultimately fulfilled.

David received a death of the vision.  He was excited and shocked when he was first anointed.  He thought it would take place.  Then, he began to wonder what was going on and whether it would really come to pass.  Saul was trying to kill him.

He had to live in a cave. He received death threats.  It looked like the prophecy was never going to come to pass. What did he do?  Once again, he waited.  He waited seven and a half more years.

The question for us is this: Have you ever received a special call by God, and it looked like it was beginning to be fulfilled?  Have you not only had a call to do something, but people begin to recognize that you are called to do something, people outside your own family?  Have you ever experienced a delay in your call?  Perhaps a long delay?  How do you respond when the dream does not take place right away and you have to wait, like David did?

The Third Anointing

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’”

3 When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. (II Samuel 5:1-3 NIV)

David has a third anointing.  The first was when he was fifteen.  The second one was when he was thirty.  The third one was when he was thirty-seven (II Samuel 5:4-5)

It was David’s greatest anointing. He was anointed to take on his promised destiny.  The anointing once again gets bigger.

1) The third anointing is the OFFICIAL anointing

It was an official anointing for David to be king over the whole nation.  David now is not just anointed by his family or by his tribe but by the whole nation.

God’s promise is being finally fulfilled.  The country is united.  It is no longer divided, not politically and not geographically.  No more civil war.  No more fighting.  No more Jews dying. Three things happened at this anointing.

The nation RECOGNIZED David as king.  They were forced to.  Abner was dead.  Ishbosheth was dead.  Saul was dead.  The only one of his descendants left was a cripple.

The nation HONORED David as king.  They did this publicly.  David did not come to them.  They came to David to do this (II Samuel 5:1).  Note the three reasons in the text they did this.

They also CELEBRATED David as king.  It was a big celebration.  It involved a three-day feast.  Three hundred thousand people showed up.  We know that from I Chronicles 12:23.

All these were fighting men who volunteered to serve in the ranks. They came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of the Israelites were also of one mind to make David king. 39 The men spent three days there with David, eating and drinking, for their families had supplied provisions for them. 40 Also, their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen. There were plentiful supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, olive oil, cattle and sheep, for there was joy in Israel. (I Chronicles 12:38-40)

2) This third anointing was a DESTINY anointing

David steps into his full destiny as king over Israel.  He begins doing what God has called him to do. He begins doing what he was born to do.  God did not just call David to be king over one tribe but to be king over a whole nation.

It was no longer just a dream.  It was no longer just beginning to happen.  It was completely fulfilled, and this anointing was permanent.  He does not need to be anointed again.  He did not need a fourth anointing.

Have we ever gotten to this point in our life?  At this stage, we do not just have a call, we do not just have a dream to do something, we have not just started to do the job, we have done all of it and have the confirmation from others and the power of the Holy Spirit working on the inside.  That is the third anointing.

[1] Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants, p. 107.

[2] Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants, p. 108.

A Kingdom Divided

We began a study of the book of II Samuel.  It is not a doctrinal book.  It is a historical book.  It describes the reign of King David, Israel’s greatest king.  Today, we are going to look at three chapters.  Most Christians do not know these obscure chapters in II Samuel very well.

In, these three chapters, there is a lot of drama.  There’s a lot of politics.  Politics is usually dirty.  It is dirty today and it was dirty three thousand years ago.  Even church politics is sometimes dirty.

In these chapters, there is a lot of fighting, a lot of hand-to-hand combat and a lot of warfare.  There is civil war.  It is violent.  It is bloody.  A lot of people die in these chapters.  Jews kill fellow Jews.

There is murder.  There are three successive murders in this section.  There is one in II Samuel 2 (the murder of a brother, Joab’s brother).  There is one in II Samuel 3 (the murder of a military leader, General Abner) and one in II Samuel 4 (the murder of a political leader, King Ishbosheth).

This is probably not anyone’s favorite chapters in the Bible.  You will never hear them preached from the pulpit.  They are too violent.  They are too gory and gruesome.  People usually do not come to church to hear a good sermon on decapitation and amputation.

Saul’s son gets his head cut off.  Other people get their hands and feet cut off.  Abner stabs a man in the stomach with a sword and it comes out on the other side (II Samuel 2:23).

That’s not very nice.  That is not very positive.  It is not very encouraging.  It is not a feel-good topic.  Why is this in the Bible?  It is in the Bible because it actually happened.  It is true.

The inspired authors don’t try to rewrite history.  People try to do that today.  If they don’t like history, they just rewrite it (1619 Project).  The Bible doesn’t do that.  It tells us what actually happened when David became king.  The Bible is true.

It is also realistic.  The Bible is a real book about real life.  We live in a violent world.  It was violent in Noah’s day.  It was violent in David’s day and is violent today.  Terrible things happen in our world every day.  The Bible relates to the world in which we live.  It can speak to our world.

A Bloody Transition

What happens in these chapters?  Let’s summarize these chapters.  After King Saul died, the nation was divided.  Our nation is very divided today politically, perhaps more divided than it has been in a long time.  Israel after the death of King Saul was divided even more.

David became king in the South.  Ishbothseth became king in the North.  Ishbosheth was chosen but not anointed.  David was anointed.  Now, there were two rival kings in the country.  They had two kings and two kingdoms.  One kingdom had eleven tribes (Israel) and the other had only one (Judah).

The two kingdoms went to war.  It is the first civil war in Jewish history.  David does not start it.  Saul’s general Abner starts it.  David only fought when he had to. The first battle of the war was fought at the Pool of Gibeon.  It is right between the north and the south of the country.  It is close to Judah.  Archeologists have found the pool where this battle took place.  It has been discovered.

Abner suggested a group of them start fighting.  Twelve young men from Saul’s side fought twelve men from David’s side and everyone was killed.  The rest of them continued fighting and David’s side was winning.  He lost twenty but one of the twenty was Joab’s brother.  Saul’s side lost three hundred and sixty (II Samuel 2:31).  No one won, so the battle continued.

Saul’s general Abner had two problems.  He was accused of a sexual crime.  He is accused of sleeping with one of Saul’s concubines.  If he did it, it would not be just a sexual act; it would be a political act.

To claim a king’s concubine is to claim the throne.  We do not know if it was true.  Abner denied it but it bothered him that he was accused of this.  His other problem was that his side was losing.

The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. (II Samuel 3:1 NIV)

Abner’s side was losing, so he decided to defect and join David’s side.  His side was losing.  If you can’t fight them, join them. He wanted a position in David’s government. David agreed with the plan on one condition.  He wanted his wife back first.  He had to leave her and go on the run because her dad was trying to kill him.  David has not seen her for about fifteen years.

Michal was David’s first wife.  After David Goliath, she had a big crush on him, like a lot of women at the time.  She married him.  I Samuel 18:20 says that she loved David.

It is the only time in the Bible where we are told that a woman loved a man.  It is the only time in the whole Bible.  He had to go on the run and leave her and now he wanted her back after her dad was dead.

The only problem is that she had already remarried.  David got his wife back, although her second husband was not very happy.  You feel a little sorry for him.  He was in tears. Abner gave David what he wanted but he never made it in David’s government, because his general Joab killed him.  He killed in at Hebron.

He killed him because Abner killed his brother in the previous chapter. Abner is a complete failure.  He tried to fight David. That did not work.  He decided to join him.  That didn’t work either, because Joab killed him.  Abner killed his brother in battle reluctantly.  Joab killed Abner in cold blood.  He pretended to shake his hand and stabbed him to death.

David did not approval of what Joab did.  He wasn’t happy about it, but he did not punish him right away.  Joab was family.  He does not kill him at the time, but when David is on his deathbed and about to die, he does have him executed (I Kings 2:4-6).

David then has a national mourning for Abner.  He has a public mourning for his enemy and fought against him.  He makes Joab walk in the funeral procession.  David had a lamentation for Saul and now he has one for Abner.

Abner was the one who installed Ishbosheth as king.  He was the power behind the throne.  He was the only one keeping him in power.  T.D. Jakes points out that “sometimes the guy that gets the job is not very good but the people under him make him look better than he is” [1].

Some would say that describes President Biden. He is just a puppet, like Ishbosheth.  No one knows who is really in charge.  We know who was in charge of Ishbosheth.  It was Abner.  He was the power behind the throne.  Once he was gone, two brothers, two men who were captain in Saul’s army (Rekab and Baanah), decide to get rid of Ishbosheth.

They not only assassinate him in his own house; they assassinate him in his own bed.  Then, they cut his head off.  They brought the head of Ishbosheth to David, expecting a reward.

Apparently, they were not very smart.  David just executed the man who claimed to kill Saul and expected a reward.  That was current events.  Now they kill Ishbosheth and expect a reward from David.  Instead, he punishes the two men.  He executes them and then their hands and feet are cut off and they are hung.

Application for Today

What is the application of these chapters for us today?  What is the lesson?  Don’t stab people in the stomach?  Don’t cut off people’s heads. Don’t cut off people’s heads, hands or feet?  Don’t try to kill someone in their bed?  Don’t try to assassinate your leaders?  There are some other things these chapters say.  These chapters are guaranteed to speak to you in some way.

Every US president has a philosophy.  We often call it a doctrine.  There is THE BUSH DOCTRINE.  The Bush Doctrine said that the way to fight the War on Terror is not to go on the defensive but to go on offensive and not wait to be attacked.  It is the doctrine of preemption.

There is THE OBAMA DOCTRINE.  That is the doctrine of political correctness.  He refused to even say the words “radical Islam.”  He refused to even identify the enemy, because that might offend some people.  He would call it “workplace violence.”  It is also the doctrine of appeasement (Iran deal).

There is THE TRUMP DOCTRINE.  The Trump Doctrine was a doctrine of America first and American strength (“Make America great).  He talked tough but never want to war.

The David Doctrine

What if we took the same concept and applied it to David?  What would David’s Doctrine be based on these chapters? David is God’s king.  He is the anointed king.  How does he rule?  There are six things that David does in these chapters that we should today.  The David doctrine from these verses are six things.

1) Respect Your Predecessor

That is the first thing that David did when he came into office.  He actually did it before He came into office.  He respected Saul as King, as God’s King.  When David became king, he did not trash Saul.  That is what we do in our political system.

The new party comes into power and they often trash the previous administration.  David did not do that.  He came into power.  The old king was dead, and he gave a lamentation for him.  We saw that in II Samuel 1.

David’s first act as king was to praise the men of Jabesh Gilead who went and got the body of his enemy Saul and buried him after the Philistines completely desecrated his dead body (II Samuel 2:4-6)

He wrote a lamentation for Saul, and he was not even a good king.  He started out good but turned out bad.  How do you respect authority?  Many do not like authority.  How do you treat your predecessors?  Be careful what you say about them.

2) Expect problems in life

Many preachers act like if you follow Jesus, you will not have any problems.  You will be healthy.  You will be wealthy.  You will be prosperous.  That is a lie.

Jesus said to His disciples, “In this world, you will have trouble” (John 16:33 NIV).  You won’t hear this too much in church, but Jesus said, “In this life, you will have trouble.”

You will have problems: financial problems, marriage problems, car problems, health problems, family problems, problems with your kids.  The Bible does not say that we won’t have problems.  It says that God will be with us in our problems.

David experienced this.  He was anointed to be king.  God promised that he would be king.  He was God’s man and then he was persecuted.  He had to go on the run.  People were trying to kill him every day and then Saul died. God took the evil, psychotic, demon-possessed king out.

You would think after Saul died that David’s problems would be over.  No more sleeping in a cave.  No more going on the run.  No more being a fugitive.  David is no longer a wanted man.  He is no longer marked for death.  He can get his wife back.

You would expect a smooth transition to power.  You would expect the road to kingship to be easy, but it wasn’t.  A civil war ensued, and David did not get full kingship for seven and a half years.

David was anointed but he was opposed by people.  Some actually took up arms against the Lord’s Anointed King.  The same thing happened to Jesus, the Son of David.  It happens to us as well.

3) Seek God’s will for your life

David began to reign as king at the age of thirty.  What was the first thing he did?  He prayed.  He asked for God’s guidance.

In the course of time, David inquired of the Lord. “Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” he asked. The Lord said, “Go up.” David asked, “Where shall I go?” “To Hebron,” the Lord answered. (II Samuel 2:1 NIV).

David asked two questions.  Should I go up?  Where should I go?  He asked specific questions and got specific answers.  David did this repeatedly.

17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; 19 so David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?” The Lord answered him, “Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands.” (II Samuel 5:17-19 NIV).

When they attacked a second time, David inquired of the Lord a second time and the Lord answered him (II Samuel 5:22-25).  We need to do the same thing.  We need to seek God’s guidance for our life.  Should I move to this city?  Should I take this job?  Should I marry this person?  Is this the right thing to do?  Don’t necessarily do the obvious.  Consult with God.

What would happen if we sought God’s will for EVERY decision of our life?  In ALL of our ways, we are to acknowledge Him, and he will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:6).  David didn’t trust his own instincts.  He asked God.  God says if we lack wisdom to ask Him and He will answer us (James 1:5)

4) Wait patiently for God to work

This is hard.  When we want God to do something, to do something big, we want him to do it now.  We don’t like to wait for things.  That is usually not the way God works.

David was first anointed king when he was a teenager.  He was around fifteen years old when God told him that he would be king.  How old was he when he was king over the whole country?  Thirty-seven (II Samuel 5:4-5).  He had to wait over twenty years for the promise to be fulfilled.

The same thing happened to Abraham.  He was seventy-five when God appeared to him and told him that his wife would have a son (Genesis 12:4).  He had no children.  He had two wait twenty-five years before that promise was fulfilled.  It was fulfilled when he was one hundred (Genesis 21:5).

David is the anointed king.  He was promised the throne.  He was promised the throne by God Himself, but he wasn’t king for a long time.  He had the right to be king.  He had the divine right to be king, but he did not force himself to be king, like a dictator.

He did not try to take over the country by force.  He did not force people to bow down to him as king.  He had the right to the throne but did not insist it to happen or try to force it to happen.  He didn’t step on people to get power.

Even though the old king died, David still does NOT take over the whole country right away.  He only takes over one tribe.  He takes over Judah.  Eleven out of the twelve tribes rejected him as king, but he waited on the Lord.  He waited for his timing.  He waited until God gave it to him.

How patient are we?  How patient are we to get things done that need to be done?  Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

5) Submit to God’s will for your life

Not everyone did that.  Abner knew that David was supposed to be king.  Abner knew the prophecies about David. We know that from II Samuel 3:9. Even though he knew that David was supposed to be king, he installed Ishbosheth as king after Saul died.  He knew who the chosen king was, but he did not want that king, so he set up a rival one.

Abner’s act was an act of rebellion.  People still do that.  They rebel against God today.  They rebel against the Word of God.  They rebel against the program of God.  They rebel against the will of God.  They know what the will of God, but they do not submit to it.  In fact, they oppose it.  They will fight it.

They also try to come up with something better than God’s plan and God’s will.  God’s plan for marriage is between a man and a woman.  People in society think they have a better plan.  They open up marriage to two men or two women.  God created people male or female.  He created two genders.

Society says there are transgender people who have a different gender on the inside than what the outside of their body looks like.  It says there are other people who are intersex.  They have characteristics of both male and female.  This is simply rebellion to the plan of God for human sexuality and gender revealed in Scripture.

Every time you oppose the will of God, you suffer.  Ishbosheth suffered and so did Abner.  David did not completely submit to God’s will when it came to marriage.  He was a polygamist.  He began II Samuel with two wives, got one more in II Samuel 3.  Two chapters later, we are told that David took up more concubines and wives (II Samuel 5:13-16).

6) Don’t hold grudges

This is a big one.  Do we hold grudges against anyone?  Remember Esau held a grudge against his brother Jacob and planned to kill him once they were done mourning his father’s death (Genesis 27:41).  The Bible says, “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (NIV)

David had a lot of enemies.  He had a lot of people he could have held grudges against, but he didn’t.  He didn’t hold a grudge against King Saul who tries to kill him repeatedly.  He did not hold a grudge against Abner who set up a rival king to David.  He honored him when he died.

He didn’t even hold a grudge against the rival king Ishbosheth.  He executed his assassins.  We are to be just like David and not hold grudges.  We are to forgive people, as Jesus forgave us (Ephesians 4:32).

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbYaOlAboOY

Love Your Enemy

How do you respond to people you don’t like?  What about who people who are mean to you and mistreat you, people who persecute you?  How do you respond when bad things happen to people who mistreat you and abuse you?

What almost all of us do is to feel good about it.  We would say, “That person had what was coming to them.  It served them right.  Justice was served.”

Jesus commands us in the NT to do the exact opposite.  He commands us love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).  That is not only hard to do, it does not seem to make much sense.

Today, we are going to see that this is not just a NT teaching.  It is in the OT.  David did this to his enemies in II Samuel 1 and we will see how he did this.  We just finished a study of I Samuel and saw some incredible lessons in that book.

We saw that God uses people the world rejects.  He chose someone who his older brother hated and despised.  He didn’t choose the oldest, which would have been chosen by the culture of the day.  He chose the youngest.

We saw that to be used by God, He has to prepare you.  God had to prepare Joseph.  He had to prepare Moses.  He had to prepare David.  David was chosen by God to be king and anointed by a prophet, but he did not become king for at least ten years.  He became a fugitive.

People were trying to kill him.  He was marked for death.  There was a bounty on his head, and he did not do anything wrong.  He had to go on the run for about ten years.  During those ten years, God had to prepare him for the job of king.

We saw that God can do impossible things through the one who believes, even kill a giant.  David faced a giant who terrified everyone else.

This giant was big and intimidating.  He mocked David and David’s God.  Because David had faith, he had confidence to stand against this giant.  He was bold.  He does not just kill Goliath; David cuts his head off.  He decapitates him and takes his sword.

Today, we begin the study of a new book of the Bible.  It is the book of II Samuel.  In our Bible, I & II Samuel are separate books.  In the Hebrew Bible, I & II Samuel are all one book.  They cover the lives of three men – Samuel, Saul and David.  I Samuel covers the reign of the first king of Israel (Saul).  II Samuel covers the reign of the second king of Israel (David).  David lived a thousand years before Jesus.

By the time we get to II Samuel, David is not just a kid killing a giant.  He is man.  He is thirty years old.  He is married and has two wives.  II Samuel covers the reign of King David, the reign of Israel’s greatest king.  This means the book covers forty-year period, because David ruled for forty years.

Relevance Today

Why is this book important for us?  Why do Christians today need to study this book today?

1) One of the most important covenants in the Bible is found in II Samuel.

It is the Davidic Covenant.  There are many covenants in the Bible.  God made a covenant with Noah.  He made a covenant with Abraham.  He made a covenant with Moses.  He also makes a covenant with David.  It is one of the most important covenants in the Bible.  We see it for the first time in II Samuel. What did God promise David in the Davidic Covenant?

One, He promised David that not only would he be king, but his kids would be king.  He promises David a dynasty, the Davidic dynasty.  David wanted to build a house for God.  Instead God builds a house for David.

Two, of his own descendants would be the promised Messiah.  God says that He will come from David’s body.  He will be a Son of David.  David was anointed to be king but there will be another “anointed one” coming who would be a descendant of David.

The word messiah means “anointed one.”  He will not just be anointed with oil by some old prophet.  He will be anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Three, the Messiah will establish His own kingdom.  II Samuel says that this kingdom will be on the earth.  It will not just be some type of heavenly, spiritual kingdom, like many preachers say.

Four, His kingdom will last forever.  It will not be taken away from Him, like it was taken away from Saul.  There will be no end to His rule.

2) II Samuel is a book that deals with the same problems that we see in our world today.

This is a very modern book.  It deals with some of the same things we see in our world today.

There is VIOLENCE. II Samuel is a violent book.  There is an execution in the first chapter.

There is CRIME (rape, murder, incest).

There is SEX. There is forbidden sex (adultery).

There is POLITICAL INSTABILITY (civil war, political revolution, assassination). David’s own son tries to take over his throne.

There are FAMILY PROBLEMS. We see bad parents and messed up kids in this book.  The kids follow the sins of the parents.  The father commits murder and the son commits murder.  One brother kills another brother.  There are dysfunctional families.

3) II Samuel shows the serious consequences of sin and the reality of forgiveness.

David was God’s Man.  He was the anointed king of Israel.  He was handpicked by God to be king. In II Samuel we will see what happens when this Man of God falls.  David commits rape.  He commits adultery and commits murder.  He suffers terrible consequences for these sins but when he repents, he also receives forgiveness.  That is an important lesson for us today.

David Gets Bad News

II Samuel is a continuation of I Samuel.  What is the background of the book?  David and Saul both went to battle on the same day.

David fought the Amalekites and Saul fought the Philistines.  David fought the Amalekites in the southern part of the country.  Ziklag is in southern Israel.  Saul fought the Philistines in the northern part of the country on Mount Gilboa in Galilee.  David won his battle and Saul lost his battle.

II Samuel begins THREE DAYS I Samuel ends.  In I Samuel 31, Saul dies.  In II Samuel 1, David finds out about it.  He gets the news of Saul’s death. There was not TV or Internet to watch.  There was no CNN.   He had to get the news by word of mouth.  Apparently, this was the first time David gets the message about Saul’s death and he gets it from an Amalekite.  II Samuel 1 raises an important question.

Does the Bible contradict itself?

Many people believe that the Bible is full of contradictions.  There are tons of them.  There are many passages that contradict each other, and critics say that II Samuel 1 is one of them.  Are they right?

The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. 4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.”

But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day. (I Samuel 31:3-5 NIV)

“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. 7 When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’

8 “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ “‘An Amalekite,’ I answered. 9 “Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’ 10 “So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. (II Samuel 1:6-10 NIV)

Who really killed Saul?  One chapter says that Saul killed himself.   Another chapter says that an Amalekite killed him.  Which is correct? They both can’t be correct.  Does the Bible contradict itself?  No.

Do you honestly believe that anyone is dumb enough to write one chapter and then completely contradict himself in the very next chapter of the book? That would be preposterous.

I & II Samuel are not two different books of the Bible.  They are one book in Hebrew.  These I Samuel 31 and II Samuel 1 are probably written by the same person.

In I Samuel 31, the Israelites fought the Philistines.  Israel was losing.  Three of Saul’s four sons were killed.  The Israelites began to retreat (I Samuel 31:1).

Saul was hit by an arrow from a Philistine soldier.  He is critically wounded.  He could not fight, and he could not run.  He didn’t want the enemy to capture and kill him, so he asked his armor bearer to do it.

He did not ask an Amalekite to kill him.  He asked his armorbearer to kill him, but he refused, so Saul killed himself and it says that he was dead.  That is what I Samuel says.

In II Samuel 1, we get a different story. Saul is injured.  He tries to kill himself but is unsuccessful and asks an Amalekite to finish him off without any mention of the armorbearer.  There are several things about this story that don’t make much sense.

It seems a little strange that this man just happened to be in the neighborhood and ran into King Saul “by chance” (II Samuel 1:6 KJV).

What are the odds that this Amalekite was just out walking his dog, when he just happened to walk into the middle of a major battle between two of the largest armies of the day?

No, this Amalekite was not there by accident.  He was a graverobber.  He was there on purpose and took the crown off the dead body of King Saul.  He was out looking for spoils.

It seems a little strange in this situation that Saul would strike up a conversation with someone he had never met.  Saul was in extreme pain.  He was dying and he starts to engage in small talk with a complete stranger.  He probably never talked to Saul that day, although he may have witnessed his suicide from a distance.

It is strange that Saul did not mind being killed by an uncircimcized Amalekite but not by an uncircimcized Philistine.  That makes absolutely no sense.  The Amalekites were just as hated.  The Amalekites attacked the weakest Hebrews trying to escape Egypt. The Israelites were supposed to completely wipe out the Amalekites.

I Samuel 31 says Saul died by suicide.  It is inspired Scripture.  An Amalekite with ulterior motives said that Saul died another way.  We know that he had ulterior motives because David later said that he was expecting a reward (II Samuel 4:10). You can either believe what I Samuel 31 says or you can believe a pagan Amalekite.

The truth is that Saul did NOT die by an Amalekite.  He died by falling on his own sword.  The Amalekite was a liar.  Now the Bible does not say he was a liar but implies it.  David does not know it is a lie.  He takes what the man says at face value.

He had some evidence to support him.  He had Saul’s crown and bracelet.  That did not prove that he killed Saul, but it proved that he came from the battlefield.  It proved he was on the scene.  He was there.  He seemed to be a credible eyewitness.

David interrogate him.  He asked the man five questions.  He asked him what he saw and who he was and how he knew that Saul was dead.  The man says he just happened to be on the scene, saw the king who asked him to kill him.

He said he was an Amalekite (II Samuel 1:8).  If you remember from the last chapters of I Samuel, the Amalekites were the ones who just kidnapped his wives and kids and destroyed Ziklag.  They burned it to the ground. He had just finished killing a bunch of Amalekites.

Three Ways to Love your Enemy

What does this chapter say to us today?  David loved his enemy.  He demonstrated this in three ways.  What David did here, we are called to do today.

1) Show love for your enemy by your actions

David showed his love for his enemy by his ACTIONS.  David showed his love for Saul by having the man who claimed to kill him executed on the spot.  There was no trial.  He already confessed.

We know what David did not know.  We know that this Amalekite died because of a lie.  The man walked eighty miles with this news hoping he would be rewarded, and he was punished instead.

The Amalekite thought he could profit from a lie.  He thought he could get rich off of a lie, but he found that crime does not pay.  Deception rarely gets you what you want in the end.  If you die, you want it to because you tell the truth, not because you tell a lie.

David said, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?” “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’” (II Samuel 1:14, 16).

This man had no fear of doing this.  He said he was an alien (II Samuel 1:13).  He was not even a citizen of the country.  He was living in the land as an alien and had killed the king of the land. David says, “You did not just kill anybody.  You killed God’s Anointed; the man God handpicked to be the king of Israel.”

David says, “You did not just kill anybody.  You killed God’s Anointed; the man God handpicked to be the king of Israel.”

This is the one passage of the Bible that shows that euthanasia (mercy-killing) is unbiblical.  This man claimed that Saul wanted to be taken out of his misery and asked this Amalekite to kill him, but David treated what he did as murder.  Euthanasia is murder.  David clearly did not believe in euthanasia.

We are not to go about executing people today, but we should show love for our enemy by our actions.  “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Romans 12:20 NIV)

2) Show love for your enemy by your emotions

David showed his love for his enemy by his EMOTIONS.  He is moved to tears.  He sobs publicly.  You expect him to mourn for his best friend Jonathon, but he also mourns for his enemy Saul.

Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and TORE THEM. 12 They MOURNED and WEPT and FASTED till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. (II Samuel 1:11-12 NIV)

This is strange.  It seems to make no sense.  Saul treated David horribly.  He was his own son-in-law.  He was married to Saul’s daughter and Saul persecuted David.  He tried to kill him about eleven times.  He sent troops after David.

He made David’s life miserable.  He forced him to leave his home and made him live on the run for ten years.  He forced him to go into hiding.  He always had to look behind his back.  His life was always in danger.

After he died, you expect him to be happy.  He no longer has to sleep in a cave.  He should be rejoicing.  Now, he gets to be king.  Now, he is not a wanted man.  Now, he can relax.  You expect him to be happy, but he is sad.  He mourns.

3) Show love for your enemy by your words

David showed his love for his enemy by his WORDS.  David wrote a lament for Saul.  David writes a poem or song about Saul and Jonathon.  David turned his words into music. David was not just a soldier and a politician; he was a musician, a poet and a writer.

He writes an ode to Saul and Jonathon.  He said, “They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions” (II Samuel 1:23 NIV). David not only mourned for Saul and Jonathon; he ordered the people to mourn them as well.  He required that their legacy be preserved, and their career celebrated.

David not only mourned for Saul and Jonathon; he ordered the people to mourn them as well.  He required that their legacy be preserved, and their career celebrated.

David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and he ORDERED that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar (II Samuel 1:17-18 NIV)

This is actually very practical.  How do you respond when your enemy dies?  What do you say at a funeral of an unsaved person, someone who lived a wicked life? It may even be the funeral of a friend or family member.  At a funeral, even of an unsaved person, you can bring out the positive strengths of that person, as well as use it as an opportunity to preach the gospel.

David could have written a poem about Saul as a madman, a mentally unstable, psychotic, murderous, blood-thirsty, demon-possessed king.  It would have all been true.  He was that.  The Holy Spirit left him, and an evil spirit entered him.  Saul committed mass murder when he killed all of the priests and wiped out a whole town, but David did not say that.

Instead, he focused on Saul’s strengths: his courage and valor.  He said, “How the might have fallen!” (II Samuel 1:19, 25, 27 NIV). He extolled the might of Saul. Saul was a mighty man.  He brought prosperity to the nation (II Samuel 1:24).

He did not make Saul out to be better than he was.  He did not make him out to be some great saint or man of God.  That happens a lot at funerals, but he did emphasize some of his strengths.

It is interesting to me how politicized the world is in which we live.  When one president replaces another president, the road to the White House was so contentious that when they get there, they never say anything positive about their predecessor.

That is terrible.  Joe Biden has not said one positive thing about Donald Trump, even though he was able to produce three vaccines for the country in a year through Operation WARP Speed (OWS) .

 

The Unpardonable Sin

And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Mathew 12:31-32 NIV)

Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:28-29 NIV)

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Luke 12:10 NIV)

Today, we want to look at the scariest passage in the NT. It comes from the lips of Jesus. It is the saying about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  It is mentioned in three of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).

Perhaps no saying of Jesus has been more abused and misunderstood than this one.  Many have been terrified by this verse.  People who suffer from OCD, in particular, have been tortured by these words of Jesus.

They are afraid that at some time in the past, they said something about the Holy Spirit, perhaps even by accident, and now their fate is sealed.  They are doomed to hell.  They cannot be saved. They have no hope.

Are they right?  We will find out.  First, we want to look at the context of the passage.  The biggest mistake that people make today is that they take this saying of Jesus out of its context.  People pull verses out of context all of the time.  That is one way to misinterpret the Bible every time.

What is the context of this saying?  What is the specific situation which led to this sin?  An incredible miracle, a healing miracle.  It is also an exorcism.  Matthew and Luke describe it.  You can read about the context in Luke 11 and Matthew 12.

An Incredible Miracle

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. (Luke 11:14 NIV)

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see (Matthew 12:22 NIV).

The story begins with a man with problems.  He had three problems.  Anyone of these problems would be big enough but he had three of them.  The man was completely blind.  He couldn’t see.  He was mute.  He couldn’t talk and he was demon-possessed.  He was a blind, mute demoniac.

He was the biblical Hellen Keller.  Hellen Keller could talk but she could not see or hear.  This man could hear but he could not see or talk, only he was much worse, because he was demon-possessed.  The demon actually CAUSED his physical problems.  It caused his medical problems.

Now every time you have a headache does not mean you are demon-possessed but in some cases medical problems can be spiritual in origin.  Some can be demonic in origin.  This one was.  How do we know?  The way Jesus healed the man was by casting out the demon.

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. (Luke 11:14 NIV)

This healing led to two completely different reactions: one was positive, and one was negative.  One group of people were completely open minded and just looked at the facts and the other group was close minded and hard-hearted. Both sides agreed on four things.  There was no debate about these four things.

1. Everyone agreed that this man had real physical problems.  He was not faking an illness.  He was genuinely sick.

2. Everyone agreed that the man got better. His problems were solved.  He could see, hear and was no longer demonized.

3. Everyone agreed that this healing was completely supernatural. This man was not healed by natural medicine.  He was healed by a complete miracle.

4. Everyone also agreed that Jesus was responsible for the healing.  The man got better because of what Jesus did to him.

Two Different Reactions

There were two different reactions to these set of facts.  You can agree on the FACTS and disagree on the CONCLUSIONS.  Just ask Republicans and Democrats today.

A mass shooting takes place and people die.  Everyone agrees on the facts.  One side says that we have a crime problem.  The other side says it is not a crime problem.  It is a gun problem. We need to get rid of these evil guns.

We can agree on the facts about abortion.  One side says the issue is the taking of human life, innocent human life.  The other side says the issue is the right of women to control their own bodies. Same facts, different conclusions. There were two different reactions to this healing by Jesus.

The people on the street had one reaction saw this incredible miracle.  They said, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matthew 12:23).  Could this be the Messiah?  Jesus had healed a blind mute who was demon-possessed earlier (Matthew 9:33).

Now, He heals a man who couldn’t see, couldn’t talk and was demon-possessed.  The Jews believed that there were certain miracles that only the Messiah would be able to do. This must be one of them.  That was one reaction.

The Pharisees had a different reaction.  They said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons” (Matthew 12:24 NIV).  This was not said by just anybody.  They had the same facts, but a different reaction.

It was not because of a lack of evidence.  The evidence was powerful.  It was undeniable. The Pharisees witnessed Jesus heal a man with multiple disabilities.  They just witnessed an exorcism.   It happened right before their eyes.  They were completely unmoved.

It was not because they were just ignorant and did not know any better. The ones who said this were the religious experts.  They were the scholars of the day.  They knew the Bible.  God has mercy on people who say things out of ignorance.

Paul said, “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.” (I Timothy 1:13 NIV)

They had a revelation about Jesus being the Messiah.  They understood it.  They saw the miracles with their own eyes.  The evidence was overwhelming.  They could not deny the evidence, so they tried to discredit it.

They said that this was not messianic.  It was demonic.  Jesus did these things by the power of Beelzebub.  He did it, not just any demon, but by the top demon, the head demon, Satan himself.

They did not just reject Jesus as the Messiah, like many do today.  They said that He was actually demon-possessed and performed His miracles by the power of Satan.

Jesus did answer them with a Bible verse but with logic. He said, “How can Satan cast out Satan?” (Mark 3:23).  “If I am working for Satan, then Satan would be fighting Satan.”  In essence he says, ‘Satan may be evil, but he’s not stupid!’”  It is in this context, that Jesus gives us the warning about the unpardonable sin.

Today, we want to look at ten things from Scripture that you need to know about the unpardonable sin.

Ten Important Truths about the Unpardonable Sin

1) There is such a thing as an unforgivable sin

Jesus said so.  We think today that there no such a thing as an unforgivable sin.  All sins are forgivable.  That is what most preachers will tell you.  Jesus said emphatically, “every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, BUT blasphemy against the Spirit will NOT be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31 NIV).

Now this is strange.  You hear all of the time in church that God is a forgiving God.  What you hear is absolutely true.  God is a forgiving God.

He casts all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19 NIV).

He has removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:1 NIV).

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (Hebrews 8:12 NIV)

God is forgiving.  He does not just forgive our sins; He forgets them.  He is merciful.  He is full of compassion.  He gives people second chances, but with this sin, there is NO second chance.  There is NO forgiveness.  There is NO hope, not in this life and not in the next life.  This will be with you forever.  It is an ETERNAL SIN (Mark 3:29 NIV, ESV)

2) The worst moral sins imaginable can be forgiven

We tend to think that if there is an unforgivable sin, it must be really bad.  It must be some monstrous crime.  What is strange is that the worst sins that you can possibly think of in your mind can all be forgiven.

The worst sexual sins and perversions CAN be forgiven. Adultery can be forgiven (John 8).  Homosexuality (I Corinthians 6:9-11) can be forgiven.  Rape, incest and child abuse can all be forgiven.

Murder can be forgiven. David committed murder and he was forgiven (Psalm 32:1-2). Murder is not the unpardonable sin, contrary to what the Mormon Church teaches.[1]

Murder is not the unpardonable sin.  Not even suicide is the unpardonable sin.  Abortion is not the unpardonable sin.  Abortion can be forgiven.  King Manasseh committed child sacrifice in the OT, and he was forgiven.

Even mass murder is not the unpardonable sin. Serial killers can get saved. Even serial killer David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, came to faith in Christ.[2]

Not only can murder be forgiven; the worst murder ever committed on the planet can be forgiven.  Nailing Jesus to the cross could be forgiven.

The Apostle Peter preached to some people who were responsible for the death of their Messiah and he did not say that they could not be forgiven.  Peter did not say that they had committed the unpardonable sin.

This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge and YOU, with the help of wicked men, PUT HIM TO DEATH by nailing him to the cross. (Acts 2:23 NIV)

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37 NIV)

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38 NIV)

Even blasphemy is not the unpardonable sin.  You can blaspheme God and still get saved.  The Apostle Paul said that he used to be a blasphemer (I Timothy 1:13).  He persecuted the church and he was forgiven.  Only a certain kind of blasphemy cannot be forgiven.

3) The unforgivable sin is more than just verbal

Blasphemy is a verbal sin, but this is no ordinary verbal sin.  This was not an accidental failing.  It was not misguided moment of irreverence.  It was not just a slip of the tongue. Jesus said in this very chapter, “Out of abundance of the HEART the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34 KJV).

This sin is not just saying some bad words about the Holy Spirit.  If that was the case, then every preacher who read Matthew 12 as the Scripture reading would be guilty of the same sin.

“Speaking against the Spirit was not merely a sin of the tongue.  The Pharisees not only sinned with their words.  It was a sin of the heart, expressed in words.”[3] What the Pharisees said in their heart on the inside came out in words on the outside.

An accidental slip of the tongue does not come out of the heart.  When you say something accidentally or misspeak, it is unintentional.  It is saying something that you do not mean to say.  This was a heart issue.  This was an intentional, deliberate and willful sin.

4) You can still commit this sin today

Some teach that the sin cannot be committed today.  They believe that Jesus has to be on earth for this sin to be committed.

This view is very popular in some churches. It was the view of Charles Ryrie (1925-2016), the author of the Ryrie Study Bible.

“To commit this particular sin required the personal and visible presence of Christ on earth; to commit it today, therefore, would be impossible.”[4]

“The special circumstances involved in this blasphemy cannot be duplicated today; therefore this sin cannot now be committed.”[5]

I have tremendous respect for Charles Ryrie as a writer and theologian.  I have a signed book from him, but there are many flaws with this view. Jesus did NOT call this a DISPENSATIONAL sin.  He called it an ETERNAL sin (Mark 3:29).

Jesus NEVER said, “If you commit this sin before 70 A.D., you won’t be forgiven.”  He said, “If you commit this sin at all, you will not be forgiven.” Jesus does not give a time limit or expiration date for this sin.

You will not be forgiven if you commit this sin in the first century.  You will not be forgiven if you commit this sin in the twentieth century.  You will not be forgiven in this life or the next life.  He says it in the strongest possible language.

Furthermore, this is NOT a sin against Jesus.  This is a sin against the Holy Spirit, so does NOT require the physical presence of Jesus on the earth.  In fact, when Jesus left the earth, He said that the Holy Spirit would come to replace Him.

People can still blaspheme the Spirit today.  The Holy Spirit is still at work in the world today.  He is the active force of God in the world today.  His person and His work can still be blasphemed. Hebrews 10:29 says that people can still insult the Spirit of Grace.

However, only UNBELIEVERS can commit this sin.  This is something everyone agrees on.  Even John Calvin said that no Christian could commit this sin.[6]  He is absolutely correct.

Christians can sin.  They can sin against the Holy Spirit.  The Bible mentions three sins they can commit against the Holy Spirit.

  • Christians can GRIEVE the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).
  • Christians can QUENCH the Holy Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19).
  • Christians can LIE to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3).

Christians CANNOT blaspheme the Holy Spirit.  There is no example of any Christian blaspheming the Holy Spirit in the NT. There is only one example in the Bible of people committing this sin and they were not believers.  They were not any of His followers.

They were the Scribes and Pharisees who hated Jesus. The enemies of Jesus were the ones accused of this sin.  Jesus said to them, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?” (Matthew 12:34 NIV).

He did not call them SHEEP.  He called them SNAKES (Matthew 23:33). He did not call them children of God.  He called them children of the devil.  He said that Satan was their father (John 8:44).  He called them “children of hell” (Matthew 23:15).

5) You can be moral and commit this sin

We tend to think that if that the only ones who could commit this sin must be really bad people.  The shocking truth is that those accused of this this sin in the Bible were outwardly moral people.

The Pharisees were not known as notorious sinners.  They did not have a criminal record.  They were not ax-murderers.  They were not drunkards or crack heads.

The Pharisees were outwardly moral.  Outwardly, they looked great.  They were upstanding individuals.  They had a good reputation in the community. They were well-respected.  They lived exemplary lives.

6) You can be religious and commit this sin

This sin was not committed by skeptics and atheists.  It was committed by religious people.  The Pharisees were religious.  They were extremely religious.  They went to church, which they called synagogue.

They studied the Bible.  They studied the Bible for hours each day. They were scrupulous about keeping religious rules.  The people who should be more concerned about committing this sin are religious people.

7) You can be a leader and commit this sin

Religious leaders are the only ones said to commit this sin in Scripture.  The Pharisees and scribes were not just religious.  They were religious leaders.

They were distinguished rabbis.  The Scribes were the professional Bible scholars of the day.  They were the experts on the Bible.  They were the ones who knew the prophecies of the OT about the Messiah.  They were highly educated.

This sin was not committed by the ordinary church members.  It was committed by the pastoral staff.  It was committed by the senior pastor.

As one NT scholar put it, “Those who should most particularly heed the warning of this verse today are the theological teachers and official leaders of the churches.”[7]

8) If you are worried about committing it, you haven’t committed it

There are many people worried about committing this sin.  As D.L. Moody once said, “Those who think they have committed the unpardonable sin seldom worry themselves about other sins.”[8]

On the other hand, if you are worried about committing this sin in the past and feel guilty and think there is no hope for you, there is good news.  If you are humble, broken, and repentant, you have not committed this sin.  Everyone agrees on this point.  That is important to know practically.  It is important to know pastorally. How do we know this is true?

9) The unpardonable sin makes repentance impossible

All sins are forgivable.  The blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL sin.  The only sin God will not forgive is the sin we will not confess but the person who commits this sin is incapable of confessing it.

This sin can never be forgiven, because in order to commit it, the heart has to be beyond repentance, as A.W. Tozer says.[9]  This sin makes one incapable of asking for a pardon.   F. F. Bruce says, “The nature of this sin is such that one does not repent of it.”[10]

John Walvoord put it, the thought is not “that one seeking pardon will not find it, but rather that one who rejects the Holy Spirit will not seek pardon.  It is the ultimate in unbelief.”[11]

Charles Ryrie agrees.  He says that this sin “can never be forgiven, not because God withdraws His grace but because people withdraw themselves from all contact with God.”[12]

It is scary to think that you can actually get to a point where your heart is so hard that you are unable to even ask for a pardon.  No matter how much evidence you place before some people, they will never believe.

We like to tell people that they always have hope as long as they are alive.  The Bible teaches that some do NOT have hope.  The Bible teaches something different.

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”39 For this reason they COULD NOT BELIEVE, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” (John 12:37-40 NIV).

For it is IMPOSSIBLE TO RESTORE AGAIN TO REPENTANCE those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt. (Hebrews 6:4-6 RSV)

The Bible teaches that you can get to a point where repentance and faith is literally impossible. You can get to a point where you CANNOT believe and to a point where you CANNOT repent.

The Pharisees did not just REJECT Jesus.  They did not just DISCREDIT Jesus and say that His miracles came from Satan.  They wanted to SILENCE Jesus.  They wanted to KILL him.

They had a meeting on how they could kill Jesus.  In the same chapter, we see the words, “But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus” (Matthew 12:9 NIV).  They were at a point of no return.  The same thing can happen to people today

10) Deliberately speaking evil of the clear and undisputed work of the Holy Spirit is very dangerous.

It is extremely dangerous to do this.  It was dangerous two thousand years ago and it is dangerous today.  Why?

As Grant Osborn puts it, The Holy Spirit is “the divine tool of salvation.”[13]  The Holy Spirit is the one who makes faith and repentance possible. The Holy Spirit’s job is to bring people to Christ.

It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict the world “of sin, of righteous and of judgment” (John 16:8 KJV).  The Spirit is the one who bears witness to Christ (John 15:26).  You cannot even say that Jesus is Lord apart from the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:3)

A person who blasphemes the Spirit is slandering and rejecting the only one who can lead them to a place of saving faith.

[1] Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, said, “The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, which is shedding innocent blood after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant.” (Doctrines and Covenants 132:26–27).

[2] https://www.ariseandshine.org/testimony-translations.html

[3] Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, (Moody Press, 1981), 352.

[4] Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, (Moody Press, 1981), 352.

[5] Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition (Moody Press, 1995 update) on Matthew 12:31, p. 1534

[6] Calvin wrote, “As we maintain, that he who has been truly regenerated by the Spirit cannot possibly fall into so horrid a crime” (Commentary on Matthew 12:31 in https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cal/matthew-12.html)

[7] C.E.B. Cranfield, The Gospel According to St. Mark, The Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary (Cambridge University Press, 1983), 143.

[8] D. L. Moody, Notes from my Bible: from Genesis to Revelation (Kindle Locations 1670-1671). Sequor Ltd. Kindle Edition.

[9] A. W. Tozer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9AwHUwulqE).

[10] F. F. Bruce, Hard Sayings of Jesus, The Jesus Library (InterVarsity Press, 1983), 90.

[11] John Walvoord, Matthew: Thy Kingdom Come (Moody Press, 1974), accessed online at https://bible.org/seriespage/chapter-12-jesus-rejected-pharisees.

[12] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Miracles of our Lord (Thomas Nelson, 1984), 69.

[13] Grant R. Osborne, Matthew, Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament (Zondervan, 2010), p. 680.

The Great Commission

We are often interested in a person’s last words.  A person’s last words are important. A man’s dying words often tell a lot about him.  What will your last words be?  What were Jesus’ last words?

Luke tells us what His last words on the cross were.  His very last words before He died was a prayer.  Jesus called out with a loud voice,“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46 NIV)

Those were not His last words.  After Jesus died, He rose from the dead and appeared to people on earth for forty days.  What were the last words before He ascended into heaven?  The last thing Jesus said in Matthew, Mark and Luke before He ascended was the Great Commission.

Last time, we looked at the resurrection of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel.  Jesus rose from the dead and then He appeared to people.  Matthew actually mentions two appearances of Jesus in two different places.

He appeared to a group of women and He appeared to a group of men.  He appeared to the women after they left the tomb.  Later in the same chapter, He appeared to a group of eleven men, not in Judea but in Galilee, and gave them the Great Commission.  These were the final words of Jesus to the church before He ascended into heaven.

What did Jesus talk about in His final words?  His final words were not teaching on some topic. They were not words of comfort or words of instruction.  They are words of exhortation.  They are commands.  He tells us to DO some things. [1]

The Great Commission is something that we are to do.  Jesus tells us what He wants His church to do until He returns.  Jesus was sent on a mission and He sends us on a mission.  He said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21 NIV)

We are sent on a mission.  It is a mission for the whole church.  This mission is NOT just for the apostles.  It is NOT just for missionaries.  It is NOT just for church leaders.  It is for EVERY believer.  It is a mission for everyone in the church.  Everyone has a special assignment from Jesus.

This mission is not optional.  These are commands.  It is called “The Great Commission,” not “The Great Suggestion” or “The Great Recommendation.”  These are not just good ideas.  They are commands.

Jesus has the right to tell us what to do.  He has more authority than anyone in the universe.  He said, “ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:17 NIV), not “some authority” or “most authority.”  Jesus has ALL authority in heaven and on earth.

The Main Business of the Church

In the Great Commission, Jesus tells us what the main business of the church today should be.  Many churches are involved in other things than what Jesus said, like helping the poor and feeding the hungry.  Those things are not wrong, but they should not be the primary focus of the church.

Many black churches focus on politics and improving life on earth, fighting for social justice.  That is also not wrong.  We need to be salt and light in the world.  It is not wrong for Christians to serve in public office.  It is not wrong for Christians to serve in government.

We should stand up for truth.  We need to take a stand against sin and injustice is sin, but the church is not to just be some political institution. That is not the mandate of the church.  What should the main business of the church be?  We will find out in the Great Commission.

Three Problems Today

When He appeared to the men, He gave them the Great Commission.  Today, we have three basic problems when it comes to the Great Commission.

Some Christians are IGNORANT of the Great Commission.  Some Christians MISUNDERSTAND the Great Commission.  Most of us DISOBEY the Great Commission.  Which of the three describe you?

1) Ignorance of the Great Commission

The first problem is that many Christians have never even heard of the Great Commission.  Many churches do not teach the Bible.  Some can go to church for twenty years and never learn the Bible.

Barna did a poll of Christians and asked them if they had heard of the Great Commission.  Fifty-one percent said that they had never heard of it.  It is a recent poll.  It did not come out seventy-five years ago.  It came out three years ago.  It came out in 2018.  Even some professing Christians and many in the church seem to have never heard of the Great Commission.

2) Misunderstanding of the Great Commission

The second problem is that many have heard of the Great Commission but do not really understand it.  There is a lot of misunderstanding about what the Great Commission is all about.  There are a lot of myths about the Great Commission that Christians have.

The biggest myth about the Great Commission is that it is just about evangelism.  It is about getting as many people as possible to pray the sinner’s prayer.  The most common view of the Great Commission in the church today is that it is all about soul winning.

Soul Winning is part of the Great Commission.  It is an important part of it but that is not all of it.  The truth is that even if you evangelized every single person on the planet in every country on the globe, and got them saved, you have NOT fulfilled the Great Commission.

Why?  The Great Commission has three parts, not one.  Most people think it has only one part, including some pastors.  It actually has three parts.  What are the three parts?

Part One – Evangelism

Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”  What does that mean?  Christian reconstructionists teach that the way to disciple the nations is to get into government, impose biblical law on society and try to reform all areas of culture and society in order to bring them into submission to God’s will.

That is not what Jesus is talking about.  Making disciples in the Great Commission does not come through legislation.  It does not come through politics.  It comes through EVANGELISM.  It comes through regeneration. How do we know?  There are two reasons.

1) The CONTEXT of the Great Commission

Note the parallel passages.  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15 NIV).  

Preaching the gospel to all creation is parallel to making disciples of all nations.  We see this in another parallel passage in Luke’s Gospel.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:45-47 NIV)

2) The ORDER of the Great Commission

The three parts of the Great Commission are chronological.   Notice the order of the verbs.  Going and making disciples is mentioned FIRST.  Making disciples (evangelism) comes BEFORE baptism.

You don’t baptize people and then start preaching to them, unless you are Presbyterians and do infant baptism.  You baptize people who have already responded in faith to the gospel.

Today, we make a distinction between evangelism and discipleship.  When we talk about discipleship, we talk about something we do AFTER we are saved.  We talk about making disciples, not just converts.

It is true that we need to make MORE than just converts but the word for “making disciples” is used in a lot of different ways.  Here, it is used for making converts.  It is used for evangelism.

Part Two – Baptism

Baptizing is part of the Great Commission.  If your church does not practice, it is not fulfilling the Great Commission.  The man who led me to the Lord was the pastor of a church that did not practice water baptism.  It is an extreme position.

For the most part, the church has done a pretty good job of following this command.  Most churches baptize new converts. Jesus said that this baptism is to be done in the name of the Trinity, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19 NIV).

There is one church that believes that baptism should be done only in Jesus name.  They are the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI).  They are called Oneness Pentecostals.  They don’t believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.

The problem is that this is what Jesus said for us to do.  He said we are to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is a command.  It is a clear command.  It is a command of Jesus.  Some churches may not like it, but we can’t change what Jesus said and rewrite the Bible.

Part Three – Teaching

Now we come to the most neglected part of the Great Commission.  We are not only to evangelize and baptize people.  Jesus said that we are to teach them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:20).

Saved people need to be taught some things.  Our churches are full of people who have not been taught the Word.  They don’t know what Jesus commanded.  Many in churches today are ignorant of some of the most basic doctrines of the Bible.

In some churches, teaching has fallen into disrepute.  Some preachers mock the Bible.  Many churches have gotten rid of Sunday School classes for adults.  Many churches that have small groups no longer have Sunday School classes.  That is considered old and outdated.  The new model is small groups.

When I was a young believer, I went to a Baptist church where the pastor preached the same sermon every week.  He preached the salvation message every week with a different text.  There is nothing wrong with preaching the gospel.  We should preach the gospel.

The problem is that we are to preach the whole counsel of God, not just the four spiritual laws.  There are many other churches just like that one.  They preach part of what is in the Bible but not everything.

Jesus wants us to teach EVERYTHING He commanded.  This teaching is not just informational.  Jesus does not say “Teach them to KNOW all things I commanded.”  He did not just say, “Teach them to know all of the doctrines of the Bible or all of the books of the Bible,” as important as that is.

He said, “Teach them to DO all things I commanded.” “Teach them to OBEY all things I commanded” (Matthew 28:20). Learning alone is not enough.  The goal is not just head knowledge, but practical obedience to the commands of Christ, so what are they?

The Commands of Jesus

What are some of the things Jesus commanded?  Do you even know some of the things Jesus commanded?  Could you list ten things He commanded off the top of your head?  Let me list just thirty of the commands of Jesus.

Jesus commands us not to store up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moths destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

He commands us to give to the poor.

He commands us to beware of covetousness.

He commands us not to fear what man can do to us.

He commands us to seek God first and His righteousness.

He commands us to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

He commands us to go two miles when we are compelled to go one.

He commands us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.

He commands us to take communion (“This do in remembrance of Me).

He commands us to let out light shine before men.

He commands us to settle things quickly with our adversaries.

He commands us not to do our righteousness before men to be seen by them.

He told us if our right hand offends us to cut it off.  He said if our eye offends us to pluck it out.

He commands us to feed His sheep.  In fact, He gave that command three times.

He commands us to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.

He commands us to rejoice when people revile us and say all kinds of false things because of Him, not just to patiently endure but to actually rejoice.

He commands us to turn the other cheek to those who insult and slap us.

He commands us to love one another as He has loved us.  He called that one “a new command.”

He commands us to love different races, like Samaritans (“Do and do likewise”).

He commands us to love our enemies (people we do not even like).

He commands us to forgive those who sin against us.

He commands us to pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us, praying for those who abuse us and hurt us.

He commands us to bless those who curse us.  Wish them well.  Say good things to them.

He commands us not to fear.  He says, “Don’t fear what men can do to you.”

He commands us not to judge others, lest we be judged ourselves.

He commands us not to worry about tomorrow or about anything.

He commands us to let our communication be yes or no.

He commands us to close the door when we pray and to pray in secret to the Father.

He commands us to pray persistently, to keep asking, to keep seeking and to keep knocking.

How are we doing with these commands?  These are not even all of the commands of Jesus.  Which ones do we need to obey this week?

Two Types of Churches Today

There are two types of churches today.  Some churches do ALL evangelism and NO teaching.  Others do ALL teaching and NO evangelism.  The passion of some churches is evangelism.  They have a heart for reaching the lost.  They want to get the gospel out to everyone in their neighborhood. That is good.  They want people to get saved.

The passion of other churches is in-depth Bible teaching.  They do verse-by-verse expository preaching.  That is also good.  They want people to know the Word.  The Great Commission is NOT just evangelism.  It is NOT just teaching.  It is evangelism. It is baptism and it is teaching EVERYTHING Jesus commanded.

3) Disobedience to the Great Commission

The third problem that Christians have today is that many of us know what it says.  We understand it but just don’t do it.

How are we doing in the area of the Great Commission?  We are to evangelize everyone.  Are we obeying it?  We don’t all have to go to quit our jobs, get on a plane and become missionaries on the other side of the planet. but have we shared our faith with anyone?

Do we have a passion for lost people?  Have we shared our personal testimony with anyone as to how we came to faith?  Are we silent believers?  Do people around us even know that we are Christians?

Have we led any believer into a deeper knowledge of their faith?  Have we discipled anyone?  Have we ever made disciples of anyone?  Have we ever taught another believer anything from Scripture?

These are questions worth thinking about.  None of us are perfect.  We all fail but we need to be conscious every day that we wake up that Jesus sent us on a mission for Him.  We have a job to do.

Encouraging Words

Some of us feel uncomfortable with sharing our faith.  If that describes you, there are two things that should encourage us.

First, Jesus is with us.  The Great Commission ends with the words, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV).  Jesus does not send us on a mission and leave us alone.  He says He will be with us always.  We have Jesus.  We also have the Holy Spirit.

Second, we have the Holy Spirit.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NIV). With the Holy Spirit comes POWER.  The Holy Spirit brings supernatural power, power to witness.

[1] https://jamesmacdonaldministries.org/?s=Matthew+28

The First Easter

April 7, 30 AD is the most important date in history and yet it is a date that is not in any of the history books.  The most important event in history was not World War I.  It was not World War II.  It was not the Reformation or the American Revolution.  The most important event of all time is the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

All of Christianity is based on the resurrection.  Jesus is not different from any other dead religious leader.  Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity.   As Paul said, “If Jesus did not rise from the dead, our faith is vain.”  If the resurrection happened, then Christianity is true, the Bible is true, Jesus is the Messiah.  In fact, Jesus is God.

Today, we are going to read the resurrection story from Matthew.  To understand the Easter story, you have to read all four Gospels.  Every account is true.  Each is inspired but no one account gives you the full picture.  That is why we need all four to get all of the details. We think we know the Easter story pretty well.  We hear about it every year, but how well do we really know it?

The Easter story begins with the women.  We want to spend some time looking at these women.  Who were they?  The Gospels mention four names. Matthew mentions two.  Mark mentions one more and Luke mentions the fourth woman.  Who were these women?  Two were wealthy.  Two were mothers of apostles.

The Four Women of Easter

1) Mary Magdalene (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10; John 20:1)

She is mentioned in all four Gospels. There are all kinds of novels about her.  There are a lot of myths about her.  Much of what you have heard about her is not true.  The Bible does not say that she was an immoral woman.  It does not say that she was a former prostitute.  It does not say that she was the wife of Jesus, as you see in the Da Vinci Code. 

What do we know about her from Scripture? Jesus freed Mary Magdalene from seven demons, not just one or two but seven.   That is mentioned twice in the Gospels (Luke 8:2; Mark 16:9).  She was wealthy and supported Jesus financially (Luke 8:2-3).  She had FINANCIAL connections.

Jesus appeared to her first.  When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared FIRST to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. (Mark 16:9).  Some say that she is the most important woman in the NT.  She is mentioned fourteen times.

You would think that the first one Jesus would appear His mother first but He didn’t.  He appeared to Mary Magdalene first (maybe because she was the only one who went to the tomb twice that morning).

2) The Other Mary (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10)

This woman had RELIGIOUS connections.  She is mentioned in three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke.  There were three Marys at the cross and two at the tomb. Mary was a common name. Two went to the tomb. We know Mary Magdalene.  Who is the other mysterious Mary?

The other Mary was a mother of one of the Apostles, James (Matthew 28:2; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10).  She was the mother of James, the son of Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15) as opposed to James, the son of Zebedee.  She was at the cross, where she is called by Mark “James the less” (KJV) or “James the younger” (NIV).  This James was not as prominent as the other one.

3) Salome (Mark 16:1)

This is another woman that has RELIGIOUS connections.  She was the mother of two apostles (John and James).  She was the wife of Zebedee.  We know that by comparing Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40.

4) Joanna (Luke 24:10)

This woman had POLITICAL connections.  Her husband was a government official.  He worked for Herod Antipas.  He was part of the Court of Herod (Luke 8:3).   Herod was the one who chopped off the head of John the Baptist.  She also was wealthy (Luke 8:3).

What is surprising is that Jesus’ mother is not mentioned as one of the ones coming but Luke says that these were not the only women who went to the tomb.  Others came with them.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, AND THE OTHERS WITH THEM who told this to the apostles. (Luke 24:10 NIV)

More than four women went to the tomb.  Others went with them.  How many others went with them?  Were there two others or ten others?  We don’t know but it is in the plural, so there were at least two more, making a total of at least six women.  Jesus’ mother could have been in that group, which would make three Marys there.

An Act of Love

What brought these women to the tomb?  These women demonstrated extreme love.  They demonstrated extravagant love. Mary Magdalene was became His most loyal follower.  How would you respond if you were freed from seven demons.

All of these women loved Jesus.  They loved Him more than the men.  They were devoted to Jesus.  They were more devoted to Jesus than we are.  They were with Him at His death, when most of the men ran away.  They were with Him. They were there to support Him. The Bible says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17 NIV)

They also cared for Him even after he died.  They were wealthy and spent some money on Jesus.  Mark tells us that they went out and bought some spices for Jesus.  When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome BOUGHT SPICES so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body (Mark 16:1 NIV).

They got up very early Sunday morning, while the men were still sleeping.  VERY EARLY on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb (Mark 16:2 NIV).  Mary Magdalene left before Sunrise.  She left while it was still dark (John 20:1).  These women went in groups but they all left early Sunday morning.

Matthew says that they just went to look at the tomb (Matthew 28:1) but we know from Mark and Luke that they did not just go to visit the tomb and pay their respect.  They went to perform an act of love.  They went to put spices on the dead body of Jesus.   They could NOT do this job on Saturday, because it was the Sabbath.  They had to wait for Sunday.

Why would they do something as crazy as that? It seems strange to us today.  Why put spices on someone who had been dead for two days, especially in the hot climate of the Middle East? They wanted to make the body of Jesus smell better.  Why would you want to make a dead body smell good?

We would not go near a dead, stinking, decomposing body, even of a loved one, and try to make it smell better but, they did.  It was an act of love.  It was an act of extreme love.  It was an act of devotion.  Love is extravagant.  Love is so extravagant that sometimes it is irrational.

It makes you do some crazy things.  These women bought spices, got up early and headed to a tomb to anoint a dead body that they knew they could not access.  There was a big heavy stone in front of the tomb, and it was guarded by Roman soldiers.  The women knew about the stone.  We know that from Mark. Mark tells us what they talked about on the way to the tomb.

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” (Mark 16:2-3 NIV)

It did not even make sense for them to go there in the first place.  That did not stop them.  They went anyway and they went early.  God rewarded their act of love.   He rewarded them in a way that He did not reward the Apostles.  God never forgets what we do for Him.

The first to find that the tomb was empty was not the men.  The first to find it empty was the women.

The first to see an angel that morning was not the men.  The first to see an angel that morning was the women.

The first to actually see Jesus alive was not the men.  The first to see the Risen Jesus was the women.

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews 6:10 NIV)

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:42 NIV)

That is interesting.  We may be upset that we have not done something great for God.  None of us are Billy Graham.  Even all of the little things we do for Him He remembers and rewards. God rewarded these women, even though they weren’t perfect.

Some of these women had a past.  Mary Magdalene was demon-possessed.  She was tormented.  She was ruled by seven demons.  Try to image what that must have been like.  Jesus did not hold her past against her.

He rewarded these women, even though they weren’t perfect and even though their theology wasn’t perfect. When they made their way to a tomb, they were not looking for the living and risen Christ.

They were looking for a lifeless corpse. They came to anoint a dead body.  Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was the gardener (Jesus the Gardener) but God still rewarded her, even though she was confused and mistaken.

An Easter Surprise

When the women got to the tomb that morning, they all received a surprise.  Try to picture what was going on that morning.  They witnessed a horrific scene on Friday.  They were traumatized by the brutality of the execution.

They are heading out to the tomb with their perfumes and spices early in the morning.  They are all depressed.  The one they loved was tortured and killed. Their eyes were red.  They had been crying.  They were grieving.  They were mourning.  They were sad.  They were broken-hearted.

When they got to the tomb, they went from sadness to shock.  Everyone got an Easter surprise.  When they got to the tomb, they could not believe that the stone was rolled away (Matthew 28:1-4; Mark 16:1-4; Luke 24:1-2; John 20:1).  The first thing they did was to go inside and there they found that the body was gone, according to Mark and Luke (Mark 16:4-5; Luke 24:2-3).

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (Luke 24:2-3 NIV)

Now, they were puzzled.  They brought all of these spices to anoint the body and there is no body to anoint. Where’s the body?  The body is not there. The body was nowhere to be found.  This was huge.  Mary Magdalene immediately left.  This was too important not to tell anyone.  The Apostles needed to know.

Mary’s problem was that she jumped to conclusions.  She saw that the stone was moved.  She saw the body of Jesus missing and a bunch of dead Romans lying around.  She went back and told the Apostles that someone stole the body of Jesus, while the rest of the women stayed there.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:1-2 NIV)

The Appearance of Angels

Mary Magdalene leaves.  The rest of the women stay but they are confused. What happened?  Where is the body?  Who could possibly have taken it?  Where did they move it to?  As they were trying to figure it out, they faced an even greater problem.  An angel showed up suddenly out of nowhere.  That does not sound like a problem to us.

We have no idea what it is like to see a real angel.   Most of us have never seen a real angel in person.   Our ideas about angels come from Hollywood (Touched by Angel).  Those are fake angels.  The angels these women saw were supernatural beings.  They shined like lightning and there was not just one of them; there were two of them.  Luke mentions two angels (Luke 24:4).  Two angels later appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-12).

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. (Luke 24:4 NIV)

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. (Matthew 28:3 NIV)

These angels were terrifying.  The women fell to the ground.  Their faces were in the dirt. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground (Luke 24:5 NIV)

They came to the tomb SAD.  At the tomb, they experienced SHOCK.  When the angels showed up, they experienced FEAR.  They were terrified.  These supernatural beings showed up, wearing blinding white clothes, and shining like the Sun.  Their face shined brightly.  Their clothes shined brightly.

All of the Roman soldier’s passed out.  These were seasoned soldiers.  They were not afraid of anything.  They were armed.  They had faced war.  They fought battles but when they come face-to-face with an angel, these big strong men fainted.

Bad angels (demons) are terrifying but, apparently, good angels are also scary.  They are heavenly beings.  The first thing the angels said to the women is “Do NOT be afraid” (Matthew 28:5; Mark 16:6).  Mark adds one more detail.  When they left and headed back, they were still afraid.  They were shaking.  They were trembling (Mark 16:8).

The Nature of Angels

Angels are interesting creatures.  They are greater beings than we are.  One preacher them “biblical extra-terrestrials.”  They are supernatural beings.  They have superhuman strength.  They have incredible strength.  They are spirit beings.  They are spirits.  Hebrews calls them “ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1:14).

We have a spirit, but we are not spirit beings.  A spirit does not have a body.  Jesus said, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:39 ESV)

Angels are spirits.  They don’t have a physical body.  They are immaterial.  They are not male or female, but they can take on a human body.  They can take on human form.  Here they appeared as young men.

In Mark, they see one young man (Mark 16:5).   In Luke, they see two young men (Luke 24:4).  Is this a contradiction?  One Gospel says they saw one angel, and another says they saw two angels.  No, it is not a contradiction.  It would only be a contradiction if Mark said that they saw “one and only one angel.”

They are His servants (Psalm 103:20-21). They do whatever God tells them to do.  God sent these angels on a mission.  God told them to do two things.

First, He told them to move a big heavy rock.  All it took was one angel to move it.  Matthew’s Gospel records that event.  He moved a two-ton rock with one finger effortlessly.

If we had to do a dangerous covert operation with armed guards around, we would try to do it as quickly as possible and get out of there.  This angel moved the stone right in front of armed Roman guards and then sat on top of it without any fear.

He used the big stone as a chair.  The angel did not move the stone to let Jesus out but to let the women in.  Jesus had already risen from the dead before the stone was rolled away

Second, He told them to deliver a message. What was the message?  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. (Matthew 28:6 NIV).  They got to deliver the greatest message in the history of the world.   Jesus is not dead; He is alive.

They also gave the women some small rebukes. They said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5 NIV).  He said, “If you are looking for Jesus, what are you doing here?  You are looking in the wrong place.”  Their love was extravagant.  It was irrational at times.  It was also misguided.  Love can be misguided.

Many religions see salvation among the dead.  All of their founders are dead (Buddha, Muhammad).  They worship a dead god.  Some people are more devoted to a dead god than to the living God.  A. B. Simpson said, “To many a Christian, Jesus is still but a dead Christ or at least an historic Christ, but not a living and present reality.”

The angels also said, “He is not here; he has risen, JUST AS HE SAID” (Matthew 28:6).  It is almost as if they said, “Didn’t you listen to Him?  If you would have listened to him, you would have known this would have taken place.  You would have expected it.”

The irony is that the enemies of Christ knew what He said better than His own followers.  They knew that He predicted that He would rise from the dead and tried to stop it.  That would be like unbelievers today knowing what is in the Bible better than some Christians do.  Jesus made an amazing statement in Luke 24.

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 NIV)

Jesus said that if you do not believe everything the Bible says, you are a fool and He said that to some of His own followers who believed in Him.  How many Christians only believe part of the Bible.  Parts of it they like but other parts are simply discarded. We need to believe all of the Bible.

The First Easter Sermon

In Matthew 28, we see the first Easter sermon ever given.  It was preached by an angel from heaven.  God usually uses people to preach but sometimes He uses angels to preach. On special occasions, He uses angels to deliver a message to people.  Angels announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds.

The angels announce the resurrection of Jesus.  They say, “He is risen.”  They say, “Do not be afraid.”  Then they say this: Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples (Matthew 28:6-7 NIV).  Notice the four important words: come, see, go, tell.  These are four words that everyone should follow.

1) Come

The first word is “come.”  It is an invitation.  The Bible has many invitations to people to come.  Jesus says, “whoever comes to me I will never drive away (John 6:37 NIV)

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28 NIV)

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.  (Revelation 22:17 NIV)

2) See

The angel does not just say “come” but “come and see.  Investigate it.  Check it out.  Examine the the evidence for yourself.  Don’t just take my word for it.  Come into the tomb and see.  Look where his body was.”  What the angel said was verifiable.

He didn’t say, “You just have to take it by faith.  Just take my word for it.  I am an angel from heaven.  You can trust me.”  We should encourage people to check out the truths of the Bible and Christianity for themselves.  We see the same thing in John.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see. (John 1:45-46 ESV)

3) Go

“Don’t just linger around and investigate.  Don’t just stick around at the tomb as much as you love Jesus.  Go and go quickly.  You have an important job to do.”  Some don’t go.  Interestingly, as they went, they saw Jesus on the way (Matthew 28:8-10).  God always rewards instant obedience.

4) Tell

“Don’t keep the message to yourself. Tell others about it.  Tell what happened to you this morning.  Tell what you saw at the tomb and what you heard.  Give your personal testimony about Jesus.”  We are given a similar commission.  It is called “The Great Commission.”  Some go and don’t tell.

A funny thing happened when the woman left.  They went to the Apostles.  They went to the leaders.  They went and told the men.  Not only did they reject what they were saying, they laughed at them.  They thought they were crazy.  We are to give the message whether people accept it or reject it.  Eventually, all of the Apostles accepted the message and preached it themselves.

Jesus In Our Place

Last time, we looked at the trial of Jesus.  Today, we will look at Jesus’ death.  It is the most famous death in history.  What is the setting of this event?  The date was April 3, 33 A.D.  The day was a Friday.

The location was Jerusalem.  The time was nine in the morning. The place was a small hill outside the city of Jerusalem called Skull Hill.  All four gospels say that was the place of execution (Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; Luke 23:33; John 19:17).

Five Miraculous Events

This was no ordinary death.  Supernatural events accompanied this event.  Five miraculous events accompanied the death of Jesus.  Do you know what they were?

First, the Land was Dark.  There was supernatural darkness. Three of the four gospels mention this darkness (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-45). It was dark during the brightest time of the day and it stayed dark for three hours (12 PM to 3 PM).

If that really happened, you would expect some evidence.  It turns out, we have evidence that this really took place (Thallus, Phlegon, and Africanus).  In the second century, Tertullian says that evidence for this event was still available in the archives of Rome.[1]

Second, the Veil was Torn.  The veil of the Temple was torn.  The veil was several inches thick and it was torn from top to bottom. This is mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).

Third, the Earth was Shaken.  There was a huge earthquake that took place.  The earth shook.  This is only mentioned in Matthew (Matthew 27:51).

Fourth, Bodies were Resurrected.  People were resurrected from the dead.  This is also only mentioned in Matthew (Matthew 27:52-53).

Fifth, Lives were Changed.  We see this in Matthew, Mark and Luke (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47).  Do you ever wonder what happened to the soldiers who crucified Jesus?

We know what happened to one of them.  One of them might have come to faith that day.  The one who was in charge of the crucifixion said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” The one who said this was not a Jew.  He was not a Christian.  He was a pagan.

He was a rough hardened military man.  He had supervised a lot of crucifixions.  He was not just a soldier.  He was a high-ranking soldier.  He was a centurion.  He could tell there was something different about Jesus.  He could tell this by the way He died.  Most men in Jesus’ position would be curing, angry and begging for mercy.  Jesus prayed for His enemies.  He asked forgiveness for His executioners.

We have four accounts of the crucifixion.  All of them were based on some eye-witness testimony but only one of the four gospel writers was actually there.  John is the only one of the four who was an actual eyewitness to these events.

John says that he was there that Friday.  Jesus asked him to take care of His mother.  He saw what happened.  He wrote it down and what he writes down is true.

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. (John 19:35 NIV)

We are going to take things from all of the gospels but John records one of the most important things Jesus said on the cross. It was the last thing He said on the cross – τετέλεσται.

Apparently, Jesus did not like to start a job and not finish it.  He created the world in six days, finished it and rested on the seventh day.  He finished everything the Father wanted Him to do.  He finished His earthly ministry.  He finished the work of creation and He finished the work of redemption.  He did not leave one sin unpaid for.

Today, we want to look at the two sides of the crucifixion.  We want to look at two different perspectives on the crucifixion.  Both of them are true.

Perspective One – Black Friday

The crucifixion was the worst event in human history.  The murder of Jesus was the worst crime in human history.  It was the greatest crime ever committed on planet earth.

It took place on a Friday. We call it Good Friday.  It should be called Black Friday.   It is one of the darkest days in history. It was so dark that it became physically dark outside.  As the Light of the world was dying.  It became pitch black outside.

This was not just the execution of an innocent man.  This was not the killing of a good man or a great man.  It was not just the killing of a king, as bad as that would be. It was the execution of the Son of God.  It was the murder of the God Man.

Jesus is the incarnate Word.  He is the One who created all things (John 1:3).  Humanity was trying to destroy its Creator. Mankind wants to be autonomous.  We want to be our own god and make our own rules.  We want to put God on a cross.  That is what they did to Jesus.

A Miscarriage of Justice

Jesus’ death was a miscarriage of justice. It was a travesty of justice.  Here, you have the spotless Lamb of God who never did anything wrong and only did good accused of a capital crime and tortured to death, while the guilty Barabbas is completely set free.

Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons.  He spoke like no one else spoke.  He taught like no one else taught.  He taught people to love their neighbor, to love their enemies and to forgive people who wronged them and for that He was rewarded with death.

1) Jesus was falsely accused.

He was accused of a political crime.  It was a capital crime.  It was the crime of treason.  He was accused of being an enemy of the state.  The punishment for this crime was death.  It was a crime He had never committed?  Have you ever been falsely accused of something you did not do?  Have you ever been accused of a crime?  Jesus was.

Jesus was not given a fair trial.  If we are falsely accused of a crime, we just call up a lawyer to defend us.  Jesus was not given a lawyer.  He had no one to defend Him.  In fact, He had no legal rights.  He was not given any prison rights.  He was not given any human rights.  He was not given due process.

2) Jesus was wrongfully convicted.

He was not only wrongfully accused; He was wrongfully convicted.  False evidence was used in his trial (lying witnesses) and his judge was corrupt.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”  (Luke 23:13-16 NIV)

Pilate was corrupt.  He knew Jesus was innocent.  He said he was innocent.  He said it publicly.  He said it three times (John 18:39; 19:4, 6). Pilate says, “He has done nothing worthy of death, THEREFORE I will punish him.”  He should have said, “therefore, I will release him.  Therefore, I will let Him go”

The judge’s verdict was innocent.  The sentence was death.  A completely innocent man was sentenced to death on purpose.  Today, the innocent are put on death row by mistake sometimes, but this was no mistake.  Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent.

Why did he do it?  He was a politician, a corrupt politician, like many are today.  He gave into political pressure.  He gave into social pressure.  Matthew says that he did this to avoid a riot.

Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” 24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” (Matthew 27:22-24 NIV)

People do the same thing today.  Some who sit on juries make decisions, not just based on the facts (guilt or innocence), but to appease a mob and prevent riot and looting on the street.

3) Jesus was tortured, as well as killed.

Most of us have no idea that it is like to be tortured.  We have not escaped from POW camps.  Many of us have lived lives of comfort.   Jesus was tortured by expert executioners.   He was tortured a number of different ways.

Abuse comes in many different forms (physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse). Many people have suffered abuse and have scars from it.  Jesus knew what it was like to be abused.  He can relate to abuse.  He was tortured before He died and while He was dying in a number of different ways.

Jesus was tortured physically. He was physically abused.  He was scourged.  He was chained to a pillar, stripped of his clothes and beaten with a whip. He was spit on (Matthew 27:30; Mark 15:19).

He was blindfolded (Luke 22:64).  That is only mentioned in Luke.  He slapped in the face.  He was slapped in the face twice (John 18:22; 19:3).  That is only mentioned in John.  He was struck on the head with a staff (Mark 15:19).

He was tortured by the way He died.  Jesus was not killed by lethal injection.  He was killed by crucifixion.  Roman crucifixion was dehumanizing.  It was inhumane.  It was barbaric.  It involved torture, nails driven in your hands and feet.  It was reserved for the worst of criminals.   It was so terrible and so horrific that no Roman citizen could ever be crucified.

It was a slow death.  It was a painful death by asphyxiation.  It has to be the worst way to die.  People on the cross did not bleed to death.  They died from lack of oxygen.  They died gasping for breath.  It was a public death.  We have not had a public execution in about a hundred years (1936).

Jesus was forced to carry his own cross.  John is the only one to mention this (John 19:17).  He was like Isaac carrying the wood he would be sacrificed on.  He did not carry the entire cross, just the horizontal crossbeam or crossbar.  This was about seventy-five to a hundred pounds.  He carried it from the Judgment Hall to the place of execution.

The path that He walked is called the Via Dolorosa.  It is about a third of a mile long.  There is an African connection to the cross.  On the way to the cross, a man from Cyrene helps him carry it (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26).  Cyrene is in Africa.  It is in modern Libya today.

What do we know about him?  He must have been a STRONG man.  They would have not asked a weakling to help carry a hundred-pound cross.  He was a FOREIGN man.  He was from another country in town for the Passover.  He was a BLACK man.  He was from Africa.  He was a JEWISH man.  He had a Jewish name (Simon).

He was not carrying Jesus’ cross voluntarily.  He was forced to do this by the Romans (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21).  He was going the opposite direction.  He was on his way into the city while Jesus was on his way out of the city.  Luke says that Simon follow behind Jesus (Luke 23:26).

Bearing a cross is essential today. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23 NIV) but He does NOT force people to carry one like the Romans did.  He gives people a choice.

Jesus was not just tortured physically.  He was verbally abused.  He was mocked BEFORE He was crucified.  He was mocked by Herod’s soldiers (Luke 23:11).  He was mocked by Pilate’s soldiers (Luke 23:36).  They put a crown of thorns on his head and a purple robe on Him.  They fell down on their knees pretending to pay homemade to Him (Matthew 27:29; Mark 15:19).

He was mocked WHILE He was crucified.   The soldiers gambled for His clothes as he lay dying, right in front of His mother.  He was mocked by people at the very moment that He was in excruciating pain.  Some people passing by insulted Him.

29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!”  (Mark 15:31 NIV; cf. Matthew 27:39).  He was mocked by many of the esteemed religious leaders of the day.

31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”  (Mark 15:31-32 NIV; cf. Luke 23:35ff.)

He was also mocked by one of the thieves who was dying right next to Him.  That is mentioned in three of the Gospels (Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32; Luke 23:39).  Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him (Mark 15:29-32 NIV)

Jesus was mocked by Herod’s soldiers.  He was mocked by Pilate’s soldiers.  He was mocked by people in the street.  He was mocked by the religious leaders and Bible scholars of the day.  They mocked a dying man.  He was mocked by other people being executed with Him.  People in the world still mock Jesus today.

Perspective Two – Good Friday

The crucifixion was the WORST event in history, but it was also the GREATEST event in human history. That is why we call it Good Friday.  God brought the greatest good out of the greatest evil.  He brought incredible good out of the worst crime ever committed on planet earth.

What would have happened if Jesus never went to the cross? In him we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7 NIV).  If Jesus never went to the cross, there would be no forgiveness. There would be no redemption.  There would be no salvation.

The crucifixion was an act of great INJUSTICE.  It was also an act of great LOVE.  

But God shows his LOVE for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who LOVED me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 ESV)

And walk in love, as Christ LOVED us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:2 ESV)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ LOVED the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25 ESV)

Jesus was not forced to go to the cross.  He chose to go to the cross. John 19:16 says that Pilate delivered Jesus over to be crucified but John 10:17-18 says that delivered himself.  He said that no one takes his life from Him.

Jesus said, For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18 ESV)

When Jesus was being beaten, He did not resist.  He did not fight back.  He went as a lamb to the slaughter.  He did not threaten people.  Those who judged Jesus will one day be judged by Jesus, but Jesus did not threaten them.  He did not say, “One day the tables will be turned, and I will be the Judge and will determine your fate and where you spend eternity.”

While He was being crucified, He could have come down from the cross.  People were mocking Him and daring him to do it, but He didn’t.  He accepted it as part the God’s eternal plan.  It was planned from the foundation of the world.  This is one of the things that is clear from John’s account of the crucifixion.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be FULFILLED that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” (John 19:24 NIV)

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be FULFILLED, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28 NIV)

These things happened so that the scripture would be FULFILLED: “Not one of his bones will be broken” (John 19:36 NIV)

Jesus actually fulfilled twenty-eight prophecies in one day when He died. [2]

[1] “And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner’s work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives” (Tertullian, The Apology, 21:19) accessed at https://www.tertullian.org/anf/anf03/anf03-05.htm#P253_53158

[2] https://www.cbcg.org/franklin/SA/SA_28prophecies.pdf

Truth on Trial

Today, we will be looking at the most famous trial in history.  The most famous trial in history was not the OJ Simpson Trial or the Scopes Monkey Trial.  It was not Roe V. Wade.  It was the trial of Jesus.  This trial is mentioned in all four Gospels.  We will be looking at John’s account.  In John 18, Jesus is arrested and put on trial.  The trial will result in a sentence of death by crucifixion.

We live in a day in which people do not always get justice.  We have bad laws.  We have bad cops.  We have bad judges.  We have unfair sentences.    The guilty often walk free or get a very light sentence.  The innocent sometimes go to prison.

Many do not get a fair trial today. Jesus did not get a fair trial either.  He was falsely accused of a crime.  He had no legal rights.  He had no lawyer representing him and defending him.  Jesus was not a Roman citizen.

This trial was a complete travesty of justice.  J.D. Greear calls it, “The most unjust trial in human history.” [1] It perpetrated was the greatest injustice of all time, the murder of the incarnate Son of God. [2]

What is the background to our section?  Before Jesus’ civil trial, He had a religious trial.  Religion hates Jesus.  The top religious leaders in the nation HATED Jesus.   You would have expected the religious experts of the day to welcome Jesus.  They were very religious.  They memorized huge chunks of their Bible.  Their own Bible predicted that the Messiah would come.

Instead, they wanted to kill Him.  Jesus might not fit in too well into some churches today either.  He would have been a little too Jewish for some Baptist churches today. He drank alcohol.

Jesus was arrested at night by a huge army of soldiers armed with swords and clubs (Matthew 26:47; John 18:3).  He was brought to the house of the High Priest and interrogated under oath.  He stood before the Sanhedrin.

He was physically abused in their custody.  Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him (Matthew 26:67). The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. (Luke 22:63 NIV).  Jesus was given the death penalty for blasphemy.

65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered. (Matthew 26:65-66 NIV)

He was placed in a holding cell.  The next day, they took Jesus to the Roman authorities.  As much as they wanted to kill Jesus, they could not do it legally.  Only the Romans had the authority to execute anyone, so the next day, they took him to Pontius Pilate very early in the morning, probably around 6 AM.

Did Pontius Pilate Actually Exist?

There is solid historical evidence for the existence of Pontius Pilate.  He is mentioned in Jewish (Philo, Josephus), Roman (Tacitus) and Christian (NT) sources but it was not until sixty years ago that we had actual archeological evidence for Pilate.

In 1961, his name was discovered by archeologists on a stone in Israel.  The stone has an inscription that says in Latin, “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.”

It is called “The Pilate Stone.”  You can see this stone if you go to Jerusalem today.  It is in the Israel Museum.  Since then, archeologists have found in Bethlehem a two-thousand-year-old ring with Pilate’s name on it in Greek.

Pilate met Jesus for the first time.  He came face-to-face with Him.  Pilate interviewed Him.   He interrogated him.  Jesus stood before Pilate’s Court. The Jews took him to Pilate’s headquarters, The Praetorium but would not bring Him inside, because they did not want to be defiled going into a pagan Gentile residence.

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. (John 18:28 NIV)

Note the complete hypocrisy here.  These leaders didn’t have a problem with committing murder, but they do not want to be seen stepping into Gentile territory.  They were big on ceremonial purity but not too big on  moral purity.   As Jesus said, these people would “strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24 NIV).

They were scrupulous and meticulous about following all of the ceremonial rules, as they get ready to commit the worst sin ever committed in history, the murder of their own Jewish Messiah. They would not go into a Gentile’s house, so Pilate had to come out.

The interesting thing is that we know exactly where this was.  Pilate’s Judgment Hall was the Antonia Fortress beside the Temple.  If you go to Israel, you can visit it today.  It has been converted to a school.  There is this courtyard outside where Jesus would have been taken and stood outside.

We do not know if Pilate knew Jesus had been arrested the night before.  He asks them what he was charged with (John 18:29).  John does not tell us.  30 If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” (John 18:30 NIV).

Luke gives us more details.  He gives us the actual charge.  It wasn’t blasphemy.  That would not stand up in a Roman court.  The charge was upgraded to treason.  It was changed to political rebellion.

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.” (Luke 23:1-2 NIV).

Pilate brings Jesus inside and asks him questions about some of these charges.  The Bible records seven of Pilate’s questions.  While Pilate interrogates Jesus, he asks Him seven questions.  He probably asked Him a lot more but John only records seven.  In the end, it turns into a discussion about truth.  While Jesus is the one on trial, He puts Pilate on trial.

Pilate’s Seven Questions

Pilate’s FIRST QUESTION Pilate asked Jesus was, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (John 18:33 NIV).  Jesus says, “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” (John 18:34 NIV).  He gives an evasive answer. He did not answer Him directly at first.  Why did He do this?

It was a bad question.  It was a trick question.  The question was a trap.  There was a question of two behind the question.  What did Pilate mean by king?  Of course, Jesus is king.  What Pilate really was asking was whether Jesus was a political revolutionary.

That was really what Pilate wanted to know.  He wanted to know if Jesus was planning on taking up arms and planning to overthrow the government.  He wanted to know if Jesus was a threat to Rome but that was not what he asked, so Jesus sidestepped the question.

Pilate’s SECOND QUESTION was “Am I a Jew?” (John 18:35).  It was a rhetorical question. That is a question not to get information but to give information.  It implied a negative answer.  Pilate said, He adds, “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me.”

Pilate’s THIRD QUESTION was “What have you done?” (John 18:35).  The question assumed that Jesus is guilty.  There was no presumption of innocence here. Jesus does not answer this question.  He could have said, “I have healed the sick.  I have given sight to the blind.  I have raised the dead.  I have cast out demons. That is what I have done.”

Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36 NIV).

That is a very important statement.  Jesus does NOT deny that He is a king.  He does NOT deny that He has a kingdom.  He DOES deny that his servants are to fight for his kingdom.  That is very significant.

Jesus was very different from Muhammad.  Muhammad was a military man.  He fought all kinds of battles and killed many people.  He believed in jihad.  Islam is a religion of the sword.

Jesus never fought anyone.  We never see Him with a sword or a weapon.  We never see Him fighting people.  He never killed anyone.  He said to turn the other cheek and forgive your enemies.  He taught His followers to love people, not kill them.

When Jesus was arrested, Peter pulled out a sword and cut a man’s ear off, but Jesus healed the man and told Peter to put his sword away.  He said that His servants were NOT to fight.  There should not be any religious wars waged for Jesus.  The Crusades were wrong.  Jesus’ kingdom is NOT of this world.  In the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church believed that his kingdom was of this world and they fought for it.

Right now, Jesus’ kingdom is internal.  It is a spiritual kingdom.  One day, Jesus will return to the earth to rule and reign.  He will establish His kingdom on the earth.  Then, He will have a sword.

Revelation 19:16 says, “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”  At the Second Coming, Jesus will reign on the earth as king but at the First Coming, He came as a lamb, not a lion.

Pilate’s FOURTH QUESTION was “So you are a king?” (John 18:37 ESV).  Jesus already answered this question, but He is more emphatic.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:37 NIV)

Pilate’s FIFTH QUESTION was “What is truth?” (John 18:38 NIV).  That sounds like a question from a Philosophy 101 course.  It is perhaps the most important question a person can ever ask.   It is a question that everyone must answer.

When we talk to people about Jesus, we can get two completely different responses.  One response is to be open, receptive and accept the message.  Jesus said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37 NIV).  Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 NIV)

The other response is to reject truth.  That is what Pilate does here.  Jesus gave Pilate an invitation to respond to Him here.  He invites the judge to be one of followers.

If Pilate was on the side of truth, he would have accepted Jesus’ words.  Instead, he said, “What is truth?”  He not only rejects the truth; he mocks it.  That is not how a true believer would respond.

The irony is that he was standing right in front of the incarnate Son of God, the very embodiment of truth.  He says, “What is truth?” when he is standing right in front of Truth.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Some people can ask the question out of sincerity.  Pilate asks it out of complete cynicism and does not even wait for an answer.  He just walks away and leaves the room.

Is Truth Relative?

One of the biggest things you will hear today is that truth is relative.  What is true for you is not true for me.  Everyone has their own version of truth.  That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.  Is the law of gravity only true for me or is it true for everyone?

Truth is absolute.  Two plus two equals four.  It equals four in China.  It equals four in India.  It equals four in America.  It equals four in every culture and in every place.  If you go to the Moon, it equals four.  It equals four in every time.  If you go back in time a thousand years, it still equaled four.

Truth has nothing to do with culture.  It has nothing to do with attitudes.  It has nothing to do with feelings.  I may feel great on the outside but that does not change the fact that I may have cancer on the inside and may be dying.

It has nothing to do with my beliefs.  I may not believe in the law of gravity but that will not change the fact that if I fall of a tall building, I will fall to the ground.    Gravity applies to those who believe it is a physical law and it applies to those who do not believe it is a physical law.

Pilate’s SIXTH Question was “Where do you come from?” (John 19:9 NIV).  Jesus did not answer this question.

Pilate’s SEVENTH Question was “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” (John 19:10 NIV).  Jesus said, “You have that power because God gave you that power (John 19:11).

Pilate has now interrogated Jesus.  He realizes that He is not violent.  He is not a threat to Rome.  He wanted to set him free.  He tries to set him free several different ways. He tried to avoid the case and sent Him back to the Jews.

When he found out that Jesus was a Galilean, He sent Him to Herod because Galilee was his jurisdiction.  He gave him a choice between Jesus and Barabbas.  He gave them a choice between releasing an innocent man and releasing a guilty man.

The KJV says that Barabbas was “a robber” (John 18:40 KJV).  The Greek word ληστής is the same Greek word used to describe the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus (Mark 15:27) but Barabbas was much more than a petty thief.  He was a murderer.  He killed someone.  He was a revolutionary.  (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19).

Jesus was brought before Pilate because He was accused of being a revolutionary, even though He was innocent, and then they let Barabbas go free when he was the one who tried to overthrow the government.  He was a real terrorist.  He participated in a bloody insurrection.  Barabbas was a thug and a killer.  This was complete hypocrisy.

Barabbas is the one who receives a pardon.  Jesus was punished and the criminal who should have been punished is released.  Jesus takes Barabbas’ place.  He walks off to His execution, while the guilty Barabbas is let free. A terrorist goes free.  A murderer goes free.

We are like Barabbas.  Barabbas was wicked and so are we.  We are sinners.  We broke God’s law.  We stand under condemnation like Barabbas did.  We deserve death and Jesus took our place. What Jesus did for Barabbas, He does for us.

Pilate tried to send Jesus back to the Jews.  He told them to try him.  That did not work.  He tried to send him to Herod, but Jesus did not talk to Herod.  He tried to release Barabbas instead of Jesus, but the Jews did not want Barabbas.  Finally, he tried to give Jesus some type of punishment to save his life.  He scourged Jesus.  That made no sense.  Pilate knows Jesus is innocent but treats Him like He is guilty.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. (John 19:1-3 NIV)

That approach did not work.  “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” (John 19:15 NIV)

What is happening here?   There is some politics going on.  Pilate gave in to the pressure.  He gave in to the mobs.  He was worried about his job.  Pilate was a politician, but he was not Donald Trump.  Donald Trump told you what he thought unfiltered and did not care what anyone thought.   Love him or hate him, he did not change his core principles based on the latest CNN poll or based on what violent mobs in the street did.

Pilate was different. Interestingly, Pilate only lasts three more years as Governor of Judea.  In 36 AD, Pilate was removed from office and sent back to Rome.

People complained to Emperor Tiberius about Pilate.  He was accused of many things.  Philo mentions him being accused of oppression, cruelty, excessive force, murder and not giving people a fair trial. [3]

Mobs tried to intimidate Pilate to crucify Jesus, even though he knew that He was an innocent man.  We see the same thing today.  Mobs in the street intimidate and blackmail the legal system.  If a guilty verdict is not reached in some murder cases, they threaten violence.  They will riot, loot and destroy businesses.  They will burn the whole city down.

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” (John 19:12 NIV)

Nathaniel Williams, who is a pastor in North Carolina wrote, “Pilates’ sins were many. He ignored his convictions and his wife’s wise counsel. He gave in to the whims of an angry mob. And he condemned Jesus to be crucified — not because he believed Jesus was guilty, but because it was more politically expedient. And when it was all over, he washed his hands — trying to convince himself and others (unsuccessfully) that he was not responsible for the unjust execution that was about to take place.” [4]

Pilate’s Choice

This brings us to Pilate’s choice.  He came face to face with Jesus.  He met him.  He talked to Him.  He interviewed him.  He knew that He was innocent.  In fact, Pilate said that he was innocent three times (John 18:39; 19:4, 6).  He had a choice to make: to release Jesus or to kill Him.  Pilate will go down through history as the man who sentenced Jesus to death, the man who ordered His execution.  He is known as the man who killed Jesus.

Everyone who faces Jesus has a choice.  The people had a choice.  They had to choose between Jesus and Barabbas.  Pilate had a choice and we have a choice.  Everyone who has encountered Jesus or who has been confronted with the gospel has a choice.  It is the greatest decision of your life.

What will you do with Jesus? Your eternal destiny depends on your response to Jesus.  Like Pilate, we only have two choices.  We can turn away from Him and reject him or we can accept Him, listen to what He says and follow Him.

Did Pilate Become a Christian?

Many Church Fathers believed that Pilate later converted to Christianity.  Tertullian in the second century wrote, “All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Caesar, who was at the time Tiberius” (Apology, 21).

St. Augustine in the fourth century, wrote, “Yet both Pilate and the Magi sought, or at least recognized, not a king of the Gentiles, but the King of the Jews … As to the fact that the leaders of the Jews suggested to Pilate not to write specifically that He was the King of the Jews, but that He said He was the King of the Jews, Pilate here represents the wild olive tree to be engrafted in place of the branches which had been broken off” (Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons, Sermon 201).

The Greek Orthodox Church believes that Pilate became a Christian (Saint Pilate).  The Russian, Greek and Coptic churches believe, as does the Ethiopian Church, that both Pilate and his wife Claudia became Christians. They believe that they not only became Christians, they believe that they both became a martyrs.

On the other hand, there is no evidence from the NT that Pilate ever came to faith.  There is a much darker view of Pilate’s fate found in the writings of Eusebius. Eusebius lived in the fourth century and has been called “the Father of Church History.”

According to Eusebius, Pilate was not martyred; he committed suicide.  Eusebius says that Pilate, because of his own wickedness, became his own murderer and executioner  (Ecclesiastical History II.7).

[1] https://jdgreear.com/unjust-trial-history-redeem-every-injustice/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XENGTj9IDf8

[3] Philo, http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book40.html (On the Embassy to Gaius 38 (299-305) ).  Cf. also Josephus, https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-18.html (Antiquities of the Jews 18.3-4)

[4] https://intersectproject.org/faith-and-politics/danger-pilate-politics/

Praying Like Jesus

Today, we want to start with a question.  How is your prayer life?  Many struggle in the area of prayer.  The truth is that one of the best ways to know how spiritual a person really is to look at that person’s prayer life.

Prayer is like a spiritual thermometer.  It gives you your spiritual temperature. The more spiritual you are, the more you know how to pray, the more you pray, the more often you pray, the more passionately you pray.

One of the best ways to learn how to pray is to listen to someone who knows how to pray. Wouldn’t it be great if we could listen to some of Jesus prayers?  In John 17, we get a chance to do that.  We get to hear twenty-six verses of Jesus praying to the Father.  It is like listening to him pray for five minutes.  He knew how to pray.

Jesus was the greatest miracle worker.  No one else went around walking on water, turning water into wine, raising the dead healing the sick.  He was the greatest teacher.  “No one ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46 ESV).  No one ever preached like Jesus preached.  No one ever prayed like Jesus prayed.

Jesus prayed a little different than we do.  When we pray, we usually fold our hands, close our eyes, and bow our heads.  Jesus opened his eyes and did not look down. He looked up.  He lifted His eyes to heaven when He prayed (John 17:1).  He did that on other occasions as well, like when He fed the five thousand.  Today, we want to look at how Jesus prayed.  How do we pray like Jesus?

How to Pray Like Jesus

1) Pray Early

Jesus prayed early. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35 NIV).  Don’t wait until you go to bed at night.

Jesus did not just pray first thing in the morning, He prayed VERY early in the morning.  He prayed while it was still dark before sunrise, while most people were still sleeping. Why should we do that?  It makes God the number one priority in our lives. It means we put him first in the morning (Psalm 5:3).

2) Pray Alone

It is not wrong to pray with others, but we all need to have personal time alone with God.  It is hard to pray and concentrate when there are all kinds of distractions.  Jesus did not just pray early; He went somewhere to pray where He could be alone.

Jesus went somewhere to be alone with God.  Sometimes, He went to a mountain to pray (Luke 6:12).  He left where He was staying and went outside to pray.  He said, “when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6 NIV).

3) Pray Passionately

Many pray without any passion and without any emotion.  Many prayers are cold and lifeless.  They are just a religious ritual. Prayer by rote. That is not the way Jesus prayed.

He prayed passionately.  He got emotional when he prayed.  He cried when He prayed.  In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. (Hebrews 5:7 ESV)

That passage mentions loud crying and tears.  Jesus worked up a sweat when he prayed.  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44 NIV).  How many of us get emotional when we pray?  How many of us work up a sweat when we pray?

4) Pray Long

Jesus prayed long. John 17 seems like a long prayer, but it was not Jesus’ longest prayer. One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God (Luke 6:12 NIV).  Jesus prayed all night long.  We are lucky if we can pray a few minutes.  Jesus prayed for hours.  He had an all-night prayer meeting.

We need to take care of our body.  We need food but some things are more important than food.  Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34 NIV).  Some things are more important than sleep.

What is the longest we have ever prayed to God?  Two minutes?  Most of us will never pray all night light Jesus did but we should be able to pray more than two minutes.  Prayer is not just about giving requests.  It involves communion with God.  It involves worship.  It involves confession of sins.  It involves fellowship.

5) Pray for Glory

John 17 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible.  It is one of the greatest prayers in the Bible.  It is the greatest prayer ever prayed on earth.  It was not a prayer of Moses or Isaiah. It was not a prayer of the great prophet Elijah.  It was a prayer of the Incarnate Son of God.  What was the first thing that Jesus prayed for?  He prayed for glory.  That word is used five times in these first five verses.  He prayed for God to be glorified.

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus prayed for God to glorify Him.  Father, the hour has come. GLORIFY YOUR SON (John 17:1 NIV). And now, Father, GLORIFY ME in your presence (John 17:5 NIV).  He asks the Father to glorify Him with the glory that He had before He left heaven, “the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5 NIV).

This was not selfish.  Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, THAT YOUR SON MAY GLORIFY YOU” (John 17:1 NIV).  This is interesting.  We have lots of prayers to God.  We ask for lots of things.  How often do we pray for God to be glorified in our requests?  How often do we pray for God to be glorified on our worst days?

How often do we pray for God to be glorified in our suffering and in our pain?  We pray for God to take away our suffering and our pain.  That is not what Jesus does here.  He said, “I glorified you on the earth (John 17:4) and now I want to glorify You in My death.”

He said, “I finished the work you gave Me to do.”  That is something we all would like to say on our deathbed.  Far too many of us have regrets on our life and wish we had done things much differently.  Have we don’t the work that God gave us to do on the earth?  Do we even know what it is?

6) Pray for Others

Jesus prayed for others.  Most of his prayer in John 17 is about others.  The first five verses are about Himself, but the next twenty-one verses are all about other people.  That to me is amazing.  When we are going through something bad, we focus on ourselves.  I have.  We all have but Jesus did not just focus on Himself.  He was thinking of others on His worst day.

Jesus said seven things on the cross.  Half of them had to do with other people.  He expressed a concern about his mother.  He helped a criminal who was dying right next to him and He prayed for the sinners who crucified him.

That raises this question. How will you respond when it is your time to die? How would you pray if you knew that you were going to die the next day?

How would you pray if you knew that you were not only going to die the next day but die early in the middle of your prime?

How would you pray if you knew you were going to die an extremely violent death the next day?   If you could talk to God, the night before what would you say to Him?

John 17 brings us to the last night of Jesus’ life. He was minutes away from being arrested.  He was hours away from being tortured and killed.  He would be on the cross in twelve hours. He would be dead the next day.  His death is imminent.  He says, “the hour has come” (John 17:1).

What is most on His mind?  What does He pray for?  He prays for believers.  He prays for past believers and He prays for future believers.  He doesn’t pray for everybody.  He doesn’t pray for the world.  I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. (John 17:9 ESV).

Here you have the Good Shepard praying for the sheep.  This is where it gets interesting.  We are in the Bible.  When Jesus said this prayer, He was thinking of us.  He had us in mind.  How does it feel to know that Jesus prayed for us and still prays for us?

Jesus prayed for us before we were even born.  What did He pray for?  Let’s look at four powerful prayer requests in this prayer.

Four Prayers for Believers

1. Jesus prayed that we would be KEPT

10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (John 17:10-12 ESV)

We see that word “keep” or “guarded” three times in these verses.  Jesus says, “You gave them to me.  I kept them, while I was on earth.  Now, I am leaving, and I am asking you to keep them.”  Keep from what?  He did not just mean “to keep from harm” or “to keep from danger,” because eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred.

It was a prayer for them to be kept from the Evil One (John 17:15).  It was also a prayer to keep people saved.  The opposite of being kept is being lost (John 17:12).

That tells us a lot.  One, it tells us that every believer is in spiritual danger.  We need to be kept.  It tells us that we can’t keep ourselves safe.  Even the Apostles could not keep themselves.  We can’t keep ourselves.  We can’t keep ourselves saved.

It tells us that we need divine protection to be kept safe.  The ONLY reason that we stay saved is that God keeps us.  All we like sheep go astray every day.  This is a powerful verse for eternal security.  Other verses teach the same thing.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are KEPT by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:4-5 NKJV)

Now to Him who is able to KEEP you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24 NKJV)

Arminians believe you can lose your salvation.  They have an answer to this argument in John 17.  Their answer would be this: Jesus lost Judas.  If He lost Judas, other people could be lost as well.

Jesus said, “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost EXCEPT the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled” (John 17:12 NIV).

If you say, “None of them was lost, except one,” it seems to imply that one of the ones that God gave Him was lost. Are they right?  No.  You can see that by reading the rest of the verse.

Jesus is not saying that He tried really hard but lost one.  Jesus is not saying that He was a complete failure when it came to Judas.  Not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, THAT the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12 ESV).

Jesus says that the only one who is lost is the “son of lostness” (the son of perdition) and that was part of the divine plan. It was the fulfillment of Scripture.  It did not catch Jesus by surprise.  He was not caught off guard by what he did.  He did not fail when it came to Judas.  This was planned long ago,

In fact, two times in John we are specifically told that Jesus did NOT lose any people that God gave Him.

37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away… 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose NONE of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. (John 6:37, 39 NIV)

This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have NOT lost ONE of those you gave me.” (John 18:9 NIV)

2. Jesus prayed that we would be SANCTIFIED

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:14-19 ESV)

Jesus not only prayed for our security; He prayed for our sanctification.  That is a word we do not use outside of church.  It is another word for holiness.  The word “sanctify” means to “consecrate” or “make holy.”

Jesus does NOT pray for our health.  He does NOT pray for our prosperity.  He does NOT pray for our wealth.  Jesus does NOT pray that we will all be rich.  He does pray that we will be holy.

Sanctification does NOT mean that we never fall into sin.  It does NOT mean that we become sinless.  It means that we become more and more like Christ.  That should be one of the goals of our life.

This is God’s will for your life.  I Thessalonians 4:3 says, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification” (KJV).   It does not happen instantly.  We don’t just get the baptism and become perfect.  It happens over a period of time.

The primary way we are sanctified is through the Word.  God’s Word is what cleanses us.  It transforms our mind.  Many people are not too big on Bible study.  Some even mock it.  Only Pharisees study the Bible.  God’s Word is what sanctifies us.

The problem today is that many Christians are ignorant.  They don’t know the Word.  They don’t read it.  Some churches do not preach it.  Sanctification comes through truth.  It is the truth that sets us free (John 8:32).  It is the truth that sanctifies us.  Jesus said, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17 ESV).

Many people think the Bible is a bunch of myths.  It is unscientific.  Skeptics believe the Bible is full of errors.  They believe that it is full of contradictions and lies.  Jesus said that God’s Word is truth, not just true but TRUTH.  God is a God of truth.  God cannot lie.  It is IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie.  Everything God says is true.

Of course, not all Bible study sanctifies you.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses do a lot a bible study and they are not too sanctified.  Just studying the Bible academically is not wrong but it will not sanctify you.  Filling your head with a bunch of bible facts is good but God’s Word has to be applied to your life in a practical way to transform you.

3. Jesus prayed that we would have JOY

Jesus does not just want us to be safe and to be sanctified.  He wants us to have joy.

These things I have spoken to you, that MY JOY may be in you, and that your joy may be FULL (John 15:11 ESV).

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the FULL MEASURE of MY JOY within them. (John 17:13 NIV)

Not all Christians have joy.  Many people walk around defeated and depressed, like some poet.  Some are miserable.  Jesus not only wants us to have joy and He wants us to have a lot of it.  He wants us to be full of joy.

In fact, Jesus does not just want us to have joy; He wants us to have HIS joy and this joy is not based on circumstances.  Jesus already said that believers are not of the word and the word hates them (John 17:14).  This joy is not based on a problem-free life.  It is supernatural joy.

4. Jesus prayed that we would be UNITED

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:20-24 ESV).

Jesus prays for unity.  Unity must have been really important to Jesus.  He prays for it FOUR TIMES in this prayer (John 17:11, 21, 23, 24).   What kind of unity is He actually praying for?  Let’s notice three things about this unity.

A) This unity is CHRISTIAN

It is a unity of believers.  It is unity of people who believe in Jesus (John 17:20). For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. (John 17:8 NIV).

This is NOT a unity of believers and unbelievers.  It is NOT a unity of believers and the world.  This is a prayer for Christians to be one.

Jesus does NOT pray for all religions to be one, an ecumenical unity, like a unity between Muslims and Christians or Hindus and Christians.

It also is NOT a prayer for some Christians to be one.  We believe in unity of people in our own denomination or in our own church.  We can have unity with them, because we have a lot in common.

We think alike.  Jesus did not pray for all the Baptists to become one or all the Methodists to become one.  He prayed for for ALL Christians to be one.

Apparently, it is possible to have unity, real unity, deep unity with people from another denomination or people with a slightly different theological view than we have or a different political view.

Of course, we also need to keep in mind that not every one in church is a real Christian.  Churches are full of people who are not believers.  Some of them are members.

B) This unity is SPIRITUAL

This is a spiritual unity.  It is not external.  It is not organizational.  It is not denominational.  It is patterned after the Trinity.  We are to be one just like the Father and Son are one (John 17:11, 21). Christians are members of the same family.  They may go to different churches, but they are all children of God.

C) This unity is POWERFUL

That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us SO THAT the world may believe that you have sent me (John 17:21 NIV)

I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. THEN the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23 NIV)

Unity is powerful.  Unity attracts people to the gospel.  It can cause people to come to faith.  Disunity and fighting among Christians drives people away.  When Christians live in unity, they advance the gospel.

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Don’t Throw Stones

Today, we come to one of the most famous stories in the Gospel of John and perhaps the Bible.  Everyone knows this story.  This story is dramatic.  It is emotional.  It is powerful. Unfortunately, some pastors never preach through it.  Some who preach through the Gospel of John skip this story, like it is not even in the Bible.

In fact, if you read some Bibles, it is not in there. Some translations go from John 7:52 to John 8:12 and completely skip John 8:1-11, because it is not in some of the oldest Greek manuscripts of John.

This is a huge mistake.  No one questions whether this story happened.  There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the story took place.  The majority of Greek manuscripts have the passage in it. The story is historical.  This story is inspired.  It is practical.  It is relevant.  It has a powerful message for us today.  We will see how this story applies to us today.

A New Perspective

We will also be looking at this story perhaps in a way you have not heard before.  Almost all of us have read this story wrong.  We have read it as the story of “Jesus and the Adulterous Woman.”  That is how the section is titled in most bibles.  We focus on the woman.

That is part of the story.  It is a story about a sinner, a wicked sinful woman.  It is a story about a woman who committed a sexual sin.  She committed adultery.  There is no question about her guilt.  Even Jesus said that she sinned.

The woman was unquestionably guilty.  She was not framed for something that she didn’t do.  The charges were not based on gossip.  They were not based on rumor.  This was not hearsay.  She was caught in the act.  Witnesses were present.  The punishment was clear.  It was a capital crime in Moses’ day.

The woman is not the only sinner in the story. The story is not only about the sin of the woman but also about the sin of the men who brought the woman to Jesus. The men happened to be religious leaders.  Their sin was greater than the sin of the woman.  What the accusers did was worse than what the accused did. What was the sin of the men in this story? They commit several sins.

Five Sins of the Judges

1) They try to trap Jesus

They did not come to the Temple to worship Jesus or to learn from Jesus but to trap Him.  They wanted to accuse him.  They wanted to incriminate him.  They brought a guilty woman in, but they really did not want to accuse her.

Their real goal was to accuse Jesus and the plan was to do it with a trick question.  They thought they could outsmart Jesus.  They came up with a question that was impossible to answer.  It was a trick question.

They brought a woman caught in adultery and asked if she should be killed.  If Jesus said to kill the woman, He would be breaking Roman law.  That would get him in trouble with the Romans, because the Jews did not have the authority to kill anyone.  That was something that could only be done by the Romans.

If He said NOT to kill the woman, he would be breaking Jewish Law.  That would get him in trouble with some of the Jews. If he was really the Jewish Messiah, he could not tell people to not follow the Law of Moses.  He cannot be the Messiah and tell people not to follow the Bible.

It was a no-win situation.  The Scribes and Pharisees think that they have got Jesus in the perfect trap.  They asked the perfect question for which there can be no answer.  Jesus would be in trouble here if He said the woman should be stoned.  He would be in trouble if he said that the woman should not be stoned.  It looked like He could not win.

2) They use people for their own purposes

Who were these men?  They were Scribes and Pharisees.  The Pharisees were known for being religious.  The Scribes were the professional scholars of the day.  They studied the Bible all of the time but even though these men were religious and studied the Bible, they had no compassion for people.  In fact, they used them.

Here a woman is taken from her bed and dragged down the street.  She is barely clothed.  She was taken in public and forced to stand in front of a crowd at the temple against her will.  She is hauled into church right after being caught in adultery.

They brought this woman to Jesus to execute and came with stones in their hands.  They wanted to kill her right at church.  They wanted to execute her right in the middle of a small group bible study.  That is the worst place to die.  They were at the Temple.  Nothing was sacred to these men.

The woman is shamed.  She is humiliated.  She is dehumanized.  She is upset.  She is crying.  She is scared and about to die.  She thinks her life is over.  They do not care anything about the woman.  She is disposable to them.

We don’t know much about this woman.  We do not know if she was young or old. We do not know if this was her first offense or if she was a serial adulterer.  We don’t know if she was a prostitute.

We do not even know her name.  In the 6th century, Pope Gregory said that this woman was Mary Magdalene.  He identified the woman in John 8 with the woman in Luke 7.  For nearly 1300 years, this was taught as Catholic doctrine (until 1969 when Pope Paul VI reversed it).

John does not mention her name.  If you were this woman, you would not want your name recorded for all time for everyone to know.  You would not want your secret sins broadcast to the whole world.

3) They disrupt Jesus’ teaching

Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived.  No one ever spoke like Him (John 7:46).  Jesus is teaching in the temple.  He is teaching a Bible class.  Jesus is in the middle of a sermon when a mob brought a half-naked woman to Him.

It is really hard to teach when there are disruptions going on right in front of you.  Every teacher in the public school knows what that is like.  These religious leaders stop Jesus from doing what He was doing by disrupting Him.

It was intentional.  They were really not interested in the law or in justice.  It was a kangaroo court. If they were really interested in justice, they would have taken her to the courts.  Instead, they just brought her to Jesus while He is teaching.

4) They follow only part of the Bible

The Scribes and Pharisees acted like they were all concerned about the Bible but they only wanted to obey half of the Bible.  The Law did command death for adultery but is also commanded death for both parties.

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—BOTH the adulterer and the adulteress MUST be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NIV)

If this woman was caught in the very act, as they say, they would have caught the man as well.  They knew exactly who he was.  Why didn’t they bring the man before Jesus and publicly humiliate him as well?  The reason is that he was either one of them or was one of their friends.

They had a double standard.  The woman was not the only one breaking the law.  The religious leaders were breaking the law.  They wanted to stone the woman but not the man.  Do we obey only parts of the Bible, the parts we like?

5) They focus on the sins of others

These men had their own sins.  In fact, their sins were greater than hers, but they focused on her sins, instead of their own.  That was much easier to do.  Let’s look at how Jesus responded to the sin of the men and how He responded to the sins of the men.  He responded very differently.

The Judges are Judged

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. (John 8:6-8 NIV)

How did Jesus respond to these Scribes and Pharisees when they came and disrupted his Bible class?  He completely ignored them.  He didn’t look at them.  He looked down and began writing on the ground.  We don’t have to respond to every crazy thing people say.  Sometimes, we just need to ignore them and say nothing.

Jesus wrote on the ground.  It is the only time in the Bible that we are told that Jesus wrote anything.  He is never said to have written a book or a letter.  He never wrote His memoirs, but He did write something on the ground.

Why is that important?  Some people in the past have said that Jesus was illiterate.  He was uneducated.  He never went to school.  He must have been illiterate, just an uneducated first-century Palestinian peasant.  Some still say that.[1]

The problem is that it is completely false.  We see here that Jesus could write.  He knew how to write.  He also knew how to read.  He went into the synagogue, opened a scroll of Isaiah written in Hebrew, found the part where Isaiah 61 is located and began reading it.

He quoted Scripture all of the time word for word.  Jesus could read.  He could write and, in John 8, He writes on the ground twice.  The first time He wrote on the ground, nothing happened.

He said something.  He said, “He who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again, nothing happened.  Then, He wrote on the ground a second time and this time the woman heard stones drop, feet shuffle and the men walk away.

What did He write?  No one knows but we have two ideas.  The men came asking Jesus about the Law and he writes on the ground with his finger.  The Ten Commandments were written on two tablets of stone with the finger of God.  Jesus wrote the Seventh Commandment with His own finger in Exodus.

Then Jesus said something that is one of the most misunderstood and misquotes, misapplied verses in the Bible.  He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

Some think that this means that we can never ever judge anyone for anything.  We have to be sinless to ever judge anyone. With this logic, we could never prosecute anyone for any crime.  We would just have to forgive all criminals, including rapists and child molesters.

We would have to empty all of the prisons.  Some believe that Jesus abolished the death penalty in this passage.  If that is true, you cannot put people to death, even if they are mass murderers or serial killers.

This is wrong on so many levels.  Jesus gave the Law.  He was born under the Law.  He said that He did not come to abolish the Law.  The OT Law contains capital punishment in it (Genesis 9:5-6; Exodus 21:12, 14-17, 22-26, 28-29; 22:18-20; Leviticus 24:17, 21; Numbers 35:15-18; Deuteronomy 21:21-22).

Jesus was not requiring judges to be sinless, otherwise there would be no judges.  In the OT, you did not have to be sinless to execute anyone.  When Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” you have to look at the CONTEXT of the passage. “The reference to “sin” here refers not to any sin but to the sin of adultery. He who was not guilty of that sin could throw stones.”[2]

What did He write the second time?  No one knows but, whatever He wrote, must have convicted them of their own sins.  Jerome in the fourth century said that he wrote their names down.[3]

In fact, the Armenian manuscripts (5th and 9th century) say, “wrote on the ground the sins of each of them.”  Jesus may have written their names and the names of the woman they used to commit this sin.

Apparently, these men were guilty of the same sin that they were accusing the woman of.  Those who brought the accusation turned out to be as sinful as she was.  In fact, they were MORE sinful.  In addition to the five other sins, they were guilty of adultery.

Someone said, “The “vilest sinners are often the greatest accusers.”[4] That is why Paul said, “You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?” (Romans 2:22 NIV).

They saw what Jesus wrote the second time and heard what He said, felt convicted and left.  These men came to judge the woman taken in adultery but in the end, they were the ones who were judged.  Jesus did not convict them.  Their own consciences convicted them.  He helped by writing some things down on the ground.

The Adulterer is Forgiven

 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more. (John 8:8-11 ESV)

Now we see how Jesus responds to this woman.  He responded very differently to broken sinners than He did to self-righteous hypocrites.  He doesn’t ignore the woman.  He begins talking to her.  She calls Jesus “Lord” (John 8:11).  The men just called him “teacher” (John 8:4).

Jesus asks where are the accusers?  She says they are gone.  The prosecution left.  If you appear in court and there are no accusers, the judge dismisses the case.  Jesus does not accuser her and tells her to go and sin no more.  What does that say to us today?

Practical Applications for Today

1) Do not minimize the reality of sin in your life.

This is where some preachers have gotten it wrong.  They say Jesus is the “Friend of Sinners,” so He is completely accepting and tolerant of everything.  Jesus called what this woman did “sin.”  He said, “Go and SIN no more

If you notice, Jesus did NOT excuse her sin.  He did NOT say that she was not to blame.  It was not her fault.  He did NOT justify her sin and say that it was not that bad, or everyone does it.

He did NOT deny that she had sinned.  He did NOT overlook her sin.  He did NOT celebrate her sin, like we do today (Gay Pride).  He did NOT try to rename her sin and call it something else.  We do that today in modern society.

We call drunkenness substance abuse, not sin.  We call pre-marital sex living together, not sexual immorality.  We call adultery an affair.  It is just a fling.  We call homosexuality an alternative lifestyle.  We call abortion a choice, not murder.  We call profanity just some salty language.  Jesus called sin SIN.

2) Don’t lose hope when you do sin

In this passage we see that sin can be forgiven.  Sexual sins can be forgiven.  Her adultery is forgiven.  Little sins can be forgiven.  Big sins can be forgiven.  Not only can sins be forgiven, crimes can be forgiven.  Capital crimes can be forgiven.  This was a capital crime in the OT.

Jesus granted the woman a pardon. Did she deserve a pardon?  No.  She was guilty.  Neither do we.  This was sheer grace and mercy.

He was the one who had authority on earth to forgive sins and He forgave her.  He could have condemned this woman.  In fact, Jesus was the only one there who was sinless, and he said, “I do not condemn you”.

The Scribes and Pharisees were quick to condemn.  Jesus was quick to forgive.  The Jewish leaders were quick to judge.  They came with rocks in their hands.  Jesus was quick to forgive.

3) Don’t continue to sin

Jesus said, “Go and sin NO MORE.”  That is interesting.  That is the part we often overlook.  Jesus was not soft on sin.  Jesus did not forgive the woman and stop there.  He told the woman to go and sin no more.  After He healed the man born blind, He said the same thing (John 5:14).  This is a message that is not always preached in church.

Jesus showed grace and compassion to this woman, but He also gave her a charge.  He gave her a personal challenge not to commit this sin again.  Apparently, that was possible.  Jesus is not telling this woman to do something that was impossible.  Sinful activity can be stopped.

Jesus did NOT say, “Stop sinning, and I will forgive you.”  He did not say, “I will forgive you IF and only IF you stop sinning.”  We do not have to change our life to be accepted by God and earn His favor.  We are not saved by works.

He also did not say, “You are forgiven, so it does not matter how you live.  You can live any way you want.  You are now free.  You can keep living in unrepentant sin. It does not matter to Me.”  Some teach that today.  Jesus said, “Go and sin NO MORE.”

4) Don’t judge people unbiblically.

This chapter is all about judging people unbiblically.  That was the sin of the men.  It is all about a judgmental spirit.  It is all about throwing stones at people.

Are we guilty of throwing stones?  We are not guilty of throwing literal stones.  We live in a different era. We would not literally stone anyone, but we love to attack people.

Sinners love to throw stones at other sinners.   Some churches are full of them.   There are some stone throwers in church. They have a pocketful of stones.[5]  They throw stones at fellow Christians.  Do we have a critical spirit?  What are some signs that you might have a judgmental spirit or a critical spirit?

Signs of a Judgmental Spirit

You do not have compassion for people who are hurting.

You are quick to criticize but not help people who need it.

You are very negative and critical about people.

You believe the worst about people, even if it is just based on rumor.

You are quick to point out other people’s faults, even though your faults are greater.

You have a superiority complex and think you are better than other people.

You criticize people for not following rules which are not even in the Bible

[1] The Harvard educated Muslim scholar Reza Aslan said in his recent book that Jesus was probably illiterate.  He writes, “Whatever languages Jesus may have spoken, there is no reason to think that he could read or write in any of them, not even Aramaic” (Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, 35).

[2] Butler, J. G. (2009). Analytical Bible Expositor: John (p. 125). Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

[3] Jerome, Against The Pelagians, II.17.

[4] https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tbi/john-8.html

[5] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=73171435546

The New Birth

If you were able to meet Jesus and could ask Him anything, what would it be?  What would you talk about?  The Gospel of John gives us two examples of unbelievers who got a one-on-one conversation with Jesus.  These conversations are back to back.  One is in John 3 and one is in John 4

One was with a Jew and one was with a half-Jew (a Samaritan).  One conversation was with a man and one was with a woman.

One was with someone who was moral and had a great reputation (a respected rabbi in the community).

One was with someone who was immoral and had a bad reputation (what we would call today the town slut).

The one you would expect to be the most receptive to Jesus was the respected rabbi.  He was not antagonistic but the one who immediately got saved after talking to Jesus was the woman, not the man.

Today, we are going to look at a named Nicodemus or Nico, as he is called on The Chosen.  We are going to look at his conversation with Jesus.  Jesus has a conversation with one of the most famous men of his day.

He has a conversation with one of the great minds of his day.  It is the perhaps most famous conversation in the Bible.

This is a very important chapter.  It raises a lot of questions.  Who exactly is Nicodemus?  Why does He come to talk to Jesus?  What does Jesus say to Him?  How did He witness to him?  How does this conversation apply to us?  We are going to see five truths about the new birth from this section.

John 3 describes one of the greatest miracles of the Bible, the miracle of the new birth.  At the new birth, God takes dead people and makes them alive.  We were all “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).

We walked.  We ate.  We spoke.  We worked but we were dead.  We were physically alive but spiritually dead.  At salvation, dead souls come alive. They are resurrected.  Spiritual life is imparted.  A new birth takes place.  This is appropriate topic for Easter Sunday.

The man who interviews Jesus in this chapter is named Nicodemus.  He is only mentioned in the Gospel of John.  That is the only time he is mentioned in the NT.

If you read the Gospel of Matthew, you won’t see Nicodemus.  If you read the Gospel of Mark or the Gospel of Luke, you will not read a word about Nicodemus.  He is only in John.  John mentions him three times in the book. Nicodemus is in three different chapters of John (John 3; John 7; John 19).

The Prominence of Nicodemus

Who was the man who came to visit Jesus that dark night in Jerusalem?  He wasn’t just anybody.  He was famous.  He was a VIP.  He was a member of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem (John 3:1).  It was the highest  court in the land.  It was like being a Justice on the United States Supreme Court.

Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin before his crucifixion.  Nicodemus sat on this court.  It was a very prestigious position.  It was an elite group. There were only seventy people in the country who were on this court.  He was highly respected.  He was a celebrated rabbi.

He was also a distinguished teacher.   He was not just a teacher of Israel.  Jesus called him “THE teacher of Israel” (John 3:10). In Greek, there is the definite article with the word “teacher” (ό διδασκαλος τοϋ Ίσραήλ).  He was the master teacher of the land.  He was THE preeminent teacher of the day.  He was theologian Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was a scholar of the Torah.  He knew the Bible.  He was the teacher of Israel.  He was the expert and yet, in John 3, this expert goes out of his way to visit a country preacher from Galilee.  He went to learn from an uneducated carpenter.

Jesus does not go to Nicodemus.  Nicodemus went to Jesus and had a conversation with Him.  He did not have an appointment.  He just showed up.

He came to see Jesus by night (John 3:1).  Someone called him the first “Nick at Night.” Many have criticized Nicodemus for this.  They say he came out of FEAR.  He didn’t come during the day because he did not want anyone to see him.

He was been concerned about how that would have looked or what other members of the Sanhedrin would have thought of him.  He was embarrassed to be seen with Jesus during the day.  There might be some truth to that criticism. Many people did not actively support Jesus out of fear (John 7:13).

If you were a follower of Jesus, you could be cast out of the synagogue (John 12:42).  You can criticize Nicodemus for coming to Jesus at night but at least he came.

The Positives of Nicodemus

John 3:19-20 says, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (NIV).

Most people do not come to the light but Nicodemus does come to the light on a dark night.  He comes to talk to the light of the world.  God worked in his heart and drew him to Jesus.

Nicodemus was not antagonistic to Jesus.  He was not hostile to Him, like the other Jews of his day.  He did not show up to trip Jesus up like some of the Pharisees or trick him but to learn from him.

Nicodemus was fascinated by Jesus.  He was interested in spiritual truth.  He was curious.  He was respectful.  He was sincere.  He was teachable.  He was humble.

He was older than Jesus.[1]  He had the greater reputation.  He was the teacher of Israel.  He didn’t wait for Jesus to come to him to learn.  He went to Jesus.

Nicodemus had an open mind.  Most Pharisees did not come to see Jesus.  They hated him.  They wanted to kill Him.

He thought for himself.  He did not just follow what the other Pharisees or the other members of the Sanhedrin thought.  He did his own investigation.

He interviewed Jesus himself and asked him questions.  He examined the evidence for Jesus and the evidence led him to faith.

The Problem of Nicodemus

Nicodemus had many strengths, but he had one problem in John 3.  He was unsaved.  He was not a believer.  Because he is not a believer, he does not have the Holy Spirit and because he does not have the Holy Spirit inside him, he has absolutely no idea what Jesus is talking about.  Jesus says one thing and Nicodemus thinks he is talking about something else.

Nicodemus was an unbeliever.  Jesus even calls him an unbeliever (John 3:12).  He tells him that he must be born again (John 3:3), which tells you that he was not born again.  When Nicodemus sees Jesus, what does he call him?  He calls him “Rabbi Jesus.”

He came to Jesus at night and said, “RABBI, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. (John 3:1 NIV).

On the surface, that sounds generous.  Jesus had no rabbinic training.  He had no seminary training.  He had not studied under any of the great rabbis of the day.  Many were amazed at how Jesus knew so much without having gone to any rabbinic school (John 7:15).  Nicodemus gives him credit and called him “Rabbi.”  It was like an honorary doctorate.

It sounds like a compliment but actually it is an insult.  That would be like calling him “Pastor Jesus.”  Jesus was not just some spiritual leader or the founder of a world religion.

He was not just a teacher.  He was not just a professor.  He was not just a rabbi.  He is Lord.  He is the Messiah.  He is God.  He is not just a teacher who came from God.  He is God who came to teach. He did not just come to teach.  He came to save.

Nicodemus Meets Jesus

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” (John 3:1-3 NIV)

Why did Nicodemus come to see Jesus?  What motivated him to come?  Let’s look at the context.

An uneducated country preacher comes to Jerusalem and begins attracting great crowds.  He begins teaching, preaching, healing people, casting our demons and performing incredible miracles that have never been seen before, like turning water into wine.  Jesus was instantly famous.  People began talking about him.  He was the talk of the town.

Nicodemus did not know Jesus.  He had never met him.  He was not one of his followers.  He had heard that he was a great teacher.  No man ever spoke like him (John 7:46) but what really impressed him was the miracles.  Teachers were a dime a dozen in Israel but Jesus was different.

He not only had knowledge; He had power.  He had supernatural power.  God was with Him.  He could do incredible miracles.  His miracles were undeniable, and they were stupendous.

We KNOW that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. (John 3:1-3 NIV).

We don’t know what miracles they were.  The only one that is mentioned before this is Jesus turning water into wine but apparently, there were many more.  He not only performed miracles in Cana.  He performed some miracles in Jerusalem.

Is it wrong to believe because of the miracles?  No. The purpose of the miracles in the book of John is to produce faith.  Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31 NIV)

That is the purpose of the book.  On the other hand, not everyone who believes just because of miracles is necessarily saved.  Not everyone who believed because they saw some miracles actually had true faith.

People can believe for all kinds of reasons.  Not everyone has real heart-saving faith.  Some believe in Jesus like they believe that George Washington was the first President.  That is not genuine faith.  Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian.

Jesus knows the difference between true and false faith.  He knows the difference between people who are the true believers and false believers.  The Lord knows who are His (II Timothy 2:19). The Good Shepherd knows who His sheep are (John 10:14).  He also knows what is inside the human heart.

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person (John 2:23-25 NIV).

Rabbit Trails to Avoid in Evangelism

How did Jesus respond to Nicodemus?  When a famous person comes to him, notice what Jesus does not do.  There are three things He does not do and three lessons for us to avoid.

1) Avoid small talk

Jesus does not talk about the weather or sports.  He doesn’t talk about entertainment.  Jesus got right to the point. He did not waste time on talking about things that do not matter.

2) Avoid flattery

If a famous person complimented us, we would be flattered.  We would be honored to have the top bible scholar of the day endorse our ministry.

Jesus does not say, “Thanks. I appreciate your kind words. They really mean a lot to me, coming from the top teacher in Israel.  I have heard a lot of things about you as well and the good work you do in Jerusalem.”

3) Avoid debate

Jesus didn’t challenge Nicodemus to a debate on spiritual things.  When people come to us and try to debate us, we are wasting our time.  That is not the way people get saved.

We can’t argue people into the kingdom.  We are “called to win souls, not arguments.”[2] Nicodemus and Jesus have a dialogue.  Nicodemus has some questions, but it is not a debate.

Five Truths on the New Birth

1) Salvation involves new birth

Here we learn that the phrase “born again” comes right out of the Bible.  It is a biblical term.  It is in two books of the Bible (John, I Peter).  Jesus coined the term.  Billy Graham was not the first preacher to talk about people being “born again.”  Baptists did not come up with the term.  Jesus was the first one in history to talk about people being born again.

Jesus compared salvation to a birth. He used the metaphor of birth.  He said, “You must be BORN AGAIN.” To enter the kingdom, you need more than teaching and you need more than a new religion, you need a new birth.  It is a radical metaphor.  To get saved, you cannot just reform on the outside.

It does not involve reformation but complete and total transformation.  There has to be a radical change on the inside by the Holy Spirit called the new birth.  As one preacher put it, reformation puts a new suit on the man.  Regeneration puts a new man in the suit.

Salvation does not come by following a set of rules or keeping some commandments.  We don’t need to be patched up or repaired.  We need to be completely reborn.  We were spiritually dead.  We needed new life.  We did not need a new religion.  We needed a new life.  We need to become new creatures in Christ.

Of course, to tell people that they need to be born again is offensive.  The Christian message is offensive.  The Bible speaks about “the offense of the cross” (Galatians 5:11).  Many would say, “Why do I need to be born again?  I think I am fine the way I am.  I am basically a good person.  I haven’t killed anyone.”  That brings us to our second point.

2) The new birth is needed for every person

Jesus did not say, “You should be born again.” He did not say, “It would be a good idea for you to be born again.”  He said, “You MUST be born again.”  It is not optional.  It is essential.  There are NO exceptions.  If you are not born again, you CANNOT see the kingdom of God.  It is impossible.

We know that murderers need to be born again.  Prostitutes need to be born again.  Child molesters need to be born again.  Porn stars need to be born again.  Atheists need to be born again.  Skeptics need to be born again.  Muslims and Hindus need to be born again.

The shocking thing is that Jesus said to fellow Jew Nicodemus, “YOU must be born again.”  He was the poster boy of someone who you would think did NOT need to be born again.  He was better than most people.  He was not a serial killer.  He was not an ax murderer.  He was not a dope dealer.  If Nicodemus needed to be saved, everyone needs to be saved.

He was moral.  He was not immoral.  He was a Pharisee.  The Pharisees lived outwardly moral lives.  Jesus said they were.  He said that they cleaned the outside of the cup.

You can be moral and lost. Many people are very moral but very much unsaved.  Are we born again or do we just live outwardly moral lives?

Nicodemus was also religious.  He was very religious.  You can be religious and lost.  You can pray five times a day, like the Muslims do, and be lost.  You can be religious and lost.

In fact, Nicodemus was not just religious; he was a religious leader. He was a “ruler of the Jews” (John 3:1).  You can be a pastor and be lost. You can be an elder and be lost.  You can be a deacon and be lost.

Nicodemus was a teacher of religion (the teacher of Israel) and yet he was not saved.  You can be a Sunday School teacher and be lost.  You can be a seminary professor and be lost.  You can be the top bible scholar in the land and be lost.  What have we learned from Nicodemus?

Just became you are famous, you are not exempt from the new birth. Just because you are prominent, you are not exempt.  Just because you are wealthy, you are not exempt.  Just because you are respectable in society, you are not exempt.

Just because you are highly intelligent and educated, you are not exempt.  Just because you are moral, you are not exempt.  Because you are religious, you are not exempt. Just because you do all kinds of things in the church, you are not exempt. Are we truly born again?

3) The new birth is a supernatural process

Salvation is not a physical process.  It is not a natural process, like physical birth.  It is completely different.  That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. It requires a miracle. You have to be born of the Spirit.  You have to be born again or born from above.[3]

It is a work of God, not a work of man.  I cannot make anyone be born again.  Only God can do that.  We can talk to people and try to reason with them but only God can make them born again.

4) The new birth takes place through faith

Jesus says not only do you have to be born again; He tells you how to be born again.  The new birth is conditional.  There is something that a person has to do to get saved.  Three times in this chapter, we are told that life comes by believing (John 3:15, 16, 36).

Believing in Jesus for salvation does not just result in life; it results in eternal life.  In fact, we are told that it comes to ANYONE who believes (“whosoever”).

Some read John 3 and see the sacraments.  John 3:5 says that you have to be “born of water and the Spirit.”  You have to be baptized to be saved.  That is how the Roman Catholic Church reads it.  That is how the Church of Christ reads it.  Are they right?  No. It is easy to refute.

John talks about eternal life all through the book of John.  Not one time does he connect eternal life to baptism, not once.  He does connect eternal life and receiving eternal life to believing.

Whoever BELIEVES in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 ESV)

Whoever BELIEVES in him is not condemned (John 3:18 ESV)

Whoever BELIEVES in the Son has eternal life (John 3:36 ESV)

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and BELIEVES him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24 ESV)

Everyone who looks on the Son and BELIEVES in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:40 ESV)

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that BY BELIEVING you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31 NIV)

John uses the term “believe” about a hundred times in the book.  It is a key term.  He does not use the noun “faith” (like Paul does) but he uses the verb “believe.”

John does mention baptism.  The verb form is used six times (John 1:26, 33; 3:22, 23; 4:2; 10:40) but nowhere does it say that eternal life comes by baptism.  Nowhere does it say if you are baptized, you will not perish. [4]

5) The new birth results in a changed life

If you experience the new birth, your life will be changed.  If you are born again, there will be clear signs of it. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8 NIV).

There are clear signs of wind.  You can feel it.  You can see the effects of it.  There are clear signs of the new birth as well.  The new birth causes a total transformation.

II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV).   When we become a Christian, Paul says that we become “a new creation”. It’s almost as if we become a different person. The old person that we were before we became a Christian is gone.

Salvation involves a radical change in a person.  You go from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive.  You go from being a child of the Devil to being a child of God.  If you are really saved, your life will change dramatically.  If there is no change, there is no life.  You are just the same as you were before.

[1] That is implied by John 3:4.

[2] https://www.missionwaychurch.org/blog/called-to-win-souls-not-arguments

[3] The word “born again” (άνωθεν) can mean “born from above” or “born again” in Greek.  Nicodemus took it to mean “born again” and misunderstood what Jesus was saying.  Jesus probably meant “born from above.”  That is how the word is used the other two times in John (John 3:31; 19:11).  On the other hand, the traditional translation  is not wrong.  To be born from above, you have to be born again.

[4] Jesus uses two figures  – water (3:5) and wind (3:8).  Water is a symbol of cleansing (Ezekiel 36:25; Isaiah 44:3). It is a universal cleansing agent. Any time we wash something, we use water. Wind is a symbol of life-giving power (37:1-2, 4-11).

Water is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 44:3 and Ezekiel 36:25-27 use water the the Spirit in a parallel structure. Water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit even in John (7:38-39). Water has a metaphorical use in John.

While it is most of the time used in a literal sense, water is used metaphorically seven times in the Gospel of John (4:10, 11, 14 (three times), 15; 7:38). John the Baptist connected the Holy Spirit symbolically to fire (Matthew 3:11). Jesus connected the Holy Spirit symbolically to water (John 3:5).

Resisting Temptation

Today, we are going to talk about temptation.  All of our life we face temptation.  It is a fact of life.  No one is exempt.  Baby Christians aren’t exempt.  Mature Christians aren’t exempt.  Pastors aren’t exempt.  Missionaries aren’t exempt.  Even Jesus was tempted, which shows you that it is not a sin to be tempted.

The Bible says that he was in all points tempted like as we are (Hebrews 4:15 NIV).  He was tempted more than these three times.  If you just read Matthew, you might get the idea that Jesus was only tempted after his forty day fast.  Mark and Luke tell us that he was tempted the entire forty days.

Mark 1:13 says, “and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan” (NIV).  That is not a contradiction.  Both can be true.  He was tempted after this as well.  He was tempted not to go to the cross and after He was on the cross, He was tempted to come down from the cross.  Jesus was tempted repeatedly by Satan.

Three Basic Truths

Before we start, I want to look at three basic truths.  Our passage assumes these three basic truths.

Truth One – Sin is Real

Sin is real.  It is universal.  It is found in every single person on the planet.  We sin every day.  People in every country sin. If you watch the news for one day, you will see the devastating effects of sin in our world.  We can all agree on this first point.  No one is perfect.

Truth Two – The Devil is Real

In some circles, the Devil is a mythical creature.  The Bible teaches the existence of a real being called Satan.  Jesus believed in Satan.  He called him the ruler of this world.  He not only believed in a literal Satan, He talked to Satan.  He carried on a conversation with him.  When people do that today, some think they are crazy, but that is what Jesus did here.

Truth Three – Temptation is Real

Temptation does not always come from Satan.  Most of the time we are tempted, we are not tempted by Satan.  We are tempted by our sin nature.  Our sin nature tempts us most of the time.

Satan does not need to prance around to tempt people.  For a lot of men, all they need is a bottle of beer and a half naked woman.  We are “dragged away” by our own “evil desire and enticed” (James 1:14 NIV)

Jesus did not have a sin nature.  He could only be tempted by Satan.  What is a temptation for you may not be a temptation for me.  What is a temptation for me may not be a temptation for you.  All of our temptations are different.

I have never been tempted to turn stones into bread.  I have never been tempted to do that. I have never been tempted to jump off of a tall building.  I avoid them.  I am afraid of heights.

I have never been tempted to fall down and worship the Devil.  Devil worship is not something that I struggle with. It is not something that I have ever struggled with, although I have been tempted to put other things before God in my life.

Today, we are going to look at Jesus’ three desert temptations. What were Jesus’ three temptations?  I would outline the three temptations as follows: the first temptation had to do with a DRIVE.  The second temptation had to do with a DARE. The third temptation had to do with DOMINION.

The first one had to do with a natural drive, the drive for hunger.  The first temptation had to do with food.  Satan tempted Adam and Eve with food, and he tempted Jesus with food (turning stones into bread).

The second temptation had to do with a dare. It was the Devil’s Dare. It involved some risky behavior (jump off of a tall building).  The third temptation had to do, not with a dare or with a desire but with dominion.  It was a temptation for world domination (all of the kingdoms of the world).

Vance Havner gave a different outline.  He said that the first temptation was PHYSICAL (stones into bread).  The second temptation was SPECTACULAR (jump off of a building).  That would have turned the Messiah into a superhero, like Superman who can leap tall buildings.  The third one was POLITICAL.

Havner said that the first temptation put Jesus in the bread business.  The second one put him in show business and the third one put Him into politics. [1]  Let’s look at all three a little closer.

The First Temptation

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Matthew 4:2-3 NIV)

The first two temptations begin with the words, “IF you are the Son of God” (Matthew 4:3, 6).  Is Satan questioning if Jesus is the Son of God?  It looks like that from English but not from Greek.

This is a first-class condition in Greek which is a condition of assumed reality (e.g., Matthew 12:27; Colossians 3:1).  It is assumed to be true, as distinguished Greek scholar A.T. Robertson points out.[2]

Satan does not have any doubts that Jesus is the Son of God.  He knew Jesus before he was born.  The demons know he is the Son of God.  They know His true identity.

And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” (Mark 1:23-24 ESV)

Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.  (Luke 4:41 NIV)

Satan is saying, “Since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.”  The first temptation is to turn stones into bread.  How was the first one even a temptation?

This was something that Jesus needed.  It was a need, not a want.  If you don’t eat, you die.  Jesus has gone over a month without eating.  Jesus was not exempt from real physical needs.  He got hungry.  He got thirsty.

He had the power to do this.  If Jesus could turn water into wine, He could turn stones into bread.

There was no command against it.  There is nothing wrong with eating bread.  It is not forbidden. There is no explicit command in the Bible about turning stones to bread.

Furthermore, it was not flashy or showy.  No one would have seen it.  Jesus was alone in the wilderness.

What is the harm of making some bread in a moment of hunger?  What is wrong with turning stones to bread?  There are many things wrong here.

Jesus is in the middle of a fast.  Satan is asking Jesus to break his fast. Jesus was hungry because he was fasting.  It was all voluntary.

This was a temptation for Jesus to misuse His powers.  Satan is asking Jesus to do a miracle outside of the will of God.  None of Jesus’ miracles were for himself.  All of his miracles were for others.

Jesus provided food for other people who were hungry but never when he was hungry. Jesus is getting ready to start his ministry.  He has not performed a miracle yet.  Satan is asking Jesus to perform his very first miracle for himself.

Jesus NEVER did any miracles for his own personal needs, even if the needs were legitimate.  That was never God’s will.  This was a temptation to fulfill a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. There is a right and a wrong way to meet any need.

It was also a temptation to doubt God’s provision and love.  It was a temptation not to trust God’s providential care.  Satan is asking Jesus not to trust God to provide for himself but to take matters into his own hands.

Satan is tempting Jesus to allow His physical cravings to rule Him.  We are tempted to allow physical cravings to rule us and to not trust God to provide for our needs.

Jesus responded with Scripture.  Satan asked him about bread, so Jesus quotes a Scripture from Deuteronomy about bread.  It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4 NIV).

The problem today is that many in our society do live on bread alone.  The whole focus is on physical and material needs and not spiritual needs.  We do not just have a physical body.  We also have a soul.  We need more than physical food.

The Second Temptation

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ (Matthew 4:5-6 NIV)

What is this temptation?  It is a temptation for Jesus to put himself in danger.  If you are the Son of God, jump off of a tall building. If you have faith, you can do anything.  You can jump off of a tall building and God will protect you.  You won’t get hurt.  It sounds like some faith preachers today.

Satan uses Scripture with this temptation.  Since Jesus quoted Scripture, Satan quotes his own Scripture. The Devil knows the Bible.  He is an expert at quoting it out of context to confuse people. His ministers also quote it frequently. Cultists are really good at twisting Scripture.  They are really good at taking verses out of context to support unbiblical doctrines.

That is why we need to know the Word well.   There is very little Bible teaching these days done on Sunday morning and most Christians do not know the Word very well.  Some of them have been in church for twenty or thirty years and they still do not know it.

Satan quotes Psalm 91.  It says that if you trust in God, he will protect you from all kinds of bad things that are happening. He protects God’s people from disease and pestilences.  He protects God’s people from wild animals (lions and snakes).

This passage is not saying that God will protect you if you deliberately put your life in danger as an act of faith.  It is not saying that God will protect you if you choose to drink poison or shoot yourself in the head.

It is not saying that He will protect you if you jump out of a plane without a parachute or drive recklessly down the highway.  It is not a promise of invincibility if you deliberately put yourself in danger or act stupid.

What Satan suggests is just plain stupid.  It is an attempt to manipulate God.  It tries to force God to act in a certain way.  It is testing God.

The first temptation is not trusting God enough.  Don’t trust Him.  Take care of your own physical needs in the desert.  The second temptation involved too much faith.  Trust him so much that you will jump off a cliff as an act of faith.  That is sheer stupidity.

Jesus does not argue with Satan.  He does not tell him that he is quoting verses out of context.  He just quotes another verse, also from Deuteronomy.  Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4:7 NIV).

The Third Temptation

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8-9 NIV)

The third temptation also takes Jesus to a high mountain and he looks down, but he does not ask him to jump.  He tries to make a bargain with him.  This is the only temptation where Satan tries to give Jesus something.

Satan offers Jesus something.  He offers him fame.  He has offered many other people the same thing and they have sold their soul to the Devil.  What kind of temptation was this?

It was a temptation to wealth.  It was a temptation for power, fame and prestige, having all the kingdoms of the world (world dominion).  It was an appeal to the pride of life.

It was also a temptation to idolatry.  It was a temptation to worship Satan, which involved idolatry.

This was a temptation to compromise.  It was a temptation to take a shortcut.  Jesus could have the crown without the cross.  That would be appealing.  He could get what he wanted without having to suffer, without having to be tortured on a cross and without having to die in shame as a criminal.

Once again, Jesus responds by quoting Scripture, another passage from Deuteronomy, which must have been His favorite book.  Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ (Matthew 4:10-11 NIV).

Basic Principles of Spiritual Warfare

1) After a period of great blessing may come temptation

This is interesting.  When was Jesus tempted?  He was tempted immediately AFTER his baptism.  Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.  He gets out of the water, looks up and the heavens open up. The Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove and God the Father says in a loud audible voice from heaven, “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

That was an incredible experience.  God was speaking audibly from heaven and publicly endorses his ministry.  People could visibly see this dove and the dove lands on Jesus.  The entire Trinity was there.

This phenomenal experience was followed with great temptation.  Greg Laurie said, “after that the dove came the devil.” [3]  Temptation can come after blessing.  There are many examples of this in the Bible.  Immediately after Elijah’s great victory over the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal is his great trial.  He was so depressed that he wanted to take his own life.

2) Satan tempts us when we are at our weakest point

Satan does not tempt us in our strengths.  He tempts us in our weaknesses.  Jesus was perfect.  He did not have any weak points, but He was physically weak from fasting for forty days and that is when He received these three temptations.

Asking Jesus to turn stones into bread is a temptation for a hungry man.  I used to wonder why none of the three temptations of Jesus were sexual.  Why didn’t the Devil send a prostitute out in the desert?  Bread would have been a far greater temptation for a man who had not eaten anything in forty days.

3) Every temptation, no matter how strong, can be resisted

This temptation shows that Satan can be resisted.   When Satan tempted Adam and Eve, they gave in quickly.  It was easy for Satan to get them to sin.  We give into all kinds of temptations.  We are just like Adam and Eve.

Satan tempted Jesus three times and Jesus was physically weak, almost at the point of death.  He had gone forty days without eating anything and he still did not give into any of Satan’s temptations.

Temptations can be resisted.  James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (NIV).

Satan is stronger than us, but he CAN be resisted.  He cannot do anything to us against our will. We don’t have to give in to him. The Devil only has as much power over us as we give him.

Satan can’t force Jesus to do anything.  All he can do is to tempt him.  He could not force Jesus to do anything.  Even when he took him to the highest part of the temple.  He could not push him off.  All he could do was to ask him to jump off.

The Bible teaches that Satan can be resisted and there is power in resisting.  James says the Devil flees when we resist Him.

4) We can’t defeat Satan in our own strength

Where is Jesus when He was tempted?  He is alone with God in the desert.  He is away from all people.  He is away from all food for forty days.  He spends time alone with God.  He relies completely on God.  He meditates on Scripture.  He prays.  He was filled with the Spirit (Luke 4:1).  He was led by the Spirit (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1).

That is how he was able to deal with Satan.  Jesus was alone in the desert with Satan for forty days.  Mark says that Jesus was with all of the wild animals (Mark 1:13).  That is not mentioned in Matthew or Luke.

It was rather terrifying, but Jesus did not battle Satan in His own strength.   He relied completely on God.  We should not try to do spiritual warfare on our own, rather than in the power of His strength (Ephesians 6:10).

5) God’s Word has power over temptation

This is very interesting.  Jesus receives three temptations in Matthew 4.  When one temptation does not work, he tries a second one.  When the second one does not work, he tries a third one.  Each time Jesus responds the same way.  He says, “It is written. It is written. It is written” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10).

God’s word is our final authority.  It is the final authority for living.  It is the final authority for doctrine.  It is the final authority for spiritual warfare.  For spiritual warfare, it is a weapon.  It is a weapon that can be used to overcome temptation.

Paul called it “a sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). The NT describes the Bible as a sword and not just a dull sword, a sharp sword (Hebrews 4:12). Hebrews does NOT say that the Bible is a two-edged sword. It says it is sharper than a two-edged sword. A sharp sword only cuts on the outside. God’s Word cuts on the inside.  It penetrates hearts.

Jesus is a model to us today.  How He responded to Satan is the same way we should respond to Satan today.  Jesus didn’t try to reason or argue with the Devil. He did not try to debate him.  Instead, He did three things.  He knew the Word, even passages in Deuteronomy.  He meditated on it.  He applies the Word.

He applies it to His own situation.  He took passages dealing with Israel being hungry in the wilderness for forty years and applied it to His situation.  He was in the desert and was hungry for forty days.  Jesus not only knew the Word, mediated on the Word and applied the Word; He also quoted the Word.

God’s Word keeps us from sinning.  Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” If there is an area of our life in which we are weak, we might want to memorize some Scripture on that subject.

Most Christians do not know the Word very well.  They do not know the Book of Deuteronomy.  They do not read it too much.  They could not quote any verses out of it.  The OT is too scary for most Christians.

It’s not enough to have the Bible. You may have a whole stack of Bibles at home and never read it or know what is in it. That’s like having a nice sword on your wall at home for decoration.  It is like having some weapons that you own but you don’t know how to use them.  That makes the weapons completely useless.

If we are going to be like Jesus, we need to KNOW the Word from Genesis to Revelation.  We need to MEDITATE on the Word.  We need to MEMORIZE the Word.  We need to APPLY the Word to our own life situation.  We also need to QUOTE the Word, especially when we are under attack from the enemy.

That is what Jesus does.  Jesus was perfect.  He was sinless.  If He needed to do that, how much more do we?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpvR2gg1c9s

[2]https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/robertsons-word-pictures/matthew/matthew-4-3.html

[3] https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/when-does-temptation-come/

The Word Became Flesh

The last time we were together we looked at one of the greatest prophecies of Jesus in the OT.  We looked at Isaiah 53.  Today, we are going to look at one of the greatest passages in the NT about Jesus.  It is found in the Gospel of John.  John is one of the most popular of the four Gospels.  It is one of my favorite Gospels.

John is a book that we encourage brand new Christians to read.  It is a good book for baby Christians.  A child could read it.  It is easy to read.  It is easy English and easy Greek.  If you have ever read the Greek New Testament, you would know that some of the easiest Greek to read in the NT is the Gospel of John.

John is also a deep Gospel.  Some of the greatest minds in church history have argued about what John meant in this prologue.  Some have called it “the greatest words ever written.”  It is a theological masterpiece.  It is some of the deepest theology found anywhere in the Bible and it was not written by some scholar at Princeton or Harvard in an ivory tower.  It was written by a rough fisherman from Galilee.

In this prologue to John’s Gospel, John tells us who Jesus is.  Why is that important?  Your eternal destiny depends on what you believe about Jesus.  If you have the wrong view about Jesus, you cannot be saved.  Jesus said, “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:24 NIV)

One of the most important questions that anyone can ever ask is, who is Jesus? In fact, Jesus asked his own disciples, who people thought he was.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13-16 NIV).

Times have not changed much, even two thousand years later.  If you ask the same question today, you will get a lot of different answers.  Most of them are wrong.  Many believe that he was just a TEACHER.

He was a good moral teacher.  He was a first century Jewish rabbi known for teaching about loving your neighbor and forgiving your enemies.  He is known for coming up with the Golden Rule.

Islam takes it a step further.  According to Islam, Jesus was not just a teacher or rabbi, he was a PROPHET.  They teach that Jesus should be respected.  He was a miracle worker and he was a prophet.

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus was much more than a prophet.  According to them, he was an ANGEL.  They believe that Jesus is Michael the Archangel.  He is much greater than a prophet.  Today, we are going to look at who John says that Jesus is.  John says Jesus is much more than what people today say He is.

John is not giving his own opinion about who Jesus was thousands of years later.  John lived in the first century.  He knew Jesus long before he began his ministry.  John was related to Jesus.  Jesus and John were cousins.

John’s mother was named Salome and she was Mary’s sister (John 19:25; Mark 15:40).  John’s mom would have been Jesus’ aunt.  John not only knew Jesus; he was an eyewitness to His miracles.  He says in I John that he is testifying to things that he had seen, heard and touched (I John 1:1-3)

Five Important Truths about Jesus

Who is Jesus according to John?  Today, we are going to look at who Jesus is in these verses and then we will look at what it has to do with us.  We can’t look at everything in these verses.

We are only going to scratch the surface but today we will look at five truths about Jesus from this prologue of John.  A little warning.  We are going into some deep waters here.  Today, we are going to study some deep theology.  What are five truths about Jesus in this prologue?

1. Jesus is the Word

Jesus is called “The Word” three times in the first verse. In the beginning was THE WORD, and THE WORD was with God, and THE WORD was God. We see in the next verse that this Word is a person.  HE was with God in the beginning.  That is John’s unique designation of Jesus.

Only John calls Jesus “the Word.”  Matthew does not call him the Word. Mark does not call him the Word. Luke does not call him the Word. Paul does not call him the Word. John calls him “The Word.”

John calls Jesus “The Word” in the Gospel of John.  He calls Jesus “The Word” in I John.  He calls Jesus “The Word” in The Book of Revelation.   The Greek word is λόγος.  The philosophers of John’s day talked a lot about the λόγος. What does it mean that Jesus is the Word?

The word λόγος has two possible meanings.  It can mean “word” (a spoken word) or it can mean “reason.” (an unspoken thought).  For the Greek philosophers, it meant “reason.”  That is the classical meaning.  The word “logic” comes from the word λόγος.

Aristotle said that λόγος is the quality that separated humans from animals.  We have rational thinking. The Stoics and later Philo identified the λόγος with God and with creation.  The Logos was the divine reason behind creation.

John is not talking about logic or reason.  He is talking about speech.  The background is not Greek philosophy but Hebrew revelation, as F.F. Bruce says.[1]  John is going back to Genesis.  Genesis describes creation by speech. God used his words to create things.  He spoke the universe into existence.  That was God’s method of creation.

God did not have to speak the universe into existence.  He could have just thought or willed the universe into existence, but He chose to speak it into existence. “AND GOD SAID, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”  You will find the words “and God said” eight times in Genesis 1 (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26) but λόγος means even more than this.

Words are powerful.  Words are how we express ourselves.   We express ourselves with words.  We communicate with words.  Words communicate people’s thoughts.  We do not just express ourselves with words, we reveal ourselves with words.  Words tell us something about us.  Jesus is God’s revelation to us.

When we say that Jesus is the Word of God, we are not saying that He is another prophet with a message from God.  He doesn’t have the message; He is the message.  He is the Revealer of God (John 1:18).

If you want to know what God looks like, look at Jesus.  Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9).  No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1:18 NIV).  To use Paul’s language, Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).

Jesus is not only a revelation of the Father; He is means to the Father.  Jesus is the only way to the Father.  If you want to go to the Father, you have to get through Jesus.  Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6)

2. Jesus is Eternal

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  John 1:1 says, “In the beginning, the Word was,” not “In the beginning the Word came into being” but, “In the beginning the Word already was.”  It is imperfect tense (Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος).

All of us had a beginning when we were born.  Jesus did NOT have a beginning.  In the beginning, He already was.  We all came into existence when we were born.  He existed before He was born.  We did not exist before we were born.

Jesus existed before He was born.  He existed before Abraham.  He said, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58 NIV).  He did not say that before Abraham existed, he came into being.  He said, “before Abraham was born, I am!”  Jesus not only existed before Abraham.  He existed before Adam and Eve.  He existed before creation itself.

3. Jesus is Divine

Jesus is God. One of the strongest proofs for the Deity of Christ in the NT is found in the Gospel of John.  He could not have said it any stronger.  The first verse of the book says that the Word was not only with God; the Word was God.

John’s Gospel begins with the four words “the Word was God” (John 1:1) and the book ends with Thomas calling Jesus “My Lord and My God” (John 20:28).

The Gospel of John teaches that he is not just a man.  He is not just a prophet.  He is not an angel; He is God.  He is not just like a godly man; He is God.  He is not just like God; He is God.  He is not just the Son of God; He is God.

Jesus is called God many times in the NT. John calls Jesus “God.”  Paul calls Jesus “God.”  Peter calls Jesus “God.”  The author of Hebrews (whoever he was) calls Jesus “God.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses and John 1:1

Jehovah’s Witnesses have their own translation of their Bible, called The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.  In the NWT, John 1:1 does not say that “the Word was God.”  It says, “The Word was a god.”

There is a reason for their translation. When you read the words, “and the Word was God” in Greek, the word “God” (θεός) does not have the definite article.  Therefore, they believe that the word θεός must be indefinite.  It must refer to “a god” rather than “God.”  In their view, Jesus is a subordinate inferior god but not God Almighty.  Are they right?

They are right about one thing.  They are right that a noun without the article in Greek can be indefinite but there are two important things that they don’t tell you.

The first thing they don’t tell you is that θεός does not have to have the Greek article to be translated “God.”  It can still mean God even without the article (θεός).  In fact, there are four other times in the prologue the word for “God” does not have the Greek article but still refers to the one true God.

John 1:6 says that John the Baptist was a man “sent by God.”  That that does not have the article in Greek (παρὰ θεοῦ) but we do not translate that John was sent by “a god.”

John 1:12 says that, “Those who believed in his name, he gave the right to be called children of God.”  There is no article in Greek there (τέκνα θεοῦ) but we do not translate it, “Those who believed in his name, he gave the right to be called children of a god.”

John 1:13 says, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  The word for “God” in Greek does not have the article (ἀλλ’ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν) but we do not translate it “children who were born of a god.”

Finally, John 1:18 says, “no one has ever seen God.” It also does not have the article in front of the word “God” in Greek (Θεoν οὐδείς ἑώρακε πώποτε) and yet we do not translate it “no one has ever seen a god.”

If the word “God” without the article in Greek means “a god,” that would make the Father a god, because John calls the Father θεός four times in this prologue. All of the Greek scholars will tell you that θεός and ό θεός are used interchangeably in the NT (Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich, Robertson, Green, Thayer, Abbott-Smith).[2]

The second thing they don’t tell you is that the Bible teaches that there is only one God.  It does not teach that there are many gods.  The Apostle Paul talks about many “gods” and many “lords” but he says that they are SO-CALLED gods (I Corinthians 8:5).  They are gods in name only.  They don’t really exist.

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. (Isaiah 44:6 ESV)

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. (Isaiah 43:10 ESV)

“See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand” (Deuteronomy 32:39 NIV)

To believe that Jesus is “a god,” you have to be a polytheist.  You have to believe in many gods.  This translation would make perfect sense if it was written by a Hindu or someone who believed in multiple gods.

John was a Jew.  He was a monotheist. He believed that there was only one God.  He knew that no other gods actually existed.  There is no way that he could possibly have written that Jesus was a god.

People called god in the Bible

Jehovah’s Witnesses would immediately reply to this argument that people in the Bible are called “god.”  The word θεός is used of people.  Even in the Gospel of John, θεός is used of people.  If people are called θεός (and they are not God), then perhaps Jesus can be called θεός and not be God.

Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? (John 10:31-36 NIV)

Is this a valid argument?  No.  This passage once again is dealing with people who are only CALLED gods (John 10:35).  They are not really gods.  The key is CONTEXT.  Jesus in John 10 is quoting Psalm 82 and Psalm 82 in the context is dealing with human judges

They are not real gods.  They are only called gods because of their position over others.  Political and judicial figures on earth often can decide life and death.  Because of their position, they act like gods. They are gods in a functional or positional sense.  It metaphorical or figurative, not literal.

John 1:1 is NOT dealing with human judges in the context. People were not even created yet.  The earth was not created.  Why is Jesus called God?  He is not called because of his position but because of his actions.  He is not just in the position of God; He does things only God can do.

1) Only God creates.  Jesus is the Creator of all things.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:3 NIV). In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1 NIV)If you are the Creator, you are God.  Only God can create things.  It is one of the marks of Deity.  We can make things but only God can create something out of nothing by words.

 2) Only God can raise the dead on the last day.  That is what Jesus will do.

See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life (Deuteronomy 32:39 NIV).  Jesus will raise everyone form the dead.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. (John 5:21 NIV).  Four times Jesus says in John, “I will raise him on the last day” (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54)

3) Only God is the judge of the world.  Jesus will judge the world.

“I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds (Jeremiah 17:11).  The NT says that Jesus will judge the world (John 5:21-22; Acts 17:31).  He will determine people’s final destinies.  He is the Creator of the world.  He is the Judge of the world.

4) Only God is the Savior.  Jesus is the Savior.

Jesus is the Savior of the world.  In fact, Isaiah 43:11 says, ‘I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior” (NIV).  Jesus’ name means “savior.”  John 4 says that Jesus is the Savior of the world (John 4:42).  You can only be saved in his name (Acts 4:12).

5) Only God can be worshipped.  Jesus is worshipped

Jesus said, “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10) and yet He received worship (John 9:38).  Only God can receive worship.

Jesus is called God because he is one with the Father (John 10:30). He is called God in John because he is equal to the Father (John 5:18).  He is to be honored just as people honor the Father (John 5:23), which is sheer blasphemy for anyone who is not God.

4. Jesus the Creator

Jesus did NOT create some things.  He does NOT create most things.  He created ALL things.  Through him ALL THINGS were made; without him NOTHING was made that has been made (John 1:3 NIV).  John says this two times in one verse that Jesus is the Creator.  He says it positively and negatively, so everyone gets the point.

This answers some of the cultists.  This verse shows that Jesus is NOT a created being.  He created all things.  If He created all things and He was a created being, He would have had to create Himself which is logically impossible.  Jesus is NOT an angel.  He is the creator of all of the angels.

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

That verse says that Jesus did not just create all of the angels; He created different classes of angels.  Apparently, angels come in classes. Some have more rank and authority than others.

There are low-level angels and high-level angels.  There are angelic powers (lowest level), principalities (middle level angels), dominion angels which are in charge of other angels (middle level angels) and throne angels, like the cherubim and seraphim (high level angels).  Jesus created them all.

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth.”  The NT says Jesus created the heavens and the earth, so Jesus must be God.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have an answer for this.  They say that God still created everything, but He did it through Jesus.  God is the Creator, but Jesus is the agent of creation.  Jesus is the contractor but there is one problem.  The Book of Isaiah completely refutes that theory.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself (Isaiah 44:24 ESV)

That does not say that God created the world and used someone else to do it.  This verse says that He did it BY HIMSELF.  It says that He did it ALONE.  Job said the same thing (Job 9:8 NIV).

“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last. 13 MY OWN HAND laid the foundations of the earth, and MY RIGHT HAND spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together. (Isaiah 48:12-13 NIV)

The one speaking here is the Lord Almighty in the context.  That verse does not say that God is the Creator, but He hired someone else to do the world.  No, His own hand laid the foundations of the earth, so if Jesus was the Creator of all things, He must be God.

5. Jesus is Human

The Word became flesh (John 1:14).  He became fully human.  He got tired.  He fell asleep on a boat.  He got hungry.  When he went without food for forty days, he was really hungry.  He got thirsty. He said “I thirst” on the cross.  He could feel pain.  He could experience joy.  He experienced sorrow.  He wept.  He got angry.  He even experienced depression.  He could suffer.  He could die. He could be crucified.

This is John’s Christmas story; the Word became flesh. It is different from the other Christmas stories.  Matthew and Luke begin the Christmas story in Bethlehem.  John does NOT start the story on earth.  He starts the story in heaven.  The first three verses of the chapter take place in heaven.

John does not mention an inn.  It does not mention a manger or any swaddling clothes.  He does not mention the wise men.  He does not mention the great star that led them to Jesus.  The Gospels of Mark and John start with Jesus as a grown man.  John gives us a theology of Christmas.  For John, Christmas is not about a baby being born in a manger.  It is about God becoming man.

The Word became flesh.  William Barclay called that “the single greatest verse in the NT.”[3] It is a shocking statement.  The incarnation is one of the greatest miracles in the Bible.  God became one of us. He stepped down from heaven to earth and became a man.  The eternal Word became flesh.  The Creator of the world became flesh.  The one is said to be God became flesh.

The Greeks believed that this was impossible.  Man could become God but God could not become man, because they believed that the body was evil.  That is what the Gnostics taught (cf. I John 4:2-3).

The Greek philosophers said that the Logos was involved in creation, but they never said that the Word became flesh.  John alone writes that the Word became flesh.  This was RADICAL.  Jesus had to become one of us to save us.

Think how significant this is.  In the OT, God often took human form and appeared to people in a theophany.  There are many theophanies in the OT.  The Incarnation is NOT a theophany.

In a theophany, God appeared in the form of a man and it was only temporary.  At the Incarnation, Jesus became an actual man and it was permanent.  At the incarnation, Jesus became a permanent member of the human race.  He will remain the God-Man for all eternity.

Application for Today

We have seen five truths about Jesus from John’s prologue.  What is the application to us today?   How does this apply to us?  Jesus coming into the world requires a response.   It requires a reaction.

Everyone has two choices.  They can believe or not believe.  They can accept Him or reject Him.  What is our reaction?  Do we believe or not believe?  Do we accept Him or reject Him?  Jesus does not force Himself on people against their will.  We see the responses of many people to Jesus in the text.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (John 1:10-11 NIV)

While the majority of the world rejects Jesus and while the nation of Israel rejected him, some have accepted Him.  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12 NIV).

John tells us what happens when people accept Jesus.  Something happens.  Their identity changes.  They become the children of God.  To be a child of God means that God is our Father and we can have a special relationship with him that others can’t have.

It is an act of GRACE.  We have received “grace upon grace” (John 1:16).  None of us deserve to be called God’s children but when we believe, we become one. We become one not based on anything that we did.

It is an act of LOVE.  See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (I John 3:1 NIV).

It is an act of CERTAINTY.  When we believe in Jesus as Savior, we are given the RIGHT to become a child of God.  We have that right because Jesus gives it to us.  It is not just a wish or desire.  It is a right.

[1] F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, 29.

[2] Samuel G. Green, for example writes, “We find θεός (God) almost interchangeable with ό θεός (Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek New Testament [Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1912], p. 186).  God the Father is called θεός (John 1:6, 18) and Jesus is called ό θεός (Matthew 1:23; John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8).

[3] William Barclay, The Gospel of John, (rev), I, p. 66.

The Suffering Servant

Today, we come to one of the most amazing chapters in the Bible.  Isaiah 53 is the greatest prophecy of Jesus in the Bible.  It is a prophecy of his suffering and his death.

Some have called this chapter “the Mount Everest of Messianic Prophecy.”  Mount Everest happens to be earth’s highest mountain.  It is the highest mountain range on earth.

A chapter like this needs some type of introduction.  There are several things you might not know about this chapter.  Here are five basic observations about the chapter.

Five Amazing Facts

1) This chapter is a prophecy

It was written over seven hundred years before Jesus was born.  All of it came literally true.  We live in the year 2021.  That would be like if we made a detailed prophecy of what would happen in our country in the year 2721 and everything that we said came to pass.

When this prophecy was written, crucifixion did not even exist yet.  It had not been invented yet as an instrument of execution. The Persians invented it in the 5tth or 6th century BC.

Isaiah was written in the 8th century BC and yet he predicted that the Messiah would be pierced. When Isaiah wrote this, people were executed in other ways (stoning, beheading or hanging) but not by crucifixion.

2) This chapter is written in the past tense

That is a little strange.  If you are going to make a prophecy, you put it in the future tense.  This is a prophecy and, in English translations, it is all in the past tense looking back on events.

He WAS despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:3 NIV).  He WAS pierced for our transgressions; He WAS crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5 NIV).  He WAS oppressed and afflicted (Isaiah 53:7 NIV).  Everything is past tense, at least in English.

3) This chapter is a poem

It is not only a prophecy; it is a poem.  It has a poetic structure.  It is made up of five stanzas.  Each stanza is made of three verses each.  There are three different speakers in this poem.  God the Father speaks.  The nation of Israel speaks, and Isaiah speaks.

You say, “It does not sound like a poem.  It doesn’t rhyme.”  Hebrew poetry does not rhyme words.  It rhymes thoughts.  It rhymes ideas.

There is a lot of parallelism in the chapter.  Jesus is not only despised, He is rejected.  He is not only pierced, He is crushed.  He is not only oppressed, He is afflicted.

He is not only punished, He is stricken.  He not only bears sins; He is a sin offering.  There are three different words for sin in this chapter (sin, iniquity, transgressions).

4) This is a forbidden chapter

Jews are forbidden to read it this chapter.  Isaiah 53 is a chapter that many rabbis don’t want people to know about.

It used to be part of the regular reading in the synagogues, but the rabbis took it out.  When the Book of Isaiah is read in synagogues, this chapter is skipped over.  They will read Isaiah 52 one week and Isaiah 54 the next week.

Most Jews have never read this chapter.  They have no idea that this chapter is even in their Bible.  In fact, there is a trick in Jewish evangelism.

If you read some verses from the Hebrew Bible to modern day Jews and they hear Isaiah 53, they get angry, because they think that you snuck in some verses of the NT into it.

When they are shown that the chapter comes out of their own Bible, they are shocked.  They are stunned.  It is the universal reaction.  Many Jews have been converted from this passage.

5) The chapter actually begins in Isaiah 52

The introduction to Isaiah 53 is found in Isaiah 52.  It goes from Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12. Does that mean that there are errors in the Bible?  No. The TEXT of the Bible is inspired.  The CHAPTER DIVISIONS are not.  The text is without error.  The chapter divisions are man-made.  They came a thousand years after the Bible was written.

Five Pictures of Jesus

Today, we are going to do a quick overview of this chapter.  We are going to look at five pictures of the Messiah from Isaiah 53.  Jesus is the Successful Servant (Isaiah 52:13-15).  He is the Scorned Servant (Isaiah 53:1-3).  He is the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:4-6).  He is the Submissive Servant (Isaiah 53:7-9) and He is the Satisfied Servant (Isaiah 53:10-12).  We will look at each section briefly.

The Successful Servant

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him – his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—15 so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand (Isaiah 52:13-15 NIV)

This is the prologue to the chapter.  The chapter starts positive.  It begins with the successful servant.  By worldly standards, Jesus was not very successful.

He was born out of wedlock.  His mom was a single teenager.  His dad was a construction worker.  He grew up in an obscure village. His parents were peasants. His dad died young.  He never got married or had kids.

He lived in poverty.  He was a carpenter, a simple manual laborer.  He never owned a home.  He had nowhere to lay His head.  He had no formal education.  He never had a college education.  He never got a degree.  He never went to bible college or seminary.  He never studied in any rabbinic school.  He never held an office.

He started his ministry late and it only lasted three years.  He had a criminal record.  He was convicted of a capital crime.  He was executed by the state and he lived a short life.  He died a young man in his thirties.

His best friends ran from him. His own family thought he was crazy.   Some of His closest followers, some of his own Apostles, turned him in to the authorities to be arrested. His own people rejected him as their leader and turned him over to the Romans.  He died a disgraceful death.

Was He really successful?  Yes!  H.G. Wells once said, “I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” [1]

Someone said, “Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3, Yet the influence of Christ’s 3-year teaching infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all time.” [2]

Notice who is speaking in this first stanza.  God the Father is speaking (“See, My Servant”).  What does He say about the servant?

He was raised and lifted up (Isaiah 52:13).  Isaiah 52 says that He will be, not just exalted but HIGHLY EXALTED (Isaiah 52:13).  Jesus conquered death.  He sits at the right hand of God.  Philippians 2:9-11 tells us how highly exalted he is.

Therefore, God exalted Him to THE HIGHEST PLACE and gave him the name that is ABOVE EVERY NAME, 10 that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and EVERY TONGUE acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NIV)

Jesus was successful.  As Dr. Whitcomb once said, “He was the greatest success story in all history.”  You cannot come to the Father, except through Jesus (John 14:6).  You cannot be saved, except through Jesus name (Acts 4:12).  Jesus is the one who will judge the world (Acts 17:31).

He is the one who determines your eternal destiny.  He is the one who has the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation 1:18).  He will return to earth in power and glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).

When Jesus returns to the earth, people will be shocked.  The Bible says that EVERY EYE will see him coming in the clouds (Revelation 1:7).  Kings will shut their mouths when they see him (Isaiah 52:15).  Who are they shutting their mouths at?

They are shutting their mouths at the one who was physically disfigured so much so that he did not even look human.  That is interesting.  The NT does not go into all of the gory details of the crucifixion, like you see in The Passion of the Christ.  This one verse in Isaiah 52:14 describes it and it is in the OT.

The Scorned Servant

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not (Isaiah 53:1-3 ESV)

The next nine verses have a different speaker.  Someone else is talking.  It is not the Father.  It is the Nation of Israel looking back. What do we learn about the coming Messiah in these verses?

Israel as a nation rejected him.  God promised Israel a Messiah.  The nation had been waiting for thousands of years for the Messiah.  When He finally came, they rejected Him. That is why Isaiah wrote, “Who has believed our message?”

The answer is very few.  Few Jews then believed it and few believe it today.  Most people reject it. What were the reasons for the national rejection of Jesus? In these verses, we see what the nation thought about Jesus and why they rejected Him.

Three Basic Reasons for Rejection

1) Jesus was unimpressive 

Isaiah says, “he grew up like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground.” He was like a weak little plant.  He appeared as a nobody.  He seemed ordinary, not special.  Everything about him was unimpressive (his birth, his childhood, his education, his income level, his occupation).  He was born in a manger, not a palace.

2) Jesus was unpopular

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him. He wasn’t wealthy. He wasn’t popular.  He wasn’t famous.  He was not accepted by all the rabbis of the day.  In fact, they were offended by him.  Most of the rabbis in the day rejected him.  Most Jews today still reject Him.

3) Jesus was unattractive

He had no beauty that we should desire him. That does not mean that Jesus was ugly, but he did not look regal.  They were not looking for a lamb. They were looking for a king wearing a crown.  They were looking for a political leader [3].

They were looking for King David.  Jesus did not look like the Messiah they were expecting.  He did not fit the profile. Incidentally, Isaiah 53:2 is the ONLY physical description of Jesus in the Bible.

Everyone wants to know what Jesus looked like.  Was he tall or short?  Did he have brown hair or black hair?  What He black, white or brown?  Did He have brown eyes or blue eyes?

What we do know is that he did not look like any of the pictures of him found in most churches.  None of them look very Jewish.  Isaiah 53:2 is the only thing the Bible says about Jesus’ physical appearance and it is found in the OT.  It says that he had no beauty that we should desire him.

Jesus not only faced rejection; he faced ridicule.  People did not just reject Him; they mocked Him. They held him in low esteem.  They spit on him.  They despised him.  In fact, they despise Him to this day.  In many Jewish households, they are not even allowed to say the name of Jesus.  The name of Jesus is like a curse word in some homes.

They hated him so much that they could not even look at him.  People turned their faces away from him.  When we see people in the street with signs asking for money, we often turn away from them and pretend that we did not see them.  Jesus’ body was so disfigured on the cross that people turned their face away from him.

Jesus is called “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”  What does it mean that Jesus was a man of sorrows?  Does that mean he was gloomy? Does it mean he never laughed or never had a sense of humor?  Does it mean that he was always sad?  No!

Jesus told his disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1). He was always cheering up people.  He said, “be of good cheer” three times (Matthew 9:2; Mark 6:50; John 16:33).  He told people to “cheer up.”  The Bible says that he was full of joy through the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21).  He wanted us to share his joy that that out joy would be full (John 15:11).

He even told jokes.  Many of his parables contain humor in them, like the man walking around with a log in his eye or when he talked about the Pharisees who strained out a gnat and then swallowed a camel, but he also experienced sorrow.  He experienced mental anguish.   He experienced emotional pain.

He experienced other people’s pain.  He wept over the future destruction of the city of Jerusalem.  He wept over the death of Lazarus.  He also experienced personal pain and anguish.  They said, “We do not want this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14).

They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered (John 19:15 NIV).  It is pretty hard when your own people reject you.

The Suffering Servant

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV)

The Messiah not only experienced success and scorn, He experienced suffering, painful suffering, excruciating suffering, suffering we cannot imagine.  In these verses, we see three very important truths.

TRUTH NUMBER ONE: We are all sinners

All we like sheep have gone astray.  We are like wandering sheep.  It describes not just the whole nation of Israel; it describes the whole human race.  Each one has gone astray.  We are selfish and we are rebellious by nature.  We do not all go astray the same way.  We all go our own way.

TRUTH NUMBER TWO: Jesus suffered for our sins

He did not suffer for his sins.  He suffered for our sins.  We sinned.  He suffered.  One preacher called this “history’s greatest substitution” [4].  This was the greatest substitution of all time.

Jesus died as a substitute for our sins.  Our guilt was transferred to him.  This is the gospel in Isaiah.  It is the same message that Paul preached that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.  This is the John 3:16 of the OT.

Jesus was smitten by God, not just by the Romans and not just by Pontius Pilate.  He was smitten by God.  He died as an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10).  He died for the transgression of His people (Isaiah 53:9).  The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6 NIV).

Notice the word “all” is found twice in Isaiah 53:6. ALL of us have gone astray and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us ALL. It is a good verse to show that Jesus died for everyone.  It is a good verse against limited atonement.  Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)

TRUTH NUMBER THREE: Jesus’ suffering made us well

It brought us peace.  It brought us healing.  Both are in Isaiah 53:5. That brings us to one of the most misquoted in the church today.  Many people misunderstand this verse.  It is a favorite verse among prosperity preachers.

By His Stripes We are Healed

What does the phrase “by his stripes we are healed” (KJV) mean?  What are stripes?  It is talking about Jesus’ beatings, his scourging.  How could his wounds heal people?

How could someone’s wounds heal someone else?  What does it mean that they heal people?  Healing is for people who are sick.  When we see the word “healing,” we think of sickness and disease.  We think of cancer.

Do these words guarantee physical healing to every believer?  No.  Many have prayed these words and have been healed but many godly, Spirit-filled believers have not.

Does that mean that we cannot trust the Bible? No.  Isaiah 53:5 is talking about spiritual healing and it is very easy to prove that. The key is the CONTEXT.  What is the context of the passage?

In the context, Isaiah 53:5 deals with sin, not sickness.  The verse does NOT say that Jesus was pierced for our sickness and crushed for our diseases.  It says that he was pierced for our TRANSGRESSIONS and crushed for our INIQUITIES.

If you are not convinced by that argument, then do a word study of the word “healing” in the Book of Isaiah to see how it is used.  It is used six times in Isaiah (Isaiah 6:10; 19:22; 30:26; 53:5; 57:18; 57:19) and in EVERY case it is used of spiritual healing.  It is NEVER used of physical healing in the book.

Isaiah 6:10 is one example.  Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed (NIV).

It is clearly talking about spiritual healing.  When their heart is hard and their ears are dull and their eyes are close, it is talking about their spiritual condition.  Healing in that verse is also spiritual.

If you are still not convinced, look at how the verse is used in the NT.  Isaiah 53:5 is quoted one time in the NT and, in that place, it is used of spiritual healing.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (I Peter 2:24-25 NIV).  Everything in that passage is spiritual (bore our SINS, die to SINS, live for RIGHTEOUSNESS).

Some people object that Isaiah 53:4 does refer to physical sickness.  They are absolutely right.  The KJV says, “he has born our griefs” and that word “griefs” literally means sicknesses (cf. Deuteronomy 7:15; 28:59, 61; I Kings 17:17; II Kings 1:2; 8:8-9, etc.)  This verse is quoted in the NT and refers to physical healing but there’s a catch.

That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16-17 NLT)

This does not prove that healing is in the atonement.  It proves the exact opposite.  The only time that it is quoted in the NT, it does not refer to Jesus’s death on the cross.  It refers to Jesus’ healing ministry.  Matthew says that when Jesus healed people, Isaiah 53:4 was being fulfilled.

Jesus did not bear people’s diseases by suffering them himself or by dying.  He took them away by healing them.  When Jesus got rid of Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever, he did not give himself a fever.  He just healed her (Matthew 8:14-15).

The Submissive Servant

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth (Isaiah 53:7-9 ESV)

Jesus is not only the suffering servant; he is the submissive servant.  He is described as a lamb.  That is interesting.  The whole human race was described as wandering sheep who go astray.

One quality of sheep is that they are rebellious.  Jesus is also described as a lamb (baby sheep).  Another quality is that they are silent.  They are meek animals.  They are docile.  When their wool is cut, they are quiet.

Jesus was suffering and he was silent.  What Jesus did, we would call un-American.  Jesus experienced suffering.  It was unjust suffering. It was painful suffering.  It was humiliating suffering.  It is illegal suffering.  It was unfair yet notice what Jesus did NOT do.

He didn’t resist.  He didn’t fight back, even though he had the power to stop it.  He didn’t protest and demand his rights on the street.  He didn’t threaten anyone and say, “I will get you back.”  He didn’t curse and swear.  He didn’t get mad at God for how unfair he was being treated and how unfair life was.

That is our natural reaction.  That is how we respond today when things that are unfair and unjust happen to us.  When we are mistreated, we are not silent.  We are loud. We are out on the street demanding our rights, protesting.

When Jesus returns to earth, He will not be silent and submissive.  He will rule with an iron rod, but the NT says that we are to follow Jesus’ example when he was on earth.

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. (I Peter 2:21-23 NIV)

The Satisfied Servant

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12 NIV)

This is the third voice in the chapter.  It is the voice of Isaiah.  God the Father has spoken.  The nation has spoken and now the prophet speaks.

Why did he suffer?  Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.  Suffering was God’s will in his life.  Many think that God never causes suffering.  Only the Devil does that.  That is a lie.

It was God’s will that Jesus endure the terrible suffering of the cross.  Now, God is not sadistic.  He does not like to torture people, but it was God’s will Jesus die a violent painful death on a Roman cross.

In fact, He planned it thousands of years before it happened.  It is actually God’s will that some believers experience suffering.  That does not fit the prosperity message.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Jesus not only died for transgressors; He was numbered with them.  He died between two thieves and he prayed for the transgressors.  He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

What were the results of Jesus’ sacrifice?  He is satisfied.  He did the will of God.  God blessed him.  His days were prolonged.  The chapter has already talked about him dying and pouring out his soul to death and now his days are prolonged and he sees the light of life.  That is resurrection.  Anytime you do God’s will, you will be blessed and satisfied as well.

He ends up with a seed, not a physical seed but a spiritual seed because earlier it said that he did not have a generation.  This is talking about people who are saved as a result of his death.

He ends up justifying many by his death.  Now that he bore their iniquities, they are justified.  This is amazing.  Isaiah 53 here sounds like the book of Romans and Galatians in the NT.

The chapter ends with a brief summary of the chapter.  Jesus endured SUFFERING, made a SACRIFICE for sin, acquired a SEED, shared the SPOILS, prayed for SINNERS and received SATISFACTION for his obedience.  He ends up with great SUCCESS.

[1] https://quotefancy.com/quote/820180/H-G-Wells-I-am-an-historian-I-am-not-a-believer-but-I-must-confess-as-a-historian-that

[2] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-greatest-intellect-and-the-most-influential-life-ever-lived-lalachan-abraham-sermon-on-christmas-198816

[3] https://www.grace-ebooks.com/library/Henry%20Mahan/Henry%20Mahan%20Transcribed%20Sermons%20By%20Text/23_isaiah/isa%2053%20The%20Gospel%20According%20to%20Isaiah.htm

[3] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=81406132141

A Ghost Story

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Are ghosts real?  Is it possible to communicate with someone who died?  Is it wrong to try to contact a loved one who died?   What does it say about the Bible say about the occult?

Today, we are going to finish the book of I Samuel.  It has been a huge blessing to study for me personally.  What is in these chapters may be new to you, because these chapters are hardly ever preached in church.

They deal with the topic of the occult and the afterlife.  We are also going to look at how these chapters apply to us today and what lessons we can learn.  I Samuel 28 is one of the strangest stories in the Bible. What is so strange about it?

A Strange Story

1) I Samuel 28 is strange because it has a WITCH in it

There are not too many stories in the Bible about witches. This is a story about one of the most famous witches in history, the Witch of Endor.  She is not really a witch. The Bible does not call her a witch. A witch deals in magic or casts spells. The Bible calls her “a medium” (I Samuel 28:7).

Mediums are people who try to contact the dead.  Since she has been known as “The Witch of Endor,” that is what we will call her. Why is God communicating through a witch?  God can use a magician (three magi).  He can use a witch (Witch of endor).  He can use a donkey.  He is completely sovereign.

2) I Samuel 28 is strange because it has a GHOST in it

It was Samuel’s ghost or spirit.  This story does not just have a ghost in it.  It has a scary ghost.  It completely scared the Witch of Endor and she was used to seeing strange things.  When she sees it, she does not just scream; she screams loudly, at the top of her voice (I Samuel 28:12). This story is perfect for Halloween.  It is spooky.

3) I Samuel 28 is a little strange because it has a SEANCE in it

Saul has a séance.  The night before a big battle, Saul has a séance with a witch.  The ghost of Samuel suddenly appears and speaks.  Saul gets a message from Samuel beyond the grave.

It is the only time in the Bible where someone who died came back with a message.  Jesus came back from the dead with a message but he was no longer dead.  Samuel was still dead.  This is the only time in the Bible where someone who died appeared with a message to someone on earth[1]

These are dark and gloomy chapters.  I Samuel 28 describes Saul’s darkest hour.  Last week, we saw David’s darkest hour.  This week, we see Saul’s darkest hour.  This is Saul’s last night on earth.  It is his last supper on earth. It is like his last meal on death row.

Saul has a big problem.  He has a crisis on his hands.  It is a military crisis and he needs some answers but is not getting any, so he turned to a witch and he got some answered.  It worked.  Saul was able to contact the Prophet Samuel after he died, and Samuel talked to him.

Saul got one final conversation with Samuel.  Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have one final conversation with someone who died (a parent, a loved one, a friend, a spouse)?  Saul got that opportunity.

He turned to Samuel for some help.  All Samuel tells him is that that he has only twenty-four hours to live and his sons have only twenty-four hours to live.  How would you feel if you received that message?  How would you feel if God told you that by tomorrow, you would be dead?

This is a disturbing section.  A desperate king commits a desperate act and receives a disturbing message from a dead prophet and then dies a disgraceful death and is publicly humiliated by his enemy.

Three Background Events

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land. 

4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. (I Samuel 28:3-5 NIV)

The story begins with three important background events.  This story would not have taken place unless these three things happened.

First, the prophet Samuel dies. He died earlier in the book but his death is part of the background to this story.

Second, Saul gets rid of all of the mediums and witches from the land.  People who practiced the occult were kicked out.

Third, the Philistines prepared for war.  They did not plan for a border raid (like David was doing) but full-scale war, as Frutchenbaum points out.

This army was much larger than the Jewish army.  We know from I Samuel 13:5 that the Philistines had chariots. They had a massive army and better technology.  Saul’s army was smaller, and he knew that he did not stand a chance.

The best Philistine killer was David and he was no longer in the country.  In fact, he joined forces with the Philistines along with six hundred of his men.

Saul did not know if they were going to fight against him. The Prophet Samuel was also dead.  In the past, when Saul had a problem, he could turn to Samuel for counsel.  Now, Samuel is dead.  He killed all of the priests.  He has no spiritual leader to turn to and Saul is afraid.

The Witch of Endor

He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor,” they said. (I Samuel 28:6-7 NIV).

Saul turns to a witch.  He breaks his own law.  He turns to a medium to solve his problems, the Witch of Endor.  Since he could not get any answers from earth or heaven, he tries to get some answers from hell.

Saul takes two men with him, puts on a disguise, takes off his kingly robes, and visits a witch at night.   He had to walk about eight miles to get to her.  He also had to walk around the Philistine army to get to this witch.  He put himself in danger to get to her and the witch put herself in danger by meeting with Saul, since her occupation was illegal.

She is a little mysterious.  She only appears once in the Bible and never again.  She has no name.  Who was she?  We don’t know but Jewish tradition (e.g., Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer) says that she was the mother of Abner but there is no evidence for that.

Saul’s Final Act of Rebellion

Saul lived a life of rebellion against God and it culminates in one final act of rebellion, the sin of divination.  So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” (I Samuel 28:8 NIV)

Samuel said, “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry” (I Samuel 15:23 NIV).  Divination was something that God hated.  He called it an abomination.  In the OT, it was not just a SIN; it was a CRIME.

It was a crime punishable by DEATH in the Law of Moses.  Exodus 22:18 says, “Do NOT allow a sorceress to live” (NIV). Leviticus 20:27 says, “A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you MUST be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads” (NIV).

Saul commits the sin and a day later he is dead, but the witch continues to live. What was the witch’s reaction to Saul’s visit? She was suspicious.  She didn’t trust him.  She wanted to make sure that this was not a sting operation.

But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?” (I Samuel 28:9 NIV).   Saul promised to protect the witch, the very witch God commanded to be executed.

Notice what Saul said.  Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will NOT be punished for this” (I Samuel 28:10 NIV).  God said in the law that they were to be punished by death.  Saul swears by God that she will not be punished.  He takes up the name of God and swears that he will not do with he is commanded to do in Scripture.

He asks her to call up Samuel and she does.  When he appears, she is shocked.  She screams.  Apparently, she didn’t expect it. Saul asked what he looked like and when she told him, Saul knew it was Samuel.

Then, Samuel starts to speak to Saul.  He does not speak through the medium.  He speaks directly to Saul and Saul speaks to him (I Samuel 28:15-19) and the woman was not part of the conversation.

According to Jewish tradition, the Witch of Endor saw Samuel, but did not hear his voice.  Saul heard Samuel’s voice, but could not see him.  That is what the text seems to say.

 Was this Samuel or a Demon?

Did Samuel actually appear to Saul or was this Satan in disguise, as Matthew Henry suggests. Was this a demon?  Can we know for sure?  R.C. Sproul said it is impossible to know the answer [2].  Is he right?  That is what most people think.  The fact is that it is very easy to know which view is correct

The text is very clear. There is nothing in the chapter about a demon or evil spirit.  It says very clearly that the woman SAW SAMUEL (I Samuel 28:12).  It does NOT say that she saw a demon or evil spirit that looked like Samuel.

In fact, five times in the passage we see the words SAMUEL SAID (I Samuel 28:12, 14, 15, 16, 20), not “a demon said.”  What conclusions can we draw?

The text says that it was Samuel, not a demon. What Samuel says here is consistent with what he said to Saul earlier in the book (I Samuel 13; 15) and the prophecy came true just as Samuel said it would. That was the test of a true prophet in the Bible.

Samuel’s Final Prophecy

Samuel utters his final prophecy.  He utters his final prophecy after he died.  He is the only one to give a prophecy after he died and while he was still dead.  He gives a final sermon.  That would be like if our pastor died and then his spirit appeared and uttered one final message from the grave.

What kind of prophecy does he utter?  It is a prophecy of judgment.  It was all negative.  It was also very specific.  It was not general and vague, like some prophecies today.  He said to Saul, “I am dead.  Tomorrow, you will be dead.  You and your sons will be dead, and David will be king.”

It is very interesting if you compare Samuel’s first prophecy and his last prophecy.  Samuel’s FIRST PROPHECY was that the high priest Eli and his two sons would die on the same day (I Samuel 3).

Samuel’s LAST PROPHECY was that King Saul and his sons would die on the same day (I Samuel 28).  The poor man had to be the instrument of bad news to people.  Prophets did not get to choose their message.  They said whatever God told them to say.

Samuel was the instrument of bad news when he was a little boy and he was the instrument of bad news after he died.  Many so called prophets today have a message of nothing but good news to people.  They said that Trump will be re-elected and it will be good.  None of them said that Biden will be elected and it will be bad.

The Wicked King and The Good Witch

Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night. (I Samuel 28:20 NIV)

The Witch of Endor did good to the one who tried to get rid of all the witches in the land.  She was kind.  She was compassionate.  She comforted Saul.  She showed hospitality.  She does not just offer him food.  She insisted on it and would not take no for an answer.

Apparently, she was a good cook.  She killed the fatted calf.  Saul ate the fatted calf just like the Prodigal son did (Luke 15:22-23).  She cooked him a big meal, which must have taken some time.  There was no microwave back in the day.  This witch cooked Saul his last meal and it was not a TV dinner.

The woman had a fattened calf at the house, which she butchered at once. She took some flour, kneaded it and baked bread without yeast. 25 Then she set it before Saul and his men, and they ate. That same night they got up and left. (I Samuel 28:24 NIV).

Four Truths about the Afterlife

This story about Samuel and the Witch of Endor tells us a lot about the afterlife.  Notice four facts from this story.

1) There is life after death

The afterlife is real.  Some say that when you die you cease to exist.  That is what Jehovah’s Witnesses teach.  It is called annihilationism but that is not what we see here.  After Samuel dies, he does not cease to exist.  He is still alive.  His body is dead, but his spirit is alive.  It appears.  People can see it and Samuel speaks to people.

2) The righteous go to a better place after death

Notice how Samuel rebuked Saul when he called him up.  Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” I Samuel 28:15 NIV).  Samuel was at a place of peace after he died.  He did not go to Hell.  He did not go to Purgatory.  He was at peace.  After he died, he went to a better place than earth.  He did not want to come back to earth.

3) You do not lose your personal identity after death

“What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel (I Samuel 28:14 NIV).  Samuel was recognizable after death.  Samuel does appear as an old man.  There will not be any old people in heaven, but this is also before the cross and before the resurrection.

Jesus had not died yet.  Samuel is not in heaven yet.  He is in Hades or Sheol.   He came “up from the ground” (I Samuel 28:13), not “down from Heaven.  What is important here is that he was recognized by others after he died.   You will be recognized after you die.  You won’t lose your identity.

4) After death, you will know much more than you know now

The Bible says that in heaven we will know even as we are known (I Corinthians 13:12).  Samuel knew what would happen the next day to Saul and his sons.  Bible teacher S. Lewis Johnson used to say that a child in heaven will know more in five seconds than the greatest theologians on earth know now.

Three Powerful Lessons

How does all of this apply to us today?  How does Saul apply today?  How does the Witch of Endor apply today?  What can we learn from this story?  I want to look at three lessons from a disobedient king.

1) If we do not listen to God, don’t expect our prayers to be answered

When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. (I Samuel 28:5-6 NIV)

Saul tried to hear from God.  He reached out to God and God was silent.  Why didn’t God answer him?  He was living in deliberate rebellion to the Word of God.  He did not truly repent, even though he claimed to twice.  There was absolutely no change in his life.

One thing we hear preachers say a lot is that God speaks to people.  They are right.  They are absolutely right.  Of course, it is also true that sometimes, God will not speak to people.  Sometimes, he refuses to speak to people, even if they reach out to Him.

28 Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, 29 since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord.30 Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke (Proverbs 1:28-30 NIV)

Could God ever stop speaking to us?  Yes.  The Bible says that if we live with unconfessed sin and pray, God will not hear us.  If we do not listen to him, He will not listen to us.

If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened (Psalm 66:18 NIV)

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2 NIV)

2) If we choose to live in rebellion to God, we can expect to suffer.

James Macdonald used to say, “Choose to sin; choose to suffer.”  The Bible says that “the way of the transgressor is hard” (Proverbs 13:15 KJV).  Saul sinned and he suffered badly.  Saul came under divine judgment in these chapters.  What happened to him?  The next day, eight terrible things happened.

a) The nation of Israel lost a military battle (I Samuel 31:1)

b) Three of Saul’s four sons were killed in battle (I Samuel  31:2)

c) Saul was mortally wounded in battle by an arrow (I Samuel 31:3)

d) Saul commits suicide, rather than be tortured by the enemy (I Samuel 31:4)

e) Saul was beheaded after death (I Samuel 31:8-9)

f) Saul’s dead body was publicly displayed on a wall (I Samuel 31:10)

g) Saul’s armor was placed in a pagan temple (I Samuel 31:10)

h) The Philistines invaded the country of Israel (I Samuel 31:7)

Judgment did not happen to Saul immediately.  It took years before it went into effect.  Saul had many sins.  Jewish tradition mentions four sins of Saul (Lev. Rabbah 26:7).  When Saul visited the Witch of Endor, when he committed the sin of divination, that completely sealed his fate.  That was the sin that did him in.

Saul received three prophetic words of judgment from Samuel.  He received one in I Samuel 13.  He received one in I Samuel 15 and he received one in I Samuel 28.  Each one of those words came after Saul had sinned.  Saul did not get the message the first time.  Sometimes, God has to say things to us several times before we get the point.

Saul’s sin did not just affect him, it affected his kids.  They suffered as well. You are never better off if you do things your way instead of God’s way.  You always lose in the end.

Does God judge people today?  Does he judge believers today?  We don’t know if Saul was saved but he believed in the true God. He was not a pagan.  He was not a Philistine.  He was an Israelite, and he was under divine judgment.

God judges believers today for sin.  He judged Ananias and Sapphira in the NT (Acts 5).  They were members of the first church in Jerusalem.  This is not talked about too much in church today because it is not popular.  No one wants to hear this message.

3) If you participate in the occult, you are playing with fire

Saul gets what he wants in this chapter.  He contacts the dead Samuel through a medium.  Does this chapter encourage you to dabble in the occult?  Does it encourage you to try to contact dead loved ones?   Does it encourage you to call the psychic hotline?  No.  Several things are clear here.

1. The Bible expressly forbids all occult activities.

Scripture prohibits going to a medium or trying to contact the dead (Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:9-12).  When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? (Isaiah 8:19 NIV)

In fact, there is a story of some who came to faith in Ephesus while Paul was there.  After they got saved, they burned all of their occult books (Acts 19:18-20).  This is a clear teaching of the Bible.  The Bible does not encourage witchcraft.

2. The Witch of Endor did not bring Samuel up.

God brought Samuel up, not the witch.  That is why she was so shocked and surprised.  That is why she screamed at the top of her voice.  She did not expect it to happen.  If the witch brought Samuel back, she would not be surprised to see him.

God brought Samuel up in spite of the witch, not because of her [3]. Jesus is the only one who has the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation 1:18).

3. Visiting a witch did not help Saul.

It only hurt Saul.  He did not get any comfort.  He did not get any encouragement.  He did not get any advice.  He did reach Samuel, but he did not help him.  It only made him more afraid and depressed.

Samuel did not give him any good news.  He only gave him bad news.  He just told him that he would be dead in twenty-four hours.  It would have been better if Saul never went there in the first place.

If you were going to die in a terrible car crash in one day and some of your family would be killed and there was absolutely nothing you could do to prevent it, would you want to know that the day before?

You might want to take care of things the day before, but all that news would do is to make you completely depressed.  Sometimes, it is better to be ignorant.  The Bible says to live one day at a time and not worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34).

[1] Elijah and Moses appeared at the Transfiguration.  They were still dead and appeared in Mark 9:4. They could be seen by people but they just talked to Jesus.

[2] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/did-saul-talk-to-the-spirit-of-samuel-or-a-demonic-impersonation/

[3] Norman Geisler & Thomas Howe, When Critics Ask, 168.

The Danger of Compromise

Many people in the Bible seem larger than life.  Moses parted the Red Sea with a rod.  Elijah called fire down from heaven.  He raised a boy from the dead.  He changed the weather.  He prayed and there was a drought for three years.  He prayed again and it started raining.  Joshua commanded the Sun to stand still.

When was the last time that you did that?  Have you ever raised anybody from the dead?  Have you ever changed the weather by your prayers?   When have you changed the movement of the stars or planets by your words?

David was also larger than life.  He was Israel’s greatest king.  He was the only man in the Bible who was called “a man after God’s own heart.”  No one besides David is called that.  He had the faith to kill a huge giant.  Without question, he was one of the greatest men of the Bible.  He was an ancestor of the Messiah.

In these chapters, we find that David was just like us.  He was human.  He was imperfect.  He had flaws.  He had sins.  Some of them were big sins, as we will see in this chapter and later in II Samuel.  He made really bad decisions.

David’s Darkest Hour

In this chapter, we see a low point in David’s life.  These were David’s darkest days up to this point.  He was depressed.  He was  dark.  He was gloomy.  He was pessimistic.  He was afraid.  He is driven to despair.  Has that ever happened to you?  Notice the opening of the chapter.

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. 3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. 4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.  (I Samuel 27:1-4 NIV).

We can’t criticize him too much.  We do exactly the same thing today that David did.  David said, “Saul is going to kill me.  It is only a matter of time.  It may not happen today.  It may not happen this week or this month but it will happen.  It is only a matter of time before I am dead.  I can’t run forever.”

God delivered David from a lion.  He delivered him from a bear.  He delivered him from Goliath but somehow he thought God would not deliver him from Saul, so he had to run away, leave the country and go to the land of the Philistines.

David is exhausted.  He is tired of running from a madman.  He was tired of being a fugitive.  He was a fugitive month after month and year after year.  David has been a fugitive for years.  He has been on the run for over eight years.  That gets old, especially when you have families to take care of.  He went on the run in I Samuel and, by I Samuel 27, he is still on the run.

When you think about it, David had many things on his side.  He had many reasons to believe that one day he would be king.

1) David had a prophetic word that he would be king.  Most of us do not have a specific prophetic word about our lives and our future.  David did.

2) David had a kingly anointing.  He was anointed to be king by a prophet.  He was anointed with oil.

3) David had special empowerment from the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit came on David powerfully.

4) David had all kinds of evidence of success in his life.  He had plenty of evidence of God working in his life, providing and protecting him.

5) David had lots of encouragement from all kinds of people, including his enemies.

King Saul said, “I know that you will SURELY be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.” (I Samuel 24:20 NIV)

Abigail said, “The Lord your God will CERTAINLY make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord EVERY good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel| (I Samuel 25:28-30 NIV)

In fact, David himself said, “As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from ALL TROUBLE” (I Samuel 26:24 NIV).

David used to believe that God would deliver him.  He used to believe that he would live to be king.  Now, he is convinced that one day Saul will kill him.

Is David any different from us?  We are not always on a spiritual high.  We have our ups and down.  We have fears.  Sometimes, we feel great and sometimes we are driven to despair.  Sometimes, our faith in God’s Word is strong.  Sometimes, we have questions about our faith.

It is a common problem.  In some churches, if you have any questions, they kick you out of the church.  You are not allowed to question anything.  Some of the greatest saints have questions.  John the Baptist was one of the greatest men of the Bible.  Jesus said he was (Matthew 11:11).

He was locked up in a Roman prison for months and went through a dark period in his life. He had some real questions about who Jesus really was.  He asked Jesus, “Are you the one who came or should we look for another?”  Jesus did not rebuke him and say, “That’s a dumb question.  Why would you ask such a thing?  You of all people should know better.”  Instead, he answered his question.

What caused David’s depression?  What caused his faith to falter?  The chapter begins with these words, “But David thought to himself” (NIV).   “David said to himself” (Berean Study Bible).

Instead of looking up for answers, he looks inside.  Instead of having a conversation with God, he has a conversation with himself.  That is one guaranteed way to be depressed.  Just look within.  That is Buddhism.

David decides that the ONLY way to protect himself is to run away from his problems.  He moves to the land of the Philistines.  He stays there for sixteen months (I Samuel 27:7).  He was in this country when King Saul died.   David is living in enemy territory.  What do we know about the Philistines?

They were pagans.  They were idol worshippers.   They were not just the enemies of Israel.  They were the archenemies of Israel.  This was where the giant Goliath was from.  In a few chapters, the Philistines not only kill Saul, they kill Jonathon, David’s best friend.

Advantages to Living in Gath

David does it for one reason, to get away from Saul and it works.  “When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.” (I Samuel 27:4 NIV).   There were some advantages to living in Gath.  Now, he does not have to worry every day if he is going to die, so he goes to Gath and makes friends with the leader of Gath, whose name was Achish (ah-keesh).

Achish liked David a lot.  He said, “I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God” (I Samuel 29:9 NIV).  Achish thought he was an angel but it was all built on a lie.  He did not know that he went around killing his own people behind his back.  Achish said, “From the day you came to me until today, I have found no fault in you” (I Samuel 27:6 NIV)

He not only liked David and respected David; he trusted David (I Samuel 27:12 NIV).  He trusted him so much that he made David his bodyguard (I Samuel 28:2).  Compare this reaction of David to Saul’s reaction to David.  Saul didn’t like David and he didn’t trust David.  He couldn’t stand him.  It is strange but sometimes the world treats you better than some people in the church.

Not only was he treated better there and safer there (no assassination attempts) but there was food there.  Nabal would not give him any but he found some in Gath and David was not living in a cave.  David was given a town in the country to live in (I Samuel 27:5).  It was the town of Ziklag.

Recent Discovery of Ziklag

For the longest time, no one knew exactly where the city of Ziklag was located.  Just a few years ago some archeologists discovered this town. In 2019, a team of Israeli and Australian archaeologists excavated it.[1]  They even found some items going back to the time of David there.

Did David Do the Right Thing?

Did David do the right thing?  If something works, does that make it right?   No.  Just because something works does not make it right.  That is “the ends justifies the means” philosophy.

You can commit murder and get away with it but does that make it right?  You can rob a store because you don’t have money to pay your rent and never get caught.  Just because something works, doesn’t make it right.

David went to the land of the Philistines before and didn’t work.  In fact, the prophet Gad told him to go back to the land of Israel.  He had a word from God to go home (I Samuel 22:5). Now, he decides to go back.  Believers make the same mistake more than once.  You would think that we would learn the first time.  Sometimes, we have to make the mistake several times, before we get the point.

The Results of Compromise

David solved one problem when he moved to the land of the Philistines but he created many more problems.  Compromise is always dangerous.  It always has some unintended consequences.  What were some of the results of compromise?

1) It puts people at risk

When you compromise, sometimes other people get hurt.  He put people at risk in Gath.  The last time David went to Gath, he went by himself.  This time he brought his two wives with him.  He also brought six hundred men and their families.  If you count the women and children, he went there with well over a thousand people.  David brought godly Abigail into this pagan, idolatrous country and put her in danger.  She would later be kidnapped (I Samuel 30:2).

2) It results in sin

David sins in this chapter. He commits three main sins in the chapter and these sins are repeated.  They are not done one time. David steals. David lies.  David commits murder.

He commits mass murder.  He went on raids and just wiped out entire towns.  We would call these war crimes today. Is David just doing what Joshua did?  Was David just an instrument of judgment?  There are some important differences between David and Joshua.

God never told David to do this.  He just did it.  The reason he killed people was not to do what God told him to do but to prevent any witnesses from reporting on his crimes (I Samuel 27:11).  That is the wrong reason to kill people, so there are no eyewitnesses.

When David wanted to build God a Temple, God said, “No. You have shed too much blood on the earth but your son Solomon can build me one” (cf. I Chronicles 22:8).

In addition, David killed all the people but brought all of the spoils back to the Philistine Achish.  That was not part of the directions God gave to Joshua

David is not only extremely violent in Gath, committing mass murder, but he is dishonest.  He has to constantly lie about who he is killing and what he is doing.  He lied all of the time. David told bold face lies in Gath.  His whole life in Gath is one big lie.  He leads a double life.

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.) 9 Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.

10 When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.” 11 He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory (I Samuel 27:8-11 NIV)

That is the exact opposite of how we are to live today.  We are to be open.  We are to be honest.  We are to be transparent.  We are to be truthful and not lie to one another.

3) It leads to two masters

It is hard to live a double life.  James 1:8 says, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (NIV).  David had to be a faithful Jews and a faithful Philistine all of the time.  Eventually, he had to choose between the two.  He could not be both at the same time.  You can’t live for God and for the world at the same time.  Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24 NIV).

It came to the point where he was asked to go to war against his own people and asked him what he would do (I Samuel 28:1).  That is the kind of thing that happens once you compromise.  David was asked if he would fight.  He gave the political answer.  It was vague.

He said, “you will see for yourself what your servant can do” (I Samuel 28:2 NIV).  That is like what Joe Biden when he was asked if he would pack the Supreme Court.  He said, “Elect me and find out what I will do.  I am not going to tell you but you will see what I will do shortly.”

David almost went to war against his own people.  He almost did it but once again God kept him from sinning.  Some of the other Philistine leaders did not trust David like Achish did.  They sent him home (I Samuel 29:1-11).  That solved the whole problem but they only sent him home after he came out on the battlefield ready to fight.

David’s Restoration

We have seen David at his lowest point.  We see him sin and compromise but he does not stay there. In these chapters, we also see him completely restored. How does that happen?  What did it take to restore David.  What did God use to restore him?  God used circumstances in his life to restore him.

David had to repent and ask God for help but he did not do that until he was completely broken.  That did not happen overnight.  It did not happen for sixteen months.  Some of us need to be completely broken before we can be restored.  How was David broken?

Achish asked David to go into battle against his own people.  When David and his six hundred soldiers get there, the Philistine commanders say, “What is he doing here?”  They did not trust him and they sent him back home (I Samuel 29), so they walked seventy-five miles home.

When they got home, they are tired from walking at least seventy-five miles and then they saw Ziklag on fire.  Their city was on fire.  Their homes were destroyed.  All of the women and children were gone.  They were kidnapped. The men were exhausted and now they were completely devastated.  Their family was gone.

David did some raiding on the Amalakites and now the Amalites raided him and kidnapped all of the women and children.  One of the things that God told King Saul to do was to wipe out all of the Amalakites but he did not do it and now they kidnapped all of these families and the men were talking about killing David.

David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”

“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”  (I Samuel 30:6-7 NIV)

Chuck Swindoll called this “a turning point in David’s life.”[2] When David was completely discouraged, when there was absolutely no hope, when his own soldiers wanted to kill him, in David’s darkest hour, he didn’t find strength in himself or in anyone else.  He found strength in God.

David was in an impossible situation. All of the wives were gone.  The kids were gone.  God was the only one who could help him.  He is the only one who can help us.  We need to completely depend on God and rely on Him to solve our problems.

[1]https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/History/Pages/Archaeologists-uncover-biblical-town-of-Ziklag-8-July-2019.aspx

[2] The Swindoll Study Bible NLT . Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Playing the Fool

Today, we are going to be talking about fools.  It is an important topic today because we are surrounded by them in the world in which we live.  Last time we were together, we looked at a fool called NABAL.  He was a foolish farmer, a foolish businessman and a foolish husband. His name meant “fool.”

Today, we are going to look at another fool, named SAUL.  He was a foolish father-in-law, a foolish employer and a foolish king.  He was a leader who was a fool.  He was a foolish politician.  We have a few of those today.  As the saying goes, “there’s no fool like an old fool.”  Saul was an old fool.  He admitted he was a fool.  He said, “I played the fool” (I Samuel 26:21 KJV).

Three Types of Fools

Jerry Vines is a former pastor from Florida.  He was at one time the President of the Southern Baptist Convention.  He is retired now.  He is in his 80s.  Vines once preached a sermon and made the statement that there are three types of fools in the Bible: mental fools, material fools and moral fools.[1]

A MENTAL FOOL is a fool in his thinking.  There are a lot of mental fools.  One kind of mental fool is an atheist but there are many more.  The Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart that there is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

Atheists think that they are smart.  They think that they are advanced.  They have thrown off the shackles of the bible, the church and religion.  They think they are liberated.  Other people may call them smart.  God calls them fools.

Today, when we call someone a fool, we mean that this person is stupid.  Not all fools have a low IQ.  Fools may be smart.  They may be educated.  They might teach at Princeton or Harvard, but they are fools in God’s eyes.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22 ESV).

A MATERIAL FOOL is a fool in his possessions.   Nabal was a material fool.  He was a rich fool.  He owned thousands of sheep and cattle.  Material fools are often wealthy.  Material fools do not think about eternity.  They live for the here and now.  Many are selfish and stingy.

The rich farmer in Luke 12 was a material fool.  He was rich.  He was selfish.  His philosophy was “eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19).  He was a hedonist like many today.  He just lived for pleasure.  But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. (Luke 12:20 NIV)

A MORAL FOOL is a fool in his morals.  We have plenty of those today.  This kind of fool does not take sin seriously.  Fools make a mock at sin (Proverbs 14:7 NIV).  This kind of fool tries to make sin respectable.  This fool calls evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

This fool believes that there are no consequences for sin.  One day, we will all die and stand before God who will hold people accountable for their actions.  He will judge everyone according to their works.

There are many different kinds of fools.  This list is not exhaustive.  What kind of fool was Saul?  What made him a fool?  We will see that he is a moral fool.  What made him a fool? Are we fools?  Have we played the fool, like Saul did?

In I Samuel 26, David outsmarts Saul.  He outsmarts his army and he outsmarts his personal bodyguard.  Abner was head of what we would call today his secret service.  David did not do it on his own.  He had a little help from above.  He got some divine intervention.  A miracle takes place in this chapter.  It is a sleeping miracle.

The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?” 2 So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David. (I Samuel 26:1-2 NIV)

Notice how the chapter begins.  Saul gets some intelligence from the Ziphites.  The Ziphites once again tell Saul where David is hiding.  They rat him out.  They betray David.  What is surprising is that the Ziphites were from David’s own tribe.  They were from the Tribe of Judah.  Saul, once again, comes after David and once again brings three thousand troops with him.

When he saw that Saul had followed him there, he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived. Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?” “I’ll go with you,” said Abishai.  So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground. (I Samuel 26:3-7 NIV)

David’s Plan

David finds out that Saul is looking for him.  He finds out that Saul is out to kill him, after he promised not to do that again, so what does David do?  What would we do?  We would run and hide.  We would run for our lives.  That is what any sane person would do.  That is what anyone who does not have a death wish would do but David was different.

David was a different kind of man.  The Bible says that the righteous are as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1 NIV).  David killed Goliath.  David was young.  He was bold.  He was fearless.  Instead of going on the defensive, he goes on the offensive.  Saul does NOT go into David’s camp.  David goes into Saul’s camp.

David does not just go into Saul’s camp.  He goes into the middle of the camp (because that is where Saul was).  He went there at night (probably in the middle of the night because everyone is asleep) and was completely undetected, like a ninja in the dark.

The odds were against him. This was risky.  It was dangerous.  Some would say that it was stupid.  He could have lost his life.  Some soldier in Saul’s army had to be a light sleeper.  If one soldier heard them to hear them, it would be two against three thousand men.

David asked if anyone wanted to go with him.  David finds one person who is willing to go.  The only one willing to go was a young man named Abishai. Who was Abishai?  We find out in I Chronicles.

13 Jesse was the father of Eliab his firstborn; the second son was Abinadab, the third Shimea, 14 the fourth Nethanel, the fifth Raddai, 15 the sixth Ozem and the seventh David. 16 Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel. (I Chronicles 12:13-16 NIV)

Abishai was the son of Zeruiah (zer-you-eye-ah).  Zeruiah was his mom, not his dad.  She happened to be one of David’s sisters.  That made his David’s nephew.  He was also was Joab’s brother.

David gets a chance to kill King Saul, but this time Saul is not going to the bathroom.  He is sleeping.  He gets a chance to kill him while he was sleeping but he does not take it, even though Saul tries to kill David while he was in bed earlier in the book (I Samuel 19:15-16).

David enters the cave and finds Saul sleeping but, this time, he is not alone, like he was before.  He is surrounded by all of his troops.  He is completely protected.  He even has his bodyguard with him.

David does not kill Saul, even though Abishai tells him to do it. He says, “God has delivered him into your hand.  Now is your chance.  Kill him and all of your problems will be over and you will be king, like God promised.”  In fact, in this chapter, Abishai offers to do it for David. He said that all it will take will be one thrust of the spear.

David refused to kill him because Saul is the Lord’s anointed.  Out of respect for the Lord, he refuses to kill him.  David said, “God put him in office.  Saul did not put himself there.  If God wants to take him out, He can but I am not going to.”

What does he do instead?  He does not cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.  He takes his spear and jug of water but later gives it back.  Some of us sleep with water near our bed and so did King Saul.  David took it, along with his sword.  Saul always had a spear by his side wherever he went.

This raises a question.  Why did David do this?  Why did he risk his like and the life of his nephew, especially if he does not kill Saul?  What was the point of that mission?

The last time that Saul and David meet on earth is in I Samuel 26.  When David encounters Saul, he does not kill him.  He just takes a jug of water and a sword out of the camp and gives them back anyway.   It seems like a complete waste, so why did he do it?  He did it to prove a point.

How do you change the opinion of someone who doesn’t like you?  How do you change the opinion of someone who has a completely false view about your character?  What can you do, based on David’s example, to try to change the opinion someone has of you?  Is it even possible to do that?

That was what David was up against.  That was his challenge, so what did he do?  What tactics did he use?  He did two things.  He used ACTIONS and he used WORDS and he used them in that order.  We usually just use words.

David did not just argue with Saul.  He did do that.  He said to him, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of?” (I Samuel 26:18 NIV). He also demonstrated through actions that he was not against Saul and was not trying to harm him.  He did this repeatedly.  He proved by his actions that he was not out to hurt King Saul.  Notice what David said.

Saul’s Response

What was Saul’s response?  He did not get emotional and weep out loud like he did last time (I Samuel 24:16) but he did give David a CONFESSION and a PROMISE.

Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.” (I Samuel 26:21 NIV)

Saul’s promise is that he will not try to hurt David anymore.  David does not put too much stock in this promise.  We will see that in the next chapter.  Saul would say one thing and go back on his word the next day.

Saul also makes a confession to David.  What is his confession?  He says, “I have sinned.”  Saul admits that he has sinned.  He had done that before.  He said the words “I have sinned” TWICE earlier in the book (cf. I Samuel 15:24, 30).  Not everyone who says those three words is sincere.  Not everyone who says, “I am sorry” really means it.  These days, people can say the right words and not mean any of it.

Saul does not only call himself a SINNER.  He calls himself a FOOL.  He says, “I played the fool” (I Samuel 26:21 KJV).   Saul says that he has been “terribly wrong” (I Samuel 26:21 NIV).  Saul admits that he did not just make a little mistake.  He made a huge mistake.

Samuel called him a fool in I Samuel 13:13 and now Saul calls himself a fool in I Samuel 26:21. He says that he played the fool.  That summed up his whole life.   You could put that on his tombstone.

At the end of his life, he looked back and said, “I have played the fool.” That is not what we want people to say about us at the end of our lives.

How many Christians have played the fool?  How many would dare to admit it?  Many would deny it, even if it were true, because of their pride.  Saul admits it here when he is confronted by David.

Saul was not always a fool.  He did not start out a fool.  He started out great.  How many professing Christians start out great but end up complete fools?

Compare how Saul started and how he ended?  He started out anointed by a prophet to be the first king of Israel.  He started out obedient.  He started out humble.  He started out filled with the Spirit.  He started out popular.

The people loved him.  Most of them did.  He started out full of promise.  He had a lot of potential.  God could have used him greatly.  He could have had a dynasty.  His son Jonathon could have been king.  The Messiah could have come from his line, but he became a fool.

How did Saul end up?  He ended up in deliberate disobedience to the command of God.  He ended up being a reject.  God rejected him as king.  He ended up fighting the will of God for his life.  He has a terrible and disgraceful ending.

That is always a bad plan.  He ended up demonized.  He had an evil spirit.  He ends up in the occult, visiting a witch.  He dies in disgrace.  After he dies, his enemies behead him.  That is not how any of us want to end up.

How Saul Played the Fool

How did Saul play the fool?  There are many ways he did this but four immediately stand out.

1) He deliberately disobeyed the Word of God

He deliberately disobeyed clear commands of Scripture.  Have we done that?  Some Christians live in blatant disobedience to the Word of God.

2) He actively fought the will of God for his life

God rejected him as king, and he continued to reign as king.  Do you know what God wants you to do and try to fight it or do you accept what he is doing in your life?

3) He gave it to a sinful obsession

Saul had a sinful obsession.  He was obsessed with killing David and tries to do it every day.  It was an irrational obsession because David had done nothing wrong. This obsession almost ruined his life.  Do we have a sinful obsession?

4) He did not live a life of integrity

His words meant nothing.  He would say, “I am sorry” when he was not sorry.  He made promises to people and repeatedly broke them.  Do we live lives of integrity?

[1] Jerry Vine, “Jacksonville’s Three Biggest Fools,” Sermon (1999).

The Message of Abigail Today

Last week, we began a study of I Samuel 25.  It describes a conflict between two men – David and Nabal.  They had was a business dispute.  Nabal was a rich farmer in Carmel.  He was not just rich; he was very rich.  He was loaded.  He owned thousands of sheep and goats.  David and his men watched them as they were grazing.  There was no police.

David and his men protected Nabal’s animals.  They kept them safe from bandits.  They saved Nabal a lot of money.  They did not ask for a lot of money.  They did not ask for some exorbitant fee for their services.  All they asked for was some type of compensation that Nabal thought was fair.  It was a perfectly reasonable request.

Nabal was not grateful for David’s services.  He had no appreciation for what David had done for him.  He not only rejected David’s offer, he mocked him.  He said, “Who is this David?  I don’t know him.”

David was famous.  Everyone knew who David was.  He was the most famous man in the country.  Women sung songs about him.  Not only did he ridicule him, he reviled him.  He vilified him.  He accused David of being disloyal to the king.  He accused him of being a rebel.  Nabal returned evil for good.

No good deed goes unpunished and David was furious.  David was mistreated and he planned on getting back at Nabal.  He and his men decided to take care of Nabal once and for all.  They planned to take him out.  Nobody liked him.  No one would miss him if he was gone.  David got four hundred men ready and planned a massacre.  They planned to kill Nabal and his family.

That brings us to the character of Abigail, one of the greatest women in the Bible, the hero of the chapter.  Abigail heard what her husband had done and she knew exactly what to do.  She took action.  She took immediate action. I Samuel 25:18 says, “Abigail acted quickly” (NIV).  The NLT reads, “Abigail wasted no time.”

She got some food together.  She brought together some good food, not just some leftovers and she brought together a lot of it.  She brought together enough to feed four hundred hungry men.  She brought much more food than they expected.  It was so much food that she needed some servants to help her bring it all.

This was Abigail’s catering service.  It was the first meals on wheels, only there were no wheels.  This food was delivered on donkeys.  The Bible says that she brought all of this food without telling her husband (I Samuel 25:19).

Abigail’s Speech

When she sees David, gives an important speech.  It is found in I Samuel 25:23-31.  It is “the longest speech by a woman in the Old Testament.”[1]  It is the single longest recorded speech by any woman in the Bible.  It is 272 words in English (NIV).

Abigail sees David, gets off of her donkey, and shows respect for David.  She bows to the ground, face in the dirt.  She calls him “my lord” nine times (I Samuel 25:24, 25 [2], 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 [2]).

She completely apologized for how her husband treated them.  She said, “Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him.” (I Samuel 25:25 NIV).

She brings God into the conversation, not in a routine way but in a genuine way.  How often do we do that?  We often leave God out.  Abigail mentions God seven times in this speech (I Samuel 25:26 [2], 28 [3], 30, 31).  God has blessed David.  He made promises to David and he will keep them.  She makes a prophecy.  This speech is prophetic.

Abigail predicts that one day David will be king.  He will be ruler over Israel (I Samuel 25:30).  He will have a lasting dynasty (I Samuel 25:28), unlike Saul who will have no dynasty.  Abigail was prophetic.  According to the Talmud, Abigail was one of the seven prophetesses of the Old Testament (Megillah 14a).

Abigail did not stop with a great speech.  She did more than give an eloquent speech.  She brought David and his men some food.  She did not just say, “You will be king one day.  I am sure of it.  Be warmed and filled.  God will one day bless you.”

The Bible says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (I John 3:18 NIV).  She did not just apologize or say she was sorry for what her husband had done.  She made it right.  Sometimes, we need to encourage people with words but sometimes they need more than words.

David had never seen a woman like Abigail.  She stopped him dead in his tracks.  We know the rest of the story.  David and his men had a meal.  They turned around and went back.  Abigail went home to her husband.  She eventually told him what happened.  He dropped dead.  David did not have to take Nabal out.  God did.

David proposed to Abigail and she got married.  Abigail asked David to remember her (I Samuel 25:31) and, after her husband died, he did.  Abigail became his wife but not his first wife.  David was actually married at the time to Ahinoam (I Samuel 25:43).[2]  This would have been wife number two for David.  He had another wife (Milcah) but he was not living with her.  In fact, Saul had given her to another man in marriage (I Samuel 25:44).

Lessons from Abigail

That brings us to an important question.  This is an interesting story but what does all of this have to do with us?  How does it apply to us?  How is Abigal a role model to believers today?  How does she speak to us today?  There are many lessons for us to look at.  What Abigail did, few women would do today.

1. Be people of character, even when people around us are not

We are to be people of character, people of integrity, even if people in our family or people we work with are not people of character.  Abigail was married to a fool, like women are today but that did not change who she was.  Just because she was married to a fool, did not mean that she became one.  When we are surrounded by complete darkness, we are just to shine the light of Christ even brighter.

That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15 NIV)

Abigail was beautiful (I Samuel 25:3).  According to Jewish tradition, she was one of the four most beautiful women who ever lived but Abigail was not just beautiful on the outside.  She was beautiful on the inside.  Today, most women focus on outward beauty.  That is what people look at.  That is what society says is important.  Many spend more time adorning the outward person, rather than the inward person.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (I Peter 3:3-4 NIV).

2. Be peacemakers in the midst of conflict

There are two types of people.  There are peacemakers and there are agitators.  They like to cause conflict and stir things up and disrupt them.  They love a good fight.  Some politicians just seem to stir up conflict between the rich and the poor.  Many social activists love to stir up hatred and conflict between the races, instead of trying to bring them all together.  Which type of person are you?

Abigail was a peacemaker.  She did not stir up conflict with her husband and try to pick a fight with him and she knew how to calm David down when he was angry.

Here were four hundred angry soldiers on their way to a massacre who come in contact with calm, gentile, peaceful woman armed with just a few rotisserie chickens and their hearts melted.  Men are simple creatures.  All you have to do is to make them some food.

Nabal returned EVIL FOR GOOD.  David wanted to return EVIL FOR EVIL.  Abigail OVERCAME EVIL WITH GOOD.

God calls us to be peacemakers.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9 NIV).  Jesus doesn’t just call us to have peace.  We should have peace on the inside.  It is one of the Fruits of the Spirit but Jesus does not just call us to have a peaceful disposition.  He does not just call us to be PEACE LOVERS (like some hippy with a peace sign on their shirt).  He calls us to be PEACE MAKERS.

Peacemakers try to reconcile people who do not get along, people who can’t stand each other, people who are fighting.  That is God’s work.  He is in the business of reconciliation.  He is in the business of reconciling us to himself.  When you are a peacemaker, you are doing God’s work. Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Peacemakers are not always successful.  What they try does not always work.  It worked with David because he was reasonable.  it would not have worked with Nabal, because he was a complete fool.  Some people just don’t want peace.  Being a peacemaker is not easy.  It is sometimes dangerous.  It can be costly.  To be a peacemaker, you don’t ruin from conflict.  You have to go into conflict.

3. Be wise in your daily decisions and personal relationships

Paul said, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15 NIV).  Abigail is an example of great wisdom in this chapter.  Proverbs says, “The wise woman builds her house” (Proverbs 14:1 NIV).  She knew what to do to take care of her family.  She knew what to do to save lives.  She knew how to respond to a crisis.  It required quick thinking and immediate action.  There was no time to procrastinate.

She showed wisdom in dealing with her husband.  When she left with the food, she did not ask her husband first (I Samuel 25:19).  Why?  One, he would have said “no.”  Two, she did not need to ask him.  It was the right thing to do.  She did not need to get his permission to do the right thing.

She knew when to talk to her husband and when not to talk to him.  When he was inebriated is not a good time to have a serious discussion.  When she talked to David, she knew how to use tact.  She knew exactly what to say and how to say it.

At the very minute that David was one his way to commit a massacre, Abigail reminded him how God has kept him from bloodshed and from avenging himself on his enemies.  That stabbed him right in the heart. She tells him that when he becomes king, he will not want to look back and have a guilty conscience and a lot of regrets.

The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. (Proverbs 12:15 NIV)

A wise person is open to suggestions and criticism. Nabal was not wise.  You could not tell him anything.  Abigail was so wise that she even took suggestions from her servants.  Normally servants are told what to do by their master but, in this case, the master was told what to do by her servants and Abigail listened to them.

4. Be honest in your dealings with people

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (Ephesians 4:25 NIV)

Abigail was perfectly honest in her dealings with people.  She didn’t have a bunch of secrets.  When she came home, she told her husband exactly what she did.  She did not hide anything.  When she went before David, she was completely open and transparent.  She was open about her husband being a fool.  That was true.  It was public knowledge.  She was not spreading family secrets.  It was also what his name meant.

5. Be brave when you encounter danger

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28 NIV)

Abigail is an incredible example of bravery.  This is an example of feminine courage.  She risked her life to face four hundred armed soldiers on their way to slaughter some people.

She knows if she services that problem, when she comes home, she knows she will be in trouble with her husband.  She knows that he will not be happy.  She will face an angry husband back home.

Many people in that situation would have been too afraid to do anything.  They would have been paralyzed by fear but Abigail trusted God in this situation and God blessed her.  Instead of being married to a wicked man, her next husband was a man after God’s own heart.  Instead of being married to a fool, her next husband was the future king of Israel.

6. Be faithful to your spouse

What Abigail did is not what most people would do today.  Abigail was married to a fool.  It was not a good match.  She could not have been very happy.  She was in a bad marriage, but we never see her leave her husband.  We never see her have an affair with another man.

Those are things that people do today.  Those are some things that some professing Christians do.  Even though she had a bad husband, even though she was in a bad marriage, even though her husband was completely unreasonable, even though she did not even choose her husband, she was still faithful to her husband.

Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife. (Proverbs 5:15 NLT).

Was Abigail a Submissive Wife?

This leads us to one final question.  Critics would say that Abigail stayed with her husband but she was not really submissive to him.  Is that true.  Was she submissive?

Feminists love the story of Abigail.  People who believe in egalitarianism love I Samuel 25.  They believe that Abigail is a clear example in the Bible of a woman who was NOT submissive to her husband and the Bible commends her.

There are many people on the internet with this view.  One example of this is Margaret Mowczkom.  She is Christian feminist from Australia who has a blog.

Mowczkom says that she was always taught that “women were supposed to revere and respect their husbands as leaders, and certainly not say anything bad about them.

But here was a Bible woman who went behind her husband’s back and did something she knew he wouldn’t approve of.  And she even announces her husband’s faults to David…

Despite defying her husband and saying negative things about him, Abigail is commended for her actions. Furthermore, David recognises that Abigail was sent by God.”[3]  Is Mowczkom right?  What does the Apostle Paul teach in the NT?

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22 NIV)

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:24 NIV).

Does I Samuel 25 contradict that message?  Is the message of the chapter that women do not need to submit to their husbands, especially if they are fools?  That might be a large percentage of husbands these days.

In some ways, Abgail does not fit the typical stereotype of submission that many people have.  She is not weak.  She is not passive.  She is not quiet and shy.  She is strong.  She is assertive.  She is independent.  She is courageous.  She is fearless.  She thinks for herself.

On the other hand, it is NOT true to say that Abigail is an example of an unsubmissive wife in Scripture.  Even in I Samuel 25, she is not unsubmissive to her husband.  She is an example of someone who is working for her husband, NOT against him.  This is clear from two things in the chapter.

1) Abigail does not disobey her husband in this chapter.

There is not a word in the chapter that they even had a conversation about it.  Abigail does act independently but she does not outright defy her husband’s explicit orders.  He never told her that she could not do what she does in this chapter.

2) Abigail’s actions actually save her husband’s life.

She did not disobey her husband and she was not working against him.  She was working for him.  She was acting as his “helper.”  If Abigail did not do this, he would have been slaughtered by David and his men.  He would have been massacred.

If she hated her husband, she could have said, “I hear you are on your way to kill my husband.  Please kill him.  Nobody likes him.  I have been trying to get rid of him for years.  You will be doing me a favor.”  Instead, she pleads for his life.  She saves his life.  Abigail is a role model for women today.

[1] Robert D. Bergen, I & II Samuel (NAC), 249.

[2] Abigail is always mentioned after Ahinoam (e.g., I Chronicles 3:1).

[3] https://margmowczko.com/abigail-1-samuel-25/

Don’t Marry a Fool

Today, we are going to look at one of the greatest women in the Bible.  She lived three thousand years ago and is an incredible role model today, but many do not know much about her.  She is not that famous.  Most Christians do not know this chapter very well.  Esther has a whole book.  She only has one chapter.  It is a chapter that every woman should study.

The Book of I Samuel has several chapters that focus on women.  In the beginning of the book, a few chapters were devoted to Samuel’s mother, Hannah.  She was stuck in an unhappy marriage.  Her husband was married to two wives and his other wife teased and mocked her.

Today, we are going to look at the life of another woman in I Samuel who was also stuck in an unhappy marriage.  Abigail is one of the godliest women in the Bible.  We need more women like Abigail in the church today.

There are three main characters in this chapter (David, Nabal and Abigail).  All of the men look bad.  The hero of the story is a woman.   Both Nabal and David act like fools.  Only Abigail looks good in the chapter.

Nabal looks bad.  He is rude and mean.  He is selfish.  He was wicked.  David protected Nabal’s flocks and gets insults in return.  Nabal returns good for evil.

David loses his temper.  His ego is hurt, and he wants revenge.  He completely overreacts.  Nabal acts like a jerk, so David want to kill everyone, because of Nabal’s sin.  He wants to kill everyone in Nabal’s house all because he was not invited to dinner.  David ends up acting as foolish as Nabal.

Why Abigail is Important

Abigail is the hero.  She is peacemaker in the midst of conflict.  She causes two people who hate each other to live at peace with one another.  She keeps David from sinning.  She keeps him from committing murder.  If it was not for Abigail, David would have committed murder.  He would have committing mass murder.

Abigail saves lives.  She saves her family.  She prevents an atrocity from taking place. David is saved by a woman.  She also confronts sinful authority in her day.

This chapter is also a love story.  It is positive.  It is uplifting.  It is a love story, but it is not a traditional Hallmark story.  When David first met Abigail, she was married to someone else.  When she finally married David after her husband died, he was married to someone else.  This is not necessarily the model for us today.

In, this chapter, David loses one wife but gains two.  He loses a friend but gains an enemy.  We are going to look at four relationships in this chapter: Samuel and Nabal, Nabal and Abigail, Nabal and David, and David and Abigail.

Samuel’s Death

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran (I Samuel 25:1 NIV)

The chapter begins with a death.  Samuel dies.  This was the end of an era.  He was the last judge.  He was also David’s friend, his counselor, his mentor dies.  Samuel was the one who anointed him as king in front of his whole family.  Samuel dies but David can’t go to the funeral, because Saul would have him arrested.

If you go to Israel, you can visit his tomb.  It is in the west Bank.  A mosque was built on top of it (Nabi Samwil Mosque).  Samuel was not the only one who dies in this chapter.Two men die in this chapter.  The men are Samuel and Nabal.  There are two funerals and a wedding in this chapter.

What do these two men have in common?  They both die and they were both great.  They were great in different ways.  Nabal was financially great.  He was great in sheep.

Samuel was spiritually great.  Samuel had a relationship to God.  God spoke to Samuel.  He spoke to him as a child.  Samuel lives a long time and dies a natural death.

Samuel’s death was a blessing.  Nabal’s death was a curse.  Samuel lived a long time and died of natural causes.  Nabal lived a short time and died by divine judgment.  God struck him (I Samuel 25:38).

The fear of the Lord prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened (Proverbs 10:27 NIV).  We want to have our lives prolonged, not cut short.

Nabal’s life was cut short and no one cared about him when he was gone.  He was so wicked.  The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot (Proverbs 10:7 NIV).

Abigail’s Qualities

Nabal was married to Abigail.  What type of person was she?  She was intelligent.  She was wise.  She knew when to talk and when not to talk.  She was godly.  She was strong and assertive.

She does not come across as the victim in this story.  She was very generous and giving.  She was humble.  She had the heart of a servant.  She washed the feet of David’s men.

She was brave.  She went out and faced four hundred armed soldiers without fear, and she knew that, if she survived that, she would be in trouble with her husband when she got home.

She was beautiful (I Samuel 25:3).  According to Jewish legend, she was one of the four most beautiful women who ever lived. She was not just another pretty face.  She was beautiful on the inside and on the outside.

Some women only look good on the outside.  Abigail had a good face, a good mind and a good heart and she was wealthy on top of that.  It looked like she had everything (intelligent, beautiful, godly and rich), but she had one problem.  She just had one little problem.  She was married to a fool.  Talk about incompatibility.  Here was a wise woman married to a fool.

She had an unhappy marriage.  She was stuck in a bad marriage.  She was married to a difficult man.  She was married to a complete jerk.  He was a slimeball.  He was an abusive husband.  The Bible calls him a fool.

Many people today are married to someone like Nabal.  Some Christians are married to a Nabal.  They are married to unsaved husbands.  Their husband is a son of Belial (I Samuel 25:17).  They are unequally yoked together with an unbeliever.  They have no compatibility.

Plenty of wives today are married to idiots.  They are married to complete morons but there is a big difference between them and Abigail.  Abigail had an arranged marriage.  She did not pick her husband.  She had no choice in the matter.  Nabal was chosen for her.

Her parents probably meant well when they chose him.  They probably thought they were helping her.  He came from good stock.  Caleb was one of his ancestors.  Caleb was from the Tribe of Judah.  He was from the same tribe as Jesus.  He was from the same tribe as David.

His family was wealthy husband.  Nabal would have been able to take care of her.  She would have had financial security.  Some parents are more concerned that their children gain riches than righteousness.  Nabal was rich but he was also a fool (I Samuel 25:25).  He was the ultimate fool.

People marry fools today because they choose to marry fools.  Some choose to marry nonbelievers and wonder why they have big problems after they get married.  Be careful who you marry.  Don’t marry a fool.  One of the women in my class said jokingly that the only way to avoid this is not to get married.

Characteristics of a Fool

What made Nabal a fool?  What did he do that foolish?  Many of us have fools in our life.  What makes a person a fool today?

1) You could not reason with him

We are told that no one could talk to Nabal (I Samuel 25:17).  Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words. (Proverbs 23:9 NIV).  You cannot talk to a fool.  A fool is not open to reason or logic.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7 NIV).  Fools hate knowledge (Proverbs 1:22 NIV). Baptist preachers are not the only ones who hate knowledge.  Fools do as well.  Wisdom is too high for fools (Proverbs 24:7 NIV).

2) He mocked and ridiculed others

Nabal mocked David, who is the Lord’s Anointed (I Samuel 25:10).  In Proverbs, fools are mentioned right next to mockers.  Condemnation is ready for scoffers and beating for the backs of fools. (Proverbs 19:29 ESV)

3) He did not respond well to correction

Nabal did not respond well to criticism or rebuke.  That is why no one could talk to him.  The Book of Proverbs says that this is a characteristic of fools.  The fool always things he or she is right.  You cannot tell a fool anything.  They are not open to the facts.

A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool (Proverbs 17:10 NIV)

A fool spurns a parent’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence (Proverbs 15:5 NIV)

4) He only cared about himself

Nabal is very selfish.  He only thinks of himself.  Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” (I Samuel 25:11 ESV).

5) He lived a life of excess

When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk (I Samuel 25:36 NIV).  He was not just drunk.  He was VERY drunk.

Proverbs 19:10 says, “It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury” (NIV).  The only thing worse than a jerk is a rich jerk.  Nabal was not just rich.  He was very rich (I Samuel 25:2).

6) He was ungrateful

He did not appreciate what others had done for him.  David did some things for him and he could care less.

Dispute with David

David had one enemy (Saul). He moved somewhere else and got another enemy (Nabal).  They never met face-to-face but they became enemies.  Nabal was a wealthy rancher.  He was a rich farmer in Carmel.

Carmel is different from Mount Carmel, where the Prophet Elijah had his contest with the prophets of Baal.  Mount Carmel is in the north.  The village of Carmel is in the south.  It is a few miles south of Hebron.

Nabal was rich.  He was not rich in money.  They did not have any money in those days. He was rich based on livestock.  He owned 3000 sheep and 1000 goats (I Samuel 25:2).  He was not as rich as Job.  He was not the richest man in the Bible.  Job owned 7000 sheep (Job 1:3), but he was very rich.

David and Nabal have a business dispute in this chapter.  Nabal had a lot of sheep.  He had thousands of them.  They had to graze.  Who protected them while they were out in the fields?  Who kept them safe from bandits and thieves?  The shepherds could not always do it.  The wilderness was a big place and it was dangerous.

There was no law enforcement in those days.  This was like the Wild Wild West.  David and his men protected them.  They were not asked to do it.  They just did it because it was the right thing to do and they did not take any of the sheep, which they could easily have done.  They did not take one sheep.

Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them (I Samuel 25:15-16 NIV)

David made a request from Nabal.  He asked for compensation.  David was not asking for a handout, but he did want payment for protection.  David asked for payment for services rendered but not requested.

Is what David did blackmail?  Is it a shakedown? Is he asking for protection money?  By today’s standards, David acts like he is part of the mob. He acts like he is a gangster but we have to look at this in light of the time in which David lived.

In those days, this would have been a reasonable request.  David saved Nabal some money.  If he did not do this, Nabal would have lost a lot of sheep and now he is looking for something in return as compensation.  He was not asking for a lot.  In fact, he let Nabal decide what the compensation should be.

What was Nabal’s response? Not only did he turn David’s men away empty-handed, he responded with insult and with sarcasm.

Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days (I Samuel 25:10 NIV).

He said, “Who is David?” even though everyone in the country knew he was.  He was a national hero.  He had killed Goliath.  He called David a runaway slave.  Nabal was ungrateful for what David had done for him.  He does not even thank him.

David responds with anger.  David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies. (I Samuel 25:12-13 NIV).

David completely overreacts.  He brings 400 men against Nabal.  That is a little bit of overkill.  As Swindoll says it is like killing a roach with a shotgun.[1]  Now David becomes the fool.

A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted (Proverbs 12:16). A quick-tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated (Proverbs 15:17 NIV).  David wanted to exterminate every male in the household.  He wanted to return evil for evil.

He was kind to Saul but not kind to Nabal.  He was willing to forgive Saul but he was not willing to forgive Nabal.  He was willing to spare Saul’s life in I Samuel 24 and he will be willing to spare it again in I Samuel 26 but in I Samuel 25, he wants to kill Nabal.

Next week, we will look at Abigail’s response to this crisis and how she saved her family by her quick thinking and bold action in the face of danger.

[1] Charles R. Swindoll, David: A Man of Passion & Destiny, 99.

Love Your Enemies

Today, we come to a chapter that is extremely practical and relevant to the days in which we live.  It is also one of the strangest chapters in the Bible.  It requires a viewer warning, because of the content.  You are going to hear some things today that you have never heard in church, but everything here actually happened.

The chapters we have been looking at have focused on two men – Saul and David.  Saul was the king.  David was his son-in-law.  King Saul became jealous of his son-in-law and his jealousy turned into hared.  Hatred turned into violence.

Saul hated David so much that he wanted to kill him and tried to kill him kill David.  He tried every day.  He tried all kinds of different ways, but each time he was unsuccessful.  This time, he gets lucky.  He gets a lead.  He gets some intelligence.

He finds out where David is hiding, and he travels thirty miles to get him and he brings three thousand soldiers with him.  David only had six hundred men.  Saul not only knows exactly where he is, but he brings five times more troops against him.  David is now cornered and completely outnumbered.  The two have a confrontation near a cave in a place called En Gedi

It is an area in Judah that is on the west shore of the Dead Sea.  It is called Ein Gedi today.  Some locals there think they know the exact cave where it took place.  A lot of visitors go to En Gedi.[1]  A lot of tourists go there today.

There are a lot of caves there and there is some fresh water there.  It is an oasis.  There are a lot of mountain springs there.  It has become a nature reserve, sanctuary for various species of plants, birds, and animals.

Saul and David meet face-to-face.  They have a special encounter but even this does not work.  David survives again by the sovereignty of God, because nature calls.  In I Samuel 24, Saul has to go to the bathroom.  It is one of the funniest stories in the Bible.  How would you like to have a chapter in the Bible about you going to the bathroom?  That would be embarrassing.

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. 3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. (I Samuel 24:1-3 NIV)

This is interesting.  Saul comes after David with three thousand men.  He has him cornered.  It looks like David does not stand a chance.  Then, nature calls.  The Bible says that he had “to relieve himself” (I Samuel 24:3 NIV, ESV).

The Hebrew says that he covered his feet.  Most modern translations say something else.  The KJV is the only translation that follows the Hebrew literally. What does that mean?  Does it mean that his feet were cold, and he had to cover them?  Some seem to think so.

Gene Getz is a famous Christian writer.  He is a good writer.  He has written more than sixty books.  He is a former Dallas Seminary professor.  He is about ninety years old today.  He has written books on many bible characters.  He wrote a book on David and said that David went into this cave to go to take a nap.[2]  That is what it means to cover your feet.  When you sleep, you usually cover your feet.

The problem is that this is not what it means in the Hebrew.  In Hebrew, it means to take a dump.  It is a euphemism for pooping.  Saul needed to take a pit stop.  He is outside.  There were not a lot of restrooms around three thousand years ago, so Saul used a cave as an outhouse.  It is private.  It is secluded.  He probably did not bring any reading material because these caves are dark.

It just so happens to go into the very cave where David and his men were hiding.  Some of these caves in the area were huge.   They were gigantic.  Apparently, David and his men are in the back.  This shows the complete sovereignty of God.

Saul walks into a cave. David and his men can’t believe what they were seeing.  The first thing they probably said was “holy crap” (because they saw a king was taking care of business).  He is alone.  He is weak.  He is defenseless.  He is vulnerable.  The king has his pants down, squatting in a cave, sitting on his throne, taking care of business.

They told David, “Now is your chance.  You have the perfect opportunity to take out this deranged, demonized psycho king.  God has delivered Saul into your hands.  Let King Saul die in the bathroom like Elvis the King did.”

That is what it looked like on the outside.  Saul has been trying really hard to kill David.  He has tried fifteen or sixteen times, but he was not successful.  David has NOT been trying to kill Saul but then Saul just shows up.  He appears out of nowhere unexpectedly and now David has a chance to kill him.  It sure looked like God was delivering Saul into David’s hands He already gave David the promise that he would be the next king.  David’s men told him to do it.

David walks up behind him very slowly.  The text says, “Then David crept up UNNOTICED” (I Samuel 24:4 NIV).  How do you do that?  David would have made a good ninja.  How could someone walk up behind you while you were going to the bathroom, cut something off of your clothes without you noticing it?

Wouldn’t you hear the person coming up behind you or feel your clothes being cut up?  The truth is that Saul may have laid his royal robe down before he went to the bathroom.  He probably was not wearing it while was taking care of business.

David walked close to Saul with his weapon in hand very quietly and then did something unusual.  Instead of killing him, he just off part of his robe.  Why didn’t he kill him?  We don’t know. He may have changed his mind.  He may not have wanted to kill the dad of his best friend (Jonathon) and his wife (Michal).

After he did it, something happened.  David felt guilty.  The Bible says that his heart smote him.  Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. (I Samuel 24:5 NIV).  David didn’t hurt Saul physically at all.

He did NOT lay a hand on him, but his heart smote him.  David just cut off a little piece of cloth from a garment and he felt terrible.  He had a tender conscience.

That is one of the reasons he was a man after God’s own heart, not because he did not sin but when he sinned, he had a tender conscience.  He felt bad about his sin.

David did not do a big sin.  Does that ever happen to us?  Some people do big sins and their conscience doesn’t seem to bother them.  David did a little sin and his conscience bothered him.  What type of person are we?  What kind of conscience do we have?

He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” 7 With these words David SHARPLY REBUKED his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. (I Samuel 24:6-7 NIV)

Five Powerful Life Principles

What does this say to us today?  It is a great story in Scripture but how does it apply to us today?  Let me point out five very important applications from this chapter for today.  Let’s look at five principles.  Each of these five principles contradict what the world says today.

PRINCIPLE ONE: When someone wrongs you, do not respond in kind.

The first principle has to do with FORGIVENESS.  All of us have been wronged by someone.  We have been hurt by someone.  Some people have been mistreated and even abused by people.  How do we respond?

Saul treated David horribly.  Many people today treat other people terribly.  Some professing Christians treat other Christians badly.  David does not respond in kind.  When Saul tries to kill David.  David does not say, “I am going to kill Saul. I am going to get him back.  I am going to make him pay.”

David does not repay evil with evil.  He repays evil with good.  David had a huge problem.  The most powerful man in the country is trying to kill David.  He is not safe.  He is one the run.  He constantly has to move around.  He is tired.  He is hungry.  He can’t be with his wife.  He can’t be with his family. Now he has the perfect opportunity to kill Saul.

One single thrust of the spear and his troubles would be over.  He would be able to get rid of the problem.  He would not have to sleep in a cave anymore. [3] He could kill him and assume the throne.  He does not do that.  He does not treat Saul the way he treated him.  What David does here anticipate what the NT teaches thousands of years later.

Do not repay ANYONE evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:17-18 NIV)

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:20-21 NIV)

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (I Peter 3:9 NIV)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:43-45 NIV)

Saul has been trying to kill David.  Now David gets a chance to kill Saul.  In fact, he gets two chances to kill Saul.  He gets a chance to kill Saul in I Samuel 24 and he gets a chance to kill him in I Samuel 26.  Both times he doesn’t kill him.

Are we like David?  Do we forgive people who sin against us?  It does not come natural to us.  Jesus calls us to a life of forgiveness.  He calls us to live the opposite of the way the world lives.

PRINCIPLE TWO: When the perfect opportunity to take revenge on your worst enemy arises, don’t take it.

The second principle has to do with REVENGE.  It has to do with taking matters into your own hands.  Revenge comes natural to us.  When someone hurts you, you want to hurt them back.  You want to make them pay.  Society tells us it is okay.  “Don’t get mad.  Get even” is the moto.

If you don’t respond that way, you are just weak.  You don’t have any backbone.  There are all kinds of movies about people getting revenge.  It makes really good entertainment for men, at least.  Men like a good martial arts movie.  Women do not usually like those kinds of movies.

What the Bible says is completely counter-cultural.  It is not what we want to do.  It is not what society tells us to do.  It is not what David’s own men advised him to do.  The Bible calls us to not act naturally but to act supernaturally.  The Bible says to leave revenge to God.  He will repay.  He can always repay a lot better than we can.

19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19 NIV).

That is not just a NT teaching.  It comes right out of the OT.  Paul is quoting the OT (Deuteronomy 32:35).  This teaching runs all through the Bible.

PRINCIPLE THREE: When people over you are in a position of God-given authority, treat them with respect

This principle is also in direct contradiction to what the world teaches.  What do we hear in the world?  We hear people say to question authority and to reject authority.

Don’t trust your parents.  Don’t trust the church.  Don’t trust the police.  Don’t trust your government.  Don’t trust the president.  One sign of false teachers is that they “reject authority” (Jude 8).  It is one of the signs of the last days.

That is exactly what we see today.  People hate the police.  They want to defund them.  They hate the president.  They say “Hashtag, Not My President.”  They are part of the resistance.  They hate him, speak evil of him.  They mock him.  They tried to impeach him.  Even the press today shows no respect for the office of the presidency.

Another thing that we are told in the world is that respect is earned.  It is not given.  You aren’t obliged to respect someone, if you feel the person don’t deserve it.  That is not what David believed.  Saul did not deserve to be respected.  He did not earn respect, but David respected him anyway.  We could learn something from this.

Why did David respect him?  He respected him because he was the Lord’s Anointed.  He respected him because of his office.  He respected him because of his position as the theocratic king.

He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” (I Samuel 24:6 NIV)

This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ (I Samuel 24:10 NIV)

The world teaches that if a leader is evil and you don’t like him, you can get rid of him.  You can assassinate him.  That is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer tries to do.  David respected the office, even though he did not respect the man in that office.  Saul was unworthy of the office.

What would we say today?  I know what I would have said.  I would have said, “God may have put you in that office, but he has rejected you as king.  Therefore, I do not accept you as my king.  If God rejects you, I reject you.  You are an illegitimate king.  You are a wicked king.”

How does this apply today?  We don’t have kings and none of our leaders are anointed with oil by some prophet.  They are still to be treated with respect.  I Peter 2:17 says “Honor the emperor” and in Peter’s day, the emperor was not a Christian.  He was a pagan emperor who worshipped idols. Even secular governments are ordained by God (Romans 13:1).

PRINCIPLE FOUR: When you are trying to do something, make sure you do it the right way.

The world teaches that the ends justifies the means.  If the outcomes is good, then you can take any measures to achieve that outcome.  The Bible does not teach that philosophy (cf. Romans 3:8).

David does not do that here.  David was told by God that he would be the next king, but he did not believe in any means to get the throne.  He did not believe that gave him the right to assassinate King Saul.

Saul was completely mad.  He was crazy.  He was a psycho king.  He was unstable.  He was violent.  He was demonized.  He sinned against God.  God even rejected him.

The Holy Spirit left him, but he was still chosen by God.  He was still anointed to be king.  He still functioned in that position as king by God’s sovereignty. The only person who could remove Saul was God.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: When you forgive someone, do not put yourself in danger.

That is one of the myths about forgiveness.  When you forgive someone, you give up resentment and bitterness.  You give up revenge, but you do not have to voluntarily put yourself in danger.  David does not do that here.

What happens after Saul walks out of the cave?  David calls his name.  He bows down to the ground.  He gives him respect.  He calls him “my lord.”  He tells him what he could have done but did not do, even though he was encouraged to do it.  He showed the proof.  He tells him that he has done nothing wrong against Saul and has not tried to rebel against him and says, “Let God be the judge between us.”

What does Saul do?  How does he respond?  He weeps.  He admits he has sinned against David.  He admits that David is more righteous that he is.  He asks God to reward him.  He says that he knows that one day he will be king.  They make an oath and then they leave but notice the last verse in the chapter.

So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, BUT David and his men went up to the stronghold. (I Samuel 25:22 NIV).

That is strange.  Saul wept.  He admitted he was wrong.  He admitted David was right.  He made an oath.  It looks like they patched up all of their differences but David still stayed in the stronghold.  He did not go home to his wife.  He did not go home where he was close to Saul.  Why?

David was not naïve.  He did not trust Saul.  He done this kind of thing before.  He made promises before and then he went right back to doing what he did before, so he wisely kept his distance from Saul.  He made some boundaries.  Sometimes, we have to go to the stronghold.  Forgiving people does not mean that you necessarily have to go back into an abusive relationship.

Four Signs of True Repentance

There are many people today who are just like Saul.  This raises a good question.  When someone says that they are sorry, how do you know if they really are?  What does true repentance look like?  What does false repentance look like?  How can you tell the difference?

1) True repentance leads to a changed life

It bears some real fruit (Matthew 3:7-10).  False repentance does not lead to a changed life.  Many people claim to repent.  They claim to be Christians but there is no change in their life.  True repentance involves confessing AND forsaking sin (Proverbs 28:13)

2) True repentance results in a change on the inside and on the outside

False repentance results in only an outward change.  Saul got emotional.  He wept.  He displayed some tears, but he only changed on the outside.  False repentance is only external.

3) True repentance hates sin

False repentance hates the consequences of sin.  People with a false repentance are not sorry they sinned.  When many politicians are caught in a scandal, they say that they are sorry but what they really mean is that they are sorry they got caught.

4) True repentance acknowledges sin without qualification

False repentance always minimizes sin or justifies it.  False repentance acknowledges sin but blame others for it. They will say, like Saul did, “I have sinned but” (I Samuel 15:24-25).  True repentance takes full accountability for what was done.

[1] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/vie-ein-gedi;

[2] Getz, Gene A. Men of Character: David (p. 115). B & H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[3] William Hixson, I Samuel 24 (Spoken Recording).

Divine Guidance

Today, we continue in our study of the Book of I Samuel.  We are going chapter by chapter through this book.  We are studying chapters that most Christians do not read that often.   We come to a chapter that raises some interesting questions.

How do we know what the will of God is today?  How do we know what God wants us to do?  What is the right way and the wrong way to make decisions?  What common mistakes do Christians make today when they make decisions?  What common mistakes do they make when they try to find the will of God for their lives?

This chapter deals with this topic.  It is a chapter all about the providence of God and the protection of God.  It is also a chapter about God speaking to people.

For the last few weeks, we have studying the life of David.  We are dealing with the period of David’s life in which he is a fugitive.  He is on the run.  He has been a fugitive since I Samuel 19.  Someone called these chapters “Adventures of a Fugitive.”

David is not a fugitive from justice.  Normally criminals do something really bad and hide so they won’t get caught.  David did not do anything wrong, but he is on the run from a psycho killer (who just happens to be his father-in-law).  It is a sign that you might have married into the wrong family when your father-in-law wants to kill you.

David was chosen by God to be the next king.  He had the hand of God upon him.  The Holy Spirit came on him.  He was God’s Anointed.  He was divinely empowered to kill a giant, but he has become a fugitive and life was not was easy for David.  He was a fugitive for about ten years.  He goes on the run around twenty and did not become king until he was thirty years old (II Samuel 5:4).

David was God’s Man.  He was God’s Anointed, but David did not have it easy.  He was not vacationing in some five-star resort.  He was not pampered.  He did not live a prosperous life.  He was just trying to survive.  He was marked for death.  There was a bounty on his head.  People were trying to kill him every day.  He is hunted by the most powerful man in the country and he has to move around constantly.

David can never stay in the same place very long.  In the last few chapters, he went to five different places.  In fact, he went to two other countries for safety.  In this one chapter he goes to five more places.  He goes to Horesh.  Then, he goes to Keilah.  Then, he goes to Ziph.  Then, he goes to Maon and finally he goes to En Gedi.

What do we see in this chapter?  David has some highs and he has some lows, just like we have.  He is on top of the world and everything is great and then things get really bad. He saves a city (the city of Keilah).  He is a type of Christ in this chapter.  He is a savior.  He saves a city, but he also experiences betrayal.  In the last chapter Doeg betrays him.  In this chapter, he is betrayed by the Ziphites.

Saul and David play a game of cat and mouse.  Every day, Saul tries to catch him, and he almost succeeds but God miraculously intervenes and protects David and no matter how much he tries, he cannot get David because David was under divine protection.

In the last chapter he had four hundred men who followed him.  Now he has six hundred men who are following him, and, in his lowest point, David sees his best friend Jonathon for the last time, and, like a good friend, Jonathon encourages David.  All of that is in I Samuel 23.

How to Respond to a Crisis

When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors”

Notice how the chapter begins.  It begins with a crisis.  The Philistines acted like bullies.  They were stealing the food supply of the city of Keilah.  They were robbing the threshing floor.  This was a military crisis.

In the last chapter, David was in another country.  He was in Moab and the prophet Gad told him to go back to Judah, so he does.  Then he hears about a city being attacked by the Philistines.  It is the city of Keilah.  Keilah was in Judah.  David was from Judah, not too far from where David was.  How should he have responded to this crisis?  How should we respond to a crisis?  What should your first response be?

David had three options.  One option was INACTION.  It is to do nothing.  That is the selfish option.  It is to respond with indifference.  “It is not my problem.  It is the problem of the people who live in that city.  They can do something about the problem or, if they can’t, the king can.  Saul can deal with the problem.  That is his job, not, mine.”

That is what his advisors told him.  “It is somebody else’s problem.  We have enough problems of our own.  We are trying to survive.  The king is trying to kill us.  We do not have enough time to worry about somebody else’s problem.  It would be too dangerous anyway.  We would have to fight both the Philistines and Saul. Keilah was in the center of the country.”

The other option is ACTION.  David could have immediately acted.  This is an emergency.  I have to do something, and I have to do something quickly.”  That is what leaders.  They step forward and take action.   They take bold actions immediately.  David was a leader, but he doesn’t do that.

Instead of immediately acting or doing nothing, David does something else.  He PRAYS (I Samuel 23:1-2).  David prays four times in this section.  He asks God what he wants him to do.  That was the first thing he did.  He did not ask other people what they thought he should do.  He asked God.

He took his decisions to God.  No decisions were made until God was consulted.  Is that what we do when we make decisions?  Is that what we do in a crisis situation?  David prayed.  He said, “God should I go attack the Philistines and save the city?”  God says, “Go.  You have a green light” (I Samuel 23:2)

His men thought he was crazy.  His advisors didn’t support him.  They criticized him, so what did David do?  What do you do when you receive criticism?  David prayed again and this time he received confirmation.

Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” 5 So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. (I Samuel 23:4-5 NIV)

Not only was he to go but he would be successful, so David obeys.  He does what Saul should have done.  David acts as the real king. He is the protector of Israel.  One of the jobs of a king is to fight nations that invade and attack the country.  Saul doesn’t do it, so David does.  In fact, David acted the exact opposite of Saul.  Saul destroyed a city (the city of Nob).  David saves a city (the city of Keilah).

David saved a city and he wasn’t even king yet.  He did not wait until he had the office of a king to act like one. You don’t have to have an official office to serve God.  You don’t have to wait until people recognize you for you to do what God has called you to do.  The chapter begins with a crisis.  When you obey God, he blesses you.

Not only did they save the city and defeat the Philistines, they got a few cows in the process (I Samuel 23:5).  That doesn’t mean anything to us but these men were on the run and they were hungry.  They ended up with a steak, but that is not all that he got.  Because he listened to God and obeyed him, he also got access to the priesthood and the ephod.

Now when Ahimelech’s son Abiathar had fled to David in Keilah, the ephod had come down with him. (I Samuel 23:6 ISV)

This is where it gets interesting.  David had his own personal prophet (Gad).  Now, he has his own priest (Abiathar).  There is one priest in the country.  Saul killed all of the other priests and Abiathar flees to David.  Saul killed his dad.  He meets him Keilah and he has these two stones (Urim and Thummim).  What is the deal with these two magic stones?

They were two prophetic stones.  The priests wore an ephod, which was like an apron or vest, and inside this ephod was a pocket which contained these two stones (Exodus 28:30).  These special stones somehow revealed the will of God. They gave a yes or no answer to questions, like flipping a coin.  We don’t know how it was used but it was like holy dice and it gave David a huge advantage over Saul.

Saul had more troops.  He had more weapons.  He had more influence.  He was the most powerful man in the country but he didn’t have God.  He did not have any prophets.  He did not have any priests.  When he prayed, God would not answer him.  He was living in rebellion.  He was rejected by God and God was not speaking to him (I Samuel 28:5-6).  David was outnumbered but David had God and he had access to the will of God.

How does this apply to us today?  We should pray before we make any decisions, especially in a crisis.  If we are believers, God is with us.  God speaks to us.  We have access to the will of God today but some things are different.

We do not hear God’s voice from magic stones, like David had.  We do not have any supernatural stones but we have a supernatural book.  David did not have sixty-six books of Scripture to read.

We have the Holy Spirit living inside us.  David had access to the Holy Spirit but He did not indwell him, like he does us today.  We do not HAVE priests to go to.  We ARE priests (I Peter 2:9).

9 When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” 10 David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. 11 Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will.” 12 Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will.” (I Samuel 23:9-12 NIV)

David prayed two times about the crisis with the Philistines and the city of Keilah.  Now he hears Saul is coming after him and he says, “Bring me the ephod.”  He asks God two questions:  Is Saul coming to get me and will the city turn me in?

He gets answers to both questions.  Saul is coming and the city is going to turn him in.  The city that he just saved and delivered is not going to turn him in.  They are going to rat him out.

Saul had some spies that warned him about David, but David had God who warned him about Saul.  He had some inside information.  What does David do?  He goes on the run again.  Right after David has a huge victory.  David is a hero again.  Right after his great success, he is back on the run.

Saul’s Two Mistakes

What does this say to us today?  What lessons can we learn?  Saul made two mistakes.  These are two mistakes that many people make today.  Many Christians make these mistakes.

1) A mistake regarding the will of God

Saul thought he knew the will of God.  He believed something was the will of God. He says to himself, “I have got him now.  God has given him into my hands.  I can’t believe my luck.  He is a sitting duck right now.  He is in a town with gates and bars.  He is trapped.”  Saul was certain that something was the will of God and yet he was completely wrong.

We can be completely wrong about the will of God.  Have you ever thought something was the will of God for your life and you were completely wrong?  We probably all have at some point in our life.  Christians can be wrong about the will of God today.

Saul had no excuse for what he did.  He should have known better. Somehow, he convinced himself that it was the will of God to kill an innocent man but not just an innocent man.

He was an innocent man who just did a good deed.  He saves a city in his country.  Instead of being glad for what he did, he wants to use it as an opportunity to kill him.  David was not just an innocent man; he was God’s anointed.  Saul wanted to kill God’s anointed.

“Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.” (Psalm 105:15 NIV)

That was written by David.  Many misquote this verse today.  They take this verse out of context.  Many use this verse to say that you can never question anything your pastor does.  He can never be criticized because he is the Lord’s anointed.  It is used to silence people in a congregation.

That is not what that verse is saying at all.  It is not saying if someone is living in sin or teaching false doctrine, you can’t correct it.  The NT says that every Christian is anointed by the Holy Spirit (I John 2:20).  This is a command not to physically harm God’s anointed.

2) A mistake regarding the voice of God

We can be wrong about the voice of God.  Now, I have to say something that you do not hear too often in church.  It is possible to think that God is telling you to do something and it is not God.  It is possible to think you are hearing the voice of God, but you are hearing somebody else’s voice.

In the 2020 Presidential election, many prophets claimed to have a word from God.  I followed them very closely.  Several claimed that Trump would win and Biden would not become President.  While the election process is still in litigation, it looks like all of these prophecies on the Internet turned out to be completely false and yet all of these people claimed not to give their word but a word from God.

Saul thought God was trying to tell him something.  He thought that God was speaking to him.  He thought that he had a sign for him to act.  David was trapped in a city.  He had a perfect opportunity to get him.  God does open doors for people, but circumstances do NOT always indicate the will of God.

If you think you are hearing God’s voice and it involves violating Scripture, you are not hearing the voice of God.  The voice that Saul heard told him to kill an innocent man.  The voice that Saul heard told him to break one of the Ten Commandments.  That was not the voice of God.  It was the voice of Satan.

God tells David that Saul is coming and he escapes.  He and six hundred men escape.  Where does they go?  They go into the wilderness.  They leave the city and go into the wilderness and to the hills.  It is much harder to find people there. Saul tries but he is not successful.

David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands (I Samuel 23:14 NIV)

Saul can’t find him, but some spies come to him to turn David in.  David is betrayed again.  He is betrayed by the Ziphites.  The Ziphites were descendants of Caleb.   They were members of the Tribe of Judah (I Chronicles 2:42).

19 The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon? 20 Now, Your Majesty, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for giving him into your hands.”

21 Saul replied, “The Lord bless you for your concern for me. 22 Go and get more information. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. 23 Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah.” (I Samuel 23:19-23)

The Ziphites betrayed the Lord’s anointed and then Saul blesses them.  Saul replied, “The LORD bless you for your concern for me. (I Samuel 23:21 NIV).  Even wicked men can use religious language and pretend to be spiritual when they are out trying to kill someone.

Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.

26 Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” 28 Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammah lekoth. (I Samuel 23:25-28)

Notice how the chapter ended.  It ends with a great escape.  There are two great escapes in this chapter.  David escaped from a city (I Samuel 23:1-14) and now he escapes from a mountain (I Samuel 23:26-29).  They end up on a mountain.  David is on one side and Saul is on the other side.

It looks like the end for David once again.  He is completely surrounded.  There is no way out.  There was nowhere to go and then God intervenes.  God is the one who can change impossible situations.  Sometimes he does it miraculously, like at the Red Sea where the Jews had nowhere to go.  They had a river in front of them and Egyptians troops behind them and nowhere to run.

In this case, God did not intervene miraculously.  He intervened providentially.  That is often what God does to us today.  All he had to do was to send Saul a message about the Philistines.  Notice the five things that had to happen for this to take place.

The Philistines had to attack at just the right moment.  Someone at the palace had to know where the king was.  A messenger had to be dispatched to find the king.  The messenger had to get precise directions to find the king.  He had to know how to get there.  He had to arrive just before David was about to be captured.[1]  It was a miracle, but it was a providential miracle.

A Final Reunion

While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. 16 And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. 17 “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” 18 The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh. (I Samuel 23:15-18 NIV)

Jonathon and David have one final reunion before Jonathon is killed in battle.  The irony here is that Saul looks for David in this chapter every day and can’t find him but Jonathon his son can find him.  He risks his life to see David but he goes for one purpose: to help David find strength in God (I Samuel 23:16).

Just at the right moment, in David’s darkest hour, Jonathon shows up to encourage him.  That is what a true friend will always do: turn people who are in trouble or depressed back to God and back to the promises of God.  Jonathon was not a prophet, but he gave David hope.  He tells him not to be afraid.  He tells him not to worry.

Jonathon says, “I know that my dad is the king.  I know that he is the most powerful man in the country.  I know that he hates you and that he wants to kill you.  I know that he is doing everything he can to kill you.  I know that he is trying every day of his life.  I know that he has a whole army helping him get you, an entire army was sent out to get one man, but he won’t be able to lay a hand on you and one day you will be king over Israel.”

The shock here is that Jonathon was the one who said this.  He was the crowned prince.  He was supposed to be the next king.  He accepted the fact that he would not be the next king and David would and was not jealous at all.  In fact, he was happy to serve under David.

Was Jonathon just telling him what he wanted to hear?  No.  He was reminding him of the promises of God.  His destiny was to be king.  He was anointed by God to be king by Samuel the prophet and one day he would be king.  Not only did he become king, he became the ancestor of the Messiah.  No matter what his circumstances said, he would become king.

This shows us the power of friendship.  We need friends but there are a lot of different types of friends.  Secular friends are not the same thing as godly Christian friends.  Worldly friends do not strengthen your faith.  Godly friends, like Jonathon, encourage you in God.  They build up your faith.   It is great to have a friend like that.  It is even greater to be a friend like that to someone else.

This also shows us the power of words.  They can be used to tear people down or to build them up and to encourage them.  Jonathon used them to encourage David.  We should do the same.  Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (ESV).

[1] http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/in-the-presence-of-my-enemies/

Massacre of Ministers

We are studying the Book of I Samuel.  We are going to try to cover two chapters today.  We are looking at the life of David. His life is fascinating.  David was one of the greatest men in the Bible.  He was a spiritual giant.  He was an ancestor of the Messiah.  He was Israel’s greatest king.  He was the only man in the Bible who was called “a man after God’s own heart.

David had amazing faith.  He had incredible courage in the midst of danger.  He faced Goliath without fear, when no one else in the army would dare to face him and when he was not even old enough to be in the army.

Some of our heroes seem to be larger than life, but, in reality, they are just like us.  James says that prophet Elijah was just like us (James 5:17).  He was a man of like passions.  David was a lot like us as well.  He had flaws.  He had sins.  He had problems. In I Samuel 21, he tells a lie and goes completely crazy.

David wasn’t perfect.  He had some flaws and the Bible does not cover them up or hide them.  It describes the good and the bad.  Aren’t you glad the Bible does not have a few chapters about your life?  Aren’t you glad that it does not describe you at your best and you at your absolute worst, your strengths, as well as your weaknesses?  That would be embarrassing.

David was a believer.  David was saved.  David had the Holy Spirit on him.  He was anointed by God.  He was a man after God’s own heart and yet, in this chapter, he acted crazy.  He started foaming at the mouth and acting insane.  God’s man acted like a mad man.

The man we see in this chapter does not even seem like the same David earlier in the book.  That David was full of faith.  He had no fear.  He faced danger without fear.  He lived for God.  He was a man of absolute integrity.  That raises some interesting questions.

How could a man after God’s heart act like a complete lunatic?  How could the one who not only wrote Scripture, he wrote the largest book of the Bible (Book of Psalms) act like a complete madman?  How can you be saved, filled with the Spirit, on fire for God, serve God one moment and go absolutely crazy the next moment?  How is that even possible?

It was possible for David and it is possible for us today.  We are all sinners.  We have a sin nature.  After we get saved, we don’t lose our sin nature.  Believers can sin.  Believers can backslide.  They can do some terrible things.  They can do some dumb things.  They can do some wicked things.  The same one who walked on water one day, denied Jesus another day.

In previous chapters, King Saul went crazy.  He acted completely crazy. In this chapter, David goes crazyDavid acts like Saul.  In fact, David does it by choice.  David does it without an evil spirit.  Saul had an evil spirit.  He was demonized.  David was not demonized.

Why did David act this way?  Fear.  Fear will get you to do some crazy things.  It will get you to do some stupid things.  David is on the run in these two chapters.  He is running from a madman.  He is running from a psychotic killer, like in the horror movies.  He is running for his life.  The king is hunting him like a dog.

David never stays in any one place very long.  He is always moving around. He goes to five different places in these two chapters.  He goes to Nob.  He goes to Gath.  He goes to the Cave of Adullum.  He goes to Mitzpah, and he ends up at the Forest of Hereth.

When David left King Saul, the first person he went to see was the Prophet Samuel.  Samuel lived in Ramah.  That is in I Samuel 19.  The second place he went to see was the high priest who lived in Nob in I Samuel 21.  Everyone pronounces it “Nob” but in Hebrew it is pronounced know-v.  In Hebrew this b sound is a v sound.

David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away. (I Samuel 21:1-6 NIV)

The very first person David went to see was the prophet.  The second place he went to see was the high priest.  He went to church.  Nob was a center of worship.  It replaced Shiloh as the center of worship after Israel’s defeat in battle in I Samuel 4:1-11.  It was where the Tabernacle was located.  It sounds like the right place to go but he did not go there for spiritual help.

He went there for physical help. He went to church to get some bread.  He is not there to worship.  He is not there to pray.  He is not there to hear from God.  David was only about five miles away from where Saul was, but he was one the run and he was starving.  He had no food, so he makes a pit stop at the Tabernacle.

He did not see any McDonalds near him.  There was not any fast food available.  There were no grocery stores either.  Food was not as accessible three thousand years ago as it is today, so he went to the Tabernacle.

Many go to church today for the same reason.  They do not go to hear the voice of God.  They don’t go to learn the Word of God or to pray or to worship.  Some go for potluck meals, bake sales, flea markets or for baby showers or wedding showers.  Some go for social reasons or for a handout.   Some go to meet people.  I have met some salesmen who go to church to get business contacts.

David comes to the Tabernacle for bread.  He talked to the high priest.  His name was Ahimelech.  Ahimelech was the great grandson of Eli (I Samuel 14:3). He was the grandson of wicked Phinehas.

The priest had bread but the only bread he had was holy bread, the consecrated bread, what the OT calls “the Bread of the Presence” (I Samuel 21:6; Exodus 25:30).

He did not have regular bread but only special sanctified bread.  According to the Book of Leviticus, only the priests were supposed to eat this holy bread, and David was not a priest, but the priest gave him the bread anyway. He gave him bread and Goliath’s sword.  He said you can have some bread as long as long as you are ceremonially clean.

Did he do the right thing?  He was breaking OT Law.  Leviticus 24:9 says that the break “belonged to Aaron and his sons who are to eat it in the sanctuary area” (NIV).

Jesus says that he did the right thing (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28). Human need takes precedence over religious rules.  David was on the run.  He was starving.  He needed some food.  Mercy is more important than religious rules.

It is possible to have a religion without mercy, a religion without compassion.  That is what Phariseeism was.  It is what you see in some churches.  Rules are more important than people.  God desires “mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). Jesus quotes that passage in Matthew 12:7.

David’s White Lies

While David was talking to the priest, he told a lie.  What is the lie?  The priest asks him why he is there, and he says he is there because he is on a top-secret mission from the king.  That was not true.  He was not on a mission FOR the king.  He was running FROM the king.

Apparently, David had a little problem with honesty.  Not only does he flat-out lie, but he lies to the high priest.  He lies to religious leaders of the day.  That is like lying directly to the pastor.

David found it very easy to lie.  He lied in the last chapter and he lies in this chapter.  He was married to a woman who lied. Are you like David?

Christians should not be dishonest.  Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (Ephesians 4:25 NIV).  Lying comes from the devil.  He is “the father of lies” (John 8:44)

Today, everyone seems to lie.  Politicians lie, especially during election season.  They will say anything to get elected.  We like to make a distinction between big lies and little white lies.  A big lie is if we get on the witness stand and are asked if we killed someone and are not honest.

A little lie is when we say something that is not true, so we do not offend someone or when someone asks us how we are feeling, and we say fine when we feel miserable.

Why did he lie?  We do not know for sure.  He may have lied to get food and he felt if he didn’t lie, he would not get any.  There was a bounty on his head.  He was number one on Saul’s Top Ten List. He may not have helped him if he knew that he was a fugitive, an enemy of the state.

On the other hand, he may have lied to protect the priest.  It might mean death to anyone who helps him.  It would put at risk anyone who aided and abetted a fugitive.

David lied but he was not a good liar.  What David asked for completely contradicted his mission.  It proved he was lying.  The priest asked him why he was there.  He said he was on a top-secret mission but then he asked him for food and weapons.  It does not make any sense to go on a dangerous, top-secret government mission and not take any weapons with you or any food.

Did his lie work?  He did get food and a weapon but the priests all got killed.  A whole town got wiped out.  David felt bad.  He felt responsible.  He blamed himself.  He did not blame Doeg, the dirty Doeg.  He blamed himself (I Samuel 22:21).

If he never showed up there, the priest would still be alive but I would have blamed Saul.  He was the one who ordered the execution.  He was the one responsible, not David.  Saul would have killed the priest, regardless of whether David lied or told the truth, if he helped him in any way.

David’s Acting Career

10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. (I Samuel 21:10-13 NIV).

David first fled to Nob.  That was only a few miles away from Saul.  It was close to Saul.  He did not stay very long there.  He knew he had to go somewhere else where he would be safe, so he decided to go to leave the Promise land and go to another country.  He fled to Gath.

Gath was thirty miles away and it was in another country.  It was not just any country.  It was a country that was an enemy of Israel.  David thought he would be safe there.  Saul would not think to look there.

David ran to the Philistines for help.  He went to the world for help.  That is like Christians today turning to their unsaved friends for help, for spiritual counsel for support.  Do you turn to the world for help?

David thought that no one would know him.  He thought he could just blend in and be anonymous.

The problem was that David was famous.  He did not know how famous he was.  Everybody knew him.  Not only was he famous in Israel.  He was famous in other countries.

There was a song about him and people in other country had heard it.  That tune really got around.  It shows the power of music.  On top of that, David enters the country, goes to Goliath’s hometown and carried Goliath’s big sword on his belt.  That tipped him off right away.

David killed two hundred Philistines.  He killed their hero Goliath.  He was their hero and David killed him.  That is like someone killing Abraham Lincoln or George Washington.  David knows he will not be popular there and he is afraid and he acts crazy.

Fear got David to flee the country.  Fear of Saul got him to leave.  He gets to Gath and now fear gets him to act insane.  Fear causes people to do crazy things.  It can cause us to do crazy things.  Fear of the coronavirus gets some people to do crazy things.  They won’t even come to church.  They are too afraid.

He will go back to Gath a second time in I Samuel 27 and live there for over a year.  They were Israel’s enemies.  They were God’s enemies.  They worshipped idols.  If they accepted him and protected him, he would have to fight for them.  He would have to fight against God’s people.

One thing that we can say about David is that he had a lot of skills.  He was extremely gifted.  He was a shepherd.  He was a musician.  He was a harpist.  He was a warrior.  He was a fighter.  He was a giant killer.  He was a soldier.  He was a commander.

He was a writer.  He was a poet.  He was a politician.  He became a king.  Now, we see that he was an actor.  He knew how to act.  Beth Moore says, he would have won an Oscar for acting.[1]

David the Cave Man

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. 2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him. (I Samuel 22:1-2 NIV)

David goes on the run.  He fled out of the country to Gath.  Now, he decides to go back to Israel.  He goes ten miles east this time to a cave.  He was not safe in Gath or Nob but he was safe in this cave and he gets all kinds of support from people there.  He gets some followers.  His brothers come down to see him.  His family supports him.

David is an outcast and four hundred other outcasts come to join him. The four hundred people are a picture of the church. They are a bunch of nobodies.  They were a bunch of losers.  They are a people with problems, people who could not pay their bills.  Those who follow David are like those who follow Jesus.

From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.

But the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth. (I Samuel 22:3-5).

David now goes to another country (Moab).  David acts as a good shepherd.  He wants to take care of his parents and family and make sure they are safe, but a prophet speaks to him and tell him to go back to the land of Israel (I Samuel 22:5).  Even when we backslide, God can send people into our life with a word from the Lord.  He has ways to get our attention and David obeys the prophet.

Five Shocking Truths about Evil

The chapter ends really bad.  David is betrayed.  He is betrayed by a man named Doeg. Jesus was betrayed by Judas.  David was betrayed by Doeg.  Doeg tells Saul that the priest gave him food.  Saul orders the execution of these priests but his servants refuse to do it.

When they refuse to do it.  Doeg does it.  He not only does it, he kills all of their families.  He wipes out a whole town, killing “its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep” (I Samuel 22:19 NIV)

The chapter ends with a massacre.  It ends with a slaughter.  It ends with an atrocity.  Saul commits mass murder.  He does not just kill anybody.  He orders the execution of eight-five priests.  That is like killing eighty-five pastors today.

It is a massacre of ministers.  It is killing of religious leaders, some of the top leaders in the country.  They had not done anything wrong and they were massacred by Saul.

How do we respond when we are faced with incredible evil in the world?  I want to look at five shocking truths from this incident.  There are five truths that you are often not told in church.

1) Evil is a fact of life in this world

Evil in the world is real.  It is common.  It is shocking.  It is a fact of life because people are created with free will.  We are all created with the ability to do good or to do evil.  As a result, the innocent suffer in this world.  This does not fit the prosperity message but we live in a fallen world.  Bad things happen.  Terrible things happen.  All you have to do is to watch the news each night.

2) Some evil in this world is demonic in origin

Saul turns a corner here.  He does not just come after David.  He wages an all-out war on the priests of the Lord.  This is not just mental illness.  It is DEMONIC.  The Holy Spirit left Saul and an evil spirit entered him.  There is natural evil and there evil in this world that is so bad that it is demonically inspired.  The devil comes to steal, to kill and to destroy.

3) Believers are not exempt from evil

Some of us may have experienced it.  Pastors are not exempt.  They are not exempt from terrible things that happen.  Sunday school teachers are not exempt.  The godliest Christians on the planet are not exempt from evil.  They were not exempt in Bible times and they are not exempt today.  We do not have a guarantee in Scripture that nothing bad will ever happen to us or to our family.  Job did not have that guarantee.

4) Professing believers sometimes commit the evil

Bad things happen to believers from other people who claim to be believers.  Have you ever experienced evil from someone who claimed to be a Christian or perhaps from someone that went to the same church as you?

Saul claimed to worship the true God.  He did not worship idols.  Saul is the one who orders this execution of an entire village (men, women, children, animals).  Saul would not wipe out all of the Amalekites and then orders the extermination of an entire village of his own people.  He ordered a holocaust at Nob.  Satan sometimes uses even professing Christians to do his work.

5) God can bring good out of evil

God is sovereign over all of the evil that takes place in the world.  He can take the worst evil on the planet and use it for good.  He can use evil for His own purposes.  Hitler’s holocaust only led to the creation of the state of Israel a few years later.

Saul tries to wipe out all of the priests but one escapes and he flees to David’s side. God has completely left Saul.  He does not have any prophets.  he does not have the priesthood.  God is not talking to him.  At the end of the book, he has to go to a witch to try to get some revelation.

[1] Beth Moore, A Heart Like His, 76.

Covenant Friendship

One of the biggest problems people have today is depression.  It is a worldwide problem.  One in six Americans take medication for it.  Christians are not immune from depression.  They get depressed.  Depression is caused by many things.  One thing that causes depression is when bad things happen.  Things do not always go as we plan.

Bad things happen to good people.  We are sometimes shocked when bad things happen to believers.  Sometimes terrible things happen to some of the best of people and to some of the godliest people in the church.

What happened to Job has been repeated in the modern day.  It is not just a story in the Bible.  Maybe bad things have happened to you or to your family.  Perhaps you have asked God why you were let go from your job or why your marriage is heading for divorce or why one of your kids died young.

When you look in the Bible, you find that people experienced the same problems we have.  They experienced depression as well.  Some of the best men and women in the Bible experienced it.  David experienced it.  That is strange.   The man of God’s own heart got depressed.  David wrote many of the Psalms and he was depressed.  In this chapter, David is depressed.  He is in the dumps.

Why was David depressed?  Bad things were happening to him.  David wasn’t always depressed.  He had a lot of things going for him.

He was the only one in his family who was chosen by the prophet Samuel and anointed to be king and he came from a big family.  He had a lot of brothers.  He must have felt special.

He killed a giant.  He had to feel great about that.  He did something that no one else in the whole country could do.  That must have made him feel good about himself.  He probably felt invincible.

He was the most famous person in the whole country.  He must have felt like he was on top of the world. Even the women were singing about him.  That must have boosted his self-esteem.

He was also given a job promotion.  He was given a chance to work for King Saul in the royal palace as his court musician, weapons carrier and later a commander in the army. That must have felt good.  He felt like he had a purpose in life.  He was doing something important in life.  David was moving up in the world but then things changed.

Things changed because of jealousy.  Saul became jealous of David.  He loved him at first.  I Samuel 16:21 says that he “loved him very much” (NIV) but two chapters later that love turned into complete hatred (I Samuel 18:10-11, 25b, 29).  That can happen today.

It happens in some marriages.  Two people start out madly in love, passionately in love and then, in just a few years, they can’t stand each other.  Love turns into hatred.  Saul became jealous.  He became suspicious, which turned into hatred, which led to violence.  It leads to attempted murder.

Saul tried to kill David several different ways.  David’s own father-in-law tried to kill him several times with a spear.  He tried to get the Philistines to kill him but that did not work.  Then, sent two bands of assassins, Hebrew Hitmen, who tried to kill him in his bed but they failed.

David had to leave his wife, jump out of a window, leave town and run for his life.  David’s wife said, “Leave now or you will be a dead man by tomorrow” (I Samuel 19:11).

David left Gibeah, where Saul lived and ran to Ramah, where Samuel lived.  He was the only one who really understood the situation.  He anointed him but, when he got to Ramah, three more bands of assassins showed up and when they were unsuccessful, Saul showed up to do the job.

He meant business but when they all got there, they started prophesying (I Samuel 19:19-24).  They became charismatics.   What he prophesied we are not told.  We don’t know what Saul said, but somehow the murderers were turned into worshippers.  That gave David a chance to run from Ramah to Naioth.

David was in survival mode.  He was not trying to be king and take over Saul’s job.  He is just trying to survive.  David has to run away to save his life. David becomes a fugitive for about ten years.  He becomes a man on the run.  He is running from not just anybody.  He is running from the most powerful man in the country.

This is the opposite of the prosperity gospel.  David was called by God.  He was anointed by God.  God’s hand was on his life and then he had to leave his family.  He had to leave his wife.  He had to leave his home.  He had to leave his job and go on the run for years, living in caves.  He was always looking over his shoulder.  He had to look out for assassins.  People were trying to kill him.  He had to dodge spears and hitmen.  He did not live a life of prosperity.

Why God Allowed This in David’s Life?

Why did God allow this in David’s life?  He was God’s anointed.  We would ask why does God allow things in our life?  David was only about twenty.  He was anointed to be king, but he was not ready yet to be king.  David had to grow a little bit.

Spiritual growth takes time.  Toadstools can grow up in a day, but it takes some time for an oak tree to grow.  God had a few things to teach him first.  He had to get him ready for what he called him to do.  He had to teach him how to trust God and depend on Him alone.

He did something else really important in this time.  He used this time to write Scripture.  He wrote some of the Psalms.  We do not know all of them[1] but Psalm is perhaps one example.

Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, 2 or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me. 3 Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands— 4 if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe—5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust.

6 Arise, Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice. 7 Let the assembled peoples gather around you, while you sit enthroned over them on high. 8 Let the Lord judge the peoples. Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.

9 Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure— you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts. 10 My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. (Psalm 7:1-11 NIV)

What is the remedy for depression?  In our day, the remedy is drugs.  Doctors prescribe some antidepressants.  Sometimes that might be needed.  David found an answer in a friend.  In a dark place, he finds a friend.

If you are depressed, you need a good friend you can turn to.  You need a friend who understand you, a friend who supports you and a friend who can give you good biblical counsel.  David finds one in I Samuel 20.

Jonathon encouraged David.  He told him that God was with him.  He told him that he was not going to die.  He told him that one day he would become king.  Jonathon was the heir to the throne but he was the one who encouraged David.  He understood David’s future better than he did.

Of course, friends don’t have all of the answers.  There are some deep questions that only God can answer but we all need good friends who can speak truth to us and encourage us.  Jonathon and David do that in this chapter.  They have three conversations.

David’s Problem

Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?” (I Samuel 20:1 NIV)

Now, this is interesting.  David did not know why this was happening.  He did not know why Saul was trying to kill him.  When we have bad things happen to us, we ask the same question.  Why?  Why did God allow it?  Why is God doing this?  Why is this happening to me?

Now, we know because we can read I Samuel why this was happening to David.  God tells us why King Saul was doing this.  God can see right through us.  He knows out heart.  He knows our thoughts.  He knows the motives of everything we do.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve” (NIV).

One Step Between Me and Death

David fears for his life.  He tells Jonathon that his dad is trying to kill him.  He says something to Jonathon that is very profound.  David said to Jonathon, “But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death” (1 Samuel 20:3).  It is just as true of us as it was of him.

David is a young man.  He is about twenty-year-old.  He was not eight or ninety.  He is in his twenties, and, David said that there was step between him and death, just one step.

What David says is true of all of us.  Death is not only assured; it is approaching.  We are all close to it.  We are all fragile.  Some feel great and then catch the coronavirus and drop dead.  There is just a step between us and death.  Life is brief.  Our life hangs by a thread.  We could die at any time.  One little slip, one accident and our lives are over.

We never know when we will take our last step on earth and jump into eternity.  The real question is, Are you ready for that day?  Are you prepared?  Most are not.  The Bible says, “It is appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

David said to Jonathon, “Why does you dad want to kill me?”  How did Jonathon respond?  What did he say?  He says, “My dad does NOT want to kill you.  He would never do something like that.”  Jonathon does not think his dad is capable of doing this.

He said, “If he did want to kill you, he would have told me” (I Samuel 20:2).  He told me that he would not kill you.  He swore before God that he would not do it.  Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.” (I Samuel 19:6 NIV).  Jonathon took him at his word.

That is what you would expect a son to do.  What was the problem?  If you read the rest of the chapter, you will see that Saul tries to kill David after he made that statement.  In fact, David is on the run for his own safety, because Saul is trying to kill him.

Jonathon was in denial.  Many of us have blind spots when it comes to our family.  Jonathon’s dad was certifiably crazy but he could not see it, because he was his dad.  Our kids may be completely rotten but we think they are angels.

Jonathon wanted to believe the best about his dad but that made him a little gullible.  He was naïve.  He was blind.  David knew his dad better than Jonathon did.  This shows that friends are imperfect.  They are not always objective.

So how did they resolve this?  Two friends couldn’t agree.  David said that Saul is trying to kill him.  Jonathon said he is not.  David came up with a plan (I Samuel 20:5-8).  The plan involved a little deception.

David would not show up for dinner for two days and see how Saul would respond.  The plan was to say that he was in Bethlehem for a feast.  If Saul accepted it, it shows that he was not mad at him.  If he is angry, it shows that he wants to kill him.

Jonathon agreed to go on this fact-finding mission.  He is going to gather intelligence in order to get the facts about his dad and reveal what he really thought about David.  David has to wait three days to find out the answer.

Jonathon does exactly as he is told.  Jonathon does not lie.  He simply says, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.” (I Samuel 20:28-29 NIV).

That was all true.  That was what David said and Saul has a temper tantrum.  Saul become angry at David.  Jonathon tries to support his friend David and then Saul comes after Jonathon himself.   He insults him and tries to kill him.

Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”

32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. THEN Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.

34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David. (I Samuel 20:30-34 NIV)

In this last chapter, Saul threw a spear at David and tries to kill him. In this chapter, Saul threw a spear at Jonathon.  He threw a spear at his own son, the crowned prince, and tried to kill him.  Jonathon had no doubt what his dad really thought about David.  It became clear that Saul had complete hatred for David and hatred for anyone who even supported David.

As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he MUST die!” (I Samuel 20:31 NIV)

The chapter ends on a sad note.  Jonathon reveals to David what happened.  Both men are upset.  Two close friends who have to say “goodbye.” They had to separate and go their separate ways. David goes one direction and Jonathon goes another direction.  Jonathon heads back to the city.  David heads into the wilderness.  They will only meet again one more time.  That is in I Samuel 23.

Six Qualities of Covenant Friendship

Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” (I Samuel 20:42 NIV).

This friendship was very different from friendships today.  How is covenant friendship different from ordinary friendship?

Ordinary friendship has nothing to do with God.  there is no spiritual basis to it.  People can be friend for all kinds of reasons.

Ordinary friendships do not last beyond death.  If you have a friend and your best friend dies, you usually do not become close friends with that person’s children.

Ordinary friendship does not involve an oath.  We do not make oaths when we get friends.

Ordinary friendship does not involve a covenant.  We do not make covenants with our friends.  We do not have too many friendships like this today, although marriage involves an oath before God.

I want to look at the qualities of covenant friendship from David and Jonathon.  There are six qualities of covenant friendship.

1. Loyalty

Jonathon and David had an inseparable bond.  This was not a casual friendship.  This was a deep friendship, not like a Facebook friend.  The Bible says that “the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David” (1 Sam. 18:1 KJV). Jonathon is closer to David than he is to his own family members.  The Bible says that “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24 NIV).

2. Intimacy

There was some depth to this friendship.  They had some secrets.  They shared things with each other that no one else knew about.  They had secrets that Jonathon did not even tell his family about.  The Bible says that he loved David AS HIMSELF.  We are told that three times in I Samuel (I Samuel 18:1, 3; 20:17).

Jesus said that the whole law could be boiled down in two points: love God and love people.  He said, “Love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength, AND love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).

Jonathon is the perfect example of the second kind of love.  He is the biblical example.  Are we like Jonathon?  Most of us are not.  We love ourselves a little more.  Most of us our selfish.  We only think about number one.

3. Obligation

They formed an agreement.  They made a pact.  This was not a one-sided.  It was two-sided.  Both had an obligation in this friendship.  They both needed something and wanted something.   Both Jonathon and David are worried about something. David is worried that Jonathon’s dad will kill him.

Jonathon is worried that David will one day become king and wipe out every member of his family including Jonathon himself.  That was the practice in that day.  Both made promises to each other.  Jonathon promises to protect David.  David promises to protect Jonathon and his family.

4) Encouragement

Jonathon encouraged David.  He said that he was not going to die and that he would one day become king.  He encouraged him when he was at his lowest point.

The Bible says that “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity” (Proverbs 17:17 NIV).  A real friend loves at ALL times.  A real friend does not just want to be your friend when things are going great (a fair-weather friend).

A real friend will stand with you when no one else will stand with you.  A real friend will stand with you when you are sick.  A real friend will stand with you when you are charged with a crime.  A real friend will stand with you in your greatest tragedy.

5) Assistance

Jonathon would do anything for David.  David is completely vulnerable.  He is in need.  Jonathon says to him, “Whatever you want me to do, I will do it for you” (I Samuel 20:4 NIV).  He does not just help him with words.  He does things to help him.  Jonathon ends up risking his own life for David.  Jonathon almost gets killed in this chapter.

6) Affection

After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.

42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town. (I Samuel 20:41-42 NIV)

This was an emotional farewell.  Jonathon and David were crying.  They were kissing.  That was part of the culture of the time.  Friends today do not have to kiss one another, like they did, but real friends show affection for one another.

[1] Wiersbe says Psalm 7, 11-13, 16-17, 22, 25, 31, 34-35, 52-54, 56-59, 63-64, 142-143

Two Kinds of Friends

Today, we are going to talk about friends.  What does it mean to be a friend biblically?  We are going to look at real friends and fake friends.  Some friends are fake.  Jonathon was a real friend.  Saul was a fake friend.  Which type of friend are you?

Several weeks ago, we began a study of the life of David, one of the greatest men in the Bible.  He is mentioned about a thousand times in the Bible.  David began a life of complete obscurity.  He was a complete nobody.  He was not famous.

He started out as a poor shepherd boy in Bethlehem.  He was the baby of the family but one day everything changed.  The prophet Samuel showed up at his house with a bottle of oil, poured it on David’s head and anointed him as king.  God’s Spirit came powerfully upon David and everything changed.  Today, I want to look at three things: David’s Prosperity, David’s Popularity and David’s Protection.

David’s Prosperity

God began to bless David.  David moved up in the world.  He started out as a simple country shepherd, but he became Saul’s court musician and weapons carrier, his armor-bearer.  Then, he became a giant killer.

He killed Goliath and walked away carrying his head. In this chapter, he becomes a military commanded and even joins Saul’s family through marriage.  We are told this three times that David was successful.

Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well. (I Samuel 18:5 NIV)

Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. 13 So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. 14 In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. (I Samuel 18:12-15)

The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known. (I Samuel 18:30)

Why was he so successful?  It wasn’t just because he worked hard or because he had a lot of talent.  It was because God was with him.   We are told three times in the chapter that God was with David (I Samuel 18:12, 14, 28).  God blessed David.  He prospered him.  He blessed everything he put his hand to do.

No matter what Saul did, no matter how many times he plotted against David, David continued to succeed.  God kept blessing him.  We want the same thing to be true of us.  We want to be successful.

If we are obedient to God, we will bless us.  He will prosper us.  Does this mean that the Bible teaches the health and wealth gospel?  Does it mean if we obey God, we will be healthy, wealthy and not have any problems?

Tell that to Job.  He was blameless.  He was godly and he had problems.  He lost everything: his health, his wealth, his kids.  Joseph was obedient to God.

God blessed him but he was thrown in a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused of a sex crime and thrown in a prison.  David does not live an easy life in these two chapters either.

David seems like he is on top of the world.  He joins Saul’s family.  He marries his daughter.  He becomes his son-in-law but then Saul goes completely insane.  He becomes certifiably crazy.  He grabs a spear and tries to kill David.

It is bad enough when the king wants to kill you, but Saul was not only the king, he was also David’s boss.  David worked for King Saul.  We saw that in the last two chapters.  Have we ever had a boss like Saul?  Have you ever worked for someone who was moody, unstable, and bipolar? This boss actually became violent.

Saul was not just David’s boss; he was his father-in-law.  Some of us who are married have in-law problems but none of us probably had a violent father-in-law who was completely psychotic and tried to kill us and even hired people to kill us.

David had to deal with people trying to kill him repeatedly in this chapter. He was a man marked for death. His life was constantly in danger.  There were contracts out on his life.  He had all kinds of hit men coming after him

Not only did he have to face death in these chapters, but he became a fugitive.  He became a man on the run.  He becomes an outlaw.  He has to escape out of a window and run for safety.  He becomes a fugitive for ten years.  He never sets foot in the palace again until Saul is dead.

It does not sound like David led an easy life.  We are not promised a problem free life either.  If preachers promise you that, they are lying.  Jesus said, In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world ” (John 16:33 NIV).  In this world, we will have all kinds of trouble.  Life is not always fair.  Bad things happen.

David’s Popularity

The second thing we see here is Davis’s popularity.  David was popular.  In the last chapter, he just killed Goliath and cut off his head.  He became the most famous man in the country.  He was more famous that the king himself.  He was a celebrity.

He was a hero.  He was a national hero.  He was larger than life.  Notice the last verse in the chapter.  David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known (Samuel 18:30 NIV)

David’s name was well known.  He was famous.  He was popular. Everybody loved him. The people loved him.  All Israel loved him.  All Judah loved him (I Samuel 18:16).  This was not everyone loved Raymond.  This was everyone loved David.  Saul’s servants loved him (I Samuel 18:5).  The women loved him (I Samuel 18:6-7).

Women loved him, especially the young women, the single women.  He was the teenage heart throb. They loved David.  He was a hero and he was good-looking.

When the soldiers came back from the battlefield, the women do not praise God, they praise David.  The young women sang about him (like he was one of the Beetles).  The danced.  They sang “joyful songs with timbrels and lyres” (I Samuel 18:6 NIV).

People, even in Saul’s family, loved him. His daughter Michal loved him (I Samuel 18:20).  She had a big crush on him.  She loved him and eventually married him.  Now, this is a little interesting Bible trivia.  Did you know that this is the only time in the Bible where we are told that a woman loved a man.[1]  It is the only time in the whole Bible.  That had to count for something.

Her brother Jonathon loved David as well (I Samuel 18:3).  Jonathon was his best friend.  We are told that four times (I Samuel 18:3; 20:16, 42; 23:18).  It is one of the most amazing examples of friendship in the Bible.  It is classic friendship between two men.

After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt. (I Samuel 18:1-4 NIV)

Four Characteristics of Real Friends

Many have friends but they are not anything like the friendship of David and Jonathon.  This type of friendship is rare.  It is not common.  This friendship was characterized by four things.  True friendship has these four qualities.  Every marriage should have these four qualities.

1) Loyalty

There was a deep commitment between these two men.  There was a bond.  They made a covenant between the two of them (I Samuel 18:3).  This loyalty was dangerous.  It was risky.  Jonathon was loyal to someone who had a death sentence hanging over his head.

He was loyal to someone who had several warrants out for his arrest.  Jonathon was loyal to David over his own father.  He was loyal to David over the king.  David was so loyal to Jonathon that he did good deeds to Jonathon’s children, even after Jonathon was dead.

2) Sacrifice

Gifts were exchanged.  It was a little one-sided.  Jonathon gave David some gifts.  David did not give Jonathon any gifts.  They were not on the same level.  This was the prince and the pauper.

What gifts did Jonathon give David?  He gave him his robe, tunic, sword, bow and his belt (I Samuel 18:4).  The KJV says, “And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.”

This is not the best translation here.  I do not know when men wore in the 1600s but men these days don’t wear girdles.  Only old ladies were girdles.  Jonathon did not prance around in a girdle.

Why is Jonathon giving David these things?  It was a prophetic action.  It was Jonathon’s way to say that he would be the next king.  He would be Saul’s successor.  He would be heir to the throne.  Jonathon was not only giving him some gifts; he was giving up his right to the throne.

3) Humility

Jonathon was Saul’s oldest son.  He was the crowned prince.  He was destined for the throne.  He was next in line to be the king, but he accepted that David was anointed by God.

He knew that David would be the next king and he accepted that.  Saul never accepted that.  He tried to kill David so what God predicted doesn’t take place. He fought the will of God for his life.

Jonathon should have been jealous of David. He had good reason to be jealous of David but instead of hating David, he loved David.  He accepted David as God’s choice as king and loved David.

He was not even jealous that David outshined him.  Before I Samuel 17, Jonathon was the most famous soldier in the army.  He has the one who had the reputation for bravery against the Philistines.

He attacked twenty Philistines by himself.  He was also a war hero.  After David killed Goliath, it was almost like he was completely forgotten but he is not jealous at all.  He had no thought of himself.  He was selfless.  David was his rival, but he was his greatest supporter.

4) Support

One of the things that friends do is to support each other.  They encourage each other.  Jonathon supported David.  I Samuel 23:14 says, “And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God” (NASB).

When Jonathon found out that his dad was trying to kill David, he told David about it.  He told him to go into hiding and he tried to talk his dad out of it.  He tried to convince him not to kill David (I Samuel 19:4-5).

He supports him in the next chapter.  He laid out the case why David should not be killed.  He would have made a good attorney.  In I Samuel 19, he plays the role of a peacemaker.  Normally that would have been a good idea, but you can’t reason with a mad man.

Unbelievers today read this chapter very differently than we do.  If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you can come up with some crazy ideas.  Some skeptics today believe that Jonathon and David were gay.

Were David and Jonathon Gay?

Here were two men.  They are the same sex. They loved each other (I Samuel 18:1, 3).  They kissed each other (I Samuel 20:41).

The strongest argument that they have that David was gay is that he married someone with a guy’s name like Michael.  It sounds like the first gay couple by today’s standards.

How would you answer this argument?  We can’t read it in a modern secular context.  We have to read these words in light of the culture of the time.  There are five clear responses to this argument.

One, in that culture, men kissed other men.  It did not mean they were gay.  It was a common greeting.  Men in the West do not kiss other men, unless they are gay.  In the Middle East, men kiss other men on the check.  It is non-sexual.

Two, both Jonathon and David were heterosexuals.  Jonathon was married and had kids. Mephibosheth is one of his kids.  David is married to Jonathon’s sister.

Three, David committed a sexual sin but his sexual sin was with a woman, not a man.  The Bible condemns him for the sin of adultery, not the sin of homosexuality.

Four, this was said to be a different type of relationship. Jonathon and David were said to be “one in spirit” (I Samuel 18:1 NIV).  This shows that this was a spiritual, not a physical relationship.

Five, the Bible strongly condemns homosexuality.  It is universally condemned in both the OT and the NT.  It calls it an abomination and a sin against nature.

Fake Friends

In the rest of the chapter, Saul’s true colors come out.  While everyone else in the country loves David, while people in his own family loves David, Saul hates him. He can’t stand him.  He wants to kill David.  He tries to kill David He tells everyone around him to kill David. Real friends don’t stab each other in the back.  Saul was a backstabbing friend.

David gets a friend in this chapter (Jonathon).  He also gets a new enemy (Saul).  His enemy is not Goliath.  In fact, it is not a Philistine.  It is an Israelite and Saul persecutes David.  David becomes a clear type of Christ.  He was anointed but rejected.  He was hated without a cause.  What happened to David could happen to us.  Everyone will not always like us.

Jesus said, “you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. (John 15:19-20 NIV)

Saul hated David that hatred turned into violence and attempted murder.  Saul pretended to be David’s friend, but he was really his enemy.  That was the way Judas was.  He gave Jesus the kiss of friendship as he was betraying him.  Several verses in the Bible talk about this.

His talk is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords” (Psalm 55:21 NIV).

Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. (Psalm 28:3 ESV)

Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts, they harbor deceit. Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts. (Proverbs 26:24-25 NIV)

Saul told David to fight the Lord’s battles (I Samuel 18:17) but he said that so he would get on the battlefield and get killed.  It sounded real spiritual, but he had murder on the brain.  He told David that he wanted him to be his son-in-law, but he said that, not for good reasons but for evil reasons.  He had a hidden agenda.

We are going to look at what some have called “The Saul Syndrome.”  Many church people have it.  Many church leaders have it.  This was not just some type of mental illness.

Saul was not just bipolar or manic depressive.  He was plagued by demons.  He had an evil spirit.  This was not just depression Most depressed people do not go out kill people. Most depressed people are not violent, according to the Harvard Medical School.[2]  His actions were triggered by one thing.  It was jealousy.

When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. 7 As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

8 Saul was VERY angry; this refrain displeased him GREATLY. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 9 And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David. (I Samuel 18:6-9 NIV)

It started with jealousy and insecurity.  The very next day, he tried to kill him (I Samuel 18:10-11).  We think of jealousy of some minor sin but in this chapter, it was one step short of murder.

David’s Protection

Saul tries six different ways to kill David.  Each way fails.  David had nine lives.  It was almost like he was invincible.  In fact, each time it backfired.  God protected His anointed.  David was God’s anointed.  The Messiah was going to come from David.

Six Ways to Kill a King

1) Saul tried to kill David by spear (I Samuel 18:10-11; 19:10)

He does this three times.  Each time he does it when David is playing a musical instrument.  Here you have David with a harp in his hand and you have the man Saul with a spear in his hand.  You never want to give a mad man a spear or a gun.  What is he doing with a spear?  He is at home, not on the battlefield.

Saul did not need to hold a spear.  He had men to protect him.  He should be throwing spears at the Philistines.  Instead he is throwing them at David, a man after God’s own heart.  He is throwing them at God’s anointed.

David must have had some good reflexes.  He would have been good at dodge ball.  He was like George W. Bush, who was good at dodging shoes thrown at him in 2008 at a press conference.[3] Whatever you thought of George W. Bush, he had some good moves.

2) Saul tried to kill David by dowry (I Samuel 18:24-25)

Saul promised that the one who killed Goliath would get his daughter in marriage (I Samuel 17:25) but Saul was not a man of his word.  He had two daughters (Mer-ov and Me-call).  He did not give his oldest daughter to David.  He gave her to someone else.  His other daughter Michael wanted to marry him, but David said, “I can’t marry her because I am dirt poor.  I can’t pay the bride price.”

Saul says, “I don’t need money.  You can pay me in dead Philistines.  Just kill a hundred Philistines and bring me back proof that they are dead.  Bring me back a hundred Philistine foreskins.  The Philistines were uncircumcised.  Saul figured this was a suicide mission.  It would get him killed.  The bride price will kill him.

This has to be one of the strangest things in the Bible.  David does it and comes back with a bag of two hundred foreskins.  People will do crazy things for love.  Pity the fool that had to count the foreskins, but someone did.  They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. (I Samuel 18:27 NIV)

3) Saul tried to kill David by marriage (I Samuel 18:21)

Saud gave David his daughter to him in marriage.  Why?  “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him” (I Samuel 18:21 NIV).  She thought that the temperamental and spoiled princess would do him in.  He thought she would be on his side.

What happened?  The snare turned into an advantage.  Michal took David’s side.  She loved him.  She protected him.  Instead of hurting him, she helped him.  She actually saved his life.  She sent him out of the window probably of an upper floor to save his life.  He left and fled to Samuel in Ramah, since he was the one who anointed him.

She not only told him what to do to protect himself, she lied for him.  She actually told three lies.  She said he was ill (I Samuel 19:14).  She made it look like he was in the bed by putting an idol in the bed (I Samuel 19:15-16).  What was she doing with an idol in the first place?  Why did she have one in the house?  We don’t know.  Finally, she said that David threatened to kill her if he did not escape (I Samuel 19:17).

4) Saul tried to kill David by the Philistines (I Samuel 18:25)

Saul said, “I don’t need to kill David.  I will get the Philistines to do it.”  Her will fall by the hands of the Philistines (I Samuel 18:25).  The irony is that is how Saul died. What Saul planned for David came on his own head.  He died by the hands of the Philistines.

5) Saul tried to kill David by his own family (I Samuel 19:1)

He used his own children.  He tried to get his son Jonathon to kill him.  It made perfect sense because he was Saul’s oldest son.  He was the heir to the throne.

Jonathon disobeyed his own father.  He disobeys the king.  He commits civil disobedience.  Someone said that this is one of the best examples in the whole of Scripture of godly civil disobedience. The Scriptures teach that we are to “be in subjection to the governing authorities” (Romans 13:1).

The plan didn’t work because Jonathon was David’s best friend.  That backfired because David now had someone on the inside who could warn him every time Saul was trying to kill him.

6) Saul tried to kill David by hit men (I Samuel 19:11-15)

We are told that “Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him.”  He hired professional killers to do the job.  He hired assassins but even they couldn’t get the job done.  Saul sent then back to try again, and they were still unsuccessful.

[1] Robert Altar, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 118.

[2] https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mental-illness-and-violence

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RFH7C3vkK4

 

Steps to Killing Goliath

Today, we come to one of the greatest stories in the Bible.  In fact, it is one of the greatest stories in all literature.  It is one of the most famous stories in pages of Scripture.  Everyone knows it.  Every child knows it.  This passage is as famous as John 3:16.  Even if you have never set foot in a church or opened a Bible, you know this story.

It is a story about FIGHTING.  This was an epic battle between two fighters.  Two men squared off to fight.  It is perhaps history’s most famous battle.  A soldier in one army challenges a soldier in another army to a one-one-one battle to the death.  The underdog wins.  The good guy wins.

It is a story about FAITH.  David is great example of incredible faith, faith in action.  He was probably somewhere between fifteen and twenty years old. He was in his late teens.  David displays bold faith in this chapter.

This is not just a children’s story.  In fact, part of the story is too graphic for children.  It is much too violent for children.  David does not just kill Goliath; David cuts his head off.  He decapitates him.  He does not kill him with a slingshot, like most assume.  He cut his head off.

Why did he do that?  He wanted to make sure he was dead.  Maybe he had seen one too many monster movies where you think the bad guy is dead but then he comes back to life and attacks you.

David wanted to make sure he was dead.  He needed proof.  When he went to talk to King Saul after the battle, he had Goliath’s severed head in one hand and Goliath’s sword in the other (I Samuel 17:57).  David also carried Goliath’s bloody head all the way to Jerusalem (I Samuel 17:54), which is sixteen miles away.

In fact, it is not just story at all.  It is history.  It actually took place.  We have found the actual place in Israel where this battle took place.  You can visit the Valley of Elah where David slew Goliath.  You can see the location on the Internet where the Valley of Elah is located today.[1]

The goal for today is to see what happens in this chapter but also to see how it applies to us.  What lessons does it have for us today?  If all we do is read this and talk about how David killed Goliath, we missed the whole point of the chapter.  This chapter has the potential to change your life.

Let’s begin by getting some background.  The chapter begins with a battle between two nations.  The come together to fight.  The Israelites are one hill.  The Philistines are on the other hill and there was a valley in between them (I Samuel 17:3).  The Philistines were on the north and the Israelites were on the south.  That raises an important question.

Identity of the Philistines

We know who the Israelites were.  Who were the Philistines?  The Philistines were Canaanites.  They were like the Native Americans who were in America before the white man appeared.  The Philistines were in the Promise Land before the Jews appeared.  They were a pagan people who were under divine judgment.

There were five Philistine cities in the Promise Land (Joshua 13:3).  Gath was one of them.  Goliath was a soldier from Gath.  People who were from Gath were called Gittites, not Hittites but Gittites (II Samuel 6:10).  Archaeologists have excavated Goliath’s hometown.[2]

The Jews were told to kick them out of the Promise Land.  Jonathon had some success against them, but they never were quite able to completely get rid of them.  On this occasion, there was a stalemate.  The two nations were at a stand-off.

Neither side really wanted to fight.  They used a method of warfare called representative warfare.  It was warfare by proxy.  The best fighter on one side was sent to fight the best fighter on the other side.  There are examples of this taking place in the ancient world.  It did happen.  The most well-known soldier in the Philistine army was named Goliath.

A Philistine Champion

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. (I Samuel 17:4-7 NIV)

1) He was strong

He carried a coat of armor that was about a hundred twenty-five pounds (I Samuel 17:5 NLT) and a spear that weighted fifteen pounds (I Samuel 17:7 NLT).  He was not just a soldier; he was the best fighter that the Philistines had.  He was the Philistine Samson.  It was like sending out Bruce Lee to fight.

2) He was tall

He was huge.  He was tank.  This was a tall Bruce Lee.  He was like a walking mountain. The Bible says that he was “six cubits and a span” (I Samuel 17:4).  That is about nine feet, nine inches.  Goliath was big.  He was almost ten feet tall. The NBA would have loved to have Goliath.  The tallest member of the NBA was only 7 feet 7 inches tall.

3) He was armed

He was not only tall, he was armed.  His body was full of armor.  He was covered in metal. He was covered from head to toe in bronze.  The Philistines had the best technology of the day.

4) He was intimidating

Goliath was big.  He was tall.  He towered over everyone else.   He was intimidating.  He was physically intimidating. He was a bully.  Have you ever faced a bully?  Goliath was not just a bully; he was a big bully.  He used words to taunt and hurt people.  He used psychological warfare.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. (I Samuel 17:8-11 NIV)

He challenged the Israelites to fight him.  He did it every day.  He did it two times a day.  He did it for forty days (I Samuel 17:16).  He laughed at the Israelites.  Their army was weak to him.  None of them were man enough to fight him.  He saw them all as a bunch of cowards.

He struck fear into an entire army.  All of the soldiers were completely paralyzed in fear.  He was so big that and no one dared to fight him. No one had the guts to face him.  You would think there would be one person in the army brave enough to fight him.  The one you would expect to fight him was Saul.

He was head and shoulders taller than everyone else in the nation (I Samuel 9:2), but he would not fight him.  He was too old.  God had rejected him.  The Spirit had left him, and he was not about to face him.

The next person you would expect to fight him was Jonathon.  He was known for his incredible bravery.  He attacked the Philistines twice by himself.  He defeated twenty Philistine soldiers by himself but even he dared not fight him.

Joseph’s brothers were in the army, but they would not fight him.  None of the soldiers would fight him.  They wouldn’t fight him, even with good incentives.  King Saul promised three rewards to the one who beat Goliath. What were the rewards?

The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.” (I Samuel 17:25 NIV).

Saul promised money and marriage to the one who fought Goliath and won but no one took him up on the offer. It would have been a suicide mission.  You would have to be crazy to go do it.  It is like going out and fighting Godzilla.

Challenge Accepted

Then, David arrives on the scene. When we first saw David in the Bible, he was just a shepherd.  Then, he became a musician.  He became Saul’s court musician.  In this chapter, we see him a great fighter, a brave warrior.  David had many different skills and abilities.  He was also a man after God’s own heart.

Why does he show up?  He didn’t show up because he wanted to be famous or be put in the record books.  He did not show up to show how tough he was.  He did not show up to fight anyone.  He did not show up to sign up for the army.  He was too young.  You had to be twenty to be in the army (Numbers 1:3).  He showed by because he was sent by his father on a mission.

His dad sends him to bring food (ten loaves of bread, ten cheeses).  The brothers got the bread.  The commanded of the unit got the cheese (I Samuel 17:17-18).  He gave cheese to the big cheese.  Apparently “the army was running low on rations.  Families of the troops held provide for the army.”[3]  Plus, it had been more than a month since they drew up battle lines and Jesse wanted to find out what was going on.  There was no television or internet three thousand years ago.

How far did David travel to get there?  The distance between Bethlehem and the Valley of Elah was about fourteen miles.  David had a long trip to take.  We are told he left EARLY in the morning (I Samuel 17:20).  When he got there, he saw Goliath out challenge, taunting and mocking the Israelites, blaspheming God.

A couple things are very interesting here.  This whole battle would not have taken place unless TWO THINGS took place.  The whole battle would not have taken place unless Jesse sent the right man and unless David came at the right time.  Jesse had eight sons.  Three were in the army and five were at home.

He wanted to send some food along.  He just happened to ask David to do it.  If he asked any of his other brothers, this battle would not have taken place.  David just happened to come at the right time when Goliath was out talking.  If he came at the wrong time, the battle would not have taken place.

David asks some simple questions.  David accepts the challenge.  Other soldiers hear that he is interested in fighting Goliath and is not afraid.  Saul hears about it.  David is taken to the king. He tries to give him his own armor, but David rejects them.  He can’t wear Saul’s armor.  It doesn’t even fit him.

David goes to the front line and Goliath sees him.  Goliath is insulted that the Israelites did not send their best fighter against him.  They just send a boy.  Instantly, his guard went down.  They did not send a soldier out.  They sent out a shepherd without any body armor on.  Goliath mocked and cursed him.  He threatened him.

David utters a prophecy.  The Holy Spirit came on him.  How did he know what was going to happen?  God must have revealed it to him.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. (I Samuel 17:46 NIV)

Seven Steps to Killing Goliath

What does this story say to us today? What is the application? A common approach today in some evangelical circles is that it does not say much to us today because David represents Christ, not us.[4]

That makes nonsense of the text. David was a man anointed by God and empowered by God.  He was a man filled with the Holy Spirit and used by God but he was just a man, an imperfect man.

When Jesus came to earth, he did not defeat the military might of Rome.  He was killed by Roman soldiers.  He did not kill Satan and cut his head off.  The one who died on the cross was Jesus, not Satan (although He also rose from the dead).  Satan has been judged but he is still roaming the earth wreaking havoc.

Jesus did not defeat a giant who was greater or stronger than he was.  Jesus was the one who created the angel who became Satan.  He is his Creator.

Matt Chandler says that the Bible is not about us, which is true, but he uses a complete straw man argument.  No one says that the Bible is about us.  The question is NOT whether the Bible is about us.  The question is whether the Bible APPLIES to us and on that point there can be no doubt.  The Bible applies to us.  The OT applies to us today.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. (Romans 15:4 NIV)

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. (I Corinthians 10:6-11 NIV)

I Samuel 17 DOES apply directly to us.  It shows that God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people, like a poor country shepherd boy. What he did for David, He can do for us. There are seven powerful applications from this chapter. There are seven steps to killing giants today.

1) Identify Giants

The first lesson from this chapter is to identify who the giants are in your life.  You can’t solve a problem until you know what the problem is.  We have all faced a giant in our life. What is a giant to me may not be a giant to you.  What is a giant to you may not be a giant to me.

What exactly is a giant from this chapter?  A giant is a challenge or problem that seems impossible.  It is something that terrifies and intimidates you.  It is something that you run from in fear.  It is something that you are afraid to face or confront.  It is something that enslaves you and brings you into bondage.

We fight battles today and some of them are against giants. All of us face giants in life.  Giants come in many different forms.  They are not always people.  None of us will probably face a physical Goliath that we have to fight but there are some modern-day Goliaths.  Max Lucado says that “Goliaths still roam our world.”[5]

“Your Goliath doesn’t carry a sword or shield; he brandishes blades of unemployment, sexual abuse or depression.  Your giant doesn’t parade up and down hills of Elah; he prances through your office, your bedroom, your classroom.  He brings bills you can’t pay, grades you can’t make, people you can’t please, whiskey you can’t resist, pornography you can’t refuse, a career you can’t escape, a past you can’t shake and a future you can’t face.”[6]

2) Remember Victories

Kill your lion and bear first.  That is what David did.  He did not start off killing giants.  He had to work his way up.  He killed a lion and a bear first and he did that when no one was watching.  He did that in private without an audience.[7]  Many people want to go out and kill giants and take on big problems when they cannot even take on small problems.

What experience do you have?  What spiritual successes do you have?  That’s the problem.  Some of us do not have any victories in our life but we should have some.  How has God already worked in your life? David killed a lion and a bear, but he was not content with that.  He was willing to see God do even greater things.

3) Trust God

Trust God in your problem.  Too often we try to fight our battles alone.  Jesus said, “With Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  David did not fight this battle on his own.  For David, the battle was not personal.  This was not really a battle between David and Goliath.

It was a battle between Goliath and God.  David said, “for the battle is the Lord’s” (I Samuel 17:47).  The battle was God’s, not David’s.  This was really a battle between Goliath’s gods and David’s God, although he played a role in it.

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” (I Samuel 17:45-47 NIV)

He used a slingshot, but his faith was not in his weapons.  He doesn’t say, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you with a slingshot.”  He says, “but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

David did not go into battle boasting and bragging about his skills and abilities.  He did not go against Goliath thinking, like Muhammad Ali that he was the greatest.  He brought God into his battles.  He trusted God to help him fight and to give him the deliverance.  That is the key.

4) Be Angry

As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.

Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (I Samuel 17:26 NIV)

David sees sin in the world.  He sees people blaspheming God.  He sees people defying God.  He sees people defying God’s people on earth and he is bothered about it.  He is angry.  He does not sit back and say, “That’s just the way things are.”  He is angry and he wants to do something about it.  This anger caused him to take action.  It caused him to step forward.  What causes you to get angry.  Are you ever angry over God not being glorified in the world and in the church?

5) Don’t Fear

Don’t fear your Goliath.  The soldiers were all terrified of Goliath, but David was the only one who did not seem to be afraid of him.  He was motivated by faith and not fear.  Goliath was intimidating but he was not God.  He was just a man.

If David was afraid of Goliath, he would never have fought him.  David runs toward the battle line.  He did not just fight him; he ran towards him.  He faced his challenges head on.  He did not let fear rule him.  One of the messages of this chapter is that size does not matter.  Outward appearances do not matter.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves

6) Ignore Criticism

Don’t listen to negative voices.  Sometimes we have negative voices in our head.  We hear all kinds of negative voices.  We may feel that God is calling us to do something, but we will get nothing but criticism and discouragement from people.  That is what happened to David. When he told people what he wanted to do, other people dismissed him, ignored him and laughed at him.  Do people ever do that to you?

What were the negative voices that David heard?  He heard negative voices from his family.  He heard negative voices from his king.  He heard negative voices from his enemy Goliath.  In fact, in this chapter, there were no positive voices, except one.  No one was encouraging David to fight Goliath.  No one could tell he that he could do it but, in the end, Saul finally said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” (I Samuel 17:37)

What did his oldest brother say?  When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? With whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle. (I Samuel 17:28 NIV)

Typical older brother syndrome.  David was simply doing what his dad told him to do.  He was an obedient son.  What was his older brother’s response?  Judgmental.  Critical.  Angry.  Feelings of superiority.  Questioning David’s motives for being there in the first place.  He was probably also a little jealous that the Prophet Samuel anointed David and not him to be king.

David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him” (I Samuel 17:32 NIV).  What did the king say?  Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” (I Samuel 17:33 NIV)

He said, “You can’t do it.  You can’t stand toe-to-toe against him. He is a professional martial artist.  He is an expert at hand-to-hand combat.  He is trained fighter.  He is a veteran.  You are a shepherd.  He is a soldier.  He has years of experience.  He is undefeated.  No one has beaten him before, and he is massive.  He towers over everyone.”

What did Goliath say to him?  He despised him.  He mocked him.  He threatened him and he cursed him.

Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” (I Samuel 17:41-44 NIV)

7) Use the right weapons

Every battle involves some weapons.  If you use the wrong weapons, you will not be successful.  You will not be effective.

Word of faith people say that we need to talk to our giants.  David talked to Goliath, but it was not words that took him out.  It was a rock.

David does not try to fight Goliath in Saul’s armor.  He doesn’t take a sword.  He uses a slingshot.  We think of it as a child’s toy but it was an actual weapon.

He does not use a sword because he did not own one and was not an expert in the sword but he was good with the slingshot, so he uses what he knows, is comfortable with and is good at.  He does not use someone else’s weapons.

Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. (I Samuel 17:40 NIV)

Some think this was a lack of faith.  Why did he take five smooth stones?  Why didn’t he just take one stone with him?  This is a ridiculous question.  He did it to be properly prepared for battle.

No one goes into battle with one bullet in his gun, unless you are Barnie Fife (as someone in my class pointed out).  No archer goes out with one arrow in his quiver.  David went out prepared for battle and so should we.

David also wisely killed Goliath from a distance.  He did not try to match him at his own game.  We also have battles to fight but our battles are not physical but spiritual (Ephesians 6:12).

[1] https://www.holylandsite.com/valley-of-elah

[2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/the-big-gath-dig-goliath-s-hometown/

[3] Faithlite Study Bible on I Samuel 17:17.

[4] This is the view of Matt Chandler (https://vimeo.com/34692625).  Others have followed this approach.

[5] https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/upwords/take-goliath-down-11630947.html

[6] Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants, p. 2-3.

[7] https://cedarministry.org/how-to-kill-your-goliath/

 

 

God’s Man

We are beginning a study of one of my favorite characters in the Bible.  We begin a study of David. He is mentioned more than Moses.  He is mentioned more than any other person in Scripture, apart from Jesus.  He is mentioned about a thousand times in the Bible.  He is mentioned more than Abraham.  He is mentioned more than Moses.

David is one of the greatest men in the Bible.  He is the only one in the Bible who is called “a man after God’s own heart.”  No other man is given that title.  No other woman is given that title.  It is not said of Moses or Abraham.  It is not said of Isaiah.  It is only said of David.

The Bible says this, not once but twice.  It says it once in the OT (I Samuel 13:14) and once in the NT (Acts 13:22).  If God says this about David, it must be true, because God does not lie.  Apparently, you don’t have to be perfect to be a man or woman after God’s heart, because David had some flaws. 

If you want to read about David, you can find him primarily in two books of mthe Bible: I & II Samuel.  The second half of I Samuel deals with the RISE of King David (I Samuel 16-31).  It gives us his rise to power.  The Book of II Samuel deals with the REIGN of King David.

II Samuel can be divided into three parts: David’s TRIUMPHS (II Samuel 1-10), David’s TRANSGRESSIONS, as he commits adultery and murder (II Samuel 11) and David’s TROUBLES (II Samuel 12-24).

David lived a thousand years before Jesus.  He was from the Tribe of Judah.  He lived in the small town of Bethlehem and he was the ancestor of the Messiah. Jesus called himself “the son of David.”

David became Israel’s greatest king but when we see him in I Samuel 16, he is not a great king.  He is not famous.  He is not popular.  He is not respected.  In fact, he is despised by his older brothers.

David is just a teenage country shepherd boy in this chapter.  He is just a child and he is a child in a large family.  He had seven older brothers and he is the baby of the family.  

Some kids are not taken seriously.  They are often not treated with respect.  No matter how old they are, they are always just the baby of the family (I Samuel 17:14).  David’s older brothers hated and despised him. 

In I Samuel 16,a thousand years before the time of Christ, God sends Samuel on a secret mission to the small village of Bethlehem.  Samuel does one of the most important things in his career.  He selects the next king of Israel.  He anoints David as king.

In the last chapter, the old king being rejected.  In this chapter, a new king being selected.  David is chosen to be the next king.  He is empowered by God.  The Holy Spirit comes on him powerfully and God gives him a promotion.  David begins his training for the job. 

Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank” (NIV).  That’s what happens to David.  He begins to work for King Saul in this chapter.  He begins apprenticing as king.

We are going to see three things in this chapter: David’s ANOINTING, Saul’s ATTACK and David’s ASSIGNMENT. 

David’s Anointing

Let’s look at the first part of the chapter.  The chapter begins with David’s anointing. God tells Samuel to anoint someone as king.  Why?  They already had a king.  God rejected their king.  We saw that in the last chapter and we also saw Samuel’s reaction.

He could have gloated.  Saul took over his job.  He was hurt when the people said that they did not want him.  They wanted a king.  He could have been celebrating.  He could have said, “Serves your right.  I told you so.  You should have stuck with me as you leader.” 

Instead, the text says that he had three responses: Anger (I Samuel 15:11).  Sadness.  He mourned for Saul (I Samuel 15:34).  Prayer.  We are told that Samuel prayed all night for Saul (I Samuel 15:11) and he mourned for Saul (I Samuel 15:34).  In fact, when we get to I Samuel 16, he is still mourning.

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (I Samuel 16:1 NIV)

There is a time for mourning when bad things happen but there is also a time to stop mourning.  God says something very interesting to Saul.  He says, “Stop morning.”  There is “a time to mourn” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). 

There is also a time to stop mourning.   God says, “Stop mourning.  Fill your horn with oil and go anoint the next king.  Anoint Saul’s replacement.”  Would God ever say something like that to us?  You have a problem.  Get up and go do something about it. 

But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” (I Samuel 16:2 NIV).  If Samuel anoints another king, while Saul was still king, and if Saul hears about it, he could be killed, because it would be considered treason. 

Samuel lived in Ramah in the north.  Bethlehem is ten miles away in the south and Saul lived between the two cities.  In order for Samuel to get to Bethlehem, he would have to go through Gibeah.  Samuel said, “I can’t do this.  It is too dangerous.”  God told Samuel to face his fears and to trust him.  Sometimes, we have to do the same thing.

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

Did God Tell Samuel to Lie

What is God saying here? Is God telling Samuel to lie? Is God encouraging deception? No. Withholding information is not the same thing as misinformation. Concealment is not the same thing as deception. You can tell the truth without telling the whole truth. Not telling everything” is NOT the same as lying.

Missionaries who work in countries where Christianity is illegal may tell people they are there for another reason (e.g., business, teaching) and that is not wrong if that is what they are doing. Samuel didn’t lie.

He did perform a sacrifice. He told the truth. Everything Samuel said was true. If he was asked, “Do you have any other purpose in coming? And he said “No,” that would have involved deception. It would have been an outright lie.[1]  

Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of HIS SONS to be king.”

God tells Samuel to anoint the next king.  He does NOT tell him who he is, but He narrowed it down for him.  God told him where the king lived (Bethlehem).  He told him which family he came from (the family of Jesse).  

Samuel knew the city and house he lived in, but Jesse had many sons.  He now knows that one of Jesse’s sons will be anointed as king, but he doesn’t know which one yet.  God did not reveal it to him, so he pays Jesse a visit. 

Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

Jesse had eight sons.  David had seven brothers.  The Bible gives us the names of six of them.  One might have died early, and his name is not recorded.  We are told the names of three of David’s brothers in this chapter (Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah).  We are given the names of three other brothers of David in I Chronicles 2:14-15 (Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem).  He Bible also records the names of two of his sisters[2] but this chapter is about his brothers.

A Cinderella Story

I Samuel 16 is a take on the Cinderella story. It is the biblical Cinderella story. The brothers know that Samuel is going to anoint one of them to be king, so they stand up in a line for this coronation. There is a line up almost like a beauty pageant. Whoever wins the line-up, wins the lottery.

David was not allowed to be in the line-up. He was deliberately kept out. He was deliberately excluded by his own family. Cinderella could not go to the ball because her stepmother gave her more work to do.

David was not invited to the feast because he had to take care of the sheep. He had to stay home. You say, this can’t be a Cinderella story unless it is a love story. Cinderella falls in love. Come back next week. David kills the giant and gets the girl.

Picture the scene.  Samuel shows up unexpectedly at the small town of Bethlehem to anoint the next king.  He comes to Jesse’s house.  Jesse was so excited to find out that one of his own sons would one day become king. 

Jesse’s sons line up for Samuel.  In that culture, the oldest would always go first.  They were considered the most important, because of primogeniture.  The one in the back of the line thought that he does not stand a chance because he is last. 

One by one, Samuel looks at each of them and rejects them all.  The first one steps forward.  He says, “No.  That is not the one.  Next person.”  Finally, he comes to the last son in the line and the man thought that he won the lottery (because there is no one else behind him).  Samuel says no to him as well.  That is seven rejections.

At this point. Samuel has a problem.  There is a disconnect somewhere.  Samuel is beginning to wonder if he heard God correctly.  God sent him to Jesse’s house to anoint the king. God said He was going to choose one of the sons.  All of the sons went before him and none of them were chosen, so he asks Jesse, “Do you have any more kids I don’t know about?  Is this all of them?” 

Jesse says, “No.  It is not all of them.  There is one more”.  “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” “Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” (I Samuel 16:11 NIV)

They go looking for him, find him and bring him back.  David walks in the door, Samuel sees him and instantly knows that this is the one.  Now, David woke up that morning and nothing seemed different about that day.  He went out and took care of the sheep that morning like he always did.  

Now, while he is working, someone rushes out to find him and tells him, “The Prophet Samuel is at your house and is asking to see you right now.”  David says, “What for?  Why does he want to see me?  Did I do something wrong?”  David walks in the door and gets the shock of his life.  He finds that he is going to be the next King of Israel. 

So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers” (I Samuel 16:12-13 NIV).

Once he is anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel, notice what happened.  So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. (I Samuel 16:13 NIV).  The Spirit did NOT come on David before he was anointed.

We want the same thing happening to us.  We want God’s Spirit coming on us POWERFULLY.  You can be saved but not filled with the Holy Spirit.  Many Christians saved but God is not doing anything in their life.  They are not filled with the Spirit.  They do not have any power.  You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you (Acts 1:8 NIV)

Lessons from David’s Anointing

What does this say to us today? What are the personal applications or lessons?

1) God is sovereign over human events, but he uses people to accomplish His will.

God is sovereign.  He is the one who is in charge.  He has the right to reject Saul as king and He has the right to pick a new king and He has the right to pick anyone he wants to pick but He uses people to do it.  He used the Prophet Samuel.

He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. (Daniel 2:21 NIV).

For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one and exalts another (Psalm 75:6-7 NIV)

2) We judge people one way.  God judges them a completely different way.

This is interesting.  David was handpicked by God to be the next king but the one he picked was not the one that anyone else would have picked.  David’s dad Jesse would have never picked him. 

His brothers would never have pick him. Even Samuel would not have picked him.  Samuel thought the first guy looked good.  Eliab walked by Samuel and he was impressed with him.

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:6-7 NIV)

God picked someone that no one else would pick.  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. 

He is NOT pick someone who looked like a king. David did not look like kingly material.  He just looked like a poor country shepherd boy.  He pickled someone who just came in from the field working with animals. 

He did not have time to take a bath or change his clothes.  He probably smelled to high heavens.  God was not looking on the outside.  He was looking on the inside.  Don’t judge a book by its cover.  We make snap judgments about people based on appearances and write them off sometimes because of how they look.  God does not do that.

He did NOT pick a politician.  He picked someone who had absolutely no experience in politics.

He did NOT pick someone famous.  He picked someone who was obscure.  He picked a complete nobody.  He was so obscure that he was not even on the ballot to be king.  He wasn’t a consideration. 

He did NOT pick an adult.  He picked a child.  This chapter shows how God can use young people.  He used Samuel (the boy prophet).  Now he uses David.  God bypassed all of the older brothers and went straight to a child and anoints him. 

The one who Samuel anointed was not even a man.  He was a teenager (probably somewhere between ten and fifteen years old).  You say, “Well that makes no sense.  He is too young to be king.”  That is true but he does not start ruling yet.  He will not be crowned for another fifteen years or so. 

Saul’s Attack

Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.  15 Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. (I Samuel 16:14-15 NIV)

Two things happened here.  The Holy Spirit left Saul and an evil spirit entered Saul.

Today, we would say that Saul was bipolar or suffered from clinical depression, but Saul did NOT have a disease.  He had some demons.  His problem was NOT that he struggled with depression.  His problems were NOT psychiatric.  They were NOT mental or emotional.  They were spiritual.  They were caused by an evil spirit

In fact, this was an evil spirit FROM GOD.  We are told that THREE TIMES in this chapter (I Samuel 16:14, 15, 16).  That seems a little strange.

The Bible does NOT say a harmful spirit from Satan tormented Saul. It says evil spirit from God tormented him.  How is that possible? We are told in churches that God doesn’t do this today. It would go against His character.  God is not the author of evil.

Does evil come from God?   God does not CAUSE evil, but He does PERMIT it.  He sovereignly allows it. He is even sovereign over demons.  Even demons have to get permission to do things.  We know that from I Kings 22 and Job 1-2.

Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.”

17 So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.” 18 One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.” (I Samuel 16:16-18 NIV)

David’s Assignment

We are told that David played the lyre.  The lyre was like the harp.  It was the guitar of the that day.  We find out that David was not only a shepherd. He was a musician and got a reputation for playing the lyre. 

David gets two jobs in this chapter.  His job at home was to take care of the sheep but when Saul finds out about him, he gives him two jobs.  He becomes Saul’s armor bearer and he became Saul’s court musician.  He did not get the job because he applied for it.  He got it through recommendation.  People heard about him.  He had a good reputation and was recommended for the job.

Saul had a problem.  When the Holy Spirit left him, it left an opportunity for an evil spirit to harass him.[3]  Everyone around him could tell he had a problem.  They could tell that the way Saul was acting was not normal and they thought that music might help calm him down, so they brought in David as the minister of music in the palace.  David becomes the first music therapist. 

Was this the answer to Saul’s problems?  No.  It helped with some of the symptoms but didn’t solve the problems, just like some doctors that do not solve your medical condition but just treat the symptoms.  Harp music was not a cure to his problem.  Saul had a sin problem.  He had a spiritual problem, but it did relieve some of the symptoms.[4] 

Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. (I Samuel 16:23 NIV).

What is the lesson for today?  This shows the power of music.  It shows the power of good music.  It is therapeutic.  Harp music could help Saul and he was not even a believer.

Music soothes the savage breast, as the poet says.  David played nice soothing music (not rap music, heavy metal or screamo music) and this soothing music was able to soften a hard heart. 

This shows the value of listening to good Christian music today.  That is why it is always good to listen to Spirit-filled music.  It lifts up your spirits.


[1] https://defendinginerrancy.com/bible-solutions/1_Samuel_16.1ff.php

[2] Zeruiah and Abigail, according to I Chronicles 2:16.

[3] He was probably not possessed but influenced by the evil spirit.  The Hebrew text says that it came upon Saul but never says it went inside him (cf. Leon Wood, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, 129-138, which can be found online at https://rediscoveringthebible.com/WoodSaulandEvilSpirits.pdf).  Harp music is not the solution to demon possession.  It takes more than soothing music to cast out a demon.

[4] John G. Butler, Analytical Bible Expositor – Joshua to 2 Samuel (Wordsearch).

Absolute Obedience

Today we come to an amazing chapter.  It records the rebellion and rejection of King Saul.  It is a passage full of incredible personal applications.  It is also a passage that raises some deep theological questions.  It is one of the chief passages on obedience in the Bible.  It is the chapter that contains the words “obedience is better than sacrifice.”  It is one of the most famous verses in the Bible.

It is a chapter that will completely challenge your view about God.  God gives Saul a command in this chapter.  What is the command?  Kill all of the Amalekites.  Wipe it out an entire nation.  Slaughter every man, woman and child.  Don’t spare anyone.  Don’t take any prisoners or hostages.

That is strange.  Is that what Jesus would do?  Kill babies.  Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.  This sounds a little harsh.  It sounds a little unloving.  I thought God wasn’t mad at anyone. I thought He loved everybody.  Why is He killing everyone?  That doesn’t sound like a God of love.

The truth is that many Christians today do NOT have a biblical view of God.  The God that many Christians worship is not the God of I Samuel 15.  The truth is that if you want to know what God is like, you have the read the whole Bible.  You can’t just read the NT.  You have to read the OT. You have to read the whole book, not just your favorite passages.

This is one of the most violent chapters in the Bible.  Saul is not the only one who does some killing in this chapter.  The man of God, Samuel, kills someone.  The old prophet killed a man, and he killed him violently.  Samuel hacks Agag to pieces with a sword.  That doesn’t sound very nice.  It is too violent and too graphic for TV.  It is definitely too graphic for church.

I Samuel 15 is also one of the saddest stories in the Bible.  Saul is rejected.  He is rejected by God and this is the second time it happens.  He was rejected by God in I Samuel 13 and now he is rejected again in I Samuel 15.

Saul was not only king; he was an anointed king.  He was an anointed leader.  He was God’s anointed king.  He was God’s anointed king and yet now he was rejected by God. He was a leader who lost his anointing.  In the next chapter, the Holy Spirit leaves Saul.

That raises a very important question.  Could that happen today?  Could what happened to Saul happen to a Christian?  The answer is Yes and No.  There are some similarities and some differences.

One difference is that the Holy Spirit does leave us like He left Samson and Saul.  The Holy Spirit operates differently today in believers than he did in the OT.  He used to dwell WITH people and now He dwells IN people (John 14:17).  The Holy Spirit would come on people to do a specific job in the OT.  Today, He permanently indwells believers.

There are some similarities.  Believers today can disobey God just like King Saul did.  We can sin like Saul did today.  Leaders can also lose their anointing.  We can’t lose our salvation, but we can lose a special calling to ministry.  We can be disqualified from service. God can take that away from us.  That still happens today.

God did not reject Saul because he did not like him.  God rejected Saul because he repeatedly rebelled against God.  He refused to obey and even God does not reject Saul totally right away.  He gave him several chances.

In I Samuel 13, Saul completely blew it.  The king tried to be a priest and Samuel rebuked him.  He called him a fool.  In I Samuel 15, Saul gets another chance to prove himself.  He gets one final test.  It is a test of obedience.  He fails the test.

Samuel confronts Saul face to face, leaves and when he leaves, he is done with Saul.  He never sees him again.  He talks to him again until he dies, although he does talk to him after he dies, when he visits the witch of Endor.

Saul’s Commission

Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (I Samuel 15:1-3 NIV)

This section raises all kinds of questions for skeptics of the Bible.  This chapter seems to make the Bible look bad.  It seems to make God look bad.  God seems to tell Saul to kill innocent people in cold blood.  Is genocide wrong.  If it is, how can God not only allow command genocide, how could He command it?  Is God sanctioning mass murder?  Isn’t God a love?

The problem is that our picture of God is all wrong.  Many Christians picture God as a doting grandfather who ignores sin and overlooks it.  He accepts everybody and doesn’t judge people.  That is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible LOVES people but He also JUDGES sin in the OT and in the NT.  That has been erased from much of modern Christianity.  God not only judges people; He judges nations.  God is the one who created life and can take it at any time.  God gave me life and can take it at any time.

That doesn’t mean that God is sadistic or that He likes to torture people.  Even this chapter, shows the mercy of God.  God is slow to anger.  He did not judge the Amalekites immediately.  He did not judge them for five hundred years.  He gave them plenty of time to repent but there was no change and the result was judgment.

What happens in I Samuel 15 is not genocide; it is judgment.  It is not jihad; it is judgment.  Jihads take place when people kill for God and they think that God will somehow reward them if they blow innocent people up.  That is not what is happening here.  God is the only one who has the right to take life.  We don’t have that right.  We do not have divine authorization to do this today.  God has not told us to do this.

Notice several facts about this commission.  Several things stand out.

First, Saul’s commission was GOD-GIVEN.  It was a divine commission.  Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says” (I Samuel 15:1-2 NIV).

This was not Saul’s idea.  This was not Samuel’s idea.  It was God’s idea. Samuel did not say, “This is what I say.”  He says, “This is what GOD says.” (I Samuel 15:2)

Second, Saul’s commission was ABSOLUE.  Saul was not only to kill the Amalekites; he was to kill ALL of them.  There were to be NO exceptions.  There were to be no survivors.

Third, Saul’s commission was very DETAILED.  It was specific.  Saul was to kill ALL of the people and ALL of the animals.  He was to kill ALL of the men and ALL of the women.  He was to kill ALL of the adults.  He was to kill ALL of the children and even babies and he wasn’t to spare anyone.

Four, Saul’s commission was completely JUSTIFIED.  God could have told Saul to do this without giving him a reason, but he gave him a reason.  What was the reason?

This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. (I Samuel 15:2 NIV)

Now this seems strange.  God is going to judge the Amalekites for something they did five hundred years ago.  God predicted back then that they would be destroyed.

 Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. 18 When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. 19 When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! (Deuteronomy 25:17-19 NIV)

What did they do?  They were the TERRORISTS of the day.  They took advantage of the weak, the sick, the elderly and people who could not fight back or defend themselves, just like terrorists do today who blow up a plane in the sky.  God sees what people do to His people and He sees what they do to the weak and helpless.  They think they can get away with it but the day of reckoning is coming.

Saul’s Response

How did Saul respond to this commission?  Did he complain?  Did he argue with God?  Did he say, “I’m not going to do it.”  No.  He started out great.

So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5 Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6 Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed. (I Samuel 15:4-9 NIV)

Saul had no problem killing women.  He had no problem killing children or even babies but the one person he saved was the king.  He killed the animals but not all of them.  The sick ones he killed but the good ones he kept.  They were too good to destroy.

He obeyed but he obeyed selectively.  He obeyed the commands he wanted to obey but not the ones he didn’t want to obey.  From that standpoint, he is no different from any Christians today.  Many Christians pick and choose which commands they want to obey in the Bible.

12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

Saul disobeyed God and even sets up a monument in his own honor but Samuel confront him face-to-face and Saul argues with him.  Samuel says, “Why did you disobey God?  Saul says, “I didn’t disobey.”  Saul says, “Well if you killed all of the animals, then why can I hear some of them?”  He blamed other people for that.

Saul answered, “THE SOLDIERS brought them from the Amalekites; THEY spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but WE totally destroyed the rest.” (I Samuel 15:15 NIV).

“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 THE SOLDIERS took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” (I Samuel 15:20-21 NIV)

Essentials for Spiritual Leadership

1. Obedience

Real leaders obey God, even when it is hard and even when it is unpopular. Saul did not do that. He disobeyed God. Saul did not do the job, so Samuel did it. He became Agag’s executioner. Samuel doesn’t kill an innocent man. He killed a man that God said should be killed. He was a baby-killer. Samuel said that his sword made women childless (I Samuel 15:33). It is like taking out Osama bin Laden. The punishment fits the crime. Are we obedient? Do we do what God tells us to do?

2. Honesty

Saul was dishonest. He said that he obeyed the Lord when he didn’t obey the Lord. He would make a good politician today. Real leaders are completely honest and transparent. Are we honest with people?

3. Accountability

Real leaders take responsibility for their actions, even when they make mistakes. Saul did not do that. He blamed other people for his actions. He blames the people for things he did. He is the exact opposite of his son Jonathon.  Jonathon took responsibility for sinning and was willing to die, even though he sinned in ignorance (I Samuel 14:43).  Are we accountable to people?

4. Humility

Real leaders are humble.  They act like servants.  They do not draw attention to themselves.  Saul is out building monuments to himself.  Are we humble?  Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips” (NIV)

5. Authenticity

Real leaders are authentic. They are real. Poor leaders are fake. They are phony. They are not real. Saul was fake. He went around saying “Praise the Lord.” He used religious language. He used flattery. When he saw him, he said, “The Lord bless you” (I Samuel 15:13 NIV).

Applications for Today

1) Rebellion is serious to God

We live in a day in rebellion is common, rebellion against parents, rebellion against teachers, rebellion against churches, rebellion against police officers, rebellion against the government.  Today, many would not see it as wrong.  Our whole country was founded on rebellion.

This passage tells us what God thinks of rebellion. We find in this passage that He hates it.  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry (I Samuel 15:23 NIV).  Being a rebel is just like being a witch.  It is one of the worst sins on the planet. In the OT, it was a capital crime.

It is so bad that God compares it to witchcraft.  Many of us would not think of committing witchcraft.  We would never do something as bad as that, but we have no problem rebellion against God-appointed authorities in society.  The irony is that Saul is involved in rebellion in this chapter and is involved in witchcraft at the end of the book.  He participates in the occult.

2) Rebellion has consequences

You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” 27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. (I Samuel 15:26-28 NIV)

Samuel says to Saul, “You rejected God and now He is rejecting you.”  That is the consequence of rebellion and this rejection is that it was permanent.  Many fallen pastors have been restored to leadership in the church.  Saul fell but he could NOT be restored.  He was rejected by God and this could NOT be changed.

Confession could not change it.  Saul said the words, “I have sinned.” In fact, he says those words, not once but twice in this chapter (I Samuel 15:24, 30).  Many say the words “I have sinned” when they are caught but it is not genuine.  Pharaoh said those words.  Judas said them. Bill Clinton said them.

Worship could not change it.  Saul worshipped God in this chapter.  Saul worships the Lord (I Samuel 15:31) and yet was still rejected by God.

Prayer could not change it.  Begging God for forgiveness could not change it.  Saul asked to be forgiven of his sin.   Now I beg you, forgive my sin (I Samuel 15:25).  He does not just ask for forgiveness; he begs for it.  He pleads for it.

Even the prayers of a prophet could not change it, even a prophet who prayed all night long.  Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.  (I Samuel 15:10-11 NIV)

In fact, God said that He was not going to change His mind about it.  “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” (I Samuel 15:29 NIV).

You say, “That does not seem fair. The poor man admitted he sinned. he asked to be forgiven. He begged to be forgiven. He worshiped God. A prophet prayed for him for hours and none of it seemed to matter.   God can forgive any sin forgiven but there is a difference between forgiveness and consequences.  If I commit mass murder, God can forgive me, but I still have to deal with the consequences for my actions and so did Saul.  There are consequences for our actions.

You say, “But doesn’t God believe in second chances?”  Isn’t He the God of second chances? This was his second chance.  Saul blew it in I Samuel 13, so God gave him one more chance and he blew it again.

One of the consequences of Saul’s actions is that God rejected him as king.  Now that did not stop him from being king.  He continued to rule as king and he continued to rule for a long time but God was no longer with him.  In fact, when he remained as king, he was actually fighting the will of God.  Many Christians today do the same thing.  Many Christians fight the will of God in their life.

3) God wants full obedience

That is the whole point of the chapter.  God wants us to obey Him.  He wants us to obey Him completely.  He doesn’t want us to obey Him selectively and to pick and chooses which verses we want to follow.  We really should not call ourselves Christians if we are not going to obey God.  Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord if you don’t do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46).

Saul did some things instead of obedience.  He was told to kill all of the animals but he kept some alive so he could sacrifice them to God.  Samuel said, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. Obedience is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22 NIV).

What does that mean obedience is better than sacrifice?  What does it mean today?  We don’t have animal sacrifices today.  Today, we would say, obedience is better than worship.  Obedience is better than going to church.  Obedience is better than being religious.  Obedience is better than performing some religious ritual or religious ceremony.  Here are some liberal churches that don’t believe the Bible.  They throw out the Bible but they are big on ceremonies and ritual.

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:10-17 NIV).

The Jews got to the point where they separated religion and morality and many still do today.  Muslim fanatics will commit all kids of unspeakable atrocities but will have the name of God on their lips.  Some Christians treat other Christians terribly in the world but will be the first people to go to church and be religious.

In biblical times, people would cheat, lie, seal and even kill but say, “That’s okay.  I am covered I went to the temple and offered some sacrifices.  I threw some sheep on the altar.”  It became the answer to everything. One pastor in Canada (Paul LeBoutillier), summarized it well.

“You mess up?  Sacrifice.  You do something you shouldn’t have done?  Sacrifice.  “Yeah, I know, I kind of did something I shouldn’t have done but I brought a sacrifice.  Just bring up a sacrifice because God loves those sacrifices.  All we got to do is to take him a sacrifice.  I don’t know what it is about sacrifices.  Something about blood.  I don’t know why but He likes it.  Just kill an animal.  I can probably sacrifice a sheep or two for having my fun.  It will be okay.” [1]  

What we learn from this is that God doesn’t just want a bunch of dead rituals from us.  He wants obedience.

Contrast of Characters

I Samuel 14 is a story of two men.  It is the tale of two men. These men are different.  They were polar opposites.  They were in the same family but were very different.  You can have two people in the same family who are very different.  You can have a brother and sister or two brothers or two sisters that are very different.  One usually takes after the father and one takes after the mother, at least that is the way it was in our family. In this case, the two people who are different are father and son.

How differently can there be? In many cases, there are not only personality differences but spiritual differences between family members. You can have sheep and goats in the same family.  Saul and Jonathon were very different.  One was godly and one was ungodly.  One of these men was wise and one was foolish.  You would expect the old one to be wise and the young one to act like a fool, like many young people do today, but in this case, the young one was wise and the old one was a fool. 

This whole chapter is a study in contrasts.  We are going to look at the spirit and Jonathon and the spirit of Saul.  Which spirit are you? Are you more like Jonathon or are you more like Saul?  Are you more like the father or are you more like the son? 

The Spirit of Jonathon

First, let’s look at the son.  The whole first part of the chapter focuses on Jonathon.  Jonathon was one of the most amazing men of the OT.  We call him Jonathon in English.  He never heard of that name.  His name in Hebrew is Yo-nah-ton.

Jonathon was the son of Saul.  He was not Saul’s only son.  Saul had a lot of children.  He had a wife (I Samuel 14:50) and he had a concubine (II Samuel 3:7).  I Samuel 14:49 mentions three of his sons (Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua) and two of his daughters (Merab and Michal).  He had another son from his wife mentioned in II Samuel 2:8 (Ishbosheth).  He had four sons from his wife and he also had two sons from a concubine (Ii Samuel 21:8).

Saul had at least six sons, but Jonathon was Saul’s oldest son.  That made him a prince.  He would have been heir to the throne.  He was Prince Jonathon.  Jonathon was not just a prince but also a soldier.  He was a brave soldier.  He is out fighting the Philistines in battle.  In fact, he and two of his other brothers, all die fighting the Philistines in battle at the end of the book.

What do we know about Jonathon?  He is one of the godliest men in the Bible. We usually do not think of rough soldiers as very spiritual.  We do not think of too many military men as being spiritually sensitive.  We don’t think of fighters as having a soft heart, but Jonathon was.  This one soldier was full of incredible faith.  He would have made a great king, although he never became king. 

Jonathon is the hero of the chapter.  He is the one who defeats the Philistines.  The great general in this chapter is not Saul but Jonathon. Was he perfect? No. Jonathon sins in this chapter. He gets in big trouble.  He almost lost his life.  He almost died for doing something that he did not even know was wrong.

Jonathon is a lesson on the incredible power of faith.  Jonathon is young.  He does something that is bold, daring, audacious and even dangerous but God works a miracle because of his incredible faith.  This chapter shows what one man can do with God.  It shows the power of one or in this case two (Jonathon and his armor-bearer).

Daniel 11:32 says, “The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (NKJV)

With God, simple, ordinary, uneducated believers can do extraordinary things that they did not think were possible. The Bible is full of example of people who did them, like David killing Goliath. Jonathon did great exploits in I Samuel 14.  The missionary William Carey said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” 

The cool thing about Jonathon is that he did not come from a really spiritual home.  His dad was not too godly.  In fact, he did not have the best father.  He was a little cold and distant, willing to kill his own son (“off with your head”).  He was not a very loving father.  The army seemed to love Jonathon more than his dad did in this chapter.

You do not have to come from a great home to be used by God.  You do not have to come from a great home to be to do great things for God.  You do not have to come from a great home to have great faith in God. 

The great prophet Samuel did not have a son like Jonathon.  He had two two boys (Joel and Abijah) and they were both wicked but Saul, who was not spiritual at all, had a godly son, one of the most spiritual men in the OT.  As we said before, godliness is not genetic.

Let’s look at what Jonathon did, what he did not do, how he did it, why he did it and what happened as a result. 

One day Jonathan son of Saul said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But he did not tell his father. Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, 3 among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left. (I Samuel 14:1-3 NIV).

What was the plan?  The plan was to attack a Philistine garrison with just one other person, his armor bearer.  The plan was to attack it singlehandedly without any backup.  This was a two-person assault. 

What was an armor bearer?  It was someone who carried a soldier’s weapons into battle.  He would have carried Jonathon’s giant sword.  He would have gone right into the front lines of battle.  In golf, he would have been like a caddy.  David later became King Saul’s armor bearer (I Samuel 16:21). 

What doesn’t he do?  He does not tell his dad.  He does not tell the king or anyone else (I Samuel 14:1, 3).  This was a secret mission.  Why does he not tell anyone?  Probably because he knows that they would not support him.  We need to be careful who you tell certain things to.  Jesus said not to cast your pearls before swine. He did tell his armor bearer. He was completely supportive.

The armor bearer could have been negative.  He could have been pessimistic.  He could have been critical. he could have been judgmental.  He could have said, “You have got to be crazy for two men to attack a military garrison without any backup at all.  That is not good military strategy.  We don’t stand a chance.  The odds are against us.  You are going to get us both killed.” 

Instead, the armor-bearer said, “Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said” (I Samuel 14:7 NIV). Not only “DO it” but “do ALL of it.  Do the entire plan.”  Then, he says, “GO AHEAD; I am WITH you heart and soul.” (I Samuel 14:7 NIV). Wouldn’t it be cool if we had people in our life like this armor-bearer?  Wouldn’t it be cool if we could support other people like this armor-bearer?

Why did Jonathon want to do this in the first place?  Jonathon had a promise.  Samuel told Saul that “he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines.  I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me” (I Samuel 9:16 NIV).  There is no sign that Saul believed this promise, but Jonathon did.  He took it seriously.  Some Christians take the Bible seriously and believe everything it says.  Others, not so much.  Jonathon knew another promise.

One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. (Joshua 23:10 ESV)

Jonathon not only knew his Bible.  He also knew the power of God.  He said, “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few” (I Samuel 14:6 NIV).  Jonathon believed that God could use two men just as much as he could use an entire army.  He did not have many troops, but it didn’t matter.  God can work when things are completely hopeless.  He has no limitations.  He can use you just as much as he can use Billy Graham or D.L. Moody.

Jonathon was a lot like us.  He thought he knew the will of God but he wasn’t exactly sure. Have you ever wanted to do something but you didn’t know if it was God’s will? 

Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. PERHAPS the Lord will act in our behalf.” (I Samuel 14:6 NIV)

Nothing is impossible with God.  With God all things are possible.  There is nothing God cannot do.  He believed that God COULD work regardless of the numbers. But he does NOT presume to know the secret will of God. He knows what God CAN do but he does NOT know what he will do.   He had no guarantee.  Jonathon believed in the POWER of God to do what Jonathon prayed.  He also believed in the FREEDOM of God to do something else.

This goes against the grain of some teaching in some churches.  It teaches that faith is NOT believing that God can; it is KNOWING that He will.  It teaches that we should just make things happen by DECLARING that that they should happen and then claim victory. Jonathon did not do that.  He dictate to God and try to force God to do his will. True faith does not tell God what to do but submits to His will. 

Jonathon knew the will of God generally but not specifically.  He was looking for the specific will of God, so he devised a sign.  He had to devise a sign to determine the will of God.

Jonathon acts very similar to the way Gideon did in Judges 6-7.  It is not identical.  It is a little different.  Gideon attacked the Midianites by surprise at night.  Jonathon’s attack was not a surprise but notice the similarities. 

Gideon went into the camp of the Midianites with just one servant.  He designed a fleece to determine the will of God.  They are thrown into a panic.  They fight one another and then reinforcements come. The exact same thing happens in this chapter. 

Jonathan said, “Come on, then; we will cross over toward them and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands.” (I Samuel 14:8-10 NIV)

What Jonathon does is that we often do.  We often do not know the specific will of God.  If this happens, we will respond this way.  If that happens, we will get a different message from God.  What was Jonathon’s sign?  The response of the Philistines to their action would be the sign.  If they say come up, we have a green light to go and God will be with us. 

So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. “Look!” said the Philistines. “The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.” 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up to us and we’ll teach you a lesson.”  So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me; the Lord HAS given them into the hand of Israel.”

When they said the words “come on up,” then Jonathon KNEW that he would be successful.  Jonathon and his armor bearer do some rock climbing.  They climb up a steep cliff on their hands and knees.  They climb up some sharp rocks and when they get to the top, the fight the Philistines.  They were completely outnumbered ten-to-one.  Geography was against them.  Numbers were against them but one by one they killed all of the Philistines. God gave the Philistines into the hands of Jonathon and his armor bearer.

The victory led to panic in the camp and it led to an earthquake (I Samuel 14:15).  The ground shook.  Saul and his army saw the confusion.  They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. (I Samuel 14:20 NIV). 

That led to more people wanting to fight.  Saul originally had three thousand men but was down to six hundred.  Now everyone wanted to fight, because the enemy is in disarray.  Everyone always wants to be on the winning team.  Morale went up.

When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit. 23 So on that day the Lord saved Israel, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven. (I Samuel 14:22-23 NIV)

Jonathon saw God work a miracle on his behalf.  What was the spirit of this young man Jonathon? 

1) Jonathon had the SPIRIT OF COURAGE. 

Jonathon was the king’s son, but he does not act like a pampered prince but a brave soldier.  He was fearless in battle.  He was not afraid of the Philistines.  He was not afraid to be in a dangerous situation.  This was the second time Jonathon did this (cf. I Samuel 13:3)

2) Jonathon had THE SPIRIT OF FAITH. 

This man was full of faith.  He was a man who believed the Word of God and took it seriously and trusted God to act on His behalf in some way.  He did not always know how but he took a step of faith.  He was a man who was not afraid to take some risks and step out on his own for God. 

3) Jonathon had THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP. 

Jonathon knew the promises of God and felt compelled to take action, decisive action.  He could not sit still.  He was tired of sitting, waiting and doing nothing.  He wanted to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.  He was not just a man of faith; he was a man of actions.  Some people love to argue about things but won’t do anything. They are all talk.

Jonathon was not just a man of faith.  He was a man of works.  Jonathon starts fighting the Philistines first.  He is the one out confronting the enemy.  He is the one taking the initiative.  Jonathon, not Saul, was the real general.  How many of us are like Jonathon? How many of us have his spirit?

The Spirit of Saul

The second half of the chapter focuses on Saul. What do we learn about the character of Saul from this chapter?  Saul had a completely different spirit in him.

1) Saul had THE SPIRIT OF FEAR

Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh. (I Samuel 14:2-3 NIV)

What is Saul doing?  He is at home resting under a pomegranate tree, like he is on vacation.  He is taking it easy, instead of going to battle.  He is not leading.  He is passive. He is indecisive. He is not doing anything. He is sitting on his hands. He only decides to fight them once he sees that they are on the run.  Then it is easy.  Saul is not leading. He is following. 

Instead of being full of faith, he is full of fear.  That was his first mistake.  Many Christians today have a spirit of fear.  In fact, COVID-19 had given them a spirit of fear.  Many churches have a spirit of fear. They dare not open their doors. God has not given us a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7). That does not come from God.

2) Saul had THE SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE

He was also hanging out with the wrong people in Gibeah.  He is with his troops, but he is also hanging out with a priest from the line of Phineas.  God completely rejected that line.  Eli the priest was killed and so were his two sons on the same day.  God was through with them and yet Saul is still hanging out with them.

Many Christians today have a spirit of compromise.  It is one thing to compromise on political issues.  Politicians have to make deals with the other side to get what they want.  It is another thing to compromise on moral issues.

How did Saul compromise?  He spent time with the wrong people.  For some preachers, this is not possible.  Jesus hung out with prostitutes and sinners.  If he hung out with prostitutes, we can hang out with anyone.  Are they right? Yes and No.

We should minister to anyone and everyone but there is a difference between ministry and close fellowship.  The Bible talks about all kinds of people you should not fellowship with or should avoid. this is not preached from the pulpit too much today.

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.  Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. (Proverbs 4:14-15 NIV)

Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house. (Proverbs 5:8 NIV)

He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. (Proverbs 13:20 NKJV)

Stay away from a fool, for you will not find knowledge on their lips. (Proverbs 14:7 NIV)

Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. (Proverbs 23:20-21 NIV)

You say, “I got that. I don’t go to the bars. I don’t spend time with hookers.”  The Bible actually goes beyond this.  Did you know that there are some professing Christians that you are not to associate with either?  You don’t hear this too much in church.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people (I Corinthians 5:9-11 NIV)

3) Saul had THE SPIRIT OF LEGALISM

Now the Israelites were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food. 25 The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. (I Samuel 14:24-25 NIV)

In the heat of battle, Saul commands his troops to fast for twenty-four hours (I Samuel 14:24).  He does not just say that you must fast.  He says that you will die if you eat food.  He made it a crime punishable by death.  As hungry as they are, when they actually see food in front of their eyes, like some honey in the woods, they can’t eat it, because if they eat it, they will die.  They struck down the Philistines from Mickmash to Aijalon (I Samuel 14:31 NIV). Biblical scholars tell us that this is about fifteen miles.

Saul’s army travels fifteen miles and fight the Philistines on an empty stomach.  That is just stupid.  Bad government always hurts people.  In addition to being at the wrong place with the wrong people, he is making the wrong decisions.  He made decisions that hurt his troops and put his own’s son’s life in jeopardy.  God did not tell them to do this.  Saul did.

This rule was completely unnecessary.  It was irrational.  It was counter-productive.  Some churches do the same thing.  There’s nothing wrong with rules but many we do not need rules that are unbiblical.  We don’t need rules that are stricter than the Bible.  We don’t need rules that bind people’s consciences.  We don’t need rules that cause people to sin. 

Many Christians have a spirit of legalism.  They are very legalistic.  Many churches are legalistic.  Many have silly, legalistic rules that are stricter than Scripture.  Some churches say that if want to go into the ministry, you cannot get married.  You have to be single.  Does the Bible say that?  No but that does not stop churches from believing it.  There are plenty of other churches with other silly rules.

What happens when you have churches that are legalistic?  What happens when parents are extra harsh on their kids?  They rebel.  If you go too far to one extreme, that just sends people to the other extreme.  That is what happened here.  When leaders are too strict and too oppressive, they encourage people to sin.

No one could eat and when they finally are allowed to eat, they are so hungry that they will eat absolutely anything.  They don’t have time to drain out all of the blood of animals, like Levitical Law said to do and they end up violating Scripture.

4) Saul had THE SPIRIT OF STUBBORNNESS

Saul starts out with a foolish vow and follows it a foolish punishment.  The decree said that no one could eat for twenty-four hours but the punishment for breaking that decree was death.  That does not seem fair.  If someone is hungry and tries to eat some food, Saul wants to kill him. 

Then, Saul takes it one step further.  He says that anyone who eats will be killed, even if he eats in ignorance and even if it is his own son.  Jonathon ate out of complete ignorance.  He did not even know about Saul’s decree.  He was out fighting the Philistines when Saul gave this rule but still wants to kill him.  As surely as the Lord who rescues Israel lives, even if the guilt lies with my son Jonathan, he must die.” (I Samuel 14:39 NIV)

If you are completely hardheaded and stubborn and inflexible and proud, you are like King Saul.  He said what he said and he was not going to change his mind.  Saul wanted to kill Jonathon but the whole army came to his defense.  At the beginning of the chapter, Jonathon delivered Israel.  At the end of the chapter, Israel delivered Jonathon.

But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death. (I Samuel 14:45 NIV)

How to Lose

We are studying I Samuel.  There are many pivotal chapters in this book.  I Samuel 13 is one of them.  Samuel lived about three thousand years ago.  The nation at the time was rule by judges and had been for years.

In I Samuel 8, the nation wanted a whole new political system.  They wanted a king.  Every other nation had them and they wanted them.  It was great that God was their King, but they wanted a king they could see.  It wasn’t God’s best for them but that’s what they got.  They got what they wanted.

Many of us do not get God’s best in our life.  We screw up.  We make really bad choices and end up with second best.  What happens in that situation?  Is there any hope?  In I Samuel 12, Samuel says, “You did not get God’s best but there is still hope.  You and your king still have a choice.  You can choose to obey and be blessed or you can chose to disobey and be cursed.”

In I Samuel 13, Saul chooses to disobey.  He completely blows it and it brings us to an interesting topic. All of us want to be successful in life.  We do not want to completely waste our life.  We do not want to live a long life and then die as a failure.  I Samuel 13 tells us how to be losers.  I Samuel 13 is a rather depressing chapter in the end.

It begins on a positive note.  Saul’s son Jonathon attacks a garrison of the Philistines and has some military success (I Samuel 14:3) but it ends with his dad King Saul as a complete loser.

Saul started out great.  He looked like a king.  He was head and shoulders taller than everyone else.  He was kingly in appearance.  The people loved him.  He was popular.  He had leadership gifts.  God’s Spirit fell on him and he prophesied.  On top of all of that, he was humble.  He was so humble that when they called his name by lot, he hid among the luggage.  He was the reluctant ruler.

Now, Saul becomes a REJECT.  Saul becomes rejected by God.  He fell under divine judgment and was rejected by God.  It is bad enough when people reject you.  It is bad when a boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you.  It is bad when a spouse divorces you.  It is bad when an employer fires you, but it is even worse when God rejects you.

God rejected Samuel, not once but twice.  He rejected him in I Samuel 13.  He rejected him I Samuel 15.  It had absolutely nothing to do with SALVATION.  It had to do with KINGSHIP.  Saul was the first King of Israel.  God put him on the throne and later He rejected him as king.

This rejection happened gradually.  It happened in stages.  It got progressively worse.  First, God rejected his kids.  He said to Saul.  “You are NOT going to start a dynasty.  None of your kids are going to take over when you die.”

Saul had a son named Jonathon.  He was in line to become the second king. God tells Saul that Jonathon will never be king.  He would never become Saul’s successor.

God told him, You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.(I Samuel 13:13 NIV).  If Saul had not sinned, not only would Jonathon have become king, but the Messiah would have come from the line of Saul.

In I Samuel 13, God rejected Saul’s kids.  In I Samuel 15, God rejected Saul himself.  He said that he will NOT be king anymore.  Not only will his dynasty not continue, he will not continue.

The Setting

What is the setting of this chapter?  What is going on here?  The chapter begins with Jonathon attacking the Philistines and he is successful.  Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it (I Samuel 14:3 NIV). That led to a counterattack.  It led to a massive military response by the Philistines. Jonathon picked a fight with the Philistines and stirred up a hornet’s nest.

The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven (I Samuel 13:5 NIV).

The Philistines invade the land of Israel and come to Mickmash (I Samuel 13:5).  Several things stand out here.

This was a MASSIVE INVASION. They came against Israel with thousands of soldiers, like the sand on the seashore.

It was a POWERFUL INVASION.  They came against the Israelites with chariots which were basically like tanks.

It was TERRIFYING INVASION. They came to the very center of the country to Mickmash in the land of Benjamin.  It was near the border of the northern and southern kingdom.  It is an Arab town today.

This was a real crisis.  The nation was in trouble.  The situation was desperate.  Morale was low.  Mass defections were taking place.  People were hiding in fear.

When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. (I Samuel 13:6-7 NIV)

Where was Saul?  He was at Gilgal (I Samuel 13:7) and invited the people to come there (I Samuel 13:4).  He had an appointment.  Samuel was planning on meeting him in Gilgal.

Before the Jews went into the Promise Land, they stopped at Gilgal and got right with God before they went into battle.  They circumcised their sons (Joshua 5).  Saul does not want to go into battle without the blessing of God.  Sacrifices were to be offered to ask the favor of God before the upcoming battle.

Samuel told him to WAIT until he got there before any sacrifices were offered.  When Samuel finally shows up, Saul had already made the sacrifices.  In fact, he left Gilgal with making any.  That brings us to our topic for today.  Today, we are going to look at three signs of a loser from I Samuel 13.

Three Signs of a Loser

SIGN ONE: You think that you are more important than you actually are

We become spiritual losers if we get a little too big for our britches.  We become spiritual losers if our head gets a little too big for us.  It could happen to a politician.  It could happen to a pastor.  It could happen to a boss.  It could happen to anyone.  Usually, it happens to someone in power, because power tends to corrupt.

He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. So he said, “Bring ME the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And SAUL offered up the burnt offering. (I Samuel 13:8-9 NIV).

The Law of Moses said that not just anyone could offer up sacrifices.  Only certain people were allowed to do that. Only Levites could offer sacrifices.  Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin.  He was not a Levite.  He was not allowed to offer any sacrifice, but he did it anyway.  He should have focused on the ministry that God called him to do, instead of trying to do someone else’s ministry.  He had plenty to focus on as king.  He had a big job.

God set it up so no king could ever be priest and no priest could ever be king.  There is one famous story in the Bible about this.  It is about a man named Uzziah.  He was another man who was a king and who started out great but ended terrible.  In fact, he died as a leper.  You might think that you do not know him, but we have all heard his name many times.  In the year he died, Isaiah saw an incredible vision of God (Isaiah 6:1).  What does the Bible say about Uzziah?

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2 He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his ancestors.

3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success…

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. 18 They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land. (II Chronicles 26:1-5, 16-21 NIV)

Are you humble or proud? Being humble doesn’t mean that we don’t have any self-esteem. Being humble doesn’t mean that we go around feeling bad about ourselves.  Being humble doesn’t mean that we don’t have any confidence.  Being humble doesn’t mean that we can’t have satisfaction in anything we have ever done.

Pride is different than all of these things.  When you are proud, you have feelings of excessive or inflated self-worth. When you are proud, you go around thinking you are better than other people.  When you are proud, you look down on other people.  When you are proud, you can never admit you did anything wrong.

SIGN TWO: You refuse to do what God tells you to do

The second way to become a loser is to not do what God tells us to do.  Samuel meets Saul in this chapter and confronts him.  He has some strong words to say.  In the Bible, prophets had the right to confront kings.  Hebrew kings were not absolute monarchs.  They weren’t dictators.  Notice what Saul said.

And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 11 “What have you done?” asked Samuel (I Samuel 13:9-11 NIV)

“You have done a FOOLISH thing,” Samuel said. “You have NOT kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. (I Samuel 13:13 NIV)

Jesus said that you are a fool if you do not BELIEVE the Bible.  Remember, He said to some disciples, “O fools and slow of heart to be believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25)  Samuel said you are a fool if you do not OBEY the Bible.

Saul disobeyed a direct order.  He disobeyed a clear command.  Many Christians do the same thing today.  Some Christians simply refuse to what God says in His Word, even when what it says is very clear.  Do we do what God tells us to do?  What was Saul told to do?  He was told to go to Gilgal and wait until Samuel got there.

“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must WAIT seven days UNTIL I come to you and tell you what you are to do.” (I Samuel 10:8 NIV).

He went ahead and offered sacrifices without Samuel.  What are the takeaways from this?  There are three:

  • If you disobey God, you always lose

The world thinks today that if we follow old-fashioned biblical commands, we will lose.  We will be held back in life.  We will miss out but if we disobey the Bible, we will win.  We will be better off.  The truth is that if you try to live your life contrary to the Word of God, you ALWAYS lose

  • You can have good intentions and be disobedient

Saul meant well but he was still disobedient.  Saul offered a sacrifice.  He offered it to God.  He thought he did a good deed, but God rejected him.  It is not enough to have good intentions.  It is not enough to be sincere and passionate.  Many fanatical Muslims have so much zeal for their faith that they will kill themselves.  We can have all kinds of zeal but, as Paul said, zeal has to be according to knowledge (Romans 10:2).

Jesus said, “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you WILL THINK THEY ARE OFFERING A SERVICE TO GOD. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. (John 16:1-3 NIV)

  • You can religious and be completely disobedient

Saul was religious.  He performed a religious ritual.  He offered a sacrifice.  He offered it to the true God.  He was trying to worship God.  We can be religious and still rebellious.

All kinds of people in this world are religious but that does not mean they are saved.  The Pharisees were very religious but many of them were unsaved.  God does not even accept all worship to Him, to say nothing of those who worship other gods.  Jesus says that some people honor God with their lips, but their heart is far from Him (Matthew 15:8).

SIGN THREE: You make excuses for your sin

The third way to lose is to make excuses when we do sin, to rationalize it.  That is what Saul did and it is what people still do today.  It goes all the way back to the garden.

Adam and Eve did that.  Adam blamed his wife for his sin (“THE WOMAN you gave me caused me to eat the forbidden fruit”).  He blamed God for his sin (“The woman YOU GAVE ME caused me to eat the forbidden fruit”).  Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  Saul did the same thing.  He gave Samuel four excuses for his disobedience.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering” (I Samuel 13:11-12 NIV).

What were some of his excuses he used?  He made four excuses. One excuse had to do with his troops.  One had to do with Samuel. One had to do with the Philistines, and one had to do with God.

The FIRST EXCUSE is that the men were scattering.  The troops are fleeing.  “Everyone is deserting me. I have to do something, and I have to do it now.” That is the excuse of situation ethics.  Ethics are determined by the situation. “The situation requires me to take action immediately and not wait any longer.”  It is based on the view that circumstances dictates policy and  dictate morality.

God’s eternal moral laws do not change with the situation.  They do not change with culture.  There is never a time when adultery is ever right at any time or in any place.  There is never a time or a place when it is right to worship an idol.  It is always wrong.

The SECOND EXCUSE is that Samuel did not come.  He has not made it to Gilgal yet.  Samuel was not there so he jumped the gun and took matters into his own hands.  He blamed Samuel for his own actions.  “It is your fault because you did not come on time”.  His second excuse involved guilt transfer.  It involved blameshifting.  It involved blaming other people, instead of taking responsibility for your own actions.

The THIRD EXCUSE was that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash and were going to come down against Saul.  He had thousands of Philistines and ten thousand chariots all around him.

This is the excuse of pragmatism.  This is the ends justify the means excuse.  The problem here is that the end does not justify the means.  Why not say–as some slanderously claim that we say–“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just! (Romans 3:8 NIV)

The FOURTH EXCUSE is “God wants a sacrifice.  I have to give it to Him, so I have to disobey you to obey God.”  This is the religious excuse.  He felt he had to do it to please God.  I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt COMPELLED to offer the burnt offering” (I Samuel 13:12 NIV). The problem here is that Saul was not pleasing God here.  He was deliberately disobeying God.

How People Rationalize Sin Today

We can criticize Saul for what he did but how often do we do the exact same thing today.  Many people today act just like Saul.  What are some of the ways they do it?  We cannot look at all of them but here are three common approaches used today.

1. They deny any wrongdoing

The first rationalization is denial (“It is not wrong).  They do not admit that they have even done anything wrong.   They will flat-out deny that what they are doing is sinful.  If we quote a Bible verse that says that something is sinful, they will say that we have the wrong interpretation of the verse or just reject the Bible as outdated.  They would never say that what they have done is wrong.  The Bible must be wrong.

2. They redefine wrongdoing

They redefine what is right and wrong.  In fact, instead of condemning sin, they embrace it.  They celebrate it (gay pride).  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Isaiah 5:20 NIV).

We do everything we can today to soften sin and to sugar coat it.  We use all kinds of euphemisms today.  God calls something sin.  The world today calls it something else.  They completely redefine it and call good evil and evil good.

  • Abortion is not murder. It is a woman’s right to choose.
  • Spanking children is called child abuse.  It is not discipline; it’s abuse.
  • Condemning sin is called intolerant.  If you denounce sin in any form, you a bigot.
  • Premarital sex is not called fornication. It is just living together, sleeping together or shacking up.
  • Lying is just called stretching the truth.  It is no longer considered deception.
  • Homosexuality is not an abomination or a sin against nature. It is called perfectly normal and natural. It is the way God made people.  Those who commit it are called gay. They are just happy. That sounds much better than calling something an abomination.
  • Cursing and swearing is no longer called sin. Now, it is called salty language. It is just colorful language.
  • Drunkenness is no longer called sin or a work of the flesh as Paul calls it. Now, it is called a disease or substance abuse.  It is not sin, just an addiction.
  • Violence is now called protest.  Vandalism, looting and destruction of property is just peaceful protest.

3. They attack the accuser

When you criticize them, instead of going on the defensive, they turn the tables and go on the offensive.  They say that no one has the right to criticize them.  No one is perfect.  Everyone sins.  Judging is wrong.  Jesus said NOT to judge people.  Only God can judge us.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2 NIV)

Are they right?  Jesus is not saying that all judgment is wrong.  He is not saying that you can never judge anything in that passage.  In the same chapter, he tells us to look out for false prophets (Matthew 7:125).  You cannot do that without, making a judgment.  When we tell people what the Bible says, we are not judging them. The Bible is. God is.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 NIV)

 

 

How to Preach Like Samuel

If you go to different churches, you will hear very different types of sermons.  What you will hear in a black church is different from what you will hear in a white church.  What you will hear in a Baptist church is very different from what you will hear in a charismatic church.  Preaching styles are very different.  Some preachers shout and scream.  Some spit on you.  Some are so quiet that you fall instantly to sleep.

Today, we get to see what kind of a preacher Samuel was.  Samuel was not just a prophet; he was a preacher. Samuel was the spiritual leader of the nation and he delivers a sermon in this chapter.  What kind of a preacher was he?

There are a lot of different types of preachers in churches today.   How many of them preach like Samuel?  What did he preach like?  We will find out today but first we need to get some background.  Without the background, the chapter will not make much sense.

I Samuel is a book about two people.  It is a book about two leaders.  One was prophet/priest/judge and one was a king.  The first part of the book is about Samuel.  The second part of the book is about Saul.

In I Samuel 11, Saul was inaugurated as the first king of Israel.  In I Samuel 12, Samuel resigned resigns from the job.  It is a chapter dealing with a transition of power.  It is about the changing of the guard.  Samuel is out and Saul is in.

Samuel is now an old man.  He is elderly.  He has led the nation since he was you and now he is old.  He is old and grey haired (I Samuel 12:2).  As Saul becomes the first king, Samuel resigns.  He steps aside.

Some people are too proud to step down when it is time.  Samuel knew when it was time to step down.  Someone else was selected to replace him but he does not resign as prophet.  He resigns as judge. His ministry is not over.  He still has some things to do.  He will go on to anoint the next king, but he resigns as judge. He will still function as a prophet.

As Samuel officially steps down, he gives a speech.  He gives a resignation speech.  He gives a farewell speech.  Many people who are old and who retire, give a speech but Samuel’s speech was a little different. This speech was not for a company but for a whole nation.  He was speaking to “all Israel” (I Samuel 12:1).

Most retirement speeches are lighthearted and funny.  They are positive and upbeat.  Samuel’s speech is not all positive.  It is not lighthearted.  It is dead serious.  It is bold.  It is direct.  It is confrontational.  It is in-your-face.

This was more than a speech.  It was a sermon.  It starts out as a conversation between Samuel and the nation but turns into a sermon.  I want to look at this sermon practically.  If people were to preach like Samuel today, how would they do it?

1) Be Transparent

He was also completely transparent.  He was passionate.  He was fiery.  He spoke from his heart.  He spoke from his own experience, but he also didn’t have a bunch of secrets.  He didn’t try to hide anything.  He was open about his life.

Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. 2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.” (I Samuel 12:1-3 NIV).

Many preachers are fake.  They get all worked up, ranting and raving but they are just a bunch of hot air.  They today stand up in the pulpit and rail against sin but are complete hypocrites.  They are guilty of the same sins they preach against.  Samuel didn’t do that.  He had integrity.  He had personal integrity.

He was a man of character.  He was a man of honor.  He was a man of faithfulness.  Samuel was an old man at this time, and he begins to look back on his life.

He reflects back on his life.  It is something all of us should do at some point. Samuel walked with God from his youth.  He did not walk with God as a child and then rebel from God as a teenager and live in the world for a while like many do today.

He was faithful to God all of his life.  He was not selfish.  He was not greedy.  He was not covetous.  He was not materialistic.  He didn’t get rich off of the people or take anything from them.  He did not rip anyone off or use the job just to enrich himself.  In fact, he even challenges the people to testify against him (I Samuel 12:3).  He challenges them to try to find anything against him.  Who does that today?

Samuel was blameless.  There was a lot they could say to criticize his two sons but they had no word of criticism for him,  Samuel was not perfect, so he said, “If I have done anything wrong, I will make it right” (I Samuel 12:3).  Few have that kind of integrity.  There is another man in the Bible known for being blameless.  It is Daniel.

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find NO CORRUPTION in him, because he was trustworthy and NEITHER CORRUPT NOR NEGLIGENT. (Daniel 6:4 NIV)

Daniel was blameless and what was unusual about him was that he was a politician.  He worked for the Babylonian government.  It is even rarer to find politicians with this kind of integrity and transparency.  His enemies looked for things against him but could not find any.  We do not have too many political candidates running for office like Daniel.

Many of them are not known for their personal integrity, honesty or character.  Most of them have some skeletons in their closet.  In fact, some have gone so far as to say that character does not matter.  That is what Bill Clinton said when people began looking at his life.

We need more people like Daniel and Samuel.  We need more leaders like Daniel and Samuel.  We need more pastors like Samuel.  Samuel was transparent.  Good leaders should be completely transparent.  Some pastors have cheated people.

Some have oppressed people.  Some have hurt people.  Some have done it in church.  They have ruled the church like dictators and tyrants and when they have been confronted about it, cover it up or they deny it.  They don’t acknowledge their sin and they don’t try to make it right.  They justify it.

2) Be biblical

This sermon was biblical.  Samuel bases what he says on Scripture.  The biggest problem with modern preaching today is that much of it is not biblical.  Some Christians sit in some churches for years and do not know what the Word says, it is never preached from the pulpit.

Samuel bases his sermon on Scripture.  It is biblical history.  He bases it on history, but it is not secular history.  It is not just a dry history lesson that you might get in school.

Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. 7 Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.

8 “After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

9 “But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. 10 They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ 11 Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.

12 “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king. (I Samuel 12:6-12 NIV)

In this sermon, Samuel gives a history of the nation from the beginning all the way up to the current day.  He begins with the Exodus and goes all the way to the time of Nahash the Ammonite.  That was a current event.  It just happened in I Samuel 11.  Samuel does not just teach history; he teaches biblical history.  He does not just teach history for history’s sake.  He uses history for a spiritual purpose.

Sermons that are effective have to be based on Scripture.  Not all preachers today preach the Word.  Some get into the pulpit and just tell stories or jokes.  Some just preach politics.  Some preach modern philosophy or political correctness.  Some preachers just give self-help talks. They sound great.  They tickle people’s ears.

Preachers tells them people what they want to hear.  They preach things that are popular.  Many pastors today give “sermons that charm rather than challenge, entertain rather than edify”[1]  Paul told Timothy to “preach the Word, in season and out of season” (II Timothy 4:2).  We are to preach it all of the time.   What people really need to hear are God’s Words, not our words.

3) Be bold

This sermon was direct.  It was confrontational.  5 Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness AGAINST YOU, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” (I Samuel 12:5 NIV)

Now then, stand here, because I am going to CONFRONT YOU with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors. (I Samuel 12:7 NIV)

Samuel confronted the nation with what God did FOR them and HOW they responded to God (how they forgot God and said that they did NOT want Him to rule over them).  Samuel confronted the nation with its sin.  He did not hold back.  He says that what they did was EVIL.  He calls it “evil” twice (I Samuel 12:17, 20)

Samuel was not politically correct.  He did not dance around issues.  He was not afraid to talk about some topics.  He dealt with them and dealt with them directly.  Samuel preached against sin.

Some preachers are afraid to use strong language.  They do not preach against sin, because they do not want to offend anyone.  They do not want to be considered unloving.  Many preachers today try to be all positive because that is what people want to hear.  Samuel did not give the people what they wanted to heart.  He gave them what they needed to hear.

Samuel used strong language.  That does not mean that you have to be rude and obnoxious.  It means that you are not afraid to speak truth to people.  John the Baptist used strong language.  He was not afraid to rebuke Herod when he was living in sin.  Jesus used strong language against the Sadducees and Pharisees.  He called them HYPOCRITES.  That does not sound very ecumenical.  It does not sound very tolerant.

He was not afraid to preach against sin and he was not afraid to WARN people.  The chapter ends with a warning.  If you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will PERISH. (I Samuel 12:25 NIV).  He is not talking to pagans.  He is talking to God’s people.

How did they respond?  They responded well.  They took the rebuke, because Samuel was a man of integrity and he spoke truth to the people.  They acknowledged that they had sinned and asked Samuel to pray for them (I Samuel 12:19).

4) Be supernatural

17 Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”

18 Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel. (I Samuel 12:17-18 NIV)

Samuel did not just preach.  He didn’t just teach.  He performed a miracle right before their eyes.  Samuel was more than a teacher; he was a preacher, but he was also more than a preacher.  He was a prophet, not like some prophets we have in some churches today but a real prophet.  Supernatural things happened when Samuel spoke.  He could call down rain and thunder.

When Samuel spoke, they did not just see Samuel; they saw God at work.  Samuel had the people’s attention.  They were engaged.  They interacted with him as he spoke. Wouldn’t it be cool if we saw God directly at work when we speak to people about Him?

God was at work in this sermon.  God did great things in this sermon.  Samuel said in I Samuel 12:16, “Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes!” (NIV).  Wouldn’t it be cool if God did great things in churches today and Christians saw it?  Good preaching is supernatural.  God has to work in the life of the hearers

5) Be simple

This sermon was not complicated.  It was simple.  Good preaching does not have to be long and complicated to be good.  It can be simple.  Einstein once said that “The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.”  Samuel gave the people two choices, not ten or twenty, just two.  If you obey, you will be blessed.  If you rebel against God, you will suffer the consequences.

14 If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! 15 But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors. (I Samuel 12:14-15 NIV)

What are the two choices?  Fear God or rebel against God.  They can choose to obey or disobey God. The first option is to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all their heart (I Samuel 12:24).  The second option is to continue to do evil (I Samuel 12:25).

They are the same two choices that God’s people have today.  It was true in the OT and is true in the NT.  It was true of Israel.  It is true of the church today.  You can’t rebel against the commands of God and expect Him to bless you.

6) Be Balanced

One of the biggest problem of preachers today is that they are not balanced.  This is true of preachers all throughout the country.  What they say is true.  They say things that need to be said.  They say things that people need to hear but they do not preach the whole counsel of God.  They leave important things out.  If you do not do expository preaching and go chapter by chapter or verse by verse or book by book, most likely you are not preaching the whole counsel of God.

Some preachers are all negative.  Some preachers are all positive.  Some pastors preach the love of God, but not the wrath of God.  Some pastors preach the wrath of God, but not the love of God.  Some preach heaven, but never talk about hell.  Some preach hell, but don’t say too much about heaven.  We should preach both.  Both are in the Bible.

Samuel’s sermon was balanced. How was it balanced, unlike many sermons today?

  • He gave them both teaching AND application.

Some preachers are all teaching.  Some preachers are all application.  Samuel gave both.  He taught them biblical history, but he gave them some applications.  He gave them exhortations.  He told them to DO some things.  What did he tell them to do?

He tells the NOT to forget what God did for them (I Samuel 12:24).  He tells them not to turn away from the Lord (I Samuel 12:20).  He tells them to serve the Lord faithfully with ALL of their heart (I Samuel 12:24).  He tells them to fear the Lord (I Samuel 12:24).  He tells them not worship useless idols (I Samuel 12:21).

That is still a good exhortation for us today.  Do we fear God?  Do we serve Him?  Do we obey Him?  Do we serve God faithfully with all of our hearts or halfheartedly?

  • He gave them promises AND warnings

What promise does Samuel give the people in this chapter?  For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. (I Samuel 12:22 NIV)

What warning does Samuel give the people in this chapter?  Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish (I Samuel 12:25 NIV).  The chapter ends with a serious warning.  Samuel was both negative and positive.

  • He gave them both rebuke AND encouragement

He rebuked them for asking for a king and called it evil but he also gave them hope.  He gave hope to people who repented.  What do you tell people who have sinned?  What do you tell people who have sinned greatly?  What do you tell people who know that they have blown it and feel bad about it?  They may have sinned by marrying the wrong person (an unbeliever).

There are some consequences to our actions, always have been and always will be.  The Bible says that we reap what we sow.  On the other hand, there is hope to people who have completely screwed their life up.  There is hope for people who did NOT get God’s best for their life.

They could still have God’s blessing.  They may not be as blessed as much as if they had fully obeyed but they can still be blessed.  Israel could have God’s blessing, even with a king.  God is not going to abandon people.  He gives hope to the hopeless.

[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/itching-ears.html

Saul’s First Test

This chapter brings up an interesting question.  It is a question that there is a lot of confusion on.  Is it sinful to be angry?

If it is, is it always sinful?  Most believe it is.  I Samuel 11 gives us an answer.  What it says may sound a little shocking.  It is not what most people believe.  it is not what most people have been taught.

In the last chapter Saul becomes king.  Now the king is tested.  He faces his first test and he passes the test.  Saul starts out great.  This is a short chapter.  It is only eleven verses long.

It is a man’s chapter. There is a lot of action and violence, a lot of fighting.  Bad things happen in this chapter and God brings good out of evil.  In an earlier chapter, we saw how God brought good out of a PERSONAL TRAGEDY (some missing donkeys).

Now, he is going to bring good out of a NATIONAL TRAGEDY.  He is going to bring good from the evil.  He is going to bring good out of terrorism.  He brings good out of the violent Ammonites.  That is like bringing good out of ISIS, the holocaust or COVID.

Chronology of Events

To understand this chapter, you have to understand five events.  We are going to look at them briefly.

Event One

Israel asked for a king and got one. They got their first king, their first monarch.  They wanted a king like all of the other countries had.  They did not want an invisible king.  They wanted a king who would fight their battles and that is what they got.

Event Two

The king goes home.  After the king was chosen, he went home (I Samuel 10:26).  He did not set up a big bureaucracy.  He did not immediately move into the White House.  He did not sit on his throne in some fancy palace.  He went home and he went back to farming.  When we see Saul in this chapter, he is out in the field, plowing with oxen.  He was an old farm boy.

Event Three

A city is attacked.   The city of Jabesh Gilead is attacked by the Ammonites around 1043 BC.  Several ancient sources tell us that this took place about a month after Saul became king (DSS, LXX, Josephus).  The city they attacked (Jabesh Gilead) just happened to be the same tribe as Saul was.

Apparently, the Ammonites did not get the memo that a new king was chosen in Israel and he was from the tribe of Benjamin.  They assumed that Israel had no central government and was just a coalition of tribes.  They attacked Jabesh Gilead and put a siege around the city.  They cut if off from the rest of the world.  No one could get out and no one could get in.

That is how the chapter begins.  Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead (I Samuel 11:1 NIV).  That is what the Hebrew text says (MT) but there is another reading of this verse found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Now Nahash king of the Ammonites oppressed the Gadites and the Reubenites severely. He gouged out the right eye of all of them and there was no one to save Israel. There did not remain an Israelite man who was beyond the Jordan whose right eye Nahash king of the Ammonites did not gouge out, except seven thousand men who escaped from the hand of the Ammonites and went to Jabesh Gilead. And they were there about a month.[1]

The Hebrew Bible does not say this.  It is not in the Masoretic Text (MT).  It is in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Did this actually happen?  We do not know for sure.

This may not have been Nahash’s first military campaign against the people of Israel.  The Ammonites were located east of the Jordan River.  The tribes of Reuben and Gad also lived east of the Jordan River.  They may have attacked them first.

The Ammonites surround Jabesh Gilead.  The people ask for a treaty (I Samuel 11:1).  They say, “We will give you one, but we have to cut the right eyes out of all of your soldiers first” (I Samuel 11:2)

The Ammonites were terrorists.  Terrorism did not begin in our day.  It is not a new phenomenon.  The first terrorists were not Muslim.  Terrorism existed in Samuel and Saul’s day.  Nahash was a terrorist.

He wanted to gouge out the eyes of his enemies.  He did not just want to hurt them, he wanted to humiliate them.  He wanted to physical mutilate and dismember them.  It was cruel.  It was inhumane.  It was barbaric.

To make matters worse, the Ammonites were related to these people.  They were kin.  They had a blood connection.  The Ammonites were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew.  They were descendants of Lot’s youngest daughter through incest (Genesis 19:30-38) but they were still family.  The Ammonites are attacking their own relatives.

God is going to use the Ammonites to spotlight the new king.  He used a crisis to bring out Saul’s leadership qualities.  A good crisis often brings out the best in leaders.  George W. Bush leadership abilities were on display after 911. The coronavirus has brought out Donald Trump’s leadership abilities.

Event Four

Saul saved the city from destruction.  His first day on the job and he is thrown into the hot seat.  Saul faces his first test as king and passes the test with flying colors.  This was Saul’s finest hour.  Saul comes face to face with evil.

He comes face to face with barbarism.  He comes face to face with terrorism and he did not fear.  He did not back down.  The people wanted to surrender and make a treaty but he didn’t.  Saul was fearless.  There was no negotiating with evil.  There was no negotiating with terrorists.

The people ask for more time to make a decision and are given a week (I Samuel 11:3).  Everyone is crying and weeping.  Saul hears about what is going on, gets angry, cuts up an ox in pieces and sends it to the other tribes (I Samuel 11:6-7).

Saul went right into action.  He took charge of the situation.  He got the nation together in a crisis situation.  Saul may have been the king but he did not have a standing army.  He mobiles one quickly.  He mobilizes an army of over 300,000 soldiers.

He did not just quickly organize an army.  He planned an attack and the planning involved some military strategy.  They marched all night.  They attacked them early in the morning while they were all asleep.  He attacked them when they least expected it.

He attacked them from three directions (I Samuel 11:11).  It is hard enough to fight off an attacker from one direction if you are not prepared but Saul attacked them from three directions.

One hundred thousand troops attacked the Ammonites from three different directions.  It was the classic ambush strategy and it worked.  The Ammonites were totally wiped out, except for just a few men who escaped.

Event Five

Saul is celebrated and honored as king.  He is publicly affirmed as king.  He has become a war hero.  So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the Lord. (I Samuel 11:14 NIV).  He has the whole nation behind him and the whole nation is united.

Relevance Today

Why does this chapter matter?  Why is it important to us today?  This chapter is important for two reasons.  First, this chapter points us to Jesus.  Second, this chapter teaches us a valuable lesson.  Let’s look at these two points.

1. This chapter points us to Jesus.  The whole Bible points to Jesus and so does this chapter.

Saul: A Type of Christ

Saul is a type of Christ.  There are two main characters in I Samuel: Samuel and Saul.  Both men are types of Christ.  They are both pictures of Christ.

We know how Samuel was a type of Christ but how could King Saul possibly be a type of Christ?  Saul was an evil ruler.  He tried to kill David repeatedly.  He tried to kill his own son and his own son-in-law.  He was demonized.  He participated in the occult.

How could Saul possibly be a type of Christ?  We see how Saul could be a type of Jesus in this chapter.  Let me point out several similarities between Jesus and Saul. You cannot read this chapter and miss this.  It is important.

1) Both Jesus and Saul were kings

They were from different tribes.  Saul was from the Tribe of Benjamin (I Samuel 9:1-3).  Jesus was from Judah, but both were Jewish kings.  Saul was a king and Jesus is the king of kings.  Both started their ministry around the same time.  Saul became king at the age of thirty.  Jesus began his ministry around the age of thirty.

2) Both started their ministry at the age of thirty.

Both started their public ministry around the same time.  Saul became king at the age of thirty (I Samuel 13:1).  Jesus began his public ministry around the age of thirty (Luke 3:23).

3) Both Jesus and Saul were anointed

Both were not only kings; they were anointed kings.  Saul was anointed by Samuel with a flask of oil.  Jesus was also anointed.  He was anointed by Mary of Bethany.  He was anointed with the Holy Spirit.  In fact, the word “Messiah” means “anointed one.”

4) Both Jesus and Saul were Spirit-filled

When they began their ministries, the Spirit of God came on them.  The Spirit came on Saul.  When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. (I Samuel 10:6 NIV).  When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. (I Samuel 11:6 NIV)

The same was true of Jesus.  When Jesus began his ministry, He was baptized, and the Spirit descended on Him like a dove (Luke 3:22).  Luke 4:14 says that he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.

He went to Nazareth, entered the local synagogue, stood us and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 NIV).

5) Both Jesus and Saul defeat a powerful enemy

Saul defeated Nahash, the king of Ammon.  Nahash in Hebrew (nah-hash) means “serpent”.  Nahash was the serpent king.  He was a wicked king.  He was a powerful king.  He was intimidating.  He wanted to poke people’s eyes out and mutilate them.  Saul defeated the serpent king and so did Jesus on the cross.

6) Both Jesus and Saul delivered their people

They both delivered Israel from their enemies.  Saul delivered the Israelites form the Ammonites.  The word “save” or “salvation” is found three times in this chapter (I Samuel 11:3, 9, 13).  Saul is a savior in a military sense. He had a great victory.  He was the savior king, but Jesus is the real Savior King.

He is the savior of the world.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  He delivers people from their sins, but Jesus will also deliver people in a military sense.  At the Second Coming, when He returns, people die.  His robe is dipped in blood.  The Battle of Armageddon takes place.

7) Both Jesus and Saul were humble

The first king of Israel was not proud, ambitious.  He is humble.  He is humble in I Samuel 9, I Samuel 10 and I Samuel 11.  We see this quality repeatedly in Saul.

When Samuel said to him, “to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?” 21 Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?” (I Samuel 9:20-21 NIV)

In I Samuel 10, his uncle asked him what Samuel said to him when he saw him (I Samuel 10:15).  He did not take that as an opportunity to talk about his own political future.

He completely sidestepped the question.  He did not tell him anything about him being king (I Samuel 10:16).  When he was chosen by lot to be king, he was hiding among the baggage (I Samuel 10:22).

We see this at the end of I Samuel 10.  Not everyone likes Saul.  Some worthless fellows said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent (I Samuel 10:27 NIV).  We also see this quality of Saul in I Samuel 11.

12 The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it that asked, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Turn these men over to us so that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel.” (I Samuel 11:12-13 NIV).

This seems like the character of Christ.  Saul was not mean and vindictive.  It is what we see in Jesus.  He was gracious.  He was compassionate towards sinners.

He was compassionate to the worst of sinners.  He was meek and lowly of heart (Matthew 11:29). He prayed for His enemies and said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

8) Both Jesus and Saul were tested

A month after he became king, Saul was tested.  He faced a major crisis.  He passed the test.  He will not pass some other tests.  Jesus also was tested immediately after the Holy Spirit came on Him in the form of a dove.  He was tested by Satan in the wilderness.

9) Both Jesus and Saul receive vindication

Saul is publicly celebrated as king by the people.  He becomes a war hero.  Jesus will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Everyone one will day be forced to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.

2. This chapter has a valuable message for us about anger

Anger is a big problem in our day.  A spirit of anger has gripped the nation. Husbands are angry.  Wives are angry.  Children are angry.  Drivers on the road are angry.

Politicians are angry.  Protesters are angry.  People are out demonstrating with a spirit of anger.  Some preachers are angry.  They are always screaming, yelling and hollering.  There are some hate-filled preachers in some churches.

Many preachers have gotten it wrong on anger.  Some says that anger as always bad.  They say that anger is always sinful.  I Samuel 11 teaches something very different.  This chapter will go against what a lot of people believe.  It goes completely against what a lot of preachers say.

Not only is anger not always wrong, sometimes anger is good.  We know that because Jesus got angry (Mark 3:5).  I Samuel 11:6 says, “When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger” (NIV).  What do we learn about about anger from I Samuel 11?

1) Some events caused us to become angry

Something happened in the world, Saul heard about it and got angry.  He got really angry.  It says that Saul burned in anger (NIV).  He did not just become angry, he became “very angry” (NASB, NLT).  His anger was kindled GREATLY (KJV).

He was angry at Nahash.  He was angry at the Ammonites.  He was angry at and how God’s people were being treated.  He was angry at what was done to the people of God by the enemies of God right within the borders of Israel.

2) Anger leads us to take certain actions

Saul got angry and he did something.  Some people get angry and just talk about how bad things are.  Saul got angry and did something.  He was not just passive.  He acted and he acted decisively.

He cut a couple oxen into pieces and sent them through Israel.  Here you have to know the history of Jabesh Gilead.  Saul did not cut up a concubine in pieces and sent it to the other tribes like the Levite did in Judges 19 but he did cut up some oxen.

Then he organized an army and attacked the enemy.  He did not just get angry and talk about it (like we often do), he did something about the situation.  Is anger led to a military operation.  This is where it gets interesting.  Anger can lead to actions.  Sometimes the actions are sinful and wicked but not always.

3) Anger can be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. (I Samuel 11:6 NIV)

The Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul and he got angry.  This was God-inspired rage.  It was Spirit-directed and God-inspired. This was holy anger.  There is such a thing as an anger prompted by the Spirit.  The Spirit of God led Saul into righteous anger.  This anger was a direct result of the Holy Spirit coming upon Saul.

4) Anger can be sinful

Anger can also be sinful. Most of the time when we get angry, it is not because the Holy Spirit comes on us, it is because our sin nature (our flesh) comes on us.  Anger can be a work of the flesh.  How do you know when anger is sinful?

When anger is sinful, it is uncontrolled.  It controls you.  You do not control it.  That kind of anger does not come from the Holy Spirit because self control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23).  When anger is sinful, it is excessive.

If you want to see sinful anger, you just need to watch the news every night.  People on the street are protesting the death of George Floyd.   People were angry over racial injustice in the 1960s.  That was combined with self control.  The protests during the time of Martin Luther King were peaceful and nonviolent.

The anger over the death of George Floyd has turned into an uncontrollable rage.  It has led to rioters and looters and arsonists and murderers.  Anger that comes from the Holy Spirit results in justice, not injustice.

[1] http://dssenglishbible.com/1%20samuel%2011.htm

How to be Used by God

We are studying the Book of I Samuel and we come to an exciting part of the book.  Israel gets its first king.  This was like America getting its first President.  His name was shah-ool or Saul.  

Saul was the first Jewish king.  The whole second part of I Samuel is all about Saul. The first part is about Samuel.   Before we look at our chapter, we have to do a quick review.  We have to go back a few chapters.

In I Samuel 8, the nation asked for a king.  They did not just want a new leader.  They wanted a whole new form of government.  They wanted a monarchy.  Rule by a judge was old fashioned.  It is antiquated.

They wanted something more modern and up to date.  They wanted to be ruled by a king.  That is what the other nations had.  They were really rejecting God but God gave them what they wanted.

In I Samuel 9, the Prophet Samuel gets a revelation.  God reveals to Samuel who the first king will be.  He meets him.  He eats with him.  He honors him.  He gives him the best food and the best seat at the table.  He took him to his home and showed him some hospitality.

Samuel was the leader of the country and Saul is going to take his place, but he is not bitter.  He is not jealous.  He is not angry.  He is not vindictive.  He supports him.  He encourages him.  He wants him to succeed.  He consecrates him.

In I Samuel 10, Saul becomes king.  Both Samuel and Saul make history.  Saul becomes the first king of the Jews.  Samuel becomes the first one ever to anoint a king.  That that had never been done before because Israel never had a king before. 

Priests in Israel had been anointed before this, but this was the first king ever to be anointed and he was anointed by a prophet.  Samuel takes a flask and pours some holy oil on his head. 

Samuel actually anoints two people as king.  Later in the book, Samuel anoints David with oil.  Saul was anointed privately.  He was anointed in secret.  No one was around.  David was anointed in the presence of his family (I Samuel 16:13). 

In I Samuel 9, Saul & Samuel found out who the next king would be.  In I Samuel 10, the nation finds out.  Samuel does not just call the nation together and make an announcement and tell them that Saul will be their new king.  He lets them find out by lots. 

It is a little like drawing straws and pulling out the big straw or like writing names on sticks and randomly pulling out a name. Proverbs 16:33 says: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (NIV).

Lots were used to show that God is the one who chooses Saul.  Saul was NOT selected by Samuel.  Samuel had never met him before.  Saul was NOT selected by the people. 

This was not a democracy.  The people were not given a list of candidates and vote for the candidate of their choice.  That is the way we would do things.  It is what we will do in about ninety days.

God chose Samuel.  The tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot.  Saul’s family was chosen by lots and he was chosen by lots.  The people recognized that this was God’s choice, and they were happy with the choice.  Most of them were.  They said, “Long live the king” (I Samuel 10:24).

Unfortunately, no matter who the leaders are, no matter how good they are, no matter who chooses them, even if God chooses them, there will always some who don’t like them. 

But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. (I Samuel 10:27 NIV).  In every crowd of people, there are always some critics and skeptics.

Samuel did not just tell the people that now they have a king and the king could do what he wanted.  Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. (I Samuel 10:25 NIV)

That is interesting.  The Jews got a king, but the kings could not do anything they wanted to do.  The king was the top leader in the nation but even the king was UNDER authority. 

They were not to be absolute dictators and tyrants.  They were not to rule the country like Adolf Hitler.  Saul was appointed by God.  He was a minister of God and he was under the authority of God.

When these kings started to act on their own authority and do whatever they wanted to do, they could be replaced.  That is what happened to the Babylonian king Belshazzar. 

His kingdom will be taken from him.  He saw the handwriting on the wall and his time was up.  That’s what would happen to Saul.  How does this chapter apply to us today?   The fact is that is that much of it does not apply to us.

We don’t have kings in our country.  We have a President.  None of us will rule as kings. 

We will never be chosen by lot for a leadership role.  In fact, we do not even use lots today to determine the will of God. 

None of us will ever have olive oil poured over our head by some old prophet.  Who wants to have a greasy head? 

We will never meet a prophet like Samuel.  Most of the prophets in churches today are not anything like Samuel.

How does any of this apply to us today?  Saul had the opportunity to be used by God to do something that had never been done before in Israel.  He had the opportunity to serve as king.  We also have an opportunity to be used by God.  In I Samuel 10, we see four things we have to do to be used by God.

1) To be used by God, you have to be CALLED

To be used by God, you have to have a call.  Saul did not become a king because he was born a king.  He did not become a king because he wanted to be a king.

He had no desire to be king.  He was not out campaigning to be king.  He did not go around and tell people to vote for him.  He was not out promoting himself, like politicians do today.  He did not become a king because people elected him to be king.  That is the way it works in our system.  His name was not on the ballot.

The ONLY reason that Saul became king was because God chose him to be king.  He was called by God to be king.  How did he know that he was called to be king? 

He was anointed by the prophet Samuel.  Samuel took a flask and poured some holy oil on his head.  It is a strange custom.  We do not do this today, but Saul had an anointing for leadership.

This anointing was symbolic. Saul had a special call of God on his life for service that no one in the nation had and the oil consecrated him and set him apart.  He was divinely commissioned.  He was chosen by God. 

Today, we talk about “an anointed speaker” or “an anointed worship leader.” That refers to someone who has a special gift or ability or a special call of God upon his or her life.  Whatever God calls you to do is what He has anointed you to do.

Everyone is not called to public office or politics, like Saul was.  Everyone is not called to be a leader.  Everyone is not called to preach but we are all called to do something. 

In fact, the Bible says that God called us to do some things before we were born God said to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV)

The problem today is that people try to do a ministry without a call.  They are just doing it.  They do it because it is something they want to do, or someone else wants them to do it. 

It is something that they were pressured into doing but God never told them to do it.  Someone might have pressured them to do it.  

I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied (Jeremiah 23:21 NIV)

You have to have a call.  Saul knew he was called because a prophet showed up and anointed him.  The king was chosen by lots and his name came up. 

We have the Holy Spirit inside us, and we can recognize God’s call in our lives.  God will reveal our call a different way than He revealed it to Saul, but we are all called to do something.  Saul was called to be king. 

2) To be used by God, you have to be WILLING

It is possible to be called by God and NOT willing.  To be used by God, you have to be, not only called, but willing to serve.  You have to accept the call. There are examples in the Bible of people who accepted their call.  Peter and Andrew did.

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. (Mark 1:16-20 NIV)

Isaiah also accepted his call.  8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”  And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8 NIV).  Not everyone accepts the call of God on their life. 

Some MAKE EXCUSES why they could not do what God called them to do.  God called Moses to lead the Jews out of the promise land and he made all kinds of excuses why he couldn’t do it.   

He said, “I am not the right man for the job.  I am not qualified for the mission.  I don’t know your name.  No one will believe me, and no one will understand me because I have trouble speaking.”

Some RUN FROM their call.  That is what Jonah did. God says to go one in direction, and he went in the exact opposite direction. God wanted him to go east, so he went west.  People do that today.  God calls them to do one thing and they do the exact opposite.

Some PROCRASTINATE when they are called.  They put it off.  “Maybe, I will get to it later but not now.” That is what Saul did.  Saul had the biggest moment of his life at Mitzpah. 

His name comes up by lot.  He wins the lottery.  He was the number one pick in the draft, but he was not quite ready to accept it.  The idea terrified him.  To be king means you have the responsibility of the whole nation on your shoulders.  Saul was just a farm boy.

When his name was called, he did not step forward.  It is a rather funny picture.  Saul’s name was called by lot but there was no answer. The people looked for him.  They called his name but Saul could not be found anywhere. 

He was MIA.  That is a little strange, because Saul was not an easy guy to miss.  He was so tall.  He stood head and shoulders over the crowd, but they still could not find him. 

Where was he?  He was hiding. That is strange.  How do you hide someone who is that tall?  How do you hide Yao Ming in a group of people?  Samuel couldn’t find him.  He had to ask God where he was, and God said that he was hiding (I Samuel 10:22).

He was hiding in the luggage, which is interesting behavior for an anointed king.  This is a strange picture of Saul hiding in the luggage, hiding with the Samsonite.  Saul could hide from the Jews, but he could not hide from God.  He knew exactly where he was.

Why was he hiding?  We are not told but the impression you get is that he was terrified.  He did not want to be king. 

He did not choose to be king and he may have had an inferiority complex, like some of us do.  He was impressive on the outside, tall and stately but, on the inside, he was a completely different picture. 

He was reluctant.  He was hesitant.  He was terrified.  He did not immediately accept his divine destiny.  That spirit does not come from God.  For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline (II Timothy 1:7 NIV).

Many of us are like Saul today.  We are naturally timid.  We have a spirit of fear.  We have all kinds of insecurity.  We hide in the luggage.  God wants us to step up and we want to step back. 

Are we willing to do what God has called us to do or do we make excuses why we can’t do it and try and avoid it?  Are we going to choose the baggage or the blessing?  

3) To be used by God, you have to be EMPOWERED

Those He appoints, He anoints.  Those He calls, He equips. To be used by God, you have to be equipped. You need divine enablement.  You need supernatural empowerment.  You need the Holy Spirit. 

Before God uses you, He has to equip you and prepare you for service.  He does that in many different ways. God will equip you for whatever He has called you to do.  He will give you supernatural power to do it.

Many do NOT want to wait for that to happen but before we serve God, we have to be prepared.  Moses had to wait eighty years to be prepared for ministry.  God uses many things to prepare and equip people for ministry. 

As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10 When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. (I Samuel 10:9-10 NIV)

Saul was equipped by God to do what He called him to do.  He was equipped by God to be the first king of Israel.  The Holy Spirit came on Saul.  He did not just come on him.  He came upon him POWERFULLY.  He was completely changed.  He was transformed by God. 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8 NIV)

You can’t do God’s work without God’s Spirit.  If God’s Spirit does not come on us, we can’t be witnesses or do anything else, because we will not have any power.  Jesus said, “Without Me, you can do NOTHING” (John 15:5 NKJV).  We cannot be used by God greatly and serve God in our own strength. 

4) To be used by God, you have to receive CONFIRMATION

Those God calls, He anoints but those He calls, He also confirms. We all know that one person who thinks they are gifted and called to do something but no one else feels that way.  It is like the person who goes on American Idol who thinks they are the best singer in the world and they cannot sing at all.

In I Samuel 10, God not only calls and anoints Saul to be king, He confirms it.  He confirms it to Saul, and He confirms it to the nation.  Saul needed some confirmation of this call and so did the nation.  There is a public and private confirmation. 

Samuel told Saul that God had chosen him to be king.  That might have sounded crazy to him.  It was all very sudden and unexpected.  He was not quite ready to hear that.  Maybe he did not even believe him, so Samuel gave him three signs.  Saul did not just get one sign.  He got three. 

Three Amazing Signs

Samuel gave Saul three signs that would confirm and exactly what he said.  They were proofs that he would be the next king.  What is lost will be found.  Your hunger will be fed, and you will join in praise to God. 

These proofs were very specific.  They took place at a specific time in a specific place.  One would be near a TOMB.  One was near a TREE and one was in a TOWN.  These signs all happened on the SAME DAY (I Samuel 10:9).

The first sign is some NEWS he will receive.   He received the news near Rachel’s tomb.  Rachel was his great, great, great grandmother.  He will meet two men near this tomb with a specific message for him.

When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?” (I Samuel 10:2 NIV)

The second sign is some GIFTS he will receive.  Saul will receive these gifts from three men.  God will take care of him.  He will take care of his donkeys and he will take care of him with bread and with wine.  He will provide for his needs and He will provide for our needs as well.

“Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. 4 They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them. (I Samuel 10:3-4 NIV)

The third sign is supernatural POWER he would receive.  Saul will not see two or three men but more.  He will meet a group of men (at least four).  Saul will be given divine enablement for service.

5 “After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. (I Samuel 10:5-6 NIV)

Confirmation is not always supernatural or miraculous. How do you know if God has called you to do something?  Often, God will confirm His call in your life. 

He will confirm it to you and to other people.  When I was a young man in college, I hung out with two other men in church.  All of us wanted to go into the ministry.  Two of them ended up going into the ministry.

One became a missionary and one became a pastor, although neither one of them are in the ministry today.  I always felt that I somehow missed my calling and that I should have been a pastor. 

The reason that I never did is because I never received any confirmation.  Looking back on it, I am convinced that it was the right decision.  Have you ever received confirmation for what God has called you to do?  Saul did.

What does this say to us today?  If God is calling you to do something, he will confirm it to others as well.  That doesn’t mean, if you are called to go into the ministry that you have to be ordained.

Many famous Christians were never ordained.  Some of the most famous preachers in church history were never ordained.  D. L. Moody was not ordained, but he was still greatly used by God.  C. H. Spurgeon was not ordained.

Jesus wasn’t ordained. The Pharisees did not ordain him.  The Sadducees did not ordain him.  The Jewish rabbis did not get together an ordain Jesus to preach.  He was ordained by God.  He was anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Ordination has become meaningless.  Today, you can get ordained off the Internet.  In fact, even atheists can become ordained so they can perform weddings.  You don’t have to be ordained but if God has called you to be a pastor or do any kind of ministry, He will confirm it to you and to others.

Was Saul Saved?

I Samuel 10:9-10 raises a very important question.  It is a question that has led to a lot of debate and controversy.  When the Spirit of God came powerfully on Saul, did he get saved?

Many preachers think that Saul got saved in I Samuel 10.  Some Christians believe this (e.g., Chuck Missler).  It certainly sounds like it on the surface.

There are five things in I Samuel 10 that look like salvation.  They look like conversion.  Notice five things we are told about Saul.

1) The Holy Spirit came down on Saul (I Samuel 10:10).

He came down on him “MIGHTILY.”  He came down on him powerfully.  When we get saved, we get the Holy Spirit

2) God “changed his heart” (I Samuel 10:9 NASB, NIV).

Saul’s heart was completely changed.  He was transformed.  When we get saved, God changes us.

3) Saul was given “another heart” (I Samuel 10:9 KJV, NKJV, ESV).

Saul was given a heart transplant.  The old heart was gone, and he was given another heart.  When we get saved, we get another heart as well.  It happens at the new birth.

4) Saul was changed “into another man” (I Samuel 10:6 NASB, KJV, NKJV).

He became a different person.  When we get saved, we become a new creation.

5) Saul prophesied (I Samuel 10:6).

He exercised the gift of prophecy, along with other prophets in his day.  When we get saved, God gives us spiritual gifts.

Not everyone agreed that this is talking about salvation.  Some say (and I tend to agree with them) that this is not talking about salvation but kingship.  God did change Saul.

He changed him to make him king.  Saul went from a farm boy to king.  He was given another heart with respect to kingship, but he did not necessarily get saved at this point.

The fact that he prophesied is not even proof of salvation.  Balaam also prophesied.  He delivered prophecies about the coming Messiah.  The Spirit of God came upon him and he was not a true believer.

In the NT, the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas uttered a genuine prophecy. He prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation (John 11:48-50) but he was not saved.  There are some who have prophesied who will end up in Hell (Matthew 7:21-23).

Dan Corner believes that Saul must have been saved because he was chosen by God and it is inconceivable that God would have chosen an unsaved man to be king over His people.[1]

This is wrong in a number of ways.  God gave Israel the king they wanted, not necessarily the most spiritual one available.  Saul was chosen to be king, not chosen for salvation.  Jesus chose Judas to be an Apostle and he was unsaved.  Jesus called him “a son of perdition” (John 17::12 KJV) and “a devil” (John 6:70 ESV, KJV).

[1] http://www.apostasia.net/images/Daniel_Corner-The_Believers_conditional_Security.pdf (p. 163).

 

Case Study in Providence

The one doctrine that many people, including many Christians, have trouble accepting is the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.  The Bible teaches that God works all things out according to the purpose of his will, but this doctrine raises all kinds of questions.

Is God sovereign over our free will?  Is God sovereign over everything?  Is He sovereign over the big things in your life, like world wars and worldwide pandemics (COVID-19)?

Is He sovereign over little things?  Is He sovereign over the petty, little, mundane things of your life, like when you lose or misplace something?  Could God possibly be involved in that?

Is He sovereign over your problems?  We all have different problems.  Is He sovereign over our problems?  Is He sovereign over Satan?  Satan is described in the Bible as “the god of this world.”  Is God sovereign over Satan?

The answer to all of these questions is Yes.  We all have free will, but our free will does not cancel out God’s sovereignty.  He is sovereign over our problems.  He is even sovereign over our sins.

Joseph’s own brothers sold him into slavery.  They did something terrible, but God was sovereign over their action.  He used their evil action to get Joseph to Egypt.  That was part of His plan.  He brought good out of evil.

In the last chapter, we saw how Israel asked for a king.  It was not a good request.  It was a bad one.  They did not want God ruling over them.  Even though their motives were not right, God was sovereign over their request.

He brought good out of it.  He brought the Messiah out of it, who was born a king.  Jesus is a David King.  Even though the request was wrong, it was part of God’s plan.

God is even is sovereign when people reject Him.  He is sovereign even when people do not get what is best for them.  He is sovereign even when people get second-best.

Today we come to a great chapter that illustrates the sovereignty of God.  We will see that clearly here.  It gives us a case study in divine providence.  We are going to look at how God worked in Saul’s life and what He did in Saul’s life, He does in our life but first we need to do some quick review.

In the last chapter, the nation is dissatisfied.  They are dissatisfied with their leaders.  They are dissatisfied with their government.  They are dissatisfied with God and they wanted a change.

They came to Samuel’s house. Knocked on his door and said, “Sam, you are old.  It is time for you to step aside.  We do not want you ruling.  We do not want your sons ruling us anymore.  In fact, we do not want a judge.  We want a king.”  Why did they want a king?  Peer pressure. They wanted to be like everyone else.

Samuel goes to God and says, “What do I tell them?”  God says, “Give them exactly what they want but warn them.”  So Samuel says to them, “You can have a king but this king will cost you.  He will take away your freedom.  You will be slaves to this king.”  They said, “We don’t care.  We still want one.”

In I Samuel 9, we find who the first Jewish king will be.  His name in English is Saul.  In Hebrew, his name is shah-ool (which means “asked.”)  The first part of the book was all about Samuel.  The second part of the book is all about Saul.

The book ends with his death.  If you know the Bible, you know that there is another very important man named Saul in Scripture.  The other one is found in the NT.  There are two Sauls in the Bible.  They actually have many similarities.

The Tale of Two Saul’s

1. Both were Jews

In fact, both were from the same tribe.  Saul was from the Tribe of Benjamin (I Samuel 9:1-2, 21) and so was Paul (Romans 11:1; Philippians 3:5).

2. Both were leaders

Both were leaders of God’s people.  One was a political leader and one was a religious leader.

3. Both were called by God

Both were called to do great things.  Paul was called to be an apostle.  Saul was called by God to be king.   Saul is called in I Samuel 9.  Paul is called in Acts 9.

4. Both were supernaturally empowered

Both men were supernaturally empowered for service at the beginning of their ministry. The Spirit of God came powerfully on Saul (I Samuel 10:10). The Apostle Paul was filled with the Spirit as soon as he got saved (Acts 9:17).

5. Both tried to kill God’s people

The OT Saul killed some priests.  He tried to kill King David many times.  The NT Saul killed some Christians.

6. Both went through radical changes

Both went through radical changes, some for the better and some for the worse.  One Saul started off good and ended up bad and the other Saul started off bad and ended up good.  One ends up dying a martyr.  The other commits suicide.

Providence in Saul’s Life

God promised the Jews a king.  In this chapter, Samuel finds out who will be king.  He meets Saul.  He has dinner with him.  He gives him the chief seat in the meal.  He gives him the best food.  He invited him to his house and secretly he tells him that he will be king.

Samuel was a prophet but he did not know everything.  This is interesting.  Samuel told the people that they could have a king but did not tell them who it would be.  Even Samuel did not know who it would be.  Then God gave Samuel a revelation.

He said, “In twenty-four hours, you will meet the king.”  He still did not know who he was.  He had never met him.  About twenty-four hours later, he saw a man walking toward him about and God told Samuel, “That’s the man.”

How did these two men meet?  They never met before.  They never knew each other.  What brought them together?  They had a divine appointment to meet.  This is where it gets very interesting.   They met by divine providence.  They met by a rather strange set of circumstances.

God used some lost animals to arrange this meeting.  He used some stubborn donkeys to accomplish this purpose. He used a personal problem to accomplish this purpose.  He used a financial loss to accomplish it.  When you think about it, they would never have met unless several things just happened to take place.

Ten Surprising Things God Was In

1. Saul’s dad just happened to lose something important to him.

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost (I Samuel 9:3 NIV).  Some donkeys ran off and they were valuable.  This was not like losing your shoes or your belt.

These donkeys were like cars.  If he did not lose these donkeys, the two would have never met.  God was in their misfortune.  He was in their personal tragedy.  He was in their LOSS.

2. Kish just happened to send Saul to look for it and he agreed to go (I Samuel 9:3).

Those two points were crucial.  If Kish sent someone else or if Saul refused to go, he would not have met Samuel.  God was in Saul’s MISSION.

3. Kish just happened to send a servant with him to look for them.

Saul’s dad said, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” (I Samuel 9:3 NIV).  If the servant was not sent or a different servant went on the mission, Saul would never have met Samuel.  Saul would never have found Samuel without this particular servant.

This servant knew all about Samuel.  He knew that he was a man of God.  He knew that he was highly respected.  He knew that everything he said came true and he knew where he lived (I Samuel 9:6).  God was in Saul’s HELP.

4. The two men just happened to not find the donkeys.

Donkeys are big animals.  More than one of them were lost but they could not find them (I Samuel 9:4).  If they found them, Saul would NOT have met Samuel. God was in their lack of success. God was in Saul’s FAILURE.

5. When they could not find the donkeys, they just happened to keep looking.

So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them. (I Samuel 9:4 NIV)

They looked for three days.  That is important.  If they gave up looking after one day, they would not have ended up in Samuel’s city.  God was in their PERSISTENCE.

6. They just happened to be in the town where a Man of God lived

When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come, let’s go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.” 6 But the servant replied, “Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.” (I Samuel 9:5-6 NIV)

The servant has one more suggestion and Saul agrees to try it.  If a man of God did not happen to live in this city, the servant did not suggest this or if Saul said, “No,” he would not have met Samuel.  God was in the LAST STRAW.

7. Saul’s servant just happened to have one silver coin in his pocket.

Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered him again. “Look,” he said, “I have a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us what way to take.” (I Samuel 9:7-8 NIV)

The servant had one last suggestion before they went home and that was to ask Samuel if he knew where they were, but Saul had an objection.

He said that they did not have any money to give him.  Why did he want to give him money?  OT Prophets were supported by personal gifts and donations (I Kings 14:1-3; Ezekiel 13:19).

The servant just happened to have a coin in his pocket.  If the servant did not have that coin, they may not have met. God was in their POCKET CHANGE.

8. The Prophet Samuel just happened to be in town that day.

We are told that in I Samuel 9:12. If they were there they day before, they would not have found it.  They just happened to be there on the right day.

It just so happened that Samuel was in town that day and it just so happened that they happened to meet him in the street.  If they came to the city a day earlier or came into town an hour later, they would NOT have met Samuel.  God was in their TIMING.

9. The two men just happened to meet some people who knew Samuel’s exact location in the city.

11 As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer here?” 12 “He is,” they answered. (I Samuel 9:11-12 NIV)

When Saul and this servant climb up a hill, they encounter some young women out to draw water.  They ask them about Samuel and they knew all about him.

If they did not meet them, the outcome may have been different.  God was in their CHANCE ENCOUNTER with complete strangers.

10. The Prophet Samuel just happened to know what happened to their donkeys.

Samuel had never met Saul or his donkeys and yet he was able to help them.  He not only had the answer; he gave them the answer BEFORE they asked him the question (I Samuel 9:20). He got the answer by divine revelation.  Samuel had a Word of Knowledge.

What could have happened is that Saul spends three days trying to find the animals and finally finds Samuel who says to him, “I have no idea where your donkeys are.

God has not spoken to me.  Keeping looking.  Depart.  Be warm and filled.” but he did not say that.  God was in this MYSTERIOUS REVELATION.

There is incredible irony in this story.  Saul and his servant went looking for some lost donkeys.  They never found the donkeys but found a prophet instead.

Have you ever lost something, spent time looking for it and you never find it but you find something else instead?  Saul went looking for something small and found something big.  He went looking for donkeys and found kingship instead.

God used the lost donkeys to bring Saul to Samuel. People might say that this was all chance.  It was all coincidence.  It was an accident, but this was more than chance.  It was divine providence at work.  God works through divine providence.

God often works through the ordinary circumstances of life.  He used straying donkeys to bring about this meeting between the two men.  God worked providentially to bring Saul to Samuel, and He works providentially in our lives as well.

Providence in My Life

God has worked providentially in my own life.  I would never have met my wife unless several things took place.

It just so happened that Anne and I lived in the same city in the 1980s.

It just so happened that we both went to the same church in that city

It just so happened that we both went to the same university.

It just so happened that my dad was a music professor at this school.

It just so happened that she was a music major in this school

It just so happened that we broke up many times.  She kept breaking up with me.

It just so happened that I chose to go to get as master’s degree in religious studies from Western Kentucky University, a school she told me not to attend because it was a secular university.

It just so happened that because I went to that school, we ended getting back together and getting married.  One of the professors at that school was a godly man, William L. Lane, who gave us some counseling and eventually performed our wedding.

Saul Character Study

Before we leave this chapter, we need to do a quick character study on Saul.  Saul is the first king.  What do we know about Saul from this chapter?  What type of person is he?  We see four things about Saul from this chapter.

1) Saul’s FINANCIAL state

There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. 2 Kish had a son named Saul (I Samuel 9:1-2 NIV)

Saul was rich.  He had some money.  His family was not poor.  They were wealthy.  He owned land.  He owned slaves.  He owned donkeys and donkeys were like cars in our day. They were modes of transportation and cargo.   His dad was wealthy.  He was prominent.  He was influential in the community.

2) Saul’s PHYSICAL state

2 Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else. (I Samuel 9:2 NIV)

He was also physically impressive.  He looked great on the outside.  He looked like Mr. America or as they would have said “Mr. Israel.”  He was tall.  In fact, he was the only Israelite in the Bible said to be tall.

He would have made a great basketball player.  He would have been the Jewish Yao Ming.  No one would have been able to get the rebound.  He was head and shoulders taller than everyone else.

He was physically intimidating.  He was also good-looking.  He was tall, dark, handsome and wealthy.  We gravitate to good-looking people.  We judge things by how they look on the outside.

We judge by outward appearances.  That is what really impresses us.  That is what most look for in a spouse before anything else.

That is what many look for in a leader.  We always vote for someone who looks presidential.  We would never vote for someone that does not look like what we think a president should look like.

If we can’t picture them in the office because of how they look, we rule that person out.  Saul looked like a king.  He was every inch a king (to use the language of Shakespeare).

3) Saul’s MORAL state

When most of us think of King Saul, we think of an evil king who was psychotic and demonized.  He ordered the execution of some priests.  That is like killing a bunch of pastors today.   He tried to kill his own son-in-law David many times.

When we think of Saul today, we think of someone who sought out witches. He visited what we would call today a psychic to communicate with the dead in direct violation of God’s Word.   What type of character do we see in this chapter?  We see a lot of very good traits.

  • He was OBEDIENT. When his father told him to do something, he did it.  He did not argue with his dad or say, “Send someone else.  I am busy.”  He just went.
  • He was HARDWORKING. He tried hard to find these lost animals.  He was not lazy.  He went to several different cities looking for the animals.
  • He was PERSISTENT. He looked for a long time.  He looked for three days for these animals.  He could have gone back after the first day and said, “We tried to find them but we were not successful.”  He did not give up easy.
  • He was CONSIDERATE. He is out looking for his father’s lost donkeys, not his own lost donkeys.  He wanted to get back home because he knew his father would be worrying about him (I Samuel 9:5).
  • He was FAIR. He believed that if a man worked for you or provided a service that you should pay him.  You should compensate that person.   Saul wanted to give the prophet something for his services (I Samuel 9:7).  He was willing to do this even if it meant going hungry.  Their food was gone but they were willing to give their last coin to Samuel (I Samuel 9:7-8).
  • He was HUMBLE. He was so humble that even willing to take advice from a servant, who was lower in rank than he was.  When Samuel told him that he would be king, he said that he was just from the small tribe of Benjamin (I Samuel 9:21).  He came from a prominent family in Benjamin, but he was still humble.  He was so humble that when he went home, he did not tell anyone that he was even anointed king (I Samuel 10:13-16).

Saul started out great.  He didn’t do anything wrong in this chapter.  Everything he did was right.  Had Saul remained like this he would have been a good king.  Saul had a lot of potential, but Saul changed.  After he becomes king and gets power, he changed.  Power often corrupts people.

What is the lesson?  Good beginnings do not guarantee good endings.  Don’t judge by how things start.  Judge by how they end.

Many people start out great.  They make a profession of faith but in a few years, do not even know if they still believe in God.

Many churches start out great.  They are on fire but end up lethargic and lukewarm.  Some end up completely dead.

Many Christians schools started out great but did not end great.  They end liberal and apostate.

Many marriages start out great.  There is love and passion but a few years later, the two can’t stand each other.

4) Saul’s SPIRITUAL state

Saul had a lot of positive traits, but he was not a spiritual man.  The people didn’t want a spiritual king.  They did not want some great prayer warrior.  That was Samuel.  They wanted a worldly king and they got exactly what they wanted.  Saul was not a spiritual man.  How do we know?

First, he has a big crisis and yet never once is seen praying in his crisis.  Saul spends three days looking for his dad’s lost donkeys.  He looks everywhere.  Not once are we told that he prayed to ask God where they were.  He was not a man of prayer.

Second, he didn’t seem to know who the Prophet Samuel was.  Saul was from the Tribe of Benjamin, which was where Samuel lived.  Saul did not know where Samuel lived or who he was.  His servant had to tell him.

When Saul finally talked to Samuel, he did not know who he was (I Samuel 9:18-19).  That is strange because everyone in the country knew about him (I Samuel 3:20).

He was the most famous man in Israel.  He was the greatest prophet alive and he lived nearby to Saul and yet Saul did not seem to know much about him.

Third, he had no reputation for spirituality.  When the Holy Spirit finally fell on Saul and he began prophesying, people who knew him said, “What happened to Saul?

What is he doing prophesying?  When did he get religion? What is he doing in church?” (I Samuel 10:9-11).  It shows that this was completely out of character for Saul.

Fourth, he just happened to be from Gibeah.  That is where he lived in Gibeah (I Samuel 10:26).  It is where he will set up his capital.  That was like saying that he lived in Sodom.  Gibeah was the place where the worst atrocity in the history of the nation was committed.

It was the place where a woman was raped to death (Judges 20:4-6).  This woman was not only gang raped and murdered but her body was dismembered.  It was cut up into twelve pieces and sent all over the country.  This monstrous crime did not happen to long ago (Judges 19-21) and that led to a civil war.

We will be off next week but in two weeks, we will be in I Samuel 10.  Saul is anointed to be king.  He is introduced to the nation.  God calls Saul to do a job.  We will look at how he calls us to do things today.

Leadership 101

In this Sunday School class, we have been studying the Old Testament, because most Christians do not know it very well.  We have been looking at the book of I Samuel.

I Samuel is a book about two men – Samuel and Saul.  One was a prophet, a priest and a judge and the other was a king.  One was righteous and one was wicked.  One was blessed by God and one was judged by God.

So far, we have seen the life of Samuel.  He was the boy who was not supposed to be born.  His mom was infertile.  He was born as a result of her intense prayers.

He grew up in the Tabernacle.  He became a priest.  He became a prophet.  He became a judge.  Now he is an old man but he is still the top leader in the nation, which brings us to I Samuel 8.

I Samuel 8 is a short but an important chapter.  The leader Samuel is faced with a big crisis.  He faced one of the biggest crises of his leadership.  As a result of this crisis, the nation does not just a get new leader, it gets a completely new form of government.

In I Samuel 8, the nation moves from judge (Samuel) to king (Saul).  It is a transitional chapter.  In II Samuel, the nation will go through another change and another transition.

It will not be ruled by a just a king but by a dynasty.  Israel will not just be ruled by a king but by a whole line of kings from the same family.  It will be ruled by a dynastic king (House of David).

This chapter is important practically.  It tells us how to deal with a crisis, as we see how Samuel dealt with the biggest crisis of his life but this chapter is also important politically.  The whole political system of the nation changed after this chapter.  It could actually tell you how to vote.

Let’s do a little review.  It has been a long time since we have been in I Samuel.  In the last chapter, revival broke out in the nation.  The whole nation fell into revival.

They were on fire.  They confessed their sins.  They repented.  God blessed them.  He delivered them from the Philistines and brought peace to the Israelites.  Everything was going great.

When we come to I Samuel 8, twenty or thirty years have passed and everything has changed.  Samuel is old now (I Samuel 8:1).  By the time we get to I Samuel 12, Samuel is grey haired.  His sons are not children anymore.  They are leaders (I Samuel 8:1).  They are in ministry.

The red-hot revival is over.  Revivals do not last forever.  That is why we need to keep having them.  The people are dissatisfied.  They are dissatisfied with their leaders.

They are dissatisfied with their government.  They were dissatisfied with God. The leaders come to tell Samuel how they feel and what the solution should be.

Five Leadership Principles

I want to look at this chapter through the lens of leadership. What does this chapter say to leaders today?  Let’s look at five leadership principles that come right out of this chapter.

1. Real leaders do NOT have perfect families

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did NOT follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. (I Samuel 8:1-3 NIV)

Samuel was not only a prophet; he was also a parent.  We would love to think that that the great Samuel had a perfect family but he didn’t.  Samuel at this stage in his life was a lot like Eli the High Priest, if you compare I Samuel 2 with I Samuel 8.  There are a lot of parallels between the two men.

Parallels between Samuel and Eli

1) Both were leaders

2) Both were godly men

3) Both were old men

4) Both had two sons

5) Both appointed their sons to leadership

6) Both had sons who were wicked

Sam’s sons were Joel and Abijah.  Eli’s sons were Hophni and Phineas. Eli’s sons were priests.  Samuel’s sons were judges.

Both were wicked.  Samuel’s sons were not sleeping with everyone in the town, like Eli’s sons.  They were not promiscuous, but they could be bought (I Samuel 8:3).

They took bribes.  They were greedy. They were more interested in money than justice.  There are crooked politicians today who are just like them.  They lacked the character to be in the ministry, as many pastors do today.

That is why character is an important qualification for church leadership.  People who are greedy are disqualified.

Paul said in the NT that an elder is NOT be “a lover of money” (I Timothy 3:3).  Deacons who pursue dishonest gain (I Timothy 3:8) are disqualified from leadership in the church.

It looks like history is repeating itself. Samuel’s two sons Joel and Abijah came from a godly heritage.  They had some good role models.  Their father Samuel was godly.  Their grandmother Hannah was godly.  Samuel was a man of prayer.  Hannah was a woman of prayer.

Both sons had godly names (Joel and Abijah). Joel means “Jehovah is God” (Yo-el in Hebrew). Abijah means “Jehovah is my Father” (avi-yah in Hebrew). They did NOT have Egyptian names like Hophni and Phinehas.  They had good Jewish names, but they were not godly.  They were crooked.

What we like to do in our day is to assign blame.  Some criticize Samuel here.  Many commentators assume that he must have been a terrible parent.

He must not have raised his kids right.  Samuel grew up under Eli the High Priest.  Eli was not the best parent.  Samuel must have learned bad parenting skills from him.

Samuel must have blind to the faults of his kids, like many parents today.  Some kids today can act like devils, but their parents think they are little angels.

They argue that he should never appointed them to be judges in the first place.  This must have been nepotism.  All of that might be true but the interesting thing is that the Bible does not criticize Samuel.

It does NOT say that he was a bad parent.  He might have been a good parent.  All it says is that Samuel’s sons did NOT walk in his ways (I Samuel 8:3).

They were not anything like Samuel and they were judges down in Beersheba in the southern part of the country, seventy miles south of Ramah.  They were away from their father’s influence. He was not even near them.

The lesson is that Samuel’s kids were not like him and our kids are not always like us.  That is because of something called free will.  Children are not always like their parents.

Sometimes they are completely different.  That can be good, and it can be bad.  They can have different talents and abilities.  Your kids can have all kinds of gifts and abilities that you do not have.

Children are often different from parents spiritually.  That also may be good or bad.  A wicked parent can have completely righteous children.

A righteous parent can have completely wicked children.  There is no guarantee that a godly father or mother will automatically have godly children.

Godliness is not genetic.  The old English preacher Joseph Parker once said that “Grace is not hereditary.  When we see a good man, we expect his children to be like himself. But grace does not descend in the family line. The father may be an apostle, the son may be a blasphemer.”[1]

2. Real leaders have to deal with CRITICISM

Sometimes criticism is valid and sometimes it is not, but leaders have to deal with criticism.  If you don’t want to deal with a lot of criticism, then don’t be a leader.  It comes with the territory.  Look at how much criticism Trump gets as President from the media.  Leaders are not always popular, even good ones.

So ALL the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (I Samuel 8:4-5 NIV)

The leaders get together. They call an emergency meeting and they pay Samuel a visit. They come to his home in Ramah.  Samuel hears a knock on the door, and it is the leaders of Israel, not some of them but all of them.  A bunch of old men (the elders) come to talk to another old man (Samuel).

Samuel did not come to them.  They went to him and said, “Sam, your kids are rotten.  They are complete idiots.  You are old.  It is time for you to step aside and retire.  We do not want them ruling and we do not want you ruling us.  In fact, we do not want a judge anymore.  We want a king.”

This chapter probably describes the worst day of Samuel’s life.  Let’s try to put ourselves in his shoes.  Samuel was faithful to God all of his life.  He was consecrated by his mom as a Nazarite.  He had given his life to the nation.  He had worked hard.  He had not had any scandals.

He led the nation in revival, the greatest revival in its history.  There is peace in the land.  God had blessed them and now the leaders come to him with nothing but criticism.

They criticize him.  They criticize his sons and they criticize their government. If you are a leader or plan to be a leader, be prepared to face some criticism.

3. Real leaders must be able to face REJECTION

Here is an important life lesson.  Leaders, even good leaders are not always appreciated by people.  They are appreciated by God but not always by people.

Joseph was not appreciated at first.  Moses was not appreciated.  Jesus was not appreciated.  They said to him. “We will not have you rule over us.”

Jesus came to His own and his own people rejected him.  I have experienced rejection.  I have had several leaders who worked with me as apprentices who got up and walked out.

Samuel was a godly man.  He was a man of integrity, but the people were tired of him and wanted someone else in charge.

The people did not just want a new leader; they wanted a new government.  They wanted a whole new political system.  They wanted a king.  They knew that God was their spiritual King, but He is invisible.

They did not want judges over different areas of the country.  They wanted to have ONE KING over the whole country.  Israel had been a nation for four hundred years or so and never had a king and they wanted one.

The people who came to Samuel were not open minded.  They did NOT ask for a king.  They DEMANDED it.  They wanted one and were NOT taking no for an answer.  Their mind was made up.  They were not open to any suggestions.

They did NOT ask Samuel what he thought of the problem.  They did NOT ask God what the solution to the problem was.  They didn’t care what God wanted.

They wanted what they wanted.  They said, “Give us a king.  We do the same things with God.  Today, we do not say, “Give us a king.”  We say, “Give us something else and give it to me NOW.”

That is why it is always important to pray “not my will but you will be done.”  Many in charismatic circles do not like to pray like that.  They do not believe in praying like that.

They say that it is a lack of faith, but Jesus prayed that way (Mark 14:35-36) and He had plenty of faith.  We should never want something unless it is something that He wants.  He knows what is good for us.  We don’t.

Samuel was not too happy about this.  But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this DISPLEASED Samuel (I Samuel 8:6 NIV).  He was offended.  He was hurt. He took it personally.

You can’t really blame him but he later found out that this was NOT personal.  It was spiritual. God told Samuel, “it is NOT you they have rejected, but they have rejected ME as their king” (I Samuel 8:7 NIV).

Now this is interesting.  The ones who rejected God were not pagans.  They were not Philistines.  They were the Israelites.  They were the people of God.  Many of them might have been saved people.

Can a Christian today reject what God wants to do in his or her life?  Yes.  It is something that an individual can do.  It is something a church can do.  It is something a nation can do.  It happens all the time.  Do we reject God in our life?  Do we reject Him in certain areas of our life?

The reason they wanted a king is because they wanted to be like the world.  They wanted one simply because everyone else had one. God intended the Jews to be DIFFERENT from the other nations.  Two times we are told that they wanted to be LIKE THE OTHER NATIONS (I Samuel 8:5, 20).

and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”  (I Samuel 8:5 ESV)

But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (I Samuel 8:20 ESV)

They did NOT want to be different from everybody else.  They asked for a king so they could be LIKE the world.  Christians have the same problem today.  They do not want to be different from anybody.

Many Christians want to be like every other Christian.  They listen to the same music, dress the same way, use the same language, have the same views about sex, morality and politics that the world has.

Many churches want to just like every other church in the city.  The world has permeated the church.  Many buzzwords proclaimed by mobs in the street are repeated verbatim in church, often preached in the pulpit.

What the world says, the church says and the world often sets the agenda for some churches.  Many Christians want to be just like the world.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 ESV).

We are all tempted to be conformed to the world.  We want to be like the world.  We want to fit in like everyone else.  Are we conformed to this world or are we different from the world?

How do we avoid doing this?  We have to renew our minds.  Exposing us to God’s thoughts on a daily basis helps us not to think and act like the world.

4. Real leaders must SEEK GOD in a crisis

How do you deal with a real crisis?  Samuel had a real crisis on his hands.  How did he deal with this crisis?  Notice what he does NOT do here.  He did NOT blow up and lose his temper.

He did NOT get angry and lash out at them like we might have done.  He did NOT argue with them and try to debate them.  He did NOT get bitter and sulk.  He did NOT go and talk to other people about it.  He talked to God about it.  He prayed.

They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; SO HE PRAYED TO THE LORD” (I Samuel 8:5-6 NIV).

He took the matter directly to God.  When Samuel was hurt, he went and poured out his heart to God in prayer.  He went straight to God in prayer, just like his mom did.

The people came to Samuel with their request, but he said in essence, “I am not going to give you an answer.  I need to go and pray.  When I get a word from the Lord, I will come back and talk to you.”[2]

That is what we see in this chapter.  The people talk to Samuel and Samuel talks to God.  He talks to the people again and he talks to God again.

How do you deal with disappointment?  Do you do the same thing when people say things to hurt you?  Do you do the same thing when people don’t appreciate you?

Do you do the same thing when you are disappointed or frustrated?  Life is full of disappointment.  Do you go to God or do you go to other people?  Do you lash out in anger and frustration?

5. Real leaders do NOT look for simple solutions to problems

Leaders should not always look for a political solution to problems.  We look for political saviors today.  The Israelites, like many do today, thought their problem was political.

“If we just had a new government, if we just had a king, our problems would be solved.” Today we would say, “If we could just get a Democrat in the White House or just get a Republican in the White House.”

Just changing political forms, like going from a judge to a king, is not the answer.  It may solve some problems, but it creates others.  Samuel gives a warning against big government.

This doesn’t mean that Samuel was a Republican, but he does give an important warning here against a large centralized government that is still applicable today.

I Samuel 8 gives a biblical basis for the concept of limited government.  Government is good.  It is established by God.  Human government is a divine institution, but government can be abused.  Power corrupts.

That is why government must be limited.  That is one of the reasons we came up with the idea of a president, rather than a king, in our American political system.  Our whole government is based on a system of checks and balances.

Samuel went before God and told Him that the people wanted a king.  Samuel expected God would be against the idea.  He expected God to say “No.”

Instead, He said, “Yes”.  God said to “Listen to ALL that the people are saying to you” (I Samuel 8:7 NIV).  The ESV reads, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you.

God tells Samuel to give them what they want but then he adds this:  Now listen to them; BUT WARN THEM SOLEMNLY and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (I Samuel 8:9 NIV)

They got a king but that was only going to cause other problems.  Not every answered prayer is a blessing.  In some cases, it is a curse, when God gives us what we want.

Sometimes God gives us what we want in judgment.  Has this ever happened to us?  Have we ever asked for something and got it but it turned out to be a curse, not as blessing?  That is what happened here.

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will TAKE your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will TAKE the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will TAKE a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.

16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will TAKE for his own use. 17 He will TAKE a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” (I Samuel 8:10-18 NIV)

Samuel warned that, if you want a king, he will not be a giver but a taker.  We see the word TAKE five times in the passage (I Samuel 8:11, 13, 15, 16, 17).  He will not just take your fields.  He will take THE BEST of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.

He will start the draft for war.  God says, “You give a tenth to me in tithes.  Your king will also want a tenth in taxes.  He will TAKE a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. He will take a TENTH of your flocks.” 

Worst of all, he will make you all his slaves.  He will take a tenth of your flocks, AND YOU YOURSELVES WILL BECOME HIS SLAVES” (I Samuel 8:17 NIV).  Samuel warned that if they wanted a king, it would cost them.

Don’t expect government to solve all of your problems.  Many people look to government to do everything (education, health care, etc.).  Many today believe in big government.  Many think that big government is the answer to all of our problems.  Our faith should not be in our political leaders.  Our faith should be in God alone.

[1] Parker, Joseph. The People’s Bible. Kindle Edition.

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwju0u0D-M

Biblical Revival

We come today to I Samuel 7.  It is a short chapter, but it is profound.  This chapter is deep.  Three things happen in this chapter.

First, Israel has a big revival.  One of the greatest revivals in the Bible is the revival under Samuel at Mitzpah.  Samuel is a revivalist in this chapter.  He leads a whole nation in revival.  This chapter tells us what a biblical revival looks like.

Second, Israel wins a military victory against their enemy.  The Philistines were their big enemy.  They had beaten them in battle numerous times.  They had controlled the country for twenty years.

They finally lose in battle, territory was regained (I Samuel 7:14) and we are told that “there was peace between Israel and the Amorites” (I Samuel 7:14 NIV).  The chapter ends with peace.

Third, the Israelites commemorate and memorialize this victory with a pile of rocks and they name these stones “Ebenezer” (I Samuel 7:12). Ebenezer was the place where Israel lost the battle with the Philistines (I Samuel 4:1).  The very place of defeat and judgement becomes place of victory.

When we think of Ebenezer today, we think of Ebenezer Scrooge.  We may think of Charles Dickens. There have been a lot of churches names after Ebenezer, especially in the African American community.  Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King was the pastor. The word means “stone of help.”

I Samuel 7 is a chapter that is all about revival. Revival is important.  We need a revival.  The church today needs a revival. One of the greatest needs of the church in America is for a real revival.

Revivals in American History

We have had several revivals.  Historians have identified five revivals major revivals in American History.  The list is not exhaustive but below is a list of some famous revivals.

1. The First Great Awakening (1730s-1740s) led by John Wesley, George Whitfield and Jonathon Edwards.

2. The Second Great Awakening (1795-1835) led by Peter Cartwright and Charles Finney.

3. The Third Great Awakening (1857-1920) led by men William Booth and D.L. Moody and Jeremy Lanphier (the Prayer Revival).

4. The Azusa Street and Welsh Revival (1904-1906) led by Evan Roberts and William Seymore.  Seymore was a holiness preacher and was the child of emancipated slaves.

5. The Fourth Great Awakening (1960s-1970s) led by Billy Graham.

How do the revivals in the history books compare to revivals in the Bible?  What does a biblical revival look like?  There are a lot of myths about revivals.

When many people think of revival today, they think of a big sweaty preacher in a suit hollering at people.  We think of a lot of emotionalism.  We think of a lot of people crying and screaming.

When we think of a revival, we think of a good old-fashioned Baptist revival in some tent meeting.  This was not a Baptist revival with the song “Just as I Am”.  It was a Jewish revival with animal sacrifices.

When we think of a revival, we think of people coming to the altar to get saved.  We think of unbelievers getting converted and coming to faith.  Revival is not the same thing as evangelism.

Revival is for BELIEVERS, not unbelievers.  The people getting revived in this chapter were not the Philistines but the people of God, the Israelites.

The word “revival” means to live again.  It comes from a Latin word.  Unbelievers are spiritually dead.  They have never been alive in the first place.  The dead do NOT need revival.  They need resurrection.

What we see in I Samuel 7 is not the revival of a person or the revival of a church but the revival of a nation.  This revival did not happen to just a few people in the country but to the whole nation.  Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord (I Samuel 7:2 NIV).

How did that happen?  What can we learn from it?  Why don’t we see revivals today?  Why are so many churches spiritually dead?  Let’s look at six important revival truths.

Six Important Revival Truths

1) A revival is an extraordinary work of God

Revivals do not happen every day.  They are rare, exceptional.  They are supernatural.  They are works of God, not works of people.  They are a special movement of God’s Spirit. There had not been one like this in years.

Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord (I Samuel 7:2 NIV).  Something was different in the people.  There was a softness and an openness to spiritual things.

Samuel didn’t do it.  God it.  It takes a work of God to start a real revival.  It is not just something that you can put on the church calendar and plan for the Fall.

The ark had come back to Israel, but Israel had not come back to God.  Idolatry was practiced by the nation.  God’s people were worshipping false gods.  This went on for years.  It went on for twenty years.

Samuel spoke to the nation, prayed for the nation but nothing happened.  There was no change.  He must have been discouraged.  Twenty years have gone by with no change.  Then God did something amazing.

You may be in a difficult situation and have waited for a long time for a breakthrough.  You may have waited years.  You may have waited decades.

Don’t give up.  Prayers are not always answered immediately.  Sometimes, we need to wait for an answer.  After twenty long years, something happened.

After twenty years, the nation was finally ready for revival and this revival was real.  It wasn’t fake.  It was genuine.  It was sincere.  It was heartfelt.  They got right with God.

2) Revivals happen in times of great sin and darkness

We like at look at how bad things are.  Things may be bad in your family. Things are bad in the world and things are bad in the church.  and they have been that way for a long time.

Revivals happen when things are really bad.  When things get really bad and really dark is the time revivals usually take place.  They take place right after bad things have happened,

Often revivals are preceded by great tragedy.  Whenever there is a national tragedy (e.g., 911 or the assassination of a president), more people start going to church and have an interest in spiritual things.

When times get really bad and sin seems to be ruling in the country, when the church seems completely apostate, when it seems like a dark time is when a revival can take place.

Israel was in a dark place as well.  The nation had lost in battle.  There were mass casualties.  Thousands of people were killed.  Their religious leaders were completely corrupt.  Their high priest was killed.

The Ark of the Covenant was stolen by pagans and set up in the Temple of Dagon.  For seven months,  the ark was in one place and the Tabernacle was in another place. When it finally came back to the land, more Israelites dropped dead.  Twenty years later, deep revival broke out in the land.

3) Revivals are characterized by anointed preaching

Almost every revival has been characterized by fiery preaching.  God has to raise up a preacher for revival to take place.  He raised up Samuel.  Samuel was a preacher.  He was not just a preacher; he was a traveling preacher.  He was an itinerant preacher.

From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. (I Samuel 17:16 NIV).

Samuel has been called “the first circuit-rider.”  He was a circuit-riding JUDGE and a circuit-riding PREACHER.  The people came to Samuel and he had a word from the Lord for the message.  He gave a message to the people. God usually uses preachers during a great revival.

You have to hear the voice of God.  God has to speak to people.  His Word has to be preached.  This is where it gets interesting.  Not every pastor preaches the Word.  Our topic is biblical revival.  Not all revivals are biblical.  Some revivals are counterfeit.

Hank Hanegraaf wrote a book called Counterfeit Revivals.  To have a genuine revival it has to be biblical.  Worship must be in spirit and in truth.  A revival that is all spirit and NO truth is counterfeit.

A revival that is ALL emotionalism is not a biblical revival.  On the other hand, a biblical revival will show some emotions.  All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord (I Samuel 7:2 ESV).

4) Revivals begin with a deep sense of sin

Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” (I Samuel 7:5-6 NIV).

Why do we not see revivals today?  People have no sense of sin.  Karl Menninger  was a distinguished psychiatrist.

The American Psychiatric Association once called him “America’s great living psychiatrist.”  He wrote a number of influential books.  In 1973, he wrote the famous book entitled Whatever Became of Sin?

Menninger said this in his book: “The very word ’sin,’ which seems to have disappeared, was a proud word. It was once a strong word, an ominous and serious word. It described a central point in every civilized human being’s life plan and lifestyle. But the word went away. It has almost disappeared—the word, along with the notion. Why? Doesn’t anyone sin anymore? Doesn’t anyone believe in sin?”[1]

What he said is still true today.  Sin has disappeared from American society.  DRUNKENNESS is called substance abuse, not sin.  PREMARITAL SEX is called shacking up or cohabitation, not sexual immorality.  ADULTERY is just having an affair.  It is just a fling.

HOMOSEXUALITY is just an alternative lifestyle.  ABORTION is not murder, just a choice.  SWEARING even among Christians is not seen as sin.  Nowadays, profanity and vulgarity is just called “salty language.”  Sadly, this attitude has carried over into the church.

There is no sense of sin in most churches.  Many pastors no longer preach against sin.  They are more like cheerleaders today.  They do not preach negative hellfire and brimstone messages.

They preach soothing, positive, uplifting, and encouraging sermons.  Many pastors today are like the High Priest Eli.  Eli was too nice and too weak to preach against sin or stake a stand against it.

As a result, believers today have no sense of sin.  They have no sense of shame.  They have no sense of guilt.  There is no mourning or weeping before God.  Without a deep sense of sin, there can be no revival.  In this revival, there was a genuine sense of sin.

Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” (I Samuel 7:5-6 NIV).

5) Periods of revival are followed by genuine repentance

This is repentance among saints, not just repentance among sinners. If there is no repentance, there is no revival.  It is not enough just to have confession of sin.  Confession has to be followed genuine repentance.  It is not enough for a person to say the words “I have sinned.”  Judas said those words.  King Saul said those words but neither one genuinely repented.

The book Whatever Became of Sin? Should have been followed up by a sequel called Whatever Became of Repentance?  Repentance is a word we NEVER hear preached in the church but that is strange because it is all through the Bible.

It is in the OT.  It is in the NT. Jesus preached repentance.  John the Baptist preached repentance.  Jesus preached repentance.  They both said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17).

Peter preached repentance.  Paul preached repentance. The OT prophets preached repentance and yet you can go from church after church and never once hear that word.

When Peter preached to the Jews in Acts 2 and accused them of crucifying their Messiah and they were pricked in their heart, they asked him what they needed to do and he said to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus.

Repentance has been removed from the gospel.  People today a gospel without repentance.  It is the free grace gospel or the hyper grace gospel.  It turns the grace of God into lasciviousness. You cannot get into the kingdom unless you repent.

Jesus said, “Repent or perish”.  Ezekiel preached the same thing to his people.  He said, “Why will you die? Turn and live.  Repent and turn away from all of your offenses” (Ezekiel 18:31, 32, 30).

Notice what Samuel says here.  People came to Samuel and said that they wanted to turn to the Lord and follow Him.  Samuel did not immediately praise God.  He did not immediately rejoice and thank God that his prayers were answered.

He was skeptical at first.  He did not believe it.  Twenty years had gone by and they had not followed the Lord.  When people today make a profession of faith, we usually accept it.  Samuel told them to repent.  He told them to prove it with actions.

Repentance can involve sorrow.  It can involve tears but repentance is more than sorrow, regret and tears.  It involves ACTIONS.

So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, THEN rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (I Samuel 7:3 NIV).

This is interesting.  Samuel did NOT say to the Israelites.  You have been believing in false gods.  You have been putting your faith in Baal and Ashtoreth.  Instead, you need to start believing in Yahweh.  Samuel does not just tell them to stop believing in these false gods.

He tells them to put them away.  He tells them to get rid of them.  He tells them to throw them away.  Burn all of your idols you have been worshipping.  That sounds a little harsh.  It sounds intolerant.  It was not very ecumenical of Samuel.  It was not politically correct.  It sounded a bit extreme.

It may not have been easy.  They may have been attached to some of these idols.  These were fertility gods.  Pagans believed that they helped with fertility and they helped your crops to grow.  These gods were popular in that time.  Everyone else was worshipping in the ancient world.  Their shrines covered the land.

Samuel says to put them away.  He tells them to DO something.  Words were not enough.  Commitment was not enough.  Sincerity was not enough.  Profession of faith was not enough.  Concrete actions were needed.  Faith without works was dead, as James says in the NT (James 2:17, 20, 26). 

What three things did Samuel tell them to do?  “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, THEN rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (I Samuel 7:3 NIV).

He told them first to get rid of the idols.  That involved repentance.  Second, He told them to commit themselves to the Lord.  That involved a personal commitment.  Third, he told them to serve the Lord alone.  That involved worship.  It involved exclusive worship.  They were the worship the Lord ALONE.  The interesting thing is that they did it.

So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. (I Samuel 7:4 NIV)

The Philistines got rid of the ark but they did not get rid of their false god.  They did not get rid of Dagon.  They may have thought that Yahweh was a stronger god than Dagon but they still worshipped Dagon, even though they had to glue him together.

Samuel tells the Israelites to get rid of their idols.  That raises the question.  Do we have any idols in our life that we need to get rid of?  Idols come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  There are many different kinds of idols.

The NT tells Christians to keep themselves from idols (I John 5:21).  An idol is anything that comes before God or takes the place of God in our life.  An idol can be a person.  They can be a thing.  They can physical, but they can also be mental.

None of us are dumb enough to bow down to a statute of some pagan deity.  We would never worship a golden calf but there are some modern forms of idolatry.  Ezekiel 14:3 also speaks of idols of the heart.  The NT says that covetousness or greed is idolatry.  Do we have any idols we need to get rid of?

6) Revivals are followed by God’s presence, power and blessing

Samuel was a great revivalist but he was not all negative.  He was not just a hellfire and brimstone preacher.  He has some good news in this chapter.  Samuel gave the nation a promise.

Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and HE WILL DELIVER YOU OUT OF THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES.” (I Samuel 7:3 NIV).

Every time they fought the Philistines, they lost and now they won.  It is the first time in their history that they beat the Philistines in battle, and it was not because they had better weapons or a stronger military.

The Philistines were not defeated by a sword.  They were defeated by repentance and by prayer.  Revival led to victory.  It led to victory for the Israelites and it can lead to victory in our own lives.

The whole nation gathered in one spot for revival (I Samuel 7:5-6).  The Philistines thought they were going to attack them.  They thought a revolt was taking place and went up against them (I Samuel 7:7).  What was the reaction of the people?

And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. (I Samuel 7:7-9 ESV)

This is interesting.  Twenty years before Israel fought the Philistines and lost but they approached that battle very different.  They took the ark into battle and were led by wicked priests.  They were exciting.  They were shouting.  They believe they were going to win and they lost miserably.  They were massacred.

This time they were not confident.  They were terrified.  They asked Samuel to pray for them.  Samuel was a prayer warrior, just like his mom Hannah.  It was a biblical prayer.  Samuel was a prophet.

He told them that if they repented, God would deliver them and now Samuel prayed for God to deliver them.  He did not just pray; he cried out to the Lord (I Samuel 7:9).  When was the last time you cried out to the Lord and poured out your heart to God.  Samuel prayed and God answered him.

But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. (I Samuel 7:10 ESV)

The Philistines thought that their god was the storm god.  They thought he was in charge of the storms but they found out the one in control of the weather was the God of Israel.

What have we learned about revival?  What are the steps to revival from this chapter?  How can revival occur when days are dark morally and spiritually?  What does it take for God to do an extra ordinary work among a church or among a nation?

God has to raise up a special man who is anointed by the Spirit to preach the Word of God.  People have to respond in genuine confession and repentance. They have to come before God based on the sacrifice of the blood of Christ.

They have to go to God and cry out to him with all of their heart in order to have a genuine revival and the result will be spiritual victory in different areas of your life.  That is what biblical revival looks like, based on I Samuel 7.

[1] Karl Menninger, Whatever Became of Sin, p. 14.

God Comes Home

We have been studying I Samuel and we come today to the sixth chapter. It  is a strange chapter.  It deals with golden rats and golden hemorrhoids or golden tumors.  What is that all about?  What does this chapter have to do with us today?  What does it say to us today?

I Samuel 6 actually runs into the first few verses of I Samuel 7.  In I Samuel 6, God comes home.  I Samuel 6 deals with the topic of the Ark of the Covenant.  It is the third chapter in the book dealing with what we call today the Lost Ark of the Covenant.  Let’s review the two chapters before this one.

In I Samuel 4, God judged Israel.  The Philistines beat the Jews  in battle, so they took the ark into battle and they beat them a second time and stole the ark.

The Israelites were wicked, especially the leaders and God judged them.  The High Priest was killed.  He let them lose in battle, not once but twice and He let the ark be taken out of the country into a pagan land.

In I Samuel 5, God judged the Philistines.  They sinned in taking the ark home.  Then they to set it up in a pagan temple dedicated to a false god.  That was a big mistake.  God not only defeated Dagon in his own temple; He humiliated him.

The Philistines found their god decapitated and mitigated, lying face down on the ground before the ark.  God judged their god Dagon.

He also judged the worshippers of Dagon and this judgement was severe.  His hand was heavy upon them.  It was heavy on young people and old people.  No one escaped.

We saw that it was a great tragedy for the Israelites to lose the ark, but it was a greater tragedy for the Philistines to take it.  Whatever city it was it, it led to suffering, disease and death.

People were getting these painful tumors spread by rats or mice, just like the Bubonic Plague was spread and they knew what or who was causing it.

In I Samuel 6, they come up with a solution after seven of suffering.  Their solution was to send the ark, not just to another city but to another country.

They wanted to send it back to Israel.  They said.  “Get God out of here.  We don’t want him.  Let’s send him away.”  They didn’t want God’s presence among them.  In the NT, some did not want Jesus’ presence among them.  They begged him to depart from their region (Mark 5:17).

The Philistines realize that they have to get rid of the ark.  They took the ark but now they have to admit defeat and send it back.  They have to send it home.

They sent it to different cities in the country but that did not help, so they finally decided that it was time to send the ark back to Israel.  I Samuel 6, the ark finally comes home after seven months.

A New Plan

The chapter begins with a dilemma.  The Philistines want to send the ark back and need to send the ark back, but they don’t know how.  Who did they ask?  They asked their religious leaders.  They asked the professional clergy (I Samuel 6:2).

There were not any priests of Yahweh living there, so they had to ask the priests of Dagan.  They also asked some diviners (which we would call fortune tellers today).  The Bible tells Jews not to practice divination (Leviticus 19:26-31; 20:6).  What did they tell them?

They said not to be like the Egyptians.  They heard about how God judged the Egyptians with ten plagues.  Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way? (I Samuel 6:8 NIV).

They also said, “If you want to be healed, you have to send the ark back with a gift.”  Notice I Samuel 6:3.

They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a GIFT; by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you” (NIV).

Why a guilt offering?  Some Bibles read “trespass offering” (KJV) and some read “guilt offering” (NIV, ESV).  A trespass offering was required when someone stole something from its rightful owner.

The Philistines stole the ark from the Israelites.  This required some form of restitution or compensation.  The compensation involved gold.  This was not just any offering.  This offering was costly.  That is why they are send it back on a NEW cart and with tumors and rats made of GOLD.

They also came up with a plan that involved a miracle.  There is a miracle in this chapter.  They not only wanted to send the ark back, but they wanted to know without a shadow of a doubt that God was the one who sent it back.

They wanted it to take a real miracle for the ark to return to Israel, so they came up with a test and the test involved some cows.

“Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart but take their calves away and pen them up. 8 Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way (I Samuel 6:7-8 NIV)

Miracle Cows

These were not ordinary cows.   They were miracle cows.  We know that because of four things.  First, they had never been yoked before.  There were yoked for the first time.  It takes time for animals to work together.  It takes time for two people to work together as well.

Second, these cows had just given birth and they wanted to be with their babies.  The Philistines locked their babies up and sent them off on a mission.  The mission went against their maternal instinct.  It went against their natural instinct.

Third, these cows walked straight all the way to the land of Israel.  They did not turn back.  That is strange.  Cows do not walk in a straight line.  They walk in circles.  These cows kept walking until they got to their destination.  They did not turn back to check on their babies.  They did not even turn aside to eat.  They kept walking.

Fourth, they walked without any guidance.  No one was leading them.  No human hand guided them.  They had no GPS and yet they got to their destination without getting lost.  They were led by a higher power.

When they got there and completed their mission, they died.  When they got to Israel, the Israelites chopped up the wood from the cart and offered the two cows in sacrifice.  It is a picture of complete submission to the will of God.

We are on earth to do whatever God has called us to do and then we are gone.  These cows were not completely sanctified.  They were mooing.  They were crying.  They were in distress.  They complained the whole way.

They were not happy and for good reason.  Everything inside them told them to go back and take care of their babies but they kept walking.  They did the will of God despite what they wanted to do and, in the end, gave up their life.

These cows had a very important job.  They had a big responsibility.  These cows were not Levites but God used them anyway.  If God can use two cows in His service to do His will, He can use us.

God used these two cows to transport the ark, carrying the two tablets of stone for miles. They cows transported the ark all the way to Israel.  It made its way to the field of a man named Joshua (I Samuel 6:18).  Some workers in the field see it returning to Israel.

Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. (I Samuel 6:13 NIV)

Now this may not seem like a big deal to us but to the Israelites, this was huge.  The ark was a national treasure.  It had some sacred relics in it.  It has the Ten Commandments in it.  It also symbolized the presence of God.  God’s presence and glory filled this box.

It was not a magical box but it was a supernatural box.  It was a holy box.  It was so holy that it could never be touched with human hands, not even by the priests.

It was so holy that you could not even look at the box.  Levites could not look at it either.  When the priest carried the box on poles, it was to be covered, so no one saw it.

An Unexpected Ending

Now after seventh months, the glory of God is returning to Israel.  God was coming back.  It is the reversal of Ichabod.  Some have called this the Second Exodus.

This time, God’s people were not in captivity.  The ark was and now the ark has an exodus.  The chapter ends with a surprise ending.  It does not have a Hallmark ending.

The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. (I Samuel 6:14 NIV)

But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20 And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?” (I Samuel 6:19-20 NIV)

Now this is a little strange.  Everything looked great.  The ark was back in the land of Israel after seven months.  It was safe.  The people sacrificed to God.  They were rejoicing.  They were celebrating.  Then seventy people suddenly drop dead.  Their rejoicing turns to morning.  The party is over.

Some Bibles say fifty thousand were killed (KJV, NASB) but that is almost certainly a scribal error.  First century Jewish historian Josephus says only seventy died (so NIV, ESV).  Beth Shemesh was a small farming community.

It was an agricultural community, not a big city.  It didn’t even have fifty thousand people in it.  It may have had a few thousand.  The people were so terrified, when this happened, they did what the Philistines did.  They shipped it off to another city.

They asked two questions.  The first question was “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” That is one of the main questions of the Bible.  How can sinners stand before a holy God?  The second question was, “To whom will the ark go up from here?”  In other words, How can we get rid of this thing? (I Samuel 6:20).

Message for Today

This is an interesting story but does it apply to us today?  What does it say to us today?

1. God is sovereign over everything

Some preachers do not like the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.  One thing is clear from these chapters and it is that God is completely sovereign.  God is sovereign over rats.  He is sovereign over mice.  He is sovereign over cows.

He is sovereign over disease.  He is sovereign over sickness.  He is sovereign over tumors.  He is sovereign over hemorrhoids.  He is sovereign over bad things that happen in your life.  He was sovereign over Joseph being sold into slavery, falsely accused of a sex crime and sent to prison.

He is sovereign over corrupt religious leaders (Hophni and Phinehas).  He can take them out at any time.  He is sovereign over corrupt political leaders.  He is sovereign over war.  He is sovereign over national tragedies (ark being stolen by pagans).  If that is true, He is sovereign over EVERYTHING that happens in your life.  That is rarely preached today.

2. God alone decides how He is to be worshipped

People think that they can worship God any way they want.  They think that  all religions worship the same God but it is a lie.  Cain brought God one sacrifice.  Abel brought him another sacrifice.  One was accepted and one was rejected.

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. (Leviticus 10:1 NASB)

God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth.  There are two offering in this chapter.  The Philistines offer a guilt offering.  The Israelites offer a burnt offering.  Neither offering was biblical.  The Philistines worshipped God with IMAGES.  They had some golden mice and golden tumors in their guilt offering.

We do not come before God today with golden mice or with golden tumors.   We do not need to worship God with images. False religion and cults do some stupid things, like make some golden hemorrhoids as an offering to God.  They have some absolutely crazy beliefs.

Rats and mice were unclean animals (Leviticus 11:29).  The Bible says that it is NOT golden tumors or golden mice but BLOOD (sacrificial blood) that atones for the sin of people.  God required an offering of blood, not an offering of gold.  In fact, the Bible says, “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).

The Israelites also worshipped God incorrectly and they should have known better.  They sacrificed a cow.  They sacrificed two cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.  Leviticus 1:3 says if you offer a burnt offering, you have to offer a male without defect.  They offered two females.  Are we worshipping God correctly?  Is our worship biblical?  Do we worship God in spirit and in truth?

3. God judges human hearts

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7 NIV)

I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:11 NIV)

That is good and it is bad.  It is good because God is the only one who really understands you.  When no one else understands you, God does.  He understands you perfectly.  It is bad because God can see the things that no other person can see.  He knows your every thought.

The Philistines sent the ark back on a brand-new cart that has never been used before.  The put some golden tumors and golden rats on the cart.  Some Bible say “golden hemorrhoids.”  The Philistines were pagans.  They were not saved.  They didn’t worship the true God.  They were idol-worshippers.

They didn’t have a Bible.  They did not have any theological training.  They were ignorant and superstitious, but they did some things right.  They responded correctly to the revelation they had.  They responded correctly to what God did to the Egyptians.  They did not want to be like Pharaoh with his hard heart.  They also got four things right.

One, they knew that they were sinners.  They knew that they did something wrong.  They knew that they did something to incur God’s wrath.  They acknowledged their guilt.  They knew that they needed a guilt offering (I Samuel 6:3). 

Two, they knew that God’s wrath was real.  They knew that God judges sin.  They experienced it firsthand for seven straight months.  They knew what it was like to have the hand of God heavy upon them (I Samuel 5).

Three, they knew that this wrath needed to be appeased.  They know that they have sinned against God.  They have offended him.  He is mad at them and have to give him an offering to satisfy His wrath   Before they thought they conquered God.  Now they know that they need to appease him.  They didn’t have to appease Dagon.  They had to appease the God of the Jews.

Four, they knew that Yahweh was greater than Dagon.  They offered him by a trespass offering.  You don’t offer a trespass offering to someone who is inferior to you.   They had to offer him some kind of sacrifice.  They knew that they needed a trespass offering and they were not giving this offering to Dagon but the God of the Jews.

When the ark came into the land of Israel, they disobeyed Him, He struck the dead.  Seventy Jews dropped dead.  It is not that God has two sets of standards, one for Israelites and one for Philistines but He judges people based on the light they have and how they respond to it.

God is harder on believers than on unbelievers. The Bible says that “to much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48). The Israelites had a Bible.  They knew what God expected and chose to disobey Him.

The Bible talks about the goodness and severity of God.  The severity of God is on full display in this chapter.  This is a chapter about divine judgment.  This time He is judging His own people.  People do not like to hear about the judgment of God.  It is not popular.  Many preachers do not talk about this topic but it comes right out of the Bible.

But THE LORD KILLED seventy men from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the LORD. And the people mourned greatly BECAUSE OF WHAT THE LORD HAD DONE. (I Samuel 6:19 NLT)

4. God takes disrespect very seriously

Disrespect is a big deal to God.  It is not a big deal to people today.  It is very common in society.  Kids disrespect their parents.  Students disrespect their teachers.  Young people disrespect old people.

Citizens disrespect their country and their flag.  They disrespect law enforcement officers (police officers).  They disrespect their President. Comedians disrespect God.  They think it is a good thing to be irreverent.

Some in the modern church have abused the concept of reverence but reverence just means respect and respect is biblical.  In fact, it is in one of the Ten Commandments.  The truth is that reverence is a big deal to God.

Seventy people in this chapter died because of a lack of reverence.  Seventy people died because one man lifted up the lid on a box and looked inside it. The Jews wanted the ark.  The Philistines didn’t want it.  The Jews just got it back and as soon as they got it, it killed seventy people, not seventy Philistines but seventy Israelites.

They may have looked out of curiosity.  They may have looked to see if the tablets of Moses were still there and the rod and jar was still there.  They may have just looked to see if the Philistines stole anything out of the ark.

Not all curiosity is wrong but the law prohibited on penalty of death looking at the ark.  They were not to look in the ark or they would die.   They were not to touch it, or they would die. The priests were not allowed to see it.

God is not dwelling on earth in a theocracy today.  He is not in a building.  We do not have a sacred piece of furniture but we should still obey God.  We should still have a  reverence God.  We should not only have a reverence; we should have a fear of God. These Israelites had no fear of God.  Do we?

5. God alone one can open a human heart

We can’t just argue someone into the kingdom.  We cannot just present all kinds of facts and expect them to believe.  Josh McDowell wrote a book on Christian apologetics called Evidence that Demands a Verdict.  It is a good book on apologetics, but that book alone will not convict people.

Jesus went around healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons but everyone did not follow Him.  In fact, some people hated Jesus and wanted to kill him.  God’s Spirit must work to convict and draw people to Jesus.  We see this in I Samuel 6.

Anyone who is completely open-minded, and objective could see that Yahweh was greater than Dagon.  He kept beating him up.  He not only defeated him; He humiliated him but they never came to the conclusion that Yahweh was the true God.  They continued to worship the god Dagon.

In I Samuel 7, they came up with a plan.  The plan was completely impossible.  There was no way it should have worked.  It was a crazy plan to take two cows who have just given birth, separate them from their babies, yoke them for the first time to another cow they have never worked with and expected them to go all of the way to Israel on their own without any direction.

Why did they come up with such a crazy plan?  It was a scientific experiment.  It was a test to determine one thing.  Was God working or was chance working?

Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, 9 but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then THE LORD has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us BY CHANCE.” (I Samuel 6:8-9 NIV).

The amazing thing is that the plan worked and it proved conclusively that this was a God thing.  God was involved in the judgment of the Philistines.  God was involved in the judgment of their god Dagon.

God was involved in leading the cows back to Israel.  Despite all of this, there is no evidence that any of these Philistines became worshippers of the one true God.  God is the only one who came change the human heart.

Lessons in Arkeology

We are studying the Book of I Samuel.  Last week we looked at chapter four, which was the lowest point of the nation.  It was Israel’s darkest hour.  Nothing but bad things happen in that chapter.

The nation was defeated in battle to its arch enemy.  There were mass casualties.  Tens of thousands of soldiers were killed.  Priests were killed.  The High Priest was killed.

A baby was born but his mother dies in the process and he is given a depressing name which no one wants to have (Ichabod) and something happens in that chapter which had never happened before.

The ark of the covenant was captured.  The ark had been around since the time of Moses and was hundreds of years old.  This golden box symbolized the presence of God and had some holy relics in it, like the Ten Commandments.

Then two wicked priests did something stupid.  They took it to Ebenezer into battle.  They thought it would be a good luck charm.  It was captured by the enemies of God and taken to a foreign land.

It was raided, not by the Nazis (as Stephen Spielberg portrayed it) but by the Philistines.  Today, we will see the rest of the story or at least the next chapter of it.  Where did it go?  What happened to it?  What does it say to us today?

Today, we are going to look at I Samuel 5.  It is a short chapter.  It is only twelve verses long. Our topic for today is “Lessons in Arkeology.”

Some have entitled this chapter “Arkeological Discoveries.”  It is a play on the word “archaeology.”  The title is not original with me.

What can we learn about the ark from this chapter?  What does it say about God?  What do we learn about man from this chapter?

It is very interesting to see man’s response to what God does.  We will go through the chapter and then look at some applications.  There are some great lessons from this chapter.

Yahweh vs. Dagon

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. (I Samuel 5:1 NIV)

Let’s try to put ourselves in their mind at this point.  The Philistines are on top of the world.  They are gloating.  The Hebrews have become a laughingstock.

The Philistines just beat the Jews. The Jews may have beaten the Egyptians and the Canaanites, but the Philistines beat the Jews in battle, not once but twice.  Let’s try to put ourselves in their mind at this point.The Philistines had the momentum.

The sin of the Israelites was PRESUMPTION.  They took the ark into battle and assumed it would help them.  The sin of the Philistines was PRIDE.  They thought because they beat the Israelite in battle that they beat their God.

They captured “God in a Box” and took it as spoils of war.  They brought it home as a trophy and paraded it through the city.  Both the Israelites and the Philistines made a big mistake.

The Israelites made the mistake of thinking the ark would help them in battle, if they brought it.  It didn’t.  It actually hurt them.  More people died when they brought the ark into battle.

The Philistines made the mistake of thinking that if they defeated the Jews; they defeated their God.  They made the mistake of thinking that their military victory proved that their god was superior to Yahweh.  We will see in this chapter that this was not true.

So what did they do the ark?  They put the ark in Dagon’s temple.  Dagon was the main god of the Philistines.  In pagan mythology, he was the father of Baal.

The Philistines added Yahweh to their pantheon, with Dagon prevailing over Yahweh, as the Philistines prevailed over Israel, as the vanquished before the victor.

Notice what the Philistines did not do to the ark.  They did not try to destroy the ark.  They did not smash the ark with a sledgehammer.  They did not try to steal the gold off of it.

They were not complete barbarians.  They were very religious.  They were pluralists, like secular man is today.  They believed all religions and all faiths are good.

Yahweh is good.  Dagon is good but they did not just teach that Yahweh was equal to Dagon.  They believed that Dagon was superior to Yahweh.

When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place (I Samuel 5:3 NIV)

Idol falls on its face.  Dagon is in the dust. The text says Dagon fell on his face on the ground BEFORE the ark of the Lord.  The ark is put in a pagan idolatrous temple in an inferior position to Dagon.

The next day, Dagon falls prostrate on the ground as though worshiping before the ark.  That brings to mind Philippians 2:9-11.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NIV)

But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. (I Samuel 5:4 NIV).

After the first day, Dagon’s worshippers get a big shock.  They come into Dagon’s temple and find Dagon lying is facedown and prostrate in the dirt.  His worshippers had to come in and put him back in his place.

They did not get the message, so on day two, he not only fell down before the ark but was DECAPITATED and MUTILATED.  He was executed and his head was cut off. He became a headless god, a decapitated god. Not only was his head chopped off; his hands were chopped off.

They were not broken off but cut off or chopped off.  This was not accidental.  It was intentional and deliberate.  Why the head and hands?  This is often happened to kings in the Ancient Near East who were defeated.

Their head or hands were cut off to show their inferiority.  After David killed Goliath, he chopped off his head (I Samuel 17:54).  After Saul was killed, his head was cut off by the Philistines (I Samuel 31:6).

Something supernatural has happened two days in a row.  Two days in a row, Dagon falls facedown on the found BEFORE the ark in a subservient position and on the second day, there was no question what was going on here.

It was clear to anyone objective that Yahweh was superior to Dagon.  The facts were undeniable.  It happened two days in a row.  It wasn’t a fluke.

What was the result of this?  Did revival break out?  Did the Philistines repent?  Did they change religions?  Did anyone finally realize that Dagon was a false god?  Did they realize that he was really weak, impotent and powerless?  Did anyone start worshipping Yahweh?  No.

They had the opposite reaction.  They said, “Make sure you don’t walk anywhere Dagon’s head or feet touched because the ground is now consecrated.  It is sacred, so don’t touch it.”  Dagon fell on the threshold (I Samuel 5:4).

That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold. (I Samuel 5:5 NIV). They got rid of the ark but bad things continued to happen.

The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors. (I Samuel 5:6 NIV)

But after they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.  (I Samuel 5:9-10 NIV)

As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.” 11 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. 12 Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven. (I Samuel 5:10-12 NIV)

Not a single Philistine repented.  Not one became a believer in the true God.  This is amazing.  The Philistines suffered greatly, and they knew where the suffering came from.  They knew that God’s hand was heavy upon them.  They felt bad about it.  They grieved.  They wept.  They cried out but they did NOT repent.  They REFUSED to repent.

Unfortunately, God can do all kinds of things in people’s life.  He can do all kinds of things to get people’s attention. They can have all kinds of revelation and still reject him.  Jesus performed all kinds of miracles, raising people from the dead and they still didn’t believe.

The Philistines were dumb, but they weren’t stupid.  They were dumb enough to worship a god who did not exist, even after his hands and head were cut off but they were smart enough to know how to stop the suffering that was taking place. They knew that they had to get rid of the ark.  Their solution was to get rid of their problem, not to get rid of their sin or to repent.

They just treated the ark like a game of hot potatoes.  Everyone who touches the hot potato gets burned, so you try to get rid of it and throw it to someone else.  The RAIDERS of the lost ark became TRADERS of the lost ark. Let’s look at some applications from this chapter.  What lessons stand out clearly here?  What does this chapter tell us about God?

Applications for Today

1) God is all-powerful

The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” (Psalm 135:6 NIV)

Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. NOTHING is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17 NIV)

With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26 NIV)

Why are all things possible with God?  Because He is all-powerful.  He is omnipotent.  God is not impotent or weak.  He is all powerful.  Even when the ark was captured, God was all-powerful.  Even when God’s people are defeated and killed, He is still all-powerful.  Even when bad things happen in your life, He is still all-powerful.

Even when He was in a foreign land, God was all powerful.  Even when God looked defeated and powerless, He is all-powerful. God looked like He was a captive to the house of Dagon.  Jesus looked defeated on the cross.  It looked outwardly that the Romans won, and Jesus lost but the reverse was true.  God always wins.

The ark is in the hands of the enemies of God, but God is not sitting on his hands saying, “When will someone get me out of here?  When will someone come and help me?”  God does NOT need Israel to come help him.  He does NOT need an army to rescue him.  In fact, God does NOT need any of us.  He uses us but he does not need us.

God defeats Dagon in his own country, on his own turf, and in his own temple.  Dagon had the homefield advantage and he still lost.  Dagon and Yahweh go two rounds.

They square off against each other and there is no contest.  Dagon is not even real.  He is decapitated and mutilated.  He is headless and handless.  He can do nothing without his head or hands.  He cannot think.  He cannot speak.  He cannot act.  He cannot even stand up.

The Philistines defeated the Israelites in battle, but they haven’t defeated God.  Dagon’s hands were chopped off but the hand of the Lord was still intact and was powerful.  After Dagon’s hands were cut off, we are told this four times.

 The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity (I Samuel 5:6 NIV)

his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god. (I Samuel 5:7 NIV)

The Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. (I Samuel 5:9 NIV) 

For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. (I Samuel 5:11 NIV)

2) God judges sin

God judges sin.  He judges sin in the Israelites.  He judges sin in the Philistines.  God judges sin in His own people.  In fact, I Peter 4:17 says that judgment must begin at the house of God.  In the last chapter, God judged the Israelites by killing many of them and by letting the ark of the covenant be captured by the enemy.

In this chapter, God judging the Philistines for taking the ark.  It was a great tragedy of the Israelites to lose the ark.  The ark was a national treasure, but it was a greater tragedy of the Philistines to capture it. They find out it is a terrifying box.  It caused them all kinds of pain, suffering and even death.

The sin He judges in this chapter is false religion, and idolatry.  God not only judges false religion, He judges false worshippers. I Samuel 5:7 says, “When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us AND on Dagon our god.”

God did not just judge Dagon; He judged Dagon’s followers.  Judgment came on people who were young and old (I Samuel 5:9).  They were under the judgment of God and the Bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

The Philistines thought that the Lord fell into their hands but in reality, they fell into his hands.  This was not a light affliction.  It was a HEAVY AFFLICTION.  We see that twice in this chapter (I Samuel 5:6, 11).

How did He judge them?  He judged them with three things.

First, He judged them with DEPRESSION.  They had panic and anxiety (I Samuel 5:9, 11).  People were filled with terror and dread.  They were terrorized.

Second, He judged them with DISEASE.  Does God cause some diseases?  That is not popular among prosperity preachers: God causing sickness, but He caused some sickness in this chapter.  He caused some tumors.

We are told this four times in the chapter.  This disease was not just caused by germs or bacteria.  It wasn’t natural.  It was supernatural.  God sent it.  This was not just bad luck.  It was divine judgment.

THE HAND OF THE LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and HE terrified and afflicted them WITH TUMORS, both Ashdod and its territory. (I Samuel 5:6 ESV)

And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for HIS HAND is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” (I Samuel 5:7 ESV)

But after they had brought it around, THE HAND OF THE LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic, and HE afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that TUMORS broke out on them. (I Samuel 5:9 ESV)

They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. THE HAND OF GOD was very heavy there. (I Samuel 5:11 ESV)

What specifically was the disease?  We don’t know for sure.  Some old versions say “emerods” (KJV, Young’s Literal Translation, Douay Rheims, JPS Tanakh 1917).  What are emerods?

It is an archaic term for hemorrhoids, which is what some translations actually say (NAB, Darby Version, Kempton Translation, Jubilee Bible 2000) but this is unlikely, because hemorrhoids don’t kill people.  Hemorrhoids are painful but they won’t kill you.  This was terminal.  People who get these tumors died.

Other people say that it was the Bubonic Plague or Black Death (so TLB) because mice or rats are mentioned four times in I Samuel 6 and they were carriers of that disease.

Fleas would get on a rat and then on a person and they would get a bacterial infection, which would lead to inflammation and huge blister boils in the lymph nodes.

Third, He judged them with DEATH.  Many died.  This is a scary passage.  God is not just going to judge the false religion of the Philistines.  He is going to judge the false religion in our own day.

The planet is full of people who worship a false god.  Just being religious is not enough.  The Philistines were religious, but God still judged them.  As we saw last week, God only accepts worship that is in spirit and in truth.

3) God alone is to be worshipped

The Bible is very different from pluralism.  Pluralism teaches that all religions are good.  All religions are true.  You should respect all religions, but the Bible doesn’t do that.  It doesn’t teach that all religions are true.  Jesus said, “I am THE way and THE truth and THE life. NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME.”

In Acts 3, Peter heals a man who was lame.  Then he says, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed… Salvation is found in NO ONE ELSE, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10, 12 NIV)

The Bible does not respect the god Dagon.  It mocks him.  This chapter shows the utter foolishness of idolatry.  It shows the folly of worshipping things made by human hands.

It is one of the funniest chapters of the Bible.  It shows that God has a sense of humor.  It is a divine comedy.  You can’t read this chapter and the one after it and not laugh.  You have to laugh at false god Dagon on its face in the dirt with its head and hands chopped off.

The silly Philistines who have to pick their god up when he falls down and prop him up.  Dagon had fallen and he could not get up, like the old lady in the commercial.  He is weak and powerless and has to be helped by his followers.

This god is so weak he cannot even stand up by himself.  He can’t even get up.  The next day, his followers come to the temple and their god is a stump.  When its head and hands fall off and they have to try to glue the parts together.

A real God does not fall apart.  A real God does not have to be glued together.  A real God does not have to be sent to the shop for repairs.  A real God does not have to be helped to stand up.  A real God is able to walk and move. A real God is able to act and do things.

We are not dumb enough to make a statue and bow down to it.  We are to sophisticated for that but it is just as foolish for us to put other things in our life above God and make idols of them and worship them instead of God.  Do we worship God alone or do we worship idols?  I John 5:21 tells Christians to keep themselves from idols.

Israel’s Darkest Hour

I Samuel 4 is a very important chapter.  It is NOT a chapter about success.  It is a chapter about FAILURE.  It is a chapter about God’s people being defeated.

It is NOT a chapter about God’s people winning but of God’s people losing, not once but twice.  It is a chapter about the glory of God departing from the nation.

It is a dark chapter. It is a depressing chapter. It is a sad chapter. Nothing good happens in this chapter. This chapter is bad news after bad news after bad news. In fact, the news is so bad that it causes other bad things to happen.

The only good news in the chapter is that a baby is born. Everyone else in the chapter, except a baby, but the baby is named Ichabod and symbolizes the judgment of God.

I Samuel 4 was perhaps lowest point in the nation of Israel.  It was Israel’s darkest hour. What happens in this chapter?

A nation is defeated in battle twice.  They do not just lose; they are completely humiliated.  They were running from the Philistines. Tens of thousands of people are dead.  Morale is low.

The religious establishment of the nation is decimated.  Several ordained ministers drop dead in this chapter.  Two priests are dead.  The High Priest is dead.  Finally, it records, the ark being captured by idolatrous pagans, who are the enemies of God.

The lowest point in our country in recent years was 911.  What happened to Israel in this chapter was far worse than 911.  On 911, we lost 2,977 people.

They lost much more that we did.  There are several disasters that take place in this chapter.  There is a national tragedy.  There is a personal tragedy and there is a spiritual tragedy.

National Tragedy

What is the national tragedy?  Military defeat in battle.  Israel loses in battle.  Israel fights its arch enemy twice and loses.  They do not just lose; they are slaughtered.  It is a massacre. Thirty-four thousand people are dead.

There are two battles in this chapter.  In the first battle, the Israelites lose four thousand.  In the second battle, they decide to take the ark with them.

This time they lose thirty thousand more people and they lose the ark.  When people finally got the news, we are told that “all the city cried out” (I Samuel 4:13 ESV).

You can picture mothers screaming for their sons who were killed in this battle and wives are crying for the husbands that they would no longer see again.

Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. 2 The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. 3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did THE LORD bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? (I Samuel 4:1-3 NIV)

Notice that they blamed God for their defeat.  The enemy was not just stronger than they were militarily.  The Philistines were a nation of warriors. Israel was a nation of farmers and herdsmen.  The truth was that God defeated them.

God was on the side of the Philistines.  He was supposed to be on their side.  They were the people of God.  The Philistines were idol worshippers. What was their battle plan?  Take the ark into battle.

Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” (I Samuel 4:3 NIV)  What was the ark?  What do we need to know about the ark?

Facts about the Ark

It was a SMALL BOX (three and a half feet long and two and a half feet wide and high.  It was a small box or chest.

It was a FANCY BOX.  It was made of wood but it was covered with gold inside and out.  It was gold plated and it had a top that was made, not of wood, but of pure gold and it had some decoration on the top of it.

It was an OLD BOX.  This box was made during the time of Moses.  Joshua put it in Shiloh.  It has been there for hundreds of years through the time s of the judges.

It was a HOLY BOX.  It contained some holy relics (e.g., Ten Commandments).  This box contained the law of God and other things used in miracles (Aaron’s Rod).  God’s presence and glory filled this box.  It symbolized the very presence of God.  It was the place of Presence.

This box was not just in a holy house (the Tabernacle).  It was in the holiest part of the Tabernacle (the Holy of Holies).  The ark was so holy that it could NEVER EVER touched by human hands.  They could not even touch it accidentally.  In fact, if you did touch it, you would die.

Six Common Mistakes Today

What was wrong with taking the ark into the battlefield?  There were six problems and these six problems are common mistakes people do today.

1. They PLANNED but they did not PRAY

The Israelites had a problem.  They were defeated by their enemies and they were defeated BY GOD but they did not go to God to ask why.  They did not pray.

They did not turn to the Scriptures to ask what God has to say about this.  They did not turn to the Prophet Samuel to see if he had a word from the Lord.  He had the reputation throughout the whole country as a genuine prophet of God.

The elders did not do this.  The priests did not do this.  The people did not do any of these things.   They just grabbed the ark and went off into battle.  Two wicked priests who do not know the Lord took it out of the Holy of Holies and took it on the battlefield.

We can criticize them but how often do we do the same thing.  We have a problem in our life, but we do not turn to God.  He may be the last one we turn to.  We come up with our own plan instead and wonder why it does not work.  Do we pray when we have problems?

2. They tried to MANIPULATE God, rather than OBEY God.

God did not tell them to take the ark into battle; they just did it.  They thought that if they took the ark into battle, they would have to win, because there was no way that God would let the ark be taken by complete pagans.

Satan tempted Jesus to do the exact same thing.  He took him to the highest point of the temple and told him to jump off because the Bible says that angels will protect you.

He told Jesus to just try to kill himself and watch the angels go to work supernaturally to protect him (Matthew 4:5-6).  That was trying to test God.  It was trying to manipulate God and force His hand.

Of course, Jesus did not give in to this temptation.  He didn’t do it. God cannot be manipulated.  Many of us today are just like the Israelites.  We want a God we can control and we can manipulate.

We want a God who does our will, rather than His will.  We do not want to worship a God who is sovereign. We want a God who acts like a genie in a bottle.  Do we try to manipulate God?

3. They put their trust in a THING, rather than in a PERSON.

They did NOT turn to God; they turned to the ark.  They put their trust in the wrong thing.  The were worshipping the ark, not God.  They needed God, not a box.  We often turn to things to solve our problems, rather than to God Himself.  Is our trust in things?

4. They confused the SYMBOL with the REALITY

The Israelites knew they lost because God was not with them, so they thought if they brought the ark that God would be with them. What good was it to have the ark with them if the nation and the leaders of the nation forsake God?

The ark becomes meaningless.  They confused the symbol of God’s presence (the ark) with the reality of God’s presence.  Many people do this today.  The have many outward symbols of religion.

Many churches are big on symbols and rituals, especially liturgical churches, but the symbols of water baptism and communion (taking the bread and the cup) are absolutely meaningless without genuine faith.

Paul said that some had a form of godliness but denied its power (II Timothy 3:5).  Lots of people have an outward form of godliness but they are not godly.

“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord.

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! (Isaiah 1:11-15 NIV)

This is a strange verse.  God is not against sacrifices and worship and prayer but He hates meaningless rituals and ceremonies.  He hates empty sacrifices and worship.

He does not like vain prayers.  He says in Amos 5:21 that some church services are a big stench to Him.  He can’t even stand the music in these places (Amos 5:23).

He hates people who live wicked lives but are real religious on Sunday.  Their hands are full of blood but they lift their hands in prayer.  These are people who want the symbol without the substance.  They want religion without morality.  Does that describe you?

5. They confused HOLINESS with MAGIC

The Israelites used the ark as a good luck charm.  They used it like a rabbit’s foot.  They thought that if they took the ark with them into battle, they could not lose, as long as they had the magical box with them.  If they had the ark, they thought that they would be invincible.  The ark was a holy box covered with gold with angels on top of it.

One preacher gave a sermon on this chapter called “Rabbit’s Foot Religion.”[1]  Much of religion is just superstition.  There are many superstitious Christians.  They wear religious beads.  They wear a cross around their neck.

They put some holy water on them for good luck. Do we know the difference between holiness and magic?   Do we know the difference between religion and superstition?  Are you superstitious?

6. They confused EMOTION with TRUTH

When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. 6 Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?” (I Samuel 4:5-6 NIV).

Now this is very interesting.  The Israelites took the ark into battle and were all excited.  They were shouting.  They had loud music.  It was so loud that the Philistines heard it.  They had hands raised.  They were emotional.  They were passionate.  They were confident.  They all had faith but none of it mattered.

Jesus said that God is spirit, and his worshipers MUST worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24 NIV).  No matter how much enthusiasm you have, no matter how much on fire you are in worship, it has to be based on truth.

Many Muslims can show all kinds of emotion in worship but that does not make their worship genuine.  God wants passion and excitement, but he also wants truth.  Do we worship God in spirit and in truth?

Spiritual Tragedy

I Samuel 4:11 says, “The ark of God was captured” (NIV).  If God was gone from the nation, there was nothing left.  That was what made Israel unique from all other nations on the planet.  They had God.  Now, God was gone.

Israel’s national treasure was stolen by the enemy.  It was not the Nazis but the Philistines who become “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

When the Philistines took the ark, they thought that they had defeated the God of the Israelites.  They saw Him as God in a box and now they had the box and now they were celebrating.

Personal Tragedy

The chapter ends with a personal tragedy.  It ends with two personal tragedies.  First, a dad loses two sons.  They die on the same day.  Then, a wife loses her husband and father-in-law.  Let’s look at the first one.

Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”  17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”  18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. (I Samuel 4:16-18 NIV).

Eli was blind but he was not deaf.  He could hear the whole city in an uproar and asked what was going on (I Samuel 4:14).  A messenger tells him four things.

They are all bad news (Israel fled before the Philistines, the army has suffered heavy losses, your two sons, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured) but did not respond until he heard about the ark being captured.

He loved his sons, but he expected them to die.  Two prophets told him that they would die soon.  He probably had a premonition of their death but what he was not prepared for was the loss of the ark.

When he heard that news, the old fat high priest fell backwards, broke his neck and died.  Eli had a few health problems before he died.  He was old (ninety-eight).  He was fat and he was blind.

Much has been made about Eli being fat.  We live in a day in which people are obsessed with weight loss.  Churches today have weight loss programs.  Some equate a thin waistline with spirituality.  The Bible does not have that perspective.

In fact, many times in the Bible fat is looked in positive light.  Joseph had a dream about skinny and fat cows in Egypt.  The fat cows were the healthy ones and the skinny cows were the unhealthy ones.  In the Bible, it was a sign of blessing.

Eli was fat for a different reason.  He was fat not because he was blessed but because he was disobedient.  Eli got fat on the offerings that should have gone to God.

Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’ (I Samuel 2:29 NIV).  Eli ate the fat portions of the offering that were to be burned and, as a result, he became fat, which ultimately led to his death.

There is a second personal tragedy.  A pregnant woman goes into premature labor and dies in childbirth.  We are not told the name of the woman, but we are told that she was Phinehas’ wife.   Her husband was wicked.  He was greedy.  He was immoral.  He cheated on her.  He committed adultery.  He had sex in the Tabernacle with women who worked there.

Phinehas’ wife was godly.  She apparently was not like her husband at all.  She was godly.  Her husband was the priest.  He was the ordained minister.  He had the prominent position, but she was the one who was godly.  She also like her father-in-law was more concerned about the glory of God than her own family.

His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention. (I Samuel 4:19-20 NIV)

Here this poor woman is feeling terrible.  She is pregnant and then she gets really bad news and goes into labor.  She loved God more than she loved her husband and father-in-law.

As she lay dying, more concern about God’s glory than her own life.  What made the most impact on her was not losing her husband or losing her father-in-law but losing the ark. Twice, she says, “The glory has departed from Israel!’ because the ark of God had been captured” (I Samuel 4:21-22 NIV)

She is sad and depressed.  She is devastated.  She is crushed.  The birth of a baby is supposed to be a joyous occasion.  It is supposed to be a time of celebration, but this mother is not celebrating.  She is not happy.

The midwives try to cheer her up.  She did not care if her baby was a boy or a girl.  As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention. (I Samuel 4:20 NIV).

After the ark was taken, nothing else mattered. She became completely hopeless.  She had no reason to live and she dies.  We could learn from this poor woman.

This woman was passionate about the glory of God.  She lived for God’s glory.  That was the only thing that mattered in her life.  Wouldn’t it be great if that was true of us?

She was not perfect.  We should never be without hope.  The glory of God was removed from the nation, but it was only temporary.  The Philistines only had the ark for SEVEN MONTHS (I Samuel 6:1).  God wasn’t confined to a box.  He is bigger than a box.

Her final act before she died was to name her son.  She named him Ichabod, not Ichabod Crane, just Ichabod.  Ichabod Crane was a character in Washington Irving’s classic short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820).

It is not a true story.  In I Samuel 4 we hear the story about the real Ichabod.  One online preacher entitled this section, “God, Glory and Sleepy Hollow”[2]

What do we know about Ichabod?  His name was (ee-kah-vode) which means “no glory.” EE means “without” or “no.”  kah-vode means “glory.”

It is only found in the book of I Samuel in the Bible. We do not know what happened to him, but you have to feel sorry for this poor baby boy.

Ichabod was given a terrible name that no one would want to have.  He was born into a family that was cursed by God.  His father, mother and grandfather all died just before he was born.

He came into the world as an orphan with a bad name in a family that was cursed and under the judgment of God.  He was born with the deck completely stacked against him.

Applications for Today

1. God keeps His Word

Whatever God says, comes to pass.  It may take some time, but it will take place. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35 NIV).

How do we see this here?  In I Samuel 2, one prophet predicted the judgment on the house of Eli.  In I Samuel 3, another prophet predicted the judgment on the house of Eli (little Samuel).

In I Samuel 4, the prediction comes to pass.  It is fulfilled. In fact, in the last chapter we are told something very interesting about Samuel.  The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. (I Samuel 3:19 NIV).

All of his predictions came true.  The OT Law said that if a prophet made a false prophecy, they were to be put to death.  Prophets in the OT had to bat a thousand.

But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.’ 21 “But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’ 22 If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NIV)

It is very different for today.  We have all kinds of people who claim to be prophets in churches who make false prophecies today.  In the last election, some claimed that they had a word from the Lord which said that Hillary would be in the White House and defeat Donald Trump (e.g., Brian Carn, Vonda Brewer).

They didn’t just say that she would win.  They said that God told them this.  Once he lost, these YouTube posts were suddenly taken down.

2. God judges sin

He often judges it severely.  He not only judges sin, He judges sin in His own people.  Judgment must begin at the house of God (I Peter 4:17).  All the people who died in this chapter were ISRAELITES.  They all worshipped the true God.

God does not just judge sin in His people, He judges sin in leaders.  Some ordained ministers in this chapter die.  God took out the top three religious leaders in the country.

The top three priests suddenly drop dead and their death was NOT an accident.  They did NOT die of old age or natural causes.  Their death was not an accident but a judgment of God.

His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death. (I Samuel 2:25 NIV).  Why?  We are told in the same chapter that “this sin of the young men was VERY GREAT in the LORD’s sight, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt” (I Samuel 2:17 NIV)

These priests were corrupt.  They were completely apostate.  They were immoral.  Their sin was flagrant.  They engaged in temple prostitution.  They did not even try to hide it.  Their dad tried to rebuke them, but they just laughed at them and God judged them.  We do not think God does this today, but He does and often judges sin in the church.

The head of the church is not the pastor or elders.  It is Jesus.  The Pope is not the head of the church.  Jesus is the head and He judges sin.  Sin has consequences.  Sin does not just affect your personally.

It may also affect your family.  An entire nation can be affected as well.  It is very dangerous to live with unconfessed sin in your life.  It is especially dangerous to be a leader and to live with unconfessed sin in your life.  This chapter is a warning to us today.

3. God removes His glory

This is where it gets very interesting.  God can disappear.  His presence can depart.   Sin causes God’s glory to depart.  It can depart from a nation.  It can depart from a church.  It can depart from a ministry.  A nation can lose its glory.  Has the glory of God left America?  America used to be a shining city on the hill.

A church can lose its glory.  God can remove his glory from a church.  It is one of the worst things that can happen to a church.  Many churches have seen God do great things but, in some churches, he has stopped working.

In fact, He is no longer present. Ichabod is written over the doors of many churches today.  You can run God out of your church.  One Fundamentalist pastor preached a sermon on this chapter entitled, “Ichabod Baptist Church.”[3]

Ichabod Churches Today

How do you know if your church has Ichabod written on the door?  What are some of the signs?  There are several signs to look for in this kind of church.  Some of you may already know this because you have been to a church like this.

1) The leaders engage in great sin in an Ichabod church

Ichabod Churches today have leaders like Hophni and Phineas who engage in great sin.  These are churches in which sin is tolerated.  It is covered up whenever it occurs.  The church is soft on sin.  They never preach against sin.  The sermons are always positive and uplifting.  There is no church discipline in the church.  That is the sign of an Ichabod church.

2) God is no longer working in an Ichabod Church

These churches have no power.  Nothing supernatural is taking place.  You cannot see the power of God in these churches.  Miracles never take place.  God is not doing anything great. There is no growth.  There is no revival.  There is no prayer.

God’s Word is not preached, and the services are dull and boring.  You want to fall asleep in them.  These churches are dying.  That is the sign of an Ichabod church.  As my pastor says, “We need more than theology to live, we need the power of God.”

3) The church is in decline in an Ichabod Church

They are no longer what they used to be.  Many churches, like many Christians, start off great.  They are on fire.  They are great soul-winning churches.  They were great bible-teaching churches, and great praying churches.

They were great worshipping churches, great miracle-working churches but, as time goes on, they cool of and become just a shell of its former self.  That is the sign of an Ichabod church.  Their glory is gone.

[1] https://www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=129141733298

[2] http://www.notbyworks.org/God-Glory-And-Sleepy-Hollow

[3] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=211081831286

Hearing God Speak

Today, we come to one of my favorite chapters in I Samuel.  It is one of the most famous chapters in I Samuel.  It is a short chapter, but it is a powerful chapter.  Every child knows this chapter.  Every kid in Sunday School has heard this story.  This chapter raises all kinds of important questions.

Does God speak?  Is He speaking today? How is He speaking today?  Does He speak to people personally?  If he speaks to people personally, can you hear His voice?

How do you know when you hear God’s speak?  How do you know for sure if you are hearing the voice of God or the voice of someone else?

How many times have we thought that we were hearing God speak but it turned out not to be God but someone else?

We thought we were hearing God’s voice, but we were just hearing our voice.  Whole religions are based on some supposed revelation from God that did not come from God.

Samuel had the opposite problem.  He thought God was not speaking to Him when He was speaking to him.  He spoke to him and even called him by name, but he thought that Eli was talking to him.

He mistook the voice of God for the voice of a man, not once but three times.  God was speaking to him, but he did not recognize the voice of God.  How do we recognize when God is talking to us?  We will look at that topic.

Before we begin, let’s do a little review.  We are studying the life of Samuel.  We saw his BIRTH in I Samuel 1 and how he was born as a result of intense prayer on the part of his mother and a radical vow.

We saw his CHILDHOOD in I Samuel 2.  We saw how he ministered to the Lord in his linen ephod in the Tabernacle.  In this chapter, we see his CALL to prophetic ministry.  He became a prophet to kings.

In this chapter, there is an old man and a young boy.  Samuel was a boy.  Jewish tradition places him around twelve at this time.  Eli was in his nineties and was blind (I Samuel 3:2).  He needed help.  Samuel helped the old blind priest in the Tabernacle.

The setting of this story is SHILOH, where the Tabernacle and the ark of God were located.  Samuel did not just go to church and work in the church, which was where he ministered (cf. I Samuel 3:1), he grew up in the church literally.

He lived in church.  He slept in the church.  Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. (I Samuel 3:3 NIV).  In the middle of the night something happens.

Then the Lord called Samuel.  Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” (I Samuel 3:4-5 NIV).

God calls his name and he thinks that Eli is calling him.  Samuel’s job was to help Eli.  Eli is blind and he is thinking that the needs something and the text says that RUNS to Eli.

Samuel wakes Eli up in the middle of the night and Eli says, in essence, “I didn’t call you.  Stop bothering me.  Go back to sleep.”  Samuel thinks that Eli is calling him and Eli thinks that Samuel is hearing things.  It happens three times.

By the fourth time, Eli realizes that something supernatural is going on here.  God is speaking.  Eli had bad physical vision.  He was blind but he had great spiritual vision.  He had great spiritual insight.

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” (I Samuel 3:8-9 NIV).

Samuel goes back to bed.  God calls him again and Samuel says, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

God does speak and gives a prophecy of judgment against the house of Eli.  Samuel wakes up, immediately rush to Eli and say, “I must be special.  God spoke to me last night.  I had a word from the Lord.”

It was a terrible message that a twelve-year-old boy would have to give to a ninety-year-old man.  It was horrifying.  It was a shocking prophecy.

He did not immediately go tell Eli the bad news that his whole family was under the judgment of God, because he was a terrible parent and did not restrain his wicked sons.

God gave Samuel an ear-tingling word.  He gave him a word of judgment.  It was negative, not positive, uplifting or comforting. Samuel wakes up and does what he normally did.

He opened the doors of the Tabernacle so people could come in (I Samuel 3:15), like nothing had happened.  Samuel does not want to tell him the prophecy.  Eli has to threaten him to get him to tell it.

“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.”  (I Samuel 3:17 NIV).

We are told, “So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him” (I Samuel 3:18 NIV)  Samuel tells Eli that because he did not restrain his sons, God was going to judge his family forever and there was nothing he could do about it.  Sacrifices would not work.  Nothing would work.

Eli’s response is an example to us today.  Samuel gives his terrible news from God and he is completely submissive to the will of God.  He does not argue with God.  He does not shake his fist at God.

He does not say that this is unfair.  He does not say, Why?  He accepts it.  He said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes” (I Samuel 3:18 NIV).  Few Christians today respond this way to bad news.

Why This Story Matters

It is a very important chapter. It is not just a good Sunday School story for kids.

1) This chapter is important because God SHOWS UP

He makes an appearance.  He shows up and He shows up unexpectedly.  Most people think this is just a story about God talking to Samuel in the middle of the night. God does not just talk to Samuel; He appears to Samuel.

The Lord CAME and STOOD THERE, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” (I Samuel 3:10 NIV). The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh (I Samuel 3:21 NIV). This is a theophany.

What is strange is that God does NOT show up and speak to the priests Hophni and Phinehas.  He did NOT appear to Eli, the High Priest.  He bypassed the religious establishment.  He bypassed all of the religious leaders.

He bypassed all of the old people and went straight to a little boy.  This is a good verse about God speaking to the youth.  We sometimes underestimate youth.  God can use young people to do great things.  Sometimes they can do more than adults can do, especially when the old people drop the ball and do not do their job.

2) This chapter is important because Samuel gets SAVED here

He has a conversion experience.  Apparently, he was not saved before this.  Now Samuel did NOT yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had NOT yet been revealed to him. (I Samuel 3:7 NIV).  He gets saved as a boy.

Samuel was like a lot of professing Christians today.  He believed in God.  He was religious.  He went to church.  He even did some type of ministry, like many do today, in his linen ephod, but he did that without knowing God.  He knew about God, but he did not know God personally.

He did not have a relationship with God.  God had never spoken to him.  He probably thought, like many Christians today thought, that was not even possible. God does not do that.

He had some reason for thinking that.   We are told, “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions” (I Samuel 3:1 NIV)

Samuel has a personal encounter with God for the first time and it changed his life.  He heard God speak and he responded to it.  He could NOT just live off the experience of Eli the High Priest.

He could NOT just live off of the spiritual experiences of his parents. He had to have his own experience with God.  We need to have our own personal encounter with God.

3) This chapter is important because Samuel gets his CALL to ministry here.

Samuel found out what God wanted him to do with the rest of his life and what his call was.  He tells him what his lifelong ministry will be.  He learned that as a boy.

Many adults do not know what God has called them to do but Samuel found out very early. God calls a lot of people in the Bible to be prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel).  This is the only time that He called a child.

This ministry was different than what he was already doing.  Samuel already had one type of ministry.  He was training to be a priest.  He was working as an apprentice at Shiloh under Eli.  Now, God is giving him a different ministry.

What is interesting is that Samuel is a young boy when God calls him, but he does not wait until his is grown to begin his ministry.  He started it right away.  Samuel is the only boy prophet in the Bible.  I Samuel 3 gives us Samuel’s first prophecy.

He hears the Word of God (I Samuel 3:8-10) and he speaks it (I Samuel 3:11-18).  He RECEIVED the message and then he REPEATED it.  He delivered it.  He RECEIVED a message FROM God and DELIVERED a message FOR God.

Samuel gained a reputation as a prophet.  He did not just claim to be a prophet.  It was confirmed by others.  The whole nation from Dan to Beersheba recognized him to be a prophet.  That is like saying he was recognized as a prophet from the North to the South or from New York to LA.

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. (I Samuel 3:19-21 NIV)

God is not just calling Samuel to be a prophet; He is starting something brand new.  He is beginning a new type of ministry.  Samuel begins a new prophetic ministry.  He starts a prophetic school, a school of the prophets.  God is going to start sending prophets to people.

Applications for Today

We have seen that this chapter matters but why does it matter to us?  What are the applications to us today?

God still CALLS people today.  If you plan to go into ministry, you have to have a genuine call from God.  God said in Jeremiah 23:21 says, “I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied” (NIV).

He knows us all by name and He calls us by name, like He did Samuel.  He does not call us all to be prophets or preachers.  He does not call us all to be pastors.

He gives us all a job to do.  Sometimes his call is unexpected.  Sometimes He calls us to do new things and start new ministries, like Samuel did.  The way God worked in one day may not be the same way he works in another day.

There is something else that applies today.  If we are genuinely called to do something and if God’s hand is on us, other people will recognize it.

God still SAVES people today.  He saves people of all ages including young boys and children.  He wants people to know him and have a personal relationship with Him.

God especially wants people who minister for Him to know Him with Him, because they represent Him.  He still REVEALS Himself to others.

God still SPEAKS to people today.  He speaks to them in a lot of different ways.  He primarily speaks today in His Word but that is not the only way God speaks.  He spoke to Samuel audibly in Hebrew.

Samuel did not hear a voice on the inside.  He heard a voice on the outside.  He thought Eli was calling him.  He did not hear a voice in his heart.  He heard a voice with his ears.  It woke him up.  God can still do that today.

Does he speak to people in dreams and visions today?  In I Samuel 3:1 it says there were not many visions.  Some believe that there are not any today.

Some believe that in OT times, there were dreams and visions and in the last days, there will not be any, because we have a completed Bible today. The Bible says the exact opposite.

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the LAST DAYS, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see VISIONS, your old men will dream DREAMS. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will PROPHESY. (Acts 2:16-18 NIV).

On the other hand, this is NOT the only way that God speaks.  It was not the only way that He spoke in Bible times.  He also spoke with a still small voice (I Kings 19:12).  God can speak to us on the inside as well as on the outside.  We have the Holy Spirit living inside us who leads us.

How to Recognize God’s Voice

I Samuel 3:1 rises a very interesting question.  It says, “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.”  It is very similar to what Amos 8:11 says.

Behold, the days are coming when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11 ESV).   Does this describe today?  Is there a famine of the words of the Lord today?

No.  There is NOT a famine of the words of the Lord today for most of us.  There may be a famine in some parts of the world that are closed to the gospel but there is a big difference between the time of I Samuel 3:1 (the time of the judges) and today.

At the beginning of the chapter, God was not speaking.  Today, He is speaking.  We live in a day of incredible revelation.   We live in a day of a closed canon.

God has written sixty-six books of Scripture.  Samuel did not have that. There is more access to sermons, more access to preachers, and more access to bible teachers today than at any time in history.

We can pull up any version of the Bible on our phone and access any sermon on the Internet.  If we do not know the Word, it is our own fault.

We have all of the resources.  Our problem today is not that God is not speaking.  Our problem today is that we are not listening.  We are not open to hear His voice.

God primarily speaks to us through His Word, but He also speaks to us primarily through a still small voice today.  He can still speak audibly but that is rare.  How do we know that are actually hearing the voice of God today?

1) If the voice you hear is from God, it will be consistent with Scripture

If the voice you are hearing contradict Scripture, it is not from God.  God gave a revelation about judgment on the house of Eli to the boy Samuel in I Samuel 3.

In I Samuel 2, he gave the same revelation to another prophet, an unnamed prophet.  What God said in I Samuel 3 was consistent with what he said in I Samuel 2.  We have to always compare everything we hear with Scripture.  God will not say something to you that will completely contraction Scripture.

2) If the voice you hear is from God, you may hear it more than once

God had to speak to Samuel four times before he got the message.  God uses repetition.  If we call someone and leave a message twice on a phone, we don’t continue calling that person.

God is persistent.  If He is speaking to you and telling you to do something, you may hear that voice more than once.

3) If the voice you hear is from God, it will be confirmed by others

How did Samuel know that God was speaking to him?  Eli told him. He learned it from an older more mature believer.  We really need people who are older than us spiritually around us.

We need their godly counsel and advice.  Eli was more spiritually sensitive.  Samuel learned to be more sensitive to God as he got older.

4) If the voice you hear is from God, you must be open to hear it and obey it

When Samuel finally realized who was speaking to him, he said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (I Samuel 3:9).  That is the right response.  Samuel was completely open to anything that God had to tell him.  Are we?

Some of us are open to hearing God’s voice and some are not.  Samuel did not argue with God or object.  He didn’t protest or complain.  He received what God told him and what God told him as unpleasant.

So Samuel told him EVERYTHING, hiding NOTHING from him. (I Samuel 3:18 NIV).  Do we obey the same way when God speaks to us?

Bad Leaders in the Church

The first three three chapters of I Samuel deal with the birth, childhood and call of Samuel.  In I Samuel 1, we see Samuel’s BIRTH.  In I Samuel 2, we see Samuel’s CHILDHOOD and in I Samuel 3, we see his CALL as a prophet.

There are three sections of the chapter.  Most of the chapter deals with bad leaders.  We are going to look at some bad leaders in this chapter and how to identify them today.

Many churches have bad leaders, leaders who sin openly. What are some of the signs to look for?  How do you identify bad leaders?  We will find out.  The NT says that there are certain people in the church that we are to look out for and stay away from.

17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to WATCH OUT FOR those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. KEEP AWAY FROM them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people. (Romans 16:17-18 NIV)

Outline of the Chapter

1) The SONG OF HANNAH (I Samuel 2:1-10)

It is also a prayer.  We will look at the kind of prayer it is and what we can learn from it.

2) The SINS OF THE PRIESTS (I Samuel 2:12-25)

There is great wickedness in this chapter.  It is said to be “very great” (I Samuel 2:17) and it is done by the priests.  It is done by religious leaders.  What was this sin?  We will see what it is.

3) The SENTENCE OF JUDGMENT ON THE HOUSE OF ELI (I Samuel 2:27-36)

There is a prophecy regarding Eli’s house.  A mysterious prophet shows up in this chapter (I Samuel 2:27ff.). Who was he?  No one knows.  He does not have a name, but he showed up unexpectedly and gave a word of prophecy to Eli.

Dr. Whitcomb of Grace Theological Seminary used to say that these OT prophets were almost ubiquitous.  A man would be minding his own business and then suddenly without warning a prophet would pop up behind the bushes with a word from the Lord.

The Song of Hannah

I Samuel 2:1-10 give us what scholars call “the song of Hannah.”  There is a big contrast between this chapter and the last chapter.

In I Samuel I, Hannah was BROKEN and BITTER.  In I Samuel 2, she was BLESSED.

In I Samuel 1, she prays out of PAIN.  In I Samuel 2, she prays out of JOY.  She said, “My heart EXULTS in the Lord…I REJOICE in your salvation” (I Samuel 2:1).  What kind of prayer is this?

Hannah’s Prayer

One, it is a PRAISE PRAYER.  In I Samuel 1, her prayer involved PETITION.  In I Samuel 2, her prayer involved PRAISE. There is no petition in this chapter.

Hannah knew how to PRAY to God and she knew how to PRAISE God.  We are very quick to pray to God for things but we are not as quick to praise and thank God when our prayer is answered.

That is exactly what Hannah does here.  She spends more words on her thanksgiving in chapter two (264 words) than she did on her petition in the first chapter (55 words).

Two, it is a PROPHETIC PRAYER.  It is not only a prayer, it is a prophecy.

Hannah said, “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth” (I Samuel 2:10).  He has not done that yet.  She said that the Lord “will give strength to his king.”  When Hannah lived, there was no king in Israel.  She in the time of the judges. This prayer is prophetic.

Three, it is a POETIC PRAYER.  There is a lot of poetry in this prayer.  God is called a rock (I Samuel 2:2).  God is not a literal rock.  This is a metaphor.  Hannah says, “my horn is exalted in the Lord” (I Samuel 2:1).  People do not have horns.  This is poetry.

Four, it is a MESSIANIC PRAYER.  It is the first time that we see the word “anointed one” in the Bible.  The word anointed is used before this time.  It uses priests being anointed with holy oil (Numbers 35:25) and altars being anointed with oil (Numbers 7:88).

He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (I Samuel 2:10 NIV).  This is the first time we see the word “anointed one” or “messiah.”  The messiah is described as a king.  The word “anointed one” or messiah is actually used twice in the chapter.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of HIS ANOINTED.” (I Samuel 2:10 ESV)

And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before MY ANOINTED forever. (I Samuel 2:35 ESV)

Five, it is GOD-CENTERED PRAYER.  This prayer does NOT focus on Hannah.  It is not a prayer just about fertility and reproduction.  This prayer is not just about having children.  She doesn’t talk about herself.  She talks about God.

This prayer is all about God.  No one is like him (I Samuel 2:2).  God is called a rock (I Samuel 2:1, 10).  He is stable.  You can trust Him.  He is a God of knowledge (I Samuel 2:3), so you have to watch what you say about Him.

The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.6 THE LORD kills and brings to life; HE brings down to Sheol and raises up.7 THE LORD makes poor and makes rich; HE brings low and he exalts. 8 HE raises up the poor from the dust; HE lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. (I Samuel 2:5-7 ESV).

God can completely change your circumstances.  If you are on top, He can put you on the bottom.  If you are on the bottom, He can put you on the top.  God can reverse any situation in life, no matter how bad it looks.

He is the God of reversal.  What God did for Hannah, He can do for other people today.  Keep in mind that Hannah did not pray one time and get her request answered.  She prayed over a long period of time.

The Sins of the Priests

The next scene in the chapter is a picture of Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They were sons of Eli (I Samuel 1:3).  They were young men (I Samuel 2:17).  They had Egyptian names.  They did not even have Hebrew names.  They were extremely wicked.

Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. (I Samuel 2:12 ESV).  Thus the sin of the young men was VERY GREAT in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord WITH CONTEMPT (I Samuel 2:17 ESV).

One preacher called these “The Bad Boys of Shiloh.”[1]  It is not good when the bad boys of the town happen to be the religious leaders of the town.  Hophni and Phinehas were priests! They grew up in church!  Their father was a priest.  Their grandfather was a priest.

Their dad was not just the pastor of a church.  He was High Priest.  He was the spiritual leader of the whole nation but these two boys were completely rotten.  Some of the worst kids are preacher’s kids (PKs).  There is an irony here. In the last chapter, Eli mistook Hannah for a wicked woman, when in fact it was his own sons who were wicked.

What is the message for us today?  It tells us that religious leaders can be corrupt.  Pastors can be corrupt.   Elders can be corrupt.  Hophni and Phinehas were priests.  They were in the ministry.  They represented God in an official capacity to people.

It also tells us that not everyone knows God and some of the people you think know God and you expect to know God, may not.  You can come from a Christian family and NOT know the Lord.  You can come from a long line of Christians, going back hundreds of years, and NOT know the Lord.  Your dad can be a pastor or missionary and you NOT know the Lord.

You can be religious and NOT know the Lord.  You can be educated, got to seminary and not know the Lord.  You can be ordained and in ministry and NOT know the Lord.   You can preach sermons and not know the Lord.  There are many people behind pulpits who do not know the Lord.

You can know all kinds of things about God and NOT know the Lord personally.  I know a lot about Donald Trump but have never met him personally.  The question to ask is this.  Do you know the Lord?

Two Kinds of Kids

This chapter is not just about Hophni and Phinehas.  They were both in the same family.  It is about Samuel.  Samuel was adopted into this family. Anyone who has kids knows how different they can be.

They can live in the same house, be in the same environment and be completely different in appearance, personality, temperament, and character.  They can be polar opposites.

The same was true of Eli’s kids. They had some things in common.  Both came from a good lineage.  Both were descendants of Aaron.  Both were brought up in Shiloh.  Both were raised by Eli, the High Priest.  Both went to church.

Both learned the Law of God.  Both worshipped God.  Both had some ministry.  How did Samuel minister as a child?  We do not know but they both served the Lord in some capacity.  Both served in the Tabernacle but there were big differences.

1) They had a difference in AGE

Hophni and Phinehas were much older than Samuel was.  He was a child and they were adults.

2) They had a difference in CHARACTER

Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. (I Samuel 2:18 ESV)

Hophni and Phinehas were wicked but Samuel was righteous.  Samuel did not have the best role models around him.  He did not have the best environment.  He had two rebellious older brothers, but he stayed faithful to God.

That is an encouragement to us.  Noah lived in a really bad environment.  Everyone around him was wicked but he stayed righteous and walked with God.  As Swindoll says, “environment does not determine outcome.”[2]

Hophni and Phinehas were completely wicked.  They were sexually immoral.  They were committing temple prostitution.  Little Samuel was sexually pure.  Samuel was a picture of purity.  He was a Nazarite and was completely dedicated to God, ministering before the Lord in his linen ephod.

3) They had a difference in REPUTATION

And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is NO GOOD REPORT that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. (I Samuel 2:23-24 ESV)

Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and IN FAVOR with the Lord and also WITH MAN. (I Samuel 2:26 ESV)

Hophni and Phinehas had a terrible reputation, and Samuel had a great reputation.  All of the people loved little Samuel and thought well of him. Samuel’s reputation got better over time.  He grew in favor with people.  Hophni and Phinehas’ reputation got worse over time.

4) They had a difference in SPIRITUAL STATE

One was saved and two were lost.  One was a child of God.  The other two were children of the Devil.  The KJV gives a literal translation in I Samuel 2:12. It says, “Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.”  It follows the Hebrew.  That is never used of saved people.

Samuel knew God.  He had a relationship with him.  God spoke to him.  He grew in favor with God.  He was blessed by God.  Hophni and Phinehas did not know God (I Samuel 2:12).  They did not have God’s favor.  They were not blessed by God.  They were cursed by God.  God wanted to kill them (I Samuel 2:25).

The Sentence on the House of Eli

27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? 28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. 29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ (I Samuel 2:27-29 ESV)

This is interesting.  An unknown prophet shows up and gives Eli a strong warning.  He has a word of impending doom, because of the wickedness of his sons.  He doesn’t confront the sons.  He confronts Eli because he is the High Priest.

God blessed Hannah’s family in the beginning of the chapter and now He judges Eli’s family. Eli honored his sons above God.  Hannah honored God above her son.  She wanted a son more than anything else in this world but, when she got one, she gave him back to God.

What the judgment on the House of Eli?  Three promises are given.

First, he promised that the descendants of Eli would die at an early age (I Samuel 2:31).

Second, he promised that Hophni and Phinehas would die on the same day (I Samuel 2:34).  They do not die naturally or accidentally.  Their death is a divine judgment for sin. It is bad enough that they would both die but this prophet says that they will both die on the same day.

Third, he promised that Eli would lose his ministry.  Another family of Aaron would be given the office of high priest (I Samuel 2:35).  His family would lose the opportunity to be in the priesthood.

Three Powerful Applications

How does this chapter apply to us today?  What does this chapter say to us today?  What can we take from it?  This is where it gets interesting.  There are some big lessons from this chapter for us today.

1) Discipline your kids

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (Proverbs 13:24 ESV)

The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. (Proverbs 29:15 ESV)

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. (Proverbs 24:13-14 ESV)

Eli was not all bad.  He had some good points.  Every time the man opens his mouth and utters a prophecy or would bless people, good things happened (I Samuel 1:17; 2:20) but he made some big mistakes as a parent.

He failed as a father.  The NT says that you cannot be a leader in the church if you cannot even lead your own family (I Timothy 3:5). We can learn here from Eli’s parenting mistakes.

What was Eli’s method of parenting?  He was a PASSIVE parent.  He was a PERMISSIVE parent. Like many parents do today, Eli indulged his kids.  He spoiled his kids.  He didn’t discipline his kids.

He honored his sons more than he honored God (I Samuel 2:29).  Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37 ESV)

We should love our kids, but we should not love them more than we love God.  We should not honor them more than we honor God.  That is idolatry.  That is the secular approach to child-rearing.  It is child centered.  Everything revolves around the child.  They come first.  God should come first in our families.

2) Exercise church discipline

Eli failed, not only as a father; he failed as the high priest.  He failed as a father and he failed as a minister.  He failed as a leader.  He was the High Priest.  He did not supervise the priests under him very well.

His sons committed big crimes right under his nose and Eli did not even know about it.  He had to be told by others what was going on (I Samuel 2:22).  He closed his eyes and looked the other way.  Once he heard about it, what did he do about it?  What was his response?

22 Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24 No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. (I Samuel 2:22-24 ESV)

What did he do?  He talked to them about it.  he reasoned with them.  “Boys you ought not to do that.  Rumors are spreading that you are being bad?”  There is a place for REBUKE.  There is also a place for CONSEQUENCES.  Eli took no disciplinary action.

He allowed them continuing to minister as priests.  They were not removed from their position.  Eli gave them a slap on the wrist and said “bad boys” but did absolutely nothing to stop them.  It was his job as the High Priest to remove bad priests from the priesthood.  Notice what God said.

And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did NOT restrain them. (I Samuel 3:13 ESV)

There are churches today that do the same thing Eli did.  When a leader is caught in sin, tolerate it.  They ignore it or try to hide or try to cover it up, instead of dealing with it and removing the individual from ministry.

Many churches today do not address sin.  They are soft on sin, even in leaders.  They do not practice church discipline, but church discipline is biblical (see I Corinthians 5).

If we do not deal with the sins of our children, God will.  If we do not deal will the sins of our church, God will.  God removes some people from leadership in His church who abuse that leadership.

Eli did not deal with his kids.  He lost his ministry.  He lost his kids.  He lost his life all.  Discipline seems hard.  It is actually the best thing that can happen to a family or church, when it is done in a loving way.

3) Beware of corrupt religious leaders

In Samuel’s day, the people did not have much of a choice.  They had to go to Shiloh to worship.  That is where the Tabernacle was located. Today, we have more choices.  We do not have to stay in a church with corrupt leaders.  We live in a day in which abusive pastors are quite common.

Leaders in some churches have done some of these things that Hophni and Phinehas did.  There are pastors today who act just like these two men.  What do corrupt religious leaders look like?  What are some of the signs?

Six Signs of Corrupt Religious Leaders

1) Corrupt religious leaders are sexually immoral

Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. (I Samuel 2:22 ESV)

A clear sign of a false teacher or a corrupt leader is a leader who is immoral.  They took advantage of their position as priests and not only sleep with women who were serving in the Tabernacle, they committed adultery.

They were both married men.  We know that because when they both died, one of the son’s wives went into labor (I Samuel 4:19-22).  They used God’s house as a house of prostitution, which was forbidden in the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 23:17).

Sexual immorality is not just a problem for priests in the Catholic Church, many evangelical ministers have committed sexual immorality.  Some have been caught doing human trafficking of children.[3]

2) Corrupt religious leaders reject Scripture

Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” (I Samuel 2:15 ESV)

Hophni and Phinehas lived in a time of the judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes.  Even the priests did what was right in their own eyes.  God gave the priests some of the meat in the sacrifices, but these two men were not satisfied with God’s provision for them.  They wanted more.

They rejected what God said they were allowed to eat.  They rejected how god said that they were supposed to live.  False teachers always reject Scripture.  There are whole denominations that reject what Scripture says about some topics (e.g., marriage, homosexuality).  They think that some passages are outdated. 

3) Corrupt religious leaders are abusive

And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you MUST give it NOW, and if not, I will take it BY FORCE.” (I Samuel 2:16 ESV)

I Peter 5:3 tells elders not to lord it over the flock.  Some pastors are like dictators.  They abuse their people by bullying and intimidating people.  They can even use force and threats.

It is the exact opposite of how they are supposed to act.  They are supposed to serve people. Some of the leaders of big famous mega churches have been removed from office for this very reason.

4) Corrupt religious leaders are self-centered

The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take FOR HIMSELF. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. (I Samuel 2:13-14 ESV)

Samuel ministered for the Lord.  They ministered for themselves.  They wanted the choices meats for themselves. They used ministry to serve self, rather than to serve God.  They went into the ministry for what they could get out of it, rather than how they could help people.

They used the worship of God just as a means to fill their pockets and satisfy their lusts.  They lived lives of unrestrained lusts.  For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. (Romans 16:18 NIV).

5) Corrupt religious leaders are not open to criticism

And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would NOT listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death. (I Samuel 2:23-25 ESV)

They did not listen when the people told them what they were doing was wrong (I Samuel 2:16).  They did not listen when their own father told them this (I Samuel 2:23-26).  There are some people that do not listen to anybody.  They always want their own way.

You can’t tell them anything.  They do not take any advice, suggestions or criticism.  Proverbs 29:1 says, “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy” (NIV).  That is what happened to Hophni and Phinehas.

6) Corrupt religious leaders showed contempt for the things of God

Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord WITH CONTEMPT. (I Samuel 2:17 ESV)

They were NOT big on respect.  They had complete disrespect for God and the things of God.  How they treated the offering showed what they thought of God.  They stole from the offerings.

They were actually stealing from God.  They did not just steal; they stole from God. The fat in the offering was to be reserved for God alone. All the fat is the Lord’s (Leviticus 3:16 KJV).

It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.” (Leviticus 3:17 ESV).  Leviticus 7:25 says, “For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the Lord shall be cut off from his people” (ESV).

It was to be burned on the altar as an offering to the Lord.  The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. (Leviticus 7:31 ESV).  Can we do this today?  Yes.  We can steal from God.  We do not steal from God today by eating fat.

God does not want fat or meat today.  It is not the smell of roasted meat today is a pleasing aroma to God.  He does not like barbecue.  It is our lives.  We are to be living sacrifices for God (Romans 12:1-2).  He wants everything we have given to him as a sacrifice.


[1]
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=42611924160

[2] The Swindoll Study Bible NLT. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Kindle Edition.

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/us/ohio-pastor-sex-trafficking.html

Lessons from Hannah

Last week, we looked at the introduction to the book of I Samuel.  I Samuel is one of the most interesting chapters of the Bible.  I Samuel is a book of thirty-one chapters.

The book covers three great men (Samuel, Saul, & David) but this chapter is NOT about a great man.  It is about a great woman.  The main character in this chapter is a woman, not a man.

In fact, all the men in this chapter blow it.  Hannah’s husband blows it in this chapter.  He does not really understand Hannah and what she is going through.

The high priest at Shiloh blows it.  He does not understand Hannah either.  He thinks she is doing something bad when she is actually doing something good.

I Samuel 1 introduces us to one of the greatest women of the Bible. Hannah was one of the greatest mothers of the Bible, the mother of Samuel.  This is a famous story in the Bible.  What is in this chapter?

The first part of the chapter deals with Samuel’s parents and their lineage.  Elkanah was Samuel’s father and Hannah was his mother.  They were ordinary people.

They were not famous.  They were not rich and powerful.  They were just normal people who lived in the country (I Samuel 1:1).  Elkanah’s lineage goes back five generations.

The home life is described.  It was a RELIGIOUS home. They made an annual trip to Shiloh. They worshiped together.  It was a POLYGAMOUS home.

Elkanah is married to two wives.  It was also an UNHAPPY home.  You can have a religious home and still an unhappy home at the same time.  It was a DYSFUNCTIONAL home.

The conflict in the home is described.  It is a conflict between two women, Elkanah’s two wives.  It is initiated by Peninnah.  Hannah cannot have any children and Penninah provoked her and tormented her because of it.

The prayer in the Tabernacle by Hannah is described and her rebuke by the High Priest, followed by a blessing from the High Priest.  Hannah leaves Shiloh, gets pregnant and has a baby.

Elkanah continues to make his yearly trip to Shiloh but Hannah refuses to go.  She does not want to go to Shiloh and come back with Samuel until she can drop him off for good.  After he is weaned, he is dropped off at Shiloh for a lifetime of service to the Lord

What does this story say to us today? This story about a barren Jewish woman three thousand years ago has a lot to say to us today.  Some of these principles or applications may sound shocking to us.

Principles for Today

1. Good things can happen to bad people

As you look in the world today, you see that the wicked prosper.  The Bible recognizes it.  Read Psalm 73.  Some of the most blessed people on the planet are the most wicked.  They have lots of money.  They live in a big house.  They have a great reputation in the world and they live horrible lives.

As you read I Samuel 1, you can see an example of this.  One of Elkanah’s wives was named Peninnah.  She was not godly.  She was not spiritual.  She was jealous.

She was rude.  She was insulting.  She was hurtful.  She was cruel.  She was mean.  She was one of the biblical mean girls, but God blessed her.  She not only had children, she had a lot of them, boys and girls.

2. Bad things can happen to good people

This is unpopular teaching.  It doesn’t seem fair.  You won’t hear it preached much in churches today.  Some seem to think if you are spiritual and live a godly life, you won’t have problems.

If you live the abundant Christian life, you won’t have any medical problems.  You won’t have financial problems.  You will not have any marriage problems.  You won’t have car problems.

Jesus said, “In this world, you will have tribulation” (John 16:33 NIV).  You will have suffering.  You will have trouble.  You will have trials.

If any chapter of the Bible refutes that theory, it is I Samuel 1.  Hannah was a godly woman, but she had some problems.  She had two problems.

Her first problem was INFERTILITY.  She struggled with infertility for years.  She wanted to have kids and could not have any.  God seemed to be blessing other people but not her and she was devastated.

That is not a problem today. Many parents today don’t like kids and don’t want them but Hannah lived in a completely different culture.  In her culture, there was a stigma placed on a barren Jewish woman.  Children were considered a sign of God’s blessing.

Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him” (NIV).  A woman with NO children was considered a CURSE.

Women in that day found their identity in child bearing.  That was how they got their identity.  They got it from their ability to reproduce.  A woman with no children felt like she had no purpose in life.

Her second problem was RIDICULE.  Hannah had an enemy.  There was someone who hated her and, what makes it worse is that this person was in her own family.  There was hostility, strife, competition, and jealousy in the home.

Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. (I Samuel 1:6-7 NIV)

Not only is Hannah infertile, but Elkanah’s other wife, Penninah, teases her.  She provokes her.  She mocks her.  She tries to make her feel bad about something that she cannot even control.

She says to Hannah, “Why don’t you have children?  God has blessed me with children.  Why hasn’t He blessed you?  What is wrong with you?  Doesn’t He love you?”

Hannah is infertile, feels bad about it and Peninnah rubs it in.  She pours salt in the wound, just to hurt her even more.  Peninnah bullies her to make herself feel better because she was not the favorite wife.  Hannah was.  She got the double portion (I Samuel 1:5).

This goes on for years.  It even goes on in church.  It is pretty bad when you do not even feel safe from abuse in church and yet that is what happened to Hannah.  The yearly pilgrimage to the Tabernacle was when some of this took place.  Are there any Peninnahs in the church today?

What effect did it have on Hannah?  It caused her to be sad and depressed.  She wept.  She got to the point where she could not eat but she did not stop going to church (where some of this abuse took place).  She continued to pray and she continued to worship.

3. Some bad things come directly from God

This is also something that you will almost never hear in church.  In church, you will often hear the exact opposite preached.  Good things come from God (blessing, prosperity).  Bad things come from Satan (suffering, sickness).  What is the problem with this theory?  It is FALSE.  Samuel says that is not true.

5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. (I Samuel 1:5-6 NIV)

Two times in the text we are told that God is the one who closes the womb.  He is the one in charge of conception.  He is the creator of life.  It wasn’t an accident that Hannah could not have kids.  She did not just have a medical condition that prevented conception.  God stopped her from having kids.  Hannah also says that trouble can come from God.

“The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. (I Samuel 2:6-7 NIV).

That is a shocking verse.  God sends poverty and wealth.  He brings death and makes alive.  He humbles and exalts people.  Many other verses say the same thing.  This may go against the theology of some people, but it is what the Bible teaches.

The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? (Exodus 4:11 NIV).

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:7-10 NIV)

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things.
(Isaiah 45:7 NIV).

4. Take your problems to God in prayer

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6 NIV)

How do you respond when you have problems?  How do you respond when you have debilitating trials?  Where do you go?  What do you do?  Hannah knew what to do with her problems.  She knew where to take them.

She took her problems to God in prayer.  She was upset.  She was hurt.  She was sad.  She was depressed.  She was bitter but she prayed.  She had a burden that no one else understood and she took that burden to the Lord.

Hannah was not the first woman in the Bible to struggle with infertility.  She was the fourth.  There were three women before her who struggled with the same problem (Sarah, Rachel & Rebekah) but she is the first one who prayed about the problem.

The Bible says that Isaac prayed for his wife when she was barren (Genesis 25:21) but it never mentions Sarah, Rachel or Rebekah praying for a child.  It does mention Hannah praying for a child.  In fact, Hannah is the ONLY woman in the OT specifically said to pray about anything.

She could have blamed God.  She could have become bitter and angry.  She could have said, “I serve you faithfully.  I keep your commandments.  I come to your Tabernacle every year and offer sacrifices. Why haven’t You given me a son?”

She could have turned completely away from God, like many do today when bad things happen to them, but she didn’t do that.  In fact, Hannah’s PROBLEM only led to Hannah’s PRAYER.  Whatever problem we have, we can bring before God.

Instead of praying, she could have talked to friends.  Friends are important but they could not solve this problem

Instead of praying, she could have turned to a psychiatrist to deal with her uncontrollable depression?  Steven Cole says that “Hannah could have gone to a Christian therapist, who would have said, “You’re crying all the time. You’re depressed. You have an eating disorder. It’s obvious that you’re sitting on a lot of anger and suffering from low self-esteem.

You need to let out all of your rage toward God. Hannah, you’re co-dependent and you need to set some boundaries. You’re enabling your husband and this other woman to carry on. You can’t really love your husband until you learn to love yourself. You need to start looking out for your own needs for a change. Let’s get you started on Prozac.”[1]

Instead of praying, she could have turned to a doctor.  That is what we would do today.  That is what we would do today.  That raises this question.  Is it wrong for a Christian to see a fertility specialist?  No.  God is not against modern medicine or doctors, but our faith should not be the doctors but in God.

God uses doctors today, but He is the one who is charge of conception.  Instead, she prayed.

5. God answers impossible prayers

This chapter is a testimony to the power of prayer.  It shows the power of prayer.  It shows us the power of a praying mom.  This prayer got God’s attention.

This prayer was not only answered but Hannah got more far than she asked.  She prayed for a son, but she got a prophet.  She gets a ruler.  She prayed for a son but got one of the greatest men who ever lived.

There is no evidence that Peninnah’s kids ever amounted to anything to did anything or did anything great in life.  None of her sons were prophets but one of Hannah’s was one.

What is the Hannah Prayer?

What kind of prayers does God answer?  He answers prayer like Hannah’s prayer. This chapter is all about prayer.  Hannah’s prayer is one of the ten greatest prayers of the Bible.  What was Hannah’s prayer like?

1) The Hannah Prayer is SPECIFIC

It was a very specific prayer.  It was not general or vague.  Prayer must be specific.

Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”  Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. (Matthew 20:30-34 NIV)

2) The Hannah Prayer is BIBLICAL

It is a prayer consistent with the heart of God.  God loves children.  He created them.  He blesses people with large families.  Hannah was asking for something that was completely consistent and in line with the will of God.

Jesus loves little children.  He said, “Suffer the little children to come to me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:14 KJV)

3) The Hannah Prayer is PASSIONATE

In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. (I Samuel 1:10 NIV)

Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears. (I Samuel 1:10 HCSB)

Genuine prayer does not have to be eloquent.  It has to be from the heart. It has to be genuine, not fake.  Genuine prayer is not rote.  It is not mechanical.  Many of our prayers are not passionate.

They show little emotion. They have no power because we are not praying from our heart.  You can tell a big difference between Christians who pray passionately and those who do not.

Hannah prayed from her heart.  She prayed from the depths of her soul.  Hannah’s prayer came out of pain.  She prays in deep anguish.

Her prayer was passionate.  It was so passionate that Eli thought she was drunk.  If she prayed the way most Christians pray today, he would have thought she was going to sleep.

This prayer came from Hannah’s heart.  That is why it did not involve any words.  Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. (I Samuel 1:13 NIV). It was passionate.

It was intense.  It was emotional.  It involved many tears (I Samuel 1:10).  She was sobbing uncontrollably.  It was so passionate that she prayed like this in public and did not care what people thought of her.  She was completely broken before God.

Jesus prayed the same way.  During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (Hebrews 5:7 NIV)

4) The Hannah Prayer is PERSISTENT

In this chapter, we only see Hannah pray one time, in the Tabernacle but this could not be the first time that she prayed.  She was harassed for years and prayed for years.  Even though she received no answer, she kept praying.  She was persistent.

5) The Hannah Prayer is BELIEVING

Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” (I Samuel 1:13-17 NIV).

Hannah prays.  Eli sees it and thinks she is drunk.  He had seen a few drunks in his line of work.  Here Hannah is doing something good and Eli thinks she is doing something bad and rebukes her and even insults her, calling her a drunkard.

Apparently even religious leaders (high priests) can judge people incorrectly.  We need to be slow to judge people and avoid jumping to conclusions and immediately slandering other believers.

Hannah goes down as the woman who corrects the high priest.  She does it respectfully.  “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” (I Samuel 1:15-16 NIV)

Eli does not apologize to her, but he does pronounce a blessing on her.  Eli says, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him” (I Samuel 1:17 NIV).

Hannah took this as a word from God for her situation and went home happy.  Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. (I Samuel 1:18 NIV).

She entered Shiloh sad, but she leaves happy.  Perhaps for the first time, she believed that God was going to answer her prayer.  The next day, she worshiped, went home, made love to her husband and got pregnant.

Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. (I Samuel 1:19-20 ESV).

6. The Hannah Prayer is SACRIFICIAL

Hannah did not just pray, she made a vow in her prayer.  She is the only woman in the Bible to make a vow.  She vowed that if God gave her a son, she would make him a Nazarite.

There are three lifelong Nazarites in the Bible (Samson, Samuel and John the Baptist).  God told John the Baptist parents and Samson parents that their son would be a Nazaire from birth.  Hannah is the only one to choose for her son to be a Nazarite before he was born.

Hannah was the woman who kept her promise to God.  She kept her promise to God, even when it was hard.  Hannah had one prayer request.

She had one desire in life, to have a son.  When she finally gets the one thing she desperately wanted, she gives it back to God.  She did not try to smother her children like many parents do today.

God blessed her for her faithfulness.  She gives her firstborn son back to God, so God gives her five more.  As many say, you can’t out give God.  You can never give more to God than He gives back to you, in some form or another!

Should we make vows to God today like Hannah did? She made a quid pro quo vow (“something for something” in Latin).  She said, “If you do this, I will do that.” She says, “If you gave your maidservant a son, I will give him to the Lord all of the days of his life.”  Should we do this today?

It is not wrong, if it is done with the right motive.  Hannah did not make a vow out of selfishness.  The Bible talks about making vows to God in many passages.

On the other hand, we need to be very careful.  We don’t want to make a rash vow, like Jephthah did.  If we make a vow, we need to keep it, like Hannah did.

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. (Ecclesiastes 5:2, 4-5 NIV)


[1]
 https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-1-mother-who-gave-away-her-son-1-samuel-1-2

Why Study I Samuel?

We begin a new series on an OT book. The OT is neglected today by most Christians.  Most preachers ignore it and most Christians do not know it very well.

Today, we begin a study of I Samuel.  There are two goals for today.  We are going to be introduced to the Book of I Samuel and the man who wrote it.

I Samuel is one of my favorite books of the Bible.  It contains one of the most famous stores in the Bible about David and Goliath.  Everyone knows that story.  Every child knows it.  It is a great miracle story.

It comes right out of I Samuel.  II Samuel has the famous story of David and Bathsheba.  There are some famous quotes in these books.  This is where we see the phrase, “obedience is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22).

In our English Bibles, I Samuel and II Samuel are separate books.  In the Hebrew Bible, I & II Samuel are one book.  They are all one story.  It is the book of Samuel.

The Hebrew Bible does not have 39 books.  It has only 24 books in it.  It is the same books we have in our Bibles, but they are listed differently.  Samuel is the first book of the Bible made up of two books.

These are books that look like they could have been written today.  Some of the topics that we see in these books include the following: infertility, adoption, unhappy home lives, dysfunctional families, sexual assault, rape, marital unfaithfulness (lust and adultery).

It includes the topic of permissive parents, completely rotten children, deceitful politicians, corrupt religious leaders, political instability, political revolution, warfare, national tragedies, good friends and people who stab you in the back.

They are historical books.  I Samuel is NOT a book of doctrine, like Romans.  It is NOT a book of prophecy, like Revelation.  It is NOT a book of worship, like Psalms.  It is a book of HISTORY.

There are thirty-one chapters in the book, and they are all history.  Why is it important for us today?  We did not come to church to hear a history lesson.  Let’s look at several reasons why this book is important for us today.

Reasons for Studying the Book

1) The Books of Samuel are inspired books

I & II Samuel is not dry secular history, like we have in school.  It is not history for history’s sake.  It is biblical history.  It is inspired history. This history teaches us some things.  It has spirituals lessons and applications for us today.

You cannot really understand the OT without these two books of the Bible.  Imagine for a minute if we did not have the books of I & II Samuel in our Bible?

How can you explain the history of a nation without talking about the history of its greatest king or rulers?  Jesus calls himself the son of David.  That does not make much sense if you do not know who David was.

2) The Books of Samuel point us to Jesus

There are some messianic prophecies in this book.  God gives David the promise of a coming Messiah.  In fact, I Samuel is the first book in the Bible that has the word “messiah” or anointed one (mashiach) in it.

These books point us to Jesus, who is is a descendant of David. He is the son of David.  He is the root and offspring of David and He is a king.  He is a Davidic King who will one day sit on the throne of David.

3) The Books of Samuel are books about leadership

This book is all about leaders.  It is a book about three men.  There are three main characters in the book: Samuel, Saul and David.  They were all leaders.  Today is a day we need good leaders.  We need them in the home.  We need them in the church, and we need them in society.

What are the three leaders in this book?  The first leader is SAMUEL.  I Samuel begins with Samuel’s birth.  Samuel was not a king, but he was a judge.  We do not normally think of him as a judge.  We think of Samuel as a prophet, but he was also a judge.  He was Judge Samuel.

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. (I Samuel 7:15-16 ESV)

The book begins at the time of the judges.  After Joshua died was the period of the judges.  It was a period that last three to four hundred years.

The Book of Ruth also took place during the period of the Judges (Ruth 1:1).  Samuel lived around the same time that Samson lived.  He was the last of the judges.  He would have been the fourteenth judge.[1]

The second leader was SAUL.  He was Israel’s first king.  He became king because the people got tired of Samuel.  They did not want a judge.  They wanted a king. We don’t want an old judge like Samuel.  We want a new king. They said, “Give us a king.”

Samuel warned him that this was not a good idea.  They were going to settle for second best, like many Christians do today but they wanted it, so God said, “Give them a king.”

You have to be careful what you pray for.  God may actually give us what we want. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (Psalm 106:15 KJV).  He gave them their request but also sent a plague. That is why we need to pray for God’s will, NOT for our will.

Samuel anointed Saul reluctantly.  Samuel was a king-maker.  He anointed the king who would replace him.  The people loved him.  He looked like a king.  He was tall and stately. He looked great on the outside.

He looked presidential.  Many marry a person based on externals. He or she looks great on the outside but, as Swindoll says, “marrying an ugly person is not necessarily the answer either.”  You have to be in the will of God.

Saul is a tragic figure.  He starts out great but he has a fall.  He disqualifies himself from the job and God rejected him.  He went crazy and becomes totally demonized.

He visits a witch at the end of the book (I Samuel 28), and commits suicide.  His sons are killed in battle and Saul’s head is cut off and put in a pagan temple.  It is a terrible end to the first king of Israel.

The third leader was DAVID.  He was Israel’s second king.  He spent most of his time in I Samuel on the run.  Saul was trying to kill him.  David was anointed king in I Samuel but he does not become king until II Samuel.

David is the main character of II Samuel.  I Samuel covers over a hundred years.  II Samuel covers a period of only forty years.   It covers the reign of King David.  The life of David goes from I Samuel (when he is a boy or young man) to I Kings (when he dies).

Leadership Principles

What are some leadership principles from the books of I & II Samuel?

1) There are good and bad leaders

I Samuel is a realistic book.  I Samuel mentions two judges and two kings.  One of the judges was good (Samuel) and one was bad (Eli).  One of the kings was good (David) and one was bad (Saul).

David was a man after God’s own heart.  Saul was a man after the people’s heart. He was the people’s king.  Some leaders were obedient to God and some were disobedient.  Which type of leader are you?  If you are not a leader, which type of Christian are you?

2) No leaders are perfect

Pastors are not perfect.  Elders are not perfect.  I Samuel shows that even good leaders (David, Israel’s greatest king) can fall.  In fact, Samuel was not perfect either.  He was a great prophet but failed as a father.  That is why our hope should never be in human government.

Government is important but many think that if you just get the right party in power or the right man in the White House, all of our problems will be solved.  Psalm 146:3 says, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save” (NIV).  Our trust should be in God, not in Washington or in the Republican or Democratic party.

3) Good leaders must have integrity

That is missing from many leaders today, leaders in the world and in the church but it was not missing from Samuel.

Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right. 4 “You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”  (I Samuel 12:2-4 NIV)

Interesting Facts about Samuel

What do we know about Samuel?  What was special about him?  Let’s look at eight things about him from I Samuel.

1) His birth was a complete miracle

He was a miracle baby.  He was not supposed to be born.  His mom was completely infertile.  He was only born in answer to prayer.

2) His mom consecrated him to God

He was totally dedicated to God before he was even born and before he was even conceived.  She promised to make him a Nazarite and give him back to God. There are only three lifelong Nazarites mentioned in the Bible and two of them were judges (Samson, Samuel and John the Baptist)

3) He was given up for adoption

His mom gave him up for adoption.  It is really the first adoption in the Bible.  Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses, but Moses’ mother did not put him up for adoption voluntarily.  She only did it because she had to.  It was not voluntary.

4) He was a child prophet

We have heard of child preachers today, but Samuel was a child prophet.  He was a young boy when he experienced a prophetic call.  God called him when he was young.  He spoke to him audibly.  I Samuel 3:1 says “In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions” (NIV). God wasn’t speaking to people but He spoke to Samuel and he spoke to him when he was young.

Prophets received a message directly from God and delivered it to people.  Some of these messages were negative.  His first message that he received was that Eli and his sons would be destroyed.  It was an unpleasant message to deliver. Eli’s two sons are going to die on the same day.  Everyone recognized that Samuel was a prophet.

And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. (I Samuel 3:20 NIV)

5) He founded a school

Apparently, Samuel was not just a prophet, he was a teacher.  He founded a school.  He was the first one to start a bible school, but it was a little different than a seminary  (cf. 1 Samuel 19:18–24).  It was more of a school of prophetic ministry.  It was a school for prophets, not a school for pastors or missionaries.

6) He wrote a book

Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord (I Samuel 10:25 NIV)

Here is the shocker.  Samuel did NOT write all of the book of I Samuel.  He couldn’t have.  He dies in the twenty-fifth chapter.  He did not write any of II Samuel.  Who wrote the rest of the book?  Jewish tradition says that it was written by two prophets named Gad and Nathan.

That is what the Babylonian Talmud says (Baba Bathra 14b, 15a).  That is probably correct.  I Chronicles 29:29 says, “As for the events of King David’s reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer” (NIV)

7) He was a prayer warrior

Samuel was a great man of prayer.  He was born as a result of prayer.  His birth was an answer to prayer.  He was also a prayer warrior.  All throughout the book of I Samuel, we see him praying.  He prayed all night.  Samuel was big on prayer.  He knew it was important.

“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. (I Samuel 15:11 NIV).  He said that it was a sin NOT to pray.  As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. (I Samuel 12:23 NIV).

8) He was a type of Christ

Samuel is a type of Christ.  He is a picture of Jesus in many ways.  There are a lot of differences between the two.  Samuel was married and had kids.  Samuel did not cast out demons.

He did not die a violent death by crucifixion  but there are many similarities between Samuel and Jesus.  You might be amazed at how many similarities there are.  Here are ten parallels between Jesus and Samuel.

Samuel & Jesus

1. Both were born supernaturally

There are some differences between their births.  Jesus was born of a virgin.  His mom was not even looking to have kids and an angel appeared to her before Jesus was born.

Hannah did not see any angels, but they did have one thing in common.  Both Jesus and Samuel had supernatural births.  Both were born to women who could not have children.  Both births were completely miraculous.

2. Both were firstborn sons

Jesus was the firstborn son of Mary (Luke 2:7).  Samuel was the firstborn son of Hannah. Both parents went on to have more children, but Jesus and Samuel were firstborn sons.  They were the oldest kids in the family.

3. Both had godly mothers

Hannah and Mary were very similar.  Once they were born, they responded in prayer and in praise to God.  You can read Hannah’s prayer in I Samuel 2:1-10.  You can read Mary’s praise to God in Luke 1:46-55.  Mary’s song is called in Latin “The Magnificat.”  It is one of the words found in Luke 1:46 in the Latin Vulgate (et ait Maria magnificat anima mea Dominum).

4. Both had adopted fathers

Eli was not Samuel’s biological father.  Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father.  He was virgin born.

5. Both grew physically, spiritually and socially

I Samuel 2:26 says, “And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people” (NIV).  Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (NIV).  The language in those verses is almost identical.  God was with Samuel when he was young and God as with Jesus.

6. Both were left at the Temple

Samuel’s mom dropped him off at the Tabernacle to be raised by the High Priest.  Jesus was left alone at the temple and was in the company of the religious leaders of his day.

7. Both have a story about them at the age of twelve

Samuel ministered under Eli the priest in the tabernacle.  Jesus was left alone in the Temple when he was twelve years old (Luke 2:52).  Jesus asked questions of the priests and bible scholars in the Temple.

God spoke audibly to Samuel when he was young.   How old was he when this happened?  Jewish tradition says that he was twelve.  That is what Josephus says (Antiquities of the Jews, 5.10.4).  The one story about Jesus and Samuel when they were young both happened when they twelve years old.

8. Both had three important roles

Jesus was a prophet, priest and king.  Samuel was a prophet, a priest and a judge.  Samuel was a judge and Jesus will be a judge.  He will be the one to judge the world (Acts 17:31). Samuel was a priest.  He offers sacrifices.  He builds altars.  Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 7:17).

Jesus was a prophet and so was Samuel.  In fact, Samuel predicted things after his death.  He preached from the grave.  A medium conjured up Samuel from the grave and he gave a prophecy of Saul. He is the only ghost in the Bible.

9. Both were rejected by their nation

The Israelites said to Samuel, “We do not want you.  We want a king.”  The Jews said to Jesus, “We do not want you to be our king.  We have no king but Caesar.” One was a Nazarene and one was a Nazarite.

10. Both lived in a time of apostasy

They lived in a time of total apostasy.  The religious leaders in Samuel’s day were extremely wicked, especially when you see what Eli’s sons did at the tabernacle.  The religious leaders in Jesus day (the Scribes and Pharisees) were also wicked and corrupt.

[1] There were twelve judges in the Book of Judges (six major and six minor) but there are two more judges not mentioned in the Book of Judges (Eli, Samuel). Eli was thirteen and Samuel would have been the fourteenth one.

Joshua’s Sermon

We come in our study of Joshua to the end of the book.  We are going to look at the last two chapters of the book.  This passage contains “The Joshua Challenge” (“choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”). It contains one of the most famous verses in the Bible. It is often quoted by families: But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15 NIV).

These chapters contain ONE sermon, TWO farewells and THREE funerals.  Joshua preaches a little sermon in these chapters.  Not too many people are still preaching when they get past a hundred.  Joshua has an exhortation and the exhortation applies to us today.  Everything he says to the Jews is just as relevant to Christians today.

Joshua also says goodbye to the leaders and goodbye to the nation.  Joshua 23 is a farewell address from one leader to another leader.  Chapter 23 is addressed to leaders.  It is like a leadership conference for the “elders, leaders, judges and officials” (Joshua 23:2 NIV).

Chapter 24 is addressed to the whole nation and he did it at Shechem (Joshua 24:1).  Shechem was the first place Abraham visited in the Promise Land.  It is where God promised him the land of Canaan.  The last chapter of Joshua is spoken directly to the people.  He spoke that farewell to “all of the people” (Joshua 24:2 NIV), including the leaders.

The book ends with three funerals: the funeral of Joshua (Joshua 24:29-30), of Joseph (Joshua 24:32) and of Eleazar (Joshua 24:33).  Two of those men were current leaders.  One of the three was a former leader (Joseph).  At the end of the book, Joshua is gone, and the high priest is gone.  Joshua replaced Moses and Eleazer replaced Aaron. Joshua dies (Joshua 24:29) and is buried (Joshua 24:30).

The amazing thing is that we know where Joshua’s tomb is located.  You can visit it today.  It is in the West Bank in an Arab village named Kifl Hares. We also know where Joseph’s tomb is located today in Shechem (Nablus). The Book of Joshua ends with the death of two of the leaders of the nation.  Let’s look at the setting of these chapters.

After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, 2 summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. (Joshua 23:1-2 NIV)

Joshua’s Last Words

Joshua 23:1 says that a long time has passed.  Joshua was old in Joshua 13.  God said in Joshua 13:1, “Josh, you are VERY old.”  Joshua was very old in that chapter.  By the time we get to Joshua 23:1, we are told that “a long time had passed” (NIV).

Joshua now is not just very old but very, very old.  Twenty years have gone by.  Joshua was around eighty-five in Joshua 13.  Now, he is close to a hundred and ten (Joshua 24:29).  He is old.  He is feeble.  He is frail.  He was not like Caleb.  Caleb was old but was just as strong as he was forty years earlier.  Most of us are not like Caleb.  We are more like Joshua.  War had taken its toll on Joshua’s body.  Stress had taken its toll on this old military general.

Age has an effect on our bodies, and it had an effect on Joshua’s body.  Joshua says, in Joshua 23:2, “I am very old”.  He agrees with God. He also says, in Joshua 23:14, “I am about to die” (NET Bible).  Joshua says, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth” (NIV).

The last two chapters of the book give us Joshua’s last words before he dies. Someone called this “an old general’s final orders.”  A man’s last words are often very important.  We have a lot of famous last words in the Bible.  This is an interesting topic.  The last words of the thief on the cross were “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42 NIV).

The Bible records Stephen’s last words.  Stephen was the first Christian martyr. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 NIV).

The Bible records Jacob’s last words. Jacob gathered his sons together and gives his last words in the Book of Genesis before he dies (Genesis 49).  The Bible records Moses’ last words before he died (Deuteronomy 33).  Paul’s last words are found in the Book of II Timothy.  II Timothy is Paul’s last word.  It was the last letter he wrote.  What did he say in that book?

6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (II Timothy 4:6-8 NIV)

II Timothy was written from a cold, dark prison cell just before his death in 67 AD.  He was executed by Nero.  He was beheaded.  Paul talks about his life, his impending death here and what he had to look forward to.  He looked forward to life after death.  He looked forward to seeing Jesus in the next life.  He looked forward to receiving rewards in heaven.

The Bible records Jesus’ last words. Before Jesus died, he had a Last Supper with his disciples.  After that supper, he gave more teaching to them.  It is called the Upper Room Discourse (John 14-17).  It was his last teaching to His disciples.

In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus told his disciples that He would be leaving them, and they would not see him, but he told them not to be afraid but to take heart.  He was not leaving them orphans.  He was sending them the Holy Spirit, but He also told them that after a little while they would see him again which they did after the resurrection.

What were Jesus’ last words on the cross?  They were a prayer to God.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46 NIV).  What were Jesus’ last words in the Bible? He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:20 NIV) or as the KJV reads, “Surely, I come quickly.”

What would be on your mind as you leave this life?  If you could say anything to anyone before you died what would it be?  What would you say to your wife, if you are married?  What would you say to your kids?  What would you say to your friends?

Many last words are apologies and a series of regrets.  We wished we did much more that we did while we were on earth.  Some die angry.  Joshua is not bitter or angry.  He is not mad at God.  Joshua says, “You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed” (Joshua 23:14 NIV)

God at Work

As Joshua says goodbye to the nation, as he ends his ministry and is about to end his life on this earth, he doesn’t talk a lot about himself.  He talks about God.  Both of these chapters begin talking about God and what He has done.

After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, 2 summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. 3 You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you. 4 Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you. (Joshua 23:1-5 NIV)

“The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. 10 One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised.  (Joshua 23:9-10 NIV)

Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.

5 “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7 But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

8 “‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

11 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ (Joshua 24:1-13 NIV)

The focus at the beginning of the farewell is on God.  It is about what God has already done in the past and what He will do in the future.  The phrase “the Lord Your God” is found fifteen times in the chapter.  Joshua does have some accomplishments, but he does not take the credit for them.  He says God was the one who fought for them.

Joshua 24 begins with a little history lesson.  It covers about five hundred years of Jewish history but, when we study history in school, we learn what people have done and all of their great accomplishments and achievements.  We look at history from a human perspective.

This is history from a divine perspective.  This is inspired history.  It focuses on what God is doing in history.  Notice how many times we see the word “I” in Joshua 24.  The “I” refers to God.  He is talking.  He says, “I took…I gave…I assigned…I sent…I afflicted…I brought…I destroyed…I delivered.”

Joshua’s Five Exhortations

As Joshua is ready to leave this world and as he looks at his nation, he has some concerns.  They are not fears for himself.  Joshua is not afraid to die.  He looks at the future of the nation.  A good leader sees down the road and does not just look at the present. Based on these three concerns, he gives the nations, five exhortations.

Worship God

Joshua’s first concern was that they would stop following the Lord.  It is one thing to make a profession of faith.  It is another thing to live out that profession all of your life.  It is much easier to conquer the Promise Land militarily than it is to live in the land faithfully all of your life in obedience to God.

Joshua’s first concern is that after he leaves, the nation will not continue to follow the Lord and he gives a very serious warning to the nation.  As a matter of fact, they did follow the Lord, but their kids did not.  We know that from the Book of Judges.  Joshua’s concerns were not exaggerated.  He must have had the gift of prophecy.  He knew what would happen in the future.

After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. (Judges 2:6-13 NIV)

Joshua exhorts the Israelites to obey God, to serve God, to fear God and to love God.  He exhorts all of us to do this as well.

Obey God

“Be very strong; be careful to obey ALL that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. (Joshua 23:6 NIV).

We talked about this idea before.  Many think there is only one way to go off.  This verse says that there is more than one way to go off.  Some go off on the left side.  They are too liberal.  Some would never do that, but they go of another way.  They go off on the right side and become too strict.  They become too conservative.  How do we avoid both extremes?

Follow the Bible.  Follow the whole Bible. Some just preach half of the Bible.  We need to preach the whole counsel of God.  If we read the Word, meditate on it and do it, we will be in the center of the road and we will not go off to the right or to the left. Are we obedient to the Lord or are we living in open disobedience to God?

Serve God

But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Joshua 22:5 NIV)

Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the Lord with gladness.”  Do we serve the Lord?  What are we doing to serve the Lord?  We are the hands and feet of Jesus on the earth.  Do we do it with gladness?  Deuteronomy 11:13 says that we are “to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul” (NIV). We are to serve him enthusiastically.  Psalms 2:11 says, “Serve the LORD with fear” (NIV).  That is another thing Joshua says.

Fear God

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:14 NIV).

One of the characteristics of the unsaved is that they have no fear of God at all (Romans 3:18).  The truth is that very few churches have any fear of God either.  The problem in the church today is that people see God as their friend or their buddy.  Some people in church think that God is their hommie.  They do not see him as the eternal holy all-powerful Creator of the universe.

The problem is that we have watered down that word in the church today.  Fear does not mean fear. Are they right? When God showed up in a theophany on Mount Sinai and spoke audibly to two million people in a loud voice, they were terrified.  They moved back.

They knew if they even touched the mountain, they would drop dead.  Joshua talks about fear.  Do they have anything to be afraid of?  God has just blessed them.  He put them in the Promise Land.  They are in the place of prosperity but notice what else Joshua says.

“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. 15 But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.

16 If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” (Joshua 23:14-16 NIV)

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” (Joshua 24:19-20 NIV)

These are difficult verses for some.  Many think God ONLY brings good things on people.  God would never bring bad things on people.  He would never bring disease or sickness or suffering on people and yet this verse says that God can bring GOOD THINGS on people.

He can bring EVIL THINGS on people. Many think that God is just a God of love.  He doesn’t get angry.  Here Joshua talks about God’s anger burning on His own people.

Of course, if we are saved, we do not have to fear the wrath of God. We do not have to fear going to Hell.  Jesus bore the wrath of God FOR US.  Paul said that there is NO CONDEMNATION to all those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

That is true but we should still have a fear of God today.  God is still holy.  He is still a jealous God. His nature has not changed.  He still judges sin.  The NT says to believers “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 NIV). We should not have a light view of sin.  To fear the LORD is to hate evil (Proverbs 8:13 NIV).

Love God

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Joshua 22:5 NIV)

Be very careful to love the Lord your God. (Joshua 23:11 NIV)

That is strange.  How can you fear someone and love him at the same time?  Apparently, you can.  The Bible tells us to do both.  We are commanded to fear God and we commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.  We should not serve God because we have to but because we want to and because he is a good God.

2. Don’t worship idols

Joshua’s second concern is that after he died, the nation would worship idols.

7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. (Joshua 23:7 NIV)

That is why the Jews were not allowed to intermarry with the Canaanites.  It is not because god is against interracial marriages.  They were both Semitic peoples.  Moses had an interracial marriage.  He married an Ethiopian.  It is because intermarriage with pagan men and women led to idolatry.  That is what happened to King Solomon.  They were to have NO connection to idolatry.  Joshua told them not to even say the name of these false gods.

We are given the same exhortation in the NT.  We are told to flee from idolatry (I Corinthians 10:14).  We are told to keep ourselves from idols (I John 5:21).  We are also told in the NT not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers (II Corinthians 6:14).  Everything Joshua said applies to us today.  Are we guilty of idolatry today? Are we unequally yoked with unbelievers?

3. Don’t try to worship God and idols

Joshua’s third concern is that after he died is that the nation would compromise their faith.  The biggest concern that Joshua had is that people would try to worship BOTH God and idols.  It is the biggest problem in the church today.

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord…. “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods THAT ARE AMONG YOU and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” (Joshua 24:15, 23 NIV)

What is going on here?  The Jews wanted to worship the Lord but they also had some idols.  Joshua told them to get rid of the idols.  He said, “Get rid of the foreign gods among you.”  Do we have anything we need to get rid of in our lives?

Joshua’s Altar Call

At the end of Joshua’s sermon, he has an altar call.  A good preacher has an altar call.

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15 NIV)

This altar call involves a personal decision.  Joshua draws a lie in the sand and tells people to make a decision.  It is the hour of decision.  Joshua tells people to make a choice. It was a clear choice.  There was no sitting on the fence.  What type of choice was this?

1) This choice was PERSONAL (choose this day whom YOU will serve).

2) This choice was SPIRITUAL (choose this day whom you will SERVE).  It was about who they would worship.  It was a religious choice.

3) This choice was IMMEDIATE (this day).

It was something they were to do right away and not put off.

4) This choice was EXCLUSIVE.

They were to choose to worship the Lord or idols.  They could NOT worship both.  Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24 NIV).

5) This choice involved ACTIONS (put away the gods of your ancestors).

They were to actually do some things, not just believe some doctrines in their head.  They had to throw their idols in the fire.  He does this at Shechem. That was the very place where Jacob got rid of the idols in his family (Genesis 35:2-4).

6) This choice was to be AUTHENTIC.

It was to be genuine.  It was NOT to be rash.  It was NOT to be impulsive.  When Joshua asks for a choice, they said that they want to serve the Lord.  He says, Are you sure?  We almost never do this today in evangelism.  Evangelists today do the exact opposite.  Many today use high pressure sales tactics to get a decision.  He uses a large stone as a witness of their oath to the Lord.

Joshua 24:15 & Calvinism

Joshua 24:15 is an important verse on human responsibility and on free will.  Life is a series of choices that we make every day.  God gives people the ability to make choices.  We can choose to worship God.  We can choose to live for God.  We can choose to become an atheist.

Some use this passage to prove that Calvinism is wrong. Some say that this one verse completely refutes Calvinism.  This verse says that people have a choice who are worship?  Are they right?  Keep in mind that Joshua 24 is not addressed to Canaanites.  It is addressed to Israelites.  It is dealing with the people of God choosing to worship God.

The truth is that the Bible teaches that people choose God (Joshua 24:15. It also teaches that God chooses people.  It teaches BOTH.  In fact, it teaches that in Joshua 24.  God chose Abraham.  He chose the nation of Israel.  Abraham was an idol worshiper (Joshua 24:2).  Calvinists believe that we need to make a choice but they also believe that prior to our choice, God also made a choice, so there is no contraduction between the two.

 

Are You a Caleb?

We have been studying the book of Joshua.  It is a book all about the conquest of Canaan.  The main character of the book, humanly speaking is Joshua, the leader.  He is Moses successor.  Today, we want to talk about someone else.  We want to talk about Joshua’s friend Caleb.  We are going to do a little character study on Caleb.  He is one of the more underrated and overlooked characters in the Bible.  He is not mentioned that many times in the Bible

He is not as famous as Joshua.  He is not as famous as Moses or David.  He is not as famous as Abraham or Noah.  Everyone could tell you stories about Moses or David.  Not too many could tell you any stories about Caleb. There are not as many verses in the Bible about Caleb but there is more here than we might think.

The Bible mentions the name of his dad (Jephunneh)[1].  It mentions the name of his daughter (Aksah).[2]  It mentions the name of his sons (Iru, Elah and Naam)[3].  It mentions the name of his brother (Kenaz)[4].  It mentions the name of his son-in-law (Othniel)[5].

The Importance of Caleb

We are told about Caleb’s family but what we will be focusing on today is his character.  Caleb is one of the greatest characters in the whole Bible.  He is one of the godliest men in Scripture.  He received a special blessing that no one else in the nation, besides Joshua, received.  Only two adults out of two million who came out of Egypt were faithful enough to see the Promise Land.  Everyone else in that generation died.

21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, 22 NOT ONE of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— 23 NOT ONE of them will EVER see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. NOT ONE who has treated me with contempt will EVER see it. 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. (Numbers 14:21-24 NIV)

Caleb was also the first one to receive an inheritance in the Promise Land.  The first tribe to receive an inheritance in the Promise Land was the Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15).  Before that happened, Caleb was given the city of Hebron.  Why does he get it?  Caleb gave a speech in Joshua 14:7-12.

I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’

10 “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. (NIV)

Caleb gives his personal testimony here.  He tells them what happened forty year earlier.  He wanted to do the right thing, but he was outvoted.  He was given a promise that he and his descendants would inherit the land, because of his faithfulness.  He is now eight-five.  He is still alive and has not received his inheritance yet and Joshua gives it to him (Joshua 14:13).

The Spirit of Caleb

Today, we want to ask one question:  Are you a Caleb?  To answer that question, you have to know what he was like.  We are going to look at the spirit of Caleb. We are going to look at eight characteristics or eight signs of a Caleb Spirit in Scripture.

1. STRENGTH – Caleb was physically strong.

“Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as STRONG today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as VIGOROUS to go out to BATTLE now as I was then. (Joshua 14:10-11 NIV)

How many of us could say what Caleb said?  I can’t.  I am not as strong and flexible as I used to be. In my twenties and thirties, I used to do martial arts.  Recently, I began trying some of the exercises I used to do when I was a lot younger and I found I couldn’t do any of them.

Most people at eighty can barely move.  They can barely walk.  Some have to use a walker or are in a nursing home.  Caleb was strong at eighty.  In fact, he was as strong at eighty as he was at forty and he lived long before the time of modern medicine.  It is one thing to be strong when you are young.  It is another thing to be strong when you are old.

Caleb was still doing battle in his eighties.  He was still climbing mountains in his eighties.  He was the eighty-year-old mountain climber.  He was still killing giants in his eighties.  He was the eighty-year-old giant killer.  He was eighty years young.  Are we strong or weak?  Are we young at heart, even if we are physically old?

2. OPTIMISM– Caleb had hope about the future

Many people as they get older become negative and critical.  They become cranky.  They become grouchy and grumpy.  Caleb was different.  Caleb is old but he is positive.  He is optimistic.  Every time you see him in Scripture, he has this characteristic.

Twelve men were sent in to spy out the land in Numbers 13.  See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”  It was the season for the first ripe grapes. (Numbers 13:18-20 NIV)

Caleb and Joshua were two these spies.  Caleb represented the Tribe of Judah.  Joshua represented the Tribe of Ephraim.  The twelve spies did their job and forty days later, came back with a report but there were two reports because the spies could not agree.  They agreed on the facts.  They disagreed on the interpretation.  If you need an example of that today, all you have to do is to look at the impeachment hearings of Donald Trump.

Democrats and Republicans agree on the basic facts.  We have the transcript of the phone call of the president but there are two completely different interpretations of what that transcript means and what should be done about it, so two reports came in from the spies.

There was a majority report and a minority report.  One report focused on the problems and one focused on God.  The majority report focused on the problems.  It was negative and pessimistic.

They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 BUT the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there…the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:27-28, 31-32 NIV).

Caleb was part of the minority report.  This report was the exact OPPOSITE of what the first report said.  The first report said, “what God said is true about the land.  It does flow with milk and honey but we cannot conquer it, because they are stronger than we are.”

The minority report said, “The land does have giants in it but we SHOULD go up and take possession of the land, for we CAN certainly do it.” (Numbers 13:30 NIV).  He said, “We are WELL ABLE” (KJV) to do it. God is with us.” The first report said, “We cannot conquer them because the land devours its inhabitants” (Numbers 13:32).  The second report said that if they attacked the, they would devour the Canaanites (Numbers 14:9)

Caleb was not unaware of the dangers or problems.  He did not pretend that the giants did not exist. All of us have giants in our life but he was still optimistic.

Forty-five years later, Caleb was still optimistic.  Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but the Lord helping me, I WILL drive them out just as he said.” (Joshua 14:12 NIV).

In both situations, Caleb did not deny the problems but there was an optimism about him.  Are we primarily optimistic or pessimistic?  People who know us, would they say we are mostly positive or are we mostly negative and critical?  If you were one of the twelve spies sent on this special mission, which report would you give?

3. FAITH – Caleb believed God

Caleb had optimism because he had faith.  He trusted God.  He did not have confidence because of his own abilities.  He had confidence because of God.  Caleb was not optimistic because he had a great life. He had all kinds of problems.

Caleb was born a slave in Egypt and remained a slave for forty years.  He experienced all kinds of abuse and mistreatment.  His back probably bore scars from beatings.  He saw the wickedness of his own people.  His own friends kept dropping dead but there is no sign that Caleb was angry with God or bitter.

He was optimistic, not because of his circumstances, but because of his faith in God.  He could not do this on his own, but he could do it with God’s help. “THE LORD HELPING ME, I will drive them out JUST AS HE SAID.” (Joshua 14:12 NIV).

The ten spies did not have faith because they looked at their problems.  Caleb had faith because he looked at God and what He could do.  He had faith in the POWER OF GOD.  He saw the plagues of Egypt (the frogs, gnats, locusts).  He knew about the angel of death.  He saw God split the Red Sea and saw Him dry the ground.  He saw pillar of cloud by day and night.

He saw manna coming out of heaven every day to feed them and water coming out of a rock.  He heard God speak audibly on Mount Sinai.  He saw the walls of Jericho coming down.

He had faith in the power of God.  He also had faith in the PROMISES OF GOD.  He believed that God would keep His promises, the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the promises He made to Moses.  Even though he had to wait forty years and was eighty-five, he believed that God was still going to keep His promise to him.  Do we have faith in the promises of God, like Caleb did?

4. COURAGE – Caleb was not ruled by fear

When you are focused on God you will not fear anyone.  When you focus on your problems, you will have all kinds of fear.   Caleb was not afraid of giants.  They were tall.  They were strong.  They were dangerous but Caleb was not afraid of them.  He was afraid of them at Kadesh-Barnea and forty-five years later, he is still not afraid of them.

He was not afraid of saying what he believed, even if it was unpopular.  He wasn’t afraid of taking a stand for truth, even if he was alone.  He wasn’t afraid of taking a stand for what was right, even if it meant losing his life for it.  After Joshua and Caleb gave their report, people wanted to stone them (Numbers 14:10).  They wanted to stone them just for suggesting it.

It did not look good for Caleb and Joshua until God showed you and the other ten spies dropped dead.  Does this describe you?  Are you afraid of what people think?  Are you a people pleaser?  Are you willing to stand alone?  It takes a certain type of person to do this.

5. AMBITION – Caleb wanted to do big things for God

We think of the word ambition in a negative way.  The Bible does talk about selfish ambition but there is also such a thing as a holy ambition.  Paul had an ambition to preach the gospel where Christ had not been named (Romans 15:20).

Forty years ago, Caleb had an ambition to conquer the land of Canaan. He believed that the Israelites could conquer the land of Canaan.  It would not be easy, but he believed that they could do it.  He told the people not to be afraid of them and said that they would devour them (Numbers 14:9).

Forty-five years later, there are still some things he wants to do.  Some of them are big things.  He is not going to let age stop him from achieving them.

Caleb is eighty-five.  He is not a spring chicken, but he still has some things to do for God.  At eighty-five, he is not retiring.  He has some more giants to defeat.  He still wants to take out giants at eighty-five.  Eighty-five is generally not a good age to fight anyone, especially giants.  Are there some things you want to do for God?  Are there some things that God has put on your heart to do?

6. BOLDNESS – Caleb asked for the hardest assignment available

Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” (Joshua 14:12 NIV)

This is interesting.  Most of us choose the easy path. It is more comfortable and requires less sacrifice.   We complain if what we have to do is hard.  We complain if we have trials or difficulties.

Caleb was promised an inheritance in the Promised Land, but he did not want just any inheritance.  He wanted the most difficult part of the land.  He wanted the most dangerous area occupied by people the Israelites feared the most.  He wanted the hardest spot in the land.

He did not want an easy spot.  He could have said, “I am eighty-five.  I am slowing down.  Give me something easy and comfortable, so I can retire and take it easy.”  Are you afraid of trials or difficulties or do you trust God?

Caleb not only has a bold REQUEST (difficult spot), he has a bold CHALLENGE.  From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). 16 And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher” (Joshua 15:15-16 NIV).

Caleb offers his daughter as a reward for victory in battle.  Apparently, he had only one daughter and in Rabbinic tradition, she is said to be very beautiful.  Caleb offered her as a reward for victory over a city.  Caleb already had Hebron.  This was another city (Debir).  Joshua already conquered it once (Joshua 10:38, 39) but apparently, the Canaanites took it back.

You say that this did not sound very fair to his daughter.  She did not have much choice in the matter but they had arranged marriages in that day.  She did not have much choice in the matter anyway.

Othniel wins the challenge.  Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage (Joshua 15:17 NIV).  He wasn’t just anybody.  Othniel was Caleb’s nephew (Joshua 15:17; I Chronicles 4:13).  He became the first judge listed in the Book of Judges.  He became a hero for the nation but we learn something about his daughter here.

Apparently, Caleb’s daughter was a lot like him.  Caleb had a bold request and so did she.  18 One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” 19 She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower spring (Joshua 15:18-19 NIV)

Usually for a dowry, you would get money or jewelry.  The wedding gifts were a large piece of land.  She asks Caleb for more.  She wanted some springs of water also.  She dared to ask for more and go it.  Spurgeon used this to teach on prayer.  We have not because we ask not.

7. OBEDIENCE – Caleb followed God wholeheartedly

The Bible says that Caleb followed the Lord wholeheartedly.  One of the greatest things that could ever be said about people is that they follow the Lord wholeheartedly.  The Bible does not say that Caleb did this one or two times.  Six times we are told that Caleb did this (Numbers 14:24; 32:11, 12; Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:8, 9, 14).

In Joshua 14:8, CALEB says that he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.  In Joshua 14:9, MOSES says that Caleb he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.  In Numbers 14:24; 32:11, 12; Deuteronomy 1:36, GOD says that he followed Him wholeheartedly.

It is one thing if YOU say that you follow God wholeheartedly.  It is one thing if OTHER PEOPLE say that that you follow God wholeheartedly.  It is another thing if GOD says it and He says it three times in Scripture.

Even when it was difficult and he was living in the wilderness, he wholeheartedly followed the Lord.  Even when almost none of his contemporaries were doing it, he wholeheartedly followed the Lord.  Even though he was a soldier, he wholeheartedly followed the Lord. Caleb was a man’s man.  Most military people are pretty rough.  Most are not spiritually sensitive.  Caleb was different.

Do we serve God wholeheartedly?  For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him (II Chronicles 16:9 NIV).  God is looking for people like Caleb.  He does not see too many like him in the world or even in the church.

Caleb had a DIFFERENT SPIRIT (Numbers 14:24).  Caleb was not just different from the unbelievers.  He was not just different from the Canaanites.  He was different from the Israelites.  He was different from the people of God.

Here is the reality.  You can follow God and serve Him but NOT do it wholeheartedly.  Many people do that.  You can go to church because you feel you are supposed to, not because you want to go or because your heart is in it.

Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but NOT wholeheartedly (II Chronicles 25:1-2 NIV).

God wants us to serve him wholeheartedly.  Paul says, “Serve WHOLEHEARTEDLY, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” (Ephesians 6:7 NIV).  He says, “Whatever you do, work at it with ALL your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23 NIV)

Do you have to be sinless to serve God wholeheartedly?  No.  You have to have a heart for God.  You have to be spiritually sensitive.  You have to be sold out for God.  You don’t have to be sinless.  David was a man after God’s own heart, but he was not sinless.

11 Asa did what was RIGHT in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. 12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

14 ALTHOUGH he did NOT remove the high places, Asa’s heart was FULLY COMMITTED to the Lord ALL his life. 15 He brought into the temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated. (I Kings 15:11-14 NIV)

8. FAITHFULNESS – Caleb is a case study of lifelong faithfulness

How many people start well but don’t finish well?  They start the Christian life on fire and do all kinds of things for God, as baby Christians, but they soon fizzle out.  Some give up the faith entirely.  They say, “I used to believe those things but now I don’t.”  We have seen some of those in the news recently.  Some pastors start out great and have a tremendous ministry all over the world but then something happens.

A few scandals take place and they are finished.  They are out of a job and out of ministry.  Other pastors are still ministering faithfully in their eighties (David Jeremiah, Chuck Swindoll, etc.).  Caleb is an example of lifelong faithfulness.  e started well and he ended well.  We don’t want to be one of those that start well but don’t end well.

Caleb was on fire for God when he was young and was still on fire for God when he was old.  When you compare the younger Caleb with the old Caleb, you see that he has not changed.  If you read Numbers 14 and Joshua 14, it is clear that Caleb has not changed.  He is the same man.  He has the same faith, the same confidence and even the same strength and Joshua 14 is forty-five years later.

[1]Numbers 13:6; 14:6, 30, 38; 26:65; 32:12; 34:19; Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:6, 13, 14; 15:13; 21:12; I Chronicles 4:15; 6:56

[2] Joshua 15:16

[3] I Chronicles 4:15

[4] Joshua 15:17

[5] Joshua 15:17

Claiming Your Inheritance

We have been studying the Book of Joshua. We will only have a few more weeks in Joshua.  This week, we will be covering ten chapters.  Last week, we said that there are three sections of the Book of Joshua.  In section one, the Israelites ENTER the land.  In section two, they TAKE the land and in section three, they DIVIDE UP the land.  After seven years, the land is finally conquered, then it is divided up for the Twelve Tribes.

This passage is not very exciting.  It is not dramatic.  There are no miracles in these chapters.  There are no great walls coming down like the walls of Jericho.  The sun doesn’t stand still in these chapters.  It is ten chapters of lists and some of the things on the list are unprounceable to most of us.

These chapters are almost never preached from the pulpit.  They are almost unreadable.  Why?  We cannot even read some of these names. We do not even know where most of these places are and cannot pronounce them all.  Are these chapters inspired?  They don’t seem to be that interesting or practical.

That raises another question, that our pastor brought up last Sunday.  Are the genealogies in the Bible inspired?  You rarely, if ever, hear anyone ever preaching on them in the pulpit.  Most people would say that they do not have much practical value to our lives but the Bible says that ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God AND IS PROFITABLE, not some or most of it but ALL of it is inspired.

The purpose of these chapter is not a geography lesson about the Twelve Tribes.  The tribe of Dan gets one area.  The tribe of Judah gets another area.  The Tribe of Simeon gets this part of the land.  The Tribe of Asher gets that part of the land.  We will see that there are actually some powerful applications from these chapters for us today.

In the Middle East, there is a big debate about who should live in the Holy Land.  Jews and Arabs have been fighting over it for years.  In these chapters, God hands it over to the Jews.  This is a legal document.  God gives them the legal title to the land and says that the land is theirs.

They are the rightful owners of the property.  It says exactly how much of the land they have the right by God to occupy and possess.  It just so happens that it is more than Israel possesses today.

We are not going to go verse by verse or even chapter by chapter.  We are going to look at the section as a whole.  We are not going to look at all of the details in these chapters.  We are just going to hit some highlights and do a survey of these chapters.  We are going to do three things today.  We will get an overview of the chapter.  We will get an overview of the Twelve tribes of Israel and we will look at some applications form these chapters.

Four important things happen in these chapters.  One, government is established.  There is no police force but there were six cities of refuge: Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth, Gilead and Golan (Joshua 20:7-8).

In that day and culture, they had something called revenge killings.  It was family retribution. This seems strange today.  We would call these people vigilantes today.  They take the law into their own hands.  If someone in your family died, the nearest male relative had the responsibility of killing you.  He was the family executioner.  it was allowed under the Law of Moses (cf. Numbers 35:16-21)

It is NOT the same thing as what Muslims today call “honor killings.”  That is also done by family members but it is only done to female members of the family who brought supposed dishonor to the family but have not killed anyone. This was tracking down someone who had killed a member of your family.  If you killed someone accidentally, you could flee to a city of refuge to protect people.  He is only safe if he stays in that city.

There was no sanctuary for premediated murder.  All murderers were to be put to death but, if you killed someone accidentally, you were not to be put to death.   For your own protection, you could flee to a city of refuge.  These cities were all over the country.  They were easy to access.  Two were in the north.  Two were in the south and to were in the center of the country.

If the avenger of blood was chasing you and you were running for your life, you don’t want to have to swim the river to get away.  Three of these cities were on the west side of the Jordan and three were on the east side of the Jordan.  Think of having a whole city for these killers.

Two, the center of worship was moved from Gigal (Joshua 5:1) to Shiloh (Joshua 18:1).  The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there (NIV).  That is where the Tabernacle and sacrifices were.  That is where the Ark of the Covenant was located.  Shiloh was twenty miles north of Jerusalem.

It is in the West Bank today and it was right in the center of the country. If you go to Shiloh today, there is a space that measures 400 feet long and 77 feet wide. While we can’t be completely sure, this may be where the Tabernacle at Shiloh rested.

Three, the land is divided up among the nine and a half tribes. Four, the two and a half tribes go home.  Forty thousand troops went over to help fight (Joshua 4:12-13).  In Joshua 22, they go home.  They are thanked for their service, given an honorable discharge and all go home.

Before we look at this chapter, we need to have some basic teaching on the Twelve Tribes.  Joseph had twelve sons.  The twelve sons became the Twelve Tribes.

The Twelve Tribes for Dummies

1. Joseph received the double portion

Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn son but Joseph received the double portion.  Joseph was the godliest of Jacob’s twelve sons.  Two of his sons became tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh).  Joseph’s firstborn son was Manasseh. Joshua was from the Tribe of Ephraim.

2. Levi does NOT receive an inheritance

But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them. (Joshua 13:14 NIV).  They lived off the sacrifices of the people.  That is why some of the priests were fat (Eli).

Now this is very interesting.  At one point in their history, the Levites were cursed. Read Genesis 49.  Read what Jacob said about them before he died.  Now, they are blessed.  They have a special role in the nation.  But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them. (Joshua 13:33).

They do not need to have land.  They have God.  They represented the presence of God.  They were in charge of worship and God took care of them.  They had no tribal inheritance, but they were given cities scattered all throughout the country.

There were forty-eight cities for the Levites (Numbers 35:1-8; Joshua 21) with pasturelands for their flocks and herds (Joshua 14:4; 21:3).  Most tribes have four cities for Levites to live in.   God provided for the spiritual life of the nation by doing this.  They were not only involved in worship but taught people the law.  God scattered them all throughout the country.  He did not put all of the Levites in Jerusalem.

3. The Tribe of Simeon is located within another tribe

Levi and Simeon were involved in a terrible massacre in Genesis 34.  This was one of the tribes that was cursed.  In Joshua 19:1 we found out that their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah. (NIV)

4. Two and a half tribes were given land OUTSIDE of the Promise Land

The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were located on the East of the Jordan River (East Bank) in the Transjordan area.  Before they even entered the promise Land, they saw land that they wanted and asked for it.  God said that they could have it, as long as they helped the Israelites fight the Canaanites.  Jacob’s firstborn son did not even receive land in the Promise Land

5. Nine and a half tribes were given land INSIDE the Promised Land

The tribes of Judah, Simeon, Asher, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Benjamin, Naphtali and the half tribe of Ephraim were located inside the Promised Land. They were located on the west of the Jordan River (West Bank).  The West Bank is where all of the controversy is today

Our chapters in Joshua deal with them receiving their tribal inheritance in the Promised Land.  God tells Joshua, even though he is old, to make sure that this gets done.

“As for all the inhabitants of the mountain regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you, and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh” (Joshua 13:6-7 NIV).

Judah was the first tribe to get their share of the land (Joshua 15).  Joseph’s two sons are next to get their portion (Joshua 16-17).  The rest get their portion in Joshua 18-19.  Six of them receive their allotment in Joshua 19.

Notice how the section ends.  These are the territories that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel assigned by lot at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. And so they finished dividing the land. (Joshua 19:51 NIV).

6. One tribe was located inside AND outside the Promise Land.

The tribe of Manasseh was located east and west of the Jordan River.  It is on both sides, if you look on the map in the back of your Bible.  that is why the Bible talks about the half tribe of Manasseh.

7. Land inside the Promise Land was distributed BY LOTS

Joshua and the high priest divided the land up.  How did they do it?  How was it divided up?  Who decided which tribe got which land?  The Promise Land was assigned by lots.

Their inheritances were assigned by lot to the nine-and-a-half tribes, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.  (Joshua 14:2 NIV)

Joshua then cast lots for them in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions. (Joshua 18:10 NIV)

That seems strange to us today.  It is like rolling dice or flipping a coin.  Why did they use that method?  That was the method that God said to use.  God told Moses to do it that way (Numbers 26:5-56; 34:13; 36:2).  Joshua was just following Scripture.

That raises the question: Should Christians cast lots today?  There is biblical precedent for it.  It is in the OT and in the NT.  After Judas committed suicide, the Apostles used lots to pick the next Apostle (Matthias).

This method is not recommended today as a means of determining the will of God.  Why?  We have the Holy Spirit today.  We have the Spirit living inside us.  We do not need to use lots.  Even the Apostles in Acts 1 used lots before the Spirit was given in Acts 2.  We are not told to use lots today.  Joshua was specifically told by God to do this.

There was a reason that the tribes were divided by lot.  Man did not decide, God did.  That made it completely fair.  This is very important. Joshua did not decide which land the tribes got.  The high priest did not decide.  The tribes did not decide that.  God did.  God owns the whole earth.  He decided which country got the Promise Land and He also decided which tribe got which portion of the Promise Land.

They did not all get the same thing.  If you look at a map of the Twelve tribes, Judah got a huge allotment of land.  Zebulun got a small allotment and so did Benjamin.  One tribe actually complained about their division of land.  It was the Tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 17:14).  They said that they did not get enough land.  The Jews were always complaining to God.

Applications for Today

1) God can use us in old age

When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.” (Joshua 13:1 NIV).  That tells us the FACT of old age and the USE of old age.

None of us like to be told that we are getting older.  We don’t like it when our friends say that we are old.  We don’t like it when family call us old.  Here God says it.  God says to Joshua, “You’re old.”  God told Joshua something that he did not want to hear.  God has him face reality.  Some of us need a reality check.  We need to face facts.

God says, “You’re old.”  He was not being disrespectful to Joshua.  He was not mocking Joshua, like people do today when they say that.  He was just stating facts.  Some of us are denial.  Joshua was probably between 85 to 95 years old at this point.

He is too old to keep fighting on the battlefield, but God did NOT say, “You are old.  You are no longer needed.  Your time for service is over.  You need to retire.”  Instead, He gave him a job to do in his old age.  This was Joshua’s final task assigned to him by God and he had to hurry, because he didn’t have much time left.  Old age should not stop you from serving the Lord.  God can still use older people to serve Him.

God says that he has one job left to do and that one job is to divide up the land that they just conquered.  He only had to divide the land up for nine and a half tribes because two and a half tribes already received their inheritance.

2) God has an inheritance for all of His people

If you are in the family and your parents die, you have an inheritance.  I don’t have much to leave my kids except a few books and a bible study website.  If you are a child of God, you have an inheritance.  You are in the family.

The Jews had a PHYSICAL inheritance.  Christians do not have a physical inheritance primarily to look forward to.  They have a SPIRITUAL inheritance.  The Bible does say that one day we will rule and reign with Christ upon the earth, but we have a spiritual inheritance.  It is an inheritance in heaven, and it is waiting for us.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept IN HEAVEN for you (I Peter 1:3-4 NIV).

An inheritance is not something you earn.  It is a gift.  If a parent decides to give a gift to their kids after they die, it is a gift.  None of the Twelve Tribes deserved the Promised Land.  It was sheer grace. God almost destroyed the whole nation when they were in the wilderness.  We do not deserve our inheritance either but we still have one.

3) We still have a battle to fight

Just because we are saved does not mean the battle is over.  In fact, in many ways, the battle just begins after you are saved.  This is very interesting.  The nation of Israel was no longer living in Egypt.  They were no longer slaves to Pharaoh.  They were no longer in bondage.  They were no longer in the wilderness.  They were in the Promise Land.  They were in the place of blessing and prosperity.  Even there, they had battles to fight.

In our passage, the land was surveyed.  It was given to nine and a half of the tribes by lot.  They moved in.  When they moved in, they discovered something.  All of the Canaanites were not completely gone.  There were still some left in the country.  In fact, the Bible seems to contradict itself.

So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. (Joshua 11:23 NIV).

When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over. (Joshua 13:1 NIV).

So which is it?  Was the entire land conquered (Joshua 11) or was it not conquered and large areas of land still needed to be taken over (Joshua 13).

Both are true.  One is a broad generalization.  The entire land was conquered BUT large areas also needed to be taken.  The major battles were fought.  There were just a few mopping up operations left.  There were little pockets of resistance left to fight.

What was true of Joshua and the Israelites is true of the Christian life.  The major campaign is over.  Satan was defeated at the cross in a major way.  Jesus said, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:11 ESV). Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. (John 12:31 ESV)

We do not fight FOR victory.  We fight FROM victory.  There is a difference.  This should completely change your whole perspective.  Many Christians are fighting for victory.  Jesus won the victory.  The war was won two thousand years ago by Jesus, who is our Joshua.  He disarmed Satan at the cross.  He won the major campaign, but we still have some fighting to do.  We still have to do battle against the world, the flesh and the devil.

4) God wants is to have full victory in our life

This is very interesting.  Once the big battles were over and the tribes moved into the land that God gave them, they encountered some enemies.  It was the job of each individual tribe to take care of these enemies in order to possess their possessions.

The land was theirs.  It belonged to them.  God has given it to them.  They had the title to the land but there will still some people living in the land who had to be defeated before they could enjoy what God had given them.  Not all of the tribes were able to do that.

Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah. (Joshua 15:63 NIV)

This was the territory of Ephraim, according to its clans…They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labor. (Joshua 16:5, 10 NIV)

Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region. 13 However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely. (Joshua 17:12-13 NIV)

Not every tribe was unsuccessful.  The tribe of Dan had more success (cf. Joshua 19:47).  What was true of the Israelites is true of many Christians.  Many of us do not have full victory.  Many Christians have partial victory.  We have victory in some areas of our life but not in others.

God wants us to have full victory over all of the enemies in our life.  We can be saved and still have strongholds in our life.  We can have some enemies we have trouble defeating.  God wants us to possess our possessions.[1] Are you having spiritual victory or are there areas of defeat in your life?

[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/popPlayer.cfm?id=91&rel=smith_chuck/5000/Jos

The Genocide Question

We have been studying the book of Joshua chapter by chapter and we come to some chapters today that don’t seem that interesting, relevant or practical. They read a little like dry military history. They contain a list of places no one knows and a list of kings that no one knows anything about.  We are going to look at what is in these chapters.  We will see that these chapters are very important.

These chapters contain Joshua’s final battle and they raise some very deep questions. They raise some deep ethical questions to think about.  What is all of this bloodshed and war all about?  Why all of the slaughter and death? They raise some questions about God.  Does God sanction genocide?

Does God harden people’ hearts? He hardened the hearts of some Canaanites in this chapter. The God that most Christians worship would never do this. He is a God of love. He would never harden anyone. What is that all about? We will look at some of these questions. We will also look at practical applications. How do these chapters apply to us?

Joshua is divided into three parts. Do you know the three parts of the Book of Joshua? In the first part, the Israelites ENTER the land (Joshua 1-5). In the second part, they TAKE the land (Joshua 6-12). In the third part, they DIVIDE up the land (Joshua 13-22).

They do not enter the land until Joshua 4 and then the men get circumcised and they all celebrate the Passover. They began taking possession of the land when the wall of Jericho fell down in Joshua 6.

By the end of Joshua 12, the whole land is conquered. The nation is theirs. They conquered everything and the last sentence of Joshua 11 says, “Then the land had rest from war” (Joshua 11:23 NIV). This was Joshua’s the last battle.   It was his final battle and the result of the battle was peace after years of fighting.

So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, 17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death… So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses (Joshua 11:16-17, 23 NIV)

The enemy posed a real challenge to the Israelites.  They were TALLER than they were. Joshua 11 describes the defeat of the Giants, which sounds like a football team. They defeated the “Anakim” (ESV) or “Anakites” (NIV) in Joshua 11:21-22. Forty years earlier, this group TERRIFIED most of the spies (Numbers 13:28-33). They were known for being tall (Deuteronomy 2:10).

They were a race of giants who lived in the land of Canaan. The spies seemed like grasshoppers compared to them. Joshua was not afraid of them. He went in and wiped them out. He did not just kill some of them. He killed all of them.

At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory (Joshua 11:21 NIV)

They were BIGGER than they were. Five nations from the north banded together to fight Israel. In the last chapter, five nations came against Israel’s ally, the Gibeonites. Now five nations are coming against the Israelites. It was a coalition led by a man named Jabin (Joshua 11:10).

When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Akshaph, 2 and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west; 3 to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah. 4 They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots—a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. 5 All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel. (Joshua 11:1-5 NIV)

Jabin was the King of Hazor, one of the main Canaanite cities in the North. It was a town in Judah in located in Upper Galilee. Some say that this was the home of Judas Iscariot. He may have been from Hazor. Hazor is called Kerioth Hezron in Joshua 15:25. Iscariot probably means “a man of Kerioth” in another language (Greek).

The Israelites were outnumbered. The Canaanites had more troops. This was five nations against one. Israel was the underdog. Josephus says, “the number of the whole army was three hundred thousand armed footmen, and ten thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand chariots.” [1]

They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots—a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. 5 All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel. (Joshua 11:4-5 NIV)

They were not only bigger and taller, they were STRONGER. They had better weapons to fight with. They had horses and chariots. They had what we would call today tanks. They had the technological advantage. They had more troops and better weapons, but they still lost. In fact, the city of Hazor was burned with fire (Joshua 11:13).

They did not win those wars overnight. Joshua 11:18 says, “Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time” (NIV). It took several years. It took some time. Scholars estimate that it takes five to seven years for them to do this.

Joshua did not wait until they attacked him. He went on the offensive. He did not wait around to get attacked. When he found out that an enemy was planning on attacking him, he attacked them first.

He won because God was with them. The Israelites had God. If you had God, it didn’t matter if the other side had better weapons and more troops and were taller than they were. God gave them into the hand of Israel (Joshua 11:8 NIV).  In fact, the whole city is burned to the ground (Joshua 11:11, 13).

Today, I want to look at three objections that unbelievers have about the conquest of Canaan. We have looked at some of them before, but I want to look at them again. There are three common objections that many people have to the Book of Joshua.

Three Objections to the Conquest of Canaan

1. The Israelites stole land in the conquest of Canaan

The Canaanites were there first. They had been there for at least four or five hundred years, perhaps longer. They were the indigenous people. The Israelites were the usurpers. They were the foreign invaders to their land.

They are stealing land. Nations can do that. They steal land from other nations. We call it imperialism. Critics would say that it is no different that what the white man did in the US when it took land away from the Native Americans who were living in North America.

In the Israeli-Palestinian debate, many use this same argument today. They say that the Palestinians were there first, and they might be right. Scientists have recently discovered through DNA that some people in Lebanon are descendants of the Canaanites. [2]

Palestinians today are a diverse group, but at least some Muslims in the Middle East had ancestors who were in the land of Israel first. Is this argument valid? How would you answer it?

This one is very easy to answer. Who was there first does not matter. It is completely irrelevant. God was the one who created the earth. He owns it. He owns every part of it. It is His. It is His creation. He can do what He wants with it. He gets to decide because He is the Creator.

God created the earth and told the Jews that they could have the Promise Land. He could have given them land in any part of the earth. He could have given them land in China or the US. He gave them land in the Middle East. It doesn’t matter if people are living there, He still owns it and He can do what he wants with it.

The earth is the Lord’s, and EVERYTHING in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2 NIV)

In Joshua 11, the Jews are receiving their INHERITANCE from God. This is the first time we see the word “inheritance” in the book, and it is used about forty-three times. This is NOT about IMPERIALISM. It is about INHERITANCE. So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. (Joshua 11:23 NIV)

2. The conquest of Canaan was just a Jewish jihad

Is this Joshua’s jihad? Is this Joshua’s holy war? How is what Joshua did here any different from what ISIS does? How is it any different from the savages in the Middle East who behead people? Moses killed only two kings. Joshua killed thirty-one. Read Joshua 12.

Some would say that the most violent prophet in history is not Muhammad but Joshua. The Jews call him a prophet. He was not only a military leader. He was a writer of Scripture. In fact, they put the Book of Joshua in the group of books called “The Prophets.” How would you answer this objection?

It is completely different. This is NOT a jihad in the name of God. It is NOT people fighting for God. This is God fighting for people. This conquest was not Joshua’s idea. It was not the idea of the Israelites. God told them to do this. God is not telling Muslims in the Middle East to kill anyone. They do not have divine authorization to do anything.

Muslim terrorists murder innocent people in cold blood. They think they are doing a good deed and will be rewarded. They are just committing cold blooded murder. God never told them to kill anyone. In fact, He told them NOT to do this. God’s Word prohibits murder. It is a violation of the Sixth Commandment.

3. The conquest of Canaan makes God a monster

Saying God authorized this, only raises one more question. Doesn’t this make God unjust.  God does three things here that raise all kinds of questions.  One, God authorizes, not only killing but mass killing.

He seems to sanction, not just murder but mass murder, divinely sanctioned mass-murder.  Entire groups of people are killed violently at the command of God.  Innocent women and children are massacred with the sword.  They are wiped out.

Critics say that the Bible not only contains violence; it actually sanctions violence.  It sanctions ethnic cleansing.  It sanctions genocide. How could a God of love do this?  How could He order the massacre of the Canaanites? How could He order the slaughter of thousands?

The Israelites went into a town and killed everybody, men, women and innocent children.  They did not just conquer them.  They killed them and they killed them all and told the Israelites to take the spoils.

They left “NO survivors” (Joshua 11:8).  They killed EVERYTHING that breathed (Joshua 11:11, 14, 21).  The Canaanites were TOTALLY DESTROYED (Joshua 11:11).

They were killed WITHOUT MERCY (Joshua 11:20).  That sounds a little barbaric, killed without mercy.

To critics, this sounds like mass murder.  It sounds like genocide.  It sounds like war crimes.  How could a loving God do this?

How could He order the massacre of the Canaanites? How could He order the slaughter of thousands? The Israelites went into a town and killed everybody, men, women and innocent children. They did not just conquer them. They killed them.

Two, these Canaanite killings by divine authorization were WITHOUT MERCY (Joshua 11:20). That sounds a little barbaric, killed without mercy.  How could a loving God do this? Where is the mercy of God? Where is the love of God?

Three, God not only does God wipe everyone out and kill everyone but He HARDENS their hearts.  How could a good God harden people’s hearts? That doesn’t sound fair. It doesn’t sound right. God tells us in Scripture not to harden our hearts and here God hardens the hearts of these Canaanites. If God is a God of mercy, where is mercy in Joshua 11? Joshua 11 seems to say the exact opposite. There is NO mercy in this chapter.

For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them WITHOUT MERCY, as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:20 NIV).  What God does in this passage may be a challenge for some people.  What would you say?  How do you answer this?

Answering the Skeptics

1) God has the right to take human life at any time.

It is not murder for God to take life.  He created life and can take it at any time.  God can give land to anyone because He is the Creator and He can take human life at any time because He is the Creator.  God sent a worldwide flood that wiped everyone out.  This is not genocide but capital punishment. He is the Creator.  He judges people because of sin.  It has nothing to do with race or skin color.  This is not genocide.  It is judgment.

2) God has the right to authorize people to act on His behalf

Sometimes, God judges people directly (like the Flood or Sodom and Gomorrah). He sends fire or water down from heaven and wipes people out in divine judgment.

Sometimes, He uses people who act as instruments of divine judgment. He uses the state the execute murderers.  When the state executes a mass murderer, it is not committing murder.  It is acting on God’s behalf as his official representative.

3) God is a God of mercy, as well as judgment

There is no mercy in this chapter (the critics are right), but God is still a God of mercy.  The same God who judged the Canaanites rather harshly gave them time to repent.  He gave them a LONG time to repent.  He gave them over four hundred years.  God is still a God of mercy. That is where free will comes in.  This judgment was not inevitable.

The Canaanites could have repented long ago, so you don’t need to feel sorry for them.  Rahab repented and so could they, but they chose not to do so.  In fact, they only got worse and worse as time went on.  There is There is no mercy or grace in the fires of hell but God is still a God of mercy and grace.  When people reject His mercy and grace, they suffer the consequences.

4) God never causes anyone to sin.

He does not force anyone to sin or even tempt anyone to sin. He does not take soft hearts of people who love God and want to serve Him and make them hard.  He does not take the heart of a godly man and make him ungodly.  These Canaanites already had hard hearts.  Child sacrifice was part of their religion.  They had hard hearts for hundreds of years and got progressively worse as time went on.

5) God never violates human free will

God does not force people to do anything against their will.  God did not force people to crucify Jesus in order to fulfill the plan of God.  They did what they wanted to do.  He did not force Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery to get him to Egypt so he could save the whole family.

These Canaanites hated the Israelites.  They wanted to attack them but attacking them led to their own destruction.  God hardened their hearts by giving them over to their own sin to do what they want to do (cf. Romans 1:24-27).  God did not harden their hearts not by forcing them to do anything against their will.  He did not harden their hearts by forcing them to do anything that they did not want to do.

 Applications for Today

These chapters are all about killing and war but that is not the message for us. What is the application for us from these two chapters?

1. If God makes a promise, He keeps it

Sometimes we have to wait for the promises. We do not always get them right away. God promised Abraham a son but he had to wait over twenty years for that promise to be fulfilled. He promised his descendants land and they had to wait hundreds of years for that promise to be fulfilled. God keeps His promises. We will see this later on in the book.

2. If God is with us, we do not have to fear

God told Joshua not to be afraid. The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because BY THIS TIME TOMORROW I will hand ALL of them, SLAIN, over to Israel. (Joshua 11:6 NIV)

This was the fourth time that God told Joshua not to be afraid (Joshua 1:9; 8:1; 10:8; 11:6). You are going to fight a war. There are more of them and they had greater weapons but don’t be afraid. He had a word from God that he was going to win the battle.

When we are doing what God has called us to do, when we are obedient to God, like Joshua, we do not have to be afraid either. God is with us. Jesus promised to be with us to the end of the age. He will never leave or forsake us.

3. If we obey God, we can expect to face some problems

Even though God gave them the land and told them that it was theirs, they still had to conquer it. God may give you a job. He may open some doors for you, but you still have to apply for it. They had some work to do as well. God gave them the land, but they still had to take possession of it. They still had some giants to fight.

God may have given them the land but there were people living in it at the time. They had to fight battles. They had to win wars and, to win wars, they had to use some military strategy.

4. If we do what God tells us to do, we will be successful

Joshua 11 ends with Joshua’s success. He takes the entire land (Joshua 11:23). Joshua was successful because He did exactly what God told him to do. He followed the divine battle plan. He didn’t come up with his own plan or try to do something different. He didn’t achieve success immediately. It took years. He had to work hard. If we are obedient to God, we will be successful, if we do everything God tells us to do in his Word.

[1] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 5, 1.18 (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link52HCH0001)

[2] See https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-canaanite-lebanese-genetics-20170727-story.html and https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/07/canaanite-bible-ancient-dna-lebanon-genetics-archaeology/.

Sun-Stopping Prayers

Is the Bible accurate?  Is it trustworthy or does it contain errors?  Does it contain any scientific errors?  Many believe that Joshua 10 contains some scientific errors.  Joshua 10 is one of the most ridiculed passages in the Bible.  It came up in the Scopes Monkey Trial in the 1920s.  Evolution was on trial but the defense attorney Clarence Darrow, who was an atheist, put the Bible on trial.

One of the passages that he brought up was Joshua 10.  We know that the earth goes around the sun.  The sun does not go around the earth, so to skeptics this looks like a clear error, a scientific error. Why didn’t Joshua speak to the earth and tell it to stop moving?  Why did he speak to the sun and tell is to stop moving?

Most Christians believe that God stopped the rotation of the earth during Joshua’s long day.  Skeptics say that this would have been catastrophic.  We can imagine what it is like to travel 70 miles per hour in a car with a seat belt and it suddenly stops without warning, like it hit a tree.

What if you were traveling 55,000 miles per hour and you stopped and did not have a seat belt on?  People would fly off into space.  Seventy percent of the planet is water.  What would happen to all of the water in the ocean? It would turn into tsunamis.  Does the Bible contradict science?  How would you answer any of these questions?

The Bible is not unscientific, but it also is not a science textbook.  It uses the language of appearance.  Joshua tells the sun to stop, not the earth, because it describes things the way they appear, not necessarily how they are scientifically.  We cannot criticize these primitive people because we do the same thing today.  Meteorologists speak of the sun rising and the sun setting today.  For some reason, we do not call them “unscientific.”

It is true that the earth goes around the sun, but it is not true that the sun does not move all.  That is a myth.  Everything in the universe moves.  The earth revolves around the sun and the sun revolves around the Milky Way Galaxy but there are some myths about this miracle that many Christians believe.

Myths about Joshua’s Long Day

All of us believe that the Bible is the Word of God.  All of us want to defend it but some of the books on apologetics give weak arguments in defense of the Bible and many Christians believe them.  There is a rumor that scientists from NASA have discovered a missing day in history but that is not true.  There is no documentation for the rumor and NASA denies it.

Many books on apologetics talk about a long day in many countries in the ancient world but there is one problem.  Many of these stories cannot be verified.  They make many claims but give no proof.  They are either unsubstantiated or do not fit the time period of Joshua (1404 BC).

My mentor in graduate school was Bill Lane.  Dr. Lane had a PhD in NT from Harvard and yet he was a conservative.  One day, I came to his class and he had the words “Lane’s Law” written on the board.  Lane’s Law said this: “An ounce of evidence is worth a pound of assertion.”  What is the truth about this day?  It is one of the miracles of Joshua.

The Four Miracles in Joshua

There are four miracles in the Book of Joshua: the RIVER MIRACLE, the WALL MIRACLE, the HAIL MIRACLE and SUN MIRACLE.

The first miracle is the River Jordan Miracle.  It is found in Joshua 3.  It occurred when two million people crossed a flooded river when God supernaturally parted it and they crossed it on dry ground.

The second miracle is the Wall of Jericho Miracle.  It is found in Joshua 6.  The Israelites did not do anything to cause it to come down.  They just circled the walls each day and blew trumpets and on the seventh day, the falls fell, not forwards or backwards but straight down as if a divine hand pushed it straight down.  They fell by the power of God.  The last two miracles are found in Joshua 10.  Today, we will look at the last two miracles in the book.

The Hailstone Miracle

The chapter begins with an anti-Gibeonite coalition.   So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. 4 “Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.” (Joshua 10:3-4 NIV)

The Israelites completely wipe out two Canaanite cities (Ai and Jericho).  The rest of the Canaanites came together and formed an alliance against them but the Gibeonites had a different plan.  Instead of going to war, they made a covenant of peace with them.  That infuriated the Canaanites.

These southern kings were double-crossed, so they attack the double crossers. This is revenge.  It is pay back.  They did NOT come after the Israelites.  They came after the Gibeonites.  Five great armies attack one.  The Gibeonites were great fighters but this was five against one.

When nations become friends with Israel, they are always attacked by nations in the Middle East.  The US is a friend to Israel and that is why some Muslim nations call us ‘the great Satan” and shout “Death to America.”

When the southern kings were attacked Gibeon with all of their troops (Joshua 10:5), the Gibeonites sent an urgent request for help.  It was a cry of desperation.  The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.” (Joshua 10:6 NIV).

That put the Israelites in a quandary.  They made a covenant of peace with Israel.  Would they honor it?  This was a TEST of whether they would keep their word, like they said they would do.  They decided to go and fight.  God told them to fight and said that not one of them would be able to stand against them (Joshua 10:8).  In fact, the text says that God fought for them (Joshua 10:25, 42).

Even though God fought for them, Joshua still had to fight.  Even though God threw the enemy into confusion and dropped a few hailstones down on their heads, they still had to pick up swords and fight.  This is the perfect blend of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

God was fighting for them.  God was with them but that was not an excuse for them to sit back and do nothing.  Joshua still had to use military strategy against the enemy.  So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. (Joshua 10:7 NIV).  After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. (Joshua 10:9 NIV).  Not only did he go up to fight, he took his best men with him.

Joshua used the element of surprise.  He traveled at night.  Gilgal to Gibeon was about twenty miles and it is uphill.  These soldiers traveled twenty miles uphill at night in the dark.  They marched all night and fight all day.  They must have been dead tired.

This is a violent chapter.  It would be rated R for violence.  It is a chapter full of war, bloodshed, slaughter and public executions.  Five cities are completely wiped out.  There are no survivors.  The five kings are finally captured.  They lay down.  People put their feet on their necks (Joshua 10:24).  That doesn’t sound very nice.  Then, these five kings are killed and hung on trees until evening (Joshua 10:26).

Putting your feet on the necks of your enemies was SYMBOLIC.  It is a symbol of complete subjugation.  Joshua told them that this was what would happen to all of the enemies that they would fight (Joshua 10:25).  Joshua was actually a type of Christ.  What Joshua did, Jesus will do one day.  One day, Jesus will put all of His enemies under his feet.

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (I Corinthians 15:22-26 NIV)

This chapter does NOT read like the Book of Ruth.  It does not look like a Hallmark movie.  This chapter shows what a terrifying thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God.  These kings and these cities were all under the judgement of God.  These five kings were not just fighting Joshua.  They were not just fighting the Israelites and the Gibeonites.  They are fighting God.  God is fighting them.

We are told that God threw them into confusion (Joshua 10:10).  God did the same thing to the Egyptian armies (Exodus 14:24).  He not only threw them into confusion, He dropped some hailstones on their heads.  He also did that to the Egyptians during the seventh plague (Exodus 9:13-35).

As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. (Joshua 10:11 NIV)

Hail normally does no kill people.  Most people do not die from hail but on very rare occasions it does kill people.  This hailstorm was supernatural.  It was an act of God.  It was divine judgment.  These were not little bitty hailstones but BIG hailstones.

And they were lethal weapons, like missiles and they killed not a few people but a lot of people.  You don’t want God throwing stones at you.  He doesn’t miss.  He has good aim.  Only the Canaanites were hit and none of the Israelites, not a single one.

The Sun Miracle

On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. (Joshua 10:12-13 NIV)

The fourth miracle was the miracle about the sun standing still. What do we know about this miracle?  We know several things about it.

1) This miracle was SPECTACULAR

Some have called it the greatest miracle in the OT.  That is unlikely.  It is not a greater miracle than creation, but it is one of the most spectacular miracles in the history of the Bible.  It was the final and greatest miracle in Joshua, to be sure.

How did God do it?  Did He stop or slow the rotation of the earth?  The answer is that we don’t know.  Many people ASSUME that they knew how God did it and have all kinds of theories, but we do not know.  We know WHAT God did but we don’t know HOW He did it. God is ABLE to stop the rotation of the earth without cataclysmic results.  He is the Creator, but that is probably NOT what He did here.

God does not do unnecessary miracles.  This was probably a LOCALIZED MIRACLE.  All Joshua needed was an extended period of light in a small valley where the battle took place. It was getting dark and the enemy was getting away.

All Joshua needed was a little extra sunlight.  He did not need the rotation of the earth to completely stop, which would have affected not just Joshua but the whole world.

2) This miracle was FAMOUS

It is in other books besides the Bible.  Other books besides the Bible authenticated it.  It was in The book of Jasher (Joshua 10:12-13).  What was that book?  We do not know for sure.  It no longer exists, so we can’t read it.  There is a book called The Book of Jasher but that book is a forgery.  It was written in the 18th century.  We don’t know what was in this book.  It is a lost book.

Is it a lost book of the Bible?  No.  There are no lost books of the Bible.  The Book of Jasher is NOT said to be inspired but the Bible does quote from it and it corroborated this miracle.  That should not surprise us.  The Bible quotes from all kinds of sources.  Paul quotes secular Greek poets in his day.  He quoted from some profane poets.

3) This miracle was UNIQUE

The Bible says something amazing about that day.  The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since (Joshua 10:13-14 NIV).  God did something that He never did before.  He did not do this when Moses was alive.

This miracle was different from the other miracles in Joshua.  The other miracles God did on His own.  This miracle he did in response to Joshua’s prayer.  Joshua’s prayer brought this miracle.  Prayer brings miracles.  The Bible says that we have not because we ask not.

Powerful Lessons on Prayer

How does this chapter apply to us today?  Stephen Furtick wrote a good book on the subject for those who are interested.  The main application from this miracle has to do with prayer.  The Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man (Joshua 10:14).  What does it say to us today?  It says four things.

1) God wants us to pray

God wants us to pray.  He wants us to pray when we have a crisis.  He wants us to pray when we don’t have a crisis.  He wants us to be constantly in prayer.  Our problem is that we do not pray.  We do not pray for little things, because we think God is not interested in our petty prayers.  We do not pray for big things, because we do not have enough faith to pray for anything big.  God wants us to pray. Do you pray?  You don’t have to pray for four hours a day, like David Brainerd.  Do you pray at all?  Do you pray consistently?

2) Prayer has incredible power

This was not a long prayer.  It was a short prayer.  It only had thirteen words but these thirteen words had cosmic consequences.  It was powerful.  Prayer can accomplish amazing things.  Let’s think about a few things that prayer can accomplish.

  • Prayer can move mountains (Mark 11:22-24)
  • Prayer can affect the movement of stars and planets (Joshua 10)
  • Prayer can affect the weather (James 5:17-18)
  • Prayer can cause you to live longer (II Kings 20:1-20)
  • Prayer can get people out of prison (Acts 12; Acts 16)
  • Prayer can heal the sick. It can heal people on their deathbed (James 5:14-15)
  • Prayer can decide who wins a military battle (Joshua 10; Isaiah 37:14-22)

3) We should pray boldly

This was a bold prayer.  He said it publicly in the presence of Israel (Joshua 10:12).  This was prayer not to just to move a mountain but to stop the movement of the sun and moon.  Joshua prays something that no one has ever prayed before. He prayed for a miracle.  He prayed for something that was impossible.

Have you ever prayed for the impossible?  Have you ever asked God for the impossible or dared to believe that he was capable of doing the impossible?  Paul said that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20 NIV)

4) We should pray biblically

Joshua prays a crazy prayer.  He prays a bold prayer.  He prays an impossible prayer, but he also prays a biblical prayer.  Believe it or not, this was a prayer based on Scripture.  It was a prayer based on the promises of God.

Joshua does not go outside, look at the sky and begin dictating the motion of the stars and planets on a whim.  God gave him a specific promise.  He said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.” (Joshua 10:8 NIV).

Joshua began fighting and the enemy was getting away and it was getting dark.  it looked like the promise was not going to be fulfilled.  On the basis of the promise of God, Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still, so he could fulfill his God-appointed mission.  It was not just a selfish prayer based on a personal whim or desire.

The Devil in Disguise

One of Satan’s greatest ministries today is deception.  He is a master deceiver.  He is good at it.  He specializes in deception.  He is a master of deceit.  He can take a total lie and make it sound very appealing and people believe it. Jesus called him “the father of lies.”

The Bible says that Satan deceives nations (Revelation 12:9).  Satan deceives word religions.  Entire religions are based on deception.  Can he deceive churches?   I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. (Revelation 3:9 NIV).

There was a synagogue of Satan in Revelation.  Are there any churches of Satan?  Are there people today who claim to be Christians but are not?  The Apostle Paul said that he has his own ministers who transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.  He transforms himself into an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

Can he deceive God’s people?  Yes.  Satan deceived Ananias and Sapphira.  They were two members of the church of Jerusalem.  They had been baptized.   They were Spirit-filled and were well-respected members of the church and yet Peter said to them, “Why has Satan filled your heart that you lied to the Holy Spirit?” (Acts 5:3)

Today, we come to another example of God’s people being deceived in Joshua 9.  It is a favorite SS story for children about how the Canaanites play a trick on the Israelites.  The Gibeonites deceive them.  They lie to them.  They trick them and that trick actually saves their lives.  They were supposed to be killed but their lie saves their lives.  It was a clever trick.

The Jews were actually tricked into disobedience.  They saved the lives of some people that they were supposed to kill.  They made peace with people they were supposed to go to war with.  That was exactly how Eve sinned.  She was tricked into disobedience.  That was how the first sin took place.  It still happens today.  Have you ever been tricked into sin?

This chapter shows that it is very easy to be deceived.  Some of us may have been tricked.  We may have been scammed or ripped off by some con artist. It raises this question: Could we be deceived?  God does not want us to be deceived.  The Bible tells Christians, “do not be deceived.”  Let’s read a few of them.

DO NOT BE DECEIVED: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (I Corinthians 15:34 ESV)

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? DO NOT BE DECEIVED: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (I Corinthians 6:9-10 NIV)

DO NOT BE DECEIVED: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.  (Galatians 6:7-10 NIV)

Let’s take a look at this chapter.  Let’s look at this deception.  Who were the Gibeonites?  Why did the Gibeonites do what they did? How was Joshua deceived by them?  What can we learn from it?

Who were the Gibeonites?

What do we know about them?  The Gibeonites were a group of Canaanites called Hivites (Joshua 9:7).  The Hivites had four cities, according to Joshua 9:17.  Those cities were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim.  They lived in the territory of Benjamin.  Their city was about twenty miles from Gigal, not a far country.  The Book of Joshua says that they were mighty warriors (Joshua 10:2).   They were good fighters.  We also know from Deuteronomy that they worshipped idols.

The Hivites were one of the cities that were under the judgment of God. They were under judgment for sin.  God actually gave them hundreds of years to repent.  He did not have to give them that time but He did.  They did not repent and now judgment is coming.   This was not just a conquest but an execution.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, HIVITES and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you MUST destroy them TOTALLY.

Make NO TREATY with them, and show them NO MERCY. 3 Do NOT intermarry with them. Do NOT give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.\

5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:1-6 NIV)

God’s instructions were clear.  He tells the Jews exactly what they were to do to the seven nations living in the land of Canaan. They were not to make a covenant with them.  They were not to intermarry with them.  The demon-inspired Canaanites were to be utterly destroyed.  They were to be treated without mercy

There was one group of people they could make a covenant with.  Deuteronomy 20 says that they could make a covenant with people outside the land of Canaan.  OUTSIDE the land they could make peace treaties.  INSIDE the land, there were to be NO peace treaties. They were to kill them.

Rahab and the Gibeonites

1) Both were pagans

Both were Canaanites.  The both came from a background of idolatry.  they were religious but they were idol-worshipers and they were immoral.

2) Both heard about the power of God

They heard about what happened at Jericho and Ai (Joshua 10:3).  they heard what happened to King Sihon and King Og (Joshua 10:9-10).  They heard reports of what God did supernaturally.  It was all common knowledge.  Rahab heard about this as well.  They both heard about some incredible miracles.

3) Both were completely terrified

We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in FEAR and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. (Joshua 2:10-11 NIV)

Joshua confronted the Gibeonites and asked them why they deceived him.  They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So WE FEARED FOR OUR LIVES because of you, and that is why we did this. (Joshua 9:24)

The Israelites already conquered Jericho.  They conquered Ai.  The Gibeonites knew that they were on the hit list in Deuteronomy 7.  Jericho fell.  Ai fell and they knew that they were next on the list.  They were next in line for destruction. They knew that they could not beat them.  They won every battle.  If they fought them, they would lose and they were terrified

4) Both were allowed to live

Both were saved when they were supposed to be destroyed. Rahab and her family survived when everyone else died and Joshua said to the Gibeonites, “Let them live” (Joshua 9:21).  So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. (Joshua 9:26 NIV). Both took an oath that they would be preserved.

5) Both accepted the outcome

They accepted their fate.  Rahab also said, “Let it be as you say” (Joshua 2:21 NIV).  Joshua told the Gibeonites that because of what they did, they would be servants.  Joshua said, “You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” (Joshua 9:23 NIV).  They would be wood cutters and drawers of water.  They did not complain or argue with him.

Notice their response.  They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. 25 We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.” (Joshua 9:24-25 NIV).

It is better to be a slave than to be dead.  Anything is better than complete annihilation.  They end up providing for the needs of the altar of the Lord (Joshua 9:27). Eventually, they held an honored place in the temple ministry (I Chronicles 9:2; Ezra 8:20; Nehemiah 7:60).  They were a special group of people that worked in the Temple.  They cut wood to keep the fire burning in the altar.  It was to be always burning.  God actually brought good out of evil.

6) Both used deception

Both used deception but there is a huge difference between them. Rahab used deception on her own people.  The Gibeonites used deception on God’s people.  Rahab used deception on her own people.  The Gibeonites used deception on God’s people. Rahab was completely open and honest to the spies.  The Gibeonites were dishonest to the Israelites.  They lied to their face.

Two Canaanite Responses

In Joshua 9, we see the reaction of the other kings in Canaan.  There were two reactions.  We will see later that these are two reactions that Satan always has to the people of God.  The first reaction was to fight them.  If one nation cannot defeat them, then they will join forces with many other nations and fight them militarily.

Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things—the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites)— 2 they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

The Canaanites formed a military alliance to defeat the Israelites.  Six kings come together with their six armies, because there is strength in numbers.  The plan was for Canaanite kings to join together to fight a common enemy It is hard enough to defeat two kings.  It is even harder to defeat six but there was another approach.  It was the approach of the Gibeonites.

The Gibeonites did not try to fight the Israelites militarily, even though they were great warriors.  Why?  The heard about what the Israelites had done.  They knew that God was with them.  It is hard to deny it when you look at the walls of Jericho.  They knew that they would not stand a chance against them, even if they combined forces with other Canaanites.

The Gibeonite Plan

The Gibeonites were not very moral.  They were not very honest but they were very smart.  They come up with a clever plan.  They could not beat the Israelites and they could not make peace with them because they lived within the Promise Land, so they pretended to live outside the Promise Land.  They not only knew about Deuteronomy 7 but somehow they must have heard about Deuteronomy 20. They studied their enemy.

This plan was creative.  It was original.  It was brilliant.  If you cannot outfight your enemy, you outsmart them. They were good actors.  They were convincing.  They were persuasive.

What is interesting is that about five hundred years earlier the Israelites deceived the Gibeonites.  Genesis records a story about Jacob’s daughter Dinah.  This story took place about four thousand years ago.  She went to a pagan town alone.  It was a wicked town.  She was young and a little naïve.  While she is there, she is kidnapped and raped.

Who raped her?  She was raped by a man named Shechem.  Who was Shechem?  He was the son of Hamor the Hivite (Genesis 34:2).  Hamor was not just anyone.  He was the ruler.  He was like the king of that area.  Hivites were alive during the time of the Patriarch Jacob.  This Hivite was not like the Hivites in Joshua’s day.  They were smart.  This Hivite was not too smart.  He rapes a woman who has twelve brothers.

After he rapes her, he falls in love with her and decides that he wants to marry her.  He never apologizes for what he has done.  His dad talks to Jacob and is wiling to pay any price.  Her brothers say that you can marry here only if everyone in the city gets circumcised, because we cannot let her marry someone who is uncircumcised and no other Hivite can either.

They agreed with the plan and convinced all of the other males to get circumcised.  Three days later, Levi and Simeon in a fit of rage went and killed them all (Genesis 34:15), when they were still recovering from their surgery.  They attacked them when they were still in pain (Genesis 34:25) and too weak to fight back.

They not only kill them but take their wives and kids (Genesis 34:27-29).  It was overkill.  One person rapes someone so you wipe out the whole town.  Now, hundreds of years later, the Hivites are tricking the Israelites but they are not do it to hurt them but to save their own lives.

How We are Deceived

Let’s look at how this applies to us.  Like in Joshua 9, Satan uses many different tactics.  One tactic is to appear as a lion.  I Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (NIV).  Satan acts like a hungry lion who attacks, persecutes and kills God’s people.  He fights God’s people and uses brute force.  Lions are terrifying creatures.  They are predators.  They are killing machines.

The other way he appears in serpent, not the repulsive snake we see today but as a beautiful animal in the garden.  He did that to trick Eve.  This tactic is to NOT be your enemy but to try to be your friend.  The goal is peace, not war.

The Gibeonites came seeking a peace treaty.  They played on people’s emotions (moldy bread, cracked wineskins, worn-out shoes and old clothes).  They played on people’s sympathies and got you to feel sorry for them.

We think it is much worse to face a hungry lion, but it is much more dangerous when he appears as a serpent.  When he comes as a serpent, he attacks when our guard is down and when we do not expect it.

What did the Israelites do that was wrong?  Why were they do easily duped?  Why were they deceived?  What did they do wrong?  How are we deceived?  We are deceived when we do two things, the same two things that Joshua did here.

1) We are deceived when we judge based on appearances

Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly. (John 7:24 BSB).  The Israelites judged based on appearances (the moldy bread, the cracked wineskins, the worn-out clothes).  We do the same thing the Israelites did all the time.

We make judgments about people based on how they look.  When we see people with lots of tattoos, ugly ear rings, and green hair, we sometimes make assumptions about them. We make judgments all of the time based on their income level.  Some people judge people based on the color of their skin.  We judge based on appearances.  We do it around election time.  Certain people just do not look presidential.

When God said that he was going to give them a new king in the OT and people looked around for one, He specifically said, “Don’t judge based on how the person looks. Don’t judge based on appearances or how tall he is.”  Then we are told, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (I Samuel 16:7 NIV)

Sometimes we make decisions based on appearances. How many young people think the most important thing to look for in a mate is physical beauty?  That is what they look for.  That is what they think is important and go after.  They make a decision just based on outward appearances.  Do we judge based on appearances?

2) We are deceived when we do not pray

Joshua made a decision without praying about it.  The Israelites sampled their provisions but did NOT inquire of the Lord (Joshua 9:14).  He probably thought that he didn’t need to pray about it because they could see it and it was obvious.  The evidence seemed to be right in front of them.  All he had to do was look at the moldy bread and  cracked wineskins.  Do we inquire of the Lord about things?

The Integrity Test

The Israelites did sin.  They were tricked into sin but, after they sinned, they did something amazing.  Joshua keeps his word.  He made a promise to the Gibeonites. He made an oath by the Lord and even though it was a bad oath, he kept it.  Are you a person of real integrity?  This is the test of true integrity.

If anyone had the right to get out of this oath, it would have been Joshua.  He could have argued that it was not a legal oath.  It was an oath based on deception and lies.  It was all based on a fraud and should not count but Joshua does not say that.  He could have said that the command of God said that the Hivites were to be killed and that command takes precedent over the agreement we made.  He does not do that.

We can learn a lot here from Joshua’s integrity.  Joshua sinned once but he did not want to sin twice.  He knew that two wrongs do not make a right.  He said, “We will let them live, so that God’s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them” (Joshua 10:20 NIV).  We can learn from what Joshua did when he sinned.  We do not do this today many times.  Many people get married, think they have made a mistake and get a divorce.

There are biblical grounds for divorce but most people who get divorced do not have biblical grounds.  They made a promise, a vow before God when they got married but they married a moron and now want to get out of it and often do.  How common is that?  We need to be people of integrity, like Joshua.

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous,who speaks the truth from their heart; 3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; 4 who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; (Psalm 15:1-4 NIV)

Overcoming Defeat

Today, we come to an interesting chapter of Joshua but what relevance is it to us today?  We will find out.   The two big themes of the chapter are war and worship.  The chapter begins with WAR.  It ends with WORSHIP. It begins with an AMBUSH.  It ends with an ALTAR.  An altar was used for worship.  It was used for animal sacrifices which was part of worship for OT Jews.

It is a violent chapter.  There is a lot of death and bloodshed in this chapter.  There is a lot of dying. A whole town is wiped out.  Dead bodies are hung on trees until sunset.  This chapter would be rated R for violence.

This is a man’s chapter.  It is full of fighting and war.  It is full of action.  It is a military chapter.  There is a special-ops, an army commando unit in the chapter.  It has a top-secret mission, a covert operation in the dead of night.

What this chapter really is about is overcoming defeat.  It is about overcoming defeat in your life.  It is all about winning.  God intends for us to win.  He doesn’t want us to go around defeated. It is also about worship.  The chapter ends with a worship service.  There is a big revival service at the end of the chapter.  Warfare is followed by worship.  This chapter gives us some principles for worship.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”

Israel just suffered military defeat.  It was a surprising military defeat.  They lost a battle they should have won.  Just beat big Jericho and lost to little Ai.  They suffered defeat because of sin in the camp.  They dealt with the sin in Joshua 7. God tells them to go back and fight Ai again.  This time they win.  Today, we will be looking at six Ai principles that are life transforming from this chapter

The Six Ai Principles

1) All of us have an Ai in our life

Life is a serious of Ai’s.  It is a serious or problems.  It is a serious of setbacks.  It is a series of mistakes.  It is a series of failures and defeats. Some of these failures are devastating. They are embarrassing. They are debilitating.  Joshua fell on his face, face on the ground and prayed for hours.

Leaders can have failures. Pastors can have failures.  Joshua felt like he failed as a leader.  He was devastated.  He might have felt partially responsible for the deaths of 36 men, since he sent them into battle.  What does Ai represent in your life?

2) God is the God of second chances

This chapter is all about overcoming defeat.  It is all about a new beginning.  It is all about a fresh start.  It is all about second chances after people screwed up.  In this case, after the nation screwed up. They had a humiliating defeat because of sin.  This is a new beginning for the nation.  Two armies have a rematch.  It is round two for Israel and Ai.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” (NIV).  The only thing worse than being defeated is staying defeated.  One defeat doesn’t have to define us.  There are two examples of this. Example one is Rahab.

Rahab had a past, but she did not let her past define her.  We don’t have to let a past failure or past sin rob us of future victory. Rahab was a prostitute.  She was an immoral woman.  She displayed incredible faith and obedience in spite of her past and was rewarded by God.  Rahab was wicked but became righteous.  James called her righteous (James 2:25).

Example two is Peter.  Peter was an Apostle.  He was one of Jesus’ top twelve men.  He was one of Jesus’ official representatives on earth.  Peter had an important position.  Peter not only denied Jesus, he denied Jesus publicly.  He denied Jesus repeatedly (three times).  He denied Jesus emphatically.  He denied him with a curse and with an oath (Mark 14:71).

If anyone screwed up it was Peter.  If anyone thought his ministry was over, it was Peter.  If anyone thought God can’t use him, it was Peter.  God used Peter to preach a sermon in Acts 2 that led to the salvation of three thousand people.  God not only used Peter, He used him in an incredible way.  He went on to write books of Scripture. No failure in our life has to be final.

Now God tells the Jews to go back.  ‘Go back and fight the same enemy that already defeated you.”  Not only can we succeed if we have failed in the past, but we can have victory over the very foes that beat us before.  That is encouraging.

We can’t do it on our own, but God can give us the victory.  Have you ever failed?  Have you ever made a huge mistake in life?  God can change defeat into victory. He can take the place of defeat make it the place of victory.  God is not only the God of second chances, He is the God of third and fourth chances.

3) If God is with us, we do not have to fear

If God is not with us, we should be afraid.  We will not be successful.  That is what happened in Joshua 7.  In the last chapter God’s anger was kindled against the nation but Israel deal with its sin and in Joshua 8, God is not longer mad at them.  In fact, He encourages them.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do NOT be afraid; do NOT be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. (Joshua 8:1 NIV)

This is God’s Word to us today.  God does not want us to be afraid.  He does not want us to be discouraged.  This is a call to conquer fear.  We are afraid of all kinds of things.  All of our life we face fears.

We have fears of not getting married.  If we are married, we have fears of not having any kids.  We have fears of not getting a job.  If we have a job, we have fears of losing our job or not making enough money.  If we live in a high crime area, we fear getting shot.  If we live in a safe area, we fear having a heart attack or getting cancer.  We have a fear of who will win the next election.  We fear the Commies might take over.  God tells us NOT to fear.  God tells us not to listen to the voices of fear inside our head.

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

4) If you want to be successful, you have to do things God’s way

If you want to have a successful marriage, you have to do things God’s way.  If you want to have a successful church, you have to do things God’s way.  If you want to have a successful business, you have to do things God’s way.  The Jews tried to beat Ai their way and didn’t work.  They failed.  They lost.

Now they are going to do it God’s way and they are going to win.  Ai will be ambushed, burned to the ground and the king will be hung on a tree (Joshua 8:28-29).  When they did it God’s way, not only will they win but they will be BLESSED.  God promised them the spoils at Ai.

God gives Joshua a PROMISE of victory. God says something interesting to Joshua. “For I HAVE delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land” (Joshua 8:1 NIV).  What did He deliver into his hands?  Everything (the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land).

Notice that God does NOT say that “I will deliver it into your hands.”  He says, even though it had not even happened yet.  It is so certain to happen that it is put in the past tense like it has already happened.  He says, “I HAVE delivered it into your hands.”

God also gives him a PLAN of victory.  God’s way is always different from our way.  His thoughts are not our thoughts. God tells Joshua to go ahead and attack Ai again, but He does NOT tell him to do it exactly the same way.

Just doing the SAME thing over and over again will not get DIFFERENT results.  God has a different plan for Joshua.  They are to use a completely different military strategy.  Joshua is to attack Ai.  He is to attack Ai with his WHOLE ARMY (Joshua 8:1) and he is to set AN AMBUSH behind the city (Joshua 8:2).

That is a little different than how they attacked it the first time.  The first time, they attacked the city with three thousand troops (Joshua 7:4).  This time, the take the whole army.  This time, they take mentions thirty thousand of their best fighters (Joshua 8:3).  That is ten times more than they sent last time.  How big was the enemy?  Only twelve thousand were killed (Joshua 8:25) but they come in at least with thirty-five thousand troops.  The enemy was completely outnumbered.

The enemy was not just outnumbered but outsmarted.  God gives the battle plan and He told them to use an ambush, a surprise ambush, a divine ambush. This ambush was God’s idea.  The plan involved some trickery.  They pulled a trick on the enemy.  This was holy trickery.  Most of the army lay in ambush while 5000 troops attacked Ai from the front.  Joshua was with those troops.

What was the enemy thinking?  “History repeating itself.  We beat them before. We can beat them again.”  They presented to be beaten and ran away and the enemy followed them, leaving the city unprotected.  That drew them into a trap.  The other army attacked the city and burned it.

They wanted to go back and protect the city but found themselves caught between several armies.  They were attacked from all sides.  They were attacked them from the front, from the back and from the side.

5) God does not always work through miracles

This seems a little counter-intuitive.  All of us should want to live in the supernatural.  All of us should want to see miracles every day in our life but the truth is that God does not always do miracles.  This is a message that you will rarely hear in church.  The reality is that big spectacular miracles are NOT always God’s plan.  Sometimes He does that and sometimes He does not.

Jericho was taken SUPERNATURALLY, while Ai was taken STRATEGICALLY.  God performed stupendous miracles in Jericho with huge walls coming down but He did not perform any miracle in Ai.  In Ai, the Jews didn’t march around the city.  They didn’t blow any trumpets and no walls came down. They just used an ambush and outsmarted the enemy.

The Christian life contains both: the supernatural and the strategic. Sometimes God works through incredible miracles and sometimes He works through providence. Sometimes He heals through doctors and good medicine and sometimes He heals people through faith.  God does not always work the same way.  He fed the people of God by sending manna from the sky.  He does not do that anymore.  Has God changed?  No but His program has.

What is the error in the church today?  Some do not believe in using medicine and doctors.  They just heal by faith.  They believe in healing just by prayer.  Other Christians only use medicine and doctors.  They believe that God does not do miracles today.  He stopped doing them in 70 AD.  Both views are wrong.  We need a balanced approach.  God is a God of miracles.  We should believe God to do impossible things in our life but recognize that God does not always work in spectacular supernatural miracles.

6) Glorify God in your victories

How many times do people do something amazing or get an award and they credit themselves and they own abilities?  People in the world do that all of the time.  They credit their hard work and their perseverance. The Jews did not do this here.  They just won an amazing victory and they gave God the glory. They worshiped Him.

The chapter ends with a worship service. Joshua talks to the whole nation.  He must have had a good set of lungs and a good strong voice.  Apparently, Joshua was not just a general.  He was a preacher.  Joshua does some public speaking.  He preaches to two million people outside.

Israel was camped in front of two mountains (Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim). These two mountains faced each other and there was a valley in between them.  The valley was where Shechem was located.

ebal-gerizim1

Why were they doing this?  It does not look like a good time to have a revival service.  They were involved in a major military campaign. They are surrounded by enemies who wanted to kill them, but it was the perfect time for a worship service. God gave them victory over their enemy.  They worshiped God and rededicated themselves to his covenant with the nation.

Joshua builds an altar.  Many people in the Bible built altars.  Noah built an altar.  Abraham built an altar.  Moses built an altar.  Altars were used for worship.  They were used for animal sacrifices.  Most Protestant churches today do not have altars.  Many churches talk about opening up the altar.  They have altar calls but they do not have an altar.  The Jews had an altar.

The cool thing about this altar that Joshua built is that it has been discovered.  It is over three thousand years old, but archaeologists have found it.  Most people do not know this.  Many commentaries do not even mention this, but it was discovered in the 1980s.

It was discovered by an archaeologist who did not even believe the Bible.  It was discovered by a man named Adam Zertel.  He was a secular archaeologist.  He was a secular Israeli archaeologist and he was famous.  He was a renowned archaeologist.  He taught archaeology at the University of Haifa in Israel.

He believed that the Book of Joshua was not historical but a legend.  When he saw a huge pile of stones, at first he did not know what they were.  He began digging and found an altar underneath it with ashes and animal bones in it, but only certain animal bones were there.

There were no bones from a pig found at this altar.  He sketched the structure.  A religious Jew looked at it and told him that it looked exactly like the altar in the Second Temple.  Zertel became convinced based on the evidence that this was Joshua’s altar.  It is in the West Bank today.[1]

Worship Lessons from Joshua 8

What can we learn about worship from Joshua 8?  What does it say to us today?  There are three lessons that stands out to me.

1. God should be present in our worship services

This worship had God in it.  The Ark of the Covenant was in the center (Joshua 8:33). That symbolized the presence of God.  God was present in their midst.  In some churches God is present.  You can tell God is there. In some churches, God is absent.

2. The Bible should play a central role in our worship.

Joshua read the Law of God (Joshua 8:34-35).  He publicly read the Bible and everyone stood up and listened to it.  Many churches today de-emphasize the Bible and minimize it.  Beware of any church that has a low view of the Bible.

One pastor in another state told me that he did not believe in reading long passages of Scripture in church because he said that studies say that people zone out when you read more than a few verses  You can’t read the Bible too much in church because people won’t like it.  This was a conservative church but they did not want to have too much Bible in it.  Joshua did not just read a few verses.  He read much more.

The worship in Joshua 8 not only CONTAINED the Bible but was BASED ON the Bible.  The very type of altar they made was based on Scripture.  He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. (Joshua 8:31 NIV)

How many churches do things, not because of Scripture but because of tradition?  That is the way they have always been done.  That is the way their denomination does things.

3. Our worship should be balanced.

We are to worship in spirit AND in truth (John 4:24).  Our worship should NOT be all spirit, all emotional with people foaming at the mouth and passed out in a religious trance.  Our worship should NOT be all truth. It should not sound like a dry lecture but that is exactly what we see in the church today.  We have some spirit churches and some truth churches.  Some churches are all intellectual.  Other churches are all emotional.

How was worship in Joshua 8 balanced?  Afterward, Joshua read ALL the words of the law—the BLESSINGS and the CURSES—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them. (Joshua 8:34-35 NIV)

Joshua preached the whole counsel of God.  He preached the whole law.  He did not just preach part of it.  He preached BOTH blessings and curses from the Law.  He read all of the blessings.  He read all of the curses.

We have preachers today that just want to preach the blessings and talk about prosperity.  They tell people what they want to hear.  It tickles their ears.  Preachers don’t want to talk about curses.  We have other preachers that are all negative, all hell, fire and brimstone.  Joshua preaches both blessing and cursing and we should preach the whole counsel of God today as well.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZglPosex_8

Sin in the Camp

Today, we come to one of the most important passages in the Bible on how to deal with sin.  It is very practical.  Joshua 7 is also a difficult chapter for some. It is all about a man named Achan and it raises all kinds of questions. Who was Achan?  What exactly does Achan do that was wrong?  Why was he put to death for it?  Why is he punished by death?

This is the story about a thief in Israel, but stealing was not a capital crime in the OT, so why is Achan executed.  Why didn’t he receive any grace?  If God is love, why was he put to death?  He confessed his sin and he was still put to death.

Why is his family put to death along with him?  The OT explicitly said that the faith was NOT to be put to death for the sin of the son and the son was NOT to be put to death for the sin of the father (Deuteronomy 24:16).  Why are the innocent children killed with Achan?

Why does God punish the whole nation for the sin of one man?  Achan was the one who committed the crime and yet God says to Joshua, “ISRAEL has sinned; THEY have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. THEY have taken some of the devoted things; THEY have stolen, THEY have lied, THEY have put them with their own possessions.” (Joshua 7:11).

Why was all Israel held accountable for what Achan did? What exactly is going on in this chapter?   To understand it, you have to compare it to the previous chapter in the book.  Joshua 7 must be compared to Joshua 6.  They are radically different.  It is a good picture of the Christian life.

In Joshua 6, God’s people were obedient and were successful.  They marched around the city walls just like God told them to do and blew trumpets.  In Joshua 7, they were disobedient and not successful.  That describes us.  Sometimes we are obedient and in the will of God and sometimes we are out of the will of God and disobedient.

In Joshua 6, the Jews saw an incredible miracle.  Tall walls crumbled to the ground supernaturally.  They experienced blessing.  God was with them.

In Joshua 7, they experienced, not blessing but judgment.  God was not working for them.  He was not with them.  God withheld His blessings and said that He is not going to be with them anymore. Sometimes we experience blessing.  Sometimes we see god work in our life and sometimes we don’t.

Sometimes we experience judgment.  Many Christians, and some churches, have lost their power because there is sin in the camp.  God withdraws his power and presence because of sin.

In Joshua 6, The Israelites experienced a great victory over the city of Jericho.  In Joshua 7, they experience a terrible defeat over the city of Ai.  Joshua loses in battle.  He suffers a military defeat.  They went from a spiritual high to a spiritual low.   Joshua 7 describes one of Israel’s darkest hours.

They beat the big city and then lose to a small village. They were not defeated because of someone on the outside.  They were defeated because of someone on the inside.  Sometimes we experience victory in our lives and sometimes we experience defeat.

Joshua 7 begins with the word BUT.  But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel. (Joshua 7:1 NIV)

To really understand what is going on here, you have to go back to Joshua 6.  God made a covenant with Israel.  They rededicated themselves to that covenant.  God performed an incredible miracle for the Jews in Jericho but He also gave explicit instructions for the city.  The first city they conquered was to go to God.

First things go to God.  They were not to take anything from the city for themselves.  Now, they could do that in other cities but not Jericho.  They could take things from Ai but not from Jericho.  Everything there was untouchable. It was consecrated.  God warned about this in Joshua 6 and even warned what would happen if they did it.

But you, keep yourselves FROM the things devoted to destruction, LEST when you have devoted them you take ANY of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it (Joshua 6:18 NIV)

Who Was Achan?

One soldier disobeyed those instructions.  His name was Achan.  Achan was not a pagan.  He was not a Canaanite.  He was an Israelite.  He was Achan ben Karmi ben Zimri ben Zerah (Joshua 7:18).  He was part of the people of God.  He was part of the Chosen People.

He came from one of the most prominent families in Israel.  He had a good lineage.  He was from the tribe of Judah.  Kings were selected from this tribe.  Judah was the Messianic tribe. Jesus came from the Tribe of Judah. Jesus was a descendant of Judah through his son Perez (Matthew 1:3).  Achan was a descendant of Judah’s other son through Tamar.  He was a descendant of Zerah (Joshua 7;1; Genesis 38:30)

Achan was a man who witnessed incredible miracles.  He witnessed the parting of the Jordan River.  He witnessed the walls of Jericho supernaturally fall.  He knew who God was and saw Him work first hand in the life of the nation.  He was recently circumcised and rededicated himself to the Abrahamic Covenant.

If Achan can sin like this, anyone can sin, even if you are from a prominent religious family.  Even if you are baptized and attend church, you can sin.  Even if you are a deacon or elder, you can fall into sin.  Even if you are a missionary, you can fall into sin.  Even if you are a pastor, you can fall into sin and that includes a famous pastor or a celebrity pastor.  Even if you are an Apostle, you can fall into sin.

It is surprising that more people did not sin but apparently only one person in two million disobeyed this command and the Bible says that God got angry.

Some say that God doesn’t get angry with people but Joshua 7:1 says, “So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel” (NIV).  Joyce Meyer wrote a book entitled God is Not Mad at You.  Some think that God does not get mad.  Some think that He does not get angry but in Joshua 7 we learn that God has anger.  He not only has anger, but his anger was kindled against people.

The shocking thing is that God was not angry with the Canaanites.  He was angry with the Israelites.  He is angry with God’s people.  Many think that God only judges unbelievers.  He doesn’t.  God can judge believers. He even take the life of some of them occasion.  You say, “God used to do that but He doesn’t do it anymore.”  That is not true.  The NT speaks of a “sin unto death” today (I John 5:16).

If you read your Bible, you will know this happens in the OT and in the NT.  Someone drops dead the beginning of the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 7) and at the beginning of the church in the NT (Acts 5).  Both committed the same sin.  Both lost their lives over financial sins. The death of Achan was a warning to Israel and the death of Ananias and Saphira brought fear on the church (Acts 5:11).  God judges believers.  Sometimes He judges them severely.

Why was He angry with all of the nation and not just with Achan?  Does God punish the innocent with the guilty?  Proverb 17:15 says that God detests or hates people who acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent.

Ben Franklin said that it is better to let one hundred guilty people go free than to convict one innocent person.  God says it is wrong to do both.  We have done both in court cases.  Lots of juries have let the guilty go free (e.g., OJ)

If God hates it, why is He punishing the nation for the sin of one man?  Sometimes a whole group is affected by the sin of one person.  If a person in a church is living in open sin and the church tolerate it and allows it, the church is affected.

In this case, the group did not even know about the sin of Achan.  It was a secret sin.  It was a private sin.  No one knew about it, except his family.  His friends talked across his floor and had no idea what was under it.

Achan was part of a group of people.  He was part of a nation.  God’s covenant was with the whole nation. It wasn’t just with one man.  We think that our sin only affects us.  Achan was the one who sinned but his sin not only affected him, it affected his family.  It affected the whole nation.

Achan’s Six Sins

What sin did Achan commit?  Most do not really understand what he did.  Most think his sin was just stealing.  That is part of what he did but not the entire thing.  He actually committed six sins.  As we look at the sins of Achan, ask yourself if you have ever done any of these things.

1. His first sin was REBELLION

He disobeyed God’s command.  Achan was a rebel.  He deliberately disobeyed a clear command.  His first sin was REBELLION.  People still do that today.  Christians do that today.  There is a clear command in Scripture about something, but it seems to have absolutely no affect on some Christians.  They know that it is wrong to marry an unbeliever but they do it anyway.

It is wrong to live with someone before marriage.  Many know that the Bible teaches but do it anyway.  Do you disobey clear commands of Scripture?  Is there anything that you know God says in His Word, but you say, “I am not going to do it?”

2. His second sin was THEFT

He stole something.  What did he steal?  He stole three things.  He stole a beautiful robe, a gold bar and lots of silver (Joshua 7:21).  Achan did not simply take some things that did not belong to him. This would have been bad in itself. He stole what was “dedicated to God.”

He stole from God.  This was not just stealing.  it was sacrilege.  The gold and silver were supposed to go in the treasury of the Lord.  It was supposed to go to God.  Do you steal from God?  The Book of Malachi says that it is still possible to do that today.

3. Achan’s third sin was GREED

He was covetous. Achan said, “I saw; I coveted; I took” (Joshua 7:21).  He saw something that was not his and wanted it.  He craved it, had to have it and took it.  Have you ever done that?  On top of that he craved and wanted something that was specifically forbidden.

The irony is that what he stole in Jericho, God would have freely given him at Ai.  If he could have just waited (cf. Joshua 8:2), he could have taken some things.  He stole what God would have given him.

4. Achan’s fourth sin was IDOLATRY.

Achan put these things above God and above what God said.  Paul said in the NT that covetousness is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).  Achan not only broke the Eighth Commandment, he broke the First Commandment.  Do you put God first or are there other things that come before God in your life?

5. Achan’s fifth sin was UNBELIEF

Apparently, he did not believe what God said.  God warned what would happen if anyone took the devoted things but he thought he could get away with it and not get caught.  He tried to cover it up and hide his sin, so no one finds out about it. Numbers 32:23 says, “you may be sure that your sin will find you out” (NIV)

6. Achan’s sixth sin was SELFISHNESS

Achan’s sin led to the death of thirty-six men.  It hurt the nation.  It hurt his family.  He did not seem too concerned about who was hurt as long as he got that he wanted.

Achan and Rahab

Two people who are often contrasted are Achan and Rahab.  Achan was the polar opposite of Rahab.  Rahab was a Canaanite.  Achan was an Israelite.  Rahab  was an outsider.  Achan was an insider.  Rahab demonstrated her faith through actions.  Achan demonstrated his unbelief through actions.

Both hid some things.  Rahab hid the spies on her roof.  Achan hid the spoils under his floor.  Achan lost his inheritance. He lost everything he had.

Achan got his whole family in trouble.  Rahab saved her whole family. Rahab gained an inheritance.  In fact, Rabab marries into the Tribe of Judah, the very tribe that Achan was from.

Historical Background

In this chapter, Achan sins but no one knows about it.  The Israelites go off to battle and they lose.  This was the first major sin in the land and the first military defeat for Israel. Joshua sent men to spy out the region (Joshua 7:2).  Men were sent to spy out Ai like they were sent to spy of Jericho

When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water. (Joshua 7:3-5 NIV)

The spies come back with a good report.  They are not like the twelve spies to went into Canaan and came back with a bad report.  They came back with a good report.  They just defeated the city of Jericho.  Israel was on a roll.  They thought they were unstoppable.  They thought they were invincible.  They are upbeat.

They are positive.  They are optimistic.  They had faith.  They believed that they could win but they lost.   No matter how much faith they had, it wouldn’t matter. They still would have lost, because there was sin in the camp.  Joshua 6 shows the POWER of faith.  Joshua 7 shows the LIMITATION of faith.

Israel is defeated.  Thirty-six men die.  They were shot in the back as they ran out of the city.  The nation is terrified.  At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water (Joshua 7:5).  Instead of the Canaanites melting in fear over the Israelites (Joshua 2:11), the tables are now turned, and the Israelites are melting in fear over the Canaanites.

Joshua is devastated.  He humbles himself, falls on his knees and prays for hours.  Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. (Joshua 7:6 NIV)

There is no mention of him praying before battle, but he does pray after the battle is over and God says something amazing to him.

The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. (Joshua 7:11-12 NIV)

This is interesting.  Joshua blamed God for what happened.  God blamed Israel.  He said, “Don’t blame me.  Israel has sinned.”  How many times have we blamed God for something in our life that is our own fault?  Then He says something you would never expect Him to say.

God rebukes Joshua for praying.  He says, “Get off your face. Get up.”  We are to pray without ceasing.  Is there ever a wrong time to pray?  If you are having an affair with someone and a brother or sister confronts you about it, you don’t need to pray about it.  You just need to obey.

Apparently, God takes sin very seriously and the person who committed this sin was to die but there had to be proof of the crime.  Whoever is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!’” (Joshua 7:15 NIV)

God does not tell Joshua who the culprit is.  He is identified by lots (by tribes, by families, by households and by individuals).  We do not discover the will of God through lots.  We do not establish guilt through casting of lots but that is what God used in this case to identify Achan and when he is identified, Joshua confronts him.

Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” (Joshua 7:19 NIV)

Achan’s Confession

Joshua confronts Achan and he makes a confession. Was his confession genuine?  Many people make a confession but are not sincere.  Let’s look at the good and the bad here.

Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” (Joshua 7:20-21 NIV)

Achan doesn’t hide what he did.  He admits it.  He says, “I have sinned.”  He said the right words.  Some never do that.  When Achan was chosen by lot, he could have protested.  He could have said, “You have the wrong man.”  He didn’t do that.

However, not everyone who says the words, “I have sinned” genuinely repented.  Pharaoh said, “I have sinned” (Ex. 9:27; 10:16).  Judas said, “I have sinned” (Matt. 27:4). Balaam said, “I have sinned” (Numbers 22:34).  King Saul said, “I have sinned” (I Samuel 15:24, 30) but there is no evidence that any of them have real repentance.

All kinds of people confess to a crime only because they are caught or because they want to plea bargain and get a lighter sentence, not because they feel really bad for what they did. He confesses when it is impossible to hide and he cannot deny it anymore.  This is the Bill Clinton confession almost twenty years ago.  He confessed to an affair in 1998 only when he was caught.

If you notice, Achan tells what he did, why he did it and where the items are but there is one thing missing from his confession.  He shows complete honesty but there is absolutely no remorse.  There is no regret.  The doesn’t apologize for the action or the affect it caused on the nation.  All that he says are the words “I have sinned” but it was too late.

Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

Achan’s Punishment

What was Achan’s punishment?  He was executed.  How was he killed?  He was stoned to death (Joshua 7:25).  He dies a violent death just like the citizens of Jericho.  Fire was also used in that judgment.  Achan dies like a Canaanite.  Achan was not just put to death.

He experienced a painful death.  It was bloody.  It involved torture.  That doesn’t sound too humane.  It doesn’t sound like they were too concerned about the man’s feelings.  Stoning was the method of capital punishment in the Law of Moses.

Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death. (Leviticus 24:16 NIV)

If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid. (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 NIV)

It sounds a little barbaric by today’s standards. The ACLU would call this cruel and unusual punishment. Today, when a serial rapist or mass murderer dies, we do everything we can and bend over backwards to make sure that the most hardened criminal on death row not suffer at all when they die.

How does this chapter apply to us today?  Are we to stone people today and burn them with fire?  No.  We are not under the Law of Moses but the concept of capital punishment, especially for murder is biblical.  It was biblical long before the time of Moses and is even repeated in the NT.

Practical Applications

1) We need to take sin seriously.

We need to realize what affect it has on our lives. Our sin also affects other people.  It does not just affect us.  It also affects our relationship to God.  Sin blocks our blessing.  We cannot see God work in our life and perform miracles when we are living in open sin.   This chapter also shows that we cannot hide sin.

It shows that God judges sin.  He judges everyone who sins: believers and unbelievers.  God does not have a double standard: one for Jews and a different one for Canaanites.  He does not discriminate.

If a Canaanite prostitute repents and believes, that person is included in Israel.  If one, even from the royal tribe, is disobedient to the clearly expressed will of God, that person is judged and judged severely.  We do not want God’s anger kindled against us.

2) The church today must judge sin

This chapter is all about sin in the camp.  What about sin in the church? The church is to judge sin. Paul said, What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (I Corinthians 5:12-13 NIV)

The church is not to execute people and put them under a pile of stones but it is the job of the church to judge sin.  If a church does not judge sin in its midst, God will judge that church.  We have churches today that tolerate sin.  They tolerate all kinds of sins (premarital sex, homosexuality).

Few churches today even exercise church discipline.   What happens if there is an Achan in the church?  The sad fact is that almost no church today would exercise church discipline today for Achan’s sin, as Alexander MacLaren pointed out.[1]  The modern church would never excommunicate anyone for greed.

Paul said, “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.” (I Corinthians 5:11)

[1] https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mac/joshua-7.html

God’s Battle Plan

We come today to one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible. It contains one of the greatest miracles in the Bible, the story of the fall of Jericho.

This story is FAMOUS.  Most Christians know this story about the Jews walking around the city six times and then shouting on the last day.  Every child in church knows it.

This story is SUPERNATURAL.  The walls did not fall forwards.  They did not fall backwards.  They fell flat.  They sank into the ground.  After they fell, the soldiers went right into the city (Joshua 6:20).  They did not fall because of a military attack.  It was completely supernatural.

This story is UNIQUE.  It has never been repeated.  God did this only once, even though the Israelites faced other walled cities.

This story is also CONTROVERSIAL. It is also a disturbing chapter to some people today. It is one of the most violent stories in the Bible.

One of the most terrifying verses in the chapter is Joshua 6:20. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. (NIV)

People were put to death by the edge of the sword.  We do not tell that part to kids in Sunday School.  We just tell them about the marching and the walls coming down.  Israelites don’t just conquer the city.  They kill everyone in it and all of the animals.  Critics would say that they do not just dispossessing the land but executing the inhabitants and commit mass murder and animal abuse.  Are they right?

Today Jericho is in the West Bank.  It is a Palestinian city.  It has an Arabic name today (Riha). There are two specific warnings about Jericho in this chapter.  The first warning is not to take any spoils in the city.  Joshua 6:18. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them.

This is the first city in the land that they are conquering. Any gold or silver or brass or iron that is there is given unto the Lord. It goes into the Lord’s treasury. Jericho was the “first fruits” of Canaan, and it was be entirely dedicated to the Lord, was to be put into His treasury (Joshua 6:24).   This is background to what will happen in the next chapter.

The second warning is to the man who rebuilds the walls of the city.  Joshua said, “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” (Joshua 6:26 NIV).  It was fulfilled five hundred years later in I Kings 16:34.

Applications for Today

What are the applications for us today from this chapter?  Are we are to do what Joshua did?  Are we to kill people with the edge of the sword like Joshua did?  Are we to engage in a holy war, like the Muslims do, and kill people?  Are we to encourage religious wars against infidels?  How are we to apply this chapter as Christians?

No.  We are not involved in a physical battle.  We are involved in a spiritual battle.  Paul says in Ephesians that we do NOT battle against flesh and blood.  Joshua did.  We don’t. We battle “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).  He also said that “The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world” (II Corinthians 10:4 Berean Study Bible).  We are not a battle, but it is not a physical battle.  Our weapons are not physical or military weapons.  They are spiritual weapons.

What is the lesson for us today?  There are powerful applications from this chapter for Christians today.  We will look at four applications today from this chapter.

1. God judges sin and it is a terrifying experience

One thing that stands out in this chapter is the absolute terror of divine judgment.  Jericho was an extremely wicked city.  It was a wicked city for years, hundreds of years and Jericho got worse as time went on.  It did not get better, it got worse.  It got more idolatrous.  It got more violent.  It got more immoral.  It got more perverted.  It got more depraved.

These were not sweet, innocent people in Jericho.  The Canaanites were involved in the occult.  They were involved in religious prostitution.  They were involved in child sacrifice.  They killed their own children in child sacrifice.  Killing babies was part of their religion. It was part of their worship.

Four hundred years earlier, God wiped out the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah of the map because they were so wicked.  They were so bad that God sent some angels to the city and the people there tried to rape them.  God told Abraham, “I am going to give you the Promise Land but not right now because the iniquity of the Amorites is not quite full” (cf. Genesis 15:16).

He promised Abraham and his descendants the Promise Land.  He could have given him the Promise Land right away, even though there were people living in it at the time.  God owns the whole earth, but he did not do that.  He said, “The people living there are wicked, but I am going to wait until there wickedness is so bad and then I will give it to them.”

In Joshua’s day, the wickedness had reached its full measure.  The city was around in Abraham’s day.  It is one of the oldest cities in the world, but it was not as bad then as it was in Joshua’s day.  Four hundred years later, the city was so bad that it came under the judgment of a holy God for their sins.  God’s wrath fell on the city of Jericho.  This was not genocide.  It was judgment.  What’s the difference?

It’s wrong for me to kill someone in cold blood, even if I am doing it for God.  One of the Ten Commandments prohibits that but it is not murder for God to take a life.  He can take any life at any time. He created life and can take it at any time. It is not genocide.  He is the Creator.  He owns all of us.  We are His creation.  God also can authorize people to act in his behalf.  He authorizes the state to execute murderers.

The action in Joshua 6 was divinely sanctioned.  God commanded Israel to destroy the Canaanites.  This was done by divine command and it was not done because of racial reasons.  The Jews were used to execute God’s judgment on idolaters.

Joshua 6:17 says in the KJV “The city shall be accursed.”  The NKJV reads, “The city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction”.  The Christian Standard Bible reads, “But the city and everything in it are set apart to the LORD for destruction.”  The city was under a curse (herem).  God was going to wipe it out.  After the city was destroyed, it was burned (Joshua 6:24), which has been confirmed by archaeology.

If you are not saved, you will one day experience what this city experienced and worse.  We are all born under a curse, the curse of sin.  If we don’t get saved, we will also experience the wrath of a holy God. The Bible says, “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  It is absolutely terrifying.  It is terrifying to have God open a book and find your name not in the book and for you to be cast into the lake of fire.  Fire will be involved in this judgment as well.  Preachers like to always be positive but a judgment worse than Jericho is coming to the world.

If Joshua 6 seems a little harsh, we need to remember two things.  One, God did not judge Jericho immediately.  He gave the city time to repent.  He gave the city four hundred years to repent.  They thought they were fine.  Several hundred years went by and nothing happened.

People think that since God has not judged the world since Noah’s day that judgment is not coming, and they are safe but he is just giving people time to repent.  God is patient with sinners. There is amazing patience in this judgment.  There is also amazing grace in this judgement.  That brings us to the second thing here.

Everyone in the city was not killed.  One family was spared.  Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho–and she lives among the Israelites to this day. (Joshua 6:25 NIV)

This chapter shows not only AMAZING JUDGMENT, it shows AMAZING GRACE. God showed mercy and grace to one Canaanite and she was not even moral.  She was a prostitute.  God still judges sin today, but He also gives incredible grace to people who deserve judgment.  Rahab was not the best person in town. God saved the worst of the worst.  He still does that today.

The one house spared was the one with the red rope in it, but they did not need the rope to see the house.  When all of the walls fell down, there was only one house left.  Rahab’s house would have been easy to spot.

2. God calls us to walk by faith and not by sight

God told Joshua in the first chapter how to be successful.  He gave him the key to success and the key was OBEDIENCE.  He told him to mediate on his Word and do what it says completely.  He said don’t deviate at all from what it says.  Don’t go to the right or to the left. If he did that, he would be successful.  God says the same thing to us today.

Between the Jews and Jericho was a big wall.  The way to get through the wall was not to go over it with a ladder or to dig under or to try to somehow break the wall but simply to walk around it for six days.

But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” (Joshua 6:10 NIV).

This battle plan involved three things.  It involved three very specific actions.

First, it involved MARCHING.  This was a silent march. We have had silent marches in our day.  They are more like political protests.  This is more like a prayer walk.

Second, it involved BLOWING TRUMPETS.  Seven priests blew seven trumpets for seven days.  Trumpets were used in worship and in war.  This was the shofar.

Third, it involved SHOUTING.  That is a strange battle plan – march, make music and shout.

Thousands of armed men circled the city.  They made a lot of noise (blew the shofar) and went home for six straight days.  On the seventh day, they shouted.  It made absolutely no sense from a military or strategic standpoint.  It not only made no sense, it sounded completely foolish.  No city in history has ever been conquered this way.  It sounded ridiculous.

There is no connection between walking around walls and the walls falling down.  You are just going in circles and not making any progress.  You can walk around them a thousand times and they will not fall down but the Commander told Joshua what to do.  Joshua told the people and they did it.

They didn’t argue or complain.  They didn’t try to propose a better plan.  They just obeyed.  They walked around the walls for six days and walked around them seven times on the last day and they did it quietly until the very end.  When they did it His way, not one Israelite died.  They were promised success.  God said, “Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.” (Joshua 6:2 NIV).

God says to them, “You are going to take the city.  The city is going to fall.  It will be yours” (Joshua 6:2, 16) but they had to follow God’s instructions to get the victory. Why were they successful?  They had a word from God.  They had a promise of victory.  They did not attempt this battle without a promise.  They had a word from God.

They believed the word.  They obeyed the word and they obeyed it exactly.  They did not deviate in any way.  They did it God’s way and they were successful.[1] If we want to be successful, completely successful, we have to do the same thing.

Now God does not call us today to pick up the sword, and kill someone because they are an unbeliever.  We do not have a specific commission to do that today.  That is not the churches’ role, but we are to walk to faith and not by sight like they did.

We are to be obedient to what God commands us to do.  If we do, we will be successful in everything we do and God will be with us.  Notice how the chapter ends.  It ends with the words, “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land” (Joshua 6:27 NIV).

3. If you follow God, you are going to encounter walls

Many think if you follow Jesus, you will not have any problems.  You will just live the Spirit-filled life.  The Jews faced all kinds of obstacles.  Some of those obstacles were their fault but many of them were not.  They faced slavery in Egypt for four hundred years.  They were finally let free and armies attacking them behind them.  They had nowhere to go.  They had the Egyptian armies behind them and Red Sea in front of them.

They faced many other obstacles.  They endured forty years in the wilderness.  Sometimes they had trouble finding water.  When they finally were ready to conquer Canaan, the Jordan River was flooded.

Even when they entered the Promise Land, the place of blessing (milk and honey), the place God had given them, the place where their possessions were, they encountered trouble.  They encountered opposition. They had several problems when they came to Jericho.

First, the city was set on a hill.  That is harder to attack.  Second, the gates were locked.  The city was on lock-down.  Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. (6:1 NIV).

Third, this city had walls.  It was a walled-city.  Jericho had high walls. It had thick walls.  One was six feet thick and one was twelve feet thick. It had strong walls.  These walls were made of stone and there were not one but two of them.  One was twenty feet tall and one was thirty feet tall.

These walls were intimidating. It was not just a city.  It was a fortress.  It was a small city but it was a fortified city.  In fact, it was a double fortified city and the city was set on a hill.  The city was an impregnable fortress.

God made them a promise that the city was given into their hands, but they saw the walls.  They saw them every day.  Would they believe God or the walls?  Would they walk by faith or by sight?  It would be very easy after day four or five to give and say, “This is not working” but they didn’t give up, even when their circumstances had not changed.  They continued to believe, in spite of their circumstances.

What is the lesson for us today?  Walls are real.  We can’t pretend that walls do not exist.  Some of them are tall walls.  They seem impossible.  Some situations seem completely overwhelming and hopeless (health problem, addiction, financial problem).  God made the Jews walk around these tall walls for six consecutive days and face their problem.  They had to look at them each day.

They realized that they couldn’t solve these problems on their own.  The walls are too high.  The obstacle is too great.  Only the Lord can give us the victory.  ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6 NIV). Paul says, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57 NIV).

How was God was involved in this miracle?  The head of the army was God.  God led the whole operation.  Joshua is not lead them into battle. God is.  The divine captain led the assault. The human commander just follows the divine commander.

Jesus gave Joshua the battle plan. The Joshua’s Plan was just God’s Plan and the Ark was part of the march.  The priests were in the front and in the back.  Soldiers were in the front and in the back.  The Ark was in the middle of the march.

This golden box, this religious artifact, was in the middle.  It symbolized the presence of God.  God was going with them.  They were not going on their own.  We do not have any religious artifacts today (except perhaps the Shroud of Turin), but we do have the promise of Jesus that He is with us to the end of the age.  He will never leave or forsake us.

God is the one who brings the walls down.  The Jews did not bring them down by their own efforts.  The wall did not come down by their own power.  Joshua did not swing a hammer.  God brought it down.  It took the power of God to perform this miracle.  That is what we need in our lives, God working.  With God, what it totally impossible, becomes possible.

He does not always bring them down instantly.  Sometimes He does but not always.  Even here, they did not come down immediately.  It took a week.  If you do the math, they walked around the city thirteen times. Normally, the Jews rested on the seventh day but in this case, they worked seven times as hard on the seventh day.  They were not supposed to travel on the Sabbath but on this day, they traveled as much as all of the other days combined.

4. Great things can be accomplished by faith

The Bible teaches that faith is important.  We are saved by faith.  The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), not just difficult but IMPOSSIBLE but faith is not only important, it is powerful.  Jesus said that faith is so powerful that it can actually move mountains.

Hebrews 11 demonstrates to us the power of faith.  It shows all of the things that happened by faith.  One of the things that was accomplished by faith is that the walls came down.  They collapsed.  Without faith, there would have been no miracle.  This shows the power of faith.  The walls of Jericho fell, not by FORCE, but by FAITH!

Hebrews 11:30 says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days” (NIV).

The fall of Jericho was an act of God but it was also an act of faith.  The fall of Jericho was an act of God, but it was also AN ACT OF FAITH.  God brought down the walls of Jericho but He brought them down THROUGH FAITH.

When the trumpets sounded, the army SHOUTED, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a LOUD SHOUT, the wall collapsed. (Joshua 6:20 NIV)

Why were they shouting?  They were told to shout.  The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! (Joshua 6:16 NIV)

Now this is interesting.  The walls did NOT fall down until they shouted.  By shouting they testified to their faith in the promises of God, as John Wesley put it.  The trumpets were blown each day and the walls did not fall down but on the last day after they circled the city seven times, the people shouted and the walls came down.  Before they shouted, the walls were as hard as ever but once they shouted, the walls began to crumble and collapsed.

They did not give a quiet shout but a loud shout and they did NOT shout after the walls fells down.  They shouted BEFORE the walls fell down.  It was the shout of faith.  Obviously, if they did not believe that they were going to get the city, there would be no point in shouting.

This was NOT blind faith.  It was NOT a presumptive faith, believing what you want to believe.  That is not faith but presumption.  What type of faith was it?

1) It was a BIBLICAL FAITH (based on the word of God and the promises of God).

2) It was a BOLD FAITH (because it was not based on circumstances).

3) It was a UNIFIED FAITH (the whole nation had this faith).

4) It was a VOCAL FAITH (expressed audibly on the last day).

5) It was an OBEDIENT FAITH (did what God asked them to do).

6) It was a CONFIDENT FAITH (loud shout, a victory shout).

7) It was a POWERFUL FAITH (a miracle-working, mountain-moving faith, caused the walls to fall down).

8) It was a PUBLIC FAITH (out in the open marching)

[1] http://www.brandonweb.com/sermons/sermonpages/joshua16.htm.

Joshua Meets Jesus

Today we come to a short chapter.  It is only fifteen verses.  This chapter is not quite as famous as some of the other chapters of Joshua.  Everyone knows the story of the battle of Jericho in chapter 6 and the story of the sin of Achan in chapter 7.  Not everyone knows the story about the hill of foreskins.

It is a chapter for men.  It mentions some knives (Joshua 5:2) and a sword (Joshua 5:13).  It mentions high ranking generals.  It mentions soldiers and it mentions circumcision, which is surgery for men, but there are also some things in here that apply to everyone.

The chapter begins with FEAR and it ends with WORSHIP. It ends with Joshua face down on the ground.  Two incredible things happen in this chapter.  Amazing things happen to the nation and an amazing thing happened to Joshua himself.

Israel gets a REVIVAL and Joshua gets a REVELATION.  God shows up in this chapter.  He shows up in the form of the second person of the Trinity.  Joshua meets Jesus.  Both the nation and leader Joshua are completely transformed.  We are going to look at these two things today.

Israel’s Revival

Last week, we looked at the crossing of the Jordan and we saw that the Jews had, not one but two crossings, one when they left Egypt and one when they entered Canaan.  The first generation of Jews crossed the Red Sea miraculously.  Forty years later, the next generation they crossed the Jordan river miraculously.  When this happened, the word spread.  The Canaanites heard about it.

Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites. (Joshua 5:1-2 NIV)

They were afraid before this happened.  We know that from Joshua 2:9-11.  Now, they are absolutely terrified.  They are demoralized.  They knew they were in big trouble. They knew the clock was ticking and judgment was coming.

When we get to Joshua 5, the Jews are on the other side of the Jordan.  They are now in the Promise Land.  They are now in Israel. That was good but it also caused a problem.  Once they crossed the Jordan, the river became flooded again.  They could not go back.  They had to go forward.  They had a flooded river behind them and no manna falling from the sky. They were at a point where they had to trust God completely.

The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan. (Joshua 5:12 NIV)

Entering Canaan meant a new beginning.  It also meant a new diet.  God provided food for two million people in the desert.  He provided for them supernaturally.  It kept them all alive but He did not give them a lot of variety. How would you like to eat the same thing every day for forty years?

With the new land came a new diet.  They got a little more variety in their diet.  They were now living in a land of milk and honey.  God still provided for their needs but He no longer feed two million people by manna supernaturally.  Happy meals were not falling from the sky.  God gave them corn in the place of manna.  They had to go out and get their food now.

They were now in the Promise Land and they were headed to Jericho.  God worked a miracle to get them there.  The other side is afraid.  It seemed like the perfect time to strike.  Time is of the essence.  They are now in enemy territory.  They have the momentum.  Now is the time to act but instead, they sit down and have a religious service.  That is a little strange.  God is in no hurry.  They actually do not conquer Jericho for ten days.

Why was there a delay?  What was the purpose?  Israel as a nation had been backslidden for forty years.  They had been wandering around in the wilderness for forty years in rebellion to God. They weren’t ready to conquer Jericho.  They couldn’t do this until they got right with God.

They need a revival first.  Some might say, “We do not have time for this.  We didn’t have time to worship.  We have a job to do.  We are on a mission.”

God says that the Jews couldn’t conquer Jericho until they were spiritually prepared.  CONSECRATION must precede CONQUEST.  All of the WARRIORS have to become WORSHIPERS first.  Once they crossed the Jordan, God says, “It is time to worship.”  First things first.

What form did this worship take?  They didn’t get together, and all sing some worship songs and start dancing in the Spirit.  Their worship involved a Jewish ritual and a Jewish festival.  It involved these two things.  The men got circumcised (Joshua 5:2-9).  Only a circumcised Israel could conquer Canaan.  It also involved sitting around, eating a meal and celebrating Passover (Joshua 5:10-11).

The two go together.  The OT said that you cannot even celebrate Passover unless you are circumcised (Exodus 12:48).  The Jews celebrated Passover right as they were leaving Egypt and now they celebrate Passover right as they are entering Canaan.

This revival involved three things.  It involved REPENTANCE.  It involved OBEDIENCE.  It involved RE-DEDICATION. Every revival in the church has these three things.  People have to repent of their sins in order for there to be a revival.  If there is no repentance, there is no revival.

That is the problem today.  No one has much of a sense of sin, even in the church.  Unmarried people can be living together and do not think there is anything wrong with it.  There has to be an acknowledgement of sin, a confession of sin and repentance.

2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” That doesn’t mean that they get circumcised a second time.  You can only get circumcised once.  This is not a second time for an individual but for the nation and it was a different group of the nation getting circumcised, the next generation.

3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth. 4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not.

The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. (Joshua 5:2-6 NIV)

Why are they doing this?  Because people had not been doing it.  For the last thirty-eight years, no one had been circumcised.  God required it but people were not doing it.  They were supposed to do it at eight days old.  Now some of them were thirty-eight years old and they still were not circumcised but that all changed at Gilgal.

They probably wished they got circumcised earlier.  The parents were at fault for not doing it but the adult children still had to obey, even if the parents didn’t.

If we could make an application today, it would be with water baptism. There are some differences between baptism and circumcision but there are also some similarities.  Both were religious rites or rituals. Circumcision was an OT rite.  Baptism is a NT rite.  Both were commands.  Baptism is a command for Christians, just like circumcision was a command for Jews.  Both are symbolic.

Just as some people put off circumcision in the OT, some believers today put off being baptized.  Baptism is supposed to happen immediately after one believes in Jesus.  Some Christians have never been baptized.  Some have gone forty or fifty years and still never have been baptized.

Revival takes places when people repent of their sins.  It takes place when they confess them before God and turn from them and do what God says in obedience to his infallible Word.  It also involves people rededicating themselves to God.  That is very much needed today.

It is something that Christians need to do.  Much of the church today is lukewarm.  Christians are not on fire for Christ.  They are not passionate about their faith.  They do not live holy lives.  They are worldly and materialistic.  Why is circumcision part of re-dedication for the Jews?

Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: EVERY MALE among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come EVERY MALE among you who is eight days old MUST be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they MUST be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:10-14 NIV)

God promised Abraham that He would give his descendants the Promise Land. The sign of that covenant was circumcision.  They are now entering the land and circumcision is required.  It is not a big deal to us today but it was a big deal to God for the Jews.  God almost killed Moses because he did not circumcise his son.

It was part of rededication to the Abrahamic Covenant.  We should do whatever it takes to get right with God, even if God asks us to do something that is painful, like circumcision.  These Jews were circumcised with sharp rocks without any anesthetic, like we have today.

It seems a little strange to do this right before battle.  That just incapacitated every soldier in the army.  It made them weaker.  It made them more vulnerable to attack.  That does not seem like a good military move to do when you are sitting in enemy territory.  As Warren Wiersbe said, “Joshua was getting his orders from the Lord, not from the military experts.”[1]  These Jews had to be in total dependence on the Lord.  They had to trust Him, not the experts, not even their military plans.

Joshua’s Revelation

In the end of the chapter, something amazing happens.  God shows up.  Before Joshua engages in his first battle for conquest of the land, God shows up.  Before Joshua begins the most important job of his life, he has a fresh view of God.  Before we face our problems, we have to face God.  If we look at our problems first, we will not have the strength to deal with our problems.

What is a Theophany?

Joshua has what theologians call a theophany.  What exactly is a theophany?  The Bible teaches that God is invisible.  Jesus is called the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).  Paul said that no one has seen God or can see God (I Timothy 6:16).  Jesus said that God is a spirit (John 4:24).  He is immaterial.  He does not have a physical body.

John 1:18 says that “No one has ever seen God” (cf. I John 4:12) but many people in the OT saw God (Isaiah, Ezekiel).  How is that possible?  God is invisible but He appeared to people in the OT in a physical way and those appearances are called theophanies.  They are visible, physical manifestations of an invisible God.

Theophanies take many different forms.  God appeared in some strange ways in the OT.

God appeared in a THUNDERSTORM.  That is the way He appeared on Mount Sinai.  There was lightning and thunder.

God appeared in a WINDSTORM.  He spoke to Job out of a whirlwind (Job 38:1).  This was a strong wind, like a tornado or hurricane.

God appeared in a FIRE.  He appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  He manifested Himself through a pillar of fire in the OT to the nation.  The Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire.

God appeared in a CLOUD.  He appeared in the Shekinah Glory cloud.  He manifested Himself in a pillar of cloud.

Other people in the OT had a theophany but never saw a cloud or a storm or fire.  Isaiah saw a man seated on a throne high and lifted up.  He saw a man.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isiaah 6:1 NIV)

In the same year that the human king died, Isaiah saw an exalted, divine, heavenly King.  Isaiah says, “Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

God appeared to Abraham as A TRAVELER.  Three men show up traveling.  They look tired, weary and hungry.  Two were angels (Genesis 19:1) but one is God in human form (Genesis 18:22).

They arrived right before the destruction of Sodom.  How would you like to have God show up at the door of your house?  It would be strange enough to have to angels show up at your door.  Abraham had two angels and god show up at his door.

God appeared to Jacob as A WRESTLER.  Jacob is by himself outside in the woods and someone attacks him in the dark.  He fights for his life for hours.  That encounter changed Jacob’s life.  He said that he saw God face to face (Genesis 32:30).  He did not strive with men but with God (Genesis 32:28).

God appeared to Joshua as A GENERAL.  Joshua meets the Commander in Chief of the Lord’s Army (Joshua 5:14).  He meets the one in charge. The human commander meets the divine commander.  One preacher entitled this section, “Oh Captain, My Captain!” [2]

A Mysterious Man

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:13-15 NIV).

This is fascinating. Joshua was head of the country.  He thought he was the commander of the army.  He meets this man and realizes that there is another commander of the Lord’s army and he is inferior to him and bows down. Joshua realizes that he is second in command. He stood before a man of greater rank than he was.

How do we know that Joshua sees God?  The text just says that it was a man. There are several reasons why we know this man was God.  In Joshua 6, Joshua is still talking to him and He is called God (Joshua 6:2).

This man told Joshua to take his shoes off because he was standing on holy ground.  Moses was given the same command when he saw God. When God appeared to Moses, He said the same thing to him that He said to Joshua: Take your shoes off because the ground is holy (Exodus 3:5).

Taking shoes off was a sign of respect in that culture like taking a hat off is today.  When God shows up, even if you are in an idolatrous country, the ground is holy, because God is there.

We also know this is God because of Joshua’s response.  He fell down and worshiped.  Jews in the Bible don’t worship creatures.  They do not even worship angels and angels do not even accept worship.

Most scholars believe that Joshua did not just see God, he saw Jesus. This was not just a theophany, it is a christophany.  It is an appearance of Jesus.  It is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. Jesus did not begin his ministry when he was born.  He had a ministry before he was born.  He appeared in the form of a man.  Joshua meets Jesus here.  This the personal appearance of Jesus to Joshua over a thousand years before He was born.

Many think Jesus was a pacifist.  He went around and just told everyone to turn the other cheek.  Here we see Jesus with a sword in his hand.  If that surprises you, it shouldn’t.  When He returns, He will have a sword coming out of His mouth and it is a sharp sword (Revelation 19:15).  Let’s look at this section.

Joshua leaves the camp and wants to spend some time alone.  He has a big responsibility.  He has a lot on his mind.  He has a big battle ahead of him that he is thinking about, the Battle of Jericho.  While he is by himself, he encounters a stranger he has never seen before.  He does not recognize him, and this mysterious man is armed.  He not only has a sword, it is drawn and ready to strike.

Joshua does not know who this man is with the raised sword but he does not try to attack him, he just asks him one question.  Joshua is a good general.  He only wants to know one thing.  Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” (Joshua 3:13 NIV).

That is the only thing that matters.  Joshua saw everything in absolutes.  Everything is either true or false, good or evil, black or white.  People are either for us or against us.  Everyone is either a friend or foe, enemy or ally.

What is his answer to Joshua’s question?  He says something completely shocking.  “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” (Joshua 5:14 NIV).  Joshua asks if he was for or against him and he said NEITHER.

That is very strange.  Notice what Jesus does NOT say here.  He does NOT say what all of the preachers say.  All of the preachers say that God is for you.  There is a sense in which that is true but notice that this man does NOT say that He was for Joshua and against his enemies.  He does NOT say, “I am on your side.”

If you have seen the movie 42 (2013) about Jackie Robinson, you may remember a quote from Branch Rickey.  Rickey was the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940s.  He was the man who brought Jackie Robinson to major league baseball.  Ricky said, “Jackie is a Methodist.  I am a Methodist.  God is a Methodist.”   Everyone thinks that God is on their side.

The Baptists think that God is a Baptist.  The Pentecostals think He is a Pentecostal. He couldn’t be a Baptist because Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into wine.  He could’t be a Pentecostal because He never spoke in tongues

The Calvinist think that He is a Calvinist.  The Arminians think that He is an Arminian.  The Democrats think that God is a Democrat.  The Republicans think that God is a Republican.  The Nazis thought God was on their side.  The Muslim terrorists think that God is on their side.

We tend to forget that we are not God and God doesn’t think like we do.  He thinks completely differently.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

We cannot put God in any of our little boxes.  He doesn’t think like us.  Non-charismatics put God in a box and say that He can’t work miracles today like He did in the early church.  He stopped doing them.  That is limiting God.  God can do whatever He wants to do.  He is not bound by what one narrow church or denomination teaches.

Some charismatics also put God in a box.  They say that you are not saved if you are not out casting out demons, raising the dead and speaking in tongues.  That also limits God.

Abraham Lincoln said over a hundred and fifty years ago, “Our concern should not be whether God is on our side but whether we are on his side.”[3]

Notice Joshua’s response to this man.  Joshua worships the man with the drawn sword.  He doesn’t fight him or argue with him.  He bows down before him. He responds in total surrender, total worship and total obedience.

It is the exact opposite of Moses’ response when God appeared to him for the first time.  He complained and argued with God.  If God appeared to you, which response would you have?  Would you be like Moses or would you be like Joshua?

[1] Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Strong (Joshua): Putting God’s Power to Work in Your Life (The BE Series Commentary) (p. 71). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

[2] http://0104.nccdn.net/1_5/315/11c/1bf/7—Oh-Captain-My-Captain.pdf

[3] https://www.boerner.net/jboerner/?p=13382

Crossing the Jordan

Today, we will be covering two chapters, because they go together.  Joshua 3 is a sign miracle.   Joshua 3 is a sign memorial.  One chapter is a miracle and the other chapter is a memorial of the miracle.

The Bible is full miracles.  There are miracles in the OT and miracles in the NT.  Joshua 3 brings us to one of the greatest events in Jewish history, the crossing of the Jordan River.  It is one of the great water parting miracles of the Bible and it takes place in the Jordan River.

Some have been to Israel and have seen the Jordan river.  It is a river that borders many countries (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank, Israel).  It is an important river in biblical history.  This river is important to both Jews and Christians.  Fourteen hundred years after Israel crossed the Jordan River, Jesus was baptized in this river by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17).  It is where the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove and He began his public ministry.

The crossing of the Jordan River is one of the great miracles of the Bible.  It is one of the most climactic events in all biblical history and yet today many do not even know that this miracle is in the Bible.  Most of the Jews in Joshua 3 were not even alive when it took place.  Many of them were born in the wilderness.

Everyone knows the story about the parting of the Red Sea by Moses.  Every child in SS knows that story.  Every child in VBS has heard it.  Not everyone one knows that story about the parting of the Jordan River by Joshua forty years later.  It is not quite as popular.  Many people do not know about this one.

We all know the story about the first miracle.  God calls Moses to lead the Jews out of slavery.  Pharaoh says no but after ten devastating plagues, he finally says yes.  Two million slaves escape Egypt.  They leave the country.  They are rejoicing.  They are cheering.  They are celebrating.  They are on top of the world.  They think that their problems are over.

They are traveling and God is with them.  They have the pillar of fire and cloud.  They are in the will of God.  They are doing what God wants them to do.  All is good until they hear a loud noise.  They look back and see a massive army on the horizon.  Pharaoh changed his mind.  He had second thoughts.

The most powerful army on the planet is now coming after them, along with six hundred of the best chariots (Exodus 14:6). This army had weapons of war.  It had firepower.  It had chariots.  That is like having tanks today.  This was a war machine.  Pharaoh sends the special forces against a bunch of unarmed slaved.  The Jews were terrified.  Their backs were against the wall.  They were completely trapped.  They had nowhere to go.

They think they are all going to die and then Moses says, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:13-14 NIV).  Moses raises his staff, stretches it over the Res Sea and the waters supernaturally part.

The Red Sea and Jordan Miracle Compared

God does the same miracle again in Joshua 3 but there are some important differences here.  This event is not quite as dramatic or suspenseful.  The Egyptians were not chasing the Jews.  No one dies in this miracle.  Israel saw Egyptians lying dead on the shore (Exodus 14:30). There were no dead Canaanites floating in the river after this miracle.

The Jews are NOT leaving a country.  They are entering a country.  They are NOT leaving Egypt.  They are entering Canaan.  The enemy is not behind them.  The enemy is in front of them.  Israelites were not on the run.  God was on the move.

There is another difference.  Joshua does NOT use a rod to part the Jordan River like Moses did, when he stretched his staff over the Red Sea (Exodus 14:16).  Joshua sent the priests into the river carrying the Ark of the Covenant and the water parted.  The ark contained the power of God.

Today, we want to look at this miracle three ways: historically. symbolically and practically.

The Miracle Historically

This was a real event in history and we know when it happened.  We know the month and the year.  biblical scholars tell us that the Exodus took place in 1446 BC.  This event took place forty years later around 1405 BC or 1406 BC.  Joshua 4 tells us that it took place in the tenth month (Match-April) which is when Passover takes place.

What is the background of this passage?  God made a covenant with Abraham and promised that his descendants would inherit a land. Abraham lived in 2100 BC.  The Jews are now crossing over to inherit that land in 1400 BC.  It is seven hundred years later but God is keeping his promise that He made to Abraham.

The Jews became slaves in Egypt for four hundred years.  They escaped Egypt.  They miraculously delivered by God at the Red Sea.  They wandered around in the wilderness for forty years.

Moses died and now Joshua takes over.  God calls him to leadership.  Joshua leads them right to the edge of the Jordan.  Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. (Joshua 3:1 NIV)

The Jews travel from Shittim to the Jordan.  In Hebrew, the city is pronounced shi-team, not shit-em (the way many ignorant preachers pronounce the word).   That sounds like a swear word.  No one knows where Shittim is but when they got to the Jordan, they stayed there for three days, and camped out.  The Jews now had the Promise Land BEFORE them, the wilderness BEHIND them and the Jordan River BETWEEN them.

They were so close that they could can see the Promise Land.  They could see how green it is.  They could smell the fruit, but they cannot get there until they pass through the Jordan River. In order to get INTO the Promise Land, they have to go THROUGH the Jordan.

Their inheritance was on the other side of the river, but the people did not know exactly where they were going.  They did not have a map or GPS and they did not know how they were going to get across this river.  It was impossible to get across the river.  River and the Jordan River is at that time at flood stage (Joshua 3:15).  They did not have any boats and or a bridge to get across the river. What was the plan?

After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “WHEN YOU SEE the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and FOLLOW it. 4 THEN YOU WILL KNOW which way to go, since you have never been this way before. BUT KEEP A DISTANCE of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do NOT go near it.” (Joshua 3:2-4 NIV)

The plan is to follow the priests. The priests were out in front, where God’s leaders were to be.  There was no leading from behind foolishness.   Priests went first and were bearing the ark.  God’s leaders were up front and the people were to follow them.

The priests were the first ones in the water, but what they were really following was a box. The priests were carrying a box called the Ark of the Covenant. It was a SMALL BOX.  It was only three and a half feet long.  It was a SPECIAL BOX.  It was covered with gold.  It was gold plated.

It was a SACRED BOX.  This box was made forty years earlier at Mount Sinai.  It contained two tablets of stone written by the finger of God.  It was a SUPERNATURAL BOX.  The ark was not magical.  It didn’t have special powers, but it was supernatural.  It symbolized the very presence of God.  It was also a SCARY BOX.  You did not want to get too close to it.  We have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark.

If you touched it, you died.  The ark was so holy that it could NEVER EVER touched by human hands.   They could not even touch it accidentally.  In fact, if you did touch it, you would die.  The Bible tells a story about a time the ark was being transported somewhere and it started to fall.  A man reached out to grab it, so it did not fall, and he dropped dead (II Samuel 6:1-7).  The priests could not even touch it.  they carried it with poles.

The people were not supposed to get too close to this box.  But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it. (Joshua 3:4 NIV).  They were to stay 2000 cubits behind it.  That is 3000 feet which is more than a half a mile.  A mile is 5280 feet.  The priests were to go on ahead of the people (Joshua 3:6).

Why weren’t the people to get too close to the ark?  Why did they have to walk a half a mile behind?  Why were they not supposed to go near it?  The ark represents the presence of God.  There is a barrier between a holy God and sinful people.

The priests moved to the center of the Jordan River and stood there holding the ark until all the children of Israel passed over. The ark was the first thing to go into the river and the last thing to come out of it.

Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And AS SOON AS the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet AS SOON AS the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. (Joshua 3:12-16 NIV).

As soon as the feet of the priests touched the water, something miraculous happened.  Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing (Joshua 3:15-16).

When their feet touched the water’s edge, three incredible miracles took place.  One, the waters of the Jordan stopped flowing.  Two, the Jordan River was parted.  Three, ground was dried up.

God stacked the water up on both sides of the river.  He piled it up.  How do you stack water?  You can stack solids.  You can’t stack liquids.  God built an invisible dam on both sides of the river.  He suspended water in air for hours and the text says that the people crossed the river “in haste” (Joshua 4:10) because they did not want this wall to fall on their heads.

God didn’t just stop the water and stack the water.  He also dried up the ground (Joshua 3:17). They did not cross a shallow river.  They did not cross a muddy river.  The water was completely gone, and the ground was dry.  No muddy shoes for God’s people.

Three Things this Miracle Did

1) This miracle demonstrated the power of God

For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”  (Joshua 4:23-24)

God is given a special name in this section.  He is called “the Lord of all the earth” (Joshua 3:11), not just the God of the Jews.  When he did this miracle, everyone could see his power.

God was glorified by this miracle, just like he was glorified by the Red Sea miracle. When the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (Exodus 14:31 NIV)

God was even glorified in the death of the Egyptians. This is a difficult concept for some Christians, but it is what the text says.  And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” (Exodus 14:17-18 NIV). What did this miracle say to the Jews?

Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 THIS IS HOW YOU WILL KNOW THAT THE LIVING GOD IS AMONG YOU that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. (Joshua 3:9-11 NIV).

This miracle proved not only that God was not only PRESENT among them, but that God was AT WORK among them and He was POWERFUL.  This was an act of God and they knew it. They saw it happening.

2) This miracle authenticated God’s leaders

This miracle authenticated Joshua as a leader.  This was a sign miracle.  It was meant to teach some things.

Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses” (Joshua 3:7 NIV).

That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses. (Joshua 4:14 NIV)

Some of Jesus’ miracles were sign miracles.  The miracles of Jesus in the Gospel of John are specifically called sign miracles.  Those signs were intended to lead to faith in Him (John 20:30-31)

3) This miracle empowered God’s people

God’s people were able to do the miraculous.  They were able to do something completely miraculous.  They were able to do something that could not have been done on their own.  Two million people (including children, the elderly and livestock) were able to cross the Jordan river quickly at flood stage.

There was no way humanly speaking that they could have done this but God made a way across.  This miracle empowered God’s people but brought fear to the Canaanites (Joshua 5:1)

The Miracle Symbolically

This miracle has a lot of meaning symbolically.  What does Egypt represent?  It represents the unsaved life.  Before salvation, we were slaves.  We were slaves to sin.  We were in bondage. The Red Sea miracle represents salvation.  It represents deliverance.  God redeemed them out of Egypt.  What does the Promise Land represent?

It represents prosperity.  It is the land of milk and honey.  Christians are not promised a physical land.  The church is not a nation.  We have a spiritual inheritance, as Ephesians teaches.  We inherit all spiritual blessings, although one day we will rule and reign with Christ on the earth.

The Promise Land also represents God’s will for your life.  The Promise Land was on earth, not heaven.  It represents living the life God intended for you.  The problems is that you can be a Christian and not be living in the Promised Land.  Many Christians have been redeemed out of Egypt and have never entered the Promise Land.  Even famous Christians have not entered into this blessing.  Moses did not get in.

Many churches just focus on salvation.  They focus on getting out of Egypt, rather than on getting into the Promise Land.  Many Christians are living in the wilderness.  They are living out of the will of God.  Their life is barren and desolate spiritually.

In order to get to the Promise Land, you have to cross the Jordan, but you can’t cross it on your own.  You can’t do it in your own power.  It takes a miracle to cross this river.  It takes the Holy Spirit to empower us to live the way he wants us to live.

The question is this:  Where are you?  Are you in Egypt spiritually?  Are you in the wilderness or are you in the Promised Land?  Are you redeemed or unredeemed?  Are you in the will of God or out of the will of God?  Are you living the life that God intended for you to live or are you living on a much lower level?

The Miracle Practically

How does this apply to us today?  In many ways it does not apply.  We do not have any sacred furniture.  We do not have any sacred relics in the church today that are so sacred that we cannot even touch them.  We do not have to walk a half a mile behind priests today or our pastor.  We don’t have to make a big pile of stones in our yard for our neighbors to see.

God wants to work in our life. He did wonders among the Jews on that day and He wants to do wonders among us.  How many Christians have seen any wonders?  Many Christians are satisfied with living on a lower level.  That is probably the majority of the church today.  God is not doing much in their life.  They miss out on seeing God work in their life.

Did you know that not all of the tribes crossed over the Jordan River?  Ten crossed over but two and a half (Gad and Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh) stayed behind (Numbers 32:1-5; Joshua 1:12-16) and were given that land on the east bank of the Jordan river.

They asked for land on the other side of the Jordan.  The land looked pretty good where they were, so they did not want to cross over.  They were allowed to stay there, as long as they sent their army to help fight (Joshua 4:12-13), but they missed out on some of the blessings of God.

God still works miracles today, but He does not always do them the same way.  He likes to use variety in his miracles.  He does not always do things the same way.  God worked differently in Joshua’s life than He did in Moses’ life.  He parted the waters by a rod in Moses’ day but not in Joshua’s day.

He rained manna fall from the sky at one time but is not doing that today.  He led people by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire at one time but is not doing that today.  Why not.  Isn’t He the same yesterday, today and forever?  Yes.  God does not change but His program does.  The way He does things changes.  What is God doing in your life today?

1) Prepare yourself for God to work

Joshua 3:5 says, Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (NIV).  We need to be spiritually prepared to see God work.  We need to be spiritually prepared to be used by God.  We need to be sanctified, set apart.  That is what the word means in Hebrews (qudosh).

What that will look like today is different from what it looked like then.  They were living in the wilderness for forty years and did not all have a copy of God’s Word.  Back them it meant something like change your clothes and take a bath (cf. Exodus 19:10-11).

That is still a good idea today but now it means something different, but the principle is the same.  Now, it is more than a ritual.  Many people today are not spiritually prepared.  How are you preparing yourself for God to work in your life?

2) Follow God’s leading for your life

These Jews did not cross the Jordan when they thought it was the right time to do so.  They didn’t cross when the majority people wanted to do so.  They didn’t take a vote.  They did it when God told them to do so.   They waited for a command.

They waited until their saw the ark.  They did not move and do anything until God moved and God went first.  They did not run ahead of God.  They waited before Him (two thousand cubits behind) and followed Him.  This is a good way to find the will of God.  Are we following God’s leading in our life?

3) Be willing to take a step of faith

This is very interesting.  We may never walk across a river on dry land.  We may never walk on water but we can take a step of faith.  Red Sea was divided before they stepped into it.  This time, they had to step into it first.  This time, God did not part the water first.

The priests had to get their feet wet before God would open the waters.  The miracle only took place when they stepped out in faith and got their feet wet.  The water did not recede until the first priest touches the water with his feet and that was done in obedience to what God said.  What steps of faith are you taking?

4) Remember what God does in your life

That is the message of Joshua 4.  It is the message of the memorial stones, the stones of remembrance.  This miracle was not to be forgotten.  They were to make a marker of God’s faithfulness, for them to remember and to be a lesson for their kids.

In Joshua 4, we see that not only did they KNEW what God, and Saw what God did, they were to SAY what God did and SHOW what God did by these stones.  They were to celebrate it.  They were to commemorate it.

How many times do we pray for something, God answers our prayers and we forget about it?  God does something amazing in our life and we do’t even remember it.  We need to think of ways that we can set up a memorial to the Lord for the incredible things that he has done in our lives.

God Uses a Prostitute

We are studying the Book of Joshua.  Today, we will be studying one of the most amazing stories in the whole Bible.  We will look at one of the most famous women in the Bible.  The first chapter of the book is about a man.  The second chapter is about a woman.

Joshua 1 is all about Joshua and God preparing him for leadership.  Joshua 2 is all about Rahab.  She is the main character.  The spies are not even named.  They are anonymous.

Rahab is the only woman in the Book of Joshua who has a whole chapter devoted to her.  There are four other women who are mentioned in the book but none of them has a chapter devoted to them.  In fact, they only have one verse (Joshua 17:3).  Rahab gets a whole chapter.

Joshua 2 is a story all about a prostitute, a Canaanite prostitute.  The Bible does not encourage prostitution.  It prohibits it (Leviticus 19:29; Deuteronomy 23:18) but Rahab is the hero of this story.  She saved the life of the two Jewish spies.  They would have been killed if it were not for Rahab

Rahab also happens to be one of the greatest women of faith in the Bible.  She gives one of the most incredible displays of faith in the Bible and she is not even Jewish or moral.  She is praised by two religions: Christianity and Judaism.  The NT mentions her three times (Matthew 1; James 2; Hebrews 11) and all in a favorable light.  She is honored in each passage.

She is included in the list of some of the greatest men and women of faith in the Bible.  We have a Hall of Fame on earth.  There is one in Canton, Ohio and one in Cooperstown, New York.  There is also one in the Bible.  God has a Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11 and Rahab is on the list.  She is mentioned right next to Abraham and Moses and Noah.  Not everyone got on that list.  Joshua is not even on the list.  Only sixteen people are mentioned by name and Rahab is one of them.

Rahab does something in this chapter that is unexpected.  She does something that is radical.  She does something that is bold.  She does something that is courageous.  She is compassionate.  He asks the spies to save her family, not just herself.  She thinks of others and she has incredible faith.  She was a Gentile, but she had greater faith than many Jews of her day.  She had greater faith than many have today.

What takes place in this chapter?  A basic summary of the chapter is as follows: Joshua sends two spies on a mission.  They in Jericho.  They stay at Rahab’s house.  The king finds out about them and asks for them.  She hides the spies, lies the king and send him in the wrong direction.  She helps the spies escape, gives them some advice but also makes a deal with them before they leave.  The spies return safely to the other side of the river and give Joshua what is called by the military today a debriefing report.

What does this story say to us today?  What lessons can we learn from it?   How are we to be like Rahab?  How are we to imitate her?  How is she a model for us today?  How should we to imitate the prostitute?  Today, we want to look at five things this story tells us today.

Five Powerful Lessons

1. The story of Rahab tells us that God can use absolutely anybody

The chapter begins with an undercover spy operation (Joshua 2:1).  Joshua was a good military leader.  Before he does an invasion, he needs some intelligence, so he sends two spies into Jericho.  It is a CIA operation.  Spies are sent secretly.  It was a top-secret mission.  No one knows about it, not even the Israelites.  If you know Jewish history, this had happened before.  History is repeating itself.

Moses sent some spies out and now Joshua is sending some spies.  Moses sent TWELVE SPIES and Joshua was one of them.  They were gone for forty days and came back with a report to the whole nation (Numbers 13).  Now Joshua sends out TWO SPIES (Joshua 2). They are only gone for three days and come back with a report, but they give their report only to Joshua.  It is highly classified.

We do not know much about these spies but we do know that they were young men (Joshua 6:23). They were also godly.  Joshua sends two of his best men on this mission.  What do the two men do?  They cross the Jordan River (which at this time was at flood stage).

Once they crossed it, these two young men headed into the red-light district of the city and spend the night with the local prostitute.  We might start to wonder about these two young men.

Why did they go there?  What are they doing in a brothel? God sent them.  How is that possible?  Why would God do that? What about verses that say avoid the appearance of evil (I Thessalonians 5:2 KJV)?  What about verses that say do not go near the house of a prostitute (Proverbs 5:8).  They did not avoid the door of the prostitute’s house.  They spent the night there.

Why would they go there?  Why would God send them there?  You need to keep several things in mind.  Neither of those verses had been written yet.  They really did not have any other option. There was no Holiday Inn at Jericho for the spies to lodge in.  There was no Motel 6.  Rahab took everybody.  She was used to taking in strangers.  It would be easy for them to blend in.

God sent them to the one person in the city who had faith in the true God.  They happened to go to the one woman who would not turn them in.  They went to the one woman who would protect them.  Her house happened to be on the wall of the city (Joshua 2:15). That gave an easy entrance and an easy exit for the spies.  Her house had a strategic location in the city.

Who did God use to protect the spies?  Who did God use to give the spies the intelligence information they needed?   The spies did not talk to a hundred people to get that information.  They only talked to one person in the city and she was a prostitute.

God could have use anyone to do this, but he used a PROSTITUTE.  He used a GENTILE PROSTITUTE.  She wasn’t even Jewish.  She was a Canaanite.  He used a FOREIGN PROSTITUTE.  She was an outsider.  He used a LYING PROSTITUTE.

Rahab was not only a prostitute; she was a liar.  She was a good liar.  She told, not one, not two but three lies in this chapter (Joshua 2:4-5).  God used this lying prostitute to be King David’s great grandmother.  How would you like to have a prostitute for your great grandmother?

She was in the line of King David, Israel’s greatest king.  God also used her to be the ancestor of Christ.  Jesus had not one but two prostitutes in his ancestry (Rahab and Tamar).  In Joshua 2, God used a prostitute to accomplish His purposes.

If God could use Rahab to do this, He can use anybody.  If God can use Rahab, He can use us.  God can use people who are not perfect.  He can use people whose lives are messed up.  He can use people who have a past or who have had a bad reputation.  Anytime you think that God cannot use people who messed up, look at Rahab.

2. The story of Rahab tells us that God can save absolutely anybody

Rahab was an immoral woman.  She is a picture in the Bible of sin.  If Paul is the chief of sinners in the NT, Rahab is the chief of sinners in the OT. In both the OT and in the NT, she is called “Rahab the Harlot.”  She is called “Rahab the Harlot” twice in the OT (Joshua 6:17, 25).  She is called “Rahab the Harlot” twice in the NT (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25).

That is a little embarrassing.  How would you like to always be known or identified by your sin?  Rahab was a woman with a past.  The Bible does not hide her past and Rahab never forgot her past, but she was also a woman who did not let her past control her future.  She did not let her past stop her from doing and achieving great things.  She did not let her past stop her from being used significantly by God.  She went from harlot to hero in the Bible.

Not everyone believes Rahab was a harlot.  The first century Jewish historian Josephus calling her just an innkeeper,[1] as did some Rabbinic sources (Jonathon Targum).  According to this view, she was not a harlot but a hotel owner.  Some modern Bible translations have followed this tradition (TLB).

A prostitute sounds too scandalous, too embarrassing, so some people try to clean it up and change what the text says.  That is what cults do with the Bible.  If they don’t like what the Bible says, they just re-write it.  They re-translate it. That sounds a little better.  It makes Rahab a little more respectable. People do not want to come to church and hear a story about a seductive prostitute.

There’s only one problem.  The Hebrew word (zonah) means prostitute.  In fact, if the word meant innkeeper, it would make nonsense of the text.  Genesis 34:31 would read, “Shall we deal with our sister as an innkeeper” (instead of as a harlot).  Genesis 38:15 would read, “When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an innkeeper (rather than a harlot) because she had covered her face.”  Proverbs 6:26 would read, “by means of an innkeeper a man is brought to a piece of bread.”

It almost becomes laughable.  Leviticus 21:14 would prohibit OT priests from marrying innkeepers, rather than prostitutes.  The Hebrew word means prostitute and the Greek ἡ πόρνη also means “female prostitute.”  It refers to sexual sin.  We get our word pornography from the Greek word.

We have to accept the fact that Rahab was a prostitute.  She was perhaps the most famous prostitute in history.  She was a sex worker.  She sold her body for money.  She slept with thousands of people.  She had a house of ill-repute.

She was not a temple prostitute.  She was a commercial prostitute.  She had a business.  It was a popular business.  Everyone knew about it.  She had a reputation for sin.  She was the most famous prostitute in town.  She is a picture, not of respectable sin but of shameful sin but Rahab gets saved.  We will see Rahab in heaven.

Joshua 2 is about the harlot who went to heaven.  If Rahab can get saved, anybody can get saved.  If Rahab can get saved, we can get saved.  There is hope for us.  God can forgive the worst sexual sins.  Rahab was the scarlet lady with the scarlet letter but the Bible teachers, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

That does not mean that all people ARE saved.  Paul said, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will NOT inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived. The sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-10).  They will not be there.  God’s wrath will fall on them.  The sexually immoral includes harlots.

In fact, Paul uses the same Greek word for the sexually immoral that he uses for harlots.  It is the same word (πόρνοι) in the plural masculine form. John says that “No murderer has eternal life abiding in them” (I John 3:15).  They are not saved but they can be saved.  Murderers can get saved.  No sins are too bad.  God can save anyone.  In fact, Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10).

3. The story of Rahab tells us that God saves people only by grace

Some do not think there was any grace in the OT, but Rahab was saved by grace.  God did not save this woman in Jericho because she was a good person.  She was a harlot.  She was a Canaanite.  She was not supposed to be saved.  She was supposed to be killed.  God did not give her what she deserved.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. (Deuteronomy 7:1-3 NIV)

Everyone in Jericho was supposed to be killed: every man, every woman, every child, every animal.  The city was cursed by God and targeted for destruction.  Rahab was under judgment.  The whole city was under judgment, but she is spared.

Only one house in the city was safe.  Only building in the wall was spared.  Only one family was spared.  It was the family of Rahab.  They were saved by grace.  None of them deserved to be saved but God saved them.  Rahab and her family become the sole survivors of Jericho.

It would be like if one person was saved from the flood in Noah’s day which killed everyone.  It would be like one family being spared from the flood.  What is interesting is that God did not save the best one in the nation.  He could have saved the most moral and respectable person in the country.  Instead, he saved the most immoral person in the country.  He saved the lowest of the low (a Canaanite prostitute).

Why did God choose to save Rahab out of all of the other Canaanites? Why are we saved?  Why are our eyes opened to the truth and other peoples are not?  It was sheer grace.  We are just like Rahab.  Everyone of us who are saved are just like her. None of us deserve to be saved.  We are not special.

4. The story of Rahab tells us that God saves people through faith

Rahab was saved by faith.  That is how we are saved today.  Rahab gives an amazing confession of faith to these two spies.

“I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. (Joshua 2:9-11 ESV)

Rahab knows who the true God is.  She says, “the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.”  She does not say that he might be God in the heavens above and on the earth below.  She says that He IS God.

She knows who the one true God is and knows that He rules everywhere.  She knows that He is the God of heaven and earth. Pagan deities were limited to certain areas. Rahab knew about the PERSON OF GOD.  She calls God by His name (Yahweh).

She knew about the POWER OF GOD.  They did not just cross the Red Sea in their own power.  God supernaturally dried it up. She knew that this god was incredibly powerful

She also knew about the PROGRAM OF GOD.  She says, “I know that the Lord has given you this land.”  She does NOT say “I think He has given you this land” or “I believe He has given you this land” but “I KNOW that her has given you this land.”  She was certain about it.  Rahab does not just believe in God.  She has a fear of God.  She has fear, as well as faith.

That brings us to an interesting question.  If she had faith, where did it come from?  Rahab was not surrounded by believers.  She did not live in a Christian country.  She lived in a pagan country.  She was not reared in a Christian home.  Her parents where not believers.  They were idol worshipers.

Rahab did not grow up in church.  She never went to church.  She never heard a Christian sermon.  She never heard a preacher.  She had never read a Bible and yet she had faith.  The two spies did NOT have to witness to her.  She was ALREADY a believer in Yahweh.

Where did she get her faith?  Her faith was based on evidence.  She was convinced by the evidence.  Here we learn something about faith.  Faith is NOT blind.  It is NOT a blind leap in the dark.  Some preachers say that faith is believing something WITHOUT reasons or evidence.  Biblical faith is rooted in historical events.  Rahab had evidence.

What was her evidence?  Apparently, Rahab kept track of what was going on in the world.  Not everyone does that today.  She kept track of current events and recent history.  Apparently, Rahab was a news junkie.  She also kept track of what God was doing in the world.

Where did she get her information?  She did not have FOX news or the Internet.  She learned by word of mouth.  She learned from her customers.  She always ran into people from different places and they would say things to her.  She had all kinds of connections.  Powerful people visited her.

They said to her, “Did you hear about the Hebrew slaves all escaping from Egypt after four hundred years?  Did you hear how the Red Sea was split in half and the Jews walked across it on dry ground?  Did you hear how Egyptian armies were killed in the Red Sea?”  Egypt had the most powerful army on the face of the earth at that time.  “Did you hear how Israel defeated the kings Og?  Did you hear how the Israelites defeated the King Sihon?”

The Red Sea miracle took place forty years earlier but she remembered it.  The other events happened more recently and they made a big impact on Rahab.  It made her open to the God of Israel and open to the spies.

If she knew that God had given them the land, then she also knew that their doom was certain.  Judgment was imminent.  The clock was ticking.  There were two million people on the border across the river.  You cannot hide two million people.  It was only a matter of time before they entered the city of Jericho.

Rahab didn’t know much.  She didn’t have a lot of revelation, but she responded to the revelation she was given.  She did not just hear these reports; she believed them.  Apparently, she was the only one in the city who believed in the God of Israel.  The irony is that Rahab was a Gentile.  She was a Canaanite and yet she had more faith than some of the Jews.  She had way less light and less revelation and yet had far more faith.

Rahab just HEARD what God did and had FAITH.  She heard about some of the supernatural miracles and believed.   Some of the Jews saw with their own eyes what God did right in front of them and had didn’t believe, just like many Jews saw the miracles of Christ and did not believe.  Some saw God dry up the Red Sea and kill the Egyptians.  They heard the audible voice of God on Mount Sinai.  They witnessed the Ten Plagues and many of them wanted to go back to Egypt.

5. The story of Rahab tells us that true faith translates into actions

Saving faith changes your life.  Rahab’s life was radically transformed.  She changed her NATIONALITY.  She became an Israelite.  She changed her RELIGION.  She began worshipping Yahweh.  She went from being a polytheist to being a monotheist. She changed her GEOGRAPHY.  She moved out of Jericho.  She changed her OCCUPATION.  She did not continue to be a harlot when she became an Israelite.

She changed her MARITAL STATUS.  She did not have a husband or kids.  She only asked for her mother, father, brother and sister to be saved, not her husband or kids. She was single and unmarried when the spies came but eventually got married when she became an Israelite.  She went from harlot to bride sand from bride to mother.

This is where it gets very interesting.  Rahab shows us what saving faith looks like and what it does not look like.  In the American church, many look at faith as just mental.  In the American church, faith is seen as an intellectual thing.  Believing in Jesus is no different from believing that George Washington was the first President.

Some think if they just believe the right things in their head, they are saved.  They can live like the devil.  The truth is that faith does involve believing some things with your mind.  The lie is that faith is passive.  True faith will completely change your life.  Our faith should call us to action. It should produce works. Rahab put her faith into action.

James says that faith without works is dead.  If you make a profession of faith and there is no change in your life, you are not saved.  Even Satan believes Jesus is the Son of God.  He believes He rose from the dead.  That is not biblical faith and we see that from Joshua 2. Rahab put her faith into actions.

Rahab wasn’t perfect.  Many criticize some of the things she does in this chapter.  She tells some lies. She lies to the king more than once.  The Bible does not necessarily excuse her lies.  It just records them but we need to keep some things in mind.  Rahab was a Canaanite.  She was a new believer.  She came out of raw paganism.  She had never even heard of The Ten Commandments.  The Bible focuses on her faith, not her lies.  Her faith involved works.

She took a stand for her faith.  She endangered her own life.  She risked her life.  She risked her life for two strangers that she just met.  When the spies knocked on her door, she had a choice.  She could turn them in or she protect them.  She did not just say that she believed in the God of the Jews and then send the two Jewish spies to their deaths.  instead, she proved her faith by her actions.

She proved it by identifying with and protecting God’s people.  Moses identified with the Jews instead of with the Egyptians.  Rahab identified with the Jews instead of with her own people the Canaanites.

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:25-26 NIV).

Does our faith demonstrate itself through works?  How does our faith work itself out in our lives on a daily basis?

[1] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, V.1.2.

Principles of Leadership

John C. Maxwell says that “everything rises and falls on leadership.”  The state of a church is often reflected by the quality of its leaders.  The state of the country is also reflected by the leaders who are in charge of the country. Joshua 1 is all about leadership.  This chapter is all about a new leader.  Moses is out and Joshua is in.  There’s a new sheriff in town.

In Joshua 1, the mantle of leadership passes from Moses to Joshua.  Moses died at the age of 120 (Deuteronomy 34:7) but when Joshua replaced him, he was not a young man either.  When he left Egypt, he was much younger (cf. Exodus 33:11), now he is much older.  He is around 80.[1]

There is no more challenging passage for leaders than Joshua 1.  Today, we will be looking at eight principles of leadership from this chapter. One of the reasons that we have poor leaders today is that they do not follow the principles found in this chapter.

1) Leaders need to be called

Leaders need to be called to leadership.  Leadership is a spiritual gift (Romans 12:8). God called Moses to leadership, even when he didn’t want the job, and now he is calling Joshua into leadership.  Joshua 1 is God’s call to Joshua for leadership.  He was called before.  He was called by Moses.  Moses laid his hands on him and ordained him to be the next leader of the nation.  He commissioned him publicly (Numbers 27:22-23) but in this chapter, he is called by God.

Conquering the Promise Land was NOT Joshua’s idea.  God called him to do it.  God spoke to Joshua.  He said that He was GIVING the Israelites the land.  He says that five times in the first chapter alone (Joshua 1:2, 3, 6, 13, 15).  There may have been people living in it, but God owns the whole earth.  He can give any country to anyone at any time.

If you are a leader, you should feel a call to leadership on the inside. Joshua was Moses’ successor.  Joshua did not ask to succeed Moses.  God called him to that position.  He was the divinely appointed successor to Moses.   Joshua did not elevate himself to the position.  He spoke to Joshua and told him he was to succeed Moses.  God raised him up.

Luke 14:11 says, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (NIV)

On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life. (Joshua 4:14 ESV)

Sometimes the ones he raises up come from strange backgrounds (ex-felons, ex-slaves).  God is not just calling Joshua; He is promoting Joshua.  He served faithfully as Moses’ servant for forty years and now he is promoted by God.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:23 NIV)

2) Leadership is temporary

We are not here forever.  The Bible tells that it is appointed to man once to die (Hebrews 9:27).  Moses was not a leader forever and neither was Joshua.  This book BEGINS with the death of Moses in the first chapter and ENDS with the death of Joshua in the last chapter.

We think if a great leader dies, there will never be anyone to replace him.  God’s workmen die but God’s work never dies.  As Joseph Parker says, “God can bury any one of us, and continue the history as though we had never lived.”[2] Parker says that “God buries His workers, but His work goes on.”[3] While all of us are unique, none of us are irreplaceable.

3) Leaders are all different

We like to put leaders in a box, but they are all different.  God calls leaders to do different things.  Some are called to preach.  Others are called to do other things.  Joshua was called by God to do a specific task, but it was not to preach.  He was not called to preach.  He was called to be a general.  He was called to lead an army.

God called Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt.  He led them out right up to the borders of the Promise Land.  He led them to the edge of it.  God called Moses to take Israel OUT of Egypt. God called Joshua to take Israel INTO the Promised Land. Moses was God’s man to get the Jews out of Egypt.  Joshua was God’s man to get the Jews into the land of Canaan.  One man got them OUT.  The other man got them IN.  Leaders have different jobs and different roles.

4) Leadership requires strength

Many leaders are weak.  Leaders must be strong.  That is why God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous.  God told Joshua to be strong THREE TIMES in the course of four verses (Joshua 1:6-9). Leadership requires strength and courage.

God says to Joshua, “I am asking you to do something hard, BUT BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS.  You will face challenges and difficulties, all kinds of problems, BUT BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS.  You will hit a wall BUT BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS.  You will face enemies and people who hate you BUT BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS.  The one person you trusted in is now gone BUT BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS.”  This is God’s word for us today, whatever our situation.

Joshua had a big job to do.  God called him to do the impossible.  He called him to get two million people across the Jordan River at flood stage and be ready to encounter opposition after they crossed it and conquer a country.  It was a huge responsibility.

Joshua wasn’t Moses.  Moses was one of the greatest leaders in world history.  Joshua always stood in his shadow.  Joshua did not speak with God face-to-face like Moses did.  God did not speak to anyone else like He did to Moses.  Moses had a unique relationship with God (cf. Deuteronomy 34:10).  Moses had BIG shoes to fill.  God says to Joshua, “Moses My servant is dead.  Now get up and go.  Be strong and courageous.”

After God called him, Joshua assumed command.  He took charge. In Joshua 1:1-9, we see God’s commands to Joshua.  In Joshua 1:10-15, we see Joshua’s commands to the officers.  He says, “Get ready.  We are crossing the Jordan in three days.”

5) Leaders need to be empowered

God called Joshua to do a job, but he did not leave him to do it in His own.  Joshua did not have to do this job in his own strength.  He said that He would be with him.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5 NIV).

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NIV)

Of course, this promise is repeated in the NT.  God promised that He would NEVER leave Joshua (Joshua 1:5).  That is quoted in the NT for us.  Jesus will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

God promised that he would be with Joshua (Joshua 1:5) and that also is quoted in the NT for us.  It is not just a promise for Joshua.  Jesus said that he would be with us always even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

If God calls you to a job, He will be with you.  We do not have to try to lead in our own power. Our pastor says, “When God calls, He empowers.”

6) Leaders need to be developed

This is a big problem for ministers today.  They rush into the job often with no preparation for ministry.  Some start churches and pastor for twenty years and then decide that it is now time for them to go to seminary.  Leaders need to be developed.

Moses has some preparation before he became a leader.  He did not become a leader until he was eighty.  He spent forty years of preparation in Egypt and forty years of preparation in Midian, forty years in the palace and forty years in the desert at the Midian Graduate School.  Moses took a few courses in obscurity and humility, working with sheep, before God appeared to Him and called him.

Joshua had forty years of preparation.  He was Moses’ disciple (Joshua 1:1).  Moses pouring into Joshua. Joshua had a great mentor.  Joshua was trained not in some military academy but by working directly under Moses. Joshua learned how to take orders before he gave them.   He spent forty years under the personal tutelage of, arguably, the greatest leader in all biblical history, Moses.

Not all leaders are good at preparing the next leader.  Some pastors do not spend enough time thinking about what will happen to their church when they die.  When Joshua died, there was no one to replace him.  He did not do as good a job as Moses in developing a new leader.

7) Leaders must have followers

There is a famous quote from John Maxwell.  It says, “If nobody is following you, then you’re not really leading.”  Jesus said, “Follow me” to certain people and they followed him.

Of course, just because people follow you does not mean that you are a good leader.  Many people follow bad leaders but you cannot be a leader unless someone is following you.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-19 NIV).

Joshua gave a command and got a response.  The officers said, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!” (Joshua 1:16-18 NIV)

8) Success is based on obedience

For leaders to be genuinely successful, they have to do one thing.  They have to follow God’s Word.  Many try secular humanistic approaches to leadership.  Joshua gives us a spiritual approach.

Joshua 1 contains one of the most famous verses in the OT.  This verse is one of the most important verses for believers in the whole Bible.  Every Christian should know Joshua 1:8. It gives us a formula for success.  We are going to spend some time seeing what it says.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  (Joshua 1:8 NIV)

God’s Formula for Success

Notice who is talking in Joshua 1:8. It is God. It is not Moses or Joshua.  These are God’s direct words to Joshua.  Is this just God’s Word for Joshua or is it God’s Word for us as we well?  It is God’s Word to us as well.  This same promise is repeated to us.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3 NIV).

Notice the similarities.  Both mention meditating on the Law day and night.  Both mention prosperity as the result. Everyone wants to be successful.  Joshua 1:8 tells us how to do it.  It tells us how to prosperous.  It tells us how to be successful.  It gives us a spiritual law that works every time.  This passage gives us a formula of success for leaders.  It is God’s formula for success.

This verse is also one of the most misunderstood verses in Scripture. Prosperity preachers love Joshua 1:8. Does Joshua 1:8 teach the Health and Wealth Gospel?  Does it teach if you follow God faithfully, you will be a millionaire or a billionaire?  No.

There are many atheists who are wealthy who don’t use any of these principles.  Many of the wicked prosper who do not follow God (Psalm 73:3).

What about Joshua 1:8?  Is this verse still true?  It is true but there are two things we need to keep in mind here.

1) God defines success different than the world does.

If you are a billionaire in this life and have everything you want, you are successful but if you are on top of the world for seventy years and spend all eternity in hell, you are a complete failure.  As Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

When we think of success, we often think of only one thing; money, wealth.  We think of financial success, winning the lottery.  By this definition, if you are poor, you are not successful.  If you are a billionaire, you are very successful.  That is not the way God views success.

Joseph was successful in prison.  God blessed him in prison.  He prospered inside of a prison cell.  He prospered as a slave.  God gave him success in everything that he did (Genesis 39:3, 23).  Being successful does not necessarily mean that you will not have any problems in this life.  The truth is that success comes in many forms.

2) Whenever you interpret the Bible, you always have to look at the context of the passage.

That is a basic rule of Bible interpretation.  In the context, Joshua 1 is NOT dealing with personal finances.  It is NOT dealing with money.  It is NOT dealing with wealth.  We are NOT specifically told that Joshua became wealthy himself.

“The context of this verse is military, not financial.”[4] It is dealing with military success (success in conquering the Land of Canaan), not financial success.  It is dealing with success for the job that God called Joshua to do for Him.

God tells Joshua what he needs to do to be successful.  Joshua turned out to be one of the greatest military generals of all time.  He is on the list of the top one hundred generals of all time, next to Napoleon, Patton and Alexander the Great.

Joshua used the strategy of divide and conqueror, which is a strategy still used today, but as we see in this passage, he was not successful because of his military strategy.  He was successful because of his spiritual state and because of his obedience to God, not because he was a brilliant military strategist.

How do we become successful in God’s eyes?  We are to be people of the book.  We are to read it, study it, meditate on it, memorize it, quote it, share it, live it and do it.  Many Christians are anti-study.  In some parts of the church today, Bible study is mocked and ridiculed.  You don’t want to study the Bible too much, because you might become one of the Pharisees.

That is kind of like saying that you should not do evangelism because that is what the Jehovah’s Witnesses are always doing door-to-door and they are a cult.  We don’t want to become like them.  That kind of thinking comes right from the pit of hell.  Bible study is not bad just because the Pharisees did it.  Joshua 1:8 says that we are to meditate on it DAY AND NIGHT.

The problem with the church today is not that we read the Bible too much; it is that most Christians do not read it enough.  Most Christians do not know the Word, especially the OT.  There is a biblical problem with biblical illiteracy in the church today and sometimes it is even the leaders who do not know the Word very well.

God ties success to the Bible.  Success is tied to a book.  God gives Joshua three commands in Joshua 1:8 and He gives us these three commands as well.  To be genuinely successful, we have to do three things.

1) To be successful we have to SPEAK God’s Word

It is not enough to think God’s Word.  We need to speak it.  We need to verbalize it.  Joshua 1:8 says, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your LIPS,” not just on your mind.  The ancients had a practice of reading aloud which is reflected here.  We are not just to study and meditate on God’s Word.  We are to recite it.  We are to speak it.  We are to say what God says.  There is power in speaking God’s Word over your life.  There is power in speaking God’s Word over your situation.

2) To be successful we have to THINK God’s Word

We have to meditate on it.  That means more than just reading it.  It is thinking about what you read.  You have to use your mind when you student the Bible.  You can’t just use your spirit, because you have to meditate on it.  Meditation involves the mind.

Biblical Meditation is different from Eastern Meditation.  In Eastern Meditation, you try to empty your mind.  In Biblical meditation, you fill your mind with the Word of God.  It is the exact opposite.  It is filling your mind with truth. Robert Morgan paraphrases this command to Joshua.  God told Joshua to do the following:

“Meditate day and night on Genesis and its opening words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Think of the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Think about the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments.

Think about Leviticus, which tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves and teaches us about holiness. Study Numbers and its story of the twelve spies. Read and learn the sermons that comprise Deuteronomy. Think of these words when you wake up in the morning, as you go about your day, and as you fall asleep at night.”[5]

Now Joshua only had five books of Scripture to meditate on.  He had the Law of Moses.  We do not just have five books of the Bible to meditate on.  We have sixty-six books of Scripture to meditate on.

3) To be successful we have to OBEY God’s Word

We are not just to read God’s Word.  We are not just to study it.  We are not just to meditate on it.  We are not just to memorize it.  We are not just to recite it and quote it.  We are not just to speak it.  God wants us to DO it.  The Bible is not just a book to be studied.  It is not just a book to be spoken.  It is a book to be obeyed.  We are not just to be hearers of the Word but doers of the Word.

God tells Joshua that he must not all His Word to depart from his mouth.  He is to meditate on it day and night so that he will be careful to do EVERYTHING that is written in it, according to Joshua 1:8.  We are NOT to do some of it.  We are not to do most of it.  We are to do ALL of it.

In fact, Joshua 1:7 says, “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” (NIV).

Many think that there is only one way to go off but that is not true.  You can go off to the right or to the left.  Some are too liberal and some are too conservative.  Some do not believe all of the Bible.  They reject certain parts.  Other people believe it all but add other things to it and become legalistic.  They require people to do all kinds of things that are not even in Scripture.

Some are not charismatic enough and some are too charismatic. Some are some extreme charismatics who do some crazy things, but other Christians go to the other extreme and say that God is no longer at work today.  He does not do miracles today.  We want to avoid both extremes.  We are not to go to the right hand or to the left hand.


[1]
Joshua died at 110 (Joshua 24:29).  He lived in Canaan for 25 years, according to Josephus.[1]  It took about 5 years for Joshua to conquer Canaan (Joshua 14:7-10).  That gives us the figure of 80.  Joshua and Caleb are now the oldest people in the country.  Everyone in the first generation of Jews who left Egypt have died, including Moses

[2] Parker, Joseph. Joshua (The People’s Bible Book 6). Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ron Rhodes, Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses, p. 52

[5] https://www.robertjmorgan.com/devotional/bumping-into-success-wherever-you-go/

A Profile in Character

We have been studying the book of Ephesians in our class for some time.  Today, we begin a new book study.  We begin a study of the Book of Joshua.  It is the sixth book of the Bible.  Joshua is the second inspired author.  Moses wrote the first five books.  Joshua wrote the next book of the Bible.

Parallels Between Joshua and Ephesians

Ephesians is very similar to Joshua.  It is like the spiritual version of Joshua.  There are all kinds of similarities between the two books.

  • Both mention war.  Both say that we are in a war.  Joshua was engaged in a physical battle. We are engaged in a spiritual conflict, a spiritual battle.
  • Both mention weapons. Joshua used physical weapons, a literal sword. We use spiritual weapons (e.g., the Sword of the Spirit).
  • Both mention enemies. Joshua’s enemy was physical (the Canaanites). We have with spiritual enemies (demonic).  Paul says that our enemy is not flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).
  • Both mention blessings.  The book of Joshua is all about physical blessings in a physical Promise Land. It is about a physical inheritance for the Twelve Tribes.  We have spiritual blessings as Christians.  God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3).
  • Both mention strength.  Joshua is told to be strong and very courageous (Joshua 1:7).  Christians to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:11).

Why Read Joshua Today?

Next time, we will look at Joshua 1.  It will be very practical. Today, we will do an introduction to the book, especially since many Christians today do not have a firm grasp on the OT.  Many do not read the OT that much.  Who was Joshua?  What kind of book is the Book of Joshua?  Why should Christians be interested in this book?

1) Jesus is in this book

Joshua was a type of Christ.  How is Joshua a picture of Jesus?  There are several parallels.

  • Joshua did what Moses could not do. Moses could bring them to the promise land but could not take them in.  Only Joshua could take them into the land.  Moses gave them the law but could not save them.  Only Jesus could save them.
  • Joshua crossed the Jordan.  Jesus was baptized in the Jordan.
  • Joshua’s father was Nun.  Jesus’ human father was None (because of the Virgin Birth).
  • Joshua gave rest and Jesus gives rest (Matthew 11:28; Hebrews 4:8-11).

After wandering for forty years in the wilderness, they finally get to rest (Joshua 11:23; 14:15; 21:44; 23:1).  We see that word twice in this first chapter. “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you REST by giving you this land.’ (Joshua 1:13 NIV).  Until the Lord gives them REST, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them (Joshua 1:15 NIV)

Not only was Joshua a TYPE of Christ but they had the same NAME.  Joshua in Greek is Ἰησοῦς (which also happens to be the name of Jesus in Greek).[1]  This book of the Bible has the same name as our Savior.

In Joshua 5, Joshua meets Jesus, the commanded of the Lord’s army with a drawn sword.  Joshua asks him if he is for him or his enemies.  He says, “Neither but I am commander of the Lord’s army” and Joshua falls facedown on the ground and worships (Joshua 5:14).  He tells him to take his shoes off, because he was standing on holy ground.  Joshua was in the presence of God.

Moses met God at the burning bush and was also told to take his shoes of because he was standing on holy ground.  The OT Joshua meets the real Joshua.  Joshua was not only a type of Jesus and had the same name as Jesus but he actually met Jesus.

2) It is a book of miracles.

Some of the most famous miracles in the Bible are found in this book. We may not all be familiar with some of these stories.  Joshua contains the story about the parting of the Jordan River.  In Exodus, we see the great miracle of the parting of the Red Sea.  In Joshua, we see the parting of the Jordan River at flood stage and two million people walk across it on dry ground (Joshua 3:17).

Jericho was first town attacked by the Israelites under Joshua after they crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 6).  Today, it is in the West Bank.  It is controlled by the Palestinians.  In Joshua’s day, it was a walled city.  Every child in Sunday School knows what happened to the walls of Jericho.  It is a famous story.  Every kid in VBS knows it.

The Hebrews marched around the city thirteen times and shouted (Joshua 6).  That is a strange way to conquer a city. The priests blew trumpets, the people shouted, and the heavy walls came down. They fell down flat (Joshua 6:20) and then forty thousand soldiers streamed into the city.  That was an unconventional approach to battle.  This was no typical war conquest.  It made absolutely no sense militarily to do this.  It involved incredible faith to do something this.

Joshua also contains the famous story about the Sun standing still.  He commands the Sun to stand still.  In one of his battles, it was getting dark and Joshua could not finish the job, so he prayed for God to make the Sun stand still (Joshua 10).  Some have called that one of the most doubted miracles in the Bible.  How could that happen?  Joshua dared to ask God for the impossible.  He had the kind of prayer that stopped the Sun.  That is incredible faith.

3) It is a book about God’s faithfulness

The book of Joshua is all about God being faithful to His promises.  It is about God keeping His promises to His people.  The word “promise” appears fourteen times in the book.  We say that promises are made to be broken.  God says that they are made to be kept.  He promised Abraham that his ancestors would inherit this land.

Notice Joshua 1:6. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I SWORE to their ancestors to give them.  When did Abraham live?  He lived around 2000 BC?  When did Joshua live?  He lived around 1400 BC.  It is six hundred years later, and God is keeping His promise.

4) It is a book of action

There is a lot of action in this book.   There is a lot of adventure in it. It is not a book of doctrine. It is a book of action.  People talk about taking the Joshua Challenge.  This book is all about putting your faith into action.  God gave them the land but there was one problem.

There were people living in the land at the time and they were not planning to leave. They thought it was their land and they were armed to the teeth, ready to fight for it.

God gives.  Israel inherits but the Jews still had to fight for the land.  They still had to possess it.  This book is all about “possessing your possessions” (cf. Obadiah 17 KJV).  In fact, Joshua 1:15 says, “Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it (ESV)

We also see the action, not only of the Hebrews but of one of the Canaanites.  We see the action of Rahab (Joshua 2).  She was marginalized her day.  She was at the bottom of the social ladder.  She had three strikes against her.  She was a woman (in a male dominated society).  She was a Canaanite, an outsider.  She was a prostitute and yet she had genuine faith and that faith caused her to do some things.  She protected the spies.  She saved their lives and even defied her own leader, the king of Jericho.  The NT uses that as an example of faith in action.  James uses it to show that faith without works is dead.

5) It is a book of conquest.

It is a military book.  It is not a love story, like the Book of Ruth.  It is a war story.  It is a fight for the conquest of Canaan (modern day Israel) in 1400 BC. This conquest took place in stages.  It did not happen all at once.

The Israelites conquered the middle part, then the south and finally the northern part.  There are three military campaigns in this book.  The first military campaign is in Joshua 6-8.  The second one is in Joshua 9-10.  The third one is in Joshua 11-12.

The Israelites did not come as tourists or pilgrims but as invaders, as Chuck Missler points out.[2]  Joshua describes an invasion.  They came to take over the land and kick out the inhabitants.  It was not just a conquest, it was a violent conquest. In fact, many were killed.  The Canaanites were slaughtered.  Notice Joshua 6:21.

Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. (ESV)

Critics say that this book not only contains genocide in it, it contains religious genocide.  In contains divinely sanctioned genocide.  God does not just allow it.  He commands it. An entire chapter is devoted to the destruction of Jericho (Joshua 6).  Does Joshua support genocide?  How could a loving God do this?  Does this book justify religious violence today?  We will look at this as we study Joshua.

Biography of Joshua

What do we know about the man Joshua?  The book begins with his call and ends with his death and burial (Joshua 24:29-33) but who was he? What do we know about him?  We know several things about him.

1) Joshua’s Name

His real name was not Joshua.  He was not born with that name.  Moses gave him that name.  Numbers 13:16 says, “These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua” (NIV).  He was born with the name Hosea.  Hosea means “salvation”.  It was later changed to Joshua (God’s salvation).  Moses renamed him.

2) Joshua’s Family

One of his parents was named Nun.  He is called “the son of Nun.”  He was not the son of a woman who wears all black and lives in a monastery.  Those nuns don’t have any kids.  This Nun was his father.  Joshua was his firstborn son.  He was the only son of the family, according to I Chronicles 7:27.  That means that he would have survived the tenth plague.

3) Joshua’s Background

He was born a slave.  Joshua was born in Egypt. The Bible does not say that but we can infer it from the text.  He came out of Egypt during the Exodus.  That is the first time we see him in the Bible and all of the Hebrews in Egypt were slaves.

4) Joshua’s Ancestry

He was from the Tribe of Ephraim.  We know this from I Chronicles 7:20-27.  Who was Ephraim?  Ephraim was one of Joseph’s sons, so he was a descendant of Joseph, the most spiritual of Jacob’s twelve sons.  Joseph had two sons from his Egyptian wife.  Ephraim was his younger son.  Joshua was the tenth generation from Joseph and the ninth generation from Ephraim.

5) Joshua’s Occupation

10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. (Exodus 17:10-13 NIV).

The first time he is mentioned in the Bible is in Exodus 17.  Joshua goes from a slave to a solider.  In fact, the first time we see Joshua in the Bible is not as a slave but as the one leading the army of God.  Moses sent him out to fight the Amalekites.  He gave him a military assignment.  He was a general, a military commander.

Joshua was a descendant of Joseph.  Both had some similarities.  Both came out of obscurity to do important things.  Joseph went from a prisoner to a prince.  Joshua went from a slave to a soldier and later a statesman but the two were also different.  His ancestor Joseph was an administrator.  He was an executive.  Joshua was a warrior.  He was a fighter.  He was a solider.

6) Joshua’s Mission

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”

3 So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. 

16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)

17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (Numbers 13:1-3, 16-20 NIV)

Joshua was sent on a special mission.  Only twelve men in the country were chosen for this special top-secret mission and Joshua was one of them.  He was one of the top twelve leaders in the country.  He was not only a slave and a soldier but he was also a spy, a spy for God.  He was the first James Bond.  He was a Jewish James Bond.

He was not a spy, like we think of one today.  He did not go into the country to steal state secrets (e.g., nuclear secrets).  He was not an espionage agent.  He did go undercover but was more of what we would call today an intelligence agent.

Joshua is known for his incredible bravery.  He was brave to fight as a solider.  He did hand-to-hand combat with a sword.  He was brave to go on this top-secret mission behind enemy lines, risking his life.  He was also brave not to care about peer pressure. He did not care what other people thought.  He was not afraid to be in the minority (Numbers 14).

All twelve spies saw the same thing but ten of them came back negative and pessimistic.  They were full of doubt and fear, doom and gloom.  Two came back positive and optimistic.  They came back full of confidence, courage and faith. They all agreed on the FACTS.  They disagreed on the INTERPRETATION of those facts.

Joshua did not go along with what everyone else was saying.  He thought for himself.  He was an independent thinker. The crowd went with the majority report.  That is one of the big problems with majorities.  They are not always right.

Today, no one even remembers any of the names of the ten spies who gave the bad report: Shammau, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel (Numbers 13:4-15).  We only remember the name of the two good spies, the two righteous spies.

7) Joshua’s Reward

Joshua and Caleb were given a unique honor by God that no one else was given.

The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. 21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, 22 NOT ONE of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— 23 NOT ONE of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. NO ONE who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. (Numbers 14:20-23 NIV)

34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.” (Numbers 14:34-35 NIV) 

Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD WHOLEHEARTEDLY.’ (Numbers 32:11-12 NIV)

God is pretty strict.  The ten spies who gave the bad report and spread this bad report among the land (Numbers 13:31-33) all mysteriously dropped dead (Numbers 13:36-37).  None of the adults were able to enter the Promise Land, not one.  Not even Moses made it into the Promise Land.  He saw it from a hill before he died.  God rewards faithfulness.  Joshua and Caleb followed the Lord wholeheartedly.

Does that describe us?  Do we follow the Lord wholeheartedly?  Do we follow the Lord with our whole heart? Are we completely sold out for God?  Is that the way we will be known after we die?  You might think that no one can serve God with all of their heart but the Bible says it can be done and people did it.

Most military people are not known for their spirituality.  They usually tend to be a little rough.  They are not too spiritually sensitive, but Joshua was a godly man.  He was filled with the Spirit.  The LORD replied, “Take Joshua son of Nun, who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him. (Numbers 27:18 NIV).  This OT man, this military man, this soldier was Spirit-filled (cf. Deuteronomy 34:9) and he was faithful to God.

8) Joshua’s Training

Before he became a leader, he had to be prepared.  God had to prepare Moses for his job and He also prepared Joshua.  Joshua was trained not in some military academy but by working directly under Moses.

He was his servant.  After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide (Joshua 1:1 NIV).  The KJV reads “Moses’ minister”.  That is misleading.  It might give the impression that Joshua was Moses’ pastor.  He wasn’t.  The ESV calls Joshua “Moses’ assistant.”  He was his servant.

Whatever Moses asked him to do, he did it.  If Moses asked him to fight the Amalekites, he went out and fought them, even if he had not fought before.  He did not complain.  He did it.

When Moses went up to get the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai, Joshua went with him (Exodus 24:13 ff).  Moses went into a cloud at the top of a mountain for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18).  Joshua waited for him.  That must have been hard.  He didn’t go anywhere.

Joshua learned how to take orders before he gave them.  He knew what it was like to play second fiddle.  He did it for a long time.  He did it for forty years.  For forty years, he was Moses’ servant.  He did not care if the spotlight was on him.  That requires a great deal of humility.

9) Joshua’s Promotion

Joshua became the successor to Moses.  What he did was just as important as what Moses did.  Next time, we will look at his call to ministry.


[1]
Joshua in Hebrew is YehoSHUah which was often shorted to YeSHUah, just as Mike is short for Michael.

[2]https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/popPlayer.cfm?id=3055&rel=missler_chuck/Jos

 

Spiritual Warfare 101

We have been studying the book of Ephesians for some time.  This is our final week in the book.  It is our twenty-third lesson in Ephesians.  We trusted that you have learned a lot from this book.  Paul gives a final word in Ephesians 6.  He says, “finally” (Ephesians 6:10).  Paul comes to the end of the book and has a benediction and final greeting (Ephesians 6:21-24).

He says that he is sending the book back with his trusted friend Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21).  He was with him in Rome and he delivered three of Paul’s epistles (Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon).  He was Paul’s mailman.

Before he gives the benediction, Paul gives one final exhortation.  He has one final message to the church.  It is a very important message.  This chapter is a wake-up call to the church.  It is one of the most famous passages in the book.  It deals with spiritual warfare.  It is essential for successful Christian living.  Spiritual warfare is a popular topic today.  Everyone talks about it.  There are all kinds of books on it.

No book emphasizes spiritual warfare like the Book of Ephesians.  This is the main passage on spiritual warfare in the NT and yet it is rather surprising what it NOT in this passage.  This passage does NOT mention casting out demons.  This passage does NOT mention binding and loosing demons.  This passage does NOT mention rebuking demons.  This passage does NOT describe how to break generational curses.

Some of these things are not necessarily wrong but the main passage on spiritual warfare focuses on something else.  Today, we are going to make this simple.  We are going to look at four truths about spiritual warfare from this passage.

Four Truths about Spiritual Warfare

1) Christians are in a war

Christianity is a battlefield, not a playground.  Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, we are in a war.  We live in enemy territory.  Enemy territory does not just lie on the mission field.   All you have to do is to watch the news for one day and you will see this.

The Bible says that “the whole world lies in the wicked one” I John 5:19 KJV).  It says that Satan is “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30 KJV).  He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2 KJV).  God is sovereign over Satan but Satan is ruling this world.  He controls it. We are in a war and every Christian is a soldier.

Paul told Timothy to “endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (II Timothy 2:3 NLT).  The Apostle Paul has given many pictures of the church in Ephesians.  The church is pictured as a BODY made up of Jew and Gentile.  It is pictured as a FAMILY.  It is pictured as a BUILDING (a temple).  It is described as a BRIDE.  Now, it is described as a SOLDIER in an army.

2) It is a spiritual war

We have seen that our war is real.  Now, we see that our war is spiritual.  This is a spiritual conflict against spirit beings using spiritual weapons.  Everything in this passage is spiritual.  The belt is spiritual (belt of truth).  The breastplate is spiritual (breastplate of righteousness).

The shoes are not literal shoes.  They are spiritual shoes.  The shield is spiritual (the shield of faith).  The helmet is spiritual (helmet of salvation).  The sword is spiritual (sword of the Spirit and not a steel sword).

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (II Corinthians 10:4 NIV)

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)

Paul makes two very important points in Ephesians 6:12.  He says who our enemies are and who they are not.

First, notice, who we do NOT fight?  Flesh and blood.

Paul was not a martial artist.  He wasn’t a WWF fighter.  He did not go in the ring against people.  Our conflict is not with people.  Now we have all kinds of problems with people and Paul is not denying that fact.  He had problems with the Jewish leaders and Roman officials in his day who persecuted him.  He faced angry mobs of people.  He faced false apostles, but they were not the main problem.

The same is true today.  We are not at war with Muslims.  We are not at war with homosexuals.  We are not at war with atheistic and skeptics.  We are not at war with secular humanists.  We are not at war with false teachers and even false religions.  We are not at war with liberal democrats.  We are not at war with the media.  We are not at war with other Christians.  The President is not the problem.  Congress is not the problem.  The Supreme Court is not the problem.

Your wife is not the problem.  Your husband is not the problem.  There is a much greater problem you have to face.  There is someone that wants to ruin your testimony, ruin your marriage, ruin your church, ruin your nation.  There someone who wants to divide the country racially. We need to go to the root of the problem.  That brings us to who we do actually fight.

Second, notice who we DO fight.  We are fighting not people.  We are fighting spiritual forces.

We are fighting demons and different kinds of demons.  Four different groups of demons are listed here: principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places and not just any demons.  Some of them are high ranking demons (high ranking demons).  We are fighting a whole army of fallen angels, multitudes of demon spirits headed up by Satan.

That is very significant.  It tells us a lot of things and raises some questions.

  • Our enemy is NOT physical but spiritual. How do you defeat a spiritual enemy?  You cannot use physical weapons.
  • Our enemy is NOT natural but supernatural. How do you defeat a supernatural enemy?  How do you defeat an enemy that is stronger and smarter than you are?  Demons are supernatural beings.  They are not divine beings but they are supernatural beings.  We are fighting an enemy not from this world.
  • Our enemy is NOT visible but invisible. How do you defeat an enemy that you can’t even see?  The enemy has the advantage here.  We can’t see the enemy, but he can see us. We live in a physical word, the word of the five senses.  It is the world of the scientific method.  This world is real but there is another world, an invisible world that is just as real as the visible world.  That should not surprise us too much.  Even in the physical world there are things that are real that we cannot see with our eyes.

Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (ESV).  The KJV says that you may stand against “the wiles of the devil.”  The Greek word is μεθοδεία. We get our word “method” from it.  It means schemes or tricks.

It does not mean that the devil is a Methodist, but it does mean that he has a plan or strategy to trick and trap people.  II Corinthians 2:11 says, “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (NIV).  We could spend a long time thinking about all of the schemes of the devil that he uses against people.

3) We are called to fight in this war

Ephesians 6 is a call to action.  Every Christian is called to FIGHT.  We are to fight the good fight of the faith (I Timothy 6:12 ESV).  “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12 KJV).  The NIV reads “struggle” in Ephesians 6:12 but it is the Greek word for wrestle (πάλη), which existed in the Greco-Roman world.  It was a popular sport in Paul’s day.  It is the word for hand-to-hand combat.  We are all to be wrestlers and we are all to be soldiers.  Both show that we are called to fight as Christians.

We have a responsibility in this battle.  We are not to sit back and be passive.  We can’t expect God to fight for us, while we do nothing.  It is our responsibility.  The Christian life is not a spectator sport.  Some think that because Jesus already won the battle (Ephesians 1:19-23), we do not have to fight.  If that is the case, then why are we told to “BE STRONG in the Lord and in the strength of his might?”

Too many Christians are weak.  Many are physically strong, like Samson.  They can pump iron.  They work out and go to the gym, but they are spiritually weak.  It doesn’t take much for something to come along (e.g., a simple temptation) and they are blown away.

If we do not have any responsibility in this battle, why are we told to “PUT ON the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil?”  It would be pointless for a soldier going into battle without any weapons or armor or a police officer trying to do his work without any weapons.

It would also not do you any good if you have the armor in the closet but don’t wear them or use them.  Some Christians do not put the armor on or they only put part of it on.  Paul says to “PUT ON the whole armor of God” (τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεοῦ).

If we do not have any responsibility in this battle, why are we told to TAKE UP some things (the shield of faith, helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit).  Why are we told to pray in the Spirit?

If we do not have any responsibility in this battle, why are we told THREE TIMES in this passage to “STAND” (Ephesians 6:11, 13, 14).  Someone said the Book of Ephesians can be broken down into three words: sit, walk and stand.  In the early chapters of the book, we are told that we SIT with Christ in the heavenlies.  Then, we are exhorted to WALK in love and holiness and now we are exhorted to STAND.

Many do not stand.  Many Christians fall into sin.  They fall to temptation.  Some walk away from the faith.  Some compromise their faith and water it down.  This Christian goes down.  That Christian goes down. Some pastors have scandals and they go down and are out of the ministry. We are exhorted to stand.

 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Ephesians 6:13 ESV).

Here is our responsibility.  We are to DO ALL to stand firm and we are to do it IN THE EVIL DAY.  We all face evil days.  It is easy to be a Christian when things are going great and God is prospering you.  What about when things are not great.  Tragedy strikes.  Your spouse leaves you.  You lose a member of the family or your health breaks.  Will you still be standing for Christ?

4) We cannot do this in our own strength

Paul says, “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”  Do not try to be strong in your own power and do spiritual warfare.  Be strong in Greek is a perfect passive participle, which indicates that this is something done to Christians, not something that they do to themselves.[1]  You can’t be strong on your own.  Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do NOTHING” (John 15:5)

Paul said, “I can do all things THROUGH HIM WHO STRENGTHENS ME” (Philippians 4:13 ESV).  He could not do all things on his own or in his own power.  On our own, we are too weak to fight this enemy.  We can’t face an army of demons in our own strength. We are no match for them. We can only win in His strength and clothed in His armor.

Satan is greater than us.  He is smarter than us.  He is more powerful than us, but the Bible says, “greater is He that is in us that he that is in the world.”  If we have his armor on, Satan can’t get to you.  This armor covered every part of your part.  It protected you from head to toe.  The attacks of the enemy could not penetrate it.

This armor is impenetrable.  If you have it on, you will be able to quench ALL the fiery darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16).  Why are Satan’s temptations and attacks called fiery darts?  In the ancient world, arrows were often dipped in pitch or some flammable material and set on fire before being fired.  They are called fire arrows but if you have the armor on, they can’t hurt you.

Seven Weapons of Spiritual Warfare

What is the armor? Paul mentions six pieces of armor: a belt, breastplate, shoes, a shield, a helmet and a sword.  Then, he also mentions prayer in connection with spiritual warfare.  It is a total of seven weapons of battle.

What are the seven weapons?  There is debate about what some of these weapons mean but they are truth, righteousness, faith, peace, salvation, the Word of God, prayer.  Some of these weapons are DEFENSIVE weapons and some of them are OFFENSIVE weapons.

Soldiers in ancient times fought with a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. A shield is a defensive weapon, whereas a sword is an offensive weapon.  You don’t use a shield to attack anyone.  Roman shields covered the whole body and protected you from incoming arrows or spears.  Let’s look at these seven weapons.

The first weapon is TRUTH (Ephesians 6:14).  We should all have the belt of truth on.  We need to wear the truth belt.  Truth should be strapped around our waist.  God’s Word is truth but the Word of God is the sixth weapon.  This is a different one.  It is a picture of personal integrity.  We should be people of honesty.  Dishonesty leaves an opening for the enemy to attack.

The second weapon is RIGHTEOUSNESS (Ephesians 6:14).  The breastplate covers the chest and all of the vital organs.  If you are shot in the arm or leg, you can survive.  You may lose an arm or leg but you can still live.  The second weapon against the enemy is righteousness, godly character.  The word “righteousness is used only one other time in Ephesians and it is listed right next to holiness (Ephesians 4:24)

The third weapon is PEACE.  The gospel produces peace.  The shoes worn by Roman soldiers had spikes in them.  How does peace help you in spiritual warfare?  It produces stability.  It takes away all of the anxiety.  God is with us.  We have peace with God and peace with people, because of the gospel.

The fourth weapon is FAITH.  Faith is described here as a shield (the shield of faith).  This is not just faith for salvation but faith for spiritual warfare.  We trust God and we trust His Word, no matter what Satan throws against us and he will throw dangerous things at us (fiery dart, arrows with fire on them).

The fifth weapon is SALVATION.  It is called a helmet.  The helmet protects the head, the most important part of the body.  Our helmet is our salvation.  Being saved and knowing that we are saved is a weapon that we can use against Satan.

The sixth weapon is the WORD OF GOD.  This sword is the Greek word for a short sword (μάχαιρα).  It was designed for close hand-to-hand combat.  It was an offensive weapon.  It is the ONLY offensive weapon listed in the biblical armor.  What does that tell us? God’s Word is a weapon.  It is a weapon that can be used in spiritual warfare.  God’s Word keeps us from sinning.

Jesus used it in spiritual warfare.  When He was tempted by Satan three times, he said “It is written.”  He did not bind the devil or rebuke the devil.  He just quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy.  He did not use reason or logic.  He did not use experience.  He did not use tradition or psychology.  He used God’s word as a sword.

The Bible is not just one sword but many. Every verse in the Bible is a powerful sword. The more verses you know, the more weapons you have at your disposal.  It’s not enough to have a Bible. You may have a whole stack of Bibles at home. That’s like having a nice sword on your wall at home for decoration.  It does no good unless you know what it says and can use it when your thoughts and minds are under attack from the enemy.

Is the Sword of the Spirit the Spoken Word?

One of the biggest myths in the Word of Faith Movement is that the sword of the Spirit only refers to spoken words, not written words of Scripture.  They base it on the fact that the Greek term for “word” in Ephesians 6:17 is ῥῆμα, not λόγος.  They argue that the Greek word ῥῆμα only refers to spoken words.  It refers to the specific word of Scripture that God gives you to speak in a specific situation.

Are they correct?  If this is true, it would mean that the sword of the Spirit is NOT the whole Bible but only parts of the Bible, the parts that you speak.  There is just one problem.  If you do a word study of ῥῆμα and λόγος, you will find that they are synonyms in the NT.

Hebrews 11:3 says that the world was created by the “word” (ῥῆμα) of God.  II Peter 3:5 says that the world was created by the “word” (λόγος) of God.

John 12:48 says, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words (ῥήματά, a form of ῥῆμα) has a judge; the word (λόγος) that I have spoken will judge him on the last day” (ESV).

The sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6:17 is called the “word” (ῥῆμα) of God but the “word” (λόγος) of God is also called a sword.  It is a sharp sword (Hebrews 4:12).

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 ESV)

The author of Hebrews not only calls it a sword, he calls it a sharp sword, sharper than any two-edged sword and he is talking about the written word there.  He uses the word λόγος there, not ῥῆμα.  He says ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ is a sharp sword.  Greek scholars recognize that these two words are used interchangeably in the NT. [3]

What is the important lesson here?  All Scripture is a sharp sword.  It does NOT become a sword when it is spoken.  The written Word of God is a sword.  The spoken Word of God is a sword.  People can be convicted just by reading the Word.  It does not have to be spoken out loud to become a sharp sword.

The sixth weapon is the PRAYER.

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18-20 ESV)

Paul has a big emphasis on prayer.  MacArthur says, “Ephesians begins by lifting us up to the heavenlies, and ends by pulling us down to our knees.”[2]  Most of us do not pray enough.  Prayer is part of spiritual warfare.  It is contacting headquarters during the battle.  It is the power behind the armor.  It is a prayer for air support in the battle.

Notice that when Paul talks about prayer, he uses the word ALL four times in one verse (at ALL times in the Spirit, with ALL prayer and supplication, for ALL saints, with ALL perseverance).  Most of us do not pray at all times or for all saints.  We are to pray for Christians in every country.  We are to pray for famous Christians like Paul and for ordinary Christians.

Most of us do not pray with perseverance.  We pray for a while and quit praying, when our prayers are not answered immediately.  We are to pray at all times and we are to pray in the Spirit.  What does that mean?

Is Praying in the Spirit Praying in Tongues?

In Pentecostal churches, praying in the Spirit means praying in tongues.  Praying in tongues is biblical.  Paul mentions it in I Corinthians 14:2 but when we read this in Ephesians 6:18, we should NOT immediately think of praying in tongues.  Why?

Paul does not mention tongues anywhere in Ephesians, not even in the spiritual gift sections of Ephesians.  In fact, in I Corinthians 12, Paul says that all Christians do not have the gift to speak in tongues but this command in Ephesians 6 is for all Christians.

What is the bottom line?  You can pray in tongues and pray in the Spirit, but you can also pray in the Spirit and NOT pray in tongues.  Jesus never prayed in tongues, but He prayed in the Spirit.  It is clear from Ephesians 6:18 that there is not just one way to do it.  He mentions all kinds of different prayers and requests but they can all be done in the Spirit.

Praying in the Spirit is biblically-based, Spirit-led, Spirit-prompted, Spirit-controlled and Spirit-empowered, and faith-filled prayers.  It is when the Holy Spirit leads you and you feel prompted to pray for someone.  It is prayer in the power of the Spirit.  That may or may not be in tongues.

[1] Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians (NIV Application Commentary), p. 238.

[2] John MacArthur, Ephesians, p. 378.

[3]  Benjamin L. Merkle, Ephesians (Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament), p. 281, citing  Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 33.98.

The Spirit-Filled Family

We have been studying the Book of Ephesians.  Today, we begin looking at the last chapter of the book.  Our topic today is the Spirit-filled home.  Ephesians is the only book of the NT that commands Christians to be filled with the Spirit. Paul mentions that in Ephesians 5.  The very next topic that Paul talks about is relationships.  There is a reason why he does that.  If you are filled with the Spirit, it will show up in how you relate to people.

It will show up in how you relate to people at home, at work and at church.  It will show up in how you relate to your neighbors.  It will show up in how you relate to people you meet in long grocery lines.  If you are mean and nasty to people, you are not filled with the Spirit.  If you are always negative and critical, you are not filled with the Spirit.  When you are filled with the Spirit, your relationships with people will look different.

We are going to talk about the Spirit-filled home from Ephesians 5 and 6.  Paul paints a picture of the Spirit-filled home in this section of Ephesians.  He shows us what it looks like to be a Spirit-filled wife.  He shows us what it looks like to be a Spirit-filled husband.  He shows us what it looks like to be a Spirit-filled child.

He shows us what it looks like to be a Spirit-filled parent.  He even shows what it looks like to be a spirit-filled slave and a Spirit-filled slave master.  Why does Paul talk about that?  Most homes in the Greco-Roman empire had slaves.  Homes in Paul’s day had slaves and masters and there were slaves and masters in the church Paul was writing to.

What does a Spirit-filled family look like?  Based on the Book of Ephesians, a Spirit-filled family has several characteristics. In a Spirit-filled family, husbands love and cherish their wives. Wives submit to and respect their husbands.  Children honor and obey their parents.  Parents discipline and train their children in a godly way without exasperating or provoking them. Biblical scholars call this “a family code.”  There are two things you need to know about this code.

Facts about the Family Code

1) This family code is balanced

These instructions are for everyone.  This code gives instructions for every member of the family.  Change is for everyone.  This is really interesting. The Bible is balanced.  Paul does not give all of the responsibility on one side and none on the other.  Those on the top of the hierarchy do not have unlimited power.

Paul does not just give a bunch of rules for wives, for children and for slaves.  He does not say that husbands can do whatever they want to wives. Parents can do whatever they want to children.  Masters can do whatever they want to do to slaves.  Paul does NOT say that.

Paul gives instructions for EVERYONE in the family because EVERYONE is accountable.  Everyone is accountable to God for his or her own actions.  All of those in authority OVER others will one day be accountable to God for what they do with their authority and how they use it.  All of those UNDER authority will one day be held accountable for how they responded to authority.

Church leaders are accountable before God for how they lead the church. We are accountable to God for how we respond to our church leaders.  Paul gives instructions for wives, but he also gives instructions for husbands.  He gives instructions to children, but he also gives instructions to parents.  He gives instructions to slaves, but he also give instructions to slave masters.

2) This family code is radical

Everything Paul says here is radical.  It was radical in his time and it is still radical today.

What Paul says to WIVES is RADICAL.  Paul says that wives are to submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22, 24).  Many wives today do not even believe in submission.  Some of them are in the church.  Paul says that wives are to submit to their husbands IN EVERYTHING (Ephesians 5:24).  Many definitely do not believe in that.

What Paul says to and about HUSBANDS is RADICAL.  Paul says that husband is the head of the wife (Ephesians 5:23).  Many believe that the husband is the head of the wife or that there are two heads in a marriage, not one.

He tells husbands to love their wives.  That is not unusual. Many husbands love their wives, but Paul tells them to love them as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25).  That is radical

What Paul says to CHILDREN is RADICAL.  Paul tells children to honor and obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1-2).  This is God’s word to kids today.  What if kids do not like their parents?  Honor your parents.  What if they are not always fair?  Honor your parents.  Even if they are not a Christian, honor them.[1]  Whether they believe in God or do not believe in God, they are to be honored.

Many children today are disrespectful to their parents.  They do the exact opposite of what Paul said.  They talk back to their parents.  They mock them.  In fact, in many families today, the parents obey the children, rather than the children obeying the parents.  The children tell their parents what to do.  We call them permissive parents.

What Paul says to FATHERS is RADICAL.  Paul says that fathers to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).  Fathers are to train their children in two areas – DISCIPLINE and INSTRUCTION, not just to eat their vegetables and have good manners.  Children have the responsibility to obey their parents IN THE LORD.  Fathers are to bring their kids up in the instruction OF THE LORD.

In many homes (even Christian homes), that is the job of the mother.  In the traditional family model, the father works and brings home the money, and the mother takes care of the kids and raises the kids.  Some fathers have never even changed a diaper.  It is not just the mother’s job or the church’s job or the job of VBS to train their children in the instruction of the Lord.  It is the father’s job.

In some homes, kids do not get any spiritual training or discipline, not from their father or their mother.  They do not have a lot of rules.  Kids can do whatever they want.  They let their children decide for themselves about religion.  They don’t make them go to church.  They make them take baths.  They make them go to school but not church.

Paul says something else to fathers: don’t provoke your kids to anger.  Apparently, the WAY we teach is just as important as WAY we teach. Kids can sin against parents but parents can sin against children.  That is interesting.  In Paul’s day, fathers had absolutely control of their kids.  They could do anything they wanted to their kids.  Children were just their property.  They could even sell them into slavery.  Paul says that parents do NOT have unlimited authority over their children.

What Paul says to SLAVES is RADICAL.  Paul does not just tells slaves to obey their masters but to obey them IN EVERYTHING (Colossians 3:22).  Paul was not big on slaves committing civil disobedience.  He did not encourage slave revolts or slave rebellion against their masters.

What Paul says to SLAVE-MASTERS is RADICAL.  Paul tells Christian slave masters to treating slaves with respect and not threatening them (Ephesians 6:9).  Not only were they not to mistreat their slaves and treat them like dogs, they were not to threaten them.  They were not to motivate them by fear.  What slavemaster did that?

Paul tells the slave masters that they are also under authority.  They have servants under them, but they are also servants.  The Greek word for master is κύριος. Every slave has a κύριος above him.  Jesus is Lord.

They are slaves of Christ and will be held accountable one day for how they treat their slaves and God shows no favoritism (Ephesians 6:9).  He treats everybody equally.  He does not give slaves special treatment.  He does not give masters special treatment.

Instructions to Children

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV).

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord (Colossians 3:20 ESV).

What command is given to children?  They are to HONOR their parents (both their father and mother). They are to OBEY their parents.  Paul bases it on the Ten Commandments.  Paul quotes the Fifth Commandment.  Some Christians today think that the Ten Commandments are not binding today on Christians.  That is part of the Law.  Paul thought it still applied today.  In fact, he quotes one of the Ten Commandments and applied it to a Gentile church.

Paul doesn’t go into every possible scenario.  What if you don’t have a father or know who your father is?  What if you are raised by a single parent?  What if your parents do not deserve it, are you still supposed to honor them?  What if your parents are abusive?  Paul does not deal with all of these questions.  He deals with the general principle that children are to honor and obey their parents.

In the parallel passage, Paul says, “Children, obey your parents IN EVERYTHING, for this pleases the Lord” (Colossians 3:20 ESV). In Ephesians, Paul said that wives were to submit to their husbands IN EVERYTHING (Ephesians 5:24).  In Colossians, he said that children were to obey their parents IN EVERYTHING (Colossians 3:20

Paul does not just tell them to obey their parents.  He gives them some REASONS to do it.  They should do it because it is RIGHT.  It may not be politically correct, but it is the right thing to do.  God commands it.  Paul says in Colossians that this pleases the Lord but there is another reason that kids should do this.

It is not only RIGHT; it is GOOD.  Obeying your parents and honoring your parents is good for you.  It leads to two things: PROSPERITY (that it may go well with you) and LONGEVITY (that you may live long on the earth).  This is the only one of the Ten Commandments that has a special promise attached to it.

These are two different things.  You can live a long life and be completely miserable or you can live a long life and prosper.  Proverbs 30:17 says “The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures” (ESV). Did you know that there is a connection between how long you live and how you treat your parents?

Instructions to Fathers

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4 ESV)

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. (Colossians 3:21 ESV)

We believe in something called the sufficiency of the Scriptures.  Paul said that God gave us Scriptures to equip us to do every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17).[2]  That means that Scripture is sufficient to equip us to be good parents.

To be good parents, all we need is the Word of God.  We don’t need a hundred books on parenting.  We don’t need to go to a bunch a seminars and take a bunch of parenting classes.  You don’t need Dr. Spock.  There is nothing with reading book on the subject but all we need to do is follow what Scripture teaches.  It is our manual for child-rearing.  Paul here gives some do’s and don’t in parenting.

Fathers are told to do two things.  They have two responsibilities.  One is POSITIVE (bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord) and one is NEGATIVE (don’t provoke your children to anger).  What do kids need?  They need instruction and discipline.

Kids are to obey their parents but they have to be taught obedience by their parents.  It is not something that they will do naturally.  They should learn about God from their parents.  They should be taught right and wrong from their parents.  They should be taught the gospel from their parents.  They should be taught the Bible from their parents.

There are two extremes when it comes to parenting.  On the one end of the spectrum are dictatorial or authoritarian parents.  On the other end of the spectrum are permissive parents.

Permissive parents have no rules.  They have no discipline.  Kids can do whatever they want.  Authoritarian parents have rules.  They have a lot of rules and some of the rules do not make any sense.  This style of parenting is not loving.  It is strict.  It is harsh.  It is all about power and control.

What Paul says is very interesting.  Kids are to have some instruction and discipline from their parents.  We are to train up our kids in the way they should go, as Proverbs says.  On the other hand, this discipline is not to be extreme.  It is not to be excessive, so the kids get discouraged and become angry.  Some parents are not strict enough.  Some are to strict.

Instructions to Slaves

5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (Ephesians 6:5-8 ESV)

Does the Bible Endorse Slavery?

What Paul says here is one of the reasons why many people reject Christianity.  Atheists use this passage as an argument against Christianity.

They say that God wrote a book and got it wrong on slavery.  They say that slavery is condoned in the OT and in the NT.  Paul wasn’t an abolitionist.  It is dehumanizing to own people as property and yet the Bible does NOT call for an end to slavery or even condemn it as an evil institution.

Instead, the Bible tells slaves to OBEY their masters.  In Colossians, Paul tells them to obey them IN EVERYTHING (Colossians 3:22).  He tells them to do it WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING (Ephesians 6:5).  In fact, Peter says, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to THE UNJUST” (I Peter 2:18 ESV)

Is the Bible pro-slavery?  Many have used the Bible to justify slavery.  Did Paul approve of slavery?  If slavery is a sin, why didn’t Paul attack slavery?

1) The Bible regulates slavery but does not endorse it

There are only three institutions that God created the family, the state and the church.  These are the three divine institutions.  Slavery is not one of them.  The family is the oldest institution in the world.  The church is the youngest of the three.  Slavery is not a divine institution.  It is a human institution.

The Bible does not approve of slavery but regulates it.  The Bible also regulates divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), but God says that He hates divorce (Malachi 2:16).  Just because it is in the Bible does not necessarily mean that God approves of it.

The Bible has been used to justify both slavery and abolitionism.  People in the North and South both used the Bible.  To make the Bible pro-slavery, you have to cut out some verses.  There is a book called The Slave’s Bible.  It was published in 1807 for slaves but it only contained certain parts of the Bible.  Ninety percent of the OT was eliminated.

The Book of Exodus, which talks about the freedom of the Hebrew slaves, was gone.  Fifty percent of the NT was removed.  You can make the Bible look like it is pro-slavery if you only read certain verses.  Jesus came to set the captives free (Luke 4:18).

2) The Bible describes a different type of slavery than modern slavery

As bad as slavery was in the ancient world (and in many cases it was abusive and degrading), it was not anything like American slavery.  When we think of slavery today, we think of American slavery in the 1700 and 1800s.  That type of slavery was completely different from Hebrew slavery and from slavery in the Greco-Roman world.  What are some of the differences?

First, this slavery was economic, not racial.  It was not based on racism.  It was based on poverty.  It was debt slavery.  Some chose voluntarily to becomes slaves as a means of working off a debt.

In the South, all the slaves were black.  There were no white slaves.  In the OT, other Jews were put into slaver to other Jews.  Slavery in the Roman world was not based on race either.  They had slaves from all races.

Second, this slavery was temporary, not permanent.  Slaves in Paul’s day could buy their own freedom.  They could buy another people’s freedom (e.g., a spouse).  It was not necessarily lifelong or permanent.

Third, many slaves in ancient Greece and Rome were highly educated.  They performed many highly skilled jobs (e.g., doctors).  They wanted their slaves to be educated.  In the south, slave masters wanted all of the slaves to be illiterate.

3) The Bible has a spiritual emphasis, rather than a political emphasis

In our day, the big focus is on political change.  If we can just get the right person or the right party in office, that is all we need.  If we just pass the right laws, that is all we need.

Now, it is important to have good laws and you can be a Christian and serve in government.  Daniel served in the government in Babylon.  Joseph served in the government in Egypt. We are to be salt and light in the world.  God does call some people to go into politics.  He calls some to live in Washington and to serve in Congress.

The primary way to transform society is not through social activism.  That is the error of the social gospel.  Real change comes through spiritual redemption, not through social reform.  It comes through spiritual change, rather than through political change.  Man has a heart problem.

Harold Hoehner writes, “Christianity’s emphasis has always been on the transformation of individuals who will in turn influence society, not the transformation of society which will then transform individuals (I Cor. 1:18-2:6).”[3]

How does any of this applies to us today?  None of us are slaves.  What Paul says here has application to the workplace.  Some of us feel like slaves at work but how does slavery apply to work?  We can change jobs at any time but, remember, that this kind of slavery was not necessarily lifelong either.

Paul gives us a philosophy of work here.  He gives us God’s view on work.  I have to warn you that some of this you might find a little convicting.  Paul gives us four work principles for today.

Christian Work Principles

1) Work should be done DILIGENTLY

Colossians 3:22, a parallel passage, says that we are to work wholeheartedly (Christian Standard Bible). We should work diligently.  We should not slack off at work and do a halfway job.  We should have a reputation as Christians for doing a good job wherever we work.  We should not have a reputation for being lazy and not responsible.

2) Work should be done with a POSITIVE ATTITUDE

What did Paul say to servants.  He said that they were to render service “with a good will” (Ephesians 6:7 ESV).  Again, the CSB reads, “serve with a good attitude.”  Some people can go a good job at work but are very negative and critical.  They always have a bad attitude.  Christians should not be like that.

3) Work should be done FOR CHRIST

Paul says that our work should be done to the Lord (ESV).  Most of us go to work and see it as a means to provide for our families. We are working for ourselves and our families.  Paul says that we are to work for Christ.  To do that, we have to turn work into worship.  It is something that we do for Christ.

4) Work should NOT be done for people

Paul says that we are not to be men pleasers.  We are not to be people-pleasers (Ephesians 6:6).  Many Christians are people-pleasers.  We should care what our boss thinks.  We work for a boss but out goal should be to please Christ, not a boss.  We should not work really hard when the boss is around and not so hard when the boss is not watching.

[1] Honor your parents IN THE LORD does not mean to honor them if they are Christians.  We know that from the parallel passage in Colossians 3:20. It deals with WHY they should honor their parents and not WHO they should honor.  As Greek scholar Harold W. Hoehner notes, “the propositional phrase does not define the limits of obedience, but rather it defines the spirit in which the obedience is to be accomplished” (Ephesians, 786-787).

[2] https://media-cloud.sermonaudio.com/text/1120171812314.pdf

[3] Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, 804.

How to Love Your Wife

 

We are studying the Book of Ephesians.  Last week, we began looking at one of the most important passages on marriage in the Bible.  It is in Ephesians 5.  This passage is huge.  Every Christian needs to study Ephesians 5. It is desperately needed in the church today.

Introduction

We saw last week that this chapter is UNPOPULAR.  Many don’t like what it says.  It contains some of the most hated verses in the Bible.  Submission is a dirty word in some circles.  It is not the F word.  It is the S word.  People hate the doctrine of submission and the world flat-out rejects it.

Ephesians 5 says that the husband is the head of the wife (Ephesians 5:23).  The world turns this around and says that the wife is the head of the husband.  Many marriages fit that model.  Some say that there is no head in marriage.  Marriage is just a partnership.

Ephesians 5 says that the wife is to submit to the husband (Ephesians 5:22, 24) but that is explained away by the whole concept of mutual submission.  It is the notion that every person is to submit to every other person

Ephesians 5 says that marriage is between a man and a woman (Ephesians 5:31).  Paul here quotes the OT (Genesis 2:24).  The world says that two men or two women can get married.  We live in a day in which marriage is under attack today.  It is in a state of crisis.  There is a war on marriage.

This chapter is RADICAL.  What Paul says to wives is radical.  What he says to husbands is radical.  It is counter-cultural.  It seems too hard to do but here is the truth.  If a wife actually does what Paul says here and submits to her husband in everything, that will COMPLETELY transform a marriage.

if a husband does what Paul says here and loves his wife as Christ loves the church, if he nourishes and cherishes her as he does his own body, that will COMPLETELY transform a marriage.

Chuck Missler tells a personal story about his marriage. After he was married, working and and involved in ministry.  He traveled a lot and his marriage suffered.  He did not always do what he should have done as a husband.  His wife read Ephesians 5, he came home one night, and all of his favorite drinks were in the refrigerator and he said that he felt like a king.  That one act of the wife doing what she was supposed to do, even when the husband did not deserve it, helped changed their marriage.

The problem is that people have gotten away from the Word.  Christians have gotten away from the Word.  People who have problems in their marriage, they don’t need a bunch of psychology from some marriage counselors.  They don’t need a high powered attorney.  They just need to turn to God.  The answer is always found in the Word.

God was the one who created marriage.  He was the one who started it.  Read the Book of Genesis.  Marriage is a divine institution.  It is NOT a human institution.  It was God’s idea.  He initiated the first wedding ceremony.  He knows how to fix broken marriages.

This chapter is also SYMBOLIC.  Paul talks about marriage, but he calls it “a great mystery” (Ephesians 5:32).  Paul takes his doctrine of marriage from the OT (intimate one-flesh union) but he also believed that the marriage of  believers is also symbolic.  It represents something.  It is a picture of something.  Marriage is to represent the gospel.  It is displayed through marriage.  That is why gay marriage is wrong.  It is actually a gospel issue.

A believing husband and wife are a picture of Christ and his bride, the church.  Christ is the head of the church. The husband is the head of his wife.  The church submits to Christ.  The wife submits to the husband.  Christ loves the church.  The husband loves his wife.

Paul deals with the topic of Christian marriage in Ephesians 5. He gives instructions to husbands and wives.  He spoke to the wives first.  Last week, we focused on the women.  Today, we will focus on the men.

Paul gives only one job for wives and one job for husbands in a Christian marriage.  Paul gave one command for wives – SUBMIT.  Paul gave one command for husbands – LOVE.  Wives are called to submit, husbands are called to love.

In the modern world, because of feminism, many have a problem today with what Paul said to the wives.  In the ancient world, they would have had more of a problem with what he said to the husbands.  The ancient world had a very low view of women.  Women were not even to be educated.  Menander said, “A man who teaches a woman to write should know that he is providing poison to a snake.”[1]

One ancient Greek writer said, “We keep prostitutes for the sake of pleasure, females slaves for our daily care and wives to give us legitimate children and to be the guardians of our households.”[2]  That was the only value of wives, to give you children.  Women were considered just property.  Husbands would not give themselves up for their wife.

God’s Word to Husbands

God calls husbands to do just one thing. They are NOT called to submit.  They are called to love.  Notice how many times we see this word in our passage.  The word “love” is used six times in three verses.

Husbands, LOVE your wives, as Christ LOVED the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25 ESV)

In the same way husbands should LOVE their wives as their own bodies. He who LOVES his wife LOVES himself. (Ephesians 5:28 ESV)

However, let each one of you LOVE his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:33 ESV)

Paul devoted more space talking to the husbands, than talking to the wives. He told the wives to submit to their husbands just two times (Ephesians 5:22, 24) but he tells the husbands to love their wives three times (Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33) and he talks to the husbands longer.

Paul spent only three verses talking to the wives (Ephesians 5:22-24).  He spent eight verses talking to the husbands (Ephesians 5:25-33).  He spends only three verses telling wives to submit to their husbands, but he spends eight verses telling husbands to love their wives.  That is strange.

Why does Paul spend more time telling husbands to do their job that he telling the wives to do their job?  Is it because the husbands are a little dull?  The wives are smarter.  They are more responsible.  They get it the first time.  The husbands need repetition.  No.  The reason is that husbands have the harder job to do.  They are the head of the wives.  They have a much greater responsibility.

God calls wives to do the very thing that is really hard for them to do.  It is hard for wives to submit to husbands.  Submission is hard for anyone.  That involves giving up your will to the will of someone else.  Why should you have to do that when your ideas are better?  In some cases, wives are smarter and even more spiritual than their husbands, and yet they are still told to submit.

God calls husbands to do the one thing that they have trouble doing and that is to love their wives.  Most men are selfish.  Tim Keller said, “the main problem in any marriage is self-centeredness. That’s what kills marriage. That’s what the heart of every marriage problem always is. That’s the most basic problem you have”[3]  We are all naturally self-centered.  We always looking out for number one.  That is why Paul gave this command to husbands.  Husbands, love your wives.

Did Paul Hate Women?

Many believe that Paul hated women. He didn’t that is a myth. Paul was the one who said, “Husbands love your wives.” Pagan writers of the ancient world did not say to do this (Aristotle). The Jewish Talmud did not say to do this. The OT did not explicitly say to do this. It said, “love your neighbor” but it never says, “love your wife.” Paul was the one who said this, and he says it three times in this one chapter (Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33).

He does NOT say, “Husbands, rule your wife.” He does NOT say, “Husbands dominate and control your wife.” He does NOT say, “Husbands show your wife who is in the charge. Show her who is the boss and who wears the parts in your family. Put her in her place. Exercise your authority over her as the head of the home.” Paul did not say, “Husbands, crush your wife. Treat her like a dog” Instead, he said, “Husbands LOVE your wife.”

He not only said, “Husbands LOVE your wife,” he said, “Husbands love YOUR wife.” It is an exclusive love. Too many husbands love other women. They have affairs. They love strippers and prostitutes. They love mistresses. They love porn stars. Paul says, “Love your wife.” What does Paul mean by love?

Greek Words for Love

The word Paul uses for love in Ephesians 5 is ἀγάπη or the verb form of the word (ἀγαπάω).  In fact, every time in Ephesians Paul speaks of “love,” (and he uses it about seventeen times in the book), he uses this word ἀγάπη or ἀγαπάω.  Άγάπη is a love of actions, not feelings.

When we think of love in marriage, we think of romance or sex (married love or sexual love).  There is a Greek word for that kind of love.  It is the word ἔρως or ἐράω (verb form).  It is sexual love.  The words “erotic” and “eroticism” come from that Greek word.

There is nothing wrong with that kind of love.  It should be in a marriage.  A whole book of the Bible was written about this kind of love (Song of Solomon) but Paul does not use that word, nor does any other writer of the New Testament.

There is a difference between ἀγάπη love and ἔρως love.  We usually think of ἔρως as getting something, while ἀγάπη focuses on giving something.  One tends to be selfish.  The other is unselfish.

When we think of love, we think of feelings of love (emotions).  We think of close friends who love each other and have a strong bond.  There is a Greek word for that kind of love.  It is the word φιλία or φιλἐω (verb form).

It is the love of affection leading to a close bond of friendship.  When Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus, the Jews used this word (John 11:36).  They said, “Behold, how he loved him” (Ἴδε πῶς ἐφίλει αὐτόν).  It is also assumed that a husband will have feelings for his wife but that is not what Paul commands for husbands in Ephesians 5.

Three Ways to Love Your Wife

It is easy for Paul to tell husbands to love their wives.  He was single.  Paul makes all of the husbands feel guilty.  The million-dollar question is, How do you do it?  How should a husband love his wife, according to Ephesians 5?  What does that love look like?

There are three ways, based on this passage.  Have I always done them perfectly in my own marriage?  No.  My wife will be the first to tell you but I am working on them.

1) Love your wife by putting her needs above your own needs

That is what Jesus did.  He put the needs of the church above His own needs.  He left the comfort of heaven and came to earth.  He became a servant.  He washed the disciples’ feet.  He was tortured and died for the the church, all out of love.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church AND GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER (Ephesians 5:25 ESV)

Instead of asking what do I need? we should ask, What does my wife need?  How can I help her?  This type of love puts your wife’s happiness ahead of your own needs.  It is unselfish.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking (I Corinthians 13:4-5 NIV).  The ESV reads, “It does not insist on its own way.”   Do something special for your wife and expect nothing in return.

2) Love your wife by helping her to grow spiritually

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives (Ephesians 5:25-28 ESV)

The husband’s love should not only be a selfless love, it should be a sanctifying love.  In many marriages, the wife has to be the spiritual head of the home.  She has to push the husband along spiritually.  She tries to drag him and the kids to church each Sunday.  In Ephesians 5, we see that it is the husband’s job to sanctify the wife, not the wife’s job to sanctify the husband.

Paul says that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 THAT HE MIGHT SANCTIFY HER” (Ephesians 5:25-26 ESV).  It is a picture of a bride who is presented perfect.  No bride wants a big spot on her wedding dress.  The church right now is not spotless.  It has plenty of spots and wrinkles but the church in glory will be spotless.

Ephesians 5:25 is PAST (Christ game himself up for her).  Ephesians 5:26 is PRESENT (that He might sanctify her).  Ephesians 5:27 is FUTURE (that he might present the church to himself in splendor…holy and without blemish).  In heaven, we will not have any blemishes (physically, morally or spiritually).  We will all be perfect.

Notice how Jesus sanctify His church today?  He does it “by the Word.”  Many people downplay the importance of the Bible and Bible study. We are saved by the Word of God and we are sanctified by the Word of God (John 17:17).

There is a true story about a man named Richard Eby.  He was a physician.  In 1972, Dr. Eby leaned against the railing of his Chicago apartment building, and accidentally fell several stories head-first.  His body was in bad shape and he almost died.  He was taken to heaven.  He saw Jesus and asked him all kinds of questions and Jesus said to him, “Didn’t you read my book?”

“It is all in the book.  My son, if you would have read my book carefully, everything you will ask of me has already been answered.  Everything is in there.”  He added, “Sadly enough, my son, there has never been anyone who has studied my book carefully enough so that he knows everything in it.”[4]

Jesus said, “Didn’t you read my book?” to him more than once.  How many Christians spend seventy years on earth and never really read it or study it?  That describes most of the church today.

There are many books of the Bible, especially in the OT that we never open.  Many Christians have no idea what is in these books.  That is why all we do is study books of the Bible in this class.  We do not waste our time studying books that are not inspired.

When I first got saved, I read many Chick Tracts.  They are Christian tracts written in comic book form to lead people to Christ.[5] I will never forget one I read about a fictitious man who died and went to heaven.  While in heaven, he ran into the prophet Habakkuk.

Habakkuk asked him if he ever read his book.  The man was embarrassed to admit that he did not even know that he had written one.  After reading that tract, I immediately read the Book of Habakkuk, in case I bumped into him in heaven.

Husbands are responsible for their wife’s spiritual well-being.  Now that scares a lot of people.  You don’t have to be a Bible scholar.  There are a lot of things you can do together.

You can make sure that she goes to a good church and go to church with her.  You can make sure that she is in a good woman’s small group.  You can go to Bible study together.  You can listen to a sermon or podcast and discuss it.  You can support any ministry she is involved in.

3) Love your wife by nurturing and cherishing her

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.  (Ephesians 5:28-30 ESV)

This is interesting.   Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39) but he was not the first to say this.  He was just quoting the OT.  Moses also said to love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18).   Now Paul says it.  He applies that principle to the marriage relationship.  Paul says that we are to treat our wives the same way that we treat ourselves and our own body.  We feed our body.  We take care of our body.  We clothe our body.  We pamper our body.

We provide for our body.  We protect our body.  We do things to make us feel special.  Do something to make your wife feel special.  We do things to make us feel good about ourselves.  What do we do to make our wife feel good about herself?

[1] Menander, Fragments

[2] Pseudo-Demosthenes 59.122

[3] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUY1nUxOV7Q

[5] One example of these tracts is entitled “This was Your Life.”  You can read it online at https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1&ue=d.

Five Myths about Submission

We are studying the Book of Ephesians.  We are in the fifth chapter.  Today, we come to one of the most important passages on marriage in the entire Bible.   It is one of the most famous passages on marriage in Scripture.

It tells us what a Christian marriage should look like.  Every married couple should study this chapter.  In fact, every single person should study this chapter was well.  This chapter tells you some qualities to look for in a potential spouse.

Ben Franklin has a famous quote about marriage.  He said, “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards.”  We do the opposite today.  Our eyes are half shut before marriage and wife open after marriage.

Some women read what Paul says about submission and say, “I could never do this.  How could I submit to my husband?  He is a complete jerk.  He wants to control everything I do.” When I take one look at their husband, I realize that they are not wrong.  Plenty of women are married to jerks.  They are married to complete idiots.  My question is, “Why did they marry the fools in the first place?”

That is where good pre-marital counseling comes in, so young people, not only know what marriage is all about but what Christian marriage is all about.    A Christian marriage is radically different than a secular marriage or a worldly marriage.  What’s the difference?

In the world, marriage is about two people who meet each other, fall in love and get married.  A Christian marriage is not just about meeting the right person.  It’s not just about falling in love.  It is not just about sparks flying and it’s not just about romance.

It is a picture of the relationship of Christ and the church.  It is an illustration of Christ and the church.  Some have called this a gospel-centered marriage.  The role of the wife is to be a picture of the church.  The role of the husband is to be a picture of Christ.  Does your marriage reflect that relationship?  The Apostle Paul said that it should.  Paul had a high view of marriage.

Last week, we looked at the topic of filling with the Spirit.  For the next several weeks, we will look at the Spirit-filled marriage.  What does a Spirit-filled marriage look like?  What does a Spirit-filed wife look like?  What does a Spirit-filled husband look like?  How many Christians actually do completely what Paul says in Ephesians 5?  How many husbands actually do what Paul says in Ephesians 5?  How many wives do it?  Very few.

We are in the practical section of Ephesians which deals with the family and the home.  Paul gives instructions to four groups of people here.  He gives instructions to wives (Ephesians 5:22-24).  He gives instructions to husbands (Ephesians 5:25-33).  He gives instructions to children (Ephesians 6:1-4) and he gives instructions to slaves (Ephesians 6:5-9).  Notice that wives are first on the list.

If he thought that husbands were superior to women, we would have expected the order: husbands, wives, children and slaves.  Instead, he put the wives first.  Paul apparently believed in “Ladies First.”  We are only going to looking at three verses today but let’s read five verses to see what God is saying to the wives and what he is saying to the husbands.

22 Wives submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:22-25 ESV).

What is the duty of wives?  It is one word – SUBMIT.  That’s it.  God speaks to wives in only a few places in the Bible.  Their primary command here in Ephesians 5 is to submit.  What is the duty of husbands?  It also is one word – LOVE.  We will look at the role of husbands next week.

There is a famous book on marriage called Love and Respect. The premise of the book is that the one thing husbands need that wives need to give them is respect.  The one thing that wives need that husbands are to give them is love.

That is true.  In fact, the last verse of the chapter even mentions respect but that is not the focus of the passage.  The two jobs of husbands and wives in Ephesians 5:22-29 are not love and respect but LOVE and SUBMIT.  If that were the title of the book, no one would have bought it.

Our topic for today is submission.  It is a huge topic.  Today, we are going to go deep.  This topic raises all kinds of questions.  Some of them are difficult questions.  What does submission mean?  What does it not mean?  When would it be right for a wife to submit to her husband?  When would it be wrong to do so?  We are going to be dealing with some mature subject matter.

This passage will challenge you.  It may make you uncomfortable.  It may go against everything you have been taught.  It may challenge the way you understand the marriage relationship. This passage is counter-cultural.  It is radical.  It is unpopular.

Many women do not like the topic of submission.  One preacher called Ephesians 5:22 “the most hated verse in the Bible.”[1]  Feminists HATE this passage, because it talks about male headship and female submission.  It says that the husband is the head of the wife.  They don’t like that idea.  It says that the wife is to submit to the husband and they don’t like that either. 

The world hates this passage and will attack anyone who even believes in it.  Candace Cameron Bure, the famous Christian actress from Full House, mentioned submitting to her husband in an interview and she was ridiculed and mocked by the media.   We are a nation of protesters.  We started in rebellion.  All kinds of people today encourage you to challenge and defy authority.  Submission is seen as a dirty word.

Is Submission Biblical?

The sad fact is that some in the church don’t like this chapter either.  Many Christian women don’t believe in submission.  These are not my words.  They are not Paul’s words.  They are God’s words.  They are found all throughout the NT.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22 ESV)[2]

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Ephesians 5:24 ESV)

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Colossians 3:18 ESV)

Train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:4-5 ESV)

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives (I Peter 3:1 NIV)

This is a clear teaching of Scripture, repeated many times by two different writers of the NT.  In fact, I Peter 3 says that Christian women should even submit to their non-Christian husbands, not just Christians.

Paul tells us WHY they should do it, because the husband is the head of the wife (Ephesians 5:23).

He tells us HOW they should do it.  They should do it “as is fitting to the Lord” (Colossians 3:18).  They should do it “as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22).  They are not do it unto their husbands but unto the Lord.  They are also to do it “in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21).

Is it easy to do?  No.  If you submit to someone else, you give up what you want to do and do what someone else wants to do.  You may not agree with it or even like it, but you give up what you want to do.  That is not natural.  It is supernatural.  It requires Holy Spirit filling.

Does it mean that wives can’t make any decisions?  No.  Some decisions they delegate to their wives (e.g., checkbook).  Many decisions they do not even care about.  Other decisions are important to them.

Five Myths about Submission

These are five myths or five lies about submission that many people believe.  They are very common.  Some are found in the church and are believed by Christians and some of them are in the world.

1. The first myth is that biblical submission is mutual

Many people believe in something called “mutual submission.”  Many Christians believe in it.  It is based on Ephesians 5:21. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (ESV)Based on this doctrine, husbands submit to wives.  Wives submit to husbands.  You submit to me.  I submit to you.  Everyone submits to everyone.  It is really common.  A lot of people believe it.  Is it true?  No.

If every person submitted to every other person, there would be no leader.  There would be no head.  It makes complete nonsense in the context. As John Gerstner once said, “That is not only ridiculous, it is blasphemous.”[3]

If you carry the analogy through the argument is ad absurdum.  Parents should submit to children.  Children could tell parents what to do and what the rules are.  Masters would have to submit to slaves.  Rulers would have to submit to their subjects.  Teachers should submit to students.  If they decided not to have a test that day, there would be none, and Christ would have to obey the church.

2. The second myth is that biblical submission is absolute.

Submission to human authorities is never absolute.  Submission to government is not absolute.  The Apostles said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).  Daniel broke some laws in the OT on purpose.  A wife is not obligated to do anything a husband asks him to do.

Ephesians 5:22 does say, “wives should submit IN EVERYTHING to their husbands” (ESV).  Wives are to submit to their husbands in every area they are NOT to submit to their husbands at all times.

  • If a husband wants his wife to rob a bank, should she do it?
  • If a husband wants his wife to get an abortion, should she do it?
  • If a husband wants his wife to view pornography with him, should she do it? No
  • If a husband wants his wife to engage in group sex, should she do it?
  • If a husband wants his wife to engage in a wife swap, should she do it? No
  • If a husband wants the two of them to have an open marriage, should she agree to it? No

If your husband asks you to sin (commit adultery, cheat on your taxes), you should not do it.  You say that does not happen in Christian marriages.  It happened to believer’s marriages in the Bible.  There were wives in the Bible who were asked by their husbands to do bad things.

Sarah submitted to Abraham when he told her to lie to the Egyptians.  She did that, not once but twice.  Sapphira submitted to her husband when she lied to the Apostles.

This was wrong.  Husbands are not Christ.  Submission is unto the Lord.  If it involves something that you could not do unto the Lord, you should not do it.

Does a wife have to submit to an abusive husband?  No, an abusive husband is not only breaking God’s laws, he is breaking man’s laws.  He is committing a crime.  If it a real case of abuse, the authorities should be called and the wife should go to a safe place.  That is one of the reasons that God institute government, to protect people from evil (Romans 13:4).[4]

3. The third myth is that biblical submission encourages abuse

Doesn’t this passage just encourage an abuse husband?  What does this passage say to battered women?  What if there is domestic violence in the home?

Some religions encourage this.  In Islam, this is allowed.  A Michigan mosque leader says “wife beating” is allowed.  It is a way to remind a woman she “misbehaved.”[5]  This is encouraged in Islam but it is not encouraged in Christianity.

Husbands are NOT told to “control” or “govern” their wives.  Some people in the ancient world said that (e.g., Plutarch).  Husbands are NOT told In Ephesians 5 to make them submit. That’s the way some men have read it, but the command is actually addressed to the women.  It is NOT addressed to the men.

The Greek word for “submit” is ὑποτάσσω.  It is in the middle voice in Ephesians 5:21 (ὑποτασσόμενοι) and Ephesians 5:24 (ὑποτάσσεται). It means to place yourself or rank yourself under authority.  It is the wife voluntarily placing herself under the authority of her own husband.  It is a military term.

Furthermore, husbands are told to “love their wives as their own bodies” (Ephesians 5:28).  They are told to love their wives “as Christ loved the Church” (Ephesians 5:25).  Husbands who love their wives like Christ will not beat them and batter them.

Finally, Paul specifically commands husbands NOT to be harsh with their wives (Colossians 3:19).  That is right in the context of the submission command.  Paul is not encouraging abuse at all.

It is true that Ephesians 5 has been used to justify violence against women.  It has been used to justify abuse but that is just using the Bible to justify sin.  People do that all of the time.  They use the Bible to justify all kinds of sins (e.g., homosexuality).

4. The fourth myth is that biblical submission degrades women

Does the Bible oppress women?  Is it a sexist and misogynist book?  Does it teach that women are inferior to men?  Was Paul a male chauvinist?  No.

This is an easy question to answer.  Ephesians 5 says, “Wives submit to your husbands” but it does NOT say “Women submit to men.”  All men are not in authority over all women.  The Bible actually teaches gender equality and so does Paul.

The Bible teaches that men and women are equal in CREATION. Both are created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (ESV).  God gave them both dominion over the earth.  Both were told to subdue the earth and have dominion over it (Genesis 1:28)

It teaches that they are equal in SALVATION.  Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Both are fellow heirs of the grace of life (I Peter 3:7). In the body of Christ, everyone is equal.

If men and women and equal, why are husbands the head and why do wives have to submit to husbands?  Why are husbands never told to submit to wives?  Submission has nothing to do with intelligence.  It has nothing to do with giftedness.  It has nothing to do with spirituality.  Husbands and wives are equal before God but have different roles in the home.

Many think that submission by definition implies inferiority.  It doesn’t.  Jesus practiced all kinds of submission while He was on earth.  His entire life was a life of submission.

He submitted to the will of the Father to come to the earth.  He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 6:38 ESV).”  Jesus was equal to the Father and yet He submitted to Him.  Jesus submitted to his parents when he was a teenager (Luke 2:51).  He was greater than his parents, but he still submitted to them because they were his parents.

He submitted to human government.  He submitted to the Romans.  He did not start a revolution against Rome.  He submitted to execution.  He submitted to all of the scourging and the crucifixion on a cross, when He could have stopped the entire thing.  He submitted to things that were painful and unpleasant.  Submission is a character of Jesus.  When you submit, you act like Jesus.

Doesn’t the fact that “the husband is the head of the wife” (Ephesians 5:23) imply the wife is inferior to the husband?  No.  Jesus also had a head and that did not make him inferior.  His head was God and yet Jesus is not inferior to God.  He is equal to God.  Paul also said that “The head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (I Corinthians 11:3).

Authority is not bad.  Paul says that everyone has a head.  Men have a head.  Women have a head and Christ has a head.  The head of man is Christ.  The head of the woman is the man[6] and the head of Christ is God.

Ephesians 5 does teach male headship and female submission but even in Ephesians 5, there is a hint of equality.  Paul  says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31 ESV).

That is a quotation from Genesis 2:24. Paul says that we are members of one body (Ephesians 5:30).  There is complete unity in the body of Christ.  Everyone is equal.

Even though there is a head in the marriage relationship, marriage is also a one-flesh union between to equals.  Even though there is a hierarchy in marriage (headship), there is also a oneness in marriage.  There is a difference of roles in marriage but there is also an equality in marriage.

5. The fifth myth is that biblical submission is just for women

Many think that submission is the one thing that women have to do that no one else has to do.  Submission is the woman’s job.  That is not true.  Every believer is under submission to someone.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment (Romans 13:1-2 ESV)

Who is supposed to be subject to every authority established by God?  EVERY PERSON.

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people (I Peter 2:13-15 ESV)

Then, in the next chapter, Peter says, “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands” (I Peter 3:1 ESV).  We do not just have to submit to secular government but also to law enforcement, church leaders (elders, pastors), to our employers and to Christ Himself.  Everyone submits to someone at some level or another.

[1] https://stmatthewbt.org/2018/08/25/the-most-hated-verse-in-the-bible-ephesians-522-33/

[2] Feminists point out that the word “submit” is not in the Greek text in Ephesians 5:22 but that is misleading. Some Greek texts do not have the word “submit” in it (UBS) but other text do have it (MT).  Even if it is not found there, all scholars agree that it is implied by Ephesians 5:21.  Furthermore, Colossians 3:18, a parallel passage, does have the Greek word “submit” (ὑποτάσσεσθε) in it.

[3] This is from a spoken recording of John Gerstner from thirty years ago.  Unfortunately, I do not remember the specific message it came from.

[4] John Piper says, “A wife’s submission to the authority of civil law, for Christ’s sake, may, therefore, overrule her submission to a husband’s demand that she endure his injuries.”

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/clarifying-words-on-wife-abuse

[5] https://www.foxnews.com/us/michigan-mosque-leader-explains-wife-beating-as-a-means-to-remind-the-woman-that-she-misbehaved.  See also https://www.foxnews.com/world/husband-can-hit-wife-children-if-no-marks-left-uae-says.

[6] Eve was created from Adam’s body.  She was made from his side.  As Paul put it, “woman was made from man” (I Corinthians 11:12 ESV).

Filled With the Spirit

We are studying the Book of Ephesians and are in chapter five.  This is one of the most practical sections of the whole book.  It deals with practical Christianity where the rubber meets the road.  It deals with how to live the Christian life at home, in your marriage and on the job.  Our topic for today is the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Every Christian needs to know what the Bible says about the filling of the Spirit.  The great tragedy of the church today is that many Christians are not filled with the Holy Spirit and do not know much about it.  Many Christians are not Spirit-filled, at least not on a regular basis.

You can be baptized and not be Spirit-filled.  You can be a Christian for forty years and not be Spirit filled. You can get a degree from a seminary and not be filled with the Spirit.  You can be a church leader and not be Spirit-filled.

If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you have no power to live the Christian life.  You have no power to resist sin.  You have no power to minister.  You have no power to use your spiritual gifts the way God intended.  You have no power to witness.  You have no power to be a godly husband or a godly wife.

The filling of the Holy Spirit is found all through the Bible.  It is in the OT.  It is in the NT.  Ephesians 5:18 is the one passage in the NT where it is commanded for Christians.   What exactly does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?  What does that look like?  What do Spirit-filled believers do?

There are many false ideas about the filling of the Spirit.  Some charismatics teach that if you do not speak in tongues, you are not filled with the Spirit.  Jesus was filled with the Spirit.  Luke says that He was “full of the Spirit” (Luke 4:1).  Jesus said, “The Spirit is upon me because he has anointed me to preach” (Luke 4:18).  John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit.  The Bible says he was filled with the Spirit before he was even born (Luke 1:15) but neither one of them spoke in tongues.

Paul wrote most of the NT.  He mentions the filling of the Holy Spirit only one time and that is here in Ephesians 5 and he doesn’t say anything about speaking in tongues in this chapter.   You don’t have to be a Pentecostal to be filled with the Spirit.

On the other hand, you can be filled with the Spirit and speak in tongues.  The filling of the Spirit has many different manifestations.

Acts 2:4 says, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit” (NIV).

Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied (Luke 1:67 NIV).

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31 NIV).

What does it mean?  Let’s begin with what the verse says and make a few observations.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18 ESV).

Exegetical Outline

Two things clearly stand out in Ephesians 5:18 when you first read the verse.

1) The COMPARISON

The Holy Spirit is compared to alcoholic beverages.  Liquid spirits are compared to the Holy Spirit.  That seems a little strange.  For many, wine has a negative connotation. How can the Holy Spirit be compared to sin (drunkenness)?  Why would Paul ever make such a comparison?  We will find out.

2) The COMMANDS

These are commands, not suggestions.  God does not say, “It would be a really good idea if you do this. It will greatly help your spiritual life.”  These are not suggestions.  Ephesians 5:18 has two commands to obey.

There are two of them.  Don’t be drunk with wine and be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The first command is negative (Don’t be drunk with wine). The second command is positive (be filled with the Holy Spirit).

Both are binding today and both are important.  We take the first one seriously.  We wouldn’t want people staggering into church completely drunk.  That would be terrible but many people in church are not filled with the Spirit.  In some cases, it is even the church leaders and it is not a big deal.  It is the normal way of doing things in some churches.

Do Not be Drunk with Wine

The first command is not to be drunk with wine.  Why did Paul have to tell the Ephesians this?  He told them this because believers COULD get drunk with wine.  We can fall into any sin.  We do not become sinless after salvation.  Abraham lied.  David committed adultery.  He also committed murder.  Peter cursed.  He swore.  Noah got drunk.  Lot got drunk.  None were immune from these sins and they were believers.  In fact, some of them were mature believers.  Noah walked with God for six hundred years before this happened.

Notice what Paul did NOT say.  He did NOT say, “Don’t drink wine.”  Many Baptists today say, “Don’t drink wine.”  That is part of other religions as well (e.g, Mormons., Muslims).  Paul said, “Don’t be drunk with wine.”  Paul was not a Baptist.  He was a Jew.

Many believe drinking alcohol is a sin.  Many say if you are a follower of Jesus, you should stay away from all alcohol and give all kinds of reasons, but Paul drank wine.  Jesus drank wine.  Wine was part of Jewish culture.  They drink wine at Passover.  Jews drink wine at weddings and still do to this day.  Jesus’s first miracle was to turn water into wine.

It is embarrassing in some churches to admit that this was Jesus’ first miracle.  His first miracle was an act of creation.  He could have turned water into any drink (e.g., sweet tea) but He turned it into wine but not just any wine.

He turned it into really good wine, what the master of the banquet called “the best wine” (John 2:10) and He made a lot of it.  There were six huge water pots full of water turned into wine.  Scholars tell us that these six water pots contained up to one hundred and fifty gallons of water.  One hundred and fifty gallons would be about seven hundred and thirty bottles of wine.

The rule for deacons is that they not be given to much wine (I Timothy 3:8).  The same qualification is given for people who want to be elders (I Timothy 3:3).  Not only are Christians allowed to drink, so are church leaders.  They are just not to drink too much of it.  That is rarely preached today in churches.  What the Bible condemns is drunkenness. The Bible says some strong things about drunkenness.

The Bible on Drunkenness

1. Drunkenness is a serious sin

The Bible calls drunkenness a sin. The world calls it a disease.  It calls it a disorder.  Mental health professionals call it “alcohol abuse disorder” (AUD).  God calls it sin.  The world calls it “substance abuse.”  Alcoholics just have an addiction.  God calls it “a work of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19-20.  Paul calls it “a deed of darkness” in Romans 13:12-14.  Some may be more susceptible to it genetically but there is also a choice involved.

2. Drunkenness has serious consequences.

It has consequences in this life.  It has serious consequences in the next life.

It has PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES. (cf. Proverbs 23:32-35).  It is linked to over two hundred diseases and health issues.[1]

It has FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES.  People have lost their job because of their addiction to alcohol.

It has SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES.   It causes marriage problems and family problems.

It has SOCIETAL CONSEQUENCES.   It impairs judgment and causes drunk driving which kills innocent people.

It causes MORAL CONSEQUENCES.  People do crazy things then they are drunk.

It also has ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES.   It has consequences in the next life.  It sends people to hell.  How do we know?  Paul says that drunkards will NOT inherit the kingdom of God.  In fact, he says it TWICE (I Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21).  It is not some minor sin.  How many people go to hell because of alcohol?

3. Drunkards can be saved

God can completely transform an alcoholic or a drug addict by His Spirit.  Jesus came to preach liberty to the captives.  He came to proclaim freedom for prisoners.  He came to set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18).  He can save crackheads.  He can save prostitutes.  He can save alcoholics.

Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

Now we come to the second part of the verse: Be filled with the Holy Spirit.  This also is a command.  Now, this is interesting.  We are NOT commanded to be sealed by the Holy Spirit.  We are NOT commanded to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  We are NOT commanded to be baptized by the Holy Spirit.  We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?  It means to be influenced or controlled by the Holy Spirit.  How do we know?  There is a direct parallel in that verse with alcohol.  In fact, three time in the NT there is a direct comparison between alcohol and the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18; Luke 1:15; Acts 2:1-15).

The Holy Spirit and Wine

There are many symbols in the Bible of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is compared to oil.  Kings in the OT were anointed with oil (I Samuel 10:1).  Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38).  The Holy Spirit is compared to fire (Matthew 3:11; Acts 2:3-4).  The Holy Spirit is compared to wind (John 3:8; Ezekiel 37:9-14).  The Holy Spirit is compared to water (Isaiah 44:3; John 3:5; 7:37-39).  The Holy Spirit is also compared to wine and even to drunkenness but there are some differences between the two.

Differences

Alcohol is drug that you can see.  The Holy Spirit is a person that you cannot see.  One is physical and one is invisible.

Drunkenness makes you lose control of your body and your mind.  The Holy Spirit puts you in control.  Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.

Drunkenness leads to moral depravity.  It leads to debauchery.  The filling of the Holy Spirit leads to holiness and righteousness

You can get too much of alcohol, but you can never get too much of the Holy Spirit.

Similarities

In both cases, you are controlled by something else (another substance or another person).  In both cases, you are “under the influence” of something else.

In both cases, that person or substance which controls you, is inside you.

In both cases, the result is a change in behavior.  One is a good change and one is a bad change.  A person who is drunk says and does things that he or she would not normally do.  The same is true of someone who is filled with the Spirit.

In both cases, people did something for this to happen.  You do not get drunk automatically.  You have to do something to get drunk.  You have to do some things to be filled with the Spirit.

Holy Spirit Filling Basics

1) Filling is for every believer

It is a command for us.  That means it is also possible. God does not give us a command that is impossible.  It is the will of God for every Christian.  It should be the normal experience of every believer.  It should not be exceptional or rare.

Any believer can do it. You don’t have to be a special Christian to be filled with the Spirit.  You don’t have to be a deacon or elder.  You don’t have to go to seminary.  You don’t have to know Greek and Hebrew.  You don’t have to be saved for fifty years.  You can be a baby Christian and be filled with the Spirit.

2) Filling is to be repeated

We should be filled constantly.  Filling with the Spirit is something that is repeated.  The word “filled” is in the present tense in Greek.  It is a present imperative.  Present tense in Greek usually refers to continuous action.  It is not a one-time event.  Peter and John were filled with the Spirit in Acts 2.  They were filled again in Acts 4.  Every day, we are to be filled with the Spirit.

Just because you were filled with the Holy Spirit yesterday does not guarantee that you will be filled with the Spirit today.  You do not stay filled, any more than you stay drunk.  You have to keep on drinking to get drunk again.

3) Filling can happen anywhere

You can be filled with the Spirit in church.  Preachers can be filled with the Spirit.  Missionaries can be filled with the Spirit but filling of the Spirit is for daily living.  You can be filled with the Spirit at home (mothers and fathers, husbands and wives).  You can be filled with the Spirit on the job.  It is for life and for ministry.

How to be Filled with the Spirit

We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit and are to do it every day.  How do we do it?  Let me suggest four ways.

1) Pray

We should pray to be filled with the Spirit.  The command is passive in Greek, not active.  We do NOT fill ourselves.  We are acted upon.  It happens TO us.  God is the one who does the filling.  He is the source of the filling.  Ask God to fill you. That is a prayer that God will answer.  It is a prayer that is accordance to His will.  It is a biblical prayer.

2) Confess your sins

We do it by not living in unconfessed sin. If we live according to the flesh, like the world lives, we will not be filled with the Spirit.  If we live a life of disobedience to God’s Word, we will not be filled with the Spirit.  If we quench or grieve the Spirit, we will not be filled with the Spirit.  We cannot be filled with the Spirit when we are sinning against the Spirit.

3) Yield to the Holy Spirit.

We do it by surrendering to the Holy Spirit.  We do get filled with the Spirit by getting more of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is not a divine liquid.  First, we get the Spirit’s arm.  Then we get the Spirit’s leg.  Some Christians do not have more of the Spirit (e.g., Pentecostal Christians) than other Christians.  If we are saved, we already have ALL of the Holy Spirit.  We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We all have the Spirit, but does the Spirit have all of us?

4) Fill yourself with Scripture.

To obey the Holy Spirit, we also need to know and obey the Scriptures.  We can see this clearly by a parallel passage.

Ephesians 5:18-20 says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV)

Colossians 3:16-17 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (ESV).

The books of Ephesians and Colossians were both written by Paul about the same time and they use some of the same language.  These two passages both mentions psalms, hymns, spiritual songs.  They both mention thankfulness.

They both mention doing it in the name of Jesus but being filled with the Spirit is clearly parallel with letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly.  One way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with Scripture.  “The Spirit-filled man is a Word-filled man,” as John MacNeil once said.  He was a 19th century Australian evangelist who wrote a book called The Spirit-Filled Life

Results of Holy Spirit Filling

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV)

If you notice, Ephesians 5:18 does not end with a period.  It ends with a comma.  The sentence does not end until the end of Ephesians 5:21.  After telling believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit, he tells us what this looks like.  Paul mentions four results of Holy Spirit filling.  It is four participles in Greek (four verbal adjectives). Two of the four have to do with music.

1) Spirit-Filled Music.

If we are Spirit-filled, we will speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, not only music but all kinds of different music.  We should not have music wars in the church and be divided over music.  Martin Luther said, “next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.”  He also said, “Music drives the devil away.”

2) Spirit-Filled Worship

If you are Spirit-filled, you will sing and make melody to the Lord with your heart.  This does not even mention singing with your lips but with your heart.  Not all of us are musical but we should all have music in our soul.  This music is to the Lord.  Some sing just to be heard by others.  This is music to the Lord.  It is one thing to do this when things are going good.  It is another thing to do this when tings are going bad.

3) Spirit-Filled Thanksgiving

This Is not ordinary thanksgiving.  This is “giving thanks ALWAYS and FOR EVERYTHING to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   There is a big difference between what I Thessalonians 5:18 says and what Ephesians 5:19 says.

I Thessalonians 5:18 says that we are to thank God IN all things.  Ephesians 5:19 says that we are to  thank God FOR all things and that we are to do it always (Ephesians 5:19).  How many do that?  How many thank God for that bad things that happen to us? That requires Holy spirit filling.

4) Spirit-Filled Submission

A fourth result of the filling of the Holy Spirit shows up in relationships.  It shows up in how we relate to people in our marriage, in our family, and on the job.  This spirit is the exact opposite of pride and arrogance.  Submission will be out topic for next week.

[1] https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-treatment/physical-health

 

Four Kinds of Christians

We are studying the Book of Ephesians.  Today, we will be looking at four types of unbiblical Christians from Ephesians 5:8-17.  Churches are full of these kinds of Christians.  They are found in every denomination.  These are four bad role models in the church today.  What are the four?  They are Carnal Christians, Silent Christians, Sleeping Christians and Ignorant Christians.  The question for us to think about is this:  Are you one of them?

Carnal Christians

This is the first danger in a church.  Paul wrote a letter to a whole church that was worldly.  It was the church of Corinth.  We have worldly churches today or carnal Christians (as Paul called them in I Corinthians).  They live after the flesh.  Those types of Christians will ruin a church.

A worldly Christian is is a person who is saved but still lives like the world.  They look and act like the world.  They think like the world.  I have talked to some Christians who think like the world in the area of politics on some moral issues.  These are issues that all Christians should agree on.

Many Christians do not really know what the Bible says.  They have not been taught the Scriptures.  They do not follow what God says.  They follow what society says and what everyone else is doing.  They follow what is politically correct.

The church today often looks exactly like the world (gay churches, gay pastors).  In many cases, it is really hard to tell believers apart from non-believers.  They look the same.  They listen to the same music.  They use the same language.  They have the same entertainment.  They have marriage problems just like unbelievers. The divorce rates are the same.

The Bible says that we are to be different from the world.  We saw that a few weeks ago.  God’s people in the OT were to be different from the Canaanites.  They were to be different from the Egyptians. Believers in the NT are to be different from the world as well. Are you a worldly Christian?  Is there any difference between you and the unsaved people around you?  There should be.  There should be a big difference.  Paul uses the metaphor of light and darkness in Ephesians 5 to show this difference.  It actually tells us several things.

Light and Darkness

What does it say to us today?  Five things stand out from our passage in Ephesians.

1) There are two types of people in the world

We can put people into all kinds of different boxes (race, nationality, religion) but everyone falls into only two categories.   Paul sees everything black and white, except he calls it darkness and light.  Everyone is either darkness or light.  There is no middle ground.  There are only two types of people in the world today: saved and unsaved.  Paul didn’t believe in universalism.  He did not believe that everyone was saved. he believed that some people were darkness and some people were light.

Notice what Paul says and does not say here.  He does NOT say that Christians are children of the light and unbelievers are children of darkness.  He says that the unsaved ARE darkness and Christians ARE light.  Notice Ephesians 5:8 For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (ESV)The unbelievers were not just in darkness.  They were darkness.

Every unsaved person, no matter how moral is spiritually dark.  The unsaved do not know God and follow the prince of darkness.  Paul said earlier that they were darkened in their understanding (Ephesians 4:18).  People who are saved are not just in the light.  They are light because they have Jesus inside them.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14 ESV).

2) These two types of people are completely opposite

They are complete opposites.  You cannot have anything more opposite than day and night or light and darkness or black and white.  They have nothing in common.  Paul said, “What fellowship does light have with darkness?” (II Corinthians 6:14 CSB).  They are so opposite that they cannot be at the same place at the same time.

Light and darkness cannot coexist in the same place.  If you walk in a dark room, a room that is pitch black, and turn on a light switch, what happens to the darkness?  It is gone.  It vanishes, because you cannot have the two together.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not put it out (John 1:5).

Saved people and unsaved people are polar opposites.  One has an old heart and one has a new heart.  One was born once, and one was born twice.  One is headed to heaven and one is headed to hell.  One is a child of God and one is child of the devil.  One has their sins forgiven and one stand guilty before God in his or her sins.

3) Change is possible to the most darkened heart

For you were once DARKNESS, but now you are light in the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8).

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9 ESV)

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Colossians 1:13 ESV). God change the most hardened sinner.

4) Salvation always produces some kind of fruit

For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:9-10 ESV).  Light has some fruit.  There are some signs that it has taken place.  If you are saved, there will be some evidence of it in your life. Jesus said, “by their fruits, you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16).  Paul tells us what the fruit of light is.  He gives three signs.  What are they?  GOODNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUTH.

If a person demonstrates these three signs, it is an evidence of light, not darkness.  If we children of the light, we should go around doing good to people, not evil.  Are we kind and compassionate to people?  We should live righteous lives, not wicked and immoral lives.  Are we godly?  We should be people of absolute truth, not dishonest people who lie.  Are we people of personal integrity?

Paul’s point is this.  Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8-9 ESV)If we are saved, we should not live like the unsaved.  We should not live like children of darkness.  How do they live?  Paul has already mentioned six things in this chapter.  We talked about them last week.  Four of the six had to do with sex.  You can read the lesson from last week.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (I John 1:5-7 ESV).

Silent Christians

One of the biggest dangers in the church today is silent Christians.  They are quiet.  They never open their mouths for Christ.  No one even knows they are believers.  They are believers in secret. John describes some who believed in Jesus IN SECRET (John 12:42)

God does not want us to be secret believers.  We are supposed to be light in a dark world and our light is to shine for people to see.  Jesus said, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house” (Matthew 5:15 ESV).

What does Ephesians 5 have to say about being vocal and taking a stand.  It says that we are to expose certain things, not ignore them or accept them but EXPOSE them.

11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. (Ephesians 5:11-14 ESV)

Exposing the Works of Darkness

Ephesians 5:11 says, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”  It is an important verse on separation.  It is also a verse that has been greatly abused in fundamentalist churches.  Some have used it as a reason to separate from the Catholic Church.

It is not a verse about separating from this person or that person.  This verse doesn’t say anything about that.  It is not talking about separation from PEOPLE.  It is talking about separation from SIN (the unfruitful works of darkness).

Paul says that we are not only to AVOID the works of darkness.  We are to EXPOSE the works of darkness. We are not merely to ABSTAIN from sinful practices.  We are to REPROVE them.  It is not enough just to abstain from these things.  They must be exposed, expose the evil of abortion, expose human trafficking and slavery.  How do you do expose darkness?

Darkness is exposed by light (Ephesians 5:13).  To get rid of darkness, all we must do is to turn on the light.  When you turn on a light in a dark room, the darkness disappears.  Some preachers, some very good preachers, use this verse to teach that the way we expose evil is just by living a godly life, just by being a silent witness.

The argument is that darkness is not driven away by preaching at it but by the presence of light.  We do not dispel the darkness by discussing it or even fighting it.”[1] As J. Vernon McGee says, “Darkness is not dissipated by lecturing or preaching.  Darkness is dissipated by light.”[2]  He says that we do not need to have campaigns against the darkness.  We just need to turn on the light.

Is he right?  No.  The word translated “expose” (ἐλέγχω) means to reprove or rebuke in many passages (Luke 3:19; I Timothy 5:20; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:15; Hebrews 12:5; Revelation 3:19).

We are supposed to be light in a dark world and people should see our godly example but there is something else that is a light.  God’s Word is a light for our feet and a lamp for our path (Psalm 119:105).  It is a LIGHT and it is a LAMP.

We can shine the light of God’s Word in a dark world.   God’s Word illuminates the darkness.  It lights our path.  It tells us what is right and what is wrong.  It tells us how to live.  One of the purposes of the Bible is for REBUKING and CORRECTING (II Timothy 3:16).

One of the biggest dangers of the modern church today is that preachers do not preach against sin.  They do not preach against sin because it is not popular.  That is one of the reasons revivals no longer take place.  No one talks about sin anymore.

Some say that it is not our job to tell the world how to live.  They are unsaved.  We don’t expect them to live like saints.  They are unsaved and Jesus said not to judge people.  If that is the case, why did John the Baptist rebuke King Herod for his adultery?  Why did the OT prophets preach against sin?  Why does Paul expose the false teachers in his day and even name names?

Do some do this rather harshly today?  Yes.  Some preachers rail against sin from the pulpit.  They scream at the top of their lungs, raving about the sin around them.  Ephesians says that we are to speak the truth IN LOVE (Ephesians 4:15).

Sleeping Christians

These are what I call “Rip Van Winkle Christians.”  Rip Van Winkle is a famous story published in the 1800s by Washington Irving.  It was about a man who drank some wine and fell asleep.  He slept for twenty years.  When we woke up, everything had changed.  He grew a long beard.  He goes into the village and does not recognized people.  He finds out that his wife had died.

There are some modern-day Rip Van Winkles in the church today.The elders are asleep. The pastors are asleep. The deacons are all asleep.  You can be genuinely saved and spiritually asleep.  You can be a baptized and be asleep.  You can be a member of a local church and be asleep.  You can even be a church leader and be asleep.

How do you know if you are a sleepy Christian?  Sleepy Christians have no fire or passion.  They have no zeal.  They are dull and apathetic.  They are not excited about studying the Bible.  They are not excited about prayer.  They are not excited about ministry.  They are not excited about evangelism, leading people to Christ.They are not bothered much by sin, even sin in the church.  They have become desensitized to sin.  They have no idea about the spiritual warfare that is going on all around them.  Sleepy people are not aware of things that are going on around them. Sleepy Christians live like the world.

Paul talks about this in Romans.  He talks about it in Ephesians.  He talks about it in I Thessalonians.  He talks about this topic at least three times.

Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14 ESV)

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you bare not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children 2 of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (I Thessalonians 5:3-8 ESV)

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:11-14 ESV)

Does this describe you?  Are you asleep?  Do you need to be woken up?  Do some entire churches need to be woken up?

Ignorant Christians

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV)

This is a huge problem in the church today.  It is a big problem because it is often encouraged by preachers.  Almost all preachers love to rail against knowledge like it bad.  Wisdom is good but knowledge is bad.  Knowledge puffs up.  Love builds up (I Corinthians 8:1).  Are they right?  No.

The Book of Proverbs says that fools hate knowledge (Proverbs 1:22).  It says that the wise man not only stores up knowledge (Proverbs 10:14) but seeks knowledge (Proverbs 15:14; 18:15 ).  We are to add to our faith knowledge (II Peter 1:5).  Knowledge is good and wisdom is good.  God gave spiritual gifts of knowledge (I Corinthians 12:8).  He gave spiritual gifts of wisdom (I Corinthians 12:8). God does not want us to be ignorant.  He wants believers to walk in wisdom.

In Ephesians 4, Paul told us to walk worthy of the vocation to which were were called? (Ephesians 4:1) How do you do that?  First, we are to walk in UNITY, because of all of the things we have in common, such as one faith, one baptism, one body (Ephesians 4:3-6).  Second, we are to walk in LOVE, because we are beloved children (Ephesians 5:1).Third, we are to walk in PURITY, because we are saints and certain things are not fitting for saints (Ephesians 5:3-7).

Fourth, we are to walk in LIGHT, because we are light (Ephesians 5:8-14).  Fifth, we are to walk in WISDOM, because we have the Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-21). That will be our topic for next week.  What does it mean to walk in wisdom?  Paul mentions two areas – time management and the will of God.

Time Management

Paul says that we should make the best use of the time, because our deeds are evil (Ephesians 5:16).  The KJV says “redeem the time.”  That is a literal translation of ἐξαγοράζω, but it is misleading.  We do not have to buy time.  We already have it.  We are born into this world with time.[3] How do we do it?

One, we make good use of our time.  This does not mean that we can never spend any time on recreation or do anything fun, but it does mean that time is important and we should not waste it.  How many of us do that?How many of us fritter away days, weeks, months?  How many hours a day do we spend watching TV, playing video games, spending time on Facebook or on our phones?  That is a big problem today.  It is a big problem for Christians.

When we think of stewardship, we think of money but we also need to steward our time.  We should make the best use of our time.  Paul says that we should make the best use of our time, not just because our days are short but because our days are evil.  We live in a fallen world. The NIV says “make the most of every opportunity.

Sometimes God puts opportunities right in front of us every day and we do not take advantage of them.Sometimes we do not even see them.  He may put an opportunity to minister to someone.  He may put an opportunity to witness to someone.  He may put an opportunity to help someone out financially.  He may put an opportunity to encourage  someone.  We need to pray that every day God would use us and that we would use every opportunity to serve Him in any way we can.

The Will of God

Nothing is more important that for us know the will of God for our life and to submit to it.[4] Every young Christian asks the question, What is the will of God for my life?  Who do I marry?  Where do I go to school?  What should I major it?  What should I do with my life?  It is one of the most important questions we should ask after we are saved.

Many think that there is no way to know God’s will.  The truth is that God wants us to know His will and you can know it.  Paul says that we can understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:17).  Paul could not say this if it was impossible to find His will. In fact, can we know the will of God but we are commanded to know it.Ephesians 5:17 is a command but Paul is not dealing here with all of the specifics.

He wants believers to know God’s moral will for their life.  He is not dealing with whether you should be a plumber or a politician. He is not dealing with morally neutral issues.  He is dealing with black and white issues.  Knowing the will of God in this passage is being able to discern what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:10)

Can we do that today?  Yes.  We have God’s Word and we have God’s Spirit living inside us.  All of us can know the will of God.

[1]https://sandyadams.org/media/pdf/2348.pdf

[2] J. Vernon McGee, Ephesians, 143.

[3] The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible (POSB), II, p. 1207.

[4] John M. Fowler, Ephesians: Chosen in Christ, 96.

Lies Christians Believe

We are studying the book of Ephesians and we come to a very important chapter in the book. It is very important.  It is very practical.  It deals with sexual sins.  It deals with marriage and some other topics.  Chuck Missler calls this ‘the X-rated section of the book”.  We are going to spend several weeks on this chapter.

Imitating God

The chapter begins with a strange verse.  Therefore be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1 ESV)The KJV says “be followers of God” but the Greek is even stronger.  Be imitators of God.  The Greek word translated “imitators” is the word μιμητής from which we get the word “mimic” in English.

This is the only time in the Bible we are told to imitate God.  We are told to imitate Jesus in other places but this is the only time we are told to imitate God and it is a command in Greek.  It is a present imperative.  It is something that we are to do all of the time.

How do you do imitate God. How do you mimic God, not just study God or worship God or meditate on God but copy Him?  How is that even possible?  There are some ways that we cannot imitate God.  We are not all-powerful.  We are not all-knowing.  We are not everywhere present.  What is this talking about?  Let’s read the rest of the verse.  Therefore be imitators of God, AS BELOVED CHILDREN.

Everyone imitates someone.  Every since we were little, there were always people that we wanted to be like and follow.  There are good and bad role models. Children also imitate their parents.  They not only look like their parents, they act like their parents.  How are we to act like God?  How can we act like God?  There are many ways.

1) We are to imitate God in forgiveness

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32 ESV).  God forgave us our sins and we are to forgive people who sin against us.  We are to forgive like God. We are to forgive people who do not deserve to be forgiven.  God forgives people who have broken His laws, and blasphemed His name.

2) We are to imitate God in love

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV).  God loved us when we were unloving. He loved us when we were sinners.  We are to copy God, not copy the world when it comes to love or copy Hollywood but copy God.  We are to love other people the way God loves us.  God does not just love people.  He loves His enemies.  That is radical love.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48 ESV).

3) We are to imitate God in holiness

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (I Peter 1:15-16 NIV).  Here is another way we are to be like God.  We are to be like him in holiness.  God is light and in him is NO darkness at all (I John 1:5).  God wants us to live holy lives.  He wants us to live uphold the family name.

Six Common Lies in the Church

That brings us to Ephesians 5:3-7.  Today, we will be looking at these verses from the vantage point of lies Christians believe. There are lies in the world and there are lies in the church, not in every church but there are people who profess to be Christians and claim to believe the Bible but believe some crazy things and say some crazy things.

There were people like that in Paul’s day and there are people like that today.  Some of them are common in the church.  We want to look at six common lies Christians believe. We want to look at the lie and we want to look at what God’s Word teaches.  The question for us is this:  What lies are you believing?

Lie One: Everyone will inherit the kingdom

Paul could have said that but he didn’t.  That is what universalism teaches that one day everybody will be saved but that is not what the Bible teaches.  It teaches that some will enter the kingdom and some will be excluded.

and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (II Thessalonians 1:7-9 ESV)

11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:11-12 ESV).  Here we have some reclining at the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and some excluded.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 22:11-13 ESV)

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:14-15 NIV).  Here we have some inside the city and some outside the city.  The cats are inside and the dogs are outside the city.

Everyone says the same thing.  Paul says it.  Jesus says it.  John says it.  There are two groups of people in eternity.  There will be some in the kingdom and some excluded from the kingdom.  There will be some in the new Jerusalem and some outside the city.  They are not just excluded but punished (weeping and gnashing of teeth, outer darkness) away from the presence of the Lord.

Lie Two: Immorality is not a big deal

The world says it is not a big deal and some in the church say the same thing.  Immorality is not a big deal in the world today.  That is what our culture says.  That is what the world says.  It has become socially acceptable.  They say that it is perfectly normal.  It is natural.  It is popular.  Everyone is doing it.  It is fun.  It is legal.  In fact, it is celebrated in the world.

Some Christians also act like it is not that big of a deal.  We are going to heaven, so it doesn’t matter how we live.  If you are a Christian, it does not matter what you do.  You can commit rape or murder, but you will still go to heaven.  There are many who teach this.  What is wrong with this teaching?

Paul taught the exact opposite of what some people say today. He said that God’s wrath comes on people because of these sins.  He taught that you cannot inherit the kingdom because of these sins.  He said, “EVERYONE who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has NO inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5 ESV).

Paul mentions three sins or types of sinners in that verse. If you are not guilty of any of them, don’t pat yourself on the back too soon.  Paul mentions this list two other times and adds more sins to the list (I Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21).

Does this mean that if a person ever commits these sins, he can never be saved?  No.  Some people in the Bible did some of these things.  David committed adultery and murder.  Will he be in heaven?  Yes.  What is the difference?

Paul is not talking about an occasional sin.  He is talking about habitual sin.  He is talking about a lifestyle of sin, a lifestyle characterized by sexual immorality, impurity or greed.  Paul does NOT say that these sins are unpardonable.  Jesus said that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven (Matthew 12:31).  There is only one unpardonable sin and it is not a sexual sin.  It is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32).

God can save murderers.   God can save child molesters.  God can save prostitutes.  God can save adulterers.  God can save homosexuals.  God can save everyone WHO REPENTS.  Paul is not dealing with a person who falls into sin, feels bad about it and repents.  He is talking about a person who lives a sinful lifestyle on a daily basis, doesn’t feel bad about, doesn’t repent and in fact tries to justify it and excuse his or her behavior, and even thinks he or she is saved.

Lie Three: Christianity is just about a relationship

How many times have we heard the words that Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus?  It is not about rules.  It is not about a bunch of do’s and don’ts. It is not about an outward conformity to a moral code.  That is religion.  We are under grace, not law.  Is there any truth to this?  Yes.

What is the problem?  It is not an either-or.  Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus but that does not mean that we do not have any rules or any commandments to follow.  In fact, that is part of the relationship with Jesus.

Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15 NIV).  He said, “You are my friends IF you do what I command” (John 15:14 NIV).  Just because you have a relationship with your spouse, does not mean that you can do whatever you want in marriage.

Paul gives some rules for Christians.  He says that there are all kinds of things that we are not only to do but are not to be named among us.  He mentions three WORDS and he mentions three WORKS.  They are not fitting for Christians.  They are fitting for the world.  They are not fitting for the saints.

Unfortunately, many Christians have not followed what Paul said.  The truth is that it is named among some Christians.  Immorality has even been named among some pastors today.  That is why what Paul said here is badly needed in the church today.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.  (Ephesians 5:3 ESV).

What are the THREE WORKS?  The works are immorality, impurity and greed.  All of them do not deal with sex but two of the three are sexual sins.  God hates sexual immorality. In many ways, immorality is far worse today than it was in Paul’s day. Gay marriage did not exist in Paul’s day.

Pornography was not as readily available as it is today because of modern technology.  In fact, the word for “an immoral person” in Ephesians 5:5 (ESV) is the Greek word πόρνος.  The word for “sexual immorality” in Ephesians 5:3 (ESV) is πορνεία.  The word “pornography comes from those two Greek words.

You might expect the first two to be on the list, but greed is also on the list.  We do not think that greed is that serious. It is the American Way.  It is part of the American Dream.  Greed made it on God’s Top Ten list.  In fact, that sin is mentioned right next to sexual sins.  Are you greedy?  There are some greedy preachers.  A greedy person is never satisfied.  No matter how much you give them, they always want more and more.  Paul calls greed idolatry (Ephesians 5:5).  We were not told that in the OT but Paul tells us that here.

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:4 ESV)

What are the THREE WORDS?  The words are filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking.  The first type of words he mentions are obscene words, dirty talk.  The last type that he mentions are dirty jokes, crude jokes.

Paul is not saying if you are a Christian that you can’t have a sense of humor.  He is not saying that it is a sin to tell a joke.  God has a sense of humor.  He must have.  He created both the giraffe and monkeys, as Ivan French used to say.  We have a sense of human and we are created in the image of God but some type of humor is sinful.  We should never joke about sin.  We should not laugh at it.

Notice what is between dirty words and dirty jokes.  It is not overtly sinful talk, just silly talk, stupid talk, saying dumb things.  How many Christians are guilty of silly talk?  We call it “fellowship.”  Jesus said that every word we will give an account.  Instead, we should be characterized by thanksgiving.  Are we characterized by thankfulness?  How often do we thank God for things?  Do we do it once a week?  Do we do it every day?  Do we do it several times a day?

Lie Four: God is not mad at anyone

Joyce Meyer wrote a book entitled, God is Not Mad at You.  This is a very common error in the church today.  God is not mad at you.  He is not mad at anyone.  God hates the sin but He loves the sinner.  What is wrong with that teaching?

It is not biblical.  It is the Gospel of Oprah.  God loves you.  He has a beautiful plan for you life and He’s not mad at you.  If it is true that God is not mad at anyone, then why did He send a flood on the earth and destroy every living thing (man, woman, child, animal).  Can you imagine Noah going around with that message that God is not mad at anyone to the sinners in his day just before the Flood?

If it is true that God is not mad at anyone, then why did He wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah?  This time God used fire, not water.  Why did fire fall from heaven and burn up those cities and wipe them off the map?  Was God mad at the behavior of the people in those cities?  Yes.

If it is true that God is not mad at anyone, then why will He one day cast people into the Lake of Fire?  Does He do it out of love?  If it is true that God is not mad at anyone, then why does Paul say that “because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6).

If He is not mad, then why is wrath coming on people?  Why do hundreds of verses in the Bible talk about the wrath of God?  Wrath means anger.  Why would there be anger if God is not mad at anyone?

Lie Five: There are no serious warnings for Christians

Many preachers have completely misinterpreted this passage.  They got it all wrong.  In the Bible, there are some promises and there are some warnings.  We should believe both of them.  Some accept all of the promises but reject all of the warnings.  They just explain them all away and that is what they do with this passage as well.

Some say all that this verse teaches is that some Christians will just miss the kingdom.  They will miss the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ.  They will make it to heaven, but you won’t get any rewards.

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. (Ephesians 5:5 ESV)

Some say that they will be in the kingdom but will not have an inheritance.  They will not get any rewards.  Is that true?  No.

Paul did not just say that they would receive no inheritance IN (ἐν) the kingdom (Ephesians 5:5).  He said that they would inherit THE KINGDOM period (I Corinthians 6:9; Galatians 5:21).  He said that the righteous will not inherit the kingdom.  If they do not inherit the kingdom, it means that they will not get the kingdom.  They will be excluded from it.  If that was not clear enough, read the next verse.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6 ESV).

Paul doesn’t say if you do this, you will not inherit the kingdom.  He says, “If you live this way, you will face the wrath of God.”  You will not just miss God’s best for your life.  You will face the wrath of God.  You will not just miss the thousand-year reign.  You will not just miss out on some rewards in heaven, if you live this way.  God’s wrath will fall on you.

Lie Six: You can lose your salvation

Many teach that Christians can lose their salvation.  They teach you can be saved today and lost tomorrow.  It looks like it teaches it here.  Paul is talking to Christians.  Ephesians was written to saints.  It wasn’t written to unbelievers.

The language used here is very strong.  This is a very solemn warning. It is a warning of eternal damnation.  He warns the church about God’s wrath falling on people and then says, “Therefore do not become partners with them” (Ephesians 5:7 ESV). Are they right?  No.

The Bible teaches the doctrine of eternal security.  Paul teaches it in Ephesians.  He says that Christians are sealed to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).  What about Ephesians 5?  There are two hints in the text which help answer that question.

First, notice who the wrath of God falls on?  It falls on THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE (Ephesians 5:6).  That is Paul’s term for the lost.  It is his term for the unsaved.  God’s wrath does not fall on Christians.  It does not fall on the children of God.  It does not fall on the children of the light.

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thessalonians 5:9 NIV).

There is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1 NIV)

Second, notice the tense of the verb in Ephesians 5:5.  It is a PRESENT TENSE verb.  For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), HAS no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 

Paul is not saying that Christians who are sexually immoral will have no inheritance in the future.  Instead, he says that anyone who lives this way has no inheritance in the kingdom right now.

If you are genuinely saved, you cannot lose your salvation.  The big problem today is that many people think they are saved who are not saved.  Churches are full of people like that.  They are unsaved but they think they are saved and they have a FALSE sense of security.  That is the big lie of the devil.

 

Five Deadly Sins

We are studying the Book of Ephesians.  Today, we come to one of the most practical sections in the whole book.  This section is amazing.

It deals with the topic of Christians and conflict.  It deals with conflict resolution with other people in the church.  Many of these principles can be applied directly to the marriage relationship.  There is often conflict in marriage Paul gives some principles for solving conflicts in this passage.

How do you get along with people in the church that you cannot stand? How do you get along with sandpaper Christians that get under your skin?  How do you get along with what Rick Warren calls EGR Christians.  Those are Christians with extra grace required.

When you first read these verses, they seem like Christianity 101.  It seems very basic.  Don’t steal.  Don’t lie.  Don’t swear but this section is very practical.  You may find this section challenging.  You may find it convicting.

Do you have trouble telling the truth?  Do you have problems saying appropriate things?  Can real Christians swear?  Apparently, they can swear or Paul would not have written this chapter.  It was written to Christians.  It is one of those passages addressed to “one another” (Ephesians 4:32).  In fact, he says that “we are members of one another” (Ephesians 4:25).  Yes, unfortunately, Christians can swear.

Do you have a language problem?   Do you have a temper problem?  Can a Christian have a temper?  Do you hold on to a grudge?  Do you have bitterness in marriage?  Do you have an unforgiving spirit?  How do you respond when another Christian sins against you?  It is going to happen.  It happens all the time.  How do you respond?  How should you respond?  Are you lazy?

Today, we are going to look at five sins.  People speak of the seven deadly sins.  We are going to look at five big sins today.  The sins are lying, sinful anger, stealing, a filthy mouth and an unforgiving spirit.  These are that we see today.

These sins are common.  They are even found in the church.  Some of them are new sins and some of them are old sins.  Two of them come right out of the Ten Commandments. Two specifically deal with words.   They deal with speech. We are going to look at these sins and also look at what the Christian answer to them is.

Lying

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25 ESV)

What is the first things to note about this one?  This sin was mentioned first.  It is not that big of a deal to us.  Everyone lies today, not just politicians.  We tell lies to others.  We tell lies to ourselves.  Students lie to teachers.  Some teachers lie to students, when they say that they love their job or when they say that they do not have a favorite student.  Children lie to parents (Did you steal that cookie?).  Parents lie to kids (Santa Claus).

Politicians lie to their constituents.  George H. W. Bush said, “Read my lips: No new taxes.”  Barack Obama said, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it” and he promised that the cost of health care would go down with Obama Care.  It went up.  Healthcare premiums doubled. Citizens sometimes lie to their government (cheat on their taxes).

Lying is not a big deal to us.  Everyone seems to do it but apparently, it is a big deal to God.  Why?  He is a God of truth.  It is part of nature.  The Bible teaches that God hates lying.  Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight” (ESV).

Some not only lie, they are habitual liars.  They are compulsive liars.  They are pathological liars.  God does not just disapprove of lying, He HATES it.  Lying lips are an abomination.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict” (Proverbs 6:16-19 NIV).

Here God lists seven things that he hates and two have to do with lying (a lying tongue and false witnesses).  Now lying is a sin that can be forgiven but apparently God takes lying very seriously.  In Revelation 22:15 speaks of people who are outside of Heaven.

It says, “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (ESV). God puts lying right up with other big sins, like murder and says that it excludes people from heaven.  Lying comes from Satan.  He is the father of lies.

How do we do in the area of lying?  Are we people of honesty and integrity?  Paul does not just say that we are to stop lying.  Stop talking.  No, he says, keep talking but tell the truth.  Paul uses the replacement principle.  Put some things off and put other things on.

He gives an interesting reason we are not to lie to one another.  We are not to do it because “we are members of one another.”  We are all connected to each other.  Christians are connected to one another, like the parts of the body are connected.  The parts of the body do not lie to each other.  When your hand touches something hot, it does not tell the brain that it is cold.

Sinful Anger

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27 ESV).

This brings us to another major problem today.  It is the problem of anger.  There are a lot of angry people in the world today.  There are some angry people in the church.  There are even some preachers who are angry.  Some get all worked up.  They start screaming and yelling and foaming at the mouth.  One angry preacher was so worked up that he started moving his arms, and he knocked over his glass of water sitting on the podium.

Anger is an issue in our world today.  Anger can ruin your marriage.  It can ruin your health.  It can ruin your life.  It can ruin somebody else’s life.  Anger is explosive.  It can kill people.  It sends people to Hell (Matthew 5:21-22).

People can do terrible things when they are angry. Jacob said of two of his sons, “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel!” (Genesis 49:7 ESV).  Paul says three things about anger.  He makes three points.

1) Anger can be good

Many think that anger is always bad.  Some preachers think that.  It’s not true.  It is a lie.  It is completely unbiblical.  How do we know?

How could anger always be wrong when the Bible says that God gets angry?  If anger is always a sin and God gets angry, then God must not be perfect?  That is ridiculous.

How can you say that anger is always wrong when Jesus gets angry (Mark 3:5)?  Did he do something wrong?  Did Jesus have a temper problem?  No.

How can you say that anger is always wrong when the Bible actually commands us to be angry.  Ephesians 4:26 tells us to be angry.  It gives us permission to be angry.  It does NOT say, “Anger is bad.  Do not be angry.”  It does NOT say, “be angry at nothing.”  It actually says, “BE ANGRY.”  It is a command in Greek.

It is a strange command.  Apparently, there is an anger that is good.  There is an anger that is commanded by God.  There are some things that get God angry and there are some things that should get us angry.  If we never got angry over anything, something would be wrong with us.  Not ever getting angry about anything would be sinful.

2) Anger can be bad

That is why Paul says, “Be angry AND SIN NOT.”  He says that because it is easy to get angry and sin.  Even if you are angry for the right reason, you can sin in how you express that anger.  Your kids can do something bad, which makes you justifiably angry, but then you can overreact and sin.  We do it all of the time.  It is right to get upset about some things but we need to make sure that we do not sin in the process.

When is Anger Sinful?

How do we know if our anger is sinful?  There are several indications of sinful anger.

1) Anger is sinful when it becomes excessive

It is sinful if it is not controlled.  Some have no control over their anger.  They go into a rage and become completely out of control.  Proverbs 25:28 says, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls” (KJV).  The Christian Standard Bible reads, “A person who does not control his temper is like a city whose wall is broken down.”

2) Anger is sinful when it happens too quickly

The Bible say that we should be SLOW to anger.  It says that God is slow to anger.  Some people are quick to get angry.  They fly off the handle over nothing.  They are easily provoked or easily angered (I Corinthians 13:5).

3) Anger is also sinful when it lasts too long

Anger should be short lived.  Paul says, “do not let the sun go down on your anger.”  Do not go to bed angry.  That is important to do for marriage couples.  That does not mean that they will always agree but they should not go to be angry.

3) Angry can be demonic

Anger which is not dealt with can even leave you open to demonic attack.  This is interesting.  We think if we are angry that the issue is between us and someone else but Paul says if we stay angry, you give Satan an opportunity to get a foothold in your life.  The ESV uses the word “opportunity” in Ephesians 4:27.  Many other translations render τόπος “foothold.” The NIV reads, “never give the devil a foothold”

What does that mean?  What is a foothold?  What is the difference between a foothold and a stronghold?  A foothold means that he has his foot in the door of your house.  A stronghold means that he has a strong hold  and a firm grip on your life.  We do not want to give the devil any ground in our life.  We do not want to give the devil control of any area of our life.

We do not want to give the devil a foothold in our life, our family, our marriage or our church.  If you get angry too long it can turn to bitterness and bitterness can turn to unforgiveness and Satan can take an advantage of your anger and use it for his purposes.  A foothold can easily turn into a stronghold.

Stealing

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. (Ephesians 4:28 ESV)

This sin does not deal with lying or getting angry but with stealing.  Paul says that you should not steal.  You should not steal anything.  Christians should not steal.  In some cultures stealing is a part of normal life.  it is much more of a temptation.

What is the solution to stealing?  Paul does not say, “Stop stealing.  Just stop stealing.  Cut it out.” Paul uses the Replacement Principle. He uses the put off/put on principle.  Instead of stealing, Paul says that people need to work.  Stealing is a result of laziness.  Work is good.  God created us to work but then he says something interesting.

Paul does not say that we need to work so we can provide for ourselves so we will not need to steal.  That is what we would expect him to say.  Instead, he says, we need to work so we can give to those in need.  This is a Christian view of ethics.

He does not say that we should work so we can get rich and fulfill the American Dream.  He does not even say that we should work so we can provide for our own needs .  He says that we should work so that we can have money to help other people.  That is interesting.

When we do work and get our paycheck, do we think who we could bless with some of our money?  Paul wants us to go from grabbers to givers.  How many of us think of giving to the poor as soon as we receive our paycheck each month?

Bad Language

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29 ESV)

Now we come to the second command dealing with the tongue.  This time, it does not have to do with the honesty and accuracy of what we say but the kinds of words we use.  Bad language is characteristic of the unsaved.  Paul said that their mouth is “full of cursing” (Romans 3:14).  After salvation, many continue to have bad language.  You can find people in the church, professing Christians, who cuss, swear, use profanity and vulgar words.

This is not just a problem for some Christians, it is a problem for some preachers in the pulpit.  It is not a sign of spirituality if you curse like a sailor in the pulpit.  It is not a mark of spiritual maturity.  It is a mark of the flesh.

Paul does not say it is okay if we do it every now and then.  He said, “Let NO corrupting word come out of your mouth.”  In fact, Jesus said that we will give an account of EVERY WORD that we say (Matthew 12:36-37).

The word for “corrupting” in Greek (σαπρός) has been used of bad food that is rotten and stinks.  Here it is used of bad words (dirty, obscene or filthy language).  We have all been around two kinds of people.  We have all been around people who are negative and vulgar.  We have been around other people who are positive, encouraging and uplifting.  They build you up.

Paul says that is the kind of people we are to be to one another.  We are to replace gutter talk with grace talk.  Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6 ESV).  Does that describe our speech?  That is the kind of words Jesus spoke.  All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. (Luke 4:22 NIV).

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30 ESV).  All of us have been around people we might work with who have a foul mouth and how terrible it is to work with a person who constantly take the Lord’s name in vain.  Well, the Holy Spirit indwells us.  When we use corrupt words, we grieve the Holy Spirit.  That tells us three interesting things:

One, if you are a person, you have real emotions.  You can be happy or sad or mad.

Two, the Holy Spirit is a real person.  He has real feelings.  He can be grieved.

Three, it is possible for believers to grieve the Holy Spirit.  He lives inside us and we can grieve him.

We can bring pain to God by the words that come out of our mouth and we can grieve Him in other ways as well.

Unforgiveness

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV).

We come to the fifth and final sin.  Paul climaxes with this last one.  It is the sin of bitterness.  Paul does not just mention bitterness.  He mentions ALL BITTERNESS (every form of bitterness).

Some of us may not have any problem with honesty.  We may not have any problem with anger.  We may not have any problem with bad language but we do have problem with forgiveness.  It is a big problem in marriages.  If you do not practice forgiveness, your marriage will not last.

What is bitterness?  Bitterness takes place when someone does something against you.  It was wrong and it hurt you.  It may have taken place a year ago or ten years ago but you are still upset about it.  You nurse a grudge and harbor resentment about it.

Some are bitter at God and some are bitter at people. You cannot always see it on the outside but, on the inside, they are eaten up with bitterness.  Have we ever done that?

Does that describe us?  Does it describe us right now?  Is there any person right now that you need to forgive?  Spend some time thinking about every person who has ever offended you in the past.  Have you forgiven them or do you still need to do that?

Myths about Forgiveness

We could spend an entire week on the topic of forgiveness.  There are all kinds of myths about forgiveness.  One person listed twenty-four myths about repentance.[1]  I will mention a few of them and may add one of my own.

One myth is that some things are too big to forgive.  Another myth is that forgiveness is the same thing as reconciliation.  Forgiveness involves one person but reconciliation involves two people.  Forgiveness is in our power.  Reconciliation is not.

Another myth is that forgiveness means you are letting someone off the hook or becoming a doormat. It doesn’t it just means that you are turning that person over to God.

What are some more myths?  One is that forgiveness means forgetting.  It does not mean that you forget the situation. It just means that you do not hold it against the person.  Another myth is that forgiveness requires me telling the other person they are forgiven.  That is not necessarily true.  It is an issue of your heart.

A final myth is that forgiveness is optional.  This one affects your eternal destiny.  This is made clear in the Gospel of Matthew.  Jesus told a parable about a servant who owned an unpayable debt to a king (like the national debt).

The king was merciful and let him off but then that same servant found someone who owed him a small amount of money and he grabbed him by the throat, began to choke him and said, “Pay me what you owe me.”  He said, “Be patient with me.  Have mercy and I will pay you back.”  What did the king think of this?

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:32-35 NIV).

I watched a video of someone who described the experience of being taken to hell in a vision.  The person asked why someone was suffering in hell and the answer came back, “because of an unforgiving spirit.”  This is something that we need to take far more seriously.

This parable in Matthew 18 has some strong language.  Jesus is talking to believers.  This is a warning to believers or professing Christians.  Now some people say that when we refuse to forgive, we torture ourselves.  We will destroy ourselves.  We will put ourselves in our own prison if we don’t forgive.  All of that is true but it is not what the text says.

This is what God will do to people who do not forgive, not what we do to ourselves.  It is a picture of hell.  There are many pictures of it in Matthew (outer darkness, fiery hell).  Forgiveness is not optional.  Jesus said, “if you do NOT forgive others their sins, your Father will NOT forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:15 NIV).

How to Forgive

We are to PUT OFF bitterness.  We are to PUT ON forgiveness.  We are to be kind to one another.  Forgiveness is not easy.  Some say that they cannot forgive.  What happened to them is too painful, too horrific to ever be forgiven (rape, abuse, etc.).  It is probably the most difficult thing for anyone to do, namely, forgive a person who has wronged them but it can be done.  Forgiveness is an act of the will.  It has nothing to do with emotions.

You do not even have to be a Christian to do it. There is a story on the internet of a Muslim woman who forgives the man who killed her son.[2] She is not a Christian but followed the teachings of Jesus on forgiveness.

Sarah Montana was a woman who had some of her family members murdered in 2008.  As she tried to process it all, she read the Bible.  At one point, she said to her husband, “There are sixty-two passages in the Bible with the word forgive and twenty-seven with the word forgiveness and not a single one tells you how to do it.”[3]  How do you do it?  How do you know if you have done it?

1) Remind yourself of how God has forgiven you of all of your sins.  Focus on your own sins and thanks God for forgiving them

2) Find out if you are guilty of this sin.  Not everyone is guilty of this sin.  If you do not know for sure, ask God if you have a spirit of unforgiveness.

3) If you do have a spirit of unforgiveness, confess it.  Take responsibility for your part.  Ask God to forgive you for your sin.

4) Forgive the person who has sinned against you. Forgiveness involves a choice.  It involves obeying a command of Jesus. Tell God you forgive the person for whatever he or she has done.

Someone in our class suggested that when we pray the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:4 (forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us) that we personalize the verse by putting in the name of the person that we have forgiven.

5) Pray for that person.  Jesus said that we are to pray for our enemies.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us to not only pray for our enemies but to do good to those who spitefully use and persecute us (Matthew 5:44 KJV).

[1] https://www.experiencinghisvictory.com/twenty-four-forgiveness-myths-busted/

[2] http://iknowbro.com/love/this-mother-hugs-her-sons-killer-and-says-revenge-solves-nothing

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEK2pIiZ2I0

Change Your Clothes

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV).

Today, we come to a very important passage in the Book of Ephesians.  It does not look that important.  Today, I want to look with you at five truths about the Christian life that stand out in this passage.  These are five truths that every Christian should know.

Five Powerful Truths about the Christian Life

1. The Christian life involves radical change

The Christian life is a life of radical transformation.  The Christian life involves radical change.  Paul knew a little about radical transformation.  His life was radically transformed when he became a Christian.  He went from a persecutor to a preacher.  He went from a murderer to a missionary.  If you have become a genuine Christian, your life should be different as well, radically different.

You can’t go from being spiritually DEAD to being spiritually ALIVE on the inside without a change on the outside.  You can’t go from DARKNESS to LIGHT without a change in your life.  You can’t go from being a child of the devil to a child of God without some RADICAL changes.

If you become a new creation in Christ and get a new heart, there will be some changes.  Change will look differently to me than it will to you.  We all come to Christ from a different background.  If you come to Christ and used to be a bank robber, your life will change a little different than if you used to be a drug addict or a stripper but, no matter what our past, all of us will experience some kind of change in our life after we come to Christ.  If there are no changes in your life, you are not saved.

There are some people who teach that you can get saved and not have any major changes.  They teach that once you are saved, it doesn’t matter how you live.  You are saved.  you are forgiven.  You are going to heaven anyway.  Some use the doctrine of eternal security as a license to sin.  They use grace as a license to sin.  That is a doctrine of demons.  That is a doctrine from the pit of hell.  Paul didn’t teach that.

He did not teach that it doesn’t matter how you live.  Paul did not say, “once you are saved, you can live any way you want.”  He said, once you are a Christian “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1 ESV).  That is the positive way to put it.  Live consistent with your calling as a Christian and as a follower of Christ.  Paul tells us how we should live and how we should not live.

We saw last week how Christians are not to live.  We are not to live in vanity.  We are not to live in darkness.  We are not to live in alienation from God.  We are not to live lives of spiritual ignorance.  We are not to live with hard hearts.  We are not to live lives of sexual immorality.  We are not to live lives of greed.  We are also NOT to live like the Gentiles (Ephesians 4:17).

Living Different

We should live different and think different than the way we used to live before we became a Christian.  We are not to live the way the rest of the unsaved world lives either.  This is not just something that Paul taught.  This is not just something found in the NT.  It is in the OT as well.  The OT and the NT says exactly the same thing.

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. 3 You must NOT do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must NOT do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do NOT follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow MY decrees. I am the Lord your God. 5 Keep MY decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:1-5 ESV).

This is a passage not read too much in church today.  Wherever they went, the Jews were not to live like the pagans around them.  They were not to live like the Egyptians and they were not to live like the Canaanites.  They were to follow God’s laws instead and this included in the area of sexual practices.  They were not to do exactly what everyone else was doing around them, not matter how popular or how prevalent it was.

“‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord. 7 “‘Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her. 8 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father. (Leviticus 18:6-8 ESV)

The whole chapter reads like this.  This is the very issue that we face today.  We are tempted to think and act the way the world does.  We are tempted to be conformed to this world.  This is not just a problem for Christians.  It is a problem for entire churches and denominations. They are tempted to fit in and conform.  It is a sign of the end-times when the church begins to compromise with the world.

The sad fact is that some churches do not say anything about premarital sex and having their members shacking up.  They don’t make an issue about adultery or homosexuality.  It’s a private matter.  They even ordain people to the ministry who are living in open sin. They even have adopted the world’s definition of marriage and gender.

It is not just liberal churches.  Even many Baptist churches in the Bible belt do not really practices church discipline.  Do you live different from the unbelievers around you?  Do you live any different from people who do not believe in God and do not follow Jesus?  Is there any clear discernible difference?

2. The Christian life involves a new identity

What is all of this talk about the old man and the new man?  The expressions “old man” and “new man” occur in three of Paul’s letters (Romans 6, Ephesians 4, and Colossians 3).

Who is the old man?  Paul is not talking about the old guy in the church (one of the deacons) and he is not talking about your father.  When you become a Christian, you get a whole new identity.  You are not the same person you once were.  You may once have been a murderer but once you get saved, you are no longer that old person.  You are different from the inside.  You become a saint (Ephesians 1:1).

The old man represents who you were before you became a Christian.  It refers to your unregenerate self.  Once you become a Christian that person is gone.  The new man refers to who you are as a saved person.  On March 18, 1976, the old Alan Lewis left and a new Alan Lewis took over.  When we become born again, we become a new man or a new woman.   That is a new identity.  Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (II Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

3. The Christian life involves a new nature

This is interesting.  We do not just have a new identity, we have a new nature.  We become a new man or a new woman because we have a new nature inside of us.  We have a new heart inside us.  We have the Holy Spirit living inside us.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin (Romans 6:5-6 NIV)

When was the old man crucified?  That happened at salvation.  We did not do it.  God did it.  It was crucified.  It is rendered inoperative.  We do not have to be slaves to sin anymore.  It was crucified but it is not completely gone.

We have a new nature but the old nature is not completely gone, even though it was crucified.  Otherwise Paul would not tell us to put it off.  There would be nothing to put off.  It must be still around.  The new you should not resemble to old you.

4. The Christian life involves new clothing

This is a little strange.  It deals with how Christians should dress and what they should wear.  It deals with the Christian wardrobe.  As Christians we need to wear the right clothes. It seems strange for Paul talking about Christians changing their clothes.

Paul has used a lot of metaphors in Ephesians.  He has used the metaphor of bodybuilding.  We talked about Christian bodybuilding.  He has used the metaphor of the Christian life as a walk.  He is not describing a long walk down a road.  It is a description of the Christian life.  Now, he uses a completely different image and metaphor.  It deals with clothing.  Paul now uses a fashion metaphor to describe the Christian life.

Paul deals with the Christian’s wardrobe.  He deals with our spiritual wardrobe.  Paul is not dealing with clothes for the body.  He is not saying that Christian must wear certain kinds of clothes.  He is not saying that we all need to wear suits and ties.

Paul is not dealing with clothes for the body.  He is dealing with clothes for the soul.  He says to take off the old dirty clothes you are wearing and put them away.  Do some laundry or get rid of them and put on some clean new clothes.

Clothes represent actions.  They represent behaviors.  There are certain clothes we should have in or wardrobe as Christians and there are certain clothes we should not have in there.  You may have watched the TV show “What Not to Wear.”  This is like the show “What Not to Wear: Biblical Edition (or Spiritual Edition).”  This section tells Christians how to dress for success, spiritual success.

5. The Christian life involves replacement

This brings us to a very important topic.  How do people change?  How do people change their behavior?  How do they change?  Many people do not know the answer to that question.  It involves replacement and there are several examples of this in the text.

First, you replace Satan with Jesus.  Before we were saved, we followed the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2).  Now we follow Jesus.  After describing how the world lives in Ephesians 4:17-19, Paul says, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:20-21 NIV)

A changed life begins by coming to know Christ personally.  That is how it starts.  He doesn’t say, “You have not so learned ABOUT Christ.”  He says, “You have not so learned Christ.”  Many learn about Christ but never learn Christ.  They never know him personally.  When you get saved, you have to have a personal encounter with Jesus.  That is what salvation involves.  Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they KNOW you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3 NIV).

Learning Christ is a little different from learning physics or chemistry.  It is a little different than learning just information and facts about Jesus.  We should have a Christ-centered education.  We are all in the school of Christ.  Jesus is our classroom.  He is the subject of our teaching.  You learned Christ.

Jesus is the theme of the whole Bible.  In whom are hidden ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:3 NIV).  If we are a Christian, Jesus is our teacher.  He is also the teacher.  You heard Christ.  Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 NIV).

Second, we are to be renewed in our mind. We are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind (Ephesians 4:23).  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2 NIV). 

How do we do that? We replace all of the garbage we hear out in the world with the truth that we are told in God’s Word and renew our minds with God’s truth.

Three, we are to replace dirty clothes with clean clothes.  We have to put some things off and put other things on.  Before you can put clean clothes on, you have to take the dirty clothes. We have to do both.  We have to take the dirty clothes of and we have to put clean clothes on. One is positive and one is negative.  Paul mentions this in Ephesians and Colossians.

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV).

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 PUT ON then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these PUT ON love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Colossians 3:5-14 ESV)

The Replacement Principle

That brings us to a powerful principle that deals with the Christian life.  It comes right out of this passage.  It is called the replacement principle.  Some people are all negative.  They are all critical.  They are all judgmental.  Some preachers focus on the negative.

Some preachers are all positive but other preachers are all negative.  They shout and scream at you.  They give a list of don’ts.  If you want to be spiritual, then don’t do this and don’t do that.  Don’t cuss.  Don’t smoke.  Don’t drink.  Don’t do drugs.  Don’t have sex before marriage. Don’t go to movies.  Don’t dance.  Don’t play cards.

What’s wrong with that approach?  Some of those things are not even wrong necessarily (drinking, dancing).  It all depends on the context.  They can be wrong but they are not always wrong but some of the things on that list are wrong (e.g., swearing, premarital sex).

Here is the problem.  All of the experts will tell you that if you want to get rid of a bad habit, you can’t do it cold turkey.  You cannot expect it to leave by sheer will power. It takes more than will power to change a bad habit.  It takes more than will power to change an addiction.

To break a bad habit, you have to replace a bad habit with a good one.  You have to replace it with something else. You can’t eliminate a bad habit without replacing it.  You can’t do it in your own strength.  You have to do it in the power of the Spirit who lives inside you.

God doesn’t just want certain things to be removed from your life.  There are also things He wants put in.  The Christian life is not just about abstaining or separating from certain influences.  It’s about filling that void with something that glorifies God.  This is something that we have to do repeatedly.  It is not a one-time act.  Paul gives some examples of the Replacement Principle right out of Ephesians 4.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another (Ephesians 4:25 ESV)

We are to stop lying and start speaking the truth.  We are to PUT OFF lying and to PUT ON honesty and truth-telling.  Replacement!

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. (Ephesians 4:28 ESV).

We are to stop stealing other people’s things and start working for our own things.  We are stop taking other people’s things and we are to start giving our own things to others.  PUT OFF stealing and PUT ON sharing. Replacement!

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29 ESV).

We are to stop using a foul mouth.  We are to stop using our lips to curse and swear and start using them to praise God.  We are to PUT OFF bad words and we are to PUT ON good words.  Bad language needs to be replaced with God’s language.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV).

We are to stop being mean, nasty and angry and to start being kind, gentle and tenderhearted to people.  We are to PUT OFF bitterness and holding grudges.  We are to PUT ON forgiveness. Replacement!

The Unsaved World

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV)

Today, we want to look at seven deadly sins, seven terrifying words which describe the lost.  This description is short.  It is only one sentence in Greek.  The ESV makes it three but in Greek it is only one sentence.  As we have already seen, Paul like to write in long sentences.  That is his writing style. We have said that Paul does not write like Hemingway.  These three verses are short but they are one of the clearest and most concise descriptions anywhere in the NT of the unsaved person.

Paul gave another description of the lost in Ephesians 2.  He described the whole human race as guilty before God.  They are under God’s wrath.  They are ruled by the Devil.  They are spiritually dead.  They are not only dead but enslaved in body and mind, addicted to sin. They live in lusts and follow their own passions and desires.  They are totally depraved.  He calls them “children of disobedience” and says that they have no hope in the world.

Paul describes the unsaved world in seven words: futility, darkness, alienation, ignorance, hardness, immorality, addiction.  These seven words described the lost in Paul’s day.  They described unsaved Gentiles in the city of Ephesus or wherever this church was located but they also perfectly describe unsaved people today thousands of years later in the modern era.  Human nature has not changed.  Wherever you go, regardless of culture or race, you see these same basic characteristics.

Some would say that it does not describe everyone.  Every unsaved person on the planet is not sexually immoral.  Everyone is not an adulterer.  No every unsaved person sleeps around and visits prostitutes. There are some outwardly moral pagans, who are even religious on the outside but we should keep two things in mind here.[1]

God restrains people so that they are not as bad as they could possibly be.  He gives people a conscience.  When we want to do something bad, something inside us tells us not to do it.  It tells us that it is wrong.  He gives society government with laws and punishment for crimes.  He also restrains society with police officers and with judges and with prisons which deter crime.

The other thing to remember is that immorality takes MANY different forms.  Paul speaks of people indulging in EVERY form of impurity or uncleanness (Ephesians 4:19). Sexual immorality takes many different forms.  Everyone does not indulge in the same form of depravity.  There are different forms of sin and different degrees of sin.

In Ephesians 4, we have another description of the lost and this description is very similar to another one Paul gave in the NT.  In Romans 1, Paul gave a lengthy description of the Gentile world and all seven of these sins are found in that chapter.

He described them by futility.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became FUTILE in their thinking (Romans 1:21 ESV).

He described the Gentile word as darkness.  He says, “their foolish hearts were DARKENED” (σκοτίζω) in Romans 1:21 ESV), the same word used in Ephesians 4:17.  Their hearts were not only dark, so were their minds.  They have a “debased mind” (Romans 1:28 ESV)

He described them by alienation.  They relationship to God was affected.  God’s wrath was revealed against their sin.  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  (Romans 1:18 ESV).  They themselves were described as “haters of God” (Romans 1:30 ESV).  In both passages, Paul speaks of them as being “given up” (παραδίδωμι) to sin (Ephesians 4:19; Romans 1:24, 26, 28).

He described them as ignorant.  He says that they were “without understanding” (Romans 1:31 KJV, NASB).  It is ignorant to exchange “the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:23 ESV).

He describe them by hardness.  He describes them as without any shame (Romans 1:27) and “heartless” (Romans 1:31 ESV).

He described them as sexually immoral.   Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves (Romans 1:24 ESV).  In fact, Paul uses the same word for sexual impurity (ἀκαθαρσία) in Romans 1:24 that he uses in Ephesians 4:19.  in Ephesians 4:19, he speaks of “every kind of impurity” (πᾶς ἀκαθαρσία).  In Romans 1:29, he speaks of “every kind of wickedness” (πᾶς ἀδικία).

He describes them as greedy (πλεονεξία) and uses the same word in Romans 1:29 that he uses in Ephesians 4:19.

Let’s look at these seven sins characteristic of the lost and then let’s look at how these words apply to us.

1. Futility

The first word is FUTILITY.  Paul says that they were futile in their minds.  They were characterized by mental futility.  Paul’s list of sins begins with the mind and ends with actions.  What does futility mean?

It means that they have no purpose in life.  Life is pointless to them.  They do not understand what life is all about.  They are completely clueless.

Life without God is empty.  It is vain.  Life without God is vanity.  That is the theme of the Book of Ecclesiastes.  The word “vanity” is found thirty-eight times in the book.  Ecclesiastes 1:2 says, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (KJV).

The NIV reads, “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”  The last recorded words of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln were “useless…useless” after he was shot in the neck before he died.

Solomon says that life apart from God is completely meaningless.  It is pointless.  It is vain.  It is futile.  You live for nothing.  Solomon described life apart from God as “vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11). It is like chasing the wind.

It gives no real satisfaction.  It has no eternal value.  They are material things or physical things, not spiritual things or eternal tings.  They focus on their car, their house, their money or their investments.  One day everything in this world will burn up.  It will be gone.  It will be destroyed by fire.  Peter says the earth will be destroyed with intense heat (II Peter 3:10 NASB).

2. Darkness

The second word is DARKNESS.  We see these same to characteristics in Romans 1:21. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became FUTILE and their foolish hearts were DARKENED (NIV).

Ephesians 4:18 says that the unsaved are darkened in their understanding, not just their heart but their mind. The Bible says that Satan has not just blinded the hearts of people, he has blinded their minds.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (II Corinthians 4:4 NIV)

The darkness is mental.  Notice that the first two of characteristics in this Ephesians 4 list have to do with the MIND (futile in their minds, darkened in their understanding).  The list starts with the mind and ends with actions.  Why does he start with the mind?

The problem lies in the mind.  Many of our problems go back to the mind.  Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks, so is he.”  Darkened understanding leads to darkened behavior.  The pagan mind is foolish. It is darkened.  It is depraved, and it is ignorant.  It is godless.  You cannot change the way people act until you change the way they think.

Their understanding is darkened.  That is true of everyone who is not a Christian. Their minds are in the dark (Ephesians 4:18).  Their minds are full of darkness (NLT).   They would say that they are the ones who are enlightened, open-minded and progressive and it is the Christian who lives in the dark ages

Paul says that the state of unbelievers is one of darkness.  The Bible says that “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16).  The unbeliever walks in the darkness.  They live in darkness.  They sit in darkness (Matthew 4:16 NASB, KJV).

Africa has been spoken of as “the dark continent” but the Bible says that the whole earth is dark.  We do not just have a dark continent, we have a dark planet.  See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples (Isaiah 60:2 NIV).  This is not an academic darkness.  It not that the whole planet is illiterate.  It is moral darkness.  It is spiritual darkness.  It is religious darkness. That sounds terrible.

The picture is bad but it gets worse.  Not only do people on the planet live in total darkness spiritually but they LOVE it.  We would feel sorry for someone in that situation.  The problem is that they like the darkness.  Jesus said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people LOVED DARKNESS instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19 NIV).[2]

3. Alienation

The third word is ALIENATION.   The third characteristic of the unsaved is that they are alienated from the life of God.  What does it mean that we are alienated from God?  When there is an alienation, there is a separation. There is an isolation.

It is one thing to be alienated from other people, to be estranged.  That is bad enough to be estranged from your own family, when your own family will not talk to you but to be alienated from God is even worse.  It is the worst form of alienation. They are not only excluded from the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:12), they are separated from God.

It is one thing to not be able to have a relationship with another person.  It is another thing to be not able to have a relationship with God. The NIV says they are “separated from the life of God.”  The NASB says that they are “excluded from the life of God.”

We were created to have a relationship with God but the unsaved are alienated from God. The point here is not that they once had a relationship with God but lost it.  They never had it and are excluded because they are unregenerate.[3]

4. Ignorance

The fourth word is IGNORANCE.  The one thing that the unsaved boast about is their intellect.  They pride themselves in their education and degrees.  Paul says that they are ignorant.  They think that we are ignorant.  Bible-believing Christians are ignorant.  They are primitive.  They are backwards. The truth is that they are the ones who are ignorant. Unbelievers are spiritually ignorant.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and CANNOT understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (I Corinthians 2:14 NIV).

Paul is not saying that all unbelievers are uneducated.  He is not saying that they are all illiterate.  He is not saying that they have a low IQ or that they cannot do math.  They may be brilliant.  They may have a high IQ.  They may have a Ph.D. in physics or philosophy.

Plato and Aristotle were not ignorant. They were some of the greatest philosophers the world has ever known but if they did not know the true God, they were ignorant.  Einstein was not ignorant.  He was the most brilliant physicist in world history but if he did not know God he was ignorant of the most important thing that he could know.

Stephen Hawking was not ignorant.  He was another theoretical physicist who was brilliant.  He was the director of cosmology at Cambridge.    Hawking was an atheist.  He says there is no possibility of God in our universe.  Hawking was highly intelligent but the Bible calls him a fool. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God” (NIV).

Anyone who says there is no God is a fool.  He is stupid.  God says this twice in the Book of Psalms.  Psalm 14 is the only Psalm that appears twice in the book. God says this twice. Hawking is not an atheist anymore.  He died in 2018.

You can have a lot of knowledge but not a whole lot of wisdom.  Some people are smart fools.  Atheism is a fool’s religion.  There are many fools in the world today.  They think that rejecting God and the Bible makes them wise.  One atheist at work told me that he did not get smart until he became an atheist.

Ernest Hemingway said, “All thinking men are atheists.”  That is not true.  Some of the most brilliant scientists in history believed in God (Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Boyle, Bacon, Faraday, Mendel, Kelvin, Newton).  Many of the founders of modern science believed in God.  Many thinking people, many smart people, believe in God.  The Bible says, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22 KJV).

5. Hardness

The fifth word is HARDNESS.  The Greek word πώρωσιςis only used three times in the NT (Ephesians 4:18; Romans 11;25; Mark 3:5).  The KJV reads “blindness” but most commentators believe this should be translated hardness, not blindness.  The noun form of this word means stone (πῶρος).  We have a medical term that comes from this word (porosis from which we get osteoporosis).

It is followed by the statement “they have become callous” (Ephesians 4:19 ESV).  The KJV reads “who being past feeling.” The word translated “callous” or “past feeling” (ἀπηλγηκότες) is also a medical term. Is the Greek word from which we get the word analgesic, which is a drug given to relieve pain.  It is what we call pain-killers today.

Many physical hearts on the outside are hard.  They have a medical condition called physical heart disease.  They have clogged arteries.  They have hardening of the arteries.  It can be deadly.  It can kill people.  It causes heart attacks and strokes.

Paul is talking about people who have hard spiritual hearts on the inside.  He is talking about spiritual heart disease. Some people’s hearts are completely petrified.  They are hard as a rock.

Four Signs of a Hard Heart

1. You reject the gospel

You can preach the gospel to them and every time they reject it.  You can give them a thousand verses to read but they do absolutely no good.  It is like you are speaking to a brick wall.  That is a sign of a hard heart.  A hard heart is one reason people reject the gospel.

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would NOT BELIEVE in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and HARDENED their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” (John 12:37-40 NIV)

2. You are antagonistic to faith

Some not only reject the gospel repeatedly but go one step further and mock and ridicule people who have faith.  They laugh at them.  They persecute.  That is a sign of a hard heart.

3. You do not have feelings of guilt

They become “past feeling.”  They can sin and do not feel it.   They do not have any feelings of guilt.  They do not acknowledge what they do is wrong.  When they sinned, they are not bother by it at all.  They are not depressed.  They can violate scripture and not feel bad.  They can break the law and commit a crime and not feel bad.

One a sign of a hard heart is when people completely ignore their conscience.  They do it so much that they end up with a seared conscience.  Paul said that some people’s consciences have been seared with a hot iron (I Timothy 4:2).

4. You justify overtly sinful behavior

In fact, they justify it and often use Scripture to justify their sin.  They do not try to hide their lifestyle.  They do not try to hide sin but are open and shameless about it.  They celebrate it publicly and flaunt it.  This is a final sign of a hard heart. They live a sinful lifestyle out in the open.

6. Immorality

The sixth and final form of sin on the list is SEXUAL SIN.  Matthew Henry said, “When men’s consciences are once seared, there are no bounds to their sins.”[4] They live a life without any restraint.  The wicked believe that sexual immorality is a form of liberation.  It is really a form of rebellion to God’s laws and it takes many different forms.

Some immorality is HOMOSEXUAL in nature and some immorality is HETEROSEXUAL in nature.

Some immorality involves ONE person and some involves MULTIPLE partners.

Some have sexual relations with someone who is not their spouse BEFORE they are married (fornication) and some have sexual relations with someone who is not their spouse AFTER they are married (adultery)

For some it is a PHYSICAL immorality and for some it is MENTAL adultery.  Some are unclean in body and some are unclean in thought and imagination.

7. Addiction

Paul does not use this word, but he does say that they engage in all of these immoral practices with greed.  Why with greed?  Because they are never satisfied.  Their behavior leads to an addiction that never really meets their needs.  They think that sin leads to freedom but it only leads to slavery.  It leads to addiction.

Applications

What is the application to us today?  Paul says, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do” (Ephesians 4:17 ESV).  That is the way the unsaved live.  That is the way many of us used to live and now we are to live differently.

We are not to live lives of FUTILITY.  Our lives should not be empty and futile.  All of us should live life with a purpose.  We should not live as if God does not matter.  We should not live for ourselves.  Every day, we should ask God what he wants us to do. We should live our lives for Him.

What about DARKNESS?  We are sons of the light.  We should live like children of darkness.  We will see this in Ephesians 5.

We should not live lives of ALIENATION.  If we have accepted Christ, we are saved but all of us are not close to God.  Even as believers, when we sin, we are separated from God in communion and fellowship.  God wants us to live in fellowship with Him.

We should not as Christians be IGNORANT and yet the sad fact is that many Christians are ignorant.  They do not know what the Word teaches.  They do not know basic bible truths.  When Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth, he said that he did not want them to be ignorant about spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:1).

What about HARDNESS?  Are there some Christians that have hard hearts?  Yes.  Some live in sin.  Some are not open to rebuke at all.  They are not open to what God’s Word says about their life.  Paul said something shocking in Hebrews 3:12-13.  Speaking to Christians, he said the following:

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (ESV).

What about IMMORALITY?  The sad fact is that Christians can fall into immorality, just like many saints in the OT fell into.  None of us are exempt from it.  Some books of the Bible were written to Christians in this situation.  Paul says in the next chapter of Ephesians that we should be free from even a hint of immorality.

Finally, there is ADDICTION.  Sadly, many Christians struggle with addictions of various types.  You say, how do we have victory over these sins?  What do we have to do?  That is our topic for next week.  We will find out next week, as we look at the next things that Paul says in Ephesians 4.

[1] I develop and add details to the basic outline given by Stephen J. Cole at https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-30-how-not-live-ephesians-417-19

[2] D. M. Lloyd-Jones, Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17, 43-44.

[3] Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, 586.

[4] https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/ephesians/4.html

Gifted Leaders

Today, we will be looking at Ephesians 4:11-16.  It is a very important passage.  This passage is powerful.  It gives us a biblical philosophy of ministry, what ministry should look like in church.  We will look at the Ephesians 4 ministry model.  It is a philosophy that looks very different from what we see in many churches.  This is one of the most important passages in the NT for the church in America to hear today.

It is also an important passage on spiritual gifts.  We will review what we learned last week, learn some new things about spiritual gifts and we will tie them all together at the end, as we look at a total of ten principles about spiritual gifts from Ephesians 4.

Last week that there are a lot of different spiritual gifts every believer has one.  Jesus is the gift giver.  He gave even the most insignificant Christian a gift.  The problem is that all of these gifts today are not being used.

Many of us already know about spiritual gifts.  We have read I Corinthians 12.  We know all about spiritual gifts.  That is a great chapter on spiritual gifts but we learn some other things in Ephesians that Paul did not tell us in I Corinthians.

In I Corinthians 12, spiritual gifts are called gifts of the Spirit.  They are given by or through the Spirit.  In Ephesians 4, we find out that they are also gifts of Jesus.  They are all gifts of the ascended Christ.  Paul says that three times in Ephesians 4 but there is another difference.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:11-12 NIV)

Paul uses a completely different definition of gift in Ephesians 4.  There are two definitions of a gift.  We normally think of gifts as special abilities or skills.  That is the normal definition but in Ephesians 4 we have a different definition.  In Ephesians 4, gifts are not ABILITIES given by God to people.  Gifts in this chapter are PEOPLE given by Christ to the church.

It is a completely different concept.  When we talk about an Ephesians 4 gift, we are talking primarily about people.  Martin Luther was a gift to the church.  Billy Graham was a gift to the church.  John Wesley was a git to the church.  D.L. Moody was a gift to the church.  They are not the only gifts.  WE are also gifts of Jesus to the church.  The truth is that some churches appreciate their gift better than others.

Last week, we saw that when Jesus ascended, He gave gifts and now we see what five of those gifts were and why He gave them.  They are not all of the gifts.  They are only one type of gift.  They fall into one category.  We are going to find out three things today: a list of the gifts, the purpose of the gifts and the duration of the gifts.

The Leadership Gifts

Jesus ascended from heaven and gave gifts.  What gifts did He give?  What are the divine gifts?  Paul lists five gifts.  What are the five gifts?  They are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers.  What do we notice about these five gifts? 

These are all PEOPLE.  They are all PREACHERS.  All five groups of people proclaimed God’s Word to people in some way.  All of these gifts involved speaking.  They are all speaking gifts.  They are also all LEADERS.  These are leadership gifts.  These are some of the top offices in the church.  They are gifted leaders.

Are all of these gifts equal?  No.  Some were extraordinary (miracle working scripture writing apostles who followed Jesus around for three years) and some were ordinary (ordinary pastors, teachers and missionaries) but they were all gifts of leadership to the church.  Some of these gifts are only mentioned in Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4 is the only time we see the word “evangelist” on a list of spiritual gifts.  It is the only time in the NT the word ‘pastor’ is used of a church office.  It is used in the plural.  The word pastor in the singular is not used anywhere in the NT.  When every Paul wrote to any church, he never greeted the pastor.  When he wrote to the church at Philippi, he wrote it to all the saints in Philippi with all the elders and deacons (Philippians 1:1).  It seems a little strange that he did not address the letter to the pastor.

The word pastor means shepherd.  It is in the plural.  It is not limited to the man who preaches on Sunday morning.  There should be many shepherds in the church.  The same word is used in its verb form in I Peter of elders and many other people can have this gift of shepherding.

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 SHEPHERD the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly (I Peter 5:1-2 ESV)

They are not only leadership gifts; they are ascension gifts, as we saw last week.  Are these the only ascension gifts, as some teach?  No.  These were not the only gifts that Jesus gave to the church after he ascended into heaven? There are more than twenty spiritual gifts listed in the NT.  There are other lists of spiritual gifts in the NT.  Paul mentions more in Romans and I Corinthians.  What are the five gifts here?

Apostles

First on the list are apostles.  When we think of an apostle, we think of the Twelve, who followed Jesus around for three years, heard him teach and saw all of his miracles but there are actually three kinds of apostles in the NT.  Paul was an apostle but he did not follow Jesus around for three years as his official representative and there are other people in the NT called apostles who were not apostles like Paul or the Twelve.

They were lowercase apostles.  Barnabas is an example of someone who was not one of the Twelve but he is called an apostle.  But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out (Acts 14:14 ESV).  This shows that apostleship in the NT was not limited to the Twelve and you could have the gift of apostleship without the office.

Prophets

Prophets were people who spoke by direct divine revelation.  It could be a revelation about the future or about the present but when a prophet spoke, God spoke.  Prophets did not go around saying, “It seems to me that this will take place” or “I feel strongly that you should…” or “This is what most scholars believe.”

They said, “Thus says the Lord.”  We need to be careful today because many people say some crazy things that they say that God told them.  Prophets need to be tested.  Even in the NT times they needed to be tested.  Many people abuse the prophetic gift but it was a genuine gift.

Evangelists

Evangelists are people who preach the gospel.  That is something that all of us are to do but some are really good at it.  It is their spiritual gift.  They live and breathe evangelism.

PASTORS are spiritual shepherds but it is not just the pastor.  The word pastor means ‘shepherd’ and shepherds are to feed the flock.  Most pastors are more preachers than teachers.  Some pastors feed the flock and some do not.  The sheep in some churches are skinny and malnourished.

Teachers

Lastly, he mentions teachers.  Some say that this is the same gift as pastors.  They say it is the gift of pastor-teacher, because of Greek grammar (Granville Sharp Rule) but that is probably not correct.  It is not demanded by the Greek text.  The same construction is used in Ephesians 2:20 and they refer to apostles and prophets. Teaching is mentioned as a separate gift in Romans and I Corinthians.

Pastors

What is the difference between pastors and teachers?  Pastors are often more people persons.  Teachers tend to love truth.  Pastors tend to love people.  Pastors tend to be more practical.  Teachers explain the word.  Pastors often apply it.  They are different gifts and not all teachers are pastors, although all pastors should be teachers.

There are all kinds of different kinds of teachers.  Some are better at teaching adults and some are better at teaching children.  Some are better at teaching brand new Christians and some are better and teaching seasoned saints.  Some teach by writing (books) and some teach by speaking.  Some teach by both.

What is the difference between evangelists and teachers?  There are many differences.  Evangelists are often move around.  Teachers stay in one place.  D. L. Moody said, “Dead men need evangelists. Living men need pastors and teachers.”[1]  My wife described it this way.  The job of the evangelist is to bring them in.  The job of the teacher is to build them up.  The job of the pastor is to send them out.

What is the difference between a prophet and a teacher?  They are separate gifts.  Both give a message from God, but they do it in different ways.  Prophecy is spontaneous (cf. I Corinthians 14:29-30). Teaching is NOT spontaneous.  It requires hours of preparation and study.  Prophets give a new revelation of God.  Teachers explain and interpret the revelation that God has already given.

Two Signs of Good Leaders

No church is perfect.  No leaders are perfect but how do you know if you have good leaders?  There are three signs in the text.

1) Good leaders produce stability in a church

That includes doctrinal stability.  Ephesians 4:14 says, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (ESV).

If you have good leaders, you will have a spiritually mature church.  You will have members who know the Word and can discern truth from error.  God does not want Christians to be spiritually gullible and naive.  He does not want us to be immature spiritually.  He wants us to grow up.

Five Signs of a Childish Christian

1. They do not know the Word.

They really do not know what it teaches, even though they may have bee in the church for thirty years.  They especially do not know what is in the OT.  That is the great tragedy of the church today.  It is biblical illiteracy.

2. They eat a simple diet.

It is a diet of spiritual baby food.  They like the milk of the word but not the meat.  They are spiritual vegetarians.  They only like shallow bible studies and nothing to deep.  They would not dare read any theology or doctrine.  They even think that the Bible is boring.

3. They have little discernment.

Proverbs 14:15 says that “the simple believe anything” (NIV).  Some Christians are like that.  They have no discernment.  Everything that the preacher says, they accept.  Everything their church tells them, they believe.  They often go from preacher to preacher and from church to church.  They are like infants “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4:14 NIV).

4. They do not know how to defend their faith

They have no idea how to answer questions people have about the Bible or even basic objections to Christianity.  They would know know how to answer someone if they asked how they knew that God existed, that Jesus really rose from the dead or that he even existed.  They would not know how to answer someone if they asked how we know that the Bible is the Word of God.

5. They are easily deceived

It is very easy to trick children (Ephesians 4:14). Baby Christians are also very easy to deceive. Cultists can teach false doctrine, take verses out of context and they will believe every word.  The first goal of leadership is to develop mature Christians but that is not all that they do.

2) Good leaders equip the saints for service

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12 ESV)

Every Christian is a saint but the saints need to be equipped.  One of the job of the leaders, the job of people with leadership gifts is to equip and empower the saints for the work of ministry. That is not what we see in many churches.  In many churches, ministry is done by the paid professionals.

In most cases, the leaders are highly educated, seminary trained, ordained ministers.  The church pays them to do ministry.  The rest of the church sits back, while the senior pastor does all of the work. It leads to a passive church. That leads to a big gap in the church between the clergy and the laity.

The model for ministry in Ephesians 4 is different.  The job of the leaders is to quip the saints so they can minister to others.  That is what a healthy church looks like.  That is what discipleship in a church should look like.

Notice the two parts to it.  The first step is EQUIPPING.  The second step is SERVICE. In every church, there should be some EQUIPPERS and there should be some SERVERS.

Some pastors try to do everything.  They try to micromanage everything.  What they should do is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.  All of us are in the ministry, not just the paid professionals.  Every Christian is a minister.  You do not have to be ordained to be a minister.  The pastor is not the only one in full-time Christian service.  Every Christian should be.

When every Christian in the church does his or her part, the body is built up. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, AS EACH PART DOES ITS WORK. (Ephesians 4:15-16 NIV)

The purpose of ministry is to build up the body.  You may know some professional body builders who train their body, so they have big bulky muscles like the hulk.  This is biblical bodybuilding.  It is Christian body building.  It is spiritual body building.

Spiritual gifts do not develop physical muscles.  They develop our spiritual muscles. The purpose is to build up the body of Christ, not tear it down.  The primary purpose of the church is to build up the body.  Jesus did not give you a spiritual gift for your own benefit.  If you have a spiritual gift, it is for the benefit of the body.

The primary purpose is to glorify God and to build up the body of Christ.  In some churches, the focus is not on the body but on the lost.  It is not on saints but on sinners.  the local church is primarily a soul-winning station, rather than a soul building station.  The focus is on evangelism, rather than discipleship.[2]  Some churches preach the same message week after week and it is the salvation message.

Errors on Spiritual Gifts

There are three basic  errors in the church today when it comes to spiritual gifts.   The first error is that many Christians do not use their spiritual gift.

We are all part of the body of Christ.  Some of the body parts are working and some are not.  Some have to work overtime.  For a Christian to decide not to use his or her gift would be like your kidney or heart deciding not to work in the body.  That would be catastrophic.  Ten percent of the church often do ninety percent of the work.  When they all work together as they should, the body is built up.

The second error is that in some churches that are some Christians who have a genuine gift and want to use it but are not given the opportunity.  That happens in many churches.  John Wesley was barred from preaching in most churches in his day.  He was considered too radical, so he went and preached outside to large crowds of people.

The third error is that many Christians are not serving in the ministry where they are gifted.  They are doing something in the church but not what God has called them to do.  Many just fill a need but do not focus on what they are actually called by God to do.

The Gifts Today

How long do these gifts last?  The text is clear and it goes against what a lot of people in the church teach.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 UNTIL we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV).

When we all reach complete unity in the faith with every other Christian?  When we all see Jesus.  The gifts were given by Jesus until that happens.  What is that important?  Many today teach that some gifts were only given for a few hundred years and then they died out.

They believe that there are two types of gifts in the NT: temporary gifts and permanent gifts.  They believe that there are permanent gifts and nine temporary gifts.  The temporary gifts are apostles, gifts of healings, working of miracles, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues.  There is no evidence for that in Ephesians 4.  None!

Now it is true that The Twelve are gone.  The Twelve and Paul had a special authority that people do not have today.  There is no apostolic succession (contrary to what the Catholic Church teaches).  If anyone on the Internet or TV claims to be an apostle in that sense, they are liars.

There were people in Paul’s day who claimed to be apostles but were not real apostles.  We have the same problem today.  That does NOT mean that the gift of apostleship no longer exists today, just because the office no longer exists.  There were other apostles in the NT, besides the Twelve.

Many say that we no longer need prophets today because the prophets wrote Scripture and we already have the Bible.  The canon is closed, so there is no longer any need for a prophet today.  Are they right?  No.  The canon is closed but that was not the only job of prophets in the Bible.

In fact, many prophets never wrote a book of the Bible.  John the Baptist never wrote a book of the Bible.  Some were speaking prophets and some were writing prophets.  Paul described the purpose of prophecy as edification, exhortation and comfort.  Paul said, “But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort” (I Corinthians 14:3 NIV).  Do we still need that today?  Yes.

There were prophets in the early church (Acts 2:17-18; 11:27; 13:1; 15:32).  The gift will be around during the Tribulation Period (Revelation 10:7; 11:6, 10, 18; 16:6; 18:24).  It will also be around just before the Second Coming of Christ (Joel 2:28-32).

Some say that apostles and prophets must have ceased because they are part of the foundation of the church. They get this from Ephesians 2:20. The argument is that the church is pictured as a building and the apostles and prophets are part of the foundation of that building. They were foundational gifts to the church. You only build a foundation once. Therefore, there is no longer any need for them but this argument has a flaw.

The apostles and prophets are NOT the foundation of the church.  How do we know?  Paul said that the foundation of the church is Jesus.  In fact, he said in another epistle that the church has NO other foundation than Jesus (I Corinthians 3:10-11).  They are not the foundation.  The teaching about Jesus by the apostles and prophets is the foundation of the church.  This is an example of an objective genitive in Greek.

Ephesians 4 Principles on Spiritual Gifts

Principle One: Jesus is the author of spiritual gifts (Ephesians 4:7, 8, 11)

Principle Two: Jesus gives a gift to every believer (Ephesians 4:7)

Principle Three: Jesus gives different gifts to believers (Ephesians 4:11)

Principle Four: Jesus gives a gift to every church in the form of people (Ephesians 4:11)

Principle Five: A pastor’s job is not to do all of the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12)

Principle Six: Ministry belongs to everybody, not just the pastor (Ephesians 4:12)

Principle Seven: There are two types of gifts in the church: equipping and serving gifts (Ephesians 4:12)

Principle Eight: Lay ministry leads to spiritual growth (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Principle Nine: The purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the body (Ephesians 4:12, 16)

Principle Ten: Spiritual gifts continue until Jesus returns (Ephesians 4:13)

[1] D. L. Moody, Notes from my Bible: from Genesis to Revelation (Kindle Location 2520). Note on Ephesians 4:11.  Sequor Ltd. Kindle Edition.

[2] This is taken from George Zeller’s outline.  http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/lochurch/eph412.htm

Spiritual Gifts 101

We are studying the Book of Ephesians.  Last week, we looked at the topic of unity in the church, which is very much needed today because the modern church is divided.  We began the second section of the Book of Ephesians which is not primarily doctrinal but practical.  We looked at doctrinal unity (unity of truth). We looked at personal unity (unity of persons).  We looked at the main command in those verses to make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

To do that, we have to do two things.  We have to change the way we act towards people.  We have to be humble.  We have to be gentle.  We have to patient.  We have to treat people with love and compassion (Ephesians 4:1-3).  We also have to focus on the things we have in common (Ephesians 4:4-6).  We like to focus on all of our differences, all of our denominational distinctives that make our church different from other churches and what makes us unique as a church.

For the next two weeks, we will be looking at the topic of topic of spiritual gifts.  Ephesians 4 is one of the main passages in the NT on spiritual gifts.  It is a little different from some of the other passages in the NT on spiritual gifts.   It does not mention many of the charismatic sign gifts (like speaking in tongues, and healing).  We will look at some of the differences next week. This is a very important topic for all of us and it is practical.

It is also a difficult passage.  It is one of the hardest passages in the Book of Ephesians.  There are all kinds of different interpretations on some of these verses.  What does it mean that Jesus led captivity captive? What does it mean that Jesus descended to the lower parts of the earth?  What does that mean?  Does it mean that Jesus went to Hell?  Does this mean that Hell is in the center of the earth?

I have read that passage for over forty years.  I have had questions about it but never really studied it in depth until now.  Some say that there is one verse in this section that proves that there is an error in the Bible.  Are they right?  We will look at the verse.  This week, you might hear some things that you have never heard before.  We are going to look at five truths today about spiritual gifts.  We will see a few more next week. As we look at them, we will look at some of these questions in the text

Five Basic Truths about Spiritual Gifts

1) Jesus is the one who gives us our gifts

He is the gift-giver.  If you read some other passages in the NT, you would think that they were just given by the Holy Spirit. In I Corinthians, they are called gifts of the Spirit. He calls them “the manifestations of the Spirit” (I Corinthians 12:7).  He says that the Holy Spirit distributes them (I Corinthians 12:4).  Every gift in that chapter is given “by the Spirit” (I Corinthians 12:9-10) or ‘through the Spirit” (I Corinthians 12:8).

Here we learn that gifts are not just given by the Spirit; they are given by Jesus Himself.  Every spiritual gift you have was personally distributed by Jesus.  Jesus does not just give us salvation, He gives us gifts.  We like to give gifts to our kids.  Jesus liked to give gifts.  He was the one who said that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

Where does it say that our gifts come from Jesus?  Ephesians 4:7 says “to each one of us grace has been GIVEN AS CHRIST APPORTIONED IT” (NIV). Ephesians 4:8 says, “When HE ascended on high, HE took many captives and GAVE GIFTS to HIS people” (NIV). Ephesians 4:11 says “So CHRIST HIMSELF GAVE the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers” (NIV). Everything we have comes from Jesus. Our ministries come from Jesus.  Paul says this, not one or two but three times.

Paul quotes a verse from the OT to prove that Jesus gives us the gifts.  This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people” (Ephesians 4:8 NIV) but there is a problem.  The quotation comes from Psalm 68:18 but that is not what the text says.  Psalm 68:18 says, “When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious– that you, LORD God, might dwell there.” (NIV).

Critics call this a contradiction.  Is this an error in the Bible?  Is Paul misquoting Psalm 68 here?  Psalm 68 talks about God RECEIVING gifts FROM people (so HT and LXX).  Ephesians 4 talks about Jesus GIVING gifts TO people, not receiving gifts from people.  Is it a problem?  Not really.  Paul may NOT have been quoting Psalm 68 but the Jewish Targum, which was an Aramaic paraphrase of the OT.  Paul was trained under Rabbi Gamaliel.  The Jewish Targum mentions him giving gifts to the sons of men.  There is a Jewish basis for the translation.[1]

If it is a direct quote from Psalm 68, it is a contradiction.  If it is a quote from the Jewish Targum, which is a paraphrase of the passage, it is not a contradiction, just a summary.

The background of Psalm 68 is of a king who does BOTH.  It is the picture of a victorious king coming back after winning a war.  Behind him are all of his soldiers and he brings back with him the spoils of war.  He returns home with the spoils of war and gives the spoils to his own.  That is what ancient conquerors did.

They received gifts AND gave gifts.  In this case, the conqueror is Jesus.  He wins the battle.  He defeats the enemy and He gives gifts.  The only difference is that in this case, He did not get the gifts from the enemy, so Paul does not emphasize that part.  What he says is implied by the text (so Archer).[2]

2) Jesus gives spiritual gifts sovereignly

Our natural abilities are sovereignly given.  We are born with them.  Our spiritual gifts are also sovereignly given.  We cannot take the credit for them.  We had nothing to do with them.  He decided what gift we would have.  We may wish we had some different gifts, but God decides what gift each Christian has.

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines (I Corinthians 12:11 NIV).  Notice that they are NOT distributed as we determine but as He determines.

But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. (I Corinthians 12:18 NIV).  That is talking about the part of the physical body but it is also true of the body of Christ.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. (I Corinthians 12:27-28 NIV).

That raises this question.  if gifts are sovereignly given is it wrong to pray for spiritual gifts?  No.  There is biblical support for this in I Corinthians 14:13.  On the other hand, before we pray for another gift, we should first use the gift that God has already given us but it is certainly not wrong to pray for more.

3) Jesus gives spiritual gifts after the ascension

Ephesians 4:8 says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” (NIV).  That is when He gave the gifts.  They are all ascension gifts from the exalted Christ.  Some have called these gifts listed in Ephesians 4 (apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers) as the ascension gifts.  They say that these five leadership offices, these five ministries, are ascension gifts but the truth is that all spiritual gifts are ascension gifts.

Paul says that when Jesus ascended, he did two things.  He gave gifts and he took captives.  For it says: When He ascended on high, He took prisoners into captivity (HCSB).  The NIV says, “When he ascended on high, he took many captives.”  The question is, Who are the captives?  Some think it refers to evil powers and forces but I happen to agree with D.A. Carson that this is talking about believers.[3]  Jesus by his death and resurrection, did two things:  He acquired people and gave them gifts.

Paul says that in the next verse.  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things (Ephesians 4:9-10 KJV).  The one who ascended and descended is the one who has the right to give the gifts.

False Views of the Underworld

This is where it gets interesting.  What is Paul talking about?  Where did Jesus go when he died?  Where was His spirit when His body was in the ground?  Did Jesus go to Hell between his death and his resurrection?

Some say that He went to Hell and was there for three days.  It is called the weekend in Hell doctrine.  Some preachers teach that. Some teach that Jesus not only went to Hell; He suffered in Hell.[4]

Furthermore, they go on to say that Hell is in the earth.  It is in the center of the earth, the lower parts of the earth. None is this is correct.  It is all hogwash.  There are four false views of the underworld.  Many of these are common views today that many mistakenly hold.

1. Jesus suffered in Hell after He died

He said. “It is finished” (τετέλεσται) on the cross before he died.  The penalty as payed.  He did not have to go to Hell to suffer more for three days.  He told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).  He did not go to Hades.  He went to Paradise.  He didn’t go there in three days.  He went THAT DAY.

2. Jesus’ victory over the underworld took place between his death and resurrection.

“The place where Jesus had victory over evil powers and sin…was not in Hades but on the cross.”[5]  Christ defeated these powers on the cross, not during a descent into Hell, between his death and resurrection.”[6]

Satan was judged at the cross (John 16:11).  That was when “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15 NIV).

3. Jesus descended into Hades to free slaves

When I was first saved, I was told Ephesians 4 is talking about OT saints.  Between his death and his resurrection, he went to Hades and took millions of OT saints into heaven but OT saints would not be described as captives.  Paul does not say that Jesus led captivity captive during his descension but during his ascension.  Paul could have said that after his death, he descended in to Hades and freed all of the slaves.  That is not what the passage says.

4. Hell is at the center of the earth

Many people teach this.  They get it from two verses: Ephesians 4:9 and Matthew 12:40. There are two ways to translate Ephesian 4:9.  It could be translated as a PARTITIVE GENITIVE.  The KJV reads, “he descended to the lower parts of the earth.”  That is a possible interpretation.  It was the view of many early church fathers but few commentators take it that way today.

Most commentators today take it as a GENITIVE OF APPOSITION.  It further defines or explains the preceding noun. The NIV says “he also descended to the lower, earthly regions” (NIV).  The ESV says “he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth.”  They take it as a genitive of apposition.  There are many examples of this in the book (Ephesians 2:2, 14, 15, 20; 3:4, 7; 4:3; 6:14, 16, 17).[7]

Ephesians 4 does NOT say that Jesus descended to hell.  He descended from heaven to earth, not from earth to hell.  Ephesians mentions two places (heaven and earth), not three (heaven, earth, hades).[8]  In fact, Paul never mentions Hades anywhere in his epistles.

What about Matthew 12:40?  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (NIV).  Some say that this proves that hell is in the center of the earth and not just six feet under.

The problem is that this is figurative language.  The earth does not have a heart.  It is not talking about where the soul of Jesus went but where His body went.  This was the sign to the Jews (the sign of Jonah).  Jesus was predicting his death in advance.  He does it many times and he never speaks about where His soul goes.  He always talks about where His body goes (cf. Matthew 16:21; Luke 9:22; 17:25; 18:32-33).

4) Jesus gives spiritual gifts to every believer

Every believer has a spiritual gift But to each one of us grace has been given (Ephesians 4:7 NIV).  He does not say that it is given to some of us or to many of us or even to most of us but to EACH ONE of us.  Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift, not just the superstar, celebrity Christians.

The most humble, poor, uneducated and insignificant believer in the darkest corner of the globe has a spiritual gift.  There is no such thing as an ungifted member.  If we all have a spiritual gift, that means that we all have a God-given ministry of some kind.  In the American church today, it seems like there are only three or four people in the church who have the gifts.

Now to EACH ONE the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. (I Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV)

We all have a gift.  We all have a ministry.  If that is true, we should ask two simple questions.  Do we all know what out spiritual gift or gifts are?  Are we using them?  Gifts are meant to be used.

No gift should go unused.  That would be a complete waste.  I Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should USE whatever gift you have received TO SERVE OTHERS as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (NIV).  If you have a spiritual gift, that means that someone in your church needs that gift.

5) Jesus gives believers different spiritual gifts

Some today teach that we should all have the same gift.  They teach that we should all heal the sick or speak in tongues but the NT teaches that we all have different gifts. That is why we need each other. We all have different gifts.

Even two Christians who have the same gift have different degrees of that gift.  Spiritual gifts are given in varying measure.  They are given in different amounts.  Jesus decides WHAT gift we gift.  He also decides HOW MUCH of each gift we would get (one talent, five talents or ten talents).

“Having then gifts differing ACCORDING TO THE GRACE GIVEN TO EACH OF US, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith.” (Romans 12:6 NIV).  This is an interesting concept.

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (NIV).  We are saved by GRACE.  We are given spiritual gifts by GRACE. We do not only need grace for salvation; we need grace for service, and grace for ministry.  Spiritual gifts are grace-enabled abilities.

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you… I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ (Ephesians 4:2, 7-8 NIV)

Paul was given grace to do ministry. We are given grace to do ministry.  We all have different spiritual gifts and the different spiritual gifts are based on the grace that is given to each one of us.  Grace is the power to exercise that gift. Grace is the power to do what God has called you to do.

We saw this last Sunday.  What God appoints, He anoints.  If God calls us to do something, He gives us the power and the grace to do it.  We do not have to do it in our own strength.  God called Moses to lead two million Jews out of slavery in Egypt and he called him to do it without an army but He also told them that he would be with them.

[1]The chariots of God are two myriads of burning fire, two thousand angels guiding them; the presence of the Lord rests on them, on the mountain of Sinai, in holiness.
You ascended to the firmament, O prophet Moses; you captured captives, you taught the words of Torah, you GAVE GIFTS to the sons of men, and even the stubborn who are converted turn in repentance, [and] the glorious presence of the Lord God abides upon them. Blessed be the Lord, every day he weighs us down, adding commandments to commandments; the mighty one, who is our redemption and our helper forever
(Targum of Psalm 68:18-20).

[2] Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids, 1982), pp. 404-405; Gleason L. Archer & Gregory Chirichigno, Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament (Chicago, 1983), p. 73.

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w38TpFhk_FU

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dwbNvBq7eQ

[5] Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, 534

[6] Frank Thielman, Ephesians, 270.

[6] Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, 535

[8] Frank Thielman, Ephesians, 270.

Unity of the Spirit

In almost every church, there are two types of people.  They are very different.  The question is, Which one are you?

Doctrinal Christians

Some Christians love to study the Bible.  They can do it for hours.  They love doctrine.  They love to go deep.  They love apologetics (defending their faith).  They are often not real big on application.  That does not excite them much.  They do not waste their time reading devotional books.  They like to cut their teeth on deep theology.

They are dissatisfied with the church, because much bible study in the church today is very shallow.  There is not a lot of depth to it.  Many Christians do not know their faith very well.  They do not know the Bible well and have no clue how to defend it before the world.  Many of these Christians have been in the church for twenty or thirty years and they are spiritual babies.  They can only drink milk.  They cannot eat meat.

Practical Christians

There is another extreme in the church.  This group is all practical.  They do not want to waste their time on the theoretical.  They see hours of intense bible study as pointless.  What is the point of mastering all of the mysteries of the Book of Ezekiel or Zechariah?  There is no point in trying to figure out what predestination is all about.  That only leads to pride.  It leads to a big head.  Paul said, “knowledge puffs but love builds up” (I Corinthians 8:1).

What really matters is how you live your life. They only want to study the Bible to learn how to live.  They want to learn how to control their addictions, how to improve their relationships, how to strengthen their marriage and how to raise their kids.  That is all that matters.

Jesus did not say, “They will know you are my disciples by how much you KNOW.” He said, “They will know you are my disciples by how much you LOVE.”  Many in the church have this viewpoint.  That is why so few in the church have any interest in-depth bible study.  That is why we see so few people in Sunday School.

Who is right?  They BOTH are.  The Bible give us BOTH.  It gives us doctrine.  Paul said that all Scripture is inspired and some of it is profitable for “DOCTRINE” or teaching.  The Bible is also extremely practical.  It tells us how to live.  It is also profitable for “TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS” (II Timothy 3:16), not just training in theology.  If we do not have both parts, we do not have the whole counsel of God.

We see both in the Book of Ephesians.  The first part of the book deals with DOCTRINE.  It deals with DUTIES.  The first part deals with what we are to BELIEVE.  The second part deals with how we are to BEHAVE.

Ephesians 4 is not just another chapter in the book.  It starts a whole new section of the book and this section is much more practical.  There is one command in the first section and forty in the second section.  Notice how the section begins.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1 ESV).

The first part of the book is all about our calling in Christ and what it means to be in Christ.  Now Paul says we are to WALK WORTHY of that calling.  That is a convicting verse.  How many of us walk worthy in our jobs, in our homes, in our marriages?  The question is this.  Are you walking worthy of the calling to which you have been called?  It is not a question of being sinlessly perfect.  It is not a question of pleasing God in every area of your life.  How do we do that?  We will find out in these verses.

There is a joke about Baptists.  There are three things they love: Jesus, the bible and a good fight.  Today, we will be talking about unity.  This is one of the most important passages on unity on the Bible.   In fact, in the Greek New Testament this is the only time that we find the word for unity (ἑνότης) and that Greek word is used twice in this chapter.

Paul speaks of “the UNITY of the Spirit” in Ephesians 4:3. He speaks of “the UNITY of the faith” in Ephesians 4:13.  We are going to look at what the Bible says about unity and what it does not say.

How Churches are Divided

We live in a day in which the church is completely divided.  Today, churches are divided in many ways.

1. Churches are divided by SIZE

There are small churches of just a few people and the mega churches of thousands of people and in some cases ten thousand people.

2. Churches are divided by RACE

There are black churches.  There are white churches.  There are Hispanic churches, There are Asian churches.  Churches today are often divided by race.

3. Churches are divided by DENOMINATION

How many denominations do you think there are in the world today?  According to the experts there are about thirty or forty thousand of them.

4. Churches are divided by BIBLE TRANSLATION

Some churches only use the KJV (KJV only churches), while other churches use modern translations. Many of those churches think that if you do not use a King James Bible, you are not a real Christian.

5. Churches are divided by MUSIC

Churches are divided by the style of music and the instruments used in worship.  Some churches only play hymns and other churches play that evil modern music.  The first are usually full of old people. The second group is usually full of young people and hipsters.  The Church of Christ is non-instrumental.  Their service is all a cappella.  They think it is somehow wrong to praise God with musical instruments in church.

6. Churches are divided by DRESS CODE

Some churches are casual churches (come as you are churches).  Other churches are what my wife calls “panty hose churches” where all the men wear a tie like they are going to a funeral or a wedding.

7. Churches are divided by THEOLOGY

There are Calvinistic churches and Arminian churches.  There are charismatic and non-charismatic churches.  There are property churches who teach the health and wealth gospel and non-prosperity churches.  There are dispensational and non-dispensational churches.  There are liberal and conservative churches, those who believe the Bible and take it literally and those who do not.

8. Churches are divided by SEXUAL ORIENTATION

There are gay churches, LGBTQ churches, or and straight churches. Some churches are known as gay friendly or gay affirming churches.

9. Churches are divided by LEADERSHIP

Some churches have female pastors; other churches have only male pastors and elders.  Some churches are ruled by elders and some are ruled by the congregation in a more democratic manner.

Division in some churches can get pretty ugly.  Fights break out with other Christians usually over the most trivial things that really don’t matter.  Most of them have nothing to do with doctrine.  Some of the best fights are church fights.

Sometimes God leads people to leave another church but that often does not happen.  What usually happens?  One person gets offended about something or hurt, tells his or her friends.  That person leaves the church, never talking to the offending party again and five other people leave the church with that person.

What is even worse is when the fight is so bad that it gets out in the media and unbelievers can see how bad things are in the church.  That is what has happened recently in Chicago with Harvest Bible Chapel.

Five Truths about Unity

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3 NIV)

1) Unity is a need

It is a problem today and was a problem in Paul’s day.  Paul would not have given this command unless there was a need for it.  Some of the churches started by apostles two thousand years ago had problems.  They weren’t perfect churches.  Churches in the first century had all kinds of divisions and we have many of those same divisions today. The problem of unity is not just a modern problem.

2) Unity is a command

It is not optional.  This is the will of God for every believer.  Jesus prayed that we would be one.  In fact, He prayed for this three times in John 17 right before He went to the cross (John 17:11, 21, 23).  This is something we are called to.

Paul said that there should be NO divisions among us (I Corinthians 1:10), not a few, NONE.  In fact, Paul says in Romans 16:17 that we are to AVOID people who cause divisions in the church.

3) Unity involves effort

It requires us to do something.  You have to work hard. It does not happen automatically. Paul says that we need to “be diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  Not only are we to do it, we are to be diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit.

Some are eager to fight with other Christians (the fighting fundamentalists).  They love controversy.  They love to argue.  They love debate.  They love a good fight.  We are to love unity, not conflict and division.

4) Unity is supernatural

It comes from the Holy Spirit.  It is called a “unity OF THE SPIRIT.”  This is Holy Spirit unity.  He is the one who creates the unity.  The Holy Spirit places different people in the body.  He creates the unity.  We are just commanded to keep it.  We are not told to create the unity.

5) Unity results in peace

That is the goal.  It is the proof that unity exists.  When there is unity, there is peace, people get along.  Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18 NIV).

Today, we want to look at two kinds of biblical unity.  There are two kinds of unity.  What are they and how do we achieve them?

Personal Unity

Personal unity is practical unity. It is a unity of people.  It is getting along with people you can’t stand in the church.  It is getting along with people who get on your nerves.  Paul says that this is how we walk worth of our calling.  To walk worthy and to achieve personal unity, you have to have four character traits.  Every one of us should have these four traits.  Three of these four are specifically called Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

with all HUMILITY and GENTLENESS, with PATIENCE, bearing with one another in LOVE (Ephesians 4:2 ESV)

1) Humility

This is interesting.  The Greeks and Romans had no concept of humility.  They worshiped power. They worshiped strength.  Humility is not someone that is emphasized in our culture either.   This is completely counter-cultural.  We emphasize the need to be assertive and stand up for your rights.

Humility does not mean that we have low self-esteem.  Jesus was humble.  Humility means that we think of others.  It means that we treat others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).  In fact, Paul says that we are to walk, not just with humility but with ALL humility.  Are we humble?  Is that the way people who know us best would describe us?

Divisions take place because pride.  Someone gets offended.  Their pride is hurt and they leave.  Leaders who are arrogant and dictatorial drive people away.  No one wants to be around them if they are domineering or overbearing and all they want to do is criticize people.

2) Gentleness

Some Christians and some preachers come across as rough or harsh, not gentle. They are at war with everybody.  They think kindness and humility mean weakness. They think you can’t be well-liked and respected if you are gentle.  They are abusive.  They are mean and cruel to the sheep.  We are to be gentle.  Are we gentle?  Jesus was gentle.  Jesus said, “I am gentle and humble of heart” (Matthew 11;29 NIV).   A bruised reed he will not break (Matthew 12:20 ESV).  Jesus was gentle but he also knew how to stand up to the Pharisees.

3) Long suffering

There are a lot of different words we could use here: patient, long suffering, tolerant.  To do this, you have to put up with some things.  You can’t let every little thing bother you.  Divisions take place because Christians are not patient.  They are not long-suffering with people. They get upset.  They get angry and leave.

4 Love

This is the word αγάπη.  It is not enough to be tolerant.  We can tolerate all kinds of people we can’t stand.  We also need to be loving.  Are we loving?  We see these same virtues in Colossians 3:12-14.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (NIV).

Doctrinal Unity

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV)

One area of unity in the church is doctrinal unity.  This is a unity of truth.   These verses deal with seven things that all Christians agree on.  The word “one” is used seven times in these three verses and it is used in all three different forms of the word in Greek (masculine, feminine and neuter). These are what James MacDonald called ‘seven non-negotiables.”

ONE BODY

In the last chapter, it was described as a building.  In this chapter, it is pictured as a body.  In the next chapter, he will describe it as a bride but here it is pictured as a body with Christ as the head.  Paul says that the church is not only a body, it is ONE body, not a thousand bodies.  There are many denominations (thousands of them) but there is only one body.

This is the body of true believers (regardless of denominational label) of all ages.  This body is invisible.  It is the group of saved people everywhere.  If  you combined every denomination into one big church (a world church), you still would not have the body of Christ.  It would have many saved people but it would have many unsaved people in that group.

ONE SPIRIT

These seven elements of unity are grouped around each person of the Trinity.  Each verse deals with a different member of the Trinity.  They begin with the Spirit (Ephesians 4:4).  They move to the Son (Ephesians 4:5) and they end with God the Father (Ephesians 4:6).  When we think of the Trinity, we think of the Father, the Son and the Spirit.  Paul here goes from the Spirit to the Son to the Father.

That same spirit is in every believer and puts each believer in the body, gives that believer spiritual gifts and empowers every Christian for living.  Paul said that we are sealed with the Spirit (Ephesians 1:18).  We have access to the Father through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18).  We are a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22) and we are strengthened in the inner man through the Spirit (Ephesians 3:16).

ONE HOPE

What hope is this?  What is the one hope that every Christian has?  We are not told.  It could be the hope of heaven.  It could be the hope of eternal life.  I believe it is the hope to one day see Jesus.  Jesus is the hope of every man.  We will either see Him on earth on in heaven.  We will in the clouds if we are raptured.  We will see Him at the Second Coming if we are on earth at that time or we will see Him at death when we open our eyes in the afterlife.

Some say that this could not refer to prophecy, because no two Christians can agree on prophecy.  Some are pretrib.  Some are post trib.  Some are midtrib.  Some are premillennial.  Some are postmillennial. Some are amillennial.  That is true but Paul is not dealing with the details.  He is just dealing with the blessed hope, looking forward to seeing Jesus.

ONE LORD

Pagans believed that there are many lords (I Corinthians 8:5) but as Christians we all believe that there is only one Lord (κύριος).  That Lord is not Caesar.  It is Jesus.  There is one head of the church.  It is not the pastor.  It is not the Pope.  It is Jesus.

ONE FAITH

This is not the Baptist or Methodist faith but the Christian faith.  We have one creed or confession, one faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).  This faith covers the essentials that all Christians believe.  It does not cover the non-essential minor doctrines that Christians argue about.

ONE BAPTISM

What is the baptism?  Some seem to think that this is Holy Spirit baptism but that is not what this is talking about at all.  It is talking about water baptism.  How do we know?  If it was talking about Holy Spirit baptism, it would be in the verse about the Holy Spirit.  Instead, it is in the verse about the Son and this one baptism follows one faith.

In the NT baptism always follows faith and is an outward expression of faith.  In the early church, people believed and were baptized.  As F.F. Bruce said, there is no such thing as an unbaptized believer in the NT.  All NT believers were baptized.  If you are a believer and have never been baptized, you need to be.  It is part of the Great Commission.

How could baptism be an area of unity in the church today?  There are so many different views of baptism in the church. Some believe in sprinkling.  Some believe in immersion.  Some believe in pouring.  Some baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (following the Great Commission).

Some only baptize in the name of Jesus (following the book of Acts). Some baptize believers and some baptize people who have not believed yet (infants). We may do it in different ways but we all believe in one baptism, one initiatory rite into the visible church.  People were baptized and added to the church (Acts 2:41).

ONE GOD/FATHER

Now our pastor sometimes speaks of two Gods working in the world but Satan is a god in the lowercase.  He is not really God.  He is an angel.  He is a created being.  Paul says there is only one God.  There is not two and there is not three.  The Trinity is not the believe that there are three gods.  There is only one God and Father.

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. (Deuteronomy 4:39)

so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. (I Kings 8:60 NIV)

We are told three things about this God.  He is TRANSCENDENT (above all).  He is SOVEREIGN (through all) and he is OMNIPRESENT (in all)

Three False Unities

1. A Pluralistic Unity

False unity is a unity of truth with error. We do not have to sacrifice truth for the sake of unity.  Pluralism teaches that all views are correct.  Every view must be accepted.  This is the politically correct unity. That is a false unity.  Some think that to have unity, we have to accept every viewpoint.  We are to be non-judgmental.  We cannot say that anything is false, because that would offend some people and cause disunity.  That is not biblical unity.  That would mean that we could not criticize the KKK or the Nazis or child abuse or child sacrifice, as D.A. Carson points out.[1] This would be patently absurd.

2. An Ecumenical Unity

False unity is a unity with idolatry and false religion.  True unity is not when Christians unite with the Rev. Sung Myung Moon or Hari Krishna.  The Bible says that you cannot take the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons (I Corinthians 10:21).  The is a unity for Christians who have the same Father and the same Lord.  It is a unity of Christians with other members of this family.

We are not to be united with anyone.  We are not to be united with false teachers and people who cause divisions in the church.  The sheep are not to be united with wolves.  They will just devour them.

There are some people that the NT says should be excommunicated.  Jesus rebuked one church because they tolerated Jezebel to teach in the church (Revelation 2:20). She was causing believers to sin.

3. A homogeneous unity

False unity is a unity without diversity.  Unity does not mean that we cannot have any difference of opinion.  There are all kinds of things Christians disagree about on non-essentials but on the essentials there should be complete unity.   Some churches do not make this distinction.  They leave no room for disagreement, even on non-essentials.  If you disagree with anything, you are instantly labeled a heretic.

The truth is that there can be distinction in the body of Christ but not division.  Unity is not uniformity.  We can have unity and all kinds of diversity (diversity of race, diversity of gifts, diversity of ministries and even diversity of thought).  We will see this next week as we continue to look at the topic of spiritual gifts.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaO2l3awuaM

Paul’s Greatest Prayer

We are studying the Book of Ephesians.  We come today to one of the most important prayers in the entire Bible.  It is found in Ephesians 3:14-20.  This passage is amazing.  This prayer can change your life.  It is Paul’s great prayer for the church and for the believer.

It is one of the most amazing passages in the Bible.  These are prayers that we should pray for ourselves.  This prayer is not just the prayer of some great Christian.  It is the prayer of an apostle and this prayer is inspired. It is an inspired prayer.  It is perhaps Paul’s greatest prayer.

We may think of Paul as a great Christian, a great missionary, a great theologian, a great writer of Scripture (he wrote more books of Scripture than any other apostle) but he was also a great man of prayer and we can learn from his example.

His example is perhaps a rebuke to many in the church today who do not take prayer very seriously.  Many Christians do not pray regularly.  Many churches do not even have prayer meetings.  If they do, only a handful of people show up.  How do you rate your prayer life?

This is Paul’s second prayer in the Book of Ephesians.  His first prayer was in Ephesians 1:15-23.  Both of these prayers are relatively short.  They are not long.  You do not have to pray four hours a day to have a good prayer life.  You can have intense passionate prayers that are short and to the point.

Paul’s actual prayer is only four verses long.  It goes from Ephesian 3:16-19.  These are four powerful verses. This prayer involves the entire Trinity.  Paul knelt before the FATHER (Ephesians 3:14).  He prayed that he would strengthen us with power though HIS SPIRIT (Ephesians 3:16).  He prayed that CHRIST would dwell in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17).

It ends with a doxology.  It ends with praise.  Sometimes we begin our prayers with praise.  Paul ended this one with praise.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).  This doxology contains one of the most incredible promises in the entire Bible on prayer.

Paul prays here to the Father.  He is  the Father of Jesus (Ephesians 1:3).  He is the Father of believers (Ephesians 1:2). He is also the Father of everyone.  For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name (Ephesians 3:14 NIV).  Ephesians 4:6 says, “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (NIV).  He is the Creator of everyone.

Paul prays to the Father on his knees.  He said, “For this reason I kneel before the Father” (Ephesians 3:14 NIV).  If you want to pray like an apostle, you have to get on your knees, face on the ground.  Of course, it is not wrong to pray standing or sitting.  You can pray other ways, but your most intense passionate prayers should be on your knees.

It shows humility.  It shows brokenness.  It shows dependence upon God.  That was the way Jesus prayer in his most intense hour of prayer the night before he was crucified when He sweat great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:41).  What does he pray for?  The answer is a little surprising.

Paul’s prayer is a little different from prayers in the church today, especially the American church.  This is not a prayer for material blessings.  It is not a prayer for prosperity.  Paul does not pray for the members of this church to be in great health or to make more money.

It is not wrong to pray for physical or financial needs but the emphasis in Paul’s prayer is on spiritual needs, our greatest needs.  Most of our prayers focus on material things or physical problems.  It is not wrong to pray for physical things.  God is able to meet those needs as well. He is able to do more than we ask or think but our greatest needs are spiritual and we almost never pray for them.

Lets look at what Paul did pray for here.  He had four prayer requests.  These are all things that we should pray for ourselves.  One man said t hat he prayed this prayer regularly and it changed his life.  let’s look at these four requests.

Four Amazing Prayer Requests

1. A Prayer for Spiritual Strength

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being (Ephesians 3:16 NIV)

All of us need spiritual strength.  We need to be strengthened on the inside at the core of our being.  Paul does not pray for physical strength.  He prays for spiritual strength.  He prays that God will strengthen them in the inner man.  The Bible is more interested in the inner man or inner person.  God is more interested in what is on the inside.  He looks on the heart.  We are more interested in the outside.  We are more interested in appearance (I Samuel 16:7).

That is what we concentrate on.  We do all kinds of things to build up the outer man.  We watch what we eat.  We go on the Daniel plan.  We go on diets.  We go to the gym.  We exercise.  We lift weights and try to build up our muscles.

None of these are necessarily wrong.  Paul said that “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (I Timothy 4:8 NIV). It has some value but our focus should be on spiritual training, not physical training.  The same principle applies to women.  Notice what Peter said to women.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (I Peter 3:3-4 NIV)

The Pharisees focused on the outer man.  Jesus said that they were really good at cleaning the outside of a cup or dish but not the inside of it (Matthew 23:25-26).  They were caught up with externals.  Paul compared the outer man and the inner man.  He said, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4:16 NIV).

That is interesting.  Paul was getting older.  He knew what it was like to no longer be in his twenties.  All kinds of changes in the body take place with aging.  Paul knew about this from experience but even as his physical body was wearing out and breaking down, his inward man was being renewed day by day.  While the outside of the body gets weaker as you age, the inside can get stronger every day.  It can be renewed day by day.  That is an encouragement as you get older.

2. A Prayer for Christ to Dwell in your Heart

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17 NIV)

This is the only passage in the NT which talks about Christ dwelling in our hearts but it raises an interesting question.  Why would Paul pray for Christ to dwell in the hearts of these believers?  They were already saved.  They were already saints (Ephesians 1:1).  Christ was already in their hearts, so why did he need to pray for this?  This is not a prayer for salvation but for sanctification.  Paul is not praying that they would be converted.

The word dwell means not just to live but to be at home at.  It is very possible for Christ to be in your heart but not at home there.  If you are true believer, Jesus indwells you, but does He feel at home there.  Does He feels comfortable?  Does He have access to every room and closet or do you lock off certain rooms and say that “you can’t go in that room?”[2]

Do you give him unrestricted access to your life or do you say, “He can come in, but He is not in charge of my marriage and He is not in charge of what I do with my free time or the kind of things I watch?”  Christ indwells every person who is saved, but this does not necessarily mean He is in control of the person’s life.  Is Jesus Lord of your life?  Does He control every aspect of your life or only parts of it?

3. A Prayer to Know the Love of Christ

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV)

This is not a prayer that we would love Christ more.  It is a prayer that we would know His incredible love for us.  Every believer knows that Jesus loves them.  Paul wants us to know the extent of His love.  He wants us not just to know the love of God but to know how BIG it is.  Paul wants us to know how high, how wide, how deep and how long this love is.  D. L. Moody once said that if people just believed the three words “God is love,” the entire world would be converted within twenty-four hours.

How can they know a love that surpasses knowledge?  That sounds like a paradox.  How can you know something that is beyond knowing?  Paul is not saying that you cannot know this love but that you can’t know it fully.  You can never exhaust it.  This love surpasses knowledge.

Dimensions of Christ’s Love

We live in three dimensions.  Space is three dimensional (length, width and height).  Some have concluded from this verse that God’s love is not 3D.  It is 4D.  It sounds good but actually, this love is in three dimensions.

dimensions

The depth and height are part of the same dimension – one goes up and one goes down.  One of the dimensions is just split into two parts.[4]  What is the height, depth, length and breadth of Christ’s love?  We do not know for sure but we can speculate.

1) The Breadth

The breadth is how wide His love is.  How wide is his love?  It is as wide as humanity.  God’s love extends to all people.  It extends to Jew and Gentile.  God did not just love the Jew.  He loved Gentiles.  We love certain types of people, but not others.  The Bible says, “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).  He loves white people.  He loves black people.  He loves brown and yellow people.

2) The Length

God’s love is long.  It started before we were born and it goes on forever.  We were predestinated in love before the world even began.  He loved us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5).  God’s love lasts long. It lasts as long as eternity. It keeps going and going.  It never stops. God says in the OT, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3 ESV).  This love is eternal.  God’s love never fails (I Corinthians 13:8).  It never stops.  Jesus loves us to the end (John 13:1).  Nothing can separate you from it (Romans 8:38-39).

3) The Depth

How deep does this love go? God so loved that world that he gave his only Son.  That shows the depth of God’s love.  He sacrificed his own Son for us out of love.  The cross shows the depth of God’s love.  Jesus was willing to leave the glory of heaven and come to earth, go through pain, suffering, humiliation and death because of his love for us.  He went to Hell on our behalf.

There is another way that we the depth of God’s love.  It extends to the worst person on the planet.  It extends to those who are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) and are children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:3).  His love for us is deep.  We love people who are good and decent.  God loves people who are bad and who not even deserve to be loved.  God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NIV).  No one is too wicked or to depraved to receive this love.

4) The Height

This love is high.  It comes from heaven.  God is love (I John 4:8) and love comes from God (I John 4:7).  How high is God’s love?  It is high enough to take people to heaven.  This love takes us to the presence of God.  This love raised us up to sit in the heavenlies far above all principalities and powers (Ephesians 1:21-22).  He raised us up and seated us in the heavenlies with Christ (Ephesians 2:6).

4. A Prayer to be Filled with God’s Fullness

We now come to the climax of the prayer.  It is the last thing that Paul prays for.  It is a prayer for God’s fullness.  This is something that all of us need.  We need to be filled with the fullness of God, not filled with the world or filled with self or filled with sin but filled with God.  Paul does not pray that we would just be filled with God; he prays that we would be filled with the FULLNESS of God.

He does not pray that we would just be filled with the fullness of God; he prays that we would be filled with ALL of the fullness of God.  That should be the goal of your life.  it is a bold prayer.  D. Martin Lloyd Jones says that there is not a more staggering statement in Scripture than this.

How is that even possible?  God is infinite.  We are finite.  Solomon said that the heavens cannot contain God (I Kings 8:27), how could we possibly be filled with all of the fullness of God?  In Colossians, the one who is filled with the fullness of God is Jesus (Colossians 2:9). In Him the fullness of God dwells in bodily form.

It doesn’t mean that we become God in His essence.  Someone gave this example.  It is like a wine bottle in the ocean. You take the cork out of the bottle and throw it in the ocean.  Eventually, it fills up with water and the bottle is completely full of ocean. The bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle. The ocean contains the bottle, but the bottle contains only a little bit of the ocean. It is an imperfect analogy.

What does it mean to be filled with all the fullness of God?  D.A. Carson says that this is Paul’s way of praying that these Christians be spiritually mature, to be all that God wants you to be.[5]  It means you are filled up with God.  It means you are filled of His presence, filled with His power, filled with His glory, filled with His light, filled with His love, filled with His Word, filled with His Spirit.  That does not describe every Christian. It only describes some Christians.

The Doxology

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV)

Paul ends his prayer with a doxology.  It ends with praise to God.  To Him be glory in the church forever. Paul gives us the ultimate purpose of the church.  The primary purpose of the church is to give glory to God, not to save souls.  Your primarily purpose on this earth is to glorify God.  Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 NIV).  For all eternity, the church will be a demonstration of God’s love and grace.

How Big is Your God?

We will close by thinking about Ephesians 3:20. It is a powerful verse.  Many consider it their favorite verse in the Bible.  This verse raises the question, “How big is your God?”  Let’s look at what Paul says and see how it applies to us.  Paul says ten things here.  These ten things form a pyramid and they show us the incredible power of God.  We have no idea how powerful God is.

Paul’s Pyramid of Praise

Able

Able to do

Able to do what we ask

Able to do what we think

Able to do what we ask or think

Able to do all that we ask or think

Able to do above all that we ask or think

Able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think

Able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think

1) God is ABLE

Many question the ability of God and ask the question, Is God able?  We might have doubts.  Many times we have not because we ask not (James 4:2) and we do not ask because we do not believe that God is even able.  The situation is too difficult.  Jews facing the Red Sea with armies behind them and may thought God was not able.  Sarah wanting to have a child long after she was too old to have children and thought God was not able to give her one.

Here we find that He is.  With God, nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).  Before Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego were thrown in the fiery furnace, they said that God is ABLE to deliver them.  They thought He would deliver them but they said even if he doesn’t, we still will not worship the image of gold (Daniel 3:17-18).

2) God is able TO DO things.

God is able to do things for us.  He is able to do things in our life.  What is He able to do?

3) God is able to do WHATEVER WE ASK

Any request you have, God can answer immediately.  God has the power to give you every single request. He is able to kill giants.  He is able to solve the biggest problem in your life or meet your greatest need right now.  God can do more than you can pray.

You CANNOT pray for more than He can do but God can do much more than answer all of your prayers.  You can’t ask God for too much.  It is IMPOSSIBLE to ask God for too much.

4) God is able to do whatever we THINK

God is able, not just to answer whatever you pray, he is able to do whatever you think about but do not even pray.  You cannot even imagine more than He can do.  His capacity for giving exceeds His people’s capacity for asking or even imagining.

That does NOT mean that God always gives us whatever we ask or imagine.  Some of our requests are wrong.  God is not like a parent who pampers their children and gives them whatever they want, even if it is bad for them.  God has power behind your wildest dreams but that is not all He can do.

5) God is able to do what we ask AND think

God is able to do both things.  It is no problem for Him but that is not all He can do.

6) God is able to do ALL that we ask or think

He is not able to do some of it or most of it.  He is able to do all of it.

7) God is able to do ABOVE ALL that we ask or think

God is able to do MORE than we ask or think.  How much more is He able to do?

8) God is able to do ABUNDANTLY above all we ask or think

God is able to do, not just a little above what we ask or think but way more than we ask or think.

9) God is able to do EXCEEDINGLY abundantly above all that we ask or think

Here Paul uses a super-superlative.  It is a picture, not just of abundance but of superabundance, not just more but infinitely more.  In fact, he invents a Greek word here to say this (ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ).

10) He does this according to the power that works in us

We have all kinds of power inside us that we are not aware of.  We have His supernatural power living inside us.  We have the entire Trinity living inside us.  We are indwelt by the Holy spirit.  Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  We have Jesus living inside us.  We have the father living inside us.  Jesus said, ” Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23 NIV).


[1]
Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Rich (Ephesians): Gaining the Things That Money Can’t Buy (The BE Series Commentary), p. 93. David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.

[2] https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/popPlayer.cfm?id=3335&rel=missler_chuck/Eph

[3]https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:z52yOGp6eiwJ:https://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/does-christ-feel-at-home-in-your-heart+&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[4] https://scibible.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/four-dimensions-in-ephesians-318/

[5] D.A. Carson, Praying with Paul, p. 172

The Mystery Revealed

We have been studying the Book of Ephesians.  We are in chapter three and come almost of the middle of the book. It is a book that is divided into two parts.  The first part deals with doctrine.  The second part deals with duties.  The first three chapters are doctrinal.  The last three chapters are practical.

Ephesians 3 is a prayer.  It is one of the prayers of Paul. Paul does something strange in this chapter.  Last week, Paul talked about the union of Jews and Gentiles in one body.  He starts to pray for this group in the first verse, but then he stops.

He says, “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—” in Ephesians 3:1 NIV. Then he stops praying.  He digresses for thirteen verses and goes back to praying in Ephesians 3:14 when he says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father” (NIV)

I do not know if Paul had ADHD or if he was just absent minded, but he starts to pray.  Next week, we will look at Paul’s prayer.  Today, I want to look at what he says BEFORE he prays.  He gives us a mystery revealed.  This mystery has to do with the church.  We are going to look at a real biblical mystery.

Ephesians is the great book on the church.  Paul says three important things about the church in Ephesians 3:1-13.  We are going to look at them.  We are also going to look at some practical applications from this passage.

Three Truths about the Church

1. The Church is a Mystery

The word “mystery” is found in the book of Ephesians more than any book in the NT. It occurs six times in this little book (1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19).  In fact, Paul uses it four times in the passage we are looking at today.  It is a key word in this passage.

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the MYSTERY made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the MYSTERY of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

This MYSTERY is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus….and to make plain to everyone the administration of this MYSTERY, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. (Ephesians 3-6, 9 NIV)

What exactly is a mystery?  The English word mystery comes from the Greek word μυστηριον but the Greek word does not mean exactly what our English word means.  We use the word to mean something that is hard to understand.  It is little a riddle or a puzzle.  It is hard to understand but not impossible.  If you are really smart, you can figure it out.  It is like a crime that needs to be solved (a murder mystery).  That is not what the Greek word means.

The Greek word does not mean something difficult to understand.  It means something IMPOSSIBLE to understand.  It refers to something that you cannot figure out on your own.  You cannot get it by human reason and logic.  You cannot get it by education or years of study.  You cannot get it by research.

Paul did not learn about this mystery by doing research for his Ph.D. program in some seminary.  A mystery is something that you cannot figure it out on your own, no matter how brilliant you are, no matter how high your IQ is.  That is a little different from what the word means today.

A better word is secret. The church was a secret.  God has some secrets.  Biblical mysteries are sacred secrets.  This is not the only one mystery in the Bible.  Paul speaks of “the mysteries of God” (I Corinthians 4:1). There are at least seven mysteries in the NT.  Let’s look at some of them.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this MYSTERY, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:25 NIV).  This is the mystery of Israel.

Listen, I tell you a MYSTERY: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (I Corinthians 15:51-53 NIV).  This is the mystery of the rapture.

For the MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (II Thessalonians 2:7 ESV).  This is the mystery of the future lawlessness that will take place when the Antichrist appears on the scene.

Great indeed, we confess, is the MYSTERY OF GODLINESS: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. (I Timothy 3:16 ESV).  This is the mystery of Christ, the God man who was incarnate.

5 The name written on her forehead was a MYSTERY: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. (Revelation 17:5-6 NIV).  This mystery is Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and abominations in the earth.  What was the mystery in Ephesians 3?

This mystery is that THROUGH THE GOSPEL the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6 NIV)

The mystery was the church.  Gentiles and Jews are part of ONE BODY in Christ.  Gentiles are elevated to an EQUAL STATUS with Jews.  in the OT, there was talk about Gentile salvation.  That was not a mystery but in the OT, Gentiles were always subordinate to Jews.  Now, they are put in a position of full equality.  Church should be a place where we see Jews and Gentiles.  We should not have Gentile congregation in one place and a Jewish Messianic congregation in another place.

This whole idea was a big secret.    Nobody in the OT knew about this.  Nobody!  Abraham did not know about this.  Isaiah and Jeremiah did not know about it. Ezekiel did not know about it.  Even the angels did not know about it.

In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was NOT made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. (Ephesians 3:4-5 NIV)

Many people do not like this statement.  Many do not believe it.  Covenant theologians do not like this idea.  The church must have been in the OT.  This must mean that it was not fully known in the OT.  They must have had some idea of it.

And to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which FOR AGES PAST was kept HIDDEN in God, who created all things. (Ephesians 3:9 NIV). You say, “I am still not convinced.”  Paul says this repeatedly.

Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery HIDDEN FOR LONG AGES PAST (Romans 16:25 NIV)

Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been KEPT HIDDEN FOR AGES AND GENERATIONS, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:24-27 NIV)

2. The Church is a Revelation

Paul said that it “was given to him” and “made known to him BY REVELATION” (Ephesians 3:3).  It had to be revealed to him BY THE SPIRIT (Ephesians 3:5). “He answered and said unto them, Because it is GIVEN unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is NOT GIVEN” (Matthew 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10). This revelation about the church was given to Paul and the other NT apostles.

3. The Church is a Sermon

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS (Ephesians 3:10 NIV)

The church doesn’t exist solely for the purpose of saving souls, as MacArthur points out.  The church is God’s university for angels.  Angels learn something about God from what He is doing through the church. Angels learn about God from us.  They are supernatural beings.

They are greater than us and smarter than us but they still learn from us.  What do they learn?  They learn about God’s wisdom.[1] Angels know about the power of God from creation.  They learn about the wisdom and love of God from the church.  It took wisdom to take Jew and Gentile, who hated each other and to put them in the same body and removing the hostility between them.

Five Powerful Applications

What does this passage say to us today?  What are some applications that we can take from it?

1) There are some real mysteries

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV).  Notice the two categories. There are SECRET THINGS and there are REVEALED THINGS.

There are some real mysteries.  We do not know everything.  There are mysteries in Scripture and mysteries in our life. God does not tell us everything we would like to know. Some things may have happened in your life and you don’t know why they happened. God has never told us. We want to know everything but God does not tell us everything now.

2) God gives each of us our own ministry.

Paul’s ministry was given to him.  Paul “was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace” (Ephesians 3:7 ESV). He did not make himself a minister.  God made him one  God called him to be an apostle (Ephesians 1:1).  He called him to preach.  He was called “to PREACH to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8 NIV).

His ministry was directed to Gentiles.  When the church began, it was one hundred percent Jewish. Today, it is predominately Gentile and that is because of the influence of Paul.  He was the Apostle to the Gentiles and he was a preacher.  He was an evangelist.  He was a missionary, a church planter.

He went on three missionary journeys.  He may have been the greatest missionary of all time.  He traveled more than 10,000 miles to various cities without an airplane or car. He was the one who took the gospel to Europe and from Europe it came to America.  He started all kinds of churches.

He also wrote Scripture.  He more books of the NT than any other apostle.  He wrote more books that Matthew.  He wrote more books than Mark and more than Luke.  Some of the deepest theology of the Bible comes from Paul.  What God called Paul to do, He may not call us to do.  We may not be called to be an apostle.  We may not be called to be a preacher or to start churches.  We may not be called to write books of Scripture or any book at all.  God may call us to do different things.  He is the one who chooses our ministry.  We don’t.

Paul was Jewish.  He called himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews (Philippians 3:5).  He wanted to minister to Jews but God called him to minister to Gentiles.  He became the apostle to the Gentiles.  He tried to minister to Jews but doors kept slamming in his face, so he turned to the Gentiles.

To be successful, we need to have know what out ministry is.  We have to know spiritual gifts are.  We have to know our mission in life.  We have to know what God has called us to do.  We have to do it.

3) Our ministry should be characterized by humility

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, (Ephesians 3:7-8 NIV)

Paul did not have a huge ego like many ministers today.  You would expect him to have a big ego.  He was the greatest apostle.  He worked harder than all of them.  He wrote more Scripture than any other apostle.  He was the most educated of all of the apostles.

Most of them were not deep thinkers or intellectuals.  They were simple fishermen.  Paul was educated.  He studied under the top rabbi of his day in Jerusalem.  He was the one deep theologian of the Apostles.  In Ephesians 3, he gets a revelation about the church that was not revealed to ordinary Christians.  You might expect all of these things to make Paul proud but instead he was humble.  The name Paul means “small.”  His nickname was Shorty.

Paul is amazed that God would ever use anyone like him.  Before he became a Christian, he was a murderer.  Before he was a Christian, he persecuted the church and he felt terrible about it.  Paul said that he was less than the least of all saints (Ephesians 3:8).  He only says that in Ephesians.  Paul uses a comparative with a superlative.  That is logically impossible.  It is not even possible to be less than THE LEAST of something.  It is like saying “higher than the highest.”

We think that the pastor must be greater than we are.  He must be godlier and more spiritual than we are.  We think than an anointed leader or preacher or a genuine apostle is much greater than the average Christian is.  Well, Paul was an apostle and he said that WE are greater than he is.  Paul did not say that he was less than the other apostles.

He said that he was less than ALL the saints, not some of them or most of them.  He was less than ALL of them.  Paul said that we are greater than he was and we are to do exactly the same thing.  We are to treat others better than ourselves.  In humility value others above yourselves (Philippians 2:3 NIV).  That is what Jesus did.  No matter how gifted we are, no matter how much God uses us, we should always regard others as better than ourselves.

4) Serving Christ may lead to suffering

Paul served Christ  He did exactly what God called him to do.  he did the ministry God designed him to do and look what it got him.  He was beaten.  He was imprisoned.  People tried to kill him.  He was falsely accused of a crime. When Paul wrote Ephesians, he was sitting in a Roman prison, probably shackled next to a big smelly guy named Brutus but Paul not complain about how bad it is.

Paul does not criticize God for putting him in prison.  He does not whine and moan about his lot in life.  He does not ask why bad things happen to good people.  He does not even ask for sympathy or pity.  In fact, he says, “I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory” (Ephesians 3:13 NIV).

Paul was not defined by his circumstances, like many people are today.  He just writes books of Scripture from his prison cell.  They are called the Prison Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon). He does mission work in the prison cell and starts to witness to the guards.

God turned evil into good. Paul says, “And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear” (Philippians 1:14 NIV).

When Paul was in prison in Rome, he does NOT even call himself a prisoner of Rome.  He does NOT call himself a prisoner of Nero.  He calls himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ.  I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— (Ephesians 3:1 NIV).

5) God does different things at different times

God worked one way in the OT and he is working a completely different way right now.  He will be working a completely different way when Jesus comes back to the earth to rule and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  This is shocking to some people.  God does not change but his program does.

Many do not like dispensationalism, but Paul uses that word in Ephesians 3.  He talks about “the dispensation of the grace of God” (KJV).  In Ephesians 1:10, he speaks of “the dispensation of the fullness of time” (KJV).  That deals with the eternal state.

God works differently at different times.  He works differently today than he did in the OT.  He works differently now than he did a hundred  or two hundred years ago.

[1] John MacArthur, Ephesians, p. 96

The Gospel and Race

Our passage for today is Ephesians 2:11-22.  Today, we come today to a very important topic in our day.  It is extremely relevant to us today for a number of reasons.  It deals with the topic of race relations and racial reconciliation, bringing together races that hated each other.

This passage is also relevant today to most of us in the church because it is about Gentiles.  Most people in the church today are Gentiles.  They are not Jews.  Paul is specifically talking to them.  What he says to them applies to many Gentiles today.  We will just hit some of the highlights of this passage. It is another one of the passages that contains one of the big buts of the Bible.

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 BUT NOW in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV)

This passage brings us to the first command or imperative in the book.  It is the word REMEMBER. Paul uses that word TWICE in these verses (Ephesians 2:11-12).  Paul tells them to remember what it was like before they were saved.  Do you remember what it was like before you were saved?  We sometimes forget how bad it was.

It is the second “before and after picture” of salvation, like we see in many advertisements.  There are two of these in Ephesians 2.  The first one is found in Ephesians 2:1-3.  It is a before and after picture of all unsaved people (Jew and Gentile).  The second one is found in Ephesians 2:11-12.  It is a before and after picture just of Gentiles.

God does three amazing things in Ephesians 2:11-22.  First, He DESTROYS some things.  He breaks down some walls.  He tears down some walls.  He has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14 ESV).  He has abolished the law of commandments expressed in ordinances (Ephesians 2:15 ESV).  Second,  He BUILDS some things.  He creates in Himself a new man (Ephesians 2:15) and builds a temple (Ephesians 2:19-22), but this building is not made up of bricks but of people. It is made up of living stones (I Peter 2:5).

Third, He also RESTORES some things. He reconciles groups of people that hated each other (Ephesians 2:16).  He brings together groups of people that we alienated to God and alienated to each other. He reconciles these groups in one body on the cross (Ephesians 2:16)

Whenever you study the Bible, you always want to look for key words or terms.  You want to look for words that are repeated. A key term here is the word ‘peace.’  The word “peace” is found four times in just three verses.

14 For he himself is our PEACE, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making PEACE… 17 And he came and preached PEACE, to you who were far off and PEACE, to those who were near. (Ephesians 2:14, 15, 17 ESV)  Jesus does three things in this passage.

1) Jesus MAKES peace (Ephesians 2:15).  Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9) and here He does just that.  He makes peace by his sacrificial death.

2) Jesus PREACHES peace (Ephesians 2:17).  He does not just make peace.  He preaches peace.  He preaches shalom.  He preaches peace to those who are afar and to those who are near.  He preaches peace to Jews and Gentiles.  The Gentiles are afar and the Jews are near.  It is a quote from Isaiah 57:19.

Later in the book, Paul says that the message of Christianity is “the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15).

3) Jesus IS peace.  Jesus does not just make peace and preach peace, He is peace.  He Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).

Last week, we looked at the topic of salvation and the attribute of God that was emphasized is God’s grace.  God is a god of grace.  He is rich in mercy.  In this passage, we learn something else about God.  He is also a God of peace.  Isaiah called Jesus “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

What does that mean?  Does that mean that Jesus is a pacifist?  Does it mean that He is against all war?  No. When Jesus returns from heaven, He will wage war on people (Revelation 19:11).  He will kill people.  His clothes will be stained with the blood of his enemies.  He is the Prince of Peace because He is the one who will finally bring peace to the world.  He will institute a thousand years of peace on the earth (called the Millennium).

Isaiah 57:21 says that there is no peace to the wicked. Jesus is the only one who can bring true peace, deep abiding peace.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27 NIV).

No matter what your circumstances are, He can bring peace to your soul.  In fact, there is no peace apart from Him.  Everything in this passage can only come through Christ.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. (Ephesians 2:13 NIV)

and in one body to reconcile both of them to God THROUGH THE CROSS, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:16 NIV)

For THROUGH HIM we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18 NIV)

Notice that the entire trinity is found in that verse.  It is also found in the last verse of the chapter.  The doctrine of the trinity is all through the Book of Ephesians.

And IN HIM you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22 NIV)

Ephesians is the great book on the church.  We are going to see four shocking things about the church in this passage that I want to share with.  We are going to see God do four things in this passage.

Ephesians is the book about the church.  We have already learned some things about the church in this epistle.  We learned that Christ is the HEAD of the church (Ephesians 1:22).  We learned that the church is His BODY on earth (Ephesians 1:23).  We learned that the church is saved by GRACE (Ephesians 2:1-10). Now we learn four more things about the church.

Four Characteristics of the Church

1. The church is a place where the most unlikely people are found (Ephesians 2:11-12)

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were FAR AWAY have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13 NIV)

They were not close by but far from God.  The Jews were bad but the Gentiles were even worse.  They were the furthest from God.  The church is the place where you see some of the most unlikely people (former terrorists, former prostitutes, former murderers).  In the church, the worst of sinners can receive salvation.

Paul has already described the total depravity of the human race in Ephesians 2:1-3. The whole race was dead in trespasses and sins, deceived by Satan, depraved, living in disobedience and rebellion and doomed (children of wrath).  Jews were like that and Gentiles were like that but in Ephesians 2:11-12 were will see that, while the Jews were bad, the Gentiles were even worse.  That is hard to imagine.  What could be worse than being dead in sins?

Gentiles Before Salvation

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope (Ephesians 2:11-12 NLT)

Ephesus was a Gentile church.  Before they got saved, they lived like pagans.  They lived like most people in America live.  How are these Gentiles described?  Paul says five things about them.  They were not only unredeemed, they were unprivileged.  They lacked five spiritual privileges that the Jews had.

1) They were CHRISTLESS

These Gentile Christians right now are with Christ.  In fact, Paul says that they are “in Christ” but before they were saved they were without Christ. They were Christless.  They had no connection to Christ and did not even believe in him.

2) They were STATELESS

They were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel (ESV).  They had no connection to the theocracy.  Commonwealth is a political term.  Some of our states are called commonwealths (Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia).

3) They were PROMISELESS

They were strangers to the covenants of promise (ESV). God did not make a covenant with Gentiles.  He only made a covenant with the Jews.  He did not give the Gentiles divine revelation.  They were not given the law.  God did not speak to them on a mountain.  He did not give them any special promises.

4) They were GODLESS.

That is an interesting term.  The word “atheist” comes from this Greek word (ἄθεοι).  They were not atheists in the sense of the word today.  They worshiped all kinds of gods.  They had many gods but they did not worship the true God and were hostile to the true God.  The worst thing you can say about a person is that he or she is without God.  The worst thing you can say about a nation is that it is without God.  They were without God, not because God removed himself from them but because they removed themselves from God, as J. Vernon McGee points out.[1]

5) They were also HOPELESS.

If you do not have God, then you do not have hope.  Atheism leads to hopelessness.  Hopelessness leads to suicide.  Suicide is the second leading cause of death in America for people between the ages of ten and thirty-four.  It is caused by hopelessness and despair.  They have no hope.  That describes many people in the world today.

Atheists claim that they are not without hope.  They have hope for all kinds of things: hope that they will be financially well off, hope that their kids will be successful, hope that they will be healthy but do they have hope when it really matters?  What happens when the unthinkable happens?

What happens their house burns down?  What happens when their child is brutally murdered? What happens when their spouse suddenly dies? What happens whey they are diagnosed with terminal cancer?  What happens when tragedy strikes, and they cannot turn to other people for the answers or comfort.  They have nowhere to turn.  They are without hope in this world, as Paul says.

Unsaved people are completely hopeless.  They were cut off from God.  They were cut off from the people of God.  They were cut off from the promises of God, the revelation of God.  They are cut off from the comfort of God.  This alienation that the Gentiles experienced was national.  It was social.  It was spiritual.

2. The church is a place where broken relationships can be restored

It is a place where racial reconciliation can take place. God loves to reconcile people.  Now reconciliation is not always possible.  Some people just don’t want to be reconciled.  Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18 NIV)

God is a God of reconciliation.  He loves to reconcile people.  He loves to reconcile them to Himself and to one another.  He has given us a ministry of reconciliation.  The church should be involved in reconciliation.  That is our mission.

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (II Corinthians 5:18-20 ESV)

The church is the place where walls can be broken down, walls between God and walls between people. There are three points here.

First, we build walls between people.

We build all kinds of walls to separate people.  We are not talking about literal walls, walls built for protection that we build to keep us safe.  We are talking about figurative walls, walls of hostilities.  The world is full of them.  We build RELIGIOUS WALLS.  We build POLITICAL WALLS.  Religion separates people. Politics separates people.

Some are liberal and conservative, Democrats and Republicans.  We build ECONOMIC WALLS (rich verses poor, upper class, lower class and middle class).  We also build RACIAL WALLS, walls of skin color (black, white, Asian, Hispanic). Are we building any walls for any people groups?

Second, these walls cause division and hatred

In Paul’s day, the Jews had a disdain for Gentiles.  They were ‘the uncircumcised.”  The Jews called them dogs.  A Jew could not even go to a Gentile’s house without becoming unclean.  The Mishnah said that the Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. They shook the dust off their feet after traveling in Gentile territory before coming back to the Holy Land, so as not to defile the land.

One side was chosen by God and one side was rejected by God.  The Gentiles did not feel much better about the Jews.  There was mutual animosity.  There is similar animosity between different racial groups today. Does this describe us?  Do we have hatred or disdain for different people groups that we do not like?

Three, the gospel abolishes these walls of division between people groups.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14 NIV)

and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:16 NIV)

The only real solution to racial reconciliation is spiritual.  The solution is found in the cross.  Someone said that “True Christian unity isn’t found at a negotiating table, but at the communion table.”[2]  That is the only answer.  You cannot find a lasting political solution.  You have to have a heart change and that can only come because of the cross.

In the Middle East, there are Jews and Palestinians trying to kill each other but you can go inside a church there and find both worshiping side by side.  God did not just put them in the same country but in the same family, members of the same household (Ephesians 2:19)

Jesus reconciles people to Himself and to one another.  The more we are reconciled with Christ, the more we are united with one another.  Many have said that racism is not just a social issue but a gospel issue.

Unfortunately, the church has not always a place of racial reconciliation.  They have often been a place of separation.  Martin Luther king said that 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.  There are black church, white churches, Hispanic churches and Asian churches.  Racism has even crept into the church.  Many Christians throughout history have been anti-semitic (Luther).  Some have even used to the Bible to support and justify slavery.

When Paul wrote this, there was a wall in the temple which excluded Gentiles.  They could go into the court of the Gentiles but there was a wall that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of the Women.  There was a sign on the wall which said, “No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure round the temple. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”

Archaeologists have found this sign on the temple.  It was not written in Hebrew.  It was written in Latin and Greek.  It was a warning to Gentiles.  The sign did not say that prosecutors would be prosecuted.  It said that they would be killed.

Christ abolished this wall of hostility.  Gentiles now have free access to God.  In fact, about twenty years after Paul wrote this, the Romans came and destroyed the Temple, so the wall no longer exists.

3. The church is the place where God does something brand new

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace (Ephesians 2:15 NIV).

In the church, God does something brand new.  He does something that he did not do in the OT.  The church is not in the OT.  It started at Pentecost.  The new thing God created is the church.  It is called “the new man” (ESV) or “new people” (NLT).  How did He do it?

He did NOT do by taking the Gentiles and turning them into Jews.  He did not do it by taking Jews and turning them into Gentiles.  He did it by talking Jews and Gentiles and making a new group of people called the church. It is like a new race, a third race.

Before the cross, there were two groups of people and only two (Jew and Gentile).  After the cross, there are three groups of people (Jew, Gentile and Christian).  Everyone in the world, falls into one of these three groups.

31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God (I Corinthians 10:32 NIV)

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28 NIV)

He made the two groups one (Ephesians 2:14).  He did not erase all of their ethnic or racial differences.  He did not change their skin color.  God did not eliminate the differences between man and woman but they are both one in Christ.  Their identity as Jew or Gentile is secondary to their identity in Christ.

4. The church is the place where God dwells

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:20-22 NIV)

The old Jewish temple is long gone but God is not dwelling in a building today.  He is dwelling inside people and this building is growing. Every time a person gets saved, the building gets bigger.  You and I are part of that building.  Not only are individual questions part of that building (our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit), the entire church collectively is part of that building.“The purpose of the church as a temple is to reveal the presence and glory of God on earth.”[3]

[1] J. Vernon McGee, Ephesians, 82.

[2] https://sandyadams.org/media/pdf/2329.pdf

[3] J. Vernon McGee, Ephesians, 89.

Amazing Grace

We are studying the book of Ephesians.  We come today to a classic passage.  It is one of the most famous verses in the Bible.  Most of us are familiar with this passage.  We have read it many times and probably could quote it.  It is one of the clearest statements on salvation in the Bible.

If you want to know how to be saved, this passage tells you.  If you are saved, it also contains a very powerful application to your life.  This passage could change your life.  This passage answers two basic questions, as Chuck Swindoll points out:  How are we saved? and What difference does salvation make in our life?

So far in Ephesians 2 we have seen three topics.  Ephesians 2:1-3 deals with MAN.  It is all about human depravity and sinfulness (sons of disobedience, living in lusts).  Ephesians 2:4-7 deals with GOD (God’s kindness, God’s mercy, God’s love).  In fact, those verse start with the words ‘but God.”  Ephesians 2:8-10 deals with SALVATION.  It tells us how we are saved.  It also tells us how we are not saved.

Myths about Salvation

There are a lot of myths in the world today that people believe about salvation.  Many of these myths are common.  Every one of them are false but many people believe them. Two of these myths are refuted in our passage in Ephesians.

1) Everyone goes to heaven

Some think that everyone is going to heaven.  It is called universalism.  Of course, if everyone goes to heaven, there would be no heaven.  If everyone goes to heaven, that would mean that Hitler would be in heaven.  it would mean that Charles Manson would be in heaven.  It would mean that the devil would be in heaven and that would not be heaven.  The truth is that everyone does not go to heaven.  How do we know?

The Bible says that many are excluded.  There are many passages which tell you who will not be in heaven.  Revelation 21:27 says that some will be outside of heaven.  The Bible teaches that there is a heaven and a hell.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NIV).  The Bible teaches that those who reject Christ, do perish.

2) There is more than one way to get to heaven

That is the common view in society (religious pluralism).  Jesus answered, “I am THE way and THE truth and THE life. NO ONE comes to the Father except THROUGH ME. (John 14:6 NIV).  Jesus didn’t say that there are many ways to the Father.  You can come through me.  You can come to the Father through Muhammad or Buddha.

He said that no one can come through the Father, except through Him.  He is “the way,” not one of many ways.  Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”  There are many ways to hell but only one way to heaven.

3) Salvation can be earned

This is what most people believe.  If your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you get in.  We will see in this passage that salvation is NOT by works.  Paul could not have said it any clearer than he did.  This is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast (NIV).

There is nothing you can do to contribute to your salvation.  Living a moral life will not save you.  Trying to be a good neighbor will not save you.  Going to church will not save you.  Getting baptized will not save you.  Giving to the church or tithing will not save you.  Going on mission trips will not save you.  Giving to the poor will not save you. Reading your Bible and praying every day will not save you.  There is absolutely nothing you can do to earn salvation.  Only Jesus can save you.

If salvation were by works, we would be able to boast.  We earned our way into heaven.  Paul specifically says that we are not saved by works “lest any man should boast.”  No one in heaven will be boasting or bragging about their accomplishments or their spirituality.  In fact, Paul says if we could earn our salvation, then Jesus would not have had to die. If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21 NIV)

4) Salvation can be lost

If salvation is a gift, can God take the gift back?  Can salvation be lost?  If you could earn salvation by good works, then you could lose it by bad works.  We do not save ourselves and we do not keep ourselves saved.  We are kept by the power of God (I Peter 1:5).  Ephesians 4:30 says that at salvation we are sealed until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30).

5) Everyone who claims to be saved is saved

Many who think they are going to heaven will actually end up in hell and they will be surprised.  Jesus said so.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV)

Many people think they are saved just because they go to church or just because they have been baptized or just because they have made an outward profession of faith or are outwardly moral or just because they feel saved.  That is a troubling verse.  Sadly, this does not just describe a few people in the church.  It describes many people (Matthew 7:22).

6) Some people are born saved

Many think that if they are born in a Christian family that they are saved.  They believe in salvation by heritage.  The Jews thought they were saved because they had Abraham as their father.  They were related to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born NOT OF NATURAL DESCENT, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:11-13 NIV)

7) If you attend a particular church you are saved

Many think if you are Baptist, you are going to heaven.  Becoming a member of a local church, even a good one does not guarantee that you are going to heaven.  The only name under heaven by which we must be saved is not the name of the Baptists or the Presbyterians or the Pentecostals but the name of Jesus.

8) If you are saved, you cannot know it

Many believe that there is no way to know for sure if you will go to heaven.  You just have to wait until you die.  In fact, if you claim to know now, you are simply arrogant.  God is the only one who knows but that is not what the Bible teaches.  The Bible teaches that you can know for sure if you are going to heaven.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. (I John 5:13 NIV).  He does not write so people will hope to have eternal life or wish to have but so that people will know if they have it.  It is possible to have an assurance of salvation.

9) All good people go to heaven

Most people think if you are a moral person and live a decent life, you will be in heaven.  The Pharisees were outwardly moral people.  They were religious.  Nicodemus was one of them.  Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 ESV).  The Bible says that in one sense none of us are good.  In God’s eyes of absolute perfection, we are all sinners and there is “none that does good” (Romans 3:12).  All our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6 NIV).

10) If you are saved, works do not matter

Some actually teach this.  It is a form of heresy called antinomianism.  They teach that you can live any way you want.  You can be rapist or murderer but as long as you believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven.  The Bible does not teach that and Paul does not teach that here in Ephesians 2.  Notice what Paul says.  Salvation is NOT by works (Ephesians 2:9) but it is UNTO good works (Ephesians 2:10).  God is not against good works, but works are not the CAUSE of salvation.  They are the RESULT of salvation.  Good works come after salvation, not before it.

Four Important Truths about Salvation

1. The SOURCE of salvation is God

That is the first lesson from this passage.  The picture is not of man reaching up to God but of God reaching down to man in mercy and grace.  Salvation was not man’s idea.  It was God’s idea. The Bible says that Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9).  It does not originate with man. It originates with God’s kindness, mercy and love.   Man was dead in transgressions and sins in slave to lusts, following Satan and then we see the two words “but God.”

2. The CAUSE of salvation is grace

It is BY GRACE you have been saved.  Paul says that twice in this chapter (Ephesians 2:5, 8).  We are not saved by faith.  We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8).  We are justified by grace (Titus 3:7). That is the difference between Christianity and every other religion.  Christianity is the only religion based on the concept of pure grace.

God is a god of grace.  He does not just have a little grace.  He has a lot of it.  Ephesians 2:7 says, “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (NIV). God wants to display His grace for all eternity. We will be trophies of grace.  He saves people by grace.

What is Grace?

What does grace mean?  Many people do not understand grace. Paul says what grace is and what it is not.  How does Paul describe grace?

For it is by grace you have been saved….and this is NOT from yourselves, it is the gift of God-NOT by works

Catholics believe that grace is connected to works. We must activate it through our effort and our good works.  We are told in this passage that it is the OPPOSITE of works.  Salvation is BY grace and NOT by works.  It is NOT by ourselves.  Grace and works are mutually exclusive.  They are complete opposites. Works-based grace is an oxymoron.  Paul does not just say that salvation is not by works of the law.  It is not by any kind of works.

And if by grace, then it CANNOT be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:6 NIV).

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:4 NIV)

Grace is the opposite of works.  It is the opposite of merit.  It is unearned.  It is free.  It is “to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has FREELY given us in the One he loves” (Ephesians 1:6 NIV).

Paul calls salvation in our passage a gift.  He calls salvation ‘the gift of God” in Ephesians 2:8. Salvation is a gift, not a reward.  You do not work for a gift.  It is not just a gift, it is a free gift. We are all are justified FREELY by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24 NIV)

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. (Isaiah 55:1 NIV)

What have we learned about grace?  It is the way God saves us.  Grace is UNEARNED.  It is UNMERITED.  You can’t work for it.  It is FREE.  It is also UNDESERVED.  Salvation is not just a gift.  It is a gift given to people who do not deserve it.  Salvation is for people who do not deserve it.

Salvation is by grace.  Grace needs to be distinguished from justice and mercy.  JUSTICE is getting what you deserve.  MERCY is not getting what you deserve.  GRACE is getting what you don’t deserve.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)

This is grace for people who are dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).  It is grace for people who are sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2;2).  It is grace who people who are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).  They deserve God’s wrath for their sins.  This grace is for people who are living in sins, following various lusts and for people who had been under the control of Satan.

3. The MEANS of salvation is faith

We are not saved until we believe, and God does not believe for us.  We are saved by grace, but God does not force His grace on anyone.  Salvation is a gift, but you have to accept the gift.  Someone could offer you a gift.  It may be a good gift.  It may be a gift that you really need but people decline gifts all of the time.  They say, “Thanks but no thanks.  I don’t want the gift.  I do not need the gift.  You take it.”

There is a famous story that many preachers have told.  It is a true story about a man named George Wilson.  In 1829, he committed a crime and was tried and found guilty.  He was sentenced to death.  President Andrew Jackson pardoned him, but he rejected the pardon.  In 1833, the case went before the Supreme Court (United States v. Wilson).  The Supreme Court said that a pardon is an act of grace and cannot be forced on anyone.

George Wilson refused a presidential pardon and chose to die instead.  Many today are just like him.  Jesus died for the sins of the world.  He offers a full pardon of all of our sins.  Though our sins are red as crimson, they can become as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18), yet many refuse that pardon today.  They reject the offer and choose to die in their own sins.

What happens when you believe?  You are saved.  Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved (Acts 16:31 ESV).  What does it mean to be saved in the context of Ephesians?  it means that you are forgiven all of your trespasses (Ephesians 1:7). It means that souls which are completely dead in trespasses and sins become alive and are raised form the dead (Ephesians 2:5).  It means that we are given the Holy Spirit inside us (Ephesians 1:13-14).

4. The PURPOSE of salvation is good works

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

Two Powerful Truths

1) We are God’s workmanship

We are His workmanship.  He is the artist.  The Greek word for workmanship is ποιημα.  We get the words “poem” and “poetry” from this word but the Greek word does not mean poem. It means handiwork.  it is used two times in the NT, both times by Paul.

The word ποιημα is used in Romans 1:20 of the physical universe.  It is used of CREATION.  It is also used of CHRISTIANS.  It is used of believers. It is used in Ephesians 2:10 of sinners who have been redeemed.  God did not just make the the sunset, the Grand Canyon and the Alps. He made us.  We are his greatest work of art.  Salvation is not a masterpiece we produced.  Believers are a masterpiece God has produced.[1]

2) We have works to do

God did not just save us to take us to heaven.  He did not just save us to keep us out of hell. That is how many Christian view salvation.  This verse says that we were created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS.  Some think that if you believe in grace, you can live any way you want.  That is an ancient heresy.

For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 4 NIV)

Some use the concept of grace to justify sin.  The more sin, the more grace.  The Bible rejects that philosophy.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2 NIV)

Grace actually encourages good works, not bad works.  It teaches us to be holy and godly.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:1-12, 14 ESV)

We should not only do good works, we should be ZEALOUS to do good works.  This has completely changed my life.  It has changed the way I am at work.  Every day in the school where I work, I ask God to show me what good work He wants me to do today and what I can do to go out of my way to help someone.  if a student needs a pencil, lunch money, clothes to wear, a belt or even a computer, I do what I can to help them.

God not only saved us to do good works, he planned for us to do these good works long before we were even born.  What did God say to Jeremiah?  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV).

Here is the cool thing about this truth! God had our ministries planned before He saved us.  He had a ministry in mind for us.  He knew what He wanted us to achieve.  He did not just have a ministry planed for great men like the prophet Jeremiah.  He had a ministry planned for every single Christian.  He did not save us to put us on the shelf.  Do you know what your ministry is which was prepared forehand?  Are you doing it?

[1] Thomas Constable on Ephesians 2:10 (https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/ephesians.pdf)

Spiritual Resurrection

We have been studying the Book of Ephesians.  In Ephesians 2, Paul gives us the BEFORE and AFTER picture of salvation.  He shows us what it was like before we were saved and what it is like after we were saved.  There is a big difference.

Many people who try to sell a product also give a before picture and an after picture.  We see this on many weight loss commercials on TV.  They give a before picture and an after picture.  The before picture is of a person who is fat and out of shape.  The lighting is bad.  The after picture is of someone who is slim and muscular and looks happier.

Paul also gives us a before and after picture in Ephesians 2.  He tells us what they WERE (Ephesians 2:1-3) before we were saved and he tells us what they BECAME (Ephesians 2:4-10) after we were saved.  Paul tells us what were like before Christ (BC) and after Christ (AC).  He does it all in one sentence.  Paul likes long sentences.

Ephesians 2 gives us another one of Paul’s long sentences.  We saw two long ones in chapter one.  One went from Ephesians 1:3-14.  This one is seven verses long.  The NIV makes it five sentences.  ESV and the KJV makes it two sentences in English but in Greek it is all one sentence.

You do not get the subject of the sentence until verse four.  The subject of the sentence is God.  You do not get the verbs until verses five and six.  There are three verbs.  There are three things that God does.  They are all one word in Greek and Paul coined these words.  They are not found anywhere else.  What three things does God do?    He makes us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).  He raises us up with Christ (Ephesians 2:6) and He seats us in heavenly places with Christ (Ephesians 2:6).

God does not just give these dead souls life and leave them in the graveyard.  He raises them up and places them in the heavenlies with Christ.  Every Christian not only has a physical location on earth (e.g., Burlington, NC) but a spiritual location in the heavenlies with Christ.  The contrast is shocking.

The before picture is the lowest possible point.  We were sinners by nature.  We were guilty before God.  We were ruled by the Devil.  We were under God’s wrath.  We were spiritually dead.  We were not only dead but enslaved in body and mind, addicted to sin. We were living in lusts, following our own passions and desires.  We were totally depraved (children of disobedience) with no hope in the world.  All of that is found in Ephesians 2:1-3.

It is a description of the entire race.  That is the before picture.  The after picture is that dead souls are given life and they are not with Satan but with Christ.  They are not in the world but raised up and seated in heaven with Christ. Someone said that, instead of the extreme make over: home edition, this is the extreme make over: spiritual edition.

Last week, we looked at the biblical view of man.  We looked at what Paul said about human nature and we looked at what Jesus said.  It is consistent with what the OT says as well.  The biblical view of man is radically different than the liberal secular humanistic view of man.  Before we look at the good news, we have to look at the bad news.

In the first three verses of this chapter, we saw what man’s problem is.  He is not merely depraved.  He is not merely deceived.  He is not merely diseased.  He is dead.  We were not just a little sick.  We were dead.  We were far worse off than most people imagine.  What Paul says is even different than what some Christians teach.

In God’s eyes, we were all spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.  Before our salvation, we were all dead.  We were all born with a dead soul.  It is a problem that affects every person born into this world.  We were physically alive but spiritually dead.  We encounter people every day who are in this condition.  We probably work with some of these people. The majority of the race is in this state.  They are like zombies.  They are dead but are walking around.

What the Dead Need

Everyone in this world, falls into only two categories.  There are those who ARE dead and there are those who WERE dead.  Before we were saved, we were dead and that is extremely significant.  What do dead people need?  They do NOT need education.  They do NOT need religion.  They do NOT need reformation.

They do NOT need rehabilitation.  They do NOT need medication.  They do NOT need therapy.  They do NOT repair.  They are dead.  The only thing a dead person needs is LIFE.  Man needs resurrection. When we get saved, God does not just patch us up a little.  We become a new creation.

In Ephesians 2:1-3 we see dead men walking.  In Ephesians 2:4-7, we see dead men coming to life.  Ephesians 2 describes a resurrection, but it is not the resurrection of Jesus.  It is OUR RESURRECTION.  We were spiritually dead.  Salvation involves a spiritual resurrection.  God has to make us alive.  Jesus talked about this.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come WHEN THE DEAD HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD AND THOSE WHO HEAR WILL LIVE (John 5:24-25 NIV)

Jesus is NOT talking about the future.  He is NOT talking about something that happens on the last day.  He is talking about the present.  He says that THE TIME HAS NOW COME.  Lazarus heard Jesus’ voice two thousand years ago and came to life but Jesus is still bringing dead souls to life today.  He is in the business of raising the dead.

How the Dead Come to Life

No matter how dead they are, no matter how long they have been dead, even if they have been in the hot sun for thousands of years and their bones have been scattered everywhere (Ezekiel 37), He can make dry bones come to life.

This raises a very important question.  How do dead souls come to life? The lost are not only dead, and enslaved and deceived, they are blinded by Satan.  If Satan has blinded their minds, how can any of them believe.  How can souls dead in trespasses and sins believe?

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (II Corinthians 4:4 NIV)

They get eternal life by believing but how do they believe?  Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” but many hear the message of the gospel and do not believe.  Why do some believe and some not believe?  In order for us to believe, certain things need to happen.

Before We Believe

1) We have to hear the voice of Jesus

The dead can only come to life when He speaks to them.  They have to hear His voice. When the dead hear the voice of the Son of God, they live (John 5:25).  R.L. Hymers said that the dead soul comes to life through Jesus’ voice, not just through the voice of a preacher, as Hymers points out.  Only one voice can penetrate a dead soul and can bring it back to life.  It is the voice of Jesus.  Jesus is the only one who can give life to the dead.  Nothing else can give life

A person can hear a thousand sermons and still be dead.  People can go to church for fifty years and be dead but they hear one more sermon, Jesus speaks to them.  They hear his voice speaking to them and they suddenly come to life.[1]  They may not hear an audible voice. His word is found in the pages of Scripture.

2) God has to give us a revelation of Jesus

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:15-17 ESV).

Jesus has to speak to them.  He has to get them a revelation.  How did Peter know who Jesus was?  God had to reveal it to him.  He did not figure it out on his own.  No one taught him.  God revealed to Peter who Jesus was.

3) God has to open our eyes.

And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized (Acts 16:13-15 NIV).

What do we know about Lydia? She was a foreign woman.  She was a Gentile.  She wasn’t even Jewish.  She was rich.  She was a rich business woman.  She was a convert to Christianity.  She was Paul’s first convert to Christianity in Europe during his second missionary journey.  The first convert was a woman.  She became a founding member of the Church at Philippi.

What caused her to convert?  Paul preached to her but even that did not convince her.  Before she believed, God had to open to heart (Acts 16:15).  She did not open her own heart.  Paul did not open her heart.  God had to do it.

4) God has to draw us to Jesus

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:44 NIV).

The dead have to believe to be saved but before they do that, Jesus has to speak to them.  God has to open their hearts.  He has to draw them to Jesus.  God has to give them a revelation of who Jesus really is before they get saved and Jesus says that He will raise them up at the last day.

We are going to be raised twice.  Our soul was raised at salvation and seated with Christ in the heavens but one day Jesus is going to raise our bodies as well.

Many believe that salvation is a joint venture. God does His part and we do our part.  That gives the idea that we contribute to our salvation in some way. We will see next week why that is not the case.  Salvation is by grace.  It is not a joint venture because we were dead.  We were spiritually dead. We did nothing to earn salvation.  We did not deserve it.  We deserved wrath.  We were children of wrath.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5 ESV)

But God

It begins with two words.  The two words are NOT “but man.”  They are “but God.” God is the only one who can raise the dead.  It takes supernatural power to do that.  We were dead corpses.  We could not make ourselves alive.  There is no way that we could raise ourselves from the dead.  We could not climb out of the casket.  We were completely helpless.  We were completely hopeless.  People who are dead cannot move.  They cannot talk.  They cannot communicate. They cannot do anything.

We did not make the first move.  We were spiritually dead.  We were not interested in God.  We were not seeking God.  We were living in disobedience to God.  We were following Satan.  We were doing what other people in the world were doing.  We were following our own lusts and passions.  We were not reaching out for God and God met us half-way.  We were dead but God.

Ephesians 2:4 begins with just two words in English.  These two words are powerful. These are two of the two greatest words of the Bible. John Stott calls these the greatest two syllables ever spoken in the English language.  They are only six letters but these two words have changed the course of history.

These two words contain the essence of the gospel.  It is the gospel in a nutshell.  The gospel can be summarized by these two words.  These two words sum up the whole Christian message.  James Montgomery Boice said that if you understand these two words, you will save your soul.[2]

Big Buts of the Bible

We see these two words all throughout the Bible.  Someone should preach a sermon on big buts of the Bible.  What are some of the big buts of the Bible?  These are not all of them but there are three that stand out to me.

1. The “but God” of Divine Sovereignty

What does this “but God” say?  It says that no matter what happens to you, no matter how bad things are in your life, God is sovereign.  He is in control.  We will see that He was sovereign over the evil actions of Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery.  He was sovereign over the wicked people who put Jesus to death.  He was sovereign over the worst crime ever committed on the planet.

And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 BUT GOD sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Genesis 45:5-8 NIV)

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, BUT GOD intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:18-20 NIV)

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. (Acts 2:22-24 NIV)

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, BUT GOD raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this (Acts 3:13-15 NIV)

We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 BUT GOD raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. (Acts 10:39-40 NIV)

28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 BUT GOD raised him from the dead (Acts 13:28-30 NIV)

2. The “but God” of Divine Judgment

Right now, evil seems to be winning in our society.  Sin seems to go unpunished, sometimes in the church but God one day will judge the wicked.  It looks like the wicked are getting away with evil but the Bible assures us that the wicked will not go unpunished.

21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22 BUT GOD was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him (Numbers 22:21-22 NIV)

Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel… BUT GOD was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. (I Chronicles 21:1, 7 ESV)

Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death. 21 BUT GOD will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways. (Psalm 68:20-21 ESV)

16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 BUT GOD said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ (Luke 12:16-20 ESV).

3. The “but God” of Divine Mercy

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:1-5 ESV)

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 ESV)

This is the “but God,” not of judgment but of mercy.  This is interesting.  It is shocking.  God loved us when we did not deserved to be loved.  We deserved wrath.  We were children of wrath.  He did not love us because we were so lovable.We were stinking corpses but God loved us.  He did not love us because He had to love us.  He did not have to.  He did not love us a little.  He loved us a lot.  He was RICH in mercy and He did not have a little love for us.  Paul says that his love was GREAT.

Application

What does this “but God” mean practically to us?  If God can raise dead souls to life, it means that He can save the most wicked soul on the planet.  He can make the most hardened criminal and give him a soft heart.  He can do this to rapists, murderers and child molesters.  How does He do it?  He gives them a new heart at salvation.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26 NIV)

God can bring that dead soul to life.  He can also intervene in a completely hopeless situation.  That is what he did for the Jews at the Red Sea.  God is bigger than any problem that we will face.  There is no problem too difficult for him to solve. He can intervene when we have completely given up hope.

[1]https://www.rlhymersjr.com/Online_Sermons/2004/111404PM_TheyThatHearShallLive.html

[2] James Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary, p. 55.

The Walking Dead

Today, we come to one of the most important chapters in the NT.  It is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible on salvation.  This chapter captures the essence of the gospel.  It is one of the chapters in the Bible that teaches salvation by grace through faith.

It is a one-chapter summary of the Book of Romans.  Everyone knows Ephesians 2:8-9.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast (NIV).

Like most verses of the Bible, we quote it out of context.  It is a good proof-text if you are talking to a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness.  It is one verse that EVERY new Christian learns but very few people know the verse that follows that passage or the verses that come before this passage.  Today, we are going to looking at Ephesians 2 and we are only going to be looking at three verses.  How does these verses relate to the last chapter?

Ephesians 1 is all about what it means to be in Christ.  That is a key phrase in the chapter.  Many Christians do not know what it means to be in Christ and all of the blessings that are in Christ. The theme of that chapter is our riches in Christ. That chapter says that Christians are rich.  We are spiritually rich.  They have God’s grace lavished on them.

We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.  We were not only predestinated but adopted as sons.  We are redeemed and forgiven by the blood of Christ and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.  Ephesians 1 paints an incredible picture.  It tells us all of the blessings we have in Christ.

Ephesians 2 tells us how we got to be in Christ and what we were like BEFORE we were in Christ.  The is a description of what WE used to be like.  The picture in Ephesians 1 is all POSITIVE.  The picture in the beginning part of Ephesians 2 is all NEGATIVE. They are some of the darkest verses in the Bible.  Nothing good is said here about man.  It is all bad.  The first three chapters of Romans develop these three verses.

The Nature of Man

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)

One of the great debates in philosophy is over the nature of man.  Are people basically good or are people basically evil?  Are we fundamentally good or evil?  There are two basic views on the question.  Some believe that people are basically good.  They have a few minor flaws or imperfections, but they are basically good.  They may do some bad things, but they are basically good to the core.

The problem with this view is that it does not fit with reality.  All you have to do is to read the newspaper or watch the news for one day.  If people are basically good, then where does all the violent crime come from?  Why are there rapists, murderers and serial killers in the world?  If people are basically good, why was there a Holocaust?  Why are there beheadings going on in the Middle East?  Some believe that people go bad things, some really bad things but they are good at heart.  They mean well.  They just do bad things.

The other view is that people are not basically good but basically bad.  Everyone in the world is a sinner.  We are sinners from birth.  Our problem is not just external (environment), it is internal.  We are bad on the inside.  We all have a bad heart.  It is what the OT taught.  The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT).  We all suffer from heart disease.

What Did Jesus Believe?

Did Jesus believe that people were basically good or basically bad?  Jesus agreed that the human heart is wicked and that sin comes from the human heart.

17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” (Matthew 15:17-20 NIV)

He called The Pharisees evil.  He said to them, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are EVIL say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34 NIV).

That is strange. The Pharisees were outwardly moral.  They were religious people and yet Jesus here called them evil. In fact, he called His own disciples evil.  If you then, though you are EVIL, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 NIV)

What about the idea that people are basically good at heart but they do bad things?  Jesus said the exact opposite.  He said, “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:17-18 NIV)

Our Condition Before Salvation

Paul tells us what we were like before we became Christians. It is not who were are today or what we are today.  It is our spiritual condition BEFORE Christ (BC).

And you WERE dead in the trespasses and sins in which you ONCE walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air.

These verses may not describe us today, but they describe most people in the world today, from God’s point of view. These verses are not easy to read.  This is a scary passage.  Paul uses some strong language here.  He gives us a true description of the nature of man and this description is UNIVERSAL.

It describes the whole human race apart from Christ.  It does not describe some of them or most of them.  It describes all of them.  It is a problem for BOTH Jews and Gentiles.  Paul is writing to a Gentile church.  He says, “And YOU were dead in the trespasses and sins in which YOU once walked, following the course of this world.”  Sin is a problem for Jews as well as Gentiles.  That is why Paul includes himself.

Paul was a Jew.  He was a Pharisee.  He was religious, but he was under God’s wrath just as much as they were before he became a Christian.  He says, “among whom WE ALL once lived in the passions of OUR flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind” (Ephesians 2:3 ESV).  The whole human race was sinful.  Paul says that we “were by nature children of wrath, LIKE THE REST OF MANKIND.”  Sin is not an American problem or a western problem.  It is a human problem.

What was our spiritual condition before we were saved?  Paul tells us five things about the unsaved.  These are five things that were true of us before we became Christians.  If we have not accepted Christ, these five things are still true of us today.

Five Characteristics of the Lost

1) The lost are SPIRITUALLY DEAD

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1 NIV)

Some believe that people are basically healthy.  They have goodness inside them.  They have a spark of divine.  It is the “I’m okay, you’re okay” philosophy.  Other people are more realistic.  They would say that people are not completely healthy.  Many are sick.  They do crazy things.  They do stupid things.  They sometimes hurt other people.  They have a few bad habits.  They have some problems, and some are serious problems.

Paul says something else.  He does not say that man is sick.  He says that he is dead. He is not diseased.  He is dead.  Man is not just a little sick or very sick, he is dead.  He is not in danger of death, he is dead.   That is strange.  If you take a poll of unsaved people and ask how many of them think they are dead, they will think you are crazy.

When God looks at the word, He sees a cemetery. He sees a bunch of spiritual corpses.  We were all in a coffin.  We were all in a tomb.  Outside of Christ, all men are dead.  Every man is dead.  Every woman is dead. Every child is dead.  People on every continent were dead.  People from every race were dead.  If you are not a Christian, you are spiritually dead.

It comes from sin.  We were dead in trespasses and sin.  Sin causes death.  Sin causes spiritual death.  God told Adam and Eve that the day they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die (Genesis 2:17)

The Greek word for dead means “dead” (νεκρός).  It refers literally to a corpse.  It refers to a dead body but it is also used metaphorically. Paul is talking about people who are not dead physically.  He is talking about people who are dead spiritually.  He is talking about people who are dead in trespasses and sins.

All of us were born with a dead soul.  Before we got saved, our body was alive but our soul was dead.  It is a really strange picture.  Our hearts were pumping but we were dead.  The most beautiful baby in the world is born spiritually dead.

Characteristics of Dead Things

What does this mean?  What does it mean to be physically dead?  If you are physically dead, you are lifeless.  You are motionless.  You can’t move. You cannot grow. You are inactive.  You cannot do anything.  You are completely powerless.   You are silent.  You can’t communicate with anyone and you stink.  Dead things decay and stink.  They do not get better.  They get worse.

All of that describes the unsaved spiritually.  They are spiritually lifeless.  They have no relationship with God.  They cannot fellowship with God.  They cannot talk to God.  They live a life of moral decay and depravity.  Their condition gets worse, not better.  Evil men will grow worse and worse (II Timothy 3:13).  Spiritual death is real.  The real death is spiritual death.  Physical death is just a picture of spiritual death.

Spiritual Zombies

Paul is describing here the living dead.  He describes walking dead people.  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to LIVE when you FOLLOWED the ways of this world (Ephesians 2:1-2 NIV).  He says that they were alive and followed a certain path but they were dead. They were dead in one sense but alive in another sense.

Many horror movies seem to have a morbid fascination with dead.  There are a lot of zombie movies.  There are a lot of zombie apocalypse. Dead bodies come out of the grave.  They are still dead but they come out of the graves and attack people.  In fact, there is a TV show called The Living Dead about the same topic.

In Ephesians 2, we see dead men walking.  Paul pictures the human race like zombies.  It is a zombie race. The world is full of them.  We see zombies every day.  They make up the majority of mankind.  There are walking dead in your town.  You probably work with some walking dead people.  You may live with some.  They are all around us.  You may even go to church with some of them.  There are some zombies in the local church.  Some zombies even lead churches.  There are some zombie pastors in some dead zombie churches.

2) The lost are CULTURALLY PROGRAMMED

in which you once walked, FOLLOWING the course of THIS WORLD (Ephesians 2:2 ESV)

What does it mean to follow the course of this world?  What does that tell us?  It tells us three things.  First, the world has a course.  It has a path.  It has a mentality and a way to think.  Second, we followed this path.  We did what other dead people did and thought what other dead people thought.  The environment around us in society (culture) had an influence on us and this environment is completely opposed to God.

There is pressure applied to people to follow this path. We are pressured to conform to the standard of society.  They are pressured to think a certain way about race (Black Lives Matter), marriage (gay marriage) and gender.

We are pressured to talk a certain way (politically correct way) so as not to offend certain marginalized groups (e.g., by using the wrong preferred pronoun).   If we do not conform to the model, we are automatically labeled a racist or a bigot or a homophobe, even if it is not true. We are shamed.

Three, this course is unbiblical.  It is an unchristian course. It is anti-God. This course is in rebellion to God.  We did not walk according to the course set forth in Scripture.  We walked according to the course set forth in this world.  Jesus came to this world and he said that it hated him.  It crucified Him (John 15:18).

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (I John 2:15-17 NIV)

That is why Paul tells us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV)

3) The lost are DEMONICALLY INFLUENCED

FOLLOWING THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, the spirit that is now AT WORK in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2)

This does not mean that every unsaved person is demon possessed but before we got saved, we followed Satan.  We were influenced by him and there was a demonic spirit at work inside us.  In fact, the Greek word for work is ἐνέργεια.  That is the same word that was used in Ephesians 1.  There is a power working in believers and a power working in unbelievers and the power working inside unbelievers is demonic.  It is satanic.

This explains many things that happen in the world.  The Holocaust was not just a bad idea.  It was demonically inspired.  Some feel a compulsion to commit suicide.  Doctors immediately assume that they have mental problems.  In many cases, it is clearly more than a medical issue.  It is demonic.  The devil came to steal, to kill and destroy.

In Ephesians 1, we learned that Jesus ascended into heaven and was exalted “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named” (Ephesians 1:21 ESV).  Now in Ephesians 2 we learn that there is another power far below him that has incredible power on earth.

That ruler is called a spirit.  It is an invisible demonic spirit.  Paul does NOT name this spirit, but the spirit is Satan.  Paul calls him “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2 ESV).  Why was he given that name?  “The ancient world apparently viewed the air between heaven and earth as the domain of spirits.”[1]

Satan has incredible power.  People follow Satan even when they cannot see him.  He gets people to follow him without even being aware that they are following him.  Many who follow Satan do not even believe in Satan.  He does not do it by himself.  He has a whole army of demons that help him to deceive people.

He deceives not just a few people.  He deceives entire nations.  He deceives entire religions.  He deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9), not just some hippies out in California.  This serpent is cunning and crafty.  He not only tricked Eve in the garden.  He tricked the whole world today

People think that they are free an autonomous.  They do their own thing.  They make their own decision.  This verse says that they are influenced by an invisible spirit being that they cannot even see. They follow this being.  They follow the leader of the dead.  They follow their zombie leader.  They are not just dead. They are enslaved.

4) The lost are MORALLY DEPRAVED

following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE— 3 among whom we all once lived in the PASSIONS of our FLESH, carrying out the DESIRES of the BODY and the MIND and were BY NATURE children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  (Ephesians 2:2-3 ESV)

Disobedience defines us.  It defines who we are as a race.  We were called “sons of disobedience” by God. Satan was the original rebel against God.  He was disobedient.  He committed the first sin and the unsaved are the sons of disobedience.  They are just like him.  They are disobedient in mind and in body.  We cannot just blame Satan for our own actions.

We cannot just blame our environment.  We all have a sin nature inside us.  Our problem is not just external.  It is internal.  We did what everyone else is doing, what other dead people were doing.  We did what the devil wanted them to do and we did what we wanted to do.[2]  We followed our own passions and lusts.

Disobedience takes many different forms.  Everyone follows their own passion and lusts.  Just because we are all sinners and are all disobedient does not mean that we are all rapists and ax-murders.  We all sin.  We all do not sin in the same way or to the same degree. There are different degrees of sin and depravity. Everyone is not as wicked as Adolf Hitler.  We are NOT all mass murderers.

Some are people live outwardly moral lives.  Some people have never killed anyone, never used drugs, never robbed the liquor store and never had an affair with their spouse, but they are still sinners.  No matter how moral you are, if you are unsaved, you can’t have a relationship with God.  You cannot fellowship with God.  They live in rebellion to God.  Some lived in rebellion like the Pharisees and some lived in rebellion in other ways. “Those who are in the flesh CANNOT please God” (Romans 8:8 ESV).

5) The lost are ETERNALLY CONDEMNED

Paul calls the unsaved “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3).  They are not only CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE, they are CHILDREN OF WRATH.  They are not children of God.  They are children of wrath.  God’s wrath will come on the unsaved.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:6 ESV).

Some preachers teach that God does not get angry.  He is not an angry God.  The Bible teaches that God is angry with the wicked EVERY DAY (Psalm 7:11 KJV).  That is strange.  That verse says that He is not only angry with the wicked, He is angry every day.  He is not only a loving father, He is also a righteous judge.  The Bible talks about God’s wrath in the OT and NT, but God is not only a God of wrath, He is also a God of love.  We will see that next time.  The three verses today were all bad news.  The next verses we look at in Ephesians will be good news.

[1] Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians (The NIV Application Commentary), p. 97.

[2] Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, 324.

Praying for the Saints

No church is greater than its prayer life (Leonard Ravenhall).  Without prayer, churches have no power.  Nothing happens in them.  Lives are not changed.  Miracles do not happen.  God does not work in them.  There is no revival in them.  Most churches do not even have prayer meetings.  One that has one today is rare.  We have many prayerless churches.

No person is greater than his or her prayer life.  Some are good at evangelism.  Some are good at bible study.  They love to study their Bible.  Some are big on spiritual gifts.  That is their favorite topic.  Some are passionate when it comes to public worship.  They worship with their hands in the air, but they struggle with having a regular, consistent, devoted prayer life.

Most Christians today struggle with prayer. Paul commanded us to pray without ceasing.  Some saints throughout church history who prayer for hours every day, but most Christians have difficulty praying even for a few minutes.

It was hard for me after I first became a believer.  I tried to pray regularly but it became a struggle. About two years ago, I had a heart attack and my life changed.  It was the best thing that ever happened to me.  After that event, prayer became easy.  It is something that I want to do.  It is not a struggle.  What is the secret?  Prayer is not a mystery.  It is not a religious ritual.  It is simply talking to God.  It is sharing with Him the deepest things on your heart.

Many do not know what to pray.  They do not know what to say in prayer.  This chapter was written by a man who knew how to pray.  Most of us do not think of Paul as a man of prayer but he was.  After talking to them about the Lord, Paul now talks to the Lord about them.  This is Paul’s intercessory prayer.  We get to hear an actual prayer of the Apostle Paul.

Many think that if you believe in predestination, you do not believe in prayer.  Why pray, if everything in predestinated?  Paul believed in both. Two of Paul’s greatest prayers are found in Ephesians (one in chapter one and one in chapter three).

This is a prayer that we need today.  Do Christian need a spirit of wisdom and revelation today?  Yes.  If you do not know what do to with your life, you need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.  If you do not know who to marry, you need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.  If you do not know what the will of God is for your life, you need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.  All of us need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

This is an important prayer.  This prayer can change your life. Kenneth Hagin said that he prayed these prayers a thousand times and it was the turning point in his life.  He said that it was one of the greatest spiritual discoveries he ever made.[1]

We need to personalize this prayer.  We need to pray that God would give US the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him that WE would know what is the hope to which He has called us, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe.

An Unusual Prayer

There are only three sentences in this chapter.  Ephesians 1:1-2 is one sentence.  Ephesians 1:3-14 is a second sentence.  This prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23 is another sentence.  Paul wrote this from prison.  Ephesians 1:3-14 gives us Paul’s prison PRAISE.  Ephesians 1:15-23 gives us Paul’s prison PRAYER.  It is a lot different from the way people pray today.  Notice what Paul did NOT pray for.

1) Paul did not here pray for material things.

We are Westerners.  We tend to pray for material things.  It is not wrong to pray for material things.  Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer.  The first prayer in the Lord’s Prayer says, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  That is not wrong but when Paul prays for this church, he prays for spiritual things, not material things.

He doesn’t pray that the church will have a bigger building or that the Christians in the church would make more money or that they would all be in great health.  He prays that they will know God better.  When you pray, do you just pray for material things or do your prayers go deeper than that?  Most of our prayers are petty.

2) Paul did not pray here for people who have problems

Most of us pray when things are going wrong.  We pray when things are bad.  We pray when we have a serious financial need or when we have a medical emergency.  We encounter a personal tragedy, we get on our knees.  That is not wrong, but Paul prayed when things were going good, not just when things were going bad.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers (Ephesians 1:15-16 ESV).

This church had a reputation.  Every church has some kind of a reputation.  Some have a bad reputation.  They can have a reputation for scandals (immorality) or church fights.  Some churches have a reputation for a lot of rules (legalistic churches).  Other churches have a good reputation.  Some have a reputation for bible study.  Some have a reputation for prayer.  Some have a reputation for anointed worship.  What is the reputation of your church in the community?

Paul is writing to believers that he has never met before and he has heard two things about them.  It had a reputation for two things.  It had a reputation for its faith and for its love.  I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints (Ephesians 1:15 ESV).

How did Paul know they were saved?  How did he know that they were elect?  How did he know that they were redeemed and forgiven?  How did he know that they were sealed with the Holy Spirit?  Paul had never seen these people.  He was in prison, but he knew two things about them and these two things are signs of salvation.  These are two marks of a true Christian.

They had FAITH in Christ.  They responded to the gospel in faith.  They not only had faith, they had LOVE.  It was love, not just toward people in their church.  They had a love for all Christians.  There are plenty of believers today that do not want anything to do with Christians that are just a little different than they are.  They love their fellow Baptists but cannot stand the Pentecostals down the street.

If you do not have a love for other Christians and desire to be with them, it is a sign that you are not saved.  Do you have faith?  Do you have love for other believers?  Paul prays for them and tells us what he prayed for.

A Prayer for Knowledge

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (Ephesians 1:17 NIV)

What does Paul pray for this church?  Many preachers today love to preach against knowledge and how bad knowledge is.  We do not need a big head but a big heart.  Well, Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Church is a prayer for KNOWLEDGE. Paul wants them to know some things. He does NOT pray that that they GET some things.  He prays that they KNOW some things.

Apparently, it is not enough to pray for people that they get saved.  These people were already saved.  Once they get saved, they need to know some things.  This is a prayer for knowledge but not just any kind of knowledge.  It is a special kind of knowledge

1) This knowledge is REVEALED, not learned.

It requires a revelation.  You cannot get it on your own, no matter how much you try.  No matter how educated you are or how smart you are, God has to GIVE you this knowledge.  You cannot get this knowledge from the classroom.  You can only get it by revelation.  This source of knowledge can only come from the Holy Spirit.  That is why Paul prays that this church would be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

2) This knowledge is PERSONAL, not theoretical.

This knowledge is not theoretical.  It is personal.  It is experiential.  It is NOT a prayer for academic knowledge.  It is not even a prayer for biblical knowledge, as important as those things are.   How do we know?  Paul does not pray that Christians in this church will learn ABOUT God.  He prays that they will know God.

If they were saved, didn’t they already know God? Yes.   If you are saved, you know God.  That is the definition of salvation.  Jesus said, “this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3 NIV).  If we are saved, we already know God but we could all know God better and on a deeper level?

But GROW in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (II Peter 3:18 ESV).

That verse raises an interesting question.  Are we growing as Christians?  Are we different this year than we were last year?  Has there been any progress in our life?  Are we becoming more like Jesus every day?  At a certain age we stop growing physically and many Christians seem to have stopped growing spiritually.  They are at the same level they were years ago.

Three Requests

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 1:18-19 NIV)

Paul prays that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened.  That is a little strange.  Your heart does not have eyes.  How could your heart be enlightened?  Your mind could be enlightened but how could your heart be enlightened?  Paul prays that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened so that they would know three things.

Paul has three specific requests for this church.  He prays that these Christians would know three things.  He prays that they would know the hope of the divine calling, the riches of his inheritance and the greatness of God’s power for us.  He prays that they would know God but specifically three things about God: God’s CALLING, God’s RICHES and God’s POWER.

What is God’s calling? We know the hope to which he has called us.  What does it mean to be called?  The Bible uses the word “call’ in many different ways.  This is a calling to salvation.  In the Bible, there is not one call but three calls.

Three Divine Calls

1) Ministry Call

There is a ministry call or a vocational call in Scripture.  This is is a call to service (called to the ministry or called to be a missionary).  Paul was called to be an apostle (Romans 1:1).

2) Evangelistic Call

This is the gospel call.  This call is found in Revelation 22:17. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life (NIV).  This call goes out to everyone.  It goes out to every sinner.  It is an invitation.  It is a universal call.  It is an external call.  It not always effective.  Many reject this message.

3) Salvation Call

This is the call to salvation.  It only goes to certain people.  It is selective call.  It is an internal call.  It is effective.  The day you were called, is the day you were saved.  When you were saved, God called you.  That is what Ephesians 1:18 is talking about.  Paul speaks of this call in Romans.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30 NIV)

1. He prays that we might know INCREDIBLE HOPE

The first thing he prays is that you may know the hope to which he has called you (Ephesians 1:18 NIV)

Many Christians today have no hope.  They have no assurance of salvation.  They have been corrupted by bad theology and have no hope.  Christians have a special calling and because of that calling, we have HOPE.  Paul said that these Christians had faith, love and now they have hope (faith, hope, love).  Why do we have hope?  We have a past (chosen by god).  We have a present (redemption forgiveness of sins) and we have a future.

We are told in John 13:3 that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God” (NIV).  We can have confidence in our final destination, because we are sealed with the Spirit.

2. He prays that we might know our INHERITED RICHES

Paul wants us to know the riches of His glorious inheritance (Ephesians 1:18 NIV).  The HOPE tells us where we are going.  The RICHES tell us who we are.  We are children of the king we have an inheritance.  That is the theme of the whole chapter, our riches in Christ.  Many Christians do not know who they are in Christ.

3. He prays that we might know IMMEASURABLE POWER

The third thing Paul prays is that we might know his incomparably great power for us who believe (Ephesians 1:18 NIV).   Many Christians have no power. They walk around defeated.   Many have no power to live.  They are powerless: powerless to live, powerless to resist temptation, powerless to minister.

Paul wants us to know not only WHERE we are going and WHO we are but WHAT is available to us as believers.  Paul wanted Christians to know that they have power.  We know the LOVE OF GOD if we are saved.  We know the GRACE OF GOD but Paul also wanted us to know the POWER OF GOD.

Jesus said something very interesting.  He said that some people in his day were mistaken, because “they “did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29).  We can criticize these dumb Jews but the fact is that many Christians today do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.  Most Christians do not know what the Bible teaches and they do not believe that God works miracles today.  That was for some other period of time.  They have no idea of the power available to them.

Many Christians are religious.  They go to church.  They are religious but they have no power.  They have a form of godliness but do not have power in their lives (II Timothy 3:5).  Paul said that the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of POWER (I Corinthians 4:20).  Jesus said to the apostles, “You shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8).

Paul piles on Greek words to show us the power that we have.  You do not notice this in English but in Greek, he uses four different words for power in the same sentence.

He prays for us to know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power  (δύναμις) toward us who believe, according to the working (ἐνέργεια) of his mighty (ἰσχύς) power (κράτος) that he worked (ἐνέργεια) in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19-20).

Christians not only have power, they have a lot of it. This power is not only great, it is immeasurably great (ESV).  It is exceedingly great (KJV).  We do not just have power.  We have great power.  Paul uses superlatives.  We have unimaginable power.  We have mega power.  It is spiritual power and it is inside us. We have this power inside us if we are saved.

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work WITHIN us (Ephesians 3:19-20 NIV)

Paul uses an illustration of this power.  In the OT, there are several illustrations of God’s power.  One is creation.  God created the whole world out of nothing instantly.  It was a demonstration of incredible power.  Another illustration in the OT is the exodus.  God delivered two million Jews out of slavery from Egypt.  That required a miracle.  It required power.  Paul uses a different illustration of power.

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20 ESV)

We have resurrection power inside us.  It took power to raise Jesus from the dead.  The resurrection was an act of power.  Paul said that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God WITH POWER by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4 NASB).  BY HIS POWER God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also (I Corinthians 6:14 NIV).  Paul said that he wanted to know Christ and the POWER of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10).  He raised Jesus when He was completely weak and powerless, humanly speaking.

Jesus was not only raised from the dead.  He ascended into heaven.  The resurrection is not the same thing as the ascension.  In the resurrection, Jesus left the grave.  In the ascension, Jesus left the earth.  The resurrection came after three days.  The ascension came after forty days.  Paul says that God “seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21).

We not only have RESURRECTION POWER.  We have ASCENSION POWER.  The same power that not only brought Jesus’s lifeless body back to life also exalted him to the highest possible position in heaven.  Jesus sits at the right hand of God above everything.  He is the head of the church.  The same power that took Jesus from humiliation and to exaltation lives inside of us.

[1] https://www.cfaith.com/index.php/blog/24-articles/prayer/18162-paul-at-prayer-part-two; https://restoredtofreedom.com/Kenneth-E-Hagin-The-Believers-Authority.pdf

 

 

No Room at the Inn

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (Luke 2:7 ESV)

Is the traditional view of Jesus’s birth presented in most churches actually historical?   The traditional view is that Joseph took a hundred-mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem (which today is in the West Bank), because of a Roman census.  He traveled with Mary, who was nine months pregnant at the time.  When they arrived, it was late at night.  They were tired and  no public accommodations were available.

The hotel was full.  Joseph forgot to make reservations.  An inn keeper turned them away, not because he was cold, heartless and rude, but because he did not have any room.  There were no vacancies.  They had no place to stay inside and Mary went into labor and delivered a baby without a doctor. Jesus was born, not in a hospital, but outdoors in a barn or a cave and laid in a manger, instead of a crib or baby bed.

Recently, many have questioned that interpretation.  Some believe that they actually came to a family home that night.  Kenneth E. Bailey argues this view in his book Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes (IVP Academic, 2008).  This modern interpretation holds that the inn mentioned in Luke does not mean inn.  It means “guest room.”

According to NT scholar Grant Osborne, Mary and Joseph did not reside in a barn with animals but were treated as normal guests, staying in a home either of a relative or someone in the community (Luke: Verse by Verse, 2018, 67).  This interpretation raises some interesting questions.

Does the inn mentioned in Luke refer to a public inn or to a room in a private house?  Does it refer to a commercial inn or a just to a room in a house?  Was Jesus was born outdoors or indoors?

The manger in some houses was not located outdoors but on the ground floor of the house.  Many believe today that Mary did not give birth outdoors but indoors in bottom floor of the house. Most first century Palestinian homes were multi-leveled. They had two stories.

The second floor was the living quarters.  It was the sleeping area. It sometimes had guest rooms and a room for entertaining.  The bottom floor or main floor was like a basement and often had a place for animals.  Stables or mangers often part of the ground floor of the home.

1st-Century-Home-In-Israel

Support for the Modern View

The TNIV reads, “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no GUEST ROOM available for them.”

N.T. Wright renders Luke 2:7, “there was no room for them in the normal living quarters.”[1]  Instead of the furnished guest room, Joseph and Mary had to settle for a room on the ground floor usually reserved for animals.[2]

This is a view held by many commentators on Luke (e.g., Parsons, Green, Bovon, Fitzmeyer).  There are several arguments in support of the modern interpretation.  There are certain reasons why this view seems very appealing.

1) It seems to fit the historical context of the time

Bethlehem was a small town.  It is doubtful if a commercial inn even existed in Bethlehem.  If Jesus and Mary were going back to Bethlehem because it was their ancestral home, one would expect their family to be there.

If that is the case, one would expect them to stay with family or with relatives and not in a motel.  It is consistent with the type of houses that existed in Bethlehem at the time.

This is a good argument but it also raises some questions. If they were indeed at a relative’s house, why would Mary not have been given a guest room since she was nine months pregnant?  Why would he have to be placed in a manger?

A manger was a feeding trough for animals.  It was used for animals.  It was where cattle were fed.  Why would Jesus be placed in a dirty and smelly manger?

Had they indeed stayed with family, Jesus would have been given a more sanitary and comfortable place to lay down.  Hospitality was a big deal for Jews in the first century.

Furthermore, while some mangers were located in houses, others were located outside in a courtyard area.  As Timothy Johnson says, καταλύμα could refer “to space in a house but it could also refer to the area where travelers and their animals gathered in the open”[3]

The word could refer to a type of public shelter. Robert Stein says, “The ‘inn’ probably refers to a public caravansary (a crude overnight lodging place for caravans) which was the one lodging place in Bethlehem.”[4]

2) It is consistent with how Luke uses the word καταλύμα

The Greek word for “inn” καταλύμα in Luke 2:7 is only used three times in the NT (Luke 2:7; 22:11; Mark 14:14).  The only other time the word is used in Luke, it means a guest room (Luke 22:11).

In fact, the only other times it is used in the NT, it means a guest room (Luke 22:11; Mark 14:14).  One could argue that if καταλύμα means guest room at the end of Luke, it MUST mean guest room at the beginning of Luke.

The word καταλύμα was the room used for the Last Supper, the upper room where Jesus ate his last meal with his disciples the night before his crucifixion.

Furthermore, there is another Greek word used for a commercial inn used in the Gospel of Luke.  Luke uses the word πανδοχεῖον for a commercial inn (Luke 10:34).

Objections to the Modern View

This appears to be a solid argument but the truth is that καταλύμα does NOT only mean guest room.  The word καταλύμα has a broader semantic range in Koine Greek.

We know that from the LXX. καταλύμα translates five different Hebrew words in the LXX.  It is used for the word translated “inn” in Exodus 4:24. Even the TNIV translates it “lodging place” in that verse.

Australian NT scholar John Nolland points out that καταλύμα is a “flexible word and can denote any kind of place one might stay, from primitive inn (Exodus 4:27) to guest room in a house (Luke 22:11) to a totally unspecified place where one might stay (Sirach 14:25).”[5]

The traditional rendering is still possible. Some Greek scholars prefer the rendering “guest room”[6] but other Greek scholars hold the tradition view.  Some Greek lexicons render καταλύμα “inn or lodging place” (Thayer, Abbott-Smith).  Some commentators also hold that view.[7]

Even Bauer–Arndt–Gingrich admit that καταλύμα can mean “inn”.[8]  Thus, the traditional rendering cannot be ruled out.  In fact, most Bible translators read “inn” and not guest room in Luke 2:7 (e.g., KJV, NIV [1984], ESV, NASB, ASV, RSV, NRSV).

Furthermore, the use of the article supports the notion of a commercial inn. Luke 2:7 says, “there was no place for them in THE inn.”  John Nolland says, “The definite article favors reference to the public inn at Bethlehem.”[9]

Some argue that this is an article of previous reference.[10]  The anaphoric article has a previous reference, such as “He stayed there two days… After the two days” (John 4:40, 43) but there is no previous reference here.

The problem with this view is that there is no previous reference here.  Luke does not say that they came to a house and there was no room in the guest room of the house.  He does not mention a house at all.  It is merely assumed.

Conclusion

What type of inn did Joseph and Mary arrive at on the first Christmas?  It was not an inn, like the modern Western sense.  When we think of an inn today, we think of something like the Holiday Inn.  When we think of a motel today, we think of a place with a hot breakfast, an indoor pool and cable television.  No such motel existed in the small town of Bethlehem in Jesus’ day.

The word “inn” could refer to the guest room of a house.  That is the view of many modern scholars on Luke.  It has some support from archaeology and the use of the word καταλύμα in Luke.

However, the word has a wide sematic range (based on its use in the LXX) and could also refer to a primitive inn or shelter area.  The use of the Greek article supports the view of a public inn.  It is still the reading of most translations of Luke.

The manger could be indoors on the ground floor.  Jesus could have been born in a house.  The manger could also be outdoors in a courtyard area or barn.

There is also some evidence from several sources in the second century that Jesus was born in a rock cave.  That sounds more like an outdoor birth, than an indoor birth.

That was the view, not just of the NT Apocrypha (Protoevangelium of James, 18-20) but also some of the early church fathers, like Origen (Against Celsus, book I, chapter 51), and  Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 78).

The Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest churches in the world and the oldest church in the Holy Land.  It is supposedly the very spot where Jesus was born.  It was built on top of a cave in Bethlehem (West Bank).

Beneath the church is the Grotto of the Nativity and contains the words “Here Jesus Christ was born to the Virgin Mary” but there is no way to know if this is the actual spot.  This church was built in the fourth century.

[1] NT Wright, Luke for Everyone, 20.

[2] http://locusthoney.blogspot.com/2011/12/the-nativity-without-ebellishments.html

[3] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke (Sacra Pagina), p. 50.

[4] Robert Stein, Luke, (New American Commentary), p. 107.

[5] John Nolland, Luke 1-9:20, (Word Biblical Commentary), 105.

[6] Danker, Frederick W., Walter Bauer, and William F. Arndt. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2nd ed, p. 414; Alan Thompson, Luke: Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament, p. 120-121; Martin M. Culy, Mikeal C. Parsons & Joshua J. Stigall, Luke: A Handbook on the Greek Text p. 69

[7] Henry Alford, who says it is “not a room in a private house” (Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary, I, 454). J. Reiling writes, “It is improbable that kataluma refers here to the guest room of a house” (The Translator’s Handbook to the Gospel of Luke, 109); F.W. Farrar, The Gospel according to St. Luke (Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges), 112.

[8] BAG, 120-121.

[9] John Nolland, Luke 1-9:20, WBC, p. 105.

[10] Mickelson, Andy. “An Improbable Inn: Texts and Tradition Surrounding Luke 2:7.” Studia Antiqua 14, no. 1 (2015).

You are Rich

We have been studying one of the most important books Paul ever wrote.  Each book has a different theme.  The theme of Philippians is JOY.  The word “joy” or “rejoice” is used fifteen times in the book.  Galatians is the book of liberty.  The theme of Galatians is FREEDOM in Christ.  The theme of Ephesians is our RICHES in Christ.

There is a big focus in our day about getting rich.  People try to give you all kinds of ways to get rich.  There are a lot of get rich quick schemes.  We see the same thing in some churches.  There are some spiritual get rich quick schemes among some Christians.

Everyone wants to be rich.  Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is the richest man in the world today, according to Forbes magazine.  He is richer than Bill Gates.  Bezos has a net worth of $160 billion.

Ephesians is about wealth but not the kind of wealth that many think of.  It is dealing with SPIRITUAL WEALTH.  Some have called this the true prosperity gospel.  The gospel has made us all rich but not rich like the prosperity preachers teach.

What do we learn in the Book of Ephesians?  We learn that Christians are rich.  We are richer than Jeff Bezos, way richer.  We have unimaginable wealth.  Ephesians describes out spiritual bank account.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every SPIRITUAL BLESSING in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3 ESV)

Ephesians 1:3 is the KEY VERSE in the chapter.  The KEY WORD in this verse is blessing.  Three times in one verse do we see the word “blessed” or ‘blessing”.  This verse says “blessing, blessing, blessing.”

What does it really mean to be blessed? Most people think of blessing as wealth.  We think of financial prosperity (new house or a new car).  The Bible does say that God gives us richly all things to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17 KJV) but these blessings are spiritual.  He has blessed us in Christ with every SPIRITUAL BLESSING in heavenly places.

What Paul says here goes against the grain of some churches.  Paul does NOT say that God has blessed us with every material blessing.  It does NOT say that he has blessed us with every financial blessing.  Most of the Christians that Paul wrote to in the early church were not rich.  They were poor.   It says that He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, not on earth, but IN HEAVENLY PLACES.

God has not blessed us with A FEW spiritual blessings.  He has not blessed us with MANY spiritual blessings.  He has not blessed us with MOST spiritual blessings.  Paul says that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us in Christ with EVERY spiritual blessing.  Every single one.

At some point you will be asked if you have received the Second Blessing.  If you are a believer, you have already received EVERY spiritual blessing, not just the Second Blessing.  You have received the third, the fourth and the fifth.

We have received every spiritual blessing.  You may not feel blessed.  You may have all kinds of problems in your life right now.  Regardless of how you feel, regardless of your financial situation, regardless of your health or medical situation, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  This is one of the most life-changing truths in Scripture.

The poorest Christian on earth is blessed with every blessing in the heavenlies.  They are rich.  They may not be rich on earth or by worldly standards, but God says that they are rich.  Our senses may tell us that we are poor.

Our bank account may say the same thing, but God’s Word says that we have unimaginable wealth but the only way to get these blessings is to be in Christ.  That is the KEY PHRASE in the chapter.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful IN CHRIST JESUS (Ephesians 1:1)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us IN CHRIST with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)

Even as he chose us IN HIM before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)

To the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us IN THE BELOVED (Ephesians 1:6)

IN HIM we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses (Ephesians 1:7)

Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth IN CHRIST (Ephesians 1:9)

As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things IN HIM (Ephesians 1:10)

IN HIM we have obtained an inheritance (Ephesians 1:11)

IN HIM you also…. were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)

To receive any of these blessings, you MUST be in Christ.  It is the only way to get them.  You cannot get these blessings in Buddha or in Muhammad.  Without Christ, you cannot access any of these blessings or receive them.

You can be in Christ and in the world at the same time.  Every Christian has two addresses.  Paul wrote to believers in this church and they are said to be “in Ephesus” but they are also said to be “in Christ”.  If we are saved, we may live in Haw River or Burlington, but God sees us as “in Christ.”

The question is, Are we in Christ? Are we saved?  Do we know for sure if we are saved?  Is our name written in God’s book in heaven, the Lamb’s Book of Life?  It will be pretty cool one day to see our name written in that book.

Paul begins this letter on a positive note.  Almost all of his letters begin the same way.  I do not know if you do that when you write a letter or send an email but whenever Paul wrote a letter to believers, he always seems to begin with thanksgiving.  He always begins on a positive note.  Notice how he began when he wrote to the Church at Philippi and Colossae.

I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:3-6 NIV).

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel. (Colossians 1:3-5 NIV)

Paul did that even when he wrote to the Church at Corinth.  It was a worldly church.  It had all kinds of problems.  People were living in sin.  Paul still wrote and began the letter with thanksgiving.  Every church at some strength.  For the church at Corinth, they were big on spiritual gifts.  They lacked no spiritual gift.

The only church that Paul did not begin with praise was the letter he wrote to the church at Galatia.  That book did not begin with praise but with rebuke, because this church was listening to false teachers and believed a false gospel.  The first thing he says to them was “I cannot believe that you have left the true gospel for a false gospel.”

Paul begins the Epistle to the Ephesians with thanksgiving.  He begins it with praise.  Paul was in prison in Rome.  He was in chains.  He has lost his freedom.  He writes a letter to believers that he has never met and what does he say?  He does not talk about his problems.  He does not whine or complain about his situation.  He doesn’t say, “Woe is me.”

Instead, he praises God.  He worships.  This chapter is a call to worship.  He says, “blessed be God who has blessed us.”  That is a little strange.  Paul is locked up and he is praising God about how blessed he was and how blessed his readers were.  The key verse of this chapter is Ephesians 1:3.

BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has BLESSED us in Christ with every spiritual BLESSING in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3 ESV)

Paul begins with praise to God and it is all one long sentence in Greek.  Ephesians 1:3-14 is one long sentence.  It is 202 words.  It is four sentences in the NIV but one sentence in Greek.  Someone said that Paul did not write like Hemingway who used short sentences.  When Paul gets filled with the Spirit and begins to praise God, he goes on and on without taking a breath.

Paul praises God for what He did in the past.  He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.  He praises God for what he is doing now.  He saved us.  He redeemed us and forgave us all of our sins.  He even praises God for what he will do in the future.  He praises God for what will happen one day when all things in heaven and on earth are united in Christ, when creation itself is restored.

When Paul praises God, he praises the entire Trinity.  The word “trinity” is not found anywhere in the Bible but the idea of the trinity (one God in three persons) runs all through the Bible.  It is found over and over again in the Book of Ephesians.  We will see it about eight times in the Book.

Paul praises God for the work of the Father in salvation (Ephesians 1:3-6), the work of the Son in salvation (Ephesians 1:7-12) and the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14).  The Father CHOOSES us.  The Son REDEEMS us.  The Spirit SEALS us.  These verses deal with the SELECTION of the Father, the SACRIFICE of the Son and the SEALING of the Spirit.

Your Identity in Christ

This chapter more than any other, gives us our identity in Christ.  It will completely revolutionize the way you think about yourself.  Many Americans do not know their racial identity.  They do not know if they are Italian, French or German in ancestry.  They do not know who they are.

Many Christians do not know their identity either.  Ephesians gives us our spiritual identity.  This chapter is incredible.  It will completely change how you view God.  It will change how you view yourself and other Christians.  What does God say about believers in this chapter?

1) You are WEALTHY

Many Christians are poor, especially in other parts of the world but ALL Christians are spiritually wealthy.  Every Christian has these blessings, not just some of them.  Notice what the verse says.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3 ESV)

The verb is in the past tense. Paul does not say that one day in the future we will receive these blessings.  He does not say that we will get them when we get to heaven.  We ALREADY have them in Christ right NOW.  It has already happened.  It has not already happened just for some Christians, the super-saints who pray every day for four hours.

It has happened for all of them.  Christians are wealthy.  We are royalty.  We are children of the King of the Universe.  We are princes and princesses.  God owns everything.  He made it all.  We are His children.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the RICHES of his grace, which he LAVISHED upon us (Ephesians 1:7-8 ESV).  He does not just sprinkle a little on us.  He lavishes us with it.  He pours it on us.  God is not stingy. He gives us riches now and he will give us more riches in heaven

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the IMMEASURABLE RICHES of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-7 ESV)

Many Christians today have no idea how wealthy they are.  They have no clue.  Paul prays that they learn how wealthy they are.  He prays that the eyes of their hearts would be opened that they might know what is the hope that they were called and “what are the RICHES of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18 ESV).

2) You are a SAINT

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:1 ESV).  Here is the first thing that God says about every Christian.  Each one is a saint.  There are Pentecostal saints and Baptist saints.  There are Methodist saints and Wesleyan saints, but they are all saints if they are saved.  Some of them do not act very saintly.  Paul called believers at Corinth saints and they had all kinds of problems, sin problems.  It is shocking, but even Christians can fall into sin.

3) You are CHOSEN

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world… He predestined us (Ephesians 1:4-5 ESV).  We looked at this last week.  Every Christian was written in God’s book before the world began.  We saw last week that this is very different from what many Christians today believe.

Some teach that Christ is chosen, not us but this passage says that God chose us, not Christ. Some teach in this passage that we choose God, but the passage says the exact opposite.  It is about God choosing us, not us choosing God.  Some teach that it is all about God knowing us, but it does not say that God knew us before the foundation of the world (although that is true).  It says that He chose us and He chose us for salvation.  He chose us to be in Christ.

4) You are ADOPTED

In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5 ESV).  The Bible also describes salvation as birth, the new birth.  We are born again but here the picture is adoption.  When you are adopted, you are picked out by your adoptive parents and the result is that you become a member of the family.  We are sons and daughters.

What does it mean to be in the family of God?  It means several things.  It means that we have an intimacy with God that we never had before.  He is our Father.  We can cry “Abba Father.”  It is an Aramaic term of intimacy (daddy).  It also means that we have certain rights as children.  We have inheritance rights.  Ephesians 1:11 talks about our inheritance.  We are in the family.

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6 NIV).

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:14-17 ESV)

It also means that we have an instant connection with other people in the family.  We have brothers and sisters.  We are not an only child.  It also means that we can be disciplined as children.  Fathers discipline their children.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. (Hebrews 12:6 ESV)

5) You are REDEEMED

 In him we have redemption through his blood (Ephesians 1:7 ESV).  The word redemption is used three times in Ephesians (1:7, 14; 4:30).  What does it mean to be redeemed?  It is a little strange.  it describes salvation as a commercial transaction.  Jesus bought us.

Redeemed implies ownership.  He bought us.  Paul said, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (I Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV).

We were slaves and God freed us from slavery.  A price had to be paid.  A payment was made and that payment involved blood.  Many try to be saved another way (good works).

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (I Peter 1:18-19 ESV)

We were redeemed by the blood of Christ.  That was the ransom price.  It took a lot to redeem us.  It was costly.  It not only involved death but a violent death on the cross.

6) You are FORGIVEN

Pal says that in Christ we have “the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7 ESV).  We are not only chosen before the foundation of the world, delivered from slavery, adopted by God and placed into His family but forgiven all of our sins.

When we became a Christian, we were forgiven all of our sins.  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us ALL our sins (Colossians 2:13 NIV)

Every sin can be forgiven. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18 NIV).  We are forgiven because of the blood of Christ.  We do not only have redemption because of His blood, we have forgiveness because of His blood.  God does not forgive sins lightly.  A penalty had to be paid.

Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.  The night before he died, Jesus took the cup and said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28 NIV).  How can we be forgiven by his blood? The Bible says that he bore our sins in his body on the cross (I Peter 2:24)

7) You are WISE

Christians have wisdom.  When we got saved, something happened.  We received wisdom from God. Non-Christians can be highly intelligent but they do not have spiritual wisdom.  We have the Holy Spirit.  We have the mind of Christ.

Notice Ephesians 1:8-9.  Speaking of the riches of God’s grace, Paul says, “which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight MAKING KNOWN TO US the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ” (ESV).

God has a plan for the world.  This chapter deals with God’s eternal plan for the world.  God wants us to know what he has done, what he is doing today and what he will do in the future.  When we get saved, we have an understanding we did not have before.

We understand some things.  We understand the Bible.  We have the Holy Spirit living inside us.  We know God’s will.  We know that one day everyone will acknowledge Jesus as Lord.  One day, all things will be united in Christ (Ephesians 1:10).  We know that now.

8) You are SEALED

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV).

Notice the four steps of salvation here for this gentile church.  One, they HEARD the word of the gospel.  The gospel message has to be heard.  There is no believing without hearing.  Second, they BELIEVED the message.  They may have been predestinated but they still have to believe the message.  Third, they were SAVED.  Four they were SEALED.  We are not only saved we are secure.

This passage tells us some things about the Holy Spirit.,  The Holy Spirit is not only a GIFT, He is a SEAL and a GUARANTEE of our inheritance.

When are we sealed?  The KJV says after we believed.  In whom ye also trusted, AFTER that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also AFTER that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise (KJV).

That is possible translation, but most Greek scholars believe the aorist participle should be translated “when you believed.”  That is the way all modern translations read and that is very significant.  After you believe, you do not have to wait twenty years before you get the Holy Spirit

Some teach that you can hear the gospel, believe the gospel and not have the Holy Spirit.  You do not get Him until you start speaking in tongues.  This verse says the minute you believe, you get the Holy Spirit. You may not feel anything right away, but he is still present.  Every Christian has the Holy spirit.  Paul says in Romans 8:9 that if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you do not have Christ.[1]

When you bought something in the ancient world, a seal usually made of hot wax was placed on a piece of paper to prove that you bought it and owned it.  God does not put his seal on a piece a paper.  He puts it inside us.  His seal is the Holy Spirit.  It is a strange seal.  It is an internal seal and an invisible seal.  The seal lasts right up to the day of redemption.  The seal is UNTIL the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).[2]

Paul says that the Holy Spirit is not only a seal but a down payment but is also a down payment or pledge.  The Holy Spirit is God’s down payment of our salvation.  The Holy Spirit is our earnest money.  He is our deposit guarantee. Paul tells us that three times II Corinthians 1:21-22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14).

Paul says those whom he justified he also glorified (Romans 8:29 ESV).  When we are justified, we are guaranteed by the down payment that we will be glorified.  The Holy Spirit is the proof.  God takes a portion of what we will experience in heaven and gives it to us now.

[1] https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sljinstitute-production/new_testament/Ephesians/04_SLJ_Ephesians.pdf

[2]Harold W. Hoerner in his massive commentary (Ephesians, 632-633) points out that εἰς could refer to purpose (for) but most likely refers to time (until) in the context. Benjamin l. Merkle, another Greek scholar,  says the prepositional phrase is temporal (Ephesians: Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament, 152).

 

Election: Fact or Fiction

Last week, we began our study in the Book of Ephesians, one of the greatest letters Paul ever wrote.  We said that the first three chapters are all doctrinal.  The last three chapters are all practical.  We are in the doctrinal section.  Today, we are going to slow down a little bit and focus on one doctrine in this chapter.

Ephesians 1 is one of the most important passages on election in the entire NT.  We have to begin with a warning.  Today, we are going to go deep. This chapter is deep.  It deals with advanced material.  We are dealing with meat, not milk in this chapter.

We are going to look at one of the most controversial doctrines in the church today. Christians are split over this doctrine.  Not just Christians, but churches are divided over this doctrine.  In fact, entire denominations come down on different sides of this question.  There are entire denominations on both sides of the issue, with Wesleyans on one side and Presbyterians on the other.

It is not a salvation issue.  You can be a Calvinist and go to heaven.  You can be an Arminian and go to heaven.  There are godly people on both sides.  We can still fellowship with one another, even though we don’t agree with everything in Scripture.  You may not agree with everything I believe.  I may not agree with everything you believe, but we can still have unity.

George Whitfield and John Wesley were famous evangelists in the 1700s.  They were both preachers.  Both were Methodists. They had their disagreements.  They had some theological differences.  Wesley was an Arminian.  Wesley hated the doctrine of predestination.  He called it “blasphemy.” Whitfield was a staunch Calvinist.

On a personal note, they were close friends.  In fact, Whitfield asked Wesley to preach the sermon at his memorial service.  Wesley preached at three memorial services for Whitfield in London in 1770.

Whitfield was asked if he would see John Wesley in Heaven.  He said, “No.  He will be in the front and I will be way in the back.  He will be so close to the throne.  I will be so far away that I will not be able to see him.”

We are going to look at the doctrine of election in Ephesians 1.  Many do not like this doctrine.  In fact, some hate it. It is the most hated doctrine in the Bible, among some Christians.  Many Christians do not believe what Paul says in Ephesians 1.  They act like the word ‘predestination” is a curse word.

If you talk to some Christians, they will say, “You do not believe in predestination, do you?  You are not one of those Christians?”  Of course, I am and you should too.  I believe in predestination, because it is in the Bible.

If you do not believe in predestination, then you do not believe the Bible.  this doctrine was not started by Augustine or Calvin.  It comes right out of the Bible. It is biblical.

Paul uses the word “predestinate” two times in Romans (Romans 8:29, 30) and two times in Ephesians (Ephesians 1:5, 11). That is strange.  Was Paul a Calvinist?

He PREDESTINATED us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:5 ESV)

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been PREDESTINED according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11 ESV)

Calvinists read this passage one way.  Arminian read this passage a completely different way.  Who is right?

Here is the problem.  Most people come to the text with all kinds of biases and assumptions.  We assume that we know what the passage says before we even read it.  We do not read it to see what it says but to prove what we already believe.  That is what most Christians do.  Today, we want to do three things.

First, we will look at what Ephesians 1 teaches about election.  It teaches five things. Second, we will look at some objections to election.  Third, we will look at applications.  We will see how this all applies to us today.  Let’s begin by reading Paul’s statement about election.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he CHOSE US in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he PREDESTINATED US for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV)

Five Facts About Election

Five things are clear from Ephesians 1 about election.  Five things can be proven from this passage.

1. Election involves a SELECTION

He CHOSE US in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Paul says that we were chosen.  The Greek word for “chose’ is ἐκλέγομαι.  It means to pick out or choose something.

The same word is used of Jesus who CHOSE the Twelve Apostles (Luke 6:13).  He could have picked anyone but selected twelve particular people.  It is used of the Church of Jerusalem who CHOSE seven deacons (Acts 6:5).

In the Book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas got into an argument and they parted ways.  Acts 15:40 says that Paul CHOSE Silas to be his ministry partner and it is the same word.  The Greek word is also used in the OT.  Lot and Abraham got into an argument and Abraham let him have anything he wanted to keep the peace.  We are told that Lot CHOSE Sodom (Genesis 13:11) and it is the same word.

What is significant about this first point?  Election involved as selection and the selection involved people.  God’s people were chosen.  Everyone was not chosen.  Only some people were chosen.  This month, we just had an election.  When you went to vote, you did not note for everybody.  You voted for certain people on the ballot.

2. The selection was made BY GOD

HE chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Many today read Ephesians 1 and say it is a passage about us choosing God but that is not what the passage says.  This verse does not say that we chose God.  It says that He chose us.

We just had an election.  After all, we love our right to vote. Every four years Americans go to the polls and cast their ballots for a presidential candidate.  God held an election but He as the only one who got to vote.  This was God’s election day.

Many do NOT believe that God chooses people. They only believe that we choose Him.  God chose us.  He chose Him.  They believe that God chose Christ and WE CHOOSE whether to be in Christ but that is not what the verse says.  It says that He chose US, not that He chose Christ.

He chose us.  He chose him.  He chose her.  He chose you.  You can personalize it.  Put your name in there.  God chose Anne.  He chose Sammy.  He chose Gary.

3. This selection was made BEFORE creation

HE chose us in him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and blameless before him. This is important.  He did not choose us after we chose Him or even after we existed.  He chose us before the world began.  He chose us before Genesis 1:1. He chose us before there was a universe.  This was a pre-creation election.

C.H. Spurgeon used to joke that it was good that God chose him before the foundation of the world because he would never have chosen him afterwards.

Let’s put these together.  Before you chose God, He chose you.  As John Piper said, “Your salvation did not begin with your choice to believe in Christ—a choice which was real and necessary. Your salvation began before the creation of the universe when God planned the history of redemption, ordained the death and the resurrection of his Son, and chose you to be his own through Christ.”[1]

Now many read this passage differently.  They read it, “Before the foundation of the world, God KNEW you” but that is not what the verse says.  It says, “Before the foundation of the world, God CHOSE you.”  What did he choose you for?

4. This selection was for SALVATION

This is where many have a problem.  Many have no problem with the word “predestination” but they do not believe in predestination TO SALVATION.  The passage does not say that He chose us to salvation.

It looks like Ephesians 1 is dealing with a predestination to holiness, not a predestination to heaven, because Paul says, “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV).

However, it is very clear that this predestination for salvation.  He did not just choose us.  He chose us IN CHRIST.  What does that mean?  Those who are in Christ are saved.

Those who are not in Christ are lost.  We know that from Romans 5.  Everyone is either “in Christ” or “in Adam” (saved or lost).  This group was chosen to be in Christ and they were chosen before they were born.

If that is not clear, read the next verse.  He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:5 ESV).

Predestination is for adoption to put us into the family of God.  It is a choice to make us sons and daughters of God.  Other passages say the same thing.

II Thessalonians 2:13 says, “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God CHOSE you FOR SALVATION through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (NIV).

The Christians at Thessalonica (like the ones at Ephesus) were also chosen for salvation and that took place “from the beginning,” which is very similar to “before the foundation of the world” in Ephesians 1:4.

Acts 13:48 says, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were APPOINTED FOR ETERNAL LIFE believed” (NIV).  The KJV reads “ordained to eternal life.”  The NLT reads, “all who were chosen to eternal life became believers.”

Now, let’s compare this to something else taught in Scripture. The Bible teaches that on Judgment Day, God will open a book, a literal book.  If your name is not in that book, you will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15).

How do you get put in the book?  When you believe, does God then put your name in the book?  The Bible says that people’s names were put in the book BEFORE the foundation of the world (Revelation 17:8).

5. This selection was NOT based on works

Some believe that were chosen because of something WE DID.  They believe that God chose us because of OUR FAITH.  He knew we were going to believe and so He chose us but that is not what the text says.

God did not choose us because we were worthy.  He did not choose us because we were holy.  In fact, the text says, “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY and blameless before him.”  He did not choose us because we were holy.  He chose us to make us holy.  It was an election to salvation and salvation is to lead to holiness.

This election is also “according to the purpose of HIS WILL” (Ephesians 1:5).  The focus here is on “the mystery of HIS WILL” (Ephesians 1:9).  The focus is not on our will.  Election in this chapter is based on God’s free will, not our free will.  We were not even alive yet.

Election is “to the praise of HIS glorious grace.”  Paul says that three times in this chapter (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). If it was based on something we did, election would bring praise to US.  We would get the glory.  This election brings praise to God.  It is an election of grace, not works.

Elections has nothing to do with merit.  It had nothing to do with good works.  It was all about grace.  Salvation is BY GRACE (Ephesians 2:8).  Election is BY GRACE (Romans 11:5-6).

Objections to Predestination

1. If you believe in election, you do not believe in free will

If it is all predetermined, if God chooses your fate, there is no room for free will.  I do not have any choice in the matter.  Is that true?  No.  the problem is that many people only believe half of the Bible.

That is a big problem.  The Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah because they only believed half of the Bible.  They believed the promises about a glorified messiah but not the promises of a suffering messiah.

In fact, on Easter Sunday, Jesus had a conversation with two disciples who had the same problem.  Jesus said to them, “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25 KJV).  Some Christians only believe the verses about predestination.

Some Christians only believe the verses about free will.  People say, “If I go to hell, it is not my fault.  I was not one of the elect.”  That is only reading half of the Bible.  The Bible teaches divine sovereignty and human freedom. You cannot use predestination as an excuse not to believe.  You cannot use it as an excuse not to get saved.

That is taking only half of the Bible. Some believe in predestination but not free will.  Some believe in free will but not predestination.  We need to believe both.  Both are biblical.

2. If you believe in election, you do not believe in evangelism

If you believe in election, there is no reason to tell anybody about Jesus, because they will be saved anyway.  The objection is just as ridiculous.  Ephesians 1 was written by a missionary.  What is the answer to this one?

Predestination results in salvation.  It leads to salvation.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Romans 8:30 ESV).  Jesus said, “All those the Father gives me will come to me” (John 6:37 NIV).

Many think that God predestinates people.  He chooses them, but we make the final call.  We decide whether to choose Him.  It all boils down to us but everyone predestined will be saved, not some of them or most of them.  Everyone predestined will be saved but predestination is not salvation.

The elect were chosen by God for salvation but they weren’t saved yet.  In fact, when He chose them, they did not even exist yet.  They weren’t born.  There had to be a planet for them to live on. They had to be born on the planet and then come to faith before they actually got saved.

Paul says, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (I Timothy 2:10 ESV).

The elect do not have salvation yet.  They are not justified yet.  They still have to get saved.  They still have to be evangelized. They still have to hear the gospel.  That is where we come in.

3. Election is not fair because God did not choose everyone

Why didn’t God elect everyone? Why doesn’t God choose to save everyone?  This is the wrong question.  God was not obligated to save anyone.  We are sinners.

Sinners deserve judgment for their sins, but he is not obligated to save anyone.  If he saves anyone, it is a matter of grace.  If God chose none and punished everyone, that would be fair.  He would be perfectly righteous to do that.  None of us deserve salvation.[2]

Applications for Today

1) Worship

The whole point of this chapter is to lead us to worship.  Election is to the praise of the glory of His grace.  The verse before it is all about blessing God who has blessed us.

Instead of Christians rejoicing over this doctrine, they argue and fight over the chapter.  Today, it does not cause worship among Christians. It just causes division and arguments.

In Paul’s day, Christians did not argue and fight over the doctrine.  This doctrine caused believers to worship God.  Paul blessed God because of election.  When was the last time that you praised God that He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world?  Most Christians have never done this, not even once.

2) Holiness

God did not choose us just to save us but to make us holy after we are saved. Ephesians 1:4 says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be HOLY and BLAMELESS in his sight” (NIV).  Holiness is one of the purposes of election.

The doctrine of election is not an excuse to sin. Paul did not teach that you are predestined to salvation, so it does not matter how you live.  People who say that only give evidence that they are not elect, because the purpose of election is holiness, which brings us to the next point.

3) Assurance

It is possible to know right now if you elect.  Many teach that it is not possible and that you cannot have an assurance of your salvation but the Bible teaches that you can have assurance.  It is possible to know that you name is written in the Book of Life.

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:2-3 NIV).

How did Paul know that they were in the Book of Life?  He has never seen the book.  He knew because he knew that they were saved.  If you have put your faith in Christ for salvation, you can know your name is in the Book of Life but there is another way to know and that is by your life.  Salvation results in a changed life.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. II Peter 1:5-10 NIV).

The KJV says to do it to make your calling and election sure.  Our calling and election can be made sure and it is made sure by a changed life.  People who do not think it matters how they live because they are predestinated only show everyone that they are not elect.  We can confirm our calling and election by a godly life.

[1] https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/god-has-chosen-us-in-him-before-the-foundation-of-the-earth

[2] https://www.limerickreformed.com/blog/2017/4/20/predestination-thats-not-fair

A Powerful Epistle

Today, we begin a new study.  We begin a series on the Book of Ephesians.  It is a short book.  It is only six chapters long.  This book is incredible.  It is powerful.  It is one of most important books that Paul ever wrote.  Some of the most famous verses of the NT are in this book.

You will learn some things that you never knew before by studying Ephesians.  This book will teach you.  It will convict you.  It will challenge you.  It may also alarm you.  It may make you uncomfortable.

There are some controversial verses in this book.  There are some hard passages in this book.  There are some things in this book that modern Christians have problems with.  Paul talks about wives submitting to husbands.  What is that all about?  Did Paul just hate women?

There are verses in this book about predestination.  Some Christians have a problem with that.  What was Paul talking about?  We will find out next week as we look at the first chapter of the book.  That chapter will blow your mind.  What is says is phenomenal.  I cannot wait to dig into it.  It is an extremely important chapter and yet most Christians do not know what it

Ephesians is Paul’s great letter about the church.  The word “church” (εκκλησία) occurs nine times in the book (Ephesians 1:22; 3:10, 21; 5:23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32).

Ephesians tells us what the church is.  The church is described as a FAMILY not a building but a family.  It is described as a BODY, the body of Christ and it is a very diverse body made up of Jews and Gentiles.  We are all members of that body.  Ephesians says that we are members of one another (Ephesians 4:25).  Spiritual gifts are given to build up that body (Ephesians 4:12). The church is described, not only as a body, but as a bride, the bride of Christ.

Ephesians tells us the purpose and plan of God for the church. So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10

Outlines of the Book

There are many different ways to outline this book. The book is divided into two basic parts.  The first part of the book is DOCTRINAL.  The second part of the book is PRACTICAL.  The first three chapters have no command.  There is no exhortation in those chapters.  It is all theology.  The last three chapters do not tell us what to believe but how to live.  If you do not know what to believe, you will not know how to live.

The second part of the book has about thirty-five commands for believers. It deals with all kinds of topics: love, unity, kindness, gentleness, speaking lies, telling the truth, bitterness, forgiveness, anger, theft, sexual immorality, drunkenness and off-color jokes.  It deals with the prayer. Paul has two prayers in this book (Ephesians 1:15-25; 3:14-21). It deals with the filling of the Holy Spirit.  it deals with worship music, submission, the armor of God and prayer.

There is another way to outline this book.  Ephesians 1-3 deals with the WEALTH of the Christian.  It talks about the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7), the unfathomable riches of his grace (Ephesians 3:8).  It also talks about the inheritance that will be given to us (Ephesians 1:11).

Ephesians 4-5 deal with the WALK of the Christian.   We are told to walk in wisdom, walk in unity, walk in the light and walk in holiness.

Ephesians 6 deals with the WARFARE of the Christian.  It deals with spiritual warfare.  It tells you how to do warfare with Satan and demonic forces.  Before we can fight, we have to learn how to live.  Before we learn how to live, we have to know who we are.  We have to know our spiritual identity, our identity in Christ.

Ephesians 1-3 deal with SPIRITUAL PRIVILEGES.  Ephesians 4-5 deal with SPIRITUAL RESPONSIBILITIES.  Ephesians 6 deals with SPIRITUAL WARFARE.[1]

Today, we want to look at five reasons to study this book.  How is the Book of Ephesians relevant to the church today?

Five Reasons to Study Ephesians

1) This book has some deep theology

It is a deep book.  It is all doctrine.  This book deals with PREDESTINATION.  We are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).  It deals with SIN.  The whole race is described as dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2) and children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).

It deals with SALVATION.  Paul says in Ephesians that salvation is by grace through faith and not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9).  It deals with REDEMPTION and redemption is by blood (Ephesians 1:7).  It deals with the FORGIVENESS OF SINS (Ephesians 1:7).  Ephesians is full of the gospel.

This book deals with GRACE.  The word is used about thirteen times in the book.  Ephesians is full of grace.  Grace for salvation (Ephesians 2:8).  Grace to preach (Ephesians 3:8).  He talks about grace given to each one of us (Ephesians 4:7).  Ephesians mentions God’s glorious grace (Ephesians 1:6), the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7) and the immeasurable riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:7).

Ephesians has a lot of doctrine in it.  Many Christians do not know doctrine.  They do not know theology and have little interest in theology.  Some pastors do not know theology.  I have been in many churches and have heard many statements over the pulpit that made me cringe.  A good seminary education is supposed to prevent that from happening.

The truth is that what you believe matters.  It affects how you live.  If you do not know theology, you do not know the Word.  God wants us to know some things.  He does not want us to be ignorant.  Paul writes in I Corinthians that he does not want us to be ignorant about spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:1).

Many Christians are ignorant about a lot of things.  They do not know the Bible and many churches today do a poor job of teaching the Bible.  You can be in some churches for forty years and not know the Word.

The Bible says that we are to add to our faith knowledge (II Peter 1:5).  It says that we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).  We are not only to grow in grace, we are to grow in knowledge.

Having said that, knowing theology is not everything.  You can have a head full of knowledge and be an expert in prophecy and be as mean as the devil.

When you are sick, and someone brings you a meal, they don’t care whether he or she is a Calvinist or Arminian.

When you are poor, and someone gives you some food and money, you don’t care if that person is pre-millennial or post-millennial.

When you are in the hospital, and someone sends you a get-well basket, you don’t care what that individual’s denomination is.

When someone visits your grandparents in the nursing home, you don’t care what style of worship music he listens to.

When someone is kind enough to shovel your parent’s driveway, you don’t care what translation of the Bible the person reads.

When someone gives your friend a lift when their car breaks down, you don’t care if that person is a Baptist or a Pentecostal.

When someone helps your grandmother carry a heavy load of groceries, you don’t care what he or she believes about speaking in tongues.

When someone protects your kids from getting hit by a car when they’re running across the street, you don’t care who your favorite theologian is.[2]

2) This book is very practical

The second part of the earth is very practical.  It is down-to-earth.   It deals with holiness in body and even holiness in speech.  It deals with forgiveness.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32 ESV).

It deals with love.  The word “love” is found 30 times in the book.  The last verse in the book mentions love, not once but twice (Ephesians 6:23).  Ephesians mentions God’s love for us, the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19) and the great love with which he loved us (Ephesians 2:4).

It commands us to love others.  It commands us to walk in love (Ephesians 5:2).  It commands husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). It commands us to bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2).

It deals with unity.  That is important because the modern church is full of disunity.  Ephesians mentions the “unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).  It talks about “the unity of faith” (Ephesians 4:13).  In fact, the only time that the Greek word for unity (ενότητα) is found in the NT is in the Book of Ephesians.

It deals with relationship principles.  This book tells us how to have good relationships.  Ephesians is the key to relationships. (husband/wife, children and parents, masters and slaves).

3) This book tells us who we are as Christians

Personal identity is one of the most important things to understand about ourselves. We do all kinds of DNA tests to find out who we are.  I have done mine.  The Book of Ephesians gives us our identity as Christians.  This chapter tells us what it means to be “in Christ.”  That phrase occurs thirty times in the book.  It tells us that we are all rich.  We are spiritually rich.  It describes out spiritual bank account.  We have every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Knowing your identity can change you.  It changes the way you fell about yourself.  It changes the way you act.

4) This book was written to Gentiles

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now… (Ephesians 2:11-13 ESV)

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1 ESV)

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:17 ESV)

Most people in the church today are Gentiles.  That makes this book very relevant to the church today.  Paul gets a revelation in this book about a mystery that was hidden in ages before (Ephesians 3:5, 9) and the revelation is largely about Gentiles and the new thing that God is doing with Gentiles today that He did not do in the OT.

5) This book contains a manual for spiritual warfare

The clearest teaching on spiritual warfare in the Bible is found in the Book of Ephesians.  This book gives us God’s battle plan for spiritual warfare (putting on the armor of God).  It tells us how to fight Satan and his demons.  We get some principles for spiritual warfare in this book. We are going to begin our study with a brief introduction to the book.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1-2 ESV)

Background to the Book

1) It was written by Paul

When we write a letter, we put our name at the end of the letter.  Paul put it at the beginning of the letter.  This book was written by Paul.  This book was not just written any man.  It was not just written by a godly man.  It was not just written by a great Christian.  It was written by an apostle, not like the bozos today who claim to be apostles, modern-day apostles on the television.

Ephesians was written by a real apostle.  Paul was not one of the Twelve, but he was a real apostle and had the miraculous signs of a real apostle.  He wrote Scripture, raised the dead, healed the sick and cast out demons.  Paul says that he was an apostle by the will of God (Ephesians 1:1).  In fact, in Galatians, he says that he was not an apostle from man or through man but through Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:1).

This brings us to an important lesson.  Why do people go into the ministry?  They do it because they want to be a pastor. They do it because they think they are gifted as a pastor.  They do it because they attended seminary and have a degree.  They do it because their dad was the pastor.  The only real reason to go into the ministry is because it is God’s will for your life.

Paul was not an apostle because he always wanted to be one but because it was God’s will for him.  He was an apostle by the will of God.  Any ministry we do for Christ should be done because we are called to do it.  Any secular job should be because we are called to do it.  We are all called to do something.  We are not all called to be pastors.  As you evaluate your life, can you honestly say that what you do is something that God has called you do?

2) It was written from prison

He wrote this book from prison.  How do we know that?  Ephesians 3:1 says, “For this reason I, Paul, a PRISONER of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles” (ESV).

Ephesians 4:1 says, “I therefore, a PRISONER for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (ESV)

He also tells his readers to pray for him “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador IN CHAINS, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:19-20 ESV)

Paul was in prison, not for doing something wrong, but for doing something right.  He was in prison for his faith.  If you read the Book of Acts, he is put in prison in Acts 28.  He was put on house arrest in Rome around 60 AD.  While he was in prison, he could not go to these churches, but he could write to them and he wrote four epistles called the four prison epistles (Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians).

This shows Paul’s heart.  While Paul was in prison, he still did ministry.  He was not focused on himself and his own problems.  He did not feel sorry for himself and told this church not to feel sorry for him (Ephesians 3:13).  Even when he was in prison, he was thinking of others and how he could minister to and be an encouragement to other Christians in other places and prays for them.

3) It was written to Christians

It was written to “saints” (KJV, NASB, ESV) who are also described as “faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1).  Both terms describe the same group of people.  Saints are faithful in Christ.  All of the saints in the Roman Catholic Church are dead.  Paul calls people who are alive saints.  He does not use the term to describe special Christians, the super-star Christians.  He uses it to describe every Christian.  He even used it to describe Christians at Corinth.  Many of them did not even live like saints.  Every Christian is a saint.  I am Saint Lewis.  Nine times in the book, Paul uses the term “saints.”

4) The destination was Ephesus

Ephesians 1:1 says it was written “to the saints who are in Ephesus.”  That is what the vast majority of Greek texts say. The ancient city of Ephesus is located in the country of Turkey today.  It was a big city in Paul’s day.  Ephesus was the capital of Asia Minor (like our New York City).  It was extremely wealthy.  It was a port city on the Mediterranean.  It was a prominent trade route, one of the greatest seaports in the ancient world.

It was a pagan city.  It had a huge temple there dedicated to the goddess Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  It took two hundred years to build this temple.

Paul did visit Ephesus on his third missionary journey Ephesus was the place where Paul spent the longest time of his ministry (Acts 19-20).  He spent almost three years there on his third missionary journey.  He taught Jews and Gentiles (Acts 19:9-10).  Paul did visit Ephesus on his third missionary journey.

He also performed incredible miracles there.  He healed the sick and cast out demons (Acts 19:11-12).  A church started there.  In Revelation 2-3, Jesus wrote a letter to seven churches.  The first church that got a letter from Jesus was the church at Ephesus.  It was the church that lost its first love but there are problems with this view.

Problems with the Traditional Interpretation

We don’t know for sure if this letter was written to the church at Ephesus.  There are several reasons why this letter may NOT have been written to the church at Ephesus.

1) The oldest Greek manuscripts do not have those words “in Ephesus”

The majority of texts say that this, but majorities are not always right.  A majority of the country may believe in gay marriage or abortion.  That does not make it right.  The oldest Greek manuscripts do not have those word.  The three oldest Greek manuscripts on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians do not have the words “in Ephesus” (Vaticanus, Sinaiticus & the Chester Beatty Papyri [P46]).

The last one is the oldest manuscript of the Pauline epistles (200 AD).  Some of the church fathers said that they did not have those words in their Bibles (Tertullian, Jerome, Origen).

2) Paul did not know these people.

We see that in Ephesians 1:15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints (ESV).  If Paul spent three years in Ephesus, as Acts says, he would have known these people personally.  He would not just say that he heard about their faith from someone else.  He would know people in the church and he would have greeted them but this letter has no personal greeting.  It is rather impersonal, which seems strange, if this letter went to that church.

3) This was a letter to a Gentile church

We know from Acts that the church at Ephesus had both Jews and Gentiles in it. This letter was written to a Gentile church. There is a possible clue found in Colossians 4:16.

After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.

What is the letter to the church at Laodicea? Some believe it was a lost letter of Paul. Others believe that it is not lost. It is what we call the Book of Ephesians, which was the view of my mentor at Western Kentucky University, which would mean that the Book of the Ephesians is really the Epistle to the Laodiceans.

We know that Ephesians and Colossians were written at the same time from prison.  Both epistles sound very similar.  They were delivered by the same person – Tychicus probably at the same time (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7) and the two cities of Colosse and Laodicea were close.  They were neighboring villages.

[1] This outline comes from NT scholar Chris Vlachos, who uses this outline of Ephesians in his NT Literature and Interpretation class at Wheaton College.

[2]This is an adaptation from Stephen Mattson.  While I do not endorse all of his comments, he has an excellent quote found at https://sojo.net/articles/when-christians-love-theology-more-people which is adapted here.

Future for the Jews

We have been studying the book of Daniel for the last six months.  It has been a huge blessing to me personally.  It has been very profitable.  It is a book that every Christian should study.  It is a book that has not only some incredible prophecies but also some powerful lessons.

Today, we will be finishing the Book of Daniel, as we come to the final chapter of the book.  Daniel sees three angels in this chapter.  He is outside by the Tigris River.  He sees on angel on one side of the river.  One angel on the other side of the river and one hovering on top of the river. We want to look at this chapter prophetically and we want to look at it practically.

Why This Chapter Matters

This is a short chapter.  It only has thirteen verses, but it is an important chapter.  It is Daniel’s final prophecy.  It mentions all kinds of important topics.

1. It mentions the Great Tribulation

It tells when it will happen (Daniel 12:1).  It also tells how long it will last It will be “time, times and a half of times” or three and a half years (Daniel 12:7).

2. It mentions resurrection from the dead.

People who sleep in the dust of the earth suddenly wake up (Daniel 12:2).  Death is pictured as sleep.  They were not literally sleeping.  This is a metaphor for death.  Many thought that this was only found in the NT, but the OT teaches the concept of an afterlife as well.

3. It mentions heaven and hell

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:1 NIV).  You may have thought that Jesus was the only one to talk about eternal life.  Here we see that it was mentioned in Daniel 12.  It is the only time that we see these words in the OT.  Some wake up to everlasting life.  Others will wake up to shame and everlasting contempt.

4. It mentions a book in heaven

It is a real book.  It contains a list of names (Daniel 12:1).  The only people delivered are the people whose names are in this book.  We know the name of this book.  It is the Book of life.  The Book of Life is not just a NT concept.  The very idea of the Book of Life comes right out of the OT.

5. It mentions evangelism.

It mentions people who lead others to righteousness (Daniel 12:3).  That is evangelism and discipleship.

6. It mentions a seventy-five day period.

It is a special period of prophecy not mentioned in any other place in the Bible.  Where do the seventy-five days come from?  The Great Tribulation is three and a half years, a time, times and a half of time.  360 days + 360 x 2 + 180 = 1260 days (Revelation 11:3; 12:6)

Daniel 12:11 mentions 1,290 days.  1290 is thirty days longer.  Daniel 12:12 mentions 1,335 days, which is forty-five more days.  Thirty days plus forty-five days add up to seventy-five.  What is this all about?

Between the end of the tribulation period and the start of the kingdom on earth will be a period of seventy-five days.  The Millennium will not start until seventy-five days after the Second Coming.

Not everyone who survives the Tribulation will make it into the Millennium.  Some people will be judged (sheep and goat judgment).  Those that make it in receive a special blessing.

7. It mentions the end-times (Daniel 12:4).

It tells us some things about the Jews in the end-times.  It gives us five revelations given to Daniel about the Jews in the end of time.

Five Prophetic Jewish Revelations

1) There will be a time of unspeakable trouble for the Jews

At that time Michael, the great prince who protects YOUR PEOPLE, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time YOUR PEOPLE—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. (Daniel 12:1 NIV)

Notice who the focus is.  This chapter does not deal with Nebuchadnezzar’s’ people (Babylonians) or Cyrus’ people (Persians).  The focus is on Daniel’s people (Jews).  It does not deal with Gentiles.  It does not deal with the church or even believers of all time.  It deals with the Jews.  This will not just time of trouble but time of JACOB’S TROUBLE (Jeremiah 30:7).

This is frightening language.  There have been lots of times of trouble for the Jews.  This one will be the worse one they have ever had.  It will be unparalleled persecution.  That is what Daniel says.  It will be worse than the holocaust which killed six million Jews.

The Antichrist will attempt to kill every Jew on the planet.  The Tribulation Period will be the worst persecution that has ever happened.  Daniel was not the only one who predicted this.  Jeremiah predicted it BEFORE Daniel and Jesus predicted it AFTER Daniel.

How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7 NIV)

What Jeremiah said is exactly the same thing that Daniel predicted.  It will be a terrible time like no other for the Jews but they will be delivered out of it.  Jesus said the same thing.

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!

20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

Here Jesus quotes two passages from Daniel 12.  He quotes the passage about the abomination of desolation which the Antichrist will commit.  He also quotes the verse about the greatest time of trouble since the world began.  Mark says that the time of the Antichrist will be the greatest time of suffering since creation (Mark 13:19)

2) There will be a time of supernatural protection for the Jews

In Daniel 10, we saw how many nations are controlled by demon spirits.  Here, we learn that Israel is protected by a special guardian angel.  Israel is guarded by the Archangel Michael.  Michael is a fighter and his special assignment is to protect Israel.  God’s people have angels protecting them.

“AT THAT TIME Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But AT THAT TIME your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. (Daniel 12:1 NIV)

The phrase“at that time” occurs two times in this verse.  At what time?  At the time of the Antichrist.  This does not mean that he has been sitting down or sleeping for a few thousand years, but it does mean that at the time of Israel’s greatest trial and in Israel’s darkest hour, this angel will arise.  He will arise and do what?

3) There will be a time of divine deliverance for the Jews

Everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. (Daniel 12:1 NIV).  Here we have great distress but deliverance.  This is interesting.  The Angel Michael does not prevent the Jews from suffering but delivers them in the midst of their suffering.  God does not prevent us from suffering.  Trusting in God does not exempt you from suffering and persecution.  Some Christians teach that foolishness.

What were they delivered from?  They were not all delivered from death because many of the Tribulation saints will be martyred (Daniel 7:18, 27; 11:33).  The angel Michael will help save the nation from extinction.  It will never be destroyed but the nation will still experience terrible persecution, and many will be killed, including many believers.  Two thirds of Jews will be killed.  Many will be believers.

In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. 9 This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” (Zechariah 13:8-9). 

Daniel 12 is not talking about deliverance from the first death but from the second death.  It is explained by the next verse, which mentions eternal life.  It is talking about salvation.  Ultimately, Israel will be saved.  The Tribulation will bring them to salvation.  That is how many get saved today.  They go through a tragedy in their life and turn to God.  The same thing will happen to the nation of Israel.

But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:1-2 NIV)

Everyone is not delivered.  Everyone is not saved.  Only those whose names are written in God’s book are delivered.  Some people think that all Jews go to heaven.  The only way to be delivered is to have you name written in God’s book.  Deliverance is not based on race or skin color.  It is based on whether your name is in God’s book.

The only real question for us is this:  Is our name written in God’s book?  There are really only two types of people – those whose names are written in God’s book and those whose names are not written in God’s book.  We need to make sure our name is written in this book.  We can be sure now.

4) There will be a time of resurrection for the Jews

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2 NIV)

This is one of the greatest verses in the OT.  The Bible does not teach the doctrine of soul sleep.  The only thing that sleeps is the body but one day it will wake up.  Why did the angel say “many” who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake and not “all who sleep in the dust will wake up”?  Why do not all of them wake up?  In some passages, many does mean all (Romans 5:15, 19)

What does this passage teach?  It teaches that death is not final.  Everyone who dies will come back to life.  This is talking about Jews, but the Bible teaches that all of the death will eventually be raised and come back to life.

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when ALL who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.  (John 5:28-29 NIV)

Every saint who died will be raised. Every believer from the beginning of time will wake up.  Daniel was promised ion this chapter that one day he would be raised.  “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” (Daniel 12:13 NIV).  Daniel was an old man.  He was about ready to die but one day he would be raised.

Not only will the righteous be raised from the dead, so will the wicked.  The most wicked person in the history of the world will come back to life.  That sounds a little frightening – Hitler, Stalin and Jack the Ripper coming back to life, every rapist and mass murderer coming back to life.

Someone said that science says that people MAY live again.  Philosophy says that people HOPE to live again.  Ethics says that people OUGHT to live again.  Atheism says that people will NOT live gain.  The bible teaches that people WILL live again

5) There will be a time of accountability for the Jews

What happens after they are raised from the dead?  They are held accountable for their actions.  Some are rewarded, and some are punished.  What does this tell us?

Implications of Accountability

1. It means that God is just

God is going to hold people accountable for their actions on earth.  Some may have escaped justice on earth.  They may have gotten away with their crimes on earth but one day everyone will stand before God and be held accountable for their actions.

2. It means that universalism is false

Universalism teaches that everybody will be saved.  That is a false doctrine. Everyone is going to be raised but Daniel 12 says that they are not all are going to the same place. Some are raised to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

3. It tells us that annihilationism is wrong

What does annihilationism teach?  Annihilationism teaches that the righteous will live on in the next life but the wicked will be destroyed.  They will cease to exist.  Daniel could have taught that believers are raised and unbelievers are simply annihilated.  Instead, he says that both will be raised.  The word “everlasting is used for both groups.

Hell involves punishment, but it also involves shame.  Other passages talk about punishment and torment.  Daniel 12 focuses on shame and contempt.  Shame is something only the wicked could feel.  Contempt is something that others would feel for them.  You can’t feel shame is you cease to exist [2].

4. It means that there are two destinies

There are only two eternal destinies (heaven or hell). You either go to one place or the other.  There is not a third option.  There is no purgatory.   Jesus said that there are only two roads.  You either get eternal life or you get shame and everlasting contempt.  Both of these destinies are eternal.

Applications for Today

1) Believers have special advantages today

They have their name written in God’s book.  He knows them personally. They are purified.  They will be cleansed.  They will be made clean from their sin.  The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (I John 1:7).

Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. (Daniel 12:10 NIV).

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:13-14 NIV).

They are guarded by angels.  When people stood up against the Jews, the Angel Michael will stand up against them.  We have guardian angels as well.

God calls us wise. The world calls believers “fools.”  They think they are crazy. They think they are bunch of religious fanatics, just a bunch of ignorant bible believers.  What makes believers wise?

They know God.  They know the Bible.  They can understand prophecy.  They will have a knowledge that the unsaved will not have.  Daniel understood some things that no one else did.  He understood Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams and the writing on the wall.  No one else understood them.

In contrast to the righteous, we are told that “none of the wicked will understand” (Daniel 12:10 NIV).  They may be very smart and have a high IQ but without the Holy Spirit they cannot understand spiritual truths (cf. I Corinthian 2:14).  Not only do they not understand, they increase in wickedness.  The wicked continue to be wicked (Daniel 12:10).

2) Believers have an important ministry today

We have a ministry today to lead many to righteousness (Daniel 12:3).  That is our job today.  Those who lead many to righteousness are like the stars in heaven (Daniel 12:3).  They are stars for God.  We have the potential to be a real star for all of eternity.

How do we do that?  We make an impact on those around you.  We make a difference in someone’s life.  That is our ministry today.  God saved us so we could serve Him.  He left on earth to be a witness.  Is there someone that we are trying to reach out to and have a witness for Christ?

3) Believers have a bright future to look forward to

The chapter ends on a positive note.  We have the promise of bodily resurrection followed by eternal life.  We may suffer in this life or be martyred but God will reward us. One day we will not just shine, we will shine like the sun in heaven.  We will shine brightly.  God will reward us in the next life.

The Bible talks about Christians shining in a dark place (cf. Philippians 2:14).  This is not talking about believers shining in the world today but believers shining like the sun in heaven.  It is talking about glorification (cf. Matthew 13:43).

[1] This paraphrase comes from Paul Lee Tan, The Encyclopedia of 1500 Illustrations, p. 517.

[2] Annihilationists point out that the verse says, “shame and everlasting contempt” and not “everlasting contempt and shame.”  They argue that contempt for someone can go on long after a person has ceased to exist, just as people today still have disgust for Adolf Hitler who has died.  However, there is another way to look at the text.  The word “and” is not found in the Hebrew text.

My friend Van Parunak, who is a Harvard educated linguist, puts it, “The verse could be taken as an apposition.  The writer is defining ‘shame’ as ‘everlasting contempt’–the shame they feel is the result of the contempt that others have for them, so the duration of the contempt is implicitly the duration of the shame. There’s only one penalty defined in two ways, not two penalties.”

A History Lesson

No one has ever said that this was their favorite chapter in the Bible.  It is a long chapter.  It is complicated.  It is incredibly detailed.  It is a difficult chapter.  It is perhaps the most difficult chapter in the book.  This chapter is virtually impossible to preach.  You will never hear anyone ever preach a sermon on this chapter unless someone goes chapter by chapter through the Book of Daniel in an expository fashion.  Few preachers do that today.

I used to think that this must be the most boring chapter in the Bible but tucked away in this chapter is one of the most amazing verses in the whole book.  If you dig deep enough, you will find gold beneath the surface of this chapter.  This chapter will challenge your faith.  We will look at it.

This is a long chapter.  We are not going to do an in-depth study of each verse.  I want to do a brief overview of this chapter.  I want to look at the big picture.  We want to see what this chapter is about.  What is this prophecy all about?  Who is it even talking about?  Why is it in Daniel?  How does it apply to us?

The last three chapters of the book give us Daniel’s last and final vision.  Daniel 11, gives us a vision of world history from Darius to the Antichrist.  His vision is more of a nightmare.  He saw some of the worst dictators in history.  Daniel saw not just one terrible dictator but two. He saw two tyrants. Both will persecute God’s people.  Both claimed to be God and both will persecute God’s people.  The first ruler is Antiochus Epiphanies.  The second is the Antichrist.

Daniel does not just see the evil actions of dictators, he sees the cruel spectacle of war.  He sees a vision of a great war.  In fact, he sees a vision of more than one war.  He sees many wars.  He witnessed many battles and they are all in the Middle East.  These wars will affect the Jews.

He also knows that this vision is true.  Daniel knows that this prophecy will not possibly take place.  It is guaranteed to take place.  It can’t be changed.  In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. (Daniel 10:1 ESV)

Summary of the Chapter

We can divide this chapter into two main parts.  The first part of the chapter deals with the NEAR FUTURE.  The second part of the chapter deals with the FAR FUTURE.  The first part of it was future to Daniel.  The second part of it is future to us.  As we look at this chapter, part of it is history.  It has already been fulfilled and part of it is prophecy.  It has yet to be fulfilled.

Daniel 11:1-35 all deal with history.  It has all been fulfilled.  It can all be corroborated historically.  For us today, it is a HISTORICAL PROPHECY.  Everyone agrees on that fact.  Beginning with Daniel 11:36 is all future.  It is an END-TIME PROPHECY.  It is all future to us.  It has not been fulfilled yet.  There is a gap of time between Daniel 11:35 and Daniel 11:36.

The Historical Section

Daniel 11:1-35 deal with the near future.  It is the part that has already been fulfilled.  What is predicted in these verses?

1) Prophecy about Persia (536-334 BC)

“Now then, I tell you the truth: Three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece (Daniel 11:2 NIV)

The prophecy came in the third year of Cyrus (Daniel 10:1).  The Persians are in power.  Daniel makes all kinds of specific predictions about Persia and who would rule Persia after Darius.  It is like predicting who the next four presidents would be after Trump.

The last one was the wealthiest of all of them.  His name was Xerxes.  He was the one who married Esther in the Book of Esther.  He also invaded Greece in 480 BC.  He tried to avenge his dad who was humiliated by the Greeks but he was not successful.  Because of Xerxes, the Greeks decided to take over the country.

2) Prophecy about Greece (334-323 BC)

He then predicted what country would take over after Persia went into decline.  Greece would take over and Alexander the Great would rule.  The Greek empire was even more powerful than the Persian Empire.  Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. (Daniel 11:3 NIV).

Some think Alexander the Great was the greatest leader of all time.  He was a military genius.  His troops were outnumbered two to one and he was still able to conquer Persia around 334 BC.  He conquered the world and did it in only a few years but he died in his prime at the age of thirty-two.  Al the members of his family were murdered.

3) Prophecy about Alexander the Great’s successors (323-176 BC)

Daniel 11:4-20 deals with Alexander’s successors.  After he has arisen, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others. (Daniel 11:4 NIV).

His powerful kingdom was split up.  It went to his four generals.  They were all Greek.  The rest of the world was ruled by Greeks but it did not even go to any of his children.  It went to four of his generals and they were rivals.

The two that had the most power and they always fought with each other.  The King of the North (Seleucids) fought with the King of the South (Ptolemies).

This chapter is all about the north against the south.  These were two superpowers.  Why is one called the King of the South and one called the King of the North? Because one was south of Israel and one was north of Israel (present day Syria and present-day Egypt).  Israel was in the middle.  Every time these two nations fought, Israel was caught in the cross fire.

History record six wars fought by the successors of Alexander the Great (called Wars of the Diodochi).  Some call them the Grecian Wars or the Syrian wars.  It reads like a soap opera.  It is like Jerry Springer.  The south would attack the North.  The North would attack the South.  Sometime the South would win.  Sometime the North would win.  Both sides tried marriage alliances but they did not work.

4) Prophecy about Antiochus Epiphanies (175-163 BC)

The first twenty verses cover three hundred and fifty years.  The next fifteen verses (Daniel 11:21-35) cover only twelve years.   They deal with a ruler who came from the Seleucids and became the Adolf Hitler of the OT.  He was a monster.  He was an anti-Semite.  He was a mass-murderer.

Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action (Daniel 11:31-32 ESV)

Here we see why Antiochus was called a vile person and why the Jews hated him.  He outlawed their religion.  He burned their Bibles.  He desecrated their temple.  He brought prostitutes into the temple and offered pigs on the altar.  He turned the Temple of the Lord into a Temple for Zeus.  He was the first person in history to persecute people because of their religion.

Some Jews compromised with Antiochus.  Some stood up to him and fought back.  The ones who fought back were the Maccabees.  C.H. Spurgeon said that the best interpreter of Daniel 11:32 is found the book of Maccabees.[1]  It is not even inspired but it is historical.

The Greeks invaded the land, desecrated the temple, told the Jews to worship Greek gods, commanded them to sin and they said no.  They led a revolt.  A small group of Jews defied the government decrees.  In fact, they fought back.

When a government official came by and told them to offer sacrifice to Greek gods, a Jew stepped forward and did it.  Matthias Maccabeus, who was an old man and was a priest, killed him and then he killed the government official who ordered him to commit idolatry (I Maccabees 2:23-27).  You can read what happened next in the book of I Maccabees.

The Prophetic Section

Daniel 11:46-45 deals with Antichrist.  It deals with “the time of the end”  (Daniel 11:40).  This was the view of many people in church history.  That was the view of Hippolytus.  He lived from 170 -235 AD.  Hippolytus was a disciple of Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, a disciple of John the Apostle.

Hippolytus wrote the very first commentary on Daniel.  He believed that these verses are dealing with the Antichrist.[2]  The fourth century church father Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, also held this view.  He wrote a commentary on Daniel.  He also believed that this refers to the Antichrist.[3]

How could this possibly refer to the Antichrist?  He will not be around at the time of the King of the South and the King of the North?  They will all be long gone when he arrives.  The King of the South and the King of the North do not refer to the same person in this chapter.  They refer to many different people.

The king of the South refers to Ptolemy I (Daniel 11:5), Ptolemy II (Daniel 11:6), Ptolemy III (Daniel 11:7-8), Ptolemy IV (Daniel 11:9-15), Ptolemy V (Daniel 11:16-19), Ptolemy IV (Daniel 11:20-31).

The king of the North refers to Seleucus I (Daniel 11:5), Antiochus II (Daniel 11:6), Seleucus II (Daniel 11:7-8), Antiochus III (Daniel 11:9-19), Antiochus IV (Daniel 11:20-31).  Syria and Egypt may be involved in the conflict over Israel in the future.  This chapter gives us a glimpse into the character of the Antichrist.

And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.

37 He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. (Daniel 11:36-38 ESV)

Character of the Antichrist

1) He will be powerful

The first thing we see about the coming Antichrist is that he will do “as he pleases” (Daniel 11:36). He will be an absolute dictator. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed (Daniel 11:36 NIV). He does not worship any god except the god of power (Daniel 11:38).  He will worship the god of fortresses.  Power and military might will be his god (tanks, planes, missiles).

2) He will be proud

He will exalt and magnify himself above every god (Daniel 11:36 NIV).  Atheism will not be the religion of the Antichrist because the verse says that he will magnify himself above every god.  He will require people to worship him

3) He will be profane

He will be blasphemous.  He will say unheard-of things against the God of gods (Daniel 11:36 NIV).

4) He will be peculiar

He will not do what everyone else is doing.  He will be different.  He shall pay no attention to THE GODS OF HIS FATHERS, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to ANY OTHER GOD, for he shall magnify himself above all. (Daniel 11:37 ESV).  What does it mean that “he will not regard the desire of women” (Daniel 11:37 KJV)?  You have to read the whole verse.

Women are mentioned in the middle of the passage and the passage is all about worshiping idols.  It says that he will not worship the gods that he fathers worshiped.  He will not worship the gods that women worship or any other god.  That would not be talking about the desire FOR women by the desire BY women (e.g., Tammuz), which we even see in the Bible (Ezekiel 8:14).

5) He will be punished

The chapter ends with the words, “Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him” (Daniel 11:45).  The Second Coming will take care of him.  Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth.  He will blow him away and with one breath he is gone.

Applications for Today

To us, it reads like a boring history lesson.  It is long.  It is tedious.  It mentions a bunch of kings and none of them are even named (just the king of the north and the king of the south).  God is not mentioned one time in the chapter. How does this chapter apply to us? This chapter has some good news and some bad news for us.  It tells us four things.

1) It tells us that we can trust the Bible

These predictions covered more than three hundred and fifty years of history.  These predictions were detailed.  They were specific.  Daniel prophesied the rise of Alexander the Great.  Daniel prophesied that Alexander’s empire would split into four parts.  He predicted the rise of Antiochus Epiphanies.  The first thirty-five verses contain 135 prophecies that have been literally fulfilled and can be corroborated.   That is why Daniel is one of the most hated books in the Bible.The Bible is trustworthy.

Critics of Daniel 11

Critics say that it is impossible for Daniel to make these detailed predictions hundreds of years in advance.  There is no way that anyone could predict history in advance.  In fact that they claim that the book is really a forgery.  It claims to be prophecy but it is really history, history written like it was prophecy, because no one could possibly know all of these details in advance.

They start with the assumption that genuine prophecy is impossible.  If you start with that premise, then it must be a forgery but that is circular reasoning.

There is a big problem for the critics.  It is the Dead Sea Scrolls.  All but two chapters of Daniel are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Even Frank Moore Cross, the Orientals Language expert from Harvard, says that one copy of Daniel comes from the late second century.[4]  That makes the late date for Daniel virtually impossible.

This chapter PROVES the inspiration of the Bible.  It proves that the Bible is a supernatural book.  It proves that God’s Word is absolutely accurate and totally reliable.  All of it came to pass exactly as it was predicted.  Predictive prophecy proves inspiration!

2) It tells us that we may be tested in this world

This chapter shows that bad things may happen to believers in this world.  That is probably why Daniel was mourning for three weeks.  This prophecy had some bad news in it.  Evil rulers will come on the scene who are contemptible.  That will seem to be all powerful.  That will be able to do whatever they want.  They will persecute believers.  Many will be tortured and killed.  The temple will be desecrated.  In fact, it will be desecrated twice, one by Antiochus Epiphanies in the past and once by the Antichrist in the future.

33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. (Daniel 11:33-35 ESV)

Trials and persecution refine believers.  That is one of the purposes of suffering.  It is one of the reasons that Christians suffer.  God uses it to get our attention.  I Peter 1:7 says, “the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (ESV).

3) It tells us that we can do great things, even in the worst of times

I like the KJV renders Daniel 11:32.  It reads, “but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.”  We can do EXPLOITS.  We are purposed for great exploits.  God wants us to do great things.  He does not want us to sit back and be passive.  God calls us to do great exploits.  What are exploits?

An exploit is a daring feat, a heroic act.  It doesn’t mean that we have to start killing people like the Maccabees did but those who know their God have the ability to do great exploits for God.  They have the ability to do incredible things, thing that they did not think were possible.

Ordinary believers can do them, including shepherds and redneck fishermen.  Ordinary people who know God can do extraordinary things.  The Bible is full of example of people who did them.  David killing Goliath.  Daniel’s three friends did great exploits.  They were thrown in the fiery furnace.  Daniel did them.  He was thrown in the lion’s den.  A whole chapter of the bible is devoted to this topic (Hebrews 11).

The missionary William Carey said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”  What exploits are you doing?  What are you even attempting?  What would you like to do?  God is looking for ordinary believers that He can use and do some extraordinary things though.

To do great exploits for God, you have to know God.  The people THAT DO KNOW THEIR GOD shall be strong and do exploits.”  They do not just know about God.  They know him personally.  You have to have a personal relationship with God.  We know about all kinds of people, like famous celebrities, that we do not know personally.

The only way you can know God personally is to be saved.  Jesus said that you know knowing God when you have eternal life.  Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3 NIV).

4) It tells us that God is sovereign, even in the worst of times

The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at THE APPOINTED TIME (Daniel 11:27 NIV)

At THE APPOINTED TIME he will invade the South again, but this time the outcome will be different from what it was before. (Daniel 11:29 NIV)

Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at THE APPOINTED TIME. (Daniel 11:35 NIV)

When bad things happen in the world, God is not surprised.  He does not say, “What am I going to do?”  He is sovereign.  He is sovereign over history.  He is sovereign over current events.  He is sovereign over evil.  He is sovereign over evil dictators.  He allows them to come to power and decides how long they live.  He is sovereign over everything that happens in our lives.  That does not mean that we will understand it all, but we can trust him.

Everything is appointed.  An end is coming.  Last week, we learned from Daniel 10 that some nations are under demonic control.  This chapter shows us that even though demon spirits may control some geographic areas, God is still sovereign.  He still controls history.  It is all predetermined.

[1] https://www.spurgeongems.org/vols10-12/chs609.pdf

[2] Regarding Daniel 11:36ff. he writes, “And so these things the prophet described in this way concerning the Antichrist, as he will be shameless and warlike and a tyrant daring to exalt himself over every god, who boasts in his own power and pillages the fortresses of cities, and bearing lofty things in gold and silver and precious stone, he shall speak immoderate words against God, wishing that he himself alone be worshiped as God.” (Commentary on Daniel, IV, 49.1).  Accessed online at https://www.preteristarchive.com/Books/pdf/0205_hippolytus_commentary-on-daniel_2010.pdf

[3] Regarding Daniel 11:36, he writes, “The Jews believe that this passage has reference to the Antichrist … We too understand this to refer to the Antichrist.”  Accessed at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_daniel_02_text.htm

[4] Frank Cross Moore, Ancient Library of Qumran, 2nd ed (1961), p. 43.

Angels & Demons

We are studying the Book of Daniel and we come to one of the most fascinating chapters in Scripture.  It is a short chapter (only twenty-one verses) but this chapter is crazy.  Chuck Missler called it “one of the spookiest chapters in the Bible.”   It is a chapter on spiritual warfare.  It is a chapter on angels and demons and angels fighting demons.

What it says is shocking.  You it says you may find hard to even believe.  Some of what it says is not found anywhere else in the Bible.  As others have pointed out, this chapter describes an awesome vision and an invisible war (Wiersbe).  It starts with a vision.

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.

Daniel has a vision about a world war and the vision leads to a fast, the Daniel Fast.

 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

It was not a complete fast.  In a complete fast, you only drink water or liquids.  This was a partial fast.  Daniel does not give up all foods but only certain kinds of foods.  He did not eat any rich foods, no good tasting food (no chocolate cake or cinnamon rolls or pastries).  He did not eat any meat (no Big Macs or steaks).

He also did not drink any wine.  This was not only a fast from meat but also a fast from alcohol.  If he abstained from wine that implies he must have been a wine drinker before his fast.

He did not put any oil on his body.  Jews normally put lotion on their body before going out in public (like putting aftershave or cologne on).  Not too many people who do the Daniel fast do this.  Daniel was not doing this to lose weight or to get healthy.  It was a sign of mourning.

The vision is followed by a fast which was followed by a supernatural encounter.  Daniel is outside with some friends and he has a heavenly encounter.  Without warning, a powerful angel stands before him.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. (Daniel 10:4-6 NIV).

The angel strengthens Daniel, tells him what took him so long to answer his prayer, tells him that he has a final revelation (which he calls “the book of truth”) and says what he will be doing when he leaves Daniel.

What is the message for us from this chapter?  I want us to focus on seven incredible truths about angels that come right out of this chapter.  Some of these truths are obvious and some are not.  Some of them you may have heard of and some of them you may not have heard of.

Seven Insights on Angels from Daniel 10

1) Angels are real

Skeptics have a problem with this but even in the physical world there are all kinds of things that we believe that we cannot see.  We cannot see air or wind, but we believe in them.

We cannot see oxygen, but we need it to survive.  We can’t see atoms.  We cannot see our own DNA.  We cannot see radio waves.  Scientists believe in something called dark matter.  Eighty percent of the universe is made up of it, but we can’t see it.

If God opened our eyes, just for one second, to see the spiritual world, we would be shocked by what we saw.  We would see millions of angels and demons and angels fighting demons.

Some people claim to be able to see into the spirit realm.  They claim to be able to see demons on people.  Some may be able to do that.  It is not anything that I have ever been able to do.  Daniel saw in the spirit realm in Daniel 10.

He saw a powerful angel that no one else could see but he could not see everything that happened in the spirit realm.  He lived in ancient Persia but never saw this Prince of Persia.  The prophet Elisha was able to see the spirit world.  He could see the invisible world.

There is a famous story in the Bible found in II Kings 6.  He was surrounded by a foreign army that wanted to take him captive.  The city was completely surrounded with Syrian troops. His servant was afraid.  Elisha was completely outnumbered.  He was surrounded.  He had nowhere to run.  There was no escape.  The servant said, what shall we do?

Elisha says, “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (II Kings 6:16-17).

After Elisha prayed, his servant was able to see what he saw.  He was able to see the spiritual realm.  He not only saw an angel, he saw an army of angels.  He saw an angelic army, a supernatural army that nobody else could see.

2) Angels are terrifying creatures

Many of these creatures in the Bible are terrifying.  They are bizarre looking creatures with several heads and eyes all over their body.  Some of them are gigantic and the demons are even more frightening, but Daniel did not see a demon.  He saw one angel and he was absolutely terrified.  It made him physically weak.

I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. 8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had NO STRENGTH left, my face turned deathly PALE and I was HELPLESS. (Daniel 10:7-8 NIV).

Daniel was pale and he was weak.  Daniel was already weak.  He was weak because of his age.  If you do the chronology here, Daniel was eighty or ninety at this time.  He was elderly and frail physically. He was weak because of his fast.  He had also just gone three weeks without food or at least good food.

Now he sees an incredible vision.  It is bright. It shines. It sparkles.  His face was like lightening.  It was so powerful that it makes him so weak that he could barely breathe (Daniel 10:17).

Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. (Daniel 10:9 NIV)

When he saw this creature, he was WEAK.  When he spoke, he falls facedown in the ground and goes right to sleep.  He is out.  Daniel did the same thing when he saw the angel Gabriel in Daniel 8:17-18.  When he gets up, he is absolutely TERRIFIED.

A hand touched me and set me TREMBLING on my hands and knees. 11 He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up TREMBLING. 12 Then he continued, “Do not be AFRAID, Daniel (Daniel 10:10-12 NIV).

This brings us to a very important point about angels.  When we think of angels, we think of calm, mild creatures that are harmless but are comforting. The truth is that angels are scary.  Daniel trembled in the presence of this angel.  He could not even stand up straight.  His face was in the dirt.

The Angel Gabriel took someone’s voice away from him because he did not listen to him.  That is what happened to Zechariah when he announced the birth of John the Baptist.  Every teacher in the public schools would love to have that power today.

Other angels actually gave people the power of speech.  in Daniel 10, an angel touched Daniel’s lips so he could speak (Daniel 10:16).  Every time they appear in Scripture, the first thing they say is “Do not be afraid.”

When an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in to announce the birth of Jesus, they were terrified.  The angels said, “Don’t be afraid.  I actually have a message of good news for you that will cause joy for all people” (Luke 2:8-10).

When Jesus rose from the dead, an angel rolled back the stone and sat on it.  This angel looked like lightening.  His clothes were white as snow (Matthew 28:2-3).  The guards were so scared they shook and became like dead men but when the women say them, they said, “Do not be afraid.”

3) Angels have different ministries

They are called “ministering spirits” in the NT (Hebrews 1:14).  You do not have to be behind a pulpit to have a ministry.  Angels have ministries as well.  We see many of these angels in Daniel.  What are some of the ministry of angels?

Fighting Angels

They are military angels.  They are combat angels.  They are spiritual warfare angels.  Michael is one bad dude.  He is bad to the bone.  He is a warrior angel.  He is a military angel.

Protecting Angels

One of the jobs of angels is to protect or deliver people.  An angel delivered Peter from prison in Acts 12.  An angel protected Daniel’s friends in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3).  An angel protected Daniel in the lion’s den (Daniel 6).  There are guardian angels.

Preaching Angels

Gabriel went around with a message to people and it was usually good news.  He is the Christmas angel, the messianic angel.  These angels give divine revelation.  They either gave Daniel a prophecy or interpreted it for him.  They preach or teach.

Prayer Angels

There is a cool truth about prayer found in this chapter.  The answer is on its way the minute you pray.  Daniel’s prayer was heard the first minute it was uttered.  The answer came on day twenty-one but was heard in heaven from day one.

Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since THE FIRST DAY that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard (Daniel 10:12 NIV)

When we pray, we wonder if God hears us?  We think our prayers do not get past the ceiling.  Earth is just a tiny planet in our solar system.  It is microscopic in the size of the universe but one every single prayer that is uttered from a true believer instantly makes its way into God’s presence.  The answer may not come immediately but God hears even the tiniest whisper from every believer.

We learn from this chapter that God hears every payer and uses angels to answer them.  In Daniel 9, Daniel prays a long prayer, an angel is dispatched with the answer.  In Daniel 10, he fasts and prays and a different angel arrives with a message for him.

Daniel saw these angels.  They talked to him.  Most of the time we do not see them.  They work behind the scenes to help us.  Daniel did not pray to these angels, like Catholics do, but God does use angels to answer prayers.

Is Jesus the Angel Michael?

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is Michael.[1] Why do they believe that they are the same person?  Michael is called ‘the archangel” in the Bible (Jude 9).  He is the chief angel or head angel.  Michael is not only an angel, he is an archangel.  He is a ruling angel.

Revelation talks about Michael and his angels.  He is the head angel and has angels under him.  They believe that Jesus is just an angel, so Jesus must be Michael but there are many fallacies with this argument.  It is easy to refute.

Jesus was NOT an angel.   He was not an archangel.  He is not just the head angel but the one who created all the angels (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16).  He is not Michael and is never called Michael in the  Bible.  He is the one who created Michael. He is clearly distinguished from the angels in the NT (Hebrews 1:5-8).

4) Angels encounter opposition in their work

“Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. (Daniel 10:12-13 NIV)

This chapter shows the power of demons.  One powerful demon was able to stop one of heaven’s angels right in his tracks and detained him for several weeks (Daniel 10:13).

We are not the only ones who encounter opposition.  Angels encounter opposition.  Angels do the will of God and they encounter resistance from demons.

5) Our prayers cause invisible angelic warfare

Our prayers can cause warfare among angels. That is strange.  Our prayers can actually cause angels to fight.  We would not know this ever happens if we did not have Daniel 10.

Daniel describes a battle, not between people and demons but between angels and demons.  It describes angels fighting other angels, good angels fighting bad angels.  You may have thought that only people fight.  Angels fight as well.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven (Revelation 12:7-8 NIV)

How do spirits fight?  How do spiritual beings fight?  Do they use hand-to-hand combat?  Do they use some type of kung fu or jujitsu?  What kinds of weapons do they use?  Do they fight with knifes or guns?  We do not know but we do know that they fight.

6) Angelic warfare can delay our prayers

Daniel prayed and an angel was sent to answer his prayer and was trying to get to Daniel, but a demon spirit blocked him like a lineman (to use a football analogy) for twenty-one days until the Angel Michael came to help him out.

What does this tell us?  Demonic forces can delay answers to prayer.  Demons cannot can’t stop prayers or their answers but they can DELAY them.  They can hinder them and slow down the answer.

7) Angels are over geographical areas

Demons are over geographical areas as well.  Countries in the world have powerful demons assigned to them.  This is called the doctrine of TERRITORIAL SPIRITS.  Not everyone one believes in this doctrine.  Some Christians reject it but it comes right out of this chapter of Daniel. Territorial spirits are real.

There are three princes mentioned in Daniel 10 – the prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13, 20), the prince of Greece (Daniel 10:20) and the prince of Israel (Daniel 10:21).  NONE of them were human princes.   They were all angelic or demonic princes.  The Prince of the Kingdom of Persia was not Cyrus.  It was a demon.  It was a demon spirit.

The Bible teaches that Satan is the ruler of this world.  Jesus called him “the prince of this world” (John 12:31).  If he is the ruler of this world, then he is the ruler of nations in the world.

Demons not only control some people, some families and even some churches, they control some nations.  Demons rule nations.  There are invisible powers which rule and influence nations.  Some nations have had demon-inspired leaders (Hitler, Stalin).  If ancient Persia had a demonic prince behind it, what about modern Persia?  Modern Persia is Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

Detecting a Territorial Spirit

If there was a demon assigned to Persia, is there is a demon assigned to the US?  How can you tell if a demon spirit rules a particular area?  What are the prevailing characteristics of a particular region?  Every city has unique characteristics.  Different spirits dominate different cities (e.g., San Francisco).  Certain sins define a land.

Leviticus 18:25 states, “Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants” (NIV). Also, Ezra 9:11 states, “The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other” (NIV).

Terrorism

The real war is not a battle with Muslims or Islam.  It is not a battle over mental illness.  The real war is spiritual.

Satan came to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Jesus said that the devil was a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).  God is pro-life.  Satan is pro-death.

People who are suicide bombers who kill themselves so they can kill others are giving into a demonic spirit.  Many mass murderers committed their crime because a voice inside their head told them to do it.

Anti-Semitism

It is opposed to the Abrahamic Covenant.  It is an attempt by Satan to thwart the program of God.  Hitler’s attempt at genocide was demonic.

Persecution

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. (Revelation 2:10 NIV)

False Religion

Paul called it “a doctrine of demons” in I Timothy 4:1. False religion is demonically inspired. Entire countries and ideologies are motivated by false religion and idolatry.

Immorality

They are called “unclean spirits” in Scripture.  There are certain centers of that in the world.  There are certain geographic centers of pornography in the world.

Division

Political division is centered in Washington, D.C.  Satan wants to divide Christians.  He wants to divide the nation, politically and racially.  Satan is the one who promotes hatred and division.

Deception

Wherever you see deliberate lies, misinformation and fake, you know where it came from.  You can find deliberate lies about the president and other political leaders in the media and online almost every day. It is demonic.  Satan was the first liar.  Jesus called him “the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Responding to Territorial Spirits

How should we as believers respond to territorial spirits?  We should be aware of the sins of our city and pray.  We should do a prayer walk.  We should walk down even the worst streets and lift up our voice to the God of Heaven to break strongholds.  Pray for spiritual victory against any demonic spirits attached to that geographical location.  Some have done this and have seen real change.

Israel’s Guardian Angel

Demons are not the only angels over a geographical location.  Michael is also a national angel.  He is Israel’s guardian angel (Daniel 10:21).  He will be prominent in the last days.

In a time of national crisis, he will be involved.  Daniel 12:1 says, “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise” (NIV).  The concept of guardian angels is biblical but angels not only guard individuals, they guard a whole nation.

[1] This was the view not only of the cults but also of many others.  This was the view of John Calvin, The Geneva Bible (1560) and some of the Puritans (so John Gill, Matthew Henry).   It was also the view of John Wesley.

Messiah Cut Off

Today, we come to a major passage of Scripture.   It is perhaps the greatest prophecy in the entire Bible.   It has been called “the backbone of bible prophecy.”  This passage is huge.  It is made up of  only four verses and these four verses give one of the most amazing prophecies in the whole book.  What kind of prophecy is this?

It is a MATHEMATICAL PROPHECY.  This chapter involves math.  It involves a mathematical equation.  If you hate math, you won’t like this passage.  This is one chapter in the Bible where you have to do some math to understand the prophecy.

Some have called this “the most mathematically precise prophecy in the entire Bible.”  It demonstrates the mathematical accuracy of the Bible.  It is one of the strongest proofs for the inspiration of the Bible.

It is a MESSIANIC PROPHECY.  It mentions the Messiah in these verses, not once but twice.  It is the most clear-cut prophecy of the Messiah in the OT.  The Messiah in these verses not only dies (Daniel 9:25), He atones for sins (Daniel 9:24).  That is the gospel in the Book of Daniel.

It is a MISUNDERSTOOD PROPHECY.  These four verses are some of the hardest verses in the Book of Daniel.  They are controversial.  They raise all kinds of questions.  When do the four hundred and ninety years begin?  Have they all been fulfilled in the past or will they be fulfilled in the future?  Are there any gaps in these years?  Who are the two princes mentioned in the passage?  Whatever position you take on this passage, you encounter some problems.

Today, we will be doing two things.  The passage is deep, so we will go deep.  We want to look at these verses PROPHETICALLY.  We want to see what this seventy weeks prophecy actually says.  We also want to look at them PRACTICALLY.  How does this prophecy apply to us today?  Some have said that this passage simply cannot be understood and has no practical application to people today.

Both of these statements are false.  This passage does speak to us today and, it can be understood today, even though  this passage is difficult and  we may not agree on everything about this passage.  The Angel Gabriel said it could be understood and so did Jesus.

Gabriel said to Daniel, “Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision” (Daniel 9:23 NIV).  Jesus quotes Daniel 9 in the Olivet Discourse and said, “whoever reads, LET HIM UNDERSTAND” (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14).  He didn’t say, “There’s no point in reading Daniel because no one can understand it.”

Seven Facts about the 70 Weeks Prophecy

What does the seventy weeks prophecy teach?  There are seven things that you need to know to fully understand this prophecy.

1) This prophecy was given by an angel

We call it Daniel’s prophecy, but it is really Gabriel’s prophecy.  It is the prophecy of an angel.

2) This prophecy covers a period of 490 years

It covers a period of “seventy-sevens” (Daniel 9:24). Scholars argue a lot about this passage but one thing they all agree on is that this is a period of 490 years. This prophecy was an answer to Daniel’s prayer.  Daniel prayed about 70 years and got an answer about 490 years.

Seventy times seven is four hundred and ninety but these are not four hundred and ninety days but four hundred and ninety years.  The Jews had a week of years as well as a week of days (cf. Leviticus 25:8).  The chapter begins talking about a period of seventy years (Daniel 9:2) and ends talking about a period of four hundred and ninety years.

3) This prophecy is about the Jews

Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city (Daniel 9:24 NIV).  It is directly related to the Jews and the city of Jerusalem.  This is NOT a prophecy about the Gentile world.  It is not a prophecy about Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece or Rome.

It is not a prophecy about the US.  It is not even a prophecy about the church.  It is a prophecy about the Jews.  Even after God judged the Jews at the Babylonian Captivity, He still has a plan for them.  Even after they rejected their Messiah, God still has a plan for the Jews.  Israel is central to the program of God.  It is in the center of prophetic events.

4) Six things will take place during this time

Six Messianic Tasks

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place (Daniel 9:24 NIV)

These are six things that the Messiah will do.  These are six Messianic tasks.

  • to finish transgression
  • to put an end to sin
  • to atone for wickedness
  • to bring in everlasting righteousness
  • to seal up the vision and prophecy
  • to anoint the Most Holy Place

1. Some of these are NEGATIVE and some are POSITIVE

Some deal with sin, wickedness and transgression and some deal with righteousness.

2. Some of these tasks deal with the FIRST COMING and some deal with the SECOND COMING of Christ

Jesus solved the sin problem by atoning for sin when he was “cut off” in his First Coming. The passage also deals with the Millennial reign of the Messiah.

3. Some of these tasks are PAST and some are still FUTURE

Some of these have been fulfilled. Some have not.  Has Jesus put an end to sin yet?  No.  One day He will.  One day sin will no longer exist on earth.

5) These 490 years are divided into three parts.

They are divided into three parts.  Everyone agrees on this.  The period of seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24) is divided into into seven weeks (Daniel 9:25) plus sixty-two weeks (Daniel 9:25-26) plus one week (Daniel 9:27).

The 70 weeks add up to 490 years.  7 x 7 is 49 years.  62 x 7 is 434 years.  434 + 49 = 483 years.  483 + 7 = 490 years.

6) This time period starts with a decree

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ (Daniel 9:25 NIV)

It starts with a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and it ends with the coming of the Messiah.  When was the decree issued?  This is where it gets difficult.  There were four decrees issued by Persian kings (one by Cyrus, one by Darius and two by Artaxerxes) but only two of them end up in the time of Jesus.

Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild the Temple around 538 BC.  It is found in Ezra 1:1-4 but that was a command to rebuild the Temple, not the city and if you do the math, it does not work.  538 – 438 = 55.  55 BC was too early for the time of Jesus.

Darius issued another decree around 519 BC.  it is found in Ezra 6:1-12 but that decree also is too early.  519 – 483 = 36.  36 BC is too early.  There are two other decrees but, before we look at them, we have to answer one question.

When Exactly Did Jesus Die?

There are two possible dates for the death of Jesus.  There are three hints as to when he died.

HINT ONE – He died when Pontius Pilate was governor.

Jesus was the  judge in the trial of Jesus.  He was the one who executed him/  Pilate ruled Judea from 26-36 AD, so he had to have died sometime during that time period.

HINT TWO – He died on a Friday

According to the Gospels, He died on a Friday called “Preparation Day” (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:42).  All four of them mention this day.

HINT THREE – He died during Passover.

In fact, He died the very same time that the lambs were sacrificed in the Temple. According to Josephus, the lambs were sacrificed between three and five o’clock, i.e., between the ninth hour and the eleventh hour (Jewish War 6.9.3). Jesus died in the ninth hour.

During 26-36 AD, when Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, Passover fell on Friday only two times (April 7, 30 AD and April 3, 33 AD). Both of these dates fit one of the decrees to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

Artaxerxes gave a decree to Ezra for Jews to return to Jerusalem.  It is found in Ezra 7:11-26.  That decree happened in in 457 BC.  457-483 BC = 26.  If Jesus died in 30 AD, 26 BC is a possible date for his baptism (so Leon Wood, Gleason Archer, Walter Kaiser).  That was about the time He began His ministry as Messiah and was introduced to Israel.

Artaxerxes gave another decree in 444 BC to Nehemiah (so John Walvoord, Thomas Ice, John Whitcomb).  This decree specifically authorized Nehemiah to rebuild the city and walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8) but there is a problem.  444-483 = 39 AD.  It does not work.

39 AD is too late but if you use a lunar year (360 day), rather than a solar year (365 day) and calculate in the leap years, it does work.  It comes out to Monday, March 30, 33 AD, a possible date for the Triumphal Entry when Jesus rode in on a donkey and the people said baruck haba B’shem Adonai (“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”).  Just a week later and Jesus was killed.

Zechariah predicted HOW the Messiah would come (riding on a donkey) and Daniel predicted WHEN He would come.  Jesus said the Jews should have understood this prophecy.  It told them exactly when the Messiah would come.

41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:41-44 NIV)

God held them accountable for not knowing this prophecy.  They killed their Messiah and temple and city was destroyed again, just like Daniel 9 predicted.  Daniel says that the Messiah would be cut off and a nation would come and destroy the city and the sanctuary.

7) There is a gap between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel

Many scholars say that there is no gap in the prophecy.  Michael Brown holds that view.  The prophecy is continuous but there has to be a gap between the 69th and 70th week.  It is easy to prove.  How do we prove it?

After 69 weeks, the Messiah is cut off, the city is destroyed, and the Temple is destroyed.  In the 70th week, another prince makes a covenant and breaks it, puts an end to sacrifices and offerings and sets up the abomination of desolation in the Temple (Daniel 9:27).

He cannot do that until a Third Temple is rebuilt.  We are still waiting for that to happen.  It is almost as if God stopped the clock when the Messiah was cut off. The 70th week is still future.  Jesus said it is FUTURE in Matthew 24.

It is something that will happen right before the Second Coming (Matthew 24:29-30). The 70th week will take place in the Tribulation Period. The prince that will come will do exactly what Antiochus Epiphanies did.  He was just a type of the Antichrist.

The Messiah in Daniel 9

Daniel 9 PROVES that Jesus is the Messiah.  It is definitive proof that Jesus is the Messiah. The evidence is so strong that the Jewish Talmud pronounces a curse on anyone who attempts to calculate the dates of this chapter (Sanhedrin 97b).  It so clearly points to Jesus.

1) Daniel mentions the Messiah by name

Isaiah predicts the death of the coming Messiah eight hundred years before it happened but he does not use the word “messiah” (mashiach).  Daniel uses it, not once but twice (Daniel 9:25, 26).

2) Daniel tells us specifically when He will come

Daniel says that the Messiah would come when the Temple was still standing.  He came while the Second Temple was still standing.  After he died, the city and sanctuary were destroyed (Daniel 9:26 NIV).

We are even told the specific year He would come. He will appear sixty-nine weeks of years after a command is given to rebuild Jerusalem.  In fact, after sixty nine of the seventy weeks prophecy, he is killed.

He will appear 483 years after the command to restore and build Jerusalem.  If we put this in days, it would be 173,880 days (483 years times 360 days)! The Jews could expect that 173,880 days after the prophecy started that the Messiah would present Himself to Israel as the Messiah.

3) Daniel says what will happen when He finally comes

When the Messiah finally comes, the people will not accept him.  They will reject him.  He was “despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:3).  They said, “We have no king but Caesar.” They not only rejected him, they killed him.  He died a violent death.  He was “cut off” (Daniel 9:26).

4) Daniel mentions the work that He will accomplish by His death

The Messiah will atone for the sins of the nation and the world (Daniel 9:24).  He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

He was pierced FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, he was crushed FOR OUR INIQUITIES; the punishment that brought us peace WAS ON HIM, and BY HIS WOUNDS we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord HAS LAID ON HIM the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:5-6 NIV)

5) Daniel predicts what will happen after He is cut off

The city and temple would be destroyed (Daniel 9:26).  This is exactly what the Romans did in 70 AD.

Jewish Response

There is a Jewish response to the Christian interpretation of Daniel 9.  They argue that the passage is NOT messianic.  They read the KJV of Daniel 9:25.  It says, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks.

They point out correctly that in Hebrew the word “the” is not in the text.  It says mashiach, NOT ha mashiach.  Messiah is NOT capitalized in Hebrew.  Hebrew does not have capital letters.  They also point out that mashiach just means “anointed one.”

The word is used thirty-nine times on the OT.  It was used of priests.  It was used of prophets.  It was used of kings.  Saul was called an anointed one.  He was a messiah.  David was called an anointed one.  He was a messiah.  Solomon was another messiah but none of them were THE Messiah.

That is true.  Mashiach was used in a non-technical sense of someone who was an instrument of God but we know that this chapter is talking about something else. This chapter is undeniably messianic in the technical sense.  It mentions finishing transgression, putting an end to sin, to atoning for wickedness, and bringing in everlasting righteousness.  These things could only happen when the Messiah comes.

Who will put an end to sin?  Who will bring in everlasting righteousness?  Cyrus will not do that.  Solomon will not do that.  King David will not do that.  Only the Messiah could possibly do that.  It is undeniable.

Applications for Today

We have looked at one of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible.  What does this prophecy say to us today?  Does it say anything or is it just an incredible prophecy for us to learn.  It actually does say some things to us today

1. God answers the prayers of His people.

When we pray, we think that nothing happens.  Our prayers bounce off the wall.  Not this prayer.  Daniel prayed a prayer for the nation.  It was a prayer of confession.  Daniel confessed the sins of the nation and asked God to restore the Jews back to their land and their temple.

It was a prayer based on Scripture.  When he did that, something interesting happened.  He got an answer.  In fact, he got an answer rather quickly.  The answer was this prophecy.

20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill— 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. (Daniel 9:20-21 NIV)

Before he had even finished praying, the answer came. The answer came in the form of an angel.  God sometimes uses angels to answer our prayers.  Daniel was praying and while he was praying, he was interrupted by an angel, the Angel Gabriel.  He came flying.  He flew from heaven to earth and he did it quickly.  He did it in a matter of minutes, because you can read this prayer in about three minutes.

Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24 NIV)

2. God loves His people

He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. (Daniel 9:22-23 NIV)

Jesus knows all of His sheep.  He knows our name.  He calls us by name (John 10:3).  He knows everything about us.  He loved us with an everlasting love.

Daniel may have thought bad about himself.  He humbled himself.  He confessed his sins.  He put on sackcloth and ashes.  He fasted. Daniel was told what God thought of him by an angel, not once but twice (Daniel 9:23; 10:19).

Daniel was told that he was “highly esteemed” (NIV, NASB), not just esteemed but HIGHLY ESTEEMED.  He was “greatly loved” (ESV).  He was “highly precious” (Berean Study Bible).

Five hundred years later, this same angel spoke to the mother of Jesus before he was born and said something very similar.  He told Mary, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28 NIV).  Sometimes we think bad about ourselves and God things highly of us. He is on our side.  He is with us, not against us.

Are all people highly favored or only some people?  In one sense we all are.  Jesus died for us all.  He has shown grace to us all.  We can all be blessed by God but not everyone got the privilege to be the mother of Messiah.  Only Mary did.

Are you highly esteemed by God?   There are some things that He esteems.  There are some tings that He looks for in people.  Daniel had these qualities.  What are they?

Isaiah 66:2 says that “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My Word” (Berean Bible Study).  There are three things that God specifically esteems: humility or brokenness, repentance and someone who has a particular attitude toward the Bible.  Unfortunately, few Christians have this attitude toward the bible today.

3. God makes some decrees for his people

Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city (Daniel 9:24 ESV).  These four hundred and ninety years were DECREED by God.  They must happen.  Everything that God decrees will come to pass. Everything that the Bible predicts will come to pass. It is a bible prophecy with mathematical precision.

These decrees are on a divine calendar.  We have calendars.  God has one as well.  It is a calendar for the Jews.  God has decreed some things for the Jews.  He has also decreed some things for us.  We do not always understand those decrees.  We do not understand everything about this decree.  It may not make perfect sense to us, but it makes perfect sense to Him.

4. God meets the deepest needs of His people

Daniel prayed about Jerusalem and the Temple.  God says in the answer, not only will the Temple be rebuilt but the Messiah will appear.  Daniel did not pray for the Messiah, but the promised Messiah came with the answer.  Before God could fully bless Israel, He had to deal with the sin problem.  Before blessing comes to Israel, sin must be dealt with.

How to Pray Biblically

One of the main reasons our prayers are not answered is that we do not pray biblically.  If you pray for the wrong thing, your prayer will not get answered.  Some say that the only thing you need to have to pray is faith and if you have faith you can move mountains.  Jesus said so but if you pray for the wrong thing, it will not matter how much faith you have.  You could have buckets of faith and it would not do you any good.

If you pray to the wrong person, your prayer will not get answered. Some Catholics pray to saints.  Some pray five times a day (Muslims) but it does not do any good if you pray to the wrong God.

If you do not pray from your heart, your prayer will not get answered.  Some Christians treat prayer like magic, as if there were magical power in the words.  If you just say the right words, your prayer will be answered.  We teach children to “say their prayers” but saying a prayer is different from really praying.

Today, we are going to look at how to pray biblically from Daniel 9.  The chapter has two parts. This chapter contains an incredible PRAYER and an incredible ANSWER to prayer.  The prayer received a quick answer and the answer came from the angel Gabriel.  The answer contains one of the greatest prophecies in the OT, which we will look at next week.

This chapter not only contains one of the great PROPHECIES of the Bible, it contains one of the great PRAYERS of the bible.  Daniel 9 ranks with two other great prayer chapters (Ezra 9 and Nehemiah 9).  Before we look at Daniel’s incredible PROPHECY, we need to look at Daniel’s incredible PRAYER.

We usually hear about the prophecy from this chapter.  We rarely hear about the prayer.  When Bible students think of Daniel 9, the think of the famous  seventy-sevens prophecy, which we will look at next week.  That prophecy is important, but it is just the last four verses of the chapter.  Most of the chapter deals with Daniel’s prayer.  In fact, two-thirds of it deals with Daniel’s prayer.

If you do not get anything else from the Book of Daniel, this book can teach you how to pray.  Many Christians struggle with prayer.  This section is very practical.  Next week, we will look at a section that has an incredibly prophecy but today we are going to get practical. Daniel was a prayer warrior.

When he was in his eighties, he prayed three times a day in a specific place in a specific posture facing a specific direction.  We saw that in Daniel 6.  He wasn’t too old to do that, and he wasn’t too busy to do that, even though he had an important job.  He worked for the government.  Few Christians today pray three times a day on their knees like Daniel did.

In this chapter, we get to see the actual words of one of Daniel’s prayers.  We get to read one of his actual prayers.  We get to listen in on an old man’s devotions.  D.L. Moody, after his first visit to England, being asked upon his return to America, “Did you hear Charles Spurgeon preach?” replied, “Yes, but better still, I heard him pray.”

We want to look at this prayer of Daniel.  It is a model prayer.  This prayer was powerful.  It changed the course of history.  It got answered quickly.  As soon as he started speaking, the angel Gabriel was on his way to answer it (Daniel 9:20-21).

Eight Principles of Prayer

Let’s look at the Daniel Prayer.  It is an unusual prayer.  It is not like many prayers today.  Today, we will look at seven principles of prayer from this chapter that are still relevant today.

Principle One – Bible study should lead to prayer

This chapter does not start with prayer.  It starts with bible study.  In fact, it was Daniel’s Bible study that prompted him to pray in the first place.  Daniel prayed in response to the word of God.  It was generated by prayer.  He prayed in response to the teaching of Scripture. Biblical prayer is a response to the Word of God.  We pray before we study the Bible but should pray after we study as well.  Daniel prayed over what he studied.

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. (Daniel 9:1-2 NIV)

There are two extremes in the church.  Some are great prayer warriors.  They love to pray.  They are good at it.  They pray for hours but they are not bible students.  Some spend hours studying the Bible but don’t do a whole lot of praying.  Their prayer life is virtually non-existent.  We should do both.  In fact, Bible study should lead to prayer.

Daniel did both.  He prayed.  He not only prayed daily.  He prayed three times a day, but he also studied the Bible, as we will see.  He was a serious student of Scripture (Daniel 9:2).  He was a Bible student.  Now his Bible looked a lot different than our Bible.   It was a scroll not a book.  Books did not exist in his day.  Everything was written on scrolls.  He had to unroll a scroll to do his devotions.

His Bible was written in Hebrew.  He did not read an English Bible.  His Bible was a lot smaller than ours.  It did not have all of the books that we have in it.  He did not have the completed canon.  He had the books of Moses.

All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. (Daniel 9:11 NIV)

Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. (Daniel 9:13 NIV)

He also had the Book of Jeremiah, because he said, “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years” (Daniel 9:2 NIV)

Daniel’s Bible Study

That is interesting.  It tells us something about Daniel.  Daniel was not only a prophet.  He was a student of prophecy.  He was a genuine prophet, but he also read and studied what the other prophets wrote.  He did not learn everything by dreams and visions.  He did not learn everything from the angel Gabriel.  He did not learn everything by direct revelation.  He learned some things from bible study.  He learned some things from books.  He learned some things from research.  He read the Book of Jeremiah.  Someone who wrote the Bible read the Bible.

It also tells us something about Jeremiah.  Jeremiah was a contemporary of Daniel.  Daniel already recognized Jeremiah’s writings as Scripture.  It did not take four hundred years and some church council to decide which books were in the Bible.  The Book of Jeremiah was IMMEDIATELY accepted as Scripture after it was written.  One Bible book alludes to another Bible book as authoritative.  Daniel took what Jeremiah said literally.  What did Jeremiah say?

8 Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.

10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS. “But when the SEVENTY YEARS are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate forever. (Jeremiah 25:8-12 NIV)

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. 10 This is what the Lord says: “When SEVENTY YEARS are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. (Jeremiah 29:4-12 NIV)

Daniel did not just read Jeremiah.  He read it.  He meditated on it.  He reflected on it and he applied it to current events in his day.  He read the Bible with one hand and the newspaper in the other hand.  Jeremiah said that the Jews would be in captivity for seventy years and Daniel did the math. Daniel came to Babylon in 605 BC.

It is now 538 BC (the first year of Darius). It is about 67 years since he has been in Babylon and he knew the seventy-year captivity only had a few more years left.  That led him to pray.  He prayed that God would fulfill his promise and send the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the temple and God did it.

I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition (Daniel 9:2-3 NIV)

Principle Two – We should claim God’s promises when we pray

Daniel does not pray blindly.  He prays based on the promises of God.  John MacArthur says that Daniel’s prayer was generated by the Word of God and grounded in the will of God.[1]  We should pray God’s Word back to him.  There are over 3000 promises in Scripture.  This will completely change your view of prayer.  One of the greatest secrets to getting answers to your prayers is praying the promises of God.

Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7 NIV).  Our prayers get answered when our hearts and minds are filled with Scripture, and our prayer requests align with God’s will.

How to Pray the Promises of God

Let’s apply this principle to our own lives.  How do we pray God’s promises today?  There are seven specific steps to the process.

1) LEARN the promises. Read the Bible to find out what they are

2) MEDITATE on the promises.  Think about what they mean.

3) BELIEVE the promises.  If you do not believe them, they will not do you any good.

4) MEMORIZE the promises.  Hide these promises in your heart.

5) PERSONALIZE the promises.  Apply these promises to yourself.

6) VERBALIZE the promises to yourself daily.  Quote them.

7) PRAY the promises. Pray the Word of God. Claim them.

That leads to an interesting question. Why do we need to pray if God is sovereign?  If everything is already predestined, why pray?  Why do we have to pray for something that God has promised us?

Prayer and the Sovereignty of God

We should pray because God commands it. The NT ends with a prayer for the Second Coming (Revelation 22:20) but this was a conditional promise.  God said that He would restore the Jews to their land only IF they repented and turned to him.  He says this in Jeremiah and other times in the OT.

10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:12-14 NIV)

“‘But IF they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—THEN when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

43 For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them.

I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’” (Leviticus 20:40-46 NIV)

36 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; 37 and IF they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’

38 and IF they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 THEN from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you. (II Chronicles 6:36-39 NIV)

Principle Three – Biblical prayer involves complete brokenness

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:3 NIV)

True prayer involves complete humility before God.  When Daniel prayed, he went before God with brokenness and humility.  He goes before God on his knees, face to the ground.  His posture reflected humility and so did his clothing and appearance.  He wore rough clothing (sackcloth) and got himself all dirty with ashes.

In addition, he went without food.  He fasted.  That was not commanded for Daniel.  Jews only had to fast one day year, but all of this showed that Daniel was completely humble and meant business with God. This was not an on-the-go prayer that we try to squeeze into our day when we are really busy.

It was not a prayer that we do when we are in our car driving to work.  It was not a silent prayer.  It was not a short prayer, a one-liner.  This was a serious prayer.  It was a broken prayer.  It involved changing his diet, clothing, appearance and posture.

Of course, when we pray, God looks at our heart.  He does not look at our posture or what kind of clothes we wear but, in Daniel’s case, his clothing and posture and diet reflected his heart attitude.

If my people, who are called by my name, WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (II Chronicles 7:14 NIV)

Principle Four – Biblical prayer involves confession of sins

We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

7 “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. Daniel 9:5-8 NIV)

One of the reasons are prayers are not answered is because of unconfessed sin.  Psalm 66:18 says, “If I cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”  Most of this prayer is confession of sins (Daniel 9:5-15).  The request does not come until the end of the prayer.

Daniel does NOT deny the sins of the nation.  He does NOT excuse or justify them.  He confesses them.  He doesn’t let anyone off the hook (e.g., kings, princes).  He uses every possible word to describe the sin of the nation.  He calls it wickedness, rebellion, sin, wrong doing, transgression, disobedience, unfaithfulness, etc.

Principle Five – Biblical prayer involves real petition

“Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. (Daniel 9:15-18 NIV)

Prayer is not just petition.  You can pray and thank God.  You can pray and praise God, but this principle is important because today many people no longer believe in petitions.  They believe in command prayer.  Christians who believe in this philosophy do not make petitions.  They just command and declare it. They just decree and declare it.  They base it on Romans 4:17 which talks about “calling those things which are not as though they are.”

If you are sick, command the sickness to leave and declare healing.  If you are not married, just issue a decree and a husband will be found. If you are poor and need money, issue another decree and money will be found in your bank account.  If you are childless, make another command and you will have twins.[2]  This is called command prayer or prophetic prayer (prayer combined with prophecy).

The problem with that view is that Romans 4:17 is talking about God.  He is the one who calls things which are not as though they are.  We do not.  He is the Creator.  He calls things into existence which do not exist.  Daniel did not do this in our chapter.  He did not just decree and declare the Jews back in their land and the Temple rebuilt.  He made petitions and supplications to God.

Principle Six – Biblical prayer is other-oriented

Daniel does not pray for himself here.  It is not wrong to do that, but Daniel prays NOTHING for himself. He does not pray for a new house.  He does not pray for a new car.  He does not pray for a new job.  He does not pray for a wife.  He does not pray for wealth.  He does not pray for health.  He was in his eighties.  He lived before the time of modern medicine and probably had some health issues, but this was not a prayer for physical health.

This was a prayer for the needs of other people.  It is called an intercessory prayer. Those prayers focus more on the needs of other people and less on you.  It is pleading with God for someone is great need.  Jesus did that kind of prayer when he was on earth.  In fact, He still prays for us.  He ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). What does that mean?  Who does he pray to, since He is God?  Who did he pray to on earth?  He prayed to the Father.

Daniel prayed for his nation.  It was a wicked, backslidden nation.  He confessed the sins of the nation.  That is something we need to do today.  The church needs intercessors.  We need the ministry of intercession in the church today, but our nation also needs intercessors.  It is America’s greatest need.

Principle Seven – Biblical prayer is God-centered

Many prayers today are not God-centered.  Many are man-centered and self-centered.  This one was God-centered.  This prayer was rooted in God’s Word.  It reveals God’s character.  Many prayers reveal little about God.  This one says a lot about God.  Note the following statements in Daniel’s prayer.

Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments (Daniel 9:4)

Lord, you are righteous (Daniel 9:7)

The Lord our God is righteous in everything he does (Daniel 9:14)

The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving (Daniel 9:7)

This prayer is ROOTED in God’s Word, REVEALS God’s character and REQUESTS for God to be glorified.  Jesus’ prayers focused on this.  He prayed, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you” (John 17:1 NIV).  It is also what Daniel focused on.

Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city THAT BEARS YOUR NAME. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! FOR YOUR SAKE, my God, do not delay, BECAUSE YOUR CITY AND YOUR PEOPLE BEAR YOUR NAME.” (Daniel 9:18-19 NIV)

Principle Eight– Biblical prayer produces results

This prayer gets answered, as Gary Owen pointed out in our class.  We will see that next week, as we study the end of the chapter.

[1] https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-12/a-prayer-of-brokenness

[2] https://www.zambianobserver.com/the-rise-of-the-false-teaching-from-decree-and-declare-movement-among-evangelicals/

Superpowers in Conflict

We have been studying the Book of Daniel and we have come to the eighth chapter of the book.  It is a chapter that on the surface does not seem that exciting.  It reads like a chapter of animal farm but, when you see what is really in this chapter, you will see why this chapter is very important.  This is one chapter that liberals HATE.  It is because of this chapter that liberal scholars do not believe that Daniel wrote this book.

The chapter was written around 550 or 551 BC.  Daniel predicts in this chapter what would take place in history hundreds of years before it happened with incredible detail.  Let’s assume that America right now is the leading power in the world today.

What Daniel did would be like me predicting what the next leading power would be after America is in complete decline and the power that takes over as leader of the world after the second nation is in decline and the one that takes over after the third nation is in decline.  That is exactly what Daniel did.  Liberals do not believe that this is possible.  It is impossible for man to make these kinds of predictions, but it is not impossible for God.  Let’s review what we learned about this part of Daniel.

We said last week that there are two parts to Daniel.  The first part of the book is mostly NARRATIVE.  It is mostly stories (Daniel in the lion’s den, the fiery furnace, handwriting on the wall).  The second part of the book is mostly PROPHECY.  In the first part of the book, pagans receive visions and dreams and cannot interpret them.  Daniel is called in and interprets the dreams.

In the second part of the book, Daniel is the one who receives some visions and he cannot interpret them.  From Daniel 7-12, Daniel receives four visions and he tells us when he received them, and these visions are all dated.

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed (Daniel 7:1 NIV)

In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. (Daniel 8:1 NIV)

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom (Daniel 9:1 NIV)

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. (Daniel 10:1 NIV)

Today, we are going to look at Daniel’s second vision which came two years after the first one.  It came to him when the Babylonians were in power.  It is a vision that Daniel did not understand.  An angel had to tell him what it meant.  It is a vision actually made Daniel sick (Daniel 8:27).

The first one was a vision about some animals and the second one is also a vision about animals.  In both visions, the animals are symbolic.

They represent nations or countries but not just any country.  They represent what we would call today superpowers.  These empires were successive.  They came one right after the other.

The first vision had FOUR ANIMALS.  One was like a bear.  One was like a lion. One was like an eagle and the fourth one could not even be compared to any known animal.  It was part animal and part machine.  It had iron teeth and bronze claws.

The second vision only has TWO ANIMALS, a ram and a goat.  Why only two?  When this vision was given, Belshazzar was in power.  The Babylonians were ruling the world.  This vision focused on the next two powers that would dominate the world, the second and third kingdoms (Medo-Persia and Greece).  These two animals have a fierce battle, a head butting contest and the goat wins.  The goat defeats the ram, which almost sounds like a football game.  Today, we want to look at what this vision means prophetically and how it applies to us.

Overview of the Chapter

First, let’s get an overview of this chapter.  Let’s look at the big picture.  What happens in this chapter?

1) Daniel travels hundreds of miles in a vision

This is interesting.  Daniel have lived about sixty years in Babylon and now he takes a trip in a vision.  He gets teleported two hundred and thirty miles east of Babylon.  The same thing happened to Ezekiel.  Daniel had been living in Babylon and now God supernaturally transports him to Elam in Persia (modern-day Iran) right by the Ulai Canal.  That sounds more like the name of a politician (“you-lie”) than a canal.

What happened to Daniel also happened to the prophet Ezekiel.  Ezekiel was in Babylon and God grabbed him by the lock of his hair and took him to Jerusalem to see what was going on in the temple (Ezekiel 8:3ff.).

Daniel is transported to a small town called Susa.  God was saying that the capital was going to change. It would be like saying, “The capital is no longer going to be Washington, DC but a minor town of some other country”

2) Daniel sees two animals

I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. 4 I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased and became great. (Daniel 8:3-4 NIV)

It starts with a ram.  What does the ram represent?  two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia (Daniel 8:20 NIV). That represents Persia which conquered west, north and south, just like Daniel said (Daniel 8:4). It expanded in three directions.

Babylon was the power of the world until it was conquered by Medo Persia (two horns).  Those two verses cover two hundred years of history.  This ram and remained the dominant power in the world for two hundred years until a goat with one horn between its eyes, which is an ugly looking goat, came and charged the ram, knocked it to the ground, broke its two horns and stepped all over this ram (Daniel 8:7).

What do we know about this ram?  It came from the west (Daniel 8:5).  Greece is west of Persia.  This ram was angry.  Greece was attacked by this country and this was revenge.  It was also fast.  He ran so fast that his feet did not touch the ground (Daniel 8:5).  This goat was like the roadrunner.  It had lightning speed.  He conquered the world in only ten years.

Was he a success?  In one sense he was.  He studied under Aristotle.  He was a military genius.  He began to conquer Persia when he was only twenty-two and conquered this country in only three years and he did it with less troops.  He did it even though he was completely outnumbered.  The Persians had a million-man army.  Alexander only had forty thousand troops, but he struck quickly with small groups of people.

In another sense, he was not very successful.  He was an alcoholic.  His father was murdered.  His two sons were murdered.  That’s why they never succeeded him, and he dies prematurely at the height of his power in the prime of his life at the age of thirty-two (Daniel 8:8 NIV).  After he dies, his kingdom is split up among his four generals and it was never as strong as it was before.

3) Daniel sees two angels

He sees two supernatural beings (Daniel 8:15ff.), two angels but these were not ordinary angels.  One of them was the angel Gabriel.  Most of us will never see an ordinary angel.  Daniel saw one of God’s top angels.  When Gabriel came over to him, he did not say, “I have always wanted to meet you.”  He was terrified.  He was petrified.

Daniel is an old man.  He is in his seventies.  He sees the angel Gabriel and, before Gabriel even says anything, Daniel falls flat on his face.  His face is on the ground and he goes right to sleep.  He falls into a deep sleep.

17 As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”

18 While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet. (Daniel 8:15-18 NIV).

Daniel becomes the first person in the Bible to be “touched by an angel” (Daniel 8:18).  This was not any angel.  Daniel is the only one in the OT who is said to have met this angel.  There are two more people in the NT who meet him.  He makes two birth announcements in the NT.  Five hundred years later, he tells an old man and a young girl about a baby being born.  It happens in Luke 1.

One believed him and the other did not.  Zechariah was told that his wife would become pregnant with John the Baptist.  Mary was told that she would be the mother of the Messiah. Apparently, Gabriel does not just make birth announcements.  In Daniel 8, he interprets Daniel’s vision for him.  He tells him what it means.

4) He sees another little horn

The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.

9 Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. 10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. 11 It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. 12 Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. (Daniel 8:8-12 NIV)

Alexander the Great was the great horn (Daniel 8:5).  He was the flying goat with one horn. When he died the great horn was broken and replaced by four horns (Daniel 8:8).  Out of one of those four came a little horn (DanieL 8:9).  He was a descendant of one of Alexander’s four generals.

There was a little horn in Daniel 7 and now we have a little horn in Daniel 8.  Some think that they are the same person, but they are not.  The little horn in Daniel 7 was a Roman ruler.  He will come out of the fourth kingdom.  This little horn was a Greek ruler.  He came out of the third kingdom.

The first little horn was the Antichrist.  Why are we given a second little horn in this chapter?  This little horn is a type of the Antichrist.  He is the Antichrist of the OT.   If you want to know what the future Antichrist will be like, all you have to do is to look back at this man.

He was the Adolf Hitler of the OT.  His name was Antiochus Epiphanies.  Behind his back, the Jews did not call him Antiochus EPIPHANIES.  They called him Antiochus EPIMANES, “The Mad One.”  Not only was he insane, he was demon possessed.

Who was Antiochus Epiphanies?

1) He was PSYCHOPATHIC

Like Hitler, he was a psychopath.  Like Hitler, he was a mass murderer.  He slaughtered 40,000 Jews in three days.  Like Hitler, he was an anti-Semite.  Like Hitler, he tried to commit genocide.  He murdered Jews and boasted about it (I Maccabees 1:24).  He not only slaughtered many Jews (Daniel 8:25) but outlawed the Jewish religion.  The holy festivals were outlawed.  Circumcision was outlawed.  Women who allowed their sons to be circumcised were killed with their sons tied around their necks.  Resting on the Sabbath was forbidden. Owning a copy of the law was illegal.

2) He was PROFANE

Antiochus was a profane man.  He was sacrilegious.  He blasphemed God.  He took his stand against “the Prince of Princes” (Daniel 8:25). He desecrated the Temple.  Antiochus went into the Temple.  He raided the temple.  Without any fear, he went right into the Holy of Holies, which was reserved only for priests.

In fact, he turned it into a temple of Zeus.  He knew that Jews believed that pigs were unclean, so he sacrificed pigs on the altar.  He burned the sacred books.  Copies of the Law of Moses were publicly burned.  He used harlots in the Temple itself.

3) He was PROUD

Antiochus claimed to be god.  The name Epiphanies means “God manifest.”  It means “God made visible.” He proclaimed himself a god on his country’s coins.  He was the first ruler who ever claimed to be God on a coin.

He imprinted on his coins Antiochus, Theos Epiphanes. The coins read “Antiochus God Made Visible.”  He said, in essence, “I am God.  Worship me.”  We know plenty of politicians who have big egos.  None of them call themselves “God manifest.”

Applications for Today

What is the application of this chapter to us today?  It is a chapter about two animals fighting.  To Daniel, this was prophecy but to us it is history.  It is a lesson on history.  We did not come to church just to learn a history lesson about ancient Persia and ancient Greece.  We did not come to church to learn some cool things about Alexander the Great or Antiochus Epiphanies.  What does this chapter say to us today?

Lessons on the Bible

1) There are some parts of the Bible that are hard to understand.

Daniel got divine revelation.  There were rams, flying goats and horns coming out of other horns and he did not understand it.  In fact, even after an angel explained it to him, he still did not completely understand it.

God gave the Bible to be understood.  It is not a book that is impossible to understand but there are some parts of the Bible that are hard to understand.  There are some difficult passages.  There are some tough passages.  Entire denominations have arisen out of some of these passages.

The Apostle Peter said so (II Peter 3:16).  There are some passages in the Bible that Christians do not all agree on.  We like to stay away from the hard parts of the Bible, but God wants us to read them.  He encourages us to read them.  That’s why He puts a special blessing on the Book of Revelation.

2) To understand Scripture, you have to let the Bible interpret itself.

Daniel gets a strange vision of animals.  What do the symbols mean?  We don’t have to guess what they all mean.  We are told at the end of the chapter.

The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king. (Daniel 8:20-21 NIV)

Why is that important?  If you go on the internet, you can find bizarre interpretations of this chapter.  On the Internet, you will find people who say that Daniel 8 deals with the future of America.  The great horn will be broken and the great horn must be America.  On the Internet, you will find people who say that the stubborn goat king is Donald Trump.  He does have goat-like hair.

When you do not look at the context of the passage and do not let Scripture interpret itself, you will come up with some strange ideas.  Cults are full of these ideas that have absolutely nothing to do with the text.

In the 1800s, a Baptist preacher named William Miller tried to predict the date of the Second Coming of Christ and he had some followers.  He said that Jesus would come back in 1843 and one of the reasons he believed this was because of Daniel 8. He interpreted the number 2300 days to mean 2300 years and somehow came up with the 1843 date.[1]

When Jesus did not come in 1843, he changed the date to October 22, 1844 and he was wrong again and there are many false teachers who are just like him.  They distort and twist Scripture and there are many ignorant people who follow them and are deceived.

3) We can have complete confidence in the trustworthiness of Scripture.

This chapter contains prophecies that are very detailed and very specific.  They are very precise.  Daniel predicted a persecution four hundred years before it happened, and said exactly how long it would last (2300 evenings and mornings).  Let’s think about how incredible it would be to do what Daniel does in this chapter.

Four hundred years ago, the Pilgrims came to America.  That would be like them making specific detailed predictions about things happening in our day.  It would be like Martin Luther in Germany in the 1500s predicting the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich four hundred years later.

The Bible does that.  It is a book that is divinely inspired.  It is a book that you can trust.  It is a book that has already made incredible predictions that have come true.

Josephus tells us a very interesting story.  He was the first-century Jewish historian.  He is generally recognized as a reliable historian.  Josephus tells us an incredible story about Alexander the Great. When he visited Jerusalem in 332 BC, he met the high priest Jaddua, who showed him what the book of Daniel said about him.  Alexander read about himself in the Book of Daniel[2]

Lessons on Evil

1) Evil in the world today is real, acknowledge it

Some people seem to be in denial about evil in the world.  They teach that people are basically good.  The truth is that evil exists.  The devil exits.  People are evil.  They do bad things.  We live in an evil word, a violent world where terrible and unspeakable things happen every day.

There are some evil rulers in the world today, some little horns.  There are some horrible rulers today and there were some horrible rulers in the ancient world.  We have dictators like Adolf Hitler, but Antiochus Epiphanies was the Adolf Hitler of the ancient world.

Anti-Semitism did not start with Hitler.  He was not the first one who attempted genocide.  God allows these little horns to exist.  Some try to use that to prove that God does not exist, but that argument does not work.  Evil exists because free will exists.

2) We are not always protected from evil, prepare for it

We are not immune to sickness.  We are not immune to suffering and we definitely are not immune to persecution.  Jesus said that we should expect it.  He said, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you.”  Believers are persecuted for their faith all over the world.

If we are not right now being persecuted for our faith, we should prepare for it, because one day we will.  This chapter is not written so we can just learn about the past but so we can prepare for the future. How will we respond in that situation?  The Jews had a warning about this persecution.  It was given four hundred years in advance.  The chapter was written in Hebrew for the Jews, unlike Daniel 7, which was written in Aramaic.

3) God is in control of all the evil in the world, trust Him

He is sovereign over evil.  He is sovereign over bad things that happen in our nation.  He is sovereign over bad things that happen in our lives.  That is the chief message of Daniel.  God is sovereign even in the darkest times imaginable.  How do we see that in this chapter?

Antiochus Epiphanies was a monster.  He was fierce looking.  He was mean looking (Daniel 8:23) and he did some terrible things to God’s people.  He took away the daily sacrifice (Daniel 8:11).  He threw truth to the ground (Daniel 8:12).  He caused deceit to prosper (Daniel 8:25).  He trampled underfoot the Lord’s people (Daniel 8:13).  He killed MANY of God’s people (Daniel 8:24) and the text says that he was successful in whatever he did (Daniel 8:24).

It looked like he was wining, and God’s people were losing.  Where was God?  How was God sovereign over Antiochus?  God was not

Shocked when Antiochus did all of these things.  He PREDICTED it hundreds of years in advance.  He ALLOWED it to take place.  Daniel says that he did not become strong “by his own power” (Daniel 8:24).

He really did not have any power on his own.  That is why God called him a little horn.  He thought he was a big horn.  God allowed him to do everything that he did.

He also LIMITED how long the evil would last.  It was limited to a period of 2300 evening and mornings (Daniel 8:14).  Evil is not allowed to go unchecked.  Evil rulers are not allowed to do whatever they want for as long as they want.  There is a limit to what they can do.

Their evil is also temporary.  God stepped in and STOPPED Antiochus’ reign of terror.  He was supernaturally destroyed by God.  The little horn was broken but “not by human power” (Daniel 8:25).  He was broken by God himself.

God is sovereign over how long these evil rulers last.  Even when Alexander the great seemed completely invincible, conquering the whole world in ten years.  God broke off his horn at the prime of his life and he was dead.

[1] http://www.truthorfables.com/Miller’s_Time%20_Proved_15_Ways.htm

[2] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XI.8.5.

A Vision of World History

Today, we will be studying a very important chapter. It is one of the most important chapter, not just in Daniel but in the whole Bible.  It is a Messianic chapter.  It has a prophecy of the Messiah in it.  That is not just the view of some Christians.  Even the great Jewish commentator Rashi says the one coming like the Son of man in this chapter “is King Messiah”[2].  Jesus quoted this chapter when He was on trial.

Introduction

Before we begin with the chapter, we need a little introduction.  If you have been studying Daniel from the beginning,  this chapter will seem very different.  That is because this chapter begins the second part of Daniel.  The second part of the book is very different form the first part of the book.  What is the difference?  There are several.

1) The first part of the book is narrative.  The second part of the book is not history but prophecy.

The first part of the book is stories.  It is a prophecy of world history.  John Walvoord calls that Daniel 7 “the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events” in the OT.[1]

2) The first part of the book is easy to understand. the second part of the book is much more difficult to understand.

Everyone loves the first part of the book because of its incredible stories about story about the fiery furnace, the handwriting on the wall and Daniel in the lion’s den.  Everyone likes to read stories.  Kids especially like them.  Preachers love to preach from these chapters, because they have incredible application.

The second part of the book is NOT as easy to understand.  The first part of the book is like cotton candy.  The second part of the book is like a thick juicy steak that you have to chew.  It is a series of visions.  It is apocalyptic. It uses symbolic language.  It is written in code.  It is harder to understand.

Many people avoid these chapters. They avoid them for the same reason that many people today avoid the Book of Revelation.  it is just too hard to understand.  There are too many interpretations.  In fact, Daniel has been called “The Little Revelation.”

3) In the first part of the book, Daniel interprets other people’s dreams.  In the second part of the book, Daniel has his own dreams and needs someone else to interpret them.

In the first part of the book, God gave some people strange dreams.  These were supernatural dreams.  Some of the dreams were scary but all of them were completely mysterious.  No one knew what they meant.  Daniel came in and interpreted them.  That’s what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, not once but twice (once at the beginning of his reign and once closer to the end of his reign as king).

In the second part of the book, something different happens.  The roles have changed.  Now Daniel gets a dream, a supernatural dream, and it disturbed him.  It frightened him. He says, “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me” (Daniel 7:15 NIV).

Notice what he said at the end of the chapter.  I, Daniel, was DEEPLY TROUBLED by my thoughts, and my face turned PALE, but I kept the matter to myself (Daniel 7:28 NIV).  This time it was not Nebuchadnezzar who was frightened.  It was Daniel.  He became white as a ghost.

This dream was not only disturbing, but he did not know what it meant.  Daniel could not interpret it.  That is strange.  Daniel is the one who was gifted at dream interpretation, but he had no idea what this dream meant.  Then something more amazing happens.  This vision is explained by an angel.

An angel told him what the vision meant (Daniel 7:16). Daniel got to ask the angel some questions about this dream.  He asked him what the dream meant (Daniel 7:16).  He also asked him about the meaning of the fourth beast (Daniel 7:19).

Wouldn’t it be great if every time we didn’t understand a passage of Scripture, an angel appeared and explained it to us and we could actually ask him some questions about the passage?  That would be cool, but we have better than an angel.  We have the Holy Spirit inside us.

Daniel’s Dream

What happens in this chapter.  Daniel gets a dream.  Daniel is in his 80s and God is still speaking to him.  He is still giving him revelation.  He still has a ministry.  He is writing Scripture.

Most believe that John was in his nineties when he received the visions on the island of Patmos and wrote the Book of Revelation.  Apparently, God has a plan for us when we are young, and he has a plan for us when we are old.

Daniel is an old man.  It is night time.  Daniel is in his bed and is most likely sleeping and God gives him a dream.  Last week, our pastor talked about God giving people different dreams.  God gave Daniel a dream, but it was not a personal dream.  It was a prophetic dream.  It was a dream of the future.  This was not a dream for Daniel.  It was a dream for the world.

What was the dream about?  It is a vision of five kingdoms.  The first four kingdoms are animal kingdoms.  They are represented by strange beasts.  The last one is the Messianic Kingdom.  After the kingdom of the beasts is the kingdom of the Son of Man.  It is the Kingdom of God.

The first four are temporary kingdoms.  The fifth one is an eternal kingdom.  The fifth kingdom that destroys the fourth kingdom and lasts forever, just like earlier in the book when there was a vision of the great statute and a rock came out of nowhere and completely smashed it.

Daniel had a vision of earth and he had a vision of heaven.  On earth, he saw some of the worst people on the planet, people who massacre innocent people and blaspheme God.  In heaven, he had a vision of God the Father.  He sees God.  He had a vision of Jesus.

Daniel sees Jesus in this chapter.  He saw Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven.  That happens at the Second Coming.  He also had a vision of millions and millions of angels in heaven.  The chapter begins with a nightmare.

Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. (Daniel 7:2-3 NIV)

Daniel is sleeping peacefully and then he has a nightmare.  It starts with a terrifying ocean.  It is night.  It is dark, and Daniel sees a turbulent sea.  The wind is blowing from all directions.  It is wild.  It is loud.  Out of this raging sea, four monsters emerge.  They come out one by one.

They are huge, and they stand before Daniel.  They are ugly looking things.  Each monster looks different.  All of them are scary looking and each one looks more frightening than the one before.  These monsters are destructive and deadly.  Daniel is shaken to the core.

These four animals represent four world empires.  These animals that Daniel saw were all SYMBOLIC.  They represent nations or empires.  Many nations use animals as symbols.  They have national animals (Russian bear or American eagle).  They like animals that can fight and are the symbol of strength.

These empires are SEPARATE.  They are all different from each other.  They are SUCCESSIVE.  They come one right after the other.  Each one is worse than the one before.  They are SELECTIVE.  They do not describe every world empire in history.  Daniel is going to focus on the fourth one.  The fourth one lasts until the Second Coming.  Daniel asks questions about that one.  That was the one that really got his attention.

Two Different Perspectives

This prophecy is very similar to the one found in Daniel 2.  In Daniel 2, we were given a prophecy of four world empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) and this is a prophecy of the same four world empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) but there is an important difference.  In Daniel 2, these empires are portrayed as a great statute.  They are portrayed as a valuable statute of a metal man.

In Daniel 7, these empires are not portrayed as a statute of a metal man.  They are portrayed as beasts.  We would call them monsters.  They are not really animals.  These are grotesque looking creatures with multiple heads.

These empires are not pictured as a beautiful statute made of four parts but of four terrifying monsters.  Why were these empires described one way in one chapter and another way in another chapter?

One vision was given to Nebuchadnezzar and one vision was given to Daniel.  One vision gives the world empires from man’s perspective and one vision gives the empires from God’s perspective.  God does not see things the way man sees them.

People see world empires as powerful.  They see them as sophisticated.  They see them as glamorous.  They see the glory of world conquest.  They worship power and military might.  They worship wealth.  God looks at their behavior and their morals.  Man sees these empires as advanced.

God sees them as in decline and depraved.  He sees something hideous.  He sees a wild, destructive animal.  Some of these were great empires but they threw God’s people into fiery furnace and into a den of lions.

Daniel saw four animals that represented four empires, but these animals did not look like any animal he has seen on earth.

The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it. (Daniel 7:4 NIV).  It was LIKE a lion but it was not a lion.  This lion had wings.  It was part lion and part eagle.

“And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’ (Daniel 7:5 NIV)

The second monster looks LIKE a bear, a bear with three ribs in its mouth.  Why three ribs?  Medo-Persia became an empire by defeating three nations (Lydia, Babylon and Egypt).  It was known for its three great victories.

After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. (Daniel 7:6 NIV).

It looked LIKE a leopard, but it was not a leopard.  This was a leopard with wings.  It had four wings. Leopards are fast.  Alexander the Great was a military genius.  He conquered the world in about ten years.

His armies were known for their speed.  This leopard had four heads.  Why four?  He had four generals.  he died young.  He died at the age of thirty-two (the same age that Bruce Lee was when he died).  After he died, his four generals divided up his empire.

“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast–terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. (Daniel 7:7 NIV)

“Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left (Daniel 7:19 NIV)

The fourth monster was the most frightening of them all.  It was so different, there was no animal to compare it to.  The first three beasts were LIKE a lion, LIKE a bear and LIKE a leopard but the fourth monster was NOT like any other animal on earth.

There was no comparison for this fourth beast.  It had iron teeth and bronze claws.  It is extremely strong.  It is almost like a machine.  It also had ten horns.  Horns symbolized power.  Animals use their horns for defense against predators.  They use them to attack.  The more horns it had, the more powerful it was.  This one had ten.  This fourth beast pulverized and completely destroyed everything in its path.  It will conquer the whole world.

The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. (Daniel 7:23 NIV)

This fourth beast had ten horns sticking out and, as Daniel was watching it, a little horn started to grow right before his eyes (an eleventh horn) and when it grew, three horns were pulled out leaving seven horns and this little one.  Daniel sees ten horns, a little horn and three uprooted horns but all of the focus is on the little horn.

Characteristics of the Little Horn

While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. (Daniel 7:8 NIV).

It is a strange horn.  This horn has eyes and a mouth (Daniel 7:8, 20).  It is apocalyptic language.  This little horn is also a man.  Paul calls him “the man of sin” (II Thessalonians 2:3 KJV).  The little horn represents the Antichrist, the future coming world leader.

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (II Thessalonians 2:1-4 NIV)

What do we know about the little horn from Daniel 7?  He will have several characteristics.

1) He will be POLITICAL

He will be a politician.  He will be a political leader.  He is called a king (Daniel 7:24).

2) He will be POWERFUL

This little horn uproots three kings (Daniel 7:8).  This charismatic leader will conquer the world.

3) He will be POMPOUS

We are told that he has “a mouth that spoke boastfully” (Daniel 7:8, 20 NIV) but that describes most politiciansHe will not only be arrogant, he will have other characteristics.

4) He will be a PROFANE

He will be a blasphemer.  He will speak against the Most High (Daniel 7:25 NIV).

5) He will be a PERSECUTOR

He will oppress God’s people and will be successful against them for a time (Daniel 7:25).

6) He will be PROMINENT

We are told that the little horn “looks more imposing than others” (Daniel 7:20 NIV).  Literally, it reads “was larger in appearance” than the other horns.  He starts out small (called “a little horn”).  At first, he is small and insignificant but he becomes more dominant and prominent than the other ones.

7) He will be PUNISHED

In the end, the blasphemous little horn will be killed.  I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. (Daniel 7:11 NIV).  According to Revelation, the Antichrist will be thrown ALIVE into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).  Is this a contradiction?  It says he will be killed first and then thrown in the fire?  Daniel is talking about the fourth beast, not just the little horn.

Heavenly Vision

As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. 10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court was seated, and the books were opened. “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 NIV)

After having a vision of earth, Daniel gets a vision of heaven.  He sees heaven.  He sees God.  It is God the Father.  God is called “the Ancient of Days” three times in this chapter (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22) and nowhere else in the Bible.  He is described as an old man with white hair.  He is old because He has been around a long time.  He is eternal. He is described as a judge.

Everything is WHITE.  His clothing is white as snow.  His hair is white as wool.  White represents perfect purity and holiness.  Everything is on FIRE.  He sees fire everywhere.  He sits on a throne and it is on fire (Daniel 7:9). Daniel sees a river and it is a river of fire (Daniel 7:10).  Fire represents God and it represent judgment.  This throne also had WHEELS, just like the throne Ezekiel saw.  It does not stay in one location.  It moves.  It goes places.

Daniel has a vision of a court room.  It is not an earthly count.  It is a heavenly court.  It is the Supreme Court of Heaven and a Judge enters the courtroom.  A trial takes place in heaven.  The Judge comes in and sits down.  The books were open (Daniel 7:10).  For those of us who like books, this is good news.  There will be some books in heaven.  What are these books?

The Book of Revelation gives us some more details about these books.  There will be a book of works and a book of life (Revelation 20:12).  Now when we are accused of a crime and go to trial, we get an attorney to defend our case.  The judge or jury hears both sides and makes a decision.  They issue a verdict.    Sinners will not have a defense attorney in heaven.

God does not need to hear both sides.  He already has all of the facts.  He is omniscient.  All of our deeds are already recorded in one book.  That is a scary thought.  Our only defense is to have our name in the book of life.  Our only hope is to be saved and make sure that Jesus pays for all of our sins. We need to make sure our name is in that book.  You can know if your name is in that book.

Lessons for Today

What does this chapter say to us today?   What are some lesson from this chapter?  This chapter has some good news and some bad news for believers.

1) God’s people will be persecuted on the earth

It starts with some bad news.  God’s people will be persecuted in the last days.  Many will be martyred.  As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them (Daniel 7:21 NIV).

Things have to get worse before they get better.  Each kingdom (each beast) is worse than the one before it, culminating in the Antichrist.  The world is getting worse, not better.  Evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse (II Timothy 3:13 ESV)

If we are alive in the days of the little horn, we will be persecuted. God’s people are not protected against all suffering, hardship, and persecution. To be a Christian does not mean we are protected from bad things happening to us.  We will encounter pain and sorrow.  We will encounter hardship.  We will encounter sickness.  We will encounter persecution.

2) God is in control of everything that happens

God is sovereign.  He is in control, even when it does not look like it.  That is the chief message of the book.  That is something we need to remember every time something bad happens in the world.  We need to remember it every time there is a terrorist attack.  We need to remember it every Election Day when things do not turn out the way we expected.

Do we believe it when bad things happen in the world?  Do we believe in when bad things happen in our lives or when an illegal immigrant brutally kills a young college student?  This chapter shows us that God is in control when bad things happen.

He controls the four beasts.  We are told that a human mind also WAS GIVEN to the first beast (Daniel 7:4).  We are told that dominion WAS GIVEN to the third beast (Daniel 7:6)

He controls the Antichrist.  It looked like the little horn was winning but God was in control.  He was allowed to do evil for a short period of time.  He will wear down the saints of the Highest One…. and they will be GIVEN into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. (Daniel 7:25 NIV)

Why did things change on earth?  They changed because of what happened in heaven.  A judge sat on his throne and rendered a verdict.

As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, 22 UNTIL the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom (Daniel 7:21-22 NIV).

Jesus said, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27 ESV).  The saints get the kingdom in the end.  Why do they get it?  It is a gift from God.  Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven WILL BE GIVEN to the people of the saints of the Highest One (Daniel 7:27 NIV)

Even Jesus received things from heaven.  And to Him WAS GIVEN dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. (Daniel 7:14 NIV)

3) We will win in the end

We will win and we will win because Jesus wins.  Evil will one day be defeated.  The Antichrist will be destroyed.  God allows evil in the world.  He PERMITS evil but He also LIMITS evil and one day he will DESTROY evil.  Which is stronger: good or evil?  Ultimately good will win out over evil.  Evil will be defeated in the end.

The fifth kingdom will destroy the fourth kingdom and reign forever.  The heavenly Son of Man will rule instead of these beastly kingdoms.  Christ will rule, and we will rule with him.  We will take possession of the kingdom (Daniel 7:18, 22) and we will possess it forever (Daniel 7:18, 27).  One day, every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord.

The Bible tells us not to be overcome by evil (Romans 12:21). That is a comfort when you look at all of the evil in the world to think that one day it will all be defeated.  Sin will be gone.  Crime will be gone. Disease will be gone.  Pain will be gone.  Death will be gone. Temptation will be gone.  Satan will be gone.


[1]
John Walvoord, Daniel, 145.

[2] https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16490#showrashi=true

Lessons from the Lion’s Den

Today, we come to one of the best-known stories in the OT.  Many have never heard of Nebuchadnezzar’s gigantic statute dream, but everyone had heard of this chapter.  Every child knows this story.  You may wonder what could possibly be said on this story that you have not already heard before.  Today, we will be looking at ten powerful lessons from this story which apply to all of us.

Let’s quickly summarize the chapter.  What happens in this chapter?   A new king takes over.  There’s a new sheriff in town.  Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar are gone.  Darius and Cyrus are in.  The Babylonians are out, and the Persians are in.  When they get power, they reorganize and put three people at the top.  Daniel is one of them, but he is so good at his job that Darius wants to make him number one.  He wants to give him a promotion.

The other two presidents get jealous.  They try to get rid of Daniel.  They look for a way to accuse him but can’t find anything.  He obeyed all of the laws, so they come up with a brilliant plan.  They came up with a way they could FORCE him to disobey a law.

To do it, they had to use his religion against him.  They had to use his prayer life against him.  That would not work against most people today, but it worked against Daniel.  It got him thrown into the lion’s den.  They did not force people to pray but if they did pray, they had to pray to Darius.  They knew that Daniel was a praying man and they knew that he would NEVER pray to Darius, not even for thirty days and they were right.

The king got tricked into signing the law but, once it was signed, he couldn’t do anything about it.  The Persians were not absolute monarchs.  They were not above the law, like the Babylonians were.  That is why they were silver kings, not gold kings.  They did not have as much power.  They had a constitutional monarchy.

Once a royal decree was issued, it could not be revoked, so Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den.  The den is sealed.  The king feels terribly.  He is angry with the other two presidents for tricking him, but he does not have a choice.  He doesn’t eat or sleep.  The king checks on him in the morning and is amazed to find him still alive.  He gets him out and punishes the other two presidents and their wives and children.

Ten Powerful Lessons for Today

What does this story say to us today?  The modern church has made this just a story for children, but it is too graphic and violent for children.  It is pretty gory.  It ends with innocent people being killed.  It ends with wives and children, not only thrown into the lion’s den, but torn to shreds.  Their bones are crushed before they even hit the ground (Daniel 6:24).

What are the applications for us today?  This chapter has some for us from the life of Daniel.  We want to look at ten powerful lessons for us from this chapter.

1. If you want to please God, don’t hide your faith.

You don’t have to be rude and obnoxious, but you should be open about your faith.  It should not be a secret.  Many people try to be secret believers.  Jesus said that if we are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us (Mark 8:38).  Daniel did not try to hide his faith.  He prayed with the window open.  He let people see him praying.  We do not have to do that today.  In fact, Jesus said, “When you pray, shut the door.”

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6 NIV).

2. If you want to please God, serve Him all of your life.

This is interesting.  Daniel was on fire when he was young.  When he was a teenager in the first chapter, he refused to eat the king’s food and God blessed him.  Many people start well but they do not end well. Daniel was in his eighties and he was still serving God.  In fact, he still worked.  He was not even retired.  In America, we retire at sixty-five.  Daniel is in his eighties and he is still working and still using his spiritual gifts. He still sees God work miracles in his life and he still has a testimony with unbelievers.

3. If you want to please God, live a life of integrity.

Daniel was a man of integrity.  There are not too many people today that have this today.  Daniel was a politician and there are few politicians today that have integrity.

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. (Daniel 6:4 NIV)

This is very convicting.  If someone was looking to criticize you, would they have valid grounds?  They looked for grounds to charge Daniel but they could not get any dirt on him.  He was loyal to the king.  He did not badmouth the king behind his back.  He did a good job at work.  He was not lazy.

He did not come to work late.  He was honest.  He was dependable.  He was reliable.  He was conscientious.  He was gifted.  He did not have a criminal record.  He had never been arrested.  He didn’t get a bunch of speeding tickets.  He was moral.  He was not a womanizer.  He did not steal from the king.  He paid his taxes.  He could not be bribed.

He was not sinless, but he was blameless, the same qualification which is used of elders in the NT (I Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7) but it should also be true of every Christian.  Does it describe you?  Are you blameless?

4. If you want to please God, demonstrate excellence at work.

Daniel did not just excel at dream interpretation and prophecy.  He excelled in his job.  He did an excellent job at work and he worked for unbelievers.  He worked for foreign pagan kings who worshipped idols.

Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. (Daniel 6:3 NIV)

Daniel was one of three presidents and he was so good, Darius wanted him to be over the other three.  He was the best one.  If you gave him a job to do, he did it better than anyone else.  He was an over achiever.  We should serve our employers and if we were serving the Lord.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward (Colossians 3:23-24 NIV)

What does your job performance at work look like?  Do we stand out to our employers?  How many of us do a mediocre job at work? Daniel stood out.  He had “an excellent spirit” in him, as the KJV says (cf. Daniel 4:8; 5:11; 6:3). There was something different about him.  People could tell.

5. If you want to please God, spend time alone with God.

Daniel’s secret was his private devotional life.  Daniel was one of the great men of prayer in the Bible.  Prayer was a big part of his life.  We learn some important things when we look at Daniel’s prayer life.

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10 NIV).

Daniel’s Personal Prayer Practice

1) Daniel prayed in a specific place

He prayed upstairs.  He prayed in the same room.  It was on the second floor.  It was by a window.  Do you have a specific place to pray?  He did.

2) Daniel prayed on a regular basis

He did not pray like many people.  Many only pray in a time of crisis.  It is not wrong to pray to God in a time of trouble.  God tells us to do that (Psalm 50:15) but it is wrong to only pray during that time.  Daniel prayed every day, not just when there was a crisis,  and he did that for years.  His prayer was not occasional but regular.  He prayed daily, not because he had to but because he loved to pray.  He had a personal relationship with God and enjoyed daily communion and fellowship with Him.

3) Daniel prayed in a persistent manner

He did not just pray once a day.  He prayed three times a day.  Many Christians today barely pray once a day.  He prayed three times a day (morning, noon and night).  Daniel must have been extremely busy.  He had a top government job, but he found the time to leave his office and go home and pray.  We are not told how long he prayed.  It doesn’t say he prayed three hours each time, but he prayed three times a day.

4. Daniel prayed in a specific posture

He prayed kneeling.  He was in his eighties but still prayed on his knees three times a day.  He must have had some good knees.  I recommend buying a good prayer mat.  It is true that God can hear you regardless of your posture in prayer but often your physical posture reflects your inward attitude.  Kneeling shows humility.  It shows submission.

5. Daniel prayed in a specific direction

He prayed facing Jerusalem.  He prayed in the direction of the old temple.  Should Christians do that today?  Do we need to pray to Jerusalem?  We do not need to do that.  There is no command for us to pray in a particular direction.  The only direction we pray is up.

Now, when Jews were kicked out of the land, they were told to pray toward the temple (I Kings 8:33-34; II Chronicles 6:24-25), because God’s presence was located in the Temple, but the Temple was destroyed.  It is gone.  God no longer dwells in temples.

That is why Jesus says in John 4 that true worshippers are not people who worship in this place or that place geographically but are people who worship “in spirit and in truth.”  You don’t have to take a pilgrimage to Mecca or Jerusalem to worship.  You don’t have to pray in a particular direction to get God to listen to you.

Prayer was important to Daniel, but it was not the only thing he did.  Daniel was also a Bible student and we can prove that.  In fact, his Bible study only led him to pray even more.

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:1-3 NIV)

Here Daniel read the book of Jeremiah and it led him to prayer.  When did he do this?  In the first year of Darius (about the same time frame we are dealing with in Daniel 6).

6. If you want to please God, don’t compromise your faith.

Daniel had a chance to compromise his faith.  He was told that he could not pray to anyone but Darius.  How did he respond?

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10 NIV).

When he learned about the law, what did he do?  He didn’t call his lawyer, he prayed to God. He could have compromised in a number of ways.  He could have tried to pray silently.  He could have prayed out loud but shut the window, so no one heard or saw him.  He could have prayed in a different room.  He could have followed the law, since it only involved thirty days.  It was only temporary, but he refused to compromise his faith.  Daniel would rather die than miss one prayer meeting.

7. If you want to please God, expect to encounter opposition.

II Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus WILL be persecuted” (NIV).

This is a promise.  If you follow God, you will be watched, and you will be persecuted.  That’s what they did to Daniel.  Daniel encountered opposition.  He encountered persecution.  Daniel was persecuted for his prayer ministry.  Very few people would be persecuted for this today

He not only had enemies, he had people who HATED him, and these were people at work.  These were his co-workers.  They were his colleagues.  They did not just want to get him in trouble or get him fired.  They wanted to get him killed.  Why did they hate him?  Jealousy.  Jealousy is a serious sin.  People kill out of jealousy.

Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego experienced persecution in Daniel 3.  They were thrown into the fiery furnace for not bowing down to a gigantic image.  Where was Daniel?  No one knows but he did not get off.  He faced persecution as well.  He is thrown in the lion’s den in Daniel 6.  Daniel did not just face one lion but a den of hungry lions.

8. If you want to please God, you may need to do some radical things.

In this chapter, we not only see Daniel the prayer warrior, we see Daniel the lawbreaker.  He commits civil disobedience.  He broke a law deliberately, intentionally and without apology.  He prayed.  This was a defiant prayer.  Daniel prayed when it was against the law to pray.

Christians are supposed to obey the law.  Romans 13:1 says that we are to submit to the governing authorities.  We are commanded to obey the government in power.  There is one exception.  Any time you are given a choice between obeying God and obeying the government, we are to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).

This is the second time in Daniel we have seen this.  Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego disobeyed a Babylonian law.  Daniel disobeyed a Medo-Persian law.  They did not just disobey these laws because they did not like them and thought they were bad laws.  They disobeyed them because they commanded them to sin.  Both times, they accepted the consequences of their actions.

9. If you want to please God, expect to see him work in your life.

Daniel saw God work a miracle in this chapter.  God shut the mouth of hungry lions.  God is not only sovereign over nations, and kings, He is sovereign over the animal kingdom.  God kept Daniel alive that night and controlled the lions.  We are not always delivered from death.  Many Christians in ancient Rome were fed to the lions and died.

We may not encounter a real angel, like Daniel did but we should see God work in our life.  We should see real miracles.  We should see our prayers answered.  We should see God do amazing things in our life. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Daniel is pictured as one of the great men of faith.  He is mentioned in the Faith Hall of Fame in the NT and we should be people of great faith as well.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. (Hebrews 11:32-34 NIV)

10. If you want to please God, you will make an impact on those around you.

If you are salt and light, if you have a good testimony, people will be affected.  Darius saw what God did through Daniel and he was affected.  He witnessed the miracle in the lion’s den and became a believer. Nebuchadnezzar issued a negative decree.  Darius issues a positive decree.

Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly! 26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

“For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. 27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” (Daniel 6:25-27 NIV)

Three Powerful Words

Daniel 5 describes one of the most significant events in world history.  It describes the fall of Babylon to Medo-Persia.  Persia conquers ancient Babylon, which would be like Iran (modern Persia) conquering Iraq (modern Babylon). Babylon was one of the most powerful cities in the ancient world.  This was one of the biggest upsets in military history.

The chapter also contains a mystery and a riddle with a play on words.  A secret message is given to a pagan king.  In this chapter, another Babylonian king gets divine revelation.  God gave supernatural messages to a few Babylonian kings.  Nebuchadnezzar got it in the form of a dream, two dreams (one at the beginning and one at the end of his reign).

Belshazzar got it in the form of writing on the wall (divine graffiti) on the last day of his reign as king. One king was given a message while he was asleep.  The other was given the revelation while he was awake and in public.  God writes some graffiti on the wall.

Divine Graffiti Characteristics

1) It was SHORT

This message was not long. It consisted of only three words written in Aramaic.  There are four words in the text, but one is repeated.  The words are mene, mene, tekel, parsin.  The KJV has upharsin.  In Aramaic u just means “and”.  It is a conjunction.

2) It was SECRET

It seemed to be written in code.  Nobody knew what it meant.  None of the wise men of Babylon could interpret it.  It was a complete mystery.

3) It was NEGATIVE

When interpreted, everything about this message was negative.  One of the messages to Nebuchadnezzar contained some good news but this was all bad news for Belshazzar.  There was no good news.  There was no gospel in this message.

4) It was FRIGHTENING

Even before it was interpreted, it was frightening.  The way the message was given was frightening.  Out of nowhere, a creepy hand comes out of the wall and starts writing a message.  It was like something straight out of a horror movie.  This terrified Belshazzar and it would probably terrify us.

5) It was DIVINE

It was written with the finger of God.  It was not a magic trick.  God was giving Belshazzar an important message.  God does not have a physical body but he can take on the form of a human body.  He wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone with his finger.

We have all seen something that scared us.  We have all seen some scary movies.  This fear did not come from a horror movie.  It did not come from a haunted house.  It was not caused by a ghost or a demon.  God was the one who caused Belshazzar to become terrified.

Belshazzar was in the middle of a big party.  God came in and said that the party is over.  Belshazzar went from JOY to utter FEAR.  Belshazzar had an encounter with God and it frightened him.  Does God scare people?  Does God do this to people?

When many people have an encounter with God in the Bible, they are terrified.  Why?  The Bible says that God is a consuming fire, not a nice warm cozy fire but a blazing hot CONSUMING FIRE. You say, “That is the God of the OT.”  Hebrews says that OUR GOD is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

God spoke audibly to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai.  He spoke in a loud voice.  The mountain began to shake.  There was lightning and thunder.  The people were absolutely terrified.  They thought they were going to die.  They all moved back.

When sinners stand before a holy God for judgment, they are terrified.  Why?  Hebrews says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).  It is absolutely terrifying and frightening.

This chapter describes the last day on earth for Belshazzar.  The day was October 12, 539 BC.  When the day is over, he is dead.  Have you ever thought what your last day on earth will be like?  This chapter gives us his last day.

Belshazzar is given a message of judgment to him personally and to his nation.  He is about to be dethroned.  He is about to die.  Babylon is about to lose its status as the number one power in the world.  They were the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar’s statute dream.  The gold empire is going to be replaced by the silver empire.  God used Babylon to judge the Jews. Now it is time for them to be judged as a nation.

Liberal Criticism

This chapter has a strange miracle in it and it is not too surprising that it has received a lot of criticism from liberals.  For hundreds of years, critics used to mock this chapter, not just because of the supernatural element in the chapter.  They said that there is nobody in history known as Belshazzar or Darius the Mede.

They never existed.  The Bible must contain some errors.  There are plenty of ancient histories written on Babylon (e.g., Herodotus, Berosus) and none of them mention Belshazzar.  According to secular history, the one who conquered Babylon was not Darius the Mede; it was Cyrus.  All history confirms this fact.

Then, in 1854, archeologists discovered some documents with Belshazzar’s name on it.  They found some cuneiform tablets with the name Bel-Shar-utzer on it.  He is called the firstborn son of Nabonidus.  Then they changed their attack.  Daniel 5 begins with the words “King Belshazzar.”  They said that Belshazzar may have existed, but he was not king.  The last king was Nabonidus, not Belshazzar.  That is only partially true.

Nabonidus was the king but his oldest son Belshazzar served as co-regent in charge of Babylon.  Nabonidas was indeed the king but ten of the seventeen years he ruled, he lived outside of Babylon.  While he was gone, he put Belshazzar in charge.[1]  He was not the official king, but he was the de facto king.

Daniel 5 is completely historical.  Belshazzar promised to make Daniel third in the kingdom.  Why didn’t he promise to make him second?  He didn’t because he was second.  Nabonidus was first.  What does this chapter show?  It shows that you can trust the Bible.  It is completely historical.

Belshazzar Facts

As we come to Daniel 5, about a king named Belshazzar.  He has not been mentioned before in Daniel.  Who was Belshazzar?  What do we know about him.

1) He was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson.

Nebuchadnezzar is called his father three times in the chapter (Daniel 5:2, 11, 18) but Belshazzar was not his son.  The word in the original just means ancestor.  It doesn’t always mean father.

2) He lived many years later

Nebuchadnezzar is no longer king at this point in the book.  He died in 562 BC.  More than thirty years have passed between Daniel 4 and Daniel 5.  How do we know that?  Chapter five deals with events twenty-three years after King Nebuchadnezzar died and chapter four deals with events at least seven years before he died.

3) He ruled when his nation was in decline

When Nebuchadnezzar was king, the nation was at its peak.  After he died, the nation was characterized by political instability.   Nebuchadnezzar ruled the nation for forty-three years.  After he died, four kings ruled the country in the next twenty years.

After Nebuchadnezzar died, his son took over.  The Bible calls him Evil-Merodock (also called Amel-Marduk) but he only lasted two years before he was assassinated.  The one who assassinated him (Nergal-Sharezer) took over and reigned four years and then put his son Labashi-Marduk was put on the throne, but he only ruled for nine months before he was assassinated by a man called Nabonidus who was married to Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter.  Their oldest son was named Belshazzar.

Summary of the Chapter

Belshazzar throws a party.  He holds a banquet.  It is a state banquet.  It is a big banquet.  A thousand people are invited to this party.  Wine is served at this party.  Some preachers (usually Baptists) love this chapter because they use it to rail against alcohol.  They miss the whole point of the passage.

It is not wrong to have a feast.  It is not wrong to invite people over and throw a big party.  It is not wrong to drink wine.  Jesus turned water into wine.  God is not against parties.  There will be parties in heaven.  There will be banquets on earth when Jesus returns.  None of those things are condemned here.  What is the problem?  What sin did Belshazzar commit?

While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. (Daniel 5:2-3 NIV)

The Sins of Belshazzar

1) PRIDE

We see in Daniel 5:22-23 that pride was one of Belshazzar’s main sins. Daniel says, “But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.”

As his empire is crumbling, Belshazzar throws a party.  He is partying with the Persian army outside his walls.  He is overconfident.  He thought he was invincible.  He thought he was untouchable.  He had nothing to worry about.  He had tall thick walls.  He had plenty of food for twenty years stored up.  He had water from the Euphrates River.

Babylon was a fortress.  It was like the Titanic.  People used to think it was unsinkable.  They said that even God could not sink it, but pride comes before a fall. Many today have a false sense of security.  I talk to some atheists at work who think that they have absolutely nothing to worry about.  Everything is fine.  One day they will stand face to face with an infinitely holy God.

2) SACRILEGE

Belshazzar commits sacrilege to show that he is not intimidated by the God of the Jews any more than he is intimidated by the Persian troops outside.  Sacrilege means misuse of what is sacred.  During the party, the king decides that it is time to break out the fine china.  He wanted to drink from golden cups, so he took sacred vessels from the temple in Jerusalem and used them as beer mugs.  People do what Belshazzar did today. Sacred things are treated with disrespect.  They are mocked and ridiculed by society and popular culture.

3) IDOLATRY

As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. (Daniel 5:4 NIV)

Belshazzar does not just use these vessels to drink wine, he uses them to commit idolatry.  He uses them in a public celebration in honor of pagan deities.  He used them in a praise service to pagan deities

The Divine Response

Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. (Daniel 5:5 ESV)

There are not too many parties where God shows up.  He shows up here.  He crashes the party. God shows up to this party.   It is interesting to me that archaeologists have discovered and excavated the very room where this banquet took place.  They found it in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace.  It would have been big enough to accommodate this feast and it has a white plaster wall in it, just like Daniel says.

As soon as they begin drinking from the holy cups, the hand pops it of the wall and writes a message.  Belshazzar was terrified.  He was so scared that he turned white as a ghost.  He was so scared that he began to shake physically.  He knew the message came from God.  He knew it is was important and had idea it might be bad, but he did not know what it said, so he looks for answers.

The Search for Answers

He turned to the wrong place.  He called in the wise men and astrologers (Daniel 5:7) and they were completely useless but then a woman comes to the rescue.  She knew that he could interpret the writing.  We don’t know who she is.  She is unnamed, but she knew who to turn to.  An old woman came in who knew Daniel.  She was either Belshazzar’s mother (Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter) or Belshazzar’s grandmother (Nebuchadnezzar’s wife).

Daniel’s Interpretation

Daniel was called in.  Belshazzar offers him a reward if he can give him the interpretation (purple clothes, a gold chain and a promotion to third in the kingdom).  Daniel refuses the gifts.  He does not work for money.

Daniel is in his eighties at this point.  How do we know?  This chapter takes place in 539 BC.  Daniel was exiled in 605 BC.  That was sixty-six years earlier and he was exiled around the age of sixteen, which would make him 82.  We saw Daniel as a teenager and he is on fire for God. Now we see him as an octogenarian and he is just as strong in his faith.  He is just as bold.

He gives the interpretation but before he gives it, he preaches a little sermon (Daniel 5:19-23).  It is a strange sermon.  The sermon begins with a history lesson. He tells him that he did not learn the lessons of history.  He did not learn anything from what happened to his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar and how God judged him for his pride.  Nebuchadnezzar sinned out of ignorance.  Belshazzar’s sin was not.  Now it is time for Belshazzar to be judged.  We are told that very night he was slain (Daniel 5:30).

Xenophon says that when the Persians found him, he had a sword in his hand, but they completely overwhelmed him and killed him (VII.5. 30).  Daniel says that the words on the wall mean numbered, weighed and divided.  All are verbs in Aramaic (passive participles).  MENE means that your number is up! TEKEL means that you don’t measure up! PERES (sing of divided) means that your kingdom will be broken up!

The chapter ends with the statement. “and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.”  Who was Darius the Mede?  There are all kinds of theories, but he seems to be the one who was appointed by Cyrus to be the governor of Babylon.  He did not rule over Persia.  He was MADE KING over the Babylonians (Daniel 9:1).  He was the little king under the big king (Cyrus).  He is known in history as Gubaru in the Nabonidus Chronicle.  Critics say he never existed.   Secular history has never heard of a man named Darius the Mede.  He is not mentioned outside the Bible but the same critics also said that Belshazzar also never existed.

Lessons from Three Words

We do not have a writing on a wall to read.  God did not write a message on the wall to us.  He wrote a message in a book.  The Bible is our writing on the wall.  The unsaved can read it but not really understand it because they do not have the Holy Spirit.  Today, we want to look at how these three words which forever changed the life of Belshazzar apply to us today.  What do they mean to us?

1. MENE: Our days are numbered by God

The word mene shows that God is sovereign.  Our days are numbered and only God knows what that number is.  He is sovereign over how long we live.  He is sovereign over how long kings rule.  He is sovereign over who rules each country.

Why the spooky miracle in this chapter?  Why doesn’t the chapter simply read like a history book and describe the end of the Babylonians and the rise of the Persians as a world power?  God wanted to show in advance that He was sovereign.  He rules in the affairs of men.

Belteshazzar was appointed by God a certain amount of time on earth to rule and his time was up.  Daniel 5 describes Belshazzar’s last day on earth.  It describes his last supper.  He dies in the last verse of the chapter.  Our time is limited as well.  Our days are numbered.  One day, our time will be up.

God doesn’t tell us how much time we have.  Most of us live to be around seventy but some live longer and some live much shorter.  We need to be absolutely sure that we are saved.  We need to do whatever God has called us to do while we are here.  We need to live a life that pleases Him.  We need to live with a sense of purpose and urgency.

Time on earth is limited.  It is limited to people.  It is limited to nations.  It is limited to churches. One day God will say, “Time is up.”  How much time do we have left to live?  How much time do we have left as a nation to live?  Babylon was one of the greatest in the ancient world and it fell.  The empire of gold was replaced by the empire of silver in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  Babylon fell quickly.  It fell in one night.  It fell without a shot.  No battle even took place.

What happened to Babylon is a warning to every nation. Nations need to beware of OVERCONFIDENCE.  Babylon thought it could never fall.  It had high walls.  It had plenty of water.  It had enough food to last for twenty years.  Nations are not indestructible.  They are not invincible.  They can fall.  They can fall quickly.  America can fall.

2. TEKEL: Our actions are weighed by God

This chapter shows what Belshazzar thought of God and what God thought of Belshazzar.  Belshazzar mocked God.  He ridiculed God publicly.  He blasphemed God.  He had no respect and no reverence for God, like many people do today.  What did God think of Belshazzar?  He weighed in the balance and found wanting (Daniel 5:27).  He did not measure up.

The first word shows that God is sovereign.  The second word tekel shows that man is responsible.  We are responsible before God.  There is a weighting time.  God has some scales and He puts people in the balances to weigh and inspect them. Our days are not only numbered but weighed.  They are evaluated and assessed by God.  Our lives are being weighed.

That describes the whole human race.  We have all been weighed in the balance of heaven’s scales and found wanting.  We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God weighs people in the balance.  He weighs kings in the balance.  He weighs nations in the balance.  He weighs churches in the balance.  He weighs ministers in the balance.

You can’t escape the weighing time in God’s balances.  God used Babylon for a purpose.  God used them to judge the sin of Judah.  Now it’s time is up.  It is time for Babylon to be judged for its sins.

The sins of churches will also be weighed.  When Jesus walked among the seven churches in the Book of Revelation with eyes like a flame of fire.  He knows the works of each church (the group and the bad) and He examines them.  Some of them did not measure up.  He had some things against some of those churches.  He probably has some things against many churches today.

3. PEREZ: Our actions will be judged by God

Daniel 5:25 uses the word parsin.  That is the just the plural form of perez in Aramaic. To us it means that division is coming. There will be a future division on the last day.  Believers will be separate from believers.  Sheep will be separated from goats.  Judgment is coming.  Judgment is coming for everybody.  Unbelievers will be judged on the last day.

Believers will be judged as well.  The judgment will not determine our eternal destiny.  That was already decided at the moment of our salvation, but we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged.

[1] Nabonidus Cylinder, ii. 18-29

The Nebuchadnezzar Syndrome

Daniel 4 has to go down as one of the strangest chapters of the Bible for a number of reasons.

  • It is one of the few chapters of the Bible that ever deals with mental illness.  This chapter was written by someone who struggled with mental illness in the past.  It describes a king who went crazy. He was not born with mental illness.  Sin made him crazy.  Sin can make people sick and it can cause insanity.
  • This chapter is in the Book of Daniel but Daniel did not write it.  It was written by Nebuchadnezzar.  The first verse of the chapter says, “King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you!” (Daniel 4:1 ESV).  Most people read this chapter without realizing who wrote it.  Nebuchadnezzar wrote it.  It is autobiographical. Much of it is written in the first person.  He writes it as a personal letter.  That is strange.
  • It is not only not written by Daniel but seems to be written by a complete pagan.  How could that be inspired?  What is a pagan king writing a chapter of the Bible?  The answer is that Nebuchadnezzar comes to faith in this chapter.  He gets saved in this chapter.  If that is true, it makes it one of the only chapters of the Bible written by a brand-new believer.

In this chapter, Nebuchadnezzar is at the end of his life now.  He is probably in his sixties or seventies.  This is the last chapter in Daniel that deals with Nebuchadnezzar and he gives us his personal testimony in his own words.  This testimony describes SIN.  It describes JUDGMENT.  It describes GRACE and it describes RESTORATION.

This chapter contains a very practical lesson that all of us need to hear about pride.  It describes a man who went on an ego trip and what happened to him.  Nebuchadnezzar finally learns his lesson and shares with us what he learned.  There is also a very important theological lesson in this chapter.  This chapter will completely REVOLUTIONIZE your view of God.  Many people have a problem with what it says, including some people in church.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

What happens in this chapter?  Nebuchadnezzar receives another dream and tries to find someone to interpret it, like his did before.  History seems to be repeating itself.  It is like the same song, separate verse.  Nebuchadnezzar receives a strange dream at night.  It troubles him.  He calls in the wise men.  They cannot interpret it.  He calls in Daniel and he gives  Nebuchadnezzar  the interpretation.

Nebuchadnezzar rules Babylon for a long time.  He rules it for forty-three years.  The first dream took place at the very beginning of his reign.  It took place in the second year of his reign.  This dream takes place about thirty years later, closer to the end of his reign.  Nebuchadnezzar is at home.  Everything is going great and he has another supernatural dream.  It is similar to his first dream  but there are some important differences.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. 5 I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. (Daniel 4:4-5 NIV).

The first one was disturbing.  This one was frightening.  The first dream was about a tall statute that fell over.  This dream was about a tall tree that fell over.  An angel commanded it to be cut down.  It was cut down and the tree fell.  After it fell, the branches were cut off. The leaves were stripped off.  The fruit was scattered.  The animals fled.  The birds were scattered but the tree is not killed.  A stump is left.  The tree survives and a band of iron and bronze is put around the stump.

Last time, he not only asked for the interpretation, he asked for the dream as well and threatened to kill anyone who could not give him both.  This time, he only asks for the interpretation of the dream and when the wise men cannot come up with the interpretation, he does not threaten to kill them.  Perhaps he got a little nicer in his old age.  When no one else could interpret the dream, he turned to Daniel.

Daniel’s Interpretation

When Daniel heard the dream, he was terrified.  Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him (Daniel 4:19 NIV).  Nebuchadnezzar was terrified by the dream.  Daniel was terrified by the interpretation. The first dream was good news to Nebuchadnezzar.  This dream was bad news for Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel shows two characteristics when dealing with Nebuchadnezzar, which we could learn from today.

First, Daniel was BOLD

He said to him, “You are the tree” (Daniel 4:22), just like Nathan the prophet had to say to king David after he committed adultery, “You are the man” (I Samuel 12:7).  Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, “The tree stands for a person and that person is YOU.  You are great.  You are powerful.  You are famous, like this tree, but you are going to have a great fall.”  He spoke truth to the most powerful man in the world.  He told him what he needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear.  He was willing to say some hard things to people in power.  He was willing to be the bearer of bad news and say what was unpopular.

Second, Daniel was COMPASSIONATE

Giving bad news was not something that he enjoyed doing. He said, “if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!(Daniel 4:19 NIV).  He could have said, “It serves you right, you wicked pagan, after you did to my people, after you did to my country, after you did to God’s Temple and after what he did to me.  You deported me hundreds of miles against my will.”  He did not say that.  He had compassion for people.  He delivered the message with a broken heart.  Daniel is the perfect example in the OT of someone who spoke the truth IN LOVE (Ephesians 4:15).

He also pointed out that the dream, as bad as it was, was not all bad. There was some hope in the dream.  Nebuchadnezzar was going to have a great fall.  He was going to be put out to pasture, but it was only temporary.  He would be back.  He was not going to die or even stop ruling all together.  He would be back in seven years.  God was not going to kill him, just humble him.  Judgment was temporary, but Daniel did something else.  He gave him an alternative to judgment. He told him how to avoid being judged at all.

Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue. (Daniel 4:27 NIV).

Had Nebuchadnezzar repented, this judgment would not have taken place.  God gave this pagan king time to repent.

29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”

Notice what Nebuchadnezzar does here.  He is very self-centered.  He is self-absorbed.  Notice all of the pronouns (I have built, by MY power and for the glory of MY majesty).  He boasts about his own accomplishments (is not this the GREAT Babylon I have built…by my MIGHT POWER?).  He takes credit for all of his accomplishments.

These are all qualities praised in our society.  Society encourages people to be strong, independent, self-made and successful.  There are plenty of self-made millionaires.  It is not wrong to be confident.  It is wrong to brag about your success.

That raises an interesting question.  Are we like Nebuchadnezzar?  Do we give God glory or do take credit for all our success and accomplishments?  No human being should every boast or glory in God’s presence (I Corinthians 1:29).

31 Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.” (Daniel 4:29-32 NIV).

Message for Today

1) God keeps His Word

God gave Nebuchadnezzar a prophecy.  Time went by and nothing happened.  Weeks went by.  Months went by and absolutely nothing happened.  Nebuchadnezzar shook it off.  Perhaps Daniel got the interpretation wrong.  One year later, the dream came literally true.  God’s judgment may be slow, but it is certain.

2) God resists the proud

That comes right out of James.  God OPPOSES the proud.  He resists the proud (James 4:6).  He judges pride. Pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). Jesus said, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 14:11 NIV).  John Macarthur calls this chapter “a warning to every proud ruler.”  It is a warning to every proud person.

Nebuchadnezzar was very successful.  He was very wealthy.  He was very powerful.  He was very prosperous.  He was very accomplished.  He was one of the greatest builders in the ancient world.  He lived in the greatest city in the world at that time, but he had one fatal flaw.  It is a flaw that many people have today.  It is pride.

Pride is used in a good sense (self-respect) and a bad sense today (superiority).  Nebuchadnezzar had it in the bad sense.  He had what some have called the Nebuchadnezzar Syndrome.  He had a mental disorder which has a name: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

People have this syndrome today.  There are some modern-day Nebuchadnezzars.  What are the characteristics of the Nebuchadnezzar Syndrome?  People who have this have an exaggerate sense of self-importance.  They have an inflated self-image.

They exaggerate their achievements and abilities.  They have a need for constant admiration and a lack of empathy for other people and exploits them.  Everything is about them. Nebuchadnezzar had more than an inflated ego.  He had a god complex. He thought he was a god.  He had a ninety foot image constructed and made people worship the image.

Pride is a sin that God hates and judges.  Notice how He judged it.  He judged it with SICKNESS.  He judged it with mental illness. It was a punishment from God.  That raises an interesting question.

Does God cause some people to get sick?  Does God cause some people to lose their mind and go crazy?  Some teach that only Devil does causes sickness and disease.  In this chapter, God does it and He even uses angels, not demons to accomplish it.  He uses angels from heaven (Daniel 4:17).  He uses his “holy ones” (Daniel 4:13, 17).

He calls them “watchers” (Daniel 4:17). That is Daniel’s term for angels.  They watch us.  The only time they are called this is in the Book of Daniel.  The Pseudepigrapha (I Enoch) uses that term for fallen angels but Daniel uses the term for good angels.  These angels issued the commands to cut the tree down, cut of it’s branches, strip it’s leaves and scatter it’s fruit (Daniel 4:14-16).  They were the ones who set the whole thing in motion.

You say, “God may cause sickness and disease but only in OT times.” The problem is that we see same thing in the NT.  Acts 12:21-23 says, “On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died” (NIV).  He even judges believers with sickness (I Corinthians 11:29-30).

3) God can save anyone

Many scholars believe that Nebuchadnezzar got saved in this chapter (Young, Wood, Walvoord, Miller).  Not everyone believes that he was saved, but many think that he will be in heaven.

Was Nebuchadnezzar Saved?

1) Nebuchadnezzar is changed

He has a huge transformation in this chapter.  Nebuchadnezzar went from the heart of a MAN to the heart of a BEAST to the heart of a SAINT in this chapter.  He goes from having a proud heart to having a humble heart

2) He acknowledges God

He used to call Him Daniel’s God (Daniel 2:47).  He used to call Him “the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” (Daniel 3:29).  Before this time, he used to worship Bel who he calls “my god” (Daniel 4:8).  Now, He calls Him “the Most High” (Daniel 4:34) and “the King of Heaven” (Daniel 4:37).  The polytheist was turned into a monotheist.

3) He worships God

Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t just acknowledge the true God in this chapter, he and praises Him.  He worships Him.  At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I BLESSED the Most High, and PRAISED and HONORED him who lives forever (Daniel 4:35 ESV). 

In Daniel 3, he commanded people to worship him.  In Daniel 4, is worships the true God.  Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, PRAISE and EXTOL and HONOR the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (Daniel 4:37 ESV).

4) He tells others about God

He does not just worship this God.  He tells others about this God. He becomes a preacher or an evangelist. He sends a proclamation to the world.

There are many people in the world today that we think could never be saved.  They are too wicked and too proud to ever bow the knee to Jesus.  The truth is that God can save anyone.  No one is too bad to be saved.  Paul called himself ‘the chief of sinners” (I Timothy 1:15).  He used to persecute, imprison and kill Christians.  We would call him a terrorist today and god saved him.

This chapter shows that God can save anyone.  Nebuchadnezzar was an extremely wicked man.  He was a tyrant.  He was a dictator.  He was arrogant.  He thought he was a god.  He had a god complex.  He had a terrible temper.  He was angry.  He was violent.  He murdered people.  He didn’t just murder them.  He tortured them.  He burned them alive.  He dismembered people.  He tried to kill Daniel’s three friends.  He enslaved millions of people.

If Nebuchadnezzar can come to faith, anyone can.  God had to break him first. He took away his power to rule Babylon for a time.  He took away his ability to reason and think.  He became the king who went crazy. God has to do some things to get our attention when we are a little hard-headed. He had to do that with the Apostle Paul.

He had to knock him over with a bright light, blind him and talk to him audibly and call him by name.  He will use different things to talk to us and get our attention.  What did God use to get Nebuchadnezzar’s attention?

How God Reached King Nebuchadnezzar

1. He used DREAMS

God spoke to him in a dream more than once.  He had divine revelation.

2. He used EXAMPLES

He had the righteous people who worked for him who shinned the light before him (Daniel and his three friends).

3. He used MIRACLES

Nebuchadnezzar saw a stupendous miracle with his own eyes.  It was verifiable.

4. He used WARNINGS

He used exhortation.  Nebuchadnezzar was warned by a prophet of God.  Daniel warned him what would happen and told him to repent. When that did not work, God did something else.

5. He used GRACE

After the warning, God gave Nebuchadnezzar a grace period.  He did not immediately judge him.  He gave him twelve months to repent but he didn’t.

6. He used DISEASE

It not only affected his body but his mind.  God knows how to get our attention.  He can use personal tragedy.  He knows how to humble us.  Daniel 4:37 says, “those who walk in pride He is able to humble” (NIV).

4) God rules the world

One thing that this chapter teaches is the absolute sovereignty of God.  He does not rule over some kingdoms or most kingdoms.  He rules over EVERY KINGDOM.  He is in charge of who rules.  This is a doctrine that many people do not like.  Most of us frankly have trouble believing this.

Many think God does not decide, we decide.  We thought we decide who rules us on Election Day.  This chapter says God decides.  He decides who rules each country and gives power to rule to anyone He choose to rule.  We believe He is sovereign when our party wins.  We are not as convinced when the other side wins.

The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that THE MOST HIGH RULES the kingdom of men and gives it TO WHOM HE WILL and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ (Daniel 4:17 ESV)

THE MOST HIGH RULES the kingdom of men and gives it TO WHOM HE WILL (Daniel 4:25 ESV)

And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that HEAVEN RULES. (Daniel 4:26 ESV)

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as NOTHING, and he does ACCORDING TO HIS WILL among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; AND NONE CAN STAY HIS HAND or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-35 ESV)

Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases him. (Psalm 115:3 NIV)

The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. (Psalm 135:6 NIV)

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:11 NIV).  God works of EVERYTHING in conformity with the purpose of His will, not some things or most things but all things.

God is completely sovereign.  The point of this chapter is that HEAVEN RULES.  He does what He wants, and no one can stop him.  No one can question what He does.  What about free will?  God give us free will, but He is still sovereign.

When we were born, God did not ask us if we wanted to be born black or white.  He did not ask us if we wanted to be born in US or in Nepal.  He did not ask us if we wanted to live in the first century or the twentieth century.  He did not ask us if we wanted our parents to be rich or poor.  He did not ask us if we would be born with the ability to play sports or the ability to do math.  He did not ask us if we wanted to be tall or short or what we would look like.

God is sovereign and He is in control, even when it does not seem like it.  It seemed like the pagans were in control.   God’s kingdom was smashed.  His temple was burned.  His people were taken in captivity.  Sacred vessels from the temple were stolen and put in temple of pagan gods. It looked like God was not in control at all.  When it seems like He is working the least, He is working the most.[1]

God is sovereign.  He is running the world.  You say, “I thought Satan was.”  Jesus did call him “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31) but Daniel 4 says that God is the ultimate ruler.  He allows evil men to do bad things.  He allows Satan to do bad things in the world, but He is still sovereign.  Satan has a limit to how much God allows him to do.  God does what He wants and no one can stop Him.

Nebuchadnezzar had to learn that God rules in the affairs of men and we have to learn that rules in our life as well.  How would our lives be completely changed if we simply believed this?

How would they be different if we really believe that God is in control of everything that happens in the world.  He is in control of everything that happens in our life.  He is in control of the big things that happen.  He is in control of the little things that happen.  That should lead to less fear and anxiety.  it should lead to more trust.

5) God is worthy of praise

When we come face to face with the living God, there has to be a RESPONSE.  Nebuchadnezzar had an encounter with God and he responded in two ways.  First, he responded with praise. The proud monarch fell on his knees and worshipped God.  This chapter begins and ends with praise to God, not Marduk.  Second, he responded with testimony.  He saw miracles.  He had evidence of God working in his life.  He told people about it.

It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. 3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:2-3 NIV)

Personal testimonies are powerful.  All of us should have a testimony.  What has God done in your life?  Have you told anybody?  Our testimony should not just be what God did forty years ago when we accepted Christ as Savior.  What has He done since then?  God does all kinds of things in our life all of the time, but we never tell anyone and we never even praise Him for what He has done.

[1] William Hixson, sermon on Daniel 4, cassette tape (undated).

Faith Under Fire

Today, we come to one of the most famous chapters in the Bible.  Children love this chapter.  Every child in Sunday School knows this story.  Kids in in VBS love it but it is not just a story for children.  It is a story about three brave men that is full of powerful applications for us today.

Few people today in the American church would have the courage to do what these three men did.  They gave a bold witness of their faith.  They were not afraid to take a stand for their faith.  They were not afraid to be different from what other people were doing. They refused to compromise their faith.  In fact, they were willing to give up their life, and not only die but be tortured for their faith.

This is an incredible chapter.  It has DRAMA. It is one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Scripture.  It contains one of the greatest miracles of Scripture.  It has SUSPENSE.  We all know how the story ends but Daniel’s three friends did not know.  They were not sure if God would deliver them.  They were willing to die for their faith.

It has MYSTERY.  How did they get thrown in a fire heated seven times and not get one hair of their head burned?  Who was the fourth man in the fire?  You do not see him come in the fire and you do not see him leave but he was in the fire with them.

There is a SURPRISE ENDING.  There is a plot twist.  Things look really bad for the three friends in the first part of the chapter and really good for them in the last part of the chapter.  At the beginning of the chapter, they are accused of high crimes.  They face an angry king who yells at them.  They are thrown into a blazing hot fire.

At the end of the chapter, they have a supernatural encounter.  They meet a supernatural being in the fire.  They are miraculously delivered by God from death.  They are not only delivered, they are rewarded.  They are promoted. Nebuchadnezzar praised the God of these three friends (Daniel 3:28). 

For some of you, this chapter may be too familiar.  You have heard it a hundred times, but I am going to challenge you to keep an open mind as we look at this chapter.  There are some things about the chapter that you have heard that are not completely accurate.

There are a few myths that every preacher makes on this chapter, which we will look at.  There is also a view about God that is held today by many Christians that is completely unbiblical and we will see that clearly in this chapter.  There is a deep moral and ethical question that comes right out of this chapter.  Before we look at some of these things, we have to see what happens in the chapter.  There are eight events in this chapter.

Eight Dramatic Events

1. Fancy Statute

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. 3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it. (Daniel 3:1 NIV)

Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder.  He was known for building things.  He was also extremely wealthy.  He builds a statute and he makes it out of gold.  It was probably of pure gold but overlaid with gold.  He builds a statute of himself.  If you go back to the last chapter, there was a statute and Nebuchadnezzar was the head.  Nebuchadnezzar made his own statute but made the entire thing gold from top to bottom.  Babylon was known for its gold.

What he is really doing is trying to thwart the program of God.  He does not just want to be the head of the image (gold head).  He wants to be the whole image and makes it of gold, so it will NOT break. This statute was tall.  It was ninety feet tall.  If you need a visual for that, it would be a little more than two telephone poles high.  Telephone poles are forty feet high.  If would be two telephone poles plus ten more feet high.

Nebuchadnezzar is a type of the future Antichrist.  History will repeat itself.  The future Antichrist will also rule from a city called Babylon.  He will be an ego maniac like Nebuchadnezzar.  He will build an image and have people worship it and if they don’t worship it, they will be killed (Revelation 13:15).  This image of Nebuchadnezzar was sixty cubits high and six cubits in width.  Babylon used numbers in multiples of six.  They didn’t use the decimal system in multiples of ten.  Nebuchadnezzar’s number is 66.  The number of the Antichrist will be 666.

2. False Worship

Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” (Daniel 3:4-6 NIV)

There is a worship service in this chapter with a lot of loud music.  After making the image, people are told to worship the image.  People are to fall down and worship it.  It is not a suggestion or a recommendation.  It is a command and it is a command for everyone.  There are NO EXCEPTIONS.  Nations and peoples of EVERY LANGUAGE, this is what you are COMMANDED to do (Daniel 3:4 NIV). 

Now Nebuchadnezzar did not say that they could not worship Jehovah.  He did not outlaw Jehovah worship.  He simply required that everyone bow down to this image that he built.  In the ancient world, they would have had no problem doing this.  They were syncretistic and polytheistic.  They worshipped many gods.  Bowing down to one more would be no problem.

In fact, they probably just looked at it as a form of patriotism.  We show our patriotism by saluting the flag.  In Babylon, they showed it a different way, by bowing to the king.  It was a test of loyalty, but it was also a test of worship.

For Daniel’s three friends, it meant worshipping a false god.  Nebuchadnezzar is COMMANDING these Jews to sin.  He is ordering them to violate their conscience.  He is telling them to break the first two of the Ten Commandments.  The First Commandment says not to worship another god.  The Second Commandment says not to worship anyone by means of an image.

3. Fierce Critics

At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews.9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever! 10 Your Majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, 11 and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:8-12 NIV)

We all know people who are chronic fault finders.  They are constant critics.  People criticize other people for different reasons.  Some criticism is valid.  Sometimes people criticize you for the wrong reason.  Sometimes people criticize you because they are threatened by you or feel insecure or want you to look bad.

Daniel 3:8 says, “Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and MALICIOUSLY accused the Jews” (ESV).  This criticism was motivated by jealousy and hatred.  They wanted them to be killed.  They wanted them thrown into the fiery furnace.  They spoke to the king and began with flattery, but they hated these three men.  Why did they hate them?

These men were set over the affairs of Babylon (Daniel 3:12).  They had a position power and prominence over other Babylonians and they were foreigners.  They were immigrants.  In fact, they were Jewish. There is jealousy here.  There is racism and there is anti-Semitism.  Through-out history, when Jews have had political power or wealth, it has led to jealousy, racism and anti-Semitism.

4. Final Mandate

Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, 14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” (Daniel 3:13-15 NIV)

When everyone was supposed to bow down to the ground, they all did, except for three people who stood up straight.  Everyone could see it.  They were not secret believers.  They did not try to hide their faith.  They were not ashamed of it.  Nebuchadnezzar was told about these three men and he was furious.  He could have killed them immediately, but he gave them one final chance to obey the command and they were told exactly what would happen if they did not do this.

If they don’t, not only will they be thrown into the fiery furnace, they will be thrown in IMMEDIATELY. The threat was real.  The furnace was there.  They could see it.  They could hear it.  Nebuchadnezzar ends it by mocking the God they worship.  He says, if they are thrown into the fiery furnace, “then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” (Daniel 3:15 NIV).  That was a big mistake.  Nebuchadnezzar begins to mock their God.

5. Fearless Reply

They did not argue with the king (Daniel 3:16).  That is an important lesson for us today.  There are times when it does absolutely no good to argue with people.  They just said “No.”  They drew a line in the sand and said, “We are not doing it.” This was incredibly bold.  You did not say “no” to King Nebuchadnezzar.

He was the ruler of the world’s greatest empire.  He was a dictator.  He was an absolute monarch.  He ruled Babylon with an iron fist.  Nebuchadnezzar was the Hitler of the day.  Hitler had his ovens, but Nebuchadnezzar also had some ovens that he used to kill people. He used ovens to cook people, as well as to cook food.

It is a terrible way to die but these three feared the wrath of God more than the wrath of the king.  God has a fiery furnace.  It is called Hell.  It is called in the NT “a furnace of fire.”  It is a place where Jesus said there would be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42).

Nebuchadnezzar said no god could deliver them from his hand.  They said that their God could do that, even in a foreign land.  They said, “the God we serve IS ABLE to deliver us from it, and HE WILL deliver us” (Daniel 3:17 NIV).  That took incredible faith on their faith to believe that but they went on to say, “EVEN IF He doesn’t, we still will not bow to the image.”

6. Fiery Furnace

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual 20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.

21 So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. 22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 23 and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. (Daniel 3:19-23 NIV)

Nebuchadnezzar was angry with these three when he began talking to them but when they said they were not going to follow his order, then he really got mad.  Anger turned into rage.  The ESV says that the expression on his face changed, like little kids.  When you get angry, you can see it in your body language and facial expressions.  He was so angry that he tied them up, made the furnace seven times hotter and got his strongest men to throw them into the fire.

7. Fantastic Miracle

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:19-25 NIV)

We read this and think that it is an incredible miracle.  It is but it is not one miracle but four.

Four Incredible Miracles

1) The fire did NOT kill them

The intense heat of this furnace did not turn them into three chunks of charcoal.  There was no roast of Hebrew nationals (Fruchtenbaum).  Other people died in this fire but they did not.  The men who threw them into the fire died.  Nebuchadnezzar wanted three men dead and that was what he got but they were Babylonians.  In fact, they were his strongest soldiers.

2) The fire did NOT hurt them

The fire did not burn one hair on their head.  I wonder what it felt like to walk around in a fire and it not even hurt you.  This fire had absolutely no power over them.  We are told this in Daniel 3:27.  They were not sitting down or lying down in pain but are walking and talking.  They were not in too big of a hurry to get out of the furnace.

The fire did not hurt them.  It did not hurt their body, their hair or even their clothes.  When you are near a fire, you smell like smoke and your clothes smell like smoke.  They didn’t even smell like smoke and they were in the fire. They even passed the smoke test.

3) The fire helped them

They went into the fire tied up, but they came out of the fire untied.  The fire burned the rope somehow but did not burn them.  The very fire Nebuchadnezzar uses to try to hurt them was the very thing God used to free us.  The fire hurt the Babylonians but helped them.

4) They were visited in the fire

There was someone who showed up in the fire with them.  They had a supernatural visitor with them in the fire and that made all of the difference. They were not only able to survive, they were able to thrive in this furnace.

Many people say that you have to take miracles by faith.  This miracle was verifiable, even by a pagan king.  This miracle was done right before their eyes.  Nebuchadnezzar could count.  He knew that three were thrown into the fire, but he saw four in the fire.  He saw the supernatural being in the fire.  After they came out of the fire, there was an examination of them

And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. (Daniel 3:27 ESV)

Who was the Fourth Man in the Fire?

Almost all preachers will tell you that this is Jesus and that it is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.  It sounds like Jesus in the KJV. The KJV calls the fourth man in the furnace “the Son of God.” Daniel 3:28 reads, “He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (KJV) but there some problems with this view.

The Aramaic, the word for “God” is in the plural (“gods”) and there is no definite article there (bar-elahin).  The one talking is Nebuchadnezzar.  That is not the way a pagan king would talk who worshipped idols. He did not know anything about Jesus.  That is the way a Christian would talk about the Son of God.

The fourth man in the fiery furnace is called an angel.  Daniel 3:28 says, “Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!” (NIV).  The same thing happened again in the book.  History repeats itself.  This time it was not Daniel’s three friends who were in danger but Daniel himself.

Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den.  Notice how Daniel said he was delivered from the lions.  He said, “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.” (Daniel 6:22 NIV).

In both cases, believers are delivered from death.  In both cases, it is by an angel.  An angel delivered Daniel’s three friends from the fiery furnace and an angel delivered Daniel from the lion’s den.  Jesus was not an angel.  He was the one who created the angels.

8. Formal Retraction

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3:28-30 NIV)

Nebuchadnezzar isn’t angry with them anymore.  He is praising them.  Far from giving them a punishment or demotion, he gives them a promotion.  Instead of mocking their God, Nebuchadnezzar says that “no other god can save in this way” (Daniel 3:29).  In Daniel 1, Nebuchadnezzar learned that God interprets dreams.  Now he learned something else about God.  He can deliver his servants and protect them from danger.

Applications for Today

1. God’s people need to take a strong stand in a pagan world

Daniel’s three friends made some resolutions.  They made resolutions about what food they would eat.  We saw that in Daniel 1.  They made resolution about who they would worship.  They were not afraid to be different and to stand out.

To many people  today simply go along with everything that is going on in the world, in society and in the culture.  To many Christians simply go along with everything that is going on in the church and they do not take a strong stand for their faith.  We need to take that strong stand, even if it is unpopular, and even if we have to do it alone.

Taking a strong stand in some cases could mean breaking the law.  This is where we have to be very careful.  Is civil disobedience is ever justified for Christians?  Yes.  There are two cases in the book of Daniel of civil disobedience.  This is a classic case of civil disobedience. Daniel’s three friends refused to bow to the state religion.  They broke the law and they were ethnic minorities.

Is this the same thing as civil disobedience by Martin Luther King and Gandhi?  No.  The Bible does not tell us to disobey any laws that we do not like or even think are unjust.  Christians in the first century were not protesting slavery, even though it may have been unjust.  We are to disobey the government if it commands us to sin or to disobey Scripture.

2. Taking a strong stand for Christ can be risky

Many preachers on Daniel 3 talk about the furnaces of life today and they miss the whole point of the passage.  It is true that we all have trials.  Some people seem like they are in the bottom of a furnace.  They have lost a child or a job or they have lost their health but that is NOT what Daniel 3 is all about.

Daniel’s three friends were in this furnace because of their actions.  They did not have to be in it.  They chose to be in it.  Their obedience to Christ put them in the fire.  They did the right thing and were punished for it.  They were persecuted for their faith.

II Timothy 3:12 says, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (NIV).  This is a promise.  It is not a promise of the Bible that most people turn to, but it is a promise.  If you stand up for Christ today, you may end up in a fiery furnace.

3. If you take a stand for Christ, He will be with you.

That is the clear teaching of the passage. God was in the fire with the three young men.  God is with us in the midst of our suffering.  He will either keep us from the fire or give us grace in the fire? Does this mean that he will never allow the fire to hurt us?  No.  Some believers are martyred for their faith.  Some were even killed by fire, burned alive.

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17 NIV)

Presumptuous Faith Today

This is a very important passage for us today.  Many of our prayers are not requests but demands.  They are militant prayers.  We have to realize that we are not in charge.  God is.  Daniel’s three friends did not have presumptuous faith. They did not say, ‘God can deliver us, and he will deliver us period.”

They said, “He CAN, He WILL, but EVEN IF HE DOESN’T.”  Why did they say that?  In many circles today, that would be considered a lack of faith.  “He can heal me today.  He will heal me today but even if He doesn’t.”  We are told just to believe and NOT doubt.  We do need to have faith but there is something else going on here.

Daniel’s three friends understood a truth that some Christians in the church today do not seem to understand.  There is a difference between God’s POWER and God’s WILL.  There is a difference between what God CAN do and what He WILL do.  They knew that God could deliver them from the fiery furnace, but they did not know if He would.

James MacDonald once said, “So many people wrongly assume that because God CAN, He MUST.  He can do that, so he has to. God can heal my wife, so He better.”[1]  We have to distinguish between OUR WILL and GOD’S WILL.  There is a difference between God’s will and man’s will.  Even Jesus said, “not my will but your will be done” (Mark 14:36).  God is God and we are not.  That is the point of the next chapter in the book.

[1] James MacDonald, “Either Way” (Faith Under Fire sermon series).

Daniel’s First Prophecy

Daniel 2 is a very interesting chapter.  This chapter has everything.  It has drama.  It has intrigue.  It has suspense.  The king threatens people with death.  It has mystery Nebuchadnezzar has a mysterious dream which he cannot understand and needs interpreted.

Daniel receives a death sentence in this chapter.  He almost loses his life.  He ends up being the hero and saving some lives in this chapter, including his own.  This chapter is a turning point in the life of Daniel.  He gets a huge promotion at the end of the chapter.

There is also some deep theology in this chapter.  The chapter is really not about Daniel.  It is about God.  The chapter does contain Daniel’s first prophecy.  It is one of the most important prophecies in the entire Bible.  There are two revelations in this chapter: Nebuchadnezzar gets a dream and Daniel gets a vision.

These revelations describe the next four world empires in advance but it even goes beyond that.  Daniel 2:28 says that the prophecy deals with what that will happen “in the latter days” (ESV, KJV).  It describes end-time events.

This prophecy covers the period from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the reign of the Messiah when he returns.  It covers the period which Jesus called THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES (Luke 21:24). This chapter maps the course of future world history which will be dominated by Gentile powers.  Why is this chapter important to us? It was given to a Gentile king and is about Gentiles.  One writer called it, “The most important single prophecy in the Bible concerning Gentile nations.”[1]  It deals with the end-times.

It is also a MESSIANIC chapter.  Jesus is in this chapter.  Jesus is pictured as a rock (Daniel 2:34, 45).  He is described as a rock in the NT.  He is called a stone of offense and a stone of stumbling (I Peter 2:8; Romans 9:33).  The Jews tripped over that stone.

In this chapter, He is described as a different kind of stone.  He is described as the stone that comes out of nowhere, flies through the air, and smashes the colossal statute that Nebuchadnezzar saw.  This stone completely destroys the image and break it into pieces.  Mathew 21:44 says, “Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed” (NIV).

We can boil down the message of this chapter in one sentence.  One day, God is going to destroy the kingdoms of this world and set up his own.  When Jesus comes back, he is going to destroy all of the other kingdoms on earth and establish his own kingdom on earth. It will not happen gradually over thousands of years.

It will happen instantly.  When he does this, there will not be any trace of the other kingdoms.  They will be gone and the kingdom that He establishes will last forever.  It will never be destroyed.  It will never be replaced.

Six Dramatic Events in Daniel 2

What happens in this chapter?  The chapter can be summarized by six main points.

1. A Disturbing Dream (a pagan king gets divine revelation)

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. (Daniel 2:1 NIV)

Nebuchadnezzar was a young man.  Early in his reign, he had a rather strange dream.  Like a lot of us, Nebuchadnezzar took his problems to bed with him.  He was thinking about his kingdom when he fell asleep (Daniel 2:20).  He was wondering what would happen to his kingdom and this dream answered that and a lot more.

Scientists say that we have about five dreams a night and when we wake up, we do not remember ninety-five percent of our dreams.  This ream of Nebuchadnezzar was different.  It was memorable.  He dreamed about a statute.  This statute was huge.  It was colorful.  It was bright.  It was shiny.

“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue–an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance” (Daniel 2:31 NIV)

Nebuchadnezzar would never forget this dream.[2]  He may have had the same dream more than once because it mentions dreams in the plural (Daniel 2:1).  He knew it was important.  He knew it had meaning.  He knew it was not an ordinary dream.  It was a supernatural dream.  It was a prophetic dream.  He thought he might be involved in the dream but he did not know how.  He did not know what the dream meant.

Many preachers call it a nightmare.  That makes a good sermon but it wasn’t the kind of dream that Nebuchadnezzar had.  This dream didn’t frighten him but it did trouble him (Daniel 2:1).  He did not dream about a ghost or a monster chasing him.  He dreamed about a statute.

He was desperate to find out what it meant, because the dream was symbolic.  He needed someone to tell him what it meant, so who did he turn to?  He turned to experts, the smartest men in the kingdom. In Babylon, there were actual dream experts.  There were ancient Babylonian books on interpreting dreams, written long before the time of Daniel.

2. A Deadly Command (the king freaks out and over reacts)

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means. ”4 Then the astrologers answered the king, “May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it. 5 The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.  (Daniel 2:1-5 NIV)

Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream.” Nebuchadnezzar, said, “I have a dream  and I need it interpreted” (Daniel 2:3), so he calls the experts in.  He uses the carrot and stick approach.  If they tell him what it means, they will get “gifts, rewards and great honor” (Daniel 2:6 NIV).  If they do not, they will not only be killed, they will be dismembered.  He says, “I do not just want the interpretation, I want you to tell me what I dreamed.  I want both.”

All of us have had a demanding boss.  We may have worked for someone who is unreasonable but when he says this, you almost feel sorry for these evil magicians.  Why did Nebuchadnezzar make this demand?  Apparently, he did not trust these wise men.

He thought they were all frauds and con artists, so he thought he could kill two birds with one stone.  He could get his dream interpreted and find out who the false experts were. They said, “Not only can we not do this, no one can,” which made the king furious, so they are arrested, and Arioch, head of the executioners, even comes to arrest Daniel.

3. An Urgent Prayer (Daniel and his friends get on their knees and pray hard)

Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. (Daniel 2:17-18 NIV).

Daniel went to the king, said that he can interpret the dream but he needs some time to do it.  Daniel used “wisdom and tact” (Daniel 2:14).  The king gives him time.  He comes home, tells his friends and they have a prayer meeting, an all-night prayer meeting.  Their necks were on the line.  They were praying for their lives.  They did not have to wait long.  That night their prayer was answered.  Daniel praised God and then tells Arioch that he is ready to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

4. A Mystery Revealed (God comes through and answers prayer through a vision)

During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. (Daniel 2:19 NIV).  The first thing after he receives the vision is to praise God (Daniel 2:19-23).

5. A Dream Interpreted (Daniel tells the king the meaning of the dream)

Daniel is taken to the king.  The king said to Daniel, “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” (Daniel 2:26).  Daniel says, “I can’t but God can.  He is the revealer of mysteries.  He revealed it to me.”

6. A Teenager Honored (the king rewards Daniel)

When Nebuchadnezzar hears the dream and the interpretation, he falls down on his face.  He praises Daniel and Daniel’s God (Daniel 2:46-47).  Then, he rewards Daniel with MANY GIFTS and a high position.  Daniel asked Nebuchadnezzar not to execute the wise men of Babylon (Daniel 2:24).  He saved the lives of his enemies.  Now, he asked Nebuchadnezzar to help his friends (Daniel 2:49).  Daniel does not just think of himself.  He is always thinking of others.

Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar the dream and its interpretation.  It was a dream about a statute.  What did it all mean?

The Great Statute Prophecy Broken Down

1) The statute is of a big metal man

The statute is made up of, not one metal but four different kinds of metals.  The metals were not mixed together, like an alloy.  The head was made of gold.  The chest was made of silver.  The belly and thighs were made of bronze.  The legs were made of iron and the feet were made of iron and clay.  It is made up of four different metals and each metal is replaced by an inferior metal.  Gold is more valuable than silver and silver is more valuable than bronze.  Each one is less valuable.

2) Each metal represents a world power.

One follows the other chronologically.  They represent countries or empires.  Three of the four are named.  Gold represents Babylon (Daniel 2:38).  Silver represents Persia (Daniel 5:21; 8:20; 11:2).  Bronze represents Greece (Daniel 8:21).  We are not told what iron represents but it has to represent Rome.  Babylon was conquered by Persia.  Persia was conquered by Greece and Greece was conquered by Rome.

3) The list of world empires is selective

All political powers are not mentioned.  It does not mention all of the kingdoms of man or all of the kingdoms and empires of history.  The US is not in this chapter.  It focuses on the countries that specifically ruled over the Jews.

4) A stone destroys the final kingdom of man

It does not hit the first kingdom.  It hits the last kingdom and the last kingdom is the weakest part of the image.  The toes are made of part iron and part clay.  This image is top heavy.  The stone does not hit the head but the feet of the image  (Daniel 2:34) and the entire image crumbles. The metals turn into powder and are blown away

5) God’s kingdom rules throughout the whole earth

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.  (Daniel 2:44 NIV)

Will Jesus actually rule on the earth?  Yes.  Nebuchadnezzar was called king of kings (Daniel 2:36) but Jesus will return to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).  He will rule and reign on the earth.  The stone that his the statute fills the whole earth, which shows the kingdom will be an earthly kingdom (Daniel 2:35).

Applications for Today

1. God can predict the future in advance

One fourth of the Bible is prophecy.  One of the strongest evidence for the inspiration of the Bible is the fulfillment of prophecy.  God is the only one who can predict the future.  The Book of Daniel predicted the arrival of four great world empires in advance (Babylon, Persia, Greece & Rome).  Not everything in this prophecy has been fulfilled yet.

The last kingdom has not come yet. The last kingdom is related to Rome (iron).  Prophecy experts believe that it refers to a ten-king confederacy (ten toes imply ten kings).  That has not happened yet and the stone has not hit it yet, destroying all of the kingdoms of man and God’s kingdom has not completely filled the earth yet (Daniel 2:35).

There are plenty of places where other gods are worshipped and other religions are practiced.  One day the whole world will worship the one true God.  Daniel says, “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.” (Daniel 2:45 NIV).  If the first part of the prophecy came literally true, the last part will as well.

2. God is sovereign over human history

We see that in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  Empires come and empires go.  Some are frightening.  Some are big and some are small but they are all temporary.  Adolf Hitler said that the Third Reich would last a thousand years.  It only lasted twelve.  Eventually the stone will destroy all of the empires of man and God’s kingdom will be established on the earth.

3. God can speak to anyone at any time.

Nebuchadnezzar was not a believer.  He was a pagan king.  He was an extremely wicked king.  He was mean.  He was violent.  He was vindictive.  He was angry.  He had a temper problem but God had a way of getting his attention.  God can reach the hardest hard.  He can use different ways to reach that person.  He used a dream.  It is the one time when God can talk to us when we are quiet enough to listen and there are no distractions.

4. God can speak to people through dreams

Some people have a problem with this.  I don’t.  It is biblical.  It is not the only way God speaks but He can do this today.  He spoke to people through dreams in the Bible.  He spoke to believers and to unbelievers through dreams.

Some say that God does not do this anymore.  We have the Bible.  We have the completed revelation.  We do not need dreams.  The Bible says in Joel that in the last days that he will pour out His Spirit on all people and they will prophesy, dream dreams and see visions (Joel 2:28).  It does not say that in the last days, the Bible will be written and God will not speak to people in dreams or visions.  It says the exact opposite.

5. God answers prayers in impossible situations

When many have a crisis or a trial, they run FROM God.  Daniel ran straight TO God.  This chapter shows what to do when we are in trouble.  Psalm 50:15 says, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”  This was urgent.  If God did not come through, they would all be dead.  God works best in impossible situations.  They prayed fervently.  It was passionate.  It was heart-felt.  The Bible says, “The effectual FERVENT prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16 KJV).

6. God is the one who reveals mysteries

That is one of the main points of the chapter (Daniel 2:21-22, 29, 47).  God gave a revelation to Nebuchadnezzar.  He was the only one who could interpret it.  He has given us the Bible and the Holy Spirit is the only one who can tell us what it means.  God is the revealer of mysteries.

Each of us have some mysteries in our life.  Some more so than others.  Some may have experienced tragedy, like the death of a child or spouse.  All of us may have asked why something happened in our life.  God is the only one who knows the answer.  We ask people for the reason but the only one who knows is God.

Sometimes He gives us and answer and sometimes we may have to wait for the answer but we should always go to him to look for an answer.  The Bible encourages us to do this.  It says, “If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5)

7. God gets the glory in everything we do

When Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar his dream and the interpretation, he did not take credit for it.  He did not boast about his abilities that he was able to do what no one else in Babylon could do, not even the wisest of the wise men in Babylon and he was a young man.  Instead, he gave God the credit (Daniel 2:27-30).

This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9: 23-24 NIV)

[1] Prophecy Study Bible, 897.

[2] Many today believe that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream but could not remember it.  That is based on the KJV reading of Daniel 2:5 (The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me).

That is not what is going on here.  If Nebuchadnezzar forgot the dream, the interpreters could have simply made something up.  The only way for Nebuchadnezzar  to test the interpretation of the dream was to know what he dreamed.

No modern translation follows the KJV, not even the NKJV (The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap).

The Daniel Diet

One of the most effective ways the enemy can neutralize the testimony of God’s people is by assimilation.  When Christians become just like the world, they have no testimony.  They have no testimony when they think like the world, talk like the world, act like the world and look like the world. In the church today, some Christians seem very little different from the world.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV).

The culture we live in as pagan as Babylon.  The great danger of the church today is to conform.  We are tempted to do what is culturally accepted and approved.  We are tempted to think like the world in areas of sexual orientation, marriage, gender identity, abortion and many other issues.

As believers, we are to be different.  We should stand out in some way.  In Daniel 1, we see some people that do that that.  What do we know about these people?

One, they are part of the upper class.  These are not country bumkins.  They are not rednecks.  They are not hillbillies.  They are part of the royalty.  They were related to the king of Judah.

Two, they experienced hardship in their life.  They were deported nine hundred miles away against their will.  Their whole world was turned upside down.  Were they happy about being forced to move to the other side of the world separated from their family?  No.  Were they disappointed, upset and angry about what happened to them?  Yes.  They may have wondered how a God of love let this happen.

Three, they were young.  They are teenagers.  They are high school students and these students were on fire.  They were sold out to God.

Four, they lived in Babylon.  They did not have godly influences all around them.  Babylon was not only an idolatrous country, it was the center of idolatry.  It was the headquarters of idolatry.  There were over two hundred pagan temples in Babylon.  It was where Shinar was located.  The Tower of Babel was at Shinar and it was a center of organized rebellion against God.

Not everything about assimilation is wrong.  Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China in the 1800s.  He stayed there for fifty-one years.  He was one of the greatest missionaries of all time.  When he moved to China, he acted Chinese.  He dressed like they did.  He wore native Chinese clothes.  He lived like they did.  He assimilated into Chinese culture and some people criticized him for it.  The other missionaries did not do this but there was nothing wrong with it.

Joseph assimilated to Egypt.  He lived there.  He worked there.  He spoke the language.  He dressed like an Egyptian.  He married an Egyptian wife.  He had an Egyptian name and Daniel does the same thing.

Daniel moved to Babylon.  He lived in a new country and adopted a new culture.  He had a new home under a new king.  He was given a new name.  He learned a new language.  He was given a new outfit to wear, so he looked Babylonian.  He was also given a new education.  He learned Babylonian history, science and math.

He learned about Babylonian literature and Babylonian religion.  Learning about Babylonian gods is not the same thing as worshipping them but Daniel shows that there are limits to assimilation.  There are many things that Daniel did and had no problem doing or at least accepted doing but there was one thing that he REFUSED to do.  What he refused to do was to eat something.

He did not do this because he hated to follow rules, like a lot of teenagers who just have a streak of rebellion in them. He didn’t do it because he was a picky eater, like children do when parents put food before them.  He refused to eat it because it went against his conscience.

Daniel and Joseph both lived in foreign countries, worked for foreign governments and both faced temptations but they faced different temptations. Joseph faced a SEXUAL TEMPTATION in Egypt.  Potiphar’s wife tried to get him to commit adultery.  Daniel faced a FOOD TEMPTATION in Babylon.

If you face food temptation, you are not alone.  Many people in the Bible faced food temptation.  Adam and Eve were tempted with food.  God told them that there was something they were not allowed to eat.  He did not deprive them of anything.  They lived in a paradise.  There were plenty of other things to eat and they tasted good.

Even Jesus faced a food temptation.  The Book of Hebrews says that Jesus was tempted in always like we are.  He was tempted to turn stones into bread so he could eat it.  He was hungry.  He had been fasting for forty days.  Satan tempted him to use his supernatural powers to meet his own physical needs.  Daniel also faced a food temptation.

Excuses for Disobedience

Daniel could have made a lot of excuses for eating the king’s food and wine. What were some of them?

1) It tastes really good.  Who does not like to eat a nice juicy steak?

2) It is the order of the king.  The king wants us to do it.  We are supposed to obey governmental authorities.

3) If I do not do it, I will not get a good job.  It will kill any career opportunities.

4) It is really not that bad.  It is not like doing drugs or committing some sexual sin.

5) No one will know.  His parents were thousands of miles away. He had no parental supervision.

6) Everyone else was doing it.  We hear about these four youths who didn’t eat the king’s food but most of them did and it was an order from his superiors.[1] These sound like good reasons but notice how Daniel responded to this temptation.

Daniel’s Resolve

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way (Daniel 1:8 NIV).

Some believe that this the greatest verse in the whole book.  Notice it starts with two words (But Daniel).  Daniel went along with everything else but when it came to this food, he drew a line in the sand.  He did not want to be defiled with the king’s food and wine.  It may have smelled good and tasted good but he did not want to be defiled by it.  That raises an interesting question.  How could the king’s food and drink possibly defile Daniel?  How can food defile people?

It doesn’t make much senses to us today. Jesus said, Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them” (Mark 7:15 NIV).  The NT teaches that “all foods are clean” (Mark 7:19) but in OT times, if you ate certain foods, you were defiled, not morally but ceremonially.

“‘Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean; it is not to be eaten. 42 You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean. 43 Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. 44 I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. (Leviticus 11:41-43 NIV)

25 “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set apart as unclean for you. 26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own (Leviticus 20:25-26 NIV).

In the OT Law, there was clean and unclean food.  In Babylon, no distinction was made between clean and unclean animals.  They could eat anything.   They had no rules about what they could eat or not eat.  Even some of the meat that was kosher had been previously offered to idols or had fat or blood in it, which was forbidden by OT law.

Daniel did not want to eat food dedicated to Marduk.  He did not always know where this food came from or how it was prepared or if this food had been used in pagan rituals.  Since he didn’t know, he did not want to even take the chance that he was eating anything that violated OT food laws.

Application for Today

How could we be like Daniel today? If we are going to be like Daniel, we need to do three things.

1) Have personal convictions

Our passage says that Daniel was RESOLVED about some things.  He had some resolutions.  He had personal convictions about things that are right and things that are wrong, about things that he would do and things he would never do.  That’s what we need to do.

We have to have personal convictions.  They have to be things we want to do or not do, not others want us to do, not what our friends want us or do or our parents are making us do.  Daniel’s parents were hundreds of miles away.

They have to be our personal convictions.  Daniel did not make a resolution about what other people would do.  We need to have these personal convictions in advance.  If you wait until you are tempted to do something, it is too late.

We could make a resolution to stay sexually pure or a resolution to read through the entire Bible or a resolution to pray regularly or a resolution to speak to others about your faith.  Jonathon Edwards had seventy of them.

2) Have biblical convictions

We not only need strong convictions, we need to have biblical convictions. The only way to do that is to know what the Word teaches. Daniel’s resolutions were based on the laws of God.  They were biblical.  They were not just his ideas or what he thought was a good idea.

3) Act on those convictions

Daniel did something about those convictions.  He acted on his convictions.  Many people make new year resolutions (e.g., to exercise more, eat healthier) but very few keep them.  Let’s notice HOW he acted on these convictions.

Daniel’s Request

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.  9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. (Daniel 1:8-14 NIV)

Notice what Daniel did not do and what he did do here.  He did NOT engage in civil disobedience.  He did NOT threaten anyone or harass anyone.  He was NOT an agitator or a rebel.  He was not defiant.  He made a request.  He politely ASKED if he could do this.  He did not demand or insist on it.  When he did not get his request, he asked someone else but he changed and modified his request this time.

First, he asked Ashpenaz, the chief of the court officials.  He went to the top first.  He was told “No.”  He says, “That will only get me in trouble.” Ashpenaz liked Daniel.  He was sympathetic but thought it would be too dangerous for him but Daniel is persistent.  He doesn’t give up.  Next, he talked to the man who was under Ashpenaz, the one who served Daniel the food.

The KJV gives him a name (Melzar) in Daniel 1:11, 16 but it is probably not a proper noun because it has the article in front of it in both verses.  It is not a proper noun but a title or office.  It means like “warden” (NET), “guard” (NIV) or “overseer” (NASB).[2]  Daniel asked him if he could only eat vegetables and water for ten days.

Daniel proposes a test. TEST your servants for ten days (Daniel 1:12).  It was safe.  Ten days should not get anyone in troubleHe becomes a scientist.  He conducts the first controlled scientific experiment.  He has a hypothesis and tests it with control and experimental groups.[3]  He is also a man of faith.  He says, “Give me ten days.”  If our God does not answer our prayers, you can make us Babylonians.  The overseer agrees, so Daniel goes on a diet of vegetables and water.  He went on a vegetarian diet.

Common Myth about the Daniel Diet

This is one of the most misunderstood parts of the chapter.  A lot has been written on this topic.  There are two books on the market right now: The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory and The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren and two other authors.  Many of these books have helped people.  They have changed some lives but there is one common myth that many people have about this chapter.

This diet was not for weight loss.  He did NOT do this for health reasons.  He did it for religious reasons.  When we think of diet, we think of weight loss.  Daniel did not do this diet for weight loss.  He did not do this to lose weight. He did not do it to decrease his waistline.  He did not do it to get healthy. He was already healthy.

This diet was not about eating food with a lot of calories.  This diet was not about eating junk food or cutting out sugar.  How do we know that?  Daniel did not lose weight from this diet.  He did not get skinnier.  He got FATTER from this diet.  At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food (Daniel 1:15 ESV).  If this diet was all about weight loss, it didn’t work.

The point of the passage is NOT that vegetables are healthy.  Vegetables don’t make you fat.  They are low in calories.  The point of the passage is NOT that alcohol is sinful.  Some people have used this passage to condemn the drinking of wine.  Daniel was allowed to drink wine in the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 14:23-26).  It was allowed in the OT and in the NT.

The point of the passage is NOT that eating meat bad.  Daniel was allowed to eat meat in the Mosaic Law.  In fact, in some cases it was commanded (Passover). You are allowed in the OT and NT to eat meat.  Jesus ate meat.

The truth is that the Bible is not a diet book. It tells you how you get eternal life and live forever but it does not say how to lose ten or twenty pounds.  The Bible does not contain any secret miracle food cure for cancer or heart disease or arthritis.  There is no secret to weight loss found in the Bible.  That is an abuse of the Scripture.

Daniel’s Reward

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. (Daniel 1:18-20 NIV)

God rewarded Daniel.  God says, “Those who honor Me, I will honor” (I Samuel 2:30 ESV).  Let’s go back through the whole chapter and think about some ways that God rewarded Daniel.  What are some of the ways God blessed Daniel?

Daniel’s Ten Blessings

1. God blessed Daniel with good parents

His parents who raised him right. This was God’s blessing on him. It is not mentioned in the text but it is an inference.

2. God blessed Daniel with godly friends

He had good friends to support him (Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego).  He was alone but he was not completely alone.

3. God blessed Daniel with good looks

He was without any physical defect and handsome (Daniel 1:4).  He was physically attractive.  God gave him his looks.

4. God blessed him with a very good education

It was a quality education taught by the top scholars in the country.  Daniel did not complain about it.  He took advantage of it.  In fact, he excelled in it.  He was at the top of his class.

5. God blessed him with special gifts

Daniel had gifts no one else had, like the ability to interpret visions and dreams OF ALL KINDS (Daniel 1:17).  God has also given us some unique gifts that no one else has.

6. God blessed Daniel with favor

GOD GAVE Daniel favor in the sight of the chief official (Daniel 1:9).  God caused Ashpenaz to show Daniel favor and compassion.  They were not believers.  They were pagans but God caused them to like Daniel.  God can cause people to actually like us.

7. God blessed Daniel with physical health

Even after being on a diet and eating only vegetables and water, he was not malnourished or nutritionally deficient.

8. God blessed Daniel with knowledge

GOD GAVE knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning (Daniel 1:17).  Daniel does not take credit for this knowledge.  He says that God gave it to him.  At the end of three years, Daniel took a test.  The king conducted the final examination.  He was asked some questions.  Daniel and his friends were smarter than anyone in Babylon.

In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom (Daniel 1:20 NIV).  These four young men were not just smarter but TEN TIMES smarter than anyone in Babylon and they were foreigners.  They were immigrants.  In fact, they were teenagers.

9. God blessed Daniel with a promotion.

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (Psalm 75:5-6 KJV).  At the end of three years, Daniel got a job, not just any job but a government job, one of the top jobs in the country, working for the king.  He has a ministry in the palace.

10. God blessed Daniel with longevity.

The last verse of the chapter says that Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus (Daniel 1:21).  The first year of Cyrus was 539 BC.  Daniel was born around 620 BC, which would put him in his eighties when he was still working in the palace.


[1]
 I have taken some points from James Macdonald’s message “Stand Up and be Counted” and Ed Rickard’s website http://www.themoorings.org/Bible_commentary/Daniel_1/wisdom_of_young_Daniel.html and added some of my own.

[2] The KJV (1611) marginal note reads “”or the stewart”.

[3] http://www.icr.org/article/daniel-classic-experimental-design/

 

How to Survive Babylon

Daniel 1 is an amazing chapter.  The chapter begins in Jerusalem and ends in Babylon.  It begins with a military invasion and ends with a job interview with the king.  It is an important chapter for young people.  It is a chapter every teenager should read.

The chapter is about four teenagers, four Hebrew teenagers.  They would have been in high school today.  They were around fifteen or sixteen years old but they had wisdom and maturity beyond their years.  There are not too many teenagers like this today.  What were they like?  As we list some of their traits, see if these traits describe you.

Amazing Character Traits

1) They were SURVIVORS

Despite experiencing hardship in their life, they thrived. Many today are crushed by difficult circumstances.  They were not.

2) They were HARDWORKING

They had a good work ethic.  They were not lazy, like many teenagers today.

3) They were RESPECTED

They were liked by their superiors.  They had a good testimony with unbelievers and with their co-workers.

4) They were SMART

They got straight As in school.  They all graduated at the top of their class.

5) They were SUCCESSFUL

They all received promotions and moved up.  God prospered them.

6) They were FAITHFUL

They wanted to be faithful to God even in the food that they ate.

7) They were COURAGEOUS

They were not afraid to take a stand for what they believed in, despite the consequences.

8) They were PRINCIPLED

They had principles.  They had convictions and they stood for them.  They do not budge despite the temptation to compromise.  They were not wishy-washy like some Christians today that bend with the wind.

9) They were DIPLOMATIC

They used tact.  They were not rude and offensive, like some people.  Daniel was a skilled negotiator.

This chapter shows that you do not have to be old to do great things for God.  You can be young and do great things.  God can use you when you are young.  David was a young man when he killed Goliath.  There are all kinds of young people in the Bible who did great things for God.[1]

What were the names of these four young men?  We know them as Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego and Daniel.  We know Daniel from his Hebrew name.  We never call him Belteshazzar.  Most people in the church would not know who that was.  We know Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego from their Babylonian names because someone wrote a song about them.

One person in this group of four stood out.  There was one leader.  It was Daniel.  He was given gifts the others did not have (the ability to interpret dreams).  He was also the one who purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s food and wine (Daniel 1:8) and his three friends followed his example.  Not everyone is a leader.  Daniel was a leader.

Today, will be an introduction to the chapter.  It is too much to cover in one week.  We are just going to look at the first seven verses.  We are going to look at the first three scenes.  In scene one, Daniel is RELOCATED.  In scene two, Daniel is REEDUCATED.  In scene three, Daniel is RENAMED.  It begins with some historical background to Daniel’s life.  It tells us how Daniel got to Babylon.

Daniel Relocated

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. (Daniel 1:1-2 NIV)

Babylon was the dominant power in the world in Ezekiel’s day. We think of America as a superpower today but Babylon was the military superpower in the ancient world. They defeated Assyria.  They defeated Egypt and now they invade Jerusalem.  Nebuchadnezzar actually invaded Jerusalem three times.  He invaded the nation in 605 BC, in 597 BC and in 586 BC.

During his first invasion in the summer of 605 BC, he took some spoils of war.  He took some articles out of the Temple and he took some hostages but he did not take just anybody.  He took hostages from the royal family.  Why were they taken?  It was an insurance policy to keep the king in check and Daniel was one of them.  This was a common practice in the Ancient Near East for conquering kings.

Daniel was young.  He was just a teenager.  He was kidnapped.  He was abducted.  He was forcibly removed from his family and his home.  He lost many of his possessions.  He lost his freedom.  He went from nobleman to slave overnight. He was also transported to Babylon.

It was a great country.  It was called Babylon The Great.  It was beautiful.  It was full of palm trees.  It was a big.  It was larger than the city of Athens.  It was culturally advanced.  It was technologically advanced.  The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, were there.  The world Daniel used to know was gone forever.  He would never see it again.

Everything about this place was different to Daniel.  The people looked different.  They dressed different.  They spoke a different language.  They ate different food.  Their laws were different.  Their government was different.  Their culture and religion was different.  They worshipped idols.  They worshipped lots of gods and Jehovah was not one of them.  Babylon was called the land of Shinar (Daniel 1:2 ESV) where the Tower of Babel was built.

When he got there, he would have walked through the main road called the Processional Way.  It was a wide road.  On both sides were these tall brick walls that were fifty feet tall and these walls were lined on both sides with huge ferocious lions, over a hundred of them. They represented Ishtar, one of the Babylonian goddesses.  This Processional Way was a half a mile long and it led right to the temple of Marduk.

Daniel Reeducated

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. (Daniel 1:3-7 NIV)

Daniel was taken to Babylon.  What happened when he got there?  Here’s the shock.  When he got there, he was rewarded with the finest food in the land.  He got to eat the same food the king ate. It was  prepared by the top chefs. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table (Daniel 1:5 NIV).

He was also enrolled in the best education program in the land.  He got to not only go to school but to go to the top school in the country, the best school that money could buy.

That is strange.  Slaves do not go to the top schools in the country while they are slaves.  They are usually not educated and usually do not eat gourmet food.  They are slaves

When Daniel gets to Babylon, he is not abused and imprisoned but treated like royalty.  He was not made to be a slave or a prisoner but a student.  He was given a scholarship. He was not only given an education but job placement and economic security.  If Daniel does well in that program, he is guaranteed a government job.

Not anyone could attend this school.  Like Harvard and Princeton, this school only took the best and the brightest.  It was for the cream of the crop, the crème de la crème, the best of the best.  This was not like going to the public school where everyone can attend.

It is not even like going to a private school. Daniel did not apply to go to this school.  He did not ask to go.  He was chosen to go.  He and his friends were handpicked for this program.  Four young men were chosen.  Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. (Daniel 1:6 NIV)

It was a three-year program (Daniel 1:5), which was the standard length of time in the ancient world for higher education.  Who was chosen for this special program?  What were the requirements?

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. (Daniel 1:3-4 NIV)

This school was limited to a select group of people.  It was limited to people who had five special characteristics.  One, you had to be male.  No females were allowed in this school.  Two, you had to have royal blood.  You had to be related to the king.  Three, you had to be young.  Four, you had to be smart.  Five, you had to be good looking.  It is not enough to be muscular, you also had to have a brain.  It is not enough to be good-looking, you also had to know how to spell.  The Babylonians valued some of the same things that people value today: youth, good looks, intelligence.

Daniel and his friends had all of these traits.  Genetically, they were of royal blood.  They were not commoners.  Daniel 1:6 says that they came from the tribe of Judah.  Josephus says they were relatives of King Zedekiah.[2]  Physically, they were attractive.  They were good-looking.

Intellectually, they were smart.  They had high SAT scores.  Their IQ scores were off the chart.  They also had good character traits.  They had integrity.  They must have been raised right.

The man in charge of this Royal Academy was a man named Ashpenaz.  Then the king ORDERED Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. HE was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians (Daniel 1:3-4 NIV)

Was Daniel a Eunuch?

There is a long tradition in both Jewish (Josephus, Talmud) and Christian sources (Origen, Jerome) that Daniel was castrated.  They believe that he was a eunuch.  Even some Messianic Jews believe that Daniel was castrated (e.g., Fruchtenbaum).  Is it true?  Probably not.

Daniel’s private tutor is called the “chief eunuch” in the ESV.  The Hebrew word (saris) could mean a literal eunuch (Isaiah 56:3) but it could also mean just a government official (Genesis 39:1).  It is used of Potiphar who was married.  He was wife.  He wasn’t a eunuch.  It could mean “chief eunuch’ (ESV) or it could simply mean “chief of his court officials” (NIV), like Nebuchadnezzar’s Chief of Staff.

Nebuchadnezzar looked for youths without any physical blemish or defect (Daniel 1:4).  It would seem strange for him to look for boys without any physical defects only to give them a major defect, as some have pointed (Constable).[3] Even if Ashpenaz was a literal eunuch (which cannot even be proven), this does not necessarily prove that Daniel was one as well.

What was the curriculum of this three-year program? What did Ashpenaz teach them? He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians (Daniel 1:4 NIV).  He probably also taught them about the Babylonian culture and way of life.  There was a Babylonian way of thinking and worldview but the royal curriculum consisted of the language and literature of the Babylonians.

Daniel learned Chaldean.  He studied Aramaic and Akkadian.  Studying a new language is not easy but it wasn’t like learning Chinese.  Aramaic and Akkadian are members of the same language family as Hebrew.  They all both Semitic languages.  They are similar languages (cognates).  Daniel didn’t study English lit or even Hebrew lit.  He studied Babylonian lit.  He probably learned the Babylonian Flood story, which was written long before his time.

Daniel received a quality education.  The Babylonians were advanced.  Some of the math we use today comes from the Babylonians.  Why do we measure time the way that we do?  Why are there sixty seconds in a minute?  Why are there sixty minutes in an hour?

Why are there twenty-four hours in a day?   It all came from the Babylonians.  They used a number system based on sixty.  We think a day is twenty-four hours long but it is actually not twenty-four hours long.  It is only about twenty-three hours and fifty-six minutes.

Daniel Renamed

The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. (Daniel 1:7 NIV).

Daniel was exposed to a new culture.  He was given a new education and new food.  He was also given a new name.  He had a Hebrew name (Daniel).  Now he is given a good Babylonian name (Belteshazzar).  Why did Nebuchadnezar change his name?  He changed his name to change his allegiance.

Your name is your identity.  It is who you are.  Names in the Bible meant something.  They say something about you.  Daniel said something about the God he worshipped.  “Their very names were a witness, not only to their nationality, but to their religion “(Farrar).  Dah-knee-el means “God is my judge.”  It was changed to say something about a different god. Belteshazzar means “whom Bel favors”.  Babylonians worshipped many gods but the chief one was called Bel or Marduk.

Life Lessons from a Tragedy

What happened to Daniel was a tragedy.  It was a national tragedy.  It was a personal tragedy.  What life lessons can we draw from Daniel’s experience?  What does this say to us today?

1) Unexpected things happen in our life.

That was what happened to Daniel.  He did not wake up one day and expected to be deported.  You do not wake up thinking that you are going to have a car accident that day or my wife is going to leave me today or the doctor is going to tell you that you have cancer today.  I did not wake up one day in 2016 and know I was going to have a heart attack.  What do you do when life doesn’t happen as you planned?  We will see in this chapter how Daniel dealt with it.

2) Don’t blame yourself for everything that happens to you

We are not the cause of everything that happens to us. Bad things happen to good people.  Daniel did absolutely nothing to cause these events.  Daniel was a righteous man and yet he suffered.  God was judging the Jews but Daniel was righteous.  We are not blame for all the bad things that happen to us.

3) God is in control even when it does not look like it

This chapter shows us that God is sovereign over individuals and He is sovereign over nations.  He was sovereign over what happened to the Jews nationally.  He was also sovereign over what happen to Daniel personally.  It all had a purpose, even though it did not seem to have a purpose at the time.  God actually sends Daniel to Babylon, so Daniel can give his Word to some pagan kings.  Daniel becomes the prophet to Gentile kings.

God is at work even when we cannot see it.  He was also sovereign over what happened to the nation.  Nebuchadnezzar attacks the country it looked like evil was winning.  The bad guys were succeeding.  It looked like Nebuchadnezzar not only beat Israel and humiliated Israel, he humiliated Israel’s God.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. (Daniel 1:1-2 NIV)

Where is God?  It looks on the surface that the god of Babylon was greater than the God of Israel.  Nebuchadnezzar puts the sacred vessels of the temple into the temple of Marduk but notice what Daniel says.  He says, “the Lord DELIVERED Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand” (Daniel 1:2 NIV)

God does NOT just allow Nebuchadnezzar to do this.  He GIVES these things to Nebuchadnezzar.  He even predicted it before it happened.  Nebuchadnezzar did not defeat Jerusalem because he was stronger than they were.  He gave them into his hands.  God was also sovereign over Daniel being deported, which brings us to our next point.

4. Accept the things you cannot change

Daniel accepted some things in his life that he did not like.  He accepted the things in his life that he could not change.  Many spend their entire life complaining about how bad their life is.  Daniel was one of the first ones in the country to be deported to Babylon.

He does not go around complaining about how unlucky but he was to be deported nine hundred miles away from his family, while other Jews still got to remain in Jerusalem.  He doesn’t complain about being stranded in a foreign country against his will.

He does not go around complaining about his education.  He may not have liked some of the things that he had to learn in school.  His curriculum was not the Bible.  He had to learn about pagan Babylon and its pagan gods but he does not go around complaining about it or about Babylonian culture.  Even a pagan education is not all bad. 

He gets a new identity in Babylon.  He does not complain about his strange name that he was given.  It wasn’t his real name.  For thousands of years later, no one knows him as Belteshazzar.  He is known as Daniel.  There are no commentaries on the Book of Belteshazzar.  Daniel made the best of a bad situation.  Next week, we will see the one thing he did not accept.

Now, we believe in miracles.  God is the God of the impossible.  He can do miracles.  We should pray for miracles but we also need to recognize that He is God and we are not.  Things that we cannot change, we should take before the Lord and leave to Him.


[1]
https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/5-young-people-in-the-bible-that-did-great-things/

[2] Antiquities of the Jews, X.10.1.

[3] II Kings 20:17-18 says, “Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon’” (NIV).

However, not all of Hezekiah’s descendants were made eunuchs.  It does not prove that Daniel was one.  Ezekiel 14:20, in fact, seems to imply that Daniel had sons and daughters.  It talks about delivering his sons and daughters by his righteousness, which would make no sense if he had no children.  Ezekiel makes the same statement about Noah and Job. We know that both had children.  Daniel may as well.

Six Reasons to Study Daniel

Today, we begin a new study on the book of Daniel.  It is a perfect topic to study in the summer.  It is a small book.  It is only twelve chapters long.  Some of us have studied Daniel before.  We may have studied Daniel in a class or small group (Beth Moore, Kay Arthur).  My goal for this class is for you to see this book in a fresh way.  You should see some things in this book that you have never seen before.

Daniel is a Sunday School favorite.  Some of the greatest Bible stories are found in this book (Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego, the fiery furnace, writing on the wall, Daniel and the lion’s den).  Every child knows these stories. Daniel is not just a book for children.  It is also a book for the most advanced Bible student. This book is deep.  It is advanced material.  It is meat, not milk.

Today, will be an introduction.  Before we look at the first chapter, we need to ask some basic questions about the book.  Who was Daniel?  What do we know about him?  Why should we study this book?  How is it relevant to you and me today?  Daniel lived in Babylon in modern-day Iraq.  He wrote the book twenty-five hundred years ago in two different languages that we do not even speak.

How is Daniel relevant to us today in America? Daniel is critical for the church today.  Daniel has a lot to teach us today.  We are going to look at six reasons why every Christian should study the Book of Daniel.

Reasons to Study the Book

1) It is a book of prophecy

Liberals HATE the book of Daniel. It is one of the most attacked books of the OT.  They say that the book was not written by Daniel and that Daniel was not even a prophet.  They may not think he was a prophet, but Jesus not  only said that Daniel wrote the book but he called him a prophet.  Jesus calls him “Daniel THE PROPHET” (Matthew 24:15).  His book is a prophecy.

It tells us about the future.  It is a prophecy of future events.  In fact, it is one of the most important prophetic books in the Bible.  The Book of Daniel is the backbone of bible prophecy. Daniel is the OT counterpart to Revelation.  It is the OT Book of Revelation.  You cannot really understand Revelation without understanding Daniel.  It is the key to understanding Revelation.  It is extremely important.  It is the key to all bible prophecy.

Parallels Between Daniel and Revelation

1. Daniel mentions a Tribulation period.

Daniel says, “There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then” (Daniel 12:1 NIV).  Jesus used that language to describe the Tribulation Period (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 7:14)

2. Daniel mentions the phrase “a time, times and a half of time” (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 12:14).

3. Daniel mentions a future end-time ruler who will persecute the saints.

He describes a little horn “that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them (Daniel 7:20-21 NIV).

Revelation describes the same thing.  The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them (Revelation 13:5-7 NIV).

4. Daniel mentions a beast with ten horns (Daniel 7:7; Revelation 13:1).

5. Daniel mentions the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13; Revelation 1:12-13).

6. Daniel mentions Michael the Archangel (Daniel 10:13; Revelation 12:1).

7. Daniel mentions the Second Coming (Daniel 7:13; Revelation 1:7).

Daniel mentions the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven In Revelation, Jesus returns to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:11-16)

8. Daniel mentions a Messianic Kingdom (Daniel 2:44).

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever(NIV).

What is interesting about this kingdom is that it will not just be a Jewish kingdom.  Jesus is going to rule over the whole world.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; ALL Nations and peoples of EVERY language worshiped him. (Daniel 7:14 NIV)

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15 NIV).

9. Daniel mentions the Book of Life (Daniel 12:1; Revelation 20:15).

10. Daniel mentions resurrection from the dead (Daniel 12:2, 13).

Daniel is one of the clearest books of the OT to teach the concept of physical resurrection from the dead.  “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” (Daniel 12:2 NIV).  “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” (Daniel 12:13 NIV). 

In Revelation, the dead stand before God and the books are opened (Revelation 20:12) and the dead come to life ruling and reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4)

11. Daniel mentions two eternal destinies.

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:2-3 NIV).  Revelation describes two different destinies and they are also eternal destinies.

The first reason we should study this book is that it is a prophecy.  Anyone who is serious about studying Bible prophecy should study Daniel. Daniel made all kinds of predictions in those chapters.  Many have been literally fulfilled.

Daniel predicts the coming of the Greek king named Alexander the Great, the military genius who conquered most of the known world in his day and he was not even born for more than a hundred years after Daniel.

Daniel predicts the coming of a madman named Antiochus Epiphanies.  This Syrian king was a monster.   He stole sacred vessels out of the temple.  He set up an altar to Zeus in the temple.  He sacrificed pigs on the altar.  He commit “the abomination of desolation.”  Daniel uses that phrase three times in his book (9:27; 11:31; 12:11).  Daniel predicted his coming.

Antiochus was a type of the Antichrist.  He was the Adolf Hitler of the OT.  He was the Antichrist in the OT, but Daniel also predicts a future Antichrist who will also commit “the abomination of desolation.”  This will happen in the Tribulation Period.  Jesus quotes Daniel in Matthew 24:15. Someone in the future will also commit the abomination of desolation.

Daniel is a prophecy of end-time events.  Daniel talks about “the time of the end” (Daniel 11:35; 12:4).  We live in the end-times, so this book is relevant to us today.

Daniel is also a prophecy of Gentiles and Gentile nations.  Most of the OT prophets focused on Jews.  Daniel had a lot to say about Gentile nations.  That describes our country.  Half of the book was not even written in Hebrew.  It was written in Aramaic.  Why Aramaic?  That is what the Babylonians spoke.

If we put this first point together, we see that Daniel is relevant to us today because it is a prophecy of future events.  It is a prophecy of end-time events and we live in the end-times.  It is a prophecy that specifically deals with Gentile nations (which describes our nation).

2) It is a book of ministry

This book tells us about ministry, multicultural ministry.  Some of the prophets just spoke to Jews.  Daniel did not just minister to Jews.  He ministered to Gentiles as well.  He ministered to the Babylonians and when the Persians took over, he ministered to them.  He interpreted visions for foreign pagan kings and gave them God’s revelation to them.  That is the kind of ministry we have today.  We minister to Jews and Gentiles.  There is another way that his ministry is relevant to us today.

Daniel was not a pastor or church leader.  He did not work full-time in the ministry.  He had a job.  God does not call everyone to occupational ministry.  Most Christians are not pastors or missionaries.  They work jobs.  They minister on the side in their church or in a small group.

Daniel also had a job.  He worked in the Babylonian government. He was a politician.  He is the perfect example of a lay minister.  He did not have the office of a prophet.  He did not work for a church, but he still served God in a different capacity and you can too.

3) It is a book of challenges

This book tells us how to deal with challenges to our faith by our culture.  Daniel faced some of the same challenged or problems that we face today as believers. We have not been kicked out of our country or invaded by a foreign military power, but we face some of the same challenges in our culture and land.  We are surrounded by our own Babylon.  America is modern Babylon.  Babylonian culture is similar to Western culture.

Like Daniel, we live in a pagan culture.  He lived in a dark place and so do we. Like Daniel, we are in the minority.  Like Daniel, we will be tempted to compromise our faith.  Like Daniel, we will be attacked by people who do not like us and try to persecute us.  In Daniel 6, some people were looking for a reason to find fault with Daniel.  If we are following God and shining the light, people will do the same thing to us today.  Jesus said that “the world will hate you like it hated me” (John 15:18)

4) It is a book of godly examples

We need the example of Daniel today.  We need more people like Daniel today in our world and in our church.  What kind of a man was Daniel?

Daniel: A Character Study

1. He was a man of Bible study

We see him studying the Bible in Daniel 9.  In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years (Daniel 9:2 NIV).  He did his devotions in the Book of Jeremiah.  Daniel was a Bible student.

2. He was a man of prayer

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10 NIV).

Daniel was disciplined.  He did not just read his Bible; he prayed.  He prayed regularly.  He was a man of regular private prayer.  Some of us do not pray once a day.  He prayed three times a day every day on his knees.  Do we do that?  Do we pray like Daniel?  Anne Graham Lott wrote a book called ‘The Daniel Prayer.’  We will look at some of his prayers, like the one in Daniel 9 that is five hundred and fifty words long.

3. He was also a man of fasting

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks (Daniel 10:2-3 ESV).  He did not just read his Bible and pray; he fasted.  Is this the same thing as what people call the Daniel Fast?  Is the Daniel Fast biblical?  The answer may surprise you.

4. He was a man of courage

Daniel was not afraid to share his faith with others.  He gave a bold witness to two kings.  He was not a secret believer.  He was the one who prayed with his windows open, instead of secretly.  He was not afraid to take a stand for his faith, even if it was against the law and even if he could lose his life for it.  Are we like that?  He was not afraid to break the law if it was unjust.  Daniel engages in civil disobedience.

5. He was a man of principles

We will see that next week.  One of the great verses of the Bible is Daniel 1:8. Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank (HCSB). There were certain things that he determined to do and certain things that he determined not ever to do.  Does that describe us today or do we blow with the wind?  Do we just go in whatever direction the society or culture is going?  Daniel did not follow the philosophy “when in Rome, do are the Romans are doing.”

6. He was a man of gifts

And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. (1:17 NIV).  Daniel had two gifts.  Daniel could interpret prophetic dreams and visions.  There were four visions in Daniel, just as there were four visions in Daniel.

Nebuchadnezzar has a dream (Daniel 2).  It was a nightmare and it bothered him so much that he could not sleep.  The only one who could interpret it was Daniel.  Cyrus the Persian ruler had a vision and Daniel interprets (Daniel 10).  We have gifts as well.  We may not be able to interpret dreams but we all have a gift.

7. He was a man of humility

Daniel had incredible gifts, gifts that no one else had and yet you never see him boasting about his gifts or taking the credit for them.  He gives God all of the credit.

As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. (Daniel 2:30 NIV)

In fact, Daniel had two different dreams that he couldn’t interpret, and the angel Gabriel came to tell him what it meant.  When he came, Daniel was terrified and fell face down on the ground (Daniel 8:17).  He was exhausted for days (Daniel 8:27).  Daniel not only saw angels, he talked to some archangels, not once but twice.  Most of us will never talk to an ordinary angel all our life.

8. He was a man of integrity

Only two people in the Bible have nothing negative said about them and Daniel was one of them.  Joseph was the other one.  What did they both have in common?  They were both politicians, high-ranking politicians.  They worked in government.

Many wonder if Christians should be involved in politics?  If God calls you into politics, you should do it. Joseph and Daniel were both politicians and they both had integrity.  Today, we think all politicians are dirty (from both parties) but these two were honest politicians.

That is rare today.  It is almost unheard of. They were not sinless. Daniel has a long prayer of confession of sin in Daniel 9, but the Bible does not have any criticism of him. There is zero dirt on him.  He did not have any scandals.

That is amazing.  He was faithful to God all his life.  The book BEGINS when he was a teenager (thirteen or fourteen years old perhaps) and ENDS when he was in his 80s, yet it has no criticism of him, even when he was a teenager and teenagers always do stupid stuff, but this teenager had wisdom beyond his years.  He had a great testimony before unbelievers.  Do we?  Are we blameless, like he was?

It is also amazing because he is surrounded by unbelievers all over Babylon.  Daniel was a government official, but he did not work for a Christian government.  He did not have godly people around him in his job.  He served a series of pagan kings.

It is like going to a public school and being the only believer in the whole school or being surrounded by unbelievers at work.  What does that tell you?  It is possible to live in a wicked environment and still be faithful to God.  Daniel did it.  Noah did it and so can we.

5) It is a book of spiritual warfare

When we think of spiritual warfare, we think of Ephesians 6.  Daniel 10 gives us some spiritual warfare in the OT.  It describes territorial spirits, assigned to particular regions of the word.  It mentions angels and demons fighting in another realm.  It also shows how spiritual warfare in the invisible realm can affect what takes place in the world and even hinder prayers.

6) It is a book that has Jesus in it

The Book of Daniel is Messianic.  Jesus is in it.  Where is Jesus in Daniel?  Daniel contains some of the most incredible prophecies of Jesus found in the OT.

  • Jesus is the great stone that will crush the kingdoms of this world. It crushes the statute of iron, clay, silver and bronze and breaks it into pieces (Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45).
  • Jesus is the “Son of Man” who comes with the clouds of heaven in Daniel 7:13. That is what Jesus called himself. It was his favorite designation of himself in the Gospels and it comes right out of the Book of Daniel.
  • Jesus is the Messiah (Mashiach) who will be killed in Daniel 9:26.

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.  After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. (Daniel 9:25-26 NIV)

Daniel predicted the coming of the Messiah.  Daniel even said exactly when He would come.  Daniel predicts that the Messiah will come AFTER the exile but BEFORE the rebuilt Temple is destroyed.  The Romans destroyed the city and the temple in 70 AD.  Daniel has a prophecy that tells us exactly when the Messiah would come.

He had to be born in the first century.  That is amazing.  Daniel lived five hundred years earlier but predicted the Messiah would come to earth in the first century.  We are not told when Jesus will come back.  No one knows the day or the hour, but Jews were told when the Messiah would come the first time and they are told this in the Book of Daniel.

The Millennial Temple

We have been studying the Book of Ezekiel for about a year.  We began studying this book last July.  Today, we come to the end of the book.  Some have called it the climax to the book.  It is a vision.  Ezekiel begins and ends his book with a vision, Ezekiel’s Temple Vision.

Untitled.11pngEzekiel was a man of visions.  He had visions of heaven and visions of the future.  He had visions of judgment and visions of blessing. There are four visions in the Book of Ezekiel.  This is Ezekiel’s last vision.  It is nine chapters long.  We are only going to hit the highlights of this vision.

This vision is powerful.  Ezekiel sees God’s glory in this vision and it knocks him over.  He falls on his face TWICE in this vision (43:3; 44:4).  What this vision says is shocking.  Most Christians today do not believe what Ezekiel saw in this vision.  They just try to explain it away.  They spiritualize it.

We are going to look at what worship looks like in the Millennium (the thousand years on earth after Jesus returns).  The temple that Ezekiel sees will be a center of worship. All nations in the world will worship in this temple.  Isaiah says, All nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3 NIV).

Guess what?  It will not look anything like worship today.  It will be Jewish.  It will not be open on Sunday.  It will only be open on Saturday.  You say, “That is strange” but, if you don’t believe me, read Ezekiel 46.

Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened… The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. (46:1, 3 ESV)

What we are going to see in these chapters is that God changes the way He does things.  What God did in the time of King David with Israel is completely different from what he is doing in the church today.  What He is doing in the church today is completely different from what He will be doing in the Millennium.  The worship you see in these chapters looks radically different form the kind of worship that goes on in churches today.

Ezekiel’s Four Visions

Before we look at this vision, let’s quickly do a little review. What are the four visions that Ezekiel saw?

Ezekiel’s FIRST VISION is a vision of HEAVEN.  It is found in Ezekiel 1.  Ezekiel went outside, looked up and saw the heavens opened.  He saw a spectacular vision of the glory of God.  It was a vision of God and the angels which surround His throne.  He also saw God’s throne and it had wheels on it.  It was a mobile throne.  It moved.  It was a strange looking throne.  The wheels of the throne had eyes on them.

He also saw a man sitting on the throne.  It was a blue throne and the man was on fire from his waist down.  He also saw cherubim.  He saw four living creatures, four supernatural beings.  These were strange looking beings with four faces and four wings and eyes all over their bodies.  They came out of a cloud.

Ezekiel’s SECOND VISION is a vision of SIN and JUDGMENT.  It is found in Ezekiel 8-11.  Ezekiel was in Babylon but was taken hundreds of miles away from Babylon in a vision to Jerusalem and given a tour of the sin of the nation, especially the sin of the leaders.  He saw four temple abominations.  People were worshiping the sun, weeping for Tammuz and committing all kinds of abominations right in the Temple with pictures engraved on the walls of the Temple.

He was also given a vision of judgment in those chapters.  He also had a vision of six deadly men, who were angels, who killed all the idolaters.  They showed no mercy or pity.  They killed the young and the old, men and women.

While they were doing that, another angel protected another group of people from judgment.  They were given a mark on their forehead by an angelic scribe.  Ezekiel also sees the Shekinah glory leaving the temple.  It had been in the Temple for over four hundred years and he saw it leave the Temple and then leave the city (10:18-22; 11:22-24).

Ezekiel’s THIRD VISION is a vision of RESURRECTION and REVIVAL.  It is found in Ezekiel 37.  It is the famous dry bones vision.  Ezekiel saw a valley full of bones scattered all over a valley and they were not connected.  They represented the nation.  It was dead politically and scattered all over the nations.  Ezekiel prophesies to the bones and to the wind and the bones come to life and stand up.

Ezekiel’s FOURTH VISION is a vision of RESTORATION and WORSHIP.  It is found in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel (40-48).  It is a vision of restoration.  The city is restored.  The land is restored.  The temple is restored. The Twelve Tribes are in the land and they all get an inheritance in the Promise Land.  This vision tells us what that inheritance is.

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That is shocking.  Their inheritance does not look anything like the land division under Joshua.  Some tribes like Judah were bigger in the previous land division among the tribes.  It will look much different in the Millennium.

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We are told twice in the vision that “God will DWELL in the midst of the people of Israel FOREVER” (43:7, 9). The Shekinah glory not only entered the temple (43:4), it filled the temple (43:5).

Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, 2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 4 The glory of the Lord ENTERED the temple through the gate facing east. 5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord FILLED the temple (43:1-5 ESV).

God enters the Temple from the Eastern Gate.  The whole temple will face towards the east (43:1) and we are told something interesting.  That gate will be sealed shut.  No one will use that gate because God went through it.  And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. (44:2 ESV)

The Shekinah Glory left Solomon’s Temple at the Babylonian Captivity but it is coming back to dwell in the new temple.  In fact, notice how the book of Ezekiel ends. The last verse in the book says, “And the name of the city from that time on will be: the Lord is there” (48:35 ESV).  He will reside with His people.  He will be in the temple and He will be in the city. Yahweh Shaw-mah. This temple will not exist until Jesus returns.  It will be built by the Messiah himself.

Life on earth during the Millennium will be very different than it is today.  Jesus will be on the earth again and He will be ruling the planet.  Satan will be bound.  He will not be around tempting people.  The eternal state will look a lot like the Millennium.  There will be many similarities between the kingdom and the eternal state.

God will dwelling with his people (Revelation 21:3; Ezekiel 43:7, 9).  There is a bright light of God’s glory shining (Revelation 21:11; Ezekiel 43:1-3).  A river of water will proceed from the throne (Revelation 22:1-2; Ezekiel 47:1).  Twelve gates will be around the city (Revelation 21:12; Ezekiel 48:30-34).  Trees will be on both sides of this river which bear fruit once a month (Revelation 22:2).  The leaves of these trees will have healing properties.  They are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2; Ezekiel 47:12).

Many read this passage and think it is describing Ezekiel.  John is taken to a high mountain to see his vision.  Ezekiel was taken to a high mountain to see his vision.  John was given an angelic escort of the city and so was Ezekiel.  A measuring reed was used to measure both cities (Revelation 21:15)

They look like on the surface like the exact same vision but they are NOT.  Some of the things in the Millennium will carry over to the eternal state but they are different.  How do we know?  There will be sin in the Millennium.  That is why they have to have sin offerings.  John said that there was no temple in the vision he saw (Revelation 21:22).  The whole city was a temple.  That is strange.  Ezekiel saw a temple.

The Jews had just lost their temple.  The Babylonians completely destroyed it.  That happened fourteen years earlier. This vision takes place in the twenty-fifth year of the exile (40:1).  Ezekiel is saying that even though the Jews don’t have a temple right now.  One day, they will have one in the Promise Land.

Has This Prophecy Ever Been Fulfilled?

The Jews did rebuild their temple.  It was rebuilt in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.  Herod made some improvements to it.  It is called the Second Temple.  There was only one problem.  The Second Temple did not have the Shekinah glory in it.  It looked incredible.  It was built by Herod the Great.  He was a great builder.  He built all kinds of things but no matter how spectacular it looked, it did not have God in it.

Ezekiel is predicting that one day the Jews will have a temple and God will be in it. This temple has never been built.  No temple has ever been built which looked like this.  This temple had a river which came out of it.  A river flows from this temple (47:1, 12).  It is a supernatural river that brings life to the dead (47:9) and will even bring life to the Dead Sea.  Rivers usually don’t start in temples.  There is symbolism behind it but it is a real river.  This millennial river is mentioned by some of the other prophets as well (Joel 3:18; Zechariah 14:8).  Joel, Zachariah and Ezekiel all predicted this river.

This temple has never been built and never could be built on Mount Zion today.  The dimensions for the temple compound simply would not fit on present day Mt. Zion.  It is too big to be built on the current site.  There would need to be some geographic or topographical changes to the city, which the Bible says will happen in the Millennium (Zechariah 14).

Most Christians do not understand this temple.  They don’t get it, so they spiritualize it.  They allegorize it.  They argue that this is not talking about a physical building but a spiritual building.  The church in the NT is called the temple of God.  We are the temple of God.  Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  That sounds good but it has one problem.  It makes absolute nonsense of the Book of Ezekiel.

Is This a Literal Temple?

This temple is not the church.  God’s Shekinah glory is not in the church today.  There are three reasons why Ezekiel’s Temple must be a literal temple.

First, the context of the book demands a literal interpretation.

Ezekiel’s other prophecies were literal.  He predicted that Jerusalem would fall.  It did.  He predicted that the Temple would be destroyed.  It was.  He predicted in the future another Jewish temple would be built.  If the first temple was literal, the rebuilt temple was literal was well.

The first part of the book was all judgment.  Ezekiel had a negative message.  He said, “judgment is coming” over and over again.   At the end of the book his message changes.  He has a message of hope.  He sees the vision and angel instructs him to “declare everything he sees to the house of Israel”(40:4 ESV).  He is told to describe it to them (43:10).  Why would he need to do this if it was not a literal temple?

Second, the incredible amount of details demand a literal interpretation.

This vision gives us the blueprints to the temple, the inspired blueprints and they are very detailed with very precise measurements of the gates and doors and rooms and space between the rooms and the thickness of the walls.

This section contains more detailed measurements than God gave to the First Temple (I Kings 6-7).  The Bible spends more time talking about this temple than it does about Zerubbabel, Herod and Solomon’s Temple put together.

There would be no need for all this detail if the whole building were symbolic.  It is so detailed, it even tells what kind of underwear the priests were supposed to wear (44:18) and how the priests were to cut their hair (44:20).

Third, parallel passages in the OT support a literal interpretation.

Ezekiel was not the only OT prophet who predicted that there would be a future temple in the Millennium.  Isaiah predicted it (Isaiah 2:3; 56:6-7; 60:7, 13).  Jeremiah predicted it (Jeremiah 33:14-22) and so did Zechariah (Zechariah 14:16-21) and Haggai (Haggai 2;7, 9).

“For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.” (Jeremiah 33:17-18 ESV)

20 “Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, 21 then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.” (Jeremiah 33:20-22 ESV).

If there are future Levitical priests, offering sacrifices, there must be a temple.  This has to refer to a literal temple.  It has never been built yet.  Ezekiel’s other prophecies have been fulfilled.  This one must be fulfilled in the future.  If that is the case, then we have a problem.  Ezekiel mentions grain offering, burnt offering and sin offerings (42:13).

Theological Problem

These chapters raise a difficult theological problem.  If there is going to be a literal temple in the future with literal priests and a literal priesthood.  There will be literal sacrifices and offerings.  The Book of Hebrews says that the Old Covenant was abolished.  We are under the New Covenant.

The Old Covenant is done away with.  That is absolutely true but what Ezekiel describes is not a reintroduction of the Old Covenant.  He is describing something new.  This is not a return to the Mosaic system.  How do we know?  There all kinds of differences between this temple and temples under the Old Covenant.

Ezekiel’s Temple like Solomon’s Temple had an Outer Court, and Inner Court.  It has a Holy Place and a Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies) but notice what it does not have.  It did not have the Ark of the Covenant.  It did not have in it, the bud of Aaron or the pot of manna or the Ten Commandments.  It does not have a lampstand (menorah).

There is no mercy seat in this temple.  There is no high priest.  It has priests but they are not ordinary Levitical priests.  They are Zadokian priests.  Only a select group of Levites were in charge of the sacrifices.  They have to be descendants, not only of Levi and Aaron, but also of Zadok.  The Tabernacle and Temple did not have any steps in it (Exodus 20:26).  Ezekiel’s Temple does (40:22, 49) but there will also be animal sacrifices in this temple.

17 It shall be the prince’s duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel. (45:17 ESV)

The Purpose of Animal Sacrifices

In Solomon’s Temple, there were sacrifices in the evening and the morning.  In the Millennial Temple, there will only be sacrifices in the morning (46:13-15).  What is the purpose of animal sacrifices?

Many teach that animal sacrifices will be like communion.  I used to believe that will function merely as a memorial.  Communion is a memorial of the death of Christ for the church and animal sacrifices will be a memorial for Israel in the kingdom.

There is only one problem.  Ezekiel says that the sacrifices are as AN ATONEMENT for sin (45:15, 17, 20), NOT a memorial.  These rituals will not be memorials. They will serve as an atonement.  Why would this be necessary?  We do not know for sure but one reason is that the Millennium will be a theocracy.  God will be ruling on the earth visibly. God’s presence will be in the Temple in a way that He is not present in churches today.  He does not have a physical presence that is visible.

Animal sacrifices will be needed for ceremonial purification for sinners living in natural bodies in the Millennium, because God will be dwelling on earth in a theocracy in a way that He is not doing today.

If we are believers, we will all have glorified bodies during this time.  We will be sinless and will be ruling and reigning with Christ but there will be other people on the earth who will not have glorified bodies. That is the reason for animal sacrifices.

The Coming Islamic Invasion

We come today to a major passage in biblical prophecy.  This chapter covers advanced material.  It is not milk but meat.  This passage is deep.  It is a prophecy about a battle, an end-time battle.  It is the most lengthy and detailed prophetic battle in the entire Bible.

The chapter describes World War III.  It is about a massive end-time invasion of Israel from every direction by a huge international coalition of nations.  As we will see, most of these nations are Muslim.  It describes the coming Jihad.  It will not just be a northern confederacy.  It will be a Muslim confederacy.

What is shocking is how relevant this chapter is.  Karl Barth used to say we should always read the Bible with one hand the newspaper in the other.  We will see that clearly in these two chapters.  We want to read this chapter in light of current events.

When we do that, you will be shocked.  The chapter is beginning to unfold right before our eyes.  The anti-Israel coalition is already beginning to form.  Some nations who have never been aligned before and coming together and some of those countries are the very ones mentioned in this chapter. What do we know about this prophecy.

Characteristics of the Prophecy

1) It is APOCALYPTIC

Ezekiel says that these events will happen “in the latter years” (38:8).  He also says that they will happen “in the latter days” (38:16).   They are not talking about events in Ezekiel’s day.  He says that it takes place “after many days”(38:8) and he defines days as years.  The NLT renders Ezekiel 38:8, “in the distant future.” This is an end-time prophecy. It is not talking about events in Ezekiel’s day but events in our day.

2) It is VIOLENT

There is a massacre in this chapter.  It is bloody.  The chapter ends with piles of dead bodies all over the mountains and it will take seven months to bury them all (39:12).  Jews will bury all of the people who invaded their country and tried to kill them.

The invasion results in a massacre of the invaders and a feast for all the birds (39:17-20).  Instead of dead animals being eaten by humans.  People will die and become a feast for the animals.

3) It is UNEXPECTED

The invasion is unexpected.  Israel did not expect it.  They were living in peace at the time.  The start of the war is unexpected.  God draws Gog to Israel to attack His own people.  The results of the battle are also unexpected.  An international coalition of nations invades the tiny country of Israel from every direction.

All of these countries band together to take on a little country.  To them, it looked like a piece of cake but there is a surprise ending.  God intervenes and fights for His people. He steps in and wipes out this great army.  They are going to walk into a complete trap.  They are going to invade Israel so they can plunder the place (38:10-11).

They will come to plunder but end up being plundered themselves.  The plunderers are plundered.  The robbers are robbed (39:10).  The tables are turned.

4) It is DIFFICULT

Much of this chapter is debatable, even among people who believe the Bible.  We can have an opinion but with some of these questions, we cannot be dogmatic.

Puzzling Questions

  • Is Rosh (38:2, 3; 39:1) a noun or an adjective? Some translators (NASB, NKJV, JB, NEB) take it as a proper noun (“Rosh”).  They take it to be the name of a country.  Other translators (NIV, ESV, KJV) take it, not as a noun, but as an adjective (“chief”), as in Rosh Hashanah (meaning “beginning of the year” or “head of the year”).
  • Is “Rosh” Russia (assuming it is a noun)?  It sounds like Russia. Does “Mesheck” mean Moscow?  Is “Tubal” the Russian city of Tubolsk?
  • Who is the mysterious person called Gog?  Is Vladamir Putin Gog?  Is Gog the Antichrist?  Why is he called Gog?
  • Does this battle describe the battle of Armageddon or some other battle?  Some say the battle is the same as the Battle of Armageddon.  Some say that it happens before the Battle of Armageddon.  Others say that it happens after the Battle of Armageddon.
  • Is America mentioned in this prophecy?  America is the greatest superpower in the history of the world.  Is it in Ezekiel 38.  Some say that it is.  Many on the Internet teach that.  Are they right?
  • When will this prophecy be fulfilled?  Some say it will happen before the tribulation (Arnold Frutchenbaum, Chuck Missler). Some say it will happen in the first half of the Tribulation (John Walvoord, Jimmy DeYoung).  Some say it will happen in the middle of the Tribulation (Dwight Pentecost, Hal Lindsey).  Some say it will happen at the end of the Tribulation (Charles Feinberg, Harry Ironside).  Some say it will happen at the end of the Millennium (Ralph Alexander, H.L. Ellison).[1]

While we cannot answer every question abut this chapter with certainty, we do know who the key characters in this prophecy are?  There are four main groups (the victor, the victim, the invaders and the protesters).

The Victor

The victor is God.  He is the one who wins the battle and gets the glory in the end.  The is a contest between God and Gog.  God wins.  God is not caught off guard by this invasion.  He is not thinking, ‘What am I going to do? My people are in big trouble.”  God actually draws Gog into this fight.  He puts hooks into their jaws to pull them into the conflict.  It is a graphic picture.  They are not drawn to salvation.  They are drawn to judgment.

And I WILL TURN YOU ABOUT and put hooks into your jaws, and I WILL BRING YOU OUT, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. (38:4 ESV)

You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I WILL BRING YOU AGAINST My land (38:16 ESV)

And I WILL TURN YOU ABOUT and drive you forward, and BRING YOU UP from the uttermost parts of the north, and LEAD YOU AGAINST the mountains of Israel. (39:2 ESV).

That seems strange.  God is leading nations to attack His own people but He is drawing them to do this, not so He can destroy Israel but so He can destroy Gog.  The interesting thing is that God doesn’t violate free will at all.  God will not have to force Gog to invade Israel.  He does not make them do it.  It is something that they will want to do.

10 “Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and YOU WILL DEVISE AN EVIL SCHEME 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. (38:10-12 ESV)

The Victim

Israel is the prey.  What is the picture here?  Israel has not been a nation for thousands of years.  The dry bones come together and form a nation.  They finally get their nation back.  They are living in the land in peace and then they are attacked without warning.  In order for this prophecy to be fulfilled, three things must take place.  We must be living in the last days.  Israel must be in their land and they must be living in peace.  Two of those conditions have been fulfilled but Israel right now is not at peace with its neighbors.

“Walls, bars, and gates exist in Israel today in order to protect the Israelis from being terrorized by Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS and the Palestinians in general. In fact, Israel is probably the most fenced in country in the world. It has fencing at various stretches along all of its land based borders”[2] but the Antichrist will make a peace treaty with Israel in the future (Daniel 9:27).

The Invaders

The leader of the invasion is Gog. Gog is name a king.  Magog is the name of a country.  Gog is a person.  Magog is a place.  Gog is the leader of Magog.  Why is he called Gog?  The Bible does not tell us who this person is.  The name Gog is only used in Ezekiel and in one other obscure person in Chronicles.  Gog was the name of an old king of Lydia in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).  He lived before Ezekiel’s day and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC.

The Greeks called him Gyges of Lydia.  In Gyges of Lydia we have the leader the Assyrians called “Gugu, King of Ludu,” and “Gugu of Magugu,” who is referred to in the Bible as Gog of Magog.  This ancient king was a type of the Antichrist.  The Antichrist is called “the king of the north” in Daniel 11:40 (so Whitcomb, Wood).

It is interesting to me that this invasion comes from THE NORTH.  Israel was invaded from the north.  Assyria was NORTH of Israel.  Judah was invaded from the north.  Babylon was NORTH of Judah and now we are told that in the future Israel will face another invasion from THE NORTH.

Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you. (38:6 ESV)

You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north (39:15 ESV).

And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. (39:2 ESV)

Is this a Russian Invasion?

Many prophecy experts say that it is a Russian invasion.  Others argue just as strongly that there is no evidence for this.  Just because words sound similar does not mean that they are the same thing.  It is anachronistic.  Who is right?

They both are.  You cannot prove etymologically a connection to Russia.  You cannot prove it linguistically.  On the other hand, Russia is north of Israel.  It is located geographically in “the uttermost parts of the north.” They are not just north but “far north.”

It makes sense not only geographically but politically.  Russia is a superpower and is a chief supplier of arms to Israel’s enemies.  If you put it all together, you have to conclude that Russia will be involved in this war but they will have help from other countries.

Gog will have some allies all around the world.  It will be a massive invasion.  This army is called “a great horde” and “a mighty army” (38:15).  They will advance like a storm and cover the land like a cloud (38:9).  Gog is the leader of Magog in the north and they will have help from five other countries: Persia (38:5) in the east, Cush (38:5) in the south, Put (38:5) in the west, Gomer (38:6) and Beth-Togarmah (38:6) in the north.

What are these countries today?  Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya and the Sudan.  What do we know about these countries?  Most of them are Muslim and are influenced by radical Islam.  They want to wipe Israel off the map.  What does that have to do with today?

Current Events in Light of This Chapter

Two things have happened which line up completely with Ezekiel 38.

1) There is an alliance today between Russia, Iran and Turkey.

This alliance is recent.  There is a picture of the three leaders when they met on April 5, 2018.[3]  All three of these countries are mentioned in Ezekiel 38.
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2) There is current talk about a Muslim invasion of Israel.

About a year and a half ago, there was an article in a Turkish newspaper that mentioned how Israel could be wiped out if all of the Muslim nations came together and invaded her.[4] They would be destroyed if fifty-seven Muslim nations with a five-million-man army invaded Israel.  The article from this Turkish newspaper published an article on their website called, “What If an Army of Islam Was Formed against Israel?”[5]  Israel has nuclear weapons but so does Russia, Turkey and Iran is in the process of getting them.

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The Protesters

This invasion will not include everyone.  There will be some protestors.  It mentions Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish (38:13).  Sheba and Dedan are Saudi Arabia.  What about the merchants of Tarshish? Some argue that Tarshish refers to Great Britain and America would be one of its young lions or cubs

Is America Prophesied in Ezekiel 38?

Is America included in this prophecy? The answer is yes and no. No one knows for sure where Tarshish is but modern archaeological evidence says that it is Spain.  It was a region in southwest Spain called Tartessus by Greek and Roman sources.  It was a Phoenician colony.  That is the view of modern scholars.[6]

The US is NOT mentioned in Ezekiel 38 but if we had to place the US anywhere, it would be with this group of protesters. We are allies with Israel.  Right now under Trump, we would not tolerate an invasion like this but we may have a President in the future who does not support Israel like our current one.  Future US presidents may not be pro-Israel.

Outcome for Gog

But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. 19 For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. (38:18-22 ESV)

3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. 4 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. (39:3-5 ESV)

Notice how they are defeated.  They are not defeated by Israeli forces or by the US military might.  God defeats them.  They invade God’s land and attack God’s people (38:16). God is going to execute judgment on God and his armies.  They will face God’s wrath (38:18-19).  They will face God’s jealousy (38:19).

The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. (38:20 ESV).

It will begin with an earthquake, a massive earthquake (38:19). The earthquake will be followed by a disease, and civil war.  God will rain down water (flood), ice (hailstorm) and fire from the sky. He will use natural and supernatural means.

Outcome for Israel

The outcome for Israel will be salvation (39:22).  They will know who the Lord is.  They have seen him at work.  God’s Spirit will be poured out (38:29), a revival will take place, a national revival.  Israel will be saved.

FROM THAT DAY FORWARD the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. (39:22 ESV)

Applications for Today

1) God intervenes to protect His people

God protects His people.  He fights for his people.  He fought for them when the odds were stacked against them.  Israel will not have one nation against them but a huge coalition of many nations against them.  As one writer put it, “The odds weren’t looking too good for Israel. It looked like this was going to be a total annihilation of Israel!”[7]  Nations ganged up against Israel from every side with numerical superiority.

Matt Keller wrote a book entitled, God of the Underdogs: When the Odds Are Against You, God Is For You. When things look impossible, that is when God steps in. The Bible is full of examples for this.  We saw this with the dry bones.  God steps in when the bones are not only dry but very dry and have been dry and dead for thousands of years.  He did the same thing at the Red Sea for the Jews.  God works when we admit we are in an impossible situation and trust fully in Him.  Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.

2) God manifests Himself by supernatural acts in history

There is a difference between God’s omnipresence and his manifest presence.  God is omnipresent.  God is everywhere.  He is in this room but we do not see God and many do not know He is here.  God has the ability to manifest His presence so people can know he is present.  He can do that to us.  He can do that to Israel.  He can do that in history.  The Israelites and the Egyptians saw God work at the Red Sea.  At the end of history, the nations will see God at work in this battle.

“And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And THE NATIONS SHALL KNOW that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. (39:7 ESV)

21 “And I will set my glory among the nations, and ALL THE NATIONS SHALL SEE my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22 The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. (39:21-22 ESV)

Many today question God’s presence and even his existence.  One day, they will know that He is the Lord.  One day everyone will confess that Jesus is Lord.  There will be no doubt about it.  No one will question or deny it then.

http://christinprophecy.org/articles/timing-gog-magog/

2 http://www.prophecydepotministries.net/2015/why-ezekiel-38-is-not-a-now-prophecy/

3 https://www.christianheadlines.com/columnists/laura-lacey-johnson/why-the-russia-turkey-iran-alliance-could-be-more-disturbing-than-you-think.html

4 Yeni Şafak, December 12, 2017.

5 https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/what-if-a-muslim-army-was-established-against-israel-2890448

6 http://www.desertstreams.com/2017/09/20/ezekiel-38/

7 http://www.desertstreams.com/2017/09/20/ezekiel-38/

Lessons from Dry Bones

Today, we will be looking at one of the most famous chapters in Ezekiel.  It is one of the most famous chapters in the Bible.  Everyone who knows the Bible well has heard of this chapter.

People who do not know any other chapter in the Book of Ezekiel know this chapter and they know it largely because of a famous African-American song from the Delta Rhyme Boys.  If you have not seen and heard them sing this, you need to watch it on YouTube.[1]

This chapter is extremely important.  Ezekiel sees some dead bones and they come to life right before his eyes. It is a powerful chapter.  Preachers love this chapter.  They love to preach sermons on this chapter.

This passage is relevant to us today.  Some things in this this chapter have already been fulfilled.  What it says is incredible.  What is says to us is also powerful.  We will look at both.  Not everyone believes what this chapter says.

Major Themes

Most commentators see two parts to this chapter.  They see two divisions, because there are two distinct images, the image of the dry bones and the sign of the two sticks coming together.

There are actually three distinct prophecies about Israel in this chapter.  This chapter can be summarized with three words. The three words are resurrection, revival and reunion.  Israel is RESURRECTED nationally.  Israel is REVIVED spiritually, and Israel is REUNITED politically.

This chapter is very important.  It is very relevant today, because the vast majority of churches believe in a doctrine called “replacement theology.”  They believe that Christians are the spiritual Israel.  We are the sons of Abraham by faith. Christians are the true Jews today.  The other Jews are false Jews.  Israel is the church.  They also believe that there is no future for Israel as a nation.

They teach that God is finished with Israel and that He has no plan for Israel today.  For those people, we ask this: What do you do with this chapter?  The whole point of this chapter is that ethnic Israel has a future.  It has a future politically.  It has a future spiritually.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. (37:1-3 ESV)

What is going on here?  Ezekiel is in the Spirit.  He has a vision.  God takes him, transports him and places him and right in the middle of a valley.  There are mountains on one side and on the other side and a valley in the middle.

Ezekiel walks around and look at this valley.  Valleys were the place where battles often fought.   Ezekiel tells us what he saw.  He saw the remains of the army that lost, the ones who were slain (37:9).  This battlefield is full of dead warriors.  What is the message of these bones?  What do we know about these bones?

Description of the Bones

1) The bones were NUMEROUS

These bones are human bones. As he walked through the valley, there were so many of them that he had to step over bones.  Ezekiel saw leg bones, arm bones, thighbones, back bones.  He saw toe bones, and rib bones. Ezekiel 37:2 says that there were “very many” of these bones.  The valley was “full of bones” (37:1).

2) The bones were DEAD

It is a morbid picture.  Everywhere Ezekiel looks, he sees death. There were no signs of life. This is Death Valley.  We will see this is talking about the nation, not individuals.  Israel was a nation was dead.  It was dead in exile.

The Babylonian Captivity began the Times of the Gentiles.  Jews were dominated by Gentile powers.  They were dominated by the Babylonians and then the Persians and then the Greeks and then the Romans.  They returned but were kicked out if again in 70 AD by the Romans and stayed out of it for two thousand years.  They did not exist as a nation.  They were not reborn as a nation until 1948.

3) The bones were OLD

They were dry, dusty bones.  They had been out decomposing in the hot sun for a long time.  These bones were not only dry but “very dry” (37:2).

4) The bones were UNCONNECTED

We have had all kinds of horrific massacres in human history with bodies stacked on top of other dead bodies.  That is what Ezekiel sees, except he does not see dead bodies lying on the ground.

He only sees bones, bare bones and they were scattered. They are scattered all over the valley.  The bones are not connected.  This is not a picture of physical death.  It is a picture of political death in the form of exile and world-wide dispersion.

The bones were not together on one body and all the bodies are not together.  What does that tell us about the nation?  The Jews were scattered all over the world on every continent.  People used to say that they were in every continent, except Antarctica but Arnold Fruchtenbaum says that they are even there.  They are the Icebergs.

5) The bones were UNBURIED

Unburied bodies, decomposing in the open, was the ultimate degradation.  For a Jew, that was a terrible sign of disgrace and shame.  That is what happened to Jews when they were kicked out of their country and lived in other lands.  People always looked down on them.  They were the outsiders.  They were different.  No one trusted them.  They were persecuted and forced to live in ghettos.

6) The bones were SYMBOLIC

Then he said to me,Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel” (37:11 ESV).  The whole chapter is a symbolic chapter but God interprets the symbols.  We have the divine interpretation.  He tells us exactly what these symbols mean.

We do not have to guess what they mean.  These bones do NOT represent the church.  They represent Israel, the whole house of Israel.  They do not just represent Judah, the two tribes which went into the Babylonian Captivity.  They represent all twelve of the tribes of Israel.

These bones do not symbolize dead people.  They symbolize a dead nation.  The nation died in 586 BC.  The Babylonian Captivity began the Times of the Gentiles.  Jews were dominated by Gentile powers.

They were dominated by the Babylonians and then the Persians and then the Greeks and then the Romans.  They returned but were kicked out if again in 70 AD by the Romans and stayed out of it for two thousand years.  They did not exist as a nation.  They were not reborn as a nation until 1948.

A Strange Question

After taking Ezekiel to this valley, God then asks him a question.  And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (37:3 ESV).  It is a rather strange question.  Ezekiel does not even try to answer the question.  He just said, “O Lord God, you know.  I do not know but you know’.  Ezekiel turns the question back to God.  He is the only one who can answer it.

The obvious answer to the question is, No.  It is impossible for these bones to live.  Not only are these bones lifeless and dead, they have been dead for a long time.

Humanly speaking, it is impossible for them to live. Ezekiel knew what God COULD do but he did not know what He WOULD do.  He didn’t know what God was planning to do, so he says, “O Lord God, you know.”  After a strange question, God gives Ezekiel a strange command.

A Strange Command

Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord (37:4 ESV).  Ezekiel is told to preach to the dry bones.  He is commanded to prophesy to some bones (37:4) and later he is commanded to prophecy to the wind (37:9).  God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the mountains earlier and now he tells him to prophesy to these bones and to the wind.

It is a strange command, because it does not seem to make any sense.  What good would that do to preach to some bones?  Bones do not have ears and they are not alive.  They cannot hear what you say.  It would make just as much sense going to some rock or bricks. The purpose was not to teach the bones anything but to make a prediction about these bones.

There’s a difference between preaching and prophesy.  Ezekiel did not preach to these bones.  He predicted or prophesied what would happen to these bones.  God asked Ezekiel if the bones could live.

He turned the question back to God.  God put it back on Ezekiel.  They were going to live and he was going to play a role.  His role was to pronounced God’s Word on them and when he did it, something happened.  Ezekiel heard a noise and an earthquake.

A Nation Resurrected

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. (37:7-8 ESV)

This is a picture of resurrection, not of individual resurrection but national resurrection. Remember, the bones stand for the house of Israel.  Israel is scattered all over the world but the bones suddenly come together, are restored to the land and form a nation.  They are no longer just bones.

This was fulfilled in 1948 when Israel became a nation after two thousand years of not being a nation.  Jews now had a homeland.  They had a nation.  On Friday, May 14, 1948, when David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, went on the radio and called the new state “Israel.”

God promised that he would bring His exiled people back into the Promised Land (37:12).  He promised to “gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.” (37:21 ESV)

This part of the prophecy has been fulfilled and even Jews recognize this fact.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he was speaking at Auschwitz, acknowledged in 2010 that this prophecy of Ezekiel has been fulfilled.[2]

Ezekiel speaks to the bones and they make a noise and come together but there is one problem.  They are dead.  They are just dead men walking and that brings us to the second part of the prophecy, which I entitled “a nation revived”.

A Nation Revived

Ezekiel gets to watch as he sees these bones, not only come together but come to life and stand up.  What does it mean?  The nation will not only be regathered and restored to the land, they will be regenerate.  They will get saved.  That hasn’t happened yet.

And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” (37:14 ESV)

A Nation Reunited

15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’

17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand.

20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.  (37:15-21 ESV)

God makes an amazing statement here.  He says, “I am not only going to bring Judeans back to the land.  I am going to bring the northern kingdom back as well and unite you into one kingdom.”  God predicts here that one day, there will be one Jewish kingdom, not two.

And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. (37:22 ESV)

Applications Today

How does this chapter apply to us?  One preacher commented that the chapter does not apply to the church today.  It is talking about Israel.  It may be talking about Israel but the whole Bible applies to us.  All of Scripture is inspired and profitable to the church, not just some of it.  I want to share with you three powerful applications from Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones.

1) God has the power to make dry bones live

The Jews in Ezekiel’s day were in a hopeless situation.  They were in exile in a foreign pagan land.  They lost their nation.  They lost their temple.  They lost their freedom.  The situation looked bleak.  The bones were too dry.  They were too dead.  They have been dead for too long.

Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. (37:11-12 ESV)

Ezekiel was a prophet of hope.  He had a message of hope to the hopeless.  Ezekiel had a word for them and he has a word for us.  God can do the impossible.  No matter how bad things look, God can intervene.  These bones were dry and dead.  We can’t bring them to life.  He can.  He can make dry, dead bones live again.  God can bring life where there is no life.

We may have an impossible situation in our life.  God can make dead bones come to life.  God makes dead things come alive.

He can make a dead marriage come to life.  He can make dead churches come alive.  We may have a valley of dry bones.  Different people have different problems. Can there be any hope for us?  Does God have the ability to make dry bones live?

This chapter gives us the answer.  God can.  God can delivers us from impossible situations.   Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).

2) God can do this not only for nations but for individuals and for churches.

God can do this for individuals.  What is true of a nation, is also true of individuals.  People are described as dead in the NT, dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).

Paul says that some people are dead while they live (I Timothy 5:6). When we witness to people, we do call out to dead hearts to come alive, as Lauren Daigel says and only God can make the dead bones alive.[3]  He is the only one who can make new hearts (36:26).

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV).

What is true of Israel is also true of the church.  Dry bones described the people of God in Ezekiel’s day.  It also describes some of the people of God today.    Many churches are also full of dry dead bones.  There are some Dry Bones Baptist churches and some Dry Bones Methodist Churches.

Some churches today are dead.  Some churches in NT times were also dead.  Jesus says of one church, “You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1 NIV). Ezekiel 37 is talking about a nation but, what God can do for a nation, He can do for a church.  God can revive dead churches.  How does he do it?  That brings us to the next point.

3) We need both God’s Word and God’s Spirit.

How did these dry bones come to life?  Two things had to happen.  It was a two-staged process.  Ezekiel had to prophesy to the bones and God had to breathe life into the bones, just like the creation of Adam.

What happened to Adam personally, will happen to Israel nationally, as Arnold Frutchtenbaum points out.  Adam’s body had to be made and then it came to life.  God formed his body from the ground (stage one) and then breathed into his nostrils (stage two) and he became alive.

We need those two things today.  We need God’s Word.  These dry bones had to first hear the word of the Lord. God’s Word has incredible power. It is sharper than any two-edged sword.  When it is preached, things happen.  It does not return void.  Ezekiel prophesies to the bones and it had an effect.  He heard a noise. The bones came together and attached together.  They snapped on.

We also need God’s Spirit.  In Hebrew, the word for “spirit,” “wind” and “breath” are the same word (ruach).  These bones did not come alive until God breathed on them.  Then, they stood up. They no longer lay on the ground.  They stood up and become a great army (37:10).  The army that died came alive.

What is the application to us?  There are two kinds of churches today.  There are liberal and conservative churches but among conservative bible-believing churches, there are two kinds.  There are Word Churches and Spirit Churches.  Some churches focus on one or the other.

Word Churches

These are my kind of churches.  Worship in these churches can be a little stale and dry.  The focus is on teaching and knowledge.  They focus on instruction and learning.  They focus on study of God’s Word.  All of these are important.   Does God want us to study His Word?  Yes.  Does He want us to meditate on it?  Yes.  Day and night.  It is important but it is not everything.

You can know the Bible and not know God.  You can know what the Bible says and not do what it says and be a complete hypocrite.  You can be a hearer of the Word and not a doer of the Word.

The danger of Word Churches is INTELLECTUALISM.  Bible study can become all academic and scholarly with no application.  There are some Bible teachers who do a phenomenal job telling what the text says but a terrible job of telling how it applies to us today.  We need to know what the text says.  We also need to know what it says to us.

Spirit Churches

Spirit Churches have a completely different emphasis.  Spirit churches are on fire.  They have passion and enthusiasm.   They lift their hands in worship.  They are rolling in the aisles.  They emphasize feelings and emotions. They are big on praise and worship.

They do not sing old songs but new songs.  The music is contemporary and fresh.  Worship is spontaneous.  It is informal.  Ties are not needed for this church.  They emphasize an experience with God, not just learning about Him.

All of this is good.  We need to have passion and fire.  What good is knowing about God is you do not experience Him personally in your life?  We need a genuine experience but there is a danger.

One of the dangers of Spirit Churches is EMOTIONALISM.  Many in these churches say that all we need is the Spirit.  Biblical illiteracy is common in these churches.

Many simply do not know the Word very well and have never been taught it.  Some in Spirit Churches actually mock the Bible.  They ridicule Bible study and doctrine, as it were a complete waste of time.

The truth is that if we are balanced, we will have the Word and the Spirit in our churches.  We need BOTH. We desperately needed God’s Word and we need God’s Spirit.

When we talk to someone about Jesus, we can give them a hundred verses but if God’s Spirit is not working, those verses will fall on deaf ears.  God has to open hearts to receive the Word.  We are commanded to preach to everyone.  We do not know whose heart God will open but to get saved, they need both.

There is a famous quote.  I do not know who first said it.   The quote says, “If you live by the Word ALONE you dry up, if you live by the Spirit ALONE, you blow up.  If you live by the Word AND the Spirit, you grow up.”[4]  That says it very well.  You can dry up, crack up or grow up.  Which describes you?

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYeQUXXYvK0.

[2] https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/netanyahu-at-auschwitz-says-prophecies-of-ezekiel-37-have-been-fulfilled/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XAeyFagceQ

[4] https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/1996/july/195.html

Two Nations, Two Destinies

We have been studying the Book of Ezekiel.  The next several chapters in the book of Ezekiel are extremely important.  If you are interested in biblical prophecy, they are some of the most important chapters in the book.  You do not want to miss any of them.  Next time we will look at the famous chapter on the valley of dry bones and the chapters after that deal with the topic of Gog and Magog.

Today, we are going to look at two amazing prophecies.  Let’s review the context of these chapters.  They were written after the Babylonian Captivity.  Jews were sent to Babylon.  Ezekiel was one of them.  They were living in refugee camps.  They were not happy that they were sent there but they all had hope that this was temporary. They believed that they were going home soon but a few years later Jerusalem fell and the Temple was destroyed.

Ezekiel predicted it.  No one believed him.  They thought he was crazy but everything he said came true.  Their hopes were completely dashed.  This meant that not only were they not going home but there was no home to go back to.  It was gone.  There was no nation.  It is in that context that we have these two chapters.  They seem a little strange.  They are prophecies to mountains.

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against MOUNT SEIR, and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, MOUNT SEIR, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. (35:1-3 ESV)

“And you, son of man, prophesy to THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL and say, O MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL, hear the word of the Lord. (36:1-2 ESV)

The mountains are personified. They stand for nations (Edom and Israel).  The mountains of Israel stand for Israel and Mount Seir is a range of mountains (not just one mountain) in ancient Edom.  It stretches between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.  It has an Arabic name (Jibāl ash-Sharāh).  It is in southern Jordan today.

We have in these two chapters prophecies of two mountains.  They are prophecies of two nations and two peoples. The two peoples were genetically related.  Edomites were descendants of Esau.  Esau was a grandson of Abraham.  These two nations have completely different destinies.  One nation is completely destroyed.  It is wiped of the map.

Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: “I am your enemy, O Mount Seir, and I will raise my fist against you to destroy you COMPLETELY. (35:3 NLT)

I will make Mount Seir UTTERLY DESOLATE, killing off ALL who try to escape and any who return. (35:7 NLT)

I will make you desolate FOREVER. Your cities will NEVER be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (35:9 NLT)

One nation is annihilated.  It is wiped off the map.  The other nation will not only be preserved but completely restored, even better than it ever was in the past.  God is AGAINST one nation (35:3).  He is FOR the other nation (36:9) Here is the irony.  The Jews were no better than the Edomites.  They deserved the same punishment.

The Jews sinned in the land and God judged them and sent them out of the land and then he says that they profaned His name among the nations where they went (36:22) and yet Edom received judgment and the Jews receive mercy. Why?  One word, GRACE.  God does not restore the Jews because they are better but because of HIS NAME’S SAKE (36:21-22).

Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. (Ezekiel 36:31-32 ESV)

God’s Word to Edom

Let’s talk about what God says to Edom.  The question that we have to answer about this chapter is this:  Has this prophecy been fulfilled or is it yet future?  The answer is BOTH.

The Edomites no longer exist.  There is no nation of Edom today.  It is impossible to punish a people who no longer exist, so it cannot refer to something in the future or can it?  This section of the Book of Ezekiel is dealing with the future (Ezekiel 33-48).  It is dealing with end-times.

Even if there are no Edomites in the future, Edom is representative of the enemies of Israel.  What God says about Edom in this chapter applies directly to Israel’s enemies today.  What God says here is not limited to Edom.

He says in the next chapter, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that THE NATIONS that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach” (36:7 ESV).  This chapter is very relevant to our own day.  It is shocking how relevant it is.  The Arab countries in the Middle East which surround Israel are guilty of the same sins as ancient Edom.

The Sins of Edom

1) They had a perpetual hatred of the Jews

Because you cherished PERPETUAL EMNITY and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment (35:5 ESV)

Antisemitism is common in the Arab world.  It is widespread.  Jews are described as sub-human.  Kids as taught to hate the Jews when they go to school.  In a Jordanian history book states, “The Jews in Europe was persecuted and despised because of their corruption, meanness and treachery”[1]  A Syrian Junior high school textbook says, “The Jews are scattered to the ends of the earth, where they live exiled and despised since, by their very nature, they are vile, greedy and the enemies of mankind.”[2]

In 2010, the president of Egypt said that the Jews descending from monkeys and pigs.[3]  This type of propaganda is everywhere in Islamic countries.  This hatred is not only a common sin in that part of the world, it is also a generational sin.  It is perpetual.  Parents teach hatred of Jews to their kids and their grandkids.  This is a hatred that has lasted four thousand years.

2) They engaged in violence against the Jews

They hate the Jews.  They will never accept Israel’s existence.  They will never accept their right to the land and hatred leads to violence.  It leads to bloodshed.  Hate leads to hate crimes.  Murder starts in the heart and is just an outward expression of an inward heart attitude.  What was happening in Ezekiel’s day is still happening today.

For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because he pursued his brother with a SWORD and SLAUHGTERED the WOMEN of the land, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, 12 I will send fire on Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.” (Amos 1:11-12 NIV)

Because of the VIOLENCE against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. 11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.

12 You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. 13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. 14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. (Obadiah 10-14 NIV)

You gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment (Ezekiel 35:5 ESV).  They actually helped the Babylonians.  They killed Jews who were fleeing the Babylonians.

What was God’s punishment for Edom?  He said that the punishment would fit the crime.  You look at the ISIS fighters today who glorify blood and violence.  They like to chop heads off.  God says that blood will pursue them.

Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (35:6-9 ESV)

3) They tried to steal the Promised Land

“Because you said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them’—although the Lord was there— 11 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred against them. And I will make myself known among them, when I judge you. 12 And you shall know that I am the Lord. (35:10-12 ESV).

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord. (35:15 ESV)

They rejoiced when Israel fell and said, “Now is our chance. We can take over now” but they forgot that the Lord was there (35:10).  The nations today that are trying to take over the Promised Land are all Muslim. Israel is the world’s only Jewish state and their Muslim neighbors want to wipe them off the earth and to take their land. These are not Arab lands.  God calls it HIS LAND.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave MY LAND to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and UTTER CONTEMPT (36:5 ESV)

When they fight to take over the Promised Land, they are fighting against the will and program of God.  God never promised to give it to them.  He promised to give it to the Jews.  What they did provoked God’s jealousy and His anger.

God’s Word to Israel

What does God say to the Jews?  He makes two promises to them.   They were living in Babylon as exiles.  They were discouraged.  Their hopes were completely dashed.  In the midst of their depression, they get a word from God.  God has something to say about their land and about them.

Promises about the Land

“But the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit for my people–for they will be coming home again soon! See, I care about you, and I will pay attention to you. Your ground will be plowed and your crops planted. (36:8-9 NLT)

I will increase not only the people, but also your animals. O mountains of Israel, I will bring people to live on you once again. I will make you even more prosperous than you were before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (36:11 NLT)

God says, “I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.” (Ezekiel 36:29-30 ESV)

Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it. (36:36 ESV)

What does God promise about the land?  He promises that it will be fruitful.  Today, when you think of Israel, you think of desert, just a bunch of sand and rocks.  One of the punishments of the Jews for disobedience was that the land would become a wasteland (Deuteronomy 28:38-42).  In the Millennium, the whole place will be fruitful.

The land will be fruitful.  The people will be fruitful.  The animals will be fruitful.  Not only will it be prosperous but the land will be more prosperous that at any time in its history.  There will be unparalleled prosperity.

And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited’ (Ezekiel 36:35 ESV).  Isaiah 51:3 says that God “will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD” (NIV). He says he will put roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19).

Promises about the People

1) They will experience a RETURN to the land

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. (36:24 ESV)

God promises to gather the Jews from countries they have been scattered to (not just Babylon) and return them to the Promise Land.  There will be a second exodus, an exodus from all the nations.  Isaiah predicted this would happen and he predicted it a hundred years before they were even dispersed.  Some believe that this has been fulfilled with the present state of Israel (so Frutchenbaum). It is a return in unbelief.

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a SECOND TIME to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.  He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:1-12 ESV)

2) They will experience REGENERATION

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (36:25-27 ESV)

After a return to the Land will be a return to the Lord.  This has yet to happen.  Only a transformed people can enjoy a transformed land, so God transforms them.  He not only forgives them; He cleanses them. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean (36:25 ESV).

Sin not only makes us guilty, it makes us dirty.  They will not be cleansed from some of their sins but all of them.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from All your uncleannesses, and from ALL your idols I will cleanse you.

3) They will experience RIGHTEOUSNESS

The Jews will follow God’s laws and walk in His commands.  They will be righteous (36:27).  The reason they are righteous is because of what Jeremiah calls “The New Covenant.”  They had God’s laws before but they broke them.  Now God will put his Spirit in them and they will keep them.  The Holy Spirit will give them the power to keep these commands.

4) They will experience RECOGNITION

And I will not let you hear anymore the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.” (36:15 ESV)

Summary of Israel in the Millennium

1. They will be SAVED

They will have a new heart and a new spirit (36:26).  They will be regenerate.  The old heart and spirit will be gone.

2. They will be CLEANSED

Water will be sprinkled on them. They are made clean and cleansed from all their uncleanness (36:25).

3. They will be BLESSED

The Jews will get to live in the land that God gave their ancestors (36:28).  They will get their land back.  It will be a restored land, like the Garden of Eden (36:35). The waste cities be filled with flocks of people (36:38 ESV).

4. They will be HONORED

They will have a special place in the kingdom.  God says that they shall be His people, and He will be their God (36:28) and the nations will know it.  They will no longer be disgraced or mocked (36:15).  No longer will people make anti-Semitic statements.

5. They will be REPENTANT

They will not go around boasting how great they are.  They will remember their evil ways, and your will loathe themselves for their iniquities and abominations (36:31)

6. They will be OBEDIENT

They will have God’s Spirit in them and will have the power to keep His commandments (36:27). They will no longer be a stiff-necked and hard-hearted people.  They will have a soft heart.

Application for Today

How does this chapter apply to us today?  It is a great chapter about the future of Israel but what does that have to do with us?  What God did to Israel, He wants to do with others.  They were his people and he was their God.  God is calling out a people today for His name (Acts 15:14) and He is not just calling out just Jews.  He wants other people to have a personal relationship with Him.

He wants people other than Jews to be cleansed from uncleanness (36:25).  He wants people other than Jews to follow His decrees and keep His laws (36:27).  You say, “I thought it was just about a relationship and not about rules.  Rules have to do with religion and we are following Jesus and now religion.”  That is a false dichotomy.

We are to have a personal relationship with Christ but we are also to keep His commandments.  Jesus said, ‘If you love me, keep my commandments.” Part of the relationship is doing what Jesus says.  He is our Lord but we cannot keep his commandments unless we have his Spirit inside us (36:27). We have to have a new heart (36:26).

That was the problem with the Jews in the OT.  They had all kinds of commands (613) but they did not have the power to keep them.  We have to get a new heart, which will give us the power from the inside out to keep them.  We will keep his commandments because we want to, not because we have to.

Ezekiel is a spiritual cardiologist.  All of us are born with a bad heart.  We have heart disease.  This is the way we are born. we have inherited a defect that goes back to Adam.  Our hearts are hard as rocks. We are all rebels by nature.  We are part of a race of rebels.  We do not naturally love God.  We naturally love sin.

Our hearts cannot be repaired.  We need a heart transplant but it is not a problem we can fix.  We can’t do this surgery on ourselves.  We can’t perform open heart surgery on ourselves: cut open our chest, take our heart out, put a new one in and sew ourselves up.  God has to do it. God has to solve the problem.  God says, “I WILL give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I WILL remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”    

Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about the new birth.  He told him you must be born again.  In fact, he said, “If you are not born again, you cannot even see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus had no idea what he was talking about and he was a biblical scholar.  He taught the Bible.  Jesus called him “The teacher of Israel.”  Jesus said that he should have known about the new birth.  It comes right out of Ezekiel.

The new birth is not a NT revelation.  It is found in the OT.  It is found in Ezekiel, which was written six hundred years before Christ. When we accept Christ as Savior, we become radically transformed.  God gives us a new heart.  Without that new heart, we cannot be saved.

Do we give ourselves a new heart?  We do choose whether to accept or reject Christ.  Even Ezekiel taught that we have to turn to God (18:30).  He says to turn and live (18:32).  The same chapter of the Bible that says that “unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” also says ‘whosoever believes in him has everlasting life.”

However, the Bible also teaches that the only reason we choose to believe is that God opens our eyes and our hearts (Acts 16:14).  The Holy Spirit works in our heart.  We do not believe completely on our own.  The Bible describes faith and repentance as gifts (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 18:27; Philippians 1:29).

The process starts with God and not with man.  God says, “I WILL give you a new heart.”  God is not passive in the process.  He does not sit back and wait until hard stony hearts come to faith.  Hard hearts will not believe on their own.  God is actively involved in the process. The nation of Israel will not accept Jesus on their own. God has to work.  Notice how Israel one day accepts their Messiah.

“And I WILL POUR OUT on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem A SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” Zechariah 12:10 NIV)

[1] Modern World History, Jordanian Ministry of Education, 1966, p. 150.

[2] The Religious Ordinances Reader, (Syrian Ministry of Education, 1963-1964), p. 138.

[3] https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/01/egyptian-president-calls-jews-sons-of-apes-and-pigs-world-yawns/267131/

Warning to All Shepherds

Today, we come to a powerful chapter in Ezekiel.  It is a messianic chapter.  This chapter contains a prophecy of Jesus and it ends on a positive note with the Jews all regathered and in their land, living in peace and security, ruled by the Messiah.  It has a message to everyone in leadership.

This chapter gives us a picture of leadership.  It is the picture of a shepherd.  It was a common image in the ancient world.  Sheep are really dumb animals.  They cannot take care of themselves.  They are weak animals.  They do not have claws or sharp teeth.  They cannot run fast.  They cannot defend themselves.  They require constant care.  That is the job of shepherds.  They have complete control over the sheep.

Anyone entrusted with the care of people is a leader.  We need good leaders.  We need good leaders in small groups, in churches, in families, in communities, in business, in schools, in government and in the military. We will see what God says about leaders in this chapter.   This chapter shows us good leaders and bad leaders.  It shows us leadership at its best and at its worst.

Today, we want to do two things.  We want to look at what God said to Ezekiel and what He says to us today.  What want to look at what God says to Ezekiel and how it applies to us today.  What does the chapter say?  It has four main parts.

Summary of the Chapter

1) The indictment of the depraved kings (34:1-10).

God opposes some leaders. Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds (34:9-10 ESV).  Ezekiel has a word for them and it is a word of judgment (woe oracle).  Two times God tells the shepherds to hear the word of the Lord (34:7, 9).  In fact, he tells Ezekiel, “Son of man, prophesy AGAINST the shepherds of Israel” (Ezekiel 34:2 ESV).

Ezekiel gives us a picture of these rulers.  He gives us a picture of skinny, scrawny, sick, malnourished sheep and really fat shepherds.  They fed themselves and got fat but did not feed the sheep at all or take care of them. God says ten things about these shepherds.

  • SELFISH – They feed themselves (34:2). – Don’t care about other’s needs.
  • USE PEOPLE – They eat the fat and clothe themselves (34:3) – take advantage of them.
  • TAKE THE BEST FOR THEMSELVES – You slaughter the fatlings (34:3; cf. 34:18-19)
  • IGNORE NEEDS – The weak are not strengthened (34:4).  You do not feed the sheep (34:3)
  • DISREGARD PAINS – The sick are not healed (34:4).
  • CLOSE THEIR EYES TO THE HURTING – The broken not bound up (34:4)
  • DON’T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE – Those driven away are not brought back (34:4)
  • REFUSE TO HELP – The lost were not sought after (34:4)
  • HARSH/ANGRY – You rule with force and cruelty (34:4)
  • CARELESS – You allowed the sheep to be scattered (34:5)[1]

2) The involvement of the divine king (34:11-16).

Since the wicked shepherds were not doing their job, God intervenes and takes charge of the situation.  God steps in and does what the other shepherds did not do.  He becomes the Good Shepherd.  Jesus may have been thinking of this chapter when He called himself “the Good Shepherd.” God searches for the sheep.  He finds them.  He rescues them.  He brings them all back to the land of Israel and takes care of them.

3) The installment of the Davidic king (34:17-24)

The previous Davidic kings failed to do their job as a generalization.  This one will not fail.  God will rule forever through the Davidic Messiah.  There will be one shepherd on the earth.  In the past the Jews had many shepherds.  One would be in charge until he died and then another one would take over.  Now, they will just have one shepherd.

See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. (34:20-22 NIV)

When he comes, there will be judgment.  He will not just judge the shepherds.  He will judge the sheep.  Here we have the perfect combination of compassion and judgment.  He finds all of the stray sheep which have wandered off into other countries and are sick and weak.  He takes care of them, heals them and brings them home but He also judges other sheep.

Will King David Reign as King Again?

I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend   them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.  24 I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken. (34:23-24 ESV)

In the future, we are told that David will reign over the Jews as a prince.  My servant David will be prince among them (34:24).  He is not called a king, just a prince but a few chapters later, he is called a king (melek). My servant David will be king over them (37:24).  This person is going to reign forever.  David my servant will be their prince FOREVER. (Ezekiel 37:25 NIV)

What does that mean?  Is this literal?  Will King David will be resurrected and will rule over Israel in the Millennium, as some Messianic Jews believe (so Frutchenbaum) or is this talking about the Messiah and not King David, as some of the ancient rabbis interpreted the passage.  The Jewish commentator Rashi says this is “a king [who will come] from his descendants.”[2]  Which view is correct?

Both are possible but the second view is correct. Jesus is called David, Israel’s greatest king, because He is the son of David and will reign on David’s throne.  This can be proven from Scripture.

One of the most basic rules of interpretation is to let the Bible interpret itself. The best commentary on Scripture is Scripture. Whenever you have an obscure passage, look for a parallel passage which might shed light on it and in this case we have one.  This passage in Jeremiah is a parallel passage to Ezekiel.  It is a perfect parallel.

Ezekiel and Jeremiah lived at the same time.  God gave Jeremiah the same message that He gave to Ezekiel.  Ezekiel ministered to the exiles in Babylon and Jeremiah to those who were left in Jerusalem.  Notice what Jeremiah says.

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord.

3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord. 5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior. 7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.” (Jeremiah 23:1-8 NIV).

It talks about false shepherds who scatter the flock and are punished.  It talks about God regathering the sheep from all of the countries where they have been scattered, put them in their land, where they live in safety.  It also talks about a king reigning over them, who is the Messiah.  This king is not said to be David but a descendant of King David, though he is later called David in the book (Jeremiah 30:9).

God did not promise David that he would reign forever.  He told him that one of his descendants would reign forever.

11 When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. 14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’” (I Chronicles 17:1-4 NIV)

4) The initiation of the destined kingdom (34:25-31)

The sheep will enter the kingdom.  This will all take place in the Millennium.  It will be characterized by peace, blessing and security.  There will be a “covenant of peace” (34:25).  There will be “showers of blessing” (34:26).  The old hymn “Showers of Blessing,” which was written in the time of D. L. Moody, was taken from this chapter.  They will also have security.  They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid (34:28 ESV).  They will not be afraid of people and they will not be afraid of wild animals (lions, tigers and bears).

They can lie down in the wilderness and not be afraid of wild animals attacking them (34:25).  Ezekiel says, “the people will be secure in their land” (34:27 NIV).  That is not true today.  Israel is surrounded by enemies in the Middle East who hate them and are pledged to their destruction.  Some of them have nuclear weapons.

Preachers as Shepherds

How does this chapter apply today? Who were the shepherds?  They were kings.  Kings in the Ancient Near East were routinely called kings. Kings were called shepherds in Egypt.  They were called shepherds in Babylon.  They were called shepherds in Israel.   At the beginning of the chapter, we see bad shepherds.  At the end of the chapter, the bad kings are replaced by the good king Jesus.   He puts the bad kings out of business.

Shepherds in Ezekiel are kings but in the NT, pastors are called shepherds.  In fact, the Latin and Spanish word for shepherd is the word pastor. Jesus called believers sheep.  He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 ESV).  He told the Apostle Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).  Peter must have gotten the point because, when he wrote I Peter, he told church leaders to do the same thing.

5 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (I Peter 5:1-5 ESV)

The Apostle Paul told church leaders to do this as well.  “From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church” (Acts 20:17 NIV).  What did he tell the elders?  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (Acts 20:28 NIV).

Jesus, Peter, and Paul all referred to church leaders as shepherds.  A pastor is a shepherd.  In this chapter, God says, “Behold, I am against the shepherds” (34:9-10 ESV).  Ezekiel 34 is the greatest indictment against pastors ever written.  This is a chapter that preachers hate. God says in this chapter, “I am against the pastors.”

That is strange to have God against the pastors or shepherds.  There are pastors in some churches today that God is against.  Jesus was against some preachers in his day.  Read Matthew 23.  The bad shepherds in Ezekiel’s day acted very much like some shepherds in the church today.

Three Signs of a Bad Shepherd

1) A bad shepherd is NEGLIGENT

Bad shepherds don’t care of the sheep.  We see that in this chapter of Ezekiel.  A bad shepherd does not feed the sheep when they are hungry (34:2).  A bad shepherd does not take care of the sheep when they are sick (34:4). A bad shepherd does not protect the sheep from danger or watch the sheep when they wander off (34:4, 6), which is what sheep do.  They are directionless.  How does this apply today

There is a crisis in the church today.  It is the crisis of biblical illiteracy.  Based on polls, we know that most Americans own a Bible.  Most Americans think highly of the Bible.  Most Americans believe the Bible.  They believe it; they just haven’t read it.  They don’t know what’s in it.

The sad fact is that this describes, not just people in the world.  It also describes many people in the church and some of them have been churches week after week for years.  Most Christians are malnourished because they are not getting fed on Sunday.  American Christians are malnourished spiritually.

Churches are full of Christians who are biblically illiterate.  Some have been sitting in the same church for forty years and they still do not know the Bible very well.  How does that happen?  There are many reasons but one reason is that the pastor is not feeding the sheep.  There is not a lot of feeding going on in many churches.  They entertain the sheep with jokes.  They pet the sheep and play with the sheep but they do not feed the sheep.

I have been in some churches that preach the same thing every Sunday.  When I was first saved, I went to a church that preached John 3:16 every Sunday.  It is an important message but we were never taught the rest of the Bible.

If the sheep are not fed, they will not grow.  It is sad.  Some pastors even ridicule bible study as it is a waste of time or something that only Pharisees do.  They read I Corinthians 8:2 which says, “knowledge puffs up but love builds up” and conclude that knowledge is bad.  It only puffs people up.  Anti-intellectualism is common in churches all over the country.  Many famous preachers in the country teach this.

When the sheep are not taught the Word, they are also not given any help with their problems.  There are many sick sheep in churches who struggle with all kinds of things.  When the sheep or not fed or properly cared for, they scatter.  They either go to other churches.  They wander into other pastures or stop coming to church altogether.  The sheep in Ezekiel 34 ended up scattered.

Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will feed My sheep,” not once but three times.  It is the only question that Jesus asked three times in a row. When we love a dog or cat, we feed it.  We take care of it.  Jesus did not say, “If you love my sheep, feed them.”  He said, “If you love ME, feed My sheep.”  This is not just a test of obedience for shepherds.  It is a TEST OF LOVE.  How many shepherds fail the test?  How many pass the test?  Jesus did not say, “If you love me, feed the hungry.”  He said, “If you love Me, feed My sheep.”

One of the jobs of the shepherd is not just to feed the sheep but to protect them.  If you do not protect them from danger, all you have done is to fatten them up before leading them to a wolf. In many churches today, the sheep are not warned.  They are not protected from danger.  They are never told about false teachers or false ministries that claim to be Christian but are completely unbiblical.  Many shepherds today just want to be positive.

2) A bad shepherd is SELFISH

Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. (34:2-3 NIV).  God says that they “cared for themselves rather than for my flock” (34:8 NIV).

They exploit their followers. They fleece the flock.  They are in the ministry for personal gain.  A bad shepherd is only in the ministry for himself.

One website says that “The idea that many of us are in ministry for the sake of money is simply a myth.”[3]  The only problem is that the NT describes false teachers as greedy.

Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God FOR PROFIT. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God. (II Corinthians 2:17 NIV)

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their GREED these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (II Peter 3:1-3 NIV)

This is a second sign of a bad shepherd.  This person is selfish.  He is self-centered.  He likes to have the spotlight on him.  He loves to have the preeminence like Diotrophes (II John 9).  He is not focused on the sheep and their needs.

3) A bad shepherd is ABUSIVE

There have been many books recently written about spiritual abuse and it is a biblical topic.  Spiritual abuse comes right out of this chapter. We may have been hurt by a shepherd in the past.  We may have been in an abusive church before.  How do you know if your pastor is abusive?  This chapter shows us what abuse looks like.  One of the things God said about the bad shepherds was “You have ruled them harshly and brutally” (34:4 NIV).

It is the opposite of compassion.  They were mean and cruel to the sheep.  Some pastors in the church are like this.  They rule the church like a dictator.  They have total control of the church over everything.  They are control freaks.  They have no accountability to anyone.  It is always dangerous when one man has too much power, because power corrupts.

They have other characteristics.  They are easily threatened by others and suspicious of their own sheep.  They do not trust anyone else.  They are arrogant.  They can never be questioned.  They are God’s anointed.  They are abusive pastors.  They are wolf-pastors.

The Catholic Church at one point in history said that only the priest is able to read the Bible.  I attended one Baptist church which said that only the pastor could interpret the Bible.  It was even written into the church constitution.  The sheep cannot read and interpret it for themselves.  It must be interpreted by the pastor.

Peter warned about people like this in ministry.  He said that we are not to lord it over those entrusted to us but are to be examples to the flock (I Peter 5:3). The shepherd is to protect the sheep and even put himself in danger to protect the sheep.  The bad shepherds in Ezekiel 34 put the sheep in danger.  They let them wander of and be eaten by wild animals.  Jesus the good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep.

[1]This basic outline with minor revisions comes from Ed Taylor. http://edtaylor.org/2016/01/11/10-signs-of-a-bad-spiritual-leader/

[2] https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16132#showrashi=true.  Kimchi (also known as Radak), another famous rabbi from that period said, “David is the Messiah who will arise from his seed in the time of salvation.”  Two of the most famous Jewish rabbis in the Middle Ages believed this was a reference to the Messiah.

[3] https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/in-the-line-of-fire/50632-the-myth-of-doing-ministry-to-get-rich

 

God’s Watchmen Today

We have been studying the Book of Ezekiel, chapter by chapter and we come today to  the good part of the book.   It all begins with Ezekiel 33. We are out of the section that deals with all of the terrible judgments on people.  Ezekiel 33 was addressed to Jews who lived in Babylon twenty-five hundred years ago but it has a lot to say to people who live today.  It has some things to say to the wicked and it has some things to say to the church today.  It shows us the heart of God.

Prophecy is fulfilled in this chapter. In Ezekiel 3, God told Ezekiel that He would make him silent.  God silenced the prophet.  He could only say whatever God told him what to say.  This went on for seven years.  That must have been hard on his marriage.

In Ezekiel 24, Jerusalem fell and Ezekiel’s wife died. God also predicted in that chapter that Ezekiel would get his voice back when a fugitive comes from Jerusalem and tells him the news of its destruction (24:26-27).  That prophecy is fulfilled in Ezekiel 33.

21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month on the fifth day, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen!” 22 Now the evening before the man arrived, the hand of the Lord was on me, and he opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer silent. (33:21-22 NIV)

This chapter does seem a little repetitive.  Much of the chapter, we have seen before.  Large parts of this chapter are found almost word-for-word in other parts of Ezekiel.

The first part of the chapter is all about a watchman.  God appointed Ezekiel to be a watchman in Ezekiel 3.  The second part of the chapter answers questions to God’s justice.  We saw those questions raised in Ezekiel 18 and the answer that God gives in this chapter is the same answer found in Ezekiel 18.

Because the chapter is repetitive, we are not going to go verse-by-verse through it.  We have already looked at some of the topics.  Today, we want to focus on three things in this chapter: the call of a watchmen, the call of the wicked and the call to worship.  They are very relevant today.  They apply today just as much as they did then.

Call of a Watchman

Ezekiel was called to be a watchman in Ezekiel 3.  This call is repeated in Ezekiel 33.  Let’s review what we know about the job of a watchman and see how it applies to us today.  What did a watchman in the ancient world do?

Ancient cities had walls for protection.  A watchman was someone who stand at the highest point of the city, guarding the city.  Isaiah 62:6 says, “I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest” (NIV).

Watchmen stood on the wall of the city, perhaps in a tower and had two jobs.  They were to watch and they were to warn.  If they saw the sword coming, an invading army approaching, they were to sound an alarm.  They were to blow the trumpet.  Hebrew word for trumpet is show-far.  If they saw an enemy coming, they were to blow the shofar.

Their job was not to fight the enemy but to sound the alarm, so people outside the city walls could come to a place of safety.  They had an important job.  It was a matter of life and death.  Israel today doesn’t use watchman blowing a trumpet.  When Hamas fires rockets at Israel, warning sirens go off.  We do not have a watchman sitting on a wall looking for threats against the US.  That is the job of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Ezekiel was to be like the Jewish Paul Revere but he did not say, “The British are coming.”  He said, “The Babylonians are coming.”  He also said, “God is coming.”  Ezekiel is not just warning about a foreign attack but against God’s judgment.  He is the enemy coming against them.

That seems a little strange.  God calls Ezekiel to be a watchman to warn people against His own judgment coming.  That would be like England hiring Paul Revere to warn that the British were coming.  God does not want people to die.

Christian Watchman Today

That may be interesting but how does it apply to us today?  This applies to all Christians. We are God’s watchmen today.  Every Christian is to be a watchman.  We are to warn the wicked.  As our pastor would say, “This is not just God’s word to Ezekiel; it is God’s word to us.” How do we know this?

Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.  24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:18-27 ESV)

Paul was a watchman.  He alludes here to Ezekiel.  He ministered in Ephesus for about three years.  While he was there, he worked hard.  He ministered publicly and house to house, encountering opposition and he says that he taught the people the whole counsel of God.

He did not go verse by verse in-depth from Genesis to Revelation.  Most of the NT had not been written yet.  The Gospels had not been written yet and he did not have the time to do this in just three years.  He did preach the message of the whole Bible, as it had been revealed up to that point.  He did not leave out any major doctrines.

Not every pastor preaches the whole counsel of God.  Some preach half the Bible.  Some only try to be positive or relevant.  They never expose sin and never talk about hell or judgment.  They only talk about God’s blessings.  Paul preached it all and that is why he said that he is free from the blood of all men.

How does this apply to us?  None of us are pastors.  We are not prophets, like Ezekiel.  We are not apostles, like Paul.  That is true but there are many parallels between Ezekiel and us.  Seven parallels between Ezekiel’s watchman ministry and our ministry today came to my mind.

1) Like Ezekiel, we are authorized to speak for God

Ezekiel was authorized to speak for God as a prophet and we are authorized to speak as ambassadors of Christ (II Corinthians 5:20).

2) Like Ezekiel, we received a special commission from God

Ezekiel received a commission and we also received a commission (called “The Great Commission”).

3) Like Ezekiel, we received a special message from God to deliver to people

The content of the message is different but we both received a message from to deliver to people.

4) Like Ezekiel, we preach a message which involves judgment

Ezekiel preached a message of judgment and we preach a message of judgment as well.  He preached that “judgment is coming” and we preach that there is a day coming in which God is going to judge the world (Acts 17:31)

5) Like Ezekiel, we preach a message which involves repentance

Ezekiel preached a message of repentance.  He told the wicked to “turn and live” and we preach a message of repentance.  Repentance is part of the gospel. Ezekiel’s message was just to the nation.  He was a watchman to Israel.  We are to preach the gospel to the whole world.

6) Like Ezekiel, we preach a message that was a matter of life and death.

It was serious.  Our message is more important than Ezekiel’s message.  Ezekiel’s message was a matter of physical lie and physical death.  The Babylonians were coming with the sword and were going to slaughter men, women and children. Our message is a matter of eternal life and eternal death.  Ezekiel was a physical watchman.  We are to be spiritual watchmen.

7) Like Ezekiel, God will hold us accountable for how we perform the duties He gave us.

God held Ezekiel accountable for how he performed his duty as a watchman.  If the watchman saw the enemy approaching and did not sound the alarm and people died, God said that their blood would be on his head. God will hold us accountable as well.  We will one day all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

There is good news and bad news here.  The bad news is that being a watchman is not optional.   It is a command.  If we don’t do it, people’s blood will be on our heads.  They will still die but we will be guilty.

The good news is that we are not responsible for how people respond to the message.  We are not responsible for how people respond to the gospel.  The only job of the watchman is to sound the warning.  God only holds us accountable for being faithful to what He has called us to do.

This doesn’t mean that we have to be obnoxious and rude like some Christians, offending as many people as we can.  It doesn’t mean that we have to be constantly finding fault with people, going around pointing fingers.  It means that we have to shine the light every day and be a good testimony for Christ.  It means we have to preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.  That is a quote supposedly from St. Francis of Assisi but he probably never said it.

The Call to the Wicked

Ezekiel makes four important points about the wicked in this chapter.

1. Sin leads to death

The penalty of sin is death.  God says to the wicked person “You shall surely die” (33:14).  “The soul who sins, it will die” (18:4). The Jews left in Babylon thought that they struck it rich.  Everyone else was gone and they could take over the whole country.  God says that instead of inheriting the land, they will all be killed (either by disease or famine or the sword).

23 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, the people living in those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as our possession.’ 25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you eat meat with the blood still in it and look to your idols and shed blood, should you then possess the land? 26 You rely on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?’

27 “Say this to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague. 28 I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross them. 29 Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable things they have done.’

When the people heard this message, many Jews lost hope.  They gave up. Life became meaningless. “Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ (33:10 NIV)   That brings us to our second point.

2. Repentance leads to life

God’s answer to this problem is one word (“repent”). The remedy is repentance.  It is the Hebrew word “turn” (shoe-ve).  It is used eight times in this chapter.  That is the solution.  God says, “turn and live” (33:11; 18:23).

14 And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— 15 if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. 16 None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. (33:14-16 NIV)

This shows the incredible power of repentance.  Repentance removes the guilt of past sin. It wipes it out.  No matter what you have done in the past, no matter how bad your sins, you can be forgiven if you repent.  Murder can be forgiven.  Rape can be forgiven.  Homosexuality can be forgiven.  Adultery can be forgiven.  Divorce can be forgiven.

In some Baptist churches, adultery can be forgiven but divorce cannot.  It is like the unpardonable sin but the Bible says that all sins can be forgiven.  Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (NIV).

God says in Ezekiel 33, if a wicked man repents, he will not only live (33:15) but NONE of the sins he committed will be remembered against him (33:16).  That is amazing. The NT says the same thing.  Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”  The Bible teaches that repentance is “for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47).

3. God does not want people to die

As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? (33:11 ESV)

Here we see that God is pro-life.  He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”  He even says it by divine oath (“as I live”).  Some people get pleasure when they see other people suffer.  They love to see other people suffer.  God is not like that.  He is not sadistic.  He did not create hell because he loves to torture his creatures. God does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, even wicked sinners who deserve to die. God created hell because He is a God of justice.  He loves justice (Psalm 3:5).  It is part of His nature but He does not delight when people go there.

4. God pleads with people to live

God is on the side of life.  He tells people what they need to do to live.  He pleads with people to choose life.  He tells people, not once but twice, “turn back, turn back from your evil ways.” He says to people, “Why will you die?” Why do people end up in hell today?  Jesus offers salvation to everyone.  Many reject his free offer.  They choose death.

Ezekiel 33:11 is often taken out of context.  Many who are against the death penalty quote this verse.  God says that he does not desire the death of anyone.  They completely miss the point of the passage.  The same God who says this says to the wicked in the very same chapter “You shall surely die”.  The same God who said he does not desire the death of anyone also ordains death as a punishment for many sins.

The Call to Worship

30 “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ 31 My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. 33 “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (33:30-33 NIV)

Now we come to some very interesting verses in the chapter.  These verses have to do with worship.  I love big churches but these verses are a stinging indictment on what happens in some mega churches.  Before, we look at these verses, we have to set the stage.

Ezekiel has been preaching about the destruction of Jerusalem for seven years and has been mocked and ridiculed by everyone, including other religious leaders.  Other prophets said that the temple would never fall.  Ezekiel was in the minority and no one took him seriously.

Then something shocking happened. Jerusalem fell. The Babylonians destroyed it.  There was verification from eye-witnesses that it fell (33:21-22).  It could be proven.  Now everyone knows that Ezekiel seemed to be crazy but everything he said was literally fulfilled.  He was vindicated. Now everyone knew that he was the true prophet and the other ones were the false prophets.

No longer could anyone call him a false prophet.  They could not mock him anymore.  Now, they were “saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’”

Ezekiel became popular.  He became the most popular man in town.  He became famous.  He was now a celebrity.  He was the best show in town.  They now wanted to hear what he said. They did three things that many do not even do today.  First, they came to hear him preach.  People flocked to him.  They come in droves.  They came regularly.  Some churches are empty.  They came to hear Ezekiel.

Second, they listened to him.  Some come to church and go right to sleep.  They don’t pay attention.  They do not hear a word the pastor says.  These people came to church and listening to him.  Ezekiel was a good public speaker.  He was a great communicator.  He was not boring and enjoyed listening to Ezekiel.

Third, they were moved by what they heard. They love to hear a good sermon.  They didn’t walk away and criticize what they heard.[1] Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well (33:32 NIV). His sermons sounded like music to their ears.  They sounded like a love song.  It was like listening to Barry Manilow.

Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words BUT DO NOT PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE.

Three Dangers for Christians Today

1) Beware of coming to church only to be entertained

Many come to church just to be entertained.  We have the spectator mentality in the church today.  Worship is like a performance up on stage.  Some see church as entertainment.

The quality is so good is some churches with professional singers.  Many people go to church and never even open their mouth to sing any of the worship songs.  They act like they are coming to a rock concert.

Some preachers are just entertainers.  They tell a lot of jokes.  They tickle people’s ears.  Some pastors gear their ministry to entertainment, because that brings in the crowds and it works.  The only problem is that many people then come to church for the wrong reason.

2) Beware of coming to church only to learn

My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, BUT THEY DO NOT PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE. (33:31 NIV)

It’s not wrong to hear the Word of God.  God wants us to hear it.  He wants us to know what it says.  Too many Christians are completely ignorant what the Bible even says.  They do not know what it teaches.  When we come to church, we need to hear God speaking to us but hearing it is not enough.

God wants us to be doers of the Word and not just hearers only.  We do not just need knowledge.  We need application to our own lives.  We need obedience.  Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  Don’t just study them, memorize them and know them.  Obey them.  Put them into practice.

3. Beware of giving God insincere worship in church

Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain (33:31 NIV).  Some Christians do open their mouth in worship.  They participate.  God says that it is possible to honor Him with your lips but have your heart FAR from Him (Mark 7:6). God calls that worship vain (Mark 7:7).  It is completely worthless.

How many Christians give God vain worship every Sunday?  Do we?  Does this describe us.  In Ezekiel’s day, people were in church but their hearts were really not on God.  They were on “unjust gain.”  This is a powerful indictment.  What do we think about when we are in church?  Do we worship Him with our hearts or just our lips?

[1] Ezekiel 33:30 says in the KJV “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking AGAINST THEE by the walls.” The KJV is the only translation which reads “against.”  All modern translations read “about” (e.g., NIV, ESN, NASB, RSV, NRSV, NLT, GNB).  Both translations are possible but the latter rendering fits the historical context better.

 

Judgment on Egypt

We have been studying the chapters in the Bible that you never hear about in church.  Today, we come to an important part of the Book of Ezekiel.  It it is the end of the first part of the book.  The first part of the book is very repetitive.  It has one theme and it is the theme of JUDGMENT.  God judges Israel when they sin and God judges the Gentile nations around Israel when they sin.

We have looked at judgment on six of these nations.  Today, we come to judgment on the seventh nation.  It is the final nation on the list and it is the longest section.  Judgment on Tyre was three chapters long (Ezekiel 26-28).  Judgment on Egypt is four chapters long (Ezekiel 29-32).

This is longest single prophecy against in nation in the whole Bible (ninety-seven verses).  Four chapters are given to the judgment of Egypt (Ezekiel 29-32).  That is one-twelfth of the book, because there are forty-eight chapters.  Within these four chapters are seven specific oracles directed against Egypt.

They all start with the words, “The word of the Lord came to me.”  We see that phrase seven times in these chapters (cf. 29:1, 17; 30:1, 20; 31:1; 32:1, 17).  Many would love to know if America is in bible prophecy?  We do not even have one chapter in the Bible devoted to America.  Far from having seven oracles, we do not even have one.  Egypt has seven oracles.

Why is so much space in Ezekiel devoted to Egypt?  Were they greater sinners than other nations?  The Egyptians were the first anti-Semites in history.  Antisemitism did not begin with Hitler.  The Egyptians were the first people to persecute the Jews.  They put them in bondage for over four hundred years.  It was a cruel bondage.  Satan used them to enslave God’s people.  Now Ezekiel predicts judgment for the Egyptians.

We are going to look at four chapters today because they all deal with the same topic.  We are not going to go verse-by-verse.  That would take too long.  We will start with a quick overview of the four chapters.  What does God say in these chapters?  Then, we will look at how they apply to us today.  Let’s look at a brief overview of these oracles.

The First Prophecy (29:1-16)

The first oracle is a literal and poetic prophecy of Egypt’s destruction.  It begins with a poetic prophecy.  God says that he is against Egypt and against Pharaoh.  Pharaoh is pictured as a great monster in the sea.  It is a pictured as a huge crocodile.  God goes fishing.  He puts hooks in the jaw of this beast and drags him to the desert and gives it as food to the beasts of the earth. Then we have a literal prophecy of Egypt’s judgment.  Ezekiel made five predictions about Egypt

Five Predictions about Egypt

1) Egypt will be conquered by the Babylonians (568 BC).

God said, “I will bring a sword against you and kill both man and beast” (29:8) and at the end of the chapter we see it will be the sword of the Babylonians.  Skeptics say that this never happened.  There was no Babylonian conquest of Egypt[1] but we have a Babylonian text that describes an assault by Nebuchadnezzar on Egypt.[2]

2) Many Egyptians will go into exile (29:12).  There is historical evidence for this taking place.[3]

3) The desolation would last forty years (29:11-13).  Forty years the period of Babylonian dominance over Egypt, whether “forty” is a literal number, a round number or a figurative number.

4) The Egyptians will eventually return to their land.  This was fulfilled when Cyrus released everybody Nebuchadnezzar exiled (29:13-14).

5) Egypt will become politically weak and insignificant as a result .

I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry. There they will be a lowly kingdom. 15 It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations. (Ezekiel 29:14-16 NIV).

This prophecy has been literally fulfilled.  Egypt was one of the greatest empires in the ancient world.  It is one of the longest lasting civilizations in world history (thirty centuries).  In Moses and Ezekiel’s day, it was a military superpower.  Today, it is almost a third-world nation.

Egypt has not been a superpower since these words were uttered.  They never recovered from this attack, even twenty-five hundred years later.  Egypt is an independent nation today but it does not rule over other nations, like it once did.

The Second Prophecy (29:17-20)

God rewards Nebuchadnezzar with Egypt.  God rewards Nebuchadnezzar with Egypt.  Nebuchadnezzar did not get it on his own.  God gave it to him.  Nebuchadnezzar was not a believer.  He wasn’t even righteous.  He wasn’t trying to serve God but when he did what God wanted him to do, He rewarded him and he rewarded him with the spoils of another country.

The Third Prophecy (30:1-19)

Ezekiel repeats the same prophecy with more details.  Ezekiel predicts Egypt will be invaded by not just anyone but “the most ruthless of nations” (30:11).  The sword will come on the Egyptians (30:10).  Cities will be destroyed (30:7).  Wealth will be taken (30:4).  People will be killed (30:5-6).  There will be dead bodies everywhere (30:11). This prophecy tells us what this day will be like.  It will be a day of doom (30:3 ESV).  It will be a dark day, a day of clouds, a day of gloom and despair.

The Fourth Prophecy (30:20-26)

God says He will do three things in this prophecy.  He promises to break the arms of Pharaoh, to strengthen the arms of Nebuchadnezzar and scattering the Egyptians.  We all want God to strengthen our arms, not break them.

The Fifth Prophecy (31:1-18)

God predicts that Egypt will go down like ancient Assyria did. Assyria as the most powerful empire in the world for three hundred years.  It conquered and ruled the Middle East from 900-600 BC.  Assyria was like a huge cedar tree.  It was tall.  It was beautiful.  This tree was cut down.  It fell, and made a loud noise.

The Sixth Prophecy (32:1-16)

Egypt is pictured as a monster in the sea again.  This time, God uses a net to drag this monster onto the land and throws it onto the open field where it does and is eaten by other animals. This prediction shows what people will think when the Babylonians come into Egypt and start killing people.  He says that people will fear for their life (32:10)

The Seventh Prophecy (32:17-32)

This is perhaps the most interesting of all of them.  Ezekiel gets a vision of the underworld or afterworld.  He sees the state of the dead and we learn some things about the afterlife here.  Many say that there is no concept of the afterlife in the OT.  That is not true.  Ezekiel describes what happened to the Egyptians who were killed by the Babylonians.  This is a brief description of what happened to the wicked who die in the OT.  The Egyptians were big on the afterlife.  That is what the Pyramids were all about.  They made sure the Pharaoh made it to the afterlife

Where did the dead Egyptians go?  They went to a place called Sheol (31:15, 16, 17; 32:21, 27).  Their bodies went to the grave but their spirit or soul went to Sheol.  There are three realms in the Bible: heaven, earth and the underworld.  We see this in Philippians 2:10. EARTH is the land of the living.  SHEOL is where spirits of dead people in the OT went. HEAVEN is the abode of God and the angels.  It is where God’s throne is located.

Relevance for Today

What is the relevance of these chapters today?  We did not come to church to see what God says about another country.  None of us are Egyptians.  How does this chapter apply to Americans?  These chapters have an important message for us today. They have a message about God, about man, about sin, and about death.

 Message About God

What do these chapters tell us about God?  They tell us three things.

1) They tell us that God is completely sovereign.

Many do not like this doctrine but it is biblical.  God does not just rule over churches, He rules over nations.  He rules over the world. He gets involved in politics and international affairs.  He can give one nation to another nation anytime He wants.  He created everyone.  He owns the world.  He made it.

2) They tell us that God is a judge.

We live in a day when many people say that God is not a judge, sometimes even in the church.  He is not mad at anyone.  He loves everyone.  He accepts everyone the way they are. He is accepting.  The problem is that it is not biblical picture of the God.  It is a complete lie.  We want to live like atheists, like there is no God.  We want to do whatever we want to do without consequences.

God holds us accountable for our actions.  He judges sin.  Psalm 7:11 says that God is angry with the wicked every day.  He wiped out the entire world in a flood, killed everyone.  He rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah.  You say, “but that is all in the OT and we live under the NT.”  That is true but the nature of God has not changed.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  God says in Malachi 3:6, “I am the LORD, and I do not change” (NLT).  In fact, the NT says, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).  In fact, the NT ends with God casting people in the lake of fire, whose names were not written in the Book of Life.  The God of the Bible is a judge. He is a righteous judge but He is a judge.

That is not all He is.  He is also a Savior.  He is a Redeemer but the message of these chapter is that God is also a judge. He judges everyone.  In fact, He judges His own people first. He judges individuals.  He judges churches.  Jesus said to one church that He would remove its lampstand (Revelation 2:5).  Churches all over the country are closing their doors. They used to exist but no longer do.  Four thousand churches close their doors every single year.[4]

He is not only judges churches, He judges nations.  God did not just do this in the past, He still does it today.  God hasn’t changed.  He was not only against some nations in Ezekiel’s day, He is against some nations today.  Is He against our nation?  If He judges nations, when will our nation be judged by God?  How much time left do we have as a nation?  There is an old quote that is attributed to Billy Graham, although he probably never said it.  It says, “If God does not judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

3) They teach that God can use absolutely anyone to accomplish his will.

Christians often ask if God could ever use them.  What this passage shows is that God uses anyone to do His will and He rewards every act of obedience.  He can use anybody.  He can use people.  He can use nations.  He can use believers or unbelievers.  He can use animals.  He used Balaam’s donkey.

There are several unlikely people God used to accomplish His will.  He used Noah the drunkard.  He used Abraham the old man.  He used Moses the excuse maker stutterer.  He used someone who had a disability.  He used Rahab the prostitute.  He used David, the murderer and adulterer.  He used Samson the womanizer.  He used Paul, a former persecutor and terrorist turned preacher. He used a little boy with five loaves and two fish.[5]

What unlikely instrument does God use in this section?  He uses Babylon, wicked Babylon, to do His will.  God called Babylon an “evil nation” (30:12).  God called them “the most ruthless of all nations” three times (30:11; 31:12; 32:12).  They were not compassionate. They were not nice people.  They were cruel and violent but God used this evil nation to judge Egypt.

God said that “the sword of the king of Babylon will come against you” (32:11) by the also called this MY SWORD (32:10).  God used Babylon as his instrument of judgment without them even knowing it.  God even rewarded this pagan nation for doing the will of God (29:17-20).

 Message About Sin

What does this section say about sin?  One, it says that pride is a sin.  Two, it is a major sin.  Three, it says that nations can have pride as well as individuals.  Four, it says that pride leads to a fall.  Five, it says that God judges pride.

God judges sin and the sin that stands out in this section is pride.  It is a sin that God hates.  We do not even call pride a sin today in our day.  We call national pride patriotism.  It is not wrong to be patriotic.  It is wrong to think you are better than someone else.  That was what happened to Egypt.  God described Egypt as a tall tree and a big fish.

Egypt was described as a tall tree with beautiful branches.  God says, “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, 11 I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside” (31:10-11 NIV).

Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.” 4 But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales. 5 I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. 6 Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. (29:3-6 NIV)

It is described as a great monster in the Nile.  This refers to a crocodile.  The crocodile was big and heavy and strong.  Some of them weighed a thousand pounds.  They lived a hundred years and they ruled the Nile.  They were the biggest and most dangerous predator in ancient Egypt.  The Egyptians made them a god.  They worshipped crocodiles.

God called Pharaoh a great crocodile and the power went to his head.  He had some much power that he thought he was a god.  The crocodile said, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.” That is a joke.  The fish thinks that it made the water.  God has a way of humbling the proud.  In this chapter, God goes fishing, puts a hook in this crocodile’s jaws and drags it out of the water.  Pharaoh died a violent death.  He was assassinated by his enemies (Jeremiah 44:30).  The Bible teaches that pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18).  Those who walk in pride, God is able to humble (Daniel 4:37).

 Message About Man

What does this say about us?  We are not God.  Pharaoh thought he was a god. We are not God.  People are not the solution to our problems.  We cannot turn to them to solve our deepest needs and if we do, we will be disappointed.

Every time Israel faced problems, they just turned to Egypt.  Egypt enslaved them for four hundred years but after they escaped, they kept turning back to them for help, like going back to an old addiction.

When the Babylonians invaded Israel, the Jews turned to Egypt.  They did not turn to God; they turned to Egypt and it seemed to work at first.  The Babylonians lifted their siege temporarily (Jeremiah 37:5) but the Egyptians eventually withdrew and the Babylonians devastated the country.  God said that Egypt was a weak reed to lean on for help.

Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. “‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel. 7 When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched. (29:6-7 NIV)

Reeds that grew by the Nile River in Egypt. They look like a good kind of wood for a staff but they are brittle and shatter easily.  God says that they leaned on this reed and fell and hurt their shoulders and back.  God says, “If you lean on Egypt, you only hurt yourself in the process.”  It is always dangerous to turn to people, rather than the Lord.

When we have problems, who do we turn to?  Do we turn to people or to God?  Jeremiah 17:5, 7 says, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” (NIV).

Fast-forward to today.  Israel does not turn to Egypt for help.  Today, Israel does not turn to Egypt for help.  They turn to the US. The US gives billions of dollars to Israel each year in aid.  The two countries are close allies.

 Message About Death

They tell us some things about the afterlife?  You have to read the whole Bible to get a complete picture but there are three things about the afterlife which stand out to me in Ezekiel 32.

1) There is conscious existence after death.

These dead Egyptians were not asleep but awake.  They were conscious.  They could see other people and could recognize them.  They could recognize different nations.  They all seemed to be arranged by nationality.  The Assyrians were with other Assyrians.  Elamites were with other Elamites.  This refutes the idea of soul sleep which some cultist advocate.  When you die, you do not cease to exist.  You continue to exist in a different form.  You will continue to exist forever.

2) Not everyone goes to the same place

The righteous and wicked go to two different places.  When the Egyptians died and went to Sheol, they only saw the wicked.  They did not see any of the righteous there.  They were in a different location.

3) Life after death is very different than it is now.

Many of these nations and people terrorized others on earth.  That is mentioned seven times in the text we are told that these men spread terror in the land of the living, like terrorists do today (32:23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 32) but they had no power to do that in the afterlife.  They used to have all kinds of power.  Now, they no longer have power.  Now they are disgraced and are in a place of shame.  They are outcasts.  The Egyptians practiced circumcision but at death they are with the uncircumcised (the biggest insult a Jew could give someone).  Sheol was a place of gloom and deep darkness (Job 10:21; 17:13)

[1] http://www.sanityquestpublishing.com/essays/BabEgypt.html

[2](13-22) … [in] the 37th year, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Bab[ylon] mar[ched against] Egypt (Mi-şir) to deliver a battle. [A ma]sis (text: [ … ]-a(?)-su), of Egypt, [called up his a ]rm[y] … [ … ]ku from the town Puţu-Iaman … distant regions which (are situated on islands) amidst the sea … many … which/who (are) in Egypt … [car]rying weapons, horses and [chariot]s … he called up to assist him and … did [ … ] in front of him … he put his trust … Only the first signs at the beginning and the end of the following 7 or 8 lines are legible. (James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 308)

[3] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews Book 10, IX.7.

[4] http://www.churchleadership.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=42346

[5] https://courtneyswritingportfolio.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/10-unlikely-people-god-used-to-accomplish-his-will/

Judgment on Egypt

We have been studying the Book of Ezekiel.  The first part of the book is very repetitive.  It has one theme and it is the theme of judgment.  The people of God sin and are judged by God.  The first part of the book is all judgment.  God judges Israel and God judges the Gentile nations. Today, we will finish the first part of the book.  To do that, we will have to look at four chapters.  They all go together.  This will just be overview of these chapters.

After spending twenty chapters on the judgment of Israel, Ezekiel gives us seven chapters of judgment on the nations which surrounded Israel.  They were all judged based on their treatment of the Jews.  Today, we come to the final nation and that is Egypt, the last of the seven nations.

The Egyptians were the first anti-Semites in history.  Antisemitism did not begin with Hitler.  The Egyptians were the first people to persecute the Jews.  They put them in bondage for over four hundred years.  It was a cruel bondage.  Satan used them to enslave God’s people.  Now Ezekiel predicts judgment for the Egyptians.

More space is devoted to the judgment of this nation than any of the other six nations.  In fact, this is longest single prophecy against in nation in the whole Bible (ninety-seven verses).  Four chapters are given to the judgment of Egypt (Ezekiel 29-32).  That is one-twelfth of the book, because there are forty-eight chapters.  Within these four chapters are seven specific oracles directed against Egypt.

They all start with the words, “The word of the Lord came to me.”  We see that phrase seven times in these chapters (cf. 29:1, 17; 30:1, 20; 31:1; 32:1, 17).  Many would love to know if America is in bible prophecy?  We do not even have one chapter in the Bible devoted to America.  Far from having seven oracles, we do not even have one but Egypt has seven.

Ezekiel 29:1-3 says, “In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.  Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I am AGAINST you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams.” (NIV).

You do not want God against you. You want God for you.  You may have a lot of other people against you but you do not want God against you.  If God is for us, who can be against us.  If God is against us, who can be for us?  God says that He is against the COUNTRY of Egypt and He is against the LEADER of the country (Pharaoh).  What if this said, “God is against America?”

Relevance Today

How are these chapters relevant today?  We did not come to church to see what God says about another country.  This might apply if we were Egyptians but we are all Americans.  How does this apply to us?  These chapters have an important message for us today.

We live in a day when many people say that God is not a judge.  He accepts everyone.  He accepts everyone the way they are. He is accepting.  He is tolerant.  If you want to live together before you are married, God is okay with that.  If a man wants to marry another man, God understands.  He is a loving father, not a cruel judge.  Many see God just as a doting father.  That is very popular in some circles, even in some churches.

There is only one problem with this view.  It is unbiblical.  It seems right but the way that seems right to man but, in the end, it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12 KJV).  The Bible does teach that God is a loving father but it also teaches that He is a judge, not a wicked judge but a righteous judge.  He judges individuals.  He judges nations.  He judges churches.  He judges everyone.  In fact, He judges His own people first.

What is clear from first part of the book is that He also judges nations.  God did not just do this in the past, He still does it today.  God hasn’t changed.  If he judges nations for their sin, it raises the question: When will our nation be judged by God?  How much time left do we have as a nation?

There is an old quote that is attributed to Billy Graham.  It says, “If God does not judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”  We have redefined marriage as a nation.  God defines it one way.  He was the one who created marriage.  We definite it another way in deliberate defiance of God and His Word.

How does God Judge Nations?

What does it mean for God to judge a nation?  What does that look like?  Many nations are wiped off the map.  They no longer exist as political entities.  The nation of Ammon is gone.  The nation of Moab is gone.  The Philistines are gone.  The Phoenicians are gone.  Six of these seven nations no longer exist.

Some churches no longer exist either.  Jesus said to one church that He would remove its lampstand (Revelation 2:5).  Churches all over the country are closing their doors. They used to exist but no longer do.  Four thousand churches close their doors every single year.[1]

There is another way that God judges nations. He eliminates some nations.  He weakens other nations.  That is what happened to Egypt.  God judged Egypt but Egypt is still around today.  You can visit it but Egypt today is nothing like ancient Egypt.

Some have wondered why no great civilization came out of Africa.  Some did. Egypt was in Africa and it was one of the greatest empires in the ancient world.  It is one of the longest lasting civilizations in world history (thirty centuries).  In Moses and Ezekiel’s day, it was a military superpower.  Today, it is almost a third-world nation.

God said in Ezekiel 29:15 that Egypt “will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations. 16 Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’” (NIV).

This prophecy has been literally fulfilled.  Egypt has not been a superpower since these words were uttered.  They never recovered from this attack from Babylon, even twenty-five hundred years later.  Egypt is an independent nation today but it does not rule over other nations like it once did.  They

Application for Today

1) Trusting in people is counter-productive

God called Egypt “a staff of reed for the people of Israel. 7 When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched.” (29:6-7)

What is the historical background?  When the Babylonian armies came to Jerusalem, Israel turned to Egypt and the Babylonians lifted their siege temporarily (Jeremiah 37:5).  Then, the Egyptians withdrew and the Babylonians continued their siege.

After Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and burned the Temple, they went north and into Tyre and stayed there for thirteen years.  Nebuchadnezzar put a thirteen year siege on Tyre but he was unsuccessful because the city fled to the island and took their wealth with them, so Nebuchadnezzar went south into Egypt and devastated the country.  When we have problems, who do we turn to?  Do we turn to people or to God?  God called Egypt a weak reed.

Reeds that grew by the Nile River in Egypt. They look like a good kind of wood for a staff but they are brittle and shatter easily.  God says that they leaned on this reed and fell and hurt their shoulders and back.  God says, “If you lean on Egypt, you only hurt yourself in the process.”  It is always dangerous to turn to people, rather than the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:5, 7 says, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” (NIV).

Fast-forward to today.  Israel does not turn to Egypt for help.  Today, Israel does not turn to Egypt for help.  They turn to the US. The US gives billions of dollars to Israel each year in aid.  The two countries are close allies.

2) No one is too big to fall

We have a principle in economics called “too big to fail.”  No matter how big a company is, no matter how strong and powerful a nation is, it is never too strong to fail.

Superpowers seem to be so strong and so powerful that they almost seemed invincible.  They were like the Titanic.  People at one time thought the ship was unsinkable.  There was no way it could go down.  It was made of seven thousand tons of steel but it did.  Goliath looked like he was invincible.  He was big.  He was tall.  He was strong.  He was armed.  He was undefeated.  No one had ever beaten him.  The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Daniel 4:37 says, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And THOSE WHO WALK IN PRIDE, HE IS ABLE TO HUMBLE.” (NIV).  The Apostle Paul applies this principle in I Corinthians 10:12. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (ESV)

Peter told Jesus that he would never deny him.  In fact, he said, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you” (Matthew 26:35).  After saying that he would never deny Jesus, he went and denied him, not once but three times in one night.

We have two illustrations of this in our passage.  This section is full of figurative language (metaphors, similes, personification).  The first illustration is Egypt.  God describes Egypt as a great monster in the sea.

Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.” 4 But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales. 5 I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. 6 Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. (29:3-6 NIV)

3 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘With a great throng of people I will cast my net over you, and they will haul you up in my net. 4 I will throw you on the land and hurl you on the open field. I will let all the birds of the sky settle on you and all the animals of the wild gorge themselves on you. 5 I will spread your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your remains. 6 I will drench the land with your flowing blood all the way to the mountains, and the ravines will be filled with your flesh. (32:3-6 NIV)

How is Egypt described here?  It is described as a great monster in the Nile.  This refers to a crocodile.  The crocodile was big and heavy and strong.  Some of them weighed a thousand pounds.  They lived a hundred years and they ruled the Nile.  They were the biggest and most dangerous predator in ancient Egypt.  The Egyptians made them a god.  They worshipped crocodiles.

God called Pharaoh a great crocodile and the power went to his head.  He had some much power that he thought he was a god.  The crocodile said, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.” That is a joke.  The fish thinks that it made the water.  God has a way of humbling the proud.  In this chapter, God goes fishing, puts a hook in this crocodile’s jaws.

He uses a net and drags it out of the water and puts it on the desert where it dies and animals gorge themselves on the flesh of the crocodile.  Pharaoh died a violent death.  He was assassinated by his enemies (Jeremiah 44:30).  Ezekiel gives us another illustration of this in Ezekiel 31.

In the eleventh year, in the third month on the first day, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes: “‘Who can be compared with you in majesty? 3 Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage. 4 The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field.

5 So it towered higher than all the trees of the field; its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters. 6 All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs, all the animals of the wild gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade. 7 It was majestic in beauty, with its spreading boughs, for its roots went down to abundant waters. 8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor could the junipers equal its boughs, nor could the plane trees compare with its branches—no tree in the garden of God could match its beauty. 9 I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God.

10 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, 11 I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside, 12 and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it. 13 All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches. 14 Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined for death, for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead. (31:1-14 NIV)

Egypt will be like ancient Assyria.  Assyria as the most powerful empire in the world for three hundred years.  It conquered and ruled the Middle East from 900-600 BC.  Assyria was like a huge cedar tree.  This tree was beautiful.  It was majestic.  It was tall. It was higher than all of the other trees.  It has all kinds of animals living in it and this tree falls.  When it hits the ground, it makes a loud sound and the nations would tremble (31:16).

3) Some acts of nature are acts of God

 “‘Wail and say, “Alas for that day!” 3 For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near—a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. 4 A sword will come against Egypt, and anguish will come upon Cush. When the slain fall in Egypt, her wealth will be carried away and her foundations torn down. (30:2-4 NIV).

What happened to Egypt was terrible.  It was a national tragedy.  It was a day of gloom and a day of doom.  It was a day of despair.  It will be a day of complete fear.  On that day, people will tremble for their own life (32:10) but this was not just a tragedy.  It was not just an accident.  It was not just a coincidence.  It was not just bad luck.  It was an act of God.  God was behind it.  Ezekiel calls it “the day of the Lord,” not “the day of Nebuchadnezzar.”

“‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. (29:3 NIV)

Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will carry off its wealth. (29:19 NIV)

I will set fire to Egypt (30:8,16 NIV)

So I will inflict punishment on Egypt, and they will know that I am the Lord. (30:19 NIV)

I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. (30:23 NIV)

I will trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring about your destruction among the nations, among lands you have not known. (32:9 NIV)

Then I will let her waters settle and make her streams flow like oil, declares the Sovereign Lord. 15 When I make Egypt desolate and strip the land of everything in it, when I strike down all who live there, then they will know that I am the Lord (32:14-15 NIV)

What are the implications of this?  God has authority over everyone.  He does not just rule over churches, He rules over nations.  He rules over the world.  He is sovereign.  He gets involved in politics and international affairs.  Some natural disasters are actually divine judgments.  Many do not like this doctrine but it is a biblical doctrine.

The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. (Psalm 135:6 NIV)

34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-35 NIV)

4) God can use anyone to accomplish his will

We often wonder if God could ever use us?  What this passage shows is that God uses anyone to do His will and He rewards every act of obedience.  He can use anybody.  He can use people nations.  He can use believers or unbelievers.  He can use animals.  He used Balaam’s donkey.

There are several unlikely people God used to accomplish His will.  He used Noah the drunkard.  He used Abraham the old man.  He used Moses the stutterer.  He used Rahab the prostitute.  He used David, the murderer and adulterer.  He used Paul, a former persecutor turned preacher. He used a little boy with five loaves and two fish.[2]

What unlikely instrument does God use in this section?  He uses Babylon, wicked Babylon, to do His will.  God called Babylon an “evil nation” (30:12).  God called them “the most ruthless of all nations” three times (30:11; 31:12; 32:12) but God used this evil nation to judge Egypt.

God said that “the sword of the king of Babylon will come against you” (32:11) by the also called this “my sword” (32:10).  God used Babylon as his instrument of judgment without them even knowing it.  God even rewarded this pagan nation for doing the will of God.

God used Babylon as His instrument of judgment without them even knowing it.  God even rewarded this pagan nation for doing the will of God.  If He rewarded them, He will reward us.

17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month on the first day, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon drove his army in a hard campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw. Yet he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will carry off its wealth. He will loot and plunder the land as pay for his army. 20 I have given him Egypt as a reward for his efforts because he and his army did it for me, declares the Sovereign Lord. (29:17-20 NIV)

[1] http://www.churchleadership.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=42346

[2] https://courtneyswritingportfolio.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/10-unlikely-people-god-used-to-accomplish-his-will/

The Real Ruler of Tyre

We are studying the Book of Ezekiel and right now we are in the second part of the book.  God appeared to Ezekiel, called him to be a prophet and gave him a message to speak.  Ezekiel received words from God to deliver to people.  The first words he received was that judgment was coming to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 1-24).

The northern kingdom had already gone into captivity over a hundred and thirty years earlier but many thought that the southern kingdom could never fall.  It had the Temple.  God was there.  That made it indestructible but God left His Temple and judged His own people, as the Babylonians came in destroyed the Temple, slaughtered the city and took many people as captives.

The second words he received from God were about judgment falling on Gentile nations around Israel.  We find these words in Ezekiel 25-32 and they describe judgment on seven nations all judged because of their treatment of Israel.  That is interesting to think about.  God judges Gentile nations based on how they treat the Jews.  Many nations today are anti-Semitic.  Their fate will be similar to these seven nations.   God will come against these nations, just like He came against the Jews in Jerusalem.  After they are judged, God says this:

“‘No longer will the people of Israel have malicious neighbors who are painful briers and sharp thorns. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.  This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’” (28:24-26 ESV)

Ezekiel 26-28 deal with judgment on two more nations, Tyre and Sidon.  Both of these were port cities right on the Mediterranean.  They were close to each other (about twenty miles apart).  They are in Lebanon today.  They were Canaanite cities.  Sidon was a son of Canaan.  He was his firstborn son (Genesis 10:15) in the Book of Genesis.  That made him the great-grandson of Noah.

The focus of these three chapters is on Tyre.  We began looking at Tyre last week.  Ezekiel has two chapters on the city of Tyre and one chapter on the king of Tyre.  Why did he write a chapter about the king of Tyre?  The king was the personification of the city.  Today, we will be talking about the king of Tyre.

Today, we are going to go deep.  You are going to see some very advanced material in this chapter.  If you can’t handle meat or are a spiritual vegetarian, this is the wrong class for you.  This is a very controversial chapter.  If you read commentaries or go online, you will read all kinds of different things about this chapter.  This chapter actually debunks some myths that people have about Satan.  There are two main interpretations of this chapter.

Two Main Interpretations of the Chapter

1. The King of Tyre is a HUMAN RULER

This is the modern view.  The chapter is just referring to some ancient king, some ancient Phoenician king.  We actually know his name.  The ruler of Tyre who was in power when Ezekiel wrote this was Ithobaal III.  He reigned from 591 to 573 BC. Many scholars who write commentaries on Ezekiel, even some evangelical scholars, believe that this is just talking about him.  What arguments do they give for the view that this is a human ruler?

The passage does not use the words “devil,” “Satan” or “fallen angel.”  If you read the entire chapter, you will not see those words anywhere.

The chapter is all about the King of Tyre but, interestingly, the word “king” is never used in Ezekiel of angels.  It is only used of human kings (17:12; 19:9; 21:19; 24:2; 26:7; 29:2-3,18; 30:10,21; 31:2; 32:2,11),

Furthermore, the king of Tyre is called a man.  Ezekiel 28:1-2 says, “The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God: “Because your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,’ yet you are but A MAN, and no god” (ESV). He was a man.  He lived in Tyre (28:2), not heaven.

He dies a violent death at the hand of foreigners (28:8, 10).  He was turned into ashes (28:18).  People would see his dead body lying on the ground (28:18).  Angels do not die.   Angels don’t die but this person did.  They are not physical beings.  They are not born and they don’t die.

Before he was judged, this king did a lot of trading and engaged in violence. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you (28:16 ESV).

There is not going to be any trading in heaven.  We will not be trading baseball cards and there will not be any buying or selling.  Satan did not commit an act of violent in heaven.  He did not assault anyone.  Al of these are reasons that some say that this is only talking about a human ruler of Tyre, although perhaps poetically.

2. The King of Tyre is an ANGELIC RULER

That has been the predominate view of most people in church history, since the second century.  According to this view, Ezekiel 28 is talking about the creation and fall of Satan, as well as the fall of a human king.

Part of the chapter describes a supernatural being who rebelled against God.  They believe it is talking about a mighty angel in heaven who rebelled against God and was kicked out of heaven. This view goes all the way back to the second century.  It was held by Origin, Tertullian, Chrysostom, Augustine and many others.  It is a very old Christian interpretation.

The arguments used against this view sound good but they are extremely weak.  Biblical commentators who use these arguments make great scholars but terrible theologians.  The word “Satan,” “devil” and “fallen angel” are not found in the text at all.

They are absolutely right but read Genesis 3 sometime and you will not find those words there either.  The chapter mentions a serpent but he is not called a fallen angel, just one of the animals that God made (a snake) and yet every Christian believes that Satan was the one in the garden who tempted Eve.

The word king is never used in Ezekiel of an angel.  That is true but Jesus is a king.  He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, so the word “king” can be used of a man or of God.  It can also be used of an angel.  There are angels in the Bible called kings and princes (Daniel 10:12-13; 12:1).  Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31).  He is called “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).

Evidence for the Angel Interpretation

There are several hints in the text that the angel interpretation might be correct.  Let me point them out.

First, the first leader is called “a prince” (28:2).  The second leader is called a “king” (28:12).  One is called the prince of Tyre and one is called the king of Tyre.  They are separate words in Hebrew.  The word for “prince” is nageed.  The word for “king” is melek. Now this is very interesting.

The world called him a king.  He called himself a king but God called him only a prince.  From a human perspective, he was the supreme ruler of Tyre but if you looked behind the scenes, you would find another force and another power and another spirit which energized the prince of Tyre and he was the real ruler of Tyre.  That was Satan.  He was the power behind the throne. The prince of Tyre was just his puppet.  This was a satanic king.

That is a scary thought.  Satan is involved in politics today.  He has influence today.  He works through political leaders and nations who do his bidding without even knowing it.  We do not have to look to pagan nations.  He has had some influence in some of the leaders of our own country in pushing unbiblical legislation and fomenting dissension all over the country.

Second, the prince of Tyre is said to be a man (28:2, 9) but the King of Tyre is said to be an angel (28:14).  The king of Tyre is called a cherub.[1]  Today, we think of cherubs as cute little chubby babies but, in the Bible, they are angels. The first reason is that one was called a prince and one was called a king.  The second reason is that one was called a man and one was called an angel.

Third, many of the descriptions in this chapter could not possibly refer to the prince of Tyre.  They could only refer to one person and that is Satan.  This king was not in Eden, the garden of God (28:13).  There were only three people in Eden: Adam, Eve and Satan.  The prince of Tyre was never there.  When Adam left, there was a flaming sword.  No one could go back and get in.

He never was on the holy mountain of God (28:14).  He was not an angel.  He was not a cherub, guarding the holiness of God.  He did not live in Eden or on a burning holy mountain where God’s throne is.  He never stood directly in God’s presence and walked among the stones of fire (28:14).  He was never in the mountain of God and was never exiled from the mountain of God (28:16).

He was not blameless from the day he was created (28:14).  He was neither blameless, nor a direct creation of God.  In fact, all of the human race, including this pagan king were born in sin.  We are all sinful from birth.  We did not live a perfect life until one day we decided to sin and disobey God

Satan’s Creation

What does this chapter tell us about Satan?  The city was just a reflection of the king and the king was just a reflection of Satan himself, the one who energized and empowered him. The king of Tyre was a type of Satan.  The rebellious king was a type of a rebellious angel.  What was his original state?

1. He was beautiful

“Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. (28:12 NIV)

You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you (28:13 NIV)

You corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. (28:17 NIV)

If you put these together, you see that Satan when he was created was beautiful and bright.  He was adorned with every precious stone.  In fact, God said that not only was he beautiful but he was PERFECT IN BEAUTY.  He would have won all of the beauty contests.  He was the most beautiful of all created beings. Today, we think of the devil as an ugly, grotesque creature and he is but he was not created that way.

2. He was wise

Today, have a lot of dumb blond jokes.  If you had a choice, which would you be: look really good on the outside but have nothing on the inside (beautiful and stupid) or look really bad on the outside but have a lot on the inside (ugly but highly intelligent).  Satan had both.  He was the most beautiful of all created beings and he was wise.  He was “full of wisdom” (28:12).  The one who tempted Eve was very crafty.

3. He was perfect

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. (28:15 NIV)

Satan was not only perfect but was called “the seal of perfection” (28:12 NIV).  He is the model of perfection.  Why is this important?  When God created Satan, he was not Satan.  He was absolute perfection.  God did not create the devil. He did not create evil.  Satan was created perfect.  He chose to be evil.

4. He was exalted

God created a hierarchy of beings.  He created animals.  He created people above them and angels above people.  There are also ranks of angels.  Satan was not just an angel, he was a cherub.   Cherubs are guardian angels.  They guard God’s throne and His holiness.  They guarded the tree of life in the garden of Eden.  This being is called in the KJV “the cherub which covers.”Cherubs are the highest order of created beings.  They are like super angels, top angels.  They are very powerful beings.

Satan was not just one of the top angels, he was a leader over the other cherubs.  He was not just a cherub, he was an “anointed cherub” (28:14).  He was distinguished from the other cherubs.  The word anointed means “messiah.”  They are different forms of the same word.  Anointed is ma-shock.  Messiah is ma-she-ock.  If Michael was an arch angel, Satan was an arch cherub, which made him not just the highest angels but the highest of all God’s creatures.

Was Satan the Worship Leader in Heaven?

This idea is all based on one verse that comes from this chapter.  Ezekiel 28:13 says, “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.” (KJV) [2]

This is a reference to wind and percussion instruments.  Many believe that Satan was the first worship leader in heaven.  They believe that he was the first musician, the heavenly choir director.  The problem with this view is that it only comes from one verse in the Bible and is only found in one translation (KJV).

If you read any other modern version, you will find a different reading.  The ESV reads “crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings.”  The NIV says, “Your settings and mountings were made of gold.”  The NLT reads, “all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold.”  Both translations are possible in Hebrew but the second one fits the context better, which deals with precious stones, not a heavenly choir.

Fall of Satan

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became PROUD on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. (28:15-17 NIV)

This passage gives us the origin of evil.  It gives us the first sin.  The first sin was not human.  It was angelic.  What was the sin?  The first sin in the universe was pride.  The power and beauty and wisdom all went to his head.  The same thing happens today.

KNOWLEDGE can lead to pride.  Paul says that knowledge puffs up (I Corinthians 8:1).  Educated people often look down on uneducated people.  Many with college degrees say they could never date someone with just a high school diploma.

BEAUTY can lead to pride.  Beautiful women can look down on women who are ugly.  They think they are better than them.

WEALTH can lead to pride.  If you live in a nice house, you might look down on someone who just lives in a trailer.  The king of Tyre was up to his eyeballs in wealth.  He wore all kinds of jewels.  Tyre was the commercial and trading center of the ancient world.

POWER can lead to pride.  If people have any kind of power over you, it often goes to their head.  They think they are more important.  The king of Tyre had incredible power.  Kings in the Ancient Near East had absolute power.  He had no checks and balances like we have today.

This king had no constitution limiting his power.  He could do whatever he wanted to do.  Power corrupts.  For this king, the power went to his head and he began to think that he was a god.

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘In the pride of your heart you say, “I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.” (28:1-2 ESV).

S. Lewis Johnson pointed out that Muhammad Ali said that he was the greatest but he never said that he was God.  When the king of Tyre said it, God mocked him.  He said tell that to the man who is cutting your throat (28:9).  Ithobaal III had so much power that it went to his head and he thought he was a god.  Today, no one even knows who he is.  If you go on the Internet, you will find nothing about him.  He is not even important to history.

What is the lesson of this chapter?  The world takes this sin and makes it a virtue.  We have Gay Pride celebrations.  In the Bible, pride is something that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-17; 8:13; 16:5).  Pride means revolt and rebellion against God.  It signifies independence from God.  It is a satanic sin.

We see from this chapter that He not only hates it; He judges it. The king of Tyre fell because of pride and so did Satan, the one who inspired him.  Pride goes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18).  As Jesus says, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (NIV).

[1] The LXX says that he is WITH a cherub but the Hebrew calls him a cherub (MT).

[2] “Tabrets” is plural of tabret which is a timbrel or tambourine.  Pipes are wind instruments, like a flute or recorder.

Judgment on Tyre

One of the strongest evidences for the proof of Christianity is the fulfillment of prophecy.  One fourth of the Bible is prophecy.  These prophecies are specific and detailed.  There are not one or two but hundreds of them. Many are written centuries before they took place.  This is unique among other sacred scriptures of the world’s religions.  The Bible is like no other book in the world.

The Koran does not have prophecy like the Bible. Hindu scriptures do not.  Buddhist scriptures contain no prophecies which have been fulfilled.  Only God sees the future.  God says that He declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).  Critics have some questions about this chapter but, as we will see, Ezekiel made some prophecies in these chapters which were literally fulfilled.

We are in the second part of the Book of Ezekiel.  The second part of the book deals with judgment on seven nations, seven Gentile nations.  Israel has already been judged. Last week, we looked at the judgment on four of those nations (Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia).  Today, we come to judgment on a fifth one, Tyre.  Ezekiel gives us three chapters on Tyre.  We know it by its Greek name but the Hebrew name is Tzor.  The Arabic name is Sour (Soar).Tyre3

Tyre was a port town north of Israel on the Mediterranean coast.  The city is a hundred miles north of Jerusalem.  It was the capitol of the Phoenician Empire.  The Phoenicians have been around since 7000 BC.  You may not know this but the Phoenicians were the ones who came up with the first alphabet.  Before the Phoenician alphabet, there was just picture writing, like cuneiform and hieroglyphics.  It was not a perfect alphabet.  It only had consonants.  The Greeks later added vowels but it was the first alphabet.

Tyre was the capitol of Phoenicia.  The city does not mean a whole lot to most people today.  Most of us have never heard of the city and do not know anything about it.  If you lived in Ezekiel’s day, you would have heard of it.  It was one of the greatest cities in the ancient world.  People all over the ancient world knew about this city.  It was famous.  What was it like?

Three Characteristics of Tyre

1. It was a beautiful city.

This city was known for its beauty.  God mentions this three times in Ezekiel 27.  Say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord God: “O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ 4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty (27:3-4 ESV).

Men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around, and men of Gamad were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they made perfect your beauty (27:11 ESV). It was one of the most beautiful cities in the world at that time.

2. It was a wealthy city

Tyre was enormously wealthy.  Ezekiel 27 says that Tyre had “great wealth of every kind” (27:12, 18 ESV).  It was the commercial center of the ancient world.  It was like the Hong Kong of the ancient world.  How did Tyre get so rich?  They got rich through trade, international trade.  Tyre was the main seaport in Phoenicia.

Tyre was the center of commerce and trade.  They were the greatest traders in the world at that time.  People from all over the world came to Tyre to trade.  They traded with everyone.  They even traded with Israel and Judah (27:17).  Twenty nations are mentioned in Ezekiel 27 who traded with Tyre.

For God to predict the destruction of Tyre would be like if He predicted the destruction of some of the wealthiest cities in our day (New York City, London or Tokyo).  This was not just the death of a city but the death of a superpower.  Tyre was an economic superpower.  Then God goes one step further and says the city will become a place where fishermen dry their nets on (26:5).  This great commercial and urban center will be turned into a place to go fishing.

So why is God destroying Tyre?  God said that He was against Tyre (26:3).  Why?  What did they do?  Is God against trade?  Is He against commercial activity, buying and selling?  Is He against wealth and prosperity?  Is He against economic success? Is He against people making a profit? No. What is the problem?  Tyre was not only a wealthy city, it was a sinful city.

3. It was a sinful city

Tyre was a pagan city.  Tyre was part of ancient Phoenicia and the Phoenicians were Canaanites.  They worshipped Baal but that is not even mentioned in this section.  What sins does Ezekiel mention?

The Two Sins of Tyre

What were the sins of Tyre?  Ezekiel mentions two of its chief sins.

1) Greed

It is not wrong to buy and sell things.  It is wrong to be covetous and greedy.  It is wrong to be materialistic.  It is wrong to trust in your riches and to think that is where your security, trusting in riches, rather than trusting in God.  It is wrong to make a god of your wealth. Paul said that “covetousness IS idolatry.” 

That is a little strange to have idolatry without idols, physical idols.  DESIRING things is not necessarily wrong.  HAVING things is not wrong.  ENJOYING things is not wrong.  Finding your ultimate source of happiness and fulfillment in things is IDOLATRY.  Many think that if they have wealth, then they have happiness.  They will have everything that need or want and often question whether they even need God.

They forget that everything that have was given to them by God.  Wealth can cause people to be blinded to their true spiritual state.  Revelation 3:17 says, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (NIV).  Many who are financially rich are spiritually poor.  That is why Jesus said, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15 ESV).

The only thing the city of Tyre thought about was money and wealth.  We see that in Ezekiel 26:1-3.

In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open TO ME. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ 3 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre (ESV)

What is going on here?  The Babylonians come in.  Jerusalem falls and Tyre rejoices.  Why?  Now they can get more business.  They benefited financially from Israel’s tragedy.  They made money off of disasters.

When the fall of Jerusalem took place, they thought of one thing and one thing alone, namely, how this would benefit them.  They said, “I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste.”  Jerusalem controlled the land trade routes and Tyre controlled the sea trade routes.  Now, Tyre could get more revenue. They were already rich.  They were up to their eyeballs in wealth but now they could get richer.

There is another indication of the greed of Tyre that you might have missed.  Ezekiel 27:17 says, “Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise” (ESV).  Their trade was UNRIGHTEOUS (28:18).  Tyre engaged in the slave trade with Greece.  Slavery is based on greed and exploitation.  It is a way to get low cost labor.  Many think the Bible justifies slavery.  Here it is condemned.  Tyre thought that things were more important than people.

2) Pride

In our day, we use pride in a good sense.  If you are called proud in secular society it is a positive trait.  We have sitcoms called “The Proud Family.”  The Bible says that pride is something that God HATES.  He hates it in people.  Her hates it in churches.  He hates it in nations.

Two Signs of Pride

How do we know if we are proud?  What are the signs?  There are two of them.  The first sign of pride is when we overestimate our own abilities or importance.  We think we are wiser than Daniel; and no secret is hidden from us (28:3).  We almost think we are a god, like this king did and we have an inflated ego.

Paul says in Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (ESV).  Paul does not say, “Don’t think of yourself highly.”  He says “Don’t think of yourself MORE HIGHLY than you ought to think.”

The second sign of pride is feelings of superiority.  We look down on others.  We think we are better than others (prettier, smarter, richer, more educated, live in a bigger house, make more money, drive a nicer car).  As Americans, we often do what Tyre did.  We think we are superior to other countries, especially poor third world countries.  We believe in something called “American Exceptionalism.”  That is just a form of national pride.

The Pride of Tyre

What made the city of Tyre proud?  Where did the pride of Tyre come from?  There were several sources.

a) Its LEADER led to pride.

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God: “Because your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,’ yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god—3 you are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you; 4 by your wisdom and your understanding you have made wealth for yourself, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; 5 by your great wisdom in your trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth (28:1-5 ESV)

b) Its WEALTH lead to pride.

God said, “Your heart has become proud in your wealth” (28:5 ESV).  This still happens today.  There is nothing wrong with wealth but Jeremiah 9:23 says, “Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches.”

c) Its BEAUTY lead to pride.

They said, “I am perfect in beauty” (27:3).  There is nothing wrong with physical beauty but it can still cause pride today.

d) Its DEFENSES led to pride.

Tyre was most fortified cities in the ancient world. In fact, the word Tyre means “rock.”  It was hard to defeat militarily.  Many tried and failed.  The Assyrians put a siege on the city four times and failed The Assyrian rulers Shalmaneser V and Sargon II tried it (724–720 BC).  They did it for five years but were unsuccessful.  The Assyrian Sennacherib tried it (701 BC).  Esarhaddon tried it (671 BC) and so did Ashurbanipal (663 BC).

The Babylonians apparently did not learn the lessons of history.  They tried to do the same thing.  They put a siege around Tyre for thirteen years (586–573 BC).  The Babylonians put a siege around Jerusalem and they only lasted a year and a half.  They ran out of food and had to commit cannibalism just to survive.  The Babylonians successfully demolished the mainland city but did not completely destroy the city.

Tyre was a city in two locations. You might think of it like city and suburbs. There was mainland Tyre and island Tyre.  When Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country and wiped out the coastal city, people just fled to the island about a half a mile away and Nebuchadnezzar could not get to them.  It was an island fortress.  It was the Titanic of the ancient world but the Titanic was about to fall.

Judgment on Tyre

3 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. And she shall become plunder for the nations, 6 and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

7 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. 8 He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland. He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. 9 He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.

10 His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. 11 With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. (26:3-12 ESV)

Every one of these prophecies was literally fulfilled but it was not fulfilled the way we might have expected.  Destruction came by means of invasion.  The one who started the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar.  He is called “king of kings”.  He came with chariots, horsemen and a lot of soldiers, set up a siege wall and broke down their towers and killed people.

God said that He would bring up many nations against Tyre, as the sea brings up its waves (26:3).  Many nations (not one nation) would be used in the cities destruction.  These nations were foreign nations.  God said that they would be ruthless nations (28:7).  These were extremely violent.  They were cruel and barbaric.  They killed children.  They raped women.  They slaughtered people.

Waves implies a series of nation.  Ezekiel predicted that there would be nation after nation attacking Tyre like waves crashing on the sea shore.  Nebuchadnezzar was just the first wave of attack.  Tyre was invaded six different times.  It was invaded by the Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Egyptians, and the Seleucids.

The Babylonians fulfilled the first part of the prophecy.  Nebuchadnezzar wiped out the coastal Tyre in the 6th century BC.  The Greeks fulfilled the second part of the prophecy.  Alexander the Great destroyed island Tyre.  He did not have a navy but his engineers built a land bridge from the mainland to the island.  They threw the stones into the midst of the sea, just like Ezekiel predicted.  How did he know that this would happen?  It took place two hundred and fifty years after the time of Nebuchadnezzar.Siege_tryre

Is This a False Prophecy?

Critics say that what Ezekiel said about Tyre never happened.  Ezekiel said that the city would be wiped out, destroyed and NEVER rebuilt (26:14) but there is only one problem.  It did not seem to happen in Ezekiel’s day or after his time.  Jesus went to Tyre.  He visited Tyre.  He healed people in Tyre.

That was where the Syrophoenician woman, who Jesus healed,  lived.  Mark 7:24 says, “And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden” (ESV)

In fact, the city exists to this very day.  You can visit Tyre today.  You can go to Tyre, Lebanon. It is in southern Lebanon. It is still one of Lebanon’s most beautiful cities. It is apparently the fourth largest city in Lebanon.  How do you answer the critics?  Did Ezekiel make a mistake?  No. I would make three observations

1) The modern city of Tyre is not on the site of the ancient city

It is near the ancient site but not identical to it.  No city has been rebuilt over these ruins.  You can go online and see the ancient ruins.[1]

2) Alexandrian Tyre is not Phoenician Tyre

Alexander the great rebuilt the city but it was no longer Phoenician Tyre.  Phoenician Tyre is gone forever, never to be rebuilt.  Alexander replaced it with a colony of Greeks.  It has the same name but it is another city.

3) The modern city of Tyre is not anything like the ancient city

There is no comparison.  Tyre, Lebanon is not one of the greatest cities in the world.  It is not on the richest cities of the world.  It is not a place where all nations come to do trading or commerce.  It is just a tourist attraction and an archaeological site.  God did not say that no one would be there at all.  He said it was a place where people would dry their fishing nets.

Picture of Tyre

Ezekiel 26 is a PROPHECY of Tyre’s destruction.  Ezekiel 27 is a PICTURE of Tyre’s destruction.  This picture is poetic. Ezekiel was not only a prophet, he was a poet.  Tyre is picture as a ship, a sinking ship.  It will be a ship that no one ever expected to sink.  It will sink just like the Titanic did.  It will sink and all of its riches, merchandise and crew will sink with it (27:27, 34).  It will sink like a rock.  The reaction of the world is shock and fear.  The city experiences a death and goes to sheol (26:19-21).

After someone dies, there is a funeral.  Ezekiel is told to raise a lament over Tyre (27:1).  A lament is what you do at a funeral.  We have the death and funeral of a nation.  What is interesting here is that Ezekiel is told to lament this.  He is not to delight in their destruction.  Tyre rejoiced when Israel was destroyed but Israel was not to rejoice when Tyre was destroyed.  They were told to do the exact opposite.

Relevance Today

What is the relevance of this today?  History is going to repeat itself.  If you read Revelation 18, another great city falls.  This city was also known for its trading.  It is a wealthy city, the NT city of Babylon but it does not fall over hundreds of years.

It falls in an hour (Revelation 18:10).  It is destroyed, not by invasions, but by fire (Revelation 18:8) but this time there is rejoicing in heaven (Revelation 19:1-5) and they are commanded to rejoice (Revelation 18:20).  The only ones mourning are the merchants (Revelation 18:11-19) and some kings (Revelation 18:9-10)

This city was a little different from Tyre.  This city is not just a commercial center but a center of false religion.  It deceived all of the nations (Revelation 18:23) and killed the saints on the earth (Revelation 18:24).  This city was the dwelling place for demons (Revelation 18:2).

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Eek96myEo

God Judges the Nations

When was the last time you heard a sermon on Ezekiel 25?  Probably never.  It is a short chapter in an obscure book.  It is only seventeen verses but it does not seem all that exciting.  It describes judgment on nations which no longer exist.  When was the last time you ran into an Ammonite on the street?  When was the last time you saw a Philistine or a Moabite?  They are all gone.  What relevance does it have to us today?  Why does it matter?

Why do we need to read a chapter like this?  As we will see, this chapter is very relevant to the day in which we live.  While these nations may no longer exist, there are many nations in the world today which act just like them and they are in the same geographic location as these nations.  They are all in the Middle East. History is repeating itself.

We have been studying the Book of Ezekiel and the first part of the book predicts the Fall of Jerusalem.  Ezekiel predicted judgment on Judah for over twenty chapters. It is very repetitive.  Ezekiel says the same thing over and over again but he needed to because his audience was a little dull.  If you have been with us from the beginning, you should be rewarded for sticking with us.

Today, we come to a new section of Ezekiel.  It is not just a new prophecy but a shift in Ezekiel’s ministry.  Ezekiel’s message changes in this chapter.  His ministry changes.  He is no longer predicting judgment on the Jews or judgment on Jerusalem.  They can breathe a sigh of relief.  They are not going to be judged.  They already have been judged.They were judged in 586 BC.  Now it is time for some other nations to be judged.

The second part of the book deals with judgment on Gentile nations.  This section is eight chapters long and describes judgment on seven nations.  It goes from Ezekiel 25 to Ezekiel 32.  God is not just the God of the Jews.  He is the God of all nations.  He is sovereign over everybody.

Many people think that God plays favorites.  The Jews are His favorites.  They are the chosen people.  That is true.  They have privileges that other countries do not have.  God made a covenant with them.  He made promises to them that he did not make with any other nation.  They are the only nation that God spoke out loud to but with great privilege comes great responsibility.  Because they are the chosen people, God judged them first.

I Peter 4:17-18 says, “For it is time for judgment to BEGIN at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (ESV).  Being the chosen people did not mean that God would let them off and not judge them.  It meant that he would judge them FIRST. Being judged first, only means everyone else gets judged NEXT.

This was encouragement to the Jews.  They were thinking, “I know God judged us but what about them?  What about our wicked neighbors?  They will be judged as well.  The Jews needed to hear the message that God would judge the wicked.  He is just.

What does that tell us?  God is an equal opportunity God.  He judges EVERYONE.  He judges every country.  No one gets off.  God used the nations to judge the Jews for their sins but then He judged those same nations for their own sins.  Every time evil takes place in the world and seems to be succeeding, we have to remind ourselves of this fact.

Notice how Ezekiel 25 begins.  The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy AGAINST THEM (25:1-2 ESV)Ezekiel had been prophesying against Jerusalem (5:8).  Now he is prophesying against Ammon and other Gentile nations.  He had been preaching against the sins of God’s people.  Now he preaches against the sins of pagan nations.  It does not sound very tolerant or inclusive to preach against people.  Modern man does not like that idea but that is what God called Ezekiel to do.

He did not call him to go anywhere, like He called Jonah to go to Ninevah.  Ezekiel is not a missionary.  He is never sent to Moab, Edom, or Philistia. Ezekiel is still a captive in Babylon. There is no evidence that the Gentiles ever heard this message of judgment. He does not go to these countries but God does call him to preach against them.

The second part of Ezekiel deals with the judgment of seven nations.  These are all Gentile nations.  Seven nations are covered in eight chapters (Ezekiel 25-32).  This list of nations is not exhaustive.  It does not mention every Gentile nation being judged.  Babylon invaded Israel and destroyed the temple.  They were a wicked nation.  They worshipped idols.

Ezekiel doesn’t even talk about Babylon being judged, although other OT prophets did predict the fall of Babylon (Isaiah, Jeremiah).  Seven is a symbolic number in the Bible (seven nations seven churches, seven spirits, seven stars, seven seals, seven bowls).  It is the number of completeness.  A week has seven days.

We are going to begin to look at the judgment of these seven nations.  We will not look at all seven today.  We will only look at the first four of these countries. We want to look at the judgment on Ammon (25:1-7), on Moab (25:8-11), on Edom (25:12-14) and on Philistia (25:15-17).  What do we know about these four countries?

bible-map-israel1

Overview of Four Nations

There are five facts that you need to understand about these four nations.

1) These were Gentile nations

They were non-Jewish.  This is relevant to us today because we live in a Gentile country.

2) These nations bordered Israel

They were close to Israel geographically.  Three of these countries were on the east side of the country.  Three were located east of the Jordan River.  One was on the west side of the country.   Ammon is in the northern mountain areas.  Moab is in central Jordan, and Edom in the south.

3) These nations were historic enemies of Israel

These nations had one thing in common.  They all hated the Jews.  Times have not changed much.  Israel today is surrounded by people who hate them and are pledged to their destruction.  How would you like to live somewhere where all of your neighbors hated you and wanted to kill you?

4) These nations were related to the Jews

They were not only close geographically, they were close genetically.  Three of these four countries were blood relatives.  The countries of Ammon and Moab were related to Abraham through his nephew Lot.  They were Lot’s children.  The country of Edom was related to Abraham through Esau.  Esau was one of Isaac’s kids.  Esau was one of Abraham’s grandchildren.

The Jews have had more animosity from their own relatives than they had from complete strangers.  The same is true today.  The biggest fights in the Middle East today are between Jews and Muslims and many of them both go back to Abraham.  The Jews are descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac.

The Arabs are descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael, although not all Arabs are Muslim and not all Muslims are Arab. There are millions in Africa and Indonesia that are not Arab but the first Muslims were Arab.  They have been fighting for thousands of years.  Isaac and Ishmael did not get along and neither do their descendants.

5) These nations were judged by God

All but one of these nations were completely wiped out.  They ceased to exist as a state.  Why?  What did they do that was so bad?  What could our country learn from their judgment?  The answer is a little surprising.

Today, we will look at basic information about these countries, where they are located, what countries occupy their land today, what sin they committed and why God judged them.  God judges them one after the other.  Judgment is clockwise.  It goes in a circle.  Two of them have a similar sin, so we will look at them in groups.

Judgment on Ammon & Moab

Ammon was in the north in the mountains and Moab was south of Ammon.  Ammon and Moab are located in the modern-day country of Jordan.  The capital of Ammon was the city of Rabbah (25:5).  The modern-day capital of Jordan is Amman.  It is the same as the ancient city of Rabbah.

The founder of both of these countries had a shady past.  They were not only born out of wedlock, they were both a product of incest.  Lot’s two daughters got him drunk, had relations with him and had two kids.  Ammon was the son of Lot’s youngest daughter.  Moab was the son of his oldest daughter (Genesis 19:37-38).

It is interesting that God does NOT condemn them because of their past.  He does not call them bastard nations.  He does not talk to them about their ANCESTRY.  He talks to them about their ACTIONS. We cannot criticize them.  The whole human race is a product of intermarriage.  Cain had to marry a family member to populate the world.

What did God say He would do to these two nations? What did judgment look like?  He said He was going to destroy them.  Ammon was not going to be remembered any more among the nations.

Therefore behold, I am handing you over to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a fold for flocks. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (25:4-5 ESV)

7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you PERISH out of the countries; I will DESTROY you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (25:7 ESV).

I will lay open the flank of Moab from the cities, from its cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 I will give it along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, that the Ammonites MAY BE REMEMBERED NO MORE among the nations, 11 and I will execute judgments upon Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord. (25:9-11 ESV)

Ezekiel’s job is to prophesy against these two nations. What was the sin of the Ammonites and the Moabites?  What did they do that was so bad that God had to destroy them?   What sin did these nation commit?  What did they do?  Here is the shocking thing.  They didn’t do anything.  They said some things.  Their sin was mostly verbal.

Thus says the Lord God, Because you said, ‘Aha!’ OVER My sanctuary when it was profaned, and OVER the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and OVER the house of Judah when they went into exile. (25:3 ESV)

Give the Ammonites this message from the Sovereign LORD: Hear the word of the Sovereign LORD! Because you CHEERED when my Temple was defiled, MOCKED Israel in her desolation, and LAUGHED at Judah as she went away into exile (25:3 NLT)

When the Temple (holy place) was destroyed, they celebrated.  When the city was destroyed, the city of Ammon gloated. When the people went into exile, they rejoiced. They clapped their hands and stomped their feet (25:6).  When all of this happened, Moab said, “Behold, the house of Judah is like all the other nations” (25:8 ESV)

Judgment on Edom and Philistia

Here are two more countries that God judged.  Edom is south of Moab.  The Edomites were descendants of Esau.  Edom is in Jordan.  The Philistines were on the Mediterranean coast.  The Philistines were always at war with the Jews.  Samson fought the Philistines.  David killed the giant Goliath and he was a Philistine.

Goliath was from Gath which was a city in Philistia.  The name Palestine is derived from Philistia.  That was the Greek name.  Palestine is literally, “the land of the Philistines.” That is a good reason not to call the Promised Land “Palestine.”  These two nations were not judged for words but for actions.  They took vengeance on the Jews.  God said that He was going to take vengeance on them.  He did the same thing to them that they did to the Jews.

12 “Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offended in taking vengeance on them, 13 therefore thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it man and beast. And I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. (25:12-13 ESV)

15 “Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines acted revengefully and took vengeance with malice of soul to destroy in never-ending enmity, 16 therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the rest of the seacoast. 17 I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon them.” (25:15-17 ESV).

Four Judgment Principles

What can we learn here from God’s judgment on these four nations?  There are three lessons or three principles that we can take from this judgment.

1) God judges nations based on how they treat Gods people

It is very dangerous to mistreat God’s people.  How people treat God’s people is a sign of how they treat God.  When Billy Graham, one fool on the Internet wrote, “Hope you have fun in hell.”

When people mocked the destruction of the Temple, they were mocking God.  Jesus said, “when they did it to the least of these my brethren, they did it to me.”  Jesus said to Saul as he was on his way to persecute Christians, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?”  When people mock believers, they are mocking God.  When they persecute believers, they are persecuting Christ.

2) God judges nations based on how they treat the Jews.

God never forgets what people do to the Jews.  God judges Gentile nations because of what they did to the Jews and what they said about them.   That is significant because there are not only people who are anti-Semitic but entire nations that are anti-Semitic.  Some entire foreign policies are motivated by anti-Semitism.  The United Nations is anti-Semitic.  Some Christians are even anti-Semitic.

There is no excuse for a Christian to be anti-Semitic.  Jesus was Jewish.  Some say but the Jews today are apostate.  They are secular.  They have rejected their own Messiah.  They are in unbelief.  That is all true but the same was true of the Jews who were judged in 586 BC  They were judged by God because they were wicked.  They worshipped idols but the Gentiles who mocked and ridiculed these Jews faced judgment by God.

3) God judges nations based on their words

Thus says the Lord God, Because you said, ‘Aha!’ OVER My sanctuary when it was profaned, and OVER the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and OVER the house of Judah when they went into exile. (25:3 ESV).

God hears the words that we speak and will hold us accountable for them.  He will hold us accountable for every idle word we speak, to say nothing about the bad words.  That is a scary thought because in this country we have nothing but the worst words for our political enemies.

He holds us accountable for the words we say about others behind their back.  By our words we will be justified and by our words we will be condemned.  We need to guard our tongue and be careful what we say.

4) God judges nations based on their attitudes

God does not just judge people because of their words.  He judges people because of their attitudes.  These Gentile nations were vindictive.  Give the Ammonites this message from the Sovereign LORD: Hear the word of the Sovereign LORD! Because you CHEERED when my Temple was defiled, MOCKED Israel in her desolation, and LAUGHED at Judah as she went away into exile (25:3 NLT).  We should never take pleasure in someone else’s misfortune.

When something bad happens to someone else, do we feel good, especially if it happens to your enemy or someone that we cannot stand?  God does not want us to do that.  The Temple was destroyed and they were happy.  They were celebrating.  Paul said that love does not rejoice in evil.

 

 

 

God Takes Ezekiel’s Wife

We have been studying Ezekiel and we come to Ezekiel 24.  This is an important chapter in the book. It has some powerful applications for us today. Ezekiel is cured of his condition of muteness in this chapter.  He has been mute for over twenty chapters.  He could only talk when He received a revelation from God.  God speaks to Ezekiel twice in this chapter.

It is also a sad chapter. Two things happen in this chapter.  There are two tragedies in this chapter. There is a personal tragedy and a national tragedy.  There is death of a marriage and death of a nation.

What happened in Ezekiel’s family was a picture of what was happening to the nation. Israel’s national calamity was prophetically pictured by Ezekiel’s personal calamity.  Ezekiel’s wife dies.  

That death was both literal and symbolic.  She experienced physical death and the nation experienced a political death. Let’s review what has happened up to this point in the book.

Ezekiel was sent into exile in Babylon as a young man.  While he was there, God appeared to him in a spectacular vision and called him to be a prophet.  He gave him an unpopular message to preach. In fact, he became mute.  He could only speak what God told him to speak.

For twenty chapters, he had one message that he preached over and over again.  I am surprised everyone has stuck with me each week to hear that same message.

What was the message?  The Babylonian Captivity is coming.  Jerusalem will be judged.  God was going to judge, not the pagans.  He was going to judge His own people. When we come to Ezekiel 24, When we come to Ezekiel 24, Ezekiel’s message changes.

Judgment is no longer a future prospect.  It is a present reality.  No longer is Ezekiel saying that judgment WILL COME one day.  Now he says that it HAS COME. Ezekiel 24 is Judgment Day for the Jews.

Anytime you preach that God will judge the world, you get reactions of skepticism and ridicule.  No one believes you.  They think you are crazy.  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and you do not want to stand before Him in your sins.  One day, everyone will stand before God, the politician and the plumber, the preacher and the prostitute.

Two books will be opened (Revelation 20:12).  By the way, there will be books in heaven.  That is good news for those of us who like to read.  At the Great White Throne Judgment, the book of works will be opened.  It will be a book of sins.  That would be a scary book to read, a book which reveals every sin you ever committed, every sinful thought, every sinful word, every sinful action.

Another book will be opened at the Great White Throne Judgment.  It is the Book of Life.  It is not a LIST OF SINS but a LIST OF SAINTS.  The only people who got to heaven are people whose names are in that book.  Is your name in that book?  That is the only question that really matters.

Ezekiel has been preaching a negative message for six years.  He has been preaching against sin.  He has been preaching judgment.  He was what we would call today a hell-fire-and-brimstone preacher.  He did not have a positive uplifting message.

He didn’t sound like Joel Osteen or Noman Vincent Peale.  In this chapter, he gets a revelation.  What is the revelation?  He gets the exact date of the Babylonian Captivity.  A lot of people today claim to be prophets.  They claim to predict the future but very few give dates.

In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. (24:1-2 ESV).

Ezekiel was in Babylon.  He was hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem but he knew things that were happening.  He did not learn about it from watching the news or going online.  God revealed it to him supernaturally.  Amos 3:7 says, “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (ESV).

God has secrets and He reveals some of those secrets to prophets.  We may wish God revealed some secrets to us.  We have a whole book of secrets.  Ezekiel had a word from God but we have a whole book of words from God.  What new thing does God tell Ezekiel? He reveals the date the Babylonian Captivity began.

He says that it happened on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year (24:1).  Twice in one verse, God told Ezekiel to write THIS VERY DAY down.  That tells us something interesting. The Bible is not only a spiritual book like every preacher will tell you.  It it is also a book of history.  The siege lasted eighteen months.  God tells Ezekiel the very day that the Babylonian Captivity began (January 15, 588 BC.). It is a date mentioned in other passages in the OT.

So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. (II Kings 25:1-3 NIV).

This date was divinely revealed.  It was precise (day, month, year).  It was verifiable.  When the rest of the exiles left Jerusalem and came to Babylon, they could confirm when this all took place.  It proved that Ezekiel was a true prophet.

Jerusalem as a Cooking Pot

And utter a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: “Set on the pot, set it on; pour in water also; 4 put in it the pieces of meat, all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with choice bones. 5 Take the choicest one of the flock; pile the logs under it; boil it well; seethe also its bones in it. (24:3-5 ESV)

God uses a metaphor of judgment.  Almost all of these metaphors involve fire.  The last picture of judgment involved a furnace.  God said that He was going to put people in a furnace and blow on the fire until it got hotter (22:17-22).

Now we see a different metaphor but it also involves fire.  It begins like a cooking show.  You get a pot.  You fill it with water.  Put logs under it and start a fire and then throw some meat in it.  You boil the meat.

This was not an ordinary cooking pot.  This one was old and rusty.  It was dirty and corroded.  It is so dirty that God says that it cannot be cleaned.  Its thick rust will not come off (24:12).  God says that their uncleanliness cannot be washed away (24:13).  Since the city cannot be cleaned, it has to be judged by God.  God called Jerusalem “a city of murderers” (24:6 NLT).

This pot has the choicest meat in it, the best part of the meat.  The best sheep from the flock are thrown into the pot. It represents the Jews still in Jerusalem.  The bad Jews were sent off to Babylon but the good Jews were still in the city.  That is where the important people were (the VIPS, the royal family).

God says WOE to this city (24:9).  The whole city is doomed and it cannot even be stopped. Judgment is coming.  God is not going to show mercy and compassion.  He is not going to show pity.  He is going to judge the nation and He is not going to change His mind.

This is a terrible picture of what happens in Hell.  Hell is also described as a place of fire and brimstone.  It is also described as a furnace.  It is also a place where God’s anger and fury is unleashed in a righteous way.  The wicked will be judged according to their works.  They will get exactly what they deserve.  That is exactly what God did to the Jews.  He judged them based on their works (24:14).

Lesson from a Cooking Parable

What does this say to us today?  What stands out to me here is not that God gets angry and judges sin.  It is not even that He judges His own people when they sin.  This chapter shows the depth of human depravity.  We can sin so much that judgment is inevitable and irreversible.  It cannot be stopped.  God says, “I am not going to change my mind.”

The Jews got to a point of no return.  They disobeyed God time after time, fell into idolatry (even in the Temple), even to the point of sacrificing their own children.  God sent them prophet after prophet and they were still unrepentant.

People today can get to the same point.  They live in open sin, reject God, and reject the gospel every time it is presented to them.  They reject the light so many times that eventually they become incapable of accepting it.  They can’t be saved.  Hebrews talks about some people who CANNOT repent.

Hebrews 6:4-6 says, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (ESV)

That is interesting.  This passage says that repentance is not just difficult but IMPOSSIBLE for some people.  People can always be saved if they repent.  Jesus said, ‘Those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them” (John 6:37 NLT).

Jesus takes in everyone who comes to Him, no matter how wicked or sinful they are, no matter what they have done.  Some get to a point where repentance is impossible. Judgment is inevitable.  It is a scary thought and is probably much more common than we think.

The Death of Ezekiel’s Wife

15 This message came to me from the Lord: 16 “Son of Man, pay attention! I’m about to take away your most precious treasure with a single, fatal stroke, but you are not to mourn, weep, nor even let tears well up in your eyes. 17 You are to weep in silence, but you are not to participate in mourning rituals. You are to keep your turban on your head and your sandals on your feet. You are not to cover your mouth or eat what your comforters bring to you.” 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died that evening. The next morning, I did as I had been commanded. (ISV)

This brings us to a difficult section of the book. Mrs. Ezekiel dies.  It gives us a rare glimpse into the personal life of Ezekiel.  Up to this point, we did not even know that Ezekiel had a wife.  We didn’t know he was married.   Ezekiel doesn’t talk a whole lot about his personal life.  That is not why he wrote this book.  It is not a book about himself.  Ezekiel is not writing an autobiography.  It is a book about what God revealed to him supernaturally and the incredible visions he saw.

The fact is that many of the OT prophets had wives.  Jeremiah did not have one.  He is called the weeping prophet.  He was probably weeping because he was single.  Isaiah did have a wife.  We know that from Isaiah 8. She is called “a prophetess” (Isaiah 8:3).  She had two kids.  They were both boys.  Ezekiel also had a wife. Ezekiel loved her a lot. She was his delight.  God called her “the desire of his eyes” (24:16).  She was his dearest treasure.  She was the person he loved the most in this world.

We do not know anything about her.  We do not even know her name.  We can deduce that she was probably a young woman and was presumably a good wife.  We have no evidence to the contrary.  We can assume that she stood by him in his ministry (when no one else did).  She supported him and comforted him.  She cooked for him and entertained for him when visitors came over to see him.

Then something happened.  Ezekiel experienced personal tragedy.  God said to Ezekiel, “I’m about to take away your most precious treasure with a single, fatal stroke, but you are not to mourn, weep, nor even let tears well up in your eyes” (24:16 ISV).  Let’s sit back and think about what is going on here.  This leads to a moral problem.  It brings us with some questions which are hard to answer.

A Moral Problem

1) Ezekiel is a godly man.

Ezekiel has done everything God told him to do.  He was perfectly obedient to the will of God.  He was not living in sin.  He was ministering for God, preaching against sin.

2) His wife dies suddenly

Son of Man, pay attention! I’m about to take away your most precious treasure with a single, fatal stroke” (ISV). What we know for sure is that she did not die in divine judgment of her sin or Ezekiel’s sin.  God was not disciplining Ezekiel but she did die and died unexpectedly.

She was a young woman the words “one single blow” imply that her death was sudden.  It happened quickly.  It shows the frailty of life.  Our life is a vapor.  God says that our life is in our nostrils.  It does not take much for any of us to go.

This death was sudden, unexpected, tragic and supernatural.  God killed her.  “Son of man, behold, I AM ABOUT TO TAKE the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke” (24:16 ESV).  God takes responsibility for what happens.  It is not just a tragic accident.  This was the will of God.  People do not like to hear this.  Some say God doesn’t do stuff like this.  Only the devil does.  Read Ezekiel 24.  The chapter doesn’t mention the devil at all.

3) Ezekiel was not to mourn for her

Not only does Ezekiel’s wife die but God tells him not to mourn for her, adding insult to injury.  That seems cruel on God’s part.  You feel sorry for poor Ezekiel.  It seems inhumane.  You are going to lose your wife but you can’t be sad.”

He was in a lot of pain but could not shed a tear.  That sounds like the old Greek philosophy of stoicism.  Are feelings wrong?  Does God want us to suppress the feelings we have inside of us?  That seems unnatural.  How do we answer some of these questions?

Answers to a Perplexing Question

Ezekiel is a young man.  He is married.  He is a godly man.  He is obedient to God and his wife dies.  That is a strange way for God to reward his servant Ezekiel.  Ezekiel serves God faithfully and God takes his wife. Here is a man preaching in the morning, and the message of God to him is not, “Because thou hast faithfully delivered My Word, sorrow and death shall not come near you” but “Behold, I take away from thee the desire of your eyes.”

God did not just take anyone.  He took the desire of Ezekiel’s eyes.  It would be like having one child, a child that you absolutely adored, and having to lose that child to death.  This raises a huge problem for the skeptics.  Is it fair for God to do this?  When you look at this from a biblical perspective, this is not a problem at all.

God has the right to take our life at any time.  He is the Creator.  He made all of us.  He gave us all life and He can take our life at any time. Neither our life nor our spouse’s life nor our children’s lives belong to us. All life is a gift that God has given to us to steward for a time. The one who gives life has every right to take it away (Job 1:21). Ezekiel’s wife only went to a better place at death.  She went into the presence of God.

God NEVER told Ezekiel that he could not groan for his wife.  He said that he could not groan for her publicly.  He could groan for her privately and he did that to be sure in private when no one else was around to himself and to God.  God said that he could groan and weep for her privately (24:17).

This was not cruel.  It was compassionate.  God gave Ezekiel one day to prepare for his wife’s death and told him why she was dying.  Most of us do not have either one of these things. We do not know when our loved ones will die and we do not know why.

 Application for Today

What does this say to us today?  Is there anything that happened to Ezekiel here that applies to us today?  This story raises two important questions for us to think about.

1) How would we respond if God took from us the desire of our eyes?

God has not told us not to mourn publicly.  We are not given this command.  If we lose a loved one, we can mourn in public and in private.  Ezekiel had a prophetic sign ministry. He was a sign to the nation (24:24, 27) in a way we are not today but this raises an important question.

If God took from us the desire of our eyes, would we respond with anger and bitterness?  Would we respond with resentment?  Are we open to whatever God wants to do in our life?  Do we surrender or do we try to resist what He is doing?

God sometimes calls us to do hard things.  He wants us to love Him more than we love our spouse.  God is to come first in our life.  Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37 ESV)

2) Do we remain faithful to God when hard times come into our life?

Hard things will come to us.  God’s people are not shielded from problems.  Some prosperity preachers teach that. It is a lie. Christianity is not an insurance policy against problems, sickness or death.  We have some of the same problems that other people have but we have God with us.

Jesus will leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  He is with us always (Matthew 28:20).  Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you” (ESV)

God asked Ezekiel to do all kinds of hard things and he did them.  When God told Ezekiel that his wife was going to die, Ezekiel does not question or argue with God, talking about how unfair life is.

He doesn’t protest.  He doesn’t spend days in depression, brooding over the loss of his wife.  He does not withdraw from the Lord’s work and retire from the ministry when things got tough, like many do.  When many get hurt, they stop coming to church or stop serving the Lord.

That is the way that many of us would have responded.  Life would never be the same for Ezekiel but he said, “So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded” (24:18 ESV).

Shocking Sin

We come today to a chapter in Ezekiel that will never be preached in most pulpits in America.  It is a chapter that is never taught to kids in Sunday School.  If kids came home to parents and said some of the things in this chapter, they would be shocked and would be even more shocked that these were simply things they learned in church.

A Shocking Chapter

The Bible is not all G-rated.  Some of the Bible is not appropriate for preschoolers.  The Bible can be broken down to children but it does not read like a children’s book.  The Bible contains stories which involve nudity and adultery.  It contains stories which involve homosexuality and incest.  It contains stories which involve rape and prostitution.  It contains stories which involve murder, cannibalism and suicide.

Today, we come to a chapter which contains adult themes.  It is a chapter that is rated R.  This chapter is violent.  It is offensive.  It is sexually explicit. Some have called it the most sexually explicit passage in the Bible, even more explicit than the Song of Solomon.

It is graphic.  The chapter is so graphic that almost all Bibles try to clean it up and sanitize some of the verses in the chapter.  They do not tell you what it actually says.  For example, Ezekiel 23:20 in the reads in one version, “For she doted upon her paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses” (King James 2000).

Let me read what the verse actually says. “She lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose semen was like that of horses” (God’s Word Translation).  That has to go down as one of the strangest verses in the Bible.  It mentions donkey balls and horse emission.

Critics ask how can a chapter like this even be inspired by God.  How can a filthy chapter be included in a holy book, like the Bible?  That is a common Muslim argument.  For someone living in the modern world, this chapter is not that shocking.  It might be to someone living in Puritan New England but not to someone who lives in America today.

One thing we can say is that the Bible does deal with adult themes and some graphic topics because it contains true stories about real people who do some terrible things.  The Bible does not try to hide the faults of people.  It does not even try to cover up the sins of the saints.

It exposes them.  The Bible describes terrible behavior or people but it does not glorify it.  It does not condone that behavior.  It does not justify sexual immorality, like the world does.  It condemns it. Critics of this chapter make a mistake. It is a mistake that many people make when they read the Bible.

Two Extremes in Interpretation

1) Completely Literal

People who read the Bible often go to two extremes.  Some take things in the Bible as literal that were meant to be figurative. Jesus said if you right eye offend you, pluck it out.  If your right hand offends you, cut if off (Matthew 5:29-30).  We know that this is not literal but some have taken it as literal and mutilated their own bodies.  They have never heard of exaggeration.  Jesus used hyperbole like people do today.

2) Completely Figurative

Others take something in the Bible as figurative which was meant to be literal. They ask if Adam and Eve were real people and whether Jonah really spend time in the belly of a fish and survived.  They ask if Jesus really performed miracles, was born of a virgin and rose form the dead.  They ask if the creation story in Genesis should be taken literally or symbolically.

A Symbolic Chapter

That brings us to a very important point.  If you get this wrong, you completely misunderstand the whole chapter.  Most of us are used to interpreting the Bible literally.  We take it at face value most of the time but you cannot do that in Ezekiel 23.  This entire chapter is symbolic.  It does not mean what it says, it means what it means.  It is an allegory.

Virtually nothing in the chapter is literal.  The word “prostitute” or “whore” is used about twenty times in the chapter in different forms but these prostitutes are not engaging in physical intercourse. It is a completely different type of prostitution.  These sister played the whore “WITH NATIONS” (23:30).

It refers to marital unfaithfulness but it is not talking about physical adultery.  It is talking about spiritual adultery. The chapter mentions “lust” about ten times (23:5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16, 17, 20) but it is not sexual lust at all.  It is a lust for political and military power.  It mentions “lovers” (23:5, 9, 20, 22) but it is not talking about two lovebirds.

It mentions a “bed of love” (23:17) but it is not talking about a literal bed of love.  It is symbolic.  The chapter mentions two women and even gives their names. Their names are Oholah (oh-HO-lah) and Oholibah (Oh-ho-li-BAH) but they are not really women.

These two women represent cities (23:4). One sister represents Samaria and one sister represent Jerusalem but they are not even cities.  They actually represent kingdoms.  Oholah, which is Samaria, represents the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom).  Oholibah, which is Jerusalem, represents the Kingdom of Judah (Jerusalem was the capital of the Southern Kingdom).

These two women have the same family name (ohol).  Their family name comes from the Hebrew word for “tent.”  It is pronounced oh-hell in Hebrew (ʾōhel) but it is not a swear word, just the Hebrew word for “tent.” Oholibah means “my tent is in her.”  God’s Temple was in Jerusalem.

Oholah means “her tent.”  God’s tent was never in Samaria.  He put it in Jerusalem.  Samaria set up her own tent of meeting.  Samaria had had her own place of worship with golden calvesIt was a worship God never recognized.

This chapter is symbolic.  If that is true, it means that the sin of the sisters is not primarily sexual. That seems impossible. If you read the chapter, it mentions nakedness, lust prostitution, adultery.  It mentions sexual organs (breasts) but all of these things are symbolic.  When you look at the actual sins of the city mentioned, they have nothing to do with sex. What are the actual sins of the cities mentioned here?

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary ON THE SAME DAY and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, ON THE SAME DAY  they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house. (23:36-39 ESV)

 But righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.” (23:45 45 ESV)

What were the two sins?  The first sin was idolatry.  God says it is adultery but the adultery He is talking about is spiritual adultery, which is idolatry.  He says, “with their idols they have committed adultery” (23:37 ESV).  The second sin is murder. Murder is tied into idolatry, because it mentions child sacrifice.

Their idolatry led to murder.  It led to the murder of their own kids.  On the very day they murdered their children in front of their idols, they came into the Temple and defiled God’s house.  False religion often leads to bloodshed and murder.  That is one of the ways you can true religion from false religion.  You see it especially in Islam where you have murder in the name of Allah.

Not all Muslims are violent.  Many are peaceful but Islam is not a religion that teaches you to love your enemies, forgive people and to turn the other cheek.  It is and has always been a religion of the sword.  Many have been killed in the name of that religion.  It is a religion dripping in blood.

Overview of the Chapter

This is a long chapter but the message of the chapter is very clear.  Keep in mind, as we go over it that it is symbolic.  It is a story about two women who become prostitutes.  Both women are married to the same man.  In the chapter, they are married to God.  God says, “They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters” (23:4 ESV).  They were not only married but had kids.

You do not want to read too much into this.  It is an allegory.  The point is not that it is okay to marry two women or even to marry sisters.  That was prohibited in the OT (Leviticus 18:18).  It was not God’s original purpose for there to be two kingdoms.  There was only supposed to be one kingdom but a division occurred and the nation split.  The oldest sister committed adultery and adultery turned into prostitution and was judged by God.

“Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. (23:5-7 ESV)

Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her. (23:9-10 ESV)

That happened when Israel fell with the Assyrian Captivity.  They had been gone for one hundred and thirty-six years. They fell in 722 BC.  It is now close to 586 BC. Then the second, sister does exactly the same thing.  History repeats itself.

“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them (23:11-12, 14-17 ESV).

Oholibah continued in the family sin.  She not only followed the bad example of her older sister and repeated her sins, she was worse than her sister.  She outdid her sister in sin and depravity. What was so shocking about this?

The northern kingdom was extremely wicked.  They worshipped a bunch of golden calves.  They were completely apostate.  They had a completely different set of worship.  The southern kingdom did not seem as bad.  They had the true worship.  They had the Temple.  They had the priests.  They had the Davidic kings.  God says that they were actually worse than the northern kingdom.

God said that the southern kingdom which was outwardly more orthodox was worse than the apostate northern kingdom.  That is like a Jesus saying to outwardly moral and religious Pharisees that they were more wicked than people who lived in open sin.  It is like God calling a conservative Baptist church being worse than a liberate apostate church.  That was the shock.  Idolatry was not just in the north; it was in the south.  Jeremiah said that Judah had as many gods as they had cities (Jeremiah 11:13).  The result was divine judgment.

Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them AGAINST YOU from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

24 And they shall come AGAINST YOU from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy AGAINST YOU, that they may deal with you IN FURY. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels (23:22-26 ESV)

Application for Today

1) Sin is Shocking

Why did God use the kind of language found in this chapter?  The chapter is almost pornographic.  He did it to shock them to show how bad their behavior was.  He did it to get their attention. He described things that they would think was offensive so they could see how offensive their behavior was to God.

God is offensive on purpose in this chapter to show the shocking nature of sin, to show how serious it is to God. This chapter shows how disgusted he is by it and how it offends Him.

We do not think sin is that bad.  We are not shocked by it.  We are not offended by it.  It is so routine and accepted in our society today and sometimes even in the church that we often no longer look at it as bad.  Wrong behavior that has been practiced for a long time no longer seems wrong.  It becomes accepted by people.

We do not even call it bad.  We use all kinds of euphemisms for sin today.  Sin is ugly.  We do not like to call sin what it is, so we use all kinds of euphemisms to make it sound better.  The Bible says that covetousness is idolatry.  We call it “the American dream.”

We do not say that people lie.  We just say that they stretch the truth.  Couples do not fornicate.  They are not immoral.  They just live together.  They just sleep together.  Two men in a relationship are not homosexual.  They are just gay.  The world calls it “an alternative lifestyle.”  God calls it “an abomination.”

When people take the Lord’s name in vain, we do not call it swearing or cursing.  We just say that they have colorful language.  When spouses commit adultery, we say that they are having an affair or a fling.  If we believe in abortion, we do not say that we believe killing babies is okay.  We say that we are pro-choice.  We do not get angry.  We just get fed up or ticked off.  Christians do not gossip.  They just get prayer requests.

Now euphemisms are not wrong.  The Bible uses many of them.  Adam knew his wife and knew her so well that she conceived and bore a son.  That is a euphemism for sex.  There is another one used in this chapter.  Oholah lusts after the Assyrians and they come and uncover her nakedness (23:10).  That is a euphemism for sex. It is not wrong to use euphemisms but it is wrong to be afraid to call sin what it is or to rationalize or justify it.  It is wrong to call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

2) Sin has Consequences

Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring” (23:35 ESV)

Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.” (23:48-49 ESV)

We like to sin without consequences.  Every time we sin, there are consequences and some of the consequences not pretty.  People were starving to death in the famine.  Others were getting sick. Many died violent deaths.  The few that survived were kicked out of their country and lost all of their possessions.The Bible says that we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-8).

Individuals suffer the consequences of sin.  Families suffer the consequences of sin.  Churches suffer the consequences of sin. Nations also suffer the consequences of their sin. When Israel and Judah sinned, God did not send fire down from heaven.  He just sent the Assyrians and the Babylonians.  They invaded the country and it was not an accident.  God said that He sent them.  He said that it was a consequence of their own actions (23:35).

God used their own sin to judge them.  Israel lusted after the Assyrians, so God used them to judge them.  Judah lusted after Babylon, so God used the Babylonians to judge them.  He used their lovers to destroy them.  The ones they thought would protect them, ended up destroying them.  If we make a god out of alcohol or drugs, that may be what God uses to judge us.  That may be what does us in in the end.

3) Sin Needs to be Exposed.

Ezekiel’s job was to preach against sin.  The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will YOU judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations” (23:36 ESV).  Ezekiel exposed the sins of these two sisters. That is our job today, although not too many Christians do it.  We are to shine the light in the darkness and when we do that, evil will be exposed.

That doesn’t mean we are to be self-righteous and arrogant.  It does mean that we are to stand up for biblical truth and biblical values. If you do that, prepare to suffer persecution.  You will be unpopular.  If you dare to take a biblical stand on moral issues today, you will be called hateful or intolerant.

Stand in the Gap

Some of us go to a church where the pastor that says the same thing week after week.  After a while, you begin to say, “I think I have heard this before.”  We have been studying the Book of Ezekiel and that was exactly what he did.

He has been predicting that Jerusalem would fall to the Babylonians, ever since chapter four of his book. He has been saying the same thing for almost twenty chapters.  That sounds a little repetitive.  Why does Ezekiel keep repeating himself?  Does Ezekiel have dementia? Does he have or Alzheimer’s?   We all know a lot of old people who forget what they told us and keep saying the same thing over and over again.

Ezekiel does not have memory problems.  He is not an old man.  He is a young man in his thirties.  He is not repeating things because he forgot he said them.  He is repeating them because God is repeating them.  Ezekiel only says what God tells him to say.  He does not have his own message.

So why the repetition?  Does God stutter?  Some of us need repetition.  We do not always get things the first time.  Husbands need repetition.  Ezekiel was speaking to an audience that needed repetition. They had to hear it repeatedly.  They were spiritually dull.  God called them obstinate and stiff-necked.  They did not get the message the first time, so God had to say it again and again.

They must have been a little ADD.  Ezekiel had to speak to them several different ways.  He not only spoke to them in words but in actions.  He used prophet words.  He also used prophetic actions. He not only preached; he acted.  He did drama.  He did crazy things just to get the attention of people and to act out his sermon.

That brings us to our chapter for today. This chapter is fascinating.  It is very important.  It applies to our own country.  It has a powerful application at the end of the chapter fore all of us and yet most Christians have never read or studied this chapter in any depth.

It is another chapter of bad news.  Ezekiel does not have a message of good news.  He has a message of bad news to the Jews in Babylon.  We like to hear good news but the Bible contains both.  We cannot choose the parts of it we like and throw out the parts that we do not like.

This chapter does not mention the love of God.  It does not mention the mercy or forgiveness of God.  It does mentions the anger of God.  It mentions the wrath of God and it mentions the indignation of God.  God is so angry that He puts people in a furnace in this chapter.

At the end of the chapter, there is a powerful application that all of us need to hear.  Ezekiel says two things in this chapter.  He says that people are sinful.  The city of Jerusalem is extremely wicked.  He also says that God judges sin.  He judges sin in individuals. He judges sin in nations.  He judges sin among the pagans.  He also judges sin in His own people.

There are three oracles in this chapter.  Ezekiel gives us three prophecies.  They all start with the words, “The word of the Lord came TO ME.”  We see that in three times in the chapter (Ezekiel 22:1, 17, 23).

God bypassed all the religious leaders of the day.  He did not speak to them but He did speak to Ezekiel.  God spoke to Ezekiel directly, not one or twice but three times in this chapter.  Ezekiel did not come up with these ideas on his own.  He was not creative.  He did not invent these things.  This all came directly from God.

National Sin

This chapter lays out the indictment against the nation, just as a prosecutor would lay out all of the charges against someone before a jury.  God’s people in Jerusalem were completely wicked.  Ezekiel indicts the city of Jerusalem and says some terrible things about it.  We cannot criticize them.  We are not morally superior.  We have some of the same sins in our own country.  Much of what he says about his own nation applies directly to our nation.

God speaks to Ezekiel and tells him to declare to Jerusalem ALL her abominations (22:3).  Ezekiel’s job was to preach against sin.  His job was to expose national sin.  He gave them a report card on the state of the nation, the moral state.  This expose was shocking.  It tells us several things.

A Shocking Expose

The first thing it tells us is that God’s judgement in the Babylonian Captivity was because of CURRENT SIN. The exiles complained.  They said, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes and their children’s teeth are set on edge.  They sinned but we are punished.”  God says, “That is not true.”  Their fathers were wicked but so are they.

Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And you shall be profaned BY YOUR OWN DOING in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord” (22:14-16 ESV).  God says in the last verse of the chapter, “I have returned THEIR WAY upon their heads.” (22:31 ESV)

The second thing we learn is that this captivity came because of MAJOR SIN.  They did not just commit little sins.  They committed big sins. They committed ABOMINATIONS (22:2, 11). That word refers to the worst types of sins. Pagan nations were not the only ones who committed abominations.  God’s on people committed all kinds of abominations.

Their sins were so bad that God says that they were a reproach to the heathen nations (22:4-5).  Even the pagans thought they were a disgrace. It is pretty bad when you live worse than the unsaved.  Some Christians live worse than unbelievers.  Paul said that the name of God is blasphemed because of the way some professing Christians live. Jerusalem was supposed to be a HOLY CITY.  Instead, it became SIN CITY.

The third thing we learn is that God’s evaluation of a nation is very different from our evaluation.  The things that we think are real important in a nation Is not necessarily what God thinks is important.  God said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8).

We think a nation is great if it is wealthy, has a good GDP and its citizens all have a good standard of living.   We think a nation is great if it is big or has a strong military.  We think a nation is great if it is technologically advanced.  We think a nation is great if it educated and sophisticated.  A nation may pass all of those tests and fail in other areas.  In Ezekiel 22, there are seven other areas that God looks at when He evaluated a nation.

Seven Tests of a Nation

1) When God evaluates a nation, He looks at a nation’s HOME LIFE.

This is the domestic test.  One of the sins that God looks at are sins in the home.  God said, “Father and mother are treated with contempt in you” (22:7 ESV).  How intact is the home life?  How are parents treated?  How are the children treated?  How do husbands and wives treat each other? How are the elderly in the home treated?  When the home dissolves, society dissolves because the home is the basic unit of society.

2) When God evaluates a nation, He looks at a nation’s FINANCIAL PRACTICES.

This is the financial test.  God looks at how a nation deals with money.  That is a problem for us because our nation has twenty trillion dollars in debt.  God said, “In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion” (22:12 ESV).  They were involved in dishonest gain (22:13).  He does not look at how wealthy the country is but how ethical it is and how charitable that nation is with its wealth.

3) When God evaluates a nation, He looks at SOCIAL JUSTICE.

This is the compassion test.  How does a nation treat the most vulnerable members of society (sojourner, fatherless, widow, poor, and the needy)?  That is mentioned in this passage.  God says, “They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice” (22:29 ESV).  He said, “The fatherless and the widow are wronged in you” (22:7 ESV).  When that happens in a nation, God sees it and judges it.

4) When God evaluated a nation, He looks to see if that nation has a respect for LIFE.

This is the sanctity of life test.  God looks to see if that nation holds life sacred.  Jerusalem was a VIOLENT city.  God called it a BLOODY CITY.  He said, ““And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city?” (22:2 ESV).  Not only were the people violent, THE LEADERS were violent.  God said, “Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood” (22:6 ESV).

The picture here is of a city that is splattered with blood.  There were puddles of blood all over the city.  It was a violent city.  Child sacrifice took place in this city.  They burned up their kids on altars to Molech in this city.  We have no room to talk.  We have some cities in our country which are extremely violent.

We have cities with high crime rates.  Kids are still offered up in America.  We have about a million abortions every year.  We have had fifty-nine million babies killed since Roe v Wade.  Life is dehumanized in our country.  Unborn babies are not even called babies, just fetuses.

5) When God evaluates a nation, He looks at whether that nation WORSHIPS Him.

This is the religious test.  Who does the nation worship?  People in Jerusalem worshipped idols.  They ate on the mountains (22:9).  That does not mean that had a picnic on a mountain with their family.  Mountains were centers of idolatry.  They thought the higher you were, the closer you were to the gods.  They had feasts to these idols on the mountains.  The Jews not only worshipped idols, they made idols (22:3-4). They were idol makers.  They produced idols.

God looks at national attitudes toward Him.  Is the nation spiritually sensitive or does it mock God?  God says, “You have DESPISED my holy things and PROFANED my Sabbaths” (22:8 ESV).  In fact, even the priests did this.  God says, “Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them (22:26 ESV).

That describes our own country.  The priests removed the distinction between CLEAN and UNCLEAN.  We have removed the distinction between MORAL and IMMORAL.  Everything is acceptable.  Sin does not exist.  If you dare call anything sinful, you are labeled a bigot or intolerant.  This has even infiltrated into the church.  Some churches say exactly what secular society says.

God said that Israel forgot God (22:12).  That is true of our own nation.  When the country began, religion played an integral role in our country but now our country is secular.  According to the polls, only forty percent of the country even attends church but experts believe that the number of regular attenders is closer to twenty percent.

We call ourselves a nation under God.  We have “In God We Trust” on our dollar bills but America has rejected God’s Word and His standard for living and even his standard of marriage. America has turned its back on God.  It has thumbed its nose at God. We have corrupt religious leaders and political leaders in our own country today.

America has forgotten God.  Politicians have forgotten God. Judges have forgotten God. They have changed the definition of marriage   Educators have forgotten God.  We have taken Him out of the schools and the universities.  Some ministers have even forgotten God.

Churches in mainline denominations that used to believe the Bible but no longer believe it or preach it. Jerusalem had prophets that devoured souls (22:25).  We have plenty of cultists who go door-to-door and devour souls.  Psalm 9:17 says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (KJV).

6) When God evaluates a nation, He looks at a nation’s SEXUAL PRACTICES.

This is the sexual test.  Fifteen sins are mention in this chapter.  Most of the sins on the list are sex sins.  Six of the fifteen sins on the list deal with sexual sins.  God said, “they commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter.” (22:9-11 ESV)

We have sexual sins in America. Our country has embraced sexual perversion.  It has become the norm.  Perversion has become respectable.  It is no longer considered shameful, just an alternate lifestyle.

7) When God evaluates a nation, He looks at the LEADERS.

This is the leadership test.  When things are bad, people often look to leaders to do something about it.  That’s what happens in churches.  The problem here is that the leaders were just as bad as the people.  There is corruption everywhere, even in the highest levels of power of the nation (religious power and political power).

The PEOPLE were corrupt. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. (22:29 ESV) but the leaders were also corrupt.  The PRIESTS were corrupt (22:26).  The PRINCES are corrupt (22:27).  The PROPHETS were corrupt (22:28).  Every class of society was corrupt.  Everyone was guilty of apostasy from the bottom to the very top of the naiton (22:26-28 ESV).

Could God Judge America?

Many say that God would never judge America.  They say that America is under the protection of God. That is interesting because many Jews said the same thing about Jerusalem. It could never be destroyed because it was God’s beloved city (Revelation 20:9).  This was the city of God (Psalm 87:2).  God dwelt there in the Temple but that wasn’t true.  Many think that God judged them but He would never judge us.

If the Jews were not immune from judgment, we certainly are not immune from divine judgment. America is not the chosen country.  We are not the people of God.   Some have said that God has already started to judge the nation.  God judged them and we have some of the same sins but there was one difference.  America has one thing that they did not have, as we will see at the end of the chapter.

The Dross Nation

17 And the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; ALL OF THEM are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have poured out my wrath upon you.” (22:17-22 ESV).

God calls the house of Israel “dross.” The way to purify metals is to turn them into liquid.  If you melt silver, the impurities rise to the top.  The dross is the crud at the top.  It gets scraped off and you have pure metal.  God says to the nation, “I have already brought out the silver and gold and you are the dross that is left.”

Sometimes, God wants to refine us.  He does that by removing the dross in our life. There are many verses in the Bible that talk about this. One way he does this is through suffering.  Isaiah 48:10 says, “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction” (ESV). God is going to refine the Jews in the future.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. (Malachi 3:2-3 ESV)

In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. 9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” (Zechariah 13:8-9 ESV).

A Scary Judgment

This is a scary chapter.  Ezekiel predicts judgment for the nation in this chapter.  He says that some of the nation will be consumed (22:31) and some will be scattered (22:15).[1]  Some will be destroyed and some will be dispersed.  Then there is a more frightening picture.

God says that He is going to pour out His wrath on the nation (22:22, 31).  God is going to put some people in a furnace.  He is going to blow on them and they are going to melt (22:17-22).  You blow on a fire when you want to make it hotter.  Now, this is symbolic language.  It is talking about the Babylonian Captivity.  God was not going to throw people into a literal hot furnace.  They were not literally going to burn and they were not literally going to melt but they were going to face the wrath of God.

This fiery furnace was a symbol of judgment.  The NT actually uses the furnace as a symbol of Hell, because it is the fullest expression of the wrath of God (cf. Matthew 13:41-42, 47-50).  Nebuchadnezzar later had a literal fiery furnace in Babylon and put some people in it.  He threw anyone in it who did not worship him.  This fiery furnace is the furnace of God’s wrath.

A Powerful Application

And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.” (22:30-31 ESV)

This chapter ends with a powerful application.  What is it talking about?  You have to know the historical background to understand it.  Cities in the ancient world had walls.  They had strong walls.  They were often tall.  When a nation wanted to attack the city, they first attacked the walls of the city.  They would look for the weakest part of the wall and keep hammering at it until there is a hole in the wall.  If someone found a hole in the wall, they were to repair and fix it and if they could not do that, soldiers would stand in the gap.  They would be willing to lay down their lives and say, “You are not getting past me. You are not getting in.”

God is not talking about physical walls here.  He is talking about when things get really bad, when it looks like the whole nation has gone to pot and even looks bad in the church.  Usually we do nothing, except talk about how bad things are.  God said, of the Jews, “You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD” (Ezekiel 13:5).

When things are really bad, God is looking for someone to do something about it.  Some of the saddest words in the Bible are the words BUT I FOUND NONE (22:30). The priests were not gap standers.  The prophets were NOT gap standers.  The princes were NOT gap standers.  The people were NOT gap standers.  God could not find one.  He was not looking for a few good men.  He was just looking for one, not one church but one man but couldn’t find one.

God is looking for someone to stand in the gap.  He is looking for someone to take a stand.  He is looking for someone who is not afraid to be unpopular and stand up for the truth.  He is looking for people to pray. When the nation began to worship a golden calf, Moses stood in the gap and interceded for the nation (Psalm 106:19-23).

There are three types of people in this world.  Some make the gap bigger and bigger.  They cause problems.  Some stand in the gap.  They try to solve problems and fix things.  Some do nothing.  They do not get involved at all.  They are the silent majority.  Which are you? What are we doing to fix what is broken in our family, in our church, in our city or in our nation?

This verse shows that one man can make a difference.  God can use even one person to change things in a church, in a city or in a country.  God was looking for someone to stand in the gap in Ezekiel’s day and He is looking for someone to stand in the gap today.  He is looking for people he can use.  He is looking for people who have the courage to take a stand.  The Bible says, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him”(II Chronicles 16:9 NIV). In fact, it says this twice (cf. Zechariah 4:10).

D.L. Moody was a shoe salesmen with a fifth grade education.  He was converted in a shoe store. He once heard a Sunday school teacher say that the world has yet to see what God can do with a man who is fully devoted to Him. Moody said “I will be that man” and ends up traveling a million miles and preached the gospel to a hundred million people.

[1]Ezekiel has mentioned scattering more than ten times earlier in the book (5:2, 10, 12; 6:8; 11:16-17; 12:14-15; 17:21; 20:23, 24, 34, 41).

God’s Fire and Sword

The Book of Hebrews says that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  Everyone who stands before God at the Great White Throne Judgment will find out how terrifying it is.  The Book of Life will be opened.  If anyone’s name is not in that book, that person will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

They do not volunteer to go there.  They do not say, “I want to go to Hell to be with all of my friends.”  They are all thrown into the Lake of Fire against their will.  It is a horrifying picture of what will happen to the unsaved lost.

The nation of Israel found in 587 or 586 BC how terrifying it is to fall into the hands of the living God.  It is a difficult chapter.  We do not know exactly when the Babylonian Captivity took place.  Scholars disagree on the date.  It could have happened either time.

Archeologists have discovered Babylonian history was written down on a bunch of tablets called the Babylonian Chronicles.  They are in the British Museum.  There are four tablets that have to do with Nebuchadnezzar but the section dealing with his attack on Jerusalem is missing.  If this tablet ever turns up, we would know which date is correct.

During the Babylonian Captivity, Israel fell into the hands of the living God. The whole nation experienced divine judgment.  “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion, revealing your sins in all that you do—because you have done this, you will be taken captive. “You profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has reached its climax” (21:24-25 ESV).

This was not just a terrible tragedy.  It was divine judgment for sin.  God was punishing the nation for its sin.  It was not just judgment on the nation but on the leaders of the nation (21:12, 25-27).

When the nation falls into the hands of God, it is terrifying.  It is a terrifying thing to face the wrath of God.  We all know certain people that we would never want angry with us.  We try to stay on their good side.

We definitely do not want God angry with us.  We do not want God coming after us with a sword.  It was so terrifying that Ezekiel was told to act it out with groaning, crying, and wailing (21:12).  He strikes his hands together (21:17) and beats on his chest (21:12).

Ezekiel not only preached; he acted.  He not only spoke in words but in actions.   He did crazy things just to get the attention of people to act out his sermon.  He even takes up a sword and becomes a martial artist.  He begins swinging a sword, slashing right and left (21:14-17) to symbolize what the Babylonians would be doing very soon.

In this chapter, we find out that God is angry with the nation. Israel experiences God’s FIRE and God’s SWORD at the Babylonian Captivity.[1]  We will look at two different pictures of judgment.  Ezekiel uses images to describe the Babylonian Captivity.  He uses some vivid images.

The same event is pictured in two different ways.  First, it is described symbolically in a parable.  Then, it is described literally in direct speech.  Ezekiel says that when God sends these two things on the nation, they will know that it comes from Him.

When God ignites a big fire and burns everything up, He says, “Everyone will see that I the Lord have kindled it; it will not be quenched” (20:48 ESV).  When God send His sword, He says, “Then all people will know that I the Lord have drawn my sword from its sheath; it will not return again” (21:5 ESV).

Sometimes bad things happen in our lives and we do not know if it is us, if it is God or if it is the Devil at work but Ezekiel says that when this happens, they will know that it is God.  There will not be any doubt.  How did they know?  They had prophets who predicted it.  Jeremiah predicted it in Judah.  Ezekiel predicted it in Babylon.

About five months AFTER the city fell, the Jews in Babylon found out about it. Ezekiel found out five years BEFORE it happened and predicted it but no one believed him.  Many thought that they city could never be destroyed.  There were people going around claiming to be prophets who said that the city would never be destroyed.  They claimed to have a word from God.

Jerusalem was the dwelling place of God.  How could it possibly be destroyed?  It was indestructible.  When we tell people of judgment and a Lake of Fire, no one believes us.  We have the same problem Ezekiel has.

Ezekiel has a negative message to preach, which did not make him too popular. “Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach AGAINST the south and prophesy AGAINST the forest of the southland (20:46 ESV).

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face AGAINST Jerusalem and preach AGAINST the sanctuary. Prophesy AGAINST the land of Israel (21:1-2).  We like preachers who tell us positive uplifting messages.  Ezekiel’s message was that God was against his people (21:3). This chapter is graphic and shocking in its imagery.

Message of the Fire

45 The word of the Lord came to me: 46 “Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach against the south and prophesy against the forest of the southland. 47 Say to the southern forest: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it. 48 Everyone will see that I the Lord have kindled it; it will not be quenched.’” (20:45-49 NIV)

Remember, we saw last week that Ezekiel 21 begins in chapter twenty in the Hebrew Bible. God uses symbolic language here to describe the Babylonian Captivity. It is pictured as a forest fire.  He uses the metaphor of a hot blazing fire to describe this judgment.  It was symbolic.  Just because it was symbolic does not mean that it is not real.  God used symbolic language to describe this judgment. Some have called this the Parable of the Forest Fire.

What does the fire represent? It represents the Babylonian armies.  The Babylonians are God’s fire.  The Babylonian Captivity is pictured as a blazing fire that consumes everything in its path.  God makes four points in this parable.

1) God’s people will face a fire.

We had about sixty thousand wildfires in the United States this past year.  The fire in Ezekiel 20 will be so hot that no one will be able to stop it.  We are told that twice in this section. We are told in Ezekiel 20:47 that the fire will not be quenched.  We are also told in Ezekiel 20:48 that it will not be quenched.  The fire will be so hot that “all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it” (20:47 ESV). The last verse of the next chapter says that people will be fuel for this fire (21:32).

2) This fire will focus on one particular region

It will take place in the south (20:45). Judah was the southern kingdom of Israel.

3) The arsonist is God Himself.

We are told that God is the arsonist  and everyone will know it..  Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you (20:47 ESV).  All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it (20:48 ESV).  Most fires are man-made.  This fire will not have a natural cause.  It will have a supernatural cause.  It will not be caused by man but by God Himself.

4) This fire will be completely devastating.

This fire will burn up all of the trees.  Forest fires damage property.  They destroy human life.  They affect the environment (wildlife, vegetation, soil, water, air).  This fire will be severe.  It will devour everything (green tree and dry tree).

Dry trees are much easier to burn than green trees but even the moist trees will burn as well as the dry ones.  What do the trees represent?   They represent people.  The righteous and the wicked will be affected by this fire.  God does not punish the righteous for the sins of the wicked but they do suffer the consequences of their sins.  We will see that in the next image as well.

Next, we see the reaction of the exiles to this parable.  The people did not take Ezekiel seriously.  They mocked him, like they mock anyone who preaches the Word.  “You do not really believe the Bible do you?  You do not take it literally?” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not a maker of parables?’” (20:49 ESV) 

This first message was largely symbolic, although part of the city was burned by the Babylonians.  The exiles did not like the forest fire parable.  What did it all mean (fire, trees)?  It was too symbolic, so Ezekiel stopped speaking in riddles.  He began to speak in straight-forward language.

Message of the Sword

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel 3 and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against you and will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. 4 Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. 5 And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn my sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.

6 “As for you, son of man, groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes. 7 And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that it is coming. Every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming, and it will be fulfilled,’” declares the Lord God.

8 And the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, say: “A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished,10 sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! (Or shall we rejoice? You have despised the rod, my son, with everything of wood.) 11 So the sword is given to be polished, that it may be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer. 12 Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. (21:1-11 ESV)

1) God’s people will face a sword.

The Babylonians would not only be God’s fire, they would be God’s sword against sinful Jerusalem.  The agent of judgment will be a sword.  The sword is a clear reference to a military attack.

2) The swordsman is God himself.

I am against you and will draw MY SWORD from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. 4 Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore MY SWORD shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn MY SWORD from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again. (21:3-4 ESV)

This is not just the sword of Babylon.  God says three times that it is His sword.  This is the Sword of the Lord (which John R. Rice used as the name for his ministry).

3) The instrument of destruction is Babylon

The sword they are going to face will be “the sword of the king of Babylon” (21:19) but God calls that His sword.  Babylon will be God’s instrument of judgment.  It is God’s sword but it will be in the hands of the Babylonians.  God was the one behind the Babylonians.

This is interesting.  The Babylonians were not good people.  They were pagans.  They worshiped idols.  The king of Babylon used divination (21:21-22).  God calls the Babylonian soldiers “brutal men” (21:31) but God uses them to do His will. God can use anyone to accomplish His will, even the wicked.  God is sovereign over everything, including sin.

Proverbs 16:4 says, “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (ESV). The Bible prohibits divination (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6).  Divination is demonic. The occult is satanic but God is even sovereign over divination. Nebuchadnezzar uses three forms of divination to decide which city to attack and the lot will come up for Jerusalem (21:22).  The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. (Proverbs 16:33 NIV)

4) This sword will cause a great slaughter

The sword will be used to kill people (21:15).  It will cause a great slaughter (21:14).  That is a terrible way to die.  Most would rather be shot than stabbed with a sword.  Death would be quicker with a gun.  Death could come slower, depending on where you were stabbed.  When they encounter this sword, the people will be terrified.

The Babylonians will close in on them from every side, hearts will melt with fear (21:14-15), people’s spirits will become faint.  Hands will become limp and people will even pee their pants (21:7).  This sword is sharp (21:9-11).  It is polished (21:9-11).  It is drawn, taken out of its sheath (21:28).  It is used.

Then, he says something shocking.  This sword will be used indiscriminately. God says, “I will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked” (21:3 ESV).  This sword will be used on soldiers and on civilians.  It will kill both the good guys and bad guys, the tsadik and the rasha. They will kill without pity or compassion.  It will be a massacre or a slaughter.

This sword will not kill everyone.  Some will survive this attack.  We know that from Ezekiel 9.  This killing will be random but it will not be universal. The point is that when the nation suffers, we suffer.  That is why we need to pray for our nation.

Eight Powerful Lessons

1. Nothing is more frightening than to face the wrath and anger of God.

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  You say, “I do not have to worry about this because I am saved.  Jesus bore God’s wrath for me on the cross.”  That is true but it brings us to our second point.

2. God judges sin, even in His people.

In this chapter, He sends the sword, NOT on the enemies of God but on His own people. You say, “That is in the OT.  That does not apply to us in the NT.” In the Book of Revelation, Jesus threatens to send His sword on professing Christians and fight AGAINST them (Revelation 2:16).  The language is very similar.

3. God sometimes uses the wicked as instruments of His judgment.

God can use anything for His purposes, including the wicked.  If He can use the wicked to do His will, He can certainly use you and me.

4. When the leaders of a nation sin, the whole country suffers.

When our nation suffers, God’s people suffer. God does not hold us accountable for the sins of other people (Ezekiel 18) but we sometimes suffer the consequences of the sins of others.

5. God is completely sovereign over everything.

He is sovereign over wicked nations and wicked rulers.  He was sovereign over Nebuchadnezzar.  He was sovereign over Adolf Hitler.  He is sovereign over the occult.  Nebuchadnezzar came to a fork in the road and had to decide which city to attack (Jerusalem or Ammon).  He used three different forms of divination and they all pointed to Jerusalem as the city to attack first (21:21-22).

6. Preachers need to say their message more than one time.

They need to use repetition.  Some pastors are very good at this.  They also need to say their message in more than one way and to use a multi-sensory approach, like Ezekiel did. They should be emotionally involved in their message, like Ezekiel was.  Ezekiel not only delivered a message, he wept, wailed and beat his chest.  He showed signs of grief in a public way.

7. Biblical preaching is not all positive.

Some of it is negative. Ezekiel was told two times in the chapter to preach against some things.  Some ministers today have lost that concept. We do not want to go to the other extreme and be all negative but we do not want to be all positive either.  We should preach the whole counsel of God.

8. Leaders are only in charge by the grace of God.

They can be removed at any time. God told him to remove the turban and take off the crown (21:26).  He would no longer be king any more.  Daniel 2:21 says that God “changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others” (NIV).  God says, “The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low.” (Ezekiel 21:26 NIV).


[1]
The class began by watching an excellent documentary on the history of the Babylonian Captivity found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZZbhDoYHX0&t=79s.

Lessons from History

There are many great promises on prayer in the Bible.  Call on me in the day of trouble and I will answer you.  Ask and you will receive.  Seek and you will find.  In Ezekiel 20, we will see a group of people that call on God and do not get an answer.  They seek and they do not find.

Historical Background

We are studying the Book of Ezekiel.  It was written by a young Jewish man who was exiled to Babylon.  Ezekiel was deported to Babylon when he was twenty-five.  Ezekiel was in Babylon for five years and then out of nowhere, God suddenly shows up in a spectacular vision.  The heavens open.  Incredible angels appear in front of him and he sees a blue throne and a man sitting on it and he is full of fire from his waist down.

God appeared to him and called him to be a prophet. His main job was to predict the fall of Jerusalem.  Jeremiah did it in Israel.  Ezekiel did it in Babylon.  This chapter begins the final section of messages to Judah before Jerusalem falls.  They cover Ezekiel 20-24. By the time we get to Ezekiel 24, Jerusalem has fallen and Ezekiel’s wife dies. Ezekiel 20 takes place in the seventh year of his exile to Babylon. He has been ministering for two years.

This is a long chapter.  In the Hebrew Bible, the chapter ends at verse forty-four.  The forty-fifth verse begins the next chapter in Hebrew. All Christian bibles end the chapter at verse forty-nine (following the LXX).  Jewish bibles, such as Tanakh (JPS 1985), and The Holy Scriptures (JPS 1917), end the chapter at verse forty-four.

This chapter begins with a visit to Ezekiel by some of the elders. It is not the first time they have come to see him.  Notice the first verse.  “In the SEVENTH YEAR, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me.” (20:1 ESV)  A year earlier, he had similar company.

“In the SIXTH YEAR, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness” (8:1-2 ESV).

The elders showed up at Ezekiel’s house and while they were there, he received a vision that last from Ezekiel 8-11.  It lasted four chapters long and he told them everything he saw.  A year later, some more elders show up at his house.  They came to see him before and each time they came, Ezekiel gave them bad news but now they come again.  God has an unusual response to their visit.  He is not pleased.

Request Denied

And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. 4 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Let them know the abominations of their fathers (20:2-4 ESV).

The elders came with a question for Ezekiel.  We are not told what that question was but they asked him a question.  Ezekiel was a prophet.  He waited to hear a word from the Lord.  God spoke to him and said something unusual.  He said, “I am not going to answer your question.  I’m not talking to you.”  Most think that God would be glad when people come to him with a question.  God says, “Don’t ask.  Don’t inquire.  You can pray but I am not listening.”

That is surprising.  Why would God give that kind of a response to people?  Doesn’t He want people to come to Him?  Doesn’t He want people to seek him? Yes. He wants people who are sincere to seek him.  Not every question that people ask is sincere. Some of the Pharisees just asked questions to test Jesus and they did it repeatedly (Matthew 16:1; 19:3; 22:33-46).

Politicians do this all of the time.  They ask questions of a candidate, not to get information but to get a certain type of response.  They often ask a leading question so they can get the answer they are looking for.  We do not know people’s motives but God knew the hearts of these elders.

There was nothing wrong with the question.  The problem was not that they asked a bad question.  The problem is that the people asking the question were bad people. These elders were idol worshippers.  They made their own sons up and burned them in the fire to a pagan god (20:31).  God said that they did this “to this day.”  Jeremiah 11:13 say, “For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.”

My wife has done women’s ministry for a long time.  She has counseled a lot of woman.  Some of those women never do what she says but, when the next problem comes, they go to her for more advice. After a while, she feels like it is a waste of time doing any more counseling or giving any more advice.  God is the same way.

Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, 25 because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, 27 when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, 30 would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof (Proverbs 1:24-30 ESV)

There comes a point when God stops listening.  He stopped listening to these elders in Babylon.  They had God’s Word.  They had the prophets but they rejected them.  They knew who the true God was but worshiped false gods but they still wanted a word from the Lord about their situation.

God was not interested in satisfying their curiosity but he did have a message for them. God will not answer their question but he does give these elders of Israel a sermon.  It is a strange sermon.  We do not hear too many sermons like this today.  We do not come to church to get a history lesson.  This sermon is a history lesson.  They had not learned the lessons of history.  Ezekiel is not giving it.  God is.

Ezekiel just delivers the message.  This long chapter gives us a history of Israel (20:5-38).  God reinterprets national history and gives the Jews a spiritual perspective on their own history. We have all been taught secular history in school. What would it look like if God did this to American history, instead of the history of the Jews?  That would be interesting to see.

This chapter deals with Jewish history.  You say, what does that have to do with us today?  We are going to look at three truths, which come right out of this passage.  These truths apply today, just as much as they did in Ezekiel’s day.

Lessons from Jewish History

1) People are innately rebellious.

The Bible says that rebellion is the like the sin of witchcraft (I Samuel 15:23).  It is one of the worst sins a person can commit.  The history of the Jews is a history of rebellion.  That is what is very clear from this chapter.  One of the biggest objections that Jews have to Jesus is that their leaders rejected him.  If he was really the Messiah, they would have accepted him.  This chapter gives the answer to that objection.

The history of Israel was a history of rebellion against God. God called them a “rebellious house” eleven times earlier in the book (2:5, 6, 7; 3:9, 26, 27; 12:2, 3, 9, 25; 17:12).  They were rebellious in EGYPT (20:5-9).  They were rebellious in THE WILDERNESS (20:10-26).  They were rebellious in THE PROMISED LAND (20:27-30).  The first generation was rebellious and so was the second generation.

The history of the Jews is a history of apostasy.  It is  a history of idolatry.  It is a history of disobedience. God sent them prophets and they rejected them and killed some of them.  It is no wonder that when the Messiah came that they would reject and kill him.

The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. (II Chronicles 36:15-16 NIV)

Jesus told the story of the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.  God is pictured as a landowner.  He plants a vineyard, built a fence around it and allowed some people to rent his land.  He leased it to some farmers.  They got to use it but had to give the owner a portion of it, since they did not own it and then went into another country.

When it was the season for fruit, he sent his servants to get his fruit from the tenants.  The first servant was mistreated.  The second was beaten as well.  A third servant was sent and was killed

37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. (Matthew 22:35-39 NIV)

Of course, we can’t criticize the Jews for their rebellion.  We are not any better.  The history of the human race is a history of rebellion.  We are a race of rebels, a race of sinners.  The first human ever born was a murderer.  Cain murdered Abel.  The Jews were the people of God in the OT and they were rebellious.  The church today has not done much better.  The NT says in the last days there will be an apostasy, a turning form the truth.

Ezekiel’s job in chapter twenty was to point out the sin of the nation.  God said to Ezekiel, “Let them know the ABOMINATIONS OF THEIR FATHERS” (20:4 ESV). The NLT says, “Son of man, bring charges against them and condemn them. Make them realize how detestable the sins of their ancestors really were.” 

We have to do the same thing today.  You can’t preach the gospel without talking about sin.  Some preachers NEVER talk much about sin.  Their sermons are all positive. That is the Joel Osteen philosophy.  He avoids preaching things that are hard to hear, like sin, judgment, and hell.

The truth is that, if people do not see their own sin, they will not see their need for a Savior.  They will not think that they have a problem.  Why did Ezekiel have to do this?  People around him did not think they had a problem.  They did not think they were sinners.  We have the same problem today.  People today have no concept of sin.

Ezekiel points out the sin of the nation in this chapter.  God made some promises to Abraham.  He promised to bring the Jews to the Promised Land, so He led them out of Egypt but even after they left Egypt and were removed from all of the idolatry of Egypt and were in the wilderness, they still rebelled.

God says, “And I said to them, “Each of you, get rid of the vile images you have set your eyes on, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; they did not get rid of the vile images they had set their eyes on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt” (20:7-8 ESV).

Egypt was a land of idolatry and here we learn that many of the Jews worshipped some of these idols and took them with them during the Exodus.  That’s why they worshipped a golden calf.  That was the kind of thing that was worshipped in Egypt.

Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, by which the person who obeys them will live. Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.”

Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws—by which the person who obeys them will live—and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. (20:10-13 NIV)

God gave the nation the Ten Commandments and many other laws.  He gave these laws for their own good.  God says that if they would obey these laws, they would live and even gave them a Sabbath.  They had no day of rest when they were slaves in Egypt but they rejected these laws, like people do today.

God gave people a standard for marriage but modern man rejects that standard and rebels against it.  God gives us good laws but we choose bad laws instead.  That is what sinful people want. God led the Jews into the Promised Land and they rebelled again.

In this also your ancestors blasphemed me by being unfaithful to me:28 When I brought them into the land I had sworn to give them and they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, made offerings that aroused my anger, presented their fragrant incense and poured out their drink offerings. 29 Then I said to them: What is this high place you go to?’” It is called Bamah to this day (20:27-29 NIV).

God led them into the Promised Land and they rebelled again and committed idolatry.  They offered sacrifices to pagan gods.  They did it on high places.  Bamah means “high places.”  It is not a reference to the former president. God says that these were the sins of their ancestors but it was also their sins.

When you offer your gifts—the sacrifice of your children in the fire—you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. Am I to let you inquire of me, you Israelites? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will not let you inquire of me. “‘You say, “We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.”  (20:31-32 NIV)

2) There are painful consequences for sin

That was true in Ezekiel’s day and it is true today.  It was true for Israel and it is true for the church.  We think that we can sin and not face consequences.  Paul said, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8 ESV).  When God’s people deliberately rebel against God, there are consequences.  What were some of the consequences of sin in Israel’s history?  Let’s think about four consequences.

First, the Jews spent forty years in the wilderness because of sin.  They ate the same thing every day.  They wore the same pair of shoes, which must have been hard on the ladies.  Deuteronomy 11:2 says that travel from Mount Horeb to the Promised Land was an eleven day journey. It took the Jews forty years to get there because of sin.  An eleven day trip took forty years.

Second, not only was there a delay in the Promised Land but many never entered it.  A whole generation of Jews died in the wilderness and never entered it (20:15).  They never obtained what God wanted them to have.  They never received the full blessings on earth because of their own sin.

Third, some made it into the Promised Land but were sent into captivity.  The ten northern tribes were taken into captivity.  The two southern tribes were taken into captivity.  They were kicked out of their own land because of sin.  They lost their own nation.  God said in Deuteronomy that this was a punishment for sin.

Finally, some who were kicked out were never allowed to come back to the land.  God says that he is going to purge out the rebels and certain people will NEVER enter the Promised Land.  That is strong language.

And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36 As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord God.

37 I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 38 I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall NOT enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (20:35-38 ESV).

39 “As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.

40 “For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God, there ALL the house of Israel, ALL OF THEM, shall serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings.

Rebellion will eventually be punished.  This refers to a future judgment of the nation.  There will be a future test of the nation. Every member of the nation will go under the rod, like a shepherd would separate cattle.  It sounds like the sheep and goat judgment in Matthew 25. In the future, God will judge Israel.  Everyone has to go through a test. Those who pass the test will enter the Promised Land.  The rebels will not enter.  Only saved Jews will enter the Promised Land when Jesus returns.

3) God treats us far better than we deserve.

God is a God of grace.  He shows grace in spite of rebellion.  Grace runs all through this chapter.  We see it three ways.  God chose the Jews in grace.  He judged the Jews in grace.  He also will restore the Jews in grace in the future.  Let’s look at these three points.

First, He CHOSE Israel in grace (20:5).  He could have chosen any nation on the planet to be His people.  He chose the Jews, not because they were better than any other nation but because of His grace and His sovereign choice.

Second, He JUDGED them in grace.  When they sinned in Egypt, God could have destroyed them but he didn’t.  When they sinned in the wilderness, He could have destroyed them but He didn’t.  When they sinned in the Promise Land, committed idolatry and sacrificed their own kids in the fire to pagan gods, He could have destroyed them all.  Many in the nation were destroyed but the nation itself was not.  God did not completely destroy them.  He scattered them.  He treated them in grace.

So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in Egypt. 9 But for the sake of my name, I brought them out of Egypt. I did it to keep my name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived and in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites. 10 Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.” (20:8-10 ESV)

God does not treat people the way they deserve.  He did not treat the Jews the way they deserved and He does not treat us the way we deserve.  We see that in the last verse of the chapter. “You will know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, you people of Israel, declares the Lord” (20:44 ESV).

Third, He will restore them in grace.  This chapter not only looks back, it looks forward.  In the future, God will re-gather Jews scattered throughout the world and bring them back to the Promise Land.  It will be another Exodus, not from Egypt but from the whole world.

41 I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will be proved holy through you in the sight of the nations. 42 Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your ancestors. 43 There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done. (20:41-43 ESV).

Did God Give the Jews Bad Laws?

Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, 26 and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 20 contains one shocking statement.  God says in Ezekiel 20:25, “I gave them statutes that were not good” (ESV).  What does that mean?  Dos it mean that God gave the Jews bad laws?  How could God be good and give them bad laws?

This verse has to be interpreted in the light of its context.  in the context, we are specifically told that God gave the Jews good laws.  He said that people who kept His laws would live (20:11, 13, 21) but the Jews rejected His laws and made up their own laws.

The laws are bad but they are not the Laws of Moses.  They are not God’s laws but man’s laws.  God did not actually give them these laws.  In fact, he prohibited some of the things in these laws, like child sacrifice.  He allowed the Jews to follow these laws and then judged them for it.

God is not giving them bad laws.  He is giving them over to bad laws.  The NLT says “I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life.”  Psalm 81:12 says, “I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” (NIV).

That interpretation is clear from the context.  Immediately before Ezekiel 20:24, we are told that “their eyes were set on their fathers’ idols” (ESV).  The NIV reads “their eyes lusted after their parent’s idols.”

Ezekiel 20:26 tells us what some of these laws were that they were given, laws about child sacrifice.  God never told the Jews to do child sacrifice.  In fact, He prohibited child sacrifice in His law (Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:9-12; cf. Jeremiah 19:4-5).

 

Lament of Leaders

Ezekiel is a very interesting book.  We have seen all kinds of things in this book. We have seen VISIONS in Ezekiel.  Ezekiel is in Babylon.  He is an exile.  While he is there, he sees a vision of the glory of God in Ezekiel 1.  The heavens split open and he sees a new world on the other side.

He sees four fantastic beasts, a heavenly chariot with wheels with eyes on them and a blue throne with someone sitting on it.  The one on the throne talks to him.  He was transported in some of these visions.  In one vision, he is grabbed by a lock of his hair and lifted between heaven and earth and taken to Jerusalem.

We have seen REVELATION in Ezekiel.  God speaks to Ezekiel and gives him a word to proclaim to people.  Some of that revelation involves future events.  We have seen PREACHING.  Ezekiel preaches.  He sets his face against the mountains of Israel and prophecies in Ezekiel 6.  He also prophesies against other prophets who prophesied out of their own hearts in Ezekiel 13.  He preached against other preachers.

We have seen RIDDLES in Ezekiel.  We have seen PARABLES in Ezekiel.  We have seen PROVERBS in Ezekiel.  We have seen an ALLEGORY in Ezekiel.  The allegory is found in the longest chapter in the book, Ezekiel 16.  It is an allegory of a bride that becomes a prostitute who does not work for money but actually pays people for her services.

Now we come to something that we have not seen yet.  It is a LAMENT.  We see that twice in the chapter.  The first verse of the chapter says, “And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel” (19:1).  The last verse of the chapter says, “This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation” (19:14).  It is the word kee-nah. We will see several laments in the Book of Ezekiel.

What is a lament? A whole book of the Bible is called “The Book of Lamentations.”  It was written by Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.  It describes a funeral for the city of Jerusalem.  Daniel Block says that to raise a lamentation is “a technical term for a special kind of musical composition, the dirge, which was composed and sung at the death of an individual.”[1]  Ity has a certain number of beats in Hebrew.

Ezekiel was not like ministers today.  They go to seminary and are good for only one thing, preaching, and some of them do not do that very well.  Ezekiel can do all kinds of things.  He could preach.  He could prophesy but he could also act.  He had a drama ministry.  He acted out his sermons.  He could cook.  He could cut hair.  He knew how to build things, like a model of the city.  He also knew how to sing.

Ezekiel 19 to a very short chapter.  It is only fourteen verses long.  As we read this chapter, we realize we have seen some of these things before earlier in the book.  Ezekiel 19 is a parable and it is very similar to a parable found in Ezekiel 17.  Let’s compare these two parables.

Two Parables Compared

1) The Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine (Ezekiel 17)

Ezekiel is in Babylon.  He is in exile and he predicts what will happen in Jerusalem to the leaders of the nation in a parable.  It is a parable about two eagles, a cedar tree and a vine.  In the parable, there is a tall cedar tree (17:3).  It represents the nation.

A great eagle comes and takes the top twigs of the tree and set them in a city of merchants (17:4).  The kings of the nation were sent to Babylon.  Its seed was planted in Babylon and planted beside abundant waters (17:4).  It became a vine.  It is not tall anymore.  The tall cedar has turned into a low-spreading vine but at least it is growing by the abundant waters.

Another eagle comes (which represents Egypt) and the vine turns toward it.  This eagle came from the west.  Egypt is west of Jerusalem.  Israel had made a covenant with Babylon but now turns to Egypt for help and decided to break its covenant with Babylon.

The result is disastrous.   Judah turned to Egypt for security against Babylon but they were no help.  An east wind came and struck the vine (17:10).  The east wind represents Babylon.  Babylon is east of Jerusalem.

Babylon strikes the vine, pulls up its roots, cuts off its fruit and the vine withers, which represents the death of the nation.  Ezekiel says that what happened to the vine is not just bad luck or military aggression on Babylon’s part; it is divine judgment.

Ezekiel said that God will spread His net over these kings and they will be taken in His snare (17:20), because they made a covenant with Babylon and then broke it and turned to Egypt for help.  Ezekiel 19 is another parable about the same thing.

2) The Parable of Two Lions and a Vine (Ezekiel 19)

This parable begins with a question.  And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say: What was your mother? A lioness! Among lions she crouched; in the midst of young lions” (19:1-2 ESV).

Israel is also compared to a two things in this parable.  First, she is compared to a lion.  Why a lioness, instead of a different animal?  Lions are often symbols of kings.  It was a common symbol for royalty in the Ancient Near East.  The tribal symbol of Judah was a lion.  In Ezekiel 19, this lion has two cubs and they represent kings.

Ezekiel does not call them “kings” (mel-eck).  He does not dignify these leaders with the title of “king.” He calls them “princes” (nah-geed).  He gives them a downgrade.  The lion represents the nation.  The nation has more than two kings but only two are mentioned in this chapter.  These kings were young (so they were like cubs).

There is another reason why these kings were described as lions.  Lions are known for their ferocity.  They can hurt people, which the leaders of the nation did. Israel was a monarchy.  It had one king and that king could do whatever he wanted to do.

There were no checks and balances.  He did not have to answer to Congress and was not checked by the Supreme Court.  There were not three branches of power.  The king had unlimited power and that often led to an abuse.  That is what we see here.

She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a STRONG lion. He learned to TEAR the prey and he became a MAN-EATER. The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him WITH HOOKS to the land of Egypt. (19:3-4 NIV)

These kings are portrayed as lions.  Lions are strong.  They are violent and deadly.  This lion was eating people.  This king was doing these things to his own people but that led to a response.  You reap what you sow.  You do bad things to other people; it often comes back to you.  This king was violent and now violence is happening to him.  He is trapped and led away with hooks.

The ancient Near Eastern kings were extremely violent and cruel.  They did not have any concept of international law.  They did not follow the Geneva Convention.  When they conquered a king, they publicly humiliated that king.  They would put him in a cage, put a dog collar around his neck and put a hook in his nose.  The king here was trapped like an animal and taken to Egypt in chains.  It was not only humiliating, it was painful.  It is a reference to Jehoahaz (II Kings 23:31).

He was one of King Josiah’s sons.  Josiah was one of Israel’s greatest kings.  This was his third son took the throne at the age of twenty-three but he was so bad that he only lasted three months on the throne.  This momma lion lost one cub to Egypt.

When she saw that she waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion. He prowled among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men and seized their widows. He laid waste their cities, and the land was appalled and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring. (19:5-7 ESV)

 Now a second lion takes over and acts the same way his brother lion acted.  He did not learn anything.  He is also strong, violent.  He ate people, scaring people.  After killing the men, he seized their widows and devastating towns.  History was repeating itself.  The mamma lion lost one cub to Egypt (19:4) another to Babylon (19:9).  They were taken to Egypt and Babylon by hooks (19:4, 9).

WITH HOOKS they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel. (19:9)

A net was spread over these kings (19:8). This net was not spread by God (like in Ezekiel 17) but by other nations.  That is a reference to Zedekiah.

This was a prophecy but part of it had already happened.  Jehoahaz had already been hauled off to Egypt but when Ezekiel originally gave this parable, Zedekiah was still reigning in Jerusalem.  It had not happened yet. Israel is also compared to a vine in this second parable.

Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard, planted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water. 11 Its strong stems became

rulers’ scepters; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches. 12 But the vine was plucked up in fury,

cast down to the ground; the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off and withered.

As for its strong stem, fire consumed it. 13 Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. 14 And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots, has consumed its fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruling. (19:10-14 ESV)

This vine was also planted by water and full of branches (19:10) but this vine was tall, not low like the other one.  It was tall and strong with strong stems.  “Its strong stems became rulers’ scepters; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches” (19:10).

What happened to the vine?  The east wind came once again (19:12).  It plucked the vine up in its fury and cast it to the ground (19:12).  The vine was stripped and the fruit of the vine withered (19:12).

Fire consumed the strong stem and the vine was planted in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty land (19:13). The vine is uprooted and planted in the desert where it is dry.  It is no longer next to abundant waters.  As we look at these two parables, we see a lot of similarities.

  • Both mention two animals (two lions and two eagles).
  • Both mention an east wind.
  • Both mention Egypt and Babylon.
  • Both mention a net being used to catch people in a trap.
  • Both mention a vine transplanted to the wilderness
  • Both mention the uprooted vine becoming withered.
  • Both describe the exile of Jewish kings.

Death of a Nation

Let’s talk about exactly what happened during the Babylonian Captivity. It is one of the most important events in biblical history.  Israel died as a nation in 587 BC. They did NOT die as an ethnic group.  As a people, they survived but they died as a nation.  Specifically, they lost three things.  They lost their LAND.  They were kicked off their land.  They were exiled and put in a pagan country where pagan gods were worshipped.

They lost their RELIGION.  Their temple which had been around since the time of Solomon was burned to the ground. The whole temple system is gone, along with the animal sacrifices and the priests.  They lost their land.  They lost their religion.

They also lost their GOVERMENT. They also lost their political structure.  The Davidic Dynasty crumbled. David was king around 1000 BC. The family of David ruled on that throne for four hundred years.  They had about twenty-one kings.  Zedekiah was the last descendant of David to sit on that throne.

After Zedekiah, the Davidic Dynasty ends.  It was good for four hundred years but it ended with Zedekiah.  No one has ever sat on David’s throne since Zedekiah.  The last verse of the chapter says that the vine which was uprooted and cast into the desert no longer has strong stem and has “NO SCEPTER FOR RULING” (19:14).

The monarchy died.  It has been dead for almost three thousand years and it is still dead today.  Israel is a nation today.  It has political leaders but they are not kings, certainly not Davidic kings.  Israel is a democracy.  It is a parliamentary democracy.

There will not be another king who sits on that throne until Jesus returns.  Luke 1;31-33 says, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (ESV).

Jesus right now is not sitting on the throne of David and He is not reigning over the house of Jacob.  You can go to Israel today and Jesus is not ruling the country but one day He will when He returns.  The crown which was taken away from Zedekiah and Jehoiachin will be given to Jesus.

25 And you, O profane wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment, 26 thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted. 27 A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This also shall not be, until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him. (Ezekiel 21:25-27 ESV)

God also predicted that he will restore the nation of Israel.  He will turn the low vine into a tall cedar tree.

Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar.

And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.” (17:22-24 ESV)

Funeral for a Nation

After the Babylonian Captivity, the Davidic monarchy died.  After you die, there is a funeral.  This is a funeral oration for the nation, a funeral for the Davidic Dynasty.  After someone dies, there is a period of mourning.  For the Jews, it is a period of time that lasts seven days.  It is called shi-vah. They get the seven days from the Bible.  That is how long Joseph mourned for Jacob after he died in the Book of Genesis (50:10).

An Unusual Lament

After someone dies, it is normal to have a period of morning and a period of grief but what happens in Ezekiel 19 is different.  We have funerals for people after they die.  Ezekiel has one for the leaders of the nation BEFORE they all died.  Now when Ezekiel said these words, Zedekiah was still on the throne but he just had a few years left.

God tells Ezekiel to lament him like he is already gone.  That is SHOCKING.  That would be like having a whole bunch of limousines and a long funeral procession for a president who is still alive and in the White House.  There are a few cases in history of people who attended their own funeral.[2]

Application for Today

This is an interesting chapter but what does it have to do with us?  How could this possibly apply to us?  This chapter shows that God is a person.  God laments over the people of Israel.  He has concern over people.  He wants us to have concern over people.  He tells Ezekiel to sing a song of lament for Israel and the kings of Israel, even though many of them were wicked.  Some people do not care if people die.

Does God ever get sad?  Jesus said a lament over Jerusalem.  He wept over Jerusalem, because he knew what would happen in 70 AD because the Jews rejected him as Messiah.  History was going to repeat itself.  Just as the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple, the Romans were going to destroy Herod’s Temple.

Just as the Babylonians put a siege on the city, the Romans were going to put a siege around the city.  Just as people were so hungry during the siege of Babylon that they committed cannibalism, the same thing happened during the siege of Rome.  Just as the attack by the Babylonians led to a Jewish exile, the attack by the Romans in 70 AD also led to the Jews being  kicked out of their own land again.

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. (Luke 19:41-42 NIV)

That is interesting.  The Jews reject Jesus.  They reject their Messiah.  They turn him over to the Romans to be crucified.  Jesus does not weep for himself.  He weeps for the nation that rejected Him.  Instead of praying for their destruction, He weeps for them.

In Ezekiel 18, we saw that God did not want people to die.  He said, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”  He told them not to die.  He told them to turn and live but he also gave people free will.  Many choose to reject Him and still do today.  In Ezekiel 19, we see how God feels when people reject Him.  He is grieved.  He laments.  He mourns for them.  We should do the same thing.  We should lament sin.  We should mourn for our own sins.  We should mourn for the sins of others.  We should mourn for the sins of our leaders.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. (James 4:8-9 ESV)

[1] Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24, pp. 517-518.

[2] http://listverse.com/2017/08/22/10-shocking-cases-of-people-who-attended-their-own-funeral/

Judgment Principles

Last time we were in Ezekiel, we did an introduction to Ezekiel 18.  Ezekiel is a depressing book.  It a book about judgment but this chapter that has a message of HOPE. It is also a chapter that sounds very much like THE GOSPEL.  We saw many elements of the gospel in this chapter.

The problem was SIN.  Ezekiel says that “the soul that sins, it will die” That sounds very much like “the wages of sin is death” (18:4).  The punishment for sin was DEATH.  The solution was REPENTANCE.

He tells them to “Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.” (18:30 NIV).  He tells them in this chapter to “turn and live” (18:32). That is a message that is repeated in the NT.  Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will perish” (Luke 13:3).

In order to get saved, they need a NEW HEART and a NEW SPIRIT (18:31).  That sounds like the NT. At salvation, we become a new creation.  The chapter shows us the heart of God.  He wants people to be saved.  He does not desire the death of anyone.  There is a passionate appeal in this chapter, which almost sounds like an ALTAR CALL.  God tells people to “turn and live” (18:32).  He says, “Why will you die?” (18:31)

If you like apologetics, you will like this chapter. Apologetics deals with defending the faith.  In this chapter, there is a criticism of God (18:19-32).  It is a common criticism that people still have today.  They think that God is unfair.  he allows all kinds of evil to take place in the world.

They think that God is unfair.  He allows all kind of evil to take place in the world.  Two times He says “It is not me who is unjust.  It is you who are unjust” (18:25, 29).  God compared his justice with their injustice.

Today, we are going to finish the chapter.  Ezekiel is the prophet of personal responsibility.  This is a chapter that emphasizes personal responsibility.  We will be looking at some powerful principles that still apply to us today.  They are either clearly stated or implied in the chapter.

Six Incredible Principles

1. The Blame Principle

The blame principle says that people who blame other people are often guilty themselves.  That is exactly what we see here.  Sometimes we blame ourselves for something someone else has done but most of the time we blame others for something that we have done.

The Jews expressed this criticism in the form of a proverb, the sour grapes proverb. ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? (18:2). The fathers ate the sour grapes but it is the children who feel the effects from those sour grapes.  The fathers sinned but the children are suffering. They said that it is not their fault all of these bad things are happening to them.  It was their ancestor’s fault.

Let’s bring this principle home today.  We live in a society that encourages blame.  We are encouraged to blame other people for your problems and make scapegoats out of them.  No one wants to take responsibility.  No one wants to ever admit they made a mistake or did something wrong.

We live in a culture of blame.  We blame our parents.  “I am the way I am because my parents messed me up.”  We blame our genes.  “I can’t help it.  I was born that way.  I cannot change.” We blame our family history. ” I come from a long line of criminals.  I am Irish. I have a generational curse on me.”

Politicians love to blame other people for their problems.  Obama came into office and blamed everything on Bush and the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Hillary lost the last election blamed it on WikiLeaks, Jim Comey, the Russians, and sexist voters.  Blame is so much a part of our society that people even try to blame the victim.  These days, criminals even blame the victim of crime.  Rapists will blame the woman for their crime.

It is so much a part of humanity that it goes back to the first man and woman on the planet.  When the first humans sinned and God confronted them, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  The serpent was the only one who did not blame anyone.

What was God’s answer to the blame excuse?  God said that they were not innocent.  Their generation was wicked.  We have seen that in the book already.  People were worshipping idols in the Temple.  Religious leaders were involved in it.  This was not just something previous generations did. The answer to this problem is to take responsibility for your own actions.

2. The Accountability Principle

The accountability principle says that all of us are accountable before God for what we do.  One day, we will all given an account.  One day, every preacher will give an account.  When we stand before God, we are only going to be held accountable for what we do.

We will not be held accountable for what our father or mother did.  We will not be held accountable for what our son or daughter did.  We will not be held accountable for what our husband or wife did.  All of us will be accountable for our own actions and our own actions alone.

II Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what HE has done in the body, whether good or evil”  (ESV).

This principle is for Christians today.  Ezekiel gives three examples of this truth.  He gives three case studies (18:5-18).  They last three generations.  They deal with a righteous father (18:5-9), a wicked son (18:10-13) and a righteous grandson (18:14-18).  Some say that it is an allusion to three OT kings: Josiah, Manasseh and Hezekiah.

Why is that example important?  Josiah was a righteous man.  He had a wicked son, Manasseh.  You can raise kids right, and do all the right things and they can still turn out rotten.  Good parents can have bad kids, because they have something called free will.  Cain and Abel had the same parents.

One child was good and one was bad.  One was a child of God and one was a child of the Devil.  One was a murderer and one was a martyr.  God does not hold us accountable for how our kids turn out.  He does hold us accountable for how we raise them.  Sue Klebold is not accountable for what her son did.  God will hold Dylan Klebold for what he did at Columbine. The Bible describes someone who was a terrible parent.  It was Eli the priest.

What if you grew up with terrible parents?  Hezekiah had a completely rotten father named Manasseh. We are affected by your environment but God still holds you accountable for our actions.  If you grow up in an abusive environment, it does not give you a right to abuse others.  God does not give people a pass and let them off of the hook, because they had bad parents.

3. The Divine Justice Principle

The divine justice principle says that any time we criticize God and think that He is not fair or that He has done something wrong, we are the ones at fault.  God’s ways are perfect.  It is man’s ways that are not.

Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not YOUR WAYS unequal? (18:25 ESV)

God said that His thoughts are not our thoughts.  We say that God is unfair.  God turns it around and says that we are the ones WE are unfair. Lots of people have things they want to tell God when they stand before Him.  They want to give Him a piece of their mind.

When the unsaved all stand before God they are guilty and speechless (Romans 3:19).  Some believers who want to criticize God when they stand before Him will also be speechless.  That was what happened to Job.  Instead of criticizing God, he repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:6).

4. The Retribution Principle

The retribution principle says that God punishes the guilty, not the innocent.  This is a very important principle.  People always worry that God will send the wrong people to hell. What about the people who have never heard the message?

Whatever God does will be right.  It will be fair.  It will be just.  As Abraham said, Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 NIV).  We see that principle in Ezekiel 18.  The soul who sins shall die (18:4 ESV).  He says it twice in this chapter (18:4, 20). The soul who sins dies.  The one who does not sin does not die.

This verse is explained a little more later on in the chapter.  Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (ESV)

The Law of Moses said the same thing.  Deuteronomy 24:16 says “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin” (ESV).

God’s judgment is always fair.  It is not arbitrary.  It is not capricious. If you come from a completely rotten family, God does not hold that against you.  He judges each person individually based on their works.  That is a principle in the OT.  It is a principle in the NT.

God judged Israel BY WORKS.  “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, EVER ONE according to HIS WAYS, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. (Ezekiel 18:30 ESV)

Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you ACCORDING TO YOUR WAYS, and I will punish you for all your abominations. (Ezekiel 7:3 ESV)

He will judge the unsaved BY WORKS. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, ACCORDING TO WHAT THEY HAD DONE.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, ACCORDING TO WHAT THEY HAD DONE. (Revelation 20:12-13 ESV)

The church will also be judged BY WORKS.  Paul says to Christians, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (I Corinthians 5:10 ESV)

Theological Implications of Ezekiel 18:4

The soul that sinneth, it shall die” is a really important verse. It raises some very interesting questions.  Some of these questions deal with deep theological truths.  Let’s lok at three of them.

1) Does Ezekiel 18:4 teach annihiliationism?

Does it teach the doctrine of the annihilation of the soul?  Jehovah’s Witnesses use it to prove that souls can die, because it says “THE SOUL that sinneth, it will die.” After death, we all cease to exist.  Are they right?

It sounds right but there is one big problem. The word soul here means PERSON.  When he says “the soul who sins will die,” he means that “the person who sins will die.”  Sometimes the word “soul” in the Bible means something that is inside you.  Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28).  Obviously, the body and the soul are not the same thing.

I Thessalonians 5:23 talks about your whole “spirit and soul and body” being preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes, it just means person.  It just means person in the OT.  Genesis 2:7 says that Adam became a living soul.  He did NOT receive a soul.  He BECAME a soul (nephesh).  The NT says the same thing.

Sometimes the word “soul” in the Bible means something that is inside you. Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). Obviously, the body and the soul are not the same thing.

I Thessalonians 5:23 talks about your whole “spirit and soul and body” being preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes, it just means person.  It just means person in the OT.  Genesis 2:7 says that Adam became a living soul.  He did NOT receive a soul.  He BECAME a soul (nephesh).  The NT says the same thing.

Romans 13:1 says, “Let every soul (ψυχή) be subject unto the higher powers.”  That means “Let every person be subject to the higher powers.”  Acts 2:43 says that “fear came on every soul (ψυχή) and many signs and wonders were done by the apostles.”  That means fear came on every person.

I Peter 3:20 talks about Noah building an ark and says that “eight souls (ψυχή) were saved by water.”  That means eight persons were saved by the ark.  Ezekiel 18:4 is NOT teaching the annihilation of the soul.

It just says that the person who sins will die.  It is not saying that when you die, your soul dies.  It is saying that when you sin, YOU die (not the immaterial part of you).  “The soul who sins will die” just means that “the person who sins will die.”

We know that from the first part of the verse. God says that all souls are His. He is not saying that he only owns part of us (the immaterial part).  He says that he owns ALL of us.  We are His property.  He created us.

2) Does Ezekiel 18:4 refute substitutionary atonement?

Jews use this verse against Christianity.  Ezekiel 18:4 says that the soul who sins dies. The death penalty only falls on the sinner, so how do you explain the atonement?  The one who did not sin died for the souls who did sin.  Is this objection valid?  How could Jesus die for our sins in light of Ezekiel 18:4?

There’s a big difference between dying BECAUSE of another man’s sins and dying FOR another man’s sins (as a sacrifice for sin). The concept of blood sacrifices for sin is all throughout the OT (Passover Lamb). The OT predicted one hundred years before Ezekiel that the Messiah would die for sins.  There is evidence for this concept, even in the Jewish OT.

But he was pierced FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS; he was crushed FOR OUR INIQUITIES; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 ESV)

The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 ESV)

By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and HE SHALL BEAR THEIR INIQUITIES. (Isaiah 53:11 ESV)

3) Does Ezekiel 18:4 refute the doctrine of original sin?

Original sin teaches that we suffer because of what Adam did. We are all born with a sin nature, because of what Adam did.  Adam was the federal head of the race.  What he did affected us.  We see that in Romans 5 and I Corinthians 15.

Romans 5:18 says that “one trespass led to condemnation for all men” (ESV).  I Corinthians 15:21-22 says, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (ESV).

Does Ezekiel 18:4 prove that original sin is a false doctrine?  No. Ezekiel is not a systematic theologian.  He is not dealing with Adam.  Original sin is taught elsewhere in Scripture.

Is it unfair? We cannot criticize Adam because we sin every day of our own free will.  No one forces us to sin.  If you think it is unfair for us to suffer because of what Adam did, it is equally unfair for Jesus to suffer because of what we did.

5. The Forgiveness Principle

The forgiveness principle says that no matter what you have done in the past, no matter what sin you have committed or how many you have committed, you can be forgiven IF you repent.  It is a conditional promise.  It only happens if a person repents and this promise is still true today.

But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall SURELY live; he shall not die. NONE of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live.” (Ezekiel 18:21-22 ESV).

What does this tell us?  It tells us that people can change.  The cycle of sin can be broken?  It can be broken in yourself and in your family.  You are not doomed to live with your family’s sins.  God also says that change can take place, even if your ancestors are wicked.

You may come from a long line of criminals.  You may come from a family of witches.  Your past is irrelevant.  There is no generational curse.  God says that people can change, despite their past and despite their family’s past.

It also tells us that there is hope.  No matter how bad you have screwed up in the past, God can give you a second chance. This was not just a NT teaching.  We see it clearly in the OT.  Isaiah says “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (1:18 NIV).

6. The Apostasy Principle

The apostasy principle says that total and final rejection of Christ and the path of righteousness results in death.  After seeing an incredible PROMISE in this chapter, we now see an incredible WARNING.

But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die. (18:24 ESV).

Does this mean that you can lose your salvation?  Some use this verse to teach that doctrine.  Here a righteous person changes and becomes wicked and commits evil and it results in death but the death he is talking about is physical death.  The words “life” and “death” occur more than twenty-eight times in the chapter. They refer to physical death and physical life.  Ezekiel is not talking about salvation or eternal life.

And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. (Jeremiah 21:8-9 ESV)

15“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ESV)

Ezekiel is talking about physical life but there is a sense in which it is applies to salvation.  When a person makes a profession of faith and turns from his righteousness and commits apostasy, that person will not be saved. His righteous deeds will not be remembered.

We are not talking about a righteous person who falls into one sin but a person who completely gives up his faith and becomes wicked.  That describes many professing people who say, “I used to believe in God.  I used to go to church and believe in Jesus but now I think it is all hogwash.”

The NT is clear that such people will not be saved (Hebrews 3:1-14; 6:4-6; 10:26-39).  Jesus said that “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

 

Sour Grapes

Ezekiel 18 is one of the most important chapters in the whole book.  There are some powerful verses in this chapter.  This week will serve as an introduction to the chapter.  It is a chapter that is very relevant today. That is a message that we desperately need to hear today.

It is a chapter than emphasizes human responsibility. Ezekiel is the prophet of personal responsibility.   We live in a day in which personal responsibility is often discouraged. This chapter has a message of hope in it.  Much of Ezekiel is depressing.  It is all negative, doom and gloom.

This chapter is different.  It is a chapter that in many ways sounds like the gospel. One thing that stands out to me, as I study this chapter,  are the many ways this chapter pictures the gospel message.  Some of the same language in this chapter is used.

The Gospel in Ezekiel 18

1. The consequence of sin is death

Ezekiel says, “the soul that sinneth, it will die.”  The punishment for sin is DEATH.  Ezekiel was not dealing with universal sin but he did say that the penalty is death.  That sounds a little like Romans 6:23 (“the wages of sin is death”).  Sin pays wages.  Wages are the payment you receive for working.  When you sin, the payment you receive is death, so repent before payday.

2. The way to life is through repentance

God tells sinners in this chapter to repent (shewv).  He commands them to REPENT and turn away from all their sins (18:30). He tells them to CAST AWAY from them all the transgressions that they have committed (18:31).

This is actually a great message of hope.  When the wicked genuinely repent, God forgives them.  God does not say that there is no hope for you or that your sins are too great. He says that no matter what you have done in the past, there is hope if you repent.

The NT says the same thing.  God tells people in Ezekiel 18 to “turn and live” (18:32).  The NT talks about “repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).  No sin is too great.  Repentance is a command for sinners in the NT.

Paul says in Acts 17:30 that God “now commands all people everywhere to repent” (NIV).  Any message of salvation that does not include repentance in some form is not the biblical gospel. This message of repentance has been lost in much of the contemporary church.  Many churches no longer preach it.

3. There is emotional appeal in the chapter

God tells Israel to “turn and live” (18:32).  He asks, “Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (18:31).  It is evangelistic.  There is an altar call. God still appeals to sinners today to “turn and live.”  He appeals to sinners to come to Christ.  In fact, the Bible ends with an altar call.  It ends with an invitation to lost sinners.

It ends with three invitations. Three times at the end of the Bible, we see the word “come.” Revelation 22:17 says, The Spirit and the bride say, “COME!” And let the one who hears say, “COME!” Let the one who is thirsty COME; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

4. A new heart and spirit is needed

In order to get saved, you have to become a new creation. You have to get a new heart and a new spirit.  This sounds very much like the NT.  In order to be completely right with God, they need a new heart and a new spirit (18:31).

They are told to “get a new heart and a new spirit” (NIV) or “make themselves a new heart and a new spirit” (ESV, KJV) but they cannot do that on their own.  God says in Ezekiel 36:26, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (ESV).

5. God’s compassion for sinners is revealed

We see the heart of God in this chapter.  God says in the last verse of the chapter, “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD” (18:32 ESV).  We see God’s compassion, mercy and grace in this chapter TO SINNERS.  He is not vindictive.  God is not sadistic.  He does not delight in torturing people.  He does not love to see people suffer.  The one who wants people to die is Satan, not God.

The NT says exactly the same thing.  I Timothy 2:3-4 says, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (NIV).  God is pro-life.  He wants people to live.  He wants people to be saved. God wants all people to be saved but that does not mean that they will be saved.

An Ancient Criticism

This chapter also answers a criticism of God that people had in Ezekiel’s day.  It is the same criticism that people have of God today. People accuse God of being unfair in this chapter.

“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? (18:25 ESV)

Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? (18:29 ESV)

Two times in this chapter, Israelites accuse God of being unjust and two times God says that it is the other way around.  God compared His justice with their injustice.  As Paul says, “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4)

One of the most common objections to Christianity is that God is not fair.  We hear it all of the time.  We may have even thought it ourselves, as we look at our own life.  Bad things happen to good people, almost every day.  It happened this last week with this church shooting.  Innocent children were slaughtered.

Atheists ask, where is God?  They argue that evil in the world either proves that God does not exist or, if He does exist, He must be took weak to stop the evil or too unloving to care that it takes place today.  How do we answer these objections.  There is a simple answer.

I will share an answer i received from my philosophy professor Ron Nash from a class I took over thirty years ago at Western Kentucky University.  Dr. Nash taught at a secular huniversity.  He had a PhD in Philosophy and was a solid evangelical.

Dr. Nash pointed out that there are several different kinds of evil (natural evil, like hurricanes and moral evil, like murder).  Natural evil exists because of natural laws.  God created the world with natural laws.

He created gravity.  If you are on top of a tall building and fall over, you will most likely die because of gravity.  God does not suspend the law of gravity to protect people on tall buildings.

Moral evil exits because God created people with free will.  He created us with free will because He is a good God but free will means that we have the capability to do bad things to other people.  Free will leads to incredibly good deeds among people.  it also leads to incredibly bad deeds.

An Ancient Proverb

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.  (18:1-3 ESV)

These first few verses of the chapter take us inside the mind of the exiles.  Ezekiel is in exile in Babylon, along with King Jehoiachin and many others.  These verses tell us what they were thinking and what they were thinking is what many of us would be thinking.  They thought that God was not fair.  They had lost their home.  They lost their country.  They lost their friends.  They lost their temple.  They lost their freedom.

They expressed how they were thinking in a proverb. We have seen other proverbs in Ezekiel.  There were two other proverbs we looked at in Ezekiel 12.  This one is called the sour grapes proverb.  Ezekiel was in Babylon and this proverb was spoken in Babylon (Ezekiel 18:2).  Jeremiah said that the same proverb was spoken back in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 31:29).

This proverb was popular in that day but was completely false. False thinking is at the core of our secular culture today.  People are totally wrong on the Bible.  They are totally wrong on God.  They are totally wrong on Jesus, and they are totally wrong on sin.  They call evil good and good evil.  This false proverb was accepted by God’s people in the OT and it was false. False thinking sometimes filters into the church.

This was a proverb about bad grapes.  We have a saying about sour grapes.  When we call something “sour grapes,” we pretend to not want something that we cannot have.  This proverb was different.  This saying said, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (18:2).

That is a strange proverb.  What does it mean? The fathers ate the sour grapes.  Their teeth should be set on edge.  Instead, their innocent children’s teeth were set on edge.  If we paraphrased it today, it would be something like, “The parents ate too much cotton candy, and their children got rotten teeth” or “The parents ate all of the candy bars and their children got cavities.”  It would be like saying, “The parents got drunk but their children got the hangover.”

That is what the proverb says, what does it mean?  It means that “our fathers sinned and we are suffering.”  In their mind, they were not responsible for the fall of Jerusalem or the exile.  Their parents are.  God was judging them but we are not responsible.  It is because of what their fathers did.  In essence, they said, “It is not our fault.”  Next time, we will look at God’s answer to this proverb and the principles we can learn from it.

Parable of the Two Eagles

We are studying the Book of Ezekiel.  We come to a shorter chapter (compared to Ezekiel 16).  It does not seem like one that is too important.  It is all about some trees, a vine and a few birds.  Actually, this chapter is extremely important.  There is a prophecy of the Messiah in this chapter. It is the first time that Ezekiel makes a prophecy of the Messiah in this book. Both Jewish and Christian scholars agree that the Messiah is mentioned at the end of the chapter.

The famous Jewish scholar Rashi says it refers to “King Messiah”.  It is one of four prophecies of the Messiah in the Book of Ezekiel.  This chapter is just like the last one.  The first part of the chapter is very depressing, when you understand what this parable means but it ends on a positive note.  After a chapter of bad news, there is some good news at the end.

Last week, we began a new section of the book.  It is a section that deals with parables.  Parables did not begin in the NT.  Jesus did not invent them.  There were parables in the OT.  Last week, we looked at two of them.  We looked at the parable of the USELESS VINE in Ezekiel 15.  Israel was compared to a useless vine.

Then we looked at the parable of the UNFAITHFUL WIFE in Ezekiel 16.  The city of Jerusalem is personified as a woman.  Chapter sixteen gives us a parable of a baby girl, abandoned in an open field and left to die but rescued and adopted by God.  God said to that baby “live’ like He says to each one of us.  She went from being abandoned and adopted to be adorned.  She was raised up as a queen but then she changes.

The bride becomes a slut.  She goes from being a wife to being a prostitute but not an ordinary prostitute.  She becomes a brazen prostitute but God judges her.  She is abused and totally humiliated by her own lovers.  Instead of God rejecting this wife, He takes her back.  He atones for her sin.  In Ezekiel 17, we come to another parable, the parable of the TWO EAGLES.

Why does God Speak in Parables?

This raises an interesting question.  Why does God speak to people in riddles?  Why does God speak to people in parables?  It seems strange to us. Keep in mind the audience that Ezekiel is addressing.  He is speaking to a hostile audience.  They are not open to his message.  God called them “a rebellious house” in Ezekiel 17:12.

We talk a lot today about hearing from God.  God speaks to people from different ways.  God uses every possible means to get people’s attention.  He uses everything to get our attention.  Sometimes he uses trials, suffering and heartbreak.  Sometimes he uses pain to speak to us.  He used several different ways to speak to the Jews.

Ezekiel used drama to convey his message.  He acted out his message so they could see it by shaving his head with a sword, by building a miniature city and playing army men.  He acted out the food shortage that was going to happen by eating a siege diet.  He lay on his side for a year.

Symbolic actions were one way the message was presented because people like to be entertained, only this type of acting had a serious message attached to it.  Judgment was coming on Jerusalem. Ezekiel did not just use actions; he used words.  He used parables.  Ezekiel 17:1-2 says, “The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, propound a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel” (ESV).

Ezekiel used allegories.  He used riddles.  He used stories.  Why stories?  We all like to hear stories.  Many people would have no interest in hearing a dry lecture on a topic but would love to hear stories.  We love it as children and never outgrow it, so Ezekiel told them some stories. People like riddles.  Riddles excite our curiosity.  They are intriguing.  There are some riddles in the Bible.  The mark of the beast and the number 666 is a riddle.

Ezekiel 17, this is not just a parable (mah-shal) and a riddle (he-dah), it is an allegory.  It is an allegory, just like the last chapter. There are two eagles (called “great eagles”).  There is a cedar tree, and an east wind in this chapter but they are all symbolic.  They are not literal.  In fact, they all stand for NATIONS.  The eagles represent two world powers, two superpowers in Ezekiel’s day.

Is America the Eagle?

The bald eagle is the symbol of America.  It is our national emblem.  There is an eagle on the seal of the US.  Is this a prophecy of America, as some have suggested? Is this where America is in Bible prophecy?

There are two problems with that theory.  This prophecy is not addressed to America.  Ezekiel 17:1-2 says, “The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, propound a riddle, and speak a parable to THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (ESV).

This parable was NOT addressed to America.  It was not written to the USA.  In fact, Ezekiel gives us the INSPIRED INTERPRETATION of the parable.  We do not have to guess what this parable means.  The Bible interprets most of its symbols.  Beginning at Ezekiel 17:11 we have a lengthy explanation of this parable.  We will see what the parable says and what is interpretation is.

Why would a nation be referred to as an eagle?  One of the four living creatures in Revelation looked like an eagle (4:7).  Eagles in the Bible are symbols of strength.  They are regarded as king of the birds in contrast to the lion, which was considered the king of the beasts (Job 4:10; Proverbs 30:30).

Isaiah 40:31 says, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”   What happened to Israel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

45 “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.

46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever…. 49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down LIKE THE EAGLE, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. (Deuteronomy 28:45-46, 49-50)

The Meaning of the Parable

Thus says the Lord God: A GREAT EAGLE with great wings and long pinions, rich in plumage of many colors, came to Lebanon and took THE TOP OF THE CEDAR. 4 He broke off the topmost of its young twigs and carried it to a land of trade and set it in a city of merchants.

5 Then he took of THE SEED of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters. He set it like a willow twig, 6 and it sprouted and became a LOW SPREADING VINE, and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs.

7 “And there was ANOTHER GREAT EAGLE with great wings and much plumage, and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and shot forth its branches toward him from the bed where it was planted, that he might water it. 8 It had been planted on good soil by abundant waters, that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine.

9 “Say, Thus says the Lord God: Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers, so that all its fresh sprouting leaves wither? It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it from its roots. 10 Behold, it is planted; will it thrive? Will it not utterly wither when the east wind strikes it—wither away on the bed where it sprouted?” (17:3-10 ESV).  Then we come to the interpretation of the parable in Ezekiel 17:11-18.

Then this message came to me from the Lord: 12 “Say to these rebels of Israel: Don’t you understand the meaning of this riddle of the eagles? The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took away her king and princes, and brought them to Babylon. 13 He made a treaty with a member of the royal family and forced him to take an oath of loyalty. He also exiled Israel’s most influential leaders, 14 so Israel would not become strong again and revolt. Only by keeping her treaty with Babylon could Israel survive.

15 “Nevertheless, this man of Israel’s royal family rebelled against Babylon, sending ambassadors to Egypt to request a great army and many horses. Can Israel break her sworn treaties like that and get away with it? 16 No!

For as surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, the king of Israel will die in Babylon, the land of the king who put him in power and whose treaty he disregarded and broke.

17 Pharaoh and all his mighty army will fail to help Israel when the king of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem again and destroys many lives. 18 For the king of Israel disregarded his treaty and broke it after swearing to obey; therefore, he will not escape. (ESV).

The parable starts with one great eagle which took the highest branches of a cedar tree and put it in another land.  The cedar tree represents Israel and the one at the top of the country was the king of Israel or Judah (Jehoiachin).

Babylon invaded the country and he surrendered.  Jehoiachin was sent to Babylon. The merchant city is Babylon.  The tall majestic cedar tree is brought low like a weeping willow.  It became a vine.  The bad news was that it became a low-spreading vine.  The good news is that was planted in fertile soil near abundant waters.

What does that represent?  It represents the nation after the first deportation.  After the first group of Jews were taken to Babylon, the nation was never the same.  It was replaced with a puppet or a vassal king.  Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, took over and ruled under Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar could have put a Babylonian in charge.  Instead, He put someone in the line of David in charge of the country.

At first “the vine” turned towards the eagle of Babylon and was subject to Nebuchadnezzar (17:6).  Then another great eagle appeared on the scene and the vine turned toward it.  Zedekiah made an alliance with Egypt to overthrow the yoke of Babylonian bondage.

When Ezekiel gave this parable, part of it had already been fulfilled.  Jehoiachin had already been deported to Babylon the rest of it had not been fulfilled yet. In this parable, Zedekiah sees a second eagle and thought this was the answer.  He thought he could rebel against the first eagle and the second eagle would protect him but instead of saving him, it only sealed his doom.

When Zedekiah did this, two things happened.  Bad things happened to Zedekiah and to the dynasty.  Zedekiah saw his kids killed and then had his eyes put out.  Both Zedekiah and Jehoiachin were put in prison in Babylon.  Zedekiah died in prison.  Jehoiachin was released.  He was in prison for thirty-seven years but he was eventually released.

What happened to the dynasty?  Zedekiah was last king of the Davidic king to sit on the throne.  No one else did.  The Davidic line ended with Zedekiah but God also predicted that one day the Davidic monarchy would be restored by God.

22 The Lord God says, “I will also take a young branch from the very top of the cedar tree and plant it. I will break a soft new one from the very top of its young branches, and plant it on a high mountain. 23 I will plant it on the high mountain of Israel. It will grow branches and give fruit and become a beautiful cedar.

Birds of every kind will nest in it. They will nest in the shadow of its branches. 24 Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord. I bring down the high tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree become green. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I say.” (17:22-24 NLT)

There are THREE JEWISH KINGS mentioned in this chapter.  The first is Jehoiachin.  The second is Zedekiah.  The third is Jesus.  One day Jesus will be king.  God promised David that he would never lack a man to sit on his throne (Jeremiah 33:17).  He swore to David with an oath (Psalm 89:35-36; Acts 2:30).

God promised to David that his “house and his kingdom would endure before God forever” (II Samuel 7:16).  That is why Jesus was a physical descendant of King David.  It is why we have two genealogies of Jesus in the NT.  He will return to earth and king of kings and lord of lords.  Jesus will be the highest branch of the tree (17:22).

One day, Jesus will be planted on top of a mountain for everyone to see.  He will not literally be planted.  This is a parable or allegory but he will rule over the world and this rule will be on earth.  His kingdom will be universal.  He will rule over all kings, nations and peoples

Is Jesus ruling on the throne of David now?  Some say that He is.  The throne of David is a political throne but it was on earth.  Solomon sat on the throne of David (I Kings 2:24). That throne was one earth, not in heaven. Jesus is the king now but He will not rule on earth until the millennium.  Our presidents are elected on a Tuesday in November but do not take the oath of office until January 20.

Two Fatal Sins

What does this parable say to us today? Does it say anything to us today or did it just speak to people in Ezekiel’s day?  The leaders of Judah committed two sins which are still very common to this day and because they were leaders, their sin did not just affect them, it affected the whole nation.  It sealed the fate of the whole nation. What were those two sins?  They come right out of this chapter.

1) Not Keeping Your Promises

11 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Say now to the rebellious house, Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took her king and her princes and brought them to him to Babylon. 13 And he took one of the royal offspring and made a COVENANT with him, putting him under OATH (the chief men of the land he had taken away), 14 that the kingdom might be humble and not lift itself up, and keep his covenant that it might stand…

16 “As I live, declares the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and WHOSE COVENANT with him HE BROKE, in Babylon he shall die. 17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives.

18 He DESPISED the oath in BREAKING the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is MY OATH that he DESPISED, and MY COVENANT that he BROKE. I WILL return it upon his head.

20 I WILL spread MY NET over him, and he shall be taken in MY SNARE, and I WILL bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there for the treachery he has committed against ME. 21 And all the pick of his troops shall FALL by the sword, and the survivors shall be SCATTERED to every wind, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken.” (17:11-14, 16-21 ESV).

What happened here?  Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel, removed Jehoiachin as king and replaced him with his Uncle Zedekiah and then made a covenant with him.  Ancient treaties were sealed with an oath, an oath of allegiance II Chronicles 36:13 says that King Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah made him “swear by God.”  Zedekiah swore an oath to Babylon and made a covenant.  He swore an oath in the name of God and then he broke it.  That is taking God’s name in vain.

God takes His name seriously and punishes everyone who uses his name in vain.  Zedekiah took God’s name in vain.  He used it in an oath.  God called it “My Oath.”  Three times God says “I will” do something to judge Zedekiah.  He used Babylon to do it but it came from Him

That raises an interesting question.  Do we as Christians keep our word?  Do we keep our promises?  Some of us do not even keep our marriage vows.  We have an obligation as Christians to all of our agreements we make with people, even covenant made with unbelievers.  Nebuchadnezzar was unbeliever.  He was a pagan king.  God still wanted him to keep his covenant he made.

2) Not Trusting God to Solve Your Problems

Zedekiah had a problem.  Babylon invaded the country and took over.  He made a covenant with Nebuchadnezzar because he had to.  Instead of trusting God, we want to fix things our self and go to Egypt for help.  Egypt was a great empire but it did not compare to the might of Babylon.

Instead of putting his hope in God, Zedekiah put his hope in foreign alliances.  His problem was not political or military.  It was spiritual.  Babylon was there because of the sin of the nation.  Zedekiah did not deal with the sin of the nation, the root cause of the problem.  Instead, he tried to find a way out of the problem.  God is the ultimate Eagle who will restore the fortunes of Israel.

When we have problems, do we turn to God or to someone else?  Do we go to Egypt?  It is not always wrong to go to Egypt.  God told one of the patriarchs to go there but we need to go to God first and do what He tells us to do.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!” (Isaiah 31:1 ESV).

Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge.” (Isaiah 30:1-2 NIV)

Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.’” (Jeremiah 17:5 ESV).

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” (Psalm 118:8 ESV)

The Unfaithful Bride

We have been studying the Book of Ezekiel chapter by chapter.  Today, we come to a new section in the book.  It deals with parables.  We have seen Ezekiel express his message in some crazy actions.  Now he is going to express it is some crazy stories called parables.  Parables are stories. Most of these stories are fictional but they tell a spiritual lesson of some kind.  Jesus told a lot of parables in the NT.

That is the Jewish way of teaching. If you go to seminary, the way you are taught to teach today by explaining what the Greek and Hebrew words mean. The Jewish method was to tell stories. Most people think that Jesus invented parables.  He did not.  There are some parables in the OT but most Christians have not read much of the OT.

There are about nine parables in the Book of Ezekiel.  In Ezekiel 15, 16 and 1, we see three parables.  Ezekiel 15 is the parable of the useless vine.  Ezekiel 16 is the parable of the unfaithful wife.  Ezekiel 17 is the parable of the two eagles.  We are going to look at the first two of these parables today.  In these parables, the nation of Israel is compared to two things: a grape vine and a faithless bride.

Israel the Vine

Ezekiel 15 is a short chapter.  It is only eight verses.  Israel is often compared to a vine in the OT.  Trees are useful, even if they do not have any fruit on them, because you can get some good timber from a tree.  The only good thing about a vine is the grapes on it.  The vine itself is completely useless.  If you want to build a house, you would not use wood from a wine.  Its wood has no value at all.  It is soft.  You can twist and bend it.  God compares Israel not to the fruit of the vine but to the vine itself.

Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? 4 Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? (15:3-4 ESV)

God says that this kind of wood is only good for producing a fire. He says that is what is going to happen to the city of Jerusalem. Everyone in the city was not going to be burned in a fire.  This is symbolic but the city was going to be completely destroyed.

Therefore thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7 And I will set my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, and you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. 8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.” (15:6-8 ESV).

How would God describe us as Christians?  Do we bear fruit or are we useless to him?  Jesus said that there are some professing Christians that are completely useless and only fit to be burned.  Jesus also told a parable about the vine and the branches and applied this to the church but he changed the analogy.  In John 15, Jesus is the vine, not Israel.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (15:5-6 ESV).

Israel the Faithless Bride

That brings us to Ezekiel 16.  This is a chapter that should be rated R for mature content.  It is a long chapter.  It is sixty-three verses long.  The SHORTEST chapter in Ezekiel is followed by the LONGEST chapter in Ezekiel.  It contains one of the most vivid descriptions of grace in the entire Bible.  This chapter contains the gospel.

The way God saved this woman is the way He saves us.  This woman was abandoned by her parents as a baby in an open field.  She was completely helpless and hopeless and left for dead.  There was nothing it could do to save itself but God reach down in grace and saved it.

He said one word (“live”) and the baby lived (16:6).  Then, He adopted it.  He did the same for us.  He reached down and called us by name.  We are not saved by our works.  God not only saved us, He adopted us.  At the end of the chapter, God atones for the sin of this woman.  This is also a very controversial chapter.

An Obscene Chapter?

This chapter has received a lot of criticism by people who do not really understand the chapter.  It is often criticized because of its graphic language.  This chapter contains some sexually expect language. There is a naked woman in this chapter.  The word “naked” or “nakedness” is found seven times in the chapter.

There is a lot of sex in this chapter and it is not between a husband and wife.  The verb “prostitute” occurs about twenty times in the chapter in a noun or verb form.   The Bible says “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable.”  Do you believe it?  Is every verse in the Bible inspired?  Yes.  What about this chapter?

What about Ezekiel 16:25?  One Muslim in a debate against a Christian argues that this is not inspired.[1]  He says no decent man would say that this comes from God.  He says many people would be ashamed to read it.

Ezekiel 16:25 says, “Thou…hast opened thy feet to everyone that passed by” (KJV) but the NASB is more literal: “you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.” How could a passage like this be inspired?  How could a verse like this be in a holy book?  Does this verse come from God?  Yes.

When we get to the end of the chapter, we will see why this chapter is inspired.  The problem is people see those words and take them completely out of their context.  When you take a bunch out of its context, they can mean anything. What is going on in this chapter?  What is it about?  In order to understand this chapter, you need to understand three things.  Without understanding these three points, you will misunderstand the chapter.

First, this chapter uses figurative language

These words are not found in a romance novel. It is an allegory.  The whole bible is not an allegory.  Much of it is literal history but this chapter is an allegory.  It is an allegory of three women.

What is an allegory?  It is a story that you cannot read literally.  It is figurative.  It is symbolic.  Animal Farm is not just a story about animals on a farm.

These three women are sisters and they represent cities.  These cities are personified as women. We do that with America.  America is personified as Lady Liberty.  She is the lady at the beginning of movies with Columbia Pictures.

Of course, America is also portrayed as a man (Uncle Sam).  This chapter portrays Jerusalem, Samaria and Sodom as women but the focus of the chapter is on Jerusalem.  It is a mistake to read this chapter literally.  Jerusalem is portrayed, not only as a woman, but as an immoral woman in this chapter.  Jerusalem is called a prostitute.   “Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord” (16:35 ESV).

She is not a literal prostitute but a spiritual prostitute. This woman has eyes that go whoring after idols (6:9).  She does not lust after other people but after other idols.  Prostitution is just a picture of the sin that Israel committed.  Their sin was actually worse than physical prostitution.

Second, this chapter uses shocking language

God is honest and frank when it comes to sin.  He does not beat around the bush.  He uses shocking language to reveal sin, because sin itself is shocking.  Jesus also used shocking language when He talked about sin.  He talks about cutting your hand off and plucking your eye out to avoid things which offend you.  We do not think that idolatry is that bad.  God uses shocking language to show how bad it is to Him.

Three, this chapter condemns wickedness

Ezekiel is not a porno prophet. This chapter does not encourage prostitution.  It does not glorify adultery or nudity.  It does not glorify wickedness, like Hollywood does.  It does not excuse sin.  This chapter rebukes and condemns sin.  It judges sin.

There are three biblical truths that are clearly seen in this allegory.  These three truths apply to us as much as they applied to the Jews.  This allegory clearly teaches the human sin.  It clearly teaches divine judgment on sin.  It also teaches the incredible grace of God.

The Sin of Man

Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her ABOMINATIONS (16:1-2 ESV).  The Bible reveals sin.  It reveals man’s true state.  Paul said, “I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet” (NLT).  It is like a mirror. It shows us what we really look like. This chapter is an exposure of sin.  The light shines in the darkness.

God used Ezekiel to reveal this to Jerusalem.  Sometimes, God uses people to reveal our sin to us. Sometimes we don’t realize how bad our sins really are.  We know that we are sinners but do not think that our sins are that bad or that what we are doing is even wrong. That is because our hearts are deceitful above all things.  Our heart lies to us.  We believe what we want to believe and often do not see our true spiritual state.

God used Ezekiel to confront national sin.  Sometimes, he calls on us to confront personal or national sin.  Isaiah 58:1 says, “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins” (ESV).

I Timothy 5:20 says, “As for those who persist in sin, REBUKE them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear” (ESV).  II Timothy 4:2 says, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, REBUKE, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (ESV).

Titus 1:13 says, “This testimony is true. Therefore REBUKE them SHARPLY, that they may be sound in the faith” (ESV).  These are things that we do not do as much in our day.  We are too tolerate and accepting.  We love to blast our political enemies but we don’t like to do this in the church too much.

That means we have to actually confront people and no one likes to do that.  If we confront people about their sin, they might not like us.  God gave Ezekiel a hard head.  He told them what God said and he did not care what they thought about him.  We need to be more concerned about what God thinks of us than what people think of us.

The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and it said, “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her ABOMINATIONS” (16:2).  God said that their sin was no small matter (16:20).  The word “abomination” is used about eight or nine times in the chapter.  An abomination is a word used for the worst type of sins in the Bible.  It refers to things that God really hates.  It is used of two main things in the Bible.  It is used of really bad sexual sins.  It is also used of idolatry.  We have a few of those in our land.

God’s covenant with Israel is pictured as a marriage.  It is a covenant relationship, like marriage.  This chapter portrays Jerusalem as a wife and God as her husband.  Israel is the unfaithful wife of Jehovah.  Israel is called “an adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!” (16:32).  The bride becomes the slut.

As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. …51 Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.

52 Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous. (16:48, 51-52).

Sodom had a reputation for evil.  It was proverbial and is to this day.  It has a reputation for the most depraved city on the planet.  God says that Judah was worse than Sodom.  It was also worse than Samaria which worshipped the golden calf.  They actually looked good compared to Judah.  The Philistines were ashamed of their behavior (16:27).  Pagans were shocked. What was so bad about Israel’s sin?

First, she sinned despite incredible blessings.

That is the whole point of the beginning of the passage.  God said Israel like an abandoned baby, left to die, cast out in an open field.  He not only adopted the baby and took care of it but the baby grew up, like a queen.  She was adorned with ornaments, bracelets on her writs and a chain around her neck, a ring on her nose and a crown on her head.  She was adorned with silver, gold and fine clothing (16:11-13).

Against all of these blessings, she sinned.  Israel had more light than any other nation.  God spoke to the whole nation on a mountain out loud.  He performed all kinds of miracles right before their eyes.  Instead of worshipping Him, they turned to idols, false gods that did not even exist.  How many times have we done the same thing?  We sin against incredible blessing.

Second, her sin went beyond ordinary prostitution

She is a prostitute.  God calls her a “brazen prostitute” (16:30 ESV).  What makes her so brazen?  Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different. (16:33-34 ESV)

Some are forced into prostitution but this woman does it voluntarily. Most prostitutes are in business to make money.  They sell their body to make money.  God says that this particular prostitute not only does it for free but pays its clients.  She takes her bridal presents and gives them away to her customers.  She takes the beautiful clothes given by her husband and turns into bed sheets to have sex (16:16-17).

Third, her sin involved shedding innocent blood

20 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? (16:20-21 ESV).

This woman was guilty of murder.  There is a fire burning in front of the altar and they put their own babies into this red hot fire and offered them up as a sacrifice.  They were abandoned by their own parents and now kill their own kids.  This happened in Jerusalem, not in some pagan nation. In fact, some of the kings of Judah did this to their children.

King Manassah did this.  “And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. (II Chronicles 33:4-6 ESV).

We would never do something as foolish as this today but we do something very similar.  It is called abortion.  God says that they sacrifices HIS CHILDREN in these fires.  Our children are not our own.  They are God’s.  He holds us accountable for what we do with them. The sin of Jerusalem was so extreme that God made an amazing statement.

God’s Judgment on Sin

The second lesson from this chapter is that God judges sin.  He judges it in individuals.  He judges it in churches.  He judges it in nations.  How did he judge Judah?  The punishment fit the crime. A lightning bolt did not fall out of the sky.  The nations she committed prostitution with were the ones who destroyed her.

I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38 And I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39 And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places.

They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare. 40 They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop playing the whore, and you shall also give payment no more. So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. (16:37-42 ESV).

God’s Grace to Sinners

Ezekiel 16  shows great grace in the midst of great sin.  God’s grace is greater than all of our sin.   Many view God as a judge.  He is cold and distant. God is holy.  He judges sin.  We see that clearly in this chapter but we also see in this chapter that God has the heart of a lover.

There is grace all through this chapter.  It starts with grace.  God sees an abandoned baby girl, left to die in an open field and has compassion on that baby.  He rescues that abandoned baby and it lives.  It was an act of love and grace.

He blessed Israel out of extravagant grace. This baby girl grew up and was pampered with the finest clothes and jewels.  She was given everything by God, as a gift of grace. At the end of the chapter, you expect God to be done with Israel after all that they did.  That is how the chapter should have ended.  He does judge the nation but notice how the chapter ends.

“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, 54 that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. (16:53-55 ESV).

God says that He will restore Sodom and Samaria to their former estate.  That is amazing but He says something else even more incredible. God loves the child-killing whore, as one pastor described it[2].  They did not keep their covenant with Him but He will keep His covenant with them.  He says that he will ATONE for their sins. They will not atone for their sins.  He will atone for their sins.  Instead of abandoning them, He atones for their sin.

59 “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you.

62 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.” (16:59-63 ESV).

Characteristics of the Unfaithful Bride in Ezekiel 16

1. She is ABHORRED (16:5).

2. She is ABANDONED at birth (16:4-5).

3. She is ADOPTED by God (16:6-7).

4. She is ADORNED by God (16:13).

5. She is ATTRACTIVE (16:15)

6. She is AFFLUENT (16:11-14)

7. She is ARROGANT (16:15)

8. She is ALLURING (16:25)

9. She is ADULTEROUS (16:38).

10. She is ABOMINABLE (16:2, 22, 43, 47, 51, 58)

11. She is AUDACIOUS or shameless (16:30, 63)

12. She is ABASED or humiliated (16:37, 39).

13. She is ABUSED (16:37, 39)

14. She is ATONED for by God (16:63).

15. She is ASTONISHED (16:63)


[1]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5QwsGe5qQI

[2] http://www.aigburthcommunitychurch.org/acc/multimedia-archive/the-god-who-loves-the-child-killing-whore-ezekiel-16/

Two Powerful Words

The last time we were together, we began looking at Ezekiel 14.  It is a very interesting chapter.  There are some shocking statements in this chapter, shocking statements about God.  God says, “If a prophet is deceived, I, the LORD have deceived him.”  This week, we will learn some things that will challenge some things you have always believed about God and about prayer.

This is an important chapter.  Ezekiel gets two messages from God in this chapter.  The chapter is divided into two parts.  There is a phrase that occurs twice in the chapter.  Ezekiel 14:2 says, “and the word of the Lord came to me.” Ezekiel 14:12 also says the words, “and the word of the Lord came to me.” Ezekiel receives two words from God.

One word is about the SIN of the leaders.  One word is about the FATE of the nation.  One if these words is CONVICTING.  The other word is SHOCKING.  One word is about people who were living in BABYLON.  The other word is about people who were living in JERUSALEM. Let’s look at the first word.

The First Word

The chapter begins with a visit by some of the religious leaders in Ezekiel’s day.  They, like Ezekiel, were exiled to Babylon but they were no just EXILES.  They were the ELDERS.  People respected them and normally came to them with questions.

God appears to Ezekiel.  He speaks  to Ezekiel.  He gives him visions of heaven.  He gives him prophecies of the future.  He does all of these crazy prophetic signs in front of the people.  The elders have more questions for Ezekiel.  We see God’s reaction to their visit.

You would think that God would be happy with these elders.  You would think that He would be happy when people come to church.  You would think He would be happy when they join a small group or attend Sunday School but He is not always.  He was not too pleased with these elders.

Why not?  They were hypocrites. They were religious and spiritual on the outside but not on the inside.  That sounds very similar to the Pharisees in the NT.  They came to Ezekiel with questions and wanting to hear a word from God, pretending to be sincere, but they had idols in their hearts.  Let’s think how this applies to people today.

Many people today, many Christians today have the exact same problem these elders had.  They can come to church to worship and praise God but have idols in their heart.  It is okay to come to church with addictions, if you are coming to get help.

Some do not come to get help but to put on a show.  They worship the true God on the outside but worship another god on the inside or deny that they even worship idols.  They deny that they have a problem at all.

God said of some people that they, “draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13 ESV).

Some pray and even ask God for some things but they have unconfessed sin in their life.  Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (ESV).  Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (ESV).

Isaiah 1:15-17 says, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (ESV).

When Jesus was on earth, many came to Him with questions.  Some questions were genuine and sincere.  Some were insincere.  Some were not questions to get information but to trick Jesus.  What is your motive who you come to a Bible study?  I know some people who live in unconfessed sin but love to study the Bible.

What is the point?  They do not do anything it says.  It is like the Pharisees in John 5.  They loved to study the Bible.  They would study the Bible all day and all night but they hated Jesus.  That is strange.  Jesus wrote the Bible.  He is the theme of the book.  Jesus said to them, “You search the Scriptures … but you refuse to come to me to have eternal life” (John 5:39-40).

Some Christians choose to live a life of sin and then seek a Christian counselor.  What is the point of going to a Christian counselor when you have already rejected what God has to say?  It is like saying, “I am not going to do what God says but I would like to see what a Christian counselor has to say.”  That is similar to what the elders in Ezekiel’s day were doing.

Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols (14:4 ESV)

God had only one message to these religious hypocrites.  He told them to REPENT. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations” (14:6 ESV).  That is the same thing God said in Isaiah 1.  He did not want more worship or more singing or more prayer or more bible study.  He wants repentance first. Now we come to the second word in this chapter.

The Second Word

This second word had to do with the destiny of the nation.  It was a difficult word.  It was depressing.  It was all bad news.  In the second half of the chapter, we learn three things.  First, God’s judgment is severe.  Second, it comes in four forms.  Third, it cannot be stopped.  Let’s look at this.

Ezekiel 14:21 says, “For this is what the LORD God says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments–sword, famine, wild animals, and plague–to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals!”

These four judgments are explained in the chapter.  Famine is mentioned in Ezekiel 14:13.  Wild beasts are mentioned two verses later in Ezekiel 14:15.  The sword (warfare) is mentioned in Ezekiel 14:17 and pestilence is mentioned in Ezekiel 14:19.

All of these judgments were providential but God says that they are not just acts of nature or acts of warfare but are ACTS OF JUDGMENT.  Some say that it is never God’s will for anyone to be sick ever.  In this passage, He sends sickness on people.  It comes from Him.

I am not suggesting that every time you get a cold, you are living in sin but this chapter proves CONCLUSIVELY that God can send sickness and disease on people. One of God’s four dreadful judgments that He sends on His own people in this chapter is pestilence (14:21).

These four judgments came about the same time.  Babylon put a blockade on the city, which led to food shortages and starvation and disease.  There were wild animals in the street.  Eventually, they broke through the barrier and started killing people.

What is interesting is that these same four judgments will be repeated in the future by God.  This time it will not just be judgments on Jews.  Revelation 6 mentions the same four judgments when the seals are opened and you see the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with SWORD and with FAMINE and with PESTILENCE and by WILD BEASTS of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8 ESV).

Many say that this has already taken place.  The four horsemen have already come.  This is taking place right now.  There may be a partial fulfillment now but much of this chapter has not been completely fulfilled yet.  A fourth of the earth has not been killed

What is the bad news in Ezekiel 14?  These four judgments were going to come.  Judah was going to fall and there was absolutely no way to stop it.  Judgment is inevitable.  The city cannot escape what will happen to it.  The situation was so bad that God made two shocking statements about the city.

Two Shocking Statements

1) Prayer could not save the city

The situation was so bad that there is no point in praying for it.  That is strange.  I thought there was always hope.  God said not even to pray for Judah.  We see this in the Book of Jeremiah.

11 The Lord said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” (Jeremiah 14:11-12 ESV).  That is strange.  I thought we were supposed to pray for everybody.  Here, God says, “Don’t pray for these people.”  He says it again in Jeremiah.

“As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

19 Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched” (Jeremiah 7:16-20 ESV).

It did not matter how many people prayer or how much faith they had, Judah would still be destroyed.  Many people think that the key thing about prayer is faith.  Jesus said, “If I have faith as a mustard seed, I can move mountains.”

John also said, “I we ask anything, ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, He hears us.”  If we do not ask according to His will, it does not matter how much faith we have.  We could have two hundred pounds of faith. It will still not be answered.

When should we stop praying for something?  What if you are praying to be healed and you have prayed for years and it has not been answered?  Should you stop praying?  Jesus said that people should always pray and not faint.  He gave a whole parable about a persistent widow to illustrate this.

Even when God seems silent, we should pray.  The only time we should stop is if we have a word from God to stop praying.  If we have prayed for something and feel confident that God’s answer is no, we should stop praying.

The Apostle Paul received a thorn in the flesh and it came from Satan (II Corinthians 12:7).  We do not know what this thorn in the flesh was.  Nobody knows.  It was not a literal thorn but it was IN THE FLESH (body) and a thorn is painful.  It hurts.

What did Paul do?  He prayed for God to take it away.  He prayed three times.  God said no.  Even apostles did not always get their prayers answered, so we should not feel too bad when it happens to us.  We are low on the totem pole.

God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (II Corinthians 12:9).  God said, “My grace is all you need.  You can live with that thorn.”  Why did God not answer that prayer?  God used it to help Paul.  Whatever problem this was, it kept Paul humble.  God once again was sovereign over Satan and uses him for his own purposes.

Judgment on Judah was inevitable.  It could not be changed.  Prayer would not do any good.  Even if the three most righteous people on the planet prayed, God said that it would not do any good.

2) Righteous people could not save the city.

Ezekiel mentions the names of three righteous people and says that even they could not save the city.  In case you did not get the point, Ezekiel says it four times in this chapter.  With each of these four terrible judgments, we are reminded of this fact.

12 And the word of the Lord came to me: 13 “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, 14 even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God. (14:12-14 ESV)

16 even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate. (12:16 ESV)

18 though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered. (14:18 ESV)

20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness. (14:20 ESV)

Lessons from Three Men

This is a very interesting point.  There are some interesting lessons that we can learn from these three men.  Let’s look at four basic lessons.

1) There are righteous people in the world today

There are some righteous people in our world.  There were righteous people in biblical times.  Ezekiel mentions three of them – Noah, Job and Daniel.  Two lived before Ezekiel (one lived before the Flood) and one was a contemporary of Ezekiel.  These three men were tested.  They were righteous.

Noah was tested by the Flood.  Daniel was tested by the lion’s den and Job was tested by trials.  Noah was righteous in spite of wicked surroundings. Daniel was righteous in spite of harsh persecution and Job was righteous in spite of personal suffering but no matter how godly they were, there were some things that they could not do.

These three men were not only considered righteous by those around them (not only had a reputation for being righteous by their peers), they were declared righteous by God.  God said, “Have you considered my servant Job.”  Daniel was also praised by God as a righteous man.  All three were declared to be righteous men in the Bible.  Noah walked with God.

In the OT they are called sah-deek. Twice God says that the cause of their deliverance would be their “righteousness” (14:14, 20).  The Book of Ezekiel recognizes that certain people are righteous and even names some of them.

That is interesting. Paul said that there were none righteous, “no not one” (Romans 3:10).  One passage says that there are NONE righteous, while another says that there are SOME righteous.

Is that a contradiction? Who is right?  Are people righteous or are they not righteous?  They are talking about two completely different things.  One is righteousness in an ABSOLUTE  SENSE (compared to God) and one is righteousness in a RELATIVE SENSE (compared to man).

2) God knows who the righteous are

Righteous people are not always recognized by society.  They are not always honored.  In fact, they are usually persecuted and hated.  The world does not honor them.  In fact, some times the church does not even honor them but God does.  He called these three men by name and pointed them out to Ezekiel.

3) There is great value in being righteous.

James says “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16 KJV) or as the NIV says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  It has GREAT value.  Psalm 34:14 says, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.”

God says that if Noah, Job and Daniel were in the city, they would be delivered because of their righteousness.  Their own righteousness did not save them but it would have protected them from this particular judgment.  Proverbs 10:2 says that “righteousness delivers from death.”

4) There are some things even they cannot do.

These three men were godly.  There are some things even a righteous person cannot do. Noah couldn’t stop the judgment on God.  Job couldn’t stop the judgment on God.  Daniel couldn’t stop the judgment on God.

The three of them together couldn’t stop it, even with the most eloquent prayers. In fact, they could not even stop God’s judgment on their own kids (Ezekiel 14:16, 18, 20).  Ezekiel could not either.  That is scary.  We will all one day stand before God on our own.  Jesus could do what none of the most righteous people on the planet could ever do.

God and Deception

Today, we are going to look at some very advanced material.  You are going to hear some things you do not normally hear in church.  That is what happens when you go through the Bible chapter by chapter in an in-depth study.  What you are going to learn about God today is shocking.  Last week, we read Ezekiel 13.  That chapter shows what God thinks of false religion.

It deals with the topic was false prophets.  We talked about what a false prophet is.  We said that false prophets are a little different from false teachers.  False prophets pretend to give a message God never gave.  False teachers misinterpret the message God already gave.  We said that false prophets were a problem in Ezekiel’s day and are still a problem today.

Review of the Tests of a False Prophet

We also looked at how to tell if someone is a false prophet.  What are some of the signs to look for?  We looked at some of the tests last week.  Let’s review.  The first test is the HONESTY TEST.  False prophets have lying visions.  They have not seen a vision in most cases, so they just make one up.  Their whole ministry is based on deception.

The second test is the SCRIPTURE.  This is a doctrinal test.  Does what the prophet say line up with Scripture.  Islam is the second largest religion in the world.  There are more than billion Muslims in the world today.  Islam is a religion that follows a man who claims to be a prophet named Muhammad but he fails the first test of a genuine prophet.

What he taught completely contradicts the Bible.  According to the Koran, Jesus never died on a cross.  He was never crucified.  That is how you can know if someone is a false prophet, if the person contradicts Scripture.   We need to be discerning.  We need to know what Scripture teaches so we can compare what the prophet says to Scripture.  One says that Jesus is the Son of God.  Islam says that God has no son, so Jesus cannot be the Son of God.

The third test is the ACCURACY TEST.  If someone claims to have a word from God, and makes a prediction, does the prediction actually come true?  If it is genuinely form God, it will come true.  We all know many people, even in the charismatic movement, that make all kinds of predictions supposedly from God which do not come true.  They did so in the last election.

The fourth test is the HOLINESS TEST. False prophets do not live godly lives themselves.  Jesus said “by their fruits you will know them.”  They also do not encourage it in their followers.  False prophets do not preach against sin.  They do not encourage holiness.  They encourage wickedness.

Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have ENCOURAGED THE WICKED, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life (13:22 ESV).  False prophets will try to make you comfortable in your sin.  They call evil good and good evil.  Our society does this all of the time.  Have you ever tried to encourage someone in their wickedness?  Even people in church do this.  Some Christians have helped people live together before marriage.

The fifth test is THE DISAPPOINTMENT TEST.  False prophets always disappoint people, because their whole ministry is based on deception.  Eventually, the lies come out.  They are revealed.  They are exposed.  The wall will come down.  What was their message?  They preached peace (13:10, 16).  The prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God. (13:16 ESV)

They gave people a false hope and a false sense of security.  They made the people feel good about themselves.  They told them what they wanted to hear.  They flattered them.  They made them confident about their future.  They were the shalom prophets.  They always talked about peace.

They were also prosperity preachers.  Ezekiel was a prosperity preacher.  We see that at the end of the book but that was not his entire message.  He preached the whole counsel of God.  He not only preached prosperity, he also preached repentance and judgment.  They preached all of the promised but did not preach any of the warnings.

Many people still do this today.  Some of them mean well but they give people false hope.  They say peace when there is no peace.  Politicians do that.  Neville Chamberlain promised people peace.  He talked about peace in our time after talking one-on-one to Adolf Hitler.

That was right before WWII.  Bill Clinton made a deal with North Korea in 1994 because they promised to give up their nuclear weapons.  We were told at the time that it was a good deal for North Korea and for us.  It was a false promise of peace.  Obama made the same mistake with Iran Nuclear Deal.

Preachers Who Give False Hope

Politicians are not the only ones who give false hope to people.  Preachers do it as well.  How do they give false hope today?  You will be surprised how many different ways this is done.  Let me mention five ways.

1. Preachers who teach universalism

One way they do that today is to tell people that everybody will be saved .  It is the Rob Bell philosophy (love wins). Jesus said that there are two roads, a broad road leading to destruction and a narrow road leading to life.

Universalism teaches that there is only one road.  It leads to life and everyone is on it.  You say, “I do not know too many preachers who believe this.”  Many preachers try to comfort people who lost a loved one by telling them that they will see them in heaven, even if they were not believers.

2. Preachers who teach it doesn’t matter how you live

A second way that preachers give people false hope today is to say that as long as you make a profession of faith, it does not matter how you live.  You are going to heaven anyway.  You can be a Christian and live in open sin.  You can be a gay Christian.  Many teach this.  It is a lie.  That gives people false hope.

3. Preachers who promise wealth to everyone who gives them money.

There is nothing wrong with being wealthy but some preachers give people a false promise of hope.  They promise if you send them a certain amount of money, they will become a millionaire. The only one who ends up getting rich are the greedy preachers.

4. Preachers who do not preach the entire Bible

It is a terrible thing to only preach half of the Bible, to only talk about all of the wonderful promises in Scripture but not to talk about any of the warnings (and there are warnings to believers).  Many pastors never talk about sin.  They never preach on God’s wrath or judgment. Instead, they only preach positive lifting messages that people want to hear.  They never talk about pain and suffering.

5. Preachers who teach that Christians will not go through the Tribulation

Many believe that Christians will not be on earth during the Tribulation Period.  It is called the doctrine of the pre-tribulational rapture. We will not be here when the Antichrist is here.  We will not be here when any of the plagues are falling on the earth.  It is very popular in some circles.  The church will be raptured first

It may be right.  On the other hand, not everyone agrees with that interpretation.  The Bible only mentions the rapture of the church in two or three verses.  If they are wrong, they have given false hope to many people.  All throughout church history, Christians have experienced persecution.  Paul said all who live godly in Christ will suffer persecution.  Why would Christians at the end of history be any different?

Does God Deceive People?

When we come to Ezekiel 14, God makes an astounding statement about false prophets that I would like us to look at.

And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10 And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— 11 that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.” (14:9-11 ESV).

God makes three astounding statements here.  First, he says that He deceived the false prophets.  Second, He says that he will judge the false prophets.  Third, He says that he will judge the people who listen to false prophets.

Why are the poor people punished?  Both partake in sin.  Both partake in error and both partake in punishment.  God holds people accountable for the churches they attend.  He holds them accountable for the religion they are involved in.  Jeremiah 5:30-31 says, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; MY PEOPLE LOVE TO HAVE IT SO” (ESV)

Now we come to a shocking statement.  God says, “And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, THE LORD, HAVE DECEIVED THAT PROPHET, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him.”  God says, “If a prophet is deceived, he did not deceive himself, I deceived him.”

The Hebrew word for “deceive” (pah-thaw) can be used in a GOOD SENSE sense (cf. Hosea 2:14; Proverbs 25:15) but most of the time it is used in a BAD SENSE (Proverbs 1:10; 16:29; Exodus 22:16; Deuteronomy 11:16).  That is the way it is used here.  We know that from the context.

God deceives people prophets and then judges them for being false prophets.  They are deceived and then destroyed.  Is that fair?  Does God actually deceive people?  Islam teaches that God is a deceiver.  It teaches that He is a schemer and liar.  In fact, it teaches that God is the greatest deceiver of all.

And they (the unbelievers) planned to deceive, and Allah planned to deceive (the unbelievers), and Allah is the best of deceivers. (Surah 3:54)

And (remember) when the unbelievers plotted deception against you (O Muhammad), to imprison you, or kill you, or expel you. They plotted deception, but Allah also plotted deception; and Allah is the best of deceivers. (Surah 8:30)

If we just look at this verse in the Book of Ezekiel and pull it out of context, we would have big problems.  That is what cultists do.  They take a difficult passage in an obscure book of the Bible, rip it out of its context and use it to contradict other clear passages of Scripture.

We need to compare this passage in Ezekiel to the rest of Scripture to find out if God actually deceives people and what this means.  When we look at all of Scripture, we learn three things about God.  If you do not see these three things, you will misinterpret this verse in Ezekiel.

1) God is not the immediate cause of deception

He does not sin.  He does not deceive people.  He does not lie. In fact, the Bible not only says that God DOES NOT lie (Titus 1:2), it says that He CANNOT lie (Hebrews 6:17-18). The Bible says that “God is light and in Him is NO DARKNESS at all” (I John 1:5).  He does not tempt people to evil.

James 1:13 says “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God CANNOT be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” The God of the Bible is not the god of Islam, a liar and a schemer.  The one who deceived the world is not God but Satan (Revelation 12:9).

2) God is completely sovereign over everything.

This involves evil.  God does not commit evil but He is sovereign over evil.  He is sovereign over sin.  God uses the wicked for His own purposes. “The LORD has made everything for its purposeeven the wicked for a day of disaster” (Proverbs 16:4 ESV).  This is all through the Bible.  Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery.  God used that to get him to Egypt.  Potiphar’s wife accused him of rape.  God used that to get him in prison, where he would have connections to Pharaoh.

Babylon was a wicked nation.  They invaded the country, wiped it out and burned the Temple.  They did it for their own purposes but God used them to judge Israel.  The worst sin on the planet was the crucifixion of Jesus.  Evil men did this with wicked hands but there was a purpose behind that act.  God used it for good.

God can use the murder for His own purposes.  He can use deception for His own purposes as well.  God can use false religion.  He can use it as judgment on people.  God can use false prophets (cf. I Kings 22).  He is not the direct cause of deception but He does allow it and even uses it as a form of judgment on some people.

The Hebrew word for deceive is active, not passive in Hebrew in Ezekiel 14:9 but the OT does not distinguish between primary and secondary causes.  That is why in the OT the same event attributed to the devil (I Chronicles 21:1) is also attributed to God (II Samuel 24:1).  Is that a contradiction?  No.  Satan was the immediate cause but everything ultimately comes from God.

3) The deception does not violate free will

The people in this chapter are not righteous but wicked.  They worship idols.  We see that in the first part of the chapter.  God does not cause innocent people to be deceived and be led astray.  God does not turn a good prophet into a bad one. He simply turns them over to the desired of their hearts.

But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.” (Psalm 81:11-12 ESV).  We see something similar to this passage of Ezekiel in the NT.

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (II Thessalonians 2:9-12 ESV).

This is a really strange passage.  It goes completely against the theology of a lot of people.  It is like the one in Ezekiel.  God does not just send a delusion on people (that would be hard enough), He sends a STRONG DELUSION on people.  Why does He do that?  He does it so they will not believe?  Why does he do that?  He does that so they will not be saved (2:11).

Doesn’t God want everybody to be saved?  In one sense, He does.  These people have made a choice.  They have chosen unbelief.  They have chosen wickedness.  People who choose unbelief are often judged by God, so they cannot believe.

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they COULD NOT believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has BLINDED their eyes and HARDENED their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” (John 12:36-40 ESV)

How does God do this in II Thessalonians?  It says that He will send a strong delusion on people. How could God be good and do this?  How could He be holy?  The answer is that God will not actually send a delusion on anyone.  He will allow it to be sent.  Satan is the active agent of deception. He is the one who performs false signs and wonders and deceives people (2:9).  Satan is the one who does it.  God allows it.  He permits it.  Why?  God uses even Satan does for His own purposes of judgment.

But notice something important about this.  This strong delusion was not arbitrary.  It did not make anyone an unbeliever.  It did not make anyone wicked.  They were already BOTH.  These people are perishing because “they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2:10 ESV).

They do not perish because God sends a strong delusion on them.  They perish because they reject the truth.  They already did not believe the truth and then the false signs and wonders come around and they are open to it.  It is a dangerous thing to reject the truth.

Application for Today

What is the practical application of this chapter for today?  We may learn something unusual about God here but how does this chapter speak to us today?  There is a powerful application in the first few verses of the chapter.

Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. (14:1-5 ESV)

1) God judges everyone

In Ezekiel 13, He judged false prophets.  In Ezekiel 14, He judges elders.  Elders come to Ezekiel’s house and while he is there a word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and God reveals to Ezekiel the sin of these leaders.  You might be tempted to think that these were good men because they were elders, as Joseph Parker points out.

If they were not good, they would not have been elders.  Even leaders have sins.  The Bible says that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  That means elders must be judged.  It means Sunday School teachers will be judged.  It means pastors will be judged.  It means presidents will be judged.

2) Our problem is internal

God says, “Son of man, these men have taken their idols INTO THEIR HEARTS” (14:3).  These elders had a heart problem.  They had heart disease.  It is mentioned about five times in this section.  It is the same problem that people have today, spiritual heart disease.  Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (ESV).

Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19 ESV).  Their idol were set up in their hearts, not on a mantel.  These elders did not worship sticks and stones.  They did not worship physical idols, like some Jews in Jerusalem. They had heart idols.  Their idols were invisible.  Not all idols are made of wood and stone.

They are the same kinds of idols that we have today.  We make idols of sex, pleasure, entertainment, food, work, power, possessions (covetousness is idolatry).  Christians are told to keep themselves from idols in the NT (I John 5:20). We do not have big statues in our home that we bow down to but we do have heart idols.

3) God sees our secret sin

We all have a heart problem.  These elders thought that God could not see their sin because it was internal but God knows all of our thoughts.  He knows what is on our heart.  No one else knows but He knows what we think.  God revealed their sin to Ezekiel.  God can look at our heart and name any heart idols we have.

4) The solution is genhuine repentance

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: REPENT and TURN AWAY from your idols, and TURN AWAY your faces from all your abominations. For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the Lord will answer him myself. And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord. (14:6-8 ESV)

That is the same solution today.  It is what Jesus told believers to do in the Book of Revelation.  We should all examine our own hearts to see if we have any heart idols and if there is any reason that we need to repent.  Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24 NIV).

 

 

 

False Prophets

What does God think about false religion?  What does he think of Islam?  What does he think of Hinduism or Buddhism?  What does He think of Mormonism?  What does he think of people who claim to represent Him but do not?  What does He think of religions that completely contradict His Word?  We find out in this chapter.  This chapter is extremely important.  In this chapter, we will see God’s attitude toward false religion.

Last week, we saw Ezekiel perform another prophetic act in front of people.  He knocked a hole in his house and carried out bags of deportation.  He carried them on his shoulders.  God said that they would not get the message if he just told them what would happen.

He had to act it out.  He had to dramatize the exile through symbolic actions. Ezekiel spoke to people who were not open at all to what he had to say.  They had eyes but they didn’t see and ears but they didn’t hear.  God said that the whole country was a nation of rebels.

Our topic for last week was false proverbs.  One of the reasons that Ezekiel’s message was rejected was because of false proverbs, which were going around at the time.  We looked at two of them.  We saw that the proverbs in Ezekiel’s day can still be found in modern society.  People still believe them to this today. Today, we are going to be looking, not at false proverbs, but at false prophets.  That is our topic for today.  This chapter is very interesting.

False Prophet Defined

First, we need to understand what a false prophet is.  What is the difference between a false prophet and a false teacher?  Both prophecy and teaching give you a message from God but they are not the same thing.  They are separate gifts.  What’s the difference?  Prophecy is spontaneous.  It is a spontaneous message from God to people (cf. I Corinthians 14:29-30).

Teaching is not spontaneous.  It requires hours of preparation and study.  Prophets can predict the future. Teachers have no special insight into future events, apart from what is predicted in Scripture.  The bottom line is this. False prophets pretend to give a message God never gave.  False teachers misinterpret the message God already gave.

We have both false prophets and false teachers in the church today.  This chapter is very relevant today.  Jesus said so.  He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15 ESV).

Bad preachers were a problem in Ezekiel’s day and are a problem in our own day.  We have plenty of them. False prophets not only existed in ancient Israel, they exist in the church today and occupy some pulpits.  Jesus predicted false prophets in the future.

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people…

If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. (24:9-11, 22-25 NIV).

Judgment on False Prophets

This chapter shows God’s attitude on false prophets.  He hates false prophecy and judges the prophets.  There are two WOES in this chapter.  Ezekiel prophesied against the male prophets in the first part of the chapter (Ezekiel 13:1-16).  There is a woe to the male prophets.  Notice Ezekiel 13:3.  Thus says the Lord God, WOE TO THE FOOLISH PROPHETS who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! (ESV).

God was against these people.  He says it twice.  Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am AGAINST you, declares the Lord God. My hand will be AGAINST the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations” (13:8-9 ESV).

We want God to be for us but he is against some people.  He is against false religious leaders.  It is pretty bad if God is against you or against your whole church or your whole denomination.  God said that these false prophets would perish (13:14).  He said that He would bring His wrath down on these prophets (13:15).  Three things were going to happen to them.

They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God (13:9 ESV).

They are pictured like a wall in this chapter made of un-tempered mortar or cement.  It is like using flower instead of cement.  It is plastered over with whitewash.  It looks good but when a storm comes, it will get knocked over.

Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, 11 say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. 12 And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’

13 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. 14 And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord. (13:10-14 ESV).

There is a second woe in the chapter.  It is not directed to the male prophets but to the female prophets.  There is complete equality in judgment.  Ezekiel prophesied against the female prophets or prophetesses in the second half of the chapter (Ezekiel 13:17-23).

Not all prophets were men.  Some were women.  There was a whole class of female prophets in Israel, like Miriam (Exodus 15:20) or Deborah (Judges 4:4-5). Women in ancient Israel could not be priests or elders but could be prophets. You say that is just OT.   There were even female prophets in the NT.  Anna was a female prophet (Luke 2:36).  Philip’s daughters in the NT were prophetesses.  Philip had four daughters.  They were single and were all preachers (Acts 21:8-9).

Ezekiel does not condemn these female prophets because they are woman preachers.  He does not condemn them because they are prophets.  Ezekiel was a prophet.  He condemns them because they are FALSE prophets.  They acted more like witches or psychics than prophets.  They cast spells and used magical charms.

Thus says the Lord God: WOE TO THE WOMEN who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, IN THE HUNT OR SOULS! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? 19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies. (13:18-19 ESV)

God describes false religious leaders as people who hunt for souls.  They hunt them as prey (13:21). False religious leaders are soul hunters.  They are out to get your soul.  People hunt all kinds of animals.  False religions hunt souls.  They go door-to-door hunting souls.

God told Ezekiel to set his face against these soul hunters (13:17).  God told Ezekiel not only to set his face against these people, He told him to PREACH against them.  He told him to prophesy against the prophets.  The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying (13:1-2 ESV).  He was not told to prophesy to the people but to other prophets.

He was told to preach to other preachers.  Sometimes, it is the preachers need to be preached to, not the congregation.  This sermon was against the clergy.  Ezekiel was called to REBUKE the religious leaders of his day.  He was called to DENOUNCE them.

If you dare say a word against religious leaders today, you are considered intolerant and hateful. These leaders were completely worthless.  God called them jackals or foxes (13:4).  They are scavengers.  They are only interested in their own survival.  Scavengers live off of dead things.

What Ezekiel does here, was done by many other people in the Bible.  John the Baptist called the Pharisees “a generation of vipers” (Matthew 3:7).  He called them a bunch of poisonous snakes.  He called them children of serpents.  That was not very nice. Jesus called the Pharisees a long list of names in Matthew 23.

He called them serpents (Matthew 23:33).  He also called them “hypocrites” (Matthew 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29).  He called them “blind” (Matthew 23:19, 26).  He called “blind guides” (Matthew 23:16, 24).  He called them “fools” (Matthew 23:17).  He called them “blind fools” (Matthew 23:17).  He called them “children of hell” (Matthew 23:15).  He called them “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27), a term that comes right out of Ezekiel 13.  This raises an interesting question.

Does Jesus advocate name-calling?  Isn’t it wrong to call people names?  No. All name-calling is not a sin, because Jesus did it and He was perfect but not all name-calling is justified.  It is not wrong to call someone a false teacher or dangerous or unbiblical or cultic or some teaching as even demonic, if it really is.  Much name-calling is unbiblical.  If you saw a real poisonous snake, you would warn someone.  We should also warn people of spiritual snakes.

Unbiblical Name-Calling

1) Name-calling done in anger

When you get angry, start yelling and then call people names, you are sinning.  Jesus did not say these things out of anger or because He had lost his temper.

2) Name-calling done in arrogance

It is wrong to look down on people and to mock and ridicule them with slurs and insults.  Jesus condemned people who call their own brother raca (Matthew 5:22).  Raca is an Aramaic word. Jesus spoke Aramaic. If you wanted to insult someone in Aramaic you would call him “raca”. It means “stupid.”

3) Name-calling done in ignorance

We cannot judge people’s motives.  We do not know what is inside a person’s heart.  Jesus could read people’s hearts.  He said the Pharisees were full of greed and self-indulgence on the inside (Matthew 23:25).  He said on the inside they were full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness (Matthew 23:27).

Tests of a False Prophet

What are some signs of a false prophet?  How would you identify one?  What do you look for?  They are hard to spot.  They look very much like true prophets.  They do not look like false prophets with signs saying what they are.  They seem sincere.

They look like genuine prophets.  They sound like them.  Jesus said that they come in sheep’s clothing.  They say some of the same words.  Both of them say, “Thus says the Lord.”  Both say, “I have a word from God for you.  God has a message for you” but not all of them are true prophets.  How do you tell the true prophets from the false prophets?

1. The Honesty Test

The ministry of a false prophet is all based on deception.  Joseph Parker said that “the whole chapter is a denunciation of lying; the worst kind of lying is religious lying.”  From beginning to end, the Bible is against lying.  Parker says, “False balances, false measures, false tongues, false prophets go down in one common unmitigated condemnation”[1]

These false prophets claim to be sent by God but that is a lie.  God says, “I never sent them but they ran.” (Jeremiah 23:21).  They are self-appointed.  They claim to have a word from God.  They claim that he spoke to them personally but He never did.  That is a lie.  God says, “I have not spoken” (13:7).  They do not speak God’s word.  They speak their own word.

They claim to have seen a vision but that is lie.  They saw NOTHING (13:3). It is a ministry based on complete lies.  They say peace when there is no peace.  In this chapter, we see both men and women lying.  Where did they get their revelation?  They got it from two places, according to this chapter.

One source of these revelations is the prophets themselves.  They invented them. They come from their own heart (13:2) and their own spirit (13:4).  They do not come from God’s Spirit.  They come from their spirit.  It is important to distinguish between the two.  How many times have we told people that God’s Spirit was telling them something when it was just our spirit telling them?

These false prophets have vivid imaginations.  They do not have a vision and they know they do not have a vision, so they make one up.  They invent one.  People are dumb enough to believe them.  It is not wrong to have a word from God.  Ezekiel had a word from the Lord.  It is wrong to claim to have a word from God when you don’t.  God takes that very seriously.

There is another source of this revelation.  The other source is the occult.  That is what the women used.  They had magic bands on their wrists (13:18).  Much of this is cultic.  The source of false religion is demonic.  The Apostle Paul said, “What pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God” (I Corinthians 10:20).

2. The Scripture Test

This is a big test.  Does the revelation contradict what God has already said on the subject?  It is a doctrinal test. God does not contradict Himself.  A billion and a half people in the world today are followers of a man who claimed to be a prophet.  He claimed to speak for God.  He claimed to have a vision from God but that vision contradicted what Scripture teaches.  That makes him a false prophet.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (I John 4:1-3 ESV).

3. The Accuracy Test

The first sign of a false prophet is a prophecy that does not come true.  They speak lies (13:19).  They utter falsehoods and have seen lying visions (13:8).  That is not the only sign of a false prophet but it is one sign.  Many claim to have a word from God and make a prediction.  Before the election, many said they had a word from God that Hillary would be elected president.

Harold Camping predicted when Jesus would return.  He gave a date three times and three times he was wrong.  He was publicly embarrassed and humiliated.  He finally admitted that he was wrong and said what he did was sinful.[2]  After three strikes, you are out.

When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:22 ESV).

On the other hand, one of the signs of a true prophet is that his prophecy comes true.  What a true prophet says comes to pass.  He does not lie, because God does not lie. That is how they know that a prophet has been among them. “When all this comes true–and it surely will–then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (33:33 NIV). Next week, we will look at some other tests of a false teacher from this chapter.

 

False Proverbs

One of the biggest obstacles for Jewish evangelism is the problem of Jewish unbelief.  If Jesus really came to earth from heaven as God incarnate and did all of those miracles, if He is really the Messiah, then how did his own nation not see that?  How did the leaders of the nation not see it?

How did the Jews for two thousand years miss their own promised Messiah?  How is that even possible?  The OT predicted that the Messiah would be rejected.  Isaiah 53 says that he would be “despised and rejected by men.”

The Jews have a long history of rejecting people sent by God to them.  Joseph’s brothers rejected him.  They hated him and could not say a nice word to him.  They threw him in a pit and sold him into slavery.  They did this to the one who later saved their life.

The Jews were in terrible bondage to the Egyptians for hundreds of years.  Moses offers to help them.  He even kills someone who was beating another slave but they did not want his help.  They said, “We will not have this man rule over us,” so he fled to the desert of Midian for forty years.

Notice what God said about his own people to Ezekiel. “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.” (12:1 ESV).  He called them “a rebellious house” two times in one verse.

He called them a “nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (2:3-5 ESV).

That is interesting.  God calls them stubborn, hard-hearted, defiant, and disobedient.  He calls them a rebellious house and a rebellious nation.  He did not flatter them too much.  God is not like parents who fail to see the flaws in their children.  Some parents see all of their kids as angels, even if some are serial killers.

Notice what God says about them in our chapter today.  The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, WHO HAVE EYES TO SEE, BUT SEE NOT, WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR BUT HEAR NOT, for they are a rebellious house” (12:1-2 ESV).

That is strange.  He says that the nation has eyes but they don’t see.  They are blind.  They have ears but they don’t hear.  They are deaf.  They are not blind and deaf physically.  They are blind and deaf spiritually.  It is a strange disorder.

The problem was not that they COULDN’T hear or see (like physical deafness or blindness).  The problem was that they WOULDN’T hear. They just did not want to hear certain things.  They heard what they wanted to hear.  They are like children who hear their parents but don’t hear them.  The problem was not their ears or eyes.

The problem was their heart and their will.  Jesus said,  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, AND YOU WERE NOT WILLING! (Matthew 23:37 ESV)

There is a famous proverb.  No one knows who came up with it.  The old proverb says, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”  That is true in religion.  It is true in politics.  You can give someone all kinds of facts about something but if they are completely close-minded, the facts do not matter.  Their mind is already made up.  People are not going to believe what they do not want to believe.

How does this apply to us?   Many have selective hearing with God.  Not everyone is open to receive spiritual truth.  We hear the things we want to hear.  We see the things we want to see but the things in the Bible that we do not want to hear, we do not hear.  Jesus taught this.

He spoke to the crowds in Matthew 11.  He spoke to them about John the Baptist who had been arrested and thrown into prison.  He spoke highly of him.  He said that among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.  He said that he was not only a prophet; he was more than a prophet.  He called John “Elijah” and added the words, “Whoever has ears, let them hear” (11:15).

In Mathew 13, He spoke to another crowd of people.  He told them a parable, one of his famous parables, The Parable of the Sower.  A farmer sows seed in four different places and gets four different responses.  He ends the parable saying, “Whoever has ears, let them hear” (13:9).

The interesting thing is that Jesus did not just say this to unsaved people.  He did not just say this to pagans.  He said it to Christians.  In The Book of Revelation, Jesus had a message to seven different churches.  They were all Christian churches in the first century.

At the end of each message, He says the words, “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear!” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).  Why did he say this?  Apparently, some believers do not have ears to hear.  Some Christians also have selective hearing.

The Book of Ezekiel gives us several reasons why people do not hear when God speaks.  God has a message for the people.  He sends a prophet and they reject the message.  Why do they reject it?  We find one reason in Ezekiel 12.  That reason is false proverbs.  We will find another reason in Ezekiel 13.

Ezekiel mentions two false proverbs that were common in his day.  They were common in the streets of Jerusalem.  These two proverbs were one of the reasons why the message of the prophets was rejected.  The funny thing is that these two proverbs that still repeated in the modern world. Let’s look at the proverbs and see what God’s response to them was.

The First False Proverb

And the word of the Lord came to me: 22 “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing’? (12:21-22 ESV)

The first proverb involved DENIAL It taught that “time passes, and prophecies come to nothing” (NLT).  It is like all of these doomsday prophets who predict that the world is going to end on a certain day.  It never happens.

Last week, on the internet there was a website that predicted that on September 23, there would be signs in the heavens in fulfillment of Revelation 12.  September 23 came and nothing happened. In Ezekiel’s day, there were skeptics who said the same thing.  They did not believe anything these prophets predicted would happen.  It was all a bunch of malarkey.

We have people like that today.  They are complete skeptics.  They reject all religion as superstition.  They reject the supernatural.  They reject God.  They reject the Bible.  They reject faith.  They are only open to things they can see and prove with the scientific method.  The Bible talks about this. It is one of the signs of the last days.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the PREDICTIONS of the holy prophets and the COMMANDMENT of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that SCOFFERS will come IN THE LAST DAYS with SCOFFING, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (II Peter 3:1-7 ESV)

One of the signs of the last days is not just unbelief but antagonism and hostility.  People do not just reject the Bible; they scoff at the Bible.  They mock and ridicule it.  Jesus said that He is coming back soon but he has not come back yet.  Thousands of years have gone by and He still has not come back.  He must not be coming back.

Peter reminds people that God has already broken into history in the past.  He sent a flood that destroyed the whole planet.  He did it before and he will do it once again. God told Ezekiel that what he said would come to pass.  It would be fulfilled.

The Second False Proverb

That brings us to the second proverb.  The second proverb involves DELAY.  And the word of the Lord came to me: 27 “Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he sees is for MANY DAYS FROM NOW, and he prophesies of times FAR OFF.’ (12:26-27 ESV)

This proverb says the prophecies are true but they are not going to happen in a long time, certainly not in their lifetime.  It is going to happen many days from now.  It is not going to happen to me.  It applies to another time and another place.

None of that will apply to us.  We have nothing to worry about.  That would be like people saying today that Jesus may come back but it will not be in our lifetime.  What was God’s answer to this proverb?

28 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: None of my words will be delayed any longer, but the word that I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God.” (12:24-28 ESV).  God says that this will be fulfilled, not in the days of your grandchildren or great grandchildren or whatever, but in your days.

What happens in this chapter?  Ezekiel had a reputation as a crazy prophet.  He not only preached, he acted.  He had a drama ministry.  In this chapter, he does more strange things and he does them with people watching.

He digs a hole in the wall of his house and carried out a bag of belongings, bags for deportation.  He carried the bag on his shoulder with his face covered.  The people asked what it all meant.  He said,  ‘I am a sign for you: as I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity.’ (12:11 ESV).  He told them what will happen to the Jews in Jerusalem and what will happen to Zedekiah the king.

Three Steps to Interpreting the Bible

Whenever we read the Bible, we need to do three basic things.  There are three simple steps to interpreting the Bible.  The first step is OBSERVATION.  What does the text say?  That is a big problem in the church today.  Many do not know the Bible.  The problem of biblical illiteracy is rampant in the church.  They do not know what the Bible says.

The first step to interpreting the Bible is to find out what it says. The second step is INTERPRETATION.  What does the text mean?  That is something completely different.  The third step is APPLICATION. How does it apply to us today thousands of years later in a completely different culture?

Six Applications for Today

Sometimes we read the Bible and there does not seem to be any application to us.  When we look at Ezekiel 12, it seems like it has very little application to our own day.  Ezekiel digs a hole in his house and crawls through it and takes some stuff out.  How does that apply today? Much of this chapter does not directly apply but many things in this chapter are still true today. Let me mention six applications.

First, God still speaks to people today.

The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel.  We are told that five times in the chapter (12:1, 8, 17, 21, 26).  We may not all be prophets but God can give us a word as well.  He can speak to us, like He did to Ezekiel.

Second, God still uses people to deliver a message.

Ezekiel was to speak for God.  God uses us to speak for Him today. He still has spokesman.  He called Ezekiel to minister to a rebellious house and a nation of rebels.  He calls us to minister to people who are rebellious and wicked.  We also have to minister to people who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear.

Third, God still predicts the future.

God predicted what would happen to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the leaders there and He was right.  He is the only one who knows the future.  You cannot get it from psychics or horoscopes.  Only God knows the future and He predicts it.

These predictions are very specific.  There were some very specific prophecies about the Jews in Ezekiel 12.  There were specific prophecies about Zedekiah.  He is called a prince in this chapter, not a king (because he was just a puppet ruler and not considered the legitimate king of Judah).  The predictions were also literally fulfilled.

And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there. (12:13 ESV).  That was literally fulfilled.  And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall become a desolation (12:20 ESV).  That was literally fulfilled.

But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence (12:16 ESV).  That was literaly fulfilled.  God said that he would  “disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries” (12:15 ESV), which happened as predicted

The Bible makes other predictions about future events on earth which will take place.  They will also be literally fulfilled.  As Jesus put it, “heaven and earth will not pass away until every dot and stroke of a letter in God’s Word is fulfilled.”  It will all be fulfilled, down to the smallest letter. The weather man may be correct most of the time, but God’s Word is always correct about what it predicts.

Four, God still judges sin today.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. (Romans 11:2 NIV)

That is interesting.  It says there are two parts to God’s nature: His KINDNESS and His STERNESS.  If we are balanced, we will teach both.  Some preachers in the past only emphasized his sternness.  He is a God of wrath and judgment.  These are the hell-fire and brimstone preachers.  They are the Jonathon Edwards types who only preach sinners in the hands of an angry God.

Many preachers today go to the other extreme.  They only talk about His kindness. They emphasize His mercy, grace and forgiveness.  Some prosperity preachers fall into this camp.  They only preach about God’s kindness and His blessing.  They are all positive.  They never preach against sin.  They never talk about repentance. What we see in Ezekiel 12 is that God judges sin.  He judges it in His people.  That hasn’t changed.

Five, God still is in control of history.

God is still sovereign.  Many Christians do not like this doctrine but it is in the Bible.  God is sovereign and we see it clearly in this chapter.  God is sovereign over world events.  Nebuchadnezzar invades another country and causes devastation, destruction and death.  The Temple was destroyed.  People lost their possessions.  They were kicked out of their land. Zedekiah saw his sons killed right before his eyes (II Kings 25:7; Jeremiah 52:10).

How would you like to see your kids killed right in front of you?  Then, his eyes were put out.  He was bound in chains, taken to Babylon and thrown in prison until his death (Jeremiah 52:11; II Kings 25:7).  Who was responsible?  Who did all of this to the Jews?

And I WILL spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in MY SNARE. And I WILL bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there. 14 And I WILL scatter toward every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops, and I WILL unsheathe the sword after them. 15 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries.

This is very interesting.  God didn’t blame this destruction, death and devastation on Nebuchadnezzar.  He didn’t blame it on Satan.  He did not blame it on bad luck.  God said, “I did it.  It was part of my plan.”  This is a strange picture.  God sets up a net and catches people in snares.

Usually the wicked do that.  Here God is the one casting a net and catching the wicked in a trap.  I am sure Zedekiah blamed Nebuchadnezzar for killing his sons and for blinding him.  This was not just military aggression.  It was not just a war crime; it was divine judgment.

Sixth, God’s Word contradicts the contemporary message of society.

There were some proverbs going around in Ezekiel’s day which were completely false but many people believed them.  There are many false opinions and ideologies today, which are very popular, which are completely unbiblical.  God’s word is always counter-cultural.

Submission of wives to husbands is counter-cultural.  That goes against the women’s lib movement.  Traditional marriage is counter-cultural. That goes against the gay rights agenda.  Staying sexually pure before marriage is counter-cultural.  That goes against the idea that if it feels good, do it.  Preaching against sin and false religion is counter-cultural. That sounds intolerant and hateful by secular standards.

Six Incredible Promises

We are studying the visions of Ezekiel. For the last two weeks, we have been looking at the second vision of the book.  Ezekiel is in exile in Babylon.  He had a reputation in the community as a prophet and the elders of his day pay him a visit in order to hear a word from God.  Ezekiel is inside his house.  He is sitting down.  He is talking to the religious leaders of his day.

All of the sudden the Spirit of God comes on Ezekiel takes him out of his body and lifts him up.  It is a strange method of transportation, transportation by the Spirit. Ezekiel is grabbed by a lock of his hair, lifted up, and taken a thousand miles to Jerusalem, where he sees all kinds of things.

This vision is four chapters long.  It goes from Ezekiel 8 to Ezekiel 11.  It all makes up one vision.  In this chapter, Ezekiel receives six revelations. After he receives these revelations, he is transported back to Babylon and he shares everything he saw with the elders in Babylon.  I want to quickly review the first four revelations and then we will look at the last two, which are found in Ezekiel 11.

Ezekiel’s Six Revelations in Ezekiel 8-11

1. He received a revelation of the DEFILEMENT of the temple.

We see that in Ezekiel 8.  God gives Ezekiel a sin tour. The Spirit takes all through the temple and sees abomination after abomination.  These abominations were not committed by uncivilized pagans.  They were committed by God’s own people.  They were committed right in the temple itself.  There were big fat idols in the temple.  They were committed by the priests.

2. He received a revelation of the DESTRUCTION of all idolaters

Ezekiel was given a revelation of terrifying judgment.  He saw six angels with battle axes slaughtering people in the temple.  He saw dead bodies desecrating the temple. He saw young people and old people killed. He saw men and women killed. The picture was so terrible that Ezekiel fell upon his face, and cried, “Ah, Lord God! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?” (9:8 ESV)

3. He received a revelation of the DEFENSE of all believers

Ezekiel was given a revelation of divine protection.  All idol worshippers were judged.  People who hated God were judged but people who loved God were all protected by a mark.  The angels with battle axes could not touch them.  They had a mark on their forehead by a mysterious man in white with an ink pen.

4. He received a revelation of the DEPARTURE of God’s glory

We saw that last week.  Ezekiel saw God’s glory leave.  It left the temple.  It left the city.  God’s visible presence had been manifest on earth in the form of a theocracy for over eight hundred years.

It had been present ever since the time of Moses (pillar of cloud, pillar of fire).  It was present in the tabernacle.  It was present in the temple but now it is gone. It left from the Mount of Olives, the same place that Jesus left the earth an ascended into heaven.

5. He receives a revelation of the DECEPTION of politicians

That brings us to our chapter today.  Ezekiel sees twenty-five men in the temple.  He saw twenty-five men in the temple before.  In Ezekiel 8:16 he saw “about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east” ESV).  This is a different group of people.  Those sun worshippers were religious leaders.  These twenty-five men are political leaders.  They are called “princes of the people” (11:1).

Both were corrupt but they are a different group of people.  They were members of the city council.  Two of them were mentioned by name, Jaazaniah and Pelatiah (11:1).  There was another Jaazaniah mentioned in Ezekiel 8:11 but that was not the same person.  That Jaazaniah was the son of Shaphan.  This Jaazaniah was the son of Azzur.  Apparently, this was a common name back in the day.

Let’s look at what these twenty-five men did that was so bad and how it applies today.  “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; 3 who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat’  Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man.”

And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind. 6 You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat, and this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it.

8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. 9 And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you. 10 You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

11 This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, 12 and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.” (11:1-12).

God says that these people devise iniquity and give wicked counsel.  Apparently, these twenty-five leaders were doing more than just giving bad advice. These leaders either killed or plotted to kill Israelites.  Apparently, property was being seized and the city officials were taking them over and killing their owners.  There is no need to build their own houses.  They just took over the houses of others and occupy them.

They also had two other characteristics.  They had a false sense of security.  They thought they were invincible.  Nothing could ever happen to them.  God was on their side.  They had the temple.  God dwelt in the temple.  There was no way in their mind that God would let anyone destroy his people.  They were in the pot.  They were safe.

They also had feelings of superiority.  They felt good about themselves.  They thought they were the choice cut of meat.  Those taken captive are under God’s judgment and those left in Jerusalem have God’s favor and blessing.  The exiles are wicked.  They were the riff-raff.  God took them away in judgment and deported them to Babylon.

He was mad at them but the people of Jerusalem were the good people. They are the cream of the crop.  They still had the land.  They had no feelings of sorrow or compassion for their fellow exiles who were deported.  They only had feelings of superiority.  They thought they were better than them and looked down on them.

God says that the opposite was true.  The ones who were exiled were in better shape than they were.  Their fate was going to be far worse than theirs.  God told Ezekiel to prophesy against these leaders. It was an unpopular message.  It would be like someone standing up and giving a prophecy against America.

Ezekiel was in the minority.  He is outnumbered twenty-five to one but after he speaks one of the twenty-five leaders drops dead on the spot.  That is powerful preaching.  His sermon killed someone.  Is this hate speech?  Ezekiel did not kill anyone God did.  This is like what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in the NT.  They also dropped dead suddenly as a result of divine judgment.

Notice Ezekiel’s response.  He did not rejoice.  He did not say “another one bites the dust.”  He falls on his face and prays.  And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, “Ah, Lord God! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” (11:13 ESV)

Ezekiel says, “Are you going to kill everybody?”  Ezekiel was concerned.  It was the second time Ezekiel had this reaction (cf. 9:8). We will look at God’s answer but first I want to talk about some applications.  How does this first section of the chapter apply to us today?

Message for Today

1) Bad Counselors

First, this chapter tells us what God thinks of people who give bad advice.  God said, “These are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city.”  One of the worst things people can do is to give wicked advice but people do it all the time. Christians even do it.

How many people have gone to a so-called Christian counselor and been given completely unbiblical advice.  Wives are told to leave their husbands without any biblical grounds.  Much of Christian counseling is not biblical; it is psychological.  It is humanistic.  Christian counseling in some cases is no different from completely secular counseling.  We learn from Ezekiel 11 that one day wicked counselors will be judged.

We need good counselors.  The Bible says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14 ESV).  Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (ESV). Proverbs 20:18 says, “Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war” (ESV).

Proverbs 24:6 says, “By wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory” (ESV).  It is good to have counsel but there are some dangers to avoid.  There is godly counsel and ungodly counsel.

There is counsel that comes from the Word of God and counsel that comes from the world. Who you listen to is very important. Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers” (ESV).

Many also follow their own counsel, rather than godly counsel. Jeremiah 7:24 says, “But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward” (ESV).

2) Bad Politicians

In this section, we see God’s judgment on politicians.  Not all politicians are bad but these twenty-five were.  There were members of the city council.  God said that they were evil.

Signs of a Wicked Politician

How do you know when politicians are evil and wicked?  There are several signs of a wicked politician but let me point out two characteristics from this passage.

1) Wicked politicians pass bad laws.

Wicked politicians reject God’s Word and God’s standard.  God says, “For you have not walked in MY statutes, nor obeyed MY rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you” (11:12 ESV).

They reject God’s standard and follow a different standard. Wicked politicians propose immoral legislation (e.g., segregation laws, same sex marriage laws, transgender laws).

God’s Word says that marriage is between a man and a woman.  The Supreme Court in 2015 decided it had the authority to change the definition of marriage for our country.  It is incredibly arrogant.

God says one thing.  The court says the exact opposite.  It calls evil good and good evil. God says “Thou shalt not commit murder.”  The Supreme Court says abortion is legal.  If you want to kill your child before it is born, you can.

Their wicked laws “devise iniquity” (11:2).  They do not just COMMIT iniquity; they DEVISE iniquity.  They plan it.  They legislate it.  What the Supreme Court says is the law of the land.  It is the court of “last resort.”  It cannot be appealed but it is really not the supreme court.  There is a court above that court.  One day God will judge all of the judges who are on that court.

2) Wicked politicians hurt people

They abuse their authority.  They take advantage of people.  They kill the innocent.   You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. (11:6 ESV).  They have little regard for human life.

3) Wicked politicians are arrogant.

The politicians in Ezekiel 11 had no compassion for the exiles in Babylon.  They looked down on them.  They had no compassion for the people in their own land.  They were expendable. A characteristic of many politicians today is arrogance.  They have a huge ego. They are the most arrogant people on the planet.

6. He received a revelation of the DELIVERANCE of the exiles

The last message Ezekiel receives is positive.  It is good news.  After a lot of bad news, he receives some good news.  God gives Ezekiel six special promises to the exiles.  This is good news to people who have already experienced bad news and tragedy.  They are found in Ezekiel 11:14-20.  Many Christians teach that God is done with the nation of Israel.  These six promises contradict that idea.

The First Promise – A Promise of Refuge

And the word of the Lord came to me: 15 “Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been SANCTUARY to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’ (11:14-16 ESV).

A sanctuary is a place of protection, a hiding place from trouble (sanctuary cities).  No matter how far the Jews are scattered as a nation, no matter how much tragedy they experience, they will survive (loss of homeland, attempts at annihilation).  That is the miracle of the Jews.  They are indestructible as a nation. Hitler tried to kill all the Jews in the Holocaust. He called it “the Final Solution.” Six million died but they miraculously survived.

Today, are surrounded by a group of nations that want to destroy them. Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel right in its charter. Some nations today are threatening to destroy Israel off the map and are trying to get nuclear weapons to do it but Israel will never be destroyed and can never be destroyed because God made an everlasting covenant with them. Isaiah said that no weapon formed against the Jews will prosper (54:17).

That is amazing when you think about it.  Many nations in the ancient world have died out (Hittites, Amonites, Perrizites).  Many have just assimilated into other countries. The Jews have been preserved as a people group for thousands of years.  They have a distinct racial identity, going back to Abraham, the first Jew. A sanctuary is not only a place of protection; it is a place of worship.  It is also a holy place (temple, church), a place where they met God.

The Jews were used to worshipping God in Jerusalem in the temple.  That was their meeting place.  It was their sanctuary.  God says that the sanctuary is not at Jerusalem anymore.  He left it. It is just a building now.

God is no longer working with the Jews in Jerusalem.  He is working with the exiles.  God did not say that he would BUILD them a sanctuary far away from the temple (synagogue).  He said that He would be a sanctuary to them.  God could BE a sanctuary even to the Jews under judgment in exile.  God could be a sanctuary to them in their darkest hour in pagan lands hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem.

The Second Promise – A Promise of Return

“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I WILL gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered” (11:17 ESV).  This will be a new exodus.  Today, the country with the largest number of Jews is Israel (44%).  About 40% live in the US and the rest live in the Europe and Canada but the majority of Jews today live outside of Israel.  One day, all Jews will live in Israel.

The Third Promise – A Promise of Repossession

God says, “I WILL give you the land of Israel” (11:17).  One day, the Jews will get the land of Israel and no one will take it away from them.  Has this been fulfilled yet?  There is a partial fulfillment.  Jews have their own nation today.  They are in the land but they are not in all of the land and they are not all in the land.  A majority of them do not live in Israel.

The Fourth Promise – A Promise of Repentance

“And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations” (11:18 ESV).  The nation in the future will not only be re-gathered and take possession of the land of Israel; it will live differently.  There will be no idolatry.

The Fifth Promise – A Promise of Regeneration

And I WILL give them one heart, and a new spirit I WILL put within them. I WILL remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. (11:19-20 ESV).

What is the problem?  The problem is our heart.  We have a heart problem.  We all have heart disease.  We have spiritual heart disease.   Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (ESV).  We see this in Ezekiel as well.

Ezekiel 11:21 talks about people whose hear goes after “detestable things and their abominations.”  Ezekiel 14:3 mentions people “who erected idols in their heart.” Ezekiel 20:16 says “their hearts have pursued their idols.”  We are all born with a heart problem. We do not have not with hardening of the arteries but hardening of the attitudes.

Our hearts are completely hard.  They are not spiritually soft and tender.  They are as hard as a rock to spiritual things.  The only way to get saved is to get a new heart.  The old heart does not need to be fixed.  It is completely broken.  You have to get a new heart.  You can’t do it on your own by self help or man-made religion.   God has to give you one. He has to remove the old heart and put in a new heart.

You have to have heart surgery.  You have to get a heart transplant. God is the cardiologist.  He is the spiritual cardiologist.  He has to perform spiritual surgery on you. When we get saved, we become new creatures in Christ.  We get a brand new heart.  If we make a profession of faith and don’t act any different, we are not saved.  If you get a new heart, you will act different.  If you have a bad heart and get a new one, you feel different.

The Sixth Promise – A Promise of Relationship

God says, “They shall be my people, and I will be their God” (11:20). Has this promise been fulfilled yet?  Some Jews have gone back to the land.  After the Babylonian Captivity, many Jews did go back to the land.  You can read about that in the Book of Ezra.  Jews today have their own homeland but most of them are not regenerate.  Most have not repented.  They are in unbelief.  They have rejected their Messiah.  Most of them are secular, not religious. This promise has yet to be fulfilled.

Ezekiel 11:20 is the goal of the whole Bible.  This promise is repeated twenty-eight times in the OT.  It is also in the Book of Revelation.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God (Revelation 21:3 ESV).  That is not just Jews.  It is everybody.

The ultimate goal is fellowship. God wants to have a personal relationship with us.  He wants to have communion with His people.  Genuine salvation will result in fellowship with God.  How do you do that?  You spend time with God every day.  You walk with God every day (like Enoch and Noah did).  You talk to God in prayer.  You spend time in His Word and listen to what He has to say to you.

 

God’s Glory Departs

The title of our study is “The Visions of Ezekiel.”  The first vision of the book was three chapters long.  It is found in Ezekiel 1-3.  It happened while Ezekiel was outside.  He looked up in the sky and saw the heavens opened.  We now come to the second vision.  This one is four chapters long.  It is found in Ezekiel 8-11. Four chapters make up one vision.

This vision happened while Ezekiel was inside.  In fact, it happened while he had company over.  Ezekiel has a reputation as a prophet.  He hears voices.  God speaks to him. He has not only said some crazy things, he has done some crazy things to get people’s attention.  Now the leaders of Judah (the elders) pay Ezekiel a visit. They want to hear for themselves what God wants to tell them.  They are exiles in Babylon, while the rest of the nation is in Jerusalem.

While they are there, Ezekiel receives a vision.  This vision takes him a thousand miles to Jerusalem.  It would be like if we had a vision and could see what was going on in Cuba, even behind closed doors and in secret rooms.  His body stayed in Babylon but his spirit was taken to Jerusalem.

The first thing God showed Ezekiel was the sin of the nation.  It was shocking.  God showed Ezekiel abomination after abomination taking place right in the very temple itself and even by the leaders of the nation.  God knows what is happening all over the world in the most remote corner of the planet.  God is full of eyes.  Even his chariot wheels have eyes all over them.  God took Ezekiel on a tour.

It was the Abomination Tour.  Then, He took him on the Judgment Tour.  Ezekiel saw six men with weapons in their hands slaughtering people, left and right, killing men and women, young and old, starting in the Temple.  It was not a pretty side.  There were dead bodies stacked everywhere, desecrating the Temple.

Next, he took Ezekiel on the Security Tour.  Wherever we see judgment, we also see grace. Before people started dying, Ezekiel saw another man in white mark some people on their forehead.  These people were protected from judgment and death.  They were bulletproof.  That man plays an important role in our chapter, which we are going to look at today.

Ezekiel 10 sounds very similar to Ezekiel 1.  Ezekiel saw this vision before.  He saw the sapphire throne.  He saw coals of fire.  He saw four faces.  He saw four wheels.  He saw four strange looking beings, although in chapter 1 he did not know exactly what they were.  He called them “the four living creatures.”  Now he knows what they are (cf. 10:20) and he calls them cherubim over and over again in the chapter (10:1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc).

Shekinah Glory Leaves

Why is this same vision repeated?  What is going on in Ezekiel 10?  Before we answer that question, we have to ask, what is the whole point of the chapter?  When you see what is happening in this chapter, you will understand why Ezekiel sees this vision again.  In Ezekiel 10, God leaves the Temple.  His glory departs from the Temple.  This chapter is extremely significant.  We still have the effects today of what happened in this chapter.

And the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. (10:4 ESV)

Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. (10:18 ESV)

One preacher described this chapter as God cleaning house.  He missed the point of the chapter.  In this chapter, God is not clean His house.  He is leaving His house.  He leaves the Temple in Ezekiel 10.  He leaves the city in Ezekiel 11.

And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city (11:23 ESV). Now which temple are we talking about?  In the Bible, there are several temples mentioned. There have been three temples in biblical history or two depending on how you count them.

There is Solomon’s Temple, Zerubbabel’s Temple (which was built after the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity) and Herod’s Temple, which existed in the time of Jesus and is still visible today at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem).

Herod’s Temple was just a remaking and renovating of Zerubbabel’s Temple, so there were really only two Jewish temples. Which one did God’s glory leave in Ezekiel?  He left Solomon’s Temple, the first Jewish temple. Solomon built the first temple in the 10th century BC.  He built it around 959 BC.

When the Temple was built, it filled the Temple.  Solomon built the temple, dedicated it to God.  II Chronicles 7:1 says, “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.”

God’s glory stayed in the Temple until it departed before the Babylonians came and destroyed it in 587 B.C.  It was in the temple for about four hundred years but it was actually around much longer than that.  Before it was in the temple, it was in the tabernacle.  God told Moses to build the tabernacle and gave him the blueprint to build it.

After it was built, God’s glory (Heb kah-vode) filled it.  Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35 ESV).  It was filled with this thick cloud.  Even before the tabernacle was built, the Jews in the wilderness saw physical manifestations of God (pillar of cloud and pillar of fire).

This is a strange concept for modern people in a secular society but for almost nine centuries, God manifested Himself on the earth to the Jews in a visible way.  For over eight hundred years, God manifested his presence on the earth in a theocracy.  It goes all the way back to the time of Moses (1450 BC).

Now the theocracy is ending.  The king is leaving.  God is leaving the Temple and He is leaving the city.  He has never returned.  Even when the Temple was rebuilt in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day, God’s glory never filled it again.  It lasted from 1450 BC to 587 BC.  When Herod built his Temple in Jesus’ day, it looked beautiful but it did not have the glory of God in it.

Critics of the Bible ask this question.  How can God leave the temple He is omnipresent?  Isn’t He everywhere?  God is everywhere but there is a difference between God’s presence and His manifest presence.  It is important to know the difference.  God is everywhere but He does not always manifest His presence in a visible way that people can see and that was what happened in the OT theocratic kingdom.

God did not want to leave his Temple.  In fact, as you read the chapter, He does it gradually.  He does it in stages.  There are five stages of this departure.  God’s glory first left the INNER COURT (10:3) and then moved to the threshold or ENTRANCE of the Temple (10:4). Then, it departed from the Temple and rested ABOVE the chariot throne (10:18).

God’s glory moved from the Most Holy Place in the Temple to the portable throne above the heavenly chariot.  The cherubim moved it to the EAST GATE of the temple (10:19), which faces the Mount of Olives. Finally, it left the city of Jerusalem and rested on the MOUNT OF OLIVES (11:23).

Eventually, it left the Mount of Olives and went up into Heaven. The Mount of Olives was the same place that Jesus ascended into heaven.  It was where he departed.  One day He will return to that mountain, according to Zechariah 14.  We talk about some places we do not like as being “God-forsaken.”  Jerusalem became a literal God-forsaken city.

It was a gradual, reluctant departure. God did not want to leave but His holiness demanded it. Ezekiel has already seen the abominations in the Temple itself with big idols sitting right in front of it.  God had no choice.  Ezekiel 8:6 says, “And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to DRIVE ME far from my sanctuary?” (ESV)

Could God Leave Us Today?

This chapter raises a thought-provoking question. Could God do this today? Could God leave the church like He left Israel? Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. If we sin, does the Holy Spirit leave us?  Arminians teach this is possible but it is not what Ezekiel is talking about.

Ezekiel is talking about God’s manifest presence, not His indwelling presence.  There is no theocracy today on earth. When God left the Temple and left the city of Jerusalem, it had nothing to do with salvation. It was NOT individual; it was national.

The doctrine of eternal security (or the perseverance of the saints) only deals with individuals, not nations. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). That promise is not conditional. If you are saved, you are sealed. Jesus made several promises to believers today.

Jesus said “Behold, I am with you ALWAYS, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b ESV). Jesus said it two different ways to make sure you got the point. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said,I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you” (ESV). In Greek, this is a double negative for emphasis (οὐ μή).

Application for Today

What is the lesson for us today? Does this have anything to say to us today? Yes. God is not present in every place of worship. In fact, there are some places that He used to be but no longer is. Some churches have Ichabod is written on the door (I Samuel 4:22). The glory of God has departed.

God used to be working in some churches. He used to do great things in those churches. His presence was strong and powerful and now those churches are completely dead. Jesus called one church in the Book of Revelation “a dead church.” They had a name that they were alive but were dead.

What a terrible thing to be a dead church, to be a church in name only, a church that has the form of godliness but without the power (II Timothy 3:5). Most dead churches have no idea that God has even left them. They think everything is fine. They are like Samson when his power left him. He went to sleep, got his hair cut, work up and thought nothing had changed (Judges 16:20).  He woke up weak and did not even know it.

Many substitute religious activities for meeting God. They do all kinds of things but God is not involved. He is nowhere to be found. The building is there. The people are still there.  The religious leaders are still there (priests, pastors). Religious rituals are performed there. Worship takes place there but God is no longer present. If you do not have God with you, you don’t have anything.

I have said many times that the only thing that the Jews had going for them is that they had God. They did not have the Pyramids like the Egyptians. They did not have philosophy like the Greeks. They did not have armies like the Romans but they had God dwelling with them in their midst.

This was what made the Jews unique. They had God with them. God’s presence was with them. They had the Shekinah glory. Now that glory has left them. Without God’s glory and presence, they do not have God’s blessing and they do not have God’s protection. If God leaves, there is no hope.

The Jews in Ezekiel’s day had a false sense of security. They thought they were invincible because God was on their side. God would never allow his house to be destroyed. They were right about one thing. As long as God as there, they were safe. The problem is that God left the Temple. Every false teacher, every cultist, ever false religion contains some truth.

The most effective lie is a half-truth. They are really hard to detect because the lie is mixed in with so many true statements. Many Christians today have a false sense of security, like the Jew sin Ezekiel’s day.

Some teach that you will never struggle in the Christians life. If you are a believer, you will never get sick or have problems. You will never have financial problems, marriage problems or problems with your kids.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). People had in the Bible had problems, going all the way back to Adam. His oldest son kills off his youngest son. Ezekiel experienced tragedy.

He was deported. He lost his home. He lost his country. He lost his wife. She died young. Job experienced a lot of tragedy in his life. He lost his health. He lost his finances. He lost his house. He lost his kids. The Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh.

The Chariot and the Shekinah Glory

The whole point of the chapter is that God left His Temple.  What was the whole point of the cherubim and the wheels?  Why was that vision repeated in Ezekiel 10?  What Ezekiel saw in Ezekiel 1 was a vision of a heavenly throne chariot, the merkabah.  The wheels he saw were chariot wheels.  That is why there were four of them.  When the cherubim flew in the sky, the wheels went with them (10:16).

If you missed that week, you can read the notes on the website.  God’s chariot was on wheels and attended by special angels.  When God’s leaves the Temple, His chariot comes to pick Him up and take Him away.  God’s chariot is involved in this departure, along with His angels (the cherubim).

Something else is happening here.  The same chariot that took the Shekinah Glory away from the Temple also brought the fires of judgment on the city.  God’s heavenly chariot is involved in judgment.  We will see this in Isaiah and we will also see it in Ezekiel.

See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the LORD. (Isaiah 66:15-16 NIV)

Then I looked, and behold, on the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something like a sapphire, in appearance like a throne. 2 And he said to the man clothed in linen, “Go in among the whirling wheels underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” (10:1-5 ESV)

And when he commanded the man clothed in linen, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. 7 And a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 8 The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings. (10:6-8 ESV).

This is very interesting.  God gave the man clothed in linen another job to do.  In the last chapter, the man in linen was given a job which involved a pen.  His job was to go around the city and put an X on the forehead of each believer.  He did it.  In fact, the last verse of the chapter says, 11 And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.” (9:11 ESV)

God’s Angels are very different from people.  They serve God.  God gives them a job to do; they do it.  They don’t argue, complain and give ten excuses why they cannot do it.  They do it immediately.  It is instant obedience with a good attitude and then they go back and find out what God wants them to do next.  If only we could be more like the angels.

In Ezekiel 10, God gave the man with the pen another job to do. Fill your hands with burning coals and scatter them among the city.  God gave him one job to do and he did it.  A man clothed in linen is told to fill his and with red hot coals under the chariot and scatter them among the city.  Angels are supernatural beings. This angel was able to handle hot coals and not be burned.

It was going to be judgment by fire, as fiery coals are thrown over the city.  The Babylonians later came in and burned the temple (II Kings 24:8-9).  This judgment came from under God’s chariot.  God was directly involved with this judgment.  The Babylonians were just the ones who carried it out.  Next week, we will look at the final part of this vision that God gave Ezekiel.

Ezekiel’s Temple Tour

The title of our class is “The Visions of Ezekiel.”  We looked at the first vision of the book in Ezekiel 1.  It was a vision of God on his throne, supported by four living creatures in a wheeled chariot.  Today, we come to the second vision of the book.  This vision is four chapters long.

The vision starts with a visit from a group of elders.  In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there (8:1 ESV).  

While he is with them, he has this incredible vision in chapter 8 and after it is over in chapter 11, he tells them what he saw.  He “told the exiles ALL the things that the Lord had shown me” (11:25 ESV)He told them the good news.  He told them the bad news.

Who are the these elders?  They are the leaders of the Jews in exile.  Why do they come to Ezekiel’s house?  By now, he has a reputation as a prophet.  People have talked about all of the crazy things he has said and done, so the leaders come to investigate.  They want to hear for themselves.  Ezekiel stays in his house, so they come to see him.  If he is a genuine prophet, they want to hear a genuine word from God.

While they are there, something incredible happens.  Ezekiel gets another vision, not while he is alone but while he is with people.  During this vision, Ezekiel gets teleported.  His body stayed in Jerusalem but his spirit traveled a thousand miles to Jerusalem.  Ezekiel was not only DEPORTED by the Babylonians, he was TELEPORTED by the Spirit to Jerusalem.

It sounds like something right out of Star Trek.  People are teleported to places in science fiction but this actually happened.  Ezekiel traveled in the Spirit.  He moved from one place to another supernaturally. This happens several times in the book.

Is this the normal mode of transportation for Christians today?  No. Ezekiel did not ask for this to happen.  He did not pray for this to happen.  He took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north (8:3 ESV).

God showed up, grabbed him by his hair and lifted him up.  The hair that he cut off with his sword must have grown back, because God was able to grab it (8:3).  Apparently, it did not hurt Ezekiel. Ezekiel does not complain but he did get to see an incredible vision. God took him to Jerusalem and showed Ezekiel four things.

He saw the SIN of the nation (Ezekiel 8).  He saw the JUDGMENT of the nation (Ezekiel 9).  He saw God LEAVE the Temple (Ezekiel 10). He did not stop there.  He also saw some good news.  He saw the CONVERSION of the nation and the return from exile of the Jewish people (Ezekiel 11).

When Ezekiel wrote it down, he dated it.  He told us exactly when it happened, the exact month, day and year it happened.  In the sixth YEAR, in the sixth MONTH, on the fifth DAY of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there (8:1 ESV).

Ezekiel dates everything.  Ezekiel is very detailed oriented.  Ezekiel tells us WHEN it happened and WHERE it happened. He was in his house at the time in Babylon with people around him.  This vision took place in September of 592 B.C.  This was fourteen months after his first vision.

Why is it important for Ezekiel to date this?   It was a way to verify his prophecy.  Talk is cheap. Many make all kinds of claims but it does not pan out.  In the Bible, the way to tell a true prophet was to look to see if what he said came true or not.

Before the last presidential election, some Christians got it right and predicted that Trump would be President, even though it contradicted what all of the media predicted.  Other Christians claimed to be genuine prophets and predicted that Hilary would win the election.

Vonda Brewer said that she had a dream that Jezebel would be in the White House.  She claimed to be the Holy Spirit speaking and she predicted that Hillary would be in the White House.  Other prophets made similar claims (e.g. Brian Carn).

Ezekiel gave a prophecy and it came true exactly six years later.  He did not give his own ideas.  He had a genuine revelation from God.  Some today say that they have a genuine revelation and then pass on their own ideas and it does not even come to pass.

Four Temple Abominations

God gave Ezekiel a tour of the Temple in chapter eight and showed him four abominations, each one was worse than the other.  THE FIRST ABOMINATION was a big idol sitting on the gate of the inner court of the Temple.  God called “the image of jealousy” (8:3).  The Temple is God’s House and you have a pagan idol inside it.

And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations” (8:6 ESV).  God says, “You think that is bad.  You are now going to see something worse.”

Ezekiel now looks through a hole in a wall and sees THE SECOND ABOMINATION.  In a dark storage room, he sees more idolatry “engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel” (8:10 ESV).  This involved the worship of animals, a lot of them and many of them were unclean.  The people involved in this sin were leaders (seventy of them) and people from good families, like Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan.

Shaphan worked in the government of Josiah, one of the best kings the nation ever had.  When a copy of the Law was found in the Temple, Shaphan was the one who read it to the king (II Kings 22:3-14).  After he read it, King Josiah tore his clothes and a revival broke out.  This godly man had a son who was an idol worshipper.

Then Ezekiel saw THE THIRD ABOMINATION.  He saw women weeping for Tammuz (8:14). Tammuz was a Sumerian god of food and vegetation.  It was a fertility cult and was very popular in the Ancient Near East.  The Babylonians worshipped this god and now he was being worshipped in Jerusalem by Jews.  Then, God showed Ezekiel even greater abominations.

THE FOURTH ABOMINATION involved Sun worship and the people doing it were priests.  And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east (8:16 ESV).

Six Deadly Men

In Ezekiel 8, God showed Ezekiel the sin of the nation.  In Ezekiel 9, He shows him what He is going to do about it.  Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand (9:1-3 ESV).

Six men step forward with weapons.  These six men are really six angels.  They have one job.  Their job is to kill all of the idolaters. Their instruction was to slaughter people, to be executioners, to “pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. 6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women (9:5 ESV).

There was a seventh angel sent into the city, not with a WEAPON but with a PEN.  He had a different job.  He was not an executioner but a writer or tattoo artist.  His instruction was to “pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it” (9:4 ESV).

The word “mark” in Hebrew is tav.  It is the Hebrew letter T (which in English looks a little like a cross).  This angel puts a T on their head.  In ancient Hebrew it looked like an X.  It was the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  English goes from A to Z.  Greek goes from alpha (α) to omega (ω).  Hebrew goes from aleph (א‎) to tav (ת‎).  This mark on their forehead protected them from judgment.

This was all symbolic.  The ones who did the actual killing were Babylonian soldiers.  Angels would normally protect the city but now they are behind its destruction and judgment.

Relevance Today

How does this chapter have any relevance to us today?  It was written over twenty-five hundred years ago.  Most of us are not Jews.  We do not live in Jerusalem in OT times.  The Temple has been destroyed.  How is this relevant to us today?  It is very relevant to us today.  In fact, you might find these chapters very convicting.  There are two reasons why this is still relevant today.

1. God has not changed

God is OMNISCIENT and OMNIPRESENT.  He sees everything we do.  He saw what people were doing in Babylon.  He saw what people were doing in Jerusalem in the Temple. He knows what goes on in the most remote corner of the planet.  He knows what goes on in secret rooms.  He knows what our secret sins are. Nothing escapes God’s view

“The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice (9:9).  God sees the bloodshed.  He sees the injustice.  He also sees the idolatry.  He saw all of the sins in that city and he sees all of the sins in our city and land.

What God calls sin is different from what we would call sin.  Modern man would just call idolatry “religious expression.”  People today would not see it as wrong but as a perfectly valid form of religious expression.  God sees it differently.  He not only sees it as wrong, He calls it “an abomination.”

When many think of the word “abomination,” homosexuality comes to mind.  God views idolatry as the most abominable kind of sin that a person can engage in.  Idolatry is not a result of ignorance.  It is the result of rebellion and in this section it was committed by the religious leaders of the nation and they committed it in the most sacred place of the Temple where God’s presence was manifested.

God not only saw it.  He hated it.  He judge it.  He judged it WITHOUT MERCY.  He pours out his wrath on Jerusalem and kills people without pity, young and old (9:6).  God says that even if they cry with a loud voice, He will not hear them (8:18).

That almost seems like a different God than the one preached in most churches today.  It might make sense if you lived in the 1700s and went to Jonathon Edward’s church but it seems completely different form the God of American Christianity.

Our God is a God of mercy but this God seems to show NO mercy and NO pity, not on the old or young or even the children.  The God that many worship today is not the God of the Bible.  It is a God of all love and no judgment.

The God of these chapters is the same God today.  He has not changed.  If you do not believe me, read the Book of Revelation and all the plagues that fall on the earth.  He is a God of love but He is also a God of wrath.  The NT says that “OUR GOD is a CONSUMING FIRE.”

He is a God who still sees sin and still hates sin. He hates idolatry.  God is still a God who judges sin today.  He judges sin in individuals and he judges sin in nations, like we see in these chapters (the whole nation suffers here). He still judges His people when they sin.

Not only is he the judge of all the earth but he judges his people FIRST.  God said that the killing of Jerusalem was to begin at His sanctuary.  It began at the Temple (9:6).  Judgment must BEGIN at the house of God. He is a jealous God.

There is another side to God even in these chapters that is still true today.  God not only PUNISHES, He PROTECTS.  We see that in Ezekiel 9.  God not only sent six men into the city with weapons to kill people.  He sent one man into the city to protect people.  God knows who his people are and He is able to protect them from judgment.  He did that by sending the dude in white. Another group of people in the future will be marked in the forehead by an angel.

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (7:1-3 ESV).

Before judgment falls in the Tribulation, an angel puts a mark on the foreheads of God’s people.  That is exactly what happens in Ezekiel.  A mark is placed on the foreheads of God’s servants.  It is done by angels.

The purpose of the mark is to protect them from judgment.  This mark saves their life.  In Ezekiel, there were six angels of destruction and one angel of protection.  Revelation mentions a future period in which there will be four angels of destruction and one angel of protection marking people.

Which people were given the mark on the forehead by this scribe?  How were they chosen?  This mark was NOT given randomly or arbitrarily.  People were judged based on their reaction to idolatry.  All of the idolaters were killed.

All of the people who did not worship an idol and hated the practice were given the mark.  The people who were spared were the people who had the same attitude toward idolatry that God had had.  God knows who His people are.  The Lord knows who are His (II Timothy 2:19).  There is another reason why these chapters are still relevant today.

2. People have not changed

How are people in these chapters similar to people today or perhaps similar to us?  God’s own people turned their backs to the Temple of the Lord (8:16).  They TURNED THEIR BACKS ON GOD.  They put a branch to their nose (8:17).  They thumb their nose at God.  People still do this today.  Christians still do this today.  They do not care what the Bible says.  They will do what they want to do anyway.  Have you turned your back on God?

The people have not only turned their back on God, so have the RELIGIOUS LEADERS.  Church leaders can be involved in sin.  Seventy elders of the house of Israel burned incense to a bunch of idols (8:11).  In these chapters, we see people involved in CORRUPT WORSHIP.

That happens in the world and it sometimes happens in the church, mixing true worship with false worship.  Some churches take what the Bible says and throw in unbiblical ideas as well and make them even church doctrine.

There was idolatry in Ezekiel’s day and people were PASSIONATE ABOUT FALSE RELIGION.  They were emotional about their idols.  Women were weeping and wailing about Tammuz (8:14).  Some of the people who are most passionate about their faith are people who have false faith.  Terrorists will blow themselves up over false religion.  Jehovah’s Witnesses are far more enthusiasm for their faith than most Christians are.

We have idolatry today.  God does not dwell in buildings.  He dwells in people.  God still has a temple today.  It is not a literal physical temple.  Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19).  This is His sanctuary.  It is his temple.  It is where He dwells today. The body of every Christian is a temple.

The Jews had idols in their temple and we as Christians may have some IDOLS IN OUR TEMPLE.  We would not worship snakes today or bow down to the sun, like these fools did but we still have idols that we worship, idols that provoke God to jealousy.  God sees those idols.  He knows about those idols.

Sin in his people provokes Him (8:3).  Idolatry provokes Him to jealousy, like a spouse would be jealous if her husband was having an affair. Is there anything in your life which competes for His affection and devotion and would provoke God to jealousy or to anger?  It provokes Him to jealousy (8:5).  It provokes Him to anger (8:17).

We still have SELF DECEPTION today.  We tell us things that are not true and we believe them.  They did that in Ezekiel’s day.  They thought that God does not see things (8:12; 9:9).  If they did it in the dark, He did not see it.  We not only lie to others sometimes but we lie to ourself. We deceive ourselves today.

We JUSTIFY sin today and try to RATIONALIZE it, like they did in Ezekiel’s day.  Some Christians even think it does not matter what they do because they are forgiven, so they can live any way they want.  They are going to heaven anyway.

We also try to HIDE SIN today.  We have SECRET SINS.  The Bible talks about secret sins.  Psalm 90:8 says, “Our secret sins in the light of your presence” (ESV).  God showed Ezekiel secret rooms in the Temple where these secret sins were committed. The NLT mentions “a hidden doorway” (8:8).

Nobody else knows about these rooms. Nobody else can go there.  There is nothing wrong with a secret room.  You can have a secret room to pray but this is a secret room to sin, a dark private room.  Do we have any of those rooms in our temple?

They also had PICTURES ENGRAVED ON THE WALL of the Temple (8:10) and these pictures were INDIVIDUAL.  Each one had his own wall of pictures.  Ezekiel 8:12 says, “Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures?” (ESV).  Do we have any pictures engraved in the walls of our Temple?

Many have applies this to pornography today.  It is not what Ezekiel was talking about.  He was talking about actual idol worship in the Temple, not adult books stores or X-rated movies but many of the men may have these pictures engraved in the walls of their mind and for many men this is an idol in their life.  It is an interesting application to this chapter worth thinking about.

A Picture of Hell

We are studying the Book of Ezekiel.  Ezekiel was born in the priestly family.  He was exiled to Babylon (Iraq), where he lived all of his life, died and is buried there today.  Five years after he arrived, God appeared to him in a spectacular vision of God.  God called him to be a prophet, not a priest.

Last week, we looked at the beginning of Ezekiel’s ministry.  It began with acting.  It began with a drama ministry.  As one man put it, “Ezekiel was a drama queen or drama king or drama prophet.”  Before he delivered his prophecies, he acted them out.  He acted out the siege that was going to take place in Jerusalem in just five years.  He acted out the starvation.  He acted out the food shortage with his siege diet.

He did this all by shaving his head, eating unclean food, lying on his side, and building a miniature city. He preached in actions in chapters four and five.  He preached in words in chapters six and seven primarily.  We see Ezekiel’s first spoken message to the people in these chapters. These two chapters go together, like the last two.  In many ways these are difficult chapters.

These chapters contain VIOLENT IMAGES.  Ezekiel 6 mention dead bodies scattered all over the mountaintop. These people were all killed in church.  There are all these dead worshippers on the hilltops.

They are not just killed but left unburied in the hot sun, rotting corpses stacked up like wood.  Ezekiel 5 mentioned cannibalism.  It seemed a little off color to us with the command to eat things cooked over dung but that was the reality of war and a two year siege on the city.

These chapters also contain some GRAPHIC LANGUAGE.  This chapter needs an explicit content warning, like they have on some rap songs.  Critics say that Ezekiel does not have the cleanest mouth.  They say that he has a potty mouth.  Why do they say this?

People are going to be so scared during this judgment that Ezekiel 7:17 says, “Every hand will go limp; every leg will be wet with urine” (NIV).  This is reflected in the Greek translation of the OT (LXX) which says “all thighs shall be defiled with moisture”.  Men will pee their pants, only they did not wear pants back then.  They wore skirts.

The Hebrew word that is used for “idols” in Ezekiel 6:4, 5, 6, 9, 13 is gillulim (gill-oo-lim).  It is not the normal word for idols.  It is a term of derision. It is used about thirty-nine times in the book.  It is a strong word.  It means “poop balls.”

The people though highly of these deities.  They looked up to them.  God did not think too highly of these idols.  He calls them “balls of crap.”  He is not politically correct.  He must not have been big on tolerance and diversity.  He says that the idols they worship are crap.

Ezekiel 7:19 says, “They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like AN UNCLEAN THING” (ESV).  Ezekiel 7:20 says, “His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it AN UNCLEAN THING to them” (ESV).

The Hebrew word for unclean is niddah (nih-DAH).  In the Law of Moses, that is the same Hebrew word used to describe a woman during her menstrual cycle.  She is called “unclean” during that time.

Preachers and Profanity

Is it wrong for preachers to use this kind of language in the pulpit?  If Ezekiel used this kind of language, why can’t preachers use it in the pulpit today?  Many do.  Many worldly pastors today believe that this is a way to reach the contemporary culture.  Are they wrong? This is something that Christians should not do, to say nothing of leaders.

Paul said, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:4 ESV). Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (NIV). We are to be a model to others in our speech (I Timothy 4:12).

Of course, it is not wrong for preachers to sometimes use shocking language to get the attention of people so they can see the seriousness of sin.  Ezekiel used SHOCKING language to describe their sin. On the other hand, if they do it all the time it is no longer shocking and defeats the purpose and even that kind of language should not be filthy, crude or unwholesome, in light of the Ephesians passages above.

These two chapters give us God’s prophecy against Israel.  They tell us what happened in 587 BC.  Most of you might find it interesting but you did not come to church to learn ancient history.  It was relevant to people who lived in Ezekiel’s day.  How does it apply to us?  It is very relevant to us today.  This chapter affects us very much today.  It began a new period in the program of God.

When Jerusalem fell in 587 BC., it began a period of time in the Bible called THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES (Luke 21:24), the period of time in which Israel is under either partial or total domination by Gentile nations.  The times of the Gentiles began with the Babylonian Captivity.

We live in the times of the Gentiles today. The Jews are back in their homeland today but do not have complete control of the Promise Land God gave them and will not have complete control of that land until Jesus returns.  The times of the Gentiles will end at the Second Coming.

It is relevant in another way.  These chapters foreshadow the final judgment.  What happened in these chapters will happen again on a larger scale.  Ezekiel says “the end has come” (7:2, 6). That sounds apocalyptic.  It sounds like the end of the world.  It sounds like something you might read in the book of Revelation but this was not written by John but by Ezekiel.

Final Judgment Foreshadowed

These chapters are describing judgment on Jerusalem but they give us a picture of hell.  It is not a perfect picture.  Hell in the NT is characterized by fire (called a furnace of fire, a lake of fire, fire and brimstone).

The punishment in our section took three forms – war, disease and famine (7:15).  This judgment is providential.  God uses Babylon, wicked Babylon to judge Israel. Hell is not providential but there are many similarities, as you read these chapters.

1) It is a picture of anguish

Shouts of anguish will be heard on the mountains, not shouts of joy (7:7 NLT).  That sounds like weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42, 50).  The end of the chapter says that the people are paralyzed by terror (7:27).

The people will be filled with horror and shame (7:17).  It is a terrifying picture.  There is anguish, horror, shame and utter terror.  The Bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

2) It is a picture of destruction

Those outside the city walls will be killed by enemy swords. Those inside the city will die of famine and disease (7:15 ESV).  Ezekiel 6:12 says, “He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine” (ESV).

Judgment hits you wherever you are.  There will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.  The end has come upon the four corners of the land (7:2).  The end has come on every side.  There is bad news wherever you live.

3) It is a picture of hopelessness

Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. (7:26-27 ESV).

You cannot turn to a priest or prophet for comfort.  They have no word from the Lord.  You cannot turn to a king.  They are powerless to help you.  Silver and gold won’t save them on the Day of Judgment (7:19).

The things they trusted in before will not be able to help them at all. In fact God says, during the siege, they will have all of this gold but it will not be able to fill their stomachs or satisfy their hunger (7:19).

4) It is a picture of justice

This is a judgment is a judgment on sin and a judgment based on works, as the full weight of God’s justice is brought to bear down on people.  Three times God says, “I will judge you ACCORDING TO YOUR WAYS” (7:3, 4, 9).

Two times, God says, “I will punish you FOR ALL YOUR ABOMINATIONS” (7:3, 8 ESV).  In fact, God shows NO PITY.  He says that twice (7:4, 9).  This is strict justice, no grace or mercy. The final judgment will be very similar.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done (Revelation 20:11-12 ESV).

They will also be judged according to their works and there will be no place for them to hide, because the earth and sky are gone. All of the unsaved will stand before God in their sins completely naked and transparent. It is too late to repent.

Everyone will be there, highly educated people with PhDs and people who are completely illiterate.  Billionaires will be there, along with people who were dirt poor.  Wicked people will be there, along with other people who were outwardly moral.

5) It is predicted in advance

God warned the people in advance through Ezekiel what was going to take place.  He was a watchman to Israel.  God warns the wicked about Hell.  We are to be a watchman today like Ezekiel was.  Many did not believe Ezekiel’s message of doom, like many do not believe the warning about hell today.

Let’s look at the strange command God gave Ezekiel in chapter six. Remember that when Ezekiel began his ministry, God shut his mouth.  He was mute.  He could only speak when God told him he could speak and only when he gave him a message.

26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. (3:26-27 ESV)

Two Strange Statements

Ezekiel finally gets word from the Lord and God tells him to speak to some mountains.  The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them (6:1-2 ESV).  That seems strange a little strange.

1) Ezekiel is told to preach to MOUNTAINS

That is strange.  Preach to the mountains, not people.  Mountains are inanimate objects.  They had not committed any sin. They were not guilty and yet God tells Ezekiel to prophesy AGAINST them.

Ezekiel is told to say, “You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God!” (6:3). Why doesn’t he say, “You people of Israel, hear the word of the Lord?”  The mountains did not do anything wrong but it suffers because of the nation’s sin.  The people will be scattered and the land will be left desolate.

The centers of idol worship were at the top of mountains.  There were open-air altars to Canaanite deities all over the land.  They liked high places.  Thought you could get closer to God.  It had a psychological appeal.  There was something seductive about these high places.

2) Ezekiel is told to preach to the mountains OF ISRAEL

Ezekiel is in Babylon but he is not told to preach against Babylon but against Israel.   The captives would rejoice if he was told to preach against Babylon.  God would not have said, “Preach against the mountains of Babylon” because Babylon was a flat country.  Geographically, it is a plain with some deserts.  Israel has some mountains.

Modern Equivalent Today

Ezekiel was told to preach against the mountains of Israel.  Judgment must begin with the house of God.  Think about what this would mean today.  Israel was the people of God.  Ezekiel is told to preach against them.

That would be like Ezekiel preaching against the church today (since the church is described as the people of God today).  It would be like Ezekiel preaching against some against some contemporary worship centers (high places) in churches today.

There is a lot of crap that comes out of some pulpits. There is a lot of garbage that comes out of the mouths of preachers every Sunday in America.  They give people either no hope or false hope.  Some teach false doctrine and say things that are completely unbiblical.  That raises a thought-provoking question.  Is idolatry alive in the modern church?  It may be alive in some churches today.

Why does he preach judgment on Israel?  Because God is angry.  Why is he angry?  He is angry over their sin.  What is their sin?  They have many sins but the one that stands out in these two chapters is idolatry.  They committed idolatry all throughout the country and even in the Temple.

Idolatry in the Bible is the same thing as spiritual adultery.  God looks on it as unfaithfulness.  When a man commits adultery, the spouse has three responses.  She feels hurt.  She feels angry.  She feels jealous.  God is a real person.  When his people commit idolatry, He has the same feelings.

God is JEALOUS (5:13).  He is ANGRY (7:3).  He is also HURT (6:9). Sometimes we do not picture God as a person.  Sin grieves his heart.  We grieve the Holy Spirit today by our sin (Ephesians 4:30).  Notice a few different translations of Ezekiel 6:9.

I have been GRIEVED by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. (NIV)

I have been HURT by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols (NASB)

I’ve been CRUSHED by their unfaithful hearts that have turned against me. (ISV)

The greatest sin a person can commit is idolatry.  The greatest sin is not prostitution or homosexuality or adultery or drinking alcohol.  The greatest sin is worshipping a false god.  That made number one on God’s top ten list.  When God’s people commit idolatry, it is even worse.

Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

6 Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord. (6:3-7 ESV)

God’s Message to Idolaters

1) You will be judged

God does not just hate it, he judges it.  God is not described in this section as “our provider” or “our shepherd” but as “our smiter.”   I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes (7:9 ESV).

God will judge all false worshippers (idols destroyed, altars smashed, high places broken). He will judge idolatry in believers.  He will judge idolatry in nonbelievers.

Do we have any idolatry in our life?  When we go home we do not light a candle to a carved image in a shrine to be an idolater but we may still have an idol in our heart. This is something God takes very seriously.

2) You will become like your idols

Psalm 115:8 says, “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (NIV).  These worshippers became dead right in front of their idols.  They became like their idols.  The idols were dead and so were they.

3) Sin always brings shame

This goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the garden, sewing fig leaves.  In the OT, dead bodies made people unclean.  God desecrates these pagan altars on the mountain tops with the dead bodies of its worshippers.

God’s Remnant

This chapter is not all negative and all depressing.  It is not all doom and gloom, although it seems like that with “disaster after disaster” (7:5).  There is one tiny ray of hope in the chapter.

And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord. “Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries,  then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord (6:7-10 ESV).

Theological Implications

This is interesting.  God shows mercy and leaves some people alive.  He leaves a remnant.  This has profound theological implications. It tells us two things.

1. God always has a remnant

No matter how bad things are, God always has a remnant.  No matter how bad things are in the country, no matter how bad things are in the world, not matter how bad things are in the church, even in times of great apostasy, there is always a remnant.

There was a remnant in Noah’s day, when the whole earth was corrupt.  There was a remnant in Elijah’s day (I Kings 19:14-18). God had seven thousand people who had not bowed the knee to Baal.  Ezekiel demonstrated this with his hair in chapter five, when he put some of it in his clothes (5:3).

2. It is a remnant of grace

Who got to survive?  Who got to live and who got to die?  God decided that.  Why didn’t He pick other people?  He did not have to pick anyone.  He did not have to let anyone survive.  This was sheer grace and mercy.  Did these people live because they were righteous?  No.

The people that survived were idol worshippers.  God says that they did “evil.”  They committed all kinds of “abominations” (6:9).  Paul in the NT speaks of a remnant chosen by grace.

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:5-6).

From this small group of people, some will repent.  And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations (6:9)What is the result? And they shall know that I am the Lord (6:10).

That is one of the dominant themes of the book.  This phrase occurs about sixty times in the book.  There are two ways you can know God.  You can know Him IN JUDGMENT (6:14) but then it is too late.  Every atheist and unbeliever will one day know who the true God is but it will be too late then.

You can also know God IN SALVATION (6:10).  That does not happen until people acknowledge their own sin and rebellion and turn to Him in faith.  If there is no repentance, there is no salvation.  For people with hard hearts, it often takes a calamity to bring people to Christ.  Their life has to be turned upside down.

If you get saved, you know God.  That is the definition of knowing God.  Jesus said, And this is the way to have eternal life–to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. (John 17:3 NLT)

 

A Symbolic Message

We are studying one of the strangest books in the Bible.  This is a book that looks rarely read in most bibles.  It is rarely studied in the church today.  The chapters we are reading today contain some strange things.  Ezekiel is an interesting man with an interesting ministry.  He was actually a type of Christ.

How could Ezekiel be a type of Christ?  He lived six hundred years before Jesus.  He did not have twelve apostles.  He did not go around casting out demons and raising the dead but he was like Jesus in a number of different ways.

Ezekiel: A Type of Christ

1) Ezekiel began his ministry at the age of thirty.

We know that form the first verse in the book.  Jesus began his ministry around the age of thirty, according to Luke 3:23.

2) Ezekiel was called “son of man.”

That was his name in the Book of Ezekiel.  That is what God called him over ninety times in the book (e.g. 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:3, 3, 4, 17, 25; 4:1, 16; 5:1). That is what Jesus called himself.

3) Ezekiel is the sin-bearer for Israel.

Ezekiel symbolically bore the iniquity of Israel.  Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross.

Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, YOU SHALL BEAR THEIR PUNISHMENT. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall YOU SHALL BEAR THE PUNISHMENT OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and BEAR THE PUNISHMENT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH. (4:4-6 NIV)

4) Ezekiel is the suffering servant.

He is Babylon against his will as an exile.  He cannot talk freely for seven years.  He has to lie on his side for over a year.  That does not sound very comfortable.  His wife dies.  He is not allowed to mourn for her.  Jesus is the suffering servant

5) Ezekiel predicted the Fall of Jerusalem.

Jesus also predicted this.  Jesus said that the Jews “will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).

6) Ezekiel was rejected by his own people.

They hated him.  Jesus was also rejected by his own people.  He came to His own and his own did not receive him (John 1:11).  He was also a prophet without honor, just like Ezekiel.

Let’s review the book so far.  In chapter one, Ezekiel looks up and sees the heavens open.  It is the only time in the OT.  He sees four angels, some strange wheels and God sitting on a blue throne.  He falls face down on the ground.

The one seated on the throne tells him to get up and gives him a commission to be a prophet to Israel, rebellious Israel.  He is not crazy about the idea.  He sits silent for seven days and so God shows up and commissions him again to be a watchman.

At the end of chapter three, he begins his ministry with three problems.  He is stuck in his house.  He is tied up and he can’t talk.  He is the prophet with a disability.  This disability was divinely imposed.  God was the one who shut his mouth.  He only spoke when he received a revelation from God.  God had to put the words in his mouth.

Ezekiel was not able to socialize or engage in small talk. That must have been a little hard on his marriage.  It must have been hard on his wife.  No wonder she died seven years later.  The poor woman probably had a nervous breakdown.  If she asked him any question, he could not answer.  He was completely silent.

People would come to his ask and say, “Where is Ezekiel?  We have not seen him anymore.” His wife says, “He is in the house.  He does not come out anymore.  If you want to see him, you have to go in the house.”  When they go in the house, they find him tied up and silent.  They would have begin to wonder what his wife did to him.

Today, we are going to look at what happened next.  Ezekiel’s ministry enters a new phase in the next two chapters.  These chapters are a little difficult to read, like some other chapters in Ezekiel.  They are depressing.

They deal with some graphic topics (cannibalism, food cooked with cow dung).  They are not the kind of topics that make for a good Sunday morning sermon at your typical feel-good yuppie church. Ezekiel does some strange things in these chapters to get the people’s attention.

He plays war games with toy soldiers.  He cooks in unsanitary conditions.  He eats a starvation diet.  He shaves his head, not with a razor but with a sword.  He lies down on down on one side for over a year.  He ties himself up.  If people did this today, we would think they were mentally imbalanced.

What Ezekiel does in these chapters is not done by preachers today.  We do not see preachers going outside their house and lying down on one side for a whole year.  They did these prophetic acts in bible times.  We see them in the OT and in the NT.  We do not see them as much today.  Most preachers are not prophets.

Ezekiel not only prophesied in WORDS but in symbolic ACTIONS.  He was not only a street preacher; he was an actor.  Ezekiel had a drama ministry.  He did not just use prophetic words but prophetic actions.  He had a school of the performing arts.  He has all kinds of visual prophecies or action sermons in this book.

Preachers today who use skits and drama are frowned upon in conservative circles.  They are often accused of being too liberal.  They are accused of having an entertainment-driven church.  Some people go to church to be entertained.  Coming to the service is like going to a rock concert.

John Piper was asked about doing this in church and he said, “I think the use of video and drama largely is a token of unbelief in the power of preaching.”[1] This was not Ezekiel trying to be creative in his message.

God told him to do all of these things. Ezekiel acted it out and told them what it meant. Why did he do this?  One reason may be that statistically we remember far more that we see than what we just hear.  It sticks in our mind.  Most of us forget the Sunday sermon soon after we exit the building.

Roles Ezekiel Plays

1) Ezekiel is an ACTOR.  He is God’s actor.  He does some role playing.  He does crazy things to get people’s attention, like laying on his side for over a year.

2) Ezekiel is an ARTIST.  He draws a map of a city on a clay brick.

3) Ezekiel is an ENGINEER.  He designs a miniature city and builds a siege wall and plants battering rams against it.  He built a model of Jerusalem.  Some of us have built a model car as a child but they come with all the parts.  He had to make all of the parts.

4) Ezekiel is a BARBER.  He cuts his hair.  He shaves his head.

5) Ezekiel is a COOK.  Apparently, he knew how to cook. He does some cooking and baking.  He bakes a barley cake. Some have tried to make Ezekiel Bread today but I am not sure if it tasted the same.  It is made differently.

6) Ezekiel is a SURVIVALIST.  He survives in time of famine off of rationed food and water.  When he does not have fuel for fire, he improvises.  When he does not have flour to make bread, he improvises.

7) Ezekiel is a PROPHET.  He predicts future events that take place in his lifetime.  His prophecies were verifiable.  That was how people knew that he was a true prophet.  His prophecies came true.  They came true five years later.

8) Ezekiel is a WATCHMAN.  He warns the nation of disaster that is looming on the horizon.

Historical Background

What’s are these two chapters about?  If you do not understand bible history, then these chapters make absolutely no sense.  Most Christians do not know biblical history very well.  Let’s review the political situation in Judah at the time that Ezekiel came to Babylon.

When Ezekiel came to Babylon the one on the throne was named JEHOIACHIN.  He was a young man.  He was only eighteen but he was on the throne in Judah when Ezekiel was there (II Kings 24:8). The Bible says that he did evil in the sight of the Lord (II Kings 24:9), just like his father Jehoiakim did (II Kings 23:37).

The Bible says that he only ruled for three months.  His dad ruled for eleven years (II Kings 23:36).  He only lasted three months but he was the last legitimate king of Judah.  Ezekiel dates his book based on his reign (1:1)

In 597 BC, Babylon invaded the country.  Babylon was the most powerful nation in the world at that time and Jehoiachin surrendered (II Kings 24:12), which was wise. He had to give up the throne.  He was sent him off to Babylon, along with his whole family, and thrown him in prison for thirty-seven years but at least he got to live.  Ten thousand people went to Babylon with him, including Ezekiel.

The Babylonians set up a puppet king in Judah (II Kings 24:17).  They put Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah in charge of the country pro-Babylonian. Zedekiah ruled the country for eleven years but did something stupid.  He led an open revolt against Babylon.

He made an alliance with Egypt and tried to rebel against Babylon, so Nebuchadnezzar sent massive troops into the country to crush the revolt in 589 BC but it did not fall immediately because the Jews fought back.

25 And in the NINTH year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siege works all around it. 2 So the city was besieged till the ELEVENTH year of King Zedekiah.  On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. (II Kings 25:1-3 ESV)

Nebuchadnezzar put a siege on the city for about two years (from the winter months of Zedekiah’s ninth year to the summer months of his eleventh year).  Everyone starved.  No one could get in or out.  The food supply was cut off.  It led to famine and starvation.

Finally, the Babylonians broke through the walls and began slaughtering people.  That was what Ezekiel is predicting by these prophetic actions.  None of this had taken place yet.  Jerusalem falls seven years later but there is a two year siege before it falls.  These prophecies begin to be fulfilled in five years.

God called Ezekiel to be a watchman to Israel.  He warns them what will happen and tells them why it will happen. Warren Wiersbe said, “Sudden political or military blows from the outside didn’t destroy Judah.  The nation committed suicide as it decayed morally and spiritually from within.”[2]  Israel was not just suffering military defeat.  It was suffering divine judgment for sin.

The God that we see in these chapters is very different from the God of American Christianity, which is a watered down deity.  Preachers all throughout America emphasize God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s compassion, God’s forgiveness and God’s love.  They preach things that are true but they do not give us the whole truth.

They do not give us a balanced picture of God.  That is why we need to read the whole counsel of God, including some of these obscure books and not just our favorite passages.  What do we learn about God in this section?  It is a different God.

The God of this chapter is a God of ANGER (5:13, 15 ESV), a God of FURY (5:13, 15 ESV), a God of JUDGMENT (5:8, 10, 15 ESV) and a God of FURIOUS or STINGING REBUKES (5:15 ESV, NIV).

You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. 16 When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you.

I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. 17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.” (5:15-17 NIV)

That does not sound very warm and fuzzy. If you read between the lines, however, you can see that He is also a God of GRACE, even in this chapter.  God says that He  set Jerusalem in the center of the nations, with countries all around her (5:5). 

He made a special covenant with the Jews that He made with no one else.  They had special privileges no other nation had.  How did they respond to these blessings?  God says that they rebelled against Him (5:6).

God says that they did not keep his statues.  They committed ABOMINATIONS (5:9).  They put idols right in the Temple (5:11).  They did not even keep the laws of the nations around them (5:7).  God says that Israel was so wicked they lived WORSE than the pagans (5:6).  They were supposed to be a light to the Gentile nations.  Instead, the covenant nation lived worse than the Gentiles.

Some professing Christians seem to live worse than non-Christians.  Some non-Christians live moral lives.  It is pretty bad when a Christian lives worse than an atheist or a warlock. My wife has several different part time jobs.  She works for one Christian company and one non-Christian company.  She is treated better (far better) by the non-Christian company.

God makes an amazing statement. “Behold, I, even I, am against you” (5:8).  It is a terrifying statement.  God was against them. It is one thing to have Babylon against you.  It is another thing to have God against you.  Babylon is not their enemy.  God is.  God did not say that He was against the pagans, the Babylonians.  He was against the Jews.  He was against His own people.

Is God ever against the church?  Most Christians do not think he is.  Read the Book of Revelation.  Jesus wrote letters to seven churches.  Three times Jesus said “I have something against you” (2:4, 14, 20) to three different churches.  Each church should ask that question if Jesus has anything against them but very few churches ever think about that.

The judgment on the Jews was going to be PUBLIC.  And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations (5:8).

The judgment on the Jews was going to be BRUTAL.  Some will die by disease (5:12).  Some will die by the sword (5:16).  They will die violently.  Others will die by starvation as Babylon puts a two year siege on the city.  Young children are begging for food but cannot get any. People were so hungry that they began eating one another.

The judgment on the Jews was going to be MERCILESS.  God said “My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity” (5:11 ESV). When we punish people, sometimes we feel sorry for them. Liberals feel sorry for criminals and identify with them. Instead of feeling sorry for the victims of crime, they feel sorry for the perpetrator. God is not like that. When punish people, He does not show pity.

We read some of these passages and feel sorry for people.  Ezekiel 5:9-10 says, “Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds” (NIV)

We are not under the Law of Moses today but the Jews in the OT were.  It was a conditional covenant. If they obeyed God they were blessed.  If they disobeyed God, they were cursed.  God specifically told them in Deuteronomy 28 what those curses would be.  This was the consequence of disobedience.

The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand… They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you. 

Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.  Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children,  and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.  (Deuteronomy 28:49, 52-55 ESV)

Ezekiel’s Sign Ministry

Ezekiel’s ministry began a new phase as he dramatized the fall of Jerusalem outside his house, as people would pass by.  We are not told how the people to responded to any of these signs but they could not ignore these signs.  They saw them every time they went by his house.  Eventually, there was a curiosity to see what new thing he was doing that day.

Sign of the Brick

His first sign was to take a large clay brick and draw some things on it.  Archaeologists have uncovered thousands of them in the area.  They wrote their records on these clay bricks.  It was like an ancient drawing board or a scrap of paper.  It was the writing tablet of the time.

“And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem (4:1 ESV).  Ezekiel draws a map or profile of the city on this brick.

And put siege works against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel. (4:2-3 ESV)

Ezekiel built a model of Jerusalem under siege and makes little camps of soldiers and troops around the city.  He plays toy soldiers.  It predicted the terrible siege that the Babylonians would put on the city long before it happened.

Sign of the Iron Pan

Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel. (4:3 NIV).

There is an iron pan symbolizes the barrier between God’s face and the people.  The people were separated from God during this time.  They could not reach Him.  He has turned his back on them and will not answer their prayers.

Sign of the Unusual Posture

4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. (4:4-6 ESV)

He comes outside his mud hut and lies on his life side for 390 days facing north.  He does this for over a year.  Did he do this all day long?  No. If you say that your pastor preached a year on the Book of Romans, you do not mean that he did it twenty-four seven, three hundred and sixty-five days of the year.

He could not have survived that long in the heat on the diet he was eating.  He had to do other things during this time (cooking, eating), so it could not possibly mean that.  Ezekiel did this, perhaps a couple of hours each day. After 390 days, he switched sides and faced the south the time for 40 more days. We are told that each day represented a year (4:6).

The point is that both the north and the south would face judgment.  The North faced a longer period of judgment.  They had been judged since the Assyrian Captivity in 722 BC. From 931 BC – 539 BC, when the decree of Cyrus took place, is about 390 years (rounded off).  The period for the South is about forty years (586-539 BC rounded off)

Sign of the Food

9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” (4:9-12 ESV)

This shows what the famine will be like during this siege.  Food and water will be rationed.  He can only eat twenty shekels daily, which amounts to  eight ounces a day.  Ezekiel can only eat a little food and some of the food he eats will be baked on dung.  Fuel will be scarce to cook the food.

Critics of the Bible read this and say that God must approve of eating a poop sandwich.  This only relates to the fuel, not to the food itself.  It does not involve preparing food with dung but using it in the fuel.  This is not a command.  It is a prediction or prophecy of what will happen because people will be so hungry.

It was also symbolic.  The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”  (4:13 NIV).  The OT says that waste was to be removed outside the camp (Deuteronomy 23:12-13).

Sign of the Sword

“And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them.

3 And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel. (5:1-4 NIV)

Ezekiel shaves his head and beard, not with a knife or razor but with a sharp sword.  He becomes the bald headed prophet.  That is not a big deal to us but it was to Ezekiel.  Priests were not allowed to do this.  Leviticus 21:5 says that priests were not allowed to shave their heads or trim their beards but Ezekiel is now a prophet, not a priest.

He cuts his hand and then he weighs the hair after it is cut.  This tells what will be the fate of the people living in Jerusalem.  The hair is divided into three parts and they symbolize three things (fire, sword and scattering or exile).  One third of it is burned.  One third die by the sword (in battle) and one third is dispersed.

[1] http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-are-your-thoughts-on-drama-and-movie-clips-in-church-services

[2] The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, p. 728

A Strange Command

There are some strange commands in the Bible.  Some do not seem to make any sense and some actually seem immoral. Our pastor mentioned several on Wednesday night.  One example he mentioned was the Fall of Jericho.  God told the Jews to conquer the ancient city of Jericho.  It is in the West Bank today.  It is controlled by the Palestinians.

God said that he delivered Jericho in their hands but they had one problem.  The city was surrounded by huge walls.  It was a huge fortress.  God told them to march around the walls of Jericho for a week.  Blow a trumpet on the seventh day and shout really loud.  That was a strange military strategy but that was what God told them to do.  It worked.

God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son who he loved on a mountain as a burnt offering.  That did not make any sense. Isaac was Abraham’s only son by his wife.  He was the one through whom the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant were to be fulfilled and God said to kill him.

That did not seem right.  In fact, it seemed immoral. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute.  He told him to marry an immoral woman. That is a strange command for God to give to a prophet.  We see another one in Ezekiel 3.  What happens in this chapter?

Ezekiel gets his call and begins his ministry.  He hears what sounds like an earthquake in this chapter- (3:12-13 ESV).  He sees the Shekinah glory (3:12).  He is teleported by the Spirit.  The Spirit lifts him up and takes him to a different place (3:14).   He also receives some strange commands in this chapter.

After getting a spectacular vision in chapter one, a shocking call in chapter two, God even gives Ezekiel some strange commands.  There are actually two strange commands in this chapter (3:1-3).  God tells Ezekiel to eat a book and the beginning of the chapter.  He tells him to lock himself in his house at the end of the chapter and do not leave it. He actually begins his ministry in silence (3:24-25).

But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, ‘Go, shut yourself within your house. 25 And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people.’”

And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ (ESV)

I am going to say more about this next week but today I want to focus on the strange command found at the beginning of the chapter.  It actually goes back to Ezekiel 2.

You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and EAT what I give you.”

9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, 10 which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said to me, “Son of man, EAT what is before you, EAT this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”

2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, EAT this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. 4 He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. (2:7-3:4 NIV).

This was a strange command.  Eat your Bible.  Gold told Ezekiel to do that four times.  There are a lot of strange foods in the Bible but this is one of the strangest in Scripture.

We may make our kids eat some strange things, which do not seem very appetizing to them (vegetables).  When they do not want to eat something, we tell them to open their mouths and we spoon feed them.  That is what God did to Ezekiel.  He said, “Open your mouth and eat what I give you” (2:8).  He treated Ezekiel, like parents threat little children.

He gives him a scroll and tells him to eat it.  God did not acts like some parents.  Some parents tell their kids to try it food and if they do not like it, they do not have to eat it.  God tells Ezekiel he has to eat it and feeds it to him.  A prophet eats paper.  Gary Owen, who is a member of our Sunday School class, called this “the first soul food.”

Did Ezekiel Literally Eat a Book?

That raises an interesting question.  Did John literally eat a book? This scroll was NOT made of chocolate, although it did taste sweet.  It was a papyrus scroll.  Was this literal?  Did God command Ezekiel to eat paper?

Of course it was literal.  Ezekiel says that God gave him a scroll to eat it and he ate it. Ezekiel even tells us what it tasted like in his mouth.  On the other hand, this happened in a vision.  One scholar called this “the scroll vision” (Brownlee).  It takes place in an apocalyptic book.

There are two people that God told to eat scrolls in the Bible, Ezekiel and John.  The Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation are apocalyptic.  There is a lot of visions and symbolism in both books.  In this vision, God gave him a book to eat and he ate it.  It was an edible book.

This was both literal AND symbolic.  If you eat the pages of an ordinary book, you do not assimilate the contents.  You just eat paper.  Ezekiel got the contents of the book when he ate it (mourning, lamentation and woe).  This book was as sweet as honey.  Ordinary paper does not taste like this and cannot even be digested.

Modern Application to this Command

What was the point of this command?  Got tells Ezekiel to do three things in Ezekiel 3:1- EAT, GO and SPEAK.  Notice these three commands.  There is a definite order.  “Eat and then go speak to rebellious Israel.”  He does NOT say, “Go, speak and then eat.”   That is very significant.

Before God’s Word is ever spoken to anyone, we have to do something.  We have to eat it.  We do not just have to put it in our mouth, we have to swallow it.  We have to put in our belly (3:3). We have to digest it.  We have to make it a part of us.

There are many places where the Bible is compared to food.  It is compared to HONEY.  The Psalmist says, “You words are sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).  It is compared to BREAD.  Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

It is compared to MILK and to SOLID FOOD.  Babies drink milk and solid food as they get older.  Both are compared to the truths of Scripture in the Book of Hebrews.  The Bible contains simple truths for new Christians and advanced truths for older Christians.

We have to feed on the Word.  We need it to survive as much as we need food.  Feeding on the Word means more than a casual reading of the Bible.  We have to hide it in our hearts.  We have to memorize it.  We have to study it.  We have to meditate on it.

We have to apply it to our own life.  We have to internalize it.  We have to do that BEFORE we can deliver it to anyone.  We have to preach to us before we preach to others.

God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet.  He prepares him for the job.  He lets him know what the message is.  He has him eat it.  He lets him know in advance what the response will be to this message by the nation.  Many will reject it

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. 5 You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel— 6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. (3:4-5 NIV).

God did not call Ezekiel to travel.  He called Abraham to leave him home and travel hundreds of miles away to a new place.  Ezekiel was not called to travel to some nation on the other side of the planet.  He was not called to learn a foreign language, and to minister to complete strangers.

Ezekiel was called to minister to his own people. He was called to do home missions, not cross-cultural or foreign missions.  Ezekiel not only gets to minister to Jews, he gets to minister to Jews in Babylon.  He got to minister to Jews exiled to Babylon.

The problem is that the nation is APOSTATE.  Most of them were unbelievers. God called them stiff-necked, stubborn (2:4) and rebellious (2:3).  They were hard and obstinate (3:7).  They were religious but they were still rebellious.  The people who crucified Jesus were religious. ISIS fanatics are religious but are wicked.

People were wicked in Ezekiel’s day and were wicked six hundred years later in the time of Jesus.  He called the people in his day “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39; 16:4).  People are not too different in our own day.  Human nature has not changed much.

The irony is that if God had sent Ezekiel to a foreign country, they would have listened to him.  That is what happened to Jonah.  God sent Jonah to Assyria to preach to the city of Nineveh and the people repented.  A revival took place.

Jesus said the same thing six hundred years later.  He ministered to his own people and the very cities that He performed most of his miracles rejected him.  In fact, he said if He did those some miracles in a different place, they would have accepted Him.

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (Matthew 11:20-23 ESV).

The three cities where Jesus performed most of his miracles were Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida.  They were all in northern Galilee and were close to each other.  Two were fishing villages.  Capernaum is right on the Sea of Galilee. These three cities rejected Jesus.

They were Jewish cities.  Jesus said that people in Tyre and Sidon would have accepted Him.  They were Gentile cities in Phoenicia (modern day Lebanon).  He even said that the city of Sodom would not have it as bad on the Day of Judgment as these cities (Matthew 11:24)

God CALLED Ezekiel to be a prophet.  He PREPARED him for the reaction he would receive.  He EMPOWERED him.    The Holy Spirit entered Ezekiel (2:2; 3:24). The hand of God was upon him (1:3; 3:14). Is God’s hand upon you?

He was also divinely toughened.  God also said, “All the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. 8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. 9 I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint” (3:8-9 NIV).  God promised to make him hard-headed.

That fits the occupation.  Many preachers today are hard-headed.  They are stubborn and closed-minded.  Ezekiel was hard-headed in a good sense.  We could learn a lot from Ezekiel.  He was not weak and soft.  He was tough.

He didn’t let criticism get to him.  He didn’t take it personally.  He did not cry a lot.  He was not a people-pleaser.  He had the strength to stand up to his critics.  He had a lot of courage.  He did not fear his critics or those who hated him.  He knew he had God on his side.

Ezekiel’s Reaction to his Call

This chapter shows us Ezekiel’s reaction to is call.  It is not a pretty picture.  It shows us the human side of this prophet.  Ezekiel was not a perfect man.  We see some of his flaws in this chapter.

God called Ezekiel to be a prophet and he did not want to be a prophet. He did not volunteer to be a prophet. He did not ask to be a prophet.  He wanted to be a priest.  His dad was a priest.  Ezekiel could not be too happy that his ministry would be a failure.  He was called to deliver a message that no one wanted to hear.

The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. 15 I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed. (3:14-15 NIV)

Ezekiel comes to where the exiles are located.  They are located in a place called Tel Aviv.  That is not the Tel Aviv in Israel. This city was in Babylon (Iraq).  It had the same name as the other city but was in a different location.  He stayed with them for seven days.  We are not told that he began a preaching ministry.  He did not say “Thus says the Lord.”

Ezekiel tells us that he was bitter an angry.  He was not too quick to do the will of God.  We are quick to criticize Ezekiel here but how often do we do the same thing.  How quick are we to do what God calls us to do?

Ezekiel did not immediately obey his call.  He sat among the exiles for seven days quietly, so God showed up again and spoke to him Ezekiel received another word from the Lord.  Ezekiel is not only called to be a PROPHET, he is called to be a WATCHMAN.

At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.

18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.

19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself. 20 “Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die.

Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 21 But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” (3:16-21 NIV).

Ministry of a Watchman

1) A watchman’s ministry involves warning others

The primarily ministry of a watchman is a WARNING ministry.  The job of a watchman is to warn of impending danger.  They stood on guard in a high place, while everyone else was sleeping.  Their only job is to deliver a message.  What people do with that message is their own business.  Ezekiel’s job was not to convert anyone.  It was not to save anyone.

It is not our job either.  His job (and our job) is simply to preach a message.  He was to preach that message to everyone.  We have a similar job today to warn people about Hell and the judgment that is to come.  Every Christian should be a watchman.

Ezekiel is not a literal watchman but a spiritual watchman.  He warned the people to repent and turn from their evil ways.  His job was not to warn of a military threat but a spiritual threat due to sin.

He was a watchman to Israel.  We need watchmen in the church today.  One of the jobs of pastors and elders involves warning.  It is not their only function but it is an important function.

2) It does not take the place of personal responsibility

People are responsible for their own actions.  Ezekiel is the prophet of personal responsibility.  If the righteous sin, they die.  If the wicked sin, they die.  Even if Ezekiel does not warn them, they still die.

Ignorance is no excuse. The wages of sin is death.  We cannot blame anyone else for what we do.  We cannot say, “The Devil made me do it.”  We can’t even say, “No one ever told me or warned me.”

3) Watchmen deal with matters of life and death

The job of a military watchman is to keep people safe from a surprise attack.  The job of a watchman is to save lives.  When it is not done properly, people die.  The job of a watchman is serious business. God told Ezekiel that if he did not warn the wicked he would be guilty of murder.

The Apostle Paul said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (I Corinthians 9:14 ESV)  Christians who do not do their job as watchmen may make it to heaven but will be held accountable at the judgment seat of Christ for not warning people.

Can Salvation be Lost?

Does this passage teach that you can lose your salvation? Some say that is exactly what it teaches. Arminians, like Adam Clarke, use this passage to prove that a righteous man can fall from grace, lose his salvation and die spiritually.  Are the Arminians right?  Yes and No.

They are right that people can turn from their righteousness.  That is what Ezekiel 3:20 teaches.  The righteous can fall into sin.  They can backslide.  They can commit apostasy. The NT says the same thing.  It is possible to turn from the path of righteousness.  That is the teaching of II Peter 2:21.

This is a real danger today.  Matthew Henry says, “The best men in the world need to be warned against apostasy.”  Why?  As Paul put it, “let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (I Corinthians 10:12 ESV).

Where they make a big mistake is to apply this passage to salvation.  It is not dealing with salvation in the context.  It is not dealing with eternal life. It is dealing with physical life.

Ezekiel 3:18 mentions a wicked person dying and someone else being held responsible for their blood.  It is clearly talking about physical death.  When it mention the righteous living in Ezekiel 3:21 it is talking about physical life. God says if the righteous turn from their righteousness and does evil, they will die and their righteous deeds will NOT be remembered (3:20).  That seems strange.

If a man lives a made lives a model life for forty years, and even attends church and teaches Sunday School but then commits rape and murder, how will he be remembered?  Will a righteous judge say, “You have done a lot of good in your life.  Your good deeds outweigh your one bad deed” or will he punish him severely?

If you lost your salvation every time you sinned, you would lose your salvation every day.  If this is teaching that you can lose your salvation, then it also teaches that salvation is by works.  That is very clear as well.

If the wicked sin, they die.  If the righteous turn from their righteousness and sin, they die.  They way not to die is not to sin.  That puts all of the burden on you.  If this is dealing with salvation, it is teaching salvation by works.

That contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture.  The Bible is very clear that salvation is by grace and not by works.  One of the rules for interpreting Scripture is never to take an obscure passage and use it contradict the clear teaching of Scripture.  The NT teaches how God can justify the ungodly.  He declared sinners righteous.

 

 

 

A Shocking Call

We are studying the Book of Ezekiel.  We come today to a chapter that is very relevant to us today.  Last week, we looked at the first chapter in the book which contains a spectacular vision.  It is a vision of God.

God appears in a storm cloud.  He is seated on a blue throne in his cherubim driven throne chariot and He is full of fire from the waist down.  God appeared to Ezekiel in July of 593 BC in the country of Iraq.  Ezekiel’s reaction to this amazing vision was to fall face down on the ground.

John did the same thing in the Book of Revelation.  If you get a chance to see in a mortal body God’s glory, you will be laying on the ground eating dust.  John fell down as dead.  He probably passed out. Today, we find out what happened next.  A voice starts talking to Ezekiel.

The one talking to him is not one of the four living creatures.  It is not an angel but God Himself.  The one sitting on the throne began talking to Ezekiel.

Today, we are not going to look at a spectacular vision.  We are going to look at a shocking call.  God gives visions to people for a reason.  The reason was not to make him a world renowned expert on heaven or angels.

God had a mission for Ezekiel.  He had a job for him to do.  He has a job for us to do as well.  God could have chosen anyone for this job but he chose Ezekiel.  One man was handpicked for this mission.

The job that he is going to ask Ezekiel was hard.  It was not easy.  Sometimes He calls us to do hard things.  He calls some believers to be martyrs, to give up their life for their faith.  Ezekiel has been in Babylon for five years.  He was brought to that country against his will, along with ten thousand other people.  At the age of thirty, he finds out what his life’s calling is.

God speaks to him.  The word of the Lord comes to him.  Do you know what your life calling is?  All of us are called by God to do something?  Our calling will not be as dramatic as Ezekiel’s but we are all called to do something.

What has He called you to do?  Are you doing it?  If you do not know yet what your calling is, do not feel too bad.  Not everyone finds out right away.  Moses did not find out until he was eighty.  That was when God called him.  Ezekiel found out at the age of thirty.

God calls different people to do different things.  What God calls you to do is not what He calls me to do.  Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel were contemporaries.  They lived at the same time but they had completely different types of ministries.

Jeremiah ministered to Jews who stayed in JERUSALEM.  Someone had to stay behind and minister to the Jews left behind. Ezekiel and Daniel were both deported.  They ministered to Jews in BABYLON but there was a big difference between the two.

Daniel worked for the government of Babylon.  He served in the court. He was an adviser to kings. He was a politician.  Ezekiel was not a politician.  He was a preacher.  He had no political connections.

Ezekiel was a street preacher.  He ministered to people on the street. He was a pastor to the exiles. He lived among the exiles.  God calls us all to do different things and have ministries in different circles and in different places.

The interesting thing is that we never hear a word of jealousy on Ezekiel’s part.  He never says that he wished he lived in the palace and ate all of that good food.  He didn’t want to become lion food.  He only says good things about Daniel in the Book of Ezekiel.  He mentions him three times in his book (14:14, 20; 28:3).

And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. (2:1-2 ESV)

Ezekiel saw this vision, falls face down and God begins talking to him.  In Ezekiel 1, God appeared to Ezekiel.  In Ezekiel 2, God talked to Ezekiel and told him to stand up but he could not stand up. When God tells us to do something, He gives us the strength to do it.  He empowers us to do his will.  Ezekiel was too weak from the vision, so the Spirit helps him get up.

Someone entitled this section “When God wakes you up.” God gives him a wake-up call but He does not called him by name.  He does not call him Yechezkel ben Buzi (Ezekiel son of Buzi)He calls him “son of man.”  He doesn’t use his first name.

About ninety times in the book, God calls him, not the son of Buzi but the son of man. That is unique to Ezekiel. That is strange. He called Moses by name (Exodus 3:4). He called Samuel by name (1 Samuel 3:4). He called Elijah (1 Kings 19:9) and He called Jeremiah by name (Jeremiah 1:11) but Ezekiel is called “son of man.”

Ezekiel has his face in the dirt, completely overpowered by God’s glory and majesty.  This is a reference to his humanity and weakness.  It is not an insult.  In fact, when Jesus came to earth, that became his name.  His favorite designation of Himself was “The Son of Man.”  We see it like eighty times in the Gospels.

God tells Ezekiel to get up but he can’t move.  He is too weak from this vision, so the Spirit of God enters him and sets him on his feet.  Remember, Yechezkel means “God will strengthen.”  That is what He does here.  God wakes him up, stands him up and then gives him his life mission.

Ezekiel’s Career Change

Ezekiel thought he already knew what his life mission was.  Ezekiel 1:3 says, “the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel THE PRIEST, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there” (ESV).

Ezekiel was a priest.  We are told that in the very beginning of the book.  He was born to be a priest.  He was from the right tribe.  He was trained to be a priest.  His dad was a priest.  His grandfather was a priest.  That was what he wanted to do and had looked forward to do, although right now he found himself in Babylon.  There is no temple there, so he has a little set back.

God says, “I do not want you to be a priest.  I want you to be a prophet.”  This was a call to a career change.  It was a call to change jobs.  Sometimes God calls us to do that to people today.  We are going in one direction and God completely changes our life plans and says “I want you to do something different.”

And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.

6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. (2:3-7 ESV)

This chapter gives us a biblical philosophy of ministry.  It should be a model for preachers today.  There are five ministry principles that come from this passage that are still true today that I would like to share with you.

Five Ministry Principles

1) We do not choose our ministry.

This is not what Ezekiel would have chosen to do.  He did not volunteer to be a prophet. He did not ask to be a prophet.  He did not say like Isaiah “Here I am Lord, send me.”  He wanted to be a priest and prayed for God to make him a priest but we do not choose our ministry.  God said to Ezekiel, “This is My will for your life.”

To EACH is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to ONE is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to ANOTHER the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to ANOTHER faith by the same Spirit, to ANOTHER gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to ANOTHER the working of miracles, to ANOTHER prophecy, to ANOTHER the ability to distinguish between spirits, to ANOTHER various kinds of tongues, to ANOTHER the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to EACH ONE INDIVIDUALLY AS HE WILLS (I Corinthians 12:7-11 ESV).

That is interesting.  Spiritual gifts come from the Holy Spirit.  He is the one who gives the gifts and they are given as HE wills, not as we will.  He decides.  We do not choose our natural talents.  We do not choose our spiritual gifts.  We do no choose our ministry.

That is contrary to some of the teaching in the church today.  Some teach that you can choose your gift.  You can have whatever gift you want.  Some teach that anyone can have the gift of healing or that anyone can have the gift of tongues.

Three times in this chapter, we are told the exact opposite.  God chooses.  He arranges members in the body (12:18) and appointed people in the church (12:28).  We can pray for God to give us other gifts (14:13) but He ultimately decides if we get them.

2) God has to reveal our ministry to us

How did Ezekiel find out what his ministry was?  God told him.  He received a word for the Lord.  How do we find our calling?  We find out the same way.  God has to speak to us.  He has to reveal it to us.  He usually does that by giving us a burden for something or a passion for something.  This cannot just come from other people.  It has to come from God.  If you do not know you life purpose yet, God has to reveal it to you.

3) Some ministries are difficult

God sometimes calls us to do hard things.  He called Ezekiel to do a hard thing.  What was it?  He gave him a negative message to preach, as we will see.  He was not a prosperity preacher.  He preached that Babylon would completely destroy Jerusalem.  We see that in the last verse of the chapter.  He had a message of lamentation, mourning and woe.

Not only did he have a negative message, he also had a hostile audience.  God told him in advance that they were not going to be receptive. He was going to face opposition.  He was going to face rejection.  He was going to face criticism.

He was going to face persecution. He was not going to minister to people with soft hearts.  He was going to minister to people with hard hearts.  Ezekiel is to preach the word and many of the people he will be preaching to will not be open to his message.

These are things that we can all relate to.  We have dealt with people like that.  Some of the people in America are just like the people that Ezekiel ministered to.  It is difficult to minister to people like that.  They are, not only not open to the message, they are hostile to it.  God is the only one who can soften a hard heart.

The nation that is called by God a “rebellious nation” (2:3) and four times in this chapter is called “a rebellious people” (2:5, 6, 7, 8).  This nation is also called “obstinate and stubborn” (2:4).  They are like children who have rebelled against their parents.  They are like a defiant child.  They are like a stubborn or, as we would say today, “a strong-willed child.”  God says the whole nation is like that.

Here is the shock.  The nation that God calls stubborn, rebellious, disobedient and defiant is not a pagan, idolatrous nation.  It is the house of Israel.  It is the chosen people.  It would be interesting to know what percentage of people in church are saved (two-thirds, fifty percent or less than fifty percent).

Some of the hardest hearts are in churches.  Many are steeped in tradition.  They have done things one way for years, hundreds of years in some cases.  Many are not to open to what the Spirit says today.  They will choose their tradition over what the spirit says.  Jesus wrote letters to seven churches in John’s day.  Five of the seven churches received criticism from Jesus.  They received a rebuke.

This raises an interesting question?  Why did God send Ezekiel in the first place?  Why go and preach to people who will not receive your message and are hostile to it.  It seems like a waste of time.  God loves everyone, even the wicked.  He has compassion for people.  He gives everyone a chance and then holds them responsible for their actions.

4) God is looking for faithfulness

The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ 5 AND WHETHER THEY LISTEN OR FAIL TO LISTEN—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. (2:5 NIV)

You must speak my words to them, WHETHER THEY LISTEN OR FAIL TO LISTEN, for they are rebellious. (2:7 NIV)

God told Ezekiel he was to preach, even if people did not listen to him.  The implication is that many will not listen to him and that is okay.  The only thing that Ezekiel needs to do is to preach the message.  This is very different from philosophies of ministry today.

In the world’s eyes, if you do not have any results, you are not successful.  In fact, in the church many have same philosophy (church growth experts). Some define success in terms of numbers.  They look at attendance numbers.  A big church is seen as a successful church.  It may be.  It may not be.  I used to be a member of a mega-church in Chicago.  Their vision was “not a quantity of disciples but a quality of discipleship.”

Success is not based on numbers or results.  It is based on obedience.  Ezekiel’s’ job was to preach the Word.  If he did that, he was successful, even if no one listened to him.

Jesus said, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23).  Jesus did not praise him because he was the most gifted servant.  He did not praise him because he was the most successful servant.  He praised him because he was good and faithful.  God calls us to be faithful, not successful.  When we are faithful, we are successful in God’s eyes.

William Carey is known as the founder of modern missions.  He was born in 1761.  He lived in England.  He was a Baptist.  He felt called to go the mission field.  He was discouraged him from going.  One senior minister told him, “When God pleases to convert the heathen He will do it without your help or mine.”

Carey went anyway.  He had all kinds of problems. He saw no convert for seven years. They struggled with loneliness.  They were in a strange land with no other Christians.

They struggled with finances and disease.  His five year old son died of dysentery.  His wife had a nervous breakdown and almost went crazy.  She accusing him of adultery and threatened him with a knife.  She died early.  He remarried.  His second wife died thirteen years later.

By the word’s standard of success, he seemed like a failure.  “I’m not afraid of failure; I’m afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.”  In the end, he accomplished a lot.  He translated the Bible into 44 Indian dialects.  He started a seminary in India.  Many went to the mission field because of Carey.  Another one of his famous quotes is “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”

5) God’s word MUST be proclaimed fearlessly

What did God want Ezekiel to do?  What was his mission?  He was preach God’s Word.  And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with MY WORDS to them. (3:4 ESV)  And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.” (3:11 ESV)

He was NOT to change or modify it.  He was NOT to proclaim his own word.  He was to proclaim God’s Word.  He was not to give people his own thoughts or ideas.  His job was to say “Thus saith the Lord,” not “Thus saith the great prophet Ezekiel.”

His job was not to be original and creative.  He was not to be an innovator but a messenger.   His job was to deliver a message and he was to do it without fear. God told Ezekiel not to be afraid or terrified by his audience (2:6).  What is the application for today?

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.

Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (II Timothy 4:1-5 NIV)

This is very interesting.  Paul gave Timothy a charge.  It was a solemn charge.  Timothy was to preach THE WORD.  He was to preach it all of the time (in season and out of season, when people want to hear it and when they do not want to hear it).  Paul predicted that the time would come when people will not want to hear the truth, so they will go to a preacher who tells them what they want to hear.

That time came.  Today, we have an additional problem.  Not only do people go to the preacher who tell them what they want to hear, we have preachers today who preach what people want to hear, rather than what they need to hear.  They change their message for their audience.  They are ear-tickling pastors. People do not want to hear about sin, so some pastors stop preaching on sin.

This is a sign of the end times.  We have people-pleasing pastors.  They want people to like them.  They are more worried about pleasing people than they are about pleasing God. They like having big congregations so they do not say anything to offend anyone. Preaching today should be bold and fearless.

Alternatives to Biblical Preaching

Instead of preachers, some are ENTERTAINERS.  They tell jokes.  They are fun to listen to.  A preacher should be a good communicator and should do things to get people’s attention but we should be expositors, not entertainers.

Instead of preachers, some are STORY-TELLERS.  They tell stories.  They share testimonies.  It is not wrong to tell stories or share testimonies.  Some of these stories are very good but they should not be the focus of what a preacher of the Word does.

Instead of preachers, some are POLITICIANS.  They preach politics from the pulpit (either from the far right or the far left).  God’s word speaks to some matters of politics but church should sound a little different than Fox News.

Instead of preachers, some are THERAPISTS.  They do counseling.  We need some pastors who can do good counseling because many people’s lives and marriages are messed up but preachers in the pulpit should sound different than Dr. Phil or Oprah.

 

A Spectacular Vision

Last week, we began our study of the book of Ezekiel.  We looked at the background of the book.  Today, we begin looking at Ezekiel 1, which is perhaps the most important chapter in the book. The book begins with an incredible vision.  It is a vision of God.

Ezekiel did not ask for this vision.  He did not pray for this vision, like Moses did.  Moses, you remember, asked to see the glory of God.  Ezekiel does not fast and pray.  He does not do anything special that we know and God shows up. He shows up suddenly and unexpectedly.

He does not show up in Jerusalem or in the Temple.  He shows up in the Babylon.  He shows up in a pagan idolatrous land.  That is like the glory of God showing up in some God forsaken place like North Korea.

This revelation had a big impact on Ezekiel.  You cannot see God and not be changed. Anyone who has a genuine encounter with the living God will be radically transformed.  Ezekiel had religion.  He had been trained to be a priest and work in the Temple.  Now, he sees God and falls on his face, completely prostrate before God.  This vision affected Ezekiel for the rest of his life.

Ezekiel and John

Ezekiel’s vision was very similar to a vision that the author of the Book of Revelation had.  There are so many similarities between the two. Both men were captives.  Neither of these men were free.  Both were in foreign countries. John was in prison for his faith on the Island of Patmos.  Ezekiel was exiled to Babylon.

Both saw the heavens opened (Revelation 4;1; Ezekiel 1:1).  Both saw visions of God sitting on a throne (Revelation 4; Ezekiel 1).

Both saw Jesus.  John saw the resurrected and glorified Christ.  Ezekiel also saw Jesus.  He saw the pre-incarnate Christ six hundred years before he was born.  He saw Jesus sitting on His throne in his glory supported by powerful angels.

Both were told to prophesy (Revelation 10:11; Ezekiel 13:1-2; 21:1-3; 25:1; 34:1; 37:4-10).  Both were told to eat a book (Revelation 10; Ezekiel 2).  Both mention Gog and Magog (Revelation 20; Ezekiel 38-39).

Both have a lament over cities (Ezekiel 27, 30; Revelation 18).  Both saw the lion, ox, eagle and man (Revelation 4; Ezekiel 1).  Both saw four living creatures and both creatures are full of eyes (Revelation 4:6; Ezekiel 10:12).

Both heard the sound of many waters (Revelation 1:15; Ezekiel 1:24). Both call cities prostitutes.  Ezekiel called Jerusalem a prostitute (Ezekiel 16, 23).  John called Babylon a whore (Revelation 17-18).

Both were teleported by the Spirit to different places supernaturally (Revelation 4:1; Ezekiel 8:3; 11:1; 40:1-3). Both had a similar reaction to their initial vision of God. They both fell down flat on their face (Revelation 1:17; Ezekiel 1:28).

The Setting of the Vision

God appeared to the Apostle John in his 90s.  He appeared to Moses in his 80s at the Burning Bush.  He appeared to Ezekiel when he was only 30.  He did not appear to him in a dream but in a vision.  Dreams take place while you are asleep. Ezekiel was awake when this happened.  He was outside by a river. 

This vision took place outdoors in the summer of July 593 BC.  It took place in the country of Babylon (modern-day Iraq).  It took place five years after Ezekiel was deported to the country.  Ezekiel was outside walking around the river bank.  He looked up and saw the most spectacular sight he had ever seen in his life.

The heavens right now are closed  They are locked but God opened them and Ezekiel was given a chance to see into another world and that world is completely different from our world.  This did not happen every day. This is the only time in the OT that we are told that the heavens were opened and Ezekiel saw an incredible sight.

What we have in Ezekiel 1 is the most detailed description of God in the OT.  There are a lot of theophanies in the OT but many do not describe what they see.  Moses asked God to see His glory.  God walked by but covered Moses’ eyes.  He does not describe what God’s glory looked like.

God invited seventy of the leaders to come up Mount Sinai and they got an appearance of God.  The only thing mentioned in that vision was a pavement of sapphire that was under his feet (Exodus 24:10).  Ezekiel gets a vision of God.  He saw God’s throne.  He saw the one who was sitting on that throne and described Him.

Before we look at the chapter, a little warning is necessary. Many have never heard some of the things that are in this chapter. You can go to the average church in America for forty or fifty years and never hear a single sermon on this chapter.

This is a hard chapter. A scholar who lived in the 16th century said, “In the whole OT, nothing is more obscure than the beginning and end of the book of Ezekiel.”[1]  Many of the things that we will read in this chapter may seem foreign.

They may seem far-fetched or hard to imagine.  Parts of it are even hard to visualize and we do not have any pictures or videos of this vision. I want to begin with three common errors that people make when reading this chapter.

Three Common Errors

1) The first error is to focus on all of the details

Some preachers focus on all the details and miss the big picture.  Beware in getting lost in all the details.  Many have described the first chapter as the vision of the four living creatures or Ezekiel’s famous wheel vision and they miss the whole point of the chapter.  This was not just a vision of wheels or of four fantastic beasts.  It was a vision of God on His throne.

2) The second error is to take everything literally

Most of us believing in interpreting the Bible literally but this is apocalyptic.  There is a lot of symbolism in apocalyptic literature. There are four creatures, four faces, four wings, and four wheels. The lion, ox, eagle and man mentioned are all symbolic.  The eyes on the wheels and wings are symbolic.

Why does Ezekiel use symbolic language?  This vision of God was so incredible that he had difficulty explaining exactly what he saw in human language.  He saw spinning things, burning things, flashing things, and sparkling things and he is at a loss for words.

How do you describe the indescribable?  Ezekiel cannot tell us what it is, just what it looks like.  A member of the Ezekiel class gave a good example of this.  Someone who lived a thousand yeas ago and saw a computer would not know how to describe it.  Figurative language would have to be used to describe it.  We see this all throughout the chapter.  Notice, for example Ezekiel 1:26-28.

26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the LIKENESS of a throne, in APPEARANCE LIKE sapphire; and seated above the LIKENESS of a throne was a LIKENESS with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the APPEARANCE of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, LIKE the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the APPEARANCE of his waist I saw as it were the APPEARANCE of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 LIKE the APPEARANCE of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the APPEARANCE of the brightness all around. (ESV)

3) The third error is to read things into the text

Christians do this all the time today.  They are not interpreting the Bible.  They are proof-texting.  They are not looking to see what the Bible actually says.  They are looking for a verse that supports what they believe.  Preachers are guilty of this all the time.

Some read all kinds of things into Ezekiel 1 that are not there.  They read the chapter and see aliens.  They think this chapter describes a vision of extraterrestrials.   It doesn’t.  Ezekiel makes clear what this is a vision of.  We find that out from the first and last verse of the chapter.

The first verse of the chapter says that this is a VISION OF GOD (1:1).  The last verse of the chapter says that it is a VISION OF THE GLORY OF GOD (1:28).  There is a vehicle mentioned in the chapter, as we will see, but it is not a flying saucer from another planet.

Six Elements of Ezekiel’s Vision

Let’s take a quick look at this amazing theophany.  God appears to Ezekiel in an amazing vision.  What did he see?  He saw six things.

1) Ezekiel saw a WINDSTORM (1:4)

It all begins with a storm.  Ezekiel sees a dark storm cloud coming from the north.  God appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  He appeared to Ezekiel in a storm (cf. Job 38:1).  God showed up IN the storm, like He does to believers today.

As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures (1:4-5 ESV)

2) Ezekiel saw a GREAT CLOUD (1:4)

Wind storms or dust storms are natural, especially if you live close to the desert but then Ezekiel saw a cloud.  This cloud was not natural.  It was not a rain cloud.  It was supernatural cloud.  It had bright light and fire flashing from it.  It was a glory cloud. This cloud looked like it was on fire.

3) Ezekiel saw FOUR LIVING CREATURES (1:5-14)

Then, something amazing happens.  Four supernatural beings emerge from the center of this cloud.  What are these beings?  They have four faces and four wings. They are not aliens. They are angels. We know that from Ezekiel 10:20.

These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the Chebar canal; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Each had four faces, and each four wings, and underneath their wings the likeness of human hands.

God created angels in ranks.  There are all kinds of different angels.   The Bible mentions regular angels.  It mentions archangels.  It mentions seraphim.  It mentions cherubim.  It mentions guardian angels.  It mentions ministering angels.  These four living creatures are cherubs.  They do not look anything like modern pictures of fat little baby cherubs.

These are real cherubs. Apparently, the cherubim are the highest order of angels.  They are the highest order of created beings. Satan used to be one of them before he fell.  We know that from Ezekiel 28.  They are guardians of the throne.  They are God’s heavenly bodyguard.

They are instruments of God’s justice and judgment on the earth.  When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, God put some cherubim there with “a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24 ESV)

There were four cherubim in the Tabernacle but they were artistic renderings of the cherubim (two on the curtains and two on top of the Ark of the Covenant).  Ezekiel saw four real cherubim and they are very different from us. They glow like fire (1:13).

They are much more powerful that we are.  They are stronger.  They are faster.  They not only have legs; they have wings.  They can move with incredible speed like a flash of lightening (1:14). They are smarter than we are.

They have eyes all over their bodies and they have four faces which means that they can see in all directions without having to turn their head.  We only have one face, although some people have two faces.

These four living creatures work together.  There is unity among them.  Their wings touch (1:9, 11) just like in the on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.  They work in perfect unity and harmony.  They all move in the same direction.

Wherever the Spirit goes, they go (1:12, 20).  Wouldn’t it be great if Christians acted that way today?  The Holy Spirit is never grieved with these creatures.  They do exactly what the Spirit wants them to do.  They do it perfectly.  They do it quickly.

4) Ezekiel saw a WHEELED VEHICLE (1:15-21)

This is interesting.  Ezekiel not only saw four living creatures, he saw a wheel beside each one.  He saw four total wheels and these wheels were big.  Most commentators believe these wheels are chariot wheels.  This is a four wheeled chariot.

Ezekiel does not use that word here but Jewish tradition associates this with God’s heavenly throne chariot.[2] They call it the merkabah.  It is pronounced mare-kah-vah.  It is the Hebrew word for “chariot”.  This throne was mobile.  It was portable chariot car.  The Holy of Holies was an earthly picture of the heavenly portable temple. This was a heavenly wheeled Holy of Holies.

Many get hung up on the wheels.  What exactly did they look like?  Did it look like a gyroscope?  No one knows.  The point of the wheels is that it could go anywhere in any direction but this chariot was not limited to wheels.  It also flew.  Ezekiel saw it in the sky. These wheels had eyes.  It knew where it was going and it only went where the Spirit took them.

5) Ezekiel saw a FIRMAMENT (1:22-25)

Ezekiel saw wheels at the bottom of the four living creatures and above them he saw a firmament.  The Hebrew word is raqia.  It is the same word used in Genesis of the firmament God created.  It was shiny.  This firmament is the platform on which the heavenly throne sits.  It almost looks like the cherubim hold this firmament up over their heads.

6) Ezekiel saw a blue THRONE (1:26-28)

Ezekiel finally looks above the platform and sees God’s throne and it was blue.  It looked like sapphire or lapis lazuli, as some translate it.  We have seen that before.  When the leaders of Israel went up to Mount Sinai and had a vision of God they also saw a pavement of sapphire stone under his feet (24:9-10).

Blue is my favorite color.  It may be God’s favorite color.  He made the sky blue and the water in the ocean looks blue and that is seventy percent of the planet and now we learn that His throne is bright blue.

After seeing a throne, he sees the God of Israel sitting on this throne. What did He look like?  He looked like a man but it was no ordinary man.  This man was on fire.  He was a fire man.  He was on fire from his waist down.

Lessons from a Theophany

What was the point of this theophany?  What did Ezekiel learn from it and what should we take away as well?  What are three lessons from Ezekiel’s fresh encounter with God?

1) This theophany tells us something about GOD

This chapter gives us a biblical vision of God, which is very much needed today.

God is HOLY. He is a consuming fire. He is MAJESTIC. He is above everything. He is high and lifted up.  He is SOVEREIGN. He sits on his throne.  God is the supreme ruler of the universe.  He rules it from his throne.  He is not dead.  He is alive and active, even when he does not seem to be and even when you do not see Him at work. God is not stationary.

The ancients thought that gods were limited to a certain geographic location.  The God of the Jews was limited to Israel.  He cannot be restricted.  God can go anywhere He wants.  He can cross into the border of Babylon.

He does not need a passport.  He does not have to ask permission.  His throne has wheels and the four living creatures have wings.  God is not limited to Jerusalem or to the Holy of Holies.  He is not limited to sacred sites.

He is OMNISCIENT. His wheels have eyes. He knows all things.  He is OMNIPOTENT. His voice thunders from His throne. He is surrounded by mighty angels.  The gods of Babylon were not more powerful than the God of Israel.

That was the prevailing wisdom at the time.  If Babylon defeated Jerusalem, their gods must be greater. He is PERSONAL. He spoke directly to Ezekiel. He is MERCIFUL. There is a rainbow of mercy around his royal seat.

2) This theophany tells us something about TRIALS

A fresh view of God will change you whole perspective on life and on problems.  Our problem is that too often we do not focus on God.  We focus on our problems. In the midst of the storms of life, God is still sitting on His throne.  He was sitting on his throne, even though some Jews were deported to Babylon.

God is on his throne no matter how bad things are on earth.  He is on His throne no matter how bad things are in your life.  He is with us IN the storms.  He did not take them out of the storm.  They would be in captivity for about another sixty years but he could be with them in that trial.

The Jews were in Babylon because of sin.  They were experiencing divine discipline but, despite this fact, God demonstrated His presence with his people in a pagan land in their darkest hour.  They were not forgotten.  When we are in a bad trial, we sometimes think that God does not know what is going on.  He knows everything.  He sees it all and he cares for us.

3) This theophany tells us something about MINISTRY

Before you have a ministry with people, you have to have a fresh encounter with God.  An important part of ministry is being facedown in the dust before God (1:28).  Before you have any type of successful ministry, you have to spend time with God.

Before you have any type of successful ministry, you have to have a word from God.  God has to speak to you.  He spoke to Ezekiel (1:3).  Before you have any type of successful ministry, God’s hand has to be on you.  It was on Ezekiel (1:3) and can be on you as well.  We will talk more about Ezekiel’s call to ministry next week.

[1] The quote comes from Isaac Casaubon, as cited in John Peter Lange, Commentary on the Holy Scriptures VII, 36.

[2] Sirach 49:8 calls it “the chariot of the cherubim.”

Biography of Ezekiel

Today, we begin a new study on the Book of Ezekiel.  Our goal for this morning is to give you a basic introduction to the book and to give you a sample of what this book is all about.

The name Ezekiel in Hebrew is Yechezkel (pronounced yeh–hes-kel).  It means “God will strengthen.” The title of our series is “The Visions of Ezekiel.”  There are visions all through this book.  The book starts and ends with a vision and there are some visions in the middle of the book.

Ezekiel kept a diary of these visions.  He wrote down the exact date and place of these visions.  In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.  (1:1 NIV)

The first vision took place on the fifth day of the fourth month.  That would be April 5 in our calendar but the Jewish calendar did not start in January.  It started in March, so this vision took place on June 5 but it has to be converted to a Gregorian calendar so it is more like June 29.

The Most Ignored Book

It has an important message for the church today and yet most Christians do not have a clue what is in this book.  To many people, Ezekiel is a difficult book to study.  It is perhaps the most ignored book in the Bible. Ezekiel is a book that is rarely preached in the pulpit.

The book uses some graphic and shocking language.  It is a book that contains some sexually explicit language.  It would be very difficult to read some of these chapters in church on a Sunday morning.  I will not tell you which ones they are not but we will come across them as we study the book.

There are some strange visions in this book, like the vision of all the dry bones in a graveyard, scattered everywhere, which suddenly come to life.  The first chapter describes some strange creatures with four faces and eyes all over their bodies.  They are rather grotesque looking. They look like a little like aliens.  They look extraterrestrials.  They are half animal and half human.  They are strange composite beings.

Ezekiel also sees in the first chapter a strange machine in the sky.  It is some vehicle that comes from the north.  It seems to emit rays and shines bright light.  Some have called this vision a UFO.  They believe it describes a flying saucer or an alien space craft from another planet.  Are they right?  Come back next week to find out.

The book not only has some strange visions but Ezekiel does some strange things in this book (hearing voices, lying down on one side for over a year, digging holes in the walls of houses, eating food cooked in dung).  If we did some of the things he did today, people would think we were mentally imbalanced.  Some have concluded that Ezekiel must have been psychotic.  He must have been mentally ill.

He was not only a street preacher; he was an actor.  He was the pantomime prophet. He prophesied in WORDS and in SYMBOLIC ACTIONS. It was an unorthodox style of ministry.  He did not do ministry like the other prophets.  He used object lessons to get the attention of people. A picture is worth a thousand words.  Ezekiel gives people a lot of pictures.  He was a good communicator.

Why Ezekiel Matters Today

Why should we study this book?  Why is this book important today?

One, We should study Ezekiel because it is a prophecy.

One third of the Bible is prophecy.  For those who are interested in prophecy, they will like studying this book.  There is some history in this book for us (e.g., the history of Jerusalem).  It contains one of the few books that describes the fall of Satan.  The book contains some history but it also contains prophecy.

Ezekiel actually predicts the rebirth of the nation of Israel.  The nation has been scattered all over the world for two thousand years and did not become a nation until 1948.  Ezekiel predicted that would take place.  Some of Ezekiel’s prophecies have not been fulfilled yet.

Two, we should study Ezekiel because it is a book of hope, as well as judgment.

No matter how bad things look, there is always hope.  This is an important book if you are going through a difficult time in life and everything is falling apart. We serve a God of hope (II Corinthians 1:3).

Three, We should study we should study Ezekiel because it gives us a fresh view of God. When times are bad (and they were bad for the Jews in Ezekiel’s day), we need a fresh view of God.

1) Ezekiel gives us a fresh view of God’s Glory

We will see that next week.  God shows up.  He makes an appearance to Ezekiel in his glory, accompanied with angels.  His glory appears not just in Jerusalem but in Babylon.  He shows up to exiles in Babylon.

2) Ezekiel gives us a fresh view of God’s Righteousness.

God judges sin.  He judges the people of God when the sin and He judges unbelieving nations as well.  I Peter 4:17 says that “judgment must begin at the house of God” (KJV).  There is a judgment for God’s people and it happens before God judges the wicked.

When we sin, we bear the consequences of our sin.  For the Jews, it was the Babylonian Captivity.  God’s people needed to understand why they were in captivity.  They were not their just because of Babylonian imperialism.  They were there because of their own sin.  They were experiencing divine discipline, which many believers still experience today.

3) Ezekiel gives us a fresh view of God’s Sovereignty.

He is in control of the future. He is sovereign, even in judgment and captivity. He is sovereign, even when bad things happen.

Four, we should also study Ezekiel because we live in days similar to the days in which he lived.

Ezekiel lived in days of complete apostasy.  The nation worshiped idols.  They left the true worship of God.  We live in end-times.  We live in days of apostasy today.  The Apostle Paul said thatthe Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith” (I Timothy 4:1 ESV).

We have entire denominations that have departed from the faith today.  They have rejected the Bible.  There are all kinds of signs of apostasy in the church today: theological liberalism, rejection of miracles, literal interpretation of Scripture, mocking the bible, acceptance of Darwinian evolution, acceptance of same sex marriage in the church, homosexual clergy, universalism, relativism, etc.

Ezekiel encountered false teachers in his day.  Many Jews in Babylon promoted false theology.  The false teachers in Ezekiel’s day gave the people false hope.  They were all positive.  They told people what they wanted to hear.  They had a popular message.  They spoke peace when there was no peace.

They said “We have the temple of the Lord.  We have the divine worship system.  We have the promises of God.  We have the Davidic kings.  We do not have anything to worry about.”  They claimed to have a word from the Lord but were liars.

Their problem was like the problem with false teachers today.  They preached only part of the Bible. The Law of Moses was a conditional covenant.  It promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.  The nation was under a curse because it broke the covenant. Many preachers today only tell you part of the Bible.  They tell you the parts that you want to hear.

Outline of the Book

The Book of Ezekiel can be divided into three main sections. It is easy to outline.  The book can be outlined with three words: revelation, retribution and restoration.

1) Ezekiel 1-3 describes a REVELATION of God.

Chapter one is Ezekiel’s vision.  Chapter two is Ezekiel’s call. Chapter three is Ezekiel’s commission by God.

2) Ezekiel 4-32 describe RETRIBUTION (or judgment).  It is divided into two parts

  • Ezekiel 4-24 deal with God’s judgment on Judah.

This section deals with the FATE OF JUDAH.  God had already started to judge the nation.  There had already been two deportations and treasures had been taken out of the Temple but Ezekiel predicted that something worse would happen.  He predicted that Jerusalem would fall and the Temple would be destroyed.  No one believed him but about six years after he began preaching, his prophecies came true.

  • Ezekiel 25-32 deal with God’s judgment on the Gentile nations.

It tells what will happen to the FOES OF JUDAH.  It describes judgment on seven nations surround Jerusalem who participated in or celebrated the destruction of Jerusalem.  These seven nations are Muslim nations today.  Ezekiel does not predict Judgment on Babylon but other prophets do.

3) Ezekiel 33-48 deal with the RESTORATION of Israel.

This does not deal with the foes of Judah.  It deals with the FUTURE OF JUDAH.  Ezekiel was a balanced preacher.  Some preachers are all negative.  They are hell, fire and brimstone preachers.  Their favorite topic to preach on is Hell.  Others are all positive.  They never preach on sin or judgment.  They are the Joel Osteens of the world.  Ezekiel preached both.  He preached judgment and restoration.

Ezekiel preached that Jerusalem will be destroyed but also predicts that Jerusalem will be restored.  There are some incredible prophecies in this section.

The Shekinah glory is the visible manifestation of God’s glory.  It was a bright light that represented the majesty and holiness of God.  It was located in the Holy of Holies in the Temple.  It was manifested in the time of Moses (1440 BC).  For over eight hundred years God dwelt on the earth and manifested His presence in the Tabernacle or Temple but, one day, he left the earth.

Ezekiel described the glory of God departing from the Temple (Ezekiel 10) but he predicted that the glory would one day return (Ezekiel 43).  in fact, the latter glory will be greater than the former glory.  One day, a new temple will be built in Jerusalem and the Shekinah glory will return.

There will be a new temple and a new worship.  The twelve tribes will eventually be united again.  The nation will return to the land.  We are not as interested in the new Temple but Ezekiel was born as a priest (1:3) and would have been very interested in that topic.  The book ends on a positive note.  Ezekiel is a prophet of restoration and hope.

Life & Times of Ezekiel

Before we look at the first chapter, I want to give you a little background about the man Ezekiel.  What do we know about him?  Who was he?  What problems did he face in his life?  Here are some highlights from his life.

1) Ezekiel was alive during Israel’s greatest revival as a nation

Ezekiel lived six hundred years before the time of Christ.  We even know the exact year he was born.   Ezekiel was born in 622 BC.  We know that from the first verse of the book.  The vision that he sees in the first chapter takes place in 592 BC.  It takes place five years after the second deportation, which took place in 597 BC.

Ezekiel had a vision of God in 592 BC.  He tells us that he was thirty at the time of that vision.  If you add thirty years to that date, you get 622 BC as the date of his birth.

If Ezekiel was born in 622 BC, we know who the king was in Judah.  It was Josiah.  He would have been king for the first twelve or thirteen years of Ezekiel’s life.  He was one of the best kings Judah ever had.  A revival took place while he was king.  He died in 609 BC.  Ezekiel would have been a boy when Josiah was king.

2) Ezekiel watched his nation go into decline

After he died, the nation went downhill.  It went into decline, moral decline and religious decline.  The nation fell into idolatry.  Jehoiakim, who was the second king after Josiah, was so wicked that when the book of Jeremiah was read to him, he took the scroll, cut it up and threw it into the fire.  That was what he thought of the Word of God.

3) Ezekiel watched foreign troops invade his country

The Babylonians began to emerge as the leading power in the world at that time.  They conquered the Assyrians.  They conquered the Egyptians at the Battle of Carchemish.  They invaded Israel

4) Ezekiel was taken from his home and country as a young man

Some Jews were taken to Babylon in 605 BC.  That was the first deportation.  Daniel was part of the first deportation.  He was a teenager and went to Babylon with his friends.  Ezekiel did not go in 605 BC.  He would have been seventeen years old at the time Daniel was taken into captivity.

Eight years later, there was a second deportation in 597 BC.  The Babylonians took over the country but let local kings control the country but the king of Judah rebelled against him, so he went back into the country and this time took ten thousand leading citizens out of the country.  Ezekiel was one of them.

Ezekiel lost his freedom and all of his dreams in 597 BC.  He would have been twenty-five at the time of his deportation, since this was eight years after the first deportation.  When Ezekiel got to Babylon in 597 BC, Daniel had already been in Babylon eight years.

In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. 13 As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. 

14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left. (II Kings 24:12-14 NIV)

During the second deportation, only the poor were left in the land.  The wealthy and prominent members of society were taken to Babylon in the second deportation (II Kings 12:14).  That tells that Ezekiel’s family was prominent and wealthy.  The King Jehoiakin went with Ezekiel to Babylon.

5) God called Ezekiel to ministry with a spectacular vision

Five years after he arrived in Babylon, God showed up in a vision, which we will look at next week.  Ezekiel encountered God and it changed his life. He says he was thirty when this vision took place.  He began a ministry to his fellow exiles.  For five years, the captives had no preachers but the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and he obeyed its call.

Ezekiel became God’s spokesman in a foreign land to his own people in their time of greatest need. For more than twenty years, he had a refugee ministry.  He had a ministry to Jewish refugees or, as we would call them today, hostages in a foreign land against their will.

These exiles were given a lot of freedom.  Ezekiel was wealthy and owned his own home (8:1). They were not all locked up but they were transported seven hundred miles against their will.  They were not tourists.  They lost their home.  They lost their country.  They lost their place of worship.

Ministry for Ezekiel was hard.  People did not like what he said.  It was unpopular.  Other prophets contradicted his message.  God told him from the beginning that he would have a hard time.  People would not listen to him.

6) Ezekiel experienced personal tragedy in his home life

He experienced a death in the family.  Jeremiah never got married.  God said that he was not allowed to get married or have kids (Jeremiah 16:2).  Ezekiel was married.  He is not said to have any kids but he did have a wife but his wife died early in his ministry.  She died in the fourth year of his ministry (about four years after he received his vision of God).

15 The word of the LORD came to me: 16 “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears (24:15-16 NIV).

The death of his wife symbolized destruction of the temple.  Is God cruel to use his wife as an object lesson and not even allow Ezekiel to mourn for her? Come back when we get to Ezekiel 24. This is just the teaser lesson.

7) Ezekiel never returned to the Promised Land once leaving it

Ezekiel lived and ministered in Babylon, which is modern-day Iraq, the rest of his life.  Cyrus the Great, the one who conquered Babylon, allowed some Jewish exiles to return home in 535 BC but Ezekiel was no longer alive.  Men do not live long without their wives.

He also died there. Ezekiel is buried in Babylon.  We may even know the location of his tomb.  According to Jewish tradition, he is buried in Kifl, Iraq.[1] It is a small town in southeastern Iraq near the Euphrates River. There is a mosque built there.  Muslims still pray at this tomb, which is a little strange.  They pray at the tomb of a Jewish prophet.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/1248069187877/ezekiel-s-tomb-in-iraq.html

Show Me Your Glory

We have been studying the Book of Exodus for over a year.  This is our fifty-third week on the book.  I love this book. It has been a huge blessing to study the Book of Exodus.  Let’s review some of the key points of the book.

We have seen three main themes in this book.  All three of these themes are important today.

The first theme is REDEMPTION.  God redeemed his people from slavery in Egypt and he did it miraculously.  God is a rescuing God.  The second theme is COVENANT.  After God redeems us, He tells us how to live.  He gives us laws. The third theme is WORSHIP.  The last part of the book deals with the Tabernacle.  That was the way the Jews worshiped God in the OT.

This will be our final lesson in the Book of Exodus, as we cover parts of Exodus 33-34. In some ways, this is the most important section in the book. What is so important about these chapters?

Israel just committed its greatest sin.  Thousands of people began worshiping a golden calf.  They broke the covenant God gave them.  God almost destroyed them.  He said that He would not go with them to the Promised Land.  Here, God renews His covenant with the Jews (34:10-27).  He forgives them but He also commands them not to make any idols (34:17) or worship any other gods (34:14).

It is also important because Moses gets a fresh experience of God.  God reveals some things about Him for the first time to Moses.  Next week, we will be beginning a new study on the Book of Ezekiel.  The theme of the book of Ezekiel is the glory of God. Here Moses does what no one else in the Bible ever did.  He asked to see God’s glory and God showed it to him in a theophany.

A theophany is a visible appearance of God.  Theophanies do not happen every day.  They are rare. Most of us will never see a theophany our entire life.  There are several theophanies in Exodus.

Moses received a theophany at the Burning Bush in Exodus 3.  God appeared to him as a bush that was on fire and talked to him.

The whole nation received a theophany on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19.  God spoke the Ten Commandments to the entire nation audibly. They could hear God talking to them in a loud voice and saw a visible manifestation of God at the top of the mountain.  There was thunder, lightening, fire and smoke.  The whole mountain was on fire.

The leadership of the Jews also received a theophany on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24. They travel up Mount Sinai by God’s request and all seventy of them had a vision of God on the mountain.  We are going to look at another theophany today as Moses comes face to face with the weight of God’s glory.  God passed in front of Moses (34:6). It all begins with the prayer of Moses.

God’s Glory Requested (33:18)

Moses says to God, “Show me your glory.” Matthew Henry calls this a humble request.[1]  It was not a humble request.  It was a bold request, perhaps the boldest request of Moses’ life.  We need to unpack this.  Moses knew God. He had seen the power of God.

He saw God’s power over Pharaoh, the most powerful man on the planet at that time.  He also saw God’s power over nature, over animals, over weather and over the gods of Egypt.  He saw them in the Ten Plagues.

Moses had seen the POWER of God.  Now, He asks to see the GLORY of God.  Moses already had already had some revelation of the glory of God.  He saw it in the burning bush.  He saw it in this bush that was on fire and talked to him.

He saw God’s glory on Mount Sinai.  He saw it in the fire and smoke.  He saw it in the thunder and lightning.  He saw it in the Shekinah glory cloud, the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud, so why does he pray to see God’s glory?

Moses knew God.  He did not just know about God.  He knew him personally.  It is one thing to say that you know about a famous person.  It is another thing to say that you know them personally.  Moses knew God.  He saw Him work.

He had a relationship with God like no other person.  He talked to him face to face as a friend (33:11). He spent forty days directly in God’s presence, not once but twice. None of us have ever done that one time but Moses was not satisfied.

It is almost like the more Moses knew God, the more he wanted to know God.  The more he knew, the more he wanted.  He wanted to know Him on a deeper level.  He wanted a deeper level of intimacy.  That should be true of all of us.

We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength (Luke 10:27).  We are to seek him with all of our heart and all of our soul (Deuteronomy 4:29).

Psalm 42:1-2 says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (NIV)

David talks about a hunger for God.  It describes a craving, a deep longing.  When we are dehydrated, we long for water.  Our life depends on it.  We want our thirst quenched.

Does that describe how we feel about God?  Unfortunately, it does not describe all of us.  Some of us thirst for God and some of us thirst for other things.  What is the deepest longing of your heart?  What is our consuming desire?  What is our passion?

This prayer is interesting.  Moses does NOT pray for God’s blessing; he prays for God’s glory.  Most of our prayers are self centered.  We want God to give us something.  Moses does not just seek God’s hand to get something.  He seeks His face. He wants to see His glory.

God’s Glory Revealed (33:19-23)

Moses had a bold request and that request is granted with some restrictions.  In order to get his prayer answered, Moses has to climb to the top of Mount Sinai again and he is to go alone.

He tells Moses to “be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.” (34:2-3 NIV)

This is about his fifth trip up the mountain and he is eighty years old.  He is on Mount Sinai another forty days and forty nights and once again he fasts during that time.  Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. (34:28 NIV)

In order to get his prayer answered, God had to make some changes to his prayer.  Moses had good intentions but he did not know what he was asking. If God gave him exactly what he asked for, it would have killed him.  People still pray this prayer today.  We sing about it in church.  They are great songs but the theology of these songs is a little weak.

Third Day sings a song called “Show me Your Glory.”  Mac Powell says that God’s glory is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.  He says, “I wanna see your face.” Jesus culture also has a song called “Show Me Your Glory.”  It is even bolder.  The lyrics say “I want to see your glory like Moses did but I’m not afraid.  I’m not afraid.  Show me your glory.”

The problem is that we should be afraid.  God says “you CANNOT see my face, for NO ONE may see me AND LIVE” (33:20 NIV). You say “That is just what the OT says.”  Actually, the NT says the same thing.  The Apostle Paul said that God alone who “has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one HAS ever seen or CAN see” (1 Tim. 6:16 ).

A full dose of God’s glory would be lethal to any sinner in a mortal body. It is too strong for the human eye to take.  It is like standing right in front of the Sun.  When we are in heaven, we will see his face, according to Revelation 22:4 but we will have resurrected bodies.

Let’s be honest.  Some of our prayers are foolish. We sometimes pray for things that would be bad for us.  A wise father would never give a child something that would hurt him. That is like giving a child a loaded gun to play with.  God does not give us everything we ask for.  He did not give Moses everything he asked for and He did not do this because He is a good God.

God let Moses see His glory but He did not let him see all of it.  He was given a PARTIAL REVELATION of God’s glory but NOT a full revelation.  He gave Moses what he was capable of seeing.  How did God limit what Moses saw?  He put him in the cleft of a rock and He covered his face with his hand when God went by, saw what Moses saw was God’s back after He went by him.

There is some symbolism here.  God said to Moses, “When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my HAND until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my HAND and you will see my BACK; but my FACE must not be seen” (33:22-23 NIV).

Biblical scholars call this an anthropomorphism.  God is described in human terms with human parts.  The truth is that God does NOT have a back.  He does NOT have a face.  He does NOT have a hand.  In fact, He does not have a body.  God is a spirit. Jesus said God is a spirit (John 4:24).  These are FIGURES OF SPEECH.

Moses asked to see God’s glory and he saw it.  God passed by Moses in His glory.  What did he see?  Many scholars say that he did not see anything.  He just heard something.  God described his glory by describing his attributes.  That is the standard answer all the commentators give.  It seems to be correct because when the prayer is answered, notice what the text says.

5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (34:5-7 NIV)

If you look a little closer, it is clear that this revelation was BOTH visual and verbal.  God did not just say some things to Moses.  He showed up.  He passed by Moses.  There must have been a visible revelation of some kind, because God had to veil it by covering up his face and putting him in a rock.  That would not have been necessary if all God did was talk to Moses.

If God’s glory was not physical, then why did Moses’ face shine so bright when he came down the mountain? There had to be some physical manifestation.  Moses does not take the time to describe what he saw but he saw something.  The focus is on what Moses heard in Exodus 34:5-7, so that is what we will focus on.

A Divine Self-Portrait

This is a very important passage.  It tells us who God is.  Many people have all kinds of false views of God.  It is not limited to the world.  Some professing Christians have some false views of God. This passage tells us what God is like.  It does not come from Peter, James or John.  It comes from God Himself.  God talks about God here.  It is a divine self-portrait.

This is the greatest self-revelation of God found in the OT.  God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him His name.   Now, God tells Moses some things about himself.  He mentions seven attributes.  It does not describe all of his attributes.  It does not say anything about God being all-knowing or all powerful or eternal.

This is a selective list of ten attributes of God.  It is not exhaustive.  What is on the list in Exodus 34?   God is COMPASSIONATE, GRACIOUS, SLOW TO ANGER, LOVING, TRUE, FORGIVING, HOLY. We are told later on in the chapter that God is JEALOUS. In fact, it says that his name is Jealous (34:14).  There are two more attributes mentioned in Exodus 33.  First, we are told that God is GOOD.

And the Lord said, “I will cause AL MY GOODNESS to pass in front of you” (33:19).  Moses was not allowed to have a revelation of all of God’s glory.  It would kill him but he was allowed to have a revelation of ALL of God’s goodness.  God is a good.

Many question God’s goodness.  If God is so good, why is there so much suffering in the world?  Many questioned God’s goodness or even His existence after the holocaust but God did not build Auschwitz. Man did.  God is good but He also give people free will. The Psalmist says “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

God is also SOVEREIGN.  Many people do not like that one.  It means that God is in charge.  Many do not want God in charge.  They want to be in charge themselves.  God says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (33:19 NIV).

This passage is quoted by the Apostle Paul in the NT.  After Israel began worshiping the golden calf, God pardoned the nation but not because they deserved it.  It was an act of sovereign grace.

What do we learn about God from these ten attributes? There are two lessons from these attributes that stand out.  First, there are two sides to God.  His love, compassion and mercy is combined with holiness and justice.  God is a God of love. God is also a God of wrath.

God is slow to anger but that does not mean that he gets angry.  In fact, we are explicitly told that God “does NOT leave the guilty unpunished” (34:7)

Some see God as all love, and all forgiving.  That is Rob Bell’s approach.  He wrote the heretical book Love Wins.  Others see God as all wrath and judgment, a God of hell fire (the lightening, thunder and fire of Mount Sinai).  The Bible says that He is both.

There is a second important lesson about God from these attributes. Most of these attributes are what we would call positive attributes (compassionate, gracious, patient loving, true, forgiving).  Very few are negative.  The love of God is emphasized on this list more than the wrath and terror of God.  What is surprising is that this list comes from the OT.

Many think that the God of the OT is different from the God of the NT.  The God of the NT is love, a God of compassion and grace.  Here, we see that the God of the OT is also a God of love and compassion.  He abounds in love.  He forgives sins.  It even mentions three different kinds of sins (“forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin) that God forgives (34:7).

God’s Glory Reflected (34:29-35)

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. (34:29-30 NIV)

This brings us to one of the most incredible miracles in the book, the miracle of Moses’ shining face.  God tells Moses to go down the mountain and take the two tablets of with him.  Hopefully, they were not too heavy for an eighty year old man to carry down the mountain.  When he gets to the bottom of the mountain and sees the people, something amazing happens.

The glory of God reflected on Moses’ face.  Moses spent eight days in God’s presence and it shows.  Why didn’t he glow the first time he was with God for forty days?  For some reason, his face only glowed the second forty days he was in God’s presence.  The reason that his face glowed this time was because he prayed to see God’s glory and saw it. That is what gave him the special glow.

When he comes down the mountain, Moses’ face has a glow or radiance and it was visible to everyone. People could see it.  It was verifiable.  There was no denying it. It was proof that Moses had been in the presence of God.  As Matthew Henry said, “He carried his credentials in his face.”[2]

If everyone else saw it, why didn’t Moses see it?  “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord” (34:29 NIV). Maybe there were not any mirrors around.

It led to fear among the people.  “When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him” (34:30 NIV).  Why were they afraid?  He looked like an alien, as someone in my class suggested.  This was not normal or natural.  It was supernatural.  In addition, they may have had a guilty conscience.  The last time Moses came down the mountain, he was angry and people died.  Now he comes down again and his face is glowing.

Application for Today

What is the application for us today?  If you spend time alone with God and meditate on his Word, it will change you and others will see it.  “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13 NIV).  They had not been to school but they had spent time with Jesus and people could see it.

When you hang out with God, you begin to glow.  If you come face to face with God’s glory, you will be changed.  You will undergo a transformation.  We become like Christ.  You will be transformed into the likeness of Christ.  Church alone will not change you but time with God will.  The Apostle Paul said that all Christians get to see the glory of the Lord, not just Moses

II Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (ESV).

How do we see it?  What was Paul talking about? Most of us have not had any visions of God’s glory like Moses had.  We have not see God’s glory face to face.  Let’s look at the context. In the very next chapter of this book, Paul tells us that he is not talking about a literal vision. It is not something we see with our eyes but with our minds.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the MINDS of the unbelievers, to keep them FROM SEEING the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone IN OUR HEARTS to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  (II Corinthians 4:3-6)

We see the glory of God in the gospel.  We see it in the Bible.  We see it in Jesus.  He is the full manifestation of the glory of God and when we see Jesus, we are transformed into the same image.  It does not just happen at salvation.  Paul does NOT say we all were transformed.  He says that we ARE BEING TRANSFORMED into the same image (3:18).

Change is gradual.  It does not happen overnight.  It happens by the renewing of our minds. Rom. 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” That happens when we spend time with God and His Word.

[1] Mathew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, I, 422.

[2] Mathew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, I, 429.

Consequences of Sin

We are in Exodus and have been studying the story of the golden calf in Exodus 32.  It is a famous story.  We spent several weeks on it.  We looked at it from the standpoint of leadership.  This story has a lot of lessons for us on leadership, good leadership and bad leadership.  Today, we want to look at it from a completely different angle.  Today, we want to look at the consequences of sin from this chapter.

In our day, we do not take sin too seriously.  We have removed the concept of sin, shame and guilt. Sin is culturally accepted today.  It is legal.  It is often popular.  This section shows the consequences of sin.  Sin is serious.  God takes sin far more seriously than we do.  God almost wiped out the entire nation because of this one sin.

The Seriousness of the Sin

Worshiping the golden calf was no minor sin.  It was great sin.  It is called “great sin” three times in the chapter (32:21, 30, 31). Some have called this “Israel’s greatest sin.” The nation chose to worship a cow over worship of Jehovah.  This was NATIONAL APOSTASY.  It was spiritual adultery.

Idolatry in the Bible is described as spiritual adultery.  We will see that in the Book of Ezekiel, which will be our next study. Unfaithfulness to God is similar to unfaithfulness to your spouse.  One scholar compared the sin of golden calf worship with a man who commits adultery on his wedding night.[1]  It was not done by one or two people.  Thousands participated in it.

This was all done by a nation that was rescued by God out of slavery in Egypt and supernaturally delivered by God.  They all passed through the Red Sea.  God provided for them with food falling out of the sky.  It was the only nation in the world that God made a special covenant with.  No other nation had this special covenant.

This sin was done quickly.  God gave the Jews the Ten Commandments.  Moses went up on the mountain and could not even get down the mountain before the people already broke the first two of them.

Moses went up on top of a mountain and went into a cloud.  He spent forty days and forty nights in the presence of God.  He didn’t eat or drink anything during that time.  While Moses was up on the mountain in God’s presence, he could not see what was going on at the bottom of the mountain.  God could see what going on, so He told Moses about it and He gave him some instructions.

He told Moses to go down the mountain.  He said, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them” (32:7-8 NIV). Before he got down the mountain, he could hear a loud noise.  It sounded like a rock concert.

When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.” 18 Moses replied: “It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.” (32:17-18 NIV).

Some misguide preachers have called this the first contemporary worship service but God was not complaining about the loud music at the bottom of the mountain.  He does not say to Moses, “Your people are becoming corrupt because they are listening to this evil music that sounds like the Beetles.”  What got God angry was the idolatry and immorality.

Exodus 32:5-6 says “When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.’ 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” (ESV).

What was going on here is more than your typical church service today. This was not only a WORSHIP SERVICE (burnt and festival offerings); it was an IDOLATROUS worship service.  It was a PAGAN worship service, worshiping a cow.  It was not only a worship service; it was a CELEBRATION.  The celebration involved food.  It was a feast (32:5).  There was eating and drinking (32:6).

The celebration involved ENTERTAINMENT.  It involved loud music (32:17-18).  It involved dancing (32:19), probably erotic dancing.  It also involved GROUP SEX.  That is what is implied by the words “And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play” (32;6). The word “play” does not always have sexual overtones[2] but it can (cf. I Corinthians 10:7-8).  In the ancient world, sex was part of pagan worship.

There were temple prostitutes in some of these pagan temples.[3] It was not just tolerated but encouraged.  Sexual orgies regularly associated with bull worship.  They were an integral part of pagan religion in the ancient world.  When the people rose up to play, they were not playing baseball.  Moses comes down the mountain and sees the people completely out of control, religiously and morally (32:25).[4]

Consequences of the Sin

Sin is not only serious, it has consequences.  What were the consequences of sin in this chapter?  God does not DESTROY the nation because of Moses’ prayer.  God changed his mind about destroying them (32:14) but there are four consequences of this sin.  The first consequence was DISGRACE.  They had to drink water that had the golden calf in it (32:20).  The golden calf was what they wanted.  Now they are forced to drink it and see how bad it tastes.

The second consequence was DISEASE.  God sent a plague on the people (32:35). People got sick.  The third consequence was DEATH.  Sin causes death.  The wages of sin is death.  Three thousand people died (32:28).  The fourth consequence was DISTANCE.

Sin affects your relationship with other people.  The relationship between two brothers (Aaron and Moses) was affected by this sin.  It also affects our relationship with God.  It causes separation (33:1-10).

These verses help us answer one question.  How does sin affect our relationship with God? It causes a separation between us and God.  That is still true today.  Just because we are Christians does not mean that this has changed.  Sin breaks our relationship with God.  Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.

Sin does not affect our standing but it does affect our state.  When we sin, we do not lose our salvation.  Otherwise, we would lose it every day. We are justified because of the death of Christ.  We are declared righteous.  Sin does not affect our legal standing with God but it does affect our fellowship with God. It affects our communion with God.

An Ethical Question

We now come to the hardest part of this story.  It is found in Exodus 32:27-29.  This is the part of the chapter that everyone skips, because it is too violent.  Preachers never mention these verses.  They are verses that are not taught to kids in Sunday School.

27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’”

28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.” (NIV)

This is a difficult passage.  Moses tells people to strap a sword to their side, go through the camp and start killing people, including friends and family members.  After the Levites massacre people, God rewards them with bring priests. They were the ones in charge of the Tabernacle.  They got to transport the Ark of the Covenant.

28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has BLESSED you this day.” (32:28-29) This is a problem for critics of the Bible.

Isn’t the punishment a little harsh?  This doesn’t seem fair.  It does not seem very loving.  We are supposed to love our enemies, not kill own family members.  Does this make Moses a terrorist?  How is Moses any different from the ISIS savages who behead apostates?  How do you answer the critics?  What do you say to the critics?

1)  The people who did this knew they were committing a capital crime.

The Levites did not commit murder.  This was not mass murder.  It was not genocide.  This was not killing people at random.  The only people killed were idolaters.  The command was not to kill family members but idolaters.

The Levites did not merely kill people they did not like. Idolatry was a capital crime.  The Jews were given the Ten Commandments which prohibited all forms of idolatry.  They were already told that idolatry was a capital offense.

They agreed to the terms of the covenant.  They said, “All that the Lord said we will do.”  They knew what God said.  They knew what the punishment for idolatry was.  They knew what they already said they would do.  This was open rebellion.

2) The people knew exactly who the true God was.

This was not a sin of ignorance.  This was not the case of honest skepticism.  They lived in a theocracy.  They had absolute PROOF of God’s existence.  They saw God at work in a visible way every day.  They saw the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud.  They heard God speak to them with their own ears on Mount Sinai.  They saw literal miracles.

They witnessed them firsthand.  They did not have to read about them in the Bible.  They saw the Red Sea split it half.  They saw water come out of a rock.  That made this sin unforgivable. Not only was this sin deliberate and intentional, it was inexcusable.

3) The people were all given a chance to repent.

Exodus 32:26 says that Moses “stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me. And all the Levites rallied to him.”  This offer was made to everyone.  The Levites were the first to step forward which probably made Moses happy.  He was a Levite.

People were given only two choices.  People could choose to worship Jehovah or they could choose to worship a golden calf. You can’t do both. There was no middle ground. You can’t worship Jehovah through the image of a golden calf.  All of the people had to decide whose side they were on.  There are only two sides today.  This is very convicting.

We have to answer the same question.  Are we on the Lord’s side? This was one of the greatest questions in the Bible and it was asked by Moses. Many people think they are on the Lord’s side.  If we worship idols, we are not on the Lord’ side.  If we are a part of false religion, we are not on God’s side.  If we try to compromise and combine true religion and false religion, we are not on the Lord’s side.

If we are involved in immorality, we are not on the Lord’s side.  If we try to be neutral and not take a stand at all, we are not on the Lord’s side, because there are only two choices.  Many in church think they are on the Lord’s side.  They live in sin and say “Jesus is my homeboy” but Jesus will say, “I never knew you.”

4) This command came from God

This was not Moses’ idea.  It was God’s idea (32:27).  God created life.  He is the only one who has the right to take life at any time.  In this case, it was an act of grace.  Instead of killing the entire nation, He only has three thousand killed.

Separation From God

1) God will not travel with the Jews to the Promise Land.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. BUT I WILL NOT GO WITH YOU, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb. (33:1-6 NIV)

This is interesting.  God says that He will be faithful to His promise to his people.  He will give them the Promised Land.  He will fight their enemies.  He will even send an angel to help them but He is not going with them.  He says, “You can go but I am not going with you.”

That is strange.  They can have the Promise Land without God.  That describes many people today.  Many have blessings without God.  They want prosperity without God.  Many today have religion without God.  There are plenty of humanistic, man-made religions that leave God out.

There are plenty of churches in our land that do not have God.  You walk into them and you have plenty of traditions and rituals but you do not have the presence of God.  Our pastor often says that the most important thing a church needs to have is God and he is absolutely right.  That is all a church needs.

Most Christians are happy to live without God.  As long as they make to heaven, they do not care if God is with them.  That is like saying, “as long as we make it to the Promised Land, it does not matter if God comes with us.”  That is not how the Jews in this chapter felt.  When the people heard this, they mourned (33:4).

In fact, when God said to Moses, “My Presence will go with YOU, and I will give YOU rest.” 15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with US, do not send us up from here”  (33:14-15 NIV).  He said, “We do not want to go without you.”

This was what made the Jews unique.  They had God with them.  God’s presence was with them.  They had the Shekinah glory.  I said before that the Jews did not have the Pyramids like the Egyptians.  They did not have philosophy like the Greeks.  They did not have armies like the Romans but they had God dwelling with them in their midst.

Why did God do this?  How does it apply to us today?  God cannot go with us when we are living in sin.  He will not fellowship with us.  There has to be genuine repentance.  This was actually an act of grace.  If God went them, he would have to destroy them (33:3, 5).

2) God has moved to outside the camp of the Israelites.

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 

9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (33:7-11).

This is the second consequence in this chapter.  The Tabernacle was not built yet but it was supposed to be right in the middle of the camp.  Now God says that he will be in the Tent of Meeting located outside the camp.  The camp has been polluted by the worship of the golden calf.  If you want to find God, you can’t find him in the camp.

The bad news is that God is no longer in the camp.  The good news is that God is still accessible.  He was still close by (outside the camp). Even if the nation was apostate, individuals could still approach God, although they had to go through a mediator (Moses).

We are no different.  We need a mediator today as well (Jesus).  Joshua must have been Catholic because he was said to be the son of a nun. He was Moses’ aide.  The text says that he never left the tent.  He wanted to stay near the presence of God.

[1] This comes from the British scholar R.W.L. Moberly, who write a book entitled, At the Mountain of God: Story and Theology in Exodus 32-34 (2001)

[2] See Genesis 17:17; 18:12-13, 15; 19:14; 21:6.

[3] The NLT says that the people were “completely out of control.”  The NIV says that they were “running wild.”  The KJV has a different reading. And when Moses saw that the people were naked.”  It is a possible translation but is unlikely. It is not the normal word for naked (arom).

In NONE of the sixteen times this Hebrew verb para is used sixteen times in the OT (Exodus 5:4; 32:25 [2]; Leviticus 10:6; 13:45; 21:10; Numbers 5:18; Judges 5:2; II Chronicles 28:19; Proverbs 1:25; 4:15; 8:33; 13:18; 15:32; 29:18; 24:14) does it refer to physical nudity, although one passage refers to spiritual nudity.  This translation seems to be more based on Latin than Hebrew.  The Latin Vulgate uses the word nudatus (which means to be stripped or made naked).

Principles of Godly Leadership

Last week, we began looking at the topic of leadership. We looked at four characteristics of bad leaders from the life of Aaron from this chapter. Today, we want to look at four characteristics of good leaders from the life of Moses.

It is not an exhaustive list but this chapter gives us four positive qualities of leadership. Unfortunately, there are probably more people leading the church like Aaron rather than like Moses. What does godly leadership look like?  We see some characteristics of it in Exodus 32.

Four Qualities of Leadership

PRAYER

The seventy elders spend time up on the Mount Sinai and have a vision of God.  Moses goes up on top of the mountain and is alone with God for forty days and forty nights.  He is away from distractions.  God speaks to him on top of the mountain.  He has communion with God. Moses had communion with God like no other person in the Bible.

Leaders need to spend time with their family but cannot neglect their relationship to God.  Why is it so important?  Leaders have a lot of responsibility on them.  They have to make important decisions.  Jesus spent a whole night in prayer before selecting the Twelve Apostles. Spending time along with God guarantees that you have God’s agenda and not your own.

When people under our leadership sin, our first response should be, not to gossip but to pray for them.  Let’s look at who he prayed for and how he prayed.  This is fascinating.  It is one of the greatest prayers in the Bible.  Someone called this one of the seven most powerful prayers in the Bible.[1]

The Prayer of Moses

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.

13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” (32:11-13 NIV)

We need to learn to pray the way Moses prayed. How did Moses pray?  First, he prayed based on GOD’S REPUTATION.  Why would God start something that he cannot finish?  If He destroys the whole nation, the Egyptians will hear about it.  They will think that their god took them all out in the wilderness to kill them.  God’s reputation was at stake.

Second, he prayed based on GOD’S PROMISES. We need to do that today.  We need to plead the promises of God and quote Scripture when we pray.  Moses reminded God what He promised their ancestors, what He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He reminded God what He swore to them and that came from a God who does not and cannot lie.

It was a prayer for people who had fallen into sin.  It was a prayer for rebellious Israel.  Moses acts as a mediator here.  He is the one who goes between God and man and prays for them.  He goes before an angry God and pleads for their survival.  This was intercessory prayer.

This prayer was bold.  It was effective.  Moses was one of the four people who successfully argued with God.[2]  Abraham was someone else who did this when he prayed for the city of Sodom.  Moses’ prayer got God to change His mind, which sounds strange.

Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?

Many teach that doesn’t change God.  It only changes us.  That is not true.  What did God want to do? He wanted to destroy the nation. “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them (32:9-10 NIV).

Moses’ prayer caused God to change his mind.  Moses was the man who caused God to repent.  We see that in Exodus 32:14 which says, “So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people” (NLT).  The KJV reads, “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

That is strange.  It talks about the repentance of God.  Does God repent?  People repent but does God repent?  Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent” (KJV). God does repent but there is a big difference between God’s repentance and man’s repentance.

We have to repent, because we have sinned.  God does not do anything wrong.  He never has to apologize.  His repentance has nothing to do with sin.  When people change and repent, He changes and does not judge them.

Jeremiah 18:7-10 says, “7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.” (NIV)

There are many examples of this in Scripture.  Jonah went to preach a message of judgment to the Ninevites.  He was a prophet.  It took him a day to get to Nineveh and when he got there, he preached, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The nation repented.  God didn’t overthrow them and Jonah was mad, because his prophecy did not come true.  That raises the question, Can prayer change the decree of God?

Another example is King Hezekiah.  You can read about in II Kings 20.  It is also in Isaiah 38.  Hezekiah was a godly king.  He was a man of prayer.  He got sick.  God sent the prophet Isaiah to him to tell him some bad news.  He told him that he was going to die and would not recover from his sickness. Hezekiah was devastated.

He immediately wept bitterly.  He prayed for healing. Before Isaiah even got out of the building, God told him to turn around and go back and give him another message.  “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you; I will add fifteen years to your life.  He already had a word from God from a genuine prophet. Prayer changed that.  It shows us the power of prayer.

HUMILITY

The writer John Ruskin, who lived in the 1800s, said, “I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility.” Godly leaders are humble. There is nothing worse than leaders who are arrogant and think they are superior to everyone else.  They are only leaders because they like to order people around.  They like to tell other people what to do.

25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)

Jesus said that the world has one way to lead.  It is a top down approach.  Jesus says four important words – “not so with you.”  We have a different model of leadership that comes right from Jesus.  It is the model of servant leadership.  Jesus led by example.  He washed the disciple’s feet.  That was usually done by servants but Jesus did it.  Afterwards, He said these words:

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (John 13:13-15 NIV)

Leaders in the church are to have this type of leadership style.  I Peter 5:2-3 says, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (NIV).

How was Moses humble?  He was the meekest man on the face of the earth.  The Bible says that he was “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3 NIV).  He was not the wisest man on the face of the earth, though he was highly educated in the palace of Egypt.  He was not the wealthiest man on the face of the earth.

He was not the strongest man on the face of the earth or the fastest man on the face of the earth.  He was not the most attractive man on the face of the earth.  He was not the most gifted man on the face of the earth.  He was the meekest man on the face of the earth.

Is Meekness Weakness?

Every preacher will tell you, meek does not mean weak.  It does not mean timid.  How do we know?  Moses was the meekest man on the earth but he was not weak.  He was no coward.  He had a lot of courage.  He stood up to evil in many forms.  We see it several times in his life.

1) He had the courage to stand up to bullies.

A gang of bullies harassed Jethro’s seven daughters and they had when they had no man to protect them, so he stood up for them.  One man took on several shepherds and drove them away.  He must have had some good moves.

2) He had the courage to stand up to an evil king.

He confront Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the country and possibly the world at that time and demand that he release all of the Hebrew slaves.

3) He also had the courage to stand up to sin in his own nation and even in his own family.

When he came down from the mountain to confront his brother face to face.  He confronts three thousand idolaters.  That does not sound like someone who is weak, and passive. He was not timid.

Rick Warren said, “Only two people in the Bible were called meek: Jesus and Moses. Neither of them were weaklings or wimps.”[3]  Meekness is actually a form of strength, not weakness.  We see the humility of Moses several different times in his life.

a) He was humble when he left the royal palace

Moses chose to leave the palace of Egypt and identify with poor slaves. Socially, he was part of the upper class.  He had wealth, power and prominence.  He gave up the comforts of the palace to identify with the lowest class of people, foreign slaves.  When he fled Egypt, he went from being a prince of Egypt to just being a plain shepherd and did that for forty years in total obscurity.

b) He was humble at the burning bush

When God appeared to him at the burning bush and God told him that he was going to use him greatly to lead out two million slaves out of Egypt. He said, “Who am I to do this?”  He did not boast to God about his own gifts and abilities.

c) He was humble when he rejected God’s offer

Moses turned down an incredible offer. God offered to wipe out all of the Hebrews and make him the leader of a bigger and better nation.  God said, “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked  10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” (32:9-10 NIV)  He said in Deuteronomy 9:14 that this nation would be more numerous and stronger.  Moses turned down this offer, even though it was a promotion.

ACTION

Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.” 18 Moses replied: “It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. 21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” (32:15-21 NIV)

Strong leaders are decisive.  They are good in a crisis.  This was a crisis.  The future of the nation was at stake.  God wanted to destroy the entire nation.  Good leaders know how to act in a crisis.  Bad leaders are terrible in a crisis.  They are not good at making a decision.  Moses took decisive action.  He came down from this mountain and he was on fire.  He also confronted some people.

Some leaders never pray for people.  Other leaders never confront people.  When some Christians fall into sin, some leaders in the church will love them unconditionally, show compassion to them but they will never confront them.  Moses did not just stay up on the mountain and pray.  He came down and confronted people, starting with his own brother, his older brother.

COMPASSION

We are looking at qualities of godly leaders, not just leaders in the church but leaders in the home or in society.  A third quality is compassion.  Jesus was a leader and He had compassion for people.  Matthew 9:36 says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (NIV)  Moses also was a man of compassion.

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”

33 The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” (32:30-34 NIV).

Moses is a type of Christ.  Moses served as a mediator between God and the people.  Jesus is our mediator.  He went up to try to make atonement for the people. The Tabernacle was not built yet.  Moses was not successful in making atonement for the people.  Jesus makes atonement for us.  He prayed for the people.  This is Moses’ second great prayer in the chapter.  He prays for God to forgive the people.  Jesus makes intercession for us.

Moses was completely selfless. He thought of others and put their needs above his own.  Jesus did the same thing.  Many leaders are only out for themselves.  They like to be leaders because they love the power.  They like to tell other people what to do. It makes them feel better.  It makes them feel important.

Facts About God’s Book

Moses loved the people. He did not want them all to be destroyed. In fact, he said that if God was going to judge them that he wanted to be judged as well and blotted out of God’s book. That tells us four things.

1) God has a book.

He calls it “my book” in Exodus 32:33. From the rest of Scripture we know that he has more than one book in heaven. God has a library in heaven and it is made up of several books. Books are mentioned in the plural (Daniel 7:10; Revelation 20:12). That is good news for those of us who like books. There will be books in heaven.

2) Moses knew about this book.

He asked God to blot him out of the book that God wrote (32:32). How did Moses know about this book? No one knows but we do know that he spent forty days and nights directly in God’s presence.

3) This books has a list of names of people on earth.

Moses’ name was in this book and so were the names of the other Hebrews on earth at that time.

4) Names can be removed from this book by God.

What does that mean?  Is it proof that you can lose your salvation? Does God have a big eraser?  If everyone who was removed from the book for sin, then we would all be removed from the book.  We all sin. What is going on here?  What kind of book we are talking about? There are at least three books mentioned in heaven.

God’s Library in Heaven

1) The Bible mentions a BOOK OF WORKS (Revelation 20:12-13).

This is a scary book.  This book contains all of the works you have done while you were on earth. Can you imagine a book that mentions all of the sins you have committed while you were on earth from the time you were born until the time you die?  It must be a pretty large book.  All of the sins you wished no one knew about or forgot about were all written in this book.

What is even worse is to be held accountable for each one of these sins before an infinitely holy God.  That is what it is like to stand before God in your sins.  That is what the unsaved will do at the Great White Throne Judgment. The Psalmist says, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (130:3).

2) The Bible mentions a book called THE BOOK OF THE LIVING (Psalm 69:28).

That is what Exodus 32 is talking about.  It is a book of physical life, not eternal life.  Every person on the planet is written on this book.  Some names are erased from this book.  The three thousand people who are killed in this chapter are blotted out of God’s book.  Moses did not sin in this chapter but eventually sins and is not given a chance to enter into the Promise Land.  He does not lose his salvation but does receive judgment for his sin.

3) The Bible mentions a book called THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE (Revelation 21:27).

This book is different. It also contains a list of names.  It does not contain a list of the names of everyone on earth but of everyone who is saved (past, present and future).

The names in this book were NOT recorded at the time of salvation.  They were all written in advance before the world even began, before people believed or were even born (Revelation 17:8) and this list does not get bigger as time passes.  It stays the same.

The good news is that when you get saved, you know that you name is in the book.  We know that from two passages in the NT ( Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:2-3).  We can have assurance of salvation.  The question worth asking is this: Is our name written in heaven?  Are we in this book?

The other good news is that there is no evidence that anyone is ever blotted out of this book.  In fact, we are promised in the NT that God will not blot our names out of his book (Revelation 3:5).  Jesus died for our sins.  When we become Christians, God does not blot us out.  He blots our sins out.


[1]
http://www.beliefnet.com/ilovejesus/features/bibles-7-most-powerful-prayers.aspx?p=2

[2] http://archives.relevantmagazine.com/god/4-people-who-successfully-argued-god

[3] http://pastorrick.com/devotional/english/meekness-is-not-weakness

Characteristics of Weak Leaders

A church is only as good as the leaders it has.  Everything rises and falls with leadership. There is a leadership crisis in the church today. Some leaders do not preach the Bible.  They preach psychology.  They tell stories but they do not preach God’s Word.  Some do not preach it, while others do not even believe it anymore.  Others do not live godly lives.  There are ungodly leaders.

Some pastors do not lead and others lead like dictators.  Some elders appointed not even qualified for the job.  One of the biggest problems for mega church is leadership.  The church sometimes grows so fast, they do not have enough leaders to take care of all of the sheep.

Leadership problems are not unique to the church.  The Jews had leadership problems in the OT.  In this chapter, we see two leaders (Moses and Aaron).  One passes the leadership test and one fails miserably.  One is a great leader. The other one was a big disappointment.  If you want to see what a good leader looks like, we see it in this chapter.  If you want to see what a bad leader looks like, we also see it in this chapter.

Anatomy of a Sin

So let’s look at this chapter.  To get the context of what is going on, you have to go back to Exodus 24.  In Exodus 24, God called Moses and about 70 leaders up on a mountain and he appeared to them.  They saw a vision of God.  Then Moses went all the way up to the top of the mountain and went directly into God’s presence which looked like a thick cloud.

Before they went up on the mountain, we are told something important. Exodus 24:13-14 says, “Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”  Moses’ brother Aaron and a man named Hur were in charge while all of these leaders were up on the mountain.  Hur was the grandfather of Bezalel, the one who built the Tabernacle (31:1-2).

Moses stayed up on top of the mountain for forty days and forty nights.  He didn’t eat anything during that time but the people at the beginning of the mountain were beginning to worry.  Moses must not be coming back.  He’s gone for good.

2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. (32:1-8 NIV)

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

Moses is up on the mountain.  Moses told them to wait for him until he got back but he was up there over a month (forty days).  None of us like to wait for things.  They got tired of waiting.  It was taking too long. What would we think if our President disappeared for forty days?

The Jews wanted someone to make them a god who would go before them.  They needed someone to lead them. That was their first mistake.  They were following Moses, instead of following God. They wanted a god they could see.  They wanted one they could look at. They wanted a golden calf.  It seems strange to us.  We do not worship cows in America but they just came out of Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped cows, along with a lot of other animals.

Bulls were worshiped in Egypt.  No animal in the ancient Near East was worshiped more than the bull.  It was the symbol of fertility and power (so Hamilton). It was much easier to bring the Jew out of Egypt than to bring Egypt out of the Jews.

We look at this and wonder how the Israelites could be so stupid. The Hebrews were in bondage for hundreds of years.  God supernaturally delivered them out of slavery.  He supernaturally protected them.  The Red Sea split open.  He provided for them with manna from heaven and water from a rock.  He guided them with the pillar of fire and cloud.

He spoke to them from the mountain.  The whole nation heard Him.  He made a special covenant with them.  The all agreed to the covenant and agreed to keep all of the commandments God gave them.  Now they want someone to make them another god.  Notice what God says.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been QUICK to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ (32:7-8 NIV)

How is it possible that the nation fell into this so quickly with all of these miracles of God happening right before their eyes? Keep in mind that the whole nation does not do this.  Only three thousand people die at the end of the chapter.  Three thousand out of two million died.  It is a small fraction but is still a lot of people.

It is the size of a small town. When the Jews left Egypt, they left with a mixed multitude (12:38). Some other people went with them who were not Hebrews and did not have their faith. They might have had an influence here.

The people went to Aaron with this request (32:1).  Why don’t they bring it to Hur?  He was also a leader.  He is not mentioned at all in this chapter.  According to Jewish tradition, they did bring this request to Hur.  In fact, they went to him first and he refused to do it, so they killed him. That is what the Talmud says (Tractate Sanhedrin 7a).

We are going to be a little hard on Aaron today but we want to make sure that we are balanced.  I want to begin by talking about Aaron’s strengths.  He had many of them.  I would want someone who criticizes me to be balanced, so I want to do the same thing to Aaron.

Aaron’s Strengths

Aaron had many positive attributes.  He had some gifts that even Moses did not have.  He was good at public speaking.  Apparently, he was a good communicator.  Moses asked him to be his spokesman.  He was his press secretary.  God called him Moses’ prophet (7:1).  Someone called Aaron “the orator turned idolater”[1]

He was humble.  He does not seem to mind that his younger brother got all of the attention as the leader of the nation.  He never seems to be jealous of his baby brother who grew up in the palace of Egypt and received the finest education, even though he grew up a poor slave.

He got to play second fiddle as Moses’ assistant, even though he was the older brother.  He was a good team player. He had an incredible ministry. That ministry involved some miracles.  He performed miracles with his rod.  He threw it on the ground and it became a snake (7:9-10).

In fact, the first three of the ten plagues (the plague of blood, the plague of frogs and the plague of gnats) were all done by Aaron’s rod.  Aaron had direct experience with the power of God.  He was also Israel’s first high priest.  He had the top job in the Tabernacle.

In this chapter, we see that, while he was a great communicator and a great miracle worker, he was not a great leader. I want to share with you four signs of a weak leader in the church from the life of Aaron.

Four Signs of Weak Leaders

1) Weak leaders avoid confrontation.

No one likes conflict but sometimes it needs to be done.  Weak leaders avoid conflict at all costs.  They are passive-aggressive.  They would rather do what it easy, than what is hard.  They give people what they want, rather than what they need.  That is exactly what Aaron did.

Instead of standing up for what was right and for what he believed in, he caved to pressure.  He took the path of least resistance.  He was more of a follower than a leader.  Why did he do it?  That brings us to our next point.

2) Weak leaders fear people

Strong leaders do not fear what people think.  Weak leaders are people pleasers.  In this situation, the people surrounded Aaron and got in his face.  They intimidated him.  If the Talmud is correct, they had already killed Hur.  Aaron was thinking, “If I do not do what they say, I will be dead too.” Aaron feared the people more than he feared God.  His action was motivated by fear.  The Bible has a lot to say about the fear of man.

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28 NIV).  We need to come to the point that we say with the Psalmist, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6).  We need to stop worrying about what other people think and worry more about what God thinks.

3) Weak leaders do not take responsibility

Someone said, “Taking responsibility is the highest mark of great leaders.”[2] Weak leaders do not take responsibility for their actions. In some churches, you can never criticize the pastor.  He is God’s Anointed.  Some teach that it is a sin to criticize your pastor.  They base in on Psalm 105:15.  That is a dangerous teaching because it says that the pastor is accountable to no one.  He can do no wrong and can say no wrong.  That is how cults are started.

Psalm 105 is talking about physical harm, not criticism.  The fact is that we are sinners.  None of us are immune from criticism.  All of us can fall into sin, even great sin.  Aaron does here. Moses does later.  David did.  Paul had to rebuke another apostle over something in Galatians.  Weak leaders do not take too well to correction.

“Good leaders take responsibility. Bad leaders place blame.”[3]  They never admit a personal mistake.  It is always someone else’s fault.  Harry Truman used to have a sign on his desk when he was president.  The sign said, “The buck stops here.”  The idea was that he did not pass the buck.  He accepted responsibility as president for what went on in the country. Unfortunately, Aaron did not follow that philosophy.  He made excuses for his behavior.

When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” 22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:19-24 NIV)

He made three excuses for his behavior.  It must have run in the family.  When God called Moses at the burning bush, he made four or five excuses why he could not do what God told him to do.  He said, “You are sending the wrong man.  I am not qualified for the job.  I am terrible at public speaking.  I do not know what to say.  I do not even know your name and no one will listen to me anyway.”

The Excuses of Aaron

Now Moses confronts Aaron about what happened.  Aaron was the one put in charge and Aaron makes excuses.  After Moses came down the mountain, he confronted Aaron and Aaron makes three basic excuses.

First, it was not a big deal.  Moses called it, not only sin but “great sin” (32:21).  Aaron says in essence, “What’s the big deal?  It is just a golden calf. Don’t overreact.  It is not a major problem.”  Weak leaders always minimize sin.

Second, it is the way that people are these days.  It is just signs of the times. There was some truth to this.  The people were prone to do evil.  God called them “a stiff-necked people” (32:9) but that did not justify what they did. Aaron used it as an excuse for sin.  “I can’t help sinning.  I have a sin nature.  I just do what comes naturally to me.”

Third, these things just happen.  I had no control over it.  Aaron said, “I just threw the gold in the fire and ‘poof’ this calf came out.”  That was a bold-faced lie.  It was a bunch of bull, as Frank Carpi in our Sunday School class pointed out.  Aaron was not honest about what happened and about his role in this idolatry.

Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.

4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf  (32:3-6a).

Apparently, men wore earrings in that day as well.  He threw the gold into a fire and fashioned it into an idol, using a tool.  Aaron was the one who built the thing.  He was the idol builder.  He does not just worship the idol, he builds it.  He makes it and he does not make any idol.  He makes a gold one and then he made an altar.  Here he functioned as a high priest of a pagan deity.  He was the worship leader.

4) Weak leaders try to appease appease people

They cannot say “no.”  When the people came to Aaron and asked for a golden calf, instead of correcting them, he just appeased them.  Sometimes parents appease their kids.  They start to cry, so the parent gives them what they want to shut them up.  That is exactly what Aaron did.

It was the policy of appeasement. When you are threatened and intimidated, just give in.  It is a big problem today.  Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler.  Some leaders today believe we should just appease terrorists.

Aaron did the same thing.  The people came to Aaron and asked him to make them idols.  They got in his face and intimidated him.  What was Aaron’s answer?  He gave them exactly what they wanted but then tried to keep the worship of Yahweh. He made a golden calf but then made an announcement.  “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” (32:5 NIV).

Aaron came up with the PERFECT COMPROMISE.  He was the first syncretist.  The people wanted to worship a gold calf.  He wanted to worship Yahweh, so he said, “Let’s do both.  That will make everyone happy (except God).  This was the strategy of Aaron.  There was only one problem.  In order to do this, Aaron had to break one of the Ten Commandments, namely the Second Commandment.

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,6 but showing love to a thousand  generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (20:4-6 NIV).

Beware of the danger of mixing Christianity with paganism. Furthermore, Jesus said that you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).  You can’t serve God and Money and you can’t serve God and a Golden Calf either.  God said not to do this. In fact, the Second Commandment has a warning if you break it.

Beware of the danger of mixing Christianity with false religion (take one idea from Buddhism, one idea from Hinduism, one idea from Islam and add it to Christianity).  That is what the Bahai faith tries to do.  It tries to unify all of the world religions.

Beware of the danger of mixing Christianity with political correctness.  Christianity is true but Jesus is not the only way. It is okay to be Christian, as long as we are tolerant, inclusive, non-offensive and non-judgmental.  That will not work. The gospel itself is offensive.  It calls people sinners who deserve judgment.

[1] http://www.christianlibrary.org/authors/John_L_Kachelman_Jr/people-ot/aaron.htm

[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackzenger/2015/07/16/taking-responsibility-is-the-highest-mark-of-great-leaders/#70f6762f48f2

[3] http://unapologeticcapitalist.com/good-leaders-take-responsibility/

The Ark of the Covenant

This is the digging Deeper Sunday School class.  Today, we want to go deep.  We want to try to to solve one of the mysteries of the universe today.  Few items in the Bible has produced as much interest, curiosity and speculation as the Ark of the Covenant. It is a religious relic that has fascinated people for a very long time. It has been the subject of some Hollywood movies.  There are some strange ideas about this ark among some Christians.

What does the Bible actually say about the Ark of the Covenant?  Who made it?  What is so special about it?  What happened to this object?  Has it ever been found?  These are some of the questions we will be looking at today but first I want to review what we covered last week.

The final section of Exodus deals with worship.  It deals with the Tabernacle.  Last week, we saw several things about the Tabernacle.  One, we saw that the Tabernacle was a place where God was worshiped through the shedding of blood.

Why is God so obsessed with blood?  Death has to occur because the wages of sin is death. The punishment for sin is death.  The problem is that we do not see how bad sin is.  It does not seem that bad to us. God looks on sin differently than we do.

Two, we saw that the Tabernacle was a place where people could worship God.  It was not just a big tent.  It was a place of worship.  Three, we saw that it was a place where God manifested His presence.

Is God’s presence manifested in church today?  In some churches it is.  As soon as you walk into the building, you can tell that God is present (I Corinthians 14:24-25). There are plenty of other churches where God is not present at all.  They are dead.  Jesus said that some churches have a reputation that they are alive but are dead (Revelation 3:1).

There are some churches that have dead men in the pulpit and dead men in the pews. They have dead men preaching, delivering dead sermons. They have dead men leading worship. Some churches have Ichabod written on the door (cf. I Samuel 4:21-22).

Ichabod was the name of one of Eli’s grandsons.  It means “the glory is departed.”  God can remove his glory from a church.  It is one of the worst things that can happen to a church.  Many churches have seen God do great things but in some churches he has stopped working.  In fact, He is no longer present.  We never want to be that kind of a church, a God-forsaken church.

God dwelt in the Tabernacle.  God lived with people.  Where he dwelt with the people is interesting.  We know from the Book of Numbers that the Tabernacle was right in the MIDDLE of the camp (Numbers 2:17).  God’s presence was right in the middle of the camp with three tribes on each side of the Tabernacle.

The last part of the Book of Exodus deals with the Tabernacle.  Exodus 25-30 deal with INSTRUCTIONS for the Tabernacle and Exodus 35-40 deal with CONSTRUCTION of the Tabernacle.

Stages of a Building Project

Building the Tabernacle was a big ordeal. Building projects have several stages.  It requires a vision, finances, a plan and actual construction.  The same was true of the Tabernacle.

First, there is a VISION to build something it.  Someone comes up with the idea.  In this case, God was the one who came up with the idea.  He gave the vision to Moses on the mountain when he was with God for forty days and forty nights.

Second, MONEY has to be raised.  You can’t build a building without money.  How was the money for the Tabernacle raised?  Did they have a big fund-raising campaign like most churches do when they have a building campaign?  Did preachers try to twist people’s arms and get them to give and use pledge cards?  No.  No one was forced to give anything.  They gave voluntarily.

Exodus 25:1-7 says, “The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. 3 These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; 4 blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; 5 ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; 6 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 7 and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.” (NIV)

The money did not come from a tithe but from a free will offering.  It was not a tax.  Different people brought different things.  Some brought expensive things, like gold and silver and some just brought yarn and goat hair.

This principle is still true today.  It is called the voluntary principle. II Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NIV)

Third, you have to have a PLAN.  You have to have some design proposals.  God came up with the plan.  He gave everyone the blueprints.  He told people how to build it and what materials to use.  Fourth, the building has to be BUILT.  You have to hire some contractors.  The last five chapters of Exodus deal with construction of the Tabernacle.

Now this is interesting.  God had the vision and the plan but the people provided the materials.  They did not fall out of the sky.  The people also  built the Tabernacle.  God did not build the Tabernacle for them.  They built it.  He told them how to build it but they did the building and they built it precisely according to plan.  They followed the divine design for it.

How did they know how to build it?  Not everyone has carpentry skills.  Not everyone has to have carpentry skills.   There were over two million people among the Jews.  Some of them were very gifted and had some construction skills.  Exodus mentions the names of two skilled craftsmen who were involved in the building of the Tabernacle.  Bezalel was filled with the Spirit of God and he was not a preacher.  He was a carpenter.  He was a master craftsman.

Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen BEZALEL son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.

34 And he has given both him and OHOLIAB son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. 35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers. (Exodus 35:30-35 NIV)

The Tabernacle and the Sabbath

In Exodus 35, construction of the Tabernacle began but before it did we are told something very interesting.  Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: 2 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of Sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. 3 Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” (35:1-3 NIV)

Why is that mentioned?  The Fourth Commandment is to keep the Sabbath.  That was one of God’s top ten rules.  Moses wants to make sure everyone to understand that they cannot work on the Sabbath and that includes working on the Tabernacle.

Anyone who worked on the Sabbath was to be put to death and that includes working on the Tabernacle.  Even if you are working on the construction of a Tabernacle for God to dwell in, you could not do it on the Sabbath.  Moses says that the seventh day is holy.

Last week, we said that the Tabernacle had three parts.  It was divided into three sections.  It had an OUTER COURT.  It had an INNER COURT and it had a MOST HOLY PLACE.  There were two things in the outer court – a bronze altar and a bronze basin.  Everything in the other courts was gold.  The altar in the outer court was for sacrificing animals and if you are dealing with dead animals, you need to wash your hands.  God wants His people clean, as Warren Wierbse points out.

There were three things in the inner court.  It had a table of bread (twelve loaves).  Every Saturday, a priest would come in and put in twelve more loaves.  It had a golden lampstand and it had another altar, an altar of incense.  This altar was golden.  It was not for sacrificing animals but for burning incense.  John the Baptist’ dad burned incense on this altar in the holy place when he received a vision about his wife having a baby.  There was only one thing in the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant.

tabernacle3

The Ark of the Covenant

“They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.

13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. 20

The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. 21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. (25:10-22 ESV)

Questions about the Ark of the Covenant

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1) What was the ark?

It was a small wooden box or chest about three and a half feet long and two and a half feet wide and high.  It was made of shittim wood which was acacia wood.  It is a special type of hard wood.  Floors are made of this today (acacia wood flooring).

It was not only made of wood but was covered in gold inside and out.  It was gold plated and it had a top that was made, not of wood, but of pure gold and it had some decoration on the top of it.  It had two angels carved on the top of it.

2) What was in the ark?

Hebrews 9:3-4 answers that question.  Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant (NIV).

This box contained three things.  It contained some sacred relics.  These relics represented God’s Law (Ten Commandments), God’s Miracle (Aaron’s Rod) and God’s Provision (Manna)

3) What was so special about this box?

It was a sacred piece of furniture.  God’s presence and glory filled this box.  This box was not magical.  The Israelites learned that.  They were fighting the Philistines in I Samuel 4.  They lost a battle to the Philistines. Four thousand people died and thought if they went and brought the ark, they might win.

They brought it into the camp and there was a great shout but they lost the next battle and thirty thousand people died (I Samuel 4:1-11).  The ark was not magical.  It didn’t have special powers but it was supernatural.  It symbolized the very presence of God.  It was the place of presence.

The ark was so holy that it could NEVER EVER touched by human hands.  They could not even touch it accidentally.  In fact, if you did touch it, you would die.  It did not even touch the floor.  It had feet (25:12).

There is a dramatic scene at the end of the Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Nazis get possession of the ark.  They take the lid off of the arkOne of them reaches their hand inside it and pulls some dust out of it and they all die.  Their faces begin to melt.

II Samuel 6 describes how the ark was being transported by thirty thousand people.  They were having a big celebration.  There was music and dancing.  The ark was being transported on a cart and it started to fall.  A man reached out to grab it before it fell and he dropped dead.  The Bible says that God was angry with him and killed him on the spot. This seems strange.  Why did he die?  King David was furious.  First He was angry and then the text says that he was afraid of God.

Apparently, it is not enough to mean well, even in worship.  It is not enough to have great intentions. Uzzah was sincere. He had great zeal.  They were just trying to love the ark to Jerusalem so they could worship.  Uzzah was trying to grab it before it fell to the ground.  This sounds like he was doing a good deed and no good deed goes unpunished.

The problem was that they were doing the right thing in the wrong way. God said that the ark could never be touched by human hands.  He also gave very specific instructions about this box.  He told them who was to move it and how it was to be moved. It was to be carried on a pole and it was to be carried only by Levites.  The Jews disregarded these instructions and did it their own way.

This box was holy.  It represented God’s manifest presence. It had angels on top of it because the cherubim are associated with God’s presence.  Is God’s presence manifest in the ark today?  No.  There are some important lessons that we can learn.

Three Lessons from the Ark

1) There is a barrier between God and sinful people.

Exodus 26:31-35 says that there was a thick veil or curtain that divided the two rooms.  It separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy place.  There has to be a barrier between God and people.  Sinners cannot have access to the Most Holy Place.

After Jesus died, the veil was split in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51), which shows that God, not man, was the one who tore it.  We have access to God that Jews did not have in the OT.  We have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19).

2) God presence is tied to His Word.

His presence was represented right above this box.  This box contained his Word.  The two stone tablets written with the finger of God were in this box (I Kings 8:9).  God’s presence is manifest right above His revelation.  God’s presence permeates the Bible.  It is a holy book. There is another lesson here.  God said, “I will meet with you … on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you” (25:22).

3) God cannot have communion with sinful people without atonement.

That is why there was a mercy seat on top of the ark.  It was made of pure gold.  11 “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.

12 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

14 And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.  

16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. (Leviticus 16:11-16 NIV)

The high priest had to kill two animals, one for his sins and the sins of his family and one for the sins of the nation.  He had to go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on this gold mercy seat (which was never washed) to make atonement for those sins and this was good for only one year. Next year, he had to do the same thing.

Jesus made atonement for us with his own blood.  In fact, the NT says that Jesus is our mercy seat.  The word “mercy seat” in Hebrews means to cover or make propitiation. Jesus is called our propitiation in the NT (Romans 3:25; I John 2:2; 4:10).

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:11-12 NIV)

Some Christians clearly teach that teach that Jesus brought blood into heaven.  They teach that Jesus took his blood to heaven and that the blood of Jesus is in heaven on the mercy seat[1]

In fact, the NLT says, “With his own blood–not the blood of goats and calves–he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”  The only problem is that the Greek word does not mean “with” his own blood but “through” his own blood (διὰδὲτοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος).[2]   He did not have to present blood in heaven.

4) What happened to the Ark?

That is the million dollar question.  Many think no one knows where it is and that this is one of the mysteries of history.  Let’s trace the history of the ark.  It was made by Bezalel and put in the Tabernacle.  Bezalel was the master craftsman.

When Solomon built the Temple, the ark was placed in the Temple.  In 587 BC, the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem. They put a siege around the city so no one could get in or out.  God told the king to surrender but he refused to do so.

Jeremiah knew that the Babylonians were going to invade the country and he had two choices.  He could just let them come in and defile the Temple or he could hide some of the objects in the Temple.  The rabbinic view is that the priests hid the ark beneath the Temple Mount in an underground chamber.

That is what the Apocrypha teaches as well.  II Maccabees 2:4-8 says that Jeremiah took the ark and hid it from the Babylonians before the city was destroyed.  All of this makes perfect sense.  The Babylonians when they invaded never claimed to find the ark.

The problem is that the area cannot be excavated because it is controlled by Muslims.  It is under the Dome of the Rock Mosque but several people claim to have seen it.  Rabbi Meir Yehuda Getz, who was Rabbi of the Western Wall claimed to see it in 1981.[3] Ron Wyatt claims to have found it in 1982 in a cave in the north side of Jerusalem.[4]  He dug at the site for about eight years.

The Temple Institute in the old city Jerusalem is dedicated to rebuilding a future Jewish temple.  They have already made some of the garments and over sixty sacred vessels according to the biblical requirements. They say that they know exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is located and one day will reveal it to the world. [5]  Most people think that the Ark of the Covenant is lost but Jews in Jerusalem know exactly where it is.

[1] http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/salvation_webpages/09-blood_applied_in_heaven.htm

[2] http://www.bcbsr.com/greek/gprep.html

[3] https://cryforzion.com/has-the-ark-of-the-covenant-ever-been-found/

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UyqxzuSMCo

[5] https://www.templeinstitute.org/ark_of_the_covenant.htm

Worship in the Tabernacle

We have been studying Exodus for a long time and today we come to the final section of Exodus.  There have been several big themes in Exodus so far.  The first big topic was REDEMPTION.  God delivers His people.  That is found in Exodus 1-18.

The second big topic is COVENANT.  We see that in Exodus 19, although it is not officially ratified until Exodus 24.  After redeeming His people, God makes a covenant with them.  We have been redeemed and we are also under a covenant, the New Covenant.  God relates to us in a covenant as well.

The third theme in Exodus is LAW.  We see that in Exodus 20-23. It is called “The Book of the Covenant” in Exodus.  After God redeemed His people, He told them how to live.  He still does that today.  We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.  We are bought with a price and are to glorify God in our body.  The One who redeemed is holy and we are to be holy.

The last theme in the book is WORSHIP.  It is a big deal because so many chapters in the book deal with it.  God wants to be in relationship with us and desires to be worshiped.

Today, we come to the topic of the Tabernacle which is all about worship.  I want to look at worship in the Tabernacle.  In some ways, it is very similar to worship today.  In some ways, it does not look anything like worship today in the average church.

I have to begin with a confession. Pastor James MacDonald used to say, “All for honesty in church.”  I have been dreading these chapters.  Many who read some of these chapters begin to fall asleep.  They do not seem very practical.  They do not seem very exciting.

No one would call these their favorite chapters in the Bible. I have never heard anyone say that they have been transformed by these chapters  or that they have changed their life.  This section seems dry and boring. It deals with construction designs for furniture and rooms and tents.

What I want to do today is to simplify it and break it down and make some applications.  Some of you may know nothing about the Tabernacle.  Moses spends about fifteen chapters on the Tabernacle.  Albert Einstein said, “The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.” The Tabernacle is a complicated topic.  I want to try to simplify it today.

This week, I want to look at the big picture.  Next week, we may look at some of the details but we do not want to miss the forest for the trees.  When you look at the big picture, you will see that the Tabernacle is fascinating. There are many ways the Tabernacle points people to Jesus.  What exactly was the Tabernacle? Why was it important?  How was it different from church?

Four Important Tabernacle Truths

1) The Tabernacle was a place where people could worship God.

The Tabernacle was a place of worship.  It was the center of Jewish worship for hundreds of years.  It was very different from the worship we have today.  We do not worship God in a big tent, a big portable tent.  The Tabernacle was not built to hold religious meetings and to have large gatherings of fellowship with other believers.

There was no preaching in the Tabernacle.  There was no music in the Tabernacle.  There is no mention of musicians or worship singers in the Tabernacle, although there were some in the Temple later. It was a place where people could come to meet with God.  God was in the Tabernacle.  In fact, when the Tabernacle was finally built in the last chapter of the book, the Shekinah glory filled it.

Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work. 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels. (40:34-37)

Not only could people worship God in the Tabernacle, this worship was divinely directed. It was not Moses’ idea.  It was not Aaron’s idea.  It was God’s idea.  God told Moses to build the Tabernacle and told him exactly HOW it was to be made.  God was the architect.  Moses was not to be original and creative.  He was not to be a great innovator but to follow a “pattern” (25:9). He was to follow the architectural blueprint God gave him.

Noah was told to follow a pattern when he built the ark.  God gave him the exact dimensions to the thing and even told him what kind of wood to use.  He did not design the ark himself.  There is incredible detail here in the instructions. Apparently, God is detail oriented.  If you did not know that before, you learn it from these chapters.  They show how detail oriented God is.

Moses and Aaron were not to worship God the way they thought He should be worshiped or the way he wanted to worship Him.  They were to worship Him the way God told him to worship Him.  That is still true today. We are not supposed to worship God any way we want to worship Him.  We are supposed to worship him the way that He tells us to worship him.  God cares about HOW He is worshiped.  Aaron’s sons found this out.

Leviticus 10:1-2 says, “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”

Who were Nadab and Abihu?  They were Aaron’s oldest sons, which made them also Moses’ nephews, because Aaron was Moses’ brother. Nadab and Abihu were part of the group of seventy that went up on the mountain and saw God.  They had connections to Moses.  They received special revelation that few in the nation received.  That had special privileges.

They were leaders themselves.  They had been ordained.  They were just consecrated as priests.  They were Israel’s first’s priests and they died the first day on the job.  They were killed in church while they were worshiping God.  They did not do it in the right way.  They offered a strange fire and died.

Jesus said that God MUST worshiped IN SPIRIT and IN TRUTH (John 4:24). You have to have both.  It is not enough to have truth.  You have to have spirit.  You have to worship God with your whole heart.  It is also not enough be sincere and passionate about worship.  You can be passionate about worshiping a golden calf.  Many are on fire for a false god.  Worship must be in spirit and in truth.

2) The Tabernacle was the place where God manifested His presence.

God desires to dwell with his people.  It is the theme of the whole bible.  Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden.  Because of sin, there has been a barrier between God and man.  In the eternal state, God will once again dwell with His people.

Revelation 21:3 says, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (NIV).

In the last chapter of Exodus that we studied, Moses went up on Mount Sinai directly into God’s presence.  He went into a cloud and stayed there for forty days and forty nights.  He went up on the mountain to meet with God.  In Exodus 25, we see that God does not just want to dwell with Moses.  He wants to dwell with His people.

The Tabernacle teaches us something very important.  God does not just to REDEEM His people.  He wants to FELLOWSHIP with His people.  God is a person.  He wants a personal relationship with each one of us.  He also wants to DWELL among his people.  He does not just want a relationship.  He wants to LIVE with us. Exodus 25:8 says, “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them” (NIV).

Exodus 29:45-46 says, “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. 45 Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. 46 They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God” (NIV)

The Tabernacle was where God was manifesting His presence in a visible way in a way that He does not do today.  We come to church to worship God.  We come to meet God but we do not see Him in a visible way in church. They did in the Tabernacle because God lived there.

God condescended to live among his people on earth in the Tabernacle.  He is not just hanging around.  He is setting up residence.  The Jews lived in a tent and God lived in a tent with them. That made the Tabernacle the most important place in the world.

No other nation in the world had this.  Someone said that the Jews did not have the Pyramids like the Egyptians.  They did not have philosophy like the Greeks.  They did not have armies like the Romans but they had God dwelling with them in their midst. No other nation in the world had that. The Tabernacle was God dwelling among his people. It is a picture of Christ.

That is what happened at the Incarnation. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (NASB).  The word “dwelled” in Greek (σκηνόω) is the word tabernacle.  Jesus tabernacle or dwelt with his people during the incarnation.

This raises an important question.  We do not have a tabernacle anymore.  The NT tells us that God does not dwell in temples made with hands.  Paul said this (Acts 17:29) and so did Stephen (Acts 7:48).  Where is God’s dwelling place today?

In the OT, God dwelled in a physical house.  Today, He dwells in the church.  We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  A temple is where God lives.  Temples are sacred buildings.  That means our bodies are sacred.  The Holy Spirit lives inside each one of us, if we are saved.  He does not live inside a physical building.  He lives inside of people. The church is described in the NT as a building.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22 NIV).

Notice that the church is called “a dwelling in which God lives.”  It is described as “a dwelling for God” or as the KJV says “a habitation for God.”

3) The Tabernacle was a place where God was worshiped through the shedding of blood

You cannot come into God’s presence and worship him if you do not deal with sins.  That is the problem with religions today.  They have no answer to the sin problem.  There are humanistic ways to reach God through man-made religion but they do not solve the sin issue.

The Bible says that you cannot deal with sins that apart from the shedding of blood.  The only way you can approach God is through blood.  There has to be death, an innocent victim and a substitute.  This is just another way that the Tabernacle pointed to Jesus.

Hebrews 9:22 says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is NO FORGIVENESS.” (NIV)  That is still true today.  We can only approach God through the blood of his Son.  We cannot approach Him any other way.

Once a year, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies.  He represented the whole nation.  He had two stones with the names of all of the twelve tribes engraved on his ephod (28:8-12).  He went into the holy of Holies with incense burning and a bowl full of blood.

He would splash blood on the mercy seat for his own sins and for the sins of the nation splatters that blood on the mercy seat and walks out (Leviticus 16).  We will look at that more next week.  Jesus is our high priest but he was different from these OT high priests.

Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:27).

The whole Tabernacle system was based on sacrifice.  It was there where the sacrifices were made.  When you entered into the Tabernacle, the first thing you saw was the bronze altar.  That was where the sacrifices were made.

Pastors talk about having an altar in the front of the church but they do not look anything like the altars in the Bible.  The word “altar” in Hebrew means “slaughter place.”  It was the place where animals were sacrificed and blood was shed.  It comes from a verbal root meaning “to slaughter.”

4) Access to God’s presence in the Tabernacle was restricted.

God’s presence has restricted access. How was it restricted?  It was restricted in a number of ways.  This Tabernacle had three parts.  It was divided into three sections.  It had an OUTER COURT.  It had an INNER COURT and it had a MOST HOLY PLACE.  Anyone could go into the outer court.

The only ones allowed into the inner court were the priests.  Not anyone could be a priest.  It didn’t matter how much you felt that God was leading you to be a priest or you felt called to the work of the priesthood. You had to be born a priest.  You had to be born in the tribe of Levi.

If you were born in any of the eleven other tribes, you could not be priest but not all of the Levites could be priests.  You had to not only be a Levite; you had to be a descendant of Aaron but even that did not guarantee that you could be a priest. To be a priest, you had to pass a physical exam.  There were some physical requirements to the priesthood.

“No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord.

He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’” (Leviticus 21:18-23 NIV)

That is strange.  That doesn’t sound fair.  If a church did not let some of these kinds of people be pastors today, there would be all kinds of lawsuits from the ACLU.  Doesn’t God love the handicapped?  Does He only like people who are physically flawless?  No.

Jesus healed people who had all kinds of disabilities.  He healed the blind.  He healed the deaf.  He healed the lame.  The Bible forbids even people to take advantage of the disabled (cf. Leviticus 19:14).  The priesthood was symbolic.  It required a perfect sacrifice and perfect priest.

Only the priests could go into the inner court and only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies where God’s presence was manifested. No one else could go into the holiest part of the Tabernacle.  It was limited to one man and only he could do it once a year.  It was limited to ONE MAN at ONE TIME.

Most of the Jews never had access to the Most Holy Place.  Only the priests could do this but even the priests could not go into the Holy of Holies.  There was limited access to God.  How does that apply today?

The NT teaches that we are all priests.  It is not just the pastor or all of the leaders of the church.  Every single Christian is a priest.  The Catholic Church teaches that only certain people are priests.  The Bible teaches the universal priesthood of believers.  That means that we all have access to God.  We do not have to go through a mediator to get to God.  I Timothy 2:5 says that there is one mediator and it is Jesus.

Hebrews 10:19 says, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (NIV)

Ephesians 2:17-19 says, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (NIV)

We are priests.  We are part of the priesthood.  I Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  Peter says that we are priests.  We are not Levitical priests or Aaronic priests but we are still priests. We are priests of the New Covenant and not the Old Covenant.

They had direct access to God and so do we.  They were anointed and so are we.  OT priests were anointed with oil.  We are anointed with the Holy Spirit.  They offered sacrifices to God and so do we.  They made intercession for people and so do we.

The tragedy of the church is that many Christians do not take advantage of this great privilege. Worship is not important to us and we rarely take the time to come directly into God’s presence.  Some do it less than once a year.

Israel Saw God

Exodus 24 is a fascinating chapter. It takes place on Mount Sinai.  It is the same place that God gave the Jews the Ten Commandments.  They were in slavery to the Egyptians for four hundred years until God finally redeemed them.  He set them free.  He heard their cries and answered their prayers.  They could not free themselves from slavery, so God redeemed them.  They left slavery without even having to fight a battle.  There was no Civil War like we had in America.

Two million people left Egypt in a hurry. In the wilderness, God PROTECTED them.  They saw a sea split in half and their enemies killed.  He PROVIDED for them.  He gave them manna to eat every day. He LED them with the Pillar of Fire at night and the Pillar of cloud by day.

He also SPOKE to them.  The Jews came to a mountain and camped in front of it and something amazing happened.  God spoke from the top of a mountain and two million people heard him.   He spoke to them at Mount Sinai.

He spoke the Ten Commandments.  God speaks to us all of the time but most of us do not hear an audible voice.  They did and it was not one spiritual person in the nation who heard God speak.  Two million people heard Him.  He spoke in a loud voice.

They not only heard things, they saw other things.  They saw a thick cloud.  The whole mountain was on fire.  Mountain is made of rock but this mountain was on fire and there was lightning and thunder.  Today, we come to Sinai Part II.  This is Sinai 2.0.  The first time was an incredible display of glory and power on Smokey Mountain.  Now, He does it again. God comes down on the same mountain a second time and everyone can see it.

God not only redeemed the Jews, He offered them a covenant.  No other country in the world was given a covenant like this and God gave them a choice.  They accepted the terms.  We see that twice in this chapter.  

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” (24:3 NIV)

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” (23:7 NIV)

This chapter gives us a ratification of the covenant that God made with the Jews at Mount Sinai.  It was ratified in a public ceremony, like a wedding ceremony.  Vows were even exchanged.  The terms of the covenant were given to the people. Moses read them and the people accepted the terms.

They not only promised to do EVERYTHING the Lord said but they ALL said it with one voice.  They were sincere.  They meant well.  They had good intentions.  They were enthusiastic.  They sounded like a new believer.  “We love God.  We will do whatever He says.”  The problem is that their follow through was not all that great.

In just a few chapters, these same people were worshiping a golden calf but, before we criticize them, we need to look at ourselves.  Many times we are just like them.  We mean well and are sincere but do not always keep our commitments.

This covenant was not only ratified with a ceremony, the ceremony involved death.  It involved blood.  Blood was sprinkled on the people and blood was sprinkled on the altar (24:6, 8).  The covenant was confirmed with the sprinkling of blood.  It was the formal ratification of a legal agreement.

It was followed by a special meal on this holy mountain (24:11).  In the ancient world, covenants were concluded with a special meal (so Stuart).  This was not just a fellowship meal.  It was a covenant meal. That was the old covenant.

We are not under the old covenant.  We do not bring animals to church today.  We do not have animal sacrifices.  We do not collect blood in bowls and sprinkle it on people.  We are part of the new covenant but the new covenant is also a blood covenant.  We are also under a blood covenant and we too have been sprinkled with blood.

We are part of this covenant because of Jesus’ violent death on the cross.  I Peter 1:2 says that we have been chosen “to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood” (NIV).

Hebrews 12:24 says that we have come “to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood” (NIV). We celebrate this covenant in a meal called communion or The Lord’s Supper.

Three Amazing Things in This Chapter

Some have called Exodus 24 one of the most important chapters in the Bible and yet it is rarely even studied by Christians today.  It is one of the most incredible chapters in the Bible.  There is nothing like it anywhere in the Bible.  What is so special about this chapter?

1) This chapter contains with a shocking INVITATION.

Seventy-four people get a special invitation by God to go up to Mount Sinai and worship.  We are told who they are in the first verse.  Seventy elders, along with Moses, Aaron and his two sons were given this invitation (24:1).  It was not given to everyone but just to the leaders of the nation.

What was so shocking about this invitation?  Just a few chapters earlier in Exodus, God said that nobody but Moses was allowed to go up this mountain.  The people could not go up.  They were FORBIDDEN to do this.  The leaders could not go up.  In fact, they could even touch the mountain.

If they touched it, they died (19:12-13, 23).  This was the same mountain, the same people and the same God and five chapters later in Exodus.  Only Moses could go up. Now God actually invites some people up the mountain to see Him.  They could not come up without an invitation.

2) This chapter contains an amazing VISION.

The leaders of the nation saw something incredible in this chapter.  Exodus 24:9-11 says, “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.”

We have never had a vision like this. Our entire life, we will never have a vision like this.  Other people in the Bible had a vision of God.  There are about eleven or twelve visions of God in the Bible.  There are more than ten other visions of God in the Bible besides this one.

JACOB saw a ladder from earth to heaven and the Lord stood above it (Genesis 28:12-13). MOSES had three other visions of God besides this one (Exodus 3:1-21; 24:18; 33:23).  The prophet MICAIAH saw the Lord sitting upon His throne (II Chronicles 18:18).  The prophet ISAIAH saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:1).

EZEKIEL saw a throne in the form of a sapphire stone and a man sitting on top of it (Ezekiel 1:26).  In fact, he saw this more than once (cf. 10:1).  DANIEL saw the Ancient of Days sitting on a throne and it was on fire (Daniel 7:9).  The One who sat on this throne had white hair (white as wool) and wore white clothes.

STEPHEN, The first Christian martyr, had a vision of God just before he died.  He saw the glory of God and Jesus sitting on his right hand (Acts 7:55).  The Apostle JOHN had a vision of the resurrected Christ shining like the sun.  His eyes were like a flame of fire and a sharp sword came out of his mouth (Revelation 1:12-17).

Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

This does raise an important question.  These visions have caused a problem for some people.  Skeptics love passages like this.  These passages seem to contradict other clear passages in Scripture.  John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God.”

Not only has no one seen God, not one has EVER see God.  I Timothy 6:16 says that God “lives in unapproachable light, whom no one HAS seen or CAN see.”  In fact, the Bible teaches that God is INVISIBLE (I Timothy 1:17; Colossians 1:15).  How can you see the invisible?

That brings us to our problem. The NT says that no has seen God and no one can see God but in Exodus 24 we are told that over seventy people did see God on a mountain.  It says plainly that they saw the God of Israel.  Not only did some see God, they all saw Him. In fact, it says it twice in three verses, in case you did not get it the first time.  Does the Bible contradict itself?

The answer is No.  There is a difference between seeing God and seeing a visible manifestation of God.  Everyone in the Bible who saw God saw a theophany.  They saw a visible manifestation of God.  God is a spirit. He does not have a body (apart from the Incarnation) but He often does appear to people in a visible way.

These theophanies not only reveal God; they conceal God.  They do NOT show God in all of His glory.  That would kill people.  It would be like standing right next to the Sun and looking at it.  Even Moses did not see all of God’s glory. We will see that in Exodus 33.

Three Forms of God in Exodus 24

Fire

God appeared as fire in this chapter.  Exodus 24:17 says, “To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked LIKE A CONSUMING FIRE on top of the mountain.”  The top of the mountain was on fire, which is a little strange.  This mountain was all rock.  It was a granite mountain and it was burning.

When people see God, they often see fire. God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush.  Moses spoke to God at the Burning Bush but the only thing he saw was fire.

When the Apostle John saw the resurrected Christ, what did he see?  We are told that “The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and HIS EYES WERE LIKE BLAZING FIRE” (Revelation 1:17). Ezekiel had a vision of God and he also saw fire.

Ezekiel 1:26-28 says, “Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if FULL OF FIRE, and that from there down he looked like FIRE; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown.” (NIV)

Clouds

God also appeared as a cloud.  A thick cloud covered the mountain (24:15-16).  This was not a rain cloud but a glory cloud.  Moses went to the top of the mountain and directly into God’s presence, he went into a cloud (24:18).

Precious Stones

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. (24:9-10 NIV)

Now, this is a little strange.  It says that the seventy elders saw the God of Israel but it does not tell us what God looked like.  All the text says is what is under his feet.  The only thing it describes is the pavement He is standing on.  It describes the floor and the floor is made up of lapis lazuli.

When we think of pavement, we do not think of precious stones, although the Bible says that heaven will be made up of streets of gold (Revelation 21:21). We do not know exactly which precious stone they saw here.

Was it lapis lazuli (NIV) or sapphire (ESV, NASB)?  Both of them are blue stones.  Why is that what they mentioned?  They were worshiping.  They are standing before this bright light and were prostrate on the ground.  They bowed down with their faces to the ground.

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. (Revelation 4:2-3 NIV)  Jasper is also a blue gem.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (Revelation 21:10-11 NIV).

3) This chapter contains a unique EXPERIENCE.

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Nobody else in the Bible had an experience like this.  This was unique.  Moses was a type of Christ.  He was a mediator between God and man.  He goes up on the mountain and gets the tablets and laws from God and gives them to the people.  He is a mediator because he can go to the top of the mountain where God is and no one else can.  He had a special relationship with God that no one else had.  We see this in Numbers 12.

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.

3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) 4 At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam.

When the two of them stepped forward, 6 he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. 7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. (Numbers 12:1-8 NIV)

Moses had a special relationship with God that no one else had. Notice what was said about him in Deuteronomy 34.

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. (34:10-12)

There were three levels of intimacy on this mountain.  The PEOPLE at the bottom of the mountain were at one level.  Two million people at the bottom had all kinds of special privileges.  They were part of the covenant nation and saw God work incredible miracles in the wilderness.  They were witnesses.  They could also see what was going on at the top of the mountain from the bottom but could not come up the mountain.

The LEADERS were able to go up halfway.  They got an incredible vision of God. They saw the God of Israel.  They were able to go up but not all the way up.  Only MOSES was able to go up all the way to the top and come near to God.  It was just like in the tabernacle in which there were three levels of intimacy (people, priest and high priest).

Moses goes to the top of the mountain and goes into a cloud.  This eighty year old man does not just see the cloud; he enters it by himself and stays there for forty days.  Moses said in Deuteronomy 9:9 that when he went into this cloud for forty days and forty nights that he “ate no bread and drank no water.”

That requires a miracle.  You can go forty days without food but you cannot go forty days without water. Of course, if you are in God’s presence, you do not need food to survive.  We will not need food or water in heaven to survive but this raises a bunch of questions.

What happened during those forty days?  What was it like?  What did he see?  Moses does not come down the mountain and write a book about his experience like we would have done.  He had a spiritual experience no one else on the planet had.  He does not go around and boast about it and brag.  He does not feel superior to other people.  He was the meekest man on the earth.

How does this apply today?  Are there levels of intimacy today?  Yes and No.  We do not have the same three levels today.  The priest in the OT had special privileges.  Not anyone could become a priest.  You had to be born into the right family but the NT teaches that we are all priests to God. We are all on an equal footing spiritually.  The pastor is not closer to God because he is the pastor.

We do not have someone like the Pope over us.  We are all on an equal footing but some people are closer to God than others.  Some people are more committed, more devoted and more surrendered than others.  Some Christians are more obedient than others.  Some spend more time in the Word and in prayer than others.

The Bible says if we draw near to God that He will draw near to us (James 4:8).  That is a promise.  In fact, the Bible says that “the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (II Chronicles 16:9 ESV).

God’s eyes search every city, every state, every country and every church for the kind of people who put all of their trust in Him and who follow him completely.  God is looking for a few good men and a few good women who are on fire for Him.  What is He looking at?  He is looking at our heart.  He is looking for hearts that are completely devoted to Him.

The Genocide Question

We are studying the Book of Exodus.  Last time, we looked at Exodus 23 and studied angels.  We looked at three verses. God promised to send an angel ahead of the Jews to guard them on the way and to lead them into the Promise Land.  Today, we will finish the chapter.  There are also some incredible applications that come out of the last part of this chapter

I want to begin by looking at a difficult question that comes right out of this passage.  I skipped over it last week but I want to say something about it today.  Asking questions is often frowned up in church.  It is something that is not encouraged. In fact, reason and logic are often discouraged in churches.  We are just told to believe.  Many Christians leave their brains at the door when they come to church.  That is unbiblical.

The Bible says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your HEART and with all your SOUL and with all your MIND and with all your STRENGTH” (Mark 12:30 NIV).[1] That is a command.  This verse does not say that the mind is evil and that we are to just love God with our spirit. We are to love God with our spirit.  We are to love God with our heart.  We are also to love God with our minds.

Our mind is to be involved in worship.  Our mind is to be involved in prayer.  Paul said in I Corinthians 14:15, “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also” (ESV).  We are to use our mind when we sing to God.  We are to use our mind when we pray.

If you have genuine questions, church is the place you should be able to come to find answers.  God’s Word has the answer to every problem we face.  The sad fact is that if you go to most churches, you will not find answers to the questions you have.

Socrates, who was one of the greatest philosophers of all time, made the statement, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  It is a famous quote.  He said it at his trial just before he was executed[2]  Many have revised that quote for the church.  If the unexamined life is not worth living, then the unexamined faith is not worth having.

We want to look at one of the questions that skeptics love to bring up.  It has to do with genocide. It doesn’t refer to murder but mass murder of a whole group of people.  It is usually done within a country.  One group in the country tries to wipe out another group.  It is called “ethnic cleansing” but it is not cleansing but killing.

The JEWISH GENOCIDE took place in Nazi Germany.  It began in the 1940s.  It was called The Final Solution. Six million Jews were killed.

The RAWANDAN GENOCIDE, which took place in the 1990s.  About 800,000 Tutsies were slaughtered by the majority group.

The DARFUR GENOCIDE took place in 2003. It was a genocide in the 21st century.  Three hundred thousand men, women and children were slaughtered and raped in the Sudan.

In the Middle East right now there is a CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE in places like Iraq, Iran and Syria.  Christians are the most persecuted people on the planet.

Exodus 23:23 says, “My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out” (NIV).  God says in Exodus 23:28, “I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way” (NIV)

What does this all mean?  Does God sanction genocide?  Is God a moral monster?  Is God a bloodthirsty tyrant who orders the killing of women and children?

How could a God of love order the massacre of the Canaanites? How could He order the slaughter of thousands? Is this an excuse to do this today?  That would be the basis of religious terrorism. People use religion today to justify all kinds of atrocities. It was, after all, done in the Bible.  How do we answer this objection as Christians?  What do we say to skeptics?  It is not an easy question.

The Conquest of Canaan in Perspective

1) God has the right to judge people at any time.

There is a big difference between human genocide and divine judgment.  You have to make the distinction. We believe that we have the right to punish wrongdoing in this world and so does God.  Murder is wrong.  It is always wrong. It is murder for us to take life any time we feel like taking it.

It is wrong for Muslim terrorist to murder innocent people in cold blood.  They think they are doing a good deed and will be rewarded.  They are just committing cold blooded murder.  God never told them to kill anyone.  In fact, His word prohibits murder.  That is one of His Top Ten rules.

On the other hand, it is not murder for God to take life.  He created life and can take it at any time.  God sent a worldwide flood that wiped everyone out.  This is not genocide but capital punishment.[3]  He is the Creator.

2) God only judges people for sin.

He judges people.  He judges nations.  He judges them for one reason and one reason only.  He judges people because of sin.  It is sin, NOT ethnicity.  He does not judge people based on race or skin color.  What He does has nothing to do with genocide or ethnic cleansing.

He judges people in a number of different ways. Sometimes, He judges people directly (like the Flood or Sodom and Gomorrah). Sometimes, He uses other groups to judge people.

He uses the state the execute murderers.  When the state executes a mass murderer, it is not committing murder.  It acts on God’s behalf as his representative.  Sometimes, he uses nations to judge other nations.

3) Even in judgment, God shows mercy.

The world was extremely wicked before the Flood but God waited a hundred and twenty years before sending a Flood on the earth.  There are two ways that God showed mercy to the Canaanites.  First, He waited a long time before he let the Jews conquer the Land of Canaan.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.

14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” (Genesis 15:12-16 NIV)

God promised Abraham land.  He took a long trip and arrived in Canaan but it was not his land.  He died without possessing the land of Canaan.  God was waiting for the Canaanites to get so evil that he would judge them.  They were not ready for that in Abraham’s day

Four hundred years later, the Canaanites were so evil and so corrupt that God judged them.  What made them so evil?  They did not merely commit homosexuality; they committed incest.  Incest was part of their religion.  Baal has sex with his mother Asherah, his sister Anat, and his daughter Pidray. Their gods had sex with animals.[4] Temple prostitution was part of their religion.  The Canaanites killed their own children in child sacrifice to pagan gods.  Child sacrifice was part of their religion.

Second, God promised to remove the Canaanites gradually.  He said that He would do it “little by little.”

But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. (23:29-30 NIV)

The Jews did not go in and wipe out all of the Canaanites.  They did not slaughter everyone, like barbarians.  Some were killed but many were driven out.  It does not make any sense to drive them out if they were already killed.  That shows that what God is talking about is primarily expulsion, not extermination (so Hamilton). This is not that much of a problem.

Applications for Today

This is an interesting passage in Exodus but what does it have to do with us today?  Most of us are not Jews.  We are not in the wilderness on our way to Canaan.  How is a passage like this relevant to us today?  It is relevant in a number of ways.

Principle One – Success Comes from God

I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. (23:22 NIV)

I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. (23:27-28 NIV)

“I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. (23:31 NIV)

They did not have the power to get out of Egypt and break out of slavery on their own.  They did not have the power to defeat the Canaanites, this group of six nations, on their own. God had to do it for them.  It mentions borders of a land.  They did not have a land.  They were in the wilderness.

God had to give them the land and establish the borders to the land.  He had to fight their enemies. He used both angels (23:23) and hornets (23:28) to help them and protect them  He will send His bees or wasps and His angel to help them. The message is clear and is taught in the NT as well as the OT.

Jesus said “apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  He did not say that you can do the little stuff but you need me for the big stuff.  He said, “Without me you can do NOTHING.”  We cannot do anything without Jesus.

The OT way of saying, “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. 2 In vain you rise early and stay up late toiling for food to eat” (Psalm 127:1-2 NIV).  C.H. Spurgeon called this a psalm for builders.  It was written by Solomon.  He knew about building.  He had a big palace built for him and he built a Temple for God.  It was called Solomon’s Temple.

It is important to work hard and not be lazy.  The Book of Proverbs says all kind of things about sluggards.  This verse says that some work is a big waste of time.  We need God’s blessing on everything we do. This is the theme of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Solomon is writing from experience.  The commentary on this passage is Ecclesiastes 2.  It tells us many of the things that Solomon did.

I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces.

I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. 

My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

How many times have we labored in vain?  We have done a lot of work and worked hard but it was a big waste of time because we did things in our own strength and in our own power and without God.

Principle Two – Victory comes Little by Little

This is very interesting.  God says, “LITTLE BY LTTLE I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (23:30 NIV).  They were not going to conquer all of the land overnight.  They were going to conquer it little by little.  We learn an important lesson here.  It is called “The Little by Little Principle.”  This principle can change your life.

Examples of this principle are endless.  The little by little principle applies to losing weight. Lose a little at a time.  It applies to exercise.  If you have not been exercising and you want to begin, all of the experts say to do it gradually, little by little.  You do not begin by jogging ten miles.

This principle applies to cleaning around the house.  You can clean it ten or twenty minutes a day using the little by little principle.  It applies to saving money.  Proverbs 13:11 says, “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow” (NIV).

It also applies to sanctification or holiness.  The Jews had physical enemies, these six nations.  We do not struggle with flesh and blood.  We struggle with spiritual forces.  We struggle with our own sin nature.  We face a different enemy. We all struggle with sin and addiction.  God does not give us instant perfection in this life.

There are some Christians who teach that you can achieve perfection in this life and become sinless but that is not biblical. Sanctification is gradual.  It is a process.  It is progressive.  It involves growth in different areas of our life.  We do not go from baby Christians to seasoned saints overnight.

Principle Three – Spiritual Compromise Must be Rejected

Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. (23:24 NIV)

Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.” (23:32-33 NIV)

This is a big issue today.  Compromise happens all the time today in church after church.  Many Christians are guilty of this.  It raises this question. How do Christians compromise their faith today?  How do churches compromise today?  How would we know if we are doing this?  What are some signs?

We compromise our faith when we THINK like the world.  We still claim to be Christians but we no longer believe certain things that are clearly taught in Scripture.  Many churches become liberal.  They think like the world.  They think like the world on Scripture.  They no longer believe the Bible is the Word of God or inspired by God, just a bunch of writings written by man.

They think like the world on abortion.  They think like the world on gay marriage.  They think like the world thinks on evolution.  They believe what the world believes about miracles.  They follow the teaching of science and reject literal miracles. They call themselves progressive churches but rejecting Scripture is not a form of progress.  Churches compromise their faith when they water down their message to accommodate the world, so they do not offend anyone.

We also compromise our faith when we ACT like the world.  Many professing Christians live no different than their unbelieving neighbors.  They live in open sin.  They not only sleep together before they are married; they live together.

They are unrepentant but are also religious.  You will see many of them in church.  Most churches do not practice any form of church discipline.  In fact, many Christians do not even take a stand against sin.  They even support and encourage their friends.  They think that tolerance and love is the greatest virtue, which is another way of thinking like the world.

Principle Four – God gives us Commands, as well as Promises

Christians like promises.  We like to hear all of the things God promises us.  We are not too big on commands.  Some preachers even say that we do not have any commands.  The truth is that we have both.  We have promises and we have commands.  There are commands in the NT and in the OT.

In Exodus 23 we see both commands and promises.  Right after one promise is a command. This is followed by another promise and another command.  This continues until the end of the chapter.

See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.  (PROMISE)

21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. (COMMAND)

23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.  (PROMISE)

24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water.  (COMMAND)

I will take away sickness from among you,26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span. 27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.  31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.  (PROMISE)

32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”  (COMMAND)

[1] Cf. Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27

[2] Plato, Apology 38a.

[3] http://www.equip.org/article/killing-the-canaanites/

[4] http://www.equip.org/article/killing-the-canaanites/

The Exodus Angel

We have been studying the Book of Exodus and for the last month or two we have been studying case laws about all kinds of different topics.  We looked about laws about slavery, and immigration.  We looked at laws about crime and punishment.  We looked at laws about witchcraft and the occult.  We even looked at laws about self defense. It is a section that most Christians do not read too much.

Today, we end this case law section of Exodus and we come to a new section of Exodus.  Today we will be looking at Exodus 23:20-33.  We move from talking about laws to talking about angels. It is a powerful section.  It contains incredible promises.  It also contains some exhortations.   Today, we will be looking at one promise in this section. It is the promise of a mysterious angel.

“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.

If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. (Exodus 23:21-23 NIV)

Who is this angel?  What do we know about this angel?  What does he do?  How does he relate to us today?  What ministry do angels have today?

Interesting Facts about this Angel

1. This angel had a special mission.

God called this angel MY ANGEL (23:23, 34). This angel was sent by God and was given a special mission.  Angels are spirits but this angel is referred to in the masculine. Exodus 23:21-22 says, “Pay attention to him and listen to what HE says. Do not rebel against HIM; HE will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in HIM. 22 If you listen carefully to what HE says” (NIV).

This angel was given two specific jobs by God.  He had two assignments.  Notice the two verbs used in Exodus 23:20. See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to GUARD you along the way and to BRING you to the place I have prepared.

What were the two jobs of this angel?  His first job was to protect the Jews in the wilderness.  His second job was to guarantee their safe arrival in the Promised Land.  He would not only protect them in the wilderness.  This angel was both a security guard and an escort to their promised destination.  That is interesting.

This was an angel sent to GUARD the Jews in the wilderness, which makes this angel a guardian angel.  Are guardian angels biblical? It is not a biblical term. The words “guardian angel” is not found in the Bible but the Bible does teach that angels guard believers. Throughout the Bible, this is one of the ministries of angels. They still do this today.  Angels have many jobs.

Ministry of Angels Today

1) Angels MINISTER to believers

Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”  This verse says two things about angels.  This verse says that they are SPIRITS.  Angels are spirits.  We are not spirits.  We have a physical body.  Angels do not have a physical body.  Angels are not only spirits; they are SERVANTS.  Here is the shocking thing.  They serve US.

If you are a believer, you have angels who serve YOU. They do not serve unbelievers but they do minister to believers.  We have no idea how much they help us.  They are involved in our life far more than we realize but they work behind the scenes. They do big jobs and little jobs.

They helped Abraham’s servant find a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham said, “For the LORD, the God of heaven… will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son” (Gen. 24:7).  They served as a heavenly matchmaker.

An angel provided water for Hagar and her son when they went into a desert and her son became very thirsty, began to cry and thought he was going to die.  An angel provided a well of water for them in the desert (Genesis 21:14-19). They provided food for Elijah when he needed it.  They even did some cooking.  You say, “I didn’t know that angels knew how to cook.”

Angels did something else in I Kings 19. After defeating the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah ran for his life.  He became a wanted man.  The king and queen of Israel wanted to kill him.

He went from a huge victory to a massive defeat.  He was afraid.  He was alone in the wilderness.  He looked at himself as a failure.  He thought he was the only Jehovah worshiped left in the country.  He was depressed.

He did not want to live anymore.  He became the prophet who wanted to die.  This is the bipolar prophet.  He went in twenty-four hours from being on top of the world to being completely depressed and even suicidal. He lay down under a bush and fell asleep.

An angel touches him, wakes him up. Angels had to do that for several people in the Bible.  They functioned as an alarm clock. That is a real important job.  Then the angel tells him to get up and eat. “He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again” (I Kings 19:5-6 NIV).

This angel not only woke him up, he did some cooking.  He made some angel bread and an angel food cake for Elijah. They are also involved in another activity.

On Easter Sunday, angels were involved in a different activity.  God used them to do some heavy lifting.  A bunch of distraught women went to Christ’s tomb early Sunday morning and were talking about what they would do when they got there because there was a big stone in front of it blocking their entrance.

They were not strong enough to move it themselves.  They did not have any tools. They did not have any heavy equipment.  They did not have two men and a truck.  God sent an angel from heaven just to move a big rock.

An angel rolled the stone away and then sat on it.  Matthew 28:2 says, “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it” (NIV) . I wonder if they ever help you start a car?

In Exodus 23, an angel is involved with travel safety and navigation.  The angel in our section travels with them and protects them.  One of the jobs of angels is to minister to us, which is a little ironic.  Angels are greater than us. They are wiser than us and more powerful than us and yet they serve us.  We do not serve them.

2) Angels GUARD believers.

“No harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to GUARD you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent” (Psalm 91:10-13 NIV).

Hebrews 1:14 says that angels are ministering spirits who serve us.  Here we see that angels are not only servants.  They are security guards.  They guard believers.  They protect believers from danger, all kinds of danger. Danger comes in many forms (disease, violent crime, sickness, and accidents).

We have no idea what dangers angels have kept us from.  Sometimes, we not only have one guardian angel, we have more than one.  Our verse says “He will command his ANGELS (plural) concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (cf. 91:11).

When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, he was protected by an angel.  It was an angel that shut the mouths of the lions (Daniel 6:21-22). When Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego were tied up and thrown into the fiery furnace, they were protected by an angel (Daniel 3:24-28).

3) Angels DELIVER believers

Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” (NIV) Angels not only keep us FROM trouble, they sometimes get us OUT OF trouble.  In Acts 12, Peter was in prison and he was delivered by an angel.  Peter was supposed to be executed the next day.  The angel let him out of jail.  They were involved in prison release for a persecuted saint.

The city of Sodom and Gomorrah was going to be completely destroyed.  An angel took Lot and his family out of the city before that happened.  The angels had to almost drag them out of the city because they did not want to go.  They did not even understand the danger they were in.  They thought it was all a big joke. Psalm 34 says that they encamp around us if we fear God.  We have angels around us far more than we think.

2.This angel has special authority

Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. (23:21-22 NIV).

This is very interesting.  God tells the people to listen to this angel and do what he says.  He tells them to fear this angel.  To disobey this angel is to disobey God himself.  God even says if you rebel against this angel, he will not forgive you.  Who will not forgive you?  The angel.  God does NOT say, “If you rebel against him, I will not forgive you.”  He says, “If you rebel against this angel, HE will not forgive you.”

This angel had the authority to forgive sins. He had the power to forgive and not to forgive sins committed against the LORD’s Name.  That is strange. No created being has the power to forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. An ordinary angel has no power to forgive sins. The angel Michael cannot forgive sins and neither can the angel Gabriel

God said in the OT, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25 NIV).  This angel could forgive sins.  That is a sign that this was no ordinary angel.  This angel had God’s authority.

In fact, he had God’s name inside Him, which shows the deity of this angel.  Jehovah’s name is in Jesus! This angel is a divine being.  It is the pre-incarnate Christ. If this is Jesus, why is he called an angel?

Is Jesus an Angel?

The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is an angel.  Is this true?  Yes and No.  Jesus is the angel of the Lord of the OT.  The word “angel” in both Greek (ἄγγελος) and Hebrew (malak) simply means messenger.  It can be a human, or angelic or even a divine messenger.

We already saw another angel in Exodus who was divine.  It was the angel who appeared to Moses at the Burning Bush.  He also was called an angel.  Exodus 3:2 says, “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.”  The bush began talking to Moses but the text says that it was God talking to him from the bush (3:4).  In fact, the bush identifies himself as “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (3:6).

Every time you see the phrase “THE angel of the Lord” it is a divine being.  Gabriel is called “an angel of the Lord” (Luke 1:11) but that is not the same thing. Jesus is THE angel or messenger of the Lord but that does not mean that Jesus is not in the class of beings called angels.  How do we know?  One, Jesus is not an angel because He was the one who created the angels.

Colossians 1:16 says, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him” (NIV).  ALL THINGS were created by Jesus, not some things. John 1:3 even says, “without him NOTHING was made that has been made.”  Jesus not only created angels, He created ALL of them

Two, Jesus is not an angel because the NT contrasts Jesus and the angels. He is infinitely superior to them.  Hebrews 1:4 says that Jesus has a more excellent name than the angels.  It says, “So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs” (NIV).  He is not called an angel but a son.

Hebrews 1:5-8 says, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? Or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son’? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’ In speaking of the angels he says, ‘He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.’ But about the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.’” (NIV).

Jesus is superior to the angels.  He created them.  They worship Him.  Angels do not receive worship (Revelation 22:8-9) but Jesus does receive worship.  In fact, Hebrews 1:6 says, “let ALL God’s angels worship Him” (not some of them but all of them).  Jesus does not worship angels but angels worship Him.

Application for Today

How does this apply to us today?  How does it apply to Christians?  As I think about this passage, I am struck with how it still applies today in many different ways to Christians.

1) We have enemies like they did.

The Jews in the OT had enemies.  They are listed by name in this chapter.  There were six Canaanite nations mentioned in this section (Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites).  Their enemies were dangerous.  We have enemies as well but we struggle not with flesh and blood like they did.  Our enemies are greater.

2) We have angels who help us today.

We are still in danger today and still need protection from danger.  God uses angels to guard and protect us today like He did then.

3) Jesus is with us today.

In fact, He said that He is with us always even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20 NIV).   Jesus is “God WITH us.”  That is what Immanuel means.  Jesus is indeed the same yesterday, today and forever.

4) Jesus leads us to a place today.

He led his people in the OT to the Promised Land.  It was a place a land of abundant blessings.  It was a land flowing with “milk and honey” and not just with necessitates, like bread and water.  He is leading us to another place of unimaginable blessings.  In fact, He went to prepare it for us.  Before he died, He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

5) Jesus preserves people today.

This angel preserved them in the wilderness and preserves us as well. Jude 24-25 says, “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (NIV).  We are kept by the power of God (I Peter 1:5).  The Jews made it to the Promised Land and believers will make it to heaven.

6) Jesus forgives sins today.

The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins (Mark 2:10).  Jesus said at the Last Super, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The apostle Peter said, “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43).

If you want your sins forgiven, you have to come to Jesus.  They cannot be forgiven any other way.  There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).  If you reject Christ, there is no forgiveness of sins.  There is no other way to God.  You have to go through the door.

7) Jesus needs to be obeyed today.

The words, “Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion” are still true today.  People need to listen to Jesus. At the Transfiguration, God said from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5 NIV).  We need to listen to Jesus’ voice today, just as the Jews needed to listen to the voice of this angel in the OT.  Do not just listen to your pastor and to your Christian friends, listen to Jesus when he speaks.

There is a famous Joan of Arc quotation.  Someone once asked Joan of Arc why God spoke only to her. She responded, “Sir, you are wrong. God speaks to everyone. I just listen.”  We need to listen as well when Jesus speaks to us.  We need to not only listen to him but to listen to him TODAY.  There is urgency here.  Hebrews 3:7-15 says:

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’

”See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. (NIV).

Forgiveness and Festivals

We have been studying OT case law in the Book of Exodus for some time.  Last week, we looked at three topics that seemed completely unrelated.  Today, we will be looking at three topics as well.  The topics are enemies, the Sabbath and festivals.  Last week, we looked at FOOD and FAIRNESS.  Don’t eat roadkill.  Don’t take bribes.  Don’t deny justice to people.  Don’t oppress the poor and foreigners.  Today, we will be looking at FORGIVENESS and FESTIVALS.

We looked at what God says about justice, specifically criminal justice. There is a lot in that section about integrity and honesty, honesty of judges, honesty of witnesses.  Today, we are going to look at a different topic that has nothing to do with the witness stand.  It deals with how you treat people you do not like.  They may be your next-door neighbors or some people you work with.  The setting is not the courtroom by the side of the road.

“If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. 5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it. (Exodus 23:4-5)

Lessons on Forgiveness

This is only two verses.  These verses are extremely practical and relevant to our own day.  It applies today just as much as it did four thousand years ago, even if your enemy does not even own a donkey or an ox. What practical lessons do these verses say to us today?

One, we all have enemies.

The Bible is realistic.   We can pretend that we don’t have any enemies but we all know some people who we do not like or get along with.  They are rude and obnoxious.  They may mistreat us.  They may have done terrible things to us at one point.  They may have even complained to other people about us.  We may work with these people or live next to these people.

They may be in our own family.  They may go to our own church.  There is such a thing as a “sandpaper Christian” that always seems to get under our skin and drive us crazy.  The first thing clear from this verse is that we all have enemies.

Two, bad things happen to people.

Bad things happen to our enemies.  Some of you are thinking that you would never be that lucky.  The reality is that bad things happen to people.  They happen to good people and bad people.  I would love to say that godly Christians do not suffer.  Some preachers do but the Bible does not teach this.  Christians suffer and the wicked suffer.

In this passage, something bad happens to one of your enemies.  It is an accident.  One of their animals wanders off.  It was more than just a pet.  Their income was tied into that animal.  It was an agricultural.  The question that this section addresses is how we respond to it.  Many of us are glad.  We are happy when bad things happen to people we do not like.

We might see our enemy’s animal escaping and think ourself that it is not our problem.  He’s a jerk. He got what’s coming to him.  He deserves it.  It serves him right.  Our enemy may have wronged us.  We may be angry or bitter.  We may hold a grudge against him.

We may be critical of him for being irresponsible enough to let his animal escape.  Many would just blame him for this problem, instead of feeling sorry for him.  The Bible deals with this situation.

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. (Proverbs 24:17-18 ESV)

Do we do that?  The NIV says not to “gloat” in this situation.  What most of us would do is to keep walking and do nothing.  We might even pretend that we didn’t see anything.  Those are natural responses to someone that we do not like or has even done bad things to us.  God tells us to do something completely different.  He calls us to act not naturally but supernaturally.

Three, God calls us to do something radical

We are to help our enemy.  We are not just to be polite and civil to him.  We are to help him, not in words but in deeds.  These deeds are tangible.  You can see them.  This sounds very much like the NT.  It sounds like James.  Faith without works is dead.

We are not commanded to like our enemy.  That would be an impossible command but we are commanded to love our enemies and do good to them. How was the person to show it in Exodus 23? He was to show it in two ways.  If you find his possessions, return them to him (23:4).  If he needs your help, help him (23:5). Don’t walk by him and just laugh.  Help him out. There is a good example of this in the movie War Room.

Let’s look at these two points.  The first law says that if you find your enemy’s animal wandering away, take it back to him. “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it (23:4). You are not just to inform your enemy that his animals wandered away.  You are to go the extra mile and bring them back.  You are to go out of your way to return them (23:4).

There was another way God says that you are to help your enemy.  If you walk by your enemy and see he is struggling with one of his animals and needs some help, offer to help him.  If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it (23:5).

Donkeys often carried heavy loads.  If the load gets too heavy, it can fall down.  God says that we are to help this poor animal, even if it is the animal of our enemy.  We are to show compassion.  We are to show compassion to our neighbor and to this poor animal who is struggling because of this big load on his back.

This is an interesting law.  Man did not impose this law.  God did.  There’s nothing like this in Ancient Near Eastern law.  This is unique.  It is different.  It is also unnatural to help someone one that you can’t stand.  It is easy to love a friend.  It is hard to love an enemy.  It goes against the grain.  It sounds like the Sermon on the Mount.  Most of us think that loving our enemies is a NT teaching.

Jesus said “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  It is but it is also an OT teaching.  It was in the OT long before the Sermon on the Mount.  The OT teaches that we are to love our enemies.  Most people do not know this.

Proverbs 25:21-22 says, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you” (NIV).  We are to heap kindness upon our enemies.  Paul quotes this passage in Romans 12.  Galatians 5:10 says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (NIV)

In Exodus we have seen that were are to love the poor.  We are to love foreigners.  We are to love immigrants. We are to love our neighbor.  We are to show compassion to the animals that have heavy burdens on top of them and cannot even stand up.

We are also to love our enemy.  All of that is in the law.  In fact, the so-called “Golden Rule” to do unto others as you would have them do to you comes right out of the OT.  It also did not start with the Sermon on the Mount.  The Law of Moses taught that.  If this same thing happened to you, if your animal escaped, you would want someone to return it to you. Jesus takes this law in the OT and expands it.  He develops it.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? (Matthew 5:43-46 NIV)

The Sabbath Principle

“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

12 “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.13 “Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

Now this is interesting.  We learned about the Sabbath in the Fourth Commandment but that was a weekly Sabbath.  You work six days and rest on the seventh day.  This passage mentions not just a weekly Sabbath but a yearly Sabbath.  There are two Sabbaths, one annual and one weekly.

Jews were to rest on the seventh day and on the seventh year.  There is a weekly Sabbath in the OT and there is a yearly Sabbath in the OT.  You sow your fields for six years but rest them on the seventh year.  It is a strange law.  No other country in the world has ever had a law like it.

When we think of the Sabbath today, we think of a day of rest (six days on and one day off) but it was much more than that.  Every six days, the Jews were to rest.  Every seven years they were to rest. After seven yearly rests of the land, there was another yearly Sabbath rest every fifty years called “The Year of Jubilee.”  That is not mentioned here but it is mentioned in Leviticus.

Many things happened during the yearly Sabbath. There was rest for the land.  There was rest for the people and animals which had to work the land. Slaves were released every seven years (21:2).  Slaves worked for six years and were free on the seventh year.  There was provision for the poor during this time. They could get food (23:11). They could eat the crops, not just the corners of the land to glean.  All debts were cancelled every seven years. No more calls from creditors.

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. 2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. 3 You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. (Deuteronomy 15:1-3 NIV)

The Sabbath was a big deal in the OT. This yearly Sabbath observance was not optional.  God warned that if the Jews did not do this, there would be serious consequences. God took this whole concept of rest seriously.

‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over… I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.

34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it. (Leviticus 26:27-28, 33-35)

That is exactly what happened.  The Jews stopped observing this Sabbath.  They stopped for hundreds of years.  They stopped observing it for five hundred years (four hundred and ninety years to be exact).  Finally, God judged them.  He gave them seventy years of captivity in Babylon.  He said to them “You owe me seventy years.”  God forced the land to have a seventy-year period of rest.  II Chronicles 36:21 says that during the Babylonian Captivity the land enjoyed its Sabbath rests.

Modern Application

Many Christians today are big on keeping the Sabbath today.  Some try to keep it on Saturday and some try to keep it on Sunday but I do not know anyone who even tries to keep the yearly Sabbath. In fact, it is not even possible in our day to keep it.  If you decide not to work on the seventh year, you will need to find another job.

Many people have gardens.  Some have tried planting their garden for six out of seven years but that is not the same thing.  If they do not have food to eat, they just go to the grocery store.  We do not have an agrarian economy today. Most of us are not farmers.  How does the yearly Sabbath even apply to us today?

We are not under the Law today but there are some principles that are still true today.  This law mandated rest.  Everyone was to rest (human body, slaves, animals, even the soil).  Life is more than work.  Even the land needs a rest or it is overused and stripped it of all of its nutrients.  Today, we solve this problem by crop rotation.

This law mandated worship.  One day was set apart from all of the other seven as special and holy to God.  That is still true today. This law required planning to store ahead for the future.  It required discipline.  It required compassion to the poor.  It required obedience.  God still punishes disobedience today.

This required obedience to a strange law.  It raises this question. Do we obey God even when we do not understand?  It required a lot of faith.  This law was a test of faith not to farm for a whole year.  Do you trust God to provide food for you for that year?  What are we going to eat on the seventh year? Here will the food come from?  What about food shortages?

Pilgrim Festivals

Next, we come to three major festivals that were part of the annual Jewish calendar.  In Judaism, there are major and minor holidays.  These are considered major holidays.  They were not only holidays. They were pilgrimages.

Every person was to travel to Jerusalem for a national celebration, stay there for a week and then come home (Exodus 23:14-19) and were to do it, not once a year but three times a year.  Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. (23:14). We are told that again in Exodus 23:17.  Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.[1]

What are the three feasts?  It is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzot) in 23:15.  It follows Passover and lasts seven days.  Jews cannot have any leaven in their house for seven days because leaven is symbolic of sin.  Every Israelite had to say “I am a sinner, I have offended a holy God” in this first feast.  This year, it is observed April 12-18.  It is observed in the month the Jews came out of Egypt (23:15)

The second one is “the Festival of Harvest” (23:16).  It is also called the “feast of weeks” or “Pentecost.”  It is important to both Jews and Christians.  It commemorates the giving of the Law in the OT and the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the NT.  The church began on Pentecost.  It began on a Jewish festival. It is observed this year from May 31 to June 1.

The third one is “The Festival of Ingathering” (23:16).  It is also called the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Sukkot).  It commemorates the Jews wandering in the wilderness for forty years and God sustaining them.  It occurs October 5-11 this year.

Modern Application

How does this all apply to Christians today?  We do not make any pilgrimages three times a year.  Many would love to travel to the Holy Land but it is not required.  There is no command for us to do this.  There are some days on the Christian calendar like Christmas and Easter.  Some churches observe Lent but these holidays are all voluntary.  There is no command to observe them like there was for these three holidays.  We observe them because we want to.

Principles of Worship

There are many principles of worship that come right out of this passage.  It is good to set aside one day for worship.  God does not just want us to follow rules.  He wants us to worship Him and he wants us to worship him corporately with other believers, not just on our own.

God also wants us to have times of celebration.  These feasts were times of celebration.  There was a lot of eating at these feasts three times a year.  We should have special services like conferences besides the regular worship service.

These feasts were centered on God. They were not secular holidays.  They were religious festivals.  Notice what the verse says.  Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival TO ME. (23:17)

We also see the importance of giving in worship.  God says, “No one is to appear before me empty-handed” (23:15).  When we come to God we must bring Him something.  They brought Him animals to sacrifice or the first fruits of their crops. We can bring financial resources, as well as our worship.

We also see that there are limits to worship.  There is some worship that God does not accept.  We see that in Exodus 23:19. It is a strange verse.

The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. (NHEB) That is strange.  What in the world is that talking about?

A kid does not refer to an eight year old but to a young goat.  In the context of worship, God says, “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”  Apparently, that was a pagan worship practice that was done in that day.  It was a Canaanite fertility practice.  God said not to do it.

Modern Judaism read this verse differently.  Modern Jews do not mixing milk and meat, because of this verse.  They believe it is wrong to eat a cheeseburger.  That is not what this verse is saying at all.  It is more of a pro-life statement.  A young goat is to be nourished in its mother’s milk and not boiled in it.

The source of life should never become the cause of death.  That shows contempt for the parent-child relationship.  “You shall not put a mother and her son in the same pot.”  The point is that some worship practices God found revolting in the ancient world and still does today.


[1]
This festival was not limited to males, like a men’s conference.  Entire families traveled to the feasts (Deuteronomy 16:9-11).

Miscellaneous Case Law

We have been studying the chapters that follow the Ten Commandments. They are a series of case laws.  They are the kind of chapters in the Bible that most Christians tend to ignore. These case laws deal with all kinds of different topics.  Today, we want to look at four different topics.  These topics are not all directly related.

We will be looking at what God says about the FIRSTBORN.  We will be looking at what God says about FOOD.  We will look at what God says about FAIRNESS or justice.  We will also look at what He says about FOLLOWERS (in a bad sense of the term).  Some of these laws seem a little strange to us.  We are not under the Law of Moses today but there are lessons we can learn from these laws.

Instructions about Giving

Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. “You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 30 Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day. ( Exodus 22:29-30 NIV)

God says that there are certain things that His people were to give Him (offerings, sons, animals).  You say, “I understand giving God grain offerings and animal sacrifice but what about giving God you sons.”  What is he asking for here?  Were people supposed to kill their firstborn sons, like they killed animals.  Were they to be sacrificed to God?  No.

God hates child sacrifice.  That was forbidden in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 20:2-5 says, “The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. 3 I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.” (Leviticus 20:2-5 NIV). The Jews in the OT were to sacrifice their animals but they were to redeem their sons.

After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. REDEEM EVERY FIRSTBORN AMONG YOUR SONS. (Exodus 13:11-13 NIV)  God says it again in Exodus 34:19-20.

What does it mean to redeem your sons? It only applied to sons, not daughters.  Daughters did not have to be redeemed and it only applied to firstborn sons, not to all of them.  They were not sacrificed or taken away but you had to pay money for them.  A payment had to be made.  it was a called “redemption money.”

The Lord also said to Moses, 45 “Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the Lord. 46 To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, 47 collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

48 Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons.” 49 So Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites. 50 From the firstborn of the Israelites he collected silver weighing 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. 51 Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, as he was commanded by the word of the Lord. (Numbers 3:44-50 NIV)

Now how does all of this apply to us today? Some of these laws seem strange today.  In our culture, the firstborn does not mean what it meant in their culture.  Our firstborn sons do not receive a double portion of the inheritance.  We do not redeem our firstborn sons today.  We do not have animal sacrifice today.

We are not under the Law of Moses.  Contrary to what most preachers think, including all Baptist preachers, tithing is not a command for Christians.  It is not commanded in the NT.  The NT does not even talk about a first fruits offering.  Giving God our first fruits is not commanded in the NT either.  The NT does talk about first fruits but it is always people (e.g., James 1:18; I Corinthians 16:15; Revelation 14:4).

The point of this passage in Exodus is that we are to put God FIRST in our life.  That is still true today.  Do we put God first in our life?  The passage says that we are to give God some things (firstborn sons, cattle, sheep).  That is still true today as well. We focus on getting things from God.  We want God to give us things.  We need to give God some things.

That raises an important question.  What can we give God?  He owns everything.  We can give Him our worship and praise.  We can give Him our talents to use for His glory.  We can give Him our money. The wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh.  We can give to God our bodies. Romans 12 says that we are to offer them as a living sacrifice. Instead of using them to do evil, we can use them to do good.

Instructions about Eating

The last verse of Exodus 22 deals with what to eat or rather what not to eat. “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.” (22:31 NIV).  That is a strange verse.  It deals with roadkill.  Most of us get our food from the grocery store, also some people hunt.  It seems strange to me but there are some people who eat road kill, like some back woodsmen.

One Pentecostal preacher, who is Native-American, talked about how poor he was when he grew up.  He said that this was what his family ate.  They looked for fresh ones and not animals with maggots on it.  It is free food.  Some groups, like PETA, think it is actually ethical, because you are not eating an animal that you killed.[1]  God says not to do this.  Jews were forbidden to eat an animal that died accidentally or was eaten by other animals.

He shall not eat an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, becoming unclean by it; I am the LORD. (Leviticus 22:8).  Other passages tell us how long they were unclean.

If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass will be unclean till evening. 40 Anyone who eats some of its carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. (Leviticus 11:39-40 NIV)

It is repeated elsewhere in Leviticus (17:15).  What was wrong with doing this?  Any contact with a dead body in the OT made you ceremonially unclean. It also is not very sanitary.  An animal in this condition contains more diseases and contaminants.

Instructions about Justice

Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness. “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit (23:1-5 NIV)

Here are three principles that deal with justice.  These are important principles for judges.  They are principles in the chapter for people who take the witness stand.  There are principles here about justice for every citizen.

God is a God of justice.  He loves justice.  It is part of His nature.  These principles deal, not social justice, but criminal justice. These rules are violated every day in our world today.  We might have done some of these things. The first instruction is about spreading false reports, lies, and misinformation.  Do not spread false reports (Exodus 23:1).

The Ninth Commandment says “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). This is an expansion of the Ninth Commandment.  How do we do this today?  There are two ways. One, we spread a false report by making up lies about someone and fabricating things.  It can even be done by the media (e.g.,CNN).  Donald Trump calls it “fake news.”

It is against the law to spread false reports about someone. It is called slander or libel today.  but people do it all of the time, especially in the political season.  People will do anything and say anything to get elected.  They throw as much dirt on the other person as they can.

We are not to spread false reports, either by accusing someone of a crime that they did not commit or by saying someone is innocent you know is guilty.  That is the other side.  The second half of the verse says, “Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.”

There is another way we break this rule today.  We can break it by spreading unconfirmed reports about someone, which is most cases, turn out to be false.  We need to be sure what we say about someone is true.  There is another word for spreading unconfirmed rumors about someone, usually their personal life.  It is GOSSIP.

Leviticus 19:16 says, “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people” (KJV).  A modern paraphrase would be “Don’t gossip.” Talking about people, even when they are not present, is not wrong but it is wrong to broadcast a bunch of rumors about someone just to hurt them and make you feel better.

The second instruction is about being fair in legal matters. Judges are to be fair.  They are not to put an honest person to death. Exodus 23:7 says, “Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty” (NIV).  They are not to condemn the innocent (like Pontius Pilate did).  They are also not to let the guilty get off.

How many people have gotten away with murder in America?  They went through the legal system.  The evidence was clear the verdict came in their favor (e.g., Lizzie Borden, O.J. Simpson, Casey Anthony). Everyone is entitled to a fair trial but we stand guilty before God when we help the wicked escape justice.

Judges are not to accept bribes.  Exodus 23:8 says, “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.” In some places, justice can be bought.  Money can buy justice.  If you want a certain verdict, you give some people some money.

Judges are to be fair in another way .  They are to be completely unbiased in their decisions.  There has to be integrity in the legal process.  God gives one example of unjust favoritism, and this may be a little surprising. Exodus 23:3 says, “Do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.” 

Justice should be blind.  When the rich commit a crime, judges should not favor them because they are rich.  When the poor commit a crime, they should not favor them, feel sorry for them and give them a break. One day, everyone will stand before God, rich and poor and everyone will be treated equally. He is not a respecter of persons. God says, “I will not acquit the guilty” (23:7).  Even if they are poor, He will not acquit them.  We should not either.

You say, “I thought God was always on the side of the poor.”  Some Christians say that he is (e.g., Ron Sider[2]).  He is not.  That is the liberal lie. God cares about the poor and so should we.  We should have compassion for people but God is NOT always on the side of the poor. He is on the side of justice.

He is passionate about justice and that includes justice for the poor.  Exodus 23:6 says, “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits” but the rich are not always wrong and the poor are not always right.  Legal decisions should be based on the merits of the case and not whether the defendants are rich or poor.

The third instruction is about peer pressure. Peer pressure is not limited to high school.  It actually affects all of us.  Exodus 23:2 says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong” (NIV).  It is written into our laws today.  It is called “mob action.”  Inciting a riot is a felony.  It is a federal law.  This command sounds a little counter-cultural.  We have a democracy, a government of the people, for the people, by the people.  Our whole political system is based on a majority.  We like majorities.

There is an old Latin proverb vox populi, vox dei.  It means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”  Democracy is the best form of government on the planet in a sinful world.  It is better than being ruled by a dictator but democracies are not perfect.  There are some problems with democracies.

Problems with Democracies

1) Majorities are not always good.

A majority voted for Hillary.  A majority crucified Jesus Christ.  They yelled “crucify him.”  Majorities have done all kinds of evil things.  A majority of people supported slavery at one time. A majority of people supported Hitler.  People in Germany thought he was great at one point.  He was popular.  All you have to do is to watch the video of Hitler’s speeches.

2) Majorities are not always right.

But how do we determine what is truth?  Truth has nothing to do with beliefs.  If you take a math test, you may get half of the questions wrong.  Just because you believed that all of the answers were right didn’t make them right.  Beliefs cannot change a fact.  It doesn’t matter if I believe in the law of gravity.  It still exists whether I believe in it or not.  If I jump off of a building, I am going to fall.

Majorities are not always good.  They are also not always right.  They do not determine truth.  A Gallop Poll in 2016 says that 61% of Americans support gay marriage.[3]  Does that make gay marriage right?  A 2001 Gallop Poll that says that 60% of Americans think that it is not wrong for people to have sex before marriage.[4] Does that make it okay to have sex before marriage?  No.

A majority of people at one time believed that the earth went around the Sun.  That did not make it true.  That is a logical fallacy.  It is called Argumentum ad populum (literally “argument to the people”).  This logical fallacy says that something is true because it is popular and because most people believe in it. It has a lot of different names (bandwagon fallacy).

Majority opinion is not the source of truth.  Polls do not determine morality.  Truth is not based on consensus.  A consensus can be wrong.  Wrong does not become right just because everybody is doing it! G.K. Chesterton once said, “Right is right even if no one does it; wrong is wrong even if everyone does it.”[5]

Who decides what is right?  God does.  Romans 3:4 says, “God is true, even if everyone else is a liar” (ISV).  Just because a million scientists say that life evolved by chance apart from God, it does not change the facts.  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” is still true.  It will always be true.

Practical Application

What is the application for us?  Peer pressure has a powerful effect on people, especially teenagers (alcohol, drugs, premarital sex). Just because everyone is doing something in society does not make it right.  Just because everyone is doing something in the church does not make it right either.  You might be going to the wrong church.  We are to follow truth, not a crowd.

Our focus should not be on what other people are doing but on what God calls us to do. Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will” (NIV) Christians should stand out, not try to fit in or blend in with society and do what everyone else is doing.

[1] http://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/is-it-ok-to-eat-roadkill/supermarket

[2] Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity (Chicago: Word Publishing, 1997), 84

[3] http://www.gallup.com/poll/191645/americans-support-gay-marriage-remains-high.aspx

[4] http://www.gallup.com/poll/3163/majority-considers-sex-before-marriage-morally-okay.aspx

[5] G. K. Chesterton, Collected Works, 27:463.

Biblical View of Authority

We are studying Exodus.  We have been studying case law in Exodus 21-22.  Today, I want to look at only one verse.  It is Exodus 22:28.  It deals with God’s view of authority.  Many people do not like authority.  The Bible talks about those who “reject authority” (Jude 1:8).  It talks about those who “despise authority” (II Peter 2:10).

Many disrespect authority.  Many have a hatred of authority in any form.  In the 70s the slogan “Question Authority” was popular. We do not like to be told what to do.  Apparently, authority is a big deal to God.  Let’s look at these sins.

Our text today says, “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people” (NIV). It is a passage that is still very relevant today.  It deals with two sins.  Both are verbal sins.  They are sins of the tongue. It mentions two kinds of authority, although it applies to other kinds as well.

One of these sins has to do with God and one has to do with people.  We are used to thinking that we have free speech.  We can say whatever we want.  It is in our constitution.  God’s constitution overrides man’s constitution.  There are certain things that we should never say.  These were considered very serious sins.  Today, they are looked at very differently.

Paul committed both of these sins.  Before he became a believer, he called himself a blasphemer (I Timothy 1:13).  After he was a believer, he cursed the ruler of his people, although he said that he was unaware who the man was who he cursed (Acts 23:5).  These may be sins we have committed.

Divine Authority

Exodus 22:18 says, “Do not blaspheme God” (NIV). The first sin involves blaspheming God or reviling God as some translate it (ESV, KJV).  Malachi 1:6 says, “”A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ (NIV).

Some deny God.  They are atheists.  The Bible calls them fools.  The fool said in his heart “there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)  Others do not deny God; they blaspheme and curse God.  It is common today.  Some do it so much, it is a habit.  That is why James talks about the need to tame the tongue.

Cursing God is an old sin.  It was done in Moses’ day and is still done today.  Leviticus 24:10-11 says, “Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.)”

This was in a fight situation between a half Jew and a full Jew and the one who cursed God in this situation was the full Jew. It is a great sin.  It is an expression of hatred.  Instead of blessing and worshipping God, people curse Him.  Some people have cursed God and put it on the Internet.  They have by posted a video of their blasphemy online and have encouraged other people to do so.  It is called “The Blasphemy Challenge.”

Hollywood does this.  The entertainment industry and the music industry routinely blasphemes and curses God.  Lady Gaga blasphemes Christ with her 2011 song called “Judas”.  It praises Judas.  She says in the song that she is in love with Judas.  She says in the song that “Judas is the demon I cling to.”

Many people experience terrible things in their life that seem to have no explanation, things that seem to have no good that comes out of them (death of children or a spouse).  It is not wrong to express how you feel to God in prayer.

It is not wrong to pour out your heart in anguish and sorrow and to ask God questions.  The Psalmist does that.  Questioning God is NOT the same thing as cursing God.  Some shake their fist at God and curse Him when bad things happen to them.

Job used to “rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did continually (1:5).  Then some bad things started happening to Job, really bad things and they all happened in one day.  He lost his kids.  He had seven sons and three daughters.

They all died when a house fell on them.  His servants were killed.  His wealth was lost.  He owned thousands of ox, sheep and camels.  He lost them all.  Then he got very sick.  He got boils all over his body.  They were painful.

Job’s wife said, “Why don’t you curse God and die?” (Job 2:9).  Satan told God if these things happened that Job would curse Him to his face (2:5) but Job never did that.  Job was a godly man.  He is described in the first verse of the book as blameless and upright.  He was a man of complete integrity.  He feared God.

Many people would curse God in this situation.  The Bible says that the mouths of unbelievers is “full of cursing and bitterness” (Romans 3:14).  Revelation 16:10-11 says, “The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds” (ESV).

Revelation 16:17-21 says, “The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.  

The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.  And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe” (ESV)

It is common when bad things happen to us that we blame God and take it out on Him. The good news is that blasphemy is NOT the unpardonable sin.  You can blaspheme God and still be saved.  Jesus said, “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven–except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:31 NLT).  God can forgive this sin, as great as it is.  Of course, it requires repentance but it is forgivable.

The Apostle Paul said I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  Of course, in the OT theocracy, you might lose your life. (I Timothy 1:12-13 NIV)

Parental Authority

We are not to curse God.  We are not to curse divine authority.  We are not to curse our parents.  We are not to curse parental authority.  People still do that today.  God views that as a terrible sin.  in fact, in the OT, it was a crime.  Exodus 21:17 says, “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.”

Political Authority

We are not to curse divine authority or political authorities (the ruler of your people). Psalm 24:21 says “Fear the Lord and the king.”  I Peter 2:17 says, “Honor the emperor.” The powers that be are ordained of God.  They are God’s ministers. Exodus 22:28 says, “Do not curse the ruler of your people” (NIV).

The Hebrew word here translated as “leader” (nasi) means “president” in modern Hebrew.  This is very common in our day.  In fact, it is popular in some circles to trash the president.  There are many Trump haters in our day.

They disrespect him.  They mock him.  They insult him.  They slander him. They compare him to Hitler.  Radical feminists do it in their marches. The media does this.  Late night comedians do it.  People in Hollywood do it. Musicians do it every time they get an award.  They always use that occasion for some reason as an opportunity to curse their president.

Ecclesiastes 10:20 says, “Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say. (NIV)  That is interesting.  It sounds like what has happened in our own country.

People say things in private and hackers like Jullian Assange carry what is said all over the world.  This verse says that, not only are we not to curse our leaders with our mouth, we are not even to have those thoughts.That sounds like what Jesus says in the NT.  Don’t commit physical adultery.  Don’t even commit mental adultery.

This is actually not a sin limited to Democrats.  Republicans curse a Democratic President and Democrats cursing a Republican President. Now, it is very easy for Christians to not curse their political leader.  Many of them voted for President Trump.  Our guy is in office. What if your opponent is in office?  What if you do not like the man in office and you did not vote for him? This verse is very relevant to our own day.

Religious Authority

What is interesting to me is that this command does not just apply to God.  It does not just apply to parents.  It does not just apply to political leaders.  It also applies to religious leaders. This verse applies to leaders in church as well as in government.

We are not supposed to curse them either.  How do we know?  The Apostle Paul applied it to religious leaders in Acts 23.  He cursed the high priest.  Acts 23:1-5 says, “And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”  And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!

Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people’” (ESV).

That is interesting.  Paul and Jesus both stood before a high priest.  Jesus stood before Caiaphas.  Paul stood before Ananias.  Ananias was the high priest who presided during the trial of Paul.

Both were mistreated. Both of them were slapped in the face.  In fact, the mistreatment Jesus was even worse.  Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?” (Matthew 26:67-68)

Both made predictions while they were on trial. Jesus said that one day, the Jews will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64).  Ananias was known for being violent and ruthless.  He ordered soldiers to strike him.  Paul said that one day, someone will strike him.  That was a prophecy that came true about ten years later.

Ananias was murdered in 66 AD at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War.[1]  The Zealots set fire to his house and then killed him and his brother.  The difference is that Paul lost his temper and was disrespectful to the high priest.  He admitted it.  Some people never admit when they are wrong.  Paul did. Now this verse in Exodus raises a lot of questions to think about.  What does it mean to curse your leaders?

What This Does NOT Involve

Does cursing your leader mean simply to speak evil of them?  That would be the parallel in the verse with blaspheming God (speaking evil of God and the ruler of your people).  If it means to speak evil of your leaders, does this mean that you cannot speak the truth about them?  Does it mean that we can never criticize or disagree with a sitting president, no what he does?

If a pastor or religious leader in the country goes astray doctrinally, is it wrong to call that person out as a false teacher?  We should always say what God’s Word says.  It is not wrong to call out sin where we see it. The OT prophets always rebuked wicked kings in the OT.

King Ahab said about one prophet “I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” (I Kings 22:8).  The prophet Jehu rebuked King Jehoshophat.  He said, “Why do you help wicked people and love those who hate the LORD?  Because of this, the LORD’s wrath is on you.” (II Chronicles 19:2).  The prophet Nathan rebuked King David to his face after he committed adultery and murder.  He said “Thou art the man” (II Samuel 12:7).

Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day (the teachers of the law and the Pharisees).  He called them hypocrites (Matthew 23:15).  He called them blind guides (Matthew 23:16).  He called them blind fools (Matthew 23:17).  He called them snakes and a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:33).  Jesus called Herod a fox (Luke 13:32)

John the Baptist rebuked King Herod.  He married someone he was not supposed to marry and John the Baptist said, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” (Matthew 14:4).  He told Herod that what he did was wrong.  He broke God’s law.  He may not have broken man’s law but he broke God’s law. John the Baptist did not care who he was.

He didn’t care if he lost his life over that comment.  He had no fear to speak the truth.  He was not intimidated by anyone.  That took courage.  He lost his head over that comment.  Herod chopped it off but this command.  We are to submit to the authorities but that does not mean that we cannot be a witness for the truth as well, especially in a democracy.

It is not a sin to speak against injustice or corruption.  We are to speak the truth but we must do so always in love and with respect.  There is a huge difference between cursing your leader and condemning sin.  There is a difference between criticizing and cursing a leader.  You can disagree with people without mocking, demeaning or belittling them.  It is one thing to express an opinion.  It is another thing to be disrespectful or hateful.  We are to speak the truth in love.

Biblical Example of Cursing a Ruler

The Bible gives us an example of someone who cursed a leader, so we know exactly what this looks like.  It is found in II Samuel.

As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left.

As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!” (II Samuel 16:5-8 NIV).

What is going on here?  Absalom led a revolt against King David and tried to take over the throne.  David had to flee Jerusalem for his own protection. As he was fleeing, he encountered a man named Shimei (shim-e-eye).  He was a Benjamite.  David took over after Saul.  Shimei did not like him.  He called him a murderer, a scoundrel and threw rocks at him.

He said that God was getting him back for what he did to Saul, which is a joke because David did not kill King Saul. Saul and his sons were killed in battle against the Philistines but we learn here what a curse of a ruler looked like. It was angry.  It was hateful.  It was disrespectful.  He attacked David like he would a dog. It was slanderous.  He said some things that were not true.  It was violent.  He actually threw things at David.  David did not kill him but his son Solomon eventually did (I Kings 2:9).

Is This Command Absolute?

Is it is always wrong to curse one’s ruler?  What if your ruler happens to be Adolf Hitler?  Our leaders are not always good or godly.  They are not always Christians.  In fact, they rarely are.  It is interesting that this verse has no qualification.  Exodus 22:28 does NOT say, “Don’t curse the ruler of your people, unless he is really bad and then it is okay.”  Blaspheming God is ALWAYS wrong and cursing your leader is ALWAYS wrong.

How can you honor them if they are not honorable?  We need to keep two things in mind.  First, we can respect the office without respecting the individual. You can honor the office, even if you cannot honor the person.  That is what David did.

David honored King Saul, even though he did not like King Saul.  King Saul was his enemy.  He tried to kill him three times.  David had a chance to kill King Saul, not once but twice, and didn’t do it (I Samuel 24:1-11).  Why?  He had respect for the office, even if he did not have respect for the person. He called him “the Lord’s anointed” (I Samuel 24:6).

Even Jesus, who blasted the Pharisees, said about them, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (Matthew 23:2-3 NIV)

We should have respect for the office as well.  Paul said that those in government are “God’s servants” (Romans 13:4).  He said that the powers that be are ordained of God (Romans 13:1).  Police offers are God’s servants.  Judges are God’s servants.  If we really believed that, we would show respect for these institutions.

It is wrong for us to curse our leaders (which does no good anyway) but it is not wrong for us to bring before God our concerns about people in charge over us.  That is exactly what God wants us to do.  He wants us to cast all of our cares and worries before Him.

Second, just because we are not to curse our rulers does not mean that they cannot be removed from office.  A president can be removed from office.  He can be impeached.  Judges can be removed from office at the federal and state level.  Authorities in the church can also be removed.  Charges can be brought against elders.  Paul talks about that in I Timothy.  When leaders violate their God-given authority, they can often be removed.

[1]He served as high priest from AD 47 to 52 AD.  Josephus called him “Ananias ben Nebedeus” (Antiquites xx. 5. 2)

The Bible and Immigration

We have been studying case law in Exodus 21-22.  We have been in it for a long time.  When you first read the section, it reads like a bunch of obscure laws from three thousand years ago that have absolutely no relevance to us today.  What we have found instead are all kinds of things from these chapters that apply very much to our life today.

We looked at what the Bible teaches about slavery in this section.  We looked at what the Bible teaches about capital punishment.  We looked at what the Bible teaches about self defense.  We looked at what the Bible teaches about the occult.  Last week, we looked at what it teaches about social justice.  Today, we look at what it teaches about immigration. There is one verse in this chapter that deals with foreigners.

Immigration has become a recent topic in the news.  Some of President Trump’s first executive orders were about immigration.  This is a topic that has been in the news every day this week. The Bible has a lot to say about current events.  These three thousand case laws are still relevant to what is going on in our own country today.  They are inspired by God. The What God says even in the OT is relevant to life today.

The German theologian Karl Barth, who I very rarely quote, once said, “We must read the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.”  That is like saying read the Bible on one hand and watch FOX news on the other.  We should know what God’s Word teaches.  We should also keep informed about current events. Much of the Bible is prophecy.

We are going to do something today that we do not normally do and that is to talk about politics in church.  Normally, it is not a good idea to preach politics from the pulpit. This is a topic that divides Christians.  What we want to do today is always a good idea.

It is always good to look at thing from a biblical perspective, including current events. Instead of giving our own opinion and what we think about the issue or what our political party says, we want to look at what God says about the issue. It is a radical concept.

Questions about Immigration

1) What should be our attitude toward immigrants?

What is the biblical view of immigration?  What is the Christian view of immigration?  Many people in this country have an anti-immigrant bias.  Many do not like them.  They come to this country.  They can’t speak the language.  They commit crimes.  They steal our jobs.  They drive down our wages.

What is God’s attitude toward immigrants.  Deuteronomy 10:18 says that God “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and LOVES the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing” (NIV).

We should love what God loves.  in fact we are commanded to do this. Jesus divided the whole law up into two commands: love God and love your neighbor.  Who is your neighbor?  This phrase comes right out of the Book of Leviticus.  Leviticus 19:17-18 says,

Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF, I am the Lord. (NIV)

There is clearly refers to fellow Israelites but, at the end of the chapter, God says, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated AS YOUR NATIVE-BORN. LOVE THEM AS YOURSELF, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34 NIV)

That is interesting.  The command to love your neighbor as yourself is applied to foreigners.  It is not limited to foreigners but it applies to foreigners.  God does not just say THAT we are to love them.  He tells us HOW we are to love them

God  says that we are to love them in two ways.  We are to love them like our own people. They were to love foreigners like native born Jews. They were  to love them the same way.  We are not to love our own people more.  He also says that we are to love them as we love ourselves.

We are to show them the same care and concern that we show to ourselves.  We treat ourselves well and should treat foreigners the same way.  We should not insult or denigrate them.  We should not look down on them, and criticize them.  We do not do that to ourselves.  This is a radical statement (loving foreigners as we love ourself and as we love our own people).

We are not only to love foreigners, we are to love foreigners that we can’t stand.  We are to love foreigners that we hate.  That is what the parable of the Good Samaritan is all about.  It is about a Samaritan who takes care of a poor Jew who was attacked and beaten almost to death.  The Good Samaritan got involved when no one else did and did so at risk to himself.

The Jews and Samaritans hated each other but this Samaritan did not see him as Jew but as a human being.  He looked at his need, not his race.  He treated him with compassion, not criticism.  He showed hospitality to him. We are to do the same thing.

We should show compassion to people, including foreigners, even if it means that they cannot pay us back.  We should show hospitality to them. The word hospitality in Greek is φιλόξενος.  It is a compound word.  It is a combination of two words (φιλος and  ξενος).  Literally, it means “love of strangers.”  It does not just mean tolerating them as a necessary evil and allowing them in the country.  It means LOVING them.

One way we are to do this is financially.  We saw this last week.  Every Jew was told not to harvest their entire field.  Leviticus 19:9-10 says, “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. LEAVE THEM FOR THE POOR AND THE FOREIGNER. I am the Lord your God.” (NIV)

Exodus 22:21 says, “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt” (NIV).  God does not just give them a command.  He gives them a reason for the command.  Statistically about one third of abused people go on to abuse others.[1] The majority become abusers but many do. It is the sin nature at work.  God says not to do that. Don’t treat others the way you were treated.  Instead, treat them the way you would want to be treated.

Jesus came up with the Golden Rule.  This was an early version of the Golden Rule. It is found in Exodus 22.  The Egyptians mistreated the Jews.  They were foreigners in Egypt for hundreds of years and were mistreated terribly.  They were enslaved and it was a harsh form of slavery.  They knew what it was like to be abused.  Now God tells them to make sure they do not do the same thing to other foreigners.

2) Are illegal immigrants what Exodus calls “foreigners?” (“stranger”-KJV; “sojourner”-ESV; “an alien”-ISV))

Exodus 22 speaks of social justice for four different groups of people: widows, orphans, the poor and foreigners.  Are illegal aliens the same thing as foreigners?  Worded another way, if we are to treat foreigners as native born citizens, does this mean that we are to treat illegal immigrants as native born citizens?  Does that mean that we should grant citizenship to all illegal immigrants?

Is amnesty what Exodus is talking about?  We have laws about citizenship but if people sneak into the country illegally and we just grant them citizenship for making it over here, that does not seem fair.  It is not fair to all the people who became legal immigrants.  It just gives you an incentive to break the law.

Most people think of one kind of foreigner but the Bible mentions two different kinds.  The word used in Exodus 22:21 is ger.   It does refer to someone that left their own country and sought refuge in another country.  The HCSB translates it “foreign resident.”They are foreigners but they were not illegals. This Hebrew word specifically refers to foreigners who had legal standing in the community.  They had privileges and rights, some similar to native born citizens.

“Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner (ger) or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do. The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner (ger) shall be the same before the Lord: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.” (Numbers 15:13-16 NIV)

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: No foreigner (toe-shav) may eat it. Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it. “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

“A foreigner (ger) residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.” (Exodus 12:43-48 NIV)

“Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner (ger) residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:14-15 NIV)

Reading all of these passages, we see three different groups of people in view.  There were native or natural born citizens.   There were foreigners who had legal standing in the community.  They became permanent residents.  They obeyed the laws of Israel and had some legal protections.  Then, there were other foreigners who were just passing through the country and did not have the same rights.

3) Is an open door immigration policy biblical?

We should love immigrants.  The Jews were immigrants.  Abraham was an immigrant.  Abraham was an immigrant.  He left his land in Ur of the Chaldees and traveled a long way to get to Canaan.  When he got to Canaan, there were people living in the country and he was a foreigner.  He was an outsider. The USA is a nation of immigrants.

In fact, Christians are describes as strangers and sojourners in this world. We are called foreigners and aliens (e.g., I Peter 2:11).  We may live in America but Paul says that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).  We should welcome immigrants.  That does not mean necessarily that we have an open door policy and let anyone into the country.  We need to make several points here.

First, God establishes borders for countries.  Borders are biblical.  Deuteronomy 32:8 says, “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel” (NIV).  Acts 17:26 says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (NIV)

Second, nations have the right to defend their borders.  They have the right to protect themselves, like we do as individuals.  One of the most important jobs of any government is to protect its citizens.  That is one of the main jobs of the state. Donald Trump talks about building a wall around the US-Mexico border and many think this is terrible.

Critics often say that instead of building walls, we should be building bridges.  They do not like the idea of a country with walls around it.  The US is not the only country that has had a wall to protect its borders.  Most countries in bible times had walls around them to protect themselves from invaders.

In fact, the Book of Revelation says that in heaven the city of the New Jerusalem will have a big wall around it with twelve gates (Revelation 21:12) and that wall will be guarded by angels.  There will not be an open door policy in the New Jerusalem.

Three, nations have the right to decide who can be in the country.  In Exodus 23, certain people were kept out of the land as well.  “My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out” (23:23).

That is strange.  There was no open door policy to let these groups in.  These pagan groups were not allowed in the land.  “Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you” (23:33 NIV).

We do not have to let just anyone into our country. We do not let just anyone into our house.  God does not let just anyone into heaven. He uses extreme vetting.  The Bible says that many will try to enter and be denied entrance.  Only those whose names are in the Book of Life can enter.  Your name has to be written in a book to get it.  You have to have the proper documentation.  No one will enter illegally.

Jesus told a parable about this.  It is called the Parable of the Wedding Feast (Mathew 22:1-14).  Weddings are times a great celebration.  They are a lot of fun.  They are a big party.  There is entertainment.  There is music.  There is dancing.  There is great food. There is some really good wine.  The kingdom of God is like a party.  People can’t walk in off of the street and crash the wedding, just because they are hungry.  You have to be invited to the wedding.  You have to RSVP.

Jesus told a parable about a wedding dinner for a prince, the king’s son. He gave out invitations to the big dinner.  Some came and some did not but not all who came to the event got in.  Some were excluded. There is also a dress code at weddings.  Most weddings you dress up.  They are formal affairs.  You don’t wear your swimming trunks. This was a royal wedding and there was special attire for this wedding.  You had to wear a wedding robe.  There was no open door policy to this wedding, just like there is not an open door policy to weddings today.

4) Should churches offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants?

Should the church get involved?  You may have heard of SANCTUARY CITIES (e.g., San Francisco, Denver).  You may have heard about SANCTUARY STATES (California, Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut)   Now, people are talking about SANCTUARY CHURCHES. That has been in the news recently.

Some churches are doing this.  Liberal activists are using the church to offer sanctuary to illegal’s who face deportation.[2]  There are eleven million illegal aliens in the US.  Are sanctuary churches biblical?  No. We are a nation of immigrants but we are also a nation of laws.  If our laws are unjust, we can work to change them.

Paul said in Romans 13 when we resist the government, we are resisting God and we should be afraid.  The Bible does not teach that it is okay to break the law.  We should not encourage others to break the law and we should not do so ourselves.  The whole concept of sanctuary cities comes out of the Bible.  It is based on the concept of cities of refuge that people could flee to for safety.

There is only one problem.  The only ones who could flee to those cities were people who killed someone accidentally.  If someone killed someone intentionally and deliberately, they could not flee to one of these cities.  In fact, God says in the Book of Exodus that murders were to be taken from the altar and executed (21:14).  That does not fit the situation of illegal aliens.  They did not just stumble across the border accidentally.  They came in deliberately and intentionally.

Church is not supposed to be a place where people are shielded from justice.  Church was not meant to be a place where you can go to and be safe after you break the law or commit a crime. There is no comparison between people who commit an accidental killing and people who come to the country illegally.  They break the law intentionally and deliberately.

[1] http://www.naasca.org/2012-Resources/010812-StaisticsOfChildAbuse.htm

[2] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/12/09/churches-vow-to-offer-sanctuary-to-people-in-us-illegally.html

The Bible and Social Justice

For the last few weeks, we have been studying case law in Exodus 21-22. It has some strange laws but these are important laws that still apply to us, even though we are not under the Law of Moses.  This is still God’s Word and there are lessons we can learn from these chapters.

In the last few weeks, we have learned about the Bible and slavery.  We learned about the Bible and capital punishment.  We learned about the Bible and the occult.  Today, we are going to look at the Bible and social justice.

This is a very important topic.  People talk about social justice all the time in the media.  Most have no clue what it means.  Often what they mean by social justice is very different from what the Bible means by it. Today, we will see what the Bible says about social justice.

Before we get to those topics, we want to look at two strange laws that we did not have time to cover last week.  They deal with two ancient crimes. Both of these are capital crimes.  The punishment for these crimes was death.  Every crime did not result in death.  Only the really bad ones did.

One is a sexual crime.  One is a religious crime.  These crimes tell us something about God.  He sees things very differently than people do today. Let’s look at these two case laws.  The first deal with sexual perverts.

Sexual Perversion

The first one we are going to look at today deals with sexual perversion.  Not all sex crimes resulted in death.  We saw one sex crime in the chapter that did not result in death but this one did call for the death penalty.  The crime was sex with animals. “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.” (22:19 NIV)

The KJV says, “Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death” (22:19).  That might give some people the wrong impression.  This is not talking about someone who sleeps with their pet.  It is talking about someone who has sex with animals. That’s a strange crime.

God looks at perversion differently than people do. Many have the view today that what you do behind closed doors is your own business.  It is a private matter. There are no rules.  You can do whatever you want with whoever you want.  Here we learn that this is not true.  God is the one who created sex.  He has the right to regulate it. He created it exclusively for a man and a woman in the context of marriage.

Doesn’t every country have a law against this?  Believe it or not, the answer is “no.”  There was a law from the Ancient Near East on bestiality around this time period.  It is similar to what Exodus says when you first read it.  “If a man has sexual relations with a cow… he will be put to death” (187).  “If a man has sexual relations with a sheep… he will be put to death” (188). “If anyone has sexual relations with a pig or a dog, he shall die” (199).

Later, in the same Hittite Law Code, we are told, “If a man has sexual relations with either a horse or a mule, it is NOT an offense” (200).  This was a crime for some animals but not others, which seems a little strange.  At least the Bible is consistent.

What about in our own country?  What are the laws about this in the US regarding this behavior?  It may be a little shocking to find out the answer to that question. Each state has different laws.  In some states, it is completely legal in some states (Kentucky; Nevada; Texas; Vermont; West Virginia, Washington, D.C).

In most states it is illegal but the punishment is small.  The maximum penalty is a few months or a few years in prison.  In many states it is just a misdemeanor.  Rhode Island and Massachusetts have the strongest laws. They have a maximum of twenty years in prison for this crime and they are liberal states.[1]

God says that the punishment for this crime should be, not imprisonment, but DEATH.  This crime was so serious, the penalty was death.  In fact, in Leviticus tells us that both the person and the animal were to die (20:15).  We now come to the second crime.  This does not deal with sexual perverts.  It deals with religious perverts.

Religious Perversion

“Anyone who sacrifices to any god other than the Lord MUST be DESTROYED.” (22:20 NLT)  This idea is repeated in the next chapter of Exodus.

“My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I WILL WIPE THEM OUT. Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must DEMOLISH them and BREAK their sacred stones TO PIECES.” (23:23-24).

That’s interesting.  The First Commandment says we are not to worship any false gods. These verses say that we are to kill anyone who worships idols.  It sounds like genocide but it is not racial.  It is religious.  If a Hebrew began to worship another god, that Hebrew man or woman was also to be destroyed.

That does not sound very ecumenical or pluralistic.  It does not sound too tolerant.  It doesn’t sound very nice.  It is a little counter-cultural.  In America, idolatry is not a crime.  It is a right.  It is a constitutional right.  It is protected by the First Amendment.

Should we do this today?  There are radical groups today that believe we should do this today.  They are called Christian Reconstructionists. They believe that we should have public stoning today. They are as barbaric as the Taliban or ISIS. We do not execute idolaters today because we do not live in a theocracy.

One day, there will be a theocracy on earth.  When Jesus returns, there will be only one God worshiped on earth.  There will be no freedom of religion.  A theocracy is a bad idea today because it is a dictatorship.  It is not a democracy.  We are sinners.  Jesus is sinless.  He will rule the world in perfect righteousness and justice. When He returns, idolatry will be outlawed.

“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. (Zechariah 13:2)

I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. (Hosea 2:17 NIV)

The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear. (Isaiah 2:18 NIV)

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. (Jeremiah 31:34 NIV)

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9 NIV)

This passage gives us what God thinks about idolatry.  He hates it.  There is nothing He hates more than idolatry.  The Bible says that idolatry provokes God to anger.  What God hates, we should hate.  We should hate idolatry in our own life and should break into pieces any form of idolatry that we have.

The Bible and Social Justice

“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

“If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. (22:21-27 NIV)

This brings us to the topic of social justice.  Justice is God’s idea.  The Bible says a lot about justice.  Social justice is not a liberal agenda.  It is a biblical agenda.  Justice is God’s heart. He is a God of justice.  The Bible says that everything God does is just (Deuteronomy 32:4).

The Bible says that God loves justice (Psalm 11:7; Isaiah 61:8). He cares about the poor and oppressed.  He cares about the fatherless.  He says that He is father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5).  He is a defender of widows (Psalm 68:5).  Social justice is important to God.  Here is the shocker.  Social justice is so important that, in some ways, it is is more important than even worship.

I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:22-42 NIV)

God does not want us to treat each other terribly and then come and bow act real spiritual in church.  Amos spoke up for the poor and the oppressed in his day.  He was the prophet of social justice.  Amos 5 is one of the most famous passages in the Bible.  Martin Luther King quoted from it in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.  Not only do we have this statement about justice rolling on like righteousness, we have other statements in Amos about justice.

There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.” (5:10-12 NIV)

Isaiah was another OT prophet who talked a lot about justice.  He lived about the same time as Amos in the 8th century BC.  These are some of the things found in his book. “Learn to do right; SEEK JUSTICE. DEFEND the oppressed. TAKE UP THE CAUSE OF the fatherless; PLEAD the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17 NIV)

The Lord takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgment AGAINST THE ELDERS AND LEADERS of his people: “It is YOU who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in YOUR houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor? declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. (Isaiah 3:13-15)

WOE to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? (Isaiah 10:1-3)

Jesus brought this topic up to the Pharisees.  He said, “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, BUT YOU NEGLECT JUSTICE and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.” (Luke 11:42 NIV)

Is God a Liberal?

Since social justice is so important to God, does this mean that God is a liberal, since this is what liberals are always taking about?  Put another way, Is God a liberal democrat?  God is not liberal when it comes to crime and punishment.  He does not soft on punishment.  Some of these crimes receive strict sentences.  He is not liberal on morality.  He is not liberal when it comes to sex.

He does not support the idea you can do whatever you want, so long as you do not hurt anybody.  Adultery made God’s top ten list.  God does not support gay marriage.  He was the one who created marriage.  He created it exclusively for a man and a woman and made homosexuality a capital crime.  He is not liberal on abortion.  He is not liberal on moral, sexual, reproductive or gender issues.

What about on social issues?  God has compassion for the poor.  That is true. The solution in the Bible to poverty is not big government. When liberals talk about social justice, they mean economic redistribution, higher taxes, and big government. That is not anywhere in the Bible.

God is not liberal when it comes to welfare.  The Bible says, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”  The poor in the Bible were taken care of in the OT but it was not through a government program. It was done through gleaning.  They lived in an agricultural economy.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:9-10)

Deuteronomy says this was also for the fatherless and the widow (24:19). It sounds a little inefficient.  When you harvest your land, don’t harvest everything.  That sounds like you are wasting food.  God said to leave some in your fields for the poor.  That was the way they dealt with hunger in the OT.  What if you did not want to?  It was not optional. It was required but it was not a burdensome requirement. Everyone had to leave a little food in their field for the poor.

God commanded people to do this but even the poor had to work to get their food.  God did not tell people to harvest everything and give some to the poor.  He did not tell them to do it for them.  The poor had to work for their own food. In some cases, it was hard work.  They were not given a handout from the government.

Liberals believe in distributive or economic justice, which is not justice at all.  It involves taking from the rich and giving to the poor, which is a form of injustice.  It is a form of stealing.  It is the Robin Hood philosophy.

It redistributes the wealth of hard-working people who have taken major risks to those who have risked nothing and who have done nothing to earn it.”[2] That is NOT what the Bible means by social justice.  What is the Bible talking about?  It has nothing to do with economic redistribution.  Let’s look at the text.

This chapter mentions social justice for the poor, social justice for the foreigners or immigrants, as we would call them today, social justice for the widows and social justice for the orphans.  It mentions these four groups of marginalized people.  This passage tells us how these groups are NOT to be treated.

Do not MISTREAT or OPPRESS a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Do not TAKE ADVANTAGE OF the widow or the fatherless.” (22:21-22).  It would be very easy to take advantage of all of these groups.  They were the weakest members of society.  They had no power.  It is easy to exploit a foreigner or a poor person.  God says not to do that.  Don’t use your power to take advantage of or hurt people.  If you do, God will judge you.

Strong Warning

Social justice is important to God.  If you do that, there is a strong warning by God.  Notice, Exodus 22:23-24.  “If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill YOU with the sword; YOUR wives will become widows and YOUR children fatherless” (NIV).

If you abuse widows, orphans and foreigners, God will judge you.  God will kill you and your kids will become widows and orphans.  The punishment will fit the crime (lex taliones).  That is a strong warning.  We see the same thing in Deuteronomy 27:19. It says, “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!” (NIV)

The focus in this section is one the poor. God says here that there are two things that you are not to do to the poor.  First, you are not to charge them interest. “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.” (22:25 NIV)

It was legal to charge people interest in the ancient world and is legal today.  In fact, the interest rate is often high.  God’s people were to be different.  They were NOT supposed to do what everyone else was doing.  God said, “Don’t charge the poor interest.”

Don’t try to take advantage of the poor and try to get rich off the backs of the poor.  It is not wrong to lend people money but they were not to charge the poor interest.  They were to get an interest free loan.

In fact, they were not even to charge each other interest. This is radical.  Jews could not charge interest to other Jews.  That was forbidden. We know this from Deuteronomy 23:19. “You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess” (NIV).  That would be like charging family and friends for borrowing money.

Second, God says that you are not allowed to take certain things as collateral for your loan. “If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate” (22:26-27 NIV).  If he does not have anything but his clothing, you can take it but you have to return it at night.  That is interesting.

Some people are all business.  If you need a quick loan, they will provide one for a fee.  They would take a poor man’s cloak (if that is all that he has to pay).  If the poor man could not pay it back, he did not get it back and got cold in the night or could not sleep, they would say, “That’s not my problem.”  God says, “Don’t do that.”

This tells us two things.  There is nothing wrong to have a security for a loan but we are to treat people differently based on their needs. We should not treat everyone the same.  The poor should be treated differently.  It is wrong to take the only covering a person has and use it as collateral. It also tells us that we are to show compassion to people.

Radical Teaching of Jesus on Lending

Before we leave this topic, let’s look at what Jesus said about lending to the poor.  He made several statements about lending.  We see them in Luke.

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” (Luke 6:30 NIV)

And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back” (Luke 6:33-35 NIV).

“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:13-14 NIV)

Jesus said that if a poor person asks you for something, give it to them.  Don’t ask for collateral.  Don’t charge them interest.  In fact, do not even expect anything back in return.

Don’t expect to get the money back with interest.  He says, “Don’t expect to get anything back from a loan. Don’t expect to get the money back with interest.  In fact, do not expect to get it back at all.  If they cannot pay you back, then rejoice.  God will pay you back one day.”

Now, it is not wrong to expect to get back what you loaned to someone but Jesus called His followers to do something more.  He calls them to a radical view on lending in which we treat is as a gift, rather than a loan. He did this because He taught that it was more blessed to give than to receive.  Next week, we will be back in Exodus 22 as we look at what the Bible says about immigration.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophilia_and_the_law_in_the_United_States

[2] http://patriotupdate.com/social-justice-liberals-dont-want-justice-they-want-your-money/

The Bible and the Occult

We are studying the Book of Exodus.  For the last several weeks, we have case law found in Exodus 21-22.  It is the part of Bible that is never read and certainly never preached.  It contains some strange laws, like the one about selling your own daughter in to slavery.

On the surface, Exodus 22 does not seem to be that important but it deals with some very interesting topics.  It deals with sex before marriage.  It deals with seduction.  It deals with rape.  It deals with sorcery or witchcraft. It deals with sexual perversion, people having sex with animals.  It deals with social justice.  We will look at that topic next week.

Today, we will only be looking at the first twenty verses of the chapter.  We will read the first part of the chapter but will really be focusing on the second part of the chapter.  The first fourteen verses deal with property rights.  What do these verses teach?  They teach that we are responsible for our pets.  That is still true today.  They teach that if you damage the property of someone else, you are responsible for it.  If you borrow something from someone else and it gets damaged, you are responsible.

5“If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard.

6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.

7 “If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. 8 But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’s property.

9 In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to the other.

10 “If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, 11 the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the Lord that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required.

12 But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, restitution must be made to the owner. 13 If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring in the remains as evidence and shall not be required to pay for the torn animal.

14 “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they must make restitution. 15 But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss. (22:5-15 NIV)

God protects the rights of property owners here.  Property is sacred.  People have a right to own property. The punishment for stealing in the Bible is very interesting.

Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep… Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. 4 If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double. (22:1, 4)

This is completely counter-cultural.  How God punishes stealing is very different from society’s punishment.  The punishment in the ancient world for stealing was DEATH.  The Code of Hammurabi said, “If anyone is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death” (22).  The punishment in the Muslim world is AMPUTATION.

The punishment in the Bible is not amputation or death.  It is RESTITUTION.  If you steal a sheep or a cow, you have to pay back double.  If you sell it, you have to pay back four or five animal.  That is an effective punishment. With a punishment like that, you learn that crime does not pay.  Criminals do.  It is not worth it to steal. If you steal, you had to pay restitution and a fine.

A Sexual Crime

If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.” (22:16-17 NIV)

“If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

What is going on here?  This is a case of premarital sex.  Neither person is married at the time.  In this situation, a man seduces a woman.  Exodus says that the man entices the woman. Deuteronomy says that he rapes her.  Which is it?  Both are right.  It is rape.  It is not like a serial rapist.  It is an ancient form of what we call today “date rape” or “acquaintance rape.”

The woman is seduced by the man.  The Hebrew word “seduced” has the idea of deceived.  She is tricked into doing something that she does not want to do. What is the punishment for this crime?  The man has to pay the father the bride price.  He has to pay him fifty shekels.  He has to marry the woman, if her father allows it, and he is not allowed to divorce her.  That seems like a strange punishment for rape.

Were Women Forced to Marry their Rapists?

Critics of the Bible mock and ridicule this passage.  To them, it is barbaric.  It is cruel.  Women have to marry their rapists.  It is double victimization.  It is like pouring salt on a wound.  The victim has to marry the victimizer.  They say that this is degrading to women. How would you answer these critics?  Are they right?

In our day and time, this sounds terrible.  On the surface, it makes the Bible look horrendous but we have to read this through the lens of another culture.  The Jews read this completely different.  In their culture, it does not degrade women at all.  It actually teaches the exact opposite.

The Truth about Exodus 22:16-17

1) This law protects women

How does this law protect women? A single woman in that day who was raped was considered ineligible for marriage.  The question we ask in this situation is, “Does she have to marry her rapist?”  The question that was asked in the ancient world was, “After she is raped, who would marry and provide for her all?”

If a woman lost her virginity in the ancient world, she lost her value as marriage material.   In that culture, she would be considered damaged goods.  She was defiled.  No one would want to marry an impure woman.

That caused a big problem in the ancient world.  In biblical times, woman’s whole livelihood depends on the protection and support of a man.  They received no inheritance when they father died.  It all went to sons.  This was the way to protect them and provide for them.

You say but it does not seem fair.  Keep in mind that this law did not guarantee that she would marry her rapist.  She was NOT automatically forced to marry her rapist.  The rapist could ONLY marry her if he got the consent of her father.  Her father had the right to prevent this from happening.

This put a lot of pressure on the father who made the decision but it was not a done deal. Who would want his daughter to marry a rapist?  Who wants a slime ball as a son-in-law?  He took his daughter’s chastity.  Any wise father would consult his daughter on the matter.  Even Rebekah was consulted about whether she wanted to go with the servant and marry Isaac.

2) This law protects marriage

The Law of Moses does not devalue women.  It actually values them.  Having sex with a woman and not marrying her devalues her.  You would have to marry the woman and stay married all of your life. You could not divorce her.

This law cuts down on sexual promiscuity.  Today, we live in a day when people sleep with whoever they want and how many people they want.  If you had to marry everyone you slept with, it would cut down on people sleeping around.

In that way, this law is superior to our system today. There would be no free love. If a man makes love to a single girl, he has to pay the bride price to her father and he has to pay it, even if they do not get married. Fifty shekels was a lot of money.  This law forced actually forced men to take responsibility for their actions.

Witchcraft

“You must not allow a sorceress to live.” (22:18 NLT)

We come now to three more death penalty crimes.  They are found in three verses in this chapter. One is a sexual crime.  One is a religious crime.  One is a pagan crime. We will only have time to look at the first one. The first sin is witchcraft.

Salem Witch Trials Today

What’s the punishment for witchcraft?  Death.  The verse does NOT say, “God will not allow a witch to live.” It says “YOU shall not allow a witch to live.”  How does this apply to us?  Should Christians kill witches today?  That is what people did in Salem.  They did not burn them but they did hang them.

They didn’t make up the law.  They took it right out of the Bible.  They read what it says.  It says to kill witches.  They obeyed it.  They took it literally.  They enforced this rule.  Exodus 22:18 just mentions a female witch in Hebrew, because many of them happened to be female (like palm readers today) but the law of Moses did not limit this to just women. We know that from the Book of Leviticus.

“Men and women among you who act as mediums or who consult the spirits of the dead must be put to death by stoning. They are guilty of a capital offense.”  (Leviticus 20:27 NLT)

The result was that it made a complete laughingstock of Christians.  It made them all look harsh, intolerant and bigoted.  It made them all look like a bunch of fanatics.  Should we start up the Salem Witch Trial again?  Should we get the Inquisition going again and begin burning heretics and idolaters?  No.

There are three problems with enforcing this rule today.  People who already tried this made three exegetical errors.  This is a lesson on how to interpret the Bible.  What is wrong with enforcing this law today?

First, this law given to Israel, NOT the church.

We are not Israel.  America is not Israel.  That was the mistake of the Puritans.  When you read a passage in the Bible, you have to look at who the passage is addressed in the passage.  That is a common mistake.

Second, this law was given during a theocracy.

This is another common mistake people make when interpreting the Bible.  People do not look at the context.  They pull a passage completely out of its context and try to apply it.  These rules were given in the time of a theocracy.

What is a theocracy?  That word is used in several different senses.  We call Iran a theocracy today.  It is usually defined as the political combination of church and state.  There is no separation between the church and state. Religious and civil laws are the same thing (Sharia Law).  This is a different use of the word.

The word theocracy literally means “the rule of God.”  God ruled in the nation in a way that he is not ruling today.  He appeared in a theophany every day (pillar of fire and cloud).  He spoke audibly to the nation. God can still do that today but it is not His normal way of operating.  God still speaks to people today but he usually does not do it audibly.

Three, the NT says that we are not under Law

The NT says that Christians are not under the Law today.  We are under grace.  That is why we do not have animal sacrifices.  If we are not under the Law and this may not be a capital offense today, what is the application for us today?

This passage shows what God thinks of witchcraft.  His attitude has not changed.  We live in a free society.  We are accepting and tolerant as a society.  We no longer see sin as sin.  Homosexuality is not longer viewed as sin.  In fact, they are even allowed to marry.

Witchcraft in America

Witchcraft is allowed in the US.  In fact, it is recognized as a legitimate religion.  In 1986, the Fourth Circuit Court recognized Wicca as a religion with full First Amendment protections.  The case was Dettmer v. Landon. Wicca comes from an Old English word for witch.  This passage reminds us how serious God takes these actions.  In Scripture, this is not a right but a crime.  It is a capital crime.

Witchcraft and sorcery is not harmless, like it has become today. We have books about witchcraft (Harry Potter, which is about a boy sorcerer).  We have television shows about witches (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch;’ ‘Charmed;’ ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’).  We have made them seem completely harmless (Bewitched).

Hollywood makes them out to be good.  The Wizard of Oz has good witches in it.  In Harry Potter, the good guys practice white magic, instead of black magic.  Hollywood portrays witches and wizards in a positive light. The Bible calls this an abomination.  It does not distinguish between white and black magic.[1]

9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,

11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 18:9-13 NIV)

God calls it an abomination.  In the OT, it was punishable by death.  in the NT, the punishment is even worse.  Revelation 21:8 says that the fate of “those who practice witchcraft” (NLT) or “sorcerers” (ESV) will have their part in the lake of fire.

What is so wrong with witchcraft?  It is not harmless.  It is demonic.  The truth is that there is power in witchcraft (Acts 16:16-18. Exodus 7:11,22; 8:7).  It is dangerous to try to contact the spirit world.  God said in Leviticus 20:6, “I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.” (NIV)

The problem today is that many Christians seem to be ignorant of this law.  Some Christians believe in astrology. Some read their horoscopes and post them on Facebook. They consult psychics.  They do not seem to see that it is a completely pagan practice that God hates and judges.  Next week, we will look at the other capital crimes in the chapter.

[1] http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/harrypotter.html

The Bible and Self Defense – Part II

For the last few weeks, we have been studying case law in Exodus 21-22.  It is an unfamiliar section to most people. It contains some strange laws.  It has laws about an ox goring a person to death.  It has laws about a father selling his daughter into slavery.  It has laws about people having sex with animals.  It is a section that is almost never preached from the pulpit and you can see why.

Last week, we looked at what the Bible teaches about self-defense.  We looked at a case law dealing with a man who breaks into a house at night.  We learned three lessons from that passage.  We learned that self-defense is a right.

The Law of Moses clearly taught that you have a right to defend yourself and your family from physical danger.  We learned that punishment can be excessive.  We also learned that self-defense and revenge are two completely different things.

Today, we come to the fun stuff.  How does this apply to us today?  Is it still valid?  Are Christians still under this law?  The NT teaches that the law has been abolished.  We are not under the Law of Moses.  What does the NT teach about self-defense?  Does it say anything?  For the last few years, we have been studying some books in the OT.  Today, we want to look at what the NT says.

We know what Moses said.  Today, we want to look at what Jesus said about the matter.  Today, we want to look and see if He taught something entirely different.  Jesus was the one who taught that we are not to resist evil men.  He is the one who taught that we are to forgive people.  He is also the one who taught that if someone hits us, we are to turn the other cheek.  We want to look today at what would Jesus do.

The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

Before we look at the passage, we have to get the context.  It is found in the Sermon on the Mount.  The Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5-7. It is also found in Luke 6. The Bible does not call it “The Sermon on the Mount.” Augustine was the first one that we know who used that phrase and he lived in the fourth century.

I love the Sermon on the Mount. It has been called by many “the greatest sermon ever preached.” President Harry Truman once said, “There is not a problem in this country or the world that could not be solved by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount.”[1]  We can learn a lot about Jesus’ style of teaching from this sermon.  Most pastors do not preach this way today.  How was this sermon different from most sermons today?

1) This sermon was given outdoors

Matthew 5:1-2 says, “One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him,  and he began to teach them” (NLT).  This sermon was not given in a church.  It was delivered outdoors on a small hill. It was completely spontaneous.  It was not a planned sermon.  It was not part of the regular weekly church service.

2) This sermon was given sitting down

Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down (5:1 NLT). We do not do that today.  We stand up to teach or preach.  Jesus did not teach like a modern-day pastor or college professor.

He was Jewish and that was what the rabbis of his day did.  The teacher sat down and everyone else stood.  It was cultural.  We do the exact opposite today.  In our culture, the teacher stands and the students sit.

3) This sermon was short

Many preachers think that a great sermon has to be long.  It doesn’t.  That is a myth.  It is quality, not quantity.  Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in under two minutes.  Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech was only seventeen minutes long.  The Sermon on the Mount looks long.  It is three chapters long but it took under fifteen minutes to deliver.

4) This sermon was engaging

Jesus got their attention with this sermon.  How did he do that?  He did it three ways.  First, He made it understandable.  He told them things they could understand.  He preached a sermon on their level.  He spoke to ordinary people.  He did not speak over their head.  He did not use technical language.

Second, He made it relevant.  He told them things that that applied to them and could relate to.  He covered relevant topics (anger, lust, violence, revenge, forgiveness marriage, divorce, remarriage, honesty).  He even gave some legal advice in this sermon.

Third, He made it interesting.  It was not boring. Some pastors today put people to sleep when they begin to preach.  James McDonald used to say that it is a sin to be boring, although I don’t think that he has a verse for that.  What we know for sure is that Jesus got their attention.

He used exaggeration. He said, “If your right hand offends you, cut it off.” “When you give to the poor, don’t announce it with trumpets.”  “If you call your brother a fool, you will be brought before the Supreme Court.”

He used humor.  Some of the things He said were funny.  He talked about a man criticizing some for having a speck in their eye when he has a large beam in his eye. He used examples from everyday life (birds, flowers).   They were the visual aids to the sermon.  He appealed to their own experience to teach them things.  He talked about how we give good gifts to our children.

It was a sermon that has everything in it.  There is teaching (e.g., about the Law, about how to pray and not to pray, about how to live the blessed life).  There is application. Don’t just hear these words but put them into practice like a wise man who built his house on a rock.

There is exhortation to do certain things (“Enter through the narrow gate”).  There is encouragement (“You are the light of the world.”). “You are the salt of the earth.” There is warning (Beware of false prophets”).

5) This sermon was convicting

It was convicting because it went straight to people’s hearts.  Jesus didn’t just talk about murder; he talked about anger.  He didn’t just talk about adultery; He talked about lust.

It was convicting because ti points out when we are complete hypocrites and many of those people are in churches.  They are religious people. “When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do IN THE SYNAGOGUES” (6:2 NIV).

He said, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing IN THE SYNAGOGUES…to be seen by others” (6:5 NIV). He called other people with a very critical spirit HYPOCRITES (7:5). That is interesting.  Some of the most judgmental people you will ever meet are found in church.

6) This sermon was authoritative

Jesus spoke with authority.   We see that at the end of the sermon.  What does that mean?  Someone who speaks with authority, not only has conviction and confidence, he has knowledge.  He knows what he is talking about.  An expert in a particular field can speak with authority.  I cannot speak with authority on cooking or gardening.

Jesus did not just give opinions.  He gave truth and He contradicted other people who did not know what they were talking about.  Over and over in this sermon, we see the words, “You have heard it said… but I say to you.”  Jesus says this six times in the sermon (5:21, 27, 31-32, 33, 38-39, 43-44).

7) This sermon was shocking

Jesus said some things in this sermon that were shocking.  He said that the Pharisees were not saved.  “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20 NIV).

If you have to surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees to get into heaven, then they are not getting in.  They were the most religious people on the planet.  They kept all of the rules and they were not going to make it in?  He also said that many people who think they are going to heaven are not going and that includes many professing Christians who call Jesus Lord.

He said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad” (5:11-12 NIV)  He said, “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (5:48).  These are shocking statements.  “Love your enemies” is shocking.  “Turn the other cheek if someone slaps you” is also shocking.  It’s radical.

Turn the Other Cheek

38“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:38-42 NIV).

Before we can look at the command to turn the other cheek, we have to get the context of the passage.  Jesus begins with a teaching that he opposes You have to get this.  Some preachers get this wrong.

What did Jesus mean when he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  Who said that? Where did they hear this?   Moses said it three times (Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:17-20; Deuteronomy 19:21).

The most common interpretation is that this is a contrast between Jesus and Moses.  Moses said one thing but Jesus said something else.  Moses taught an eye for an eye.  It was violent.  It was barbaric.  It was vindictive.  Jesus taught love and forgiveness.  It sounds right.  It contains a direct quote from the OT.  Most preachers would agree with it.  There is one small problem.  It does not fit the context.

Notice what Jesus says at the very beginning of the chapter.  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (5:17 NIV).  He said that did not come to abolish an eye for an eye.

He also said, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (5:18 NIV). Jesus said that He was not setting aside this command.  He said it in the same chapter.

If He was not quoting Moses, whom was He quoting?  The phrase “an eye for an eye” used to mean one thing and later it came to mean something else.  It used to be used in a court setting.  Judges were to use it as a rule to punish criminals.  That was the original context.

In Jesus day and in our day, it came to mean something completely different.  It was used to justify vengeance and retaliation.  An eye for an eye on the personal level means to get back at someone and get revenge.  When I was younger, I used to love action movies.  We like to watch revenge movies.  The good guy wins in the end.

They all have the same basic plot. The first ten minutes, the villain in the movie slaughters some innocent people.  The rest of the movie, the main character slaughters everyone else and gets revenge.  The actors are different (e.g., Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris) but the theme is the same.

The truth is, when someone wrongs us, we want to get even.  We want the other person to suffer. That is the natural response.  It is not easy to forgive people. We want to take revenge.  If someone hits us, we want to hit back.  Yasser Arafat, former head of the PLO, once said, “We don’t believe in turning the other cheek.  If someone hits us in the cheek, we hit back twice as hard.”

Jesus calls us to a higher standard. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

A Misunderstood Verse

This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible.  What does it mean?  Does it mean that we are to turn the other cheek to bullies?  Should battered wives just turn the other cheek?  Jesus said that we are not to resist evil men?  Does it mean that we are not to resist Hitler?  Does that mean that we are not to resist terrorists?  Does it mean that we are not supposed to defend ourselves if someone hits us?  We need to keep several things in mind here.

1) This was addressed to individuals, not nations.

In 2006 Barack Obama said (before becoming President) that Sermon on the Mount was so “radical” the Defense Department wouldn’t survive its application.  The Sermon on the Mount was addressed to individuals, not nations or organizations. In fact, the Apostle Paul said that one of the jobs of the state is to punish evil-doers or criminals (Romans 13:1-4).

One of the jobs of the state is to resist evil people.  The Apostle Paul said in Romans 13 that the state has the power of the sword.  It is to do the exact opposite of what Jesus said in Matthew 5.  Hitler was not defeated by love.  He was defeated by force.

This command is for individuals.   You can tell that by the personal pronouns used here.  “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps YOU on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.  And if anyone wants to sue YOU and take YOUR shirt, hand over YOUR coat as well.”

2) This had nothing to do with self defense.

This was a slap, not a punch.  A slap in the face hurts.  It is humiliating but it is not a life threatening situation.  It will not kill you. A slap in that day was a form of an insult, specially this kind of a slap.  It was a backhanded slap.  Most people are right handed.  This was a slap with the right hand. This verse tells you how to deal with insults, not how to defend yourself.

3) This was an example of exaggeration

It is hyperbole.  It was not meant to be taken literally.  How do we know?  Jesus did not interpret this literally.  He did not turn the other cheek when He was slapped. Why didn’t Jesus practice what he preached?  This was not to be taken literally.[2]  Jesus did not just turn the other cheek and wait to be hit on the other side.  He stood up for himself and confronted his abuser.

Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”

When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” (John 18:19-23 NIV).

Sell your Coat and Buy a Weapon

Jesus did not tell people that they could never defend themselves.  In fact, in Luke 22, he actually told His disciples to buy a sword.  Luke 22:35-37 says, “Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.

He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment” (NIV).

That is one of the strangest verses in the Bible.  Jesus told his disciples  to buy a sword. Jesus told them to pack heat. He told his disciples to arm themselves.  A sword was a weapon.  It was used to kill people.  The Roman government used the sword to execute people.

The same Greek word is used by Paul in Romans 13:4 of the state (μάχαιρα).  If they could not afford a sword, He told them to sell their clothes and buy one.  Here, Jesus tells missionaries to buy swords, not to force people to convert, like Muhammad did.  He used the sword to spread his religion.  Jesus told them to buy a sword to defend themselves.  Most people do not know this is in the Bible.

This doesn’t mean that Jesus endorsed violence.  Jesus did not tell them to go overboard. He said that two was enough (Luke 22:38).  He also said, “If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).  He did not encourage his followers to stockpile weapons.  He said that two was enough (Luke 22:38).  He did not endorse violence but He did approve of self defense.  A plain reading of the text indicates this.

Many do not like this verse and come up with all kinds of ways to get around it.  Some they say that the sword must be symbolic. The problem is that all of the other things in the verse are literal (purse, bag, sandals), so this must be as well.

If it is symbolic, it would be symbolic of protection from danger, since that was the purpose of a sword. We would not use a sword today.  Today, we might use pepper spray or a gun instead.

Buy a Sword to Fulfill Prophecy?

There is another interpretation of this verse in Luke 22.  It is very common.  It is all over the Internet.  It is completely false but is a very popular view in some circles.  According to some, Jesus did not tell his disciples to buy a sword (22:36) to defend themselves but to fulfill prophecy, as text seems to say immediately afterwards (22:37).

They argue that it was illegal to carry a sword in Rome.  The idea would be that Jesus told them to buy swords so they could play the role of transgressors and appear as criminals in order to fulfill Scripture, so Jesus could be arrested.  According to this view, Jesus was crucified because he was armed.[3]

This view is wrong about history.  It is wrong about Jesus.  It is also wrong about prophecy.  First, there is no evidence that it was illegal to carry a small sword in Jerusalem.  It was common for travelers in the Roman Empire.  Owning weapons does not make you lawless or a criminal.  Travelers used them to defend against robbers and wild animals.

Second, if it was illegal, Jesus would be telling his disciples to break the law, which would make Jesus a criminal Himself.  This view is so preposterous it has Jesus committing a crime in order to fulfill biblical prophecy.  If that were the case, Jesus could not die for transgressors.  He would be one Himself.

Contrary to this interpretation, Jesus did not want to give the authorities the idea that He was leading a rebellion against Rome.  In fact, He said in this chapter that He was not doing that. He says in Luke 22:52, “Am I leading a rebellion that you have come with swords and clubs?”  That does not sound like someone who wanted to be viewed by the authorities as a criminal.

Three, the disciples are NOT the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, the robbers were.  He was crucified between two thieves.  He was killed with two common criminals.  In Mark 15:28, the statement “He was numbered with the transgressors” (MT) is found in the context of the crucifixion between two real criminals or transgressors. Keep in mind that Mark was written before Luke historically.

[1] Harry S. Truman, Radio Address, October 30, 1949.

[2] Jesus did not take it literally and neither did Paul (Acts 23:2-5).

[3] http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/17/jesus-was-crucified-because-disciples-were-armed-bible-analysis-suggests-271436.html

The Bible and Self Defense – Part I

For the last two weeks, we have been studying a passage that is not familiar to most Christians.  The Ten Commandments are very familiar to most people.  Everyone knows them.  We have learned them since childhood but most people do not have a clue what is in the chapters that follow the Ten Commandments.  Pastors do not preach on these passages in the pulpit.

Last week, we looked at what the Bible says about capital punishment.  We saw that God’s laws are often different from man’s laws.  In some places, you cannot get the death penalty, no matter how what you do.  It is seen as barbaric.  The Bible has a different view on crime and punishment.

There are twenty-four crimes in the Law of Moses, which had the death penalty.[1]  We are not under the Law of Moses today but the idea of capital punishment is biblical.  It runs through the entire Bible.  Today, we will see that every crime in the OT did not result in death.

We will also look at what the Bible says about a different topic.  We are going to look at what the Bible says about self-defense.  We are also going to look at what the Bible says about fighting.  We have been studying case law.  Case law takes the general principles of the Ten Commandments and applies them to a specific situation.

They do not deal with every possible situation.  They are not exhaustive but they do deal with different situations of daily life.  We want to start today by looking at what the Bible says about three different kinds of violent crimes.  One of these crimes specifically affects women.  The other two could affect anyone. These are personal injury laws.  We are going to look at three of them.

Three Case Laws

1. Case Law dealing with injury in a street fight

“If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, 19 the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed” (21:18-19 NIV).

This is one of the few places in the Bible that talks about fighting.  It deals with fist fights.  In this situation, two people get in an argument.  It starts with a quarrel and, like it often does, the quarrel escalates into a fight.  One person gets hurt in the fight.  The individual does not die but is seriously hurt.

We want to look at what the Bible teaches about fighting. There are two points we should make here.  First, the Bible does NOT forbid people from fighting completely.  There is a reason for that.  In the OT, some of the best fighters in Israel fought in the army.  The best fighters in the land became soldiers (e.g., Joshua 8:3).  King David said, “Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1 ESV).

The Bible does not forbid fighting perse.  In some cases, fighting is necessary.  If you are attacked, you may have to defend yourself or your family.  We will see that in Exodus 22, so the Bible does not completely ban fighting.  The Bible does not outlaw fighting but it does discourage fighting.

Second, the Bible discourages fighting as a way to solve personal conflicts.  We are to live in peace with everyone (I Thessalonians 5:13).  We are to seek peace (Psalm 34:14).  We are to be peacemakers. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9).  We should be the ones involved in settling disputes and trying to reconcile people.

The NT also discourages fighting in the church.  Those are the kind of people who are disqualified from leadership in the local church (Titus 1:7). They should not be brawlers.  They should not be people who abuse their wife and kids.  They should not have a temper problem.  They should not be violent. They are to be gentle. Church leaders should not be bullies.

Fighting is discouraged in the Book of Exodus.  The first time we see it is in Exodus 2:13 where Moses “saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?’”

In Exodus 21, fighting is also discouraged.  How?  Exodus 21:19 says “If you choose to fight and hurt someone in the course of that fight, whether you use your fist or a weapon, like a stone, you are responsible for taking care of that person.”

You can get into a fight but, if you injure someone in a fight, you have to pay that person’s medical bills and workman’s compensation.  That is the way it discouraged fighting.  If you win the fight, it may cost you financially, so if you win, you may actually loose in the end.

2. Case Law dealing with injury to a pregnant woman

Exodus 21:22-25 ESV says, “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.

But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (tit for tat as we say today, which literally means “blow for blow”).

This is a different situation.  Here two men are fighting but one of the fighters does not get hurt.  An innocent bystander gets hurt instead.  The bystander happens to be, not only be a woman, but a pregnant woman.  Perhaps the woman stepped in to defend her man.  One of the men fighting may have been her husband.

Normally, if you kill someone accidentally, it is not considered murder but this case is different.  This involves a pregnant woman.  There are two lives at stake here.  God cares about women.  He also cares about the unborn.

What the Bible says is very different from what society says today.  It was very different from the laws that existed at the time in the Ancient Near East.  There were secular laws at the time that dealt injury to a pregnant woman.  We have Hittite and Babylonian laws about a woman who loses her baby because of a fight.

They had the first fetal homicide law in history.  Hittite Law said if you caused a woman to miscarry, all you had to do was to pay a fine.  If you caused a free woman to miscarry, the fine was twenty shekels.  If you caused a slave woman to miscarry, the fine was five shekels. (17-18). The Code of Hammurabi said something very similar (65-67).

In these ancient laws, the punishment for causing a woman to lose her baby was just a fine.  The ancient world, like much of the modern world does not value children and human life the way God does.  God looks at things differently.

Exodus 21 is not dealing with a miscarriage.  The baby in our passage does not die but is born and there is more than one of them.  The word “children” is in the plural, so there is more than one. The text says literally “her children come out.”  There is no miscarriage, contrary to some translations (So RSV, NRSV, NASB 1977).  The children do not die but they are born early and we are told that there “is no serious injury”.

This is dealing with a premature birth (so NIV, NLT, ESV, NASB 1995), not a miscarriage. In the Law of Moses, if you caused a woman to have a premature birth, you had to pay a fine.  How much did you have to pay?  That was up to the husband. “The offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows” (21:22)

If a life was taken, it was a completely different matter.  If there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (21:23-25).

Even if the mother and baby survive, there is still a fine but, if either one of them dies, it is considered murder and the punishment is “life for life.”  God highly values pregnancy.  If you accidentally hit a pregnant woman in a fight, you have to pay a fine but if you caused a murder in this case (even an accidental murder), you must suffer the consequences.

This passage raises a very interesting question.  If there is a punishment for injuring a pregnant woman by mistake, what would the punishment for killing a woman’s baby on purpose through abortion?  One injury is accidental.  The other injury is intentional and deliberate.

Incidentally, the first time in the Bible we see the phrase “eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth” is in Exodus 21.  Most people think that this law is primitive.  It is actually not primitive but modern.

The whole point of the law is that the punishment had to fit the crime.  It had to be proportional.  That is a concept we still have today. This law was not barbaric.  It is actually humane.  It did not encourage and promote violence.  It limited violence.  If someone took out your eye, you did not have the right to kill him.

3. Case Law dealing with a home invasion

“If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. (22:2-3 NIV)

This passage raises a very interesting question.  Is self-defense biblical?  Should Christians defend themselves and their families?  Should they be gun owners?  How does the Bible relate to the Second Amendment?  The Bible actually addresses this question.  There is a lot of misunderstanding on this topic, even among Christians.

Is Self Defense Biblical?

Many Christians have no idea what the Bible teaches on this topic or they have had some bad teaching on it.   Some think that it is unchristian to defend yourself, because Jesus told people that we have to turn the other cheek if someone hits us.  They are called pacifists.  There are whole churches and denominations that believe that teaching.  We have an answer from this passage.  What it says is very interesting.

“If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is NOT guilty of bloodshed” (NIV).  Why is it okay to kill a night-time burglar, but not a daytime burglar?  Why would God allow people to protect themselves from thieves during the night, but not during the day?  Does the time of day determine if something is right or wrong?

What is the situation here?  A man breaks into your house at night in the dark. Robbers steal during the day when they do not expect anyone to be home (and the assumption here is that it is non-violent) but, if they break in at night when the thief knows people are home, it is a different matter.

Keep in mind that there was no electricity in the ancient world. You could not turn on any lights and find out who it was in the middle of the night.  In this situation, you did not know who is in your house or what they motive is.

What you know for sure is that there is forced entry into your house by a stranger at night without your permission and that your family might be in serious danger.  Their lives and your life are put in serious jeopardy.

 Crime & Punishment Principles

1) Self defense is a right

God says that when you use deadly force in that situation, you are completely innocent.  God says that you have not done anything wrong.  There is no crime committed.  You have not committed murder.  You can kill the intruder and use weapons to kill him.  There is no punishment. You don’t even have to flee to a city of refuge.

God says you have the right to protect and defend yourself and your family from intruders at night. It is not just a right, it is a responsibility.  I Timothy 5:8 says, “If anyone does not provide for his own, and specially his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.”

It is our responsibility to not only provide for our family but to protect our family.  The first principle from this passage in Exodus 22 is that people the right to defend yourself and others from physical danger, even if it means the taking of a life.

2) Punishment can be excessive

Killing a thief just for stealing is excessive.  God is concerned with criminal rights, as well as property rights.  He wants to protect people from excessive punishment.  He also wants to protect homeowners from loss of property.  If you kill a thief for stealing, you become a murderer and your crime is greater than the thief’s crime.

The punishment for stealing was NOT death in the Law of Moses.  Stealing is not a capital crime.  The punishment for stealing was restitution, not death.  Exodus 22:1 says, “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep” (NIV).

3) Self defense and revenge are two different things

If you kill the thief that night, it is self defense.  If you hunt him down a week later, it is revenge. Self defense is not revenge.  What is the difference?  One is legal and one is not.  In one case, you are protecting yourself, which you have the right to do.

In the other case, it is getting back at someone and retaliating for something done to you. The motives are completely different.  We have no right to take revenge.  That is God’s job.  He says “Vengeance is mine. I will repay” (Romans 12:19).

Revenge is not protecting yourself but acting as the judge, jury and executioner.  We need to avoid taking the law into our own hands.

 Next week, we will look at what the NT says about self defense. We will answer the question, Did Jesus teach something different that should be followed today?

[1] The list includes: murder (Ex. 21:12-14; Num. 35:16-18), accidentally causing the death of a pregnant woman and/or her child (Ex. 21:22-25), allowing a proven dangerous animal to kill a person (Ex. 21:28-20), striking a parent (Ex. 21:15), cursing a parent (Ex. 21:17), rebellion to parents (Ex. 21:18-21), kidnapping (Ex. 21:16), sorceress or witch (Ex. 22:18), mediums or psychics (Lev. 20:27), adultery (Lev. 20:10), incest (Lev. 20:11-12,14), homosexuality (Lev. 20:13), sex with animals (Lev. 20:15-16), prostitution (Leviticus 21:9), lying about virginity (Dt. 22:13-21), rape of a married woman (Dt. 22:25-29), defiance to the God-ordained legal system (Deuteronomy 17:12), blatant disobedience and defiance to God’s Law (Numbers 15:30-31), bearing false witness in a capital case (Dt. 19:16-20), breaking the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14-15; 35:2; Num. 15:32-36), blasphemy (Lev. 24:16, 23), idolatry (Ex. 22:20; Deut. 13:1-11), child sacrifice (Lev. 20:2) and false prophecy (Deut. 18:20). Everyone has a different number of capital crimes in the Law, based on the way they are grouped.

The Bible and Capital Punishment

Last week, we began looking at a new section of Exodus that follows the Ten Commandments.  This section has different names.  The KJV calls it “the judgments.”  The NASB calls it “the ordinances.” The NIV calls it “the laws” that Moses is to set before the people (21:1).  These laws were not spoken audibly by God to the nation.  God gave them to Moses to give to his people.

Last week, we look at what the Bible says about slavery.  It is very different from slavery in American history.  That kind of slavery was racial.  It was involuntary.  It was permanent.  It was based on kidnapping.  It dehumanized people and gave slaves no rights. They were not considered people, just possessions.

Today, we want to look at the next section of the judgments.  They do not deal with CIVIL LAW.  They deal with CRIMINAL LAW.  They deal with crime and punishment.  They deal for the most part with crimes of violence.  It is not exhaustive.  It does not deal with every possible type of violent crime.

It doesn’t deal with sex crimes.  We will get one of those next week but it does list several different kinds of violent crimes.  Next week, we will look at what God says about a street fight.  Exodus 22 even deals with killing in self defense and what God says about that topic.  That sounds like a good chapter for the men’s conference.  Today, we will be looking at what the Law said about three main crimes: murder, accidental killing and crimes against parents.

Premeditated Murder

The first crime mentioned in premeditated murder.  It is intentional.  It is planned.  It is violent.  It is killing someone in cold blood.  It happens all of the time today. What is the punishment?  God’s method of punishment is very different from man’s method of punishment.

One method we have today is imprisonment.  You could be a serial killer and murder hundreds of people and molest children but, if you live in many states, you could not be put to death.

Monsters like Charles Manson are still alive in prison, even after committing horrible atrocities.  Nineteen states in our country plus the District of Columbia do NOT have the death penalty.  These states include New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and even West Virginia.  Thirty-one states do have it.[1] If you live in one of the other states, no matter what crime you commit, you cannot be put to death.

Death Penalty in the Bible

Liberals say that capital punishment is primitive.  It is barbaric.  It is cruel.  It is unchristian.  Some say that Jesus abolished the death penalty.  How would you answer some of these objections?  The simple answer is that the death penalty is not barbaric.  It is biblical.  This was God’s idea.

God says very clearly that murderers were to be executed. He did not say to lock them up in prison for a hundred years.  He said to execute them.  This was not my idea. God did not just allow the death penalty.  He commanded it.

1. Genesis teaches the death penalty

“And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. WHOEVER SHEDS THE BLOOD OF MAN by man SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:5-6 NIV).

Cain killed Abel, He was not put to death.  He did not just kill anyone; he killed his own brother and God did not require His lifeblood but after the Flood God said that he would require a reckoning for murder.  If you kill someone, you are to die and He gave a reason for it.  When you kill someone you destroy the image of God. When you kill someone, you are attacking the image of God. It is an indirect attack on God Himself.

2. Exodus teaches the death penalty

“Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death….  But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death” (21:12, 14 NIV).

If a slave master killed a slave, he was to die (21:20).  In fact, in this chapter, there are six crimes which are punishable by death (21:12, 14-17, 22-26, 28-29).  In the next chapter, three other crimes are punishable by death (22:18-20).

3. Leviticus teaches the death penalty

Leviticus 24:17, 21 says, “Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death… Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death” (NIV). It mentions the death penalty for many other crimes as well (e.g., 20:2, 9-13, 15-16, 27).

4. Numbers teaches the death penalty

If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. 17 Or if anyone is holding a stone and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.  Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.” (Numbers 35:15-18 NIV)

5. Deuteronomy teaches the death penalty

Deuteronomy 21:22 talks about people who are guilty of capital offenses. We think that this punishment is primitive.  We have advanced as a society.  God says that murder pollutes the land (Numbers 35:33).  Evil must be purged from among us (Deuteronomy 21:21).  God said “no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder” (Numbers 35:33 NLT).

6. The NT teaches the death penalty

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4 NIV).

Paul said that the state has the power of the sword and the sword was used to execute people.  That power comes from God.  He also said that the state functions as God’s servant. Many try to limit the death penalty to the Law of Moses but it is all throughout the Bible.  It goes back to Genesis.

It is even in the NT.  The Apostle Paul said, “If I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die” (Acts 25:11 NIV). The punishment was not only for people but animals.  If an animal kills you, it is to die.

“If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its flesh may not be eaten. In such a case, however, the owner will not be held liable” (21:28 NLT).

 The same regulation applies if the ox gores a boy or a girl. 32 But if the ox gores a slave, either male or female, the animal’s owner must pay the slave’s owner thirty silver coins, and the ox must be stoned” (21:31-32 NLT).

Exodus 12:14 says, “But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, THAT PERSON IS TO BE TAKEN FROM MY ALTAR AND PUT TO DEATH” (NIV). You could not murder someone and seek refuge in church.  The altar could not protect you.  People still do this today.

They try to hide behind their religion to shield them from justice.  Many Muslims commit all kinds of atrocities and hide behind their religion to protect them.  If you commit murder, there should be nowhere for you to run to and no place to hide.

Objections to the Death Penalty

1. Jesus abolished the death penalty

Many people think that Jesus was against the death penalty.  That is a very common view in some circles.  Was He against it?  The passage that is always used is John 8.  There Jesus stopped an execution.  A woman was caught in adultery.  That was a crime punishable by death in the OT.  The Pharisees wanted to execute her but Jesus found a way to stop it.  Did it prove that He was against the death penalty?  No.

The death penalty was part of the Law of Moses.  No one disputes that.  No one also disputes that Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law or the prophets (Matthew 5:17).  He was the Jewish Messiah.  He was born under the Law (Galatians 4:4).  That proves conclusively that he could not possibly have been against the death penalty.

Why did he defend the woman in John 8?  He defended her, not because she was not guilty, but because the motives of her accusers were suspect.  They came to him wanted to enforce the Law when they were not even following the Law.

The Law did command death for adultery but is also commanded death for both parties.  Leviticus 20:10 says, “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—BOTH the adulterer and the adulteress MUST be put to death.  They wanted to stone the woman but not the man.

If this woman was caught in the very act, as they say, they would have caught the man was well.  They knew exactly who he was.  Why didn’t they bring the man before Jesus and publicly humiliate him as well?  The reason is that he was either one of them or was one of their friends. Jesus was not part of this because it was NOT a legal execution but a lynching.

2.You cannot be pro-life and support the death penalty

How can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty?  How can we be pro-life on abortion and pro-death on the death penalty?  It seems like a contradiction but it is not really.   God is the one who created life but He is pro-death penalty. We are pro-life but the right to life is not absolute.  The right to life can be forfeited (like all of our rights).

We have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in our founding documents but all kinds of people are locked up for various crimes.  Actually, capital punishment does not undermine the sanctity of human life; it upholds it in two ways.  It affirms the value of life by protecting society from dangerous individuals. It saves lives.

It also affirms the value of life by imposing the maximum penalty for taking innocent life.  When society gives criminals a light sentence for taking someone’s life, it shows a lack of respect for human life.  By imposing the ultimate penalty that society can give for murder, it shows the value it places on innocent human life.

Accidental Killing

Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. (21:12-13 NIV).

Accidental killing takes place today (e.g., car crashes). God makes an important distinction here.  Killing someone on purpose because you don’t like him is one thing.  Killing someone by accident is something else.  It has a completely different punishment.  The punishment was fleeing to a city of refuge (21:13) or what we call a sanctuary city today.  The punishment was not death.

This distinction between intentional and accidental killing was years ahead of its time.  It is a distinction we still have today.  We make a clear difference today between first degree murder and second or third degree murder.  The thousand years ago, people did not make this distinction.  If someone killed a member of your family, you could kill a member of that person’s family.  It didn’t matter if it was an accident.

Crimes against Parents

Two crimes against parents are mentioned in this chapter.  One involves violence; the other does not but BOTH result in the death penalty.  Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death” (21:15 NIV).  “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death” (21:17 NIV).

This does NOT say that the child kills their parents.  It just says if they physically assault their parents and attack them, they are to be put to death.  They are also to be put to death just for cursing their parents. They do not even lay a hand on them.  They strike them with their tongue, not their hand.  They are not physically violent but they are still to be put to death.

This shows what God thinks of parents.  If you hit them, you die.  If you curse them, you die.  Normal assault on someone was not punished by death but it was if you assaulted a parent.  They are a God-given authority.  If people who do this to parents should die, what about people today who curse or hit teachers or police officers?

It is a similar type of crime.  How do we know?  In the very next chapter, we are told that we are not supposed to curse our rulers (22:28).  This applies to others in authority and not just parents.  We should respect everyone in authority (parents, teachers, church elders, police officers). These two verses raise an important question.

Was Jesus Against Children?

Why is striking a parent and cursing a parent a capital offense in the Law of Moses? It sounds barbaric. Why was God so mean in the OT?  This sounds like something that the Taliban would do – stone children to death.  It is even stranger that Jesus approved of it.  Jesus quotes Exodus 21:17 in the NT.

He said, “For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death‘” (Matthew 15:4 NIV).  Whatever happened to Jesus being meek and mild?  Whatever happened to Jesus loving all of the children, red and yellow black and white?  Here He calls for the execution of children.  Critics love this.  Let’s try to put it in perspective.  We have to understand the context.

While there is some grace in the OT, there is a big difference between the period of law and the period of grace.  John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (NIV).  Jesus was born under the law but we are NOT under law but under grace (Romans 6:14).

When God created the world, he created man perfect.  He created the world perfect.  Man sinned and became fallen.  The law was given to reveal sin (Romans 3:20; 7:7-13).  The law is strict.  It demands perfection and the punishment for breaking it is harsh.  It brought death.

The Apostle Paul said that it had a ministry of death (II Corinthians 3:9).  It is not talking about the Bible.  It is not saying that the Bible will kill you.  It is talking about the Law of Moses and specifically the Ten Commandments which was written in stone (II Corinthians 3:7).  It had a ministry of death because if you broke it, the punishment was death.

The whole point of the Law was to reveal sin and show people their need of a Savior. Paul called it a “schoolmaster” (KJV) or “tutor” (NASB) to bring people to Christ (Galatians 3:24).  The first thing we need to keep in mind is that this is part of the system of law, not of grace.  By definition, it is strict and harsh.

The second thing to keep in mind is that this law was given in the context of a theocracy.  The Jews at this time lived in a theocracy.  God was physically present among them in a way that he is not today.  We do not have a pillar of fire and cloud today.  We do not live by the same set of rules today but one day Jesus will return to earth and it will be a theocracy again.

Having said that, we need to point a few things out about this crime. First, this rule did NOT give parents the authority to kill their children.  This was not an “honor killing.”  In this case, the parents (both of the parents) were to take their child to the elders of the city (Deuteronomy 21:18-19).

They were taken before judges.  This was a legal proceeding.  Parents are not told in the Bible to stone their children when they need to be disciplined.  They are to use the rod and reproof to discipline them (Proverbs 13:24; 29:15)

Second, this is not necessarily talking about little children.  When we read this passage, we think of little children. When we read the parallel passage in Deuteronomy, we see that big children are addressed, adults and it does not describe a child who did not take out the trash.  It describes someone who is completely incorrigible.  It was an extreme case.

In fact, there is no record in Scripture in which this penalty was ever carried out.  Death was not always required in this situation.  About twenty-four different offenses called for the death penalty in the OT but in only one case was death required and that was murder.  We know that from Numbers 35.  

Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 31 “‘Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. They are to be put to death” (35:30-31 NIV).

That is interesting.  You could not save your life by making a financial payment to people.  If you commit murder, you were to die but this is not said about other capital crimes, only premeditated murder.  Death for cursing parents was the maximum punishment but not the mandatory punishment.

 

[1] http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty

[2] Everyone has a different number of capital crimes in the Law, based on the way they are grouped.  Some say that there are sixteen capital crimes.  Some say eighteen or twenty.  I counted twenty-four different capital crimes in the Law of Moses: murder (Ex. 21:12-14; Num. 35:16-18), accidentally causing the death of a pregnant woman and/or her child (Ex. 21:22-25), allowing a proven dangerous animal to kill a person (Ex. 21:28-20), striking a parent (Ex. 21:15), cursing a parent (Ex. 21:17), rebellion to parents (Ex. 21:18-21), kidnapping (Ex. 21:16), sorceress or witch (Ex. 22:18), mediums or psychics (Lev. 20:27), adultery (Lev. 20:10), incest (Lev. 20:11-12,14), homosexuality (Lev. 20:13), sex with animals (Lev. 20:15-16), prostitution (Leviticus 21:9), lying about virginity (Dt. 22:13-21), rape of a married woman (Dt. 22:25-29), defiance to the God-ordained legal system (Deuteronomy 17:12), blatant disobedience and defiance to God’s Law (Numbers 15:30-31), bearing false witness in a capital case (Dt. 19:16-20), breaking the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14-15; 35:2; Num. 15:32-36), blasphemy (Lev. 24:16, 23), idolatry (Ex. 22:20; Deut. 13:1-11), child sacrifice (Lev. 20:2) and false prophecy (Deut. 18:20).

 

The Bible and Slavery

It has been a few weeks since we have been together.  Last time, we were together we finished our series on the Ten Commandments.  We looked at the Tenth Commandment.  We said at the beginning of the study that The Ten Commandments are unique.  They were spoken audibly to God from a mountain and over two million people heard him with their ears.

God spoke to the nation in the context of an incredible theophany.  There was smoke and fire, lightning and thunder.  Out of the fire came a voice and the voice that spoke brought terror and fear.  The people all moved back (20:18).  They thought they were all going to die (20:19).

Instructions on Worship

Before we leave the chapter, God says something about worship.  God tells the people how not to worship Him and how to worship Him.  God does not just want people to worship Him in any way.  There is a right and a wrong way to worship God.  I want to look briefly at it before we move into Exodus 21.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: 23 Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.

24“‘Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. 26 And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed’ (Exodus 20:23-26 NIV).

The first thing God does is to remind them of the first and second commandment.  Human nature naturally gravitates toward idolatry.  We naturally worship things other than God.  People still do today.  God is invisible.  We also like to worship things that we can see.

The second thing God tells them is to build Him an altar for sacrifices.  This is very interesting.  We think that there is no grace in the Ten Commandments.  That is not true.  God gave people the Ten Commandments but knew that they wouldn’t be able to keep it, so He provided a remedy in the form of animal sacrifices.  The same one who gave the law also gave the lamb.

God gave two instructions about this altar.  He told them to not use stones on the altar and not to build steps.  This was to be an altar of earth.  Worship does not have to be fancy and elaborate.  It can be very simple and God accepts it.

We come now to one of the strangest verses in the Bible.  It is found in Exodus 20:26.  It is still relevant to this day.  God not only told them to build an altar of earth; He told them not to build steps on the altar.  Why not?  Men did not wear pants.  They wore robes.  A high altar with steps would lead to nakedness.[1]

This brings us to another important principle about worship.  Worship today is to be modest and decent.  The NT tells us that in worship “all things are to be done decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40 ESV).  Canaanite worship involved nudity and immorality.

Temple prostitutes were part of worship.  Some of their worship involved orgies.  Some of their gods are portrayed in the nude.  Worship of the true God should look very different from pagan worship and that is still true to this day.

New Kinds of Laws

Exodus 21 begins a new section of the book.  The first verse of the chapter says “These are the laws you are to set before them.”  The Jews did not want God talking out loud to them.  It was too terrifying, so Moses became the spokesman.  This part of Exodus was not spoken by God.  It was written by Moses. It still came directly from God.  These were not man-made laws.  Moses did not come up with them.

These laws are a little different form the Ten Commandments.  These are not MORAL LAWS.  They are CIVIL LAWS. They are not religious laws about God or salvation.  This chapter deals with the state.  It deals with crime and punishment.

Are these laws still binding today?

The big question that comes out of these chapters is this: Some believe that these laws do apply today to civil governments.  These people are called recontructionists or theonomists.  If these laws apply today, then it is okay to sell our children into slavery.

Exodus 22:18 says, “Do not allow a sorceress to live” (NIV).  What is a sorceress?  A sorceress is someone who casts spells on people by black magic and witchcraft.  The KJV translates it “a witch.” Does that mean that we should kill witches today?  The church tried that in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600s.  There are several problems with this approach.

In the OT, the people of God were a nation.  Israel was a nation.  Israel is not the church.  The church is not a nation.  There is not a nation on earth called “the church.”  In fact, the church is made up of believers from every nation.  The church is not given the power of the sword to punish people but the state is (Romans 13).

We do not live in a theocracy like the Jews in the OT did.  These are laws that God gave to the nation of Israel after He made a special covenant with them and no other nation on the planet.  These are laws he gave to the nation after he appeared to them in an incredible theophany and spoke to the entire nation from a mountain that was on fire.

Why even take the time to study these laws, if they were not even given to us?  All Scripture is inspired, including this chapter and there are lessons we can learn, even from a chapter like this.  Behind these specific laws are timeless principles that apply to us today three thousand years later. That does not mean that civil governments are bound by them but there are things we can learn from them today.

Does The Bible Approve of Slavery?

The first topic this chapter addresses is slavery.  Slavery was widespread in the ancient world.  Slavery is not a burning issue in our day.  It was a few hundred years ago.  There were fierce debates all over the country on slavery. Presidential candidates were talking about it.

Even though this is not a hot topic today, it is still relevant.  Slavery still exists today. There are millions of people today all over the world still in slavery.  Some estimate that there are twenty-one million people in slavery today (e.g., sex slaves).[2]

Slavery is still around today and many who criticize the Bible criticize what it says about slavery.  The argument of the critics goes like this.  We could summarize the argument in three points.

Premise One: Slavery is immoral.  It is wrong.  Everyone knows this.  It is immoral to own people as property and to buy people.  It is dehumanizing.

Premise Two: Slavery is mentioned many times in Scripture.  It is all over the Bible.  In fact, slavery is even mentioned in the Ten Commandments.  The Tenth Commandment says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant,  nor his maidservant” (20:17).

In other words, “Don’t covet your neighbor’s slaves.”  When we go to the very next chapter of Exodus, the first topic is slavery, which is not surprising since the Jews just came out of slavery.  They knew all about slavery.  They spend hundreds of years as slaves in Egypt.

Premise Three: The Bible approves of slavery.  In this chapter, it even says that it is okay for a slave master to beat a slave.  Does the Bible endorse slavery?  Many liberals think that it does.  The Bible does NOT endorse slavery.

In fact, the Ten Commandments begin with these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (20:2).  They begin with a declaration of emancipation, so God is NOT pro-slavery.

The problem is that we read the Bible through the lens of our history.  That is a common problem.  People read the Bible through their own experience or history.  Some bad things happen to them and they conclude that God must not love them or there is no God.  We need to interpret interpreting our experience through the Bible, rather than to interpret the Bible through their experience.

The Nature of Hebrew Slavery

When we think of slavery, we think of black slavery in the South.  The slavery in the Bible had nothing to do with the American type of slavery.  It was a completely different type of slavery?  Most people do not know the difference between the two.  What was the difference?

1. Hebrew slaves had some actual rights.

American slavery was chattel slavery.  They were bought and sold as a commodity.  They were considered property.  They had no rights.  The shock from the Book of Exodus is that slaves had some rights. There was no nothing like them in the Ancient Near East.  This was unheard of.  Slave masters could treat slaves any way they wanted to.  These laws were way ahead of their time.

God says that even slaves had some rights.  They could marry and masters were not permitted to abuse slaves.  There were laws against abuse in this chapter.  It was the first declaration of human rights.  Killing a slave was a crime.  Exodus 21:20 says, “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result” (NIV). If a master caused permanent injury to a slave, the slave was to be set free.

An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth. (21:26-27 NIV).

One little tooth goes out and the slave is free.  If you take out the eye of a slave, the slave does not get a week off or a year off.  He is granted complete freedom.  That would make you think twice before you ever hit a slave.  Masters could discipline slaves but there were limits to what they could do.  They could not do anything they wanted to a slave.  It was very different from the idea that slaves are sub-human and can be treated any way you want to treat them.

2. Hebrew slavery was economic, not racial.

We had raced-based slavery in America.  There were no white slaves in the South.  Exodus 21:1 says, “If you buy A HEBREW SERVANT, he is to serve you for six years” (NIV). Hebrew slavery was not racial but economic.  It had nothing to do with skin color.  Hebrews bought other Hebrews as slaves.  It was NOT based on racism.  It was based on poverty.  This was debt slavery.  As William Lane Craig says, it was “an anti-poverty program.”

People in extreme poverty sold themselves in slavery to pay off of their debt.  They sell off the only thing they have left, their ability to work.  In Western Europe, they had debtor’s prisons. If you could not pay your debts, you could go to jail.  In the US, debtor’s prisons are illegal.  You cannot go to jail because you are too poor to pay your debts, unless you owe the IRS (as a member of our class pointed out).

Today, if we are in debt and cannot pay our bills, we just take out a loan.  In the ancient world, another option was slavery.  If you did not have the money to pay your debts, you could work it off.  This is debt-bondage servitude.  It was like the old days when you could not pay your restaurant bill, you worked in the kitchen to pay it off.

3. Hebrew slavery was voluntary, not involuntary.

Hebrew slavery was voluntary.  People chose to be slaves.  We call it indentured servitude. American slavery was not voluntary.  People were sold on the slave block against their will.  American slavery was based on kidnapping.  The Bible condemns the slave trade.  Stealing and selling someone was a capital offense.  That is what happened to Joseph. That tells us what God thinks of human trafficking today.

Exodus 21:16 says, “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession” (NIV).  We have children abducted and sold for sex today in America and other countries.  According to Exodus 21, this was a crime worthy of death.  In America, kidnapping is almost never given the death penalty.  God looks on this much differently.

4. Hebrew slavery was temporary, not permanent.

Exodus 21:2 says, “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you FOR SIX YEARS. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything” (NIV).  Slavery was not for life but only for six years.  In the seventh year, they could go free.  They worked six years, like the Sabbath (working six days). In the seventh year, all debts were to be cancelled (Deuteronomy 15:1-2).  American slavery was not for six years.  Some slaves could buy their freedom but that was very rare.

Slavery was temporary for BOTH males and females.  We know that from Deuteronomy 15:12 and when they left, no slave was to leave empty-handed (cf. Deuteronomy 15:13-15).  They were given a severance package.

Exceptions to the Rule

Slavery was to be temporary, not permanent but there were two exceptions to this rule from our chapter.

1) If a father sold his daughter in slavery

This was one time female slaves were not allowed to leave in six years.

If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is NOT to go free as male servants do” (Exodus 21:7 NIV).  That seems a little strange.  How could a father sell his own daughter into slavery?  It sounds like child abuse today.

We have to understand the culture of the time.  Poor people could sell themselves or their kids into slavery for financial reasons.  Was this a double standard with the men leaving in seven years but not the women?  No. This was a completely different situation.  It was for purposes of marriage, not labor.  The master in this case was not just getting a slave; he was getting a wife (either for himself or for his son).  That explains why she does not leave in six years.  Marriage is for life.

This is not a father selling his daughter as a sex slave, like the critics say.  Here, a father is selling his daughter as a bride.  It is most likely a poor man who is giving his daughter a better life.  She went in as a slave but if she married his son, she earned the rights of a daughter.  She was given rights and protections which were unheard of in the ancient world.  She had three legal protections and if she was not given these protections, she was to be free.

If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money. (21:8-11 NIV)

2) A slave could choose to be a slave forever

 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. (21:3-6 NIV)

Now this is very interesting.  If a slave came in single, he goes out single.  If he came in married, he would go out married at the end of the six years.  If he was given a wife while he was a slave, when his term was up, he went out alone.  That protected the slave master.  His wife and kids could come out when their term was up but there was another option available.

He could choose to stay as a slave, instead of being set free. Most slaves would choose freedom but some chose slavery, if they had a chance to be with their family and if they had a good master.  It meant economic security for them.

In order to do this the servant had to do two things.  He had to say, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free.”  He also had to be willing to have a hole put in his ear for an earring.  It was a way to publicly affirm his decision to the world.

What is that a picture of?  Christians are also slaves, not slaves to sin but slaves to Christ. He Apostle Paul began his letter to Romans saying, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (1:1).  We are not forced to serve Christ.  We chose to do so.  He is our Master.  We do whatever He says and we publicly identify with him in baptism when we tell the world that we are followers of Christ.  We are not ashamed let others know about our decision to follow Jesus.

[1] The reason for this command is not necessarily that people in antiquity did not wear underwear, as many claim.  Many people in the ancient world wore a loin cloth, which was a form of underwear.  It is even mentioned in the OT in Job 12:18 (ezor).  The Greek word περί ζωμα is not used in the NT but is used in the LXX (Genesis 3:7; Ruth 8:15; Proverbs 31:24; Jeremiah 13:1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11). The principle would be the same whether the priests wore or didn’t wear underwear.

[2] http://www.freetheslaves.net/about-slavery/slavery-today/

The Tenth Commandment

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

We have been studying the Ten Commandments and today we come to the Tenth Commandment.  It deals with a sin that we do not talk about too much today.  We do not hear too many sermons on the topic and there are not too many books by Christians on covetousness. It is a word we do not even use that much today.  It is an old-fashioned word.  In fact, we would not even know that this was a sin unless God told us.

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 7:7, “I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet” (NLT). One thing about the Bible is that it reveals sin.  Paul said in Romans 3:20 “through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (ESV).  We are sinners by birth.  We do not know what is right and wrong naturally.  God has to tell us and He tells us in His Word.

The Tenth Commandment brings us to the forgotten sin.  This is the sin that no one talks about.  Ray Pritchard said, “In all my years as a pastor I’ve never heard anyone confess the sin of coveting. I think I’ve heard just about every other sin confessed. I’ve heard murder confessed, and adultery, and lying, and taking God’s name in vain, and bitterness of a thousand varieties. But no one—repeat no one—has ever said, “Pastor, I have a covetous spirit. Can you help me?”  What type of sin is covetousness?[1]

A Secret Sin

The Tenth Commandment is different from all of the other nine commandments.  As Dennis Prager points out, this is the only one of the ten that legislates thoughts.  All of the other ones legislate behavior but this one legislates thoughts[2].  Most of the Ten Commandments deal with deeds, but the tenth deals with desires.  This commandment does not say “don’t do this” but “don’t think this”.  That is interesting.  God has authority not only over actions and words but also over thoughts.

Coveting deals only with the heart. It is a heart sin.  It is something we commit with our mind, not with our body.  All of the other commandments are external. They involve things that you can see people doing (lying, stealing, murdering, dishonoring parents, worshiping false gods).

This one is internal.  You can’t see if someone is coveting something that someone else has, because it is a sin that takes place on the inside.  You can covet and no one but God would know about it.  Of course, thoughts come out in actions.  We can tell when a person is greedy but we cannot read their thoughts.

A Universal Sin

Covetousness is the oldest sin on the planet. It all goes back to Adam and Eve.  They wanted something that was forbidden.  They wanted to eat from the tree that God said was off-limits and that sin led to the fall of the human race.

This is a sin that we have all committed.  This commandment we have all broken.  We may not have murdered anyone or committed adultery but all of us without exception have coveted something that belonged to someone else.  Coveting is universal.  It affects everyone.  It is committed by poor people.  It is committed by rich people.

A Modern Sin

In fact, it is one of the most prevalent sins in our world today.  We live in a society that encourages coveting. The secular philosophy of our day is that “Greed is good. Greed works,” which is a line from the 1987 Wall Street movie.  This is one of the signs that we are living in the last days.

II Timothy 3:1-5 says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, LOVERS OF MONEY, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people” (NIV).

Paul describes our world today.  He gives here nineteen characteristics of people who will live in the last days. Covetousness (love of money) ranks number two in this list of last day character traits. Our culture is saturated with it. In 1958, Billy Graham preached a sermon in at an evangelistic meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In that sermon, he called covetousness “America’s greatest sin.” [3] We have become a gambling nation.  The nation is also drowning in debt.  The federal government is nineteen trillion dollars in debt and individual Americans are also in debt. [4]

More than 160 million Americans have credit cards. The average credit card holder has at least three cards. On average, each household with a credit card carries more than $15,000 in credit card debt.[5] Covetousness almost seems to be part of the American Dream with its emphasis on personal happiness, material comfort, and financial stability.

A Church Sin

This is not just a sin found in the world.  It is also a sin found in the church today.  This is a sin that sometimes even creeps into the church. It goes all the way back to one of the apostles. Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

He was motivated by covetousness and he was the treasurer for the Apostles. He was in charge of the money (John 12:4-6). The first scandal in the church involved covetousness.  It had to do with money.  You can read about it in Acts 5.  Two people died as a result of this sin.

You can be outwardly moral and covetous.  You can be very religious and covetous.  How do we know?  The Gospels tell us that the Pharisees were covetous.  They loved money (Luke 16:14).  In fact, we are told three times in the Gospels that they devoured widows houses (Matthew 23:14; Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47).  These religious leaders took advantage of people financially.

It is still done today.  It is the sign of a false teacher.  Some preachers are guilty of this. Churches should pay their pastor well. They should be fairly compensated but the Bible talks about people in the ministry for the money. They are money-hungry preachers.  They are greedy and they appeal to greed in their congregation.

Jeremiah 6:13 says, “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit” (NIV).

Titus 1:11 says, “For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain” (NIV).

2 Peter 2:3 says, “In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed” (NLT).

2 Corinthians  2:17 says, “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God” (NIV).

One criticism of prosperity theology is that it is a theology of greed.  It preaches a gospel of greed.  It is not true of fall prosperity preachers but some appeal to covetousness.  The Bible says to be content with what you have.  They tell you that God wants you to be rich that “those who desire to be rich fall into many temptations and snares and foolish hurtful desires which drown men in destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9 KJV).

A Serious Sin

Compare the last commandment to the other nine, this one does not seem to be that big of a deal.  Murder is a big deal.  Adultery is a big sin.  Stealing is a big sin.  Most of these are not only sins; they are crimes.  You commit murder, you go to jail or you might be executed.

Covetousness is a sin, not a crime.  It is wrong but not everything that is wrong is illegal. You can’t go to jail for being covetous.  You cannot be arrested for having bad thoughts. Otherwise, everybody would be in arrested. This commandment is different from the other nine.  It almost seems anti-climactic.

The truth is that this sin is a big deal to God.  God put it on his top ten list.  It may not make our top ten lists of sins but it made God’s. This sin is so serious that it shuts people out of heaven.  Discontentment takes people to Hell.

Paul said, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, NOR THE GREEDY, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-10 NIV).

That is interesting.  You do have to be a homosexual or a thief or an idolater to be excluded from the kingdom.  If you are greedy, you will be excluded as well.  Paul says it again in Ephesians.

Ephesians 5:3-6 says, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure OR GREEDY PERSON—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient” (NIV).

Covetousness not only disqualifies people from heaven, it also disqualifies a person from spiritual leadership in the church. One qualification of elders is that they are not to be covetous. Titus 1:7 ESV says “For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain” (cf. I Timothy 3:3).

Do we apply this today in most churches?  If a man is a drunkard, no one would think of making him an elder but would we do the same thing if a man is greedy?  The Apostle Paul said, “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing” (Acts 20:33 NIV).

Covetousness Defined

What is covetousness? What does it mean to covet something?  To covet is to desire or want something that you don’t have but all desires are not wrong. It is not wrong to want some things. What is the difference between desiring something and coveting something? There is a difference between a legitimate longing and covetousness.

Wanting something that you legitimately need is NOT coveting. If someone is hungry and wants food or is thirsty and wants something to drink, we wouldn’t call that person greedy.  If you are single and have a desire to get married, that is not wrong.

If a man wants a wife, it is not wrong.  If he wants his neighbor’s wife, it is covetousness.  Covetousness is not just desiring something. It is desiring something that belongs to someone else and something that you have no right to possess.

The Tenth Commandment says, “You shall not covet your NEIGHBOR’S house. You shall not covet your NEIGHBOR’S wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your NEIGHBOR.” Notice the word that is repeated three times in the verse.  It is the word “neighbor”.

Our text mentions coveting your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, ox and donkey. Your neighbor may not have any servants or donkeys but he or she may have some other things you want. It is the word “anything” in the verse that condemns us. There is a difference between desire and coveting.  There is also a difference between appreciating what our neighbor has and coveting it for ourselves.

Jesus on Covetousness

Luke 12:13-15 says, “Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (NIV)

Here a man tried to get Jesus on his side of a family dispute about his inheritance. An inheritance is something that you have a right to receive by law. It’s not wrong to inherit some things. Legally you are entitled to it when you parents die but how many people do we know that become very greedy when it comes to their parent’s will and fight their siblings over it.

Jesus never said, “Be on your guard against murder,” “Be on your guard against drunkenness” or “Be on guard against lust” but he did say, “Be on your guard, not just against greed but against ALL KINDS of greed”.  When we are greedy, we try to get more than we need.  We are always trying to get the next thing (I Phone).  We fill our homes with things we do not need and when we run out of space, we rent a storage unit to store more stuff that we do not need.

Jesus also gave a parable on the topic of covetousness called “the Parable of the Rich Fool” in Luke 12:16-21.

“And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.

What is Jesus teaching in this parable about the rich farmer? Everyone else thought he was a great man. He was very wealthy and very successful. He was very ambitious and hard working. He was not lazy but God calls him a fool. Why? He was not a fool because he was successful or rich. He was not a fool because he worked hard and planned for the future. He was not a fool because he wanted to expand his property and build bigger barns. This man didn’t steal or cheat or mistreat anyone.

Jesus called him a fool because he was greedy and selfish. He never considered the needs of others. He thought only on himself. He was a fool, not for having treasures on earth but for having no treasures in heaven. He was a fool because he made a god out of money and material possessions. He thought that he did not need God.  He was not rich toward God.

He had everything he could possibly want or need. As Jesus said, “What good is it if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?” (Luke 9:25). What good is it if you are the richest person in the world and get everything you want in this life for sixty or seventy years and then you die and go to Hell forever and ever?

Paul on Covetousness

Two times in the NT we are told that covetousness is idolatry.  If that is true, then the First and the Tenth Commandment actually say the same thing. When you break the Tenth Commandment, you are actually breaking two commandments.

“For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—SUCH A PERSON IS AN IDOLATER—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5 NIV).

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, WHICH IS IDOLATRY” (Colossians 3:5 NIV).

Why did Paul call covetousness idolatry?  Many people’s god is stuff. They seek your happiness in things, rather than in God. That is where their heart is. They think that things will fulfill the longing in their soul.

Someone said that malls have replaced churches as the main centers of religion in our society. Shopping centers have become places where people go to worship. They worship the god of materialism.

It is the god that says, “Buy this, but that, it will make feel you better.” This god may speak in a clothing store, a sporting goods store, a computer store, a jewelry store, or some other store. This is not shopping therapy.  It is shopping worship.

Never have we had more stuff and been less happy.  Ecclesiastes 5:10 says “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity” (ESV)

That is why the Apostle Paul says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV).  He said we should be content with food and clothing (I Timothy 6:8).  There is a lot we could learn from Paul.  We feel like we need much more than food and clothing today.

[1] http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/the-sin-no-one-will-admit/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq2TsDbylUg&list=PLIBtb_NuIJ1y0fPzddUfOqYMav-gp1JNM&index=11

[3] https://books.google.com/books?id=Qox1eQ94vJwC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=Exodus+20:17+-+Greed+and+america&source=bl&ots=Pta-upSho7&sig=mkADdWiUr9A3SEIVJHgDS0FIAKY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6_b-0iNzQAhUF8CYKHWl-DJgQ6AEIQTAI#v=onepage&q=Exodus%2020%3A17%20-%20Greed%20and%20america&f=false

[4] http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[5] https://www.debt.org/faqs/americans-in-debt/

The Ninth Commandment

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”

We have been studying the Ten Commandments and we come today to the Ninth Commandment.  It is an important commandment.  It is guaranteed to offend everyone, as well as encourage us.  God spoke it audibly to the entire nation on Mount Sinai from a mountain that was on fire.

If this commandment were kept, it would completely transform society.  Imagine a world in which we heard only truth among our political candidates, truth in the legal system, truth in government, truth in the news, truth in churches, truth in the food we eat (labels and ingredients), truth in our commitments (promises, marriage vows).

You do not break this commandment by killing anyone or stealing anything but by saying some things that are not true.  This commandment does not deal with actions.  It deals with words.  It is the second of the Ten Commandments that deal with a verbal sin.  The first verbal sin was not to take the name of the Lord in vain.  It is in the first part of the Ten Commandments.

The second verbal sin is not to bear false witness against someone.  It is in the second part of the Ten Commandments. This one does not deal with our neighbor’s wife.  It does not deal with our neighbor’s life.  It deals with our neighbor’s reputation.  We are not to defame the name of God.  We are also not to defame the name of our neighbor.

We can hurt people in many ways and one way we can hurt people is by the things we say about them.  This is convicting.  We may never have taken a 357 Magnum and blown anybody away.  We may never have had an affair with anyone but it is very easy to try to make someone we do not like look bad by the words we speak.  We can say all kinds of things to trash that person’s character and reputation, so others do not like them.

Lying in America

This commandment is very relevant to the day in which we live.  When we think of lying in our own day, two things come to mind.  First, everyone seems to do it. We live in a world of lies and deception.  It is almost part of our culture.  In America, lying has become a way of life.

Parents lie

They lie to their kids about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. They make promises they do not keep.

Governments lie

They fudge on statistics and make numbers lie (unemployment or the number of jobs added).

Politicians lie

These days, politicians are so corrupt that we almost expect them to lie.  Bill Clinton lied about an affair to the American people.  He held a press conference, and said, “I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski.”

Barak Obama lied about Obama Care.  He said, “No matter what you’ve heard, if you like your doctor or healthcare plan you can keep it period.”  That was a lie.  He promised over and over again that Obama Care would save them money.  He said that premiums would go down.  Instead, they skyrocketed.

Hillary lied about classified information.  She said that she took classified information seriously.  She said that she did not send to anyone any information that was marked classified.  The FBI said that was a lie.

Educators lie

Books have been written about it.  There are all kinds of lies in the textbooks that get taught to students. We call frogs turning into princes a fairy tales but we call frogs turning into people science.

Businesses lie

They say things like “This offer is limited to the first one hundred people who call in,” “lifetime warranty,” “one size fits all,” “satisfaction guaranteed.” I have seen stores with the sign “going out of business sale” but come back five years later and they are still in business.

We all lie.  Everyone in the country lies.  How many times have we told someone, “He can’t come to the phone right now” or clicked a box on the computer that says, “I have read and agreed to the terms and conditions.”  Psalm 116:11 says that “all men are liars” (KJV) and that statement was not written by a woman but by a man.  Psalm 116:11 is better translated “everyone is a liar” (NIV) or “all mankind are liars” (ESV).

The second point is that most people do not even think that lying is a big deal.  We even talk about little white lies.  They are harmless.  Our culture almost promotes lying. We glorify it.  We have artists who sing songs “Tell me lies.  Tell me sweet little lies”.

We have a television show called “Pretty Little Liars.”  They almost sound attractive.  They are pretty little things.  Someone called this America’s favorite sin.   That is how completely counter-cultural this command is.  To God, this is a big deal.  He put it on his top ten list of sins. Homosexuality did not make the top ten list but lying did.  Lying must be a serious sin to God.

The Bible says that liars will be excluded from heaven. “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8 ESV).  They are not only excluded from heaven, they end up int he lake of fire.

John put this sin in a list right next to other very serious sins. Liars may not kill anyone or steal anything but they are still excluded from heaven. “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood (Revelation 22:15 NIV).

The OT said the same thing.  “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.” (Psalm 101:7 ESV) What does that mean? That would seem to exclude everyone, because everyone has told a lie.

When the Bible talks about liars not getting into heaven, it is not talking about someone who told one lie.  It is talking about people who are dishonest by nature.  They have a character defect.  For some people, lying is second nature.  There are habitual liars and pathological liars.  The Bible describes people who, not only lie all the time, but love to lie (Revelation 22:15).

The Bible says that God does not lie.  God never lies.  Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not human, that he should lie” (cf. Titus 1:2).  In fact, it says that He CANNOT lie.  Hebrews 6:18 says, “It is impossible for God to lie” (NIV). God is a God of truth. Truth is part of his nature. Lying is completely contrary to his nature.  Jesus is full of truth (John 1:14).  He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6).  The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:17).

The Bible also teaches that God hates lying.  Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight” (ESV).  God hates lying lips.  They are an abomination.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict” (Proverbs 6:16-19 NIV).  Notice that two of the six things that God hates have to do with lying (a lying tongue and false witnesses).

What God hates, we should hate. We should hate lying as well.  If God hates lying, we should hate lying.  David said in Psalm 119:163, “I hate and detest falsehood but I love your law” (NIV).

The Importance of Reputation

Our reputation is important, especially in the shame culture of the Middle East. Ecclesiastes 7:1 says, “A good name is better than fine perfume” (NIV).  We all like to smell good but Solomon says it is better to not have any perfume or cologne on but have a great reputation than to smell great on the outside and have a rotten reputation on the inside and have a rotten, stinking character (Hitler, Stalin and Bin Laden).  Most people are more concerned about how they smell on the outside.

Proverbs 22:1 says “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (NIV). This is a radical statement.  Most people today are more concerned about getting wealthy than we are a good name but Solomon says that it is better to have a good name than to have all of the money in the world.

The Power of Words

Words are a big deal in the Bible.  Jesus said, “By your words you will be justified and by your words, you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37 NIV).  Proverbs 18:21 says “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences” (NLT).  We say today, “Loose lips sink ships.”

Words are important.  We can use them to build people up or tear them down.  They can bring life or death.  This last week, there was a story in the news of an eighteen year old woman who killed herself in front of her family after being bullied online.  Just saying some words online led to a woman committing suicide.  What we say matters. It affects people.

Witnesses played an important role in ancient Israel.  In the Bible, people were put to death based on witnesses.  People’s lives were at stake.  In the ancient world, they didn’t have finger-print evidence or DNA.  They had no forensics lab.  They used eye-witness testimony.

To convict a person of a capital crime, you had to have not one but two witnesses.  Deuteronomy 17:6 says, “On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.” (NIV).

It is too easy for one person to lie about a crime.  Two witnesses could also lie but it is much harder.  The evidence had to be clear before anyone was to be put to death.  The standard was high.  You may be the eye-witness to a murder and know who the perpetrator is but, if you are the only one who saw it, there was no case.  It is better to let the guilty go free than convict an innocent person of murder.

Witnesses played an important role.  That is why it was very important for witnesses to tell the truth. False witnesses caused Stephen to be stoned in the Book of Acts.  False witnesses caused Jesus to be crucified. Both were framed for crimes they did not commit by false witnesses.  That is why this commandment is so important.  It is also a little misunderstood.

Many think that this commandment means that we have to always say nice positive things about people.  Many people, including many Christians, have the philosophy from the old Disney movie Bambi that says, “If you can’t say anything nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.” That is not a biblical philosophy.

Sometimes, some harsh things need to be said to people.  Jesus said some really hard words to the Pharisees, and so did John the Baptist.  They did not go around praising everybody.  No.  If we always did that, we would be giving false testimony about many people.

Those are the two ways people break this commandment today.  Some take the stand and lie about someone who is completely innocent. Others take the stand and try to cover up and protect someone who is guilty.  This is counter-cultural.  The world says, “Don’t be a snitch”.  God says, “Don’t be a false witness.”

Is the 9th Commandment a Moral Absolute?

One of the big questions that everyone always debates is whether this command is a moral absolute.  Are there exceptions to the Ninth Commandment?  Must we always tell the truth?  Is a lie ever justified?  Is there such a thing as a righteous lie?  It is a deep philosophical question.  If there are times when it is permissible to lie, then it is not a moral absolute.

It seems like a really difficult question but the answer is very simple.  Killing is not always wrong but murder is wrong at all times and in all places, so is adultery and idolatry.  Is there ever a time when it might not be wrong to cheat on your spouse or worship a false god?  No. The Ninth Commandment is no different.  It describes something that is ALWAYS wrong.

Everyone agrees that the Ninth Commandment is a condemnation of perjury.  It condemns taking the witness stand and deliberately giving false testimony in a court of law.  That is always wrong at all times and in all places.  It is a moral absolute.  In fact, it is not only immoral.  It is illegal.  It is criminal.  It was a crime in the Law of Moses and is a crime today.  It is a felony in North Carolina.

Modern Day Application

The Ninth Commandment is found in the second part of the Ten Commandments.  The first part deals with our relationship to God.  The second part deals with our relationship to people

So far, we have learned that we are not to murder our neighbor (Commandment Six).  We are not to steal our neighbor’s stuff (Commandment Eight).  We are not to have an affair with our neighbor’s spouse (Commandment Seven).  We are also not to bear false witness against our neighbor (Commandment Nine).

As we meditate on this commandment, I want us to think about what we say about people.  During the political season, we hear each candidate running for president trying to smear the other candidate as much as they can with half-truths, exaggerations, unsupported rumor and blatant lies.  They use negative political ads to demonize the other person.

It is not wrong to say thing if they are true.  Jesus called some people hypocrites but in some cases this is just an attempt to demonize the other person (Crooked Hillary, Lyin Ted and Little Marco).  Do we bear false witness against people?  Sometimes, we bear false witness against fellow Christians.

  • If you believe in in-depth Bible study, you may be called “a Pharisee” by other Christians.  I know what it is like to be called this.
  • If you have strong convictions and say what you believe, you may be called “arrogant” or “insensitive.”
  • If you dare to take a stand on a moral issue or dare to call anything “sinful” or “evil,” you may be called “judgmental” or “legalistic.”
  • If you are passionate about worship, you may be described as too emotional. In the 1700s, a great revival took place in America called the Great Awakening.  When it first took place, many of the ordained ministers at the time criticized it.  We look back on it as a great revival but at the time many opposed it.  It led to fierce debates between people who believed in it, like Jonathon Edwards (called New Lights) and people who opposed it and thought that it did not come from God (called Old Lights).
  • If you believe that the charismatic gifts in the Bible are still around today and try to exercise those gifts today, you are called a false teacher, heretical, demonically inspired. That is what John MacArthur does in his Strange Fire book and conferences.  Some of his criticisms on the charismatic movement are valid but some are so extreme that they border on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

The Eighth Commandment

“You shall not steal”

We have been studying the Ten Commandments, God’s top ten list of sins.  Today, we come to the Eighth Commandment. It is a very short commandment. It is made up of only three words in English (“Do not steal”).  It is powerful.  It is very convicting.

This is a commandment that is universally broken.  We may not have made an image of a god and worshiped it.  We may not have cheated on our spouse or shot anyone this week but all of us have broken the letter of the Eighth Commandment.

You do not have to commit armed robbery and hold up the bank down the street to commit this sin.  Even Christians break this commandment.  Believe it or not, some of the biggest violators of this commandant are pastors.  Preachers break this commandment. We live in a nation of thieves.  We steal all of the time and often are not even aware of it.

“Eight year old Jimmy comes home from school with a note from his teacher that says, “Jimmy stole a pencil from the student sitting next to him.” Jimmy’s father is furious. He goes to great lengths to lecture Jimmy and let him know how upset and disappointed he is, and he grounds the boy for two weeks. “And just wait until you mother comes home!” He tells the boys ominously. Finally he concludes, “Anyway, Jimmy, if you needed a pencil why didn’t you just say something? Why didn’t you just simply ask? You know very well that I can bring you dozens of pencils from work.[2]

This commandment is short but it is very important.  It has political implications.  It contains an important principle of biblical economics.  One of my old professors, Wayne Grudem said, “wherever in history this command has been ignored, entire nations remain trapped in poverty forever”[3]

Many have pointed out that this commandment actually encompasses all of the other commandments. [1] If you kill someone, you steal that person’s life.  If you commit adultery, you steal your neighbor’s wife.  If you give false witness in court, you steal justice.

If you commit idolatry, you are stealing worship.  You are robbing God of worship.  It is one thing to steal from man.  It is far worse to try to steal from God.  That is the worse form of theft.

This commandment is also completely counter-cultural. It was different from what society in the ancient world said about stealing and is different from what society says about stealing today.  What God says and what man says about stealing are two different things. Society sees this it as a psychological disorder.

We have a term for people who do these things.  We call them kleptomaniacs.  They are people who steal out of obsession or compulsion.  They steal out of habit or addiction.  They cannot even stop.

God calls it a sin, not a disorder.  These people do not just have psychological problems.  Stealing is not a psychological disorder; it is a moral disorder.  Compulsive stealers are no different from serial murderers or serial adulterers.   The Ten Commandment are not God’s top ten list of mental disorders but of sins.

Many think that stealing is not that bad. The Bible says that people, who engage in a lifestyle of stealing, even though they claim to be Christians, will NOT enter into the kingdom.

I Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexualiy nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (ESV). 

Notice that Paul mentions stealing twice in this passage.  He mentions both thieves and swindlers.  Swindlers are people who rip people off and cheat people, like all of the online scams.  The stock broker Bernie Maydoff was a swindler.  He stole eighteen billion dollars from investors.   Paul said that these kind of people will NOT be in heaven. We will not have to lock the door in heaven.  We will be completely safe.

That is not to say that thieves cannot be saved, if they repent. Some of the Corinthians believers used to be thieves (I Corinthians 6:11). Jesus was crucified between two thieves (Matthew 27:38) and one of them got saved before he died (Luke 23:40-42). Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” 

The OT said the same thing. Ezekiel 33:14-16 says, “And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die.  None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live” (NIV).

Let’s review the last few commandments.  The Sixth Commandment deals with a violent crime (murder).  The Seventh Commandment deals with a sex crime (adultery).  The Eighth Commandment deals with a property crime (stealing).  The Sixth Commandment says that life is sacred. The Seventh Commandment says that marriage is sacred. The Eighth Commandment says that property is sacred.  This commandment teaches two things.

Implications of the Eighth Commandment

1. Private property is a right

This commandment assumes the right to private property. You can only steal something that belongs to someone else.  If something belongs to you, you can’t steal it.  This commandment assumes that our neighbor has some possessions that can be taken. You can’t take something from someone if they do not have it in the first place. This is not stated but is implied.

If stealing is a crime, property must be a right. There is nothing wrong with a person owning things and enjoying things, so long as that person’s life is not controlled or dominated by those things.  Isn’t this obvious to everyone?  No.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), the father of modern communism, thought that there was something wrong with property.  He believed in the abolition of private property.  He thought that property was bad and that property breeds selfishness. He taught that the goal of society was to reach a utopian state of full communism in which there was no social classes, no property, no religion and no state.[4]  He believed that it would “wither away”.

The 19th century French writer, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, called property robbery.  He said, “property is theft”.  According to Scripture, property is NOT theft.  The Bible upholds property rights. God says that you have the right to own things. Other people have the right to own things and we have no right to take someone else’s’ stuff. You do not even have a right to desire them (Tenth Commandment), let alone take them (Eighth Commandment).

2. Stealing is a sin

If you take something that is not yours, you are stealing and stealing is wrong, no exceptions.  The Eighth Commandment is a moral absolute.  It is something that is always wrong at all times and in all places.  Lying is always wrong.  Murder is always wrong.  Adultery is always wrong.  Worshiping another god is always wrong. All stealing is wrong. It is wrong, even if you are poor.

As the talk radio host, Dr. Laura Schlessinger used to say, “The commandment does not say, ‘Thou shalt not steal, unless it is a candy bar.”  We should not even steal a paperclip, if it does not being to us.

When I was a kid, I learned the phrase “Finder’s keepers; loser’s weepers” but that this phrase is not biblical. Just because we find something does not mean that we should keep it. The Law of Moses says that if we find something that belongs to someone else, we are to return it to him. Deuteronomy 22:1 says, “If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner” (NIV)

There are all kinds of stories of people who have found an envelope on the street with a lot of money and turned it in to the police, instead of keeping it.  The owner eventually got it back.  They did the right thing to turn it in.  Many have found wallets with thousands of dollars in them and have returned them to their owner.

About twenty years ago, when I was in Chicago, I read a story about a woman who went to the McDonald’s restaurant right near Wrigley Field and left her wallet there.  She drove back to the restaurant and it was not there.  A man from the Philippines found it and had dropped it off at her house while she was gone.  Her husband asked if he wanted a reward.

He said that he had several kids to support and was unemployed at the time but did not ask him for any money.  The only thing he asked him to do was to let him know if he knew of any leads on jobs.  The man’s wife just so happened to work for a Chicago newspaper.  She let everyone know what happened and asked the readers if they wanted to hire an honest man, to give this man a call.

In the next twenty-four hours, he received hundreds of job offers.  Before that time, he could not find an opening anywhere.  He ended up taking a job in a bank. Exodus 23:4 goes even farther.  It says, “If you come across YOUR ENEMY’S ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.”

That’s interesting. You find something that belongs to someone you hate.  Return it to him or her. Jesus says in the NT that we are to love our enemies.  The OT said the same thing. This is the Golden Rule.  It is doing to others as you would want them to do to you.  We would want someone else to return our animal if it happened to wander off and end up on their property.

Stealing is wrong but that does NOT mean that all stealing is equal. There are degrees of sin. Stealing a pencil is not as bad as stealing a car and stealing a car is not as bad as stealing a person. We know this because the punishment was different. The punishment for stealing someone’s property in the Law of Moses was restitution.

In the Middle East, the punishment for stealing is amputation.  That is what the Koran says to do with thieves.[5] It is the punishment for theft in Shariah Law.  It is barbaric.  In Iran, they do it in public.  The Law of Moses says that the punishment was for stealing personal property was restitution, not amputation.

Exodus 22:1, 3b-4 says, “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep… Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double” (NIV).

There was one exception to this rule. If you stole a person (kidnapping), the punishment was death, which shows there are degrees of sin.  Exodus 21:16 says, “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession” (NIV).

Deuteronomy 24:7 says, “If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.” (NIV)

Kidnapping is almost never punished in our country by death.  When Ariel Castro kidnapped, raped and imprisoned three women in his home for decades, he only received life plus a thousand years in jail without the chance of parole but in the OT, he would have been put to death.  He ended up putting himself to death in his jail cell.

Ways People Steal Today

The Eighth Commandment forbids stealing.  How does this apply to us?  Most of us have not robbed a bank. Have we ever stolen?  Have we ever broken the Eighth Commandment? There are actually many ways people steal.

Robbery

The first type of stealing is violent.  It can take different forms. It could involve things like  burglary (home invasion), mugging (armed robbery), carjacking (stealing cars) or piracy (stealing ships in the ocean)

Larceny

This type of stealing is non-violent.  Examples would people who pickpocket and shoplifters.  It is not just kids who do retail theft.  Most who do this are adults.[6] Stealing copyrighted software (software piracy) off of a computer also falls into this category.

Unintentional Theft

Borrowing something and not returning it is stealing.  Most of the time, it is unintentional.  We forget to return it but it is still stealing.  Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.”  It is not a sin to borrow something but it is a sin not to return what we borrow.

Intangible Theft

Some steal a grade by cheating on a test or copying someone’s homework. Athletes steal records through performance-enhancing drugs (steroids).  Some people steal other people’s identity.  It is identity theft.  WikiLeaks hacks into computers and steal emails.

Corporate Theft

Some steal from companies. An example would be people who steal from hotels.  Some amenities you are allowed to take (travel-size toiletries) but not pillows or towels.

Many steal from banks.  Getting a loan and not paying back your loan is a form of stealing.  Defaulting on a loan is a form of theft. Bankruptcy is a form of theft.  It is a legal way of eliminating your debt by simply not paying it.

Many steal from their work.  They take money from the register or take office supplies home.  They rationalize that they are underpaid and overworked.  They think that it is just something little, the company is wealthy and it will not be missed. Some steal from the government.

National Theft

Some steal from nations.  Spies do this.  They steal state secrets or classified information. It is called espionage but that is a fancy word for stealing.  Other people steal from nations by not paying their taxes. Tax evasion is a form of stealing.  Taxes are payments for the public goods and services we consume.

The Bible says to pay them.  Paul says, “Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes” (Romans 13:7).  Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  (Matthew 22:21 KJV). He said to pay Caesar what you owe Caesar.

Political Theft

Governments can steal.  What are some ways that governments steal?  They can steal form other nations.  They can also steal form their own people.  The first way they do this is through imperialism. That is big fancy word for stealing land. Big nations often steal from little nations. The Bible talks about stealing land (Micah 2:2; Deuteronomy 27:17).

Another way they do this is by excessive taxation.  US taxes wealthy people are taxed at a higher income tax rate than middle-class.  It is called a progressive tax. What is does is takes money away from rich people and redistribute wealth and give it to the middle class or the poor.

Socialism is a violation of the Eighth Commandment.  It legalizes theft.  Government sanctioned stealing. It is stealing from the rich.  Many American voted for a socialist in the primaries.  Thirteen million people voted for him.  It is the Robin Hood philosophy.  It taxes the wealthy and punishes the rich.  It ends up punishing achievement. Overtaxing people is a form of theft.

Religious Theft

Some pastors steal from the congregation.  False teachers are motivated by greed.  They are in the ministry for the money (II Peter 3:1-2). There are entire ministries based on greed.  Some even say that the more you give to the church, you will become a millionaire but the only one who gets rich is the pastor.  Everyone else gets poor.

Jesus described the Temple in his day as “a den of thieves.”  He might describe some churches like that today. He said that some of the Pharisees were outwardly religious but inwardly full of greed (Luke 11:39). They even robbed poor people and took advantage of them. Jesus said, “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely” (Luke 20:47 NIV).

Some preachers steal sermons.  It is not wrong to take an idea here or there and using it but some pastors have taken an entire sermon off the Internet and preach it word-for-word as their own by copy and paste.  My wife told me that she heard a sermon on the radio early in the week and heard the pastor on Sunday preach the entire sermon point by point.  Some pastors have been fired for that.  It is plagiarism in the pulpit.

Some Christians have stolen from churches.  It is called church fraud.  Judas did it and some have taken church money for personal reasons.  Christians can steal from churches in other ways.  They can steal from others by not using their gifts.  Those gifts are given not for themselves but for the body.  When you do not use your gifts, the body suffers.  We rob God when we do not give.  God prospers and blesses us and we do not give anything back to Him.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6JVI1d5vZ8&index=9&list=PLIBtb_NuIJ1y0fPzddUfOqYMav-gp1JNM is one example.

[2] Dan Ariely, The Honest Truth about Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves, p. 31.

[3] http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=22716956377

[4] There are ten planks in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto.  The first plank says “Abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose.”

[5] “And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment for what they have earned, an exemplary punishment from Allah, and Allah is Mighty, Wise” (Surah al-Mā’ida 5:38-39).

[6] http://www.shopliftingprevention.org/what-we-do/learning-resource-center/statistics/

The Seventh Commandment

“You shall not commit adultery”

We have been studying the Ten Commandments. God spoke these commandments on a mountain audibly to over two million people.  It was an incredible theophany.  These commandments are divided into two parts.  The first part of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship to God.

The second part deal with our relationship to people.  We are in the second part of the Ten Commandments.  Last week, we looked at the Sixth Commandment.  Today, we will be looking at the Seventh Commandment.

In the Sixth Commandment, we learned that life is sacred.  Every life has value.  In the Seventh Commandment, we learn that marriage is sacred.  It was created by God.  In the Sixth Commandment, we learned that we need to respect our neighbor’s life.  In the Seventh Commandment, we learned that we need to respect our neighbor’s wife.

In the Fifth Commandment, we learned that we need to honor our father and mother. In this commandment we learn that we need to honor our spouse.  This commandment is all about faithfulness.  Apparently, God takes faithfulness seriously.  We are to be faithful to God (the first four commandments).  We also need to be faithful to our spouse.

Marriage Under Attack

The institution of marriage is under attack in our country and has been for some time.  Marriage is in a state of decline.  There is a war on traditional marriage in our culture.   The Supreme Court has changed the definition of who can even get married.

Less people are getting married today compared to fifty years ago.   Some see it as obsolete.  Why get married when you can shack up with someone? People today are having sex without getting married.  They are having kids without getting married.

Less people are getting married and few are staying married.  Divorce rates are high.  Less people these days seem to be staying faithful in marriage.  This command is timeless.  It has never been more relevant than in our own day.

The Seventh Commandment is unique. It is the only one of the Ten Commandments that deals with sexual expression. It deals with sex.  That should get our attention.  Many people feel uncomfortable talking about sex, especially in a church but God was the one who put this on his special list of top ten sins, not me.

It deals with adultery.  God says something here about extra-marital affairs.  He says something to married people who have an intimate relationship with anyone other than his husband or wife.

This is a sin that is not only common today; it was common in the ancient world.  Jeremiah said “the land is full of adulterers” (Jeremiah 23:10) and he lived six hundred years before the time of Jesus.  Jesus said that he lived in “an evil and an adulterous generation.

We see that phrase in Matthew, Mark and Luke (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38; Luke 11:29). Jesus lived in an adulterous generation two thousand years ago and that was before the age of the internet and the prevalence of pornography.  If His generation was adulterous, what would he calls ours, which is much worse.  We live in a society that is obsessed with sex.

The reason God gave this commandment in the first place is that we are sinners.  We all have a natural tendency to do the things God prohibited.  If these were all things that no one was ever tempted to do, there would be no reason to make it a law.

There is no point in making a law that it is illegal to swim fifty-five miles per hour, as one person put it.  There is no point in making it illegal to eat fifty pounds of beets with each meal.

Since this is such a big problem, God didn’t give this command just once.  He said it over and over again.  He knows that people do not listen too well.  My wife says that husbands do not listen well.  She has to repeat things.  God also repeats some things, so we get the point.

This command is not just in the OT.  It is in the NT as well.  Jesus quotes this commandment word for word in Matthew, in Mark and in Luke (Mark 10:19, Matthew 19:18; Luke 18:20).   Paul quotes it word for word in Romans (Romans 13:9).  It is also quoted in the Book of James (2:11). This is the will of God for your life.

You may be both consenting adults.  God says, “Do not commit adultery.” The person you married may have turned out to be a real loser and a complete moron. God says, “Do not commit adultery.”  Since you got married, you may have met someone you like better who is “your soul mate”.

You hear of that happening all of the time.  God says, “Do not commit adultery.” This is a moral absolute.  It is wrong.  It is always wrong. It was wrong in Moses’ day and it is wrong in our day.  It is wrong at all times and in all places.  There are no exceptions.

Modern Views of Adultery

What God says in this commandment is completely counter-cultural.  What the world says and what God says are two completely different things. Adultery used to be a crime.  Today, it is not even considered a sin.  In our day, adultery is not only seen as not wrong, it is glamorized by Hollywood.

The world sees it as completely harmless.  Some even argue that it is good for you and that it can revive a dull or boring marriage.  The Ashley Madison website glorifies it.  Their motto is “Life is short have an affair.”  Many say that there is nothing wrong with adultery.

One Bible even tells us to do it.  Instead of saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” it actually says, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” This Bible is called The Adulterers Bible or The Wicked Bible. It came out in 1631.  It was a misprint.  It was published by a man who worked for the King of England named Robert Barker. This is a different Bob Barker than the TV game show host that we know.

He tried to print another copy of the King James Version, which came out in 1611 but it had this typographical error.  There are many other bibles with similar typos.[1] They tried to destroy all of the copies of this bible all but about a dozen of them still exist today. It is a rare book.  It is a collector’s item today. In 2010, one copy was sold online for $89,000.  One copy is in the collection of the New York Public Library.

Answering the Critics

The world looks at this command very different.  Skeptics do not like it.  They think He is against sex and that He is against people having fun.  There is an old joke about the Ten Commandments.

Moses went up on the mountain and talked to God and came down with two stone tablets.  He said, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.  The good news is that I finally got them whittled down to ten.  The bad news is that the adultery clause stayed in.

Let’s be honest.  Many people do not like some of the commands in the Bible about sex.  They condemn some of the activities done by consenting adults in private.  Some think that they should have the right to do anything they want with our bodies at any time with anybody they want.  It is no one else’s business what people do behind closed doors.  How do we answer them?

There are several problems with this argument.  It contains one truth but several fallacies.  First, God isn’t against sex.  He created it.  God is pro sex.  He was the one who came up with the idea but He created it exclusively for marriage.  Since He invented it, He has the right to regulate it.  Second, God’s regulations are for our good.  They are meant to help us, not hurt us.  Adultery does not revive a marriage; it kills it.

Adultery is not a victimless crime. The truth is that adultery hurts spouses, destroys marriages, harms children, breaks up families, ruins reputations, and destroys careers. Adultery is not only a problem for individuals; it is a problem for society.  It destroys families and healthy society need healthy families.

Now it is true that, if you have an affair, you can be forgiven, if you repent.  There are two people in the Bible who committed adultery, repented and were forgiven by God. One was in the OT and one was on the NT.  One case involved a man (King David) and one involved a woman (the woman taken in adultery in John 8).

Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you,” even though the woman surrounded by people who condemned her.  Jesus didn’t.  There are plenty of examples of this sin being forgiven.  God can forgive you but that does not mean that your spouse will.  Affairs are the main cause of divorce.  Nothing will destroy a marriage faster.

God’s Attitude toward Adultery

God’s attitudes are completely different.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (NIV).

God does not do things the way we do them.  He does not even think the way we do.  The world may approve, justify and even glamorize adultery but in this commandment we see what God’s thoughts on the subject are.

1) Adultery is sin

It is a sin against God.  He gave this commandment.  When Potiphar’s wife gave Joseph an opportunity to sleep with her (an opportunity most young men would not turn down), he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”  How did he know this?  He did not just call it wickedness, he called it “GREAT wickedness” He called it “sin against God” (Genesis 39:9 KJV).

It is a form of rebellion.  That is the way sexual sin is today.  Modern man thinks it is a form of progress and liberation.  We are finally throwing off all of these restrictive rules.  We have supposedly evolved as a society.  That does not make people progressive; it just makes them sinful.  Paul dealt with sexual sin in the NT and said, “Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit” (I Thessalonians 4:8 BSB).

That is a perfect description of gay marriage and homosexuality today.  God says one thing.  People do the exact opposite on purpose.  It is rebellion and rebellion is one of the worst sins on the planet.  We know how bad it is when a child rebels against a parent or a student rebels against a teacher.  God says that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft (I Samuel 15:23).

Adultery is not just a sin against God; it is a sin against your spouse. At marriage, you make a promise to stay married until death.  Adultery breaks that promise.  It is also a sin against your own body.

Paul says, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body” (I Corinthians 6:18 NIV).  That is a radical concept today.  We think if you take drugs or eat too much, you might harm your body.  Paul says that sexual sin is also a sin against the body.

2) Adultery is a major sin

Not only was this was wrong, it was a big deal to God.  Adultery breaks the marriage bond.  It is biblical grounds for divorce (Matthew 5:32; 19:9).  It dissolves the marriage.  In the OT, it was not only a sin, it was a crime.  It was a capital crime.  The Seventh Commandment came right after the sixth commandment (“You shall not murder”).  In fact, the punishment for breaking the Sixth Commandment was death.  That was the same punishment for breaking the Seventh Commandment.

That seems strange to us to have the death penalty for sexual sin.  It seems to make perfect sense to execute rapists and child molesters.  God said that adulterers were to die.  That was a sin done by consenting adults in private.  Apparently, God takes this sin seriously and far more seriously than we do today.

What the NT says is even worse.  The NT says that adulterers will not enter the kingdom.  They will not go to heaven.  Adultery sends people to Hell, if it is not repented.  It says that this is a sin that God will judge.  Society may not judge you.  They may even praise you but Scripture says that this is something that God judges.  The sexually immoral will be confined to the lake of fire.

Paul says, “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters NOR ADULTERERS nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-10 NIV).

Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge THE ADULTERER and all the sexually immoral” (NIV). In this verse, there are two categories of sexual sins that God is said to judge.  One involves sexual sins committed by married couples (adultery); the other involves sexual sins committed by single people (immorality).

Revelation 21:8 says, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, THE SEXUALLY IMMORAL, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (NIV).

Many Forms of Adultery

There are many men who have never committed physical adultery.  They have never broken their marriage vow.  They are like the Pharisee who prayed ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, ADULTERERS—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get’ (Luke 18:11 NIV).

The Bible mentions several different kinds of adultery.  Some forms of adultery have absolutely nothing to do with sex and yet if you do it, you are an adulterer in God’s eyes.  Other forms are perfectly legal.  In addition to physical adultery, let’s look at three more.

Spiritual Adultery

This adultery is non-sexual.  Instead of unfaithfulness to your spouse, it is unfaithfulness to God.  Jeremiah 3:20 says, “But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me” declares the LORD” (NIV)  The church is called the bride of Christ.  When James wrote to the church, he called them adulterers and adulteresses (James 4:4).  James called church people adulterers.  When we love the world more than we love Christ, we are spiritual adulterers.  Are we guilty of spiritual adultery?

Mental Adultery

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:27-30)

Jesus said that you can commit adultery on the inside.  You can commit mental adultery. You can commit adultery with your mind, not your body.  You may not have done anything at all but you thought about it.  Jesus does not just say that lust leads to adultery, although that is true. He says that IS adultery. It is a form of adultery.

That doesn’t mean that thoughts are as bad as actions.  All sins are not equal.  Some sins are far worse than other sins.  The Tenth Commandment is the only one that deals with thoughts. “Thou shalt not covet”.  If you broke that commandment, there was no punishment but if you broke the Seventh Commandment, you were to be executed.

Jesus was dealing with the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of the law.  His point is that God wants us to be pure on the inside.  He does not just want us to be pure on the outside.  God is concerned about our heart, not just our body.

We try to get as close to the sin as you can without committing it. Teens today talk about technical virgins.  That is like trying to get as close as you can to fire without being burned or getting as close as you can to the edge of the Grand Canyon without falling over the cliff.  That is the Bill Clinton philosophy.

When Solomon gives advice to young men about prostitutes, he says, “Keep to a path far from her; Do not even go near the door of her house” Proverbs 5:8 NIV). Don’t even get close to the sin.  Paul says, “FLEE sexual immorality” (I Corinthians 6:18). Don’t just resist the sin; RUN from it.

Unbiblical Marriages

We do not normally think of this as adultery. Some second marriages can result in adultery.  Jesus said in Matthew 19:9 NIV, “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery” (cf. Matthew 5:32). You rarely, if ever, hear this preached from the pulpit but some marriages are just legal adultery.  How does that happen?  You fall in love with someone, get tired of them and fall out of love with them.  You find someone else you like better, get a divorce and marry the other person.

Many people have done that.  The singer Amy Grant did that.  It is perfectly legal.  You may not have had an affair or slept with anyone before remarrying.  What’s the problem?  In God’s eyes, you were still married to the first person.  Your divorce and remarriage may have been perfectly legal but it was not moral.[2]

[1] http://www.biblecollectors.org/articles/bible_misprints.htm

[2] The background to Jesus’ comments was the marriage of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, the one who ruled the whole area of Galilee during the ministry of Jesus. John the Baptist preached against his marriage and got his head cut off.

Josephus tells us that one day Antipas visited his brother Philip in Rome. Both were married at the time but, while he was there, Antipas fell in love with Philip’s wife Herodias, so both Antipas and Herodias got a divorce, so they could get married.  That is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 5:32; 19:9.

The Sixth Commandment

“You shall not murder”

Our topic today is one of the most famous of the Ten Commandments.  Everyone knows this one.  It is one of the shortest of the Ten Commandments.  It is only four words in English (“You shall not murder”).  Today, we want to look at four little words.  They are powerful words.  In some bibles the verse is only three words (“Do not murder”).  It is only two words in Hebrew (“No Murder”).  We are going to spend time talking about those two words today.

We live in a day in which life is cheap.  It has little value in the eyes of many people.  This commandment teaches that life is sacred. No human life is worthless.  It all has value in God’s eyes. Your life has value and the lives of other people have value as well.  Human life matters, not just black lives but all lives matter.  When you tell that to people in the black lives matter movement, they get angry but it is true. Jesus died for everybody.

Murder is one of the worst sins that you can commit.  Hands that shed innocent blood are one of the things that God HATES (Proverbs 6:16-17). Murder is not just a crime against society; it is a crime against God.  The Bible teaches that everyone is created in the image of God.

God has stamped His image on man.  When we kill someone, we kill that image.  An attack on man is an attack on God. Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.”  When we commit murder, we play God.  We decide who lives and who dies.

God is the one who gives life and He is the only one who has a right to take life.  God sometimes gives people the right to take a human life (e.g., capital punishment) but we do not have the right to do that one our own.  Today, we want to look and see what the OT said about this command.  We also want to look and see what the NT says about this command.  What did John and Paul say about the Sixth commandment?  What did Jesus say about this commandment?

This is a command that is very relevant today.  Murder is found in every culture and people. It is as old as humanity itself.  The first child born on the planet was a murderer.  The first child that Adam and Eve had was Cain.

Cain, not only committed murder, he murdered a sibling.  He murdered his own brother.  That explains why mankind is so violent.  We have violence in our blood.  Murder goes all the way back to the first baby ever born.  Murder on this planet started with Cain and now it has spread to every nation, culture and race

We live in an extremely violent world.  We live in a culture of violence.  Before the Flood “the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11) and it is filled with violence today.  We live in a culture of death.  Now murder has always taken place.  It was violent but we live in a day that is different from any other period in history.  There are three differences.

Murder Today

1) Murder today targets the weak and helpless members of society

The most innocent of victims are targeted today. That is what suicide bombers do.  They inflict the greatest amount of damage to complete strangers who have no way to defend themselves.  A disturbed individual did the same thing when he walked into a movie theater and began shooting at random.

At Sandy Hook, we saw something similar.  A deranged psychopath walked into an elementary school and began shooting a bunch of kindergartners.  You can’t get much more evil than that.  Abortion also kills the most helpless and defenseless members of society, unborn babies.  They are in the one place you think would be safe and protected but not in America.

2) Murder today often involves large groups of people

The 20th century has been called the “century of genocide”.  Zbigniew Brzezinski was the National Security Advisor for Jimmy Carter administration.  He once made the comment that four humans alone accounted for the deaths of one hundred seventy five million people – Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Lenin.[1]  We have killed more people than at any other time in history.  Not just atrocities but mass atrocities.  We have mass murderers who have tried to kill entire races of people. Terrorists use planes or explosives to kill as many people as possible and to cause maximum damage.

3) Murder today is often praised by society

The Bible says that some people get to the point when they call evil good and good evil.  They call darkness light and light darkness.  They call bitter sweet and sweet bitter (Isaiah 5:20). In the Muslim world, if you kill a Jew you are regarded as a hero.  People celebrate in the streets.  If you are a suicide bomber and commit mass murder, in some circles you are told you are doing a good thing and are promised to be rewarded in the next life.

Jesus predicted that the time would come when anyone who killed Christians would think that they were doing God a service (John 16:2).  What we see today is more people committing the most barbaric and gruesome acts imaginable and having absolutely no remorse whatsoever.  They will chop people’s heads off and then post it online.  They are proud of what they have done.  They have no shame or remorse.

In America, people give all kinds of arguments to justify the millions and millions of babies killed by abortion, five-nine million since the Roe v Wade ruling in 1973.  The Final Solution in Nazi Germany only killed six million Jews.  Ten times more babies have been killed in America through abortion.

Pro-Choice advocates say that women have the right to choose but choice is not the issue.  A woman has the right to choose who she wants to marry, where she wants to go to school or where she wants to go to church.  She has the right to choose, just not the right to kill.  Abortion is not a choice, it is murder

A second argument that is often used is that a woman has the right to her own body.  Hilary Clinton used that one in a debate with Donald Trump. Is that argument valid?  People do have the right to their body but there are some limits on those rights. I have the right to my body but that does not mean that I have the right to walk up to anyone I want and punch that person in the face.  You cannot do anything you want with your body.

You can’t put certain drugs in your body.  It’s illegal, so you can’t do whatever you want with your body.  You can’t drink and drive. If you can do anything with your body, then you should not have to wear a seat belt but we have seat belt laws.  You can’t use your body for prostitution.  That is illegal in most states, so this argument that you can do absolutely anything with your body is a complete myth.  Even if there is such a right, it is not absolute.

There is another problem with that argument.  Even if a woman has the right to her own body, a woman’s body and the baby’s body are two different things.  They have a separate DNA.  They are genetically distinct.  They have a separate heartbeat.  They have separate fingers and toes.  They have separate fingerprints.  In some cases they have a separate blood type and in some cases different sexual organs.

The issue is not what a woman can and cannot do with her own body.  The issue is what a woman can and cannot do with someone else’s body. The woman has the right to her own body. She does not have the right to kill another body.

Kill or Murder

What exactly does this verse prohibit? Does it prohibit killing or murder? John Wycliff (1395) was the first one to ever translate the Bible into English.  He translated Exodus 20:13, “Thou schalt not sle (slay).” To slay means to kill.  Slay was later changed to “kyll” in the 1500s.

“Thou shalt not kyll” was the reading of the Tyndale Bible (1534), the Coverdale Bible (1535), the Taverner’s Bible (1539) and the Bishop’s Bible (1568).  That was the Old English word for kill.  A few years later, the OE word kyll was spelled kill. “Thou shalt not kill” was the reading of the Geneva Bible (1587) and the King James Bible (1611).  Almost all modern translations of the verse (both Jewish and Christian) read “You shall not murder”[2] and with good reason.

The modern rendering of Exodus 20:13 is a far better translation than the KJV.  The Hebrew word used in Exodus 20:13 (räh·tsakh) can mean “to kill”[3] but usually it means to murder[4].  That is the only thing it could possibly mean in Exodus 20.  The best way to find out what a word means is to look at the context.  Many people like to take the Bible out of context.  They pull a passage out of its context and make it mean something it doesn’t say.  Preachers do that as well.

The Sixth Commandment cannot forbid all killing because in the Law of Moses, you were allowed to kill animals for food.  You did not have to be a vegetarian.  In fact, you were allowed to kill animals for worship (animal sacrifice).  You were allowed to kill in self-defense.  You were allowed to kill in war and the punishment for breaking this commandment was death.

If the KJV reading is correct, then all killing is wrong.  Killing in war would be wrong.  Killing in self-defense would be wrong.  Killing animals for food would be wrong.  It would be wrong to eat a nice juicy steak.  It would be wrong to wear a fur coat.  Killing criminals would be wrong.  It would be wrong to put people to death, no matter how bad they are.  If this is the case, there would wrong to own a gun.  You might as well cancel your NRA membership.

All murder involves killing but all killing is not murder.  If you swat a fly in your house, you wouldn’t call it murder.  If something falls on a construction worker and he dies, you would say that he was killed.  You would not say that he was murdered.  Murder not only involves killing, it is intentional, deliberate and premeditated.  It is not accidental.  It is a criminal act.  It is illegal.  Swatting a fly is not a crime.

Is it a contradiction to be pro-life and support the death penalty?  This is a common question.  Killing a murderer actually upholds the value of life.  It protects society from deadly predators.  It says that the crime is so serious that it warrants the ultimate penalty that society can impose.  There is actually no comparison between the killing of an innocent baby through abortion and the execution of a mass murder by the state.  One kills an innocent person; the other kills a guilty person.

NT Teaching on Murder

The Sixth Commandment was a big deal.  Society was to be regulated by the law.  People who broke this law were to be executed.  In the OT, the punishment for murder was death.  The NT makes some interesting statements about murderers.  The Apostle Paul says that murderers will NOT inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).  The Apostle John makes two more statements about murderers.

I John 3:15 says that “no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (NIV).  Revelation 21:8 says, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.

That is interesting.  Committing murder is a sign that you are not saved.  Murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.  Murderers may escape justice on earth.  They may get away with their crime and never get caught.  They may fool everyone but, when they stand before God, their destiny will be the Lake of Fire (cf. Revelation 22:15).  They will not inherit the kingdom.

If you have committed murder, your hands are full of blood and you might feel like there is no hope for you.  You may be plagued with guilt feelings for what you have done.  You have the fires of Hell to look forward to after death but there is hope if you do one thing and that is repent, completely and totally repent.

God not only forgives little sins; He forgives big sins.  There is one unpardonable sin.  It is not murder.  Murderers can be forgiven, if they repent.  They can get saved.  They can even be used by God.  The Bible mentions several murderers who God used to write books of Scripture

Moses himself was guilty of murder.  He killed an Egyptian taskmaster before he hid the body and fled to the land of Midian and stayed there for forty years.  God used him and called him to an incredible ministry after this.   Paul was guilty of the blood of Christians who he persecuted before he came to faith.  God use him in an incredible way.  David committed murder while he was a believer but later repented and was forgiven for his sin.

Relevance for Today

Is this command relevant today?  Most people in the world are not murders?  They are not cold-blooded killers.  Does it apply to people who have never committed a felony? Most of us have killed before.  We might have stepped on an ant.  We may have gone hunting or fishing but we have not actually committed murder.  We did not bash anybody’s head in or stab anyone with a knife.  We have never strangled or tried to poison anyone.

Many of us do not even own a gun.  We did not shoot anyone.  We did not blow anybody away last week, like they do in the movies. We went the whole week without assassinating anyone.  This seems to be one of the commandments that we have all kept.  We have kept it but the NT takes this command to a whole new level.  The NT goes from the hand to the heart.  It goes from the letter of the law to the spirit of the law.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22 NIV).

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (I John 3:14-15 NIV).

The Apostle John says if you hate your brother, you are a murderer.  Jesus said if you are angry with your brother you are a murderer.  Most of us are like the Pharisees. The Pharisees were just concerned about the letter of the law.  They were just concerned about breaking the commandment on the outside and most of us are just like them. We think that we can get as close to the line as they wanted as long as we do not cross it.

That misses the whole point of the command.  The point of the command is that life is sacred.  Life has value.  Life is important.  If we treat people really bad, if we disrespect them, if we insult them, we are not treating their live as sacred.

We are demeaning them. Raca doesn’t mean anything to us. It is an Aramaic word. Jesus spoke Aramaic. If you wanted to insult someone in Aramaic you would call him “raca”. It just means stupid.  We insult people in all kinds of other ways today and do all kinds of name-calling. That violates the spirit of the law.

If we are full of anger and rage, that is what people are filled with before they kill someone, so we need to be very careful.  If we are filled with hate and there are many people that we cannot stand, we need to be careful.  Murder doesn’t just happen.  Something causes it.  Something leads up to it.

Hatred and anger are the two things which precipitate murder.  They are the root cause and they are both internal.  Murder comes from the heart (Matthew 15:19).  Murder is just the symptom of the problem.  The NT moves from the fruit of murder to the root of murder.  It looks at the thoughts that precede the action.

That puts the commandment in a whole new light.  It applies to all of us.  How many of us have an anger problem?  How many of us have episodes of uncontrollable rage?  How many love to insult people and denigrate them?  How many have someone that they absolutely hate and wish they were gone.  These are all warning signs for all of us.

[1] Zbigniew Brzezinski, Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-First Century (New York: Scribner, 1993), p. 17.

[2]Robert Young (1862), ERV (1881), NASB (1971), old JPS (1917), NIV (1978), NEB (1970), ESV (2001), RSV (1952), NRSV (1989), ESV (2001), NLT (1996), MLB (1958), CEV (1995) NCV (1991), GNT (1976), NKJV (1982), LB (1971), Goodspeed (1931), Moffatt (1926), new JPS (1962).

[3]E.g., Deuteronomy 4:41-42; 19:4-5; Numbers 35:6-31; Joshua 20:3-5.

[4] It is used of premeditated murder in passages, like I Kings 21:19; II Kings 6:32; Judges 20:4 and Job 24:14.

The Fifth Commandment

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

We have been studying the Ten Commandments, God’s top ten list of sins in the OT or ten ways that people mess up their lives.  They are ten commandments, not ten suggestions.  Today, we come to the Fifth Commandment. It is very practical.  It tells us how to treat our parents.  It is very relevant today.

It begins the second part of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are divided into two parts.  The first part deal with God, God’s name, God’s day (the Sabbath) and God’s worship.  That is the first four commandments.

The second part of the Ten Commandments do not deal with our relation to God.  They deal with our relation to people. The first commandment in this section deals with the family.  It deals with the parent/child relationship.  The family is the most basic unit of society. As the family goes, so goes the nation.  When the family is messed up, society is messed up.

Children who have trouble at home, end up having trouble in school and often in society afterwards.  The family ranks pretty high on God’s priorities. The family is not just part of the conservative agenda or the Republican agenda; it is part of God’s agenda.  The divine order is God first; families second.

That is why it is such a big deal when people try to change the family by redefining what marriage is and make it a union of two men or two women, which is exactly what has happened in our own country.  God established marriage.  He created it.  Modern society does not like how God did it in the Garden of Eden, so they have come up with their own idea about the family.

A Binding Command

The Fifth Commandment is an important commandment.  It is repeated in the NT.  Jesus quoted the Fifth Commandment (Matthew 19:19; Mark 7:10-11).  Paul quoted the Fifth Commandment (Ephesians 6:1-3; Colossians 3:20).  In fact they both quoted it twice.  We may try to wiggle out of the Fourth Commandment but the Fifth Commandment is clearly still binding.  This commandment is in both the OT and NT.

A Lifelong Command

This is one that applies to all of us.  It doesn’t just apply to us when we are little.  It applies to us when we are older.  It does not say “Honor your father and mother when you are young”. This is not just a command for kids.  It applies to all of us.  All of us have a parent.  We are all children of someone.  It is also a command for big children. This is not just a command for little children.

How do we know this? We know this from Mark 7.  The Pharisees did not take care of their elderly parents and gave a reason for it.  They found a way out of giving money to their elderly parents by giving it to the Temple.  It sounded real spiritual.  Give money to God instead of helping out your own parents.

Jesus quoted the Fifth Commandment to them (Mark 7:10).  He said that what they were doing was making the Word of God of no effect.  They were throwing God’s Word out, like many do today.  They completely ignore what it says.

This command applies to us all of our life.  It applies a little differently when we are older and no longer live under our parent’s authority but it still applies.

A Special Command

It is a commandment that has a promise attached to it.  If you keep this commandment, God promises to bless you.  That is interesting.  This is the only one of the ten that has a specific promise attached to it.  You do what the fifth commandment says and God promises you a special blessing.

What was the promise?  Exodus mentions one promise, longevity.  We are all interested in a long life.  This commandment gives a secret to a long life. Deuteronomy gives a second promise if we keep this command. “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 5:16).

If we keep this command, we are promised two things: prosperity (it will go well with you) and longevity (you will live long).  They are not the same thing.  You can live a long time and be completely miserable. One individual in my class commented that this must be where Mr. Spock’s Vulcan Salute (“Live Long and Prosper”) from the TV show Star Trek came from.

There are two promises for the one who obeys this command but the focus in Exodus is on longevity.  You say, “That is just in the OT.  It doesn’t apply to Christians today”.  Actually, it does.

Paul repeats the same promise in the NT. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:1-3 NIV)

What is the key to a long life?  Honor your father and mother. That seems strange.  This commandment is directly related to how long you live.  There is a direct correlation between longevity and honoring parents.  Obedience to parents is not the only factor that determines a person’s lifespan but it is an important factor and, as a generalization, people who honor their parents live long physically.

Why do children who honor their parents live longer? If the kids honor and obey their parents, they will not want to kill them.  Is there any other reason?

Parents tell their kids to finish school, stay away from drugs, gangs, cigarettes, sex before marriage and certain people who might be a bad influence on them. Children who listen to their advice will live longer than children who do not. They are healthier and happier.

They wicked live a short life. Their sins kill them.  Proverbs 10:27 says, “The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short” (NIV). Is this always true? No. Some wicked people live to be a hundred and some godly saints die you but this is true as a generalization (cf. Proverbs 3:9-10; 12:21; 13:4; 22:6).

People who honor their parents and respect authority live longer than lawbreakers and rebels who have a problem with authority and live reckless lives.  Children who obey their parents are more likely to obey the law.

D.L. Moody said, “I have lived over 60 years, and I have learned one thing if I have learned nothing else—no man or woman who dishonors father or mother ever prospers.”

A Relevant Command

We live in a day in which this commandment is routinely broken.  We live in a day in which there is a general lack of respect in society and that lack of respect for authority starts in the home.  Parents are authority figures for children.  They are God-given authority figures.  If there is no respect for authority in the home, there will be no respect for authority outside of the home.

Disrespect is a growing problem in society. Kids today think it is cool to be disrespectful.  They disrespect parents.  They disrespect teachers.  They disrespect police officers. They disrespect their elders.  They disrespect the country and the flag (Colin Kaepernick).  Today, people do the exact opposite of the Fifth Commandment.  Instead of honoring parents, children dishonor them.  They show disrespect to authority in general.

It is a sign that we are living in the end-times. “In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection… despisers of those that are good” (2 Timothy 3:1-3 NIV).

The Hebrew word for honor in our passage (kah-vad) means reverence or respect.  It means to regard somebody as important or to look up to them.  Some children, instead of looking up to their parents, look down on them and despise them.  They talk back to them.  They curse them.  They raise their voice and scream at them.  In some cases, they hit them.  They mock them.  They do not listen to them.

God sees this as a serious problem.  It is no minor sin.  Disrespect to parents was one of the worst crimes a person could commit under the Law of Moses.  In fact, this was a crime punishable by death in the Law of Moses.  Now this law is no longer in effect but it shows us that this was a big deal to God.

Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.” (Exodus 21:15 NIV)

Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” (Exodus 21:17 NIV)

If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 NIV)

Here are three different situations.  They all deal with children but not always little children.  In the last passage, the son is said to be a drunkard.  his parents.  He says some bad words.  In a second verse, a child disobeys his parents.  In a third verse, a child attacks his parents. The punishment is the same for all offenses, death.

That is not the way we would handle it today.  This command is a little counter-cultural.  Today, we would give the child a time out, pump him full of medicine and label him ADD.  We would try to increase the child’s self-esteem.  If a child sticks out a tongue to parents, we think the child is cute and is expressing his or her individuality.  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.  His standard has not changed.  Dishonoring parents is one of the worst sins that a person can commit.

A Mutual Command

It does not say, “Honor some of your parents.”  Many say, “I like my Mom but I cannot stand my Dad” or “I like my Dad but I cannot stand my Mom”.  Children often honor one parent and despise the other. Some of us had a really good mother and a really bad father or a really good father and a really bad mother.  The Fifth Commandment says, “Honor your father AND your mother”.

Mothers are to be honored just as much as fathers and fathers are to be honored just as much as mothers.  They were put on the same level.  There is nothing like this in the ancient world.  The Book of Leviticus repeats the Fifth Commandment and in Leviticus 19:3 mothers are mentioned first.  “Each of you must respect[1] your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God” (NIV).

A Difficult Command

This command does NOT say “Honor your parents when they deserve it.” It does not say, “Honor your mother and father when they are good to you or when they are honorable.” In fact, this commandment says nothing about the behavior of the parents.  That is strange.  Parents are not perfect.  Parents sometimes provoke their children to anger.

Some parents are mean and cruel. Not all parents are honorable. Some are honorable but many are not. The Fifth Commandment does not distinguish between the two. It says, “Honor your parents period”. This commandment does not depend on what your parents did for you, or even whether they were good parents.

This commandment is a stumbling block for some people.  How do you honor an alcoholic parent or a drug-addicted parent?  How do you honor a parent who abandoned or abused you?  How do you honor bad parents?   Doesn’t respect have to be earned? How can we possibly honor someone that we do not respect?

What Honoring Does Not Involve

God tells us to honor parents in this command.  It is not conditional.  Paul says in the NT that this is something that pleases God but just because we honor parents doesn’t mean certain things

  • It does not mean that you have to excuse bad behavior
  • It does not mean that parents can never be corrected[2]
  • It does not mean that you heap false praise on someone
  • It does not mean that you ignore the pain you feel
  • It does not mean that you have to put yourself at risk

How to Honor Abusive Parents

There are some things we can do even for parents who have been abusive[3].

1) We can forgive them

The first step to the whole process involves forgiveness.  Without forgiveness, healing cannot take place.  Forgiveness is not easy.  It goes against our nature.

2) We can pray for them

This is the second way that we can show honor to even bad parents. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies and it was not a prayer of judgment.  It was a prayer of blessing.

3) We can do good things for them

Not retaliating and not returning evil for evil is another way that we can show honor to parents.

4) We can share the gospel with them

There is no greater way to honor bad parents than to share with them the message of eternal life and the promise of salvation.

5) We can acknowledge their good points

Everyone has good and bad points. We can emphasize their good points.  That is what Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump were asked to do in the last question of the second debate.  It was interesting to see their response.

6) We can honor their position

Honor is positional. You can honor the position, even if you cannot honor the person.  David honored King Saul for his position.  He had two opportunities to kill King Saul but refused to do it because Saul was “the Lord’s Anointed.”  He did not know respect Saul personally but he did respect his positionally.

[1] This is a different word in Hebrew (ya-re) than is found in the Exodus account.

[2] Even Jesus who perfectly kept the Fifth Commandment corrected his mother but He did it in a gentle way.

[3] Several of these bullet points are taken from an excellent family life found online at http://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/life-issues/relationships/honoring-your-parents/how-can-you-honor-parents-when-you-feel-they-dont-deserve-it

 

The Fourth Commandment

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

We have been studying the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments, as you know, are divided into two parts. The first part of the Ten Commandments deals with God (God’s worship, God’s Name and God’s Day).  The second part of the Ten Commandments deals with duties to people. Today, we will be studying the Fourth Commandment. It is the last commandment that deals with God.

It is a very controversial commandment.  It has led to all kinds of debate and disagreement among Christians. People are more divided over this commandment. Different  denominations have started over the interpretation of the Fourth Commandment.  It is not a simple issue.  There have been some fierce debates among Christians on this topic.  What is the debate all about?

What day is the Sabbath?  Is it Saturday or Sunday?  Some groups say that the Sabbath is Saturday.  They have worship services on Saturday.  Others say that the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday.  They call Sunday “the Christian Sabbath.”

That is what the Puritans believed and it is what many in the church today believe. Is this commandment still binding today? Are Christians today still under the Sabbath Law? It is a sin to work on Sunday?  Is it wrong to cut the grass or do housework on Sunday?

Is the Sabbath Law for the church age?  Those are some of the questions that Christians disagree about.  We will try to clear some of the confusion up this morning, as we work through this commandment. Today, we will deal with some controversial questions.

Two Commandments Compared

Today, we will look at the Fourth Commandment. Let’s begin by comparing it to the Third Commandment.  It is a little different from the last one.

The Third Commandment is SHORT.  The Fourth Commandment is LONG.  This is the longest of the Ten Commandments.  God says more about this than He does about adultery or murder.  It is four verses long, almost one third of the fifteen verses which make up the Ten Commandments.

The Third Commandment was NEGATIVE (you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain).  The Fourth Commandment is POSITIVE (Keep the Sabbath).  Most of the Ten Commandments are negative but this is one of the two that are positive.

The Third Commandment deals with the TONGUE.  The Fourth Commandment deals with TIME.  In this commandment, God lays claim on our time.

The Third Commandment dealt with WORDS. The Fourth Commandment deals with WORK. We focus on the second half of the commandment but the first part says “six days shall you labor and do all your work” (20:9)

The Third Commandment deals with SWEARING.  The Fourth Commandment deals with the SABBATH and the word Sabbath means rest.

The Fourth Commandment is divided into two parts.  There is a command to work and a command to rest.  Work six days and rest on the seventh.  He did not say, “Work five days and rest two.”  He said, “Work six days and rest one.”  Any work you do, you were to do in the first six days.  He did not say “Do some of your work in the first six days” or “Do most of your work in the first six days.  He said, “Do ALL of your work in the first six days.”

The word Sabbath means “rest.”  The second part is a command to rest.  The seventh day is a day of rest.  You are to rest and everyone in your whole house is to rest.  No one is to work.  You do not work.  Your kids do not work.  Your wife does not work (no cooking, dishes, no laundry).  Your animals do not work.  You are not to do any work on that day.  This means more than not going to work on that day.  You cannot do any work at home either.

Questions about the Fourth Commandment

1) What is considered work?

The Bible only mentions six things that you were not allowed to do on the Sabbath.  According to the Law of Moses, only six things were specifically forbidden on the Sabbath.

  • Farming was work (Exodus 34:21).

You were not allowed to plough on the Sabbath.  The Jews in the OT lived in an agrarian society.  Many were farmers.  Work in the modern society looks a little different than it did in the day of Moses.  We live in an industrial society.

  • Traveling was work (Exodus 16:29).

That did not mean that you could not go outside at all on the Sabbath.  Jews went to the Temple and synagogue on the Sabbath.  The Bible even talks about “a Sabbath day’s journey” (cf. Acts 1:12).  Jewish law stated that you could not travel more than a half a mile on the Sabbath.

  • Buying and selling were work (Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-17).

That is where “Blue Laws” (which have been a part of our country) come from.  It is based on the idea that you can’t buy things on the Sabbath.

  • Gathering food was work (Exodus 16:5, 23).

Gathering food was forbidden on the Sabbath.  The Jews could not collect manna to eat on the Sabbath.

  • Cooking food was work (Exodus 35:3).

Not only was gathering food on the Sabbath forbidden, cooking food on the Sabbath was also forbidden.  You can’t light a fire on the Sabbath. Lighting a fire was the way they used to cook.  There was a man in Numbers 15 who breaks the Sabbath by collecting sticks.  He was out collecting sticks so he could start a fire in order to do some cooking, so he could eat something.

You could not cook on the Sabbath.  Apparently God considers cooking work.  It is hard work to be a good cook, especially when you do not have an oven or grocery store.  You were supposed to do all of your food preparation on the day before the Sabbath.

  • Carrying burdens was work (Jeremiah 17:21-22).

There were many arguments among the rabbis as to what constitutes a burden. Could you move a lamp into another room?  The Jews were not satisfied with this list.  They added to the Bible.  They came up with all kinds of other things which were forbidden on the Sabbath and many of these things were ridiculous.  They said that you can’t tie your shoes on the Sabbath or write more than two letters down.  In the Jewish Talmud, there is a list of thirty-nine things forbidden on the Sabbath (Tractate Shabbat 7:2). [1]

2) What day is the Sabbath?

The text tells us what day is the Sabbath. Exodus says that the Sabbath is on the seventh day of the week.  It says that you are supposed to work the first six days of the week and rest on the seventh day.  If you look on the calendar, you will see that the seventh day of the week is Saturday.

The Jews call Saturday the Sabbath.  They call it Shabbat (the Hebrew word for “Sabbath”).  The Jewish day starts at night, going back to Genesis 1 (“there was evening and there was morning – the first day”). The Sabbath for them goes from Friday evening to Saturday evening.  The Sabbath is on Saturday.  It is not on Sunday.

Sunday is the first day of the week.  We think of Sunday as the end of the week, since our work week starts with Monday but Saturday is the seventh day of the week on the calendar. Sunday is the first day of the week.  Sunday is never called “the Sabbath” in the Bible.  It is never called a day of rest.

Many Christians think it is on Sunday. Over thirty years ago, there was a popular Christian movie out called Chariots of Fire.  It is a classic.  It is the true story about the Eric Liddell, the famous track star who set a new world record.  In 1924, he became the fastest man in the world.  He won a gold medal in the Paris Olympics.  He was also a strong Christian. The movie does not tell us what happened to him after the Olympics.

Eric ran in the Olympics at twenty-two.  At the age of twenty-three, he went to China to become a missionary.  At the peak of his career, he became a missionary to China.  He must have been the first missionary with a gold medal.  Eric had a degree in chemistry.  He taught science in a college in China.  He was also the Sunday school superintendent at his church and led Bible studies for students at the college as well.

There is moving scene in the movie Chariots of Fire in which Eric Liddell finds out that the 100 meter race in Paris and he refuses to run, because he thought it was a sin.  He was the man who would not run on Sunday.  He has to be commended for standing up for what he believed in and keeping to his convictions but that is all based on the idea that the Sabbath is on Sunday.  It is to be a day of rest.

Where did that idea come from?  It does not come from the Bible.  It comes from the Emperor Constantine. Constantine made Sunday a day of rest.  He made a law in 321 A.D. that said everyone was to rest and all of the workshops were to be closed.[2]

The Council of Laodicea said that Christians were not allowed to rest on Saturday. In 364 A.D., this council stated “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ” (Canon 29).

This council outlawed keeping the Sabbath on Saturday and ordered people to keep on Sunday.  They even said that it was a sin to keep the Sabbath on Saturday and, if you do it, you could be excommunicated. The word “anathema” is like excommunication.  The idea that you should not rest on Saturday but on Sunday does not come from the Bible but from church tradition.  The Bible says something different.

3) Is this command still binding today?

Are Christians under this law today?  There are two views.  Some believe that the Sabbath is still binding today. The Fourth Commandment is just as binding today as the other nine commandments. They are all engraved on a stone tablet written by the finger of God.  This was the view of the great evangelist D. L. Moody and the great theologian Jonathon Edwards.  People who believe that the Sabbath is still binding today are divided into two camps.

Some believe that the Sabbath is binding today say that the Sabbath is Saturday (Seventh-Day Adventists).  They have worship services on Saturday.  Others in church history who believe that the Sabbath is still binding today believe that the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday (Puritans).  They call Sunday “the Christian Sabbath.”

Other Christians believe that the church is not under the Sabbath Law today. It is not just dispensationalists who believe this. It goes back to Saint Augustine and John Calvin, who believed that the Fourth Commandment was part of the ceremonial law, not the moral law.  If the Sabbath is part of the moral law, it is eternal.  If it is part of the ceremonial law, it is temporary.  The question we have to decide is this:  Who is right?

Evidence of a Ceremonial Ordinance

I believe that Calvin and Augustine were basically right. There are three indications that the Sabbath Law is not part of the moral law.  It is not a moral absolute.  It is not something that is always wrong at every time and in every place. How do we know?

1) There is no known analogy to this command in the ancient world (so Sarna).

Commands that are moral absolutes we find in every culture and race.  Murder is wrong everywhere, so is stealing, lying and stealing.  There is no universal recognition among the cultures of the world of a Sabbath or even of a seven day week.  This one does not seem to be a commandment that people know instinctively.

People who believe the Sabbath command is binding today point out that the Sabbath goes back to creation.  They are right.  God worked seven days and rested on the seventh (20:11).  God rested in the creation week but there was no command for people to rest until the time of Moses.

2) This command is not repeated in the New Testament.

All of the other Ten Commandments are repeated in the NT.  This one is not.  In fact, Paul says that “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).  Paul could not say this if the Sabbath was part of the moral law.

The moral law is not up to what people think.  You could not say, “Some people consider murder wrong.  Other people think it is okay.  Let everyone decide for himself and make up his own mind”.  He says that we are not to judge other Christians for what they do and do not do on the Sabbath day (Colossians 2:16).  That can only be true of non-moral matters.

3) It is specifically called a sign of God’s covenant with Israel

The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. (Exodus 31:16-17 NIV)

The Sabbath day is specifically tied to Israel and is the sign of a covenant between God and the nation of Israel (Mosaic Covenant), which is no longer in effect[3]. If it was still in effect, you would have to execute Sabbath breakers.  Death was the punishment in the OT for anyone who broke this law (Exodus 35:1-2; 31:14-15; Numbers 15:32-36).[4]

What This Commandment Says Today

When we come to the Fourth Commandment, many think it is not very relevant or important for us today.  Now we are told that it is not even binding.  Why do we waste our time studying it?  All Scripture us inspired and is relevant to our lives.  Even if we are not under the commandment as law, there is a lot we can learn from it.  This commandment can be life-changing.  Why is it so important?  What does this commandment say to us today?

1) It says we need a day of worship

The Sabbath was not just a day of rest; it was a day of worship.  The Jews gathered together for worship on that day. It wasn’t just a day to sleep in. Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16).  The Sabbath is called in Leviticus 23:3 “a day of sacred assembly.”  Even if the Fourth Commandment is not binding today, it is still a good idea to have one day of the week devoted to public worship

2) It says that work is important

Many have a negative view of work.  We should have a positive view of work.  Work is good.  God wants us to work.  Work is important. God created work.  God gave Adam some work to do.  There was work in paradise before the Fall of Man.  There will be work in heaven.  This commandment gives us a biblical perspective on work.  It shows the dignity of work.  Whether we have a five or six day work week, this principle still applies.

3) It says that we need to rest our bodies.

That is still true today.  Some of us do not work hard enough but some of us work too hard.  We love work so much that we are addicted to it.  We are workaholics.  We are the first one to get to work and the last one to leave.  We are always at work and never at home.  We come to work even when you are sick.We never take a vacation and, if we do, we are doing work on our vacation.

God designed our bodies to need rest.  If you don’t sleep, you die.  We have to rest every night.  We also have to rest every week.  If you do not rest, you pay a penalty. The Fourth Commandment is God’s word to workaholics. God actually commands us to take some time off of work.  He doesn’t want us to work too much.  This command is good for us.  If we do not rest, our bodies will suffer.

4) It says the lowest members of society have rights

This command was given to former slaves.  The Jews were slaves in Egypt for four hundred years.  They worked sundown to sunup, seven days a week, with no rest, no vacation and no time off. God says in this commandment that, even slaves has fundamental human rights.   God tells the Jews, not only are you allowed to take time off from work now, you are commanded to take time off of work, and this command extends to slaves.

5) It says that even animals have rights

This command, not only says something about slaves; it says something about animals.  Not only were people to rest on the Sabbath day, so were the animals.  They did not go to church but they were to rest on the Sabbath, which makes the Fourth Commandment the first national law in history on behalf of animals.  It is the first animal welfare act. Animals were to be treated with dignity and still are today.

[1] The list includes sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing wool, beating wool, dyeing wool, Spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying, untying, sewing stitches, tanning, scraping hide, marking hides, cutting hide to shape, writing two or more letters, erasing two or more letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing a fire, kindling a fire, putting the finishing touch on an object, transporting an object between a private domain and the public domain, or for a distance of four cubits within the public domain.

[2] Codex Justinianus III.12.3.

[3] Some argue that it must still be in effect because Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law (Matthew 5:17) but that passage cannot mean that the entire Mosaic Law is still in effect today (including kosher food laws and animal sacrifices) because that would contradict the rest of the NT.  The moral law was definitely not abolished by Jesus and seems to be context of what Jesus was talking about (adultery, murder).

[4] Some point out that this sign is “forever” in Exodus 31:17 in some translations (NIV, KJV, ESV) but the word “forever” in Hebrew does not always mean everlasting. It can mean that but the same word is used in other placed in the OT of temporary ordinances (Ezekiel 46:14).  The OT also said that the Day of Atonement and the Levitical Priesthood were to be lasting ordinances as well (Leviticus 16:29; Exodus 40:15).

 

The Third Commandment

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

We have been doing a studying the Ten Commandments. They are one of the most important sections in the whole Bible.  Much of modern law comes from the Ten Commandments.  It is God’s message to the world.  God gave these commandments to the Jews but the moral character of God does not change.

Most of us think that we have kept the Ten Commandments.  We haven’t killed someone.  We have not cheated on our wife.  We have not robbed the local liquor store or saloon.  We don’t have any little idols in our house.  We don’t have any Buddha dolls.  We are like the rich young ruler who said to Jesus “All these things I have kept from my youth” (Matthew 19:20 KJV).

Today, we come to a commandment, we have all broken.  This is one of the most frequently broken commandments.  This is a commandment that is routinely broken, even by professing Christians. Some preachers break this commandment.  There are many people who break this commandment repeatedly every single day.

Swearing is a very popular vice today. We live in a cursing generation. Swearing is almost universal.  The Apostle Paul gave a description of the unsaved world.  One of the things he said about them is that they are “full of cursing and bitterness” (Romans 3:14).  I was talking to one of my students last week and asked him what his parents did for a living.  He told me that he was a sailor.  I asked him if he cursed and the student said “all of the time.”

Many not only swear; they wear habitually. It is a bad habit. They can’t even stop.  When I was in high school, I knew a man who cursed like a sailor. I offered to bet him that he could not go single day without swearing. He refused to take the bet, even though it involved money.  It was too hard.

He felt that it was completely impossible for him to go twenty-four hours without swearing. The Bible says that the tongue is hard to tame. James 3:7-8 says, “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (NIV).

This is a command that is still very relevant today.  It has not gone out of date.  It is also a command that is counter-cultural.  It has become socially acceptable in our world today.  It is so much a part of pop culture.  Hollywood routinely uses God’s name in vain in television and movies.  It is heard on the street.

Musicians take God’s name in vain, especially rappers.  I work with young people and have observed that the more inappropriate the music is, the more some people seem to like it.  Comedians love to be vulgar and irreverent and take God’s name in vain.  They joke about God’s name.

We have become completely desensitized to it. We are no longer shocked when we hear it. We are not shocked by it anymore and we do not even feel guilty for using God’s name in vain today.  It has become socially acceptable.  We do not think it is a big deal.  We think our words are fine if they do not hurt anyone.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.  He does not think the way we do.  Not only did He put this commandment third on his top ten list, He also gave a warning with this commandment.  It is a strong warning.  “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (NIV).  The NLT reads, “The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”

Misuse brings punishment.  If you misuse the name of God, you WILL be punished. God meant what He said[1]. He will not hold you guiltless.  We don’t think we have done anything wrong.  We often do not feel guilty for what we say. We hold ourselves guiltless. Society may hold him guiltless and not punish him. Your family and friends may hold you guiltless but God will not hold you guiltless.

Jesus said, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by our words we will be acquitted, and by your words we will be condemned.” (cf. Matthew 12:36-37 NIV).

That has to be one of the scariest verses in the Bible.  Jesus did NOT say that we would be held accountable for every bad word (although we will). He said that we would be accountable for every idle word on Judgment Day. What makes a word idle? It is a careless word.  It is a word you speak without thinking.

It is a word you say when you have your foot in our mouth and you say something stupid. If we are going to be held accountable for all of the empty, idle or careless words, how much more will we be held accountable for all of the bad words that come out of our mouth?

The whole point here is that words reveal a person’s character.  They come out of our hearts.  Words are a mirror of the heart. What we say on the outside reveals what is in the inside. We will be held accountable for all of our words.  When we take God’s name on our lips in vain, God will not hold us guiltless.

The NT says that “It is a fearful thing or a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 NLT).  I have had many conversations with atheists.  I work with some.  It is a scary thing to think of what will happen when people stand face-to-face with the God they once denied, mocked, ridiculed and disobeyed.

General Observations

1) This commandment is short

Last week, we looked at the Second Commandment, which is one of the longest of the Ten Commandments.  It is three verses.  Today, we will look at the Third Commandment which is very short.

2) This commandment deals with words

It is one of two commandments that deal primarily not with actions but with WORDS.  This commandment deals with the tongue. It is a convicting commandment.  The Third Commandment deals with how we talk about God.  It deals with the use of the tongue and is very relevant in the day and culture in which we live.

3) This commandment comes with a warning

It is a strong warning.  This commandment has a warning, a very serious warning.  We saw a warning in the Second Commandment.  God promised to punish the children of the third and fourth generation for the sin of the parents.  We looked at that last week. This commandment has a warning but the warning is not to the children but to the person who breaks this commandment. The Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

God apparently takes this very seriously. In fact, it was so serious that it was a capital crime in the Law of Moses.  You take the name of God lightly in the OT and you died.  There is one example in the OT of someone who blasphemed.

“Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.

Then the Lord said to Moses: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death” (Leviticus 24:10-16).

Notice what happened here.  This was a fight.  Two men get into a fight.  One was a full blooded Jew and one was biracial.  He was half Jewish and half Egyptian.  The bad guy in this story was the full-blooded Jew.  He began to curse the name of God.  His punishment was death.  He was executed.

In America today that man would not have been put to death because he would have been given the right to free speech. Some might compare this to the intolerance in the Muslim world.  There are many Muslim nations today which outlaw blasphemy.  It is a crime in these countries.  Is the Law of Moses in the Bible no different from blasphemy laws in the Middle East today?

There is an important difference.  The Jews at the time of Moses lived in a theocracy.  God was working openly and visibly in the world through the nation of Israel in a way that He is not working today. We do not have a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud.  The kingdom of God was on earth at that time.  We do not live in a theocracy.  We will live in one when Jesus returns.

Let’s review what we have learned in the Ten Commandments.  We are in the first part of the Ten Commandments that deal with God.  The first two commandments dealt with God’s Worship.  This commandment deals with God’s name. The First Commandment deals with WHO we worship.  The Second Commandment deals with HOW we worship.  The Third Commandment deals with how we talk about God when we are worshiping Him or not worshiping Him.

God is concerned about his name.  What is the issue about God’s name?  Why is it such a big deal? This command is all about RESPECT.  The Fifth Commandment is about respect for parents.  The Third Commandment is about respect for God based on how we use his name.  A person’s name in the Bible is a big deal.

Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”  This verse says that it is better to be poor but have a good reputation than rich but have a terrible reputation. Ecclesiastes 7:1 says that “a good name is better than fine perfume.”  Solomon knew something about fine perfume.  He was wealthy and was married to a thousand wives.

God’s name is his reputation. God’s name represents who he is.  It embodies His character.  God’s name stands for his person. The two are used interchangeably (Psalm 20:1).  How we use God’s name determines what we think about Him.  When we disrespect the name of God, we disrespect God Himself.

Each of us cares about our name. We want people to pronounce it right and spell it right. We don’t like it when people misuse or slander our name and businesses do not like it either.

God’s name is like no other because He is like no other.  God’s name is to be hallowed (Matthew 6:9).  ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” What does that mean?  What does it mean to hallow God’s name?  That is not a word we use too much today?  It means to treat it as holy.  His name is also to be feared (Deuteronomy 28:58).  God’s name is to be honored, feared.  It is also to be praised (Psalm 99:3).

Modern Applications

The greatest myth about this commandment is that it only deals with profanity.  That is simply not true.  Most of us do not go around uttering four-letter words.  The interesting thing is that it is possible to break this commandment without uttering a profane word.  There are other ways that this command is broken.

I am convinced that many people, including some Christians, use God’s name in vain and don’t even know it.  You do not have to cuss like a sailor to break this commandment. What are some other ways that people take God’s name in vain today?

1) Using God’s name lightly violates this command

We not only take God’s name in vain when we use it irreverently or disrespectfully.  We also take His name in vain when we use it in a thoughtless or frivolous way.  That is what the Hebrew word “vain.” People say OMG all the time.  It simply means “Wow”. It no longer has anything to do with God.  It is used so thoughtlessly that even atheists sometimes say it. It becomes a meaningless phrase.

2) Using God’s name insincerely violates this command

During a typical worship service, many people are not even singing.  They are like they are at a rock concert.  It is just entertainment.  Other people sing a song and do not mean a word of it.  Worship has to come from the heart.  Isaiah 29:13 says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” That is a very convicting verse.

Some of the worship in churches all across America is worthless in God’s eyes.  God does not accept all worship. Jesus called some of it is in vain (Mark 7:6-7). It is a big waste of time. That was true of worship by the Jews in the OT and it is true of worship by some Christians today.  Worship is many churches is vain. It is formalistic and ritualistic.  It is meaningless.

How do we avoid vain worship?  Worship has to be genuine.  It has to be sincere.  God wants our hearts when we worship Him.  He does not just want our words when our hearts are a million miles away. God does not want us to just go through the motions at church.

3) Using God’s name falsely violates this command

How do people use God’s name falsely?  Some use God’s name to justify their own sin. How many times have you heard someone say something like, “I am leaving my wife for another woman because God told me to do it”. That is using God’s name in vain. It is using God’s name to justify sin. People do it all the time.

Muslim terrorists in the Middle East take God’s name in vain all of the time. They chop someone’s head off or blow people up.  They commit mass murder with the name of God on their lips.  That is taking God’s name in vain.  It is something He hates.  Their feet run to commit evil and they do it in the name of God.

Some use God’s name, not to justify sin but to justify false doctrine. Some preachers teach that God wants everyone to be a millionaire.  Other people make a prophecy that does not come true.  They claim God told them something.

If you go on the Internet, you can find all kinds of Christians who claim that God told them that Hillary will be the next president.  They predict that Jezebel will be in control of the White House.  God gave them a word.  Other Christians claim that God told them that Trump will be the next president.  In about a month, we will find who the true prophets of God are.

God takes this VERY seriously any time we take His name in our mouths and claim to have a message from God.  He does not like it when people misrepresent Him, anymore than we do.  God says in Jeremiah 23:21, “I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied” (ESV). Not everyone who claims to have a message from God does.  God says that many of these people are simply liars.  They are false prophets.  They prophesy figments of their own imagination and God says that He is against them.

 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship. Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not my word like fire,”

“Therefore,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares.’  Indeed I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the Lord. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:25-32 NIV)

4) Using God’s name hypocritically violates this command

We do not use God’s name as an oath that much today.  People used to do it all the time.  They would say, “As God is my witness.”  We still use God’s name in the courtroom.  We swear to the tell the truth the whole “so help me God” and yet how many people make that oath and lie.  It is bad enough to lie but it is even worse to take an oath and add God’s name to it and continue to lie.

Another way people do that today is with wedding vows.  When we get married we make a vow. It is a binding promise to our spouse. We promise to stay with our spouse “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live”.

Wedding vows are sacred.  They are public.  They are made in the presence of God.  In America, they are not taken seriously but God takes them seriously.  Do we keep the vows we make to God?

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 says, “When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it” (NIV) 

Deuteronomy 23:21-23 says, “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth” (NIV).

[1] This does not necessarily mean, as some have suggested that this is the unpardonable sin of the OT.  It simply says that if you commit this sin, God will not hold you guiltless.  He will hold you guilty.  Actually, that is true of all of the Ten Commandments.  If you commit adultery or murder, He will also hold you guilty.  This does not mean that these sins cannot ever be forgiven.  Jesus said “all manner of sin and blasphemy is forgiven men” (Matthew 12:31).

The Second Commandment

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

We are studying the Ten Commandments, the basis of all morality. They were given in the context of the greatest theophany of history.  God spoke audibly to the entire nation from the top of the mountain.  He spoke out loud the Ten Commandments.  They are divided into two parts.  The first part of the Ten Commandments deal with God.  Last week, we looked at the First Commandment, the first of God’s top ten.

General Observations

Today, we will be looking at the Second Commandment.  There are several things unique about this commandment.  It is one of the longest of the Ten Commandments.  It contains both a warning and a promise.  The warning is for those who hate God.  God will replay them.  He will replay them to the third and fourth generation. Deuteronomy 7:10 says that those who hate God, He will repay them to their face.

There is also a promise of blessing to all who love God.  God shows love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.  God’s mercy far exceeds his wrath. There is no limit to God’s mercy.

This was the first of the ten to be broken.  The Jews did the very thing they were told not to do in Exodus 32, the Jews made a golden calf and said it was the god who delivered them from Egypt.  They even called the calf Jehovah.  Moses’ brother Aaron helped build it.

The Second Commandment is not the same as the First Commandment.  Many confuse them but they don’t say the same thing.  There is an important difference.  The First Commandment says “You shall have no other gods before me”.  It deals with WHO we worship.  It deals with the OBJECT of worship.  We are to worship the one true God and no other.

The greatest sin in the Bible is idolatry.  It made number one on God’s top ten list.  The Second Commandment It deals with HOW we worship.  It deals with the MANNER of worship. The First Commandment says, “Don’t worship a false god”.  The Second Commandment says, “Don’t worship the true God through images, any image on heaven, earth or the sea”.

This commandment has two prohibitions in it.  We are not to make an idol of a god (even the true God).  We are not to be god makers.  Making an image of a god or even of the true God is a sin.  We are also not to worship an image of God or any divine being.  Both are forbidden by this commandment.

Lessons about God

This commandment tells us several things about God.  We learn several things about God.

1. God is jealous

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; FOR I THE LORD YOUR GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (20:5 NIV).  This is a sin that makes God jealous. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, WHOSE NAME IS JEALOUS, is a jealous God (34:14 NIV).

That sounds a little strange. Shakespeare called jealousy “a green eyed-monster.” The Bible says that it is a sin. It is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-20; I Corinthians 3:1-3). It is a work of darkness (Romans 13:11-14). God says that this is His name. How can a holy God be jealous? If jealousy is a sin, how can God be jealous?  The Bible says that love is not jealous (I Corinthians 13:4).  It also says that God is love (I John 4:8), so how can God be jealous?

The problem is that we use jealousy in only a bad sense.  It has a negative connotation but jealousy is not always a sin. Sometimes it is right to be jealous. Psychologists say that human jealousy is a result of insecurity.  It is a result of fear, not love but a wife should be jealous of her husband spending quality time with another woman.

If your spouse is having an affair, it should bother you. You should be upset about a spouse who commits adultery. You should be jealous.  God is the same way.  He also demands exclusive loyalty. The GNB paraphrases the idea of God being a jealous God with the rendering, “I tolerate no rivals.”

2. God judges sin

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, PUNISHING the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments(NIV)

God rewards obedience.  He rewards those who love him and keep his commandments.  That is an encouragement.  He also punishes sin and idolatry.  The Second Commandment is one of the very few of the Ten Commandments that contains a warning.  The warning has caused some controversy.

Four times in the Bible we are told that “God punishes the children FOR THE SINS OF THE PARENTS to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:4; 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9). That is strange. Why are children punished for the sins of their fathers to the third and fourth generations? Why are sons punished for the sins of their ancestors?

Why would I be punished for something my great-grand father did?  Why should I be punished for something that I did not do?  That does not seem right.  That is not right but it is also not what the verse is saying. The Bible teaches very clearly that you are not punished for what someone else did.

God does NOT punish children for the sins of the fathers.  Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child.” The Mosaic Law said the same thing (Deuteronomy 24:16).

What does Exodus 20 mean when it talks about God punishing children for the sins of their parents?  Whenever you read a difficult passage, try reading it again.  Then read the context and any parallel passages.

The first clue to what this means is found at the end of the verse.  Exodus 20:5 says, “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation OF THEM THAT HATE ME”.   When all else fails, try reading the rest of the verse.

The only people are punished are those who hate God.  There are only two kinds of people: lovers of God and haters of God.  Which are you? Those who love God, keep his commandments.  Those who hate God, do not.   Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).  Do you keep His commandments?   Only haters of God are punished, not innocent children who REFUSED to participate in their parent’s idolatry. Those who love God are not punished.

The second clue is found in a parallel passage.  Exodus 34:7 says that God maintains “maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. YET HE DOES NOT LEAVE THE GUILTY UNPUNISHED; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”  The only people who are punished are guilty.

The children are just as guilty as the parents.  God is not punishing innocent grandchildren for the sins of their grandparents or great-grandparents.  He only punishes THE GUILTY, not the innocent (Exodus 34:7).  The children are punished because they hate God and they show that they hate God by continuing to worship idols, as their ancestors did.

3. God is invisible

The First Commandment teaches that there is only one God.  The Second Commandment teaches that he is invisible.  God is invisible (Colossians 1:15; I Timothy 1:17).  When God spoke to the Jews from the top of this mountain, they did not see anything but fire.  They did not see a body talking to them.  They just heard a voice talking to them out of the fire.

You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. (Deuteronomy 4:11-19 NIV).

This commandment was completely counter-cultural when it was given.  Every religion in the ancient world had an image of their god.  They all worshiped a physical god.  The Jews were to worship an invisible God.  That must have seemed very strange to the ancients.  They worshiped a God you couldn’t even see.

Jesus said that God is a spirit (John 4:24).  A spirit does not have a physical body (Luke 24:39).  When the Bible talks about God having a face, hands, eyes and ears, these are just figures of speech. God wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger on two stone tablets but this does not mean that God has literal fingers or a literal hand.

That is why images cannot represent God. The whole point of this command is that we have to worship God as He is, NOT as we want Him to be.  Many of us have a lot of pictures of ideas about God that are unbiblical. They do not come from Scripture but from our own ideas about what we think God is like. They come from people’s own imagination.

We have heard people say, “My God would never send anybody to Hell” or “My God accepts everyone just as they are.  He does not judge people”. The problem is that their god does not exist.  It is a figment of their imagination.  Worship has to be biblical. We are to worship God only as He has revealed Himself.  Jesus said that those who worship God must worship God IN TRUTH (John 4:24).[1]

Myths about the Second Commandment

There are many myths about the Second Commandment.  This is one of the most misunderstood of the Ten Commandments.  Three things need to be remembered about this commandment.

1) This commandment is NOT a prohibition of art

This is not a prohibition of art, even religious art. It doesn’t prohibit all images, sculptures, paintings, drawings and statutes, only images of God. It is not against painting.  After the Reformation, many stain glass windows were smashed because they depicted things in heaven, earth or sea.  Statutes were destroyed.  How do we know that this was not a prohibition of art?

There were some carved images for the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple (Exodus 25:17-22; I Kings 6:25-26) and God told them to do it, so it was not wrong. This is not a prohibition of creativity or construction or artistry.  There is nothing wrong with making things and using tools to do it.  This is a prohibition of idolatry.  It is not wrong to make artwork as long as you do not worship your artwork.

2) This commandment is NOT a prohibition of religious jewelry

This Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that it is idolatry to wear a cross around your neck. What do you think? It is not idolatry, unless you worship the cross. Wearing religious jewelry as a symbol of your faith is not the same thing as making a carved image, bowing down to it and worshiping it.

3) This commandment is NOT a prohibition of religious movies

When The Passion of the Christ came out some fanatics said, “You cannot watch that movie because it violates the Second Commandment.”  A Movie about Jesus is simply a depiction of a historical event.  Everyone knows the one who plays Jesus is an actor.  No one bows down and worships the actor.

Pictures of Jesus

Are pictures of Jesus a violation of the Second Commandment, since the Bible teaches that Jesus is God?  Here’s where it gets a little tricky.  The answer is yes and no.  In one sense they are a violation of this commandment and in one sense they are not.

They are not a direct violation of the commandment because, while the Bible teaches that Jesus is God, it also teaches that he is man. God is invisible. Jesus is visible. God doesn’t have a body. Jesus had a body. God doesn’t have a face. Jesus has a face. So it would not violate the letter of the law to draw a picture of him.

However, they might violate the spirit of the law. We have absolutely no idea what Jesus looked like. The Bible does not give us a description of Jesus’ appearance.  It does not say that He was tall or short, skinny or fat.  It does not say that he had brown hair or black hair, long or short hair.

The NT gives us no description of his physical appearance. The earliest picture of Jesus from history comes from the third century. The problem with drawing a picture of Jesus is that the only Jesus an artist can draw is the Jesus of his or her imagination, since we do not know what He looked like.

Everyone draws Jesus differently.  Western Europeans give Jesus blond hair and blue eyes. Asians artists portray him with Asian features. African Americans portray him as black. Many in the black community believe that Jesus and the Apostles were all black.[2]  There is a joke that Jesus must have been black.  He came from a poor background.  The deck was stacked against him.  He couldn’t get a fair trial. He liked gospel and He called people “brother”.

Drawing or painting a picture of Jesus might violate the spirit of the law, because it is simply a Jesus of our imagination but there is one exception.  Many people have had real visions of Jesus.  It would not be wrong to try to paint or draw what you saw.  That is not based on imagination but on eye-witness testimony.

Generational Curses

Before we leave this commandment, we need to make one final comment.  Many have used this commandment to teach the concept of generational curses, which is popular in some circles.  There are books on the topic, like Marilyn Hickey’s Breaking Generational Curses (2001).   Whole ministries dedicated to helping people break free from these generational curses over their lives.  What does the doctrine teach? It teaches several things.

One, many problems that people have are due to generational curses (e.g., obesity, heart disease, insomnia, alcoholism) . These problems even affect Christians. These problems come into our life, not because of anything we have done but become of something that one of our ancestors has done.

It is a result of the sin of the parents or great-grandparents and can have detrimental effects on the lives, even of Christians.  They believe that many Christians are under a curse. Putting your faith in Christ does not break these curses. God must reveal to you if a curse is involved.

Three, you must bind Satan through prayer to deal with the demons that demons have ground in your life because of some generational sin.  A spiritual mechanism must be used to break the curse line of demonsThey get this idea from Exodus 20:5.

Biblical Evaluation of Generational Curses

Is this doctrine biblical?  Does it come from the Second Commandment?  Some parts of this doctrine are biblical and some are not.  Let me point out several things about this passage.

1) Exodus 20:5 is only talking about haters of God

That does not describe Christians.  Saved people are not described as haters of God.  This passage does not describe a curse on Christians at all.

2) Exodus 20:5 is not a curse on innocent children

As we have already seen, that is an unbiblical concept.  God punishes children for their own sins and the only ones being punished in Exodus are guilty people who hate God (guilty fathers and guilty sons).  Hebrew scholars Keil & Delitzsch tell us that the words “them that hate Me” apply to both the parents and the children.  This is not talking about some curse on innocent people because of the sins of their ancestors which they have no control over.

3) Exodus 20:5 says nothing about demons.

It is not Satan who visits iniquity on people. God does that. He is the active agent. The curse in Exodus 20:5 does not come from demons. God is the one who is doing the visiting.  He is doing the punishing.

4) Exodus 20:5 does not mention prayer to break the curse

There is not a word in the text about this.  The punishment can be stopped.  There is a remedy but the remedy in the context is not to say a prayer in Jesus name asking to be released from some generational curse that has been traveling through your ancestral line.  The way to remove the punishment would be to stop worshiping idols and being a hater of God.

The way to remove the punishment is to repent.  Ezekiel 18:21-22 says, “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. 22 None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them” (NIV).

Generational Sins

The Bible does not talk about generational curses but it does talk about generational sins.  It talks about family sins.  There is such a thing as family sins. Over and over again in Kings and Chronicles, it says that a king walked in the sins of his father (I Kings 15:3, 26, 34).  Parents have a tremendous influence on their kids. Whatever is important to us is important to our kids.

Children often imitate and repeat the sinful habits of their parents. The second generation often repeats the sins of the first generation. Children often repeat the bad example set by a parent. If parents swear all of the time, kids will swear. If parents do drugs, kids will as well. If a father abuses a mother, the kids grow up thinking that this is the way to treat women. Many sexually abused kids grow up to become abusers themselves.

The First and Second Commandments are dealing with false worship. We pass on to our kids our view about God and the Bible. If we worship a false god, our children will worship a false god. If we attend a spiritually dead church, our kids will as well. If we mock and ridicule the Bible, those attitudes will be passed on to the children. If the parents hate God, that hatred will be passed on to the kids.

Do we have a family sin?  They way to break a family sin is by confession and repentance.  You may live in a family whose parents and grandparents were alcoholics or abusers.  You have a choice to continue in that path or stop the cycle of sin.  Nehemiah 9:1-2 says, “On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their headsAnd the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers” (ESV).  Other passages say the same thing (cf Leviticus 26:40, 42).

[1] The only image of God in Scripture is Jesus. Jesus is called “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).  He is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3).  In Jesus, the invisible God was made visible.  Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”.

[2]Cf. The Original African Heritage Study Bible (Nashville: James C. Winston Publishing Company, 1993)

The First Commandment

You shall have no other gods before me.

Last week, we began a study on the Ten Commandments, the most famous law code in history. They are also the basis of all morality.  The Ten Commandments were given in the context of the greatest theophany in the whole Bible.  God appeared to the entire nation in a spectacular demonstration of God’s power and glory.  There was an earthquake.  The whole mountain was on fire.  There was a thick cloud and a lot of smoke and out of the fire God spoke audibly to two million people.

Most of us will NEVER hear God speak audibly to us our entire lives but whole nation heard Him speak audibly all at once.  It was fascinating but it was also frightening.  They thought they all were going to die.  They moved back from the mountain.  As the mountain quakes, they began to quake.  This was the only time in history that God ever did something like this.

Exodus 20 begins saying, “God spoke all of these words”.  What did He speak?  He spoke the Ten Commandments from the top of this mountain.  He spoke with a loud voice.  It had to be loud for all of the people to hear him at the bottom of the mountain.  The Ten Commandments are the only part of the Bible that is not only inspired but literally dictated by God.

The Ten Commandments were given in the context of a relationship.  The second verse in the chapter says “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (20:2).  The Ten Commandments were only given after the Jews were redeemed out of Egypt.  Notice that He says, “I am the Lord YOUR GOD”.  God redeemed them out of their bondage.  They did not redeem themselves.  God rescued them and now He gives them some commands to follow.  God has redeemed us by the blood of Christ and He has given us some commandments as well.

The Ten Commandments give us God’s top ten lists of sins and are divided into two parts, which may be the reason they were written on two tablets of stone. The first four deal with God.  They are religious.  The last six deal with people.  They are moral duties.

Today, we will begin looking at the First Commandment.  God said to the Jews “You shall have no other gods before me” (NIV).  We will be talking about idolatry today.  We do not worship statues in this country but in other countries they still do.  If you travel to other countries, you can still find temples to other gods.  In America, we do not worship a golden calf but we still have idolatry.

A recent hit TV show was even called “American Idol.”  Idolatry takes many forms.  There are some modern day forms of it. The temptation to idolatry is still very powerful, even today.  The NT warns Christians to flee idolatry (I Corinthians 10:14; I John 5:21).   This command is repeated in the NT.

As we look at the First Commandment, two things immediately stand out.  First, this commandment is SHOCKING.  This is radical.  It is exclusive.  It is intolerant.  It is politically incorrect.  We live in a pluralistic society. God does NOT say that that He respects all gods and religions.  He does NOT say that He does not care what god we worship any god as long as we live a moral life and do not try to hurt anyone.

He does NOT say that all religions are equal.  They lead to the same goal and it doesn’t matter which one you have (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc.).  Instead, he says, “You shall have no other gods before me”.  This commandment is counter-cultural.  The First Amendment says you can have as many gods as you want or no god at all.  We have religious freedom in America.  The First Commandment says “You shall have no other gods before me.” Second, this commandment is also IMPORTANT.  How do we know it is important?  There are three reasons.

Importance of the First Commandment

1) The sin of idolatry was first on the list

This commandment would not make most people’s top ten lists of sins.  A lot of people think how you live and treat people is far more important than what God you worship or what your religion is.  It is not even a sin.  It is a constitutional right but God looks at it very differently.

God not only had this commandment on his top ten list, He put it first. He made it number one.  He even put this one above adultery and murder.  It must be extremely important.  We would not see this as the number one sin but God views it as the greatest sin.

The greatest sin in the Bible by far is idolatry.  It is a sin that God hates.  It is described in Scripture as an abomination.  Deuteronomy 27:15 says, “Cursed is anyone who makes an idol–a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of skilled hands–and sets it up in secret.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!” (NIV).

Jeremiah 7:30-31 says, “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

2) The sin of idolatry was punishable by death.

Exodus 22:20 says, “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed” (NIV).  Deuteronomy 13:6-11 says, “If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them.

Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again” (NIV).

This shows how serious God views idolatry.  Under the Law of Moses, it was a capital crime.  Idolaters were to be stoned to death.  If your own family member was involved, you were to be the first one to put them to death.  Your were not even to let your own personal feelings for loved ones get in the way of the punishment for idolatry.

Should we enforce this command today?  Should idolatry be a capital crime today?  There are some Christians who believe that the Mosaic Law should be enforced today in America.  They are called Christian Reconstructionists.  They are also called theonomists.  They believe that we should be doing the same thing ISIS does today, giving the death penalty to homosexuals.

They base it on the Bible.  Leviticus says “If a man lies with a man as he lies with a woman, both of them shall be put to death.  Their blood shall be upon their head” (20:13). There is only one problem.  The NT says that we are not under the law.  It has been abolished as a system.  What ISIS does is barbaric.  They kill gays by throwing them off of buildings.  Why was idolatry punishable by death in the OT?

This was during a unique period of time on the earth.  It was during the period of the kingdom. God was working on the earth in a way that He is not working today.  We do not have a temple or tabernacle today.  The Jews had a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud every day.  They ate manna from heaven every day.  God is not doing those things today.  In the Lord’s Prayer we see the words “Thy kingdom come”.  The kingdom of God is not on earth right now.  It will be one day when Jesus returns.  When Jesus returns, there will not be freedom of religion.

3) The sin of idolatry excludes people from heaven

The NT has some strong language about idolatry.  I Corinthians 6:9-10 says, Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (ESV). 

Paul says that this is a group of people that will not be in heaven.  Idolaters are put in the same category as people who commit sexual sin.  It is in the same category as a drunkard or a thief.  God does not look at idolaters as poor people in pagan lands who just don’t know any better.  He says they will not enter the kingdom.

I Corinthians 5:11 says, “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people” (NIV)   That is a verse we do not read in the church today and very few people actually do it but it is in Scripture.  Again, it shows the seriousness of idolatry.

Definition of Idolatry

What is idolatry?  It is worshiping another god.  It is worshiping anything or anyone other than the one true God.  “You shall have no other gods before Me.”  The Jews just came out of the land of Egypt.  That was a land full of idolatry.  The ancient Egyptians worshiped all kinds of gods and goddesses.  The land was full of temples.  They even worshiped the Pharaoh.

The Egyptians were an advanced civilization in many respects, in terms of science and technology.  They built the pyramids but their religion was quite primitive.  Now Egyptians today do not worship many gods.  Egypt is a Muslim country but everyone in the ancient world worshiped idols.  God tells his people in the First Commandment that they were to be different.  They were to have no other gods.  They were not to do what everyone else was doing.

What is the definition of a god?  How do you know if you are worshipping another god?  An idol is anything that comes before God or takes the place of God in our life.  The biggest myth about idolatry is that it only takes on form.  There are many different kinds of idols.  Idols are not just physical idols.  It is possible to have idols without physical images.  John Calvin said that “the human heart is a factory of idols.”[1]  It is an idol factory.  We manufacture idols in our mind.

Ezekiel 14:3 speaks of idols of the heart.  Idols can be mental, as well as manual.  Idols of the heart are much harder to detect.  Most people do not even know they have an idol in their life.  They are also harder to destroy.  It is easy to smash a physical idol.  How do you know if you have an idol in your life?  They are invisible.

Diagnosing Heart Idolatry

1) What is the most important thing in your life?

What is the single most important thing in your life right now?  One preacher had a sermon on The First Commandment called, “Who is on first?”  What do you place at the center of your life?  Does Christ comes first or does something else or someone else come first?  If it does, you are worshiping an idol.

Some put pleasure first.  The Bible speaks of some who are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (II Timothy 3:4).  They are guilty of sexual idolatry.  Now there is nothing wrong with pleasure.  God created it.  He created it for us to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17) but some put it first and make it a god.  They worship pleasure rather than the God who created pleasure.

Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. This verse contains both a command (seek first his kingdom) and a promise (all these things will be added to you).   We are not to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness second or third but we are to seek it first.  Idolatry is putting second thing first.

This is radical, especially in the context.  We are not even supposed to put daily necessities first (food to eat, clothes to wear, bills to pay).  We are to seek God first.  He is not saying that we do not take care of physical needs but that we do not put them first.  It is a question of priorities.

For some people, the most important thing in their life is their job.  They are workaholics.  They have work idolatry.  They turn their career into an idol.  An idol is what you put first in your life. What comes first in your life?

Anything that you put first in your life, besides God, is an idol. Having a hobby is not idolatry but some people don’t come to church because they would rather hunt or fish.  Other things are more important.  Recreation comes first.  God comes last.

In some circles, families come first.  Kids come first.  They become the center of our lives. God does not come first.  Jesus said, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37).

We are supposed to love our parents, our siblings, our husband or wife but we shouldn’t love them more than we love God. Sometimes children and spouses can become idols. Anything that you love more than God is an idol.

Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your mind” (Matthew 22:37).  He was quoting a passage from Deuteronomy.  We are not only to love God, we are to love God with every part of our being. We are not to love God just with our lips but with our hearts.

We are not just to love God with our emotions but our will and our mind.  Some only love God with their emotions and their mind is not engaged.  We are also commanded to love God with ALL of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

2) Are you struggling with some type of an addiction?

An idol is something that people serve. It controls people.  Matthew 6:24 says, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

How is an addiction related to idolatry?  An addiction becomes the most important thing in a person’s life.  If you have an addiction something, it rules your life. It controls your life.  You serve the addiction and do whatever it says.  It becomes a god.  You can’t serve God and addictions at the same time.

How do you know if you have an addiction? What are some of the signs of addiction?  An addict will do something at ANY cost.  You can’t stop.  You hide the problem from friends.  It gets worse as time goes on.  Your relationship with other people is affected.  You become a different person.

3) Do you depend on people or things to make you happy?

The Bible calls covetousness idolatry (Colossians 3:5).  What makes covetousness idolatry? What is the connection between greed and idolatry?  Greedy people think if they just get one more thing, it will make them happy but it never does.  Then, they go after the next thing they desire.  It becomes an idol, because the person relies on things to make them happy.

Some do not rely on things but on people to make them happy.  That is why many get married and there is nothing wrong with marriage but God is the only one who can be our ultimate source of happiness.  The ultimate source of our happiness should not be things or people.  It should be God alone.

Jesus said, “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14 NIV).  Jesus is the only one who can really satisfy all of our needs.

[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, I, 11, 8.

Ten Deadly Sins

Today, we begin a new series on the Ten Commandments.  It is not possible to exaggerate the importance of the Ten Commandments.  They are the greatest moral code of all time.  They are foundational to society.  They are foundational to morality.  Exodus 20 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible.

Exodus 20 gives us God’s top ten list of sins.  We have many top ten lists.  The FBI has a top ten list of fugitives.  David Letterman had his top ten lists.  This is God’s top ten list and it is a list of sins.  We often speak of “the seven deadly sins.”  This is God’s list of the ten deadly sins.  Someone called this “ten stupid things we do.”

Relevance Today

It is a chapter that is very relevant in the day in which we live.  The Ten Commandments are very much needed today.  They are needed for three reasons.  One, we live in a day of MORAL CORRUPTION or decay.  We live in a society which has for years disregarded the basic moral principles of the Ten Commandments.

It has put our country at risk. About one-third of the population currently has an STD, according to the CDC.[1]  The US has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the entire industrialized world.   Gay marriage is legal.  Abortion is legal.  We have the highest abortion rate in the western world.[2] Without question, we live in a day or moral corruption.

We also live in a day of MORAL CONFUSION.  When you reject God, you no longer have absolute standards of right and wrong.  Everything is relative.  It is taught in the schools.  The result is that we end up without a society without a moral compass.  People live like they did in the Book of Judges.  Everyone does what is right in his or her eyes.  Some, even in the church, seem to have no idea what sin is.  This chapter has something to say to the church.

It has something to say to America. We have more people who do not seem to have a conscience.  They do all kinds of bad things and don’t feel guilty one bit.  We have gotten to the point where we cannot even distinguish between a man and a woman.  One school district in North Carolina recently told its teachers not to call students “boys and girls”.

The Ten Commandments remind us that there are some moral absolutes.  There certain things, like murder, that are always wrong in ever culture, in every nation and in every period of time.  If you do not believe in moral absolutes, then you cannot say that rape is wrong.  You could not say that child abuse or racism is wrong.  You could not say that genocide is wrong, because there would be no objective standard of right and wrong.

Finally, we live in a day of BIBLICAL ILLITERACY.  How many of the Ten Commandments can you name?  The average person on the street cannot name too many of them.  We know that from all kinds of Gallop Polls.  Jay Leno once asked his audience if anyone could name any of the Ten Commandments and there was dead silence.  Finally someone blurted out “God helps those who help themselves?”

You might expect the world to be ignorant of the Ten Commandments.  They are unbelievers.  The problem is that many in the church are just as ignorant about what Scripture teaches as many in the world.  When I was working on one of my master’s degrees in graduate school, one of my OT professors admitted in class that he could not even name the Ten Commandments.  I was shocked to hear this.  This was in a secular university but my professor knew Hebrew and taught it.  In fact, he had a Ph.D. in OT and he still did not know the Ten Commandments.

Sometimes we hear people say that none of this applies to Christians because they are under the New Covenant.  The NT says that we are not under the Law.  Romans says that we are not under law but under grace. It says that Christ abolished the Law.  Is this true?  Yes.  He said that Jesus abolished the law (Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:15).

However, even if we are not under the Old Covenant today, lying is still wrong. Stealing is still wrong. Adultery is still wrong.  Murder is still wrong.     Idolatry is still wrong.  God’s moral nature has not changed.  In fact, nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the NT.

We want to begin a series on the Ten Commandments today, the most famous law code in history.  I want to start with an overview of the Ten Commandments.  We want to look at the big picture.  For the next ten weeks, we will look at them individually.  Let’s start with some basic characteristics.

Characteristics of the Ten Commandments

1.The Ten Commandments come from God.

These were not the commandments of Moses but the commandments of God. It is not just the Law of Moses but the Law of God.  You say, “Well the whole Bible came from God.  All of it is inspired.”  That is true but the Ten Commandments are different.

The rest of the Bible is inspired by God.  The Ten Commandments were not just inspired by God, they were DICTATED by God. Paul did not write the Book of Romans by divine dictation.  It was inspired by God but it was not dictated.  The Ten Commandments were dictated by God.  They were SPOKEN AUDIBLY to two million people in a loud voice from the top of a mountain.

None of the other law was spoken audibly. They were the only words of Scripture which God spoke audibly, not counting the words of Jesus.  They were not only spoken audibly but chiseled into stone by the finger of God.  Moses did not write the Ten Commandments.  God did and He wrote it on stone.  The Ten Commandments are the only message to man that God wrote with his own hand.  The rest of the Bible was inspired but it was written by human authors (Paul, John, Luke, Matthew).

2. The Ten Commandments are commandments

These are commandments.  These were not suggestions or some recommendations.   God didn’t say, “If you would like to obey these rules, you can.  It would be a really good idea”. These are not “ten suggestions for a better life” or “ten ways that might work for you” or “ten habits of highly spiritual people.”

They are commands.  They are called in Hebrew mizvot.  The singular word in Hebrew for commandment is mitzvah (as in bar mitzvah).  God did not free the Jews from slavery so they could do whatever they wanted to do.  He gave them some rules to follow.

Many people do not like to be told what to do.  We do not like to be commanded.  When God gives us a command, He is not like a mean parent giving out harsh rules to children.  As James MacDonald said, “When God says, ‘Don’t,’ He means ‘Don’t hurt yourself.’”

If we are a Christian, we have been redeemed like the Jews have been redeemed.  Paul said, “You are bought with a price.  Therefore glorify God in your body” (I Corinthians 6:19-20).  We like to do whatever we want to do but God has some rules.  We think we are better off when we reject what God says but we always end off worse, not better.

Many Christians think they do not have any rules but Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  There are commandments in the NT.  Even Jesus had some commandments.

These commandments are divided into two parts.  Remember, Jesus said that law can be divided into two parts: love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  The Ten Commandments are divided into these two parts.  That may be why the Ten Commandments were originally placed on two stone tablets.

The first four deal with our relationship to God.  The last six deal with our relationship to people. The first four are religious duties.  The last six are moral duties.  The first four are vertical commandments.  They deal with God’s name, day and the way He is to be worshiped.   The last six are horizontal commandments.  They deal with our relationship to people.

The phrase “the Lord your God” occurs in each of the first four commandments.  The words “your neighbor” are found four times in this section. The longest commandments (third and fourth) are in the section dealing with our relationship to God.

3. The Ten Commandments are moral absolutes.

They are no exceptions.  Idolatry is always wrong.  Adultery is always wrong.  Stealing is always wrong. It is wrong when the rich steal.  It is wrong when the poor steal.  It is wrong when the government steals.  Murder is always wrong. Killing is not always wrong but killing and murder are two different things.  Killing may be justified.  Murder is NEVER justified.

There are moral absolutes.  There are things that are wrong at all times and in all places.  There are no exceptions.  I have a book in my library called Exceptions to the Ten Commandments (2004).  It is several hundred pages long but all of the pages of the book are blank, because there are no exceptions to the Ten Commandments.

4. The Ten Commandments are mostly negative

Most of them are negative. How many are negative?  Eight of the Ten Commandments are negative commands (“thou shalt not”).  Eighty percent of them are negative commands or prohibitions.  Only two or twenty percent of them (the fourth and the fifth) are positive commands.  Why is it so negative?  They are mostly negative because of human nature.

The world teaches than people are basically good.  The Bible teaches that people are basically bad.  We all have a natural tendency to do the very things that are prohibited (lie, steal, kill, commit adultery, etc.).  That is why you do not have to teach a child to be bad.  You have to teach a child to do good.

5. The Ten Commandments are mostly external.

Some of these commandments involve ACTIONS (e.g., murder, adultery, idolatry). Some of them involve WORDS (swearing, bearing false witness). Some of them involve THOUGHTS (coveting).  Almost all of them deal with an external act.  They deal with something that you can see or hear.  Only one of them deals with inner thoughts (tenth one).  The first nine were not only sins; they were crimes.  The last one was not.

6. The Ten Commandments condemn sinners.

There are some myths about the Ten Commandments that some people have. One of the most common myths that people have is that the Ten Commandments is a ladder to get to heaven.  The way to get to heaven is by keeping the Ten Commandments.  Many people today believe that but God did not give the Ten Commandments in Genesis.  He gave the Ten Commandments in Exodus AFTER He redeemed the Jews out of slavery.

This is very important.  The Jews were redeemed BEFORE they were given the Ten Commandments.  God redeemed the Jews out of Egypt and then gave them the Ten Commandments.  He did not give the Ten Commandments so they could redeem themselves.  They were already redeemed.  They were already the people of God.  The Ten Commandments were given to a redeemed people.  The Bible says over and over again that the Law does not save people.

“We know that a person is NOT justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and NOT by the works of the law, because by the works of the law NO ONE will be justified” (Galatians 2:16 NIV)

Paul says it three times in that one verse.  You are not saved by keeping the Law.  Romans 3:28 says, “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith APART FROM the works of the law” (NIV).

The Law does not save anyone.  In fact, it condemns people. “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (II Corinthians 3:6 NIV).  This is not talking about the Bible.  It is talking about the Law and specifically it is talking about the Ten Commandments.

How do we know?  We know it from the very next verse.  II Corinthians 3:7 says, “ Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was” (NIV).  The ministry that brought death was on tablets of stone.

Why does it have a ministry of death?  Is there something wrong with the Ten Commandments?  No.  The Bible teaches that the Law is good.  Paul said that it is “holy, just and good” (Romans 7:12).  King David said “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul” (Psalm 19:7 NIV).  The problem is not with the law.  The problem is with us.  We are all sinners.

It kills because no one is able to keep it and the punishment for breaking it is death.  The punishment for breaking the first commandment was death.   The punishment for breaking the fifth, sixth and seventh commandments was death.

Johnny Carson was the host of the Tonight Show (NBC) for thirty years.  Jay Leno took over when he retired.  Johnny Fallon is the host now.  That is what we used to watch before there was cable.  Over forty years ago, Johnny Carson interviewed Billy Graham.

Billy Graham started talking about the Ten Commandments.  John Carson admitted that he did not know what the Ten Commandment were.  Billy Graham said, “you may not know them but you have broken them all”.

The Jews did not just have Ten Commandments to follow.  They had six hundred more.  The Ten Commandments are part of the Law of Moses.  There are 613 commandments in the Law of Moses.  Some Jewish rabbi once counted all of the commands and came up with the number 613.  You can go online and see the list with the verse that goes with it.

These commandments regulated every aspect of your life – what you were allowed to eat (kosher and non-kosher foods – Leviticus 11), what you were allowed to wear (you could not wear clothes made of two different kinds of fabric, i.e., you can’t wear a shirt made of cotton and polyester – Leviticus 19:19), how you cut your beard (Leviticus 19:27), who you could have sex with (Leviticus 18).  Tattoos were forbidden (Leviticus 19:28).

There were 613 commands in the Law of Moses.  Someone calculated that 365 of these are negative commands (one for every day of the week) and 248 of them are positive commands.  It was impossible to keep them all.  Who could keep 613 commands?

Galatians 3:10 says, “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law” (NIV).  If you are going to be saved by works, you would have to keep all 613 commandments all of the time (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

The Law not only CONDEMNS people, it CONVICTS people. Romans 3:20 says “Therefore NO ONE will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (NIV).

Romans 7:7 says “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet” (NIV).  One of the purposes of the Law is to reveals our sin.  It is like a spiritual mirror.  It shows us what we look in the inside.

Some court rooms used to have a display of the Ten Commandments on the wall.  In the past few years, some judges have been told that this is unconstitutional.  It violates the separation of church and state.

The real problem with having the Ten Commandments on the wall is not legal but moral.  It is too hard for a room full of judges, politicians, lawyers and criminals to have to be confronted all day with the words: “thou shalt not steal,” “thou shalt not lie,” “thou shalt not murder,” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”.  That is why the very point of the Law was to bring people to Christ. Paul said that it was supposed to be a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:23-24).

[1] http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/10/06/cdc-110-million-americans-have-stds-at-any-given-time/

[2] http://thetruthwins.com/archives/100-facts-about-the-moral-collapse-of-america-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe

The Greatest Theophany

We come today to one of the most important chapters in the Bible.  Exodus 20 is important because it deals with the Ten Commandments.  Some people tend to skip over Exodus 19 but that is a big mistake.  This chapter is powerful.  It is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  Exodus 19 begins with Israel camped right in front of Mount Sinai (19:2) and they stay there for a while.

Israel spends about a year camped in front of this mountain.  They do not leave this mountain until Numbers 10.  Much of the Bible covers this one year period of time (almost sixty chapters). The rest of the book of Exodus deals with this period (Exodus 19-40).  The whole book of Leviticus deals with this period (Leviticus 1-27).  The first ten chapters of Numbers deal with this one year period.

They are at this mountain for a reason.  When God first appeared to Moses, He called him and gave him a job to do.  He told him that his job was to go to Pharaoh and rescue the Jews from bondage.  Moses brought up a bunch of objections.  He said, “Who am I to do this?” (3:11).

God’s response was, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” (3:12 NIV).  Now, two million Jews are at this mountain.

Moses had a BURNING BUSH experience.  The Jews here have a BURNING MOUNTAIN experience.  The whole nation experienced at Mount Sinai what Moses experienced at the Burning Bush.  They came to Mount Sinai and stayed there for some time.  The Law was given at Mount Sinai.  The Tabernacle was built at Mount Sinai.  The Jews stay at Mount Sinai for about a year.

Exodus 19 is important for two reasons.  It contains some incredible promises and it contains an incredible theophany.  It is a chapter that says a lot to us today.

Incredible Promises

Let’s begin with the promises.  They are found in Exodus 19:5.  They are conditional promises.  Notice what it says. “Now IF you obey me fully and keep my covenant, THEN out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (NIV).  It is also voluntary.  God gave the Jews a choice, like He gives people today.  He did not force them into it.  What were the three promises?  They were given to the Jews but apply to us today.

1) God’s Treasured Possession

The first promise is that they would be God’s treasured possession.  Pharaoh treated the Hebrews as a bunch of worthless slaves.  He abused and mistreated them.  Many people throughout history have hated and despised the Jews.  God called them his treasured possession.  We all have a treasured possession, the most valuable thing we own.  It may be a family heirloom.

Others may not think the Jews are valuable.  They may not even think they are valuable but God says they are his treasured possession. God owned everything but He only offered this promise to the Jews.  He chose them. The same is true of us.  We are also God’s treasured possession.

We are called “God’s special possession” in I Peter 2:9 (NIV).  God chose Israel.  He also chose us.  We were predestinated before the foundation of the world. Jesus died for us.  That makes us valuable in His sight.

2) A Kingdom of Priests

Second, they would be a kingdom of priests.  A priest is one who acts as an intermediary between man and God.  God is saying that the only way of access to God would be through Israel.They would not only would they serve as individual priests to God but the whole nation would serve as priests to the world.

This would be a missionary nation but unfortunately, as Warren Wiersbe points out, “Instead of Israel influencing the nations to worship Jehovah, the nations influenced Israel to worship idols.”  The church is called a royal priesthood in I Peter 2:9.

3) A Holy Nation

Third, they would be a holy nation.  The word holy means “set apart.”  If the Jews kept God’s commandments, they would be set apart from all of the other nations.  The word holy means different.  It means apartness or otherness.  They were to be different morally, religiously and spiritually.  The same is true of us.  We are called a “holy nation” in I Peter 2:9.

How can the church be called a nation?  It is made up of believers all over the world.  A nation is a community of people under a common government.   That describes Christians. We are supposed to be “a HOLY nation.” Holiness is a command for Christians today. God wanted the Jews to be holy and he wants us to be holy as well and yet how many professing believers live exactly like the world?

God gave the Jews an incredible offer.  Notice their response. So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said” (19:7-8 NIV).

The Jews said “All that the Lord commanded we will do” (19:8). This is one of the biggest lies in the Bible.  This was a huge whopper.  They did not say that they would do some of the things that God commanded.  They said that they would do ALL of it.  They did not even say that they would try to do it or do their best to do it.  They said that they would do it.

Who said this? All of the leaders said it.  They all responded together.  They were sincere.  They meant well but they did not do what they said.  Not only was this a lie, it was a universal lie among the leadership.

Now we can criticize them but how often have we done exactly the same thing.  We tell God that we will do things that never get done.  We make promises we don’t keep. They said that they would keep everything God commands, so He shows up in this chapter in the form of a theophany.

A theophany is a visible appearance of God to people.  It is not just when an angel appears to people; it is when God Himself appears to people.  Exodus 19 gives us the greatest theophany in the Bible, apart from the incarnation. It is THE ultimate theophany.  God descended upon a mountain in fire and smoke. He not only descended, He met with the nation.  Exodus 19:17 says, “Moses led the people out of the camp to MEET WITH GOD, and they stood at the foot of the mountain” (NIV).

God appeared to individuals before, like Abraham and Moses.  Here, he appeared to the whole nation.  The nation of Israel had an unbelievable encounter with God. God spoke audibly and the whole nation heard Him. The words he spoke are the Ten Commandments.

The first verse of Exodus 20 says “and God spoke all these words” (NIV).  John Wesley said, “Never was there such a sermon preached before or since, as this, which was here preached to the church in the wilderness. For, the preacher was God himself.”[1] God spoke and people listened.  Millions of people heard him. We hear people say all of the time that God told them something last night, and some of the things people say are far-fetched.  You have to wonder if God really said these things.

Characteristics of this Theophany

One, it was PUBLIC.  This was not God appearing in someone’s house but on a mountain.  It happened out in the open.  Two, it was CORPORATE.  This theophany is to a group, not to an individual. The whole nation was present at this event.

Three, it was AUDIBLE. God spoke audibly and people heard Him.  When we speak of God talking to us today we do not mean audibly.  Here He spoke audibly to a whole group of people and He spoke with a loud voice because people heard what He said at the bottom of the mountain.

Four, it was UNIQUE.  It happened only once. Deuteronomy 4:33 said, “Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?” This event only happened once and it only happened to one nation on the planet.  It has never been repeated.

Five, it was SPECTACULAR.  It was an awesome display of God’s glory and power, as God shows up at Smokey Mountain.

Six, it was UNDENIABLE.  There was no doubt about what they heard.  They all saw and heard the same thing at the same time.  It was a mass revelation.  There were no skeptics in the audience saying “Is God really among us?”  There were two million eye-witnesses to this event.

Seven, it was MYSTERIOUS.  There was something mysterious about this theophany.  Exodus 19:18 says that God descended on the mountain but they did not see God.  Deuteronomy 4:15 says, “You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire” (NIV).

All they saw was smoke and fire.  They saw a storm.  God not only appeared in fire, He appeared in a dense cloud.  He both revealed and concealed himself.   He both revealed and hid himself, so they did not see too much.

Eight, it was TERRIFYING. This theophany was fascinating but it was also frightening, as sinful people stood before a holy God.  Hebrews 12:21 tells us that even Moses was afraid. “The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear” (NIV). The people thought they all were going to die.  They moved back.  The mountain began to quake and the people were quaking in fear as well.

Deuteronomy 5:24-26 says: And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? (NIV)

They did not say how cool it was to meet God on a mountain and to hear his voice.  They did not say, “Let’s have this again next year. Let’s make it an annual event and invite everyone.” This was NOT a seeker friendly meeting.  It was not entertainment.  They were not going to a football game.  The people who saw this were scared to death.  When this happened, we are told that “everyone in the camp TREMBLED” (19:16).

They were not praying for God to show them his glory, like Christians do today.  It terrified them.  In fact, they did not ever want God to speak on a mountain like this again.  They told Moses, “Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.” (Deuteronomy 5:27 NIV).

Was that the right response?  Yes.  God said, “The Lord heard you when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:28-29 NIV).

Are we supposed to fear God like this today?  Yes.  This is a command for Christians as well (I Peter 2:17; Revelation 14:7; cf. II Corinthians 5:10-11).  Christians should fear God.  Does that describe most Christians in the church today?  No. There is very little fear of God today, even in the church and that includes churches that believe the Bible.  We should have a fear of God today.

The early church had it.  In the Book of Acts, one member of the Church of Jerusalem, the first church, lied to the Apostles and to the Holy Spirit.  He dropped dead.  Acts 5:5 says,When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And GREAT FEAR seized all who heard what had happened.”  Three hours later, his wife, sister Sapphira did the same. “GREAT FEAR seized THE WHOLE CHURCH and all who heard about these events” (Acts 5:11 NIV).

We may not have ever seen some incredible theophany or witnessed God take out some leaders in the church who sinned but we should still fear God and we should fear his Word.  The Bible says that we should tremble at God’s Word.

Psalm 119:161 says, “Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart TREMBLES at your word” (NIV).  Isaiah 66:2 says, “Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who TREMBLE at my word” (NIV).

Most people today do not tremble at God’s Word.  Most Christians do not know the Word and many that know it do not fear it.  They act as if they can disregard what Scripture teaches with impunity.  They act as if it is optional to obey Scripture.  They do not tremble at it.  They do not respect it.  It does not make much of an impact on their life. They say that they believe the Bible is the Word of God but if they really believed it, it would radically change the way they lived (cf. Ezra 9-10).

Of course, we should not only FEAR the Word of God and tremble at it, we should also LOVE it.  One of the best places to see this is in Psalm 119.  We do not know who wrote this psalm but the Jews believed it was King David.  About six times in the chapter, the author says, “Your law is my delight” (119:16, 24, 35, 47, 77, 92).

He said, “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold” (119:72).  He also said, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (119:113). He did not just fear God’s Word, he delighted in it.  He says “I LOVE your word” (119:140), “I LOVE your law” (119:113, 163), “I LOVE your testimonies” (119:119, 167), “I LOVE your commands” (119:127) and “I LOVE your precepts” (119:159)

Lessons from Sinai

1) Lesson on man

People need a mediator to approach God. The Jews were sinners and needed a mediator to approach God.  They could not approach him on their own.  Moses had to talk to God and then talk to them.  He went up the mountain and got a message from God and went down the mountain to tell the people what it was.  They have a response and Moses goes up the mountain to tell God what their response was.

He must have been fit.   Moses goes up and down this mountain three times in Exodus 19 and he was eighty at this time.  Maybe that is why he lived to be one hundred and twenty.  He was always moving.

On the morning of this theophany, we are told that everyone in the camp trembled (19:16).  Moses led them out of the camp to meet God at the foot of the mountain (19:17).  The Jews needed a mediator before God and so do we.  We cannot come to God on our own.  Our mediator is Jesus.

2) Lesson on God

God is holy.  It is not His only attribute.  He is also a God of grace.  Even in this chapter, we see God’s grace.  Exodus 19:4 says, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (NIV).  God compares himself to an eagle.  He literally carried them out of Egypt.  It is a picture of protection.

It is also a picture of grace but the focus of this chapter is on God’s holiness. Many worship just God a love and grace and not a God of judgment, wrath and condemnation, a God of fire and smoke.  The God of Exodus 19 is not only a God of grace.  He is also a God of lightning and thunder.  He showed up in a thunder storm.

Not only did He reveal himself in thunder and the lightning, He said that if anyone touched the mountain, they were to die (19:12).  That sounds a little harsh.  Even if an innocent animal touched the mountain, it was to be killed (19:13).  Moses had to put a border around the mountain so no one touched it (19:12).

Why? God is infinitely holy and we are sinful.  Most of these people had not committed adultery or murder but still would die if they touched the mountain.  They were still sinners.  There has to be a distance between a holy God and sinful people.  God is on the top of the mountain and the people cannot get to close to him or they will die.  That is why there will be no sinners in heaven.

There is a NEARNESS to God.  He meets with sinful people in this chapter but there is also a DISTANCE to God.  God is not warm and fuzzy.  He is holy.  He is terrifying to sinners.  When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and Moses realized who he was talking to, the Bible says that Moses was afraid to look at God (3:6).  Acts 7:32 said that he trembled with fear.

Some would say, “This is OT. We are not under the Law.”  Hebrews 12 even says, “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them” (12:18-19 NIV)

It is true we have not come to Mount Sinai.  We are Christians.  We have a different covenant.  We come to a different mountain but we have the same God.  He still judges people.  Hebrews 12:22 says, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (NIV) but it says in the next verse “You have come to God, the Judge of all” (Hebrews 12:23 NIV).

In fact, Hebrews 12:29 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  It does not say “the God of the Jews” or “the God of the OT.”  He says “OUR GOD is a consuming fire.”  In fact, it does NOT say He “was a consuming fire.”  It says that He IS a consuming fire.  God’s nature has not changed.

3) Lesson on worship

If you were going to meet an important person, like the President, in a few days, you might do a few things to get ready.  Meeting God required some preparation on their part.  God told them to wash their clothes and stay away from their wives. They had two days to do this because God said that he was going to meet with them on the third day (19:11).  A lot of important things in the Bible happen on the third day.   Let’s quickly look at the two things they did and how it applies to us today.

First, they were told to wash their clothes (19:10).

Although it doesn’t say it, the implication is that they were to wash their bodies as well.  Now this sounds a little strange.  What is the reason for this rule?  Is God OCD? Is dirt a problem for God?  Is God worried about hygiene?

Is this because they have been in the wilderness for three months and they stink?  Is the application that we all need to take a bath before we come to church?  You cannot come before God with dirty clothes and filthy garments. This is symbolic.  The point was that they were dirty.  God can only come near people who are clean.  That is what baptism symbolizes.  Outward purity was symbolic of inward purity.

Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” (Zechariah 3:3-5 ESV).

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart. (Psalm 24:3-4 NIV)

Second, they were told to not go near a woman (19:15)

There was not to be any intimacy between husband and wife.  Why were the men to stay away from women?  Do they have cooties?  Was He saying that sex is wrong, even in marriage?  No.  God created sex.  There is nothing wrong with it.  So they were asked to refrain from this not because it was wrong, but because it was distracting.  They sacrificed some legitimate things to focus on an encounter with God.

How does this all apply to us today?  These rules may seem strange to us but the point is that personal preparation was required.  Worship requires preparation. That is a lesson we need to learn today.

Many of us do not prepare for worship.  We go to bed late on Saturday night, get up late on Sunday, have trouble finding clothes to wear, rush to get to church, argue and fight with our family on the way and arrive late and we wonder why we do not have the right frame of mind to worship.

[1] Comment on Exodus 19:16.  http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/john-wesleys-notes-on-the-bible/notes-on-the-second-book-of-moses-called-exodus/#Chapter+XIX.

The Jethro Plan

One of the hardest parts of marriage for some couples is how to deal with in-laws.  Many couples have a poor relationship with their in-laws.  Some in-laws are overbearing and domineering.  They are very controlling.  The Bible is clear that there are two parts to marriage.  Marriage is a fundamental change in relationship. It involves leaving and it involves cleaving.

Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (ESV).  It involves leaving and holding fast.  The KJV rendered it “cleave”.  It means to cling to something or stick to something.  The modern Hebrew word for glue comes from this word.

Not all in-law relations are bad.  Many have had positive relations with their in-laws.  Some are encouraging and supportive.  Some have all kinds of gifts and abilities that we do not have. Moses had a great relationship with his in-laws.  His father-in-law was named Jethro.  He was a Midianite.

He was not Jewish but Moses knew him well. He worked for him for forty years.  He married one of his daughters (Zipporah).  He liked him and respected him.  He was glad to see him.  He went out to meet him.  He did not wait until he got there and, when he saw him, he bowed down  to the ground and kissed him (18:7).  He showed respect to his father-in-law.

This chapter is all about in-laws.  A key term in this chapter is the words “father-in-law”.  It is found twelve times in the chapter (18:1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12 [2], 14, 17, 24, 27).  This chapter is all about Jethro.  He is the main character of the chapter.  Jethro was an old man.  Moses was eighty and he was older than Moses.

This old man became a tremendous blessing to Moses.  He made a huge impact on Moses’ life.  He even made him a better leader.  We can learn some lessons on leadership from the words of Jethro.  What he said to Moses is still good advice to leaders today.  This chapter is very practical.

Jethro’s Salvation

Before Jethro has the ministry to Moses, he has to get saved first.  Jethro was a pagan priest.  He was the high priest of Midian but in this chapter, he gets saved.  His life is radically changed and Moses is the one who leads him to the Lord.  Notice how this happens.

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt (18:1 NIV)

The first thing that happens is that Jethro HEARS what God was doing.  When God is at work, people will hear about it.  The word will spread.  Then, he took the next step and INVESTIGATED it.  Moses wanted to see firsthand what was going on, so he went in the wilderness and took Moses’ wife and two sons with him (18:5-6).

They greeted each other and then went into the tent.  Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them. (18:7-8 NIV)

Jethro hears first hand from Moses what happened.  By now, his son-in-law is famous.  He is a hero.  He led two million people out of slavery to freedom but he does not take any credit for what happened.  He does not talk about his accomplishments, like we might have done.  Moses does not talk about himself.  Instead, he talked about “everything THE LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians himself.”  He talked about “how the Lord had saved them” (18:8 NIV).

Moses gave a report of what God did, not what he did.  He told Jethro about all of the miracles God performed: the Ten Plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh, the manna from heaven, water from the rock, the pillar of fire and cloud.  Moses shared his testimony.  He shared what God did in his life.  What Moses did here, all of us should be able to do.  Jethro’s response to this testimony is very interesting.

Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. (18:9-10 NIV)

He did exactly what the Bible says we should do.  The Bible tells us to Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15).  Many people today are jealous when God does something in someone else.  When one church gets bigger than another church and grows phenomenally, the normal response is not to rejoice with that church in what God is doing but that is what Jethro did.

He was not only DELIGHTED to hear this, he PRAISED God.  He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians” (18:10).  Now Jethro was a Midianite.  The Midianites, like the Amalekites were descendants of Abraham but notice the big difference between the two.  Last week, we saw that the Amalekites attacked what God was doing.  This Midianite praised God for what He did for the Jews.

Jethro did not stop there.  He followed it up with an amazing statement.  He said, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly” (18:11 NIV).  Jethro says “NOW I know”.  This is a very important statement.  Let’s look at how this phrase is used elsewhere in Scripture. It is used in I Kings 17.  Elijah lived at the time of a famine.  God used two things to feed Elijah during this time.  First, he used some ravens to feed him and then he used a poor Gentile widow who couldn’t even feed herself.  They lived three thousand years ago near the area of Lebanon today.  One day her son died and she turned to Elijah.

Elijah didn’t know why he died.  He didn’t do anything wrong but he knew what to do.  He took him to his room, laid him on his bed and went to God.  I Kings 17:20 says, “Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?”  He acknowledges that the one who took her son was God, not Satan.  Then he did two things.  He prayed and stretched.

I Kings 17:21 says, Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” (NIV).  God answered his prayer.  It was the first time anyone had ever been raised from the dead. Elijah took him to his mother and said “See, your son lives”.  She replied, “NOW I KNOW that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth” (I Kings 17:24 NIV).

We also see this phrase used in II Kings 5 with Naaman.  It is one of the most incredible healing stories in the Bible.  He was healed of leprosy. Who was Naaman?  Naaman was a soldier in the Syrian army.  He was popular.  He was well respected.

Everyone liked him.  He was the head of the army.  He was a war hero, like Colin Powell. He was also wealthy but he had a problem.  It was a medical problem.  He had leprosy.  It was incurable.  No one doctors in Syria or anywhere else could help him.  He desperately needed a miracle.

God planned to give him a miracle but he had to humble him first because he was such a big shot.  The answer to his problem came from an unlikely source.  It came from a child, a foreign child, a foreign slave child.  She said that the prophet Elisha in Israel could cure him. This was incredible faith.  Elisha had never healed a leper before.  Jesus said so in Luke 4:27.  He only healed one leper and that was Naaman.  How did she know that he would be able to heal him? He had healed other people.  He raised one person from the dead in the chapter before this.

Adults do not always listen to children but Naaman was desperate, so he took a chance.  When he finally got to Elisha’s house, he didn’t even come out to greet him.  He expected to see him.  That would be like going to a famous doctor and not even seeing the doctor but just talking to his nurse. God does not always work they way we expect Him to work. He told him to go wash in the River Jordan seven times and he would be healed.  Naaman was angry.  He was furious.

Naaman was finally talked into it by his servants.  This was the third time he was humbled.  Servants usually do what their master says.  He is listening to his servants.  Naaman goes to the Jordan, does exactly what God told him to do, even though he may have looked stupid doing it, jumping in the river seven times.  Surprisingly, he is completely healed.  He was shocked, so he returned back to Elisha’s house.  This time he saw him and he said, “NOW I KNOW that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. (II Kings 5:15 NIV).

After this miracle, Naaman not only became a worshipper of Yahweh, he knew that He was the only God in all the earth. This was similar to what happened to Jethro.  He came to the point where he said “Now I believe” but there was one big difference.  Jethro was not in Egypt.  He did not witness firsthand any of these miracles.

He did not see the miracle of the Burning Bush.  He did not witness the Ten Plagues.  He did not see the miracle of the Red Sea crossing but he still believes.  He may have seen some miracles.  He would have seen the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire.  He may have eaten some manna (18:12).

He was also surrounded by two million eye witnesses to these events. The evidence was overwhelming and Jethro becomes a believer for the first time. The Jewish view is that Jethro changed religions (TB Zevahim 116a; Sanhedrin 103b-104a), which I think is absolutely correct.  Jethro became the first official convert to Judaism. This was a big deal because Jethro was not just anybody.  He was the high priest of Midian.  It meant a lot for him to become a believer.  Notice what he does next.

Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God. (18:12 NIV)

Jethro offers a sacrifice.  Jethro was a priest.  He offered sacrifices before but he is not offering a sacrifice to a pagan God but to the one true God.  He does not just believe in Yahweh, he worships him.  What happens next is very interesting.

The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. (18:13 NIV)

The next day, Moses goes back to work.  He goes back to his nine-to-five job.  He didn’t retire at sixty-five.  He is eighty and he is still working and he is working hard.  What does he do?  He is a judge.  He is a counselor.  He is a pastor.  People come to him with their problems.

What were their problems?  We don’t know but if you have two million people living next to each other, you are going to have all kinds of problems.  Where you have people, you have problems.  Proverbs says “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean” (Proverbs 14:4 ESV).  When there are no oxen, there are no problems, like ox poop, but you need them for a big harvest.

Moses goes to work.  Exodus 18:13 says “The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening” (NIV).  There are many pastors today just like him today.

How to Give Advice

Jethro did what many in-laws do, they criticize.  He came down hard on Moses here.  He does not praise Moses.  He could have done that.  He could have praised him for his hard work, dedication and sacrifice.  Instead of praising him, he rebukes him.  He said, “What you are doing is NOT GOOD” (18:17 NIV).

Jethro criticizes Moses’ management style.  Family members tend to be very frank and direct.  Jethro was bold.  He was direct.  He did not mince words.  He told him like it is.  He did not beat around the bush.  That reminds us of some politicians today.  If you want to know how to give people advice, notice what Jethro does here.  He does several things.

1. He observed the situation

The text tells us that, while Moses served as judge from morning till evening Jethro “saw all that Moses was doing for the people” (18:14).  He did not begin with criticism.  It started with observation.  He gives advice based on knowledge.  He observed what Moses did and how long he worked (all day).  He observed the long line of people waiting to talk to Moses.

2. He asked questions

The observation was followed by some  questions. Jethro asked Moses two questions based on his observation.  What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge? (18:14). He asks him, what are you doing? And why are you doing this alone?

3. He identified the problem

“What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone (18:17-18 NIV).  Jethro, not only said “What you are doing is not good.”  Jethro was not only observant, he was very perceptive.  He gave some reasons why this was not good.

He told him that this job was too hard for anyone to do alone.  Moses was a one man Supreme Court and Small Claims court for two million people.  That would be like all five thousand people in our church in line to talk to our pastor for counseling.  That would lead to overwork and overwork would lead to exhaustion and burnout.

It is possible to work too much.  Just because you are in God’s work does not mean that you cannot burnout. Chuck Swindoll says “God’s servants are not exempt from natural laws.”  Jethro also told Moses that he was going to wear the people out.  No one likes to wait in a long line.  Jethro was an efficiency expert.

4. He offered a solution to the problem.

Jethro does not just criticize Moses.  He offers a solution to the problem.  Many are shrewd critics.  They criticize everybody and everything but they have no solutions.  Jethro had some solutions.  Jethro is acting as a business consultant here.  He is the first consultant in the Bible.

Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 

Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” (18:19-23 NIV)

Jethro told Moses to do four things.  First, select qualified men (competent, godly, trustworthy).  Second, train them.  Third, give them authority.  Four distinguish between major cases and minor cases (18:22).  All of the major cases went to Moses.  The minor cases went to the other judges (18:26).  We follow this principle today.  We deal with small problems in our small group.  The big problems go to the pastor and elders.

Lessons on Leadership

1) Leaders should be open to new ideas.

Moses is a model here for us.  He was teachable.  He was open to advice.  This is why he was called “the meekest man in the earth”.  He knew his limitations.  Moses was an expert in miracles but he was not very good at administration.

When Jethro came in with his suggestions, Moses could have easily said, “Who are you to tell me what to do?  You have only been here one day.  I have a better education than you have.  I am God’s man.  God appeared to me.  He called me and he has used me to perform all kinds of miracles.  I have the anointing.”   Moses does not do this.  He does not get defensive, like we do when people criticize us.

The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the value of taking advice. Proverbs 12:15 saysThe way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice” (NIV).  Proverbs 19:20 says, “Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise” (NIV). Proverbs 11:14 says, “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers” (NIV).

Listening to advice is a test of character.  Many of us get good advice from people and do not take it.  Some are just too proud to take advice from anyone.  Of course, we need to be careful here.  We need to be careful whose advice we take.  Proverbs talks about wise counsel (24:6).  It also talks about wicked counsel (12:5). All of us need a Jethro.  We need an older, godly believer we can get advice from when we need it.

Jethro was not a prophet.  He did not speak by divine revelation.  He was just an old man with a lot of wisdom.  He saw things that Moses did not see.  Moses had a problem in his life that he was not even aware of.  Regardless of our spiritual maturity, we should always be open to godly advice and counsel.

2) Leaders should delegate their authority.

The Jethro Solution involved delegation.  It is still a great suggestion to this day.  It is much easier to get one hundred men to work than to try to do the work of one hundred men.  Delegation is a biblical concept.  We find it not only in the OT but in the NT.  We see it in Acts 6.  The Apostles were overworked.  They were doing everything, so they appointed some other men in the church to do some of the work.

Many pastors try to do all of the work of the ministry. Some pastors act more like dictators than Spirit-filled leaders.  I have been in churches like this.  You may as well.  One man does everything.  Those churches are a one-man show.  The pastors are control freaks.  They tell everyone how to do their job (musicians, cooks, janitors).  They are like thugs in the pulpit.

This is not God’s will.  It was not God’s will in the OT and it is not God’s will in the NT.  Great leaders don’t try to do everything themselves.  They are aware of their limitations and use more of a team approach to ministry.  They do not try to micro manage the whole church.

Lessons from the Battlefield

Throughout their history, the Jews have had many nations and groups of people that have hated them. Some persecuted them and even took them to war. Today, we are going to spend some time looking at the very first war against the Jews. We want to look at who attacked them, how they were attacked, how they defeated their enemy and what lessons we can learn from this event. There are a lot of lessons for us from this war.

We are in the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible. The book begins with the Jews in slavery in Egypt but describes God’s redemption of His people. He led them out of their bondage miraculously but when they left Egypt they entered the wilderness. Over two million of them were in the wilderness.

God led them every step of the way. The Jews have a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night but God not only led them, He tested them. They encountered some problems (like we face today). Some of them were serious problems, life threatening problems.

They could not find any food to eat. They could not find any water to drink. God provided for them in the wilderness. He gave them bread out of the sky. He gave them meat to eat and he gave them plenty of water. In this passage, they encounter another problem. This one was new. They never faced it before.

A Shocking Attack

Out of nowhere, they are suddenly attacked without warning. “Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim” (17:8 ESV). Israel had never been attacked before.  They didn’t have an army and had never fought a war before. They never did any fighting in Egypt. Now they are attacked and they have to fight back.

So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek” (17:9 ESV). Moses put Joshua in charge of the army. It is the first mention of Joshua in the Bible. We are told absolutely nothing about him. This is the man who will take over when Moses died.

Here we find out that he was the commander of the army. He had to pick some people to fight and he did not pick everyone. He picked only certain people who were young, strong and good at hand-to-hand combat. They had to take up swords and defend themselves. There are many Christians today who believe it is always wrong to go to war. They are called pacifists. Whole denominations believe this.

They believe that all war is immoral. If you believe that, you do not believe the Bible. Moses told them to go to war. It was the right thing to do. Moses did not tell them to turn the other cheek. He told them to fight back. Jesus told people to turn the other cheek but he was talking to individuals, not nations. That is not an instruction for the state.

A Strange Enemy

The Jews were attacked here for the first time and they were attacked by the Amalekites. (17:8). The Egyptians were the first anti-Semites in biblical history. They enslaved the Jews but the Amalekites were the first to war against them. Who were the Amalekites? Amalek was one of the grandsons of Esau, who was Jacob’s twin brother.

Amalek was just like his ancestor Esau. Esau was a profane man and Amalek has no fear of God. Esau wanted to kill his brother Jacob in the Book of Genesis and now his descendants are violent, heartless and godless. The irony here is that the Amalekites were descendants of Abraham. The ones who first attacked the Jews attacked them was related to them. They were attacking cousins.

Things have not changed much today. Where do you find most of anti-Semitism in the world right now? You find it in the Middle East with many Muslims who hate the Jews and even talk about wiping them off of the map. Many of the same Muslims are descendants of Abraham through Ishmael. They are related to the Jews.  Some things never change.

A Shocking Attack

There were several things shocking about this attack. We would not know about how bad the attack was from Exodus 17 but Deuteronomy 25 gives us some of the details.

Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. (25:17-18 NIV)

Four words can be used to describe this attack. It was INTENTIONAL. It was an accidental killing. It was UNPROVOKED. It was COWARDLY. It was also BARBARIC.

This was an ambush. The Jews were not attacked from the front but from the back. The weak and weary were attacked, instead of the strong. They slaughtered the elderly, women and children. We know from Samuel that their sword made women childless (I Samuel 15:33).

This is very relevant for the day in which we live. The Amalekites were the first terrorists. There are not any more literal Amalekites. They are all dead but they still exist today in a different form. ISIS uses some of the same military tactics that the Amalekites used, which preyed on the weak.

They blow up a bus of innocent civilians or bombing a hospital. They targeted the helpless and defenseless. Terrorist attacks are all cowardly. They specifically target people who are unarmed and cannot fight back. Their attacks try to kill the maximum number of people. Like the Amalekites, they have no sense of conscience.

They can chop a man’s head off and have no remorse feeling at all. The only difference between the Amalekites and modern-day terrorists is that terrorists today use religion to justify their atrocities (which makes it even worse). They call on the name of God at the very time they commit barbaric acts.

This passage tells us what God thinks of terrorism. Notice how the chapter ends. It ends with a prediction of divine judgment. There are two great promises regarding Amalek.

One promise is that “the LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation” (17:16 NIV). That is something that you do not want to have. You want God for you, not against you. Another promise is that God “will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven” (17:14 NIV).

That prediction has been literally fulfilled. They have been wiped off of the map. When was the last time you walked on the street and bumped into an Amalekite? They do not exist anymore but the Jews are still around today. I am one of them. In fact, they are still a nation today thirty-five hundred years later.

The Method of Victory

How did the Jews win this battle? This was a group of former slaves. They were not trained fighters. They had no experience in combat before. They had never been to war before. How did they win? They had a rather unusual strategy of combat.
This is a rather strange picture. This battle was fought on two levels. It is fought at two locations. Joshua and his soldiers fought Amalek IN THE VALLEY. Moses, Aaron and Hur went UP ON A HILL.

The old men were on the hill above. They were too old to fight a literal battle. They engaged in spiritual combat. They used SPIRITUAL WEAPONS. The young men were in the valley bellow engaging in physical combat. They used PHYSICAL WEAPONS.

In order to win this war, they needed two things. They needed the SWORD and they used the ROD. They had to do both to win. The sword would not do any good without the rod. The rod would not do any good without the sword. It took both the sword of Joshua and the prayer of Moses to defeat Amalek.

You say, “This is a great story but what does it have to do with me?” This story is not just ancient history. There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from this one battle.

Applications from this Battle

1. This story tells us something about our enemy.

What did we learn about the Amalekites here? They are extremely dangerous. They attacked without warning. They attacked the weakest link. All of those things are true of our enemy. Our enemy is like a roaring lion who seeks about whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8). He attacks us without warning.

The enemy also attacks us in our weakest areas. We all have a weakness and when we are tempted, we are not tempted in our strong points but in our weak points. Samson was the strongest man in the Bible. He was the biblical Superman. No one could defeat him. He had incredible strength.

It was supernatural strength. It wasn’t natural. It didn’t come from weight-lifting. He killed a lion with his bare hands. He tore it in half. A lion was no match for a man full of the Holy Spirit but this strong man had a weakness. He liked to visit prostitutes.

God commissioned him to destroy the Philistines but he fell in love with a few of them. Samson had a weakness and the Philistines exploited it. Satan tempted Jesus in his weakness. You say, “That is impossible. He did not have any weaknesses”. What his Jesus’ first temptation in the wilderness? He was tempted to turn stones into bread after he had fasted for forty days. We will be tempted in our weakest areas as well.

2. This story tells us something about conflict

There are some battles we will have to face. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and FIGHT with Amalek” (17:9 ESV). That is interesting. God did NOT fight for them.

He fought for them when the Egyptians came after them. And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today…. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (14:13, 14).

He could have fought for them again. Now God could have fought for them. He could have commanded fire to come down from heaven and destroy the Amalekites but he didn’t. There are some battles that they had to face and there are some battles that we have to face. The Apostle Paul says “fight the good fight of faith” (I Timothy 6:12).

He describes the Christian life as a faith or battle that has to be fought. He clarifies it in Ephesians 6. It is not just a battle against people but against “against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (6:12 NIV). It is a spiritual battle.

3. This story tells us something about success

The Hebrews won the battle that day but this victory was not won by human efforts alone. It took more than a great military strategy to defeat Amalek. It took more than a great military commander and great soldiers to win this battle. This battle was not won on the battlefield but on the mountain.

We see that in Exodus 17:11. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. (NIV). There was a direct link between Moses’ body movements on the mountain and the outcome of the battle in the valley.

What is going on here? This was not magic. To win this victory, the Jews had to totally depend on God. That is why Moses held his hands in the air. It symbolized his dependence on God. God was the one who gave the victory. They fought and won the battle as they were under the banner of God. The Bible says “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31 NIV).

Anytime, we fight an important battle or try to do anything for God, we cannot rely on our own strength. Our strength comes from God. Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (NIV). Jesus said, “apart from Me, you can do NOTHING” (John 15:5). Paul said, “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10) and not in your own strength.

4. This story tells us something about God.

God hates terrorism. The Bible mentions six things that God hates in the Book of Proverbs. One of the things that God hates is this. God HATES “hands that shed innocent blood” (6:17). He judged the Amalekites for what they did. They paid a price for this barbaric act.  They not only went after the Jews.  The text says that their “hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord” (17:16)

God is a defender of His people. He is also a defender of the defenseless. Psalm 10:14 says, “But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless” (NIV). Psalm 68:5 says, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling” (NIV).

5. This story tells us something about our roles

This is very interesting. Everyone had to a role to play in this battle. Everyone was needed. The women and children needed the men to go out and fight the battle. The old men needed the young men. The young men needed the old men up on the hill.

They needed Moses holding up the rod but Moses needed the help of two other men to help him to his job. He was the only one who could hold up the rod. The three of them did not take turns and hold it up. Moses had to do it but he needed help doing it.  No one did everything, not even Moses.

Aaron and Hur had to help him. Moses was eighty years old. His arms got tired. Joshua had a role as well. He had to pick out the soldiers and lead them out to battle. All of us are needed in the body of Christ. We all have a role to play. We have different roles. Some are out on the battlefield.

Some are in the valley and some were on the hill. Some other people were at home taking care of the kids when all of this happened. The Bible says, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT).

Look at your hands. There are seven billion people on the planet. No other person on the planet has your fingerprint. It is unique. No one else has your unique DNA. God has given you unique gifts he has not given to any other person. D.L. Moody said, “There is no man living that can do the work that God has got for you to do.”  When we die, there will be nobody exactly like us.

6. This story tells us something about prayer

There is something that we can learn about prayer from this story. Now technically, prayer is not mentioned at all in this story. If you read Exodus 17, Moses prays one time and it is at the beginning of the chapter. The Jews grumble against Moses and he cries out to the Lord (17:4). Here, he does not cry out to the Lord. He just lifts up his rod but that is a picture of total dependence on God.

It is a picture of holy hands lifted up in prayer. It is a picture of intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is not when you pray for yourself. It is when you pray for others. That is what Moses is doing here. It shows the power of prayer. That is what decided who won this battle. Victory was wrought on the hill of prayer, not on the field of battle.

What else do we see here? It is hard work. Moses got tired doing this. Prayer should be hard work. It should be intense. Jesus prayed so hard that he sweat great drops of blood. Most of us do not sweat at all when we pray. Colossians 4:12 says, “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (NIV)

7. It tells us something about memorials

After they are defeated, Moses does two things. First, he writes down a record of the victory in a book. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua” (17:14). It is the first mention in the Bible of any writing in the Bible. Moses is the first one in the Bible who does any writing. Moses is told to preserve the history of what happened by writing it down.

When I was in my twenties, I was looking at different seminaries to attend. I visited Princeton Theological Seminary. I did not end up going there but I got a chance to talk to Bruce Metzger in his office. Metzger was the top New Testament Greek scholar in the world at that time. During our conversation, he mentioned an old Chinese proverb, which I never forgot.

The proverb says “the faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory.”  No matter how strong your mind you, you always need to write things down, because it is so easy to forget things. When God does something amazing in our life, He wants us to remember it. One of the best ways to remember something is to write it down. Moses wrote it down. He also built an altar to celebrate the victory (17:15).

The altar is named “The Lord is My Banner” (17:15). Moses gave God the credit for the victory. He does not give the credit to the soldiers who fought or to his great general Joshua. All of the credit for the victory went to God alone.

This victory was to be remembered historically and ceremonially. We do the same thing with our Lord’s death. We remember it in Scripture as we read it. We also remember his death in the Lord’s Supper as we partake of the bread and the cup.

Water from a Rock

We are studying the Book of Exodus.  It describes the departure of the Jews from Egypt.  God delivered them from their life of slavery.  They are heading to the Promised Land.  Before they get there, they spend some time in the wilderness.  Exodus only records the first year after leaving Egypt.  They spend thirty-nine more years in the wilderness.  If you want to learn about that, you have to read the book of Numbers (which sounds like a great book for anyone who loves math).

We come to Exodus 17 today.  Instead of covering the whole chapter, we will be looking at just the first seven verses.  We will be looking at two things in these verses.  First, we will look at the incredible miracle in this passage.  Some have called this the GREATEST miracle Moses ever performed.  Moses got water from a rock and not just a little water but enough for lot of people.

This was a miracle.  It was no problem for God to do this.  God is all-powerful.  He can split a river in half if He wants to.  He can turn a river into blood.  He can also turn a rock into a river.  We saw God do all of these things in Exodus.

Getting water from a rock is like getting blood from a turnip.  When we are thirsty, we do not go to a rock to get water.  Their thirst was quenched from a rock.  They got their bread from a cloud (manna) and now they got water from a rock.

Second, we will look at Jesus in these verses.  This section contains a very good picture of Jesus.  The Apostle Paul said that this rock was Christ (I Corinthians 10:4).  Anytime we read the Bible, we should look for Jesus and He is here right in this passage.  We have the gospel right in these verses.  It is an incredible picture.

Let’s begin by looking at the miracle.  There are three things I want to look at here in these verses.  We see God’s test of God, man’s test of man and God’s miraculous provision.  I want to look at all three of these things.[1]

God’s Test of Man 

This is review from some of the earlier chapters.  One of the things God did to the Hebrews in the wilderness is to test them.  It is one of the things he does to us as well.  He did this to everyone in the Bible, starting with Adam and Eve.  Most of us do not like tests.  They are painful.  They cause a lot of stress but they are necessary for them and they are necessary for us, so God gives us a life of tests.

When we go to heaven, there are many things we will not bring with us.  We will not bring our riches.  We will not bring our spiritual gifts.  We will not need to heal anybody in heaven.  There will be no need for teaching of preaching.  The Bible says that we will know even as we are known.  The only thing we will take is our character.  That is what God works on to develop on earth.

Notice how the chapter begins.  “All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink” (17:1 ESV)

This is very interesting.  God led the Jews right into Rephidim.  They went there on purpose.  They were in the will of God.  They were following his leading and there was no water to drink.  That is not a small problem.  If there is no water, you die in a matter of days.  What is the lesson here? You can be in the will of God and have problems, even serious problems.  You can have health problems.  You can have family problems.  You can have financial problems.

Sometimes God gives us the same test more than once.  The Jews went without water before.  We saw that in Exodus 15.  God tested them before and they failed the test, so he tested them again and gave them another opportunity to pass the test.  He may give us a similar test more than once as well.

Man’s Test of God 

Notice how the people responded to this trial.  They grumbled.  They murmured and they tested God.

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”  But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”… And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” (17:2-3, 7)

Testing God

Let’s read a few passages on testing God.  Deuteronomy 6:16 says “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah” (ESV).  Jesus quoted that passage to Satan when he tempted him.

Psalm 95:7-11 says, “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.’ Therefore I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest.” (ESV)

What do we learn from these passages?  Testing God is wrong.  We are told not to do it.  It makes God angry.  It is something that can put you under divine judgment.  God did not judge the Jews in Exodus 17 but He did later.  The question we need to ask ourselves is this:  How do we test God?

What does that mean?  There is some confusion about what this means. In the Bible, testing God means two things.  It has two elements

1) Testing God is doubting God in the face of overwhelming evidence

Exodus 17:7 says “they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (ESV)  It is a question asked by many people in the wilderness.  Something terrible happens in their life and they ask, “Where was God when this happened?” or “Does He even care what is going on?”  They went through a time without water and began to question God’s presence.

What was the problem here?  There was abundance evidence of God’s presence among them.  They had the Ten Plagues which were clearly supernatural.  God even protected them during some of them.  He distinguished between the Jews and the Egyptians.

His presence was clear when they crossed the Red Sea.  God killed all of the Egyptian troops and saved the Hebrews.  His presence was clear every day with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.  It was clear from the manna they received every day.  Every day, they received food from heaven.  These Jews were asking if God was among them right after they ate manna which came straight from heaven.

In Jesus’ day we saw the same thing.  Jesus performed miracle after miracle right before their very eyes and many of the Jewish leaders still did not believe.  It was not because of lack of evidence.  The evidence was overwhelming.  It was undeniable.  The first element involves doubt. We see that in Satan’s first temptation of Jesus.  Matthew 4:1).

Some today do not question God’s presence.  They question His very existence.  They ask, “Where is the evidence that God exists?” and the evidence is everywhere.  All they have to do is go outside and look around and they will see the evidence.  If people go to God and have genuine questions, He answers them.  Some atheists have come to faith that way.  That is different from questions that come from unbelief and skepticism.

2) Testing God is trying to force God to do something

Testing God starts with DOUBT but results in a DEMAND.  It is trying to force God to do something.  It makes us God and He has to do what we say and answer to us.  It is a challenge.  Here the Jews were saying, “If you are really up there, give us water to drink, do it NOW and then we will believe you.”

Here’s where the confusion comes in.  Not all testing God is wrong.  Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need” (ESV).

In that passage, God tells people to put him to the test.  When is it right to test God and when is it wrong?  God wants us to believe him.  He wants us to claim His promises.  It is not wrong to test God on His terms and ask Him to do what He said he would do.  It is wrong to test him on our terms.  It is one thing to test God IN FAITH.  In is another thing to test God IN UNBELIEF.

It is one thing to test God to do what he promised to do.  That is just taking God at His word.  It is another thing to try to force God to do something that He has NOT promised to do.  Satan told Jesus to jump off of a building and says that God will protect him.  We have no promise that if we jump off of a building, we will not get hurt.

God’s Miraculous Provision

And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” (17:5-6)

This is interesting.  God tells Moses to strike the rock and water comes out.  It was an incredible miracle.  It was never repeated.  Nowhere else in the Bible do we see people getting water from a rock.

Skeptics say that this was not a real miracle.  They point out that you can get water from some types of rocks.  They are right.  Porous rocks can store water but they store a tiny amount.  They store a fraction of a percent of water.  This one rock had enough water for over two million people.  It is like getting enough water for the whole city of Chicago from one rock.

God not only provides for his people.  He gives us another incredible picture of Jesus in this miracle.  The whole Bible is about Jesus.

On Easter Sunday two men were taking a seven mile walk to Emmaus and were talking about the recent death of Jesus when a mysterious man appeared and began talking to them.  They were sad about the death of Jesus.  The man said, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And BEGINNING WITH MOSES and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (24:25-27 ESV)

In fact, Jesus said “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me(John 6:46).

Jesus in Exodus 

We are not even halfway through the Book of Exodus and Jesus is all through this book.  Where have we see Jesus in Exodus?

1. We see Jesus in Moses

Both were deliverers.  Both deliverers were rejected by their own people at first.  Both were born when dictators ruled their country (Pharaoh, Herod).  Both had people who tried to kill them as soon as they were born.  Both hid in Egypt as children.  Both performed miracles.  Moses was the first person in the Bible to perform miracles and Jesus was a great miracle worker.  Both fasted for forty days.

Both were misunderstood and falsely accused.  The Jews accused Moses of trying to kill them in the wilderness.  They accused Jesus of being a blasphemer and Sabbath breaker.  Both had covenants associated with them.  There is the Old Covenant or Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant which we have in Jesus.

Both were mediators.  Moses went up on Mount Sinai and got the Law and brought it to the people.  Jesus is our mediator. Both were loved and supported by someone named Miriam.  Moses older sister Miriam watched over him as a baby. Jesus’ mother was Mary (which in Hebrew is Miriam).  There are so many interesting similarities between Moses and Jesus.

2. We see Jesus in the burning bush

The One who spoke to Moses from the Burning Bush was called “I AM THAT I AM.”  In the NT, Jesus calls himself I AM.  He said, “Before Abraham was I AM” (John 8:58).  It is a clear a reference to Exodus 3:14.

3. We see Jesus in the Passover Lamb

God said that He would kill the firstborn male child in every house in Egypt.  The only thing that saved the Jews was the Passover Lamb.  It was not just any lamb.  It had to be a male lamb that was flawless.  A male lamb with defects would not have saved them.  The lamb was killed and its blood put on the doorpost of the houses.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  It is His blood that saves us from divine judgment.

4. We see Jesus in the bitter waters made sweet

The Jews could not find water in the wilderness.  They found water at Marah but it was bitter.  Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree and told him to put it in the water.  The solution to their problem was a piece of wood.  It is a solution to us as well.  It is a cross.  Jesus died on a tree.

5. We see Jesus in the manna

The Jews complained that they were hungry.  There was no food to eat in the wilderness, so God rained down bread from heaven on them every day.  The bread saved them.  Jesus says that He is the bread of life which also came down from heaven and that those who believe in him are saved.

6. We see Jesus in the water that came out of the rock

This was also a picture of Jesus.  Paul said that this rock was Christ.  How is this rock an incredible picture of Jesus?

Jesus the Rock 

1) God is on the rock

Notice Exodus 17:6.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb (ESV). God is standing on the rock.  He is identified with the rock.  In fact, many times in the Bible God is called a rock.

Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (ESV).  A rock is a picture of stability.  It is something that is strong and does not move.  Jesus told a story about a man who built his house on a rock (Matthew 7:24-27).

2) The rock has to be struck by Moses

The word “strike” is means a heavy blow, not a light tap.  It is nakah in Hebrew.  It is used in Exodus 21:18.  “When men quarrel and one STRIKES the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed” (ESV).  It is used in Exodus 21:26.   “When a man STRIKES the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye (ESV).

We see the same word in Genesis 32:11.  Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and ATTACK me, the mothers with the children (ESV). The KJV translates it “smite.”  It is the same word.  It is a violent word.

This rock was smitten.  Jesus was smitten.  Isaiah says he was “smitten and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).  The word “smitten” in Hebrew is the same word used in Exodus 17 (nakah).  Jesus was beaten, pierced and crucified.  He was smitten because of sins.  Manna was a picture of Jesus’ birth.  Water from a rock was a picture of Jesus’ death.

3) The rock bears the punishment for sin

Moses struck this rock with the same rod used in the Ten Plagues.  It is called “the rod of God” (KJV) here, as well as in Exodus 4:20. The rod or staff symbolizes the power of God.  It was also used in judgment.  It was the same rod used to judge the Nile.  God is struck with the rod of God.  He is standing on the rock.

This is a picture of substitution.  The people deserved judgment.  They were complaining and even testing God.  Moses doesn’t strike the rebels with the rod.  He strikes the rock.  He strikes God with the rod of judgment.  The judgment is not poured out on the people of God but on God himself.  This rock takes the judgment upon Himself for his people.

4) Water is made available for all who need it

Literal water came out of this rock and a lot of it, enough for two million people to drink.  It gushed out.  Millions of gallons came out in an area where there were no rivers.  Living water flows from Jesus.  He offers the water of life to people.  It is free.  It is available to all.
Jesus told the woman at the well that if she asked him, he would have given her living water (John 4:10). Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14 ESV).

 

 


[1] This basic outline (which I modified slightly) comes from one of my former pastors.  It comes from William Hixson’s sermon on Exodus 17:1-7.

Bread from Heaven

If you are with us for the first time, we do in-depth Bible study.  We have been studying the Book of Exodus. Today, we come to the sixteenth chapter of the book.  The Jews were slaves in Egypt.  God sent Ten Plagues on Egypt. Pharaoh let them leave. They crossed the Red Sea. They are heading to the Promised Land but between Egypt and the Promise Land is the wilderness.  The Jews had to go through the wilderness just like we have to go through a period of trials.  God does not save us and immediately take us to heaven.

In Exodus 16, the Jews are in the wilderness.  This chapter takes place exactly one month after the Exodus.  How do we know?  Exodus 16:1 says that these events happened on the fifteenth day of the second month.  If you go back to Exodus 12, you will find that the Jews left Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month.  This was one month later.

Thirty days after the Exodus, they come to the wilderness of Sin. The word “Sin” is simply short for “Sinai”.  It has nothing to do with our English word “sin”.  It has nothing to do with doing anything bad.  The Wilderness of Sin sounds like something right out of the book Pilgrim’s Progress but there is a little play on words here.  It was in the Wilderness of Sin that the Jews sinned.

God redeemed them out of their slavery in Egypt and thirty days later they sinned in the Wilderness of Sin.  How much longer after God redeemed us do we sin?  Our sin is often much worse than theirs was.  Their sin was the sin of grumbling.  They complained.  They criticized.

Who did this?  The whole congregation grumbled.  Exodus 16:2 says, “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness” (ESV).  They grumbled at Moses before.  This time they are mad at both Moses and Aaron.  It is pretty serious to have two and a half million people mad at you. It is like having the whole church mad at the pastoral staff, not just a couple of people mad at you.

Why were they mad?  They say in Exodus 16:3, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (ESV).

They were really mad at God, not Moses.  We see that in Exodus 16:7.  Moses was simply following orders.  This was not his idea to bring the Jews out of Egypt.  It was God’s idea.  Moses did not even want to do it.  God appeared to him in a burning bush and Moses argued with him.  This was really an act of rebellion.  Moses and Aaron were just God’s representatives.

Why were they complaining?  They were hungry.  Their food supply ran out.  They had a food crisis.  It was serious.  They were in the wilderness.  There was no food.  They were starving and there were a lot of them there (over two million people).

Was it a legitimate need?  Yes. If you do not eat, you die.  It was a real need, like the needs we have today.  The problem is that they did not go to God and trust him to provide for their need.  God had already performed not one but many miracles for the Jews within the last month.  They had miracle upon miracle.  First, He DELIVERED them out of their bondage.  They were not slaves any more.

Second, He PROTECTED them from their enemies.  He split open the Red Sea and killed the Egyptian troops that came after them, one of the most spectacular miracles in the whole Bible.  Third, He GUIDED them every day by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.  Fourth, He PROVIDED for them.  When they were thirsty, He provided them water to drink.

Now they are hungry and they do not believe that God can provide for them.  We do the same thing.  We have a need.  God meets our need and then we face a need in a completely different area of our life and we panic like they did.

Egypt was starting to look good to them.  They wanted to go back to a life of slavery.  They thought that was better than being in the wilderness.  They preferred their pots of meat and slavery to hunger and freedom.  This is the language of addiction.  They would rather be in bondage and have food than to be free from slavery and be hungry.

They were thinking “I was in bondage but at least I was happy”. Of course, their memory was a little selective.  They remembered the good and not the bad things.  They forgot the abuse, mistreatment and the beatings.  They remembered the food but even that was selective.  They ate like slaves, not like kings. Notice God’s response.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall KNOW that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. (16:4-7 ESV)

God did sent the Ten Plagues so Pharaoh would know that He is the Lord and He did this miracle so the Hebrews would know that this was God at work.  He comes through and meets their need abundantly.  Not only did God feed them in the wilderness, He fed them angel’s food.  The two things the Hebrews complained about were meat and bread.  Those were the two things they had in Egypt but did not have in the wilderness – the fleshpots (pots full of meat) and the bread of Egypt.

God said, “I am going to give you both meat and bread.” He sent them quail (16:13) and manna (16:14-15).  He gave them meat in the evening and bread in the morning.  The Jews had never seen anything like manna.  They never had anything like this in Egypt. They didn’t know what it was (16:15).

I want to spend some time talking about this manna.  What was it and why is it important to us today.  There are some powerful applications that we can learn from this chapter.  There is also some deep theology from it as well.  Before we look at that, I have to give you some background information about manna.  What do we know about it?

Characteristics of Manna

1. It was MIRACULOUS.

This food came straight came from heaven. It was heavenly bread.  This was not processed or made in a bakery by man.  Our food comes from earth.   This was miracle food.  It came from the sky every day.  Now the quail food was providential.  The manna was completely miraculous and this miracle lasted for forty years.  They saw a miracle every day for forty years.  The supernatural became natural.

Was Manna a Genuine Miracle?

Skeptics try to explain this miracle away as some natural secretion (e.g., from a tamarisk tree) but it simply cannot be done.  Exodus is a book of miracles.  This is one of the great miracles in the OT.  How do we know it was a miracle? John Calvin answered this question about four hundred years ago.[1]  He gave eight reasons why this was completely miraculous.  They are still good arguments to this day. I will summarize his main points.

1. There was no manna in the wilderness before the time of Moses.

2. The manna only fell on the Israelites.  It did not fall on any other people.

3. The manna fell daily despite weather or seasonal changes. The secretion from the tamarisk tree appears only in the rainy season.  Manna was not seasonal or affected by weather conditions.

4. Every day enough manna fell for two million people to eat.  That is a massive amount of food.

5. Every sixth day of the week, the amount of manna that fell from the sky was doubled.

6. Any extra manna collected went bad, except for one day of the week (the sixth day when the quantity was doubled).

7. The manna stopped falling as soon as they entered the Promised Land (16:35).  If it was a natural phenomenon, it would still be falling today.

8. None of the manna stored in the jar kept in the tabernacle went bad.  It was miraculously preserved.  That was a perpetual miracle (16:32-33).  God wanted people to remember what He did for forty years.  He wants us to remember what He does in our lives as well.

2. It was FREE.

There was no cost to this manna.  You could not buy this manna.  It was a free gift from heaven but there was one catch.  Even though it was completely free, people still had to gather it.  God provided it for them but they still had to collect it.  This was not breakfast in bed.  Notice Exodus 16:15-16.

And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat” (ESV).  God GAVE it to them but they still had to GATHER it and put it in jars or buckets.  God did not do everything for people.  There are some things we have to do for ourselves.

They had to work but it was not hard work.  They did not have to go and search for hours to find it.  It was all over the place.  They just had to go outside and pick it up.

3. It was APPETIZING.

God could have given them food that was tasteless.  He gave them food that tasted good.  It was sweet (16:31).  It tasted honey.  It was not honey but it tasted like honey and they ate it for forty years.  God must have a sweet tooth.

4. It was ABUNDANT.

God provided enough food for two million people to eat for forty years.  That is a lot of food.  There were no restaurants or grocery stores in the wilderness.  Everyone got two quarts of manna.  That is about nine million pounds of manna every day consumed.

5.  It was NUTRITIOUS.

None of the people in the wilderness suffered from malnutrition in the wilderness.  God took care of them.  This manna must have been nourishing. It was called angel’s food (Psalm 78:25).

6. It was TEMPORARY.

We always make fun of people who do not believe that God does not do miracles today.  We are absolutely right.  God is still a miracle-working God.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever but he is not raining manna down from heaven to feed people today.  He used to do that but no longer does that today.

There are some things in the Bible that God used to do that He is no longer doing today.  The day they entered the Promised Land the manna ceased and has never appeared again (Josh 5:10-12).  He still provides for people today but He does it in a different way.

7. It was a TEST.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may TEST them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (16:4 ESV).

Now this is strange.  Manna was not only an incredible provision for their needs; it was a test. How was it a test?  God gave the Jews manna but He also gave the Jews very specific rules about how and when to eat the manna to see if they would obey him.

We do not have rules about manna but we have other instructions in the NT.  Some Christians act as if these commands are optional.  They are not.  Jesus said, “IF you love me, keep My commands” (John 14:15).  He also said, “You are My friends IF you do what I command you” (John 15:13).  Talk is cheap.  Anyone can say that they love Jesus.  The test is obedience.  We do not like the idea that we have any commands.  We like to do whatever we want to do but Jesus has given us some commands.

What was the manna test?  There were several tests.  The first test was THE LAZINESS TEST.  They had to get the manna in the morning.  If they were lazy and slept in and went out late, there was no manna.  Once the sun got hot, the manna melted (16:21). The Bible says if you don’t work, you do not eat.

The second test was THE FAITH TEST.  They were only supposed to get enough for that day.  If they gathered too much and tried to save some for the next day, it went bad.  It would stink and get worms (16:24).  They had to depend upon God each day to meet their needs.  Each day was to be a day of trust.

The third test was THE SABBATH TEST.  They were not allowed to gather any manna on the Sabbath.  It was a day of rest.  They had to gather twice as much the day before.  If they tried to get manna on the Sabbath, they found none (16:25, 27).  We will talk more about the Sabbath when we get to the Ten Commandments.

You say, “Why does any of this chapter on manna matter to me?”  It matters for two reasons.  First, there is deep theology in this manna.

Theological Significance of Manna

Manna was a type of Christ.  It is a picture of Jesus.  Jesus is the ultimate bread.  Jesus fed five thousand people with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish and said “I am the bread of life.”   Jesus compared himself to manna.  That is why one preacher called manna “Christmas Bread.”

“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:31-35 ESV).  How is Jesus like manna?

Manna: A Type of Christ 

1. Manna came from heaven

Manna came from heaven.  Jesus came from heaven.  We were alive for about nine months before we were born.  Where were we before that?  We didn’t exist.  Jesus existed before He was born.  He came down from heaven to earth at the Incarnation.  Manna fell from heaven.  It was angel’s food.

2. Manna fed the hungry

Manna fed their bodies.  Christ feeds our souls.  His bread sustains people in a different way.  Manna saved the Jews from death and so did Jesus. Manna saved them from physical death.  Jesus saves people from spiritual death.  His bread is salvation.

The people who ate the manna in the wilderness eventually all died (John 6:49).  Jesus is the greater bread.  Jesus said, “whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (6:35).  If you come to Jesus you will be satisfied.  You will not go back to Buddha or Muhammad.

3. Manna had to be eaten

Manna had to be eaten or it did not do you any good.  Jesus came to earth, suffered and died for us but unless we personally receive Him, it does us absolutely no good.  Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever BELIEVES has eternal life. I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone EATS of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:47-51 ESV)

4. Manna was given to rebels

It was given to people who grumbled and murmured against God (16:8).  God rewarded grumbling with food.  He gave angel’s food to unworthy people.  God could have rained fire down from heaven.  Instead, he rained bread down from heaven.

Instead of frying them, He feeds them.  He gives them rain bread. This was an act of compassion.  God did not give them bread because they deserved it but because He is good.  Jesus did not come to earth to judge but to save, to seek and to save what was lost.

Practical Application from Manna

There is also a practical application to us today.  There is a connection between manna and Bible study.  Manna is a picture of Bible study.  How do we know?  God says it is in Deuteronomy 8:3

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with MANNA, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does NOT live by bread alone, but man lives by EVERY WORD that comes from the mouth of Yahweh” (ESV).

Manna and Bible Study

1. Manna came from heaven

Manna came from heaven.  It wasn’t natural.  The Bible also came from heaven.  It is not an ordinary book. It is inspired by God.  No other book in the world is inspired by God.  Paul said in I Thessalonians 2:13 “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (ESV)

2. Manna was food

Manna was physical food and the Bible is spiritual food.  They needed manna for the body.  We need it to grow.  We need God’s Word for the soul.  It is soul food.  Scripture is described as milk and meat.  Paul talks about the milk and meat of the Word.  It is also compared to bread.

The Bible is even described as honey.  Psalm 19:9-10 says, “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb” (NIV).  Manna tasted like honey and so does God’s Word.  Many crave sweets.  The Psalmist says the Bible is sweeter than honey.

3. Manna was to be eaten

Manna had to be eaten to help people.  It did not good to go out and collect the manna, store it, look at it and admire it.  It had to be eaten.  God’s Word must be eaten as well.  In many homes, Bibles are at home collecting dust.  They are never read. They are just decorations.  You can tell when you open them that they have never been read. There is no excuse for that.  We have all kinds of different modern translations.

4. Manna was eaten daily

Manna was not only eaten; it was eaten every day.  You can’t live on yesterday’s manna, just like we cannot live on yesterday’s food.    Yesterday’s manna will not do for today.  Today’s manna will not do for tomorrow.  We should read God’s Word every day.  We should meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:2; Joshua 1:8).  It should not be a book that we open once in a while ever the Spirit moves us.  We would not think of going a day without eating.  How many of us go days without reading God’s Word?  Have you had your manna today?

5. Manna was gathered in the morning

There is something else interesting here.  Manna had to be collected in the morning. Now we can read the Bible any time of the day.  It will not collect worms but we can learn a lesson from this.  There is value in studying the Bible in the morning before the day begins.  There is value in getting your spiritual breakfast each day.

 


[1] The reasons are given in Calvin’s comments on Exodus 16:14 which can be accessed online at https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/exodus-16.html

Bitter Waters Made Sweet

Last time, we looked at the Song of Moses.  God delivered the Jews from slavery.  He protected them from all of the Egyptian troops.  When they got to the other side of the Red Sea, they had a worship service.  They sang a praise song. In this passage, we get to see what happened in the next three days.  It is a very interesting passage.  There is some interesting symbolism in this passage.

Interesting Symbolism

1. The wilderness

The wilderness was literal but it was also symbolic.  Before the Hebrews entered Canaan, they had to spend some time in the wilderness.  God could have taken them out of Egypt and placed them directly into the Promised Land.  No one wants to go through a wilderness but they had to go through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land.

Christians have a wilderness experience as well.  What is our wilderness period?  Our wilderness experience is the world. After we are saved, God does not immediately take us all to heaven.  Instead, he leaves us all in the world to be a witness for Him and to grow in grace.  After salvation comes sanctification.

2. Marah

Marah means “bitter.”  It was the place of bitter waters.  The name is symbolic.  It symbolizes any type of bitterness, difficulty, pain or unpleasantness that you are going through in your life.  We have all had a Marah experience and each one of our Marah experiences are different.

3. The Tree

Moses throws a stick of wood into the water. And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet (15:25)

When Moses put this log into the water, it turned the water sweet.  Notice the symbolism.  Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree.  God could have made them sweet apart from any other means, but he chose to use wood to solve their problem

The solution to their problem was a piece of wood.  It is a solution to us as well.  It is a cross.  Jesus died on a tree.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV).

4. The Numbers

This passage also mentions “twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees” (15:27).  The numbers twelve and seventy are important numbers in the NT (twelve tribes of Israel, twelve apostles, seventy disciples).

We learn something new about God that we did not know before.  We learn a new name for God here.  We get a revelation of God in these verses.  How did they learn that name?  They learned it in a crisis situation.  We will look at that revelation and how it applies to us.

We also learn something about man here.  We see how fickle people are.  They displayed incredible worship.  Two million people worshiped God spontaneously on the shore of the Red Sea.  This worship was passionate.  It was anointed.  They were not only singing; they were dancing.

It was spirit-filled but three days later their WORSHIP was followed by WHINING.  They went from PRAISE to PROTEST.  They went from using their lips to praise God to using them to criticize and murmur.

They denounced Moses (15:24).  Slavery in Egypt was beginning to look good.  At least they had water to drink in Egypt but since they went with Moses out of the country, they have had no water.

We cannot criticize the Jews.  We do the exact same thing today.  A great worship service does not guarantee spirituality.  Many go to church and sing on Sunday but sin on Monday.

There was one difference between them and us.  The Jews had just witnessed one of the most spectacular miracles in the entire Bible.  It was an incredible display of power performed right before their very eyes.  What happened?  They got thirsty and they began to murmur.  They saw incredible signs and wonders and then forgot the miracle that took place just three days before.

Do we ever do that?  Does God ever do something amazing in our life?  He answers a prayer.  Life is good and then we face another trial.  We come to a place like Marah and we completely forget how God has worked in our life.

They saw God PROTECT them from their enemies but they didn’t believe that He could PROVIDE for them.  They witnessed God saving their lives from their enemies but did not believe that he could save them from thirst or hunger.

It was not harder for God to provide water than it was for him to divide the waters of the Red Sea.  As Spurgeon says, it was not harder for God to purify water than to divide water.  Nothing is too hard for the Lord (Genesis 18:14).  They trusted God in a much harder trial but not in a much smaller trial.

The Tests of God

Why did God do this?  We see this in Exodus 15:25.  “There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he TESTED them.”  This was a test. Why was God testing them?  It is answered in Deuteronomy 8:2-5.

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every wordthat comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. (ESV)

God tests His people.  When we studied the Book of Genesis, we saw many tests.  Adam and Eve received a test in the garden.  It was a food test.  Abraham received many tests.  The one we always think about was the offering of Isaac.  God told him he would have a son but no son came.  Abraham was married but childless.

Twenty-five years went by until he finally had a son.  God said that he was the promised son and then God told him to take to a mountain and kill him as a sacrifice.  It was a test.  He also tested Joseph.  God gave him a revelation that no one else received.  Everything that happened to him seemed directly contradict the revelation.  God gave Joseph many tests.  He passed each one.

God tested the Jews in the wilderness.  The wilderness became a school.  The old Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon called the wilderness “the Oxford and Cambridge for God’s people.”  God decided when they got the exam.  This was a pop quiz.  These are not little tests.  They are actually big tests.

What God did to believers in the Bible, He is still doing today. He tests believers today.  He doesn’t tempt us but He does tests us.  Many of us may have experienced similar tests.  Many of the trials we are facing may not be just trials but tests.  That puts them in a whole new light.

The most difficult trial I ever face was when I was unemployed for a year and a half.  It happened before I moved to North Carolina.  I was living in Chicago and was unemployed for a year and a half with five kids to support.

I prayed every day and got no answer for the longest time.  It was like God wasn’t hearing me at all. If you have got a really hard trial and there seems to be no answer in sight, it might be a test.  The good news is that God’s tests are all open-book tests.  We can use God’s Word to help pass them.

It is easy for us to read this and criticize the Hebrews here.  They are acting like children.  Children whine.  Adults complain about things as well.  It is human nature to complain.  We complain about our spouse.  We complain about our children.

We complain about our job.  We complain about our politicians.  We complain about everything.  The Jews were not complaining about little things.  They were complaining about big things.

They were not complaining about luxuries.  They were complaining about basic necessities, things you need to survive.  If you do not get food and water, you die.  In fact, you can only go a few days without water.  They were not complaining that there was not enough wine in the desert.  It was more basic than that.

There was not any water.  Their throats are dry in the desert.  They are dehydrated.  They were desperate for water. They searched for water and could not find any. That was not just a problem for the adults and for the children traveling with them; it was a problem for all of the animals that went with them.

This was a strange test.  God let His people go hungry and thirsty on purpose.  In Exodus 15, they are tested by thirst.  In Exodus 16, they are tested by hunger.  God split the Red Sea supernaturally but allowed his people to go to a place where there was no water to drink.  We need to understand something about this test.

It was not the result of sin.  They had gone three days without water but they had not done anything wrong.  God was not judging them.  He was testing them.  They had not strayed an inch from the path God had for them.  They followed the pillar of cloud and fire and it led them straight to Marah.

Some people are in the wilderness are they are out of the will of God but this group of people were in the wilderness and they were perfectly in the will of God. This is very important.

Many will tell you that if you follow Christ, obey his commandments and live the victorious Christian life, you will not have problems.  You will not have to worry about having bread or water.  That is not true.  Even Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble”.  Christians have them as much as non-Christians.

They not only had problems in the wilderness; their problems got worse.  They not only went three days without water but when they found water, they could not drink it (15:22-23).  It was bitter and undrinkable.

This was a big disappointment.  They were dying of thirst.  They finally find some water. They got excited. They thought God had provided for them.  They thought their trial was over, only to be disappointed.  It was salt water.  They went to take a drink and threw up.  What is worse: not having any water or finding water when you are thirsty and being unable to drink it?

Notice how they responded to this disappointment.  They responded with criticism. “And the people grumbled against Moses” (15:24).  How did Moses respond?  He responded in prayer.  “He cried to the Lord” (15:25) and got an answer.

That raises an important question.  When we are facing bitter waters, how do we respond?  Far too often we criticize and murmur.  We do the same thing the Jews did, instead of what Moses did.  Instead of protesting, Moses prayed.

And the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet”.  Moses did exactly what God told him to do, even though it didn’t make any sense.  How can a tree sweeten waters?  That is strange.  Why should a tree sweeten the waters?  That is not normal.

If we want to purify some water today, we would not throw a stick in it.  If we want to sweeten a drink, we would use sugar and not a piece of timber but Moses didn’t argue with God.  He didn’t question God, like he did when God first spoke to him.  He obeyed, no questions asked.  God not only gave them water to drink, He gave them a special promise.

None of Those Diseases

“He said, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you” (15:26 NIV).

Before we look at the promise, I want to look at a very interesting question that comes right out of this verse.  Does God cause sickness or just allow it?  Many believe that disease does not come from God.  It comes from Satan.

Satan may bring some diseases but this passage says that God put diseases on the Egyptians.  It does not say that Satan did this.  It also says that if the Jews keep all of his commandments, He would put none of the diseases He put on the Egyptians.

This was a very special promise of health but it had a condition.  It was conditioned on obedience.  Perhaps we read this wrong?  No. God repeats it several times to make sure people got the point.

“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.” (23:22-26) God told them “I will take sickness away from you.” Twice in Exodus, God said this and repeated it one more time.

Deuteronomy 7:12-15 says, “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.

You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. (ESV)

Does this Promise Apply Today?

Kenneth Hagin says that this statute of healing applies today.  It has never been revoked, changed or altered and he even quotes Malachi 3:6 (“I am the Lord, I change not”).[1] Can Christians today be disease free?  There is no Christian that I know who is disease-free (including the prosperity preachers).

We all suffer from different things.  Even the godliest of believers can get sick. God does promise to bless believers but we are not promised in the NT to be free from all disease in this life.  You have to look at this verse in its context.  You have to look at the bigger picture.

This was given to the nation of Israel.  They were living in a theocracy.  We do not live in a theocracy today.  God was doing something then that He is not doing today.

This nation had SPECIAL GUIDANCE that we do not have today.  They had a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud to guide them every day. God never changes but we do not see a pillar of fire or a pillar of cloud today.

They had SPECIAL PROMISES that we do not have today. They were also promised that their clothes would not wear out (Deuteronomy 8:4).  They were promised that their shoes would never wear out.

There were not any shoe stores in the desert.  They wore the same pair of shoes for forty years.  That must have been hard on all of the ladies.  Women like shoes, at least the ones in my family.

They also had SPECIAL PROTECTION that we do not have today.  They had special protection against disease.  They were also in the wilderness for forty years.  God was their health care system.

There were no doctors or hospitals in the wilderness.   God took care of them. They were promised that the women would not miscarry or be infertile (Exodus 23:26).  Christians do not have that specific promise today.

Jehovah Rapha

Moses’ obedience brought a miracle and the miracle brought a new revelation, as well as a new promise.  A lesson came out of this miracle.  God tells us something about Himself from this miracle.  We learn a new name for God here.  It is ONLY found in Exodus 15.  The name is Jehovah Rapha.  Rapha ia a verb.  It is the Hebrew word to heal.

This name tells us something about God (15:26). Allah was not a healer.  Muhammad was not.  He did not go around healing people and raising the dead.  Jesus is the Great Physician.  GOD IS A HEALER.

It is God’s nature to heal. He heals the body, soul and spirit.  He is a God or miracles and healing.  He is the one who makes bitter things sweet. He does not just heal water, he heals people.  When we are sick, we can call to him as Jehovah Rapha.

He not only heals broken bodies.  He heals broken hearts and broken lives.  He not only heals us physically, He heals us emotionally and spiritually.  Jesus is the doctor of sick souls, as well as sick bodies.  He likes to bring healing to a sick world. That is good news because we live in a sick world.  We all need healing.

That brings us to a very important question.  If God is a healer, why isn’t everyone healed?  God is a healer but He does not heal everyone, not even all believers.

Some are sick and some of those who get sick are godly believers.  Why aren’t they healed? There are two reasons.  One reason has to do with us. The other reason has nothing to do with us.

The first reason  we do not see miracles today is that we do not have faith.  Some Christians do not even believe that healing is possible today.  They think that this was done in the past but God is not doing that anymore.  The Bible says “You have not because you ask not.”

I strongly believe that as Christians we only claim a fraction of the blessings that God has for us.  We are living only a fraction of our spiritual potential.  I believe that He could give us so much more to us and do so much for through us if we were open to it.  We have all kinds of unclaimed blessings. We are like people who have won the lottery.  We are rich but we have not claimed our ticket.

There is another reason for this.  God heals people but He heals them in His time and way.  God is called Jehovah Jireh.  He is our Provider but God’s people in Exodus 15 went three days without water.  They wanted Him to provide for them immediately.

He did provide for them (15:27)  and provided for them abundantly with twelve springs of water (one for each tribe) but they had to wait for it. God does not heal everybody immediately, not even every believer.  Some people will not be fully healed until the resurrection.


[1] http://www.rhema.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=239:godliness-makes-a-difference

Biblical Anointed Worship

Last week, we looked at one of the most spectacular miracles in the Bible. It is the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea. It was an awesome display of God’s power. The Jews were in an impossible situation.  They were trapped.  Pharaoh’s chariots were coming after them and they had absolutely nowhere to run.  They thought they all were going to die.

When the situation could not get any worse is exactly when God stepped in and performed one of the greatest miracles in the whole Bible.  He split open the Red Sea and made two walls of water on both sides.

They not only were able to cross the Red Sea, the text says that they crossed it on dry ground (14:22, 29; 15:19).  No muddy shoes for God’s people. Today, we will be looking at their reaction to this incredible miracle. They had three responses.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel SAW the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people FEARED the Lord, and they BELIEVED in the Lord and in his servant Moses.  Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord (14:30-15:1 ESV).

First, they FEARED God.

Before, they feared man. They saw Pharaoh coming with all of his chariots and they were terrified. They thought they all were going to die. After this miracle, they feared God.

They looked back and saw the Red Sea close up on all the Egyptians and kill all of them. They saw a bunch of corpses float in the water and they were absolutely stunned what God did. Their mouths were wide open when they saw what God did.

Second they BELIEVED God.

Before, they were full of unbelief. They thought they were going to die in the wilderness. Now they are full of faith. They saw God perform one of the most stupendous miracles in the whole Bible right before their eyes.

The whole nation was like Doubting Thomas. They had to see to believe. Once they saw the Red Sea split and all those dead Egyptians floating on the shore, they believed.

Third, they WORSHIPED God.

When they get to the other side of the sea, their faith turns into worship. We will spend some time looking at their worship. This is a chapter that is very relevant today to us. There is a lot we can learn about worship from this song of Moses.

We will see how the worship in most churches today compare to the worship we see here. If you start doing some of the things they did here, like dancing, you might get thrown out of some churches. The Hebrews worshiped God with song, with dance and with instruments. What was this worship like?

Characteristics of this Worship

1. This worship was new

They never sang this song before. It was the first time. They did not do any singing in Egypt. Exodus 2 says that God heard the groaning from their slavery. It says that he heard their cry. It does not say that he heard their song. This was the song of the redeemed. You have to be redeemed to sing this song.

The Egyptians were not singing but God’s people were. You have to be born again and have a new heart to have a new song. This was a song of salvation. They were singing about their redemption. The people singing were not professionals. They were not trained singers. They were just people who had been redeemed by God.

2. This worship was spontaneous.

It was not planned and it was not coerced.  No one forced them to sing this song. They did not sing out of obligation or because it was something that they thought that they should do. They are not doing this because it was time to go to church. They wanted to sing this song. Worship is the normal response to redemption.

In fact, we have a far greater redemption than they ever had. If you are genuinely redeemed, you will want to worship. It will come out. It is one of the signs of salvation. If you have no desire to worship God or feel uncomfortable in a worship service, you are probably not saved.

3. This worship was universal.

If you look at any church service, there are always some people who are passionate about worship and some who are not. They are just there but are not really worshiping God. On this day, everybody was worshiping.

No one was silent. The men were singing and the women were singing as well. Exodus 15:1 says, “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song” (NIV). This worship was completely spontaneous. It came from the holy Spirit.

It must have been an incredible scene to see a choir of two million people on the shore of the Red Sea start praising God all at once. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir with its three hundred and fifty people pales in comparison.

This was a two million member choir. This worship was corporate. It was public. There is nothing wrong with worshiping God in private. That is biblical but there is power in corporate worship.

4. This worship was musical.

It is possible to worship God without music but they used music to worship God. The Bible tells us to worship God with songs, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19). It tells us to worship God with instruments.

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!” (Psalm 150:3-5 ESV)

They worship God with vocal music (singing), instrumental music (the tambourine, a simple percussion instrument) and with dance. Moses writes a song and he was eighty at the time he wrote it. We did not even know that he was a song writer.

This is the first time in the Bible we see the word “song”. Exodus 15 contains the first song in the Bible. It was possibly the oldest song in human history. It is a very old song. It is about 3500 years old. We do not know what this song sounded like but we know that it is still being sung today. People in heaven are still singing this song.

Revelation 15:1-3 says, “And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (ESV)

They will not just sing the Song of the Lamb.  They will also sing the Song of Moses. We will sing some new songs in heaven (Revelation 5:9; 14:3) but we will also sing some old songs as well. Apparently, in heaven we will sing some songs we sang on earth. We may not be singing the hymn “Dwelling in Beulah Land”.

Miriam’s Song

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” (15:20-21 ESV)

Miriam was the one who watched over Moses when he was a baby.  She kept an eye on him while he was in the basket and abandoned in the river.   This is the first time she is named in Exodus and here she is called “the sister of Aaron” (15:20) but that also made her the sister of Moses.

She was a PROPHETESS. She is the first woman in the Bible to be called a prophet. She is the first one in the Bible to be called a prophetess. She had some prophetic gift, although we never hear any of her prophecies.

She was also a WORSHIP LEADER. She was the first worship leader in Scripture. Some churches do not allow women to be worship leaders. They only allow men to be worship leaders but here Miriam took a leadership role in worship.

Miriam helped lead worship and even used musical instruments. She also led the women in a dance (which proves that she could not have been a Baptist).  Moses was eighty and Miriam was about ninety at this time. We do not have too many ninety year old worship leaders in church today. Some people that age can barely walk. Miriam was dancing at ninety.

There are actually two songs in this chapter. Moses has a song (15:1) and Miriam has a song (15:20-21). They made a team. Moses led the men and Miriam his sister led a group of women. The men apparently sang the stanzas of the song and the women sang the chorus.  The song of Moses is the FIRST song in the Bible.

Exodus 15 says the same thing that Exodus 14 says in a different way. Exodus 14 is a description of what happened on that day. It is a narration of events. Exodus 15 tells the same event in song. Exodus 14 tells what happened IN HISTORY.  Exodus 15 tells what happened IN SONG. It uses poetry, not prose. It uses some figurative language.

It calls God a man of war (15:3) but God is not a man. It mentions God’s nostrils (15:8) but God does not have nostrils. It talks about God’s right hand (15:6, 12) but God does not have a literal hand.

He does not have a physical body, so He does not have a right hand. The purpose of this song is not narration but celebration. It was a song of celebration. There was some dancing involved.

5. This worship was personal.

Exodus 15:2 says, “The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation” (ESV). They did not just say “The Lord is our strength and our salvation”. They said “the Lord is MY strength”.

When I am completely weak and have no strength in my, the Lord is my strength.  He is MY salvation and He is MY God (15:2), not just “my father’s God” (the God of my parents or grandparents).

6. This worship was God-centered.

This was not only a song of redemption and a song of victory; it was a song of praise. This song was God-centered, not man-centered. Some of the music sung in churches is man-centered. It is humanistic. This song does not praise Moses for being such a great general or leader, although Moses was the one who wrote the song.

Moses does not take the credit for leading the Jews out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. He gives God all of the glory. The praise goes to God and God alone. This song was sung TO God and ABOUT God. That is different from music in some churches, which is almost a performance.

That is not to say that we should not have talented or gifted leaders up front. We need to give God our best. Some come to church to be entertained, like going to a concert. They are not really engaged in worship.

As you look around the congregation, you will see many people not even singing. Exodus 15:1 says “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song TO THE LORD”. They were not giving a concert. They were singing to the Lord.

This song was not only directed to God, it was all about God. There are about forty-five references to God in this song. Exodus 15:2-3 says, “THE LORD is my strength and my defense; HE has become my salvation. HE is my God, and I will praise HIM, MY FATHER’S GOD, and I will exalt HIM. THE LORD is a warrior; THE LORD is his name” (NIV).

This was a praise song after one of the greatest miracles in the Bible, the parting of the Red Sea. It is pure doxology. What did they praise God for in this song?

Three Reasons to Praise God

1) Praise God for who He is.

The women sang, ““Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?”  (15:11).  God said earlier, “For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth” (9:14).

There is no one like Him among the gods and no one like Him in all the earth.  God says this over and over again in the Bible.

He is great in majesty (15:7).  He is majestic.  He is highly exalted (15:1).  He is majestic in power (15:6).  He is powerful.  He works wonders (15:11).  This is a miracle-working God.  He is sovereign.  He will reign forever and ever (15:18).  He is also called a warrior (15:3).  Some people might have a problem with that.  It is a different view of God that many have.

Some people think that Christianity is opposed to all war.  Some think that war is immoral and that Christians should not even serve in the military.  Many denominations take militant hymns out of their hymn book (“Onward Christian Soldiers”) because they think they are unchristian, including (so Wiersbe) but here God is called a warrior.  It is militaristic language.

The KJV says God is “a man of war”.  That is misleading.  It does not mean that God is a man.  It means that God is a warrior.  He knows how to fight and defeat his enemies.  He fights for His people.  He has powerful weapons.  This God is not weak but strong.  He is all-powerful.

2) Praise God for what He has done

What did He do in this chapter?  The focus of this song is what God did to the Egyptians. He defeated the greatest army on the planet at that time.

Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.  The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea (15:4). He shattered the enemy (15:6).  He did something that the Hebrews could not do.  He did the impossible and He did it without any effort.

But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them (15:10). All God had to do was breathe to kill them and they sank like led (15:10).  They sank to the depths like a stone (15:5).

The same thing will happen in the future.  The Bible says that the Antichrist will one day to incredible damage to God’s people.  Many will be killed.  He will claim to be God and demand people to worship him but when Jesus returns he finish the Antichrist off with the breath of his mouth, according to II Thessalonians 2:8.

Some might have a problem with this chapter of Exodus.  This song praises God for the death of the Egyptians. Thousands of people just drowned.  The earth swallowed them.  They had a watery grave. Is that Christian?

It is biblical to praise God for his righteous judgment.  This was divine judgment on sin. We will be doing that in heaven.  We will praise God for his mercy and grace.  He will also praise Him for his holiness, his righteousness and his justice.

3) Praise God for what He is going to do.

The song is divided into two parts Exodus 15:1-12 look back to what God has already done.  Exodus 15:13-21 look forward to what God will do in the future.  It is a pledge of their entrance into the Promised Land.  What happened to the Egyptians will happen to the Canaanites one day.

“The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia…Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode” (15:14-17 ESV).

 

 

 

Incredible Red Sea Miracle

We have been studying the Book of Exodus.  Today, I want to look at the most spectacular and dramatic miracle in the Bible.  It is the greatest miracle of the OT.  It is also a very familiar chapter.  Every child in Sunday School knows this story.

People who have not even read the Bible know this story.  There have been movies about it.  To do a really good job with this chapter, you have to look at in in about four different ways.

You have to look at it EXEGETICALLY.  What does the text actually say?

You have to look at it DOCTRINALLY. What does this story tell us about God?

You have to look at this HISTORICALLY.  Is this story is true.  Did it actually happen or is it a myth? Is there any archaeological evidence that supports it?

You also have to look at it PRACTICALLY.  How does this story affect us today?

This story says a lot about God.  The parting of the Red Sea is one of the greatest displays of God’s power in all Scripture.  Psalm 78:13 says, “He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand up like a wall” (NIV).

The same God who created the world and made the stars is all-powerful.  He can split an ocean.  He can also hold water up like a wall and defy the law of gravity

What God did on that day when He defeated the most powerful army in the world at that time, made a big impact on people in the ancient world.  It made a big impact on some unbelievers.

It made a big impression on the biblical prostitute from Jericho named Rahab.  When the two Hebrew spies came into the land, she had them and helped them escape.  She could have turned them in.  Why did she do this?

”Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt….When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:8-10, 11)

Over and over again, the OT goes back to that event as an incredible demonstration of God’s power.  This is a story that may challenge your view of God.

It is comforting to some and disturbing to others.  God not only delivers, guides and protects people in this section, He also judges other people.

It is a story that ends of up with a bunch of dead Egyptians floating in the water.  Notice what the end of the chapter says, “That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore” (14:30 NIV)

C.H. Machintosh said, “The same waters that formed a wall for God’s redeemed formed a grave for Pharaoh”.  Many have a distorted idea of God.  They picture Him as a doting grandparent or a cosmic Santa Claus who gives out gifts. The Apostle Paul says, “Behold the GOODNESS and SEVERITY of God” (Romans 11:22).

Many people see the goodness and kindness of God but refuse to see the sternness of God.  They see that God is a God of mercy and grace.  They fail to see that He is also a God of judgment.  Pharaoh drowned Hebrew baby boys and now his troops are being drowned.

The Hebrews experienced COMPLETE DELIVERANCE but the Egyptians experienced TOTAL DESTRUCTION.  Exodus tells us that the armies went into the Red Sea after them and NOT ONE survived (14:28).

This is a powerful story.  What is the background to this story?  There are several things going on here that we should picture.

A Mass Exodus

God’s people were in bondage.  It was physical bondage.  They were in slavery.  It was oppressive.  It had gone on for a long time.  They did not do anything to get into it.

We get into bondage because of our own sin.  It traps us.  Their bondage was not the result of sin.  A new Pharaoh took over who knew not Joseph.

God delivered the Hebrew slaves from Egypt.  “And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.” (12:51 NIV)  Exodus means “departure” or “going out”.

It is similar to our word “exit”.  They did not escape.  They were rescued.  They did not bring themselves out of slavery. God brought them out.  We had to fight a war to end slavery.  They just walked out of the country.  Two million people exited the country with the help of a few plagues.

Divine Guidance

After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (13:20-22 NIV)

They did not have to find their own way to the Promise Land. God guided them.  How did He guide them?  They did not have a map.  They did not have a compass or GPS. God guided them with a cloud and with fire.

This was a theophany.  It was a visible appearance of God on earth.  God is invisible but appeared to people in the OT and those appearances are called theophanies.  He appeared to Moses as a fire and to the Israelites as a pillar of fire.

He also appeared as a cloud.  This was not a rain cloud but a glory cloud.  It was a Shekinah Glory cloud and He did this for forty years in the wilderness.

The cloud and fire guided them all of the way into the Promised Land. The Hebrews did not have to wonder if God was with them.  They could see that He was with them every day.

This is the first reference in the Bible to “the pillar of fire by day, and a pillar of cloud by night”. Fire represents HEAT (protection from cold weather) as well as LIGHT.

The Cloud represents SHELTER (protection from hot weather in the desert) as well as GUIDANCE.  They were in a dry desert that could be hot by day but cold by night.  This cloud sheltered them from the heat and the cold.

God not only led His people, He led them in three ways.  First, He led them CONTINUOUSLY.  He led them all of the time (by day and by night).  He led them twenty-four hours a day.  Second, He led them PHYSICALLY (fire, cloud). This was not a leading on the inside but on the outside.  This leading was not spiritual but physical.

Third, He led them OBJECTIVELY.  This was not a subjective leading.  They did not have to wonder what God’s will was. They did not have to argue and debate what they thought God’s will was.

All they had to do was to look up in the sky. When the cloud moved, they moved.  When the cloud stopped, they stopped and set up tent.  We see this in the Book of Numbers.

Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.  At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. 19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order and did not set out. (Numbers 9:17-19)

Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. (Numbers 9:22)

God doesn’t do this today.  If we were living in OT times and wanted to know who to marry, all we would have to do is to follow the cloud.

If we wanted to know where to go to church, we just needed to follow the cloud and it would lead us to the right church. Wouldn’t it be great if every church that honored God had a glow over it?  We do not have a cloud above us but we have the Holy Spirit inside us.

Travel Plan Changes

Exodus 13:20 says, “After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.”  They were going east to Midian, the very same way Moses went forty years earlier when he fled Egypt.  They were following the trade route and were at the edge of the desert.

Then, God told them to change course to turn back and camp by the sea.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.” (14:1-2 NIV)

The quick way would be to continue going east but God told them to change direction and go south by the sea.

Pharaoh’s Change of Mind

Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. So the Israelites did this.” (14:2-3).

God predicted that that their travel plans would provoke Pharaoh to action.  Did God cause Pharaoh to do sin?  No.  Pharaoh responded of his own free will.

God did not force him to come after the Hebrews but he knew what Pharaoh’s response would be even before he had it and told Moses.  God was absolutely right. Pharaoh had a change of heart.

Exodus 14:5 says, “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” (NIV)

Pharaoh’s land has been totally devastated by ten plagues and now two million slaves have just left the country.  That has to be hard on the Egyptian economy to have all of that free labor gone.

Now Pharaoh finds out where the Hebrews are and he thought now was his chance to get them. They were weak.  They were vulnerable.  They were defenseless.  They were unarmed.  They were completely helpless.

Pharaoh thought that the God of Moses is a very bad general. He thought that they were trapped, so he went after them but the only one who ends up trapped is Pharaoh.

Pharaoh planned to trap the Jews in the wilderness, so God used the same military tactic on him.  He ends up being trapped by the waters of the Red Sea and drowned.

The ones trapped were the Egyptians, not the Hebrews.  Proverbs 26:27 says “whoever digs a pit will fall into it”.

Total Fear and Terror

Picture the scene.  Two million slaves escape Egypt.  They leave the country.  They are rejoicing.  They are cheering.  They are celebrating.  They are on top of the world.

They think that their problems are over, just as many think their problems are over once they get saved.  The Hebrews are no longer slaves.

They no longer have to listen to the Egyptians.  They no longer have to expose themselves to abuse and oppression.  Now they are on the road.

They are traveling and God is with them.  They have the pillar of fire and cloud.  They are in the will of God.  They are doing what God wants them to do.  All is good.

Then, they hear a noise and look back and see a massive army on the horizon.  The most powerful army on the planet is coming after them.

This army had weapons of war.  It had firepower.  It had chariots.  That is like having tanks today.  This was a war machine.

They had the best technology of the day coming against them and these were not just any chariots.  Exodus 14:7 says, “He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.” (NIV).

Pharaoh sent his best fighters against them.  These are the Special Forces.  They were well-trained and they were coming against the unarmed Hebrews and there were a lot of them, over a hundred thousand of them.

How do we know that?  The text mentions six hundred chariots but two men rode in each chariot: a driver and a soldier.

Salvation does not insulate you from problems.  Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble.” They had problems, like we have today, and they were real problems, not illusions.

The Hebrews were terrified.  This was a life or death situation.  They started to panic.  Mothers started clutching their children.  They had absolutely nowhere to go.

They have no way to escape.  They are completely trapped.  They were sitting ducks.  They thought they were all going to die. They hadn’t seen the movie.  They didn’t know what was going to happen.  It looked like game over.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (14:10-12)

They had three responses to this crisis.  They responded in FEAR.  They thought they were going to die.  They responded in CRITICISM.  They came after Moses.  They blamed Moses.  He led them right into a trap.

They even used sarcasm.  Slavery would have been better than death. They also responded in UNBELIEF.  They believed that God miraculously delivered them from slavery in Egypt only to kill them in the desert.

The test of a good leader is how they respond to a crisis.  Moses is the perfect leader here.  He is facing all kinds of criticism and opposition.  Notice his response.  He did not deny that there was a problem.

The danger they faced was real.  He did not rebuke them for their unbelief.  He did not get defensive like most people do when they are criticized.  Instead, he encouraged them. He says four things to them.

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (14:13-14).

First, he tells them not to be afraid.  We experience fear and anxiety over minor issues; Thru had a major problem.  It was life and death and Moses told them “Do not be afraid. Trust God.”  That is a lesson we need to learn.

Second, he said “stand still”.  This does not mean that they were not go anywhere.  Later, God told them to get moving.  He told them to go forward and cross the Red Sea.

It means “stand firm” (NIV, ESV).  They did not need to panic in this situation.  They could relax.  God was in control of it, even though it did not look like it.

Third, he said “See the salvation of the Lord”.  In other words, watch God work. Watch God do something totally amazing.  Watch him do something you never dreamed or imagined.  Moses said, “The Lord will fight for you.”  That is why he had absolutely no fear of the Egyptians.

Finally he said, “The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.”  He says, “Right now you are worried about these Egyptians. Today, will be the last day you see them.”

All of your worries and fears will be gone very soon.  That brings us to one of the greatest miracles in the Bible, the parting of the Red Sea.

Was This a Real Miracle?

We live in a day in which this is not seen as a miracle at all.  Liberal scholars believe that this can all be explained scientifically.  They have natural explanations for this.  Many liberal churches would say the same thing.  They will actually use the text.

Exodus 14 says that the Red Sea was parted because of a strong east wind (14:21).

God could have parted the waters by himself but instead He used a strong east wind to do it and it did not happen right away.  It took all night for this wind to blow on it before it was parted.

The problem is that this chapter does not make any sense apart from miracles.

An ocean splits completely wide open, makes a path to walk on, and then comes back together again several hours later.  When has that ever happened again?  That is not a common occurrence.

Two walls of water were stacked sky high on both sides without a levy. This violates one of the basic properties of water.  Water is a liquid.

A solid stands up but a liquid does not.  There is no possible way to read this without a miracle.  In fact, this was not one miracle but many.

The Hebrews had a pillar of fire in the front leading the way.  There are walls of water to the side of them being miraculously help up.  Underneath they walked on dry ground.

Behind them was a cloud and an angel that held the Egyptians back and protected them.  They had a miracle in the front, on the side, underneath and behind them.

The proof that this whole event was miraculous was that it ONLY happened after Moses lifted his staff (the same staff that was used in the Ten Plagues) and stretched it over the Red Sea (14:16).  Moses did this TWICE in Exodus 14.

He lifted it once to divide the waters which delivered the Hebrews (14:21).  He lifted it a second time to bring the waters back together which killed all of the Egyptians (14:27).

What about the wind?  We know three things about this wind.  First, it was a SUPERNATURAL WIND (not a natural wind).  God sent it.  Exodus 14:21 says, “the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided” (JPS Tanakah).  This was something God did.

Second, it was a POWERFUL WIND.  It blew on deep waters, not shallow waters.  They were deep enough that when they collapsed, they drowned everyone.

Third, it was an EAST WIND.  Wind direction is always the direction from which the wind comes. East wind means winds that come from the east and head west.

What direction were the Hebrews traveling across the Red Sea?  They were traveling east into Midian.

The east wind would have headed in their direction as they traveled.

They were going eastward against a wind that was so strong it created a wall of water on both sides of them but it did not blow the people away.

It moved the waters but did not blow the people away as they crossed the Red Sea.

Did This Event Really Happen?

It is a real miracle in Exodus.  Did this really happen or is it just a great children’s bible story?  Do we have any proof that it happened?  Yes. This is just a children’s story. It is also real history.

There is archaeological evidence that backs it up. Unfortunately, most people do not know anything about this evidence.

Most Christians do not know about it.  I have heard many preachers on this passage say that no one knows where any of these events took place and the reason is that most people do not keep up with the latest finds of biblical archeology.

We know where the Red Sea is located.  We know where they crossed it.  We also have evidence that Egyptian chariots perished in this sea.

The Jews left Goshen and were heading to Midian where Moses saw the burning bush.  Midian is in Saudi Arabia today.  We know where they started and where they ended up and we know the body of water between them.

There is only one body of water between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  It is the Red Sea.  Today it is called the Gulf of Aqaba.  It is a branch of the Red Sea. Why would the Gulf of Aqaba be called the Red Sea?  There are red coral below the surface and sometimes the water looks red when the tide is low.

Then we are told in the text that they changed directions (cf. 14:1).  They went south.  They went off the trade road.  There is a dry river bed that is eighteen miles long with huge mountains on both sides and ends up at the Red Sea.  There is a beach there.  Today it is called Nuweiba Beach, which today is in Nuweiba, Egypt.

The beach at Nuweiba is 4.25 miles long by 2 miles wide.

Egyptian chariot wheels dated to the time of Moses have been discovered by archaeologists at the bottom of the Red Sea.  The chariot wheels come from the time of Moses.  Ron Wyatt discovered a huge granite pillar there in 1978. It had fallen over.

At first, it did not seem to be that significant but, on the other side of the Red Sea, another granite pillar was discovered and this one was standing.

It is a three thousand year old pillar. It comes from the time of Solomon and even has his name on it.  The Jews marked where the Res Sea crossing took place with pillars.

If you put all of this together, there is clear evidence for the Red Sea crossing.  We even know where they crossed it.  Next week, we will look at the effect that this miracle had on people.

Did Pharaoh Drown in the Red Sea?

Many Christians assume that Pharaoh died in the Red Sea. It is possible that he died in the Red Sea.  Psalm 136:15 says “His love endures forever but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea” (NIV) but it is also possible that he did not.

There is no evidence from secular history that the Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea.  All of the possible Pharaohs at the time of the Exodus lived long after the Exodus.  Exodus 14 does not explicitly say that Pharaoh died in the Red Sea.  Exodus 14 says several things.

First, it says that Pharaoh went after the Hebrews (14:8).  He approached them (14:10). He was on the scene.

Second, it says that all of Pharaoh’s chariot’s and horsemen followed them into the sea (14:23)

Third, it also says and that everyone that followed them into the sea died (14:28).  It does NOT say that Pharaoh himself followed them into the sea.  Exodus 15:19 says that he did in the KJV.

It reads “For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea” but this is a poor translation.  The NIV reads, “When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them

Fourth, t says that Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. It does NOT say that Israel saw Pharaoh’s body dead on the shore.

The victory song of Moses says, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.” (Exodus 15:4 NIV). It does NOT say Pharaoh himself drowned.

What about Psalm 136:15?  Doesn’t that verse clearly teach that Pharaoh and his army were swept into the Red Sea?  It could mean that Pharaoh died or it could be a figure of speech called a hendiadys.

Hendiadys is when two words are joined by a conjunction to express one thought, not two.  You say two things but really mean one (“law and order” or “rough and tough”).  Pharaoh and his army could simply mean “Pharaoh’s army”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passover and The Lord’s Supper

We have been studying the Book of Exodus. Last week, we looked at the Tenth Plague. Every child in Sunday School knows this plague but it is definitely not a children’s story. The story is rated R. It is violent. There is blood everywhere – dead animals and dead people and even blood smeared on the doors of houses.

Pharaoh finally got the point with the Tenth Plague. Death invaded every Egyptian home at midnight. The first nine plagues affected him but there was no real change, no genuine repentance. He told Moses that they could go after some of the plagues but he did not mean it. He said it just to stop the plagues. This time, he meant it.

This time he said that they could take their animals with them. The Tenth Plague was a national tragedy. Every single household in Egypt lost someone all at the same time. The Egyptians were begging them to leave. They wanted them to leave so bad that they helped them pack. Pharaoh even told Moses to bless him. Before he asked Moses to pray for him two times (8:8; 9:28) and now he asks him to bless him (12:32).

During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” (12:31-32).

Today, I want to look at tow things the Jews did BEFORE they left Egypt. Next week, we will look at their trip out of Egypt. Exodus says they did two things before they left. One has to do with money and one has to do with food.

Two Final Actions before Leaving

1. The Hebrew slaves acquired some new possessions

This is mentioned THREE TIMES in the text. The first time is a prediction of what would happen. The second mention is instructions to tell the people to do. The third reference is to what they did.

And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” (3:21-22 NIV)

Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people (11:2-3 NIV)

The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. (12:35-36 NIV)

 Is this an Immoral Command?

Now this seems like a very strange bunch of verse, especially if you are reading the KJV. Exodus 12:35 says “And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment” (KJV). Instead of the word “ask” it has the word “borrow”. God tells the Jews to borrow jewels of silver and gold from the Egyptians.

Why would God tell the Egyptians to borrow things from the Egyptians? That implies that they would return these items but the Jews were planning to leave Egypt and not return. That seems strange. Furthermore, the text also mentions them plundering the Egyptians. We are not supposed to steal but the text says two times that they plundered the Egyptians and God told them to do it. Is God telling the Jews to steal? Is He teaching them to be dishonest? Critics of the Bible and skeptics love this passage.

The answer is No. The Hebrew word means “ask” and not “borrow”. Stealing implies taking something by force. They did not do that. They asked for the items. There was no coercion. The Egyptians gave them voluntarily. There was no deception here.

They asked them for these things. There was also no injustice here. The Jews worked for hundreds of years in Egypt without being paid. In fact, they were mistreated. Egypt owed them. They worked for Egypt for years and now they are finally getting paid.

God not only frees all the slaves but He gives them some spending money for their journey and some new clothes. The slaves are not only freed but given gold and silver. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or imagine.

What did they end up doing with all of these jewels? They used to help build the tabernacle (25:1-7). They also used to help build the golden calf (32:2-3), which was an idol. It shows that you can use your money and wealth for good or for evil.

2. The Hebrew slaves ate a very special meal

The night before they left Egypt, the Jews ate a special meal. It was the Passover meal. I want to spend a little time talking about Passover. Millions of Jews all over the world celebrate Passover every year. They have done this for thousands of years. Jesus also celebrated Passover. The way he celebrated Passover in the first century might be a little different than the way Jews today celebrate it but they both celebrated Passover.

Most of us do not realize how Jewish Jesus was. We try to Americanize Him. He was Jewish. He was not a Westerner. He was an Easterner. He lived in the Middle East. He lived in Israel and He celebrated the Passover.

The last supper was a Passover Seder. “Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.’” (Luke 22:7-8 ESV). Not only did Jesus celebrate the Passover, so did his Apostles.

In fact, Jesus kept the Passover, throughout His entire life. When He was young, Luke tells us that His parents went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover every year (2:41). It was a big deal. What do we know about this feast? What does the Bible say about it? How does it apply to us today? We want to look at that today. There are some things about Passover that you might not know.

Passover was not only a historical event; it was to be an annual event for the Jews. They celebrated the Passover quickly before they left Egypt but this was also to become an annual event.

The Jews have been slaves in Egypt. They did not have any festivals before. They did not have anything to celebrate before and were not allowed to do any celebrating. Now they have something they can celebrate every year. Eventually God gave them six other festivals. Some were in the Spring and some were in the Fall. Passover takes place in the Spring around the time of Easter (March/April).

Leviticus 23 mentions seven festivals, seven Jewish holidays: the Festivals of Passover (Pesach), Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzog), First Fruits (Reshit Katzir), Pentecost (Shavu’ot), Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and Tabernacles (Sukkot).

The Jews have added some feasts in addition to these seven annual feasts but Passover was the oldest one. It was the first Jewish feast in the Bible. It is the feast of freedom. It is the feast that celebrates freedom. It was so important that it changed the calendar for the Jews. It became the first month of the year (12:2).

It was centered around a special meal. Jews today call this a seder (“order”). Passover was followed by another festival called “The Feast of Unleavened Bread”. Many mistake Passover for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Sometimes they are used synonymously (Luke 22:1) but they are separate feasts. Passover lasted one day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days. We see that in Leviticus 23.

“‘These are the LORD’s appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast” (Leviticus 23:4-6). Passover takes place on Nissan 14. The Feast of Unleavened Bread takes place on Nissan 15-21.

Restrictions on this Meal

There were all kinds of restrictions on this festival. There were some food restrictions. There were dietary restrictions. Exodus 12 mentions one thing not allowed in the diet. It was yeast.

In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day (Passover) until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days you are to eat bread made WITHOUT yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel… Eat NOTHING made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” (12:15, 20)

The main ingredients of bread are flour and yeast. Unleavened bread is bread without leaven or yeast which made the bread soft and allowed it to rise. It is just made of flour, oil and water. This was a feast without yeast.

Why could they not eat yeast? Is yeast evil? Is that why it was prohibited? In some passages of Scripture yeast is seen as a symbol of evil (cf. I Corinthians 5:6-8) but that was not the reasons. Was it prohibited because it is unhealthy? There are some books on the market right now that say that if you eat a yeast free diet you are healthier.

That wasn’t the reason because Jews were allowed to eat yeast the rest of the year. The reason they could not eat yeast is to remember what happened as the Jews were leaving Egypt. They left Egypt so quickly they did not have time for the dough to rise.

The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing (12:33-34). Exodus 12: 39 says “The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves” (NIV)

Exodus 12 mentions another restriction. Certain people were to be excluded from Passover. It was NOT open to anybody. Children were not excluded but foreigners were. No foreigner was allowed to participate in this meal. “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: “No foreigner may eat it” (12:43 NIV).

Why were foreigners not allowed the Passover meal? They were not circumcised.
No uncircumcised person was allowed to eat the Passover. Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it” (12:44-45 NIV). This meal was only for Jews. Males had to be circumcised to eat this meal.

“A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.” (12:48-49 NIV)

Recently, it has been popular in some churches to host seder meals. It gives Christians a chance to participate in Passover to celebrate Jewish culture, to eat some matzo ball soup but we have a problem. Gentiles were excluded from this feast, according to Exodus, and that would include Gentile Christians.

Passover and the Lord’s Supper

How does this meal relate to Christians? We eat a meal called “The Lord’s Supper”. There are many parallels between Passover and the Lord’s Supper.

1) The two celebrations are related

In Exodus 12, Passover is called “the Lord’s Passover” (12:11). The Christian memorial is called “the Lord’s Supper” (I Corinthians 11:20).

The Lord’s Supper came from Passover. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on Passover. While He was celebrating Passover with his disciples, He took two elements from the Passover meal (unleavened bread and wine) and gave them new meaning. They were already symbolic for Passover. Jesus gave these items new meaning. He instituted a new covenant.

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:15-19)

 Date of the Crucifixion

When did Jesus die?  According to all four Gospels. Jesus died on the day before the Sabbath, which is called “Preparation Day” (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:42; Matthew 27:62).

Jesus is the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world. Jesus died on Passover.  In fact, He died the very same time that the lambs were sacrificed in the Temple. We know when that from Josephus.   Josephus was not even a Christian but he was a first century historian Josephus tells us.

According to Josephus, the lambs were sacrificed between three and five o’clock, i.e., between the ninth hour and the eleventh hour (Jewish War 6.9.3). Jesus died in the ninth hour.

During those years, Nisan 14 fell on a Friday twice: on April 7 of 30 AD and April 3 of 33 AD.  The most likely date for the crucifixion is Friday, April 3, 33 AD on Nissan 14.

2) The two celebrations involve symbolic food

Passover today involves a ceremonial meal. Everything on the menu is symbolic. There are six things on the seder plate today and they are all symbolic, such as the roasted lamb shankbone (which commemorates the lamb sacrificed on Passover) and bitter herbs (which symbolize the bitterness of slavery).

They also have matzah, a roasted egg and other things on the menu, as well as four cups of wine. The bread symbolized Christ’s broken body. The bread symbolized his blood which would be shed.

3) The two celebrations were to be memorials

God wanted them never to forget what happened that night. When God does something big in our life, He wants us to remember it. We all have certain days that we try to remember (birthday, anniversary). Americans have their Memorial Day. It is one of our holidays to honor fallen veterans. The Jews have their Memorial Day. Passover was a Jewish Memorial Day.

This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance (12:14 NIV).

Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians’” (12:24-27 NIV).

Christians have their Memorial Day. We have a Christian Passover. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”. The Jews celebrate Passover to commemorate the deliverance in Egypt. We have a greater deliverance than they did. Their deliverance was just political. Ours is spiritual. They were redeemed and we are redeemed. The same God is redeemer is both the OT and the NT.

4) The two celebrations have some exclusions or restrictions

There were certain people not allowed to celebrate Passover in the OT. Passover was only for Jews. It was only for people who have been circumcised. The Lord’s Supper is only for believers. It symbolizes our participation in the death of Christ. When we take the bread and the cup, it symbolizes that we share in the benefits of Christ’s sacrificial death.

It is a family meal. Passover was also a family meal in the OT. Many early Christians made baptism a requirement of communion.  The requirement of Passover was circumcision.  The requirement of communion was baptism in the a very early Christian document called The Didache (9.5).

Some say this ancient document goes back to the first century.   The biblical requirement is not baptism but salvation.  If you are not saved, you should not take communion.  There are many people who have been baptized who are not saved.

The Deadliest Plague

We have been studying the Ten Plagues in the Book of Exodus. We have seen many different plagues. We have seen a plague of FROGS and a plague of FLIES. We have seen a plague of BLOOD and a plague of BOILS. We have seen a plague of LICE and a plague of LOCUSTS. The last two plagues were a plague of DARKNESS and a plague of DEATH.

Today, I want to look at the Tenth Plague. It is a very familiar story. Everyone knows about the plague of the firstborn. It was the worst of all of the plagues.  I want to look at three things today: the plague predicted, the plague performed and the plague prevented. We will be looking at both Exodus 11 and Exodus 12.  The plague takes place in Exodus 12.

The Plague Predicted

This plague came with a warning. It was Pharaoh’s final warning. Before he leaves Pharaoh, he gives him one final warning. It was not only a warning but a prediction. Moses makes six predictions. They were very specific and they were all verifiable. His predictions are found in Exodus 11:4-8.

“So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger” (11:4-8).

Six Chilling Prophecies

PREDICTION ONE: Moses told Pharaoh the NATURE of the prophecy. It is a prophecy of death. Firstborn sons in Egypt will die.

PREDICTION TWO: Moses told Pharaoh the SCOPE of this prophecy. It will affect people. It will affect animals. It will affect the rich (Pharaoh’s son). It will affect the poor (slave girl’s son).

PREDICTION THREE: Moses told him the TIME of the prophecy. He tells Pharaoh this death will take place at midnight tonight

PREDICTION FOUR: Moses tells him the EFFECT of this tragedy. It will cause a great cry all over Egypt. It will lead to national distress.

PREDICTION FIVE: Moses tells Pharaoh the RESTRICTIONS. Certain people will be excluded from this calamity. No Hebrew firstborn sons will die. In fact he said that people would be wailing in Egypt but a dog would not even be barking in Goshen (11:6-7).

PREDICTION SIX: Moses tells Pharaoh the OUTCOME. The Jews would all leave Egypt with Pharaoh’s permission.  The Egyptians will not only let them go, they will beg them all to leave Egypt.  All of the Hebrew slaves would be free from their bondage. Pharaoh told them all to leave and not come back. They were busy burying their dead.

Exodus 11:9 says that Moses left Pharaoh “in hot anger” This is very interesting. In Exodus 10, Pharaoh was said to be angry with Moses. Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die” (10:28 NIV). In Exodus 11, Moses is angry with Pharaoh.

Why was he so angry? He was angry because Pharaoh did not believe him. He is angry because this warning of terrible destruction (the worst one of the plagues) brought absolutely no response from Pharaoh. He was angry because even after nine plagues, he is still not willing to let the Jews go.

He is angry because his stubbornness is only going to hurt himself and his own people. It made absolutely no sense. Moses wanted to leave Egypt but he did not want to leave in this way. He probably wanted to leave on good terms, not bad terms.

He could have been glad. He could have been thinking “Pharaoh will finally get what is coming to him. We finally get to leave Egypt.” He was not vindictive. This shows us how much Moses has changed. He was angry before and smote the Egyptians. Now he has compassion for them.

Moses was angry but Exodus says that God hardened his heart (11:10). This was all part of His plan to multiply his wonders in Egypt (11:9). God is going to glorify himself and display His power in Pharaoh’s hard heart.

The Plague Performed

In Exodus 12, the plague is not accomplished until Exodus 12. When we read this chapter, we might get the impression that a few people died in this plague. This plague was far worse that we could imagine. Scholars estimate that there were five million people in Egypt. If one out of ten of those people were firstborn sons, that would mean that five hundred thousand people died.

When America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, they killed only about two hundred thousand people. This plague may have killed five hundred thousand people.  This was more than double that number.  Five hundred thousand is about the size of the population of Greensboro and Winston-Salem combined. All the firstborn in Egypt were killed. If that is true, it would mean that this Pharaoh could not have been succeeded by first firstborn son.

Does history confirm this fact? Who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus? There are two different dates for the Exodus. Liberals date it in the 13th century BC. They believe that the Pharaoh of the exodus was Ramases II. Conservatives date the Exodus in the 15th century BC. They believe the Pharaoh of the exodus was Amenhotep II.

I believe that this Pharaoh was probably Amenhotep II but the interesting fact is that neither one was succeeded by their firstborn son. You can look it up in secular history. Ramses II’s death, he was succeeded by his thirteenth son Merenpta. He came to power because all his older brothers had died. By the time he ascended to the throne he was almost sixty years old.

Amenhotep II was succeeded by Thurmose IV. He was not Amenhotep’s oldest son. He had an older brother Webensenu. He died as a child and was buried in his father’s tomb. We know what he looked like. We have a picture of him. We have a mummy of him. He may have been the one who died in the tenth plague. He was granted a royal burial in the royal tomb. His other brothers did not have that honor.

This plague was not just a natural disaster. It was not just an act of nature; it was an act of God. There was no scientific explanation for what happened. It was completely supernatural. Notice what the text says in Exodus 12:12-13.

On that same night I WILL pass through Egypt and STRIKE DOWN EVERY FIRSTBORN- both men and animals – and I WILL BRING JUDGMENT on all the gods of Egypt. I AM THE LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt’” (NIV).

Who is doing the judgment here? It is God himself. God says “I will strike down every firstborn”. God was directly involved in this plague. It was divine judgment. This wasn’t just a plague. It was an execution. Exodus 12:29 says, “At midnight THE LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt” (NIV).  Angels are not mentioned in the text but they may have been involved in this plague.  Exodus 12:23 mentions someone called “the destroyer” who carried it out.  God often uses angels to execute judgment on people (cf. Psalm 78:49).

This is a very unpopular subject. No one wants to talk about death, especially the death of children. Many preachers today are so politically correct that they do not even talk about divine judgment. That was something the Puritans emphasized. Modern man does not like that topic. We like things that tickle our ears and make us feel good.

We do not like the idea that God judges people. We do not like the idea that God sends people to Hell. Some pastors do not even preach on hell. I have heard some preachers say that God does not send anyone to Hell. We send ourselves to Hell but those preachers have never read the book of Revelation.

Revelation says “anyone whose name was not found in the book of life was THROWN into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). They do not jump into Hell. The wicked have to be thrown into Hell. Nobody wants to go there.

Answering the Critics 

When we get to the Tenth Plague, God does not just kill people, he kills children.  How do you answer critics who say, “How could a loving God kill innocent children? If Pharaoh is the one who sinned, why are the children being punished?”  It is an interesting question.  How do we answer this question?  Several things should be kept in mind here.

1. Our sin often affects others.

Pharaoh’s sin affected his whole country.  When parents sin, children are often affected. Exodus 4:22 says “Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'”

This is very interesting.  God says that the nation of Israel is his firstborn.  The firstborn was the favored son.  Israel had a special relationship with God.  God made some promises to Israel that he did not make to any other nation on the planet.

God to Pharaoh, “If you mistreat my firstborn, I am coming after your firstborn.”  The way Pharaoh treated God’s firstborn would determine the way God treated Egypt’s firstborn.  The Egyptians enslaved them, oppressed them, abused them and beat them for hundreds of years.

Pharaoh killed Hebrew babies and now Egyptian babies are dying. The Egyptians had blood on their hands. Now there is blood all over Egypt and it is Egyptian blood.  The ones who cried before were Jews.  Remember, God said to Moses at the burning bush “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings” (3:7 ESV).

Now the ones who are crying are Egyptians. When this plague took place there was “a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again” (11:6).  In fact we are told that “there was not a house where someone was not dead” (12:30).  The tables are now turned.

2. The children killed were not innocent.

The Bible teaches that we are all born sinners.  It also teaches the wages of sin is death.  God can kill all us at any time.  He is the Creator.  God is the one who gives life and He can take it back at any time.  God is not only a God of love.  He is also holy.

3. This plague was actually an act of mercy and grace.

Pharaoh killed Hebrew baby boys.  He ordered ALL of them to be thrown into the river, not just firstborn sons.  God only judged the firstborn in Egypt.God does not take the life of everyone but only of the firstborn.  He could have taken everyone’s life and wiped out all of Egypt.

The Plague Prevented

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are.

You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt” (12:1-7, 13).

God gave Pharaoh and the Israelites a command.  He gave them both very clear instructions.  In Pharaoh’s case, he repeated the instructions.  He said “Let my people go” over and over again.  Moses did not change the message and try to make it more appealing.  He repeated the same message.  Each time he gave it to Pharaoh, Pharaoh said, “No”.  He hardened his heart.

The Israelites were also given instructions.  They were given instructions to prevent this plague.  God said “every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die” (11:5).  Why did they have to be given instructions?  Why did God want to take the life of the firstborn of the Hebrews?  Why was this not a judgment just on the Egyptians?

The Hebrews deserved to die as much as the Egyptians.  They were not better than the Egyptians.  They were both sinners.  Both deserved the judgment of God.  The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death.

The Hebrews would have lost their firstborn son as well, if they did not do exactly what God told them to do. What did God tell them to do?

First, they were told to choose an animal. It could not be any animal.  It had to be a lamb but not just any lamb.  It was a specific type of lamb.  It had to be a male lamb.  It could not be a female lamb.  It had to be one year old.  They could not choose a male lamb that was older.  Finally, this lamb had to be a lamb without defect (12:5).

They could not pick a male lamb that was one year old but defective.  They had four days to inspect it to make sure their lamb met the qualifications for sacrifice.  The fourth day was the day that Moses spoke to Pharaoh.  It was the night the firstborn would be killed.

Second, they were told to kill this animal.  They were told exactly when to kill the animal.  It was four days later (12:2, 6), when it started to get dark but they were not to break any bones of the animal (12:46).  They were told when to kill the lamb and how to kill it.

Third, they were told what to do with the blood of the animal. They were told to drain the blood out of the animal and to put it into a basin. Then they were told to take branches from a hyssop plant and use them as a paint brush.  They were told to dip hyssop in the basin and smear the blood up and down the door frames of the house.

Fourth, they were told to eat this animal.  The lamb was not only killed but eaten that night.  They were even told how to cook it – roasted with fire.  They were not to eat it raw. They were also told to stay in the house all night and not leave it.

The Bible says that they did it. They did exactly what God told them to do (unlike Pharaoh).  They did it, even though they had never done anything like this before.  This was the first time.  They did it, even though it made absolutely no sense to smear animal blood on a door.

It seems a little strange to paint the doors of your house with animal blood.  That was what they had to do to prevent this plague.  That is what they had to do to protect their firstborn son.  That did not make a lot of sense. They did not know why God told them to do this.  They did not understand the significance.

Passover Lamb: A Type of Christ

Why were they told to pick a lamb?  It was a symbol of Christ.  It was a type of Christ.  Jesus is called “the lamb” twenty-nine times in Revelation. Paul said, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7).  How was Jesus like a lamb?

One, The Passover Lamb was innocent.

It did not suffer because of anything it did.  It had to be a lamb without blemish.  Jesus our Passover lamb was also innocent.  He was sinless.  He did nothing wrong. Even Pilate said, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:14). I Peter 1:19 says, “We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”.

Two, the Passover Lamb was passive.

Lambs are gentile creatures.  They are not like lions or bears.  They do not resist when they are being killed. They do not fight back. They are passive.  Jesus did not resist either.  “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7)

Three. The Passover Lamb died a violent death.

These white lambs were slaughtered. There was blood everywhere. It was not a pretty scene. Jesus died a violent death as well.

Four, the Passover Lamb died a substitutionary death

The lamb died so that the firstborn son could live.  The lamb died in his place.  He died as a substitute.  Jesus was out substitute.  He died in our place.  He died for our sins, the just for the unjust.  Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for sin.  It was a substitutionary death, like the Passover Lamb.

Jesus died fifteen hundred years after the Passover Lamb was sacrificed.  In fact, He died on the same day as Passover.  John the Baptist called Jesus “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 KJV).  This lamb did not die for one household (like the Passover Lamb) but for the whole world.

 Modern Applications of the Passover Story

1. The Hebrews faced danger and we face danger.

The Hebrews faced a serious problem.  God said he would kill the firstborn son of everyone in the whole land of Egypt (no exceptions). This was a matter of life and death.  God had already sent nine other plagues. Everything that he said came to pass.  God does what he says he is going to do.

We face a similar problem today.  The wages of sin is death.  Our warning is not physical death, although all of us will die, but spiritual death.  God is holy and one day He will judge sinners and not just the firstborn.  That is a problem because all of us are sinners. Their problem was physical.  Our problem today is spiritual.

2. The Hebrews were saved by blood and we are saved by blood.

There is power in the blood.  The lamb’s blood saved the life of the firstborn and Jesus blood saves us.  They were saved by the blood of the Passover lamb.  The blood of the Passover lamb protected everyone in the house. It warded off death. We are saved by the blood of Christ.  We are justified by his blood (Romans 5:9).  We have redemption through his blood (Ephesians 1:7).  It not only saves us, it cleanses us from all sin (I John 1:7).

Many try to be saved another way.  They try to go to God a different way through a different religion.  Acts 4:12 says, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (NIV).

God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over (pesach) you”.  That was the only thing He was looking at. He did not say “When I see your good works, I will pass over you”.  He did not say, “When I see your church membership, I will pass over you”.

He said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you”.   Being Hebrew did not save the firstborn from death.  Blood was the only thing that protected them from danger.  It was the only remedy.

3) The blood has to be applied to be effective

The blood of the lamb had to be placed on the door post.  They were not just to kill the lamb.  They had to place the blood on the door posts.  The blood had to be applied.  They had to do something.  They had to paint their doors with blood. They could have gone to all of the trouble of selecting the right animal and killing it in the proper manner but if they did not take the blood and put in on the door posts, it did them absolutely no good. Jesus died but unless people believe, His death saves no one.  It has to be applied by faith.

 

 

Plagues that Preach

We have been studying the Book of Exodus and looking at the Ten Plagues. We have seen the plague of blood, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats and the plague of flies. In Exodus 9-10 see five more plagues: the plague on livestock, the plague of boils, the plague of hail, the plague of locusts, and the plague of darkness.

We have been moving rather slow through them, looking at one or two at a time. Today, I want to do something a little different. I want to do an overview of all of these plagues today. I want you to try to see the bigger picture. I do not want us to lose the forest for the trees. What do we know about the Egyptian plagues?

Overview of the Ten Plagues

1) These plagues were judgments of God.

Some have read Exodus and tries to find scientific explanations for the plagues. They miss the whole point. These plagues did not have natural causes. This was divine judgments. They were ACTS OF GOD and not just ACTS OF NATURE.  We have had plagues before (the bubonic plague). These were supernatural events and not just natural events, like natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, tsunamis). In fact, even unbelievers could tell that these plagues came from God. By the third plague, the pagan magicians said “This is the finger of God”. We are going to learn some things about God from these plagues.

2) There were ten plagues

Why ten? Why not fifteen or twenty? Ten was the number of perfection in Egypt. In ancient Egypt, ten “symbolized the number of completion and perfection.” Many of these plagues did not last long. The first plague lasted for seven days (Ex 7:25), the ninth lasted for three days (Ex 10:21-23), and the tenth plague lasted only one night. It started at midnight (Ex 12:29-31).

Egypt experienced a terrible plague which was unbearable. Right after they finally got over that plague another one fell and then another one and another one. This went on ten times but none of these plagues had to happen. They happened because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness and defiance to the will and program of God.

The Bible says that in the future more plagues will fall on the earth. Read the Book of Revelation and you will see what will happen during the Tribulation Period. Many read that and think it could never happen. It seems hard to believe this could ever happen. It has already happened. It happened in Egypt. In fact, many of the plagues in Revelation are pattered after the ones in Exodus (plague of locusts, darken, boils).

3) The plagues get progressively worse.

The Ten Plagues end with the death of the first born son. God did not start with that plague. He ended with it. There is a general progression of these plagues. They first plagues were annoying. They were a big inconvenience. You had frogs in your bed and in your food. You had gnats and flies all over the place. They did not kill people, just drove them crazy.

Then, some cows died. The first death took place. It was animal death. You can picture mountains of dead carcasses pilled on the field. They led to a loss of property. Cows are not a big deal to us. Most of us are not farmers.

It was a big deal to these people. They lived in an agricultural society. It was their source of food. Without cows, there was no red meat, no milk and no cheese. It was also a sign of their wealth and prosperity. How many animals you possessed was important to your standing in the community.

Their pocketbook was affected. Then, their health was affected. They suffered painful boils all over their body. The last stage was death. The plagues seem to go from bad to worse.

4) The plagues came in groups of three.

How do we know that they come in groups of three? They all follow a pattern. The first two plagues came with a warning and the last one did not.  The first of the three always came early in the morning.  There are three cycles of plagues.

The key word in the first three plagues is the word IMITATION. We learned there that Satan has the power to perform miracles. The magicians were able to duplicate some of these miracles but while they could imitate them, they could not reverse them.

The key word in the second three plagues is the word DISTINCTION. The plagues fell in Egypt but not in Goshen. God said, “I will put a DIVISION between My people and your people” (8:23). That idea of a division tells us two things.

First, it tells us that God does not view everyone the same. The Jews were put in a different category than the Egyptians. God put a division His people and Pharaoh’s people. Pharaoh thought the Jews were his people. They were his slaves. God says, “They are NOT your people. They are My people.”

God still does this today. He calls some people His people today. I John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (ESV).  There are only two kinds of people in this word: saved and lost, believers and unbelievers, sheep and goats.  Many people believe that everyone is a child of God but that is not what the Bible teaches. We are all God’s creatures but we do not all have a personal relationship with Him.

Second, it tells us that God is able to protect his people. II Peter 2:9 says, “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” (ESV).  God is able to punish the wicked.  He is also able to preserve and protect the righteous.

The key word in the third cycle is the word UNIQUE. In the last three plagues God does something never been done before. The seventh plague was hail. When it fell, God said, “Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now” (9:18 ESV).

Notice how the eighth plague is described. “The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt” (10:14-15).

The ninth plague was also unique. It was a plague of darkness that could be felt (10:21) and it last three days. It was so bad that they could not do anything or go anywhere for three days (10:23). That is a rather interesting plague. We think of darkness as evil. It is often symbolic of Satan in the Bible but not here.

On the first day of creation, God created light. In the Ninth Plague, God created darkness. Jesus describes Hell as a place of “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). In fact, Jude describes it a place where the blackest darkness imaginable exists (Jude 13).

God creates light and darkness. Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things” (NIV). That is interesting. This doesn’t fit into the theology of some people. Many believe that God only creates health and prosperity and not pain and calamity. That is Satan.

This verse says that God also creates suffering and disaster. The KJV says “I create evil” but it is not talking about moral evil. God is not the author of evil. It is talking about calamity or disaster. All of these calamities that fall on the Egyptians, all of the suffering and diseases (boils) were sent by God.

How did Pharaoh respond to the plagues? Some people are made better by punishment and some people are made worse. Pharaoh was made worse, like a man who has been locked up in prison for fifty years. He hardened his heart. Pharaoh’s heart was as hard as a rock.

He received a word from God. He had a clear command. He was not about to obey it. In fact, he did the exact opposite.  God said, “Let the people go.”  He made their slavery worse.  He was like many people today.  We do exactly opposite whatever God tells us to do.  God says, “Go left” and we go right.  God says, “Slow down” and we speed up.

God judged Pharaoh.  Plagues fell on Egypt.  Pharaoh did what he could to get the plagues to stop but he wasn’t about to change his behavior. He said repeatedly that he would change and let the people go but it was all a lie. Pharaoh was a con man.

He was a good actor. He asked Moses to pray for him. He said the words “I have sinned”. He even asked Moses to forgive him. He asked for forgiveness. He said “I have sinned” twice in this section.

Exodus 9:27 says, “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong” (ESV). Exodus 10:16-17 says, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the LORD your God only to remove this death from me” (ESV).

 Was Pharaoh’s Repentance Genuine?

No. You can say the words “I have sinned” and not really repent. Bill Clinton was caught having sex with Monica Lewinski. He denied it for a while and tried to cover it up but, when all of the evidence came out and finally said “I have sinned” in a speech on September 11, 1998. He only said that because he was forced to say it. He was being investigated by an independent counsel.

The Pentecostal preacher Jimmy Swaggart was caught in a motel with a prostitute in 1988 and gave an emotional speech and said publicly “I have sinned” but a few years later he was caught with another prostitute.

Confession of sin is important. You cannot be saved if you do not say the words “I have sinned”. You cannot be forgiven of your sins if you do not believe you are a sinner but there is a big difference between confession and repentance. Real repentance involves a change of actions.

If you say “I have sinned” and do the same thing over and over again, there is no repentance. That is exactly what Pharaoh does. He says he has sinned and he would let the Jews go but once the storm was over, he was the same person. There was no change. It was all an act. Pharaoh repeatedly broke his promise to Moses and Aaron.

Some people never say the words “I have sinned”.  They never admit they do anything wrong.  Other people say the words “I have sinned” and do not really mean it.

Message from the Plagues

Pharaoh learned some things from the plagues. These lessons are still true today. These plagues preached. They had a message. I want to look at six messages that we learn from these plagues.

1. The plagues teach that God EXISTS

When Moses and Aaron first spoke to Pharaoh they said, “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness” (5:1). Pharaoh’s answer was, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go” (5:2). Pharaoh says that he does not know who the Lord is, so God is going to show Pharaoh who He is in a very dramatic and visible way.

The first lesson to Pharaoh was that God exists. Yahweh is real. Exodus 7:17 says, ““By this you shall know that I am the Lord”. There is a great story in I Kings 18 of a contest between the prophets of Baal and the prophet Elijah. They have a contest on a mountain. It was a contest between God and Baal to determine which one was real. Both put an animal on an altar and prayed for fire to fall.

The prophets of Baal went first. They prayed but nothing happened. Hours went by with no response. Elijah began to mock them. Then it was Elijah’s turn but before he went, he had them pour twelve jars of water on the altar so they know that it is not a trick. Elijah prays, fire falls and the false prophets are stunned. All they can say is “The Lord He is God! The Lord He is God!”

2. The plagues teach that God is WORKING

God not only exists, he is at work IN EGYPT. Exodus 8:22 says, “”’But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am IN THIS LAND” (NIV).

In the ancient world, pagans believed that gods possessed no power except in their own land. Yahweh is the true God and He is at work in Egypt. In fact, He is more powerful than the Egyptian gods. God was at work in Egypt and is at work in our world today.

3. The plagues teach that God is POWERFUL

God said of Pharaoh, “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my POWER, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (9:16). These plagues were an awesome display of God’s power in the earth. They displayed incredible power over the animals.

They displayed power over nature and even the weather. They displayed power over Pharaoh. Who was the most powerful man on the planet at that time. They displayed power over the magicians and power over the gods of Egypt who were powerless to do anything about these plagues. The Egyptian Sun god Re could not do anything to stop the plague of darkness.  Pharaoh, who was a totalitarian leader, could not protect them from the plagues.  He could have prevented them by doing what God told him to do but once they came, he was powerless to stop them.

4. The plagues teach that God is UNIQUE

Exodus 9:14 says, “For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is NONE like me in all the earth” (ESV). Pharaoh that that there was no one like him in the earth.  He was the greatest king on the planet.

God does things that no one else can do. Their magicians cannot do these things. Their gods cannot do these things. These are signs and wonders that only God can do. Psalm 86:8 says, “Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours” (NIV).

5. The plagues teach that God is SOVEREIGN

What does it mean that God is sovereign? It means that God rules over the earth. We see that God is sovereign from Exodus 9:16. God says of Pharaoh, “for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (ESV).

That is a very important verse. It is quoted in the NT by the Apostle Paul in Romans 9. Exodus 9:16 is quoted in Romans 9:17. What does it mean? It says God used Pharaoh. He raised Pharaoh up. That sounds like something all of us would want God to say about us. We should all want God to raise us up so His power and glory could be displayed. There is one difference.

We want God’s power to be displayed in us through our OBEDIENCE. In Pharaoh’s case, God’s power was displayed through his DISOBEDIENCE. Does God do that? Yes. He uses the righteous to glorify Him. He uses the wicked to glorify Him. Proverbs 16:4 says, “The LORD works out everything to its proper end, even the wicked for a day of disaster” (NIV).

Now we have to be careful here. Some think that God makes some people wicked, just so He can punish them. That is not what that passage is saying at all. It says that He uses everything, even the wicked. God sometimes uses evil to accomplish his plans.

He does NOT cause people to be evil. God is not the author of sin. Pharaoh had free will. God did not force him to do something or not do something against his will.
God does not CAUSE evil but He USES evil for his own purposes. He uses even bad people to do his will. That seems strange. Pharaoh fulfilled God’s purpose. God used him. This is a paradox. There are many examples of this in Scripture.

God used the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to carry out his purposes. Jeremiah 25 says, “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation” (25:8-9 ESV)

Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king. He was not a believer. God calls him “my servant”. God used Nebuchadnezzar to judge the Jews. He says, “If you do not listen to my servants the prophets, I will send you my servant Nebuchadnezzar”. He conquered the Jews in 586 BC. God used another pagan king named Cyrus.

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me” (45:1-5).

God used Nebuchadnezzar to get the Jews into Babylon. He used Cyrus to get the Jews out of Babylon and bring them back to their homeland. Cyrus was Persian. He was Iranian. He was not a believer. God said two times in Isaiah that Cyrus did not know him but God calls him his messiah, his anointed one. He carried out God’s will. God can use the wicked to carry out his purposes. He used Nebuchadnezzar. He used Cyrus. He even used Hitler. The Jews may not have a homeland today in Israel, if it were not for Hitler.

6. The plagues teach that sin has CONSEQUENCES

Every time Pharaoh disobeyed God, he suffered. When Pharaoh sinned against God, he ends up only hurting himself and those around him. It affected his family. It affected everyone in the country. It affected animals. They started dropping dead. It even affected nature. It caused pollution.

It affected the economy of the country. It caused poverty. We can never expect to disobey God and be better off in the end but that is what we often do. We have a clear word from God about something. The Bible is clear. We do something else because we think we know better. The boils went on both people and animals (9:9).

Sin has consequences and the Day of Judgment is coming. It came for Egypt and it will come for our world as well. Pharaoh did not believe it would come and many today do not either. God means what He says and says what he means. If we do not repent, God’s judgment will fall on us like it did the Egyptians. In fact, those who do not repent will face a judgment far worse than the Egyptians faced.

Let’s Make a Deal

Today, we will be looking at the fourth plague in Exodus 8.  I entitled this section “Let’s Make a Deal”.  I didn’t steal this title from last week’s sermon in church.  It actually comes right out of the text, as we will see.  There are some great lessons for us from the fourth plague that I want to share with you.  First, I want to do a little review.

We have been studying the Ten Plagues.  These plagues began with God calling Moses with a special mission.  His job was to deliver a message TO Pharaoh ABOUT the Jews.  They were slaves in his country and had been slaves for a long time.

Contrary to all of the movies about Moses, he did not ask Pharaoh to instantaneously free all of his Hebrew slaves.  That is a common myth that many people have.  He only asked him to let them leave the country for three days and then they would come back.

They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God” (5:3 NIV).  We usually picture Moses as a great liberator or a freedom fighter.  Most believe that Moses asked Pharaoh to instantly liberate all of the Jews.  All he really asked Pharaoh to do was to let them leave the country for three days to worship their God.  This was a dispute about worship.  It was about religious freedom.

Did God Deceive Pharaoh?

This raises a very interesting question worth thinking about.  Some people say that God deceived Pharaoh here.  Moses tells Pharaoh a completely lie.  He tells Pharaoh that they want to leave Egypt for three days when they really have no intention of ever coming back.  How do you answer that objection?

The answer is that there was no deception here at all.  It was a real request to worship for three days.  God knew the future.  He knew that Pharaoh would say “No”.  He knew that he would eventually kick them out of the country.  God predicted that even before Moses spoke to Pharaoh.  God never hid what the ultimate plan was.   It was not a surprise.  He announced it to Moses in advance.

God told Moses before he went to Egypt, “I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey’ (3:16-17).  He said it again to Moses after he got to Egypt.

Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.

Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord’” (6:6-8).

The request to leave for three days was real.  God just knew that Pharaoh would reject it and he did repeatedly.

Every time Pharaoh rejected the message, God sent a plague on Egypt.  Some of the plagues came with warning and some of them came without any warning.  The first two, the Egyptians could duplicate but the third one was out of their league.  Even the magicians said “This is the finger of God”.  It’s a God thing.  It is clearly supernatural.  They couldn’t compete with it.

The first plague was a plague of blood.  The Nile was turned to blood.  Other water in the land was turned to blood as well.  The second plague was a plague of frogs.  The land was covered with frogs.

The third plague was a plague of gnats or mosquitoes.  We do not know exactly what this plague was.  I did not say this last week but the Hebrew word for “gnats” (kinnim) is ambiguous.  Many Jews believe this was a plague of lice. That was the way Josephus took this in the first century[1].  It was a plague of gnats or lice.  One pastor preached a sermon on this plague entitled “Of Lice and Men” (a play on the title of a famous book written by John Steinbeck).[2]

Today, we will be looking at the fourth plague, as well as Pharaoh’s reaction to this plague, which is interesting.  This was another plague of insects.  This time, it will not be an invasion of gnats or mosquitoes but an invasion of flies.  We do not know what kind of fly.  There are many different kinds.

Pharaoh did not let the Jews go, so the land was filled with flies. This was not one or two but swarms of flies.  “I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them” (8:21). We get upset when we are eating and there is a fly in the room. It drives us crazy.

Flies are not just annoying.  They are also a health hazard.  They carry bacteria and transmit all kinds of diseases.  The Egyptians were big on cleanliness, as we saw last week.  We would not eat at a restaurant if we saw a cockroach crawling across the table.  Flies actually contain “potentially twice as many pathogens as a cockroach”.[3]

This plague came early in the morning.  Pharaoh must have been a morning person.  Moses meets Pharaoh early in the morning (8:20).  It also came with warning.  He warned Pharaoh about the frogs and now he warns him about the flies.  He even said when it will take place.  In Exodus 8:23 he says it will happen “tomorrow”.  He gave Pharaoh twenty-four hours to make a decision.

This plague was SUPERNATURAL.  God says, “If you do not let my people go, I WILL SEND swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them” (8:21).  This will be divine judgment on Pharaoh.  It will be an act of God.

This plague was also SELECTIVE.  “But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.” (8:22-23 NIV)

Moses gave Pharaoh a prophecy.  It was not general, like the Oracle of Delphi.  Herodotus was advised: “If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed”.  This prophecy was not vague.  It was very specific.  It said WHAT would happen (a plague of flies).  He said WHEN it would happen (tomorrow).  He said WHERE it would happen (Egypt).  He said where it would NOT happen (Goshen).  He said WHY it would happen (because Pharaoh would not let the Jews go)

This plague is different from the first three plagues.  He said that it would not affect them at all.  God says this time the plague will only fall on the Egyptians, not the Jews.  The plagues fell on idol worshippers.  They did not fall on the worshippers of the true God and they only fell in one place.  Flies are hard to control.

They seem to fly at random but God was able to control them.  Satan is called “lord of the flies” (what Beelzebub means) but here we see that God is Lord of the Flies.

God put a division between the Jews and the Egyptians (8:23). A division or separation is made in the fourth plague.  The first three plagues affected all of the people in Egypt.  The fourth plague is limited to the Egyptians.  This actually raises a profound question.

Did God Practice Discrimination? 

Discrimination is treating one group of people different from another group of people.  He treated the Hebrews one way and the Egyptians another way.  This is not really a case of discrimination.  It is a case of divine judgment.  God was judging the Egyptians for their idolatry.  If a man commits a crime and receives a life sentence, the judge did not discriminate against that person.

He would give the same sentence to any person who commits the same crime.  God does not always judge pagans.  Sometime, he judges believers who sin.  This is not really discrimination but judgment.  When God sends some to heaven and some to hell on the final judgment day, he is not practicing discrimination.  In fact, the gospel message is a message of salvation for everyone.  Anyone can repent and be saved.

The Bible says that God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11).  He is no respecter of persons.  Acts 10:34 says “So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality” (ESV). What does it mean that God does not show favoritism?

He does not treat people differently because he likes some better than others.  He does not treat people differently because of race or color.  God is not a racist.  God is color blind.  He does not treat black people different from white or brown people.

The Bible does not teach one race is superior to another race.  The Jews were the chosen race and Paul makes perfectly clear in Romans 3 that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners before God.  They both stand before him condemned.  Jews need the gospel message just as much as Gentiles.

God does not treat people differently based on gender or income.  He doesn’t not judge people based on outward appearances.  He looks at people’ heart.  Man judges people based on outward appearances.  We treat a man dressed in riches differently than a man dressed in rags. We think a rich person is more important than a poor person.

Pharaoh’s Four Compromises

The end of the chapter gives us Pharaoh’s responses to this plague. Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron has four proposals for them.  Pharaoh tries a new strategy.  He tries to negotiate with them.  He thinks this is “Let’s Make a Deal’.   He tries to come up with a compromise.  Moses and Aaron want the Jews to leave Egypt.  He wanted them to stay in Egypt, so he wanted to come up with some type of a compromise.

What exactly is a compromise?  It is when two people have a disagreement and they settle it by making concessions.  Both sides give in a little.  Compromise gets a bad rap, especially in church.  Preachers talk about compromisers as evil people.  Are compromises always wrong?  No.  Marriage is all about compromise.  Our constitution was a result of compromise and it has lasted over two hundred years.

When might it be wrong to compromise?  It is wrong if you compromise your values.  It is wrong if you compromise your faith.  It is wrong if compromising involves sin.  It is wrong if you try to compromise with God.  That is what Pharaoh did. God’s Word was clear.  He didn’t like what it said.  He did not want to do what it said, so he wanted to come up with a compromise.  God doesn’t want partial obedience.  He wants complete obedience.

Pharaoh’s compromises are actually temptations.  Satan was one behind the throne in Egypt.  These compromises came right from the pit of hell.  Moses and Aaron rejected each one.  We are faced with these same temptations today in a different form.  Believers today do not always reject them.  I want to look at Pharaoh’s four compromises.  There are four of them.

The First Compromise

Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.”(8:25)

Pharaoh says. “Let’s compromise.  Let’s meet in the middle.”  Pharaoh says they can worship but they must do it in the land.  It is a compromise.  They would get what they wanted (to worship Yahweh) and Pharaoh would get what he wanted (to keep them in Egypt).

In essence, Pharaoh was saying “Go but don’t go”.  It even sounds reasonable.  They get what they want.  They get to worship their God.  Pharaoh did not insist they worship his gods.  They get to worship Yahweh.  They get to do it for three days.  Any place of worship is okay.  They should just be happy that you get to worship at all, in Pharaoh’s mind.  Egypt is a big enough place for all religions.  It is multicultural.

Moses says, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? (8:26).

He says that Pharaoh’s idea will not work.  If they try to sacrifice some animals in Egypt that the Egyptians worship, they will try to kill them.  The Egyptians considered animals sacred.  They took animals to an extreme.  They did not just adore them as pets.  They worshipped animals.  They considered them gods.  Sheep sacrifices were an abomination to Egyptians.

This is a deal offered to every Christian.  What type of temptation is this today?  First, it is a temptation to serve two masters (God and Pharaoh).  It is a temptation to have one hand in the church and one hand in the world.  It leads to lukewarm Christians.  The Hebrews were given the option to serve their God but they had to do it the way Pharaoh told them to do it and where he told them to do it.

Second, it is a temptation to partial obedience.  God already told them to leave Egypt to worship.  It was a COMMAND.  “We MUST go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God AS HE TELLS US” (8:27 ESV).  God does not want partial obedience.  Partial obedience is disobedience.

Partial obedience means we hear what God says and we obey the things we want to obey.  God wants obedience. To obey is better than to sacrifice (I Samuel 15:22). If Moses would have worshiped in Egypt, he would have disobeyed what God told him to do.  God wants all or nothing.

Three, it is a temptation to pluralism.  Yahweh would be put on a level with the gods of Egypt.  He would just be one of many in Egypt’s pantheon of gods.  The temptation is not to be against religion but to insist that all religions are equal.  There is more than one way to worship God.  This is a temptation to pluralism.

The Second Compromise

So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.” (8:28 ESV)

What was the second compromise?  The first one was “Go but don’t go”.  The second one was “Go but don’t go far.”  If he could not keep them IN the land, he wanted to keep them NEAR the land.  He did not want them to go far, so he could bring them back, if he needed to.  This deal is offered to Christians today.

What is this temptation?  This is one of the devil’s most successful temptations today.  It is a temptation to worship but not to be too religious.  A little religion is fine but don’t go off the deep end.  Don’t take your worship to an extreme and become a fanatic or a Jesus Freak.  Don’t go too far.  You can be a Christian but do not make any radical changes to your life.

The Third Compromise

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?” Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence (10:8-11).

The third compromise is this: “Go but leave your family here.” Only the men go.  That would make sure they came back.  Pharaoh says, “Leave the wives and kids back in Egypt.  They do not need to worship.”  Pharaoh first sought to keep them in the land.  Then he tried to keep them near the land.  Now, he tries to keep some of them in the land.

The problem is that God wants everyone to worship.  The church is not to be a club for old people.  Some churches are like that.  There is nothing but old people in the church.  God wants everybody to worship Him.  The devil hates family religion.

This is a temptation to divide families.  It is a temptation to split up the family.  The men go to the wilderness, while the women and kids stay in Egypt.  It is also a temptation for the entire family not to worship God.  You can serve God but leave your children in the world.  Egypt is a type of the world.

Bible says “train up a child in the way he should go.”  It says to bring children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  The world says, “Don’t force religion on your kids.  They will just resent it when they are older.  Let them make up their own mind”.  We force our kids to do all kinds of things.  We force them to go to school or to take a bath but we are not supposed to force them to know about God.  It is the devil’s temptation.

Pharaoh knew that if he retained control over Israel’s families, it didn’t matter what the men did. Satan knows that if has our family, he wins.  That is why the family is so important.

The Fourth Compromise

Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” (10:24 ESV).  This was Pharaoh’s last compromise. Go but leave the animals.  That would guarantee they came back, if their possessions were left behind.

What is the fourth temptation?  Give yourselves to God but do not consecrate your possessions to His service. The Jews needed to take their animals with them in the wilderness to worship.  It was part of their worship, so they could not leave them behind.  As C.H. Macintosh put it, “If he could not induce them to sacrifice in the land, he would send them out of the land without sacrifices.”[4]

Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” (10:25-26)


[1] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 2:14:3.

[2] http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=527150353310

[3] http://phys.org/news/2010-08-uf-house-flies-illness-causing-bacteria.html

[4] C. H. Macintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch, 182.

Are We Like Pharaoh?

We have been studying the Ten Plagues in the book of Exodus.  Last week, we looked at two chapters.  Today, I want to study only nineteen verses.We are going to look at the second and third of the Egyptian plagues today.  It was a plague of frogs and a plague of gnats.

At this stage of their history, the Jews are in Egypt and they are slaves.  They have been in Egypt for four hundred years and have been slaves for at least eighty years.  God called Moses and gave him a message of good news.  It was a gospel message of deliverance to slaves.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh for the first time and delivered the message “Thus says the Lord, Let My people go that they may worship”.  Pharaoh said No. Pharaoh sees them not only as slaves but old slaves.  Both were in their eighties. Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” (5:3).

They went back a second time and delivered the same message.  Pharaoh asked for proof of their message and he got it.  Aaron performed a genuine miracle right before his eyes.  A staff turned into a snake but Pharaoh was not convinced. Instead of turning to God, he turned to his magicians who did the exact same miracle.

Pharaoh thought anything these two senior citizens could do, the Egyptians can do better.  He looked at Moses and Aaron as just magicians.  He believed that he had better magicians than these Moses and Aaron.  The problem is that Aaron’s snakes ate up the magician’s snakes.  There was no question which side was stronger and had more power.

Pharaoh resisted God, so He did some things to get his attention. First, he turned the Nile River into blood.  That was a big deal to the Egyptians.  They needed water to drink and to bathe.  The Egyptians were fanatical about cleanliness.  Most of their clothing was white.[1]  Second, He sent a plague of frogs on Egypt.  It was similar to the last plague.  Both of these plagues had to do with the river.  These frogs came out of the river (8:3).

Second Plague – Frogs

This time they are actually called “a plague” (8:2).  It involved an invasion of frogs.  Pharaoh had a frog problem.  It was not an accident or an act of nature.  It was an act of God.  It was divine judgment. Why frogs?  Why did God send frogs on the land?

The Egyptians worshiped frogs.  We think of frogs as slimy amphibians.  To the ancient Egyptians, frogs represented a god.  They were sacred animals.  The Egyptians worshiped a god named Heqet.  It was symbolized by a frog. Each one of these Egyptian plagues is a judgment on a false god.

One of the main reasons of the plagues was to judge idolatry.  God says in Exodus 12:12 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord” (ESV).  These plagues were not just a judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians, they were a judgment on the gods of Egypt.

Each one of these plagues was a judgment on a different god of Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped the Nile, so God sent a plague involving the Nile.  It was not just a judgment on the Nile but on the pagan god of the Nile.  The Egyptians worshiped frogs, so God sent a plague involving frogs.

Heqet was the Egyptian froggoddess, a goddess of childbirth and fertility in Ancient Egypt. She was depicted as a woman with the head of a frog.  This god was half woman and half frog.

Thus was a strange plague.  Ordinary Frogs can’t hurt you.  They can’t kill you.  There are some toxic frogs in the South America but ordinary frogs do not pose a threat to humans.  They are gentle creatures.  Frogs are harmless. They don’t bite people.  They do not even have teeth. They can even be beneficial.  They eat insects.  They eat flies.  They use their long sticky tongue to catch insects.

How can this be a plague?  Too much of a good thing can be bad.  A little bit of candy can be good but, if you eat too much of it, you can get a stomach ache.  Proverbs 25:27 says, “It is not good to eat much honey.”  Honey is the biblical sugar.

The Bible has a lot to say about excess.  Ephesians 5:18 says, “And be not drunk with wine, in which there is excess, but be filled with the Spirit” Proverbs says, “For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty” (NKJV)Frogs in moderation are a good thing.  Too many frogs are a bad thing.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’” (8:1-4).

This plague sent swarms of frogs.  It produced a river of frogs. Everyone had to deal with them.  Poor people had to deal with these frogs and so did the rich.  Government officials had a frog problem and so did the servants (8:3 ESV).  There were frogs everywhere all over the land.  There were big frogs with ugly bulging eyes and cute little baby frogs.

The Egyptians found frogs in their bed. They got into bed and pulled the sheets back and a few frogs would jump out. They had frogs in their clothes.  They would get up in the morning, put their shoes on and find frogs in their shoes.  They went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and heard a crunching noise.  They stepped on a frog.

Mothers went into the kitchen, opened the oven and some frogs jump out.  They had frogs in their bed and frogs in their bread.  Pharaoh had them in the palace. They were in the palace and ion the pantry.  In fact Pharaoh had them in his bedroom (8:3).  Pharaoh lay down to take a nap and found a few frogs in his bed.  Psalm 105:30 says, “Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers” (NIV).

Frogs make a very loud noise, especially when a bunch of them are croaking at the same time.  They can keep you up at night.  These frogs did not hurt the Egyptians physically but nearly drove them insane.  These pests were a big nuisance.

This has to be one of the funniest miracles in the Bible or one of the funniest judgments in the Bible.  God did not have to send some bears or lions to attack the Egyptians.  He just sent some frogs, a lot of them. The Egyptians were the most powerful nation on the planet at that time.

They were advanced technologically.  They built the pyramids but they had absolutely no way to stop these frogs.  God uses small things to humble the proud.  He used some frogs to humble the most powerful man on earth at that time.

This plague was different than the first one.  God said, “If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country” (8:2).  Pharaoh was given a warning of what would happen with this plague.  He had no warning with the first plague.  The warning did absolutely no good.  Pharaoh’s heart was hard.

So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt (8:6-7).

Once again, Aaron does his miracle and the Egyptians magicians duplicate it.  They do not reverse it; they duplicate it.  This is kind of humorous.  They wanted to show how powerful they were, so they did they same thing.  The problem was that by making more frogs, they only made things worse, not better.  They are adding to the judgment.  God gets the last laugh here.

Then, something amazing happens.  Exodus 8:8 says, ““Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”  It looks like Pharaoh’s heart is softening.  He actually calls for Moses and Aaron.  He shares some prayer requests with them.  When they come, he asks them to pray for him and he promises to let the Jews go.  Pharaoh makes a concession.

Moses says, “Great.  When do you want the frogs to leave?”  Pharaoh says, “tomorrow” (8:10).  Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”  (8:10-11).

What happened next?  The next day the frogs all dropped dead.  There were dead frogs everywhere piled in heads and they stank (8:14).  It showed that this was not a natural occurrence.  They did not die off gradually. Exodus 8:15 says, “When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said” (ESV).

People Like Pharaoh Today

As we look at this plague, I want us to think about the character of Pharaoh. The question worth thinking about is this:  Are we like Pharaoh?  There are many ways we are not like him but you might be surprised how much you are like in in some ways.  Let’s take the Pharaoh Test to find the answer. How we answer these five questions will indicate the answer.

1) Are we hardened to the things of God?

Some people are completely hard to spiritual things.  They are hard to God.  They are hard to the Bible.  They are completely hard to the gospel.  They are hard to the church.  They do not want anything to do with Christians. Pharaoh’s heart was also hard (7:13-14).

The Bible tells us not to harden our hearts.  Hebrews 3:13 says “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “TODAY,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (ESV).  James MacDonald calls hardening your heart “the most serious sin in the Bible”[2]

It is a serious sin because people who harden themselves against the work of the Holy Spirit can go from not repenting to not being able to repent.  The Bible says that it is impossible for some people to repent (Hebrews 6:4-5).  It is not just difficult, it is impossible.  Some people can be hardened beyond repentance.

Pharaoh hardened his heart to GOD’S PROPHET (message).  He hardened his heart to GOD’S POWER (miracle) and he hardened his heart to GOD’S PUNISHMENT (plague).  Pharaoh’s own magicians told him “This is the finger of God” but he hardened his heart.  His own advisers told him this but it made no difference.

Pharaoh had the Word of God preached to him.  He had the signs of God performed right before his very eyes and he experienced one of God’s plagues on his whole nation. This plague lasted seven days but he still hardened his heart.  That is like a boy who does something wrong and gets spanked by his parents.  He gets the pudding beat out of him.  The next day he does the same thing.

The Bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  Pharaoh fell into the hands of the living God and it didn’t change him.  We will see the same thing in the Book of Revelation.  When terrible plagues fall of the wicked in the future Tribulation period, people will not repent either (Revelation 9:20-21).  They will harden their heart, like Pharaoh did. How did Pharaoh harden his heart?

First, he hardened his heart in UNBELIEF.  He saw clear evidence of the work of God right in front of his eyes.  He witnessed a powerful miracle which he could not deny but still did not believe.  Some Jews in the NT hardened their hearts in a similar way any may have committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

They saw Jesus perform stupendous miracles right before their eyes which were completely undeniable.  They did not just reject Christ.  They slandered Him.  They slandered not only his words but his works which were wrought in the power of the Holy Spirit.  This did not come from people who were genuinely seeking the truth.  They hated Christ and wanted to kill him.

Second, he hardened his heart in DEFIANCE.  Pharaoh refused to do what God was asking him to do.  That was Pharaoh.  He was stubborn.  He was pig-headed.  He was completely inflexible.  He refused to budge.  He was unwilling to change or to do what God told him to do. You might know some people like this.

2) Do we like to procrastinate?

That may describe many of us.  We like to delay things and put them off.  Pharaoh was a procrastinator.  Moses asked him when he wanted the frogs to stop and he said “tomorrow”.  Why not today?  Why not now?  It made absolutely no sense.

Maybe he didn’t mind sleeping with the frogs one more night.  Maybe he did not mind having frogs in his bed and in his food.  It is like the person who says “I will become a Christian and turn my life over to God tomorrow but not today.  I want to spend one more day living in sin”.

Are we procrastinators?  Paul says that we are to make the most of our time (Ephesians 5:16).  There are other verses that talk about planning for the future. Proverbs mentions the ant that stores its provisions in the summer and gathers its harvest in the fall (6:6-8)

3) Are we double-minded?

Pharaoh was double minded. The Bible says that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).  What is a double-minded person?  It is someone who cannot make up their mind.  They are indecisive.  They have trouble making a decision.  They say one thing and then change their mind.  They are moving in two different directions.  They serve two different masters.  Does this describe us?

Pharaoh said that he was on board with Moses’ plan and the next day he was not.  He changed his mind.  This was something he did often.  It was part of his nature.  Even after he let the Jews finally go, he changed his mind and went after them.  There are many people like that today.  They blow with the wind.  They are fickle.

4) Are we control freaks?

Pharaoh was not only double-minded, he was domineering.  He was a control freak.  He had to be the one in charge.  He had to be the one who gave the orders.  He was too proud to take orders from a bunch of slaves.  He felt the need to control all of these slaves.  Control freaks have a fear of losing control.  They are obsessed with dominating and controlling others.  Letting go is the hardest thing for a control freak to do.  Are we control freaks?

5) Do we use deception with people?

Pharaoh was not only double-minded and domineering, he was deceitful.  Deception was part of his nature.  He tricked Moses and Aaron.  He told them that if they prayed for him and if God removed the plague, he would let the Jews go. He didn’t.  He lied. Moses did what he said he would do.  He prayed for Pharaoh.  He prayed for his enemy.  God kept his promise.  He killed all of the frogs but Pharaoh did not keep his end of the bargain.

How many of us make promises to people that we don’t keep. We may make promises to God that we never keep.  We tell God if He gets us out of a particular situation, we will do something for him and then we promptly forget when it is all over.

The Bible has a lot to say about deceit.  One of the seven things that God hates is a lying tongue (Proverbs 6:16).  The unsaved are described as people who use their tongues to deceive. The poison of vipers is on their lips” (Romans 3:13).  After we come to faith, we are to put away put “all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (I Peter 2:1).

Why didn’t Pharaoh keep his promise?  He wanted to end the plague but he didn’t want to repent.  He wanted to escape God’s judgment but he didn’t want to repent.  He was just sorry for the trouble it caused him.  Some people want to become Christians.

They want assurance that they are not going to hell.  They want fire insurance but they are not about to make any changes to their life.  Since Pharaoh did not keep his promise, God had to send another plague and this one had no warning.

Third Plague – Gnats

The next plague involves insects.  This was an invasion of insects.  It’s a plague of gnats or mosquitoes or some type of flying insect.  There are a bunch of gnats in Egypt.  It was not one or two of them.  It was like a cloud of them.  There were swarms of them.  God controlled these insects and their gods were helpless to do anything about it.

This one did NOT come out of the river (like the first two plagues) but out of dust. When Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats (8:17).

It hurt animals as well as people (8:17).  This time we are told that the magicians could NOT duplicate the miracle.  They were able to turn rods into snakes (7:11-12).  They were able to turn water into blood (7:20-22).  They were able to cause frogs to multiply (8:7) but they could not do this and they said “This is the finger of God” (8:19).

Insight of the Magicians

That is very significant. These magicians were more perceptive than Pharaoh.  The magicians saw something that Pharaoh did not see.  When this plague fell, they immediately realized two things.  First, they immediately realized that the power of God is in these plagues.  There was no denying that this was an act of God.  It was divine intervention. They said “This is the finger of God.”

This is a biblical idiom.  Jesus cast out demons by the finger of God (Luke 11:20).  God does not have a literal finger.  He doesn’t have a literal hand.  God is a spirit.  He doesn’t have a body.  If something is done by the finger of God, it is powerful. What does that tell you about God.  He is so powerful, He can do things with His little finger.  he doesn’t even need to use his whole hand.

These magicians realized that this plague was powerful.  It was clearly supernatural.  It was an act of God.  It is visible.  Everyone can see it.  It is also undeniable and it was unique.  No one could duplicate it. These magicians also realized something else. They realized that God’s power was greater than their power, because this was something that they could not do.

It was a power greater than they could conjure up. God has now taken away Pharaoh’s excuse.  His excuse before was “My magicians can do the same thing.  There is nothing special about your miracles”.  Now they can’t compete with Moses.  Pharaoh is completely without excuse.  He has no reason not to comply with the request by Moses and Aaron.  Next week, we will look at the rest of Exodus 8.

 


[1] http://www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/ancient-egyptian-culture/ancient-egyptian-life/ancient-egyptian-clothes

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFeAyZJMbKk

 

A River of Blood

Last week, we looked at the opening of Exodus 6. We will be covering two chapters today. It is a very important section. Exodus 7 describes the first plague. Moses went to Pharaoh and asked him to let the Hebrews go. Pharaoh said that he didn’t know who God was. Pharaoh is about to be shown who the Lord is in a visible way by a series of plagues.

These plagues preached. There was a sermon in each plague. These plagues preached two sermons. They preached the power of God. They demonstrate God’s absolute power over nature. They also preach the punishment of God. These plagues were not just natural or ecological disasters; they were judgments of God for sin. They were not just judgments on Pharaoh for his sins. All of Egypt suffered because of Pharaoh’s sins. These were national sins.

This is fascinating. Both Moses and Aaron performs miracles in Exodus 7. Before we look at it, I want to say a few things about Exodus 6. Exodus 6 has a genealogy. It takes up almost half of the chapter. Everyone’s eyes glaze over when they read a genealogy with a bunch of names they cannot pronounce. Right in the middle of the story when the suspense is building, we find a genealogy of Moses and Aaron.

This genealogy is actually important. Many regard this whole story as myth. Liberals say the Exodus never happened. As far as they are concerned, Moses and Aaron never existed. A book was written in 2014 entitled, Did Moses Exist?: the Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver. This genealogy places Moses and Aaron in history. They were real people who had real ancestors. I just want to make a few basic observations about this genealogy.

What do we learn about Moses and Aaron from this genealogy? They are both Levites. Moses and Aaron come from the priestly tribe. What do we know about Levi? He was violent. His sister was raped in Genesis 34, so Levi and his brother massacred the whole town. They wiped them out. It was overkill. Now God is bringing good out of that tribe. He used both Moses and Aaron to bring the Jews out of Egypt and Aaron became the first high priest.

There is something else interesting in this genealogy. It has two women in them and that was rare for a biblical genealogy.  This one has not one but two women in it (Jochobed and Elisheba). We are told the name of Aaron’s wife in this genealogy. Her name was Elisheba. We knew the name of Moses’ wife and now we know the name of Aaron’s wife (Elisheba) in Exodus 6:23.

Moses’ wife was named Zipporah. Zipporah is the feminine form of Zippor (cf. Numbers 22:4), like Paul and Paula or Eric and Erica. It means means “bird”. Moses was married to “Lady Bird”. Aaron was married to Elisheba (which is the Hebrew form of Elizabeth).

She is not only the wife of the high priest, she is also the mother of a high priest (Eleazar). She is one of only six women mentioned by name in Exodus (Shiphrah, Puah, Zipporah, Elisheba, Miriam and Jochebed).

Last week, we looked at the Gospel of Exodus. God gave Moses a message to give to the Jews. It was seven things that He promised to do for them. There were seven I wills in this gospel. God did not tell them what he wanted them to do for Him. He told them seven things that He was going to do for them. Moses delivered the message. The response he received was disappointing.

“Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor” (6:9 NIV).

Moses is all encouraged. God just spoke to him and gave him this great revelation. He shares it with his people. Moses brought them good news. He brought a message of hope but they could not hear a word of it because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. All they can see is their problems.

The message was too good to be true. They believed him before and their burdens only increased. They had been burned too many times and lost all hope. Proverbs 18:14 says, “The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” (NIV)

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life” (NLT).  Proverbs 25:20 says, “Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda

When Moses gets that reaction, now he is discouraged and doesn’t want to continue with his mission. Now Moses had his eyes on his own problems and not on God. He basically says to God, “I told you so”. Moses was a proven failure. He tried things his way and it didn’t work. He tried things God’s way and that did not work either. The last thing he wants to do now is to go back to Pharaoh when he cannot even get his own people on board with the mission

God answers Moses in Exodus 7. I am just going to summarize what the chapter says. God says five things to Moses and Aaron in Exodus 7.

1. Moses and Aaron MUST speak to Pharaoh
2. Egypt will be hit by a series of plagues
3. Pharaoh will not be receptive to their message
4. God will bring the Jews out of Egypt
5. The Egyptians will know who the Lord is in the end

Let’s look at some of these points. God says they must speak to Pharaoh again. It was not optional. It was a command (7:2). The message they were to speak was the same message. They were not supposed to change the message, since Pharaoh already rejected it and say it in a different way. They were to go back and tell him the same thing.

When they go back to Pharaoh, God says something interesting. He says that Moses will be like God to Pharaoh and Aaron shall be his prophet (7:1). That is strange. Is Moses a god? Here a mortal man is called “God”. Moses is called elohim in Hebrew. In fact, Moses is called “God” twice in Exodus. Exodus 4:16 says “He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him” (ESV).

Jehovah’s Witnesses love passages like this. They argue that if people are called God in the Bible, it is no big deal if Jesus is called God in the NT. The KJV says “I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.” All modern translations read, “I have made you LIKE God to Pharaoh” (NIV, ESV, NCV) or “I have made you AS God to Pharaoh” (ASV, NASB, NJB). This is a metaphor or a simile. It is figurative language.

There is a huge difference between saying that Moses is like God and saying that Moses IS God. Moses functioned LIKE God TO Pharaoh and he also functioned LIKE God to Aaron. Moses says everything God says, and Aaron says everything that Moses says.

God Alex says Pharaoh will NOT be receptive. He says, “Even though you speak to him, he is not going to listen and even though I multiplies signs and wonders in the land, he will not listen” (7:3). God knew this in advance and told Moses. The outcome was predicted in advance. God gave Pharaoh free will. He did not force Pharaoh to do something that he did not want to do. Pharaoh was hard-headed. He was stubborn. He was arrogant.

Pharaoh was the most powerful man in the world at that time. He was a totalitarian dictator. He even thought he was a god. He was also stubborn. This proud pagan king set his will against God’s will. He said that he would not let God’s people go no matter what. He was a dictator. He had all the power. He said, “I don’t have to let them go and I am not going to let them go”.

God has a way of getting our attention when we do not listen to him. God sent some plagues on Egypt. When one did not do the job, He sent ten. God is able to humble the proud. He humbled Nebuchadnezzar and he humbled Pharaoh. Luke 14:11 says, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (NIV). Pharaoh is about to be humbled.

The First Plague

Moses and Aaron get enough courage to go back to Pharaoh a second time. This time he asked for a sign. He asked for a sign and he got one. They did not do a miracle the last time they saw him. Perhaps they did not have a chance.

Was it wrong for Pharaoh to ask for a sign? No. Anyone could say that God appeared to them told them something. There is no shortage of nutjobs who tell them that God told them to do all kinds of crazy things. What is the proof? God does not appear to people in burning bushes every day. It was a rare occurrence.

Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent (7:10 ESV). Why did it turn into a serpent (tannin)? Pharaoh wore a snake on his headset. The image of a deadly cobra ready to strike was a royal symbol. It was a symbol of Pharaoh’s divine authority in ancient Egypt.

Aaron is the one who performs the miracle. It was a real miracle. There is no natural explanation for this. It went from dead wood to a live snake. That cannot be explained by natural laws. Sticks do not naturally become snakes.

When Pharaoh saw it, he did not turn to God; he turned to his wise men. He called in his experts, the professionals. There are many people who ask you for proof of something and they still do not believe. You could give them all kinds of verses that say that Jesus is God but they still will not believe. The problem is not the evidence. The problem is their heart. They are not open to receive the evidence. Pharaoh wasn’t open.

Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs (7:11-12). Pharaoh’s magicians were able to do exactly what Moses did.

How were they able to do this? How were they able to duplicate a divine miracle? Was this just an illusion? Was it magic or was it a real miracle? I believe what they did was a real miracle. The Bible teaches that Satan can perform miracles.

Matthew 24:24 says, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform GREAT SIGNS AND WONDERS, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (ESV). II Thessalonians 2:9 talks about the Antichrist. It says, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and FALSE SIGNS AND WONDERS” (ESV).

What is going on here? I want you to think about this encounter with Pharaoh in a way in which you never have before. This was not just a contest between Moses and Pharaoh or Moses and the magicians. This was a battle between God and Satan. We need to look at this event from, a spiritual perspective.

Moses and Aaron were servants of God. They represented God. They spoke for God. They performed incredible miracles in God’s power. Pharaoh served Satan. He opposed God. He rejected God’s word, resisted his servants and enslaved his people. He worshiped idols. The Devil was in Egypt and was ruling Egypt. He was the one behind Pharaoh’s throne, as Donald Grey Barnhouse noted. How do we know? Satan is involved in two specific activities.

First, Satan is directly involved in idolatry. It is satanically motivated. “What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (I Corinthians 10:19-21).

Food offered to idols goes directly to demons. Wherever you see idolatry and false religion, you see demons at work. The Apostle Paul even talks about “doctrines of demons” (I Timothy 4:1). Egypt was a land full of idolatry. The Egyptians worshiped as many as two thousand gods and goddess. The land was full of pagan temples.

Second, Satan is directly involved in the persecution of God’s people. That is an activity that is also satanically motivated. The place of organized persecution is where Satan’s throne is located (Revelation 2:13). Pharaoh was the first person in history to try to commit genocide.

He committed not only murder but mass murder, state sanctioned murder and it was directed at the chosen people, God’s people. This policy came right from the put of Hell. Satan wanted to destroy the Jews because, if he could do that, Jesus would not be born and God would not be able to keep his promises.

Pharaoh’s magicians could duplicate the first miracle and turn a stick into a snake but there was no doubt which side was stronger. Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staff (7:12). His serpents ate up their serpents. It was no contest.

The Bloody River

Moses strikes the Nile with his staff, turning it to blood. Aaron stretches his staff over the rest of the waters in Egypt, turning them to blood (7:19). Did the Nile turn into literal blood? We do not know. It may have turned into literal blood or it may have turned into something that looked like blood.

The Bible does use phenomenological language. It often describes things as they appear, rather than as they are. It mentions the sun rising and setting. The Bible talks about the moon turning into blood (Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20). That does not mean that it will turn into literal blood but that it will look red in color.

Jesus turned water into wine. Aaron here turned water into blood. The Nile became a bloody river. That affected the water supply of Egypt. People did not have access to clean water to drink. The water was contaminated. It was polluted. The fish died, which affected the economy of Egypt, because they ate a lot of fish. There were no more fish sandwiches. The Nile was the backbone of the economy of Egypt. The people were totally dependent on it for their water and crops.

Now the fish are all dead and the river stank (7:21). There was blood everywhere. There was blood in the sink, the faucet, the bathtub and the river. Most people look at this plague as just an inconvenience. It is more than an inconvenience. Water is indispensable for life. A person can’t survive for more than a few days without water. This went on for seven days (7:25).

It went far beyond blood in the Nile. It says that there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone (7:19). The idea here is that the people who brought jugs of water back to the house the day before ended up with jugs full of blood.

This was a real miracle and there were witnesses to it. He did it right in front of Pharaoh and his servants (7:20). He told them why this was happening. “By this you shall KNOW that I am the Lord” (7:17).

Skeptics try to explain this miracle away. Some have suggested that this was actually toxic red algae called “red tide” that made the water look red and killed the fish. The problem is that this does not fit what the text says. It only happened after Aaron struck the water with his staff. It mentions that three times of a staff striking the water (7:17, 20, 25).

That is what activated the plague. In fact, it does not just say that Moses struck the Nile, it says that God struck the Nile (7:25). It didn’t happen naturally. It also does not explain how blood got into the wood and stone containers (7:19). How did it get into the wooden buckets and stone jars that stood inside their house? The skeptics have no answer to that question.

Why did God do this? It was a judgment on both Pharaoh and on the Egyptians. If you go back to Exodus 1, you see Pharaoh ordering people to throw babies into this river. It was a river full of hungry crocodiles. Now God turns that river into blood. Pharaoh was a blood-thirsty dictator. Now Pharaoh reaps what he has sown. This river symbolizes the blood of the Hebrews.

It was also a judgment on the Egyptians. They worshiped it. They sang hymns to the Nile. The Nile was considered a sacred river. It was considered holy. Many gods were associated with the Nile (Khnum, Hapi, Osiris). This was also a judgment on idolatry. God said, “on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord” (12:12).

Lessons from a Plague

Lesson on God

We learn that God is faithful. He keeps his promises. He made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is keeping them.

We learn that God is sovereign. He tells Moses and Aaron what to do. He tells Pharaoh what to do. There is a king above the king of Egypt. He is the ultimate ruler in the universe.

We learn that God is powerful. All power belongs to Him. He is omnipotent. Here we see God has complete power over nature.

We learn that God is holy. He judges sin. He judges pride. He judges idolatry. He judges sin in individuals. He judges sin in nations.

We learn that God is fair. God gave Pharaoh two chances before sending the first plague. He even gave Pharaoh a sign, so he had no excuse.

Lesson on False Religion

It doesn’t satisfy people’s needs. Yahweh just turned this Egyptian god to blood. It’s God’s way of saying “Your religion stinks”. To them, the Nile was not just a river, it was a god but the Nile couldn’t satisfy man’s basic needs. Jesus said, “If anyone’s thirsty, let them come to me and drink out of this innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”

Lesson on Miracles

Miracles have some value but there is a limit to what miracles can do. Aaron performed a genuine miracle right before Pharaoh’s eyes and it did absolutely nothing. He did not deny that it took place but he refused to let the Jews go after seeing it.

The miracles of Jesus did not convince the Pharisees. What is the lesson? Miracles do not change people’s hearts. Only God can do that. Only God can turn a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Even an incredible miracle will not change a hard heart.

We also see from this story that miracles can be duplicated. Satan can perform miracles (false signs). They can be done by the power of God and also by the power of Satan. Before you get excited about seeing a miracle, you have to decide where it came from.

We also learn from this chapter that there is a limit to the power that Satan has. He is like a dog on a leash. He can only do what God allows him to do. He has no power to remove or reverse God’s judgments. The magicians could turn more water into blood but they could not turn blood back into water.

 

The Gospel According to Moses

Last week we looked at the beginning of Moses’ ministry. It was a ministry that was ordained of the Lord.  He received a clear call to this ministry.  It was a supernatural call.  It was a ministry that he did not even begin until he was eighty.

It was a ministry that he did not do alone.  He did it with his brother.  It was a ministry that involves miracles.  Moses and Aaron were the first miracle workers in the Bible.

Last week, we saw what happened when their ministry began in Exodus 5.  They fell right on their face.  What happened to Moses in Exodus 5 many of us can relate to.  We have all been there.

Everything seemed to go wrong for Moses.  Pharaoh rejected their request.  He said that he did not know their God and would not let the Jews go.  He also called them lazy and punished them for even asking.  Their work load got harder.

They were forced to make bricks without straw.  They were given an impossible job.  People scattered all over Egypt looking for stubble to use for straw (5:13).  When they did not get the job done, the Egyptians beat the supervisors (5:14).  The supervisors tried to reason with Pharaoh but got nowhere.  He just called them lazy (5:17).

Then, the supervisors came after Moses and Aaron.  “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us” (5:21 ESV).   They said, “Not only are we getting beat because of you.  We may lose our life because of you.  The Lord judge you for what you have done.”  They thought God was actually on their side.

They did what God told them to do and now they are criticized for doing it by God’s people.  It was one of the darkest days in Moses’ life.  Moses and Aaron were devastated.  They were discouraged.  They were broken.  Moses became a man without hope.

Moses was a believer.  Believers get discouraged.  Have you ever been discouraged?  Have you ever felt so discouraged, you just want to give up?  Have you ever wanted to quit a ministry?  Moses felt that way.  Why was Moses so discouraged?  He was discouraged for three basic reasons.

One, Obedience made things worse.

Moses submitted to God’s will.  He accepted and obeyed God’s call for his life. He did exactly what God told him to do, even though he did not want to and gave God ten reasons why it would be a bad idea. He went to Egypt.  He obeyed the Lord.  He went to Pharaoh said “Let my people go.”  He even said “please” (5:3) but things got worse, not better.

Obedience made things worse, not better.  Moses did things God’s way, not his way and things got worse. The lives of the Jews did not get easier but harder.  They now had to make bricks without straw and it was all because of Moses.  Moses made the situation worse. That was not his intention.  He came to help his people, not hurt them but he make their lives worse.

They were already in a bad situation to begin with and then they got worse because of Moses.  Have you ever had a day that started out bad and only got worse?  That is what happened here.  In Moses’ mind, he is thinking, “I tried serving God but it didn’t work.  It only hurt people.”

Two, God seemed to fail Moses.

God did not come through for him.  God had not kept his promise.  He had not delivered the Jews.  In Moses’ mind, there was a discrepancy between what God promised and what has actually happened.

There seems to be a discrepancy between God’s PROMISE and His PROVIDENCE.  Moses could not reconcile the two.  Abraham had a similar problem.  God promised him many descendants.  That was what the promise said but the reality was his wife was infertile.  The promise seemed to contradict providence.

Three, Moses was a complete failure.

He did not convince Pharaoh.  He could not even convince his own people. If you are a successful leader, you have accomplished some things and you have to have some followers.  Moses had neither.  He got nothing accomplished through Pharaoh and no one was following him.

In fact, the sheep came after Aaron and Moses.  One pastor preached a sermon from Exodus 5 preached entitled “Sometimes Sheep Bite.”[1] That is one of the reasons many pastors leave the ministry.

That was what happened here.  Moses and Aaron were criticized, not just by the common people but by the Jewish leaders, the overseers.  The criticism was harsh.  This was not constructive criticism.  It was destructive criticism.  Part of it was even true.  Moses did make the Jews stink in the eyes of Pharaoh.

Criticism is hard to take.  There are a lot of different ways Moses could have responded to this criticism.  He did NOT ignore the criticism.  He took it seriously.  He did NOT blame others for his actions.  He did NOT try to defend himself.  That is a common reaction.

That is what we usually do.  He also did NOT try to escape the problem.  He could have.  He could have quit and gone back to Midian to be with his wife and kids.  Forty years earlier, he ran when there was a problem.  This time he ran but he did not run from his problems. He ran to God.

Notice how Moses responded to this criticism. Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all” (5:22-23 ESV).

The Jews did not cry out to God.  They negotiated with Pharaoh and criticized Moses.  Moses went to God and that is what he should have done.  It is what we should do when we have problems.

Moses did what Hannah did.  I Samuel 1 begins with the story of Elkanah and his two wives.  Elkanah was the father of Samuel, the prophet and last judge of Israel.  He had two wives.  One could have children and one could not.

The one who had children taunted Hannah and made fun of her because the LORD had kept her from having children” (I Samuel 1:6 NLT) and the text says that she did this for years (I Samuel 1:7).  The Bible says that she was deeply distressed.  She wept bitterly and prayed to the Lord (I Samuel 1:10) and wept bitterly and God answered that prayer.

When Moses was criticized, he went to God and asked God two questions.  “O Lord, why have YOU done EVIL to this people? WHY did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have NOT delivered your people AT ALL” (5:22-23 ESV).

Was Moses right to say this?  Moses accuses God of evil. That raises a very interesting question.  Was this blasphemous?  The Jews blamed Moses and Moses turned around and blamed God.  He says that God did not keep his word.

Is it Wrong to Question God?

Some would say that it is wrong to do.  Others would say it is not wrong to do.  What is the truth?  People in the Bible did this all of the time. Habakkuk 1:2 says “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” (ESV). “How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? (Psalm 13:1-2 NIV).

There is, however, a difference between sincerely asking God questions and accusing God of wrongdoing.  Questioning is NOT the same as challenging.  There is a big difference.  It is one thing to ask an honest question, because you seek an answer.  You want to find out the truth.  If you are challenging, you already have an answer and are not seeking to learn but to accuse.

What Moses did was not wrong.  Moses was NOT complaining ABOUT God.  He is complaining TO God (5:22-23).  He prays about his problem. Moses was disappointed with God.  God wants us to be honest before him.  He wants us to be completely transparent and open up our hearts to him.  He wants us to cast all of our cares and worries before him.  He wants us to lay all of our frustrations before him.  He wants us to come boldly before the throne of grace.

What was God’s response to Moses?  This is interesting.  He did not criticize Moses for what he said.  He didn’t say, “How dare you question Me, the great I AM.”  God was patient with Moses.  Psalm 103:14 says, “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”  God did not rebuke him for questioning Him.

He also did not answer any of his questions.  God ignored everything he said but comforts him in the next chapter.  How does God comfort Moses?  He saysNow you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.” (6:1 NIV).  God says, “Now you will see WHAT I WILL DO” (not “what you or Aaron will do”).

God says, “Don’t worry Moses. You are asking to leave for three days.  You are going to get to leave permanently. Not only will Pharaoh let the Jews leave Egypt, he will drive them out. When I am through with him, he will force them out.  He will not want them to stay.” God comforts Moses by reaffirming his covenant with him.

“God spoke to Moses and said to him, ‘I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. (6:2-4 ESV).  Exodus 6:3 is one of the hardest passages in the whole book.

Does the Bible Contradict Itself? 

As Christians, we believe that the Bible does not contradict itself.  Jesus said “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17).  Paul said that “all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable” (II Timothy 3:16).  He also said that God CANNOT lie (Titus 1:2) but Exodus 6:3 is a bit of a problem. Exodus 6:3 says, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by my name the LORD (Yahweh) I did NOT make myself known to them.

That passage says very clearly that people did not know the name Yahweh before the time of Moses.  Moses got a new revelation of God.  The Patriarchs did not know this name but when we turn to Genesis we find that Abraham knew this name.  Abraham called on the name of Yahweh (Genesis 13:4).

In Genesis 15:7, God says to Abraham, “I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (Genesis 15:7).  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob each used the name Yahweh (Genesis 12:8; 26:22; 32:10).

In fact, not only was the name Yahweh known before the time of Moses.  It was known before the Flood.  Eve said “With the help of Yahweh, I have brought forth a man” (Genesis 4:1). Genesis 4:26 says, “at that time, people began to call upon the name of Yahweh”.

It looks on the surface to be a direct contradiction.  One book of the Bible says that the name Yahweh was NOT used before the time of Moses and one book of the Bible says very clearly that it was used.  How do we answer that objection?  Does the Bible contradict itself?

No. The verb יָדַע (yada’) means more than just to know something, it means to experience something.  That is clear from the context.  Exodus 6:7 says, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall KNOW that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (NIV).

Did the Jews know that God was Yahweh before the Exodus?  Yes.  Moses told them that the Lord appeared to him.  After the Exodus, they knew Him by experience as the covenant keeping God.  That name took on new meaning.

Exodus 6:3 in the NIV saysby my name the Lord I did not make myself FULLY KNOWN to them.”  They knew the name but did not understand the full meaning of it.  Moses received a greater revelation of what that name means.

Abraham experienced the power of God first hand.  He saw him answer his prayers.  He witnessed the incredible power of God at work.  Yahweh is the covenant name for God.  It is the name of the God who keeps his covenant.  He never saw God deliver His people in fulfillment of the covenant He made with them.

 The Gospel of Exodus

Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.

I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” (6:5-8)

God gives Moses a message to tell to the Jews.  Some have called this message “The Gospel of Exodus” or “The Gospel According to Moses”.  When we think of the word gospel today we think of the salvation message but the Greek word for gospel (εὐαγγέλιον) simply means “good news.”  There is only one way of salvation in the Bible.

In Exodus 6, Israel is given a gospel.  It is not a message of spiritual salvation, although there is a spiritual element to it.  God is going to be their God and they are going to be His people.  It is a message of political salvation.  The Jews are going to be delivered from slavery.  They are going to be freed from the yoke of the Egyptians, taken out of Egypt and given their own land. It was a message of good news.

Moses delivered it to his people.  This gospel was directed to the nation.  It was not a message for everybody.  God did not make a covenant with every nation but only with one of them.  Conservatives like to talk about something called “American exceptionalism.”  There are ways in which America is different from other countries in the world.

However, it might be far more correct to speak of JEWISH EXCEPTIONALISM than American exceptionalism.  Israel is the chosen people, not America.  God never entered into a covenant with the US but He did enter into one with Israel. Moses delivered a message of good news to them.

What was the Gospel of Exodus?  It was a slightly different message than the gospel we preach but there are some striking similarities. There are four characteristics of this gospel.

Characteristics of This Gospel

1) It was a message to people in bondage.

It is a message for people who are enslaved. Jews were in a physical bondage or slavery.  It was a cruel bondage.  It was harsh.  It was unfair and unjust.  We were all in a spiritual slavery, a slavery to Satan and sin and that bondage is far worse than a physical bondage.  It involves different type of chains on people.

2) The message promised deliverance.

This gospel preached a message of deliverance to the oppressed.  They were slaves and told that they could now be set free.  The Jews were in physical bondage and they had absolutely no way out of this bondage.  They had been in Egypt for four hundred years and could not deliver themselves out of slavery.  God had to do it.

This deliverance was completely supernatural. The Jews in Egypt had no way out of slavery.  Exodus 6:7 says, “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment’” (ESV).

The redeemer of the Jews was not Moses or Aaron.  It was God.  Isaiah 43:3 says, “For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you” (ESV).

God was the OT Redeemer.  He was the OT Savior.  The NT Redeemer is Jesus. We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. He is also our Savior.  It is proof that Jesus is God.

3) The deliverance involved a purchase.

The biblical term for this purchase is “redemption.”  Redemption is a commercial term.  It means purchase or ransom, to deliver by payment of a price. The Gospel of Exodus involves a blood purchase. In Exodus, blood sprinkled on the doorposts in Egypt.

We are redeemed by the blood of the lamb.  In the NT, we have redemption through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7). OT redemption is a picture of NT redemption.  NT redemption is far greater and delivering a few million slaves out of Egypt.

4) The deliverance was based on grace.

The Jews did not earn their reddmptkon. This was completely unconditional.  It was all God. God did not say “I will do this if you do something for me.”  There were no conditions.  God did not say, “I will redeem you IF you do something.”  Salvation is completely by grace.  There is nothing we can do to earn our redemption.

Exodus 6:5-8 has two “I HAVE” statements.  God says “I have heard the groaning of My people and have remembered My covenant” (6:5).  It has two “I AM” statements.  God says “I am the Lord” twice (6:6, 8).  It has seven “I WILL” statements (6:6-8) and it has one “YOU SHALL” statement.  God says “You shall know the Lord” (6:7) but there is no command for the people.

This good news is not a statement about what they need to do for God but what God is going to do for them.  The reason God is going to do it is going to do it is to keep a promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He says, “I will bring you into the land that I SWORE to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” (6:8). God is doing this all because of a covenant that He made (6:5).  Next week, we will look at the response of the people to this message.

 


[1] http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=722142318563

Characteristics of a Hard Heart

We have been studying the life of Moses.  He was born with a death sentence over his head. He survived a genocidal decree.  He survived being left in the Nile River.  He was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter and adopted into the family.  He was raised and educated in the palace.

At forty, he commits a crime and has an arrest warrant out for him.  He flees in fear to Midian where he changes his identity. He takes up a new occupation and lives in obscurity. God catches up with him and appears to him  on the backside of a mountain.

He spoke to Moses out of a burning bush and gave him a job to do.  He argued with God and made excuses but finally obeyed.  He headed back to Egypt to do God’s work.  He agrees to do what God called him to do.  He puts his wife and kids on a donkey and goes back to Egypt.

Last week, I gave an overview of the chapter.  Today, I want to look at two passages.  They are important for a number of reasons.

  • Moses and Aaron begin their ministry here.

Moses doesn’t do any miracles in this section.  We will not see that until Exodus 7 but they do begin their ministry.  Things looked good but not everything turned out good for Moses.

When he got to Egypt and delivered the message to Pharaoh, it was rejected.  He laughed at Moses’ message.  He did not take it seriously.  Things got worse for the Hebrews and God’s people came after Moses himself.  They were furious.

  • Moses almost dies in this section.

Moses was one of the greatest men in all of Scripture and he almost dies here. Once again, he is saved by a woman.

Moses has now been saved by four women: his mother, sister, Pharaoh’s daughter, and now his wife.  The other women saved him from Pharaoh’s anger.  Zipporah saved him from God’s anger.

  • There are three great confrontations in this chapter.

God confronts Moses.  Zipporah confronts Moses and Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh. Let’s look at our first passage. The first test is in one of the strangest passages in the whole book.

The Bloody Husband

 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision (4:20, 24-26 ESV).

This is a passage that does not seem to make much sense. Here God gets mad at Moses and wants him dead.  Moses almost dies in this chapter. Zipporah comes to the rescue.  Her quick thinking saved his life.  This is strange.  What did Moses do that was so bad? Why was Zipporah mad at Moses? Why God was mad at Moses?

Why did God want to kill Moses?  God appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  He spoke to him by name.  He gave him a job to do. Moses argued with him but finally agreed to do the job.  Moses is obedient to God.  He back to Egypt with the staff of God in his hand.  He goes back with the blessing and power of God.

On the way back, they get tired and stop for the night at a Days Inn (4:24) and God wants to kill him.  God had said that if Pharaoh does not let his people go, he would kill his firstborn son (4:23) and in the very next verse he almost kills Moses (4:24).  Before God was conversing with Moses as a friend but now he came against him as an enemy, as Matthew Henry said.   Why?

We do not have all the facts on this incident.  We have to do a little speculation here.  We have to make a bunch of inferences.  We know that Moses had more than one son at this point (4:20).  Two are mentioned by name.  The oldest son was Gershom (2:22).

The younger son was Eliezer (18:2-4).  Apparently, Moses circumcised his first son but he did not circumcise his second son Gershom.  We know this because Moses had two sons but only one was said not to be circumcised.

Why didn’t he circumcise him?  This is speculation again but he probably did not do it because his wife didn’t like it.  Moses did not marry a Hebrew woman.  He married a Midianite woman.

She had a slightly different culture.  The Midianites practiced circumcision but they did it at manhood, not birth. She may have thought the practice was barbaric.  She probably thought to herself, “What kind of a God would require you to cut a baby?”

Then on the way back Moses got really sick.  The text does not say it but we can infer it.  He almost died.  He almost died because he did not circumcise his second son and how he is too weak to do it, so Zipporah has to do it.

If she did not step in and circumcise her son, God was going to kill her husband.  She was forced to do something that she did not want to do in the first place.

She circumcised her son but she was angry about it.  She was mad at Moses.  We can tell that by her words and by her actions.  She called him “a bloody husband” and throws the foreskin at his feet (4:25).  It is almost as if she said, “You wanted me to do this.  You made me do this.  Here is the foreskin. Take it.”

Lessons from a Painful Circumcision

1) No marriage is perfect

Even the marriage of bible giants had problems.  This section brings gives us an inside look into the marriage of Moses and Zipporah.  Their marriage was no different from marriages today.  They had some arguments in their marriage.

They had one on circumcision.  Zipporah was furious with her husband.  She was so mad, she took the sons back to Midian after this happened.  This is another inference.  We are not told that she did this but in Exodus 18:2-3 we are told she was sent back home.

Moses apparently gave in to his wife. Moses could stand up against Pharaoh but he could not stand up against his own wife. He might have been intimidated by his wife.  Moses and Zipporah argued about circumcision and then Moses gave in. Zipporah got her way.

He wanted to keep peace in the home.  He may not have thought the practice was that important. He may not have thought the practice was that important.

It was just a religious ritual.  He may have thought “I can give in to my wife because it is really not that important and no one will see it anyway.  God looked on this a little differently.  To Him, it was a big deal.

Genesis 17:11-14 says, “both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

2) God judges believers when they sin.

He did not just Pharaoh, he judged Moses.  He judges Ananias and Sapphira.  They were killed for lying.  The Apostle Paul says that some believers who live in unconfessed sin get sick and some die (I Corinthians 11:30).  Of course, He does not do this all of the time or there would be very few people in church.

3) It is possible to obey God in one part of your life but not in another part

Moses obeyed God in one area of his life, his ministry.  He was heading to Egypt to lead the Jews out.  He disobeyed God in another area of his life.  He did not circumcise his son.  Moses learned some deep lessons in the backside of the desert for forty years.  He learned another important lesson at this inn.

4) We cannot be a spiritual leader unless we are a leader in our home.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?” (I Timothy 3:5 NIV). Moses failed to lead in his home.  It almost disqualified him from ministry.

It almost disqualified him from being Israel’s leader. He was the head of the family. He didn’t do it and God held him responsible.  He did not hold his wife.  Moses was the one who almost died.  It almost cost him his life and his ministry.

Moses is called to lead the Jews out of Egypt to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant and circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant.  He could not be a leader of the Jews and not circumcise his kids.

5) Christ must be first in our life.

The problem is that he put his wife ahead of the Lord, just as Eli honored his sons above God (I Samuel 2:29).  Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).

That applies to loving a husband or wife more than Jesus.  We have to put Christ first in our life.  Moses put Zipporah first.

The Meeting with Pharaoh

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” (5:1-4 ESV)

Now this was interesting.  No one could be more sure of God’s will for their life than Moses and Aaron.  They were God’s men with God’s message.  God was with them and had the power of God to prove it.

They begin their ministry right and fell right on their face.  Where was God?  They did not expect to get the response that they got.  We know that from what Moses says at the end of the chapter.

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” (4:22-23)

We think that God is working when things are going great.  When everything was going bad here, Moses was right in the center of God’s will. In fact, God said this would happen.  He predicted it (3:19; 4:21) but Moses did not hear those words, like the disciples did not hear the words that Jesus would die on the cross.

We could call them “the dumb disciples” but we do the same thing today.  When we become a Christian, we are on fire and full of joy but when problems come we forget that Jesus said “In this world you will have trouble”.

What did Moses and Aaron say?  Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go. He did NOT say, “Let the Hebrews go”.  He did NOT say, “Let YOUR people go”.

He said, “Let MY People go”. They were His people, not Pharaoh’s people.  Pharaoh viewed these slaved as his property.  Let my people go.  It is one of the most prominent sayings from the Bible and it always taken out of context.

Many see this just as a great anti-slavery passage.  No one ever quotes the rest of the verse. Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.”  It is not just about freedom from slavery.  It is about worship of the true God.

They did not say, “We need some time off.  We do not just need a vacation.  They said, “We need some time off to worship our God.” Moses is not just a freedom fighter.  He is a religious reformer.

The message of Moses and Aaron was AUTHORITATIVE.  It was a message from God. They do not say “It would be a good idea if you do this. We do not just ask.  God demands it of you.” It was not a request but a command.  This was God’s word to a pagan king.  It was God’s message to a powerful king.  Pharaoh was the most powerful man on earth at that time.

It was INSPIRED.  They didn’t speak their own ideas. They said “Thus says the Lord”.  It was the first time in the Bible we see those words.  Those were the words of a prophet in Scripture.

It was REASONABLE.  He does not ask Pharaoh to permanently release and free all of the Hebrew slaves.  He just asks for three days off to worship.   Even slaves should have the freedom to worship.  It is a human right.  This is where the battle begins.

Let’s look at Pharaoh’s response. “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”  You have to understand what is really going on here.

This was a conflict between two sovereigns.  This was not a conflict between Moses and Pharaoh.  It was a conflict between God and Pharaoh. Pharaoh was used to thinking he was god. Pharaoh was not just a political figure in ancient Egypt.

He was a religious figure as well.  He grew up believing he was a deity.  He was worshiped by people.  He was a “god-king” (son of the Egyptian god Ra).  In fact the word ra was the sun god in ancient Egypt.  Ra is in the word “Pharaoh”.  He was the incarnate sun god.  He regarded himself as the Lord.

He was the top dog in Egypt.  There was no one above him.  He was used to giving orders to other people.  His word was absolute.  Now, someone is commanding him and telling him to do something.  It is the Lord. Pharaoh did not acknowledge an authority above him.  He does not take orders from poor slaves and he says, “I don’t know your god”.

Characteristics of a Hard Heart

There is a disease called atherosclerosis.  It is a medical condition called hardening of the arteries. They have clogged arteries. It does not happen overnight.  It takes time but it can be deadly.

It can kill people.  It causes heart attacks and strokes.  Some people have spiritual atherosclerosis. Sin hardens people’s hearts.  Many who do not have physical heart disease have spiritual heart disease.

Are you like Pharaoh?  Pharaoh is a picture of many people today who are.  hardened to God and to the things of God. Pharaoh had a hard heart.  Are we like Pharaoh?  What are the symptoms?  We see some of them here. We see some characteristics of a hard heart here.

1. A hard heart is arrogant.

He answered “Thus says the Lord” with “Thus says Pharaoh” (5:10).  He said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him?”  Pharaoh was not an atheist. He does not say, “Who is God that I should obey him?” Egypt is a land of many, many gods.  His land was full of gods.  There were temples to gods everywhere all over Egypt.

In fact, Pharaoh thought that he was a god but he claimed to know absolutely nothing about the God of Moses or Aaron.  He did not know their God. He did not believe in their God or fear their God.

It describes many people today. It is a dangerous ignorance.  It is the kind of person who says today “I do not believe the God of the Bible exists but if He does I am not afraid of him.” I work with a man who says that.

One preacher called this question Who is the Lord? “The dumbest question ever asked in the history of mankind”[1]  He is the one who created the world and will determine our eternal destiny. Pharaoh set himself up against the most powerful being in the universe.

Pharaoh says, “Who is the Lord?”  He claims not to know Yahweh.  God is going to send ten plagues on Egypt so he will know exactly who he is.  He will find out who God is through these plagues.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth (9:13-14 ESV)

2. A hard heart mocks God’s Word.

He does not just reject God’s message, he ridicules it.  He slanders it.  He calls it “lying words” (5:9).  He slander’s God’s Word and God’s people.  He calls the Jews lazy (5:17).  He questions their motives. People who scoff at the Bible and Christianity are people with hard hearts.  A hard heart takes the truth and calls it error. It calls it myths and lies.

3. A hard heart is vindictive.

Not only is he not going to let them go, he is going to punish them for even asking the question.  He is revengeful.  A hard heart persecutes and enslaves God’s people.  A hard heart does not have a drop of compassion.

5. A hard heart is irrational.

He tells them to make bricks without straw.  That is impossible.  He commands them to do a job without giving them the resources to do it. He gives an order which does not even make any sense.

He wants the slaves to do a job but will not give them what they need to do it but still expects the job to be done and then punishes people for not doing it.  A hard heart is not open to reason.  It is completely irrational.

6. A hard heart is defiant to God.

I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”  God says, “Let my people go”.  Pharaoh says “I will not”.  It is a flat denial.  A hard heart is defiant to God.  It resists authority, especially God’s authority. People still do this today.  We all have a choice.  The question is, “who is the boss in your life?”  Do we let God run our life or do we run it?  Who is Lord of our life?

How many people do we know who say, “I know what God says about something but I am going to do what I want”.  It does not seem to matter if the Bible is clear.  There may be an explicit command on a topic but they reject that command to do what they want to do.

Zechariah says, “And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts.” (7:8-12)

 


[1] http://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopup.asp?SID=916121447354

The Hardening of Pharaoh

For the last few weeks, we have been looking at God’s call to Moses at the burning bush. We also looked at his response to that revelation. God gave him his life mission and Moses gave God ten reasons why he couldn’t do what God wanted him to do. They were excuses.

The real reason was that he simply didn’t want to do it. Eventually, he said, “Send someone else” but God finally got through to him and he obeyed God’s call for his life. He headed back to Egypt. For the first time, Moses began to do things God’s way, instead of his way.

In the rest of Exodus 4, Moses goes back to Egypt and talks to the Jewish leaders in Egypt. I want to give a quick overview of the rest of the chapter and then focus on one verse.

Moses accepts his call and tells his father-in-law. Before he leaves Midian, he gets permission to leave from his father-in-law (4:18). We would not have done this. We would have said, “God has called me. I am God’s man and he has given me a job to do” but he got permission from Jethro first and then heads back to Egypt.

Before Moses gets to Egypt, two things happened. Moses almost died. We will look at this next week. The other thing that happens is that God spoke to Moses’ brother Aaron. Where was Aaron the last forty years? He was in Egypt. Aaron gets a word from God. God tells him to head toward Midian to meet Moses (4:27). They meet somewhere between Egypt and Midian.

It is a family reunion. They haven’t seen each other in forty years. We saw the reunion of two brothers in Genesis (Jacob and Esau). That was a reunion of twin brothers. It was a reunion of two brothers who were estranged. Esau wanted to kill Jacob in the past.

This is another reunion of brothers (Aaron and Moses). These brothers were not estranged. They just had not seen each other in forty years and they are not both old. One is eighty and the other is eighty-three. They meet in the desert with their walkers.

Aaron tells Moses what has happened in the last forty years in Egypt to the Jews. Moses tells Aaron what God told him at the burning bush. He even did the three miraculous signs God gave him. Then, he gave Aaron an incredible ministry opportunity. He asked Aaron to be his spokesman for the mission, his press agent. Aaron agreed.

We learn something about Aaron.  He was open to God’s call in is life. Aaron received a call for ministry here but it was a different call than what Moses received. God didn’t speak to Aaron through a burning bush.

In fact, he had a better response than Moses did. He did not make up excuses why he couldn’t do the job. He was also humble. He could have said, “I want to be the redeemer. I am the older brother. I will be the one in charge. You work under me” but he did not do that.

Then they both head back. Moses and Aaron form a ministry team. They work together like Paul and Barnabas. There are some advantages to having a team of two. Moses had an inside contact. He had not been in Egypt in forty years.
When they get back, they speak to the elders in Egypt. It is a meeting of two brothers and twelve elders.

Aaron does the talking and Moses did the signs (4:29-30) and we see their response. The Jews believed. God said that they would believe and they did. They might have been more open to the message because it came from Aaron.

He was one of them but the miracles of Moses added further confirmation to the message. The last time Moses tried to be the deliverer, he had no miraculous signs. He did not have God’s power and presence with him. The Jewish leaders had a threefold response to this message and miracles from God.

Their response was faith, reverence and worship. They believed the message. They bowed their heads and they worshiped. It is the same response we should all have any time God’s Word is proclaimed in power.

There should be faith, not skepticism. There should be reverence for the word of God. There is very little reverence for the bible in the church today. In fact, some pastors even ridicule it. If we really believe that this book is the Word of God and not just the word of man, it would completely change our attitude.

Finally, it should lead to worship. All bible study should lead to worship. They did not just admire Moses for his miracle working ability. They praised God that he heard their cries and would deliver them from their bondage.

A Problem Passage

What I would like to do for the rest of our time is to focus one verse in this chapter. It is one of the most difficult passages in the whole Book of Exodus. Some people might have a problem with this verse. I am going to do the best I can to explain what it means.

There are simple passages in the Bible and there are the hard passages in the Bible. The Apostle Peter said so. He said that some of the writings of the Apostle Paul were hard to understand (II Peter 3:15-16).

There are many books you can buy that deal with the hard passages of Scripture (e.g., Hard Sayings of Jesus, Hard Sayings of the Old Testament, Hard Sayings of the New Testament, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, etc). People struggle with these hard verses.

I heard a true story of one preacher who was going to be speaking on Romans 9. He read the passage and one woman was so offended that she got up and walked out of the church. He had not even said anything about the passage. The verse itself seemed so offensive that she walked out. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen today.

We are going to look at a difficult verse today. It is controversial. As Christians, we often do not deal with the difficult passages of Scripture. We skip over them. Preachers do that as well. We will not do that in this class. It is an advanced topic. It is the kind of thing you might talk about if you go to seminary. We are going to look at some deep theology today. It may even change your view of God.

I want us to begin by reading two passages, one from the OT and one from the NT. Exodus 4:21 says, “The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go” (NIV).

Romans 9:16-18 says, “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (NIV)

Difficult Questions

This raises some profound questions. Did God want Pharaoh to let his people go? Yes. Why would He do this so that Pharaoh would not let them go, if He wanted them to go? God says that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will not let his people go. He told Moses this before he even set foot in Egypt. In fact, it does not just say it once. Ten times we are told in Exodus that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart or did harden it (4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17). What does it mean that mean?

It poses some moral problems. How could a good God harden Pharaoh’s heart? That doesn’t sound fair. It sounds capricious. It even sounds immoral. It sounds like God is tempting Pharaoh to sin. It sounds like God is the author of evil and that he is causing others to sin.

God tells us in Scripture not to harden our hearts many times and here God hardens Pharaoh’s heart and then punishes him for having a hard heart, just so He could demonstrate his power and his name could be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. That doesn’t sound right. It seems to make God unrighteous. How do you answer this? Well, there are a number of things that we can say from this incident.

Lessons from the Hardening of Pharaoh

Lesson One: Sin hardens the human heart.

What does it mean to have a hard heart? We all know someone who has a hard heart. We may even live with someone like that. What is it like to have a hard heart?
We all have met people with hard hearts. They are not neutral to the gospel and Christianity. They are hostile. They mock and ridicule it. People who live a life of gross sin often have a hard heart. Sin causes hearts to grow hard.

If you live in sin, you don’t seem to have an interest in spiritual things. You do not want to go to church or to spend time with other believers. In fact, you avoid them. Sin hardens the hearts of unbelievers. It also hardens the hearts of believers. That is why professing Christians are told in the NT not to harden their hearts (Hebrews 3:8).

When people reject the truth, their hearts get hard. Every time Pharaoh rejected God through Moses and Aaron, his heart became harder and harder. We will look at some of the characteristics of Pharaoh next week, as we look at Exodus 5.

Lesson Two: God never causes anyone to sin.

God does not sin and He does not cause others to sin. God does not make a good man bad or a bad man worse than he is. God did NOT cause Pharaoh to sin. He did not make Pharaoh evil. God does not take a soft heart and make it hard. Pharaoh was evil before this.

He was already in a hardened state when we are told that God hardened Pharaoh. God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart until after the sixth plague of boils (Exodus 9:12). The first time we are told God did this. During the first five plagues, Pharaoh hardened his own heart without any help from God.

James 1:13-14 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (ESV). That verse tells us two things about God.

1) God does not sin at all.

James says that God cannot be tempted with evil. Psalm 145:17 says, “The LORD is righteous in ALL his ways and faithful in all he does” (NIV). Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and ALL his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” (NIV).

Romans 9:14 says, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?” (KJV). He raises the question, Is God unjust? Paul says, “No”. It means “absolutely not” or “by no means”. As Abraham said, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 NIV).  Goes not only does not sin, He CANNOT sin.

It is impossible for God to sin. It goes against his nature. God is light and in Him is NO darkness at all (I John 1:5). What does that mean? It means that God is absolute perfection. There is not sin, impurity or imperfection in God at all. God is pure light. Whatever this means that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it does not mean that God sinned.

2) God does not even tempt people to sin.

God not only cannot be tempted to evil, He does not tempt others to sin. That is clear from this verse. Whatever this means that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it does not mean that God tempted Pharaoh to sin. Whatever God did when he hardened Pharaoh’s heart was not unrighteous but righteous.

Lesson Three: God never violates human free will

God did not violate Pharaoh’s free will. He did not force Pharaoh to do something that he did not want to do. Pharaoh hardened his heart of his own free will. This can be proven from Exodus.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.” (8:15)

But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.” (8:32)

Pharaoh hardened his own heart by his own choice. In fact, Pharaoh hardened his heart before God did. The first time we are specifically told that Pharaoh hardened his heart is Exodus 8:15. The first time we are specifically told that God hardened his heart is Exodus 9:12.  God predicted in Exodus 4 that he would harden pharaoh’s heart but does not do it until Exodus 9 after Pharaoh had done it himself.

Even after God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it did NOT stop Pharaoh from exercising his free will. The first time we are told God hardened Pharaoh’s heart was with the sixth plague of boils (9:12). After the seventh plague of hail, we are told Pharaoh hardened his own heart again.  “When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.” (9:34). God’s action did not prevent Pharaoh from doing what he wanted to do.

Lesson Four: Divine hardening is a consequence of sin.

It is a judgment on sin. God judges sin. He judges it in Moses. He almost killed Moses on the way to Egypt. He also judged Pharaoh. He hardened his heart. Hardening only comes to the wicked. Some people emphasize God’s sovereignty to an extreme. They say that God is sovereign. He can do anything He wants. No, He cannot. There are some things that even God cannot do. He cannot sin and He cannot tempt people to sin.

I have to disagree with a nationally known pastor on this point. I like John Piper but Piper, along with some other scholars, believe in unconditional hardening. They believes that God can harden anyone any at any time unconditionally. That would make God the author of sin.

Alexander Maclaren wrote, “God hardens no man’s heart who has first not hardened it himself”. God does not just arbitrarily harden the hearts of people. When God hardens someone, it is a divine judgment for sin.

God does not harden a righteous man who wants to follow God. God does not harden a godly man and make him ungodly. God does not take someone who had a soft heart and give him a hard heart. God hardened the Pharaoh of Exodus. He did not harden the Pharaoh of Genesis.

God gave that Pharaoh of Genesis some dreams that he could not interpret. When Joseph gave him the correct interpretation, he accepted it. He accepted the revelation from God and acted on it. He made some changes in the country in light of that revelation.

He even praised Joseph’s God. God did not harden that Pharaoh. The Pharaoh of Exodus was a different matter. He was wicked. He was arrogant. He said, “Who is the Lord that I should follow him?” He believed that he was a god. He even had people worship him. He enslaved people and not just any people, God’s people.

He opposed the plan and program of God. He rejected the Word of God proclaimed to him. He had an even greater revelation. He had miracles performed before his very eyes, which confirmed the message, and he still rejected it. This was a judgment of God on someone who was already sinful.

It is a consequence of sin. The wicked are just confirmed in a state that they were already in and had freely chosen. Those who are hardened are given the punishment that they deserved and have freely chosen. Those shown mercy are given what they do not deserve. God is not obligated to save anyone. God shows mercy on some people and softens their hearts.

Lesson Five: Divine hardening is indirect.

This is an important point. How exactly does God hardening sinners? You don’t have to turn to scholars today to find out what this means. Many of the old writers hit the nail on the head and explained exactly what is going on here. I will start with Augustine (354-430 AD).

Augustine lived in the fourth century. He was one of the greatest theologians of the early church. He said, “God does not harden men by imparting malice into them, but by not imparting mercy.”  He does not do it by infusing evil into them but by withholding His mercy.

John Gill (1697-1771) lived in England in the 1700s. He was the first major Baptist theologian. You can read his commentary online. He was not only a pastor for fifty years, he was a scholar. By the age of eleven, Gill learned Greek and Latin. We tend to think our educational system is better today than it was in the 1700s.  I am not sure about that.  Some students today graduate high school and can barely read and write English.

Gill commented on what it means that God hardens people. He wrote, “God only leaves them to the hardness of their hearts, and denies them the grace which only can soften them, and which He is not obliged to give”

Albert Barnes (1798-1870), the 19th century Presbyterian scholar, explained it this way. Barnes wrote, “When God hardens a wicked sinner, he does not exert a positive influence, but leaves the sinner to his own course.” God hardens the wicked not by action but by inaction.

We have several examples of this in the NT. The Apostle Paul mentions both Jews and Gentiles who are hardened by God. In Romans 1, he gives the example of the Gentiles who reject God in spite of abundant evidence and suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Three times, God says that He gives them over to the sinful desires of their own heart (Romans 1:24, 26, 28).

It is a form of judgment. God removes the restraints and lets the heart do what it wants to do. In Romans 11, he says that Jews today who have rejected their Messiah are in a hardened state (Romans 11:7). It is not as full hardening but a partial hardening (11:25). They have rejected their Messiah and have been given over to unbelief. They are already in unbelief and are simply given over to unbelief

Lesson Six: God uses evil to bring glory to himself.

We saw that in the case of Joseph’s brothers and we will see it here.  God takes the evil heart of Pharaoh.  He resisted God and opposed God.  God is going to glorify himself through Pharaoh.  His incredible power and glory will be displayed because of his opposition to God.

The Excuses of Moses

Last week, we looked at the burning bush.  God appeared suddenly and miraculously in a mountain in Saudi Arabia.  He appeared to Moses in a bush that was on fire.  The bush spoke to Moses and identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  God appeared to Moses because God’s people were suffering and their cries went up to heaven.

God answered those prayers with the burning bush.  God appeared to Moses and gave him a mission.  He gave him a job to do.  He gives him an assignment.  Moses received a great commission.  God calls some people when they are young.  He called Moses when he was eighty.  He told him that he wanted him to change careers.  Instead of working with sheep, he would have a different occupation.  God still does that today.  He calls people to change careers.

Today, we want to look at Moses’ reaction to this call and how it applies to us.  Many of us respond the same way to God today. Moses was not a great role model here.  Isaiah was a good example of how to respond to God’s call.  Isaiah had an incredible vision of God high and lifted up, sitting on a throne and surrounded by angels, who said “holy, holy, holy”.  Then he heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And he said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go” (Isaiah 6:8-9).  Moses says, “Here I am.  Send my brother”.

Some of us are not sure what God wants us to do.  It is not always easy to tell if it is God’s call or our own idea.  How do we know if it is God or the devil guiding us to do something?  Moses didn’t have that problem.  He had this incredible bush, appearance of God.  It got his attention, the fire that never went out.  He heard an audible voice.

It was a fire that spoke and knew his name.  It was a fire that commanded him to do something and the command was clear.  There was no doubt about what God was telling Moses to do.  There was no ambiguity.  Moses God his assignment from God.  He found out what his life’s work was to be in clear language and he still said “No”.

God appeared to Moses in a ball of fire and said “I have a special job that is reserved just for you.  This is your mission in life”.  Moses said, “thanks but no thanks”.  God says “Go” and Moses says “No”.  It is easy to criticize Moses here but many of us do the same thing today.

God didn’t just call Moses.  He calls us today.  Every believer has a job to do. God calls us to salvation.  He also calls us to service.  He has a special work for each one of us to do.  He has something great that he wants us to do for him as well. We are not all called to be leaders.  We are not all called to be in politics.  We are not all called to be freedom fighters and liberate whole nations but God calls us all to do something.

That raises this question.  Have we ever said no to the call of God in our life?  Are we open to the call of God when He calls us?  We all think we would but I am not so sure.  If we have a burdened that God placed on our heart, we might want to do it.  What if God called us to do something that we don’t want to do?  Would we do it?  Jonah had that problem.  God told him to go to one place and he went to the exact opposite location.

Moses had two problems.  First, he acted too quickly.  Then, he acted too slowly.  His first problem was that he ran before he was sent.  We saw that in Exodus 2.  He believed that God would use him to free the Jews from their bondage and he killed an Egyptian but God had not called him yet.  He acted without any call or permission from God to do what he did, even though he meant well.

Moses’ second problem was that he resisted when He was called.  He probably had many reasons why he did not want to go.  He was eighty.  Maybe he thought he was too old and that was a better job for a young guy. He might have thought “I tried to lead the Jews before and they rejected my leadership”.  He tried it before and failed.

Our passage in Exodus 3-4 is all about excuses.  People make excuses today all of the time.  Our kids make excuses why they did not do what they were supposed to do but adults make excuses as well.  If we get stopped for speeding, we give the officer an excuse.  The excuse may even be true.  The last time I was stopped for speeding, I told the officer I was late to a funeral.  It was true but the officer did not seem to care.

Adam and Eve made excuses why they disobeyed.  Adam blamed his disobedience on Eve.  Eve blamed it on the serpent. Moses made some excuses as well.  God took the time to answer each objection.

This section gives us the excuses of Moses and the answers of God.  Moses gave God four excuses for not doing what God told him to do. I want to look at the four objections of Moses to the mission God gave him and see if they are ever used by Christians today.  Excuses did not really work with Moses and excuses will not work with us.

There are many people who think when they stand before God and have to give an account why they lived in deliberate disobedience to his Word that they will be able to give him an excuse. God does not accept excuses.  God showed some patience with Moses.  He answered his objections but eventually God got angry with Moses (4:14). God says, “You’re going anyway”.

There are many Christians that emphasize free will.  We have the right to choose.  It is all up to us.  We decide.  It is called Arminianism.  There is an element of truth in Arminianism.  Whole churches are built around this system.  The interesting thing is that God did not give Moses a whole lot of choice in this call.

It wasn’t optional.  God did not tell Moses, “If you would like to go to Egypt and do this that would be great.  I really need somebody for this mission.  I could use you.  Your people are suffering greatly”.  This was an effectual call.

The First Excuse: Inferiority

So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3:10-11)

Once God told Moses his mission, what was his reaction?  What was the first thing he said to God?  “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3:11). Moses says, “I am not qualified to do something like this.  Who am I to do something like this? I am not anyone special.” It was very humble on Moses’ part.  He went from two extremes.  First, he thought he was hot stuff as the Prince of Egypt.

He used to be a member of the royal house of Egypt.  He had big political connections.  His grandfather was the most powerful man on the planet at that time.  He was self confident.  He was important.  Then he was spent forty years in the desert as a nobody in the desert watching sheep.

Moses had been out to pasture for forty years, as Chuck Swindoll said.[1] Moses is so humble that he does not think that he is worthy to do anything great for God.  He went from being too quick to respond to God to too slow to respond.  He went from thinking too highly of himself to thinking too lowly of himself.  Now he thinks he cannot do anything for God.

Moses says to God, “That is a big job for an old shepherd.  I do not think I am up to the challenge. Someone needs to do it but I am not the right man for the job.  I am eighty.  It requires some big shot to emancipate two million slaves from the most powerful country in the world at that time.  That is a big operation.  I am just a poor shepherd.”  Do we ever use this excuse today?  Do Christians ever feel insecure and completely unable to do what God has called them to do?

What was God’s answer to his first excuse?  And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” (3:12) God says, “I will be with you”.  He was with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.  Now he promises to be with Moses.  The same one who promises to be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).  He said that he would never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  Whatever ministry he calls us to do, He will be with us as well, as He was with Moses.

Now let’s think about God’s answer to Moses.  What God said was very different from what we would have told Moses if we were talking to him.  We would have tried to build up Moses’ self esteem and give him some confidence so he is not down on himself.

We would have told him that he was the perfect man for the job.  We would have told him what leadership potential he had.  We would have reminded him of his phenomenal education in Egypt.  He studied all the wisdom of the Egyptians.  We would tell him how the hand of God has been all over his life and how his life was supernaturally saved from death three times.

God didn’t try to build up Moses’ self-esteem.  He simply said, “I will be with you”.  That did not seem to answer his question.  Moses asks, “Who am I?”  God says, “I will be with you”.  God didn’t tell him who he was.   It did not matter who Moses was.  The only thing that mattered was who God was.

The answer does not tell Moses who he is but who God is.  Moses asked the wrong question.  James MacDonald says, “The best discovery you can make in life is who God is.  Everything flows from this.  You will never know who you are until you know who God is.  If you know who God is, you know who you are.”[2]

The Second Excuse: Ignorance

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (3:13).  This was a dumb excuse.  Moses says, “I can’t go, because I don’t know your name.  If the Jews ask me what your name is, I don’t know what to tell them, so I can’t go.”

Moses’ first question was, “Who am I?”  His second question was, “Who are you?”  He already knew who God was.  He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (3:6).

What was God’s answer to him?  God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation (3:14-15).

Now this sounds a little strange.  Moses asks for God’s name and God says “I AM”.  What kind of a name is “I AM”.  That sounds like a strange name.  I never really understood that.  The truth is that this is NOT God’s name.  You need to understand several things here.  First, God has a name.  His name is not God.

God is a title, not a name.  You name is not “man” or “woman”.  That is what you are but it is not your name.  God’s name is Yahweh in Hebrew (not Jehovah).  It is used over five thousand times in Scripture.  His name is Yahweh, not I AM.  I AM is not so much a name of God as a description of God.

God is self existent and self-sufficient.  God is independent.  He does not need anything, like the burning bush, which did not need any fuel to burn.  He needs nothing to exist and depends on nothing.

God is eternal.  He had no beginning and has no end.  He needs nothing to exist and depends on nothing.  Yahweh is a pun on I AM.  It is the third person singular of the verb “to be” in Hebrew.  Many people worship the God who WAS, not the God who IS.  He did great things in the past but is not doing them today.

Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”  

And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’  But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.  So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.  

And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,  but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” (3:16-22 ESV)

God tells Moses that the leaders of the Jews will listen to him but that the leader of the Egyptians will not until God stretches out his hand and strikes the country will all his wonders.  Then, he will let you go and the Egyptians will want the Jews to go so bad, they will pay them to go.  They will give them all kinds of gifts.

What is the modern application here?  Do we use this excuse of Moses today?  Yes.  Moses had his commission and we have ours.  It is called “The Great Commission”.  Many don’t want to do evangelism or lead a bible study because they don’t have all of the answers or because they have not been to seminary and do not know Greek and Hebrew.  Someone might ask them a question they cannot answer and they do not want to look stupid.

The Third Excuse: Ineffectiveness

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ (4:1 ESV).  What was his third excuse?   It would not work.  He would be a complete failure, like he was before.  No one would believe him.  He could come back to Egypt and tell his people that he had an incredible experience with God in the desert but who would believe him?  What is the proof?  Where is the evidence?  God gives him evidence.  In the next nine verses, God gave Moses three miraculous signs.

The Miracles of Moses 

What happens here is very significant.  Moses is given the ability to do miracles.  He is a type of Jesus here.  Jesus did miracles and so did Moses. In fact, in both times they are called “sign miracles”. God gives Moses three miracles in this chapter to do.  Moses turned a snake into a stick and a stick into a snake.

He then stuck his hand in his shirt and it became leprous.  He did it again and became normal.  This time he turned disease and sickness into perfect health.  Finally, he turned water into blood.  These were not magic tricks.  They were genuine miracles, although they might have looked like magic tricks.  These miracles did not affect anyone else.  Moses did not go around healing the sick like Jesus did.  He did not bring the dead back to life.

Many people in the Bible did not do miracles.  Adam did NOT perform miracles.  Noah did NOT perform miracles.  He was known as a great ship builder and a preacher of righteousness but not a miracle worker.  Abraham did NOT perform miracles either.

Abraham did pray for someone who was sick and he was healed but he did not do any miracles and neither did his son Isaac.  Abraham was known as a prophet, not a miracle worker.  The Bible says that even John the Baptist did NOT do miracles (John 10:41).  Moses was the first one in Bible to do miracles.

Why did Moses perform miracles?  What was the purpose of the sign miracles?  Their purpose was to authenticate Moses.  There are many examples in the Bible where miracles validated and confirmed the message of God’s people.

Mark 16:19-20 says, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.  And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. Miracles even served to authenticate the ministry of Jesus.”  Acts 2:22 says, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.”

Nicodemus said, “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:2).  In fact, the Fourth Gospel ends with these words.  “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:30-31).

Jesus’ miracles were signs.  This was not the only function of miracles in the Bible but one of the functions of miracles. Their function was evangelistic or apologetic.  They were intended to cause people to believe. Did this always work?  No.

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, a miracle by itself does not cause faith.  Some people are not open to any type of evidence, not matter how much you give them. Some of the Pharisees looked at the miracles of Christ and just attributed them to Satan.  Moses’ miracles did not convince everyone.  It convinced the Jews but they did not convince Pharaoh.  He saw the miracles and said “You are still not leaving Egypt”.

The Fourth Excuse: Incompetence

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” (4:10 ESV)

We do not know exactly what Moses is saying here.  His problem may have been merely linguistic.  He may have simply meant, “My Egyptian is a little rusty.  I haven’t spoken it in forty years.  No one will be able to understand me”.

Another possibility is that his problem was not linguistic but verbal. He may have simply meant, “I can’t do this because this is not my gift.  I am not good at public speaking.  I am not polished.  I am a terrible communicator”.  It does not necessarily mean that he stuttered or had a speech impediment.  He may have stuttered or he may not have stuttered at all.  He may have simply had a fear of public speaking, like many do today.

What was God’s response?  “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?  Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak'” (4:11-12). God says, “I will be with your mouth”.  This was divine speech therapy.

What is the lesson here for us today?  We have already seen that God can use us in spite of our age.  Moses was eighty when God called him.  He can use us in spite of our failures and sins.  Here we see that God can use us in spite of our weakness.  God’s strength is made perfect in weakness (II Corinthians 12:9).  God was calling Moses to do something that he thought that he wasn’t very good at doing.  He promised that He would supernaturally enable Him to do the job.

But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.” (4:13-17 ESV)

Finally Moses says, “Send someone else” and God gets angry with him.  None of us want God angry with us.  Does God get angry with believers when they sin?  Yes.  It is the anger of a father, not the anger of a judge.  God has to sometimes discipline his children, like parents do. Because of his unbelief, Moses lost the opportunity for God to work in him and use him in this way.  God could use us in other ways if we were open to it.

Next time, we will resume our study of Exodus and look at what it means that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  It is one of the most difficult questions in the book.


[1] Swindoll, Moses, 115.

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5lKQPtmqM8

The Burning Bush

Today, we come to a classic text of Scripture.  It is one of the great stories of the Bible.  It is a famous story.  Every child in Sunday School knows the story of Moses and the burning bush.  It is also a very important passage.

Why This Chapter Matters

1. It contains one of the most famous appearances of God in Scripture.

God appears in a bush.  There was nothing special about the bush.  It was an ordinary bush but God showed up inside that bush. This was not just a dream or a vision.  It was an appearance.  God showed up and spoke audibly to Moses and it all took place on a mountain in Saudi Arabia.  It is the same mountain that God will later speak to the whole nation – Mount Horeb, the Mountain of God.  This mountain becomes a sanctuary.

When preachers today talk about God speaking to you, they usually mean that God speaks to you in your mind and to your thoughts in some still small voice.  This was an audible voice.  God spoke audibly to Moses. Moses heard God physically in his ear.

Moses had never heard God’s voice before.  He was eighty and God never spoke like this before.  This was the first time.  In fact, the last one that God spoke to audibly was Jacob. That was in Genesis 46 and that was four hundred years before Moses.

God spoke to Moses audibly.  He called Moses by name and Moses answered him.  They had a conversation.  It was an extended conversation in chapter three and four.  God says fourteen things to Moses in the next two chapters.  Moses says six things to God.  Moses did not just hear God speaking to him.  He saw something.  He heard something and saw something. He saw an appearance of God.

Did Moses Really See God?

The Bible says that God is invisible (Colossians 1:15; I Timothy 1:17).  God is a spirit (John 4:24).  He does not have a body.  You cannot see Him.  “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18).  No one has ever seen God.  In fact, the Apostle Paul says in I Timothy 6:16 that “no one HAS seen God or CAN see him.”

That seems a little strange because many people in the Bible saw God.  Isaiah said, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! (6:1-3).

Moses saw this burning bush.  Does the Bible contradict itself? Were John and Paul wrong?  No. No one has seen God the Father in His essence, except Jesus (John 6:46) but many people in the OT saw visible manifestations of God.  They are called theophanies.  A theophany is the appearance of God in visible form. In this chapter, God appeared in the form of a burning bush.  Moses did not really see God.  He just saw a fire.

2. This chapter contains an incredible answer to prayer.

The last chapter of Exodus ended with the words, “During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” (Exodus 2:23-25).  The cry for help goes up to God and it is answered in this chapter.  The burning bush came as an answer to prayer.

3. Moses gets his commission in this chapter

God goes to work and He goes to work by calling Moses.  Moses has a meeting with God.  His whole life changes after this encounter at the burning bush.  God does not just speak to Moses, He calls him.  He commissions him for service.  Moses becomes a man on a mission.  God gives him a specific job to do. God says tells Moses to free “My People” (3:7, 10).  He does not even say, “I want you to go free “your people.”

4. This chapter is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

God told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in another land and afflicted for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13).  The four hundred period had now ended.  It was time for their slavery and suffering to be over and nothing could keep them in captivity one second longer than what God had appointed for them.

5. This chapter contains a stupendous miracle.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God (3:1). 

Moses moved to Midian, got married and now works for his father-in-law.  What does he do in Midian?   He works as a shepherd.  It is a huge change from a prince in Egypt to a shepherd in Midian.  It is a lonely job.  It is a lowly job. The Bible says that the Egyptians hated shepherds (Genesis 46:31).  They considered them an abomination but that is what he did in Midian and he did it for forty years.

Moses used to be famous.  He was a prince in Egypt. He was a nobody in Midian.  He used to be wealthy.  He lived in the royal palace.  Now he is poor.  He lives with his father-in-law.  He does not even own his own sheep.  He watched over the flock of his father-in-law (3:1).  He used to spend time in the palace.  Now he spends time in the pasture.

He used to hang out with kings.  He went from hanging out with royalty to hanging out with sheep. The one who spent the first forty years of his life as a scholar, learning all of the wisdom of the Egyptians, spends the second forty years of his life as a shepherd.  He had advanced degrees in hieroglyphics and he is working with sheep.  That seems to be a waste of a good education.

In the first verse of the chapter, Moses takes the flock of the priest of God to the mountain of God. Moses thinks he is alone in the desert with a bunch of sheep but then God shows up.  He was not just on this mountain, he was on the back side of this mountain, the most remote part of the mountain where nobody was and God suddenly appears without warning.

Moses was not expecting some religious experience.  He was not out in the desert seeking God.  He was not out in the wilderness meditating or having his devotions.  He was simply doing his job, taking care of sheep when it happened.  He was at work.  God spoke to him at work.  God came to Moses.  Moses did not come to God.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” (3:2-3).

What happens here?  Every day for the last forty years, Moses had the same boring job with these sheep.  He had a routine.  Now he encounters something that he has never seen before and did not even seem possible.  He saw something unusual and unnatural in the desert.  It was out of the ordinary.  In fact, this bush seemed miraculous.  We knew what was going on.  We have read Exodus.  Moses had not seen the movie and had not read the book.  He had not written the book yet.

Moses had seen bushes on fire in the hot desert but this one was different.  This one was special.  It defied the laws of nature.  This was a fire without combustion.  The fire burned and kept burning but never burned the bush up.  What he saw was not an everyday occurrence.

It was a fire that did not need any fuel to burn.  It burned from its own power.  The fire was IN the bush but was the bush itself was NOT burning.  There was no smell of smoke. This fire was independent of the bush and it could NOT be put out.  This was not a natural fire.  It was a supernatural fire.

We might have walked right past this bush.  God could be doing all kinds of things right in front of us and we still miss it, because we do not always have spiritual eyes to see it but this bush GOT Moses’ attention.  And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned

It got Moses’ curiosity.  He wanted to check it out.  Moses here becomes a scientist.  His scientific training from Egypt kicked in. He wants to find out what is causing this.  Moses was observant.  He was curious and his curiosity led to an investigation.  He turns to the direction of the bush and moves toward it.

All of the sudden the bush begins to talk.  This was not only a burning bush, it was a talking bush.  It called his name out, not once but twice (“Moses, Moses”).  Now he is really freaked out.  Then the bush gives Moses more instructions.  It tells him to stop where he is and to not come any closer.

“Do NOT come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Moses becomes barefoot at the burning bush.  Then the voice identifies himself.  Then God said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God” (3:6).

This is the second time we are told Moses was afraid.  When Pharaoh wanted to kill him, he was afraid and fled the country.  Now he is standing before a holy God and he knows he is a sinner and he is afraid.  Out of the fire came a voice that said “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”.

Did Moses See an Angel or God?

He one who appeared to Moses is called an angel in Exodus 3:2.  And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed (cf. Acts 7:35) but the Hebrew word “angel” (malak) just means messenger.

Both the Greek and Hebrew words for “angel” can mean an ordinary angel or can mean something else.  Two verses later, we are told that this messenger was Divine.  Exodus 3:4 that “God called to him out of the bush.”   If there is any confusion about which God, we are given more details in Exodus 3:6.  He is the God of Moses’ father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (3:6).

In fact, most believe that this was not just a theophany.  It was a christophany, which is an appearance of Jesus in the OT.  Moses saw Jesus.  He did not have a body yet.  He was not born yet. This is the pre-incarnate Christ.  How do we know?  In the NT, Jesus calls himself I AM.  He said, “Before Abraham was I AM” (John 8:58).  It is a clear a reference to Exodus 3:14.  Jesus identifies himself as Yahweh.  Jesus was in the burning bush.

When most people think of God, they do not think of fire.  Now God is not fire.  God is a spirit but He spoke to Moses inside this fire.  Why would God appear to Moses as fire?  Fire is a common symbol of God in Scripture.  It is perfect symbol for God because fire has no specific form.

God appeared to Abraham as fire.  He appeared to him as a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch (Genesis 15:17).  He appeared as a pillar of fire in the wilderness (13:21).  In fact, when God spoke to the whole nation on Mount Sinai we are told that the whole mountain was on fire.  The nation did not see a burning bush.  They saw a burning mountain (Deuteronomy 5:4-5, 23).

The Bible says that “our God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24).  That was Moses’ own description of God.  God is full of fire.  His angels are called flames of fire.  Fire is destructive. It destroys things (e.g., forest fire).  It is a picture of God’s judgment (Hell) but this fire did NOT consume the bush.  What does it symbolize? It is a picture of holiness. Holiness means separation.  The word “holy” means set apart.  Moses was told the ground is holy.

Is God Against Wearing Shoes?

Why did God tell Moses to take off his sandals?  He did it for symbolic and cultural reasons.  Moses was standing in the presence of God.  Removing one’s shoes was a token of reverence and respect in that part of the world, though not in the United States.

In the Middle East, Arabs always take off our shoes before we enter a house or mosque.  It is done in some Asian countries as well.  Shoes are considered dirty.  It is offensive to show the soles of your feet or to put your legs on top of a desk.  When an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at George Bush in 2008, it was like throwing dirt on the President.  Whatever you think of George Bush, the man has some moves, as you can see from that incident.[2]

Does this mean that we should attend church barefoot?  This was not a religious requirement but a cultural one.  What reverence looks like is one culture is different from what it looks like in another culture.  In our culture, that barefoot means more casual.  Shoes tend to indicate more respect.  If you had to meet an important person, you would dress up, not down.  You would not go to a wedding barefoot, unless it was a hippie wedding.

Then the Lord said, “I have surely SEEN the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have HEARD their cry because of their taskmasters. I KNOW their sufferings, and I HAVE COME DOWN to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians (3:7-8).

Many look at some terrible tragedy that takes place and say, “Where is God?”  Where was God when the Jews were suffering at the hands of the Egyptians for hundreds of years?  Many assumed that he doesn’t know or care what is going on but here we get a different story.

Notice the verbs that are used in 3:7-8 (seen, heard, know, come down).  This shows that God is personal.  He is aware with everything that happens to us and is concerned about what happens in our world and in our own life. This does not describe an impersonal God and apathetic to what takes place.

Lessons from Moses’ Call

I. God uses people to do his work

Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians…. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (3:7-8, 10).

God says, “I have heard their prayer.  I have come down to deliver them but I am sending YOU to Pharaoh”.  God uses human instrumentality to do his work.  We are the body of Christ on earth.  He uses us to accomplish His purposes on earth.  Every now and then, He also sends a few angels into action under cover.

II. God uses us despite our past

Moses did not deserve to be in ministry.  How could God possibly used him?  He was already a proven failure in ministry.  He also committed a crime.  Many people think that they could never be used by God.  It is not possible.  They have done too many bad things.  The lesson here is that God used broken things.  He uses flawed and sinful people.  He even uses proven failures.

The God of Second Chances

We serve a God of second chances.  Let’s review some of the people in the Bible that God used.

1) God used Noah.

God used him to build this big boat to save all living things on the planet. After the Flood, Noah was found, naked and drunk, passed out.

2) God uses Abraham.

He made a covenant with him.  He was a liar.  He lied and said that Sarah was not his wife.  He had a problem with telling the truth.

3) God used Jacob.

He was the father of the twelve sons which became the twelve tribes of Israel.  Jacob was a con artist.  He cheated his twin brother out of the blessing and birthright, not once but twice.  He even deceived his blind father.  He tricked him.

4) God used Moses.

God used him to liberate two million slaves and to write the first five books of the Bible.  Before he was a minister, he was a murderer.  His hands were full of blood.  God used a criminal to lead them out of Egypt.

5) God used David.

He was Israel’s greatest king.  He started a dynasty of kings.  Jesus was part of that dynasty. He is a Davidic king. David, Israel’s greatest king, committed adultery and murder.

6) God used Rahab.

She was an ancestor of the Messiah.  She was also a former prostitute.  She was a Canaanite prostitute before she came to faith in the true God.  She is now in the lineage of Christ.

7) God used Samson.

God gave him this incredible supernatural strength to defeat the enemy of the Jews, the Philistines.  He also had a weakness for women, especially foreign pagan women.  He only liked Philistine women, not any Hebrew women. He had a sexual addiction. He was out visiting prostitutes which turned out in the end to be his downfall.

8) God used John Mark.

He is known in the NT as the famous quitter.  He was on a mission trip with Paul and Barnabas.  There were some problems and challenges on this trip and John Mark just quit.  He left them.  Paul wasn’t too happy about it but that was not the end of John Mark.  God later used him.

9) God used Peter.

God used him to convert thousands of people from just one of his sermons.  It was the most powerful sermon ever preached.  Three thousand people were saved and baptized after that sermon in Acts 2.  Peter denied Christ.  He denied that ever knew him.  He did it publicly.  He did it repeatedly.  He even swore to it and yet God used him to preach a sermon fifty a little over a month later and thousands of people get saved.

10) God used Paul.

Paul wrote twelve or thirteen books of the NT.  The gospel came to American because of Paul.  He was the one who took it to Europe and from Europe, it came to America. Paul was a former terrorist.  He terrorized the church, arresting men and women and even traveled to other cities to find Christians to arrest.

III. God can use us at any age.

Moses was eighty.  That was when God called him.  In America, that is the time many either go to the nursing home or the cemetery.  John Piper wrote an article in which he pointed out that we have all kinds of examples of people who have done or attempted great things in their old age.

Piper wrote, “This year Hillary turns 69, Bernie turns 75, and Donald turns 70…. All of them want to spend their seventies doing the hardest job in the world. Five of the eight current Supreme Court justices are over 65, and three are over 75. Ronald Reagan served as president from age 70 to 78.

He was shot at age 70 and recovered. Then at 76, he stood against the U.S.S.R. in West Berlin and said to Mikhail Gorbachev, ‘Tear down this wall!’… At 70, Benjamin Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence. John Glenn became the oldest person to go into space at age 77.”[1]


[1] http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/hillary-bernie-donald-and-me

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RFH7C3vkK4

Lessons on Ministry

Our you involved in some form of ministry or do you want to be involved in ministry for Christ.  Today, we are going to talk about ministry and lessons on ministry from the Book of Exodus.  Exodus was written by Moses himself.  Moses is giving us the details of his life.  Last week, we looked at his birth and infancy.  We saw how the deliverer had to be delivered by women.

To save his life, his mom put him in a basket in the Nile River where he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and adopted as her own.  Moses was the man with two moms, one nursed him and one raised him.

Today, we look at the next eighty years of his life.  I am not going to go into the entire chapter.  I want to focus on lessons on ministry that we learn from this section. In the rest of the chapter, Moses is not just a baby.  He grows up.  He does some traveling.  He moves from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.  He gets married. He has kids. He gets adopted into a new family.  He lives with his father-in-law.  This is family number three.

We learn a lot about the character of Moses in this chapter. He shows examples of leadership, even if he is misguided at times.  He was a man whose heart was on fire for justice, as R.C. Sproul points out.  He had a passion for justice.  He was dedicated to social justice.  Three times in this chapter he intervenes to help people.

The first time we see this was when a Hebrew slave was being beaten and Moses came to his aid and killed the abuser.  This is Moses the vigilante.  He was the biblical Clint Eastwood.  He said, “Go ahead punk. Make my day.” This was Moses the Activist.  You have heard of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.  Moses was part of the Jewish Lives Matter movement.

The second time Moses intervened to help people was when he saw two Hebrews were fighting.  This time the conflict was not between an Egyptian and a Hebrew but between two Hebrews. Moses tried to be a peace-maker and help settle the dispute.  He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” (2:13 NIV)

The third time Moses intervened to help people in this chapter was when he went to Midian.  He became a Good Samaritan.  He rescued seven women from a gang of bullies.  He seemed to have a strong instinct to protect those who cannot protect themselves.  He doesn’t kill anyone in that case but he is clearly outnumbered and still drove the bullies away and watered the flock of these seven women.  He seemed to be a rescuer by nature.

There are a lot of parallels between Moses and Jesus in this chapter.  Last week, saw Moses as a baby. When we get to Exodus 2:11, Moses is no longer a baby.  He is an adult.  He has grown up.  It does not tell us how old he was here but the NT does.

“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:23-25 ESV).

Stephen tells us that Moses was forty when this happened.  Exodus goes from talking about Moses as a baby to describing what happened to him when he was forty.  There is a gap of forty years between Exodus 2:10 and Exodus 2:11.  We do not find out what Moses was like as a child or teenager or even a young adult.  That sounds very similar to Jesus.  Moses is like Jesus here.

The NT describes his birth and then skips to his ministry around the age of thirty.  It only mentions one thing that happened to Jesus as a child.  The only event it describes is when Jesus was left behind by his parents in Jerusalem.  That happened when Jesus was twelve (Luke 2:42).  We do not have any stories about Jesus as a teenager.

That gap is referred to as “the silent years” and all kinds of writers with great imaginations have described what Jesus must have been like as a teenager or a student in school.  Many of these stories are found in the New Testament Apocrypha.

We know one thing that happened to Jesus and a child and we have one description of Moses during the first forty years of his life, not in Exodus but in the NT.  Acts 7:22 says, “And when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds” (ESV).

Moses began life in terrible circumstances but had an amazing reversal of fortunes.  He was born to a poor slave family with a death sentence on his head but he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and was raised in the royal palace in luxury and wealth.  He went from the bottom of society to the top of society.  Stephen focuses on one aspect of Moses’ upbringing, his education.

The Education of Moses

Moses not only an education, he received the best education in Egypt.  He received a world class education.  He received the education of a prince.  He went to the Cambridge or Oxford of the ancient world.  He learned hieroglyphics.  He could read cuneiform. Why is that important for us?  Some preachers mock education, learning and knowledge, as if it were unspiritual.

It is true that you do not have to have a great education to be used by God.  Most of the Apostles were uneducated (cf. Acts 4:13).  They were simple fishermen but God used them.  God can use people without an education but he also uses some people with an education.

Moses is a great example of this. The one that God used to write the first five books of the Bible was highly educated.  He was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.  In fact, Moses received a secular education.  It was a pagan education.  He did not go to a Christian school.

Paul wrote twelve or thirteen books of the NT.  All of the great theology of the NT comes from the writings of the Apostle Paul and he also was highly education.  He sat under the feet of Gamaliel.  That name does not mean anything to us today but Gamaliel was like the Albert Einstein of his day.

Moses’ Identity Crisis

When Moses gets to the age of forty, he has an identity crisis.  It is not a mid-life crisis, because he lives to be one hundred and twenty.  He would have to be sixty for that and he has this when he was forty. He has an identity crisis.  What caused the crisis?

He was born Jewish but he was raised Egyptian.  How did Moses know he was Jewish?  He said to Pharaoh, “Let MY PEOPLE go” (5:1).  How did he know he was Jewish?  God told him he was Jewish when he was eighty.  He appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (3:6).

Even when he was forty, he knew he was Jewish. Exodus 2:11 says, “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of HIS PEOPLE” (cf. Acts 7:22). Stephen said that this happened when he was forty years old (Acts 7:23).

There were some signs.  His complexion may have been a little different.  He was also circumcised form birth but I believe that his mother probably told him as well.  He had an incredible story of survival.  He was a Hebrew who was abandoned by his mother as a baby, found alive floating in the Nile in a basket.  He must have been told about his spectacular birth.

There is an interesting story that was in the news about a man named Marty Johnson.  He lived in Nebraska.  He was married and had two kids.  He was also adopted and did not know anything about his birth parents.  He did not even know his race, so he searched for his birth parents.  He was adopted forty years earlier.  After some searching, he found his mom and talked to her over the phone.

She met his father in graduate school and got pregnant.  He wanted to get married but his parents wanted to put the child up for adoption.  The dad would be seventy now if he was still alive.  He eventually found an address in Nigeria and wrote to it.  He got a letter back saying that he came from a prestigious family and was a member of this African dynasty[1].

That is a story about a peasant who finds out that he is a prince.  In the Moses story, a prince finds out that he is really a peasant. This caused an identity crisis.  Deep on the inside, he began to ask some soul searching questions about who he really was. He began to wonder, “Am I a Jew or an Egyptian?”

He may have felt guilty.  He lived in wealth and comfort, while his brethren lived in poverty and discomfort.  He lived a life of ease in the royal palace.  He feels even worse when he sees his own people working as slaves and beaten mercilessly.  Moses developed a bond with the Hebrews.  He began to identify with them.  He was secretly sympathetic to their cause and even defended them.  His heart clearly was with them and not with the Egyptians.

Exodus 2:11 says, “One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor”. Stephen adds some important details. “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. He says that this happened when he was forty.

At forty years old, Moses got a strong sense on the inside that he needed to be more involved with his own people.  He left the palace to visit them. What did he see?  He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew (Exodus 2:11; Acts 7:24).  The poor man may not have been working fast enough.  It was a disturbing sight to see.  How did Moses respond?  He killed the man on the spot.

Before we criticize Moses, we need to see some of his good traits.  He knew what was happening was wrong.  He was outraged.  This was not a question of race against race but of right against wrong.  He could have just shut his eyes and pretended that he saw nothing.  That is what some do today when they see evil taking place in the world.  Moses didn’t do that.

He wasn’t passive.  He was a man of action. He did something about it. He took a stand. He took leadership of the situation and stood up for slaves who were being badly mistreated.  That part was commendable, standing up for the little guy.  He took a stand He stood up for the helpless and defenseless.  He fought for the weak and oppressed, the people who could not stand up for themselves.

Apparently, Moses was not only trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he was trained how to fight.  Apparently, hand to hand combat was part of his training.  He had the best karate training in the ancient world.  He is forty years old and still has some moves.

Was This Killing Justified?

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (2:11-12). The question we want to answer is this:  Did he do the right thing here?  The Bible does not say.

Some writers believe that this killing was justified.  That is what Matthew Henry believed.  I believe that it was not justified.  What Moses did was wrong for four reasons.

1) God did not tell him to do this

Moses had no commission for what he had done.  God did not tell him to do this.  He does not get his commission for another forty years.  There was a need for a deliverer and Moses had the desire to be a deliverer but still had not received a call from God yet to do this.  He does not get this call for forty more years when he gets it at the burning bush. This is forty years premature.

Moses is running ahead of God here.  He took matters into his own hands. He had no authority to do what he had done.  He may have meant well.  He may have had good intentions but he had no authority from God to do this.  There are many who look at the killing that the Muslim jihadists do and say it is no different from the killing that you see in the OT.

The Jews slaughtered the Canaanites.  They wiped out whole villages, men, women and children.  What’s the difference?  They only did that if God told them to do it.  The jihadists have no authority to do what they are doing.

2) He broke the law

Slavery was legal and it was legal for task masters to beat slaves.  It doesn’t say that he was killing him, just beating him.  What Moses did was illegal.  He became an outlaw. There was a warrant out for his arrest.  He was immediately placed on Pharaoh’s “Most Wanted List.”

His picture was in every post office in Egypt and he had to flee the country.  He became a fugitive from justice.  We are to live with a good conscience before God and man (Acts 24:16), not running from state to state hiding from the law.

He flees and survives death for the third time.  He survived Pharaoh’s murderous decree for three whole months.  He survived being abandoned in the Nile River and now he survives criminal prosecution.

3) It was premeditated

Moses committed premeditated murder.  This was no an accidental killing.  It was not a killing in anger.  It was premeditated.  How do we know?  The text says, “Looking this way and that and seeing no one” (2:12)He did it only after he saw that no one was watching him.

4) He tried to conceal the evidence

After he killed the Egyptian, he hid the body in the sand.  He tried to cover up the crime.  He tried to conceal the evidence.  If we do not do anything wrong, we do not have to hide anything.  If you have nothing to hide, you do not have to be ashamed of.  We can be completely open and transparent with people.

Lessons on Ministry

1. Ministry requires real preparation.

This is a big problem for ministers today.  They rush into the job.  They often have no preparation for ministry.  Some start churches and pastor for twenty years and then decide to go to seminary. It is very different from pastors from a different generation.  Jonathon Edwards went to Yale and graduated with honors.  He began to preach in a small church but refused to be the full pastor of the church until he spent six more years studying.

God was in no hurry. God was going to use Moses in an incredible way.  He was going to be the greatest leader in world history but he had to be prepared to lead. He wasn’t ready to lead the Jews out of Egypt.  He had been through the best schools in Egypt but he still was not ready. God is going to give him another education.

Arthur W. Pink said “The colleges of this world cannot equip for the Divine service; for that we must be taught in the school of God. And that is something which the natural man knows nothing about”[2]  The best schools and colleges in Egypt could not prepare him to be God’s servant.  He learned some things in Midian which he could never have learned in Egypt.

God put him back in school.  It was a different kind of school. He went to God’s school in the desert of Midian.  He earned a post graduate degree in humility from the Midian Graduate School.  Moses took a few courses in obscurity and humility.  He must have passed them because he became “the meekest man of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).  Most leaders are not known for their humility.  Moses was.

Moses earned a BD degree (backside of the desert degree), which is what Moses received in Midian.  Before God used him, he had to break him.  Moses spent forty years in the WORLD.  He spent forty years in the WILDERNESS and he spent forty years in the WORK OF GOD.  After forty years in Midian, then God came to him, appeared to him and called him.

2. Ministry requires a specific call

Moses was doing God’s work without God.  Moses knew early what his life mission would be. Acts 7:25 says, “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.”  He knew that God was going to use him in a big way but he jumped the gun.

He acted without any call from God.  God called him forty years later.  That was when He appeared and spoke to him.  That describes many people.  They go into ministry with out a call.  Jeremiah 23:21 says, “I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.” 

Everyone should have a ministry.  God has given us all gifts and he wants us to use them in the body of Christ.  We should all serve in a ministry that God has called us to do.  We should not do it because someone twisted our arm or pressured us into doing it.

3. Ministry often involves disappointment

Anyone who has ever been involved in a ministry know this to be true.  When Moses began his ministry, he was a complete failure.  He encountered disappointment. He was rejected as a leader by his own people. His authority is not recognized by others.  They did not catch his vision.  They said, “Who made you judge and ruler over us?” (Exodus 2:14; Acts 7:27).

Moses once again is a type of Jesus.  He was rejected by his people (their brethren), He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  If you have faced, or if you are facing, rejection don’t let it bring you down.  Moses turned out to be a great leader, perhaps the greatest leader the nation ever had and yet, when he began his ministry, they did not want to have anything to do with him.


[1] http://www.nigerialinks.com/stories/2005/06/from-marty-johnson-to-chinenye-ogike.html

[2] http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Gleanings_Exodus/exodus_04.htm

The Birth of Moses

We are studying the Book of Exodus.  Last week, we looked at the first chapter.  It is an introduction to the book but today we come to an exciting chapter, as we begin to study a new character in the Bible.  We begin to look at the life of Moses. A lot of things happen in this chapter.  Exodus 2 covers an eighty years.

Today, I just want to look at the first ten verses of the chapter, which covers the birth and infancy of Moses.  It is a very familiar Bible story about baby Moses.  Every child is taught this story in Sunday School but this is the “Digging Deeper Class”.  We are going to look at this story on a much deeper level.  I want you to try to see this chapter in a way you never have before.

This chapter has even changed the law codes in our country. In all fifty states today we have legislation enacted called “Baby Moses Laws”.  These laws say that if a mother can no longer take care of her kids, she can drop them off at a hospital or fire station and not be prosecuted for neglect or abandonment.  It is a way of protecting infants from being dropped off somewhere and left to die.  They are called “Safe Haven Laws”.

These ten verses focus on the birth of Moses. Today, we see Moses the baby.  Moses is a miracle baby. He survives against all odds.  He is born in Egypt to a poor slave family.  He had a death sentence on him. He survives a genocidal decree.  He survives abandonment.  He survives being left alone in a river.  He was completely helpless and vulnerable and exposed to great danger.

Moses will go on to be the deliverer of the Jews but, in this section, the deliverer needs to be delivered.  He is delivered BY WOMEN (Moses’ mother, Moses’ sister and Pharaoh’s daughter). They are the ones who rescue him and save his life. When Pharaoh made his murderous decree, he made one mistake.  He underestimated the power of women.  They are heroes here.

That is interesting.  Most of the heroes in the Bible are men.  The Bible is largely written from a male perspective but women are the heroes here.  Men are associated with death.  Women are associated with life. All of the ones who fought against Pharaoh’s decree were women (Hebrew midwives, Moses’ mother, Moses’ sister and Pharaoh’s daughter, the maidservant who fetched the basket out of the river and brought it to Pharaoh’s daughter).

If they did not do this, there would have been no Exodus from Egypt, because there would have been no deliverer. Today, I want to look at three women who were used by God to deliver the deliverer and what we can learn from each one of them. Today, our focus will not be on Moses.  He does not do much in these verses, except cry.  I want to focus on three special women who God used to deliver Moses in a time of great danger.

Moses’ Mother

The focus here is on Moses’ mother, not his father.  We do not know where he was.  He might have been out making bricks but the one actively involved in the chapter is his mother, not his father.  Moses’ mother was a godly woman.  This chapter gives us a portrait of a godly woman. She is a great example to people today.

She was a LOVING mother.  She loved her baby and tried to protect him as long as she could, even at risk to herself.  She probably fed him all of the time to keep him from crying.  She was COURAGEOUS in deliberately defying Pharaoh’s decree.  She chose life for her son.

Abortion was not an option.  While the world cried out for the death of her son, she chose life.  She put her own life in jeopardy by hiding Moses.  She was CREATIVE in making the floating basket.  She does not just pray, she does something.  She is active, not passive.  She makes a special basket and puts him in the river.

She was a woman of FAITH.  She and her husband are mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the Faith Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11:23).  How does she display incredible faith?  Once she let go of that basket, the child’s welfare and future was completely out of her hands.  She had to trust God.  She had to trust the providence of God.  She had to believe that His will, program and purpose would be carried out.  We could learn from Yoheved here.  We need to trust God with our kids, like she did.

She did what she could to take care of her son.  When she could not take care of him anymore more, she left him in God’s hands.  We need to do that when they go off to college, live in another state or do something else that is completely beyond our control. Some parents never let go of the basket.  They never leave them in God’s hands and trust him. We need to do that when they go off to college, live in another state or do something else that is completely beyond our control.

She was also completely SELFLESS.  She loved Moses and wanted to raise him herself but she gave that dream up if it meant that he would have a better life with someone else.  She didn’t think of herself and her own needs and desires but that of her child.  She didn’t have a choice in this adoption but she did not want her son to grow up as a slave.

He gave her son a better life.  He went from being the son of a slave to the son of a king.  He went from poverty to wealth, from living in a hut to living in a palace.  She knew that Pharaoh’s daughter could give her son a far better life in the palace than she could give him. What she did must have been very hard to do but she at least knew who the mother was and where Moses was at all times.

She is also TRUSTWORTHY.  She made an agreement with Pharaoh’s daughter. Once the child was through nursing, he was to be brought back to her.  She could have changed her mind but she kept the agreement she made whether she wanted to or not.

She was a GOOD PARENT. Moses was not her first child.  He was her third child.  She had an older brother and sister.  Miriam was born first and then Aaron and now Moses.  From this poor slave family came three very important people in Jewish history.

All of them were called prophets.  Miriam was called a prophetess.  She was also a great worship leader in Israel.  Moses frees an entire nation of slaves and delivers the Ten Commandments to the nation.  Aaron was the first high priest in the nation.  He was the founder of the priesthood.  She and her husband must have done something right to have such great kids. God blessed her.

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months (2:1-2).  The chapter begins with a wedding and a birth.  Moses mom and dad get married.  They are not named here but they are named in Exodus 6:20. “Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years” (ESV).

Many scholars say that she was not just mother but just his ancestor but Jewish tradition says that she was his mother (Jubilees 47:8).  Most Bibles read “Jochebed”.  Every preacher calls her “Jock-a-bed” but that was not her name.  Jock-a-bed sounds like someone from the Flintstones.  Hebrew does not have a “j” sound.  It doesn’t exist in Hebrew.  In Hebrew, it is pronounced Yo-kheh-ved. 

Amram married Yoheved.  They were both Levites.  They did not marry Canaanites. They married within the same faith.  They married within the same tribe.  In fact, they married within the same family.  Exodus 6:20 says that Amram married his father’s sister.

His father was named Kohath.  He married his sister which means that he married his aunt which means that Moses’ mom was much older than his dad.  Amram’s aunt as well as his wife, Later in Scripture, a marriage between aunt and nephew was forbidden (cf. Leviticus 18:12) but it was not forbidden at this time.

They get married and have a child but then they find out it is a boy.  If it was a girl, it would have been no problem but Pharaoh ordered all baby boy babies to be thrown into the river. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 

When was Moses Born?

Did you know that we know the exact year Moses was born? Most people do not know this but the exact year that Moses was born comes right out of the Bible.  Moses was born in 1526 B.C.

How do we know?  This is fascinating. I Kings 6:1 says “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord” (NIV)

Historians know when Solomon ruled.  He built the Temple in 966 BC.  If you add 480 to 966, you get 1446 BC for the date of the Exodus[1].  We know that Moses was eighty years old at the time of the Exodus (7:7).  If you add 80 to 1446, you come up with 1526 BC as the birth date for Moses.

If Moses was born in 1526, we have some idea who the Pharaoh was who issued the decree to throw all of the Jewish baby boys into the river.  We know which Pharaoh was ruling Egypt at that time.  You can look it up.

According to conventional Egyptian chronology, Ahmose I was the one who issued the decree.  He reigned from 1550-1525 BC and his son Amenhotep I reigned from 1525-1504 BC.  If the dates are off by a few years, Amenhotep I could be the baby killing Pharaoh, instead of his father.

When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. (2:2-3). She can’t hide him anymore, so she does something.

She makes a special basket and puts him in the river.  She does not throw him in the river like the king decreed but she does place him in the river, so she at least obeyed the letter of the law.

She puts him in a floating basket and puts the basket in the Nile, which happens to be the longest river in the world.  The word basket is the same word for Noah’s ark (tay-vah).  This is Moses in the Ark. God saved Moses the same way he saved Noah.  Both passed through deadly waters and were saved by an ark. The only other time this Hebrew word is used is of Noah. Noah floated in an ark and Moses floated in an ark as well.

How did Moses’ mom know how to make a boating of papyrus reeds?  How did she know how to make this basket boat over three thousand years ago?  I would not know how to do this today.  I cannot make anything.  I am Jewish and Jesus was the last Jewish carpenter.  How did she know how to do this?  There is a good answer to this question.

She had the technology to do this in her day.  The first boats the early Egyptians built were made from papyrus, not wood.  They were papyrus boats.  These reed boats are among the oldest type of boats.  They waterproofed with some form of tar. The technology to do this existed in Egypt at the time.

Where did she place the basket?  The text says, “She placed the child … among the reeds along the bank of the Nile” (2:3). In the Prince of Egypt the basket is placed in the middle of the river and floats down current right past all kinds of dangerous animals.  It is a great movie but much of it is biblical fiction.

Exodus says Moses was placed among the tall sturdy plants by the edge of the river so it will not float away. As Chuck Swindoll says, “She had faith but it was not foolish faith.”[2] The ark was not placed in the middle of the river but among reeds by the bank of the Nile and his sister watched it at all times.

Why did she put Moses in the river?  Why did she abandon her own child?  Why did she put him at risk?  It is dangerous to put a baby in a river.  There are alligators and crocodiles in the river. She didn’t have a choice.  If she does NOT do this, Moses will die.  Pharaoh had a law and tried to enforce the law, so she put him in the river and left him in the hands of God.

Pharaoh’s Daughter

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” (2:6-7 ESV)

The second hero of the chapter is Pharaoh’s daughter.  In The Prince of Egypt movie, she is not his daughter but his wife.   That idea comes from the Quran.  The Quran describes this woman as Pharaoh’s wife (28:9; 66:11) but that was written two thousand years after Exodus was written.  It is a corrupted version of the story. Exodus is clear that she was his daughter (2:5). It doesn’t say which one of his daughters she was but it clearly says that she was his daughter.

She also happened to be a financial wizard.  She went to the bank of the Nile and drew out a little profit. She was one of the great women in Scripture, Pharaohs’ daughter.  She does a righteous deed and she was not even Jewish. Then, she does something amazing.  She finds this baby floating in the river.  She could have easily drowned him but she decides to save the baby.

Moses’ life is saved by a pagan princess.  She does a good deed here.  It shows incredible bravery.  Her dad decrees to throw all of them into the river and kill them.  She decides to deliberately break the law.  She does not just break the law, she disobeys her parents.  She deliberately disobeys her own father.  It is right to disobey your parents when they command you to din and that is exactly what she does here.

She must have been very different from her father. Her father was a bloodthirsty tyrant.  He was a ruthless killer.  He goes down as one of the top evil people in the Bible.  This daughter of his might have been more like her mother.  She had a love for children, even Hebrew children.  She loved even enslaved Hebrew children.

The big irony is that the Nile does not become an instrument of death but an instrument of life.  God once again turns evil into good.  God is triumphing over evil.  Pharaoh decreed that the river be an instrument of death.  God used it to save the life of Moses.  Pharaoh’s daughter goes beyond that.

She does not just save the baby; she adopts him (which means that he goes from a slave to Pharaoh’s grandson).  She loves him and kisses him, like he was her own son.  Moses gets a new mother.  He gets a new home.  He gets a new family.

What happened here? Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe.  This was probably not a bath with a bar of soap but a religious ritual.  There were bathtubs in the palace.  She didn’t have to go to the river to bathe.  The Egyptians worshiped the Nile.  They believed it was a god and gave this god a name (Hapi).  She sees something unusual (2:5) and sends a servant to check it out (2:5).  Pharaoh’s daughter was the one who saw the basket but her servant was the one who went and got the basket out of the water.

By God’s providence, Pharaoh’s daughter was in exactly the right place at the right time and sees something unusual and curiosity kicks in, so she sends one of her servants to get it.  She opens it and sees a beautiful baby.  It is a boy baby and he is crying.  She knew instantly that this was a Hebrew baby.

How did she know this? Some believe she knew it was a Hebrew baby by the clothes he was wearing or the circumcision.  Egyptians practices circumcision but they did not circumcise infants. I think she would have known immediately because of her father’s decree about throwing baby boys in the river.

She sees this baby, deserted and abandoned by its parents, exposed to danger.  The Nile River was a dangerous place for a helpless infant.  She was instantly moved with compassion. Her maternal instinct kicked in. This Egyptian princess was touched by the cry of this little Jewish boy. It is love at first sight and may have thought that the river god gave her a child.

When she sees the baby, he is crying.  Jewish commentators in the Middle Ages said that an angel stood there and must have pinched the baby at that time[3].  She sees not only an abandoned baby but a hungry baby.  He is crying.  He needs to eat and you cannot go to the grocery store and buy formula.  That is when Moses’ sister jumped into action.

Moses’ Big Sister

Moses sister functioned as Moses’ babysitter. We don’t know how old she was.  Jewish tradition says she was about seven.  She might have been ten years older than Moses.  She followed him in the water.  Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” (2:7 ESV)

We do not know if this was her idea of if her mom told her to do this.  We definitely see some of her character traits here.  She was LOVING. She loved her baby brother.  She was PROTECTIVE of him.  She was OBEDIENT. The Bible does not say that her mom told her to do this but she probably did.

She was RESPONSIBLE as the older sister.  She was not going to let Moses out of her sight.  She was also very WISE.  She made sure that no one saw her there.  She watched her baby brother “from a distance” (2:4).  She also knew how to think fast in a crisis.  She knew how to think on her feet.  She knew what to say and what not to say to Pharaoh’s daughter.

She did not say anything.  She just asked an innocent question.  She made it sound like she was doing Pharaoh’s daughter a favor.  In reality, she was doing her mom a favor.  She just asks a question: Do you want me to find a nurse for this baby?

She did NOT tell them who she was.  She did NOT say she would go get his mother.  The Bible talks about a word spoken in due season.  Proverbs 15:24 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” She spoke the right word at the right time to the right person.

And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. (2:8-9 ESV)

Miriam races home and says to her mom, “You are never going to guess what happened”.  Moses is alive.  Pharaoh’s daughter thinks he is cute.  She wants to adopt him and she is looking for someone to nurse him.  She will pay you to do the job.  Do you want the job”.

Moses’ mom gave her son up and left him in God’s hands.  Now she gets him back and gets paid to nurse him.  God rewards her faith. She gets paid to feed her own baby. She has nursed him for the first three months and now gets paid to continue to nurse him.   Moses’ mother becomes his nanny. His parents were poor slaves and now his mom is about to be put on the government payroll for doing something that she loves to do.

God did exceedingly abundantly above all that she asked or could even imagine.  This was too good to be true.  It is also an example of Proverbs 16:7. When people’s lives please the LORD, even their enemies are at peace with them (NLT).

She went and fed the baby.  Then she got to take him home with her and she nursed him for several years.  When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” (2:10).

Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and even named him.  His mother does not name him.  She does.  She names him Mo.  Moses was an Egyptian name.  It means “son of”.  Ramoses means “son of Ra”.  Tutmoses means “son of Tut”. It was an Egyptian name but it is translated into Hebrew as Moshe which is very similar to the word for draw out (mashah).  It is a pun.  Next week, we will see what happens when Moses grows up.


[1] Liberals have a late date for the Exodus.  They date it around 1270 BC in the 13th century BC.  Conservatives have an early date for the Exodus around 1446 in the 15th century BC based on a literal interpretation of this verse.

[2] Chuck Swindoll, Moses, 24.

[3] Exodus Rabbah (Sec 1, Par, 24)

 

Persecution in Egypt

Today, we will begin with the first chapter of Exodus. There are some incredible things in this chapter for us.  It is a fascinating chapter.  Some chapters of the Bible may not seem too relevant to us today (e.g. genealogies in Chronicles).  Other chapters of the Bible are very relevant to the day in which we live.  This is one of them.  Things have not changed a whole lot in thirty five hundred years.  What we see in this chapter, we see today in our own world in a slightly different form.

Unborn babies are still at risk today with the prevalence of abortion in the US and the world today. God’s people are still persecuted today all over the world.  Anti-Semitism is still a problem today.  All you have to do is look at the Middle East today.  Genocide still takes place today.  Euphemisms are used today.  People call it “The Final Solution” or “ethnic cleansing” (instead of “ethnic killing”).

This chapter also raises some important ethical questions. Is it always wrong to lie?  Is lying ever justified?  Some say that the two Hebrew midwives lied to Pharaoh and God still blessed them.  We will look at that issue.  Finally, we see the issue of civil disobedience with you in this chapter.  Is it ever wrong to disobey a direct order from a government official?

Firsts in History

1. The chapter describes the first attempted genocide. If the males were all killed, the females would intermarry with the rest of the population and the race would eventually be destroyed.

2. The chapter mentions the first anti-Semite in history. Pharaoh was the world’s first anti-Semite.

3. The chapter describes the first forced Jewish labor camp.

4. The chapter describes the first case of civil disobedience in recorded history.

5. The chapter describes the first pro-lifers in history (two Hebrew midwifes).

6. The chapter contains the first example of population control. These actions were taken because “the people of Israel are too many and too mighty”.

7. The chapter contains the first example of sex or gender selection (choosing the sex of the baby in advance).

There is one villain in the chapter, an evil bloodthirsty tyrant.  There are two heroes in this chapter, the two midwives. We do not even know their nationality.  They may have been Jews.  They had Hebrew names but Josephus said that they were Egyptian[1].  Hagar had a Hebrew name and she was Jewish. The strange thing here is that the heroes in this story were actually lawbreakers.  They were a pair of God-fearing lawbreakers.

Background to the Chapter

Notice how the book begins: “And these are the names of the children of Israel (1:1).  Some bibles do not translate the first word.  They just read “These are the names of the children of Israel” (NIV).  Other bibles read “Now these are the names of the children of Israel” (KJV).  In Hebrew, the very first word in Exodus is “and”.  That is very important.

It shows that Exodus is not a completely separate book.  It is the continuation of the story of Genesis.  Exodus is the sequel to the Book of Genesis.  The first seven verses of the chapter are just a review of the Book of Genesis. The first words begin with a summary of Genesis (1:1-7).

Some of your grammar teachers may have discouraged you from starting a sentence with a conjunction but Exodus begins with a conjunction, so does Leviticus, so does Numbers.  It is the first word in the book of Joshua.  It is the first word in the Book of Judges and the Book of Ruth.  In fact, thirteen books of the OT.  These are not just sentences but whole books of the Bible.

Population Explosion

Exodus begins with a huge population growth.  Seventy men went down to Egypt but four hundred years there is a population explosion.  At the time of the Exodus, there are six hundred thousand and that is just counting the men.  But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them (1:7).

Many of their ancestors had fertility problems (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel).  Now, they are multiplying like rabbits.  They must have had high fertility rates, coupled with low mortality rates, low miscarriages and low disease.  God promised Abraham that this would happen.  He said one day he would have so many descendants; he would not be able to count them all.

Exodus 1:8 says, Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph (ESV).  What is the lesson here?  You cannot always trust government.  When an election takes place and a new administration comes in, sometimes they make things better and sometimes they make things worse off than before.  That is why the Bible says, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes” (Psalm 118:9 NIV).

Here a new king takes over and institutes some major policy changes.  This Pharaoh was big on change but he had two problems.  He was ungrateful and he was ignorant.  He is also ungrateful to the very one who helped save the whole country from starvation.  Joseph was the one who helped save the whole country from a famine.  He was ignorant of his own history.  He did not know Joseph or how he helped Egypt.

What happened in Egypt has happened in America. Many in America do not know their own history.  It is the sign of the decay of a civilization.  Many do not know that we have a religious background.  Some of our politicians do not seem to know that the founders of our country were religious.  They think it was founded as a completely secular country.

Many have no idea that Harvard was originally a Christian school.  It was created to train ministers.  In fact, Christians started all of the Ivy League schools (Harvard, Princeton, Yale). Harvard was named after a Christian minister (John Harvard, who was a pastor).  The first presidents of the school insisted that there could be no true knowledge or wisdom without Jesus Christ.

This Pharaoh institutes a policy of persecution.  This chapter is very important.  It is still very relevant today.  This chapter is a case study in anti-Semitism.   The first documented case of anti-Semitism is found in Exodus 1.  It is the earliest case and it is Egyptian in nature. The Egyptians were the first people to persecute God’s people.

Why is this important?  Anti-Semitism did NOT begin with the holocaust.  Hitler did not start it.  It has been done all throughout history and is still done today.  Why did the Pharaoh do this? Why did he pick on the Jews?

They were foreigners.  They were not big on foreigners. The Egyptians had just kicked out the Hyksos invaders from the country, who had ruled Egypt for one hundred and eight years.   Pharaoh had a large number of Jewish immigrants in Egypt.  They all lived in one location.  They were a different race.  They spoke a different language.  They had a different culture.  They had a different religion and they did not assimilate in the country.

Some think it is similar to what is happening in Europe today.  There are a lot of Muslims in Europe right now and they refuse to assimilate into Western culture and it is causing problems.  There is one big difference.  Some of these Muslims are radicalized.  They believe in jihad.  They commit violent crimes in the country.

That was NOT happening in Egypt.  They had absolutely no desire to conquer Egypt to cause a revolution in the country. They were not chopping people’s heads off or raping women.  They were law-abiding citizens. They were harmless shepherds.  Pharaoh believed that the Jews were a military threat.  He believed that they were a national security threat to the country.  It was completely irrational.  It was xenophobia.  Anti-Semitism is always irrational but this Pharaoh believed that there was a Jewish problem in his country and he needed to solve it.

Pharaoh’s Devious Plan

1. Forced Labor

Pharaoh’s plan to control the population involved four parts.  The first stage of the plan involved forced labor.  And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. (1:9-11)

No longer are they just shepherds.  Pharaoh turned them all into construction workers and used them for government building projects.  He used them to build some cities (Pithom and Ramses).  Pharaoh worked them hard.  He afflicted them.  He put heavy burdens on them.  He wanted to work to demoralize them and break their spirit.  He wanted to work them to death.  Some would die and the others would be too tired to have kids but it didn’t work.  It backfired.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel (1:12 ESV).  Pharaoh loses round one.  His plan didn’t work and the reason it did not work is that he tried to stop the program of God.  God promised to increase the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Pharaoh is trying to wipe it out.

The same thing happened to Hitler.  He tried to wipe the Jews off of the map in the holocaust and it also backfired.  After the holocaust, the Jews were given their own homeland.  His actions only led to the formation of the state of Israel in 1948.

2. Slavery

The second stage involved slavery. They completely lost their freedom and became the property of the Egyptians and the Egyptians took advantage of them.  So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves (1:13-14 ESV).

They were not house slaves, like Joseph; they were field slaves.  It was hard and ruthless.  How long did were the Hebrews slaves to the Egyptians?  They were slaves for at least eighty years but probably much longer.  Moses is born in Exodus 2 and takes the Jews out of Egypt when he is eighty years old (7:7).

3. Abortion

The third stage involved abortion.  Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live (1:15-17).

This section introduces us to two very important women that God used.  We can learn a lot from these two women and what they did in this chapter.  They were both midwives.  Midwives have been around for a long time. Shifra and Puah were NOT the first recorded midwives in the Bible.  Rachel had a midwife (Genesis 35:17) and so did Tamar (Genesis 38:27-30).

Midwives played a very important role in the ancient world.  Childbirth in the ancient world had a high mortality rate.  There were no hospitals in the ancient world.  Delivery usually took place in the home with the help of a midwife.  Midwives cut the infant’s umbilical cord, washed the baby, and presented the child to the mother (cf. Ezekiel 16:4).

Pharaoh gives these two midwives explicit instructions.  What are the instructions?  Kill babies, not all babies, just Jewish babies.  They were to kill only male Jewish babies.  He tells them to perform a partial-birth abortion.  If the baby comes out and is a boy, suffocate it.  If it is a girl, help it to live. It is the opposite of China and India where baby girls were often killed and boys were spared.  The plan in this country was to kill the baby boys.

Exodus 1 and Abortion Today

How does this apply to our day?  This is where the bad news comes in.  We have abortion today but what we do in America is far worse. We have killed far more babies that Pharaoh ever did. 

Sixty million have been killed since Roe v. Wade.  That is ten times more killed than Hitler killed in the holocaust.  We kill girls as well as boys.  Abortion kills babies voluntarily.  Women are not forced to abort their babies.  They are not commanded to do this.  They choose to do it (“pro-choice”).

These two women did something amazing.  In America, people have the legal right to abort their own babies and often choose to do so.  These two women were COMMANDED to kill other people’s children and they REFUSED to do it. They said “No” to Pharaoh.  They deliberately disobeyed a direct order from the most powerful man in the ancient world.  Their job as midwives was to save lives, not take life.

These two women committed the first act of civil disobedience in the Bible.  They broke a law.  It was an unjust law.  Pharaoh commanded them to sin.  He commanded them to commit murder, so they broke the law.  What they did is what we should do today if we are ever commanded to sin.  We should obey God, rather than man (Acts 5:29).  Pharaoh’s laws directly contradicted God’s laws.  God’s laws always supersedes man’s law. We should not break laws we do not like but we should also not keep laws that involve sin.

What they did was dangerous.  They risked their life doing it.  Pharaoh was a dictator.  To disobey a direct order from Pharaoh is like disobeying a direct order from Hitler.  They risked their lives to save the lives of these little Jewish baby boys.  Have you ever done that?  Have you ever risked your own life to save another life?  They did.  They were definitely pro-life.  They loved babies.  They were tenderhearted.  They had the maternal instinct.   They were also selfless.  They thought of others, rather than themselves.

Why did they do it?  The text tells us.  They were motivated by fear – fear of God.  We are told that twice in the text (1:17, 21).  It is the first time God is mentioned in the Book of Exodus.  Now this is very interesting.  There were many gods in Egypt but they feared the true God.

Pharaoh had to power to kill them but they feared God more than Pharaoh.  They feared God more than they feared a dictator who could kill them.  They feared the King of the Universe, who is invisible, more than they feared the King of Egypt, who was visible.

So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them” (1:18-19).

The very next verses say that God blessed these two women.  He honored them for what they did.  How did He bless them?  He blessed them in three ways. First, God honored them by naming them.  They are named Shiphrah and Puah.  Their names mean “beauty” and “splendor”.  Many women are NOT named in the Bible but they were.

In fact, the Pharaoh is not even named but they are.   He was the big shot in his day but was not important to God.  His name was deliberately left out of Exodus. “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.” (Proverbs 10:7).

Two, He protected them. He not only named them, He kept them alive.  They were not put to death.  Three, He gave them households of their own.  And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own (1:21). The KJV says “He made them houses”.  The idea is not houses but families.

They started with no households but God gave them households.  They were single before this but got married and had children.   I Samuel 2:30 says, “The one who honors me I’ll honor.”  They saved the household of another family and so God gave them a household of their own.

Now this raises a lot of questions.  Is lying a sin?  Yes.  How could God honor people who lie to the government?  He didn’t.  That is a common misunderstanding about these women.  Their answer was evasive but it was not necessarily dishonest.

If you notice, these women did not directly answer Pharaoh’s question.  It was brilliant.  He asked them, “Why did you let the babies live?”  They said, “Hebrew women are different than Egyptian women”.  It was not necessarily true in every case but it may have been true as a generalization.  What can we learn from this?

Sometimes, we should tell everything (“the whole truth and nothing but the truth”).  Sometimes, we should tell nothing.  Jesus did that.  There were many questions he answered. The High Priest asked him a question.   He said, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Mattherw 26:63).  Jesus answered that question.  He said, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63).

Pilate asked him if he was the King of the Jews (John 18:33). Jesus answered that question.  Herod asked him a question and he didn’t answer it.   When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer (Luke 23:8-9 ESV).

4. Infanticide

The last stage is infanticide. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live” (1:22 NIV).  The first three plans did not work, so he tries male infanticide.  This was Pharaoh’s final solution.

Let the babies be born and then throw them into the river after they are born.  Evil seems to be winning.  You have not only murder but state-sanctioned murder, mass murder.  That is the setting for the birth of Moses in the next chapter.  When things could not get any worse, Moses was born in the darkest days of the nation.


[1] Josephus, Antiquity of the Jews (II, 9, 2).

Introduction to Exodus

We spent several years studying the Book of Genesis. Today, we will be starting a new book study. We are beginning a study of the Book of Exodus and I want to focus on the life of Moses. We spent a lot of time studying Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and we come to a new major character, Moses. I am looking forward to studying this book.

Today will be a general introduction to the book. I want to cover some basic questions about this book that every Christian should know. Some have completely misunderstood what this book is all about. We will get into chapter one next week.

Why is this Book Important?

Carol Meyer, who is a biblical scholar at Duke, called Exodus “the most important book in the Bible”. I do not know if I would go that far but it is important. It is a foundational book. Every Christian should know this book. The Book of Exodus is just as foundational as the Book of Genesis.

God created the world in Genesis. He created a nation in Exodus. Exodus describes the birth of a nation. The Jews went down to Egypt as a family. They came out as a nation. Exodus means “departure” or “going out.” It is similar to our word “exit.”

You cannot understand the rest of the OT unless you understand Exodus. The rest of the OT is about the Nation of Israel. This book tells us how they became a nation. It describes several foundational events. It describes the birth of the Nation of Israel. It describes the Exodus from Egypt. It also describes an important covenant that God made with Israel (called the Mosaic Covenant).

Another reason this book is important is that there are many pictures of Jesus in this book. If you read Exodus, you see Jesus. Let me mention six types of Jesus in Exodus.

Pictures of Jesus in Exodus

1. The Passover Lamb

In Exodus, a Passover lamb saved the Jews from the death angel who went by each house to kill the firstborn son. The lamb killed had to be “without fault or blemish”. Paul says in the NT that Jesus is our Passover lamb (I Corinthians 5:7). As John the Baptist said, Christ is “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Animals were sacrificed in Exodus. Jesus is our sacrifice in the NT.

2. The Burning Bush

The burning bush is a picture of Jesus. Jesus is the one who met Moses at the burning bush. It was a theophany. The one Moses met was called “the angel of the Lord” and was also called “the Lord.” It was the pre-incarnate Christ.

3. Manna from Heaven

God supernaturally provided manna from heaven. It was not manufactured by man. It kept the Jews alive. It came from heaven and every person had to gather it on a daily basis. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:32).

4. The Rock

In Exodus, God commands Moses to strike a rock, and promises to make water flow in the desert. Water came out of the rock. Paul says in the NT that the rock was Jesus (I Corinthians 10:4). He is the rock of our salvation from which the waters of life flow.

5. Moses

Moses is a big type of Jesus. Moses came from a poor family and so did Jesus. Moses. Moses’ life was in danger as a baby and so was baby Jesus. Herod tried to kill baby Jesus and Pharaoh tried to kill baby Moses. Moses delivered his people from Egyptian slavery. Jesus delivered His people from another house of bondage, the bondage of sin (a different kind of slavery).  Moses gave the old covenant.  Jesus instituted the new covenant.

When Moses first tried to deliver his people, they rejected him. Jesus was also rejected by his own people and crucified. He was misunderstood by his own family, like Jesus was. Moses’ sister brother and sister accused him of pride (Numbers 12:1-2) and it was completely false. He was actually the meekest man in the earth (Numbers 12:3). Jesus’ own family thought he was crazy. Mark 3:21 says that they thought he was out of his mind.

6. The High Priest

God gives explicit instructions in Exodus on how to worship Him. Exodus describes an elaborate system of worship with priests and high priests. It looks very different than how we worship God today (a portable tabernacle, animal sacrifices, priesthood) The NT, says that Jesus is our high priest (Hebrews 4:14).

Who Wrote Exodus?

Christians would say that Moses wrote Exodus but how do we know Moses wrote Exodus? Does it even matter? We will see why it does matter. Liberals would say that Moses did NOT write Exodus. In fact, he could not have written Exodus.

Liberals say that Moses could not have written the first five books of the Bible. It is impossible. Why? Deuteronomy records Moses’ death and burial. Moses did not write an account of his death in advance. In fact, the last chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy records his eulogy.

He could not have written his own eulogy. Did Moses write his own obituary? No. Liberals go to the other extreme. Just because Moses did not write the last chapter does not mean that he did not write any of it. He is the substantial author of the Pentateuch. He wrote ninety-nine percent of it. How do we know that he wrote Exodus? There are many reasons.

1. Moses was qualified to write the book. He was an eye-witness to these events and was highly educated. He was trained in “all of the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). He was trained in Pharaoh’s court.

2. Exodus claims to be written by Moses (Exodus 17:14; 24:4, 12; 34:27-28). For example, Exodus 34:27-28 says “And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”  

3. The Jews believed that Moses wrote these books. Jewish tradition supports mosaic authorship.

4.  Most importantly, Jesus says that Moses wrote Exodus. We can see this in two passages in the Gospel of Mark.

The Sadducees came to Jesus with a trick question about marriage in heaven. Jesus answered their question and said, “Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ (Mark 12:24-26).

Now this is very interesting. Jesus talks about the burning bush and even quotes a passage from Exodus 3:6 and says that it came from THE BOOK OF MOSES. In Mark 7:10, Jesus says, ‘For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ Again, Jesus quotes Exodus and says the author is Moses. He said that Moses said it.

That is why this question is a big deal. If Moses did NOT write Exodus, then Jesus is wrong. He is not only wrong, He is a liar.  If He is a liar, he could not have been sinless. If He was not sinless, He could not have been a savior for sin.  He was a fallible human like the rest of us. If Moses did not write Genesis, then the Bible is not inspired, because that is who the Bible says wrote it. That makes this question very important.

Major Themes in Exodus

What is the Book of Exodus about? Several major themes run through the book.

1) It is a book about REDEMPTION

The book begins with the Jews in slavery and they were set free. They were delivered from their bondage. The theological term for deliverance is “redemption.” Exodus is all about redemption. Genesis focuses on creation. Exodus focuses on redemption. It is the book of redemption in the Bible. It contains first great act of redemption in the Bible.

Exodus is the gospel in the OT. It is a little different from the redemption we are familiar with. This is not personal redemption. It is national redemption and it did not have to do with salvation. The whole nation is redeemed from slavery in Egypt but it did not mean that they were all saved. It marked the beginning of Israel as a nation.

In the NT, we see another kind of redemption on the cross. Both redemptions involved blood. They were blood purchases. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt (12:13). In Exodus, blood sprinkled on the doorposts in Egypt and in the NT we have redemption through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7). We are redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

Some have completely missed the whole point of the book. Many have tried to make political statements from this book, especially in the black church. African-Americans have a terrible background of slavery in this country and Exodus is a book that deals with deliverance from slavery.

Moses is a freedom fighter and Exodus is viewed by some as a guide to political activism. Harriet Tubman was called “the Moses of her people” but it does not really fit that narrative. The ones who are doing the oppressing are the Africans. Egypt is in Africa. The Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews.

The Jews did NOT revolt against their slave masters. There was not revolution. Moses killed one Egyptian and fled the country but no one else did.  They asked permission from the Pharaoh to leave Egypt and did not leave until he gave it to them. In fact, Moses does not use moral arguments before Pharaoh. He does not say that slavery is unjust. It is evil and all slaves should be immediately freed. That is not what Moses said.

Everyone misquotes Moses. All the movies do. He did not just say, “Let my people go”. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me” (9:1). God is not just liberating slaves in Exodus but reclaiming worshipers, as Christopher Wright points out. Redemption was not just political; it was religious and spiritual.

2) It is a book about MIRACLES

There are a lot of miracles in Exodus: the burning bush, the ten plagues, pillar of fire, pillar of cloud, the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh’s army, water from a rock, manna from heaven, the theophany at Mount Sinai with God speaking out loud to the whole nation.

That is one reason why critics attack this book, because it is a book full of miracles. They say Moses could never part the Red Sea because that violates the law of physics. If you do not believe that God exists or that miracles are possible, you will have a problem with Exodus, because it is full of miracles. The Exodus is THE great miracle of the OT. It is the greatest event of the OT.

The Jews were in a bad situation in Egypt. They were slaves there and there was no way out. They could not fight their way out. They were in a hopeless situation and were completely helpless. They were powerless to deliver themselves. God had to show up and perform a miracle for them to leave Egypt.

3) It is a book about GOD

Exodus 15:11 says, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” God sent all of the plagues on Pharaoh so that His name would be proclaimed. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth (9:16). God wants His name proclaimed in the earth. What do we learn about God in this book? What type of a being is God in Exodus?

He is PERSONAL

He has a name (3:14). He wants to dwell with his people (29:45). He talked to Moses face to face as a friend (33:11). He may not have a body but He is still a person. When God manifested Himself to the nation of Mount Sinai, they heard a voice but did not see anyone on the mountain.

He is POWERFUL

We see the power of God in Exodus. He is more powerful than Pharaoh, the leader of the most powerful country on the planet at the time and who was even believed to be god in human form. God wins. Pharaoh loses.

He was more powerful than the Egyptian gods. He was more powerful than nature. He was more powerful than the forces of nature. He has control over the sea (blood, Red Sea), insects (gnats, flies), amphibians (frogs), weather (thunder and hail), disease (boils), birth (fertility, population explosion), death (firstborn).

God is powerful in Exodus. He was the one who delivered the Jews out of Egypt. It was not Moses. It was God. He said, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (20:2).

The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey–the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites” (3:7-8).

Exodus says that he delivered the Jews out of Egypt with a STRONG HAND (6:1; 13:9). He redeemed the Jews with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment (6:6).

He is COMPASSIONATE

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin (34:6-7a). How do we see this in Exodus? What does God do that is compassionate?

He delivered his people out of slavery. He saw what was happening to them. He heard their cries and He was concerned about them and answered their prayers. The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers” (3:7).

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” (2:23-25). He sends them Moses to lead them out of Egypt, even when they did not want to go.  He also showed compassion to the Jews in the wilderness for forty years.

He is FAITHFUL

How do we see that in Exodus? God keeps his promises. Exodus is a demonstration of the faithfulness of God to fulfill his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “I will bring you into the land that I SWORE to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’ (6:8)

He is HOLY

When God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, He said “Take off your sandals, for the ground you stand on is holy ground” (3:5). How do we know God is holy? He has all kinds of rules for his people in Exodus and the rules are not optional. The Ten Commandments are Ten Commandments, not ten suggestions. In fact, the book is divided into two parts.

The first part of the book deals with the Exodus. The Jews leave Egypt (Genesis 1-19). It is narrative (history). The second part of the book deals with the revelation at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20-40). It is law (instructions).

After God redeemed his people, He spoke to them and told them how to live. People should live different after they have been redeemed. That is still true today. God does not just save us to save us. There are some things He wants us to do. Our lives should be changed, totally transformed. We are bought with a price. Our life should reflect our redemption. This is the book that contains the Ten Commandments.

Many do not like the word “rules.” It has become a dirty word in some circles. It has a negative connotation. It is true that Christianity is not about rules but we still have some to follow. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Even Christians have commandments in the NT. John says that they are not burdensome.

There is another way we see God is holy in Exodus. He judges sin. God judged Pharaoh with the Ten Plagues. The Jews do not do anything. They do not fire a shot. God does everything. He did not just judge Pharaoh, he judged the Jews who wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

He judged those who worshiped the golden calf. He is intolerant when it comes to other gods and other religions. He even judged Moses when he sinned and said that he cannot enter into the Promised Land. In fact, God almost killed Moses (4:14, 24-26).  Next week, we will look in detail at the first chapter of Exodus.

Good from Evil

Today, we will be looking at the final chapter of Genesis. We have been studying the book for a long time. It has been a blessing to me and I hope that it has been a great blessing to you. Genesis is the book of beginnings. Today, we will be looking at the end of the beginning.

There are three important lessons in this chapter.  There is a lesson on death, a lesson on forgiveness and a lesson on divine providence. There is some deep theology in this chapter. One of the most important passages in the whole Bible is found in this chapter on the lips of Joseph. We are going to spend a lot of our time today on one verse in the chapter.

Joseph played a lot of roles in his life. He was a prophet. He predicted the seven year famine. He predicted that his brothers one day would bow down to him.  He was an actor. He fooled his brothers by acting like he was a different person. He was a politician. He worked in the Egyptian government. He was an economist. He was the head of the department of agriculture in Egypt. He was in charge of the food supply for the country.  He was also a theologian. We will learn some deep theology in this chapter.

Lessons on Death

This chapter contains two deaths and two burials. It describes the death of the Patriarch and the Prime Minister. Jacob dies at the beginning of the chapter and Joseph dies at the end of the chapter. Jacob lives to be one hundred forty-seven.  If you work out the chronology, Joseph would have been fifty-six when his dad died.

Joseph lived to be one hundred and ten, which was the ideal lifespan of an ancient Egyptian. Some of the Pharaohs lived to be one hundred and ten. He died fifty-four years after his dad died. What do we learn about death from this chapter?

1. We all one day will die.

Genesis began with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (1:1) but ends with the words “So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt” (50:26 ESV).  It starts with creation but ends with death. That is how the book ends.  Genesis ends with Joseph in a coffin in Egypt.

God warned Adam and Eve if they sinned and ate from the forbidden fruit, the result would be death and it was. They died and so did all of their descendants. Some live longer than others but they all died. Joseph lived long enough to see his great-grand children being born (50:23). Jacob lived longer than Joseph but Jacob’s dad and grandfather lived longer than he did. Some of them lived very long but they all eventually died. The wicked die and so do the godly, men like Joseph.

2. We should prepare for death.

Jacob and Joseph do not just die in this chapter, they prepare for death. Jacob brings his sons in and talks to them. He gives final instructions about what to do with his body. The instructions are not the same. Jacob tells his sons to bury him in Canaan. He knows his spirit is going to be gathered with his people when he dies but he insists that his body is buried in Canaan.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife.

There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.  When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people (49:28-33)

Notice that Jacob was gathered to his people when he died.  He was not buried until seventy days later.  Notice what Jacob requested to be done with his body after death.  He wanted to be buried in Canaan.

He could have had a fancy burial in Egypt in a wealthy tomb. He had an elaborate state funeral. It was attended by “all of the elders of the land of Egypt” (50:7).  Jacob did not want to be buried in Egypt; he wanted to be buried at Macpelah (which today is in Hebron in the West Bank).

Why? It was not just because he wanted to be buried in the family graveyard, because the wife that he loved the most was not even buried there. Rachel was buried somewhere else. Jacob chose to be buried with Leah, rather than with Rachel.

Why did he want to be buried there? It was an act of faith. God promised Jacob some land in Canaan. He knew that one day, his ancestors would get that land and he wanted to be buried there. It was an act of faith on Jacob’s part. In the last chapter, we saw Jacob’s last words. In this chapter, we see Joseph’s last words.

Joseph gave different instructions. He did NOT ask to be buried in Canaan. He stayed in Egypt. Both were mummified after death but Joseph stayed right in Egypt and Jacob left Egypt. Jacob was put into a tomb. Joseph was put in a coffin. He was never buried. He stayed above ground. Why?

Joseph also believed that one day the Jews would all leave Egypt. How did he know? He had a prophecy. Genesis 15:13-14 says, “Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions” (ESV)

Joseph believed that the Jews would one day leave Egypt and he wanted to leave when the rest of the Jews leave Egypt. There is one interesting fact about these two deaths. Both Jacob and Joseph were embalmed. Abraham’s grandson and great grandson were embalmed.

They were turned into Bible Mummies. They were Egyptian mummies. They were the only mummies in the Bible. Why did they do that? Isn’t that a pagan custom?

There was a good reason why both Jacob and Joseph were embalmed. It preserved the body. Jacob’s body had to make a two hundred mile trip back to Canaan after he died. Joseph’s body had to be preserved for hundreds of years until the Exodus took place. This was done for medical reasons, not religious reasons. It was not done by the priests but by physicians (50:2).

Jacob and Joseph prepared for death and so should we. It does not mean that we should seek death but we should be ready for it and plan for what happens to our family when we die. Some never think about death. That is too morbid

3. Mourning is appropriate at death.

We are not going to spend a lot of time on this point but clearly this is an emotional chapter. There is a lot of tears shed in this chapter and in this chapter we see men crying, not women. Joseph and his dad were close. In fact, he cries three times in this chapter. People mourned for Jacob.

“When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with A VERY GREAT and GRIEVOUS LAMENTATION” (50:10 ESV).  They mourned for him for seventy days (50:3). That is a long time. It is almost two months. That is not necessarily something that we need to do today but there should be a grieving process at death. We should let our emotions out. Jesus wept at the Tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35).

Lesson on Forgiveness

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” (50:51-16)

Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (50:15-21).

When Jacob dies, Joseph’s brothers think, “We are in big trouble now”. Remember, Esau said, “When Isaac is dead, I will kill Jacob” and they think that Joseph is just like Esau but he is not. He forgives them completely and totally. Many would not be as forgiving as Joseph was. They ganged up on him and threw him in a pit. He was powerless to do anything. It was ten against one.

They laughed at him when he cried for help. They sold him into slavery. That led to eleven years of slavery and two years in prison for a crime he did not commit. If anyone had the right to be bitter or mad at God, it was Joseph but he is not bitter. He did not hold a grudge. He did not try to get back at his brothers for what they did to him. He forgave them completely and totally.

How did he do it? Forgiveness is hard. Joseph was traumatized by his brothers. Two things helped him to forgive. These two things made forgiveness easy. First, these men had changed. They call themselves “servants of God” (50:19). They were not God’s servants before but they are now. They knew what they did was wrong and they felt guilty about it. They called it sin (42:22; 44:16) and they asked Joseph to forgive them (50:16-17).

Second, he brought God into his situation. He shows incredible spiritual insight. He is very perceptive. He makes a very profound theological statement in this chapter and that brings us to our final lesson. We bring God into our blessings. Joseph brought them into his trials.

Lesson on Providence

We come to a very important lesson about providence from this chapter. This lesson may completely change your view of God. It may completely change how your view tragedy. It may change how you view when bad things happen to you.

Many believe the world is governed by chance. Some people have good luck and some people have bad luck. What happened to Joseph was no accident. Joseph had a lot of bad things happen to him. He was abused by his own family, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, exiled to Egypt, framed for a crime (a sex crime), arrested for a crime he did not commit and was falsely imprisoned. He ends up with a criminal record.

Joseph looked at what God was doing in his life and that changed his whole perspective. Notice what he says in Genesis 50:20. I want to quote it in a few different translations. The ESV translates it, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” The NLT reads, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.

What Joseph said here is amazing. It is also a little mysterious. Joseph said that there were two plans. His brother’s had a plan. It was an evil plan. Joseph says that they intended evil. They carried out their evil plan. It hurt Joseph. God also had a plan for Joseph. His plan was a good plan. God’s plan involved using what these brothers did to accomplish good. Here is the amazing thing.

Both were working in the same act. Joseph’s brothers were at work and God was at work in the very same act. It is called “the doctrine of concurrence”. What Joseph’s brothers did to him was evil. No one forced them to do it. They choose to do it and they are responsible for it but God used their very evil act to bring about good without the brothers even knowing about it. Only God could do that.

Genesis 45:4-5 says, “So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life” (ESV). Joseph says, “You sold me. God sent me.”

They had no idea that their wicked deed would be a means of fulfilling the purpose of God for Joseph’s life. God told Abraham long before Joseph or his brothers were even born that the Jews would be in Egypt for four hundred years.  This was prophesied before these brothers were born which means that this had to take place and yet no one forced these brothers to do this to Joseph.  What they did was evil but God brought good out of the very evil act of these brothers. This raises some questions in the minds of some people.

Is God the Author of Sin?

Doesn’t this make God the author of sin? No. There is evil here but it is not on God’s part. The ones who intended evil were Joseph’s brothers. God intended good, not evil. God did NOT cause the evil. His brothers did. He did not cause Joseph’s brother’s to sell him into slavery.

They did it of their own free will. They were jealous of him. They hated Joseph. They couldn’t stand him. He was their dad’s favorite. They couldn’t even speak peaceably to him. They wanted to get rid of him and make some money off of him in the process. God allowed it and brought good out of evil but He did not force anyone to do anything against their will.

Joseph was abused and mistreated by his own family sold into slavery by his own family. Everything that happened to him was part of God’s plan.  He was sold him into slavery. God used that to get him to Egypt. In Egypt, he became a slave to an important man for thirteen years. That gave him job experience. He was in charge of everything in Potiphar’s house.

Later, he supervised the food supply of the whole nation. He was then falsely accused of a crime and wrongly imprisoned. That led to an encounter with Pharaoh which changed the course of history. Joseph was used to save not only his family from starvation but the whole nation of Egypt. Somehow, this was all part of God’s plan.

If Joseph’s brothers never sold him to the Midianites, Joseph never would have gone to Egypt. If Joseph never went to Egypt, he would have never been sold to Potiphar. If he was never sold to Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife would never have accused him of rape. If she never accused him of rape, then he would never be put in prison. If he was never put in prison, he would never have met the baker and butler.

If he never meets them, he never would have interpreted their dreams. If he never interpreted their dreams, he would never have met Pharaoh or be made prime minister. If he is never made prime minister, then his family would have perished from the famine. If his family back in Canaan perishes from the famine, then the Messiah would never have been born.

Genesis 50:20 is very similar to a passage in the NT.  Genesis 50:20 is the Romans 8:28 of the OT.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” . Genesis 50 says, “God meant it FOR GOOD” (50:20). Romans 8 says, “God works all things together FOR GOOD” but there is a slight difference between these two verses.

Romans 8:28 says ALL THINGS work together for good. Joseph said EVIL (bad things) works together for good.  God brings good out of evil. Rick Warren says he is an expert at bringing good out of evil. He is able to transform evil into good. He can turn it around and use it for His own purposes.

We talk about senseless violence or gratuitous evil. It is evil that seems to serve no purpose. There is evil that is senseless and gratuitous on the part of man but God is able to bring good out of the worst possible evil. How do we know?

Acts 2:22-23 says “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

This is another case of the doctrine of concurrence.  Man was doing one thing and God was doing something else.  God brought good out of the greatest evil ever committed on planet earth. The greatest crime ever committed was the crucifixion of Jesus. Wicked hands crucified Christ. Jesus was tortured on the cross. God brought good out of it.

In fact, he brought the greatest good out of the worst possible evil ever committed by man. This shows that God can take the worst of situations and the greatest of evil in this world and bring good out of it. God even brought good out of the holocaust.

This is a hard verse for some. It seems too good to be true. Some say, “I know that God can bring good out of evil but He doesn’t always do that.” There is only one problem. Romans 8:28 says “ALL THINGS work together for good”. He does not say that some things or even most things. He says that all things work together for good to those who love God. That is what Scripture teaches. Is it inspired? Yes.

Paul also does NOT say that “we hope all things work together for good” or “believe all things work together for good” or “pray that all things work together for good”. He says we KNOW it. What do we know? Paul does not say that “we know that all things are good”. They are not.

He says, “We know that all things work together to good for those who love God”. We do not always see the good. We do not always see the bigger picture. This is a passage that we have to take by faith whether we see it happening or not. Joseph did not see everything working out for good for many years.

I have not had that hard of a hard life. My kids are all living and none of them are on death row. My wife has not divorced me yet and I have not contracted leprosy. Many have experienced much more tragedy and pain in their life. I am the wrong person to lecture anyone on this verse but there are some other people who can. Two who can speak about this verse are Scott and Janet Willis. They experienced far more tragedy than any of us ever have. They had nine kids. Scott was a pastor in Chicago.

One day in 1994 while they were traveling with six of their kids, their car struck something that fell off of a truck, which punctured the gas tank and caused the car to burst into flames. The children were trapped in the car. Five died instantly and the other died the next day. If anyone experienced unspeakable and pain, it was them. They were not just anyone. He was a pastor.

Fourteen years after this accident, the two were interviewed by a fellow Christian. Janet Willis said, “Today I have a far greater understanding of the goodness of God than I did after the accident.” Scott Willis said, “I have a stronger view of God’s sovereignty now than ever before”. He now has fifteen grandchildren. One of his three kids was Toby Willis who got married and had twelve kids.

Now even though this is a clear biblical truth, we still need to use a little common sense and sensitivity to people. We need to speak the truth in love. Don’t tell this to a poor widow at a funeral. Ecclesiastes says that there is a time and a place for everything. Knowing what to say is knowledge. Knowing when and how to say it is wisdom.

Deathbed Prophecies

We come to a section in Genesis that is very important. It may not seem that important on the surface but this chapter contains on the great messianic prophecies in the Bible. It is Genesis 49:10. The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his (NIV).

Not only do Christians do believe that this was a reference to the coming Messiah but many Jews believed this as well. Some very famous Jewish commentators took this position, (e.g., Rashi, the medieval Jewish scholar from France). Jews quote Rashi like Christians quote Augustine or Matthew Henry.  Rashi said, “until Shiloh comes [this refers to] the King Messiah, to whom the kingdom belongs.”

Some of the ancient Jewish translations of Genesis into Aramaic (called Targums) took this as messianic. Some of these translations are old. One of them goes back to the second century. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathon (Section XII) “Kings shall not cease, nor rulers, from the house of Judah, nor scribes teaching the law from his seed, till the time that the King the Messiah, shall come.”

The Targum Onkelos (Section XII) says, “He who exercises dominion shall not pass away from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his children’s children for ever, until the Messiah comes, whose is the kingdom, and unto whom shall be the obedience of the nations (or, whom the peoples shall obey).”

This view is also expressed in the Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud, says, “Rab said: The world was created only on David’s account. Samuel said: On Moses account; R. Johanan said: For the sake of the Messiah. What is his [the Messiah’s] name? — The School of R. Shila said: His name is Shiloh, for it is written, until Shiloh come” (Tractate Sanhedrin 98b).

Genesis 49, not only is a messianic prophecy, it is a prophecy of BOTH the First Coming and Second Coming of Christ. Genesis 49:10 says “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes” (First Coming) and “the obedience of the nations shall be his” (Second Coming). When Jesus returns, He will have worldwide dominion. He will receive obedience from every nation on the planet. He will return as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

Jacob says that the Messiah will come, not through Joseph but THROUGH JUDAH. He has twelve sons but says that the Messiah will come through the line of Judah. That is a shock. You would have expected the Messiah to come through Joseph. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son. He was the leader. He was the one with all of the power. People were bowing to him already.

He was already in politics. He worked for the Egyptian government. He was the Prime Minister of Egypt. Judah was just a shepherd. In addition, Joseph was the most spiritual of all of the brothers but Jacob predicted that the Messiah would come from the Tribe of Judah.

Judah had twelve sons. He had an eight percent chance in correctly predicting which one the Messiah would come from but that is what he does here. He said, “Your father’s sons will bow down to you” (49:8). They may be bowing down to Joseph now but in the future, people will be bowing down to one of Judah’s descendants” (49:8). Judah will take Joseph’s position in the future. God revealed things about Jesus gradually. This is something called “progressive revelation”.

First we learned that the Messiah would be a descendant of Adam and Eve. After Satan used Eve to cause the Fall, God said that he would use a descendant of Eve to crush the head of the serpent (3:15). It was the first messianic prophecy in the Bible. Later, we learned that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham. He would be a Semite. God promised to bless the whole word through Abraham’s seed. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham. He was the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).

Now, we learn something else. The promised Messiah would be a descendant of Jacob’s son Judah. Judah offered to take Benjamin’s place when he was arrested and one of Judah’s descendants will take our place on the cross. Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). That is why the genealogies in the NT of Jesus are so important. They prove that Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. Some later prophets clarified this even further.

The Messiah would not just come from Judah; he would also be a descendant of one family, the family of King David. It is not enough to be a member of the Tribe of Judah; he must be a son of David as well. God promised to build King David a dynasty (Isaiah 9:5-6; II Samuel 7:12-13; Psalm 89:3-5, 35-36).

Another prophet later predicted which town in Judah the Messiah would come from. It was a small and insignificant town (Bethlehem). Micah 5:2 says, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah (cf. Joshua 19:14-15), though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

Today, many Jews do not believe that this passage is messianic.  In fact, many Jews today no longer believe in a Messiah but many of the ancient rabbinic writers did.  In fact, many believed that Micah 5:2 referred to the Messiah (so Rashi, Targum Jonathon)[1]. Jews in the first century took this to be a messianic prophecy.

When the wise men went to Herod and asked them where the Messiah would be born, Herod asked the chief priests and scribes and they told him Bethlehem and quoted this passage (Matthew 2:5-6; cf. John 7:42).


[1] “And you, O Bethlehem Ephrath, you who were too small to be numbered among the thousands of the house of Judah, from you shall come forth before Me the Messiah, to exercise dominion over Israel, he whose name was mentioned from before, from the days of creation.  Rashi also took it as messianic.  On that passage, he comments, “from you shall emerge for Me: the Messiah, son of David, and so Scripture says (Ps. 118:22): ‘The stone the builders had rejected became a cornerstone.’” [accessed online at http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16191/jewish/Chapter-5.htm#showrashi=true].

Let’s look at this chapter. I want to begin with a little review. In the last chapter, Joseph realized that Jacob was about to die and wanted his two sons to see their grandfather before he died. In this, chapter, Jacob is the one who realizes he is about to die. He has only hours left. He dies at the end of the chapter.

Before he dies, he wants to talk to his sons one last time, so he calls them in.
The twelve sons stand around the bed of this blind, feeble, old dying patriarch. Leah’s six sons are there. The four sons of Zilpah and Bilhah are there and the two sons of Rachel are there. Jacob gives each one of the sons a blessing.

In Genesis 48, Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons. In Genesis 49, he blessed his own sons. Last week, we saw a grandfather’s blessing, as Jacob spoke a word of blessing on Ephraim and Manasseh. This week, we see a father’s blessing.

The blessings do not all go from oldest to youngest. The first four sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah) are blessed in order of birth and the last two (Joseph and Benjamin) were the last two sons to be born but the six sons in between them are not blessed in birth order. When you have that many kids and are that old, it might be hard to keep up with all of them.

Some of these words do not sound like blessings. Some of them sound more like curses than blessings. They are not all positive words of affirmation. That is what we think of when we hear the word “blessing”. Jacob has some strong language to some of these sons. Some of them received a scathing rebuke from their father. Their message was negative, not positive.

If you have a lot of kids, as I do, the one thing you know about them is how different they all are. As Jacob spoke to his sons, that is the one thing that stands out here. These boys were all different and had different futures, except for Simeon and Levi. They were two peas in a pod. They were just alike but the message to the twelve is very different.

• Some of them were praised and some were criticized.

God said to Judah, “your brothers will praise you” (49:8). Some of the other sons were rebuked, not praised. Judah received no condemnation, no curse and no rebuke, just praise. In fact, Judah means “praise”.

• Some of the tribes will rule and some will be servants.

Judah will rule. Jacob said to Judah, “your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you” (49:8). It will be militarily successful. People will bow down to this tribe. We are also told “the scepter will not depart from Judah” (49:10). The scepter was a staff used by kings. It was a symbol of royalty and power. Kings came out of Judah. Not only did kings come out of Judah, the Messiah came out of Judah.

Dan was another tribe that ruled. Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path (49:16-17). Samson came from the tribe of Dan (Judges 13:2). He provided justice but Dan was also the first tribe among the twelve to practice idolatry (Judges 18). Jacob ends talking about Dan by saying, “I look for your deliverance, Lord” (49:18).

Issachar was given a different prophecy. “Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down among the sheep pens. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor” (49:14-15).

• Some of the tribes were blessed and some were cursed.

Reuben’s tribe received a curse. Jacob said to Reuben “You will NOT excel”. Other sons like Joseph were blessed.

• Some were known for their food and some were known for their fighters.

Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king” (49:20). This tribe would live in fertile farm lands near the Mediterranean Sea. Asher’s location was the agricultural breadbasket for the north (Israel). They had food fit for a king there.

Benjamin would be known for something else. There were some good fighters in the Tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder (49:27). The first king was from the Tribe of Benjamin (Saul).  Saul of Tarsus came from that tribe and he devoured Christians before he became one.

• Some of the tribes were given land and some did some were not.

Most of the tribes had land. Notice what God said to Simeon and Levi. “I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel” (49:7). Simeon did not have his own territory. They were part of Judah. Joshua 19:9 says “the Simeonites received their inheritance within the territory of Judah”. Levi was scattered throughout all of the tribes. Simeon was scattered within one tribe and Levi was scattered within all of the tribes.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter does not seem real exciting. It is something that seems to happen quite often. It is not that unusual for people on their deathbed to call family in and say some final words of goodbye and perhaps (if they are real spiritual) to pass on some important values to their kids but what Jacob does here is very different. These are NOT just blessing; they are prophecies.

These are deathbed prophecies. This prophecy comes from a sick, old, feeble blind patriarch on his deathbed. Notice how the chapter beings. Then Jacob called for his sons and said: Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come (49:1). These are the final words that come out of his mouth. When he is done talking he dies. Notice the last verse of the chapter: When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people (49:33 ESV). These are literally his last words before he died.

Jacob’s last words were a prophecy. Jacob was not just a patriarch, he was a prophet. He did not give his own words to these sons, he gave God’s Words. He spoke by divine inspiration. That is what makes this important. People die all of the time and talk to family before they die but usually do not make predictions of future events on their deathbed.

Jacob is not just telling his twelve sons how they should live. He is not giving them a final exhortation before he dies. He is not giving them some advice. Jacob explicitly says that this is a prophecy in the very first verse of the chapter. Liberals hate this chapter because they do not believe that prophecy is possible. Chapters like this are proof of the inspiration of the Bible. God is uses Jacob as His mouthpiece to predict future events.

We need to keep a few things in mind about these prophecies. They were not just prophecies of Jacob’s twelve sons but of the tribes that came from them. Now these prophecies were not fulfilled right away. Some of them were not fulfilled for hundreds of years. Judah did not have kings until seven hundred years later.
The other thing to note about this is that it is a poetic prophecy (which makes it a little hard to interpret). This chapter is all poetry. The patriarch must have been a poet. He must have liked poetry. There are all kinds of poetry in this chapter. It is one of the oldest poems in history.

When I was in school, I used to hate poetry as a kid. Then I became a Christian and found out that much of the Bible is poetry. About a third of the Bible is poetry (e.g., Job, Psalms, Proverbs). We have seen some short verses in Genesis that are poetic (2:23; 4:23-24) but this is the longest section of poetry in Genesis.

This section contains personification (49:7). It contains vivid imagery (49:11-12). It contains parallelism (49:11). It contains similes (like “unstable as water). It also contains some metaphors. Most are animal metaphors. Naphtali is a deer (49:21). Issachar is a donkey (49:14). Benjamin is a wolf (49:27). Dan is a serpent (49:17). Judah is a lion (49:9). Lions are king of the beasts (Proverbs 30:30).

Practical Applications

You may say at this point, “This is very interesting but not real practical. How does this affect me?” What is the application for today? Are there lessons for us from this chapter?

Many preachers are very creative with this chapter. They see this as different types of Christians. It sounds great but it doesn’t really work here. It doesn’t work for Reuben. Reuben committed incest with his step-mom Bilhah. That would make incestuous Christians one type of believer.

It doesn’t really work for Simeon and Levi. Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger (49:5-6). These brothers were violent The Hebrew word “violence” is hamas. They were terrorists. That is what Simeon and Levi did. They massacred a whole town. That would make murderous Christians another type of believer.

These men were not Christians or believers at the time they committed some of these atrocities. Some of them may have later come to faith. This chapter does not give us eleven types of Christians but there are some applications from this chapter. What are they?

1. Our kids are different

Cain was different from Abel. One was righteous and one was wicked. Isaac was different from Ishmael. Jacob was different from Esau. Even twins are different. Jacob’s sons were very different and your kids are as well. We would love to be able to praise all of them but some are a blessing to their parents, while other kids sometimes are a disgrace to their parents. Some time it is the parents fault for not raising them properly but sometimes it is not.

2. Sin has serious consequences.

Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch! (49:3-4 ESV).

Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. He was the one who was supposed to get the double portion. He was supposed to get twice as much inheritance as any of the other sons but he didn’t get it. Jacob says to Reuben, “You are the one who is preeminent in dignity and power, because you are my firstborn but you shall NOT have preeminence”. Instead, he gets a public rebuke from his father.

Reuben did not get the double portion because of his sin. It was a sexual sin and it happened forty years earlier but that sin had consequences. Reuben did NOT get the birthright. That went to Joseph. Reuben had special privileges because he was born first but Jacob said, “You will not be successful”. Firstborn children are often natural leaders (according to modern birth order theories).

Reuben was the firstborn but he did not get the kingship. No king ever came from Reuben. He did not get the priesthood. No priest ever came from Reuben. No judge came from Reuben. In fact, no prophet ever came from the Tribe of Reuben.

What is the lesson? Sin has consequences. Character matters. Reuben’s sin had consequences for him personally and for his descendants.

The whole tribe was affected by his actions. What would have happened if he did not do this? History would have changed. The Messiah might have come from Reuben, instead of Judah. As one preacher put it, “Reuben could have been a leader but he chose to be a loser”. He could have been great but Jacob said that because what he did he will not excel.

3. God shows grace to sinners.

God showed grace to Judah. The Messiah came through Judah. He did not deserve that. Judah was no saint. He visited prostitutes. He had sex with his daughter-in-law. He sold Joseph into slavery.

God showed grace to Levi. Levi was a murderer but his tribe was later responsible for the worship in Israel. The Levites were in charge of the Temple and the Tabernacle. They did not deserve that privilege but God used that tribe in spite of their past.

God even showed grace to Reuben. He could have been kicked out of the family. He could have been taken out of the will. He could have been disinherited but he wasn’t.

4. Faithfulness is rewarded by God.

Joseph not only got the birthright in the last chapter, he received blessing upon blessing in this chapter. Six times we are told he would be blessed in one way or another.

But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who BLESSES you with BLESSINGS of the skies above, BLESSINGS of the deep springs below, BLESSINGS of the breast and womb. Your father’s BLESSINGS are greater than the BLESSINGS of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers” (48:24-26).

The Great Reversal

We have been studying the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. This is the sixty-second week on this book. We are coming to the final chapters in the book. This is a part of biblical history most people do not know about. Last week, Jacob moved to Egypt and saw his favorite son for the first time in over twenty years, a meeting he never dreamed would take place, because he thought Joseph was dead.

Then, after meeting Joseph, he meets Pharaoh. Seventeen years take place in that chapter (47:28). He spent a total of thirty-four years with Joseph. Jacob spent time with him during the first seventeen years of Joseph’s life and the last seventeen years of his own life.

At the end of Genesis 47, Jacob is one hundred forty-seven years old and it says “the time drew near for Israel to die” (47:29; cf. 48:21) and called Joseph and asked him to swear to him that he would not bury him in Egypt. That is how the chapter ended.

As Genesis 48 begins, Jacob is not only old and dying, he is sick. Genesis 48:1 says, “Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” This is the first mention of sickness in the Bible. People had to get sick before this but the first one said to be sick is Jacob.

Notice Joseph’s response. So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed (48:1-2). We see how sick Jacob is. He is so sick that he can barely sit up in bed. He has to gather up enough strength just to sit up in bed to see Joseph.

Joseph wants to see him before he dies and he brings his sons with him. How old were his sons at this point. We have a good idea. They were not toddlers. Genesis 41:50 tells us when they were born. Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him (ESV). If they were born in the year before the famine, they would be nineteen. Jacob came after two years of the famine and lived seventeen years longer, so they were least nineteen and may have been in their twenties.

What happened next is very interesting. They took a trip to grandpa’s house. They came to see their sick grandfather and try to be an encouragement and a blessing to him. The Bible tells us to visit widows, orphans and the sick. That is the kind of ministry we are to have to other people but instead of them being a blessing to Jacob, he takes the time to be a blessing to them. He blessed them.

Jacob blessed Pharaoh in the last chapter and he blesses his grandkids in this chapter. Before he blesses them, he shares his testimony to them. He passes something on to them before he dies. These two boys could learn a lot by talking to this one hundred forty-seven year old patriarch. He lived in a different era. He tells them his life story but he is very selective about what he tells them.

He does not tell them all of the bad things that have happened to him and how hard his life has been for one hundred forty-seven years. He doesn’t tell them about how he lied to his blind father.  He does not tell them how he did something that got his brother so mad that he wanted to kill him.  He did not tell him that he became a fugitive and had to flee the country. He does not tell them about how his Uncle Laban cheated him and how his wedding was a disaster but he did have a lot of things to share with them.

He had different life experiences. When you are old and have your grandkids come to you and have a chance to share what is really important to you, what would it be? As you look back at your long life, what is the most important thing that you learned that you could share and pass on to the next generation? These boys had lived a life of luxury in Egypt. They had never even been to Canaan.

Do you have a testimony of salvation? Do you have incredible stories about how God has worked in your life? Not all of us have been delivered from a life of prostitution or crack cocaine but we should all have some kind of testimony to share. Someone called this the first Sunday School class. These boys get to hear a Sunday School lesson.

What was important to Jacob as he looked back over his life, which seemed short to him but incredibly long to us (one hundred forty-seven years long). He remembered how God had blessed him. Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he BLESSED ME and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you’ (48:3-4).

He told that that “God has been my shepherd all my life to this day” (48:15).  Jacob was the first one to call his shepherd.  This was long before David did in Psalm 23. David lived a thousand years later.  He also said that an angel delivered him from all harm (48:16).  Many Bibles translate delivered “”redeemed”.  It is the first mention of redemption in the Bible.

In fact, God blessed Joseph above his expectations. Notice what he said to Joseph: “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too” (48:11). In his old age, he remembered how God had blessed him. As we look back on our life, do we do the same thing? Do we remember how God has blessed us throughout our life?

As Jacob looked back on his life, two other things stood out in his mind. He remembered when God came into his life and he remembered when Rachel went out of his life. There were a lot of things he left out. He doesn’t mention the all-night wrestling match with an angel, which left his hip out of joint but he did remember when God appeared to him in the land of Canaan.

That is a big event. Most of us have never had a physical appearance of God to us. We have never have God speaking out loud to us. He speaks to us in other ways but usually not audibly. This made a big impression when it happened to Jacob four thousand years ago.

God did not just appear to Jacob, he made special promises to him and those promises included a land. The land that God promised him was in Canaan, not Egypt. They had not taken possession of the land yet. In fact, the only land that Jacob owned so far was in Egypt. He made a special covenant with Jacob and his descendants.

He also remembered how the love of his life, Rachel, died before they even get to the Promised Land. They are on the edge of it and she dies suddenly. Jacob was devastated. It was one of his many sorrows but as he looks at Joseph’s two sons, he does something very unusual. He adopts them.

Notice what he says. Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned AS MINE; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you AFTER THEM will be YOURS (48:5-6 NIV). Jacob adopts children that are not his own as his own. He adopts two of his grandchildren (Manasseh and Ephraim) as his own children. Jacob did not adopt all of his grandsons, just these two.

When he adopts Ephraim and Manasseh, they become equal with his own sons. He treats them now as sons, not as grandsons. They will be able to share in Jacob’s inheritance equally with Jacob’s own sons. They now have the same rights and privileges as his other twelve sons. What does this meant? It means that there are not twelve sons of Jacob and twelve tribes but fourteen sons of Jacob which will now make up fourteen tribes. This raises an important question.

If there are fourteen tribes of Israel, then why does the Bible say that there are only twelve tribes? How many tribes of Israel are there? The answer is twelve. The land was divided among twelve of Jacob’s sons. Why twelve, if there were fourteen sons of Jacob? The tribe of Levi and the tribe of Joseph did not count.

Deuteronomy 10:19 says, “That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the LORD is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them.” There is no tribe of Joseph officially. There is a Tribe of Joseph but it is made up of his two sons (Numbers 13:11). The Tribe of Jacob is made up of two tribes.

That raises an interesting question.How could Ephraim and Manasseh be the head of two tribes of Israel when their mom was not even Jewish? How could they be considered Jewish if their mom was not? In the Bible, you are Jewish if your dad is Jewish. It is patrilineal descent.

What This Story is Really About

Now most people read this chapter and completely misunderstand it. Many people read this chapter and see it as a story of adoption. Some preachers use this chapter to talk about adoption. Make no mistake. There is an adoption in this chapter.

It is not just an adoption, it is a foreign adoption. It takes place in another country (Egypt). It is a biracial adoption. They are also biracial (half Egyptian and half Jewish). Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, had biracial kids. They may not have looked Jewish. Remember, Joseph had an interracial marriage. Joseph’s wife was not a Hebrew. She was an Egyptian.

It is also a grandparent adoption. Grandparent adoptions still take place today. Usually the natural parents die or are unable to become parents and the grandparents adopt the child and become his or her legal parent. Adoption is important. Kids need people to adopt them but that is NOT what this is about.

Why do most people adopt orphans? They want to give them a better life. They want to help out a child in need who does not have a mother or a father. The only problem is that Ephraim and Manasseh had a mother and a father.  In fact, they already had a great life. They were well off. They were wealthy. Joseph was wealthier than his dad was. He was the Prime Minister of Egypt. Their dad was the prime minister. Their grandfather was the high priest of Egypt. They had connections. They had political connections and religious connections.

Most people adopt because they want to have kids and adoption is the answer. It is the answer to infertility. The only problem here is that Jacob already has twelve sons and one daughter and yet he still wants to adopt two more on his deathbed. Jacob is old and dying. He adopts them right before he dies, so he is not adopting them for himself so he can spend time with them. This chapter is not really about adoption. It is about inheritance.

Joseph is given a DOUBLE PORTION of the inheritance. It was supposed to go to Reuben. Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn son. He was the oldest. Instead, it went to Joseph though his sons. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father’s marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright (I Chronicles 5:1).

One of Jacob’s sons made up two of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The Promised Land would be divided up into twelve sections. Joseph’s portion was two-twelfth of the land or one-sixth through his sons. All of the other sons got one tribe of Israel but Joseph was given TWO TRIBES. There are some very strange things said about these two tribes. In most places, you will not hear it but in this class I want you to be aware of many different viewpoints, so if you hear something crazy from someone you will have an answer for them.

Genesis 48 and the Cults

The cults have a very strange interpretation of Ephraim and Manasseh.  The theory is that Ephraim and Manasseh refer to England and America today.  That was the view of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Church of God, was a leading proponent of this view. He wrote a book called The United States and Britain in Prophecy[1]. It is called “the British-Israel Theory”.  Glen Beck, the conservative political commentator, also believes in this theory.[2]

Is the theory correct?  Is the US the tribe of Manasseh? You can go to website after website that teaches that America is Manasseh?  It is pure hogwash. A number of red flags should immediately come up with this interpretation.

It is a completely racist interpretation of Genesis.  According to this theory, the real Israelites today are white Anglo-Saxons in Britain and America. They are the ones who now inherit the promises.  It is really a joke.  Manasseh had an Egyptian mom and yet from this biracial couple supposedly came the Anglo Saxons.

We know from the Book of Genesis that this interpretation is impossible. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.  All of the races and people in the world today came from these three sons and their wives. The Europeans came from Japheth. Indo-European peoples came from Japheth (Greeks, Russians, Italians).  Ephraim and Manasseh were descendants of Shem, so there is absolutely no basis to this theory.

How does Jacob adopt Joseph’s kids? He blesses them. A father is not blessing his sons here. A grandfather is blessing his grandsons and he is doing it on his deathbed. He is old and frail. These are deathbed blessing. We have a formal adoption ceremony in this chapter. It is a legal adoption.

In many ways it is very similar to when Isaac blessed Jacob. There were a lot of similarities between these two blessings. In both cases, the father who blesses them is in bed and has to sit up. In both cases, the father has vision problems. Isaac was completely blind (27:1). Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see (48:10).

In both cases, the dad asked for identification. When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?” (48:8). That was what Isaac asked Jacob right before he blessed him. He went to his father and said, “My father.” “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing” (27:18-19). In both cases, there is a lot of kissing and hugging.

In both cases the younger son is blessed. Jacob blessed the younger son intentionally and deliberately. Isaac blessed the younger son unintentionally. He thought he was blessing Esau but there is an important difference between these two blessings. In the last blessing, Jacob resorted to deception, dishonesty and lying. There is no deception or dishonesty in this blessing. It is completely transparent. Something unusual does happen in this blessing.

The Cross Blessing

And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.

When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” (48:13-14, 17-19)

This is very interesting. Joseph brings the oldest son to his dad’s right side and his younger son to his left side but Jacob crosses his hands so that his right hand is on the head of Joseph’s second born son and his left hand is on the head of his firstborn son (48:14). He pulls a switcheroo. Joseph was not happy about this. Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head” (48:18) but Jacob refused.

This raises two interesting question. The first question is this: Why was it so important that Jacob put his right hand on the first born? Why did it matter? What difference did it make? Why did the blessing have to be with the right hand? Most people in the world are right handed. Only about ten percent of the population is left-handed.

In the eastern world right means good and left means bad. In most Arab countries, the left hand is considered unclean.  It is considered impolite to reach out you left hand to greet someone.  It is considered an insult to Arabs, because they use that hand in the bathroom.

Jesus told a parable about the sheep and the goats. In the final judgment, there will be two groups of people (sheep and goats). The sheep will be on Jesus right hand and will be invited to enter the kingdom. The goats will be on the left hand and are told to depart into everlasting fire.

The good guys were on the right and the bad guys were on the left. When Jesus ascends into heaven, He sits at the right hand of God. He does not sit at the left hand of God. Now this is just a metaphor. God is a spirit. He does not have hands. The right hand is the place of honor and authority. The blessing had to be done with the right hand.

The second question is this: Why does Jacob bless the younger son? This is very interesting. In the ancient world, the blessing was to go to the oldest son. The oldest son gets to inherit certain things. What do we learn by what Jacob did? God is completely sovereign. Many do not like this doctrine. Preachers don’t like this doctrine.

God is not limited by human custom or precedent. He is not limited by tradition, including church tradition. God chose someone else to get the double portion. He did not choose the firstborn. If you did not get this point, it is the fourth time in the Book of Genesis that we have seen this point.

First, Isaac was chosen over Ishmael. Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son. He was the oldest but Isaac got the blessing. God said, “In Isaac, your seed will be called.”

Second, Jacob was chosen over Esau. Esau was Isaac’s firstborn son. He was Isaac’s favorite but the blessing did not go to the older son but to the younger son. It went to Jacob, not Esau.

Third, Joseph was chosen over Reuben. Jacob’s firstborn son was Reuben but Joseph was his favorite. He was the only one of the twelve sons to ge the special coat. Joseph was not the oldest. In fact, he had ten older brothers but he got the special coat.

Now, Ephraim is chosen over Manasseh. Manasseh was Joseph’s oldest son but Jacob puts his right hand on the head of Ephraim, not Manasseh

Many do not like the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. They say that it is not fair. They would say that the blessing should have gone to Jacob’s firstborn son Reuben or if it went to Joseph’s kids, it should at least go to his firstborn son but the firstborn son was passed over but God’s thought are not our thoughts.

He looks at things differently. He does not do things the way we would do things. He has the right to give the blessing to whoever He wants but there is no room for criticism here. Ephraim got the double portion but Manasseh still received a great blessing. Jacob said, “He too will become a people, and he too will become great” (48:19). Although Manasseh would still be greatly blessed, the younger son would be blessed more.

Why did Jacob do this? Hebrews 11 answers this question. Hebrews 11:21 says, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff”. Jacob blessed these sons BY FAITH.

That is strange. It does not seem that what Jacob did here involved a great act of faith but it did. The author of Hebrews puts it on par with Noah building the ark and Abraham offering up Isaac in sacrifice. It is the one thing in his life that the NT records as an act of faith and not his wresting with God all night).

Notice the name change in the chapter. The beginning of the chapter he is called Jacob but the whole time he blesses these boys he is called Israel. He was acting by faith. How was blessing these two boys an act of faith?

He believed that one day they would be back in the Land of Canaan and Joseph’s sons would comprise two tribes in that Promised Land. Jacob’s words were more than blessings, they were prophecies. Jacob was not just a patriarch, he was a prophet. Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh (Genesis 48:5–21).

The Northern Kingdom (Israel) was called Ephraim (Hosea 5:3). The Southern Kingdom, also known as Judah. Jacob could not see very well physically, but he saw well spiritually. He saw better than Joseph did and he might have had twenty-twenty vision.

Moving to Egypt

Today, I want to try to cover two chapters of Genesis. Genesis 46 does not seem like an important chapter but it is actually very important. Jacob and his family moved to Egypt and are going to stay there for over four hundred years. This is like the Pilgrims coming to America. Jacob led the Jews into Egypt and Moses one day will lead them out.

Last week, we saw that Jacob just found out Joseph was alive in the last chapter. This week, he makes the trip to Egypt and sees Joseph. Jacob gets to see his favorite son. He gets to see the son he has not seen in over twenty years. He gets to see the son he thought was dead. He thought this meeting was impossible.

Jacob had given up hope seeing him in this life. He thought his best days were over. He was depressed. He was gloomy. He was negative. He was pessimistic about life. He thought that he would grieve and sorrow for Joseph until the day he died. He refused to be comforted.

Why was Jacob so depressed and gloomy? He believed a lie. He believed Joseph was dead. It was a lie but he believed it. He saw a coat of many colors full of blood but he did not ever find Joseph’s body. There is a lesson for us today. Many Christians today are also depressed because they also believe a lie.

They have been told something that is not true and they believed it. They might have even been told it by a preacher. It is very easy for us to believe a lie. Eve believed a lie in the garden. Many bolster their lie with Bible verses.

God does something amazing here. He brought hope in a completely hopeless situation when Jacob had given up hope and he still does that today in individuals, in marriages, in families and in churches. This was not only hopeless, but was impossible. How could Jacob be reunited with Joseph if he is dead, which is what Jacob believed? He thought he not only died, he died a violent death, torn apart by wild animals.

There are impossible situations in our life that we have given up on and may even have stopped praying. The Bible is full of stories of God working in a hopeless situation. God causes the light to shine in darkness. He did that at creation and still does that today.

We have seen God do this before in Genesis. He gave Sarah a child in her old age when she had given up all hope of having a child. She thought it was impossible but Abraham was told “With God all things are possible”.

Jacob’s Four Actions

Jacob’s sons came home from Egypt with some unbelievable news. Jacob does four very important things. First, he RECEIVED the message. The message was that Joseph was alive and told him to come to Egypt.

Second, he BELIEVED the message. He did not believe it at first until he saw the wagons. When he went outside, the evidence was undeniable. He did not have to take their word for it. Jacob believed the message, even though it seemed incredible to believe that Joseph was still alive after all of these years. He believed the message, even though he had not seen him himself. He believed it based on the testimony of others.

Third, he ACTED ON this message. It is one thing to believe something intellectually. It is another thing to do something about it. What did he do to act on the message? He packed up his bags and headed to Egypt.

This was a major undertaking, especially for an old man. This was a giant step of faith. Jacob did not just go to Egypt. He moved to Egypt. This is not just a vacation, Jacob is moving there but he is not just moving by himself. His entire family is moving there. Jacob has a large family.

We have a list of some of the people who made this trip in Genesis 46. Moses gives us two numbers. “All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons” (46:26).

If you do the math and add up all the numbers in this chapter (33+14+16+7), you get seventy (46:27) but that includes Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh and Jacob. If you do not count them, you end up with sixty-six (46:26). Seventy is a symbolic number like the seventy nations in Genesis 10 that represented all the nations from Adam.

There were a lot more than seventy that made this trip to Egypt. There may have been several hundred people on this trip. The list in Genesis only mentions sons. It does not mention any daughters or wives of the men who came.

Four, he WORSHIPED God. “So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac” (46:1 NIV). He was traveling but when he got to Beersheba, he stopped, not for doughnuts and coffee but to worship. Why does he stop in Beersheba?

It is in southern Israel. It is right on the border with Egypt. If you go any father, you are in Egypt. This is the point of no return. It is the southern- most boundary of the Promised Land. The country goes from “Dan to Beersheba”. Before he leaves Egypt, he worships God. Abraham planted a tree there and called on the name of the Lord. Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. Jacob offers sacrifice there right before leaving the Promise Land.

Why does he do that? The Promise Land was the place where God called them to be. It was the land that God gave the Jews. It was the place God blessed them. Now they are leaving that land. Jacob knows the history of his people. His grandfather Abraham left the Promise Land in a famine. He went to Egypt. You can read about that in Genesis 12 and he got into big trouble. His father Isaac also encountered a famine and wanted to go to Egypt and God told him not to go.

Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. (26:1-3 NIV).

This seemed like the right thing to do but Jacob was afraid to go, so he brought God into the situation, which was the right thing to do. When he did this, God spoke to him. When you worship God, you often hear from God. If you want to hear from God, you need to seek God and worship God.

God Speaks to Jacob

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here I am,” he replied. “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” What does God tell him? He tells him to go to Egypt and says “Don’t be afraid. I will be with you”. Now this is very strange. God told Isaac one thing and he told Jacob something very different. He told Isaac not to go to Egypt. He told Jacob to go to Egypt. Why did He do this?

There is a very important reason. God leads people differently. He may call one person to do the exact opposite of what he calls someone else to do and the situations may be very similar. God led one man in a famine to do one thing and led someone else in another famine to do the exact opposite. We need to know how God is leading in our own life and not just do what everyone else is doing.

What does God promise Jacob here? He promised that He would be with him in Egypt. He promised He would bless him in Egypt. The Jews would be a great nation in Egypt. They were just a family but would become a nation in Egypt. He also promised him that he would see Joseph in Egypt. Now Jacob has not just heard this from his sons but from God himself. Jacob thought he would die in sorrow without Joseph.

God promised that he would die in Egypt and Joseph would be there when he dies. Finally, he was promised that he would be brought back to Canaan. That was something that Jacob was worried about. Before he died, he wanted to make sure that he was buried back home in Canaan. He planned his burial. He made Joseph swear that he bury him in Canaan.

When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him,If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.” “I will do as you say,” he said. “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him (47:29-31). Jacob really liked living in Egypt. It was the most advanced country in the world at the time but he did not want to be buried there and God promised that he would not be.

 

Does God Speak Audibly Today?

God speaks to Jacob here. There are a lot of books written on the subject of hearing the voice of God. It is an important topic. Right now, our pastor is doing a series on it. Most preachers will tell you that God still speaks to people today and we can hear His voice. He speaks to our thoughts through a still small voice.

All of that is true but God did not speak to Jacob in a still small voice. Jacob had a vision of God, which means he was awake when it happened. God spoke to him, called him by name and Jacob responded and answered him. God spoke audibly to Jacob.

He heard God physically in his ear.   He called Jacob by name and Jacob spoke back to him and answered him. That raises a lot of questions. Can God still do this today? Does he still do this today? If the answer is yes, then why have none of us heard an audible voice from God?

There is a joke in the secular world. When people talk to God, we call it prayer, but when God talks to people, we call it schizophrenia. When people claim to hear the audible voice of God on a regular basis we think they are mentally imbalanced. They are hearing voices. What is the answer? Several things are true.

First, God can still speak today. No one disputes this. God is completely sovereign. As Greg Koukl says, “God can do anything He wants, any time He wants, any way He wants”.

Second, God not only can speak today, He does speak to people today.  He does it in a lot of different ways. He does not just speak in one way. He spoke to Joseph through dreams. He spoke to Jacob one way and to Joseph another way through prophetic dreams.

Third, God does still speak audibly today. God hasn’t changed. There are all kinds of stories, especially on the mission field of people coming to faith through a vision of Jesus. Jesus appears to Muslims and speaks to them. He appears to people who do not know him or believe in him and that is how they come to faith.

One former Muslim terrorist had a vision of Jesus. He said, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. He said that he had never heard those words before. God does speak audibly today.

Having said that, this is not God’s regular way of communicating with believers. That is why God has given us His Word and His Spirit. In fact, God did not speak audibly to people on a regular basis, even in biblical times (except perhaps to Adam and Eve). This is not something that He used to do and no longer does anymore. It is something that even in Scripture was not done on a regular basis. You say prove it.

God spoke to the patriarchs audibly. He spoke to Abraham. He spoke to Isaac. He spoke to Jacob. He never spoke audibly to any of his sons, as far as we can tell. God never appeared to Simeon or Reuben or Judah, only to their dad Jacob. In fact, the next time that God speaks to anyone audibly is over four hundred years later. The next time God spoke audibly to anyone was to Moses and that was not for another four hundred years.

So they all head to Egypt. When they got close, Jacob sent Judah ahead to get directions (46:28). They did not have a GPS. He did not want to have several hundred people wandering around looking for directions. The fact that Jacob sent Judah out ahead, shows that he is the leader of the family. He was not the firstborn but he is now the leader of the family. Judah will be the one to lead them into Goshen.

The Reunion

This chapter not only describes a RELOCATION, as Jacob moves to Egypt and a REVELATION, as God speaks to Jacob, but a REUNION. We have heard all kinds of real life reunion stories. We have heard stories of long lost brothers reunited or adopted children meeting their biological mother for the first time.

Two verses in the chapter describe the meeting of Jacob and Joseph (46:29-30). It is emotional. It is climactic. Joseph meets him in his chariot. They hug each other and cry for a long time. When it is all over, Jacob says, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive” (46:30).

Jacob is not saying that he wants to die. In fact, he is going to live another seventeen years before he dies. He is simply saying that now he is ready to die. He had one thing on his bucket list. There was one thing he wanted to do before he died and that was to see Joseph. Now he has done that. That was all he wanted to do before he died. It is like what Simeon said in the NT. There is an OT Simeon and a NT Simeon. Both were Jews but they lived at different times.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:25-32).

In the rest of the chapter, Joseph says that he will talk to Pharaoh and gives them instructions on how to talk to Pharaoh and let’s look briefly at the next chapter. In Genesis 46, Jacob sees Joseph. In Genesis 47, Jacob sees Pharaoh. There are two interviews with Pharaoh in this chapter. Pharaoh loves Joseph and now his family is in town. He wants to meet them.

 Who was Joseph’s Pharaoh?

We do not know for sure. Most conservative scholars believe that the Twelfth Dynasty ruled at the time of Joseph. There were eight Pharaohs in this period. Joseph lived to be 110, so he worked under several of the Pharaohs. The Pharaoh who may have been on the throne at the time of the famine was either Senusret III or his son Amenemhat III. Senusret (sen-us-ret) ruled from 1878-1860 BC. He was the fifth ruler in the dynasty. Amenemhat (amen-em-hat) was the sixth ruler. He ruled from 1860 BC-1814 BC.

First, Pharaoh interviews five of Joseph’s brothers (47:1-6). Joseph picks five of them to talk to Pharaoh. The Bible does not say who he chose but I have a pretty good idea. He probably chose Benjamin, Reuben, Judah, Dan and Gad. He picked one from each of the four mothers (usually the firstborn, except in the case of Benjamin), along with Judah (the new leader of the family).

Pharaoh asks them about their occupation. They say that they are shepherds and are just here for a while because of the severe famine. They ask to live in Goshen, like Joseph told them to say. It is close to where he lives (45:10) and has some of the best pasture land in Egypt. Not only does he allow them to live in Goshen, he offers some of them a job (47:6).

Second, Pharaoh interviews Jacob. The Pharaoh and the Patriarch meet but something unusual happens when they meet. Pharaoh hosted the meeting. You would expect him to bless Jacob. You expect the greater to bless the lesser. Instead, Jacob blesses Pharaoh (47:7). An aged grey bearded shepherd blesses the most powerful man in the world at that time.

He asked him how old he was. You don’t ask someone who is middle age how old they are but when someone is really old, their age is an accomplishment. They are glad to talk about it. Notice his response. “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers” (47:9).

Jacob calls his life a pilgrimage. The NT describes Christians as “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (I Peter 2:11). Jacob was one hundred and thirty but Jacob says that his days were “few”. Compared to his father and grandfather, it was few. He also said that he has not had an easy life. Some of those problems, though, he brought on himself.

Joseph’s Economic Plan

The second half of the chapter deals with Joseph’s economic policy. We see how he manages an economic crisis. There were seven good years and then seven bad years. Extra food was storied in the good years and now people were running out of money. When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone (47:15).

Joseph was the Food Czar and here we see his agricultural policy. Some have called it “The Joseph Plan”. How did he manage this food crisis? It was a four step process. First, money (silver) was taken for food (47:14-15). Second, livestock was taken for food (47:16-17) when there was no money left. Third, land was taken for food (47:18-20). Four, freedom was taken for food (47:21-25). Then Joseph instituted a new farming and taxation system (vs.20-24). It was a flat tax (20%).

Joseph does some extreme things. This is crisis economics. It resembled the feudal system in Europe during the Middle Ages. Notice what Joseph did not do here. He also did NOT borrow money to solve the problem. That is what we would have done in America. He also did NOT give people food for free. There were no food stamps. People had to pay for food in this famine. Even starving people had to buy food. There were no hand-outs.

Some have criticized Joseph here. Some have said that he exploits people. He saves the Egyptians but he also enslaves them. In fact, he did not exploit anyone. He did not get rich from this scheme. Everything went to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh was the one who took care of Joseph’s family and gave them a place to live in a time of famine. He gave them land. In fact, the only one whose land was not taken was the priests and Jacob’s family. The Pharaoh took care of Joseph’s family and Joseph, not only spared the nation from starvation, he helped makes the Pharaoh rich.  Furthermore, the slavery was voluntary. Notice what the people said.

We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate (47:18-19).

This is indentured servitude. There was no revolution or protest when it took place. The people did not look at Joseph as a tyrant but as a savior.

The Revival of Jacob

We have been studying the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis.  It is one of the greatest stories in the Bible.  Last week, we looked at the first nine verses of the chapter.  Joseph is now the Prime Minister of Egypt in charge of the food supply.  He is the Food Czar and his brothers come to Egypt to get food. 

It is their second trip to Egypt.  Simeon was held as a prisoner on their first trip to Egypt until they brought their brother Benjamin to Egypt. Benjamin was Joseph’s only full brother.  When Benjamin arrives, they have a big party at Joseph’s house.  On their way out of the city, they are stopped and searched. 

In Benjamin’s sack is one of Joseph’s special cups and Joseph arrests him.  That is when Judah steps in and gives a passionate speech.  He offers himself as a substitute for Benjamin.  He says that he will take his punishment.  Benjamin cannot stay in Egypt because it will kill his old father who did not want to send him in the first pace.  The first thing we saw in this chapter was a confession.

Confession

When Joseph hears that speech, he yells something in Egyptian.  Joseph’s brothers do not know what he said but everyone else leaves the room and Joseph is alone with his brothers.  He begins weeping and weeping loudly and then he says the words in Hebrew (ah-nee Yo-sef) “I am Joseph”.  They are completely stunned.  They did not know that the Prime Minister spoke Hebrew.  Every other time he spoke to them he used an interpreter.  They did not know that their brother was even still alive.  They were completely silent.

They were also terrified because they committed a terrible crime over twenty years earlier against Joseph.  It was a family secret and Joseph is now the second most powerful man in the world.  They have been terrified of this man up to this point and now he knows what they did twenty-two years ago. 

Then they find out that Joseph is no longer mad at them.  He forgave them.  Genesis 45 is a picture of several things.  It is a picture of unrestrained emotions.  It is a picture of complete transparency.  It is a picture of undeserved grace.  It is also a picture of total forgiveness. 

Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him” (45:14-15). Here Joseph shows deep affection for each one of his brothers.  Joseph forgave his brothers.  They tried to kill him and threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery and he is weeping and kissing all of them in love. 

Joseph fell on Benjamin’s neck.  We see this often in Scripture.  When Esau saw Jacob after many years, he ran to meet him, embraced him and fell on his neck (33:4).  When the prodigal son came home, his father saw him, ran to him, fell on his neck and kissed him (Luke 15:20).  That seems like a strange statement.  What does that mean in the Bible to fall on someone’s neck?

It is an idiom, like “crying over spilled milk” or “stealing someone’s thunder”.  Idioms do not mean literally what they saw.  They mean what they mean.  They are figures of speech.  If you literally fall on someone’s neck, you would break their neck.  To fall on someone’s neck is a biblical idiom that means to throw your arms around someone, hug and embrace them.

Conversation

After this shocking confession on Joseph’s part, they had some conversation. Genesis 45:15 says, “and after that his brothers talked with him”. What did they talk about?  They had a lot to talk about. Joseph has been out of the family for over two decades.  They are filling in the gaps and letting him know some of the things that he missed.

It also shows how much these brothers had changed.  Over twenty years ago, they hated Joseph.  They couldn’t stand him and the text says that they could not speak peaceably to him (37:4) but now things have changed.  They have a lot to talk about and want to talk to each other. 

Commission

In addition to having some conversation, Joseph gave them a commission.  He gave them a job to do.  They were to go back home and tell they father that he was still alive.  He says, “My dad thinks I am dead.  Make sure you tell him that I am alive and that I am in Egypt. Tell him to come here”.   On Easter Sunday, the angels met the women at the tomb and gave them a commission, tell the disciples that Jesus is alive and to meet him in Galilee.  Joseph gave his brothers a commission.  They were told to do this quickly.

He said, “Tell my dad that I am alive and to meet me in Egypt”. Notice what Joseph said.  He told his brothers to “tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen” (45:13).  Parents like to brag about their kids achievements.  Joseph wanted Jacob to be proud of him.  Joseph told them to do this quickly (45:13).  Jacob was old.  He wanted to make sure that he got this message before he died.  Joseph gave them an incredible message of good news to tell.  We also have good news to share with people.

Commitment

In addition to a commission, Joseph gives them a commitment.  He says if you move to Egypt, he will provide for them (45:11) and says that they will have a place to live (45:10).  They also get a commitment from Pharaoh himself.  He says “Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land” (45:18).  Joseph’s brothers were promised some things from both Joseph and from Pharaoh.  They heard this from the two most powerful men in Egypt.

Contribution

They did not just give them a commitment; they gave them a contribution.  They gave them some gifts.  They were given wagons (45:19) and provisions for the journey (45:20).  What provisions?  They were given changes of clothes (45:22).  Romans 12:17 says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone” (NIV).  I Peter 3:9 says, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (NIV)

Joseph is here returning good for evil.  They did him evil.  He is doing them good.  They tore his clothes when he was seventeen, his coat of many colors but he gives them new clothes.  Benjamin gets five times as many, along with some silver.  In addition to provisions, they bring back gifts for Jacob, twenty donkeys loaded with food.

One preacher came up with five great lessons on conflict resolution from this chapter.[1] The outline does not come from me but from Steven Dow.  The first lesson is not to make a spectacle of the other person.  Joseph does that when he sends everyone out of the room. 

This was a private family matter.  The second lesson is not to bottle up your feelings.  Joseph lets them all out.  The third lesson is not to push the other person away.  Joseph does that.  He says “come near to me”.  He could have said, “Get out of here.  I don’t want to see your face again”. 

The fourth lesson is to comfort the other person.  Joseph did that when he said, “You sold me into slavery but God sent me here and he sent me here to save lives”.  They needed to be comforted because they were full of guilt for what they had done and had repented of their actions. Joseph comforts them with the comfort he received from God (cf. II Corinthians 1:3-4). 

They do not comfort Joseph. Joseph comforts them. The fifth lesson is to minister to the other person. Joseph does that by giving them gifts, providing food and a place for them to stay.

Counsel

Before the brothers leave Egypt, Joseph gives them some counsel.  He told them not to quarrel on the way (45:24).  Here we see Joseph in a new role. He is a peacemaker.  Earlier in Genesis, we saw how Joseph’s grandfather Isaac was a peacemaker.  Now we see how Joseph is one as well. 

Why does he tell them not to fight on the way home?  He knew that this was a temptation for them.  They had already done this.  “And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” (42:22 NKJV).

About five hundred years ago, John Calvin said “what Joseph taught his brethren here is the command of the Spirit of God to us all.”[2] Like Joseph’s brothers, we are all part of the same spiritual family.  Like Joseph’s brothers, we are all guilty.  We are sinners.  Like his brothers, we have all been forgiven.  Like his brothers, we have all been given a message and, like them, we have all been told not to fight along the way. 

The NT exhorts us to be at peace with one another.  It tells us to love one another.  We are all part of the same spiritual family.  We are all forgiven and yet as Christians we fight with one another.  In the NT, Paul talks about Christians who bite and devour one another (Galatians 5:15).  We are to resolve our differences quickly.

Credulity

“Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. And they told him, saying, ‘Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them” (45:25-26).

This is the second great shock in this chapter.  The first shocker was when Joseph’s brothers heard the words “I am Joseph”.  Their reaction was fear and shock.  Joseph’s brothers tell their dad that he is still alive and they get a different reaction.  It is not shock or fear but disbelief.  He did not believe them.

Literally, the text reads “his heart fainted’.  His heart stopped and he didn’t believe them. This is an oxymoron.  Jacob was a believer.  He was saved.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of unbelief among believers.  Churches are full of them.  There are many Christians that will tell you that God does not do miracles anymore.  He did them in the first century but He does not do them anymore.  They are believers but do not believe that God does great things today like He did in Scripture.

There are many examples of this in Scripture.  Abraham and Sarah did not believe God.  God told them that Sarah was going to have a baby.  Sarah was old and twenty years went by so they gave up on that promise.  They were believers but they didn’t believe God in this case.  Why did Israel wander in the wilderness for forty years?  It was because of their unbelief (Hebrews 3:19).  Another example is the resurrection.

The women learned about the resurrection on Easter Sunday.  They went home and told the men  “But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Luke 24:11).  “Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen” (Mark 16:14 NIV)

Jesus appeared not only to the women but to most of the Apostles but Thomas was not among them when he appeared and when they told him about it, he didn’t believe them.  Not only did not believe them, he was a skeptic.  He said “I will not believe unless I can put my finger in his hand and in his side.  Then, I will believe” (John 20:25).  One of the members of our class said Thomas must have been from Missouri, because it is known as the “Show Me” state.  

Many picture Thomas as someone who is open-minded but just needs a little more evidence.  We meet people like that today.  They claim that they would believe the Bible if they just had a little more evidence that it was true.  The fact is that Thomas was another believer who did not believe.  It is not a good thing.  It is a bad thing.

Jesus gave them all kinds of evidence.  The tomb was empty.  He appeared to the women.  He appeared to the men.  Thomas said “That is not good enough.  I need physical proof”.  It is like a scientist today saying that he would not believe in God, heaven or hell unless you have physical proof of them.  We can laugh at Thomas today but are we like him?  Do we have unbelief in our hearts?

On Easter Sunday, two men walked to Emmaus when Jesus appeared and began talking to them.  They were troubled by recent events in Jerusalem involving the death of Jesus.  They were saddened by his death.  Jesus replied, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).

They were believers.  They were sad believers.  Jesus called them “fools”.  He rebuked them and the Eleven for being unbelievers.  What would Jesus say to Christians today?  Would he rebuke them as well? Are there Christians today who believe only part of the Bible?  They know part of the Bible.  They believe part of the Bible and are passionate about it but another part of it is not taken seriously. Unfortunately, this describes a large part of the church today.

Jacob’s sons finally return to Canaan.  They said, “We have great news.  Not only is Joseph still alive, he is the second most powerful man in the world, because Egypt was the most powerful country in the world at that time.”  They said, “We have seen him.  We have eaten with him.  He is alive” and he did not believe him.  He did not believe it even though he heard this, not from one or two witnesses but from eleven.  Why didn’t he believe them? 

Jacob goes through a revival in this chapter. He went from not believing his sons to believing his sons.  I want to look at that briefly.  We want to discuss why he did not believe them in the first place and why he changed his mind.

Joseph’s Revival

Why didn’t Jacob believe his sons when they come home with the news that Joseph was alive?  There were many reasons.  They were not always honest people.  Jacob did not trust his sons.  If you tell a lie long enough people will believe it.  Jacob’s sons told him a lie about Joseph being dead and he believed it.  He believed it for two decades. He not only believed it, he mourned for Joseph.  He gave up all hope.  He tore his clothes.  He refused to be comforted and said he would mourn for Joseph until he died (cf. 37:34-35).

What Jacob’s sons said seemed too good to be true. We have an old saying “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  It is still valid today.  We have all seen the emails from Nigeria offering to wire us millions of dollars if we just give them our bank account information or phone calls saying that we have won the lottery. 

We all need to beware of con artists.  There is a certain amount of skepticism that is good and healthy.  Proverbs 14:15 says “The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps” (ESV).  A person who is naïve and gullible believes everything you tell them.  They believe everything they hear from politicians and everything they hear from preachers.

To believe the truth about Joseph, he had to also believe the truth about his brothers.  Their sin came out.  Jacob not only had to believe that Joseph was alive, he had to believe that his brothers were so wicked and hated their brother so much that they would sell him into slavery and then lie to their father for twenty years.  That would not be easy to accept, accepting the ugly truth about your own children.

What caused Jacob to change his mind?  Some people never change their mind, no matter how much evidence you give them.  Jacob changed his mind and when he changed his mind, his name changed. 

So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father JACOB in the land of Canaan. They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And ISRAEL said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die” (45:25-28).

Notice the two names.  Jacob doubted but Israel believed.  The name Jacob means deceiver, trickster.  It is the name associated with an unbeliever.  When he believed the message, he is called Israel.  That was the name God gave him when he wrestled with the angel all night. Why did Jacob go from unbelief to belief?  He finally said, “I am convinced”.  The NLT says “It must be true”. What convinced him?

But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived (45:27). Two things convinced him.  Something on the inside and something on the outside convinced him. 

When they told him what Joseph said, something on the inside came to the conclusion that this sounds like Joseph and then he went outside and saw a bunch of empty wagons and they have ten donkeys loaded with the best of the land of Egypt.  He did not have to take their word for it. 

There were all these gifts outside and animals and Egyptian vehicles.  “When he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived”.  Wagons were rare.  The average person did not have access to wagons.  The wagons were what really convinced them.  Pharaoh sent them to carry Jacob and his family back to Egypt (45:19)  

Jacob says “My son Joseph is alive.  I must go see him before I die.” He has something that he has to do before he dies.  He must go to Egypt to see his son.  It made his bucket list.  Next week, we will look at the trip to Egypt.


 

[1] http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-dos–donts-of-restoring-relationships-steven-dow-sermon-on-dealing-with-conflicts-49648.asp?Page=1

[2] John Calvin on Genesis 45:24 in Genesis (1554).

A Shocking Confession

Today, we come to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  This is one of the most incredible stories in all literature and this story is true.  It is a chapter full of nothing but good news.  It is the Hallmark chapter of the Bible. You need a lot of tissues for this chapter. There is a lot of crying in this chapter and the ones crying are men, not women.  It is a chapter full of emotions and incredible drama.

Every story has a climax. Every movie that is made has a climax. The climax is the high point in the action of a story.  It is the point of highest tension or drama in the story.  It is the most intense part of the story.  The climax of the Joseph story is in Genesis 45.

It is also a chapter full of applications.  There are some important lessons in this chapter.  What Joseph does in this chapter is important for us today.  This chapter is all about forgiveness and reconciliation.  Joseph is finally reconciled to his brothers after twenty-two years of separation and estrangement.  Reconciliation is God’s will.  God wants people to be reconciled.

God wants us to be reconciled to one another and He wants us to be reconciled to himself.  Reconciliation is part of the gospel message (II Corinthians 5:18).  Reconciliation is not always possible because it takes two people but God does not want broken relationships.  He does not want them in the family.  He does not want them in the church. This is a very practical chapter.

There is some deep theology in this chapter that I am going to share with you. There are some incredible lessons about God in this chapter.  Joseph was not only the world’s first economist, he was the world’s first theologian.  There is also a great type of Christ in this chapter and it is Joseph. There are many ways in which he is a picture of Jesus.  He foreshadowed Jesus in a number of ways.

Joseph: A Type of Jesus

  • Joseph wept before his brothers.  Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb.  Both showed public expressions of grief.
  • Joseph forgave people who wronged him. Notice the words, “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save YOUR LIVES by a great deliverance” (45:7). Joseph’s brothers mistreated him.  They sold Joseph in slavery and sent him to Egypt.  When he got there, he was used to save their lives.  Apparently, the famine in Canaan was so bad that their family would not have survived without Joseph’s help.  Jesus also forgave his enemies.  He returned good for evil as well.
  • Joseph told his brothers to hurry back and proclaim the message that Joseph was alive. “Now HURRY back to my father and say to him, ‘this is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay” (45:9).  Joseph told his brothers to go and tell others and they shared that message to people who thought he was dead.  After the resurrection, the women were told to quickly go and proclaim the message that Jesus was alive to the disciples who also thought He was dead. “Come and see the place where he lay. Then go QUICKLY and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him” (Matthew 28:6-7)
  • When Jacob was told that Joseph was alive, he did NOT believe them. “They told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.’ Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them” (45:26 NIV).  It seemed just unbelievable and improbably for Jacob to believe that his son Joseph was alive and ruling in Egypt.  Jacob believed that he was dead for the last twenty-two years and mourned for him.  It was too good to be true to believe that not only was Joseph still alive, he was not a slave somewhere but was the second most powerful man in Egypt. Even though this sounded completely ridiculous to Jacob, his sons insisted that Joseph was alive.  They had seen him and eaten with him.  It was just as ridiculous for many to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.  When the women first told the men about this, they said that they were crazy (Luke 24:11) but there were many infallible proofs of the resurrection (Acts 1:3).
  • Joseph said “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you” (45:12 NIV) which sounds similar to what Jesus said to Thomas.  “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:26-27 NIV).

Two Revelations

There are two major revelations in this chapter.  Two shocking revelations take place in this chapter that I want to look at.  One takes place in Egypt and one takes place in Canaan. The first was a revelation by Joseph to his brothers.  The second was a revelation by Joseph’s brothers to their father. We will only have time to look at the first one today.

Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers in these verses. Up to this point, he has concealed his identity.  He recognized them but they did not recognize him and he acted different to hide his identity.  In this chapter, he tells them who he really is.  Why does he do it now?

When he first saw them, he gave them a series of tests. He wanted to find the answer to some questions. Were they jealous of Benjamin, Joseph’s other brother?  Were they sorry for what they did to him over twenty years earlier?  Had they really changed or were they the same?  They passed every test.  Joseph even gave them the opportunity to commit the same crime and they turned it down.

Then Judah gave a speech.  It was a passionate speech and that speech cut Joseph to the heart.  Joseph planted some evidence on Benjamin.  He put a silver cup in his sack and accused him of stealing.  He was going to keep him as a slave in Egypt but Judah said “You can’t do that, because if you do it will kill his father.”  Judah offered himself up as a substitute for his brother.  He said that he would take his place and bear his suffering.

After Judah’s passionate speech, we are told that Joseph “could not control himself” (45:1).  He has been hiding his true feelings but now they are going to come out.  Notice what happens when they come out.  We see three things here: a strange command, a sobbing czar and a shocking confession.

A Strange Command

What was the command?  “Everyone leave the room” (45:1).  Apparently, the room was full of people and he wanted to get them out and so he yells in Egyptian, “Everyone get out”.  They do not know why he is asking them to leave.  It seemed like a strange command.  Why did he want them out of the room?

There were probably several reasons. This was a family matter.  This was something between Joseph and his brothers.  They were the only ones who needed to be there.  Only those who needed to hear Joseph’s message, heard it.  In addition, Joseph did not want to broadcast the evil deeds of his brothers to the world.  The Bible says that “love covers a multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8).  Joseph doesn’t want to air their dirty laundry before the all of the Egyptians.

A Sobbing Czar

Joseph begins weeping (45:2). Joseph is not only crying, he is crying loud.  People can hear him in other rooms and the one who is crying is not just anyone, he is the second most powerful man in Egypt. He was the Food Czar.  It seemed a little undignified for a top government official to do in public.  That seemed a little strange.

Many in America think that real men don’t cry.  Real men do cry.  Jesus cried. The Apostle Paul also cried (cf. Acts 20:31). Joseph cried.  Joseph lets his true feelings out in this chapter.  He has been holding them in up to this point. This is the third time in Genesis that he has cried.  He cries again when he sees his father (46:29).  He cries when his dad dies (50:1) and after he dies (50:17).  He actually cries six times in Genesis.

A Shocking Confession

Joseph doesn’t beat around the bush.  He has been playing enough games with them and now it is time to tell them the truth and to be direct about it.  Up to this point, Joseph spoke to his servants in Egyptian.

He spoke to his brothers through an interpreter for the first time.  Now Joseph speaks to his brothers directly in their own language and he said “I am Joseph”.  It is three words in English.  It is three words in Greek (᾿Εγώ εἰμι Ιωσηφ) but only two in Hebrew (ah-nee Yo-sef). 

This revelation of Joseph was private.  It was emotional.  It was direct.  It was also shocking.  They did not even know that he could speak Hebrew. They thought the governor’s name was Zaphenath Paneah.  That is what Pharaoh called him (41:45) but find out his real name was Joseph.

They did not even know for sure if their brother was still alive.  The last time that they saw Joseph, he was seventeen.  Now he is thirty-nine (almost forty years old).  How do we know that?  Joseph became a ruler in Egypt at thirty years old (41:46).

There were seven good years, so he became thirty seven and his brothers came after two bad years (cf. 45:11), so he is now thirty-nine and when they heard the words ah-nee Yo-sef (45:3). It was so shocking that it left his brothers completely speechless, so he said it a second time ah-nee Yo-sef.  This time he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!” (45:4). He reminded them what they did to him twenty-two years ago.

The Brother’s Response

What was the brother’s initial response?  They had two responses.  Shock and Fear.  Joseph just dropped a bomb on them. “His brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence” (45:3).  They were speechless.  They were silent.  They were also terrified.  Why?

They were about to be exposed.  Their sin was coming to the light.  They were the ones who betrayed Joseph.  They were the ones who threw him in a pit and wanted to kill him.  They were the ones who sold him into slavery and then lied to his father about what happened.  They were the ones who laughed at him when he was completely helpless and cried out for help.

They know that what they did deserved the worst kind of punishment.  Now Joseph is the second most powerful man in the world at this time.  He was the one in charge and has the power of life and death in his hands.  He has already imprisoned them for things they didn’t do.

He could clearly punish them for things they did do.  They were thinking “we are in big trouble now”.  This is actually a picture of how people will feel when they stand before God on judgment day as sinners.  Paul says in Romans that “every mouth will be stopped and the whole world will be guilty before God” (3:19).

Then his brothers get the surprise of their life.  They get another shock.  Joseph wasn’t mad at them.  He forgave them.  Notice what he said to them.  “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.  Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt” (45:5-9 NIV)

Did Joseph Forgive his Brothers?

How do we know that Joseph forgave his brothers?  The text doesn’t say it but he did.  How do we know?  He spoke kindly to them, not roughly. He said “I am Joseph” with tears in his eyes.  He kissed them and hugged them.  He gave them gifts and promised to provide for them.  He even told them not to fight about what they did to him twenty-two years ago.

Let’s think how Joseph could have responded in this situation.  Many people in his shoes would have responded very differently.  He could have been BITTER. He could have nursed a grudge for twenty years over what happened to him.  He could have been ANGRY.  He could have been mad at God for letting this happen and mad at his brothers.

He could have been VINDICTIVE and wanted to punish his brothers for what they did to him.  He could have said, “You made my life a living hell for the last twenty-two years and now it is your turn to suffer. Now you get to see how it feels to go through all of the things that I went through. I have been waiting a long time for this. I am going to enjoy it.”

He not only could have said that. He had the power to carry it out but he did not say that. He did not threaten them. He could have been CRITICAL of them for what they did to him. He did not rebuke them. He didn’t try to get even with them. He forgave them and that is an important lesson to us.  We need to forgive as Joseph did.

Forgiveness is not optional for Christians.  Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (NIV).  Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

In fact, Jesus said “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors….For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15).

That seems strange.  It seems to say that forgiveness is conditional.  It is conditional on forgiveness.  It seems like it says that you forgive in order to be forgiven.  With this logic you could say that salvation could be lost, if you stop forgiving people.

There is only one problem with this.  This passage has to be interpreted in light of the rest of the Bible.  The Bible teaches that salvation is NOT by works in passage after passage.  Forgiveness is not the plan of salvation but the proof of salvation.  We do NOT forgive in order to be forgiven but because we are forgiven.  We see that in the passage in Colossians and Ephesians.  We are to forgive, even as Christ forgave us.  We have already been forgiven.

It is God’s will for us to forgive people who sin against us.  He forgave us and we are to forgive people who sin against us.  We should forgive people who have injured us in ANY way and that forgiveness should be total.  It should be immediate and it should be unconditional, as James MacDonald points out[1].

That raises an important question.  Are there people in your life that you need to forgive?  The homework assignment for us this week is to come up with a list of all of the people we need to forgive, bring them before God and ask God to forgive each one.

How was Joseph able to forgive so easily?  Joseph was terribly abused by his own family.  He was treated unfairly.  He was deeply hurt by his brothers.  They traumatized him.  It is not easy to forgive sometimes.  If someone offends us over something small, we might hold grudges for years.  How was he able to forgive his brothers so easily for a big offense?

There was something that Joseph did which helped him to forgive and something that he didn’t do which also helped him to forgive his brothers.  What didn’t he do?  He did not live every day thinking about what his brothers had done to him and rehearse it over and over again in his head.

He did not live in the past, like many do today. All of us have been hurt in the past by somebody.  If you focus on the hurt, you become bitter, resentful and have hard feelings.  If you live in the past, you will never forgive.

He also did something positive which helped him forgive.  He focused on what God was doing, rather than what his brothers were doing.  Three times he said “God sent me”.  Joseph said, “You sold me into Egypt” (45:4) but “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (45:9).

Joseph focused on God’s sovereignty, rather than on his pain. Joseph found comfort in the doctrine of the sovereignty of God and so should we.  He did not look at all of the bad things that happened in his life and blame God.  He looked at what happened and praised God.

Five Incredible Lessons

We learn five incredible lessons about God from what Joseph says here. These lessons may change your view of who God is.

1) God has a sovereign plan which must take place.

God has a plan and there is nothing that people can do to interfere with his plan.  God gave Joseph the dream when he was seventeen about him ruling over his family. That was God’s plan and nothing could stop that plan from taking place.  Job understood this.  He said to God, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (42:2)

God is in perfect control of everything that happens.  We do not always understand his plan.  In fact, looking around at the world, it sure does not look like God is in control.  It looks like Satan is in control.  If you looked at the life of Joseph, you would think God was not in control when his brothers threatened to kill him, threw him into a pit and sold him as a slave.  It took Joseph twenty years before he figured out this plan.

2) God sometimes uses sinful people to accomplish his plan

Joseph’s brothers sold him but God sent him to Egypt.  If Joseph’s brothers did not sin, Joseph would not be the ruler in Egypt.  If they had not thrown him into the pit and sold him into slavery, God’s plan would not have come about.  They SOLD him but God SENT him.  He used their selling to get him to Egypt.

3) God’s plan does not violate human free will.

God had a plan for Joseph to go to Egypt.  God’s plan did not force Joseph’s brothers to do anything.  God did not interfere with their free will to get his will accomplished.  They did exactly what they wanted to do.  God did not force them to do anything.  God had a plan that Jesus would die on the cross and yet he did not force anyone to crucify him.  They did it of their own will.

4) God’s plan does not excuse human sinfulness

God did not excuse Joseph’s brothers for what they did to him. Their guilt was real (42:41; 44:16). They sinned against Joseph and were responsible for what they did.  Peter says in the NT that the men who killed Jesus were wicked (Acts 2:23)

5) God can bring good out of evil

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (NJKV).  God brings good out of evil.  He is an expert at bringing good out of evil.  Notice that this passage does NOT say that “all things are good” but that God works together all things FOR GOOD to those who are believers.

This does not mean that God approves of evil or takes pleasure in evil but God can bring good out of evil. He does that because he is a good God. God brought good out of Joseph’s situation. Because of what happened, Jacob was put in a position where he could save lives (45:5, 7).

In fact, because of what happened to him, he was put in a position where he was able to save the whole nation of Israel from extinction. Now, we may not always see what the good is at the time but God works together all things for good. Many of us look at a situation and can only see evil in it. Joseph was able to look at a bad situation and see good in it as well.


[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA3urR869bI

Joseph’s Four Tests

We have been studying the Joseph story in the Book of Genesis.  It is one of my favorite stories in the whole Bible. Joseph was the favorite son of the favorite wife of Jacob.  His brothers hated him.  They despised him and, when they got a chance, they him sold into slavery.

In Egypt, he went as far down as he could possibly go.  He was an immigrant turned slave turned prisoner.  He was put in prison on a rape charge.  Then, after going down as far as he could go, he went up as high as he could go.  He became the Prime Minister of the country.  Over twenty years went by since he was sold into slavery by his brothers and then they show up in Egypt.

They went to buy food in Egypt.  This is now their second trip to Egypt.  They received nine surprises and in this chapter they received a tenth surprise.  Their father did not want to send Benjamin with them but he had no choice.  Joseph told them that they would not get any food unless he comes with them, so he sent them reluctantly.  During this second trip to Egypt, another unexpected thing happens.  Benjamin gets arrested.

There is also an incredible type of Christ in this chapter.  It is not Joseph.  It is Judah.  In fact, Judah is an even greater type of Christ than Joseph was.  In this chapter, you will see why Jesus became a descendant of Judah.  He was just like him.  Jesus is our Judah.  Jesus did something that Judah does in this chapter.

Last week, everything went great for Joseph’s brothers.  They came to Egypt looking to buy food.  They offered the return the money that was in their sacks but didn’t have to.  Nobody wanted their money.  Joseph was nice to them.  He did not speak rough to them.

In fact, he invited them to his house for a banquet.  While everyone else was struggling in a time of famine, Joseph was feasting with his brothers.  Instead of throwing them into prison, he throws a party for them. Then we come to Genesis 44 and everything seems to go wrong.

On the way out of town, they are stopped and searched.  Joseph’s steward caught up with them and confronted them. “As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done’” (44:3-5 NIV).

This is the old Joseph at work.  His brothers must think that he has two personalities.  He is really mean and then he is really nice and then he goes back to being mean.  He accuses them of doing evil when they did nothing wrong.  He accuses one of them of stealing.  He wants to know why they have returned evil for good.  On the first trip, he accused them of spying.  Now, he accuses them of spying and he does not seem to be open to any reason.

Notice what the brothers said.  They said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? (44:7-8 NIV).  They protested their innocence.  They said that they had no intention of stealing anything from him.  They were so honest that they returned the extra money they found.  They had integrity.  You feel sorry for them.

They said, “If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves” (44:9).  Joseph’s steward said, “Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.”  No one will die but the culprit will become a slave.

“Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack” (44:11-12).

Now what is going on here?  This is strange.  It seems to make absolutely no sense.  For the longest time, I never understood why he did this.  It does not seem right.  He does not seem to be an innocent angel here.  What Joseph does in this chapter is not necessarily something that we should do today.  It is not normative.  What are some of the things he does?

Joseph spoke roughly to his brothers.  He deliberately slandered his brothers.  He accused them of things that they never did (stealing, spying).  In fact, Joseph went beyond this.  He did not merely accuse Benjamin of being a thief; he framed him for the crime. How did he do that?  He planted evidence.  He put his silver cup in his sack and accused him of stealing it.  That does not seem fair.  He planted evidence on Benjamin to make him look guilty.

We get upset if a police officer plants evidence on someone to make them guilty of a crime they did not commit. Joseph did the same thing. Joseph does exactly what Potiphar’s wife did.  She framed him for a crime he did not commit.  She framed him for rape.  She had the physical evidence in her hand (his robe).

Now Joseph frames Benjamin for a stealing. Joseph also used deception with them.  He claimed to have a cup that he used for divination.  That wasn’t true.  There is no evidence that Joseph was involved in the occult or that he was superstitious.  He rejected Egyptian religious practices and worshipped the true God.

Why did he do it?  It was all an act.  Joseph was just playing a role.  That is why he talked about divination.  He was playing the role of a pagan Egyptian.  It was a disguise, like dressing and speaking like an Egyptian.  This was a test.  It was the final test that Joseph gives his brothers.  It was the greatest test of them all.  Joseph gives his brothers several specific tests.  They all had a clear purpose.  Let’s look at these tests.

The First Test – The Missing Brother Test

His first test was this: Is Benjamin still alive and can you prove it? Benjamin did not come to Egypt with his ten brothers.  Joseph wanted to make sure that he was still alive.  He wants to make sure that they did not kill him off.  He tested them to see if they did the same thing to his little brother who was the only other son of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel.

They said that he was alive and was home in Canaan but he wanted to make sure that they were telling the truth.  They were not known for their honesty in the past.  They passed that test.  They brought Benjamin back with them.  He was perfectly safe.

The Second Test – The Jealousy Test

The second test was this: Are you jealous of Benjamin?  He was their dad’s favorite son.  Bringing Benjamin back with them did not tell him how they treated him, so another test was needed.  Joseph invited them over to his house and deliberately gave him five times the amount of food that he gave to the other brothers to see if they would get jealous.  They passed that test.  There was no sign of jealousy among the brothers.  They all had plenty to eat, even if Benjamin got more.

The Third Test – The Guilt Test 

The third test was this:  Do you feel any regret for your actions twenty years ago?  Do they feel guilty about what they have done?  Many people do all kinds of bad things to people and seem to have no conscience.  They do not feel bad about what they have done.  They have no sorrow or regret.  Joseph wanted to know how they felt about what they did to him over twenty years ago.

They passed this test.  Reuben said, “And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” (42:22). Reuben has clear regret here and he said now they were suffering for what they did.  That caused Joseph to weep in another room.

Judah said the same thing.  He said, “And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants” (44:16).  He is not confessing to stealing.  He is saying that God has caught them and once again held them accountable for what they did to Joseph. He saw God in the situation.

The Fourth Test – The Repentance Test

This was the biggest test of them all.  Joseph wants to see if they have changed in over twenty years.  Joseph grew up in a dysfunctional family.  He suffered abuse from his own family. His brothers used to be jealous of him.  They were jealous of his special coat his dad gave to him and to no one else.  They thought he was arrogant.

He had these dreams about ruling over his brothers.  They wanted to kill him. They threw him into a pit.  He was completely helpless.  They ganged up on him.  It was ten against one.  They laughed at him when he cried for help.  He wanted to know if they changed.

They showed guilty feelings for what they did but that is not the same thing as repentance.  Many people feel guilty for what they have done but do not repent.  They may even confess their sin but still not repent. King Saul in the OT said, “I have sinned” (I Samuel 15:24, 30).  He was given a command and deliberately disobeyed and then tries to justify his disobedience.  In fact, after saying “I have sinned,” he said “honor me now” (I Samuel 15:30).

Judas betrayed Jesus with thirty pieces of silver.  He turned him over to the Jewish leaders who turned him over to the Romans and crucified him.  He later confessed his sin.  He said the words “I have sinned” (Matthew 27:4) but Judas was not saved.  He never genuinely repented. He went off and killed himself.  How do you know if you have really repented?  The Apostle Paul answers this question.

“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:19-20).  You demonstrate your repentance by your life, not by your words.  Actions speak louder than words.  You can say “I am sorry” and then go do the same thing and prove that you are not sorry.

That is the test that Joseph gave them in this chapter.  He wants to know if they would do the same thing again if they were given the chance.  That is the only way to really tell if they have changed.  Guess what he does in this chapter?  He recreates the crime scene.  Joseph recreated the moment at which they sold Joseph into slavery.

Once again, they have a chance to sell another brother into slavery.  This time, it is Benjamin.  Like Joseph, he was not just a brother, he was the favorite brother.  He was Jacob’s new favorite son.  He was a son of Rachel, his favorite wife.  Now was their chance.  They had a chance to get rid of the favorite son once and for all.  Joseph was actually giving them an opportunity to sin to see if they would take it.  Will they give Benjamin away or try to free him?

They passed this test with flying colors. What was their response when the silver cup was found in Benjamin’s sack?  How did they respond? “At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city” (44:13).  Three things happened.  First, they tore their clothes.  That was one of the ways that people in the Ancient Near East expressed grief.  It happens all through the Bible.

Second, they all went back into the city.  They went back to Joseph’s house.  They did not have to do that.  They could have all gone home but they had no intention of going back home without Benjamin.  They go back to the house and fall down before Joseph.  The brothers stuck together in this chapter.  They were not going to go anywhere without Benjamin.

Third, Judah gives a speech.  He becomes the spokesman for the group and speaks up for Benjamin.  By doing this, he was keeping the promise he made to his dad to be responsible for Benjamin.  He stands up for Benjamin.  This speech of Judah was one of the greatest speeches found in ancient literature.

It was a long speech, the longest speech in the Book of Genesis. That is interesting.  The longest speech was not one made by Abraham or Isaac or Jacob.  It was not even one made by Joseph.  It was one made by Judah.  It was an eloquent speech (44:19-34).  It was passionate. It was from the heart. It was moving.  What he said completely pierced Joseph’s heart.

He told him how much his dad loved Benjamin and how much he did not want him to come to Egypt because he was worried something bad might happen to him and if anything bad did happen to him, it would kill him.  Notice what Judah said, “Jacob’s life is bound up in the lad’s life. When he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow” (44:30-31).

Judah’s Transformation

Judah went through a transformation and I want us to look at it.  Judah has changed and Joseph sees it.  It was obvious.  He used to be cold and merciless.  He used to have no sympathy for his younger brother as he was thrown into the pit and cried for help. He was the one who came up with the idea of selling Joseph into slavery (37:26-27), not because he loved his brother but because he was greedy.  His greed actually saved Joseph’s life.  He went from being cold to being compassionate. Now, he cares about his father and young brother.

Judah used to be self indulgent and self-centered.  He was out visiting prostitutes.  He was not too sensitive to the needs of the widow Tamar in Genesis 38.  Now he is selfless.  He thinks of others, not himself.  He puts Benjamin’s needs above his own needs. He regards him as more important than himself (Philippians 2:4).

He was arrogant and judgmental, condemning Tamar to death for doing the same thing he did.  Now he is completely humble.  Judah says, “What can we say to my lord? What can we say? How can we prove our innocence?” (44:16). He did not say, “How dare you accuse us of doing anything like this”.  Judah knew that Benjamin did not doing anything wrong but he does not even try to prove Benjamin is innocent, just like Joseph did not try to prove that he was not guilty of rape.

He couldn’t.  He was in a foreign country and the deck was stacked against them.  He was just a slave and it was his word against Potiphar’s wife and she had some physical evidence.  Benjamin had the evidence on him.  He also did not try to blame someone else.

Before, Judah sold Joseph, who was the son of Rachel, as a slave.  Now he offers himself as a slave so another son of Rachel does not become a slave.  He offers himself up as a substitute.  He sacrifices himself.  This shows us how much Judah has changed. He went from being a slave trader to offering himself as a slave.

He was the one who came up with the idea of selling one of his brothers, a son of Rachel, into slavery and now he pleads for another brother, another son of Rachel, NOT to be sold into slavery.  Judah becomes a man of character.

It also shows us a great example of substitution, which is the heart of the gospel message.  Judah offers himself as a substitute.  He offers to bear Benjamin’s punishment himself so Benjamin can go free.  Jesus died as out substitute on the cross.  The gospel message is that Christ died for our sins.  He died in our place “the just for the unjust”.  We see that here.  That is why Judah is such a great type of Jesus.

Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.” (44:33-34)

Lessons in Conflict Resolution 

1) Forgiveness is not based on confession

Forgiveness is not easy.  If someone asks you to forgive them, you should forgive them.  “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them”  (Luke 17:3-4 NIV).

What if they do not ask for forgiveness?  The only one who might do that is a fellow Christian and they do not always do that.  Unbelievers are not going to ask for your forgiveness if they sin against you.  Are we still obligate to forgive anyway? Yes.  Even If they never repent, we still have to forgive that person, even if they never say they are sorry for what they have done to you.

Mark 11:25 says. “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (ESV).  Notice that Jesus did not say “forgive them if they come to you and ask for it”.

That is what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.  He did not say “Father forgive them.  They know what they are doing and they feel really bad about it.”  Joseph forgave his brothers.  We will see that next week.

2) Forgiveness is not the same thing as trust

We talked about this last week.  Joseph forgave his brothers but he did not immediately trust them, and for good reason.  The brothers that he knew were violent men.  You can forgive someone who abused you but that does not mean that you have to trust them.  Joseph’s brothers abused him.  Forgiveness is letting go of all of the anger, bitterness and resentment that you feel about something.

Forgiveness is for you, not for them.  The other person may not accept your forgiveness or not even believe that he or she did anything wrong. Forgiveness is a choice.  It is a decision to let go of the past.  We can forgive someone, even if we never can get along with that person again.

3) Forgiveness is not the same thing as reconciliation

Reconciliation restores a broken relationship but there is a big difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.  What is the difference? Forgiveness involves one person but reconciliation involves two people.  Forgiveness is in our power.  Reconciliation is not.  There is another person involved.  If both people are not willing, there is no reconciliation.

The relationship cannot be restored, if one of the parties refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing. You have to have repentance to have reconciliation but you do not have to have repentance to have forgiveness.  One other difference is that forgiveness is not earned.  It is given.  Reconciliation is earned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph’s Banquet

This chapter is called “Joseph’s Banquet”.  It is all about food.  It is centered around a meal.  It also raises an important question.  Can people really change?  Is change possible?  All of us know people who are stubborn.  They are not open to reason.  They are not open to any new ideas.  We know some people that are so hard to spiritual things that we think that they could never become believers.  Some people don’t change.  From this chapter we learn that not only can people change, they do change.  All of us have a testimony to share.  We could all give a salvation testimony.

We have heard many of them in this class and many of these changes are quite dramatic.  They are not little changes.  It is a big change to go from being a child of the Devil to being a child of God.  This chapter is all about change. Everyone in this chapter changes in some way.  Jacob changes.  Judah changes.  Joseph’s brothers change.  Even Joseph changes.  We will see this as we go through the chapter.

We have been studying the life of Joseph.  It is the most incredible story in the whole Bible.  He is loved by his father.  He is the favorite son and is sold into slavery and taken to Egypt.  The he is accused of a crime and is thrown into prison.  Then he interprets some dreams and is raised second to Pharaoh.  Seven good years take place and then seven bad years.  The famine spreads to Canaan and Joseph’s brothers arrive in Egypt.

They do not recognize him but he recognizes them and pranks them.  Joseph becomes a trickster.  He plays with his brothers but everything he does is for a reason.  One of Joseph’s spiritual gifts is wisdom.  He knows exactly what he is doing.  He tests his brothers to see if they have really changed in twenty years.  He keeps Simeon a prison and sends the rest back home.

They went home and told Jacob what happened and why Simeon did not come back with them.  They told him that they need to bring Benjamin back to get Simeon out and to get more food.  Jacob does not take this news very well.  He already lost Joseph.  He does not want to lose Benjamin too, so he says, “There is no way that he is going to Egypt.  That is out of the question.  He is staying home and that is final.”

They all stayed home and Simeon stayed in prison in Egypt for some time. It was a while before they went back.  Judah said, “If we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice” (43:10).  Jacob waited before allowing his sons to return to Egypt but he finally changed his mind.  Why?  What convinced him?

Two things happened.  First, the famine was bad.  They ate all of the food that Joseph’s brothers brought back from Egypt.  The supplies are all gone.  Reality set in.  Starvation forced him to rethink his position.  He did not want to do this but he didn’t have much of a choice.

There’s another reason he changed his mind.  Judah told Jacob that he would take responsibility for Benjamin.  He promises to be a pledge of his safety.  He says that if he does not bring Benjamin back, he will bear the blame forever.

“And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever” (43:8-9).

What happens here is pretty amazing. Judah here takes over the leadership of the family.  He becomes the responsible one.  He was not the firstborn son or even the second born son.  He was the fourth born son and yet he is the one who takes responsibility for Benjamin.  Judah promised to be legally responsible for Benjamin’s safety.

Problems always reveal who the true leaders are.  A real leader steps up to a challenge, problem or crisis and takes charge.  When problems take place in the world, we find out who the true leaders are and who they are not.  The same is true of problems in the church.  Here was a crisis in the home and Judah was the one who stepped in solve it.

Now, this was a big change for Judah. Judah used to be very selfish.  Now he is thinking of others.  In the last chapter, Reuben tried to encourage Jacob to send Benjamin back. “Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” (42:37 ESV).

Now Reuben may have meant well here but that brought Jacob absolutely no comfort.   If his son dies, he could kill his grandsons.  That only makes things worse, not better.  Notice what Judah says instead.  He did not put his son’s life on the line.  He puts his own life on the line.  He did not offer his sons.  He offered himself, if there is a problem.  When they get back to Egypt, there is a problem and we will see in the next chapter how Judah keeps his promise.

Jacob finally gives them permission to go back to Egypt to get food but the sons have to do three things.  One, they have to bring Benjamin with them.  Two, they have to bring double the money.  Remember, last time they came home with all of their money.  They did not pay for the food.  Jacob says, “Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake.” (43:12 NIV).

Why did he say that?  They came home with free food from Egypt.  They did not pay for it.  They tried to pay for it but the money was in their sacks.  Jacob wants to make sure that his sons take the money back.  What is the lesson?  If we get something we did not pay for, we need to return the item or pay for it.  The Eighth Commandment says “Thou shalt not steal”.   That means that we should return something if we made a mistake.  It also means that we should return something if someone else made a mistake.

Third, he told them to take some gifts to Egypt. They brought a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds with them (34:11).  Most people do not know that pistachio nuts were mentioned in the Book of Genesis.  They come from the Middle East.

Notice how the section ends.  It ends with a prayer before they leave.  Jacob commits the matter to God before they leave.  He did not know exactly what was going to happen.  He did not know what God was going to do but he prayed about it.  He was resolved to accept whatever happened.  He left the matter in God’s hands.

He said, “May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” (43:14 ESV).  It is the first time in the Bible that the word “mercy” appears.

John Wesley said, “Jacob had formerly turned an angry brother into a kind one with a PRESENT and a PRAYER, and here he betakes himself to the same tried method.”[1] Jacob brought all kinds of gifts to pacify Esau, the twin brother who wanted to kill him at one time.  He brought him five hundred animals.  Perhaps they might work in this situation. Proverbs 21:14 says, “A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath” (ESV).

Joseph’s brothers did what their dad told them to do.  “So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph” (43:15).  This is their second trip to Egypt.  This trip covers three chapters of Genesis.  Joseph gives his brothers a few more tests on this trip.  The last one is the hardest test of them all.  Joseph reveals himself to them during this second trip to Egypt, although we will not see that until Genesis 45.

Types of Jesus 

There are two pictures of Jesus in this chapter.  Benjamin is a type of Christ.  These men could not get to Joseph except through Benjamin (could net even get to see him without Benjamin).  We cannot get to the Father apart from Jesus.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  No one can come to the Father apart from Jesus.

Joseph is another type of Christ in this chapter.  He is eating with sinners.  It is a picture of grace.  Did they deserve this?  No. They sinned against Joseph.  They committed a terrible crime against him.  Joseph is feeding his enemies.  Over twenty years earlier, they threw Joseph in a pit and had a meal.  Now Joseph has them over to his house in Egypt and feeds them and he feeds them the best food.

Joseph is like Jesus in another way.  Jesus wept and Joseph wept. “As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there” (43:29-31 NIV).

Joseph sees his baby brother who he has not seen in over twenty years.  It is his only blood brother and, when he sees him, he gets emotional and breaks down but does not let anyone know how he is feeling. Joseph is a really good actor.  The last time he met him, was one year old.  Now he is around twenty-three.

 

Nine Surprises in Egypt

Now let’s take a step back and try look at these events from Joseph’s brother’s perspective.  Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt and got a bunch of surprises (some good and some bad).  Many things happened to them that they did not expect.

1) They bowed down to Joseph.

“When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground.  He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?” They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.” (43:26-27).

Joseph’s dream came literally true. Once again, the dream is being fulfilled.  This time it is not ten brothers but all eleven brothers bowing down to the ground before him.  Joseph had a dream that eleven stars bowed down to him (37:9).  Eleven sheaves of grain bowed down to Joseph’s sheaf (37:7). They did not expect to do this.  They said that they would never do this.

Have you ever said that you would never do something but ended up doing it eventually?  Joseph’s brothers said that they would NEVER bow down to him.  They mocked his dream.  They made fun of it but it came true.  People today mock the Bible but it will one day all be fulfilled.  Jesus said that “heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away”.  Every jot and title will be fulfilled, down to the smallest details.

2) They were accused of a crime.

That was a surprise.  They went to Egypt and were accused of a crime.  They were accused of being spies.  It was a charge of espionage.  They were innocent.

3) They were thrown into prison.

That was a surprise.  They did not anticipate spending time in an Egyptian prison when they left Canaan.

4) Their sentence was reduced.

Only one had to stay in prison in Egypt, instead of nine.  Joseph changed his mind.  This was a good surprise.  They did not expect to get a commuted sentence.

5) Their money was returned to them.

They go to Egypt, buy food and on the way home, find the money in their sacks.  That was a bad surprise because they thought they would get in trouble for this.  They were already accused of being spies.

6) They did not have to pay it back.

They got to Egypt, tried to return the money, like Jacob told them to do, but they did not want the money back.  That was a good surprise.  They got some food in Egypt that they did not even have to pay for.

“So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “We came down here the first time to buy food. But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.” “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver” (43:19-23)

This is interesting. The servant says that he got their money.  If he got their money, then how did it get put in their sacks?  Apparently, Joseph paid for their food.  He didn’t give them food for free.  He paid for them out of his own pocket.

7) They are invited to Joseph’s house for lunch.

That was a surprise.  They went to Egypt because they were starving.  They were worried living or dying.  When they get there, they get to eat a feast.

When Joseph saw Benjamin, he said, to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon” (43:16).

There was not any refrigeration in Joseph’s day.  Joseph did not have a freezer.  If you wanted to have stakes, you had to go kill an animal and cook it and that is what Joseph had done.  They did not kill animals every day and do this.  This is not just an ordinary meal.  It is a special meal.

It reminds me of the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  When the prodigal son finally comes home and says “I have sinned against heaven and am no longer worthy to be called your son,” the father had compassion on him, threw his arms around him, kissed him and said, “Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate” (Luke 15:23).  That is what Joseph is doing with his prodigal brothers.  It was a special occasion.  It was first time in twenty years that all of the brothers are eating together.

They got to eat at the governor’s house.  This man worked for the government and he was not just any government official.  He was the number two man in the country.  That is like going to eat at the house of the Vice President.  That was a surprise. “So they feasted and drank freely with him” (43:34).

This was a feast.  It was a feast in a time of famine.  You do not have feasts in times of famine but Joseph’s brothers are dining with the second richest man in the country.  In fact, Joseph did not just feed them, he “gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys” (43:24).  He fed their animals as well.

“Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys” (43:19).  Why would they have been afraid to go to Joseph’s house?   Why would they be a little unsure about this invitation?

The last time they saw him, he was mean to them.  He spoke roughly to them.  The last time they were there, he threw them all into prison.  This time, he throws a party for them.  Joseph seems to be changing.  Instead of being mean to them and treating them harshly, he is kind.  He is hospitable.  He invites them over for a meal.  This was a good surprise.  Joseph’s brothers cannot figure out why he is doing this.  They think he has ulterior motives.  They think perhaps he wants to steal their donkeys.

8) They are seated according to age.

This feast followed the customs of the day.  There were three tables at this feast.  There was one table for Joseph.  There was one table for Joseph’s brothers and one for the Egyptian guests present (43:32).  The text says that everyone was seated according to birth order (43:33) and they had no idea how they knew how old each of the eleven brothers were.  That was a surprise.  It must have seemed like a strange coincidence.

9) Benjamin was given the most food.

This was a little bit of a surprise.  Everyone was served food but Benjamin was served five times more than his brothers were served.  There was clear favoritism here.  Everyone was not given the same amount of food.  If anyone got more in that day, it would have been the oldest son, the firstborn.  Here the youngest got more, five times more.  Why?

This was a test.  Joseph wanted to see if there was any jealousy on the part of his brothers for Benjamin.  Benjamin was his only full brother.  He was the only son of Rachel and he was probably Jacob’s favorite son back home.  How would they respond if he got more food?  Here was see that his brothers have changed.  They did not seem to be jealous.  They passed this test.  Next week, we will see one final test that Joseph gives them and how they respond to it.


[1]Wesley, John. “Commentary on Genesis 43:14”. “John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible”. “http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/view.cgi?bk=ge&ch=43”. 1765.

The Dream Fulfilled

All of us know someone who is hard to spiritual things.  It may be a family member.  It may be a spouse.  It may be a friend or co-worker.  We know or have known someone who lives in sin and is unrepentant.  They are not planning on changing and may not even think they are doing anything wrong.  How does God reach such a person?  How does He soften their heart and awaken their conscience?

This chapter gives us a partial answer to that question.  Joseph’s brothers were spiritually hard.  They had lived in unconfessed sin for over twenty years.  They had a skeleton in their closet.  They have a family secret.  Are there any family secrets in your family?

Joseph’s brothers committed a terrible crime against someone in their own family.  They have not told anyone about this crime.  They are the only ones who know about it.  They lied to their dad about what happened to their brother.

They not only committed a crime, they committed a cover-up.  They tampered with evidence.  They dipped Joseph’s coat of many colors in goat’s blood to deceive their father.  They thought they committed the perfect crime.  Joseph’s brothers have lived with the guilt of that crime for over twenty years.  At the end of this chapter, they begin to go through a change.  We will see how that happened.

We are studying the Book of Genesis.  Today, we come to Genesis 42.  It is a very interesting chapter.  There is a lot of drama in this chapter, as Joseph sees his brothers for the first time in over twenty years.  There is a lot of suspense.  There is a lot of emotion in this chapter.  Joseph gets emotional.  Some men never cry.

Joseph cries three times in these chapters.  He cries once in this chapter when he hears his brothers say that they are now being punished because of what they did to Joseph  He cries once in the next chapter when he sees his baby brother Benjamin for the first time in over twenty years.  He cries a third time when he revealed himself to his brothers.

Let’s look at how God works to stir our conscience from this chapter.  Before we do that we have to first understand what your conscience is and what it is not.

What is Your Conscience?

The Bible says that we all have a conscience inside of us.  It is an inner voice that all of us have.  The Bible says that it is written on the heart of everyone, saved and unsaved.  What exactly is a conscience?  What exactly does it do?

Your conscience is that voice inside your head that tells you what is right and what is wrong.  It is like a built in smoke detector.  It does not go off if there is smoke.  It goes off if you do something that you were not supposed to do.  If you do something wrong, your conscience will make you feel guilty about what you have done.  An alarm goes off inside.

There are myths that some people have about our conscience.  In the old movie about Pinocchio came the motto “always let your conscience by your guide.” Disney made it a song.  The only problem is that our conscience is not always right.  It has to be guided by Scripture.  If we do not know the Word very well, we may believe in our head that some behaviors are perfectly acceptable (since society accepts them) that are actually immoral.  We may believe that other behaviors are sinful which are not forbidden by Scripture.

Our conscience is the voice of morality that you have inside your head but that voice has to be shaped by Scripture and not just by society and pop culture. Someone said that our conscience does not really tell us what is right or wrong but whether what we are doing agrees with our own views of right and wrong.

The Bible says that some people have a seared conscience.  I Timothy 4:1-3 says, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose CONSCIENCES have been SEARED as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth” (NIV).  What is a seared conscience?  It is a conscience that stops working.  The NLT renders it “their consciences are dead”.  You can cause damage to your conscience.

How does that happen?  It is simple.  You begin to rationalize and excuse your behavior.  You stop listening to your conscience and you do it so many times that it no longer speaks to you.  People can get to the point where they can commit murder and feel absolutely no remorse for what they have done.  They become completely psychotic.  That is why Muslim fanatics in the Middle East commit acts of complete barbarism.

They chop off a person’s head.  Their hands are full of blood and they think they have done absolutely nothing wrong.  In fact, they commit these barbaric acts with their name of their god on their lips.  They actually think they are doing God’s work.  They call evil good.  The prophet Isaiah said “Woe when you call evil good and good evil” (5:20).

Awakening a Dead Conscience

How does God awaken a dead conscience?  What does He use to stir our conscience?  Joseph’s brothers were living with a guilty conscience.  They lived a lie.  They have pretended like nothing has happened and they have done nothing wrong.  They shook off any guilt feelings that they had.  They had a hard heart.  Now time has passed.  Over twenty years have passed.

How does a hard heart become softened?  To have your conscience stirred, three things have to take place.  We see all three of these things taking place in this chapter.

1) You have to have a sense of need

“When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you just keep looking at each other?’ He continued, ‘I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.’ Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt” (42:1-3 NIV).

God knows how to get our attention.  God put these brothers in extreme need.  They were facing starvation.  This famine in Egypt is severe and spreads to Canaan.  Jacob tells his son to go get some food from Egypt “so that we may live and not die”.  This was a serious situation.

God put them in a position where they were forced to go to Egypt.  They had no choice.  It was the only place that had food and if they did not get food they would die.  Egypt not only had extra food, it had the Nile River.  Even if there was not rain, there was the Nile River.

God sometimes sends a famine in our life to bring us to repentance or to bring us back to God.  When God wants to get our attention, He puts a crisis in our life (health, marriage, financial, family).  He makes us needy.  God still does this today.  To reach us we have to be broken.  He does it in many different ways.  We see this in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need” (Luke 15:13-14 NIV).

What brought the prodigal son back to the father?  A famine hit the land and he was in need.  He was out of money and had to eat some of the food that pigs eat and that is when the Bible says that “he came to his senses” (15:17).  These are the prodigal brothers, instead of the prodigal son.  They are in need and are going to Egypt where Joseph is and where they will have to face him and be confronted with their actions from twenty years earlier.  Their past will catch up with them.

2) You have to be convicted of your sin

That is what God does in this section.  By the end of the chapter, the brother’s are forced to admit that they are very guilty because of what they did to their brother.  Genesis 42:21 says, “They said to one another, ‘Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us’” (NIV).

This is the only time in the whole book that anyone confesses their sin.  It is an amazing confession.  How did they get to that point?  First, they came to Egypt. “Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt…. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.    As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them” (42:3, 6-7)

The first thing that happens is that they arrived in Egypt.  Joseph recognized them immediately.  They did not recognize him.  The last time they saw him, he was seventeen.  Now, he is thirty-eight or thirty-nine (almost forty years old).  He looks Egyptian.  He is wearing Egyptian clothes and speaks Egyptian.  They bowed down before him.  That is interesting.

Joseph had a dream when he was a teenager.  It was a dream about him ruling over his family.  His family mocked him for the dream but in this chapter his brothers come to Egypt and bowed down before him.  When they all bowed their faces down to the ground, Joseph immediately flashbacked to the dream God gave him twenty-two years earlier but then something strange happens.  Let’s look at Joseph’s reaction and then talk about why he does it.

Joseph’s Strange Reaction

When Joseph sees his brothers, he does NOT seem happy to see them.  He recognizes them right away but he does not immediately run up to them and give them all a hug and say how glad he is to see them.  He conceals his identity.  He speaks to them through an interpreter and pretends he does not even know their language.  He treats them as strangers.  When he speaks to him, he is not loving and kind but rough and harsh.

He questions their motives for buying food.  He falsely accuses them of being spies, even though he knows they are not spies.  He imprisons them for a crime they did not commit.  There is a role reversal in this chapter.  The tables are now completely turned.  Joseph is now on the top and they are on the bottom.

  • Joseph used to be the one who was helpless and vulnerable.  He was outnumbered and thrown into a pit with no way out.  Now it is the brothers who are helpless and vulnerable.  They are in a foreign country and need to buy food for their family.  They are hungry.
  • Joseph’s ten older brothers used to have all of the power.  Joseph was powerless.  He was the victim.  Now Joseph has all the power.  He was the Prime Minister of Egypt.  He was second to Pharaoh.  He had the power of life and death. His word could send a man to prison.  Joseph used to be at their mercy and now they are at his mercy.
  • Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit and now he throws them into prison.
  • They accused him of being a spy.  Remember, when he found them they said, “Are you come to spy on us?”  Now Joseph accuses his brothers of being spies.
  • Joseph’s brothers did not listen to him when he cried from the pit.  Now Joseph does not listen to any of their arguments about why they came to Egypt.

Joseph’s Motives

Why did Joseph do this?  Was he vindictive?  Is this pay back?  Is he getting even with them?  Is this Joseph’s Revenge?  No. Joseph had his chance to get his revenge.  If he wanted to, he could have done that.

  • If he wanted to be vindictive, he could have kept them in prison for much longer.  He put them in prison for three days.  He was in prison for three years.  This was actually a merciful sentence.
  • If he wanted to be vindictive, he could have had them executed on the spot because of what they did to him.  He had the authority to do that.
  • If he wanted to be vindictive, he would not have changed his plan from keeping nine in prison (42:16) to keeping only one in prison (42:19).  This was another sign of compassion on Joseph’s part.  He realized that it was too harsh to keep nine brothers in prison.  One person could not bring much food back home.
  • If Joseph was vindictive, he would not have given them their money back.  Why did he put their money back in their sack?  He did not want their money.
  • If Joseph was cold and vindictive, he would not have wept three times in this chapter.  In fact, the text says that Joseph wept in another room and then came out and bound Simeon before their eyes.  They saw him arresting Simeon but they did not see him weeping.  Joseph spoke roughly to them but it was all an act.  Inside, he felt very differently.

Joseph Tested his Brothers

Two times we are told that that this was a test (42:15, 16).  Joseph was testing his brothers.  Why is he testing his brothers?  There was a good reason.  The last time he saw them, they wanted to kill him.  They threw him in a pit and wanted to leave him there to die.  They couldn’t stand him.  They hated him.  They were violent.  They threw him in a pit and when he cried to get out, they just laughed at him.  These were not nice people.

That was Joseph’s last recollection of them and it was not their only crime.  These ten brothers were a rough group.  Simeon and Levi slaughtered a whole village.  They were extremely violent.  They massacred a whole town.  Reuben committed incest with his mother-in-law.  Judah is out seeing prostitutes and commits incest with his daughter-in-law.  Joseph wanted to know if their character changed in the last twenty years.

There is another reason he did this.  Joseph’s dream had all of his brothers bowing down to him.  The dream is not completely fulfilled.  Only ten of them came to Egypt.  One was missing.  Where was his brother Benjamin?  Joseph only had one full-blooded brother, Benjamin.

Benjamin was Rachel and Jacob’s son and he was not with them.  Did they kill him?  Did they throw him in a pit and sell him into slavery?  They claimed to be honest men.  They said Benjamin was at home, so he tests their honesty.  Joseph did not trust his brothers and he had good reason from the past not to trust them.

This is the first time his brothers have been honest with Joseph and he does not believe them because of their track record.  Forgiveness does not mean that you have to trust someone.  Someone said, “Forgiveness is instantaneous; trust is earned over time. If a drunkard comes to church and turns to Christ, God forgives him immediately, but he shouldn’t become a leader the next day.”[1]  Joseph was in an abusive relationship with his brothers.  They almost killed him.  It was wise for him to test the sincerity of their repentance.

God uses these things to stir their conscience.  The first thing that he did was arrest Simeon and kept him in Egypt as a hostage.  Second, he told them that they must bring back Benjamin to Egypt. That will be a problem because Jacob will not want him to go but they will have no choice.  They have to return if they are going to get Simeon out of prison.

3) You have to recognize that God is working in your life

The third thing that happens when a person’s heart is changed is that you to recognize that God is doing something in your life. “At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.” (42:27-28 NIV)

They opened their sacks and saw their money and their hearts sank.  The KJV says that their hearts failed them.  Literally, it reads, “Their hearts stopped”.  They had a heart attack.  What were they worried about?  They were just accused of spies and now they are worried that they will be accused of stealing.  They were terrified.

They came back with food they never paid for and they have to go back to get Simeon.  They think that they are in big trouble and they say, “What is this that God has done to us?”  God did this.  It was not an accident or a coincidence.  When God stirs a person’s conscience, he makes that person feel needy, convicts that person of sin and that person sees God working in his or her life.

When the brothers go back home, they tell their dad what happened.  What was his reaction?  He was devastated.  Every time the sons go away, they come back home with more silver and one less son.  Jacob thought this was terrible and decided that there was absolutely no way that he was going to send Benjamin to Egypt, because if he did, he would only lose him.  Two of his sons were as good as dead and the rest would be viewed as thieves.

In Jacob’s mind, he lost his wife Rachel.  She died in childbirth.  He lost Joseph.  He has lost Simeon and, if he sends Benjamin (his youngest son) to Egypt, he will lose him as well. Jacob says “all of these things are against me” (42:36).  The chapter ends with a very important lesson for all of us. Jacob whines about all of the bad things happening in his life.  We laugh at him and then go do the same thing.  Why did he do this?

He walks by sight and not by faith and he completely misinterpreted God’s providence.  It is possible to completely misunderstand what God is doing in our lives.  Jacob looked at his circumstances and drew the wrong conclusion.  He saw Joseph’s coat of many colors and jumped to conclusions.

He assumed that he was dead.  He was overprotective of Benjamin.  He also exaggerated.  In Jacob’s mind, Joseph was gone.  Simeon was gone and Benjamin will be leaving soon.  He looked at all of the bad things happening in his life and thought everything was against him.

In reality, everything was for him.  If God is for us, who can be against us? Joseph was alive and ruling in Egypt.  Simeon was perfectly safe.  He was in prison but was going to be released and Benjamin was fine.  He would go to Egypt but would return to Canaan.  Everything was working out right on schedule.  We can laugh at Jacob but we do exactly the same thing that he did.


[1] http://www.biblestudytools.com/blogs/mark-altrogge/5-things-forgiveness-doesn-t-mean.html

Joseph’s Exaltation

We have been studying the life of one of my favorite characters in the Bible, Joseph.  He is one of the best pictures in the whole Bible of Jesus.  We see Jesus through the life of Joseph more than we do in any other Bible character.  In this chapter, Joseph is like Jesus in several ways.

Joseph A Type of Christ

1) Both were exalted to high positions.

Joseph was exalted to Prime Minister of Egypt.  Joseph was not just released from prison.  He was exalted to a high position over all Egypt (41:39-40).  Without Joseph’s consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt (41:44).

People were bowing before him (41:43).  Jesus was also exalted by God.  He now sits at God’s right hand (Acts 2:22-24; 5:31).  One day every knee in heaven and earth will bow at the name of Jesus and every tongue will confess that Jesus is lord (Philippians 2:10-11).

2) Both were saviors of some kind.

Joseph was a physical savior.  People were starving and Joseph gave them food to eat.  He saved them from physical death.  Jesus was a spiritual savior.  He saves people from spiritual death.  Pharaoh said  “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do” (41:55).  God says, “Go to Jesus.  Do what he says to do.”  Pharaoh pointed people to Joseph.  The Bible points people to Jesus.  It says “look to Jesus.”

3) Both began their ministry at the same time.

Joseph became Prime Minister at thirty (41:46).  Jesus was around that age when He began his ministry on earth (Luke 3:23).

4) Both married a Gentile bride.

The church is called the bride of Christ and that bride is made up of both Jew and Gentile but it is mostly a Gentile bride.  Joseph married an Egyptian.  Joseph’s wife Asenath is a type of the church.  She came from a Gentile nation.

Not only was she a Gentile, this was an inter-racial marriage.  Does this mean that Joseph’s wife was black?  Asenath was African.  That is a common view.  The only problem with it is that modern Egyptians are not black or white.  They are a mixture of black and white.

We come to a fascinating chapter.  Genesis 41 is a long chapter.  It is the second largest chapter in Genesis.  The longest chapter is Genesis 24 which describes how Isaac got a wife.

This is also one of the most dramatic chapters in the Bible.  He went from having all kinds of bad things happening to him to having all kinds of good things happening to him.  Joseph goes through a lot of changes in this chapter.  It is the first rags to riches story.

His residence changed.  He went from prison to the palace. He went from being confined to being free.  His reputation changed.  He went from being dishonored (falsely accused of a sex crime and thrown in prison) to being honored by the all Egypt.  He went from being a prisoner to being a prince.

His economic status changed.  He went from being poor at the bottom of society to being rich.  He went from wearing ragged clothing to wearing the royal clothing, “garments of fine linen” (41:42) and expensive jewelry.  Pharaoh takes off his own signet ring and gives it to Joseph.  He gives him a gold chain around his neck (41:42)

He not only got some new clothes, he got a new car.  Pharaoh gave him a chariot (41:43).  His marital status changed.  He went from being single to being married in this chapter.  He went from losing his family to getting a brand new one.

The Setting of the Chapter

Genesis 41 takes place two years after the last chapter.  We are told that in the first verse of the chapter (41:1).  In the last chapter, Joseph met two men in prison (the baker and the butler).  He was their servant in prison.

Genesis 40:4 says “he attended them”. This is the first mention of “prison” in the Bible.  The baker and the butler had a strange dream which they could not interpret.  Joseph told them what the dreams meant.  One would live and one would die in three days.

The butler was grateful to Joseph.  Joseph didn’t ask him to pay him back just to mention him to Pharaoh so he could get out of prison (40:14).  The butler was Pharaoh’s food-tester.

He was around him every day but Genesis 40 ends with the words “Yet the chief cupbearer did NOT remember Joseph, but forgot him” (40:23).  People say that they will do all kinds of things but they do not always keep their promises.

The first couple days went by and Joseph wondered when he would be released.  By the end of the week, he must have thought “surely he has told Pharaoh by now about me” but days turned into weeks.  Weeks turned into months and months turned into a year.  One year turned into two years.  They were long years.

Joseph eventually came to the realization that the baker was not going to help him.  It was looking like he was going to rot in prison.  He was a slave.  He could even get a trial.  He must have had some days of discouragement.  He was human.

The Bible says that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12 NLT).  It is not easy to wait a long time for something.  You begin to give up hope.  Things have not turned out as Joseph expected.  God wasn’t coming through for him.  He wasn’t answering his prayers.

Joseph got the dream about ruling over others when he was seventeen.  He did not start ruing until he was thirty.  He waited thirteen years for the fulfillment of the dream. Joseph has a thirteen year delay.

During those thirteen years, everything that happened to Joseph seemed to directly contradict what God promise him in a dream.  God’s Word said one thing to him but Joseph’s experience and circumstances said the exact opposite.  That is why we do not base our theology on our experiences.

It looked like everything was going wrong for Joseph.  In reality, everything was going right.  Everything happened to Joseph for a reason.  God used man’s sin for his own purposes and He still does that today.  His brother’s sold him into slavery but God used that to get him to Egypt.

Potiphar’s wife accused him of rape, so Potiphar threw him in prison.  He could not take the word of a slave over the word of his own wife.  God used that sin so he could get to know the butler and the baker, who would later introduce him to Pharaoh.

The butler forgot about Joseph.  Why do you think that God allowed this?  There are many reasons.  The first reason is to teach that God is the one who promotes people. The Bible says, “Promotion (or exaltation) does not come from the east, the west, or the desert,  for God is the Judge: He brings down one and exalts another” (Psalm 75:6-7).

This chapter is all about promotion.  Many of us know what it is like to receive a promotion at work.  We like to take credit for our promotions.  We work hard and think we deserve it. Joseph receives a big promotion.

Joseph moves up in this chapter.  He is not just released from prison, he is exalted to a high position in the government.  If the butler remembered him right away and he got out, he might think that he got out because he had the right connections.  This was a God thing.

There’s another reason that God allowed the butler to forget him for a few years.  Even if Pharaoh let him out of prison and sent him back home, he would have been free but he would never have been Prime Minister over Egypt and his dream would never have been fulfilled of him ruling over his brothers.

He must have wondered why God allowed all of these things to happen to him.  Everyone treated him wrong.  Everyone did him dirty.  His brothers sold him into slavery.  Potiphar’s wife accused him rape.

Potiphar puts him in prison when he knows he didn’t do it and now he does a good need for the butler and he forgets him.  I believe that Joseph had one ray of hope. He interpreted the butler and the baker’s dream correctly to the very day.  If their dreams came true, perhaps his dream would come true one day as well.

Pharaoh’s Dreams

Two years later, something happens.  Pharaoh has some disturbing dreams, two dreams on the same night. For some reason, these dreams always come in pairs.  Joseph had two dreams about ruling.  The baker and the butler had a dream on the same night.  Two years later, Pharaoh had two more dreams on the same night.  These were strange dreams.  The first dream is about cows.  Pharaoh sees three things in his dream.

First, he sees seven cows coming out of the river.  These cows are described as “attractive and plump”.  These are fat cows.  Today, when someone wants to insult you, they might call you a “fat cow”.  Here it is not an insult but a compliment that these were fat cows.  They are said to be beautiful.

Second, he sees seven more cows come out of the river.  He is standing right by the Nile River in his dream but these cows are ugly and scrawny.  Skinny cows are ugly cows.

Finally, he sees the skinny cows eating the fat cows.  They must have been hungry.  These were cannibalistic cows.  Cows are not carnivorous.  Cows eat grass.  Pharaoh wakes up from his dream, goes back to sleep and has a second dream.  This time, it is about ears of grain.

It is almost as if God is making sure that Pharaoh gets the message by giving him two dreams.  In his second dream, one stalk of grain devours another stalk, which seems a little strange to us.  Stalks of grain do not eat other stalks of grain.

Now, these are bizarre dreams.  They do not make sense on the literal level.  They are symbolic dreams.  I have had many dreams.  I never went looking for anyone to interpret them for me.  Most of our dreams do not mean anything.  Ecclesiastes 5:7 says, “For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear” (ESV).

These dreams were vivid.   He remembered every part of them. They were clearly supernatural, not natural dreams.  Pharaoh did not say “It is just a dream”.  He knew God was trying to tell him something.  They had a message but he didn’t know what it was.

He tried to find an answer.  He turned to all of the experts in Egypt.  There were dream interpreters in his day but none of them could help him.  This dream came from God.  He was the only one who knew what it meant.  God was the only one who had the key to this dream.

Then a miracle happened.  The baker remembered Joseph.  He had interpreted his dream.  He also interpreted the baker’s dream and he interpreted them with one hundred percent accuracy.  “And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged” (41:13).

Perhaps he could interpret Pharaoh’s dream as well.  The butler gives Pharaoh a recommendation for Joseph but Joseph had a few things against him.  He was a foreigner He was a Hebrew, not an Egyptian.

He was a slave.  He was a prisoner.  He had a criminal record.  He was also young.  The butler calls him a young man” (41:12) but he had one thing going for him.  He had a good success rate with dreams.  Joseph was two for two so far.  He might be able to interpret the dream.

Joseph has a day that begins just like any other day.  He had no idea that day would change his life forever.  Out of nowhere, he got a summons from Pharaoh to come to the royal palace.  He was brought quickly.  There was an urgency about it.  Pharaoh wanted his dream interpreted quickly.

Joseph’s Interpretation

Pharaoh says, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it” (41:15).  Pharaoh tells him his dream. Joseph interprets the dream instantly, effortlessly and correctly.  In his interpretation he says that the dreams are one (41:15).  In other words, he had two dreams but the two dreams say exactly the same thing in two different ways.

He also says that the dream covers fourteen years and can be divided into two parts: seven good years (seven years of prosperity) and seven bad years (seven years of famine).  The famine will be severe.

It will be an economic crisis.  Many will die.  It not only hit Egypt for seven years.  It hit Canaan for seven years (41:57).  It will be so bad that when it comes, you will not even remember the seven years of plenty (41:30).  We can learn a lot by noticing what Joseph did NOT say to Pharaoh.

1) He did NOT bargain with Pharaoh

Joseph did not say “I will be glad to tell you what the dream means if you promise to release me from prison”.  He did not make a deal with Pharaoh. He does not use it as a bargaining tool.

2) He did NOT boast of his ability to interpret dreams

He did not mock the people who could not interpret the dream or brag about his own gifts and abilities.  He did not say, “All of the dream interpreters in Egypt are just amateurs compared to me.  I am the best dream interpreter in the country.  I am the Dream Doctor.  I am a dream specialist.  No one else knows how to interpret dreams like I do.  I have a one hundred percent success rate”

Joseph answered Pharaoh and said, “It is NOT in me” (41:16).  Joseph’s humility is amazing.  Often people who are extremely gifted and can do things that no one else can do are arrogant.  It goes to their head but not Joseph.  He recognized that every gift, every ability, every skill he had came from God.

3) He did NOT doubt Pharaoh’s dream would be interpreted.

This is amazing.  He said emphatically  “God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (41:16).  He does not say, “I might be able to interpret your dream.  I will do my best.” No, he says “you will get your dream interpreted”.  Now Joseph was under incredible pressure.  Without warning he is quickly brought before the most powerful man in the country.  He is asked on the spot to interpret a dream he has never heard before.

Joseph has incredible confidence.  He is not in the least bit intimidated.  He does not seem worried that if he messes up the interpretation, Pharaoh might do something bad to him.  How did he know that this dream would be interpreted?  I believe that Joseph not only had the gift to interpret dreams, he also had the gift of prophecy and that is how he knew this and said it with confidence.

4) He does NOT keep his faith a secret

Let’s think about this.  Joseph assimilated into Egypt.  He lived in Egypt.  He worked in Egypt.  He spoke Egyptian.  He ate Egyptian food.  He married an Egyptian woman.  He had an Egyptian name.  Zaphenath-Paneah was an Egyptian, not a Hebrew name.

His Hebrew name was Yosef.  He looked like Egyptians.  Hebrews had beards.  Egyptians did not like beards, so Joseph shaved before going before Pharaoh.  He looked like Egyptians.  He even walked like an Egyptian.  The one thing that did NOT do was worship like an Egyptian.

Joseph never worshipped the Egyptian gods.  He worshipped the one true God.  Whenever he got a change, he spoke to others about his God.  He was vocal about his faith, even though he was the only Hebrew in the whole country.  He was a minority.

Three times, Joseph says God is going to show you what is going to happen (41:25, 28, 32).  He said, “God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do” (41:25). “God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do” (41:28). “The matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about” (41:32).  He was not worried about offending Pharaoh by talking about God.

Joseph says, “The God of the Hebrews and not the gods of the Egyptians will help Pharaoh”.  None of the Egyptians even believed in this god. Pharaoh thought that he himself was a god.

He was not the type of person who never talk to others about their faith.  Many regard it as a private matter.  Joseph honored God on the job.  Joseph was not afraid to talk about his faith on the job.  He was not afraid to talk about his faith in a government setting.

5) He did NOT leave Pharaoh without a plan

This is interesting.  Joseph does not just leave Pharaoh with bad news. A disaster is coming and it will last seven years.  Seven years is a long time.   Lots of people are going to starve to death.

You will have an economic crisis on your hands. No, Joseph tells him what to do about this problem.  Here we see another one of Joseph’s spiritual gifts.  He not only had the gift of dream interpretation and prophecy, he also had the gift of wisdom.

There is a difference between the gift of wisdom and the gift of knowledge.  God gives people both gifts (I Corinthians 12:8).  We need both.  Knowledge had to do with information.  It has to do with facts.  It is theoretical.  Wisdom has to do with application.  It is practical.  It is applied knowledge.

Joseph had wisdom.  His knowledge was not just theoretical, he could apply it to real life situations.  He knew how to give practical solutions to real problems.  Here, he applied his knowledge to solve a food crisis.  We have in this chapter a perfect example of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

There is something that cannot be changed.  It is fixed.  It is predestined.  There are going to be seven years of famine.  Joseph did not say, “This is God’s will.  There is nothing you can do about it.  Don’t even try”.

He gave solutions to deal with this problem.  Joseph believed that God was sovereign over everything, even the weather but he also believed in human responsibility.  He told Pharaoh to prepare for the future.

Pharaoh liked what he says and gave him a job offer.  He was put in charge of the agricultural policy for the country.  He became the Food Tzar.

He becomes Head of the Department of Agriculture.  To do this job would involve another one of Joseph’s spiritual gifts, administration.  Now instead of managing Potiphar’s house, he is managing the food supply for the whole nation.

This is amazing, if you think about it. Joseph walks into the royal palace for the first time. It is like walking into the White House Staff Meeting.  The cabinet is in the room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are there and someone comes out off the street who was just let out of prison and begins giving economic advice to Pharaoh.

Most government leaders do not look to convicted felons in prison to find their Chief Economic Adviser, although some end up there after working in politics.

Joseph becomes the world’s first economist. He was an economic genius.  What he said would be unpopular today.  This plan involved a big government project.

It is a top-down government run program, a government sponsored rationing system.  In a free market economy, you can do what you want with your extra grain.

This plan involved a 20% tax on what people produced during the seven good years (41:34).  One-fifth of the harvest went to the government.  In the seven bad years, people could buy the grain back.  Joseph did not just give it to them (41:56-57).  It was a centrally managed economy.  It was emergency planning in preparation for an economic crisis.

Lessons from Joseph’s Plan

We can learn from what Joseph says here.  It is still good advice today. Many have called this “the Joseph Principle”.  What does this principle involve?

  • Drastic measures have to be taken in a crisis situation.
  • A specific plan of action has to be used in this situation.
  • There are cycles of prosperity and recession in every economy.
  • We need to save for the future, especially in times of plenty.

We could all learn from this advice (e.g. use of an emergency fund). We might not have food shortages but we all have unplanned expenses that come up in our lives.  This is the biblical equivalent of saving up for a rainy day.  Proverbs 6:6-8 says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.” (ESV)

 

Lessons in Prison

We are studying the life of Joseph, one of my favorite characters in the whole bible.  He is a type of Jesus.  He is one of the best pictures of Jesus in the whole Bible.

There are a lot of similarities between Joseph and Jesus How is Joseph a type of Jesus in these two sections?  He was accused of a crime he did not commit.  Joseph is accused of rape in this chapter.  He is accused of a sex crime.  He suffered unjustly.  He was also tempted by Potiphar’s wife.  Jesus was tempted by the Devil.

Jesus was numbered with the transgressors and so was Joseph.  We see that in this chapter.  Jesus was crucified between two thieves.  Joseph is put in prison with the baker and the butler.  One of the thieves on the cross was saved and one was not. One of the men that were in prison with Joseph lived and one died.

Both predicted what would happen in three days.  After three days, Jesus rose from the dead.  After three days, the butler lived and the baker died.  One of them said, “Lord remember me when you enter your kingdom” and Jesus said, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise”.  Jesus told the butler to remember him but he did not.

Last week, we looked at Genesis 39.  Today, we will finish the chapter and then look at Genesis 40.  There are some phenomenal lessons in these two chapters that every Christian on the planet should study.

They are powerful.  We will learn some things about Joseph that we did not know before in these two sections.  There is a positive role model in this chapter and a negative one.  First, we see the negative role model.

Negative Role Model

The chapter contains one of the most famous seduction scenes in the whole Bible.  Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce her Hebrew slave.  Most of the chapter deals with this seduction.  This is really Joseph’s finest hour.

When did it happen?  Joseph came to Egypt as a slave when he was seventeen.  Most people reading this chapter think it happened when he was teenager.  It didn’t.  Potiphar’s wife didn’t chase Joseph around the house, asking him to go to bed with her, the first time she saw him.

If you work out the chronology, he would have been around twenty-seven when this happened.  Joseph began ruling Egypt when he was thirty (41:46).  Before he began ruling, he was in prison for a little over two years (40:1; 41:1 [cf. Jubilees 39:14; Josephus, Antiquity of the Jews, 2.5.4]).  That means that he was a slave for ten years. This happened right before he was put into prison.

This story breaks some stereotypes that people have.  We think of lust as just a problem for men.  Many think of all men as sex-crazed.  Here it is the woman who has the problem.  In this chapter, it is not the young man but the old lady who cannot control herself.  Why did she do it?  Genesis tells us.

Genesis 39:6 says, “Joseph was handsome in form and appearance“. He was good looking.  Someone called him “the Brad Pitt of the ancient world”.  Several other men in the Bible were called handsome, such as Saul (I Samuel 9:2), David (I Samuel 16:18), and Absalom (II Samuel 14:25).

Joseph must have had some of his mom’s genes.  Rachel was attractive. Genesis 29:11 says she had “a beautiful figure and a lovely face” (NLT).  She looked like a beauty queen and Joseph was good looking as well. The Bible does not say that Potiphar’s wife was attractive but it does say that Joseph was.

Genesis 39:7 says, “and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” (NIV).  This did not happen right away but AFTER A WHILE, Potiphar’s wife began to notice Joseph’s good looks.  She said literally “lie with me”.

She did not mean “let’s tell a bunch of untruths together”. This is a euphemism.  It is an indirect way of saying something.  Instead of saying someone died, we say that they “passed away”.  Genesis uses a euphemism for sex.  We do the same thing today.  We still use euphemisms for sex.  One website lists four hundred euphemisms we use today.

Most of us do not realize how bad this situation really was.  Not only was Potiphar’s wife married, she was Joseph’s boss.  When she said “lie with me”, this was not a request.  It was a command.  Joseph was the servant and she was his superior.  Potiphar tries to take advantage of a slave who does not have a lot of rights.  She tries to exploit her foreign slave.  It was not only adultery, it was abuse of power.

Mrs. Potiphar becomes a sexual predator. She was older.  This older cougar is tempting young Joseph.  An older wealthy woman takes advantage of a poor younger man.   This was not just temptation, it was harassment.

Potiphar’s wife did this “day by day”.  It was an obsession.  The more he rejected, the more she pursued him.  She would not take no as an answer. Harassment turned into assault.  She grabbed Joseph.  When he runs, she grabs his coat (39:12).  Once again poor Joseph loses one of his coats.

Positive Role Model

Joseph is the role model of character. Joseph had more integrity than some Christians today.  He did not have a Bible.  He didn’t have the OT.  He did not have the NT.  He did not have the Ten Commandments.  He had no commandment that said “Thou shalt not commit adultery”.

Joseph called it “wickedness”. Genesis 39:9 says, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (KJV)  How did he know this?  He had no Bible?  He did not just call it wickedness, he called it “GREAT wickedness”

He called it “sin AGAINST GOD”.  He did not just sin against Potiphar. He sinned against God.  Joseph had less revelation that we have.  We have sixty-six books of the Bible and he had none and yet he lived on a higher plane than many Christians today.  That is amazing.

Lessons on Temptation

What is the lesson for us in this story?  It is a lesson on temptation.  We learn several things about temptation from this passage.

1) Temptation is individual

We are faced with all sorts of temptation today. Temptation takes many different forms. What you are tempted by may not be a temptation for the person sitting next to you.

People who talk a lot is more likely to sin with their mouth than people who are very shy and quiet.  We are all different and so are our temptations.  Joseph got this temptation because he was so good looking.  If he was ugly looking, Potiphar’s wife would not have come near him.

2) Temptation is unavoidable

Paul said, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man” (I Corinthians 10:13 NIV).  Everyone will be tempted.  Even Jesus was tempted.  This temptation was sexual in nature.  Joseph did not go after this temptation.  He did not seek it.  He did not want it.  He did not cause it.  It came to him.

3) Temptation is powerful

How would you have responded to this temptation?  Would you do what Joseph did or what most people in his situation would have done?

Most men, especially young men would have had trouble resisting this temptation. Joseph was single.  He had never had sex before.  He may have not even kissed a girl yet.  He had hormones like everyone else.  Judah had to pay for sex with Tamar.  Potiphar’s wife is offering it to him for free. This was temptation was powerful.

4) Temptation is resistible

It may not be easy to resist but temptation can be resisted.  Joseph resisted it. He had to run out of the house to do it.  He did not just reason with Potiphar’s wife, he avoided her company and ran from her.

That is why Paul says in the NT to “flee immorality” (I Corinthians 6:18).  He does not say “refrain from sexual immorality”.  He says “run from it”.  Most people today are running to it.  Let’s think how amazing this response of Joseph was.

  • Joseph said, “No” even though it was something that he wanted to do
  • Joseph said, “No” even when even though he probably could have gotten away with it.  They were alone.  No one would have found out about it.
  • Joseph said, “No”. He said “No” even though he was breaking a direct order.  Joseph was a slave.  He was supposed to do what he was told to do but there was a line he would not cross.  Any time you are told to sin or do something unethical, you should always say “No” and obey God, rather than man.
  • Joseph said “No” even if it meant that he would suffer for it.  He was willing to suffer the consequences.  Mrs. Potiphar was the wife of a high government ranking official.  She was wealthy and powerful.  Her word can send Joseph to prison without any trial.  How many of us would do the right thing if it meant that we would suffer for it?

As we move to Genesis 40, we see Joseph in prison.  In the last chapter, we saw that this was not an ordinary prison.  It was a special prison.  It was called “the king’s prison” (39:20).  It was a royal prison.

It was a privileged prison, an upper class prison.  It is the prison for political prisoners.  Joseph did not meet a child molester and an ax murder there.  He met the baker and the butler. In this chapter, we learn something else about this prison.  It was located in Potiphar’s House (40:2-3).

Joseph’s Inmates

This chapter introduces us to two of Joseph’s cell mates in the king’s prison.  We are told two of the inmates of this prison, the baker and the butler. What do we know about these two men?

1) They both worked for the government

They both had a government jobs.  They worked directly for Pharaoh.  They were two of his most trusted officials.  They were not low-level government officials.  These were senior government members.  They were members of the White House staff.  They were Pharaoh’s CHIEF cupbearer and CHIEF baker (40:2).

2) Both of their jobs had to do with food.

One made the king’s food.  The other made sure that the food made was not poisoned.  One was in charge of food preparation and the other was in charge of security. They were both close to Pharaoh.

One was the cook and the other was the food-tester.  The word “butler” (KJV) is better translated “cupbearer”.  He was the wine-taster, although we know for history that the ancient Egyptians drank more beer than wine.  Wine was scarce. He must have been very close to Pharaoh.  He had a dangerous job.  He took risk all the time.

3) They both were put in prison.

Pharaoh was angry with them for some reason (40:2).  We don’t know why.  Maybe he thought they were trying to poison him, so he threw them into prison. While they were in prison, they met Joseph.

4) They both had strange dreams.

Both of these dreams took place the same night.  They both had to do with their work.  The butler or cupbearer dreamed about a vine that produced grapes that he pressed into Pharaoh’s cup.  The baker dreamed of a basket of baked food for Pharaoh.  It was on the baker’s head and the birds kept eating out of the basket.

These dreams were not like the dreams that we have when we go to sleep.  They were not ordinary dreams that we have at night.  They were not natural dreams but supernatural dreams.  They were divine in origin. They were prophetic dreams.  They predicted future events.

The baker and the butler knew that these dreams were important but they could not make sense out of them and it bothered them.  Joseph knew what these dreams meant and he told them.

We learn something new about Joseph that we did not know before.  He had the ability to interpret dreams.  He interpreted the butler and the baker’s dreams.  The first dream was good news for the butler.  The second dream was bad news for the baker.  Joseph told both.

Joseph was not the type of preacher that just told people positive and uplifting things to people.  He told people the whole counsel of God.  He told people the things people wanted to hear and the things they did not want to hear and what he said came to pass down to the very details.  Here we learn something else about Joseph that we did not know.

Joseph had the gift of prophecy.  In  this chapter, we see Joseph as a prophet.  It is one thing to interpret dreams, it is another thing to predict the future.  Joseph’s prophecy in this chapter came true.  That was the true test of a prophet if what you said actually came to pass.

“On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday (which happens to be the first birthday in the Bible), he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, AS JOSEPH HAD INTERPRETED TO THEM. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him” (40:20-22 ESV)

Now, I have read many sermons on Genesis 40.  Some of them are very good.  Some of them are pure foolishness. Many preachers have used this chapter to describe Joseph as a dream maker or a dream keeper or a dream releaser.  That sounds really good.  It is original.  It is very creative but it is not biblical.

Joseph does NOT make any dreams here.  The dreams come from God, not Joseph and he does NOT release the dreams into people’s lives or help them to achieve their dreams.  All he does is to help them understand their dreams.

He interprets them.  He is a dream interpreter, not a dream releaser or dream maker.  The baker’s dream involves a violent death.  It is not positive but negative.  Joseph was not helping him achieve what he wanted in life.

This section does raise an interesting question worth thinking about.  God can speak to people through dreams, even today.  He does that in many Muslim countries.  That is how many of them come to faith but those dreams do not need to be interpreted.

People have dreams of Jesus.  These dreams came from God but needed to be interpreted.  The baker and the butler didn’t know what they meant? Why did they have them? This type of dream is not as common today.

One reason was to get Joseph out of prison.  Joseph’s dreams got him into trouble.  When he told his family his dreams, they said, “Are you going to rule over us?” They mocked him and threw him into a pit but the gift of interpretation is going to get him out of trouble.  He is going to get released from prison because of that gift

There is another reason.  The ancient Egyptians were big on dreams. They believed that everything in your dreams had a meaning and that your dreams could tell the future.  There is a ten dollar word for this.  It is called oneiromancy.

Archaeologists have discovered some ancient Egyptian dream books.  One was discovered in the 1930s in Egypt.  It records one hundred and eight possible dreams that you can have.  It tells is each one is good or bad and what it means.  This Egyptian dream book comes from the same time period that Joseph lived. It is now in the British Museum.

Lessons from Prison

1) You can have a ministry anywhere.

Many think that you can’t have a ministry unless you are in the spotlight but we learn in this chapter that you can have a ministry anywhere.  Joseph had a prison ministry in prison.  It was a ministry of dream interpretation.  He was doing something that no one else could do.  No one else had his gift.  You can have a ministry in the worst of circumstances.

2) Be humble about the gifts God has given you

Joseph had an unusual gift.  He had a gift that no one else has.  He could not only interpret dreams, he could predict the future but he does not brag or boast about it.  He is not arrogant but humble.  He gives God the credit.

He says, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (40:8).  He does not say, “Don’t you know that interpretations belong to me.  I am the best one on the planet to interpret dreams”.  How many people do we know that are extremely gifted but also extremely humble.  That is pretty rare.

3) Serve God with confidence

The butler and the baker had a need.  They had a dream that they could not interpret.  What did Joseph say to them?  He said “Tell me your dreams” (40:8). Now that is very interesting.  Genesis 40:8 says, “Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

He did NOT say, “only God can interpret your dreams.  Go ask God what your dream means”. He said “TELL ME YOUR DREAM”.  Joseph acknowledged that the ability to interpret dreams came from God but he also acknowledged that God gave him that gift.

He displayed an unusual confidence.  Joseph not only knew what his spiritual gift was, he had a confidence about it.  He could have said ” I am the wrong one to ask about dreams.  I had a dream before about ruling over others and look at me now.  I am not on the top.  I am on the bottom.”

Instead, we see confidence and we will see next week the same confidence when he stands before Pharaoh.  We should have confidence about what God has called us to do and the abilities he has given us.  We saw this in King David when he went against Goliath (cf. I Samuel 17:33-37).

4) Be sensitive to the needs of others.

Joseph had a lot of bad things happen to him but he does not appear to be angry or bitter. He is not depressed. He is not down on himself.  He does not seem to hold a grudge against all of the people who mistreated him.  He is not self-absorbed. He does not just focus on his own problems.

When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” (40:6-7 NIV).

He notices that his fellow prisoners were upset about something. He did not only notice it, he was concerned about them.  He asked them what was wrong.  We can learn from Joseph here.  Philippians 2:4 says “look not to your own interests but to the interests of others”.  We often tend to just focus on ourselves, our own needs and our own problems.

5) Don’t rely on people to solve your problems

People will fail you.  You can’t always rely on them. The chapter ends with these words, “The chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him” (40:23). This chapter is not only about dreams, it is about disappointment.   Joseph helped the baker when he needed it and he completely forgotten.  He never repaid him back.

Jeremiah 17:5 says, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD’” (NIV).  People forgot Joseph but the Lord never did. That is where we will pick up next week.

Lessons in Slavery

We come today to a very important chapter in Genesis.  It is a familiar chapter to most of us.  It is a short chapter. It only has twenty-three verses. We are going to look at only part of it this week

The chapter has three parts to it.  There is a slave scene (39:1-6), a seduction scene (39:7-20) and a jail scene (39:21-23).  Most of the chapter deals with Joseph’s temptation by Potiphar’s wife. We will only have time today to look at two of these scenes.  We will look at the next one in a week.

This chapter is full of applications.  There are some deep lessons for us from this chapter.  We can study this chapter in depth but if we do not see these powerful lessons, we miss the whole point of the passage.  I want to look at some of these lessons this morning. 

Lesson on Suffering

1) God’s people are not immune from suffering.

Life is not always fair.  Joseph had all kinds of problems.  He was thrown into a pit by his own brothers and left for dead.  He was later sold into slavery.  He was sold on a slave block.  He had no rights.  He was brought down to Egypt. 

He does not just go to Egypt.  He was brought down to Egypt.  He was not just enslaved, he was exiled.  He lost his freedom.  He lost his dignity.  He lost his family and is probably homesick.  He lost his country.  He was exiled. 

He was accused of a crime he did not commit. He was slandered.  He was framed.  Then he was fired.  He lost his job. He was thrown into prison. Joseph becomes an inmate. He is accused of a sex crime. 

Joseph was accused of rape.  He becomes a convicted criminal.  He now has a criminal record.  He is now a felon.  He is a registered sex offender.  He was unemployed.  He was enslaved.  He was incarcerated.  Joseph did not cause any of these problems.  He didn’t do anything wrong.

Joseph did the right thing and was punished.  He did the right thing and, not only was not rewarded, he was punished.  He was faithful to his master.  He was more faithful to his master than his own wife was.  He showed self control. 

He resisted a powerful temptation.  He avoided committing adultery and yet he was punished.  What is the lesson here? 

Bad things happen to good people.  Sometimes we suffer for doing good.  Joseph had a lot of bad things happen to him.  When we are mistreated or experience an injustice, we are outraged.  The NT says that we are called to that.  When that happens, we become like Jesus.

I Peter 2:18-23 says, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

But if when you DO GOOD and SUFFER FOR IT you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (ESV)

Peter says again, “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled…For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (3:13-14, 17-18 ESV).

2) God limits the suffering that we face.

God only gives us what we are able to handle (I Corinthians 10:13).  How did God limit Joseph’s sufferings?  He limited them in four ways.  One, God controlled who bought Joseph as a slave.  He controlled who his owner was. 

His master was rich.  He worked for Pharaoh.  He treated Joseph well.  He did not beat him or abuse him.  He recognized his gifts and abilities and put them to use.  What if someone else bought Joseph as a slave, instead of Potiphar?

Second, God controlled the type of slavery he experienced.  Joseph was a house slave, not a field slave.  There were two types of slaves: house slaves and field slaves.  Joseph was a house slave.  He had it easier as a slave than others had. We know from extra-biblical sources that Egyptian slaves worked in the field.  Asian slaves worked in the house. 

Third, God controlled the type of prison he went to.  Joseph did not go to just any prison.  He went to a special prison.  Joseph became one of the king’s prisoners.  This prison held political prisoners.  It did not hold hardened criminals. Who did Joseph meet in this prison?  He met the baker and the butler.  He did not meet serial killers and child molesters there.

Four, God protected his life when it was in danger.  God kept Joseph alive.  Joseph was accused of rape. Normally, if a slave tries to rape the wife of a high ranking official of the government, he would be executed. 

He would have been killed on the spot and Potiphar was the chief executioner in Egypt.  He was the Captain of the Guard.  He had the power of life and death but he doesn’t execute him.  He just imprisons him.  He gives him a light sentence.  Potiphar showed mercy on Joseph. 

Joseph was like an escape artist.  He escaped death twice.  His brothers tried to kill him but he doesn’t die.  Potiphar’s wife accuses him of a capital crime but he does not die again.  Every time he is thrown into a pit, he gets out.  His brothers put him in a pit but he escaped.  Potiphar put in in another pit but he got out of that put as well. 

Psalm 37:23-24 says, “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand” (NIV)  Proverbs 24:16 says, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes” (NIV)

3) Suffering has a purpose

The suffering we experience also has a purpose.  We do not always know what that purpose is immediately.  The suffering that Joseph experienced was not random.  It had a purpose.  There was a reason that Joseph experienced slavery and prison.  God used that to prepare him for the future. 

What did he learn in these settings?  He learned humility.  He learned the value of hard work.  He learned how to be a leader.  He might not have learned those skills back home pampered by his dad as the favorite son.  He would have just spoiled him. 

Each job involved supervision, administration and leadership.  Joseph was put in charge of some things. The warden put Joseph IN CHARGE of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there” (39:22). 

“Potiphar put Joseph IN CHARGE of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned” (39:5). He is not just put in charge of some things.  He is put in charge of EVERYTHING (all of the prisoners and everything Potiphar owned).

In fact, Potiphar said, “I put you in charge of everything, except the food that I eat(39:6).  I guess his wife did the cooking.  Joseph was responsible for the food at Potiphar’s house but ironically was later put in charge of the food supply of the whole country. 

Each time, he had leadership responsibilities.  Each time, he supervised people under him.  Each, time, he had one person over him.  He was always the number two man.  He would later be the number two man under Pharaoh.

God tested Joseph just like he tested Abraham and Isaac.  He tested Abraham by telling him to go to the Promised Land and giving him a famine when he got there.  He tested Isaac by telling him to sacrifice his son on a mountain after he had waited so long to have a child.  Now he tests Joseph.  He gave him a dream about him ruling over others but makes him a prison and a slave first.

God was preparing Joseph for future leadership roles.  The master in the Parable of the Talents said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things” (Matthew 25:21). Luke 16:10 says “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much

 Lesson on Success

1. Success comes from God

We are told that in the text.  Genesis 39:3 says, “The Lord GAVE him success in everything he did” (NIV).  Genesis 39:23 says, “The Lord was with Joseph and GAVE him success in whatever he did” (NIV). 

God is the one who gives people success.  He is the one who causes people to prosper.  Proverbs 21:31 says, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord” (NIV). This passage is dealing with military success.  We can do all kinds of things to try to be successful but God is the one who makes us successful.

2. Success comes in many forms.

We often think of success just in financial terms.  If you do not reach a certain status economically or socially, you are just not successful.  Some of the prosperity preachers use this kind of language.  Some teach that God wants everyone to be wealthy and if you are obedient to God, He will make you successful financially. 

The only problem is that theology does not work in this chapter.  Joseph was obedient to God but he was NOT successful financially.  He was on the very bottom of society.  He was a foreigner.  He was an immigrant.  He was a slave. He was a convicted criminal.

How can you possibly be successful when you are slave?  How can you be said to prosper when you are not even a free man?  It seems impossible to prosper inside of a prison cell.  How can you prosper when you cannot even see your family?  How can you be blessed when you are not allowed to go to your own country?

The answer is that success comes in different forms.  Joseph was successful was both a slave and a prisoner.  How?  He shown given favor before his superiors in both situations by God (39:4, 21).  Potiphar trusted him with everything in his house and the prison warden trusted him as well and he was promoted in both situations.

Lessons on the Sovereignty of God

This whole chapter is all about the sovereignty of God.  What does it mean that God is sovereign?  It means that God is in complete control.  He is sovereign over everything that happens in the universe.  He is sovereign over everything that happens in your life.

Daniel 4:34-35 says, “His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.  No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” (NIV)

Psalm 103:19 says, The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all” (NIV).  That is interesting.  You say, “I thought Satan was ruling over the planet.”  He is but God rules over Satan.  Satan can only do what God allows him to do for as long as God allows him and then it is over for Satan.  How did God rule in this chapter?  God rules over EVERYTHING that happened in this chapter. 

God was sovereign over Joseph’s brother’s actions.  It was no accident that they sold him into slavery and that he ended up in Egypt.  That was part of God’s plan.  God was not shocked by what Joseph’s brothers did to him. Joseph ends up exactly where the Lord wants him to be.

God was even sovereign over Potiphar’s wife and her seduction.  If Potiphar’s wife did not seduce Joseph, he would not have ended up in prison.  If he did not end up in prison, he would not have met the butler. 

If he did not meet the butler, he would not have been introduced to Pharaoh.  If he was not introduced to Pharaoh, he would not have been second in command over all Egypt.  If Potiphar’s wife did not do this, Joseph would have never become the Prime Minister of Egypt.  What she did was wrong but God was completely sovereign, even over her sin.  God works behind the scenes.

Jacob’s Fall

Last week, we looked at the beginning of Genesis 38.  It is a chapter that we said last week has some adult topics in it.  It is graphic.  It is a chapter that deals with Joseph’s brother Judah, the one who sold him into slavery.  Last week, we looked at Judah and his sons.  Today, we are going to look at Judah and his daughter-in-law.

We will be doing a study of Judah and Tamar today.  This story involves drama. It involves suspense. Pregnant Tamar is walking to her death at the end of the chapter. It involves broken promises. It involves deception. It involves prostitution.  It involves incest.  It also has a surprise ending.

Lessons from Tamar

Who was Tamar?  Tamar was the wife of Judah’s firstborn son.  In order to understand this chapter, you have to know something about their marriage customs.  In that day, they had a rather strange law for widows.  It was practiced in the Ancient Near East and later became a part of the Law of Moses.

What did they law say?  It said that if a woman married a man and he died, his brother was supposed to marry her to preserve his brother’s legacy.  It seems like a primitive marriage custom to us.  It is called the law of levirate marriage.  The word “levir” in Latin (pronounced lay-veer) is one word for “brother in law”.

You might wonder what the big deal is here. Why does it matter? These marriage laws seem strange to us but this was the way they took care of widows in the ancient world. Tamar was young, childless and widowed. Widows had no inheritance rights and no means of support.  If they had no husband or child, they were often forced into prostitution in the ancient world. Tamar was married to Judah’s oldest son which meant that any of her offspring possessed certain rights.

Tamar experienced some tragedy in her life.  She had three problems.  Her first problem that she was married to complete morons.  Some of you may think you have the same problem but Tamar did this twice.  She ended up with two husbands who were knuckleheads.

Her second problem is that they both died.  Tamar became a widow, not once but twice.  Her third problem is that Judah cheated her after her second husband died.  Tamar was without a husband and without a child. Tamar married Judah’s son Er but he died. Judah gave her his second son Onan but he died.  The third son was too young to get married, so he said, “Go back to your father’s house until he is old enough and you can marry him” (38:11).  Tamar submits to Judah.  She does what he told her to do.

Genesis tells us the real reason that he sent her back home.  He said to himself “There is no way I am going to give my third son to this woman. The first two dropped dead and I only have one left.  She must be a black widow.  She is bad luck”.  Instead of blaming his first two sons, he blames Tamar.  The Bible says that the only reason the first two sons died is that they were wicked and God slew them.  He executed them.

Time went by.  Sheilah grew up but Judah never had him marry Tamar.    Judah made a promise to Tamar and didn’t keep it. Judah made a promise to her and broke it, so Tamar springs into action.

What she does is rather interesting.  She does not confront Judah.  He would probably say one thing and do the opposite anyway but she decided that she was not going to be a victim in spite of the circumstances.  This was a woman who insisted on her rights.  This was a woman was going to fight for justice.  She demanded to get what was rightfully hers.

She decided that she was not going to be a poor childless widow all of her life and she had a plan.  She was not passive.  In the last chapter, we saw Judah’s plan.  His plan was to sell Joseph into slavery.  In this chapter, we see Tamar’s plan.

Her plan was DESPERATE.  She has to sell her body for sex to get what belonged to her.  It was IMMORAL.  She had to become a temple prostitute to do it.  It may have been legal but it was also immoral.  It was CONVENIENT.  She makes herself available on the side of the road. It was WELL-TIMED.  She waited until Judah became a widow like she was.  His wife had just died.

Tamar’s plan was RISKY.  She could have been caught.  It was DANGEROUS.  She almost lost her life in the process. It was DECEPTIVE. Judah said that she could marry his son Sheilah but never followed through with it.  Now Tamar is going to trick him.  Judah tricked Tamar and now Tamar trick’s Judah.  Judah used his brother’s coat to deceive his dad and now Tamar uses a veil to trick Judah.

This is the final example in Genesis of deception.  It is something that we have seen all through the Book of Genesis.  ABRAHAM tricked Pharaoh and Abimelek.  JACOB tricked his brother Esau and his father Isaac.  REBECCA helped Jacob trick old blind Isaac. LABAN tricked Jacob by giving him Leah on his wedding night.

RACHEL tricked Laban when she stole his gods and sat on them.  JOSEPH’S BROTHERS tricked their father with the coat of many colors which they dipped in blood.  JUDAH tricked Tamar by sending her to her father and saying that he will let her marry his son Sheilah when he is old enough.  Now TAMAR tricks Judah to get pregnant.  The deceiver is once again deceived himself.

Why Didn’t Judah Recognize Tamar?

This story raises an interesting question.  How did Judah have sex with a woman and not realize that it was his own daughter-in-law? We have to use our imagination a little bit here.  First, some time has elapsed.  Several years have gone by.  The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, which was a Jewish book written in the second century B.C.says this was two years later (Testament of Judah 12:1).

Second, Tamar looked different.  She changed her clothes.  She dresses like a prostitute, instead of a widower.  Prostitutes then dressed differently than they do now.  Now they leave nothing to the imagination.  Tamar had a veil on (38:14, 19), so the only thing Judah could see was her eyes. Three, it was dark.  Four, alcohol may have been involved. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs says that Judah was drinking before this (Testament of Judah 12:3).

Don’t forget that Judah’s dad did the same thing he did. Jacob slept with Leah on his wedding night and did not realize that she was Leah until the morning.  He thought she was Rachel.  After it was all over, she put back on her widow’s clothes (38:19). Tamar leads a double life: prostitute at night, widow during the day but she only did this once.

Tamar’s plan was also SHREWD.  She protected herself in the process.  She came up with a way to prove who the father of the baby was. How did she do that?

Judah saw a woman who looked like a prostitute on the side of the road. He asked for her services.  She agreed but they had to come up with a price.  Judah said, “How about a goat?”  That sounds like a fair trade to most of us, sex for a goat.  The only problem is that Judah did not happen to have a goat with him at the time.

Tamar said, “That is no problem but you have to first give me a security deposit.  I need some collateral”.  That sounded fair to Judah.  It was smart financially not to take credit.  Now Tamar gets to set the terms.  She agreed to the deal if Judah gave her three things. She wanted his seal, his chord and his staff.

This was like asking for his identification.  His staff was his walking stick but it often had some engravings on it which distinguished it from other sticks.  The seal was a round thing that you wore around your neck.  It had his name or symbol on it.  If it was placed on a piece of clay, it would make an impression on it.  People signed documents with their seal.

It was wise on Tamar’s part to ask for these three things.  It ended up saving her life. While she was being brought out to be burned (38:24-25), she brought these three things out.  Just as Joseph’s brother’s asked their dad if he recognized the bloody coat (37:32), now Tamar asks Judah if he recognized the chord, signet and staff (38:26)

They were important because they proved who the father was.  They also proved that she had followed the rules of levirate marriage. Hittite law taught that in Tamar’s situation, it was the brother’s responsibility and if he did not do it, it was the father-in-law’s responsibility.  
She was now legally depended on her father-in-law for support, since Sheilah would not marry her.  She does not come out and say “Judah is the father and I have the proof”.  She does not try to embarrass or humiliate her father-in-law.  She simply brings out the undisputable evidence and let’s people draw their own conclusions. Let’s now turn our attention to Judah. What do we learn about the Patriarch Judah?

Lessons from Judah

1) Judah was not a great brother.

He was the one who came up with the idea of selling his little brother into slavery.  He was the one who said that it is a dumb idea to kill Joseph because they do not get anything from it.  He said that it is better to sell him and to get some money off of him than to kill him.  In fact, the name “Judah” when transliterated into Greek (LXX) is “Judas” (Ἰούδας).  He sold his brother for silver like Judas sold Jesus for silver.

2) Judah was not a great parent.

Judah gets married and has some kids in this chapter but he apparently was not a great parent.  This is an inference we can draw from the text.  Judah’s first two sons turned out so bad that God killed them.  He must not have done a great job in raising them that both turned out, not only bad, but so bad that God had to remove them from the planet.

3) Judah compromised with the world.

He distances himself from God’s people.  He marries outside the faith.  He marries a Canaanite woman and some of his best friends were Canaanites (Hirah).

4) Judah committed sexual sin.

Judah visits a temple prostitute on the side of the road and commits incest.  Jacob propositioned Tamar.  Tamar did not proposition Judah.  He becomes the second brother to commit incest.  Reuben did as well, although Judah did not know he was committing incest.  It was a sin of ignorance and once he realized who she was, he never slept with her again (38:26).

Judah does not have a whole lot of integrity in this chapter.  The only integrity Judah has here is that he actually pays the prostitute.  They agreed to have sex for a goat.  Judah does not keep his word with his daughter-in-law but he does keep his word with a prostitute that he believes he has never met before.  He has someone bring the goat he promised for sex.  He keeps his promise.  He wanted to have good credit history.

5) Judah was a poor leader.

Judah is supposed to head the head of the tribe of Judah.  In order to do that, his kids have to first have children.  He starts off great.  He selects a wife for his firstborn son.  When he dies, he has his wife marry his second son.

So far he is doing a great job.  When his second son dies, he sends Tamar away.  That put the offspring of Judah in jeopardy.  He did not do what he was supposed to do and what he said he would do which put the whole house of Judah in jeopardy.

When men do not lead like they are supposed to, the women take the lead.  That is what Tamar does in this chapter.  When Judah does not make sure that Judah’s line produces offspring, she makes sure it takes place.

6) Judah displayed incredible hypocrisy.

When he finds out that his daughter-in-law is pregnant, he is angry.  Why?  She was technically betrothed to his son Shelah and now she is pregnant from another man.  This is the first court case in biblical history.  Judah is the judge but Tamar is not even given a trial.  She is presumed guilty.  She has the baby inside of her.  In Judah’s mind, there is no need to have a trial.  We already have the evidence against her.

Judah is Tamar’s father-in-law.  He is not objective but he pronounces the sentence against Tamar and it is harsh.  He wants her executed.  He shows no mercy or compassion on her.  He wants the book thrown at her.  He points the finger at her and says that she deserves to die. He says that she needs to be burned at the stake.  That is even harsher than what the Mosaic law said later.

What is the problem?  Judah is a big fat hypocrite.  Judah is self-righteous. He wants Tamar to die for what she did, even though he was guilty of the exact same thing.  It was somehow wrong for her but not for him.  He has a bit of a double standard.  He condemns Tamar for being a harlot and he is out seeing prostitutes.  That is why Jesus said, “Do not judge or you to will be judged” (Matthew 7:1).  We need to be careful about point the finger at someone else when we are doing the same thing or even something worse than they are doing.

If Judah had Tamar put to death, he would have killed three people (Tamar and her two sons) but that is not all.  If he would have executed Tamar, he would have destroyed the  messianic line.  He would have frustrated the purposes of God. God had to deliver Judah form his own stupidity.

7) Judah admitted when he was wrong.

Judah does one thing right in this chapter. When he is confronted with the truth (Tamar has his seal, his cord and his staff), he takes full responsibility.  He admits he is the father of the baby.  In fact, he says that Tamar is more righteous than he is, since he did not keep his end of the bargain and give her his son Shelah in marriage (38:26).

Some people never admit when they are wrong, even when people have all kinds of evidence staring them in the face.  Others admit they are wrong but blame other people for what they did.  That is what politicians do today.  Judah did not do that.  He did NOT say, “I did the same thing but you tricked me”. He admitted that he was wrong and that Tamar was right.

A Shocking Ending

There is a surprise ending to this chapter.  In fact, there are several surprises.  The first surprise is that Tamar’s plan actually works.  It was risky but she did not get caught and when Judah found out she was pregnant, she is not killed.  Not only does she get pregnant, she has twins.  She wanted one baby but got two, twin boys.  One must have been Hispanic because his name was Perez.

There are only two mothers in the Bible who have twins (Rebekah and Tamar) and they are both found in the Book of Genesis.  The two that were born at the end of the chapter replace the two who died in the beginning of the chapter (Er, Onan).

The second surprise is that she was said to be more righteous that Judah.  That is a bit of a shock.  The prostitute is more righteous than the patriarch.  Tamar probably was not even Jewish.  She was a foreigner and yet she was more righteous than all of the Jews in the chapter.  The prostitute looks better than the patriarch here.

The third surprise is that God brings good out of evil here.  That is a shock.  He brought good out of prostitution.  He brought good out of incest.  He brought good out of an illegitimate birth.  These two boys were born out of wedlock.  They were not supposed to have been born and yet God brought good out of that evil situation.

Now, God could have brought the Messiah through Judah’s other son Sheilah. He did eventually get married.  We know that from the OT (Numbers 26:20; I Chronicles 4:21) but the Messiah did not come through Sheilah.  The Messiah was a descendant of Judah and Tamar’s son.

Without Judah and Tamar, David would not have been born. Perez was the ancestor of King David.  Jesus was a descendant of King David.  He was called “the Son of David.”  The firstborn became the ancestor of the Messiah.  We see that in Matthew 1:3.  “Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron.

That is why the twins are fighting to see which one will get out first. One sticks his hand out but the other is actually born first.  Why was this mentioned?  It was important legally who is born first to be in the lineage of the Messiah.

This was an incredible display of God’s grace to sinners.  Judah was chosen to be the one of Jacob’s twelve sons to be the ancestor of the Messiah.  He did not deserve this at all.  His brother Joseph was much godlier than he was, as we will see next week.  The Messiah did not come from the line of Joseph.  He came from the line of Judah.  It was only by the grace of God. Paul said that he was what he was by the grace of God.  So was Judah and so are we.

 

Sin Unto Death

We come today to a passage that is never taught to children in Sunday School. Teens do not learn about this chapter in youth group. Some Christians do not even know this story is in the Bible because it is in the Old Testament and many Christians do not read the Old Testament.

Some preachers just skip this chapter because it is so graphic. It is not G-rated.  It is X-rated text.  This chapter contains some adult topics. It mentions deception, lust, seduction, ejaculation, prostitution, and incest.  Parental discretion is advised for this chapter. I have to warn you today that you are going to hear some things that you have never heard in church.  This chapter may have caused a few heart attacks in the Victorian era but we should be able to handle it today.

This is not one of those positive and uplifting chapters.  Everyone in this chapter looks bad.  Judah looks bad.  His sons look bad.  The one who looks the best in the chapter is Tamar.  Judah said that she was more righteous than he was (38:26) and she dressed up as a temple prostitute and seduced her father-in-law.

This is actually a chapter that everyone should study.  It is absolutely fascinating.  This chapter is riveting.  It is full of drama and suspense. There are lots of applications in this chapter.  Before we begin, let’s review the context. The last time we were in the Book of Genesis, we began a new section in the book.  Genesis 37-50 deal with the life of Joseph.  Genesis 37 tells us what happened to Joseph when he was a teenager.  His ten older brothers were jealous of him.  They hated him because he was their dad’s favorite and was given a special robe.

When they got a chance, they tore off the robe that Jacob gave him, threw him into a pit and then decided to make some money off of him.  They sold him into slavery and taken to another country. This chapter is all about Joseph’s brother Judah.  He was actually his half-brother because they had the same father but different mothers.  Joseph’s mother was Rachel. Judah’s mother was Leah.  Now that seems a little strange.

How does this chapter fit into the context of Genesis?  It doesn’t seem to fit.  It seems out of place.  It is in a section dealing with Joseph but this chapter is NOT about Joseph.  In fact, Joseph is not even mentioned one time in the chapter.  Actually, it is not out of place at all.  The very first verse of chapter says, “It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah”.  This chapter happens chronologically after the last chapter.  It happens AT THAT TIME.  Joseph is in Egypt for twenty years.

This chapter covers about twenty years.  Judah has to get married and then he has to have kids and then those kids have to grow up and then they have to get married.  Tamar is sent back home for a while and then she conceives and has kids.  All of that took time.  About twenty years go by in this chapter.

This chapter tells you what happened to one of Joseph’s brothers during the twenty years that he was in Egypt.  Why did it focus on what happened to Judah during this time?  Why doesn’t it tell us what happened to Levi or Reuben during this time?  There are two reasons.  Judah was the one who came up with the idea of selling Joseph into slavery.  It was his idea, so this chapter focuses on him but there is another reason.  Judah became the ancestor of the tribe of Judah.  All of the kings of Israel came from Judah.  Jesus came from Judah.  He is called “the lion of the tribe of Judah”.

This chapter shows what happens to a man who is living out of the will of God.  That describes a lot of Christians, perhaps even some in this church.  Judah comes up with the idea of selling his baby brother into slavery.  Then, he lies to his father about what happened to him and for twenty years he lives with that lie.  For twenty years, he lives with a guilty conscience.  He probably thought of his brother every day for those twenty years. This chapter shows what happens to Judah who is living in unconfessed sin.

The chapter begins in the very first verse with three ominous words: JUDAH WENT DOWN.  The whole chapter is about Judah going down spiritually and morally.  We have already seen his brothers do down (Simeon, Levi, Reuben).  Now Judah’s does the same thing.  Reuben committed a sexual sin in Genesis 35 and now it is Judah’s turn.  He commits a big sin and is caught in the act.

“It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him.” (38:1-5 ESV)

What happens here?  Judah gets married.  We are not told what her name was but her father’s name was Shua (38:2).  Judah and his wife had three kids, all boys.  He had Er, Onan and Shelah.  They were all boys.  Shelah sounds like a girl (Sheila) but this Shelah was a boy.  What is the problem?  Judah married a Canaanite.

The Jews were not supposed to do that.  They were not supposed to marry idolatrous pagan women. That is why Abraham sent a servant five hundred miles to find a wife for Isaac.  He didn’t want him to marry a pagan Canaanite.  Christians are not supposed to marry unbelievers.  It is a clear teaching of Scripture.

This is interesting for another reason.  Many believe that you are Jewish only if your mother is Jewish.  The Bible says you are Jewish if your father is Jewish.  Notice that Judah married a Canaanite.  He married a Gentile.  Did that make his children Gentiles?  No. They were Jewish. Why did Judah marry a Canaanite woman?  The reason he married her is that he saw her (38:2).  She was attractive and he married her.  That is why most people get married today.  They get married simply because of physical attraction.

The main thing most people look for in a spouse is physical beauty.  There is nothing wrong with physical beauty.  The problem has to do with priorities.  We look at physical traits but do not seem to care about what they look like on the inside.  What kind of character traits do they have?  What do they look like spiritually and morally?  That spells disaster to a marriage.  It can destroy a Christian marriage quickly.

After Judah, got married, had kids and his kids grew up, he took a wife for his oldest son.  The verses that follow contain some language that seems too graphic for church but it is in the Bible, so we can read it.

“And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also” (38:6-10 ESV).

Lessons from Er

Now this is strange on a number of levels.  Judah’s oldest son Er got married but was extremely wicked.  We are not told what he did but it was so bad that “the Lord put him to death” (38:7).  Someone said that his name was Er because he erred.

So Tamar married the next brother.  She is following the culture of the time but he is just as wicked as his brother and he drops dead.  Apparently, he did not learn any lessons from his brother.  That would be like your brother dying of a drug overdose and you doing the exact same thing.  We do not know what Er did but we do know what Onan did.  Some women get to be married to a knucklehead.  Tamar was married to two morons back to back and both dropped dead. Er and Onan both had an early death.  It was sudden and supernatural.  What can we learn from them?  We learn three things.

First, we learn that some sins are worse than others.  Some sins are capital crimes. Others are not.  Second, we learn that God kills people. That is what the passage says.  It says that the Lord put him to death.  He did not die of natural causes.  He didn’t put himself to death.  He did not die by suicide.  The Lord put him to death.  How he put him to death we are not told.  Did he die by a hear attack?  Did as bear eat him?  Third, we learn that God does not show favorites.  He is no respecter of persons.  He even judges sin in the chosen family.  He took out Judah’s two boys.  That tells us that God takes sin very seriously.

This raises a very interesting question.  Does God still do this today?  Yes.  His nature has not changed.  The Bible teaches that there is such a thing as a “sin unto death” (I John 5:16).  It is a sin that results in death, an early death.  There are examples in the NT of God putting people to death.  That is how Herod died in Acts 12.

The Bible says that he started to receive worship to himself and God smote him dead.  If you read that chapter in context, it is a little interesting. Herod killed James at the beginning of the chapter.  Herod cut the head off of  the Apostle James, the one who was the brother of the Apostle John. He arrested and planned to kill the Apostle Peter but an angel helped him escape prison.

In fact, God even takes the lives of some believers today. If you read Acts 5, you will see how God took the lives of two Christians.  Ananias and Saphira were believers.  They were members of the Church of Jerusalem, the first Christian church.  They had been baptized but God took both of their lives. Why?

A man named Barnabas sold some land and gave the money to the church. They decided to do the same thing and told others about it.  After they sold the land, they changed their mind.  Perhaps, the got more for the land than they expected and they had some financial needs themselves.  They agreed to give some money to the church but say that it was the entire amount and keep the rest.

When the Apostle Peter confronted them one-on-one, they both died. Peter did not kill them.  God did.  What does that passage show us?  It shows us that Christians can commit the sin unto death. Now God does not do it every day.  If he did it every day, there would not be too many people in church. There are three options.

In some cases, God takes the life of people in judgment.  It may be the life of a believer who is living in deliberate rebellion and disobedience to God. There are plenty of people who commit terrible atrocities and do not suddenly drop dead.  Cain killed his brother Abel and went on to live a long life.  In some cases, God punishes people years later for what they did.  In other cases, He does not judge them at all until the next life.

Lessons from Onan

The real question here is this.  What was Onan’s sin?  Why did God kill him?  This passage has led to a huge controversy throughout church history.  We have one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible in this chapter.  How has this passage been misinterpreted? There are two main views.

1) One view is that Onan’s sin was masturbation.

In fact, in the eighteenth century the word “onanism” referred to masturbation.  For men, this involves spilling your seed on that ground and that is what Onan did.  Was that what his sin was?

Was the Sin of Onan Masturbation?

Despite the fact that the word “onanism” has come to mean masturbation, the sin of Onan was not masturbation.  This is clear from the text.  There are two problems with the traditional view of Onan in some circles.

1) The CONTEXT here rules out that interpretation

Onan was not engaging in solo sex here.  He has having relations with his wife.  You have to interpret the verse in its context.  One of the biggest ways that the Bible is misinterpreted is that people take things out of its context.  They read a few words, rip it out of its context and come up with a doctrine.  Preachers do this all of the time.  That is why you need to know your Bible.  This is how cults start.

2) The MOTIVE here rules out that interpretation

Masturbation is a practice rooted in lust.  What Onan did was NOT a result of lust.  The one who commits lust in this chapter was not Onan.  It was Judah.  He was the one who went out consorting with prostitutes and he lived.  Onan died.  Onan’s sin was rooted in three things.  It was rooted in greed, selfishness and rebellion.

It was rooted in rebellion, because he deliberately disobeyed what his father told him to do.  He sinned against his father.  Judah told Onan to “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother” (38:8 ESV).  By his actions, he refused to raise up offspring for his brother Er.

It was rooted in selfishness because he takes advantage of Tamar.  He sinned against Tamar.  He uses her sexually but refuses to give her any kids. He has sex with her but refused to impregnate her. He has no problem with marrying Tamar or having sex with her as long as he makes sure she does not get any children.

It was rooted in greed, because Onan wants to be the one to receive the double portion as the oldest son.  He did not want his son to receive the double portion.  He wanted to receive it for himself.  If he didn’t have a son, it went to him.  He sinned against his dead brother.  He wanted his brother’s inheritance for himself.

2) Another view is that Onan’s sin was birth control.

Many believe that birth control is a sin.  That is a belief among Roman Catholics and some Protestants.  They get that idea from this verse.  Onan used a primitive form of birth control.  He was the first person in the Bible to use birth control and God took his life.  Does this mean that birth control is always wrong?  No.  It was wrong in this case.  It was wrong for Onan but is not necessarily wrong for us.  Onan was specifically commanded to raise up seed for his brother.  We are not.  We are not under the Mosaic Law.

Deuteronomy says that a man could refuse to raise up children for your dead brother.  The man who refused would be publically disgraced but not executed (25:7-10).  The problem here is that Onan agreed to do it.  He went along with the plan and slept with Tamar but then deliberately sabotaged it.  He had sex with her but made sure that she did not get pregnant.  Apparently, he did not just do this one time.  He did it repeatedly.

Nowhere else in the Law of Moses or anywhere else in the Bible is a prohibition on birth control.  The Jews never interpreted this as a prohibition on birth control. While the Bible does say that children are a blessing, it does not say categorically that all birth control (e.g., having children but spacing them out) is a sin.  Next week, we will look at the incredible drama that takes place in the rest of this chapter.

Dreams of a Teenager

Our chapter this morning brings us to one of the most famous stories of the Bible. Every child in Sunday School knows this story. It is one of the most amazing stories found in all literature and it is found in the Book of Genesis. Joseph is my absolute favorite character in the whole Bible. Joseph is an important character in the Scripture.

He was the great-grandson of Abraham. He was the ancestor of two tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh). Some important people came from those tribes (e.g., Joshua, Gideon, Samuel). God used him to save his family. Without him, there would have been no nation of Israel. He is also important for another reason.

Joseph is a type of Christ. There is no better picture of Jesus in the entire bible than Joseph. Both were loved by their father and hated by their brothers. Both were called to save their people. Both experienced rejection and betrayed. Both were despised and rejected.

People hated the one sent to deliver them. The Jews said of Jesus “We will not have this man rule over us”.  Joseph’s brothers did not want him ruling over them either. Both suffered unjustly and were put in prison.

Both were sold for silver. Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver. Both were false accused of some things. Jesus was accused of being a lawbreaker and a blasphemer. Joseph was accused of attempted rape.

Both were rebuked by their parents. Jacob rebuked Joseph in this section for his dream (37:11). Jesus’ parents rebuked him for staying behind in the Temple (Luke 2:51). That is when Jesus said, “Don’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?

Both had parents who kept what they said in their hearts. Mary rebuked his son but kept that saying in her heart. Jacob rebuked Joseph for his dreams but never forgot them. There are many more parallels.  He is one of the most likable characters in Scripture.

The last part of Genesis is all about Joseph.  It is a huge section of the book. Genesis spends more time on Joseph than it spends on Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. Isaac has only one chapter devoted to him. One fourth of the book is devoted to Joseph.

It is a very important part of the Book of Genesis. Many people get all excited about the first half of Genesis. They love to study how God created the world supernaturally in six days. They like to learn more about Adam, Eve, Noah and the worldwide flood that covered the planet.

The first part of the book is important. It is foundational to the whole Bible but the second half of the book is actually more interesting and practical.

Family Background

What do we know about Joseph? Let’s start with his family. What did his family look like?

1) It was large family

He was not an only child. He had many siblings. He had one younger brother and ten older brothers. Most of his brothers were older than him. He was younger. In this chapter, he is just a teenager in this chapter. He was only seventeen years old. He was the eleventh of twelve sons in the family. He was next to the last son born. He was the second youngest son of Jacob.

2) It was a blended family

Jacob had four wives and each wife had children. He had one full-brother (Benjamin) and ten half-brothers (same father and different mother). Joseph does not have a mom. She died recently giving birth to his brother Benjamin. Genesis says how hard that was for Jacob. It was also hard for Joseph to lose his mom. Leah became his step-mom.

3) It was a dysfunctional family

It was messed up. There are some Christian families that are dysfunctional. What made Jacob’s family dysfunctional? There were many things. The adult children lied to their parents. There were family secrets. Joseph’s brothers led their father to believe that Joseph was dead. He mourned him for thirteen years. They knew he was alive all the time but never told him. They kept it secret.

There was deception in the family. There was abuse in the family. There was competition and sibling rivalry. There was jealousy and bitterness in this family. There was bullying. There was betrayal. There was revenge. There was kidnapping and slavery.  There was incest and abuse.

There was also parental favoritism. Jacob repeated the sin of his father. Isaac showed favoritism. He loved one son more than the other. He loved Esau more than he loved Jacob and now Jacob shows favoritism. He loves one wife (Rachel) more than the other three wives.

He loves one son more than the other eleven sons and probably spent more time with him. Why was Jacob his favorite son? He was the firstborn son of his favorite wife Rachel. That made him special. Even though he was son number eleven, he was Rachel’s firstborn son.

Character Qualities

What kind of character qualities did Joseph have? What was he like? He is the polar opposite of his brothers. They were wicked and he was righteous. His older brother Reuben committed sexual sin.

Joseph resists sexual sin. We will see that in Genesis 39. Joseph was a man of integrity. He was responsible. His dad could always count on him. Even though he was younger, he kept an eye on his brothers for his dad.

He was also a hard worker. We will see this later in the book. He was conscientious and hardworking. He was a man of faith.  He is listed in the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11.  A member of our class described him as a visionary.

Joseph is one of two people that the Bible does not criticize. Daniel and Joseph were not sinless but the Bible does not record any of their faults. They were not sinless but they were blameless.

That is amazing if you think about it for two reasons. Joseph lived a godly life and he didn’t even have a Bible. It wasn’t written yet. The NT was not written yet. The OT was not written yet. The Ten Commandments did not exist and yet somehow he lived an exemplary life.

It is also amazing for another reason. Joseph was godly, even though he lived in a family that had some extremely wicked family members in it. Joseph did not have a lot of good role models to look up to in his family but he still lived godly in the presence of a lot of bad examples in his own family. He was not corrupted by their evil influence.

What does that tell us? It the midst of an evil environment, it is possible to live a godly life. It may not be easy but it is possible. Noah did it. He lived before the Flood and was surrounded by depraved people but even in that environment he walked with God. No matter how messed up your family is, no matter how dysfunctional it is, you can still live a godly life.

Unusual Abilities

Joseph was a very unusual man. He had some gifts and abilities that others did not have. What we his gifts? God gave Joseph some special dreams and the ability to interpret those dreams. Now as far as we know, God never appeared to Joseph, like he did to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but he did speak to him through dreams. God gave Jacob a special dream (Jacob’s Ladder). Now Joseph gets some special dreams. What were Joseph’s dreams like?

Joseph’s Dreams 

They were not like the dreams that we have.  The dreams that I have do not come directly from God.  They are not of divine origin.  They deal with present, not the future.  When I wake up, I cannot even remember them most of the time.  Joseph’s dreams very different.  They were vivid.  They were memorable and unforgettable.  They also had two characteristics.

One, they were SYMBOLIC DREAMS.

He had two dreams and both were symbolic.  The first dream involved the harvest.  The second one involved the heavens (sun, moon and stars).  One involved the sheaves and one involved the stars.

One was agricultural and one was astronomic in nature but they were both symbolic.  The sun, moon, stars and sheaves all represented something.  The sun, moon and stars did not literally bow down to Joseph.

Two, they were PROPHETIC DREAMS.

God gave Joseph a prophecy of future events in these dreams. Does God still do this today?  Does He still speak to people in dreams today?  Has this stopped or does he still do this today?  He has never spoken to me this way but God can still do this today.  In fact, we are told that in the last days God will send our His Spirit and people will have dreams (Joel 2:28).  Abraham Lincoln had one.

Before his assassination he told his wife and friends about a dream he had.  In the dream he was at a funeral inside the white house. He walked over to a soldier on guard and asked who was in the casket?  The soldier replied “the president of the United States of America”.  One week after the dream, he was shot and killed at close range.

It also happened to Joseph.  He had two dreams.  They were different but the message was exactly the same.  The dreams said that Joseph will be the ruler and everyone will bow down to him.  He would eventually rule and reign.  He would even rule over his own family.

God does not give everyone a dream like this. Joseph’s brothers did not get a special dream like this.  God gave this incredible revelation to a teenager.  He gave it to a seventeen year old.  How would you like to have a dream that would happen in our life in twenty years and give you God’s plan for your life in a dream?  That is what Joseph received from God.

Joseph and his Brothers

Genesis 37 tells us what Joseph’s brothers thought of him. They didn’t like him. This chapter says this. Not once or twice, but three times were are told that they HATED Joseph (37:4, 5, 8). Why did they hate him? There were three reasons. They hated him for something he did. They hated him for something his dad did and they hated him for something that God did.

1. They hated his WORDS (37:2).

Genesis 37:2 says, “Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father”. We are told that Joseph brought a bad report about the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah.  That means that he brought a bad report about his half-brothers Dan, Napthali, Gad and Asher.  It does not say that he brought a bad report about everyone of his brothers.

Was it right or wrong for Joseph to do this? Was Joseph a tattle tale here? Some commentators and preachers have said some of the dumbest things here. They look at Joseph as a snitch. Joseph is not being a tattle tale here but a truth teller. Is it ever wrong to report bad behavior to someone else? If someone commits murder, is it wrong to rat that person out? No.

It is the right thing to do. Joseph’s brothers did some very bad stuff. We saw that in the last chapter. They were guilty of some very serious crimes. Joseph could not change their behavior. All he could do was to let his dad know what was going on.  That is what he did.  He gave his dad a “bad report” but it was a true report.

2. They hated his ROBE (37:3-4).

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

What did this robe look like? No one knows. People argue about that point. This is what we know. Here is what we can infer from this passage. Jacob gave Joseph a very special coat. In Joseph’s day, everyone wore a robe. Most worse a plain tunic but this one was special. Joseph was the only one who got this coat. None of his brothers got a robe like this.  It was not a work robe.  It was not the kind of coat you wore to work in the hot sun.

It was expensive. It was valuable. It was not cheap. It was beautiful. It was not boring and colorless. It was long. It went from his wrists to his ankles. It was a royal garment. It was clothing that would have been worn by royalty. The only other person in the Bible said to wear one of these coats was one of King David’s daughters (II Samuel 13:18).

Reuben the first born did NOT get one, only Joseph. It set him apart from the rest. They all had a plain coat but Joseph had a fancy coat that was worn by nobility.  The brothers did not get this coat and became jealous and their jealousy turned into hatred.

3. They hated his DREAMS (37:8).

Joseph has these wild dreams about him ruling over his family and he tells his family about it. He goes before them and says, “I have a dream”. Was that the right thing to do? Some have criticized Joseph here. Was Joseph just being young and foolish?  Was he being prideful here? Was Joseph just arrogant and cocky?

The text does not say that he was.   It simply says that he shared these dreams with his family.  He was just reporting to others what God told him in a dream. This was not just a young person with big dreams. God gave him these dreams.

Was it wrong to tell people about these dreams?  No. They were prophetic dreams.  Joseph had to tell people about it. He couldn’t keep his dreams to himself. He could not keep it in. The word of God must be declared. It cannot and should not be held inside. Who could have a divine revelation of future events and not tell anyone?

What did his brothers think of these dreams? They didn’t believe them. They sounded ridiculous. “His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” (37:8). These dreams went completely against social custom. He is ruling over his parents. They not only did not believe in the dreams, they mocked them.

They laughed at them. They said, “Here comes this dreamer” (37:19). They did not just laugh at his dream, they were offended by it. What is the application? God’s word OFFENDS people. Joseph gave them a prophecy and they despised it. The NT says, “Despise not prophesying” (I Thessalonians 5:20).

They probably also thought that Joseph is just dreaming what he wants to happen in his subconscious mind. It also probably sounded arrogant to them. He tells his brothers that the sun, moon and stars are going to bow down to this teenager.

Not just his brothers but his whole family will bow down to him one day. It sounded like pride on his part. Have you ever been falsely accused of pride by someone else? I have. Joseph was accused of pride but he wasn’t proud. He was a misunderstood teenager.

What happens in this chapter begins with sibling rivalry. We have seen that several times in the Book of Genesis. Brothers never get along in the Book of Genesis.

Cain does not get along with Abel and kills him. That is a sibling rivalry between two full brothers. Isaac and Ishmael do not get along. Ishmael eventually gets sent out of the house by Abraham. That was a rivalry of two half-brothers.

Jacob and Esau do not get along. Jacob has to leave the country because Esau wants to kill him. That is a sibling rivalry between two twin-brothers. Now, Joseph’s brothers do not get along with him. This is a sibling rivalry between older and younger brothers.

The sibling rivalry began with CONTEMPT. Joseph’s brothers could not stand him. They hated CONSPIRACY (as his brothers plot to do something to him). They had three plans. Plan number one was to kill Joseph and to throw him into a pit (37:20). Plan number two was to throw him into a pit (37:24). That was Reuben’s plan. They went along with that plan.

Joseph was thrown into a pit or deep well with no water in it. Right after they did that, that sat down to eat (37:25). It is a little hard to say grace when you just did this to your baby brother and he is completely helpless and pleading for his life and they completely ignored him. They probably laughed at him.

Plan number three was to sell him into slavery (37:26-27). This was Judah’s plan. This also saved Joseph’s life. If Joseph was left in this pit, he would have died there.  There were ten brothers who were involved in this scheme.  Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver, so each one got two pieces of silver.

The conspiracy led to a CRIME.  They went from saying “Let us slay our brother” to “Let us sell our brother”.  It may not seem as bad but, based on the Law of Moses, this was serious.  It was a felony. It was actually a capital crime. Deuteronomy 24:7 says, “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst” (ESV).

The crime leads to a COVER-UP.  What was involved in the cover up were two things: false evidence and false testimony, They dipped Joseph’s coat into goat blood to create false evidence and then lied about what happened to him.

They lied to the father about what happen. There is a lot of irony here.  They deceiver is deceived once again. Jacob deceived his dad by wearing Esau’s clothes. His son’s deceive him with Joseph’s clothes. Jacob deceived blind Isaac with goat skins. His sons deceive him with the blood of a goat.

Practical Applications

As I look at this chapter and meditate on it, I see three lessons that I would like to bring to your attention. They come out of this chapter.

1. God is at work even when we cannot see it.

If you look at this from a human perspective, everything that happens in this chapter is bad. A terrible injustice happens to Joseph from an unlikely source (his own family). He ends up a slave and an exile at the end of the chapter.

He did what his father asked him to do. He took a long trip to check on his brothers. He traveled fifty miles from Hebron to Shechem and another fifteen miles north to Dothan. He does the right thing and is punished. Joseph loses here.

Jacob loses. He sent his favorite son on a mission and he never comes back home. He lost his favorite wife and now he loses his favorite son. He tears his clothes, puts sackcloth on and refuses to be comforted. Life is no longer worth living for Jacob.

He lost the two people in this life that he loved the most and meant the most to him. He forever lives with guilt and regret. If he didn’t send him on that last mission to Shechem, he would still be here.

Reuben loses. Joseph’s brothers planned to kill Joseph but he convinced them to throw him into a pit instead. In Genesis 35, he committed incest but he tries to do a good deed here. He stops his brothers from killing him.

He planned on rescuing him but never got a chance. He wanted to be the hero but was not able to. Reuben wanted to regain favor from his father but he can’t. Now he looks really bad. He not only commits incest but, as the oldest son, he did not do his job to watch over his baby brother and be his brother’s keeper.

On the outside, everything was going wrong. Evil was winning. He was also sovereign over the actions of Jacob’s brothers. It did not take him by surprise. God’s providence was at work in the worst of circumstances to bring about good.

2. Whatever God promises must take place.

God gave Joseph two prophetic dreams. They were prophecies of future events. They predicted what Joseph would do one day, what his brothers would do one day and what his father would do one day. These dreams came LITERALLY true. When we get to the end of the book, we se all eleven brothers bowing down to Joseph in Egypt. They do it four times.

The very same brothers who hated Joseph with a passion, and hated him so much that they could not even look him in the eye or say anything good to him (37:14), the very same brothers who wanted to kill him, one day bowed before him in submission. The dream came literally true.

Nothing could change what God prophecies. It MUST take place. When Joseph got his dream and told his brothers what it was, they had an emotional response to it. They were not only angry, they came up with a plot to kill him or at least sell in into slavery, so he is doing the opposite of what the prophecy said he would be doing. Instead of being on the top, he would be on the bottom.

Jacob’s brothers thought that they could thwart the program of God. They thought that they could stop the prophecy by their actions. God had a plan but they had another plan. What they learned is that their plan could not stop God’s plan.

3. Humility comes before honor.

Joseph learns an important spiritual lesson. In order to go up, you must go down first. He was going to be a ruler of Egypt and a ruler of his family but before he did that he had to learn an important lesson found in the Book of Proverbs. God’s word will come to pass but in order for Joseph to be exalted, he must first be humbled.

He has to be mistreated by his own family, sold into slavery, sent into exile, and false accused of a sexual crime before he is exalted. Why? The Bible teaches that “Humility comes BEFORE honor” (Proverbs 15:33). It says “BEFORE honor is humility” (Proverbs 18:12).

This is an important spiritual principle. Proverbs 22:4 says, “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life.” Are those things that we want in our own lives? We do not get them by pride but by humility and the fear of the Lord.

Jacob’s Revival

We are doing an in-depth study of the Book of Genesis.  We are looking at the life of Jacob, the third patriarch.  He was the son of Isaac and Rebekah and the grandson of Abraham.  He is the last person you would expect to be a patriarch. Jacob was the most colorful of the three patriarchs.  He was originally a liar and a deceiver.  He was a con artist and imposter.

That is the one that God called to be the ancestor of the Jews.  He had twelve sons and those sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.  God had to work in his life to remove many of his flaws.  He had to turn Jacob into Israel.  Genesis 35 is the LAST chapter that is devoted to the life of Jacob. The next section of the book is all about Joseph. The next chapter is not about Jacob but about his twin brother Esau.

Genesis 36 is all about Esau.  Why is that in the Bible?  When we read the Bible, we focus on Jacob.  The promised line did come through Jacob but God also blessed Esau.  Esau had many wives before Jacob did.  he had many children before Jacob did.  In fact, there were kings in Edom long before there were kings in Israel (36:31-39).

Both brothers were blessed so much and had so many possessions that they had to live in separate places.  Genesis 36:6-8 says,  “Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)” (ESV)

Our focus this morning will be on Genesis 35.  It is a short chapter.  It is only twenty-nine verses.  It is very different from the chapter we studied last week.  Last week, we looked at one of the darkest stories in the Bible.  There is no bright spot in the chapter.  Things went from bad to worse.  Jacob’s only daughter gets raped and her two brothers take revenge on the town by killing all of the males in the city.  Everyone in the chapter looked bad.

The people in Shechem looked pretty bad but the sons of Jacob looked even worse.  Shechem had a problem with lust and Simeon but Levi had a far greater problem with anger.  Shechem rapes one person but Simeon and Levi commit mass murder.  They wipe out the whole town.  Their hands are dripping with blood.

Genesis 35 is very different from Genesis 34.  It is NOT a violent chapter, like the last one.  No one is murdered.  Some people die in the chapter but they all die of natural causes.  God is all over this chapter.  God is NOT mentioned one time in Genesis 34 but He is mentioned ten times in Genesis 35.  God is very involved in this chapter.  He does all kinds of things in this chapter.

God gives Jacob instructions to move to Bethel.  He protects him on the way from people who wanted to kill him.  He appears to him when he gets to Bethel.  He blesses Jacob when he gets to Bethel.  He mentions the Abrahamic Covenant again to Jacob.  He gives Jacob some promises.

What are some of the promises that He gives Jacob in this chapter?  He tells him that nations will come from him.  A family is not just going to come from Jacob.  A nation will.  God tells him that kings will come from his body (35:11).  All of the Davidic kings (David, Solomon) will be descendants of Jacob.  He promises to give Jacob a land in the Middle East and he also promises to give that land to Jacob’s descendants.

Everything in the chapter is not positive.  It begins with a revelation from God.  God speaks at the beginning of the chapter.  It ends with the death of Jacob’s dad Isaac. In fact, there is not one death in this chapter, but three. There is also a birth in this chapter.  Benjamin is born.  He was Jacob’s last son.  He was the only one born in the Promised Land.  All of the other ones are born in Syria.  One son is born but three die in this chapter and three people are buried.  There are three funerals in this chapter and they all take place AFTER they get to Bethel and do what God told them to do.

Funeral One

A woman named Deborah dies and is buried (35:8).  This is not Deborah the Judge (in the Book of Judges) but Deborah the Nurse.  She is the FIRST nurse mentioned in the Bible.  There are two Deborahs in the Bible.  This one is a fascinating character.  This one was Rebekah’s nurse (35:8).  When Isaac travelled to Haran to find a wife and Rebekah agreed to go back five hundred miles with him to the Promised Land, a nurse went with him (Genesis 24:59).

She probably helped Rebekah give birth to Jacob and Esau.  She helped care for Jacob as a child, a second mother to Jacob.  The question is, if she was Rebekah’s nurse, why is she now living with Jacob?  After Rebekah died, Deborah decided to live with Jacob, Rebekah’s favorite son.  Rebekah may have even told her to go see him.  Jacob had a lot of kids.  She may have even assisted in some of their births.  She was a close friend of the family.  She was most likely single.  She was very old and dies near Bethel.

Funeral Two

The second funeral is for his wife.  Jacob’s wife dies but this is not just any wife, it is his favorite wife.  It is good he had some back up wives.  Rachel dies and is buried (35:16-19).  She dies in childbirth.  We did not even know that she was pregnant.  She goes into labor while they are traveling to go back home to see Isaac.

Genesis says it was “hard labor” (35:16). It led to her death. This is the first recorded death in history during childbirth.  It is still a problem today.  According to the CDC, about 650 women die each year as a result of pregnancy or complications in delivery but it was much more common four thousand years ago without modern technology and modern medicine.

Rachel had a midwife but that was not enough.  Rachel’s one wish was to have children.  She got her wish but it killed her.  Jacob was heart-broken over the death of Rachel.  She was beautiful.  She was young.  She was around fifty, if you work out the chronology, but they lived longer back then, so fifty is not like fifty today.  Jacob loved her.

He put a pillar over her tomb (35:14-15).  He set up a memorial for her.  If you are counting, this is Jacob’s third pillar. Moses said the tomb is still visible near Bethlehem.  That is true today.  Rachel’s tomb is the third holiest site for Jews today.  It is right off of the main road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.  You cannot miss it.  It is a place where Jews go to pray.

He is on his way to see his dad and his beloved wife dies giving birth.  It was only five miles from Bethel.  Why did God take Rachel away from Jacob?  We do not know.  One theory is that God did this because she was his favorite wife, even though Leah was much more spiritual.  Leah had more kids and he should probably have be spending a little more time with them. Rachel may actually have been a hindrance to his spiritual life.  She brought idols home with her from Haran.  Perhaps Rachel had become an idol to Jacob, so God took her but we do not know the answer to that question.

Funeral Three

The third funeral in this chapter is Isaac’s.  Isaac dies.  We are told that “Isaac breathes his last and dies” (35:29).  The KJV reads “Isaac gave up the ghost and died and was gathered to his people”.  After saying goodbye to his wife, he has to say goodbye to his father Isaac

Jacob’s wife died young but his dad lived a long time.  He lives to be one hundred and eighty.  He lives longer than either Abraham or Jacob and he was blind the last forty years of his life.  Then he dies and is gathered to his people.  If you want to see what “gathered to his people” means, go watch the movie “90 Minutes in Heaven”.  Jacob and Esau bury Isaac, just like Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham.

Sex Scandal

Not only do we have the tragedy of three deaths in this chapter, there is also an inappropriate sexual relationship in this chapter.  It is bad.  It involves incest.  “While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it” (35:22 ESV).  This involved Reuben.

Reuben was Simeon and Levi’s brother.  He was the firstborn in the family.  You expect your oldest son to show a little sense but not Reuben.  He went and slept with Bilhah.  Who was Bilhah?  She was Rachel’s handmaid.  She also became Jacob’s concubine (secondary wife) and mother of two of his kids.  She was the mother of two of Reuben’s brothers.

Rachel just died and now he has sex with her old handmaid.  Reuben’s brothers Dan and Naphtali were probably not too happy that Reuben did this to their mother.  When you read that, it sounds like you are back in Genesis 34. Like Genesis 34, it deals with a sexual sin.  Like Genesis 34, another son of Jacob brings shame and disappointment to the family.

Some of Jacob’s kids were completely screwed up.  Leah had six sons.  Son number one was rotten.  Son number two was rotten.  Son number three was rotten.  At some point, you have to think that someone dropped the ball in raising these boys. The first two sons commit mass murder.  They were psychopaths.  The third son is sex-crazed.  He commits incest.

In the Mosaic Law, there was a prohibition against incest.  Leviticus 18:8 says, “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness”.  In fact, it says that this was one of the reasons that God gave the Promised Land to the Jews.

Leviticus 18:24-29 says, “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.  For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people” (ESV).

The Jews were supposed to look very different from their pagan neighbors.  The first three looked very similar to their Canaanite neighbors.  The wicked Canaanites were known for their violence and sexual depravity and we some of the same thing in Jacob’s own family.

Jacob hears about the incest (35:22) but offers no judgment on it.  He does not do anything about it as far as we know.  Genesis says that he heard about it but does not say that he acted on it.  Jacob seems to have a problem with confronting sin in his household.  That sounds a lot like genesis 34.  His only daughter is raped and he did not even seem to be too angry.  He had to plan to deal with the situation.  Jacob seems passive.

Let’s compare Reuben and Shechem.  Both were men.  Both were youg men.  Both were the firstborn son.  Both committed a sexual sin but there is a difference.  Shechem committed rape.  Reuben committed incest.  Shechem has sex with a minor.  Reuben does it with an adult.  Bilhah was probably older than him.  Dinah was raped.  We are not told that Bilhah was raped.  It may have been or it may not have been a rape.  The text does not say.

What can we learn from this chapter?  What lessons does this chapter have for us today?  This chapter is all about revival.  Jacob has a revival.  In the last chapter, Jacob is out of the will of God.  He is not doing what he is supposed to be doing as a father.  He moved to the wrong place.  He did not supervise his children very well.  He did not train them very well.  He did not show leadership in a crisis but something happens in this chapter.  Jacob goes to Bethel.  He makes a pilgrimage to Bethel.

What was so special about Bethel?  If you remember, Bethel was the place where Jacob had a vision of angels in his sleep.  We call it “Jacob’s Ladder” but it was more like a stairway or escalator.  It was where Jacob met God for the first time.  It is the place where he got saved.  Where were you saved?  I was saved in a chapel in Athens, Ohio on March 13, 1976.  It would be like me going back to visit Galbreath Chapel.

Bethel is not just the place where Jacob got saved.  It is the place where he made a vow to God forty years earlier.  He said, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you” (28:20-22 ESV).

Jacob says if God brings me back to the Promised Land safely, I will do three things.  One, he promised to give God a tithe.  Two, he promised God to return to Bethel to worship.  Three, he promised to go to his father’s house.  So what happened?  God did bring him back into the Promised Land.  He delivered him from Laban and He delivered him from Esau but Esau did not go to Bethel.  Bethel was only twenty miles away but he never went back.  He did not go to his father’s house.  Hebron was fifty miles away from Shechem but he never went there.  Instead, he went to Succoth and then to Shechem and even bought land there.

What is the big deal?  Vows do not mean much to us but they mean a lot to God.  Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 says, “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?” (ESV)  We do not make a lot of vows today but we do make marriage vows and God takes those seriously.

Why did he go now?  There were two reasons.  The first reason was circumstances.  Jacob’s sons had just slaughtered the town.  They left dead bodies all over the city.  People were going to come back for revenge.  Jacob’s family was not marked for death.  They had to get out of town fast.  Events on the outside encouraged them to leave town but there was another reason.

The voice of God told him to leave.  This is interesting.  God speaks to Jacob six times.  God speaks to Jacob in Genesis 35.  When was the last time God spoke to him?  The last time He spoke to him was in Haran.  He told him to leave Haran (31:3, 13).  Now he tells him to leave Shechem (35:1).  He tells Jacob to do three things.

Genesis 35:1 says, “God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau” (ESV).  First, God tells Jacob the backslider to go to Bethel. He tells Jacob to go back to the place of his spiritual commitments.   God reminds Jacob of his spiritual commitments. He tells Jacob go and do what he said he was going to do forty years ago.  He actually says “to go up to Bethel’.  If you look on a map, Bethel is south of Shechem but Bethel is higher in elevation than Shechem.

Second, God tells him to dwell there.  He was not just to visit but to stay there a while.  Third, he told Jacob to build him an altar there.  This is the only time in Genesis that God tells anyone to build Him an altar but all three of these are commands.  Jacob does exactly what God tells him to do (35:1-7).

A Family Revival

Notice Jacob’s response. “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem” (35:2-4)

Jacob does something here that he has never done before.  He becomes the spiritual leader of his house.  We did not see any leadership on Jacob’s part in the last chapter but we see Jacob’s leadership in this chapter.  God spoke to Jacob and Jacob spoke to his family.  What did he tell them to do?  He told them to do three things: put away the foreign gods, purify yourself and change your garments.

First, he tells them to put away their foreign gods.  Now this is a little shocking for several reasons.  There were idols in Jacob’s house. He knew about them and tolerated them up to this point.  Here you have idolatry in the chosen family.  You have idolatry in the one family dedicated to the worship of the one true God.

Where did these idols come from?  They came from two places.  Rachel brought some from Haran.  When they ransacked the city and took the wives and children, they probably ended up with some more idols.  Now Jacob says to get rid of them but he does not destroy them.  He just buries them.  He hides them under a tree (35:4).

Jacob does not only tell them to put away their foreign gods.  He also tells them to be clean and change their garments.  That is like saying, “Take a bath and change your clothes”.  It seems strange to us but keep in mind when this was given.  It was given four thousand years ago to people who dived like nomads and did not have indoor plumbing.  It has to do with ritual purity.  There were all kinds of rules later in the Law of Moses about clean and unclean.

If we made an application today, it would be like saying today, “dress up for church”.  If you are going to see the President of the United States, you would dress for the occasion.  You would not see him in the clothes you wear around the house.  When Joseph was in prison and they found out that he could interpret Pharaoh’s dream, they got him out of prison but, before he went to speak to him in the palace, we are told that he changed his clothes (41:14).

Jacob’s family not only gave him all of their idols, they also gave him their earrings.  That’s strange.  Why did they do that?  Is there anything wrong with wearing an earring?  Is the Bible against wearing jewelry? No.  There are examples of people in the Bible who wore earrings and other jewelry (Exodus 32:2-3; Numbers 31:50; Judges 8:24; Song of Solomon 1:10-11).

The NT says that your priority should not be on outward beauty.  It should be on inward beauty (I Timothy 2:9-10; I Peter 3:3-4) but it does not say that you can never wear any jewelry.  Why did they give them their earrings?  They must have had some association with idolatry.

So they leave Shechem (which must have become a ghost town) and travel to Bethel (which today is in the West Bank).  He also renames the place.  The last time he was there, he named it Bethel. This time, he calls it El Bethel. That is not because Jacob was Mexican.  In Spanish el means “the” but in Hebrew it means “god/God”.  Before Jacob called Luz “the house of God”.

Now he calls it “God of the house of God”.  There is a profound difference.  There is a big difference between going to church and going to meet with God. Most people just go to church.  Many do not worship.  They do not come back any different than when they left.  This should be a place where we come to meet with God.

A revival takes place at Bethel.  I want to close by looking at the steps to revival in this chapter.  People always want revival.  Churches want revival.  How do they do it?  This chapter tells you.

Steps to Revival

1. Separation

The first step to revival involves separation from the world.  God told Jacob to go to Bethel.  Why?  He had an altar in Shechem.  Why could he not just worship God there?  He could not worship when he was living in tents of wickedness. He had to leave.

Abraham was told to leave Ur of the Chaldees (which was full of idolatry).  Jacob was told to leave the wicked city of Shechem.  The Reformation could not take place until Martin Luther left the Cathilic Church in the 1500s.

2. Obedience

To have a revival, you have to listen to the voice of God. There is no revival unless you listen to God.  All revivals bring us back to the Word of God.  Jacob heard the Word of God and obeyed it.  God told him to go to Bethel and he went.

Notice what Jacob did not do.  He did not argue with God.  He didn’t say, “Why do I have to do that.  I just bought land here and I can worship you here just as much as Bethel”.  He didn’t argue; he just obeyed.  There is something else Jacob did not do.  He did not procrastinate.  He did not say, “I will go there when I get around to it”.

3. Repentance

You cannot have a true revival unless there is repentance.  Jacob’s family did that.  They removed the idols in the house.  Were they believers?  Yes.  They worshipped the true God but they had some idols on the side.  Can Christians have idols?  Yes.  I John 5:21 says to Christians, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols“.

Instead of burying some earrings, we may have to bury some other things (drugs, magazines, videos).  We need to get rid of anything that stands between us and God.  We need to remove anything that keeps us from having a close relationship with God.

4. Worship

That is what Jacob did at Bethel.  Jacob builds an altar and offers a sacrifice on it.  He pours oil on it to consecrate it and offers a drink offering.

 

Rape and Revenge

We have been studying the Book of Genesis and we are looking at the lives of the patriarchs.  Right now we are studying the life of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham.  Up to this point, things have been going great for Jacob.  He married the woman of his dreams.  He is married to a beauty queen, along with a few other women.  He not only has a lot of kids. 

He has a lot of sons (which were highly valued in those days).  He has reconciled with both his father-in-law and with his twin brother.  He does not have any relationship problems.  God has blessed him financially.  He is wealthy.  God has spoken directly to him and made a covenant with him.  He has had visions of angels and of heaven.  He has seen God face-to-face and lived to tell about it.

Now things begin to change.  Jacob experiences some tragedy in his family.  Jacob has a family crisis.  One disaster follows another disaster.  He also had some of the same problems that people have today.  We are told that Jacob “came safely to the city of Shechem” (33:18) but his family did not remain safe once they got there. He experienced violent crime in his family.  His only daughter is raped.  Rape happens today.  It occurs statistically every 107 seconds.  It also happened four thousand years ago in Jacob’s family.

He also had problems with his kids.  Two of his sons commit some terrible atrocities, acts of barbarism.  Jacob has to feel that he has been a terrible parent.  He has to feel like a failure to have raised two sons who have become complete savages but it doesn’t stop here.  In the very next chapter, another one of his sons commits another unspeakable act.

The chapter that we are going to look at today is not taught to kids in Sunday School.  This is graphic.  It should be rated R for content.  It is rarely preached on.  Many preachers going through Genesis just skip this chapter.  Some would even call this passage unpreachable.  That is a huge mistake because there are some incredible lessons for us today from this passage  but we will be dealing with some adult themes this morning.  This chapter describes one of the darkest stories in the whole Bible.

Our title is “Rape and Revenge”.  It doesn’t seem like two topics that we should be talking about in church but they come right out of our chapter.  This chapter contains kidnapping.  Prince Shechem is not the only one who does some kidnappers in this chapter.  The sons of Jacob took wives and children captive at the end of the chapter (34:29).  It mentions a sexual predator and a brutal rape.  The chapter describes the sexual abuse of a minor. 

The chapter describes uncontrollable rage, revenge and premeditated murder.  It describes deception and betrayal, as Simeon and Levi trick Hamor and Shechem so they can kill them.  It also describes desecration of a God-given ordinance, the rite of circumcision. Finally, the chapter describes theft.  The sons of Jacob go through the village and take whatever they want.  Whatever they find, they keep.

This chapter is definitely not family friendly.  It is not a feel good story like the last chapter in which two estranged brothers are reconciled after twenty years.  No one looks good in this chapter.  Hamor’s son does not look good and Jacob’s sons do not look good either.  No one wins in this story.  Dinah becomes a crime victim.  Prince Shechem, the sexual predator, ends up dead, along with his father.  The whole town of Shechem loses. The men are all killed.  The women and children are kidnapped.  Possessions are taken.

Simeon and Levi end up cursed by their father for what they did.  They do not win.  Jacob loses as well.  He ends up with a daughter who has been traumatized and two sons that he did not raise properly and can no longer control.  The family of Jacob loses because it is forced to move to another location for their own safety (and they had just purchased some land there).

Let’s begin to look at this chapter.  In the last chapter, Jacob returned home from Haran.  He made the five hundred mile trip back home.  He met his twin brother.  Esau went home to Seir which is in Jordan today.  Jacob went to Succoth and built a house there (33:17) for a while but ended up in the Canaanite city Shechem.  Today, this city is in the West Bank.  We are told that Jacob built an altar there (33:20).  He also “pitched his tent toward Shechem” (33:18) and bought some land there (33:18-19).

Those words are ominous.  These pagan cities were extremely wicked.  The last time we read of anyone pitching his tent near a Canaanite city was Lot.  He pitched his tent toward Sodom.  That was the beginning of the end for him.  Jacob does something similar.  Before we get to Genesis 34, several years have gone by.  How do we know this?   In Genesis 33, Jacob came home with a caravan and his kids were young (33:13).  When we turn to Genesis 34, they are mostly grown up.

“Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her” (34:1-2 ESV)

What do we know about Dinah?  We know a few other things about her.  Her name is Dinah.  Dinah is the feminine form of Dan.  She was the only daughter of Jacob and Leah.  Jacob may have had other daughters but this is the only one mentioned in Genesis (cf. 37:35).  She had six brothers (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun).  She was born after them so they probably spoiled her. She also had six half-brothers (same father, different mother). 

She was also very young.  The Book of Jubilees says that she was twelve (30:2).  She may not have been that young but she was young.  She might have been around fifteen or sixteen.  She was of marriable age, even though she was a minor.  She is surrounded by all of these brothers and wants to meet some girls.  She goes to meet the daughters of the land and they introduce her to some of the sons of the land.  Normally, it would not be a good idea to meet some friends.  The problem is that this was an extremely wicked town.  It was a pagan town.

Dinah was young.  She was attractive.  She went to Shechem alone.  She was unsupervised and she was vulnerable.  She apparently was also a little naïve.  This was an extremely wicked city.  She was unaware of the dangers she faced when she went into this town.  She is introduced to the king’s son.  She spent time with the prince but he just took advantage of her and raped her.

This is the second time in the book we have seen rape.  We saw it in Genesis 19.  That was homosexual rape.  The men of Sodom tried to rape lot’s two male visitors who happened to be angels.  In Genesis 34, we see rape again. This time it is heterosexual rape.  It is one of three rapes in the Bible.  The first is Leah’s daughter Dinah (Genesis 34).  The second is a concubine, who is raped by Benjamite men (Judges 19-21).  The third is King David’s daughter Tamar, who is raped by Amnon (II Samuel 13).

Who is to Blame?

This is one of the most misunderstood passages of the Bible.  Many read this and blame Dinah.  People like to blame the victim for some reason.  It is common view.  They say that she should have stayed at home.  They say that she was probably immodest.  I personally do not blame Dinah.  The Bible does NOT say that she was immodest or promiscuous.  She did not go to Shechem to see the men of the land but to see the women of the land.  She was young. 

The one who deserves the most blame is Shechem. The story does not begin with Dinah seeing Shechem and having a crush on him.  The Bible says that he fell in love with Dinah.  His heart was drawn to her (34:3). It never says that she was in love with him.

The text says that he saw her and took her against her will by force and raped her.  Notice the three verbs used in the text.  Shechem “seized her and lay with her and humiliated her” (34:2).  Apparently, news about this incident spread, because we are told that “Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah” (34:5)  How did he hear about it?  Perhaps one of Dinah’s friends told him what had happened.

In the news this past week, we read about a Saudi Prince in Los Angeles doing the same thing and being arrested.  The same thing happens here.  What do we know about Prince Shechem?  Shechem was young.  He was rich.  He was spoiled.  He always got what he wanted.  He was entitled.  Like a lot of men today, he never learned how to treat women.  He also was not too smart. 

It is not too smart to rape a woman who has twelve brothers.  Shechem just messed with the wrong family.  A couple of her brothers are about to go ape on him and his family.  Genesis says that Shechem was actually one of the better ones in the family (34:19).  That is a strange statement.  If one of the best member of the family is a rapist, I wonder what the worst member of the family was like? 

What happens next?  Shechem decides that he wants to marry Dinah.  That is interesting. Shechem does not just use Dinah and leave her.  He want to marry her.  He actually falls in love with her.  He tells his dad to “get him this girl for his wife” (34:4) and his dad goes and talks to Jacob about this (34:6). Why didn’t her propose to her himself? They had different marriage customs than we do today. They had arranged marriages. Marriage was negotiated by parents.

They come to them and make two requests.  The first request was that Shechem could marry Dinah (34:8).  Shechem said that he would pay anything for the bride price (34:12).  The second request is that other marriages take place as well (34:9).  What is missing from the request?  Hamor does not apologize for his son’s actions.  There is no apology.  Shechem does not confess any sin here.  He never acknowledges that he did anything wrong at all. 

What was their response? Jacob doesn’t say anything but Dinah’s brothers take over the negotiations.  They agree with the deal on one condition.  All of the males in Shechem must be circumcised (34:15).  Hamor the politician got the whole village to agree to the deal.  On the third day, Levi and Simeon went and killed all of the males (34:15).  They took all of the animals, as well as their wives and kids (34:27-29).  This is a violent story but it has some powerful lessons for us today.  We can learn something from these people.

Practical Lessons for Today

What do we learn from Simeon and Levi? We learn several important things.

1) This chapter demonstrates the need for self-control

What important lesson do young men need to learn?  The Apostle Paul said, “Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled” (Titus 2:6).  Simeon and Levi were most likely in their twenties and they lacked self-control, and so did Prince Shechem. Shechem could not control his lust.  Simeon and Levi could not control their anger. 

Now Levi and Simeon did one thing right?  They stood up for their little sister, even when their dad didn’t but they completely over-reacted.  They wiped out a whole town because of the sins of one man.  This passage shows us the destructiveness of anger when it is not controlled.  If you have a problem with anger and have a short temper, this chapter speaks directly to you.

2) This chapter illustrates the difference between justice and vengeance. 

The Bible teaches that vengeance is wrong.  Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19 ESV). What is the difference between the justice and revenge?  Revenge is excessive and one is fair and impartial. 

Justice is proportionate to the offense.  The punishment fits the crime.  That is where the whole concept of an “eye for an eye” came into existence.  One is driven by emotions,  The other is driven by logic and reason.  One is also done by the courts.  The other is done by a private individual.  Simeon and Levi were vigilantes. 

Simeon and Levi did two things right.  When they heard what happened to Dinah, they were outraged (34:7) and they did something about it.  They stood up for their little sister.  The problem is that their reaction was excessive. They went far beyond justice in this situation.

3) This chapter reveals the danger of hypocrisy

Simeon and Levi heard what happened to their little sister and they were furious. “They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done” (34:7). They had a right to be angry about what happened to their sister but you cannot criticize someone else’s sin and then and commit a FAR worse sin. That is exactly what they did.

They slaughtered the whole town. Shechem committed rape.  They committed murder. It was premeditated and planned.  It was murder on defenseless people.  In fact, they committed, not only murder, but mass murder.  They even killed the innocent along with the guilty.  Simon and Levi’s anger was WORSE than Shechem’s lust.  It caused more damage. Shechem committed a crime.  They committed terrorism.

Jesus talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount.  They saw Shechem’s sin but they did not see their own sin (which was far worse).  Jesus spoke about people who criticized other people for having a little speck in their eye when they have a big timber in their eye.  Do we do the same thing?  Do we criticize other people when what we do is far worse?

4) This chapter documents that children often repeat the sins of the parents.

What was Jacob’s greatest problem or struggle?  He had a problem with honesty.  He liked to deceive and trick people.  He tricked his twin brother and his blind father.  Before he was saved, he was a con artist. Kids often follow in the footsteps of their parents.  We see this many times.  If parents use foul language at home, the kids pick it up.  Jacob’s sons trick the Shechemites in this section.  They not only deceived them, they deceived their own father.   Jacob had no idea what they had planned to do.

5) This chapter proves that actions have consequences.

Shechem’s actions had consequences.  It led to the whole town being wiped out and to Dinah never getting married.  Her life was ruined.  Simeon and Levi’s actions had consequences as well.

It led to a poor testimony with the neighbors.  Jacob said that what they did caused them to stink before the inhabitants of the land (34:30).  They had to move (35:1-5).  How is your testimony before the people who live around you? Do they think you are obnoxious and rude or are they glad to have you as neighbors?

There is one other important consequence that this action led to.  Simeon and Levi do something terrible in this chapter and Reuben does something terrible in the very next chapter. 

When Jacob is on his deathbed and his giving the blessing of his sons, he skips over the first three sons and goes to the fourth son and gives it to him.  The promised Messiah comes through Judah, rather than through Simeon, Levi or Reuben because of the barbaric actions that they engaged in.  Their actions did have consequences, not just to them but to their descendants.  It affected them as well.  Kings came through the line of Judah but not through the line of Simeon, Levi or Reuben.

6) This chapter teaches that religion can be abused.

How did Shechemites abuse religion?  They agreed to get circumcised, so they make a marriage alliance with Jacob’s family.  Why did they want to do that?  Jacob was wealthy. Eventually everything Jacob owned would be transferred to the citizens of Shechem. 

Notice what they said, “Won’t THEIR livestock, THEIR property and ALL THEIR other animals become OURS?”(34:23 NIV).  They would get rich from this alliance.   They wanted to get circumcised, not for religious reasons but for economic reasons.  They did not agree to painful surgery to become Jews and begin worshipping the God of Israel but to get rich.  

Do people do this today?  Some guys go to church, not to worship, but because their girlfriend goes there and if they want to get her, they have to go to church and pretend to be interested.  They do it all of the time.  Some people go to a church where all of the prominent members of the community go, so they can get some business contacts.

How did Simeon and Levi abuse religion?  The used the rite of circumcision to deceive people.  They knew that they could not kill all the males unless they were really weak and circumcision made them weak and they took advantage of that.  They used it to plot a murder.  It was supposed to be a sacred symbol.  It was supposed to be a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, an important religious symbol.  They used it to commit mass murder.  That would be like using the baptismal tank, not to bless converts, but to drown them.

7) This chapter shows the importance of leadership in the home.

Jacob is a terrible example of a leader in this chapter.  He is a terrible parent.  If anyone gets the blame for Dinah’s rape, it should be Jacob.  He was the one who chose to move so close to such a wicked city.  He was the one who did not train Dinah or warn her of the dangers she faced.  He was the one who did not properly supervise her.  He did not watch her very carefully.  Many parents are not very involved in their kid’s lives.  They are absent parents.

Jacob is very passive here.  His daughter gets traumatized by wicked Canaanites.  She is brutally raped and he does not even seem angry.  His sons are angry but he does not show any anger.  Would he have responded the same way if this was the daughter of his favorite wife Rachel?  We do not know.  We do know that he showed little anger. 

Dinah’s brothers showed anger.  They said, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” (34:31 NIV).  They were insulted by the marriage proposal.  Hamor and Shechem just wanted to buy her off like a prostitute.  They understood what was wrong here and were angry, although they displayed their anger in a sinful way.  Jacob does not seem to have that response.  When Hamor comes to talk to him.  He does not confront him about his son’s behavior.  There is no rebuke to Hamor or Shechem.  

He does not devise a plan to deal with the problem.  Jacob is the exact opposite of Abraham.  When his nephew Lot was captured, he organized an army and got him back.  Jacob sits on his hands and does nothing.  When he does not properly lead in the situation, his two sons take over and when his sons have turned into psychotic killers and mass murderers, he does not rebuke them for what they did.

Jacob is only upset for how this incident has affected his family.  He says to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on ME by making ME obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against ME and attack ME, I and MY household will be destroyed” (34:30 NIV).

Jacob does not properly train or protect his daughter.  He does not properly restrain his sons.  He does not properly respond in a crisis situation.  He is very passive.  Husbands are supposed to be “the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church”.  Their leadership is compared to Christ’s leadership.  They are supposed to be leaders.  They are appointed by God as leaders in the home.  The problem is that they often do not lead. 

A Family Reunion

Our text today is a very short chapter but it is an exciting chapter in Genesis.  It contains a reunion of two brothers.  Last week, we looked at Genesis 32.  In Genesis 32, Jacob met God.  In this chapter, he meets Esau.  He meets his brother.  His thirteen kids meet Uncle Esau.  It is a homecoming.  Jacob goes home.  He has been in Haran and now he is going home and he meets his brother Esau for the first time in twenty years.

He has a homecoming. Jacob and Esau have a reunion.  We like family reunions.  We get to see people that we have not seen in a long time.  This is a family reunion of biblical proportions.

This reunion was EMOTIONAL.  When they meet, they both cry and hug each other.  This reunion was PERMANENT.  They part separate ways at the end of the chapter but they leave as friends, not enemies.  This reunion was also SCARY on Jacob’s part.  He thought he was going to die.  He is heading home because God spoke to him and told him to go home. He should be happy.  Instead, he is very uneasy. He is scared and for good reason.

Jacob and Esau at one time were very close.  They were not only brothers.  They were twin brothers.  They were born holding on to each other. Then they became bitter rivals.  Jacob took both his blessing and birthright.  He cheated him.

He lied and deceived his blind father to get it.  Proverbs  18:19 says “An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city” (NLT).  That is interesting because it is very easy to offend someone.  It is easy to offend a brother.  It is easy to offend a spouse.  You do not have to be mean.  Sometimes it happens because of a misunderstanding or because someone is overly sensitive or only heard one side of a story.

Proverbs says that it is very hard to win that offending brother back.  The person offended puts up walls, like a fortified city.  They put up high walls.  It is hard to get through those walls.  That is a problem for Jacob.  He offended his brother.  In fact, he offended him more than once.

Esau vowed to kill him.  Esau was a violent man.  He was a hunter.  He was good with a bow and arrow.  Let’s hear Esau in his own words. Genesis 27:41-42 says, “Now Esau HATED Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; THEN I WILL KILL MY BROTHER JACOB.” But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you” (NIV).

Jacob fled to get away from him for his own safety.  He not only left home, he left the country and moved to Haran in modern-day Turkey to live with his mom’s brother Laban.  Laban lived five hundred miles away.  Jacob stayed with him for twenty years.

Before he left, his mother said that as soon as Esau calmed down, she would send word to him so he could come back home.  Rebekah says to Jacob, “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran  and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?” (27:43-45 ESV).

Twenty years went by but Rebekah did not send any word to Jacob.  Jacob did receive a post card or a letter.  He heard nothing from her.  Now he is heading back home and as the chapter begins, we read these ominous words, “And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him” (33:1 ESV).

This was not good news.  Esau was a man of war and he is heading in Jacob’s direction with four hundred men.  That is the size of a personal army and these four hundred men were armed.  In his mind, Jacob is thinking of that he is doomed. Esau is going to get his revenge.  Jacob is bracing for the worst.

He is thinking of the Cain and Abel story.  Cain killed Abel in Genesis 4.  Jacob thinks the next chapter in the book will read, “and Esau killed Jacob”.  Jacob was “terrified at the news” (32:7 NLT).  His great fear is that Esau was not going to get his revenge and not only kill him but his whole family.  In the very last chapter, he prayed, “Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, FOR I FEAR HIM, that he may come AND ATTACK ME, THE MOTHERS WITH THE CHILDREN” (32:11).

We all have a fear of something.  Jacob is forced to confront his fear.  So what did he do?  Jacob had a plan.  The plan had three parts.  He gave Esau a gift (32:13-15).  He did two other things mentioned in this chapter.  Genesis 33:1-2 says, “so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear” (NIV).

Second, he divided everyone into two group (division of forces).  Why did he do that?  Genesis 32:7-8 says why.  ‘In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape” (NIV).

Third, he did something else.  He put certain people in the front and certain people in the back.  The wives and children that he loved the most he put in the back of the line.  The ones that he did not love as much, he put in the front closer to danger.  If anyone has to be killed, it would be the handmaids and their children.

The ones in the back might be able to escape.  That seems to make Jacob a complete jerk.  He did show some favoritism in the order but then we read the next verse. “He himself went on BEFORE THEM” (33:3).  Jacob takes a position of leadership.  He went first.  Apparently, wrestling with God gave him some courage to face Esau.  It gave him some courage that he did not have before.  The chapter has a surprise ending.

As it turns out, Jacob was not in any danger at all. God said that he would be with him.  A whole company of invisible angels followed him home.  Esau might have had four hundred men with him but he had angels with him.  Have you ever done that?  How many of our troubles are imaginary, like kids who are afraid of the dark?  Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1). Sean Hannity says this all of the time but he got it from Jesus.  He also said, “Do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34).  Jacob spent all of this time worrying about something that never happened.

Esau was no longer angry.  He wanted to meet his brother and wept when he saw him.  Jacob never imagined this would happen.  Esau asks Jacob two questions.  He looks behind Jacob and sees sixteen people.  He asks his first question.  He says, “Who are all of these people?” (33:5). Jacob gives God the credit.  “He gave them all to me.  He gave me the wives.  He gave me the kids”

Then he asks his second question.  He also sees hundreds of animals.  He says, “What is the meaning of all these flock and herds?” (33:8). Jacob says that it is a gift.  Esau did not need the gift.  He said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself” (33:9).  The text says that Esau accepted the gift because Jacob insisted on it (33:12).  He did not want to insult him.

Jacob and Esau have a few things in common.  They have the same background.  They came from the same dysfunctional family.  They are both old by now.  They are both grey-haired.  They both have a lot of wives. Jacob has multiple wives and so does Esau.  They both have a lot of kids.  Jacob has twelve sons and so does Esau has six sons (36:4-5). They are both very wealthy.  They were both blessed by God and they were both conent.  Esau said “I have enough” (33:9).  Jacob said “I have enough” as well (33:11). Esau is clearly very different from what he was a like twenty years ago.  He has changed dramatically.

A New Esau

1. Esau used to HATE his brother. Now he LOVES him.

He ran up to him and gave him a big hug. He is not cold but friendly, warm and affectionate. He is weeping. After Jacob cheated him out of the blessing, Esau was devastated. Genesis says that he let out a loud and bitter cry (27:34, 38). This time he does not shed tears of sadness but tears of joy (33:4). Jacob is crying too but he is crying tears of relief.

2. Esau used to want to KILL his brother. When he sees him, he runs up to him and KISSES him.

He fell on his neck not to kill him but to kiss him. In American culture, men do not kiss other men, except the ones celebrating the new marriage laws but straight men in this culture do not kiss other men. In other cultures (e.g., Arab culture), it is a sign of affection. It is not always romantic. Esau acts like the father does in the Prodigal son story (Luke 15:20). The father looks us and sees his son coming back, only Jacob here is not the prodigal son. Here is the prodigal brother.

3. Esau used to want to HURT his brother. Now he wants to HELP him. He offered him a place to stay and armed guards to protect his caravan (33:15).

4. Esau used to be BITTER. Now, he is BENEVOLENT.

Jacob did wrong to him, not once but twice. He took both his birthright and his blessing. Esau had reason to be angry but Esau did not bring up the past. He didn’t say, “Remember what you did to me twenty years ago. That really messed me up”. What happened in the past is all forgotten. He has forgiven his brother.

Esau forgave Jacob what he did to him and as far as we know he was not even a believer. He responded better than some Christians do today. Esau was not the only one who changed. Jacob changed as well. This Jacob is very different from the old Jacob.

He is very different from the man he used to be. In the last chapter, he wrestled with God all night and was a changed man in the end. He even was given a new name. Now, he is not perfect. We see a little bit of the old Jacob, as well as the new Jacob, even in this chapter.

He is a completely different person than he was twenty years ago when he was living in Canaan. Remember the kind of person Jacob was in Genesis 27. Let’s see how much he has changed.

A New Jacob

1. Jacob used to try to TAKE things from people (swindling and cheating them). Now he is GIVING things to people.

He is giving Esau almost six hundred animals. He does not just give a little gift. This was a huge gift. It was a lavish gift. He also gave this enormous gift gradually, which made it look even bigger. He gave him five different herds of animals at five different times. If you give someone a hundred dollars for five consecutive days, it seems more than if you gave them the whole amount all at once.

Jacob gives Esau gift after gift after gift. Why is he doing it? He said that he did it to appease Esau (32:20) like a husband who tries to make amends with his wife with flowers or chocolate. Proverbs 21:14 says, “Privately given gifts pacify wrath, and payments made secretly appease great anger” (ISV). There is another reason. This was Jacob’s way of saying that he was sorry for what he did. It was his confession of sin. He didn’t say the words “I am sorry” but he showed it. He demonstrated. He paid Esau restitution. Jacob is trying to pay Esau back for what he stole twenty years earlier.

2. Jacob used to be ARROGANT. Now he is HUMBLE.

Jacob used to be very ambitious. He was into power. He wanted to be number one. He wanted the birthright AND the blessing OVER his brother. God said that they would be his. He said that “the older would rule over the younger” (25:23) but Jacob becomes like Jesus here. He becomes very humble. He does not insist on his rights. He regards other people as more important than himself.

He showed this in two ways. First, he bowed down seven times in typical Middle Eastern fashion (which was probably hard to do with a hip out of joint). That is the way you would greet a king. He treated Esau like a king. Second, he called Esau his lord five times in this chapter. He said that Esau was his superior. He said that he was the servant of Esau.

This was a complete role reversal. Jacob could have demanded that Esau bow down to him seven times. He could have said, “God put me on top and you on the bottom. You need to recognizer my authority as the head of the family”. Jacob was no longer into power. Many people today are into power.

3. Jacob used to LEAD FROM BEHIND (which is not leading at all). Now he is LEADING FROM THE FRONT.

In the last chapter, he sent his family ahead of him and he stayed behind. Now as they get close to Esau, he goes up ahead of them. What does that tell us about Jacob? He shows incredible courage here. He is not afraid to go out in front. After wrestling with God, he is not afraid to be out in front and be a leader. He doesn’t put his family on the front line. He puts himself on the front line.

4. He used to see Esau as an ENEMY. Now he sees him as a FRIEND.

He sees the face of God in him. “For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably” (33:10 NIV). What does that mean? How was Esau’s face like the face of God? What did Jacob mean by this? Jacob looked at Esau and saw the face of God by the way he treated him.

Esau showed mercy on him. He did not give him what he deserved. He deserved Esau’s wrath but did not get it. When Esau accepted him, he felt like God had accepted him. When he was reconciled to Esau, he was also reconciled to God. Jacob knew what it was like to see the face of God. He just wrestled God face-to-face all night. This raises an important question. Would people see the face of God in us?

Lesson for Today

What does this story say to us today?  What is the application that we should take away from this chapter?  This is a classic passage in the Bible on reconciliation.  This passage does not just describe a REUNION of two brothers.  It describes a RECONCILIATION of two brothers.  Two estranged brothers are brought together after being apart for twenty years.

This is something that many of us can relate to.  Many of us know what it is like to be estranged with a family member.  Perhaps there is someone in the family you have not spoken to in years.  Something happens in the family.  There is a conflict of some kind.  Sometimes it is your fault and sometimes it is someone else’s fault.  You have had no contact with that person in years.  It may not even be someone inside your family.  It may be someone inside the church.

This passage has something to say about that problem. What we learn in this passage is that reconciliation in God’s will.  It is God’s will for people to be reconciled to God.  Jacob is not doing this because he wanted to.  He is doing it because God told him to.  God told him to go back home and he could not go back home without facing his brother.  It was inevitable.

Reconciliation is God’s will.  He wants people to be reconciled to other people.  He wants people to be reconciled to God.  God is a God of reconciliation.  He loves to take two people that used to be close and now can’t stand each other.  He loves to restore and heal broken relationships.

Just before this chapter, Jacob had a big conflict with Laban who cheated him many times in twenty years.  Jacob reconciled with his father-in-law and uncle.  They made a treaty or non-aggression pact and now he reconciles with his twin brother.  They go their separate ways at the end of the chapter but they leave as friends, not enemies.

Jacob was the once who sinned and also the one who brought the gift to Esau.  With us it is the exact opposite.  We were the ones who sinned and yet it was God who gave the gift to us.  He was the one who made the sacrifice.  Romans 5:10 says, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (KJV).

Jesus spoke about reconciliation.  He said, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:22-23 ESV).  That says that reconciliation is VERY important.  It is more important that going to church.

It is more important than worship.  Reconciliation comes before worship.  It is also more important than giving.  Jesus says if you are at the altar in church and you came to offer a gift but realize that someone is mad at you.  What do you do?  Leave church, leave the altar and be reconciled first.

It is God’s will for people to be reconciled to each other.  We are to be at peace with God and with man.  God is a God of reconciliation.  He loves to take two people that used to be close and now can’t stand each other.  He loves to restore and heal broken relationships.

It is also NOT always successful.  Reconciliation is a two-way street.  It takes both sides to agree to do it.  Paul says, “IF IT IS POSSIBLE, AS MUCH AS LIES WITHIN YOU, be at peace with all men” (Romans 12:19).  Paul was realistic.  He knows that it is not always possible.  I have an older sister who has cut herself off from the family.  There are six kids in the family.

She was not mad at me.  I have made attempts to bring her back into the family but have not been successful but reconciliation is rewarding.  It is rewarding because you are doing something which pleases God.  A huge weight was lifted off of Jacob when this happened.  He is now at peace with Laban and with Esau.

 

 

The Ultimate Wrestling Match

We are studying the life of the Patriarchs.  We studied the life of Abraham, his son Isaac and now we are studying the life of his grandson Jacob.  He had twelve sons and became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. After twenty years in Northern Mesopotamia living with his uncle, he heads home.  He takes his wife, kids and animals on a five hundred mile journey back to the Promised Land.

Why is he leaving?  God told him to leave.  We come today to one of the most interesting chapters in the whole book.  This chapter is fascinating on some many levels.  It is mind blowing.  It contains one of the strangest theophanies in the entire Bible.

A theophany is a visible appearance of God.  God appears to Jacob in an amazing way.  You may be shocked to see what God actually does in this chapter. This section may challenge your view of God.  Jacobs sees both angels and God in this chapter.  We will look at the applications from this chapter.

It is one of my favorite chapters in the book.  This is a man’s chapter.  Genesis 29-30 is all about women’s issues (reproduction, childbirth).  There is some martial arts in this chapter.  For those who like wrestling, should like this chapter.  This was the greatest wresting match of all time.  It was the ultimate wrestling match.  Jacob has an all-night wrestling match with a heavenly being.

Jacob has an encounter with God in this chapter that radically changes his life.  He is never the same after this.  When God first appeared to him in a dream and he saw the stairway to heaven.  When he meets God in this chapter, he is completely changed as well.  He is a new man. He is changed physically.  He is also changed spiritually.  It is the turning point in his life of Jacob.  He doesn’t get saved here but he is changed. He gets a new name in this chapter.  In Hebrew, he goes from Ya-a-kov to Yis-rah-el (32:28)

As Jacob heads back home, he encounters some angels. “Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim” (32:1-2 ESV).  Jacob gives a name to this place.  Jacob likes to give names to important events in his life.  By the end of this chapter, we will have seen five names (Bethel, Mizpah, Galeed, Mahanaim, Peniel).

He saw some angels on his way up to Haran (28:12) and now he sees some on the way back but this time he is awake when he sees them.  This is very important because it tells Jacob that he is not traveling alone.  He has an angelic escort. He needs this encouragement because he will encounter some bad news.

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’” (32:3-5 ESV)

They came back and told him that he is coming with four hundred men (32:6).  That doesn’t sound good. The last time Jacob saw his brother, he was angry with him and was planning to kill him.  Now he is coming to meet him and has four hundred men with him.  Jacob is outnumbered.  He just has some wives and kids with him and a bunch of animals.  Abraham did a whole military operation with 318 men (14:14) and Esau has 400 (32:6), so Jacob plans (32:7-8) and then he prays (32:9-12).

This is the first time we have ever seen Jacob pray.  Jacob was not a real spiritual man.  We do not see him doing a lot of praying but when his life was in danger, he turns to prayer.  It is a good prayer.  It is a SPECIFIC prayer (“deliver me from the hand of my brother”).  It is a HUMBLE prayer.  Jacob says that her is unworthy of the least of God’s blessings (32:10).  It is a BIBLICAL prayer.  Jacob is praying the promises of God.  God told him to leave Haran, said He would be with him and now his life is in danger.  It is also a LONG prayer. It is the longest prayer in the Book of Genesis.

When he is done praying, he has one more plan – a bribe.  He gives Esau a large gift (32:13-21).  He did it to appease or pacify Esau (32:20).

Jacob’s Wrestling Match 

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” (32:22-28)

What is happening here?  Jacob has been traveling south from Haran to get back to the Promised Land but in order to get into Canaan, you have to cross a river.  You have to cross the Jabbok River.  It is a tributary that flows west into the Jordan River.

It is about fifteen miles north of the Dead Sea.  Today, it is called the Zarqa River (the modern Arabic name). Jacob sent his family (his wife, servants and eleven sons) across the river and he is alone at Jabbok.  Jacob is at Jabbok and he is alone.  It is much easier for God to speak to us when we are alone.  Jacob is alone and vulnerable.

While Jacob is by himself in the woods and someone attacks him at night.  Someone ambushes him.  He doesn’t know who it is.  It is dark. They fight for hours.  It is an intense conflict. Jacob has a surprise attack at night in the dark by an unknown assailant and Jacob has to fight for his life. Jacob displays incredible strength and courage in fighting back for so long.  That leads to two questions: Who attacked him? Why did he do it?

Who is the Assailant who Attacks Jacob? 

At first, this person seems to be an ordinary man.  Moses calls him a man.  “So Jacob was left alone, and A MAN wrestled with him till daybreak. When THE MAN saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with THE MAN” (32:24-25 NIV).

The Book of Hosea calls him an angel.  Hosea 12:4 says that he “strove with THE ANGEL and prevailed.” Jewish tradition says that Jacob wrestled an angel.  That is no contradiction because in the Bible angels often took the form of men.

We saw that in Genesis 18.  Abraham was sitting in his tent in the shade and sees three men coming from the distance.  They look like travelers.  Two of them turned out to be angels in disguise and one was God himself.  The man that Jacob wrestled turned out to be much more than a man.  He turned out to be God himself.  Who attacked Jacob?  He was called a man.  He was called an angel.

Jacob called him God. “So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel saying, “For I HAVE SEEN GOD FACE TO FACE, and yet my life has been delivered” (32:30 ESV). Jacob did not say that he saw an angel face to face.  He didn’t say, “I wrestled face to face with some strange man all night”.  He said that he saw God face to face.”  In fact, Jacob is shocked that he is still alive after this encounter.

Not only Jacob, but also Jacob’s attacker, identified him as God. “Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, FOR YOU HAVE STRIVEN WITH GOD AND WITH MEN, and have prevailed” (32:28 ESV).  He did not say that you have struggled against men and angels but against men and against God. Jacob apparently drew the right conclusions.  The attacker confirmed what he said.  This was no ordinary angel.  It was the angel of the Lord (16:7).

Now, when Jacob left the Promised Land and headed five hundred miles north to Haran. God appeared to him in a dream.  He saw a stairway to heaven with angels going up and down it and, as he looked to the top of the stairway, he saw God.

Now, as he goes out of Haran and travels five hundred miles in the opposite direction, he gets another appearance of God but this time it is NOT in a dream. This fight didn’t take place in a dream because when he woke up, he had a dislocated hip and had to limp.

Why would God be in a Wrestling Match with Jacob?

This whole incident raises some interesting questions.  If this man is God in human form, why is he doing this?  Why would God appear to Jacob as a wrestler?  Why is God wrestling Jacob?  God made a covenant with Jacob.  Why is He attacking him? There are two reasons.  The first reason is that Jacob had spent most of his adult life wrestling with people, so God came to Jacob as a wrestler.  Jacob was a fighter from birth.  Jacob spent his entire life wrestling.  He was a life-long wrestler.

He was a wrestler before he was born.  He wrestled his twin brother in the womb. When Esau was born, Jacob was grasping his heel (25:26). He had to wrestle Laban for his wife Rachel.  He wrestled with his brother.  He wrestled with his father. He wrestled with his uncle.

He wrestled with his wives who were always fighting over him.  Now, in the middle of the night, Jacob has an all-night wrestling match with a heavenly being.  Jacob spends all night in a face-to-face wrestling match with God.  He wrestled with God and man and overcame (32:28).

The second reason is that Jacob was filled with fear.  Genesis 32:6-7a says, “And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying,We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” Then Jacob was GREATLY AFRAID AND DISTRESSED” (ESV).

Jacob was going to meet Esau the very next day.  Esau planned to kill him and he is terrified.  That is what is on his mind.  He is thinking about it and worried about it, so much that he cannot sleep.  He is dreading facing Esau and even sent everyone ahead of him.  He hides behind his wife and kids.  He divided the camp into two parts to minimize casualties.  If that did not work, he may have been planning to run for his life.

Jacob was consumed by his fears.  That is why God wrestled with Jacob at Jabbok.  He forced him to face his fear and rely on God.  God dislocated Jacob’s hip, so running from Esau was not an option.  He has to face him.  By the end of this match, Jacob and realizes who he wrestled and is ready to meet Esau.  Once you have spent time with God, you no longer are afraid of man.

A Summary of This Amazing Coinflict

Let’s try to summarize what we have learned about this event so far.

1. Jacob receives a surprise attack at night by an unknown assailant in the dark.

Jacob has no idea who his assailant is.  Is it a robber?   He does not know if it is Esau or one of his hitmen sent to take him out.

2. The assailant who attacked him was actually God.

It may have been the pre-incarnate Christ.  God is the one who starts this fight, not Jacob.  “And A MAN WRESTLED WITH HIM until the breaking of the day” (32:24).

3. This is not a real wrestling match in one sense.

Much of pro wrestling also is fake. It was a real match on Jacob’s part but angels are stronger than people.  The strongest man could not defeat an angel.  It would be no contest for the one who created the world to wrestle a puny man, even the strongest one on the planet.  An all-powerful God would have no trouble pinning Jacob in a wrestling match.

4. God was the one who stopped the fight with just one touch.

One touch to Jacob’s hip and the whole match is over.  Jacob can’t wrestle anymore.  Wrestlers get their leverage from their hips.  A wrestler’s strength is in his legs.  Jacob could not use his anymore.

5. When Jacob cannot fight anymore, he clings to the assailant.

Jacob went from fighting to clinging.  He moved from wrestling with God to clinging to God.  Even though he can’t win the match, he still holds on and will not let go, even after he is injured.  He continues to hold on, even when he cannot fight anymore, even when he is tired from wrestling all night and even when he is in pain from his injured hip.

6. When Jacob realizes who he is wrestling, he asks for a blessing.

When Jacob realizes that the person he is wrestling is no ordinary man, he has a completely different attitude.

7. Jacob does not win the physical contest but comes out of it completely changed.

He got a new name (Israel), a new power (he prevailed with God), a new blessing (not just blessed by Isaac, he is blessed by God), a new testimony (he saw God face to face) and a new reminder (walks with a limp).[1] Jacob gets the blessing he sought, but his hip is out of joint and he has to walk funny (32:31).

Three Powerful Lessons from Jabbok

This is a very strange passage. I want to spend some time looking at it.  As we read this section, think about how it might apply to us today.  Some have misunderstood what this passage is teaching.  Many preachers use this passage to talk about Jacob wrestling in prayer.  It sounds great.  It is real spiritual.  It makes great preaching but it is not what the passage is talking about.  It preaching the right thing with the wrong text.  Preachers do that a lot.

There is a lesson in this section on prayer but Jacob NOT wrestle God in prayer.  How do we know?  First, Jacob didn’t start this fight.  Jacob did not wrestle the angel in this chapter.  The angel wrestled Jacob.  When you pray, you want something from God. Here, God wants something from Jacob.  Jacob wasn’t trying to get something from the Lord. The Lord was trying to get something from Jacob.  Jacob is not seeking God here.  God is seeking him.

Second, you do not get your hip out of joint from praying, unless you try to do it in some weird yoga position for hours. You might get some sore knees when you pray but it is pretty safe on the hips.

There was no prayer during the wrestling match.  The prayer came after.  Prayer started when the wrestling stopped.  Prayer came when he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me”.  He did not prevail by wrestling but by praying. What can we learn from this wrestling match?

1) Lesson on God

This is a very strange theophany.  Here we have God the Wrestler.  Would God do this today?  Would He cripple a man and give him a permanent disability?  Yes.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Some preachers teach that God would never do such a thing but he did it here.  He wrestled Jacob and then dislocated his hip. That seems more like a permanent injury than a bruise.

He ends the contest wounded and limping.  That must have been painful, as well as humbling. He was crippled.  God did this, not Satan.  Jacob did not wrestle Satan.  He wrestled God.  God did this to a BELIEVER but he did it for his own good. God will cripple a man to get his heart.

2) Lesson on Blessing

The path to blessing often involves brokenness.  Jacob got the blessing he sought but that blessing involved brokenness.  When we fight and struggle against God and what he is doing in our lives, then God often does something to us to get our attention.  He crippled Jacob.

Jacob became completely powerless and helpless.  All he could do was cling.  He goes from struggle to surrender.  He goes from wrestling to clinging.  He went from fighting and struggling against God to trusting God.  Jacob was a BELIEVING MAN at Bethel but a completely BROKEN MAN at Jabbok. He used to be an expert wrestler and now he can’t wrestle anymore.  In fact, he has trouble walking.  We all need a Bethel experience.  We also need a Jabbok experience.

Jacob went through a huge transformation.  He began very self-confident, independent, self-reliant and resistant to what God was doing in his life.  Once God crippled him with one touch, he became very dependent and humble.  He is completely broken.  Before he wanted to defeat this opponent and then he realized that he needed him.  He wanted him to bless him.

What God may do to us may be completely different than what he did to Jacob.  We may not have any health problems but we may face a major crisis in our life that forces us to rely completely on God and depend on him.  Sometimes God dislocates our bodies.  Other times he dislocates our plans and our life to get us to turn to him, as Barnhouse points out.

3) Lesson on Persistence

Jacob lost the first round of the match.  He could not compete once his hip was injured.  He won the second round because of his persistence. Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (32:26). Jacob is about to face Esau and needs to go with God’s blessing for his own protection and that of his family.

Jacob has the DESIRE to be blessed.  It is something that he need before he faces Esau.  It is not just a want but a NEED.  In his mind, his very survival is at stake.  He does not just ASK, he INSISTS on it.  He persists in his request.  He didn’t give up.  Jacob’s prayer was only passionate, it was persistent.  Do we show the same persistence when we pray?

 


[1] Victor Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch, 116.

 

 

 


[1] Victor Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch, 116.

The Great Escape

We are studying the Book of Genesis.  We come to a chapter today that is rarely preached on.  You might not preach on it unless you are going through the Bible chapter by chapter.  There are many familiar stories in Genesis that everyone knows (creation of the world, Adam and Eve, Cain killing Abel, Noah building the ark).

We come today to a story that is not as familiar to most people.  Let’s be honest.  Many chapters of the Bible are a mystery to most people.  They couldn’t tell you what is in them.  The average Christian does not know some of the chapters that we are going to be studying, like the one today.

Today, I am going to be a little ambitious.  I want to try to cover, not one, but two chapters today, because these two chapters go together.  Genesis 31 is long.  It is fifty-five verses long.  I am just going to do an overview of that chapter.  We will be studying Jacob and Laban today.

Jacob is Abraham’s grandson and Laban is his mom’s brother.  Last week, we looked at two women, two sisters (Rachel and Leah) in the first half of Genesis 30.  Today, we will be looking at two men (Jacob and Laban).

In this section, Jacob makes a break with his uncle and father-in-law.  He escapes from Laban.  This section is all about freedom.  Jacob is delivered from a really bad boss and bad work conditions. This is an interesting section.   There is a lot of drama in this chapter.  There is a lot of action.

Jacob is on the run again.  He left Canaan in a hurry.  He was running from Esau who was trying to kill him when he left Canaan and he left Haran in a hurry.  He is on the run from Laban. He ran from his brother and now he is running from his father-in-law.  There are some funny parts to the chapter.  There is a lot of irony in it. There is a lot of suspense in the chapter.  You wonder if Jacob will make it home in time.

When Laban came looking for his gods, Jacob said, “I didn’t take it and think anyone who took it should be killed” (31:32) but he had no idea that his own wife, his favorite wife in the other room, was the one who took the god and was sitting on it.  There are also some strange parts in this chapter.  Unbelievers mock some things in this chapter.  We will look at all of this, along with some lessons that this chapter teaches.  We will try to see what God is saying to us today from this chapter.

Request Denied

As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” (30:25-26 ESV)

Jacob left Canaan and traveled five hundred miles to Haran, married Laban’s two daughters and has some kids.  He works for him for fourteen years.  Laban has mistreated him and now he wants to go home.  He is in a foreign country.  He is a little homesick.  After Rachel gives birth to Joseph, he asks Laban for permission to leave.  Laban says, “No”.

“But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will give it” (30:27-28).

Laban doesn’t want him to leave.  Why?  Laban notices says something interesting.  God blessed Laban BECAUSE OF Jacob.  Jacob said the same thing. “For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned” (30:30).

Jacob became the source of blessing to those around him.  Jacob worked for Laban during this time.  He protected and cared for his flocks and apparently his flocks prospered because of Jacob.  Laban doesn’t seem interested in Jacob’s God but he is interested in his wealth and he wants to keep him around.

That is interesting.  There are some people that are so annoying that you want them to leave.  Some have such a poor testimony that you beg them to leave.  Jacob had a good reputation.  He was a hard worker.  He was not lazy.  He is a model employee.  Does that describe us?  Are other people blessed because of us?  That is worth thinking about.

Remember, in Genesis 12, Pharaoh told Abraham to leave Egypt but Laban wants Jacob to stay around.  Laban is getting rich off of Joseph.  He wants to take advantage of him and use him.  He doesn’t have Jacob’s best interests at heart.  He wanted Jacob to be around just for what he could get out of him.  He was a great asset.  His main interest is money. All he thinks about is financial gain for himself.

We learn some new things about Laban’s character in this chapter.  We learned earlier that he was dishonest.  He didn’t keep his agreements.  He didn’t keep his word.  He had absolutely no integrity.  Jacob worked a long time for Rachel.  He worked hard but Laban didn’t keep his agreement.  He cheated Jacob repeatedly and  never admits that he did anything wrong.

Here, we learn that he is also selfish and greedy.  He used people.  He took advantage of Jacob’s wealth for his own benefit. Have you ever been used by anyone?  Jacob knew what that was like.  Laban used him.   He wasn’t a nice person.  His own daughters didn’t like him.  When Jacob said, “Let’s get out of here,” they didn’t object (31:14-16).

The Contract Negotiations

Laban tries to talk Jacob out of leaving.  He says, “God has blessed me because of you.  I want you to stay.  Laban says, “Name your wages, and I will give it” (30:28 ESV).  Someone called this “Laban’s New Deal”. Laban and Jacob negotiate a new salary contract.  Laban says to Jacob, “What do you want?” (30:31)

Jacob says, “I don’t want anything” (30:31).  Jacob wasn’t just being humble.  He didn’t trust Laban.  If Laban offered him something, he did not trust Laban to give it to him.  Jacob says, “All I want is the speckled and spotted sheep and goats and the black lambs” (30:32).  Palestinian sheep were normally all white and goats were normally black.  Only the abnormal ones were speckled and spotted.

Jacob could have named his price when Laban said, “What do you want?”  He could have tried to take advantage of Laban.  Instead, he says, “You can have the regular animals.  I will just take the unusual and rare ones. I will work on commission.” Where did Jacob get this idea?  He got it from a dream (31:10-13).

This request was BRILLIANT.  It was the perfect request.  It made everyone happy.  It made Laban happy because Jacob was not asking too much, since he still got most of the animals.  It gave him the advantage.  It almost seemed too good to be true.  It sounded like a good deal to Laban.

It made it also easy to tell the difference between Jacob’s animals and Laban’s animals.  Laban’s animals for the most part were all one color (black or white) and Jacob’s were all spotted or speckled.  That is why Laban moved all of his speckled and spotted animals to the care of his sons (30:35).  Jacob was to receive the speckled and spotted animals born after this.

Even if Laban took all of his away, some of the other animals, still had the genes to produce speckled and spotted animals.  Jacob liked this idea because he could never be accused of stealing, because it was easy to tell which animals were his and which were Laban’s, just by looking at them. Jacob says, “If we do this, you can never accuse me of stealing” (31:33).  It made it impossible to question Jacob’s honesty.

Jacob’s Selective Breeding

Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.  And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s” (31:37-42 ESV).

This seems a little strange.  Jacob does three things to help breed speckled and spotted sheep.  Two of the things Jacob does are still done by scientists today.  One is not.  What is the first thing he does?

He takes some tree branches and makes white streaks in them by peeling the bark and then placed them in front of animals while they were mating.  Tree branches are dark on the outside and white on the inside.  Why did he do this?  Apparently, he believed the color of the offspring of the animals was determined by what they saw while they were mating.

Unbelievers love to mock this. What Jacob does here seems ridiculous. It is unscientific.  This is one of the strangest parts of the Bible.  Striped branches causing the sheep to have striped kids. Really?

How do you answer the critics?  The Bible doesn’t endorse the peeled branch or patterned wood method.  It simply says that this is what Jacob did.  Both Rachel and Jacob lived four thousand years ago.  They were a product of their day.  They both believed some things that we know today are not true.  We see both of these in Genesis 30.

Rachel believed that eating mandrakes would help you have a baby if you were infertile.  Jacob believed that the color of the offspring was dependent on what the animals see while they are mating.  He did not know much about genetics but he did know some things.

The other two things Jacob did make a little more sense.  He did a little selective breeding.  It is the first recorded instance of selective breeding in history.  Selective breeding is when you mate of two animals in an attempt to produce offspring with certain characteristics.

First, he isolated the animals.  He separated the speckled and spotted sheep from the other sheep, so that they would interbreed and produce more of their kind. “the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. (30:39-40)

Second, he bred the stronger animals together (31:41-42).  If you are raising chickens and you want to sell fat chickens, you would not put scrawny chickens together to reproduce.  God blessed his efforts. “In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys” (30:43 NIV) Jacob said that “God has taken away the livestock of [Laban] and given them to me” (31:9).

What did God’s blessing lead to?  Jealousy. “Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth” (31:1 ESV).

We saw Rachel jealous of Leah in Genesis 30 and now Laban’s son are jealous of Jacob in Genesis 31.  That leads to something else.  God steps in and gets involved.  Jacob gets a divine revelation from heaven.  He gets a word from God.  God speaks to Jacob.  What does God tell him?

He commands him to go home. God tells him, “It’s time to go home”. Genesis 31:3 says, “Then the Lord said to Jacob,Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, AND I WILL BE WITH YOU” (ESV). God does not just give him a command.  He says if He does it that He will be with him, so a promise comes with the command.  “If God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31).

So Jacob talks to his wives (30:4-16) and then takes off.  His family begins the five hundred mile journey south back to the land of Canaan.  He doesn’t make it all the way back in this chapter but the journey begins. “Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac” (31:17-18 ESV).

Jacob makes his escape.  He does it secretly (31:20), which was wise because he was dealing with Laban.  He didn’t lie to Laban.  He just never told him he was leaving.  He didn’t have to.  God gave him a command to go.  He didn’t need to get Laban’s permission to leave.  He tried before.  Six years earlier, Jacob sought his permission and blessing to leave and Laban just tried to talk him out of it.

Jacob’s Exodus

This is very interesting.  What happened to Jacob will later happen to the nation.  It is a picture or type of what happens later in biblical history.  This was Jacob’s Exodus.  It was the First Exodus.  It was not an exodus from Egypt.  It was an exodus from Uncle Laban. It foreshadows events that will take place later.

1. Jacob was in a form of slavery to Laban.  The Jews will later be slaves to the Egyptians.

2. Jacob wanted to leave Haran and his father-in-law Laban said, “No”.  The Jews wanted to leave Egypt the Pharaoh said, “No”.

3. We are told that God saw what Laban did to Jacob (31:12) and God saw the affliction of the Hebrews in slavery and heard their cry (Exodus 3:7).

4. Jacob left very wealthy.  Jacob arrives in Haran with just the clothes on his back (32:10) but he left Haran wealthy. “Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys” (31:43).  Exodus 3:21 say, “And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed” (NLT).

5. When Jacob finally left Haran and Laban finds out about it, he goes after him with in hot pursuit and finally catches up with him seven days later.  When the Jews finally left, they were followed by Egyptian troops which pursued them.

6. The gods are humiliated.  One of the reasons that Laban went after Jacob in hot pursuit is that he wanted to get his gods back.  Here we learn something else about Laban.  He was not just dishonest, selfish and greedy, he was an idolater.  He was not a believer.  Someone has stolen the gods.  Laban raced across the desert to save his gods.  It is laughable.  This god was small.  It is so small that you could sit on it.

It was easy to hide and it could be stolen.  Laban’s gods had no power.  They did not control people.  People controlled them.  The true God not only spoke to Jacob and controlled him, He also spoke to Laban in a dream (31:24) and prevented him from harming Jacob (31:29).

Laban’s god was humiliated in another way.  Leviticus 15:19-20 says, “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. EVERYTHING ALSO ON WHICH SHE SITS WILL BE UNCLEAN” (ESV).

She learned something from her dad, the master of deceit.  Here she tricks him.  She doesn’t just hide the god, she make it unclean by sitting on it.  Rachel sits on top of this pagan god when she is having her monthly period.  The same thing happened during the Exodus.  In the Exodus, the gods are humiliated by the Ten Plagues.  Each plague mocked one of the Egyptian gods.  They were a judgment on the gods of Egypt.  The Nile River turns to blood.  The Egyptians worshipped the Nile. They worshipped the Sun, so God sent a plague of darkness.

His plan to get to Canaan before his father-in-law found out about it.  It almost worked but Laban found out about it and took off after him.  God does not want domestic strife unresolved.  Laban catches up to him and that led to a meeting of two angry men.  Laban was angry that Jacob left in secret and accused him of kidnapping his daughters.

Jacob was angry with how Laban had treated him the last twenty years but it ends with a treaty or covenant.  It is a blood covenant.  It involves the sacrifice of an animal (31:54).  They do not just make a covenant; they share a meal together (31:54).  It was a covenant meal.

They used some stones as a monument for this covenant. Jacob makes another pillar. His first pillar was at Bethel where God appeared to him in a dream (28:18).  This was his second pillar in Genesis.  “So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar” (31:45 ESV).  Genesis gives three different names for this pillar (31:47-49).  It gives us one Aramaic name (Je-gar Sa-ha-dutha) and two Hebrew names (Galeed and Mizpah) for this pillar.

Laban traveled for seven days to find Jacob and he leaves empty handed.   He didn’t get his daughters or grandkids or flocks or even his gods but he did get a covenant.  Jacob and Laban don’t become friends; they just agree not to attack each other.  They make a non-aggression pact.  The chapter ends with Laban kissing his daughters and grandsons and blessed them before he went back home (31:55).  Laban kissed Jacob when he first saw him (29:13) but not when he says goodbye to him.  He does kiss his wife and grandkids.

Practical Applications

1. Hard work

He wanted to provide for his family.  For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” (30:30 ESV) He worked for twenty years for Laban.  He worked hard.

These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.” (31:38-40 ESV).  He also used some creativity and ingenuity on the job.  Jacob didn’t just sit back and wait for God to provide for him.  He did some actual selective breeding.   Jacob is a model employee here and he worked for someone who was unfair and dishonest.

2. Knowing the will of God

There is a lesson in this section on finding the will of God.  How did Jacob know that it was God’s will for him to go back home?  He had three things.  First, he had a desire to go back on the inside.  Second, circumstances on the outside encouraged him to go back.  Conditions were bad in Haran.  Third, he received a word from God.  He was led by God to return.  God spoke to him on the outside, on the inside and from above.

3. Problems

Jacob had all kinds of problems in Haran?  He had problems at home with his four wives who were always fighting and competing with one another.  He had problems on the job.  He had a boss who cheated him and took advantage of him.  What do we learn about these problems.

1) God sees all of them

God knew what was going on.  He went to Haran with Jacob.  He saw what was happening.  He saw what Laban did to Jacob.  He said,  And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, FOR I HAVE SEEN ALL THAT LABAN IS DOING TO YOU” (31:12 ESV).

God sees what people to do us.  He sees when we are mistreated, even when we are mistreated by family members.  There may be a Laban in your life.  Life is not always fair.  It wasn’t fair for Jacob.  He agreed to work seven years to marry Rachel but he ended up with Leah instead.  He worked fourteen years for Laban without any wages

When bad things happen on earth, we sometimes wonders if God sees what is going on.  Does He see all of the atrocities that take place on earth every day?  He does.  Proverbs 11:21 says “Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished.”

2) God can bless you in spite of them

God blessed Jacob in the midst of a difficult situation.  “Thus the man increased GREATLY and had LARGE flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys” (30:43 ESV).  Jacob arrived in Haran poor and left rich.  He was rich in wives, rich in children, rich in flocks, and rich in servants. While Laban abused him, God still protected and blessed him.

3) God can deliver us out of a bad situation

That is what happens here. God delivers Jacob.  God is able to protect us in a bad situation (abuse relationship, bad job, harmful addiction, etc.).  He is also able to lead us out of a bad situation and that is what He does here.  Jeremiah 15:21 says, “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel” (NIV)

Battle of the Brides

We are in the Book of Genesis.  We have been studying the life of the patriarchs.  We studied the life of Abraham and Isaac and now we are studying the life of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson.  The rest of the Book of Genesis deals with the life of Jacob and his ancestors.  His life is divided into four parts.  His life had four stages based on geography.

He lived in four places.  He was born and grew up in the Promised Land.  After he cheated Esau out of the blessing, he had to leave town and he went to Haran where he picked up a few wives and had some kids.  The he moved back to the Promise Land.  He stayed there until the very end of his life when he moved to Egypt to see Joseph.

Jacob does a lot of traveling.  He was much more adventurous than his father Isaac who did not travel as much.  Isaac never left the Promised Land.  Jacob leaves the Promise Land twice but most of the time he lived in Canaan.  He lived in Haran for twenty years (31:38, 41) and he lived in Egypt for seventeen years (47:28).  That means that he spent one hundred and ten years in the Promise Land.

Last week, we saw how Jacob got married. He arrived in Haran, saw Rachel and fell instantly in love with her.  It was love at first sight.  The Bible says that she was beautiful.  There must have been some good genes in that family.  Laban’s sister Rebekah was beautiful (24:16; 26:7).  Laban’s daughter Rachel was beautiful (29:17) and so was his grandson Joseph. Rachel’s son Joseph was also said to be handsome (39:6).  Joseph had some of his mom’s good looks.

Gary Owen commented after our last class that all of the Patriarchs married beautiful women and he is absolutely right.  Abraham’s wife Sarah was beautiful.  He lied twice because he was afraid that someone would kill him to get her.  Isaac’s wife Rebekah was beautiful.  Isaac did the same thing his father did and lied about who his wife was.  Now, we are told that Jacob’s wife was also beautiful.

Jacob wants to marry Rachel but he has no money for a dowry, because he was poor.  Laban agrees to give Rachel to him in marriage, as long as he works for him for seven years but Laban pulls a bait and switch tactic and gives Jacob Leah at the last minute.  He ends up marrying Rachel a week later but he has to agree to Laban to work another seven years for him.

As we come to Genesis 30, we see a bitter rivalry between two sisters.  We saw a rivalry in Genesis before with two brothers (Jacob and Esau) and now we see one with two sisters (Leah and Rachel).  This section is about the battle of the brides.  What is the rivalry over?  What are they fighting about?  Children.  It may seem silly to us today but this was deadly serious to them.  This is a contest over who can have the most babies.  It became a competition.

In this section, the battle was fought in three arenas.  The first battle was between the sisters themselves (Rachel and Leah).  The second battle was between the sister’s servants.  When Leah and Rachel could no longer conceive, they fought this battle by proxy through surrogates.  The third battle was over the mandrakes which in their view helped with conception.

Jacob has conflict in marriage.  Jacob has not two but four wives.  He has two wives and two concubines.  Two primary wives and two secondary wives.  That caused some tension in the home.  Polygamy always causes a problem.  It puts a strain on the marriage.  Being married to four women caused conflict.  It is not what God originally ordained for marriage.  Being married to sisters caused even more conflict.  Leah and Rachel were sisters.

They may not have been the only sisters.  In this class you will be exposed to some things you might not have heard before.  You may not have known this but, according to Jewish tradition, Jacob’s two concubines were also sisters.  It is the Pseudepigripha (Jubilees 28:9).  We do not know if it is true, although they do sound like sister names (Zilpah and Bilhah).

If that is true, it would mean that Jacob was married to not one but two sets of sisters. The Law of Moses later prohibited the marriage of two living sisters.  Leviticus 18:16 says, “Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living” (NIV).  This was was not around in Jacob’s day, so he was not violating any rule.  This was not forbidden until the time of Moses and it was not what Jacob wanted to do.  It is what happened because he was tricked.

Jacob married four women but he was only in love with one of them.  The Bible says that Leah was rather plain compared to her sister Rachel.  Rachel looked like a beauty queen.  Leah was not necessarily ugly but she just looked plain.  She was a Plain Jane.  Jacob didn’t want Leah, didn’t choose Leah and didn’t love Leah and Leah was devastated.  The Bible says that God saw this.

God did not change her looks and give her a make-over.  He just gave her a lot of kids. That was how he blessed Leah.  That is how God brought equality to Leah and Rachel.  Rachel had some things that Leah didn’t have (good looks) and Leah had some things that Rachel didn’t have (children).  No one gets everything in life.  We all have different problems in life.

God gives us all different kinds of trials.  For some women, their trial is that they do not have a husband.  For other women, their trial is that their husband is a big fat jerk.  Some people’s trial is that they do not have a job and they need one.  For other people, their job is their trial.  Every time they go to work, it becomes a battle zone.  They can’t stand their job and who they have to work with every day.

The Battle of the Sisters

Leah had some problems. She was not physically attractive and her husband did not love her.  Rachel did not have those problems.  She had other problems.  Her problem was that she was infertile.  She did not have any kids but God gave her other things.  He gave her beauty.  She looked like a super model. Rachel was beautiful but barren. Rachel does three things in this chapter.

1. Rachel envies her sister who has many children

When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” (30:1 ESV).  This seems very strange.  Rachel here envies her sister Leah.  The pretty sister envies the plain sister.  Rachel is the one who was drop dead gorgeous. She had the most important position in the home.  She was Jacob’s favorite wife.  He loved her the most and yet Rachel envies Leah.  Why?  Leah had something that she did not have and she wanted it.

She had kids, many of them and she seemed to have no problem getting pregnant.  They were coming out like rabbits.  Each sister is jealous of the gifts that the other sister has and covets them.  The grass is greener on the other side.  Leah did not provoke Rachel.  She did not tease or mock Rachel.  She did not mistreat Rachel.  She simply had something that Rachel did not have and she was jealous.

Rachel looks around and what does she see.  Everyone around her was getting pregnant. Leah can have kids.  Bilhah can have kids.  Zilpah can have kids but Rachel cannot have kids no matter how hard she tries.  Jealousy is a serious sin.  It can lead to some serious problems.  Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and almost killed him because of jealousy. They were jealous because he was their dad’s favorite (37:11).

It was the motive of the first murder.  Cain killed Abel because he was jealous.  God accepted Cain’s offering but rejected Abel’s and that made him mad.  The Bible teaches that Jesus was killed out of jealousy (Matthew 27:18).  We are told in the NT that love does not envy (I Corinthians 13:4).

2. Rachel takes her frustration out on her husband.

She said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I shall die!’”  She does not talk to God about her problem.  She talks to Jacob.  The Bible says that “Children are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the fruit of the womb is His reward” (Psalm 127:3).  Jacob was strong enough to open a well (remember last week how he moved the top of the well cover for Rachel).

He was strong enough to open a well but wasn’t strong enough to open a womb that had been closed.  Only God could do that.  God had opened Leah’s womb but had not opened Rachel’s womb but Rachel does not go to God.  She goes to Jacob instead.  She goes to the wrong source.  Do we ever do that today?  Do we ever turn to people when we have a problem, instead of turning to the Lord?

Jesus did not say “In this world you will have no problems”.  He said, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).  We often go to people to solve our problems when the only one who can solve them is God.  Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).  The Bible says, “Cast all you cares upon Him for he cares for you” (I Peter 5:7).  Rachel turns to Jacob and her request had two characteristics.

First, it was completely irrational.  She gives Jacob an unrealistic request.  She says, “Give me children” as if that was something that he had the power to do.  She doesn’t even say, “give me a child”.  She says, “Give me children” (plural).  What was Jacob’s response?  Jacob responded in anger.  Genesis 30:2 says, “Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

Here is a switch.  Jacob was madly in love with Rachel and now he is angry at Rachel.  He is not a real sympathetic husband here.  He should not have been angry.  He should have prayed for his wife instead.  That is what his dad did when his mom was infertile for twenty years.  Instead of praying, he says to Rachel.  He basically says, “I am not God.  God is the one in charge of children.  He is the one who causes conception, not me”.  He may also have been thinking “infertility is not my problem.  It is yours.  I had four kids with Leah.”

Second, her request was desperate.  You can hear it in the request. Rachel says, “Give me children, or I shall die!” Rachel wasn’t going to die if she didn’t have children.  That was a slight exaggeration.  In fact, it was her kids that actually killed her.  She died in childbirth.  She died giving birth to her second son (35:16-18).

If Rachel did not have kids, she thought life was not worth living.  Her value and worth as a person was dependent on her having kids.  Many people do the same thing today.  They say, “If I only get married, then I will be happy” or “If I only made ten thousand more dollars, then I would be happy.”  What is the error here?  It puts our happiness in things.  It puts our worth as a person in the number of possessions we have.

3. Rachel takes matters into her own hands.

When she cannot get anywhere with Jacob, she decides to do things herself.  In Genesis 29, we are told that God saw some things.  He saw that Leah was hated and did something about it (29:31).  Now we are told that Rachel sees something.  She sees that she is infertile and decides to do something about it (31:1-3).  She said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her” (30:3).  Her solution is to use a surrogate mother.  The problem is that it involves adultery or polygamy.

The Battle of the Servants

We can be very critical of what Rachel does here but we have to remember that this was what people did in the Ancient Near East to solve the problem of infertility.  It was perfectly legal.  It was socially accepted.  Everyone was doing it.  By our standards today, this sounds like a bad idea but it is what people did in that day. There were no fertility clinics back then.

The plan worked. “And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali” (30:5-8).

Bihah not only got pregnant once, she got pregnant twice and gave Rachel two sons (Dan, Naphtali).  Rachel’s first two sons were from a surrogate.  Notice how Rachel took this.  Rachel’s response shows you her mental state.  Both of her responses were incorrect.  First, she took it as victory over her sister (30:8).  These were not just babies.  This was a contest with Leah.  The score right now was Leah four, Rachel two.  She is slowly catching up.

Second, she credited God for the births.  That sounds spiritual but basically it is Rachel’s way of saying that God approved of what she did and blessed her efforts.  Rachel had the ends justifies the means philosophy.  Just because what Rachel did worked doesn’t mean that it was right. God did not tell Jacob to do this.

How did Leah responded?  She was just as competitive.  If it worked for Rachel, she wanted to see if it would work for her, so she did the same thing Rachel did.  Leah tried it and got the same results.

When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad. Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher” (30:9-13)

The Battle over the Mandrakes

“In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.” (30:14-17).

Now this seems very strange.  When I first read this after I became a Christian, I had no idea what this was talking about.  Mandrakes are a plant that grows in the Middle East.  We do not have them in North Carolina.  It is a biblical herb.  They are mentioned two times in the Bible.  They are mentioned five times in Genesis 30 and once in Song of Solomon (7:13).  Many in the ancient world believed that they help with fertility.  It is a myth.  There is no scientific evidence that mandrakes help with fertility or pregnancy.

Leah’s son finds them.  Rachel wants them.  Leah says you can have them if I get to sleep with Jacob tonight.  Rachel agrees and that night Leah is the one who gets pregnant.  It had nothing to do with the mandrakes.  It had to do with God listening to Leah (30:17).  At the end of the chapter, Rachel gets pregnant but it is not because of the mandrakes.  It is because that God opened her womb (30:22)

Lessons from this Conflict

There are so many lessons that we can learn from this section.

1. God is the one in charge of conception.  Even if there are natural supplements today which support conception, God is the one who causes it.

2. Beware of jealousy. This section says something about the danger of jealousy.  Jealousy is a work of the flesh.

3. No one gets everything in this life.  God gave Leah and Rachel different gifts.

4. Turn to God, rather than people, in time of need.  Rachel and Leah do not do this.

5. Beware of misreading providence.  Both Rachel and Leah believed that God rewarded them for their surrogate mother scheme.

6. Be careful what you ask for.  Rachel ask for children but they became a mixed blessing. One of them led to her death.

7. Beware of competing with people.  Christians should not be competitive.

Many of us are very competetive.  We compete in sports and then come into the church and continue to compete with other Christians.  Churches compete with other churches.  Pastors compete with other pastors.  Small groups compete with other small groups.  Everyone likes to have a bigger group or church. Some Christians approach ministry like a sports event.

The Apostles did not compete with one another.  Paul said that he labored more than all of the other Apostles.  That was a fact but it did not make him feel superior to the other Apostles.  He said it was not him but the grace of God which enabled him to do that (I Corinthians 15:10).  Paul said that he was not even worthy to be called an Apostle, because he persecuted the church (I Corinthians 15:9).

 

Marriage by Deception

We are studying the Book of Genesis.  We come today to a section that is very exciting.  This is a lot of drama in this section.  The chapter contains love, romance, disappointment, rejection and sorrow.  It is a chapter that has some very interesting applications.  It also has some strange parts to it.  There is incest in this chapter.  There is polygamy.  There is a love triangle in this chapter.  There is a reality show about polygamy called Sister Wives.  Jacob was married to actual sister wives.

We see another sibling rivalry in this chapter.  This time, it is not two brothers (Jacob and Esau) but by two sisters (Leah and Rachel).  The relationship of Leah and Rachel was very much like the relationship of Jacob and Esau.  One was older and one was younger. They were very different. They looked very different physically.  They had very different personalities.  They are rivals in every way.

Let’s review the background of the chapter.  Jacob is on the run.  He is fleeing for his life.  He took the birthright and the blessing from his twin brother and now Esau plans to kill him, so he is not only leaving home, he is leaving the country and traveling five hundred miles to Haran in what is today Turkey.

On his way to Haran, he falls asleep and has a dream about a long staircase and a lot of angels going up and down it.  God spoke to him in the dream and confirmed the Abrahamic Covenant to him. In this chapter, he finally arrives at his destination.  He meets his relatives and gets married.

Jacob went in a very short period of time from having NO wives to having FOUR wives.  In one week, Jacob acquired Leah and her maid Zilpah, along with Rachel and her maid Bilhah. He had two wives and two concubines (two primary wives and two secondary wives).  We will not see the concubines until the next chapter.

In the last chapter, Jacob had a dream.  In this chapter, he meets the woman of his dreams.  In the last chapter, Jacob met God.  In this chapter, he met his wife or wives. In fact, he meets his first wife at the exact same well where Abraham’s servant found a wife for Isaac about ninety years before.  It was no accident.

As Steven Cole says,  “He happens upon a well where there happen to be some shepherds, who happen to be from Haran and happen to know Laban. Just as Jacob is talking to them, Rachel happens to come along.[1]

Jacob flirts with Rachel at this well and shows off his strength by moving the large heavy stone on top of the well cover by himself.  He tries to send the shepherd boys away so he can talk to Rachel alone.  He waters her flocks.  When the servant came with his ten camels, Rebekah did all of the work but he wants to make a good impression.  In this chapter, Jacob arrives at his destination, falls in love, gets married and has kids.  He has a lot of them.  He actually ends up with twelve sons.

Try to picture Jacob arriving in Haran.  He arrives with just the clothes on his back.  We will learn that in Genesis 32:10.  The last time that someone from Abraham’s family arrived, they came with ten camels and all kinds of gifts.  Laban remembers that.  Jacob does not have all kinds of gifts to give them.  He stays with Uncle Laban.  Laban is an old man in Genesis 29.  He would have been a young man in Genesis 24.  Uncle Laban does not treat Jacob very well.

He arrived with a sign that said “will work for food and a wife”.  Laban told him that if he worked for seven years for him, he could marry his daughter Rachel.  Jacob was poor.  He did not have any money for a dowry, so he had to work for the pride price.  At the end of the seven years, there is a wedding but Laban switches Leah for Rachel.  Laban had two daughters and he gave Jacob his older daughter, rather than his younger daughter.  Why did Laban do this?

Leah was not very attractive.  She was older.  He probably thought no one would want to marry her, so Laban tricked Jacob into marrying her.  This is very interesting.  What happens here is that history repeats itself?  Deception takes place again, only it is not blessing by deception.  It is marriage by deception.  This time Jacob is not the perpetrator, he is the victim.  Jacob cheated Esau and now Laban cheats Jacob.  Jacob tricked his father and now his father-in-law tricks him.

The tables are now turned.  Jacob pretended to be Esau.  He dressed up like Esau and tricked his Isaac.  Now Leah pretends to be Rachel.  She dressed up like Rachel and tricks Jacob.  Jacob impersonated his brother Esau and now Leah impersonates her sister.  Jacob gets a taste of his own medicine. The same trick which he pulled on his father was pulled on him by his father-in-law.

It is a kind of poetic justice. Jacob took advantage of people and now they take advantage of him.  Jacob took advantage of Isaac and now Laban takes advantage of Jacob.  Isaac was old and he was blind.  He could not see who he was blessing.  Jacob could not see who he married.  There was no electricity.  It was a dark room.  Leah wore a long veil and Jacob probably a lot of alcohol at his wedding celebration.

This trick involved a conspiracy, like the one that Jacob pulled on Esau.  Jacob did not work alone when he deceived his father.  Rebekah his mom helped him. Leah does not work on her own either.  Rebekah’s brother Laban helps her trick Jacob.  Abraham goes to school in this chapter.  He has to learn some hard lessons.

We all have some character flaws.  God intends to correct them.  Jacob got saved in the last chapter but he has a long way to go.  He is just a baby Christian.  He is not a spiritual giant yet.  He tries to bargain with God after he spoke to him in a dream.

He has a long way to go.  When he arrives at the well, he does not break out in a prayer asking God to reveal which woman he should marry.  Abraham’s servant who went to Haran uttered a prayer when he got there.  Jacob does not prayer or praise God, like the servant did.

He never asks God if it is His will for him to marry Rachel.  They just get married. When they do get married and Rachel is infertile, she comes to him angry and says, “Give me children or else I will die”.  Jacob’s mom had a similar problem.  She was infertile.  Rebekah could not have kids for twenty years.  What was Isaac’s response?

He prayed for her and we are told that God answered his prayers (25:21).  Jacob does not have that kind of response to Rachel.  In fact, the text says that he was angry that she would even say such a thing, because he had no power to create children.  Only God could do that but Jacob did not have the same sensitivity to his wife that Isaac seemed to have. Jacob clearly has a long way to go.  There is a lot that God still has to teach him.

The lessons begin in this chapter. God also begins to work on Jacob’s character in this chapter.  He never confronted him about his deception but he teaches him a lesson that he will never forget in Haran about deception.  He learns the lesson from his Uncle Laban, who was a master of deceit.  Jacob has just enrolled in Laban’s Academy of Deception.

Jacob had no problem whatsoever deceiving others, even his dying father but he is shocked and outraged that anyone would dare deceive him.  This was the only way that he could really learn how painful it is to do this to someone.  He learns it first-hand when someone does it to him.  He made Esau cry and now he knows what it is like.  God makes Jacob sick of his own sin in the end.

What Jacob learns in this chapter is that you reap what you sow.  This is the biblical law of the harvest.  The Apostle Paul said, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).  Jacob sowed deception and is reaping deception.

Proverbs 26:27 says, “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it”. That sounds like the old cartoon Roadrunner and Coyote. The very thing that Jacob did to other people is now being done to him.  He deceived other people.  He lied to them and tricked them and now people are deceiving and tricking him.

A Changed Man

Jacob had a long way to go but he looks very different from the old Jacob we are used to seeing. In Genesis 27, he was a terrible role model.  He was a deceiver and a liar.  He was a crook and a swindler.  Here he has a good reputation.  In many ways, he is a good role model for us today.

Jacob has integrity.  He is a good employee. He sees a woman and falls in love with her.  He waited seven years to marry her.  It is one of the greatest love stories in all of literature.  It is one of the greatest love stories of all time.  People in the ancient world did not have romance before marriage, because marriages were arranged.  Love took place after marriage, not before.  In Jacob’s case, he falls in love BEFORE marriage.

Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her” (29:20 NIV). That is one of the most romantic verses in the Bible.  I submit to you that few men would do what Jacob does here.  Few men would have this kind of patience.

Jacob does not find the woman of his dreams until he is older (possibly in his late 50, 60s or 70s) and then he is willing to wait seven years to marry her.  He loved her so much that he did not mind waiting seven more years.  Seven years was like seven days.  It makes it easier to wait when you have something to look forward to and Jacob was in no hurry to go home because he had an angry brother waiting for him.

What is even more amazing is this.  Jacob was sexually pure during this time.  They didn’t sleep together until they were married and he was living with Rachel’s family all during this time.  How do we know that he stayed pure?  At the end of the seven years, Jacob told Laban in 29:21, “Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her” (NIV).

The KJV says, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her“.  This tells you that they stayed pure during that time.  This is a perfect example of true love waits.  The Bible says that “love is patient” (I Corinthians 13:4).  How many people would do this today?

Jacob did not just WAIT seven years for Rachel; he WORKED seven years for her.  The lesson here is that dreams are not just things you wait for.  They are things that you work for.  Laban had a deal with him and he kept his end of the deal.  He worked seven years for free.  He works hard.  He keeps his end of the bargain.  He is the one who shows integrity in this chapter but at the end of the seven years, Laban switches Leah for Rachel.

A Deceptive Marriage

He pulls the old switcheroo.  “Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.  And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! (29:22-25).

Jacob gets cheated by his uncle.  Uncle Laban tricks him.  Jacob marries Leah by mistake.   He had a great wedding but a terrible honeymoon.  The next morning, he wakes up to a complete nightmare. He had disappointment in his marriage from day one.  He is forced to marry two women.  He is forced to marry a woman that he does not even love.  He is forced to marry two sisters.  He confronted his uncle about this injustice.  And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” (29:25)

What was Laban’s response?  He said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn” (29:26 ESV).  Laban says that Jacob needs to respect the rights of the firstborn.  Leah was Laban’s firstborn daughter.  He did not respect the rights of his firstborn brother but now he is forced to respect the rights of Laban’s firstborn daughter.

Notice Jacob’s response to both Laban and Leah.  What happened when Jacob cheated Esau?  Esau planned to kill him.  He planned to kill his own twin brother.  Now Jacob’s father-in-law plays a terrible trick on Jacob on his wedding day.  Jacob was angry.  He was upset.  He protested what Laban did and confronted him but he didn’t become violent.  He didn’t become resentful.

You can be critical of Jacob for not loving Leah but can you really blame him here?  He did not want to marry Leah.  His heart was set on Rachel.  That is who he wanted to marry.  That is who Laban said that he could marry.  That is who he thought he married.  What Jacob did here, no one would do today.  If we do not like who we marry, we just get a divorce.  Jacob literally married the wrong person and he still did not get a divorce.

He stayed married to her the rest of his life.  He believed in keeping the marriage vows that he made before God for better or for worse, rather than breaking them.  That would be unheard of today.  That shows that he did not believe in divorce.  He had a very different attitude about divorce than many do in the west.

Laban did eventually give Jacob Rachel but how long did he have to wait?  I became a Christian when I was thirteen.  When I read this for the first time, I thought that Jacob waited seven years, married Leah and then had to wait another seven years before he could marry Rachel.

That is where having a good modern bible translation of Genesis 29:27 helps you understand what is going on.  The NLT reads, “Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”  The HCSB reads, “Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.” Jacob got Rachel seven days later.  Jewish weddings back then lasted a week.  It was a big celebration.

An Unloved Wife

So Jacob finally gets Rachel a week later.  He gets the woman of his dreams, but he is also stuck with Leah, who he does not love. That brings us to the interesting part of the chapter.  As you read, Genesis 29, you feel sorry for Leah.  She was married to a man who did not choose her, did not want her and did not love her.  She was unattractive, unwanted and unloved.

Anyone who feels unloved can relate to Leah.  Her husband did not love her.  Every time Leah had a baby, she hoped that her husband would start loving her but he never did.  Then God steps into the situation and intervenes.  What He does is interesting and a little surprising.

Genesis 29:17 says, “Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful” (NIV). Rachel and Leah were not equal in beauty.  All women were not created equal in beauty.  God did not make all women physically flawless.  There is a sense in which that statement in The Declaration of Independence which says “we are all created equal” is a complete lie.  We are all created very unequal.  We all have different gifts and abilities.

The Bible says Rachel was hot and Leah was not.  Rachel looked like a super model.  She was drop dead gorgeous. Leah did not have her sister’s looks.  In fact, her name means “cow”.  She was not physically attractive.  She wasn’t easy on the eyes.  She weakened your eyes. Rachel was the one who looked like the beauty queen.

That led to favoritism, because Jacob was now married to both of them.  This is the second time we have seen favoritism in Genesis.  We saw favoritism on the part of Isaac and now we see favoritism on the part of his son Jacob.  Jacob actually learned this behavior from both of his parents.  Isaac had a favorite son and Rebekah had a favorite son (25:28).  They both loved one son more than the other son.  Now Jacob has two wives and he loves one more than the other (29:30).

Divine Intervention

This time it is not a favorite son but a favorite wife.  Leah was not treated right.  She felt inferior to Rachel.  She felt unloved.  She was insecure.  She felt like she never measured up to her sister.  She probably had some self esteem issues.  She may have struggled with depression.

Leah’s Incredible Blessings

The Bible says that God saw this.  It says that He “saw that Leah was hated” (29:31).  He sees what goes on in a marriage.  When we are not treated right, He sees it as well, even when no one else does.  So what does God do about it? First note what He did NOT do.

He did not change her physical appearance.  God knew that Leah did not look like her sister.  He created her that way.  Leah was just the way that God made her.

God did not give Leah a make-over.  He just blessed her in other ways.  God is the great equalizer.  In fact, He actually blessed her far more than He ever blessed Rachel.  Leah had no idea how much she was blessed by God.  How did God bless Leah?  He did it in four ways.

1. Leah had many children.

This may not be a big deal to us but it was a big deal to women in biblical days. In the Bible, this was a sign of God’s blessing.  Kids in the Bible are viewed as a blessing, not a burden.  In our society today, children are often viewed, not as a blessing but as a curse.

In the Bible, they are seen as a blessing.  God gives Leah a lot of kids.  In this chapter, Rachel does not have any kids, although she will get a few in the next chapter. Leah had seven kids and Rachel had two.  Leah had three times as many sons as Rachel did.  In fact, Leah had more kids than Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah had combined.

2. Many tribes came from Leah.

She is the mother of the first four patriarchs of Israel.  Six of the Twelve Tribes come from Leah.  No other woman produced as many of the Twelve Tribes than Leah did and all of the important tribes came from Leah as well.

The tribes Levi and Judah came from Leah.That is very important. All of the Levitical priests came from Leah.  Moses and Aaron came from Levi.  All of the kings came from Judah and Judah was one of Leah’s sons. King David and Solomon came from Judah.

3. Leah became the ancestor of the Messiah.

Jesus was not a descendant of the very attractive Rachel.  He was a descendant of the rather plain looking Leah.  That is not who we would have picked to be the ancestor of the Messiah.  We would have picked someone with good genes who was physically stunning like Rachel but God chose Leah.

God sees things very differently than we do.  His ways are different than our ways and His thoughts are different than our thoughts(Isaiah 55:8). The things that we think are so important, God does not think are important. There are some things that we do not think are that important that God says is very important. The Messiah came from the unloved wife, not the favorite wife.

Think about this.  Jacob never planned to marry Leah.  He didn’t want to marry Leah but guess what?  If Jacob never married Leah, then Jesus would never have been born two thousand years later.  Why?  Jesus came from the tribe of Judah and Judah was Leah’s fourth son (29:35).

If Jacob never married Leah, then Judah would not have been born and if Judah was not born, then Jesus would never have been born.  This marriage was not planned by Jacob but it was planned by God.

4. Leah was blessed with longevity.

Rachel died early.  She died in childbirth.  They were only married for fourteen years.  Jacob spent most of his life married to Leah. With her sister gone, she no longer had any competition.  Leah became Jacob’s favorite wife because she was his only wife.  She is buried next to Jacob at Machpelah (49:29-31).

 

 


[1] https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-54-god-s-boot-camp-genesis-291-30

 

Jacob’s Incredible Dream

Today, we want to do two things.  We want to finish Genesis 27 and go into Genesis 28.  That is the goal for today. Last week, we looked at Genesis 27.  It tells a famous biblical story about Jacob and Esau.  It is the story of how Rebekeh conspired with her favorite son to cheat his twin brother out of his father’s blessing by deceiving him.  The plan worked.  Isaac did bless Jacob by mistake and the blessing was irreversible.  He could not take it back but Esau was so mad that he planned to kill Jacob.

It reads like a modern-day soap opera. It is a great story but what does that have to do to us?  What does this story say to us today?  There is no command in this chapter for us to obey. What lessons can we learn from it? Here are nine that stand out to me.

Lessons from the Stolen Blessing

1) No family is perfect.

Even Christian families have problems and sometimes they are big problems.  Pastor’s kids are not perfect.  The family of Isaac and Rebekah was dysfunctional and that was the chosen family.

2) Spouses need to communicate with each other.

That did not happen in this chapter.  Isaac and Rebekah had no communication in this chapter.  Marriage counseling experts (which I make no claim to be) say that this is the number one problem in marriage.  It involves listening as well as talking.  It is not just involve getting your point across but listening to the other side.  Couples often do not do this very well.

3) Parents need to treat kids fairly.

Isaac and Rebekah both showed favoritism to their kids.  One loved Jacob.  One loved Esau.  As parents, we can bond more with one child than with another but we should not treat one differently than another or love one any less than the other.  Parental favoritism leads to all kinds of problems in children (jealousy, anger, depression, rivalry).

4) If your life is in danger, go to a safe place.

That is what Jacob did when his brother was trying to kill him.  He fled.  He did not stick around for target practice.  He goes five hundred miles away.  In this case, it was a danger that he really created but the point still remains.

5) Do not listen to those who tell you to sin.

Rebekah commanded her son to sin.  She told him to lie, not once but twice.  In Genesis 27:8, Rebekah told Jacob, “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I COMMAND you” (ESV).  She said it again in Genesis 27:13.  She said, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only OBEY my voice, and go, bring them to me.” Never listen to anyone who tells you to sin, no matter who they are.

6) God’s will prevails over our will.

Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” It is futile to fight against God. God said that the older son would serve the younger son.  Isaac wanted to reverse that.  He had a plan and his plan tries to thwart God’s prophecy.  It didn’t work.  Proverbs 21:30 says, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD” (NIV).

7) Sin has consequences.

Jacob got the blessing but there were some consequences to his actions. His brother wanted to kill him.  He has to flee for his life. He never sees his mother again.  He never even got to attend her funeral.  Jacob got the blessing but he lost his family.

8) Just because we get away with something, does not mean that God approves of our actions.

Just because a plan works does not mean that it is right.  Rebekah and Sarah both had a plan and it worked.  Abraham got a baby and Jacob got the blessing.  In both cases, the plan was flawed because it involved sin.  One plan involved deception and one plan involved adultery.

9) There is a right and a wrong way to do things.

There is a right and a wrong way to do things.  They did the right thing the wrong way.  God does not just look at what we do.  He looks at how we do it.  Sarah and Rebekah did the right thing the wrong way. We do not need to lie to get ahead. That is the lie that many believe.  We do not have to sin to get ahead.

Rebekah and Sarah tried that. In both cases, it was completely unnecessary.  Sarah and Abraham gave birth to a baby without the help of a concubine and the Messiah would come through the line of Jacob anyway.  Even if Isaac cursed Jacob, God can turn curses into blessings.  We see that in Deuteronomy 23:5 and Nehemiah 13:2.

So how does this chapter end?  Jacob steals the blessing and Esau plans to kill him (27:41).  That was a problem, because Esau was a hunter.  He was an archer.  He was good with a bow and arrow.  He was used to killing things.  Now Jacob is marked for death. He has a death sentence over him, so Rebekah once again comes up with another plan.  She was good at taking over when there was a problem.

Her plan was to send him away for a while until Esau got over his anger (27:43-45).  This time she has to talk to Isaac.  The whole chapter she did not say a word to her husband.  Now she has to talk to him but notice what she says.  “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?” (27:46)

Notice that she does not say anything about Esau.  She did not say anything negative about Isaac’s favorite son.  She did not say, “Isaac needs to get out of town because your favorite son wants to kill him”.  Isaac might have turned that around and said, “He only wants to kill him because of what YOU did.  It’s your own fault.”

She was very tactful.  She was very diplomatic.  She had him leave town for a different reason.  It was a reason that Isaac could relate to.  A servant went out of the country to find Isaac a wife and Isaac did not want him to marry a Canaanite woman.

This was brilliant.  Rebekah was smart.  She knew how to get her husband to do whatever she wanted him to do.  She just had to word things right and in this case she was not lying, because it was time for Jacob to get married and she did not want him to marry a Hittite woman. Isaac agrees.  They send him off but first, he blesses him.

“Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples.  May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother” (28:1-5 NIV)

Now Isaac already blessed Jacob.  Why is he doing it again?  The last time he did it, he was tricked into doing it.  He did it unwillingly and unconsciously.  This time he CHOOSES to bless Jacob.  He gives Jacob two instructions.  One is positive and one is negative.

He tells him not to marry a Canaanite woman like Esau did) and he tells Jacob to go back to the old country.  He tells him to go to his grandfather Bethuel’s house and marry one of Laban’s daughters.  He actually ends up marrying both of them, as we will see next week.

Esau sees Jacob getting the blessing and marrying inside the family, so he tries that as well to please his parents (28:7-9).  Jacob looked for a wife on his mom’s side.  Esau added another wife on his dad’s side of the family.  She married the daughter of Ishmael (his dad’s half-brother).  It was little improvement.  Both Esau’s descendant and Ishmael’s descendants were at odds with the Jews.

Jacob leaves home.  There is Jewish tradition that is not in the Bible but is probably historical, so I want to share it with you.  It is found in the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees is a Jewish book that is not inspired but is very old.  It goes back to the second century B.C.  The Book of Jubilees says that after Jacob left home, Rebekah grieved and wept.  Isaac comforted her and said that God would be with him, protect him and make him prosper wherever he goes (27:13-18).

Jacob takes a five hundred mile trip from Beersheba to Haran.  He does not get there in this chapter.  He travels for a little while, camps out, falls asleep and has a dream.  It is an incredible dream.  Before we look at it, we have to imagine what was probably going through Jacob’s mind at this time.

In the last chapter, Jacob was on top.  He outsmarted everyone.  He hit the jackpot.  He got the birthright.  He got the blessing.  Then the whole plan turned sour and he is forced to leave home probably for the first time in his life.  Jacob has to say goodbye to his mother and father.  That would not have been easy.  Jacob was a mamma’s boy.  He was domestic.  He now has to leave his family and be on his own.

Not only does he go out of town, he goes out of the country for his own safety.  He left quickly do he does not take a lot with him.  He leaves his family.  He leaves his wealth.  He leaves the comforts of home and he goes out on his own alone.  He is running for his life.

He is used to living indoors but now he is living outside with the wild animals.  He fears for his life.  He never knows when Esau might pop out behind a bush and try to take him out and get revenge for what he did to him.  He probably feels bad about himself.  He may have blamed himself for being stupid enough to carry out this plan.

He disgraced himself by what he did.  He does not have the reputation now as a man of integrity but as a cheater, a swindler, a crook.  He was the one who got himself into this mess.  He won the battle but seems to have lost the war.  Now he is exiled from home.  He is leaving the land and his inheritance.  Esau is the only one living at home.

Jacob reaches rock bottom in this chapter.  It is probably the lowest point of his life.  God must have seemed far away from him at this time.  He had a lot of problems.  His brother wants to kill him.  He is on the run, leaving not only his family but his country.  He’s a fugitive.  He is alone.  He is vulnerable.  He is helpless and homeless.  He has regrets about his past.  He feeels guilt for some of the things he had done.  He is fearful of the present and he is uncertain about the future.

He did not know what was going to happen?  Would he make it safely to Uncle Laban’s house?  Would he find a wife there?  Would he ever return to the Promised Land?  If he did return to the Priomise Land, would his brother still be angry with him and want to kill him? Would he see his parents again?

As you can imagine, Jacob is very anxious.  He is afraid.  He is hungry.  He is tired.  He has nowhere to stay.  It is dark.  He has no place to spend the night.  There was no Comfort Inn or Days Inn. He has to sleep outdoors. He did not even have a pillow to sleep on.  He had to use a stone as a pillow.  He must have had a hard time falling asleep.

That is when God appears to him.  He has an encounter with God.  He experiences a theophany and his life is completely changed.  He becomes a new man after this encounter.  This is when Jacob gets saved. He woke up afraid.  He began with a fear of his brother and ended with a fear of God.  He consecrates the place and pours oil on the stone.  He makes a vow to God.  He is completely changed.

Notice when this came.  It came at his lowest point. That is usually when God speaks to us.  He reaches out to us when we are completely broken.  Jacob found God when he least expected it.  He also found God when he least deserved it.  He was not out seeking God.  He did not meet God in church.  He was not praying and worshipping.  He was running from home.  He was not running to God.  He was not seeking God.  God sought him. Jacob left home looking for a wife.  Before he found one, he finds God Himself.  This is pure grace.

Why is this important? Just because Jacob was in a family that had some contact with God does not mean that he knew God.  He needed to have his own relationship with God.  Many know about God second-hand.  Many that they know have a relationship with God but they do not.

Just because you come from a Christian family or are a preacher’s kid doesn’t mean you are saved.  None of us are Christians because our parents are Christian.  Jacob’s dad and grandfather knew God.  They had a relationship with him.  He had spoken to them but not to Jacob until now.

This is the first of seven or eight appearances that God made to Jacob.  The first time he appeared was when he left home and was fleeing the Promised Land.  God also appears to him when he is in Haran.  He appears to him on his way back to the Promised Land twenty years later.  That was when he had that famous wresting match which we will look at eventually. Let’s look at the first time that God made contact with Jacob.  It was in a dream. It is ther first mention of a dream in the Bible.

Jacob’s Heavenly Dream

“As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac.

The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” (28:12-15 NLT).  God does two things in this dream.

1. He spoke to Jacob.

God reveals himself to Jacob.  God said to Jacob, “Your dad knew me. Your grandfather knew me but you don’t know me. “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac” (28:13).  Has God ever spoken to you in a dream?

God speaks to me in dreams all of the time.  I wake up with ideas for my lesson that I did not have to me before I fell asleep.  They came to me in the middle of the night.  The first thing I try to do when I wake up is write them down, so I don’t forget them.  God has spoken to me when I am sleeping many times but I have never had a vision of heaven while I was asleep.  Jacob did.

God not only revealed himself to Jacob, he told him some things.  He gave him some promises.  This was grace.  He could have rebuked Jacob for his deception.  Instead, He gave him some incredible promises.  He promised to be with Jacob and will bring him back into the Promised Land (28:15).  He promised that his descendants would be like the dust of the earth (28:14).  Right now, he did not have any descendants.  He was not even married.  He had no children.  He also promised to give him and his descendants the Promised Land (28:23).

2. He gave Jacob an incredible vision.

What does he see?  He sees three things. First, he sees a ladder.  It must have been a very long ladder, because it reached from heaven to earth.  We call it Jacob’s ladder (following the KJV) but it probably was not a ladder.  It was probably a staircase and this stairway stretched from heaven to earth.

Second, he saw angels on the stairway.  He saw lots of them going up and down this heavenly staircase.  As he looks all the way to the top of the ladder, he sees God.  That is the third things that he saw in his dream.

Lessons from Jacob’s Dream

What do we learn from this dream?  What does it tell us?  This is very interesting.  We learn several things.

1. God is personally involved in this world.

He is at work, even when we do not think he is.  He was present in the place where Jacob was, even though he did not know it or feel it.

2. God works through angels to accomplish his purposes on earth.

Apparently, they are quite busy, going back and forth from heaven to earth.  They guide and protect believers.  Jacob is traveling alone.  That was dangerous in that day.  Usually, you traveled in caravans.  He is seeking a wife.  Remember angels were involved behind the scenes in Isaac finding a wife (24:7).  Hebrews says that they minister to those who are heirs of salvation and report back to Heaven where they have full access.

Notice what Genesis 28:12 says.  The angels are NOT descending and ascending but “ascending and descending”.  They are already one earth, helping believers and they report back to heaven.  Apparently, they are invisible.  Jacob would not have know about them had not God let him see what was going on.

Jesus, Nathaniel and Jacob’s Ladder

Genesis 28 is alluded to in the NT by Jesus Himself.  It is a fascinating verse.  Jesus finds Philip and says “Follow Me” (John 1:43).  Philip finds Nathaniel and tells him that we have found the Messiah.  Nathaniel is not too sure, so Philip says, “come and see” (John 1:46).  Check him out for yourself.

When Nathaniel meets Jesus, he says to him “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit” (John 1:47).  Jesus says that you are not like Jacob at all.  There is no deceit in you.  NLT reads, “You are a man of complete integrity.” Would Jesus say the same thing about us?  Nathaniel says, “How do you know me?” (1:48). In other words, “I have never met you before.”

Jesus said, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you” (1:48). Nathaniel did not see anyone watching him.  Jesus was miles away but he saw Nathaniel reading his Bible.  He was probably reading Genesis 28 because he quotes Genesis 28 to him but he changes one detail in the text.

“And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51 ESV).  That sounds a lot like Genesis 28 but, instead of angels ascending and descending on a ladder, they are ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Jesus IS the ladder.  Jacob’s ladder is a type of Christ.  Jacob had a literal dream but that dream was also a picture of Jesus.  How is this ladder a picture of Jesus?

Jesus is the only way to heaven.  He said, “”I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  He is the only way to get to God.  He is the only mediator between God and Man (cf. I Timothy 2:5).  He is the only one who connects heaven and earth.  He connects God and sinful man.  Many think that there are many stairways to heaven.  Jesus is the only one.  He is our only access to God.

Blessing by Deception

If you are here for the first time, we want to welcome you.  We are studying the Book of Genesis.  Many Christians have read some of these stories or heard them as kids but never really studied them in depth.  Many are in church for twenty years and never get any in-depth bible teaching.  That is what we want to do in this class.

Today, we will be looking at a famous story about Jacob and Esau.  This is the story of a mother plotting with her favorite son to cheat his twin brother out of the blessing by deceiving his old blind dying father. A mother here schemes to steal her own son’s blessings so another son can have them.

This story is well known.  It is very interesting. There is a lot of drama in this section.  It reads like a modern-day soap opera, except these events took place four thousand years ago.  It is also a very misunderstood story.  Some have missed the whole point of the passage.

It is definitely a provocative story. It raises all kinds of questions.  Why does Esau do the right thing and get punished?  He does what his father tells him to do.  He goes out and gets some venison like his father asked him to do and prepares it all by himself.  He plays by the rules.  He tells the truth (unlike his brother) and loses out in the end.

He gets tricked out of both his birthright and his blessing, not once but twice.  You almost feel sorry for Esau here.  In the end, he is sobbing.  The text says that it was a loud cry (27:34) and he begs his father to bless him. Esau is definitely the more likable character here.

His brother Jacob lies.  He cheats.  He deceives his blind father and ends up with the blessing.  That doesn’t seem fair.  He does the wrong thing and gets rewarded for it.  He got the blessing through deception.   Nothing Jacob does is really appealing.  Why is Jacob the hero of the story?  Why does God bless a bold-faced liar? Was does he reward a man for lying to his father?

What does this story teach us?  That it is okay to lie?  Does this story justify lying?  If Jacob was able to get his blessing by lying, does this mean that we should try to get some things by lying as well?  These are all important questions.

In order to understand what is going on in these two sections of Scripture, you have to first understand two words: birthright and blessing.  In Genesis 25, Jacob receives THE BIRTHRIGHT.  In Genesis 27, Jacob receives THE BLESSING. The problem is that most Christians have no idea what those two words mean.  We no longer use those terms today. We live in a completely different culture.

Who have you given the birthright to in your family?  Do you even have a birthright in your family?  Who did you get the blessing to in your family? Preachers sometimes talk about the need for people to still do this today.  They say that we need to bless our kids.  We need to speak affirming words of blessing over them.

There is only one problem.  This blessing was not just a wish or a prayer.  It was a prophecy.  It was a prediction of future events.  It did not just involve saying some good words over your children.  It involved bringing them to bring them to pass.  Jacob here acts as a prophet.

It was also permanent.  It could not be changed.  Even though Isaac thought he was blessing Esau and even though Jacob lied about who he was, he could not change what he said.  It was considered a legal contract, like a last will and testament.

It was also selective.  Only one son could be blessed, not both.  You can’t use this passage to bless all of your children.  Only one of Isaac’s sons was blessed.  Esau begged his dad to bless him and he tried but what he said was more of a curse than a blessing.

Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother” (27:39-40).  Esau has to serve his brother.  He does not get heaven’s dew or the earth’s fatness.  He is stuck living like a predator on the earth.

What do these two words mean?  Are they the same? They are not the same thing.  Esau said, Jacob “took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing” (27:36).  He understood that they were different things.

In fact, the same person did not always get both.  When Jacob gets old and is on his deathbed, he gives the blessing to one child and the birthright to another.  Ephraim got the birthright and Judah got the blessing. What is the difference between the two?

Meaning of Birthright

The birthright refers to inheritance.  It refers to property.  The one who got the birthright inherited two-thirds of the estate when the parent died.  If there are two sons, the one who got the birthright inherited two-thirds and the other son inherited one-third.

In the ancient world, this went to the firstborn but God sometimes reversed human custom.  Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn but he did not get the birthright; Isaac did.  Esau was Isaac’s firstborn but he did not get the birthright; Jacob did.  Reuben was Jacob’s first born but he did not get the birthright; Ephraim did.

Meaning of Blessing

What was this deathbed blessing?  It was a formal ceremony.  It was done in the presence of God (27:7).  It involved physical touch (laying hands on Jacob) and spoken words.  It does not have to do with inheritance but personal success. Isaac’s blessing had three parts to it.

It had an economic or agricultural component. “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine” (27:28).  It also had a political component. “May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you” (27:29).

Finally, it had a spiritual component to it.  It refers to the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant.  In fact, when God blesses Jacob, he quotes the Abrahamic Covenant.  He says, “Whoever curses you will be cursed and whoever blesses you will be blessed” (27:29).

This was the covenant blessings which God promised to Abraham.  They had been passed on to Isaac and were now being passed on to Jacob.  Jacob, not Esau, would be the ancestor of the Messiah.  The blessing is actually far more valuable than the birthright.  We will see this in the next chapter.

As we read this chapter, it is clear that the family of Rebekah and Isaac is a dysfunctional family.  The whole family is screwed up.  It is a broken family. What is shocking is that this isn’t just any family.

This was the chosen family.  This was the family God was going to work through.  These were not pagans.  These were supposed to be the people of God and yet this family was completely messed up.  Let’s look at some of the characteristics of this family.  Does it describe your family?

Characteristics of a Dysfunctional Family

  • There is division in the home.

The parents were divided and the kids were divided.  Isaac and Rebekah were not on the same page.  They were not working together.  Jacob and Esau were rivals from birth (25:22-23).

  • There is no communication on the home.

Jacob and Esau do not speak to each other.  Isaac and Rebekah do not speak to each other either, like many married couples.  They would be prime candidates for marriage counseling today.  Rebekah does not talk to Isaac until the last verse in the chapter.

  • There is favoritism in the home.

In fact, both parents have a favorite child.  Both loved one child more than another child.  Rebekah loved Jacob and Isaac loved Esau (25:28).

  • There is secrecy in the home.

Isaac tries to bless Esau in secret.  It was supposed to be a public event.  When Jacob blesses his sons at the end of Genesis, it is done in public.  Rebekah comes up with a counter-plan which is also secret.  Esau has a plan to kill his brother at the end of the chapter which was also a secret, although that secret got out.

  • There is dishonesty in the home.

In this family, we see spouses lying to each other and kids lying to parents.  In fact, children were taught to be dishonest.  Jacob’s mom actually told him to lie but we saw in Genesis 26 that Jacob’s dad also lied. He lied to Abimekel and said that she was his sister.  Dishonesty runs all through the family.  The father lies.  The mother lies.  The kids lie. They lie to each other.

  • There is violence in the home.

When Jacob steals Esau’s birthright, he is angry.  His true character is revealed.  He plans to kill his own brother for what he did (27:41).  Esau becomes like Cain, although he does not get a chance to carry out his plan.  He wants to carry out a violent act on a member of his own family.  Home is a place where you are supposed to feel safe.  Jacob had to leave because it was not a safe place to be.

Let’s look at this chapter.  There are four characters in this story: a mother, a father and two sons.  The interesting thing is that every one of these people does something wrong.  They all do the wrong thing.  None of them looks good.

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die” (27:1-4 NIV).

What happens here?  Isaac is about to die but wants to bless Esau first but he doesn’t just bless him.  He says, “Go get me my favorite food first and then I will bless you”.  Isaac is in decline here.  He is not just in decline physically.  He is in decline spiritually.  That tells us two things about Isaac.

1) He is in rebellion to God

He used to be a spiritual man who liked to meditate. He used to be a man of faith.  He waited to get married.  He prayed when his wife could not have children.  In his early years, he was a much better role model.  He was a better spiritual leader.  He was not perfect but much better.  Here he is fighting against God.

Isaac had a blind spot when it came to Esau.  Esau was Isaac’s oldest son.  He was his firstborn.  He was his favorite son.  Jacob was always in his shadow.  Esau was older than Jacob was.  He was married and Jacob was still single.  Isaac wanted Esau to take over when he was gone.  The problem is that God already decreed that “the older will serve the younger” (25:23).  He said that before Esau and Jacob were even born.

What Isaac does here is an act of deliberate defiance to the revealed will of God.  He put his personal preference over God’s Word.  People still do that today.  God says something clearly about sexual sin but many people do not have a problem with it.  They put their thoughts over God’s thoughts.

2) He has a weakness for food

We may have a weakness for something else.  Isaac had a weakness for food.  Three times we are told that he had a favorite meal.  He liked red meat and his son Esau brought it to him.  That may be one of the reasons, he was his favorite son.  Jacob says, “Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me” (27:4 NET Bible).  Rebekah says, “I’ll prepare them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them” (27:9 NET Bible).

Moses wrote, “So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it” (27:14 NET Bible).  It is not wrong to have a favorite food but Isaac was driven by his appetites.  In fact, Isaac’s appetites and passion for good food led him to defy the living God.  We will see that Esau is just like him.

Esau was controlled by his appetites.  He wanted instant gratification.  He lacked self control.  He was impulsive.  He gave up his inheritance for a bowl of red stew because he was hungry.  That is a little ironic because Esau’s descendants were the Edomites.  Edom means red.  Esau went down on some red stew.

Like his dad, he also had a food problem.  You are what you eat. Esau also had an attitude of defiance like his father.  Esau knew that it was not God’s will for him to marry pagan women but he does it anyway.  He is rebellious.  He married not only one but two pagan Canaanite women.  He defied God.  He defied his parents.  He does not care what they think.  He will marry whoever he wants to marry.

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau (27:5-6 NIV)

What do we learn here?  Isaac has really bad eyes but Rebekah has really good ears.  She heard what Isaac said.  Actually, they lived in tents, so it probably was not hard.  She also hears later what Esau said when he plans to kill his brother.  That was intended to be a secret but somehow she found out about it. Isaac had his plan to bless Esau and Rebekah hears about it and immediately comes up with a counter-plan.

Rebekah was a quick thinker.  Her plan was brilliant.  It was creative.  It was devious.  Rebekah had Jacob bring in two goats from his flock.  She had to make goat meet taste like deer meat.  She had to make Jacob look, feel and smell like Esau.  It was also very risky.  It might not work.

It almost didn’t work. Isaac was suspicious. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (27:22).  His brother Esau almost caught him in the act.  “After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting” (27:30).

This tells us a lot about Rebekah. Isaac and Rebekah were as opposite as Jacob and Esau.  Isaac was very passive.  He also did not like to take risks.  He did not make any waves. We saw that in Genesis 26.

Rebekah is a strong-willed woman.  She is very domineering.  She immediately takes control of the situation.  Rebekah was not a doormat.  She was not passive. She did not sit back and do nothing.  She acted decisively and told Jacob what to do.  She was also not afraid to take risks.

Keep in mind that deception was Rebekah’s idea, not Jacob’s.  She is the mastermind of the whole thing. She planned it. It was deliberate but her motives are good.  God promised her before she gave birth that Jacob would rule over Esau.  Her husband is not cooperating.  He is not being the spiritual leader that he should be, so she comes up with a plan to make sure that what God said actually comes to pass.

Rebekah’s Four Roles 

Rebekah has four roles in this story. She was the ARCHITECT.  She comes up with the plan.  She was the CHEF.  She cooked the food (27:14) and apparently she was good at it.  She made goat meat taste like deer meat.

She put the right spices in it.  She was the COSTUME DESIGNER.  She got the wardrobe together.  She found Esau’s best clothes and gave them to Jacob to wear (27:15).  She was also the SCAPEGOAT.  If it did not work out, she was willing to take the blame (27:13).

“He went to his father and said, ‘My father.‘ ‘Yes, my son,’ he answered. ‘Who is it?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.’ Isaac asked his son, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’ ‘The Lord your God gave me success,’ he replied” (27:18-20 NIV).

So Jacob tells Isaac he did exactly what he told him to do, even though he really did exactly what Rebekah told him to do.  He brought him some meat, along with some wine, because who wants to eat meat without some good wine.

Isaac asked him if he was Esau point blank and he said that he was.  Two times he lied about his identity to his dad (27:18-19, 24).  Jacob lies five times in his short conversation with his dad and these are not half-truths but blatant lies.

Truth be told Jacob was not a very nice person.  In Genesis 25, we see him as a COOK.  He makes some delicious red stew but in Genesis 27 we see him as a CROOK.  He commits fraud.

He steals his brother’s identity.  He impersonates Esau.  He commits identity theft.  That is not a modern crime.  There was identity theft in biblical times four thousand years ago.  Jacob cheats his brother and lies to his dying father, not once but repeatedly.  He ends the whole transaction with a Judas kiss (27:27).

He not only deceived people, he exploited them.  He also took advantage of them.  He took advantage of his hungry brother and his blind father.  His brother came home from hunting starving and Jacob used that to his advantage.  He got something out of it.  His dad couldn’t see very well and he took advantage of that for his own benefit.  The Mosaic Law later prohibited people from doing that (Leviticus 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:18).

Jacob is a rather interesting character. The Apostle Paul says that the unrighteous will NOT inherit the kingdom of God.  He specifically says that thieves and swindlers will NOT inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9).  The Apostle John says that the fate of all liars will be the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).  This causes a little problem.

The Patriarch Jacob was a liar and a cheat.  He was a deceiver and a con artist.  He was a swindler.  He doesn’t just lie to anyone; he lies to his own dying father, bold-faced lies.  Will he be in heaven? The answer is that he was not saved yet.  Jacob was NOT a believer yet.  He gets saved in the next chapter. God had to change his heart.  He eventually changed his name.

Why does God reward Jacob for his deception?  Many read this chapter and think that it glorifies deception.  Someone entitled this chapter “Blessed Deception”.  The truth is that God does not tell Jacob to trick his blind old father into blessing him.  Rebekah does and God does NOT reward Jacob because of his deception.

That is the big myth about this chapter that many people have.  Jacob did NOT receive the blessing BECAUSE he lied.  He was promised the blessing BEFORE he was even born and BEFORE he had done good or evil.  He was chosen before he was born and before he ever uttered a lie.

In fact, he was chosen before he uttered a single word.  God did NOT bless him because of his behavior but in spite of it.  He did not reward him for his deception.  In fact, he suffered because of what he did.  Our time is up.  Next week, we will look at some applications from this chapter.  The homework for next week is to think about what lessons can we learn from this chapter.  We will also look at Genesis 28.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Testing of Isaac

We are studying the Book of Genesis.  This book had fifty chapters.  Today we come to Genesis 26 so we are passing the middle of the book in terms of chapters.  This is the chapter that shows that Elon is a pagan university.  Elon was the name of a pagan Hittite man whose daughter Bathmat married Esau (26:34).

While that was intended as a joke, this chapter is a little different from the previous ones. It is not all that exciting on the surface.  It is a chapter about Isaac digging some wells.  In fact, some famous expositors who preach through the Book of Genesis skip this chapter completely and go right to Genesis 27 which is a little more interesting.

Who wants to preach a sermon on Isaac’s wells?  The whole chapter is a dispute on water rights.  There are five instances of well digging in this chapter.  If all Scripture is inspired and is profitable, that means this chapter is as well and that is why I do not believe in skipping any chapter of the Bible.  Every chapter of the Bible is important.

Why this chapter is in the Bible? This is the only chapter of the Bible specifically devoted to the life of Isaac and he lived a long time.

Genesis 35:28-29 says, “Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (NIV).  He lived to be 180.  He was not healthy for all of that time.  We will see in the next chapter that he had some health problems at the end of his life (blindness).

Isaac lived longer than any of the other patriarchs.  He lived longer than both his father and his son.  Abraham lived to be 175 (25:7) and Jacob lived to be 147 (47:28).  Joseph only lived to be 110 (50:26).

Isaac lived longer than any of these men but has less space devoted to him in the Book of Genesis.  Abraham has thirteen chapters of Genesis devoted to his life.  Jacob has ten chapters of Genesis devoted to his life.  Isaac has only one chapter devoted exclusively to him.  Why is that?

Apparently, Isaac was not as distinguished or as gifted as some other people in Scripture.  He did not have any great accomplishments.  He just built a few wells.  He dug up some of his dad’s old wells and dug some new ones.  He did not do anything heroic.

He did not do anything bold or daring.  He was not real creative.  He did not try to rescue a city from an invading army against incredible odds, like Abraham did. He was not a big risk-taker.  He never fought any battles.  He was a quiet man.  He liked to meditate (24:63).

Isaac was an ordinary man.  Someone called him the Calvin Coolidge of his day.  He was mediocre.  He was a little dull, like most Christians.

The old Baptist preacher Alexander Maclaren said, “Isaac was the ordinary son of a famous father, and the ordinary father of a famous son.”  Isaac was overshadowed by both his father and his son.  His son was much more colorful.  His father was much more accomplished but he did have a relationship with God.

Isaac not only builds wells in this chapter, he built an altar (26:25).  He worshiped God.  God appeared to him and spoke to him two times in this chapter.  God is called not only “the God of Abraham” but also “the God if Isaac” but apparently Isaac was not as close to God as Abraham was.  God appeared to him about eight times.  Abraham was called “the friend of God”.  Isaac was not called this.

There are two lessons here.  The good news is that God uses ordinary people.  He can bless ordinary people.  He can speak to ordinary people.  Most of us are more like Isaac than we are like Abraham.

Not everyone can be an Abraham.  The other lesson is that great men do not always have great sons.  Our kids are in many cases very different form us.  King Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived but his son who took over after him was a complete fool.

We want to look today at the life of Isaac. So far, we have looked at the life of Abraham.  We saw how God called him in Ur in complete idolatry.  We saw his obedience to go to a new land.  We saw the covenant that God made with him and formalized with a strange ceremony in which some animals were sliced up and God walked in between the pieces.

We looked at Abraham’s faults, as we as his faith.  He slept with an African concubine in order to secure the promise of a child.  It led to a child but it also led to all kinds of trouble in the home and that child, along with his mother, was eventually sent away.  We also saw his deception and the disaster it caused.  It almost put the entire program of God at risk.  God had to intervene to stop it.

We saw the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham.  He has a child with his barren wife at the age of one hundred years old.  This chapter is devoted to the life of this miracle baby.

He is now an adult.  His dad is dead.  He was seventy-five when he died (because Isaac was born when Abraham was one hundred and he died at 175).  This chapter takes place in the last one hundred years of Isaac’s life.

What do we see in this chapter?  God appears to Isaac.  He speaks to Isaac.  Isaac gets a word from the Lord twice in this chapter.  God reaffirms his covenant to him, the same one he made with Abraham.  He blesses Isaac. Whenever he dug a well, he found water and water was scarce in that day.

We are also told that Isaac was wealthy.  In fact, the text says that he was VERY WEALTHY. “Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy” (26:12-13).

Isaac has material wealth.  He had financial wealth.  He was wealthy in flocks, herds and servants (26:14). Isaac was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  He wasn’t lazy and pampered.  He worked hard.  He was out digging wells.  He did not just spend all day praying.  God did not dig the wells for Isaac.  He dug them.

His business was also successful. Isaac plants some crops and reaps a hundredfold in a famine. That is interesting.  There is a famine and no rain.  Isaac plants some crops.  Not only do they grow, they grow a hundredfold (26:12).  How much is a hundredfold increase?

Twofold means a hundred percent increase of something.  If you start with one hundred you end up with two hundred.  A hundredfold increase means you multiply what you started by one hundred. Going from $10 to $1000 is a hundredfold increase.  Isaac harvested a hundred times more than he planted.  We are given a similar promise in the NT about a hundredfold increase that I want to look at.

Hundredfold Promise Today

“Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive A HUNDRED TIMES AS MUCH in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:28-30 NIV).

This raises a very interesting question.  Does this mean that if we give a ministry $10, we will receive $1,000 in return and if we give it $1,000, we will receive $100,000 in return?  Is this God’s law of compensation for believers today?  I want to try to answer that question because this is a very misunderstood passage.  This is a principle of divine compensation for us today but we need to remember two things about this passage.

1) The focus is on relationships, not money.

This is not talking about material prosperity.  It is not primarily a reference to money or riches.  None of the Apostles were millionaires.  Peter did not live in a palace in Rome.

The emphasis in this passage is on people (brother, sister, mother, father, children).  Jesus did NOT say, “If you see everything you have and give to the poor, you will get a hundredfold increase and be wealthy”.

That goes against the whole context of the passage.  Right before Jesus said this, He said something else.  He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (10:25).

Jesus is not encouraging wealth.  He actually says that it is harder for wealthy people to get into heaven.  If you use this as a get rich quick scheme, you have missed the whole point of the passage.

There is one other way we know that this is not talking about money primarily.  It is the two words WITH PERSECUTIONS.  It is only found in Mark’s Gospel.  We like the idea of getting a hundredfold increase but not getting persecution.  Jesus promised both.

When we think of persecution, we think of someone mocking our faith.  In the early church, it meant being beaten, thrown in prison or fed to some hungry lions.  It does not fit the idea that we will be filthy rich and living the good life.  It means that we would have to go without something, not living like kings.

This is talking about believers leave their family and land to become a missionary somewhere.  It is talking about believers who are persecuted for their faith and are kicked out of their house (which happens in many Muslim countries).  In orthodox Jewish homes, they often hold a funeral service for someone who converts to Christianity.

Jesus says if you lose your physical family, you gain a spiritual family.  If you lose your relationship with your physical brother or sister or mother or father because of Christ, you gain fellowship with hundreds and thousands of other believers.  If you lose a father, mother, brother or sister because of the gospel, you get one hundred more.

2) The hundredfold reference is not literal.

It CANNOT be literal.  If you take this literally, it would mean that if your wife leaves you because you are a Christian, you will get a hundred more wives (Luke 18:29; Matthew 19:29 MT; Mark 10:29 MT).   The Muslim paradise involves seventy virgins in the next life.  A literal reading of Luke 18:29 would mean a hundred wives in this life.

In fact, Luke does not say, “If you leave mother, father, brother and sister for me, you will receive a hundredfold increase”.  He simply says we will receive “MANY TIMES AS MUCH in this age, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:30), which is another indication that hundredfold is not literal.  What is the point of this passage?  If you have to give some things up for Christ, you will be rewarded in this life and the life to come.

What lessons can we learn from Genesis 26?  This chapter is all about trials.  Abraham was already tested in the book ten times.  This chapter deals with the tests of Isaac.  Before we look at Isaac’s trials, let’s apply this to us.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (I Peter 1:6-7)

What does that passage say?  We face not only trials but ALL KINDS of trials.  Peter says that we should GREATLY REJOICE in these trials.  Why?  They strengthen our faith

“We boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:2-4)

That says that we should GLORY IN our sufferings.  How many Christians do that?  Why?  They improve our character

We have already seen how Abraham was tested.  How did God test Isaac?  What were some of the ways he was tested?

1. Marriage

He had to wait forty years to get married (25:20).  He may have wanted to get married much earlier.

2. Childbirth

He had to wait twenty years for his wife to have a baby (25:20, 26). He prayed for decades for a child before his wife got one.  He had to deal with an unhappy wife for twenty years.

3. Famine

He experienced a famine (26:1).  Food and water was scarce.  That was a test that every one of the patriarchs had to deal with and they all experienced it in the Promised Land, in the very land that God promised them.

Abraham experienced a famine when he first arrived in Canaan Genesis 12 and now Isaac experiences one in Genesis 26.  Later on in the book, we will see that Isaac’s son Jacob will experience a severe famine in Genesis 43.  How did Isaac respond to this trial?  He started to leave the country but God intervened.  He appeared to him and told him to stay in the Promised Land.

“Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed” (26:2-4)

God says, “Don’t leave.  I will be with you”.  That is a comfort.  There is a famine but God promised to be with him in the famine.  If God is with us, we can go through anything.  It is a comfort to know that no matter how bad your health is or how bad your marriage is or how bad your financial situation is to know that God is with you.

4. Fear

The next test was fear.  How would Isaac respond when he feared for his life?  This test he failed.  He responded the same way his dad did in the same situation.  He lied.  In fact, that is where he learned to respond this way.  Isaac was a chip off the old block.  Like father, like son.  All of us want our kids to follow our good traits but sometimes they pick up our bad traits as well.

So Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful” (26:6-7).

Here we see Isaac walking in his father’s footsteps.  Abraham lied and now Isaac lies.  Abraham at least told a half truth.  Sarah was his half-sister.  Isaac told a blatant lie.  It was a bold-faced lie.  Isaac had faults, like we do today.  His fault was deception.  He was a liar.  That may not be our fault.  We may have different sins.  Isaac’s sin was a family sin.  Abraham lied.  Isaac lied.  Jacob lied.  That raises an important question.  Does your family have a family sin?  What is it?

Some say that God never punished Isaac for his deception.  He kept blessing him.  That is not true.  God did not rebuke Isaac, because he didn’t have to.  Abimelek did it instead (26:8-11).  This was a different Abimelek than the one Abraham dealt with.  Abimelek was a dynastic name, like Pharaoh.

Abimelek saw the two of them kissing and knew that this was not his sister and rebuked Isaac.  It is pretty bad when the unsaved rebuke the saved.  This pagan king was more honest than Isaac was. He had more integrity.

5. Mistreatment.

Isaac built a well and someone stole it.  They said it is on our land, so he went and built another well and they stole that one as well (26:19-21), so he moved farther away and built another one.  This is very interesting.  Isaac is the example of a meek man.  He is the example of someone who turns the other cheek.  He was years ahead of his time living the Sermon on the Mount out before it was ever given.

Isaac does not complain, argue or insist on his right.  He doesn’t fight back.  He just moves to a different location.  Isaac has three different residences in this chapter.  Isaac was a man of peace.  He was non-confrontational.  He tried to avoid strife, like his father Abraham did when he had a family dispute.

Another example is Genesis 26:16.  “Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave the country. “Go somewhere else,” he said, “for you have become too powerful for us.”  Isaac could have said, “If I am too powerful, then it is you who needs to leave not me”.  He could have said, “make me”.  Instead, he avoided all conflict and just left.

We can learn from Isaac.  There are times when it is right to insist on your rights and times when it is right to take wrong.  There are times when we need to be confrontational and times we need to be non-confrontational.  It takes wisdom to know the difference.  Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone”.  It is not always possible but we should try to be peace makers.

7. Parenting

Isaac did not have perfect kids. “When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah” (26:34-35).

Isaac did not marry any Canaanite women.  His son Esau married not one but two pagan Hittite daughters who worshiped false gods.  This was a test on Isaac.  It brought grief to his family.  He did not have a perfect family.  That will be the focus of our next lesson.

Rebekah’s Struggle

We are doing a study of the Book of Genesis and have been studying the life of some of the matriarchs and patriarchs in Scripture.  Many people have a difficult time reading these OT stories.  These events took place four thousand years ago.  That is a long time ago.  It is hard for us to see them as real people.  What I want to try to do is to make some of these stories come to life by studying these characters in-depth and looking at everything the Bible says about them.  There is a lot we can learn from these patriarchs.

Genesis 25 spans three generations of patriarchs in one chapter.  It mentions gives us some new information about Abraham that we did not know.  He remarried and has six more kids (25:1-2).  It tells us some things about Isaac.  We find out that his wife has a fertility problem.  We see him as a parent for the first time but he only had boys to raise.  He also had to bury his father.

We are also introduced to the next patriarch, Jacob.  Jacob was Isaac’s son and Abraham’s grandson.  He became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.  If you work out the chronology, Abraham would have been alive when his grandson was born.  Jacob was born when Isaac was sixty and when Abraham was 160.  Abraham did not die until he was 175 (25:7).

Genesis 25 is an interesting chapter. It contains two births and two deaths.  It also contains two prayers (one by Isaac and one by Rebekah).  God speaks to someone in this chapter and it is a woman.  He does not speak to the Patriarch Isaac but to his wife.

This chapter gives us some lessons on parenting.  This is a story of sibling rivalry.  It contains a very important prophecy that God gave to Rebekah about her own kids before they were born.  Wouldn’t it be great if God did that to us before some of our kids were born?

We also learn some things about God here. As we read it, think of what we learn about God in this chapter.  I want to share eight lessons about God from these twenty-six verses.  The chapter is important theologically.  The Apostle Paul quotes Genesis 25 in Romans 9 to make an important theological point.  Some simple statements in this chapter have some profound theological implications, as we will see.

There are two important events in these verses that I want to look at and some lessons we can learn from these events.

Two Important Events

1. Rebekah gives birth

Just a little review before we begin.  Who was Rebekah?  She was the wife of Isaac.  She married Isaac in the last chapter and in this chapter she gives birth to twins, twin boys.  They were not just twins, they were polar opposites.  They looked different.  One was born full of hair and look at red at birth.  They called him Esau.  We would not have called him Esau.  We would have called him Harry or Red.

They not only looked different, they acted different.  One liked the indoors and one liked the outdoors.  One liked to hunt and the other liked to cook.  One was quiet and passive.  He liked to read and meditate.  The other hated to read.  They had completely different personalities and temperaments but before they were born Rebekah had a little test.

Rebekah was very similar to Sarah.  She was a lot like her mother-in-law who she never met.  What did they have in common?  One, they both married a relative.  Sarah married a half brother.  Rebekah married a cousin.  She was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor.  Two, they both married older men.  Abraham was ten years older than Sarah.  Isaac was at least twenty years older than Rebekah.  He was forty.

Three, they were both said to be beautiful.  They were very attractive.  Four, they both had difficulty getting pregnant.  They both had to wait a long time to have kids.  They were both infertile.  Five, both had a child by supernatural means.

Notice Genesis 25:20. “Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean” (NIV).  Genesis 25:26 says, “Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them” (NIV).

Rebekah had to wait twenty years to have a child.  Twenty years went by and they still did not have one.  God was not judging them but he was testing them.  He tested Abraham.  Abraham was given at least ten tests that we looked at in the previous weeks and now he tests Isaac and Rebecca.  Why did he do this?  Why did God give them trials?  He gave them trials for the same reason that he gives us trials (health problems, car problems, financial problems), to increase our faith and dependence on God.

This must have been very hard for Isaac and Rebekah.  She felt unfulfilled for twenty years.  Having a child was considered a sign of God’s blessing but they didn’t have one.  Other people were having kids but not them.  Isaac’s brother Ishmael had twelve kids (25:13-16).  They were coming out like rabbits but Isaac did not have a single one.  Twenty years went by without any child but they had not done anything wrong.

They were perfectly in the will of God.  This was just a test and they passed the test.  When Abraham and Sarah could not have a child, Sarah told Abraham to have an affair to get a child.  “Go sleep with someone else”.  Isaac doesn’t do that.  Apparently, he learned from his dad’s mistake with Hagar.

Isaac doesn’t get a concubine.  In fact, Isaac is the only one of the patriarchs to do this.  Abraham had children from three women.  Jacob had children from four women but Isaac had only one wife and never got a concubine.  They had fertility problems.  They didn’t get a concubine or even go to a fertility clinic. They turned to the Lord.  They prayed.  This child was conceived BY PRAYER.

It was the right response.  God is the one who is in control of conception.  He is the one who opens and closes the womb.  Isaac does not blame Rebekah for the problem.  He prays for her. “Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless” (25:21).  This is the only time in the Bible where a husband is specifically said to have prayed for his wife.

Isaac probably prayed more than once for Rebekah.  His prayer was not immediately answered. This seems a little strange.  It may alter your view of prayer.  Isaac was one of the patriarchs.  He was a big shot his prayer was NOT answered.  He prayed for years and his prayer still was NOT answered.

He even prayed according to the will of God and his prayer was NOT answered for a long time. It was God’s will for Isaac to have kids.  God promised Abraham descendants like the stars in the sky and it was to be through Isaac, so he knew that he was praying according to the will of God and his prayer was not answered for twenty years.

Let’s think about this.  Isaac prayed for twenty years without any answer.  Have you ever prayed that long for something?  We want God to answer everything immediately.  Sometimes he does.  We saw this last week, when the servant prayed for God to reveal the woman he appointed for Isaac to marry and, before he had finished speaking, Rebekah came to the well.  The Bible encourages us to pray persistently for things.  We are to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17).  Jesus said we should always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1).

This also raises an interesting question.  God promised Isaac children, so why did he have to pray for them?  If God already promises something, why pray for it?  God wants us to pray.  God uses our prayers to accomplish his will.  In fact, one of the best ways to pray is to pray the promises of God.  This will revolutionize the way you pray.  There are many examples of this in the Bible.

Daniel says, “In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession…

Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name.

For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” (9:2-4, 17-19 ESV).

Even though it was promised, Isaac prayed for a child.  God answered his prayer.  In fact, He gave him better than he asked.  Isaac asked for one child.  God gave him two (twins).  There are only two couples in the Bible who had twins and they are both in the Book of Genesis.  Rebekah had twins (25:24-26) and Tamar had twins through Judah (38:27-30).

When she finally gets pregnant, and was very happy.  God finally answered their prayers but then she had a problem.  She had a very difficult pregnancy.  She is in incredible pain, so she prayed about it.  Again Rebekah has a problem and responds correctly.  She didn’t need an ultrasound to find out what was going on.  She received a word from God directly.

The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord” (25:21-22).

What happened inside Rebekah was a foreshadowing of what would happen in the future.  God gave Rebekah an important prophecy.  There were four parts to it.  “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger” (25:23 ESV).

God says, “You are having problem because, not only because you are pregnant but because you are having twins and those twins will be at war with each other and their descendant will be divided as well.”  In fact, these two twins were fighting before they were born. They were at war inside her.  Then he dropped the bomb and said, “The older will serve the younger”.

In that day, the first born got the inheritance rights.  The oldest was supposed to get the birthright.  The oldest son became king.  When the dad died, the firstborn son was supposed to take over.  He was supposed to be the head of the family.  God said, that the second born will rule over the first born.

There will be a role reversal.  God doesn’t do things the way we would do them.  His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).  Esau was Isaac’s firstborn.  He was his favorite.  He loved Esau (25:28) but the birthright went to Jacob, just as Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn, but the blessing went to Isaac.

Is this descriptive or prescriptive? Is God saying “This is the way it WILL BE” or “This is the way it SHOULD BE?” The NT gives us the answer. Romans 9:10-13 says, “Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (NIV).

That is interesting.  Why was one son chosen and the other rejected?  Why did one twin get to rule the other twin?  Was it because one son was better than the other?  Paul says that is not the reason.  They were not born yet and had not done anything good or bad, so why was one chosen?  Jacob was chosen solely because of the good pleasure of God.  It was out of sheer grace.  He did not deserve to be chosen.  He was not chosen based on works.

Genesis 25 is not just a prediction or a prophecy.  It tells us something important about the nature of God.  He is completely sovereign. What is interesting is that God did something to us very similar to what He did to Jacob.  Paul said that believers were predestinated for adoption to sonship.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of His grace” (Ephesians 1:5-6).  In both cases, people were CHOSEN by God.   In both cases, this took place BEFORE they were born. In both cases, it was NOT because of works but solely because of God’s good pleasure and grace.

2. Abraham dies

Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people” (25:7-8).

This is interesting.  Moses says that Abraham lives a good old age and then he dies.  A good old age is 175 years.  We live seventy or eight years, if we have good genes.  Abraham lived twice as long as we do and then he died a peaceful death.  Genesis says that he would go to his fathers IN PEACE (15:15). There is a very important lesson about death here that I do not want you to miss.

Lesson on Death 

Death is not extinction or the end. That is what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe.  They believe in soul sleep.  They believe that when you die, you cease to exist.  They believe that the dead do not think or see or hear.  They base this on a verse Ecclesiastes which says “the dead know nothing at all” which they take out of context.[1]

What do we see in this passage? What happened to Abraham after he died?  He was gathered to his people. That is interesting. Death is not an extinction but a reunion of souls.  You get to be with your people.  You get to see your ancestors.

Abraham was gathered to his people immediately at death. He was gathered to his people before he was buried.  He is not buried until the next verse. Some say that gathered to your people just means joining the family burial plot but that does not make any sense here.

The only person in the tomb was his wife Sarah.  God said that Abraham would be gathered to his people (plural). He said that he would be gathered to his fathers or ancestors.  Sarah was neither.  At death, your spirit joins your ancestors if you are a believer but your body goes to the tomb.  Abraham he died, was gathered to his people and then his body was buried in the cave of Machpelah.

That is very important because it shows that the Bible teaches that there is such a thing as an afterlife.  It was taught even in the OT.  It also tells us that we will be able to recognize people in heaven.  If you are going to join your ancestors, you have to know who they are.  People sometimes ask if we will recognize our loved ones in heaven. As D.L. Moody said, “We will not be dumber then than we are now”

Abraham dies and is buried by his sons (25:9).  This must have been difficult for Isaac because it was the death of his last living parent.  His mom died in Genesis 23 and his dad dies in Genesis 25 but notice that happens at death.  He reunites with his half brother Ishmael as they bury their father.  Isaac has not seen Ishmael for over seventy years.  Remember, Ishmael was sent away from the family in Genesis 21.

The last time they were together Isaac was two or three and Ishmael was sixteen or seventeen.  Now, Isaac is seventy five.  He is married and has two sons.  The sons would have been fifteen.  Funerals often bring together family members that you have not seen in years.

OT scholar John Whitcomb imagines what the reunion was like.  Ishmael gets to see Isaac’s two teenage boys.  Isaac gets to see his kids.  Ishmael probably bonded immediately with Esau.  Why?  They had some things in common.  Ishmael was the firstborn son of Abraham and Esau was the firstborn son of Isaac.  Ishmael liked to hunt (21:20) and so did Esau (25:27).  They were both good with a bow and arrow.

Isaac told Ishmael about the time his dad tried to kill him and offer him as a burn offering but God saved him and provided a ram for sacrifice.  Ishmael told a similar story about how God also saved him.  He was in the desert and was thought he was going to die of thirst when an angel spoke to them and told them where a well of water was located.

Next week, we will be looking at Genesis 26.  Then, we will look at the end of Genesis 25 and Genesis 27 because they go together.  We will see how Jacob got both the blessing and the birthright from his brother Esau.  Before we leave these verses, I want us to see what we learn about God form them.

 Lessons about God 

1. God is in control of conception. 

He is the one who has the power to open and close wombs.  He is in control of childbirth.

2. God knows all things.

He knew not only that Rebekah was pregnant but that there were two babies inside her and that they were boys.

3. God answers prayers.

He answers two prayers in this chapter (one from Isaac and one from Rebekah).

4. God keeps His promises.

Rebekah had a baby because of the Abrahamic Covenant.

5. God is completely sovereign.

He decides who receives the birthright. Abraham had eight sons by three different women.  Only one was the line of the Messiah and God picked out which one that would be in advance and told the parents.  The other children could get saved and could be blessed by God but they were not in the line of the Messiah.  Isaac was the patriarch.  His favorite son was Esau.  He wanted Esau to get the birthright but God chose someone else.

6. God test believers.

He tested Isaac and Rebekah in this chapter.  He made them wait twenty years to have a baby.

7. God does things very differently than we do.

He does not always follow human tradition or social norms.  We think that first-born children should be leaders.  Kevin Lehman says most of them are (so the Birth Order Book). God does things differently than we do.

8. God is not in a hurry to get things done.

We want things done immediately.  God is on a different timetable.  He waited twenty years to answer Isaac’s prayer for a child.


[1]Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 says, “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun” (NIV).

Does this teach that the dead have no conscious existence?  No.  That would contradict MANY passages which say that the there is an afterlife and that the soul is conscious after death (II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; Luke 23:43; Matthew 17:1-8; Revelation 6:5-10).

It also must be interpreted in light of its context.  Solomon says three things about the dead in Ecclesiastes 9:5: they know nothing, have no further reward and their name is forgotten.  When he says “their name is forgotten,” he clearly means ON EARTH. In the same way, when he says, “the dead know nothing” he means about events on earth and not that they know nothing at all.  How do we know?  The third statement (“the dead have no further reward”) can only mean IN THIS LIFE.  How do we know?

In the rest of the book, Solomon makes clear that the dead will receive a reward in the next life.  He says, “You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring YOU into judgment (11:9 NIV).  That would make no sense if either the dead ceased to exist at death or were not conscious at dead.

Nor is this something that Solomon said once.  He said it three times. Ecclesiastes 3:17 says, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed” (NIV).  Ecclesiastes 12:14 says, “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (NIV).  That would make no sense if the dead did not exist.  There would be no one to judge for those deeds.  They would no longer be around to judge.

Furthermore, Solomon taught that at death, “the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (12:7).  The body goes to the grave at death and the spirit goes to God.  Solomon even speaks of the dead going to “their eternal home” (12:5) which clearly is not the grave.  To find out Solomon’s view on death, you have to read the whole book and not take versed out of context.

 

 

A Marriage Made in Heaven

Our topic for today is “A Marriage Made in Heaven”.  It actually raises a very provocative question.  Are marriages made in heaven?  Is there one special person that God has prepared for you that you should try to find or instead should we worry more about being the right person, rather than finding the right person?

Is the Soul Mate Theory Biblical?

That all depends on the meaning of “soul mate”.  There is a sense in which this theory is true and there is a sense in which it is false.  If you mean by this theory that there is one special person in the world that you will see eye-to-eye on everything, make you perfectly happy and fulfill all of your needs completely, the answer is no.

Many women fall into this trap.  They look for a Prince Charming, like all of the Fairy Tales and then become disappointed after marriage.  Many have had affairs or gotten divorced because of this theory. They married one person and then they found “their soul mate” and left their spouse.  That is what happened to Amy Grant.

However, there is a sense in which the soul mate theory is correct.  God had a soul mate for Adam.  There was one and only one woman for Adam.  Some say that was the only time.  God also had a soul mate for Isaac.  God had only one woman picked out for Isaac and the servant prays for God to reveal to him who this person was.

He prayed “let her be the one whom you have APPOINTED for your servant Isaac” (24:14).  The real question is this: Does God still do this kind of thing today?  Does God do for us what He did for Adam and for Isaac?  I believe that the answer to that question is yes.  God is a matchmaker.

If the emphasis is all about being the right person, then Isaac could have married anyone.  He could have married a Canaanite.  Who he married didn’t matter.  He just needed to be the right person.  The lesson here is that it does matter who we marry.  It is important to choose the right person.  Who you marry is one of the most important decisions you make in your life.

We can marry out of the will of God and that only leads to disaster. What if I already married the wrong person?  Some people marry complete morons.  If you married the wrong person, I have good news and bad news. The minute you get married, it is God’s will for you to stay married.  You just made a commitment that He expects you to keep.

Vows are made before God.  Solomon said, “It is better not to make a vow than to make a vow and break it” (cf. Ecclesiastes 5:4-6).  There are consequences for bad decisions that we will have to live with but God is also sovereign over everything, including our bad decisions.  He can bring good out of it.

We come today to one of my favorite chapters of the Bible.  It happens to be the longest chapter in the Book of Genesis.  Thirty one verses are used to describe the six days of Genesis in chapter one.  This chapter is sixty-seven verses long.  It is more than twice as long as Genesis 1.  The longest chapter in Genesis tells the story of how Isaac got a bride.

We have been looking at the life of Isaac in the Book of Genesis.  So far, we have learned four things about the Patriarch Isaac.  The first thing we learn about him is that he had a miraculous birth.  He was born to parents who could not have kids and were too old to have kids.  The second thing we learned is that his birth caused a sibling rivalry.  It lead to a conflict between Isaac and Ishmael (Genesis 21).

The third thing we learned is that his father offered him up on the altar as a burn offering but his life was spared (Genesis 22).  The fourth thing that we learned is that his mother died (Genesis 23).  In this chapter, we see how Isaac got his wife.  We see who he married and where she came from.

It is an old-fashioned love story. It is one of the greatest love stories ever told.  There are three love stories in the Book of Genesis.  There is the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2.  God created Adam.  Adam was lonely.  God created Eve for Adam and then brought them together.  In Genesis 24, we have a love story between Isaac and Rebekah.

Isaac does not just get a wife.  It is the first time the Bible mentions the love of a husband or wife.  It specifically mentions the love of Isaac for Rebekah (24:67).  In Genesis 29, we have the love story between Isaac’s son Jacob and his wife Rachel.

We are told in that chapter that Jacob “served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her” (29:20).  I want to look at some lessons on finding a spouse from this chapter but first let’s summarize what happens in this chapter.

In the last chapter, Abraham’s wife died and he buried her.  We saw last week that Isaac was thirty seven when she died.  This chapter takes place three years later.  How do we know.  Genesis 25:20 says “Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah

After the death of his wife, Abraham is starting to think about his own mortality.  Genesis 24:1 says he was “very old”.  He is now 140 years old and he is starting to think that he might not have much more time to live.  Sarah’s death was a hint of his own.

That caused a big problem.  Isaac was forty years old and he was not married.  Abraham was very wealthy but he did not have anyone to inherit his estate.  All of the promises that God gave Abraham were to go through Isaac and his descendants but Isaac was not married.  Isaac didn’t have any kids and he is now forty years old.

In that day, it was the job of the parents to arrange marriages for their children and time was running out.  Abraham left that job to one of his servants but not any one of his servants.  He gave this job to his top servant.  He was his most responsible servant.  Abraham trusted him.  This servant “was in charge of everything that Abraham had” (24:3).

We do not know much about this servant.  We do not even know his name.  This was the most important thing that this servant was ever asked to do, to find a wife for Isaac.  It was a huge responsibility.  Even though he trusted this servant, he still made him take an oath and swear that he will do what Abraham wants him to do.  Genesis 24:1-14 says,

Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way.  He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh.  I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac” (NIV). 

These are actually the last words that Abraham speaks before he dies.  What does he tell the servant to do?  He tells him to get a wife for Isaac but not just anyone.  Abraham did not want a pagan bride for Isaac.  Abraham was very specific.  He wanted a wife from among his relatives.  He did NOT want a wife from among the Canaanites.  This meant that the servant had to do some traveling.  He had to travel five hundred miles north to Harran.  He had to go from Israel to modern Turkey.

This servant was to go but he was not to take Isaac with him, because he was not allowed to leave the Promised Land  for any reason, not even to find a wife (24:8).  When he got there, it was evening and he found Rebekah.  Who was Rebekah?  She was one of Abraham’s relatives.  She was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor.  Abraham had a brother named Nahor.  Nahor lived in Harran.  He had a lot of kids. He had eight sons (22:20-23) from his wife and four from his concubine (22:24).

One of Nahor’s sons was Bethuel.  Rebekah was his daughter.  She would have been Abraham’s great niece and Isaac’s first cousin once removed.  She would also have been much younger than Isaac.  She was probably around fifteen or twenty.  She might have been twenty years younger than Isaac.  She invites the servant to her home.

He told them who he was and why he was there.  They knew all about Uncle Abraham and his trip to the Promised Land sixty years earlier.  It was part of their family history.  He gave gifts to Rebekah, Rebekah’s brother Laban and his mother. Nothing is said about her father Bethuel.  We do not know if he was still alive.  The servant pays the bride price.  She agreed to go back with them.  It was an incredible decision on her part.  This entire chapter is all about FAITH.

The chapter begins with a problem.  Abraham has faith in his servant to solve the problem.  He trusts him to find a wife for Isaac.  He was too old to travel five hundred miles to look for one.  He had faith that God would send an angel to help him find a wife (24:7).

The servant has faith.  The servant trusted God to guide him and angel to providence of God.  He asked for God’s help.  The servant trusted God to guide him.  He trusted God to show him which woman to approach. He had incredible faith in the providence of God.  He trusted that the right woman would come to the right well just after he prayed for her to show up.

Isaac has faith.  He trusts his father to make the most important decision of his life.  He does not go out in search of his own bride.  He has faith that one will be found for him.  That does not seem like a decision that we would want to leave to others to make for us.

Rebekah also shows incredible faith here.  She agrees to leave her family which she may never see again and go off with some strange man she just met the day before (who happens to be just a servant) and take a long dangerous journey to a land that she has never been to before in order to marry an older man that she has never met.  This was incredibly risky.  What is the man turned out to be really ugly.

She agrees to go.  They travel five hundred miles south back to the Promised Land.  It was a month long trip on camels.  She sees Isaac.  What was he doing?  He was out in the field praying meditating, and thinking (24:64).  What was he thinking about?  He was wondering if he would get a wife.  He was wondering if the servant would be successful or not.  He was wondering what his wife would look like.  He was wondering when they would get back.  The servant had been gone for a long time.

The text says that after she saw Isaac, she got off the camel, and got off the camel.  The KJV reading of Genesis 24:64 says that she “lighted off a camel” (which sounds like she was a smoker).  They were married and she became his wife.

How does this all apply to us today?  Much of this chapter does not seem to apply to us.  We have very different marriage customs than Abraham had in his day.  They had arranged marriages in Abraham’s day, as they do in other countries today but we do not arrange marriages in this country for our children.  Isaac did not get to decide who he married.  It was decided for him.  We do not have servants, like Abraham had.  In that day, they did not marry who they loved.  they loved who they married.  It is a different system.

We do not marry relatives today, like Isaac did.  Isaac married a cousin.  We do not make strange oaths like this.  The servant makes an oath under Abraham’s thigh which biblical scholars believe is a euphemism for genitals (cf. 46:26; Exodus 1:5).  It was a strange custom in those days for making a promise.  We fall in love with someone and then get married.  In this chapter, the order was reversed.  Isaac got married and then we are told that he loved Rebekah.

How does this chapter relate to us?  God’s Word transcends culture. This chapter gives us important principles for choosing a spouse. There are things we can learn from this chapter about finding a spouse, even in our culture.  What are some of those lessons?

Lessons on Finding a Spouse

1. Wait for the right time to marry.

There is a Russian proverb that says, “Before going to war, pray once. Before going to sea, pray twice.  Before getting married, pray three times”. One of the biggest mistakes that singles make is to rush into marry. That is a mistake some regret the rest of their life.  I see it all of the time.

There is a lot of pressure from many peers to be in a relationship with someone.  Marriage is a good thing.  Many young people think that it will make them happy.  They are anxious to get married.  They find someone and rush into marrying someone who they really shouldn’t marry, thinking it will solve all of their problems.

They get tired of waiting for a spouse, like Abraham got tired of waiting for a child and took matters into his own hands and we wonder why marriages today do not last.  Isaac does not rush into marriage.  He gets married at forty.  He waited for God to provide for his needs.  I am not saying everyone has to wait until they are forty to get married.  I didn’t do that but there is something we can learn from this.

Marriage was intended to be a permanent relationship.  It was intended to last for life.  It is something that we should be sure is God’s will for our life.  It is certainly not something that we should rush into.

2. Trust God to provide for a spouse.

Abraham did not just trust his servant, he believed an angel would help him find a wife for Isaac.  The servant did not trust his own persuasive abilities and matchmaking skills to find a wife.  He asked God to help him find the right person. He prayed and his prayer was very specific.  It wasn’t general.  Genesis 24 contains the first recorded prayer in divine guidance for selecting a wife. We see this prayer in Genesis 24:12-14.

“And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master” (ESV)

It was a prayer that God answered.  In fact, it was a prayer, he answered quickly.  Before he was even done praying, Rebekah appeared with a war jar on her shoulder to the well (24:15).  The servant did not just pray for a spouse.  He had to travel hundreds of miles and look for a wife.  Rebekah did not come to Isaac.  Someone had to go out looking for her.

Now in this case it was not Isaac who went out looking for a wife.  Someone else went looking for him, a matchmaker.  We do not have arranged marriages in our country but the principle remains the same.  To get a wife, you have to look for one but you also need to trust God to provide one.

3. Look for the right person to marry

There are certain people he could marry and certain people he could not marry.Abraham told this servant swear that he would not take Isaac out of the land and he would not pick a wife from among the Canaanites (24:3-4).  That is very interesting.

Isaac lived all of his life in the Promised Land.  He never left it, like Abraham did but he couldn’t marry anyone in the land.  He saw lots of women in forty years and he could not marry a single one, even though many of them were probably very attractive.  Isaac was not allowed to marry any of them.

The same is true of us today.  Isaac could not marry Canaanites and there are no more of them alive.  Are there races we should not marry today?  No. The Bible does not prohibit interracial marriages.  There are several examples in the Bible of saints who did this (Joseph, Moses).

It does not prohibit interracial marriages but it does prohibit interfaith marriages.  Isaac was not to marry the Canaanites, not for racial reason but for religious reasons.  Abraham was not a racist.  The Canaanites were idolaters.  They were pagans.

They worshiped false gods. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 says, “Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods” (NIV).

We are not to marry unbelievers today. That means we have to go to the places where believers gather to find them.  That is what the servant did. He did not go to a bar but to a well in an area where there were more believers.  Lots of things happened at wells in biblical times.   It is where Moses found his wife Zipporah.  It is where Jacob kissed Rachel.  It is where Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman.

4. Look for important character traits in a future partner.

There are right qualities to look for in a spouse and wrong qualities to look for.  The problem is that most people do not know what to look for.  That is the biggest mistake that people make today.  What are some of the qualities should you look for in a future husband or wife?  The most important quality in our culture is physical beauty.  Western culture places a huge importance on physical beauty, especially for women.

What do we see in this chapter?  When the servant went looking for a wife, he was not looking for one that had certain physical traits. He did not pray that this woman would be good looking.  He did not pray that she would be a beauty queen.  It turns out that she was not just beautiful but “very beautiful” (24:16) but all he asked for was a girl who would be willing to water the camels of a complete stranger.

God gave him better than he asked.  She not only did what he asked but she also happened to be young, beautiful, sexually pure, unmarried, and a member of Abraham’s family.  He was looking for one that had moral traits instead.  He found those traits by his test that he designed.

What was the test? “May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master” (24:14 NIV). He used the old camel test (which sounds like a cigarette test).

When he asked for water, she offered to give water to all of his animals as well.  That is no small task.  He had ten camels and camels drink about twenty gallons of water.  She then later invited him to her home.  She could have said, “Do it yourself”.  This servant was probably an old man and she offered to give water to his camels as well.

Rebekah’s Character Traits

What did this tell him about this woman?  We learn several important character traits about Rebekah from this exchange.

1. She was friendly.

She engaged a complete stranger in conversation, even though he was just a servant.

2. She was respectful.

She called him “lord”.  She showed respect to Isaac when she veiled herself at the end of the chapter.

2. She was considerate.

She offered to give water to not only this servant but his animals as well.

She thought of others not just herself.

3. She was conscientious.

She went the extra mile.  She did much more than she needed to do.  He offered to do more than the servant asked to do by feeding his animals.

4. She was hard working.

She had a good work ethic.  She was not afraid to get her hands dirty.  It took a lot of work to give water to ten camels.  A camel can drink twenty gallons of water.

5. She was hospitable.

She invited this servant which she just met to stay at her home (24:25).

After passing the test, he still did not know if she was the one for Isaac (24:21).  This servant did not only use a TEST, he used TACT.  He did not tell her while he came into town.  He did not do that until he went to her home and talked to her family first.

The Death of a Princess

One of the values of expository teaching is that you go through each chapter of the Bible.  All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable.  That means there is something in this chapter that God wants us to see.  There is a message in this chapter for all of us.  Genesis 23 is a chapter that does not look that exciting. It is a chapter that we might have a tendency to skip.

This chapter shows us a very different side to the patriarch.  Abraham becomes a widow.  He gets emotional in this chapter.  He sheds some tears in this chapter.  He is also very business-like.  We see Abraham the business man in this chapter.  Abraham knew how to do business.  He buys some real estate.

Nothing miraculous or supernatural takes place in this chapter.  Hundred year old women do not give birth, like one did in Genesis 21.  Hundred year old women do not give birth. This chapter seems a little uneventful and rather gloomy. Abraham buys a burial plot for his dead wife.

This chapter is not as dramatic as the last one.  Fire does not fall from heaven and wipe out any cities.  God does not speak to Abraham in this chapter.  No angel appears in this chapter.  No one gets an angelic message in this chapter, like they did in the last chapter. We do not learn a new name for God in this chapter, like we did in the last one (Jehovah Jireh).

There are not a lot of types in this chapter which foreshadow the coming of Jesus, like there were in the last chapter. There is no great ethical test in this chapter which puts the promise of God and the command of God at odds but there is a test in this chapter.

Last week, we looked at the tests of Abraham which culminated in Abraham’s greatest test, the offering up of Isaac on the altar.  Today, we encounter one more test, the death of Sarah.  In the last chapter, Abraham almost lost his only son and now he loses his wife.  I call this section “The Death of a Princess” because the name Sarah means princess in Hebrew, although she did not get that name until she was ninety.  Her name before that was Sarai (noble woman).

It was not easy for Abraham.  Genesis tells us his reaction. He mourned and wept for Sarah (23:2).  These are the first recorded tears in the Bible.  The first time in the Bible that someone cries, it is a man, not a woman.  Women are more emotional than men but here we see Abraham crying.  When some spouses die, there might be tears of joy.  The fool is gone.  These were tears of sorrow.  Abraham lost a wife and Isaac lost a mother.

Why was this so hard for Abraham?   He loved Sarah.  They had been married for over a century. Sarah was Abraham his best friend.  She was his lifelong partner.  Abraham may have been the friend of God but Sarah was the friend of Abraham. They went through a lot together.

How old was she when she died? She was 127 (23:1).  We live to be 60 or 70 today.  She lived to be 127 which is twice as long as some of us live today.  Abraham lived another forty years after she died and remarried.  Sarah happens to be the only time in the Bible that a woman’s age at death is recorded.  The Bible says that Adam lived to be 930 years old and then he died (5:5).  It doesn’t tell us how long Eve lived but we are told how long Sarah lived.

It is also amazing to think about this.  Abraham knew her for 127 years. He knew her all of his life.  They were close.  She was his half-sister.  They had the same father but a different mother (20:12).  He was older, so he knew Sarah her entire life.

The Legacy of Sarah

Let’s talk about Sarah’s life.  She is described as one of the heroes of the faith.  She is in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11.  Let’s review some of the things that we learn about the matriarch Sarah from the Book of Genesis.  What was her legacy?  How was Sarah, the first Jewish matriarch, a role model for women today?

1. Sarah had real struggles.

What were some of her struggles?  She was not married to the perfect man.  Abraham had some faults.  He said, “If you really love me, you will lie for me”.  Abraham would put his wife in danger before he would put himself in danger.  She did not have the perfect marriage.  Abraham and Sarah had some struggles.  She was given away twice to another man in marriage while she was still married to Abraham.

In addition, she struggled with infertility. The one thing that she wanted more than anything else was to have a child.  She had this longing for children and it was unfulfilled for most of her life.  She finally got one but not until she was ninety.  She spent most of her life without any children and, in that day, this meant that a stigma was placed on her.  She felt inferior to other women who had children.  Other women looked down on her, which was hard.

2. Sarah had incredible blessings.

She was blessed by God.  How was she blessed if she was cursed with barrenness?  She was married.  Her husband was extremely wealthy.  She lived a long time.  She is blessed with longevity.  She was very attractive physically, even when she was old.  Kings would kill to have her.  Her husband had a unique relationship with God.  God made a covenant with him.

God appeared to him.  He spoke to him.  He experienced visions and dreams which the ordinary person did not experience.  She also saw God work incredible miracles in her own life.  She became the oldest mother in history.  She gave birth miraculously to a child at the age of ninety.

3. She was a good wife and mother.

Sarah followed her husband when he made that long journey to an unknown land.  She gave up some of her own dreams here.  She may not have wanted to take this big step of faith but she followed her husband in that journey.

She was a good cook.  She helped entertain the three heavenly guests in Genesis 18 with a big meal.  She was a good mother to Isaac.  She was very protective of him, more protective than Abraham was.  She is described in the NT as a role model to women.

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear” (I Peter 3:1-6 NIV).

That is an interesting passage.  It tells women to seek inner beauty, rather than outward beauty and to be more like Sarah but Sarah was not only beautiful on the inside, she was also beautiful on the outside.  The NT sees her as an example of submission and respect to her husband.  She called him “lord” but she was also a very strong woman.  She was not afraid to tell Abraham what he thought he should do in certain situations.  Sometimes she was right (Genesis 21) and sometimes wrong (Genesis 16).

Sarah was not perfect.  She had her faults, just like Abraham had faults.  When God told Abraham that Sarah would have a son in her old age, she laughed.  She laughed at the promise of God.  She mistreated her slave Hagar so bad that Hagar ran away.  She couldn’t take it anymore.  The lesson here is that if you are married, your spouse is not perfect.  They will have faults, flaws and shortcomings but, if you are married to them, you already knew that.  Abraham loved her, in spite of her faults.

Sarah dies unexpectedly in this chapter and Abraham has to find a way to bury her.  The last few chapters, Abraham has been in Beersheba but now he has moved to Hebron and that is where Sarah is buried.  He did not take her back to Ur to bury her.  He did not have time to do that.  The Jews believed in quick burial, even for the worst of criminals (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).  Abraham buried Sarah the same day that she died.  This chapter tells us how he found a tomb for her.

Abraham was a foreigner.  We are all US citizens and proud of our citizenship.  Abraham was not a citizen and did not own any property in Hebron.  He lived in a tent and moved around from place to place.  Genesis 23 tells us how he got a tomb for his wife.  It tells us who he bought it from (Ephron the Hittite), where he bought it (Hebron), how much he paid for it (four hundred shekels)[1], what currency he used (silver).  Paper money did not exist yet.

It also tells us how he bought it.  Eyewitnesses were present.  Abraham haggled over the price, like they do in that part of the world today.  He had to negotiate the price.  Abraham said he needed a burial plot.  He was told he could borrow one.  He said that he wanted to buy one.  He said that he wanted to buy the Cave of Machpelah.  They said if you buy one, you have to buy the field that does with it.  Abraham went ahead and bought the field, although he only needed the cave.

This purchase was important for two reasons.  One, it became the family graveyard.  All of the patriarchs are buried in this tomb. It was not just where Sarah was buried.  It was where Abraham, Isaac (35:27-29), Jacob (50:13), Leah (49:31) and Rebekah (49:31) were buried.  It is called the Cave of Machpelah or the Cave of the Patriarchs.

Two, this graveyard was the only land that Abraham owned his entire life.  It was only piece of land that Abraham owns in the land that God promised him.  It was the first piece of property owned by a Jew in the land later called Israel.  The irony is that he had to pay for it, even though God said that the land was his.  In fact, he had to pay a lot for it, namely four hundred shekels.  Burials today are not cheap.  Some things never change.

It is also ironic that the only land that Abraham purchased is not even owned by Jews today. It is in Hebron.  Hebron is about 20 miles south of Jerusalem.  It is a Palestinian city today.  It is in the West Bank.  This tomb still exists to this day. It is a Sunni Muslim area.  It is a Hamas stronghold and the Muslims have built a huge mosque built over this tomb.  It is heavi;y guarded.

It is called the Ibrihimi Mosque.  Abraham would be horrified that a Muslim mosque would be built over his tomb and that Jews do not even have access to it, except for ten days out of the year.  Jews today cannot even come and pray to the site where their forefathers and foremothers are buried[2].

The Quran says, “Abrahim was not a Jew nor a Christian but a Muslim” (Surah 3:67) but the truth is that Abraham was the father of the Jews.  His grandson was Jacob whose name was changed to Israel and Jacob had twelve sons which became the twelve tribes of Israel.

Abraham did not worship Allah.  He worshiped Jehovah or Yahweh.  Muhammad was not born until six hundred years after the time of Christ which was almost three thousand years after the time of Abraham.  What lessons can we learn from this chapter?  There are four lessons we can learn.

Lessons from Sarah’s Death

1. The reality of death

The first lesson is that death is universal.  Everyone dies. Some die young and some die old but we all die.  The wicked die and the righteous die.  Some die a violent death like Abel did.  Other die peacefully, like Sarah died but we all die.  The Bible says “It is appointed unto man once to die”

Ecclesiastes 7:2 “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”  Solomon said that it is better to go to a funeral than a party.  It is better to go to a funeral than a wedding.  Why?  There is something we can learn from a funeral.  It teaches us some things.

Death is educational.  It reminds us of our own mortality.  It tells us that one day we will be laying in a tomb.  It gives us a chance to prepare for that day.  Death is the destiny of all of us.  Are we saved?  Are we sure that we are saved and ready to stand before God.  We all know that death is inevitable but not all of us live like it.  We think we are invincible, especially when we are younger.

2. The biblical practice of burial

Abraham did not burn the body of Sarah.  He did not cremate Sarah.  He buried her body in a tomb.  In fact, the phrase “bury my dead” or “bury your dead” occurs seven times in this chapter (23:4, 6 [2], 8, 11, 14, 15).  Pagans burn their dead.  Jews bury their dead.

The universal biblical custom is burial, not cremation. That is significant. This happens to be the first burial in the Bible.  Sarah was the first one to be buried in Genesis 23. Abraham was the second on in the Bible to be buried.  He is buried in Genesis 25.

Now, there is no command in the Bible that says that you can’t cremate anyone.  Many do it for financial reasons.  It is much cheaper. It is not forbidden but cremation is not a biblical practice.  It has pagan roots.  The Greeks practiced cremation.

Of course, it is not a problem for God.  God can raise the dead just as easily if a body is cremated but, from the Jewish point of view, cremation is disrespectful to the body.  It destroys the body, rather than burying it.

3. The importance of mourning

Abraham mourned and wept.  Abraham was not the only one who mourned for Sarah.  Isaac did too.  Apparently, Isaac was close to his mother.  Apparently, she was a very good mother.  She was very protective of Isaac.  She protected him from Ishmael.

He was attached to his mother.  Maybe she liked him because she was the only parent who did not try to kill him.  He really did not get over the death of his mother until he got married and that was three years later (24:66). Isaac would have been thirty-seven years old at this time.  How do we know? Sarah died at the age of 127 and she was ninety when Isaac was born.

It is proper to mourn the death of loved ones.  It is the appropriate response.  Grief is normal and natural after the loss of a loved one.  It is healthy.  There is such a thing as “Good Grief”.

Solomon said, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot… a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2,4)

Many of us, especially men, do not like to show our emotions.  Stoicism is not Christian.  Jesus was not a Stoic.  He cried in public.  He cried over the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and over the city of Jerusalem.  Luke 19:41 says,  “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.” When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him in the other room (45:1-2).

The Apostle Paul said, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13 NIV).  He did not say that we were not supposed to sorrow or grieve for people.  He said that we do not need to sorrow like the rest of mankind.

The Baptist preacher Vance Havner, who wrote forty books, met someone after his wife died.  He said to him, “I’m sorry to hear you lost your wife.” Dr. Havner smiled and replied, “Son, when you know where something is, you haven’t lost it.”

4. The benefit of a good testimony

Abraham lived in Hebron as a visitor, not a citizen but he had a good testimony there.  He had friends there.  He was respectful to them.  He was polite and courteous.  He bowed down to the ground (23:12).  He did not have a great testimony in other places (e.g., Beersheba).  In fact, he was kicked out of Egypt. He had to leave in disgrace but he was well respected in Hebron.  They called him “a prince of God” (23:6).

Does this describe us?  We have a good reputation with those around us.  Proverbs 22:1 says. “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”  Do we have a good testimony at work?  Do we have a good testimony in our community and with our neighbors?  The Apostle Paul said, “I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man” (Acts 24:16 NIV).

What Paul did, we should strive to do.  We should live with a clear conscience. That means that we do not break God’s laws and we do not break man’s laws. It means that we do not have to worry about having the IRS, FBI or local sheriff tracking us down.  It also means that we are not living in disobedience to any known command of Scripture.  We are not perfect but we have a clear conscience before God AND man.  This is very important.

 

 

 


[1] Pharaoh gave Abraham a thousand pieces of silver to Abraham when he returned Sarah (20:16).

[2] There are two entrances to the mosque: one for Muslims and one for Jews and tourists.  The Tombs of the Patriarchs is located in the Muslim section, which is ironic because none of the Patriarchs were Muslim.  They were all Jewish.

 

Abraham’s Greatest Test

For the last three months, we have been studying in detail the life of the patriarch Abraham.  He is one of the greatest characters in the Bible.  He is a giant of the faith.  God made a special covenant with him that he did not make with anyone else.  He is the only one in the Bible who is called “a friend of God” and he is called that three times.

Abraham was a great man.  God blessed him.  He was extremely wealthy.  He was like the Bill Gates of his day but even Abraham had problems.  He did not live the perfect life.  He had struggles with sin and he had many trials in his life.  He had problems.  He had many tests which we have seen already in Genesis. There are different lists of these tests.  According to Jewish tradition, Abraham faced ten tests.  I want to list just some of the tests that he faced.

The Tests of Abraham

1. THE FAITH TEST.  God gave him a command to take a big step of faith.  He told him to leave his family and friends, take a long dangerous journey and to go to a place he had never been to before.  When he got there, he received his second test.

2. THE FAMINE TEST.  When Abraham got to Canaan, there was a famine there.  Food was scarce.  Instead of trusting God, he left the Promised Land where God told him to do and went to Egypt.  It turned out to be disastrous.

3. THE FEAR TEST.  Abraham failed this test twice.  He lied to Pharaoh and to Abimelek to save his life and ended up giving his wife to another man in marriage, not once but twice. When he got back into the Promise Land, he encountered another test.

4. THE FAMILY FEUD TEST.  A family fight broke out over grazing territory for animals.  Abraham resolved this one peacefully with his nephew Lot but had to say goodbye to him.

5. THE FRIENDSHIP TEST.  When his close friends and family members were in danger, Abraham went into action.  Lot was taken captive and he got together an army and rescued him, as well as the people of Sodom, at great risk to himself.  He went against a superior army.

6. THE FAME TEST.  Abraham defeated Kederlaomer and was instantly a war hero.  He was famous and was offered the spoils of war but he refused them.  He didn’t go to war to get rich and he did not take credit for the victory.

7. THE FERTILITY TEST.  God promised Abraham and Sarah a son but it wasn’t happening.  Years went by.  Decades went by and still no son.  It was embarrassing.  His name meant ‘father of a multitude” but his wife was childless and infertile.  Abraham decided to get a child another way and help God out.

8. THE FAREWELL TEST.  He had to disinherit his firstborn son Ishmael and kick him out of the house, after he continued to mock the promised son.

9. THE FIDELITY TEST. When we get to Genesis 22, we come to the greatest test of Abraham’s life. This was a test of loyalty.

Christians call this “the offering up of Isaac”.  Jews call it “the binding of Isaac” (Akedah Yitzhak).  It is a very familiar story of Scripture.  It is a powerful story.  All of us have heard it as a child.  It is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. This passage is also very important.  Isaac is a type of Christ.

This whole chapter is a beautiful picture of Christ.  One preacher called this “a dress rehearsal for Calvary”.  Is Isaac a perfect picture of Jesus here?  No.  Isaac does not die for anyone here.  There is a substitute that dies in this chapter but it is not Isaac.  In fact, a ram has to die for Isaac (22:13).  However, there are some similarities between Isaac and Jesus here that are amazing.  What happened to Isaac foreshadowed what would happen to Christ two thousand years later.

Isaac: a Type of Christ

  • Isaac was loved by his father (22:2).  Jesus was loved by his father.  Jesus said that the Father loved him before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
  • Isaac was called Abraham’s only son (22:2) and Jesus also is called “the only begotten son” or “only unique son” (John 1:14; 18; 3:16; 18; I John 4:9).
  • Abraham offered up his son in sacrifice.  God offered up his son in sacrifice.  John 3:16 says, “God so loved that world that he gave his only son.”
  • Isaac was a willing sacrifice.  He did not resist or struggle when his father tied him up and tried to offer him in sacrifice.  He did not try to run away from his elderly father.  Jesus also went willingly to the cross (John 10:18).
  • Isaac carried the wood up the mountain (22:6).  Jesus died on a wooden cross and even carried his own cross (John 19:7).
  • Isaac was tied up at the altar (22:9) and Jesus was nailed at the cross (I Peter 2:24).
  • Isaac was offered on a hill in Jerusalem (Mt. Moriah) and Jesus died on a hill in Jerusalem (Golgotha).  The two are close together.  The Muslims built a mosque over the place where Abraham offered up his sin.  It is called The Dome of the Rock.  It is built on the highest part of Mt. Moriah where most believe that Abraham offered up Isaac.
  • The chapter mentions the period of three days (22:4).  What were the three days for?  The trip from Beersheba to Mount Moriah was a three day journey.  You could probably get there in less than an hour by car.  It is fifty miles south but in those days it took three days.  During that walk, Abraham had only one thing on his mind, Isaac’s death.  That is all he could think about but he also believed that he would rise from the dead afterwards (Hebrews 11:17-19).  Jesus was in the tomb for three days and afterwards rose again from the dead.

This chapter has some important applications for us today.  What can we learn from this chapter?  There are three things.  First, we learn that God tests us (22:1).  He tested Abraham.  He tested him more than once and he will test us.  He may test our faith and ask Him to trust Him for something.  We might have to wait for years for something, like Abraham did.

He may test our obedience and we if we will do what He says.  God tested Adam and Eve’s obedience in the Garden.  He may also test our endurance.  Job’s endurance was tested to see if he would continue to worship God under terrible circumstances. He might test our love.  Remember, Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37 ESV).

A second lesson we learn from this chapter is that God provides for us (22:14).  In fact, Abraham gives us another name for God here.  He calls him Jehovah Jireh (God, our Provider).  It is the fifth special name for God in Genesis.  God provides for our needs, not all of our wants but our needs.

He does not always use an angel to do that, like He did in this chapter. Paul says, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 ESV).  A third lesson is that God rewards obedience.  Abraham was rewarded for his action.  God promised to bless, not only Abraham and his descendants but all nations through his descendants because of his action (22:15-18).  He still blesses obedience today.

A third lesson is that God rewards obedience.  Abraham was rewarded for his action.  God promised to bless, not only Abraham and his descendants but all nations through his descendants because of his action (22:15-18).  He still blesses obedience today.

This is also one of the most difficult chapters in the Bible.  What God asks Abraham to do here is shocking.  It is disturbing.  It raises all kinds of moral issues and ethical questions.  I need to give a viewer warning here.  In this class, we want to look at some of these hard questions.  These are the kinds of questions that are not raised in Sunday School classes.

All of the critics of the Bible and atheists love this chapter.  They use it to mock the Bible.  Here you have a loving father trying to his kill his own son in cold blood.  How is that for family values?  The Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz says that Abraham commits attempted murder in this section and is praised. Is God endorsing child abuse here?  Does this passage condone child abuse?

We will look at these questions later but I would say at the outset is that this passage does NOT sanction child abuse.  You have to take it in context.  The problem is that some people only read the first two verses of the chapter.

You have to read it from the beginning to the end.  Many read the words, “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you” and stop.

That is the danger in reading half of the Bible.  If you read the whole chapter, you find that child sacrifice was NEVER God’s plan.  He never intended Isaac to die.  That was not His will.  Abraham did not know that at the time but we know it. What happens at the end of the story?

An angel steps in to protect Isaac.  He calls Abraham’s name twice (“Abraham, Abraham”).  God mentioned his name once at the beginning of the chapter (22:1)  but now the angel really wants to make sure that Abraham heard him.  He is old.  He might have been hard of hearing. He says to Abraham, “Do NOT lay your hand on the boy or do ANYTHING to him” (22:12). At the end of the story, angel says, “Don’t touch him.  Don’t lay your hands on him”.

God did not command this because he wanted it to happen.  He commanded it because it was a test (22:1).   God did not want Isaac’s life.  He wanted Abraham’s heart.  Let’s look briefly at this chapter.  When do these events take place?  The first verse says “sometime later”.  Isaac was two or three at the end of the last chapter.  How old is he in this chapter?

The Bible doesn’t say but we know that he was not a child.  We have two hints.  Isaac does two things.  He was old enough to understand that if you were going to have a sacrifice, you had to have an animal and he was strong enough to carried wood for the burnt offering up the mountain.  A child couldn’t carry the firewood.  He was at least a teenager and may have been older.

Genesis 22 describes four things: God’s command, Abraham’s response, God’s provision and God’s reward.  We need to see all four of these things.

God’s Command

“Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you” (22:1-2 NIV).

What did God tell Abraham to do here?  God did not just tell Abraham to offer him a sacrifice. He told him exactly what to sacrifice, namely, Isaac, his prized possession.  He told him to put his only son the altar.  God told him to take the son that he loved, the one who brought joy and laughter to his life and he was to tie him up, take a knife, plunge it into the heart of his own son and then burn him to ashes.

A burnt offering involved fire.  The whole offering was completely consumed.  God prescribes other offerings of which only part is burned and the rest is eaten by the worshipers. But the burnt offering is consumed completely.

Abraham is told to offer, not an animal but his own son Isaac, the son that was just born in the last chapter.  This was the son that Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham waited a hundred years for this child to be born.  He waited his entire life to have this son and one he gets him, God tells him to go offer him in sacrifice.

God says, “offer him as a sacrifice.”  In the last chapter, God told Abraham to send his firstborn son away.  He got rid of him in Genesis 21.  He has one son left, Isaac and now God tells him to take him and offer him up on an altar.  Several things stand out to me about this command.

1. It came from God Himself.

Many people think God is talking to them and telling them to do things that he is not.  They go around saying “God said this” and “God told me that” but what they say did not come from God. We have all heard stories about mentally unstable people who have murdered their children and gone on to defend their actions by claiming that God told them to do so. God told me to divorce my wife, to drown my kids.

Notice how the second verse begins, Genesis 22:2 reads “THEN GOD SAID Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go …. Sacrifice him … as a burnt offering”. There was no mistake about this.  Abraham did not misunderstand God and say “I think he wants me to do this”.  This was not a hunch or an intuition.  God spoke to Abraham many times.  He recognized God’s voice.

In fact, this sounded a little similar to the very first time God spoke to Abraham.  What did He tell him to do?  He told him to GO somewhere to a land God WOULD SHOW HIM.  What did God say to do here?  GO to the region of Moriah to a mountain I WILL SHOW YOU.  Now Abraham was called a prophet in Genesis 20.  Here God wants him to act as a priest.  He wants him to offer Him a sacrifice, a burnt offering.

2. It seemed illogical

This command did not seem to make much sense for two reasons.  First, no reason was given for this command.  When God told Adam and Eve not to eat from a tree in the garden, He gave a reason.  He said, the day they eat from that tree they will surely die.

When God told Noah to build a boat bigger than a football field and three stories tall, he gave a reason for doing it.  He told him that He was going to destroy every living thing on the planet in a worldwide flood of water. God did not give Abraham a reason.  He just told him to do it.

Second, it seemed to contradict God’s promises.  God told Abraham that he would have as many descendants as the stars in the sky (15:5) and the dust of the earth (13:16).  He said “In Isaac your seed will be called”.  The Messiah was to come into the world through Isaac.

God said that he would bless the whole world through Isaac and his descendants and now God tells Abraham to kill him.  Isaac was not married at this time.  He did not have any kids.  He was not a father and God just told him to offer him as a burnt offering.  Abraham obeyed even when it did not make sense.  it is our duty to obey God’s commands and His duty to keep His promises.

3. It seemed to be immoral.

Can we all agree that murder is wrong?  The Sixth Commandment prohibits murder.  If murder is wrong and if God commands someone to commit murder, then isn’t God commanding someone to sin?  What Abraham had to do last week seemed barbaric.  He send his firstborn son away in the hot desert.  What he does now seems even more barbaric.  He puts a knife to his son’s throat. Isaac was not only to die; he was to die by Abraham’s hand.

In fact, Genesis 22:1 KJV reads, “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham”.  That is a bad translation.  God cannot sin.  He cannot tempt anyone to sin.  “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (James 1:13-14).

Here is the answer.  What God asked Abraham to do was NOT wrong.  Murder is ALWAYS wrong.  It is a violation of the moral law of God.  It is wrong at every time and in every place but God cannot murder.  People who do not understand the Bible talk about all of the murders of God.  Bill Maher calls God a psychotic mass murder who drowns innocent women and children in a Flood.

That is not murder.  God created life and He is taking what He already owns.  God can’t murder.   Whenever God gives man the authority to kill, it is not murder.  When God gives the state the right to execute mass murderers, it is not murder.  God is the only one who has the right to take a life and whenever He authorizes someone else to do it, it is not murder.

The problem today is that many people kill for God.  They use this passage to justify murder.  Look at all of the ISIS savages who are beheading people and crucifying children, all in the name of God but God never told them to do that.  They have blood on their hands.  They think they are serving God but they are actually serving the Devil.

Abraham’s Response

Abraham’s response is almost as surprising as the command.  He did not argue with God.  He didn’t say, “I will do anything else.  I will show my devotion to you in any other way”.  He didn’t say, “God I offered you a sacrifice.  It is a burnt offering but it is not Isaac.  He didn’t procrastinate.  He didn’t say, “I will do it but I am going to take my time.  Maybe in a few years I will get to it”.  He didn’t ask other people what they thought he should do in this situation.

Abraham did not give God delayed obedience.  He did not give God partial obedience.  He gave God instant obedience and total obedience.  He obeys God completely.  He is even willing to give up his own son. “Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.

When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about” (22:3). Not just the next morning but EARLY the next morning, he gets up and prepares for the journey.  He even cuts the wood that will be used to burn his son up.  This old man goes out and splits the wood for the sacrifice.

Abraham gives an example here of perfect obedience, even when he did not fully understand.  He obeyed when the command and the promise seemed to contradict one another.  He did what God said immediately.  Some have called this blind faith.  It was not blind faith.  It was obedient faith.  Abraham did exactly what God told him to do but he also used some common sense.  He did not tell Sarah and he did not tell Isaac (22:7).  He said, “We are going to worship”.  That was true.

Abraham had some weaknesses but his strength was his instant and total obedience to God.   When God told Abraham that the sign of the covenant was circumcision, he circumcised his whole house that very day (17:23).  He got circumcised at the age of ninety-nine and Ishmael got circumcised at the age of thirteen (17:24).  When God told Abraham to listen to his wife and send Hagar and Ishmael away, early the next morning he did exactly that (21:14).

God’s Provision

God provided for Hagar and Ishmael’s needs in the last chapter and he provides for Abraham’s needs in this chapter. At just the right moment, God provided an animal for Abraham to sacrifice.  Both times God used an angel to speak to them.  In both cases, their eyes were opened and they saw something they had not seen (a well of water, a ram).

God’s Reward

By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (22:15-18 ESV)

What is the point here?  God blesses obedience.  He rewards obedience.  That is what we see here.  God gave Abraham a radical test of obedience.  He passed the test and God blessed him for it.  Look what happened to Job.  He lost his health.  He lost his wealth.

He lost his family but everything was doubled in the end.  God still does this today.  He rewards radical obedience.  What did Jesus say?  ‘Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29 NIV)

 

 

A Tale of Two Sons

We have been studying the life of Abraham and we come today to a turning point in the book.  The last eight chapters of the book have been about one of the greatest characters in the Bible – Abraham.  Genesis 12-20 have all been about Abraham.  The next five chapters do NOT focus on Abraham but on his son Isaac.  Genesis 21-26 deal with Isaac.  Genesis 27-36 deal with Isaac’s son Jacob.  Genesis 37-48 deal with Jacob’s son Joseph.

This chapter does deal a little with Abraham.  At the very end of the chapter, Abraham rebukes Abimelek, instead of Abimelek rebuking Abraham.  One of his wells was stolen.  They make a covenant and resolve the situation.  Today, I want to focus on two men from Genesis 21: Isaac and Ishmael.  This chapter is a tale of two brothers.  We actually learn a lot more about Ishmael in this chapter than we do about Isaac. There are some myths about Ishmael that we will debunk in this chapter.

Isaac only reaches the age of three in this chapter.  He is just a toddler.  This chapter deals with three events in Isaac’s life.  We only get an introduction to Isaac in this chapter.  This chapter describes three aspects of Isaacs’s life: his birth, his circumcision when he was eight days old and the time he stopped breastfeeding at the age of three.

This is a very interesting chapter.  There is a lot of drama in first nineteen verses of this chapter.  It is a chapter that contains both joy and sorrow.  There is celebration and tragedy. 

Some come into the family in this chapter and some are kicked out (birth of Isaac and the expulsion of Ishmael).  One is born and one almost dies in this chapter.  I want to do two things today: go over what takes place in this chapter and then look at some lessons we can learn from it.

Dramatic Events

1. A baby is born (21:2). 

The chapter begins with the birth of a baby.  It is a boy baby, Abraham’s second son.  Ishmael was born in Genesis 16.  Isaac is born in Genesis 21.  They had the same father but different mothers.  Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham was one hundred at the time of his birth and Sarah was ninety. 

That makes them the oldest parents on record.  Right now, the oldest mom in the record books is 70.  It is held by a woman in India (Omkari Panwar).  She is in the Guinness Book of World Records but Sarah was twenty years older.  Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age is given.  

We are not told Abraham’s reaction to the baby but we are told what Sarah’s reaction was.  She laughed (21:6).  Sarah laughed a year earlier when she overheard the three men saying that she would have a baby (18:10-12).  Now she is laughing for a different reason.  She is not laughing in unbelief; she is laughing in joy.  She is ecstatic.

2. A baby is circumcised (21:4).

Abraham does two things to show his obedience to God.  He names him Isaac (which in Hebrew is yitzhak).  God told Abraham to name him Isaac (17:19), so that is what he does (21:3).  Abraham also circumcises him on the eighth day (21:4).  Many parents circumcise their boys today but this was not just a medical procedure but a religious rite. 

This was a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant.  This made him a Jewish boy.  It made him part of the Abrahamic Covenant.  God said that all baby boys had to be circumcised or they would be cut off.  Isaac is the first baby boy in the Bible who was circumcised on the eighth day in accordance with the Abrahamic Covenant.

3. A big party is held (21:8).

The text says that “on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast” (21:8), not just a feat but a GREAT FEAST.  It was a big deal.  This is not a birthday party.  It is a weaning party.  This is strange to us.  We do not do this today.  We do not celebrate when a baby stops nursing.

We might celebrate when a child is potty-trained, because we do not have to buy diapers. In that culture, this was considered a milestone in a baby’s life. They become a little more independent. It was done at two or three years old (cf. II Maccabees 7:27). 

The American Academy of Pediatrics says you only need to breastfeed children for six months.  Why did they do it longer?  There were several reasons.  You could not go to Harris Teeter or Food Lion to buy formula or baby food.  Another reason they did this was because of the high infant mortality rate in the ancient world.  Many babies did not survive.

4. One person spoils the party (21:9).

The festive mood at the party ended quickly. “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking” (21:9).  Some Bibles say that Ishmael was “playing with” Isaac (cf. RSV, GNT).  That is a mistranslation.  Sarah would not be bothered that Ishmael played with his little baby brother. 

A better translation is that Ishmael was “teasing” or “making fun of” Isaac.  How serious was this teasing?  We don’t know. According to Jewish tradition, Ishmael used to shoot arrows in the direction of Isaac, saying he was only teasing.[1]

Ishmael is not just mocking a little innocent toddler. That is bad enough. He is mocking a miracle child.  He is mocking the one whose birth involved a physical miracle.  He is mocking the one who will be the ancestor of the Messiah. Isaac will give birth to Jacob. Jacob will give birth to the Twelve tribes. Jesus will be a descendant of one of these twelve tribes

The Savior of the world will be a descendant of Isaac and Ishmael is laughing at him.  As someone said, he is not only mocking his baby brother, he is mocking God’s people, God’s power, God’s promise and God’s provision.[2]

Now it is often hard for siblings to adjust to a new baby in the home.  They are no longer the center of attention.  They have been dethroned and the result is sometimes jealousy but this is different. This goes beyond ordinary sibling jealousy. Why?

Abraham most likely told Ishmael that his birth fulfilled God’s promises.  For fourteen years, Ishmael was Abraham’s heir and then Isaac came along and he was worried about his inheritance. As Alan Carr put it, “Ishmael saw all his hopes of inheritance dashed in Isaac. He knew that Isaac was the son of promise and that he was just the son of a slave. So he is jealous of Isaac and he acts out during the feast.”[3]

Ishmael mocked and even persecuted his baby brother (cf. Galatians 4:29).  Sarah was angry and said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac” (21:10).  She doesn’t even mention their names.  She just said, “They both need to leave now”.

4. God speaks to Abraham (21:12-13).

What does God tell him? “Listen to your wife. Do what she says” (21:12). This is the one instance in the Bible where the husband is to submit to the wife.  That is not easy for husbands to do sometimes but husbands need to do more often, especially when what they say lines up with God’s Word. 

Is this always the right thing to do?  No.  Wives are not always right.  Sarah told Abraham to sleep with a young foreign slave to get children.  She told him to commit adultery, to break his marriage vows.  She told him to sin and he did it.

Now she tells him to kick out Hagar and Ishmael.  Abraham didn’t want to do that.  He didn’t want to put his own son out on the street.  He didn’t want to abandon his own son.  He loved Ishmael (cf. 17:18).  He did not want to send him in to wilderness to die.  Ishmael was his firstborn but God told him to kick him out.  God told him to do it, so he obeyed.  One of Abraham’s strengths is that he obeys God, even when it is hard to do.  We will see that in the next chapter.

5. Abraham’s firstborn son leaves home (21:14). 

He doesn’t just leave; he is kicked out.  He is expelled.  A separation needed to take place between the legitimate son of Abraham and his illegitimate son. Ishmael despised and hated his younger brother and his descendants have the same hatred for the descendants of Isaac. 

They can’t stand them.  The Arab/Israeli conflict today goes back to Isaac and Ishmael.  You cannot really understand what is going on in the Middle East unless you understand the Book of Genesis. They are all fighting over what God promised Abraham. 

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba” (21:14).

This raises an important question.  Was this cruel and barbaric?  Was this cold and heartless for Abraham to do this to his own son because of a little teasing?  No.  It wasn’t cruel and heartless for two reasons. 

One, God’s allowed Ishmael to live with Abraham for fourteen years.  His whole birth was a result of sin.  It was not part of God’s plan.  God allowed it.  That was grace on God’s part.  He allowed him to live with Abraham for fourteen years but once Isaac came on the scene, he had to go. 

Two, it was not cold and heartless because but God took care of them in the desert, so they did not die.  He watched over them.  It could not have been wrong, because God told him to do  it.  It wasn’t wrong, just a little tough love.

6. A crisis takes place in the desert (21:15). 

“When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.”(21:15-16)

Hagar ran away from home in Genesis 16.  Sarah mistreated her and she took off.  She was a runaway.  In Genesis 21, she becomes an outcast in the desert.  They are on their own.  They leave with limited supplies.  It is hot.  They get lost and run out of water.  It was hopeless.  Hagar is worried that her son will die in the desert.   

She cries uncontrollably (21:16).  She puts him on the side so she does not have to watch him die.  Whatever you say about Hagar, she definitely was a good parent.  She is the first single parent in the Bible and she felt desperate and alone.

There is a common myth about this story.  The KJV mistranslates this chapter and that error persists to this day.  It calls Ishmael a “child” (21:16) and a “lad” (21:17).  Many think that Ishmael was a baby.  They think he was so weak and dehydrated that he couldn’t walk anymore and Hagar carried him on her shoulder. 

None of that is true.  Ishmael was a teenager. Ishmael was seventeen and Isaac was three. How do we know that?  If you work out the chronology, Isaac was eight-six when Ishmael when he was born (16:16) and Abraham is now one hundred (21:5). 

Ishmael was fourteen when he was born.  Isaac is weaned at the age of three.  That would make Ishmael either sixteen or seventeen, depending on what age the weaning took place. Ishmael was a teenager, not a baby.  Hagar did not carry Ishmael on her shoulder.  She carried a skin of water and some food on her shoulder (21:14).  This shows that Hagar was probably strong physically.  In that time, the women did most of the work.

7. An angel speaks to Hagar (21:17-18). 

Hagar was at the bottom of the social structure.  She was an African slave for Abraham, who was very wealthy and now she is thrown out into the desert with little supplies.  An angel appears to her in her time of deepest need.  This is the second time this happened. 

Most of us have never had an angel appear to us once.  An angel appeared to Hagar earlier in the book when she ran away from Sarah (16:7-20).  An angel from heaven begins talking to Hagar.   What did the angel say?  They asked her a question (“What troubles you?”) and gave her some instructions (“fear not”).  Then they told her why she did not need to fear (“for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is”).

We are not told that Hagar prayed but we are told that Ishmael prayed and God answered his prayers (21:17).  In fact, the name Ishmael means “God hears”.  God became a father to the fatherless. “Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink” (21:19).  They were dying of starvation and didn’t even see a well of water that was right near them.  God met their need.

9. God promises to bless Ishmael (17:20; 21:20-21). 

“And God was with the boy, and he grew up” (21:20).  God blessed Ishmael.  He lived in the wilderness.  He was a rugged outdoorsman.  He was a skilled hunter.  He was good with a bow and arrow.  He was very different from Isaac as we will see later in the book.  His brother has a different personality and temperament.

He got married.  His mom went to Egypt to get him a wife (21:21).  Why did she do that?  Keep in mind in that day that they had arranged marriages.  She went to her own country to get him a wife.  She was from Egypt.  He got an Egyptian wife, which meant that his kids were three-fourths Egyptian. 

He may have even been saved.  A common view of Ishmael is that since he was not the son of promise that he was cursed and rejected by God.  The Bible says the opposite.  God heard his prayer and answered it.  He provided for him.  He blessed him. 

God said, “As for Ishmael…behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a GREAT nation” (17:20; cf. 21:20).  Ishmael had many kids. He went on to have twelve sons (17:20; 25:13-16).  Isaac only had two sons (twin boys).  He went on to live a long time.  He lived to be 137 (25:17).  

God was WITH Ishmael (21:20).  God was with Abraham (21:22).  He was with Isaac. Genesis 26:24 says “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake” (NIV).  All of those things were true of Ishmael.  God was with Ishmael.  He blessed him.  He just didn’t make a special covenant with him. He made a covenant with Abraham and he repeated the same covenant to Isaac.

This is a great story but what do we take from it?  What lessons can we learn from the birth of Isaac?  There are four.

Four Powerful Lessons

1. God is faithful to his Word.

We are told that three times in two verses that God is faithful to his Word.  “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah AS HE SAID, and the Lord did for Sarah WHAT HE PROMISED.  Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, AT THE VERY TIME GOD HAD PROMISED HIM.” (21:1-2 NIV)  He keeps His promises.

God did not just make promises to Abraham, He made promises to us.  There are thousands of promises in the Bible.  Every one of the promises in God’s Word will be literally fulfilled.  God keeps his promises.  Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.” 

God keeps his promises but we still have to wait for them.  God promised Abraham a son but he didn’t get a son right away. He had to wait twenty-five years.  He promised him some other things that he will not get until he is resurrected (e.g., possession of the Promised Land).

2. God can do the miraculous.

What God did for Abraham and Sarah in this chapter involved a physical miracle.  He brought a baby out of two old dead bodies (cf. Romans 4:19).  They had two problems.  Sarah was past menopause.  She was too old to have kids and even when she could have kids, she was infertile.  That was no problem for God.  He created the universe.  Nothing is too hard for God (18:14; Luke 1:37).  With God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

Sarah conceives a child, gives birth to a baby and nurses a child at the age of ninety. Now Abraham did not see this kind of thing happen everyday.  They waited twenty-five years to see it happen but it did happen.  God did miracles in Abraham and Sarah’s life and He can do miracles in our life.

Incidentally, we have a new name for God in this chapter. He is called “the everlasting God” (21:33). It is the fourth name of God in Genesis.  God has been called El Elyon (God Most Hight), El Roi (the God who sees), El Shaddai (God Almighty) and now he is called El Olam (the everlasting God).

3. God can meet us in our time of deepest need.

Hagar learned that. In fact, she learned it twice: once in Genesis 16 and once in Genesis 21. Hagar and Ishmael were outcasts. They were alone.  They were desperate. They were out of water in a hot desert. They had no one to turn to humanly speaking. Ishmael called out to God and He answered him.

We can do the same thing. God says, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15).  Trouble comes in various forms. God invites us to call on him in the day of trouble. We will not always have an angel appear when we are in distress but God can help us and wants to help us. Psalm 46:1 says,  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (ESV).

4. God has a plan for everyone.

God has a plan for everyone. What he is doing in your life may be very different from what he is doing in your brother or sister’s life. Isaac and Ishmael were very different. He even has a plan for people who never should have been born in the first place. Ishmael’s birth was a result of sin. 

It was the result of an affair with a young African slave. It was the result of adultery. There are many other people who are born because of incest, rape, abuse or sexual promiscuity. What we learn from Ishmael here is that God can still use and bless that person. He can still be with that person and provide for that person. He can bring good out of evil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 122.

[2] http://www.sermonnotebook.org/Hard_Cases/HC%2010%20-%20Genesis%2021_9-21.htm

[3] http://www.sermonnotebook.org/old%20testament/Genesis%2021_9-21.htm

Abraham’s Tragic Flaw

We have been studying the life of Abraham.  Our topic today is Abraham’s tragic flaw.  One thing about the Bible is that it is brutally honest.  For the last two weeks, we have been studying Sodom and Gomorrah.  We looked at why God destroyed those cities.  The chapter describes the incredible depravity of the city.  It was a sin that was open and public.  There was no repentance.  it was a sin that was widespread.

Everyone in town was involved in it.  It involved not only abusing people but angels.  Even after the gang of thugs that surrounded by Lot’s house and were completely blinded, that did not stop them from trying to sin.  They still attempted to reach for the door handle to get into Lot’s house.

The end of the chapter is even more graphic.  It records incest.  It records Lot’s daughters raping him while he is drunk.  Critics say that the Bible is an immoral book.

Why would the Bible record something not fit for the pulpit or for innocent children to read?  Many atheists argue that the Bible contains all kinds of moral atrocities.  They say that the Bible is a bloody book.

Are they right? In one sense the critics are correct.  The Bible is a bloody book because it is a factual representation of the nature of man.  It gives us an accurate portrait of man.  Man is a bloody creature.  The very first baby born on the planet was a murderer.  Cain killed Abel.

The Bible is an honest book.  It gives us a true history of events.  It records man as he actually is.  The Bible is not a politically correct book.  Those who are politically correct try to sugarcoat everything.  They want to make things more appealing, more acceptable and easier to swallow.

The PC crowd does not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.  The result is that you cannot say what is really going on.  The Obama administration has removed the words “Islamic Terror” from the FBI and Homeland Security, because some might find that offensive.  The Bible was not written to be inoffensive.  In fact, Jesus said some things deliberately to offend people.

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Matthew 10:34-35 ESV).

In one sense, the critics are completely wrong.  The Bible does not approve everything it records.  Just because it mentions many violent acts does not mean that it sanctions violence.  God says “The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion” (Psalm 11:7 NIV).

Just because it mentions homosexuality, rape or incest does not mean that it approves of it or endorses it. I Thessalonians 4:3 says “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality” (NIV). 

In fact not only are we to avoid it, Paul says that we are to flee from it (I Corinthians 6:18).  We are not just supposed to resist it and fight it; we are to run from it.  He says in Ephesians 5:3 that among Christians “there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity” (NIV)

The Bible is also honest in another way.  It doesn’t try to hide the flaws of the saints.  That is why I am glad there are no books of the Bible about me.  Now Abraham had many strengths.  He is one of the greatest characters in the Bible.  He is called the friend of God three times in the Bible.

He is called the father of all who believe.  Those who have faith are called the children of Abraham.  He was justified by God.  We saw that in Genesis 15.  He had power with God in prayer. We saw that in Genesis 18. He showed incredible hospitality to complete strangers.  In this chapter, we learn something else about Abraham that we did not know.

Abraham was a prophet.  Abraham is the first man in the Bible called a prophet.  He is not just a patriarch.  He is a prophet.  The first time the word “prophet” occurs in the Bible is Genesis 20:7.

He had a special relationship with God that others did not have.  He revealed things to him that he did not reveal to anyone else.  Abraham was a great role model in many ways but what we learn in Genesis 20 is that Abraham was not perfect.  He was saved but he was not sinless.

Abraham had a weakness.  Everyone has a weakness for something.  It is called a sin nature.  We are all born sinners and when we got saved we did not become all of the sudden perfect.  That sin nature stays with us until we die.  No matter how spiritual we are, we never reach a state of sinless perfection.

If you do not believe that I am a sinner, all you have to do is to ask my wife. The best Christian you know are sinners.  The most mature Christians and the godliest saints have struggles with sin.  That includes missionaries and pastors.

This chapter is proof.  Abraham is called a prophet in this chapter and he sins.  Preachers are not perfect either.  They sin.  Even the Apostle Paul said, “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Romans 7:21).  Apostles struggled with sin.  In fact, one of them was greedy.

There are some holiness groups which teach that you can reach a state of perfection in this life.  I know because I have talked to them.  The Bible doesn’t teach that.  I John 1:8 says “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (NIV)

We all have a weakness. Samson had this incredible physical strength but he was morally weak.  He had a weakness for was women but not just any women.

He only liked pagan women.  He only dated Philistines, not Hebrew women.  For others, their short temper may be their weakness or they may have difficulty controlling their tongue.

They have trouble with profanity.  For others, it might be an addiction.  Abraham’s weakness was not greed or gluttony or lust, it was deception.  He had trouble telling the truth.

As we come to Genesis 20, we see three things.  We see the sin of Abraham.  We also see the intervention of God.  We also see the rebuke of Abimelek.  Let’s look at these one by one.

The Sin of Abraham

Let’s look at Abraham’s sin and why he did it?  How did it begin?  He moved to a new place and that led to a new temptation.  We find that at the end of the last chapter.

In the last chapter, two angels went into Sodom, rescued Lot and his family and the whole city was wiped off the map.  It was completely obliterated, along with all of the plants.  Nothing survived.  Fire fell from heaven.

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace” (19:27-28).

Abraham made a deal with God that he would not destroy the city if there were ten righteous people in the city.  God agreed.  Abraham looks up and sees a big puff of smoke and realizes that there were not ten righteous people in the city.  He probably thinks that his nephew Lot has been killed, along with everyone else.  Then he decided to move.

“Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar” (20:1).  Why did he want to move?  The text does not say.  One possibility is that there was air pollution after the destruction of these cities which may have affected pasture land for the animals.  Sulpher stinks but we do not know for sure.

It wasn’t a sin for him to move.  He didn’t go out of the Promise Land, like he did before when he went to Egypt.  He just went to Gerar.  It was in the south of the Promised Land. He moved from Hebron to Gerar.  Hebron was in the mountains of Judea.

Hebron is about 20 miles south of Jerusalem.  It is a Palestinian city today.  It is in the West Bank.  It is a Muslim (Sunni) area.  It is a Hamas stronghold.

Abraham had lived in this area for about twenty years.  After Sodom is destroyed, he decided to move to Gerar.  Gerar is in Canaan.  It was a Philistine town at the time.  It is forty or fifty miles southwest of Hebron.

We do not know why he moved but we know where he moved and what he did afterwards.  Afterwards, he practiced deception. “There Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her” (20:2).

He lies about his wife and says that she is his sister. Abraham had a problem.  Apparently, he was married to the most beautiful woman in the world at that time.  That caused a big problem.

Every time he went somewhere, people wanted his wife and some would even kill him for her.  It was a mixed blessing.  She was so beautiful that even in her nineties, she was still desirable.  Imagine that, a ninety year old beauty queen.

Abraham goes to a new place and lies about his marital status.  Strangers were not always treated very well in the ancient world.  We saw that in Sodom, so he lied.

Characteristics of Abraham’s Sin

This was his standard traveling practice.  Sarah was in on the deception.  It was not just a lie, it was a conspiracy.   Notice what Abraham said in Genesis 20:13.  “And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother”’ (NIV).

1) This sin was intentional.

It was not accidental.  It was planned.  This was a deliberate sin.  How do we know?  It went all the way back to when they lived in Ur.  This is what they would say when they went into a new place.

2) This sin was repetitive.

This was not the first time that Abraham had done this.  I wouldn’t call this a habitual sin but it was a repeated sin.  Abraham becomes a repeat offender.  History is repeating itself.  What Abraham does in this chapter, he did twenty-five years earlier.

In Genesis 12, he was seventy-five (12:4).  Now, he is almost one hundred (21:5).  In Genesis 12, he traveled to Egypt and lied to the Egyptian Pharaoh about his wife.  Now in Genesis 20, he travels to Gerar and lies to King Abimelek about his wife.

3) This sin was manipulative

Abraham manipulated his wife.  It is bad enough if you sin.It is much worse if you get others to sin for you. He said, This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’ He said, in essence, “If you really love me, you will do this”.

Sarah did it. Sarah is pictured in the NT as a model of a submissive wife but this is a little too submissive.  A wife should never follow her husband if he asks her to sin and that is exactly what Abraham did.

You say what is the big deal about lying?  It doesn’t seem that serious.  It would not be that big of a deal today.  He just stretched the truth a little.  Politicians do that all of the time.  It seems like a little white lie.  Well, this was actually a very big deal for three reasons.

1. This lie put his wife in danger.

Abraham’s plan caused his wife to sin.  It caused her to lie and it would have caused her to commit adultery.  Abraham acts very selfish.  He sacrifices his wife to protect his life, instead of giving up his life for his wife.

He becomes a complete coward.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense.  He got an army together and went to war against four kings.  He was the underdog and he won.  He showed incredible valor on the battlefield and then becomes a complete coward when he goes to Gerar.

2. This lie put Abimelech in danger.

Abimelek was wronged by Abraham.  It put him in danger and everyone else in his household was affected by this lie.  It caused Abimelek to take Sarah into his harem.  It would have caused him to sin if God did not step in.  That little white lie almost got Abimelek killed.

God told him “You are a dead man”.  Sarah is a married woman”.  That got his attention.  Those are words that you do not ever want to hear from God.  You don’t want God made at you and you do not want Him giving you a death sentence.  He got up early the nexct morning.

Why did God say this?  Adultery is serious business.  Breaking the marriage vow is a big deal.  Today, it is socially accepted and even glamorized by Hollywood.  Adultery was a capital offense in the OT.  Deuteronomy 22:22 says, “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel” (NIV)

God said that he was a dead man, even though he was not aware he had even done anything wrong.  God called him a dead man, even though his conscience was clear.  What does that tell you?  What do we learn from that?

Your conscience can be completely clear and you are still a dead man in God’s eyes.  Ignorance of the law is no excuse in a human courtroom and is no excuse in the divine courtroom.  Sin is sin.

3. This lie put the promises of God in danger.

This lie did not just affect Abraham, Sarah, Abimelek and Abimelek’s whole house.  It affected the Abrahamic Covenant.  It affected the promises of God.  That is why this was so serious.  God had promised Abraham offspring.

He promised that he would have so many descendants, he would not be able to count them all.  The Messiah would be one of his descendants.  The most important event of Abraham’s life was about to take place right before Abraham pulled this stunt.

At the very moment that God is ready to fulfill that promise, Abraham puts the whole thing in jeopardy by giving his wife off to another man.  God told them that Sarah would have a son in about a year (17:21; 18:10).  That means that she would have to conceive in the next three months.  During this time, he gives Sarah to Abimelech to be his wife.

The Intervention of God

God had to physically intervene in the situation.  God does two things here.  First, he spoke to Abimelek.  The irony here is that Abraham is the prophet but the one who God speaks to in this chapter is not Abraham.

It is Abimelek.  God speaks to Abimelek in a dream and says “you are a dead man.” God intervened in this situation first by speaking to Abimelek.

Second, he kept Abimelech from sinning.  Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her” (20:6).  Sarah was under God’s protection.  God physically restrained Abimelek.

Somehow He kept Abimelech from having sex with Sarah.  How he did this? We are not told.  Did he make Abimelek sick or give him an STD?  We don’t know.

What we do know is that God kept Abimelek from sinning.  This is a completely radical concept.  It is a very interesting topic.  I don’t have time to go into great detail here.

We have free will but God is completely sovereign over our free will.  When we have desires to do God’s will, He plants those desires in us. “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13 NIV).

The men who crucified Jesus wanted to crucify him and yet the death of Jesus was part of God’s plan from eternity past.  God is sovereign over the worst act committed on the planet by sinful man – crucifying the Messiah.  God can even keep us from committing certain sins (cf. Jude 24).

C.H. Spurgeon used to say “God does not allow his children to sin successfully.” Provers 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”

The Rebuke of Abimelek

Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” (20:9-10)

Notice the three questions he asks him here. He calls what Abraham did not only a sin but a GREAT SIN.  Abraham is rebuked by Abimelek.  This is embarrassing.  Here an old saint is rebuked by a pagan king.  The patriarch is chewed out by a pagan and the criticism is justified.

It is pretty bad when the unsaved have to rebuke us because of the way we live (cf. Romans 2:21-23).  It is embarrassing when they live better than we do.  We are supposed to be the light of the world.

In fact, Abimelek looks better in this chapter than Abraham.  He has more integrity.  The pagan here looks better than the patriarch.  He is more honest and transparent.  He is more moral.  Abraham is the man of God,  He is the prophet and Abimelek is the pagan king and yet in this chapter they switch roles.

Abimelek looks like the saint and Abraham looks like the heathen in this chapter.  Abraham was the prophet but Abimelek got the revelation from God.  He was the one who God spoke to in this chapter.

Abraham lies to Abimelek and almost gets him killed and Abimelek returns good for evil.  He gives him things (20:14) and gives him a chance to live in his land (20:15).  He doesn’t kick him out of the country.  He could have said, “Get out of my sight.  I don’t want to see you again”.

Something rather strange happens in this chapter.  God rebukes Abimelek for his sin but he never rebukes Abraham for his sin.  In fact, he defended Abraham and yet Abraham’s sin was worse.

Abimelek sinned in ignorance.  He didn’t know he was doing anything wrong.  Two people told them that they were not married (Abraham and Sarah).  He heard it from two sources. Abraham knew what he was doing.

Why didn’t God rebuke Abraham?  In fact, God stood up for Abraham here.  Why didn’t he rebuke Abraham?  He doesn’t need to rebuke him.  Abimelek does it for him.  God speaks to Abraham through Abimelek.  He speaks to him through a pagan king.

What was Abraham’s response?  Does he say, “I am very sorry.  You are absolutely right.  I should not have done what I did. It put you and your family in grave danger?”  No. When confronted, he doesn’t repent.

He tries to justify it “Well, she is really my sister” He rationalizes and tries to justify his sin.  It is very difficult to admit you are wrong when you are caught in a lie.  It is a pride issue.

If you have been watching this news this week, there is a story about a woman who has been telling people that she was black for years.  She works for the head of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington.  Her parents came out and said that she is white.

The media confronted her and asked her if she was an African-American.  She said, “I do not understand the question”.  It is too hard for her to say “No.  I have been lying to people for years”.

Abraham does not repent.  He rationalizes his behavior.  He said, “There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.” (20:11)  Abraham was the one who did not fear God.  If he did, he would not have lied in the first place.

Why did he do it?  He believed in the ends justifies the means philosophy.  That got him in trouble in chapter 16 with Hagar and it got him in trouble in Genesis 12 and 20 with lying.

Notice how the chapter ends. “Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah” (20:17-18)

This is the first time the word “pray” occurs in the Bible, but not the first prayer in the Bible. Abraham prays for Abimelek.  Abraham becomes the intercessor.  He prays for someone else.  He prayed for Sodom in Genesis 18.

You would expect Abimelek to pray for Abraham, rather than Abraham praying for Abimelek but he was a heathen king and probably did not know how to pray to the true God.  Abraham prays for Abimelek and his family.

This was the first mention of healing in the Bible.  Abraham became the first one to pray for the sick in the Bible and the person was healed.

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again (Genesis 20:17 NIV)

God worked through his servant.  He used people.  He used flawed people to bring about healing.  Abraham was not perfect.  Supernatural healing took place as a result of prayer.  We see this not just in the NT but in the first book of the Bible.  It was an unselfish prayer.

Abraham prayed that the women in Abimelek’s household could have children, because God had prevented that from taking place.  The irony is that Abraham’s own wife was also infertile and has been infertile all of her life.

He asked God to give Abimelek something that he wanted in his own family.  In the very next chapter, he gets it.  Isaac is born.  We will look at the birth of Isaac next week.

Lessons on Sodom

We are studying the Book of Genesis and came last week to Genesis 19.  It is one of the most famous chapters in the Bible.  It is one chapter that has some adult themes in it.  It is an important chapter in the Bible.  Genesis 19:24-25 summarizes what happened four thousand years ago in the ancient city of Sodom. “Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land” (19:24-25)

Basic Questions about Sodom?

1. WHO destroyed Sodom?

God did it.  This was not just a natural catastrophe.  It was not an act of nature.  It was an act of God.  God rained down fire and brimstone.  He overthrew all of the cities.

2. HOW was Sodom destroyed?

The city of Sodom was destroyed by fire.  It happened very suddenly and quickly.  It was not just Sodom.  Three other cities were destroyed as well in the same way (Deuteronomy 29:23).

3. What was the RESULTS of this act?

It led to total destruction.  All living things died, including all of the plants.  There were no survivors in those cities (cf. Jeremiah 49:18).

4. WHY was Sodom destroyed?

The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it” (19:13).  They were not just sinners in Sodom but “great sinners before the Lord” (13:13) and had absolutely no remorse.

Last week, we looked at “Sodom and America.”  Today, I want to look at “Lessons from Sodom.”  What can we learn from this chapter?  There are many lessons and applications for us that I want to share.

Lessons on Man

We learn something about man.  It is hard to believe that man can be this bad.  We learn from this chapter that man is totally depraved.  This chapter mentions things like sexual abuse, rape, incest and homosexuality.  Unspeakable acts were performed in Sodom on a regular basis by every type of person in the community.

Some of these acts took place in Lot’s own family, as we will see at the end of the chapter. In fact, it even mentions people trying to rape angels.  The men in this town were so wicked that even after they were blinded physically, they still tried to continue to sin.

Lessons on God

There are also some things we can learn about God in this chapter.  We learn a lot about God in this chapter.

1. God judges sin.

What we see in Genesis 19 was an execution.  The whole city was wiped off the map.  This is just a picture of what he will do in the final judgment. He judged the world in Noah’s day with water and the people in Lot’s day with fire.

Many think that God delights in punishing people.  In their view, God is all judgment and no grace.  They think that He is vindictive and loves to see people suffer. Actually, the reverse is true.  God is not sadistic.  He is compassionate but he is also holy.

As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11).

Exodus 34:6-7 says, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation” (NIV).

God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.  He does get angry but He is slow to anger.  He does punish people but he is also compassionate.  He forgives people.  God did wipe everyone out in the Flood but He showed mercy first.  He sent a preacher to them.  Noah was “a preacher of righteousness” and He waited one hundred and twenty years before sending the Flood.  He gave them plenty of time to repent.

God gave grace to the city of Sodom as well.  The city was taken capture by Kerdorlaomer in Genesis 14 and God delivered them.  It was conquered by an invader but Abraham got some men and rescued the whole city.  Abraham’s nephew Lot moved into Sodom.

Lot was a righteous man.  He lived there for at least fifteen years.  There was at least one godly man in the city but it had absolutely no effect on the town.  After sending Lot, he sent two angels into the city.  The city’s wickedness, not only continued, it got worse.

2. God’s judgment is fair.

He only judges based on facts.  The Bible does not just call God a judge, it calls him “a righteous judge” (Psalm 7:11).  Deuteronomy 32:4 says “His works are perfect and all his ways are just.”  Two men were sent into the city to verify the truth of the rumor and to conduct an investigation.  God does not judge on a whim or arbitrarily.  The Bible says that He is no respecter of persons.  He is an impartial judge.  He does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11; I Peter 1:17).

3. God answers prayer.

The whole reason that Lot and his family were delivered was because Abraham prayed.  If Abraham had not prayed for Lot in Genesis 18, he would have been destroyed along with everyone else in the city.  It was Abraham’s prayer that saved his life.  After that prayer, God sent a few angels into the city to deliver him.  James 5:17 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (NIV). 

4. God is able to deliver the righteous from bad situations.

Lot was in a bad situation.  It was a bad situation of his own making.  He should have never moved to Sodom in the first place.  God delivered him in spite of his own stupidity.  God delivered Lot and he can deliver us when we screw up our live and make bad decisions.  We still may have to deal with the consequences of our actions.  Lot’s daughters lived in Sodom and picked up some of the morals of Sodom.  We see that at the end of the chapter.

5. God uses angels to do His work.

He uses them in this chapter to judge the wicked and to deliver believers. We not only learn about man and about God in this chapter, we also learn something about angels.  What do we learn about angels in this chapter?

Lessons on Angels

1. Angels work for God.

They serve God.  They do whatever He tells them to do,  If God tells them to go to earth and move a big rock in front of a tomb, they do it.  Here, God told them to go to Sodom to conduct an investigation, so they went.  That was their mission.

2. Angels often use disguises.

They concealed their identity when they went to Sodom.  They went under cover.  They didn’t draw attention to themselves.  No one knew they were angels when they arrived in the city.  They looked like two young men.  Apparently, they still do this today.  The NT says that you can still see a complete stranger and not know that it is an angel.  That is Hebrews 13:2.

3. Angels have special powers.

They are supernatural beings.  They have superhuman strength.  When this perverted mob surrounded Lot’s house, they struck them all with blindness.  Two men were able to instantly blind this large crowd of people from the inside of Lot’s house.  The men who were morally blind suddenly became physically blind.  They still tried to get in but were not able to.  It stopped them in their tracks and made them all harmless.

4. Angels protect believers.

That is what they do in this chapter.  This is one of the ministries of angels.  They deliver believers.  Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” (NIV).  That was not just for Lot.  That is something that he does for us and for us.  It is not just a promise of protection but of angelic protection.  We see the same thing in other psalms.

“No harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent” (91:10-13).

This is another passage says believers will be protected by angels from danger.  Danger comes in many forms (disease, violent crime, sickness, accidents).  This protection will come through angels.  God says that we will be protected by angels, and not just one guardian angel but by many.

He will command his angels (plural) concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (cf. 91:11).  Some of you may have a story to share about how you have been supernaturally protected by an angel from danger.

That raises an interesting question.  Why are some believers delivered but not others?  Some believers have been protected, while others are martyred and die violent deaths.  Why?  Were the protected ones more spiritual and the others just carnal?  That cannot be true because the angels here protected Lot and he was not too spiritual.

Some very bad things happened to Job.  In one day he lost his kids.  All ten of them were killed.  He lost his wealth.  He lost his house.  He lost his health but he was not unspiritual.  The first verse of the book says that Job feared God.  He was a God-fearing man.  He was morally upright and blameless.  He shunned evil (1:1).

What is the reason that some are delivered and some are not?  I think there are two reasons.  One reason has to do with God.  It has nothing to do with us and one reason has to do with us.

The reason some receive special protection is because of prayer.  The ONLY reason Lot and his family were delivered from Sodom is because Abraham prayed for him in Genesis 18.  It is the only reason.  If there was no prayer, there would have been no deliverance.  Look what happened to Peter.

“When he (Herod) saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (Acts 12:3-5)

Here Peter lost his freedom.  He is arrested.  He is thrown into prison.  He had to chains put on him.  He is heavily guarded and he was scheduled for execution but the church prayed EARNESTLY for him and God sent an angel to deliver him from prison.

It was in response to the prayers of the church.  That is one reason why believers are delivered.  Some have called Psalm 91 the Christian’s Emergency Psalm.  There’s another reason.  What I have to say now is unpopular in some circles.  Some hate this doctrine.

A reason that some believers are not delivered is because of the will of God.  We see this right in the text.  Acts 12 is an incredible story about how Peter was miraculously rescued by an angel but that is not how the chapter begins.  It begins with the apostle James being martyred.  It says that Herod “had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword” (Acts 12:2).  That is strange.

Peter is released from prison and James is beheaded.  God lets James die a violent death and Peter live.  Why?  Was Peter a better Christian?  Was he more spiritual than James?  Why didn’t an angel come and deliver the Apostle James?  Why would God deliver one of his servants and not deliver another one of his servants?  God is sovereign.  He had a different plan for Peter than he had for James.

Let’s see how these angels ministered to Lot’s family.  When this gang of thugs came to Lot’s house, he went out and tried to reason with them.  He said, “You can have my daughters but not these men, “because they have come under the protection of my roof” (19:8).  He was respectful and even called these rapists his “friends.”

What did they say to Lot?  “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door” (19:9).  They told him that they would treat him even WORSE than these two visitors. “If you think this is bad, wait until you see what we will do to you afterwards”.

Once Lot was in danger, along with everyone else in the house, because they were ready to break down the door, the angels stepped in and protected Lot.  How did they do that?  First, they put him in a safe place. They pulled Lot inside the house and struck everyone on the outside with blindness.

But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door (19:10-11).  These men were so wicked, they kept looking for the door after they were blinded but they couldn’t find it.

Second, they gave them instructions to protect them.

“The two men said to Lot, ‘Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.’ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!’With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.’” (Genesis 19:12-14).

Third, they literally dragged them out of Sodom.

“With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them” (19:15-16).

Notice three different responses to the message of the angels.  The first response was to LAUGH. “So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking” (19:14)

Lot’s son-in laws (the men who were going to marry his daughters) laughed at this message.  They thought it was a joke.  They didn’t take it seriously.  We get the same response today from our message.  If you tell people that they need to repent.  If you tell them that judgment is coming.  If you tell them that Hell is real, people will call you a right-wing religious fanatic, a Jesus freak.  You will be seen as an extremist or an alarmist.  Your message will not be taken seriously?  Why?  Paul says that the preaching of the cross to those that are perishing is foolishness.

The second response was to LINGER.  They did not see the urgency.  They started procrastinating, like many of us do.  They knew that they had to leave but took their sweet time getting ready to leave.  There was no rush in their mind and yet by lingering they were risking their very lives.  The pull of the city was too great.  These angels had to grab them by the hands and drag them out of the city.  God had to deliver Lot almost against his will.  He had to be pushed into things for his own good.

These angels almost failed in their mission.  Lot’s family was not leaving.  They had to use force to get them to leave or they would have stayed in Sodom.  They had to literally drag them out of the house, like little children who are not doing what you ask them to do and you have to pick them up by the hand.  The two angels had four hands and each hand grabbed one of the four people in Lot’s house.

The third response was to LOOK BACK. “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” (17:32).  Did you know that Jesus told us to remember two things. He told us to take communion in remembrance of Him. Jesus told us to remember his suffering on the cross.  He also told us to remember Lot’s wife but not for something positive.

We are given the name of Abraham’s wife but not Lot’s wife but this chapter tells us something about her. The angels told them not to look back.  They told them to run for their lives. Lot’s wife disobeyed the angels.  She looked back and was turned into stone.  She became a pillar of the community.  Let’s think about Lot’s wife briefly. Why did she look back?

It wasn’t just because she was curious.  Apparently, she loved the world.  Her heart was in Sodom.  All of her possessions were in Sodom.  She had family members in Sodom.  She was looking at all of the things she left behind.  In her heart, she wanted to go back.  She did not want to leave.  The angels dragged her body out but her heart was still there. She loved the wicked city of Sodom.  It was her home.

Lot’s wife was not the only one not to listen to the angels, Lot did the same thing.  They told him to escape to the mountains and flee for your life.  Lot was a city man.  He had been living in Sodom.  He said, “If I have to leave a large city, can I at least move to a small city.”

The angels gave him permission.  He goes to Zoar but when he gets there, he leaves and goes to the mountains because it did not seem safe (19:30).  The lesson here is that if an angels tells you to do something, you need to do it without arguing.

The chapter ends with on a bad note with incest (19:30-38).  You have Lot living with his two daughters in a cave.  Lot’s wife is dead.  His daughters get him drunk, not once, but twice.  They sleep with him and they both get pregnant.  You cannot blame Lot for the incest.  He was drunk. He was raped but apparently his daughters knew his weakness – alcohol.  This may be a weakness he developed in Sodom (since it is not mentioned earlier).

Once his daughters got him drunk, they abused him sexually.  The chapter began with an attempted homosexual rape of angels and ends with a heterosexual rape on a family member.  This is not a positive note to end on but it shows the effect of raising your kids in the terrible moral atmosphere of Sodom.

These girls left Sodom but Sodom did not leave them.  It is further proof that Lot should never have gone to Sodom in the first place.  Lot ends up reaping what he has sown.  Lot went to Sodom to get rich but ends up losing everything he had (including his wife) and living in a cave, where he is molested by his own daughters.

America and Sodom

We have been studying the life of Abraham and today we come to Genesis 19. This chapter shows three things.  First, it shows man’s sin.  It is an incredible display of human depravity.  In fact, it just not just shows the sin of Sodom, it shows the depravity of Lot’s own family (the older daughter leading the younger daughter into sin).  Second, it shows an awesome display of divine judgment.  Third, it shows us the ministry of angels.  One of the ministry of angels is to deliver believers.  Here they delivered Lot from Sodom.  They are also involved in the judgment of Sodom.

This is a very sobering chapter.  This is a chapter that is is almost never preached from the pulpit and there is a reason for it. It is a chapter that needs a viewer warning for adult themes. I have to warn everyone up front that this chapter deals with some adult topics.  It is graphic.

There is drunkenness in this chapter.  There is homosexuality and incest in this chapter.  There are sexual predators in this chapter.  There is sexual abuse in this chapter from a surprising source (as Lot’s own daughters abuse him after they get him drunk). There is violence in this chapter.  There is also an attempted gang rape in this chapter.  Some of the same things that we see in our world today, we see in this chapter of Genesis.  Some of the things I have to say today may shock some people.

This chapter is very misunderstood.  Almost everyone gets this chapter wrong.  It is misunderstood by some conservative Bible believing Christians.  It is also misunderstood by radicals in the homosexual community who have tried to reinterpret this chapter of the Bible.  There are two main myths that people have about Sodom.

Common Myths about Sodom

1. This story is only about homosexuality.

Many use this chapter as a tirade against homosexuals.  Many Baptist preachers use this text to rail against homosexuals.  There are two problems with that approach.  The first problem is that Genesis 19 doesn’t deal with consensual gay and lesbian relationships we see today.  It is much more serious than that.  It mentions homosexuality but it is connected to violence and rape, gang rape.  This chapter takes ordinary homosexuality to a whole new level.

The second problem with that is that homosexuality was not Sodom’s only sin.  It had many others.  Ezekiel 16:49 says, “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy” (NIV).  Ezekiel focused on social sins, rather than sexual sins.  We know from other sources that Sodom had sexual sins as well.  There is solid historical evidence of this.

This is clearly taught in the NT (II Peter 2:6-10; Jude 7), the Psedepigripha (Jubilees 16:5-6; 20:5-6; I Enoch 10:4; 34:1-2; III Maccabees 2:5), Philo (On the Migration of Abraham 26:133-136),  Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Chapter 11) and in rabbinic sources (Genesis Rabbah 50:7). However, this was not Sodom’s only sin.

2. This story has nothing to do with homosexuality.

According to some modern scholars, the sin of the Sodomites was not same-sex attraction but a lack of hospitality.  They argue that this has absolutely nothing to do with perversion or sexual deviance. It has to do simply with bullying strangers and not accepting people who are different from you.  Many websites will tell you that the main sin of the Sodomites was a lack of hospitality.  They believe that homosexuality had nothing to do with the city’s destruction.

Let’s be honest.  They did show a lack of hospitality to these two men but they did much more than that.  To say that their sin was a lack of hospitality is a huge understatement. What they did was much more serious than a lack of hospitality.  What they did was criminal.  God didn’t wipe out four cities because of bad manners.  That would be ridiculous.  It would be overkill.

In this chapter, men want to have sex with other men. They are offered women but they do not want women.  They want men.  You cannot take that out of the story.  While rape is wrong, even consensual relations between two men or two women was forbidden in the OT.

Leviticus 18:22 says, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable” (NIV).  That is a rather strange verse to many.  Homosexuality is socially acceptable today and it was accepted in the ancient world.  Leviticus prohibits it.  The leading authority on Leviticus is Jacob Milgrom.  He wrote a three volume commentary on the book in the Anchor Bible series.  It is over three thousand pages long.  Milgrom points out that this statement in Leviticus is unique.

Nowhere else in the entire Ancient Near East was there a prohibition on homosexuality like Leviticus 18:22.  The world calls it normal.  God calls it an abomination and detestable.  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9).  If it seems strange to us, keep in mind that He was the one who created sex in the first place.  It was His idea.  He has the right to regulate it.

Why this Chapter is Unpopular?

1. Because of what it says about God

Many do not like this chapter because of how it pictures God.  He is holy.  He judges sin.  He pours out His wrath on sinners.  He already wiped out the entire race with a year-long mountain covering flood.  Now instead of destroying people with a flood of water, He destroys whole cities with a flood of fire, as fire and brimstone falls from heaven.  The punishment seemed to fit the crime.  Since they sinned against nature, God used nature to destroy them.  He used a burning fire to punish burning lusts.

Other cities have had a similar fate to Sodom.  Perhaps the most famous city to suffer like this was the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.  The whole city was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in a volcano in 79 AD.  Millions of tons of hot volcanic ash came down the mountain seventy miles an hour, destroying everything in its path. More than two thousand people died.

All of its inhabitants were destroyed by showers of hot ashes, stones and cinders rained down on the city and completely wiped it off the map.  There is one difference.  Sodom was no Pompeii.  Sodom was not just destroyed by a natural catastrophe.  It was not just a natural disaster, like Hurricane Katrina.

Genesis 19:24 says, “Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.” God did this.  It was a judgment of God on human sin, not just a natural disaster.  As the Bible says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  It is terrifying.  The citizens of Sodom found out how scary it was.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a fact of history.  The first century Jewish historian Josephus said that you could see the remains of these cities in his day.  Large chunks of white powdery balls of sulfur have been discovered southeast of the Dead Sea.  Sodom is also important symbolically.  It is important for what it represents.

By turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly” (II Peter 2:6). “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

The city of Sodom is set forth as an example of what will happen to the ungodly and an example of the vengeance of eternal fire.  It is a warning to all.  What happened to the wicked sinners in Sodom will happen to the wicked when they are judged.  The fire that destroyed Sodom for its sin is a type of the fire of Hell.  Revelation 20:10 describes hell as “a lake of fire and brimstone” (KJV).

2. Because of what it says about sin

Some do not like it because of what it says about sin.  Man does not like to be told that certain behavior is wrong.  That is why many become atheists.  They do not like the idea that God says certain things are wrong.  This chapter is an incredible display of human depravity.  Sodom was the original sin city.

What were the sins of Sodom?  What were some of the characteristics of this sin?  One, sin in Sodom was widespread (cf. Jeremiah 23:14). It was rampant. “Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house” (19:4).

This behavior was not limited to a few loons.  This mob which surrounded their house was made up of ALL of the men of the city (not just some of them).  It was made up of young people and old people.  In our day, we often see young people go do some incredibly stupid stuff but this had old people as well doing the same things.

Second, sin in Sodom was severe.  This city was notoriously wicked. Some of the most obscene and vulgar practices took place in Sodom. It was not only a place where sexual immorality was prevalent.  It was a place where violent crime occurred.  Genesis 13:13 says, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked, GREAT SINNERS against the Lord.” They were not just wicked.  They were extremely wicked.  Now Lot lived in Sodom.  He was aware of the wicked people around him.  He saw what was going on in the city.

The Bible also tells us what Lot thought of it all. II Peter 2:7 says that Lot was “sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him” (NLT). It bothered him.  It didn’t bother him enough to leave that place but he was concerned about it and upset by what he saw take place in that city.  How bad was it in Sodom?  We get a hint in Genesis 19.

These Sodomites not only committed sexual immorality, they tried to sexually assault people.  In fact, they actually tried to gang rape two angels.  We see not only sexual immorality but sexual violence, attempted against angels, as well as men. They did not know they were heavenly beings at the time.  Lot didn’t know this when he first met them but this does show the severity of their sin.

Third, sin in Sodom was flagrant.  It was done out in the open without any apology or remorse.  They did not just sin, they flaunted their sin.  They were proud of it.

Is America a Modern Day Sodom?

There are three ways that America is like Sodom.  There are many parallels between America.

1. Like Sodom, America is very wealthy.

Sodom was a wealthy city (cf. Ezekiel 16:49).  That is why Lot moved there in the first place.  It was well-watered, like the Garden of Eden (Genesis 13:10).  It was a place easy to grow food.  It was good for business.  Lot lived in a comfortable house in Sodom (19:2-3).  Abraham lived in a tent.

When the angels arrives in Sodom, Lot was sitting at the gate of the city (19:1).  That is where the elders of the city sat.  Lot was also a big shot in Sodom.  He had an important position in the city.  He held a government job.  He was a city official.  We might think of him as “the Mayor of Sodom.”  Sodom was good for Lot financially.  He moved up in the world.  He was making a good living.

Sodom was wealthy.  America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world today, although it is not a sin to be wealthy.  America is also one of the most generous countries on earth. Americans do a lot of charitable giving.

2. Like Sodom, America is characterized by sexual immorality and violence.

In Sodom, immorality was characterized by every type of person (from young to old). In Sodom, they had to deal with violent crime, as gangs of thugs caused all kinds of problems.  We deal with both problems today.  The same is true today.  We have to deal with violent crime in many of our cities.  America is also known for its sexual immorality.  It is both heterosexual and homosexual.  It comes in many forms.

3. Like Sodom, sin in America is open and public.

The Sodomites felt no remorse for their sin.  They were unapologetic.  Isaiah 3:9 says, “For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them!” (ESV).

People are proud about their sin today.  They are shameless.  They have parades to flaunt it.  They call good evil and evil good.  They even go beyond that and imply that all who do not agree with them are intolerant bigots.  They try to shame people who disagree with them.

There are many similarities to Sodom and some cities in America. There is also one way that America is worse than Sodom.  Sodom had only one righteous man in it.  There are tons of believers and churches in every city.  We have a much stronger Christian influence than Sodom had.  We have more light and so we are more responsible than they were.

“Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.'” (Matthew 11:20-22).

Jesus said that those cities that saw his stupendous miracles and did not repent would be in worse shape on the day of judgment than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  How is that possible?  They had more light than the Sodomites had.  If you have more light and reject it, your punishment is greater.  Apparently, it is possible for a city to be worse than Sodom in the eyes of God and yet more moral than the city of Sodom.

Let’s look at this chapter.  It begins in the first verse with two angels arriving in Sodom.  Why are they there?  We know from the last chapter that God sent them there to conduct an investigation.  God said that the cry from the city has gone up to heaven from all of it wickedness and He sent to angels to check it out.  If it was true, God would judge Sodom.  Abraham pleaded with God not to judge the city if there were ten righteous people in the city.  God agreed.

So the angels were to Sodom.  They arrived at Abraham’s house around noon, ate a meal and after the meal got up and headed toward Sodom (18:16).  It was about a 25 or 30 mile trip but they arrived there by the evening (19:1).  They went on a fact-finding mission.

Two were sent because in the OT you had to have two witnesses to put anyone to death and these two came from heaven.  They were angels.  They didn’t look like angels.  They looked like young men but they were angels.  They went to Sodom under cover and they did not have to be in Sodom long.  All they had to do was to spend one night in Sodom and they found out that the city was extremely wicked.  They did not have to worry about their safety because they were angels.

When they got to Sodom, something amazing happened.  They were not robbed or mugged.  They weren’t killed.  The first one they encountered there was Lot, a righteous man.  He was not only a believer, he was very hospitable, like his Uncle Abraham.  He offered them into his home.  He was genuinely concerned about their safety and he wanted to protect these visitors to the city.  The irony is that instead of Lot protecting these two men from harm, the two men ended up protecting Lot from danger.

When Lot offered that they stay at his house that night, they refused (cf. 19:2). That is strange.  When the three men stopped at Abraham’s house and he invited them in, they accepted his invitation.  When these two men meet lot and Lot invites them over, they decline his invitation.

Why? They came to conduct an investigation.  They wanted to see what Sodom was like at night.  Lot insisted that they come to his house and they finally agreed.  The city was so wicked, it really didn’t matter where they went.  They would have found out anyway.

After dinner, a mob of people surrounded Lot’s house and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them” (19:5).  They didn’t want to get to know them as in meet them.  They wanted to know them in the biblical sense.

This is know in the sense of  “Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and gave birth to Cain” (4:1).  How does Lot respond to this request?  He goes outside, shuts the door.  It was wise to do those two things but he then did two things which were unwise.  First, he reasoned with them.

“Please be nice.  Stop being bad.”  He said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing” (19:7).  That was his first mistake.  You can’t reason with people who are trying to gang rape you.  You cannot reason with terrorists who are beheading people.  You cannot reason with ISIS savages.  He even calls them “his friends.”  He calls the lowest scum bags, the most morally depraved in the city (child molesters and the serial killers) his friends.

Second, he bargained with them. He said, “Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof” (19:8).  He offered up his own daughters to be gang raped.  What father would do this?  He did not even offer himself up.  He offered his children up instead. Lot is called a righteous man in the NT but he does not seem to righteous here.

He obviously considered his duty to his guests greater than his duty to his own children.  He was willing to treat complete strangers in his home better than his own kids. Perhaps women were not as valued as men.  What we can say for sure is that Lot gets high marks for hospitality but terrible marks for parenting.  He should not have even brought his children into Sodom or stayed there after he had children.

It was a terrible influence on them and a terrible atmosphere to raise children.  One preacher said that instead of saying, “I have two daughters.  They are both virgins,” he should have said, “I have a shot gun with two barrels.”  Next week, we will look at the rest of the story about Sodom.

Three Unusual Guests

We have been studying the life of Abraham.  We come to two of the craziest chapters in the Bible.  They go together.  These chapters are fascinating.  We will only look at one of them today.  The one next week deals with Sodom and Gomorrah.  You do not want to miss that.  There are some strange things in these chapters.  These chapters are very interesting.  Today, we will be looking at Genesis 18.

Abraham plays four important roles in this chapter.  I want you to see his four roles here.  First, he plays the role of a HOST.  He invites complete strangers into his home and takes very good care of them.  He welcomes them in and treats them like honored guests.  He brought them in.  He let them rest.  He fed them.

Second, he also plays the role of a WAITER.  He serves food.  Abraham waits on these three men and personally serves them.  He does NOT eat with them and have his servants serve them.  He serves them himself. “He ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree” (18:7-8).

Third, he also plays the role of a FRIEND later on in the chapter.  God says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him” (18:17-18).  God talks to himself and under inspiration we get to see what God is thinking.  What do we learn from this?  Abraham is the friend of God.

Abraham is called “the friend of God” three times in the Bible.  He is called “the friend of God” two times in the OT (II Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8) and one time in the NT (James 2:23). Psalm 25:14 says, “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant” (KJV).  He confides in them.  The NLT reads, “The LORD is a friend to those who fear him.”  

Friends spend a lot of time together.  They talk a lot.  They share secrets with each other. There is an intimacy here. God shares some secrets with Abraham.  God is getting ready to wipe a few cities off of the map, because of extreme wickedness.

Abraham is told some things because of his close relationship with God that other people in his day did not know.  He received a special revelation from God.  Abraham was given inside information about the future.  He found out about the destruction of Sodom BEFORE it happened.  They found out about it when it was happening when the fire and brimstone began to fall from heaven.  We also have inside information because we have God’s Word.  It predicts future events.

Fourth, he plays the role of an INTERCESSOR.  He interceded for Sodom.  We have the first example of intercession in this chapter, the first intercessory prayer in the Bible.  We will see later if he was successful in this role.

Last week, we looked at Genesis 17.  God showed up.  Abraham got a fresh revelation of God after thirteen years of complete silence after the Hagar Affair.  In Genesis 18, Abraham gets another revelation of God.  God shows up again.  If you counter them all, this is the sixth time that God appeared to Abraham.  Most of us have never had a visible appearance of God.  Abraham has had six of these appearances so far.

The first time He appeared to Abraham was when he told him Ur of the Chaldees.  When he arrived in Canaan, he appeared to Abraham again and Abraham built God an altar.  When a famine broke out in the land, he left and went to Egypt but when Pharaoh kicked him out of Egypt, he went back to Canaan and God appeared to him a third time.

Abraham went to war.  When he returned, God appeared to him a fourth time and officially ratified the Abrahamic Covenant with a strange ritual which involved slicing animals in half.  Then Abraham had an affair with Hagar.  Thirteen years later, God appeared to Abraham a fifth time and told him to walk before Him and be blameless.

Now we come to the sixth appearance of God to Abraham in Genesis 18.  It happened very soon after the last appearance.  Genesis 17 & 18 happened close together.  How do I know?  Both chapters happened about a year before Isaac was born.  Both Genesis 17:21 and 18:10 predict that he would be born in about a year.  God gives Abraham two revelations in this chapter which we will look at.

There is one very important difference between this appearance and all of the other appearances of God to Abraham.  This appearance involved a DISGUISE.

What is the setting of this story?  It is the hottest time of the day.  It is too hot to do any work. Abraham was sitting in his tent under the shade of the trees and suddenly he saw three men from a distance (18:2).

Abraham has three mysterious visitors.  They looked like ordinary travelers.  They look weary, tired and hungry.  On the outside, they looked human but they were not human.  They were supernatural beings.  They were heavenly visitors.  Who were they?

Were These Three the Trinity?

The three men here are not the three persons of the Trinity (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  The Trinity is a biblical doctrine but Genesis 18 is not teaching the Trinity.  That is preaching the right thing with the wrong text.  How do we know that these three men not the three persons of the Trinity?

Two of these men are explicitly identified as angels.  Two of them were angels in human form.  How do we know?  After dinner, these three men separated from one another.  Two of the men “turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord” (18:22).

The one who stayed behind and talked to Abraham was called “the Lord.” The other two walked to Sodom and when they got there, they were called angels.  Genesis 19:1 says, “The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city.

That would make this both an angelophany (an appearance of angels in human form) and a theophany (an appearance of God in human form).   A theophany is different from a vision.  God manifested himself to Abraham in human form.

Genesis 18:1 says, “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre.” Genesis 18:13 says “Then the Lord said to Abraham.” This was clearly the Pre-incarnate Christ, accompanied by two angels.

The million dollar question is this: Did Abraham know who these three men were? Some believe that he did know who they were right away. I do not believe that he knew who they were at first.

Abraham said, ‘If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant” (18:3-5)

Notice what the text says.  Three men were traveling.  Abraham saw them.  He offered to give them food and have them rest before they continued traveling.  He said to them, “Let me give you food and then you can go on your way.”  He did not say “before you go back to Heaven.”  If he knew who they were, they would not need food.

Neither God, nor angels need food to live.  Abraham did not do these things because these men were important.  he would have done this for anyone.  That is the point of the passage.  It is eastern hospitality that he was showing and the NT says that he did not know who they were at first. Eventually Abraham found out who they were.

Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” (NIV).  All biblical scholars believe that this is a clear reference to Genesis 18. Why should you show hospitality to strangers?

One of the guests you entertain might be an angel.  Every time you see a stranger, you might be seeing an angel.  How would you like to have a knock at the door, only to have two angels standing outside?  That is what happened to Lot.  Abraham had two angels and God at his door.

How would you like to have God at the door of your house?  That is what Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20).  One pastor preached a sermon on Genesis 18 entitled, “When God comes to dinner.”

How did Abraham show hospitality?  This is perhaps the greatest example of hospitality in the Bible.  Abraham is a great example here to us today. Abraham invited these three strangers in out of the hot sun.  He offered to wash their feet and gave them water because they looked hot and thirsty (18:4).  He also gave them some food to eat but not just any food.  He gave them a gourmet meal.  He cooked them a feast. His wife did the cooking.  She must have been a good cook.

He fed them quickly (18:6-7).  He did not take his time to get this meal together for his hungry guests.  He ran to the herd.  Here you have a man who is about a hundred years old year old man running to get things ready quickly to entertain guests.  He did not skimp on the meal either.  He used “the finest flower” (18:6) and selected “a choice tender calf” (18:7) and not just any animal.

We wouldn’t do that today.  Strangers to us represent danger.  We tell our children to beware of strangers.  We might think that these men might try to rob us but Abraham lived in a different world.  People showed hospitality to strangers.  Hospitality in that day and in that part of the world was considered very important.

We need to show hospitality today.  I Peter 4:9 says, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”  Some of us do it but we hate to do it because it is a pain.  It means we have to clean up.  Some of the best ministry my wife and I had with people took place over a meal. You don’t have to live in big house to show hospitality.  Abraham lived in a tent.  He is perfect role model here of good hospitality.

When the meal was over, Abraham received two revelations from these divine visitors.  They told Abraham two things.  One of these revelations was good news and one was bad news.  One involved a blessing and one involved a curse.  One involved a birth announcement and one involved a message of doom on the city of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The First Revelation

Then one of them said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son‘” (18:10).

The Lord says that Abraham’s wife will have a son.  He did not say that she might have a son.  He said, “She will have a son” (18:10).  There’s no doubt about it.  It is certain to take place.  It will happen.  God is very specific here, so there is no misunderstanding.

The Lord told Abraham WHAT will happen (a baby will be born and it will be a boy, because he said that “Sarah will have a son”).  He told Abraham TO WHOM it will happen (Sarah your wife, your ninety year old wife).  He also told Abraham WHEN it will happen (sometime next year).

Now God already told Abraham that in the last chapter.  Why is he telling him again?  It is not just that men are dull and need to be told things more than once?

This time they said this more for Sarah’s benefit than for Abraham’s benefit.  Sarah was in another tent but she was listening to their conversation (18:10). What was her response to this prediction?  She laughed (18:12).  She didn’t laugh out loud.  She laughed to herself.  She laughed secretly.  Abraham did not hear her laugh.

Sarah said, “After I am worn out, and MY LORD is old, shall I have pleasure?” (18:12).  The NT praises Sarah for what she calls her husband here.  I Peter 3:6 says, “like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.”  This is the place where Sarah calls Abraham “lord”.  It is the only place in the Bible where she calls Abraham “lord” or “master”.  She is used as an example of a submissive wife.

We also usually think of Sarah as a great woman of faith but here we see her as a woman of unbelief.  She is not just laughing, she is laughing at God.  She may not have known that this was God.  She didn’t know she was cooking a meal for God but she was and she was laughing at God. God made a promise and she laughed at it.  That is serious, because it basically is calling God a liar.

Why did she laugh?  It was not only difficult for Sarah to have a child at her age, it was physically impossible.  It was medically impossible.  God said,  “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (18:14).  He spoke the universe into existence.  Nothing is too difficult for God.

The interesting thing is that when God told Abraham that his wife would have a son in the last chapter, he laughed (17:17).  Abraham was the first one to laugh in the Bible.  In fact, God told Abraham, since you laughed, your son is going to be named “laughter.”  That is what Isaac means.  Now Sarah is given the same promise and she has the exact response.  She also laughed.  Apparently, Abraham didn’t tell Sarah what God said in the last chapter.

Even though she was in another tent, God heard her.  He knew her thoughts.  He read her mind and confronted her sin.  That must have been embarrassing.  God knows our thoughts as well.  He knows everything we thing and everything we say.  Psalm 139:4 says, “Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.”

The Second Revelation

What was the second revelation?  Sodom would be destroyed.  It is going to be burned to a crisp.  Now God did not come out and say this directly.  What did He say?  “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know” (18:20-21)

Now God is omniscient.  He knows everything and he is omnipresent.  He does not have to go to Sodom to find out what is really going on there.  This is anthropomorphic language.  God says the prayers from Sodom are reaching heaven.  The report is that the city is so wicked.  People are being abused and mistreated in that city.  Their loud cries reached God’s ears, so God said, “I am going to go down to the city and do an investigation.”

What is the point here?  God’s judgment it is not arbitrary. It is not subjective.  It is not based on rumor.  It is based on facts.  Of course, Abraham already knows that the report is true.  He was not naive about Sodom.  The city’s reputation was so bad, he was aware how wicked it was.  He knew that if God investigated the situation, the city would be destroyed.

Genesis 13:13 says, “the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly“.  They were not just wicked, they were extremely wicked and that was twenty years earlier.  So what does Abraham do?  He prays.  He doesn’t pray for himself.  He prays for Sodom.

This is one of the great biblical passages on prayer.  There are different aspects of prayer (confession, thanksgiving, adoration).  This is intercession (praying for others).  It is the first intercession recorded in the Bible.  Abraham intercedes for Sodom.  This is intercessory prayer at its best.

There were several characteristics of this prayer.  It was a specific prayer.  It mentions exact numbers of righteous people.  It is persistent prayer.  Abraham prays six times.  It was a bold prayer to dare even ask what he asks.  It was a humble prayer.

Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes” (18:27).  He did not demand from God things.  He asked God for things.  Abraham is not only a role model in hospitality for us today, he is a role model on prayer for us today.

This prayer also raises some questions.  I think that it is also misunderstood.  It raises some questions.

Is Abraham Defending the Guilty?

Many view this passage this way.  Why would Abraham want God to spare these wicked people?  Why is he defending the guilty here?  Many picture Abraham here as a liberal defense attorney who is defending the guilty here. He actually took the side of Sodom and acts as Sodom’s advocate, not it’s accuser.

That would be to completely misunderstand what is going on here. What is going on?  Abraham knows that Sodom is an extremely wicked city.  Everyone in his day knew that.  It had a reputation for blatant sin.  He also knew that God has to judge sin.

He did not have a problem with that.  He did not think that God was unjust to judge sin.  He would not think that it was a problem for God to send sinners to Hell.  What was the problem? The problem that that there was some righteous people who lived in the same city.  What would happen to them?

His nephew lived there with his wife and their two daughters.  Would God wipe them out as well?  That is the problem.  It is not the wicked would be judged.  Abraham was worried that the righteous would be judged along with them.  Abraham said, “Will you destroy the righteous along with the wicked?” (18:23)

Was Abraham’s Prayer Effective?

It also looks like Abraham argues with God but loses in the end.  He haggles so that God won’t destroy the city but the city gets destroyed anyway.  Did Abraham waste his time?  Was his intercessory prayer worthless?  No.  His prayer was effective.

Abraham saw only two possibilities.  The whole city could be spared because of the righteous or the righteous could be destroyed along with the wicked Sodomites.  If there were only ten righteous people in the city, God would have spared destroying the city.  That is amazing.  It shows the incredible effect that even a small group of believers can have on a city.  The problem is that there were NOT ten righteous people in the city.

God did not do either one of those things. God answered Abraham’s prayer but not as he asked. The Bible says that we do not how to pray many timers.  “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26).  The Holy Spirit has to enable us to even prayer correctly.  Our prayers need to be directed by the Holy Spirit.

Abraham only saw two options.  There was a third option.  God did not spare the whole city because of the righteous or destroy the righteous with the wicked. God destroyed the whole city but took out the few righteous people out of the city first.  We will see that next week.  Why is that important?  It shows that Abraham’s prayer was not a waste of time.  God spared Lot and his family because of Abraham’s prayers.

“So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived” (19:29)Abraham’s prayer was not a waste of time.  It was his prayer that saved Lot.  Abraham’s prayer activated some guardian angels.  His prayer sent angels into the city to deliver him.  We will look at that next week.

 

An Unusual Sign

This morning we will be looking at Genesis 17.  It is a fascinating chapter. I have studied this chapter before.  I taught it before but there were all kinds of things in it that I never noticed until now.  Before we look at it, I have to explain the setting of the chapter.  Genesis 17 is a continuation of Genesis 16.  We have to do a little review.  What happened in the last chapter?

In the last chapter, Abraham and Sarah had a problem.  They were childless.  God promised them a son but no son was born.  Ten years went by and there was still no son, so Sarah came up with a plan. 

They didn’t ask God about the plan.  They just talked among themselves.  The plan was for Abraham to sleep with Sarah’s slave Hagar to have a child.  Abraham agreed and the plan worked.  Hagar got pregnant.  She had a son. 

Abraham now has his first baby.  He is very excited.  He got what he always wanted and he believes that this is the child God promised them. 

Last week, some asked, How do we know that Abraham believed that he did the right thing in the last chapter?  Abraham only did what was socially acceptable in his day. It was something you did back in those days to solve the problem of infertility.

There were no infertility clinics in Abraham’s day.  You just used one of your slaves to have kids.  It doesn’t make much sense to us today but in Abraham’s mind it did and he even said in this chapter, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you” (17:18 ESV).  Ishmael was Abraham’s only son at this time.  He was a teenager and Abraham was very attached to him.  He loved Ishmael. 

He told God, “May Ishmael live under you special blessing” (NLT).  He believed that he was the fulfillment of God’s promises.  What a terrible thing when God has something better for you but you are happy with your own plan and are praying for God to bless your own plan.  You are perfectly content with second best when God wants to give you more. God had other plans for Abraham.

Now God did bless Ishmael.  God said, “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation (17:20). 

Why did God bless Ishmael and his descendants?  Ishmael was not supposed to be born.  We have people today in the same category.  Their birth was not a result of obedience but of disobedience.  The answer is that God can bring good out of evil.  He makes all things work together for good.

The problem is that this was not the will of God for Abraham.  He takes a detour.  He gets out of the will of God, like he did in Genesis 12 when he went to Egypt.  How do we know?  He committed a sin.  He committed adultery.  How do we know this was not God’s will?  This is review from last week. 

They didn’t consult God first.  They didn’t ask him if this was the right thing to do.  Isaiah 31:1 says, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!” 

They never talked to God and God never talked to them and after he was born, God said nothing to him.  We saw that last week.  He spoke to Hagar but he never spoke to Abraham or Sarah in chapter 16.  Thirteen years went by and God still never said a word to them.

When we read Genesis, we think God was talking to Abraham every day.  That is not true.  There were thirteen years of silence.  God was silent for thirteen whole years. 

How do we know it was thirteen years later?  Abraham was eighty-six at the end of the chapter (16:16) and he is ninety-nine year old at the beginning of this chapter (17:1).  If you do the math, you come up with thirteen years. 

Abraham got what he wanted and God stepped back and let Abraham reap what he sowed.  That birth caused problems (problems among Abraham and Sarah, problems among Sarah and Hagar).  After thirteen years, something happened.  All of the sudden, without any warning, God appeared to Abraham.  Abraham has a fresh encounter with God. 

God speaks to him.  He speaks to him five times in this chapter.  Five times we see the words “God said to him” and this revelation was interactive.  Abraham asked God some questions. 

He asks God two questions in this chapter.  He asks, “Will Sarah and I indeed have a son?”  He also asks, “Will you bless Ishmael?”  God answers both questions in this chapter. 

This revelation lasts most of the chapter.  God appears to Abraham in the first verse and doesn’t leave him until the twenty-first verse.  Genesis 17:22 says, “When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.” 

This raises an important question.  Why did God appear to Abraham in this chapter?  Thirteen years went by with no appearance.  Why did Abraham get one now?  There are two reasons.

The first reason is that the promised son will be born in one year.  It is coming soon.  The second reason that God appeared now is that Abraham still thinks that Ishmael will fulfill the promises of God.  He thinks that this is the program of God.  God has to set the record straight. 

God says to Abraham, “I know that you love Ishmael and I will bless him but you are getting another son by Sarah and that son will inherit all of the promises, not Ishmael”.  Nothing that Abraham did with Hagar changes the plan.  That is interesting.  It added some complications but it did not stop the plan of God.  Even Abraham’s sin could not stop the promises from being fulfilled.

Fortunately God does not do this today.  If God did this today and snuck up on a ninety-nine year old man in a nursing home with a bad heart, he would drop dead.  What was Abraham’s reaction to this appearance?  How did he respond when God started talking to him?  Abraham falls on his face. 

In fact, Abraham does that not once but twice in this chapter (17:3; 17). That is one of the positions of prayer.  That is the way Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He prayed with his face to the ground (Matthew 26:39). What does God tell Abraham?  He gives him four new things.

1. A New Exhortation

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless” (17:1)

God told Abraham to do two things: walk before Him and be blameless.  This is something that applies to us.  God wants us to walk before Him and to be blameless.  Let’s talk about these two things.

Walk Before Me

Noah walked WITH God.  Abraham was to walk BEFORE God.  Abraham was told not just to believe in God but to walk before God.  It has the idea of live in God’s presence.  Live your life like God is looking at you.  It means “to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God” (to use the language of RC Sproul).  Who do you walk before?  Why do you do the things you do?  Who do you try to please?  People or God.

Be Blameless

He was also told to be blameless.  The same word is used of Noah.  Noah was “blameless in his generations” (6:9).  Job 1:1 says, “There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless–a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil” (NLT).  Let’s talk about this idea of blameless.  Notice what it does not say.

Notice that God did NOT tell Abraham to be religious.  He told him to be blameless.  Not everyone who is religious is blameless.  Notice also that God did NOT command Abraham to be perfect (as the KJV reads) just blameless. 

Without blame does not mean without sin.  Deacons in the church are to be blameless (I Timothy 3:10) and so are elders (Titus 1:6).  If they have to be without sin, we would not have any elders or deacons in the church. 

What does that mean?  What does it mean to be blameless?  It means to be above reproach.  Preachers should be blameless and so should every Christian.  II Peter 3:14 says, “So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”

Philippians 2:14-15 says, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’”

Ephesians 1:4 says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight”.  None of us are sinless.  We all have faults but we can still be blameless.

What are some signs that we are not blameless?  We live in open sin or break the law, we are not blameless.  David prays, “Keep your servant also from willful sin Then will I be blameless” (Psalm 19:13).

When we have affairs and break our marriage vow, we are not blameless. When a scandal ruins our reputation and good name, we are not blameless.  When we break the law, we are not blameless.  When we have an unhealthy addiction (drugs or alcohol), we are not blameless.

Why was this the first thing God told him when He appeared to him? “Walk before Me and be blameless“.  The last thirteen years, Abraham was not blameless. He had an affair and committed adultery.  He used deception before that and lied about his wife.  He had a lapse of faith.

2. A New Name

The second thing that God does in this chapter is to give Abram and Sarai new names.  Abram means “father of many”.  God gave him that name when he was childless.  Now God changes his name at the age of ninety-nine.  “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations” (17:5).

Abram’s new name is Abraham. Can you imagine how embarrassing that must have been?  Abram gets all excited and runs out and says to a stranger, “God just spoke to me last night and gave me a new name”.  What is your new name?  Abraham.  What does the name mean? It means “father of a multitude”.  How many kids do you have?  “I have only one.”

Sarai’s name changes to Sarah.  God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’” (17:15-16). 

Sarah means “princess”.  She is the first Jewish Princess.  Sarah will be the mother of many nations.  She is a matriarch and kings will come from her. That makes Sarah a royal princess.  Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose name was changed by God.  God changes the names of many men but this is the only woman whose name was changed by God.

Not only does Abraham and Sarah get a new name, God gets a new name in this chapter.  There are some interesting names of God in Genesis. Melchizedek called God El Elyon (the Most High God) in 14:19-20.

Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Melchizedek calls God El Elyon.  He is the sovereign ruler of the universe.  He is the one who is in perfect control over everything that happens in the world today. 

The Egyptian slave Hagar has a different name for God.  When God appeared and spoke to her in the wilderness, after she ran away, she called God El Roi in her time of deepest distress.  Genesis 16:13 says, “The slave girl gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are ‘God who sees me,’” because she said to herself, “Have I really seen God who sees me?” (NCV). 

El Roi means The God who Sees,” not the God who provides or heals or blesses or protects us but the God who sees us.  He saw Hagar and knew everything she went through.  He heard her affliction. 

He hears ours as well, even when no one else does.  Whatever you are feeling or experiencing right now, God sees and knows.  He understands us, even when people have hurt or mistreated you.  That is what happened to Hagar.

In this chapter, we see another Hebrew name for God, El Shaddai.  When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am El Shaddai.” It is used 48 times in the Bible and this is the first time.  What does that name mean?  Why did God give Abraham that name at this time? 

El Shaddai has two meanings.  El Shaddai means “All Powerful.”  It is usually translated “God Almighty”.  The one who created the universe is El Shaddai .  He is a God of infinite power. Because God is all powerful, He is the one who can supply all of your needs, even when things look completely hopeless. 

3. A New Sign

Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (17:9-14)

God reaffirms the Abrahamic Covenant in this chapter.  We see that in v. 2-9.  It is called “an everlasting covenant” (17:7).  It was not only between God and Abraham, it was between God and Abraham’s descendants (17:7-8). 

What does God promise Abraham here?  Abraham has one child at this point.  God says, “You will have a lot more than that. Nations will come from Abraham.  Kings will come from Abraham.  He also promises to gave his descendants “the land of Canaan” not as a temporary possession but as an “EVERLASTING possession” (17:8).

This is the second covenant that is mentioned in Genesis.  The first one was called the Noahic Covenant.  God made a covenant with Noah and everything on the planet. 

He promised to never again destroy the earth with a flood of water.  That covenant had a sign.  It is the rainbow.  A bow is a defensive weapon and it points up in the sky.  That is a sign that everyone on the planet can see.

Now God makes another covenant.  This one is not with everyone on the planet, it is just with Abraham but it also has a sign.  This sign is different.  It involves human participation.  This sign involves a medical procedure.  It involves surgery and it is limited to men. 

Only males can receive this sign.  There is female circumcision (female genital mutilation) which has been practiced in Africa for century but that was not the sign.  It was a sign only to be performed on men.  It seems like a rather strange sign to us. 

The Jews did not invent circumcision.  It was an ancient custom.  It existed before the time of Abraham.  It is one of the oldest medical procedures which are still performed today.  It is not an exclusively Jewish custom but people do circumcisions for many reasons.

Some do it for medical reasons.  Some do it for sanitary and hygienic reasons.  Uncircumcised males have a higher incidence of STDs (e.g., AIDS, Syphilis).  Others used it as an initiatory rite as an introduction to puberty.  It was a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. 

The Arabs practiced it at the age of thirteen.  The Egyptians performed it on boys between the ages of six and twelve.  The Jews did not invent circumcision but they were the first to give it any religious significance.  For the Jews, circumcision is not just a social rite, it is a religious rite.  It was the sign of the covenant between God and the Jews.

They were also the first to practice infant circumcision, as far as I know.  This practice was to be performed on babies. God said that this was to be done on the eighth day.  Now we know why he gave these instructions.  There is a medical reason.

Babies should not be circumcised until they have enough vitamin K.  Babies are born with little vitamin K.  Vitamin K helps with blood clotting.  It is much safer, although there is a vitamin K shot.  On the eighth day, there is less pain, less bleeding, and a better healing process.

It seems like a strange sign to us, a sign that focuses on the male sex organs.  It is a sign that you cannot even see.  Why was this the sign of the covenant?  What does it represent?  Keith Krell suggests it was a physical reminder of sexual fidelity.

“The male organ of procreation was to be set apart for the Lord’s purposes rather than for sexual immortality. Abram had committed sexual immortality by sleeping with Hagar. Now he was to submit it to God. The male organ of procreation would be the vehicle through which the seed of man would pass, ultimately preparing the way for the Messiah.

This sign alerted a member of the covenant never to use the organ bearing this mark in a promiscuous manner. If this part of man’s body is devoted to the Lord, the entire man will be devoted to the Lord… No Israelite man could ever engage in sexual relations without being reminded of the fact that he belonged to God.”[1]

4. A New Command

God gave Abraham a rather strange command.  He was to be circumcised at the age of ninety-nine.  That sounds painful.  I do not know if they had any anesthetics in that day like they do today.  None only was Abraham to be circumcised, so was every male in his household was to be circumcised. 

Abraham does exactly what God tells him to do.  He circumcises himself.  He circumcised his thirteen year old son Ishmael and he circumcised his whole household.  The text says that he did this “on that very day” (17:23).  It was instant obedience.  Abraham obeyed God completely and he obeyed immediately. 

If you remember, in the last chapter Abraham failed as a leader in the home. His wife leads him into sin and he does exactly what she says no questions asked.  Then she mistreats her slave and Abraham does absolutely nothing to stop it.  In this chapter, Abraham gets high marks in the area of spiritual leadership. 

He is the role model of spiritual leadership in the home.  That raises the question.  Are we good leaders in our home?  This is an encouragement for the husbands who have blown it at times in this area.  There is still hope for us.

 

 

 

 


[1] https://bible.org/seriespage/21-believe-it-or-not-genesis-171-27

Law of the Harvest

Last week, we looked at the beginning of Genesis 16.  We said that this chapter doesn’t show Abraham’s faith.  It shows his faults.  It shows his sin.  Abraham commits a sexual sin in this chapter.  We do not see faith in this chapter.  We see unbelief.  In this chapter, we learn from his mistakes.

The chapter began with a problem.  What was her problem?  Infertility.  She couldn’t have any kids.  Sarah is the first person in the Bible who had a problem with infertility.  The very first verse of the chapter says, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children“.

That is not a big of a deal today.  Many couples do not even want to have kids but in that day but in that day this was a disgrace.  There was a stigma placed on childless couples in the Ancient Near East. 

That is because children were looked on as a blessing, not a curse.  Today, they are seen as just a nuisance.  In biblical times, they were viewed differently and were greatly desired. 

We can all relate to Sarah.  We all have problems.  We may have marriage problems or money problems or car problems or in-law problems.  It is not wrong to have problems. 

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble”.  The question is, How do you deal with your problems?  Abraham and Sarah dealt with them the wrong way. 

Her solution was to use a surrogate to have a child.  That doesn’t sound so bad to us.  The problem is that this involved adultery.  She suggested that Abraham have a child through one of her slaves.

Notice what Sarah says, “Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her” (16:2). The plan was for Sarah to get a baby through a surrogate.

Hagar got pregnant and delivered the baby but it was considered Sarah’s child.  Instead of having the baby, she would adopt one.  It is the first example in the Bible of surrogate motherhood and adoption. 

Sarah told her husband to commit adultery in order to have a child and Abraham went right along with the plan without any questions. 

Last week, we looked at two lessons that we learn from this plan.  We say that what is legal is not necessarily moral. What the law says that you CAN do is not necessarily what you SHOULD do. 

In this chapter, we see that Sarah’s plan worked.  Hagar got pregnant.  She became the first surrogate mother in Scripture.  Sarah and Abraham finally had a baby through Hagar but this was not God’s plan at all. 

The second lesson we saw is that the ends do not justify the means.  It is a very prevalent philosophy today, even among some Christians.  That was the philosophy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Bonhoeffer was the German Christian pastor who was involved in an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler. 

He was either involved or associated with people who were trying to do this.  The goal was good but Christians should not be involved in assassination attempts. 

They should not be involved in murder plots, even if the ends are good.  This is a classic passage to show that the ends do not justify the means.  There are many other lessons that we can learn from this plan that apply today.  Some of these are quite interesting.

Applications for Today

1. Good intentions are not enough.

Sarah’s intentions were great but her actions were wrong.  Many cultists are sincere.  They think they are doing good deeds.  The Muslim fanatics who want to rid the world of infidels are sincere. 

The Apostle Paul was sincere when he persecuted Christians but his zeal was misdirected.  As the saying goes, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. 

The Pharisees were sincere but sincerity is not enough.  Jesus said “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are” (Matthew 23:15). The Bible says that “zeal must be ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE” (Romans 10:2).

2. It is possible to be deceived about the will of God

Abraham and Sarah thought they were doing the right thing.  It worked.  it seemed to be a good idea at the time.  It was perfectly legal.  It was socially acceptable.  Other people did not have a problem with this but God did.  This was not God’s will. 

This is rather depressing.  We can think we are doing the right thing and be out of the will of God.  There are some people who live in sin and think that they are in the will of God because they have peace. 

Society has told them that their lifestyle is not wrong and they have told themselves that as well but they are deceived. Many prosperity preachers think that God’s will is always accompanied but material blessing but that is simply not true. It can be a sign of God’s blessing but is not always a sign of it. 

Big churches are not always a sign that God is blessing them.  They can be but you can have a large church that is not a good church.  How do we avoid being deceived about the will of God?  We have to know the Word very well and we have to ask God what is the right thing to do.  That is what Sarah did not do.

3. We should not always listen to our spouse.

How was Abraham led astray?  He took some bad advice from his wife.  He listened to the voice of Sarah (16:2).  That is the same expression that is used in Genesis 3.  Adam listened to the voice of Eve (3:17) when she handed him the forbidden fruit. Does this mean that husbands should never listen to their wives? 

No.  Not too much longer after this, God actually told Abraham to listen to his wife (cf. 21:8-13). How do you tell the difference?  When is it right and when is it wrong? 

In this case, Abraham should not have listened to Sarah.  She was telling him to sin.  She was telling him to commit adultery.  She told him to have an affair.

4. Sins of ignorance are still sins.

We do not know if Abraham thought he was doing something wrong or not. He may have justified it in his head.  What he was doing was perfectly acceptable in his day.  Many people today use all kinds of excuses to justify their sins but they are still sins.

5. You reap what you sow.

The Bible teaches that we reap what we sow. Galatians 6:7-8 says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (ESV).

The results of this plan were devastating.  The lesson here is that sin has consequences.  It may bring something good at the time. Abraham and Sarah got a baby from it. 

The Bible talks about “the pleasure of sin” but it always brings negative consequences.  The consequences are immediate and lasting.  Some sins have consequences that last for generations. 

Whenever, we violate God’s moral law, we suffer and those around us suffer.  When we sin, we often do not think of the consequences.  That is what we see in this chapter. 

Sarah’s plan worked. It solved one problem and created ten more.  It backfired in the end.  It resulted in some complications.  What were the consequences of this sin?  It led to two things: family problems and national problems.

When she knew she was pregnant, she (Hagar) began to despise her mistress.  Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me. Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” THEN SARAI MISTREATED HAGAR; so she fled from her” (16:4-6)

Consequences of Abraham’s Sin

National Problems

Ishmael’s descendants became a major problem for Abraham’s descendants.  We are still suffering from the consequence of this plan.  We still suffer the consequence of this action today four thousand years later. 

The founder of Islam was a descendant of Ishmael.  Ishmael became the ancestor of the Arabs and they have been a source of perpetual grief to the Jews.  If Abraham would not have done this, planes would not have crashed into the Twin Towers. 

Family Problems

It led to family problems.  It led to problems in the home.  What kinds of family problems?  After this child was born, there was no peace in the home. 

1) Parenting Problems

Ishmael was hard to raise.  The Bible says that “He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him” (16:12).

Who wants to have a child like that?  His descendants were just like him.  It describes ISIS today.  Their hand is against every man. For Hagar, it may not have been an insult.  She was a slave and her son would be free to roam like an untamed animal. 

2) Marriage Problems

It also affected the relationship of Abraham and Sarah. There was tension between Abraham and Sarah after they sinned. They started arguing with one another, just like Adam and Eve did after they sinned.

Sarah said to Abraham, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me” (16:5).

Some husbands just cannot win. If they do what their wives tell them, they complain. If they don’t do what their wives tell them, they complain.

Interpersonal Problems

There was also tension between Sarah and Hagar. They used to get along great.  Now there is tension between the two.  There is now jealousy, envy, pride and strife. 

Why? Positionally, Sarah was superior to Hagar.  She was over her.  She was her slave owner.  She owned Hagar.  Hagar was a slave and now she just gave birth to Abraham’s first son.  She just went up the social ladder. 

She is more than an ordinary slave and she is starting to feel a little superior to Sarah who could not even have kids.  The Code of Hammurabi said that a slave who bears a child is put on a level of equality with his wife (146). 

Hagar may have rubbed it in a little.  She may not have been ready for this change. Proverbs 30:21-23 says, “Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up: a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food; an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

She may have been a little angry with Sarah as well. I want you to try to look at this from Hagar’s perspective.  Up to this point, the story line of Genesis has been written from the standpoint of the men. 

Abraham has been the main character in the last four chapters but now there is a change.  This chapter is written from the standpoint of women, not men.  The chapter focuses on two women (Sarah and Hagar).  That makes this chapter of the Bible different from most.

Hagar is treated terribly in this chapter.  She did not try to tempt Abraham to have an affair with her.  She was not seductive.  She did her job.  She is an innocent victim.  Rarely do we ever try to see things through her perspective.  

She is made a slave.  She is just a piece of property.  She has absolutely no rights.  Sarah tells her that she has to sleep with Abraham and she has absolutely no choice in the matter.  Whatever she was asked to do, she had to do. 

Maybe she didn’t want to sleep with an 85 year old man.  She was probably much younger than he was.  She was not asked what she wanted.  She might have been disgusted by the suggestion but she had to do it. 

As soon as the baby was born, it was immediately handed over to Sarah.  It was Sarah’s baby.  Notice what Sarah said to Abraham “Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

This is interesting.  Sarah has a problem and comes to Abraham to solve it.  Once again, he washes his hands in the situation.  He shows absolutely no leadership.  

He showed great leadership on the battlefield when he went after Kerdorlaomer.  He whipped five kings against incredible odds and rescued his nephew Lot but he showed terrible leadership in his own home.  Many are great leaders on the job or in the corporate world but not so great leaders when they come home. 

Abraham showed no leadership when Sarah come up with the bad plan in the first place and now when a problem is created because of the situation, he does nothing.  He tells Sarah to handle it.  He says, “She is your slave.  You deal with it.  She is your property”. 

Abraham calls her Sarah’s slave, not his wife.  She really was not his wife but more of a concubine because she remain a slave afterwards.  Abraham told her to deal with the situation herself and she does. 

When she abuses her slave, Abraham does absolutely nothing to stop it.  Abraham and Sarah once again does what is legal, rather than moral. It was legal to have a child through a slave and it was legal in that day to mistreat a slave but that did not make it right.  

Hagar became an abused slave.  We do not know how bad the abuse was or exactly what Sarah did to Hagar but she did mistreat her.  The text says that. This is the first example of a mistreated slave in the Bible and she happened to be an African slave.  She is an Egyptian slave. 

The irony is that it is done by the people of God.  Here God’s people are abusing and mistreating others.  That is terrible. 

Unfortunately, it still happens today.  Sometimes, it is Christians who mistreat others.  Sarah also becomes the first mean girl in the Bible. In the next book of the Bible, the tables will be turned. 

Here God’s people are abusing Egyptians. In Exodus, we see the Egyptians abusing God’s people terribly. 

So what does Hagar decide to do?  Hagar now has a problem.  She responded differently to her problem than Sarah did.  She runs away.  She is the example today of people who run away from their problems. 

She does not deal with her problems.  She runs away from them.  She becomes the first runaway slave in the Bible.  She tries to run home but Egypt was a long way home and she was single, poor and pregnant. 

The Bible does talk about how to respond when you are mistreated.  It says, “Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to God’s wrath”.  It also says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’

Hagar was in a bad situation and couldn’t take it anymore, so she left.  When she leaves, she encounters an angel.  Now Hagar has had three encounters in this chapter.  She had an encounter with Abraham at the beginning of the chapter. 

It was a sexual encounter.  She has an encounter with Sarah in the middle of the chapter, which is rather unpleasant.  When she runs away, she has an encounter with an angel in the wilderness. 

Why did this angel appear to Hagar in the first place?  Even though, what Abraham and Sarah did was wrong, it wasn’t Hagar’s fault.  She is in a very bad situation here. 

God reaches out to people in need. He reaches out to people who have no hope and are broken.  The Bible says that God “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).

Hagar at this point was completely broken.  She was at the lowest point she could be at.  She was not only a foreigner, she was a slave.  She was not only a slave, she was a mistreated slave and now she is pregnant. 

She was also an unwed mother.  She is the first single parent in the Bible.   She was a single mother.  After she runs, she is not only pregnant but homeless.  God ministers here to an unwed mother. God appeared to Hagar and spoke to her.  What did he tell her?

God gave her two promises and one command?  What did he promise her?  He promised that she would bear a son (16:11) and said what his name would be (Ishmael).

Ishmael is the first person in the Bible that God named before he was born.  There are six other ones (Isaac, Solomon, Josiah, Cyrus, John the Baptist and Jesus).

God promised to bless Hagar (16:10).  She will have so many children that they would not be able to number them.  In the midst of these promises, he also gave her one command.  He commanded her to return back to Abraham and Sarah. 

That must have been very difficult to do.  It was a hard command.  It raises a lot of questions.  Should people submit to abuse? 

If Hagar had to return to face abuse from her master Sarah, are women supposed to abuse from their husband and domestic violence?  No.  Each case is different. 

There are times when it would be right to submit to abuse.  In this case, Hagar might have died if she continued on her path in the wilderness. 

Abraham’s Affair

Today, we come to a fascinating chapter in the Book of Genesis. We will only get to the first four verses of the chapter today but it is very interesting. It is full of applications for us today. It is relevant.

Before we look at it, we need to do some review, because We have taken a few weeks off in our study. This chapter is very different from some of the previous chapters that we looked at.

In Genesis 14, we saw Abraham on top of the world. He was popular. He defeated a military enemy. He rescues some POWs.

He said no to the King of Sodom and gave tithes to another king. Genesis 15 focused on Abraham’s faith. He believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He was declared righteous in God’s eyes.

The Abraham we see in this chapter is very different from the Abraham we have seen in the last few chapters of Genesis.

In this chapter, we do not see victory; we see failure. In this chapter, we do not see belief; we see unbelief. In this chapter, we do not see Abraham’s faith, we see his faults.

We see sin. We will see Sarah’s sin and Abraham’s sin. Sarah doesn’t fully trust the promise of God. She abuses Hagar and then mistreats her. Abraham commits a sexual sin.

He was justified in Genesis 15 but he was still a sinner. He was not perfect. When we get saved, we are still sinners and remain sinners until we die. Abraham is at one of his lowest points in this chapter. Abraham shows a lack of faith in this chapter, as well as a lack of leadership in the home.

This chapter gives us a glimpse into the domestic side of Abraham. We get to see what the Abraham’s home life was like and how he interacted with his wife. What we will see is a little shocking but unfortunately no different from what we see in many homes today. We also see God testing Abraham in this chapter.

After God called him, He tested him. If he did that to Abraham, He probably does that to us as well. In what way is God testing you?

It is worth thinking about. Abraham at this point has experienced five tests since he entered the Promised Land and this one will not be his last one. Let’s review his other tests.

Abraham’s Five Tests

1. Famine
2. Fear
3. Family Feud
4. Forgiveness
5. Fertility

The first test was a FAMINE. God called him to this land but a severe famine broke out. What was he to do? How was he to respond? He failed that test and fled to Egypt.

His second test was when he got to Egypt. This test did not involve famine but FEAR. Abraham was afraid for his personal safety. He was afraid that someone would kill him over his wife.

She was a beauty to kill for. How would he respond when asked about her? He failed that test. He lied and said that she was his wife. Right now Abraham is 0 for 2.

His third test was a FAMILY FEUD. They had so many animals and limited resources to take care of them. Fights started to break out. Abraham passed that test with flying colors. He became the peacemaker.

Instead of trying to be right, he did what he could to smooth over the situation. He told them that they should not fight but divide up the land. Abraham even let Lot pick first. He gave us all the perfect example of how to settle disputes and how to resolve conflict.

His fourth test was BITTERNESS. His nephew Lot was captured by Kedorlaomer and his armies. He is a slave. He is a prisoner of war. Lot cheated Abraham. He took the best land and didn’t even ask Abraham what he thought about it. Her was selfish. Now Lot is in trouble.

Will Abraham forgive his nephew or hold a grudge? Abraham passed this test. He took over three hundred of his men and ambushed Kerdorlaomer at night and rescued Lot.

Today, we come to Abraham’s fifth test. The chapter begins with a PROBLEM. Abraham’s faith is tested again. It was not tested by a famine but by infertility.

The chapter begins with these words, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children” (16:1). God made a promise to Abraham. The question is would he be willing to wait for it.

There is a difference between believing a promise and waiting for it. Abraham believed the promise. We saw that in Genesis 15.

He believed and it was counted for righteousness. Abraham had a vision of God. He appeared to him. He spoke to him and made a special covenant with him. He made Abraham some promises.

One of those promises is that Abraham would have a son. He would have offspring. He would have descendants. In fact, he would have so many that he would not be able to count them all. He believed the promise. He just got tired of waiting for it.

Proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Ten years went by, which is a long time, and there was no son or daughter.

It got rather embarrassing after a decade went by. Everyone around him had kids. Even his servants had kids but he had none. Abraham received this incredible promise from God and told people about it. Every year, people kept asking, “Is your wife pregnant?” They got tired of waiting for an answer, so Sarah finally comes up with a plan to solve the problem.

Sarah’s Plan

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her” (16:1-3)

Sarah’s plan was for Abraham to sleep with a slave and get pregnant through her. We need to point out three things about this plan.

1) It was Sarah’s idea.

When a man has an affair, usually it is his idea. When a husband has an affair, it is usually a secret and his wife does not know about it. This was Sarah’s idea. Sarah tells her husband, “Go sleep with another woman!” Abraham was not motivated by lust, although he does not say no to the request.

If Abraham came up with the idea, you would think it was motivated by lust. An old man wanting to sleep with the young exotic slave girl but notice what the text says. Genesis 16 does not say that Abraham TOOK his slave into his tent. It says that his wife GAVE her slave to Abraham. There’s a big difference.

We are used to thinking of Sarah as the one with a meek and quiet spirit. That is how I Peter 3:6 describes her but we see Sarah in a different light here. She is the one in charge here. She is the one making decisions.

She is the one with the plan and the one who tells Abraham what to do. Abraham is the one who says “Yes dear, whatever you say”. He doesn’t question her or contradict her.

It is almost as if Abraham doesn’t have any thoughts in his head. Abraham is real passive here. He is more of a pushover than a patriarch here. This may have been Sarah’s idea but Abraham went along with it.

They did not get in a fight and argue about this. They were united. They both thought this was a good idea. Instead of the wife submitting to the husband, the husband here submits to the wife.

2) Her motives were actually good

Sarah has a good desire. She wants to have a child. God promised Abraham a child. She believes that promise. They did their part to try to have a child. They waited a long time for that child and had not gotten one yet.

She realizes that she is the reason why they cannot have children. It was the job of the wife in the ancient world to provide children. She is the one who is infertile (11:30). It is almost as if she said, “God had has kept me from having kids but I do not want that to stop you from receiving what God promised you.”

Sarah is completely selfless. She is willing to step back and let her husband have a child through someone else. Sarah did not want Abraham to be without an heir on account of her fertility problem.

God said that Abraham would be the father of the child. That is what God told Abraham in Genesis 15:4 but He never said that Sarah would be the mother.

3) It was perfectly legal to do this.

We know from extra-biblical sources that this was a common practice in the Ancient Near East. People did this kind of thing back in those days. If you could not have a child, you could have one through one of your slaves.

It seems very strange to us but it was not at all strange to them. We have to read this in light of the day in which they lived.

This was one way to solve fertility problems in ancient Mesopotamia. We even see it later in the Book of Genesis. We see that in Genesis 30. There were twelve tribes of Israel. They came from the twelve sons of Jacob. Not all of those sons came from Leah and Rachel.

Some of those sons were born through surrogates. Rachel’s handmaid Bilhah had two sons for Jacob, which became two tribes (Dan and Naphtali). Leah’s handmaid had two sons for Jacob, which also became two tribes (Gad and Asher).

 What was wrong with Sarah’s plan? 

There were several reasons why this plan was terribly wrong, even though it was legal to do, was socially acceptable in that day and was well-intentioned.  Even though Sarah may have meant well, this was wrong for three reasons.

1) God was never consulted.

It is not wrong to be concerned about something or to have a plan to fix it but we ought to ask God about it. I Peter 5:7 says, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

We need to bring all of our worries and anxieties to God.  Abraham and Sarah did not do that here.  They didn’t talk to God.

They just came with a plan, like they did when there was a famine.  They had a plan then and it involved going to Egypt.  They took matters into their own hands without asking God what he thought of it.

In the last chapter, Abraham had a plan that his servant Eliezar would be the heir of his house but he talked to God about it and God said that will not happen.

He will not be your heir.  Here, they have another plan and this time, God is not consulted. The Bible says, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” (Proverbs 11:3).

They did not do that here.  They do not talk to God and he does not talk to them in this entire chapter.  God does not speak to Abraham in this chapter but he does speak to Hagar.

2) It involved a lack of faith

How was this a lack of faith?  They looked at circumstances, rather than at God.  God made a promise.  They believed the promise but for some reason God was not coming through so they had to help God out a little.

They play God.  In fact, as the chapter begins, Sarah blames God for being infertile.  She said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children'” (16:2).

It is almost as if she said, “God is the one who is supposed to be in charge of conception but since He is not doing His part.

He is not making it happen, like he said He would, so we will make it happen. We will do it ourselves.  We really do not need God to have a child.”  This is based on the philosophy “God helps those who help themselves”.

3) It involved adultery

Sarah’s motives were right but her methods were wrong.  They involved adultery.  Sarah tells Abraham to commit adultery.  That was Sarah’s solution to their infertility problem.

Abraham takes up a concubine and sleeps with someone other than his wife. Earlier in the book, Abraham gave away his wife to the Egyptian Pharaoh to be a part of his harem and now he sleeps with an Egyptian slave girl.

He should have known better.  The divine pattern for marriage in Genesis is one man and one woman for life.  It is monogamy.  It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

God created a perfect world and gave one wife for Adam.  He didn’t have a wife and a concubine or two wives, just one.  This was a violation of the law of marriage established in Genesis.

Lessons from Abraham’s Sin

1. What is legal is not necessarily moral.

Sarah was doing what was accepted in her day. This was an acceptable way in her day of dealing with infertility. The problem is that she lived in a pagan culture. What is legal is not necessarily moral.

Slavery was legal at one time but that does not make it moral. Premarital sex is legal. There is no human law that says you can’t shack up with someone but the Bible says that when you do that you sin against your own body.

Homosexuality is legal. In fact, in many states today, homosexual marriage is legal but the Bible calls it “an abomination.” It is legal but it is not moral.

If you get married and what to divorce your wife because you get tired of her and because you found someone you like better, you can do this. The law allows it but that doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

If you get pregnant and do not want the baby, you can kill it. The law allows you to do that. Abortion has been legal in America ever since 1973 but that does not mean that God approves of the practice.

Just as the blood of Abel cried out from the ground, so does the blood of all of these babies who died. A million die each year.

If you do not want to worship God, you do not have to. According to our constitution, we have freedom of religion. The law says that we are free to worship the god of our own choosing. We can worship a rock if we want to but that does not mean it is the right thing to do. What is legal is not always moral.

There is a big difference between what we CAN do and what we SHOULD do. There is a big difference between what society accepts and what God accepts. God’s thought are not our thoughts.

In Abraham’s day, it was not considered wrong to have a child through a slave but God’s attitude is different from society’s attitude. There are many other practices that society accepts as perfectly normal but God rejects as sinful. Prostitution is legal is Nevada but that does not make it moral.

2. The ends do not justify the means

This is a very popular philosophy today. Many people think if the goal is good, it does not matter how you get there, as long as you get there.

Immoral methods may be used. It is okay to do something bad, as long as the goal you want is achieved. If you need a good grade in school, it is okay to cheat to get that grade.

That is why Lance Armstrong and so many professional athletes use performance enhancing drugs. In their mind, the ends justify the means.

Why do Muslim terrorists commit terrible atrocities in the name of their religion, cutting people’s heads off, crucifying people, kidnaping school girls? They believe that the ends justifies the means. That is why people rioting and looting in Baltimore this past week.

Harry Reid was recently asked by a reporter if he regretted accusing Mitt Romney of not paying his taxes without any evidence. He said that he did not regret it and then he added “Romney didn’t win die he?”

Reid believes in this philosophy apparently. It is okay to lie about your enemies and smear them, as long as you win. The ends justify the means.

In Paul’s day, many believed in the ends justifies the means philosophy. He mentions this in the Book of Romans. People in his day said, “Let us do evil that good may come” (Romans 3:8). He said, “Those who say such things deserve to be condemned” (NLT).

Genesis 16 is one of the best passages in the Bible to refute the idea that the ends justifies the means. Sarah’s plan worked. They got what they always wanted – a baby. Abraham becomes “father Abraham” in this chapter.

Ishmael becomes his first son. Abraham loved him. He had him when he was 86 years old. It looked like God answered their prayers. They named the baby Ishmael which means “God hears.”

It looked like God’s blessing was on them. The Bible says, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3). Children are a gift from God. They come from God.

It looks like God is rewarding Abraham and Sarah for their actions but the Promised Seed was not to be obtained through the sin of sexual immorality. Abraham would not get it through an immoral act. The promised seed would not come through a pagan gentile idolater from Egypt.

Sarah’s plan worked but she did not get God’s best. She got second best, as many do today. She did not get the child of promise but the child of flesh. Instead, she ends up with an Ishmael when she could have had an Isaac and it came with all kinds of problems. We will look at those problems next week.

They got what they could get rather than what God could give. They got a child by natural means, rather by supernatural means. Paul said Isaac was “born by the power of the Spirit” (Galatians 4:29). Isaac’s birth involved a miracle.

Sarah was completely infertile. Paul said that Sarah’s womb was dead (Romans 4:19). People still do this today. They end up with second best, instead of God’s best for them.  Next week, we will look at four more lessons or applications from Abraham’s affair.

Questions on the Trinity

 Last week, we had a question about the doctrine of the Trinity in our class.  I wanted to spend a week talking about this doctrine. There are many groups which hate the doctrine of the Trinity (e.g., Jews, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses). What exactly does the doctrine of the Trinity teach?

Is it really a biblical doctrine or is it a man-made doctrine?  What are some misconceptions that people have about the Trinity?  Some pastors have gotten it wrong when it comes to the Trinity.  I will give you some examples of that.  Can you be a Christian and not believe in the Trinity?

1. Is the doctrine of the Trinity important?

The answer is yes.  This doctrine is important.  Why is it important?  The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the major doctrines of the Bible. Some doctrines of the Bible are minor or non-essential, like how do we interpret the Book of Revelation?

Christians can have different views on Revelation, as long as we all agree in the Second Coming. Prophecy is a minor doctrine in which not all believers agree. Baptists and Methodists are split on some doctrines. They are minor doctrines.  Some doctrines are major doctrines. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of them.

How do we know that this is a major doctrine?  What makes it an essential doctrine?  Several things make this an essential doctrine.  First, the doctrine is very old. This is not something that some people invented in 1850.  It is something that Christians have believed for two thousand years.  Second, it is a doctrine that is believed by all branches of the Christian church (Protestant, Catholic and Greek Orthodox).

Third, this doctrine is about God. It deals with who God is. You can be off on many things (like when the rapture starts, who the Antichrist, who the Nephilim are) and still be saved is but not on who God is. If you worship the wrong god, you cannot be saved, no matter how sincere you are.

Many say they believe in God. What God? To believe in God is not the same thing as believing in the Christian God. The Muslims believe in God. They call God Allah which is just the Arabic word for God.  It is used in Arabic Bibles in the OT and NT for “God.”  Both Muslims and Christians worship one God.  They are both monotheists but the god they worship is very different from the Christian God.

There are ninety-nine names of God in the Koran (Restrainer, Extender, Humbler, Exalter, Creator, Just, Judge, Mighty, Strong, King, Infinite, Glorious, Avenger, Guide, Everlasting, etc.)  Almost all of the names of God are impersonal.  The name “Father” is not one of them.

Muslims do not speak of God as their heavenly Father.   The God of the Bible is loving and personal.  He wants a relationship with people.  In fact, the Bible does not just teach that God is loving, it teaches that “God IS love.”  It teaches that God loves the world.  The God of the Koran does NOT love sinners.

In the Bible, God is a perfect being. In the Quran, Allah deceives people. In fact, in the Koran it says that “the best of schemers is Allah” (Surah 3:54; 8:30).  He is the best of deceivers. He is dishonest. He is the author of evil. The God of the Bible is perfect.  He cannot sin. He cannot lie.

The God of the Bible has a son.  Jesus is called “the Son of God”.  Of course, He is not a literal son. God is a spirit (John 4:24). He has no body.  God does not have a wife.  Muslims teach that God has no son.  They teach that Allah has no son.

They have a completely different view of God.  Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sent his Son to die for you.  Just because you say you believe in God does not necessarily mean that you believe in the Christian God.

2. What does the doctrine of the Trinity teach?

It teaches that there is one God who exists in three persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit).  It does NOT teach that God is one person and it does NOT teach that there are three gods.  It teaches one God in three persons.  Why is this important?  This is where some people have gotten it wrong in church history.

There was an early heresy in the early church that taught God is one person (one God, one person in the Godhead) and he manifests himself in different forms or modes. They believe that God is one person who takes on three modes or roles, just as one person can be a husband, a son and a father all at the same time.

Some churches still believe this today. Oneness Pentecostals hold this view. The United Pentecostal Church (UPC) rejects the doctrine of the Trinity. They are known as modalists. Modalists believe that God is one person who manifests himself as Father, Son or Holy Spirit. They believe that Jesus IS the Father.

3. Is Jesus the Father?

One verse used to teach that Jesus is the Father is John 14:9 (“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”). When you see Jesus, you see the Father, so Jesus must be the Father. Is this correct? All you have to do is to look at the context of John 14 to see what is wrong with this view.

  • John 14:6 says: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. How can Jesus say that no one comes TO the Father except through Him, if he is the Father?
  • John 14:12 says: ”Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” The Father is NOT Jesus. He is IN Jesus. Jesus is IN the Father. That refutes the idea that they are the same person.
  • John 14:11 says “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father”. How can Jesus be the Father if he goes to the Father?
  • John 14:20 says, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you”. Jesus is in us and we are in him (14:20) but that does not mean that we are all Jesus. We are not the same person.
  • John 14:23 says, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and WE will come to them and make OUR home with them.” The plural pronouns imply that there are two people.
  • John 14:28 says, “The Father is greater than I.” If Jesus is the Father, then how could the Father be greater than Jesus?

Another verse used to teach that Jesus is the Father is John 10:30.  Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.“ Doesn’t this prove that they must be the same person? The answer is no. This is clear for two reasons.

One, the verb is plural (“are”).  Jesus does NOT say that He “is” the Father, only that He and the Father “are” one. If Jesus is the Father, He would have used the singular verb. He would have said, “I AM the Father”. Instead, he used the plural verb. “I and the Father ARE one.” The third century church Father Hippoytus said that the plural verb was used, because it is talking about two people, not one person.

Two, the adjective (“one”) is neuter in Greek.  The statement “I and the Father are one’ does not mean that Jesus and the Father were the same person. Had John wanted to say that, he would have used the masculine word for “one.” Instead, he uses the neuter word for “one”. It means one thing, not one person.

4. Is Jesus the Spirit?

I have heard some preachers say that Jesus is the Spirit.  One verse used to support that is II Corinthians 3:17 which says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

It says it very clearly that the Lord IS the Spirit.  The Spirit is clearly the Holy Spirit and the Lord in the context is Jesus, so this says that Jesus is the Holy Spirit.  It seems to say that they are synonymous.  They are one and the same.  There is only one problem.

The second half of the verse distinguishes the two. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”  They are not the same person.  In many passages Paul distinguishes between Jesus and the Spirit.  II Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Ephesians 4 mentions seven things that unite all believers.   He tells us to “be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:3-6).

These things are distinct and different.  Jesus said he would send the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). Hence, Jesus could not be the Spirit since Jesus was sending the Spirit or praying for the Father to send the Spirit.

5. Is the Trinity a pagan doctrine?

Now we know what the Trinity teaches, we have to ask if it is actually a pagan doctrine.  Is this doctrine pagan in origin?  Many believe it is an old Babylonian and Egyptian doctrine.

It goes back to ancient Babylon where all false religion began. The Babylonians worshiped the Father Nimrod, the Wife Semiramis and the Son Tammuz. The ancient Egyptians worshiped a female goddess named Isis, her husband named Osiris and their son Horus. It is a pagan doctrine

They argue that many pagan religions had the concept of a Trinity. Is the Trinity a pagan doctrine? No. The ancient Babylonians and the ancient Egyptians did not believe in one God. They were polytheists. They believed in many gods and worshiped many gods. They did not believe in the Trinity.

They worshiped many gods, not one God in three persons. These are NOT trinities. They are triads. A triad is not the same thing as the Trinity. Trinitarians do not believe in three gods. They believe in one God who exists in three persons. The Trinity is a uniquely Christian doctrine.

6. Is the doctrine of the Trinity illogical?

Critics ask, “How do you do that when it is not it does not even make any sense?”  They claim that the doctrine of the Trinity makes absolutely no sense. It is a mathematical absurdity. One plus one plus one does not equal one. It is completely illogical. How can one God be three persons? How would you respond to this objection?

  • The doctrine of the Trinity is hard to understand.

It is a mystery. It came about by special revelation. It is complex because it is about God. God is a complex being. He is an infinite being. We cannot even fully grasp how God can be eternal and have no beginning and no end.

If we could completely explain God and put him on our level, he would not be God. God says in the OT that there is no one like him and no one to compare him to (Isaiah 40:18; 46:5).  Most of the analogies of the trinity (e.g. water, clover leaf, egg) are not analogous.

You do not have to completely understand something to believe in it. There are many things I do not understand but I believe it. There are many things that we cannot explain (e.g.., how electricity works or how a plane flies) that we accept as true.

  • The doctrine of the Trinity does not violate any law of logic.

The Trinity teaches that God is both one and three but that does not violate the law of non-contradiction. It would be logically impossible to say that God is both one person and three persons at the same time.

It would be logically impossible to say that that there are three Gods and One God at the same time. There is a difference between something being hard to understand and something being completely illogical.  The Trinity is not contrary to reason, just above reason.  It transcends reason.

7. Is the doctrine of the Trinity biblical?

Many religious groups do not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity is a biblical teaching. The word “trinity” is not in the Bible.  It is not in the OT and it is not in the NT. Tertullian was the first to apply the term to the relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that did not take place until the early third century. The word “trinity” does not come from a Greek or Hebrew term. It comes from a Latin word (trinitas).

Are the critics right?  There is a difference between something being a biblical term and something being a biblical teaching. Many terms that are not in the Bible are biblical concepts.

  • The word “Bible” is not a biblical term but we believe in the Bible.
  • The word “inerrancy” is not in the Bible but we believe that the Bible is inerrant. It is without error.
  • The word “rapture” is not a biblical term but Paul clearly teaches the concept of a rapture or certain people caught up in the clouds to be with Jesus (I Thessalonians 4:17).
  • The phrase “unpardonable sin” is not a biblical term but Jesus taught that “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31).
  • The Great Commission is not a biblical term but is a clear biblical teaching in Matthew 28:18-19.
  • The Second Coming is not a biblical term. The NT simply uses Greek words which mean “coming” like παρουσία but it is perfectly appropriate to call Jesus’ return “the Second Coming”.
  • Many of the attributes of God are not biblical terms (omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, immutable) but are clearly taught in Scripture.

Nowhere does the Bible say, “God is one in essence and three in persons”. How do we arrive at that conclusion from Scripture, if the term is not used in the Bible? It is a logical deduction. The Bible does teach the doctrine by implication.

We can infer that God is a Trinity from other things that the Scripture says. We arrive at this doctrine a little differently than some other doctrines which are explicitly stated in Scripture (Heaven, Hell, Angels). How does is the doctrine of the trinity a clear inference of Scripture? The Bible teaches three very clear doctrines.

Biblical Basis for the Trinity

1) The Bible teaches that there is one God

(Cf. Isaiah 43:10; 44:6; 45:5-6, 18, 21-22; 46:9), The Bible teaches that there is one God, not two or three. Many think that if you believe in the trinity that you believe in three gods. That is simply not true. Trinitarians believe in one God, not three gods. Christians are not polytheists. They are monotheists. They believe in one God.

2) The Bible teaches that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all called God and have divine attributes.

All three are called YHWH. They are all called God without any hint of blasphemy. Jesus is called God eight or nine times in the NT (John 1:1, 18; 20:28; I John 5:20; Romans 9:5; Hebrews 1:8; Titus 2:13; Acts 20:28; II Peter 1:1).

The Holy Spirit is described in Scripture as a person, not a force. The Holy Spirit gives orders that can be obeyed (Acts 8:26; 13:2). He has a sovereign will (I Corinthians 12:4, 7-8, 11). He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30) and blasphemed (Mark 3:29). He is also God. Lying to the Holy Spirit is equated with lying to God in Acts 5.

The Holy Spirit also has many of the same attributes as God – holy (Romans 1:4), eternal (Hebrews 9:14), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7), omniscient (I Corinthians 2:10, 11). Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19-20). In II Corinthians 3:17-18 Paul writes that “the Lord is the Spirit”. NT writers quote passages written by God in the OT and attribute them to the Holy Spirit (Acts 28:25-27).

3) The Bible teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all distinct persons.

They are all clearly distinguished in Scripture. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. They are also distinguished at the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1:9-11. There we have Jesus on earth in the water getting baptized, a voice from heaven speaking saying, “You are my Son, whom I love” and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove all at the same time.

They are also distinguished at the Great Commission. Jesus told the disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Father, Son and Spirit are clearly distinguished. Jesus did not say in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit but in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The articles shows separate persons and yet still a unity of one name, not three.

Deuteronomy 6:4 and the Trinity

Jews often use Deuteronomy 6:4 as a proof-text against the Trinity. Deuteronomy 6:4 is called “the Shema”. The Shema is the most sacred confession of the Jewish people. In Hebrew it is Sh’ma Yis’ra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Jews use the Shema to disprove the Trinity. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one”.

What does that passage mean? It means that there is one God and only one God. This does not contradict the Trinity at all because Trinitarians are monotheistic. They believe that there is only one God. That is part of the doctrine of the Trinity (one God in three persons).

Some will object the passage says that God is one, not three or three-in-one. The verse does not say that God is not three. It does not deal with the nature of God. It simply answers the question, Are there other gods or lords that we should worship? It just says that there is one God. It does not preclude the doctrine of the Trinity. There can be both a plurality and unity in the Godhead.

The word for “one” used in Deuteronomy 6:4 is echad. It occurs over 960 times. It is used in many different ways but it can be used of a compound or a composite oneness. It does not always mean this but it can mean this. There is another Hebrew word which has no plurality in it (yahid). It is used in the Bible of having only one and only son.

It is used in Genesis 2:24 of a husband and wife (“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”). It is used in Exodus 24:3 of a whole group of people saying the same thing (all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!”).

There are hints even in the OT of this plurality. At creation, God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26).

After Adam and Eve sinned, God said, “And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of US, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:22). After the Tower of Babel, God said, “Come, let US go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis 11:7).

Ten Easter Questions

Today, we want to look at ten questions about the resurrection of Jesus, how it relates to history, whether it actually happened, how we know it happened and how the resurrection relates to out Christian faith. This study combines several lessons on the resurrection and apologetics from this website.  Let’s begin by reading one of the accounts of the resurrection in the NT.  It is the account found in Luke 24:1-12.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.  It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. (NIV)

1) What happened on the First Easter, according to the NT?

You have to read all four gospels to find out what happened that morning.  it is not easy to harmonize them all.  What we know is that a group of women went to the Jesus’ tomb very early in the morning to anoint the body of Jesus.

Some have called these women “the original spice girls”. They brought spices to anoint a dead body to make it smell better.  That may seem a little strange to us.  We would not want to have anything to do with a body that had been dead for thirty-six hours.  We would think that would be disgusting but in the ancient world this was considered an act of love.

People generally would not go near a dead body because it would make them unclean.  If you touched an unclean body, you would be unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11) but an exception was made for family members and loved ones who have to bury the dead. Burial had to take place within twenty-four hours (Deuteronomy 21:23).   One of the worst crimes in Judaism was to leave someone unburied.

What does this tell us about these women?  They obviously loved Jesus.  What they were doing was an act of love.  They also obviously did NOT believe that Jesus was risen from the dead.  They went to anoint a dead body.  What was on their mind was not resurrection but death. They went very early in the morning, just after sunrise.  The men were still asleep.

When they got to the tomb, they were surprised.  The tomb was open.  Mary Magdalene jumped to conclusions.  She immediately assumed that someone stole Jesus’ body.  She ran back to tell the disciples.  She may have been the most emotional of the women.  The rest of them stuck around and entered the tomb.  When they entered, they saw an angel who told them that Jesus was not there but had risen.   In fact, they rebuked the women for being there.  Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee” (24:6).

The women left but Mary returned to the tomb weeping.  She saw someone.  He asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for?  She thought he was the gardener until he called her by name.  Mary Magdalene became the first one to see the Resurrected Christ.  She was the first witness to the resurrection.  She was the first one who said, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18). Jesus did not appear to his family first or even to the Twelve Apostles but to Mary Magdalene.

Why did Jesus appear to Mary first?  Was it because they were married, as novelist Dan Brown suggests?  There is no evidence to support this idea.  It is also important to note that when Mary first discovered that Jesus was alive, she didn’t even call him by his first name.  She called him “teacher”.  What do we know about Mary Magdalene?  She was a sold-out follower of Christ.

Mary did not just follow Jesus when he was alive; she followed him when he died. She was present at the crucifixion. She was also present at the burial.  She did not do any anointing of his body after his death.  That was done by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (John 19:38-42) but she was present at the burial.  She was also there on Easter Sunday.  She went, not once but twice to the tomb early in the morning.  None of the men went with them that morning.  Jesus also appeared to the other women on their way back home from the tomb.  The men were the last to get the message and did not even believe it at first.

It is interesting to me how the mood of the characters in the resurrection story changes dramatically.  First, there is SADNESS, as the women come to the tomb to anoint a dead body.  They were still grieving the recent loss of the one they loved and believed to be their Messiah.  They were still traumatized by his violent death just days before.

As the women are walking to the tomb, the mood of sadness changes to WORRY. They become concerned about how they will even be able to get to the body of Jesus because there is a big stone blocking the tomb. They ask, “Who will roll the stone away for us?” (Mark 16:3) When they get to the tomb and see the stone rolled away, the mood changes from worry to SHOCK. They wonder why the stone is moved. They are thinking that someone has broken into the tomb.  Mary ran back to tell the disciples.

As the other women entered the tomb, their mood changes from shock to FEAR after they go inside the tomb and all of the sudden two angels appear out of nowhere and start talking to them. These angels were not just wearing white. They were shining bright. Matthew’s account says that their faces were like lightening and their clothes white as snow (28:3). Luke says that they were wearing “shining garments” (24:4). They were absolutely terrified. Luke says that they bowed their faced to the ground (24:5).

When they heard what the angel says that Jesus is alive and then see him on the way back, their mood changes from fear to JOY.  When they get back and tell the disciples what happened to them, the mood changes.  It goes from joy to UNBELIEF.  The disciples did not believe these women.  There is a big contrast between the high-strung excited women and the cautiously skeptical men.

Then, the mood shifts from unbelief to RIDICULE.  They thought these women were crazy.  Luke says that “their words seemed like nonsense” (24:11) but the mood changes again from ridicule to INVESTIGATION on the part of some of the disciples to check out the story of the women.  One thing is very clear from this account.  None of the early Christians believed that Jesus would rise from the dead.  The women were not expecting Jesus to do that.  They came to anoint a dead body and the men were not anticipating that to occur either.  The men initially rejected the testimony of the women about the resurrection.

2) Can you be a Christian and not believe in the resurrection of Christ? 

What would you say to a person who says this?  “I have friends who I am quite sure are Christians.  They love Jesus.  They believe in him passionately.  They pray and worship regularly.  They are moral people.  They just do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead”.

Are those people Christians?  Can you be saved and not believe in the resurrection?  What does the Bible say?  Does it say that you have to believe that Jesus rose from the dead to be saved?  Yes.  The resurrection is part of the gospel message that you have to believe in order to be saved, according to Paul.

I Corinthians 15:1-4 says, “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”. Paul says here that the resurrection is part of the gospel message.  It is part of the salvation message that is to be preached.

Romans 10:9 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.  Here Paul says that belief in the resurrection is a condition of salvation.  You have to believe in the resurrection of Christ in order to be saved.  That would mean that it is a foundational doctrine of the faith.  It is essential, not optional.  If you passionately love Jesus but do not believe that he rose from the dead then the Jesus you love is a dead Jesus.  It is not the Jesus of Scripture.  They worship another Jesus.

3) Did Jesus rise from the dead physically or spiritually?

Many denominations are completely liberal.  They do not take the Bible literally but they still claim to believe it.  Liberals in these churches still claim to believe in the resurrection but they believe in a spiritual resurrection.  They want to accept the Bible but throw out the miraculous.  What would you say to them?  The Jews did not even have the concept of a spiritual resurrection.  Resurrection for the Jews meant bodily resurrection.  If the resurrection was spiritual, why was the tomb empty?

The Jehovah’s Witnesses also do not believe that Jesus arose bodily.  They believe that he rose spiritually from the dead.  They believe that that his spirit rose.  They believe that Jesus right now is a spirit and has a spirit body. They get that from I Peter 3:18 which says that Christ was “put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”  How would you answer them?

Peter is not saying that Christ’s body died but that his spirit continued to live.  Jesus was made alive in the power of the Holy Spirit or by the Holy Spirit, as many other NT passages teach.  Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you’.  Jesus predicted that his body would be raised.  He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19, 21).  We know that Jesus was not raised as a spirit creature for four basic reasons.

One, the tomb was empty on Easter Sunday.  If Jesus’ body did not rise, then why was it not in the tomb on Sunday morning?  There is no answer to this question.

Two, Jesus’ resurrection body could be touched and handled.  He had hands and feet (John 20:17; Matthew 28:9).  That is positive proof that he had a physical body.  It was the same body because his disciples saw the wounds in that body from his crucifixion (John 20:27).

Three, Jesus’ resurrection body could eat food (Luke 24:41-43; Acts 10:41).  That shows he had a real body.  He could chew and swallow food.  He ate a piece of broiled fish.  Do spirits like fish?

Four, Jesus said was NOT a spirit and he said that after his resurrection.  Luke 24:37-39 says, “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.  He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.

4) What is the relationship between faith and reason?

What is the relationship between faith and reason? There are three views on faith and reason.  Some say that all you need is faith.  You do not need reasons for your faith.  Reason is bad.  It is the enemy of faith.  We just need to believe.  Faith and reason are incompatible.  “Faith only” people are called FIDEISTS.  Many preachers in the church today fall into this category.  They teach that the spirit is good but the mind (human intellect and reason) is bad.

Others say that reason is good and faith is bad.  They teach that all you need is reason. All truth should be determined by reason and not faith.  Anything that goes against human reason should be rejected.  “Reason only” people are called RATIONALISTS.  Atheists believe that faith is believing something without reason or evidence.  It is completely irrational.  That is why they reject faith and follow reason instead.  Both of these views are incorrect.

The third view is the COMPATIBILIST approach.  It says that we need BOTH faith and reason.  It says that both faith and reason are compatible. Reason is just the ability to think. God created reason.  He created us with a brain.  He tells us to reason.

God says in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, ‘Says the Lord,’ ‘Though your sins are like scarlet; They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’  Jesus said that we are to love God with our “heart, soul, and mind” (Matthew 22:37).

We are to love God with our MIND, as well as with our heart and soul.  Emotion is not enough.  Our mind is to be involved in worship, as well as our heart and soul.  God is not only to be worshipped in spirit, He is to be worshipped in truth (John 4:24).  You have to have BOTH.  Jesus said that God doesn’t accept worship that is in spirit but not in truth.

Many who are in a false religion are real sincere.  They worship with all of their heart but sincerity is not enough.  You have to have truth. Faith without reason is dangerous.  You can believe anything.  If you have blind faith, you never question anything.  You take everything at face value.  Every member of a false religion exercises faith but their faith is in the wrong thing.

5) Would it make any difference if Jesus did not rise from the dead physically?

Would you still believe the Bible, if certain historical events never took place? Would it make any difference to your faith if you woke up one day and read in the newspaper that some archaeologist discovered the bones of Jesus?  Would that affect your faith as a Christian?

Would you believe anyway?  The Apostle Paul said that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, it would make a big difference. In fact, he said that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, we have five problems. What are the five results of denying the resurrection of Christ (I Corinthians 15:12-19)?

a. If Christ did not rise from the dead, our preaching is VAIN (15:14).

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then preaching about Christ is useless. Evangelism is a big waste of time. Paul devoted his entire life to preaching the gospel. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then Paul has been wasting his time. Christianity is worthless. The skeptics are right. Close the doors and sell the church. All of the missionaries should come home.

b. If Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is VAIN (15:14, 17).

Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection. If Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is true. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole Christian faith is destroyed. Some say that it doesn’t matter what happened to his body. Paul says if Jesus did not rise, your Christian faith is vain. It is worthless. It is completely pointless to preach and it is pointless to believe the message that is preached about Jesus.

It does you absolutely no good. It accomplished nothing. It saves no one. A dead Christ cannot save anyone. If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption. If there is no resurrection, sinners will have to stand before a holy God who hates sin and must judge it. Without the resurrection, we are without hope. The resurrection is the proof that we have that God accepted Christ’s payment for our sins (Romans 4:25).

c. If Christ did not rise from the dead, Christians are FALSE witnesses of God (15:15).

Paul uses courtroom language here. A false witness is someone who goes into the courtroom and under oath commits perjury. Paul is saying that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, all of the apostles are liars. They concocted a story that they knew was false. They went and preached to the world that he rose from the dead and that they had personally seen him when they know that he did not.

If that is not true, that would make Peter and Paul liars. It would put the apostles in the same category as Joseph Smith and Muhammad. It would make them false teachers and deceivers. They not only say things that are false, they have said things that are false about God. If there is no resurrection, Christians are just con artists.

d. If Christ did not rise, those who died believing in Christ have PERISHED (15:18).

What does that mean? It means that they went to Hell. They not only lived all their lives in sin, but the dying ones have perished. They stood before God as a sinner and without a savior. There is no hope even for Christians who died. You will never see them again. They are gone forever.

e. If Christ did not rise, we are to be PITIED more than all human beings (15:19).

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, why would Christians be pitied by the world? They are not just wrong there are stupid. They are not only deluded and deceived, they are risking their life and being martyred for a lie.

6) Was the body of Jesus recently discovered by archaeologists?

Was the body of Jesus recently discovered?  No.  There was a report around 1980 of archaeologists finding the bones of Jesus.  It caused a big sensation.  On March 28, 1980, just outside of Jerusalem, some construction workers accidentally uncovered a 2000 year old cave holding 10 coffins. The bones were said to be 2000 years old and were found in Israel.  This discovery was called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”.  It said that this was actually the tomb of Jesus and his family.  It is called the Talpiot Tomb and is outside the old city of Jerusalem.

It had the names Jesus, Joseph and Mary. In fact, Jesus is the son of Joseph in the coffin. There is a Mary buried there as well. It said that Mariamene is Mary Magdalene. Did they find the body of Jesus?  No.  Not long after professional archeologists completely repudiated this.  There is not a shred of evidence that this was the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. All of these names found in the coffin were actually quite common during the time of Jesus.

The names “Mary,” “Joseph,” and “Jesus” are among the most popular names in the ancient Jewish world. James Charlesworth of Princeton Theological Seminary says that there a first-century letter written by someone named Jesus, addressed to someone else named Jesus and witnessed by a third party named Jesus.  Mary is the most common female name in the ancient Jewish world. About one in every four women in first century Judea had the name Mary.  The name Mariamne is never used of Mary Magdalene in the New Testament.

While we may not find a burial box of Jesus, we may have found the ossuary of his brother James.  It was an empty box.  It did not have any bones in it.  It did not come from the Talpiot Tomb.  It was held by a private collector and bought by an antiquities dealer in the 1970s.

About thirty years later, a Hebrew and Aramaic expert translated it in 2002.  The inscription on the side of the box reads “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus.”   All of these were common names but to have all three on the same box from the same family was highly unlikely.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) accused Oded Golan of forgery.  He was charged with 44 counts of fraud.  They argued that he added the words “brother of Jesus” to this first century ossuary box from Israel, scientifically dated to the time of Christ.  He went through a seven year criminal trial in Jerusalem.

All kinds of experts testified in the case.  In the end, he was acquitted of all counts of fraud and forgery.  We still do not know for sure if the burial box is authentic.  If it is, it is the greatest archaeological discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls.

7) Is the Resurrection of Christ just a matter of religious faith?

Can you prove that Jesus rose from the dead or is it just a matter of faith?  Is the resurrection of Jesus something that you just believe in or is it something that you can prove?  The Bible says that it is something that you can prove.  That is what Luke says (cf. Acts 1:1-4).

Acts 1:3 says, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many CONVINCING PROOFS that he was alive.” Luke says three things here about the resurrection.

First, he says that you can actually prove the resurrection of Jesus.  He uses the word “proof.”

Second, he says that the proofs are strong.  The Greek word that he uses is proofs indicates the strongest type of legal evidence.  In today’s language, it would mean “beyond a reasonable doubt”. This passage indicates that there is solid evidence for the resurrection.

Three, Luke says that there are many proofs for the resurrection.  Jesus “gave MANY convincing proofs that he was alive” (not just one or two). The evidence is overwhelming. The case for Christ is strong. You can prove it.  That raises an interesting question.  If it is true that there are not only proofs for the resurrection but MANY CONVINCING PROOFS of the resurrection, then why doesn’t everyone believe?

The reason is because there is a difference between PROOF and PERSUASION, as John Calvin pointed out.  You can prove something logically and use all kinds of evidence to back up your position and not convince someone.  Why?  Not everyone is open minded. Not everyone is rational.  You can debate someone on a topic (e.g., politics, religion) and win the debate and not persuade your opponent. As Dale Carnegie said, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”  Everyone is not open to reason.

8) If it can be proven, what are the proofs of the resurrection?

The resurrection has proofs.  It can be proven.  Unfortunately, many Christians today do not know what the proofs are.

Three Undeniable Proofs of the Resurrection

What is the evidence of the resurrection? Let me share with you three proofs of the resurrection that no critic can deny.

1. Jesus’ tomb was empty on Easter Sunday

The first proof of the resurrection was the empty tomb. It is a historical fact that Jesus died on a Roman cross.  It is also a fact that his tomb was empty on Easter morning. That is a fact that no critic can deny.  It is mentioned in all four of the Gospels.  If anyone does deny it, ask them, Where is the body of Jesus?

It has never been found for two thousand years. Opponents of Christianity have not really denied this. They simply said that the disciples must have stolen the body.  That was the official Jewish response to the resurrection (Matthew 28:12-15).

Did the disciples steal Jesus’ body?  No.  They couldn’t have stolen the body, even if they wanted to, because the tomb was guarded by armed Roman soldiers and had a huge stone on top of it.  They had no opportunity.  It was guarded by professional soldiers.  They also had no motive to steal the body, since they were not even expecting Jesus to rise from the dead.  Even the women who went to the tomb on Easter went to anoint a dead body (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1).

John adds an important detail.  He says that the body was gone but his grave clothes were left in the tomb (John 20:5-7).  If they did steal the body, they would have taken everything.  They would not have stolen the body completely naked.  They would have been in a hurry that that would be dishonoring to the body.

Even if you believe that the disciples did steal the body, that does not explain all of the appearances of Jesus to people for forty days?  The stolen body theory explains the empty tomb but it does not explain the appearances.

The biggest problem with the theft theory is that involves a psychological miracle.  It involves people stealing a body and then being willing to be arrested, tortured, fed to lions and killed for something that they know to be false.  History has shown that people WILL give their lives for what they believe is true (Muslim finatics), but not for what they know is false.  This theory has the early Christians dying for something that they know to be false

2. The early church believed Jesus rose from the dead

This is a fact that no critic can deny. Even the most skeptical NT scholar has to admit that the early church believed that Jesus rose from the dead. In fact, not only did they believe it, they were willing to risk their entire life on it. They were willing to die and be martyred for this belief.

The question then becomes, where did this faith come from? How did the early Christians get this strong faith in the resurrection of Jesus? How did then come to believe this? It did not come from contemporary Judaism. One could say that the early Christians must have been very gullible but, as we have seen, this was not the case. Some of them were very skeptical (Thomas) and slow to believe the message (Apostles).

3. People claimed to see Jesus after he died.

This is a fact which no critic can deny. The earliest Christians had experiences which they believed were literal appearances of the resurrected Christ. This is the primary proof of the resurrection in the NT. What convinced the early Christians was NOT the empty tomb. What convinced them were the appearances.

9) What do we know about the many post-appearances of Jesus?

There are several things that are unusual about these appearances of Jesus.

Eleven Facts about the Appearances of Jesus

1. They occurred eleven times.

There are eleven appearances of Jesus after his resurrection in the NT. The appearances were as follows: 1. Mary (Mark 16:9; John 20:10-18). 2. The women (Matthew 28:8-10).  3. Peter (I Corinthians 15:5).  4. The two disciples (Luke 24:13-35).  5. The ten apostles (24:36-49; John 20:19-23). 6. The eleven apostles (John 20:24-39). 7. The seven apostles (John 21).  8. The Twelve Apostles (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-18).  9. Five hundred Christians (I Corinthians 15;6). 10. James (I Corinthians 15:7; John 7:3; Acts 1:14). 11. The Twelve Apostles (Acts 1:4-8; Luke 24:50-53).  One of these appearances was specifically directed to a member of his own family, James (his brother or half-brother).

2. They lasted people over a month.

They took place over a forty day period, according to Acts 1:3

3. They took place at appeared at different times of the day (at night with the doors locked in John 20 and early in the morning on Easter Sunday).

4. They took place several times on one day.

Five of those eleven appearances of Jesus took place on the same day (Easter Sunday).

5. They took place in different geographic locations.

They took place in Jerusalem and eighty miles to the north in Galilee.

6. They occurred to both men and women.

He appeared to the women first.  Mark 16:9 says that Mary Magdalene was the first one to see the resurrected Christ.  He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, not to John or Peter or any of the other apostles.

7. They occurred to some people more than once. He appeared to Peter five or six times.

8. They occurred to both individuals and groups.

Jesus appeared to both large groups and small groups of people.  He appeared to a group of five hundred people at one time (I Corinthians 15:6).

9. They occurred to both unbelievers as well as to believers.

Most think that Jesus only appeared to believers.  They think that he only appeared to his followers.  That is not true.  We know that he at least appeared to two complete unbelievers and to one skeptic.  Paul was an unbeliever when he appeared to him and so was his brother James (I Corinthians 15:7).

We know that because none of his siblings became believers until after the resurrection (John 7:5; Acts 1:14).   Thomas was a believer.  He was an apostle but he was an unbeliever when it came to the resurrection of Jesus, even though he had the testimony of many people.  He told his friends that he refused to believe until he confirmed it himself (John 2

10. They occurred to both enemies as well as to his friends.

Jesus did not just appear to his friends. He also appeared to his greatest enemy.  Saul was the greatest enemy of the early Christians.  He made it his life mission was to destroy Christianity.  He traveled to other cities to arrest Christians and Jesus appeared to him and stopped him right in his tracks.

11) They were interactive.

Jesus did not just make appearances; he ate and drank with people. They saw him. They heard him. They touched him. They were not just visions.

10) Is there any value in giving arguments for the resurrection to unbelievers? 

Is it right to defend the Bible?  Is apologetics a waste of time?  It is right to try to convince people that the Bible is true?  I have heard many people say that the Bible needs to be preached, not defended.  It defends itself.  It stands on its own.  All you have to do is preach it.  It is a very common viewpoint.  I have heard many pastors say this.  It is simply not true.

The Bible calls Christians to defend their faith.  It tells us to do this.  I Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”.  Peter does not just say to tell people what you believe; he says that we are to give REASONS for what we believe.  He says that we are not just to tell people about the Christian hope but to tell the reason for the hope that is within us.

Peter says that when we are approached, we should have a reasonable defense for our faith.  We should be able to give rational arguments to an unbeliever why we believe what we believe.  We should be able to answer objections that he or she raises.

Jude 1:3 says, “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to CONTEND for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” 

What does it mean to contend for the faith? The NIV says “contend”.  The KJV says “contend earnestly” (contend really hard and put a lot of effort into it). The Greek word is έπάγονίζομαι.  Our word “agony” comes from this Greek word. NLT says “defend the faith” once entrusted to us.” TEV has “fight for the faith.”   These are commands in Greek.

Who is the command given to? Who is supposed to do this?  Not just the pastor.  The Book of Jude was not just written to the pastor.  It was written to all Christians.  Jude 1 says, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ”.

What are they to defend?  They are to defend “the faith” (the Christian faith that was “once for all delivered to the saints”), not the Methodist faith or the Baptist faith. There are many ways in which Christians differ on minor areas but there are some things that they are all agree on.  There are two extremes here.  Some do not take a stand about anything.  Others fight about everything.  They argue about doctrine, no matter how big or little.  Everything is a major doctrine to them.

Abraham’s Faith

Last time we were in Genesis, we looked at Genesis 14.  Kedorlaomer went to war against five kings who rebelled against him.  Lot was captured and Abraham was rescued.

That was an important chapter because it mentions a mysterious figure named Melchizedek, a person that most Christians are ignorant of today.  Melchizedek is important because he is a type of Christ.  Jesus has a ministry like Melchizedek.  Like Melchizedek, Jesus is both a priest and a king.

Why This Chapter Matters

Today, we also come to a very important chapter in the Book of Genesis.  It is very important for three reasons.

1. God speaks to Abraham

This is NOT the first time God spoke to Abraham.  God spoke to Abraham twice in Genesis 12 and once in Genesis 13.  We are not told that he spoke to Abraham in Genesis 14.  Abraham was at war but, when the war was over, God spoke to Abraham again.

Notice how it begins.  It begins with these words: “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abraham” (15:1). That is a phrase we see all through the Bible.  The word of the Lord comes to different people (usually prophets).

This is the first time we see that phrase.  In fact, He speaks to Abraham all through the chapter and it is not a monologue.  It is a dialogue.  It is interactive.

Abraham reacts to what God says and even asks Him two different questions and he answers it.  God spoke to Abraham in this chapter and he spoke to him in two different ways.

At the beginning of the chapter, God spoke to him in a vision (15:1).  Most of the time God speaks to us today, He speaks in our head.  We feel a strong urging by the Holy Spirit to do something.

God did not speak to Abraham that way.  He spoke to him in a vision. Abraham was awake at the time.  At the end of the chapter, God spoke to Abraham in a dream.  The text says that Abraham fell into a deep sleep (15:12) and God spoke to him in that condition as well.

Abraham has two concerns in this chapter.  He is worried that he will not have a son and he is worried that he will not inherit the Promised Land.  God addresses those concerns in this chapter.

2. Abraham gets saved

Genesis 15:6 says that “Abraham believed and it was counted to him for righteousness.”  This was the night that Abraham was justified.  I want to spend much of our time looking at that verse in detail.  That verse is very important theologically.

It is perhaps the most important verse in the OT.  The NT quotes it three times.  The Apostle Paul quotes it twice (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6) and James quotes it once (2:23).  How Abraham got saved is the same way that people get saved today.

3. God makes an important covenant with Abraham

I am not going to go into great detail on this section, since we already spent two weeks talking about the Abrahamic Covenant.  This chapter is important because it mentions the Abrahamic Covenant.  Genesis 15:18 says “On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram.”

You say, “Didn’t He already make a covenant with Abraham in chapter 12?”  No.  God made a promise to Abraham before and even repeated the promise several times but now the promise turns into a covenant and this covenant is still in effect today. God makes it official with a binding covenant.

God’s Message to Abraham

The word of the Lord comes to Abraham and what does He tell him?  Don’t fear. In the last chapter, Abraham just won a great military victory against incredible odds.  He was the underdog.

He went against four powerful kings and won.  He was a war hero.  He rescued his nephew and freed several nations from the grip of the evil Kedorlaomer and he was very popular.  He was on the top of the world.

Now we see a very different Abraham. This Abraham is afraid.  God would not say “Don’t fear” unless Abraham was afraid of something.  Abraham was afraid and God spoke to his fears.

Apparently, he was afraid some of these kings might try to come back.  Kings do not like to lose and be humiliated.  He just won a great military victory and now he is alone and he is vulnerable.  He may also have had some second thoughts about not taking the spoils of war.

He is emotionally drained.  He is depressed and he is discouraged but God says, “Don’t fear”. Genesis 15:1 is a call to conquer all fear.  Notice that God does not just say, “Don’t fear”.

He gives him a reason not to fear.  God says, ” I am your shield, your very great reward.”  God says, “I am your shield (protector).  I am also your (provider).”

God was not just the rewarder of Abraham, He was his reward.  There is a big difference.  In fact, God does not even say, “I am your reward”.  He says, “I am your VERY GREAT reward.”

That is not just God’s word to Abraham.  It is God’s word to us because this exhortation is repeated in Scripture.  It is repeated more than a hundred times in the Bible.  We are all afraid of something. When we were kids, we were afraid of the dark or spiders.

When we get older, we still have fears. We fear crime.  We fear rejection.  We fear losing our job, getting old, getting sick, getting cancer, getting heart disease, getting grey hair and not being able to retire.  We fear whose going to win the next election.  America might vote another moron in office.  God tells us NOT to fear.

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4)

I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.” (Psalm 3:6)

Notice Abraham’s response to what God said.  “Abram said, ‘Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.‘” (15:2-3 NIV)  Abraham heard what God said and raised an objection.

He says, “God, I hear you talking about being my very great reward but right now you are not coming through for me.  My wife and I had dreamed and prayed for a child.  We are both old.  You have even promised me a child but nothing has happened yet.  If this keeps up, my inheritance will not go to my son but to my servant.”

God didn’t rebuke Abraham for the question.  He answered it.  He said, “Your inheritance will not go to your servant but to your son, your literal son.  He will come from your own body.  He will have your own genes.” God confirmed his promise with a visual aid.  He took Abraham outside.

It was night time.  It was pitch black.  There were no street lights.  God told Abraham to look up in the sky and see the stars.   He told him to count stars (which is impossible to do).

He said, “Not only will you have a son, you will have so many descendants, you will not be able to count them all, any more than you can count all of those stars you see in the sky.”

Abraham’s Response

Now it gets very interesting, as we Abraham’s response to what God said.  The text says, “Abraham believed the Lord”.  He did not just believe in God; he believed God.  He took Him at His word.  He accepted what he said.

Even though it seemed impossible and would require a miracle, Abraham believed that he would have a son.  The minute he believed, the text says that God counted his faith as righteousness.  He was counted righteous in God’s eyes.

Genesis 15:6 is the most important verses in the OT.  It is one of the most amazing verses in the Bible. It tells us how sinners can get in a right standing before God and it is found in the OT.  “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

There are three key words in the verse – “believed,” “credited” and “righteousness.”  What do we learn from this verse?  This verse tells us three very important things about salvation.

Abraham’s Salvation

1. Abraham lacked righteousness before God

Abraham had a problem.  He stood before a holy God as unrighteous, not righteous.  If he was righteous, God would not need to credit righteousness to his account.

That would not have been necessary but Abraham was not righteous.  He was a sinner.  We have already seen that he had a problem with honesty.  He was a liar.  The Bible says that “there is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10).

Many think that is just a NT teaching.  That is not true.  Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.”  But we have a problem.  Many people in the Bible are said to be righteous.  They are called righteous.

Noah was called a righteous man.  “This is the account of Noah. NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9).

The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, BECAUSE I HAVE FOUND YOU RIGHTEOUS in this generation.” (Genesis 7:1)

Jesus called Abel righteous.  He said, “And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from THE BLOOD OF RIGHTEOUS ABEL to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” (Matthew 23:35).

When Mary became pregnant with the baby Jesus, we are told that “Joseph her husband WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1:19).  There are many other examples in the Bible.

So who is right?  Are people righteous or are they not righteous?  Is this a contradiction?  No. They are talking about two completely different things.  One refers to someone who is righteous in an ABSOLUTE SENSE and one refers to someone who is righteous in a RELATIVE SENSE.

In one sense, there are righteous people in the world today.  Compared to other people, there are many righteous people on earth.  Remember, Noah was said to be righteous IN HIS GENERATION (compared to the people of his day).  In another sense, there are no completely righteous people in the sense of sinless.

That is the point that Paul makes in Romans 3.  When he says there are none righteous, his point is that all are sinners, Jews and Gentile.  We all stand guilty before God.  That was the point that Solomon made in Ecclesiastes 7:20.  As he puts it, there is no one on earth who does what is right and NEVER sins.

2. Abraham obtained righteousness by faith.

Genesis 15:6 says that Abraham was counted righteous BY BELIEVING.  He was NOT counted righteous by doing anything.  He was not saved by works.  Now Abraham had done a lot of good things in his day.  He risked his life rescuing his nephew from four evil kings.  He acted as a peacemaker when he settled a family dispute.

He refused to take any of the spoils of war for himself.  He let Lot choose first when they picked where to live.  That was unselfish on his part.  He tithed ten percent of the spoils to Melchizedek.

All of those things happened before Genesis 15:6 but none of those good deeds saved him.  None of them made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes.  God still viewed him as a sinner.  Abraham didn’t earn this righteousness.  He became righteous by faith and not by works.

“If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” (4:2-5)

The Pharisees believed that you had keep the law and be circumcised to be saved.  Paul points out in Romans 4:9-12 that this was NOT how Abraham, the first Jew, was saved.

He didn’t keep the law, which had not even been given yet.  He did not get saved by being circumcised either.  Paul points out that Abraham got saved in Genesis 15.  He got circumcised in Genesis 17.  That happened fifteen years later.

Many think that people in the OT were saved one way and people in the NT were saved another way.  They think that salvation was by works in the OT but that salvation is by grace in the NT.  That is a myth.  This passage shows us how people were saved in the OT.

Abraham was saved by faith and we are saved by grace through faith.  Abraham became righteous by faith, the same way we become righteous.  The way that he was saved is the same way that people are saved today.

What happened to Abraham can happen to people today.  In fact, Paul said that Gentiles today can be saved the same way Abraham was saved.

So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham ‘believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:5-9 NIV)

The same thing can happen to people today.  They can get the same righteousness that Abraham received when they believe.  Now Abraham’s faith was a little different than our faith.

Abraham did NOT believe in the Virgin Birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection of Jesus.  He believed that he would have a son and that faith saved him.  The content of his faith was a little different but the principle is the same.

3. The righteousness involved was imputed righteousness.

How did Abraham become righteous, according to our text?  God credited it to his account.  Abraham was not righteous but God counted him as righteous.  He considered or credited him righteous, even though he wasn’t righteous.

The word “credited” is an accounting term.  It is like a banking term.  You are overdrawn in your account and then you receive a credit.  Righteousness was put to Abraham’s account.  it was imputed to Abraham.

This is a very important biblical doctrine. There are three imputations mentioned in Scripture.  One, Adam’s sin was imputed to the entire race.  He was the federal head of the race.

When he sinned, we sinned.  He represented the entire race.  Two, our sin was imputed to Christ.  When Jesus died on the cross, our sin was placed on him and he died suffering the penalty for our sin in our place.

Three, when we believe, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to out account.  We are not just forgiven of our sins.  His righteousness is put to our account.  We become as righteous as Christ.

This is the first mention of the doctrine of justification in the Bible.  II Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 3:21-26 says, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given THORUGH FAITH in Jesus Christ TO ALL WHO BELIEVE. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—TO BE RECEIVED BY FAITH. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH IN JESUS” (NIV). 

 The Abrahamic Covenant

God made Abraham a promise but now He makes a covenant with him.  He makes it legal with a strange ceremony.  When we make an agreement today, we shake hands or have some lawyers draw up some papers and we sign on the dotted line.

That is not what they did in the ancient world. The Semitic way of making a covenant involved killing animals, slicing up the animal parts and separating the parts and putting them on two different sides.

It also involved walking between the pieces of the animal and saying “This is what will happen to me if I do not keep my end of the covenant.  My body will be killed, cut open and eaten by birds”.

It involved an oath of self-cursing.  The strange thing about this covenant is that God was the only one who walked through the animal parts.  The smoking firepot and blazing torch went through the animal parts (15:17) but Abraham did not.  It shows that this covenant is unilateral.  It is one-sided.  It is unconditional.

Three New Predictions

In this chapter, we are told three new things about this covenant which God had not revealed to Abraham prior to this time.

1. The First Prediction

It will be a long time before Abraham’s descendants will begin to inherit the land (15:13). for a while.  He mentioned 400 years.  It was actually longer than that.  It was more like 430 years (cf. Exodus 12:40; Galatians 3:17) but four hundred years is a round number.

2. The Second Prediction

God told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved and mistreated (15:14).  We are not told here which country would enslave them but we later learn it was the Egyptians.  God said that he would punish that nation. That prediction came true when God sent the ten plagues on the Egyptians.

3. The Third Prediction

God told the precise geographic boundaries of the land would inhabit..  Today, Israel occupies a tiny little sliver of land in the Middle East.  God promised them the land that was occupied by ten countries in Abraham’s day.  The boundaries of this promise cover the whole Middle East.  It covers part of Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

 

Abraham at War

We have been doing an in-depth study of the Book of Genesis and we come today to Genesis 14.  It is an important chapter in the Bible.  It may not seem like it the first time you read it but we will learn some important things about Jesus in this chapter.  Abraham faces an important test and temptation in this chapter.  He passes both of them.

Firsts in Genesis 14

Genesis is a book of beginnings.  It is a book of firsts.  We see six firsts in this chapter of Genesis.

1. The First Hebrew (14:13)

2. The First Tithe (14:20)

3. The First Priest (14:18)

4. The First Oath (14:22)

5. The First War (14:1-16)

6. The First POWs (14:12)

Genesis 14 describes war in the Middle East.  War is common in our world today (especially in the Middle East) but this chapter gives us the first recorded battle in Scripture. This is the first war in the Bible.  It is the first mention of armies in the Bible. The chapter describes armies, treaties, an international coalition, military alliances, a rebellion, a military battle between nations.

It is not a battle of one nation against another nation but a group of nations fighting another coalition of nations. This chapter describes a conflict between the kings of the west against the kings of the east.  Some of these kings have some funny names.  This first war in the Bible affected believers.  Lot was taken captive.

There are two different names for this battle.  It is called the Battle of Siddim because of where it took place.  It took place in the Valley of Siddim (14:8).  The Valley of Siddim is right next to the Dead Sea (14:8).

Genesis 14 does not call it the Dead Sea.  It calls it by its old name, “the Salt Sea” (14:3).  It is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world with a 34% salinity rate which enables people to easily float in the water.  We are told that this valley was full of tar pits (14:10) and apparently still is.

It is also called the War of the Nine Kings, because there were nine kings who fought.  It is a battle of four kings against five.  Four kings of Mesopotamia went against five kings of Plain of the Jordan.  The four kings won.  The five kings lost.

Some of the kings were driven into the slime pits and everyone else escaped to the mountains (14:10). Some have called it War of the Ten Kings because there is a tenth king (Melchizedek) mentioned in the chapter but he did not do any fighting.

Background to the Conflict 

Why were they fighting?  Here we need a little historical background.  There are actually three wars in the first sixteen verses of the chapter.  It all begins with a man named Kedorlaomer.  Kedorlaomer was the King of Elam.  Elam is east of Babylonia.  It was Persia in modern day Iran.

Apparently, Kedorlaomer was the Napoleon of his time.  He was allied with three other Mesopotamian kings (Amraphel, Arioch and Tidal). Kedorlaomer was the leader of this four king confederacy.  They swept through the Jordan Valley and began conquering lands.

That was the first military conflict. They started to control Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding territories (Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar).  He said, “If you keep sending me money, I will not bother you.” For twelve years, the whole area paid the Elamites the tribute money.

They imposed heavy taxes on everybody for twelve years.  In the thirteenth year, the people rebelled.  They said, “We are not paying you any more money.  No more tribute”.  That led to an invasion and a battle against the five kings who rebelled.  That led to an invasion by Kedorlaomer.  That was the second military conflict in this chapter.

The five kings lost.  The result of the battle was devastation.  People were killed.  Families were ripped apart.  Atrocities took place.  Property was taken.  Prisoners of war were taken (both men and women).

Innocent people suffered.  Lot was one of them.  We can criticize Lot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time but what happened to Lot really could happen to anyone.

Abraham would not have known what had happened to his nephew had not someone escaped and told him what happened (14:13).  How did this person know to go to Abraham?  He may have been one of Lot’s men.

Abraham’s Test

When Abraham got the news of what was happening, he had a decision to make.  That decision involved a test of Abraham. This is the third test that Abraham encountered once he entered the Promised Land.  His first test was famine.  God called him into the Promise Land.

He led him there but now a famine is devastating the land.  Will he trust God in the famine?  Abraham failed that test.  He went to Egypt.  It is easy to criticize Abraham but honestly can we say that we would do any better.

His second test was a family feud.  Some families argue over silly things.  What his family argued about was a real problem.  They had so many animals and limited resources to take care of them.

Abraham solved that problem by being the peacemaker.  Instead of trying to be right, he did what he could to smooth over the situation.  He told them that they should not fight but divide up the land.  Abraham even let lot pick first.  He gave us all the perfect example of how to settle disputes and how to resolve conflict.

His third test was bitterness.  Abraham had every right to be angry with Lot.  He took advantage of his uncle.  He gave him the first choice and he picked the best land for himself.  He didn’t even ask what Abraham though of his choice.  Abraham probably felt cheated.

Abraham took him in after his dad died and took care of him all of this time and he rewarded him by cheating him.  Lot is in trouble right now.  He is a slave.  He is a POW but someone escaped to tell him what happened.  Will Abraham forgive his nephew or hold a grudge?

Abraham could have responded several ways to Lot’s problem.  He could have responded with indifference and apathy.  He could have said, “Lot is in trouble right now.  So what?  He had his problems and I have mine.

He’s an adult.  He can take care of himself.  I will pray for him.  I am sure that God will help him.”   That is similar to what James says.  Telling someone to be warmed and filled without actually helping them.

He could have also responded with bitterness.  He could have said, “He is getting what he deserves for being selfish.  He is finally getting what’s coming to him.  It serves him right.  Lot chose to live in Sodom.  He got himself into this mess.  He has only himself to blame.  He made his bed.  Now he has to lie in it.”

That was not Abraham’s response.  He felt sorry for his nephew and wanted to help him.  Abraham acts the opposite of Cain.  Cain said that he was not Abel’s keeper.  Abraham believes that he is his brother’s keeper.  His brother was taken captive and he felt it was his duty to rescue him.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”

This chapter gives us a very different side to Abraham.  The Abraham is not pictured here a man of faith but as a man of the sword.  Abraham becomes a soldier and a general.

As one man put it, “Abraham was not just a quiet man who sat under a tree and read his Bible.” Here he enters the political area and attacks kings.  He has an army.  He even goes to war.  He is not just a man of God.  He is a man of war.  He is not just a saint; he is a soldier.

In the last chapter, Abraham was a man of peace.  He was a peacemaker, settling disputes between herdsmen.  The Abraham in this chapter is a man of war.  He is a warrior.  That is a little rare.  Abraham usually lived in peace with his neighbors.  He usually did not fight but that is what he is doing here.  His decision to rescue Lot tells us several things about Abraham.

Abraham’s Character Traits Revealed

1) He was a man of compassion

Whatever Lot had done in the past seems to be all forgotten and forgiven.  He showed no sign of animosity or bitterness.  He wasn’t vindictive.  Instead of resentment, what we see is compassion.  He shows mercy and grace to the undeserved.  Abraham does not just help out Lot who cheated him, he helps out the wicked Sodomites.  They also did not deserve to be helped.

Proverbs 24:10-12 says, “If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength! Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it?  Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?” (NIV).  That is what Abraham did.  He rescued those who were being led away to death.

2) He was a man of courage.

Abraham risked his life to save Lot.  He could have been killed.  Many of his servants could be killed.  This was a risky operation.  In Egypt, he acted like a complete coward.  He gave his wife away to save his own skin.  Here he risks his own life to save his nephew.

He had 318 trained men but he was going up against four powerful armies who had just defeated five kings not once but twice.  He was clearly outnumbered.  He attacked a larger army.  That showed incredible courage.  This was David going against Goliath.

3) He was a man in charge.

Abraham was a good leader.  Apparently, he had some good leadership skills.  He organized an army to rescue Lot.  Abraham faced a crisis.  It was unplanned.  It was sudden.  Abraham showed incredible wisdom in how he dealt with this crisis.  We could learn from his example.

Lessons in Crisis Management 

1. Act quickly

Abraham acted quickly.  This was a crisis.  His nephew Lot was in trouble.  He was in danger.  Abraham did not just pray for Lot.  He was not passive.  He took action.  He acted quickly and decisively.  He didn’t waste any time.  Some do not deal with a crisis or are very slow in dealing with one.  There is no rush.  They are not in a hurry.  It is a crisis.  It was an emergency.  You have to act quickly in a crisis.

2. Have a clear objective.

Abraham had a clear objective.  God gave him the victory but Abraham had a plan.  He did not go after these four kings without a plan.  Abraham’s plan had two main goals.  The first goal was to rescue Lot.  The second goal was to defeat the enemy.  If the enemy is not taken out or removed, they will just come right back.

Genesis 14:15 says, that Abraham pursued them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.  Abraham went north to Dan to attack these men but then he chased them for over one hundred miles.  He did not simply attack them, he drove them completely out of the country.

3. Use strategy.

Abraham used strategy.  He was a military genius.  He used military strategy.  What strategy did he use?  He also used the element of surprise.  He attacked at night when they were not expecting (14:15).  He attacked them quickly.  It was not a long prolonged battle but a lightening raid. He also divided his forced into several parts.  They enemy was attacked in several places at once in the dark.

4. Don’t try to do it alone.

Abraham sought help.  He organized a coalition.  Abraham had some military allies.  He gets some Amorite allies to join him in his battle against these kings.  Their names were Aner, Mamre and Eshkol (14:13).  They probably had their own soldiers as well.  Why did they want to help Abraham?  Kedorlaomer conquered the whole area of the Amorites as well (14:5-7).

In addition, Abraham had 318 of his own men, which shows how incredibly wealthy Abraham was.  He may have been one of the wealthiest men in the world at that time.

He had trained 318 servants and these may not have been all of his servants.  This is interesting for several reasons.  One, this was a huge number of servants to have.  That is a big payroll to meet but these servants were special.

Two, these were not ordinary servants.  These servants had special training. They had weapons and they knew how to use them. They were trained to fight.

Why did he have 318 trained servants?  He prepared for something like this to happen.  He was ready.  He was prepared for war.  God promised to protect him but that did not stop him from having weapons.

Abraham’s Temptation 

Abraham is victorious in battle.  He defeats a larger invading army.  He kicked Kedorlaomer out of the country.  Abraham became instantly famous. Everybody loved him and he is greeted on the way back by two kings: the king of Sodom and the king of Salem.  The question is this:  What should Abraham do with the spoils?

Abraham had three options.  He could keep all of the spoils.  Abraham won the victory and to the victor belongs the spoils, as the proverb goes.  He had the right to keep it all.

Another option is to keep some of the spoils.  That is what the king of Sodom suggested he do.  The king of Sodom asked him for the people back.  “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself” (14:21).

A third option is to keep none of the spoils.  That is what he chose to do.  In fact, that is what Abraham swore to God he would do.  He made God a promise and he kept it. Abraham said, that “I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’”

He said that he would not take a penny from you for myself. He didn’t want to take anything from the wicked Sodomites for himself, although he could not speak for the men who came with him (14:24).

He took some things from Pharaoh in Egypt but now he has learned his lesson.  He doesn’t want anything from the Sodomites.  Abraham did not go to war to enrich himself.  He was the exact opposite of Lot, who was greedy and selfish.  Abraham did not go to war out of selfish motives.  He did it to rescue Lot.

Abraham was superior to the king of Sodom.  That king had to ask him to give him his people back but Abraham was met by another king on the way back named Melchizedek.  He did not ask Abraham for anything but blessed him instead and offered him bread and wine.

Abraham was superior to the king of Sodom but inferior to the king of Salem.  He did not stand before him as an equal.  He paid tithes to him.  The NT says that king of Salem was superior to Abraham.  It says, “And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater” (Hebrews 7:7).  Melchizedek blessed Abraham.  We are told that in Genesis 14:19.

Who was Melchizedek? 

Melchizedek is one of the most mysterious figures of the OT.  Most Christians today have no idea who he was.  Few people read the Old Testament. This is advanced teaching from the Word of God.  Hebrews 5:8-14 says

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him  and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (NIV).

Who was Melchizedek?  We don’t know a whole lot about him.  Genesis only gives us three verses on him in this chapter and does not mention him again in the rest of the book.  He is not mentioned in any of the other historical books of the OT.

We do not even know his real name.   Melchizedek may have been a title.  It means literally “king of righteousness” in Hebrew.  It means “righteous king”.  It is a combination of two Hebrew words: melek (king) and zedek (righteousness).

Some believe Melchizedek was Jesus.  They believe this was a theophany but, according to Hebrews, Melchizedek is not Jesus but resembles Jesus (Hebrews 7:3).

That passages says that he is LIKE the Son of God.  It does NOT say that he is the Son of God.  In the same way, Jesus is a priest after the order of or in the likeness of Melchizedek which also implies two separate persons.

What do we know about Melchizedek from Genesis 14?  We do know five things about Melchizedek.

1) Melchizedek was a king in Abraham’s day.

2) He ruled in Jerusalem.

Salem is the old word for Jerusalem.  It is the abbreviated form of Jerusalem (cf. Psalm 76:2).

3) He worshipped the true God.

He is called a “priest of God Most High” (14:18).  He gave God credit for Abraham’s victory over Kedorlaomer (14:20).

4) He was not Jewish.

As far as we know, he was a non-Israelite.  He was not called a Hebrew. like Abraham was (14:13).

5) He was a priest (14:18)

He was a priest but not a Jewish, Levitical priest.  Levi was not even born yet.  As priest, he offered a blessing.  He blessed Abram and Abram’s God.

Why is Melchizedek important today?  He was a type of Christ.  The Bible says that Jesus is just like him.

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

How is Jesus like Melchizedek?  He has a ministry like Melchizedek.  He has a priesthood like Melchizedek.  How?  In the OT, there was a separation of church and state.

To be a priest, you had to born from one tribe (Levi).  To be a king, you had to be born from another tribe (Judah).  No priest could ever be king and no king could ever be priest.

Jesus is both a priest and a king.  He is our High Priest.  He is also a Davidic King.  In fact, he is the King of Kings.  His ministry was like Melchizedek.

Melchizedek is called a priest and king.  He was the King of Salem and priest of the Most High God (14:18).  He was a political leader and a religious leader.

Jesus is a Melchizedekian Priest.  He is our priest FOREVER (Hebrews 6:20; 7:24).  He is not an Aaronic priest or a Levitical priest.  He was born in the wrong family and tribe.

You have to be born in the tribe and Levi and be from the family of Aaron to be a Levitical priest.  Jesus was from the tribe of Judah and the line of David.

Abraham accepted the food and gave tithes to Melchizedek.  It is the first time in the tithes are mentioned in Scripture.  This is the first biblical tithe.  We are not told that Adam or Eve tithed or that Noah did any tithing but Abraham here does some tithing.  It is the only time we are told that Abraham did any tithing.

What did he tithe?  He tithed the spoils of war.  The victor became a giver. He did not tithe his entire wealth or everything he owned to Melchizedek.  He just gave him a tenth of the spoils of war.

Why did he do it?  He did it because he wanted to.  It was his way of giving back to God, since Melchizedek was a priest of God, he was God’s representative.  Abraham offered the gift to God in the person of Melchizedek.

It was completely voluntary.  There was no command to tithe.  That came four hundred years later in the Law of Moses.  Tithing in the Law was not voluntary.  It was mandatory.


 

Overcoming Failure

Last week, we looked at the last ten verses of Genesis 12. Before we look at Genesis 13, I need to do a little review.  Abraham was called by God in Ur and he started out great.  He left Ur in faith and travelled all the way to the Land of Canaan but when he got to Canaan, he did not exercise much faith.  When a famine came, he panicked and left the Land of Canaan and went to Egypt and when he left, he lied.

He lied to save his own life.  He did not give up his own life to save his wife.  He sacrificed his wife to save himself.  Out of fear, he gave Sarah to be Pharaoh’s wife but God sent plagues on Pharaoh’s house.

He judged Pharaoh for what he did.  He was committing adultery.  Even though it was a sin of ignorance, God still judged him for it.  He was faithful to the Abrahamic Covenant, even when Abraham was unfaithful.

Abraham is our spiritual father but in that chapter we see that he was a flawed father.  This was a low point in the life of Abraham.  He leaves the Promised Land, lies to a king and gives his wife away and gets rebuked by the world for his dishonesty.

How much lower can you get?  He was completely humiliated. He’s out of the will of God.  God called him to the Promised Land and he’s living in sin.  It is a depressing chapter.  That is why we need Genesis 13.

Genesis 13 teaches a very important lesson.  Believers can do some really stupid things.  This chapter shows that they can also be restored.

Many think that if they fall out of the will of God and fall into some sin that it is over.  They have ruined their testimony.  They feel bad about themselves.  They feel paralyzed by what they have done.  Genesis 13 is proof that you can be restored.

Donald Grey Barnhouse said, “We often go down into Egypt and God always waits for us to return.” He creates difficulties for us in Egypt so that we will want to return to Him.

There are many examples in the Bible of people who sinned but were restored by God to service.  Who are some people in the Bible who fell but were restored?  Let me give you three examples.

One example is Peter.  Peter denied Christ.  He said that he didn’t know Jesus, even though he had spent the last three years living with him,  following him, hearing his teaching and witnessing his miracles.  When Jesus was arrested, Peter did not just deny him, he denied him publicly.  He denied him repeatedly.  He did it three times.

He denied him vigorously.  He did so with an oath and all this is after saying that he would never ever deny Jesus, even if everyone else did.  It would seem like Peter was done with Jesus and Jesus was done with Peter but that is not the end of the story.

The Bible says that Peter went out and wept bitterly.  He repented and was restored and God used him again.  He preached the first sermon in the early church which led to the salvation of three thousand people.

Another example is Moses.  Moses was the child of a Hebrew slave who was discovered floating in the Nile River by the daughter of Pharaoh himself.  She adopted and raised him.  He had a privileged upbringing but when he was older, he got into a little trouble.  He committed murder, became a wanted man and ran away. He became a fugitive from the law.

Moses went from the being an Egyptian prince and living in the royal palace to an obscure shepherd in a foreign country for forty years.  God wasn’t finished with Moses.  He still had important work that He wanted him to do.  He appeared to him at the burning bush and called him to free two million Jews out of Egyptian slavery.

A third example is Samson.  Samson was called by God to fight the Philistines.  He was such an important individual than an angel appeared to his parents before he was born but Samson had a great fall.  He had a woman problem.

Finally his Nazarite vow was broken, his hair was cut, he lost his strength and he was captured, his eyes were gouged out and he became a slave.  Samson blew it.  It looks like his days of doing anything for God are over but Samson prays and God used him one more time.

His hair grew back, he knocked over the pillars of the temple, killing everyone.  He killed more by his death than by his life.  There are many other examples in the Bible of people that God used despite failure (David, Jonah, Elijah, John Mark).  The Bible says, “A righteous man falls seven times and gets back up” (Proverbs 24:16).

So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord. (13:1-4)

In Genesis 13, Abraham is restored to fellowship with God.  Abraham repents and is restored.  The definition of repentance is a chance of mind.  It means to turn around.  Abraham does the exact opposite.  Instead of leaving Canaan, he goes back to Canaan.  Instead of going to Egypt, he is leaving it.

Of course, he had to be kicked out of the country to leave.  He was deported but he does return to the Land of Canaan and repents and heads back to the house of God.  He returns to Bethel.  Bethel means “house of God”.  Bethel is close to Jerusalem.  It is ten miles north of Jerusalem.  There we are told that “Abraham called on the name of the Lord”.

He goes back to the altar he built and worships God. We are not told that he did any worshiping in Egypt.  He did not build any altars in Egypt. An altar was a place of worship.  It was a place of fellowship.  It was also a place of sacrifice.  An altar is where animals were sacrificed.  It is a raised place of sacrifice, death and substitution.  An altar suggests sin.

Abraham offers a sacrifice and is restored to God and is restored to his wife.   That is the solution anytime we sin to go back to where we were.  We see the same thing in Revelation 2:4-5.  “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (NIV)

We can learn some lessons from what Abraham did here.  It is almost like a completely different person.  What are some ways that Abraham behaves radically differently in this chapter?

A New Abraham 

  • Abraham blesses others in this chapter.

He settles a dispute peacefully.  Here, we see him settling a dispute.  He becomes a peacemaker.  Abraham solves the problem of the shepherds arguing about grazing rights.  In the last chapter, he created a problem by lying. Pharaoh’s house was cursed because of Abraham.  They all got sick because of him.

  • Abraham is completely unselfish.

He thought of the needs of others.  He was generous.  That was his strength.  We saw his weakness last chapter (dishonesty).  Now we see his strength.  He was willing to divide up the land to make peace.  One went east and the other went west.  One took Sodom and the other took Canaan.  In fact, he let Lot pick first and said, “You take what you want.  I will take what is left”.  In this chapter, he put Lot’s needs above his own.

In the last chapter, Abraham looked out for himself.  He was selfish.  He put his own needs above his wife’s needs.  Apparently he learned a very important lesson in Egypt.  He was done scheming.  He let God choose for him. He put his faith in the sovereignty of God.  It paid off in the end.

  • Abraham gives up his possessions.

He gives up some of his inheritance.  He lets his nephew Lot take land that God promised him.  In the last chapter, he gets more possessions.  The Pharaoh gave him sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and servants (male and female).  Here he is giving some of it away.

  • Abraham operates by faith.

In the last chapter, he lived by sight and not by faith.  He responded to the famine and the Egyptians.  Instead of trusting, he was scheming.  He tried to control everything.  In this chapter, he lets God choose for him.  Lot chose for himself.  trust in the sovereignty of God.

  • Abraham is in the will of God.

In the last chapter, he is out of the land and out of the will of God.  Here we see the exact opposite.

 A New Problem 

In the last chapter, Abraham had a big problem.  There was a famine in the land, a severe famine.  In this chapter, Abraham has another problem, a different type of problem, and he deals with this problem the right way.  What was his problem in this chapter?  It was not famine but strife, an argument, a disagreement.

It sounds like some of the same type of fights that take place in the local church.  This was not just a fight, it was a family fight.  You have uncle and nephew arguing.  Family fights are often the worse kinds of fights.  This fight caused a family split.  What were they arguing about?  They were arguing about pasture land and animals. What was the cause of the problem?

“So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold…. Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.”  (13:1-2, 5-7 NIV)

This is very interesting.  This is the first time we see the word “rich” in the Bible.  It is the first time in Scripture that we see people distinguished by their economic status (rich or poor).  What do we learn about wealth from this passage?  This passage challenges some of the assumptions that many have about wealth.  I may say some controversial things here.

Lessons on Money

1. Believers can be wealthy.

The first time the Bible mentions someone with a lot of money, it is a believer.  It is a follower of Lord.  Being rich is not a sin.  The Bible does not condemn wealth.  It does not say the money is the root of all evil.  It says that “the love of money” is the root of all evil (I Timothy 6:10).

The is one of the most misquotes verses in the Bible.  God blesses people with wealth.  Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it” (NIV). David said “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things” (I Chronicles 29:12).

2. Wealth is not always God’s will

How did Abraham get very rich?  He gave his wife to Pharaoh.  Was that God’s will?  No. Some think if you are poor you are out of the will of God and if you are rich you are in the will of God. Abraham was in the will of God in the famine and he was struggling. In Egypt, he got very rich and was out of the will of God.

I Samuel 2 says, “The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor” (2:6-8).

We know God sends wealth but did you know that he also sends poverty?  That’s strange.  It is not always a judgment.  Abraham was in the will of God when the famine came.  He was not living in sin.  God allows both things in our life.  We should be able to live in both situations.

Paul said, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV)

3. Wealth is a mixed blessing.

Why were they arguing?  They were both wealthy.  Lot was wealthy and Abraham was wealthy.  Abraham came back from Egypt VERY RICH (13:2).  The wealth he got in Egypt did not bring peace and contemned but strife.  It led to a big argument and a fight. It caused a problem.

It turned out not to be a blessing but a curse.  Wealth does not always solve problems. Sometimes it causes them.  Just ask any lottery winner.  Abraham and Lot had all of this wealth but it caused problems because of the limited resources.

It is a little ironic. Abraham left Canaan in the first place because there was a famine.  There were limited resources, so he went to Egypt.  The famine may have ended when he returned but he still had the same problem, because he returned filthy rich and that led to the shepherds arguing about which flocks could get to the well first.

What problems can wealth cause?  It can lead to pride.  When you have a lot of money you can have a tendency to look down on poor people like they are beneath you.  It also leads to self-sufficiency.  The man in the Church of Laodicea said, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’

That is why Jesus said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom (Matthew 19:23).  If you are rich and have all of your needs met, you may not think that you need God.  The OT teaches the same thing.

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” (Deuteronomy 8:10-18 NIV)

Case Study in Conflict Resolution

This chapter contains an interesting study in conflict resolution.  Conflicts abound and are inevitable. They are not limited to any class of people. What makes the difference, however, is how we handle them.  Abraham gives us a perfect example of how to handle them.

1. He dealt with the problem.

Many ignore problems and do not deal with them, hoping they will go away.  Abraham didn’t do that.  Abraham and Lot had a strained relationship.  He saw that there was a problem and did something to fix it.  Abraham becomes the adult in the situation.  He takes the initiate to solve the problem.  Some herdsmen were arguing, he did not go to them but to Lot to talk about the situation.

2. He was humble.

Abraham was humble, generous and unselfish.  Lot was Abraham’s nephew. He was the son of Abraham’s brother.  Abraham couldn’t have said, “We need to solve this problem by picking land but I should go first because I am older than you.  I am richer than you and I am the one that God spoke to and made a covenant with, not you.  He did not call you to Canaan,  He called me”  Abraham would have had every right to say that but he did not insist on his rights.

Abraham and Lot were polar opposites.  Abraham was generous and selfless, Lot was worldly and greedy.  Both represent believers but one represents a carnal, worldly Christian and one represent a spiritual Christian.  Lot was greedy and selfish. Abraham was generous and selfless.  There is a big contrast here between the unselfishness of Abraham and the selfishness of Lot.  Many have called this section “A Tale of Two Men.”

3. He was sacrificial.

Abraham was willing to give some things up. He let Lot pick first.  Lot looks up and picks the best land for himself.  He picks land that looks like the Garden of Eden.  It was well-watered just like Egypt.  They had just come back from Egypt.  He did not negotiate with Abraham or ask him if he wanted that land.  He saw it.  It looked like the best land, so he took it.

Why did Abraham do this?  He valued people over possessions.  He was more interested in keeping relationships whole than in getting the best deal.  Another reason that he may have done this is to have a good testimony.  Abraham just came out of Egypt where he had a terrible testimony with the Egyptians.

When he returns, we are told that the Canaanites and Perizzites were living in the land (13:6). He may not have wanted the pagans to see God’s people bickering and fighting.  How often does the world see Christians fighting.

Abraham’s solution to the problem was separation.  He went one way and Lot went somewhere else.  It is very good advice to this day in some churches.  When two believers have a legitimate difference and cannot resolve it, there comes a time when separation is needed to resolve the conflict peacefully.

That is what happened in Acts 15.  Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement.  One wanted to take John Mark with them on a mission trip and one refused to take John Mark on the trip.  They could not come to an agreement, so they had to separate.

A New Promise

It must have been hard for Lot to leave.  He was family.  They had a dispute and could not resolve it. Some hard words were spoken.  Once he left, Abraham was alone.  He may have had some second thoughts.  Abraham probably thought Lot got the best land.  He probably thought that his nephew took advantage of him and cheated him out of part of his inheritance.

God told Abraham not to worry.  He had not given anything away.  He reassured Abraham after Lot left (see 13:14) that the entire land north, south, east and west was his.  He gave him the title deed to it.  He told him to walk around the land and claim it as his.  God reaffirmed the Abrahamic Covenant but there are two new things that God revealed to Abraham in this chapter.

In the last chapter, God promised Abraham offspring.  He promised that a childless man would have children. He said “to your offspring I will give this land” (12:7).  In this chapter, he promised Abraham not just offspring but a large offspring.

He said, “I will make your offspring LIKE THE DUST OF THE EARTH, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted” (13:16).  In the last chapter, God promised to give the land to Abraham’s offspring.  Now, He promised to give it to Abraham as well.  He said, “All the land that you see I will give TO YOU and your offspring forever” (3:15).

Abraham’s Greatest Mistake

All of us have made mistakes in our life.  There are some things that we would do differently of we could do them over again.   The second part of this chapter tells us the biggest mistake in Abraham’s life.   What Abraham does in this chapter is shocking.  The pagan Egyptian king looks better in this chapter than Abraham does.  He has more integrity than Abraham does.

Instead of Abraham rebuking a pagan king for sin, a pagan king has to rebuke Abraham for sin.  That is a sure sign that you are out of the will of God when you have such a terrible testimony that the unsaved have to correct you and tell you to stop telling lies.

We are the ones who are supposed to be the light of the world and shine God’s light in a dark world.  Abraham’s reputation suffers a big blow in this chapter.  Abraham had to leave Egypt in disgrace.  He was deported.  Pharaoh could have killed Abraham.  Instead he just deported him.  Armed guards escort him out of the country.  That must have been embarrassing.

What Abraham does is shocking and what God does in this chapter is even more shocking. We learn some things about God in this chapter and we learn some things about man.  What do we learn about God?  We learn that God is faithful, even when man is unfaithful.  He keeps His promises, even when Abraham blew it and did some really stupid things.

God still fulfilled the Abrahamic Covenant.  He cursed those who cursed Abraham and blessed those who blessed Abraham.  He could have taken back all of the promises He made to Abraham and sent him back to Ur but He did not do that.  God is bigger than any mistake we make.

It is also tells us something about people.  It teaches we are all sinners. After we become believers, we do not stop sinning.  In fact, the Bible says that if we claim to be sinless, we are liars (I John 1:8).  Even godly, mature Christians are sinners and have weaknesses, faults and flaws.  You have them.  I have them.  Pastor Brian has them.

People in the Bible had them. Noah walked with God and was a preacher of righteousness.  On one occasion, he was also drunk and naked.  The same thing is true of Abraham.  Abraham was a great man of faith.  He is called the friend of God in the Bible.  He is the father of all who believe but Abraham was not perfect.  He had some flaws.  This chapter shows us his faith but it also shows us his flaws.

Abraham does not look good in this chapter.  He does some really stupid stuff.  The Bible does not hide his flaws.  I am glad that there are not any chapters of the Bible written about my flaws for everyone to read.  He started out great.  God appeared to Abraham.  He spoke to Abraham.

He made a covenant with Abraham and gave him a command.  He called him to leave everything he knew in Ur and travel to a place he had never been before hundreds of miles away.  Abraham did the right thing. Abraham obeyed.  He makes the long journey to the Land of Canaan, sets up camp there.

“So Abram departed AS THE LORD HAD INSTRUCTED HIM, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh” (12:4-6 NLT).

God rewarded his obedience.  He appeared to him a second time in Canaan (12:7).  He appeared to him in Ur and now he appears to him in Canaan.  Abraham responded with worship.  He builds an altar there to God (12:8).  It is the first of five altars that Abraham builds in his life, as we will see.

Everything is going great.  Abraham is obedient to God.  He is in the will of God.  He is blessed by God but then something happens.  Many start out great in the Christian life but they begin to stumble in their faith.  The same thing happened to Abraham.  In this chapter, he does two boneheaded things.  After finally getting to the Promise Land, he leaves it.  He doesn’t stay in the land long.  When famine comes, he leaves and when he leaves, he lies.

Both actions, as we will see, involved a lack of faith on Abraham’s part. It was a lack of faith to leave the Promise Land and it was a lack of faith to lie about his wife.  Abraham started out in faith.  He took a journey from Ur to Canaan out of faith but he didn’t exercise a lot of faith when he got there.  Abraham trusted God but he didn’t trust him in everything.  Abraham takes two steps backwards.  Let’s look at these two steps and see how it applies to us today.

Abraham’s First Mistake

Genesis 12:10 says, “Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

There is a lot of traveling in this chapter.  Abraham makes two long trips. There are two migrations in this chapter.  He makes a trip from Ur to Canaan and then he takes another trip from Canaan to Egypt.  Why does he go to Egypt?  There was a famine in the land and it was not just any ordinary famine, it was a severe famine.  That is what the text says.  This was serious.  There was a drought.  There was little water for the crops.  It was difficult to find food.  Abraham had a problem.  Before we look at how he dealt with the problem.  There are some very important lessons for all of us to see.

Lessons From the Famine 

1. Christians have some of the same problems as non-Christians.

Abraham, experienced a famine and so did everyone else who lived in the Land of Canaan.  We have the same problems other people have.  Christians have medical problems, just like non-Christians.  We have financial problems, like unbelievers.  We have marriage problems, car problems and in-law problems, like everyone else.  We live in a fallen world.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NIV).  He did NOT say, “In this world Christians will NOT have trouble.”  He said that they WILL HAVE trouble.  In this world, you will have some tragedy and pain in your life.  Trouble comes in many different forms.

What is even stranger is that Jesus said, in spite of this trouble, we should take courage and be of good cheer.  It is possible to overcome your problems.  Instead of being depressed by it, we can be happy in the midst of trouble.  Everyone experiences some trouble.  They are inevitable but we can face our problems with a good attitude.

2. Christians have additional problems that non-Christians do not have.

If you follow Christ and live a godly life, we will experience suffering.  “All who live godly in Christ will experience persecution” (II Timothy 3:12).  You want to live godly, you will suffer persecution.  You may not have your head chopped off but you be persecuted in some way.  Persecution can take many different forms.  It may just involve ridicule.

3. You can be right in the center of God’s will and experience trials.

Abraham was in the will of God.  He was in the place where God led him, told him to be and said he would bless him.  He was in the Promised Land and there was a famine, a famine in the Promised Land.  Difficulties and problems are not necessarily an indication that we are out of the will of God.  You can experience a severe famine and be right in the center of God’s will.  What is the lesson here?

All believers will have trials of some kind.  You can be right in the will of God and encounter some severe trials.  Many people think that if you are a Christian, you will not have any trials.  Some preachers even teach that.

They teach that you will never experience poverty, difficulty, sickness or suffering if you are in the will of God.  You will just live the victorious Christian life.  The Bible doesn’t teach that.  It teaches the opposite.  As someone pointed out, it was God’s will for John to be exiled, Paul to be jailed and Jesus to be executed. [1]

Abraham had a problem.  How did Abraham solve this problem?  What did he do?  He went to Egypt.  Food was plentiful in Egypt.  There was no famine there.  He didn’t plan to stay there forever, just until the famine was over.  It was a temporary solution to the problem.  “Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there FOR A WHILE because the famine was severe” (12:10 NLT).  It seemed to make sense.  What was the problem?

He had a problem but he did not trust that God could take care of him in his problem.  He didn’t think that God could provide for him.  He thought that God had forgotten him.  “I know God told me to go here and promised to bless me but my needs are not being met here, so I will go somewhere else just temporarily.”  He turned to the world to meet his need instead of God.

He also does not ask God what he should do in this situation.  Her does not go to God for help.  He went to Egypt instead.  There is no prayer.  He took matters into his own hands.  This was the first of many times in Genesis where Abraham does this.  Every time he does this, it only backfires.  He thought when he went to Egypt things would be better but it didn’t work.

It solved one of his problems.  He didn’t have a famine in Egypt. That problem was solved but then he had another problem.  C.H, Mackintosh wrote, “It is better to starve in Canaan, if it should so be, than to live in luxury in Egypt.  It is better to suffer in God’s path than to be at ease in Satan’s”[2]

This trip to Egypt helped Abraham financially.  He suffered financially from the famine and he went to Egypt to got rich.  Pharaoh gave him a lot of stuff. Genesis 12:16 says: “He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.”   Abraham benefited economically but there was a curse on all of these gifts.

In the very next chapter, a dispute breaks out over cattle.  They had too many possessions and it caused tension between Abraham and Lot.  One of the slaves that Pharaoh gave Abraham was Hagar.  Abraham has an affair with this slave later on in Genesis.  Had Abram trusted God, there would have been no Ishmael.  It would have been better to have the blessing of God than the blessing of Pharaoh.

Going to Egypt solved one problem but created a greater problem.  He had a physical famine in Canaan but he had a spiritual famine in Egypt.  He got food but lost his wife.  She married the Egyptian Pharaoh.  When he got into Egypt, he got in trouble.

Abraham should have asked God how to deal with the famine and what He wanted him to do.  Isaiah 31:1-2 says, “What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the Lord. “You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins. For WITHOUT CONSULTING ME, you have gone down to Egypt FOR HELP. You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection. You have tried to hide in his shade” (NLT).  That is exactly what Abraham did.  He went to Egypt for help without consulting God first.

Trials should lead us to prayer.  When we encounter a trial or circumstances that we do not understand and that is completely beyond our control, it should cause us to fall on our knees.  When we face something that we have no idea why God allows in our life, our reaction should be prayer.  That was Abraham’s first mistake.  When he arrives in Egypt, we see his second mistake.

Abraham’s Second Mistake 

His second mistake was to lie about his marital status and to lie about Sarah’s true identity.  His problem was deception and this problem got him in big trouble.  Noah had a problem with alcohol.  Abraham did not have a problem alcohol.  He did not have a problem with anger or lust.  He did not have a problem with greed.  He had a problem with dishonesty.  Abraham had a problem telling the truth and he wasn’t even a politician or a lawyer. Why did Abraham do this?  What was his motive?  He did it for two reasons.

One, his wife was extremely beautiful. This was a beauty to kill for.  Genesis 12:11-13 says, “As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai,I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.

She was sixty-five and beautiful.  That seems a little strange to us.  She was not just beautiful to Abraham.  Husbands are supposed to think that.  She was beautiful to the Egyptians (12:15).  People lived twice as long then as they do today.  Someone who was sixty-five then would be about thirty-five today.

Two, he was afraid.  He was not acting in faith.  He was acting in fear.  Instead of fearing God, he feared man, because he had this trophy wife.  If his wife was ugly, he would not have had this problem.  Because his wife was so hot, he was afraid of being killed and apparently his fear was based in fact because the Pharaoh said because of what he did his life would be spared (12:13).

Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the LORD means safety” (NLT). Abraham operated on the ends justifies the means philosophy.  If some good came out of lying, he was willing to do it.  He believed in situation ethics.  Morality is based on the situation, not based on moral absolutes.

What Abraham did here was not just a little white lie.  It wasn’t harmless.  It not only affected him, it affected his wife.  Abraham not only lied, he got his wife to lie for him.  He told Sarah that “when the Egyptians ask if you are my wife, just tell them that you are my sister” (12:12-13).  She does it.  She is obedience to her husband.

Was she right to do this?  No.  Biblical submission does not mean that a wife should follow her husband into sin.  Abraham causes his wife to be a liar.  In fact, he causes her to be an adulterer.  Sarah became abducted into Pharaoh’s harem.  She became one of his concubines and most likely was sexually assaulted.  Pharaoh says that he took her to be his wife (12:19).

Think about what Abraham did here.  It was a selfish and cowardly act on Abraham’s part.  He protected himself but let his wife get abducted into Pharaoh’s harem.  If Abraham was a real man, he would have sacrificed himself to save his wife.  Instead, he sacrifices his wife to save himself.  What kind of a husband would do this?  Abraham did it, not only once but twice.

Abraham’s character flaws not only hurt himself and his wife.  They eventually hurt his kids.  He did not have any kids at this point.  This behavior was not something that Abraham did one time.  He does it again in Genesis 20.  His son Isaac does the same thing in Genesis 26.  He follows his dad’s poor example.

Abraham’s lie hurt others outside his family.  The minute Sarah went to Pharaoh’s house, everyone in the house got sick.  God sent a plague on them but Sarah didn’t get sick.  Pharaoh’s whole house suffered because of Abraham’s lie.  Abraham was supposed to bring blessing to everyone.  Instead, he brought a curse to Pharaoh’s whole household.  Abraham was causing the Pharaoh to commit adultery.  it was a sin of ignorance but it was still a sin in God’s eyes.

It did not just affect Pharaoh.  It actually put the whole Abrahamic Covenant and all of God’s promises in jeopardy.  The Messiah was to come through Abraham and Sarah.  If Sarah married the Pharaoh, God’s plan is thwarted.  We would have to cancel Christmas and Easter.  Abraham’s lie was very serious.  That is why God supernaturally intervened in the situation.

Did Abraham Really Lie?

Abraham did not tell a bold faced-lie.  He did not tell a big lie but a little white lie.  It was actually a half-truth.  Abraham did not say, “I am not married”.  He did not say, “She is not my wife”.  That would be a big lie.

He just said, “She is my sister” which was true.  It seems strange to us today but was more acceptable in Abraham’s day than it is in our day.  You say even that was not completely true.  Sarah was only his half-sister.  That is true but the Bible does the same thing.  It calls Jesus brothers his brothers, even though they were only half-brothers.  Abraham told the truth.

He just did not tell the whole truth.  The problem was not what he said but what he did not say.  The problem was his motive.  His motive was to deceive.  That was his intent.  This little white lie got him into big trouble.  That is something that believers should not be involved in.  Deception is Satan’s job.  The Bible says that he deceived Eve (Genesis 3:13).  He deceives the nations (Revelation 20:8) and he deceives the world (Revelation 12:9).   The question is this: Are we like Abraham?  Do we have a similar problem with dishonesty?

Deceit is when we deceive someone by misrepresenting the truth.  The Bible has a lot to say about this topic.  The unsaved are “full of deceit” (Romans 1:29).  It comes out of a sinful heart (Mark 7:21-23).  The Bible commands believers NOT to use deceit.  Proverbs 24:28 says, “Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips” (ESV).

Psalm 34:13 says, “Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit” (NASB).  The NET Bible reads, “Then make sure you don’t speak evil words or use deceptive speech!”  The question is, Are you like Abraham?  Do you have a problem with honesty and telling the truth?  Psalm 32:2 says, “Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit” (NIV).  We need to be like Jesus.  No deceit was in his mouth (Isaiah 53:9). Christians should have a reputation for honesty (Revelation 14:5).

 


[1] https://www.kevinathompson.com/dangerous-assumption-gods-will/

[2] C.H. Macintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch, 64-65.

The Abrahamic Covenant

Last week, we looked at nine incredible promises that God gave to Abraham. Some of these promises were personal.  God promised to make Abraham’s name great.  He promised that Abraham would have many descendants.  Some of the promises were national.  They involved the promise of a great nation, a land in the Middle East and the promise of kings which would come out of that nation.

Some of the promises were universal.  God promised that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed, not just Jews but all of the families of the earth.  The goal of these promises was not just to benefit Abraham or his descendants but to benefit the whole world.  Some of the promises were fulfilled by Abraham.  Some of them were fulfilled by Israel and some of the promises were fulfilled by Gentiles.

These promises make up the Abrahamic Covenant, the second covenant in the Bible.  It is also one of the most important covenants in the Bible.  You cannot understand biblical prophecy if you do not understand this covenant and many Christians do not understand it.  We saw that last week.  Some Christians have some strange ideas about this covenant, like the idea that it guarantees all Christians to be wealthy and not just a little wealthy but very wealthy like Abraham was.

Last week, we saw that this covenant had so many different aspects to it.  It contained MATERIAL blessings (real estate that was inherited).  It included IMMATERIAL blessings (like the blessings of a good name or reputation).  It included PHYSICAL blessings (the blessing of children to an infertile couple).  It included FINANCIAL blessings (God blessed Abraham financially.  He was the Bill Gates of his day).  It included SPIRITUAL blessings.  The Messiah would be a physical descendant of Abraham.  He is called “the son of Abraham”.

Does This Covenant Still Apply Today?

This is a great covenant. Many do not like it.  It sounds too Jewish.  It deals with Abraham’s descendants and a Jewish land in the Middle East.  The Jews have crucified their Messiah and many think that God is finished with the Jews.  It is called replacement theology.  Many believe that this covenant is no longer in effect.  It doesn’t apply today.  In order to answer this, we have to ask two questions.

Has this Covenant Already Been Fulfilled?

Some would say that this covenant is NOT in force today because it has already been fulfilled. Everything that God promised to Abraham four thousand years ago has already been fulfilled (so Hank Hanegraaf). Israel became a great nation in Egypt, possessed the land under Joshua and Solomon and people from all the nations of the earth have been blessed through Jesus.  What verses would support this position?

I Kings 4:21 says, “And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life” (NIV).

Joshua says, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed” (23:14). Have all of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant already been fulfilled?  No.

The problem with this view is that even you agree with the premise, even if the Jews did inherit all of the land that God promised them in Joshua’s or Solomon’s day (which is debatable), the covenant still has not been completely fulfilled.  It cannot be completely fulfilled right now.  It is impossible.  Why?  It is impossible for at least two reasons.

One, God promised that they would have the land FOREVER, not just in Joshua’s day.  In fact, He said that five times.

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever” (13:14-15 ESV).  How long?  Forever.  The Jews are currently living in only a fraction of the land God promised them.

“And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an EVERLASTING covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (17:7 ESV).

“And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an EVERLASTING possession, and I will be their God” (17:8 ESV).

“Both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an EVERLASTING covenant” (17:13 ESV).

“God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an EVERLASTING covenant for his offspring after him” (17:19 ESV).

God promised the Jews not just the Promised Land.  He promised them permanent possession of the Promised Land.  They have not had that yet.  In fact, for the last two thousand years, they have not even been in the land.  They were kicked out of it by the Romans in 70 AD and did not go back into it until 1948.

This covenant was an everlasting covenant, just like the covenant that God made with Noah.  It was called “an everlasting covenant.”  It was “an everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth” (9:17).

Two, Abraham never possessed any land in Canaan.  He went there and lived there for a hundred years but never owned any land.  The only thing he owned there was a burial plot for him and his wife.  The NT tells us that he did not own anything else (cf. Acts 7:5; Hebrews 11:11-15).  Who did God give the land to?  He gave it to Abraham AND to his seed.

Is this a Conditional Covenant?

Many believe that this covenant is NOT in force today because it was a conditional covenant.  Abraham and his descendants did not keep the conditions, so the covenant is no longer in force.  That is the view of John Piper.  Where does he get this idea?  He gets that from Genesis 22.

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that BECAUSE YOU HAVE DONE THIS and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, BECAUSE YOU HAVE OBEYED ME.” (22:15-18 NIV)

Is he right?  What is a conditional covenant?  Was the Abrahamic Covenant conditional?  No.

An Unconditional Covenant

1.  There are no conditions stated in the covenant.

A conditional covenant says, “If then.”  It says, “If you obey, you will be blessed”.  If you meet certain conditions, you will get certain blessings.  The Mosaic Law is a conditional covenant.  The Abrahamic Covenant is not an “if …then” covenant.

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (12:1-3).

Does this passage contain the words “if…then”?  No.  It does have one command but there is no condition in the passage.  God doesn’t say. “If you do this, I will do that”.  He did not say “I am making this covenant and these promises subject to your obedience”.  There was no condition in Genesis 22.  God did not tell Abraham, “If you sacrifice you son, I will make a covenant with you.”  That was a test (22:1), not a condition.

He did not say, “When you leave Ur and leave your father’s house, then I will make a covenant with you”.  The covenant was made in Ur BEFORE he even left and not because he left.  Now God did give Abraham a command but he has given us all kinds of commands and we are not saved by works.  Our salvation is not conditioned on obedience to a bunch of commandments.

2. Paul distinguishes between law and promise

Galatians 3:17-18 says, “What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

Paul mentions not only two covenants but two different kinds of covenants.  What is the law?  The Mosaic Covenant.  What is the promise?  The Abrahamic Covenant.  One is clearly conditional and one is unconditional.  The conditional covenant did not set aside the previous covenant of promise.

3. The Abrahamic Covenant is based on an oath.

 “When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”

“People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.”(Hebrews 6:13-18 NIV)

We saw this oath in Genesis 12.  Six times God says “I will”.  God made Abraham unconditional promises and made an oath.  The one who made this promise to Abraham could not lie, so it must take place.

4. When the covenant was officially made, God alone walked through the animals.

The Abrahamic Covenant was a blood covenant.  In the Ancient Near East, when a covenant was made, they had a ceremony.  The ceremony involved killing an animal and both parties walking through the parts of the animal, as if to say if to say if either side broke the covenant, they would be torn apart like animals.

“So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him….the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram” (15:9-12, 17)

When the actual covenant was made and the animal was cut open, God was the only one who walked between the parts (15:17).  A flaming torch and a smoking firepot went through the animals but Abraham did not. That means that the promises were totally dependent on God and not on Abraham.  It was a unilateral covenant.  It was unconditional.

 Lessons on the Jews 

1) They are the Chosen People

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:6).  In fact, God says in Amos 3:2 of Israel “You only have I known of all the families on the earth.”  God calls them “Israel My Chosen One” in Isaiah 45:4.

There is only one nation on the planet that God chose to be His people.  It was the Jews.  God didn’t make a covenant with America or with China.  The only country He made a covenant with was with Israel.  It doesn’t mean that everyone in the nation was saved.  He chose them as a nation.  Their election was national.  It was corporate, not individual.

We should have some respect for Israel.  It is the only democracy in the Middle East.  Every Christians should support Israel. The nation is not perfect.  It is not even Christian but God did make a covenant with them. Many wonder why God has not judged America.  As Billy Graham used to say, “If God doesn’t judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah”.

One reason why He has not judged America, is because of our foreign policy.  We have supported Israel.  The US gives Israel billions of dollars annually.[1]  When America blesses Israel, America will be blessed.  When America curses Israel, America will be cursed.  Who says that?  Right-wing conservatives? No.  God says that.  God promised to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel.  Not all of our presidents have been supportive of Israel.

2) God gave them the Promise Land

For decades, Jews and Arabs have been fighting over a small strip of land in the Middle East.  Many have a lot of sympathy for the Palestinian people and say that the land of Israel does not belong to the Jews.  It belongs to the Arabs.  Some Christians have said that Israel does not have a right to the land.  John Piper says that.

Piper believes the covenant was conditional.  The Jews broke the covenant.  They crucified their Messiah.  He says, “The secular state of Israel today may NOT claim a present divine right to the Land, but they … should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights, but on international principles of justice, mercy, and practical feasibility.”[2]

I strongly disagree with Piper.  The Jews do have a divine right to the land.  They have a legal right to the land.  They got it from God himself. He gave it to them.  God owns the world.  He created it and He has a right to any territory away.  God did not just say that one day in the future He would give them this land.  He already did.  “To your offspring I GIVE this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates (15:18)

God condemns people for dividing up the Promise Land.  Joel 3:2 says, “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land” (NIV).  That is the modern approach.  The modern approach is to trade land for peace and to split the country up and give some of it to the Jews and some of it to the Arabs (the Two-State Solution).

3) The nation of Israel will always exist.

God did not just make a covenant with the Jews, He made an EVERLASTING COVENANT with the Jews (Genesis 17:7, 19; 1 Chronicles 16:15-17; Psalm 105:8-10). The covenant with Israel cannot be everlasting if they cease to exist.  God promised Israel permanent existence as a nation in this covenant.  If the nation ever ceased to exist, then this covenant would not be fulfilled. The fact that the nation has survived is a miracle in itself.

The Romans kicked them out of Israel in 70 AD and the Jews have been scattered all over the earth for two thousand years but they survived.  Many other nations have died off (The Hittites, the Philistines) but they survived.  Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews in the Holocaust.  He called it “the Final Solution”.  Six million died but they miraculously survived.

Today, are surrounded by a group of nations that want to destroy them.  Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel right in its charter.   Some nations today are threatening to destroy Israel and are trying to get nuclear weapons to do it.  They say that they will wipe Israel off the map but God says that Israel will never be destroyed and can never be destroyed because of something called the Abrahamic Covenant. As Isaiah said, No weapon formed against the Jews will prosper (54:17).


[1] This text does say that God will bless those who bless Israel, but rather those who bless Abraham. However, these same promises were later repeated to Abraham’s descendants (27:29) and they were later applied to the nation as a whole in Numbers 24:9.

Nine Incredible Promises

We said last time that Genesis 12 begins a brand new section in the Book of Genesis.  God begins to do something new in this chapter.  The program of God changed dramatically.  God went from working with the race of a whole to working through one specific nation living on a specific land in the Middle East.

That nation had to be created, so God picked one man to start the nation.  It was an unlikely source.  This man was named Abram.  His name changes in Genesis 17 to Abraham.  I will just call him Abraham.

Abraham lived a long time ago.  He lived four thousand years ago.  He was a married man.  He had a wife (Sarai).  He was an old man.  He was in his 70s.  He was a pagan man.  He came from a completely pagan background.

His family was a bunch of idol worshipers.  They worshiped the Moon god.  IN fact, they were also polytheists.  They worshiped many gods.

God appeared to Abraham and spoke to him.  He gave him a command.  The command was to leave his hometown and travel to a new land he had never seen before hundreds of miles away.  His mission was to start a brand new nation.

God makes a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3.  It not called a covenant in this chapter but they are called a covenant in Genesis 15 & 17.  The Abrahamic Covenant is the second covenant in the Bible.  It is a little different from the covenant that God made with Noah.  The first covenant that God made was with Noah.

The covenant that God made with Noah was very general in scope.   Everyone on the planet was included in that covenant, every person and every animal.  God promised never again to send a flood on the earth that would wipe out all life.  The covenant that God made with Abraham was very specific in scope.

God made some promises in this covenant but these promises were not for everybody.  They were given specifically to Abraham and to some of his descendants (his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob and his children).

The Abrahamic Covenant is without question one of the most important covenants in the whole Bible.  It is foundation to biblical eschatology.  If you do not understand this covenant, you cannot understand biblical prophecy.

The great tragedy today is that many Christians do not understand this covenant.  The Abrahamic Covenant is not the same thing as the New Covenant.  It is not the same thing as the Old Covenant.

There is a lot of false teaching today in churches about this covenant. Some prominent Christians have misunderstood this covenant.  In fact, many in the charismatic movement have some crazy ideas about this covenant.

We will look at some of these errors.  In the next two weeks, I am going to share with you some advanced material on the Abrahamic Covenant.

Nine Promises of the Abrahamic Covenant

God makes some special promises to Abraham in this covenant.  He makes eight promises in this chapter alone.

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (12:1-3).

What are the eight promises mentioned in this passage?  Some of these promises are elaborated in the chapters to come.

1) A Land (to your offspring I will GIVE this land)

God not only said that He would He lead him to the land, He would give it to him,  In fact, He did not just give it to Abraham, He gave it to his descendants (13:15, 17; 15:7, 17; 17:8).

2) Reputation (I will make your name great)

When many people die, they are completely forgotten.  God promised to make this man famous.  People would still be talking about him two thousand years later.

3) Offspring (to your OFFSPRING I will give this land)

God promised Abraham that he would have a son.  That was a big promise to Abram.  He was childless.  He was an old man in his seventies and his wife was barren.   God promised him an offspring (12:7).  He promised him many of them.  In fact, he would have so many that he would not be able to count them all (13:16; 15:5; 22:17).

4) A Nation (I will make you a great NATION)

That great nation is NOT the USA.  It is Israel.  In fact, God promised more than one nation to come out of Abraham.  He said that he would be “the father of a multitude of nations” (17:4).

Through his other kids, he fathered other nations as well.  Abraham had eight kids: One from Hagar, one from Sarah and six from his second wife Keturah.  The Arab nations came from Abraham, in addition to the Jewish nation.  The Arab nations are descendants of Abraham through his first-born son Ishmael.  Ishmael had twelve sons (25:13-16).

5) Blessing (I will BLESS you)

How did he bless him?  He blessed him by revealing himself to Abraham.  He appeared to Abraham and spoke directly to him.  He blessed him by making the only one on the planet to be the recipient of this special covenant.  He blessed him financially.  He promised him children, a nation and a land that goes with it.  He promised that people would think highly of Abraham.  He promised that the Messiah would come through him.

6) Extended Blessing (I will bless THOSE who bless you)

I am not only going to bless you, I am going to bless your friends.  God blessed Abraham and promised that when others blessed him that He in turn would bless them back.

7) Protection (I will curse whoever curses you).

This promise has been fulfilled throughout history.  Many of Israel’s ancient enemies no longer exist anymore (Philistines, Canaanites, Amorites).    There is a rise of anti-semitism in many parts of the world today.  All anti-Semites are under God’s curse.

8) Ministry (You will be a blessing).

That is a promise.  That is interesting.  When God blesses us, he wants us to be a blessing and encouragement to others and perhaps providing for the needs of others financially or in some other way.

9) Influence (ALL OF THE EARTH will be blessed through you).

Your ministry will reach to all of the world.  All of the world will be blessed through you.  Abraham himself could not be a channel of blessing to the whole world but someone who came from Abraham was.  Jesus was a blessing to the whole planet because He provided salvation for every tribe, tongue and nation in the world.  That is a prophecy of the coming Messiah.

An Overview of These Promises 

There are several different ways to outline this covenant.  The scope of the covenant is threefold: personal promises, national promises and universal promises.

Some of these promises were PERSONAL.  God promised to make Abraham’s name great.  He promised that Abraham would have many descendants.  He promised that Abraham would be a blessing to others. He also promised to curse those who cursed Abraham.

Some of these promises were NATIONAL.  Abraham was promise a great nation. He was promised a territory for this nation as an everlasting possession.

Some of these promises were UNIVERSAL.  God promised that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed. Jesus said, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11).

People will come from the US and Russia, from India and China to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  All the families of the earth would be blessed. Not just Jews but all of the earth would be blessed through Abraham.  That is where most of us come in.  Gentile salvation is part of the Abrahamic Covenant.

What are the four themes of this covenant?  God promised Abraham four basic things in this covenant: a seed, a land, blessing and a redeemer.  Let’s look at these three things.  First, He promised Abraham a SEED.  Those were the PHYSICAL blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant.  God promised to multiply Abraham greatly (17:2).  He would have physical descendants or offspring.

Second, He promised Abraham LAND (real estate).  He even gave Abraham the geographic location and boundaries of the land.  He said that it is “from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” (15:18). These were the MATERIAL blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Third, He promised Abraham BLESSING.  He promised to bless Abraham himself and to bless others through Abraham.  If you notice, the words “bless,” “blessing” or “blessed” are found five times in these two verses.  This blessing was FINANCIAL.  Abraham was blessed financially.  He was not only wealthy, he was very wealthy.  He was “very rich in livestock, silver and gold” (13:2).  He was like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett today.

Fourth, He promised a Redeemer to come from Abraham.  This blessing was SPIRITUAL.  The Messiah was a descendant of Abraham.  Jesus was “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).  The Messianic line went through Abraham.  Salvation came to the world through Abraham, although Abraham probably did not understand all of these things.

Word of Faith View of This Covenant

Some in the charismatic movement have taken the Abrahamic Covenant one step further.  They teach that the Abrahamic Covenant that this covenant GUARANTEES financial wealth for Christians.

These would be your Word of Faith preachers like Kenneth Copland, Creflo Dollar, T.D. Jakes and many others.  This is standard Word of Faith or prosperity preaching.  They not only teach that it is God’s will for Christians to be wealthy but they base this teaching on the Abrahamic Covenant.

The Bible describes Christians as the seed of Abraham.  He is our spiritual father.  The blessing of Abraham belongs to us.  Abraham’s blessings are mine.  They preach sermons on how to activate and release these Abrahamic blessings into our life.  They claim to know the secret of enjoying the Abrahamic blessings and how to amass Abrahamic wealth.  One of their proof texts for this idea is Galatians 3:13-14.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (ESV)

Is this correct?  If not, what is wrong with this approach?  It takes the verse completely out of context.  Paul does NOT say, “The blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we may get extremely wealthy.”

He says, “The blessing given to Abraham comes to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, SO THAT BY FAITH WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT.”  Paul talks about the spiritual blessings that Gentiles can receive through Abraham.  That is mentioned more than once in this chapter of Galatians.

“So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. SCRIPTURE FORESAW THAT GOD WOULD JUSTIFY THE GENTILES BY FAITH, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will BE BLESSED through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (3:6-9 NIV).

How are they blessed?  They are justified by faith, just as Abraham was.  Paul did not use the Abrahamic Covenant to prove that all Christians can be millionaires.

Another error of the prosperity preachers is that they also assume that when God says “I will bless you,” He means “I will make you rich”.  God does bless believers today but that blessing takes many different forms.

It may involve financial wealth or it may involve other things.  The prosperity preachers are very selective.  They want to claim that promise but not the promise to have a son or to get a land or to have a nation come through you.

Myths about the Abrahamic Covenant

1) This covenant is not to be taken literally

This view says that the Abrahamic Covenant applies today but it is figurative.  This is the allegorical approach to the covenant.  It is not taken literally.  It is taken allegorically.  It is not talking about a physical seed but a spiritual seed (not literal children but spiritual children).  It is not talking about an earthly land but a spiritual or heavenly land.

What is wrong with that approach?  There are several things. The first problem is that it would mean that God deceived Abraham.  God says one thing but means something else.  He says that the land He is giving him is somewhere on earth from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates but it is really located, not on earth but in heaven.

The second problem is that much of it was literally fulfilled.  God promised that Abraham would have a son, even though his wife was old and infertile and he did have a son.  He promised to make Abraham’s name great and to this day he is respected by five different religions.

He promised that He would bless Abraham and He did bless Abraham.  Abraham was very wealthy.  He promised that a great nation would come into being through Abraham and that happened.

He promised that kings would come through Abraham and that happened.  He predicted that other nations would come through Abraham as well and that was literally fulfilled.  We need to take the Bible literally.

When it says that Abraham’s descendants will inherit the Land of Canaan, it means Abraham’s descendants.  The word “descendants” means literal descendants.  When it says that Abraham would have a son, it means that he will have a literal son.

2) This covenant is completely fulfilled in the church

This view says that the Abrahamic Covenant applies today but is fulfilled in the church.  This view teaches that the church replaces Israel in the program of God.

All of the covenants, promises and blessings that God gave to Israel have been transferred to the church.  The church is the new Israel. It is called Replacement Theology.  It is a very common viewpoint among many Christians.

We do not have to try to steal a little strip of land in the Middle East from the Jews.  We do not have to be jealousy of what God promised them.  Christians are described in the NT as “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

The Bible teaches that we will rule and reign with him on the earth (Revelation 20:4).  We will inherit everything.  Paul said that “all things are ours” (I Corinthians 3:21-22).

The real question is this: Is God is finished with Israel?  Let me put it a little differently.  Is there a future for ethnic Israel in the plan of God?  Romans 11 answers that question.  The Apostle Paul asked a very important question.  “Did God reject his people?”

People who believe in replacement theology would say that he has rejected them and is finished with them.  They rejected their Messiah.  Paul does not say that.

Paul’s answer is “by no means” (NIV) or “of course not” (NLT) or “absolutely not” (HCSB).  “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin” (11:1 NIV)

The very question is interesting for two reasons.  First, Paul still calls the Jews “His People.”  Israel has rejected their Messiah.  They are in unbelief but they are still God’s people.  He does not say that they used to be His people.

Second, Paul says that God has not rejected them.  He has not given up on them.  He is not through with them.  If you believe in replacement theology, you would say that God is through with the nation.

In case you didn’t quite get it, Paul asked the question a second time in Romans 11:11.  He says, “Did the nation of Israel “stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?”  His answer again is “by no means” (NIV) or “of course not” (NLT) or “absolutely not” (HCSB).

Paul makes clear in this chapter that some of the natural branches have been cut off (11:17, 19) and Israel is currently set aside but this is only temporary.  Paul also makes clear that “all Israel will be saved” (11:26).

He does not say that they are being saved now but they will be in the future.  That means there is a future for ethnic Israel.  Of course, in order for Israel to get saved, it has to first accept Jesus as their Messiah.

The OT describes when this will take place. Zechariah records a prophecy of the conversion of the nation which has not yet been fulfilled.

On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives. “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” (12:9-13:1 NIV)

Next week, we will continue to study this incredible covenant and look at some modern-day implications of the Abrahamic Covenant for the Nation of Israel.

The Call of Abraham

We come this morning to a brand new section of the Book of Genesis.  I want to review where we have been up to this point.  The first part of the book dealt with four events. We looked at creation in Genesis 1-2 and saw how God spoke the universe into existence and created the world supernaturally in six literal days.  We looked at the temptation and fall of man in Genesis 3 by the serpent.

We looked at the Flood in Genesis 6-9, the greatest catastrophe in history, which wiped out the entire human race with the exception of one family.  We then looked at the origin of nations in Genesis 10-11. It began with a united global conspiracy to rebel against God at Tower of Babel.  That resulted in the creation of new languages which led to dispersion and ultimately the creation of nations.  Genesis 10 mentions 70 nations.

The first part of the book deals with four big events – creation, fall, the flood and the nations.  This new section of the book does not deal with four events.  It deals with four people – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.  The remaining thirty-nine chapters of the book deal with these four men.  Most of the chapters in the book are devoted to two of those men – Abraham and Joseph.

The next fourteen chapters of the book deal with Abraham.  Genesis 12-25 all deal with the life of Abraham.  They give us a biography of Abraham.  I want to spend some time looking at the life of Abraham. He is one of the most important people in the entire Bible.  Abraham is a giant in Scripture.  It doesn’t mean he was perfect. Abraham, like Noah, had his problems and weaknesses but was a spiritual giant. He is one the greatest characters in the Bible.

Abraham is called “a friend of God,” not in one but in three books of the Bible (Isaiah 41:8; II Chronicles 20:7; James 2:23).  He wasn’t a friend of the world.  He was a friend of God.  Abraham and God were close.  God said, “Shall I hide anything from Abraham?” (Genesis 18:17).  He did not do anything big without telling Abraham first.

Abraham was the first patriarch of Israel.  He is the father of the Jewish nation.  The whole nation descends from Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob.  Abraham is not just important for Jews.  He is important for Christians.  He is mentioned over 70 times in the NT.  In fact, he is mentioned in the very first verse of the NT.

Matthew begins his Gospel with these words “This is the genealogy of Yeshua the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1).  The NT says that Abraham is “the father of all who believe” (Romans 4:16).   Abraham was a physical father of the Jews and a spiritual father of all who believe.  Those who have faith are called the sons and daughters of Abraham (Galatians 3:7).

This morning will be an introduction to Abraham. We want to look at who this man was, where he came from, what God asked him to do and what his response was.  Next week, we will look at the very important covenant that God made with him.

I want to start with some background information.  What do we know about Abraham?  The story begins in Genesis 11.  That is the first time we see his name in the Bible. We learn something about his family in Genesis 11:27-32.

What do we learn about Abraham here?  He lived 4000 years ago.  His original name was Abram, not Abraham.  His father’s name was Terah.  We are not told his mother’s name. Terah had four kids. He had three sons and one daughter.  His sons were named Abram, Nahor and Haran. His daughter was named Sarai. Abraham married Sarai (his half sister).

She was the daughter of Terah from a second wife (20:12). His first wife might have died.  She was ten years younger than Abram. Abram had two brothers.  They lived in Ur.  That was Abram’s hometown.  The NT tells us that this is where God called Abram.

Stephen  says that Abraham was called in Ur BEFORE he went to Harran.  Acts 7:2-3 says, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’”

Genesis 12:1 even uses the perfect tense.  “The Lord HAD SAID to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (NIV).  God called Abraham once.  He called him in Ur.  When he obeyed the call, his father (Terah) and his nephew (Lot) came with him.  Terah probably said, “You can go but I want to come with you.”

One of Abraham’s brothers stay behind in Ur (Nahor) and one had already died there (Haran).  Why did he take his nephew Lot with him?  We don’t know but it might be because they had something in common.  Lot was fatherless.  Abram was childless.  He may have adopted Lot or felt responsible for him, so Lot went with uncle Abe. He eventually ends up in Sodom and Gomorrah but he was a believer.  The Bible calls him “righteous Lot.”

Once they left Ur, they stopped in Harran and Terah decided not to go the rest  of the way. He might not have wanted to travel.  He was older, so Abram left him in Harran.  If you work out the chronology, Abraham left him about sixty years before he died, because Abram was born when he was 70 (11:26) and he left Harran when he was 75 (12:4), which adds up to 145 but Terah lived to be 205 (11:32).  We could summarize Abraham’s family this way.

The Family of Abraham

  • One SUFFERED (Haran).  He died prematurely.  His life was cut short.
  • One STAYED (Nahor).  He stayed behind in Ur and did not leave.
  • One STOPPED (Terah).  He headed to Canaan with Abraham.  He started in Ur but stopped in Harran and decided not to go the rest of the way.
  • One SEPARATED (Lot).  Because of a quarrel, he ends up parting ways with Abraham.
  • One SERVED God (Abram).  He obeyed God.  When God told him to leave Ur, he did.  He didn’t question or complain or ask why, he just obeyed.

Harran is located in Turkey today. You can visit it.  The real question is, Where is Ur? Ur of the Chaldees is mentioned five times in the Bible.  Where is it located? It is somewhere in Mesopotamia but we do not know for sure.  Some say that it is in the north and some say that it is in the south.

The Location of Ur

The standard view among most Jewish and Christian scholars is that Ur is in Southern Mesopotamia close to the Persian Gulf area and that it is located in modern day Iraq close to the Persian Gulf. It is near modern Nasiriyah (pronounced Naz-ah-re’ah), Iraq.  It would have been on the outskirts of the city.

This was where the ancient city of Ur was located.  It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sumer.  It is one of the most famous cities in the world.  It was a famous Babylonian city.  If this is the case, the first Jew was an Iraqi.  Many say that his birthplace was in what is now modern Iraq.

If this is the case, it would mean that Abraham came from the city, rather than the county. He didn’t come from a small village in the country. Ur was a big urban area.  It was a metropolis. It was no dump.  It had a population of 34,000 in the inner district and as much as a quarter of a million in the outlying districts.

Most people in Ur were not farmers but businessmen and artisans.  They had indoor plumbing in Ur four thousand years ago when Abram lived.  They had huge houses two stories high with fourteen rooms. They had a big ziggurat there.  They even had a library there. Abraham’s migration to Canaan would look like this.

If you go to this area in Iraq today, you will be taken to a house with 27 rooms which locals call “The House of Abraham.”[1] There is not a shred of evidence that it was Abraham’s house.  Only 20% of Ur has been excavated and Abram’s name has not been found anywhere in Ur yet.  This is the view that is generally accepted by most scholars today.  I used to believe that Ur was in modern day Iraq.

I do not believe it anymore.  I believe that the Ur where Abraham lived was not in the south but in the north.  It is not in Iraq.  It is in Turkey.  Muslims believe this is Abraham’s real birthplace.  Muslims consider it a holy site.  If you go there today, there is a cave where he was supposedly born.  Tourists visit the Cave of Abraham there. Some biblical archaeologists and scholars agree with them (Cyrus Gordon), although it is a minority viewpoint.

Why does Ur have to be in the north?  The southern location is really far (1100 miles) and Harran is not even on the way.  If you are going from Ur in southern Iraq to Canaan, you would never go through Harran.  The Chaldees were not in southern Mesopotamia in Abram’s day.  That city was not called “Ur of the Chaldees” in Abraham’s day.

Harran was in Turkey.  There is a city right above it in Turkey today called Sanliurfa or just Urfa.  It has Ur in it.  If you wanted to go to Canaan from Urfa in Turkey, you would go through Harran.  It is right on the way.  This city is 29 miles north of Harran in northern Mesopotamia.

When Abraham sent a servant to his old homeland to look for a wife for his son Isaac, he did not send him to northern Mesopotamia. He sent him to northern Mesopotamia close to Harran (25:20).  If Ur is in Turkey, Abraham’s migration would look like this.

 

Abraham’s Call

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” (12:1-3 NLT)

Let’s look at this call of Abraham.  Several things stand out about this to me about this call.

Characteristics of the Call

1. This call was supernatural.

Abraham did not one day wake up and say “I think God wants to do something special with my life. I think God wants to use me.”  He did not figure this out on his own.  He received a special revelation from God.  Stephen says that the God of glory appeared to Abraham (Acts 7:2).  He didn’t just appear to Abraham (as great as that was), He spoke to him.  Abraham heard voices.

2. This call was selective.

This is very significant.  God did not appear to everybody.  He only did this to Abraham.  God didn’t make a covenant with everybody and give them special promises.  Why would Abraham be the one to whom God would speak?  God could have chosen anyone.  Why didn’t God appear to someone else?  God passed over all of the families of the earth and picked Abraham and his descendants as the recipient of his special covenant.

Now it is true that God did not bless Abraham for Abraham’s sake alone.  His goal was for the whole world to be blessed through Abraham but the fact remains that Abraham was chosen by God to be the channel of this blessing.  According to Genesis, Adam had many sons and daughters but it only mentions thee of his sons – Cain, Abel and Seth.  The Messiah came through only one of those sons (Seth).

Noah had three sons – Shem, Ham and Japheth but the Messiah only went through the line of Shem.  Shem had five sons but the Messiah came through only one of them (Arphaxad).  Terah also had three sons – Nahor, Haran and Abram.  Haran and Nahor were not chosen.  God made a covenant with Abram.  He didn’t make one with Nahor or Haran.

3. This call was undeserved

This was completely unmerited.  God says, “I will make of you a great nation.”  I will make of you, not just a nation but a great nation.  “I will bless you and make your name great”.  “In you, ALL THE FAMILIES of the earth will be blessed” (not in some of them or most of them but all of them).  Abraham didn’t do anything to deserve this.  This was sheer grace on God’s part.  It was an act of sovereign grace.

Abraham came from a family of idol worshipers.  We know from archaeology that Ur and Haran where he lived were both centers of Moon worship.  Abraham’s whole family as far as we can tell worshiped the Mood god. They were Moonies.  In Sumerian, this god was called Nanna.

In Hebrew, it was called Sin.  They worshiped the god Sin. You know if your god is named Sin that you are in trouble.  You have a big problem when sin is you god and you start worshiping it.  The Moon is still worshiped in various parts of the world by certain African and Native American groups.

Joshua says in Joshua 24:2-3, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants.”

He came from a family of idolaters and polytheists.  Jewish tradition says that his father Terah, not only worshiped idols, he was an idol maker.  He manufactured them.[2]

Abraham didn’t know God but God knew him and called him by name.  Abraham was not out looking for God.  God sought out Abraham and called him.  Abraham did not seek out God.  God was the one who started the process.  He was the one who made the point of contact.

What is the lesson here?  We don’t choose God.  He chooses us.  That is the myth of the American church.  It is all about our decision.  We are in charge. Jesus said, “You have not chosen me.  I have chosen you” (John 15:16).

4. The call was challenging

It asked Abraham to do something. God gave Abraham a command.  There was something that God wanted him to do.  He told him GO.  He wanted him to go somewhere.  He told him to move.  It was a call of MIGRATION.  He told him to move to a different place.  That migration changed the course of history.

What Abraham was NOT Called to do

Notice what God did not ask Abraham to do.  God did NOT tell Abraham to build a big boat.  His call did not involve some big construction project, like Noah’s call involved.

He did NOT tell him to write a book of Scripture. He never wrote a book called “The Prophecies of Abraham.” There are a few books with his name on it.  There is a book called  The Apocalypse of Abraham in the Pseudepigripha. There is another book called “The Book of Abraham” in the Mormon The Pearl of Great Price but neither one of these books were actually written by Abraham.  God never called him to write a book.

He did NOT tell him to go to seminary or to start of church.  He did NOT call him to a life of suffering or martyrdom.  He did NOT call him to be a great king like David or a great theologian like Paul.  He did NOT ask him to be a great evangelist and to preach to the world about the one true God.  He did NOT call him to fight off the Canaanites who were living in the land of Canaan, like Joshua did.

What did God tell Abraham to do?  He told him to make a new nation.  God’s mission was not to build a boat but to build a nation.  His program had changed.  What he did before, He was not doing anymore. Up to that point, God had dealt with the human race as a whole.  Now he is going to work through one nation.  Many do not know what God is doing today or what His program is today.  God was calling Abram to build a nation.

That is a little strange because this call comes to a man who has no kids and whose wife can’t have any kids.  She is infertile.  It seems ridiculous to talk about making a nation when you cannot even make a family.  Abraham’s wife had two main problems.

She was past menopause (too old to have kids) and on top of that she was infertile.  Abraham had a lot going for him. He was extremely wealthy (cf. 13:2)). He was married to a beautiful woman but she was infertile and in that day, this was a big deal.

Try to imagine the discussion that took place the night before Abraham left town.  A stranger sees Abraham packing and asks him, what are you doing?  “I am getting ready to leave Ur?”  Is your whole family going? “No. My brother is staying in Ur.” Why are you going?  “God told me to go.”  Did He speak to anyone else?  “No, just me. I am the only one who got this special message.” Well, where are you going?  “I don’t know yet.  God hasn’t told me exactly where I am going.

He has not revealed to me my final destination but says that He will show me where it is.” Well, what do you plan to do in this new land? “I plan to start a new nation.”  Really?  How old are you now?  “I am 75 years old.”  How many kids do you have right now?  “I don’t have any kids and my wife is infertile.”  If someone talked this way today, we would think they need to be placed in an insane asylum.

A Difficult Command

What God asked Abraham to do was not easy.  It was a difficult command. Why?

1) It involved faith

How was this a step of faith for Abraham?  God asked him to go somewhere he had never been before.  He asked him to try something new and go to a new land without a map or a GPS.  He asked him to believe the impossible.

He asked Abraham to believe that not only would he have kids, he would have so many descendants that they would make a nation.  He asked him to trust him, even when he was not told what land he was going to or exactly where it was.  Abraham had to walk by faith.

2) It was risky

This was a very long journey of hundreds of miles but it was no vacation.  It was dangerous.  Abraham and his wife were old. He left Haran at the age of 75.  This was a little risky to give up everything and uproot your family hundreds of miles to a land you have never been to before but he did it because God told him to do it.

3) It was sacrificial

God asked Abraham to give some things up.  It was also a call to SEPARATION.  God’s word to Abram was “leave.” This is a powerful word of separation.  God asked Abraham to separate (to make a complete break) from his friends, his family, his country and even his religion (the religion of Ur).  Abraham became the first wandering Jew.

Even though this command was difficult, it was also very rewarding.  God promises Abraham special blessings, which we will look at next time.  Those blessings are part of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Lessons from Abraham’s Call

1) God still speaks to people today.

He may do it in a different way.  He doesn’t always appear to us, like He did to Abraham but He still speaks to us today.  He still calls us to do different things and reveals what He wants us to do.  We are called to do something different than make a nation.

When God speaks we need to listen, even if He asks us to do things that seem impossible or hard to believe.  We should not ignore God when He speaks to us.  God rewards obedience.  God did not reveal everything to Abraham right away and He does not reveal everything to us right away.

2) Following God involves sacrifice.

God’s call always involves separation.  Separation is a biblical command (cf. II Corinthians 6:14).  Following Christ is sacrificial.  It involves giving some things up.  It may involve leaving our comfort zone or doing something that we have never done before.  It involves denying yourself.

Jesus said that if you want to follow him, you have to take up your cross daily (Luke 9:23).  Sometimes you have to give some things up.  God told Abraham to follow him and give up everything.  Jesus told his disciples the same thing.

3) God uses people who are older.

God called Abraham around the age of 75.  There are not too many people at the age of 75 who decide to suddenly become a preacher or missionary or begin some new ministry.  The attitude today is that if you are 65 you are finished.  You retire but God called Abraham at the age of 75.  Moses was 80 when he began to lead the Jews out of Egypt.  Joshua was in his 80s when he conquered the land of Canaan.

God doesn’t stop using people when they are older. Oswald Sanders gives two examples of this in his book Spiritual Manpower: Clifford Nash and Benjamin Ryrie.  Nash was an Anglican pastor.  He was born in the 1800s.  He founded the Melbourne Bible Institute and trained thousands for Christian service.

He retired at the age of 70.  At the age of 80, he had an assurance of the Lord that he has ten more years of ministry.  He began teaching the Bible to a group of clergy and laymen.  At the age of 90, he read six volumes of Arnold Toynbee’s A Study of History.

Benjamin Ryrie was a missionary with China Inland Mission.  He retired at the age of 70.  When he was 80, he decided to learn NT Greek and became proficient at it.  At 90, he took a refresher course at Toronto Theological Seminary. At one hundred years of age he was still getting around on public transport, brushing up on his Greek on the bus.


[1] http://vimeo.com/35820921.

[2] Genesis Rabbah II, 55.

Lessons from a Tower

Today, I want to look at a very familiar story in Scripture.  It is the story of a massive building project called the Tower of Babel.  It was an architectural marvel in its own day.  It doesn’t much compare to tall buildings in our own day.  The tallest building in the world today is in Dubai.  It was built in 2010 and is almost 3000 feet tall.  It has 163 floors but it was still impressive by their standards.  Ours are taller today and a little sturdier.  We do not use mud bricks.  We use steel or concrete.

Skeptics mock this story but this is a story that we have archaeological evidence for.  No one has ever discovered the tower that these men built but archaeologists have found many just like them in the area of Mesopotamia.  They are called ziggurats.  They looked like a pyramid.

There are about thirty of them in the area.  The Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians all built them.  At the center of each major city in Mesopotamia was one of these large structures.  The Tower of Babel apparently was the first one ever built.  It has never been found but the thirty that have been found were based on the original Tower of Babel.

When I was in Chicago, I went to the same church as an OT scholar named Gleason Archer. He was a very smart man.  He knew 27 languages.  He went to Princeton.  He got his PhD from Harvard in Classics.  I told him that I would be teaching on the Tower of Babel on Sunday and he wanted to know how I would find it.

This one story is fascinating.  It is misunderstood by some.  There is a lot of figurative language in this chapter.  If you take everything literally in this passage, you run into all kinds of problems.  There are three things I want to us all to see in this passage: a surprising sin, an unusual judgment and an incredible miracle.  All three of these are in this short story, which takes up only nine verses.  We want to look at that and then I want to look at some applications that come right out of this story.

Before we begin, let’s look at the setting of this story.  They got off the ark and migrated east.  As you move east from that area, you come to Southern Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).  When they got there, they wanted to do two things. They want to build a city and they want to build a tower (11:4).  When did it take place?  The chronology is very interesting.

We know that it took place after the Flood but that doesn’t tell us much.  Did it take place fifty years or a thousand years after the Flood?  If you read Genesis very closely, you can find the answer.  Genesis gives us three important hints.  The first hint is that it took place in the time of Peleg (10:25).  It took place in his lifetime.  His name means “division”. When did he live?  He was born one hundred years after the Flood (cf. 11:12-16).  That is the second hint.  If you add up the numbers 35, 30 and 34 from that genealogy, you get about a hundred.

The third hint in Genesis is that Peleg lived about two hundred years (11:19).  That means that this took place two to three hundred years after the Flood.  Why is that important?  Noah would still have been alive when it was built.  The Bible says that Noah lived for 350 years after the Flood (9:28).  Who built the tower?  Genesis calls them “the children of men” (11:5).  These also happen to be Noah’s kids, his great, great grandchildren.  He would have been horrified.

Much of what they did was good. These builders were united.  Unity is a good thing.  We are commanded as Christians to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).  The people of Shinar were of one language and even of one speech.  Apparently, they not only spoke the same language, they spoke the same dialect.

That does not describe the church today, which is completely divided. This group at Babel had complete unity.  They had a common task that they were all engaged in doing.  Getting the whole world united on one task is no small matter. Of course, the world was not as big then as it is now.

These builders are also hard working.  They built two things: a city and a tower (11:4). This took a lot of work.  The people who built this tower were not lazy.  They spent a lot of hours working in the hot Sun.  It would have taken years to build this tower.  The Bible commends hard work.  Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”  Proverbs 14:23 says, “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”

These builders were also creative.  This job involved ingenuity and creativity.  They wanted to build a big tower but they had one problem.  They didn’t have any stones and they did not have any cement.  They had stones in Israel but not in Babylon.  They lived in Mesopotamia and there were few stones available.

They had to make their own stones.  They learned how to make mud bricks.  The technology is still used today (adobe bricks).  You can go onto YouTube and find out how to make mud bricks.  It is a science project in some schools.

A Surprising Sin

What sin was committed in Genesis 11? This raises all kinds of questions to think about.  What was wrong with what they did?  It doesn’t seem like such a terrible thing to do.  What didn’t God like about what they were doing?  Why did God stop the building program?

Doesn’t God doesn’t like tall buildings?  What’s wrong with building a tall tower?  What is wrong with making a beautiful tower? What is the big deal about making a skyscraper?  Every big city has one today.

Is architecture a sin?  Is God against all architects, builders and contractors?  That cannot be right.  Noah just finished a building project.  He built a huge boat that was bigger than a football field.  Why did He oppose these builders?  Is God against creativity or ingenuity?  As far as we know, this was the first tower ever built by man.  They were innovators. This was visionary.  This was the first skyscraper in history.

Is God against technology?  They had to use some modern technology to build this building.  Is Genesis 11 anti-technology?  Was God against cities?  Does God hate cities?  Was the problem that these were city slickers? What’s the problem?

What did they do wrong?  The problem was NOT what they built.  There is nothing wrong with building a tall building or building a skyscraper.  They did three things wrong.  They committed three sins that made God angry.

Pride

The sin was not the building of a tower.  There was nothing wrong with what they built or even how they built it. The problem was WHY they built this tower. The problem was their MOTIVE. Their sin is found in 11:4: “Come, let US build OURSELVES a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that WE may make a name FOR OURSELVES”.  Notice how self-centered this tasks is.

This tower was a monument to human pride.  We still do this today.  Sometimes we even do the right things for the wrong reason.  There is nothing wrong with doing things, even doing great things.  Noah worked on a building project for over a hundred years.  He did not do it so he could be in the Guinness Book of Records.  He did it because God told him to do it.

It is worthwhile to contrast the humility of Abraham with the pride of Babel.  God told Abraham “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great” (12:1 NKJV).

God, not Abraham, was the one who made his name great.   Abraham probably thought he would be totally forgotten when he left his family.  God said, “I will make your name great”.  The builders at Babel tried to make their name great but it backfired.  Instead of being famous, they became infamous.

Rebellion

Genesis 11:4 says, “And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, LEST WE BE SCATTERED ABROAD OVER THE FACE OF THE EARTH” (NKJV).  This was not just a tower.  It was an act of rebellion.  God told Noah to ““Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (9:1).  It was intentional and deliberate rebellion.  It was an act of direct defiance to the known will of God.

God said, “Be dispersed.” They said, “We don’t want to be dispersed and we are not going to be dispersed.”  Many preachers call this building with God and not thinking of God when we make our plans.  This was not just building without God.  It was building in direct and deliberate defiance to God.

Idolatry

You wouldn’t know this from reading Genesis.  The text does not say this explicitly but we know that the tower they built was religious in nature.  They used it to worship idols.  How do we know this?  We know it from archaeology.

These Mesopotamian Ziggurats were not just tall buildings.   They were temples.  They were temple towers.  They had temples at the top of them. Most modern skyscrapers are not religious in nature.  They are just all buildings.  This tower was actually a church but not a church that worshiped the true God.

One of the largest of these ziggurats was discovered at Babylon.  It was seven stories high was built to the Babylonian god Marduk.  It was one of the wonders of the ancient world. These cities had temples to other gods but they would only have a ziggurat to the main god of the city.  It was limited to the local patron deity.

They were built really high so they could be close to the gods.  They could have been built at ground level but on top of the ziggurat they thought they would be closer to the gods.  They were considered homes of the gods.

An Unusual Judgment

“But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” (NKJV)

This raises many questions.  Couldn’t God see what was going on from heaven?  Why did he have to come down to see what was going on?  Isn’t God omniscient?  Doesn’t He know all things?  Yes.

This is called anthropomorphism.  It is a figure of speech.  It describes God in human terms.  It is no more literal than when the Bible says that God sets his face against evil or stretches out his hands against Egypt or when it says that they eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.  God does not have hands or a face.  He does not have literal eyes.  It is a figure of speech.

The point is not that God had to look down to find out what was happening.  It just means that God took special notice of it.  The point is that the tower was so small that God had to come down to even see it.  It looked big to the builders but not to God.  Many buildings look huge on earth but if you are in an airplane, they are microscopic.  You can barely see them.  This shows how insignificant this tower was to God.

Why did God say, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them” (11:6)? Was God worried if they built this tower than they could do anything?  Was He threatened by them?   No.

God is omnipotent.  He is not threatened by a few bricks and mortar. In fact, He is so not threatened by this tower that He did not even destroy it.  He could have stepped on it and squashed it.  He could have killed all of the builders.

He wiped out the entire planet just a few hundred years before this.  He did not do that.  Instead, he gave them all new languages in judgment.  Those languages are not a monument to human ingenuity but are a monument to human sin.  It is a testimony to the depravity of the race.

God did not have to kill the builders.  He just divided them.  He caused division.  God likes unity but here He caused division.  It’s kind of funny when you think about it. This is one of the funniest parts of the Bible. It shows that God has a sense of humor. They couldn’t communicate with each other, so they could not continue the project.

They could not even talk to one another.  One may began speaking in Chinese and another man replied in German.  No one was hurt.  No one was injured.  They just couldn’t understand each other and stopped working on the project and eventually went their own separate paths.  What would it be like if you could not understand your wife or kids?

God was not threatened by these builders but He did take their actions seriously.  This was not just rebellion, it was a conspiracy.  It was a global conspiracy to rebel against God.  It does not mean that they could literally do anything.  It is another figure of speech.  It just shows the seriousness and danger of united rebellion against God.  God’s judgment involved two things.  God gave them a new language and scattered them, ending the building project.

An Incredible Miracle

The Tower of Babel is a very important event in human  history. It gives us the origin of languages.  In Genesis 11, everyone spoke only one language (11:1). No one knows what that language was. The text doesn’t say but it does say that they spoke on language. Many call Genesis 11 the first UN Summit Meeting.  That is a very common interpretation.

When preachers want to rail against the UN, they usually turn to Genesis 11 but there is only one problem.  There was only one nation on the earth at this time, so it could not possibly be the first UN Meeting.  In Genesis 11, there is one language and nation.

Today, there are over seven thousand languages are spoken in the world. The most spoken language in the world today is Chinese.  About five hundred and eight million people speak English but over a billion people speak Mandarin.

How is it that we are all genetically related and yet so linguistically diverse? Where did all of these languages come from?  How did we go from one language to many languages?  Evolution cannot explain how where languages came from.  Genesis 11 tells us where they came from.  God created them supernaturally.  This was a linguistic miracle.

It is the exact opposite of Pentecost.  There were some similarities.  In both cases, people spoke a language that they had never learned.  In both cases, it was completely supernatural and miraculous but Pentecost was the reversal of Babel.  In one case, people understood the foreign languages.

In the other case, the languages were not understood.  One resulted in unity and one resulted in division.  One was a blessing.  The other involved divine judgment on sin.  One brought confusion and one brought amazement and wonder.

Lessons from This Tower

1) Man’s program is not the same thing as God’s program.

God says “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). His ways are not just different from our ways, they are HIGHER than our ways.  What God thinks is important is different from what the world thinks is important.   God’s program is different from man’s program.  God takes sin seriously.

Man wanted to stay in one place and build a big tower.  That seemed like a good idea to them.  God wanted everyone to spread out and fill the earth.  The same is still true today.  What God commands in His Word is very different from what the world says is acceptable.

2) Disobedience is always counterproductive.

God said to spread out over the world but many thought it would be better to stay together in one place but they ended up worse off in the end.  We sometimes think if we disobey God we will be better off. The truth is that God gives us commandments because they are good for us.  He does not give us commands to hold us back but to help us.  It is like a parent that tells a child not to run out in the middle of a busy street.  As James MacDonald used to say, “When God says don’t, he means don’t hurt yourself”.

3) Pride causes a fall.

Proverbs 16:8 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Jesus said, “All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 14:11 NIV). When the Titanic was built, it was called an unsinkable ship.  People said that even God Himself could not sink it but pride went before a fall.  The builders of Babel exalted themselves.  They were humbled.  Abraham humbled himself.  He was exalted.  It is a clear biblical principle.

4) Unity is not always good.

This seems a little strange to us. Here people were completely united.  They were all working together on a common project and God scattered them.  Why?  Doesn’t God believe in unity?  Isn’t unity a good thing?  David said in the OT, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1 NIV).  God looks down at man and doesn’t say, “Isn’t it great that all of my creatures are getting along and working together.”  Why?

Unity is NOT always a good thing.  That is a myth.  The people in Genesis 11 were united in their rebellion against God. God said to Jeremiah, “Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?” (Jeremiah 7:16-19).

That is a picture of great unity.  Everyone is working together.  The parents and children are all involved but it is unity in idolatry and false religion.    God says that it only hurts themselves. Jesus even said that unity is not always a good thing.  The Bible predicts a future day in which the whole world will worship the Antichrist.  We see this in Revelation 13:8.  The whole world will worship the beast.   They will have great unity but it will be unity around the Antichrist.

5) God sometimes helps us obey Him when we do not want to.

When we do not want to do what God tells us to do, sometimes He gives us a push in the right direction.  Just ask Jonah.  God told him to do one thing and he did the exact opposite until God got a hold of him.  Here, God told man to scatter.

They refused, so God forced them to scatter.  The same thing happened in the NT to the church.  Jesus told them to be witnesses to end the ends of the earth.  They stayed in Jerusalem instead.  Finally, a great persecution of the church took place and they were forced to scatter and go elsewhere.

Lessons from the Nations

Today, we come to our second genealogy in the Book of Genesis.  It contains a long list of names.  I may have mispronounced some of these names but that is not a big deal, because they are not around to correct me.  Some of these names are quite funny.  Are names would be just as funny to the ancients.  We have some funny names, like Harry, Gaye and Snooki.

Let’s be honest.  This is not one of the most exciting chapters in the Bible.  It seems as exciting as reading out of the phone book.  Certainly, no one would call this their favorite chapter in the Bible.  It does not seem very practical.  How is reading this ancient list of names going to change your life?

People say that the Bible is not boring.  This chapter seems to put people right to sleep.  I would be that probably most people who say that they read the whole Bible probably did not read this entire chapter.  They just skimmed through it.  You have to have a Ph.D. just to pronounce some of these names.

On the surface, it seems like this chapter is not too important.  Many would just skip it and go to the next one.  Many pastors would never even try to preach from Genesis 10.  They like to preach to people’s needs.  It is called “needs based preaching.”  That raises an important question.

Why should we study this chapter?  How is this chapter relevant to us?  There are two reasons.  One, most people are interested in their roots.  They want to know who their ancestors were.  This chapter tells you. Everyone in the world today is a descendant of Noah.  This chapter tells you how you are related to Noah.  Noah had three sons.

Noah had three sons – Shem, Ham and Japheth or Yapheth in Hebrew (Hebrew does not have a J sound).  Noah must NOT have been Jewish because he named one of his sons Ham and Jews don’t eat ham.  After the Flood, there were eight people on the earth.  Everyone else died in the Flood.  The world was repopulated from Noah’s three sons.  Noah was the ancestor of the Jews but he was not Jewish.

Genesis 9:18-19 says, “Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.”  Genesis 10:32 says, “These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.”

Every single person on the planet today goes back to one of Noah’s three sons.  All seven billion people on the planet today go back to one of these three sons.  Most people in this room are descendants of Japheth.  He was the father of the Europeans.

I am a descendant of two of Noah’s sons.  I am a descendant of both Shem (Noah’s oldest son) and Japheth (Noah’s youngest son).  My dad was Jewish and so were his ancestors.  I am a descendant of Shem on my father’s side and of Japheth on my mother’s side.

There is a second reason that we should study this chapter.  It is in the Bible.  It is inspired.  Paul said that “all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable”.  That is II Timothy 3:16.  He did NOT say that much of the Bible is inspired or most of it is inspired.

He said that ALL of it is inspired and is useful.  Every word matters.  Genesis 10 is in the Bible.  Therefore, it is inspired and must be useful in some way.  There are some important lessons that we learn from this chapter, which we will look at.

This chapter demonstrates the need for expository preaching.  Expository preaching is when you go chapter by chapter and book by book through the Bible.  Now there’s nothing wrong with topical preaching but when you do expository preaching, you are exposed to the whole counsel of God, not just the parts of the Bible that you like.  We all have our favorite parts of the Bible.  We have our favorite passages, and our favorite books.  Everyone does.

It is very easy as Christians to get imbalanced.  We emphasize one portion of Scripture, like the Gospels or the Psalms or we preach our favorite topics in the Bible (e.g., prophecy or spiritual gifts) but we completely neglect other topics and other passages of Scripture.  This is a major problem in the church today.

I have been in many churches where the pastor says the same thing week after week.  Nothing changes.  When you do expository preaching, the agenda for preaching comes right out of the text.  The point of the passage becomes the point of the sermon.  Since the Bible is God’s Word, we are getting God’s thoughts, not our thoughts.

The Uniqueness of this Chapter

This chapter gives us two things.  It gives us the descendants of Noah’s sons.  It also gives us a list of nations.  It is not only a list of descendants.  It is a list of nations.  Genesis 10 is called The Table of Nations.

It also gives us the origin of nations.  It gives us the birth of nations.  This is the first time we see nations.  Before Genesis 10, there were no nations.  There were cities before this (cf. 4:17) but no nations.  This chapter lists about 70 nations and tells us where they came from.  That makes this chapter unique. There is no other historical document like Genesis 10.  It stands alone in the world of literature.

These 70 nations came from Noah’s three sons.  Fourteen nations came from Japheth.  Thirty nations came from Ham and twenty six came from Shem but there is something different in this chapter.  The order of Noah’s sons in the Bible is always Shem, Ham and Japheth.  That is always the order in Scripture.  That is NOT the order in Genesis 10.

Instead of talking about the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth, it gives us the descendants in the order of Japheth (10:2-5), Ham (10:6-20) and Shem (10:21-31). It is the exact opposite.  Why? The most important one goes last.  The whole rest of Genesis is about Shem.  In fact, the rest of the Bible is about Shem and his descendants.   The one that applies the most to us goes first.  Most of us are descendants of Japheth.  It is the shortest.

Three Branches of Humanity

Noah had three sons and these three sons became there branches of the human race – a Japhetic branch, and a Hamitic branch, and a Shemitic branch (or we would say today Semitic branch).  In 1975, a Christian anthropologist named Arthur Custance wrote a book about Noah’s three sons.[1]

He had a very interesting theory about these three sons.  He believed that the descendants of each son had a different contribution to civilization.  They seemed to have a different personality.  It is not completely true.  It is a little bit of a generalization and an oversimplification but it is a fascinating theory.

What did the line of Japheth give the world?  The Europeans and Indo-Europeans came from Japheth.  What did the civilizations of Greece and Rome produce?  What were they characterized by?  This branch of the world is known for logic and philosophy.  That contribution was intellectual.  Historically, all the great philosophers are Japhetic. The Greeks, who began modern philosophy, are descendants of Japheth.

What was the main contribution of Ham’s descendants to civilization?  Their contribution was primarily technological.  It was more pragmatic and technical, than theoretical.  All of the earliest civilizations were Hamitic (Egyptian, Babylonian, Chinese, Mayan, Aztec).

What did the Egyptians give us?  They didn’t ask a bunch of philosophic questions like, What is the good life and the good society?  They gave us some of the wonders of the world, like they Pyramids.  The Hamites were inventors, scientists, engineers, mechanics and architects.

What was the main contribution of the Shem’s descendants to civilization?  The three great western religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) were Semitic in origin.  The contribution of the Semites was not intellectual or practical but religious.  The first and second largest religions in the world today are Semitic in origin.

Many think that Christianity is a western religion.  The think it is America’s religion.  It is not.  It is an eastern religion.  It began in the Middle East. Arabs and Jews are also Semitic peoples.  Modern day Jews and Arabs trace their lineage to Shem.  Arabic and Hebrew are both Semitic languages.  The most important contribution that Shem’s side gave us is Jesus.  Jesus was a descendant of Shem.  The Messiah came through Shem.

Basic Observation

Genesis 10 gives us a fascinating genealogy.  It is unique.  It stands alone in the world of literature.  It is also selective.  It is not a complete family tree.  It only mentions some of the descendants of these men.  This is very easy to see in the chapter.  It mentions sixteen grandsons of Noah but it does not mention any of his granddaughters.  It doesn’t tell us everything.

Japheth had seven sons (10:2). Their names were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras, the youngest son of Japheth.  Japheth had seven sons but we are only given the descendants of two of them (Gomer and Javan).  We are not given the descendants of the other five sons.

Ham had four sons (10:6), like I do. Their names were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.  Ham had four sons but we are given descendants for only three of them (Cush, Mizraim and Canaan).  We are not told who Put’s descendants were.

Shem had five sons (10:22).  Their names were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.  One must have been named after an animal (a ram). Shem had five sons but we are given descendants for only two of them (Aram, Arphaxad).  We are not told who the descendants of Elam and Asshur were. Clearly, this list is selective.

The Migration of Noah’s Sons

Where did these sons go?  Some of them may have lived in the same area but the basic difference is that Shem stayed in the Middle East.  Ham went south and Japheth went north.

Shem stayed in the area of the Middle East.  The Middle East includes the areas of Iraq, Iran, Israel, Turkey and Egypt.  It is Western Asia and Egypt.  These became the Hebrews, Persians and Assyrians.  Elam is the ancient name for Persia which is the ancient name for Iran.  Ashur was the ancestor of the Assyrians.

Arphaxad was the ancestor of the Jews.  Lud is the ancestor of the Lydians in Asia Minor or Western Turkey.  Aram was the ancestor of the Arameans or Syrians.  Aram is the Hebrew word for Syria. The Jews stayed in the Middle East until they were kicked out and scattered by the Romans all over the planet in 70 A.D.  They went to every continent, except Antarctica.  Someone pointed out that you can even find them there.  That is where the icebergs are located.

Ham’s descendants went south.  Ham had four sons.  Three of them went to Africa.  Ham’s four sons were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.  Cush is Ethiopia in the Bible.  It is the Hebrew word for Ethiopia, South of Egypt.  Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Cushite (Ethiopian) change his skin?”  Cush is the Hebrew word for Ethiopia.  Moses married a Cushite woman (Numbers 12:1).  He married an African.  Mizraim is in Egypt (which is in North Africa).  In fact, mizraim is the Hebrew word for Egypt.  According to Josephus, Put was the founder of Libya (NW Africa).

Three of the four sons went to Africa.  Only the Canaanites did not go to Africa.  They lived in and near the Promised Land.  Canaan had eleven sons: Sidon, Heth, the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite; the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite; the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite.  They lived in the Land of Canaan or the area near it.

Japheth’s descendants went north into Europe.  Japheth had seven kids.  Magog, Meshech and Tubal ever went to modern day Turkey or to Russia.  Scholars disagree.  Either way it is north of Israel. Gomer’s descendants went to Germany. Javan’s descendants went to Greece.  Maidai’s descendants are usually identified with the Medes.  Tiras was the ancestor of the Thracians in SE Europe (Yugoslavia).

Lessons from the Table of Nations 

1. There is a unity among all people.

There is something that everyone on the planet shares. Every one of them is a descendant of Noah from the lowest scum on the planet to the President of the United States.  Everyone came from Noah. If Noah was alive today and walked around, he might be a little shocked at how wicked the world is today or perhaps he would not be.  It was wicked in his day.  At least, there are no nephilim walking around.  One thing that he would be interested is seeing what all of his descendants look like.

This chapter shows is the unity of the human race.  In one sense, the whole earth is one big family.  This is really incredible.  We do not look like a family or act like a family but despite all of the differences that we have, we are all one family.  We are the family of Noah.  It is a rather strange family.

We are divided today by many things (skin color, language, religion, political philosophy, economic status, education) but we have one thing in common.  We come from the same family.  We all came from Noah and he came from Adam.  As one preacher said once said, “this is both humbling and elevating”.  We are in the same family as the most deranged psychopaths and serial killers and the greatest scientists, athletes and saints the world has ever had.

2. Races do not exist.

Since we are all part of the same family and since we all come from Noah, we are all genetically related.  That means that there are not races.  There is only one race on the planet.  It is a race of humans.  We are used to thinking of people divided by different races (a black race, a white race, a yellow race and a red race).  That is what I grew up believing.

Several years ago, I heard Ken Ham saying that there was only one race but I didn’t really believe him.  I thought he was just some crazy creationist.  Then, I heard the head of the science department at A & T say exactly same thing taught in the science classroom.  This is something that both creationists and evolutionists agree on.  There is one race.  It is a scientific fact. There is no such thing as different races.  It is a biological myth.

We do have different skin colors but that is different from races.  Dividing people up by race is actually a modern idea and it has absolutely no basis in genetics.  How do we know?  Science has taught us two shocking things.

The first fact is this.  Humans are 99.9% similar.  A recent study demonstrated this.  There is only a .1% difference of genetic difference between humans.  Racial characterizes, like skin color, make up six percent of this .1% which amounts to .01% genetic difference.

The second fact is this.  Most genetic variation among humans occurs within the same population.   There is more genetic variation within groups than between groups.  There is more genetic variation between two random people from China than a person from China and Russia.[2]

The Bible teaches that we are all one race.  Genesis 10 shows a division of the world, not based on race but based on families and nations (10:5).  It is a division of families, languages, lands and nations (10:20).  The division in this chapter is geographic, linguistic and political, not racial.

The Bible teaches that we are all ONE RACE which descended from one original pair of humans.  Acts 17:26 says, “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings” (NKJV).

Paul says that we are all “one blood” (Acts 17:26).  We divide ourselves into races but we are all one blood.  We are many sizes and shapes, many colors, many religions, many gifts and abilities.  We come from many nations, but all one blood.  In the Bible, the word “race” is a verb.  It is something you run. The only race in the Bible is the race you run.  It is a competition, not a complexion.  We are to run the race set before us.

There is only one problem.  Most bible translations do not read “one blood” in Acts 17:26. We do not know for sure if the word “blood” is in the Greek text.  It is part of the Western Text and the Majority Text but some of the oldest manuscripts do not have the word “blood” in it.  The NASB, ESV, NIV, NLT, and TLB read “one man”.

The NRSB reads “one ancestor”.  It doesn’t matter which translation you use.  They both say the same thing.  If all humans came from Adam and Eve, as the Bible teaches, then all humans descended from one blood line.  We all came from one family.  It would mean that all people are related by blood. They are all related genetically. The black African is the same blood as the white European.   That is why I can receive a blood transfusion from someone from Africa or China.  Blood transfusions are race neutral.

3. Racism is unbiblical.

If we are all one family and if there are no races, there is no basis for racism.  It is wrong morally, scientifically and biblically.  Racism takes many different forms.  It is not limited to someone in a white hood.  It is all rooted in pride.  One group thinks they are better than another group.

It takes place when one group looks down on and despises another group.  We can do that to an individual.  We can also do that to a whole group of people.  You can and should be patriotic.  It is one thing to root for your country in the Olympics.  It is another thing to despise and belittle another group of people.

4. God is sovereign over nations.

Nations began in Genesis 10. The chapter lists 70 nations and where they came from.  There are about 200 nations in the world today.  He is sovereign over who rules each country.  Daniel 4:25 says, “The Most High God is ruler over every kingdom on earth, and he gives those kingdoms to anyone he chooses.”

He is sovereign over where each country lives.  Acts 17:26 says, “God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live.”

God is in control were nations live and how long they live.  Some nations have died. There are no more Philistines.  They died out.  The Girgashites and Amorites not longer exist.  The ancient Egyptians used to be a world power.  Egypt used to rule the world but it is not even a superpower today.

Spain and Portugal used to be world powers in the 15th and 16th century but are not any more.  The question worth thinking about is this.  How long will our country last? Will the USA always have the power and influence that it does now?  Is it in a period of decline?


[1] Arthur C. Custance, Noah’s Three Sons: Human History in Three Dimensions (Zondervan, 1975).

First Scandal – Part II

Last week, we began looking at one of the strangest stories in the Bible. The one who walked with God and was perfect in his generation became drunk and naked. The preacher of righteousness passes out. I said last week that this is definitely not a bible story for children. This story of Noah is X-rated. It involves nudity.  We will be talking about some adult topics today.

This week, we want to look at the reaction of Noah’s sons to his son. They had two different reactions. We will start with his son Ham. We will see what he did and what he did not do.

We will then look at the reaction of his other brothers and Noah’s prophecy to both of them. We will look at what the prophecy means and how it has been abused by people. Then, I want to look at some applications. What is the point of this story? What lessons can we learn from it? There are several. Let’s begin with Ham. What was his reaction?

Ham’s Reaction

“And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside” (9:22).

Genesis 9:21 gives us Noah’s sin. Genesis 9:22 gives us Ham’s reaction. What was Ham’s reaction? He does four things. He walks in on his dad. He sees him naked. He doesn’t do anything to cover him and then went and told his brothers about it.

He took advantage of his father’s weakness and broadcast it. Instead of covering his father’s nakedness, he exposed it. It is hard for us to understand this today because we have little sense of shame or even of modesty. Nakedness is not a big a deal to us as it was in Noah’s day. We have become immune to it because it is so prevalent in our day. It was much more serious in the Ancient Near East.

The sin of Ham was not what he saw. The sin of Ham was what he SAID after saw his naked father and perhaps HOW he said it. To accidentally see someone naked is not a crime. It cannot be prevented.

The problem is that apparently Ham took pleasure in his father’s nakedness and went and told his brothers with delight. He not only did not cover his dad, he exposed him even further. What was his sin? He broke the Fifth Commandment.

Did Ham Commit Homosexuality?

Are you ready to go a little deeper? Some take this one step further and say that Ham not only looked on the nakedness of his father, he did something much worse. He raped his father and committed a homosexual act.

Some preachers use this passage to preach against homosexuality. They believe that he committed incest. He committed homosexual rape. It is not just a modern interpretation of this passage by some scholars. It goes back to an old Jewish Rabbinic interpretation (Babylonian Talmud).

It is a popular interpretation in some circles. They have some very interesting arguments. We can look at some of them and then decide if they are valid. What are some of the arguments for this view?

In the Bible, the phrase “to uncover someone’s nakedness” is a euphemism for sex (Leviticus 18:6-19). Seventeen times in this chapter, it is an idiom in Hebrew for sex. The chapter even talks about people who uncover the nakedness of their father (18:7).

Genesis 9:24 says, “When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him.” Some argue that the words “done to” suggest something more than merely looking and talking. They must refer to a sexual sin. If he just looked at him when he was asleep, there would be no way Noah would have known this. Did Ham commit homosexuality in Genesis 9?

That all depends on whether you take Genesis 9:22 literally or figuratively. When Genesis says that Ham “saw the nakedness of his father,” does this mean what it says or is this an idiom for some kind of sexual act? Is it literal or is it a euphemism?

It makes perfect sense to take it literally and the verse that comes immediately after it confirms that interpretation. Shem and Japheth did not see his nakedness. Genesis 9:23 is definitely literal and it is the exact opposite of what Ham did. It had to be literal because they walked backwards.

I personally do NOT believe that Ham committed homosexuality in Genesis 9 for several reasons.

1) Ham was a heterosexual, not a homosexual.

All of the evidence that we have is that Ham was a heterosexual. He was married. He had a wife and kids.

2) Ham does not uncover anyone’s nakedness, he merely witnesses it.

It says that he “saw the nakedness of his father.” It does NOT say that “Ham uncovered the nakedness of his father.” In fact, the phrase “to uncover the nakedness” is not found in Genesis 9 at all.

3) If Ham did attack his father, he would not immediately go and announce it to his brothers.

That would make him look bad. Ham does not want to make him look bad. He wants to make his dad look bad by pointing out that he is naked and drunk in his tent. He wants to make him look better than his dad. He is mocking and ridiculing his dad. He may have resented him or thought he was a hypocrite.

Shem and Japheth’s Reaction

Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness” (9:23)

What did Shem and Japheth do? Let’s take a closer look at their actions? There is one thing they did and one thing they did not do. Not only did they go in and cover their father, but they proceeded in backwards so they would be able to say that they had never seen their father naked.

They showed respect for their father, even when he was intoxicated. They preserved their father’s dignity and honor by covering him but they did not look on him. Can you blame him? Who would want to look on the body of a nine hundred year naked antediluvian?

Ham did not honor his father and his mother. He had no respect for his father. He had nothing but contempt for his father. He mocked him. He joked about Noah’s nakedness to his brothers. Disrespect to parents is a serious sin. Disrespect to parents is quite common in our day. They disrespect parents in words, in actions, in gestures. They have mock and ridicule their parents.

This was a big deal to God. In the OT, this was a crime punishable by death (Exodus 21:15; Deuteronomy 21:18-21). The Bible takes this very seriously. Deuteronomy 27:16 says, “‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

Noah’s Prophecy

When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. And he said: ‘Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servant.’” (9:24-25).

We looked at Noah’s sin. We looked at Ham’s sin and now we see Noah’s prophecy, which happen to be his only recorded words in Scripture. He was drunk with wine and now he is filled with the Holy Spirit and utters a prophecy.

The Curse on Canaan

“Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers” (9:25).

It begins with a curse on Canaan. Who was Canaan? He was one of Ham’s children (9:18). He had four sons (10:6). His fourth son was under a curse. He was his baby. He may have been Ham’s favorite son.

Why was Canaan Cursed? What did Canaan do to be cursed? Why didn’t Noah curse Ham? Instead of cursing his son, he cursed his grandson. The father Ham was the one who sinned but the son was the one who was cursed. That doesn’t seem fair.

It seems like Noah got mad at his son and cursed his innocent grandson instead. This seems hard to understand but it makes perfect sense if you understand several things.

1) This is not really a curse.

It is not really a curse as we think of a curse today (casting a spell on someone). It is more of a prediction, although the word “curse” is used in the text (9:25). It is a prophecy.

2) This not really a curse on Canaan.

This is a prediction of some things that one day will happen to Canaan’s descendants. Canaan was not directly punished. Shem was not directly rewarded for his behavior. The blessing does not go to Shem but to Shem’s God.

It goes to the God of Shem (9:26). All of these promises went to their descendants. It is a prediction of what would happen down through the course of time to their descendants. Neither the blessings, nor the curse in this passage went to the sons or grandson directly.

3) The punishment did NOT take place until it was deserved.

Then the Lord said to him, ‘Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.'” (Genesis 15:13-16 NIV)

God gave Abraham the Promised Land but would not kick the Canaanites out of the Land or make them the slaves of the Jews until “the sin of the Amorites was full”.  The punishment ONLY went to Canaan’s descendants and it ONLY went to them when they were so wicked that God had to punish them.  This was not an arbitrary punishment on a group for what someone else did.

 The Abuse of the Bible

This is one of the most abused passages in the Bible. Many think that this is a racial curse and believe that blacks are doomed to perpetual servitude. In the 18th and 19th century, this verse was used to justify black slavery in America. Africa is called “the land of Ham.”

This passage in Genesis was a favorite text of Southern preachers before the Civil War. They said that it is not wrong to have blacks as slaves, since their ancestor was cursed by God. Genesis justifies them being slaves or does it? What is the problem?

1. The curse had nothing to do with skin color.

How do we know? Ham had four kids (10:6) but only one of them were cursed, Canaan. Presumably, all of Canaan’s three brothers had the same skin color as he had but they were NOT cursed. This curse has to do with sin, not skin color. It has nothing to do with blackness or with dark skin.

2. The Canaanites are no longer exist.

They are extinct, so it would be incorrect to apply this curse to another group of people and try to subjugate them.

3. The curse was not on Ham but on Canaan.

There was no curse on Ham. The curse of Ham is a myth. Why is that significant? Some of Ham’s descendants were black. They were not cursed. This curse is limited to Canaan and his descendants. They were not black. Canaan was the forefather of the Canaanites who lived in the Land of Canaan.

They were white. Any historian will tell you that. This curse has nothing to do with race. If it had to do with race, it would be all of Ham’s descendants. The curse was national, not racial. It had to do with a nation. It had to do with the enemies of Israel who lived in the Promise Land in the days of Joshua. They became their slaves when the Jews conquered the Land of Canaan in 1400 BC.

What lesson do we learn from this? There is a very important lesson here and unfortunately many Christians do not understand this. The Bible is abused by many people. It is used to all kinds of things.

  • The Bible has been used to justify sin.
  • The Bible has been used to justify racism.
  • The Bible has been used to justify murder. The Bible has been used to justify some of the worst atrocities.
  • The Bible has been used to justify anti-semitism. Some used it to persecute Jews because they were “Christ killers.”
  • The Bible has been used to justify hate.
  • The Bible was used to justify the Inquisition. It was used it to justify burning people at the stake who have a different interpretation of Scripture.
  • The Bible has been used to justify sexual immorality. Some have used it to justify living together before getting married. “We are married in the eyes of God, so why do we need a piece of paper that says we are married?”
  • The Bible has been used to justify homosexuality (as verses are taken out of context).
  • The Bible has been used to justify polygamy (because many people in the Bible had multiple wives).
  • The Bible has been used to justify an unbiblical tolerance. Jesus said, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Since Jesus said “Don’t Judge,” it must be wrong to take a moral stand on anything, because that would be judging people.
  • The Bible has been used to justify bigotry and prejudice. Some have used it to say that you cannot marry someone from another race. Many churches in the past used to support slavery and segregation. It is pretty bad when you use the Bible to justify oppression and injustice. It is pretty bad when you use the Bible to mistreat people.

Many say that the problem is with the Bible. That is wrong. The problem is NOT with the Bible. David said, “The Law of the Lord is PERFECT” (Psalm 19:7). Paul said that the Law is “HOLY, JUST and GOOD” (Romans 7:12).

David said, “The words of the Lord are PURE, like silver refined in a furnace and purified seven times” (Psalm 12:7). Psalm 119:140 says, “Your Word is VERY PURE, therefore your servant loves it.” The problem is not with the Bible.

The problem is with people who abuse the Bible. They use it to justify sin and wickedness. That is why it is very important that we know what the Bible really teaches and what it does not teach. We need to be able to rightly handle God’s Word so we are not deceived by false teachers who quote passages, rip them out of their context, and use them to teach unbiblical doctrines or even to justify sin.

The Blessing of Shem and Japheth

Shem means name in Hebrew. Shem is given precedence over his brothers. The Messiah came through the line of Shem, not through Ham or through Japheth. This blessing was primarily spiritual. Salvation was brought to the earth through Shem, although there were some territorial blessing as well. God granted Shem’s descendants the land of Canaan.

Japheth was also blessed. The name Japheth means “enlargement.” His blessing was primarily territorial. His descendants occupied most of the earth’s surface (Europe and Asia). The western world (Greeks, Romans, Europe and America) came from Japheth.

 Seven Lessons from Noah’s Fall

1) Do not drink too much.

The Bible says that drinking is not a sin. It gives us permission to drink, as long as we do not cause someone to stumble but excessive drinking can lead to a whole host of problems (health problems, financial problems, family problems, spiritual problems).

2) Don’t rely on past service to God.

Noah walked with God for hundreds of years. He was a godly man. He stood against the wickedness of the world before the Flood by himself but Noah wasn’t perfect. Just because he walked with God in the past did not prevent him from sinning in the future.

I Corinthians 10:12 says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” Beware of spiritual pride.  If Noah could fall, so could we.  Peter was an example of this. Jesus said that he was going to deny him three times. Peter claimed to know more than Jesus. He said, “Jesus, you are wrong. Even if all fall, because of you, I will never fall” (Matthew 26:33).

3) Honor your parents.

Keep the Fifth Commandment.  We should honor our parents, even when they are dishonorable even when they may disappoint us.

4) Don’t celebrate when someone falls into sin.

When we see someone sin, we secretly gloat over it because it makes us feel better and then we and broadcast it to everyone else and we feel even better.

Obadiah 1:12 says, “You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.” I Corinthians 13:6 says, “Love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices in the truth.”

5) There are no perfect parents.

Noah was a righteous man. He was a good parent but he was not a perfect parent. In this chapter, he was a disgrace to his kids. He was not a perfect father.

6) There are no perfect families.

Noah’s family was not perfect. It had the godly Shem and Japheth. It also had the wicked Ham in it. Adam’s family was not perfect either. His family was dysfunctional.  Their first two sons were Cain and Abel. One was righteous and one was wicked. One was a murderer and one was a martyr.  If your family is a little screwed up, you are in good company.

7) Parents can pass behavior traits down to their kids.

The depraved bent of the parents can be passed down to their children, if it is not curbed or checked. We could call is spiritual DNA. A violent parent can produce a violent child. A parent who swears all of the time will produce kids who swear all of the time. Ham had a son who was just like him, not just physically but morally.  Kids often walk in the sins of the parents (cf. I Kings 15:3; 17:22).

Canaan was the one of his kids who was most like him in this area. He followed in the sin of his parents. Some of Ham’s descendants would be just like him. In fact, they would be even worse. The Canaanites were known for incredible depravity and sexual perversion (child sacrifice, gang rape, temple prostitution, homosexuality, incest).

 

First Scandal – Part I

Our passage today is short.  It is only ten verses.  When I first read it, I was not sure I had enough material to spend a whole week on it.  The more I studied this passage, the more I discovered that this passage has a lot in it.  It is very relevant to our own day.  This passage is full of practical applications for us today.  There are a lot of things we can learn here and apply to our own lives.

Before we look at our passage, let’s look at the setting of the story.  When did all of this take place?  It took place after the Flood.  It took place after they got off of the ark but it did not happen right away.  Last week, we learned that Genesis 9 covers a 350 year period, because Noah is 600 when he gets off of the ark and 950 when he dies at the end of the chapter.

Several things happen before these verse take place.  Ham had to have a few kids.  Canaan was Ham’s fourth son (10:6) and was probably a young man when this took place.  That all took some time.  There are other things that have to happen.

Noah has to become a farmer.  He has to plant a vineyard.  He had to harvest a crop.  Then, he had to gather it and extract the juice from the grapes.  Time had to elapse in order for it to ferment into wine. The Noah had to drink the wine in excessive amounts and become drunk.

Before we dig into this text, I want to give you a little warning.  This is of the strangest stories in the Bible.  It is a little shocking.  It is even disturbing.  Noah gets drunk and passes out naked in his tent.  This is not a bible story for kids.  There is a reason for that.  This story of Noah is X rated.  It involves nudity.  They were not taught this one in Sunday School.

Why is this even in the Bible?  The Bible doesn’t try to hide the truth.  It tells it like it is.  It doesn’t try to make the saints look better than they are or cover up their mistakes.  It does not hide the faults of even the greatest saints (Moses, David, Peter).

It is also a very difficult passage.  It is controversial.  There are many different interpretations of this passage.  I spent the week reading all sides.  I will tell you what I think is going on in this passage.  We may not all agree.

There are many questions that come right out of the passage.  Some we may be able to answer and some we may not be able to answer because the text does not tell us.  This is also a very misunderstood passage.  Many try to read things in the passage that it does not say.

One thing is clear from this passage.  The Noah that we read about in these verses seems very different from the Noah that we are familiar with from the previous chapters.  The biblical Noah is larger than life.  He builds a boat bigger than a football field and makes it several stories tall and he lived four thousand years ago.

When we think of Noah, we think of a spiritual giant who triumphed over evil before the Flood.  We think of him as a hero of the faith and as a man who walked with God.  In this chapter, we see a very human Noah.  These verses bring Noah down to earth.  We see a Noah with flaws and imperfections.  In this chapter, we see Noah drunk as a skunk.

We put Noah on a pedestal but he was really just like us.  James said the same thing about the prophet Elijah.  He was one of the greatest prophets in the OT.  He performed miracles, raised the dead.  He controlled the weather by his prayers, stopped the rain for three and a half years.

James says that he was human just like us.  James 5:17-18 says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”

The Noah is this chapter is a little different from the one we have seen previously.  This Noah does three things he has not done in the earlier chapters of Genesis.

1) Noah plants a vineyard.

He does some farming in this section.  We are used to picturing Noah as a shipbuilder, an architect, an engineer or a carpenter.  Here we see him as a farmer for the first time.  He plants a vineyard (9:20).  That is new for Noah in Genesis.  It was probably his occupation before the Flood.  He just went back to it.  Was he the first one ever to grow wine?  We do not know.  The text does not tell us.

According to the Babylonian Flood story, they took wine with them on the ark.  The Bible doesn’t say if he was the first to make wine. If he was unaware of the intoxicating effects of wine, that may explain why there is not a word of criticism of Noah for being drunk.  Genesis does not say if this was the case.

2) Noah gets drunk.

“Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent” (9:20-21).  That is new.  That is not like the Noah we saw before.  The last thing that we saw Noah doing in Genesis 8 is to worship God.  He built God an altar and offered Him a sacrifice.  In Genesis 9, we do not seem him worshiping.  We see him completely wasted.  That is a different picture of Noah.

The preacher of righteousness is found drunk and naked. The one who walked with God is found in his birthday suit, drunk and passed out. The one who was called “perfect in his generation” in Genesis 6:9 is far from perfect here.  Noah behaves badly.  Matthew Henry said, “Noah, who had kept sober in drunken company, is now drunk in sober company.”

Life Lessons from Noah’s Fall

1. Believers are not immune to sin.

Believers are not immune to sin, even the grossest of sins.  This includes everyone.  It includes apostles.  It even includes preachers.  Noah was called in the NT a preacher of righteousness.  Righteous Noah was not immune from sin.

Noah was a believer.  He was not immune to drunkenness.  David was a believer and he was not immune to adultery and murder.  Peter was a believer and he was not immune to lying about his Christian Faith.  We can’t criticize Noah for what he did.  We have a sin nature like he did and are capable of the same thing.

2) Mature believers are not immune to sin.

It includes godly saints like Noah who walked with God for years.  He lived righteously for over 600 years but had a moral lapse when he was older. Just because you served God when you were younger is not guarantee that you will not act like a fool when you are older and, as they they say, “there’s no fool like an old fool.”

Many mature believers have fallen into deep sin when they were older.  James Montgomery Boice writes, “Moses sinned late in life by striking the rock and taking some of God’s glory to himself, as a result of which he was not permitted to enter into the Promised Land.  David sinned with Bathsheba when he was in his 50s.  Solomon departed from the will of God when he was old”[1] and started worshiping idols and building temples to them to satisfy all of his pagan wives.

 Lessons on Wine

This is the first time the word “wine” (yayin) is used in the Bible.  What do we learn about wine from this passage?  One, we learn that it is intoxicating.  Many people say that the wine in the Bible was different from the wine today.

They say that the word “wine” in the Bible simply means grape juice.  The very first time in the Bible the word is used we clearly see that wine is not grape juice.  Noah got drunk off of it.  He passed out.  We see that in Genesis 9:24.  He woke from his wine, not from his sleep.

Second, we learn that it is dangerous when abused.  When people drink excessive amounts of alcohol, they do things that they would not normally do when they are sober.  It can lead to shame.  It can ruin your testimony.  It can affect your relationship with your kids.  It can cause family problems.  It can affect our judgment and even our health.

Does this mean that we should never drink?  Is it a sin to drink alcohol? Baptists love this passage.  They get to talk about Noah and the bottle and preach all their anti-liquor sermons on the evils of booze.  The first time the word “wine” is used in the Bible is in a negative context.  It is not associated with joy or blessing but with something sinful and shameful.

If that was the only verse in the Bible on wine, we might conclude it is sinful but there are many other verses in the Bible on the subject.  Jesus drank wine.  It is part of Passover.  He turned water into wine.  He did not turn it into some cheap wine but the best wine (John 2:10) and Jesus did not just turn one glass of water into this really good wine.

He made an enormous quantity of wine. He turned six huge stone water pots of water into wine.  These six water pots contained one hundred and fifty gallons of water.  One hundred and fifty gallons would be five bath tubs full of water (since an average bath tub will hold approximately thirty gallons of water) or about seven hundred and thirty bottles of wine.

It is true that there are some passages in which wine is viewed in a negative context.  Genesis 9 is one passage.  Proverbs 23:29-35 is another passage in which wine is spoken of in a negative context.

In other passages, wine has a positive connotation.  It is a sign of joy in the Bible.  Psalm 104:14-15 says, “He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts” (NIV).

Ecclesiastes 9:7 says, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do” (NIV).

It is also a sign of God’s blessing.  Proverbs 3:7-10 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (NIV).

The Bible does not condemn drinking.  It condemns drunkenness.  Ephesians 5 says “Do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  It does NOT say “do not drink wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

3) Noah speaks.

He says something.  Up to this point, Noah has not spoken at all.  Noah makes some predictions.  Noah gives a prophecy in these verses.  Noah is not only a preacher, he is a prophet.  This is the only time Noah speaks in the Bible.  These are his only recorded words.

In the NT, Noah is called “a preacher of righteousness” but we do not have any of his sermons.  This is the only time he speaks.  He blesses two of his sons (Shem and Japheth).  He also curses one of his grandsons (Canaan).

That seems a little strange.  We will see why he did this later.  If we didn’t have this chapter, we would not even know that Noah had the gift of prophecy.  What is even stranger is when he uttered this prophecy.

He did it as soon as he was sober.  Noah was passed out.  He woke from his wine, not his sleep and uttered a prophecy.  That is usually not the time when most prophecies are given.   Next week, we will look at two different reactions to Noah’s sin on the part of his sons.


[1] James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary, 319.

Life after the Flood

We come to a very interesting chapter in God’s Word. It is fascinating. It begins with a COVENANT. It ends with a CURSE It covers a period of 350 fifty years. When Noah gets off of the ark in Genesis 8, he is 600 years old. At the end of this chapter, Noah dies at the age of 950. We have the first covenant in the Bible here, the Rainbow Covenant.

This chapter gives us life after the flood. Noah gets off the ark and there are only eight people on the planet.  There are eight billion on it today.

After the Flood, God makes a covenant with man.  He gives rules for man after the Flood. There are some things in this passage that is controversial. Animal rights activists don’t like this passage, because it sanctions the killing of animals for food.

Others may not like it because it supports capital punishment. There are many people, even some people of faith, who are opposed to the death penalty. It is clearly taught in this chapter.

A New Commandment after the Flood

This chapter deals with four things: commandments (rules for man after the Flood), a covenant (Rainbow Covenant), a crime and a curse. We will deal with the first two today. We will look at the next two next week.

I want to begin by looking at the covenant that God made with Noah. Let’s read is found in Genesis 9:11-17. The word covenant occurs seven times in this chapter (9:9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17). It is a legal agreement.

It is called the Noahic Covenant. Genesis 6:18 mentioned God making a covenant with Noah. God says to Noah “I will establish my covenant with you.” There are many covenants in the Bible (Mosaic Covenant, Davidic Covenant, and The New Covenant). This is the first covenant that is mentioned in the Bible. It is different from all of the other covenants in Scripture in several ways.

1. It is a gracious covenant

Notice what this does NOT say. This covenant has nothing to do with salvation. It has to do with God not killing people with a worldwide flood. God does not promise never to send a flood. He did not promise never to send a flood which would kill anyone.

He did not promise never to judge anyone for sin. He wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah. God says that he will never send another worldwide flood that will kill everyone. That is infinite grace on God’s part. Why did He send the Flood the first time? Man was wicked. Guess what? He has not changed.

God said in Genesis 8:21, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done” (NIV).

This is a covenant of grace. That is what the rainbow symbolizes. In the midst of a terrible storm is the sign of God’s grace. We do not realize this but a bow is a weapon. It is used in hunting, in archery and, in the ancient world, it was used in war. This bow is not pointed towards earth. A rainbow is pointed towards heaven.

God says “never again” will He send another worldwide flood In fact, He says “never again” three times. He says it twice in Genesis 9:11 and once in Genesis 9:15.

No matter how much man deserves to be destroyed, no matter how bad man gets or how many atrocities he commits, God will NEVER send a flood like this on the earth. That is grace on God’s part. It is not based on anything that man does and there is nothing man does which can change it.

2. It is a universal covenant

This covenant is all-inclusive. It includes everyone. It includes Jews and Gentles. The Mosaic Covenant was a covenant that God made just with the Jews. This one includes everyone. In fact, it is so inclusive, it even includes animals and even to the earth itself (9:13). Three times God says that this covenant is for “every living creature” (9:12, 15, 16).

The sign of the covenant is universal (a rainbow). It is not a national or local sign. You can imagine their fear when the first thunderstorm stuck. All they had to do was look up in the sky for the sign. It is just a sign. It does not keep the water from coming down. It is a reminder that God will never do this again.

3. It is an eternal covenant

This covenant does not just cover all people and animals in Noah’s day, it includes all people and animals for all of time “for all generations to come” (9:12). This covenant lasts forever. It is eternal. It is called “an everlasting covenant” (9:16 NIV).

It is not a temporary covenant, like the Mosaic Covenant, which was abolished by the death of Christ. The NT says that Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness.  It does not say that he is the end of the Noahic Covenant.

4. It is an unconditional covenant.

God promised not to ever flood the earth again with no strings attached. There were no conditions to that promise. This promise is not based on anything that Noah does or any of his descendants do. The Mosaic Covenant was a conditional covenant. It said, “If you obey me, I will bless you. If you disobey me, I will curse you.” This covenant is completely unconditional.

When Noah and his family get off of the ark, they are in a brand new world. The old world is gone and man gets a fresh start, a new beginning. There are many ways in which Adam and Noah are similar. I did not realize this for until recently but Adam and Noah have some interesting parallels.

Parallels Between Adam and Noah 

1. Both lived about a thousand years.

Adam lived to be 930 (5:5). Noah lived to be 950 (9:28). Noah was the third oldest person to ever live.  Methuselah lived to be 969 (5:27). Enoch’s dad Jared lived to be 962 (5:20). Noah lived to be 950 years  old.

2. Both were married.

Both had wives (2:25; 3:8; 6:18; 7:7; 8:16). We know who Adam’s wife was (Eve) but we are not told who Noah’s wife was. She is nameless. She was not Joan of Arc. We do know a little about her from Jewish tradition. According to Rabbinic Judaism, her name was Naamah,[1] the same name in the recent Noah movie.

According to another Jewish tradition, her name was Emzara (Jubilees 4:33). The Book of Tobit 4:12 says that she was one of his relatives. Jubilees 4:33 says that she was the daughter of her father’s brother. Unfortunately, there is no way to verify the accuracy of this tradition.

3. Both had three sons.

Adam had Cain, Abel and Seth (4:1-2,25). Noah had Shem, Ham, Japheth (5:32; 9:18). Jesus was a descendant of one of Adam’s sons (Seth) and one of Noah’s sons (Shem), according to Luke 3:36, 38.

4. Both were the father of the human race.

Everyone on the planet is a descendant of Adam (Acts 17:26) and
everyone is a descendant of Noah (10:32).

5. Both were told to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth (1:28; 9:1, 7).

6. Both were gardeners.

God placed Adam in the garden to dress and keep it (2:15). Noah planted something as well. He was a man of the soil as well. He planted a vineyard (9:20). They shared the same profession.

7. Both walked with God.

The Bible says that Noah walked (6:9) with God but so did Adam. He walked with God in the garden (3:8). He met God regularly in the cool of the day.

8. Both had a prohibition dealing with food.

Adam was told not to eat the fruit from a particular tree (2:16-17).Noah was told not to eat the blood found in meat (9:4).

8. Both had a fall.

Both had a fall and the fall was similar. They both sinned by eating. Adam ate the forbidden fruit (3:6) and Noah became drunk with alcohol (9:21).

Both had a weakness for food. They had a similar stumbling block. Noah had a weakness for alcohol. Adam was judged for his sin but Noah was not for some reason. The one who is judged is Noah’s grandson  Canaan.

9. Both were found naked after they sinned.

The sin of Adam resulted in the exposure of his nakedness (3:7, 10). Noah’s nakedness was uncovered because of his sin (9:21, 23). They both experienced shame after they sinned.

10. Both received a covering for their nakedness.

Adam was covered by God with animal skins (3:21) and Noah was covered by two of his sons Shem and Japheth (9:23).


[1] Genesis Rabbah Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 23:3); Jashar 5:15.

New Commandments after the Flood

1) A New Commission (9:1, 7)

What is the commission Noah and his family was given? Reproduce, multiply and fill the earth. Keep in mind that when Noah got off of the ark, he was living in a completely new world. There were only eight people in it. God wanted the earth to be full of people and He did not want them all to stay in one place. He wanted them to repopulate the world and to spread out over the entire planet.

2) A New Relationship (9:2)

After the Flood, there was a new relationship between animals and man. Before this, they had a loving relationship. Now, it was a relationship of feat on the part of animals, as people start to hunt animals. They are afraid that man might eat them. Animals act by instinct. When they become objects of prey, they naturally flee from their predator. Love has been replaced by fear and dread.

There is only one problem. God said, “The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon EVERY beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon EVERYTHING that creeps on the ground and ALL the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.” Some animals do not flee from man but attack him.

Domesticated animals are pets. Genesis says that EVERY beast would fear man. Is this an error? No. Even Genesis recognizes this fact. It recognizes that some animals kill people (9:5). It is a generalization. There are exceptions to this but the exceptions only prove the rule.

3) A New Diet (9:3)

God says, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything” (ESV). This is the first time that God said that it was okay to eat meat. People before this time probably ate meat. They did a lot of things they were not supposed to before the Flood but this was the first time God gave man permission to do this.

He didn’t command it. If people want to be vegetarians, they have that freedom but God says that you are allowed to eat meat. Even Jesus ate meat. Jesus was not a vegetarian. He ate fish (Luke 24:42-43) and he ate lamb (Luke 22:8-15). Jews eat lamb at Passover. You have the permission of God and the example of Jesus to eat meat.

4) A New Restriction (9:4)

Genesis 9:4 says, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” God says, “You can eat meat, but you have to drain the blood out first.” Why? Blood is sacred. It has symbolic significance. God says not to eat raw meat. He does not say to do this for medical reasons but for religious reasons. This prohibition is not for health reasons but because of what blood represents (a beating heart). Respect for life means abstaining from blood.

Does this command still apply today to us? Is it still binding today? Do we need to avoid rare stakes? I believe that this command does still apply today for two main reasons. One, this command goes back to Noah. It was given long before Moses. It predates Moses. It is not limited to the Jews. Two, the NT imposed this rule on Gentiles at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:20, 29). If that no longer applies today, then neither do the rules against idolatry or sexual immorality.

5) A New Punishment (9:5-6)

Here God gives man a new punishment for crime. Genesis 9:5-6 says, “And FOR YOUR LIFEBLOOD I WILL REQUIRE A RECKONING: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. WHOEVER SHEDS THE BLOOD OF MAN, by man SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED, for God made man in his own image.” Now this is new. Cain killed someone and God did not require his lifeblood. Now He does.

Now God is the only one who can take life. He created life and He is the only one who can take it away but here God gives man the authority to legally take the life of another man who kills someone. That is very significant.

After the Flood, God establishes the death penalty for murder. He says that He will exact punishment for murder and authorizes people to execute people who commit this crime. When they do this, they act as his representatives, His servants. We see this in Romans 13.

In fact, they are even called “ministers of God” (KJV) or God’s servants’ (13:4, 6). That is very interesting. They may not know they are God’s servants. They may not even be saved but God calls them his servants. They do his will when they protect citizens and punish criminals. God calls Police officers ministers.

They are not ordained ministers but they are still ministers. They have a ministry from God (the ministry of government or law enforcement). They are God’s ministers for justice. In fact, Paul uses the word διάκονός in Romans 13:4 for servant. It is the same word that is used for the office in the church.

Government leaders are God’s servants. Was Hitler God’s servant? Was Saddam Hussein God’s servant? Yes. They were in the position of government. Positionally, they were God’s servants. That does not mean that they are good servants. There are some righteous servants and wicked servants. Some servants are abusive. Some governments are abusive.

They abuse their authority. Paul knew about the abuse of political authority. Paul’s head was cut off by a Roman sword. Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers. People can abuse their authority. A parent can abuse his or her authority. The police can abuse their authority. A pastor can abuse his authority but they still have an authority given to them by God.

After the Flood, God instituted the death penalty for murder. It does not give us a lot of details. It does not tell us how they are to be killed or what evidence is needed to convict them. It does give us a reason. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, FOR GOD MADE MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE.”

When you kill someone you destroy the image of God. When you kill someone, you are attacking the image of God. It’s an indirect attack on God Himself. It demonstrates the value of human life. Human life is sacred. This command has never been rescinded. Jesus never annulled it and Paul affirmed it in Romans 13.

Critics of the death penalty raise some objections to the death penalty. They say that it is not a deterrent to crime. It is true that in many cases execution is not a deterrent to crime. They are right but that is not the reason given here for capital punishment. In fact, in this passage, animals who kill people were to be put to death (9:5). That certainly would not deter animals from killing people in the future.

Critics again argue that this is a contradiction. How can you be pro life and support the death penalty? Killing a murderer actually upholds the value of life. It says that the crime is so serious that it warrants the ultimate penalty that society can impose and protects society from deadly predators.

Would Jesus support the death penalty? Of course, he would. It is biblical. Jesus was under the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses clearly taught the death penalty. He could not have taught anything contrary to the Law of Moses. He was born under the Law. Remember Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill them”.

Other critics would say, if he supported the death penalty, then why did he not support the death penalty for the woman taken in adultery? He did. He said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. He didn’t say that no stone should be cast. He didn’t say that this is a barbaric practice. No one should ever be executed for any reason.

He simply didn’t enforce the penalty in this case because it was clearly a set up. They said that they caught the woman in the very act but only brought the woman and not the man before Jesus. It takes two people to commit adultery. The OT Law said that both were to be stoned. Not only was the woman set up but the question was designed to trap Jesus (8:6).

People ask the question: Would Jesus pull the switch? What is the problem here? The Jesus that many envision would not do this. Many picture Jesus as completely passive, gentle, harmless, peaceful and non-violent. He would never hurt anyone. He accepts everyone. He doesn’t judge anyone.

That is not the Jesus of history. It is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible will return one day to earth on a white horse. His eyes are blazing like fire. He is angry. He returns to makes war. When he returns, people die. A with a sword comes out of his mouth and He kills people. That doesn’t sound very meek and mild.

Others would say that the Law of Moses may teach the death penalty but we are not under the Law. The NT clearly says that the Law has been abolished. That is true but the death penalty does not go back to Moses. It goes back to the time of Noah. God gave that command to Noah, along with some other commands and these commands are still in effect today.

6) A New Institution (9:5-6)

What is the new institution? Human government. Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, BY MAN shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (ESV) We are not given a lot of details here. Which men will do the executing? How will they do it? What evidence will they use to convict the guilty?

We are not told any of that information. All we are told is that for the first time a group of people will function as judges to punish criminals. If they can punish greater crimes (like murder), they can punish lesser crimes as well. This is where government begins.

It was created by God. It was his idea. Man did not invent government. It is not a social contract, like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes taught. That is the secular view. Government, like the family is a divine institution. The family, the church and the state are all God-ordained authority structures in the world today. If government is created by God, it must be good.

Anarchy is bad. Anarchists want to live in a world without government. You can do what you want. You do not have anyone telling you what to do. That means no one can give you a ticket for speeding.

It means you don’t have to pay your taxes. Total freedom sounds good but in a world with no government and no law enforcement, there is also no safety and no order. Everyone does what is right in his own eyes. There is no protection form crime.

Government is created by God and is good. That does not mean that God approves of everything that people do in government. It does not mean that governments have absolute power and can do whatever they want.

Government is not God. It only has power that God gives it but the idea of government is good. It is ordained by God. It is established by God, according to Romans 13. It started in Genesis 9. That passage does not tell us everything about government. It doesn’t tell us what is the best form of government.

God Speaks to Noah

We have been studying the topic of the Flood.  It is the third topic in Genesis.  Genesis has three whole chapters devoted to this topic.  There are only two chapters devoted to Creation (Genesis 1-2) and only one chapter devoted to the Fall (Genesis 3) but three are devoted to the Flood (Genesis 6-8).  We will be looking at Genesis 8 today.  I want to begin with some apologetics.

Challenges to the Biblical Flood Today

The Flood was the greatest catastrophe in the history of the planet.  The entire planet was covered in water.  Everything under the heavens died by drowning.  God wiped everyone out because the sin on earth was so bad. There are several challenges to the Flood story today.  The first challenge is unbelief.

Unbelief

Unbelief is found both in the world and in the church.  Many hate this story.  Many in the modern world do not like the story of the Flood.  It is unpopular in the world.  They mock the story of the flood and anyone who believes in it.  Liberal scholars say that the whole thing is impossible.  There are many objections skeptics raise about the ark.

I am not going to deal with them all.  I am not a scientist but there are books you can read written by scientists that deal with many of these objections.  I will just mention a few objections that have been raised.  Many say that it is impossible to build a boat bigger than a football field and three stories high that big five thousand years ago.

Bill Nye the Science Guy raised this objection in his recent debate with Ken Ham.  He said that modern man built a big wooden ship called the Wyoming (about three hundred feet long) and it leaked.  How could Noah build a similar ship five thousand years ago that did not leak? How would you answer that objection?  It is very easy to answer.

The Wyoming did not leak for fourteen years.  Noah’s ark only had to float for five months before it landed.  God was the engineer.  He gave Noah the design for the ark.  Second, modern man was not primitive.  Pyramids were not built by modern man.  Take, for example, the Great Pyramid of Giza.

It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (2500 BC).  It contains a pyramid that is 756 feet long made up of over two million blocks of stone, each weighing about two tons.  In the 15th century, there was a famous Chinese explorer who built a wooden ship about four hundred feet long.  His name was Zing He (1371-1435).

He died about fifteen years before Christopher Columbus was born.  There are many other ancient ships there were also large, like the Greek ship the Thalamegos, which was 377 feet long and two-stories high (200 B.C.) or the Tessarakonteres, which was 420 feet long and was also built in the Hellenistic Period (3rd century B.C.).

The best answer to this problem is that Noah’s ark has been found by an international team of archaeologists.  Ariel photography discovered a mysterious object in Turkey that is man-made structure.  It happens to be the remains of an ancient boat.  The boat just happens to be the same general dimensions of Noah’s ark in the Book of Genesis.  In fact, it is a little larger than 450 feet long.  It is 515 feet long.

Apparently, the cubits mentioned in Genesis 6 were Egyptian cubits which were 20 inches long, instead of 18.  It just so happens to be in the same area that Genesis 8:4 said that it would be, namely, in the mountains of Ararat (not on Mount Ararat, which is volcanic, but fifteen miles to the West on Doomsday Mountain).  It also just so happens that this boat is 4800 years old based on Carbon 14 testing.

They say that it is impossible to get enough water from rain to flood the whole earth in forty days.  That is six weeks.  If it rained for forty days and forty nights today, it would only result in a flood two inches high everywhere.  There is not enough water in the atmosphere.  Where did all of the water come from?  A worldwide flood would require eight times more water than the earth now possesses.  How would you answer that objection?

This was not an ordinary flood.  It was not a natural rainstorm.  Genesis 7:11-12 says, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights” (NIV).

Water from the Flood came from came from two sources: below the earth and above the earth. Apparently, there was water in the crust of the earth at one time and at the time of the Flood there were geological changes in the crust of the earth (volcano, earthquake).  A lower ocean went up and an upper ocean went down.  The same God who created the world is capable of destroying it.  This is no problem at all.

Many say that the Genesis Flood is a myth?  How would you answer them?  It is not written as myth but as history.  Jesus accepted it as history.  The interesting thing is that engineers have studied the dimensions of the ark (450 feet long to 75 feet wide).  It is built on a six to one ratio, the same ratio you find in modern cargo and battleships.

The ark was a gigantic wooden box.  It was not designed to go anywhere, just float.  It had no steering wheel and no brakes.  It was designed for optimum stability.[1] It was built to be stable.  It is the perfect ratio for boat stability.  None one knew this until the 15th century The Babylonians had a flood story, similar to the one in Genesis.  It is called the Epic of Gilgamesh.  A man in that story builds a boat that is a cube (is two hundred by two hundred by two hundred).  It would easily roll over in the water.  It would not be very sturdy at all.

The biblical story of the Flood is also unpopular in some circles of the church.  Many in the church believe that the Flood did not cover the whole earth.  It was a local Flood in the Mesopotamian region.  That is what Hugh Ross believes.  That makes complete nonsense of Genesis.  If that is the case, why did Noah have to build an ark in the first place?

It makes total nonsense for Noah to spend a hundred years building a boat that is bigger than a football field simply to survive a local flood of water.  He could have just moved to a different area if God was going to kill everyone in that one region.  He could have taken Noah away, just as He did to Lot later in Genesis.

Why did he have to bring two of every animal into the ark to save them?  The animals also could have simply moved to another area to survive the Flood.  Why did they have to stay in the ark for seven months after it landed on the mountains of Ararat?

God said that he would never again do this.  If it is a local Flood, every time it rains and floods, God has broken his promise that he made.  None of the details in the text seem to fit a local flood concept.

Misinformation

The second big problem for the Flood story is misinformation.  There are many false ideas about Noah.  We saw some of that last week.  The problem is that people do not get their information about Noah and the ark from the Bible.

They get it from Hollywood and Hollywood completely distorts the story.  It is one thing to use a little artistic liberty on minor things but the modern movie makes major changes to the whole story.  The biblical Noah does not look like the Noah of Hollywood. They did not even try to make him look like the biblical Noah.

According to Genesis, God sent the Flood as judgment on sin.  The world was so corrupt that the only solution was annihilation but God does not annihilate everyone on the planet but even God did not do it immediately.

He gave mankind over a hundred years to repent before the Flood came.  God does not just destroy man.  He does something else.  He reaches out to one man who was righteous and saves him and his family.  In the Book of Genesis, we see God creates man, destroys man and saves man.

God Spoke to Noah

Noah was one of two people in the Bible who walked with God.  He was close to God.  He talked to God and God talked to him. God does not do anything in the Noah movie.  He does not appear in the movie.

God never speaks to Noah in the movie.  In the Bible, God speaks to Noah four times in Genesis (6:13-14; 7:1; 8:15-17; 9:1-17).  How did God speak to Noah?  The Bible does not say but we can assume that this was an audible voice.  How do we know?

Up to this point in Genesis, God spoke directly to Adam and Eve.  He walked in the garden with them.  He spoke to Cain and now he speaks to Noah.  All of the other times up to this point in Genesis God spoke directly to people.  There is nothing in the text about Noah having a vision or dream.  God gave Noah very specific directions and details on how to build the ark.

God told Noah to put a roof on the ark and to build one door on the side of the ark (6:16).  He told Noah to give it one window (8:6) and a covering (8:13).  He told Noah how many floors it should have – three (6:16).  He told him what materials to use to make the ark – gopher wood, pitch (6:14).

He told Noah how long the ark should be, how tall it should be and how wide it should be (6:15).  He told him to build rooms in it (6:14).  He told Noah what who the occupants of the boat should be.  He gave Noah a passenger list.

The first time God speaks to Noah is in Genesis 6.  He tells Noah to build the ark.  Building the ark was not Noah’s idea.  It was God’s idea.  God didn’t build the ark for Noah.  He told Noah to do it.  It shows human responsibility.   Noah was told to build the ark, stock it with food and put all of the animals in it.

Noah did not have to struggle to figure out God’s will.  He did not have to guess and think to himself: What does God want me to do with my life?  God spoke directly to Noah.  He gave him very clear and detailed instructions.  Noah understood exactly what God was telling him to do.

Noah got busy.  He had a big job.  Many of us start things but don’t finish them, especially if we have ADD.  We do not finish what we start.  We get distracted and just start something else.  Noah stuck with this one for a long time.  He stuck with it over a hundred years and God promised to protect them from the Flood and preserve their life.

The second time God speaks to Noah is in Genesis 7.  That is a hundred and twenty-years later.  There is a gap of 120 years between Genesis 6 and Genesis 7. There was 120 years of silence.

The second time God speaks to Noah is after the ark is built.  God tells Noah to get on it with his family and all of the animals. Noah was on the ark for over a year.  We are not told that God spoke to Noah while he was on the ark until the Flood was over and the earth had dried up.

Then God spoke to Noah for a third time and told them to get off the ark.  If you work out the chronology, Noah had been on the ark with his family and all of the animals for 371 days.  It rained for forty days and forty nights.  Many think that they were on the ark for forty days and forty nights.  They were actually on the ark for over a year.

Noah did not get on the ark until God told him to.  He waited over a year on the ark.  It must have been hard night after night, month after month.  The ark was noisy.  It was crowded.

It was cramped.  It had to smell bad. There was not a lot of light.  They may have gotten sea sick.  I am sure they got depressed being on the ark for a whole year but He did not leave the ark until God told him that it was safe to get off the ark.

Noah sent out two birds (a raven once and a dove twice).  These birds were very different. One was a white bird and one was a black bird.  One was a clean animal and one was unclean.

One came back and one didn’t.  The raven did not come back because ravens are carnivorous.  There were probably plenty of dead bodies for it to feed on.  Some birds will eat anything. Doves are clean white birds that only land on clean, dry objects.

Why did Noah send out these birds?  Apparently, there were some things that God told Noah and there were some things that He did not tell Noah.  God had told him when the flood would start but not when it would end.

God never told him how long the flood would last because he did not need to know.  There were some things that God told Noah.  Other things he figured out on his own.

 Practical Application

There is a great lesson for us on waiting for God from the life of Noah. Noah didn’t get on the ark until God told him to get on and he did not step one foot out of the ark until God told them to.  Even when Noah did his bird-watching and sent out a few birds out he did not do this.  Even after sending out the birds, Noah stayed in the ark until God told him to leave.

Psalm 27:13-14 says, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord” (ESV). Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (ESV)

Lamentations 3:25 says, The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”  God makes us wait for things.  Moses had to wait forty years in the desert before God used him to lead the Jew out of Egypt.

Many of us do not wait for God.  We run ahead.  We do not like to wait for anything.  We are impatient.  We do not like to wait in traffic or wait in lines at the grocery store. What does it mean to wait for God? It means to wait for God to do something.

1) It can mean waiting for God to answer your prayers (Psalm 5:3).

2) It can mean waiting for God to fulfill his promises (Habakkuk 2:2-3; Mark 15:43; I Thessalonians 1:9-10; Titus 2:12-13; Hebrews 9:28).

3) It can mean waiting for God to vindicate you after injustice occurs (Proverbs 20:22; Isaiah 30:18).  When bad things happen to you, you need to wait on God (Psalm 27:2, 3, 5, 19, 12, 14; 33:18-21; 37:7)

4) It can also mean waiting for God to reveal His will for your life.  Do I get married?  Who do I marry?  What should I do for a living?  That is what Noah was waiting for.  He was waiting for God to give him the green light to leave the ark.

In Genesis 8, we see two things: God remembers Noah (8:1) and Noah remembers God (8:20).  The first thing we see is that God remembers Noah.  Genesis 8:1 says, “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded” (NIV).  What is the lesson there?

God keeps his promises.  He made a covenant with Noah before the Flood (6:18).  We will learn more about this covenant in Genesis 9.

God is keeping His promise. Why did God lead the Jews out of Egypt?  He kept His promise.  Exodus 2:23-25 says, “During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob” (NIV).

“God remembered Noah” shows that God keeps His promises.  It also shows that He watches over His people.  This is a figure of speech.  It doesn’t mean that God forgot about Noah and then remembered him.  God is omniscient.  He knows all things.  Noah was in that boat a long time.

He probably thought that God forgot about him but He didn’t.  Noah could not live forever on the ark.  His food supply was limited.  God remembered him.  He pays special attention to His people. They never leave his sight.  One of our greatest feats is that one day we will be forgotten.  We will be buried and completely forgotten but God remembers His people.

This is a phrase we see many times in Scripture.  The Bible says that God remembered Abraham (Genesis 19:29).  God saved Lot when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of Abraham’s prayer.

He remembered Abraham.  He remembered Rachel and gave her a child (30:22).  He remembered Hannah and gave her a child as well (I Samuel 1:19).  What did God do to show that He remembered Noah?  He sent a wind to help dry the earth.  He exercised control over the forces of nature.

The second thing we see in this chapter is that Noah remembers God (8:20).  The first thing that he does when he gets off of the ark is to worship God.  The first thing that he does is to build God an altar and to sacrifice an animal.

The entire animal is offered to God on the altar.  He does not build himself a house first.  He builds an altar for God.  He doesn’t have to do it.  He is not commanded to do it.  He does it because he wants to do it. It is voluntary.

Noah did not come out of the ark mad at God.  He was grateful to be alive and back on dry ground.  He worships the God who preserved him from destruction. Genesis 8:21 said, “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”

Is this is proof that God likes barbecue?  Does He like the smell of roasted meat? No. This is a way of saying that God saw Noah’s heart and accepted Noah’s sacrifice, just as he accepted Abel’s sacrifice.  God does not just punish the wicked.  He delights in the sacrifices and worship of His people.  The fourth time God spoke to Noah was after he got off of the ark.  We will look at what God told Noah next week.

 

 


[1] http://www.icr.org/article/7158/

A Case Study in Judgment

Last week, we began looking at the third topic in Genesis – the Noahic Flood. The Flood is not just a children’s story. It actually happened. It is real history.

Genesis does not say this happened “once upon a time, a long time ago.” Moses tells us the exact day, the exact month and the exact year the Flood took place. He is very specific.

Genesis 7:11-12 says, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

If Moses used the Hebrew Calendar, this means that that the Flood took place in the Spring. The second month on the Jewish calendar is April/May. Jesus believed the whole world was covered with water in the days of Noah. He not only believed in creation (Mark 10:6-8), He believed in the Flood (Matthew 24:38-39Luke 17:27).

Genesis has three chapters on the Flood (Genesis 6-8). We looked at Genesis 6 last week. Most people, including most Christian have no idea exactly what was going on in the pre-Flood world.

It was characterized by extreme wickedness on both the part of angels and of man. Fallen angels tried to corrupt the line of the Messiah by marrying human women. The result of those marriages produces nephilim (giants). Demonic depravity characterized the world.

The whole earth was full of violence. The wickedness of man extended not only to actions but to thoughts and was constant. It happened all the time. God’s response to the wickedness on earth was twofold.

He saw everything that was going on and it grieved His heart. In the second part of the chapter, God speaks to Noah. He tells Noah three things. God gave Noah a prediction, a promise, and a project.  God gave Noah good news, bad news and an important job to do.

The prediction was that that everyone in his world was going to die by drowning. The whole human race was going to be destroyed, not an entire group of people (holocaust), as bad as that would be but the entire race itself. Everyone on the planet would be killed. Noah would never again see his friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and relatives. That was the bad news

Everyone would be killed. They were going to be killed in the worst storm in history. It took place around 3000 BC. We have seen some killer storms that have ravaged our country. This was different. They would not just be killed by an act of nature. This was not just another Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1800 people in 2005. This was an act of God.

A Natural Disaster or Act of God?

Is there a difference between a natural disaster (hurricane, earthquake, tornado, tsunamis) and an act of God? Was Hurricane Katrina a judgment on homosexuals? Are all natural disasters acts of God? Are they always judgment on people?

No. Natural disasters are caused by natural forces. They have natural explanations. They can be explained scientifically. They are a result of the Fall. God allows them to happen. They happen by divine permission and God is sovereign over them. We see that in the life of Job.

In other cases, God does not just allow the forces of nature to operate; He uses them as an instrument of judgment on the wicked. The Flood was in this category. He didn’t just allow it, He planned it.

God predicted it would happen over a hundred years in advance and said why it would happen, so no one would get the impression that this was an accident of nature or just some natural disaster.

Natural disasters fall on the righteous and the wicked indiscriminately. Acts of God fall primarily on the wicked. Occasionally, God has to move the righteous out of the area to judge the wicked, as in the case of Lot.

The Prediction

Three times in the passage God said that He was the one who was bringing the Flood on the earth. Genesis 6:13 says, “So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” Genesis 6:17 says, “I am going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.”

God gives the divine sentence for a wicked world – death. This was not an accident. It was intentional. This was an execution. It was a judgment by a holy God on a sinful humanity. Noah condemned the world (Hebrews 11:7) but God judged the world.

It doesn’t seem fair to some people for God to do this but God created the world and He can destroy it any time. The potter can do what he wants with his clay. In addition, we are told that the world was wicked. All sin is a capital offense. “The wages of sin is death.” Sinners deserve to die.

In fact, in one sense it was poetic justice. The world in Noah’s day was drowning in sin before it drowned in water. It was characterized by a flood of wickedness. It was given a flood of water as punishment. The world before the Flood was extremely violent. It received a violent death.

Noah deserved to die as well. He was a sinner too, but the Bible says that God gave Noah grace. Grace means unmerited favor. God gave him something he did not deserve. Noah was a righteous man. In fact, he was the only righteous man on the planet. Everyone else sickened God but Noah pleased God.

However, Noah was not perfect. The KJV rendering of Genesis 6:9 is a mistranslation. Noah was not sinless, and he was NOT saved by his works. In fact, the NT says that Noah “became heir of the righteousness which is BY FAITH” (Hebrews 11:7).

Most Christians have gotten the Flood story completely wrong. They miss the whole point of the story. Some preachers speak of it as if it were some kind of a family cruise. Others make it a children’s story about a floating zoo. This is not a Carnival Cruise Ship.

It is one of the most terrible pictures in the entire Bible, as people and animals are buried alive in the rain, swirling sediment and debris. Mothers are weeping as their children are drowned. The Bible says, “It is a fearful thing for sinners to fall into the hands of a holy God.” This is a picture of total destruction.

It was also a picture of total desperation. There was no way to escape it, even if you climbed to the highest mountain. All of the highest mountains were covered. It is also a picture of complete regret.

Once the rain began to fall, everyone knew that Noah was right and they were wrong. They mocked and laughed at him and now they realized that he was right and they are going to all die. When the rain began to fall, it was no laughing matter.

Critics say if there really were all these people who loved before the Flood and were destroyed in a real flood, where are their remains? It is very difficult to find human remains under water, as some have pointed out. They are eaten by fish. In 1912, when the Titanic went down, 1522 people died. The ship was found in seventy-three years later.

The remains of the Titanic were found in 1985 by Robert Ballard, a professor of oceanography, but no human remains were ever found. That ship sank a hundred years ago, not five thousand years ago. The same man who found the Titanic also believes there is archaeological evidence for the Flood in Noah’s day.

The Promise

In the midst of all the bad news, God had some good news for Noah. The good news was that everyone in his family was going to live. Genesis 6:18 says, “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.”

Noah found grace in the eyes of God. The rest of humanity experienced God’s wrath for their sin. Noah experienced God’s grace and favor. This was grace on God’s part because while the race was completely wicked and depraved, God is giving man another chance.

The Project

He also gave Noah a job to do. He gave him an assignment. He told him to build the ark. It was a command: “make an ark” (6:14).  God gave Noah a job to do and He gives us jobs to do as well.  He calls us to do some things.  We were not called to build an ark but to do other things.

What was Noah’s reaction to this project? He probably had two reactions. His first reaction was probably SHOCK. You want me to build what? This was the first ship mentioned in the Bible. There are some other reasons this may have been shocking to Noah.

First, it would have cost a lot of money to built

It would have cost a lot of money. Noah must have been wealthy. Johan’s Ark in the Netherlands cost over a million dollars to make. The ark was big. That is why it took so long to build.

It was measured in cubits but if you work out the dimensions, it would have been 450 feet long, 75 feet high and 45 feet wide with one million, four hundred thousand cubic feet. It was bigger than a football field and was to be three stories tall. A football field is 360 feet long, if you include the end zone.

Second, Noah had never done anything like this before

He had never done anything like this before. We have no evidence that he was even a shipbuilder. He probably had some mechanical ability. Fortunately, he did not have to come up with the blueprints himself. God gave him the blueprints. Jesus the carpenter gave him the design. All he had to do was build it.

Three, it was not an easy job.

This would have required a lot of hard work.  It took Noah over a hundred years to build. Noah was an old man. He was about five hundred years old.  People lived long back then.  Noah lived to be 950 years old, so he was about middle age for that time period.

Recently, a contractor in the Netherlands built a replica of the ark. If you go to Holland today, you can see it. He did it by himself. He did it in less than two years.

It took Noah over a hundred years to build the ark. It is pretty hard to stick to a project for 120 years. Many of us would give up but Noah kept working on the ark. He was not lazy. He worked hard. Noah worked hard but he lived five thousand years ago and this was a three-story ship.

Noah did not have a Home Depot to shop for supplies. He did not have any modern technology.  He did not have any power tools, although there were tools available, such as iron tools (4:22). Noah took advantage of Cainite technology to make the ark. He could do it. It would just take much longer than it would today.

His three sons probably helped him. The text does not say this but it is a reasonable deduction but when God first told Noah to build the ark, he didn’t have any kids. God first spoke to Noah when he was 480 years old. God gave man 120 years and then the Flood came. Noah’s kids were not born until he was 500 years old (5:32).

While Noah’s sons may have helped him, he did NOT have angels helping him. In the recent Noah movie (2014), angels helped Noah build the ark. Not only does the Noah movie have angels helping him build the ark, but it has also fallen angels helping him. God didn’t ask angels to build the ark. He asked Noah to do this. If angels built the ark, it wouldn’t have taken a hundred years to build, especially if modern man can do it in two years.

Noah’s second reaction was FEAR. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” Noah did this because he believed what God told him. He believed that God was going to destroy the world.

Why did Noah do it? He did it to save himself and his family. If he didn’t do it, he would have died, along with everyone else. It took at act of faith for Noah to build the ark. His faith led to actions. He believed. Then he built. The Bible says that “faith without works is dead.” Noah built the ark because he believed God was going to do what He said that He was going to do.

He believed God, even if he did not understand it. We do not even know if Noah knew what rain was. Many believe that it had not rained yet. We do not know for sure. We do not know if he had ever seen a boat before. He believed God even though there was no evidence that a worldwide flood was imminent.

He believed something that he had never seen or experienced. Years went by. A whole century went by without any fulfillment, but he still believed it would happen. All he had was God’s Word that it would take place. It was just as crazy for Noah to believe a flood would take place as it was for Abraham to believe that his wife would have a child in her old age.

Noah believed God even if he was the object of ridicule. They must have thought he was completely crazy. What he said sounded crazy. The whole world was going to be drowned in a Flood. What we say to the lost today sounds just as crazy to unbelievers. Salvation comes through a crucified man who was rejected by his own people. Those who reject him are cast in a lake of fire.

That seems just as ridiculous to some. Noah became the joke of the town. They mocked this 500-year-old grey-bearded antediluvian and called him “Nutty Noah.” They laughed at him. He seemed more concerned about what God thought of him that what people thought of him.

Can you imagine how embarrassed Noah would have been if no flood ever came? He would have spent over a hundred years building a boat to protect against a Flood which never came. Noah staked everything on this boat, because He believed God.

That is why he is in the Faith Hall of Fame. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” We sometimes use the word faith for things that we believe are true but do not know for sure. Faith is being certain of what we do not see.

Myths about Noah

There are many false ideas about Noah. You can see them in the Noah movie. In the Noah movie, Noah is not really any different from his contemporaries. He is wicked like they are. He is violent and a terrible father.

Darren Aronofsky, who produced the recent Noah movie, called Noah the “first environmentalist.”  The ark was green.  It had a window for natural lighting from the sun but this is a myth. Noah was not too much of an environmentalist.  He cut down a lot of trees Noah to make the ark.

Many Christians have myths about Noah as well. A common view about Noah is that he was the first evangelist. God told him to build a big boat, preach to people and invite them into the boat but they all rejected his message and died in the Flood. That is a very common viewpoint, even among many creationists. It is almost universal. Everyone seems to believe this, but it is completely unbiblical.

There is a big problem with that view. God did NOT tell Noah to build the ark to save the world, just his family. He told him to take his wife, his three sons and their wives on the ark. He didn’t tell him to invite other people on the ark. God only made a covenant with Noah (6:18), not with anyone else.

God did NOT say that he was going to save the Pre-Flood world. He said that He was going to destroy it. He said that he was going to put an end to all people on the earth (6:13). He said that He was going to destroy them and the earth (6:13).

We are not even told that Noah prayed for God to change His mind. Noah walked with God. He was perfectly in line with His will. He said that he was going to destroy all life under the heavens (6:17). Noah did not have a message of salvation. He had a message of judgment. His only message was judgment is coming. He did preach against sin and told men to repent. He was the OT John the Baptist. The ark that he was building was a visual sermon.

As we move into chapter seven, God speaks to Noah again. The last time God spoke to Noah was in Genesis 6. That was over five hundred years ago. He told Noah He was going to destroy the world. “Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made” (7:4 NIV).

Now God gave Noah told Noah that the Flood would come within a week, and He told Noah to start loading the ark. The countdown begins for Noah. He knew the exact day the Flood would start. Amos 3:7 says “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

God gave Noah the one-week warning. It took a whole week to get over seventeen thousand animals on the ark. In chapter six, Noah builds the ark. In chapter seven, he boards the ark, along with a lot of animals. The chapter begins with the words, The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation” (7:1).

If Noah did not obey that command, he would have died along with everyone else. It was not enough to build the ark; he had to get in it. It is not enough to know about Jesus. It is not enough to know that He is a Savior for sinners. You have to personally trust him and ask him to save you. You have to get in the boat.

The Symbolism of the Ark

The ark is a beautiful picture of salvation. That boat was what saved Noah physically from the flood water. All who were in it were saved. All who were outside it were destroyed. It was a picture of total safety. No matter how much it rained or how long it rained or how high the waters rose, everyone was safe. The only way to be saved from the flood was to be on the ark. There was no other way.

There was only one ark and only one door to the ark. God is building another ark today. It is a spiritual ark and there is only one door to it. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9). Noah had one door to the ark and we have only one way to God.

If you do not go through Jesus, you cannot be saved. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). Many think that they do not need a Savior, just as many in Noah’s day did not think that they needed to be on the ark. They did not think that judgment was coming. They thought they were perfectly safe until the Flood came.

The Bible says that once Noah and his family entered the ark with all of the animals, the door was shut. The Bible says that God shut the door (7:16). Noah didn’t shut it. The opportunity for salvation is limited. Once the door was shut, no one else could get in. Noah was shut in. That shows eternal security.

Once you are saved, you are always saved. God keeps those He saved. The problem today is that many think they are saved when they are not. God shut Noah and his family in and everyone else was shut out. The door of salvation right now is open but one day it will be shut, and no one will be able to enter.

 

The Days of Noah

We have been studying the first eleven chapters of Genesis.  So far, we have looked at two main topics.  We looked at the topic of CREATION and we looked at the FALL.  Today, we come to a third topic, the topic of the FLOOD.  This is not just a children’s story, it actually happened.  It was the greatest catastrophe in history.

God wiped out the whole human race with a year-long mountain covering flood of water.  He completely destroyed the entire race, with the exception of one family. Genesis spends three chapters dealing with the Flood (Genesis 6-8).

Today, we want to look at the world before the Flood, the pre-Flood world, the antediluvian world.  What was it like?  You might be surprised.  It was a strange world.  The atmosphere was different.  The geography was different.  There was only one race on the planet speaking only one language.  We know that from Genesis 11.

People lived longer than they do today.  Some lived eight or nine hundred years.  Most of us cannot make it to one hundred today.  It was also a world inhabited by giants.

It was a developed society.  There were musical instruments.  There was writing.  Genesis 5 speaks of “the book of the generations of Adam” (Genesis 5:1 KJV, ESV).  They had some technology (metal tools).

People who lived before the Flood were not primitive cavemen.  Lamech’s kids were extremely creative.  One invented musical instruments (Genesis 4:21).  Jubal invented two different kinds of instruments – stringed instruments (harp) and woodwind instruments (flute).  Tubal-Cain made tools out of iron and bronze (Genesis 4:22).

Pre-Flood civilizations were technologically advanced.  There were iron tools before the Flood.  There were musical instruments before the Flood.  Not everything that came from the Cainites was bad.  They produced some good tools.  The Cainites were good with technology but they were also extremely wicked.  Technologically, they were advanced.  Morally, they were primitive.

In some ways, this world was different from the world in which we live and in some ways it was very similar.  It was a world known for its wickedness.  Jesus said, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37 KJV)

Today, we will be looking at Genesis 6. It is a strange chapter. It is a difficult chapter. It is one of the wildest chapters in the Bible.

Interesting Questions

This chapter raises all kinds of hard questions.  How could God kill everyone on the planet?  Is it even fair to drown babies in a flood? Why did He kill all those animals? What crime did they commit?  How could a loving God destroy the world?  Skeptics of the Bible hate this story. This chapter raises many more questions.

How did Noah get all the animals onto the ark? How did they all fit on the ark? Where did all of the rain come from?  How can God repent?  God repents in this chapter, at least in the KJV.  That is something that man usually does.  Man does not repent in this chapter but God does (Genesis 6:7).  How could God repent?

Who are the sons of God?  The identity of the sons of God involves some controversy. Who are these pre-Flood giants?[1] Who are the Nephilim?  Where did they come from?  It is strange to picture a time when giants roamed the earth.

Many do not translate the word.  Many versions just give us the Hebrew word nephilim (NIV, ESV, NASB) in Genesis 6:4.  Who are the Nephilim?  What are they?  Are they extra-terrestrials?  Are there any Nephilim today?

Do any modern-day Nephilim exist today?  Many sermons on Genesis 6 do not say anything about the Nephilim.  Many go to seminary and are not taught anything about the Nephilim.  This is a disturbing chapter.

The Sin of Man

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence (Genesis 6:11 NIV)

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5 NIV).

The world in which we live today is wicked.  We have a holocaust, genocide, the beheading of children, suicide bombers and people flying planes into buildings. We see soldiers intentionally targeting innocent women and children, bombing hospitals and pregnant women.

It may be hard to believe but Genesis 6 describes something even worse.  It describes a world in which EVERY inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was ONLY evil ALL THE TIME.  It describes a world full of violence, high crime, sexual deviance and demonic activity. It is one of the darkest chapters in the Bible.

It describes a world with MORE demonic activity than we see in our world today.  This chapter not only describes the sin of people but the sins of angels.  It describes demons mating with humans producing a demon seed, a hybrid offspring (a demonic/human hybrid).

It describes a world so wicked that there were no righteous people in it, except for one, Noah and his family.  Today, we have godly people all over the world in every country and in every race but in Noah’s day, he was the only one.

Genesis 6:5 is one of the strongest statements on total depravity and human wickedness in the entire Bible.  It is probably also a little hyperbole.  It does not mean that every second of every hour of every day, everyone on the planet did evil and nothing but evil and that everyone was as bad as they possibly could be all of the time.

The point is that mankind at this point was so wicked and so depraved that the only solution was total annihilation.

Genesis 6:5 is the exact opposite of Genesis 1:31. Before God looked at the earth and saw that everything was not only good, it was very good.  Now God looks at the earth and everything is evil all of the time.

Two sins are mentioned in the pre-Flood world.  The first was SEXUAL LUST Genesis 6:2).  Notice what they did.  Watch the two verbs.  Genesis 6 says that these sons of God SAW these beautiful women and TOOK any that they wanted as their wives.” The women did not seem to have much say in the matter.

The second was VIOLENCE (Genesis 6:11, 13). We are told that two times in the chapter.  The earth is said to be “full of violence” (Genesis 6:11) and “filled with violence” (Genesis 6:13). The Hebrew word for “violence” is hamas (the name of a Muslim terrorist organization).

Proverbs 13:2 says “the unfaithful have an appetite for violence” (NIV). They love violence. They crave violence.  Our entertainment industry glorifies violence. There is Hamas in our world and there was hamas before the flood.

Proverbs 6:16-17 says, “There are six things the Lord HATES, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil.

The Sin of Angels

In this chapter, we not only see the sins of people but of angels.  Genesis 6:1-2 says, “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose” (NIV).

We know who the daughters of man are.  They are human daughters.  Who are “the sons of God”?  We often read this as Christians and think that this must just be talking about people.  The NT describes believers as children of God or sons of God.

Paul says that “we are all sons of God by faith in Christ” (Galatians 3:26).  I John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  There is only one problem.  Those passages were written in Greek.  Genesis 6 was written in Hebrew.

The Hebrew words for “sons of God” (bene elohim) are used five times in the OT.  It is used two times in Genesis (6:2, 4) and three times in Job (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). It is NEVER used of people.[3] Every other time in the OT that this phrase is used it ALWAYS refers to angels.

The ancient Jewish view holds that bene elohim refers to fallen angels who married human women.[4] In fact, the Greek translation of the OT written in the third century BC translated bene elohim as άγγελος.

The children that were born from this relationship were called nephilim in Hebrew.  They were the result of this union of demons and human women.  The result was a race of giants.

Why did the demons do this?  They wanted to ruin the human race to prevent the birth of the Messiah.  Their goal was to genetically alter the human race.  This was the unpardonable sin before the Flood.  That sin combined with human wickedness led to the Flood.

Who Exactly Were the Nephilim?

We are able to deduce four things about the Nephilim from Genesis 6.

1) They were not angels.

They were the children of the “sons of God and the daughters of men.”

2) They were tall.

They are called giants (6:4 KJV, LXX, Vulgate). In I Enoch 7:3 these giants were said to be three hundred cubits tall, the same size as the ark (Genesis 6:15 KJV).

That would be four hundred and fifty feet tall.  I Enoch is obviously an exaggeration.  The point is that these Nephilim were huge.  They were not just basketball players (who are only about seven feet tall).

3) They were strong.

Apparently, these Nephilim could fight.  They were famous warriors.  They are called mighty men.  They were famous in the antediluvian world.

4) They were all destroyed in the Flood.

Some of the spies thought they saw some descendants of the Nephilim who lived before the Flood (Numbers 13:33) but they were all destroyed.  Giants are not limited to the Nephilim.

This interpretation of the sons of God seems too crazy to believe but the NT actually confirms it.

II Peter 2:4-5 tells us that some angels committed a sin during the time of Noah.  It doesn’t say what the sin was but it does say that it was so bad that God locked them up and threw them in chains of darkness.  That cannot be talking about the original fall of Satan because those angels who sinned were not locked up.

They run around as demons causing trouble today but this group of demons was so wicked that God locked them up. Jude mentions a similar group of angels that committed a sin and was locked up in chains of darkness and he tells us what sin they committed.  It was something like the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 6-7)

Here, Jude makes a parallel between the sin of the angels and the sin of the Sodomites.  Apparently both were sexual in nature.  Both groups tried to transgress their God-appointed boundaries.

Jude 7 begins with the words “in the same way”.  The men of Sodom wanted to have sex with angels in Genesis 19 (the two visitors to Lot’s house).  The angels in Genesis 6 wanted to have sex with humans in Genesis 6. In both cases, it was an unnatural sin.

There are many objections to this view.  They say that it is IMPOSSIBLE for a number of reasons.  Angels in the Bible do not have physical bodies.  Since they do not have bodies, they do not have DNA.

They are spirits and as Jesus said, “a spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39).  They are sexless.  Since they are immaterial spirits, they cannot marry.  They cannot have sex and they cannot reproduce.  All of this is true but they can materialize human bodies.  They can also possess people.[5]

One Godly Man

In this dark chapter, there is one tiny ray of hope.  It is Noah.  We are told something amazing in this chapter.  Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God (Genesis 6:9 NIV).

We think it is impossible today to live a holy life in our modern world.  We face too many temptations every day.  In the midst of the most wicked atmosphere in history, Noah walked with God.  No matter how wicked the world is, we can still live righteous lives.  In fact the darker it is, the more the light shines brighter.

When no one else on the planet was doing it, Noah walked with God.  When it was unpopular, Noah walked with God.  Noah wasn’t perfect. The KJV is a little misleading here.  It says, “Noah was a just man and PERFECT in his generations” (Genesis 6:9 KJV) but this is better translated blameless.

We will see that at the end of the Flood.  Noah is drunk and naked.  He wasn’t perfect but he was righteous, and he lived a righteous life in the midst of unimaginable wickedness.

In Genesis 6, we see three things.  We see the DEPRAVITY of man (every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time). We have looked at this.

In this chapter, we see the JUDGMENT of God.  God says, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 6:7 NIV)

Is that fair?  Yes. God created the world and He has the right to destroy it but we need to notice two things here.  One, God He does not destroy the earth arbitrarily. He does it because the earth is completely wicked and deserves judgment.  This is very different from the account of the Flood in the creation myths.

In the Babylonian account, the gods sent a flood because people were making too much noise on earth and the gods couldn’t sleep.  The gods in the creation myths are glorified humans.  In the creation myths, the gods were created in man’s image, rather than man created in God’s image.  Genesis presents a very different picture.

Two, God did not destroy the earth immediately.  Skeptics see God as a sadistic being with a short temper who likes to torture his creatures.  They see a God who overreacts and kills everyone, not only people but innocent animals who did not do anything wrong[2].  That is not at all what is going on in this chapter.

In this chapter, God does NOT look down from heaven and see the wickedness of man and say, “That is it.  I am going to wipe everyone out right now”.  That is what I would have done, if I were God. Instead, God says, “The world is totally screwed up.  I am going to give it one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3).

I Peter 3:19 says, “to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built” (NIV).

The Bible teaches that God is SLOW TO ANGER.  He is not quick to get angry and we should not be quick to get angry.  Psalm 103:8 says, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

In this chapter, we also see the GRACE of God.  Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8 KJV).

While everyone else on the planet found divine condemnation and judgment, we are told that “Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the LORD.”  What does that mean?  What does it mean to find grace in this context?

The rest of the planet found judgment for their sins.  Noah found grace.  He was still a sinner but he found grace.  It was grace that saved his life.  Noah was saved by grace.  God did not give Noah what he deserved.  He received grace.

That is the first time that the word grace is found in the Bible.  Grace is not just found in the NT, it is found in the OT.  Noah was not only preserved physically, he was also given a special prophecy.  He did not reveal this to anyone else, only to Noah. God told him in advance exactly what He was going to do.  He learned it by direct revelation.

Even though Noah was the recipient of grace, he was still given some commands but those commands were for his own good.  Those commands saved his life.  The same is true of us today.  We are saved by grace but that does not mean that we can do whatever we want.

God told Noah to do some things.  The whole planet was in danger.  Imminent death was approaching.  God told him exactly what he needed to do to escape the Flood.  He told him to build an ark and he told him how to do it but God did not build it for him. Noah had to build it.

He told Noah the precise dimensions of the ark.  He told him what kind of wood to use (gopher wood).  No one knows what kind of wood that was but it was apparently some type of hard wood.

God gave Noah the blueprints to the ark.  He did not have to come up with those on his own.  Noah didn’t design it himself.  God told him how long it was to be, how wide it was to be and how tall it was to be.  He told him what animals were to be brought on the ark and how many.

He told him how to seal it against leaks in order to waterproof it (6:14).  He told him what he was to put in the ark.  The chapter ends with the words, Noah did EVERYTHING just as God commanded him (Genesis 6:22 NIV)

Noah didn’t try to be creative and build it a different way.  He did not try to improvise.  He built the ark EXACTLY the way God instructed him to do.  It became the most important building project in history.

Noah was motivated by faith but he was also motivated by fear.  By FAITH Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent FEAR constructed an ark for the saving of his household (Hebrews 11:7 ESV).

If he did not do it exactly what God told him to do, he would have died along with everyone else.  None of us would be here today, if Noah didn’t build the ark. The seven billion people in the world today would not be here either.


[1] Genesis 6:4 KJV

[2] Animals are affected by the sin of man (Romans 8:22).

[3] People can be called “sons of God” even in the OT.  Psalm 82:6 speaks of “sons of the Most High” and Hosea 1:10 speaks of “sons of the living God” but the wording used in Genesis 6 is only used of angels.

[4] I Enoch 6-7; Jubilees 5:1-2; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews

[5] A common view is that the sons of God refers to people, not angels and that the only sin committed in Genesis 6:1-2 was the sin of mixed marriages (the marriage of Sethites to wicked Cainites).

This view holds that mixed marriages caused the destruction of the world.  Of course, mixed marriages (the marriage of a believer and unbeliever) is never good.  Believers are not to be yoked together with unbelievers but that is NOT what Genesis 6 is talking about.  That is clear for a number of reasons.

First, the phrase “sons of God” is NEVER used of men in the OT.

Second, mixed marriages do not result in the birth of giants.

Third, the punishment does not fit the crime.  Universal annihilation seems a little harsh just for mixed marriages, especially since this was not something that God had forbidden yet.

Four, even if sons of God are used of people, nowhere in the Bible does the phrase “sons of God” mean Sethite and nowhere does the phrase “daughters of men” mean Cainite.  Genesis 6 says that the sons of God married the daughters of men.  It does NOT say that the sons of Seth married the daughters of Cain.

Five, this mixed marriage only goes one way.  Seth’s son’s marry Cain’s daughters whoever they chose.  It does not say that Cain’s sons married any of Seth’s daughters.  If it is a sin of mixed marriage, why is only one way?  Were all of Seth’s daughters ugly?

Ten Special Men

Our topic today is “Ten Special Men” but we will focus on one or two of them this morning.  Before we begin, I have to say that I have never met anyone who said that Genesis 5 was his or her favorite chapter in the Bible.  There is a reason for that.

Most people do not like to read genealogies.  They are long.  They are boring.  They are dry.  They do not seem real practical.  They have so many funny names which are really hard to pronounce.  By the end of this lesson, Genesis 5 may become one of your favorite chapters in the Bible. This chapter is practical.  It is very convicting.  It can even change your life.

There is a very common problem in the church today.  Many people in church do NOT really believe that the whole Bible is the Word of God.  They say that they do but there are really only parts of it that they think are God’s Word.  They read a passage, meditate on it and God speaks to them.  It comes alive to them.

Those are the passages that they get excited about.  They like Psalms or Proverbs or some other book.  They might even avoid reading certain books of the Bible.  They might spend all of their time in Acts or I Corinthians but avoid other books in the Bible, like I or II Chronicles.  What is the problem with that approach?

Paul says that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable” (II Timothy 3:16).  It does not BECOME the Word of God to us when God speaks to us.  It IS the Word of God.  God does not have to breathe on it to make it alive.  It is ALREADY alive.

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”.  It is already ALIVE.  It is already God-breathed.  That is what the word “inspired” means in Greek.

Paul didn’t say that some of it is inspired.  He didn’t even say that “most of it is inspired”.  He said that all of it is inspired.  The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is inspired – every promise, every teaching, every warning, every story or narrative, every prophecy, every genealogy.

If you do not read and study all of it, you do not get the whole counsel of God.  You just get the parts you like.  The result is that you become unbalanced.  Avoiding the OT because it has some genealogies in it is pointless because when you come to the NT you will find that it begins with a genealogy as well.  The first chapter of the NT is a genealogy.

II Timothy 3:16 not only says that all Scripture is inspired, it says that all Scripture is profitable for us today.  That means Genesis 5 is inspired by God and is profitable.  God wrote it because there is something important in that chapter He wants us to know.  I have seen some pastors, preaching through the Book of Genesis, who completely skip over this chapter, like it is not even in the Bible.  I am not going to do that.

I want to look at this chapter but before we do, let’s review Genesis 4.  Genesis 4 mentions three sons of Adam and Eve.  There are three of their boys mentioned in that chapter – Abel, Cain and Seth.

They had a lot more sons than these three.  One Jewish tradition says that they had thirty sons.  They lived over nine hundred years but the chapter only mentions these three.  I focused the last two weeks on Cain and Abel because that is what the chapter seems to focus on.

The fact is that Seth is very important.  He is very under-rated.  Seth is more important than both Cain and Abel combined.  Why?

There are two reasons.  First, the Messiah came through Seth.  Jesus was a descendant of Seth.  He was not a descendant of Abel.  Abel did not have any kids and He was not a descendant of Cain.  The NT tells us that Jesus was a descendant of Seth (Luke 3:38).

There is a second reason why Seth is very important.  He is our ancestor as well.  We are descendants of Seth.  Everyone in this room is a descendant of Seth.  People do not like genealogies, unless they are their own.

If you are finding out about your ancestors, somehow it is not boring.  It is fascinating to find everything you can about them.  This is our genealogy.  Noah came from Seth and everyone on the planet today is a descendant of one of Noah’s three sons.

Basic Observations

Before we look at some practical applications from this chapter, I want to make several observations about this genealogy.  There are several things you should know about this genealogy.

1. This genealogy was written.

Last week, I said that civilization before the Flood was highly advanced.  We saw that in chapter four.  Pre-Flood civilizations were technologically advanced. They were not primitive cavemen.  That is the lie of evolution.  Man was advanced from the very beginning with iron tools and musical instruments.

Here we learn something else. They also had writing before the Flood. Genesis 5:1 begins with the words “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” (KJV, NASB, ESV, ASV, RSV).  Those words are extremely important.  That is the first time that a book is mentioned in history.  The word “book” in Hebrew always refers to a written document of some kind.

According to secular history, the Sumerians were the ones who invented writing five thousand years ago (3100 BC).  Apparently, they were not the first to write, because we see writing in Genesis 5.

There was writing before the Sumerians.[1]  Genesis 5 mentions a book.  We do not know who wrote the book but it was someone who lived before the Flood (Adam or Noah) wrote these things down on a scroll or a clay tablet and may have been taken into the ark.

It was one of the sources of the Book of Genesis.  When Moses wrote the Book of Genesis around 1450 BC, he used sources.  He did not just write by divine revelation.  He used a book.  He used the book of the generations of Adam as one of his sources.

2. This genealogy covers ten generations

The genealogy in Genesis 4 only mentioned seven generations (Adam, Cain, Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methushael, Lamech).  This genealogy has ten generations, so it is a little longer. Genesis 5 mentions ten generations from Adam to Noah.  Noah is the 10th generation from Adam and Eve.  What do we notice about these ten generations?

If you add them up, you would find that they cover a period of 1556 years. The chapter ends with the birth of Noah’s three sons.  Noah is 500 years old at the end of the chapter (5:32). The chapter ends exactly one hundred years before the Flood. The Flood does not take place until he is 600 years old (7:6).

Some of the same names are used in both chapters.  There is an Enoch in Genesis 4 and one in Genesis 5 but they are not the same person.  One is a descendant of Cain and one is a descendant of Seth.  There is a Lamech in chapter four and one in chapter five.  The one in Genesis 4 is a cold-blooded killer.  He murders a young boy in cold blood and boasts about it.

Lamech in Genesis 5 is Noah’s dad.  He is not a poet like the other Lamech.  He is a prophet.  After he has Noah, he says, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed” (5:29).

He didn’t say that about his other kids.  Apparently, he knew that that boy would do something special.  God was going to use him in an incredible way.  That didn’t happen until he was five or six hundred years old.  That gives some hope to the rest of us.

3. This genealogy is selective.

It is not exhaustive.  It is not a complete family tree of Adam and Eve.  It doesn’t cover all of Adam’s descendants.  Adam had many sons and daughters.  This chapter focuses on only one of his sons, Seth but it does not cover all of Seth’s descendants.  Seth had many sons.  It only mentions one of them.  It goes through ten generations and covers one person in each generation.

Noah’s dad was named Lamech.  He had many sons and daughters but Genesis 5 focuses on only one of his sons, Noah.  That shows how selective this genealogy was. Noah had some brothers and sisters.  They all drowned in the Flood.

4. This genealogy contains life spans.

The one in chapter four did not contain any.  We do not know how long Cain or Lamech lived.  We do know how long all of these ten men before the Flood lived.  What we know is that they lived really long.  They all lived about 900 years. Eight of these ten men lived an average of 907 years.  Two of them were not included because one does not die in this chapter (Noah).  He dies later in the book (9:29).  The other does not die at all (Enoch).

These Pre-Flood Patriarchs lived more than eleven times longer than we live today. It is the reverse of evolution.  We are NOT living longer today.  We are living shorter.  It is eleven times shorter.

Life expectancy in the US today is about 78 years old.  It is a little higher for women (81%) and a little lower for men (75%) but the national average is 78%. The youngest person in the list lived 365 years (Enoch).  The oldest one on the list lived 969 years (Methuselah).  Enoch was the father of Methuselah.

The man who lived the shortest in this chapter fathered the man who lived the longest, Methuselah.  Methuselah lived about a thousand years.  If he would have lived thirty-one more years, he would have been a thousand.

Methuselah lived in the eighth generation from Adam.  Here is the shocker.  When Methuselah was alive, Adam was still alive.  Adam lived to be 930 years old.  In fact, when Lamech (Noah’s dad) was born, Adam would have been 874 years old.  When Adam died, Lamech would have been 56 years old.

Lamech could have talked to Adam before he died and asked him what it was like to live in the Garden before the Fall and get his perspective.  Noah was the only one of the ten in this chapter who was born AFTER Adam died.  Lamech died five years before the Flood.  Methuselah died the same years as the Flood.

That raises some questions.  Why did they live so long?  Did they live longer because of external factors (e.g., environmental factors, diet, vapor canopy)?  Did they live longer because of internal factors in the gene pool?  Adam and Eve had perfect DNA and may have been highly resistant to disease and infection.  The earth in the beginning may not have had the bacteria and viruses we have today.  The answer is that we do not know.

For skeptics of the Bible, this is a problem?  How can you believe in a book that has people living a thousand years old?  It sounds like a myth.  How would you answer them?  This was a common view in the ancient world that the very first people lived a long time. There is extra-biblical evidence for this among the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Sumerians.

5. This genealogy emphasizes human mortality.

There is a common phrase that runs through out the chapter.  It is the three words “and he died”.  You see it eight times in the chapter (5:3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 25, 28).  The whole chapter is a diary of death.

These men before the Flood lived a very long time but they all died.  Satan promised them that they would not die but every one of them did with just one exception.  The ones who died in this chapter were Sethites.  They were God’s people.  They were not the evil Cainites.

Hebrews 9:27 says “It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment”.  We all have an appointment date with God.  None of us knows when the appointment is but we all have it, unless we live in the final generation when the Lord returns.  We will all die.  One hundred people die every minute and one hundred and fifty thousand die every day.

Some of us will die young and some will die old.  Some will die quickly and some will die slowly.  Some will die peacefully and others will die painfully.  As Ben Franklin said, “only two things in this world are certain – death and taxes.”

You may escape paying your taxes but you will not escape death. There are many physical causes of death (cancer, heart disease, stroke) but there is also a spiritual cause.  Death occurs because of sin.  The wages of sin is death.  Adam’s sin led to death for all of us but we sin every day, so we cannot really blame him.

Enoch: A Case Study

Genesis 5 gives us some information about a man named Enoch. There are two very unusual things about this man Enoch.  He was unusual for two reasons.

1) Enoch never died (5:24).

God just removed him from the planet.  Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”  Enoch and Elijah are the only people in the Bible who never died.  Enoch was raptured (Genesis 5) and Elijah was taken into heaven in a chariot of fire (II Kings 2).  Both men were born.  Both men never died.

They will not be the only people who will not die.  All the believers who are alive on the earth when Jesus returns will not die.  “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds (instead of dying) to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

2) Enoch walked with God.

All of the other ten men just lived.  All we are told about them is that they got married, had kids, lived a really long time and died.  With Enoch we are told something that was not said of most of the other ten men.  Other men lived.  Enoch walked with God.

We are told that two times in Genesis (5:22, 24).  There were only two people who never died (Enoch & Elijah).  There were also only two people who walked with God (Enoch and Noah).  Two of these ten men walked with God.  As I thought about Enoch and Noah, I realized that they had many similarities.

Enoch and Noah: Similarities

1) They both lived BEFORE the Flood.

2) They were both Sethites.

They were both descendants of Adam through Seth. Noah’s father was Lamech.  His grandfather was Methuselah. Enoch was Noah’s great, grandfather.

3) They were both were married.

They were both husbands.  They had a wife.

4) The both had children.

They were both fathers.  They had sons and daughters (5:22, 32).

5) They both lived in a wicked environment (cf. 6:5-6).

6) They were both righteous (Hebrew 11:5; Genesis 6:9).

Enoch pleased God.  Noah was called both righteous and blameless.  Neither one of these men were sinless.  Their wives would tell you that but they were both righteous.

7) They were both men of faith.

Noah was a man of incredible faith, as we will see next week.  God told him that a Flood was coming and that he needed to build an ark.  Noah believed God and did exactly what he told him to do, even though what God asked him to do sounded crazy.

He did it, even when there was no sign of any rain coming.  His faith led to actions.  It led him to do something.  He built an ark.  Enoch was also a man of faith.  How do I know?  Both Enoch and Noah are both mentioned in the Faith Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11:5, 7).

8) They were both preachers (Jude 14-15; II Peter 2:5).

Genesis does not mention either one preaching but the NT does. They both took a stand for their faith.  They were not silent.  They were vocal.  Not only were they preachers, they preached a similar message.  The both preached against sin.  They both preached about a coming judgment.  Noah preached about the upcoming Flood.  Neither one of their preaching produced any great revival.

Noah became one of the most unsuccessful preachers of all time.  The only converts he had were his own family.  Many preachers act as if you are a great failure unless you are winning souls every day.

If that is your criterion for success, Noah was a complete failure.  He had seven converts in 120 years, although he did win over his own family (which is not always easy).  We know from Jude 14-15 that Enoch also preached about judgment for sin. They both preached an unpopular message.

9) They were both were delivered by God.

They both experienced a miracle.  Enoch was protected from death.  Noah was protected from the Flood, even though he died eventually.  They both found grace and favor in God’s eyes (cf. 6:8).

10) They both walked with God (5:22, 24; 6:9)

Application

What does it mean to walk with God?  It does not just say that Enoch spoke FOR God.  It does not just say that he lived FOR God.  It says that he walked WITH God.  It goes back to Genesis 2.  God used to take walks with Adam and Eve.  Now Enoch and Noah walked with God.  What does that mean?  It is a picture of communion, and fellowship.

Walking was used as a means of transportation in the ancient world.  That was how they got to places.  On Easter Sunday, a few men went from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  It was a seven mile trip.  They got there by walking.  Jesus showed up incognito and played dumb.  He asked them what they were talking about (Luke 24).  Today, it is a way to exercise.  It is also a picture of fellowship.

The question to think about is this:  Would it be said of us that we walk with God?  It is possible to know about someone and not know them personally.  There are all kinds of famous people that we do not know personally.  It is also possible to know someone but not know them well.

We have all kinds of acquaintances at work that we know but are not close to.  To walk with God means to be close to God.  Just going to church, even going to church regularly, is not the same thing as walking with God.  Do we walk with God?

Some of us cannot walk with God for one day.  Enoch did it for three hundred years (5:22).  He did not do it in a good environment.  He lived before the Flood which was an extremely wicked environment.  He also did not do it in a monastery as a monk.

He was married.  He had kids.  He had family responsibilities and he still found the time to walk with God.  Noah had to build an ark.  Noah wasn’t retired with all kinds of free time on his hands.  He had a job to do.  He was very busy and he still had time to walk with God.

How do we walk with God?  We have to do two things.  We have to talk to God and let God talk to us.  This is not rocket science.  It is very simple.  Our goal for this week is to spend time in prayer on a regular basis and to spend time in God’s Word, talking to Him and letting Him talk to us.


[1] Jubilees 4:17 says that Enoch was the first one who learned how to write but there is no way to verify this statement historically.

The First Crime

Genesis 4 is a chapter that would be rated R for violence and sex.  It contains one of the most famous stories in the Bible.  In fact, many people who have never read the Bible know the story of Cain and Abel.

It is a well-known story.  It is a powerful story.  It is a fascinating story.  It is full of applications.  The chapter also raises some very difficult questions.  It is a story of SIN.  It is a story of JUDGMENT, and it is a story of GRACE.

It is the story of the first crime ever committed on planet earth.  Adam committed the first sin.  Cain committed the first crime.   What Adam and Eve did seemed minor.  They pulled some fruit off a tree.

Cain committed murder.  It was the first murder. It was the world’s oldest murder. Cain was the first murderer and we have been murderers ever since.  We are a race of murderers.  Every thirty-two minutes, a murder takes place in America. We live in a violent world.  Big cities are full of violence.

We have gone from Cain’s murder of one person to murder of more people.  Serial killers kill repeatedly and habitually.

We have gone from Cain’s murder of one person to murder of more people at a time.  Mass murders kill more than one at a time.  Modern technology has made that easy.  We have weapons of mass destruction.   All of this goes back to the first baby born on the planet.

Adam and Eve were created perfect.  They lived in a perfect world.  When Adam and Eve were tempted, they became sinners.  When they had kids, they gave their sin nature to their children.

You would think that gradually people would get worse and worse.  It would start with some misdemeanors and eventually evolve into some felonies.  Eventually, people would do really bad things, perhaps in Genesis 50, but that’s not what happened. The first sin was found in Genesis 3.  The first murder is found, just one chapter later, in Genesis 4.

“It took only one generation for the sin unleashed in the Garden to lead to the first act of violence.  Cain didn’t just give his brother a bloody nose; he took his life.”[1]  It took just ONE GENERATION for this to take place.

The First Birth

This story is found in Genesis 4. The chapter begins on a positive note.  It begins with sex.  It is the first sex in the Bible.  It is sex between a husband and wife.  Now Adam KNEW Eve his wife (Genesis 4:1 NKJV).  He should have known her.  He married her.

The Bible describes intimacy as knowledge.  It seems like a strange way to describe sex.  It is something that gives you knowledge and makes you smarter.  This is a euphemism.  It is a figure of speech.  It is not the way we talk today.

This knowledge led to pregnancy.  Picture Eve nine months pregnant hobbling around with a big belly.  Pregnancy led to childbirth.  Eve delivered the first baby in history.

She conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 NKJV).  God told Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28) and they are obeying.  Eve gives God credit for his birth. 

This was the first childbirth in history.  Eve had never seen a baby before.  Now she has one and his name was Cain and then had another baby named Abel.  We think of Cain and Abel as little kids but these were adults and they were complete opposites.

Two Brothers

They had different skills and abilities.  They had different personalities and temperaments.  They chose different occupations.  One was a shepherd, and one was a farmer.  Cain was more like his dad.  Cain was a farmer. Adam was a gardener, although he also named the animals and probably liked animals, like Abel did.

They were different spiritually as well.  One was saved and one was lost.  One was a child of God, and one was a child of the Devil.

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. (I John 3:11-12 NIV)

Two Sacrifices

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. (Genesis 4:2-4 NIV)

Cain and Abel worshiped God in their own way.  One brought an animal sacrifice and one brought God some food.  One brought a bloody sacrifice and the other brought God a fruit basket.  Cain brought God some zucchini and some squash.  Abel brought God a lamb.

Cain and Abel were very different, but they had one thing in common.  They both worshiped God.  They both went to church.  They both brought different sacrifices.  They did it different ways but they both worshiped God.  One was saved and one was lost.

Life Lesson

Cain worshiped God.  Many unsaved people worship God.  Many lost people go to church, some regularly. There are many people who are religious who are not saved.

Cain was not an atheist.  He believed in God.  He worshiped God.   He offered God sacrifices.  He was religious but he was unsaved.  Churches are full of saved and unsaved people.  People may attend church for forty years and be lost.

The Jews who wanted Jesus killed were very religious.  Nicodemus was very religious, but Jesus said to him, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NKJV).

There are terrorists who commit all kinds of atrocities are very religious.  There is a difference between religion and salvation.  Not everyone who is religious is righteous.

A Sacrifice Rejected

Then, we get the shock.  God accepted one sacrifice and rejected the other sacrifice.

The Lord looked WITH FAVOR on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did NOT look with favor. (Genesis 4:4-5 NIV)

We want God to look with favor on us.  Why did God accept one sacrifice and reject the other one?  Abel brings a dead animal and Cain brings the fruit of the ground.  Does God have something against fruit?  Does He like lamb chops more than vegetables?   Does God just like shepherds better than farmers?

The Bible does not say why one offering was accepted and one was rejected.  There are two theories.

One theory is that Cain was rejected because he did not bring a dead animal.  He did not want to bring God a bloody sacrifice.  The Bible says, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 HCSB).  That may be true, but the Bible doesn’t say it was the reason.

Another theory is that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because he gave God a high-quality sacrifice.  He brought FAT portions from some of the FIRSTBORN of his flock.  He brought fat animals, not skinny, sick animals, like the Jews did in the Book of Malachi.    

Cain brought an inferior, low-quality sacrifice.  He did not give God his best.  He just brought God the leftovers. Abel gave God his first and his best.  That raises this question: What do we give God?

Three Truths about Worship

1) Worship is something we give to God

It is not something that we get.  Both Cain and Abel gave something to God as worship.

2) All worship is NOT equal

All religions are not equal.  All churches are not equal.  All worship is not equal.  Some is good.  Some is bad.  Some worship honors God.  Some worship does not.

Some worship is acceptable and some is not.  There is a right and a wrong way to worship God.  Abel did it the right way.  Cain did it the wrong way.  The same is true today.

How do we know what is the right way and what is the wrong way?  We have to give God our best, like Abel did.  We have to worship God as He has revealed.  We have to follow the Word.  Do we give God our best?  Are we like Cain or Abel in our worship?

3) God rejects some worship

He did that with Cain and Abel.  He still does that today.  His nature has not changed.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Many teach that God accepts all worship.  He accepts all religions.  There are many different paths to God.  That is universalism.  It is pluralism.  It sounds good.  Many believe that but it is not true.  It’s a myth.

If that was the case, he would have accepted Cain’s sacrifice, as well as Abel’s sacrifice.  The truth is that there is some worship that God rejects.

Jesus said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him MUST worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 ESV).  He said, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV).

There is worship that God rejects and there is some worship that God hates.

“I HATE, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. (Amos 5:21-23 NIV)

Cain’s Response

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7 NIV)

What was Cain’s response?  He was angry.  God knew he was angry, so He talked to him. What does He tell him?  God turned it right back on Cain.  Cain was mad at God.  God said to Cain, “You are the problem.  You offered the wrong sacrifice.  Offer the right one and you will be accepted.”

God acted as Therapist and Counselor.  He asked Cain two questions BEFORE his crime.  Why are you angry?  Why is your face downcast?  God is always seeking sinners. He told him what he needed to do to be accepted next time.

Cain’s Crime

Cain’s crime was premeditated murder.  He was the first one to ever do this.  No one had ever killed anyone before.  Several things made this crime especially bad.

Cain killed Abel intentionally.  This was not accidental. It was intentional and deliberate.  Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:8 NIV).

He lured him out in the field to get him alone.  Abel was completely helpless and defenseless.  He was isolated and alone.  Cain probably said, “Why don’t you show me how to offer a proper sacrifice to God.  Show me the right animals to use” and then he killed him.

Cain killed Abel violently.  He didn’t poison him.  This was a brutal murder.  There was blood everywhere.  God said that Abel’s blood cried out from the ground.

This murder happened right after church.  It took place after a worship service.  It took place right after family worship.  It took place right after both brothers offering a sacrifice to God.

Cain does not just kill a stranger in cold blood. He killed a family member.  He killed a brother.  He killed a younger brother or possibly a twin brother (as some believe).

In fact, Cain did not just kill a brother.  He killed a believer.  He killed a godly man.  He killed a righteous man.  Jesus called him righteous.

And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of RIGHTEOUS ABEL to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:35 NIV)

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as RIGHTEOUS, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4 ESV)

Abel became the first human to die.  He became the first murder victim.  Cain was the first murderer.  Abel was the first martyr.  That brings us to another truth.  You will not hear this preached in church too often.  It is not very popular.

God doesn’t stop all of the evil in the world.  He gives people free will.  That means that evil people will do some bad things and sometimes believers will suffer.  Sometimes they are killed at the hands of wicked people.

The Interrogation

Abel is killed and no one knows where he is or what happened to him.  It is the first unsolved mystery.  Cain thought he committed the perfect crime.  There were no eyewitnesses, but God saw it.

One day, every we will all stand account before God for our sins.  We will face Him, either as guilty sinners or pardoned saints.

After Adam and Eve sinned, God confronted them about their sin.  Now, he confronts Cain about what he did.  Now we see God, not as Therapist, but as Judge.  There is a crime scene investigation.  There is an interrogation and there is a sentence.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. (Genesis 4:9-10 NIV)

God asks Cain two questions after his crime: Where is Abel? What have you done?  They are rhetorical questions.  God already knows the answer.

He asked Adam and Eve, where are you?  They were hiding, so God asked them, where are you? (Genesis 3:9).  He asked Cain: Where is your brother Abel? (Genesis 4:9).  God asked him that, not because he was hiding but because he had hidden the body.

What was his answer?  “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9 NIV).  Cain had a very different response from his parents.

When God confronted them, Adam and Eve about eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, did not deny that they did it.  Adam said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ATE.” (Genesis 3:12 ESV).  He did not deny it.  He just blamed Eve.  Adam confessed.  Cain NEVER confessed to the crime.

God confronted Cain and he lied to God.  He says, “I don’t know where he is” when he did know where he was.  He said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?  He’s not my responsibility.”  He answered God’s question with a question.  It was a sarcastic reply.

Cain asked a very thought-provoking question.  We are to be our brother’s keeper.  We learn that from Matthew 25 (the poor, the naked, the hungry, the stranger)

The Punishment

Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:11-12 NIV)

He is not sentenced to death.  He is sentenced to exile.  Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden and now Cain is exiled from the family.  Adam and Eve have now lost two sons, one to death and one to exile.

Cain is sentenced to walk the earth.  He becomes the first nomad.  Eventually, he settles down.  He became a politician and started a city.  It was the first city.  Cain named the city after his son.  He called it “The City of Enoch” (Genesis 4:17).

It was not a city, like our modern cities with huge skyscrapers.  John C. Whitcomb calls it “a settlement”[2] but it was the first city.  Cain became He became the founder of civilization.  His descendants were not very spiritual, but they were very creative.  They invented iron tools and music.

Did Cain Get Away with Murder?

He was not put to death.  Instead of putting Cain to death, God protected him from death.  He put a mark on him so he wouldn’t be killed.  Cain probably lived a long life.  He eventually got married, raised a family and started a city.  The righteous man died.  The guilty man lived.

Is that fair?  Does it prove that God is against the death penalty?  Does it prove that God is against capital punishment?  If you read the rest of the Bible, you see that God is not against capital punishment (cf. Exodus 21:12, 14; 22:18-20; Leviticus 24:17, 21; Numbers 35:15-18, etc.).  In fact, if you read the rest of Genesis, you see this (Genesis 9:6)

Why was Cain not put to death?  He deserved to die.  He should have been put to death, but this does not prove that God is against the death penalty.  It just proves that sometimes God deals with people in grace and gives them a second chance.

Cain was not executed but he was punished.  He did suffer.  He had a guilty conscience for what he had done. Cain was under a curse.  He was driven from God’s presence.

Cain did not live sixty or seventy years.  Before the Flood, people lived hundreds and hundreds of years.  How would you like to be cursed by God for eight hundred years living outside his blessing and favor.

People did not like him either.  Nobody liked him.  He was despised by people.  He was constantly on the move and was always looking over his shoulder in case anyone was trying to kill him.

He could not make a living farming.  God said, “When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you” (Genesis 4:12).  He traveled everywhere looking for a place to farm but was unsuccessful.

He had to choose a new occupation.  Since the ground opened up its mouth to receive Abel’s blood (Genesis 4:11), it would not give Cain any crops.  He reaped what he sowed.

Cain was punished but there was a reason he was not executed.  There was no state in Genesis 4 to execute Cain.  It had not been created yet.  Capital punishment was to be implemented by the state.

This was to prevent revenge slaying, as Jordan Peterson put it.  “I kill your brother. You kill my two brothers. You kill my whole family. I kill your whole town and then we blow up the world.”[3]

The Way of Cain

Are we like Cain in any way?  You say, “I haven’t killed anyone.”  You might be surprised.  Let’s look at eight signs we might be like Cain.

1. The way of Cain is the way of HATRED

Cain was the first murderer.  He never owned a gun.  He never watched violent movies.  He never saw anyone kill anyone.  He never played violent video games and yet he became the first murderer.

The NT says that that what motivates murder is hatred (I John 3:11-15).  Murder is a hate crime.  It stems from hatred.  If we are full of hatred to anyone, we have the spirit of Cain inside us.

Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him (I John 3:14-15 NIV).

2. The way of Cain is the way of ANGER

but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his face was gloomy. (Genesis 4:4 NASB).  Cain had an anger problem.  He does not just become angry.  He becomes VERY angry.

Cain was not just angry.  He was angry at God.  Many today, like Cain, are angry at God.  Cain is angry at God, but he can’t come after God, so he lashes out at people.  He had a temper problem.  He had a short fuse.  Does this describe us?  Are we like Cain?

3. The way of Cain is the way of VIOLENCE

Cain did not just have hatred in his heart, he acted out on it, like Will Smith did this past week.  He acted out in physical violence.  The spirit of Cain is the spirit of violence.  It is the spirit of bloodshed.  It is the spirt of murder.  Are we physically violent?

4. The way of Cain is the way of FALSE WORSHIP

Cain was religious but his religion was unbiblical.  His worship was unbiblical.  He worshiped God the way he thought he should be worshiped and the way he wanted to worship Him, rather than the way God has revealed himself in His Word.  Is our worship biblical?

5. The way of Cain is the way of UNREPENTANCE

Cain never repented.  He never confessed to his crime.  He never acknowledged doing it.  He never took responsibility for it.  Even Judas confessed his sin.  Even he said the words, “I have sinned” but Cain never said those words.

He was never honest and transparent about what he did.  He never felt bad for what he did.  He had no remorse.  He did not have any feelings or emotions for his dead brother.  He was a cold-blooded killer.  That is the spirit of Cain.

King David committed terrible crimes, but he eventually came to genuine repentance.  Do we take responsibility for our actions?  Do we confess them before God, or do we deny them and try to hide them?

6. The way of Cain is the way of UNTEACHABILITY

Cain was unteachable.  He would not take instruction or criticism, even if it was constructive criticism or even if it came from God Himself.  He was rebellious and defiant. The Bible says that this is a mark of a fool.  A fool does not take correction.  There are professing Christians today who live in sin.  You can show all kinds of verses to them, and it does not make any difference.  They are unteachable, like Cain was.

7. The way of Cain is the way of RESTLESSNESS

The way of Cain is the way of a hard life as a result and consequence of one’s own actions.  Cain had a hard life.  He lived in disobedience to God.  He lived in unrepentance.  He was under God’s curse.  He was a farmer and wherever he went, he could not get crops to grow.  He kept moving but it did not help.

Lots of people have difficult lives.  Some are in prison for their faith in foreign countries.  Cain had a difficult life as a result of disobedience and as a result of rebellion to God.

8. The way of Cain is the way of COMPLAINING

The way of Cain is the way of complaining.  That also is the spirit of Cain. When God tells him what his punishment was, all he did was to whine and complain.  He said, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”  His punishment was less than what he gave Abel, but Cain only thought of himself.

There is a little irony here.  Cain is worried that someone might kill him.  He said, whoever finds me will kill me” (Genesis 4:14 NIV). Who might that be?  That would be Adam and Eve’s other children or their descendants.  Cain kills a family member and is now worried that another family member might kill him.

Do we have a negative complaining spirit?  Do we complain at God and what He does in our life?

Was the Mark of Cain Dark Skin?

The Mormons in the 1800s believed that the mark of Cain referred to dark skin and that all of Cain’s descendants were under black and still under that mark.[4] They used the mark of Cain to justify slavery.[5]

In 1852, Brigham Young made a statement that blacks would join the church and be baptized but could not be ordained to the priesthood because of the “Curse of Cain.”  The Mormon Church did not allow them to be priests until 1978.

Many Presidents of the church of Latter-Day Saints taught that the mark of Cain was dark skin. Joseph Fielding Smith, the tenth president of the LDS Church, said, “It was well understood by the early elders of the Church that the mark which was placed on Cain and which his posterity inherited was the black skin. The Book of Moses informs us that Cain and his descendants were black”[6]

Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS, also said, “Cain slew his brother…. and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.”[7]

Is the mark of Cain dark skin?  No. That view uses the Bible to promote racism.  Here is the problem with that interpretation.

1. The Bible does NOT say that the mark was dark skin.

The reason God put the mark on Cain was to keep him from being killed.  Cain’s skin color would not keep anyone from killing him.

2. This mark went to Cain, not his descendants.

The mark was just for Cain. The Bible does NOT say that the mark was passed down to his descendants.

3. The Cainites all died in the Flood

Even if it was passed down to his descendants, it would NOT explain dark skin today because all of the Cainites died in the Flood.

4. The mark of Cain was NOT a curse.

The mark of Cain is NOT the same thing as the curse of Cain. The mark of Cain had a positive connotation. It did not have a negative connotation.  It kept Cain alive.  He was in the witness protection program.

The curse on Cain prevented him from growing crops.  The mark of Cain was a blessing, not a curse.  Some of the same racists who taught the mark was dark skins used it as an excuse to persecute, enslave and kill black people.

This passage should not be used to justify slavery (as many used the passage in the past).  Genesis 4 doesn’t say anything about Cain’s descendants being slaves to people.

 

[1] Discover God Study Bible (Bright Media Foundation, 2007), p. 13.

[2] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=23121611312

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44f3mxcsI50

[4] In the Book of Mormon, dark skin is a curse (2 Nephi 5:21; Alma 3:6).

[5] http://mit.irr.org/brigham-young-slavery-because-of-curse-of-cain-5-january-1852

[6] The Way to Perfection, 107.

[7] Journal of Discourses, VII: 290-291.

The First Worship

We will be looking at Genesis 4 for the next two weeks.  It is a rather depressing chapter.  It shows the depravity of man which existed from the very beginning of the race but it begins and ends on a good note.  The chapter begins with the very first pregnancy and birth (4:1). It ends with the very first revival, as people began to call on the name of the Lord (4:26). Before we look at Genesis 4, I want to do a little review.

Last we looked at the Fall of Adam and Eve.  The chapter ended with them being kicked out of paradise.  They were driven out by God.  Today, we will see what life was like OUTSIDE of Eden.  It was very different from the life Adam and Eve lived inside Eden but there are many similarities between this chapter and the last one.

1) In both chapters, there is a crime

The one in Genesis 4 seems a lot more serious.  What Adam and Eve did seems like a misdemeanor compared to this.  They pulled some fruit off of a tree.  What Cain did was a felony.  It was murder.  In Genesis 3, we saw the first sin.  Here we see the first crime.

2) In both chapters, God sought sinners

He went to Adam and said, “Where are you?” He didn’t wait until they came looking for God.  We see God reaching out to Cain in this chapter as well.  Cain was angry that God did not accept his offering.  God told him that all he had to do was to bring the right offering and it would be accepted.

There was no favoritism on God’s part.  Instead of bring the right offering, he just murdered Abel.  Abel did absolutely nothing to harm Cain.  He just made him look bad, so Cain killed him. That was his solution to the problem but God reached out to him. In fact, God reached out to Him BEFORE he even sinned.  As one person stated, “The Devil talked Eve into sin but God couldn’t talk Cain out of it.” [1]

3) In both chapters, there is Divine Interrogation

God asked some questions, as he confronted sinners.  He asked Adam and Eve four questions.  God confronted Cain about what he did as well.  He asked him some questions.  He asked Cain two questions: Where is your brother Abel?”  What have you done?  He asked Adam, “Where are you?”  He didn’t ask Cain, “Where are you?”  He asked him, “Where’s your brother?”  It shows God’s concern for His people.  As F.B. Meyer says, He takes an inventory of his saints.

4) In both chapters, there is denial or blame-shifting on man’s part

Adam admitted sinned.  He blamed his wife but he admitted he sinned.  He said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (3:12)  In fact, Cain’s response was even worse than Adam’s response. Adam confessed.  Cain NEVER even confessed to the crime.  He never admitted to God what he had done.  Human nature has not changed much.  People commit the worst types of murder but will deny under oath that they had anything to do with it, even when all of the evidence stares them in the face.

Cain went beyond denial to sarcasm.   He said “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  He answered God’s question with another question.  It was a sarcastic question.  To whom is the sarcasm directed?  God.  What he said was not even an appropriate question. In essence, he said, “It is not my job to keep up with him.  You should not be asking me this question.  He is not my responsibility.”

5) In both chapters, there is judgment for sin

There is a curse in both chapters.  In the last chapter, the ground is cursed (3:19).  In this chapter, Cain is cursed (4:12).  The ground is cursed specifically for Cain.  Because of what he did, he will not be able to farm again.  His farming days were over.  He had to choose a new profession.  Keep in mind that people did not live 60 or 70 years in the beginning.  Adam lived over nine hundred years. No matter how much he tried, the ground would not produce fruit for Cain, like it did before.  Cain also became a wanderer.

6) In both chapters, there is a forced expulsion

There is an expulsion in both chapters.  Both were driven from the land.  Adam and Eve were driven out of paradise and Cain was driven from the presence of the Lord (4:14, 16; 3:24).  Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden.  Cain was kicked out of the whole area of Eden.  He was kicked out of the whole state.

7) In both chapters God demonstrates grace to sinners

He gave Adam and Eve some clothes to wear.  God became a tailor and made some clothes for them.  He didn’t throw them out of the garden naked.  They would have been both homeless and naked.  God also showed grace to Cain.  He was worried someone would kill him, so God put a mark on him to prevent that from happening.  That was grace.  He deserved to be killed but God showed grace.

The story of Cain and Abel is very well known.  We all know it well.  That creates a challenge for the teacher or preacher.  What could I possibly say about this section that you have not heard before?  As we go through this section, we will see how well you really know this story.  This is not just a Bible story for kids.

This chapter would have an R rating.  There is a lot of violence and sex in it.  The chapter begins and ends with sex.  It begins with the words “Adam made love to his wife Eve” (4:1).  It mentions Cain having sex with his wife (4:17).  It ends with, “Adam made love to his wife again” (4:25).  Each time it results in a pregnancy and a birth.  What we have in the first verse of the chapter is the first human pregnancy and the first human birth in history.

If you think about it, this might have been a little scary for Eve.  You can picture Eve with a big belly walking around, waiting to deliver her first child.  She did not know exactly what to expect.  Adam and Eve may have seen some animals give birth but they had never seen a human baby being born.  God said it was painful and she does this without any anesthesia.  She does not give birth in a hospital with the help of a doctor.  She just had Adam.  He became her helper.  She gave God the credit.  She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”

Eve delivers the first baby in history and we get the news “It’s a boy”.  It was exciting to see the first baby born on the planet.  We have the first mother, the first father and the first children.  There are many firsts in this chapter.  Their first children were boys.  Eve had two sons.  Genesis might have read a little different if the first two kids were daughters.  They were sons.

Cain and Abel were the first two brothers in history, although the focus of the chapter is really on Cain, not Abel.  Abel does not say anything in the whole chapter but his blood speaks.  It cries out from the ground.  It cried out for judgment.  Genesis 4:1-2 says, “Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.” (NIV)

This week, I want to focus on two men – Cain and Abel. I want to look at the two different offerings they brought God and try to discover why one of the offerings was accepted and one was rejected.   There are some important lessons we can learn in the first four verses.  There is lesson on parenting and a lesson on worship that I would like to explore.  What lessons do we learn about parenting from this section?

Lessons on Parenting

1. Our kids are very different from one another.

Kids are very different.  Brothers and sisters can be complete opposites.  Anyone who has had kids knows that.  Some are more like the mother.  Some are more like the father and some are not like either.  You wonder how they got into the family.  Our kids have very different talents and abilities.  My kids have some skills that I do not have at all.

Cain and Abel were biological brothers but were complete opposites.  They were a study in contrasts. They came from the same parents and lived in the same environment but they were very different from each other. They were different in age.  One was older and one was younger.  They were different in occupation.  Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd.  Both occupations were important.  Farming was important for food and shepherding was important for clothing and sacrifice.  They were probably different in temperament.

One may have been more active, energetic, muscular and aggressive.  The other may have been more quiet, refined and intellectual.  We are not told this but they were different physically.  They looked different.  They were also different morally and spiritually.  One was a murderer and one was a martyr.  One was righteous and one was wicked.  One is called in the NT a child of God and the other is called a child of the devil (I John 3:12).  One was a seed of the woman.  The other was a seed of the serpent.  They even brought different offerings to God.  They worshiped God differently.

2. We often evaluate our kids incorrectly

Adam and Eve were ecstatic when Cain was born.  Most people believe that he would be the Messiah that God promised in chapter 3.  They expected him to the one who would defeat the serpent.  They had all their hopes in Cain.  His name means “possession.” They had great expectation for him.  He was their prize possession.  They overemphasized his importance.   They may have even thought he would be the Messiah in fulfillment of God’s promise in Genesis 3:15. God promised out of the seed of the woman the Messiah would come and here was her seed.

Instead, she found out what it was like to raise Cain. Adam and Eve also under-emphasized the importance of their second child Abel.  They had him but did not think that he was important or would amount to much.  They named him “vanity,” “worthless” or “empty”.

Abel’s birth did not draw as much attention as Cain’s birth.  That was a huge miscalculation on their part.  Some of us may think some of our kids may not amount to much and be very wrong.  Parents sometimes think their worst child is a rare jewel and their best child is completely useless and worthless.  Eve was deceived before and now she is deceived again about Cain.

3. We need to give our kids some type of spiritual training

Adam did give them some training.  He trained him to do their jobs.  He gave them some vocational training.  Adam was a farmer.  He knew how to farm.  He also knew a lot about animals, because he studied them when he was in the garden.  Those were his two jobs and that was what his two sons did.  Did he train them spiritually?  We don’t know.

What could Adam and Eve taught them?  They did not have a Bible to give them.  There were no books written yet.  Everyone who hates to read probably thinks that this was the golden age.  Let me point out a few things that Adam and Eve could have taught them and should have taught them.  There is a lot that they could have and should have taught them from their own experience.

They should have taught them what God was like and how to worship Him.  They knew God.  They walked and talked with him in the garden.  They had first-hand experience with God.  They should have taught them what life was like in the garden before sin entered the world.  They should have taught them never to question God and to always take Him at His Word.  They should have taught them to beware of the serpent.  The serpent ruined their life and would ruin Cain and Abel’s if he gets a chance.

They should have explained some of the mistakes they made so that their kids do not make the same ones.  They should have taught them that there are serious consequences for sin.  We reap what we sow.  They could have taught them about the judgment of God. God hold people accountable for their actions.  They should have taught them to admit when they are wrong and not to blame other people for their own mistakes.  Cain never learned that lesson.  When God confronted him, he never confessed to what he did and he never repented for killing his brother.

Lessons on Worship

Cain and Abel worshiped God very differently.  They brought two different kinds of offerings.  One brought an animal sacrifice and one brought God some food.  One brought a bloody sacrifice and the other brought God a fruit basket.  Cain brought God some zucchini and some squash.  Abel brought God a lamb.  God accepted one and rejected the other.

“Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” (4:2-5).

Why was one accepted and another rejected?  Why would God accept the animal sacrifice and reject the fruit cake Cain brought.  Apparently, God established animal sacrifices as the way to worship Him.  Cain ignored what God had said.  He didn’t want to go to his brother’s flock and get a lamb.  He wanted to worship God in his own way.  Cain started the first false religion.  God rejected both Cain and his offering.  His offering was wrong and he brought it with the wrong attitude.

Abel not only did what God told him to do, he selected the best animals out of his flock.  His offering involved some sacrifice.  He did not bring God the worst animals that he had that he did not want anyway.  That is what the Jews did in the Book of Malachi.  He brought God the best that he had.  He brought fat animals, not skinny, sick animals.  He brought the firstborn animals (4:4).  Cain did not do that.  He did not bring God the first fruits.

There was no blood in his offering and no heart in it either.  God always looks at the heart.  He doesn’t just look at the sacrifice or the worship.  He does not just listen to the words we sing him in church.  He looks at our heart.  He gave God the best he had.  Do we give God our best?  This story is SHOCKING for a number of reasons.  I want you to think about this.

What Cain & Abel had in Common

a) Both men believed in God.

Neither one of them were atheists.  They believed in God.  The believed in the true God.

b) Both men worshiped God.

They did not just believe in God; they brought God something. It is not as if one brought God an offering and the other didn’t.  Both men brought an   offering. They both worshiped God. They just did it in two different ways. One sacrifice involved blood and other did not.

c) Both men worshiped the SAME God.

They not only believed in God, they both worshiped the true God.  One did not worship the Lord, while the other worshiped Zeus.  Both brought an offering to THE LORD.  Cain was NOT an atheist.  He believed in   God.  He worshiped God.  He was religious.

What lessons can we learn from this about worship?  There are two lessons.

1) God REJECTS some worship

This chapter teaches something that is completely counter-cultural.  This contradicts a common doctrine in the world today.  It is the doctrine of religious pluralism.  Religious pluralism says that all forms of religious expression are valid and acceptable.  People worship God in all kinds of different ways.

There are thousands of religions.  There are all kinds of different paths to God.  In fact, there are all kinds of different gods that can be worshiped. The world teaches that you can worship God any way you want in any religion you want, as long as you are sincere and lead a moral life.  God accepts all religions.

Genesis 4 teaches something very different.  We learn here that God does NOT accept all worship.  That is the first lesson on worship.  Does he accept your worship?  God not only has to be worshiped, He has to be worshiped in the correct way.  We can’t just worship God any way we want.  He has revealed to us how to worship Him. It is all revealed in the Bible.  Jesus said that if we want to worship God, we have to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

2) God HATES some worship

There are many passages in Scripture in which God says that He does not just reject some worship, He hates it.  He can’t stand it.  He hates their music.  He hates their services.  He hates their prayers.  He hates their worship.

“I HATE, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” (Amos 5:21-23 NIV)

 “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I HATE with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:13-17 NIV)

What is the type of worship that God hates?  He hates insincere, hypocritical formalistic worship.  He hates people who are religious but not righteous.  They do not live a godly life throughout the week but they come to church on Sunday.  Their hands are full of blood but they lift up those hands in prayer and worship.

 


[1] Derek Kidner, Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary), p. 74

Lessons from the Fall

We are doing an in-depth study of Genesis 1-11.  If you recall, there are four main parts to the first eleven chapters of Genesis: creation, fall, flood and judgment of the nations.  We have already looked at the topic of creation and today we will finish the topic of the Fall.

Genesis 3 is divided into two parts: The Fall (3:1-6) and the Consequences of the Fall (3:7-24). It is a rather depressing chapter.  The chapter begins with a temptation and ends with an expulsion.  In this chapter, the serpent enters the garden.  Eve is tempted.

Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. The whole earth becomes cursed and Adam and Eve leave paradise. God didn’t politely ask them to leave.  He did NOT send them out of the garden.  Genesis uses a strong word here. He threw them out of paradise (3:24).

Apparently, they did not want to leave.  God drove them out and guarded it with angels and these angels, so they don’t try to sneak back in.  He doesn’t use just any angels.  There are many different kinds of angels.  God puts some of his top angels there to guard the garden and they were armed.  He puts Cherubim there.  It is the first mention in the Book of Genesis of angels.

Adam and Eve go from holy, innocent and pure to sinful, fallen and depraved.  They go from happy, peaceful and richly blessed to miserable, pathetic and even homeless but, even in this chapter; there is a ray of hope.  There is an amazing promise in this chapter.

We see the gospel in this chapter.  There is a beautiful picture of the gospel here.  This chapter is full of lessons and applications for us today.  It gives us lessons about God, man, sin and salvation.  I want to look at all of those lessons today.

Lessons on God

We learn some things about God in this chapter.  Genesis is not just a book of history.  It tells us about God.

1. God is Personal.

What is the evidence from this chapter?  Genesis 3:8 says, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

God has fellowship with Adam and Eve in the garden.  God is not a Deist.  He does not create the world and then leave it.  He created the world and wants to have fellowship with His creatures.  He wants to have fellowship with us on a daily basis.

God walked in the garden and talked to Adam and Eve.  Apparently, this was not the first time He did this.  He did this regularly.  How is this even possible?  Does God have a body?  No.  God is a spirit.  Jesus said that “God is a spirit” (John 4:24).  God does not have legs and feet.  If God does not have legs and feet and a body, how can you hear the sound of him walking?

This is most likely a theophany.  A theophany is a visible manifestation of God in human form.  God does not have a body but often appeared to people in human form.  This may have been the pre-incarnate Christ who walked in the garden and had face-to-face fellowship with Adam and Eve.

There is another way we see that God is relational in this chapter. We see that God seeks out sinners.  After man sinned, God was the one doing the seeking and the one who was doing the hiding was man, not God.  God said to Adam, “Where are you?”  Adam does not say to God, “Where are you?” He still does this today.  Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.  When we sin, Jesus seeks after us.  Fallen sinners do not seek God.  Paul said, “There is NONE who seek after God” (Romans 3:11)

2. God is Righteous.

Each chapter of Genesis so far has described a different aspect of God’s character.  In chapter one, He is the Creator.  In chapter two, He is the Law-giver.  In chapter three, He is the Judge.  What kind of a judge is God?

  • He is fair.

This is a model for justice today.  God does not punish people arbitrarily. God waits until all of the facts are brought forth before He punished anyone. In this chapter, we have a crime, a trial and a sentence.  If you remember, the serpent asked the first question in the Bible.

The serpent said, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1). Questions are not all bad.  God asked a few questions Himself.  He asks Adam and Eve four questions.  He asked, “Where are you?” (3:9). He asked, “Who told you that you were naked?” (3:11). He asked, “Did you eat from the tree I commanded you not to eat from? (3:11). Finally, he asked, “What is this that you have done?” (3:13).

All of the questions went to Adam and Eve.  God did not ask the serpent a question, since serpents don’t talk. Eve was the first one to sin but God asked Adam the first question because he was the head of the race.  In fact, he asked Adam three questions.  He only asked Eve one question, “What is this that you have done?”

Now God is omniscient.  He knows everything.  He did not ask these questions to get information but to get a confession but He did not do anything until all of the facts were brought forth, which shows that God is fair.

  • He is holy.

God is a strict judge.  He is not lenient.  The standard was pretty high.  He holds people accountable for their actions.  He doesn’t excuse their behavior. They committed one sin and they are kicked out no longer welcome in God’s presence.  He doesn’t even give them a second chance.

God created Adam perfect.  He gave him one very clear commandment to follow.  He warned them about dangers.  He said if you eat from the tree, bad things will happen to you but He also created him with free will and He allowed him to fail.  I sometimes wonder why God doesn’t stop people from doing stupid things.

That’s what I would have done but God allows us to do some stupid things.  He allows people to screw up their lives.  God also held Adam and Eve accountable for their actions.  He holds us accountable for our actions as well. Paul says, “We must all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ”. God held Adam accountable for the revelation He gave him.  He only had one commandment to keep.

He will hold us accountable for the revelation He has given to us.  It is easy for us to criticize Adam for breaking the commandment God gave him and wonder why he did not obey God when He gave him a clear commandment.  How are we doing with the commandments God gave us?  We all have done exactly what Adam did.  In fact, God gave us more commandments to follow that He gave Adam.

  • He is impartial.

God treated all the individuals involved in the Fall fairly.  He doesn’t let any of them off the hook.  How many actors were involved in the Fall of Man?  There were four.  There was Adam, Eve, the snake and Satan who was in the snake.  The snake was judged first.  Then Satan was judged.  Then the woman was judged and finally man was judged.  The longest judgment goes to the man.  It is three verses long (3:17-19).

Judgment of the Fall

The first one cursed is the snake.  It seems strange to us.  How could God hold an animal responsible for its actions?  Animals are not moral agents but we do the same thing today.  If an animal kills someone, we euthanize the animal, even though it is not a moral agent.

How is the snake cursed?  It is to crawl on its belly and eat dust (3:14).  Does this mean that snakes used to have legs?   Genesis does not say that but it implies it. In fact, even evolutionists believe that snakes used to have legs.

All animals were cursed in the Fall but the serpent was cursed even more. The serpent was clever above all of the animals of the field and now is cursed above all of the animals of the field.  Snakes do not literally eat dust, although they may get dust in their mouths.  It is a picture of humiliation, not a description of their diet.  In the Millennium, when Jesus rules and reign on the earth, the curse on animals will be lifted for all animals, except snakes (Isaiah 65:22).

Another way it is curses is that there is enmity between Eve and the snake.  She used to look at the serpent as a friend.  Now she sees it as an enemy.  Most people today do not like snakes either.  There is a natural revulsion for them.  This is true on the physical level and on the spiritual level.

There is also a hostility that exists between Satan’s children and God’s children.  There is a hostility between saved people and unsaved people (I John 3:13; John 7:7; 15:18).  The unsaved are called in the NT “an offspring of serpents” (3:7; 12:34; 23:33), not an offspring of bears or lions.

But this curse goes beyond the snake to the one who possessed the snake.  It predicts the defeat of Satan.  God was talking about the woman (she) and her seed but then He changes and uses the pronoun “he”.  God says to the serpent, “He will crush your head.”  Who is the he?  It is the first prophecy of Jesus.  It is the very first prophecy of the Messiah in the Bible.  The woman’s seed will defeat the serpent.

Jesus will not crush the seed of the snake but the snake itself.  The way you kill a snake is to step on its head but because it is so low, all it can do is to strike your heel.  Satan’s doom was sealed at the cross (John 12:31) but the sentence will not be carried out until after the Millennium (Romans 16:20; Revelation 20:10).

How is Eve punished?  Eve suffered as a wife and mother.  She now has to go through a lot of pain just to have kids.  Her kids will not be born sinners.  In fact, her first child turned out to be a murderer.  Her husband will also be a sinner.  She has a natural desire for marriage but when she gets married she often finds herself in an oppressive environment.

Her husband rules over her and that is a strong term which suggests harshness, not kindness.  It is not the way things should be but the way they will be now as a result of the Fall.  Genesis 3:16 is one of the most abused verses in the Bible.  It is a prediction, not a command[1]. It is a role reversal for Eve.  Before the Fall, she had the role of leadership.  She was the main actor.  After the Fall, the man became the dominant one and the woman found herself subservient to her husband.

Women suffer at home as a result of the Fall.  Men suffers on the job. Adam suffered as a farmer and provider.  He suffered as the breadwinner.  His curse involves hard labor, painful toil. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life” (3:17).  This would take place all of his life. God told Adam, “By the sweat of his brow he will eat your food until he return to the ground” (3:19)

3.  God is Love.

How do we see that God is love, even in this chapter of judgment?  He could have destroyed Adam and Eve immediately. Instead, God promised to send the Messiah.  Satan used Eve to bring destruction into the world.  God says that He will use Eve to bring the Savior into the world (3:15).  He did not have to do that.  It was an act of love and mercy. God promised to use a member of the human race, one of Eve’s descendants, to defeat Satan.  He will crush the head of the serpent.

What is a second way we see God’s love in this chapter? He gave them clothes to wear. Genesis 3:21 says, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” God did not have to do that but He had mercy on them. Here they were dressed in these fig leaves. Fig leaves were the biggest type of leaves in that part of the world but they do not make very good clothes.

God gave them some clothes that were more comfortable, and more durable.  They would last much longer and were not uncomfortable to wear.  They would have also been more effective than fig leaves.  They covered more of the body.  Instead of wearing a loin-cloth which barely covered them, they wore a coat.

A third way that God demonstrated love was by kicking them out of the garden.  Genesis 3:22-24 says, “And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Now that sounds like an act of judgment, not an act of love.  It was actually both.  It was tough love.  How was it an act of love?  It would have been disastrous if sinners ate from the tree of life and lived forever, like we see in the movie Tuck Everlasting.  They would have been confirmed in sin.

God prevented that from happening by kicking them out of the garden.  He did it for their own good. He didn’t do it because He was jealous and wanted to keep them away from another godlike quality (immortality).  God allowed them to eat from this tree before the Fall.  There is no evidence that they did.

Lessons on Sin

Their sin was serious.  It doesn’t seem that serious to us.  Their only sin was to eat a piece of fruit off of a tree.  It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to us.  It is not like they raped or killed someone but it was serious.  It was pure rebellion.  It is like when you tell a little child not to eat a cookie and they look at you, smile and do it anyway, only these were not children.

Adam and Eve were adults and their actions were a direct challenge to God’s authority.  Their actions will go down in history as the most expensive meal in history.  What do we learn about sin in this chapter?  We learn several things.

1) Sin results in division (3:7-8, 15)

Sin causes a separation.  There are many separations in this chapter.

  • There is a separation between people and animals.

We see that in Genesis 3:15 with the enmity between Eve and the serpent.

  • There is a separation between people and other people.

There is not just a separation between people; there is a separation between the sexes.  The battle of the sexes has now begun (3:16).  It is not just a separation between people; it is a separation between family members.  Spouses are divided.  Adam and Eve are not getting along.  They used to be close to each other.  They used to have intimacy.  Now they are arguing and fighting with each other and blaming each other for what happened.

They were both at fault.  Eve was at fault for listening to the serpent.  She was duped.  She was tricked into sinning.  She comes across as a little naive.  Adam was at fault for doing nothing to get her to stop her and for not acting as the spiritual leader of the family.  Adam comes across as the weak male.  He knew what the right thing was to do but he didn’t put his foot down.  He didn’t stand up for what he knew was the right thing to do.

  • There is a separation between people and God

Sin separates people from God.  “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (3:8).

Why did they hide? They were afraid. Who were they afraid of?  God. Why were they afraid?  They heard the sound of God coming.  He had not even said a word to them but they knew he was coming.  They could hear him and they knew that they were in big trouble.  They heard the sound of God coming and they ran.

Why were they afraid of God?  They had never been afraid of Him before?  God gave them a command.  The broke the command and here comes God.  It was God’s presence that terrified them and the reason it terrified them was because of sin.  It was just the sound of God walking towards them that utterly terrified them, like a criminal who hears the police sirens coming toward him or a child doing something wrong but hears someone coming.  It is the sound that causes them to be afraid.

When one of our children was really little, my wife heard one of them in the kitchen, getting a cookie out of the cookie jar.  She burst into the room and said very loudly “What are you doing?”  Our son was so scared that cookies went flying in the air.  When she asked what he was doing, he said, “I sneaked a cookie”.  Only here, God did not sneak up on Adam and Eve and scare them.  His presence alone terrified them because God is holy and they are now sinful.

Sinners instinctively hide from God.  It is the natural response of sinners before a holy God.  “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:16-17 NIV)

2) Sin results in shame (3:7)

Why were they ashamed?  What caused the shame?  The text says that they were naked.  After they ate of the Tree of Knowledge, we are told that “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” and they were ashamed. That is a little strange.  They were naked before and were not ashamed.

Genesis 2:25 says, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”  Why are they ashamed now?  They were smart people.  Didn’t they know that they were naked before?  Why would they suddenly realize this face only after they sinned for the first time? Very few people even try to address this.  I have never heard a preacher try to answer this one.

I would like to suggest one possible answer to this question.  There is an ancient Jewish view that Adam and Eve were clothed with light before the Fall.[2]  They were clothed with garments of light.  Where do they get that idea?  There are some strong arguments for that view.  Angels are clothed in a bright light.  They have this glow around them. That is what people in the Bible saw when they encountered an angel.  They saw a bright light.

When we get to heaven, we will be clothed in light.  Daniel 12:2-3 says: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Matthew 13:43 says, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” God is clothed with light.  Psalm 104:2 says that he is clothed with light as with a garment.  That tells us what God wears.  I Timothy 6:16 says that God dwells “in unapproachable light”.  Adam and Eve were made in his image and were clothed in light was well.

After Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their heavenly clothes. They lost this garment of light because they were no longer righteous and they realized that they were naked. That is why they did not realize this before and they were ashamed.

Right after they sinned, they experienced shame.  Shame was illustrated through nakedness.  The shame of their nakedness pictured the shame of their sin. Before they sinned, Adam and Eve were naked.  It was a picture of complete innocence, like little children who run around naked.  After they sinned, nakedness became a picture of sin and shame.  They were not just naked on the outside; they were naked on the inside.  They had spiritual nakedness, as well as physical nakedness.

Lesson on Man

This chapter is all about excuses.  God confronts Adam and Eve about what they did and what did they do?  They blame other people.  They pointed the finger at someone else.  As the joke goes, “Adam blames his wife.  Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on.”  Actually, if the serpent could talk, he would have blamed Satan who possessed him.  None of them took responsibility for their actions.  Instead, they rationalized their sin.

People do the same thing today and try to pass the buck, as the very first humans on the planet did.  Even our President does that.  He came into office and blames everything on Bush and when he does not get something passed that he wants (like immigration), he blames the Republicans, even though the first two years of his administration he had control of both houses of Congress.  We do the same thing.  It is called blame-shifting. Proverbs 19:3 says, “A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord”.

We screw our own lives up and then we want to blame God, instead of taking responsibility for our actions.  Why did Eve sin?  Eve said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (3:13). That was true but the implication was that it was the serpent’s fault.

If you did not have the serpent in the garden, I would not have eaten.  If my circumstances were different, I would not have eaten.  The truth is that “The devil made me do it” is a bad excuse.”  The devil cannot make us do anything.  He can tempt us to do evil but he can’t force us to do evil.

God asked Adam, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid” (3:10). The first part of that was true.  Adam did hear God and was afraid but he completely lied about the reason he was afraid.  Adam uses modesty as his excuse.  He says, “I am naked.  You caught me at a bad time.  I am not really dressed for the occasion.

You have to excuse me.  I am not in fit condition to see you.  It is really the result of the way you made me.  You did not give me any clothes.  I just realized how inadequate that is.” Adam says, “I am naked and that is not a good thing.”  God says ‘that is not the problem.  The problem is that I gave you a clear commandment and you broke it,” as a friend of mine so eloquently put it.[3]

God asked Adam a direct question, Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”  He said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (3:12). Once again, Adam blames God.  Adam says to God: “It’s the woman’s fault and it is really your fault because you gave me this woman.  If you gave me a different woman, this would not have happened.  I messed up only because you messed up.”

There is one very good thing that Adam did in this chapter.  He is an example of us today.  When Adam was confronted, he completely blew it.  He blamed others.  When Adam was sentenced, he accepted it.  He didn’t whine or complain.  He didn’t say this was unfair, like Cain would say in the next chapter.

Adam had an amazing response, after hearing everything God said. “Adam named his wife Eve,because she would become the mother of all the living.”  He took something positive from this terrible sentence.  He heard God talk about the “seed of the woman” and believed Him.

He took God at his word and apparently looked forward to this.  He must have been a family man.  He names his wife “Eve” (3:20).  She did not have this name until after the Fall.  What was her name before?  She didn’t have one.  She was called “woman” before (2:23).  Her name went from isha to havah.

Lesson on Salvation

There are two different ways to deal with sin in this chapter.  They are represented by two suits of clothes: fig leaves or animal skins.  They represent two ways to deal with sin.  They are two ways to provide a covering for sin.

The way Adam and Eve tried to tried to cover the shame and guilt of their sin before a holy god was by their own efforts.  They used self-made garments.  It represents salvation by human effort (church membership or baptism or good works).  People still try to do this today.  It is called fig-leaf religion (man-made attempts at atonement).

God provided another way to deal with sin.  His way of dealing with sin involved death.  In order to make coats of skin from an animal, you have to kill the animal.  Two animals died that day.  One died for Adam and died for Eve.  They were not killed for food but to provide a covering for them.  It was the first time that blood was shed in the garden.  An innocent victim had to be killed, because of the biblical principle “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22).

The covering that God provided did not just cover their body.  It covered their sin.  It foreshadowed the death of Christ and the righteousness that he provides, which is different from the righteousness that we can provide.  God provided for Adam and Eve what they could not provide for themselves.  Adam and Eve did nothing; God did it all.


[1] Taking this section as a command leads to many absurdities. Women would be commanded not to use pain killers during childbirth (3:16). Christian farmers would be commanded not to use any farm equipment to make it easier to produce crops, since it says “through painful toil you will eat all the days of your life” (3:17). It would be unbiblical to use weed-killers because “the ground will produce thorns and thistles to you” (3:18).  Deodorant would be unbiblical because we are commanded to eat food “by the sweat of our brow” (3:19).  Retirement would be unbiblical because Adam was to work until he died (3:19) and not quit working at sixty-five. White-collar jobs would also be unbiblical because they work inside in an air-conditioned building, rather than outside in the sun working up a sweat (3:19).

[2] Pseudepigrapha (Apocalypse of Moses 20:2; III Baruch 4:16) and other Jewish sources (Midrash Rabbah – Genesis XX:12; Soncino Zohar, Shemoth, Section 2, Page 229b; L. Ginzberg, Legends, 1:79).

[3] http://www.cyber-chapel.org/sermons/genesis/mp3/gen_3_6b_12.mp3

Paradise Lost

In the 1600s, the English writer John Milton’s wrote a poem about Genesis 3 called Paradise Lost.  It is considered one of the greatest poems in the English language.  Today, we want to look at the biblical paradise lost.  We want to look at the Fall from Genesis 3.

This is one of the most familiar passages of Scripture.  Every Sunday School student knows the story about Adam, Eve, the Serpent and the Garden.  It is not just a story, it actually happened.

It is one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible. We still today suffer from the effects of their actions on that day.  Adam’s sin did not just affect him, it affected us.  This chapter is as foundational as the first two chapters of Genesis.

If you do not understand, Genesis 3, you cannot understand the rest of the Bible.  If you want to know why there is a world and where the world came from, you have to read Genesis 1.

If you want to know where evil came from and why there is so much evil in the world today, you have to read Genesis 3.  The world that we live in was NOT created by God.  God did not create the world the way it is now.

People today blame God for all of the evil in the world today.  They blame God for all of the atrocities in the world today.  They blame God for all of the ISIS beheadings.  They blame God for the holocaust.  There is only one problem.

God did not create Auschwitz.  Man did.  God did not create evil.  He created a perfect world.  It was not only good; it was “very good”.  It got messed up because of what man did.  It got messed up as a result of the Fall of Man.

The last time we were in Genesis, we looked at the Garden of Eden.  We saw that Adam and Eve lived in a paradise but God gave them some rules to follow.  He gave them a test.  The test involved one prohibition involving one and only one tree in the garden.  God didn’t give Adam and Eve Ten Commandments to follow.

He didn’t give them six hundred commandments.  He gave them one: “Don’t eat from one tree.”  It was a test and in this chapter, we see the results of the test.  They both failed.  They both fell.  Eve listened to a talking snake and Adam listened to his wife.

Basic Observations

1) Moses does not give us a lot of details about this event

Where did this serpent come from?  Who let him into the garden?  Why is this animal talking?  Why isn’t Eve shocked to hear a talking snake?[1] Did other animals in the garden talk?  Why didn’t Adam say anything while the serpent tempted Eve?  Why was he completely silent during the whole thing?  Why was he so passive?  What was the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve ate?  Was it an apple?

All of the pictures of the Fall in western art have Eve biting into a juicy red apple.[2]  Milton says it was an apple tree (IX. 585). Genesis does not say that it was an apple. The only fruit mentioned in Genesis 3 are figs but it doesn’t say that it wasn’t an apple either.

We will have to ask Adam and Eve that question when we see them in heaven.  Genesis does not give us a lot of details.  It doesn’t answer all of our questions. It gives us a very brief description of what happened on that day.

2) Moses does not use theological terms to describe this event

Genesis 3 has a lot of theological implications but the chapter itself does not use a lot of theological terms.  Genesis 3 doesn’t say anything about “original sin.”  Genesis 3 describes the fall of man but the word “fall” is not used in Genesis 3.

It mentions the first temptation.  It describes a temptation by Satan but the word “temptation” or the verb “to tempt” is not used in Genesis 3.  It doesn’t use the word “Satan” at all.

It gives us the first human sin.  The first person in history to sin was Eve.  She was the first person to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit.  She was the first one to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The text says she SAW, she TOOK and she ATE and yet Genesis 3 does not use the word “sin” at all.  That word is not used until the next chapter (4:7).  It also does not use the word “sinner”.  Moses was not a theologian.  He was not writing a theology.  He was writing history, inspired history.

3) This event contains a lot of role reversals

Role Reversals in Genesis 3:1-6

There are also a lot of role reversals in this chapter.  Many things are completely backwards.  You may or may not have noticed, as we read these verses.

1. A serpent talks to Eve in this narrative.

God didn’t create animals with the ability of speech but in this chapter a snake is talking. That is a role reversal for animals.

2. God created man with dominion over the animals.

In this section, Adam and Eve listen to the serpent, rather than the serpent obeying them. That is a role reversal for man.  Animals are telling people what to do, instead of vice versa.

3. The serpent tempts Eve, not Adam

Adam is the head of the whole human race but when the serpent wants to tempt the human race, he does not go after Adam, he goes after Eve, his wife.

Most people believe they were both there during the temptation.  That is a myth.  If you notice, the text says the serpent spoke to Eve, not Adam (3:1).[3]

If they were both there, he would have addressed both of them.  In fact, Adam did NOT blame the serpent for his sin. He blamed his wife, not the serpent for what he did (3:11-12)[4]. Adam knew animals don’t talk because he spent him time studying them.

That explains why Adam was completely silent when the serpent tempted Eve. He didn’t say a single word.  He did not say anything because he was not there when it happened (so Whitcomb).

If he was there, not only would he have said something but Eve would have turned him and asked him what he thought about this, since he knew the prohibition better than she did.

4. Eve is the leader in this narrative, not Adam

Adam is the head of the house but in these seven verses Eve is the leader and Adam is the follower.  Eve tells Adam what to do and he does it.

5. Eve serves as Adam’s temptress, not his helper

Eve was created to be man’s helper but in this chapter she only helps him into sin.  She eats the fruit and hands it to her husband.  She led her husband into sin. She did this because she listened to the serpent.  She wasn’t just listening to a reptile; she was listening to Satan himself. In Genesis 2, she heard two voices (God’s voice and Adam’s voice).

Now, she heard a third voice, the voice of Satan.  That voice still speaks in our world today and many listen to it.  How do we recognize that voice today when it speaks?  We will answer that today but before we get to it, we must address one additional question.

Identity of the Serpent

How do we know that Satan was present in the garden?  Genesis does not say Satan was there.  In fact, Satan and the Devil are not mentioned anywhere in the Book of Genesis.  Genesis mentions a serpent but the serpent is not an angel but an animal.  It is described as one of the animals of the garden (3:1).  It is a literal animal.  In fact, the curse on the serpent could only apply to a snake (3:14).

God could not tell an angel that it will have to crawl on its belly from now on, since angels do not have bellies.  They are immaterial spirits.  They do not have a physical body to crawl on.  How do we know that Satan is in the garden?  The NT tells us that Satan was there.  A basic rule in how to interpret the Bible is to compare Scripture with Scripture.

John called the old serpent which tempted Eve “the Devil” and “Satan” (Revelation 12:9).  He gives him three names in Revelation 12.  In fact, in Revelation 20:2, he gives four names for this being: the dragon, the serpent, the devil and Satan.

They all refer to the same person.  Some first century Jews also believed that Satan was in the garden tempting Eve.[5] It is not only a Christian teaching, it is a Jewish teaching.

Satan takes the form of a serpent.  There are two snakes at the temptation.  There is a physical snake and a spiritual snake.  There was a serpent within the serpent.  Satan entered into the body of the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve disguised as a snake. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan finds the body of a sleeping snake and enters it (IX.186-190).

There are many examples in the Bible of demon possession. They possess both people (Matthew 9:32-33; 12:22; 17:18) and animals (Mark 5:15; Luke 8:33). They have the ability of speech.  Many say that this chapter has a talking serpent.  It doesn’t.  Animals don’t talk.

Satan possessed this animal and spoke through it.  Satan was the one doing the talking and he was doing it through a serpent.  Satan opened the mouth of this snake, just as God later opened the mouth of a donkey and talked to Balaam in the Book of Numbers (22:28).  In one case, God was doing the talking through an animal.  In another case, Satan was doing the talking through an animal.

Is Genesis 3 Fact or Fiction?

If Genesis 3 just describes a talking snake, that would make it a fable.  Animals talk in fables.  Ordinary snakes don’t talk.  Not only do snakes NOT talk today, they CAN’T talk.  They don’t have vocal chords.  The only noise they can make is hissing and that is because air is quickly released or taken in through the snake’s mouth.

Ordinary snakes don’t talk.  They do not know about God.  They cannot use reason.  They cannot make moral judgments.  God did not create animals with the ability of speech.  Language was limited to humans and angels.

That is why this has to be more than a normal reptile. All of the animals that God created were good but this one was not good.  He was evil.  He questioned what God said.  He slandered God’s character.  He told people to disobey God.

The literal serpent was created by God (3:1).  He was not evil.  He was good, because everything that God created was good.  The second question is this: What does the rest of the Bible say about Genesis 3?

Case Study in Temptation

What do we learn from Genesis 3?  You say, How does this apply to me? This passage is a case study in temptation.  We learn several things about Satan and about temptation. Some of the same strategies he used in the garden, he still uses today.  They are very effective.  We need to be aware of them.

1. He used a disguise

The lesson here is that Satan disguised his true identity, as well as his true intentions.  He disguised himself as an animal but not just any animal. He appeared as a serpent.  When we think of a snake, we think of something ugly and repulsive and slimy.  That was not what this animal was.  Satan did not use something hideous to tempt Eve.  He used something beautiful, attractive and appealing.

He used an animal that Eve liked and respected.  He didn’t come as an enemy but as a friend (one of the animals under their authority).  He did not appear to her in a threatening manner like a roaring lion.  He appeared gentle and friendly.  He probably began with flattery.  He probably told Eve she was the most beautiful thing God ever created.

He pretended to have Eve’s best interests in mind, when in reality what he wanted was genocide.  He wanted to wreck God’s creation and wanted the whole race to die.  Jesus called Satan “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).  Here, he wanted to murder the whole human race.

Satan still uses disguises today. He uses camouflage.  He does not appear in his true form.  Paul said that he disguises himself today as an angel of light, not as a demon of darkness, to trick and deceive people.

II Corinthians 11:13-15 says, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

Satan makes himself look attractive and appealing. He uses education to deceive people. He uses religion to deceive people. He uses ordained ministers to deceive people.   Donald Grey Barnhouse used to say, “When you are looking for the Devil, don’t forget to look in the pulpit”.  Paul said that his servants are “ministers of righteousness.”

2. He used diplomacy.

Satan was very wise in how he tempted Eve.  He used tact.  He was very good at dealing with people. He did not immediately contradict God or mock him when he fist spoke to Eve.  In fact, he did not even bring up the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  He let Eve do that.  I do not even think they were near that tree when the serpent tempted her.

All of the pictures and paintings of Eve being tempted have her right near the tree.  She said, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” (3:2-3). If she was right in front of the tree she would not describe it as “the tree that is in the middle of the garden”.

The main object of Satan’s attack was not Eve but Adam.  Why was Adam Satan’s main target?  Adam was our federal head.  He was our legal representative in the garden. Adam is the head of the race.  The Fall took place when Adam sinned.  According to the Apocrypha (the extra books in the Roman Catholic Bible), the Fall took place when Eve sinned.  The Wisdom of Sirach says, “Sin began with a woman, and because of her we all die” (25:24).

The NT teaches something very different.  The Apostle Paul says in Romans 5:12 that “sin entered the world THROUGH ONE MAN” (not “one woman”).  Romans 5:15 says “many died through ONE MAN’S TRESPASS” (not “one woman’s trespass”) I Corinthians 15:22 says “IN ADAM all die”.  It does NOT say “in Eve all die”.

Eve did not bring death into the world.  Adam did.  When Eve sinned nothing happened.  Genesis 3:6-7 says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. THEN THE EYES OF BOTH OF THEM WERE OPENED and they realized they were naked.”  Nothing seemed to happen until Adam ate the fruit.

Satan’s ultimate plan was to get Adam to sin, so why did he go after Eve, rather than Adam?  He knew that if he got Eve, he had Adam.  Most men have a weakness for woman.  Adam had a weakness for Eve. He knew that Adam was blinded by love.  He would do anything for her.

He would rather sin that go on without her.  He didn’t want to lose her.  Adam thought he could not be happy if Eve died or was banished from the garden.  He would rather have her than have God create a new wife for him, so he joined her in sin.  Did Adam do the right thing?  Was he a hero?  No

Adam sinned when he ate the forbidden fruit and all of us were affected by that decision.  He brought spiritual death on the whole race by that one act but his disobedience still served God’s purposes.  God demonstrated incredible grace by promising a Messiah to be one of their descendants. Adam actually became a means of salvation for Eve.  While it is hard for us to understand this, it was actually part of God’s plan.  Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world.

What we have seen is that Satan used the serpent to get to Eve and he used Eve to get to Adam.  He uses people today to do his work.  Satan can speak through other people. He can even speak through a Christian, as well as a non-Christian.  He can speak through an apostle.  He spoke through Peter.  Remember Jesus said he was going to go to the cross and Peter said, “Not so Lord”.

Jesus said “Get behind me Satan”.  He can speak through an Apostle.  We don’t have too many of those today.  He can also speak through an ordained minister.  Remember, Paul said that Satan disguises himself as “a minister of righteousness”.  He can even speak through a spouse.  Here, he speaks to Adam through Eve.

3. He used distortions.

God said they could eat “from ANY tree in the garden” (Genesis 2:16).  Satan said, Satan said, “Did God really say, ‘You must NOT eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1).  Satan still does that today. He distorts the Word of God. Cultists do this all the time. They use the Bible to justify every one of their false doctrines.  All kinds of passages are quotes out of context.  Whenever the media quotes the Bible, it almost always quotes it out of context.  They have no idea what it actually teaches.

4. He used dissatisfaction

Notice what he said to Eve.  He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1). He starts with a question that was not asked for information but for temptation.  It was a biased question.  An unbiased question would be, “What are you allowed to eat in the garden and what are you not allowed to eat?”

This was a biased or leading question because the question is worded in a particular way to favor one answer over another.  A biased question implies the answer in its wording.  People still do this today.  There are opinion polls that are biased.  The question implies that God is very unfair.

Satan began with a question that was geared at creating dissatisfaction in Eve with God and with his rules.  Later he said something to make them dissatisfied with God.  He said, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

One of the reasons Eve fell was greed.  She lived in a perfect world.  She was married to the perfect husband.  She had a marriage literally made in heaven.  God performed the wedding ceremony.  She enjoyed face-to-face communion with God.  He showed up in the garden on a regular basis.  She had all of her needs met and she wasn’t satisfied.  She wanted something more.  She did not just want access to most of the trees in the garden.  She wanted access to all of them.

5. He used denial

God said, “If you eat from the fruit of the tree, you shall surely die”. Satan said the exact opposite: “If you eat from the fruit of the tree, you shall NOT surely die”.  Satan said, “I know God said that you will not die but I say that you won’t.”  God cannot be trusted.  His Words are not to be taken seriously.  He had no facts or evidence.  He had no proof, just assertions.

Eve believed him.  She did a scientific investigation of the tree.  She did an empirical analysis.  She picked it up and found out that it was edible.  It was not poisonous.  She found that it was “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (3:6).  She operated on the philosophy “if it looks good, eat it” (which is similar to the modern philosophy “If it feels good, do it”).

The fruit did look good and she concluded, “The devil is right.  I am not going to die if I eat this.  God is wrong.”  That is strange.  She questioned what God said but never questioned what the serpent said.  She believed what the serpent said over what God said.  Many do that today.  They take what man says over what God says.

Notice that the first doctrine of the Bible that was denied was the doctrine of judgment.  There is no punishment for disobedience to God.  Rebellion against God does not have consequences.  This doctrine is still denied today. The Bible clearly teaches a Hell but many say that there is no hell.  Many other clear doctrines of Scripture are also denied.

6. He used deception.

Jesus called him “the father of lies”.  Jesus said that Satan is not only a liar, he is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). He invented lying. The first lie in the Bible was found on the lips of Satan.  He told Eve a whole bunch of lies. There have been many since.  We see some in the rest of the chapter.

When God confronted Adam after the Fall, he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (3:9-10). That was a lie.  He was not afraid because he was naked.  He was afraid because he was guilty.  In the very next chapter Cain lied.  God asked him, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (4:9). That was a lie.  He did know where he was.  He just killed him.

Did Satan lie or tell the truth?  God said that the day they ate the fruit, they would die.  Satan said that they would not die and they didn’t die.  In fact, they went on to live for another thousand years. That seemed to come true.  Satan said that when they ate the fruit, their eyes would be open and they were opened after they ate, according to Genesis 3:7.  That also came true.

Satan said that they would be like God and know good and evil if they ate the fruit.  After they sinned, they did become like God.  After they sinned, they did know good and evil.  God said that they did in Genesis 3:22.  Did Satan lie or tell the truth?

Satan does use pure lies but most of the lies he told to Adam and Eve were actually half-truths.  That is the kind of lie that is harder to fight than an outright lie, because they have an element of truth in them.  Alfred Lord Tennison called half-truths “the blackest of all lies”.

When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they did not immediately drop dead but they did die that very day.  They died spiritually.  They were separated from God.  That is why they ran from God.  The probably would have died physically that very day had not two animals died in their place as their substitute (3:21). It was the first substitutionary sacrifice in the Bible.   It provided a covering for them.  Satan was the one who lied.  He promised them that they would not die.  They died both physically and spiritually.

Satan promised Adam and Eve that when they ate from the forbidden tree, their eyes would be opened (Genesis 3:5). When they from the tree, the Bible says that their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:7) but this was not a good thing but a bad thing. When their eyes were opened, what they saw was their nakedness, their guilt, their shame and their helplessness.

He told them if they sinned that they would become like God (Genesis 3:5).  In one sense they did become like God. They became morally independent. They decided for themselves what is right and what is wrong.  They became a law to themselves. They created their own moral standard and their own moral code apart from God.  When they ate the forbidden fruit, they signed their own Declaration of Independence. They became their own god and made up their own rules.

This was only a half-truth because, when they sinned, they actually became less like God. God is sinless. God does not know good and evil by experience. When they sinned, they became more like Satan than they became like God.


[1] We do not know how long she was in the garden.  She may not have known that animals were not supposed to talk. It was Adam’s job to study the animals.  Everything was brand new.  Eve lived in a perfect world.  Other very strange things were happening in this garden by our standards, like a lion and lamb being together peacefully. The garden was such a magical place that this may not have seemed that strange.

[2] In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church dominated Europe and the Bible of the Catholic Church was in Latin.  In Latin, the words “evil” (mali) and “apple” (mala) are very close. It is a difference of one letter.  In Hebrew, the two words are not close at all.

[3] Many say this because Genesis 3:6 says “She also gave some to her husband, WHO WAS WITH HER, and he ate it.” The problem with this is that in Hebrew the word “with” is a very unimportant preposition (so Archer, McComiskey).  All that it means is that Adam was with Eve at this point but not necessarily from the beginning.   Adam was with Eve when she ate but not necessarily when she was deceived.

[4] God said that Adam listened to the voice of his wife (3:17).  Eve does not say anything to Adam in Genesis 3:1-6.  Satan spoke to Eve alone (3:1-5).  Both of them ate from the tree (3:6).  That means that there must have been a gap between Genesis 3:5 and Genesis 3:6 in which Adam and Eve discussed what the serpent said to her.

[5] We see this in the Jewish Pseudepigripha (The Life of Adam and Eve) It was written in the first century and identifies the serpent with Satan [see chapters 12-16 (Latin Text) and chapters 17-18 (Greek Text)].

Satan’s Gospel

Today, we want to look at the gospel according to Satan.  Most people don’t know it, but Satan has a gospel.  He has a message that he tries to get across to people.  Many people believe this message.  This message is pervasive in society.  It is a message about God and a message about people.  What is the message?  It is found in Genesis 3.

Background

One thing that no one can deny is the reality of evil today.  All of us know that there is evil in the world, horrible evil, unspeakable evil.  It is undeniable.  We see it every day.  All you have to do is to watch the news for five minutes and you will see evil in the world.

Despite this fact, there will always be some who try to deny evil in our world.  They do not seem to understand evil or even seem to believe in it.  To some it sounds medieval.  It is not the way that respectable and civilized people behave.

Liberals have a reputation for being soft on crime. Liberal judges often give criminals a light sentence or no sentence sometimes, even for horrific crimes.   When there is a mass shooting, guns or mental illness are always to blame.

Some people have mental illnesses.  They have a disease, but other people are just evil.  Genesis 3 tells us where evil came from.  Genesis 3 is also one of the saddest chapters in the Bible.  It is one of the most tragic chapters in the Bible.

It gives us the origin of evil.  You cannot understand why our world is so messed up today unless you understand Genesis 3.  This is why we have serial killers and rapists.  That is why we have genocide today and diseases like cancer.

All of the bad things that we see in our world today go back to the Fall of Man.  They all go back to Adam and Eve and their decision to listen to the voice of the serpent to disobey God in the garden.

You will not understand why Jesus came and died unless you understand Genesis 3.  If there was no literal fall of man, there would be no need for Jesus to come in the first place.

A Perfect World

Adam and Eve lived a simple lifestyle in the garden.  They lived in a world without modern technology.  They did not live in a house.  They did not drive a car.

They use a cell phone.  They did not wear any clothes.  They did not eat any meat, just plants and vegetables and fruit.  They must have been skinny.  They did not eat any fast food.

It sounds like a hippy paradise.  They had everything they wanted.  They had every need met.  There was no crime.  There was no sin.  There was no sickness or disease.  There was no death.  There were no drugs.  Perhaps it was not a hippy paradise.

The world was perfect.  Adam and Eve got along with each other.  They were madly in love.  They were newlyweds.  They got along well with all of the other living things on the planet, all of the animals. They lived in fellowship with God.

They talked to Him every day and they were not bored.  God gave them something to do.  Adam was put in the garden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15) but there was one rule.

A Special Command

We think of a paradise as a place where you can do anything you want at any time but even in a real paradise there are rules.  Adam and Eve were given one rule.  God gave them just one commandment.

God didn’t give Adam and Eve ten commandments to follow.  He didn’t give them six hundred commandments, like He gave the Jews.  He gave them one, just one prohibition and it was about food.  There was one thing that they were not allowed to eat.  It involved just one tree in the garden.

An Unexpected Visitor

Out of nowhere, a strange visitor shows up in the garden.  It was the serpent.  Why was he?  Where did he come from?  Why was he there?

The only thing the text says is that he was “more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made” (Genesis 3:1 ESV).  He is not called an angel or a fallen angel but one of the animals of the garden, a literal animal.

It is different from the animal that we call a serpent today.  We think of a serpent today as a snake crawling on the ground. We picture some type of ugly, slimy, repulsive reptile.  That is not what Adam and Eve saw.

This was not one of the creeping things, crawling on the ground.  It was one of the wild animals, which was different.  And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds; the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground and the wild animals, each according to its kind” (Genesis 1:24 NIV).  This animal had legs.

A Problem for Skeptics

This chapter creates a huge problem for skeptics.  They mock this chapter.  They laugh at it.  It has a walking snake and it has a talking snake. We know that animals don’t talk. They cannot talk.  Parrots can say some words, but they do not know what the words mean.  They are just mimicking sounds.

Snakes can’t talk.  They don’t even have vocal cords.  The only noise they can make is hissing and that is because air is quickly released or taken in through the snake’s mouth.

Animals do not talk today.  Animals only talk in fables and fairy tales.  Does this mean that the Bible is a fairy tale?  No.

One of the rules of interpreting Scripture is to compare Scripture with Scripture.  You cannot just read Genesis 3.  You have to read the rest of the Bible.  Scripture interprets Scripture.

Let’s compare the first book of the Bible with the last book of the Bible.  In the last book of the Bible, we find out that this ancient serpent was identified with the Devil and Satan.

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation 12:9 NIV)

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:2 NIV).

The critics are wrong.  Genesis 3 does not have a talking serpent.  Animals don’t talk. Satan possessed this animal and spoke through it.  Satan was the one doing the talking and he was doing it through a serpent.

Animals in the Bible do not normally talk, like in fairy tales, but there are two exceptions.  There is one time in Scripture when an animal talked because God made it talk (Balaam’s donkey) and there is another time when an animal talked because Satan made it talk (the serpent).

That raises a huge problem.  If God created a perfect world and put Adam and Eve in a paradise, what is Satan doing there?  Wasn’t paradise supposed to be a safe place?  What is evil doing in paradise?  We try to protect our kids from evil influences. Why didn’t God keep Adam and Eve safe from this serpent?

They were protected. The serpent did not have the power to hurt them, only to tempt them.  He did not even put the fruit in their hand.  He just told them to eat it.  God gave Adam and Eve the ultimate test.  He used the serpent to help administer it.

God created angels perfect, and they were given a choice.  He created humans and give them a choice. They were created with free will.  God gave them a choice.  They chose to disobey God.

Why did they disobey?  They believed lies.  The same reason many disobey today.  Satan still tell lies today. There are many lies that people believe about God.

You will hear some of these lies in church.  You will hear them from some preachers.  You will hear some of them from the pulpit.  These lies are satanic.  They are demonic.  Paul talked about “doctrines of demons” (I Timothy 4:1).

Satan is a master of deception.  He knows how to deceive people.  He knows how to trick people.  He was the one who invented lying. He was the first liar in history.

The first lie in history was found on the lips of Satan.  Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).  He was the first liar.  People who lie today act just like Satan.

The Worst Type of Lie

Satan’s most dangerous lies were half-truths.  A full lie is much easier to detect.  It does not have any truth in it at all, but a half-truth is more effective.  It may have ten percent truth and ninety percent lie.

Most of the lies he told to Adam and Eve were actually half-truths.  Alfred Lord Tennison called half-truths “the blackest of all lies”.  Some of the things Satan said to Adam and Eve were true.

Satan said, “if you eat from the fruit of this tree, you NOT going to die” (Genesis 3:4) and they didn’t die.  They did not suddenly drop dead.  In fact, they went on to live for another thousand years.  Adam lived to be 930 years (Genesis 5:5).

Satan said that when they ate the fruit, their eyes would be OPENED (Genesis 3:5).  When they ate it, their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:7), but that was a bad thing, not a good thing.  Their eyes were opened to their nakedness, their guilt, their shame, and their helplessness.

Satan told Adam and Eve if they sinned that they would become LIKE God (Genesis 3:5). Did they become like God?  Yes.  The Bible says they became like God (Genesis 3:22).  They did not become God, but they became like Him in some way.

Satan’s Four Great Lies

Today, we are going to look at the four lies that he told Adam and Eve.  Satan says the same thing to people today.  He repeats these lies.  The preacher Adrian Rogers called these “Four Lies That Ruined the World.”[1]

These are not Satan’s only lies. He has many more than these four.  Three of these are about God and one lie is about us.  Each lie involves a different strategy of Satan.  When you put these lies together, you get the gospel according to Satan.

1. The Lie about the Word of God

Satan’s first lie started with the three words, “Hath God said?  The oldest lie was about the Word of God.  It was about the Bible.  It is the oldest lie in the book.  Satan took what God said and lied about it.  He still does that today.  It is one of his most powerful lies.  The first tactic that Satan used was DISTORTION.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must NOT eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NIV)

Did God say this?  No.  He said the exact opposite.  “And the Lord God commanded the man, You ARE free to eat from ANY TREE in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

Satan changed what God said to say something completely different.  He said God said that they were not free to eat from any tree in the garden. He still does that today.  People distort Scripture today.

His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people DISTORT, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (II Peter 3:16 NIV)

How Scripture is Distorted Today

How is Scripture distorted today?  There are many ways this is done.

Some distort the Bible by MISTRANSLATION.  If they do not like what the text says or it goes against their theology, they just rewrite it and make it say something different.  Let me give two examples.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the Deity of Christ.  The Bible teaches that Jesus is God, and it teaches it most clearly in Gospel of John.  It says so explicitly in the first verse of the book.

How do the Jehovah’s Witnesses deal with this?  They rewrite the Bible.  Instead of saying, “and the Word was God,” it says, “and the Word was a god” in their Bible (NWT).

The LGTQ community does not like what the Bible says about homosexuality, so it changes some of the verses as well.

“If a man also lie with mankind in the temple of Molech, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13 Queen James Bible).

The sin in the Gay Bible is not homosexuality but pagan worship.  It is committing this in the Temple of Molech.  The only problem is that the Bible does not have the words “in the temple of Molech” in it.

Some distort the Bible by MISINTERPRETATION.  They do not mistranslate it.  They just misinterpret it.  How many times have we been reminded that Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NIV)? Since we are not supposed to judge anyone, it must be wrong to criticize anyone for anything or condemn any behavior.  This is the most abused text in the Bible.

2. The Lie about the Truthfulness of God

Satan’s second lie was about the truthfulness of God.  The first lie involved misquoting God, twisting what He said.  This lie involved contradicting what He said.  This tactic of the Satan was DENIAL. He claimed God said things that were not true.  They were completely false.

God said, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will CERTAINLY die” (Genesis 2:17 NIV).

Satan said, “You will NOT CERTAINLY die,” the serpent said to the woman” (Genesis 3:4 NIV).

We were not given the command about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We do not live in the garden.  We do not have access to that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but we do have a Bible.  We do have the Word of God and Satan uses this tactic quite often in our own day. What God says about a number of issues is vigorously attacked in our own day.

What God says about creation is is denied.  It is unscientific.  Evolution is accepted.

What God says about miracles is denied.  Anything miraculous or supernatural is rejected (the miracles of the Bible, Virgin Birth, the resurrection)

What God says about marriage is denied.  God says that marriage is to be only between a man and a woman.  Society accepts gay marriage.

What God says about gender is denied.  God says that there are only two genders.  God created people male and female.  Society accepts trans and binary people.

What God says about sex is denied.  God says that sex is reserved for marriage.  Society accepts premarital sex and extra-marital sex.

What God says about hell is denied.  The Bible warns about hell.  It warns about people being cast into the lake of fire.  Satan told Adam and Eve “You are not going to die.”  He tells people today, “Don’t worry about hell.  There is no hell.  A loving God would never send anyone there.  He would never punish anyone.”

What is the truth?  God is truth.  His word is truth (John 17:17).  Everything he says is truth.  In fact, He cannot lie.  It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18).

3. The Lie about the Goodness of God

Satan’s third lie was about the goodness of God.  This lie did not say that God was not real.  It said that God is not good.  Adam and Eve knew that God existed.  That talked to Him every day.  This lie said that God was not good.   This tactic of Satan involved DEFAMATION.  It involved SLANDER.

Satan is still slandering God today.  Skeptics of the Bible describe the God of the Bible as an immoral being who commits cosmic child abuse (sacrifices his own son) and exterminates entire nations.  They describe God as unloving and bloodthirsty.

Whenever we hear anything like this, we know exactly where it comes from.  It comes directly form Satan.  Notice what the serpent said to Eve.

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 NIV)

What is the basic lie?  God withholding something back from you that is good for you.  He wants to keep you bring being happy.  He does not really love you.  If he loved you, he would let you have access to this tree in the garden and give you what you want.

Does he use this tactic today? Yes.  The argument used is the existence of evil.  If there is terrible evil, and suffering in the world, God must not be good, because if he was good, He would stop it.  A loving God would not allow people to be raped and murdered and tortured

That is a weak argument.  It does not prove that God is unloving.  All that it proves is that God created people with a free will.  What is the truth?  God is good.

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9 NIV)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34 NIV)

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8 NIV)

God was good to Adam and Eve.  He knew that Adam and Eve would be happier if they were sinless than if they became sinners.  That is when they became unhappy.  He kept them from that tree because He did not want them to die and that was what would happen if they ate from the tree.

4. The Lie about Personal Fulfillment

Satan’s fourth lie was about personal fulfillment.  This is the lie of DEIFICATION.  It is the lie of self-worship.  This is the biggest lie in America today.

What is Satan’s Gospel?

It teaches that God is not good.  He is not true.  What He says is not to be believed or trusted.

It teaches that we do not need God.  We do not have to obey God.  We are better off not obeying him.

It teaches that we can be your own God.  You are in control of your own destiny.

It teaches that we can made up our own rules. We can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. All we need to do is to find what makes us happy.

Everything Satan says is a lie.  He is the father of lies.  God is good.  God is true.  He is a God who cannot lie.  If we choose to disobey Him, we are the ones who suffer.  True happiness and fulfilment is found in God our Creator, not apart from God.

3 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 NIV)

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38 NIV)

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7-14Czmahw

The Gospel According to Satan

Today, we want to look at the gospel according to Satan.  Most people don’t know it, but Satan has a gospel.  He has a message that he tries to get across to people.  Many people believe this message.  This message is pervasive in society.  It is a message about God and a message about people.  What is the message?  It is found in Genesis 3.

Background

One thing that no one can deny is the reality of evil today.  All of us know that there is evil in the world, horrible evil, unspeakable evil.  It is undeniable.  We see it every day.  All you have to do is to watch the news for five minutes and you will see evil in the world.

Despite this fact, there will always be some who try to deny evil in our world.  They do not seem to understand evil or even seem to believe in it.  To some it sounds medieval.  It is not the way that respectable and civilized people behave.

Liberals have a reputation for being soft on crime. Liberal judges often give criminals a light sentence or no sentence sometimes, even for horrific crimes.   When there is a mass shooting, guns or mental illness are always to blame.

Some people have mental illnesses.  They have a disease, but other people are just evil.  Genesis 3 tells us where evil came from.  Genesis 3 is also one of the saddest chapters in the Bible.  It is one of the most tragic chapters in the Bible.

It gives us the origin of evil.  You cannot understand why our world is so messed up today unless you understand Genesis 3.  This is why we have serial killers and rapists.  That is why we have genocide today and diseases like cancer.

All of the bad things that we see in our world today go back to the Fall of Man.  They all go back to Adam and Eve and their decision to listen to the voice of the serpent to disobey God in the garden.

You will not understand why Jesus came and died unless you understand Genesis 3.  If there was no literal fall of man, there would be no need for Jesus to come in the first place.

A Perfect World

Adam and Eve lived a simple lifestyle in the garden.  They lived in a world without modern technology.  They did not live in a house.  They did not drive a car.

They use a cell phone.  They did not wear any clothes.  They did not eat any meat, just plants and vegetables and fruit.  They must have been skinny.  They did not eat any fast food.

It sounds like a hippy paradise.  They had everything they wanted.  They had every need met.  There was no crime.  There was no sin.  There was no sickness or disease.  There was no death.  There were no drugs.  Perhaps it was not a hippy paradise.

The world was perfect.  Adam and Eve got along with each other.  They were madly in love.  They were newlyweds.  They got along well with all of the other living things on the planet, all of the animals. They lived in fellowship with God.

They talked to Him every day and they were not bored.  God gave them something to do.  Adam was put in the garden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15) but there was one rule.

A Special Command

We think of a paradise as a place where you can do anything you want at any time but even in a real paradise there are rules.  Adam and Eve were given one rule.  God gave them just one commandment.

God didn’t give Adam and Eve ten commandments to follow.  He didn’t give them six hundred commandments, like He gave the Jews.  He gave them one, just one prohibition and it was about food.  There was one thing that they were not allowed to eat.  It involved just one tree in the garden.

An Unexpected Visitor

Out of nowhere, a strange visitor shows up in the garden.  It was the serpent.  Why was he?  Where did he come from?  Why was he there?

The only thing the text says is that he was “more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made” (Genesis 3:1 ESV).  He is not called an angel or a fallen angel but one of the animals of the garden, a literal animal.

It is different from the animal that we call a serpent today.  We think of a serpent today as a snake crawling on the ground. We picture some type of ugly, slimy, repulsive reptile.  That is not what Adam and Eve saw.

This was not one of the creeping things, crawling on the ground.  It was one of the wild animals, which was different.  And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds; the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground and the wild animals, each according to its kind” (Genesis 1:24 NIV).  This animal had legs.

A Problem for Skeptics

This chapter creates a huge problem for skeptics.  They mock this chapter.  They laugh at it.  It has a walking snake and it has a talking snake. We know that animals don’t talk. They cannot talk.  Parrots can say some words, but they do not know what the words mean.  They are just mimicking sounds.

Snakes can’t talk.  They don’t even have vocal cords.  The only noise they can make is hissing and that is because air is quickly released or taken in through the snake’s mouth.

Animals do not talk today.  Animals only talk in fables and fairy tales.  Does this mean that the Bible is a fairy tale?  No.

One of the rules of interpreting Scripture is to compare Scripture with Scripture.  You cannot just read Genesis 3.  You have to read the rest of the Bible.  Scripture interprets Scripture.

Let’s compare the first book of the Bible with the last book of the Bible.  In the last book of the Bible, we find out that this ancient serpent was identified with the Devil and Satan.

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation 12:9 NIV)

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:2 NIV).

The critics are wrong.  Genesis 3 does not have a talking serpent.  Animals don’t talk. Satan possessed this animal and spoke through it.  Satan was the one doing the talking and he was doing it through a serpent.

Animals in the Bible do not normally talk, like in fairy tales, but there are two exceptions.  There is one time in Scripture when an animal talked because God made it talk (Balaam’s donkey) and there is another time when an animal talked because Satan made it talk (the serpent).

That raises a huge problem.  If God created a perfect world and put Adam and Eve in a paradise, what is Satan doing there?  Wasn’t paradise supposed to be a safe place?  What is evil doing in paradise?  We try to protect our kids from evil influences. Why didn’t God keep Adam and Eve safe from this serpent?

They were protected. The serpent did not have the power to hurt them, only to tempt them.  He did not even put the fruit in their hand.  He just told them to eat it.  God gave Adam and Eve the ultimate test.  He used the serpent to help administer it.

God created angels perfect, and they were given a choice.  He created humans and give them a choice. They were created with free will.  God gave them a choice.  They chose to disobey God.

Why did they disobey?  They believed lies.  The same reason many disobey today.  Satan still tell lies today. There are many lies that people believe about God.

You will hear some of these lies in church.  You will hear them from some preachers.  You will hear some of them from the pulpit.  These lies are satanic.  They are demonic.  Paul talked about “doctrines of demons” (I Timothy 4:1).

Satan is a master of deception.  He knows how to deceive people.  He knows how to trick people.  He was the one who invented lying. He was the first liar in history.

The first lie in history was found on the lips of Satan.  Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).  He was the first liar.  People who lie today act just like Satan.

The Worst Type of Lie

Satan’s most dangerous lies were half-truths.  A full lie is much easier to detect.  It does not have any truth in it at all, but a half-truth is more effective.  It may have ten percent truth and ninety percent lie.

Most of the lies he told to Adam and Eve were actually half-truths.  Alfred Lord Tennison called half-truths “the blackest of all lies”.  Some of the things Satan said to Adam and Eve were true.

Satan said, “if you eat from the fruit of this tree, you NOT going to die” (Genesis 3:4) and they didn’t die.  They did not suddenly drop dead.  In fact, they went on to live for another thousand years.  Adam lived to be 930 years (Genesis 5:5).

Satan said that when they ate the fruit, their eyes would be OPENED (Genesis 3:5).  When they ate it, their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:7), but that was a bad thing, not a good thing.  Their eyes were opened to their nakedness, their guilt, their shame, and their helplessness.

Satan told Adam and Eve if they sinned that they would become LIKE God (Genesis 3:5). Did they become like God?  Yes.  The Bible says they became like God (Genesis 3:22).  They did not become God, but they became like Him in some way.

Satan’s Four Great Lies

Today, we are going to look at the four lies that he told Adam and Eve.  Satan says the same thing to people today.  He repeats these lies.  The preacher Adrian Rogers called these “Four Lies That Ruined the World.”[1]

These are not Satan’s only lies. He has many more than these four.  Three of these are about God and one lie is about us.  Each lie involves a different strategy of Satan.  When you put these lies together, you get the gospel according to Satan.

1. The Lie about the Word of God

Satan’s first lie started with the three words, “Hath God said?  The oldest lie was about the Word of God.  It was about the Bible.  It is the oldest lie in the book.  Satan took what God said and lied about it.  He still does that today.  It is one of his most powerful lies.  The first tactic that Satan used was DISTORTION.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must NOT eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NIV)

Did God say this?  No.  He said the exact opposite.  “And the Lord God commanded the man, You ARE free to eat from ANY TREE in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

Satan changed what God said to say something completely different.  He said God said that they were not free to eat from any tree in the garden. He still does that today.  People distort Scripture today.

His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people DISTORT, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (II Peter 3:16 NIV)

How Scripture is Distorted Today

How is Scripture distorted today?  There are many ways this is done.

Some distort the Bible by MISTRANSLATION.  If they do not like what the text says or it goes against their theology, they just rewrite it and make it say something different.  Let me give two examples.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the Deity of Christ.  The Bible teaches that Jesus is God, and it teaches it most clearly in Gospel of John.  It says so explicitly in the first verse of the book.

How do the Jehovah’s Witnesses deal with this?  They rewrite the Bible.  Instead of saying, “and the Word was God,” it says, “and the Word was a god” in their Bible (NWT).

The LGTQ community does not like what the Bible says about homosexuality, so it changes some of the verses as well.

“If a man also lie with mankind in the temple of Molech, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13 Queen James Bible).

The sin in the Gay Bible is not homosexuality but pagan worship.  It is committing this in the Temple of Molech.  The only problem is that the Bible does not have the words “in the temple of Molech” in it.

Some distort the Bible by MISINTERPRETATION.  They do not mistranslate it.  They just misinterpret it.  How many times have we been reminded that Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NIV)? Since we are not supposed to judge anyone, it must be wrong to criticize anyone for anything or condemn any behavior.  This is the most abused text in the Bible.

2. The Lie about the Truthfulness of God

Satan’s second lie was about the truthfulness of God.  The first lie involved misquoting God, twisting what He said.  This lie involved contradicting what He said.  This tactic of the Satan was DENIAL. He claimed God said things that were not true.  They were completely false.

God said, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will CERTAINLY die” (Genesis 2:17 NIV).

Satan said, “You will NOT CERTAINLY die,” the serpent said to the woman” (Genesis 3:4 NIV).

We were not given the command about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We do not live in the garden.  We do not have access to that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but we do have a Bible.  We do have the Word of God and Satan uses this tactic quite often in our own day. What God says about a number of issues is vigorously attacked in our own day.

What God says about creation is is denied.  It is unscientific.  Evolution is accepted.

What God says about miracles is denied.  Anything miraculous or supernatural is rejected (the miracles of the Bible, Virgin Birth, the resurrection)

What God says about marriage is denied.  God says that marriage is to be only between a man and a woman.  Society accepts gay marriage.

What God says about gender is denied.  God says that there are only two genders.  God created people male and female.  Society accepts trans and binary people.

What God says about sex is denied.  God says that sex is reserved for marriage.  Society accepts premarital sex and extra-marital sex.

What God says about hell is denied.  The Bible warns about hell.  It warns about people being cast into the lake of fire.  Satan told Adam and Eve “You are not going to die.”  He tells people today, “Don’t worry about hell.  There is no hell.  A loving God would never send anyone there.  He would never punish anyone.”

What is the truth?  God is truth.  His word is truth (John 17:17).  Everything he says is truth.  In fact, He cannot lie.  It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18).

3. The Lie about the Goodness of God

Satan’s third lie was about the goodness of God.  This lie did not say that God was not real.  It said that God is not good.  Adam and Eve knew that God existed.  That talked to Him every day.  This lie said that God was not good.   This tactic of Satan involved DEFAMATION.  It involved SLANDER.

Satan is still slandering God today.  Skeptics of the Bible describe the God of the Bible as an immoral being who commits cosmic child abuse (sacrifices his own son) and exterminates entire nations.  They describe God as unloving and bloodthirsty.

Whenever we hear anything like this, we know exactly where it comes from.  It comes directly form Satan.  Notice what the serpent said to Eve.

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 NIV)

What is the basic lie?  God withholding something back from you that is good for you.  He wants to keep you bring being happy.  He does not really love you.  If he loved you, he would let you have access to this tree in the garden and give you what you want.

Does he use this tactic today? Yes.  The argument used is the existence of evil.  If there is terrible evil, and suffering in the world, God must not be good, because if he was good, He would stop it.  A loving God would not allow people to be raped and murdered and tortured

That is a weak argument.  It does not prove that God is unloving.  All that it proves is that God created people with a free will.  What is the truth?  God is good.

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9 NIV)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34 NIV)

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8 NIV)

God was good to Adam and Eve.  He knew that Adam and Eve would be happier if they were sinless than if they became sinners.  That is when they became unhappy.  He kept them from that tree because He did not want them to die and that was what would happen if they ate from the tree.

4. The Lie about Personal Fulfillment

Satan’s fourth lie was about personal fulfillment.  This is the lie of DEIFICATION.  It is the lie of self-worship.  This is the biggest lie in America today.

What is Satan’s Gospel?

It teaches that God is not good.  He is not true.  What He says is not to be believed or trusted.

It teaches that we do not need God.  We do not have to obey God.  We are better off not obeying him.

It teaches that we can be your own God.  You are in control of your own destiny.

It teaches that we can made up our own rules. We can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. All we need to do is to find what makes us happy.

Everything Satan says is a lie.  He is the father of lies.  God is good.  God is true.  He is a God who cannot lie.  If we choose to disobey Him, we are the ones who suffer.  True happiness and fulfilment is found in God our Creator, not apart from God.

3 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 NIV)

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38 NIV)

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7-14Czmahw

The Garden of Eden

Our topic today is the Garden of Eden.  These verses in Genesis 2 make up one of the most familiar passages in the entire Bible.  Every Sunday School student knows about the Garden of Eden.  The Garden of Eden was not just a nice biblical story for children.  It was a real place.  Genesis is not a book of myths.  It is real history.

How much do we really know about the Garden of Eden?  Today we want to go a little deeper and answer what was life really like in this garden?  This section will blow your mind.   We will have fun with this topic.  I want you to see this section in perhaps a way you have never seen before.  As we will see, it was very different from the world in which we live.  It was radically different from life as we know it.

Unfortunately, Genesis 2 doesn’t tell us everything about this garden.  It doesn’t answer all of our questions.  How long did he live in the Garden of Eden?  Did he live there for a hundred years or just a few days?

There was a book written one to two hundred years before the time of Jesus called The Book of Jubilees. It was not inspired but it was a popular Jewish book in the first century. The Book of Jubilees says that they were in the garden for seven years (3:15-17). How long were they there?

The Bible does not answer this question.  There are some things that God has revealed and some things he has not revealed.  Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

While we cannot know for sure, there are some inferences we can draw from this chapter.  Adam and Eve could not possibly have been in the garden for a hundred years.  It is impossible. It had to be a relatively short time.  It may have been a few days or a few weeks.  It was probably less than a month.  How do we know?  There are several hints in the text.

1) They never had any children.

If they were in the garden for a hundred years, they would have had kids.  Some have said that perhaps they did have kids in the garden.  Perhaps Cain was not their first child.  There is only one problem with that theory.  If they had kids before the Fall, their kids would have been born sinless, since the Fall had not taken place.  They would have been born without a sin nature.  The Bible teaches that in Adam all die.  All of Adam’s descendants inherited a sin nature, not just some of them.  All of them are born spiritually dead.[1] 

2) They never ate the tree of life.

Adam and Eve were given permission to eat from the tree of Life.  Genesis 2:16 said, “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from ANY TREE in the garden” and that include the tree of Life. He only tree they were not allowed to eat from was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He never ate from that tree but we will.  That tree will be in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:1-2) and we will have access to it for all eternity.

There is no evidence from the text that they ever ate from this tree, even though it was not only in the garden, it was in the center of the garden.  Genesis 2:9 says “In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

After they sinned, God kicked them out of the garden so that they did not eat from this tree and live forever (3:22).  This is just an inference but if they had been in the garden for a hundred years, they would have gotten to every tree in the garden.

3) Satan hated God and wanted to tempt man.

He would have wanted to do this sooner, rather than later.  Why did he tempt them?  He also hated God and wanted to wreck and ruin his creation.  What do we know for sure about this garden?  What was life like in Eden?

The Inhabitants of Eden

Who lived there?  Animals were present.  People were present, although there were only two people on the planet, not seven billion like we have today.  Angels were also present.  Satan was present.  God was there as well.

That is what made Eden paradise.  Eden was the one place where He manifested His presence was in the garden.  Genesis says that God walked in the garden.  He had face to face communication with Adam and Eve in the garden (3:8).

In fact, many have described the Garden of Eden as a temple.  It was like a temple.  God created the earth but the garden was different from the rest of the earth.  The Garden of Eden was special.

It was the one place on the planet where God manifested his presence.  The one place where He manifested Himself was in this beautiful tropical paradise.  The word Eden means “pleasure” or “delight”.  There were many ways the Garden of Eden was like a temple.

  • The entrance to the Temple was to the east, on a mountain facing Zion (Ex. 15:17), just as the end-time temple prophesied in Ezekiel is (40:2, 6; 43:12). The entrance to Eden was from the East (Gen. 3:24).
  • The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were not to have any access to, just like the Ark of the Covenant.  Anyone who touched it would die.  Only certain people were allowed to touch it (the Levites) and even they could only do it at certain times and in a certain way.
  • A river flowed out of Eden (Gen 2:10), just as a river will flow out of the end-time Temple (Ezekiel 47:1-12; Rev. 21:1-2).
  • There were cherubim in the Temple, just as there were cherubim in the garden.  They cherubim in the Temple were just decorations.  They were engravings.  After the Fall, there were some real cherubim there with flaming swords to keep people out.
  • Adam was to “cultivate and take care of” the garden (2:15) and those two Hebrew words are used of the priest in the OT.

The people and animals in the garden were very different form the people and animals we see today.  How were the animals different?  They were all vegetarian.  Animals were not eating each other in paradise.

Genesis 1:30 says, “God said, ‘and to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.”  That seems hard for us to imagine today.

Some animals seem to be carnivorous by nature.  They are now but we not before the Fall.  It was a completely different world.   The Bible says that when Jesus returns, animals will go back to the way they were in the Garden of Eden.  Lions right now are carnivores.  In the kingdom, lions will be herbivores (Isaiah 11:7).

You will be able to put a lion and a lamb together.  As my pastor pointed out last Sunday, you cannot do that now.  One will eat the other.  There are many venomous snakes in the world today.  They are poisonous.  They bite you and you die. In the kingdom, children will play with poisonous snakes and not get hurt (Isaiah 11:8-9).  How were people different?  How were Adam and Eve different from us?

1) They did not experience physical birth.

They were created.  They were not born.  They were made.  They did not come into the world through sex.  Jesus did not come into the world through sex either.  Mary was a Virgin but Jesus was born.  Adam and Eve were never born.

Implications of No Birth for Adam

Why are the implications of this.  Because they were not born, four things would be true of them.

1. This means that they did NOT have a belly-button.

Belly-buttons are just a scar from birth and they were not born, so Adam and Eve would not have had one.

2. This means that they did NOT have any ancestors

They did not have any parents or grandparents.

3. This means that they entered the world AS ADULTS.

They did not enter the garden as children.  They did not have a childhood and never had to grow up.

4. This means that they were also created with an appearance of age.

They looked older than they were.  They may have looked twenty or twenty-five years old but were actually only a day old.  The rest of creation was also created with an appearance of age.  Trees were created with fruit on them, according to Genesis (1:12).

2) They were completely sinless.

All of us are sinners.  We are sinners from birth.  They were created perfect without any sin.  They lived in a world with no sin and no crime.  There were no other people on the planet.  They did not worry about their security or being hurt by anyone.  There was no crime, no war and no terrorism. That is different from the world in which we live in today.  They lived in a world of peace.

3)  They were perfectly healthy

They were genetically perfect.  They had twenty-twenty vision.  They were not allergic to anything.  Not only were they created perfect.  They had a perfect body.  They lived in a perfect world with no suffering, disease and sickness and death.  They never got a cold.  They did not have to deal with Ebola or AIDS.

4) They had a much higher longevity rate.

They lived longer than we do.   Adam lived to be 930 years old (5:5).  We live to be about 78.  They lived eleven times longer than we do.  We will learn more about this when we get to Genesis 5.

5) They had a different diet than we do.

Adam and Eve were vegetarians.  They did not eat meat.  Maybe that is why they lived longer but God has given us permission to eat meat now.  We see that in Genesis 9 after the Flood.

6) They didn’t wear any clothes.

They were nudists.  That seems strange to us.  We think of clothes as natural. There are people today who don’t wear clothes on the planet but they are usually primitive people and, as we already saw, the first humans were not savages.  They were very advanced.

Adam was highly intelligent.  He was probably more intelligent than we are.  Evolution pictures the first men as very primitive.   Adam was not a caveman with a low IQ.  Adam knew how to speak right away.  He understood language when God spoke to him and he never went to school.  He was able to name the animals right away.  We had to learn how to speak and communicate.

Why would these advanced humans go around without clothes?  God created people without clothing.  In fact, everything He created was good and Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed of their nudity.

That raises an interesting question.  If marriage in the garden is a model for us today, why wouldn’t nudity be a model for us today?  Therefore, some argue that nudity is not wrong today.  Nude beaches are not wrong.  Are these arguments valid?

Nudity was present before the Fall.  We do not live before the Fall.  Some things appropriate before the Fall are not appropriate today.  After the Fall, God gave Adam and Eve clothes to wear.  Some things appropriate after the Fall (marrying relatives) were later forbidden in Levitical Law.  There were some rules in Levitical Law which no longer apply today (food laws).

Public nudity would be wrong today for four reasons. One, it is illegal. Two, it is unbiblical. The Bible commands us to wear modest apparel. Three, it would cause others to sin. Four, it would be a poor testimony to the lost.

The Environment of Eden

There were lots of plants, rivers, trees and water in Eden.  Genesis mentions four rivers and two trees.  There is a river than runs through the whole garden.  Things were different then.  It had a completely different hydrological system.  Plants are watered not from above but from below (a mist came up from the ground).  They had a different water cycle than we have today.

There were three different types of trees in the garden. Some were good for food (2:9), like apple trees and cherry trees.  That is important because there were no grocery stores in Eden.  There were no restaurants.  Adam did not have any money.

He did not have a wallet and if he had one, he would have had no place to put it, as one preacher commented[2].  Some trees just looked good.  You can’t eat them.  They are non-edible.  Some trees are beautiful but do not have any fruit on them.

There was a third type of tree in the garden.  These were special trees, like the tree of life, and tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  They were real fruit trees but they also served another function.  I would call one the tree of life and the tree of death, because when they ate fruit from it, they died.

The Location of Eden

The Bible tells us where it was located.  It gives specific geographic coordinates to it.  Genesis mentions real lands and real rivers associated with it.  The Garden of Eden had a river that ran through it and separated into four other rivers (Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon, Gihon).  These were actual rivers.

Two of them are still called by that name today (Tigris and Euphrates).  They come together at the northwest point of the Persian Gulf.   If you find the four rivers, you find the garden.  The million dollar question is, Where this garden is located?  Has it ever been found?

Some say that it has never been found and never will be found because it never existed.  Others say that it has never been found and cannot be found because it was destroyed in the Flood.  They argue that the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon, Gihon are all pre-Flood rivers.

The Tigris and Euphrates are not the same as the Tigris and Euphrates today.  That does not make much sense to me.  If that is the case, why would Moses mention these four rivers in the first place?  It would be completely meaningless to include that detail.

There is a third view is the view that I hold.  The third view says that the Garden of Eden can be found and has been found.  Its general location was discovered in the 1980s by an American archaeologist from Missouri State University.  His name is Juris Zarins.  He was not even a Christian but he spent years studying the location of this garden and I think he found it.

Can we visit it today?  No.  It is under water.  You can’t see it but we know where it is located.  It is located where the Persian Gulf is today.

We know the location of the first two rivers.  The Tigris and Euphrates are in the Middle East.  They run right through Iraq and flow into the Persian Gulf.  They are long rivers.  They are over a thousand miles long.  The Euphrates is almost two thousand miles long.

In the 1980s, NASA came up with new technology.  Zarins took a look at satellite images of the Middle East and saw a dried up river bed.  It clearly marked where a river once flowed.  It is impossible to see on the ground.  It is covered by desert sand but looking down can clearly see a river that connects to the Tigris and Euphrates, using satellite images from space.

This was the Pishon which went through Eastern Saudi Arabia (called Wadi Batin river system).  Arabia is where gold is located.  There is an area in Saudi Arabia (the Mahd adh Dhahab located in Al Madina province of the Hejaz region) called “the cradle of gold”.  He only needed to find one more river.

Then he remembered that the Karun River, which is the largest river in Iran (450 miles) used to connect to the Tigris and Euphrates.  There has been a dam since the 1970s.  That would be the fourth river (Gihon).  This is speculation but these are probably the four rivers mentioned in Genesis. The picture below shows three of the rivers.

All four of these rivers connect to the Persian Gulf, which is shallow.  It is only one hundred and fifty feet deep.  The Persian Gulf is the size of Great Britain.  At one time, the Persian Gulf was dry land.

Climate experts believe that it was dry land before the Ice Age.  After the Ice Age, oceans rose and this area flooded. Now scientists are saying that there was a lost civilization which once existed under the Persian Gulf.[3] That is where Eden most likely existed.

The Occupation in Eden

Immediately after Adam was created, God gave him some work to do.  In fact, God planted a garden to create a job for Adam.  Someone needed to take care of the garden.  He was a gardener.  That was just one of his jobs.

He also had to study all of the animals and give them all names.  He was a zoologist.  What is the lesson here?  Work is good.  It is not a curse but a blessing.  It is part of the intended order of creation.  Work is not the result of sin.  It took place in the garden before the Fall.

Now at this point, the land was productive and work was easy.  It was not toilsome as it became after the Fall but Adam still had to do some work.  Most people think that paradise is the absence of work.  They think work and paradise are incompatible.  That is not true.

Even in a perfect world, Adam had some jobs to do.  Even in paradise, the garden had to be tilled and some seeds had to be sown.  God did not create us to be idle.  The Bible has a lot to say about being lazy (cf. Proverbs 6:6-11; 10:4, 26; 13:4; 20:4; 22:13; 26:13).

The Restriction in Eden

Adam and Eve lived in a complete paradise but they still had some rules to follow.  God gave them some commands. God could have created Adam and Eve, put them in the garden with no rules and said, “You can do whatever you want”.  He could have been like a permissive parent.  Instead, He gave them some rules.  He set some boundaries.

And the Lord God COMMANDED the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (2:16-17 NKJV)

What is significant about this restriction?  Several things stand out about this restriction.

1) There was only one restriction.

Adam and Eve did not have six hundred commandments to follow, like the Jews had.  They did not have ten commandments to follow.  We have difficulty keeping just ten today.   God made it really easy for them.  They only had one commandment to keep, just one.  They were given one restriction and that restriction was only on one tree.

2) It was a prohibition.

This command was negative.  God did not tell them something that they must do but something they must not do.  It was forbidden under penalty of death.

3) It had to do with food.

It was a food rule.  It had to do with diet.  Chocolate was not forbidden, just fruit from one tree.  There was one tree they were not allowed to eat, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

4) It was perfectly fair.

Some say that this was not fair.  Isn’t this like putting candy in front of a child and telling him that he cannot have any?  God did not even hide the cookie.  He put it right in the middle of the garden, so Adam could not miss it.  Was this entrapment on God’s part?  God creates a beautiful tree with delicious fruit and tells Adam and Eve not to eat it.  No.  The opposite is true.

God said, “You may FREELY eat the fruit of EVERY tree in the garden” (2:16).   Notice the words “freely” and “every”.  They were free to eat from any tree in the garden, as often as they wanted.  God did not say that to Adam that he could eat from some of the trees of the garden or half of the trees of the garden or even most of the trees of the garden.

He said that he could eat from ALL of them, except for one.  It is like telling a little boy in a candy store, he can eat any piece of candy he wants in the entire store, except for one particular candy bar. Adam and Eve were not deprived.  God was not unfair to them.

5) The instructions were clear.

God made it very clear what was forbidden.  The tree was even placed in the middle of the garden, so they would know where it was.  It is hard to accidentally eat something.  You might accidentally touch something but not eat it.  That would require a deliberate choice.

6) A reason was given for it.

God did not give them a prohibition without a reason.  When it came to that tree, God said, “eat and die”.  God told them in no uncertain terms that if they ate from this tree, they would not only die, they would die that very day.  He said, “In the day you eat from the tree you will surely die” (2:17).

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

The important question we need to answer is this: Why was this tree forbidden? Why would God prohibit a tree that contained knowledge?  Isn’t knowledge a good thing?  Was God trying to keep Adam and Eve ignorant?  Does God give people brownie points for being stupid?  Why did God prohibit the tree of knowledge of good and evil from Adam and Eve?  Didn’t He want them to know good and evil?  Why did God give this restriction?

Why the Tree was NOT Forbidden

We know why the tree was not forbidden. God didn’t prohibit it because it was harmful. God created this tree and put it in the garden. Everything God created was not only good, it was very good and that includes this tree. There was nothing wrong with the fruit on this tree.  The tree was said to be good for food (2:9; 3:6)

God said if they ate from the tree they would die but the tree itself was not harmful. It did not contain any deadly poison that would hurt people if they ate it. It was not the fruit on the tree that caused people to die. It was the fact that they disobeyed God which caused death. What killed them was disobedience to God, not some fruit on a tree.

Why the Tree WAS Forbidden 

People always ask, “If God didn’t want man to eat from this tree, why did He put it in the garden in the first place?”  What was this tree doing in God’s garden? The answer is to test man, not to tempt him but to test him. God tested Adam and Eve in Genesis 2.  Satan tempted them in Genesis 3. James 1:13 says that God NEVER tempts people to sin.  There is a very important reason that this tree was in the garden.  It served a useful purpose.

This tree was a visible TEST of Adam’s obedience.  It was not a test, like the kind of tests you take at school.  This test was not given to find out how much they knew but how much they would obey. It was not an academic test.  It was a moral test.  It was an obedience test.

Why did God test Adam and Eve?  Adam was created perfect.  God gave him authority.  He had authority over the entire earth but He was still under authority.  He was still a creature.

Adam was also created with free will.  Adam was created with freedom of choice.   God did not force Him to obey Him.  He didn’t force Him to worship Him.  God gave Adam and Eve a clear command and they had a decision to make.

Would they obey or disobey God?  This test determined if Adam would submit to God’s authority or reject God’s right to rule and declare himself independent of God.  Next week, we will look at the decision they made.

Modern Applications

So far, we have looked at what life was like in the garden and we have focused on how radically different from the world in which we live.  Our world is full of sin, sickness and death.  We all wear clothes.  We have a different diet.  We do not live as long as they did.  We do not live in paradise.

We came into the world differently but there are many ways in which the world is the same as theirs was.  What are some ways in which our world is similar to the Garden of Eden?  Let me point out about fifteen similarities between us and Adam and Eve.

How Things Have Not Changed Much

  • We are creatures made in the image of God like Adam was.
  • God still gives us work to do, like He did Adam.
  • God still provides for our needs.  He gives us food to eat as well.
  • We can still fellowship with God today.
  • God speaks to us today, though it is usually not audible.
  • We can still get married today, like Adam and Eve did.
  • We can still have children like they did.
  • We have problems with our kids, like they did.
  • There are rules for us to follow today.
  • We have rebelled against God like he has.
  • We tend to blame others for our own failings
  • We encountered spiritual death like Adam.
  • Satan still tempts people today, like he did in the garden.
  • We still have free choice today, like Adam and Eve had.
  • We have a tendency to want to do whatever is forbidden.
  • God still holds us accountable for our actions today.
  • God still judges people today.
  • God still tests people today.

[1] Some say that Eve must have had children prior to Cain because God says in Genesis 3:16: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children” (NKJV).  The argument goes that you cannot increase or multiply pains unless you have some pains to begin with.  That argument is flawed.

If you go from zero to ten there is an increase.  In English, it might imply pain to start with but it doesn’t in Hebrew.  It simply means in Hebrew to increase something. The word is used in Gen 16:10 of what God would to Hagar.  God promised to multiply her seed, before she has had her first child. The expression simply means that she will have many offspring.

Similarly, in Numbers 26:54, God tells Moses to “make great” the inheritance of the larger tribes and “make small” that of the smaller ones, while they are still in the wilderness and no tribe has received any inheritance at all. Again, he means that when the inheritances are handed out, the larger tribes are to get bigger ones, as my friend Van Parunak pointed out.

[2] Bill Hixson, Genesis 2:4-25, spoken recording (n.d.)

 

The War on Marriage

In our last class, we looked at the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2.  We focused on what the text says.  Today, I want to do something different.  Today, we want to look at Genesis 2 differently.  Today, I want to look at Genesis 2 and look at some applications.

I want to apply how it says to one topic which has become a burning issue today, the topic of marriage.  It has been in the news for the last few weeks.  The court system has said some things about marriage.  I want to look and see what God says about marriage in Genesis 2.

The institution of marriage is currently in a state of crisis.  Marriage is in a state of decline.  Less people are getting married today compared to fifty years ago.  In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were married.  Today just 51% of all adults ages 18 and older are married. Marriage is under attack in our day.  There is a war on marriage in our culture. It is under attack from the inside and from the outside.

Marriage is under attack by the COURT SYSTEM.  Marriage used to be defined as a union between a man and a woman.  That was the dictionary definition.  Now it can mean a union of two persons.  The dictionaries had to be written.  Same sex marriage is now legal in North Carolina.  The definition of marriage has now changed thanks to the court system.

Marriage is under attack by THE GOVERNMENT.  The Federal government’s policies discourage people from being married.  There are tax penalties for being married.   ObamaCare contains not one, but two penalties on marriage—one for families with low and moderate incomes and another for families with higher incomes.

Marriage is under attack by PERSONAL SIN.  Extra-marital affairs put marriage at jeopardy.  Premarital sex puts marriage in jeopardy.  Out of wedlock birth puts marriage in jeopardy.  Many have chosen not to get married at all and just to live together.  People don’t want to get married because they feel trapped.

As someone said, “Marriage is not a word; it is a sentence – a life sentence”.  Why get married.  Weddings are too expensive.  Half of marriages end in divorce and the divorce rates for Christians are not much lower than the divorce rates for non-Christians.

Marriage is under attack by RADICALS.  Many would like to abolish marriage. It is a very popular view in some circles.  Even Alan Dershowitz from the Harvard Law School advocates abolishing civil marriage.  It is called marriage privatization.  The state would no longer grant marriage licenses to people.  They would just give civil unions to everyone.  If you want to get married, you could still do that in a religious setting, like a church.

That is why is very important to see what God says about marriage in Genesis 2.  Genesis 2 gives us the first marriage.  The first marriage in the garden gives us God’s blueprint for marriage.  It is the model for marriages today.  It gives us God’s instructions for marriage and God’s pattern for marriage has not changed.

It is radical.  It is counter-cultural.  It is controversial.  It is relevant.  God’s Word has a lot to say about what is going on in the world today and in society.  It speaks directly to many of the issues of our day.  It has a lot to say about marriage.  It doesn’t tell us everything but this one chapter alone tells us nine important things about marriage.

What does it tell us?  It deals with nine important topics: the importance of marriage, the origin of marriage, the reason for marriage, the value for marriage, the exclusiveness of marriage, the gender of marriage, the duration of marriage, the unity of marriage and the prerequisite of marriage.  Let’s look at each one briefly.

The Importance of Marriage

Genesis does not say that marriage is important but clearly implies. God thought it was so important He created it before anything else. Marriage existed before the family existed. Adam had a wife before he had a mother or father or kids. Marriage existed before government existed.

It existed before writing existed. It existed before the church existed. It existed before sin existed. It is the oldest human institution on the planet. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. It existed even BEFORE the fall of man. It is almost as old as the earth itself.

There is another reason marriage is important.  The family is the foundation of society.  It is the fundamental building block of all civilization.  When the family is messed up, society is messed up.

This is perhaps no clearer than in the African American community which has a 70% out of wedlock birth rate and that statistic comes from the Federal Government.  It is census data.  That has led to all kinds of problems in society.  If the family is the foundation of society, marriage is foundation of the family.  That makes marriage very important.

The Origin of Marriage

Marriage was created by God.  He was the one who started it.  It didn’t evolve over time.  It was created by God.  Marriage is a divine institution.  It is NOT a human institution.  It wasn’t Adam’s idea. It was not invented by man. It was not started by society.  It should be regulated by the state but it was not created by the state.  In fact, when marriage started, the state did not even exist yet.

This second point is very significant.  It tells us a few things.  There are some very important implications of this fact.

Significance of the Origin of Marriage

1) If marriage was started by man, then it could be changed by man

If man is in charge, it can be changed again. Many have redefined marriage and change the definition of marriage to mean the union of two people with same sex marriage.  If you can change it once, you can change it again.

You could eventually allow polygamous marriage or other forms of marriage.  If homosexuals can marry and heterosexuals can marry, what stops bisexuals from marrying two people?  If it can be changed to a union of two persons, why could it not be changed to a union of three or four persons?

On the other hand, if marriage was started by God, He is the only one who can   properly define or change marriage.  Jesus was asked a lot of questions about marriage. He never redefines marriage but always takes people back to God’s standard for marriage in Genesis and even quotes this passage.

2) If marriage was started by God, then He is the only one who can change it

God’s ideas are always better than our ideas.  Some people get to the point where they think that they are smarter than God.  To abolish something that God started would be not just wrong but satanic, because Satan is always doing the opposite of what God wants.  He opposes God.  That may be why Paul called this idea “demonic.”  Paul called the idea of forbidding marriage “a doctrine of demons” (I Timothy 4:1-4).

It is not only demonic, it is just plain stupid.  There was a religious cult in the 1700s called the Shakers.  They came to America from England and believed in several things.  They lived in communes and gave up all of their property.  Everything was held in common.  They separated themselves from the world.

They renounce marriage.  They did not get married or have kids.  At one point, there were Shaker communities which stretched from Kentucky to Maine. In 1840, they had six thousand members. There are only three of them left today[1]

The Reason for Marriage

Genesis 2 not only tells us who created marriage, it tells us why marriage was created.  God said, “It is not good for man to be alone”.  That was the reason Eve was created.  Man was created social being.  He was created for relationships, a relationship with God and a relationship with other people.  Adam had a relationship with God and it was still “not good”.  There was still something missing in his life.

“It is not good for man to be alone” is the general rule for humanity.  Men and women were not designed to be alone.  Most people should get married but God does not call everyone to marriage.  Jesus never got married. John the Baptist never married.

Paul never married, as far as we can tell.  In fact, the Apostle Paul said, “It is good for a man NOT to touch a woman” (I Corinthians 7:1).  Touch does not mean touch.  It does not mean that you cannot shake someone’s hand.  It is a euphemism for sex (cf. Genesis 20:6; Proverbs 6:29).

Paul is dealing with the unmarried here, not the married.  He says, “It is good for a man (not a husband) NOT to touch a woman.” His point is that singleness can be good but it is certainly not the norm for most of humanity.

The Value of Marriage

Marriage was good for Adam.  God created marriage for Adam because it was good and he needed it.  He was incomplete without it.  Marriage is often not valued in our culture.  There are all kinds of jokes which mock or belittle marriage but God created marriage.  He called it good.

God did not create marriage to bring suffering to people.  He meant it to be a blessing.  He created it to help people.  There is scientific evidence that marriage is good in a number of areas.  Many think that it may be good for men but it is bad for women but there are all kinds of studies that refute that claim.[2]

Marriage is actually good for your health.  Marriage is good medicine.  There are actually some health benefits to marriage.  Statistically, people who get married are happier, healthier and better off financially. Married men and women live longer than those who are single, divorce or widowed.  Married people live longer than single people.  They have a lower mortality rate.[3]

Married people make more money than those who are not married.  The poverty rate is higher for people who are not married.  They have a better standard of living.  You are better off financially.  They make more money, because you have two incomes instead of one. Marriage makes people happier.  It is not only good for your physical health; it is good for your mental health.

That is not to say that marriage is perfect or that there are not problems in marriage or that marriage is easy or that marriage will solve all of your problems.  Many people who are married are completely miserable, especially if you marry the wrong person.  Marriages involve hard work and a lot of forgiveness but God created them to help people, not hurt them.

The Exclusiveness of Marriage

Marriage was designed for only two people. Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”.  Notice, it says, “and be united with his WIFE” (singular), NOT “with his wives” (plural).

Polygamy is common in some Muslim countries. According to them, Adam did not really live in paradise.  Paradise for a man would have to involve polygamy.  It would be living with seventy virgins.   Adam lived in paradise.  It was a perfect paradise.  It was a paradise created by God and he only had one wife in the garden, not ten.

God was the one who started monogamy.  Man started polygamy. The first person to have more than one was Lamech.  Lamech wasn’t satisfied with having one wife, so he took two (Genesis 4:19) and that was the beginning of polygamy.  Muslims think that polygamy is the model but marriage was designed by God to be monogamousThat is the model for all marriages today.  That is why Adam had only one wife in paradise.

Pro Polygamy Arguments

Islam teaches that a man can have up to four wives if he wants.  Many who believe in polygamy use the Bible to support their position.  They give two arguments for polygamy.

1) Many people in the Bible had many wives.

Many of the saints in the OT had many wives.  The first Jew had more than one wife (Abraham).  David was a man after God’s heart and he had many wives.  Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.  Is this argument valid?  No.

The Bible does not necessarily approve of everything it records.  History is NOT normative.  Not everything recorded in the Bible is approved by the Bible.  The Bible records many bad things that people have done, even some believers, but it does NOT promote these sinful acts.

The Bible gives us a true history.  It what happened.  It records the rape of Dinah.  It records King David committing adultery and murder.  It records Noah getting drunk.  It records Lot committing incest.  It records Samson visiting prostitutes.  The historical parts of the Bible record what happened, not necessarily what should have happened.

Furthermore, if you read about King Solomon, you would know that it was his wives that led to his downfall.  He loved his pagan wives so much that he built idols to them.  If you know the story of Abraham, you know that he ended up having a relationship with Hagar because he did not trust God.

2) The Bible never calls polygamy a sin.

Is this true? No.  Some things in Scripture are condemned directly and some are condemned indirectly. Is something is sinful only if it is directly condemned in Scripture?  There is no verse in the Bible that says, “You shall not smoke pot”.

There is no verse in the Bible that says that internet pornography is sinful but in each of these cases there are clear biblical principles which forbid these activities.  Polygamy is implicitly condemned in Scripture because it is not the biblical ideal for marriage.  It goes against the pattern for marriage that God established in the garden.

The Gender of Marriage

Marriage was designed for a man and a woman.  It was designed to be heterosexual.  God designed it for a man and a woman, not two women or two men.  God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.  There is good reason for that just from pure biology.  If the first two humans were homosexual, the whole race would have died out. That would have been the end of the human race, because two men cannot reproduce.

Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”.  Notice, it does NOT say, “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his husband”.

Not only was the first marriage that God instituted between a man and a woman but every marriage in the Bible was between a man and a woman. In fact, every marriage in every country and culture for the first five thousand years of recorded human history has ALWAYS been between a man and a woman.

Homosexuality has existed for thousands of years but homosexual marriage did not exist until 2001.  Denmark became the first country to legalize same sex marriages.  It was the first time that man ever tried to change what God said about marriage.  It is the job of the state to regular marriage, not to redefine it.

The Duration of Marriage

Marriage was designed by God to be permanent. Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be UNITED to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Jesus said, “what God has joined together, LET NOT MAN SEPARATE” (Matthew 19:6) and that is a commandment.

Marriage is not just two people shacking up and sleeping together.  It is two people who make a lifelong commitment to each other.  Divorce is common in our day.  The Bible says that God HATES divorce (Malachi 2:16).  God doesn’t just say, “I don’t recommend divorce.  It’s not the best plan for your life”.  The Bible says that He HATES divorce.  The US has one of the highest divorce rates in the world.

Many today go into marriage as if it temporary.  They enter marriage with the idea that it is terminable.  They draw up prenuptial agreements to figure out how all of the couple’s money and property will be divided up if the marriage ends.  They do this before it even starts.  That is setting you up for failure from the beginning.

The Unity of Marriage

When you get married, you are no longer two separate entities.  The two become one.  There is a unity in marriage.  Marriage is the closest human relationship on the planet.  It is closer than the brother/sister relationship.  It is closer than the parent/child relationship.  A husband and wife share a lot of things.  They share the same bank account and take the same last name.  They also share the same bed.

Genesis 2:24 says, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become ONE FLESH”.  One flesh is a physical relationship.  It is one flesh, not one spirit.  It is not just a physical relationship; it is a sexual relationship.  It is what happens during sex.  The two become one.  Marriage was designed to be a “one flesh” relationship.

Many think that God is anti sex.  They think that he does not want people to be happy.  They think he wants to spoil all of the fun.  They think he is a heavenly killjoy.  People are trying to have some fun and God says “you can’t do this and you can’t do that”.  Here is the shocker.  God is the one who created sex.  It was not created by the adult film industry.  It wasn’t created by Hollywood.  Romance was not created by Hallmark.  It was created by God.

There’s nothing wrong with sex.  It is not sinful.  It is not dirty.  He created sex but He created it FOR MARRIAGE ONLYNotice also it says a man is to cleave to his WIFE, not his girlfriend to be ONE FLESH.

What is the evidence from Genesis that sex was created by God?

a) He created man a sexual being.

Man was not just created a social being.  He was created a sexual being.  God created people with sex organs.  He not only designed the reproductive organs but made them so that pleasure is a part of the process.  He did not have to do that but that is how God designed the human body.

b) He created Adam and Eve without clothes.

Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed (2:25).  They had no sin.  They were completely innocent and they were naked.  They were completely comfortable being naked.  They were comfortable with their bodies. They were both attractive.  They were physically perfect.  They had no flaws.

They were comfortable with seeing each other’s bodies and touching each other’s bodies.  There was no shame.   They were comfortable in their sexuality.  It is a picture of physical intimacy.  It is a picture of intimacy in other areas.  They had a completely open and transparent relationship.  They could share anything with each other.

c) God commanded them to have sex.

It was one of the first commands God gave man.  It goes all the way back to Genesis 1.  God commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28) and that was before the Fall. Sex is marriage is not just allowed, it is COMMANDED. Paul says the same thing in I Corinthians 7:3-5.  Paul gives a little marriage counseling here.  He says some radical things here.

He says that the body of the husband belongs to the wife and the body of the wife belongs to the husband.  There is complete equality here.  Paul was not the male chauvinist.  He says that it is the job of the wife to meet the sexual needs of the husband and the job of the husband to meet the sexual needs of the wife.  Paul says that if you do not do this, you are stealing from your spouse.  You are robbing them.

Did Sex Begin After the Fall?

Some of the church fathers said that Adam and Eve did not have sex until after the Fall (Jerome, Irenaeus, Chrysostom).[4] Where do they get this idea?  The first time Genesis mentions Adam and Eve having sex was after the Fall.  Genesis 4:1 says, “Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain” (NLT)

Were the church fathers right?  No. Genesis 4:1 is NOT the first time Adam and Eve had sex.  It is the first time they had a baby.  That is an argument from silence.  Remember, Genesis is selective.  It does not tell us everything that happened.

According to some of the church fathers, we would have to believe the following things.

1) Adam lived in a paradise.
2) He lived there with only one woman.
3) She was absolutely beautiful.
4) She was naked.
5) They were married.
6) God told them to have sex. He commanded it.
7) They were both perfectly sinless.
8) They never had sex until after the Fall.

That is utterly ridiculous.  Adam was a man.  He was with a naked woman.  There was sex, especially since the woman was his wife and God commanded them to do this. The church fathers glorified singleness.  They believed that marriage was not wrong but singleness is better.  You are holier if you are single.  They glorified monasticism.  They read Genesis with a built in bias.

The Prerequisite of Marriage

Genesis 2:24 says, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (NIV).  Notice the two verbs here.  In order to be married you have to do two things to make a new family unit – leave and cleave.  We make several mistakes here.

  • Some NEVER leave their parents.

Some remain “momma’s boys” after they get married.  They are still tied to their parents.  They are too dependent on their parents.  The in-laws still run their life, even though they are married.

  • Some NEVER cleave to their spouse.

They are not close to their spouse or only cleave to their spouse for a while. The word “cleave” (KJV) or “be united” (NIV) means to stick together like glue.  It has the idea of something permanent, not something temporary.  The Modern Hebrew word for “glue” comes from this word.

  • Some cleave BEFORE leaving.

God said that a man is to leave his father and mother and then to cleave to someone and become one flesh.  Many reverse the order today.  They live with someone and become one flesh and then decide to get married and officially cut the knot with their parents.


[2] http://www.yale.edu/soc119a/hw4.htm cites evidence from a University of Chicago study.

[3] Catherine E. Ross, John Mirowsky, and Karen Goldsteen, “The Impact of Family on Health: Decade in Review,” Journal of  Marriage and the Family 52 (1990) 1061.

[4] John Chrysostom, for example, wrote, “After their disobedience, after their loss of the garden, then it was that the practice of intercourse had its beginning….At the outset and from the beginning, the practice of virginity was in force” (Homilies on Genesis 18.12; cf. Jerome, Against Jovinianus 1.29; Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.22.4).

The Creation of Man

Today, we will begin looking at Genesis 2.  Genesis 2 is an interesting chapter.  It is an interesting chapter.  We learned some things about God in Genesis 1

We also learn some things about Him in Genesis 2.  There are seven pictures of God in Genesis 2.  God is described in seven different ways.

Pictures of God in Genesis 2 

1. God is a POTTER.  He formed man from the ground (2:7).

2. God is a GARDENER. He planted a garden in Eden (2:8).

3. God is a LAWGIVER. He gave rules to Adam and Eve (2:16-17).

4. God is a SURGEON. He removes Adam’s rib (2:21).

5. God is an ANESTHESIOLOGIST. He puts Adam to sleep during the surgery and prevents any pain during the operation (2:21).

6. God is an ENGINEER. He builds and designs Eve’s body from a human rib (2:22).

7. God is a MATCHMAKER. He created a beautiful woman for a single lonely man and brought the two together (2:18-22).

8. God is a ROMANTIC.  He believes in love.  He believes in marriage.  her started it.  It was his idea in the first place.

We just finished looking at the creation narrative in Genesis 1.  The focus of Genesis 2 is very different from the focus of Genesis 1.

Introduction to Genesis 2

The focus of Genesis 1 is on THE EARTH (the sky, the waters, the land, the plants).  It mentions people but the focus of the chapter is not on people.  It is on the earth.

The focus in Genesis 2 is on PEOPLE. Genesis 2 mentions the earth (rivers, trees, garden) but the focus of the chapter is on Adam’s home, Adam’s environment, Adam’s job, Adam’s instructions, Adam’s wife, and Adam’s marriage.

The interesting thing about this chapter is that it does not happen immediately after the events of Genesis 1.  Genesis 2 is NOT chronological.

How do we know?  At the end of Genesis 1, both man and woman are on earth.  When chapter two begins, the earth is created but there are no people on the planet.  Adam is not created until Genesis 2:7.  That is strange.  What is going on in Genesis 2?

Genesis 2 uses a literary device called a flashback.  It goes back to the sixth day of creation in Genesis and gives us more details.  Genesis 1 gives us only two verses on the creation of man (1:26-27).

Genesis 2 is a whole chapter written to give more information about those two verses.  It is an expansion of those two verses.  It gives us more details about those two verses.

  • Genesis 1 tells us the DIVERSITY of man’s creation, as we saw last week.  It tells us that that God created two kinds of people (male and female). Genesis 2 gives us the ORDER of creation (first Adam then Eve).
  • Genesis 1 gives us the FACT of man’s creation.   Genesis 2 tells us the METHOD of man’s creation.  It tells us HOW God did it. God created Adam from dust and Eve from Adam’s rib.  That wasn’t revealed in chapter one.  It was just an overview. Today, we want to look in detail about the creation of man and the creation of woman in Genesis 2.

The Creation of Man

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7 NIV).

God was not passive when it came to the creation of mankind.  Man was not formed providentially.  Adam was not born.  He was created.  God was directly involved in his creation.

Genesis says, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures” (1:20) “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind” (1:24).

That is not how man was made.  God was personally involved in man’s creation. How He created man is very interesting.  He used dust, dirt, soil.

Did God Create Man by Evolution?

There are many who believe in theistic evolution.  They believe that creation and evolution are not contradictory at all.  They believe that you can be a Christian and believe in both.

They believe that there was a real man named Adam.  They also believe that there were human-like creatures before Adam who served as early human ancestors.

These creatures were large-brained pre-Adamic primates.  They believe that Adam evolved from these Neanderthals and was the first one ever made in the image of God.

There are many evangelicals who take this position.  It is a very common viewpoint in some circles.  The real question is this: Is it biblical?  No.  We can see that clearly in Genesis 2.

God did use materials to make man.  He did not just speak Adam into existence.

God used previously existing materials to make man but Genesis says Adam was formed from the dust of the ground and NOT from an animal.  He did not evolve from another animal.

He was not made from an apelike creature.  He was created from dust or dirt. The Hebrew word means a clump of soil, not dust particles.[1]

What is the difference?  Dust is lifeless.  It is non-living.  It is inorganic. Dirt contains organic material in it (leaves) but dirt itself is inorganic.  That is very significant.

God did NOT create Adam from a previous living organism.  He could have done that.  God made Eve from Adam.

He could have made Adam from the animals before him but He did not do that.  God created him from dust.

Adam was not the result of natural selection from lower life forms but special creation by God from dust or dirt.

That word does not mean animal and NEVER means an animal.  When Adam dies, he returns to the dust.  He does not become an animal.

He goes from dust to dust.  If the first part refers to literal dust, the second part must refer to literal dust.

Let’s talk about the origin of man.  The Bible says that man was made from dirt.  Does that mean that all men are dirt?  That would not make women any better because women come from men.

They are a derivative of dirt as well.  When my son Aaron was in the third grade, I remember teaching him about how man was made from dirt. He asked me if that was why little boys like to play in the dirt and get dirty.

Now this seems very strange.  You can’t tell by looking at people and know that they were made from dirt.  Is it really true or is it just a story?

It really happened.  It is in Scripture.  If it really happened, we should be able to make a prediction based on this. If we are really made from dirt, our bodies would have some of the same elements found in dirt.

Do we?  Yes.  Genesis is scientifically accurate here.  The chemical composition of dirt has some of the same elements that are in the human body (oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, iron, calcium).

The most abundant element in our body is oxygen (65%).[2]  It is also the most abundant element in the earth’s crust (49%).

When God made man, He did it in two stages.  He used two kinds of materials: dust and divine breath.

1) God formed man from the dust of the ground.

Clarice Fluit tells a story about seeing Jesus when she was a child.  She was outside playing.  Jesus came up to her and asked her what she was doing.  She was making things out of dirt.

Jesus said to her, “I’ve done that before.” Adam’s body was formed from dirt.  What do we learn from man’s creation?

We learn two things.  We learn that God took some special attention to us.  He personally formed our bodies.

All of the parts of the human body were made with God’s design.  They are not the result of natural selection or random chance but design.

The word “formed” in Hebrew (yatzar) is used in the OT of a potter who molds something out of clay with his hands (Jeremiah 18:3-4).  Our bodies are God’s workmanship.

They are a work of art.  The Psalmist says “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14 NIV)

It means something else.  It means that we are fragile and delicate.  It shows how insignificant and frail we are.

He wasn’t made from metal or rock but from dust and this was not gold dust but common dust on the ground.  Man wasn’t made by some type of heavenly material but from ordinary dirt.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. (Psalm 103:13-16 NIV)

There is also a little irony here after Adam sinned.  Adam was created from the ground.  His job was to cultivate the ground.

When he died, he returned to the ground.  Adam came from dirt, was going to work in the dirt all of his life and get it under his finger nails and even smell like dirt sometimes and then he would die, be buried and go back into the dirt.  It was his cradle, his home, his career and his grave.

By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return. (Genesis 3:19 NLT)

2) God breathed life into his nostrils.

God does Divine CPR on Adam but He breathes into his nose, not into his mouth.  The nose is for breathing and the mouth for eating.  We learn several things from how God brought Adam to life.

First, we learn that God and God alone created man.

This breath came directly from God.  It was not a natural process.  God took a lifeless corpse and breathed life into it.  “Man did not evolve from other creatures.

Impersonal forces did not form man. All the cells, DNA, atoms, molecules, hydrogen, protons, neutrons, or electrons did not create man.”[3]  It was not just a natural process.

God breathed His own supernatural breath into man to make him alive.  If we do CPR on an inanimate object, nothing will happen, no matter how long we do it.

God can breathe on something non-living and make it alive.  That seems impossible.  How can you breathe into a lifeless doll and make it alive but it is no more difficult for God to do that than to create the entire universe out of nothing by his Word.

Second, we learn that man is unique.

God showed special attention to man that He did not show to animals.  Now animals and man have a lot in common.

  • They both live on the same planet
  • They were both created on the same day as animals (sixth day)
  • They were both made of the same material.  Animals also were made of dust (2:19)
  • They both had the same diet at first. Both were vegetarian (1:29-30)
  • They both need air (an oxygen atmosphere) to breathe
  • They are both called living creatures in Genesis (1:20, 24; 2:7, 19)

The KJV translates the same word “living creature” in Genesis 1:20, 24; 2:19 and “living soul” in Genesis 2:7.  That is a mistranslation.  Genesis is not talking about immaterial part of man that is inside the body and is unique to man.

It is talking about something that people are, not have.  It says that Adam BECAME a living being.  It is also something not unique to man, since the same thing is said of animals (1:20, 24; 2:7, 19)

The difference is that God only man was specially created by God.  Man alone is the direct product of the supernatural breath of God.

He did NOT do this to any animal.  The only time that God talked about Himself was when it came to the creation of man.  He said “Let Us man in Our image”.

The Creation of Woman

The second thing that was created in this chapter was Eve.  The Jews did not call her Eve but havah.  That is her name in Hebrew.

The creation of woman is more interesting than the creation of man.  Man was just made from a pile of dirt.  The creation of Eve is found in Genesis 2:18-22. Why was Eve created?

She was NOT created because God made a mistake making Adam and He needed to correct it.  That is the feminist interpretation.  What did God say after creating Adam? “I can do better.”

It is based on the notion that men are inferior creatures.  When God made man, he didn’t get it quite right, so He started over and tried again.  That is not true.

God created Adam perfect the first time.  He did not need to be improved on.  So why did He create Eve?

Adam had a need.  God saw Adam’s need even before he did.  God says, “It is NOT GOOD for man to be alone” (2:18). Everything else was said to be good.  Now, He says something is “not good”. Adam was perfect but he was incomplete.  He was created as a social being.

He was created to have relationships with people and he was the only one on the planet.  He was surrounded by all of these animals but he was still alone.  Matthew Henry said, “Perfect solitude would turn a paradise into a desert and a palace into a dungeon.”

What does this passage teach men today?  If you fall asleep, a good woman will walk by?  No.  It actually tells us something about God.  God knows our needs even BEFORE we do (Matthew 6:8). He knows our needs BETTER than we do.

There is no hint in Genesis that Adam was even asking for a woman.  This was God’s idea.  He operated on Adam and did some surgery.

He starts with anesthesia.  God put Adam in a deep sleep, not a light sleep but a deep sleep. He creates Eve and then brings the two together.

Adam didn’t have to go looking for a wife.  She came to him.  God brought her to him.  Adam was passive in the whole process.  Adam trusted God.

He sought God’s kingdom first.  He was asleep in the will of God and God provided for his needs.  The first marriage was arranged by God.

The result was a perfect match.  It was love at first sight.  Eve was probably the most beautiful woman who ever lived.  She was fashioned by the hand of God.

In Adam’s case, it was not just love but amazement and wonder as her stares at the first women ever created.

Apparently, romance is one of God’s specialties.  He brought the first couple together and still does this today.

God is still in the process of bringing people together. The Bible says that God is love.  He is also a matchmaker.

Method of Eve’s Creation

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman” (Genesis 2:21-22)

According to Genesis, Eve was created by a surgical act.  This is a very famous story.  Everyone knows it.  I never really understood it.

It did not make much sense to me.  Why did God use a rib to make Eve?  That seems like a strange story.  Why did God do this?  There are two very important reasons.

1) The Genetic Reason

God used Adam’s rib to show that Eve was human.  She was made of the same substance of man.  She was made of the same stuff as Adam.  If God made her from dirt, you might come up with the conclusion that she was intrinsically different from Adam.

I have to confess that I never really understood this until now.  In the past, I always thought it meant that God used Adam’s rib to make the outside of Eve’s body.

Instead, God used it to make the inside of Eve’s body. God used Adam’s rib as a human DNA sample.  He used it as the genetic blueprint to make the inside of Eve’s body.   It is not a kid’s story.  It actually makes a profound statement about genetics.

God takes a bunch of Adam’s flesh which contains bone, blood vessels, cells and DNA.  He took a biopsy of tissue from Adam’s side and used it to make Eve.  Eve was created from existing human tissue.  She was made from human DNA.

2) The Medical Reason

God used Adam’s rib to make Eve for recovery purposes.  The rib bone is the ONLY bone in the human body that can regenerate itself!  Although all bones can REPAIR themselves, ONLY ribs can REGENERATE themselves.

If they are removed correctly, ribs can grow back new in two to three months and will be as strong as the original rib.  God was certainly aware of this unusual quality of the rib bones when he made Eve.

He thought of Adam before the operation (put him to sleep) and afterwards (wanted him to have all of his ribs).  Men and women have the same number of ribs (contrary to popular belief).

Was Eve a Clone of Adam?

Some believe that Eve was a clone of Adam.  God had to make some changes, because when he took Adam’s rib, because He did not make another man.  He made a woman.

Some believe that she had the exact same DNA code with different chromosomes (XX instead of XY).  That would mean that she was an exact replica of Adam without certain organs.

That would explain why Adam called her “bone of MY bone and flesh of MY flesh”.  That would make her a real counterpart to Adam, a genetic counterpart.

They would be identical twins.  A man’s rib contains enough genetic information to make a woman but a woman’s rib does not contain enough genetic information to make a man, because women do not have the y-chromosome.[4]

That is one way God could have done that, although that would not have been very creative on God’s part.

Another option is that God created Eve with was a separate DNA.  Eve had a completely unique genome.  God did not clone Adam to make Eve but used some of Adam’s genetic material to manufacture a woman.

That would have led to more genetic diversity in the human race with two original genomes rather than one (four chromosomes at the beginning of the world).

Next week, we will look at some lessons that we can learn on marriage from this chapter.  Genesis 2 has a lot to say about the institution of marriage that is very relevant in the day in which we live.


[1] Ziony Levit, What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden, 80.

[2] Water is not an element.  It is a compound, because it is made up of two elements.  It is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

[3] http://www.gotquestions.org/breath-of-life.html

[4] http://www.genesisandgenetics.org/2014/03/31/eves-dna/

The Dignity of Man

We have been doing an in-depth study of the Book of Genesis.  The next three weeks will cover some very important topics in the Book of Genesis that you do not want to miss.  Last week, we read Genesis 1 and we saw that creation in Genesis is a divine process.  It is a supernatural process.  It was a short process.  God did it in six days.  It was also an orderly process.  It was made up of three days of forming and three days of filling.  God formed the earth, the sky, the water and the dry land and then He filled the sky with birds, the dry land with plants, the earth with animals and people and outer space, he filled with the Sun, Moon and stars.

We stopped when we came to the sixth day of creation, which is the most important day of creation.  It is the longest of all of the days of creation.  What did God make on the sixth day?  He made two things.  Genesis 1:24-25 mentions the first thing He made on the sixth day.

“And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” (NIV)

The first thing that God made on the sixth day was land animals. We saw last week that Genesis 1 is selective.  It doesn’t mention everything God created but it does mention three basic kinds of land animals that God made: cattle, the creatures that move on the ground, and the wild animals.  We can call these three groups wild animals (tigers, lions and bears), domesticated animals (cattle, sheep, goats, ox) and creeping things (insects, rodents, lizards, snakes).

The second thing God made on this day was people made.  Genesis 1:26-29 says:

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (NIV)

Today, I want to look at three things that we learn about people in these verses.  There are three things that God tells us in these verses.  He tells us our dignity, our duty and our diversity.

Man’s Dignity (Genesis 1:26)

It says something about the dignity of man because it says that we are all created in God’s image. Some people think that all life on the planet is equally important.  That is Hinduism.  They say that all life is sacred.  There is no difference between a person and a blade of grass.  They would say that a cockroach is as important as a human being.  Peter Singer at Princeton says that animals have as much rights as people do.  Is that biblical?  No.

Jesus said that people were more important than animals.  In fact, He said it more than once.  He said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26).  He said “You are more valuable than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31) and “How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!” (Matthew 12:12).

In the OT, animals sacrifice was allowed and actually commanded in the Law but human sacrifice was forbidden. This doesn’t mean that animals are unimportant.  Noah saved a bunch of them from a Flood.  Proverbs 12:10 says, “The righteous care for the needs of their animals.” (NIV)  What does Genesis say?  According to Genesis, humans are unique from animals. Only people are created in God’s image.  The image of God is mentioned three times in the Book of Genesis (1:26-27; 5:1; 9:6).

This is very interesting. Animals are NOT created in God’s image.  Humans are the only creatures on the planet that God said were specifically created in His image.  Dogs and cats are not in the image of God.  What exactly does it mean that we are created in God’s image? There are some strange ideas, even among some Christians about the image of God.  What does it mean?

Genesis doesn’t tell us.  Our only hint comes in Genesis 5:3 which says, When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.”  We are in God’s image just like Seth was in Adam’s image.  Many of us are in the image of our parents.  We look just like them. What does that mean?  It must mean that we look like God in some way.

Does this mean that God has a body?  That is what Mormonism teaches.  It is something that distinguishes Mormonism from Christianity.  Mormons believe that God has a physical body.  Joseph Smith, the Founder of Mormonism, said, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s.”[1] This is patently false.

Jesus said that God is a spirit (John 4:24).  We have a spirit.  Jesus said that God IS a spirit.  He is an immaterial being.  Jesus said that “a ghost does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39).  The word translated “ghost” (NIV) is the exact same word translated “spirit” in John 4:24.  They are the same word in Greek (πνεϋμα).  The Bible says that God is invisible (I Timothy 1:17).  You cannot have a physical body and be invisible.  Paul said that no one has seen God or can see God (I Timothy 6:16).

We are created in God’s image but this cannot be a physical image because God does not have a body and because both men and women look different and they are both created in God’s image.

Apparently, we look just like God in some way but we do not look like God physically.  We look like him on the inside, not on the outside.  We look like God morally and spiritually, not physically.  We have a conscience.  We are moral beings.  We are rational beings.  We are intelligent beings.  Some show more intelligence than others.

Does This Make People a God?

This biblical teaching has led to some crazy ideas.  Some have said that we are not just created in God’s image, we are God. A number of people in the Word of Faith movement have said that believers are little gods (e.g., Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer).  Kenneth Copeland, for example, said, “We do not have a god in us.  We are a God.”[2]  The argument is that God produced after His kind.  Adam was in the god class.

On another occasion, Copeland said, “Am I a god? Man was created in the god class, was not created in the animal class, it was the god class. He has a uniqueness about him that even angels do not have…We are a class of gods.”[3] He also said that “God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself…He was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even. Adam was God manifest in the flesh.”[4] 

Do you agree with this?  Is this correct?  If not, how would you answer it?  It is wrong on every point.  It is wrong about Adam and it is wrong about God.  Adam was subservient to God.  God gave him rules to follow and held him accountable when he did not follow them.  God is a spirit.  He did not reproduce after His kind.  Adam was not a product of reproduction.  He was created by God.  The word “likeness” in Genesis does not mean an exact duplication.  It means a reflection or a resemblance.  Adam was not in the god class.  He was in the man class.  He was a man created in the image of God but he was not a clone of God.

God and man are two different categories.  One is the creature and one is the Creator.  God is immortal but we are all mortal.  We die.  God is omnipotent.  Our power is limited.  God is omniscient.  God’s knowledge is unlimited and complete.  He knows everything.  Our knowledge is limited and incomplete.  As the Apostle Paul said, “We know in part and we prophesy in part.”  God is an infinite being.  We are finite.   We all had a beginning.  God had no beginning.  The Bible says repeatedly that there is no one like God in all the earth (Exodus 9:14; Isaiah 46:9). 

What does this mean practically that we are created in God’s image?  What are the practical implications of this doctrine?  It means that we have value and others have value.  Non-Christians are also created in God’s image.  Even after the Fall, men still have God’s image in them (9:6).  We should be careful how we treat people.  When we hit someone, we are hitting the image of God (Genesis 9:6).  When we curse people, we are cursing people who are in God’s image (James 3:9-10).  If we are in God’s image, we should act like God.  We should reflect His character.  People should see God in us.

Man’s Diversity (Genesis 1:27)

God did not just make us dignified, He made us diverse.  Genesis 1:17 says, So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; MALE AND FEMALE he created them.” (NIV)  Here we learn something important about gender from the Book of Genesis.  This is important because there is so much confusion in our day about gender.  What does Genesis say about gender?

Genesis and Gender Issues

What implications can we draw from the text?  It says four basic things.

1. God made two sexes

Genesis 1:27 says, “God created mankind in his own image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We live in a culture that hates gender distinctions but gender is God made, not man-made. God was the one who created gender. God created two sexes.  He created people male and female, not male and male or female and female.

Genesis says that He made two different kinds of people.  He created two distinct genders.  He did not create one sex. He did not create people unisex.  He didn’t create three sexes.  He created two.  What is the practical application of this truth?  The application is that men should be masculine and women should be feminine.

We mix that today with people who call themselves transgendered.  They make a difference between gender and sexuality.  They say you can have male organs but act like a female.  What they are actually saying is this: “God created me a man but I don’t like being a man, so I am going to act like a woman” or “God created me a woman but I want to act like a man.” We should accept and enjoy what God has made us to be, not try to resist or fight it.

2. The two sexes are very different

Men and women are not the same. God did not create Adam and Eve the same.  Their bodies were not the same.  They were not even created the same way, as we will see next seek.  Many try to deny this but the fact is that men and women are fundamentally different.  Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. If you have been married for five minutes, you will discover this.

Men and women look different.  They act different. They even think differently.  Their brains are wired completely different.  Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania discovered in 2013. Someone in our class pointed out that you do not need a study to prove this.  It is self-evident.  Men and women have fundamental differences and these differences do not just come from culture.  They come from creation.  They do not just come from environment.  They go back to the way God made us.

3. The two sexes are equal before God

There is a feminism that is secular and unbiblical and there is a feminism that is biblical.  The Bible teaches an equality of the sexes.  Galatians 3:28 says, There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Men are not superior to women.  Women are not superior to men.  Men and women have complete equality in Christ.  They have equal value in the sight of God. They are both made in God’s image.  They are equal in image.  They both resemble God in some way and represent Him on the earth.

If you read Genesis 1:26 out of context, it may look lile only men are created in God’s image.  It says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” The very next verse shows that it means mankind. Genesis 1:27 says, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created THEM (not “him”); male and female he created them.” The Hebrew word for adam can mean both man and mankind.

Adam was not the only one created in God’s image.  They both were.  Both were given equal dominion over the earth.  Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that THEY MAY RULE OVER (not “that HE may rule over”) the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Who is doing the ruling here over the earth?  Adam and Eve.  They have joint rulership over the earth.  Both were assigned the task of ruling the earth.  As C.H. Macintosh said, “Adam did not rule over Eve but with Eve”[5]

The fact that Eve was created from Adam’s rib shows equality.  Many have pointed this out. Eve was not made from Adam’s head (suggesting inferiority to Adam) or from his foot but from his side (suggesting inferiority to Adam).  She was created from the middle of Adam (neither above nor below Adam).  She was intended to stand beside him, not below him, not behind him and not above him.

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. (Genesis 2:19-20)

This shows equality with shows equality with Adam. Animals could not serve as a helper for Adam.  They could not complete Adam.  They were not his equals.  When God created Eve, he created someone completely on his level.  It is a picture of absolute equality.  God created a perfect match for Adam.  Pets can make great companions but they are not our equals.  Eve was Adam’s equal.

Eve was created different but equal.  In fact, notice what Adam says when Eve was created?  He said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23).  I would have expected him to say something about how different they were.  Instead, he says how similar they are.  Adam was shocked.  We will talk about what this means next week.

4.  The two sexes have different roles.

Eve’s role was different from Adam’s.  Genesis 2:18 says, The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (NIV).  What was Eve’s role?  She was to be a helper FOR HIM.  She was not supposed to be a rival to Adam or his enemy but his helper.  That was one of the reasons she was created.  When she does that, she fulfills one of the roles assigned to her by God.  Her job was to complete the man.

She was called a helper.  She had a different role as a mother.  Feminists say that this is degrading to women.  It seems to have a negative connotation.  Woman are just called helpers (like an assistant or servant).  They say that this is sexist.  Do you agree?  You cannot really prove anything from the term “helper.”  As Wayne Grudem points out, “A person who helps can be superior to, equal to or inferior to the person being helped”[6]

The word is not degrading perse because the same word is used of God.  Sixteen times in the Bible God is called “our helper” or the one who helps us (e.g., Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7, 26, 29; I Samuel 7:12; Psalm 20:2; 40:1; 33:20; 70:5; 115:9-11; 124:8).  That does not mean that God is inferior to us or under us.  It does not mean that God is subservient to us.

Men and women can be equal and have different roles.  God is a trinity.  All members of the trinity are equal but they have different roles.  The role of the Father is different from the role of the Son.  The Father was not crucified.  The Holy Spirit did not become incarnate.

If anything, the term “helper” degrades men, not women. It says that they need a woman to make them complete and that they are not complete on their own.  Adam could not get the job done on his own.  He needed Eve to help him.  Some men are too proud to admit that they really need their wives to balance them out and to complement them.

Man’s Duty (Genesis 1:28)

We have looked at man’s dignity and diversity from this verse.  Now, I want to look at one more thing, namely, man’s duty.  Man has a job to do.  God gives people two commands in Genesis 1.  There are two things that man was commanded to do.  These two commands make up what is called “the Cultural Mandate” or “the Creation Mandate.”  In the NT we have the Great Commission.  That is given only to believers.  These two commands are given to everyone.

What does the Creation Mandate say?  Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”.  It sounds like four commands but the first three all go together.  There are only two commands.  What is the first command? Be Fruitful, Multiply and Fill the Earth.

This first command is very interesting.  He told them to reproduce.  He wanted them to multiply.  Up to this point, there has been a lot in the chapter about DIVIDING things (light from darkness, sky from water and land from sea).  Now God tells Adam and Eve to MULTIPLY.  The same command was given to the animals. Genesis 1:22 says, “God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” (1:22). It seems like a strange command.

1) This command involves sex

You cannot reproduce unless you have sex.  God was the one who created sex and He is the one to bring up the topic.  God is here commanding Adam and Eve to have sex.  Sex is not the forbidden fruit.  It is actually the first command in the Bible.  He not only created sex, He commands people to have sex and this was BEFORE THE FALL.

Since sex is fun, He is actually commanding them to have fun.  That is strange.  It is not the view of God that many have.  Now this command was given to married people.  Genesis 2:25 says, “Adam AND HIS WIFE (not his companion, friend or partner) were both naked, and they felt no shame.”  God was not endorsing premarital sex.

2) This command results in children

You cannot fill the earth without having kids.  Does this mean that God wants everyone to have large families?  No.  God does not call everyone to be married and He does not give everyone large families but the Bible does view children differently than the world does.  What the Bible says is radically different from what the world says.

King Solomon on Children 

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them” (Psalm 127:3-5 NIV).

1) Children are a blessing.

They are “a heritage from the Lord”.  They are described as a gift from the Lord, a reward from the Lord.  They are a blessing, not a curse.

2) Many children are a blessing.

They are described as “arrows in the hands of a warrior.”  The more you have, the better off you are.  Solomon does not say that you are blessed if you have one or two.  He says you are blessed if you have a whole bunch of them.  A quiver is a case that holds arrows.  He had a lot of wives, so he probably had a lot of kids.

3) It is good to have them when you are young

He speaks of “children born in one’s youth.” We should want them, even if we are a young married couple.

People use overpopulation as a reason not to have children.  In 2013, a Stanford University professor said that “no one has the right to have twelve children or even three.”[7] God is more concerned with under-population than over-population.  God said, “Reproduce and multiply”.  He did not say “reproduce and multiply until you get two or three.”

Does this mean that birth control is wrong?  There are two completely different views on this among Christians.  Some believe it is based on this verse.  If children are a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3), birth control must be wrong. It is a lack of faith.

Others point out that there is no verse in the Bible that says birth control is a sin.  It is wrong to prohibit something that the Bible does not specifically prohibit.  The Bible also says that a wife is a gift from the Lord (Proverbs 18:22) but that does not mean that it is wrong to stay single.[8] They would say it is not a question of faith but of stewardship.

The second command is to “subdue the earth; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

It is called the dominion mandate.  Dominion is what kings have.  It is a royal function.  Man is to be king over the world and animals and to rule it on God’s behalf.  Man came from the earth (dust) and is now to rule over the earth as God’s representatives.  Does this mean that God is not an environmentalist? What is the Christian view on environmentalism?

There are two extremes here.  There are two errors that people make when it comes to environmentalism.  On the one extreme are those who worship the earth.  Much of environmentalism is just nature worship.  It is pantheism.  They worship the planet.  Earth Day is an excuse to worship Mother Earth.  The main focus is not on saving souls but on saving the planet.  The earth will eventually be destroyed.  The Bible says that one day it will burn up (II Peter 3:10).

At the other end of the spectrum are those who want to pollute, litter and trash the planet.  We should use the earth’s resources but not abuse them. We are to subdue the earth, not destroy it.  We are to exercise stewardship over the earth but not exploit the earth.


[1] Doctrines and Covenants 130:122

[2] Copeland, “The Force of Love”, 1987, Tape #2 -0028

[3] Praise the Lord, TBN, 2/5/1986

[4] Copeland, “Following the Faith of Abraham”, 1989, Tape #01-3001

[5] C. H. Macintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch, 22.

[6] Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth, 118.

[7] http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/22/population-bomb-scientist-nobody-has-the-right-to-as-many-children-as-they-want/

[8] http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/does-the-bible-permit-birth-control

The Six Days of Creation

Last week, we began our study of Genesis.  We looked at Genesis 1:1.  It is not only the first verse in the Bible, it is one of the most important verses in the Bible.  It is short.  It is only ten words but is very powerful.

This week, we will look at most of chapter one.  Last week we learned many things about God from Genesis.  Genesis 1 is not just a revelation of creation; it is a revelation of the Creator.  Today, we want to look at what God did when He made the world in six days.

We saw last week that the one who created the world was Jesus.  The same one who created the world is the same one who redeemed the world and one day will judge the world.  He will not just judge unbelievers, he will judge us.  Paul said, “We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” and he was talking to Christians.

There are many creation stories.  This is the only inspired creation story.  It is the only inspired account of origins.  it is divinely inspired.  Paul said that “all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable” and that includes Genesis 1.

God was the only one who was there when creation took place.  He is the only one who knew what happened and the Bible gives us an inspired account of those events.  Genesis is not myth or allegory.  It is divine revelation.

Genesis was not intended to be a textbook on science.  It is not a textbook on astronomy or biology.  It is not a textbook on geology or physics but it is inspired.  The Genesis account is not exhaustive.  It was selective.   There are a lot of things that Genesis does not tell us.

Genesis does not say anything about God creating planets other than the earth.  It just mentions the sun, moon and earth.  There are eight or nine planets in our galaxy (depending on whether you count Pluto) and there are eighteen hundred planets outside our galaxy which orbit another star besides our Sun.  They are called extra-solar planets. Some of these objects are massive.  You could fit a million earths inside the sun and there is another star that is a million times as big as the sun.  You would not know that from Genesis.  It is selective.

Genesis mentions stars but doesn’t say anything about galaxies.  There are a hundred billion stars in our galaxy and a billion other galaxies in the universe.  The Bible mentions constellation of stars (a pattern of several stars that make a picture).  It mentions the Orion and the Pleiades (Job 9:9; 38:31-32) but it does not mention the galaxy.

Genesis does not mention the dinosaurs.  Some of these were over a hundred feet tall and weighed a hundred tons.  They are not mentioned at all in Genesis.  If you put them in the framework of Genesis, they would have had to have been created on the sixth day.   Dinosaurs and man were created on the same day.

Genesis says that God created the earth but does not tell us how old the earth is. It just says that He created it “in the beginning” whenever that was.  Thus, there are young-earth creationists and old-earth creationists.

Genesis doesn’t mention anything about angels being created but they were. Colossians says that Jesus created angels.  He created things visible and invisible.  Genesis doesn’t tell us everything.

There are many things Genesis does not tell us.  What does it tell us?  What does Genesis actually say about origins?  What do we learn about creation?    Let’s look at four things that we learn about creation from Genesis.

Four Facts About Creation  

1) Creation is a divine process

It is NOT a human process.  It is a divine process.  It is something that only God can do.  One of the best ways to find out what a key theme in a chapter of the Bible is to look for key words.  It is an important rule in Bible study.  Let’s read Genesis 1:3-8 again and see if we see a key word.

 “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.  God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.”

What word is repeated?  God.  God is not only emphasized in the first verse (“In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth”), He is emphasized all throughout the chapter.  God is all over this chapter.  He is mentioned 30 times in 31 verses.  In fact, I do not know of any chapter in the Bible which mentions God more than this one. The biblical view of origins, not only has God in the process, He is central to the process.

God’s Activity in Genesis 1

1) God CREATES things

He created things on earth, in the sky, in the water and in outer space.  He created living things and non-living things.  Each day of creation, He created more than one thing.

2) God NAMES things

He not only made things, He named things.  We see this in the first three days.  God names day, night, sky, land and seas.

3) God SEPARATES things

He also separated some things. There are three separations during the first three days: a separation of light from darkness, sky from water and land from sea.  Apparently, God likes to separate things.  All throughout the Bible God separates things.  He separates clean and unclean foods in Levitical Law.  He separates the righteous from the wicked.

Jesus is the greatest divider in history.  He said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:34-35)

4) God BLESSED things

God not only created things, He blessed the things He created. Genesis 1:21-22 says, “So God created great sea creatures …and every sort of bird…And God saw that it was good. Then GOD BLESSED THEM, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

Genesis 1:27-28 says, “God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them…THEN GOD BLESSED THEM and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.” (NLT)  What does it mean that he blesses them?  He blessed them with reproduction.  Reproduction is God’s blessing.

2) Creation is a supernatural process

It is not a natural process.  It is a supernatural process.  It is not based on natural laws.  That is the secular, naturalistic, materialistic view of origins.  God creates the natural laws.  It definitely is not a materialistic process.  Matter did not even exist until God created it.  He did not use matter to create the world.

Because creation is a direct act of God, it is a supernatural process.  It is not a natural process.  It is one of the greatest miracles in the entire Bible when God spoke the world into existence and instantly it appeared and obeyed his command.  It came out of nowhere and out of nothing.

3) Creation is a short process

The process was not long but short.  It did not take a million years for God to create the world.  He did it in less than a week for creation to take place. It started on a Sunday.  Sunday is the first day of the week.  The six days of creation started on Sunday and ended on Friday with the creation of man and on Saturday God rested.  The day that Jesus rose from the dead is the same day that He created the world.

The days of creation were twenty-four hours long.  How do we know? Genesis 1:5 does not say, “After a million years was the first day”. It says, “evening and morning was the first day”.

The only days that have an evening and morning are twenty-four hour days. We would say “morning and evening.” Our days start in the morning but the Jewish day started in the evening. It started at night. It went from sundown to sunset. They said “evening and morning”. That was the Jewish way of saying “a day.”

The words “evening and morning” do NOT refer to a long time period.  The beginning of a long period of time is not called an evening and the end of a long period of time is not called a morning. It only applies to a twenty-four hour day.

Now, the word “day” in Hebrew does not always mean twenty-four hours (“call unto me in the day of trouble” or “the day of the Lord is coming”) but in those cases it is qualified (THE day of the Lord, THE day of trouble).  When it is not qualified, it always means a literal twenty-four hour day, especially when each day has an evening and a morning and when the seven days make up a week.

Some Day-Age Arguments 

There are many who believe that the days were not twenty-four hours long and could not be twenty-four hours long.  They might have been millions of years long.  They are called progressive creationists.  They believe in the Day-Age Theory.  They have some interesting arguments.

1. The seventh day is eternal.

Genesis 2:2 says, By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” Is the seventh day is eternal? The argument is that God rested on the seventh day and is still resting.  If the seventh day is eternal, perhaps some of the other days are eternal as well.

The Bible speaks of the seventh day in the past tense. God RESTED (past tense) on the seventh day. The Bible does NOT say that God “is resting” (present tense) on the seventh day. Even if God is still resting from creation, that does not necessarily mean that the seventh day is eternal. As Jonathon Sarfati says, “If someone says on Monday that he rested on Saturday and is still resting, it in no way implies that Saturday lasted until Monday.”

2. No solar day without the Sun.

Others argue that the first day could not possibly be a solar day because the Sun was not created until the fourth day, so there is no way that it could be a twenty-four hour day.  Is that argument valid?  No.  God does not need the sun to make light and He does not need the sun to make a day.

To have a day, you have to have two things – a rotating earth and light coming from one direction.  As Jonathon Safari points out “a day-night cycle needs only light plus rotation.”  You do not have to have the sun.  In this case, we have light from an independent non-solar source.   We know they were days because the text mentions that there were evenings and mornings for those first three days (1:5, 8, 13).

3. God’s days are a thousand years.

II Peter 3:8 says, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (NIV)  Doesn’t this verse show that God’s days are long?  Does a day equal a thousand years?  Even if you take it literally, it would say a thousand years, not millions of years but there are several problems with connecting II Peter 3 to Genesis 1.

The first problem is that II Peter 3:8 is NOT talking about the days of creation.  The context is dealing with something completely different.  He is dealing with false teachers who said that Jesus is never coming back.  It has been a long time since He was here.

The second thing to note is that II Peter 3:8 does NOT say, “a day IS a thousand years”.  It says that the days are LIKE a thousand years.  It is a simile.  It tells us how God views time.  He views it differently than we do.  A thousand years seems like a long time to us but seems like a very short time to God.  It tells us what time from God’s perspective is like.  It is not talking about how long the days of creation lasted.

4) Creation is an orderly process

Creation was methodical and orderly.  The days of creation are divided into two parts. The first three days were days of FORMING.  They gave form to the formless.  Rivers were created.  Oceans were created.  Dry land was created.  Outer space was created.  The atmosphere was created.

The next three days were days of FILLING.  They filled what was previously unfilled.  They solved the problem of it being empty.  The sea was empty.  The sky was empty.  The earth was empty and the sea was empty.  Fish were created for the sea.  Birds were created for the air.  Animals and man were created for the dry land.  The sun, moon and stars were created for outer space.  God prepared the place first and then populated the place.

It is very orderly.  It follows a pattern.  Living things are said to reproduce after their kind.  Ten times in just five verses Genesis says that God created things to reproduce “after its kind” (1:11-12, 24-25). That is another phrase that is repeated in the chapter.

Living things reproduce after their kind and not after some other kind.  Dogs produce dogs.  Cats produce cats.  Roaches produce roaches. There are two hundred varieties of dogs but they are all one kind.  Each one based on their DNA is a dog. They have the same chromosome count and no dog ever gave birth to a cat.

Day One (1:1-5)

What was the first thing God created?  The heavens and the earth.  Genesis 1:1 mentions the first act of creation.  The first verse mentions God creating the heavens and the earth. The second verse of the Bible explains what the earth looked like immediately after creation.  It was formless and empty (tohu wa bohu). It was dark.  It was also wet.  There was water everywhere and no dry land.  Earth began as one big ocean.

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”  That is interesting.  The surface of the earth was covered with water from the beginning, according to Genesis.  The second verse mentions the deep.  It mentions the waters.  Apparently the earth did not begin as a hot molten ball of lava.  Right after the earth was created, the planet was wet, not hot.

Now there is a view that used to be very popular.  It is called the Gap Theory.  This theory says that there is a gap of millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.  That explains how we ended up with an old earth.  It explains what happened to all the dinosaurs.  This theory translates Genesis 1:2 “Now the earth BECAME (not was) formless and empty.”

It was popularized in the 19th century by the Scottish scholar Thomas Chalmers, who actually lived before Darwin.  It later found acceptance in the Scofield Reference Bible.  Many very famous Bible teachers taught this view.  It is a rather strange interpretation.  With the Gap Theory, you can believe in an old earth and literal twenty-four hour days of creation.  Is the Gap Theory correct?

There are many problems with the Gap Theory.[1] The main problem is that it reads all kinds of things into the text that are not there.  After God created the world in Genesis 1:1, they believe that that Satan fell, the earth became ruined, all of these pre-Adamic men died, the dinosaurs died and millions of years took place before we get to Genesis 1:2.

None of those things are mentioned in the text.  You have to read them all into it.  One of the rules of Bible interpretation is that if the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense.

The simplest way to read this is that Genesis 1:1 mentions the first act of creation (creation of the heavens and the earth) and Genesis 1:2 explains what the earth looked like immediately after creation.  It doesn’t look anything like the earth we are familiar with.  Immediately after creation, the earth was completely dark.  There was no light.  It was wet.  The whole planet was covered in water.  There was no land.  It was not suitable for life.

The first thing God did was solved the problem of darkness.  He said, “Let there be light”.  The first thing you do when you are going to work in a dark room is to turn the lights on.  That is what God did, although He did not turn them on so He could see.  God can see in the dark.  Psalm 139:12 says that to God darkness is as light.

He created light first because light is vital to life.  Plants need life to survive.  You need light to have photosynthesis.  Jesus was the Creator.  He is the Light of the and one of the first things He created was light.  Light emanates from God.  It is part of his nature.  The Bible says that God is light.  He is the one who creates natural light and the one who creates spiritual light.  On the first day, God created time, space, matter (the heavens and the earth) and light.

Day Two (1:6-8)

On day one, the earth was just a round ball of water.  On the second day, He separates water from water and creates a space in between. God took some of the water that covered the earth and put them up in the sky and made clouds.[2]  God created the basic hydrological cycle on this day, although it was a little different in the beginning because there was no rain.

God created the earth’s hydrosphere and atmosphere on the second day.  The atmosphere does not seem like anything to us.  It has no color, smell or taste but it is actually an ocean of gas.  The two main gases in our atmosphere are oxygen and nitrogen. That was important because God was going to create humans with lungs and they need oxygen to breathe.

Day Three (1:9-13)

On the third day, God created two things.  He created dry land for the first time.  He also created plants.  God first created dry land and then He creates plants which all of the sudden came up out of that dry land.  God said, “Let there be vegetation” and all of the sudden the earth was covered with all kinds of green things.  It instantly became covered with grass, plants, trees, shrubs, rainforests and jungles.

Genesis only mentions two kinds of vegetation – seed bearing plants and trees.  Botanists estimate that there are about 400,000 different kinds of plants on earth.

What God made on the second day may not seem too exciting but it was very important because that was what animals and man ate at first.  It was their food source.  God made food before he made animals and man.  Plants give man both food and oxygen. Plants create oxygen through photosynthesis.

Let’s review what God did in the first three days of creation.  During this time, God created several things: He created time, space, matter, planet Earth, outer space, dry land, fertile soil, air, oxygen atmosphere, water, food, lush vegetation and light.  That was all created on the first three days.

Day Four (1:14-19)

The second three days solved the second problem of the earth being empty.  God could not fill the earth until He first formed it.  He formed it and now He is going to fill it.

On the fourth day, God fills an empty universe.  He created the sun, moon and stars.  The sun replaced the temporary light He made for the first three days of creation.  God created two great lights – the sun and the moon. They are lights in two different ways.  The sun emits light and the moon just reflects light.  The moon just reflects the light of the sun.  If you take the sun away, the moon would be pitch black but they are both lights (one for the day and one for the night).

Why did he create them?  Genesis 1:14 gives us three reasons for creating the sun, moon and stars.  He created them to give light on the earth during the day and at night.  He also created them to mark time.  They serve as a cosmic clock.  They tell us when a day is and when a year is.  We would not know how old we are without the sun or when to go to work. There are several reasons the sun, moon and stars were NOT created.  They were not created for habitation.  He did not create these heavenly objects, so we could live on them.

He also did not create them for astrology.  Many Christians read their horoscopes.  Astrology is a completely pagan practice.  It began in ancient Babylon.  Babylon is credited with the birth of astrology.  Never confuse with astronomy with astrology.  One is a superstition and one is a science.

Astrology says that the planets determine our destiny.  The planets predict the future and can tell you about yourself.  The planets do not predict the future.  Only God can do that.  They have no influence on your character.  Astrology is a form of divination and the Bible prohibits divination (I Samuel 15:23; II Kings 17:17; 21:6; II Chronicles 33:6)

Some have argued that the sun was not created on the fourth day.  It was created on the first day but only made visible until the fourth day (so Ross, Archer) but that will not work because all of the other days involved creating things, not revealing things.  God says on the fourth day “Let there be” which is used throughout the chapter for creating things, not revealing things (1:3, 6, 11, 20, 24)

Day Five (1:20-23)

On the fifth day, God created two things: birds and fish.  He created animals of the water and the air. And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” (1:21) God did not create two fish in the water which reproduced.  There are 10,000 species of birds.

Marine life all at once exploded in the waters and teemed with fish all over the oceans.  It went from nothing in the waters to the waters filled with many different kinds of fish.  We have only explored five percent of the ocean.  There are over 17,000 different species of life in the ocean where no light penetrates the ocean waves.  Genesis mentions “giant sea monsters”.  Did you know that there are giant squids in the oceans that are two stories tall? They were never observed on camera until 2004.

Day Six (1:24-31)

On the sixth day, God created two things: land animals and man.  The sixth day is the longest day of creation.  More time is devoted to the sixth day than to any other.  Next week, we will look in more detail at the creation of man.


[1] It is refuted by Exodus 20:11 and 31:17 which says “in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.”  It does NOT say that God created the world in one day but renovated it in six.  It is refuted by the words “very good” at the end of creation (1:31). The Gap Theory accepts all kinds of evil, death and disease in the world prior to this.  The theory is based in part on Isaiah 45:18.  That verse is not talking about the initial state of creation but the purpose of creation.  It does not deny that the earth was once empty (tohu) but states that God created the earth to be inhabited.  It is possible to translate hayah in Genesis 1:2 “became” but the word normally means “was”.

[2] Some believe that the earth’s atmosphere was covered with water in the form of a vapor canopy which collapsed and fell to the earth, causing a worldwide flood, but Psalm 148:4 says, “Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.”  According to this passage, the waters above the sky long after the Flood took place.

Creation of the World

In the last two weeks, we did a background to the book of Genesis and saw four things about the book.  Moses is the author of the book.  The theme of the book is beginnings or origins.

We saw that Genesis is a book of history and that the book is divided into two parts (primitive history and patriarchal history). We are done with the introduction and today we begin to study Genesis itself but we will not get too far.  We are only going to look at one verse, the first verse of Genesis.

It is a short verse.  It only has ten words in English. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  In fact, it has only seven words in Hebrew: Bereshith bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz.

It is short.  It uses simple, non-technical language.  A child can understand it.  It is powerful.  There is a lot in these ten words.  Genesis 1:1 is one of the most important verses in the entire Bible.  What it says is also very radical.  It was radical in Moses’ day and is radical even today.  What is so radical about the words: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth?”

Why Genesis 1:1 is Radical

1) It says that the world had a BEGINNING.

Many Greek philosophers in the ancient world said that the world was eternal.  That is what Aristotle believed.  He was one of the greatest philosophers of all time.  Genesis 1:1 says that the universe had a definite beginning.

2) It says that the world was created BY GOD.

Not everyone accepts that idea.  Most evolutionists think that it just happened by chance spontaneously from non-living chemicals.  They believe that nothing times nothing equals everything. Genesis says that creation was not accidental but intentional.  It is not a product of random chance but intelligent design by a Creator.

3) It says the world was created OUT OF NOTHING.

That is a hard concept for some to grasp.  How can something be created out of nothing?  The Roman Epicurean philosopher Lucretius said around 50 B.C., “Nothing can ever be created by divine power out of nothing.”[1]Most of the ancients believed that creation was done with preexisting materials (like a lump of clay).  That is what Plato believed. The biblical worldview is different.

Four Parts of the Verse 

The structure of this verse is very easy to understand.  We are going to pretend for the moment that we are all back in school in English class.  This verse has four parts. I am going to ask you four questions about this verse.

What is the subject of the sentence?  The subject of the sentence tells us who is doing the action. It is God.  It tells us where creation came from.

What is the verb in the sentence?  The verb tells us what God did.  What did God do?  He created something.

What is the direct object in the sentence?  The object of the sentence tells us what he created.  What did He create?  The heavens and the earth.

What is the adverb in the sentence?  The adverb tells us when He did this. When did He create the heavens and the earth?  In the beginning.  The first verse of the Bible tells us these four things.  Let’s look at each of the key terms in this verse.

IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.  What do we learn from those three words “in the beginning”?  We learn that the universe had a beginning.  It had a starting point in time.  There was a time when it did not exist.  That tells us that matter is NOT eternal.  The universe may be old but it is not eternal.  The Bible teaches that it had a beginning and it will have an end.[2]

Modern cosmologists agree with Genesis on this point.  Modern science believes that there was a beginning, not only for the earth, but for the entire universe.  The Big Bang Theory teaches that it had a beginning in some cosmic explosion.  They may place that beginning at fifteen billion years ago but they agree that it had a beginning.

The question everyone wants to know is this: When was the beginning?  How old is the earth?  Some Bibles have the date of creation in their margins but the fact is that Genesis doesn’t tell us when this took place.  It tells us that the earth had a definite beginning in time but does not tell us when that time was. Genesis gives us the FACT of creation but does not give us the DATE of creation. Genesis is silent on that question.  It doesn’t say that the earth is old and it doesn’t say that the earth is young and that is very significant.

God could have given us the answer to that question but He didn’t.  What is the lesson here?  There are some things that are revealed and some things that are not revealed.   Many focus on what God has not revealed.  They spend all of their time giving arguments for an old earth or a young earth.  If it was important, the Bible would tell us how old the earth is.  It doesn’t.

GOD 

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.  The universe was created out of nothing but it was not created by nothing.  It was created by God. Who is this God?  The NT tells us.  It was Jesus. John 1:3 says, “Through Him ALL THINGS were made, without him NOTHING was made that has been made” (NIV).  He did not just create some things, He created ALL things.

In fact, Paul tells us that Jesus not only created things we can see, He created things we can’t see.  He created the visible and invisible things, like angels. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible” (NIV).  That goes beyond what Genesis tells us.

Think about what this means.  The one who died on the cross and cried out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” was the same one who created the world.  Let’s think about one more thing.

Acts 17:30-31 says, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (NIV)

If we put all of that together, what do we see?  The one who created the world is the same one who redeemed the world and He is the same one who will one day judge the world.  Our Creator is our Redeemer and will be out Judge.

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.  What do we know about this God from creation?  If we just read the first few chapters of Genesis, what would we know about God?  Genesis 1 is not just a revelation of creation; it is a revelation of the Creator.

What Creation Says about God

1) God is a person

How do we know that from Genesis 1?  Just look at the verbs used here.  God CREATED (1:1). God SAID (1:3). God SAW (1:4). God CALLED (1:5).  God SEPARATED (1:7). God MADE (1:16). God SET (1:17). God BLESSED (1:22).  Behind creation is a real person, not just some impersonal force.

He has volition.  He has a will.  He talks, acts, works.  He is personally involved in the creation of man, forming him from the dust of the ground.  After he created Adam, He talked to him.  He had a relationship with him in the garden.  He is a person.

2) God is eternal

“In the beginning God.”  The heavens are not in the beginning.  God is in the beginning. God existed before creation existed.  He existed before the earth existed.

He existed before man existed.  He existed before matter, space and time existed.  He is not just a person, He is an eternal person.  Psalm 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

3) God is omnipotent

You can tell that by looking at the enormous size of the universe.  God created a universe that is huge.  It took a big God to create the universe.  Creation is an awesome display of power.

He created the earth with a diameter of 8000 miles and a total surface is an area that measuring 197,000,000 square miles, hangs it on nothing, as Job 26:7 says, as it travels through space at 66,000 miles per hour.

Genesis 1:16 says, “God made two great lights…He also made the stars.”  He did not just make a few stars.  There are one hundred billion stars just in our galaxy alone and billions of other galaxies in the universe.

Albert Einstein estimated that there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the world’s beaches.  The amazing thing is that God says that He knows each one of those stars BY NAME (Psalm 147:4).  That is amazing.  That is like saying He knows each grain of sand on the ocean individually.

Creation is an incredible display of power.  Romans 1:20 says “for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his ETERNAL POWER and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (NIV) Jeremiah 27:5 says, “With my GREAT POWER and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.” (NIV)

Not only did God create a universe that is so big that it is mind-boggling but He did it by Himself.  He did not ask anyone for help on how to create the world.  He did it on His own and He made everything effortlessly OUT OF NOTHING.

God didn’t have to lift a finger to create the universe.  He spoke it all into existence.  He did this just with his words and with nothing else.  He didn’t need any materials.  He just said a few words.  That shows infinite power.  Frank Turek calls Genesis 1:1 “the greatest miracle in the Bible.”

What is the application?  Nothing is too hard to God to do.  If God can do that, he can do anything  “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17).

“This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:2-3)

4) God is omniscient

Creation does not just show power, it shows intelligence.  Jeremiah 10:12 says, “God made the earth by his power; he founded the world BY HIS WISDOM and stretched out the heavens BY HIS UNDERSTANDING.”

Proverbs 3:19 says, “BY WISDOM the Lord laid the earth’s foundations; BY UNDERSTANDING he set the heavens in place.”  Creation is not the result of random chance but intelligent design.  The planet was designed by an intelligent Creator.

5) God is artistic

The heavens not only proclaim the incredible power of God, they proclaim the glory of God.  Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”  All you have to do is to look at creation to see the fantastic beauty in creation to know that God is an artist.  He is a master artist.  He created everyone so different. God loves variety.

There is incredible variety to creation.   Everyone’s DNA is different.  Every snowflake is different.  Every flower is different.  Every raindrop is different.  Every sunrise is different.  God paints a different picture each morning.  He gives us a different finger painting in the sky to look at every morning.

6) God is sovereign

He rules the world.  He is in control of it.  He chose to create it.  He didn’t have to create it.  The world exists because He wiled it.  Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and  honor and power, for you created all things, and BY YOUR WILL they were created and have their being.”  God made man.  Man did not make God.

7) God is good

Where do we see this in Genesis 1?  Six times in this chapter, we see the words “IT WAS GOOD” (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25).  At the end of the six days, God says “IT WAS VERY GOOD” (1:31).  When God created the world, everything was perfect.  There was no sin, no death.  At the end of every day of creation, we are told that it was good. When we make things, they are not perfect.  They have all kinds of flaws, mistakes and errors.  God did it right the first time.

8) God is compassionate

God created an earth for Adam that had oxygen and food.  He created an earth that had dry land.  He didn’t create Adam one day one when the earth was full of water and there was no dry land and expect him to treat water or swim for five days.

Even if Adam could have done that, he could not have survived because there was no atmosphere on the first day.  He would not have been able to breathe.  He waited until there was land and air before creating Adam.  Adam was not put on the earth until the sixth day when the earth was ready for him.

He created a perfect world for Adam and Eve to live in.  God created a wife for Adam because he was lonely. He was compassionate even after Adam and Eve sinned.  He gave them some clothes to wear, so they weren’t naked. He made it from the skin of an animal.

9) God is orderly

There is order to the universe.  God created the earth orderly with natural laws (laws of gravitation, laws of motion, laws of genetics, laws of chemistry).  If you throw a ball up into the air it comes down every time.  What goes up must come down.  Every day, the Sun rises and sets.  The creation week was very orderly.   It didn’t begin that way.  It started off with chaos.  In six days, God brought order out of chaos. What is the application?

God likes order, not disorder.  The Bible says that God is a God of order (I Corinthians 14:33). That is why he created government.  That is why police officers are called “God’s servants” in the Bible, so that cities that are lawless and full of disorder will have order.  He created order in the universe.  He wants order in the local church and order in society.

Any time we do that, we are like God.  If you garden and go from weeds to flowers, you are bringing order out of chaos.  If we take a messy room that is all chaotic and clean it up and bring order to it, we are acting like God.

10) God is patient

God created the world in six days.  He could have done it in one day but He didn’t.  God did not need six days to create the world.  He could have created the world instantaneously but He did not do it.  He created the world gradually over a whole week.  What God did on the first day was not the final form of creation.  In fact, when He began it was formless and empty.  It had no distinct shape or inhabitants.  Creation was in stages.  It was a process.

11) God is moral

God created Adam and Eve and gave them some rules to follow.  He writes the Bible and gives it to the world.  He says that there are certain things that are right and certain things that are wrong.  He could have been like a permissive parent and said, “You can do what you want.” Instead, He gave them some rules.  He told Adam “this is what you are to do” and “this is what you are not to do”.

12) God is righteous

After Adam and Eve sinned, He judged them.  He kicked them out of the garden.  He is holy.  God not only created the world, He drowned the world in a Flood of water and burned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire.  If you just see God as love and not as holy, you have the wrong view of God.

CREATED

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.  Create is the second word of the Bible.  God is the one who creates[3].  We cannot create anything.  We use the term “create” for things we do.  For us, it just means to make something.  We can create a website or a great work of art.  We write books.  Architects create designs for houses but all of those things were done with existing materials.  It takes paint and a brush to “create” a painting.

The Bible only uses this word for God. Only God can create things.  In the Bible, the subject is always God.  That is interesting because the NT says that Jesus created the world.  That shows that He must be God.

What does the word create mean?  Does it always mean to make something out of nothing?  No. The Hebrew word for “create” (bara) does NOT always means to produce out of nothing.

It is used in many different ways. It does not always mean “to make something out of nothing,” even in Genesis. Adam and Eve were made from a pile of dirt and from a spare rib (2:7, 21-22). The word is used of God creating the nation of Israel (Isaiah 43:15).

God did not create Israel out of nothing but that is what the word “create” has to mean in Genesis 1:1.  We know that from Hebrews 11:3:  “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen WAS NOT MADE OF THINGS THAT ARE VISIBLE.” (ESV)

Common Misconception

Many believe that the Bible says WHO created the world but does not say HOW He created the world.  That is a very common view.  Is this true?  No. Genesis tells us how creation took place as well.  It gives us the PROCESS of creation, as well as the FACT of creation.  Genesis describes creation by speech. God used his WORDS to create things.  He SPOKE the universe into existence.

“AND GOD SAID, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (1:3 NIV)

“AND GOD SAID, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water’… And it was so” (1:6, 7 NIV)

 AND GOD SAID, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so.” (1:9 NIV)

He created the world by speech.  God did not have to speak the universe into existence.  He could have just thought or willed the universe into existence but He chose to speak it into existence.  Why doesn’t it just say that God made light?  It says that God supernaturally spoke light into existence.

The phrase that occurs over and over again in the chapter is the words “and God said.”  It is found eight times in six days (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). That was God’s method of creation.  Many other verses in the Bible say the same thing.

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by THE BREATH OF HIS MOUTH (Psalm 33:6 NIV)

“Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for AT HIS COMMAND they were created” (Psalm 148:2-5)

“By faith we understand that the universe was created BY THE WORD OF GOD, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3 ESV)

That verse is interesting because in Greek there are two different Greek words for “word”.  In Greek, there is a way to say “written word” (λογος) and there is a way to say “spoken word” (ρημα).  Hebrews 11:3 in Greek, says, “by faith we understand that the universe was created by the spoken Word of God.”  Creation by speech shows the incredible power of God’s Word.

When we speak, nothing happens.  I can be in a dark room and say “Let there be light” all day and nothing will happen.  I can say, “Let there be a million dollars in my wallet” but that will not make me rich.  When God speaks, things happen and they happen immediately.

That shows us the incredible POWER of God’s Word.  God’s Word has power.  Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s Word goes from His mouth and does not return void.  It does not return empty but accomplishes what He wants it to accomplish.

“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ AND THERE WAS LIGHT.”  The text does not say, “Let there be light and eventually after billions of years light finally appeared”.  It came immediately.  Adam and Eve did not have to wait a million years for the light to reach earth. God does not have to wait for light to travel.  He can make it appear instantly, just as He made Adam appear instantly as an adult without having to grow up.

It did not take a million years for the light to obey God’s command.  God spoke.  It happened immediately.  There was light.  It was not sunlight.  It was non-solar light.  The sun was not created until the fourth day.  God does not need the sun to make light. He can make light without the sun and He made it immediately.  “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ AND THERE WAS LIGHT.”

He just spoke the word and His will was accomplished.  We see the same principle in the NT.  There are several beautiful illustrations of this principle from the life of Jesus.  The first example took place when Jesus stilled the storm.

Jesus fell asleep on the boat with his disciples.  He must have been really tired and He must have been a sound sleeper because there was a big storm taking place and the boat was shaking but it did not wake him up.  The disciples were afraid.  They woke Jesus up and what did He do?

He rebuked the wind.  Jesus rebuked the forces of nature like we would rebuke a person.  He spoke to them.  He commanded the winds and waves to be quiet and be still.  Instantly, they stopped (Mark 4:39).  The universe obeyed the Word of God, just like the wind obeyed Jesus’ word.  Jesus was the one who created the world in the first place.  All things were created through Him (Colossians 1:16).

Another example of this is the healing of the Centurion’s servant.  The Centurion had a sick servant and He went and told Jesus.  Jesus offered to come and heal him but he refused.  He told Jesus just to say the word and his servant would be healed (Matthew 8:8).  That’s exactly what Jesus did.  Jesus said the word and his servant was healed instantly.  She was healed THAT HOUR, not a month later (Matthew 8:13).  The same thing happened when Jesus turned water into wine.  It happened instantly.

THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 mentions time (beginning), space (heavens) and matter (earth). Matter is made of solid, liquid, gas.  Space has length, width, height.  Time has past, present and future.

Genesis 1:1 is so powerful that this one verse without apology contradicts nine different human philosophies. I do not know any other verse in the Bible that does this.  Ten philosophies are refuted by these seven simple words.  What are the philosophies?

Biblical Worldview of Genesis 1:1

1) It contradicts ATHEISM

Atheism says, “There is no God.  Genesis says, “In the beginning, God”.

2) It contradicts MATERIALISM

Materialism teaches that there is no substance but matter.  The only substance which exists is material.  Materialists do not believe in anything that is immaterial.  They deny the existence of the soul and the afterlife.  As the astronomer Carl Sagon once said, “The universe is all that is or ever was or will be”[4].  Genesis says, “In the beginning, God.”  God is an immaterial spirit.  This is a problem for some.  How can an immaterial being create something material?

Normal Geisler answers this objection.  He says that it is no more difficult to believe that mind produced matter than it is to believe that matter produced mind.  It is no more difficult to believe that an immaterial being could manifest Himself in material things than it is to believe that our minds can reveal themselves in literature or art[5].  Our physical body has all kinds of immaterial emotions (love, hatred)

3) It contradicts NATURALISM

Naturalists try to explain the origin of the world based on natural causes alone.  They teach that the universe can be explained in purely in terms of natural laws and processes.  This verse says that the universe does not have a natural cause.  It has a supernatural cause.  “In the beginning, God CREATED the heavens and the earth”.  The material world was created supernaturally.  It took a stupendous miracle.

4) It contradicts POLYTHEISM

Polytheism says that there are many gods.  Polytheism was widespread in the ancient world, especially in ancient Egypt where the Jews lived for four hundred years.  The ancient Egyptians worshipped the planets.  They worshipped nature.  They worshipped animals.  They worshipped their leaders (Pharaoh).  Pagan myths about creations involve many gods and the gods are usually at war with each other before creation.  Genesis says that one God created the world[6].  “In the beginning GOD (not the gods) created the earth”

5) It contradicts PANTHEISM

What is pantheism?  Pantheism is part of Hinduism and the New Age Movement.  Pantheism is the opposite of atheism.  Atheism says that there is no God.  Pantheism says that everything is God. A tree is God.  A rock is God.  The flowers are God.  He is not only everywhere present.  He is IN everything. Pantheism confuses the creature with the Creator.  If that is true, every time you cut down a tree, you are killing God.  Every time you have dinner, you are killing God.

Genesis 1:1 refutes pantheism.  God is distinct from the world.  He is not part of creation.  He is separate from it.  God is separate from nature.  God created the heavens and the earth.  He is not the heavens and the earth.  The sun, moon and stars are not God. They were created by God. He is the God OF creation, not the god IN creation.

In fact, Genesis 1:2 says, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” (NLT)  Immediately after creation, the Spirit is not in the waters but is hovering over the surface of the waters.  Even though it was dark and wet, the Holy Spirit was there.

6) It contradicts GNOSTICISM

What is Gnosticism?  Gnosticism was a heresy in the early church that taught that matter is evil and the body was evil.  They believed that people should reject the material world and embrace the spiritual world.  The Bible teaches,“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  Matter cannot be evil because God created it.  The material creation was good.  It came from God and everything God created was not only good, it was “very good”.

7) It contradicts DEISM.

What are deists?  Deists believe in God. They believe that God created the world and the world is controlled by immutable laws but they also believe that God is no longer involved with the world.  He doesn’t intervene in the world (no miracles).  He is not communicating with anyone today (no Bible, no answered prayer). They live their life relying on reason, rather than revelation.

Genesis refutes that notion.   What do you notice right away?  God is involved in the world He created.  He is active in the world through his Spirit,   In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2).  Jesus did not create the world and walk away.  He is still involved in sustaining the world.  He keeps it running (Colossians 1:17).

8) It contradicts HUMANISM

Humanism is a philosophy that says that man is the ultimate reality.  It is a world view that rejects God and the supernatural.  The Greek philosopher Protagoras (5th century BC) said, “man is the measure of all things.”  Man is the standard of good and evil.  Man, rather than God, is the ultimate source of value.  Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth”.

God is the ultimate source of authority.  He created the world.  He owns it.  He makes the rules.  If there is no God, there is no right or wrong.  There is no absolute standard.  You cannot say murder or rape is wrong.  You can’t say that the holocaust is wrong.  If there is a God, there is an absolute standard of morality and we are accountable to Him.

9) It contradicts EVOLUTION

“In the beginning, God CREATED the heavens and the earth.”  We were created.  We didn’t evolve.  There is a big difference. One is a completely natural process and the other is a supernatural process.  One is a process that takes billions of years.  The other is a process that God did in six days.  One involves random chance.  It says that we got here by a cosmic accident.  The other involves design.  We will look at this more in two weeks.

10) It contradicts NIHILISM

Nihilism is a form of existentialism.  It says that there is no meaning or purpose to life.  We are nothing more than animals.  Nietzsche and Kierkegaard were nihilists.  According to Genesis 1:1, we are not here by chance.  We are created by God with a purpose and one day we will all be accountable to our Creator.


[1] Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (Book I).

[2] Psalm 102:25-26; II Peter 3:10; Revelation 20:11; 21:1.

[3] The word occurs about fifty times in the Old Testament.  It is used five times in Genesis 1 (1:1, 21, 27 [3])and once in Genesis 2 (2:4).  It is used of God creating the heavens and earth, the sea creatures, birds and Adam and Eve.

[4] Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Random House, 1980), p. 4

[5] Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, II, 443-444.

[6] The word for God in Hebrew (elohim) is plural but the noun “created” is singular, which shows that we are dealing with one God.

Contemporary Questions

Last week, we gave an introduction to the Book of Genesis.  We saw that the book was written by Moses.  It has two parts and is a book of beginnings.  Today, we come to Genesis 1.  I want to read this chapter together and then raise some very important questions for us to discuss before we even look at the first verse.  How should we interpret Genesis 1?  There are many different ways to interpret the chapter.

There are many different ways to read the chapter. Some read it at face value.  They take it as literal.  The Bible says it.  That settles it.  Liberals see the whole chapter as myth.  It is no different from the other creation myths in the Ancient Near East.  Others see Genesis, not as history or myth but as poetry.

It is not literal but symbolic.  It is a poem about creation.  It is not teaching science, so it has no bearing on the creation/evolution debate.  Who is right?  How should we read this chapter? We need to look at some of these questions before we interpret the chapter. 

Is Genesis 1 Poetry?

Francis Collins is one of the most famous scientists in the world.  He used to be the head of the Human Genome Project.  He is now the Director of the National Institutes of Health.  He is a Christian.  He is also an evolutionist.  In 2006 he wrote a book called The Language of God. In that book, he explains how he interprets Genesis.  He says that it is just poetry and allegory.[1] He says, “unquestionably the language is poetic”[2]

Many agree with Collins.  This has become very popular in some circles, even among some evangelicals.  You can find many websites that say that Genesis 1 is a poem about how God created the earth.  Why do many believe the chapter is just poetry?

Reasons for the Poetic Interpretation

1) It has a lot of repetition and many poems have repetition (Psalm 136).

Genesis 1 says “God created” four times (1:1, 21, 27), “And God said” eight times (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26), “God saw” seven times (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31), “and there was evening and there was morning” six times (1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31), “and it was so” five times (1:9, 11, 15, 24, 30) and other terms that are repeated in the chapter.

2) It has some parallelism which is a characteristic of Hebrew poetry,

It is a little different from regular Hebrew poetry (parallelism of juxtaposed couplets) but there is some clear parallelism in the chapter. The creation week is done in six days and the six days are divided into two parts – the first three days (days of forming) and the last three days (days of filling). They are symmetrical. They correspond with one another.[3]

3) Genesis uses some figurative language.

Personification is a literary device that gives human qualities to non-living objects.  There is personification in Genesis 1:16.  It describes the sun and moon as “rulers”.  It describes them as people.  The sun rules over the day and the moon rules over the night (1:16).  The sun and moon do not literally rule over us and tell us what to do.

Genesis also has some exaggeration.  It says that God rested on the seventh day from all the work of creation that He had done (2:2-3).  That is hyperbole.  God did not get tired and have to rest from a hard week of work.  He didn’t have to rest because He was exhausted.  The Bible says that God never gets tired or weary (Isaiah 40:28).

When the serpent is cursed after the Fall, we are told: “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14).  That is not literal.  Snakes do not eat dust.  That is not the diet of serpents.  Snakes eat animals.  This is an idiom.  It is a picture of humiliation.

There are many reasons why the entire chapter is not a poem.  Just because you have some literary structure does not mean that you have a poem.  Just because you have some figurative language does not mean that you have a poem.  There are three reasons why Genesis 1 is not a poem.

Arguments Against the Poetry Interpretation

1)  Genesis 1 does not read like a poem.

Genesis 1 may have some figurative language but it has very little.  It is written as historical narrative[4].  It is written as prose. The Bible has a creation poem.  It is Psalm 104.  It is a nature poem.  There is no doubt that it is a poem.  Genesis 1 does not read anything like Psalm 104[5].  Genesis 1 describes events in clear sequential order.  Psalm 104 is full of figurative language. Psalm 104:2-5 NLT reads:

The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment (simile)
He stretches out the heavens like a tent (simile)
He lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters (imagery)
He makes the clouds his chariot (figure of speech)
He makes winds his messengers (personification)
He rides on the wings of the wind (personification)
Flames of fire are his servants (metaphor)
He set the earth on its foundations (imagery)
It can never be moved (hyperbole)

2) The NT accepts the Book of Genesis as history, not poetry.

As we saw last week, Jesus cites the story of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-6), Cain and Abel (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:50-51), Noah (Matthew 24:37), The Flood (Matthew 24:38-39), Abraham (John 8:39-40), Lot (Luke 17:28) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire (Luke 17:29-32) all as literal history.

Jesus did not read these accounts as poetry or allegory but as real history. He did not take these accounts as symbolic but as literal. Was the Son of God mistaken? No. He was an eye-witness to each one of these events.

3) The structure of the book refutes that interpretation.

Genesis is a book of history. It is not a book of poems. It is divided into two parts, as we saw last week – the first eleven chapters of the book and the last thirty-nine chapters of the book. No one has ever questioned whether Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Joseph existed. They accept the second half as historical but not the first half but that will not work because of the structure of the book.

There is one phrase that runs through the whole book – “these are the generations of” or “this is the history of” (toledoth). It says these are “the generations of Isaac”, “these are the generations of Ishmael,” “these are the generations of Jacob.” That is the way the whole book is organized. These are like chapter divisions.

The toledoth formula occurs about ten times. Half of the time it occurs in the first half of the book and the other half occur in the second half of the book. There is no way that you can take the first part of the book as fiction and the second part of the book as history.[6] You cannot say that Abraham was a literal person but some of his ancestors (Adam, Noah) were mythological.

Is Genesis 1 Mythology?

Every society and culture has a story about how the world began.  There were all kinds of other creation myths in the Ancient Near East.  Egypt had about six different creation myths. The ancient Hebrews must have been familiar with these.  They lived in Egypt for four hundred years.

Perhaps the longest and famous creation myth from the Ancient Near East was called the Enuma Elish.  It was Babylon’s creation myth.  It was very popular.  It was written three hundred years BEFORE Genesis.  It was discovered in 1850 by a British archaeologist named Austin Henry Layard who was like Indian Jones, traveling around the Middle East on horseback.  He discovered it in Ninevah which is in Iraq (modern-day city of Mosul, one of the oldest cities in the world).

The Babylonian creation myth is called the Enuma Elish.  It is called that because those are the first two words of the story.  It took twenty-five years before anyone could figure out how to translate it into English.  It was written in Akkhadian on seven cuneiform tablets.  One man who worked at the British Museum in the 1850s spent his lunch hour studying these cuneiform tablets and eventually cracked the coded.

Liberal scholars say that the Genesis 1 just borrowed these pagan Ancient Near Eastern creation myths.  That is what students are taught in secular universities.  I was a history major in college.  That was what I was taught when I took history classes from Ohio University in the 1980s.

There are some similarities you can see on a superficial level (darkness, primordial sea, separation of sky and earth, people made out of clay) but these creation myths in the Ancient Near East had several characteristicsLet’s look at some of these characteristics and then compare them to Genesis.

Characteristics of Pagan Creation Myths

1. Pagan creation myths contain many gods. They are polytheistic.

2. Pagan creation myths contain gods which are sexual beings. They produce other gods.

3. Pagan creation myths contain gods which are not eternal. These gods are created beings.  They had parents.

4. Pagan creation myths contain gods which are not all powerful. They are always in conflict with other gods and they can die.

5. Pagan creation myths contain gods which are not even good.

In the Sumerian Creation Myth the gods have a large drunken banquet in heaven.  In the Babylonian Creation Myth, the god Apsu wants to kill his own children because they make too much noise when he is sleeping. The gods in the creation myths are glorified humans.  They are male and female.  They need companionship, food and sleep.  Man was created in the Babylonian Creation story to help the gods get some work done because they have too much to do.

6. Pagan creation myths begin with some kind of violence.

The gods are always fighting each other.  In the Babylonian Creation Myth, the god Marduck shoots the godess Tiamat in the stomach with an arrow, kills her (IV.101-104), chops her body up into two parts (IV.137) and uses her dead carcass to create the world. The upper part becomes the sky (IV.138) and the lower part of her became the earth (V.62).  From her eyes flow the Tigris and Euphrates River (V.55).

7. Pagan creation myths describe nature created as gods.

They describe nature as gods.  The ancient world worshiped the sun and the moon.  Ancient Egypt was full of sun worship.  They worshiped Ra.  Ra was the Egyptian sun god.  They also worshiped the moon.

Genesis and the Enuma Elish

There is really no comparison between the two.  Genesis describes one God who created the world.  That God is sovereign.  He eternal.  No one created Him.  He is a non-sexual being.  He does not reproduce like all of the pagan gods.  He is a good God.  He is all-powerful.  He rests on the seventh day but not because he is tired.

He has no rivals.  He does not have to fight any cosmic monsters when He created the world.  There is no battle or contest.  He does not express His will through violence.  He just speaks a word and it is created without any effort at all.  His word is supreme.

The things He creates are not to be objects of worship. There are many examples of this in Genesis.  Genesis calls the sun and moon lights in the sky (1:14-16).  They are lights in two different ways.  The sun emits light and the moon just reflects light.  The moon just reflects the light of the sun.  If you take the sun away, the moon would be pitch black but they are both lights (one for the day and one for the night).  We should be thankful for them but not worship them.  They are called “lights,” not gods.

Genesis mentions God creating a dark deep ocean right after the earth was formed (Genesis 1:2).  The Enuma Elish also mentions a dark deep ocean at the time of creation but that ocean is a god named Tiamat, the primordial goddess of the ocean.  In Genesis, it is just water.

Genesis 1:21 says that God created “great sea monsters” (NASB) or “great sea creatures” (ESV) but even those are not evil beings that God has to fight.  They are just his creatures.

In Genesis, God creates man and then tells him what to eat.  He gives him food to eat (1:29-30).  It is the exact opposite of the Babylonian creation myths in which man was created to give food for the gods.  In the pagan creation myths, the gods are created in the image of man.  In Genesis, man is created in the image of God.

As we saw last week, Genesis is the opposite of myth.  It is anti-myth.  It is a myth buster.  Genesis is actually a polemic against Ancient Near Eastern creation myths.

It had an apologetic purpose. It was written to correct false ideas about how the world began and to refute the idea that the world was made by many gods and that the created elements were gods with independent powers.

Myths in Biblical Perspective

Many think that the Bible is a book full of myths.  It is actually anti-myth.  The word is used five times in the NT.  Myths existed in the ancient world.  The writers of Scripture were aware of them and told people to avoid them.  A clear distinction is made in Scripture between history and myth.  The Bible tells people to avoid myths. It preaches against myths.  It doesn’t endorse them, as we saw last week.

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths [μυθος] and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.” (I Timothy 1:3-4 NIV)

“Have nothing to do with godless myths [μυθος] and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” (I Timothy 4:7 NIV)

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths [μυθος].” (II Timothy 4:3-4 NIV)

One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths [μυθος] or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. (Titus 1:12-14 NIV)

 “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories [μυθος] when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (II Peter 1:16 NIV)

Does Science Contradict Genesis?

We now come to the area in which there is much debate.  Are science and the Bible compatible?  Is Genesis at odds with science?  Does the Bible contradict science?  The answer is that there is no contradiction between the Bible and science.  God has given two revelations.  He has given a revelation in nature and He has given a revelation in Scripture.  One is called general revelation and one has called special revelation.  There is no conflict between the two.

You can believe the Bible and be great scientist at the same time. You can be a scientist and a Christian at the same time.  Science is not an enemy to Christianity.  It is a complete lie that science has somehow disproved the Bible.  It hasn’t.  As Normal Geisler says, “There is no contradiction between the FACTS of Genesis and the FACTS of science.  There is a difference between some INTERPRETATIONS of Genesis and some THEORIES of science.”[7]

There are two very common errors people make when it comes to the Bible and science.  One error is common among Christians and one error is common among scientists.

First Error – Genesis 1 was Intended to Teach Science

This is the error that many Christians make.  In an effort to prove that there are no scientific errors in the Bible, which is perfectly valid, many have concluded that Genesis was intended to teach science.  It is not.  It is an abuse of the Bible to see it as a textbook on astronomy or biology.  It is wrong to use it as a textbook on geology or physics.  Historically, Christians have gotten themselves in trouble when they believed the Bible was intended to teach science.

Psalm 93:1 says, “The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that IT CANNOT BE MOVED.”

If you take that verse literally and scientifically, you would come up with the idea that the earth is stationary but this verse is not making a scientific statement but a statement from ordinary observation.  It was written form the language of appearance.  It does not appear to move to us.

From a scientific standpoint, the earth does move.  We even have things called earthquakes.  The earth is not stationary.  The Bible no more teaches that the earth moves than it teaches that we are stationary when it says “I shall not be moved”.  Psalm 16:8 says, “I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (RSV).  The problem is that many Christians mistakenly read Psalm 93:1 as teaching science.

Copernicus and Galileo actually believed that the earth is not stationary but is a moving planet.  It goes around the sun and they were told this contradicts Scripture.  Galileo was brought before the Inquisition, charged with heresy by the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages and threatened with torture unless he changed his mind.  They taught the idea that the earth is not only moving, it moves around the sun.  They taught the heliocentric model of the solar system, rather than the geocentric model.

The heliocentric theory seemed to go against the Bible.  The Bible says that the sun rises and sets.  Ecclesiastes 1:5 says, “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises” (NIV).  Malachi 1:11 says, “From the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name will be great among the nations” (NASB).  People who read that passage would wonder how the earth could go around the sun if the sun is rising and setting.

They also questioned this theory because of Joshua’s long day, one of the greatest miracles in the Bible.  Joshua 10:13 says, “So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”  It says the sun stood still for the day to be prolonged.  It does not say that the earth stood still.

Is Joshua 10:13 a scientific error in the Bible?  Perhaps no miracle in the Bible has been more ridiculed than this one.  Joshua 10:13 was written from the language of appearance.  It was not teaching science, although scientifically the Sun is not stationary.  It moves along with the earth.[8] The same is true of Genesis 1.  It is an inspired account of origins.  It is intended to teach history but it is not intended to teach science.  It is not intended to teach astronomy, geology, biology or physics.  We see this in Genesis 1:16.

Genesis 1:16, says, “Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. HE MADE THE STARS ALSO.”  Was it intended to be a scientific statement?  No.  The sun is a star, not a planet.  Genesis distinguishes the sun and moon from the stars.  Genesis says that God made the sun and moon and that He also made the stars.  To someone on earth, the sun looks like a planet.  It is actually a star.  Prior to the birth of modern astronomy, it was regarded as planets.

The Bible is written from the language of appearance.  It describes things as they appear to the senses, rather than as they are scientifically. We do the same thing today.  Every single day, meteorologists talk about the sun rising and setting.  That is what we see happening, even though from a scientific point of view, it is the movement of the earth as it rotates on its axis, not the sun that causes this.

Genesis and Scientific Language

1) Genesis does not use scientific language because it would not be understandable

That is why Genesis 1 does not read like a PhD thesis.  No one in the ancient world would have understood what it was saying if it was written in technical language with complex mathematical equations.

2) Genesis does not use it because science is always be changing

The science of today is different from the science of one hundred years ago. One hundred years ago, we did not even know about DNA contained genetic information.  It would never be a good thing if the Bible harmonized completely with science because the science of today will one day be out of date.

Second Error – Science Can Explain of the Origin of the Universe

There are limits to what science can do.  Science can describe how something works but not necessarily where it came from.  Science deals with natural laws and processes. It does not deal with the supernatural or miraculous.  There is no scientific explanation for God creating the universe OUT OF NOTHING. That goes beyond natural laws and processes.  You cannot explain a miracle scientifically or it would not be a miracle.

If there is a scientific explanation for something, it would not be a miracle. That is why there is no scientific explanation for the feeding of the 5000.  That is why the turning of water into wine cannot be explained scientifically.   The resurrection of Jesus from the tomb is also outside of the field of science.  Because of the nature of the case, Genesis 1 could not be scientific.

[1] Francis Collins, The Language of God, p. 206.

[2] Ibid., p. 83.

[3] Parallelism can also take place in historical narrative, as Noel Weeks points out.  Both Abraham and his son Isaac had barren wives (15:2; 16:1; 25:21), lied about their wives (20:2; 26:7), faced famine in the Promised Land (12:10; 26:1) and make a covenant with the Philistines (21:22–34; 26:26–33).

[4] This is demonstrated by the repeated use of the waw consecutive, which is an essential characteristic of narrative adding to the past narration an element of sequence, helps to identify it as so [Kaiser 2001, p. 80]. Appearing 55 times in the 34 verses in Genesis 1:1–2:3 the waw consecutive is consistent with the narrative material found in the remainder of Genesis [McCabe 2009, p. 217] (https://answersingenesis.org/reviews/books/review-of-seven-days-that-divide-the-world-john-lennox/).

[5] Another passage which describes creation poetically with figurative language is Job 38:8-11.

[6] Stephen W. Boyd uses statistics to demonstrate that Genesis 1 is not poetry based on the distribution of Hebrew finite verbs in his technical online article (See http://www.icr.org/i/pdf/technical/Statistical-Determination-of-Genre-in-Biblical-Hebrew.pdf)

[7] Norman L. Geisler, A Popular Survey of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977), p. 43 (emphasis mine).

[8] It is a complete myth that the Sun does not move.  Many were taught in school that only the earth moves. Actually everyting moves in the universe.  The earth moves around the Sun.  The Sun moves around the Milky Way Galaxy and our galaxy moves in the universe as well.

Introduction to Genesis

Welcome to a new study of the Book of Genesis.  I am very excited that you are a part of this class.  This is not only the start of a new class, it is a new kind of class in the church that I feel that God has called me to teach.  In many churches, there are a lot of great things going on.

Some churches have have anointed worship.  Some have phenomenal preaching.  The goal of this class is to do in-depth Bible teaching.  That is my passion. This class will be a little different from other classes you have had.  It will be different in a number of ways.

It will be different from the Sunday morning sermon.  We need good sermons.  Your pastor can be a phenomenal preacher but sermons are not in-depth Bible studies.  We want to go a little deeper than you can cover in the course of a sermon.

It will be different from the traditional Sunday School classes. Many classes are based on age or station in life.  There is the high school class, the college class, the young married class, etc.  For this class, it does not matter if you are twenty or eighty.  You just have to have a desire to know God’s Word on a deeper level.

It will be different from classes on scientific creationism. There are many organizations that focus on creationism (Answers in Genesis, Institute for Creation Research, Creation Ministries International).  They offer classes but many of their courses focus on creationism, rather than Genesis.  Our focus will primarily be on the Bible, rather than science.

This class will be provocative. It will make you think.  You are going to learn some things that you have never heard before.  You will see this book in a new light.  We will raise some types of questions that are never brought up in a bible study setting may challenge some of the ideas you have about the Book of Genesis. There are many misconceptions that people have about the Book of Genesis.

The Relevance of Genesis

The book that we are going to study first in our class is Genesis.  Why Genesis?  After spending years studying it, I am absolutely convinced that it is one of the most important books in the Bible.  It is very important for Christians to know this book.  Why?

1) Genesis is the foundation of the whole Bible.

If you destroy the foundation of a building, the whole building crumbles.  If these chapters are a bunch of myths, then the whole Bible is based on a bunch of myths, because they are the foundation of the rest of the Bible. If you can’t trust the first book of the Bible, how can you trust any of the other books of the Bible?

If the world came into being by completely natural means, you undermine belief in God.  If there was no real Garden of Eden, if Adam and Eve never existed, if they never sinned, if they never fell, there no need for a Savior.

If you reject the Book of Genesis, you undermine, not only a belief in God, you undermine the whole Christian faith.  All of the Bible stands or falls with Genesis.  All of the Christian faith stands or falls with the first book of the Bible.

That is why some of the greatest attacks on the Bible by unbelievers are on the Book of Genesis.  This topic is extremely important, especially for college students.

College is the time when many students are often faced with questions that they have no idea how to answer because they were never even addressed in their local church.  That is why it is very important that we take a good look at these early chapters of Genesis.  There is another reason why this book is important.

2) One of the biggest areas of compromise for Christians is the Book of Genesis.

There are many Christians who are solid in their faith on many issues until they come to the Book of Genesis.  They believe everything the Bible says, except for the Book of Genesis.  They say, “You can’t take that literally.  It must be figurative. It is poetry and allegory”  They become liberals when it comes to Genesis.

Many of you know what happened on Easter Sunday when two men walked seven miles to Emmaus and all of the sudden a stranger appeared and started talking to them.  It was Jesus in disguise but they didn’t know who He was.  They had a conversation with a man and did not know they were talking to Jesus himself after his resurrection.  What did they talk about?  They talked about current events.

They talked about the big thing that just happened.  A man had just been crucified by the Romans and these two men were upset and sad because they hoped that he would have been the one to redeem Israel.  Jesus’ response was very interesting.  He called them fools.  Now think about this for a minute.  These two men were BELIEVERS.  They LOVED Jesus.  They were SAD that he suffered this cruel death on the cross and yet Jesus called them FOOLS.

Jesus said, “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.   Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25-26).  He does not call unbelievers fools.  He calls believers fools.  That is strange.  Why?  They believed some of the prophecies in the OT, the ones about the Messiah reigning but they did not believe all of them, the ones about the Suffering Messiah.

Many Christians today believe some of the Bible but not all of it.  Liberals today call you a fool if you believe the Bible.  Jesus said that you are a fool if you do NOT believe the Bible.  He said that you are a fool if you don’t believe ALL of it.  I wonder what percentage of the church today would Jesus call “fools” for not believing all that God has written (e.g, what God says about creation or spiritual gifts or prophecy).

Before we get started, I want to tell you the plan for the first three weeks.  Today will be an introduction and a preview to Genesis.  We could start with the first verse but that would not do justice to the book.  Today, we will be looking at some important background information to Genesis.

I want to answer four basic questions about Genesis.  Next week, we will look in-depth at one verse, Genesis 1:1.  The third week, we will look at the six days of creation.

The Author of Genesis

Who wrote the Book of Genesis?  Most Christians believe Moses wrote the book. If I polled everyone here, we would all say that Moses was the author of Genesis.  How do we know that Moses wrote Genesis?  Genesis does not say who the author is.  If you read the book cover to cover, you will not see the word “Moses”.  Liberal scholars believe that Moses did NOT write Genesis.  How do we know that he did write it?  We know that it for several reasons.

First, the first five books of the Bible (known as the Pentateuch or Torah) clearly go together and are written by the same person.  The other four books claim to be written by Moses (Exodus 17:14; 24:3-4; Leviticus 1:1; 4:1; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 1:1).  Second, the rest of the OT confirms this belief (Joshua 1:7-8; I Kings 2:3; Daniel 9:11-13).  Third, the NT believed that Moses wrote these books.  Jesus believed that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch.

Jesus on Mosaic Authorship of the Torah 

“Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift MOSES commanded, as a testimony to them.’” (Matthew 8:4)

“Jesus replied, ‘MOSES permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.’” (Matthew 19:8)

“For MOSES said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’” (Mark 7:10)

“Now about the dead rising—have you not read in THE BOOK OF MOSES, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’” (Mark 12:26)

“Has not MOSES given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law.” (John 7:19)

“Because MOSES gave you circumcision … you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath.   Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that THE LAW OF MOSES may not be broken” (John 7:22-23).  That is interesting because circumcision is only mentioned in the Book of Genesis.  Jesus says that it was given by Moses.

The author of the Pentateuch was from Egypt (which fits the theory that it was written by Moses).  There are more Egyptian words used in these books than in any other part of Scripture.  He knew Egypt and He was very familiar with Egyptian geography and culture. The author was also was very well educated, which also describes Moses.  Acts 7:22 says “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”.

Moses spoke several languages.  He knew Hebrew.  He wrote Genesis in Hebrew but he was brought up in Pharaoh’s court, a member of the Egyptian Royal Family, so he must have known Egyptian as well.  He probably knew hieroglyphics.  He was the only person at the time qualified to write the book.  The rest of the nation was comprised of uneducated slaves.

The Theme of Genesis

What is the theme of Genesis?  The theme of the book is beginnings. In fact, that is what the word “genesis” means.  Genesis deals with origins.  We call the book “Genesis” but all of the names “Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number and Deuteronomy” are all Greek names.  These books were written in Hebrew.

The Jews called this book not Genesis but berisheet because that is how the book begins in Hebrew.  It is the first word in the text. The word berisheet means “in the beginning”.  It is a book of beginnings. What are some beginnings in Genesis?  Here is a list of twenty-three firsts in Genesis.  The list is not exhaustive.

Some Firsts in Genesis

1. The First Humans.

Adam was the first man and Eve was the first lady.  [1] There are many questions about the first couple that we do not have the answer to.  What did they look like?  Were they tall were they?  How much did they weigh?  What color was their hair?

What color were their eyes?  What color was their skin?  The Bible doesn’t say.  I have a theory about that.  I think it is silent on purpose.  We have a tendency to pride and that might lead to racism.  We would think that our race is superior to another race because we were on the planet first.

We can make an inference however.  Genesis says that Adam was made from dirt. He probably had the color of dirt.  He probably did not have blond hair and blue eyes.  Does that mean that Adam and Eve were Africans?

Adam and Eve were the first humans and scientists today say that the first humans came from Africa. There is only one problem. Eden wasn’t in Africa.  The Tigris and Euphrates are not in Africa. They are Middle Eastern rivers.  Adam is described as a farmer, not a hunter or gatherer.

There is a famous story about three men arguing about the nationality of Adam and Eve. An Englishman, a Frenchman and a Russian all looked at a  painting of Adam and Eve in a museum.  They were frolicking in the garden.

The Englishman said, “Look at their reserve, their calm, They must  be British. The Frenchman said, “Nonsense. They’re naked, and so beautiful. Clearly, they are French.” The Russian said, “They have no clothes, no shelter, only an apple to eat, and they’re told this is paradise. They must be Russian.”

2. The First Marriage

Adam AND HIS WIFE were both naked, and they felt no shame (Genesis 2:25).  The first husband and wife.  Notice, it was a heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman, not between two women or two men.

3. The First Pregnancy

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.” (Genesis 4:1 NIV)

4. The First Birth

The first birth results in the first child.  It was a big celebration.  Cain was the first child.

5. The First Parents

Adam and Eve became the first parents.  As their kids have kids, they become the first grandparents.

6. The First Family

This is not the family of Barack Obama but the family of Adam and Eve.  It was a dysfunctional family.  You thought your family was messed up. The first baby born into the world becomes a murderer and does not just kill anyone, he kills his own brother.  That does not sound like a very loving family.

7. The First Occupation

Adam was a scientist.  He had to name and classify all of the animals. He becomes the first taxonomist, the first zoologist.  He was also a gardener, a landscaper and a horticulturist, whose job was to work the garden and care for the plants.

8. The First Medical Procedure

The first surgery patient was Adam.  The first surgeon was God.  The first operation was rib removal surgery.  God caused Adam “to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.” (Genesis 2:21). We will talk about this when we get to the creation of man.

9. The First Anesthesia

Adam falls into a deep sleep and feels nothing as one of his ribs is removed.  Anesthesia was introduced in the mid-nineteenth century to reduce pain.  Doctors put people in a deep sleep when they give general anesthesia to patients, so they do not feel pain during surgery.  Here we see that God was the first anesthesiologist.

10. The First Language

Adam spoke the first language. He was so smart he spoke every language in the world.  What language did he speak? No one knows.  It wasn’t English.  Some of the church fathers taught that Adam and Eve spoke Hebrew in the Garden of Eden (so Jerome, Origen)

The Jews thought it must be Hebrew because some of the plays on words are based on Hebrew, like the word for woman “isha” (2:23) and the Hebrew for Eve “havah” (3:20) but language experts will tell you that Hebrew is probably not the oldest language on the planet. The oldest written language is Sumerian.

11. The First Words

The first words in the Bible are “Let there be light”. They were spoken by God. The first recorded words of man are also found in Genesis.  Most men are not too verbal.  Adam probably wasn’t either.  His first recorded words are when he laid eyes on Eve for the first time.

Adam was madly in love like most newlyweds, but things changed. Adam’s first recorded words (and the first recorded words of man in the Bible) were, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (2:23).

His last recorded words were, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (3:12).  He blamed his wife for his own rebellion against God.  He blamed his wife for his own disobedience.

12. The First Prohibition

God put Adam and Eve in a perfect world with no sin but gave them both some rules to follow. The first prohibition had to do with food.  Genesis 2:16-17 says, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (NLT)

God did not say that they could not eat certain things because they were bad for them (too fattening).  There was nothing in the garden that was bad to eat or unhealthy.  He didn’t prohibit certain food because they were eating too much and He wanted them to diet.  He outlawed one fruit tree in the garden as a test.  I cannot wait to study that in more detail, which we will do in a few weeks.

13. The First Temptation

The first temptation did not involve sex but food. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat something they were not supposed to eat.  They did not have to listen to the serpent.  They chose to listen.  The devil also tempted Jesus in the wilderness.  Unlike Adam and Eve, He did NOT listen to Satan.

14. The First Question

Satan was the first one in the Bible to ask a question.  He says in Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in garden?” Are all questions bad?  No.  God asked Adam, Eve and Cain some questions as well.  It is always wrong to question whether we should do what God clearly tells us to do.  In fact, it comes from Satan.

15. The First Lie

The first lie also comes from Satan.  “You will not certainly die.” The serpent said to the woman.” (Genesis 3:4).  God told them that they would die if they ate the fruit.  Satan said, “You are not going to die.  In fact, you will be better off”.  He was the one who invented lying. He is the “father of lies” as Jesus said (John 8:44).

16. The First Rebellion

God gives clear instructions and people decide that they are not going to do what God says.  They chose to deliberately rebel against God.

17. The First Sewing

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” (Genesis 3:7).  The practice of sewing is very old.  It went all the way back to the Garden of Eden.  Eve became the first seamstress in history.

18. The First Clothes

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21)  The first clothes were made by God himself.  He was the first tailor.

19. The First Sibling Rivalry

Siblings often compete with one another. There was a competition between Cain and Abel.  They were adult children, not little kids.

20. The First Hothead

The first hothead was Cain.  Cain and Abel both offer sacrifices to God.  God accepts one and rejects the other and Cain is angry. “But on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” (Genesis 4:5). He has a temper tantrum, and goes into a violent rage.

21. The First Crime

It was not just a crime, it was a violent crime.  It was murder.

22. The First Murder

Cain committed the first murder on planet earth.  Genesis answers that question.  It was Cain. Cain killed Abel.  The first murder gave us our first homicide victim – Abel.  It was a bloody scene.  God said to Cain, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10).  With the first murder comes the first death and the first funeral, as Abel is laid to rest.  Interestingly, Genesis mentions the first one who died physically (Abel).  It also mentions a man who never died (Enoch).

23. The First Cover Up

After committing the first crime, Cain commits the first cover up.  He killed his brother and then buried the body in the ground,.

The Genre of Genesis

What type of a book is it?  The Bible contains many different types of books.  Leviticus is a book of laws.  Romans is a book of doctrine.  Proverbs is a book of wise sayings.  Revelation is a book of prophecy.  Genesis is a book of history.

It covers the time period from the creation of the world to the Hebrew sojourn in Egypt.  It is written as history.  Genesis is not a book of poems.  The Bible contains some books of poems (Psalms, Song of Solomon and Lamentations).  Genesis is not one of them.  It is a book of history.

The Structure of Genesis

Genesis is divided into two parts.  It contains fifty chapters and those chapters are divided into two parts: Genesis 1-11 and Genesis 12-50.

The first eleven chapters of Genesis deal with the beginning of the human race.  It deals with the human race in general and mentions one covenant that deals with everybody, the covenant God made with Noah.

The last thirty-nine chapters of Genesis deal with the beginning, not of the human race, but of the chosen race.  They give us the history of the Jews.  It mentions the covenant that God made with the Jews (the Abrahamic Covenant).  Why is that important?  God chose the Jews to be his people because the Messiah would come through that nation.

Genesis 1-11 focuses on four major events (creation, fall, flood and the Tower of Babel Judgment).  Genesis 12-50 focuses, not on four main events but on four important people (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph).  The first part of the book deals with primitive history.  The second part of the book deals with patriarchal history.  The book goes from paradise to the patriarchs.

Genesis 1-11 goes from Adam to Abraham (twenty generations).  The second part of the book goes from Abraham to Joseph (four generations).  Most of the book deals with four generations (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph).  Those four generations cover two-hundred and fifty years.  One-fifth of the book deals with twenty-generations[2] (Adam to Abram).  Those twenty generations cover at least two thousand years and perhaps much longer.

Genesis and History

There are many people who believe the second part of Genesis is history but not the first part.  They believe that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were real people but the first part of Genesis is not history but mythology.  They do not believe that God created the world in six days.  They do not believe that Adam and Eve were real people or that there was a real garden of Eden.  They do not believe Noah was real or the story about the ark.

Some professing Christians believe this as well.  For those of you who do not know who Francis Collins is, he is one of the most famous scientists in the world.  He used to be the head of the Human Genome Project.  He is now the Director of the National Institutes of Health.  He is a professing Christian.  He also believes in evolution.

In 2006 he wrote a book called The Language of God. In that book, he explains how he interprets Genesis.  He says that it is just poetry and allegory.[3] The question is this:  Should we take Genesis 1-11 literally or symbolically?  Is it history or myth?

1) It is written as history.

There is one phrase that runs through the whole book – “these are the generations of” or “this is the history of” (toledoth).  It says these are “the generations of Isaac”, “these are the generations of Ishmael,” “these are the generations of Jacob.”  That is the way the whole book is organized.  These are like chapter divisions.

The toledoth formula occurs about ten times.  Half of the time it occurs in the first half of the book and the other half occur in the second half of the book. There is no way that you can take the first part of the book as fiction and the second part of the book as history.  You cannot say that Abraham was a literal person but some of his ancestors (Adam, Noah) were mythological. There is another important reason we know Genesis is history.

2) The NT writers accept Genesis as history.

Luke accepted Genesis as history. Luke put Adam in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:38.  That makes no sense if Adam never existed.

John accepted Genesis as history. John accepts the account of Cain killing Abel as historical (I John 3:12).

Peter accepted Genesis as history. He mentions creation (II Peter 3:5), the Flood with eight survivors (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6).  He believed that God actually turned “the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes” (2 Peter 2:6-9)

Jude accepted Genesis as history. In just one chapter, Jude mentions Cain, Enoch, and Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7, 11, 14).

Paul accepted Genesis as history. He accepted Adam and Eve as historical.  Paul said Adam was the first human being on Earth (1 Corinthians 15:45).  He claimed that Adam was made from dust (1 Corinthians 15:47). He said that Eve was “from” man (1 Corinthians 11:8, 12), a reference to Eve being taken out of Adam’s body.  He believed that serpent deceiving Eve (II Corinthians 11:3). Paul compared Adam to Jesus (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49).

Paul was not comparing Jesus to a mythical figure but to a real person. You cannot call Jesus a historical person and Adam a mythological person.  Adam is just as historical as Jesus.  One is the First Adam and one is the Last Adam.

Paul also used Adam and Eve as the basis for male and female roles in the church today (I Timothy 2:13-14).  We can disagree what Paul meant in I Timothy 2.  What we cannot disagree on is the fact that Paul based his rules for women in the church on Adam and Eve.  That is undeniable.

Jesus accepted Genesis as history. Jesus refers to Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-6), Cain and Abel (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:50-51), Noah (Matthew 24:37), The Flood (Matthew 24:38-39), Abraham (John 8:39-40), Lot (Luke 17:28) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire (Luke 17:29-32) all as literal history.

3) The Bible condemns myths; it doesn’t endorse them.

Many think that the Bible is a book full of myths.  The opposite is true.  Myths existed in the ancient world.  The writers of Scripture were aware of them and told people to avoid them.  A clear distinction is made in Scripture between history and myth.  The Bible tells people to avoid myths. The word is used five times in the NT.  It preaches against myths.  It warns people about myths.  It is anti-myth.  It doesn’t endorse them.

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths [μυθος] and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.” (I Timothy 1:3-4 NIV)

Have nothing to do with godless myths [μυθος] and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” (I Timothy 4:7 NIV)

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths [μυθος].” (II Timothy 4:3-4 NIV)

One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths [μυθος] or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. (Titus 1:12-14 NIV)

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories [μυθος] when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (II Peter 1:16 NIV)


[1] Some believe that Eve was not the first woman.  She was not Adam’s first wife.  Lilith came before her.  That does not come from the Bible but from Jewish mythology.  It comes from a medieval Jewish legend found in a book called The Alphabet of Ben Sirach.

[2] They are:1) Adam 2) Seth 3) Enosh 4) Cainan 5) Mahalaleel 6) Jared 7) Enoch 8) Methuselah 9) Lamech 10) Noah 11) Shem 12) Arphaxad 13) Salah 14) Eber 15) Peleg 16) Reu 17) Serug 18) Nahor 19) Terah 20) Abram.

[3] Francis Collins, The Language of God, p. 206.

 

The Tenth Commandment

We have been studying the Ten Commandments and today we come to the Tenth Commandment.  It is found in Exodus 20:17.  It says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  In many ways, the Tenth Commandment is very different form the other nine.

The Uniqueness of This Commandment

1.  This is the only one of the Ten Commandments that prohibits an attitude, not an action.

The first nine for the most part have to do with visible actions. Coveting deals only with the heart. It is something we commit with our mind, not with our body. We already had a commandment against stealing. This is a commandment against just wanting their stuff. It is a lot easier to control your actions than it is to control your thoughts and feelings.

2. This is the only one of the Ten Commandments that was NOT a crime.

Stealing was a crime. Murder was a crime. In the OT, adultery was a crime but covetousness is not a crime. There is no human law against covetousness.  You can’t go to jail for being covetous.  You can’t criminalize bad thoughts. Otherwise, everybody would be in jail. Covetousness is a SIN but it is not a crime. Pride is a sin but it’s not a crime. Jealousy is a sin but it’s not a crime. Laziness is also a sin but it’s not a crime.

3. The Tenth Commandment involves an INVISIBLE SIN.

All of the other Ten Commandments are things that you can see people doing (lying, stealing, murdering, dishonoring parents, worshiping false gods). You can’t see if someone is coveting something that someone else has, because it is a sin that takes place on the inside. It is a secret sin that is invisible.

4. This is one of the few Ten Commandments that was NOT punishable by death.

In the Law of Moses, people who worshiped idols were to be put to death. People who committed adultery and murder were to be put to death. People who broke the Sabbath were to be stoned. People who dishonored their parents were also to be executed but people who broke the Tenth Commandment were not put to death. That would mean that everyone would have been put to death.

This commandment is very convicting.  This is one of the Ten Commandments that we have all broken.  There are some of us in this room who may not have murdered anyone or committed adultery but all of us without exception have coveted something that belonged to someone else.

Covetousness is one of the most prevalent sins in our world today. We live in a society that encourages coveting. That is why so many people are in huge debt. Most Americans are pretty materialistic. In our day, it is almost seen as a virtue. In the 1987 movie Wall Street we hear the line “Greed is good. Greed works”.

Our culture is saturated with it but we do not hear too many sermons on the topic and there are not too many books by Christians on covetousness. Many do not even seem to think it is a sin. Many pastors will tell you that in all their years of experience in the ministry they have never heard anyone confess this to be a sin or ask for help in this area of their life. They have heard many other sins confessed (stealing, killing, lying, and adultery) but not covetousness.

Covetousness is not only a sin; it is a serious sin in Scripture. It is mentioned in the OT and the NT. Jesus had a lot to say about covetousness.

“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:13-15 NIV)

A man asked Jesus about his inheritance. An inheritance is something that you have a right to receive. It’s not wrong to inherit some things. Legally you are entitled to it when you parents die but how many people do we know that become very greedy when it comes to their parent’s will and fight their siblings over it.

Jesus never said, “Be on your guard against murder” or “Be on your guard against drunkenness” but he did say, “Be on your guard, not just against greed but against ALL KINDS of greed”. Greed takes all sorts of forms. What was Jesus talking about here?

Jesus also gave a parable on the topic of covetousness called “the Parable of the Rich Fool” in Luke 12:16-21.

“And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.

What is Jesus teaching in this parable about the rich farmer? Everyone else thought he was a great man. He was very wealthy and very successful. He was very ambitious and hard working. He was not lazy but God calls him a fool. Why? He was not a fool because he was successful or rich. He was not a fool because he worked hard and planned for the future. He was not a fool because he wanted to expand his property and build bigger barns. This man didn’t steal or cheat or mistreat anyone.

Jesus called him a fool because he was greedy and selfish. He never considered the needs of others. He thought only on himself. He was a fool, not for having treasures on earth but for having no treasures in heaven. He was a fool because he made a god out of money and material possessions. He thought that he did not need God.

He had everything he could possibly want or need. As Jesus said, “What good is it if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?” (Luke 9:25). What good is it if you are the richest person in the world and get everything you want in this life for sixty or seventy years and then you die and go to Hell forever and ever?

The Apostle Paul also preached against covetousness in II Timothy 3:1-5.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Paul gives nineteen characteristics of people who will live in the last days. Covetousness ranks number two in this list of last day character traits. Paul also said, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10 NIV). If you notice,Paul did NOT say that money is the root of all evil. He said, “The love of money is the root of evil”.  Money is neutral.  It is neither good or bad but it can be a source of idolatry for some.

This is a sin that sometimes even creeps into the church. One of the Apostles was guilty of this sin. Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. He was motivated by covetousness and he was the treasurer for the Apostles. He was in charge of the money (John 12:4-6).

Some preachers are guilty of this. Some are in the ministry for the money. The Bible warns about false teachers and false prophets who are covetous.  Jeremiah 6:13 says, “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.” (NIV)  Titus 1:11 says, “For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.” (NIV)

Covetousness disqualifies a person from spiritual leadership in the church. One qualification of elders is that they are not to be covetous. Titus 1:7 says “Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

Paul said that covetousness is not even to be named among Christians (Ephesians 5:3). It was so serious in the early church that it was a matter of church discipline. Now that is a practice that you don’t see too much today. Most churches today do not practice church discipline but Paul said, that if a person claims to be a Christian and is covetous, you are not to even fellowship with that person (I Corinthians 5:9-11).

 “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.” (Ephesians 5:3-6 NIV)

Paul made two important statements here about covetousness. The first thing Paul said that covetousness IS idolatry. The second thing Paul said here is that NO covetous person will be in heaven.

If covetousness is idolatry, this means that the First and the Tenth Commandment actually say the same thing. When you break the Tenth Commandment, you are actually breaking two commandments.

How is Covetousness Idolatry?

If you are covetous, you seek your happiness in things, rather than in God. That is where your heart is. You think that things will fulfill the longing in your soul. Someone said that malls have replaced churches as the main centers of religion in our society. Shopping centers have become places where people go to worship. They worship the god of materialism. It is the god that says, “Buy this, but that, it will make feel you better.” This is not shopping therapy.  It is shopping worship. This god may speak in a clothing store, a sporting goods store, a computer store, a jewelry store, or some other store. We know what God thinks about idolatry. He hates it.

The Definition of Covetousness

What is covetousness? What does it mean? Is it wrong to want or desire certain things? No. This commandment doesn’t mean that we can’t have desires, ambitions and goals. That is part of being human. We can want some things that are good and some things that are bad. It is not wrong to want some things. What is the difference between desiring something and coveting something? Where does one draw the line between a legitimate longing and covetousness? Two things come to mind.

1. Coveting is wanting MORE than you need.

Wanting something that you legitimately need is NOT coveting. If someone is hungry and wants food or thirsty and wants something to drink, we wouldn’t call that person greedy.  Some of us have too many possessions.  We have too much stuff.  What are some signs that you might be a harder?

Signs of a Hoarder

1. We never want to throw anything away.

2. We have excess clutter.

A little clutter is normal but some have piles of things at home and they are not even organized.

3. We have piles of things that are completely useless

We have piles of things, like broken appliances. We have bags of things that we never even use.

4. We hate to give up any of our possessions.

We even hate to let anyone borrow something when they ask us. That is a sign you might be a hoarder.

5. Our home is completely unsanitary.

A final sign of hoarding is that the excessive clutter begins to affects our health.

2. Coveting is desire something WHICH BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE.

Covetousness is not limited to money. Exodus 20:17 says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or ANYTHING that belongs to your neighbor.” It is the word “anything” that condemns us. Our text mentions coveting your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, ox and donkey. Your neighbor may not have any servants or donkeys but he or she may have some other things you want (nice car, tractor).

It is not wrong to want a house, a car or a wife. It is wrong to want YOUR NEIGHBOR”S mansion of a house, YOUR NEIGHBOR”S expensive car or YOUR NEIGHBOR”S hot wife. Covetousness is not just desiring something. It is desiring something that belongs to someone else and something that you have no right to possess.

King David is a good example of this.  II Samuel 11 describes what happened when David did not go out to war.  He was not where he was supposed to be and saw something that he was not supposed to see (Bathsheba bathing).  This led to David coveting a married woman which led to abuse of power.  He took her to himself.  This led to adultery which led to murder to cover up the crime.  The murder involved treason because David just murdered one of his most loyal soldiers in the army. After Bathsheba mourns the death of her husband, David marries her and she ends up pregnant.

II Samuel 11 ends with the words, “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.”  God was not happy with King David’s actions.  A year later, God sent the prophet Nathan to speak to David and he told David a parable.  Jesus was not the only one who told parables.  There are a few of them in the OT.

 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more (II Samuel 13:7-8).

Nathan has a message from God to David.  God tells David that his adultery was completely unjustified.  David was not only married, he had multiple wives.  He did not need to take Uriah’s wife way from him.  God had already given him plenty of wives.  David’s many sins all began with covetousness.  David sought to take something that was not his and which he did not even need in the first place.

How to Avoid Covetousness

There are two practical ways to avoid covetousness or greed. The first way is to be content with what you have (Hebrews 13:5; I Timothy 6:6, 8). Be grateful for what you have and thankful for what God has given you. That is part of our problem. Most of us are not content. If we are single, we want to be married. Some who are married wish they were single. Women, who are infertile, desperately want to have children.

Parents who have large families sometimes wish they would all go away, so they can have some peace and quiet. If you are renting, you want to own. If you own a house, you want to buy a bigger and better house. Can you imagine just being content with your food and clothes? That is what Paul said. He did not say that we should be content with food, clothes, a fancy car, a big house and a big screen television.

The second way is to be generous. A covetous person is always trying to get something. If instead of trying to get, you give to others, you will not be covetous.  There are two kinds of people in this world – givers and takers. Which are you?

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). This verse says that there is a special blessing that we receive when we give, especially when we help someone in need. That is completely counter-cultural. Tell that to kids on Christmas day.  It’s all about what they are going to get.

The interesting thing is that this quote is found in the book of Acts but, if you read the Gospels from cover to cover, you will not find the words anywhere on the lips of Christ. Here was a real saying of Jesus that was not recorded in any of the Four Gospels.  It was a genuine saying of Jesus but it was never written down.  People knew about it through oral tradition.  It is called by scholars the agrapha (lit. “not written”) of Jesus.

The Book of Proverbs has many verses to say about this topic.  Below is a small sample.

Proverbs 21:25-26 says, “The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing.” (NIV).

Proverbs 22:9 says, “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” (NIV)

Proverbs 28:27 says, “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.” (NIV)

The Ninth Commandment

We have been studying the Ten Commandments and we come today to the Ninth commandment as we come to the last part of this series. It is found in Exodus 20:16.  It says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”.  

This is the second one of the Ten Commandments that deals with a sin of the tongue. Two of the Ten Commandments deal with verbal sins.  One of the verbal sins has to do with God and one has to do with people.  The Third Commandment prohibits taking God’s name in vain. This one prohibits giving false testimony or bearing false witness against your neighbor.  This is one we have all broken.

Psalm 116:11 says that “all men are liars” (KJV) and that statement was not written by a woman but by a man. Groucho Marx said, “There’s one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says “yes” you know he is a crook.”  Psalm 116:11 is better translated “everyone is a liar” (NIV) or “all mankind are liars” (ESV).

I want to look at what this commandment says and how it applies in our world today.  Karl Barth used to say that we should read the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.  What I have to say today may step on some toes.  Each one of these commandments has powerful applications into our daily life.

In America today lying is not that big of a deal. Our culture almost promotes it.  It is so common that it has almost become socially acceptable. Parents lie to their kids all the time.  They lie to their kids about Santa Claus. They make promises they do not keep. People lie on their resumes. We even call some lies “white lies” because they seem to be harmless. Governments lie.  They fudge on statistics and make numbers lie (unemployment or the number of jobs added).

Politicians tell lies. Bill Clinton held a press conference, shook his finger and said, “I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski”.  He lied to the American people, to Congress and to the courts.  Barak Obama promised the nation twenty-six times that when Obama Care was passed, we would be able to keep our insurance plan and our doctor period and we would all save money but that turned out not to be true for many people.

The White House lied about Benghazi.  They knew from intelligence sources within in the first twenty-four hours that it was a terrorist attack but went ahead and told the American people that it was a spontaneous protest to some offensive video on the Internet.  It was a flat-out lie.  There was no protest or demonstration.  You do not bring rocket-propelled grenades to a peaceful protest.  It was a planned terrorist attack.  It was an assassination.  All of the intelligence on the ground confirmed this.

Of course, lying is not limited to one political party.  Richard Nixon said, “I am not a crook”.  That was a lie.  He lied about his involvement in the Watergate scandal in 1972.  George H. W. Bush said, “Read my lips: no new taxes” in 1988 at the Republican National Convention when he accepted his party’s nomination.  Once in office, he raised taxes.

Did George Bush Lie about WMDs?

Liberals have said repeatedly that George Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The liberal line at the time was “Bush lied; people died.”  Some even called for him to be impeached over this. Did Bush lie about WMDs?

The answer is No.  This is a common myth. This is a fairly simple concept but many people do not know what lying is.  An intelligence failure is not the same thing as a lie.  Saying something that is not true is not the same thing as lying. Making a false statement is not the same thing as making a lie.  Every student who gives a false answer on a test is not lying.  An incorrect answer on a test is not a lie but an error.

A lie is a false statement that is deliberately presented as being true when someone knows that it is false. A liar is someone who knows one thing to be true but says something else in an attempt to deceive people.  George Bush was wrong about weapons of mass destruction but he didn’t lie.

He actually believed Saddam Hussein had WMDs based on the intelligence that we had and based on the intelligence that Great Britain and other countries had. It is not a lie to say something that is not true.  If he lied about WMDs, so did Hillary Clinton and all of the other Democrats who also believed that they were in Iraq.

The Ninth Commandment says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”.  How do you do that?  There are two main ways we do this. The first way is to take the stand, give testimony and lie in a courtroom.  That is called perjury.  It is deliberately giving false testimony in a court of law.

Perjury is a serious matter. It is a felony in North Carolina.  In biblical times, people’s lives were at stake.  Proverbs 18:21 says “The tongue has the power of life and death.” In the Bible, false witnesses did a lot of damage.  False witnesses caused Stephen to be stoned and Jesus to be crucified.  They accused Jesus of predicting to destroy the Temple.  They said said that Stephen spoke against the Temple and against the Law of Moses.  They framed them for a crime they did not commit.

If you take the stand and lie under oath, you break the Ninth Commandment.  There are two different ways people do this. You can lie to condemn the innocent or you can lie to protect the guilty.  Some take the stand and lie about someone who is completely innocent. Many take the stand and try to cover up or protect a friend or family member. The world says, “Don’t be a snitch”.  God says, “Don’t be a false witness”.

That is the first way to break this commandment – to give false testimony in a legal setting.  Here’s the problem.  Very few of us have given false testimony in a court of law. Few of us have ever committed perjury. In fact, very few of us have ever even been called to testify in a court of law or taken the witness stand in a criminal trial.

Does this commandment still apply to us? Yes. The Ninth Commandment is NOT limited to the courtroom.  It is not limited to perjury.  It does not say, “You shall not give false testimony when you take the witness stand or “whenever you enter a courtroom”.  It simply says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”. 

It is possible to bear false witness against our neighbor OUTSIDE of the courtroom. It is possible to make up complete lies about someone and slander them.  That is bearing false witness AGAINST your neighbor.  We just completed a primary in North Carolina.  That is precisely what many of the political ads do.  They try to destroy the character of an opposing candidate.  They try to smear their opponent as much as possible, so they can get elected into office.  Many of those ads violate this commandment.

I have a friend whose wife committed multiple affairs and eventually decided to leave her husband for another man.  A year later, she calls Child Protective Services and accused him of molesting his kids, not based on any evidence but just to get back at him and try to take his kids away from him.

The whole point of the Ninth Commandment is to be truthful to people. Tell the truth. Tell the truth in court.  Tell the truth outside of court.  What was the point of the Sixth Commandment? Life is sacred. Life is sacred, so we should not murder people. What was the point of the Seventh Commandment? Marriage is sacred. We are to stay faithful to our spouse and not commit adultery, because marriage is a sacred institution created by God.

What was the point of the Eighth Commandment? Property is sacred. That is why we are not to take things from people without their consent or permission. What was the point of the Ninth Commandment?  Truth is sacred. Because truth is sacred, we should not lie to people. What does the Bible say about lying?

The Bible and Lying

1. God does not lie.

Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (NIV).  Titus 1:1-2 says, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness- in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (NIV).

God does not lie.  He NEVER lies. In fact, the Bible says that God CANNOT lie.  Hebrews 6:18 says,God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.” (NIV). In the Bible, God is called “the God of truth” (Isaiah 65:16; Psalm 31:5). Truth is part of his nature. Lying is completely contrary to his nature.

We should act like God.  Honesty is an important character trait. Colossians 3:9-10 says, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (NIV).  Ephesians 4:25 says, “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”

2. Lying comes from Satan.

Jesus said,  “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44 NIV).  That tells us two things.  One, that the Devil is the father of some people.  Two, those people act like him and one of the things Satan does is lie.  Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies.

He is the one who invented lying. God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would surely die. Satan told them that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would not surely die. The first lie found in the Bible is in Genesis 3:4 and Satan was the one who was doing the lying. Lying comes from Satan and when we lie, we are most like Satan (cf. Acts 5:3).  That is different from what the world says.  The world says that lying is normal and everyone does it.

3. God hates lying.

He hates a lying tongue. He hates lying lips. He does not just not lie, He hates lying.  “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:  haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,  a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict” (Proverbs 6:16-19 NIV).  Notice that two of the six things that God hates have to do with lying. Proverbs 12:22 says, The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.  The old KJV reads “lying lips are an abomination”.

What God hates, we should hate. We should hate lying as well.  If God hates lying, we should hate lying.  David said in Psalm 119:163, “I hate and detest falsehood but I love your law.” (NIV)  Proverbs 13:5 says, “The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves.” (NIV)  We should hate lying in our kids.  We should hate it in our politicians.  We should hate it in our friends.  We should hate it in ourselves.  Do you hate it when people lie or do you accept is as normal and rationalize it?

4. All liars will be punished (Proverbs 19:5, 9)

Lying may be tolerated and accepted in our country but it is not tolerated an accepted by God. Proverbs 19:5 says, “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.” (ESV). The NT says that liars will be excluded from heaven. “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 ESV).

They will be excluded from Heaven. They may not kill anyone or steal anything but they are still excluded from heaven.  “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:15 NIV). The OT said the same thing.  “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.” (Psalm 101:7 ESV) What does that mean? That would seem to exclude everyone, because everyone has told a lie

This is not just talking about people who lie, it is talking about people who love to lie (Revelation 22:15). It is talking about habitual liars and pathological liars. It is talking about people who lie all the time and think nothing about it. These are people for whom lying is second nature. There are some people who lie so much that they have difficulty separating fact from fiction.

Is withholding information lying? 

An omission is not the same thing as a lie. We must always tell the truth but that does not mean that we always have to tell the whole truth. As one person put it, “Honesty means that everything you say is true, not that everything that is true must be said.” If someone asks you how much money is in your bank account or what your credit card number is or how much money we make, you don’t have to tell them. When someone asks, how are you? you do not have to explain every detail in your life. Being selective is not the same thing as being dishonest.  There are biblical examples of this.

The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” 

Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. (I Samuel 16:1-5 NIV)

God rejected Saul as king and sent Samuel to Bethlehem to pick out another king but he told Saul he came to offer sacrifice to the Lord and God told him to do it, so it must not have been wrong. Did Samuel lie? No. He did offer an animal sacrifice and invited Jesse and all of his sons to the sacrifice. Was that his only purpose in coming to Bethlehem? No. Did Samuel lie to Saul? No. Did he reveal his true intentions to Saul? No. There is some times when we have to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth (such as when we are on the witness stand and take an oath to do so).

There are other times when it would actually be wrong to tell the whole truth to people. Speaking the truth to people does not give us a right to be rude to people and to insult people. That answers the question, what do you say to the lady in the ugly dress or to the person with the really bad haircut or to the person who made you a really bad dinner?

Sometimes, we don’t have to say anything or we can be evasive. That is the old “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” philosophy. Some people use honesty as an excuse just to be mean to people. We are also commanded to be kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32; I Corinthians 13:4; Colossians 3:12). Kindness is one of the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

Is deception is the same thing as lying?

We use the two words interchangeably but they are not exactly the same. Both involve deception but there is a difference between the two. Lying requires that a person make a statement. It is verbal.  All lies are involve deception but not all deception is lying.

Are all deceptions wrong? Not necessarily. Is it wrong to have a poker face when playing cards? Is wrong to use a fake in basketball? That is a deception. You say, that is just a game? Okay is it wrong to leave the lights on in your house when you go on vacation? People do that to deceive intruders.  You could say that this involves the observer fooling himself.

Hunters use traps and blinds; fishermen, lures and bait. Magicians use deception all of the time. Is that wrong? Most magic tricks are a form of deception. The police use deception as well (e.g., undercover operations). They have empty police cars parked to get people to slow down. Are soldiers allowed to use deception to fight the enemy? Camouflage is a form of deception. One Chinese philosopher said, “All warfare is based on deception.” (Sun Tzu).

Is Lying Ever Justified?

Are there times when it would be okay to lie? Is lying ever justified? If a distraught woman runs past you and says “help me” and is followed by a deranged individual with a knife, asking where his wife went, do you tell him? If you were living in Nazi Germany and the Nazis come to your house and asks if you are hiding any Jews, do you tell the truth or do you lie?

The Bible even has an example like this. In Joshua 2, twelve Jewish spies were sent to spy out the land of Canaan and two ended up staying with Rahab. She took the spies in, hid them and then when the authorities asked where they were, she lied about it. These are moral dilemmas.

A Moral Dilemma

What is a moral dilemma? A moral dilemma is a situation when you have only two options to choose from and both are wrong. Do you tell the truth or do you endanger a human life? That is a moral or ethical dilemma. Did Rahab do the right thing when she lied? I do not have the answer but there are two possible answers that evangelicals have taken on this question. You can decide which one you think is right.

Did Rahab do the Wrong Thing?

Lying is wrong. It is always wrong and even though she is praised in the NT, she is never praised for lying. She is praised for her works and for her faith. That is true. The question then becomes What should she have done in this situation? What would you have done in her situation?

Did Rahab do the Right Thing?

There is not one word of criticism of Rahab anywhere in Scripture. She is only praised for what she did. She is not only put in the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1), she is part of the hall of fame of faith in Hebrews 11. She saved the lives of the spies. It was the right thing to do because a greater moral good was served. In the same way, the Apostles served a greater moral good when they disobeyed the government in Acts 4 and continued to preach the gospel.  Joshua 2 says that she did what she did out of a fear of God and not man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Eighth Commandment

We have been studying the Ten Commandments.  We come to the Eighth Commandment – “Do not steal”.  This is a very important commandment.  It has applications to many areas.  This commandment has been in the news all week.  This week, there has been a lot of talk about one Nevada rancher who has allowed his cows to graze on someone else property.  For more than twenty years his cows have grazed on federal land and the government is not too happy about it.  There has also been talk about Russia annexed Crimea which even the UN described as illegal.

What God says about this commandment is also very radical.  It was completely counter-cultural.  It was different from what society in the ancient world said about stealing and is different from what society says about stealing today.  Many think that stealing is not that bad. It may be wrong but at least it is not as bad as murder or rape.   There are many ways we try to excuse stealing today.

Modern Justifications of Stealing

1.  It is a psychological disorder

Society regards it as a psychological disorder. We call these people kleptomaniacs.  They are people who steal out of obsession or compulsion.  It is not based on need.  They just love to steal.  God calls it a sin.  It is not a psychological disorder, it is a moral disorder.  It is no different from serial murderers or serial adulterers.   They also have a compulsion to commit their crimes.  Stealing was serious enough sin to make God’s top ten list.  It is serious enough to keep people out of heaven.

The Bible says that people, who engage in a lifestyle of stealing, even though they claim to be Christians, will NOT enter into the kingdom. I Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexualiy nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (ESV)  Notice that Paul mentions stealing twice in this passage.  He mentions both thieves and swindlers.

Some do this for a living. They are career criminals, rip off artists who con people and steal their money. Swindlers are people who rip people off and cheat people, like all of the online scams (Nigerian lottery). Paul said that these kind of people will NOT be in heaven. That is not to say that thieves cannot be saved, if they repent. Some of the Corinthians believers used to be thieves (I Corinthians 6:11). Jesus was crucified between two thieves (Matthew 27:38) and one of them got saved before he died (Luke 23:40-42). Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise”. Bernie Madoff stole eighteen million dollars from investors but even he can be saved if he repents.

The OT said the same thing. Ezekiel 33:14-16 says, “And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die.  None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.” (NIV).

2.  It is not wrong to steal something little.

Stealing is wrong, even if you steal something little. As Dr. Laura Schlessinger said, “The commandment does not say, ‘Thou shalt not steal, unless it is a candy bar’”.  We should not even steal a paperclip, if it does not being to us.

The Ten Commandments deal with moral absolutes.  They deal with things that are always wrong.  Lying is always wrong.  Murder is always wrong.  Adultery is always wrong.  Worshipping another god is always wrong.  Today, we come to the Eighth Commandment.  It says “Do not steal”.  It is contemned in the OT and in the NT.  Eight times in the Bible we are told not to steal[1].  It is ALWAYS wrong (unless you are playing baseball but that is not really stealing).

That does NOT mean that all stealing is equal. There are degrees of sin. Stealing a pencil is not as bad as stealing a car and stealing a car is not as bad as stealing a person (kidnapping). We know this because the punishment was different. The punishment for stealing in the Law of Moses was restitution.  If you stole something, you were to pay it back and much more.

Exodus 22:1, 3b-4 says, “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep… Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double.” (NIV)  When Zacchaeus the tax collector met Jesus and came to faith, he said, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (NIV)

Other laws at the time of Moses put people to death for stealing. The Code of Hammurabi contains three hundred laws from an ancient Babylonian king who lived around 1780 BC. Law number twenty-two states that the punishment for stealing was to be death but in the Law of Moses the punishment was not death but restitution.

In the Middle East, the punishment for stealing is amputation.  That is what the Koran says to do with thieves[2] but in the Law of Moses the punishment was for stealing personal property was restitution, not amputation. On the other hand, if you stole a person (kidnapping), the punishment was death.  The US for the longest time took death penalty off the table for kidnapping.  All you could get was imprisonment.  That all changed in 1994 with The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act which Bill Clinton signed into law.   Now you can get the death penalty for it, although it very rarely happens. Evven Ariel Castro, who kidnapped and imprisoned three women in his home for decades only receivied life plus a thousand years in jail.

Exodus 21:16 says, “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession” (NIV).  Deuteronomy 24:7 says, If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.” (NIV)

3.  I am poor, so it is not wrong.

Does poverty does not justify stealing?  No.  We can’t have two sets of laws: one for rich people and one for the poor. If a poor person steals, we understand why they did what they did but they still broke the law and will be punished for it. Proverbs 6:30-31 says, “People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.  Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.” (NIV)

4.  It is okay to steal from the rich

ALL stealing is wrong, no exceptions. There were not to be two standards of justice; one for the rich and one for the poor.  One of the things God said in the Law of Moses is that we are not to be biased in favor of the poor Leviticus 19:15 says, “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” (NIV)  Many have the philosophy of Robin Hood.  They think that is okay to take money away from rich people and redistribute wealth and give it to the middle class or the poor.  They believe in stealing from the rich, in taxing the wealth and punishing the rich (which ends up punishing achievement).  It is called the Buffet Rule which Obama supports.

Why is it Wrong to Steal?

The Sixth Commandment says that life is sacred. The Seventh Commandment says that marriage is sacred. The Eighth Commandment says that property is sacred. Property is a divine institution. There is nothing wrong with a person owning things and enjoying things, so long as that person’s life is not controlled or dominated by those things.

This commandment assumes the right to private property. The commandment says we are not to steal our neighbor’s possessions. That assumes that our neighbor has some possessions. You can’t take something from someone if they do not have it in the first place. This is not state but is implied. If stealing is a crime, property must be a right. Ultimately, God owns everything.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), the father of modern communism, thought that there was something wrong with property. He thought that property was bad and that property breeds selfishness. He taught that the goal of society was to reach a utopian state of full communism in which there was no social classes, no property, no religion and no state.

Another writer who believed that property was evil was the French writer Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865).  Proudhon called himself an anarchist. He was the one who came up the famous line that “property is theft”.  He called property robbery.  According to Scripture, property is NOT theft. God says that you have the right to own things. Other people have the right to own things and we have no right to take someone else’s’ stuff.

As kids, we have heard the phrase, “finders keepers, losers weepers” but did you know that this phrase is not biblical? Just because we find something does not mean that we should keep it. The Law of Moses says that if we find something that belongs to someone else, even if that person is our enemy, we are to return it to him. Deuteronomy 22:1 says, “If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.”

Exodus 23:4 goes even farther.  It says, “If you come across YOUR ENEMY’S ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.” That’s interesting. You find something that belongs to someone you hate.  Return it to him or her. Jesus says in the NT that we are to love our enemies.  The OT said the same thing.

This is the Golden Rule.  It is doing to others as you would want them to do to you.  We would want someone else to return our animal if it happened to wander off and end up on their property. It is a little different if you find a quarter on the ground and do not know who to return it to. Finders keepers is not biblical and is not legal.  If you find something valuable (bag of money), you have to make a reasonable attempt to find the owner.

This is one commandment that is very convicting, because we have all broken it. We may not have broken the letter of the Sixth commandment and murdered anyone. We may not have broken the letter of the Seventh Commandment and cheated on our spouse but all of us have broken the letter of the Eighth Commandment.  You do not have to be a bank robber to commit this. Politicians break this one.  Preachers break it.  Churches break it.  Christians break this one. The question for you is this, Have you ever stolen anything? Are you a thief? There are many different kinds of stealing

How People Steal Today

Robbery

This takes different forms. It can take the form, for example, of burglary (home invasion), mugging (street robbery), carjacking (stealing cars), piracy (stealing ships in the ocean)

Larceny

Here people steal but do NOT use violence to do it. They may steal from retail stores (shoplifting). Others steal from hotels (towels, pens). Others steal copyrighted software (software piracy) or movies or music off of the computer (illegal downloads).

Not Returning Things

How many of us have borrow something from someone (book, video) and never returned it? We just keep it. Most of the time, we forget about it.  That is stealing.  Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously“.  It is not a sin to borrow something.  The righteous borrow things and return them. There are two different types of people. Which are you?

Not Paying Back Debts

Getting a loan and not paying back your loan is a form of stealing.  Defaulting on a loan is a form of theft.  Bankruptcy is a form of theft.  It is a legal way of eliminating your debt by simply not paying it.

Stealing from an Employer

Many would never steal from a person but would have no problem stealing from an impersonal organization, like office supplies. We rationalize that we are underpaid, overworked, it is just something little the company is wealthy and it will not be missed.

“Eight year old Jimmy comes home from school with a note from his teacher that says, “Jimmy stole a pencil from the student sitting next to him.” Jimmy’s father is furious. He goes to great lengths to lecture Jimmy and let him know how upset and disappointed he is, and he grounds the boy for two weeks. “And just wait until you mother comes home!” He tells the boys ominously. Finally he concludes, “Anyway, Jimmy, if you needed a pencil why didn’t you just say something? Why didn’t you just simply ask? You know very well that I can bring you dozens of pencils from work.[3]

Stealing from Employees

Employers can steal from employees by underpaying their workers, providing poor working conditions, and using them as slave labor. Laborers have the right to a decent wage, according to Scripture.

Deuteronomy 24:14-15 says,  “Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.” (NIV)  This verse deals with economic justice.  Here you have a poor person who works for you and you take advantage of him.  You do not pay him on time and he is depending on that money.  That is a form of stealing.

God takes this seriously.  James 5:4 says, “The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”  God’s message to employees is, “A fair day’s WORK for a fair day’s wage”. God’s message to employers is, “A fair day’s WAGE for a fair day’s work”.

Cheating on your Taxes

Tax evasion is a form of stealing from the government (Romans 13:7; Matthew 22:17-21).  Some seem to think that taxes are theft.  That is not true.  Taxes are payments for the public goods and services we consume. The Bible says to pay them.  Paul says, “Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” (Romans 13:7 NIV).  Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  (Matthew 22:21 KJV). He said to pay Caesar what you owe Caesar.

Dishonest Business Practices

Businesses can steal from consumers. Deuteronomy 25:13-16 says, “Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.” (NIV).

Merchants who are dishonest and try to cheat customers by using false scales to weigh goods are breaking the Eighth Commandment. This was a common practice in the Ancient Near East. It is also something that God hates.  He says it three times in the Book of Proverbs (11:1; 20:10, 23). Some businessmen and salesman will do anything to make a buck – lie, cheat, steal. Here stealing is taking place, not by underpaying people but by overcharging people.  Credit card companies and mortgage companies steal from consumers by overcharging them with incredibly high interest rates often in very small print.  It is called predatory lending.   People who offer loans at extremely high interest rates are called loan sharks.

Stealing Intangible Things

Some steal a grade by cheating on a test or copying someone’s homework. Athletes steal records through performance-enhancing drugs (steroids).  Some people steal other people’s identity.  It is identity theft.  Some preachers steal sermons.  I am not talking about taking an idea here or there and using it.  I am talking about preachers who take an entire sermon off the Internet and preach it word-for-word as their own by copy and paste.  Some pastors have been fired for that.  It is plagiarism in the pulpit.

Governments Can Steal

What are some ways that governments steal?  There are many ways they can do this.

1) Government can steal by excessive taxation.

While tax perse is not theft, it is possible for governments can overtax people. That is a form of theft.  In some places, the tax rate is almost 50%.

2) Government can steal by spying.

Governments can steal state secrets from other nations all of the time.  It is called espionage but that is a fancy word for one government stealing technological or classified information from other nations.

3) Government can steal by deficit spending.

Governments can steal by borrowing too much money.  When the government has a federal debt of trillions of dollars, it steals from our kids and grandkids (generational theft).  The US national debt right now is over 17 trillion dollars.

4) Government can steal by imperialism.

That is big fancy word for stealing land. Big nations often steal from little nations. The Bible talks about stealing land (Micah 2:2; Deuteronomy 27:17).   Did the US steal land from the Indians?  Yes but this does not necessarily let the Native Americans off the hook.  Unfortunately, every country and people group has been guilty of this throughout history, including the Native Americans.

American Indians were killing each other for territory long before the Europeans arrived. When an Indian tribe wanted land, they just took it from another Indian tribe.  Their lands were stolen from them by other Indian tribes before the white man even arrived.  Historically, they were not even the first to live on the land.  They came over from Asia and took it from someone else.

Churches Can Steal

The NT routinely describes many false teachers as motivated by greed.  II Peter 3:1-2, for example says, ““But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.  And in their GREED they will exploit you with false words.” (ESV)

Some preachers are only in the ministry for the money. There are entire ministries based on greed.  They tell you that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy.  God wants you to live the abundant live.  He wants you to be prosperous.  He wants you to be rich.  Some even say that the more you give to the church, the richer you will become.

Some churches have become dens of thieves, like Jesus said. He said that some of the Pharisees were outwardly religious but inwardly full of greed (Luke 11:39). They even robbed poor people and took advantage of them. Jesus said, “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.” (Luke 20:47 NIV).

Christians Can Steal

Can people can rob God today.  Is this even possible for a person to steal from God?  God says that it is. Malachi says that they were doing it in his day. Jesus said that the temple in his day became a den of thieves.  There were thieves in it.  Apparently, there are also some thieves in the church.  How is this possible?  How could human steal from God?  Malachi says that they robbed God by not tithing.

Do Christians need to tithe today?  Is tithing mandatory for Christians?  No.  Tithing is part of the Law of Moses and was not commanded until the Law of Moses.  It is not repeated in the NT and Christians are not under the Law.  It was also part of their tax system of the Jews.  We already pay taxes to the government.

Are Christians still commanded to give?  Yes.  Giving is commanded for Christians and should be generous but there is no command in the NT that we must give ten percent.  Does the principle of robbing God still apply today?  Yes. We rob God when we do not give Him what is His. When we take some things that belong exclusively to God, we rob him.

We rob God every time we miss church.  We rob God when we do not give.  God prospers and blesses us and we do not give anything back to Him.  We keep it all for ourselves.   We rob God when He gives us certain talents and abilities and we do not use them for Him.  We rob God when we take the honor and praise that belongs to God alone.  Herod robbed God and God struck him dead in Acts 12.  It is one thing to steal from man.  It is far worse to try to steal from God.

 


[1] Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19; Leviticus 19:11; Matthew 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Romans 13:9; Ephesians 4:28.

[2] “And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment for what they have earned, an exemplary punishment from Allah, and Allah is Mighty. Wise.” (Surah al-Mā’ida 5:38-39)

[3] http://wanderingpostcard.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/how-we-lie-to-everyone-especially-ourselves-favorite-excerpts-from-dan-arielys-very-honest-book-part-1/

The Seventh Commandment

For the last three weeks, we have been looking at the Sixth Commandment. Today, we come to the Seventh Commandment. It is a commandment that is very relevant in our day.  It is an extremely important commandment.  The Seventh Commandment is the only one of the Ten Commandments that deals with sex.  It is only four words. “Do not commit adultery”.

Definition of Adultery

What is adultery?  What is the definition? There are different ways to define the term.  I am defining it as cheating on your spouse or having an affair. If you are married and are having sex with anyone other than your husband or wife, you are committing adultery.  It refers to consensual extra marital sex.  It is like the man who says, “I’ve been in love with the same woman for twenty years. If my wife ever finds out, she’ll kill me!”

We see this definition in Hebrews 13:4.  Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery.” (GNB).  Note the two categories of sexual sins.  One category is for the married (adulterers) and one category is for the unmarried (fornication or sexual immorality).

If this is the case, you have to be married to commit this sin. Technically a single person can NOT commit adultery. A single person can cause a married person to commit adultery.  If you are single and have sexual relations it would be called fornication, not adultery, because no marriage covenant has been violated.

The Shift in Attitudes Toward Adultery

Attitudes toward adultery have changed throughout the years.  People feel very differently about adultery than they did in biblical times.  There are several differences.

1) Adultery used to be rare. Now it is common.

Adultery used to be rare, although even Jeremiah said, “the land is full of adulterers” (Jeremiah 23:10). Jesus said that he lived in “an evil and an adulterous generation” (Matthew 16:4; 12:39).  We also live in a day in which sexual immorality and adultery are rampant.  It had become an epidemic.

It is so rampant that even our leaders are guilty of this.  We have had members of Congress[1], governors[2], and Presidents[3] commit adultery. When I was younger, I was aware that JFK had an affair with Marilyn Monroe.  What I did not know was that he had affairs with many women.  JFK was a serial adulterer.  It is not just political leaders who do this.  Some religious leaders do it as well, as we see adultery even in the church.  It is common among some preachers today.

It does not just happen in small churches.  It happens in big churches.  In 2006, it happened to Ted Haggard, the pastor of a 14,000 member church in Colorado Springs which he founded.  He railed against homosexuality and then was caught with a male prostitute.  Within the last year, three mega-church pastors were caught in an adulterous relationship.

2) Adultery used to involve shame. Now it has little shame.

Proverbs 6:32-33 says, “But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his SHAME will never be wiped away”. It involves some shame when Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter but that attitude is completely gone today.  People are less tolerant today of sexual sin. It is a private matter and, after all, we are told that we are not to judge or criticize people.

It is no longer shocking today to hear about it.  People who do it have no sense of shame or guilt. If you have an affair, there is no social stigma today.  It has lost its stigma.  It is much more socially accepted today.  Most evangelicals believe that if a pastor commits adultery, he can be restored if he follows all of the requirements laid out for restoration.

The Pentecostal preacher Jimmy Swaggart was caught with a prostitute in 1986.  He supposedly repented and his denomination he could return to the pulpit in three month.  That was later changed to two years.  Swaggart refused to follow what his own denomination required that he left the denomination and started a non-denominational church but soon after that happened, he was caught meeting with prostitutes again.

3) Adultery used to be considered wrong.  Now it is considered almost therapeutic.

Adultery used to be a crime.  Today, it is not even considered a sin.  Many say that there is nothing wrong with adultery. The world says that half of all married men do it.  People justify it like they have done nothing wrong.  Proverbs 30:20 says, “This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

It is even in some Bibles. There is a Bible called The Adulterers Bible. It also goes by the name The Wicked Bible.  Everyone knows about the King James Version which was published in England in 1611 but few know who published it. It was published by a man who worked for the King of England named Robert Barker. This is a different Bob Barker than the TV game show host that we know.  In 1631 he tried to print the King James Version again. 

Barker intended in 1631 to make a reprint of the KJV but it had one mistake in it. It had a typographical error.  It left the word “not” out of the Seventh Commandment.  Instead of saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” it says, “Thou shalt commit adultery”. They tried to burn all of the copies of this bible all but about a dozen of them still exist today.  In 2010, one copy was sold online for $89,000.

Today, adultery is not only seen as not wrong, it is glamorized in some movies.  Some even argue that it is good for you and that it can revive a dull marriage.  One website promotes it.[4]  Its motto is “Life is short have an affair”.  What does God say about adultery?  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).  The way God thinks and the way people think are completely different.  God says that adultery is WRONG.  It made God’s top ten list.  It is a moral absolute. It was wrong in Moses’ day and it is wrong in our day. It is wrong at ALL times and for ALL people. It is condemned in the OT. It is condemned in the NT.  It was not just wrong, it was a crime.

In the OT, it was not just a crime, it was capital crime.  Leviticus 20:10 says, “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife – with the wife of his neighbor -both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.”  That seems strange to us.  The death penalty for sexual sin.  It seems to make perfect sense to execute rapists and child molesters.  God said that adulterers were to die.  That was a sin done by consenting adults in private.  Apparently, God takes this sin very seriously.  The fact that it was a capital crime means that He considers it ultimate evil and demanded the ultimate punishment society can give it.

General Questions

Why is adultery wrong?  Some believe the Bible is primitive.  They believe that this is just an example of male chauvinism.  Many think that adultery is was a crime of property. Bill Maher says, “Adultery is a property crime in the Old Testament, not a sex crime”.  If a man took another man’s wife, he was harming his property.  This is a common view among skeptics and it is based on Exodus 20:17.  “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, OR ANYTHING THAT BELONGS TO YOUR NEIGHBOR.

However, there are some problems with this view.  Adultery is not a property crime.  If that were the case, then only men could commit adultery.  Women could not commit adultery because they would not be stealing the wife’s property.  By that logic, it would NOT be wrong for a woman to seduce a married man.  If that were the case, only men should be punished.  If I take something from my neighbor, I alone should be punished but the Bible says that BOTH the adulterer and adulteress are punished (Leviticus 20:10).

Adultery is wrong because it is a violation of the marriage vows.  You made a vow to your wife that you would remain faithful to her until death and those vows are before God.  It is also wrong because it is an abuse of the sexual relationship.  God created sex exclusively for the marriage relationship.

Can you be forgiven if you commit adultery?  Yes.  Jesus said every kind of sin and blasphemy can be forgiven but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:31).  Usually, we tend to focus on the second half of that verse and miss out on what Jesus says in the first half of the verse.  Jesus says that EVERY KIND of sin and blasphemy can be forgiven.  Every kind of sin includes sexual sins.  It includes adultery.  Now Jesus made an exception.  He said, “except for the blasphemy against the Spirit” but that is a verbal sin.  It is not a sexual sin.  Adultery is a sin that can be forgiven.

There are even people in the Bible who committed adultery and were forgiven.  There is an example in the OT and an example in the NT.  King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and was forgiven by God after he genuinely repented.  You can read about his adultery in II Samuel 11.  It took him a year to repent and God had to send Nathan the prophet to confront him but he finally repented and wrote Psalm 51 afterwards.

In the NT, the woman who was caught in adultery was also forgiven by Jesus in John 8.  He said, “Neither do I condemn you”.  Unfortunately, being forgiven by God is no guarantee that your marriage will survive.  In fact, Jesus said that adultery is grounds for divorce.  He said that sexual immorality is grounds for divorce (Matthew 5:32; 19:9).  To this day, adultery is grounds for divorce in most states.

Sin has consequences.  We reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7).  Adultery is a marriage killer.  It hurts spouses, destroys marriages, harms children, breaks up families, ruins reputations, and, in some cases, destroys careers.  Proverbs 6:32 says, “Whoever commits adultery destroys himself” and it destroys a lot of other people as well.

The Steps to Adultery

What steps lead to adultery?  There are several different ways it happens but it usually does not happen overnight. It often doesn’t begin with sex. It begins when you make an emotional connection with a person who is not your spouse.   Someone else besides your spouse begins to meet your emotional needs.  You look forward to meeting that person and make excuses to get together.

You begin to be dishonest with your spouse. You mentally compare that person with your spouse and start flirting with that person, which leads to some type of physical contact which leads to something more serious.  Some time the culprit is Facebook.  People talk about the “Facebook Adulteries” as some try to reconnect with old boyfriends or girl friends.  Many adulterous relationships begin with Facebook.

How to Prevent Adultery

How do you prevent adultery? What are some practical ways to stay faithful to your wife?

1. Recognize the danger

The first step in preventing adultery is to recognize the problem.  Adultery is a sin that anyone can commit.  Even mature Christians and pastors of churches can fall into this sin.  King David, a man after God’s heart, the man who wrote many of the psalms, committed this sin. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (I Corinthians 10:12).

2. Have a strong marriage

Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, and be embraced in the arms of a seductress? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths. (Proverbs 5:15-21)

One of the best ways to prevent adultery is to have a strong marriage. That is the best antidote. It is the best prevention.  Spend quality time with your wife.  Be intimate with your wife.  That goes beyond sex.

Solomon was talking to husbands and told them to drink from their own well, not their neighbor’s well (5:15). They are to find pleasure and sexual satisfaction in their wife (5:15), not in some other woman. That is the picture of drinking from a well, quenching your thirst. Find joy and delight in your wife (5:18).  The solution that is given in Proverbs is not just negative (stay away from the prostitute and do not even go near the door of her house) but is positive (find satisfaction in your spouse).

Cisterns were used in the ancient world to store water.  In that culture, a cistern was a private water supply for the household but he is not talking about drinking about water at all.  Solomon describes a wife as a cistern (5:15) and a well (5:15).  She is also described as a deer and a doe (female deer) in 5:19. We have a few of those on our property.  These animals are symbols of gentleness, kindness and beauty.

3. Don’t get close to this sin

For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path FAR from her, DO NOT GO NEAR THE DOOR OF HER HOUSE” (Proverbs 5:3-8)

Solomon says do not even go near the door of her house. Don’t even get close to the sin. Don’t try to get as close to the sin as you can without committing it. That is like trying to get as close as you can to fire without being burned or getting as close as you can to the edge of the Grand Canyon without falling over the cliff. The Bible says to FLEE sexual immorality (I Corinthians 6:18) and that includes adultery. Flee means, not just to resist the sin but to RUN from it.

4. Remove the source of temptation

Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30)

The way to have victory over sin is to remove the source of temptation. Deal with the source of the temptation. Cut it off, as Jesus says.  What is offending you? What is causing you to sin? It’s that simple. Avoid any person, any place or anything which might cause us to sin. How are you tempted to sin in this area?

Is it through watching certain movies? Is it by going to certain places? Is it looking at certain magazines? Is it the Internet? If it is the Internet, you can get a filter and keep your computer in a public area at home.  If it is a person, that means avoiding or limiting contact with that person.

Relevance Today

Many of us come to the Seventh Commandment and think we are off the hook for two reasons. First, some of you have never had an affair. You have never cheated on your spouse. Second, some of you are not even married. The point of the Seventh Commandment is sexual purity.  Is that important just for married people?  No.  It is important for singles as well.

The Bible has a lot to say about that topic.  It tells us that this is the will of God for us to abstain from sexual immorality (I Thessalonians 4:3).  It commands us to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against the soul (I Peter 2:11).  It tells us to flee youthful passions (II Timothy 2:22).  It tells us that there should not be even a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity among us (Ephesians 5:3).

Jesus and the Seventh Commandment

What did Jesus say about the Seventh Commandment? Jesus mentioned two other ways that this commandment is broken today.

1. Unbiblical Divorce (Legal Adultery)

We do not normally think of this as adultery. You rarely, if ever, hear this preached from the pulpit but Jesus said that some second marriages can result in adultery (Matthew 5:32; 19:9). This is not the traditional definition of adultery. Most scholars believe that Jesus was referring to the marriage of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, the one who ruled the whole area of Galilee during the ministry of Jesus. John the Baptist preached against his marriage and got his head cut off. What was wrong with his marriage?

Josephus tells us that one day Antipas visited his brother Philip in Rome. Both were married at the time but, while he was there, Antipas fell in love with Philip’s wife Herodias. So what did they do? Both Antipas and Herodias got a divorce, so they could get married. It was perfectly legal. It just wasn’t moral. In the eyes of God, Philip and Herodias were still married. What they two of them did was to commit adultery through remarriage. Now all divorce and remarriage is not adultery but in this case it would be.

Getting a divorce WITHOUT BIBLCAL GROUNDS in order to marry someone else you fall in love with is adultery. Do people still do this today? Yes. Even some Christians have done this. They are married to one person and they find their “soul mate”. So they get a divorce and marry that person. That is what Amy Grant did in 1999. She was married to Gary Chapman for sixteen years and had three kids by him. Then she fell in love with a married man who she called her “soul mate”. Both of them got a divorce and married each other less than a year later.

2. Sexual Lust (Mental Adultery)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

Why did Jesus say this?  There are many men who would never commit physical adultery.  In fact, they are proud that they have never broken their marriage vow but that does not stop them from fantasizing about having an affair with another woman. What Jesus says here is very radical.  It is completely counter-cultural.  According to the world, this is completely natural and normal. Fantasies are harmless. At least it is safe sex. You can’t get an STD from impure thoughts. You can’t get anyone pregnant that way.

This is a real problem for most men. Samson was the strongest man in the Bible.  He tore apart a lion apart with his bare hands.  He knocked down pillars of a huge temple by pushing on them but he was extremely weak in this area.  The strongest of men was defeated by the weakest of women.  This is a big problem for men.  It may be that this is why Jesus said, “If a MAN looks at a woman lustfully” because this is a sin that men are more prone to, although this is also a temptation for some women. What does Jesus say about this topic? He makes two completely radical statements.

1) Lust is Adultery

Jesus said that you can commit adultery on the inside.  You can commit mental adultery. You can commit adultery with your mind, not your body.  Jesus said that adultery is wrong and thinking about adultery is wrong.  Jesus does NOT just say that lust leads to adultery, although that is true (Matthew 15:19-20). He says that lust IS adultery. Jesus said, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has ALREADY committed adultery WITH HER in his heart” (5:29). It is a form of adultery.

Now we need to be very careful here.  The natural sex drive is not wrong.  God created it.  Acknowledging someone is physically attractive is not wrong but deliberately looking at someone who is not your spouse and lusting is sin.  That is the very purpose of pornography.  The purpose of pornography is looking at women or men to lust after them.  It is a big business.

The point here is that God is concerned about our heart, not just our body.  God wants our heart.  Many can be pure on the outside and impure on the inside.  We can keep the letter of the law but break the spirit of the law.  That is the Bill Clinton approach.  “I did not have sex with that woman”.  The way he defined sex, he didn’t.  Teens talk about technical virgins.  They miss the whole point.  They are not virgins at all.

2) Adultery sends people to Hell

Jesus warned about the danger of being thrown into Hell over this sin (Matthew 5:29-30). Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. GOD WILL JUDGE those who are immoral and those who commit adultery” (GNB).   Paul said,  “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters NOR ADULTERERS nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (I Corinthians 6:9-10)

Matthew 5:20 says, For I tell you that unless your righteousness SURPASSES that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly NOT enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus is giving his disciples the entrance requirements to the kingdom. This would have been a shocking statement to the people who heard this. We have to be more righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees to get into heaven.  Jesus even uses the double negative in Greek for emphasis.  If you do not do this, there is no possible way that you will enter into heaven.

This seemed literally impossible to do. The Pharisees were the most religious people in Jesus’ day.  They said long prayers. They fasted twice a week.  They tithed even down to garden vegetables.  They were the most righteous people on the planet.  Jesus says that it is not enough to be a perfect Pharisee.  He says that you have to surpass them to enter into heaven.

How do you do that?  Fast four times a week instead of two?  Say longer prayers?  No. You have to have a completely different kind of righteousness than the Pharisees had.  It is qualitative, rather than quantitative.  The Pharisees were righteous on the outside but not on the inside (23:27-28).  Their righteousness was external, not internal.

Is Jesus teaching salvation by works?  Do you have to work your way into heaven and work harder than the Pharisees?  No. Jesus was not teaching how to be saved.  He was talking to believers in Matthew 5.  He is talking to his disciples (cf. 5:1).  If you want to find out how to get saved, you have to read about the new birth in John 3 where Jesus explained how to have eternal life.  Jesus is explaining in Matthew 5 who will and who will not be saved.  He is not telling how you get saved.  What He is saying is that, if you are really saved, you have to be different on the inside as well as the outside. If your righteousness is just external and outward (like the Pharisees), you will NOT be in heaven.


[1] E.g., Bob Livingston, David Vitter, John Ensign.

[2] E.g., Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson.

[3] E.g., Harding, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Clinton.

 

 

The Sixth Commandment

An updated and revised version of this teaching can be found at the following link –  http://www.elonsmallgroup.com/the-sixth-commandment-2/.  The Sixth Commandment is a very short verse. It is only four words in some Bibles (“You shall not murder” (ESV, NASB), three words in others (“Do not murder”) but only two words in the Hebrew.  It is a very important verse.  This is a very controversial commandment.  Christians have some very different ideas as to what this commandment means.

We want to look at what this commandment means, what other Christians have said about this commandment, what Jesus said about the Sixth Commandment, what skeptics have said about this commandment and how it applies to us today.  I want to look at the text theologically, as well as practically.  What exactly does this commandment forbid?

History of the Translation

How should the Sixth Commandment be translated?  Some bibles read, “You shall not kill”.  Others read, “You shall not murder”.  I spent the last week looking at the history of the translation of this verse from the beginning to the present day.  It is fascinating.   The very earliest translations of the Bible said “Thou shalt not kill.”

John Wycliff (1395) was the first one to ever translate the Bible into English.  He translated Exodus 20:13, “Thou schalt not sle (slay)”.  To slay means to kill.  Slay was later changed to “kyll” in the 1500s.  “Thou shalt not kyll” was the reading of the Tyndale Bible (1534), the Coverdale Bible (1535), the Taverner’s Bible (1539) and the Bishop’s Bible (1568).

That was the Old English word for kill.  A few years later, the word “kyll” was spelled kill.  ”Thou shalt not kill” was the reading of the Geneva Bible (1587), King James Bible (1611). “Thou shalt not kill” was the universal reading of the passage for three to four hundred years.

The first bible translation which reads “You shall not murder” was in 1746[1].  The earliest English translation of the modern rendering which I have been able to find is in 1746.  In the 1800s and 1900s, other Bibles also gave the same translation “you shall not murder”[2].  That took place in the middle of the 1800s.  This trend has continued up to the present day.

Today, nearly all modern translations read “You shall not murder,” including the New King James Version.  There was no conspiracy.  It was done by everyone, Jewish translators and Christian translators, liberals and conservatives. Today, very few Bibles keep the old rendering “You shall not kill”[3].

Difference between Murder and Killing

Some have said, “Why don’t we kill people to kill people to show that killing is wrong”. What’s the problem with that philosophy? It confuses killing with murder. Killing is NOT the same as murder. Someone dies in both cases but the two words are not interchangeable. While it is true that all murder is killing, all killing is NOT murder.  There a big difference between killing and murder?

MURDER

KILLING

More specific General
Intentional and planned Can be accidental
Always wrong Not always wrong
Never Justified May be Justified
Illegal Legal
A Crime Not a Crime
Expressly forbidden by God At times prescribed by God
Motivated by hate Motivated by justice
Bad motives (motivated by anger) May have good motives (protect yourself or family)

 

If the KJV is right and the Sixth Commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill”, then all killing would be wrong. If you believe that all killing is wrong, then the following would be true.

1) It would mean that it is wrong to hunt.

Some people believe that it is even wrong to kill so much as a fly or a mosquito. Insects have rights.

2) It would mean that it is wrong to wear a fur coat.

If it is wrong to kill animals, it is wrong to wear fur coats because that represents suffering and injustice to animals?

3) It would mean that it is wrong to own a gun.

It would mean that we cannot be a member of the NRA.

4) It would mean that it is wrong to eat meat.

We all have to be vegetarians and stop eating those nice juicy steaks.

5) It would mean that it is wrong to defend yourself when attacked.

Self-defense would be wrong. Studying martial arts would be unchristian. Jesus said, “If anyone slaps you on the face, turn the other check”. Some say that it is unchristian to defend your family if someone breaks into your home.

6) It would mean that it is wrong to fight in war.

They believe that was is mass murder. It would be wrong to join the army. That would be an unchristian profession.

7) It would mean that it is wrong to put people to death.

If all killing is wrong, then capital punishment is wrong.

Which Translation is Correct?

What does the original language say?  The Hebrew is not very helpful here.  The Hebrew word ratsach is used about 47 times in the OT.  It can mean kill or it can mean murder.  Both translations are possible.  The word ratsach can mean premeditated murder (I Kings 21:19; II Kings 6:32; Judges 20:4; Job 24:14).  It is used of a lion killing its prey which certainly is not accidental (Proverbs 22:13).

Does ratsach always means murder?  No.  Sometimes it means accidental killing (Deuteronomy 4:41-42; 19:4-5; Numbers 35:6-31; Joshua 20:3-5).  The word has several different meanings, like most words in English.  You cannot tell from the word itself.  You have to look at the context.  This commandment is NOT an absolute prohibition against killing. It doesn’t mean that killing is always wrong.

In the context of the Mosaic Law, the KJV translation is impossible.  The verse CANNOT mean “Thou shalt not kill” because certain kinds of killing were allowed in the Mosaic Law.  It was not only allowed, it was prescribed.  That would contradict the rest of the Mosaic Law.

a) The killing of animals was allowed in the Mosaic Law.

There were many different types of animal sacrifices in the Law of Moses (sin offerings, burn offerings, trespass offerings, peace offerings).  In the OT, you were allowed to kill animals for food (Genesis 9:1-3). Hunting of animals was allowed (Proverbs 12:27). In fact, in the Law of Moses, there were animal sacrifices. None of this was considered a violation of the Sixth Commandment.

b) Going to war was allowed in the Mosaic Law

God commanded people to go to war in the OT (Numbers 31:3-7; Deuteronomy 20:1-4; Judges 3:10).

c) The death penalty was allowed in the Mosaic Law.

The penalty for breaking the Sixth Commandment was death.  Exodus 21:14 says, “if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death” (NIV).  Leviticus 24:17, 21 says, “Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death… Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.”

Numbers 35:16-18 says, “‘If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. Or if anyone is holding a stone and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.”

In order to convict someone of murder, you had to have more than one witness to the crime (Deuteronomy 17:6-7; 19:15). That makes conviction harder because when will there be two witnesses to the crime.  How often would two people see a murder take place?  It also made it easy to frame someone for murder.  That is one difference between the American and Jewish legal system. We have something better than witnesses. It is called DNA. Witnesses might lie or think they saw something that they didn’t.  DNA does not lie but it also was not discovered until 1950[4].

d) Killing in self-defense was allowed in the Mosaic Law

Exodus 22:2-3. This is a case of breaking and entering. Here we have a home invasion that takes place at night by a thief. Keep in mind that when this was written, there was no electricity. You couldn’t turn the light on to see who it was. In this case, a fight breaks out between the homeowner and the intruder. Deadly force is used and the intruder dies. God says the homeowner is not guilty of murder (22:2).

There is no punishment. You don’t even have to flee to a city of refuge. God says you have the right to protect and defend yourself and your family from intruders at night. Jesus said something similar in the NT (cf. Luke 12:39). God also said in Exodus that if the homeowner killed the person the next day, it was considered murder (22:3). In that case, it would no longer be self-defense but revenge.  This is the biblical basis for what is called in the law today “the castle doctrine” (the right of homeowners to use deadly force to repel an invader).

Did Jesus Prohibit Self-Defense?

There are some Christians who believe that it is wrong to defend yourself.  They believe that this is what Jesus taught.  He said, “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:39-42).

This is one of the most radical sayings of Jesus.  Many people have completely misunderstood it.  Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi responded to injustice with civil disobedience.  They advocated peaceful resistance to evil, nonviolent resistance.  That is not what Jesus said.  He did not say, “Resist evil people but do it nonviolently and passively”.  He said, “Don’t resist evil people” (Matthew 5:39).

What does this mean?  Are we never to stand up for ourselves?  Is Jesus asking us all to be doormats?  Does it mean that we have to submit to abuse?  Is it wrong to defend yourself?  Are we just supposed to turn the other cheek when someone hits us?  Does that mean that we are to turn the cheek to terrorists as well?  Jesus said that we are not to resist evil men?  What does that mean?  Does it mean that we are not to resist Hitler?  There are several things that you should know about this passage.

1. This is hyperbole

This is exaggeration.  Jesus often used exaggeration to make a point.  Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21).  Can we move literal mountains as we are driving down the road with our faith?  Jesus said we don’t even need much faith to do that.  We only need faith as small as a mustard seed to do that.  It is hyperbole.  Matthew 5:39 is hyperbole as well.

How do we know?  Let’s let Jesus interpret his own words.  Jesus did interpret this literally.  Right after Jesus was arrested; he was handcuffed and taken to the high priest.  The high priest asked him a question.  He answered the question.  When one of the officers of the high priest didn’t like his answer, he slapped Jesus in the face (see John 18:19-23).

Jesus was not silent.  He did not just turn the other cheek.  He protested and objected to the abuse. He said, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?””  Jesus did not turn the check literally when he was slapped and the Apostle Paul did not either (Acts 23:2-5).

2. This is dealing with individuals, not the state

He is not dealing with how the state functions.  He is talking about individuals.  “YOU have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’But I tell YOU, do not resist an evil person. If ANYONE slaps YOU on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also”.  Why is this important? Jesus told individuals not to resist evil but he did not tell nations or to the state to do that.

In fact, the Apostle Paul said that one of the jobs of the state is to punish evil-doers or criminals (Romans 13:1-4).  The state is to resist evil men.  They have the power of the sword.  It is to do the exact opposite of what Jesus said in Matthew 5.  It is the job of the state to resist evil.  If a police officer sees a murder taking place, they will not reason with the perpetrator and quote Gandhi.  He will pull out his revolver and administer justice to protect people.  In the same way, Hitler was not defeated by love.  He was defeated by force.

3. This is not dealing with a self-defense situation

Jesus says, “If anyone SLAPS YOU on the right cheek”. We are dealing here with a slap on the face with an open hand, not a punch in the face with a closed fist. A slap was an insult done by someone in authority. The goal of a slap on the cheek was not so much to injure someone but to insult and humiliate that person. 

If I face someone and punch or slap them, it would land on their left cheek. The only conceivable blow that would land on the right cheek would be a slap with the back of the right hand, assuming that I am right handed (as the majority of people in the world are). We are talking about a back handed slap.  It was painful.  It was humiliating.  It was insulting.  It was demeaning.  It is like someone spitting on you but it was NOT a life or death situation.

It had nothing to do with self-defense.  It had to do with a slap, not a punch. It has nothing to do with defending yourself when someone attacks you. Jesus is not saying here that you can’t defend yourself or your family. Jesus told his Apostles to buy a sword to defend themselves. Luke 22:35-36 says, “Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered. He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

That is very strange. Before his death, Jesus commanded his Apostles to buy a sword. That is not the Jesus we normally think of. The one who said, “turn the other cheek” here says, “Go buy a weapon”. He did not tell them to go overboard. He said that two was enough but He did tell them to buy a weapon. The Greek word used here (μάχαιρα) means, not a big sword (like a bayonet or a samurai sword), but a short sword (more like a dagger) that travelers would use against robbers.

Jesus wouldn’t tell his Apostles to buy a weapon, would he? Many do not like this passage and so they say that the sword must be symbolic. The problem is that all of the other things in the verse are literal (purse, bag, sandals), so this must be as well. If it is symbolic, it would be symbolic of protection from danger, since that was the purpose of a sword. If you are going to be in a dangerous situation, you might need to get something for protection (e.g., pepper spray).

If Matthew 5:39 us not talking about self-defense, what is it talking about?  It is talking about revenge.  In the Bible, there is a difference between self-defense and revenge.  In self-defense, your life is in danger.  The goal with self-defense is to stay alive.  The goal of revenge is to hurt someone else.  You want to get even with someone and get back at them for something they did to you.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’” (Matthew 5:38).  Who said that?  The OT said that.  Moses said that three times (Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:17-20; Deuteronomy 19:21).  The Code of Hammurabi (196, 200, 230) said it as well in 1772 BC.  That is the Babylonian Law Code of ancient Iraq (1772 BC).  It is one of the oldest law codes in history.  It existed even before the Law of Moses. There is a common myth about these laws called lex taliones.  Many think that these types of laws are primitive and barbaric.  That is simply not true.

These laws were good (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a life for a life).  They were to be used by judges in a court setting.  It is a principle of fairness.  The punishment should fit the crime. The original law was actually used to limit violence, not encourage it.  An eye for an eye, not two.   It was used to break the cycle of violence.  If someone took you eye, you could not take their life and the life of their whole family.

The problem is that in Jesus day “an eye for an eye” was used to encourage violence and revenge. It was used to justify personal vendettas.  That is the way we use the term today.  It is no longer used in a court setting.  It is now used in a personal setting.  It is used of taking the law into your and getting even with someone.  It is the theme of many movies.  If you hadn’t notices, men and women do not like the same kind of movies.  Many men like action movies.

How many action movies today have a common theme?  The first ten minutes or so, the villain in the movie slaughters a bunch of people.  The rest of the movie, the main character slaughters everyone else and gets revenge.  The actors are different but the theme is the same: Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris in martial arts movies; Sylvester Stallone in “Rambo” movies, Charles Bronson in the “Death Wish” movies and John Wayne in the old Westerns.

We like revenge movies.  If someone slaps you on the face, your natural reaction is to slap him back and hit the person harder.  That is our natural inclination.  Yasser Arafat, former head of the PLO, once said, “We don’t believe in turning the other cheek.  If someone hits us in the cheek, we hit back twice as hard”.  We say, “Don’t get mad, get even”.  The Bible says something else.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:9).  Many think that that is NT teaching and that the God of the OT was violent and bloody.  Actually Paul is just quoting the OT.  Romans 12 is just a quotation from Deuteronomy 32.  Vengeance was wrong in the OT and it is wrong in the NT.  We don’t have to do that because God promises to do that for us and He can do a much better job than we can.  We are not to return evil for evil.

You say, “Paul has some great teaching on vengeance but did he practice it?”  II Timothy 4:14 says, “Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm or ‘did me much evil’ (KJV). The Lord will repay him for what he has done.”  He did evil to Paul.  We don’t know what he did but in some way he did something bad to Paul.  Instead of Alexander the metalworker, we could fill in the name of someone else in who did evil to us.  Paul did not take matters into his own hands.  He said that God is going to repay him.

 Relevance of the Sixth Commandment Today

Murder is found in every culture and people. It is as old as the first child born on the planet was a murderer.  The first child that Adam and Eve had was named Cain and Cain, not only committed murder, he murdered a sibling.  He murdered his own brother.  That explain why mankind is so violent.  We have violence in our blood.  Murder goes all the way back to the first baby ever born.  Moses himself was guilty of this crime.  He killed an Egyptian taskmaster before he hid the body and fled to the land of Midian and stayed there for forty years.

This is a command that is very relevant to us today.  We live in an extremely violent world.  We live in a culture of violence.  Before the Flood the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:11) and it is filled with violence today.  We have people chopping heads off in other countries and posting it online.

We see so many violent images that we have become desensitized to it.  We like violent movies.  To many of us, it makes great entertainment.  Many of us like violent video games where people kill for fun.  Many kids listen to music with violent lyrics about killing cops.  I teach kids in school who think that violence is cool.  They think that running around and shooting people is cool.

Why the Problem is so Serious Today

1) We have people that kill complete strangers or the most innocent of victims.

We kill the unborn which are completely helpless and defenseless. Others walk into an elementary school and kill a bunch of kindergartners. It is one thing if you hate someone and you kill him. Today, people often kill people that they don’t hate. They kill people that they do not even know.

2) We not only kill strangers, we kill family members.

We have had mothers who drowned all of their kids in a bathtub or in a river. We kill our children, sometimes before they are born through abortion and sometimes after they are born.

3) We have not only people who kill but people who kill repeatedly.

It is a habit. They just love to kill people. They kill for fun. They are called serial killers. They get a rise out of killing people.

4) We have other people that love to kill large groups of people at once.

We call them mass murderers. They will use planes or explosives to kill as many people as possible and to cause maximum damage. We have people who have tried to kill entire races of people, like Hitler who tried to wipe out all of the Jews.

5) We commit barbaric acts of atrocity without any remorse whatsoever.

We justify abortion and say that it is not really a baby and a woman has the right to do what she wants with her own body. We kill large groups of people who did nothing to us at all and think that, not only did we not do anything wrong, but that we did a good deed and that God is going to reward us for our actions. Radical Muslims believe they will be rewarded in heaven for committing acts of atrocity. They call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20). Jesus predicted that the time would come when anyone who killed Christians would think that they were doing God a service (John 16:2).

Reasons Murder is Wrong

The Sixth Commandment says that we are not to murder people.  Why not?  There are several reasons.  We should not murder because life is sacred.  No human life is worthless.  It all has value in God’s eyes.  We should not murder because God is the one who gives life and He is the only one who has a right to take life unless he gives permission for others to take it.  Finally, we should not murder because when we commit murder, we are killing someone who has the image of God stamped on them (cf. Genesis 9:1-6).

Genesis 9:6 teaches. “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.”  Murder is not just a crime against society; it is a crime against God.  The Bible teaches that everyone is created in the image of God.  When we kill someone, we kill that image.  An attack on man is an attack on God.  God says in Genesis that animals could be slaughtered for food (as long as the blood is drained out) but innocent human blood must not be shed by man or animal.

Difficult Questions from Skeptics

Question 1: Can you be pro-life and support the death penalty?

That seems like a contradiction. It seems illogical.  How would you answer this question?  There are two problems with this question.

1) Pro-lifers do NOT believe that all killing is wrong.

All pro-lifers are not vegetarians.  They believe it is okay to kill animals for food.  They believe it is right to kill in self-defense.  They do not believe that killing is never justified.  If they did, it would be an inconsistency.  They oppose wrongful death.  They only oppose the taking of an innocent human life.  That is really a straw man argument.

2) There is no moral equivalence in the two cases

There is no comparison at all between an abortion and the execution of John Wayne Gacy.  In both cases a death occurs but, one involves the destruction of innocent baby, while the other the punishment of a mass murderer.  One kills an innocent person.  One kills a guilty person.

Killing a murderer actually upholds the value of life.  It says that the crime is so serious that it warrants the ultimate penalty that society can impose and protects society from deadly predators.

Question 2: Does this commandment apply to God?

One objection that atheists and skeptics raise is whether this commandment applies to God.  If it is immoral for us to murder or kill people, why is it okay for God to kill people?  Atheists and skeptics talk about all of the God murders in the Bible.  Bill Maher called the God of the Bible a psychotic mass murder who drowns babies, kills people and gets away with it.  Does he have a valid point?  If not, how would you answer that objection?

1)   It confuses the creature with the Creator.

It is a category error.  It puts God on our level.  God is the Creator.  He is the one who gave life.  He can take it at any point.  Murder is wrong, according to Scripture because we are created in God’s image and when you kill someone, you destroy God’s property.  Can God destroy God’s property? Yes. He created it and it belongs to Him from the beginning.

As Greg Koukl points out, God can do what He wants with His universe. If He chooses to give life, He can give it. If He chooses to take life, He can take it. I could take my car apart and put it in a million pieces but it would not be right for someone else to do that to your car without your permission.  Why?  It is not their car.  If you make something or invent something, you have certain rights to it.  You have certain patent rights.  We can do what we want with our property.  God can do what He wants with his property.  It’s not immoral for God to take the life of His own property.

2)   It confuses killing with murder.

Killing and murder are not the same thing.  There is a big difference.  One is legal and one is not.  One kills innocent people (murder) and one kills guilty people.  When God takes the life of someone or a group of people in judgment, it is not murder.  God never takes the life of an innocent person.  The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.  Everyone one on the planet is a sinner.  We all deserve death.  God allows most of us to live a long time but he has the right to take our life at any time.

Modern Applications to the Sixth Commandment

SUICIDE

Suicide is Common

Did you know that statistically more people die by suicide in America than by homicide?  Suicide is a greater danger than murder.  These days doctors can even help you commit suicide.  It is called physician-assisted suicide (PAS).  It provides a patient with the medical means and knowledge to commit suicide.  In some states, patients who are in great pain due to an incurable illness like cancer.  PAS is currently legal in three states: Oregon (1994), Montana (2009), and Washington (2008).  Thirty nine states have laws against it.  North Carolina is not one of them.

Suicide is Old

It happened in biblical times.  There are six recoded suicides in Scripture.  One of the Apostles committed suicide.  Everyone says that there are seven but there are really only six suicides in the Bible.  Samson did not commit suicide.  He laid down his life.  He sacrificed his life.  He died killing the Philistines.  There are really six suicides in Scripture.

Of the six suicides, five are found in the OT and one is found in the NT.  Three involved kings (Abimeleck, Saul & Zimri).  Two involved people who worked for kings (Ahithophel, an advisor to King David and Saul’s armor-bearer).  One involved an Apostle.  Three died by the sword.  One died by fire and two by hanging.

Suicide is Murder

What does God think of suicide?  Many argue that the Bible does not directly prohibit suicide.  That is true but suicide is murder.  It is intentional killing on oneself and it is forbidden by the Sixth Commandment.  Suicide is self-murder. The Sixth Commandment does not say, “You shall not murder your neighbor”. It says, “You shall not murder” period and that includes the murder of yourself.

Suicide is wrong because it violates a clear command of Scripture (one of God’s top ten).  It is a sin against God.  God is the one who gave us life and He is the only one who has the right to take our life.  It is a sin against our body. It is a sin against our family.  It is selfish.

When Paul and Silas were in prison, an earthquake took place.  All of the prison doors were opened and everyone’s chain fell off.  When the Philippian jailer saw what happened, he pulled out his sword and was ready to kill himself, Paul cried with a LOUD VOICE “Do yourself no harm” (Acts 16:25-28). God’s word to anyone thinking about suicide is “Do yourself no harm”.

Look at the case of job.  He did not do anything wrong and he suffered greatly.  God took his family away.  God took his money away.  God took his health away.  He was in pain.  He had no reason to live.  He wanted to die and prayed to die (Job 8:8-9) but he never took his own life.  Can a true believer commit suicide?  Yes.  Once you get saved, you do not stop sinning. Believers can commit the same sins that unbelievers commit.  David committed adultery and murder.  You can commit suicide and go to heaven.

Some wonder how a suicide could go to heaven, because it is a sin that by definition excludes repentance.  That is true.  It is not a sin that you can confess before you die but everyone goes to heaven with some unconfessed sin (even believers who do not commit suicide) and the blood of Jesus covers all sin, not just some of them.  He died for all of our sins, including the sin of suicide.

Of course, you can also commit suicide and go to hell.  Most of the people who commit suicide are unsaved.  They kill themselves because they are depressed and have no hope.  None of the people in the Bible who committed suicide (as far as we know) involved genuine believers.  People should never think suicide is okay because they will just go to heaven because most people who commit suicide are not saved in the first place.

EUTHANASIA

What is euthanasia?  Euthanasia is a combination of two Greek words – the Greek word θάνατος (which means death) and the Greek prefix εύ (which means good as in euphonic, euphoria, eulogy, euphemism).  Together they mean “good death”.

Euthanasia occurs when someone is in a comma and a family member has the person put to death (Terri Schiavo).  It is called “mercy killing”.  Why is it done?  It is done to relieve suffering, although in many cases the person is not consulted on the matter because you cannot ask them what they want.

What is the problem with it from a biblical perspective?  It violates the Sixth Commandment.  It is medical murder.  The Bible teaches that life is sacred.  It teaches that God is the one who gives life.  He is the one who takes life.  He is the one who determines how long we live.  It is based on the ends justifies the means (unbiblical philosophy).  We do not deliberately violate a clear command of Scripture for good reason.

ABORTION

The Bible does not specifically mention abortion.  That seems strange.  It was practiced in the ancient world.  It was done in ancient Greece and ancient Rome.  Many use Exodus 21:22-23 as a verse for or against abortion but that verse is not even talking about abortion.

It is talking about two men fighting and one accidentally injures a pregnant woman in some way.  The damage in that case was accidental.  With abortion, it is the intentional destruction of the unborn.  Critics point out that the Bible does not prohibit abortion but it does prohibit murder.  God HATES the shedding of innocent blood (Proverbs 6:16-17).

Abortion has been legal in the US since 1973. I can’t imagine what will happen when Justice Harry Blackmun who wrote the opinion for the Supreme Court in Roe v Wade stands before God with the blood of five-six million babies on your head. That is how many babies have been aborted in America since Roe v Wade.  He killed ten times as many people as Hitler did in the Holocaust by that one ruling.  Blackmun was one of the most liberal justices on the court and was replaced by Stephen Breyer.  He died in 1999.

Answering Pro-Abortion Arguments

1. Abortion is legal.

There is a difference between God’s laws and man’s laws.  Legal does not necessarily mean moral.  That doesn’t mean that it is right.  Slavery was legal at one time.  That does not mean that we should have slavery today.

The Supreme Court has been wrong before.  The Supreme Court said that blacks were not inferior beings who had no rights and were not citizens as defined by the Constitution.  The Supreme Court decided this in a 7-2 ruling.  It was the Dred Scott decision (1856).

Just because the Supreme Court says something does not mean that it is true.  The Supreme Court has been wrong before and in some cases had to later admit that they were wrong.  It simply means that it is the law of the land but what is legal is not necessarily moral.

2. A woman has the right to choose.

Right to choose is not an issue.  A woman has the right to choose what she wants to eat, who she wants to marry, what she wants to do for a living, where she wants to go to school or where she wants to go to church.  They have the right to choose, just not the right to kill.

3.  A woman has the right to her own body.

Is this a valid argument?  There are two problems with this argument.  First, it is not an absolute right.  You cannot do anything you want with your body.  You can’t put certain drugs in your body.  It’s illegal, so you can’t do whatever you want with your body.  You can’t drink and drive.

If you have a right to your body, then you could become a prostitute.  You could use your body for prostitution but that is illegal in most states.  If you can do anything with your body, then you should not have to wear a seat belt but we have seat belt laws.  If I could do anything I want with my body, I could punch someone in the nose with impunity.

Second, Abortion does not involve the woman’s body but the baby’s body.  That is a different body.  It is IN the woman’s body but it is NOT her body.  The baby’s body has a separate DNA from the mother (it is genetically distinct), separate heartbeat, separate fingers and toes, separate blood type in some cases, separate sexual organs from the mother. The child may die and the mother may live or the mother may live and the child may die, proving that the two are separate individuals.

The issue is NOT what a woman can and cannot do with her own body.  The issue is what a woman can and cannot do with someone else’s body. The woman has the right to her own body. She does NOT have the right to kill another body.

4. No one knows when life begins.

That is an argument AGAINST abortion, not for it.  As Ronald Reagan said, “If you are not sure, then don’t shoot”.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Pro-choice advocates admit that it is possible that life begins at conception.  Genetically, we are human at conception. That is when we get 46 chromosomes (23 from the male sperm and 23 from the female ovum), as opposed to a dog (78) or a cat (38). We have those 46 chromosomes the rest of our life.

5.  We cannot legislate morality

The argument is that you have no right to impose your morality on others.  All laws impose morality on someone (e.g., laws that forbid stealing, child abuse).  Many say, “I am personally against abortion but I cannot impose my beliefs on others”. That would be like saying, “I am personally against killing blacks and Jews but everyone has to decide for himself”.

It would be like saying, “I personally do not advocate wife beating but each husband has to make up his own mind”.  This view would say, “I think slavery is wrong but I want not want to impose my views on other people”.

It would be like saying, “I think rape is wrong but I would not dare pass judgment on anyone else for what they do” or “I personally would not shoot the person sitting right next to me but it would be okay for someone else to kill them”.

Jesus and the Sixth Commandment?

Jesus talks about the Sixth Commandment in the Sermon on the Mount. It is the longest recorded sermon of Jesus. It was a controversial sermon. Six times in the sermon he says the words “You have heard…but I say to you”. Jesus made a deliberate contrast between what others had said and he said. He did not agree with many teachers in his day and He would not agree with many preachers today. The first time he said the words “You have heard…but I say to you” had to do with the Sixth Commandment.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22).

Why did Jesus say this? Apparently, some people had heard some things about the Sixth Commandment that were not true. The Pharisees focused on the letter of the law. Most of us focus on the letter of the law. Let’s be honest. When we come to the Sixth Commandment, many of us breathe a sigh of relief. We check that one of the list, because we didn’t try to assassinate anyone this week.

We haven’t strangled anyone to death this past week or bashed anyone’s head in or shot anyone or stabbed anyone with a knife. We have not tried to use explosives to blow anyone up. We become like the Pharisee in Luke 18 who said, “God I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, murderers”.

It is true that most of us have not broken the letter of the law. The Pharisees were just concerned about the letter of the law. They were just concerned about breaking the commandment on the outside. God looks on the inside, as well as the outside. The Pharisees were great on the outside and terrible on the inside.

Jesus said that murder comes out of the heart (Matthew 15:19). Murder is just an outward manifestation of an inward problem. What is the inward problem? Anger! Anger kills. Anger is serious and can be deadly. Murder often stems from anger. One reason people commit murder is they lose their temper, go into an uncontrollable rage, become violent and kill someone.

Anger is often the root cause of murder. It all starts with anger. People often do not plan to commit murder. They just got angry and did something stupid. How many times have people killed other people over something very stupid (e.g., video games, remote control, pair of shoes).

When we get angry, it comes out in our words. Many times we say things that we shouldn’t out of anger, words that we later regret and wish we could take back. Jesus mentioned calling someone “raca” and “you fool”. Raca doesn’t mean anything to us. It is an Aramaic word. Jesus spoke Aramaic.

If you wanted to insult someone in Aramaic you would call him “raca”. It just means stupid. In fact, we get our word “moron” from the word “fool” in Greek. The Greek word for “fool” is μωρός. We have all kinds of insulting language that we use today.

What did Jesus Mean?

This is a strange passage. Is it a sin to call someone a fool? Is Jesus saying that you will go to Hell for calling someone a fool? What about people who call people fools in jest? I have four boys. That is how they communicate. Jesus is not saying that you will go to hell just for calling someone a fool.

If that were the case, then He would be in Hell. Jesus called people fools. Later in this same Gospel, He called people fools (23:17). He called some of his own followers fools (Luke 24:25). The Bible calls people fools (Psalm 14:1). It is not wrong to call people fools if it is true.

Is anger always a sin? Is Jesus saying that it is always wrong to be angry? No. He got angry himself (Mark 3:5). God gets angry (Psalm 7:11). Jesus got angry because people were trying to rip people off in church and commercializing the house of God. In fact, Jesus got so angry that He did not just file a formal complaint against the money changers.  He took matters into his own hands. He made a whip, knocked over some tables, started yelling and chased some people out of the Temple.

Anger is not always wrong. Anger is neutral. It is just an emotion. All of our emotions are God-given. Everyone gets angry. The Bible does not tell us not to get angry. It does tell us to be “slow to anger” (James 1:19) and “in your anger, do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26) but anger can be serious and must always be controlled. You have to control anger before it controls you. The majority text says, “Whoever gets angry with his brother WITHOUT A CAUSE will be in danger of the judgment” (not “whoever is angry with his brother” but “whoever is angry with his brother without a cause”).

What are some signs that you have an anger problem?  You can’t control your anger.   You are hotheaded.  You blow up over the smallest problems.  You are always losing your job.  You are always yelling.  You slap or hit people when you are upset.  You punch or break things during an argument.  People are afraid of you.  They do not like to be around you.

[1]The Book of Common Prayer translated it “Thou shalt do no murder” in 1549 but no English translation of the Bible gave that rendering (as far as I can tell) until Anthony Purver’s A New and Literal Translation of all of the Books of the Old and New Testament; with Notes, Critical and Explanatory (1746).

[2]Abraham Benisch(1851), Farrar Fenton Bible (1853), Charles Wellbeloved, George Vance Smith, and John Scott Porter (1859), Robert Young (1862), English Revised Version (1881), the NASB (1971), old JPS (1917) NIV (1978), NEB (1970), ESV (2001), RSV (1952), NRSV (1989), ESV (2001), NLT (1996), MLB (1958), CEV (1995) NCV (1991), GNT (1976), NKJV (1982), LB (1971), JSB, Goodspeed, Moffatt (1926), new JPS (1962). The Thomson Translation (1808) uses the word “murder” much earlier but that translation is based on the LXX, not the Hebrew.

[3]Only a few traditional Catholic Bibles have kept it (e.g., JB, NAB)

[4]Critics say that it is part of the Law of Moses which we are no longer under but the death penalty actually existed before Moses’ time (cf. Genesis 9:6) and is supported in the NT as well (Romans 13:1-4). God authorizes the state to use physical force to punish evil. When it does so, it acts as God’s servant. Paul said that “rulers do not carry the sword in vain” and the sword is a symbol of capital, not corporeal punishment. Many believe that Jesus abolished the death penalty in John 8 but that would contradict his statement in Matthew 5:17.

The Fifth Commandment

We have been studying the Ten Commandments.  Last week, we looked at the Fourth Commandment.  Today, we come to the Fifth Commandment.  As you know, Ten Commandments are divided into two parts.  The first part of the Ten Commandments deal with duties to God (His name, His day, His worship). That covers commandments one through four.

The second part of the Ten Commandments deals with duties to people.  It covers commandments five through ten.  It starts with the Fifth Commandment and deals with duties to parents.  If you are a visitor, we begin today looking at the second part of the Ten Commandments.  We will be talking about the family today.  The Fifth Commandment deals with the family. Apparently, the family ranks pretty high on God’s priorities. The divine order is God first and families second.

The family is the most basic unit of society. As the family goes, so goes the nation.  The family existed before the church existed. The family is not just part of the conservative agenda or the Republican agenda; it is part of God’s agenda, because He was the one who created the family. That is why is a very matter when people try to change the family by redefining what marriage is (a union of two men or two women).

Critics of the Bible ask, If God is Pro-Family, then why did Jesus tell us to hate our family.  He said that you must hate your family to be his disciple.

“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple’” (Luke 14:25-26).

That sounds a little radical. Skeptics love this passage.  The cost of being a disciple is that you hate your family.  That passage is never preached on Mother’s Day.  “If you want to be My disciple, you must hate your mother.”  That is strange. One man preached a sermon from this text entitled, “How to Hate your Mother”.  Why would Jesus tell people to love their neighbors but to hate their parents? Why would Jesus command His followers to love their enemies but to hate their family?

The reason is that this is a figure of speech.  Jesus did not literally mean for us to hate our parents.  Otherwise, Jesus would be commanding us to sin.  Hate is a sin.  You don’t take a figure of speech literally.  The word hate does not literally mean to hate.  Figures of speech do NOT mean what they say.  They mean what they mean.  When we say that someone has lost their marbles, it does not mean that they have lost their marbles.

This passage is a hyperbole.  It is an exaggeration.  It is overstatement.  Jesus used hyperbole all the time.  He used it to make a point.  Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.”  (Matthew 5:29)   He said, “If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away”. (Matthew 5:30)

Whenever we have a difficult passage, we need to read the context or read any parallel passages to help understand what it means.  In this case, the parallel passage is Matthew 10:34-38.

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:34-38)

It is clear from the parallel passage that Jesus is not telling us to hate anyone.  The Fifth Commandment says that we are to honor our parents, not hate them.  Paul said that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, not hate them.  When you compare the passage in Luke with Matthew, it is clear that the word hate means to love less.  It is comparative.  Jesus should come first.  We should love him more than we love our husband, our wife and our kids.

Let’s look at the Fifth Commandment.  I want to do three things today.  I want to give you some basic facts about the Fifth Commandment.  I want to talk about specific ways we can keep this commandment today and I want to deal with some objections that people sometimes raise about the Fifth Commandment.

Fifth Commandment Facts

1. It is an important commandment.

Today, we don’t think it is that big of a deal. If a child sticks out a tongue to parents, we think the child is cute.  Disrespect to parents is quite common in our day. Today, we have kids divorcing their parents.  We have kids suing their parents.  This was a big deal to God.  In the OT, this was a crime punishable by death (Exodus 21:15; Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

God takes this very seriously.  Today, we would just label the kid ADD and prescribe some medication.  Disrespect to parents is no minor sin.  It was one of the worst crimes a person could commit under the Law of Moses.  Now it is true that we are not under the Law today We do not live in a theocracy but God’s attitude toward sin has not changed (Romans 1:29-32).

2. It is a universal commandment

What I like about this commandment is that it applies to all of us.  All of us have a parent.  We are all children of someone.  This commandment does not say “Honor your father and mother when they are young”. This is not just a command for little children. The command is very broad. It is a command for adult children, big children, as well as little children.  Jesus applied this command to adult children in Mark 7. We are to care in addition for the care for the elderly. Based on this command, we are to take care of our parents when they get old.  The OT said that this applied to adults as well (cf. Leviticus 19:32; Proverbs 23:22).

3. It is an absolute commandment

This commandment does NOT say “Honor your parents when they deserve it”. It says that we are to honor our parents and it says NOTHING of the behavior of the parents.  That is strange.  The fact is that not all parents are honorable. Some are honorable.  Some are good role models and some are not but the Fifth Commandment does not distinguish between the two. It says, “Honor your parents period”. This commandment does not depend on what your parents did for you, or even whether they were good parents.

4. It is a positive commandment.

It is a positive commandment – honor your father and mother.  The rest of the Ten Commandments are all negative.  They are all prohibitions (“thou shalt not”) but the fourth and fifth are positive.

5. It is a unique commandment

There is something unique about this commandment.  The Fifth Commandment has both a curse and a blessing.  Let’s start with the curse.  There was a curse placed on anyone who broke this commandment. Deuteronomy 27:16 says, ‘Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother”.

Proverbs 30:11-12, 17 says “There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers; those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filthThe eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures”.  Proverbs 20:20 says, “If someone curses their father or mother, their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness”. 

There is also promise of blessing if you keep it. The Apostle Paul said that this is “the first commandment with a promise” (Ephesians 6:2).  It is actually the only one of the Ten Commandments with a specific promise attached to it.  Obeying the fifth commandment is not only the right thing to do, it is not only doing something that pleases God, it is something that God promises to bless.

That is interesting.  The Bible is full of commands.  We are studying ten of them right now but this is the only one of the ten that has a specific promise attached to it.  You do what the fifth commandment says and God promises you a special blessing.

What was the promise?  There are actually two promises.  Deuteronomy 5:16 says “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”  What are the two promises attached to this command in?  Prosperity (it will go well with you) and longevity (you will live long)[1].  They are not the same thing.  You can live a long time and be completely miserable.

It is a promise of longevity, long life.  What is the key to a long life?  Honor your father and mother. That seems strange.  This commandment is directly related to how long you live.  There is a direct correlation between longevity and honoring parents.  Does this promise still apply today? Yes.  It is repeated in the NT for Christians.  Jesus repeats this command more than once (Matthew 19:19; Mark 7:10-11) and so does Paul (Ephesians 6:1-3; Colossians 3:20).

Why do children who honor their parents live longer? If the kids honor and obey their parents, they will not want to kill them.  Is there any other reason?  The Fifth Commandment teaches a general principle about authority and how to respond to authority.  We live in a day in which there is a general lack of respect for authority.  Parents are authority figures for children.  They are God-given authority figures.  Respect for authority starts in the home.  If there is no respect for authority in the home, there will be no respect for authority outside of the home.

People who honor their parents and respect authority live longer than lawbreakers and rebels who have a problem with authority and live reckless lives. It is common sense. Parents tell their kids to stay away from drugs, gangs, cigarettes, sex before marriage and certain people who might be a bad influence on them. Children who listen to their advice will live longer than children who do not. They are healthier and happier.

They wicked live a short life. Their sins kill them (cf. Proverbs 10:27). Is this always true? No. Some wicked people live to be a hundred and some godly saints die you but this is true as a generalization (cf. Proverbs 3:9-10; 12:21; 13:4; 22:6). Obedience to parents is not the only factor that determines a person’s lifespan but it is an important factor and, as a generalization, people who honor their parents live long physically.  D.L. Moody said, “I have lived over 60 years, and I have learned one thing if I have learned nothing else—no man or woman who dishonors father or mother ever prospers.”

How to Honor Your Parents

You say, “I want this blessing, how do I honor my parents?”  Different cultures may do this in different ways but there are three main ways that you can honor your parents.  John Calvin pointed this out in a book he wrote almost five hundred years ago.[2]  The outline comes from Calvin but all three points are thoroughly biblical.

1. Honor means reverence

This is our pastor’s favorite word.  The word honor (kabed) means reverence or respect.  It means to regard somebody as important, to look up to them.  It means to count them better than yourself.  Some children, instead of looking up to their parents, look down on them and despise them.  They are embarrassed to be seen by their parents.

Kids today have a general disrespect to authority.  They disrespect parents.  They disrespect teachers.  They disrespect police officers.  They do it in word.  They do it in gestures.  They roll their eyes.  They do it in actions.  Their parents tell them to do something and they deliberately do the exact opposite of what they say.

Some of us may only have one parent. We may not even know who our father is and so we only have one parent to honor. Many who have two parents will often say, “I like my Mom but I cannot stand my Dad” or “I like my Dad but I cannot stand my Mom”.  Children often honor one parent and despise the other. The Fifth Commandment says, “Honor your father AND your mother”.  Mothers are to be honored just as much as fathers and fathers are to be honored just as much as mothers.  There are several different versions of this commandment in the Bible. Exodus and Deuteronomy mentions the fathers first but Leviticus mentions the mothers first (Leviticus 19:3).

2. Honor means obedience

Is this a problem today?  Yes.  Paul said it was a sign of the last days.  II Timothy 3:1-2 says, “Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents”.

Honor means obedience.  The OT teaches this.  The NT teaches this.  The Book of Proverbs had much to say about this topic (cf. 4:1; 6:20; 13:1; 23:22).  The NT teaches this as well.  The Apostle Paul said that children were to “obey their parents in the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1).  In fact, he says in Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents IN EVERYTHING, for this pleases the Lord.”

That is strange?  Are kids supposed to obey their parents in everything?  That is what Paul said.  Does this mean that parents are always right?  Paul taught that kids are to obey their parents in everything (Colossians 3:20).  Slaves are to obey their masters in everything (Colossians 3:22).  Husbands are to submit to their husbands in everything (Ephesians 5:24).  Citizens are to obey the government in everything (I Peter 2:13).

This does not mean that parents are always right.  It does not mean that husbands or the government is always right.  It does not mean that there are no exceptions.  Paul is giving the general principle of submission to authority.  There are exceptions to the general rule but the exceptions are rare.

Does this apply to adult children?  Are adults still supposed to obey their parents?  This is talking about young children.  That is what the Greek word τεκνον means.  It can be used of adult children in a figurative sense when it is used in the vocative (“my son”) but this is not the vocative.  That is also what the context is dealing with in Ephesians and Colossians. As you get older and live on your own, you are no longer obligated to obey your parents like you were when you were young, although we should always honor and respect them.

An Example of Obedience

Jesus is the perfect example of a child who obeyed his parents (Luke 2:41-53).  Here is the one story we have about Jesus as a teenager.  He was twelve years old (2:42).  His family traveled from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover and they left him behind.  It is one thing to lose something important or something valuable (wallet, cell phone) but Mary and Joseph lost Jesus. They didn’t know where He was or what had happened to Him and did not find him for three days.  It took two days until they got back to Jerusalem and when they got there they did not find him immediately.  They looked everywhere.  They had to look for him for a day before they found him.

When they finally found him three days later, they were angry with Jesus.  They rebuked him.  His mother Mary said, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you (2:48). Did Jesus do anything wrong?  No.  He was sinless.  He was the perfect child.  They left him.  He did not run away.  He stayed in Jerusalem.  They went home without him.

Jesus didn’t argue with them.  He didn’t complain and say, “Why did you leave me here all by myself for three days with no food or a place to stay”.  He was not rude to them.  He didn’t talk back to them.  He did ask them one question.  He said, “Why were you looking for me?  Why didn’t you know where to find me?  Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (2:49). That is where you could have found me, in my father’s house.  Those are the first recorded words of Jesus in Scripture, spoken at the age of twelve.  Apparently, they did not know their son very well.  They should have known to look for him in the Temple.  He assumed they would know exactly where to find him.  He was the Messiah.  They could have found him in the Temple.

What is interesting is not just where they found Jesus but what he was doing.  What was he doing in the Temple when they finally found him?  He was talking to all of the Bible scholars of his day and asking them questions.  We even know what they thought of Jesus.  They were amazed at his questions and his answers.  He was asking the kinds of questions and giving the kinds of answers that the average twelve year old boy would not have given.  He had an interest in spiritual things which shocked the scholars of his day.

Notice how the story ends.  “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them” (2:51).  Jesus obeyed his parents.   If it is hard for kids today to obey their parents, how much harder must it have been for the Son of God to obey his parents. They were sinners.  He was sinless.  He was the Creator.

3. Honor means gratitude.

Part of honoring parents means being thankful and grateful for parents.  We can show that gratitude in several ways.  We can show it on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  We can show it on Birthdays and Christmas.  We can also show it by taking care of them when they are older.  That is how the NT interprets this command (I Timothy 5:4).

That is how Jesus interpreted the Fifth Commandment.  In Mark 7:5-12, The Pharisees asked Jesus a question about his disciples.  They said, “Why don’t they wash their hands when they eat?”  It had nothing to do with hygiene or germs.  It was a ceremonial washing.  It was done for ritual reasons before eating.  Orthodox Jews today still do it.  They dip their hands in a bowl of water before eating.  They do not do it because the Bible tells them to do it.  It was just one of their traditions.  It is called the “tradition of the elders”.  It was part of the what the Jews called “the oral law”.

Jesus called them hypocrites because they were real big on tradition.  They followed tradition but they would not follow Scripture and some of their traditions violated the clear teachings of Scripture.  They said, “You can get out of taking care of your parents financially by giving the money to God instead”.  Rituals were more important to the Pharisees than relationships.  Honoring parents was not as important.

As a result, they set aside the commandment of God by their tradition.  There is nothing wrong with traditions.  Some of them are good but traditions should never take the pace of Scripture.  If we have to choose between following what scripture says and what our church tradition says, we should always go with scripture over tradition.  God’s Word is the final authority over our lives and not tradition.

Objections to the Fifth Commandment

This commandment raises a very important question. Doesn’t respect have to be earned? How can we possibly honor someone that we do not respect?  There are two ways that ways that we can honor even bad parents.

How to Honor the Dishonorable

1. Look for things you can respect in your parents.

Everyone has good and bad points. We can focus on the bad points. We can also respect the good points a person has. I may not like Barack Obama’s policies but there are many things about him that I can respect. He is intelligent. He is a good speaker. He is very energetic. He seems to love his family.

2. Respect them because of their position

Honor is positional. You can honor the position, even if you cannot honor the person. Honor is due to them, not for WHO they are but for WHAT they are.  There is a good example of this in the life of King David.

When David had a chance to kill King Saul, he refused to do so. He could have done in I Samuel 24 and he could have done it in I Samuel 26. Both times, he refused, even when his own men encouraged him to do it. He refused. Why? He respected the office as king, even if he did not respect the man. Saul was totally unworthy of the office of king but David still called him “The Lord’s anointed” and respected the office, even though King Saul tried to kill David five times (18:10-11, 12-30; 19:9-10; 19:11-17; 19:18-24).

You can honor your parents without always agreeing with them. We are to honor our rulers (I Peter 2:17). We do not have a king but we do have a president. We are to honor Barack Obama. You say, “Well I didn’t vote for him and I don’t agree with anything he has done since he has been in office.” He is still our President and he deserves our honor because of his position as our 44th president. He holds that position because by the sovereign will of God, whether we like it or not. That does not mean that we can never criticize our president but it should always be done in a respectful way.

Having said this, you can’t really honor your parents until you forgive them for any way that they have mistreated you. If you are full of anger or bitterness about something someone has done, it is difficult to honor that person. You have to get to the point that you forgive that person (Colossians 3:13). Forgiveness goes against our nature. It’s not easy. We do it out of obedience, whether we feel like it or not. How do you know if you have NOT forgiven someone.

One sign that you have not forgiven someone is if you show signs of anger or bitterness or resentment or malice toward a person. We need to forgive even abusive people. However, just because we are to honor all parents (even bad parents), this does NOT mean that you have to put yourself in an unsafe situation. It doesn’t mean that we have to allow people to continue to mistreat and hurt you. God does not want people to remain in abusive situations. In extreme cases, the state comes in and removes parental rights from people who are simply unfit to be parents.


[1] Paul changed it from saying “so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you” to “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth”.  God promised the Jews the Land of Canaan. The church is not a nation.  It is made up of people from all nations and God never promised the church would inherit a strip of land in the Middle East.  We do not have the Land Promise but this commandment still applies to the church in a different way, according to Paul.

[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion , 2.7.36

The Fourth Commandment

We have been studying the Ten Commandments.  If you remember the Ten Commandments were divided into two parts. The first part of the Ten Commandments deal with God (religious duties). The second part of the Ten Commandments deal with duties to people (moral duties). Today, we will be studying the Fourth Commandment. It is the last commandment that deals with God.

Last week, we looked at the Third Commandment, the commandment about not misusing God’s name by taking His name in vain.  The Third Commandment dealt with WORDS. The Fourth Commandment deals with WORK. The Third Commandment deals with the TONGUE.  The Fourth Commandment deals with TIME.  The Third Commandment deals with SWEARING.  The Fourth Commandment deals with the SABBATH.  Before we look at the Fourth Commandment in depth, there are four things that you need to know about this commandant.

Four Facts about this Commandment

  • It is a long commandment.

This is the longest of the Ten Commandments.  God says more about this than He does about adultery or murder.  It is four verses long, almost one third of the fifteen verses which make up the Ten Commandments.

  • It is a positive commandment.

Most of the Ten Commandments are negative.  This one is positive.  Commandment one said, “You shalt NOT have an idols before me”.  Commandment two said, “You shalt NOT make an image of anything and worship it”.  Commandment three says, “You shall NOT take the name of the Lord in vain”.  This one says, “Remember the Sabbath”.

  • It is a controversial commandment.

God’s people are probably divided more over the Fourth Commandment than all of the other nine commandments put together.  Whole denominations have started over the interpretation of the Fourth Commandment (Seventh-Day Adventists). There are many misconceptions that people have about the Fourth Commandment that we will try to correct as we study this.  We may not all agree on the Fourth Commandment.

  • It was an important commandment.

Exodus 31 tells us why this commandment was important to the Jews.

“Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:14-17)

This one was important because it was a sign of the covenant that God made with the Jews (31:13, 17).  It was a sign of the Mosaic Covenant.  It was also important because, if you broke this one, you died.  This was a mandatory day of rest for the Jews.  If you did ANY WORK on this day, you were to die.

“While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses”. (Numbers 15:32-36)

This is an interesting passage.  Here you have a man gathering wood on the Sabbath.  Why was he gathering sticks?  The text does not say.  You have to infer the answer.  They were in the wilderness.  He wanted to build a fire so he could cook.  He wanted to have a hot meal on the Sabbath (some eggs and pancakes).  He did not want to eat raw meat on the Sabbath.

What is wrong with cooking on the Sabbath?  Isn’t that a necessity?  You have to eat. Apparently God considers cooking work.  It is hard work to be a good cook, especially when you do not have an oven or grocery store.  You were supposed to do all of your food preparation on the day before the Sabbath.

What was his punishment?  He was stoned and he was not killed by an angry mob in the wilderness.  God was the one who laid down the sentence (15:35).  That seems a little harsh.  What is wrong with picking up some sticks?  Picking up sticks is not a sin.  If it is wrong, why would the punishment for this be death?  Why would this poor man get the death penalty for picking up sticks?  Why would he get the same punishment that someone else would get for murder? Wouldn’t that be like giving someone who litters the same punishment as a serial killer?

The reason that this was taken so seriously is that it was an example of open rebellion.  This was not a sin of ignorance.  It was a man who was openly defiant.  He knew that he was not supposed to do this but he deliberately did it anyway.  It is what the Bible calls a presumptuous sin and presumptuous sin was no small matter to God. That is clear from the verse right before this passage.

But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’” (Numbers 15:30-31)

What I want to do today is look at three things.  First, I want to look at what the Fourth Commandment actually says.  Second, I want to look at how this commandment relates to the church.  Are Christians today under the Sabbath?  Third, I want to look at some applications and lessons that we can draw from this commandment.  How do we apply this commandment today?

Let’s start by reading the text.  There are actually two versions of the Ten Commandments.  The Ten Commandments are found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.  As you read both passages, there are just a few differences.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-12).

“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

Difference between Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5

Are there any differences between these two versions? While Deuteronomy says to “keep the Sabbath,” Exodus says to “remember the Sabbath”.  To remember the Sabbath implies that the Sabbath was not new.  It had already been in existence and they were to remember it.  The reason for keeping the command is a little different.  Both deal with what God did.  Deuteronomy says that the reason for keeping the Sabbath is the Exodus from Egypt.  It commemorates God delivering the Jews from Egypt.  Exodus says that the reason for keeping the Sabbath is creation, not redemption.  When God created the world, He worked six days and rested on the seventh day of creation.  God kept the Sabbath.

Two Introductory Questions

This commandment says that we are to keep the Sabbath holy.  That leads to two questions.  First, what day is the Sabbath?  Exodus 20 gives the answer.  It is the seventh day of the week.  Look on the calendar and you will see it is Saturday.  Every Jew knows that the Sabbath is Saturday.  The Jews call it Shabbat (the Hebrew word for “Sabbath”).  It goes from Friday evening to Saturday evening.  Jewish days begin at Sundown, going back to Genesis 1 (“there was evening and there was morning – the first day”).  Sunday is the first day of the week.  We think of Sunday as the end of the week, since our work week starts with Monday but Saturday is the seventh day of the week. Sunday is the first day of the week on the calendar. The Sabbath was Saturday and was the culmination of the week.

Second, what does it mean to keep it holy? The word holy means to be consecrated or set apart for God, How do they keep it holy?  The text tells you.  You keep the Sabbath holy by doing two things. There are two parts to the Fourth commandment.   Most think there is only one part.

The Two Parts to This Command

The first part is a COMMAND TO WORK.  God says that we are to work and he says that we are to work six days.  Exodus 20:9 says, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work”.  That was a command.  Notice that it does not say, “Work five days and rest two”.  It says, “Work six days and rest one”.  Any work you do, you were to do in the first six days.  It does not say “Do some of your work in the first six days” or “Do most of your work in the first six days.  It says, Do ALL of your work in the first six days”.

The second part is a COMMAND TO REST.  The seventh day is a day of rest.  You are to rest and everyone in your whole house is to rest.  No one is to work.  You do not work.  Your kids do not work.  Your wife does not work (no cooking, dishes, no laundry).  Your animals do not work.  You are not to do any work on that day.  This means more than not going to work on that day.  You cannot do any work at home either.

Forbidden Activities on the Sabbath

This day of rest was not optional. It was a command.  You can work for six days but not on the seventh day.  That leads to this question.  What is work?  What was forbidden to do on the seventh day?  The Jews came up with 39 things that were forbidden on the Sabbath.  You can find this list in the Talmud (Tractate Shabbat 7:2).[1]  The Bible only mentions five things that you were not allowed to do on the Sabbath.  Fortunately, Sex was not one of them.  I guess that is not considered work.

  • You were not allowed to farm on the Sabbath (Exodus 34:21).

The Jews lived in an agrarian society.  Exodus 34:21 says, “even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”

  • You were not allowed to travel on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:29).

The Jews later added to this command and said that you can travel but only a half a mile. The Israeli airline normally does not fly on the Sabbath.

  • You were not allowed to buy and sell on the Sabbath (Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-17).

There was to be no shopping on the Sabbath, even for groceries. You can’t buy gas. You won’t need any if you don’t go anywhere on the Sabbath. Today most retail purchases are done on the weekend.  When people changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday (which I believe is a mistake), we ended up with blue laws.

  • You were not allowed to cook on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:5; 23; 35:3).

You cannot collect manna on the Sabbath.  You had to do that the day before (Exodus 16).  You can’t light a fire on the Sabbath, although Jews do light candles on the Sabbath. Lighting a fire was the way they used to cook. They didn’t have a stove. Some Orthodox Jews have interpreted this to mean that they cannot even turn on electricity.  That is why some Jews think it is wrong to push an electric button on an elevator on the Sabbath.

They do not even turn lights on but turning on a burner on the stove is not work.  This goes beyond the point of the passage.  The Sabbath was made for man.  It was meant to improve the quality of life, not make it worse.  It was not intended to be a huge burden on people.  It was intended to be a blessing, not a curse.  It is a day of rest.

  • You were not allowed to carry burdens on the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:21-22).

It is not a day for moving to a new place. I guess this means that you can’t lift weights on the Sabbath. Jews got into arguments as to what constitutes a burden. Could you move a lamp into another room?

The Church & the Sabbath

How does the Fourth Commandment relate to the church? Is it still binding today? Is the Sabbath Law for the church age? Are Christians today still under the Sabbath Law? Not all Christians throughout church history have agreed on that question.

Some believe that the Sabbath is still binding today. There were some very good men who held this view, such as the great evangelist D. L. Moody and Jonathon Edwards.  People who believe that the Sabbath is still binding today are divided into two camps.

Some who believe that the Sabbath is binding today believe that the Sabbath is Saturday (Seventh-Day Adventists).  They have worship services on Saturday.  Others in church history who believe that the Sabbath is still binding today believe that the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday (Puritans).   They call Sunday “the Christian Sabbath”.  Others argue that the church is not under the Sabbath Law today. It is not just dispensationalists who believe this. It goes back to Saint Augustine and John Calvin, who believed that the Fourth Commandment was part of the ceremonial law, not the moral law.

Why Some Believe the Sabbath is Still Binding Today

1)  The Ten Commandments are part of the moral law, not the ceremonial law.

The Fourth Commandment is just as binding today as the other nine commandments. It is engraved on a stone tablet written by the finger of God.

2)  The Sabbath goes all the way back to creation (Exodus 20:11), which is a reason why it should still be observed today.

3)  It is called a lasting or perpetual covenant that is to be a sign “forever” (NIV, KJV, ESV), according to Exodus 31:17.

4) Jesus said that He did NOT come to abolish the Law (Matthew 5:17).

5) It was not made only for the Jews but for mankind in general. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). It is not a Jewish Sabbath. It is called “the Sabbath of the Lord” (Exodus 20:10 KJV) but is never called “The Sabbath of the Jews”.

Why Some Believe the Sabbath is Not Binding Today

1) If the Sabbath Law is still in force today, then you have to observe the proper day.

The Sabbath was always Saturday, not Sunday. Nowhere is Sunday ever called the Sabbath. The early church met for worship on Sunday but that was not their Sabbath. It was actually a day of work. They met either really late or really early on that day. Sunday did not become an official day off until 321 AD under Emperor Constantine.

2) If the law is still in force then you would have to do absolutely NO work on Saturday.  You could not even drive to church.

That means not only do you not go to work but you do not do any work at home (working on your car, cleaning your house, working in the garden, cutting the grass).

3) If the Law is still in force, you would have to execute people who break the Sabbath today.

Death was the punishment for Sabbath breakers in the Law of Moses (Exodus 35:1-2; 31:14-15; Numbers 15:32-36) and I do not know anyone who believes we should do this today. You can’t say the law applies today but the punishment for breaking it doesn’t. The Law of Moses was a unit, as James said (2:10). It was made up of 613 commands.

4) If the law is in force today, we should observe the yearly Sabbath as well.

There was a yearly Sabbath as well as a weekly Sabbath (cf. Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:1-7; Deuteronomy 15:1-2). The land was to rest on the seventh year. They were not to farm on that year and they were to cancel all debts on the seventh year. You can’t say that the weekly Sabbath is in force today but the yearly Sabbath is not. You cannot say that the yearly Sabbath is part of the ceremonial law but the weekly Sabbath is part of the moral law.  You have to apply the consistency rule. If one is binding today, the other should be as well.

5) The Sabbath Commandment is NOT repeated in the NT.

Christians are never commanded in the NT to keep the Sabbath. You say, Well that is an argument from silence. Yes, but one has to wonder why are all of the other Ten Commandments repeated in the NT but not this one and furthermore, the NT calls this a shadow ordinance (Colossians 2:16). We are not to judge other Christians for what they do or do not do on the Sabbath.

Paul says that “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).  Paul could not say this if the Sabbath was part of the moral law.  The moral law is not up to what people think.  You could not say, “Some people consider murder wrong.  Other people think it is okay.  Let everyone decide for himself and make up his own mind”.

6) The Sabbath was a sign of a perpetual covenant but that sign was between God and the Jews, not God and mankind in general (Exodus 31:12-13).

It is the sign of a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. While the sign is said to be “forever”, the word “forever” in Hebrew does not always mean everlasting. It can mean that but the same word is used in other placed in the OT of temporary ordinances (Leviticus 24:8; Numbers 19:2; Ezekiel 46:14).  The OT also said that circumcision, the Day of Atonement and the Levitical Priesthood were to be lasting or perpetual ordinances as well (Genesis 17:13; Leviticus 16:29; Exodus 40:15).

7) While the Sabbath actually goes back to creation, it was not COMMANDED until the time of Moses. God rested on the Sabbath on the seventh day of creation, not man.

8) Some argue that the fact that the Sabbath is called “holy” proves that it is still binding today, It is called “a holy day” (Exodus 35:2; cf. 31:14).  This argument does not work because other things in the Mosaic Law were also to be holy that are not longer binding today.

Exodus 30:10 says, “Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord”.  The trespass offering was most holy (Leviticus 7:1).  The meat offering was holy (Leviticus 2:10).  Wave offerings were to be holy (Leviticus 23:20).  The year of jubilee was to be holy (Leviticus 25:2) and that is no longer in effect today.

Does Matthew 5:17 prove that the

Sabbath is still binding today?

What about Matthew 5:17? Does that verse prove that the Sabbath is still binding on Christians? The problem is that most people only read the first half of the verse (“Think not that I have come to abolish the law”). The rest of the verse reads, “I have not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:18).

The opposite of abolish is not to establish the law but to fulfill the Law and the whole OT, which Jesus certainly did. If you use Matthew 5:17 to say that people should keep the Sabbath today, you would have to use it to say that people have to eat only kosher foods today and that people would have to offer animal sacrifices today.

According to the Mosaic Law, there were clean and unclean foods and Jews were supposed to eat only clear or kosher food. The NT says ALL foods are now clean (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:9-15). According to the Mosaic Law, people were supposed to offer animal sacrifices for sins. The NT says that we don’t need to do this anymore because of the death of Christ. Animal sacrifices had to be repeated over and over again and never took away sin anyway (Hebrew 10:4, 11). The Book of Hebrews says that Jesus’ once for all sacrifice is all that we need to take care of our sins (Hebrews 7:27; 9:26).

There are several important lessons from the Fourth Commandment.  These lessons apply today, even if the Fourth Commandment is not binding today.

Lessons from the Fourth Commandment

The Importance of Work

Work is good.  We should not hate work.  We should love it.  God wants us to work.  We should work hard and not be lazy. Work is important. God created work.  God gave Adam some work to do.  There was work in paradise before the Fall of Man.  There will be work in heaven.  This commandment shows the dignity of work.  Whether we have a five or six day work week, this principle still applies.

The Importance of Rest

This command was given to former slaves.  The Jews were slaves in Egypt for four hundred years.  They worked sundown to sunup, seven days a week, with no rest, no vacation and no time off.  God tells the Jews, not only are you allowed to take time off from work now, you are commanded to take time off of work, The Fourth Commandment is God’s word to workaholics.  God actually commands us to take some time off of work.  He doesn’t want us to work too much.

We need to rest. Some of us do not work hard enough but some of us work too hard.  We love work so much that we are addicted to it.  We are the first one to get to work and the last one to leave.  We are always at work and never at home.  We will work right through lunch.  We come to work even when you are sick.  We never take a vacation and, if we do, we are doing work on our vacation.  If you do not rest, you pay a penalty.

The Importance of Planning Ahead

It is an important biblical principle to plan ahead for the future, whether you are talking about planning for a career, planning for college, planning for marriage, planning for a baby, planning for retirement. In order to keep the Sabbath, Jews in the OT had to plan ahead so they did not work on the seventh day. They had to get all of their food on the sixth day, so they did not have to cook on the seventh day.  Planning ahead is a biblical concept.

Proverbs 20:4 says, “Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing”.  Proverbs 6:7-11 says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.”

The Importance of Worship

In the OT, the Sabbath was not just a day of physical rest. It had a religious purpose. Leviticus 23:3 says, ‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly.”  It was to be a day set aside and dedicated to God. The Sabbath did not just involve the absence of work but the presence of worship. The Jews gathered together for worship on that day. It wasn’t just a day to sleep in. Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). It is still a good idea today to have a day devoted to public worship.

 


[1] The list includes sowing, plowing , reaping , binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing wool, beating wool, dyeing wool, Spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying, untying, sewing stitches, tanning, scraping hide, marking hides, cutting hide to shape, writing two or more letters, erasing two or more letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing a fire, kindling a fire, putting the finishing touch on an object, transporting an object between a private domain and the public domain, or for a distance of four cubits within the public domain.

The Third Commandment

We are studying the Ten Commandments.  Last week, we looked at the Second Commandment, which is one of the longest of the Ten Commandments.  It is three verses.  Today, we will look at the Third Commandment which is very short.  It is the first commandment which deals with words.

The first part of the Ten Commandments deal with God. The First Commandment deals with WHO we worship.  The Second Commandment deals with HOW we worship.  The Third Commandment deals with how we talk about God.  It deals with the use of the tongue and is very relevant in the day and culture in which we live.

Swearing is a very popular vices today. All of us have broken the Third Commandment at one time or another. It is one of the most frequently broken commandments, even by professing Christians.

There are many people who break this commandment repeatedly every single day. I worked with a man when I was in high school who cursed like a sailor. The Apostle Paul talked about people like this man who are “full of cursing and bitterness” (Romans 3:14). I gave him a challenge to try to go one single day without swearing, just one. He said that he couldn’t do that.  He could not even go twenty-four hours without swearing. James 3:7-8 says, “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

It is so much a part of pop culture (television, music, movies, radio, Internet, street, comedians). Hollywood routinely uses God’s name in vain and we have become desensitized to it. It has become socially acceptable in our world today.  It is common in rap songs.  It is not a big deal.

There are many people who swear on a daily basis and don’t even have the slightest feeling of guilt. They even try to justify it. It is just a habit. That becomes their excuse. If you were stopped by a police officer for running a stop sign, you wouldn’t say, “It’s a habit, I do it all the time”. A habit does not make something okay to do. Saying that your crimes are a habit only makes you more guilty, not less guilty.

The Seriousness of the Command

Most people only quote the first half of the verse. The second half of the verse says that God will NOT hold the person guiltless who takes His name in vain. This commandment has a warning, a very serious warning.  Misuse brings punishment.  If you misuse the name of God, you WILL be punished. I have has many conversations with atheists and it is a scary thing to think of what will happen when people who once denied God’s existence or mocked and ridiculed God one day stand before God and are held accountable for everything that they have said. The NT says that “It is a fearful thing or a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 NLT).

God will not hold them guiltless on that day. The sinner may hold himself guiltless. Society may hold him guiltless and not punish him. Your family and friends may hold you guiltless but God will not hold you guiltless. We hear people swear every day and we do not think it is that big of a deal, because we are used to it.

God apparently takes this very seriously. He made it number three in his list of top ten sins. In fact, it was so serious that it was a capital crime in the Law of Moses.  You take the name of God lightly in the OT and you died.  There is one example in the OT of someone who blasphemed.

“Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.)  They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.

Then the Lord said to Moses: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.” (Leviticus 24:10-16)

In America today that man would not have been put to death because he would have been given the right to free speech. He can say what he wants today but the OT was a theocracy. This was a crime which God took very seriously. God looks at sin a little differently that we do. The Bible says that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The Reason for the Command

What is wrong with taking God’s name in vain?  Why is this such a big deal? Each of us cares about our name. We want people to pronounce it right and spell it right. We do not like it when people make a joke about our name. We don’t like it when people slander our name or someone we love.  Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”  If you have a choice between filthy rich or dirt poor but with a good reputation, which would you choose?  Many would choose riches.  Proverbs says a good name is better.  Ecclesiastes 7:1 says that “a good name is better than fine perfume”.  Solomon must have made this statement for the ladies.  He had a thousand wives.

God’s name represents who he is.  It embodies His character.  God’s name stands for his person. The two are used interchangeably (Psalm 20:1).  How we use God’s name determines what we think about Him.  When we disrespect the name of God, we disrespect God Himself.  This command is all about respect.  The Fifth Commandment is about respect for parents.  The Third Commandment is about respect for God based on how we use his name.

God’s name is like no other because He is like no other.  His name is to be hallowed (Matthew 6:9). It is to be revered and respected and honored. God’s name is not only to be respected and hallowed but to be feared (Deuteronomy 28:58).

It is one of the most convicting of all of the ten.  We have all broken this one. The Jews did something very interesting.  They actually figured out a way not to break the Third Commandment.  The way to avoid not misusing God’s name is not to say it at all. From the third century B.C. on they never pronounced God’s name. Because they did this for so long, we do not know exactly how God’s name is spelled in Hebrew.

In Hebrew, it was spelled with four consonants.  Early Hebrew had no vowels, only consonants.  It was spelled with four Hebrew letters YHWH.  They did not pronounce it, so we did not even know how to say it for the longest time.  Some of the older Bible read Jehovah but scholars today agree that it is Yahweh.  Hebrew does not even have the letter J.

Jews do not even spell out fully the word “God” when writing it in English.  Even today, when Jewish rabbis write, “G-d” instead of “God”.   However, the Third Commandment does not say that we should not say God’s name at all. It says that we should not say His name in vain. It commands us not to misuse His name.  The Bible says that we are to exalt his name (Psalm 68:4), so there is nothing wrong with saying it.

Some may say that this does not apply to you.  You do not go around uttering four-letter words.  The interesting thing is that this commandment is regularly broken by those who would never utter a profane word.  There are other ways that this command is broken.  I am convinced that many people, including some Christians, use God’s name in vain and don’t even know it. Many of you might think to yourself, “As long as I do not cuss, I am okay.”  What are some other ways that people take God’s name in vain today?  There are three other ways that this command is broken today, sometimes even by Christians.

Other Applications of this Command

1) By using God’s name lightly

We use God’s name in vain when we use it irreverently or disrespectfully but we also take God’s name in vain when we use it lightly.  The Hebrew word “vain” means empty, thoughtless, frivolous. Let me give two examples of this.

Many use God’s name routinely, almost in every sentence. They turn God’s name into a cliché and use it as an interjection or exclamation when they are shocked and surprised about something. They will say, “Oh My God, Did you see that?” or “Oh my God, I can’t believe she did that!”.  People use the acronym OMG for texting or instant messaging or chatting online.  OMG simply means “Wow”. It no longer has anything to do with God.  It is used so thoughtlessly that even atheists sometimes say it. It becomes a meaningless phrase.

God said of some people who worshiped Him in the OT, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught” (Isaiah 29:13).  That is a very convicting verse.  Many of us take God’s name on our lips when we sing a song in church and don’t mean a word of it. We are just singing a song.  We give God our worship but it is meaningless because we are saying words that we don’t mean.

What is the lesson from this passage?  One lesson is that God wants our hearts when we worship Him.  He does not just want our words.  If we come to church and say a bunch of words but our hearts are a million miles away, we are hypocrites.  Another lesson is that God does not accept all worship. Some of it is IN VAIN. It is a big waste of time. That was true of worship by the Jews in the OT and it is true of worship by some Christians today.  Worship is many churches is vain worship.

Do we really mean what we say when we worship with God’s name on our lips or are they just words? If they are just words, we are taking God’s name in vain. Jesus said, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every empty word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37)

That has to be one of the scariest verses in the Bible.  Jesus did NOT say that we would be held accountable for every bad word (although we will). He said that we would be accountable for every idle word on Judgment Day. What makes a word idle? It is a careless word.  It is a word you speak without thinking.  How many times have we had our foot in our mouth and have said something stupid when we were bored or angry or just not thinking?  Why would we be judged for idle words?  What is the big deal?  Even idle words say something about our character.

Notice what Jesus said right before this.  Matthew 12:33-35 says, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” 

Our words (even idle words apparently) are a mirror of the heart. What we say on the outside reveals what is in the inside. You can learn a lot about a person’s character, not just by the major things they say, but by the little things which slip out when they aren’t putting much effort into being careful. Do we use God’s name in a thoughtless or frivolous way?

2) By using God’s name falsely

Many use God’s name to justify their sin. How many times have you heard someone say something like, “I am leaving my wife for another woman because God told me to do it”. Oh really? That is using God’s name in vain. It is using God’s name to justify sin. People do it all the time.

Muslim terrorists take God’s name in vain. They will commit some unspeakable atrocity and use their religion to justify it. They will take a sword and chop a man’s head off with the name of God on their lips and think that they are doing a good deed. Some preachers say that God wants everyone to be rich. That is taking God’s name in vain. It is using God’s name to justify false doctrine.

Many times Christians will say, “God told me to tell you this” or “God told me that He wants you to do this or that”.  What is the problem?  If it is true, there is not problem.  We have to ask ourselves, Is this really what God wants them to do or just something that we want them to do or think that they should do?  Is this really a Word from God?

The Bible talks about people who claim to be prophets and have a message from God.  They are called false prophets in the Bible and God takes this VERY seriously any time we take His name in our mouths.  People claim to have a message from God and God says, “I didn’t send them” (Jeremiah 23:21).  God says that they are just prophesying delusions of their own minds.  They prophesy lies.  People did that in OT times and they still do it today.

“I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship. Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not my word like fire,”

“Therefore,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares.’  Indeed I I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the Lord. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:25-32)

3) By making a promise to God and breaking it.

Leviticus 19:12 says, ‘‘Do not swear falsely   What is this about?  You make an oath or a promise and bring God into the equation as a witness and promise to do something which you do not do. This is a big deal to God (cf. Numbers 30:1-2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5). You say, we don’t make pledges like that anymore. One vow that we still make today and usually include God in is our wedding vow. When we get married we make a vow. It is a binding promise to our spouse. We promise to stay with our spouse “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live”.

It is a public vow and most ministers quote the verse, “What God has joined, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). Unfortunately, many do not take this vow seriously. They are just words to most people. Hard times come in all marriages and half of them end in divorce but God says, “It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it” (Ecclesiastes 5:5). Do we keep the vows we make to God?

 

 

The Big Ten

The Ten Commandments are one of my favorite topics.    Today, I want to look at the Ten Commandments and try to put them in a little perspective.  Let me start with this question.  How are the Ten Commandments unique?  There is something special about the Ten Commandments.  They are different from everything else in the Bible.

The rest of the Bible is inspired by God.  The Ten Commandments were not just inspired by God, they were DICTATED by God.  God spoke these words to the entire nation AUDIBLY in a very LOUD VOICE from the top of Mount Sinai.  It had to be a loud voice because God was at the top of the mountain speaking and everyone else was at the bottom of the mountain and they could all hear him.

Six hundred years later, the prophet Elijah was on this very same mountain.  The Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him and he ran away and ended up on Mount Horeb (which was the same thing as Mount Sinai).  You can read about that in I Kings 19.  God spoke to Elijah through “a still small voice” but in Exodus 20 God spoke to the nation in a loud voice.  Not only did God audibly speak all of these words, He wrote them down with his finger on a clay tablet.  The Ten Commandments are the only message to man that God wrote with his own hand.  The rest of the Bible was inspired but it was written by human authors (Paul, John, Luke, Matthew).

The giving of the Ten Commandments involved a theophany.  What exactly is a theophany?  A theophany is an appearance of God to people.  It is not just when an angel appears to people, it is when God Himself appears to people.  When a theophany takes place, there are visible signs of it.  What were the signs in Exodus and Deuteronomy? (cf. Exodus 20:1, 18-21; Deuteronomy 5:23-27). The signs were thick darkness, thunder, lightening, fire, smoke, earthquake, and a loud voice.  When people saw these things, what was their reaction?  They were terrified.  The whole mountain shook.  They moved back.

They did not say how cool it was to meet God on a mountain and to hear his voice.  They did not say, “Let’s have this again next year. Let’s make it an annual event and invite everyone.”  When God appeared to the nation on Mount Sinai, the people were literally scared to death.  They thought that they were going to die.  It was an awesome display of God’s glory and power.

Every worship leader gets in front of the church and prays for God to show us His glory.  It sounds real spiritual.  These people saw God’s glory and it terrified them. They thought they were going to die. In fact, they were so afraid, they asked Moses to talk to God and write it down instead of having God talk directly to them.  Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey”  (Deuteronomy 5:27).

They were to have the same respect and the same reaction to the Bible as they had if God spoke out loud because it was the same message.  That is the way we should treat the Bible today.  The problem is that most of us do not really believe or act as if this book is inspired.  God said that they had the right response.  “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good.  Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever” (Deuteronomy 5:28-29). That raises a very interesting question.

Many preachers warn against the dangers of worshiping the Bible.  There is even a term for this.  It is called bibliolatry.  Is it a real danger?  Is it wrong?  It is actually true that we are to worship God, not the Bible.  It is possible to know the Bible and to not know God. However, the problem is that this is a complete straw man argument.  No one actually worships the Bible.  No one prays to the Bible.  No church actually does this.

The problem in the church today is not that people have to high a view of the Bible.  The problem is that people have too low a view of the Bible.  There are many who think that the Bible is full of errors and myths.  Many, even within the church, think that the Bible contains scientific and historical errors.  Whole denominations of professing Christians hold to this viewpoint.

God led the Jews out of Egypt at Passover.  They left Egypt and miraculously crossed the Red Sea and escaped Pharaoh’s armies.  Three months later, God appeared to the nation and made a covenant with them.  It is called the Mosaic Covenant or Sinaitic Covenant.  Israel is the only country God made a covenant with.  He did not make a covenant with America or with France or Germany. Remember God said to the Jews “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2) in a covenant relationship.

God had already made a covenant with Abraham.  That was a covenant with a person.  It was an unconditional covenant. Now He makes a covenant with the whole nation and this was a conditional covenant (Exodus 19:4-8).  At Sinai, we have a theophany.  In Exodus 3, God appeared to Moses and spoke to him through a burning bush.  In Exodus 20, God appeared to the whole nation and spoke to them through a burning mountain.  The whole mountain was on fire.  Out of the fire and darkness, God spoke the Ten Commandments.

Let’s read Exodus 20:1-17 one more time.  What do we know about the Ten Commandments?  Let me quickly give you six observations about these commandments.

1. They are not optional.

These were not suggestions.  They were commandments (Heb mizvot).  The singular word in Hebrew for commandment is mitzvah (as in bar mitzvah)  These are not “ten suggestions for a better life” or “ten ways that might work for you” or “ten habits of highly spiritual people”.  They are commands and they are NOT optional.  God didn’t say, “If you would like to obey these rules, you can.  It would be a really good idea”.  They are commands.  As I said, last week, eight of the commands involved a penalty of death for disobedience.  The only two that did not were the command against stealing (the penalty was restitution) and against coveting (which was a sin, not a crime)

2. There are no exceptions.

Idolatry is always wrong.  It is always wrong to worship another god.  It is always wrong to commit adultery.  It is always wrong to steal.  It is wrong when the rich steal.  It is wrong when the poor steal.  It is wrong when the government steals.  Murder is always wrong.  Killing is not always wrong.  Murder and killing are not the same thing.  If some fool breaks into your house at night and you kill him, it is not murder. You were allowed to do that in the OT.

On the other hand, if you hunted the man down a week later and took him out, that would be murder, intentional premeditated killing. There are no exceptions. I once saw in a bookstore a book which caught my eye.  It was entitled Exceptions to the Ten Commandments.  When I opened the book, it was filled with several hundred pages that were all blank but blank, because there are no exceptions to the Ten Commandments.

3. They are divided into two parts.

Several of you mentioned this last week. The first four deal with our relationship to God (His name, day and the way He is to be worshiped). The last six deal with our relationship to people.  The first four are religious duties (vertical commandments).  The last six are moral duties (horizontal commandments).  What is the longest of the Ten Commandments?  The longer commandments (third and fourth) are in the section dealing with our relationship to God. These commandments are divided into two parts.  That may be why the Ten Commandments were originally placed on two stone tablets.

4. Most of them are negative

How many are negative?  Eight of the Ten Commandments are negative commands (“thou shalt not”).  80% of them are negative commands or prohibitions.  Only two or 20% of them (the fourth and the fifth) are positive commands.  Why is it so negative?  They are mostly negative because of human nature.  The world teaches than people are basically good.  The Bible teaches that people are basically bad.  We all have a natural tendency to do the very things that are prohibited (lie, steal, kill, commit adultery, etc.).  That is why you do not have to teach a child to be bad.  You have to teach a child to do good.

5. They involve actions, thoughts and words.

Which commandments involve actions? (e.g., murder, adultery, idolatry).  Which commandments involve words? (swearing, bearing false witness).  Which commandments involve thoughts (coveting)

6. We have all broken them.

The whole point of the Law was to lead us to Christ.  The Jews did not just have ten commandments to follow.  They had six hundred more.  The Ten Commandments are part of the Law of Moses.  There are 613 commandments in the Law of Moses.  Some Jewish rabbi once counted all of the commands and came up with the number 613.  You can go online and see the list with the verse that goes with it.

These commandments regulated every aspect of your life – what you were allowed to eat (kosher and non-kosher foods – Leviticus 11), what you were allowed to wear (you could not wear clothes made of two different kinds of fabric, i.e., you can’t wear a shirt made of cotton and polyester – Leviticus 19:19), how you cut your beard (Leviticus 19:27), who you could have sex with (Leviticus 18).  Tattoos were forbidden (Leviticus 19:28).

Because there were 613 of them, no one could keep them all.  One of the purposes of the Law was to show conviction of sin (Romans 3:19-20). Many Jews in Jesus day thought they could be saved by keeping the Law (Luke 10:25-28).  This is impossible.  If you are going to be saved by works, you would have to keep all 613 commandments all of the time (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).  That is why Paul called The Ten Commandment “a ministry of death and condemnation” (II Corinthians 3:6, 7).

The problem with trying to be saved by keeping the Law is that Paul said that if you do not keep all of the Law all of the time, you were under a curse (Galatians 3:10-13).  No one could do that.  That is why the very point of the Law was to bring people to Christ. Paul said that it was supposed to be a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:23-24)

Some of you may not know who Johnny Carson was.  He was the host of the Tonight Show for thirty years.  Jay Leno took over when he retired.  Over forty years ago, Johnny Carson interviewed Billy Graham.  Billy Graham started talking about the Ten Commandments.  John Carson admitted that he did not know what the Ten Commandment were.  Billy Graham said, “you may not know them but you have broken them all”.

The real reason that you cannot have the Ten Commandments in a court room is not because it is religious but because it is so convicting.  As George Carlin noted, it would be too hard for a room full of judges, politicians, lawyers and criminals to have to be confronted all day with the words: “thou shalt not steal,” “thou shalt not lie,” “thou shalt not murder,” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”.

Why Study the Ten Commandments?

Paul said that we are no longer under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14).  He said that Christ is the end of the law (Romans 10:4).  The NT says that Jesus was the end of the law.  He said that Jesus abolished the law (Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:15).  The law was in effect for 1500 years but Jesus abolished it around 33 AD when he died.  That raises this question.  Is it still relevant today for Christians?  They are still relevant today for three reasons.

1) All Scripture is profitable (II Timothy 3:16-17)

Paul said that “ALL Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable” (II Timothy 3:16).  We can learn lessons even from the parts of the law that have been abolished.  Even if we are not under the law today and even if Christ abolished the law but lying is still wrong. Stealing is still wrong. Adultery is still wrong.  Murder is still wrong.  Swearing is still wrong today.  Worshiping an idol is just as much wrong today as it was then.  Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the NT.  Paul said that the righteous requirements of the law are to be fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4).

2) We live in a day of moral decline.

We have a high crime rate in America.  Murder is rampant.  In 2010, a murder took place every half hour in America.  Abortion is legal.  Adultery is socially accepted.  It is glamorized in the movies.  As of January 2014, homosexual marriage is legal in seventeen states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington), as well as the District of Columbia.

3) We live in an age of biblical illiteracy.

According to a Gallup Poll, 84% of Americans say that they believe in the Ten Commandments but, according to another poll, only 30% of them could name three of them.  The average adult on the street could not name the Ten Commandments.  The average young person in church could not name them.  The average church going adult could not even name them.

I have a master’s degree in religious studies from a secular university.  I will never forget what one of my OT professors said.  One of my OT professors admitted in class that he could not even name the Ten Commandments.  He was a very smart man.  He had a Ph.D in OT from Hebrew Union College.  He taught Hebrew classes but he could not even name the Ten Commandments.  I was shocked.  Unfortunately, biblical illiteracy is quite common even in the church all through out the country.

Church Fights

Our topic for today is church fights.  We live in a day in which quarrels between people are quite common, even in church and even among Christians.  Someone has said that “there is no fight like a church fight”.

I have taught the Bible for many years in different settings (small group, Sunday school, men’s group).  What I have found is there are often two types of people in my Bible classes.  I have seen many people who genuinely want to learn and are hungry to know God’s Word.

I have also seen some people who just love to argue.  They would try to get into an argument over everything I said.  They would argue over major topics.  They argue about minor topics.  Some people just like to argue.

They like to hear the sound of their own voice.  Proverbs 20:3 says that “Every fool is QUICK to quarrel”.  Some people try to refute an idea before they really understand it.  Proverbs 18:13 says, “To answer BEFORE LISTENING is folly and shame.”

James 1:19 says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”.  God designed us that way.  He gave us two ears and one mouth.  We reverse what James said.  Instead of being quick to listen and slow to speak, we are usually quick to speak and slow to listen.

Most of us are terrible listeners.  We are not good at listening (our spouse will tell us).  That was written by James, the Pastor of the Jerusalem Church.  We will read about him in Acts 15.

Acts 15 is a chapter all about arguments.  It deals with some heated arguments among Christians or professing Christians.  It is a chapter all about handling disputes.  Acts 15 contains two disputes.   There are not only two disputes in Acts 15, there are two different kinds of disputes in the chapter. One was doctrinal and one was personal.  One was resolved and the other was not.

Acts 15 begins with a doctrinal dispute and ends with a personal dispute. There is a blow out at the beginning of the chapter.  There was a big debate between Paul, Barnabas and the Judaizers.  There is another major argument at the end of the chapter between Paul and Barnabas.  Let’s look at the doctrinal dispute first.

The Doctrinal Dispute

Acts 15 gives us the first doctrinal controversy in the church.  It was an argument over theology.  This was not the first time in Acts that we have seen a church fight.  The first church argument took place in Acts 6.  Some members of the church complained that other members of the church were discriminated against.  In Acts 15 we see a different kind of argument.  That was an argument about race.  This was an argument about doctrine.

There have been many doctrinal controversies since Acts 15.  There have been doctrinal controversies about what the Bible teaches about the person of Christ and the nature of the trinity.  There have been disagreements on what the Bible teaches about future events (eschatology).

Some Christians are premillennial.  Some Christians are post millennial.  Some Christians are amillennial.  There have been disagreements about the Holy Spirit.  Christians throughout the ages have had very different views on the gifts and baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The first doctrinal debate in the early church was not over Calvinism or Arminianism.  It was not over the gifts of the Spirit or prophecy.  The first doctrinal dispute in the early church was on salvation.  What does a person have to do to be justified before a holy God?

How did this dispute start?  It started when outsiders came into the Church of Antioch and began saying some things that caused a lot of confusion.  What do we know about these people?

We know that they came a long way.  They came from Jerusalem.  These outsiders came three hundred miles to pick a fight.

We know that they were members of the Jerusalem Church.  They came from the Jerusalem Church but were not sent by the church (cf. 15:24).  They came on their own.

We know that they were former Pharisees.  When you think of Pharisees, you do not think of Christian.  They seem like two different categories but these were Pharisees who believed (15:5).  They were not necessarily saved.  Paul called some people “false brethren” (Galatians 2:4) but they at least made a profession of faith.

Remember Paul was a Pharisee before he came to Christ.  He was  “ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee” (Philippians 3:5).  They were Pharisees who also accepted Jesus as the Messiah.

The Topic of Debate

What did these men teach?  What was so controversial about what they said?  Why did it almost cause a church split?  They taught that Gentiles had to “be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved” (15: 5).

The Church of Antioch was mostly a Gentile Church.  It was the first Gentile Church.  These Judaizers believed that Gentiles could be saved but if they wanted to be saved they had to do two things.  There were two planks in their doctrine.

One, if you want to be saved, you have to be circumcised.  They are saying that circumcision is essential not optional.  It is required.  Acts 15:1 says, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you CANNOT be saved.”

That was only a requirement for the men.  The women did not have to get circumcised.  Many African countries practice female circumcision called female genital mutilation (FGM) but in the Bible only the men were to be circumcised.  You have to convert to Judaism.

The Judaizers were teaching that in order to be saved, you have to be a full proselyte to Judaism.  Remember, many Gentiles were God fearers who did everything, except circumcision, and many of the God fearers became Christians.  Now they are told by the Judaizers that they have to get circumcised to get saved.

The Judaizers taught that if a Gentile wanted to be a Christian, he had to become a Jew first and get circumcised but that was only step one in their doctrine.  That was not enough to save them.

The second thing they had to do was to keep the Law.  The Law of Moses contains 613 commands.  The Judaizers said that those commands are not just for Jews.  They are for Gentiles as well and are required for salvation.

Luke says that when they came into the Church of Antioch and began teaching this, the people were confused and Paul and Barnabas began to argue with them.  Acts 15:2 says “This brought Paul and Barnabas into SHARP DISPUTE and debate with them”.  This led to a huge argument.  There are several things interesting about this argument.

Both sides were sincere.  They were absolutely convinced that they were right and the other was wrong.  Can you imagine the arrogance of getting into an argument with the Apostle Paul and insisting that you are right on a major doctrine of the faith?  That is what they did.

Both sides used the Bible.  The Judaizers used the Bible.  They said, “Unless you are circumcised, ACCORDING TO THE CUSTOM TAUGHT BY MOSES, you cannot be saved.” (15:2). They thought their position was biblical. They tried to go back to Moses.

 Modern Day Application

That is interesting piece of history but how does it apply today?  The topic of circumcision is not a burning issue in the church today.  Judaizers were not just a problem in the first century. It is not just an ancient error; it is a modern error as well.

It comes in many different forms. There are modern-day Judaizers who creep into churches and teach a false gospel.  What do modern-day Judaizers look like?

1. Modern-day Judaizers teach RITUAL SALVATION.

Some teach salvation by water baptism.  Baptism is not viewed as an evidence and sign of faith but as a completely separate condition of salvation that has magical powers to wash away sin.

2. Modern-day Judaizers teach WORKS SALVATION.

They teach that you have to keep the sacraments and do good works to be saved.  Justification is by works.  Roman Catholic still believes that today.  The Bible is very clear that salvation is by grace.  It is not by works.

There is nothing you can do to earn merit before God.  As Paul said in Galatians, if we could work our way to heaven, there would be no point in Jesus coming to die for our sins.  If we could save ourselves by our own good works, He would not have needed to come to save us.

The Solution

How was this problem solved?   Acts says that “Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question” (15:2).  That is interesting.

Why didn’t they just solve the problem themselves?  Why wasn’t the problem settled in Antioch?  Why did they have to go to Jerusalem to get the answer?  Why was the Church in Jerusalem involved in a problem at Antioch?

Some have used this as proof that local churches should not be autonomous.  If local churches are autonomous, then wouldn’t doctrinal questions be decided by that local assembly?  That is true.

On the other hand, these men came from the Church of Jerusalem.  It did make sense to go back to the Church of Jerusalem to clarify if that was really what that church taught or whether these men were misrepresenting the church.

This question had to be resolved by both churches to prevent two different gospels being preached, one in Jerusalem and a different on in Antioch.  Furthermore, if you had any doctrinal question and wanted some insight, who would you talk to?  The Apostles.  They went to the Church of Jerusalem and all of the apostles gave their feedback on that question (15:6-7).

Acts 15 gives us the first church council.  It is a turning point in the history of the church.  It is one of the most important church councils ever held.  The first church council was not the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.

It was the Council of Jerusalem in 49 or 50 AD.  It was not just a church council, it was an apostolic council.  All of the apostles were involved.  Peter left Jerusalem after Herod tried to kill him but he came back to be a part of this meeting.

How did this meeting operate?  The apostles and elders discussed it for a long time.  Then Peter spoke.  He was followed by Paul and Barnabas speaking next.  James spoke last.  James was the leader of the Jerusalem church and he functioned as the president of the council.  What is interesting here is that

Surprising Facts about This Meeting 

1. This was not a congregational meeting.

They did not take a poll and ask everyone in the church what they thought about the issue.  All ideas are not equal.  Some ideas are stupid.  Some ideas are unbiblical.  The leaders of the church got together and talked about it.

2. James, not Peter, made the official ruling.

If Peter was the first Pope (as the Roman Catholic Church teaches), you expect him to give the ruling.  James seemed to have more authority than even Peter at this council.  He spoke last.  He made the ruling.

3. James did not function as a dictator.

James gave everyone a chance to speak.  All sides were heard.  All viewpoints were expressed.  He listed to everyone and made a ruling.  He did not give an arbitrary ruling.  James gave the ruling but his ruling summarized what Paul, Barnabas and Peter said.

Verdict

What was the result of the church council?  James agreed with Paul and Barnabas.  The Judaizers who came from Jerusalem did not represent the church.  They spoke on their own.  Gentiles do not have to keep the law or be circumcised to be saved but James says that there are four things that Gentiles should do: to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood (15:20).

Three of the four prohibitions deal with food (eating blood, eating meat from strangled animals and eating food polluted by idols), while one prohibition deals with behavior (refraining from sexual immorality).

What is that all about?  Are we still under these rules today?   James is saying that Gentiles are not under the law but they should also try to not offend Jews in their city.  It has nothing to do with salvation.  It has to do with testimony and outreach (cf. 15:21).  Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in blood transfusions because of Acts 15:20 but that passage has absolutely nothing to do with blood transfusions.

They didn’t even exist in the first century.  That is a recent medical procedure.  It is talking about eating blood.  One of the basic rules of biblical interpretation is to interpret the Bible in light of the intent of the author.

James was not telling believers to abstain from blood transfusions which didn’t even exist in his day.  Jews are not allowed to eat blood.  It is a prohibition that comes out of the Law of Moses (Leviticus 17:10-12).  What lessons can we learn from resolving doctrinal conflict in the church?

Lessons on Solving Disputes

1) Go directly to the source of the problem.

Paul and Barnabas spoke directly to the Judaizers.  When they claimed to represent the Church of Jerusalem, they went and spoke to the leaders of that church to see if that was correct.

2) Try to resolve it on your own.

That is what Paul and Barnabas did.  They spoke to the Judaizers.  They argued with them and got nowhere.  That is when they had to move to the next step.

3) When it is not resolved, consult the leaders of the church.

We do not have any apostles today but we do have godly leaders who know God’s Word and are spiritually mature.

The Personal Dispute

At the end of the chapter, we see another argument.  This one was between Paul and Barnabas.  It was not theological.   It was personal.  Paul and Barnabas got into a strong disagreement and no one would budge.  They had a quarrel.

You can almost hear them arguing back and forth.  As you hear the argument, you can decide whose side you would have been on.  Most people today side with Barnabas but Paul had some good points as well.  What did they argue about?

It began with Paul.  Paul said, “ (15:36). Paul suggests they go on a second missionary journey to visit the churches they already planted in the first missionary journey.  Barnabas said, “Great idea.  Let’s strengthen and encourage them”.  Barnabas loved to encourage people but then Barnabas said, “Let’s take my nephew John Mark with us again” (15:37).

Paul said, “Are you out of your mind?  John Mark got homesick and left us on the first missionary journey.  He went home to his mother.  He deserted us.  He let us down before and you want to bring again?  He is young.  He is only about twenty years old.  He is not reliable.  He is not dependable.

This missionary work is dangerous work.  He will just leave us again.  We should not take that chance again.  If we are going to take someone, there has to be someone better that we take with us.  John’s actions on the last trip show that he is not the right man for the job.”

There are verses that seem to support Paul.  Jesus said, “No man who puts his hand on the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom” (Luke 9:62).  Proverbs 25:19 says, “Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble”.

Barnabas was more of an encourager.  He was more generous and forgiving.  Barnabas believed in grace.  He believed in giving people second chances.  He believed in showing compassion to people.  Barnabas believed in taking chances on people.  He took a chance on Paul right after he got saved and no one would trust him.  Barnabas probably said, “John left us and he had good reasons for doing so” or “John left us before but he will not do it again”.

Paul was more of a perfectionist.  Paul did not believe it was right to take a proven failure into a ministry situation.  Both Paul and Barnabas had some good points.  Paul’s point was valid.  On the other hand, John Mark should not be completely given up on.  There is hope for people who have once failed in ministry.  God can still use them in some capacity.  Mark ended up writing a book of Scripture.

Lessons on Disagreements

1) Disagreements are inevitable.

We do not always think alike.  Spouses do not always agree on things. You can find that out after being married for five minutes.  The most spiritual Christians do not always agree on things.  We do not always think alike.  Paul and Barnabas both thought it was a good idea to go on a second missionary journey but they could not agree on the details.  Now Paul and Barnabas were mature believers.

They were both filled with the Holy Spirit.  They were seasoned Christians.  They were missionaries.  They were not only missionaries, they were co-workers.  They worked together in ministry.  They must have grown much closer working together risking their lives on the first missionary journey.  They were also close friends but they could not agree on Mark. Disagreements are inevitable.

2) Disagreements are painful

Harsh words were said.  Tempers flared and feelings were hurt. They had a strong disagreement.  This disagreement was never resolved.  It led to a separation.  Their relationship was broken.  Paul went one way and Barnabas went the other.

In fact, we never see Barnabas again in the Book of Acts after this.  You can be friends and disagree with someone but you can’t always work together with someone you disagree with.  They never worked together again.  That must have been hard.

3) Disagreements can be beneficial

Are disagreements and splits between Christians a good thing?  Should we encourage more disagreement in our churches?  No but God can and sometimes does bring good out of our disagreements.

It was not good that they could not work out their disagreement but God brought good out of it.  There were two missionary teams, instead of one.  Paul took Silas and went to Syria and Cilicia, while Barnabas took John Mark and went to Cyprus (15:39-41).

If two are better than one, two missionary teams are better than one missionary team.  They can cover more ground and reach more people.  It also gave Silas an opportunity to step up to the plate and be used by God.

Silas was one of the men from the Church of Jerusalem who went back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas to deliver the ruling of the first church council to the Church of Antioch (15:22).  Luke tells us that he was a prophet (15:32).

A Model New Testament Church

Acts 13 begins a news section of the Book of Acts.  It deals with the missionary journeys of Paul.  Paul and Barnabas go on the first missionary journey.  They are sent off by the Church of Antioch.  What is the Church of Antioch?  How did they get there?  Let’s backtrack for a minute and see how this church was founded (11:19-30)

Founding of the Church

1. Persecution of the church leads to scattering of believers outside of Jerusalem

2. The scattering of believers leads to evangelism in other cities

3. Evangelism in other places leads to a church starting in Antioch (300 miles away from Jerusalem).

Antioch is right on the border with Syria.  It is called Antakya today.

4. The starting of the Church in Antioch led to Barnabas coming to Antioch to check it out.

5. When he gets there, he finds out that a revival had broken out in Antioch and he needed help.

People were getting saved so fast that the church needed some additional staff.  He needed help and he knew exactly who to get – his old friend Paul but first he had to find him.  Barnabas didn’t know where he was. He had to look for him (11:25).  He found him in Tarsus 147 miles away.  Tarsus was where Paul was from.  It is also in Turkey today.  Tarsus is a Turkish city.  It is in south-central Turkey.  This was where Paul was born.

6. When he finds Paul, he brings him back to Antioch to minister where they both stayed for a year teaching (11:26).

Barnabas found Paul there and convinced him to come back with him and help him with this new church.  He recruited him for ministry.  Both of them stayed in the church for a year before they were sent out on the first missionary journey.

Importance of the Church

The Church of Antioch was almost as important as the Church of Jerusalem where the church began.  It was extremely important for three reasons.

1. Antioch was where the first Gentile Church was located.

In Acts 10, we have the first Gentile convert (Cornelius).  In Acts 11, we have the first Gentile church mentioned in Acts.  The center of Gentile Christianity is not Jerusalem.  It is Antioch.

2. Antioch was the center of Paul’s missionary journeys.

Antioch was his base of operations.  The center of operations for Paul’s missionary journeys was not Jerusalem.  It was Antioch.

3. Antioch is where the term “Christian” originated (11:26).

There are many people who do not believe in denominations.  They believe that denominations are unbiblical.  They divide the body of Christ.  They just want to be called “Christians”.

There is just one problem with this.  Christian is not a biblical name either.  Jesus never called his followers Christians. The apostles never called each other Christians.  Luke does not call believer Christians.  Luke says, “ (11:29).  Luke calls them “disciples,” not “Christians”.

How did the term “Christian” originate?  Christian has the word “Christ” in it.  Many think the word “Christ” is a proper name.  They think it was Jesus’ last name.  It wasn’t.  The word Christ is taken from the Greek word χρίστος which simply means “messiah”.

It is not a name but a title.  People in the ancient world did not have last names.  They were identified by what they did (Matthew the tax-collector and Simon the tanner) or who their parents were (Simon son of Jonah, James the son of Zebedee) or where they were from (Jesus of Nazareth, Saul of Tarsus).

Someone in Antioch started calling believers Christians because they are followers of Christ.  No Jew would have given them that name because Christ means messiah and they did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  It was a term given by Gentiles. It was most likely given as a term of reproach (like Methodists).  It was originally given as an insult but later became a badge of honor

What was this church like?  We could learn a lot from this church.  It is a model New Testament Church

Characteristics of the Church of Antioch

1. It was a growing church

This church was not stagnant.  It was growing.  It was on fire. It was not a tiny church.  It was big (cf. 11:24, 26)

2. It was a metropolitan church

This was not a country church.  It was a city church.  It was in a very large city.  Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire.  Rome was first.  Alexandria was second and Antioch was third.  There were 500,000 (half a million) people in this city at the time.

3. It was a diverse church

Diversity in Church

Many churches today are not very diverse. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is “the most segregated hour in America.”  Times have not changed too much since had made that statement fifty years ago.  The Church at Antioch was different.  It was diverse in three ways.

1. The Church at Antioch was diverse linguistically.

Not only were there Jews and Gentiles in the church, there were different kinds of Jews.  There were Greek speaking Jews and Hebrew speaking Jews (Paul).

2. The Church at Antioch was diverse economically.

Manean was probably wealthy.  He was the foster-brother of Herod.  He grew up in the palace.  He was part of the upper class.  He turned out a lot differently than Herod Antipas.  One turned out to be a murderer and one turned out to be a preacher.

3. The Church at Antioch was diverse racially.

There were some people of color in the church.  Simeon was called Niger because he was dark-skinned.  It is the Latin word for black.  He was most likely from Africa. Nigeria is in Africa and Lucius was from Cyrene in North Africa.

Cyrene is in Libya today.  There you have diversity, not only in the congregation, but also in the pastoral staff.  There are many churches today that have a diverse congregation but the leadership is not very diverse.

4. It was a gifted church

“Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers:   Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul” (13:1).

This was a gifted church.  Paul and Barnabas were in the church.  This church had great leaders. Their spiritual leadership team was made up of five men.  One writer called this “the dream team”.  It began with Paul and Barnabas.  A year later three other men were added.

There were prophets and teachers in the church and they are spoken of in the plural.  Which were prophets and which were teachers?  Luke does not say.

What we do know is that this was not a church where one man did all the ministry and this was a fairly young church.  In many churches today, there is one teacher in the church and that is the pastor and that pastor never lets anyone else in his pulpit.  It is a one-man show.  That is not the way this church functioned.

5. It was an evangelistic church

This believed in church planting.  The church reproduced itself.  It wanted to reach out to others.  This church was evangelistic.  This church sent out the first missionaries. There were missionaries before this.  People preached the gospel before Acts 13. Remember that Philip was the first missionary that we know of.  He was in Acts 8.  This was the first time missionaries were specifically sent out by a church.

Acts 8 describes the persecution in Jerusalem.  What happened next was that believers were scattered.  They left Jerusalem.  Wherever they went, they preached the gospel.  This was the first time that a church sent missionaries out to do overseas missions.

They had three planned missionary journeys.  These missionary journeys involved traveling seven thousand miles.  The church is on the advance.  Strategy is not defensive but offensive.  Antioch became the center of operations.  Jerusalem represents home missions and Antioch represents foreign missions.

6. It was a compassionate church

This church was not stingy.  The Church of Jerusalem may go through some hard times economically and the Church of Antioch wanted to help out.  The daughter church wanted to help out the mother church.

7. It was a Spirit-Led Church

How was the Church of Antioch church sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit?

Signs of a Spirit-led Church

1) A Spirit-led church is sensitive to the gifts of the Spirit.

They allowed people to use their gifts in the church.  Every believer has a spiritual gift that God wants us to use.  Some churches really encourage us to use our gifts, allow us to use our gifts and support us when we use our gifts.  Other churches do not.  Churches that do this quench the spirit.

2) A Spirit-led church is sensitive to the message of the Spirit.

Agabas was a prophet.  He had a message from the Lord.  He “stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world” (11:28) The church accepted this message and did something about it.

If the Holy Spirit had a message for the church today, how would it respond to it?  Would the church be open and sensitive to the message of the Holy Spirit or would they reject it and say that God does not speak today?

Jesus says in Revelation, Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  He said that seven times (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6; 11, 22).

3) A Spirit-led church is sensitive to the leading of the Spirit.

This church was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We see that in Acts 13:3: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  Here is the reality today.  Some churches today are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and some are not

Lessons on Ministry

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas,   Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (13:1-3).

1. Ministry for Christ requires a divine call.

Paul and Barnabas did not just go, they were sent. You should not be a missionary unless the Holy Spirit calls you to do it.

2. The call to ministry is completely sovereign.

Ministry requires a call and this call was sovereign.  The Holy Spirit picked out the men.  He specifically picked Barnabas and Paul.  He could have picked the other three men on staff but He did not.

The Holy Spirit did not just sovereignly pick one man, He picked two.  Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs.  There were only five men on staff.  The Holy Spirit chose forty percent of the staff for this mission.

The Spirit didn’t pick just any two members of the church, He picked the two best men.  He chose two of the most prominent and gifted men in the church to go to the mission field.  They were probably needed in Antioch.  Antioch needed good leaders as well but the Holy Spirit chose them to leave and go on the mission field.

3. The call came to men who were already sold out to Christ.

He also chose people who were already working and serving Him.  He chose people who were using their gifts in the church.  “WHILE THEY WERE WORSHIPPING THE LORD AND FASTING, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. 

He chose people who were praying, worshiping and fasting. God often uses His servants who are already serving Him as they have opportunity rather than those who are not serving Him but just sitting by idly waiting for direction

4. Ministry is primarily to God, not people

 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart FOR ME Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

5. The role of the local church is to support the call of God in your life.

This church recognized what the Holy Spirit was doing in their midst and gave their blessing.  They laid hands on them, prayed over them and sent them off (13:3).  They supported them.  When Paul and Barnabas finished their missionary journey, they came back a year later and gave a report to the Church of Antioch (14:27-28).

The First Missionary Journey

Acts 13-14 describes the first missionary journey.  Two men are sent out by the Church of Antioch – Barnabas and Paul.  I want to give you a brief overview of the first missionary journey.  It involved fourteen hundred miles.  It took place around 47 AD.

They were gone about a year.  At the beginning of the chapter, Barnabas is mentioned first. “The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me BARNABAS AND SAUL for the work to which I have called them” (13:2). When we get to the end of the chapter, Paul is mentioned first (13:43, 46, 50).  Why the change?

When they began on this journey, Barnabas was the leader of this missionary team.  He was the most prominent of the two. He had been a Christian longer than Paul.  Paul was the newcomer.  Barnabas was probably older than Paul.  Once they left, Paul seems to be the one who took over.

He became the leader.  He may have had greater gifts.  He does most of the preaching.  He does the miracles.  Barnabas did not have a problem taking the back seat and having their roles reversed.  He was humble.  He did not care about positions or titles.

So Barnabas and Paul are sent off on the first missionary journey and Barnabas takes his cousin John Mark with him (13:5) but he doesn’t last long.  This was dangerous work.  Paul almost died on this trip.  Paul got stoned in one of those cities.  People threw rocks at him and tried to kill him.

In fact, he was hurt so bad that they thought he was dead (14:19-20).  Stephen was stoned to death in Acts 7.  In fact, Paul was present at that stoning and even approved of it.  Now he is getting stoned himself. This missionary work was not for the faint of heart.  After the first stop, John Mark bailed on them.

Paul also got sick on this trip.  How do we know that?  Luke doesn’t tell us that in Acts but Paul tells us in one of his epistles.  Galatians 4:13-14 says, “As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.”

We do not know for sure what his illness was but many believe it was malaria.  Paul was in Pamphilia which was noted for its marshlands and swamps.  These swamps were a hotbed of mosquitoes and a breeding ground for malaria.  

The standard treatment for malaria was to go up into the mountains where there was clean air.  That is where the Galatian Church was located.  That is where Antioch Pisidian Antioch was where he went next.

What did Paul and Barnabas do on their first missionary journey around 47 AD?

1) They started churches on the first missionary journey

At least four churches were started.  They not only started these churches, they appointed elders in these churches (14:23).  The first missionary journey takes then to five cities.  Their first stop was the island of Cyprus. Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea.

It was Barnabas’s home town (4:36). Their second stop was Pisidian Antioch. Their third stop was Iconium. Their fourth stop was Lystra. Their fifth stop was Derbe.

What is significant about these places (Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe)?  They are all located in the Roman province of Galatia (modern Turkey).

Paul wrote a letter in the NT called the Book of Galatians.  It was not written to one church but to several churches.  It was written to the churches of Galatia (1:2).  It was a circular letter.

2) They performed miracles  on the first missionary journey

They used power evangelism. He did miracles in Cyprus (13:6-11), in Iconium (14:3) and in Lystra (14:8-10) where he healed a man who couldn’t walk.  Paul first miracle was blinding Elymas.  Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine.

Paul’s first miracle was blinding someone.  Paul knew what it was like to be blind.  He was blind for three days after he saw Jesus.  Now he blinds someone else temporarily.  These miracles were effective.  When the governor of the island saw Paul’s miracle, he believed (13:12).

3) They did some preaching  on the first missionary journey

They went on a preaching tour in major population centers.  Like a good preacher, he used hand gestures when he spoke.  He motioned with his hands (13:16).  They always started in the synagogue if there was one.

There wasn’t one in Lystra but wherever there was one, Paul always preached in the synagogues first (13:5, 13-16; 14:1).  The Jews met on Friday evening for their service.  Why did he start there?

Why did Paul preach to the Jews first.  They were the chosen people.  God made a covenant with the Jews.  Jesus was the Messiah to the Jews.  There was some common ground.

They both believed the Old Testament was inspired by God.  Paul felt comfortable talking to Jews.  He was a Jew himself and had been trained in one of the best Jewish seminaries of his day.  That gave him an audience.  People wanted to hear what he had to say.

What was the reaction?  The message was divisive.  The gospel usually gets that reaction.  People respond with either revival or riot, Some loved it and some hated it.  When Paul spoke in Pisidian Antioch they loved what he said so much that they asked him to come back next week (13:42).

When he came back the next week, the whole city came to hear him.  The synagogue was packed with people (13:44).  Other people hated him, persecuted him and kicked him out of their city (13:50)

We see the same thing in Lystra (14:1-20).  At the beginning of the chapter the people loved him.  They love him so much that they want to worship him.  At the end of the chapter, another group of people hate him so bad that they want to kill him and almost do.  Paul goes from being worshipped to being stoned in the same city.

Why in the world would anyone think that Paul was Hermes and Barnabas was Zeus?  They thought this because of a man named Ovid who wrote a very famous book forty years earlier.  Ovid was Rome’s greatest poet.  In 8 AD, he wrote a book called The Metamorphosis.  It was his greatest work.  It is about gods changing form.

In Book VIII of the Metamorphosis, Zeus and Hermes disguised themselves as humans, went to the same province of Galatia and found everyone rude and obnoxious.  Everyone turned them away, even the wealthy people.  Then they went on top of a mountain and found some poor peasants.  They found an old married couple named Baucis and Philemon living in a tiny hut.

They had no money.  They were dirt poor but they were happy.  When the visitors showed up, they showed them great hospitality.  They took them in and cooked them some food.  They gave them wine.  The gods were so impressed they turned their little hut into a temple to Zeus and destroyed the rest of the town with a flood.

4) They experienced opposition on the first missionary journey

In every city there was opposition.  When God is working, Satan is working.  The opposition in each city got worse. In Cyprus, Paul encountered OPPOSITION from a Jewish sorcerer named Elymas.  He opposed Paul and Barnabas.  He tried to keep people from believing.  His name was Bar Jesus (son of Jesus) but Paul calls him a child of the devil (13:10).

When he went to the next city, he experience not only opposition, he experience EXPULSION from Pisidian Antioch (13:50). They kicked him out of the city.  In the third city ninety miles away, Paul experienced something worse.  He experienced a DEATH THREAT.  There was a plot to kill Paul in Iconium (14:5).  In Lystra (eighteen miles away), he faced ATTEMPTED MURDER, as people threw rocks at him and tried to kill him.

This opposition was determined.  Some traveled over a hundred miles to get Paul.  They came all the way from Pisidian Antioch which was over a hundred miles away (14:19).  Paul used to travel to hunt believers down and now people are traveling over a hundred miles to hunt him down.

 

 

A Miraculous Deliverance

Acts 12 is a fascinating chapter.  It contains some stupendous miracles and great applications for us as well.  I want to begin with an overview of the chapter and then go straight to the applications.  What happens in this chapter?

Summary of Events in Acts 12

1. The apostle James is killed.
2. The apostle Peter is arrested.
3. The church prays for Peter.
4. An angel delivers Peter from prison.
5. Peter goes to the house of Mary.
6. Peter leaves town for safety.
7. James becomes the new leader of the church
8. God judges King Herod
9. King Herod gets sick and dies.

I want to quickly go over these eight points and make a few comments before we look at some applications from this chapter.  There are three powerful applications from this chapter but first let’s review what happens.

1.  The apostle James is killed by King Herod.

Who is Herod here? Which James is this who is killed? There are several Herods in the Bible.  This Herod is Herod Agrippa I.  Herod is not so much a name.  It was a title, a dynastic title, like Pharaoh or Caesar.  This is not the Herod who murdered all of the babies in Bethlehem under the age of two.  This was his grandson.  He had murder in his DNA.  He came from a violent family.

Who is James? What do we know about him?  We know a few things.

  • We know about his FAMILY.

Luke says that he was the brother of John.  James and John were brothers.  Their father was named Zebedee.

  • We know about his OCCUPATION.

Before he was saved, he was a fisherman.  He left the fishing business and followed Jesus (Matthew 4:18-20).

  • We know about his PERSONALITY.

Jesus called James and John “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17).  They had an incredible zeal for Jesus, even though it was sometimes misguided.  It was a nickname and Jesus gave it to them.  What kind of nickname would he give to you?

  • We know about his POSITION.

He was an apostle.  Out of all of Jesus followers, he was one of the twelve men that Jesus hand-picked to be part of the Twelve Apostles.  Not only was he an apostle, he was part of Christ’s inner circle.  Peter, James and John were the inner circle.  Of those apostles, Jesus had three men that he was even closer to than the Twelve.  These three were the only apostles to see the Transfiguration.  They were the only ones to be with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night he was arrested.

  • We know about his DEATH.

Herod killed James.  He did this around 44 AD.  We know this because that is when Herod died, according to secular history.  James dies a very painful death.  He is beheaded.  His head is cut off.  We have seen persecution in Acts before.  This is actually the fifth persecution in Acts.  The early church was persecuted in Acts 4, Acts 5, Acts 7, and Acts 8 but when we get to Acts 12 something is different.  Two things are different.

a)   For the first time the persecution comes from THE STATE.

Up to this time, persecution was done by the religious authorities (chief priest, Sanhedrin).  Now, it is being done by the political authorities.  It is not religiously motivated but state-sponsored persecution.  Now the king is going after the church and hunting down believers.

b)   For the first time in history AN APOSTLE is martyred.

There had been persecution of the church before Acts 12.  There had been martyrdom of the church before Acts 12.  Stephen was martyred in Acts 7.  A deacon was martyred by a group of thugs.  Now for the first time ever one of the apostles is martyred and that is done by the state.  James was not the first apostle to die (Judas) but he was the first one to be martyred.

2. The apostle Peter is arrested and Herod plans to kill him.

Acts 12:3 says, “When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.”  Herod did these things for political reasons.

Herod worked for Rome.  His job was to control the Jews.  As long as they are happy, everything is fine.  Once they start to revolt or rebel, Herod may be out of a job.  He took out the number two man in the church and that pleased the Jews, so he now goes after the number one man.  Peter is the leader of the church of Jerusalem.  As you can see, Herod is more concerned about pleasing the Jews than he is pleasing the Lord.  So he arrested Peter as well.

3. The church prays for Peter.

The church knew that Peter was supposed to be executed the next day.  James had already been executed, so what did they do?  They prayed and prayed for hours.  It was an all-night prayer meeting.  Prayer was their one weapon.  As one old Puritan writer put it, “the angel fetched Peter out of prison but prayer fetched the angel”.

4. An angel delivers Peter from prison.

We will look more at this angelic prison break later in the lesson as we look at some applications from this section.

5. Peter goes to the house of Mary.

Who is Mary?  She does not mean much to us but was extremely important in the early church for three reasons.

a) Her brother was Barnabas (Colossians 4:10)

Barnabas was one of the leaders of the Jerusalem Church.  He was known for his generosity.  He was one of the ones who sold some of his land and gave it to the church to help the poor.  He was the only one who was brave enough to befriend Saul after he professed to be a Christian.

He was the type of person who reached out to people and saw their potential when no one else did.  That is why he is called “the son of encouragement”.  That is what Barnabas means.  He also went with Paul on his first missionary journey.

b) Her son was John Mark (12:12)

He was important as well.  He also went with Paul on his first missionary journey (13:5).  He later wrote one of the gospels (Gospel of Mark).  He was important.  He wrote a book of Scripture.

c) She had a house church.

A church met in her house.  They were having a prayer meeting there that night.  They turned her house into a prayer meeting.  She was probably wealthy.  She was rich enough to have servants and a house big enough for a church to meet in it.

6. Peter leaves town for safety.

Was this a lack of faith on Peter’s part?  No.  As one person put it, “supernatural deliverance does not preclude common sense”.  Peter was already marked for death.  He just escaped prison.  He wasn’t going to stay in town.  He left Jerusalem and no one knows where he went.  That is the last we hear of him in Acts (with the exception of one appearance in Acts 15).

7. James takes over the leadership of the Jerusalem Church.

Before Peter leaves Jerusalem but before he does he hands the leadership of the church over to James.  James makes the final decision at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.  Why does he take over?  He was not one of the apostles.  He was the brother of Jesus.

James the Just was the oldest brother of Jesus.  He was also known in history as “James the Righteous” or “James the Just”.  He was also martyred twenty years later by a mob.  Both the Jewish historian Josephus and the church historian Eusebius describe his death around 62 AD.  He was thrown off of a building, stoned to death and his skull was broken with a club. He died a violent death.

8. Herod suddenly and mysteriously drops dead.

There are two very funny situations in these verses.  One has to do with believers and one has to do with unbelievers.  The first funny situation had to do with this prayer meeting.  Peter had more trouble getting through the door of Mary’s house than he did getting through locked a prison door.  He walked right out of prison but when he got to Mary’s house, he couldn’t get in and they would not let him in at first.

Peter was able to walk right out of prison but when he got to Mary’s house, he couldn’t get in.  He knocked and no one would let him in.  The first person to discover Peter there was Rhoda.  She didn’t see him.  She just recognized his voice (12:14). She was so excited when she heard his voice that her first instinct was not to let him in but to run and tell everyone who was praying for Peter.  She ran to them and said “Peter is at the door!” (12:14).

Their reaction was priceless.  The church was busy storming the gates of heaven when this servant girl interrupted them.  They thought she was bothering them while they were doing important work.  They made three mistakes when they talked to her.  This is really embarrassing.

  • They said that Peter was NOT outside the door.

That was their first mistake.  He was outside. They did not believe her when she said that Peter was there. They were thinking that she is young.  She is a slave.  She doesn’t know anything but the servant girl was right and they were wrong.

  • They said Rhoda was crazy (12:15).

That was their second mistake.  They thought she was out of her mind but Rhoda was not crazy at all.  That is a strange reaction.  You tell someone the truth and not only do they not believe you, they think you are out of your mind.

  • They said Peter’s angel is outside (12:15)

That wasn’t true. It was Peter, not an angel, who was knocking at the door.  That was their third mistake.  An angel would not need to knock.  An angel could go right through a locked door.

Another funny situation had to do with Herod.  The last time Peter was in prison he escaped (5:18-20) and Herod didn’t want to take any chances so he put sixteen men on him.  He was guarded by four squads of soldiers.  A squad is made up of four soldiers and Peter was guarded by four squads of soldiers.  He was guarded by sixteen soldiers.

They guarded him in shifts one squad at a time (four at a time every six hours). Two were chained to him.  Two guarded the locked door.  This was maximum security.  There are guards on the inside and outside of his cell.  Herod did everything to keep Peter in jail and he still escaped.  God in heaven was laughing.

What lessons can we learn from Peter’s release from prison that night?  There are three very important lessons that we can learn.

Life Applications

Lesson on the Sovereignty of God

How do we see the sovereignty of God in this chapter?  There are three ways how we see God as sovereign in this chapter.

a) God is in control when our circumstances are not good

In the beginning of the chapter, the church seems to be in decline.  It does not look good for the church.  James is killed.  Peter is arrested.  The number two man is killed and the number one man is arrested.  At the end of the chapter, the Word of God multiplies.  It spread.  The end of the chapter the church is growing (12:24-25).

Peter’s circumstances were not good. He was not just in prison, he was chained up in prison.  He not only lost his freedom, he lost his privacy. He was guarded by four squads of soldiers (12:4).

There were two soldiers, two chains and two guards and he is scheduled for execution.  In fact, they couldn’t be any worse but God was in control and Peter knew it.  That is why we see him sleeping on the night before his execution.  When most people would be full of worry and fear and anxiety and depression, he was sleeping like a baby.  He doesn’t seem to be worried about dying.

Why? There were two reasons.  One, he had complete trust in the sovereignty of God.  He knew that God was in control, even if it looked like Herod was in control.

Two, he probably did not think that he was going to die the next day. The last time he was in jail, an angel opened the doors of the prison and let him out (5:17-19).  He was used to this.  Furthermore, Jesus promised that he would live to be an old man (John 21:18).

b) God is in control when people do bad things

It looks like Herod is in control but he is not.  At the beginning of the chapter, Herod kills James.  At the end of the chapter, God kills Herod.  At the beginning of the chapter Herod is killing people.

He killed James.  He tries to kill Peter.  When Peter escapes, he kills the guards because he knew that there was no way Peter could have gotten out on his own.  He had to have some help, so he assumed that it was an inside job.  At the end of the chapter, he is killed himself.  At the beginning of the chapter, Herod is all-powerful.  At the end of the chapter, he is weak and in incredible pain as he is eaten of worms.

c) God is in control when life does not seem fair

Peter is released from prison and James is beheaded.  God lets James die and Peter live.  That is strange.  If God could send an angel to save Peter, then why didn’t He send an angel to save James?  Why is James killed and Peter delivered?

Why would God deliver one of his servants and not deliver another one of his servants?  Was Peter a better Christian than James?  No.  Did God love Peter more than He loved James?  No.

The answer is that God is sovereign.  He had a different plan for Peter than he had for James.  Both involved suffering interestingly, just at different times.  James was just martyred first.  Peter was released here by an angel but he is martyred twenty years later in Rome.  James was beheaded but Peter was crucified, an even worse death.  It takes much longer to die.

God is sovereign, even when life does not seem fair. James was one of the first apostles to die and his brother John was the last apostle to die.  James was martyred and his brother John not even martyred.

As far as we know, John was the only one of the twelve apostles who was not martyred.  He was persecuted for his faith.  He was sent to the Island of Patmos but he was not martyred.

God is sovereign.  He is in control and He has a different will for each of us.  This is a very unpopular doctrine.  God calls some people to live a short life.  God calls some people to be martyred.

God calls some people to live a long healthy life and die of natural causes.  God calls some people to get cancer.  God calls some women to have many kids and other women to be infertile (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Lessons on the Power of Prayer

So Peter was kept in prison, BUT the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (12:5).

We can learn here some principles on prayer.  How did the church pray for Peter?

  • Their prayer was specific.

The church was earnestly praying TO God FOR him” (12:5).  Their requests were not general.  They were very specific.  They did not just pray for God to bless Peter, to be with Peter and to give him a really good day.  They prayed for God to release him from prison and to save his life.  Our prayers should be specific.

  • Their prayer was corporate.

They did not just pray privately; they prayed publicly.  Their prayer was not just individual; it was corporate.  Is Jesus present if you pray alone?  Yes.  Can he answer when you pray alone?  Yes.  Private prayer is biblical but the early church also prayed corporately.  When they got together, they prayed (2:42).  This wasn’t one or two people at this prayer meeting.  Luke says “many people” were there that night (12:12)

  • Their prayer was united.

Everyone was in agreement.  There is power in united prayer.  There is power when there is agreement in prayer, even when it is just two or three people (Matthew 18:19-20).

  • Their prayer was fervent.

This was not a “now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep” prayer.  This was earnest, passionate, fervent prayer. Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts.  He uses the same Greek word translated “earnestly” (NIV) in Acts 12:5 and Luke 22:44.

Apparently, the night before Peter was to die, this church prayed the same way that Jesus did the night before He died when he prayed so fervently that he was sweating like drops of blood.  How often do we work up a sweat when we pray?  This prayer meeting went late in the night.  They prayed around the clock for him.

  • Their prayer was powerful

This prayer got the angels to work.  This prayer released Peter from prison supernaturally.  It was so powerful that it went far beyond any of their expectations.  They prayed for Peter to be released from prison but none of them thought he would be released that night.  None of them thought that he would be walking in the doors of that prayer meeting and that they would see his face before they left that house that night.

James says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (5:16).  James gave the example of Elijah.  Elijah’s prayers were so powerful that they controlled the weather.  James saw the power of prayer at work in his day as well.  James was in the Jerusalem Church when Peter was released.  He was the one who took over the church after Peter left town.

Peter was in prison.  The prison door was locked.  He was chained up.  The place was heavily guarded by soldiers and he still got out.  Does God do this today?  Yes.  God answers prayer today.  He still uses angels to do His work.  He still performs miracles in the lives of believers.  Does He always do this today?  No.  No doubt the disciples prayed for James, too, when Herod seized him and yet he was beheaded.

Lesson on the Ministry of Angels

There are two miracles in this chapter.  God frees Peter and God kills Herod.  Both of these miracles were done by angels.  An angel took Peter’s chains off and let Peter out of prison.  An angel of the Lord also smote Herod.

In Acts 12, we see two ministries of angels.  These are not the only ministry of angels but we see two ministries that angels are clearly involved in.  The first thing that angels do in this chapter is to protect believers.

1.  Angels Protect Believers

The Bible teaches that angels are ministering spirits.  Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”  That verse says that angels are spirits.  They do not have a physical body.  It also teaches that they minister to believers.

They help believers.  It does not say that they help and serve unbelievers.  That is an incredible thought.  If you are a believer, you have angels who serve YOU.  You may not know when they do it but that is their job and angels are greater than us.  They are greater beings that we are and they serve us.

This does not necessarily mean that we all have a guardian angel who follows us around wherever we go.  That could get a little embarrassing but it does mean that one of the jobs of angels is to protect and deliver believers.

There are many examples in Scripture of this.  When God was getting ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He sent two angels to Lot’s house to deliver them (Genesis 19:1-29).  They looked like men.  They were called men (19:12) but they were angels (19:1).

When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, he was protected by an angel (Daniel 6:21-23).  It was an angel that shut the mouths of the lions. When Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego were tied up and thrown into the fiery furnace, they were protected by an angel (Daniel 3:24-28).

Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”  It is a promise not only of protection but of supernatural angelic protection but it is a promise only for those who fear God.  It is a special promise of protection just for believers.

Are believers ALWAYS delivered by angels?  No.  We saw that in Acts 12.  James was not delivered by an angel.  Why do bad things happen to believers?  Why aren’t they always delivered by angels?  There is a very good reason for that.

Angels only do the will of God.  Psalm 103:20-21 says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.”

They go around doing the will of God.  On Easter Sunday, God sent an angel down from heaven to move a huge stone that covered Jesus’ tomb (Matthew 28:2).  They do whatever God wants them to do.  If it is God’s will for a believer to be delivered, He sometimes uses angels to do that.

What does the angel in Acts 12 do for Peter?  He does five things.

1) The angel woke Peter up.

This was no small task.  Peter was a heavy sleeper.  Here you have Peter asleep on death row.  An angel appeared with a bright light began to shine in his cell (12:7) but that didn’t wake him up.  The angel called his name but that didn’t work, so the angel had to hit him to wake him up.  He had to smack him a few times.  It reminds me of trying to get teenagers up to go to school.

2) The angel took off Peter’s chains.

The text says that his chains just fell off his wrists.  That would be cool to watch.

3)  The angel escorted him out of jail.

The angel went first and Peter followed him (14:9).  You have to feel pretty safe with an angel going first.  No one even saw them leave because when they asked the guards the next day what happened, no one knew.  They walked right past two guards without being detected.

4) The angel opens the gate of the prison

Luke says these big iron gates opened by themselves (12:10).  He even tells us what Peter was thinking at the time.  He thought it was a vision.  He did not know it was real. We have had dreams we thought were real.  Peter thought reality was a dream.  Things were so good that he thought he must be dreaming.  This angel was incredible.

I don’t know how he did this.  Not only did he deliver Peter but he was able to do it without the guards knowing and without Peter knowing.  He did not realize until afterwards what really took place.  He realized after Peter “came to himself” (12:11).

Most of the time that angels help believers they do not draw attention to themselves.  Many times they put on a disguise.  You cannot even tell that they are angels.  The look like ordinary people.  Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

2.  Angels Judge the Wicked

The second thing that angels do in this chapter is to judge the wicked.  At the end of the chapter, an angel makes someone sick?  Does this happen anywhere else in Scripture?  There are many examples in Scripture of angels judging the wicked.

  • An angel destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in (II Kings 19:35).  One single angel did that.
  • Angels pour out bowls of wrath on the earth during the Tribulation Period (Revelation 16:1).
  • Angels will judge people at the Second Coming (Matthew 13:39-41, 49).
  • Angels are involved in Herod’s death.

On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:21-23)

Six things take place in these short verses.

1)  King Herod attended a festival.

2)  During the festival, he delivered a speech.

3) The people responded by worshiping Herod.

They publicly called him “a god”.  They said, “when you speak, we hear a god speaking, not a man”. They did not just say it, they shouted it.

4)  Herod did not reject the worship of himself.

He accepted it.  He was flattered.  It stroked his ego.  The apostles stopped it.

5) God judges King Herod

6) Herod suddenly dies.

He died a horrible death.  He was literally eaten to death by worms from the inside out.   Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived in the first century.  He described his death.  He said that he was sick for five days and had incredible pain in his stomach[1].

Josephus was a first century Jewish historian but he was not a Christian.  He gives the natural explanation for his death.  He got sick and died.  Luke the doctor is more specific.

He tells you why he stomach hurt.  He had worms in his stomach.  He had a parasite in his intestines.  Luke also tells you what caused this condition.  An angel of the Lord struck him down (12:23).  It was not a natural condition but a supernatural one.

One preacher called this section the “Diet of Worms”.  It is a play on words.  There was a Diet of Worms in 1521 in Germany.  The town of Worms (pronounced vorms in German) was the place in Germany where Martin Luther appeared in to respond to charges of heresy.

The Roman Catholic Church put Luther was on trial for heresy and asked him whether he actually wrote the books attributed to him and if so, whether he would recent.

That is when he made his famous statement, “Unless I am refuted and convicted by testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear arguments.  Here I stand! I cannot do otherwise. God help me!”  In Acts 12, we see a different diet of worms.  There worms are dieting on Herod.


[1] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 19.8.2

Conversion of a Religious Man

Two men in this chapter receive a divine revelation from God.  There is a double vision here.  Cornelius receives a vision and so does Peter.  Both received a revelation in the context of prayer.  Cornelius was praying at his house and Peter was praying on his rooftop.

Peter is Jewish (a Jewish Christian) and Cornelius is a Gentile.  Peter is saved and Cornelius is unsaved at the time of the vision. God prepared Cornelius to hear the gospel through a vision, just as He prepares Muslims through visions today.

Cornelius receives a VISION (όραμα).  He sees an angel.  Peter falls into a TRANCE (έστασις).  Peter doesn’t see an angel but he does see the heavens open and hears a voice.  A trance is a little different from a vision.  They are two different Greek words.  A trance is like a dream.  You are not fully conscious in a trance.

Last week, we looked at the conversion of a man named Saul.  Today, we look at the conversion of a man named Cornelius.  We have these two conversions back-to-back.  They have many similarities.

Similarities

1) Both were important men

Saul was a very important person in his day.  He very well educated.  He was the head persecutor of the church.  If he wanted some papers from the high priest, the most important religious leader in his day, all he had to do was to go and ask for them.  Cornelius was important as well.  He was in the army.

He was a professional fighter trained in hand-to-hand-combat.  He was not just a SOLDIER the Roman army, he was A LEADER  of soldiers.  He had one hundred solders under his command in the Roman army.  That is what the word centurion means (ruler over one hundred).

Cornelius was probably like a captain in the army today.  A US army captain is in charge of one hundred or two hundred soldiers.  Cornelius was a leader.  He led other men.  He was captain over one hundred foot soldiers.  He had an important job.

2) Both were religious men

Saul was zealous for the law and the traditions of his fathers.  He was very religious.  Cornelius was religious as well.  He attended the synagogue.  He prayed regularly.  He feared God.  Both were not only religious, they worshiped the same God.

Saul worshiped Jehovah and so did Cornelius.  Cornelius was a God-fearer.  He wasn’t a full convert to Judaism because he did not go through with the rite of circumcision but he did give up his pagan background.

Cornelius stopped worshiping the many gods that the Romans worshiped and began to worship the God of Israel and so did his whole household (wife, children, and slaves).  Apparently, he was not just a leader in the army; he was a leader in his home as well. He was the spiritual leader in his household. He didn’t say that religion is a private matter.

3) Both were unsaved men

They were both unsaved.  On the surface, Cornelius looks like a saved man. He is religious.  He prays.  He fears God.  He is righteous.  He is moral.  He gives to the poor. Cornelius looks like he is saved.  Some commentators have said that he was saved but he was not.  We know that from Acts 11 when Peter tells the story of Cornelius again.

“He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’” (Acts 11:13-14)

Apparently, Cornelius was not saved until Peter came and preached the gospel to him (cf. 10:43; 11:18).

4) Both were not saved on their own

Saul did not come to faith on his own.  Jesus had to appear to him.  He had to see a supernatural light which was so bright that it knocked him over and blinded him.  He had to hear a heavenly voice which called him by name.  He needed someone else to baptize him.

Cornelius did not come to faith on his own.  An angel had to appear to him, an apostle had to travel thirty miles to preach to him and the Holy Spirit had to fall on him.  Both Saul and Cornelius had a divine revelation.

5) Believers had to be prepared for their salvation

God had to prepare Ananias for the conversion of Paul with a vision.  God had to prepare Peter for the conversion of Cornelius with a vision.  Neither one were ready for them.  In Acts 9, we saw that it was harder to convince Ananias than it was convince Saul. In Acts 10, we see that it was harder to prepare Peter than it was to prepare Cornelius.  God told Peter to do something and he said “no” three times.

Differences 

1) One had a good reputation and one had a bad reputation.

Saul was a good guy and Cornelius was a bad guy.  Saul was doing bad things.  He was going around doing bad things.  He was killing people and terrorizing the church.  He was the chief of sinners.  Cornelius was a good man.  He was a moral man (10:22).  He gave money to the poor generously (10:2).

He was well-respected among the Jews (10:22), which is in itself is amazing.  The Roman army was one of the greatest armies the world has ever known and the Jews did not think too highly of Roman soldiers because they were occupying their country.  Cornelius was in the Roman army and the Jews still liked him.  He had a great reputation.

2) One was a Jew and one was a Gentile

Saul was a Jew.  He called himself “a Hebrew of Hebrews”.  Cornelius was a God-fearer. He worshiped the true God but he was not a Jew by birth.  He was not Jewish. He was not Christian.  He was a Roman.  Racially, he was an Italian.  He was a Gentile.

3) One was open to the gospel and one was antagonistic

Cornelius was what we call today “a seeker”.  He was open to the gospel.  Saul was completely antagonistic.  He was trying to stamp it out and kill Christians.

Cornelius’ Vision

Cornelius prays and receives a vision of an angel.  He describes him as a man in shining clothes (10:30). What was his reaction to the vision?  Terror, fear (10:4).  He says, “What do you want?”  The angel praises Cornelius for all of the good that he is doing but says, “If you want to be saved, go get Peter and have him preach to you”.

The angel tells him what city Peter was in.  He was Joppa (thirty miles away) and who he was staying with (Simon the Tanner). The angel says, “I want you to find Simon Peter who is staying at the house of another Simon (Simon the Tanner)”. There are two Simons here.

This raises a few questions.  Why didn’t the angel explain the gospel to Peter?  The angel did not tell him the plan of salvation.  God uses people to preach the gospel, not angels.  Why didn’t the angel say, “Go find Peter and talk to him”? He said, “Go get Peter and have him come to you”.  Why?  There were a number of reasons.

Peter was able to preach to more people that way, because Cornelius had invited all of his Gentile friends over to his house.  Peter got a chance to preach the gospel not just to Cornelius but to all of his friends.

The other reason is that God not only wanted to change Cornelius, He wanted to change Peter was well and break down some of his prejudices by inviting him into the home of a Gentile.  He is going to kill two birds with one stone.

Peter’s Trance

The next day, Cornelius sends three men (two servants and one soldier) to Joppa to get Peter. Before they get there, God gives Peter a vision as well.  God tells Peter that he is going to have some visitors and that he is to go with them. That is a little strange.  He doesn’t even tell him why, just that he has sent them.

He also received a vision.  This vision happened to be about food – animals in a sheet (pigs in a blanket). Peter saw a lot of unclean animals in his vision.  The vision said, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat!”

Peter’s response was interesting.  God tells him to do something.  Peter was hungry at the time and he still said no.  Peter basically said, “I have never done this before and am not going to do it now. It goes against all of my Jewish training”.  It is a violation of the OT and all of the Levitical food laws.

God had to say it three times.  Peter was a slow learner.  I don’t know if he was ADD but Peter had to hear things three times (“Do you love me?  Do you love me?  Do you love me?  Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep”).  Peter’s response each time was, “No”.

What he said was “Not so, Lord” or “No way, Lord”.  This was Peter’s typical response.  Peter always told you exactly what he thought.  He was not afraid to tell Jesus he was wrong, contradict Him or even rebuke Him on occasion.

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.  Peter took him aside and began to REBUKE him. “NEVER, LORD!” he said. “This shall NEVER happen to you!”  (Matthew 16:21-22)

“Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’  Peter replied, ‘Even if all fall away on account of you, I NEVER will.’” (Matthew 26:31-33)

“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall NEVER wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (John 13:3-8)

Many have pointed out that the words “not so, Lord” are an oxymoron.  You cannot say “No” and “Lord” in the same sentence. If you say “No”, you can’t say “Lord”.  If you say “Lord”, you can’t say “No”. Those two words do not go together.  This was a strange vision and Peter was trying to figure out what it meant.  Peter was receiving brand new revelation.

In the Law of Moses, there were clean and unclean foods.  Now God says that ALL foods are clean.  Nothing is unclean after God cleanses it.  God can take people that are unclean and he can cleanse them.  He can take food that is unclean and he can cleanse it.  That is what he does here.  It’s okay to eat pork now.  You can now have bacon for breakfast.

You don’t have to eat only kosher foods.  This does not seem like a big deal to us but to Peter it was huge.  God was now saying that it was okay to disobey Leviticus 11.  God was the one who gave the law in the first place.  God has the right to abolish these Jewish dietary laws.

Peter received this vision but was not told what it meant.  As Peter was thinking about this vision, three Gentiles knocked on his door.  Peter knew that he was not supposed to eat unclean foods but God told him to do it in a dream.  He knew that he was not supposed to go with Gentiles into their home but the Spirit told him to do it, so he goes but he takes six men with him.

Cornelius’ house was thirty miles away. When he gets there, what does Cornelius do?  “As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.” (10:25). He was probably not trying to worship Peter, as some Bibles read.  Cornelius was not an idol worshiper and would not have honored Peter as a god.  He was just showing extreme respect for the man but Peter immediately rebukes him.

He says, “Stand up, I am only a man.”  The irony here is that the Roman Catholic Church believes that the Pope is the successor to Peter.  What do they do when they see him?  They get on their knees and kiss his ring.  It is not only allowed, it is expected.  Peter had much more authority than popes today.

He was an apostle of Jesus Christ.  He could raise the dead and write books of Scripture and yet he seemed to be much more humble than leaders today who demand far more reverence than he did

When Peter gets there, he not only finds Cornelius but all of his friends and relatives.  Cornelius told him about his vision of an angel and Peter began preaching.  What did he preach?  He preached about the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.  He mentions Jesus dying on a cross.  Cornelius could relate a little bit to that because Jesus was actually killed by Roman soldiers.

“You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.  

He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’” (Acts 10:37-42)

What happened next was a little shocking.  “WHILE PETER WAS SPEAKING THESE WORDS, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message” (10:44).  While he was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on these people and He fell visibly.  He did not have an altar call.

Peter was still preaching. The Holy Spirit interrupted his sermon.  He did not even wait until Peter was done preaching.  God has a sense of humor.  It is almost as if He said, “You talked long enough. I am not going to wait until you finish”.

How did they know that the Holy Spirit was poured out?  They started speaking in tongues.  That was the infallible sign.  If they had the gifts of the Spirit they must have had the gift of the Spirit.  The exact same thing happened in Acts 2 to Jews.  The Holy Spirit came on people.

He filled and baptized people and they way they know that he did this is that they started speaking in tongues (11:17).  We see in Acts 10 the same gift (Holy Spirit), the same sign (speaking in tongues) that was clearly seen in Acts 2.

The Significance of Baptism

What was the next thing that happened?  Peter baptized them.  What does this tell us?

1.  Baptism is a command

This section shows the importance of baptism.  Peter does NOT say “There is no need to get water baptized, if you already have been Holy Spirit baptized”.  Holy Spirit baptism does not eliminate the need for water baptism.  Baptism is a command.  It is not optional.  Peter “ORDERED that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (10:48).

That is very interesting.  The tales are turned a little bit.  Cornelius was the Roman centurion.  He was the one who was used to giving orders to people.  Now Peter is giving an order or a command to Cornelius and his friends.  He ordered them all to get baptized.

2.  Baptism does not save

When Peter preached to the Jews on Pentecost, he said,  “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38 ESV). 

Many believe based on that passage that you have to be baptized to be saved.  It seems very clear.  It is FOR the remission of sins.  There are two commands (repent and be baptized) and two results that take place when you do this.  You get your sins forgiven and you get the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The interesting thing is that Cornelius was saved.  He was speaking in tongues.  He had the gift of the Holy Spirit but he had not been baptized.  Cornelius was saved WITHOUT baptism. In Acts 10 it is clear that you do NOT have to be baptized to be saved.  It is not an essential requirement of salvation.

Significance of this Event

What is the big deal about this chapter?  Why is this chapter important?  It is extremely important.  It is a turning point in the history of the church.

“The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were ASTONISHED that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles ” (Acts 10:44)

What happens in Acts 10 is historic. It is one of the most important chapters in Acts. It is a turning point in the history of the church.  It is so important that Luke gives two chapters in Acts to describe it (Acts 10-11).

This section describes the salvation of the very first Gentile. The gospel was preached to Jews in Acts 2.  It was preached to Samaritans in Acts 8.  It is preached to Gentiles in Acts 10.  Most people in our church are Gentiles. Most Christians all over the world are Gentiles.

When the church began it was almost exclusively Jewish.  Now it is almost exclusively Gentile.  This was the first Gentile who was saved.  Gentiles embrace the Jewish Messiah for the first time.

Not only was Cornelius the first Gentile saved, he was saved AS A GENTILE.  He did not have to become a Jew first and the Jews who witnessed it were completely shocked (10:45).  The Holy Spirit is poured out on uncircumcised Gentiles.

Peter did something never done before.  He preached the gospel to a Gentile.  He told Cornelius about Jesus’ miracles, death and resurrection.  Cornelius becomes the first convert.  He is evangelized by the Apostle Peter.

Peter was Jewish but he does not tell Cornelius to get circumcised.  Instead he tells him to get baptized.  That is a big change.  Before this time if a Gentile came to faith in Jehovah, he had to get circumcised.  Now they do not have to become Jews to become Christians.

God used Peter to reach Cornelius.  He could have used Phillip?  Phillip performed miracles and was a world class evangelist and he happened to be in Caesarea at the time (8:40) where Cornelius lived.  Why didn’t he ask Philip to preach to Cornelius?  There was a very important reason why God used Peter, rather than Philip. Pentecost was taking place.

When we think of Pentecost, if you know your Bible will immediately think of Acts 2 but Pentecost happens in three phases.  Pentecost is the birthday of the church.  In Acts 2, Jews became part of the church for the first time.  In Acts 8, Samaritans became part of the church for the first time.  Samaritans were half-Jews.

In Acts 10, Gentiles become part of the church for the first time.  Cornelius was not only baptized in water, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit.  Every time Pentecost took place an apostle had to be present.

God could have also used Paul to preach to Cornelius. Peter was the Apostle of the Jews.  Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles.  Why didn’t he use Paul to bring the first Gentile to Christ? There was a very good reason for this.

When we get to Acts 11, Peter had to justify what he did to the Church of Jerusalem.  He had to explain and defend what he did to them.  Peter was a member of that church at this time.  Saul was not.

Applications

1.  The Gospel is for everyone

The gospel is for EVERYONE.  It is for every single person on the face of the earth.  It is for person in every country and from every race and color.  God sees us all equally.  We are all sinners.  Jesus died for all sinners.

The gospel is not just for white people or for westerners or for Americans.  It is not just for Jews.  It is for everyone.  Peter said, “WHOEVER believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (10:43).  Jesus said in the Great Commission that we are to “go and make disciples of ALL NATIONS ”.

2.  There is no excuse for prejudice.

There is no excuse for prejudice, bigotry or racism.  We would like to think that if you are a genuine Christian, you cannot be prejudiced at all.  That is simply not true.  Christians can be prejudiced. We are sinners. How do we know?  Peter the apostle had some racial prejudice.  If an apostle could be prejudiced, so can we.  God had to send him a vision to help him overcome it.

What were Peter’s prejudices?  Peter didn’t think it was right to go into the house of a Gentile.  He believed that would make him unclean.  He had to overcome that fear.  Peter thought Jews were superior to Gentiles.

Gentiles were unclean.  He learns in Acts 10 that Jews and Gentiles are on the same level.  We can’t call any man common or unclean (10:28).  Peter said, “I NOW realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism” (10:34).  That was something that Peter just learned.

God shows no favoritism.  God is color blind. He does not treat people based on race or color.  He does not treat rich people differently than poor people.  He does not treat black people different from white or brown people.

For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7).  God accepts people “FROM EVERY NATION (not just from the Jewish nation) the one who fears him and does what is right” (10:35)

3.  Salvation is not by works

Every religion except Christianity believes in salvation by works.  They teach that it does not matter so much what you believe or what god you worship.  The only thing that really matters is how you live your life.

If you live a decent and moral life, you will be saved.  You do not even have to believe in Jesus.  Many think that you do not have to be a Christian, as long as you live a moral life.  There is a problem with this in our passage.

Cornelius had all kinds of works.  He gave alms.  He prayed.  He was a religious man.  He feared God.  He was a compassionate man.  He gave generously to the poor but neither his prayers nor his almsgiving saved him.  The angel told Cornelius that he still needed to be saved (11:14).  He had to have Peter travel thirty miles to preach the gospel to him.

What is the lesson here?  Salvation is not by works.  Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (NKJV).

We are not saved by works.  We are not saved by works of righteousness.  We are not saved by works of religion.  We are saved by grace. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and he said that to Nicodemus, a moral man.

The Story of John Wesley

John Wesley (1703-1791) is one of the best examples of a man who was not saved by works.  Wesley was the founder of the Methodist Church.  The Methodist Church three hundred years ago is very different from the Methodist Church today.  Before Wesley came to faith, he was educated.  He was moral.  He was religious.  What do we learn from his life?

1) It is possible to be in a small group and be lost.

Wesley met with others to study the Bible before he was saved.  He was part of the Holy Club.  That was the name of his small group.  It was made up of a few students at Oxford.  They met regularly with other men for prayer, bible study and communion. They met until 1735.

2) It is possible to lead a small group and be lost.

Wesley was the leader of a small group.  He was the leader of the Holy Club. Teaching a Sunday School class or leading a small group does not save you.

3) It is possible to be moral and be lost.

Wesley did all kinds of good works before he was saved. He helped the poor and visited the sick.  The Pharisees were outwardly moral. You can be moral and lost.  Cornelius was moral and he was lost. Just because you do not smoke or drink or do drugs or cheat on your spouse doesn’t mean you are saved.  Wesley was part of the Holy Club and he was unsaved.

4) It is possible to be religious and be lost.

Wesley was very religious before he was saved.  He fasted and prayed.  He fasted two days a week (Wednesday and Friday). He even wrote He wrote a book of prayers (1733).  You can be religious and lost.  Cornelius was religious and he was lost.

Going to church every week will not save you.  Religion doesn’t save anyone.  The ones who crucified Jesus were religious.  Many Muslim terrorist who commit atrocities and mass murder are religious.  In fact, they are so religious, they pray before they commit their acts of murder.

5) It is possible to go to a seminary or bible college and be lost.

Wesley went to Oxford and got his bachelor’s and master’s degree.  He studied theology.  He was very well educated.  he could read the Greek Bible before he was saved.

6) It is possible to be a pastor and be lost.

Wesley was ordained as a priest in the Church of England (1728).  You can be a preacher and be lost.

7) It is possible to be a missionary and be lost.

He became a missionary in 1735.  He traveled from England to America to do mission work with American Indians and he was still unsaved.

8) It is possible to be a theology professor and be lost.

Wesley not only knew Greek, he taught it at Oxford (1726) before he came to faith.  He also taught logic and philosophy there.  You can teach at the seminary level and still be lost.

9) It is possible to be raised in a Christian home and be lost.

Wesley had had a religious upbringing.  He came from a large family.  His parents had nineteen kids (eight died in infancy). John Wesley did not get saved until 1738 at the age of 35.

How did he get saved?  The faith of ordinary Christians made a big impact on him.  On Sunday January 25, 1736, Wesley was on board a ship bound to America.  The ship encountered a life-threatening storm.  Wesley was full of fear.

He looked at a group of German Moravian Christians also on the boat during this storm and they were calm and were singing.  He realized that this group of believers had something that he did not have.  They were foreign Christians.  He was British.  they were German. They were plain simple believers who did not have the education he had but they had far greater faith than he had.

Soon after this happened, he attended some meetings held by the Moravians.  He said that he did not even want to go but, while he was there, he found his heart “strangely warmed” as he put it.  He got saved.

4.  Church leaders do not always get behind what God is doing

In Acts 11, we see what the reaction of the church was to Peter’s action when he went back to Jerusalem from Caesarea.  He goes back to the home church and he is in big trouble.  Some people in the church were furious with him and criticized him.

“The apostles and the believers throughout Judea HEARD that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers CRITICIZED him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” (11:1-2)

This seems strange to us.  We do not see what the big deal would be today but in Peter’s day what he did was considered radical.  What were they so upset about? What did they criticize him for?

You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” (11:3)

They did NOT criticize him for preaching to Gentiles.  They criticized him for doing two things:

  • Peter went into the house of a Gentile (which was against rabbinic law because it made you ceremonially unclean)
  • Peter violated Levitical food laws.  He ate non-kosher food.

This must have been a little discouraging.  Here Peter does the will of God.  He obeys God.  He does exactly what He tells him to do, even though he does not want to at first.  He is greatly used by God and the church not only does not support him, it criticizes him.

Peter was criticized for doing good.  He was criticized for doing the will of God by believers.  That is strange but it still happens today.  In fact, it is quite common.

How does Peter defend himself to the church?  What Peter does is ingenious.  He does NOT explain his actions.  He does NOT quote Scripture. He simply tells them what happened.  That was his defense because the entire event was God’s doing.  God appeared to Cornelius.  God appeared to Peter and told him to go to his house and preach to him.

After, he preached to him, the Spirit fell on a bunch of uncircumcised Gentiles and made them a part of the church.  There is no way you can criticize Peter here.  He had very little to do with it.  This was a God thing.  To oppose this event would be to oppose God.

Conversion of a Terrorist

We come to a very interesting section of Scripture.  Jesus appears THREE TIMES to people in these verses.  He appeared twice to Saul. The first time he appeared to Saul was on the Damascus Road.  Jesus knocks him on the ground with a bright light and speaks to him.

The second time Saul saw Jesus was in a vision and he was actually blind at the time. The third time Jesus appeared was to a Christian named Ananias.  Jesus appeared to him and told him to go to Judas’ house where Saul was staying, put your hands on him, heal him and baptize him, because he is my chosen instrument.

Now this is the second time in the Book of Acts that we encounter a man named Ananias but this is a different Ananias from the one in Acts 5.  That Ananias was dead.  This was a different man.  As far as we know, this was not a pastor.  He was not an apostle.  He was an ordinary Christian.  He is just called “a disciple” (9:10) but he evidently had the gift of healing but he didn’t want to do what God told him to do.

Ananias was afraid, because Saul was putting believers in prison and killing them. He thought that God was sending him on a suicide mission.  It was harder to convince Ananias that Saul was saved than it was to convince Saul that Jesus was the Messiah.

Saul knew immediately when Jesus spoke to him and he did not argue with Jesus.  God just him over the head with a two-by-four.  Ananias argued with God. He finally goes to Judas’ house and heals and baptizes Saul.

Saul begins preaching that Jesus is the Messiah in the synagogue there.  He became another Stephen.  No one could answer him either, so they tried to get rid of him.  The Jews had planned to kill him but the church protected Saul and helped him escape from the city.

He heads back to Jerusalem and tries to make contact with the church there but no one would talk to him.  They were afraid of him as well.  The thought this was a trick.  Only one man believed he was really saved and that was Barnabas.  He was the one who convinced the other believers that Saul was genuinely saved.

What I want to do today is to take a closer look at the conversion of Saul.  It was dramatic.  It was spectacular. It is the most famous conversion story in history.  It is one of the most important chapters in Acts.  It is so important that it is mentioned not once or twice but three different times in the book (Acts 9, 22, 26).

This conversion not only changed Saul’s life, it changed the course of history.  What would the church be like if Saul never came to faith?  He would not have written thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. The New Testament would only have fourteen books in it.

What would the Bible be like without the Book of Romans?  There would be no Reformation.  Martin Luther got saved from reading Romans and started the whole Reformation movement, breaking away from the Catholic Church, and starting the whole Protestant movement. The Book of Acts would only have twelve chapters in it.  The last fifteen chapters of the book are devoted to Paul’s life and ministry.

Let’s take a closer look at what happened to Saul.  Pat Abendroth called this section “A Killer Conversion.”  Who was this man Saul?  What do we know about him?

Saul’s Background 

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.” (9:1-2)

In today’s language, Saul was a terrorist.  Paul was a jihadist.  He wanted to rid the world of Christianity.  He was not only a persecutor of the church, he was the lead persecutor of the church.  He tried to destroy the church (Acts 8:3; I Timothy 1:13).  Hitler tried to destroy Jews.  Saul tried to destroy Christians (who at this time were all mostly Jewish).  He made that his life mission.

Saul was chief of the Jewish Gestapo. He not only threatened believers, he persecuted them TO THEIR DEATH (22:4; 26:10).  Stephen was the first Christian martyr in Acts 7.  He is killed by an angry mob and Saul gave consent to Stephen’s death.  Luke tells us that as Stephen was getting his head bashed open by rocks and Saul was cheering them on (8:1).

He gave consent to Stephen’s death.  He did not object, plead for mercy or try to stop it. Paul not only persecuted the church, he was the driving force behind the persecution of the Christians. He did three things to get Christians.

He went HOUSE TO HOUSE to drag people off to prison (8:3). He knocked on every door and asked if there were any Christians here. Every Christian he found, he arrested and threw into prison.  He dragged women, as well as men, out of their homes.

He went from SYNAGOGUE TO SYNAGOGUE to arrest people (26:11). Jewish believers at this still worshiped in the synagogues.  That is where they could be found.

He went from CITY TO CITY to arrest people (26:11). It was not enough to arrest people in Jerusalem.  Saul was willing to travel to other cities to have them arrest people and he did this more than once.  That is what is happening in Acts 9.

He goes from Jerusalem to Damascus to arrest Christians.  Paul becomes a bounty hunter and it was his idea.  Paul went to the Sanhedrin. They did not come to him. The chief priest did not initiate this persecution. Paul did.

When persecution began, the believers fled. They left town, because they did not want to get arrested. Some believers fled to Damascus and thought they were safe.

That was one hundred and fifty miles away but Saul planned to go there, find them and bring them back to Jerusalem for prosecution and it was on his way to Damascus that he has a spectacular roadside conversion.  How does this conversion relate to us?

Similarities to our Conversion

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. (I Timothy 1:15-16)

Paul said in I Timothy 1:16 that his conversion experience was an example for those who believe.  We get saved the same way Paul did. All conversions are similar to his.  In some ways, Paul’s conversion is similar to ours.  In order to get saved, several things have to happen.

1) We all have an encounter with Jesus Christ.

Salvation only takes place when we finally realize who he is and ask him to save us.  Salvation involves a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

2) We all encounter grace from Jesus.

Salvation involves grace.  We get what we do not deserve. Saul experienced grace on the Damascus Road.  Saul was persecution Christians to their death.  He was killing people.  He deserved to die but he experienced grace.

Saul was breathing threatening and slaughter.  Jesus was breathing grace and mercy.  Jesus blinded Saul for three days but he could have killed him.  Jesus said to him “Why are you persecuting me?”  He could have said to him “Prepare to die” or “Get ready to meet your Maker.”

3) We all come to a place of brokenness.

We realize we are sinners who deserve Hell.  We realize that we cannot save ourselves. Saul was completely humbled.  He came into town all powerful.  He was armed with official papers from the high priest in Jerusalem (arrest warrants) and was accompanied by a few thugs that served as his police force.

The one who came in so powerful becomes completely powerless. He is thrown face down on the ground, blinded for three days and had to be helped by others just to walk.

4) Salvation is very sudden and unexpected.

James MacDonald describes how salvation takes place. “We all go along thinking we are too sexy for our shirt until God drops a boulder on our life.”  God does something to completely break us (a divorce, death of a spouse, job loss, medical problem) to get us to turn to him in faith.  It is sudden and unexpected, like Saul’s conversion here.

5) Salvation was divinely planned by God.

Saul’s conversion was not an accident.  Saul did not originally choose Jesus.  Jesus chose Saul (cf. John 15:16).  Jesus had to come to Saul first and didn’t ask Saul if he wanted to follow him.

That is very different from how many view the salvation process.  For many people, salvation is all about our decision to follow Jesus.  It is all about us.  if Paul was left to himself, he would be persecuting and terrorizing the church.

6) Salvation results in real changes

Saul’s life was completely turned around after Jesus got a hold of him on the Damascus Road, as we will see.

Differences from our Conversion

In many ways it is very different from our conversion. It is not typical.  It is one of the most spectacular miracles in the Bible. It was sensational.

1) Paul learned the gospel by direct revelation

Paul learned the gospel from Jesus directly.  He did not learn it from someone sharing their faith with him.  Jesus spoke audibly to Paul.  Paul said that he did not receive the gospel “from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12 ESV)

When I got saved, Jesus never spoke to me out loud.  I did not hear any voice from heaven but Saul did.  I learned the Gospel from someone else.  I learned it by having someone preach the salvation message to me. Paul learned the gospel by direct revelation.

2) Paul’s conversion was accompanied by miraculous signs.

There were none when I became a Christian in 1976. I did not see a bright light from heaven. My room was not full of bright light.  I did not receive some heavenly vision or see some bolt of lightning.  I was not knocked to the ground.

I did not go blind after I accepted Christ. I did not experience a miraculous healing like Saul did. God used to things to stop Saul right in his tracks and get his attention.  He used a light and He used a voice.

Saul Encountered a Light 

What do we know about this light?  What were some characteristics of it?  As I meditated on the light, several observations came to my mind about this light.

1) The light was bright

We know when this took place.  It took place at noon when the Sun shines its brightest.  It was very bright.  It was brighter than the Sun (26:13) and this took place around noon (22:6; 26:13) when the Sun shines its brightest.

2) The light was powerful.

It was so bright that it knocked Saul over and blinded him for a few days.  This light was blinding.

3) The light was supernatural

It was not a natural light.  It was supernatural.  Paul called it “a light from heaven” (9:3).  It was a manifestation of the glory of God.

Saul Heard a Voice 

Saul not only saw a bright light, he heard a voice. Paul talked to the voice.  What were some characteristics of this voice?

1) The voice was personal

The voice talked to him and called him by name, not once but twice (Saul, Saul).  Paul says that it spoke to him in Aramaic (26:14).

2) The voice was selective

There were several people traveling with Paul but the voice only talked to one of them.  Saul was God’s “chosen instrument” (9:15).  Saul said that he was apart from birth and was called by God’s grace (Galatians 1:15).

3) The voice was mysterious

Saul doesn’t think he is doing anything wrong and all of the sudden he hears a voice and doesn’t know who it is.  He says, “Who are you?” Jesus knew Saul before Saul knew Jesus.

4) The voice was heavenly

This was a voice from heaven.  It was not an earthly voice.  This was God talking.

5) The voice was perceptive

It knew some things about Saul.  The speaker knew Saul by name.  He knew who Saul was and what he was doing on earth.  Nothing was hidden from heaven.

6) The voice was convicting

Why are you persecuting me?  What have I done to you?  What do you have against me?  Why are YOU persecuting me?  He did not say, “Why is the Sanhedrin persecuting me” or “Why are the Jews persecuting me?” He said, “Why are YOU persecuting me?”

7) The voice was authoritative

This voice gave orders.  This voice told Saul what to do and where to go.

Paul’s Five Revelations on the Damascus Road 

Paul learned five things on the Damascus Road.  He learned some things about Jesus, about himself, about Christians, about his future and about what God wanted him to do.

1) He had a revelation about Jesus.

One day, Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13).  There are many crazy ideas about who Jesus is.  Liberal theologians believe that Jesus was a great moral teacher who taught some good ethical principles (love your neighbor and forgive your enemies) but do not believe he is God.  Islam believes Jesus was a prophet (one prophet among many).

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is an angel and is the first created being.  Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers.  They believe that God the Father had sex with one of his many wives and Jesus was the result.

He was the Father’s firstborn son, according to Mormonism.  The Bible says that one day in the future everyone will know who Jesus is.  They will all bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11).

Paul had some false views of Jesus as well.  He thought he was dead but he found out that he’s alive.  Jesus appeared to Saul and spoke to him.  He thought he was a liar, an impostor and a deceiver but he found out that he is the Messiah.

Before he became a believer, Saul hated Jesus because Jesus was the one who started the whole Christian movement which he was trying to stamp out.  He blasphemed Jesus (I Timothy 1:13).  He said all kinds of bad things about him.  Now he is calling him Lord, Son of God and Messiah.

2) He had a revelation about himself.

The reason many people today do not become Christians is that they do not believe that they are sinners.  If you do not believe you have a problem, you will not come to Christ for the solution.  If you do not believe, you are a sinner, you will see no need to come to a savior.

In fact, Jesus himself said this.  If you do not believe you are sick, you will not go to the doctor (Mark 2:17).  Saul did not have a sense of sin until the Damascus Road.  He thought he was righteous.  He thought he kept the Law.

In fact, he was zealous for the Law but on that day he realized he stood before God as guilty. He had blood on his hands.  He had the blood of the saints on his hands and he knew that God was going to hold him accountable for what he had done. He called himself “the chief of sinners” (I Timothy 1:15, 16).

He deserved judgment from God for his sins. I believe that Saul was under so much conviction and felt so bad that he did not eat for three days. No one forced him to fast or told him to fast.  It was completely voluntary but it shows that Paul was changed on the inside. He was completely broken and repentant.

3) He had a revelation about Christians.

Paul hated Christians. He slandered them. He threatened them.  He persecuted them. He hated them so much that he was willing to travel one hundred and fifty miles to arrest them.  You had to really hate someone to travel that far to get them.  It took a week to get there in the first century. They did not travel by car or by plane. It took a long time to get there.

Damascus is one hundred and fifty miles north of Israel. The city of Damascus still exists today and so does the Street called Straight. It was the main road in the city.  Damascus is currently the capitol of the country of Syria. It is also the largest city in Syria today, in case anyone wants to go visit the place today.

Saul thought Christians were bad guys. He came to arrest them but found out that they were good guys.  They gave him a place to stay.  They gave him food to eat.  They took care of him for three days while he was blind.  They healed him of his blindness.  They protected him from danger. They actually saved his life.  The Jews planned to kill him.  The Christians in Damascus helped him escape at night in a basket.

There is something very ironic here.  At the beginning of the chapter, Saul tries to arrest people.  At the end of the chapter, people try to arrest him.  The former persecutor is persecuted himself. At the beginning of the chapter, believers are fleeing Jerusalem for their own safety.  At the end of the chapter, Saul has to flee the city of Damascus for his own safety. The hunter becomes the hunted himself.

4) He had a revelation about God’s will for his life.

When Jesus appeared to Saul, he asked him a question.  ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (9:4; 22:7; 26:14).  It is found in three chapters of Acts.  Saul asked Jesus two questions as well.  They were important questions.

The answer to these questions is the key to successful living.  The first question is only found in Acts 9 – “Who are you, Lord?” (9:5). That question has to do with SALVATION.  Salvation is finding out about Jesus and who He is.   Until you know who Jesus really is, you cannot be saved.

The next question he asked is found only in Acts 22 – “What do you want me to do, Lord?” (22:10). That question deals with SERVICE.  Paul was totally surrendered to Christ, willing to do whatever he asked him to do.  Before this, he did what he wanted to do, not he is asking the Lord what He wants him to do.

Once we are saved, that is a question that every believer should ask the Lord.  In fact, it is a question that we should ask God every day. God has a distinct plan for every believer.  Some of us spend years trying to find out what it is.

God doesn’t always reveal to us what he wants us to do right away but Saul found out within three days after he was saved what God wanted him to do the rest of his life. God gave him an outline of his ministry. God had a plan for Paul’s life, even before he witnessed to anyone.  He called him to be an apostle.

Paul said that he was called to be an apostle, not by the will of man but by the will of God (Galatians 1:1).  He wanted him to have a ministry with Gentiles.  Paul called himself “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13).

 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them  to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Acts 26:17-18).

As Ananias healed him and opened his eyes, Saul was told that he would have a ministry opening the eyes of the spiritually blind.

5) He had a revelation about his future.

Paul learned that his future will involve suffering.  God said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (9:16). That seems a little strange.  His future did not involve comfort and prosperity.  It involved suffering.  Suffering may be part of God’s plan for some of us. It was part of God’s plan for Job. In Paul’s case, it may have involved a little irony.

The one who caused suffering for so many other believers was now going to experience it himself. He received the same punishment that he gave to Christians before he was saved. He went from synagogue to synagogue to flog Christians (Acts 22:19; 26:11) and gets flogged himself by the Jews five times. Each time he received thirty-nine lashes (II Corinthians 11:24). He put others in prison and later he was imprisoned himself for his faith.

Four Powerful Lessons from Paul’s Conversion 

1. Anyone can be saved.

You may have a husband or a wife or a child or a friend who you don’t believe they will get saved or can get saved.  We give up on people.  They are never getting saved.  If Paul can get saved, even though he was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples,” anyone can get saved.  Someone may say, “I am too wicked.  I have done too many bad things to be saved.”

Paul said that he was “the chief of sinners” (I Timothy 1:15).  He was the worst of sinners.  If the chief of sinners can get saved, anyone can get saved. James MacDonald said, “NO one ANYWHERE under ANY circumstances is beyond the reach of the gospel.”

No one is too hard to come to faith. No one is too hard for God to break or too evil for God to save.  No one is unreachable. The Samaritans were not unreachable. The Ethiopian eunuch was not unreachable and Saul was not unreachable.  God can penetrate any human heart.  Nothing is too hard for God (Jeremiah 32:17).   If God could transform a Jewish terrorist in the first century, he can transform Muslim terrorists in out our own day

2. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Jesus did NOT accuse Saul of persecuting Christians.  He accused Saul of persecuting Him. Jesus didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting THEM”.  Jesus does not say, “Saul, Saul, Why are you persecuting the church?”

He does not say, “Why are you persecuting Stephen and Peter?” He says, “Why are you persecuting ME?”  It was a question Saul never answered. Saul had no answer to this question. It seems to us like a strange question. Jesus was in heaven and Saul was on earth.  How did Saul persecute Jesus?

Apparently, Jesus takes the persecution of His church personally.  Jesus says, “You attack one of my people, you attack me.  You persecute one of my people, you persecute me”.  It is a very serious thing to persecute the church.  According to Jesus, how you treat Christians is an indication of how you treat him.  That is why Paul described the relationship of Jesus to the church as a body.

The church is the body of Christ on earth. Jesus is the head of the body in heaven. If you hurt your foot or you arm, your head feels it, because it is all connected.  Saul was trying to persecute believers in Damascus and Jesus could feel it in heaven.

Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40).

Saul didn’t know that he was persecuting Christ but he was. He thought he was doing God a service.  He was completely sincere, like many Muslim terrorists are who think they are serving God when they commit acts of mass murder and terrorism but they will still be held accountable for their actions.  Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Many people have the idea that if people do bad things but do not know they are bad that God will somehow excuse them and let them off the hook but that is simply not the case.  Romans 1 describes pagans who worship idols, instead of the true God.  It does not say that they do not know any better.  They are doing the best that they can.  It says that they are “without excuse” (1:20).

3. If you are saved, your life will be radically changed.

If you are genuinely saved, there will be a change in your life and it will be a change that you can see.  If a man claims to have accepted Christ but has no change in his life at all, he is probably not saved.  The whole direction of Paul’s life completely changed.  He was radically transformed.

  • Paul went from being a murderer to being a missionary (perhaps the greatest missionary of all time).
  • He went from being a persecutor to being a preacher.
  • He went from breathing out threats to breathing out sermons.
  • He went from being the chief of sinners to the chief apostle, the one who worked harder than all of the apostles (cf. I Corinthians 15:9-10)
  • He went from being a religious man (a Pharisee of the Pharisees) to being a spiritual man.
  • He went from being full of hatred to being full of the Spirit.
  • He went from being the greatest enemy of Christianity to being its greatest defender.
  • He went from fighting Christians to being one of them and publicly identifying with them in water baptism.  This was a bold step of faith for Saul.

Paul’s life was radically transformed.  He was night and day different.  He became a new creation.  It is like he was a different person.  That is why his name changed.  He went from Saul to Paul (not overnight but eventually).  Anyone who knew Saul before knew that he was not the same person he was before.

At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.  All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”  Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah” (Acts 9:20-22).

Luke says that Paul began to preach in the synagogues IMMEDIATELY after he was saved. Paul didn’t waste any time. He didn’t go off to seminary, come back ten years later with a stack of degrees and then begin preaching.

He began preaching immediately in the synagogues of Damascus.  What did he preach?  He preached that Jesus is the Son of God (9:20).  He preached that Jesus is the Messiah (9:22).  He did not just preach it.  He proved it (9:22).  He was an apologist.  He became another Stephen.

4. We can be used by God despite our past.

Peter was an apostle who not only denied Jesus, he denied his three times in public AFTER he was saved but he repented and later God used him greatly.  He preached and three thousand people became converted from his one sermon.  Paul called himself “the chief of sinners.”

He did so many wicked things BEFORE he was saved and yet when he came to faith God greatly used him.  He wrote thirteen books of the New Testament.  The lesson is that God can use people today, no matter what they did before.

On Fire for God

Last week, we looked at the first scandal in the early church and the first argument in the first church.  The scandal involved two members of the church who dropped dead.  The first argument had to do with race and a charge of discrimination.

There were two groups of Jews in the first church.  One group of Jews complained to the apostles that some of their people were being discriminated against.  It was not intention but the solution was for the church to pick out seven men to solve the problem.

Two of the men on the list were Stephen and Philip.  The next three chapters in Acts are devoted to them.  Up to this time, the focus has been mainly on Peter.  Peter was the one who gave a speech and said that the church needed to replace Judas.  Peter was the one in chapter two who preached the first Christian sermon which converted three thousand people.

Peter was the one who healed the crippled beggar in Acts 3.  The man was forty years old and had never walked a day in his life.  He said to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk”.

Peter was the one in Acts 5 who confronts Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the church about their donation and they drop dead.  When we come to Acts 6, the focus is not on Peter.  It is on Stephen and Philip.  The focus moves from the apostles to the deacons.

What I want to do tonight is to take a close look at these two men who were very important to the early church.  They were men that God used greatly in very different ways.  Both of these men were filled with the Spirit but they had very different gifts.  God called them to do different things.  We do not all have the same gifts.

Stephen was primarily an APOLOGIST.  He was very good at defending the faith, as we will see.  Philip was primarily an EVANGELIST and he was good at it.

Stephen preached to Jews in Jerusalem.  Philip preached to people outside Jerusalem (Samaritans, Ethiopian Eunuch).  He would go anywhere to preach the gospel to someone, even in the middle of the desert. He was a gospel preaching machine.

These two men had some differences but that had many similarities.  They had a lot in common.

  • Both men were about the same age

They were not only both men, they were about the same age.  We are not told how old they were but they both appear to be young guys.

  • Both men spoke the same language

Both spoke Greek.  They were both Hellenists.  They both have Greek names (Στέφανος and Φίλιππος).  They both read out of the Greek Bible and may have had a similar culture.

  • Both men had the same religion

They worshiped the same Lord.  Both of these men were not only Christians, they were both Jewish Christians.

  • Both men attended the same church

They had both been baptized and were both members of the church in Jerusalem.  There was only one church to go to at this time.

  • Both men were involved in the same ministry

They not only attended the same church but both served in the same ministry at that church.  They both as deacons and ministered to widows.  They were probably good friends because there were only seven men in the church that did this.

  • Both men had the same miraculous power

They both performed stupendous miracles (signs and wonders).  The same ones that the apostles were doing, they were doing.

  • Both men had unusual supernatural experiences

They both had some supernatural experiences. They both had some experiences that we have never had.  Not only did they perform miracles and wonders, they had other unusual things happen to them.  At the beginning of his trial, Stephen’s face started to glow like an angel (6:15).

Furthermore, at the end of the trial he had a revelation of Jesus.  Stephen looks up in the sky and sees heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (7:56).

Philip started a revival in Samaria and then an angel tells him to leave the revival and go far away to talk to one man in the desert in the middle of nowhere.  Philip received supernatural guidance through an angel (8:26).

I have not had too many angels talk to me.  This angel told him to talk to and told him exactly where this man was located and he had to go about 60 miles out of his way to find him.

As soon as the man was baptized and came out of the water, Philip mysteriously vanished and appeared somewhere else (8:39-40).  He was supernaturally transported.  The text says, he was “taken away” (άρπάζω).  It is the same Greek word used for the rapture of the church.

Let’s begin by looking at Stephen.  I want to look at the kind of ministry he had and the kind of person he was.  Stephen had many gifts.

The Ministry of Stephen

1. He was a DEACON

He is not called a deacon in Acts 6.  None of the seven men are given the title of deacon in Acts 6 but most scholars believe that this was where the office of deacon began.  Stephen was the first one they chose, the number one draft pick.  He was the first one the church thought was qualified for this position.

He was also the most prominent member of the group.  He was the head of the deacon board at this church.  His job was to take care of widows (get money, buy food, take it to them). Stephen was full of HUMILITY (waiting on tables).  The role of deacons was the role of a servant (Mark 10:45).  He was also full of COMPASSION.  He ministered to old people and widows.

2. He was a MIRACLE-WORKER

Stephen was not like your ordinary Baptist deacon.  He was a charismatic deacon.  He not only performed signs and wonders, he performed “GREAT signs and wonders” (6:8) and he was not even an apostle.

Some say the reason that he did this was because the apostles laid their hands on him.  We do not have any apostles laying hands on people today, so we do not have any more signs and wonders.

The problem with this view is that the apostles did not lay their hands on the seven to give them miraculous powers. They laid hands on them, not to start a healing ministry, but to start a food ministry for widows.

There is no evidence that the other five had these powers as well.  They laid their hands on them to identify with the selection of the church, officially install them as deacons and to consecrate them, to pray over them. He was not just a man full of humility and compassion.  He was full of POWER (6:8).

3. He was an APOLOGIST

Some people are really good at preaching the gospel to the lost.  Other people are really good at defending the Bible against the critics.  There are whole ministries devoted to apologetics.  It is biblical.

Jude 1:3 says, “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people”. 

That is interesting.  How many times have you heard some preacher say, “We do not need to defend the Bible. The Bible defends itself.  We just need to preach the Bible?”

That is not what Jude says we are to do. Jude says that we are not to just believe the truth, we are to CONTEND for the truth.  We are to defend it.  That is a command. Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

That is what Stephen was good at.  He could answer skeptics.  He could debate his opponents in the synagogue.  In fact, he was so good at this that no one could out-debate him.

Luke says that people came to argue with him but “they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke” (6:10).  His enemies decided that since they could not out-argue him, the only way to silence him would be to kill him.

Stephen not only had a ministry inside the church with poor widows, he had a ministry outside the church to unbelievers. This man was not only full of power.  He was full of WISDOM (6:3, 10).  Stephen knew his bible very well.

His only recorded sermon is full of Scripture.  If you read his sermon in Acts 7, you will see that it mentions Abraham (7:2-8), Joseph (7:9-16). Moses (7:17-44), Joshua (Acts 7:45), David and Solomon (Acts 7:46–50).  It was a survey of the Old Testament, a bible history lesson for dummies.

4. He was a PREACHER

Stephen was not just a deacon, he was a preacher.  Most Baptist deacons are not preachers but Stephen was both.  He was a deacon and a preacher and he was a powerful preacher.

We have one of his sermons recorded in Acts.  It is found in Acts 7.  It is a rather strange sermon.  Stephen’s sermon is the longest sermon in the book of Acts. It is twice as long as Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost.

Like a typical preacher today, this sermon is a little wordy.  It goes on and on.  It is worth think about that the longest sermon preached in Acts was NOT preached by some mighty apostle.

It was preached by a deacon.  It is the sermon got him killed. That is the sermon that got Stephen stoned (and that had nothing to do with marijuana).  After he preached, the rocks started to fly.

5. He was a MARTYR

Stephen was the first Christian martyr.  Peter was thrown into prison but Stephen was the first believer to be killed for his faith.  Stephen was killed by the Jews.  Jesus was killed by Roman soldiers.

Jesus was crucified.  Stephen was stoned.  Think of all of the millions of believers who have been martyred over the last two thousand years all over the world.  It is still happening today in other countries.

Statistically, a Christian is martyred somewhere in the world every five minutes. Stephen was the first one to die for his faith in Christ.  That is interesting.  The first Christian martyr wasn’t an apostle.  It was a deacon.  This man was bolder than the apostles.  He said some things to the Sanhedrin that the apostles never said.

He was not only full of humility, compassion, wisdom and power, he was also full of COURAGE.  Stephen was bold.  He was fearless.  He did not fear the Sanhedrin.  He did not fear death.

Most of us have enough faith to live for Christ but do we have enough faith to die for him, if we were asked to.  God doesn’t call us all to be martyrs, but he does call us all to be living sacrifices, as Warren Wiersbe points out.

Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” In some ways, in is much harder to live for Christ (every day of your life) than to die for Christ.

The Accusation Against Stephen

Why was he preaching? Stephen was on trial before the Sanhedrin.  He was on trial because he was accused of two things (cf. 6:12-14). There are two charges against him.  What were the formal charges?  Stephen was accused of being against the Law and against the Temple (anti-Moses and anti-Temple).  The charges came from false witnesses.

“So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.  They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

Stephen was accused of blasphemy.  At the very beginning of the trial, the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true? (7:1). How do you plead?  Guilty or not guilty?  Peter does not make a plea.

He gives a speech instead.  As you read the speech, it is very clear that Stephen is not against the Temple or the Law.  In fact, he does not say anything in the first fifty verses that the Sanhedrin would disagree with but they stone him anyway.  Why?  Let’s read Acts 7:51-53.

“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.”

The sermon was fine until it got to the application part.  In the application, Stephen stops talking about his ancestors and starts talking about his contemporaries.  He goes on offense, rather than defense.  This is incredibly bold.

He is on trial for his life but instead of defending himself against some ridiculously false charges, he turns around and accused the Sanhedrin of some crimes.  The accused becomes the accuser. He turns the tables on them. The tone of the sermon changes dramatically. What did he charge them with?

Stephen’s Charge against the Sanhedrin

1) They are stiff-necked (7:51)

What does that mean?  It means they were stubborn and prone to rebel against God.  The prophet Jeremiah said the same thing.  He called the Jews stiff-necked (Jeremiah 7:26).  In fact, God called the Jews stiff-necked many times. He called them stiff-necked after they built the golden calf and started worshiping it (Exodus 32:9; 33:3, 5).

2) They are uncircumcised at heart (7:51)

What does that mean?  It means that they are unsaved.  The one that really struck them was uncircumcised at heart.  All of them members of the Sanhedrin were circumcised and were proud of their circumcision.

They looked down on pagan gentiles for being uncircumcised.  Stephen says that they have never really been circumcised in the first place.  That would be like telling a dyed-in-the-wool Baptist that they have never really been baptized.

3) They resisted the Holy Spirit (7:51)

They resisted the Holy Spirit just like their ancestors. How did their ancestors resist the Holy Spirit?  Their ancestors rejected Joseph and rejected Moses. They rejected those that God sent to deliver them. They rejected the prophets. They rejected those that God sent to speak to them.

How did the Sanhedrin resist the Spirit?  They killed their Messiah who was approved by God with miracles and signs of the Holy Spirit and they rejected Him.  How they responded to Stephen shows that they were still resisting the Spirit.  Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit (6:3; 7:55) and they rejected his message and killed him.

4) They killed their Messiah (7:52).

God sent the Messiah to the Jews. There was no doubt that He was the Messiah. God approved him with signs and wonders and the Sanhedrin rejected them. They not only rejected them, they killed them.

5) They broke the Law of Moses (7:53)

They said that Stephen said things against the Law of Moses.  He says that they have BROKEN the Law of Moses.  When they all pick up stones immediately after this to kill an innocent man, they only confirm what Peter said.  They all break the Sixth Commandment.  In fact, they not only commit murder but murdered their own Jewish Messiah.

The Tipping Point

That made the Sanhedrin angry.  They gnashed their teeth.  They were furious but it was what Stephen said next that caused them to step over the line and grab some rocks. “’Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” (7:56).

Stephen had a vision of the risen Lord.  He was standing before the earthly high priest while he has a vision of the heavenly high priest, right next to the Father and surrounded by angels and he said it was Jesus.  That was too much.  That was too much for them to take.  That started to cover their ears and said, “We can’t hear this anymore”.

What’s interesting is that Jesus stood before this same group of people four or five years before.  History was repeating itself.  Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin.  In fact, he stood before the same high priest.  Caiaphas was in office until 36 AD. Jesus said something similar and they had the exact same response then.  Matthew 26:63-66 reads as follows in the ESV.

“And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”

Stephen was full of FORGIVENESS.  He died with a prayer of forgiveness on his lips, as Jesus did. Jesus prayed on the cross, ‘“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).  Stephen prayed while he was dying “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (7:60).

That is incredible to me.  He was far more forgiving that I would probably be in that situation.  It is hard enough some times to forgive someone after they come to you and repent and say that they are sorry.  Stephen prayed for his enemies while they were killing him.

When Stephen was killed, many people thought that he could not be replaced.  He was brilliant.  He preached the longest sermon in Acts.  He may have written a few books of Scripture if his life had not been cut short.

He was one-of-a kind and now he is gone but he was not irreplaceable.  In Acts 9, a man comes to faith in Christ who is just like him.  His name was Saul of Tarsus.  Saul became another Stephen.  He was Stephen on steroids.

The Ministry of Philip

We come now to the second of the seven deacons selected – Philip.  He is fascinating.  If you liked Stephen, you will also like Phillip.  Let’s read Acts 8.  What do we know about Philip?  He is later called in the book “Philip the Evangelist” (21:8). He was a world class evangelist.  He traveled all over the place.

He was not just an evangelist; he was also a miracle worker, like Stephen. Philip also was a charismatic deacon (8:6). He cast out some demons (8:7).  People who could not walk stood up and started walking. He later got married and had four daughters.  Luke says that his four daughters were preachers (21:9).

After all of his missionary journey’s Philip ends up in Caesarea.  When Paul traveled to Caesarea, he stayed in Philip’s house (21:8). Philip was the first Christian missionary.  Stephen was the first martyr and Phillip becomes the first missionary who went and started a revival in another city.  What kind of missionary was he?

1. Phillip was a lay missionary.

He was not seminary trained.  He had not read any Christian books.  None were written yet.  He was not an Apostle.  There was an Apostle Phillip but that was a different person.  The Apostle Philip stayed behind in Jerusalem (8:1).

The Philip in Acts 8 left Jerusalem and went to Samaria. He was not an apostle or a pastor. He was just a deacon.  This wasn’t the Apostle Philip.  It was the evangelistic and deacon Philip.  He could not be a deacon anymore.  He was scattered.  There was no one to deacon, so he became a missionary.

2. Philip was a charismatic missionary

Philip did not just preach to people, he performed miracles (8:6-7), like the deacon Stephen before him.  John Wimber wrote a book called Power Evangelism.  I have not read the book but that is the type of evangelism that Philip did.  He did power evangelism. The miracles went hand in hand with the message.  They authenticated him and confirmed it with supernatural signs and wonders.

Philip did not just rely on great arguments and logic to reach the Samaritans.  He performed miracles as witnessing tools. Jesus did the same thing.  He did not just preach and teach.  He healed people.  He cast out demons.  He raised the dead and performed signs which validated his message.  He evangelized by word and by deed.

3. Phillip was a traveling missionary.

Stephen ministered in Jerusalem.  He stayed in Jerusalem.   He did Jewish evangelism but Philip preached the gospel OUTSIDE of Jerusalem for the first time.  Why did Philip do this?  He was forced to. In Acts 8 the church goes through “a GREAT persecution” (8:1).

Before this time, a few apostles were thrown into prison for a night and one deacon was stoned but now EVERYONE in the church is persecuted.  Acts 8:3 says, “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”

This was not planned but God brought good out of it. The church is scattered.  Instead of one big church in Jerusalem, believers are scattered and there are churches all over the place.  Believers start reaching out to people.

Missionaries are going to preaching to people outside of Jerusalem. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (8:4). Satan used persecution to try to destroy the church.  God used it to spread the gospel.  He brought good out of evil.  He turned something really bad into something really good.

4. Phillip was a cross-cultural missionary

Stephen just ministered in Jerusalem to Jews only.  Philip branches out and starts ministering to people other than Jews. Before Acts 8, the church is completely Jewish.  It is one hundred percent Jewish.  Every member of the church was a Jew.

There were different kinds of Jews (Greek Jews and Hebrew Jews) but they were all Jews.  At the end of this chapter, in addition to Jewish Christians, there are Samaritan Christians and a black Ethiopian Christian.

Philip Preaches to Samaritans

Jesus said this would happen.  He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  The apostles preached in Jerusalem and now a deacon is taking the gospel to Samaria.  The Samaritans were half Jews racially.

Here Philip reaches across racial and religious boundaries for the first time but something unusual happened when Philip preached to the Samaritans.  They believed and were baptized but they did not get the Holy Spirit.  In fact, they did not get the Holy Spirit until Peter and John came down prayed for them (8:15) and put their hands on them (8:17) and then they received the Holy Spirit.

Why didn’t they get the Holy Spirit right away?  That is what happened to the Jews in Acts 2.  Peter told the Jews if they would repent and be baptized, they would receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (2:38).

In Acts 8, the Samaritans did that and they did NOT get the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Why did they have to wait until the big guns came down from Jerusalem before it took place?  Why couldn’t they have received the Spirit when Philip was there?

At Pentecost, the church began.  Believers for the first time were indwelt, baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.  What we learn here is that Pentecost took place in stages.  It did not take place all at once.

It happened in Acts 2 for the Jews (stage one).  It happened in Acts 8 for the Samaritans, half Jews (stage two) and it happened in Acts 10 with full blooded Gentiles (stage three).  Each time an apostle had to be present.

There is a really good reason they had to wait for the apostles in Acts 8.  Jews and Samaritans did not get along.  They could not stand each other.  They hated each other.  Because there was so much animosity between the two groups, if a Samaritan church started, no one would accepted it unless the apostles (who were also Jewish) came down and put their stamp of approval on it and verified it.

Philip Preaches to an Ethiopian

Philip did not just preach to the Samaritans. He preached to an African.  Salvation does not just go to Samaritans.  It goes to Ethiopians (ends of the earth).  Here he reaches, not just across racial barriers but across the color barrier as well.  The gospel reaches to a new ethnic group.

As far as we know, this was the first time in history that Africa was reached with the gospel.  People always say that Christianity is the white man’s religion.  Actually, the gospel goes to Africa before it goes to Europe.  This man was very interesting.  What do we know about him?

Characteristics of the Ethiopian Eunuch

1. He was an African

The Bible says he was from Ethiopia (8:27).  The man was from Africa but he was not from modern-day Ethiopia. The Greeks called anything south of Egypt “Ethiopia”.

There were lots of countries south of Egypt but we happen to know what specific country in Africa where he came from. Luke says this man was charge of all the treasury of the Candace.

We know from secular history (Pliny, Strabo) that there was only one country was ruled by a woman at this time called Candace.  Candace was not her name but her title (like Pharaoh or Caesar).  Candace was a dynastic title.  In Greek, it is not Candace (that sounds like a movie star), it is Κανδάκης. The country that had these queens was called Meroe.

                                            

  Meroe was a wealthy kingdom in southern Egypt.  It is modern day Sudan.

                                             

2. He was a eunuch

A eunuch is a man who has been castrated.  To be castrated means to have your testicles removed. Why would anyone in the ancient world become a eunuch?  People became castrated for a number of reasons.  One reason it was done was to move someone into a social class.  They often obtained prominent positions in government.

This man did have a prominent position in government. He was the minister of finance.  Eunuchs were used as servants and guards.  They could be trusted. They have been emasculated. You had to be trusted to work for the queen.  You had to be trusted to handle money.

3. He was wealthy

This man worked for the Queen. One way we know he was wealthy is that he happened to own a copy of the Bible or at least part of the Bible (a scroll of the Book of Isaiah) and few people had that.  They were expensive.  Books had to be copied by hand.  The printing press had not been invented yet.  This must have cost a fortune.

4. He was spiritually sensitive

This man was unsaved but he was religious.  He was a seeker of God.  Many wealthy people are not spiritually sensitive but this man serious about the things of God and we see that in a couple of ways.  Not only did stop worshiping his idols and begin worshiping, he was willing to travel over 1200 miles on a chariot to worship that the Jewish God and this man wasn’t born Jewish (8:27).

We also see that he is spiritually sensitive in the way he reads the Bible.  He does not just read the Bible (8:28), he asks critical questions (8:34).  He has a hunger for God’s Word.  He wants to know what it means and asks someone to explain it to him.

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (8:34). It is a valid question to this day. Jews to this day do not know what Isaiah 53 is saying.  Most of them think that Isaiah 53 is talking about Israel.  Israel is the suffering servant.  Phillip says it is not talking about Israel.  It is talking about the Messiah.

Is the Suffering Servant Israel?

Some interpreters believe that Israel is the servant nation. Israel is called God’s servant (41:8-9; 44:1, 21; 45:4; 49:3) but the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 cannot refer to Israel for several reasons.

1.  He is referred to in the singular.

“He was despised” (53:3).  “He was rejected” (53:3).  “He took up our pain” (53:4).  “He bore our suffering” (53:4).  “He was pierced for our transgressions” (53:5).  “He was crushed for our iniquities” (53:5).  “He was oppressed and afflicted” (53:7).  “He was cut off from the land of the living” (53:8).   He is clearly a person, not a nation.  The nation is referred to with a plural pronoun.

2. He is clearly distinguished from the nation.

This person is punished for the transgression of HIS people (53:8).  The suffering servant is not Israel.  He died for the sins of the Jewish people.  If he is suffering for Israel, he cannot be Israel.

“Surely HE took up OUR pain and bore OUR suffering, yet WE considered HIM punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.”

“But HE was pierced for OUR transgressions, HE was crushed for OUR iniquities; the punishment that brought US peace was on HIM, and by HIS wounds WE are healed.”

“WE all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of US has turned to OUR own way and the Lord has laid on HIM the iniquity of US all.”

3. The one who suffers in Isaiah 53 is innocent.

He had “done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth!” (53:9). The suffering servant in Isaiah 53 is said to be “righteous” (53:11), which did not describe the nation. Isaiah said that he lived among a people of UNCLEAN LIPS (6:5).

He also called the nation “a SINFUL NATION” (1:4). He characterizes Judah as SODOM and GOMORRAH (1:10).  He described Jerusalem as A HARLOT (1:21), and the people as those whose hands are stained with blood (1:15). This was very different from the righteous sufferer of Isaiah 53.

Philip evangelizes the Ethiopian Eunuch.  There are a lot of things we can learn from his example here.

Application

  • Are we open to the Spirit when he prompts us to talk to someone about Jesus?
  • Do we know how to share the gospel to someone who asks us?
  • Would we know how to interpret the Bible if an unbeliever opened it and asked us what it means or would we say, “I will have to ask the pastor”?

You say, “I am not a world class evangelist like Philip.  I do not know how to evangelize”.  Let’s see if we can learn anything from Philip.  How did Philip preach the gospel?  Notice what he did NOT do when he talked to this Ethiopian Eunuch.

  • He was NOT condescending.  He did not talk down to him.
  • He was NOT confrontational.  He did not immediately tell him that he was headed straight to hell.  He used tact.
  • He was NOT rude or obnoxious.  Some people seem to think that that is a sign of spirituality.  It is just a mark of the flesh.

Philip used the question method. Philip did not start preaching to this man when he first saw him.  In the ancient world, people generally read out loud.  Philip heard him reading (8:30).  He asked him what he was reading.  He asked him if he understood what he was reading.  Greg Koukl calls it “the Columbo Tactic”.

Questions are often more effective than assertions.  Questions are non-threatening.  They are interactive.  They draw the person out and they put the burden on proof back on the person.  We can use this approach today when we are talking to people.  Koukl gives several examples of this approach in his many apologetics seminars.

When someone says, “I think Christians are intolerant”, you can say, “Why do you think that?  What do you mean by intolerant”? What is your definition of intolerant?”  “They always think they are right?”  Well, do you think you are right?  The truth is that everyone who believes something thinks they are right.  Why am I intolerant, if I think I am right but you are not intolerant if you think you are right?

“I don’t believe in the Bible.”  Why don’t you believe in the Bible?  It is full of contradictions?  What are some examples of some?  “I can’t think of any off the top of my head”.  Then how do you know they exist?

“There is no God”. What do you mean by God?  You reject God but what kind of God do you reject.  We may not believe in the god they rejected either.  Why do you think that?  Are you absolutely sure that there is no God or do you just believe there is no God?

All religions are basically the same?  Instead of saying, “No they are not”, say, “Really. In what way are they all the same?”

Crisis in the Church

In Acts 2 we saw the Holy Spirit indwell, baptize and fill believers on the day of Pentecost.  The church was started.  We looked at what it looked like when it was started.  It had many characteristics.  It had great leadership.  The Twelve Apostles went to this church.  It had incredible growth from 120 to over 5000 in Acts 4. The first church was a mega church.  It had biblical teaching.  The early church continued in the apostles’ doctrine.

They had supernatural power.  The apostles were doing all kinds of signs and wonders and had such a great reputation that people were bringing the sick to them to be healed.  They were devoted to prayer.  They were completely united.  They were not just devoted to the Lord.  They were devoted to one another.  Acts 4:32-37 reads:

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.  With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

This was a loving church. There was so much love in this church that they took take of the poor people in their church.  They had some poor people in the church.  Apparently, it was a big problem and they didn’t just say, “We will pray for you”.  What did they do?  They did two things.  The first things they did was to SHARE their possessions (4:32).

What does this tell you about this church?  It us that people in this church were not selfish.  Some of us don’t like to share.  This says that they shared EVERYTHING that they had.  If someone didn’t have a place to live, they said, “You can come and live with us.  We will share our home with you”.

When that was not enough, the next thing they did was to SELL their possessions to get money to help people (4:34). What does this tell you about the church that they not only shared their possessions, they sold them?

They were generous and sacrificial.  They gave some things up to meet the needs of other people. It worked.  The text says, “There were NO needy persons among them(4:34). We have an example of someone who sold some of his property to help someone.  We call him Barnabas but his real name was Joe.

This was not a religious cult where everyone had to sell their possessions.  It was completely voluntary.  No one forced people to do this and there was no command that everyone had to do this and no other church in the NT did this, so far as we can tell. This is also not some kind of Christian communism.

In fact, it was the exact OPPOSITE of communism.  In full communism, this would be mandatory. Communism says, “What’s yours is mine”. This church said, “What’s mine is yours”. Communism says, “Give all that you have”. The early Christians said, “Take all that I have”.

This was a very generous and compassionate church.  It was a loving church. The Jerusalem Church was a good church.  It was an apostolic church but it was NOT a perfect church.  Even vibrant, growing churches have problems.  Even apostolic churches were not perfect.

They were made up of sinners.  The first century church had problems.  I want to look at two problems that arose in the very first church – the first church scandal and the first church argument.  Let’s look at the first one in Acts 5:1-11.

“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”

The First Church Scandal

Here two members of the first church suddenly drop dead not too long after the church was started. Peter plays a key role in this story as a young married couple drops dead in church.  These were probably charter members of the church.

They were well-respected members of the church.  They had been there since the beginning.  They had been baptized.  Why did they die?  What did they do that was so bad?  What was the first big sin of the church?  It was a financial sin.

It is interesting what the first church scandal did NOT involve.  It had nothing to do with sex.  Nobody ran off with the church secretary. No one was caught with a prostitute. Both Ananias and Sapphira were faithful to one another. Neither one did any drugs.

They did not break any law. They weren’t arrested for committing a crime.  What is so shocking about this is that Ananias and Sapphira were probably well-respected in the community.  They were well-respected in the church.

What was their sin which got them killed?  They told a lie.  Who did they lie to? They lied to the church.  What did they lie about?  They lied about money.  They lied about how much they gave to the church.  It doesn’t seem that serious to us.

It is like cheating on your taxes or saying you gave ten percent to the church when you only gave eight percent.  It is wrong.  It is lying but is it bad enough to die for?  The punishment does not seem to fit the crime.  It seems a little harsh.

Furthermore, they actually did a good deed in the process.  They died right after they gave some money to the church.  They had some land.  They sold it and gave some of the money to the church.  They were sacrificial.  They were thinking of others and they still died.  They didn’t have to sell their property.  The irony is that if they didn’t sell their property, they would still be alive.

Lying is not that big of a deal to us today.  Politicians do it all the time and do not think twice.  God thinks a little differently about lying than we do.  Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord”.  God HATES Them.  Proverbs 6:16-19 says

“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises  wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out  lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”

God says that there are seven things that he hates.  Two of them have to do with lying (a lying tongue and a false witness).  This is no small deal to God.

Let’s try to reconstruct the events that day.  You have to use a little bit of your imagination to do this.  There are ten steps to the chronology here.

A Possible Reconstruction of the Events

1. Barnabas sold a field that he owned and gave all of the money to the church.

Barnabas was a well-respected member of the church.  He sold some of his real estate and was praised for his generosity.

2. Ananias and Sapphira decide to do the same thing.

They said, “What Barnabas did was a really good idea.  Maybe we should do that.  We have some land we could sell and give to the church as well.”  A number of their friends did this and they wanted to do it as well.  Now they did not have to sell their property.  It was completely voluntary.

Once they sold it, no one forced them to give it to the church.  They could have sold the property and kept the proceeds.  Once they sold it and gave the money to the church, they did not have to give all of it but that was what they decided to do and told others that they were going to do.

3. After selling the property, they changed their mind.

They sell the land and bring the money into their house and then Ananias changes his mind for whatever reason.  He decides that maybe they should not give all of it to the church.  They look at the large pile of silver.  It is a lot of money and they could use some of it.  They may have had some financial needs themselves.

They may have even gotten more for the land than they thought they would get.  The land may have been worth $7,000 and they got $10,000 for it.  Why did he change his mind?  Greed.  He thought if he hung on to the extra money he would be happy.  Instead, he ended up dead.  He should have stuck to his original commitment.

4. They both agree on what they will say to the church.

They are on the same page.  It is clear from Acts 5:1-2 that Ananias was the one who came up with this plan.  His wife just went along with it and became his accomplice.  Apparently, she did not object to the plan or protest.  Now it becomes a conspiracy to deceive the church.  Ananias and his wife both plotted to lie to the church about their donation.

5. Ananias makes a donation to the church.

He gives them SOME of the money from the sale of the property to the church and says he was giving all of it.  “God has really blessed us.  We sold a plot of land and would like to give it all to God to help anyone who is in need in the church”.  So far, Ananias has told a lie but he still has a chance to get out of it before the consequences are fatal.

6. Peter confronts Ananias about the amount.  Ananias lies and drops dead on the spot.

Peter doesn’t kill him.  God does. The application here is that leaders sometimes need to confront people in the church. That is one of the jobs of leaders.  Some do it and some do not do it because it is unpopular.

Peter said in Acts 5:3, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?”. How Peter knew about this we do not know.  God must have revealed it to him but it raises a very interesting question.

Can Satan Fill the Heart of Believers?

Some do not believe that this can happen to believers.  I once had a pastor tell me that Satan cannot get in people’s minds.  This was a Bible believing pastor who said that Satan cannot put thoughts into people’s heads. This passage is crystal clear.  Peter said that Satan filled the heart of Ananias and Sapphira and there is every indication that they were genuine believers.

Satan can and does influence Christians today.  That is a scary thought.  He can fill people’s hearts.  He may fill the hearts of some pastors even.  He can even speak audibly through some preachers.  He spoke audibly through Peter when he instructed Jesus not to go to the cross and he was an apostle (Matthew 16:23).

In the OT, David wanted to take a census.  Where did he get the idea?  He got it from Satan.  Satan incited David to do this (I Chronicles 21:1). Ananias is buried before his wife arrives on the scene.  She does not even know that he died yet.

7. Ananias is buried before his wife arrives on the scene.  She does not even know that he died yet.

8. A three hour gap takes place before Sapphira arrives on the scene.

We know this from Acts 5:7.  What did she do for three hours?  She had all of this extra money, she probably went shopping. She got her hair done, bought some fancy clothes, got some new jewelry.  When Ananias didn’t come home for dinner, she went looking for him.

9. Peter finds Sapphira and confronts her and she drops dead.

The apostles were pretty good at confronting church members.  He asked her point blank how much the land was sold for?  She had a chance to come clean and tell the truth or to lie?  She lied. Those were her last words.  She dropped dead too and they buried her.

10. Then fear came on the whole church (5:11).

Everyone was afraid. Why? They were wondering if they were going to drop dead as well. They looked back to see if they had told a lie in the last week.  God does not do this kind of thing every day.

If he did, there would be very few people in most of our churches.  Donald Grey Barnhouse once commented that if God did this today there would have to be a morgue in every church and a mortician on the pastoral staff. What are some lessons that we can take from the story of Ananias and Sapphira?

Applications from Acts 5:1-11

1) God wants honesty and transparency in his people.

He wants us to tell the truth when we talk to people.  He wants us to have integrity.  This story tells us what God thinks of hypocrites in the church.

2) Genuine believers can fall into sin.

Ananias and Sapphira were genuine believers.  They had been baptized.  They may have been charter members of the church.  They not only lied, they tried to deceive the apostles.  Satan filled their hearts.  He can fill our hearts.

3) Leaders sometimes need to confront people in the church.

That is one of the jobs of leaders.  Some are good at this and some avoid it.  Today when church members fall into sin, leaders often try to cover them up, rather than to try and confront them.  Confronting people is too unpleasant.

4) God judges believers who sin and sometimes they even die.

The Bible talks about a “sin unto death”.  Now he does not do this every day.  Can you imagine how big our church would be if God took out every single person in the church who told a lie the last week?

5) There is no perfect church.

The very first church had problems.  The Jerusalem Church was a good church.  It was an apostolic church.  The Twelve Apostles went to this church but it was not a perfect church.  Even apostolic churches were not perfect.  They were made up of sinners.

The First Church Argument

The second problem in this church is found in Acts 6:1-7.  Church conflict is inevitable.  Up to this point, the church was completely united.  There was no division in this church.  “All the believers were one in heart and mind” (4:32).

Today, we have all kinds of divisions in churches.  No more one heart and one mind.  The Christian church is completely divided today. We do not think about how divided the church is today.

  • The church today is divided by RACE.  There are black churches, white churches, Chinese Churches, Hispanic churches.
  • The church today is divided by TRADITION.  There are hundreds of denominations and what mainly divides these denominations are years of traditions.  Catholics are not the only ones who have traditions.  Protestants have a lot of traditions as well. They will say, “That is the way we have always done things around here”.
  • The church today is divided by THEOLOGY. There are many doctrinal differences between churches.  We have churches that believe you can lose your salvation and churches that believe that you cannot lose your salvation.  There are churches that believe that people can speak in tongues today and churches which believe that tongues have ceased and there are not tongues speaking today.  We have churches that believe in predestination and other churches that believe in free will.
  • The church today is divided by POLITICS.  Some are politically liberal and some are politically conservative.  Some love Obama and some hate him.
  • The church today is divided by DRESS CODE.  Some churches are real formal and everyone wears their Sunday best.  My wife calls those “panty hose churches”.  Other churches are casual, the “come as you are” churches.
  • The church today is divided by MUSIC. Some churches only play hymns and some play contemporary music.  In fact, in some churches it is so contemporary, it hurts your ears.  Music in the black church sounds different form music in the white church.
  • The church today is divided by TRANSLATION.  There are some churches that only use the KJV and other churches that use more modern translations.

There was no division in the first church until we come to Acts 6 and there is a big argument.  The argument has nothing to do with doctrine.  What was the about?  How did it start?  We find out in Acts 6:1.

”In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”

Notice how the chapter begins – “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent.” There is a passage of Scripture that says, “Without oxen a stable stays clean” (Proverbs 14:4 NLT).  What is this saying?  It is real profound.

If you have an ox, you are going to have ox poop.  If you want a clean barn, then do not have any animals.  If you want a church without any problems, then do not have any people in it.  The more people you have, the bigger the church is, the more problems you have.  The first church was so big that it started to have some problems.  It had some growing pains.

It was growing so fast, they couldn’t even count everybody.  Eventually, they had a problem. There were two cliques or groups of people in the church.  Both were Christians.  Both were Jewish Christians but there were two kinds of them.  One group was called Hebrews.  They were born and raised in Israel.  They read Hebrew.  When they wanted to read the Bible, they pulled out a Hebrew Bible.  The Twelve Apostles were Hebrews.

The other group of Jewish Christians was called Hellenists.  The Hellenists spoke Greek.  When they wanted to read a passage in the OT, they would read from a Greek Bible.  They were born in a Gentile country and accepted Greek culture.  We might call them native Jews and foreign Jews.

They were both Jews but were divided by language, nationality and culture.  There was tension between these two ethnic groups. They started not to like each other or trust each other. Jews born in Israel looked down on foreign Jews.

The Hellenistic Jews among them COMPLAINED against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food”

What were they complaining about?  Everyone was not being treated fairly.  Before there was no needy person among them and now some in the church were needy.  A whole group of people was being overlooked.  There were certain widows who did not have food on the table, while other widows were being taken care of.

They felt left out and they happened to be from the same race.  The first division in the church had to do with race relations.  Sound familiar?  Why did the two ethnic groups not get along?  One group of the church complained about discrimination.

Lessons for Church Leaders

Now there is absolutely no evidence that this was intentional.  It was an oversight.  The church was so big that too few people were doing too much of the work.  It was an administrative problem but it was still a real problem and they took this problem right to the apostles.

How the apostles handled this problem is very interesting.  Church leaders could learn a lot from what they did here and what they did not do.  The apostles avoided some common mistakes that pastors have today.  What lessons can we learn here from the apostles?

Lesson One: Be Open to Feedback

They did not deny that this was a real problem.  They did NOT say, “How dare you question our leadership.  We are apostles.  We have special authority directly from Jesus Christ”. Some leaders are not too open to criticism or feedback from the congregation.  They take everything personally.  The apostles did not make that mistake.

Lesson Two: Deal with Real Problems

This was a problem and the apostles deal with it.  If you do not deal with division fast, it will split the whole church.  If the apostles did not deal with this problem, there would have been two churches – a Hebrew branch and a Hellenist branch.  Some pastors do not have the backbone to deal with some of the problems in the church.

Lesson Three: Be Willing to Delegate

They also did not try to do everything themselves.  They delegated leadership back to the congregation.  They said, “This is a real problem but we are not going to solve it.  You are.”  Some pastors try to do everything in the church.  They are workaholics and do not utilize the gifts in the body.

So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

That is very interesting.  God called the apostles to a spiritual ministry (feeding souls, not feeding bodies).  There is nothing wrong with feeding the poor.  There is nothing wrong with doing humanitarian work but that it not what the apostles were called to do.  They were called to prayer, to preaching, to teaching, to evangelism, and to discipleship and that all takes time.

They did not want to be diverted from their mission by spending all of their time, going from home to home, delivering food to hungry people, so they told the church to solve their own problem by picking seven men.  That gave the church some of its own authority.

This was not a church election.  That is how some denominations would do this today.  They would say, “If you want to be one of the seven deacons, put your name on the ballot and people can vote for you”.  They were not to elect people in office but to select people for the job.

The apostles could have said, “Just pick anyone for the job.  Anyone can serve tables”.  They didn’t say that.  They told the church to pick some men but gave them specific instructions and guidelines about who they were to pick.

They told them to pick out people FROM AMONG YOU.  They were to be indigenous.  They were not to bring in experts from the outside but to find individuals from their own church but they had to be qualified for the job.

There were three qualifications for this ministry position (6:3).  They were to be men of good repute (moral requirement – men of integrity).  They were to be men full of the Spirit (spiritual requirement – religious).  They were to be men full of wisdom (practical requirement – useful).

What the apostles did was brilliant.  They did not solve the problem themselves but delegated leadership.  They let the church solve their own problem with some guidelines.  What the church did was even more brilliant. They picked seven Hellenists to solve the problem.

How would we have solve the problem today?  We would have picked half Hebrews and half Hellenists.  Since there are two groups in the church, we would want equal representation on the committee to make sure that both groups of widows were taken care of in the church and no one is discriminated against.  They didn’t do that.  There was no politics here.

The church put these seven Hellenists in charge of the whole thing and turned the whole ministry over to them. They bent over backwards to restore peace in the church.  Someone called this the first example of affirmative action in the Bible.  After that decision, there would not be any problem between Hebrews and Hellenists in the church.  The Hebrews showed how much they trusted them. Next week, we will look at the lives of two of these deacons in more detail.

Marks of a Healthy Church

Last week we looked at three reasons Pentecost was important.  At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit indwelled believers for the first time, baptized believers into the body of Christ, and filled believers with spiritual power.  Peter preaches the first Christian sermon and at the end of the chapter we have the first church.  What I want to do today is to pick up right where I left off last week.  What did the first church look like?

Luke gives us a picture of the first church on planet earth. It was located in Israel. Luke gives us only a snapshot, a summary. His description is not exhaustive but these five verses show us what the first church looked like.  Many people say that they want to go to an Acts 2.  This is what an Acts 2 church looked like.  This section may revolutionize some of the views that we have about church.

I want to look at some marks of a healthy church from Acts 2.  Some churches are healthy, vibrant and growing. The church in Acts 2 was ON FIRE.  Other churches are unhealthy. They are stagnant, dying or even dead.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

We have people from four or five different churches in this small group.  I am not here to judge your church. I do not even know what goes on in your particular church but I do want you to think today about what are some characteristics of a healthy church. There are eight in Acts 2 that are worth noting.

Great Leadership

This church had good leadership.  A church is only as good as its leaders.  If you have poor leaders, you will have a poor church. If you have phenomenal leaders, you will most likely have a phenomenal church.

The first church had the Twelve Apostles in it. They all went to the same church. Ten didn’t go to one church, while the two renegade apostles went to the Methodist Church.  It would be pretty cool to have all twelve apostles in your church.

Our churches do not have one apostle in them, to say nothing of having twelve in them but we can still have good leaders in our church.  Many churches have leaders who are biblical. They are spirit-filled. They have spiritual integrity. They are humble. They are accountable to others. They do not try to be a one-man show. They encourage other people in the church to use their gifts.

Other churches have leaders that do not look like anything like the elders and deacons in the Bible.  Some churches have preachers that put you right to sleep.

James MacDonald, my former pastor in Chicago, used to say that it is a sin to be boring. Some pastors function more like dictators than shepherds. They lord it over the flock (I Peter 5:3). They try to function like popes.  How would you rate the leaders of your church?

Church Growth

Healthy things grow.  Individuals should grow and churches should grow.  Many churches all across America are shrinking. They are not growing.  They are dying.  This church grew astronomically.  We said last week that this church grew from 120 to 3120 in one day by one sermon. Many people do not like big churches.

The first church was big.  By modern standards, it was a mega church. It has over 3000 people in it.  Even mega churches do not become mega churches in one day but this church did.  Mega churches didn’t begin in the 1950s or 60s.  The first one started 2000 years ago.

The church in Acts 2 had over 3000 people in it.  By Acts 4, the church had grown to 5000 people (4:4).  That number just includes the men (not the women and children).  This was incredible church growth.  Is your church growing?  Is it stagnant or is it declining?

The big question is how do you measure church growth?  Do you measure it by quantity or by quality?  You can have a church that is growing in numbers but is not growing spiritually.  A big church is not always a better church.  On the other hand, you have a big problem when your attendance is not only declining, it has been declining for a number of years. Ideally, churches should be growing both in quantity and quality.

Biblical Teaching

                                 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’
                                        TEACHING and to the fellowship,
                                     to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Notice what was first on the list in Acts 2:42. It is doctrine.  It is teaching.  It is theology. They devoted themselves to the Word of God.  A church that is not devoted to the Word of God is not a healthy church.  The church is a community of truth.

The church is to be “the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Timothy 3:15). The first church not only continued in doctrine, they continued in continued in the apostles’ doctrine. That is interesting.  They accepted what the apostles taught as the Word of God.  It was considered binding and authoritative.

Now the apostles are no longer alive but we do have their writings in the NT. The NT contains the teachings of the apostles. The local church should be a place where the Bible is taught. It should be a place DEVOTED to the study and application of Scripture.

It should be a place that is passionate about truth.  God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).  We live in a world that doesn’t even believe in truth.  Everything is relative.  The world rejects moral absolutes.

Why is this important in the modern-day church? One of the biggest problems in the church today is the problem of biblical illiteracy. Woodrow Kroll (Back to the Bible) says that “biblical illiteracy is not a problem in the church today.  It is the problem in the church today”.

Christians in church after church all across America simply do not know what the Bible teaches.  It is a problem in every denomination.  Some Christians have been in churches for twenty years and still do not know what the Bible teaches and some of them are leaders.  They are elders.  They are deacons.  The sheep in many churches are starving spiritually.  American Christians are malnourished.

Many pastors do not feed the sheep. Pastors give many reasons for not doing this.  A pastor will say that it is not his gift or that he is a people person.  Some pastors feed the sheep but they only feed them milk.  Every week they only give them milk.  They never give them any meat.

If Christians are never fed meat, they will never grow.  They remain spiritual babies.  It is okay to be a spiritual baby when you first become a Christian but there is something wrong if you have been saved for thirty years and you are still a spiritual baby.

Jesus told Peter three times, “If you love me feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).  It is the only question in the Bible that he asked three times.  Jesus did not tell Peter to entertain the sheep.  He told him to feed them.

He did not say, “If you love me, evangelize goats” (although that is important as well).  He said, “If you love me, feed my sheep”.  The real reason that pastors do not feed the sheep today is that they do not love Jesus.

That is what He said “If you love me, feed my sheep”.  If you have a dog or a cat and you love it, you will take care of it.  You will feed it but notice what Jesus does not say here.  He does not say, “If you love the sheep, you will fee them”.  He says, “If you love ME, you will feed them”.  They are his sheep.  He bought them with his own blood.

Recently, I heard two provocative comments that I want you to share with you.  You may have heard these quotes before. One person said, “We don’t need information.  We need transformation”.

A pastor of a well-known mega-church said, “Christianity is not about knowing; it is about doing”.  What do you think?  Do you agree with these statements?  The problem with this is that it is a false dichotomy.  We do not need to know.

We just need to do.  We need both.  It is kind of like saying we need Jesus but we do not need the Bible.  We need a personal relationship with Jesus but we do not need to know the Bible very well.

We need BOTH information and transformation. In fact, the way you get transformed is through Scripture. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). Truth sets people free. We need to know God and His Word. In fact, we cannot know God apart from His Word.  Information and knowledge is not wrong. God said in the OT, “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).

The Bible says that “fools hate knowledge” (Proverbs 1:22, 29).  It also says that “wise men store up knowledge” (Proverbs 11:14).  On the other hand, you can have all kinds of knowledge but not know God.  Paul says that some are “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” (II Timothy 3:7).

Christian Fellowship

The first church didn’t just devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, they devoted themselves to fellowship. What exactly is fellowship? Is running into Christians at church and having surface conversations fellowship?  Is socializing with Christians and eating pizza fellowship in the biblical sense?    What exactly is fellowship?

  • Fellowship is limited to believers.

You can’t have Christian fellowship with an unbeliever.  Fellowship is that special bond that you have with another believer that you do not have with anyone else.  It is the special bond that you have with members of your family, with other members of the body of Christ.

It is not limited to your own denomination.  It is not limited to your own race or ethnic group. People that do not like to be other Christians are not devoted to fellowship, like the early church was.

  • Fellowship is an intimate bond

Real fellowship also goes beyond surface conversation to much deeper conversation. It gets a little more personal and a little more intimate.  You share major issues in your life.

  • Fellowship is a spiritual bond

Christian fellowship also brings God and His Word into the conversation. If two people get together and talk about football, they are not really having Christian fellowship.  They are having a conversation that any unbelievers could have. Is your church devoted to fellowship?

Biblical Ritual

This church also devoted themselves to the ordinances.  The Bible mentions two church ordinances – baptism and communion.  Both are commanded and both are found in the very first church.  Baptism was commanded in Acts 2.

Communion is also commanded.  Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of me” (I Corinthians 11:24 KJV) and in Greek it is in the present tense which means it is something which is to be done continually.

When I was in graduate school, I had a professor who said that “breaking of bread” is not talking about communion.  It is talking about a meal.  The Greek word can mean simply a meal (Luke 24:35).  Is this talking about a meal or a religious ritual?  The answer is both.

There is no doubt that this is talking about communion.  It wouldn’t make any sense to say that the early Christians devoted themselves to eating and drinking. It would be ridiculous to put an ordinary meal in a list on par with Bible study and prayer.

It is talking about communion but the early church celebrated in the context of a meal.  They met church in homes.  Church buildings did not exist in the early church.  Communion was rooted in Passover.

Jesus gave the instructions to the apostles while he was celebrating Passover.  Passover was a meal (seder).  The early church did both.  Eventually, the church dropped the meal and just served communion.

The early church not only observed communion, they were DEVOTED to it.  Some churches are more devoted to it than others.  In some churches, they do communion but they do it very rarely (one or twice a year).  It is hard to call that devoted to the ordinance.  Is your church devoted to communion?

Power

“Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles” (Acts 2:43).

 “As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.” (Acts 5:12, 13-15)

The first church was a charismatic church.  It was a miracle working church.  Signs and wonders were done in that church. They did not just heal some of the sick.  They healed ALL of them (5:15).  Luke says that MANY wonders and signs were performed by the apostles.  Luke mentions healings by two apostles in the book of Acts – Peter and Paul.  They do a lot of the same kinds of miracles.

  • Peter cast out demons (5:16) and Paul cast out demons (16:18).
  • Peter healed a crippled man (3:1-6) and Paul healed a crippled man (14:7-9).
  • Peter raised a woman from the dead (9:36-42) and Paul raised a man from the dead (20:9-12).  Peter raised Tabitha and Paul raised Eutychus.
  • Peter healed people with his shadow (5:15). Paul healed people with his handkerchief (19:12).

Both of these seem very strange to us.  Peter’s shadow had some kind of magical powers (shadow healing).  You had all of these sick people lying on beds and mats in the middle of the street so that Peter’s shadow might fall of them as he passed.

Other people were healed by Paul’s dirty laundry, the apron he wore around his waist when he worked in his tent making shop or the sweaty bandanna which he wore around his head.  This is one of proof-text for the Roman Catholic interest in relics.  However, this is not quite the same thing as the veneration or worship of relics (which is a form of idolatry).

Many would point out that these signs were done by the apostles and there are no longer any apostles.  That is true, but if you read the rest of the book you will see that signs and wonders were not just done by the apostles.

Some of the deacons of this church also performed miracles – Stephen (Acts 6:8) and Philip (Acts 8:6).  Ananias also performed a miracle (9:10, 17) and as far as we know he was just an ordinary Christian.  He laid hands on the Apostle Paul when he was blind and all of the sudden his sight was restored.

Let’s look at one of these miracles.  In Acts 3, Peter heals a crippled beggar.  Here was a man who was forty years old and he was crippled.  He was crippled from birth.  He had never been able to walk.  Peter heals him.

Later in the book he healed another man who had been crippled but that man was not born crippled.  He had only been crippled for the last eight years.  He must have had some accident and became paralyzed.  Let’s look at the first miracle in Acts 3:1-8

“One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”  So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.”

What is going on here?  Here was a man who was crippled.  Everyone in the community knew him.  He had to be carried places because he could not walk.  He could not work, so he begs for money.  We walk by or drive by beggars all the time.  Many people we encounter on the side of the road with “Need Money” signs are just scam artists.  This man wasn’t.  He could not work and had to beg for money.

He was dropped off at the temple, waiting for handouts from people.  It was the ideal place to beg because there were so many people there and since it was the Temple, you would expect many people to open to helping the needy.

If you are religious, you might be more open to helping with charity, because the Bible talks about helping the poor and showing mercy to people.  At 3:00 PM (the ninth hour), John and Peter stand before him and he asks them for money. We encounter beggars like this asking for money.  Some people give money and some people walk right by the beggar like they did not even see him.

This man asked for a donation from Peter and John and they said no.  They were not rude or insensitive. They just didn’t have anything to give him.  Peter said, “silver and gold have I none” (3:6). He was a poor apostle.  Peter was one of the top leaders in the very first church and he did not have a lot of money. John did not seem to have any either.

That is a little embarrassing. Peter reached in his pockets and had nothing to give this poor man.  So much for the health and wealth gospel!  In fact, far from being rich himself (even though he was an apostle), Peter did not even tell this beggar how he could become rich.  He never promised him material wealth.  That was not on his agenda.

This man was looking for silver or gold.  When Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none”, the man must have been disappointed.  He asked them for money and they offered him something far more valuable than a few coins.  He gave him the ability to walk.

As someone pointed out, “This man asked for alms but got legs instead”.  Peter gave him something far greater than he was asking for or could even imagine. This man had never walked a day in his life. He had never done this before. Peter said to the man, “Rise up and walk” and then helps him up.

Peter did not have the power to do this on his own.  He was just a poor fisherman.  He said “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”.  He did not say, “In my name” or “in the name of the apostles”.  He said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth”.

When he healed Aeneas Peter said, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” (9:34). It may seem strange but notice that he does NOT say, “I heal you” but “Jesus Christ heals you” (cf. 3:12, 16). Peter did not heal him.  Jesus did.  Peter takes no credit for the healing.

He also did not say, “If it is God’s will, you can be healed” or “if you have enough faith, you can be healed”.  Why?  Peter did not just have the gift of healing, he had special apostolic authority that people do not have today.

There are people today with the gift of healing but Peter was also the official representative of Jesus and he had special authority that people do not have today.  As an apostle, Peter had authority from Jesus over EVERY disease and EVERY sickness.  He also had authority over demons (cf. Matthew 10:1).

Is your church a place where you can clearly see the power of God at work in the lives at people? You may not have any apostles in your church and you may not have anyone raised from the dead but you should see the power of God in your church.  There is power is some churches.  It is evident as soon as you walk in the door (cf. I Corinthians 14:24-25). Other churches have a lot of traditions but not a lot of power in them.  That is the sign of a dead church. They have a form of godliness but deny the power (II Timothy 3:5).

Some churches have people who are outwardly religious but have no power in their lives.  In the South, many people go to church.  Church attendance is high compared to the godless North but many people live like the devil the rest of the week.  There is no change in their life.  They are religious on the outside.  They are religious in form only.

Some go to church, go to Sunday school regularly, sing songs in church, participate in some rituals, listen to the sermon, give money to the church but their life is not really changed. They are no better after going to church than they were before and what they hear in church makes no difference in their life.

When they leave church, they go out and have an affair or a child out of wedlock.  They are powerless.  They have no power over addiction.  They have no power to control their anger. They have no power to give up an immoral lifestyle.  They have no power over their tongue.  They are religious but not righteous.

Prayer

This first church was a praying church. They made prayer a priority in the church.  They prayed on their own and in large groups of people (3:1).  Notice the two places that the early church met. In a large group (the Temple) and in small groups (house to house). When they got together, one of the things they did was prayed.

In some churches, prayer is more a priority than in other churches. Some churches do not even have a prayer meeting or they have it in the middle of the week and only a few people show up.  Jesus said, “My house will be called a house a prayer” (Mark 11:17), not just a house of learning or a house of preaching or a house of worship but a house of prayer.

God can’t bless a church that doesn’t pray. A church that doesn’t pray doesn’t have any power.  In South Korea, they get 12,000 people to a 4:30 prayer meeting in a Full Gospel Church.

When the church prays, things happen.  In believers pray, things happen.  In Acts 12, Peter was in prison and the church prayed for him and he was miraculously let out of prison.  An angel lets him out.  There is a difference between a church that prays and a church that is devoted to prayer.

What does it mean to be devoted to prayer?  You believe in prayer.  You believe it is important.  You practice prayer.  You pray often.  You pray regularly.  You pray fervently.  That is why we have a time of prayer at the end of our small group.

Generosity

This was a giving church (Acts 2:44-45). They were not just devoted to doctrine, prayer and worship. They were devoted to each other, so much so that there were no needy people among them (Acts 4:34-35). They took care of people’s needs. That is what the church should be doing today. Is your church generous?  Does it take care of the needs of the body?  This is where we will pick up next week.

Birth of the Church

Today, we come to the most important event in the Book of Acts.  It is one of the most important chapters in the Bible.   It records one of the most amazing miracles in the Bible.

It is a miracle that never took place before and has never taken place since then.  It is a unique miracle.  It has never been repeated in exactly the same way.   There is no modern-day Pentecost, although people may still speak in tongues today.

This is a favorite chapter of many people. Pentecostals get the name of their denomination from this chapter.  The chapter mentions the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit fell on people.  They spoke in tongues, not privately but publicly.

People are filled with the Holy Spirit.  They are baptized in the Holy Spirit and people started suddenly speaking different languages that they couldn’t speak before.  They spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance.  You have the first speaking in tongues and Holy Spirit baptism in this chapter.

There are miracles in this chapter.  Supernatural things take place in this chapter.  The chapter begins with a miracle, a linguistic miracle, a language miracle, the miracle of miraculous speech.

The chapter begins with a miracle and it ends with not just some but MANY miracles, signs and wonders done by the apostles (Acts 2:43).

Acts 2 is important because the church started in this chapter.  God began something brand new.  It never happened before. The first church started.  It started over two thousand years ago in the city of Jerusalem.

The church began and we see what a healthy church looks like in this chapter.  The first church in many ways was a model church.  It looks a little different from churches today.

It was a growing church.  It was a biblical church.  They followed the apostle’s doctrine.  It was a charismatic church.  Everyone agrees on that point.  It was also a unified church.  They were one heart and mind.  Churches today are divided about everything.  We have little unity today.  Church fights are common.

Acts 2 describes the very first sermon ever preached in the early church.  It was a powerful sermon.  It was preached by the Apostle Peter.  It was a short sermon.  It was an extemporaneous sermon.  It was a biblical sermon.  Peter quoted Scripture.  It was a Spirit-filled sermon.

It resulted in a Jewish revival.  It resulted in mass conversion.  Three thousand people get saved.  That is a big altar call and a lot of people get baptized.  Baptist love this part of the story.

Those who believe in baptismal regeneration also love this chapter.  They have a favorite verse in it.  It is Acts 2:38.  The Church of Christ uses that verse as a proof-text to teach that you have to be baptized to be saved.  This chapter is important.  It is controversial.  It is also misunderstood.

What exactly is taking place in Acts 2? The place is Jerusalem.  The setting is a holiday celebration.  People from all over the world are in Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday.  It is a Jewish holiday called Pentecost.

The time is fifty days after Passover.  Jesus died on Passover.  This is almost two months later in the same city  Something amazing took place.  There are three things that happened on Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit was Given

The first reason that Pentecost was important is that the Spirit was given on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost.  That is the first important thing about Pentecost.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them (2:1-2)

What happened here?  God showed up.  The Holy Spirit came and they could tell that He showed up.  He filled the whole house.  His presence was in the whole house.  You could feel the presence of God on Pentecost and you could see it.  If the Holy Spirit shows up in your church, you will be able to tell as well.  You will know if God is there.

In this case, there were physical manifestations of the presence of the Spirit.  There were two signs of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and they were the signs of FIRE and WIND.  One sign was audible.  You could hear it (a powerful wind). One sign was visual.  You could see it (a ball of fire).

Now these are just similes.  The Holy Spirit is not wind and fire.  It was “the sound LIKE a rushing might wind” and it says that there appeared to them “tongues AS of fire.”  It wasn’t literal life.  Their heads were not on fire but it looked like fire.

This fire and wind was not natural.  They were completely supernatural.  Acts 2:1 tells us where the wind and fire came from.  “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came FROM HEAVEN.”  It did not come from earth.

These are common indications of the presence of God in Scripture.  Fire also represents the presence of God.  God often manifests himself in fire in the Bible.  The Bible describes God as “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).

God appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  There was fire on Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments.  A pillar of fire led the Israelites as well to guide the Israelites.

Wind also symbolizes the presence and power of God.  This is not a little breeze this is a strong powerful wind (“rushing mighty wind” KJV).  The Hebrew and Greek words for spirit and wind are the same. The Holy Spirit is the wind of God.

Of course, the Holy Spirit is a person and wind is a force but there are many similarities between the two.  Both are invisible.  Both are immaterial.  The Holy Spirit does not have a body and wind does not have any shape or form.  Both are sovereign.  Jesus said that the wind blows wherever it wants to (John 3:8).  It is unpredictable.

Both are also powerful.  Some winds reach three hundred miles per hour (tornadoes).  It is so powerful that it often cannot be controlled by people.

The Holy Spirit is also powerful.  Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”  When the Spirit is at work, He can bring the most hardened sinner to Christ.

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and He came in way that He never came before.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you FOREVER—  the Spirit of truth.  (John 14:17).

What is the big difference between the way the Holy Spirit minister before Pentecost and the way he ministered to people after Pentecost?

 Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the OT

1. In the OT, the Holy Spirit came WITH or ON people for a particular ministry.

He came on Samson and Samson was able to tear a lion apart with his bare (Judges 14:6).  He came on Saul and Saul began to prophesy (I Samuel 10:10).  The Spirit came on Gideon and he blew a trumpet (Judges 6:34).

2. In the OT, when the Spirit came on people, it was temporary.

The Spirit came on Saul and eventually left King Saul (I Samuel 16:14).  That is why David prayed, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11).

In the OT, the Spirit would fill people temporarily.  Now He indwells them permanently.  Jesus said that He would send us the Holy Spirit and He would dwell with us FOREVER (John 14:17).

The Church was Started

The second reason that Pentecost was very important is that the church was started on Pentecost. The baptism of the Holy Spirit took place for the first time.  Not only did the Holy Spirit indwell believers, He baptized believers.

Acts 2 does not mention Holy Spirit baptism at all but we know for sure that it took place it Acts 2.  We know that from Acts 1:5.  Jesus said, “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

What does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?  If you ask a Pentecostal, you will get a very different answer than if you ask a Baptist.

Who is right? How do we know who is right? It is very easy to tell which side is basically right.  All you have to do is to read the Bible without any theological presuppositions. Read every passage on the subject and you will find out what it means.

There are only seven verses to look up. When you look them up, this is what you will find. The Bible never talks about Holy Spirit baptism.

Baptism as a noun is never used in connection with the Holy Spirit but the verb “baptize” is used seven times in the NT in connection with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5 & Acts 11:16; I Corinthians 12:13).

Six of those times it refers to Pentecost (what would happen on Pentecost or what already did happen on Pentecost).  It is only mentioned one other time in the Bible and that is in I Corinthians 12:13.

Summary of the Biblical Evidence

1) The church is the body of Christ.  That is the definition of the church in the NT.

Colossians 1:18 says, “And he is the head of the body, the church” (NIV).  Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body” (NIV).  The church is defined as the body of Christ in Scripture.

2) People are placed into that body when they are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13 KJV).

What does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?  I Corinthians 12:13 is the only verse in the Bible tells us what the baptism of the Spirit means.  It means to be placed INTO the body of Christ.

Luke does not tell us that but Paul does. Paul is the only one who explains what the baptism of the Spirit actually does.  Luke was not a theologian.  He was a physician and a historian.

3) Every Christian is baptized with the Holy Spirit,

Because every Christian by definition is a part of the body of Christ, according to Scripture, every Christian MUST be baptized with the Holy Spirit

Many churches make a distinction between the baptism of the Spirit and salvation.  They would say that you can be saved but not baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Only the really spiritual people who speak in tongues are baptized in the Spirit but that would contradict I Corinthians 12.  Every person in the body of Christ has been baptized by the Spirit.  In fact, that is how you get into the body.

4) If you are baptized in the Holy Spirt, there will be some signs of it.

In Acts, people who were baptized in the Holy Spirit demonstrated some outward, visible signs of the presence of the Spirit.  Many spoke in tongues but that is not the only sign.

There are ten recorded conversions in the Book of Acts (Acts 2:37-41; 8:5-6, 12-13, 17, 35-38; 9:17-18; 10:42-48; 16:14-15, 30-34; 18:8; 19:1-6). Speaking in tongues follows the conversion experience in only two of those conversions (Acts 10:46; 19:6).

In Acts 2, there was also speaking in tongues but that was not done by the people who responded to the salvation message,  It was done before they heard it.

That is one sign of salvation and of the Holy Spirit but it is but it is not the only sign in Scripture.  There are other signs, such as incredible joy (Acts 13:52), supernatural boldness (Acts 4:31), power to evangelize (Acts 1:8).

The Holy Spirit came on seven people in the Book of Acts.  People were filled with the Spirit and baptized in the Spirit.  In four of those cases, there is NO reference to tongues (4:31; 8:17; 9:17; 13:9).

Jesus was filled with the Hoy Spirit but He never spoke in tongues.  It is one sign of filling and Holy Spirit baptism but it is not the only sign.

5) There is no command for Christians to get the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There is no command in Scripture for saved people to get a deeper spiritual experience called “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”

Many believe that subsequent to salvation believers need to receive a second work of grace but there is no such command for believers.

If you are a believer, you have already received EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).  God has NOT blessed us with a few spiritual blessings.  He has NOT blessed us with many spiritual blessings.

He has NOT blessed us with most spiritual blessings. Paul says that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us in Christ with EVERY spiritual blessing.

At some point you will be asked if you have received the second blessing.  We have not only received not the second blessing.  We have received the third, the fourth the fifth blessing and many more in Christ.

6) The baptism of the Spirit took place for the first time on the day of Pentecost.

It took place there for the first time at Pentecost.  No one in the OT was ever said to be baptized in the Spirit.  It is a NT concept.  It never took place prior to Pentecost.

Acts 2 does not specifically mention the baptism of the Holy Spirit but we know that it had to take place in that chapter by comparing Acts 1 and Acts 11.

In Acts 1, Jesus said, “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5).  

In Acts 11. Peter said, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 11:15-16 NIV).

7) Therefore, the church started on the day of Pentecost.

Pentecost is the birthday of the church.  The church began at Pentecost.  That fits what Jesus said.  Jesus said in the Gospels “I WILL build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

He did not say, “I am building My church” or “I have built my church” but “I WILL BUILD (future tense) my church.” There was no church in the Old Testament.  There was no church in the Gospels.  The first church was in the Book of Acts.

John the Baptist was the first one to predict the baptism of the Spirit (Matthew 3:11).  Joel predicted that the Holy Spirit would be active during end times (Joel 2:28-29) but did not specifically mention the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Christians Received Power

The third reason that Pentecost was important is that the church received power on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit did not just INDWELL people at Pentecost and BAPTIZE people, He FILLED people.

When He filled people, there was power. Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit came, they would have power. They would have extraordinary spiritual power for ministry (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8).

What is missing in many churches and many Christians is the Holy Spirit.  There are some churches that you can go to and you do not experience God.  There are other churches you walk into and you can tell that God is at work in the place as soon as you walk into the door.

You can go to some churches that have good preaching and good music.  Everything is orderly and regimented but the Holy Spirit is not present.  Lives are not changed.  Nothing miraculous is taking place.  That was not the early church.

Three Kinds of Power

What did that power look like?  What kind of power did they have on Pentecost?  They did not have physical power (like the Power Team).  They had spiritual power and that spiritual power enabled them to do three things.

1. The Power to Witness

Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; AND YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES.” That is very clear.  Once you receive power, you will be able to witness.

The first type of power is the power to win souls.  This is a completely different person from the Peter we saw fifty days earlier.  Peter now has the Holy Spirit inside him, and he is filled with the Holy Spirit.

This is the same Peter who fifty days earlier denied Jesus. After saying at Gethsemane, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” (Matthew 26:35). After Jesus was arrested, he was asked if he spent time with Jesus and he denied it repeatedly with an oath and even swore that he did not know Jesus (Matthew 26:69-74). How is Peter completely different now that the Holy Spirit has come?

He is not ashamed of Jesus at all.  He stands up and preaches a sermon about Jesus to thousands of people.  How do we know he preached to thousands of people?  Thousands of people responded to his sermon.  It was the most powerful sermon ever preached.

Acts 2:41 gives the result of Peter’s sermon.  Three thousand added to their number.  What was their number before this?  It was 120. The church went from a membership of 120 from a membership of 3120 in one day from one sermon.

That is evangelistic power.  In our day, church membership is often declining and shrinking.  The first church didn’t have that problem.  The church of Jerusalem was booming.  It was skyrocketing because the Holy Spirit was working.

Peter was not a great orator.  He was a fisherman by trade but now this fisherman is full of the Holy Spirit and he has no fear of public speaking.  He is no longer ashamed of Jesus.  He spoke to thousands of people about Jesus.  He was not shy.  Peter has a courage he never had before.

He preaches this sermon in the very city that killed Jesus fifty days.  It was not in a warm, friendly receptive audience.  He tells a Jewish audience that they had just murdered their Messiah.  He is bold.  He is confrontational.

Peter is not doing lifestyle evangelism here.  He is doing confrontational evangelism. He said to them in 2:36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.

The KJV says “God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” but Christ is the Greek term for Messiah. The nation had been waiting for the Messiah for thousands of years.  When he finally comes, they kill him.  Peter contrasts what they did and what God did to Jesus.  Peter says, You crucified him.”

You nailed him to a cross but God raised him from the dead (2:23-24).  That was incredibly bold.  The Jews did not crucify anyone.  The Romans did.  Peter put the blame on this group of Jews.  Why?  This was a national sin.  Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.  He was sent to the Jews and they rejected him.

2. The Power to Perform Miracles

We see this at the end of the chapter.  Acts 2:43 says, “Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.”  They did not just have power to preach, but power to heal the sick and raised the dead.  We will see a few of those miracles next week.

The apostles take the lead in this but as you read the Book of Acts, you will see that they were not the only ones who performed miracles.  Other people in the church also performed some miracles.  As we read the rest of the book, we will see it wasn’t just the apostles who performed miracles.

3. The Power to Speak in Tongues

This was not the power to perform miracles but the power of supernatural speaking. Their speaking involved three things.

What is Speaking in Tongues in Acts 2?

1) It involved speaking a FOREIGN LANGUAGE.

When some people think of tongues today, they think of gibberish but these were real languages that people from out of town understood.

There are close to seven thousand known languages spoken in the two hundred countries of the world today.  The disciples in Acts 2 were speaking known languages.  How many languages did they speak?  Luke does not tell us.

Luke mentions fifteen groups in Acts 2:9-11 but those groups are racial and geographic, not linguistic. They are peoples (Parthians, Medes, Elamites) and lands (Mesopotamia, Judea, Asia), not languages and some of these groups spoke the same language.

What we know for sure is that the tongues spoken in Acts 2 were a real foreign language. What they said had some content.  People clearly understood what they were saying.  They were not speaking gibberish.

2) It involved speaking a SUPERNATURAL LANGUAGE.

This was not just a foreign language, it was a supernatural language.  The disciples started speaking a language they had never studied before.  They started speaking a language that no one had ever taught them.  There are several words for this in English (xenogossia or xenoglossy). These were not scholars or linguists.  They were uneducated hillbillies from Galilee. They were simple fishermen.

This involved a miracle.  How were they able to do this?  It was not a language they acquired by natural means.  The text says, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues AS THE SPIRIT ENABLED THEM” (2:1). This was Spirit-inspired speech. The only reason they could do this is that the Holy Spirit supernaturally enabled them to do this.

Was this a miracle of speaking or of hearing?  Some scholars have speculated that this was a miracle of hearing. They believe that the disciples spoke in one language and what they said was understood by foreigners in their native tongue.  The problem with this theory is that the Holy Spirit fell on believers, not unbelievers.

The Spirit fell on the speakers, not the hearers. They were speaking in other tongues and they were only able to do this because the Holy Spirit enabled them to do it.  This was a miracle of speaking.  What were they saying when they were speaking in tongues?

3) It involved speaking a PRAISE LANGUAGE.

Luke says that the disciples declared the wonders of God. They praised God and praised him in a language they had never spoken before. When they spoke in tongues, they were not preaching but praising (Acts 2:11; 10:46).

What was the Purpose of Tongues in Acts?

What was the purpose of them doing this? Paul says in I Corinthians 14:22 that “tongues are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers.” What was the purpose of signs? The purpose was to get people to believe (John 12:31) and that is why tongues are a sign for unbelievers because believers already believe.

This miracle got the attention of people.  It was an attention-grabber for this international audience.  There were people in Jerusalem from all over the world for this feast.

There were people there from modern-day Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Rome, Egypt and Africa. The purpose was NOT to preach the gospel in tongues.  The only one who preached the gospel here was Peter. The disciples did not speak in tongues to do evangelism but to do pre-evangelism.

Two Reactions to Peter’s Sermon

There were two reactions to this miracle.  There was a natural reaction to the miracle (2:12) and a hostile reaction to the miracle (2:13).  The natural reaction was to be amazed and to ask What is going on?  How is this possible? What does it mean? The hostile reaction involved mocking the disciples and calling them drunk.

Peter says that the men are not drunk.  It is nine in the morning.  Peter quotes three OT passages.  He quotes Joel 2 to explain the work of the Holy Spirit.  It explained why they were speaking in tongues.  He quotes Psalm 16 to show that Jesus rose from the dead and he quotes Psalm 110 to show that Jesus ascended into heaven. What was their response?

 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (2:37)

When you preach the gospel to someone, you get a lot of different reactions.  Jesus even told a parable about this.  Some are APATHETIC.  They do not respond one way or the other.  They have no response.  Some are ANGRY.  That is what happened when Stephen preached to the Sanhedrin (7:54).  This group was CONVICTED.

It says that they were “cut to the heart”.  Someone said that it was almost as if the sword that pierced the side of Jesus stabbed them right in the heart.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes, “He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (16:8)

They realize what Peter said is true.  They knew they sinned.  They knew they were guilty.  It is one thing to kill someone and feel bad.  It is another thing to kill the Messiah.  There could be no greater sin than to kill the Messiah. It is the worst crime imaginable.  What does Peter tell them to do?

 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (2:38)

Peter promised this group of people two things.  One was negative (repentance) and one was positive (gift of the Holy Spirit).  He said that they could get all of their sins forgiven. They could be forgiven by God for putting to death their Messiah.  If you can be forgiven for that, you can be forgiven for anything.

He also said that they could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that they could see clearly at work in the group of 120 disciples that day but they needed to do two things.  Peter gave them two commands – repent and be baptized.  One was inward and one was outward.

Repent

On the inside, they were to repent.  What does that mean?  It means several things.

1. It means to admit you have done something wrong.

Repentance begins with confession (“I have sinned”).  If you don’t admit you have done anything wrong, you have no repented. They had to admit that they were completely wrong about Jesus.  Repentance means literally a change of mind.

2. It means to show remorse for what you have done.

If you truly repent, you should feel guilty.  If you admit you did something wrong but you do not feel bad about it at all, you have not repented.

3. It means a willingness to change what you are doing.

If someone says “Yes, I admit doing this action and I know it is wrong and I plan on keep on doing it”, that person has not repented.

Be Baptized

On the outside, they were to submit to the ordinance of baptism and to make a public profession of their faith.  The very ones who said that Jesus was a blasphemer and an impostor are now asked to publicly confess Him to be their Messiah.

1. Baptism was universal.

Peter said, “Be baptized EVERY ONE OF YOU.”  No one was to be left out.  Many seem to think that baptism is almost optional today.  Everyone was to be baptized.  Baptism was universal.  It is a command in Greek.  Both “repent” and “be baptized” are aorist imperatives.

2. Baptism was immediate.

They were to do this immediately.  Today, people often get baptized later.  It is a post-conversion experience.  It is something that you do several months or in some cases several years after you come to faith in Christ.

Peter had them get baptized the same day they repented.  Their baptism was the evidence and outward sign of their repentance. In many churches, when people want to accept Christ, they come forward in church.  In the early church, they got baptized.

3. Baptism was radical.

In our day, baptism is not a big deal but, in the Bible, it is a much more radical act.  In many parts of the world baptism is much more radical.  In communist countries, Muslim countries, the persecution begins when you get baptized and you get kicked out of the family or lose a job or get thrown in jail. In some orthodox Jewish families when a person becomes a Christian, the parents would hold a funeral service for the person.

Baptism for the Remission of Sins

Do you have to be baptized to be saved?  Acts 2:38 clearly says, “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (NIV)

A normal reading of the passage seems to indicate that baptism is a condition of salvation, along with repentance, and you cannot be saved until; you are baptized in water.  That is what some groups teach but there is a problem with this view.

Other people in the Book of Acts were clearly baptized after they were saved.  In Acts 2, baptism comes BEFORE salvation but, in Acts 10, it comes AFTER salvation.  What is even stranger is that the preacher is the same person.  The Apostle Peter was the one who evangelized both groups of people.  Peter certainly knew the message of salvation.

He preached it to Cornelius in Acts 11:14. Cornelius responded to the message.  He received it.  He received the Holy Spirit.  He began speaking in tongues.  He praised God but he had not been baptized yet (Acts 10:44-46).  He did not have to be baptized in order to receive the Holy Spirit.

Cornelius was saved WITHOUT the laying on of hands (which was how the Samaritans were saved in Acts 8).  He was saved WITHOUT baptism (which was how the Jews were saved in Acts 2).  He was saved WITHOUT circumcision (required for all Jews in the OT).

Peter did NOT preach to Cornelius a gospel of baptismal regeneration in Acts 10.  He did not tell Cornelius that he had to be baptized to be saved.  He told him that “everyone who BELIEVES in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (10:43).

To use Acts 2:38 to teach baptismal regeneration, you have to selective quote some verses from the Book of Acts and not others.  The Philippian Jailer asked, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:29-30).  Paul and Silas said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31 NIV).

That answer is perfectly consistent with the Gospel of John which was specifically written to explain how people can get saved. What did Peter mean in Acts 2:38?

Peter mentions BOTH repentance and baptism but that does NOT mean that they are equal.  It does NOT mean that they are separate and equal conditions of salvation.

Baptism functions as the outward sign of repentance.  It is a visible evidence or sign of repentance.  It is not sacramental; it is symbolic. The crucial element in the equation is what is going on in the heart, not what is taking place on the outside.

The words “and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” are clearly parenthetical.  We know that because of how baptism functions in the NT.  We also know it for the context of the passage

In the very next chapter, the same man (Peter) says “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19 NIV) without even mentioning baptism. It is repentance, not the ordinance of baptism, which blots out sins (Acts 3:19).  Baptism is just the outward sign.

 

Biblical Apostolic Succession

This summer we will be doing a study on the Book of Acts. Acts is an important book of the Bible.  It is extremely fascinating.  It tells the history of the early church.  It tells us how the first church was started.  It tells us what the first church looked like and how it changed very quickly.

When the church first started, it looked very differently than the church does today. The church today is made up mostly of Gentiles.  There are a few Jews in the church today but very few.  The very first church was all Jewish.  There were no Gentiles in it at all.

The title of the book is called “the Acts of the Apostles” but Luke does not write about all of the apostles.  He really only writes about two of them.  He is very selective who he writes about.  He writes about Peter and Paul (the two apostles who were later martyred by Nero in Rome).  Acts 1-12 is mostly about Peter. Peter is the main character of the first part of the book.

He is the first person who preaches the gospel to the Jews in Acts 2 and to the Gentiles in Acts 10.  He not only preaches he heals people, and even raises one woman from the dead.  He gets arrested and thrown in prison a few times.  Two times he is released supernaturally by an angel.

He also does some church discipline.  He confronts two members of the church who were living in sin and they just drop dead on the spot.  Acts 13-28 is mostly about Paul and the three missionary journeys he takes.

Today, I want to give you the introduction to the book and do two things.   First, I want to tell you a little about the author of this book.  Second, I want to go over four things that are mentioned in the first chapter of Acts.  Who wrote the Book of Acts?  We know it was written by Luke but who was Luke?  What do we know about him?

Facts About the Author of Acts

1. He was a Gentile.

He was Greek.  He has a Greek name.  He was not Jewish.  We know that from Colossians 4:10-14. Paul divides his companions into two groups – Jews and Gentiles and Luke is in the Gentile category. Every now and then some scholar will question that but it is fairly well established that Luke was a Gentile.

2. He was a Physician

Paul calls him “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14).  Because he was a physician, he was well educated.  We know this from the way he writes.  He has some of the best Greek in the NT.

He was Paul’s medical adviser.  He may have added a few years to Paul’s life.  He had all kinds of physical problems (stoned, whipped, beaten, thorn in the flesh).  He does medical missions and stays with Paul unto the end.  When he is in prison in Rome, Paul said “only Luke is with me” (II Timothy 4:11)

3. He was a Writer of Scripture

This was the same man who wrote the Gospel of Luke.  He didn’t write one book of the NT.  He wrote two (the third and fifth books of the NT). That is interesting for a number of reasons.  Two books of the NT were written by a physician (Dr. Luke).

Luke was the only NT writer who happened to be a scientist.  The rest were fishermen and tax collectors.  He wrote about 30% of the NT. He wrote more of the NT than any other individual and he wasn’t an Apostle.  In fact, he wasn’t even Jewish.

Luke and Acts are not two separate books but two volumes of the same book.  Luke says in the first chapter of Acts, “I am picking up right where I left in the last book”.  Acts is not a new book but a continuation of the old book he had already written.

Acts is the sequel to the Book of Luke. Biblical scholars call it Luke-Acts.  Luke deals with the ministry of Jesus ON EARTH.  Acts deals with the ministry of Jesus IN HEAVEN through his church.  Luke deals with what Jesus BEGAN TO DO before his ascension.  Acts deals with what Jesus CONTINUES TO DO after his ascension.

4. Luke was a Historian

Luke was the first historian of the early church.  When he writes the Third Gospel, he says he was not the first to do it.  There were a lot of other gospels in circulation.  He checked his sources, talked to eye-witnesses and wrote his own Gospel (Luke 1:1-4).  Luke is the father of church history.  He not only writes a life of Jesus, he gives us thirty years of church history (from 30 AD to 60 AD).

What happens in Acts 1?  Four main things happen in this chapter.  Jesus ministers to people for forty days.  He ascends into heaven.  Judas dies and the early church picks a replacement for him.  Let’s look briefly at these four events.

The Last Days of Jesus on Earth

What did Jesus do after rose from the dead?  Acts answers that question.  He did two things.

1. Jesus appeared to people after His resurrection from the dead

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them (1:3). Luke says, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many CONVINCING PROOFS that he was alive” (1:3). 

The resurrection is not just something that we believing in and have faith in.  The Bible says that we can prove it.  Luke says that there are PROOFS for the resurrection and not just one.  He says that there are MANY and the proofs are strong.  Luke calls them “convincing”.

He uses the Greek word for the strongest type of legal evidence. There is solid evidence for the resurrection. It is overwhelming. The case for Christ is strong. You can prove it. Unfortunately, many Christians today do not know what the proofs are.

The evidence for the resurrection is based on eye-witness testimony from multiple sources. There are several things that are unusual about these appearances of Jesus.

  • He appeared to people over a month (Acts 1:3). There are eleven appearances of Jesus after his resurrection in the NT that took place over a forty day period.  Five of those eleven appearances took place on the same day (Easter Sunday).
  • He appeared to some people more than once. He appeared to Peter five or six times.
  • He appeared to both men and women. He appeared to the women first.
  • He appeared to both individuals and groups (large groups and small groups of people).  He appeared to a group of five hundred people at one time (I Corinthians 15:6).
  • He appeared at different times of the day (at night with the doors locked in John 20 and early in the morning on Easter Sunday).
  • He appeared in different locations (Jerusalem and eighty miles to the north in Galilee).
  • He appeared to unbelievers as well as to believers.

Most think that Jesus only appeared to believers.  They think that he only appeared to his followers.  That is not true.  We know that he at least appeared to two complete unbelievers and to one skeptic.  Paul was an unbeliever when he appeared to him and so was his brother James (I Corinthians 15:7).

We know that because none of his siblings became believers until after the resurrection (John 7:5).   Thomas was a believer.  He was an apostle but he was an unbeliever when it came to the resurrection of Jesus, even though he had the testimony of many people.  He told his friends that he refused to believe until he confirmed it himself (John 20:24-29).

  • He appeared to enemies as well as to friends.

Jesus did not just appear to his friends.  He also appeared to his greatest enemy.  Saul was the greatest enemy of the early Christians.  He made it his life mission was to destroy Christianity.  He traveled to other cities to arrest Christians and Jesus appeared to him and stopped him right in his tracks.

  • These appearances were interactive.

Jesus did not just make appearances; he ate and drank with people (Acts 1:4). They saw him. They heard him. They touched him. They were not just visions.

2. Jesus taught people after His resurrection from the dead

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days AND SPOKE ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this COMMAND: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (1:3-5)

During this time, Jesus gave them one command.  What was the command?  It wasn’t, “Love one another”.  It wasn’t “pray without ceasing”.  It was “don’t go anywhere.  Stay right where you are”.  “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (1:4)He wanted all of the 120 to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost.  He taught them about the kingdom of God and he answered their questions.

If you could ask the Risen Lord any question on any topic, what would it be? They had a chance to ask him one and only one question and then he was gone.  What question did they ask him?  They asked him a prophetic question. “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (1:6).

Was this a good or bad question?  Most people who read this think it was a bad question.  Many believe the disciples did not understand the true nature of the kingdom. They thought the kingdom was a Jewish thing.  Most commentators who read this are Gentiles. They criticize the disciples here for their question.  I disagree. I think this was a perfectly valid question.

Jesus predicted that there would be a Jewish kingdom in the future (Luke 1:32-33; 13:28-30; 22:30). Jesus was the Messiah.  He was raised from the dead and the Romans were the ones who were ruling Israel.  They were in charge.  Jesus does not rebuke them for asking the question.

He does not say that there will not be a Jewish kingdom. He does not say that his kingdom is just a spiritual kingdom. He simply said that they were not to know WHEN it would take place.  He says, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (1:7).

Jesus does not deny the question but he does redirect it. Instead of focusing on one nation, Jesus wants them focused on ALL THE NATIONS. Instead of focusing on Israel, Jesus wants then to think about THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH. Instead of focusing on what Jesus could do for them, he wants them to focus on what they can do FOR JESUS.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

That was the last thing Jesus said before He ascended to heaven. This is a prediction, not a command.  It is not what they SHOULD DO but what they WOULD DO, namely be HIS WITNESSES, and they were going to do it in four areas (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the earth). They were going to be witnesses to Jews (Jerusalem, Judea), to half-Jews (Samaritans) and to complete pagans (uttermost part of the earth).

They were going to be witnesses to people JUST LIKE them (Jews), to people A LITTLE LIKE them (Samaritans) and to people COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from them. They were to be witnesses to people they liked and people they hated and the Jews hated the Samaritans and they were to start in Jerusalem, the very city which killed Jesus fifty days before.

What exactly does it mean to be a witness? This is legal terminology. There are several things that a witness does.

Characteristics of a Witness

1. A witness gives verbal testimony.

A witness has to open his mouth. You don’t have a witness on the stand who will not open his mouth. There are no silent witnesses. We do witness with our lives as well as with our lips but a witness is primarily verbal.

2. A witness tells what he knows.

When a witness in court takes the stand, he tells what he saw and heard. That is his job. Our job is to tell people what we know about Jesus and to tell people how he has worked in our life and saved us.

3. A witness faces opposition.

A witness has to stand up under pressure.  If you are a witness for the prosecution, you will be cross-examined by the defense. Many of the witnesses in the early church gave up their lives for Christ. In fact, the Greek word for witness is the word μαρτυς.

A martyr is someone who gives up their life for their faith.  Muslims call themselves martyrs when they go blow someone up in the name of Allah.  They are not martyrs.  They are murderers.  A martyr is someone who dies for his faith, not someone who kills for his faith.

But they could not be witnesses for Jesus until they got one thing. But you will receive POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES ON YOU and you will be my witnesses”.  If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you cannot be a witness. The Greek word for power is δύναμις (from which we get the word “dynamite”).  What did this power look like? Did the apostles look like the Power Team or Faith Force?  Come back next week and we will find out, as we study Acts 2.

The Ascension

What happens here?  Jesus is taken up into a cloud and goes straight into heaven.  What is the difference between the resurrection and the ascension?  During the resurrection, Jesus left the tomb. During the ascension, he left the earth.

No one saw Jesus rise from the dead but some people saw Him ascend into heaven. People watched him ascend into heaven. “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight“ (Acts 1:9).  It took place on the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem and it was public.   

If that was not enough, two angels appear and tell people that Jesus will one day come back to the earth.  Zechariah says that when he comes back, his feet will land on the Mount of Olives (14:3-4).

The Death of Judas

We come to a tragic part of the chapter.  One of the Twelve who followed Jesus around for three years, heard his teaching and saw his miracles, commits suicide.  Both Peter and Judas sinned.  Peter denied Jesus three times.  Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  Peter genuinely repented and was forgiven.  Judas did not.  He committed suicide instead.

Luke records the death of Judas but he actually died before this time. According to Matthew, Judas threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself (27:5).  That happened before Jesus died and rose from the dead.

 Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

Critics of the Bible love this chapter because they believe there are clear contradictions between Matthew 27 and Acts 1.  Acts says that Judas bought a field.  Matthew says the priests bought the field (cf. Mt 27:7 and Acts 1:18).  Is this a contradiction?  No.

The chief priests give Judas thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus.  He gives the money back.  They take his money and buy a field with it.  They could not give it to the temple because it was blood money.

Did Judas die by hanging or by falling?  Is there a contradiction between Matthew 27:5 with Acts 1:18?  Is this a contradiction? No. There is no formal contradiction.  Both statements can be true at the same time.

Matthew tells about Judas dying.  Acts tells the rest of the story.  Matthew does NOT deny that Judas’ body fell AFTER he hung himself and Luke does NOT deny that he hung himself BEFORE he fell.   Luke also doesn’t say that Judas’s fall was what caused his death.  One deals with the METHOD of his death and one deals with the RESULT of his death.

Luke is a little more graphic and mentions his intestines spilling out but keep in mind Luke was a doctor.  Probably what happened is that Judas died by hanging.  The tree he hung from was located over a cliff or a ravine.

His dead body began to decompose in the hot sun of Jerusalem and began to decompose and became bloated. The rope or branch of the tree he hung from eventually broke and his body fell down and split open on some sharp rocks below.

The Replacement of Judas

The chapter ends with two meetings – a prayer meeting and a business meeting. The meetings took place in the Upper Room.  There were 120 present.  The 120 believers were most likely made up of four groups of people.

First, the 70 disciples were present (Luke 10:1).  According to the church historian Eusebius in the 4th century, Matthias was one of the 70 disciples[1].  Second, the 11 apostles were present.  Judas was not alive at the time.

Third, a group of women were also present.  Mary the mother of Jesus was part of this group.  It is the last time we see the Mary in the Bible.  She was probably under fifty at this time because girls married young (around 15) and this was thirty years later.

Fourth, the brothers of Jesus and possibly their families.  We know that he had four brothers (Matthew 13:55). This is significant because we also know that they were not even believers before Jesus died (John 7:5) and now they are associating with the closest followers of Jesus.


[1] Eusebius, Church History, II.1.1. (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250102.htm)

The second meeting was a church business meeting. The reason they met is that the church had a problem. There was one dead apostle. Judas killed himself and so the church had to deal with that problem. There was one item on the agenda of this business meeting and that item was who would replace Judas? They did not replace him just because of his death but because of his defection from the faith. When the Apostle James died in Acts 12, he was not replaced.

This is the only case of apostolic succession in the Bible.  S. Lewis Johnson calls this “biblical apostolic succession”.  How did they pick a new apostle to replace Judas? What procedure did they early church use to solve this problem?  What steps did they take to choose a new apostle?

Steps Taken to Choose a New Apostle

1) They determined what the qualifications were for the office.

What were the two qualifications for this office?  They had to be a witness of the resurrection (1:22) and they had to be with the disciples during the entire ministry of Jesus, starting with his baptism and ending with his ascension (1:21-22).  That would rule the Apostle Paul out.

2) They identified which individuals met those qualifications.

There were two which met these qualifications.  Their names were Joseph and Mathias.

3) They prayed and asked God to reveal which one He chose.

They did not want to pick the wrong person, so they asked God to reveal to them His choice.  That is an important application for us today.  Leaders must be appointed through prayer.

4) They cast lots to determine God’s will in the selection of apostle.

Casting lots is like rolling dice, drawing straws or flipping a coin.  It seems very strange to us today but this was a Jewish custom.  They did not cast lots randomly.  They had two men who were both qualified for the office.  This raises several interesting questions.

Was the Wrong Man Chosen?

Some have argued that the early church made a mistake in choosing Matthias to replace Judas.  They argue that he was man’s choice, not God’s choice.  Paul would have been God’s choice.  There are several problems with this line of reasoning.

1. Casting lots was a biblical practice

God commanded the Jews to use lots (Numbers 34:13; 36:2).  Offices in the temple were decided by lots (1 Chronicles 24:5, 31; 25:8-9).  Proverbs 18: 18 says, “Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart.”  

God, not the early church, was the one who picked Matthias through the casting of lots.  The Bible says that when lots are cast, God makes the decision (“The lot is cast into the lap, but its EVERY DECISION is from the Lord” –  Proverbs 16:33)

2. No criticism is given by Luke

Peter says that they needed to select another apostle to fulfill Scripture.  He quotes Psalm 109.  Luke has absolutely no word of criticism or condemnation for the reason Peter selected an apostle (Psalm 109), the procedure for selecting a new apostle (casting of lots) or the man who was selected (Matthias).

It is true that Matthias is not mentioned elsewhere in the NT but most of the apostles are not mentioned again either.

3. Paul was not an option

The early church could not have picked Paul to replace Judas.  Paul was not even a believer yet.  Paul always contrasts himself with the Twelve (I Corinthians 15:5). He never even claims to be one of the Twelve.

A twelfth apostle had to be chosen. It was important symbolically for there to be twelve apostles as they stood before the nation of Israel at Pentecost. Another interesting question that comes from this chapter has to do with how to determine the will of God.

 Should We Cast Lots Today?

Some we cast lots today before making any major decision in our life?  No.

1. This is the only time in the NT that believers cast lots.

That may be significant.  Lots are not used after Pentecost.  Now that we have the Holy Spirit, we do not need to cast lots to make decisions.

2. Casting lots is not commanded.

History is descriptive, not prescriptive.  In Acts 2, the early Christians shared all of their possessions. We are not commanded to sell all of our property. We are not commanded to cast lots today to determine the will of God.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, cast lots to decide who he should marry[2]. That did not work out to well. He had a terrible marriage and it was not helped by the fact that he was away for weeks at a time preaching.

Dead Hypocrites

Last week, we looked at the middle of Acts 5 when the Jewish leaders arrested the apostles and threw them in jail but an angel opened the door and let them out and they went right in the temple courts and preached about Jesus, which infuriated the Jewish leaders.

What we skipped over last week were the first eleven verses of chapter 5.  It is a fascinating section.  Two members of the church, a married couple, drop dead.  Why did they die?  What did they do that was so bad? The Apostle Peter plays a key role in this story as well.  Let’s read Acts 5:11.

This section is a little strange for several reasons.  On the surface, this passage doesn’t seem to make sense.  I will give you one thing that seems a little unusual about this passage and see if you can think of any others.

1)    This chapter seems out of place in the Book of Acts.

I need to do a little review here.  In the beginning of Acts everything good is happening.  There was some persecution but it was very limited.  Peter and John were put in jail for a day (4:2).  Great things were happening in the very beginning of Acts.

The first church began

Before Acts 2, there was no church.  It didn’t exist. Jesus said, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). If you notice, Jesus said, “I WILL build my church”.  He did not say, “I am in the process of building my church” (present tense).  He did not say, “I have built my church” (past tense).  He said, “I will build my church” (future tense) and the first church started in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit fell on some people who were praying in the Upper Room.

The church is united

It was not divided.  Today the Christian Church is completely divided.  There are hundreds of denominations.  It is divided by race (black, white and Hispanic churches).  It is divided by denominations (Baptists and Pentecostals).  It is divided by theology (Calvinists and Arminians, charismatics and non-charismaics).  It is divided by dress (casual or formal churches).  It is divided by music (hymns and contemporary music).

It is divided by Bible translation (KJV only churches).  It is divided by ritual (baptism by sprinkling or by immersion, baptize babies and some baptize only adults or people who can make a profession of faith).  There was no division in the first church.  Denominations did not exist.  There were no Baptists or Methodists or Presbyterians at this time.  There was one church.  It was the church of Jerusalem and it was united.  Acts 4:32 says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind”.  Unfortunately, that does not describe the church in America today.

The church is loving

It took care of people’s needs.  There was so much love in this church that they took take of the poor people in their church.  They had some poor people in the church.  Apparently, it was a big problem, so the church did two things. They SHARED their possessions (4:32).  When that was not enough, they took it one step further and SOLD their possessions to get money to help people (4:34).  They shared things and sold things to help needy people in the church.  It was a very generous and compassionate church.  It was a loving church.

The church is growing

Some churches grow and some do not.  This church grew astronomically.  It started with 120 members.  In one day, it went from 120 members to 3120 members in one day from one sermon.  That is a growth rate of 2500%.  By Acts 4, the church had grown to 5000 people (4:2).  This was phenomenal church growth. It was a mega church.

Real miracles take place

Furthermore, miracles were taking place.  I am not just talking about God healing someone’s marriage, as important as that is.  Acts 2:43 says, “Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. This was a charismatic church.  The Twelve Apostles were members of this church.  They went around with Jesus for three years preaching and healing and they still healed people.  In Acts 3:1-8, we have an example of Peter healing a crippled beggar

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

Here was a man who was crippled.  He was completely disabled.  He could not walk at all and that was not the result of an accident or an injury.  He was born that way.  Everyone in the city knew him.  He was forty years old and had to be carried everywhere he went and since he could not work, he had to beg for money.  We walk by or drive by beggars all the time.  Sometimes we might give them some money and sometimes we walk right by them.

What did the Apostles do?  They stopped and talked to this beggar but they didn’t give him any money, because they didn’t have any to give him.  Peter said, “silver and gold have I none” (3:6).  He was a poor apostle.  Peter was one of the top leaders in the very first church and he did not have a lot of money.  So much for the health and wealth gospel!  In fact, Peter did not even say, “you are a poor beggar.  If you accept Jesus you will be wealthy”

Instead, Peter gave him something better than money.  He said, “Rise up and walk”.  Peter told this man to do something that he had never done in his entire life!  He had never walked a day in his life.  Peter did not have the power to do this on his own.  He was just a poor fisherman.  He said “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”.

Everything in Acts is not going good, it is going GREAT.  The church is united.  It is loving.  It is on fire.  It is growing.  Miracles are taking place in the church and then two members of the Jerusalem Church suddenly drop dead and they didn’t die of natural causes.

2)   They were actually doing a good dead when they died.

They died right after they gave some money to the church.  They had some land.  They sold it and gave some of the money to the church.  They were sacrificial.  They were thinking of others and they still died.

3)   The reason they died does not seem that bad

Why did they die?  They lied to the church.  What did they lie about?  They lied about money.  They lied about how much they gave to the church.  It doesn’t seem that serious to us.  It is like cheating on your taxes or saying you gave ten percent to the church when you only gave eight percent.  It is wrong.  It is lying but is it bad enough to die for?  The punishment does not seem to fit the crime.  It seems a little harsh.

It shows what God thinks of lying.  It is not that big of a deal to us today.  People do it all the time and do not think twice.  A lying tongue is one of the seven things that God HATES according to Proverbs 6:16-19.  Two of the seven things on the list have to do with lying (false witnesses and lying lips).  Jesus died because of false witnesses.  God also hates lying lips.  Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord”.  God HATES Them.

 Reconstruction of the Events

1. Barnabas sold a field that he owned and gave all of the money to the church. Barnabas was a well-respected member of the church. He sold some of his real estate and was praised for his generosity.

2.  A couple in the church named Ananias and Sapphira said, “What Barnabas did was a really good idea. Maybe we should do that. We have some land we could sell and give to the church as well.” They probably told people that they were going to do this. They told people about their plans.

3. They sell the land and bring the money into their house (a large pile of silver) and then they he should not give it all. It is a lot of money and he could use some of it. They may have had some financial needs themselves. They may have even gotten more for the land than they thought they would get. The land may have been worth $7,000 and they got $10,000 for it.

4. Ananias gave part of the money to the church and said it was all. “God has really blessed us. We sold a plot of land and would like to give it all to God to help anyone who is in need in the church”. His wife went along with the plan. She did not object to it. She apparently agreed with it.

5. Peter confronts Ananias about what he did and Ananias drops dead. Peter doesn’t kill him. God does. All Peter did was to point out his sin. Apparently, his good deed of giving money to the church didn’t cancel out his sin of lying.

6. Ananias is buried. His wife does not even know that he died yet.

7. There is a gap of three hours (5:7). Three hours go by. Why three hours? Sapphira went shopping. She got her hair done, bought some fancy clothes, got some new jewelry. When Ananias didn’t come home for dinner, she went looking for him.

8. Peter finds Sapphira and confronts her. The apostles were pretty good at confronting church members. He asked her point blank how much the land was sold for? She had a chance to come clean and tell the truth or to lie? She lied. Those were her last words. She dropped dead and they buried her.

9. Then fear came on the whole church (5:11). Everyone was afraid. Why? They were wondering if they were going to drop dead as well.  They looked back to see if they had told a lie in the last week.

What are some lessons that we can take from the story of Ananias and Sapphira?

Applications from Acts 5:1-11 

1)   God wants honesty and transparency in his people.

He wants us to tell the truth when we talk to people.  He wants us to have integrity.  This story tells us what God thinks of hypocrites in the church.

2)   Genuine believers can fall into sin.

Ananias and Sapphira were genuine believers.  They had been baptized.  They may have been charter members of the church.  They not only lied, they tried to deceive the apostles.  Satan filled their hearts.  He can fill our hearts.

3)   Leaders sometimes need to confront people in the church.

That is one of the jobs of leaders.  Some are good at this and some avoid it.  Today when church members fall into sin, leaders often try to cover them up, rather than to try and confront them.  Confronting people is too unpleasant.

4)   God judges believers who sin and sometimes they even die.

The Bible talks about a “sin unto death”.  Now he does not do this every day.  Can you imagine how big our church would be if God took out every single person in the church who told a lie the last week?

5)  There is no perfect church.

The very first church had problems.  The Jerusalem Church was a good church.  It was an apostolic church.  The Twelve Apostles went to this church but it was not a perfect church.  Even apostolic churches were not perfect.  They were made up of sinners.

The First Church

Last week we began to look at the biblical doctrine of the church (what theologians call “ecclesiology”). We looked at some detail at the universal or invisible church. We looked at one metaphor for the universal church – the Body of Christ. We talked about what it means to be a part of the body of Christ. That is just one picture of the universal church. There are other pictures in the NT. The universal church is also described as a bride.

Today, I want to look at the local church, the visible church. What constitutes a local church? What elements do you have to have to have a local church? The typical answers are prayer, preaching of the Word, fellowship and worship. Are para-church organizations, like Campus Crusade, Navigators, InterVarsity, churches? They have bible study, fellowship, worship, prayer and evangelism. Para-church organizations have many similarities to church but there are some differences.

For example, in a para-church organization, there is no accountability. There are no are usually no elders or deacons found in a local church. There is no church discipline, although unfortunately many churches do not practice church discipline either. You also usually do not see the sacraments or ordinances (Baptism, Lord’s Supper) in a para-church organization.

What I would like to do this morning is to take a look at the first church in the book of Acts. Luke gives us a picture of the first church on planet earth. It was located in Israel. It lasted about forty years. It is just a snapshot. It’s a summary. The description is not exhaustive but it is very interesting to see what the first church looked like. Turn to Acts 2:41-47.

Many churches today have problems with declining attendance. They are lucky if they get a few more members each year. The very first church added 3000 people in one day. How’s that for church growth? They went from 120 members to 3120 members. In today’s terminology, we would call this a mega-church (any church over about 2000 people). Mega churches didn’t begin in the 1950s or 60s.  The first one started 2000 years ago.

How did these 3000 people become Christians? It was all a response to one sermon. The first gospel sermon ever preached led to the first church. It must have been a pretty powerful sermon by the Apostle Peter. That by itself is pretty amazing. Just one month or so earlier, Peter had denied Jesus. After saying at Gethsemane, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” (Matthew 26:35). After Jesus was arrested, he was asked if he spent time with Jesus and he denied it repeatedly with an oath and even swore that he did not know Jesus (Matthew 26:69-74).

After acting like a coward a month earlier, Peter boldly preaches Jesus as Messiah to Jews and The Holy Spirit used it to convict 3000 Jews and then all 3000 were baptized on the same day. I guess the lesson here is that you can blow it and blow it big time and still by God’s grace be used by God. Three thousand Jews were saved and baptized after that sermon by Peter. Jerusalem was a city of 50,000 people at this time. If you do the math and divide 3000 by 12, that means that each Apostle has 250 people to baptize that day.

So let’s look at the first church. I believe that we at Westside could learn some things from the first church. It wasn’t a perfect church. In Acts 5, two of the members of this church dropped dead, because they were judged by God but this is the model church. What were some characteristics of the first church? Let me list seven.

It was a Church that Emphasized Doctrine

As many of you know, Jim Cymbala is the pastor of a famous church in downtown Brooklyn called the Brooklyn Tabernacle. I have heard him preach in person. I highly recommend that you read his books, if you haven’t. I agree with about 99% of what they say. In Fresh Wind Fresh Fire, Pastor Cymbala says one thing which I strongly disagree with. He says, “The Christian religion is not predominately a teaching religion”[1]. That’s bad news for educators. If you notice here in Acts 2, what was first on the list? It is doctrine, teaching, theology. That was the first thing that Luke mentioned about this church.  Acts 2:42 says:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ 

TEACHING and to the fellowship,

to the breaking of bread and to prayer.


[1] Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, p. 150.

The first church continued in the Apostles doctrine. Paul said that “All Scripture is inspired and profitable for doctrine or teaching (II Timothy 3:16). Jesus said that those who worship the Father must worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24) and Paul said that the church was to be “the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Timothy 3:15) Doctrine is the first thing that was mentioned and it fits perfectly with the Great Commission. The Great Commission has three parts, not one. Teaching, intense discipleship was to follow evangelism (Matthew 28:19-20). It was a teaching church (cf. II Timothy 2:2). What did they teach? They did not teach their own doctrine. They taught the apostles’ doctrine.

Now the apostles are no longer alive but we do have their writings in the NT. The NT contains the teachings of the apostles. We have the faith that was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) and what was delivered to the saints was the doctrine of the apostles. The application is that the local church should be a place where the Bible is taught. The local church should be a place devoted to the study and application of Scripture. Don’t all churches do this?

One of the biggest problems in the church today is the problem of biblical illiteracy. Many Christians simply do not know what the Bible teaches and some of those Christians have been in churches for twenty years. The fact is that there are some churches that believe and teach the Bible and there are churches that don’t. Here were 3000 baby Christians. What do you do with newborn babies? You feed them. What are churches that do not feed their sheep? They are full of spiritually malnourished Christians. If you are not fed properly, you don’t grow properly.

It was a Church that Emphasized Fellowship

The second characteristic of this church was fellowship. The first church didn’t just devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, they devoted themselves to fellowship. What exactly is fellowship? Is fellowship the same thing as just hanging out? Are you fellowshipping if you are eating a pizza and watching a football game? Is fellowship just a social time? Is it just socializing with Christians? Is it limited to a small group of Christians? Some people only fellowship with people from their own denomination. Is fellowship the same thing as gathering together? Are we fellowshipping if we simply come to church, hear a sermon, say two words to other Christians and leave? I want to summarize five things which are true of biblical fellowship.

Fellowship Facts for Dummies

1)  There are two kinds of fellowship in the Bible.

There is vertical fellowship with God and horizontal fellowship with one another and the two are related.

2)  Fellowship is primarily spiritual, not social.

True fellowship is what two Christians have in common spiritually, not the fact that they both are white or both are Americans or both like sports. Both are saved. Both are forgiven. Both are going to heaven. Both have the Holy Spirit. Both are children of God. Both are part of the body of Christ

3)  Horizontal fellowship is for all Christians, but not just Christians from your denomination.

Christians cannot fellowship with non-Christians in the biblical sense. As Paul asked, What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (II Corinthians 6:15) and the implied answer is NOTHING. We have no more in common with an unbeliever than light has with darkness, righteousness has with wickedness or Christ has with the devil (II Corinthians 6:14).

4)  The best place would be in a home setting

While fellowship it is not limited to a home setting, that is one of the best places to do it.  It is how is was done in the early church. You also cannot have real fellowship but just coming to church, hearing a sermon and leaving. That is the advantage of being in a small group. It is much easier to have fellowship in that setting.

5)  There are some professing Christians you should not fellowship with

The Bible actually says that there are some people that we should NOT fellowship with (cf. I Corinthians 5:9-11; II Thessalonians 3:6-10).  It is not unloving but is an act of biblical “tough love”.  It seems like a harsh act on the surface but its ultimate goal is restoration.

It was a Church that Emphasized Ordinances

The first church observed the ordinances or sacraments of the church. They practiced water baptism (Acts 2:41) and communion. There are many different names for communion – Lord’s Supper, Eucharist and the Breaking of Bread (Acts 2:42, 46). Now the word for “breaking bread” in Greek can simply mean a mean (Luke 24:35) or it can mean the Lord’s Supper but here it is talking about the Lord’s Supper. It wouldn’t make any sense to say that the early Christians devoted themselves to eating and drinking. It wouldn’t make any sense to put an ordinary meal in a list that includes Bible study and prayer.

Also notice that these things took place right after salvation. Right after the 3000 were saved they were immediately baptized and immediately began taking communion. I want to be honest here? All for honesty at church, as Pastor James MacDonald says. At our church, we do a great job in the area of water baptism. One area that we could improve on as a church, in my opinion, is in the area of communion.

We believe in the Lord’s Supper but I wouldn’t say that we are devoted to it like the early church was. This is a command. Yet some believers neglect this ordinance. Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of me” and in the Greek the word “do” is in the present tense, which indicates something that is to be continually done. A church that does not observe the ordinances is a church that doesn’t obey the Great Commission.

It was a Church that is Characterized by Power

We see this in Acts 2:43. The Apostles performed incredible miracles in this church (Acts 2:43; 5:12). Are signs and wonders for today? Some say that we should see them (charismatics). Some say that we shouldn’t see them today (non-charismatics or cessationists). These were done by Apostles and we do not have any Apostles today but these signs were not limited to the Apostles. Some of the deacons of this church also performed miracles – Stephen (Acts 6:8) and Philip (Acts 8:6). While there were signs of an Apostle (II Corinthians 12:12), the gifts of miracles working and healing were distinguished from the gifts of Apostles (I Corinthians 12:7-11, 28-30)

Even if you believe that signs and wonders are not for today, our church should be a place where you can clearly see the power of God at work in people’s lives. Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8). God worked powerfully in the first church and He should work powerfully in our church as well. There are some churches where you can clearly see God working, while others are dead as a door knob.

The Apostle Paul said that when an unbeliever enters a church service, he or she should be able to see God at work (I Corinthians 14:24-25). What did Paul say about false teachers in the last days? They have a form of godliness but deny the power. Some churches are great outwardly (great building, sing songs, take communion, baptize some people, have a minister who delivers some kind of message each week) but there’s no power in them. Lives aren’t changed; attendance is declining, nothings happening in these churches.

It was a Church that Emphasized Prayer

This first church was a praying church. That is how the church began. It was birthed in a prayer meeting (Acts 1:12-14). These 3000 Christians continued in prayer and the thought in the original is not just of individual prayer but corporate prayer (cf. 3:1). They made prayer a priority in the church. In some churches prayer is more a priority than in other churches. Jesus said, “My house will be called a house a prayer” (Mark 11:17), not just a house of learning or a house of preaching or a house of worship but a house of prayer. God can’t bless a church that doesn’t pray. A church that doesn’t pray doesn’t have any power.

Put yourselves in the shoes of these people. If you were a member of this church, what do you think would be praying for? What were some of the needs of the first church?

  • They had 3000 baby Christians who needed to grow and be discipled (growth).
  • How to pastor 3000 people (leadership – an administrative nightmare with no phones, email or cell phones)
  • Homes to meet in (space)
  • The salvation of the rest of the nation (salvation)
  • Faithfulness in the midst of persecution (In chapter four all of the Apostles were put in prison, a member of the church was stoned in chapter seven)
  • There were financial needs in this church (communal living).

It was a Church that Met Regularly

This group 3000 Christians didn’t try to be Christians on their own. They didn’t just say, “I can read the Bible, pray and worship God on my own. I don’t need to go anywhere to do this”. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. That’s what the first Christians did. They got together. They met together daily (Acts 2:46; Luke 24:53).

Where did they meet? They met in two places. First, they met in the Temple. That is very significant. Why did they meet there? They were Jews. When they became Christians, they didn’t cease to be Jews. They could have said, “We are Christians now, we can forget about the Temple” but they didn’t do that. Remember this very temple (Herod’s), Jesus called “my Father’s house” (John 2:16). There was a special place in the temple where the Jewish Christians met (Acts 5:12).

There is something else here. They didn’t just meet in the Temple once a week. They met every day, not just on the Sabbath (Acts 2:46). Why did they do this? Who goes to church every day? The Jews in the first century had daily worship in the Temple. The priests in the Temple offered two sacrifices. They had three different times of prayer – morning (9:00), noon (12:00) and evening (sunset). They had a morning sacrifice and an evening sacrifice.

Not only did they meet in the Temple, they also met in people’s (Acts 2:46). That sounds very much like meeting at church and in small groups at people’s homes. They met in a large group at the Temple and in small groups in people’s homes. Three thousand people could not meet in one home. They met in different people’s homes (from house to house).

It was a Church Characterized by Unity

They were united in heart and mind (Acts 4:32). They were close. There were no divisions in this church and there should be no divisions in our church (I Corinthians 1:10). God can’t bless a divided church. There was not any fighting or arguing in this church. Does that mean we have to agree on everything? Unity is not the same thing as uniformity. It is impossible for everyone to thing exactly alike. There is diversity in the church, like there is diversity in a family. You can have differences in a church (gifts, personalities, opinions) without fighting and quarreling.

It was a Church Characterized by Generosity

This was a giving church (Acts 2:44-45). They weren’t just devoted to doctrine, prayer and worship. They were devoted to each other,so much so that there were no needy people among them (Acts 4:34-35). They sold their possessions and goods (Acts 2:45). A better translation is “property and possessions’’ (NLT). They shared everything they had (Acts 4:32). This leads us to two questions. Why did they do this? Should we do this today?

Why did they do this? The Bible doesn’t say. It just says there were some needs in this church (Acts 2:45; Acts 4:35). This was a special situation and we do not know what it was. It may be because the visitors to the city who accepted Christ wanted to stay longer to get discipled before going back to their homes.

An even bigger question is, Do we have to do this today? Were the early Christians communists? They practiced wealth redistribution. They even liquidated assets and sold houses and possessions.

Is Christian Communism a Biblical Concept?

1)  There’s no command in the Bible to do this.

2)  No other church in the NT ever did this.

All of the other churches mention the rich and the poor in them (e.g., James 2:1-7; I John 3:16-18). So it was not a law or command. Nor was it a universal custom in the early church.

3)  This was completely voluntary.

In communism, it is mandatory. Communism says, “What’s yours is mine”. The early church said, “What’s mine is yours”. Communism says, “Give all that you have”. The early Christians said, “Take all that I have”. It was completely voluntary. We know this from Acts 5:4. Peter said that Ananias didn’t have to sell his house and when he did, he did not have to give all of his money away. He could have given just some of it away. He did not die because he failed to share all of his wealth but because he lied.

4)  The early Christians did not do this because they had to or because there was anything wrong with private property.

They also did not do this to encourage class warfare. This was not done because of hatred of the rich but because of a love for the poor. The Bible does not condemn private property (cf. Eighth Commandment) and it does not condemn people for being rich. The Bible does not teach that private property is a sin. It teaches that covetousness is a sin (Tenth Commandment).

What are lessons can we learn as a church from this practice? This wasn’t a stingy church. It was a generous church. They took care of the needs of the members of the church.

Is Predestination a Biblical Doctrine?

One of the mostly hotly debated topics among Christians is predestination.  Believers from different denominations hold very different views on predestination and passionately defend those views.  The problem is that those who hold one view of predestination often have a very poor understanding of any other view.  It is difficult to have any kind of dialogue on this topic among many Christians, since emotions tend to run high.

The goal of this lesson is to give an introduction to the topic from Scripture, interacting with arguments from both sides.  Many come to this issue from a different framework than I do. I would ask them to do three things.  One, read it all of the post, not just part of it.  Two, read it with an open mind.  Three, compare everything in it to Scripture. I will begin with several basic observations about the topic.

An Advanced Topic

This is a very deep topic. The Bible talks about the milk and meat of the word. Most people think of milk as simple truths of the Bible. This doctrine is part of the meat of the Word. Sermons on predestination are rare. The topic is often ignored in the pulpit. As a result, many Christians know very little about this topic and what they know is often inaccurate.  This is an advanced topic.  Many of the issues involves are complex and some of the post will be semi-technical.

A Misunderstood Doctrine

Many have grossly misunderstood this doctrine. It has been misunderstood by many unbelievers. It has also been misunderstood by some Christians. There are many myths about election. Many think predestination is unloving.  The opposite is actually true.  The Apostle Paul said, “IN LOVE he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4-5).  Predestination is an act of love.  Election is God’s secret weapon for saving people, as Donald Grey Barnhouse used to say, “without it, no one would get to heaven.”

Election is a good thing, not a bad thing.  Predestinatoin is one of the reasons that Paul praised God from his prison cell in Rome.  He wrote in Ephesians 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” The first spiritual blessing that he mentions is election in the very next verse. However, election is a very misunderstood doctrine. There are many myths about election.

Myths about Predestination

One myth about predestination is that it was started in the sixteenth century by the French Protestant reformer John Calvin. That is simply not true. Calvin was not the first theologian in the church to believe in predestination.  St. Augustine in the fifth century believed in unconditional election.  He wrote a book entitled A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints[2]

Many think that predestination is the same thing as fatalism.  That is incorrect.  Others are absolutely convinced that if predestination is true, there is no need to accept Christ as Savior or even evangelize the lost.  They believe that predestination eliminates human responsibility.  If election to salvation is true, then man has no free will of his own.  He must do as he is programmed to do.  That is also not true.

The problem with this is that the Bible teaches both predestination and free will.  Jesus’ death was decreed before the world began and yet the people who put him to death did so voluntarily. The sin of Adam and Eve was also planned before the world began and yet they sinned of their own free will. No one forced them to sin.

Another myth about election is that it is about us choosing God.  There is a reason many believe this.  Joshua 24:15 says, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord

However, biblical election is done by God, not man.  In fact, when it took place, there were not even any people around.  It took place before the world began, as we will see.

Election in the Bible involves God choosing people. John Piper said, “Your salvation did not begin with your choice to believe in Christ—a choice which was real and necessary. Your salvation began before the creation of the universe when God planned the history of redemption, ordained the death and the resurrection of his Son, and chose you to be his own through Christ[3]

An Unpopular Doctrine

The doctrine of election is very unpopular in the Church. It is perhaps the most hated doctrine of the Bible. The doctrine of election is very unpopular in the Church. It is perhaps the most hated doctrine of the Bible. It is a doctrine hated even by many Christians.  Whole denominations of Christians do not like this doctrine.

John Wesley in his famous sermon entitled “Free Grace” even called predestination “blasphemy.”  Wesley said on April 29, 1739, “Such blasphemy this, as one would think might make the ears of a Christian to tingle! …This is the blasphemy clearly contained in the horrible decree of predestination! …On this I join issue with every assertor of it. You represent God as worse than the devil; more false, more cruel, more unjust…This is the blasphemy for which (however I love the persons who assert it) I abhor the doctrine of predestination[1]

The question is not whether it is popular or unpopular. The question is whether it is biblical. The doctrine of Hell is also unpopular with the world but it is biblical.  Even Jesus spoke of Jesus speaks of hell.  He described it as “eternal fire,” “unquenchable fire” and “a furnace of fire.”

A Controversial Topic

Entire denominations are split on this topic.  There are good people who disagree on this topic.  Christians are divided into two different categories  (Arminians and Calvinists).  Both believe that their system is completely biblical.  Entire denominations are split on this issue.  Presbyterian and Reformed Churches are Calvinistic.  Other churches (such as the Roman Catholic Church, Methodists, Wesleyans, Church of the Nazarene, Church of Christ, Pentecostal Church, Assemblies of God, Mennonites) are Arminian.

Some denominations are divided on this issue.  There are Free Will Baptist Churches (which are Arminian) and Reformed Baptist Churches (which are Calvinistic).  Some very famous Baptists were Calvinists (John Bunyan, C.H. Spurgeon and William Carey), while other Baptists are Arminian on most of the five points, except for one or two (John R. Rice, Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, Norman Geisler) .  The Southern Baptist Convention has had some presidents who were Calvinists (e.g., Albert Mohler) and presidents who were Arminian (e.g., Frank Page).

Historically, Calvinism came first.  Arminianism was a response to Calvinism.  John Calvin never summarized his system of belief into five points. That was done by people after him and then the Puritans later put those five points into an acronym (TULIP).

Calvinists and Arminians see election very differently.  While both groups would say that they believe in election, they have radically different views of what election involves.

ARMINIANISM

CALVINISM

Election is collective Election is individual
Election is done by man Election is done by God
Election is for believers Election is for unbelievers
Election is conditional Election is unconditional
Election is based on merit Election is based on grace
Election is the result of faith Faith is the result of election
Election is for service, not salvation Election is for salvation and service

A Biblical Doctrine

Some Christians say that they do not believe in predestination. The problem with this argument is that if you do not believe in predestination, then you do not believe the Bible. The word “predestinate” is in the Bible.  It is a biblical term.  Election, predestination and the sovereignty of God are not a man-made doctrines, as some think. They are not something that someone just thought up.

They did not originate with John Calvin or St. Augustine. They are not Calvinistic doctrines. They are biblical doctrines (cf. Ephesians 1:3-6, 11). Predestination may not be a popular doctrine or one that is easy to understand but it is biblical.

The word itself does not come from Greek but from Latin but it is definitely a biblical concept.  In fact, there are several different Greek words used to describe it.  The NT uses three different verbs and two nouns to describe election.

Greek Words for Predestination in the NT

1. The NT uses the Greek verb for to choose or select (έκλέγομαι).

It is used of people choosing certain things.  “Mary has CHOSEN what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).  “When he noticed how the guests PICKED the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable” (Luke 14:7).

This proposal pleased the whole group. They CHOSE Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5).  The word is also used of God choosing people in a soteriological sense in Ephesians 1:4 (“Just as he CHOSE us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love” [NRSV]).

2.  The NT uses another Greek verb for choose (αίρέομαι)

This word is used three times in the NT.  It is used of both man and God. This word is used of Paul choosing whether he will continue to live in this body (Philippians 1:22).  It is used of Moses choosing “to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). The word is also used in a soteriological sense of God choosing people for salvation (II Thessalonians 2:13).  This word  is used of people choosing things and God choosing things.  It is used in a human and a divine sense.

3. The NT uses the Greek verb for “predestinate” (προορίζω) six times in the NT.

The word προορίζω is a combination of two words – προ (before) and όρίζομαι (to appoint or determine).  The word προορίζω means to predetermine or to predestinate.  Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also PREDESTINED to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Ephesians 1 says, “He PREDESTINED us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ” (1:5). “In him we were also chosen, having been PREDESTINED according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (1:11).

4. The NT uses the Greek noun  for “election” (έκλογή).

This word refers to refers to the process of God choosing or selecting people. Romans 9:10-11 says, “Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in ELECTION might stand”.  II Peter 1:10 says, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and ELECTION sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall.”

5. The NT uses the Greek noun for “elect” (έκλεκτός).

That is the term for the term for the group of people who are chosen by God.  Matthew 24:22 says, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of THE ELECT those days will be shortened.”  Matthew 24:31 says, “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

The Apostle Paul said in II Timothy 2:10,  “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of THE ELECT, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

The Doctrine of Predestination in Ephesians

One of the strongest passages in the Bible on the topic of election is found in Ephesians 1.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves…. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12)

The Source of Election

The source of election is God.  Ephesians 1:4-5 says, For HE chose US in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love HE predestined US to be adopted as his sons.” It speaks of God choosing us, NOT us choosing God. We are not doing any choosing in that passage. God is the one doing the choosing. He chose us. He picked us. It sounds similar to John 15:16 (“You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you“).


[3] http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/god-has-chosen-us-in-him-before-the-foundation-of-the-earth

Many do NOT believe that God chooses people. They only believe that we choose him but God is the one who does the electing in Ephesians 1:4. God the Father is the source of election. Does this mean that God plays favorites? Did God play favorites when he chose the nation of Israel? God could have chosen any nation. He could have chosen to make a covenant with the United States.

Instead, he chose to make a covenant with the nation of Israel. He could have made the Chinese the chosen people.  Instead, he made the Jews the chosen people.  He chose the Jews “out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6).  The Bible says that God set his affection on the ancestors of the Jews and loved them, and chose them and their descendants, above all the nations (Deuteronomy 10:15). It does not prove that God has favorites.  It does prove that God is sovereign.

On what basis did God make his decision to choose us?  Were we chosen randomly?  Was his decision completely arbitrary? According to Ephesians 1, we were chosen solely based on the good pleasure of God. We were chosen based on the free, sovereign grace of God. Ephesians 1:3 says, “In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS PLEASURE AND WILL” (Ephesians 1:5).

Ephesians 1:11 says, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything IN CONFORMITY WITH THE PURPOSE OF HIS WILL.”  The decision was not random.  God never does anything without a reason.  He simply has not revealed what that reason was.  Everything God does is fair and righteous.

The Nature of Election

Many see election as collective and corporate.  According to this view, God did not choose individuals before the world began.  He chose a people for himself, the church. He chose the body of Christ corporately.  Election in the OT was primarily corporate. It was national. God chose the Jews as a nation. The Jews are the Chosen People. That did not mean that everyone in the nation was saved.

The standard Arminian interpretation is that Paul is talking about class election in Ephesians 1:4 and not individual election.

Is Election in the New Testament Corporate?

While election in the Bible is often corporate, especially in the OT, several things should be pointed out about election in Scripture.

1. There are clear examples of individual election, even in the Old Testament.

Romans 9 gives three of examples of individual election and they all come from the OT.  God chose Isaac, not Ishmael (Romans 9:6-9); Jacob, not Esau (Romans 9:10-13); and Moses, not Pharaoh (Romans 9:14-18).

2. Election of the NT church is slightly different from the election in the OT.

The church is not a nation but is made up of people from every nation and race.  To say that we are chosen is very different from talking about the chosen people in the OT.

3. Many passages have to refer to individual election and cannot refer to corporate election.

Romans 8:29 also deals with individuals, rather than groups being elected.  The passage says, “For THOSE God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Acts 13:48 CANNOT refer to corporate election. It has to refer to individual election in the context.  “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.” 

Paul was talking about Gentiles who came to faith when the Jews rejected the gospel message but not every Gentile in the city came to faith.  Only some of them did.  Acts 13:48 explains why they came to faith and others did not.  It is not because some were more spiritual or more intelligent than others.

The text says that all who were “ordained to eternal life believed” (KJV). The word “ordained” (τάσσω) has also been translated “destined” (NRSV), “appointed” (NIV) or “predestined” (Weymouth).

According to the old Methodist scholar Adam Clarke (1762-1832), the Greek word used in Acts 13:48 for ordained “includes NO IDEA of pre-ordination or pre-destination of any kind” (emphasis mine).

However, C. K. Barrett, who ranks as one of the greatest British scholars of the 20th century, would take issue with that statement. Barrett was the greatest NT scholar since J. B. Lightfoot.  He passed away in 2011 at the age of 94.

Barrett was the author of one of the finest commentaries on the Greek text of Acts (2004) in the International Critical Commentary (ICC) series. Barrett says that verse “is an unqualified term of absolute predestination as found anywhere in the NT” and Barrett happened to be a Methodist. [5]

Predestination is a common theme in Luke (e.g., Luke 10:20; 22:22; 24:44; Acts 2:23; 3:18; 4:28;17:26). While many in Acts believed after hearing the Word preached (4:4; 8:12; 18:8), the Book of Acts is very clear that faith or repentance is not just the result of a personal decision or inclination.

In Acts, we are told that the ability to repent is a GIFT from God (5:31; 11:18). People believe and respond to the gospel because God first OPENS hearts (16:14). In fact, people in Acts are said to believe THROUGH GRACE (18:27).

A final passage which must refer to individual election is found in Revelation. Revelation 17:8 says, “The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth WHOSE NAMES HAVE NOT BEEN WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.”

That passage tells us that some people’s names will be written in that book from the creation of the world (the same time phrase as Ephesians 1:4).  At the Great White Throne Judgment, God opens the book.  “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).  

The fact that heaven contains a names of each and every saved person and the fact that these names were written in that book before the foundation of the world is a powerful proof of the fact that election is individual and not just corporate.  If election was corporate and not individual, there would be no book of names in the Book of Life.  There would just be one page in the book that says “the church.”

4. The context of Ephesians 1 is individual, not corporate election.

When we read the chapter, we do not read about groups being elect.  Paul does not say that the church is elect or the people of God are elect.  Paul does not say that the church is elect but individual believers in the church are not elect.  The text says that He chose US (1:4).  It says that He predestined US (1:5)  and He lavished on US (1:8) and not some abstract group of people.

The Time of Election

The word “chose” is past tense (aorist).  God did not choose us after we chose him.  Long before we chose God, He chose us.  He chose us BEFORE we ever came to faith in Christ.  God chose us BEFORE we did any good or evil (Romans 9:11-12).  He chose us BEFORE we ever existed.  In fact, he chose us BEFORE the world even existed.  He chose us “before the foundation of the world.”  This was a pre-creation election.  Long before God ever created the world, he chose certain individuals.

Arminians believe that one becomes a member of the elect WHEN he or she accepts Christ as Savior.  Calvinists teach that a person is one of the elect BEFORE he accepts Christ as Savior.  Ephesians 1:4 supports the latter, since this election takes place BEFORE the foundation of the world.

The great Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon made the following observation about election.  He wrote:

“I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite sure that if God had not chosen me I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He would have never chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love[6]


[5]  C. K. Barrett, Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary, I, 658.
[6] C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 227.

What are the implications of this concept?  God chose some to be saved.  This means that other people were NOT chosen.  The very nature of election is that certain people are chosen and certain people are not chosen.   By nature this is selective. Not everyone was chosen. During the presidential election when you vote for one candidate, you automatically do not vote for the other candidate.  That is offensive to many.  The Bible teaches that “many are called but FEW are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).

Is it unfair for God to choose some to be saved but not everyone to be saved? That is the wrong question. The question is NOT why didn’t God chose others?  The question is, Why did God choose ANY to be saved?  He was not obligated to save any.  It was done at the pleasure of his sovereign will (Ephesians 1:5, 11).  As Paul says in Romans 11, it was an “election OF GRACE.”  Do we deserve to be chosen?  No.  Did we do anything to be chosen?  No.  Are we worthy to be chosen?

No.  It is sheer grace that we were chosen.  We are no better than anyone else.  Israel was not better than the other nations (cf. Deuteronomy 12).  The Apostle Paul deals with this objection and said the following in Romans 9:14-16: “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,’I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”

The Result of Election

Election is for salvation.  God chose some people TO BE saved.  They were not saved when God chose them.  They did not even exist when he chose them,.  They still had to come to faith but they were chosen for salvation.   Election is not the same thing as salvation.  According to the Bible, election is UNTO salvation.

The Apostle Paul says, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” (II Timothy 2:10). The elect still have to attain salvation, according to this verse.  They still have to come to faith and get saved.

The lesson here is that salvation was not an afterthought to God.  God did not find out that humanity was in rebellion to him after creating a perfect world and have to come up with a solution to the problem.  Nor did God did not merely create a method to save the world and leave the results open to chance.

God is sovereign.  He not only had a plan to save people, He chose certain people to be saved and adopted into his family before they were even born and before any humans even existed. God has a plan and that plan is unalterable.

Many Christians would agree that God does choose people but that election is never to salvation. God chooses certain individuals for a task, not for salvation. They would argue argument that Paul does not say that “God chose us to be in Christ” or to be put “in Christ. He rather says God chose us in Christ “to be holy and blameless.”

That argument does not make much sense. Everyone is NOT in Christ. Only certain people are in Christ.  Those people had to be placed in Christ before they could be holy and blameless. Ephesians 1:4 tells us that this took place before the foundation of the world.

Is Election to Salvation Biblical?

The Bible teaches that God does choose people to tasks (cf. Acts 9:15) but he also chooses them for salvation.  There are many passages which clearly teach that election is to salvation.

  • Ephesians 1:5 says “he predestined us TO BE ADOPTED AS HIS SONS through Jesus Christ.” The word “adoption” literally means “son-placing” in Greek.  It describes the action of taking someone who was not previously a son and placing him as a member of the family.  Everyone is not a child of God.  The Bible does not teach that everyone is a child of God.  Jesus said to the Pharisees “You belong to your father, the devil” (John 8: 44).  We are not naturally children of God.  We become a child of God by faith (Galatians 3:26; John 1:12-13).  Ephesians 1:5 says that long before we placed our faith in Christ, God predestined us to be adopted as his child.
  • II Thessalonians 2:13 says, “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you FOR SALVATION through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”  The Christians at Thessalonica (like the ones at Ephesus) were also chosen for salvation and that took place “from the beginning,” which is very similar to “before the foundation of the world” in Ephesians 1:4.
  • Acts 13:48 says, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed FOR ETERNAL LIFE believed.”

The Goal of Election

One of the purposes of election is to make people holy.  Election is not limited to salvation.  Far from being the basis of election, it is one of the purposes of election.  We were not elect because we were already holy or because God saw that one day be holy.  God elected us to make us holy (Ephesians 1:4; 2:10; Romans 8:29; John 15:16; Colossians 3:12).  That is why election should never be an excuse to sin.  The very purpose of election is holiness.  Election should not lead one to pride but to holiness.

Ephesians 1:4 says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”  Not the two goals of election.  One is positive (that we should be holy) and one is negative (that we should be without blame).  One deals with justification and one deals with sanctification.

In fact, one way you know you are elect is by your life. According to the NT, it is possible to know if you are elect.  It is possible to “make your calling and election sure” (II Peter 1:10).  How can we do that?  Peter says that we can do that by living a godly life.  We make our calling and election sure by making “every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (II Peter 1:5-7).

Is Election Based on Foreseen Faith?

Arminians believe in the concept of election but believe in a very different type of election than Calvinists.  They believe in CONDITIONAL election, rather than UNCONDITIONAL election.  They believe in an election based on foreknowledge of those who will put their faith in Christ.  They argue that God does NOT predetermine in advance who will be saved.

He simply knew in advance who will accept Christ and who will reject Him.  Those who accept Him are part of the elect. According to this view, God does not choose anyone for salvation.  We choose.  God simply knows our choice in advance. Arminians point out that many of the NT passages on predestination mention foreknowledge.

Romans 8:29-30 says, “FOR WHOM HE FOREKNEW, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”  

I Peter 1:1-2 says, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”  

There are several problems with the Arminian view of conditional election based on forseen faith.

1. Romans 8 says that PEOPLE are foreknown, not their faith.

Calvinists do not have a problem with foreknowledge coming before predestination. God could only predestine people that he knew about in the first place.  What is significant is what Romans 8 does NOT say.  Romans 8 says that people are foreknown, facts about them.  It does not say that God knew anything about us.  It says that He knew us.[7]  Election is not based on anything that God knew about us.

2. Foreknowledge does NOT merely mean “advanced knowledge”

The problem with saying that the word “foreknowledge” in I Peter 1:2 means “advanced knowledge” is that the same word is used in I Peter 1:20 and the word cannot mean it in that passage.  I Peter 1:20 uses the verb “to foreknow” (Προγινώσκω) and I Peter 1:2 uses the known “foreknowledge” (Πρόγινωσις).  They are two different forms of the same word. I Peter 1:20 says, that Jesus also was “foreknown before the foundation of the world” (NASB, ESV).

That simply cannot mean that God knew in advance what would happen to Jesus.  The Bible teaches He planned this to take place.  It was not an accident.  It did not happen by chance. “He was destined (RSV) or chosen (NIV) before the foundation of the world.” So the word “foreknowledge” in its theological sense means much more than to simply know in advance.

3. Election in Ephesians 1:4 cannot be based on foreseen faith.

a) Election is based on God’s sovereign will in Ephesians 1

Ephesians 1:3 says, “In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS PLEASURE AND WILL” (Ephesians 1:5).  It does not say that we were predestined based on our future faith but based on God’s sovereign pleasure and will.  Ephesians 1:11 says, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything IN CONFORMITY WITH THE PURPOSE OF HIS WILL,” not the purpose of our will.

b) Election brings glory to God, not man in Ephesians 1

It is “to the praise of his grace” (Ephesians 1:6).  Election in Ephesians 1 exalts God, not man.   Election is God-centered, not man-centered.  Election based on foreseen faith brings glory to all who of their own free will chose to believe and accept Christ, in contrast to all of the people who did not do so.  This brings praise  to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

c) Election is based on grace, not works in Ephesians 1

Election is said to be “to the praise of his glorious GRACE which he has FREELY given us” (Ephesians 1:6).  It is not based on merit or anything that we do or will do.  Instead, it is an election based on GRACE, as the text says in Ephesians 1:6.  The elect were “chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5-6) “not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” (II Timothy 1:9).  It is an election “not by works (Romans 9:11-13).

d) Election results in holiness in Ephesians 1

God chose people in Ephesians 1:4 so that they WILL BECOME holy (Ephesians 1:4). This election was done TO MAKE US holy, not BECAUSE we were holy (1:4). Holiness is not the basis but the purpose of election.  Election was not based on holiness.

The second half of the verse rules out that interpretation.  Election comes before faith.  Faith does NOT come before election.  God elected people and then they believed.  They did not believe and then were elected.  In fact, they did not even exist when they were elected.

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[7] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 676-677; Douglas Moo, Romans 1-8 (The Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary), 569.

Many objections have been raised to the traditional reading of Acts 13:38.  Below are several different ways to interpret the passage.

Objections to Acts 13:48

1. There is not a single instance in which τάσσω means foreordained in the NT.

Some argue that the word τάσσω is never used of predestination.  The word is only used eight times in the NT (Matthew 28:16; Luke 7:8; Acts 13:48; 15:2; 22:10; 28:23; Romans 13:1; I Corinthians 16:15).  That is incorrect.

While most of the time it is not used of predestination, the word is used in a theological sense in two of those eight passages (both in Luke).  The word τάσσω is used theologically in Acts 13:48 & 22:10.  Paul’s ministry was not an afterthought to God.  It was planned out long before.  Paul was set apart from birth (Galatians 1:15).

2. The Living Bible translates τάσσω “wanted”

The Living Bible paraphrases the verse, “as many WANTED eternal life believed” but there are three problems with that translation.

One, the voice in Greek is passive, not active. The active voice in Greek would read, “as many as WANTED eternal life believed.”

Two, the Living Bible does not translate τάσσω “wanted” anywhere else in the NT, except in Acts 13:48.

The translation was clearly done for theological reasons.  It supports what the translators believed but is not what the text says.  Even the New Living Translation changes this to “all who were chosen for eternal life became believers” (NLT).

Three, that is not what the Greek word τάσσω means.  Any standard Koine Greek lexicon will verify this (e.g., Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich). The word τάσσω never means “wanted” in the NT.  Note below how the word is used in the NT.

ΤΑΣΣΏ IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had APPOINTED for them. – Matthew 28:16 NKJV

For I also am a man PLACED under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it – Luke 7:8 NASB

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were APPOINTED for eternal life believed. – Acts 13:48 NIV

This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were APPOINTED, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. – Acts 15:2 NIV

‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been ASSIGNED to do.’ – Acts 22:10 NIV

They ARRANGED to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. – Acts 28:23 NIV

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been INSTITUTED by God (ESV) or PLACED THERE by God (NLT) – Romans 13:1

3. The word τάσσω should be understood as a middle voice.

Many Arminians have suggested that τάσσω be translated in a middle sense, rather than in a passive voice.  In Greek, they have exactly the same form.  In the passive voice the subject is acted upon.  In the middle voice the subject acts upon itself.  However, this is very rare in the NT.  In NONE of the other uses of the word (Matthew 28:16; Luke 7:8; Acts 15:2; 22:10; 28:23; Romans 13:1; I Corinthians 16:15) do we see this usage.

It would also be a bit strange to translate the phrase, “as many as appointed themselves to eternal life believed.”  That makes absolute nonsense theologically to say that prior to believing certain individuals appointed themselves to eternal life[8].

4. The word τάσσω means “rightly disposed”

The Jehovah’s Witnesses translate the verse, “When those of the nations heard this, they began to rejoice and to glorify the word of Jehovah, and all those who were rightly disposed for everlasting life became believers.” (NWT)

However, nowhere else in the NT does τάσσω mean “disposed” (see above). Nowhere else does the NWT translate τάσσω “disposed.” The translation was clearly done for theological, rather than linguistic reasons. Many cite I Corinthians 16:15 as a parallel but there are some differences. The word τάσσω is used in an active, not a passive voice and there is a big difference between being disposed or inclined to do something and being devoted to doing something. The word τάσσω never means “disposed” in Luke.

In addition, Luke does not say that some were disposed to faith (as if he said “all who were inclined to believe Paul’s message came to faith”). He says appointed to eternal life, not appointed to faith. The type of verb used is significant. It is not as if people who were emotionally moved by Paul’s preaching came to faith. The disposing or appointment did not come at the time of the preaching but before it. The Greek participle used is in the perfect tense, which refers to a completed act in the past which has present consequences.

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[8] The middle voice is used in Acts 28:23 and is used like an active verb but the aorist has a distinct middle form that is different from the passive middle.  The perfect tense used in Acts 13:48 does not have two different forms, so Acts 28:23 is not exactly parallel.

 

Spiritual Exercise Program

The heading in my Bible calls this chapter “Instructions to Timothy”. Paul is giving Timothy some instructions about how to be a pastor. What is the first thing Paul tells Timothy to do in this chapter? Point some things out to people (4:6). What things? That would be verses 1-5. What Paul wanted Timothy to tell people in his day, pastors need to tell their flock today.

What’s the message? Paul gives a prophecy here. This prophecy he says comes from the Holy Spirit. Paul is not making this up and the prophecy is very clear. There is no doubt about it and the prophecy has been fulfilled. What did Paul predict would happen in the latter times?

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

Paul’s Two End-Time Predictions

1. People will abandon the faith.

You cannot abandon something or give it up unless you already had it to begin with.  This is a prediction that people, especially in the end-times, will give up their faith.  They will stop coming to church and leave Christianity.

This is called apostasy.  These are people who once believed the Bible, went to church, claimed to be Christians, but now have given it up. They may be people who discipled you. They may be former Sunday school teachers or small group leaders. (cf. II Timothy 4:2-4).

Notice what happens when you reject the truth, you open yourself up to lies and myths.

2. People will begin to follow false teachers.

And Paul even tells us what some of these false teachers believed (I Timothy 4:1-5) but he also makes an amazing statement. What does he call their teaching? Doctrines of demons (“things taught by demons”).

Some doctrines are not just false, they are demonic.  Some teaching is demonic in origin. It comes from demons. (cf. I Cor. 10:18-22). Pagans thought they are worshiping Zeus or some other pagan deity but they were actually worshiping demons.

There are millions of gods worshiped in India but there is a demon behind each one. Some major religions are based on the appearance of a so-called angel. In 610 AD the angel Gabriel supposedly appeared to Muhammad in Saudi Arabia and revealed a book which contradicts the Bible (Koran).

In 1823 the angel Moroni supposedly appeared to Joseph Smith in the US and revealed another book of Scripture which contradicts the Bible. But these religions were not started by angels but demons posing as angels. (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

Here we learn something interesting about Satan. He’s very smart. He knows how to trick people. He doesn’t go around as an ugly red devil with horns but as “an angel of light”. Just as God has ministers, Satan has ministers.

They have a ministry of deception and error. His ministers pose as “servants of righteousness”. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They don’t go around as wolves. That is why Paul calls them in I Timothy 4 “seducing spirits”.

Paul says that these false teachers are actually hypocrites (morally wrong, as well as doctrinally wrong).  They have a seared conscience. They did not have a clear conscience or even a weak conscience, they had a seared conscience. What is that? Your conscience is the voice inside your head that tells you the difference between right and wrong.

When you sin so many times against your conscience, you can permanently damage it and sear it. People can get to the point when they can kill someone and don’t feel any remorse. The fanatical Muslims who chop off people’s heads are at that point. They commit the most barbaric acts and don’t think they have done anything wrong, because they have a seared conscience.

In I Timothy 4: 3 we see what these people actually taught in Paul’s day and it is a bit surprising. They taught a super spirituality. “We don’t need marriage or food. Sex is for weak people”.

They thought they were more spiritual for denying themselves what God allowed and for being stricter than the Bible and people do this today. How would a doctrine like this come from Satan? Satan does not want us to enjoy what God has given us to enjoy (4:5).

Now there’s nothing wrong with being single. Jesus was single and so was Paul. But there is something wrong with forbidding marriage. God created marriage. In the same way, there’s nothing wrong with following some rules that are not in the Bible (e.g, no fish on Fridays). There is something wrong with demanding that everyone else do so as well. Then we become like the Pharisees and try to impose a bunch of man-made rules on people.

Train Yourself to be Godly

In I Timothy 4:7 we get Paul’s second instruction to Timothy. One was negative (avoid godless myths and old wives’ tales) and one was positive (train yourself to be godly). I want to focus on that second part – train yourself to be godly.

Notice, he doesn’t just say, “Be godly” but “train yourself to be godly”. Godliness requires training, which is the word γυμνάζω in Greek (from which we get the word “gymnastics”). Godliness  doesn’t  happen by itself. What does it mean to be godly?

Jerry Bridges says that in twenty-five years of ministry, he has met many gifted Christians but few really godly Christians. What does it mean to be godly? What is the difference between being good and being godly?

To be good means to be moral; to be godly is to be spiritual. It is someone who not only knows God but is close to God and, like Enoch, walks with God.  So all of us need to train ourselves to be godly. It’s our responsibility. What does Paul compare this training to? Exercise. He compares spiritual training to physical training.

The Value of Physical Exercise

Physical exercise is popular today. Everyone is talking about “getting into shape”.  Paul lived in a day in which people worshiped the body. The Greeks were preoccupied with physical training. The Olympics began in Athens, Greece. If you notice, Paul was not against exercise. He said that physical training “has some value”.

Physical exercise has many benefits (relieves stress, build muscle, helps with weight loss, strengthens the heart) but it doesn’t help you spiritually at all.  Paul was not against exercise. He did NOT say that physical exercise had no value. He said that it has some value but is limited in scope and duration.  Physical Exercise – helps the body and is good for this life only.

The Value of Spiritual Exercise

How does godliness help the body? This has been proven by science. Studies have shown that people who are religious and attend church live longer, healthier lives. They have lower mortality rates. Guess what? The Bible says the same thing. If you live a godly life, you live longer as a general rule. Exodus 20:12 says “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

You may think this just applies to Israel, since it mentions the land of Canaan which God gave the Jews but the Apostle Paul applies this command to Christians in the NT. He generalizes it in Ephesians 6:1-3.

The wicked live a short life (smoke, drink, over eat, do drugs, sexually promiscuous). Their sins kill them. Anna Nicole Smith is a classic example. Dead at age 39 tragically. Would she have lived longer if she had lived a godly life, instead of the lifestyle that she chose? There’s no question about that.

Spiritual exercise helps the body and soul.  It is good for this life and the life which is to come.   Where do we spend most of our time and energy?  Do you focus on physical or spiritual exercise?  Which do you spend more time on throughout the week?

We often do all kinds of physical exercises to help the body but not too many spiritual exercises which help the soul and the body.  We give ourselves a physical workout but rarely give ourselves a spiritual workout.  Some of us may be in great shape physically but are spiritually fat and out of shape.  Many of us are spiritually obese.  We exercise our physical muscles but do not exercise our spiritual muscles.

How Do We Become Spiritually Obese?

1. We eat the wrong things spiritually.

Some of us may need to change our physical diet.  We eat too many cheese burgers.  Others of us may need to change our spiritual diet.  Some Christians eat spiritual junk food.  If all we read are devotional books and never study any deep theology, we become spiritually fat.

2. We are too sedentary spiritually.

We need to use our spiritual muscles.  We need to get up and use our spiritual gifts.  If sedentary lifestyles lead to physical heart attacks, what happens when we become spiritually sedentary?  The effect can be just as deadly.

3. We do not apply what we know.

We get fat physically by taking in more than we burn up.  We eat more calories than we burn.  We become too sedentary.  We come, sit, take it in and don’t use what we learn every Sunday. If we study the Bible for information without application, we become spiritually fat.  We become “bible fatheads,” as one preacher used to  say.

Paul goes on to say that spiritual exercise is far MORE VALUABLE. Physical exercise will help in this life but that is all it will do. Spiritual exercise is good for this life and the life to come. Godliness is good for this life. That seems like a strange statement but it has been proved scientifically. There have been all kinds of studies that say that people who are religious and attend church live longer lives and are healthier than those who do not. They have lower mortality rates.

Personal Application

Godliness requires training. It doesn’t happen by itself. What are we doing to train ourselves to be godly? What type of spiritual exercise program are we on (consistent prayer, Bible study, Scripture memorization, one-on-one accountability, small group, church attendance, fasting)?

This is a little convicting. This leads us to ask two important questions. All of us should ask ourselves two questions. Are we doing anything to train yourself to be godly? (remember it doesn’t happen by itself) and if so, What are you doing?, What type of spiritual exercise program are we on (prayer, fasting, bible study, scripture memorization, one-on-on accountability, small group membership, etc.). If we are not on one, we need to get on one.

If you are just beginning a spiritual exercise program, you should start slow (as with a physical exercise program). As with a physical exercise program, you will start to see the results almost immediately.

“This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance  (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”

If Christ is the Savior of all men, then why don’t all men go to heaven? Why isn’t the doctrine of universalism true? Christ is the Savior of all because He died for all (cf. 2:4), not because all people will eventually be saved. I Timothy 4:10 is a good verse AGAINST five point Calvinism. Jesus died for all people, not just the elect.

“Command and teach these things.  Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Christian leaders are to be an example in five areas (speech, life, love, faith and purity). Why would people look down on Timothy because of his age? This is a cultural thing. Timothy lived in the east, rather in the west. In the east, people respect older people. Unfortunately, they do not do the same in the west. Timothy was considered young, even though he was probably around thirty at the time.

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”

In I Timothy 4:13, we see Timothy’s three jobs (teaching, preaching and Scripture reading). It was important to read Scripture in the services because not everyone in the first century was literate and there were very few Bibles.

Are Teaching and Preaching the Same?

While the two words can be used synonymously, there is a slight difference between the two concepts.  They involve slightly different spiritual gifts.

Teachers Instruct

Teachers convey information and explain things.  Teachers tend to stimulate the intellect.  Teachers explain what the Bible means.  They interpret what it says and often answer objections that critics raise.

Teachers generally do not shout and scream.  If you listen to a teacher, you will learn new things about a topic.  John MacArthur is an example of someone who has the gift of teaching.  He is known for his expository bible teaching

One of the advantages of verse-by-verse expository teaching is that it exposes the congregation to the whole counsel of God.  One of the main problems of the contemporary church is the problem of biblical illiteracy.

One of the reasons that the sheep do not know God’s Word is that their shepherds are not feeding them.  There is no in-depth teaching of God’s Word in most churches today.

Preachers Motivate and Challenge

Preachers stimulate the emotions and the will. They generally tend to raise their voices a little more than teachers.  They do not so much explain the Word as apply it. The goal of the preacher is not for the sheep to know some things but to do some things.  The goal is life change.

Preachers are more interested in transformation than information.  They focus on what we need to DO, not what we need to know.  Most pastors are more preachers than teachers.  Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones who once said, “Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.”[1]

People tend to gravitate toward one or the other. If you are a left brain person and are very analytical, you will like teachers. If you are a right brain person and are less logical and analytical, you will like preachers more.

All pastors should do a little of both.  When you preach, you should teach.  When you teach, you should preach but the reality is that most are either preacher or teacher types. The gifts are slightly different.

[1] Martin Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, p. 97

Is America Under Divine Judgment?

America in Biblical Perspective

Alan Lewis
Elon, NC
October 24, 2008

I want to begin by reading Amos 1-2. Amos was a prophet who lived in the 8th century BC. Pastor Mike likes him because he was an old country preacher. He was from the southern kingdom (Judah) but God called him to prophesy to the northern kingdom (Israel). People in the north didn’t like him and told him to go back home to the south to make a living. Amos said that he didn’t become a prophet because that’s what he always wanted to do when he grew up. He didn’t become a prophet because that’s what his father wanted him to do. He became a prophet because that what God called him to do (Amos 7:10-15).

Amos is from the south but goes to the north and has a message of judgment for the north but he is very tactful as to how he does this. Amos 1 is a prophecy of judgment on six of Israel’s neighbors that surrounded Israel to the north, south, east and west . Amos points the finger at these Gentile nations and all the Jews were saying, “Amen.

These wicked pagan nations deserve judgment”. In chapter 2 gets a little closer to the Jews by prophesying against Moab. The Moabites were descendents of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. Then he prophesies judgment on the southern kingdom and they still said “Amen” (the north and the south had a civil war and didn’t get along too well) but he finally points the finger at the north and says that God is going to judge you as well. There are three very powerful lessons that we can learn from this book that apply directly to our own country.

I. Nations as well as individuals can sin.

Nations can sin, as well as individuals. There is such a thing as corporate guilt. There is such a thing as national sin. Nazi Germany had the blood of six million Jews on their hands. The nation of Israel in the first century had the blood of Jesus on their hands. Remember, they said, “His blood be on us and our children” (Matthew 26:25). Now the Jews did not execute Jesus. The Romans did that but they were responsible. He was the Jewish Messiah, sent to the Jews and they rejected him.

Zechariah 12:10 says that in the future Jews will come to repentance and look on Jesus as the one whom they pierced, even though they were not even alive at the time Jesus died but they felt a corporate responsibility for the death of their own Messiah. The big questions is this, Do we as a nation have a national sin? What is America’s national sin or sins , since Amos mentioned multiple sins that nations have (three transgressions or four). The following is a short list of some of our national sins.

• Legalized abortion (one of the greatest crimes in the annals of human history). Right now about 850,000 babies are aborted every year in America. Over forty-eight million have been killed since abortion was legalized by Roe v. Wade (1973). Hitler killed only six million Jews. I realize that this is not as bad as China where they force people to have abortions but 48 million babies – that is eight times more babies that were aborted than Hitler killed in the Jewish holocaust.

• Legalized Prostitution in one state (Nevada has legalized brothels).

• Legalized Drugs (12 states – Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington – approve and regulate the medical use of marijuana).

• Legalized Euthanasia. One state has Physicians Assisted Suicide (Oregon) . On January 18, 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Oregon, upholding the PAS law. California is trying to be the second state in the country to have the law (California Compassionate Choices Act of 2007)

• Gay Marriage (MA). It is not enough to have homosexuality legal in the US. Massachusetts has changed the definition of marriage. That is the reason for the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), also known as the Marriage Protection Amendment, which proposes to amend the United States Constitution to define marriage in the United States as a union of one man and one woman. Both McCain and Obama oppose this amendment.

• Pornography (generates billions of dollars of sales in the US. It is a multi-billion dollar industry. An estimated 211 new porn movies are made each week in America). America’s greatest strength (freedom) is also America’s greatest weakness.

• Illegitimacy (In 1960 the illegitimacy rate was 5.3%. In 2005, the national illegitimacy rate was 36.8% of all births in the United States. The white illegitimacy rate is 25%. The Hispanic illegitimacy rate is twice the white rate (47.9%). The African-Americans illegitimacy the rate is 69.5% (2/3 black babies are born out of wedlock). Our national illegitimacy rate is seven times higher than it was in 1960.

According to the national media (Newsweek, New York Times), America is in a state of decline because of the economy and the Iraq war. They are absolutely right that the nation is in a state of decline but it has nothing to do with the Iraq War or our economy. Right now we have two candidates running for President. Both have a different agenda for the country but neither sees the moral state of the country as one of the biggest challenges we face. Both think that political solutions will solve everything.

II. Nations as well as individuals can be punished.

God judges nations as well as individuals. There is such a thing as national punishment. He judges them a little different. Individuals go into eternity. Nations don’t go into eternity. God judges nations in history, not eternity. The question is, how specifically does He judge them? He judges them by natural and man-made calamities (Amos 3:6). That leads to this question: Is God judging America today? Someone has said, “If God doesn’t judge America, He would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

There is no question that God has blessed our nation. We do have a Christian heritage. We are one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world but we have also had our share of natural and man-made calamities. What follows is a list of some of the calamities we have seen in America in just the last seven or eight years. Some of these you may remember and some you may not. These are not all of the disasters we have seen in our country, just some of them.

1993 – World Trade Center Building (Twin Towers) was attacked,
killing 6 injuring 1040.

1995 – Oklahoma City Bombing (killing 168 and injuring 800).

2001 – Terrorist attack in PA, NY and DC killing 3000, as well as a
bioterrorist attack (anthrax)

2003 – Flooding in nine Midwest states (ND, SD, NEB, KA, MIN, IA,
MI, WI and IL) which led to 16 billion dollars worth of
damage (50,000 homes destroyed and 50 killed)
– Wildfires in CA (over 2000 homes destroyed and 15 killed).

2004 – Three hurricanes in FL: Hurricane Frances (killed 49 + 9
billion dollars worth of damage + 14 billion dollars worth of
damage) and Hurricane Ivan (killed 124) & Hurricane
Charley (10 deaths and 15.4 billion dollars worth of
damage)

2005 – Hurricane Rita (killed 120 in Louisiana) and Hurricane
Katrina (killed 1836 in FL, LA, MISS, AL).

2007 – Great drought in the southwestern part of the US, greatest
drought since since the Dust Bowl years of the Great
Depression (1930s)
– Wildfires in CA that left 8 dead, destroyed 2000 homes (2
billion dollars damage)
– a bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis over the Mississippi
River, killing 13 people.

2008 – wildfires in northern CA which may become the largest fire
in Californian history. It has already destroyed over
750,000 acres of land.
– Super Tuesday tornado which attacked five states mostly in
the southern US (MO, TN, AR, AL and IL (killing 59)
– Flooding in the Midwest (IA, IL, WI, IN, MN), killing 13.
– Financial Crisis (mortgage crisis, stock market crisis) which
led to a 700 billion dollar bailout by the US government.

Just because a nation has a disaster is not necessarily proof of divine judgment, any more than it is proof of divine judgment every time an individual has some disaster (every time your car breaks down) but when there is disaster after disaster, one begins to wonder. Is God judging America or trying to get our attention? Cf. Amos 4:6-11.

III. Nations as well as individuals can repent.

There is such a thing as national repentance. That is what the Jews will do in Zechariah 12:10 (cf. II Chronicles 7:14, which is one of the most misquoted passages of Scripture. It is a conditional promise (four conditions). It is a national promise and it is a promise specifically addressed to the Jews (“my people”), not to America or any other Gentile country) . But while the promises are not addressed to America, II Chronicles 7:14 does give the elements of national revival (humility, confession, repentance, prayer) . The same principle of national repentance applies to Gentile nations (Jonah 3).

All of this should lead us to have great concern for our country and to pray for our country. We have had four revivals in our history. The first Great Awakening was in the 1730s and 1740s with Jonathon Edwards and George Whitfield. The Second Great Awakening is usually associated with the fiery NY evangelist C.G. Finney in the 1800s. The Third Great Awakening started in the 1880s with the revivals of D.L. Moody, the founding of what is now Moody and the Niagra Bible Conference. The Fourth Great Awakening was in the 1960s and 70s with Billy Graham (the evangelist who preached the gospel to more people than anyone in history).

The Collection

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians for a long time. It is the second longest book that Paul wrote. The Book of Romans is the longest book Paul wrote. I Corinthians is just a few paragraphs shorter. We came to the final chapter of the book. I want to finish the book tonight.

On the surface, the chapter seems to be that exciting. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot there, just a few greetings to some people. Actually, there are some great lessons for us in this chapter on giving and decision making. It is a very practical chapter. We see a very different side of Paul in this chapter. The first lesson has to do with money (16:1-4).

Before we look at what Paul says here, I need to give you a little background. One of the big problems with the Church of Jerusalem was poverty. In the ancient world, poverty was a real issue.

Many people were poor. For some reason, this church in Jerusalem was poorer than other churches in the first century. There were a number of reasons for this. First, there were a number of widows in the church (Acts 6:1-6). Second, there was great persecution in the church (Acts 8:1).

Third, there was a famine in the city of Jerusalem that lasted four whole years (Acts 11:28). The poverty was so great that people had to sell their land and houses to get some money (Acts 4:34). They had to share everything they owned (Acts 4:32).

He had asked the churches in Galatia to do this (16:1). That would include a gift from the churches in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. From II Corinthians, we learn that some of the churches from Macedonia gave money to this collection as well. It is interesting to me that Paul NEVER asked for money for himself or for his own personal needs.

Many televangelists are always begging for money. Paul never asked for money for himself but on several occasions he asked for money to met the needs of others (Titus 3:13). He asked some of the other churches he planted to help out and now, he asks the Corinthians to do the same thing.

The Corinthians said, “Great. We are on board. We want to help”. This was not only an act of compassion; it was an act of unity. Here we see one church helping to the financial needs of Christians in another church. It is also a cross-cultural ministry.

Poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem are getting a big gift from all of these Gentile churches who wanted to help them. It would be like a white church helping a poor black church out financially. So the Corinthians wrote Paul a letter and one the things they said to Paul was, “We want to help but how do we do it?”.

Paul answers that question in 16:1-4. It begins with the words “now about” or “now concerning”. Whenever Paul gave an answer to one of their questions he always began with those words (“now about spiritual gifts” or “now about food offered to idols”)

Paul’s Collection (16:1-4)

Paul instructed them to have the collection ready before he got there, so that when he got there, he wouldn’t have to raise money. Then they were to choose men in the church who are trustworthy to take it to Jerusalem. People you can trust with a big bag of money. They don’t have to be experts in finance or business; they just have to be honest, godly people who are trustworthy. They got to pick who the men were.

Paul offered to go with them men. It would be his second trip to Jerusalem to help these poor Christians. Paul and Barnabus made a trip in Acts 11. That was before Paul’s first missionary journey. They were sent out as representatives of the church of Antioch.

We know from the Book of Romans, which was written from Corinth on his third missionary journey that he decided to go to Jerusalem with them (Romans 15:25-26). After taking the money there to help out some poor Christians, he gets arrested (Acts 20:22; 21:17; 24:17).

What stands out to me in this whole plan is Paul’s compassion for people. Paul writes the greatest love chapter in the Bible in I Corinthians 13 and in this chapter he says, “Do everything in love” (16:14). But Paul did not just talk about love, he demonstrated it. Paul’s Christianity was very practical.

Paul had a heart for poor Christians. He didn’t just ask people to pray for these poor Christians. He asked churches to give a gift to them and he helped deliver their gift to this group of believers in Acts 11:27-30. This is love in action. That gift apparently was not enough, so he asked them a make a second gift for them.

Does the church have an obligation to help the needy? Yes. We should try to help the needs of Christians in our own church and possibly some in other places that need out support (cf. James 1:27; Romans 12:13).

Since this was something that Paul told all of his churches do, it is something that churches should still do today. The church is a body. When one member suffers, they all suffer (I Corinthians 12:26).

When I was living in Chicago and going to Harvest Bible Chapel, I was out of work for a year and a half. I was on unemployment and was trying to find a job but couldn’t find one for the longest time.

My unemployment check didn’t cover all of my expenses and bills to support five kids. I will never forget one day in December around Christmas time, after small group, some of the men handed me a check and I was shocked. We actually had some money to buy Christmas presents that year.

Another thing that stands out in this section is Paul’s integrity. Paul was very careful when it came to money. Paul was not going to touch the money at all to avoid any hint of a scandal. He did not want to come as a fund-raiser. The Corinthians were to raise the money. The Corinthians were to keep the money and they were to send the money by messengers of their own choosing.

They chose the men and all Paul did was to commend the men. Paul did not want to give anyone the impression that he was taking this money for himself. His personal integrity was at stake. Later on his life says, “I have coveted no man’s silver, no man’s gold, and no man’s apparel” (Acts 20:33). Paul was not doing this for himself. He did not even take a salary from the churches he started, although he had a right to.

Paul then gives the Corinthians four principles of giving in this section. They are not the only principles of giving. There are more in other passages of Scripture but there are five that stand out in this section.

Five Principles for Giving

1. Giving is to be Mandatory

This giving was not to be optional but mandatory. Who was supposed to give? Paul says, “Each one of you” (16:2). Every Christian in the church was expected to give. Paul wanted all to give. They weren’t expected to all give the same amount but they were all expected to give.

Rich people were expected to give and poor people were expected to give. Remember, there were both rich and poor people in this church (11:21). If you are completely broke, you can throw a quarter or a penny in the offering.

Even the poor in the OT had to bring some kind of an offering to God. If they could not afford to buy cattle or sheep, they could bring a turtle-dove or pigeon and if they could not afford that, they could bring some flour (Leviticus 5:7-13).

2. Giving is to be Planned

Giving was to be planned, not just spontaneous. Paul says that they were to set this money aside (16:2). They were to come to church with this already prepared. They were not to go and wait until the Spirit moves them to take your wallet out.

3. Giving is to be Proportionate

Giving is to be proportionate to your income. Some will give more than others. How much were they to give? This may seem a little strange but Paul doesn’t say how much they were to set aside for this collection. His only rule is that we should give “as God has prospered”.

Paul does not tell each person to give a certain amount. He does not even tell each person to give a certain percent. He doesn’t say, “On the first day of the week, everyone should bring in ten percent of their income”.

II Corinthians 9:7 says, “each decide in your heart how much to give”. That is very different from a predetermined amount that everyone is required to give. Giving is to be “according to what one has, not according to what one does not have” (II Corinthians 8:12; cf. Ezra 2:69).

4. Giving is to be Regular

It was to be done “on the first day of the week”. Why was that day chosen? It was because that was when the church met (on Sunday).

Keith Krell is absolutely right here when he says, “This implies that people got paid once a week in the first century, and that’s why they are encouraged to give once a week. If you get paid twice a month I’m sure God will accept your giving twice a month. The important point is that you give on a regular basis.”

5. Giving is to be Voluntary

Giving was a command. It wasn’t optional but Paul does not use high pressure tactics to get people to give, like the telemarketers or door-to-door salesman that try to twist your arm to get money. It was to be voluntary as the Lord has prospered you (II Corinthians 9:7). Giving is a command but the specific amount we give is between you and God. It is voluntary.

Paul’s Coming (16:5-9)

After talking about the collection (16:1-4), Paul talks about his coming (16:5-9). Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote I Corinthians. Ephesus is in modern-day Turkey. Paul had some definite plans. He wanted to get from Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey) to Corinth (modern-day Greece) and he wanted to get there through Macedonia.

That was not the shortest way on the map but he wanted to visit the churches he started on his second missionary journey. When he gets to Corinth, he wanted to spend some time there (16:7) but he did not want to leave immediately, because he had an open door to minister in Ephesus.

When he finally gets to Corinth, he wanted to stay for a while and spend some quality time with the Corinthians. Remember, this church had all kinds of problems.

Lessons on Decision Making

1) It is not wrong for us to make plans or to set goals.

They should be based on prayer and godly counsel but they are not wrong (Proverbs 12:5). Paul made his plans and we make plans all of the time (go to this school or that school, marry this person, go into this profession).

2) ALL plans are subject to the will of God.

God is sovereign over all of our plans (Proverbs 19:21). That is why Paul says, “I hope to spend some time with you, IF THE LORD PERMITS” (16:7). Paul left all his plans up to the will of the God. God often thwarts some of our plans and that is why we need to pray, “if it is your will” (James 4:13-15). That was a prayer that even Jesus prayed (“not my will but yours be done”).

3) We need to maximize our opportunities.

Paul wanted to minister in Ephesus and he wanted to go to Corinth and minister but the door in Ephesus was still open. People were receiving the gospel in Ephesus so he was not ready to leave yet. We need to make the most of the opportunities God gives us.

Ephesians 5:16 says that we are to “make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil”. The problem is that we often waste the opportunities God gives us. For parents, it means making the most of the time they have with their kids before they leave the house.

Paul’s Companions (16:10-12)

1. Timothy

He said that Timothy is coming to see you right now but Apollos is not. Timothy was coming to see them (cf. 4:17) but Paul was concerned about him. Some of the Corinthians didn’t like Paul and they were going to treat Timothy (Paul’s right–hand man) with contempt.

The same word is used in Luke 18:9. They looked down on him. They despised him. He wasn’t an apostle and didn’t have the gifts or authority that Paul had. The lesson here is that people who minister the Word of God should be treated with respect and should be honored, not dishonored.

2. Apollos

Apollos is not coming. This is interesting. The Corinthians liked Apollos better than they liked Paul. He was more popular. That didn’t bother Paul. He still got along fine with Apollos. He still encouraged Apollos to go see the Corinthians but for some reason he did not want to go at that time. Paul as an Apostle did not say that he had to go right then.

Paul’s Commands (16:13-14)

Paul lists five closing commands for the Corinthians.

1. Be on your guard (16:13)

2. Stand firm in the faith (16:13)

3. Be courageous (Greek says “act like men” or “be manly” (16:13)

4. Be strong (16:13)

5. Do everything in love (16:14)

Paul’s Consideration (16:15-18)

Paul mentions the names of three people – Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus. They were apparently the three people that carried the letter of the Corinthians with their questions to the Apostle Paul. Paul talks a lot about Stephanas. This is a person who was apparently not treated too well in the church.

Some may not have respected him. He says two things about him. He was one of the first people saved in the whole area (Greece). He is an older Christian. In fact, he was one of the very few people Paul baptized (1:16). Paul also says that he is devoted to ministry.

Paul’s Conclusion (16:19-24)

Here we have Paul’s final greetings. Notice the reference to house churches. Aquila and Priscilla had a church that met in their house. Churches did not meet in church buildings until the third century. After the greetings, he put on a curse. He says, “cursed is anyone who does not love the Lord Jesus”.

The KJV reads “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” Anathema is a Greek word (cursed). Maranatha is an Aramaic word (our Lord comes). Mar=Lord. An =our. Atha=comes.

The KJV does not put any punctuation between the two words, which is a mistake. It combines a curse and a prayer. There should be a period between the two words. This raises an important question for you to answer. Do you LOVE the Lord Jesus?

That is strong language. There is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus. You either love him or hate him. Those who hate him are under a divine curse. They end up in Hell. How can you tell if you love Jesus? Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Notice how Paul ends his letter. He signs it. He autographs it. Someone else wrote the letter. He used a secretary and dictated the letter. There were no computers in the first century. All letter writing was done by hand. Maybe his handwriting was really bad but at the end he signed it. He did this with all of his letters (Colossians 4:18; II Thessalonians 3:17).

Why did he do it? To guarantee he wrote the letter. He did it for the same reason we sign a letter after typing it. He also did it because people tried to forge his letters and write letters in his name (II Thessalonians 2:2).

The Rapture

Some have called I Corinthians 15 one of the most important chapters in the whole Bible. Tonight, we come to one of the most important subjects I have ever shared with you. I look at what the Bible teaches about the rapture. Let’s begin by reading the three main passages on the rapture in the NT (I Corinthians 15:50-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-17; John 14:1-3).

Introductory Questions

1. What does the word “rapture mean?

What does the word “rapture” mean? The Greek word for rapture is ἁρπάζω. It is used thirteen times in the NT and it means to take or seize by force (e.g., John 6:15; 10:12, 28; Acts 23:10). It does not always imply the direction upward, although it can mean that. Our English word “harpoon” comes from this Greek word. A weapon used to snatch whales out of the water.

2. Is the idea of a rapture completely ridiculous?

To us the rapture may seem like a wild idea. It seems crazy that at some time in the future millions of people will suddenly and mysteriously disappear off the face of the earth but did you know that there are other raptures in the Bible.

This is something that has already happened in biblical history six times. Six people in the Bible were ruptured – Enoch (Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5), Elijah (II Kings 2:1-11), Jesus (Revelation 12:5), Philip (Acts 8:39), Paul (II Corinthians 12:2, 4), John (Revelation 4:1-2). These are types of the rapture of the church.

3. Why are there so many views on the rapture?

The topic of the rapture evokes strong responses by people. There are many people who absolutely hate the doctrine of the pre-trib rapture. They call it a hoax. They call it Christian fiction. They argue that the word is not in the Bible and is false doctrine.

They see it as something that was manufactured in the 1800s by the Plymouth Brethren. There are some who not only believe it is biblical; they write books on fifty reasons for the pre-trib rapture of the church. In some circles any other view on the rapture is almost regarded as heresy. Let me try to put this into perspective. I would point out a couple things here.

The Rapture Basics

1) There many different views on the rapture by Christians.

There are not just one or two, there are four views on the rapture. Some Christians believe it will take place before the Tribulation (pre-trib). Some will think it will take place in the middle of the Tribulation (mid-trib). Some think it will take place between the middle and the end of the Tribulation (Pre-Wrath) and some think it will happen at the end of the Tribulation (post-trib).

2) These four views are all held by conservatives who believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

They are not held by liberals. Liberals do not even believe in the rapture. Gleason Archer, for example, was an arch conservative. He wrote the book on biblical inerrancy and was part of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. He believes the rapture will take place in the middle of the Tribulation.

Wayne Grudem, another evangelical who also signed the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in 1978, believes the rapture will take place after the Tribulation.  Other conservatives hold to the Mid-Trib or Pre-Wrath Rapture of the church.

3) Whatever your view of the rapture, whenever you believe it will take place, should not be a test of fellowship.

Even Charles Ryrie agrees that the rapture question should not be a test of fellowship. It is not an essential doctrine of the faith. Some doctrines are essential (Deity of Christ, Virgin Birth) . The Bible is clear on these doctrines and all Christians agree. Other doctrines are non-essential.

The Bible is not as clear and Christians who love the Lord and believe the Bible to be inspired and inerrant have different views. There is a famous quote that says, “In essentials unity. In non-essentials liberty. In all things love”. Because of this, I believe that this is an area that we need to have a little grace with other believers who disagree with us.

The Second Coming is an essential doctrine of the faith. If you deny that Jesus is coming back, you are denying an essential doctrine that is at the core of the Christian faith. It is in some of the earliest Christian creeds. As for the rapture, the FACT of the rapture is clear in the Bible. I would call that an essential doctrine. All Christians can agree that one day Jesus will return and the church will be ruptured in the clouds to meet him.

What is not an essential doctrine is the TIMING of the rapture Exactly when it takes place is not as clear. There is no argument about IF the rapture will take place. The argument is WHEN it will take place (before the Tribulation, after the Tribulation, in the middle of the Tribulation).

For example, what happens immediately after the rapture? Where do we go after Jesus comes and gets us and we meet him in the clouds? Does Jesus take us back to heaven or does he take us to earth?

Neither passage on the rapture says explicitly. All Paul says is, “And so we will be with the Lord forever” (I Thessalonians 4:17). After Jesus says that He is going to go and prepare a place for us and come back and get us, He says, “that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3).

There reason these verses didn’t tell us where they went next is that it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that at the rapture we will be with Jesus. Where he takes us is irrelevant. Scripture focuses on what is important.

The tragedy of the church is that the doctrine that was intended to be a source of comfort and encouragement (I Thessalonians 4:18) has become a source of division, disunity and controversy.

Let’s look at seven things that the Bible says about the rapture of the church and how this doctrine applies to us practically.

Facts About the Rapture

1) This coming is a Revelation

The doctrine of the rapture of the church is a called in the Bible a “mystery”. That is the biblical word for a divine revelation (Gk. μυστήριον). It means new truth that was never before revealed. It was not even revealed in the OT.

It was a secret. A secret is not something that is necessarily mysterious. You just don’t know it until someone tells you what it is. None of us would have known about the rapture if God had not revealed it to Paul. Paul got this doctrine by special revelation.

When Paul begins to talk about the rapture he said, “This we say to you by the word of the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:15). That should not surprise us that OT saints did not know about the rapture of the church, because they also did not know about the church at all. The whole concept of the church as the body of Christ made up of Jew and Gentile is also a mystery (Ephesians 3:1-9).

2) This coming will involve ALL Believers

There are two main parts to this promised coming of Christ.  It will involve both the living and the dead.

First, dead believers in Christ will be resurrected from the grave.

Paul said, “The dead in Christ will rise first” (4:16). This resurrection will be selective. It will not affect everyone just Christians, those “in Christ”. Dead Christians been in the grave for hundred if not thousands of years will all of the sudden come to life. Bodies will be flying out of tombs all over the place.

Second, living believers in Christ will be raptured.

Millions of people on the planet will suddenly disappear. The last generation of Christians will go to heaven without dying. That is a mystery. It would be cool to receive a resurrection body while you are still alive, to be totally and permanently transformed into his image without even dying. It might also be a little scary. You go to the bathroom and start flying up to the clouds.

Both I Corinthians 15 and I Thessalonians 4 deal with the rapture. They describe the same event but they emphasize two completely different things. I Thessalonians 4 emphasizes DEAD believers who will be raised. The emphasis in I Corinthians 15 is different. I Corinthians 15 emphasizes LIVING believers who will be changed and transformed at the rapture. Both will happen when Jesus returns to get the church.

The question for Christians in Thessalonica was whether believers who DIED would share in the glory of the Second Coming. Are they going to miss out on the rapture of the church? Paul said, No. They will share in the Second Coming. God honors dead Christians.

Psalm 115:16 says, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints”. He is not going to forget them. They will be first. They will be given a new body before we get one. How cool will that be to meet for the first time some of our own relatives, our ancestors who were Christians.

The question for the Christians in Corinth was different. The question is Corinth was whether those who are ALIVE would receive the same benefit as those who died. Paul taught that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (15:50).

We can’t go directly to heaven in these bodies. Even the most spiritual Christian on earth is not ready to live in heaven. Paul says that we will receive the same benefit as deceased believers. Our bodies will go through a transformation from mortality to immortality at the rapture.

3) This coming will affect ALL Christians

Whether they are living or dead, all Christians will be changed ((not some or a few or most). Living Christians will be raptured. Dead Christians will be resurrected and far more Christians will be resurrected than raptured. All Christians at the time of the rapture will change from one body to another. Paul says, “We shall not all sleep but we shall all change”.

Every single believer on earth from the baby Christian to the most mature saint (and including true believers who have fallen into sin) will be taken up into the clouds. Death is the general rule for humanity. The Bible says, “It is appointed unto man to die and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) but there is one group of people (actually a whole generation of people) who will NOT die.

4) This coming will be very SUDDEN

The change will be instantaneous. It will not be a gradual process. It will be quick and sudden in less than a second. It will take place fast, so fast you may not even see it (in a “moment” and in the “twinkling of an eye”).

5) This coming will be UNEXPECTED

There will be no warning. There will be no announcement. It will just happen (Matthew 24:44). No one knows the day and no one knows the hour. We don’t know that month it will take place. We don’t know what year it will take place and we don’t know what time of the day it will take place (late at night or early in the morning).

Jesus said, “The angels don’t know and I don’t even know when it will take place” (Mark 13:31). The Second Coming will also be unexpected. It will take people by surprise. Jesus said, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44). The same is true of the rapture.

Harold Camping said it would take place on May 21st. If Jesus didn’t know when the day would be, then Camping doesn’t know when they day will be. Harold Camping does not know more than Jesus or the angels in heaven. Camping was wrong about May 21 and everyone else who has set a date for the rapture has also been wrong. It is a secret. It is not revealed. God hasn’t told us when it will take place.

In fact, there are six verses in the Bible which specifically prohibit setting a date for Jesus’ return. There is not one or two. There are six (Matthew 24:36, 42, 44; 25:13; Acts 1:7; I Thessalonians 5:1-2).

The interesting thing is that there was a way to predict when the first coming would be. There was a mathematical calculation in Daniel 9 which predicts the first coming of the Messiah but there is no mathematical calculation for the second coming of the Messiah.

6) This coming will be AUDIBLE

I am not sure if this is the view that Tim Lahaye portrays in his Left Behind series. I believe he portrays the rapture as something that happens quietly as millions of people secretly and mysteriously disappear. The rapture will actually be a loud event, a sound which John Calvin said “which will be heard throughout the whole world”.

It will not be a silent affair. That does not mean that unbelievers on earth will know necessarily what is happening. They may or may not know what is happening but they will hear something to be sure. The rapture is associated by three audible sounds. What are the three audible sounds? I Thessalonians 4:16 tells us.

First, Christ will return with a LOUD command. Who is the one speaking here? The text does not say but it must be Jesus. Jesus said, “a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live” (John 5:28-29). If you remember, when Jesus raised Lazarus the text says that he “called out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43).

Second, there will be the VOICE of the archangel. Michael is the archangel (Jude 9). He is the head of all of the angels and has his own group of angels (Revelation 12:7). Angels are the highest created beings and this is the top angel. When Jesus returns, Jesus will say something. The top angel in heaven will say something.

Third, we will hear the SOUND of a trumpet. Why a trumpet? When a king would come, a trumpet was often sounded. The trumpet sound is mentioned in I Thessalonians and in I Corinthians 15. The Trumpet is sounded when Jesus returns to earth and it is said to be a “LOUD trumpet call” (Matthew 24:31).

7) The event will occur at the LAST TRUMPET

Paul does not just say what will happen, he tells us how and when it will happen. What will happen? We will all be changed. How will it happen? It will be in the twinkling of an eye. When will it happen? At the last trump.

When will the last trump be? Not all Christians agree on that question. Many believe this is a strong argument against the view that the rapture will be seven years before the Tribulation period starts because all kinds of trumpet sounds take place throughout the Tribulation (Rev. 8:2, 6, 13; 9:14; et al).

If the last trump is sounded around Revelation 6 at the rapture, then what are the other trumpets that are sounded a few chapters later?

Pre-tribuilationists point out that other trumpets will be sounded in the Millennium. Even if the post-tribulationists are correct, it will not be the last trumpet sounded, because a trumpet will be sounded in connection with the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles which will be celebrated in the Millennium (Zechariah 14:16-19).

It is the last trump as far as this world is concerned. When Jesus returns and the Millennium begins, the world will go through radical changes. It will be a completely different world.

Some argue that there is a difference between the trumpet of an angel and the trumpet of God (I Thessalonians 4:16) and many of the trumpets in the Tribulation are sounded by angels but this argument is weak, because God often does things through the agency of angels. God often uses them to do his work.

If you read, Genesis 19, you will see two angels were sent down to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and yet the text also says that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

How Should This Doctrine Change My Life?

1. This doctrine should serve as an ENCOURAGEMENT to believers

That is what Paul said in I Thessalonians 4:18, 13. How can the doctrine of the rapture be an encouragement to believers?

• It is an encouragement to know that Jesus may return in our lifetime, that this may be the generation of believers that gets caught up in the clouds. Jesus said that he is coming soon (Revelation 22:20).

• It is an encouragement to know that when Jesus returns we will miss death. That is what you call cheating death.

• It is an encouragement to know that when Jesus returns we will get a new body that is sinless and immortal.

• It is an encouragement to know that when Jesus returns his reward will be with him (Revelation 22:12; I Corinthians 4:5; 15:58). Even if everyone else think your labor is vain or appreciate what you do for Christ, Paul reminds us that our labor in the Lord is NOT in vain (Hebrews 6:10).

• It is an encouragement to know that when Jesus returns people will see Christ and be reunited with believers who died.  When Paul talks about the rapture and says “comfort pone another about these words,” he is not saying take comfort that you will escape persecution, suffering and tribulation.  In the context, he is saying that you can take comfort that you will see your loved one again who knows the Lord.

• It is an encouragement to know that when Jesus returns, the rapture will affect all Christians, not just some of them.

2. This doctrine should serve as an WARNING to believers

Why would this doctrine be a warning?

• Some Christians may not be ready to see Jesus.

They are not prepared spiritually. What percentage of the church do you think will actually be ready when Jesus comes? Many Christians are carnal, living lukewarm lives. They are not living for the Lord. They are not using their talents or serving Christ. Some are living in sin.

Many have absolutely no interest in biblical prophecy and are not even looking for his coming. They are more interested in advancing their career or moving up in society. The Bible says that when Jesus comes some will be ashamed (I John 2:28) and I believe that this includes some Christians.

• In fact, some may be surprised at the rapture, because they think they are believers but when Jesus comes back, they will be left behind.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming. Whenever the rapture happens, the question is, Will you be left behind? Watch http://www.godvine.com/Are-You-Ready-for-Jesus-to-Come-Back-Shocking-Must-See-Video-198.html

3. This doctrine should serve as an EXHORTATION to Christians.

There are some moral implications to the rapture (I John 3:2-3). Because Jesus is coming, we need to get ready (Matthew 24:44). How do we do that?

• We shouldn’t be too tied to this world. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:19-20).

• We can leave this world at any time. Are you living as if today could be your last day?

• We should be laboring for Christ now. As Paul says, we should be “always abounding in the work of the Lord” (15:58)

What if Jesus Never Rose from the Dead?

We have been studying I Corinthians and the last two weeks we have been in chapter 15. The topic of this chapter is the resurrection. It is often read at funerals. I Corinthians 15 is important for a few reasons.

First, it is the LONGEST chapter in the entire book.  I Corinthians 7 was a very long chapter but this chapter is about two hundred words longer.

Second, it is the ONLY time in the book that Paul deals with a doctrinal error.

Most of the time in this book, Paul has been talking to the Corinthians about the way they lived. He has been correcting moral errors (members of the church visiting prostitutes or sleeping with their step mammas).

In this chapter he corrects a doctrinal error. There was something that some members of the church at Corinth believed that was false and Paul is going to tell why it is false.

What did some of the Corinthians believe? They believed that the future bodily resurrection of believers. We see this in 15:12: “How do some OF YOU (notice those two words) say there is no resurrection of the dead? (15:12).

Now they did not deny life after death. They believed that after you die, you go to be with Jesus if you are saved. What they did not believe is that their body would one day be resurrected. They believed that after you died, your body just rotted in the tomb never be seen again.

Why did they believe this? Who is Paul writing to? Most of the members of the church were Gentiles, not Jews. The Jews believed in the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, one group of the Jews, did not believe in the resurrection (see Acts 23:8; Luke 20:27) but most Jews did.

The Pharisees in particular did (Acts 23:6, 9) and Paul was a Pharisee before he became a Christian (Acts 23:6; 26:5). The Jews believed in the resurrection of the dead. It is a biblical doctrine. It comes right out of the OT. What did Job say? “Though worms destroy my flesh (By now they have. It has been thousands of years since he said that), yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26; Daniel 12:2).

The Bible teaches that everyone is going to die. Death is universal (except for believers who will be alive when Jesus returns). Everyone will die and everyone who has died will one day be resurrected. Every sinner will one day be resurrected. Every mass murderer and serial killer (Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Jack the Ripper, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, Jim Jones, John Wayne Gacy), as well as every saint will one day be resurrected.

Steven who was killed by a mob with rocks and stones will one day be raised from the dead. The Apostle Peter was crucified will one day be raised. The Apostle Paul who was beheaded will one day be raised from the dead.

Other people who were fed to hungry lions or burned at the stake (like Joan of Arc) will one day come back to life. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out” (John 5:28-29)

The ancient Greek did not. Many of the Corinthians had a Greek background and thought like Greeks. To a Greek the resurrection of the body was offensive. When Paul preached in the city of Athens, they listened to him until he started talking about the resurrection (Acts 17:30-32). They thought that matter was evil.

They called the body a tomb. They saw the body as a prison of the soul. A Greek welcomed death. They believed that death opened the prison doors. They believed that death released and liberated your soul from your body. The Greeks believed that the resurrection of the body was not only impossible, it was undesirable, because they thought that the body was evil.

Some of the Corinthians had some wrong views on the resurrection because they were Greeks and because they were overly influenced by the philosophy of the day.

They came from a Greek culture and after they became Christians they still had Greek influences on their thinking. We can do the same thing today. After we become believers, we can become more American than Christian and can be overly influenced by our culture.

That is why the Bible tells us not to be conformed to the world, not to do everything that is socially acceptable, because what the world says is right, what society says is perfectly fine to do, is not necessarily what God says is right. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. What the world says is wise, God says is foolish. What God says is wise, the world says is foolish.

So how does Paul correct this error? What does he say? He uses LOGIC to correct their error. Paul responds with sheer logic. Notice what he says in 15:13 (“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised”).

The Corinthians believed that Christ rose from the dead but did not believe that they would one day rise from the dead. The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the exact opposite. They believe that they will one day be physically resurrected but deny that Jesus rose from the dead bodily. They believe that just his spirit arose.

What is Paul saying? He is saying that the view of the Corinthians was illogical. It was completely inconsistent. The Corinthians were logically wrong because they hold two contradictory statements to be true at the same time.

First, they hold the resurrection of Christ from the dead to be true. Second, they hold the resurrection of anyone from the dead to be false. They must choose one or the other. Logically one cannot affirm and deny the resurrection of the dead at the same time.

Major Premise: People do not rise from the dead,
Minor Premise: Jesus was a person
Conclusion: Jesus did NOT rise from the dead.

If you say that men can’t rise from the dead, then you have to say that Jesus did not rise from the dead, because he was a man. To say that there is no resurrection of the dead, and yet to affirm that Christ rose from the dead is a logical impossibility.

Then Paul answers a second question. Last Sunday was Easter. In 15:14-19, Paul asks this question: What difference does Easter really make?

What if Jesus did NOT rise from the dead? What difference would that make? What if the body of Jesus was discovered in Jerusalem? What if some archaeologist dug up his bones? Have they already done so? That is what supposedly happened in 1980.

Was the Body of Jesus Recently Discovered?

On March 28, 1980, just outside of Jerusalem, some construction workers accidentally uncovered a 2000 year old cave holding 10 coffins. Six of the 10 ossuaries had names on them: “Jesus, son of Joseph; Maria; Mariamene; Matthew; Judas, son of Jesus; and Jose, a diminutive of Joseph.”

The bones were said to be 2000 years old and were found in Israel. On March 4, 2007, the Discovery Channel put out a documentary called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”.

It was produced by James Cameron, the Oscar winning Hollywood director who brought us the True Lies, Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, The Titanic, Avatar and others. What did the documentary say?

It said that this was actually Jesus’ tomb. It had the names Jesus, Joseph and Mary. In fact, Jesus is the son of Joseph in the coffin. There is a Mary buried there as well. It said that Mariamene is Mary Magdalene. This person was also married and had a child.

The show claimed that not only was this the body of Jesus but that Jesus got married to Mary Magdalene and had a child named Judas because Judas is called “The son of Jesus”. The show brought forth all kinds of experts.

Did they find the body of Jesus? No. After the show came out there were all kinds of criticisms. The interesting thing is that the criticism did not merely come from Christians, it came from archaeologists. The show made all kinds of claims but did not prove any of them. None of the experts on the show were even archaeologists.

In fact, Amos Kloner, the archaeologist who had supervised the initial 1980 dig of the tomb, completely repudiated it. He oversaw the excavation of the site and said that this is not the bones of Jesus and said that Cameron may be a great film producer but knows absolutely nothing about archaeology.

There is absolutely no historical evidence that Jesus was ever married. There is not a shred of evidence that Jesus ever had a child. The name Mariamne is never used of Mary Magdalene in the New Testament. The name Mariamne, in fact, never occurs in the NT. That name is not found in any literature until the second century.

All of these names found in the coffin were actually quite common during the time of Jesus. The names “Mary,” “Joseph,” and “Jesus” are among the most popular names in the ancient Jewish world.

James Charlesworth of Princeton Theological Seminary says that there a first-century letter written by someone named Jesus, addressed to someone else named Jesus and witnessed by a third party named Jesus.” Mary” is the most common female name in the ancient Jewish world. About one in every four women in first century Judea had the name Mary.

So the program was completely discredited. It made really good TV but bad history and terrible archaeology. It was so discredited that when it was going to be re-broadcast, it was cancelled but that does not stop some from believing in it. There is a website that still promotes the theory and tries to sell the DVD. If you like conspiracy theories, this involves a huge conspiracy.

Let’s go back to our original question. What if the body of Jesus were discovered? Would it make any difference to our faith? The German scholar Rudolf Bultmann tried to completely separate faith from history. He believed that events in the past had absolutely no bearing on our Christian faith.

There are liberals today who would say that if someone dug up the bones of Jesus today, it would not change their faith at all. The Apostle Paul had a different view. He said that If Jesus did not rise from the dead, it would make a big difference. In fact, he said that if Jesus did not raise from the dead, we have five problems.

Five Results of Denying the Resurrection

1. If Christ did not raise from the dead, our preaching is VAIN (15:14).

If Jesus did not raise from the dead, then preaching about Christ is useless. Evangelism is a big waste of time. Paul devoted his entire life to preaching the gospel. If Christ is not risen, then Paul has been wasting his time. Christianity is worthless. The skeptics are right. Close the doors and sell the church. All of the missionaries should come home.

2. If Christ did not raise from the dead, our faith is VAIN (15:14, 17).

Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection. If Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is true. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole Christian faith is destroyed. Some say that it doesn’t matter what happened to his body.

Paul says if Jesus did not rise, your Christian faith is vain. It is worthless. It is completely pointless to preach and it is pointless to believe the message that is preached about Jesus.

It does you absolutely no good. It accomplished nothing. It saves no one. A dead Christ cannot save anyone. If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption.

If there is no resurrection, sinners will have to stand before a holy God who hates sin and must judge it. Without the resurrection, We are without hope. The resurrection is the proof that we have that God accepted Christ’s payment for our sins (Romans 4:25).

3. If Christ did not raise from the dead, Christians are FALSE witnesses of God (15:15).

Paul uses courtroom language here. A false witness is someone who goes into the courtroom and under oath commits perjury. Paul is saying that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, all of the apostles are liars.

They concocted a story that they knew was false. They went and preached to the world that he rose from the dead and that they had personally seen him when they know that he did not. If that is not true, that would make Peter and Paul liars.

It would put the apostles in the same category as Joseph Smith and Muhammad. It would make them false teachers and deceivers. They not only say things that are false, they have said things that are false about God. If there is no resurrection, Christians are just con artists.

4. If Christ did not raise, those who died believing in Christ have PERISHED (15:18).

What does that mean? It means that they went to Hell. They not only lived all their lives in sin, but the dying ones have perished. They stood before God as a sinner and without a savior. There is no hope even for Christians who died. You will never see them again. They are gone forever.

5. If Christ did not raise, we are to be PITIED more than all human beings (15:19).

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, why would Christians be pitied by the world? They are not just wrong there are stupid. They are not only deluded and deceived, they are risking their life and being martyred for a lie.

Our Resurrection Body

Before we look at our passage for tonight, I want to do a little review from last week. Last week, we looked at an important lesson found in I Corinthians 15. Paul says, “Evil company corrupts good morals”. We saw that evil is contagious and there were two applications from that principle.

One lesson was to avoid false teachers. Paul was telling the Corinthians to avoid people who taught that there was no resurrection. There are some people today, saved people, who go to liberal churches week after week. That affects not only what they believe but how they live.

A second lesson was that we should avoid associating with people who live an immoral lifestyle. There are several levels of contact. It is not wrong to work with some of these people or go to school with them but they should not be our close friends, people we hang out with and spend a lot of time with. Let’s read our passage for tonight – I Corinthians 15:35-44

Paul begins by answering two questions in 15:35. What are the two questions? The first question is, How are the dead raised?. It is the kind of question a skeptic would ask, perhaps someone on a university campus. Is resurrection really possible? The second question is, With what kind of body will they come? What did Paul think of these questions? He thought they were foolish (15:36).

Some questions are foolish. Some people ask questions not because they want to learn but just to argue (If God is all-powerful, could he create a rock that he could not lift? or How can you possibly believe the Bible when it is full of contradictions?). Other people can ask many of the same questions and be sincere and really want to find out the answer.

Paul answers these questions but the way he does it is quite interesting. He appeals primarily to nature. There are many things in the world that illustrate spiritual truth. The whole universe is like a spiritual blackboard.

The physical world in many ways is analogous to the metaphysical world. Paul was observant of nature. He was observant of animals and cosmology and even gardening and he used all of these to illustrate the resurrection.

Every time you go out in the garden, you learn a lesson on the resurrection. What is Paul’s answer to the first question? He says, “When a seed is planted in the ground, it dies” (15:36). It doesn’t literally die or it would not produce a crop. It dies as a seed. It must cease to exist in its original form as a seed before it can come to life in its final form as a plant.

It is just an analogy. It is not a perfect analogy. Seeds germinate. Dead bodies in the grave don’t germinate. Paul is not proving the resurrection. He is just giving an analogy. If the Corinthians wanted proof for the resurrection, all they have to do is to look at the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. He rose from the dead twenty-five years before Paul wrote I Corinthians.

The second question Paul answers is, With what kind of body will they come?. That brings us to our topic for today, the topic of the resurrection body. What is our resurrection body going to be like? Will we recognize one another? Will there be gender in heaven?

Jesus said that in heaven we would be like the angels? Will there be marriage in heaven? Will we be able to eat with our glorified bodies? Scripture does not tell us everything that will happen when we have glorified bodies.

Paul wrote earlier, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). There is a lot that we don’t know about what life will be like in the resurrection but there are some things that we do know. I wasn’t to share with you four facts about the resurrection body and a few characteristics of that body from the text. This is a fascinating topic to me. This topic will blow your mind.

Facts about the Resurrection Body

1. We will have a BODY for all eternity.

Some of us like our bodies and some of us may not. Not everyone can look like me but for all eternity we will have a body. We will not just be immaterial spirits floating around on clouds for all eternity. God could make us like angels after the resurrection. Angels are spirit beings. They do not have a physical body.

We will be like angels in some ways but we won’t turn into angels. We will be like the angels in the resurrection (Luke 20:34-36) but we do not become angels. If you do not like your body now, wait till I describe what the resurrection body will be like.

2. This body will be a PHYSICAL body.

This body will be a body that you can touch. It will be physical and material. How do we know this? Cf. 15:47-49. Paul says, “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man (Adam), so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven (Christ)”. We will bear the likeness of Christ in our resurrection body.

The Bible says that when Jesus returns we will be like him (1 John 3:2). In fact, it specifically says that our body will resemble His body (Philippians 3:20-21). Our body will be like his body. What was his body like after the resurrection?

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus arose in his spirit, not his body. The Bible teaches that Jesus was raised with a physical body (Matthew 28:9; Luke 24:37-43; John 20:24-27). There’s a one problem with this.

If we will have a physical body in the resurrection, then why does Paul call it a “spiritual body” in 15:44? What Paul meant by the word “spiritual” is completely different from what we mean today when we use that word. Spiritual does not mean immaterial, it means supernatural.

In fact, nowhere does Paul use the word spiritual to mean “non-physical”. The RSV rendering of 15:44 (“It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body”) is completely inaccurate. He mentions two kinds of bodies – a natural or literally a soulish body (σωμα ψυχικόν) and a spiritual body (σωμα πνευματικόν).

A soulish body does not mean that our body is composed of soul. Our body is material. Likewise, a spiritual body does not mean a body that is composed of spirit. Just as our body now expresses the soul within in it, our resurrection body will express the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will have complete control of our bodies.

3. Our resurrection bodies will be SIMILAR to the bodies we have now (15:35-41).

It will not be completely new and different. Paul illustrates this truth in I Corinthians 15 using gardening. Every gardener knows that there is a continuity between the seed and the plant.

There is a connection between what goes into the ground and what comes out of the ground. When you plant apple seeds, you get apples. If you plant corn, you do not get cucumbers. What goes in comes out. The same is true of the resurrection.

Paul also illustrates this truth with zoology and astronomy. Notice what Paul says in 15:39-41. Paul says that all flesh is not the same kind of flesh. He illustrates this from zoology. He mentions four different types of flesh on earth (men, birds, animals, fish).

God not only made a lot of different animals, He made a lot of different kinds of animals. God could have made one spider. Instead, he made 30,000 different types of spiders. How many people are in the world today?

The total number of people living on the planet is 6.93 billion. Not only did God make a lot of people, he made them all different. Most of the seven billion people in the world do not look alike. They come in different sizes, shapes, colors, races. They all have different abilities and speak different languages. There is incredible variety in God’s creation on earth.

Paul points out that this variety continues in the rest of the universe. Paul says that stars differ from other stars in glory and splendor (15:41). The stars are all different kinds (red stars and blue stars). There are actually seven types of stars in order of decreasing temperature. The planets are all different.

Some are really big and some are smaller. Some have a hot temperature (Venus averages at 460 degrees) and some have a cold temperature (Uranus which averages -224 degrees). Some have an atmosphere and some do not (Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, is the only one that does not).

Some have a solid rocky surface and some are mostly made of different gases. Some have moons and some have no moons (Mercury and Venus are the only ones without moons). Some can support life and some cannot. Paul applies this principle to the resurrection in 15:42.

What is the lesson here? The bodies God gives are all different. They come in different forms and have different degrees of glory. That is true on earth. It is true in outer space and it is true in heaven. I want you to think about something that you may not have thought about before.

Our resurrection bodies will not all be exactly alike either. We will all be different. There will be variety. We will retain our individual identity forever. Your individual personality will survive death. That could be a scary thought.

I hope it doesn’t mean that there will be any annoying people in heaven but we will retain our individual identity forever. I believe that this implies that we will have gender in heaven . Jesus retained His gender after His death and resurrection. He was raised as a man and will be a man for all eternity (the God-Man).

Our genders are a part of who we are. God is not going to give everyone the same body, the same sex and make us all look alike. How boring would that be? We won’t have to wear name tags to tell each other apart. You will be you for all eternity. You will have the same name in heaven. You are not going to be Tony in this life and John in the next.

Our names are written in the Book of Life. Jesus had the same voice in his resurrection body that he had before he was raised. Mary recognized him (John 20:16) by his voice. Special intervention was needed to prevent two disciples from recognizing him (Luke 24:16).

You will be you for all eternity and people will know who you are. People always ask if we will recognize our loved ones in heaven. D.L. Moody was once asked that question and he said, “You don’t think we will be dumber then than we are now?” Death produces consciousness, not unconsciousness and one of the best ways to see this is in Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-26).

In that passage, the bodies of both the rich man and Lazarus were dead but their souls were not. They were conscious. The dead rich man could see (even though he had no eyes). He could hear, even though he had no ears. He could talk, even though his mouth was dead and buried in the grave. He could remember things.

He remembered that he had five brothers, so there will be memory in the next life and he could recognize people, even though he had no brain. He recognized Lazarus and Abraham and Abraham had been dead for two thousand years. In the same way the Apostles recognized Moses and Elijah in the Transfiguration, even though they had been dead for hundreds of years.

4. Our resurrection bodies will be DIFFERENT to the bodies we have now (15:42-44).

Muslims believe the resurrection body will be the same as it is now. That is why terrorists blow themselves up so they can go to heaven and be with seventy virgins.

Muslims believe paradise in heaven will be a place of physical and spiritual pleasure, with lofty mansions, delicious food and drink, and young virgin companions . Jesus said that in the resurrection there will be no marriage and if there is no marriage there will be no sex, because God created sex exclusively for married couples.

You say, “If there is no sex there, who would want to go there?”. Well, keep in mind, just because there is no sex in heaven does not mean that heaven will be no fun. There will be pleasure in heaven that is far greater than the pleasure we have on earth (Psalm 16:11).

This is just an analogy but when we were two years old, there were certain things we did for fun. When we become older, we do other things for fun. We would be bored doing the things we did when we were two or three.

Paul uses the analogy of gardening to show that the body we die with is not the body we are raised with. The plant that emerges from the ground looks very different from the seed that was planted.

We cannot tell by looking at the seed what the plant will look like. A tree does not look at all like an acorn. A butterfly looks nothing like a caterpillar. A flower seed looks nothing like a beautiful flower. Our resurrection body will be very different from our present body.

Characteristics of the Resurrection Body

Paul mentions five very interesting characteristics of our new resurrection body.

1) This body will be POWERFUL (15:43)

Our bodies will be strong. We will not need to exercise to get strong. We won’t need to watch what we eat, although we will be able to eat.

•  We will be able to DO all kinds of things with our resurrection bodies that we can’t do with our earthly bodies.

•  This body cannot get hurt. No more aches and pains. It will not get weak or tired. We won’t need to take naps. They will not experience pain on the inside as well (no more sorrow, crying or tears).

•  This body will not age. It will never get old. It will not start to slow down after a million years.

2) This body will be IMMORTAL (15:42).

We will not just have immortal souls, we will have immortal bodies. They will never die. We won’t need to have oxygen, food and water to survive like we do on earth. It will be impossible for this body to die.

Our resurrection bodies will live forever. Death will be destroyed (15:26). Death will die. It will be swallowed up in victory (15:55). Right now death is swallowing people up but eventually death itself will be swallowed up.

3) This body will be GLORIOUS (15:43)

Our bodies on earth have all kinds of flaws and imperfections. Some of them are ugly. Our resurrection bodies will all be characterized by gory. A body that is glorious is a body that is characterized by great beauty and splendor, a body that is magnificent.

It is a body that is characterized by God’s glory. They will be healthy and fit bodies. They will be bright and radiant. These bodies will be so bright, they will shine like the Sun (Daniel 12:3; Matthew 13:36-43) the way Jesus’ body did at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-2).

4) This body will be SPIRITUAL (15:44)

Our bodies on earth are often motivated by our sin natures. Our resurrection bodies will be perfect. We will be sinless for the first time in our lives. Everything we do will be prompted and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We sin. We sin every day. Can you imagine living in a body in which you never sinned? You never did anything wrong. You never had one bad thought. You didn’t say anything that you later regretted.

Free Will in Heaven

If there is no possibility of sin, does that mean we will no longer have a free will in heaven? Do we lose free will in heaven? By free will what we really mean is freedom of choice.

There is a sense in which we will have free will and there is a sense in which we will not have free will in heaven. It all depends on how you define freedom. There are two ways to understand freedom.

One view is that there is no freedom of choice unless you are able to choose one of two different possibilities (called libertarian freedom). In heaven we will not be free in that sense because we will be sinless.

We will have no evil desires and no temptation to sin. The Bible teaches that we will be confirmed in holiness NOT able to sin (Revelation 22:11) but we will still have freedom in another sense.

If you go to McDonalds, you can get a Big Mac or a fish sandwich. What if you hate fish sandwiches and never eat them. Every time you go, you get a Big Mac. Would it be a problem if fish sandwiches were removed from the menu?

Would that affect your freedom of choice? No. Another way to understand freedom is the freedom to make choices without anyone compelling you to do something against your will (called compatibalism).

Christ’s servants will serve him in heaven (Revelation 22:3) and the word “serve” is in the active voice in Greek. They will not be forced to serve him against their will. They will CHOOSE to serve Him and WANT to serve him. We won’t be robots in heaven.

Does this mean that we will not have freedom because we cannot sin? No. It means that we will be like God. God is sinless. He is perfectly good because that is his nature. He cannot sin. It is impossible for God to sin. Does that mean that God is not free? Of course he is but, based on the libertarian logic, He would not be free.

5) This body will be MYSTERIOUS (15:51)

There are some things about this body that we will not understand. That should not surprise us. There are some things about our earthly body that we do not understand. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and we are still learning new things about this body. We didn’t really know about DNA until the 1950s. It has not even been one hundred years.

There are some things about the resurrection body that we do not understand. We will be able to do some things with that body that we cannot do with this body. It will not subject to the same laws of nature that out body is subject to. Jesus’ resurrection body was able to appear and disappear (Luke 24:31). Jesus’ resurrection body was able to go through doors or walls.

On Easter Sunday, the disciples are in a house with the doors locked because they were afraid and all of the sudden Jesus shows up in the room (John 20:19). A week later, he does the same thing and this time Thomas is there (John 20:26). Our resurrection bodies will be able to go right through solid objects.

Jesus’ resurrection body was able to travel great distances faster than the speed of light. He appears to believers in Jerusalem and Galilee. It ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-10) not apparently subject to the law of gravitation. Our resurrection bodies will be able to travel fast without a car or plane.

The Moral Value of the Resurrection

We are doing a study of I Corinthians. For several weeks we have been in chapter 15 studying the topic of resurrection, not the resurrection of Jesus (although Paul deals with that too in the first eleven verses) but our resurrection. It is the only doctrinal chapter in the whole book. The rest of the book deals with practical or moral questions. We have learned several things about our resurrection and will learn more things in the next few weeks.

Is this a major or minor doctrine? Apparently, this is a major doctrine. It is the longest chapter in the book. Paul spent almost sixty verses talking about it. Paul did not write sixty verses on a minor topic. Why did Paul write the chapter?

He wrote it because there were some in the Corinthian Church who had some false ideas about the resurrection. They believed in the afterlife. They did not deny the immortality of the soul but they denied the resurrection of the body because they were Greeks and that was a common Greek view of the time. They believed in the resurrection of Jesus but they did not believe they would be raised from the dead and Paul corrects those errors.

How does Paul refute this error? He gives the Corinthians three different kinds of arguments. First, he gives LOGICAL ARGUMENTS for the resurrection of Christians (15:12-19). What does he say here?

He said that they are inconsistent. You cannot say that resurrection is not possible and yet say that Jesus was raised from the dead. That is a contradiction. Second, he gives THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS for the resurrection of believers (15:20-28).

Paul points out here that Jesus is the first fruits of those who sleep. He was the first person to be raised from the dead in a glorified body and his resurrection guaranteed our resurrection. He is the first fruits and we are the later fruits.

Third, he gives PRACTICAL ARGUMENTS for the resurrection (15:29-34). That is what we will look at today. Paul gives us the MORAL VALUE of the resurrection in these verses. There is a great application for us in this section. Let’s read I Corinthians 15:29-34.

Paul gives three practical arguments to the Corinthians for the resurrection. The first reason has to do with the baptism for the dead (15:29). Paul refutes a heresy about the resurrection by an appeal to water baptism. If there is no resurrection from the dead, why should you undergo a bunch of meaningless religious rituals?

We looked at this verse last week. We looked at how Mormons today misinterpret this passage. What is the baptism for the dead? No one knows. It could refer to people who are on their sickbed and are about to die and want to get baptized.

Paul’s point would be why go to the trouble to get baptized if there is no resurrection from the dead. It may refer to people who received the gospel and were baptized hoping one day to reunite with saved loved ones who passed away or were martyred. Paul’s point would be, why do this if there is no hope of being rejoined with loved ones in the next life?

No one knows for sure what the passage means. It is an obscure verse. Paul knew what he was talking about. The Corinthians knew what the baptism for the dead was but two thousand years later it has become a complete mystery.

The second reason he gives for the resurrection has to do with persecution and martyrdom (15:30-32a). If there is no resurrection, what is the point in risking your life for Christ to preach the gospel? Why risk your neck to get the gospel out? What’s the point in being thrown to the lions? What’s the point of being burned at the stake? In America, we do not suffer a lot of persecution for our faith.

Not too many Christians are martyred here. We have freedom of religion guaranteed in our Constitution. It is protected by the First Amendment. We live in the Bible belt and Christianity is quite popular but Paul did say, “EVERYONE who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus WILL BE PERSECUTED” (II Timothy 3:12; cf. John 15:20). Now not everyone will be martyred. Persecution can take many different forms. The point is that if you do not have any persecution in your life of any kind, you must not be living godly.

Christians in many countries (e.g., Muslim) do suffer intense persecution. Paul suffered all kinds of persecution. He says that he stood in jeopardy “every hour” (cf. II Corinthians 11:23-27). His life was constantly on the line. People were trying to kill him. He never knew when he would take his last breath. That is something that we don’t worry about in America.

Most of us do not wake up in the morning and wonder if someone is going to kill us today. Very few of us face danger and if we do it is not every hour. There are many who have very dangerous jobs and never know when it is their last day (soldiers, police officers, airplane pilots, firefighters) but they are not worried about dying for their faith.

Paul says “I die daily”. This is not a command but I have a question for you to think about from this verse. Are Christians supposed to die daily? We are to die daily in a figurative sense.

Jesus died once but we are to die daily in some sense. How do we die daily? We are to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). We should be willing to give up our lives at any moment. We are to die daily to the desires of the flesh. We are to mortify sin (Colossians 3).

The third reason he gives for the resurrection has to do with godly living (15:32b-34). It is based on the philosophy “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (15:32)? If there is no resurrection from the dead, then what motive is there to live a moral life on earth? If that is the case, there would be absolutely NO reason to live a godly life. Why don’t we all become hedonists?

Why don’t we all live for pleasure and make that our aim in life? if this is all there is, you might as well have some fun before you die? Why don’t we all just live like animals? Live for today. There is no tomorrow. Life is too short not to. The problem with that argument is that it is foolish. God does exist and one day everyone individually will stand before him. Death is not the end. We all will be resurrected. This life is not all there is.

Paul ends this section with a solemn warning. The warning says, Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character” (15:33). It is a very interesting quote. It is NOT a quote from the OT. It is NOT a quote from Jesus or any of the Apostles.

It is a quote from a secular writer who lived three hundred years before Paul. It is a quote from an unbeliever, a pagan Greek poet named Menander. He said something true and Paul quoted him (cf. Philippians 4:8). This was something that even unbelievers understood.

“Bad company corrupts good character”. What does that mean? Just as diseases are contagious, evil is contagious. Throw a good apple into a bucket of bad apples and the only thing that happens is that the good apple turns rotten. There are two powerful applications from this principle here. There are two ways this principle can be applied.

Application One – False Teachers

The first application has to do with false teachers. Evil company in the context refers to false teachers. People who believed that there was no future resurrection were false teachers (II Timothy 2:16-18). False teaching corrupts good morals.

If you listen to false teachers, they will not only corrupt the way you THINK, they will affect the way you LIVE, because evil company corrupts good morals. False teaching leads to false living. If you think wrong, you will live wrong. If there is no resurrection, there is no judgment and if there is no judgment, I might as well live anyway I want.

Application Two – Immoral People

The application has to do with immoral people. Evil company can also mean wicked, ungodly people. Remember in I Corinthians 5, Paul deals with the case of a man who was living in incest and the church tolerated it.

What does Paul say about it? He told the Corinthians to exercise church discipline on the man and said “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?” (5:6). I don’t know if Paul knew how to cook but he used a cooking illustration.

In biblical times, when people made bread, they included an ingredient called leaven. Leaven is yeast that makes bread rise. When you put leaven in dough, it affects the whole loaf. It doesn’t take much yeast to make a loaf of bread (two teaspoons).

Paul compares sin in the church to leaven or yeast in bread. When public sin is tolerated in the church, it will spread throughout the body. One church member who is allowed by the church leaders to live in open rebellion can infect the whole congregation.

Evil company corrupts good morals. The wrong kinds of friends can get you into serious trouble. This is a big deal for kids in school (e.g., high school or college). Friends are important. Of course, there are different levels of friendship (casual, close and intimate). We all need friends.

We need to be with other people but we need to choose our close friends wisely (Proverbs 12:26). One of the worst important decisions you will make is who your friends will be, because we often become like the people we hang out with. It is far worse to have the wrong sort of friends than to have no friends at all.

Paul is not the only one to say this. The OT says the same thing. The Book of Proverbs says that there are some people that you should avoid and that there are some people you should not associate with. Who are they?

People You Should Not Associate With

1. We are to not make friends with GOSSIPS (20:19).

People who gossip talk about other people. They spread unsubstantiated rumors about other people. You hang around people that gossip all of the time and you will be just like them. This group has no control over their tongue.

2.  We are to not make friends with SUBSTANCE ABUSERS (23:20-21; 28:7). This group has no control over their appetites.

3.  We are to not make friends with ANGRY people (22:24-25). This group has no control over their emotions.

4.  We are to not make friends with the SEXUALLY IMMORAL (5:3-8; 9:13-18). This group has no control over their body.

5.  We are to not make friends with THE WICKED (24:1-2; 22:5).

This group has no control over their actions. Cf. II Chronicles 19:2. This seems like a strange verse. Aren’t we supposed to live the wicked? There is a right and wrong kind of love that we should have for the wicked. The Greek word that is used here in the LXX is φιλέω (the love of friendship).

Jehoshaphat was saved. Ahab was a wicked king. He worshiped a false god and persecuted and even killed those who worshiped the true God. The two became close friends. They went to war together. They planned it so their kids got married to each other.

6.  We are to not make friends FOOLISH people (13:20; 14:7).

Not all fools are openly immoral people. There are some moral fools. Many are even religious. Do you know any fools? What exactly is a fool? What are some characteristics of fools? Let me list five characteristics.

Characteristics of a Fool

Poor Judgment

That is one sign. When we think of fools, we may think of people who are not very smart. Some may not be but other fools are highly educated. There are some fools who have PhDs (“wise fools”). Being a fool has nothing to do with IQ or intelligence. You may be at the top of your class. Many people who are very smart do stupid things (Anthony Weiner).

It is like teenagers who are foolish for dropping out of school in their senior year but I have seen kids do it. Fools have poor judgment, like building your house on sand (Matthew 7:24) or bowing down and worshiping insects, ants (Romans 1:22).

Arrogance

The fool is someone who is arrogant. They think they know it all (26:12; 12:15). They are not open to any type of criticism or feedback (17:10) because they think they are always right. By the way, they also do not listen to their parents (15:5)

Ignorance

They despise wisdom and instruction (1:7) and hate knowledge (1:22). This is not talking about someone who hates school. Wisdom here has to do with the Word of God. People who despise God’s Word and have no interest in learning and studying it are fools.

Irreverence

The fool says in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). That is not a sign of being open to other view points. It is the sign of being a fool. God calls the atheist a fool. Atheism is foolish. It is the philosophy that nothing made everything. These are the kind of people what you do not want to make your close friends.

If all of this is true, it raises this question for application. Who are the people you hang out with and spend the most time with? What kind of character do they have? Are they the kind of people you want to be like?

Didn’t Jesus eat with sinners? Didn’t he hang around many disreputable people? Didn’t Jesus hang out with all sorts of bad people (tax collectors and sinners (prostitutes, homosexuals)? Didn’t Jesus shock the religious establishment of the day by the people he associated with? Wasn’t he the friend of sinners? Aren’t we supposed to be like Jesus?

This is one of the most common myths that people have about Jesus. Jesus was the friend of sinners. Hymns have been written about this. Liberals love this idea. They argue from this that Jesus was completely inclusive and open. He accepted everyone as they were and ate with them.

Was Jesus the Friend of Sinners?

It is true that Jesus reached out to everyone. He reached out to all kinds of people, no matter how bad they were and no matter what the rest of society felt about them. It is true that he loved them and had compassion for people but this has been greatly misunderstood.

1) Jesus’ compassion for sinners does not mean that he endorsed their behavior.

Nowhere does Jesus ever condone sin (John 8:11). Jesus said “those that are SICK need a physician.” Healthy people don’t need a doctor. Jesus is not giving medical advice here.

He is not saying that you cannot go to the doctor for a check-up when you are well. He is just making a generalization based on daily experience. You go to the doctor when you are sick. He never denied that they were sick or had a problem.

2) Jesus’ ministered to sinners as their physician, not their friend.

Jesus hung out with sinners and even ate with them but why did he do it? Mark 2:17 tells us why. Jesus didn’t hang out with sinners and eat with them just to have fun. We don’t go to the doctor just to hang out and have a good time. Sickness requires a doctor. Sin also requires a doctor. If you have a sick body, you go to a doctor. If you have a sick soul, you need a Savior.

3) The Bible does not actually say that Jesus was the friend of sinners.

This is a common myth.  The Pharisees said this and they meant it as in insult.  “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’” (Matthew 11:18-19).

This is very clear from the context. When the Pharisees called Jesus the friend of sinners, it was on par to being a drunkard and a glutton. Jesus was the friend TO sinners but not the friend OF sinners, anymore than He was a drunkard or a glutton.

Baptism for the Dead

II Peter 3:15-16 says, “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters.

His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction”.

The Apostle Peter poked some fun at the Apostle Paul in one of his epistles. Peter was a simple fisherman. Paul was a deep thinker, a great theologian. Peter said that some things in Paul’s epistles were “hard to understand”.

It is pretty bad when some of your fellow apostles do not even understand what you are writing because it is too deep for them. Today, we will be looking at two statements by the Apostle Paul which are very difficult to understand.

Last week, we looked at several lessons on death and resurrection in the last section. We saw that death is unnatural, universal, representative, reversible and temporary.

We saw that Jesus was the first fruits, the first to be raised from the dead with a glorified body and we are the later fruits. We saw that the Bible teaches that everyone who dies will be raised from the dead (though not all at the same time) and that Jesus will be the one to raise people from the dead.

Today, we will be looking at some very deep doctrines. Some may be Christians all their life and never study these doctrines. We are looking at them because we are going through the Book of I Corinthians. To start off, I want to go back to some of those same verses to look at what Paul believed about the end times. What was Paul’s eschatology?

Paul gives a brief timetable of future events. He doesn’t list everything. There is no mention of the tribulation but notice he lists six events that go from 33 AD until the eternal state. What is Paul’s brief timetable of future events?

Paul’s Timetable of Future Events

1. Christ, the first Fruits, is raised from the dead (15:20).

2. The resurrection of Christians who died, the later fruits (15:23).

3. The Second Coming of Christ (15:23).

4. Jesus rules on earth in the Millennial Kingdom (15:25).

5. All enemies are destroyed – death, Satan, sin (15:24, 26).

6. The Son will be subject to God the Father (15:28) in the eternal state.

Questions

1. Does this mean that Jesus stops ruling and turns everything over to the Father?

I Corinthians 15:25 seems to say this. “For he must reign UNTIL he has put all his enemies under his feet”. If you just read this passage, you might think that Jesus will stop ruling and turn everything over to the Father.

Once all of his enemies have been defeated, his ruling may take a different form but he will still rule. He will not rule as a conquering King but will continue to rule as the prince of Peace. The form of his rule will change but Jesus will continue to rule. How do we know this?

  • Luke 1:33 says that Jesus will reign FOREVER (a quotation of Isaiah 9:7).
  • Luke 1:33 also says His kingdom will NEVER end (Luke 1:33).
  • Other passages say that Christ’s kingdom will be ETERNAL (II  Peter 1:11; Daniel 7:14, 27).
  • God says that Christ’s throne will last FOREVER AND EVER    (Hebrews 1:8). In fact, Revelation 22 mentions the throne of  God and the lamb in the New Jerusalem (22:1, 3).

Revelation 22:3 says that Christ’s servants will serve him for all eternity. So Christ will continue to rule in eternity but he will rule under the authority of the Father. He will NOT reign independently of the Father. He reigns for the purpose of glorifying the Father (cf. Philippians 2:9-11). That is exactly what he did when he was on earth.

2. How can Jesus be equal to the Father in power and authority and be subject to the Father?

I Corinthians 15:28 says, “When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him”. That is very easy to answer. I would make several points.

First, you can have submission and equality at the same time.

Husbands and wives are equal but one is supposed to be subject to the other. In fact, the same Greek word is used that is used here (ύποτάάσω) is used of wives submitting to their husbands (Ephesians 5:25).

The same Greek word is also used in Luke 2:51. Jesus was subject to his parents but was not inferior to his parents.

Second, this submission of the Son to the Father is functional, not ontological or metaphysical. It does NOT refer to nature or essence but to office or position.

Third, this submission of the Son to the Father is voluntary, not involuntary subjection. He was not coerced or forced by the Father to submit. He submitted Himself to the Father.

Baptism for the Dead

In 15:29 we come to a rather strange verse. The verse says, If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again? There is one group of people today who believe in this today.

Today, this is a Mormon rite performed in Mormon temples. They baptized deceased ancestors. Mormons believe that people who die can be baptized by proxy and given the chance to accept the gospel after death. Spirits cannot be baptized in water. It must be done by proxy.

The reason Mormons do so much genealogical study is so that they can do proxy baptisms. This is a very big deal to them. It is one of the most important things they believe that they can do. How did this doctrine begin?

You might be surprised but the Book of Mormon (1830) does not say anything about baptism of the dead. It began in 1841 based on a supposed revelation that Joseph Smith received.

Is this a biblical doctrine? How do we answer the Mormons? It is actually very easy. There are several major problems with the Mormon view and several assumptions that they make. Whenever you encounter a strange interpretation, you might stop and think about the assumptions it makes.

Problems with the Mormon Interpretation

1. It builds a major doctrine of their faith on one verse of Scripture.

Now if the Bible says something only one time it is true. God does NOT have to say something one hundred and fifty times for it to be true. However, you should NEVER base a major doctrine of faith on just one passage of Scripture.

Any true doctrine of God will be found in many places in the Bible. There is only one verse in the Bible that talks about baptism of the dead. This is a problem of methodology.

2. There is another problem of methodology.

Another rule of biblical interpretation is that you should NEVER base theology or doctrine on obscure passages. This is an obscure verse. No one knows exactly what it means. There are forty different interpretations of the passage.

There are very few passages in the Bible that we simply do not know what it means but this is one of them. Most of the Bible is clear but this passage is not. We should never use an obscure passage to contradict a plain passage of Scripture (because the Bible does not contradict itself) but that is exactly what cults do.

3. It is based on the assumption have you have to be baptized to be saved.

That is why the Mormons do this. The assumption is that if you die unbaptized you cannot be saved. Is baptism essential for salvation? No. If that was the case, then the thief on the cross never went to heaven. Baptism is important. It is a command. If you are not baptized, you are disobedient to a clear command of Scripture but baptism is not what saves you.

There are many who believe that you do have to be baptized to be saved, especially people who are members of the Church of Christ, and they have verses that they use. Some of them have some fairly strong arguments. I want to look at one of those verses.

Mark 16:16 and Baptismal Regeneration

What does the verse say? “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned”. What arguments from the text supports the idea of baptismal regeneration?

1) Most Baptists believe that “He who believes will be saved” but that is not what the verse says. It says, “He who believes AND IS BAPTIZED will be saved”. Who is the person that Jesus says will be saved?

Not just the person who believes but the person who believes AND is baptized. Note the conjunction “and” in the verse. It means not just one thing but an additional thing as well. The first argument is that faith and baptism are terms of salvation.

2) We also describe baptism as the first step after salvation but they would point out that the order is faith, baptism and then salvation. Baptism precedes salvation. It does not follow it.

What do you think of this argument? Is it valid? It sounds like a strong argument but there are several problems.

First, it is a logical fallacy.

The statement “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” is a true statement. The question is whether we can turn the statement around to say, “Whoever does not believe and is not baptized will not be saved”. We cannot.

It is a logical fallacy (negative inference fallacy or denying the antecedent). It is called the fallacy of modus tollens in Latin. It takes the logical form.

If A then B.

Not A.

Therefore, not B.

It would be like saying, “If a man lives in North Carolina, he lives in the United States. If he does not live in North Carolina, he does not live in the Unites States”. The first statement is true.

The second statement may or may not be true. He may be a resident of Florida or California and still be in the US. The Bible says if you do not believe you will be condemned (Mark 16:16b). Nowhere does it say, “If you are not baptized, you will be condemned”.

Second, baptism precedes salvation in the passage because final salvation is in view.

We know that from the future tense of the verb and because of the opposite of being saved is being condemned. So what is Mark 16:16 saying? Baptism was an outward symbol of faith. The two always went together but it was a symbol. F. F. Bruce (1910-1990) was a very famous biblical scholar. He lived in England.

He wrote over forty books. He died over twenty years ago. I have a personal letter from F.F. Bruce written over twenty-five years ago. In that letter, Bruce paraphrases this verse: “He who believes (belief being normally attested outwardly in baptism) will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned”.

4. It is based on the assumption that people will get a second chance.

If they did not believe the gospel on earth, they can believe it in the next life. That is unbiblical. The Bible teaches that NOW is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:2). It says that “it is appointed unto man once to die and after this THE JUDGMENT” (Hebrews 9:27).

We also have the account in Luke 16 of the rich man who went to Hades. He wanted a second chance but was not given one. If people who suffer in the next life are given a second chance, that would have been the perfect time to say so.

One passage they use is I Peter 3:18-20. After his death Jesus made proclamation to the spirits in prison. We are not quite sure if he preached to human spirits or angelic spirits (i.e., fallen angels) but it was probably the latter. There is only one time in the NT where the word “spirits” refers to people (Hebrews 12:23), every other time, it refers to angels.

After his death, Jesus preached to fallen angels who were imprisoned. The text does NOT say that he preached the gospel to them or that anyone got saved, just that proclamation was made. Were these spirits given a second chance? II Peter 2 makes clear that these spirits are held in chains until the final judgment (2:4-5, 9).

5. It is based on the assumption that the baptism of the living person is credited to the dead person.

The Bible teaches that salvation is a personal matter. That is clear from Ezekiel 18:20. Each person is accountable before God for His own life. No one can be saved for you, Romans 14:12 says, “Each of us will give an account of himself to God”.

No one can do it for us. Wives cannot believe for their husbands. Parents cannot repent for their kids. We cannot be baptized for our ancestors. That is one of the problems with infant baptism. Little infants are baptized on the basis of the faith of the parents. That is not biblical.

A Primer on Death and Resurrection

I Corinthians 15 is the greatest chapter ever written on resurrection. Today, I want to look at some basic things that we learn about death and resurrection in this section. We also learn some things about death in this passage.

Last time, we looked at what would have happened if Jesus never rose from the dead. It seems like an inappropriate question (a little blasphemous): What if what the Bible says is NOT true? It sounds like a question that a skeptic would ask but we asked it because the Apostle Paul asked it.

We looked at what some of the implications would have been had Jesus in fact not raised from the dead. Today, we get to look at the other side of the coin. Last week was all hypothetical. Paul says “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead”. The reality is that Jesus DID rise from the dead. Paul already explained how we know this in 15:4-8.

Implications of the Resurrection

Christ rose from the dead. So what? Why does that matter? What are the logical implications of the Resurrection? How does that affect us? Let me quickly mention four implications of that.

1) The resurrection is proof that JESUS is who he said he was.

It is proof that he is God (Romans 1:4) and that he is one day going to judge the world (Acts 17:31).

2) The resurrection is proof that Christianity is TRUE

The whole Christian religion stands or falls on the resurrection. If there is no resurrection, then the whole religion is a lie (15:15, 17). If it did take place, the Christian religion is true. The resurrection makes Christianity unique. No other religion on the planet believes their founder rose from the dead. Without the resurrection, Christianity is no different from any other religion.

3) The resurrection is proof that we are SAVED.

It is the proof that our sins are forgiven. It is proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Christ (Romans 4:25; I Peter 1:3).

4) The resurrection is also proof that WE will be raised.

Last week, we saw that some of the Corinthians did NOT believe that the bodies of Christians would one day be raised from the dead. They believed that Jesus rose from the dead but did not believe that they would be raised from the dead. We saw last week that Paul used logic to answer them.

You can’t affirm the resurrection of Christ on the on hand and deny your own resurrection on the other hand. Belief in the first necessitates belief in the second. He is saying that you can’t believe in one without believing in the other.

How would the Corinthians have responded to what Paul said? They would agree with Paul that Jesus rose from the dead but they believed that that was an exception. Paul says that the resurrection is not an exception but a GUARANTEE. His resurrection is a guarantee of our resurrection (15:20; 6:14; II Corinthians 4:14; Romans 8:11).

If you are a Christian, you WILL one day leave the grave. Nothing can stop that from happening. Every believer MUST have his Easter, just as Jesus had his Easter. No one could stop Jesus from rising from the dead. He rose, even though there was a big rock in front of the tomb and it was guarded by Roman soldiers.

In the same way, there is NOTHING that can stop US from rising from the dead. His resurrection demands our resurrection and the resurrection of every believer who has died. How do we know this? Jesus is called “the firstfruits” (15:20, 23).

Notice the twofold declaration in 15:20 – Christ has risen (one of the best attested facts in history) AND is the first fruits of those who slept. That is a beautiful picture of the death of believers. Paul says “of those who slept” and not “of those who died”. It is a picture of rest. That is what you do when you sleep and, interestingly, that word is never used of the death of unbelievers.

Notice that Jesus did not just rise from the dead. He rose from the dead as the FIRST FRUITS. A first fruit implies later fruits. Others must follow.

First means that others are coming. The first crop of corn or potatoes means that more is coming. Every Jew knew this, because it comes right out of the OT. In the OT, Jews were to bring their first fruits to the priest as a sacrifice and it was a sign of the harvest that was to come.

Paul takes this OT principle and applies it to the resurrection. Jesus could not be the only one to leave the tomb, because he is the first fruits. In fact, there is a sense in which our bodied are like seeds.

They are pretty big seeds. They weigh a few hundred pounds. If you bury a Christian, you are planting a seed and one day the body will come out of the ground and there will be a harvest of bodies, not of produce.

Now this first fruit analogy actually raises some questions.

Questions about the First Fruits

Question 1: Was Jesus even the first to be raised from the dead?

Resurrections Before 33 AD

1. The son of the widow Zarephath was raised from the dead (1 Kings 17:17-22).

2. The son of the Shunammite woman was raised from the dead (2 Kings 4:32-35).

3. A man was raised from the dead when his body touched Elisha’s bones (2 Kings 13:20, 21).

4. The son of the widow of Nain from the dead was raised from the dead (Luke 7:11-15).

5. The daughter of Jairus was raised from the dead (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-55).

6. Lazarus was raised from the dead (John 11:1-44).

Six people were raised from the dead before Jesus was raised from the dead. In fact, three of those people were raised by Jesus himself. There were others in the Bible who were raised from the dead. Peter raised Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36-41) and Paul raised Eutychus after he fell three stories to his death (Acts 20:9-10) but these came after Jesus.

Question 2 – How could Jesus be the first fruits, when he was not the first person to be raised?

There were actually six people who were raised from the dead BEFORE Jesus. The first person ever to be raised from the dead was the son of the widow Zarephath in I Kings 17 and there were five other people after him before Jesus raised from the dead, so how can he be the first? Skeptics argue that this is a contradiction. The Bible contradicts itself. Are the skeptics right?

Jesus was not the first to come back from the dead but he was the first to be resurrected from the dead never to die again. The other people were not resurrected in the same sense that Jesus was. They experienced resuscitation, but not a resurrection with a glorified body.

Everyone else who was raised from the dead eventually died again. Jesus was the first to totally and completely conquer death. He was the first to be raised with a glorified body that would never die.

Question 3 – How do we know that Jesus is the first fruits?

Paul answers that in 15:21-22. Notice the word “for” in verse 21. Christ is the first fruits of those who sleep and then Paul says for or because and gives a reason he is the first fruits. Let’s read verses 21. Man messed everything up and it was a man that came to fix things.

As one commentator put it, “It is for man to repair the evil done by man” . That is why Jesus had to come to earth and become incarnate. Verse 22 says, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive”.

When I first read those two verses I thought they said exactly the same thing but they don’t. What’s the difference? Verse 21 says that death and resurrection came by a man. Verse 22 says which man brought death and which brought resurrection.

I want to look a little closer at these verses. They tell us a little about death. When we think of death, there are several words that may come to our minds. Death can be tragic, as we see life cut short. Death can be cruel, as we see it takes even young children. Death can be painful. Many have died horrific, violent deaths. There are five more things we learn about death in this section.

Lessons on Death

Death is UNNATURAL

Death is not normal. According to some, death is just part of the cycle of life. They believe that death is completely normal and natural and that life has a cycle. Every living thing is born, lives and then dies. In Hinduism, death is not some great calamity but a natural process but, according to Scripture, death is unnatural.

It is the result of sin (cf. Romans 5:12; 6:23). Death is a result of sin. That means that there was no death before sin. That refutes evolutionists who say that animals died millions of years before man even was on the earth.

 Death is UNIVERSAL

I Corinthians 15:22 says, “As in Adam ALL DIE”. Romans 5:12 says “death came to ALL PEOPLE”. It is universal. It is inevitable and unavoidable. Ben Franklin said that the only two things that are certain in this world are death and taxes. You might be able to avoid paying your taxes but there is not way to escape death.

No matter what we eat or how much we exercise or how well we take care of ourselves or how many vitamins we take, we are all going to die one day. We die in different ways (cancer or stroke, heart attack, AIDS, car accident, plane crash or murder victim) and at different times (as babies, teenagers or senior citizens) but we all die.

Hebrews 9:27 says that “it is APPOINTED unto men to die” (KJV, RSV, ESV). Every day, every month, every year we get closer to that appointment. When will that be? No one knows but if you want to have a little fun, go to deathclock.com. It calculates your personal day of death based on statistics but it is not really scientific. According to that website, I will die in the year 2036. That is if I live to be 73. My dad dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of 66.

Death is REPRESENTATIVE

Paul says “IN ADAM all die” (15:22). What does it mean that we all die in Adam It means we die because of Adam or by Adam. Die in what sense? ? Is this talking about physical death or spiritual death? Both spiritual death and physical death are the consequences of Adam’s fall but Paul is talking about physical death in the context. Everyone on the planet who dies does so because of Adam’s sin.

Why? Adam is the federal head of the race. He represented all of humanity in the Garden of Eden and his sin did not just affect him, it affected us as well. When Adam sinned, he sinned for all of us. His fall was our fall. Not only did Adam have to make his living by the sweat of his brow, but we do as well. Not only did Eve now have to have pain in childbirth, but that has been true for women.

Is this fair? Why should we die because Adam bit into an apple? Why do we get punished because of what Adam did? Why would God hold us accountable for what Adam did in the garden? We weren’t there.

We didn’t do anything. Why would we be punished for Adam’s sin? Is this valid criticism? No. We sin as well. We sin everyday (Romans 3:23) and the Bible says, “The soul that sins shall die”. So we can’t really blame Adam. We deserve to die for our own sins as well.

Death is REVERSIBLE

We saw last week the resurrection of the dead is a biblical doctrine. Everyone who dies without exception will one day be raised from the dead (saved and unsaved), though not all at the same time.

Death is TEMPORARY

One day death will be gone and no one will die (15:28; Revelation 22:4).

 Paul and Universalism

The argument is that the word “all” must mean the same thing in both parts of the verse. If all means every human being in the first part of the verse, why doesn’t all mean every human being in the second part of the verse?

1)  Even if you take the verse absolutely literally, it does NOT teach universalism

Even if you take the word all to mean “all people” in both clauses, all the verse would say is that Jesus will raise everyone on the planet, not that everyone will be saved. Paul said, “In Christ all will be made alive”. What does made alive mean? It means resurrected. Made alive does not necessarily mean saved.

How do we know made alive means resurrected. I Corinthians 15:22 is parallel to I Corinthians 15:21. Everyone will be raised but everyone will not be saved. Some will be raised to death and some will be raised to life (John 5:28-29). The most the passage would teach is universal resurrection, not universal salvation.

2)  The word “all is limited by the prepositional phrase

“IN ADAM all die, even so IN CHRIST all shall be made alive”. Who died? Everyone in Adam. Who is made alive? Everyone in Christ. The people made alive are in Christ. Not everyone on the planet is in Christ. Paul speaks of the dead in Christ rising in I Thessalonians 4:16.

He is not talking about the resurrection of unbelievers but of Christians. Paul is not talking about everyone being raised here (although that will happen). Jesus is not the first fruits of the unsaved but of the saved.

3)  Paul does not teach universalism in the rest of his writings

He speaks repeatedly of people who are perishing (1:18; 3:17) or will not enter the kingdom (6:9). That interpretation is inconsistent with what Paul says elsewhere.

Lessons on the Resurrection

What are some of the lessons we have learned about the resurrection in this section?

1. Everyone on the planet will one day be resurrected from the dead.

2. Jesus will be the one to raise everyone from the dead (John 5:28-29; 6:39-40).

3. Everyone will be resurrected at different times. There will not be one general resurrection of all the dead, as some teach. It will come in stages (15:23).

4. Jesus was the first person ever to be raised with a glorified body never to die again, the first fruit of those who sleep (15:20, 23).

5. Christians who have died will be the first group of people to be raised from the dead (I Thessalonians 4:16). This will take place at the rapture. We will learn some more things about resurrection as we read the rest of the chapter.

Are Tattoos Biblical?

Tattoos are an accepted practice in our society. People get them for a number of reasons. Society approves of them and even many Christians have them. Many in the church have them. What does Scripture teach about tattoos?  Are they biblical?  Let’s start with some basic facts about tattoos.

Facts About Tattoos

1) Tattoos are an ancient practice

They are not new. They began over five thousand years ago.  Many ancient peoples had them.  They existed in ancient Egypt, China, Japan and many other places.  Other cultures from the Ancient Near East also practiced tattoos.

2) Tattoos are a pagan practice

The earliest tattoos are found in ancient Egypt during the time of the construction of the great pyramids. The Egyptians are believed to be the first culture to have tattoos. It was part of ancient Egyptian culture.  They were a part of ancient pagan culture.

3) Tattoos are an unbiblical practice

They are forbidden by a passage in Leviticus.  Does this prohibition in Leviticus apply to Christians today?  Many believe that it is not binding on the church today.  Six arguments have been used by Christians to justify tattoos today.  We will analyze these arguments to see if they are biblical.

Pro-Tattoo Arguments

1. The prohibition does not apply today because it is from the OT

The only verse which condemns tattoos in Scripture (Leviticus 19:28) does not apply to Christians, because it is in the Law of Moses and Christians are not under the Law of Moses (Romans 6:14; Galatians 3:24-25).

They are not bound by those laws. If they were bound by Leviticus 19, then it would also be wrong today for Christians to wear clothing made of two different materials (19:19) or to trim the edges of their beard (19:27).

The problem with this argument is that Leviticus 19 is full of other commands that certainly still apply today. In fact, most of what is in Leviticus 19 still applies today. Leviticus 19 also tells us to honor our father and our mother (19:3). That still applies. It tells us to not commit idolatry (19:4). That still applies. It tells us not to steal and not to lie (19:11). That still applies. It tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (19:18).

Leviticus 19 tells us not to practice divination and sorcery (19:26). Those commands still apply today. We are not to show partiality today in our judicial system (19:15) or slander people today (19:16). Leviticus 19 also says that we should still respect elderly people today (19:32) and the alien who lives in our land (19:33). So while all of Leviticus 19 may not be binding today, much of it clearly is.

2. The prohibition does not apply today because it is not repeated in the NT

The ban on tattoos is NOT repeated in the NT. Therefore, it is not binding today. The NT does not forbid Christians to get tattoos.

The problem with this logic is that the very next verse says, ‘Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.” (Leviticus 19:29). This command still applies today but it is NOT repeated in the NT. This is the only place in the Bible that God directly forbids someone to prostitute their daughter.

There are many other things that are clearly wrong today which were forbidden in the OT but not in the NT. For example, the Law of Moses says not to commit child sacrifice. It says not to burn any of your children in a fire to some pagan god (Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10; Leviticus 18:21).

The NT does not explicitly forbid this practice. Is it still wrong to do today? Yes. The Law of Moses says we are not to have sex with animals (Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 18:23; 20:15-16; Deuteronomy 27:21).

The NT does not prohibit bestiality. Is it still wrong to do today? Yes. The Law of Moses says that cross-dressing is wrong (Deuteronomy 22:5). It calls it “an abomination.” The NT does not say anything about being a transvestite. Is it still wrong to do today? Yes.

It is wrong today, even though there is only one verse in the entire Bible that condemns it and that verse happens to be in the Law of Moses. The reason these things apply today, even though the Law of Moses is not binding today is that they are part of the moral law. The moral law is eternal.

MORAL LAW

CEREMONIAL LAW

Permanent

These commands are always wrong and never become obsolete (bestiality, idolatry, murder)

Temporary

These were things that were wrong in the OT but are not wrong today (e.g., eating pork).

Universal

These are laws for everyone in all places at all times.

Not Universal

These are laws just for the Jews and are not binding on Gentiles.

Moral Issues

These are ethical behaviors which are inherently wrong (murder, adultery).

Non-Moral Issues

Shaving is not a moral issue, nor is wearing clothes of cotton and polyester, clipping the edges of your beard or wearing clothes made from two different kinds of materials.

These were matters of diet or religious ritual (clean/unclean laws), not ethics.  Eating pork is a question of diet, not ethics.

3. The OT ban on tattoos is part of the ceremonial law, not the moral law

Many believe that tattoos are part of the ceremonial law because the verse immediately before it (“Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard”) in Leviticus 19:27 deals with a ceremonial matter. This could be one as well. Some of the other things mentioned in Leviticus 19 are clearly ceremonial (e.g., 19:5-8, 19, 20-22) but there are good reasons to see them as part of the moral law.

Tattoos & the Moral Law

The verse immediately after it (“Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness”) in 19:29 is part of the moral law.

Leviticus 19:28 says, “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.” It contains prohibitions of two pagan customs. The two are not identical but clearly go together. Both deal with the body. We are not to mutilate our body or make permanent marks on our body.

Since the first part of the verse deals with the moral law, the second half of the verse also deals with the moral law. Both would apply today. Is it still wrong to mutilate your body for the dead? Yes. Is it still wrong to get tattoos? Yes.

If the ban on mutilating or disfiguring your body still applies, the ban on tattoos would still apply. The two go together. The structure of the verse argues for the moral law view. While coloring your body is not a moral issue (e.g., makeup), many believe that making permanent changes to a body created in the image of God for non-medical reasons is a moral issue.

4. Tattoos were condemned in the OT because they were a pagan mourning rite.

The prohibition against cutting the flesh and getting a tattoo was forbidden only if it was done for the dead. As long as it is not for the dead, it is not forbidden.

The practice of shaving your head and making deep gashes on the face and arms and legs in time of bereavement was a universal morning rite in the the Ancient Near East but getting permanent tattoos were NOT part of any ancient morning custom.

Jacob Milgrom was the leading expert in the world on Leviticus. He was a Jewish scholar who wrote a three volume commentary on Leviticus in the Anchor Bible that is about three thousand pages long. He passed away in 2010 at the age of 87. Milgrom viewed this as an independent prohibition and not a mourning rite. The verse says “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead.”  It does NOT say, “Do not make any tattoo marks on yourselves for the dead.”

5. Tattoos were condemned because they were related to false religious practices

Tattoos today are different. They are for decoration and are a means of self expression. The Bible does not prohibit tattoos for non-religious reasons.  The problem is that the prohibition against tattoos in Leviticus 19:28 is very general – “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves.”

It does NOT say, “Do not make a tattoo of a false god or an idol.”  There is absolutely nothing in the text to suggest that tattoos are permissible, as long as they are non-pagan tattoos. Jews have interpreted the prohibition to include ALL tattoos , except the ones that are medically necessary (those made for medical purposes such as to guide a surgeon making an incision).

6. Tattoos are ethical, as long as they are Christian tattoos.

Many Christians think that tattoos that are Christian (e.g. a tattoo of cross or “Jesus Saves”) are not wrong.  Some even use them as a witnessing tool to reach people for Christ.

The problem with this argument is that it says in effect, “I know that tattoos are forbidden in Scripture. I know that God says not to get them but I am getting one anyway because I want to witness to people.” There is NEVER a good reason for disobedience to a clear command of Scripture.

To obey is better than to sacrifice. King Saul was told very clearly to kill the Amalekites and everything that belonged to them, including the animals (I Samuel 15:1-3). Saul obeyed some of the command but specifically saved some of the animals for worship (I Samuel 15:20-21). He disobeyed but had a spiritual reason for doing so. Samuel replied, “TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN TO SACRIFICE” (I Samuel 15:22).

Worship and even evangelism is no substitute for obedience. We should never use anything as an excuse for disobedience. Doing what God says is more important than any sacrifices or religious works we can do.

Conclusion

Tattoos are an accepted part of modern culture and many Christians even have them. Tattoos go back thousands of years and historically were a pagan practice. They are mentioned one time in Scripture and are condemned. The prohibition is general and is not limited to pagan or idolatrous tattoos of a false god or an idol. The prohibition does not limit some but all tattoos.

The biblical prohibition comes from the Law of Moses. If the prohibition is part of the ceremonial law, it would not be binding today on Christians. If it is part of the moral law, it would be binding today. Leviticus 19 contains examples of both commands.

However, Leviticus 19:28 contains two prohibitions that go together. Both prohibitions deal with the body. We are not to mutilate our body and we are not to make permanent marks on our body.

Since the first part of the verse deals with the moral law, the second half of the verse also deals with the moral law. Both would apply today. If it is still wrong to mutilate your body for the dead today, then it is also still wrong to get tattoos today. The structure of the verse supports the moral law position.

Keep Yourself in the Love of God

This is our final week studying this little book written by the half brother of Christ.  What was the historical setting of the book?

In Jude’s day, unbelievers secretly snuck into the church and worked their way into leadership.  They became shepherds and then began teaching false doctrine in the church.  Jude describes what these false teachers are like and what will happen to them ultimately.

How should we respond to false teaching?  One response is to contend for the faith (Jude 3).  We talked about how we do that.  We should know what we believe.  We should be able to give reasons for what we believe and we should oppose false teaching.

We should not just be passive and sit back and do nothing, we should fight for the faith.  John Calvin said in 1545 (almost five hundred years ago), “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.”

Meaning of the Command

There is something else we are to do and it is found in Jude 21.  We are to keep ourselves in the love of God (Jude 21).  That is a rather strange passage.  It is a command in Greek.

As you read these verses, you might get the impression that there are four commands there (build yourselves up in your faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God and wait for the mercy of Christ).

In Greek, there is only ONE COMMAND there and three participles that modify this one command.  What is the one command?  The only command in the sentence is to “Keep yourself in the love of God” (τηρησατε, an aorist imperative). We keep OURSELVES in this love.  I can’t do it for you.  You can’t do it for me.

Does God keep us or do we keep ourselves?  The answer is BOTH.  The Bible teaches divine sovereignty and human responsibility.  God is the one who keeps us.  We are kept by his power.  We don’t have the strength to keep ourselves in God’s love but God is able to keep us (Jude 24).  Yet there is a sense in which we keep ourselves (cf. I Peter 1:5).  Notice that we are kept by the power of God THROUGH FAITH.

What does that mean?  How do we do that? I believe this is one of the most important commands in the NT for Christians to keep ourselves in the love of God.  Jude 2 says that we are in the love of God.  Jude 21 says that we are to keep ourselves in the love of God?

What does it mean?  The simple answer is to continue in the faith, to avoid apostasy.  The Book of Jude deals with the acts of the apostates (e.g., the angels who sinned).  People who commit apostasy do not keep themselves in the love of God.

How do we do it?  Jude says that there are three ways to keep yourself in the love of God.  There are three ways to avoid apostasy.  What are they?  The first way is to build ourselves up in our faith.  The second way is to pray in the Holy Spirit.  The third way is to wait for the mercy of Christ.  As we look at these thing things, I want you to analyze your life.  What is the one area that you need to work on?

Build Yourselves up in your Most Holy Faith

You have to do some spiritual bodybuilding to “build yourselves up”.  Some of us are in great shape physically but terrible shape spiritually.  We can’t lift all kids of weights and have all kinds of muscles when what we need to do is to develop some spiritual muscles.

The way to develop spiritual muscles is to build yourself up in your faith, the faith that Jude said was “once for all delivered to the saints”.  What are you doing to build yourself up?  What can we do to build ourselves up in our faith?

  • Read the Bible every day.  The Bible is one of the main things that will build us up (Acts 20:32).  One old Chinese motto was “No Bible study, no breakfast”.
  • Read other books that will build up your faith (books about the Bible, as well as biographies).  One way to strengthen your faith is through testimonies.
  • Memorize Scripture.  It is one thing to read the word.  It is another thing to take the time to memorize the Word.  That is one of the best ways to learn it.
  • Join a small group (Bible study or an accountability group).  A accountability group can be with one person or a small group of people.  Anne is part of a group of women that meet every week.
  • Fellowship with other believers is another way to build yourself up.  Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with wise men will be wise”.  If you hang around godly people, you will be encouraged to be godly.  If you hang around people who pray for four hours a day, you will want to be like them.  You hang around people who have a passion for the Word and you will develop a passion for the Word.  You spend time with people who have a passion for evangelism and you will develop a passion for evangelism.
  • Take a class to go more in-depth on a topic or even get a degree from a seminary or Bible college.  You can even take online Bible courses for free.
  • Listen to some gifted teachers on the radio or online (e.g., Michael Brown, John MacArthur, John Piper, Chuck Swindoll).
  • Attend a conference (e.g., Bible, Men’s, Women’s).  For example, you could attend the National Conference on Christian Apologetics in Charlotte on October 28-29.  It will have speakers like Josh McDowell, Frank Turek, William Lane Craig and others.

Pray in the Holy Spirit

Some of us build ourselves up in our faith but we don’t pray very much or at all.  Here prayer is seen as a means of grace.  It helps keep you in the love of God.  What does it mean to pray in the Spirit?  Charismatics and Pentecostals use the phrase “praying in the spirit” to refer to praying in tongues.  In Jude’s time, people did pray in tongues.

We know that from I Corinthians 14 but even if that is one way to pray in the Spirit, it is not the only way to do it.  We know that from Ephesians 6:18 which says, “Pray AT ALL TIMES with all manner of prayer in the Spirit”.  Every time we pray, we should pray in the Spirit, not just when we are praying in tongues.

What Praying in the Holy Spirit Means

What exactly is praying in the Spirit and how is it different from praying in the flesh?  As I thought about this, three things came to my mind.

Spirit-Prompted Prayers

Praying in the Spirit are prayers initiated by the Holy Spirit.  You pray because you are filled with the Spirit and you feel prompted to pray.  Sometimes this happens mysteriously.  All of the sudden you get an urge to pray for someone who may be in danger.

Some get prompted to pray in the middle of the night.  Remember, that is what happened to Jim Cymbala who was woken up in the middle of the night and felt the urge to pray in the early morning hours of September 11.

Spirit-Inspired Prayers

What you pray about comes from the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit directs and leads people to pray about certain things.  It is amazing how, sometimes in prayer, the Lord brings things to our minds to pray about. Praying in the Holy Spirit is praying in conformity with the Holy Spirit.  It is praying according to God’s will.

Spirit-Empowered Prayers

How you do it comes from the Holy Spirit.  If prayer is empowered by the Spirit, it will not be cold, mechanical and lifeless, like ritual prayers.  It will be fervent and passionate, the kind of prayer that Jesus prayed at Gethsemane.

The Book of Hebrews says that he prayed with loud cries and tears (5:7). Luke tells us that when he prayed in Gethsemane, he sweat so much it was like drops of blood (22:44).  Most of us do not work up a sweat when we pray.

Many are ready to fall asleep when they pray.  As much as we want to make fun of Peter, James and John, we are more like the disciples than like Jesus.

In conclusion, praying in the Holy Spirit involves the time, manner and content of our prayers.  It takes place when we are prompted to pray by the Holy Spirit AT a certain time or IN a certain way or FOR a certain thing.  We don’t know how to pray right on our own.  The only way we can pray correctly is if the Holy Spirit helps us to pray.

Wait for the Mercy of Christ

All Bible scholars take this as a reference to the Second Coming (Titus 2:13).  The Second Coming involves waiting.  Most of us hate to wait for things.  Most of us want instant gratification.  We hate to wait in long lines at the grocery store.  We hate to wait in traffic.  Some hate to wait for marriage.  We hate to wait for God to answer our prayers.

Abraham and Sarah couldn’t have a child.  Sarah had two problems.  She was too old to have a child (past menopause) and even when she was younger she was infertile.  God said that one day they would have a son but Abraham and Sarah do not have one until twenty years later.

Jesus promised that one day he would return.  The angels said that the same Jesus who went up into the clouds will one day come back from the clouds (Acts 1:11) but over two thousand years have passed and Jesus hasn’t returned yet.  Jesus will return but we have to wait for his return.  We should wait eagerly (I Corinthians 1:7), longing for his return.  You are looking for his return (Jude 21).

Keep in mind that people had to wait a few thousand years for the First Coming.  God promised a Messiah (the Son of David).  He was clearly promised in the OT.  By the time he arrived, some clearly had stopped waiting for him and did not want him.  He came to his own and his own received him not (John 1:11).  Why is it important for us to wait for Jesus to return?  Some false teachers were claiming that it would NOT happen (II Peter 3:3-4).

In Jude 22-23 he says how to deal with three groups of people.  I am taking John MacArthur’s outline here.

The first group is the CONFUSED (Jude 22).These are doubters.  These are people who are not sure what to believe.  They do not know which side is right.  Jude says to be merciful to them.  Show them kindness.  Help them.  Don’t mock them for having doubts.  Don’t judge or condemn them.  Help them.  Give them answers to their questions.

The second group is the CONVINCED (Jude 23a).This second group believes some of the teachings of the false teachers.  They do not believe everything they teach but think that some of their ideas actually make some sense.  Jude says that you have to save them by snatching them from the fire.

The fire is a reference to Hell.  His point is that this group is on the brink of Hell.  Saving them is like saving someone from a burning building and snatching them from a literal fire.  We do not actually save anyone.  We are just the means God uses.

The third group is the COMMITTED (Jude 23b).This group does not just believe some of the lies.  They are died in the wool hard-core followers.  They will tell you that not only do they believe in the cult, they will go to their death believing in the cult.

Jude says that we should reach out to them as well.  Show mercy to them but be very careful and very cautious so you are not deceived.  As William Barclay says, “There is a danger to the sinner, but there is also a danger to the rescuer.  He who would cure an infectious disease runs the risk of infection”[1]  We need to minister to people with discernment.

Jude ends the book with a doxology (Jude 24-25).  A doxology is a little different from a benediction.  A benediction is when you pray for God’s blessing to come down.  The most famous one is the Aaronic Benediction in Numbers 6.  A doxology is word of praise going up to God.  Most of the Book of Jude has been negative but he ends on a positive note of praise.


[1] William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude, 205.

False Teachers – Part II

We have been studying the Book of Jude. It is a short little book written by one of the half-brothers of Christ. We began our study of false teachers. Last week, we looked at the destination of false teachers. Let’s review some of the things that Jude says will be the fate of false teachers, all false teachers. Their destiny, according to Jude, is condemnation (Jude 4), destruction (Jude 5), eternal fire (Jude 7), and blackest darkness forever (Jude 13). Last week, we looked at what will happen to false teachers.

Tonight, I want to look at not, what will happen to them but what exactly are they. How are they described in Jude? We know that false teachers pose a real danger to the church and we are to avoid them (Romans 16:17). Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets” but how do we identify them today? What do they look like? False teachers may look like sheep. Jesus said that they often come in sheep’s clothing.

They may be extremely gifted at public speaking. Paul said “by good words and fair speeches” the “hearts of the simple” are “deceived” (Rom. 16:18). Hitler was a great public speaker. Many of them have charismatic personalities and a large following. People are drawn to them. How do we know what to look for? How would one spot a false teacher today? What are some of the characteristics of false teachers?

How to Spot a False Teacher

A false teacher has two basic characteristics. False teachers are of doctrinally and are off morally. There is a doctrinal test and a moral test or false teachers.

Doctrinal Test

False teachers always say things that are unbiblical (II Peter 2:1; cf. I John 4:1-3; II John 9-10). Now the only way to apply this test to a false teacher is that you have to know what the Bible teaches and you have to know it well (Isaiah 8:20). That is the problem. Most Christians do not know this book well, because Satan knows how to use the Bible as well. Satan quoted some Bible verses to Jesus when he tempted him.

One of the most serious problems facing the Church in the 21st century is the problem of Biblical illiteracy. We know from study after study that most professing Christians in America have a Bible but few read and study it regularly. “Americans revere the Bible but do not read it”, as George Gallup said. Even the ones who have a high view of Scripture do not know it very well.

In the Middle Ages, you expected most people to not know the Bible, because very few people had the Bible in their own language and reading it was discouraged but now there is really no excuse. We not only have the Bible at home but we have several different translations of it or access to the Internet with the Bible in multiple languages and translations with free commentaries. You can even take Bible classes from seminaries online for free (NT Survey, OT Survey, Life of Jesus, etc.).

What do False Teachers do with the Bible?

1) They DENY basic Bible doctrines.

They are not just off on some minor doctrine. They are off on major doctrines. They are off on who Jesus is. Every cult leader teaches a Jesus not found in the Bible. They teach things that are heretical. Now there are some things that the Bible is not clear on and Christians disagree. Heretics deny what the Bible is clear on and what all Bible-believing Christians agree.

2) They MOCK the Bible.

They do not just deny the Bible, they mock it (Jude 18). You take the Bible literally and they will just laugh at you. They will say, “You silly Christians believe that?” with a sneer on their face. You will face that in college.

3) They REPLACE the Bible.

They have their own Scriptures or their own translation of our Scriptures or they replace it in other ways (tradition). Remember, one of the things Jude says about false teachers is that they are “dreamers” (Jude 8). Was Jude against dreams? No. Now in Bible times, God revealed things through dreams and visions. He did after Jude was written as well. John received visions in the Book of Revelation and that was written after Jude. False teachers abuse dreams. They base their theology on dreams or private revelation. They used dream to contradict the Bible. They used dreams or private revelation (“God told me this”) to justify their sin.

Moral Test

Another way to identify false teachers is by looking at their life. What are some characteristics of false teachers?

A. Sexual Immorality (Jude 4, 8-10)

False teachers are not only off doctrinally, they are off morally. They abuse grace. How can people abuse grace? They abuse it when they use it as an excuse to sin (Romans 6:1). It is bad enough to sin. It is far worse to use the Bible to try to JUSTIFY your sin. They use grace as a REASON to sin. God will forgive you. They preach a message of freedom. It sounds good. You are free in Christ (Galatians 5:13; I Peter 2:16). Is this message preached today? Yes. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, who believes he is Jesus Christ, has a basic message: “freedom to indulge.” He says that sin no longer exists. The Devil and Hell do not exist. Grace was abused in Jude’s day and it is abused in our day as well.

False teachers not only use grace to justify sin, they use it to justify SEXUAL SIN. Jude says that these people “defile the flesh” or “pollute their own bodies” (Jude 8). They turn the grace of God into sensuality (Jude 4). Two examples from the OT dealt with sexual sins (cf. Jude 6-7, 13; II Peter 2:10). II Peter 2:14 says that false teachers have eyes full of adultery. You say that is interesting. Eyes full of adultery. That must be a metaphor. No, it is literal and it applies to false teachers today as well as in the first century. False teachers were immoral in Jude’s day and they are immoral in our own day. Let me give you two examples.

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was the one who founded of the Mormon Church. Mormons believe that he was a prophet and received revelations from God. In 1843 back in the day when the Mormon Church was headquartered in Illinois (not it is Utah), Joseph Smith supposedly had a revelation on “celestial marriage”. This is written in Section 132 of The Doctrines and Covenants (one of the four books that are part of the Mormon Scriptures) and became official church doctrine in the 1840s.

What did this revelation say? It said that Joseph Smith could have sex with as many women as he wanted. He chooses over thirty women[1] but his wife Emma Smith was not allowed to leave her husband Joseph Smith or she would be destroyed (Sec 54). So the man just believed in polygamy. There is polygamy in the Bible. What’s the problem? At least eleven of them had legal husbands at the time of their “sealing” to Smith. They were married to other men at the time.

That is well documented and it makes him a serial adulterer and causes other people to commit adultery. There is no getting around that fact. Two of them were 14 at the time he married them. He was 37 when he married one of them. That makes him a pedophile. It sounds like Joseph Smith’s eyes were full of adultery. The same is true of polygamous leader Warren Jeffs. He claimed to be a prophet and was just convicted of child sexual assault for having sex with underage girls.

David Koresh

Koresh claimed to be a prophet and had his own group of followers in Texas called the Branch Davidians. In 1986, David Koresh had a revelation called “new light”. What was the new light revelation? This new revelation was that he could have sex with all of the women in the Davidian congregation including sex with underage girls (some as old as 12) and including the women who were married.

The men were to be all celibate. Like Joseph Smith, this was a revelation of polygamy and like Joseph Smith, wives were stolen from other husbands but unlike Joseph Smith, this was a rule just for Koresh. He was allowed to live in polygamy but no one else could. Both individuals followed their own evil desires and lusts (Jude 16, 18; II Peter 2:10) and used the Bible to justify their actions.

B. Rebellion (Jude 8-10)

False teachers have a problem with authority. Many of these cult leaders were excommunicated from other churches. David Koresh was excommunicated from the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Alan John Miller was kicked out of the JW church. Hebrews 13:17 says that we are to submit to authority but false teachers are opposed to all authority.

Three Responses to Authority in Jude

1) They DESPISE authority (GNT)

They do not like the government telling them what to do. False teachers do not listen to human authorities. They do not want you to listen to other preachers. They do not want you to read the Bible for yourself, to think critically and to be a Berean. They discourage people from studying on their own. They are their own authority and they teach that they should not be challenged, corrected or questioned. If you try to do that, they quote verses like “Touch not my anointed one” (I Chronicles 16:22).

2) They REJECT authority (ESV)

There is no one above them. They are accountable to no one. They submit to no one. Instead, people are to submit to them. They are spiritual dictators. This attitude toward authority comes in four steps. First, they reject human authority and say, “I am not going to listen to anyone”. Second, they reject biblical authority. They reject the Bible. Jim Jones one time said to his congregation, “Where is your faith? Is it in this little black book of myths and fables and a thousand and one mistakes?” He then threw the Bible on the floor and said, “Your faith should be in me”. He said, “I am going to destroy this paper idol”. Third, they reject divine authority (God). The fourth step is that they say that they are God.[2]

3) They REBEL against authority.

That is what Korah did (Jude 11). He rebelled against Moses in the OT. He said, “Moses and Aaron, you had your day but we are taking over now”. There are people like Korah in the church today. If you want to find out what happened to him, read Numbers 16. That is the chapter where the earth opens up and swallows some people.

There are many things we do not know about this passage. Why was Michael disputing with the devil about Moses’ body? Jude doesn’t say. Where did this story about this angelic dispute come from? It is not in the OT. It probably comes from another book but there is no book from history which has survived which has this quote. Two church father from the second century (Origen & Clement of Alexandria) said that it came from a book called The Assumption of Moses. In the 1800s The Assumption of Moses was found but it is an incomplete copy (about a third of it is missing) and does not contain any reference to this event.

Jude’s point in Jude 9 is not that we should all be polite to Satan. His point is that we should respect authority. That is still true today. As Christians, we should have a completely different attitude to God-ordained authorities in our day (teacher, parent, police officer, judge, president, church leader) than the world does.

This is really un-American. We live in a democracy and we have free speech. Many people on the left of the political spectrum don’t just say that they disagree with George Bush’ policies, they attack him personally and mock him. They say that he is a complete idiot. They hate him so much they can’t help themselves.

Many Republicans routinely trash-talk Obama. In fact, Obama came into office ridiculing the previous administration. He had absolutely no respect for Bush. Now respecting authorities does not mean that we always agree with the authorities. It does not mean that we cannot challenge or question the authorities but there is a proper way to do that.

C. Arrogance (Jude 16)

False teachers like to boast and brag. Joseph Smith said: “I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.[3]

Saying that you can do something that you can do is not boasting. If you tell someone that you can speak seven languages and you can, that is not boasting. David did that. He told people that he could kill a lion and a bear. Going around and boasting about it is wrong.

They boast because they have an over-inflated ego (God complex). They have an inflated view of themselves. They think that they are something that they are not. They think they are Jesus (Jose Luis deJesus Miranda, AJ Miller). They claim to be the Second Coming (as does Rev. Sung Myung Moon of the Unification Church). They proclaim themselves as a god on earth or an apostle or God’s spokesman on earth (Joseph Smith, Warren Jeffs). They think they are better than others (superiority complex). Mormon scripture says that Joseph Smith is “second only to Jesus Christ”[4] in greatness of all men that ever lived”. Romans 12:3 says, “Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to”.

D. Slander (Jude 8-10)

It is one thing to slander other Christians. False teachers do this. They misrepresent other Christians. They go a step beyond this and say that all other churches are false. All other pastors are liars. There is only one true church. False teachers in Jude’s day went beyond this. They even slandered angels. We do not know if these were good angels or bad angels. False teachers slander beings that are greater than they are. They also slander things they do not even understand. That is a lesson for us. How many times have we slandered another theological position held by another believer that we do not even understand. We do not really understand it but we are quick to mock it.

E. Selfishness (Jude 12)

They only think of themselves. They feed only themselves (Jude 12). This is one of six metaphors that Jude uses to describe these false teachers. They are shepherds. They are part of the leadership of the church but only think of themselves. Instead of taking care of the flock, they just take care of themselves (Jude 16). You have all of these fat shepherds and all of these starving scrawny sheep. God calls pastors to be shepherds and one of the responsibilities of shepherds is to feed the sheep.

How many churches in America have sheep that are not feed or are sick (cf. Ezekiel 34:2). They entertain the sheep and play with them but they do not feed them. I have even heard some pastors say that it is not their job to do this but Jesus said THREE TIMES “If you love me, feed my sheep”. It is the ONLY thing that Jesus ever said three times. This is one way to distinguish between a good and a bad shepherd. A good shepherd feeds the sheep and takes care of the sheep. A bad shepherd does not.

They are described as “clouds without rain.”  You go to them for spiritual refreshment but are disappointed every time.  There is no content or substance to their sermons.  There is a story about an old Cherokee Indian from North Carolina who went off the reservation to church.  The pastor was very animated, like many today who shout and scream.  He was asked what he thought of the sermon and the Indian said “big thunder, big lightening, no rain”.

F. Greed (Jude 11; II Peter 2:14-15)

Balaam is Jude’s example of this. He was the pagan prophet for hire in the OT. Love of money was his downfall. False teachers are in the ministry for the money (I Timothy 6:5). They want to get rich. They are greedy and many of them preach the prosperity gospel. They preach the health and wealth gospel. They believe that it is God’s will for every Christian to be healthy and wealthy. It is a message that people want to hear. It tickles their ear (cf. II Timothy 4:3-4). We saw in Jude 16 that these false teachers flatter people. They tell them what they want to hear.


[1]http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no112.htm#Chart

[2]The four basic steps come from a sermon by James MacDonald. I added the example from Jim Jones.

[3]History of the Church vol. 6, p. 408-409.

[4]Doctrine and Covenants, 135:3.

False Teachers – Part I

Last week, we began studying The Book of Jude.  It is a small book (only one chapter long) written by the brother of our Lord.  The men who wrote the books of James and Jude were not apostles but half brothers of Christ. The reason why Jude wrote this book is to exhort Christians to contend for the faith.  There is a group of essential doctrines of the faith that are unalterable.  They can’t change.

They were delivered to the saints and it is their job to fight for these truths.  That is what the word contend means in Greek, to fight.  Last week, I told us how we can do that.  The reason we need to contend for the faith is that there are false teachers in the church who have slipped into the church SECRETLY (Jude 4) and began distorting basic biblical truths.

Jude was a preacher. He was a hell, fire and brimstone preacher.  We see some of the strongest language against false teachers in the entire NT.  Jude wasn’t too polite to these false teachers.  It makes a good introduction to the Book of Revelation.

This epistle is a wake-up call to the church today.  Many Christians today do not know their own faith and, because they do not know their own faith, they do not really know how to spot a false teacher or false teaching.

If you do not know the truth that well, you will not be able to detect error or even be that bothered by it.  They may just think to themselves, “they have their views and I have mine” or they quote the verse that says, “judge not lest ye be judged” but they forget that the very chapter of the Bible that says “judge not lest ye be judged” says “beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing”.

Jude says two things about false teachers in this letter.  He warns what will happen to them (the terrible fate that awaits them) and he gives a description of them.  Today, we are going to talk about their destination or what is going to happen to them.  I have to warn you that this is not a pretty picture.  God reserves some of the worst punishment for false teachers.

Some of the strongest language Jesus ever uttered was spoken against false teachers.  Jesus’ harshest criticism did not come to the prostitutes but the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders of his day who were leading people astray).

If you don’t believe me, go home and read Matthew 23.  Jude talks about the doom of these false teachers.  He says that their judgment is coming.

Today, we want to think about this question.  What will be the fate of false teachers in our day and throughout history?

  • What will be the fate of Muhammad, who founded the religion of Islam, which has sent literally billions of people to Hell?  One fifth of the world’s population is Muslim (between one to two billion people).
  • What will be the fate of Joseph Smith, who also claimed to have a revelation from God but ended up starting a false religion?
  • What will happen to David Koresh, former leader of the Branch Dravidians?  He claimed to be the Messiah.  His followers in Waco, Texas did anything he asked them to do until one day in 1993 almost all of them ended up dead.  Seventy-six died in the fire on that fateful day, including twenty children and two pregnant women (only nine escaped).  Koresh ended up with a bullet in his forehead.
  • What will happen to Jim Jones, the founder of the People’s Temple? He had a huge following.  He told people to put their faith in him.  He said that he was the reincarnation of Jesus and his followers believed him.  He took all of his followers to South America and promised them a paradise or utopia but they go there, they all committed suicide by drinking some grape juice laced with poison on Nov. 18, 1978 (Jonestown Massacre).  You can listen to it online.  It is a 45 minute recording called “The Jonestown Death Tape”.  He told his guards to shoot anyone who refused or tried to escape.  Children were killed first.  Parents killed their own children.  When the authorities got there, they found about 900 dead bodies laying on the ground, one of the largest mass suicides in history.  They also found the body of Jim Jones.  He also was shot in the head.
  • What will be the fate of Jose Luis deJesus Miranda?  He is a former heroine addict from Puerto Rico who claims to be claims to be both Jesus Christ returned and the Antichrist.  He has a “666” tattoo on his forearm. His headquarters are in Miami, Florida but his church (Growing in Grace) is in about 35 countries.
  • What will be the fate of AJ Miller and Mary Suzanne Luck?  They are leaders of what is called the Divine Truth or Jesus Cult in Australia.  AJ Miller says that he is Jesus reborn.  He says he is the Son of God and he says that his wife Mary Luck is Mary Magdalene and his followers in Australia believe him.

One of my professors in graduate school was William L. Lane.  He was a NT scholar who wrote several commentaries.  He earned his doctorate from Harvard University in NT.  I was his graduate assistant at Western Kentucky University in the 1980s.  He was the one who married Anne and I in 1987.  He was my mentor.

One of the things Dr. Lane told his students was called “Lane’s Law”.  Lane’s Law is “An ounce of evidence is worth a pound of assertion”.  People can make all kinds of claims.  Politicians do this all of the time.  Cultists can say that they are Jesus or Moses but where is the proof?  There is none.  Talk in cheap.  You can say anything.

What will happen to all these people?  Jude answers that question and the answer is not a pretty site.  There is a woe for every false teacher (Jude 11).  That describes something terrible that is going to happen to someone.  It is a proclamation of divine judgment. Jesus used that word a lot.

Jesus said, “woe to the Pharisees” (Luke 11:42, 43), “woe to the Scribes” (Luke 11:46, 52), “woe to the one who betrays the Son of Man” (Matthew 26:24) and “woe to the cities that saw his miracles but did not repent” (Luke 10:13).  It is used a lot in Revelation (8:13; 9:12; 11:14; 12:12; 18:10, 16, 19) as plagues and judgment fall on the earth.  What will happen to them?  Jude says that “the blackest darkness has been reserved FOREVER” (Jude 13) for this group of people.

Three OT Examples of Judgment

Terrible things will happen to false teachers.  Jude gives three historical examples to show what will happen to them and the punishment gets increasingly worse.  Let’s look at the first one.

Example One – OT Jews

After God saved Israel, he destroyed Israel – the same group (Jude 5).  What does that mean?  God delivered two million Jews out of slavery in Egypt supernaturally.  God saved the nation physically from slavery in Egypt but that does not mean that every person in the nation was spiritually saved.  Out of the two million people who left Egypt, only two made it into the Promise Land, as you know (Joshua and Caleb).  The rest were DESTROYED in the wilderness.

Some of those people who were destroyed were believers (Moses).  It doesn’t mean that they went to Hell necessarily but after seeing God work supernaturally (parting of the Red Sea, hearing God speak out loud on a fiery mountain), they sinned in the wilderness and God judged them.  They died in the wilderness and didn’t make it into the Promise Land.  It is a picture of terrible destruction.

Example Two – Angels

The second example is more difficult.  It is in Jude 6.  This time, it is the angels who sin.  What sin did they commit?  All Jude says is that they left their home.  They left their positions of authority.  Notice their punishment.  They used to be free.

Now they are shackled.  They are in prison, all chained up.  They used to be shining ones.  Now they are plunged in darkness.  Notice how the punishment fits the crime.  They did NOT keep their positions of authority in heaven and now they are KEPT in darkness.

They left their homes in heaven and went somewhere else.  Why did they do this?  Where did they go?  What did they do?  Jude doesn’t tell us.  His readers already knew.  It was a well-known Jewish story.

Some say that this was when the angels first sinned, when Satan rebelled against God and one-third of the angels went with him.  The sin was pride.  That is not the correct view for a number of reasons.

  • The angels who fell with Satan did not become all confined in chains of darkness.  They became demons.  They are still loose and active in the world today.
  • The sin of Satan and his angels was not leaving their home.  It was not going somewhere but wanting something.  They were in heaven when they fell.

Others believe that these angels sinned in the time of Noah.  They left heaven to come to earth.  Their sin was not pride but lust.  That has to be what Jude is talking about for a number of reasons.

  • That was the universally accepted view in Jude’s day.All Jews accepted this.  It is in the LXX, Pseudepigripha (Jubilees & I Enoch), Josephus, Jude & II Peter.  It was not until the mid-second century when a different interpretation arose.  The interpretation of “the sons of God” as the line of Seth dates back to Julius Africanus (AD 160-240) and became widely adopted by Church Fathers and later on by Luther and Calvin
  • Jude is quoting I Enoch in his epistle and that story is elaborated in I Enoch (cf. chapters 6-19).The whole book of I Enoch is an embellishment on the sin of the angels at the time of Noah.
  • The context fits a sexual sin.  The very next verse compares the sin of the angels to the sin of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah (so Testament of Naphtali 3:4-5).  Jude 7 begins with the words, “In the same way”.  The sin of both was lust.  Just as angels wanted to have sex with humans in Genesis 6, the men of Sodom wanted to have sex with angels (angelic flesh, rather than mere human flesh) in Genesis 19.  Remember,  the story of Genesis how to two visitors come to Lot’s house to get him out of Sodom and how the men of Sodom come to his door, wanting to have sex with his visitors, not know that they are angels.

Example Three – OT Gentiles

The third example is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7).  Jude identifies their sin as a sexual sin.  We all know the story and what the punishment for that sin was in the OT (Genesis 19:24-25).  Jude says that this is a picture of what will happen to ALL false teachers.  They will suffer the punishment of eternal fire.  It is a picture of Hell and the punishment also fits the crime.  They were burning in lust and end up burning in Hell.

Why do you think Jude used these three examples of the false teachers?  What was the first sin?  Unbelief.  We will see next week that this was one of the characteristics of false teachers.  They don’t believe the Bible and some basic doctrines of the faith.  The other sin was sexual in nature.  Immorality was another characteristic of these false teachers (Jude 4).  We will go into more detail next week.

 Who was the Biblical Enoch?

In Jude 14-15 we see another passage on the doom of these false teachers.  He mentions a man named Enoch.  Who was Enoch (cf. Genesis 5:21-24)?

1) He lived before the Flood

He was an antediluvian. He was the father of Methuselah (one had the shortest lifespan in Genesis 5 and one had the longest).

2) He was taken up into heaven

He was raptured.  He was never died.  He was one of only two people in the Bible who never died (Enoch and Elijah).  Elijah was Jewish and Enoch was not.

3) He lived a righteous life

After his son was born, he started walking with God and he did that for three hundred years.  He lived in a wicked world but he lived a righteous life in that environment.

4) He was a preacher

He went around preaching repentance and judgment.  That was an unpopular message.  He took a stand on some things.  If it wasn’t for Jude, we would not have known this.

5) He was a prophet

He was not only a preacher, he was a prophet.  This was the first prophecy ever uttered by man.  The first prophecy in the Bible is in Genesis 3:15 but this is the first one by Enoch is the first one ever uttered by man.

It predates even Noah’s prophecy in Genesis 9 about his sons (Enoch lived before Noah).  The first prophecy ever uttered by man is about the second coming of Christ, not the first Coming.

Jude gives us a quote from Enoch in verses 14-15.  The only problem is that the quote does not come from The Book of Genesis.  It comes word- for-word from a book called I Enoch (91:9; 100:5)[1].

The biblical Enoch doesn’t say anything in the Book of Genesis.  What does the quote say?  These false teachers are ungodly and will be judged one day.  What do we learn about the judgment of these false teachers from this verse?  We learn six things.

Six Facts About the Final Judgment

1) This judgment will be done by Jesus

Jesus  (“the Lord”) is be the judge.  The Father judges no man but has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22).

2) This judgment will take place at the Second Coming

Jesus will not come by himself (with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones).  He will be accompanied by angels (Matthew 16:27; 25:31).  Revelation says that he will return with “the armies of heaven” (19:14), not just one army but many.  He will come with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30) and it will not be an invisible coming.  Revelation says that when he returns “every eye will see him” (1:7).

When he returns, judgment will follow.  We see that in every passage that talks about the Second Coming.  We see that in Jesus’ parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25.  We see that in Revelation.  He returns to judge and to wage war (19:11).  It says that he will destroy the wicked with a sharp sword that will come out of his mouth (19:15).  Paul says this as well (cf. II Thessalonians 1:6-10).

3) This judgment will be a judgment of sin and sinners

That is something that is emphasized in the text (all who are ungodly).  The Greek text uses that word three times in Jude 15.  The KJV uses it four times in that verse.  This will be a judgment of the unsaved.  Paul says that Jesus “will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (II Thessalonians 1:8).

4) This judgment will be completely fair

The wicked will be judged by the Lord for all of the ungodly acts and words that they committed.  Jesus will not miss anything.  He will not forget about anything that happens.  Every act of injustice on earth will be punished.  He sees everything that happens.  He knows everything and will judge the wicked with complete justice and fairness (Romans 2:2, 6).

5) This judgment will be universal

No one will be exempt (the word “all” is used three times).  He will judge all nations (Joel 3:12; Matthew 25:32).

6)  It will be a judgment of words as well as actions

Every harsh word will be judged.  Matthew 12:36 says that we shall give account of every idle word on the Day of Judgment.

Jude and Biblical Inspiration

 If Jude is writing under inspiration, how could he quote from a passage in the Pseudepigripha?  Not only does he quote from it, he quotes from it word for word.  He is the only writer of the NT to do this.  There are two mistakes that people make in connection with this passage.  Beware of these two extremes.

Two Common Errors

First Error: I Enoch is inspired because Jude quotes from it.

This was the view of The Epistle of Barnabas in the second century[2] and Tertullian in the third century[3].   What is the error here?  There are several problems with this.

1) Jude does NOT call I Enoch “scripture”.

He does not use that word.  There were no mainstream Jews in the first century who accepted I Enoch as part of the Jewish Canon of Scripture.

2) Just because an author quotes part of something doesn’t mean that he necessarily endorses everything in the entire book.

Paul quotes a line from Aratus in Acts 17:28.  That does not mean that he endorsed everything that this secular philosopher said in the rest of the book.  He quotes Epimenides, another heathen philosopher in Titus 1:12 without agreeing with everything that this writer said.

He also quoted a pagan Greek poet named Menander in I Corinthians 15:33 without endorsing everything he wrote.  Jude wrote under divine inspiration and included this line from I Enoch in his book which makes it inspired but that does NOT mean that everything in the entire book I Enoch is inspired.  There are some crazy things in that book.

3) Just because it says that Enoch prophesied does not necessarily mean that he wrote a book of Scripture.

It simply means he uttered a true prediction under divine inspiration (John 11:51; Luke 1:67).  Not all of the prophets wrote books of Scripture.  There were speaking and writing prophets.

Second Error: The Book of Jude is NOT inspired (as Jerome believed[4]) because it quotes I Enoch.

This error is based on the assumption that, if Jude quotes from an apocryphal book, it must not be inspired. What is the error here?  It assumes that EVERYTHING in the book of I Enoch is apocryphal.  Apparently, that is not the case.  How an authentic tradition about Enoch ended up in the book is a mystery.  No one knows.

It would be valid to question whether Jude was inspired if Jude had a quote in it or a teaching which was completely heretical and contradicted other passages of Scripture but it doesn’t.  It is innocuous.  What does this quote of Enoch say?  When Jesus returns, he will judge the wicked.  It merely confirms what the rest of the Bible says.  There is absolutely no reason to question whether Jude is inspired.


[1] The title of Enoch as “the seventh from Adam” does not come from the OT but is a phrase that comes right out of I Enoch (60:8; 93:3).  The statement about sinners speaking harsh words with their mouth is also repeated in I Enoch 5:4; 27:2.

[2] Letter of Barnabas quotes from 1 Enoch three times, in one case referring to it as “scripture” (Barnabas 4:3 quotes 1 Enoch 89:55 and Barnabas 16:5, 6 quotes 1 Enoch 89: 66-67).

[3] Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Book I, Chapter 3.

[4] Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, 4; cf. also Commentarium in Epistula ad Titum,1.2.

Troublemakers in the Church

We have been studying the Book of Titus. It was a short letter that Paul wrote to Titus in the Greek island of Crete. We have not been doing a verse by verse study if the book. Instead, we have looking at some of the main themes in the book. I want to pass a little outline of the book that I found online. Let’s read chapter 3 again. I want to finish the book tonight.

Titus 3 deals with three topics. The first topic was the Christian and the government, the Christian and society and the Christian and troublemakers in the church. Last week, we saw that we are to be good citizens. Christians should be model citizens.

The Bible teaches that out citizenship is in heaven in Philippians 3:20 but make no mistake our citizenship is also on earth. We are all American citizens as well. We have a dual citizenship and we have responsibilities to the state as well as to God. Jesus said that we are to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to render to God the things that are God’s.

The Christian and Society

This deals not how we relate to the government but how we relate to society in general or all people (3:2).

Be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

What is our responsibility to society? To do these five things.

The first thing he says that we are to DO GOOD.

Christians should be a bunch of do-gooders. If we are saved, we should be a model of good works (2:7). We should be rich in good works (I Timothy 6:18). We should not just have a few good works but a lot of them. In fact, that is one of the reasons God saved us so we would do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:13-14).

Good works do not save you. Good works do not buy your way into heaven but we were created to do good works. When we do good works God is glorified. Good works are proof of our salvation (1:15-16). James says that faith without works is DEAD.

What are some examples of good works? Some are spiritual in nature (Bible study, prayer) and some are more physical (giving to the poor, helping someone out who needs your help, visiting widows and orphans, being a good neighbor or coworker).

Good works are not always religious. They may or may not be. Paul says “Do good works,” not religious works. Finding the owner of a lost cell phone and returning it is a good deed. Giving someone a few dollars so they can buy some lunch is a good deed. Who are we to do good works to? Everyone (Galatians 6:10; Matthew 5:13-14).

Application

What good works are you doing? What metaphors does Jesus use to describe Christians? Christians are the salt of the earth (5:13) and the light of the world (5:14). This should describe ALL Christians. Christians have an influence on the world in which we live.

We are not to leave the world and join a monastery or be like the Amish. We are to be in the world and to be salt and light. First, we are to be LIGHT.  We are to be the light of the world, not the light of the church. It is the world that needs the light. We are to shine our light in the darkest of places and we are to expose the darkness.

We are also to be SALT.  We are to be salty Christians. This is just a metaphor. It is a figure of speech. Too much salt is actually bad for you. How is the character of a Christian to be like salt? There are many uses of salt and many functions that most people do not know about (soothing a bee sting, killing poison ivy and fleas on animals).

Some Characteristics of Salt

1. Salt has a distinct taste.

A Christian should be different from the world. If we are the same as the world, we are like salt that has lost its flavor (5:13). It is completely useless.

2. Salt is essential to life.

We need salt to live. We couldn’t live without sodium. It is essential for body metabolism. It is an important component of our blood. We are supposed to get 2.4 grams a day (the recommended daily intake).

3. Salt is used in cooking

We use salt in cooking to season food, to flavor meat and enhance taste. It gives flavor and taste to bland food.

4. Salt is used as a preservative

Salt keeps things from going bad and decaying. It can help preserve food by killing bacteria that might cause food poisoning. Salt is antibacterial. Christians act as a preservative in society. God judges sin. He judges individuals and nations.

5. It also makes you thirsty

If we live different from the world, we should attract people to us.

6. Salt melts the ice

People use salt to melt ice on the sidewalk and on the road.  We sprinkle salt over the snow in the winter to keep us from falling.

Christians are also light in the world, not just the light of the church? Jesus says that we are the light in a dark world. Every day we are surrounded by people in great darkness – religious darkness, moral darkness and spiritual darkness). Jesus says that in this dark world WE are to shine (5:16). We are saved to shine. In what way are Christians to be the light of the world? What does it mean to be light?

8 For you were once darkness, BUT NOW YOU ARE LIGHT IN THE LORD. LIVE AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:8-14 NIV)

How are Christians the Light of the World?

1. They act different from the world.

The world will see a clear difference between our actions and those of the unsaved. The world should see a clear difference between the children of God and the children of the devil, between the sons of darkness and the children of the light.

2. They have a visible testimony.

Don’t be ashamed of your faith.  They are out and open about what they believe.  They are not secret believers and they are not ashamed of their faith.

3. They take a stand on things.

We are to expose the deeds of darkness. The church growth movement tells us pastors that we should make the church a place where unbelievers feel comfortable. So, we’re supposed to not talk about certain topics subjects like sin and Hell. That might offend people if you tell people that they are sinners and need to repent.

We are just supposed to tell people how much God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life! Paul says that are also supposed to expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness. You will get some resistance. Jesus said that people love darkness (John 3:19).

The second thing Paul says is that we are to slander no one (NIV) or “not to speak evil of anyone” (GNT).

The Greek word is βλααφημέω.  This is something that all of us have done. What does that mean? First, let’s go over what he does NOT mean. He is not saying that we have to be naïve about people and say nothing but good things about people who are completely rotten.

He is not saying that you have to lie about people. He is not saying that you can never expose evil or that you can never criticize anyone. There are actually several ways we violate this command.

Ways We Speak Evil of People Today

1) We speak evil of people when we lie about them.

Slander is saying things that are false about someone. It is lying about someone, slandering and smearing people’s reputations. If the allegations are true, that’s not slander (1:12), although the Bible says that we are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

2) We speak evil of people when we insult or make fun of people.

We do this all the time for fun.  We do it so much that we often are even aware we are doing it.  The truth is that put-downs are rude and they hurt people.

3) We speak evil of people when we say bad things about them behind their back.

It is stabbing people in the back. Why do we bad-mouth people to give a bad impression of them to others. This is something we love to do when someone is not around. It is human nature. If we have a problem with someone (perhaps we have a criticism of them and it is valid) we should tell it to their face.

The third thing he says is that we should be peaceable (άμαχος).

Christians should not be known as terrorists or assassins or violent individuals but peaceable. Peace is one of the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22. We are to be peaceable as much as possible and as much as it lies in us (Romans 12:18; 14:19). It is not always possible. We are to be peace-loving (James 3:17) and peace-makers (Matthew 5:9).

We should try to remove hostilities between two people who do not get along. The NLT says that we should avoid quarreling. What is the definition of a quarrel? Is every argument or disagreement a quarrel?

What is the difference between the two? A quarrel is a verbal fight. You get into an argument with someone and at the end you are not speaking. Husbands and wives can quarrel. Some people love quarrels (Proverbs 17:19; 20:3).

The fourth thing is to be considerate.

Are we considerate? Do we think of the needs of other people or just yourself? Do we put others first?

The fifth thing is that we are to show humility to people.

This is similar to the last trait (Philippians 2:4)

The Christian and Troublemakers

How do you deal with problem people in the church? Paul deals with that topic in Titus 3:9-11. It is an extremely important and misunderstood topic but what kind of people are we talking about? There are two different interpretations of Titus 3:10. Some believe that this is talking about a heretic.

Titus 3:10 reads in the KJV “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject.” A heretic is a false teacher. It is someone who is doctrinally unsound in major areas of the faith (e.g., someone who says that Jesus is not God or Hell is not eternal). The KJV is the only Bible to translate the word “heretic.”

Others believe that this is NOT talking about someone who is off doctrinally but is talking about someone who causes divisions in the church and goes around splitting churches (someone who stirs up divisions in the church not necessarily about doctrine).

The second view is held by every English translation since the KJV (RSV, ASV, NASB, ESV, NLT et al). Even the NKJV takes the word “heretic” out of the verse. Why do no other Bible translations have that word “heretic” in Titus 3:10?

Why the word “heretic” is not used

1) It is politically incorrect.

It is unpopular. If you know anything about history, that very word conjures up images of the Inquisition and burning people at the stake. It is a little out of vogue today to speak of a group of people today and to call them “heretics.” It was real popular in the Middle Ages.

2) The word “heretic” in Greek (α̉ίρετικός) is only used one time in the NT and that is in Titus 3:10.

In the immediate context, Paul does not say anything about this group denying any major doctrines of the faith. Instead, he mentions four other things (foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law). On the surface, it looks like this group of people is obsessed with things that are foolish, rather than false

3) The word “heretic” is anachronistic.

Some have even said that the word did not have anything to do with doctrine until the second century. Who is right? I grew up on the KJV. I was saved on it but it is not one that I read regularly today. It is a little archaic.

The translation is four hundred years old written around the time of Shakespeare. It is Elizabethan English and is not even based on the best Greek manuscripts but in this case the KJV got it right and all of the other Bible translations got it wrong.

There are several reasons we know that this is the CORRECT  translation of α̉ίρετικός.

a)  The noun form of the word α̉ίρεσις means “heresy” (II Peter 2:1).

It is clearly doctrinal in this passage. Every Bible renders it “heresy” there (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, ESV, NLT). There is no debate there. It did NOT get this meaning in the second century.

b) The broad context of the book deals with false teachers.

That is clear from the first chapter of the book. That is why Paul Titus to ordain elders in the churches, because of the presence of false teachers in Crete. They were called deceivers (1:10) and saying things which they ought not to (1:11).

c) I Timothy specifically mentions genealogies, arguments, controversies and quarrels in the context of false teaching.

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach FALSE DOCTRINES any longer nor to devote themselves to MYTHS and endless GENEALOGIES. These promote CONTROVERSIES rather than God’s work—which is by faith (1:3-4)

If anyone teaches FALSE DOCTRINES and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in CONTROVERSIES and QUARRELS about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. (6:3-4).

Paul says, “As for a person who is a heretic, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.” (3:10).

Practical Implications of Titus 3:10

1. We have to know the truth.

The only way to know something is false is to know what is true. If you do not know the truth, you cannot detect error. If you do not know what the Bible teaches, there is no way you can identify false teaching or false teachers.

2. We have to know the difference between major and minor doctrines.

Heresy only deals with major doctrines. If you cannot distinguish between the two, you will think that anyone who disagrees with you on the smallest point is a heretic. Heresy is not when someone disagrees with you.

Heresy is not when someone disagrees with the church. Heresy is when someone disagrees with God. The Bible says one thing very clearly and a heretic says the exact opposite.

3. We have to label certain teaching as error.

This is something that some Christians would never do. They believe it is wrong to judge people and they would never say one view is right and another is wrong. They would just say, “They believe what they believe and I believe what I believe.”

There are some people who do not know the Bible. They may be a young Christian and say some things out of ignorance but they are open to the truth and want to be taught what the Bible says.

There are other people who are completely closed minded. They believe what they believe and are not open to anything you have to tell them or anything that the Bible says.

The person in this situation does not have an intellectual problem. He or she has a spiritual problem. That is what Paul says in 3:11. The individual is warped and sinful. He has spiritual problems. He does not believe what the Bible clearly says and is not open to any correction.

4. We have to reach out to people who have doctrinal errors in the church.

If someone is way off doctrinally (they are in left field and believe all kinds of goofy stuff) and you talk to them and that doesn’t work, there is a tendency to want to write that person off and to give up on them.

They don’t believe the Bible. You showed them what the Bible says and they flat-out rejected it. Paul says to be patient. Give them a second chance. Give them some time and talk to them again.

5. We have to reject those who refuse to repent.

That is a command in Greek (present tense – “be rejecting”). Some today work with heretics, rather than reject them. Some make them their friends. Paul says that they are to be rejected. Both the teachers and the teachings are to be rejected.

Their teaching is to be rejected (I Timothy 4:7; II Timothy 2:23) but the teachers are to be rejected as well (Titus 3:10). Paul says that they are to be rejected.

He doesn’t say to burn them at the stake or use force or violence against them. He says to reject them. The point is that there is a time to stop working with them. If the first two times you work them are unsuccessful, you stop working with them.

You don’t stop praying for them but you stop talking to them about the matter. You don’t go back a third and fourth time to debate them.

Contend for the Faith

This evening, we will be starting a new book study.  I want to begin a study of the book of Jude, the next to last book of the NT.  It is right before the book of Revelation.  It is a very important book for us to study.  It is fascinating.  There is some strange stuff in this book.  I have to give you a warning.

There is some stuff in this book that you may never have heard before.  It is very practical as well.  There are all kinds of applications in this book for us.  What I want to do today is to cover the first four verses of the book.

Tonight, I want to answer several questions about this book.  What kind of a book is Jude?  What do we know about the author?  Who was he?  Why did he write the book?  What is the purpose or theme of the book?

Characteristics of the Book of Jude

1) It is a small book

It only has twenty-five verses.  It does not have a lot of chapters in it.  This book is only one chapter long.  It is one of five books in the Bible that are one chapter long (Obadiah, Philemon, II John, III John & Jude).

2) It is one of the general epistles

Most of the epistles of Paul were written to specific churches at Ephesus or Corinth or Galatia.  Other books of the NT are addressed to the church in general (James 1:1; I Peter 1:1).  There are eight general epistles not written to one specific church.  These include the Book of Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John and Jude.

What three things does Jude say about his audience?  Christians are called by God, loved by God and kept by Christ Jesus.  Jude was not writing to Christians in general.  He knew these people.  He calls them friends (v. 3, 17, 20).  We just don’t know who they were.

3) It is most like II Peter

Nineteen of Jude’s twenty-five verses are found in II Peter.  The language is similar.  Compare Jude 4 with II Peter 2:1-3; Jude 6 with II Peter 2:4; Jude 9 with II Peter 2:11; Jude 12-13 with II Peter 2:13, 17; Jude 16 with II Peter 2:18; Jude 17 with II Peter 3:2 and Jude 18 with II Peter 3:3.

Which book was written first?  Probably II Peter.  Peter predicted that false teachers are coming into the church.  By Jude’s time they had already entered the church.  Peter warned that “there will be false teachers among you” (2:1), Jude states that “for certain men have secretly slipped in among you” (v. 4).  They have already arrived.  Peter was martyred by Nero around 68 AD.  Jude was written later (70-80 AD).

4) It quotes the Pseudepigripha

The Pseudepigripha are Jewish books written between the OT and NT with FAKE names (claiming to be written by Adam and Noah and Enoch, etc).  They were written in the intertestamental period but were never included in the Jewish canon of Scripture.

They are not part of the Hebrew Bible.  Jude alludes to the OT frequently but the only book it quotes is the book of I Enoch, a book which is not even inspired.  Jude quotes a man named Enoch.  Enoch was the man in Genesis who lived for 365 years, walked with God and then was raptured by God, taken into heaven without dying.

Jude quotes a prophecy of Enoch before the Flood.  The only problem is that the words of this prophecy do NOT come from the Book of Genesis.  Where did Enoch say this?  This quote comes from I Enoch almost word for word and that quote is found, not once but twice in the book (1:9; 100:5).

He even calls Enoch “the seventh from Adam”.  That title of Enoch does not come from the OT but from I Enoch (60:8; 93:3).  Is it possible that I Enoch quotes Jude, rather than Jude quoting I Enoch?  No.  I Enoch was written first.  We know that from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Manuscripts of I Enoch in Aramaic were discovered in Qumran.   I Enoch predates Jude.

Who Wrote the Book?

What do we know about the author of this book?  We know several things about him.

1. His name was Judas

His name in Greek is Judas (Ιούδας).  It is the same name as Judas Iscariot.  We call this “The Book of Jude” but it is really “The Book of Judas.”  Here is a book about apostasy and the name of the author is associated with a traitor.  It is not a common name today.  We don’t even name our dogs Judas.

In the same way that Adolf is no longer a popular name in Germany, since it is the name of one of the worst villains in history.  In NT times, however, Judas was a popular name.  There are five men in the NT names Judas.  One of the most famous men in Jewish history was named Judas (Judas Maccabeus).

2. He was NOT one of the Apostles

Jude does not call himself an apostle. In fact, in Jude 17 he distinguished himself from the apostles, although two of the apostles were names Judas (Luke 6:16).  Not all of the books of the NT were written by apostles.  The Gospel of Luke was not an apostle.  The Gospel of Mark was not an apostle.  The Book of Acts was not written by an apostle.

3. He was the BROTHER of the Lord Jesus

Jude doesn’t call himself the brother of Christ.  He just calls himself a slave of Christ but we know that he was also his brother (or technically he was a half-brother, because they had the same mother but not the same father).  Jesus had a brother named Judas (Matthew 13:55).

He also had a brother named James who was the head of the church in Jerusalem and wrote the Book of James.  Two books of the NT were written by the half-brothers of Christ.  When Jesus was doing his ministry, preaching and healing, neither James nor Jude were believers (John 7:5).  In fact, they thought he was crazy at one point (Mark 3:20-21, 31-32). They did not become believers until after Jesus rose from the dead.

4. He was a PREACHER

Jude was very different from Paul.  Paul was a great theologian.  Jude was more of a preacher than a scholar.  How do we know he was a preacher?  Preachers always have three points.  Jude does everything in threes.

This is unique to Jude.  We see this about ten times in the book.  He has a threefold blessing (v.2).  Paul always used two (grace and mercy) three examples of judgment (v.5-7), threefold description of opponents (v. 8).

He sees three OT characters to compare these false teachers to (v. 11).  He gives a threefold description of them (v. 19).  He describes three different kinds of people (v.22-23), three exhortations to believers (v.20) and glory is described to God three times (v.25).  Jude is a preacher and the book of Jude is a little sermon.  It is an early Christian sermon in the form of a letter.

What is the Theme of the Book?

Why did Jude write the book and what is its theme?  What’s interesting is that Jude originally planned to write a letter on a different topic.  That’s what happened to Frank Morrison.  He intended to write a book refuting the resurrection but after he did all of his research and looked at the evidence, he ended up writing a book proving the resurrection.  Jude intended to write a positive letter to encourage people.

He wanted to write a nice pastoral letter on what a great thing it is to know Jesus but because there was a huge crisis in the church at the time, Jude writes a very different kind of letter.  He writes a book about false teachers that is more negative than positive.

We live in a day when it is politically incorrect to call any teachings false.  That is considered judgmental, unloving and intolerant today but the Bible warns against false teachers and says it comes from two different sources (cf. Acts 20:28-30).

This is a very interesting warning.  Paul says that after he leaves he is worried about problems from the outside of the church and from the inside of the church.  Wolves on the outside are dangerous.  They are killers by nature.  They like the taste of blood.  They eat sheep, not grass but they are easier to detect.

They are much harder to detect when they are on the inside (denomination, seminary, school, church).  Wolves in sheep’s clothing are harder to spot.  They look like sheep on the outside but are wolves on the inside.  Paul warns about false teaching on the outside of the church and on the inside of the church, among the church leadership and even on the elder board.

By the time the Book of Jude was written, false teachers had already gotten INTO the church.  Verse fourteen says that they were taking communion with them, participating in the love feast (v. 12).  These people were the leaders of the church, elders.  Jude calls them “shepherds” (v. 12) and they were not even Christians.  He calls them “twice dead” (v. 12), because they will experience “the second death” (Revelation 20:14; 21:8).  They will die twice.

They did not even possess the Holy Spirit (v. 19).  They may talk about how spiritual they are but they don’t even have the Holy Spirit.  They may claim to have the Holy Spirit but they don’t have him.  These were not some Christians who disagree with you on some minor doctrines.  These are people who were not even saved.

Jude tells us how they got in.  Verse four says that they came in SECRETLY.  They did not enter the church with a big sign saying, “I am a false teacher.  I don’t believe the Bible is really inspired.  I don’t believe Jesus is God.”  Once they were in, they started teaching false doctrine.

The Doctrinal and Practical Implications of Jude 1:3

1. There are a set of essential doctrines called THE FAITH

There is a difference between faith and THE faith.  When we think of faith, we think of what we have to do to get saved (belief in Christ).  Here Jude is not talking about saving faith (subjective).  Faith is a noun here, not a verb and it has the article in front of it (objective).  It means a system of belief, a body of truth.

Eventually this was all written down in the pages of Scripture but when Jude wrote this, all of the books of Scripture were not written yet.  Notice that the word “faith” is also singular.  Jude says we are to contend for “the faith,” not “the faiths.”

Paul says what unites all Christians is “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5).  The world recognizes many faiths.  The church has one faith or does it?  Isn’t the Methodist faith different from the Baptist faith?  The Calvinist faith (that some Christians hold) different from the Arminian faith (that other Christians hold)?

There is one faith that all true Christians agree on.  It is centered in the gospel.  It is what the apostles taught (Acts 2:42).   There are many ways in which Christians differ on minor areas but there are some things that they are all agree on.  There are two extremes here.  Some do not take a stand about anything.  Others fight about everything.  They argue about doctrine, not matter how big or little.  Everything is a major doctrine to them.

2. This set of doctrines has been ENTRUSTED to the saints.

It was not discovered by the saints or invented by the saints but delivered to them.  Paul said it was delivered to him (I Corinthians 15:1-3).  Remember in Galatians, Paul said that he did NOT receive the gospel from men (1:11-12).  He received it from God and God entrusted this message to him (I Timothy 1:11).

3. These truths are UNALTERABLE and cannot be revised.

Jude says that they were “once” delivered to the saints.  The Greek word άπαξ means “once for all time.”  The same word is used in Hebrews 9:26.  Since this faith was delivered to the saints once, the implication is that it is fixed and unalterable.  It cannot be changed, modified or updated by ANYONE.  Paul says that he could not change it.

He says that even an angel from heaven could not change it (Galatians 1:8).  We can’t use this to prove the canon is closed (although that is true), because when Jude wrote this it was not closed yet.  There were more books of the Bible to be written but the basic set of apostolic doctrines centering on the gospel had already been delivered.

4. We are to CONTEND for these essential doctrines of the faith.

It is a fight and a struggle.  You say, I never knew faith involved a fight.  It does (I Timothy 6:12; II Timothy 4:7). The Greek word “contend” (Jude 3) means “to fight.” Is Paul talking about having a fist fight with false teachers?  No (cf. II Corinthians 10:4).  Here’s an important lesson from Jude 3.

Many believe the truth but would never defend or fight for it.  Paul said that he not only preached the gospel, he defended the gospel (Philippians 1:7, 16).  How many times have we heard people say, “We do not need to defend the Bible.  The Bible defends itself.  We just need to preach the Bible?”  It’s a common viewpoint but that’s not what this verse says.  Jude says that we are to “contend for the faith” (v. 3).

5. This is the responsibility of EVERY Christian.

This book is addressed to Christians in general, not to just the pastor (Jude 1).  The word in Greek is in the present tense which means that it is to be a continual process.  In fact, it doesn’t just say that “we are to contend for the faith,” it says that “we are to contend EARNESTLY for the faith.”  It is a strong word in Greek.  This is the only time in the entire NT this word is used (έπαγωνίζωμαι).

Why is it important?  Three out of four Christian teens walk away from the church after they leave home.  70-75% of Christian youth leave the church after high school (so Barna and USA Today). This is what Frank Turek calls “the Youth Exodus Problem.”

Why do they leave?  One reason is that they find church boring and irrelevant.  One reason is that the appeal of the world and its sins draws them away.  Intellectual skepticism is another one of the major reasons they walk away.

Who we defend it against?  In this context, it is to be defended against false teachers.  It is to be defended against skeptics, critics, agnostics, atheists, cultists, seekers, other religions, unbelieving friends and neighbors.

How the Bible has been Attacked throughout History

Historicity

Some have attacked whether it is historical.  That is what liberals and modernists did.  Did the events in the Bible really happen?  Was there really a literal Adam and Eve?  Did the Flood of Noah really take place?  Did the miracles of the Bible really happen or all they all myth?  Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

Authorship 

Some have attacked whether the Bible was written by the people who claimed to have written it?  Did Moses really write the Pentateuch?  Did Isaiah really write the Book of Isaiah?  Did Daniel really write the Book of Daniel?  That is the view of higher criticism and the Jesus Seminar.

Inerrancy

Some have attacked whether the Bible is inerrant.  They would say it is inspired but is it really inerrant?  They believe there are errors in the Bible, even though Jesus said “your word is truth” (John 17:17).  Some have said that the Bible must have errors in it.  It is full of contradictions and errors (historical and scientific).

Interpretation

Some have reinterpreted what it says.  That is how the cultists attack the Bible.  They do not deny it. They say they believe the Bible is the Word of God.  They just re-interpret it.  The use the Bible to deny the Trinity and the Deity of Christ and Hell (so JWs).  Catholics use the Bible to teach salvation by works.

Canonicity 

Some have added books of the Bible that are not in the Bible.  The Roman Catholic Church adds some extra books in their Old Testament Bible called the Apocrypha (none of which were written in Hebrew like the rest of the Old Testament).  Mormons have added The Pearl of Great Price and The Doctrines and Covenants to Scripture.

Muslims believe that the Koran (or Qu’ran) is inspired by God, even though it denies the trinity, the deity of Christ and even denies that Jesus was even crucified.  Others believe  that the canon is not closed and God is still writing books of Scripture.

Translation

Some have attacked in how it is translated.  Many cultists have their own Bible which changes many key passages.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses use their New World Translation which changes key doctrines of Scrpture. Liberals today use gender neutral language to try to make the Bible politically correct.  Jesus is no longer seen as the Son of God.

One modern version of John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Child, so that everyone who believes in that Child may not perish but may have eternal life,” (AIV)[1] even though the Greek word υίός (huios) unambiguously means “Son.” “Father” is rendered in this version by a new metaphor, “Father-Mother.”

Another example is the Queen James Bible, which was published in 2012.  It is the world’s first gay bible.  It is a gay-friendly version of the bible.  It is basically the KJV with eight verses changed. The problem is that it completely changes Scripture.  Any reference which condemns homosexuality is taken out and removed.  For example, Leviticus 18:22 reads, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable” (NIV).

The QJB reads, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind in the temple of Molech: it is an abomination.”  The implication is that this behavior is wrong to do in a pagan temple but may not be wrong to do outside of a pagan temple.  It is a strange translation because the words “in the temple of Molech” are not in the Hebrew at all.  The same five words are also mysteriously added to Leviticus 20:13.

Message

Some have used the Bible to justify sin.  It has been used to justify homosexuality and gay marriage.  It has been used to justify bigotry and racism.  White supremacists use the Bible.  It has been used to justify pre-marital sex.  It has been used to justify smoking marijuana.

The Bible has been used to justify hatred.  The pastor in Kansas goes around with signs saying “God hates fags” and “God hates America.”  It has been used to justify spousal abuse (submission).  It has been used to justify burning people at the stake for their beliefs.

How to Earnestly Contend for the Faith

1) Know what you believe.

If you don’t know the Bible, you can’t defend it.  Christians should know what they believe and know what the Bible teaches.  We have no excuse for being ignorant of God’s Word and yet there are Christians in church after church with very little knowledge of the Bible,  Biblical illiteracy is rampant in America.

2) Give reasons for what you believe.

I Peter 3:15 says, always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).  If you believe Jesus rose from the dead but cannot give any reasons why you believe that, you cannot contend for the faith.  You believe it but you cannot defend it.  That’s what apologetics does.

You say, I do not know how to do this.  There are books and websites and ministries dedicated to apologetics, people like Greg Koukl, William Lane Craig, Hank Hanegraaff, Kerby Anderson, Norman Geisler Gary Harbermas, Ravi Zarcharias, Josh McDowell, Frank Turek, Alex McFarland, Ron Rhodes and others.

3) Expose what is false.

Jude exposes false teachers.  He actively opposed error.  He doesn’t just say, “Everyone has their beliefs.  They just see things differently than I do.”  It is one thing to know what you believe or to give reasons for what you believe.  It is another thing to expose other teaching as false or unbiblical.


[1] An Inclusive Version (Oxford University Press), 1995.

The Christian and Government – Part II

We have been studying the Book of Titus.  It was a short letter that Paul wrote to Titus in the Greek island of Crete.  Last week, we began looking at the first verse in Titus 3.  It deals with the topic of the Christian and human government.  What is our responsibility to the state?  According to the NT, it is to honor our leaders and submit to them.

In Greek, that means voluntarily.  It doesn’t just mean be subject but submit yourselves.  It is not qualified in any way.  We also looked at the very rare times in which a citizen is justified in disobeying the government: if it violates your religious freedom (prohibits you from praying, preaching the gospel or orders you to worship a false god) or if it violates your conscience and actually orders you to sin.

Today, I have a lot to cover and it is very important.  Some of you may find this teaching shocking.  I want to start by looking at why we are to submit to government.  Why should we do this?  Peter and Paul both give some reasons why we are to do this.

Peter’s Reasons for Obeying the Government

What are Peter’s reasons for doing this? He mentions two reasons in I Peter 2:13-15.  He says we are to do this “for the Lord’s sake” (2:13) and because this is “God’s will” (2:15).

Paul’s Reasons for Obeying the Government

Paul gives more extensive reasons for obeying the government in Romans 13:1-7.  He mentions six reasons why Christians should obey the government.

Government is Instituted by God

“The powers that be are ordained of God” (KJV), according to Romans 13:1.  The NLT reads, “All authority comes from God” (whether elected or not).  If you are a little slow and did not get that, Paul said it twice in 13:1.  What are some implications of government being instituted by God?

1. Government was Created by God.

The institution of government comes from the hand of God.  Paul is not dealing with particular forms of government.  He does not say that only democracy is ordained by God.  Paul is speaking about all human government.

Man didn’t start government.  God did.  Government is not just a social compact.  The Declaration of Independence is based on the idea that man creates government and that government is a social contract.  God instituted human government after the Fall in Genesis 9.

2. Government is Good (13:3-4).

It was designed for the benefit of man.  Government is not evil.  It is created by God and it is good.  One of the main purposes of government in a fallen world is to restrain evil, to prevent and punish crime (13:3).  That is why we have laws and police officers and judges and courts and prisons.  No government is perfect but bad government is better than no government.  That is why anarchism is wrong.

Civil Authorities are God’s Servants

In fact, they are even called “ministers of God” (KJV) or God’s servants’ (13:4, 6).  That is very interesting.  They may not know they are God’s servants.  They may not even be saved but God calls them his servants.   They do his will.

Police officers are both cops and ministers.  They are not ordained ministers but they are still ministers.  They have a ministry from God (the ministry of government or law enforcement).

In fact, Paul uses two different Greek words for servant.  He uses διάκονός in 13:4.  That word does not just mean people who hold an office in the church (“deacons”), it means servants.  The word is used of angels (Hebrews 1:7).

The second word is λειτουργός.  It is used in 13:6 and is another Greek word for just plain old servant (Matthew 20:26; John 2:5, 9; I Corinthians 3:5 etc.).

Government leaders are God’s servants.  Was Hitler God’s servant?  Was Muamar Gadaffi God’s servant?  Was Sadam Hussein God’s servant?  Yes.  They were in the position of government.

Positionally, they were God’s servants.  That does not mean that they are good servants.  There are some righteous servants and wicked servants.  Some servants are abusive. Some governments are abusive.  They abuse their authority.

Paul knew about the abuse of political authority.  He was not ignorant of that.  He suffered first hand from the Roman authorities.  His head was cut off by a Roman sword.  Jesus was crucified by the very government which Paul told the Romans to submit to.

People can abuse their authority.  A parent can abuse his or her authority.  The police can abuse their authority.  A pastor can abuse his authority but they still have a God-given authority that was intended for good and Jesus submitted to the death penalty, even though he had done nothing wrong and even though it was unjust and was a miscarriage of justice.  Not all servants do what they are supposed to do but they are still servants.

God gives rules for governments and he gives rules for citizens.  Many believe if government is not doing its part, then we do not have to do our part as citizens.  Governments are supposed to reward good and punish evil.  Some governments punish good and reward evil.  They are abusive and we do not have to submit to that kind of a government.  That is unbiblical.

It is like a wife saying that because a husband does not love his wife as Christ loved the church that she does not have to submit to him (he is not doing his part).  It is like a child saying, “Since my parents are not doing their part, I do not have to honor them or submit to them”.  We are only responsible for ourselves and what we do.  We will stand before God for what we do.  We have no control over what someone else does.

Government officials are given power by God himself

No one gets into political office unless God puts them there (whether they recognize that or not).  They may think that they got into office because the people put them there or because they put themselves there but, according to Scripture, no one gets into office apart from the sovereign program of God and that includes good rulers and bad rulers (cf. Romans 13:1; Daniel 2:21; 4:17; John 19:8-11).  God uses even the bad rulers for his glory.

God used wicked Egyptian Pharaoh for his purposes (Romans 9:17).  He used wicked pagan King Nebuchadnezzar for his purposes.  God calls unsaved and wicked Nebuchadnezzar “his servant” in Jeremiah 25:8-9. He used him to conquer Jerusalem.  He carried out God’s purposes.  God even used Hitler.  The state of Israel came into existence in 1948 largely as a result of the actions of Adolf Hitler.

Rebellion against Government is Rebellion against God

When you rebel against government, you are rebelling against God himself, because he was the one who established government in the first place and commands you to submit to it (13:2).  If you say, “I don’t want to do that.  I don’t like government.  Government is evil” then, you are rebelling against God.

You will get punished if you do not Obey the Government

Disobedience will lead to punishment by the state (external reason).  “If I do that, I might get caught.  I might be arrested, jailed or imprisoned.” (Romans 13:3-5)

Your Conscience will Bother you if you do not Obey the Government

Disobedience will lead to punishment by God (internal reason).  Even if the state never finds out what I did and I was never punished, God will not be happy with me, because I disobeyed a clear command of Scripture (Romans 13:5).

We looked at what Peter and Paul said about government, what does Jesus say about government?  He said the same thing.  He said to submit to government.  He did not encourage rebellion against the government.  Jesus was not a political revolutionary.  He was accused of that by his enemies.

When Jesus was arrested, the Romans came in with swords and clubs to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray and he said “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? (Matthew 26:55).  I want to look quickly at two passages.

Matthew 5:38-42

Jesus says that we are not to resist an evil person (5:39).  What if a government is evil?  Should we resist it?  No.  One of the examples Jesus gives deals with the government (5:41).  It was the custom of the time to compel a person to do this for one mile.

By Roman law a Roman citizen could compel a subject from one of the conquered lands to carry his backpack, or load, for him for one mile, but one mile only.   Don’t resist even a foreign occupying power that oppressed you.

The Jews hated it.  They would go a mile complaining and hating every second of it but would not go a step past a mile.  Jesus says carry it a second mile.  The first mile was compulsory.  The second mile was voluntary.  Now, there are exceptions to this rule of not resisting even an evil government but the exceptions are limited by Scripture (if the government tells you to sin or disobey Scripture).

Matthew 22:15-22

What is going on in this section?  The Pharisees hated Jesus and wanted to trap him.  The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with a trick question.  Do people still do that?  All of the time!  Every election there are people running for President that journalists try to embarrass or trip up by asking them questions that they know they can’t answer, like who is the leader of some obscure third world country.

That way, they will look stupid and people won’t vote for them.  In the Republican debates, some of the candidates have already been asked trick questions, like when Michelle Bachman was asked if she was President whether she would still submit to her husband while in office.

So they were going to ask him about the poll tax.  Tell us then, what is your opinion?  Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” (22:17).   Now before we look at Jesus’ answer, you have to understand the historical background of the question.  The Jews in the first century hated this tax.  Why?

First, it was a tax and no one likes to pay taxes anyway.  Second, this was a tax to Rome.  Rome took over Israel in the first century.  They took over the country.  Judea was under Roman rule.  This tax was a sign of their subjection to Rome.  It went to an occupying power and just supported the oppression of the Jews.

Let’s rephrase the question.   Should a Jew pay taxes to a heathen foreign government?  Either answer would get Jesus in hot water.  If he said, “Don’t pay taxes to Rome,” it would be considered treason and they could turn him into the Roman authorities.  If he says, “Pay taxes to Rome”, then he would not be considered a good Jew who is loyal to Israel.

Jesus was asked a trick question as well but he had a brilliant reply.  What was Jesus’ answer to their question?  He said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

We do not have a Caesar in America.  We don’t have an emperor but we do have a president.  Caesar stands for political leaders.  This one of the most important statement Jesus ever uttered in the area of politics.  There are three very important implications of this.

 Political Applications from Matthew 22:21

1) Caesar and God are DISTINCT

That means that God is not the state.  It means that Caesar and God are separate entities.

2) We have an obligation to BOTH God and Caesar

We have an obligation to God and to Caesar, to God and the government.  All of us have political and religious duties that we need to fulfill.  Notice what Jesus says.  The questions was, Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar OR not?  They made it an either-or question.  Jesus’ answer was “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, AND give to God what belongs to God.

We have an obligation to God and we have an obligation to the state.  We need to give God what we owe him and we need to give the government what we owe it.  Loyalty to God does not mean disloyalty to the state, even a secular pagan state.  Just because you love God does not mean that you have to be unpatriotic.  You can love God and you can love your country.

Mathew Henry said that “True religion is not an enemy of civil government but a friend to it”.  Charles Finney said, “Christians must do their duty to their country as part of their duty to God”.

Jesus was not a revolutionary.  He could have said, “The evil Romans have occupied the holy land of Israel, let’s overthrow the pagan invaders.  Let’s overthrow the evil oppressors.”  He did not say that.

He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars”.  In the context, what he meant is to pay your taxes.  That is not our only political responsibility but it is one of the main ones.

3) Duties to God and Caesar should NOT contradict one another

Don’t use God as an excuse not to give Caesar what we owe him.  Don’t say, “I would love to pay my taxes but I can’t because I am giving all of my money to God”.  God doesn’t get everything.

4) Duties to God ALWAYS take precedent over duties to the State

Caesar is not God.  The state should not demand worship.   Worship belongs to God alone.  We are to obey the government but we are not to worship the government.

You say, Who would be stupid enough to worship the government?  If you study history, you would know that many people throughout history have worshiped the government.  In ancient Egypt the Pharaoh was believed to be a god.

Emperor worship took place in ancient Rome.  Many of the Roman emperors were worshiped and had temples built to them.  The emperor of Japan was believed to be divine, even after WWII (e.g., Hirohito).  That is a core part of Shintoism.  The North Korean dictator Kim Jung-il is also worshiped.  In North Korea, religion is banned but everyone must worship the leader.

There is a cult of personality that surrounds him.  He is deified in the schools.  Another example of this was the Hitler oath sworn by German officers and soldiers during the Third Reich.  The oath said, “I will render unconditional obedience to the Fuehrer of the German Reich, Adolf Hitler”.  Unconditional obedience goes only to God.

The Christian and Government – Part I

We have been studying the Book of Titus.  It was a short letter that Paul wrote to Titus in the Greek island of Crete.  This evening we will be in chapter three.  Tonight we will look at only the first verse in Titus 3.  It deals with the Christian attitude toward the government.  A Christian view of government is different from a secular view.

We will look at what the Bible says but I have to warn you.  Some of it is counter-cultural.  The Apostle Paul wasn’t a political activist.  Some of it goes completely against everything you may have been taught in high school or college.  You may hear some things here that you have never heard before.  I am going to say some things that may sound un-American.

Christian Citizenship

What is the Christian responsibility to the state?  Christians should be good citizens.  We should be model citizens. We should be law-abiding citizens.  That is what Paul says in Titus 3:1.  He says that we are to be subject to rulers and authorities.

Which authorities are we to submit to?  Paul does not say in Titus but Peter answers that question.  He says that we are to submit to “every authority instituted among men” (2:13) whether to the king or governor (local, state or federal level).

Why should we do this?  We will come back to this question later but Peter says “for the Lord’s sake” (2:13) and we do it because Peter says that this is “God’s will” (2:15).  Some may say, “Well, I will be subject to the government but I will not obey them”.  That is why Paul adds the words “to be obedient” (Titus 3:1).

If fact, Peter says that not only are we to obey the authorities, we should honor them (I Peter 2:17).  We need to be careful how we speak about our political leaders.  It is quite popular to trash any administration you do not like.  How can you honor them if they are not honorable?

You can honor the office, even if you cannot honor the person.  That is what David did.  He had a chance to kill King Saul, not once but twice and didn’t do it (I Samuel 24:1-11).  Why?  Because even though he did not like Saul and even though Saul was trying to kill him, he respected the office.  He did not respect the man but he respected the office.  He called him “the Lord’s anointed”.

Titus 3:1 says “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient”.  What Paul says is almost as important as what he did not say.  Notice what Paul does NOT say.

What Paul Does Not Say in Titus 3:1

1. He does not say to obey the law if they are fair

He doesn’t say submit to them if you they are a Republican.  We may not like some of the politicians in power and may not have voted for them but we are still to submit to them.  Some laws are just bad laws.

The world says that it is okay to disobey unjust laws.  It is called civil disobedience.  That is what Martin Luther King did.  Is that biblical?  No.  In America, if we do not like a law we do not have to disobey it, we can work to change it.

2. He does NOT say  obey the rulers if they are good

Some of our founding fathers believed that we did not have to obey them.   Thomas Jefferson used to say, “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.”   What if your ruler is Adolf Hitler?  Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Christian who was part of a plot to try to assassinate Hitler in July of 1944.

The plot failed and Bonhoeffer was later executed by the Nazis.  Did he do the right thing?  Today, he is regarded as a martyr for standing up to the Nazi regime.  In the Christian community he is seen as a hero.  Was he a hero?  Many think he was.

Should Bonhoeffer be a Model to Christians Today?

There are three basic problems with using Bonhoeffer as a model for Christians today.

First,  the Bible says to honor your political leaders and to submit to them, not to assassinate them.  Why is a pastor involved in an assassination of a head of state?

Second, there is no right of revolution in the NT.  Nowhere does the NT say that if you do not like your government or if you think your government is unjust, that you should take up arms and try to overthrow the government.

Third, the Bible does not just tell us to obey or submit to good rulers.  When Paul and Peter wrote this who was the ruler?  Nero.  Was he a Christian?  No.  In fact, he was the one who executed both Peter and Paul.  The Bible talks about God putting wicked rulers into office as well (I Kings 12:15; Jeremiah 27:6).

Was the American Revolution Justified Biblically?

Was the American Revolution justified?  There is a sense in which the American Revolution was not really a revolution in the technical sense.  It was not a coup d’état (sudden overthrow of a government with a change of power and a new regime taking over).

The American Revolution did not replace a head of state.  King George was not executed.  It was more of a separation than a revolution.  We didn’t invade Great Britain.  We just renounced our allegiance and became a new nation.  It is more like renouncing your citizenship.  It may not have been justified biblically.

If the American Revolution was not biblical, does that mean that our government is not legitimate?  What makes a government legitimate?  Legitimacy means popular acceptance of a government by the overwhelming majority of people.  The US government is democratic (“of the people for the people and by the people”).  England today recognizes us as a country.  They are our ally.

Is Disobeying the Government Ever Justified?

The problem is that this is very RARE.  There has to be a direct conflict between God and man.  The ONLY time that you are justified in disobeying the government is if the government asks you to violate a specific command of Scripture or orders you to sin.

If the government does not order you to sin, you should obey them.  There are several examples of believers in the Bible who disobeyed the government when they were asked to sin.

First, you can disobey the government If the government orders you to worship a false god.

That is what happened to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3.  This would be one time when it would be right to disobey the government.  What happened in Daniel 3?

King Nebuchadnezzar built a ninety foot image of gold and ordered everyone in the country to worship the image.  Everyone fell down and worshiped the image except for three men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who happened to work in the government of Babylon.

King Nebuchadnezzar first asked them if this was true and they said that it was.  He was furious with them and threw them into the fiery furnace.  This is one OT example of some people who deliberately disobeyed the government because the government ordered people to commit idolatry.  We don’t have to worry about that in America because we have the First Amendment.

Second, you can disobey the government If the government says that it is against the law to pray.

That’s what happened to Daniel in Daniel 6.  This would be another time when it would be right to disobey the government.  Daniel worked in the government of Babylon and had three men under him.  Some of them were jealous and came up with a law that no one could pray to anyone but King Darius.

The King was flattered and agreed to sign the law which could not be changed.  Daniel was aware of the law and had several options.  He could have obeyed it and prayed to the king.

He could have disobeyed it secretly and prayed to God alone or he could have disobeyed it and prayed to God publicly.  He did the latter.  He prayed with his window open.  Because he broke the law, he was thrown into the lion’s den.

That is also not too likely to happen in America because of the First Amendment, although several countries in Europe (Norway, Finland, Denmark) have laws against spanking

Third, you can disobey the government if the government orders you to sin

The Hebrew midwives were ordered to do in Exodus 1:15).  The Hebrew were living in Egypt and became so big that the Egyptians began to fear them (1:8-9), so they put them into slavery (1:11-14) and even ordered Hebrew midwives to kill baby Hebrew boys right after they were born (1:16) but the midwives disobeyed the government (1:17).   Does the US government command people to sin?

It could happen in war if your commanding officer orders you to sin (the My Lai Massacre in 1968 in which hundreds of unarmed civilians, including children were murdered).

After WWII, Nazis were tried at Nuremberg for war crimes and crimes against humanity and their excuse was “I was just carryout orders”.  If the government orders you to sin, you should disobey the government.

Fourth, you can disobey the government ff the government says that it is against the law to preach the gospel.

That is what happened to Peter and John in Acts 4.  In Acts 3, Peter and John lea a lame man at the temple and began to preach a sermon about Jesus to the crown.  The Sanhedrin hear it and “commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (4:18-19). It is okay to break the law to smuggle bibles into countries.  God’s law to preach the gospel overrides a human government’s rules that say that you cannot do this.

Self Control

For the last two weeks, we have been studying the topic of church leadership in Titus 1.  Paul planted a church in the Greek island of Crete.  After he leaves Crete, he gives him a job to do – appoint elders in the church (1:5).

He also tells him why he needs to do this and the reason is that there are many false teachers in Crete who are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain.  Paul says that these false teachers happen to be Jewish (Paul was Jewish, although Titus was not).  Paul says that this group of people should be silenced (1:10-11).

Madelyn Murray O’Hair was the most famous atheist in America in the latter part of the twentieth century. She is not an atheist anymore.  She is dead.  She was murdered in 1995.  She now knows that God exists.  She was the woman who got prayer kicked out of public schools when she filed suit against a school district in 1963 and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court (Abington School District v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett).

She was at one time the most hated woman in America. She went around the country and spoke on college campuses.  One time a very famous Christian apologist debated her named John Warwick Montgomery.  He had three doctorates.  He is still alive.  He is 79 years old.  After he debated Madelyn Murray O’Hair, he was criticized for not being very polite to Ms. O’Hair.  He replied, “I did not go there to save souls but to destroy a heretic.”

When we come to Titus 2, Paul is no longer talking about church leaders.  He begins to talk about church members.  He gives instructions to five groups of people – older men, older women, young men, young women and slaves. Apparently, the church in Crete had all different ages of people.

That is the way it should be.  As we look around the church in America, we typically find some churches with nothing but old people.  Anne and I went to a funeral in a big liberal church in Elon and the speaker encouraged people to come to that church.

Why?  He said that “we keep sending our members to heaven.” He went on to say that he had five funerals the week before.  Other churches have nothing but young people.  The youth group takes over the whole church.  There is something lost when a church does not have some older mature Christians who are seasoned saints.

This chapter not only has exhortations to several different groups of people, notice what the emphasis is on.  Paul tells Titus to do something over and over again.  What is it?  Let’s read 2:1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 12 & 15.  An emphasis on teaching runs throughout the whole chapter.  A teaching ministry is vital to the church.  It is part of the Great Commission.

Most people think that the Great Commission is all about evangelism.  That is part of it but the Great Commission has three parts to it (Matthew 28:18-19).   Even if you preached the gospel to every person on the planet in every language you still would NOT have fulfilled the Great Commission.

The Great Commission also involves teaching people EVERYTHING Jesus commanded.  Paul told Timothy to PREACH THE WORD (II Timothy 4:2) “in season and out of season” (i.e., at all times, even when it is unpopular).  When Paul was leaving the Church at Ephesus after being there for three years, he said, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

Every minister, every preacher, every pastor will one day stand before Christ and be held accountable for preaching the whole counsel of God.  Did he preach the Bible?  Did he preach all of the Bible?

Many churches believe the Bible but don’t teach it.  I have sat in these churches.  You could be in them for twenty years and know very little what is in this book.  Other churches do a fairly good job of teaching God’s Word to kids (VBS, AWANA, SS) but do a terrible job of teaching it to adults.

Teaching in Titus 2 takes a certain form.  It is not primarily doctrinal.  It is practical.  It is exhortation.  Titus is to challenge and encourage people to live a certain way.  Some preaching is all doctrinal.  Some preaching is all practical.  Preachers should be doing both.  II Timothy 4:2 says “Preach the words . . .  reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering AND DOCTRINE.

In these verses Paul gives instructions to different age groups in the church.  Which age group are you in?  What does Paul say that you need to do?  Paul does not talk about my age group.  My kids think I am old but I am not.  If you want to see old, go visit a nursing home.  I am middle aged and Paul did not say anything in this chapter about that group of people.

Paul does not deal with every category of people.  Paul talks about young married women but doesn’t say anything about young married men.  He tells the married women to love their husbands but doesn’t tell husbands to love their wives in Titus.  He tells husbands to do that in Ephesians 5.

This list is not exhaustive.  Let’s briefly look at what God says to each group of people.   As we go through this list, I want you to ask yourself if any of these qualities were required of elders.  At the end, I want you to tell me if any quality is required for all four age groups.

Older Men (2:2)

A paraphrase of the passage would be “Teach the older men to be self-controlled, to be serious and worthy of respect, to have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.”  It is a picture of older men who are dignified and honorable.  They are sound in faith.  They know the Word.  They are solid in their faith but they also have some important character qualities (self control, love, endurance).

  1. Self Controlled
  2. Serious
  3. Worthy of respect
  4. Sound in faith
  5. Filled with love
  6. Filled with patience

Were any of these required of elders?  Yes.  Three of these rules applied to elders.  Elders were to be self-controlled.  They were to be sound in faith.  They were to be worthy of respect (blameless).

Older Women (2:3)

There are three rules for the older women.  One deals with the tongue (gossiping).  One deals with alcohol or addictions.

  1. Not slanderers
  2. Not drunkards
  3. Teach what is good

Were any of these required of elders?  Yes.  Two of them are specifically mentioned for elders.  Elders were also not to be drunkards and to love what is good and they are to be teachers as well.

  1. Younger Married Women (2:4-5)
  2. Love their husbands
  3. Love their children
  4. Self-controlled
  5. Pure
  6. Kind
  7. Submissive to their husbands

When we come to this, there is a change.  Paul does NOT tell Titus to teach the younger women.  Titus was to teach the older women and the older men but NOT the younger married women.  That job is for OLDER WOMEN in the church.

Titus was a teacher of teachers.  He taught the older women who were to teach the younger women.  This is the biblical model for mentoring.  The word “mentoring” is not in the Bible.  It is not a biblical word but it is a thoroughly biblical concept.

It is taught all through the Bible.  Moses mentored Joshua. Eli mentored Samuel.  Elijah mentored Elisha.  Priscilla and Aquila mentored Apollos.  The Apostle Paul mentored Titus and Timothy.

Jesus mentored the Twelve.  Women teach women.  That is the Titus 2 model.  It is counter-cultural.  Most churches that have classes put the same age together so students can be with their peers.

High school kids stay with the high school group.  College students are in the college group.  Young married people are in a group with other young married people.  In American Christianity, wouldn’t think of mixing the young married with the old married or the married with the single but that is what we see in Titus 2.

Paul did not say that godly young married women should teach the young married class.  He said that older mature Christian women should teach the younger women.

Younger Single Men (2:6)

Titus is to teach the young men and he is to teach theme by example as well (2:7-8).  He is to be a good role model.  What was Titus supposed to teach the young single men in the church with raging hormones?  Just self control.  What quality or virtue is repeated with all four age groups?  Self control.

When I was working on my master’s degree in religious studies in the 1980s, my mentor was William L. Lane, who passed away in 1999 after a battle with cancer.

Dr. Lane was a Professor of Religious Studies at Western Kentucky University and then later at Seattle Pacific University.  He was a world-renown biblical scholar.  He wrote several commentaries on the NT.  I will never forget one story he told us in class.

Dr. Lane earned a doctorate from Harvard in NT. One of his doctoral seminar classes was with the famous NT scholar Krister Stendahl (if my memory serves me correctly).  The students were given the assignment to read two books on a research topic, one in German and one in French and write a paper on them.

After the class, he came up to the professor and said to him, “Excuse me sir but I do not read French.”  His response was, “By the time the paper is due you will read French.”  This was before the days of the Internet and Google Translate.  Every morning, Dr. Lane got up extra early and tried to translate the book one page at a time with an French-English dictionary.  This took incredible discipline and patience.

Self control has a genetic component to it (ADHD) but according to Scripture self control is not just biological or hereditary, it is moral.  Self control is one on the nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.  There are nine visible attributes of the Holy Spirit manifested in the life of the Christian.  It is the last of the fruits of the Spirit and perhaps the most unpopular.

This is something that every Christian should have: self control, discipline.  One of our problems is that we may have self control in one area of our life and a complete lack of self control in another area of our life.  What are some areas that we should demonstrate self control as Christians?

Areas of Self Control

Food

There is nothing wrong with food or enjoying food.  The Bible says that God has given us all things richly to enjoy.  The problem comes when we eat and drink too much and become food addicts or drug addicts or alcoholics.

Speech

We are to control the words we speak.  How many times have we gossiped about someone or said something that we wish we could take back.  How many people do we know that have no filters.  They talk before they think.  They do not think about what they are going to say.  It just comes out.  That is why the Bible says that we should be “quick to listen but slow to speak” (James 1:19).  James says that it is very hard to control your tongue (3:7-10).

Entertainment

It is fine to have some entertainment but many can watch television or play computer or video games for hours and hours.

Sex

Choosing to wait to have sex until you are married requires some self control, especially if everyone else is not doing this.

Emotions

Some people have no control over their emotions.  They get angry and blow up.  The Bible says that we are not only to be slow to speak we are to be slow to get angry (James 1:19).  Controlling your emotions doesn’t mean ignoring them or suppress them but to use coping mechanisms to control them.

Money

When I was a kid and got any money, it was gone.  My dad used to say that money burned a whole in my pocket.  Self control in the area of spending.  For many people, spending can become an addiction.  People spend impulsively.

Self-control is the one thread that runs through the entire chapter.  It is a requirement of elders.  It is a requirement of older men in the church.  It is a requirement of older women in the church.

It is a requirement of young Christian women and young Christian men.  It is even mentioned at the end of the chapter.  Let’s read Titus 2:11-15.  Notice what Paul says.  Grace not only SAVES people (Ephesians 2:8), it TEACHES people how to live (2:11-12).

Many think that if you believe in salvation by grace, you will live any way you want.  They think that if you are NOT saved by works, that you will not have any.  That is an error (Ephesians 2:8-10).

God’s grace appeared in 2:11 (a reference to the First Coming of Christ).  Grace is personified.  Grace appeared and teaches.  What does it teach?  It teaches two things.  There are two lessons in the school of grace.

Two Lessons in the School of Grace

The first lesson is NEGATIVE.  Grace teaches people to say NO to ungodliness and worldly lusts.  What is ungodliness?   Ungodliness is not necessarily the same thing as wickedness.  A person who lives a wicked and immoral life is also ungodly.

On the other hand, a person who is ungodly is not necessarily immoral.  He may live a moral life.  He simply has no place for God in his life.  He focuses on himself.  When we think of worldly lusts, we might immediately think of sex.  That is part of it but the word “lusts” simply means desires.

Grace teaches people to say no to premarital sex.  Joseph said no to worldly lusts.  Grace teaches people to say no to sexual immorality but it also teaches people to say no to drugs and other addictions.  It teaches people to say no to materialism and greed.

The second lesson is POSITIVE and it has three parts.  Here we have a reference to the Second Coming (2:13).  This is another appearing.  The Greek word is epiphany (επφαίνω).  The first coming was an epiphany of grace (the grace of God appeared).  It was past tense.

The Second Coming will be an epiphany of glory.  Paul calls it “the blessed hope” and that will take place in the future.  It teaches people to live self-controlled (in reference to yourself) upright (in relation to others) and holy (in relation to God).  We will look at some of these others next week as we conclude the Book of Titus.

Biblical Eldership

We are studying the book of Titus. It is one of the Pastoral Epistles written by the Apostle Paul around 63 AD about the same time Paul wrote I Timothy. I have a handout that I want to pass out that is an excellent overview of the Book of Titus that I found.

This book was written by Paul to Titus. Titus was a Gentile. He was Greek. He was not circumcised (Galatians 2:3). Timothy was a convert of the Apostle Paul and went on many of his missionary journeys.

Last week we saw that the context of the book was the island of Crete. Crete is a famous Greek island, the largest island of Greece located in the south of the Aegean Sea. It was a large island. There were many people on the island.

Homer said that it has one hundred cities on the island. Paul and Titus did some evangelism in Crete, planted churches. Paul left Crete but gave Titus a job to do after he left. His job was to ordain elders in each of these churches.

These churches needed some leaders but the leaders had to meet certain requirements. We looked last week at the qualifications for an elder in Titus 1. It was pretty practical. We looked at the seventeen qualifications of an elder in Titus. These requirements are in three areas: an elder’s home life, his personal life and his theology.

There are family requirements, character requirements and doctrinal requirements for the office. None are optional. An elder must have ALL seventeen. We also saw that each one of these requirements are qualities that EVERY Christian should have. Every Christian should be holy. Every Christian should have self control. Every Christian should be blameless.

Seven Common Errors about Elders

Last week, I made a promise. I went a little too long so tonight this should be a little shorter. I want to look at seven errors that churches make regarding elders. This list is not exhaustive. There are many things that could be added to this list.

These are very common errors that churches have about elders all across the country. I am going to step on some denominational toes here. Some of these errors are found in liberal churches and some of them are found in conservative churches.

Young Elders

There is no age requirement to be an elder. Paul does not say that elders have to be fifty or sixty years old. On the other hand, there is something not right about an elder who is seventeen or eighteen years old. Some churches have young elders (Mormon Missionaries), which is an oxymoron. It is a joke. They are barely adults and yet they are called elders. The word “elder” means “old man.”

Female Elders

Some churches have woman elders and woman pastors. There are plenty of churches that do this. The Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Church, United Church of Christ, The Episcopal Church USA, Assemblies of God, Pentecostals and the Lutheran Church of America are just some of the churches that allow women to serve as elders, pastors, priests, and/or bishops.

The Presbyterian Church USA, for example, has allowed female elders since 1972. St. Marks Church in Burlington, one of the larger churches in our area, has female elders, according to its website.[1]

Biblical Evaluation

There are no women elders or female pastors in the New Testament. There is no biblical precedent for female elders. Elders in the Bible were always male. Paul constantly uses male pronouns. In fact, one of the qualifications of elders is that they are the “husband of one wife”.

Some have argued that female elders are mentioned in Titus 2:3 but that verse is speaking of older women, not women elders. It is not dealing with a church office but a category of people older men (2:2), older women (2:3), young men (2:6), young women (2:4)). In fact, the Greek word for older men (πρεσβύτης) is not even the same Greek word used for elder (πρεσβύτερος) in the previous chapter.

Can women be pastors? Women may have the gift of shepherding and do some pastoring but the office in the NT is limited to men. Does this mean that the Bible is sexist? No. The Bible teaches that men and women are equal in value and dignity. Both are created in the image of God but it also teaches that they have different roles and functions in the church.

No Elders

Some Baptist churches do not have any elders. They only have deacons in the church. In fact, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention says this:

New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers… In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” (Section VI on “The Church”)

Biblical Evaluation

The BFM (2000) specifically says that church offices are pastors and deacons. Why doesn’t it even mention elders? Let’s give the Southern Baptists some slack. Perhaps elders are included in pastors.

That may be but why do they not use the term used in Scripture that is used over and over again? Why do many Baptist churches do not have elders at all? They just have deacons and pastors or one pastor. It is an unbiblical structure. Churches in NT times had elders. Elders are biblical.

One Elder

Some churches have elders but they have only one and he is the pastor. Many Baptist churches are run by a single pastor with a body of deacons. They have a plurality of deacons but not a plurality of elders.

Biblical Evaluation

The Bible teaches a plurality of elders. Scriptures always speaks of elders in the plural. (Titus 1:5; Acts 11:30; 14:23;15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23; 16:4; James 5:14; I Peter 5:1-2). They had multiple elders. Churches in the NT were run by a team of elders. That does not mean that the elders all do the same thing. Some may be better at administration.

Others may be better at preaching or other things. The point is that nowhere in the NT do we find a church with just one elder. No church ever had just one elder or just one leader. This is significant because it means that the authority and leadership of the church is to be divided and not concentrated in one person.

Where did this model come? It came from the Jews. It is the Jewish model. Synagogues were run by a by a board of elders. Sometimes churches only have one elder because they do not have anyone else who is qualified for the position. That is perfectly valid.

Better have no elders than the wrong ones. On the other hand, this is sometimes just an excuse. I have seen some churches go thirty years with just one elder. Many times, the church has qualified men but simply do not appoint them to the office for whatever reason.

Unqualified Elders

Many churches have elders in their church but they are not qualified for the job. Many churches select people for those positions who do not meet the biblical requirements for the office.

Many churches appoint leaders simply because they have good management or business skills or are successful in the community. Hosea 8:4 says, “They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval”.

The church today can do exactly the same thing when it puts people in offices without the scriptural qualifications. There are two mistakes here. Some churches throw the rules out and install anyone they want. Other churches add to the rules in Titus.

Man-made rules replace the biblical rules. Here’s a novel idea. Let’s follow the Bible. We do not need to become like the Pharisees and add a list of qualifications that Paul did not give us. We should  also not take away any of qualifications that are listed in the text.  Both extremes should be avoided.

Weak Elders

Some churches have elders. They have a plurality of elders in the church but they do absolutely nothing. They are just figureheads. The one who really runs the church is the senior pastor. He is the one with all power and rules over the elders. He is the person at the top of the organizational pyramid.

Where did this model of one man ministry come from? It is actually very old. It goes back to the second century and comes from a man named Ignatius. Ignatius was one of the apostolic fathers. He was friends with Polycarp, one of St. John’s closest followers. He wrote an epistle to him.

Ignatius believed that the head of the local church was a bishop. Each church was to be presided over by a single bishop. Ignatius said, “As there is only one flesh of Christ and one Eucharist, there should be only one bishop”. The bishop was the ultimate authority of the church. It was a little different to the modern idea of a bishop who rules over a geographic area or a diocese, rather than just a local church.

Biblical Evaluation

Even though this view is very old, it is unbiblical. We know it is unbiblical for several reasons.

1.  Bishop (έπίσκπος) and elder (πρεσβύτερος) mean the same thing.

All biblical scholars agree on this, even Roman Catholic scholars like Ray Brown. The words “bishop” and “elder” are interchangeable in the NT. We see that in Titus 1:6-7. Notice how the two terms overlap one another.

AN ELDER must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.  Since AN OVERSEER manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

The word “elder” points to the dignity of the office and the word “overseer” points to the duties of the office. Their job is to oversee the affairs of the church.

2.  There is no evidence in the NT of a churches being run by one person.

There was not one bishop over the church but many (Philippians 1:1).  There was no “monarchical” bishop in the church at Philippi.  That whole concept is a post-New Testament development.  No man in the New Testament is ever referred to as “the pastor” of a church.

Churches in the NT were not run by one person (God’s CEO). The idea of one man ministry is a Roman Catholic notion with the pastor functioning like the Pope the sole authority. The church in the NT was not a dictatorship (I Peter 5:1-3).

3.  The problem with having the pastor over the elders is that the words elder (πρεσβύτερος) and pastor (ποιμήν) mean the same thing in the NT.

They are synonyms. All scholars agree on this point.  One of the jobs of elders is to shepherd or pastor the flock (Acts 20:28). Elder and Pastor are not two different offices in the NT but are two different words for the same office. A pastor is an elder. An elder is a pastor. Does this mean that it is unbiblical to have a senior pastor? If they are two different offices, it is unbiblical.

In most churches, elders are different from the pastor or the pastoral staff and have less authority that the pastor or pastors. On the other hand, it is not always unbiblical. One of the elders can take the lead and be more visible but that does not mean that biblically he has more authority or power than the other elders or is more important.

You can have a “first among equals”. All of the apostles were equal in authority but Peter took a natural leadership role among the Twelve. He is mentioned first in many of the lists of apostles in the NT. They are all equal in rank.

Elected Elders

In some churches, leaders are elected, not selected. That is how the Pope gets in. He has to have enough votes. The way you become an elder in the Christian Church denomination is that someone in the church nominates you to the position (you cannot nominate yourself) and the congregation votes on it. Churches that have a congregational form of government elect their leaders.

Biblical Evaluation

Elders in the Bible were appointed. Paul told Titus to appoint elders. He did not tell the church to elect elders. They were not chosen by congregational vote (Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23). Paul and Barnabas appointed elders and Titus was to appoint elders as well.

That is very significant. It goes against the policy of some churches. Now this does not mean that they cannot have input from the congregation. They should only be appointing qualified people who have clear evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in his life.

The Holy Spirit is the one who really appoints people to the job (Acts 20:27). Elders are made by God and not by men. I believe that the job of the church is simply to recognize people who are already leaders in the church and already serving and ministering in different capacities.

Two Main Functions of Elders

Administration

They are to provide structure to the church, to manage the church (I Timothy 5:17; 3:4-5).  This involves planning, setting goals, solving problems, making decisions. They are to rule the church.

The Bible says that they are not to rule harshly like a dictator but they are to rule. That is why they are called overseers (Titus 1:7). Their job is to oversee the affairs of the church. They may delegate some of the responsibilities but it is their responsibility.

Shepherding

Jesus is the head shepherd. It is not the pastor of the church. Jesus is the chief shepherd in I Peter 5:4. He is the head elder. Jesus told Peter, “feed MY sheep”. The elders are the under-shepherds.

A major responsibility of elders is to shepherd the sheep (Acts 20:28; I Peter 5:2). One day they will give an account of how well they did that (Hebrews 13:7). The Bible describes Christians as sheep and sheep need a shepherd.

In fact, they can’t really survive without one. What do shepherds do? The noun shepherd is the same as the Greek word “pastor”. They take care of the sheep (physical as well as spiritual needs), protect the sheep and feed the sheep. That involves some teaching. The sheep get hungry and thirsty and need to be fed. We saw that last week. Jesus said to Peter, “If you love me, FEED my sheep”.

One of the tragedies of the church today is that most elders focus on administration. Very few if any ever do any teaching. Their job is not just to teach but to encourage, to exhort, to discipline (in some cases) and to warn the sheep. Part of their job is to guard against false teachers (to protect the sheep against wolves).

Church Leaders

The topic that we will be studying for the next two weeks is the office of elder.  What exactly are elders?  What do they do?  Who is qualified to be an elder in the church?  What are some common errors that churches have about elders?  These are the questions that we will be answering.

Tonight, I want to look at qualifications for elders which also are the qualifications for a pastor, as we will see next week.  For our Scripture reading, I want us to read Titus 1.  I am only going to be looking at three verses but I want us to get the context of the chapter.

What is the context of this chapter?  Paul and Titus had just evangelized the island of Crete.  They just planted churches and those churches are young and apparently they were disorganized.  Paul left Crete and gave him a job to do after he left.

His job was to appoint elders in these brand new churches.  A local church needs structure and it needs godly leaders.  Leadership is important in a church.  It is important in a home and in society.

Paul told Titus to appoint elders in churches on this island of Crete but who was he to appoint?  Titus was not to appoint any elders he wanted.  You have to be very careful who you place into church leadership.

Elders had to meet certain qualifications.  Elders should not be chosen at random or just because they volunteer or want the position or because they are sincere.  They have to be qualified. What are the qualifications?  They are found in Titus 1:6-9.

General Observations

1. There are seventeen qualifications for elder in Titus 1.

Just about every one of the requirements for elders are requirements for all Christians.  We tend to think of these as special rules for the top dogs in the church but that is not what they are.  These are standards for all Christians.

Elders are not to be quick tempered.  We are not to be quick tempered (slow to anger).  Elders are to be not greedy.  We are not to be greedy either.  Elders are to be lovers of the good and so are we.  Elders are to practice hospitality and so are we.

All Christians are to be given to hospitality (Romans 12:13).  Elders are to have self control but so should all Christians.  Self control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  Elders are to be blameless but so are all Christians (II Peter 3:14).

2. These requirements are not optional.

One qualification is that an elder is to be blameless.  Paul does not say that “this would be a really good idea”.  He does not say that “I strongly recommend that they be blameless”.  He says “The elder MUST be blameless.”

It is not optional.  An elder or pastor must have all seventeen.  If he has all but one or two (and it is obvious that the individual does not have these qualities), he is not qualified for church leadership.

A man may pray for four hours a day but if his home life is a complete mess (some of his kids are locked up and the rest are crack heads), he would not be qualified.  Another individual may have his home life in order and be a real family man but simply not know the Word very well.

3. Most of the qualifications are positive.

Out of the seventeen different qualifications in the first chapter of Titus, only five are negative.

4. Most of the qualifications deal with character traits.

What qualifies a man for primarily spiritual leadership is godly character.  Most of the qualifications to be a church leader are character traits.

 What Paul Does Not Say in Titus 1

1. Paul does NOT say that elders cannot drink wine.

He does NOT say that they have to be total abstainers.  That is the policy of many churches but that is not what Paul said.  He said elders are not to be drunkards.  It is proof that Paul was not a Baptist.  He was Jewish.

He lived in a completely different culture than Southern Baptists.  He does not say it is okay for ordinary Christians to drink in moderation but if you are an elder or a pastor you can’t drink.  You care called to a higher standard.  He doesn’t say that.  He just says that elders cannot get drunk.

2. Paul does NOT say that elders must be financial wizards.

The only financial requirement is that elders are not greedy, not that they are great with money.

3. Paul does NOT say that elders have to be college educated.

He does not say that elders or pastors have to be seminary graduates.  He does not say that they have to have an M.Div.  You can be an elder and not go to seminary.

4Paul does NOT say that you have to be a certain age to be an elder.

The word “elder” implies that you will be older rather than younger but how old you need to be is not stated. Paul does not give an age requirement for elders. Paul does not say that say that you have to be a Christian for twenty years before becoming an elder. While elders do need to be spiritually mature, they do not have to be saved a certain number of years before serving as elder.

A Closer Look

Let’s look a little closer at some of these qualifications.  The first one is blameless.  People like Noah (Genesis 6:9), Job (Job 1:1), Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:6) were said to be blameless.

Elders are to be blameless.  He says that twice (1:6, 7).   Deacons are supposed to be blameless as well (I Timothy 3:10).  What does it mean to be blameless?  Let’s look at what blameless means and what it does not mean.

What Blameless Means

Blameless means that you have a good reputation with people.  It means that you have an unblemished reputation, to have a clean record.  It means that your life can withstand scrutiny.  There are no major scandals in your life.  It is what you need if you plan on running for President.  You have a better chance of winning that if you have a bunch of skeletons in your closet.

Daniel was also a good example of someone who was blameless (Daniel 6:3-4).  Daniel was not only a prophet in the OT.  He was a politician.  He had a job and his job was to work in the government of Babylon.  He was a government official and even in his 80s he was blameless.

The first requirement is that a man is blameless and that one is very significant.  Pastors who fall into deep sin and have affairs are no longer qualified for the office.  Benjamin Franklin said, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”  The church in America has been rocked by all kinds of sex scandals.

In many places, these pastors are simply restored to office after they repent.  We are all sinners and God is a God of grace and mercy.  David committed adultery and murder and he was restored to leadership after he sinned.

They can be forgiven for their sin but that does not mean that they should still be pastors.  Sin has consequences and to be a pastor you have to be blameless.  These pastors should be removed from their positions of leadership within the church.

What Blameless does NOT Mean

Blameless means “without blame” but does not mean “without sin”.  Perfection was not a requirement for elders.  None of the people that Titus appointed were perfect.Now being blameless does not mean that people never criticize you.  Was Jesus blameless?  Yes (Hebrews 7:26).

Jesus was not only blameless, he was sinless and yet people still criticized him.  They said that he was a Sabbath breaker.  They said that he was demon-possessed.  They said that he was a deceiver but they could not prove any of their charges.  All of their charges were false.  None of them stuck.

Areas of Blamelessness

Elders are to be blameless in three areas.  Elders are to be blameless in their home life.  They are to be blameless in their personal life and they are to be blameless in their faith. Let’s look briefly at these three areas.

Blameless in their Home Life

The first area that elders are to be blameless is in their home life.  They are family qualifications.   If you ever consider anyone for the office of elder, the first area to look at is the person’s home life.  What is the man’s relationship with his wife and kids?  No marriage is perfect and no family is perfect.

A person who is not a family man should not be an elder.  An elder is not expected to be perfect but he should be a good husband and a good father.  A man who has a bad marriage is not qualified to be an elder.  A man who is a bad parent is not qualified to be an elder.  Paul mentions two areas to look for in an elder’s home life.

1. The Marriage Test (1:6)

The first area deals with his relationship with his wife.  He is to love his wife.  He is to be devoted to his wife and to be faithful to his wife (husband of one wife).  What does the Roman Catholic Church do with this?

Catholics turned the requirement of “husband of one wife” into “husband of no wife.”  None of their pastors can get married.  Their priests can’t get married.  Titus 1:6 reads in the NLT “faithful to his wife.”

That is a requirement to be an elder.  The man who is not faithful to his wife, the man who cheats on his wife and has affairs, the man who does not keep his marriage vows, is a womanizer and flirts with other women is disqualified to be an elder.  If you do not have a strong marriage, you are not qualified to be an elder.  Why?  You are not blameless.

Does this mean that an elder cannot be divorced?  That is a common interpretation of the verse but there are several problems with this view. You can be divorced and still be “the husband of one wife” if you get divorced and never remarry.

You can be divorced and still faithful to your wife.  Your wife could have had an affair and ran off with someone else.  Furthermore, you can be NOT divorced and also not faithful to your wife.

This is more than a marital status requirement.  If all that this means is “not divorced,” then Bill Clinton would be qualified to be an elder. He is not divorced.  Instead of asking, “Has he ever been divorced?” we should be asking, “What kind of marriage does this man have?  Is he faithful to his wife”?  So, the issue is not divorce perse.  The word “divorce” is not in the text and “not divorced” is a negative requirement and this is a positive requirement.

Nor is Paul saying that you can only have one wife in a lifetime (husband of one wife means one in a lifetime).  The problem with this is that if a man’s wife dies, he is free to remarry and no one would disqualify that person from being an elder.

Paul does not say “married only once” as some have translated it (Goodspeed, Moffatt).  In addition, all of the other qualifications listed by Paul refer to a man’s present status, not his entire past life.

For example, Titus 1:7 does not mean “one who has never been violent”  or “one who has never been a lover of money” but “one who is not now violent and not now a lover of money, as Wayne Grudem points out (Systematic Theology, 917).

The “husband of one wife” requirement does not mean that a man has to be married and does not necessarily disqualify someone who has been divorced.

2. The Parenting Test (1:6)

The second area deals with his relationship to his kids.  Now this is interesting.  You may be personally blameless but if your kids are all screwed up, you are disqualified for the office.   If a man cannot control his own kids, he should not be entrusted with the greater task of taking care of the saints.

Your ability to lead the family of God must be demonstrated by your ability to lead your own family.

Leaders in the church are to function like parents in a family.  Titus 1:6 says an elder must have children who believe.  What exactly does that mean?   It could either mean that an elder must have children who believe (active voice) or an elder must have children who are faithful (passive voice).  Both are possible.

The Greek could mean either one but the two other times the word πιστός is used in Titus it means “faithful” or “trustworthy” (1:9; 3:8).  That is what the context is dealing with.  The contrast in the second half of the verse is not between children who believe and children who do not believe, it is between children who are obedient and between children who are lawless.

That fits the parallel passage in I Timothy 3:2 which says that en elder’s children must be well behaved.   Furthermore, it is not anything an elder has any control over.  Parents cannot make their children believe.  They can witness to their children and tell them the gospel but they are not held responsible for their response.

Blameless in their Personal Life

Paul mentions eleven characteristics dealing with the personal life.  Five of these are negative and six are positive.  I would break them down into four categories.

1) The Social Test (1:7-8)

A person who does not you relate well to people or have good people skills is not qualified to be a pastor or elder.  There are several terms here that deal with how you relate to people.

a)  Not Overbearing (NIV) or Arrogant (NLT)

Warren Wiersbe writes, “While church members ought to respect and follow the leadership of the elders, they should be certain that it is leadership and not dictatorship.  A self-willed pastor is arrogant, will not take his people’s suggestions and criticisms and makes sure he always gets his own way”[1]

b)  Not Quick-Tempered

A man with a hot temper is also disqualified from leadership.  What does this mean?   Anger is not a sin but we should be “slow to anger” (James 1:19).  All of us have lost out temper before but a person with a quick temper looses it very easily.  Just about anything sets them off and they blow up like a volcano.

They explode often with little notice.  The Book of Proverbs says that you are not to associate with a hot-tempered man (22:24-25).  A church should definitely not make a hot head an elder of the church.

c)  Not Violent

People who are violent, men hit people and love to get into a fight are not qualified to be elders.  A man who physically abuses his wife, his children, or anyone else, is disqualified from the office of elder.

Chuck Swindoll says that “Sheep are to be led, not driven, assaulted or attacked”[2]. They are not to be harsh or rough with people.  In fact, they are to be the opposite.  Elders are to be gentle and kind (I Timothy 3:3).

d)  Hospitable

That is a requirement of church leaders.  It is one of the musts of church leaders.  Hospitality is one two separate lists for church leaders (Titus 1:8; I Timothy 3:2).  What are some characteristics of hospitality?

Signs or Characteristics of Hospitality

  • You are compassionate.
  • You are generous.
  • You like to share.
  • You are a people person.
  • You reach out to others and invite them in.
  • You open up your home to people.
  • You like to entertain people and makes guests feel welcome.

A person who is addicted to any subject (drugs, alcohol) is not qualified to be an elder or a pastor.  There are plenty of pastors today who struggle with addictions.  It is not wrong to enjoy things.

The Bible says that “God has given us all things richly to enjoy” (I Timothy 6:17).  It is wrong to be addicted to things.  Paul said, “I will not be mastered by anything” (I Corinthians 6:12).  How do you know if you are addicted to something?  What are the signs?

Signs of a Problem with Addiction

  • A preoccupation with something that begins to control your life.  You are obsessed with something.
  • You can’t quit.  You can’t stop (e.g., addicted to nicotine)
  • You do things out of compulsion (against your will).
  • You go through withdrawal when it is taken away.
  • You do it despite the consequences (ruin your health).

2)  The Money Test (1:7)

A greedy person is not qualified to be a pastor or elder (I Peter 5:1-2).  How do you know if you are greedy?  What are some signs:

Signs of Greed or Covetousness

  • You are very materialistic
  • You want to get rich
  • You are not satisfied with what you have
  • You always want more than you have
  • You want more than you need
  • You do not give to the poor or those in need
  • You use questionable means to get money

3) The Character Test (1:8)

What kind of a life do you live?  Are you a godly person?  This is a spirituality test.  A person who wants to be an elder has to live a spiritual life.

a)   Loves what is good

b)   Self-controlled

c)   Upright

d)   Holy

e)   Disciplined

Blameless in their Theology

There are not only moral qualifications and character qualifications of an elder, there are some doctrinal ones as well.  There are three doctrinal tests for an elder.

4) The Doctrinal Test (1:9)

The First Doctrinal Test

Do you know the Bible?  A person who does not know the Word very well should not be an elder or a pastor.  That is saying the obvious but the fact is that there are many elders and many pastors who do not know the Word.  The first test is whether you know the Bible and believe the Bible.  You are doctrinally orthodox.  They must “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught” (1:9).

The Second Doctrinal Test

They not only believe the Bible, they must teach the Bible.  Titus 1:9 reads in the ESV “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.”

One requirement of elders is that they are “able to teach” (I Timothy 3:2).  If you can’t teach the Bible, you should not be an elder.  Elders are shepherds and shepherd should be able to feed the sheep.

Now that doesn’t mean that all elders have to be able to preach.  Some elders should be able to do that.  We know that from I Timothy 5:17.  Elders should be able to teach the Word in some capacity (e.g., one-on-one or small group setting).

The Third Doctrinal Test

Elders should not only believe the Bible and teach the Bible they should be able to refute false teachers.  Titus 1:9 says, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine AND TO REFUTE THOSE WHO OPPOSE IT”.  It is not enough for an elder to teach the truth, he must refute error as well and prove it to be false.


[1] Warren Wiersbe, Be Faithful, 101.
[2] Chuck Swindoll, “Looking for a Few Good Men,” (audio recording).

Praying Like Elijah

The topic we will be looking at today is prayer.  God always answers our prayers.  Sometimes the answer is YES. Sometimes the answer is NO and sometimes the answer is WAIT.  The prophet Elijah prayed for God to send fire down from heaven on Mount Carmel and it came right away (I Kings 18).

The early church prayed for the Apostle Peter to be released from prison and their prayer was answered (Acts 12).  In some cases, God not only answers our prayer, He gives us MORE than we asked.  God told King Solomon that he could have anything he wanted.  He had a blank check.  Solomon asked God for wisdom.  God gave him wisdom but He gave him much more (I Kings 3).

Other times we pray and the answer is NO.  That should not bother us.  Prayer is not just about getting our will.  Prayer is about getting God’s will.  There are some times we do not know why the answer is NO.

David’s son from his affair with Bathsheba got sick and David prayed for earnestly for him, fasted and spent nights lying on the ground but God allowed him to die (II Samuel 12).  Paul had a thorn in the flesh from Satan and he prayed three times for God to remove it and God said, “NO” (II Corinthians 12).

Many times God says NO because what we ask is not good for us or He has something better for us.  David asked God if he could build him a temple.  God said, “NO.  I am going to build you a temple” (II Samuel 7).  When Lazarus was sick, Martha and Mary asked him to come heal him.

Jesus said, “No” but then went and performed a greater miracle by raising him from the dead (John 11).  Many times we pray for something.  God says, “No.”  Later in life, as we look back, we are glad that God did not give us what we prayed for.

Sometimes the answer is not “YES” or “No” but “WAIT”.  That is hard.  We don’t like to wait for anything.  Hannah prayed for a child (I Samuel 1).  She got one but she had to wait for him.  Abraham and also wanted and prayed for a child.  He got one but he had to wait until he was a hundred to get one.  God promised him a son in Genesis 12 but he did not get the son God promised him until Genesis 21 and that was twenty-five years later.

Prayer was apparently very important to the author of James.  According to the early church historian named Eusebius, James “was in the habit of entering the temple alone, and was often found upon his bended knees, and interceding for the forgiveness of the people; so that his knees became hard as camel’s.

On account of his exceeding great piety, he was called the Just.” (Ecclesiastical History, Book II, Chapter 23.6).  Prayer is the focus of the end of James 5. As J. Hampton Heathley III notes, “For the size of the epistle, James says more about prayer than any other New Testament book. Over 14 verses in James are devoted specifically to prayer or principles of prayer. Compare 1:5-8, 3:9-10, 4:2-3 (actually everything in between is related), and 5:13-18. This is equivalent to about 15 percent of the book.”

In verses 16-17, James gives Elijah as an example of the power we can have in prayer.  He is the fourth OT character mentioned in this book.  James has mentioned Abraham, Rahab, Job and now Elijah.  Who was Elijah?  Elijah was one of the greatest prophets in the OT.  He lived in the northern part of Israel in the 9th century B.C. during the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

The northern kingdom had nineteen kings and all of them were bad but one of the worst ones was Ahab.  I Kings 16:33 says, “Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.”  What are some things Elijah was able to accomplish through prayer?

Elijah’s Accomplishments

1)  He was able to bring fire down from heaven by his prayers.

James doesn’t mention that one but you can read about his great contest with the Baal prophets on Mount Carmel in I Kings 18:16-40.  His prayer for fire to fall from heaven was actually short.  People prayed to Baal for several hours and they also prayed fervently but not no reply (I Kings 18:26).  Elijah prays a short prayer (only two verses long) but the results were amazing – fire fell from heaven.  He didn’t have to pray long to get results.

2)  He was able to have power over sickness and even death by his prayers.

He was able to raise someone from the dead by his prayers (I Kings 17:17-24).  This is significant because it had never been done before.

3)  He was able to change the weather by his prayers (bring a drought, cause rain to fall).

The OT only mentions Elijah praying for rain (I Kings 18:42-45).  James mentions Elijah praying for both (5:17-18). We know why Elijah would pray for rain but why would he pray for drought?  Why did he pray for it not to rain?

The nation was in rebellion to God.  It was living in idolatry.  When the Ten Tribes began, they worshiped the true God in a false manner.  They didn’t worship in Jerusalem and began worshiping Jehovah through an idol (golden calf at Dan and Bethel).  It started with false Jehovah worship.

They didn’t try to start a whole new religion, just to make some changes to it.  By the time of King Ahab, they worshiped a completely false god.  Jehovah was replaced with Baal.  Baal worship became the official state religion.  Jehovah worship was even outlawed.

The OT predicted drought as a form of judgment on the nation (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).  This is very significant.  It was a direct slap to Baal.  He was supposed to be the god of rain but he was powerless to give rain, because he did not exist.  Elijah apparently prayed for it.

James used the prophet Elijah as an example for us today.  Now James could have argued that Elijah was unique.  In many ways, Elijah was unique

Elijah had a unique authority as a prophet of the Lord. God spoke directly to him. We do not have that kind of authority, apart from the specific statements of Scripture.

Elijah raised people from the dead. Jesus was the only other person to do that.  Some would argue he lived in an age of miracles which only happened in certain periods of biblical history (time of Moses and Joshua, time of Elijah and Elisha, time of Jesus and the Apostles).

Elijah did not even die. He ascended into heaven in a whirlwind” (cf. II Kings 2:11). Instead of talking about the ways we are DIFFERENT from Elijah, James focuses on the ways that we are SIMILAR to Elijah.  He was a man of like passions.

In other words, even though he was a great prophet with incredible power, he was also just a man.   He was really no different from us.  James says that Elijah was a man just like us (5:17). James uses Elijah as an example for us.  He used Elijah as an example of what we can accomplish if we pray.

Elijah had his ups and downs.  He suffered from depression and even became suicidal (I Kings 19).

Elijah lived in a day of moral and spiritual decay, like we live in today.  His country was backslidden.  The nation was apostate.

Elijah accomplished great things through prayer and so can we.  James says “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (5:16).

We don’t have to be a prophet or a miracle worker, we just have to be righteous.  If we pray earnestly like Elijah did, we might get the results that he did. What were some characteristics of Elijah’s prayers?

 How to Pray Like Elijah

1) Pray for big things

He was not afraid to pray for big things (raising the dead, calling fire down from heaven).  It is not wrong to pray for little things but we should also pray about big things.

2) Persist in prayer

Elijah’s prayers were not always answered immediately.  He did not just pray one time and stop.  He stretched himself out on the dead widow’s son, not once but three times (I Kings 17:21). When he prayed for rain, he sent his servant out to check on the answer.  When his servant came back the first time and said, “I see nothing,” Elijah did not give up.

He just sent the servant out again and kept watching. When the servant came back again with nothing to report, Elijah just sent him back out—seven times over (I Kings 18:43). Finally, on the seventh time, the answer began to appear. But if Elijah had quit on the second or third time, or even the fifth or sixth, he might not have seen his answer come forth (cf. Luke 18:1-8).

3) Pray fervently

Elijah’s prayers were not formal or ritualistic.  They were fervent.  When the widow’s son died, he carried the boy to his room, laid him on his bed and cried out to God for the boy (I Kings 17:20-22). When he prayed for rain, he went to the top of Mount Carmel and bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees (I Kings 18:42).

4) Pray in faith

He expected an answer.  He had so much faith that God would answer his prayer for fire from heaven that he threw in three gallons of water around the altar (I Kings 18:32-33).

Elijah prayed in expectation, watching for the answer. As he prayed on Mt. Carmel, he sent his servant to see if his prayer was answered yet.  Elijah kept watching for the answer. He expected it to rain after three years of drought after seeing only a tiny cloud form (I Kings 18:44).

5) Pray according to the will of God

Elijah did things in response to God’s command.  At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. (I Kings 18:36 NIV).  He prayed based on Scripture (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).

 

The Greatest Apostle

Last week, we looked at the gospel in 15:1-8. For those who were not here, we looked at nine characteristics of the gospel. In the last part of those verses, Paul deals with the Resurrection and then he begins to talk about himself. Why? Because he was the last one to see the Resurrected Christ. “Last of all, he was seen of me also” (15:8).

What Paul says in these two verses is very interesting and very practical. It is dripping with applications for us today. I want to look at four statements Paul makes here about himself and their application to us. What was Paul’s assessment of himself?

Paul talks about Himself

I. Paul’s first statement – “I am the least of the Apostles” (15:9)

We look at him as one of the greatest Christians who ever lived. He was one of the all-time giants of the faith. The last of the Apostles was also the least of the apostles. This is incredible humility. Instead of saying he was the greatest of the Apostles (which in many cases he was), he says that he was the least of the apostles. Pride would have said, “I am the greatest” (as Muhammad Ali did).

Paul could very well have said “I am the greatest of the apostles. I planted more churches than they did. I wrote more books of Scripture than any of them. I am the most educated of all of the apostles.” Instead, he said that he was the least of the apostles.

Paul said that he was not just the least of the apostles, he said that he was the least of the saints and not just some of the saints. Paul said that he was less than ALL of the saints but even that was not enough. Paul said that he was “LESS than the least” (so NIV, KJV) of ALL the saints (Ephesians 3:7-8). Interestingly, the word Paul in Latin (Paulus) means “small”. That is what his name means. He is “the little one”.

Paul says that “He was born out of due time” and because of that he was the least of the apostles. Paul uses a metaphor from childbirth to describe his conversion. What does that mean that Paul was “born out of due time”? He was born in a freakish way.

He did not have a normal birth. It was abnormal compared to the other apostles. How was Paul a baby born out of due time? Paul was an Apostle and the Twelve were Apostles. Both were personally selected by Jesus but Paul’s apostleship was a little different than the rest.

1) The other apostles were called when they were already believers.

They were promoted from disciples to apostles. Paul was suddenly moved from enemy of Christ to Apostle of Christ.

2) Paul came on the scene late.

A baby is normally born around nine months. That baby is born normally. Paul came late. He was a late-term baby or an overdue baby. He did not witness any of the miracles of Christ or travel with him for three years of his public ministry or hear his teaching on earth.

He was the least of the Apostles because he was the last of the apostles. Jesus appeared to all of the other apostles BEFORE he ascended. He appeared to Paul AFTER he ascended into heaven.

II. Paul’s second statement – “I do not deserve to be called an apostle” (15:9)

Now Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He says in the Book of Romans that he was called to be an apostle (1:1). He says in the Book of Galatians that he was chosen to be an apostle, not by man but by God (1:1) but Paul says he was not worthy of the title or the office of apostle.

Why did Paul feel this way? He says that because he persecuted the church of God. He saw himself as the worst sinner on the planet He called himself “the chief of sinners” (I Timothy 1:15) and that was said at the end of his life in one of his final books before he died.

Paul was responsible for the death, imprisonment, and suffering of Christians. He was a violent man. Paul approved of the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58). He was partially responsible for his violent death (cf. Acts 9:1-2). He made murderous threats against believers (“I am going to kill you”). Peter never did that. John never did that (cf. Acts 22:4; 26:9). That is very significant.

Lessons from Paul’s Past Life

1) Being forgiven does not make you forget your past.

Paul said that when you become a Christian, you become a “new creation” (II Corinthians 5:17). You go through a radical change and you are not the same person. You get washed, justified, forgiven but salvation does not remove the memory of past sins. These were things that Paul did BEFORE he was saved. In fact, it happened about twenty years earlier.

The Book of I Corinthians was written around 55 AD and most scholars date Paul’s conversion around 34 or 35 AD. Paul was forgiven from all of these sins and it still bothered him. It still shocked him to think that he was responsible for the death of fellow Christians. He lived with that the rest of his life. We need to remember and never forget what we did before we were saved.

2) Paul was not defined or bound by his past life.

Many in addictions cannot seem to get past what they went through. “You don’t know what I did. You do not know my past.” Paul did not join a recovery group for persecutors or an addiction group for former Pharisees, religious fanatics or for spiritual abusers.

3) God can use you despite your past.

God knew exactly what Paul did and put him in the ministry. He called him to be an apostle.  God was able to used Paul greatly, despite his sinful past.  Your past does not limit God’s ability to use you in the future.  Peter denied Christ three times and yet God was still able to use him on the Day of Pentecost to lead three thousand Jews to Christ from one sermon preached.

III. Paul’s third statement – “I worked harder than all of the other apostles” (15:10)

That is an interesting statement. Notice what he does say and what he does not say here.

1) He does NOT say that he was more gifted or more spiritual, just that he worked harder.

2) He does NOT say that he worked harder than all of them combined but that he worked harder than any one of them

3) He does NOT say that the other apostles were lazy.

He is not knocking the other apostles, he is just saying that he worked harder, not harder than some of them but harder than ALL of them (“I labored more abundantly than they all”). He was just stating a fact. The other apostles were supported by the church. Paul worked for a living.

He worked hard. He worked with his hands. He was a blue collar worker. He worked long hours (I Thessalonians 2:9; II Thessalonians 3:8). He supported himself and yet look at everything that he was able to do during his lifetime.

 Accomplishments of Paul

1. He wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the NT.

He wrote more NT books than any other writer. In fact, three-fourths of the Apostles did not write a book of Scripture or any other book so far as we can tell.

Three fourths of them never wrote a book of Scripture and Paul wrote thirteen of them. Most of them were not writers. Only three other apostles wrote a book of the Bible (Matthew, John and Peter).

2. He may have been the greatest missionary of all time.

He went on three missionary journeys and started all kinds of churches from Jerusalem to Spain. Paul traveled more than 10,000 miles on his Christian missionary journeys to various cities and that was without an airplane or car.

3. The church today is largely a Gentile church today because of his influence.

He was the apostle to the gentiles. He had a passion to preach Christ where he was not known (Romans 15:20). When the church began it was one hundred percent Jewish. Those were the good old days. Now the church is predominately a Gentile movement. Paul was the one who took the gospel to Europe and from Europe it came to America.

4. He was also the great theologian of the early church.

He was the most educated of all of the apostles. None of the Apostles went to seminary. They were not intellectuals or scholars or even great thinkers. Most of the apostles were uneducated (Acts 4:13; Luke 10:21). They were simple fishermen. Four of the twelve were fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James and John).

One was a tax-collector (Matthew). No one knows the occupations of the other seven but apparently they were not highly educated. None of them had PhDs. Paul was highly educated. Paul says that he studied under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).

Who was Gamaliel?

1) He was a teacher of the law.

He was the leading Jewish teacher in the first century (Acts 5:43). He was the grandson of Hillel, who was one of the most rabbis in Jewish history. Hillel lived in Jerusalem at the time of King Herod.

2) He was a Pharisee.

Paul  was a Pharisee before he became a Christian (Acts 23:6; 26:5).  Gamaliel was also a Pharisee (Acts 5:34).

3) He was a member of the Sanhedrin.

Gamaliel was a member of the highest court in Jerusalem and was well respected by all the people.

4) He died in 54 AD.

He died before the Temple was destroyed and just before I Corinthians was written. Unlike the other apostles, Paul was very well educated. He studied under some of the top teachers of his day. Paul had a brilliant mind.

He wrote some of the deepest parts of the NT. Even Peter said that some of Paul’s writings were hard to understand (II Peter 3:16). It was the writings of Paul that changed the course of history and led to the Reformation.

Applications

1. Work hard.

Do we work hard in ministry? God wants us to work hard and says that our labor in the Lord is not in vain (15:58). The Bible has a lot to say in the Book of Proverbs about laziness. In fact, Paul was the one who said that if you don’t work, you shouldn’t eat (I Thessalonians 3:8). The pastors of our church work hard. In fact, they probably work too hard.

2. Be humble about your accomplishments.

Paul was not shy about stating what he achieved. He had no problem with recognizing his accomplishments. He did not have a false modesty about what he could achieve and do. He did not say, “What I have done really amounts to nothing. I am not good at what I do.” He did not belittle what he achieved or what he did.

It is not wrong to acknowledge you accomplishments. He was not shy about saying he worked harder than any of the other apostles. That is not pride. David did that. Boasting is wrong. Paul is not boasting. He is just stating a fact but he also did not take credit for what he did. Notice the last thing that he said about himself.

IV. Paul’s fourth statement –  “I am what I am by the grace of God” (15:10)

Three times in one verse Paul mentions the grace of God and credits the grace of God for all that he achieved. William Barclay says that Paul would never have called himself “a self-made man,” because he said, “I am what I am by the grace of God”. The grace of God was what saved him and what enabled him to accomplish everything that he did.

He gave God all of the credit for what he had done and Paul got NONE. Everything he did was a work of grace. Because it is a work of grace, you don’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. It is freely given. That completely does away with human merit and it does away with human pride.

Paul says, “If there has been ANY change in me from a persecutor and a blasphemer, it is all because of God’s grace.” God should have struck Paul dead on the Damascus Road. He persecuted the church. In fact, Paul himself said, “He who destroys the church, God will destroy” (3:17).

That was what he deserved but he received grace. He also gave God credit for his service. Paul says, “If I accomplished anything for Christ, it is all because of God’s grace.” Everything about the Christian life has to do with grace.

We believe by grace (Acts 18:27). We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). We serve through grace (I Corinthians 15:10). We are able to endure trials through God’s grace. When Paul was given a thorn in the flesh FROM SATAN and he asked to have it removed, not once but three times, what was the answer God gave him? “My grace is sufficient for you” (II Corinthians 12:9).

What is the lesson here? If we are able to serve God in any way or do anything for Christ, it is because of the grace of God. If we are an apostle, it is because of the grace of God. If we are a pastor of a church, it is because of the grace of God. If we are a teacher, it is because of the grace of God.

Ten False Gospels

Today, we come to the most important message in the world.  It is the most important message that you will ever hear.  Your eternity depends on your response to this message.  Paul called it a message of FIRST importance (I Corinthians 15:3 NIV).

There are essential doctrines and non-essential doctrines of the faith. This is an essential doctrine. There are many doctrines that are minor and you can be off on and still go to heaven.

A person can be wrong on speaking in tongues and still be a Christian. A person can be wrong on the Millennium and still be a Christian.

A person can be wrong on when the rapture takes place and still be a Christian. If you are wrong on the gospel, you can’t go to heaven.  You need this message to be saved.  It is the message of the gospel.

What is the gospel?  What is this message that Paul devoted his life to preach?  There is a lot of confusion today about this topic.  Many misunderstand and misrepresent this message.  There are false gospels today, just as there were false gospels in Paul’s day.

Facts about the Gospel

1) The gospel is God’s idea

This message came from God.  The gospel was not Paul’s idea. He did not come up with (Galatians 1:11-12). No human ever came up with the gospel. In fact, not only was it was God’s idea from the start but it goes completely against human ways of thinking.

Man did not come up with this message and never would have come up with this message because it completely goes against human ways of thinking. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). The message of the cross is foolish to the world (I Corinthians 1:18; 2:14). It is completely ridiculous to the unbeliever.

2) The gospel cannot be changed

This message is unchangeable.  It was unalterable. There are no modern revisions to it.  Apostles cannot change it.  Angels cannot change it.  Church leaders cannot change it. Denominations cannot change it.

Preachers cannot change it. Scholars cannot change it, even if they teach at Harvard or Cambridge.  This message does not need to be revised or updated for the modern era. It does not need to be changed.  It is just as valid today as it was then.

3) The gospel is for everyone

It is universal. It is global.  It is God’s message to every country, culture and people. The rest of the world may think that Christianity is America’s religion. The gospel is not a message just for America or just for the Western World. It actually began in the Far East.

Christianity is an Asian religion. Israel is part of the continent of Asia. The promise of eternal life is for EVERYONE who believes (John 3:16). God does not want ANYONE to perish (II Peter 3:9). He wants ALL people to be saved (I Timothy 2:3-4).

4) The gospel is unique

There is only ONE true gospel. Many preach a different gospel but there is only one gospel. The Judaizers preached another gospel which Paul said “is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:7). The idea that man could be saved by grace and not works is unique. All the religions of the world preach some form of works salvation.

5) The gospel is powerful

Paul said that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone (not just to some people) who believes (Romans 1:16; I Corinthians 1:18). Every preacher likes to point out that the Greek word for “power” is the word δυναμις from which we get the word “dynamite”.

The only problem is that dynamite is destructive. It blows things up. The gospel has the power to save, not destroy. It has the power to save the worst sinner from the wrath of God (I Timothy 1:13-16; I Corinthians 15:9-10).

6) The gospel is good news

It is good news, not bad news.  There are some bad news contained in the message (people are sinners, God judges sin, Hell is real and people must repent), but the gospel message is positive.

It is a message of grace to sinners. It is NOT a message of hopelessness but of hope.  It is a message of grace and mercy.  It is called “the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

Sinners who deserve hell, because of their sins against a holy God, can now be saved because of the death and resurrection of Christ.

7) The gospel is about Jesus

The message is about Jesus.  It is based on three historical events, Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (I Corinthians 2:1-2; 15:1-8).  Paul uses four verbs to describe the facts of the gospel (died, buried, raised, and appeared).

Jesus died and the proof that he died is that he was buried. Jesus rose from the dead and the proof that he rose was the appearances. Paul doesn’t appeal to circumstantial evidence (empty tomb). He limits the evidence to the appearances. Let’s briefly look at these two points.

First, Jesus died. The proof of his death was his burial.  What makes the death of Jesus good news? Normally someone’s death is bad news. This is not just the death of any man but the God-Man, the Messiah (the “Christ”) and it is the death “for our sins.”  The gospel message is that Jesus died as a sacrifice for sins.  He died in our place as our substitute.

Second, Jesus rose from the dead. Paul proves that Jesus rose from the dead. He gives six groups of witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus – Cephas (I Corinthians 15:5), The Twelve without Judas and Thomas (I Corinthians 15:5) , Five hundred (I Corinthians 15:6), James (I Corinthians 15:7), The Apostles (I Corinthians 15:7) and the Apostle Paul (I Corinthians 15:8).

It is one thing to have two or three witnesses to a murder.  It is another thing if five hundred people who saw it take place. How many events in ancient history do we have that five hundred people could verify? Not many.

8) The gospel is biblical

It did not start in the NT. The gospel is that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”  Many gospels today are not biblical. They do not come from Scripture at all.  They are humanistic.

9) The gospel requires a response

The gospel has to be obeyed (II Thessalonians 1:8; I Peter 4:17).  It requires a response from people.  Salvation is conditional.  It is conditioned on faith.

You do not have to do anything to earn this gospel but you do have to accept it.  You have to receive it.  If you not believe, you can’t be saved. If you do not believe, you will not be saved.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. … 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:39-40, 43 NIV)

38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39 NIV)

TEN FALSE GOSPELS TODAY

There were false gospels preached in Paul’s day and there are false gospel preached in our day, as well.  There are some preached in churches.

Paul said, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:8 NIV).  Let’s examine ten false gospel preached today.

The Merit Gospel

This is the performance-based gospel.  It is the do-gooder gospel. It is the morality gospel.  It is the gospel that not only encourages good works but teaches that these good deeds can actually save you.  It is the Pharisaic gospel.

My pastor calls this “a gospel of behavior modification through self-effort.” This is gospel of all of the other religions in the world today.  It is the gospel of works, which is no gospel at all, if salvation has to be earned.

This is the gospel of Buddha (which happens to be the title of a book written in 1894).  It is the gospel of Islam.  It is the Gospel of Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.  It is also the Gospel of the Roman Catholic Church. They believe in justification by faith plus works.

This gospel teaches that salvation is not received as a gift.  It is achieved by human effort.  If we could be saved by works or our own human effort, there would have been no need for Jesus to die.

His death would have been in vain.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21 NIV)

Of course, morals are not wrong.  It is important to have good morals. People should not live immoral lives but good morals do not save people.  Keeping religious rules do not save people.  Following the Golden Rule does not save people.

The Full Gospel

Pentecostals believe that healing is in the gospel.  They believe that it is an integral part of the gospel. They believe that it is in the atonement.  What is the problem with this view?

When Paul gives a detailed explanation of the gospel, he does not say anything at all about healing. Paul says many times that Jesus died for our sins but never says that Jesus died for our diseases.  He says that Jesus became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). He does not teach that he became sickness for us.

Paul believed in healing.  God does heal people today.  He did not stop doing miracles in 70 AD.  Healing is one of the spiritual gifts in the NT but it is not part of the gospel. It is NOT a message that you have to believe in order to be saved.

The Prosperity Gospel

This is sometimes called “The Health and Wealth Gospel” or “The Name it and Claim it Gospel.”  One prosperity preacher said that there is gold in the gospel. [1]

This doctrine is based on many half-truths. God does bless believers and often blesses them financially.  It is a biblical teaching.  It is all through Scripture.  Proverbs 10:22 says “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth.”

The problem takes place when preachers ABUSE this truth and preach the gospel as a means of financial gain (I Timothy 6:5).  It becomes a get rich scheme. The gospel is not a message that, if you believe, you will get rich financially. It is a message that, if you believe, you will get saved.

The Self-Esteem Gospel

This gospel is all about you. It has a feel-good message.  It is the feel-good gospel.  This gospel wants you to feel good about yourself.  It gives people what they want, rather than what they need.

It focuses on happiness as the highest goal. It focuses on us.  Jesus becomes just a therapist who meets my felt needs. It is man-centered, rather than God-centered.

One of the leading proponents of this gospel was Norman Vincent Peale, the big proponent of positive thinking. Peale was the author of The Power of Positive Thinking (1952).

It became one of the bestselling religious books of all time.  It is a book that will stroke your ego and make you feel good about yourself.  This is the therapeutic gospel.

Some pastors preach sermons  which are more psychological, than biblical.  They focus on self-help and self-improvement, rather than on holiness.  This is “The Self-Help Gospel” or “The American Gospel.”  It is based on The American Dream.

As John MacArthur put it, “The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment.” [2]

The Liberal Gospel

This is the liberal gospel.  It is the politically-correct gospel.  It is the gospel of mainline Christendom.  It is the gospel of liberalism.

It rejects the exclusivity of Christ. It accepts other religions as saved.  It is liberal.  It is non-judgmental.  It accepts all lifestyles.  It is ecumenical.  It is is non-offensive.  The gospel Paul preached offended people.

Paul spoke of “the offense of the cross” (Galatians 5:11).  The PC gospel does not have any bad news in it.  Sin is not viewed as man’s greatest problem and there is no Hell for those who reject this gospel.  It is the same as universalism. It teaches that everyone will one day be saved.

The Ritual Gospel

This gospel says that religious rituals are essential to salvation.  It is often known as the Campbellite Gospel.  It was strongly emphasized by Alexander Campbell who was part of the Restoration Movement.

Members of the Disciples of Christ and Church of Christ are big proponents of this gospel but so are many other groups.  The Catholic Church also believes in this gospel.  All of these groups believe in some form of baptismal regeneration.

They believe that you have to be baptized to be saved.  If you are not baptized, you will go to hell.  With this logic, a person who accepted Christ on a plane that crashed would be in hell.  The thief on the cross would be in hell.

They would reply that the thief on the cross lived before Acts 2:38.  He lived before the command to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

The problem with that logic is that these same people use John 3:5 ( No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit) as a proof-text for baptismal regeneration but John was written  before Acts.

There are answers to all of the Campbellite proof-texts which I give elsewhere on this website.  People should be baptized.  Baptism is a command for today but baptism is the outward symbol of faith.  It is not a separate and equal condition of salvation.

The Free Grace Gospel

It is a gospel common in the American church.  It is the Easy-Believism Gospel of the American church.  This is the hyper-grace gospel.

This view says that the gospel can be accepted without any change in lifestyle. Few churches in America seem to even practice church discipline today.  The ones that do are the exception, rather than the rule.

The Free Grace Gospel is a gospel without repentance. It is the Gospel of Larry Flynt.  Flynt was the publisher of Hustler magazine.  He made a profession of faith in 1977 and said he was born again but continued to publish his pornographic magazines without apology.

This brings us to an important question.  What happens if you claim to believe but make absolutely no change to your sinful lifestyle?  What happens to people who continue to live in open sin?

What happens to openly gay couples or unmarried heterosexuals who are living together who say that they believe but do not repent or make any change in their life?  In fact, these people often try to try to justify their sinful behavior?  Are such individuals saved?

Some teachers on the Internet teach that they are.  These false teachers say that you can continue to live in that immoral lifestyle and still go to heaven. You can be a rapist and murder and still go to heaven, just as long as you believe in Jesus.  This is a false gospel.  It is a gospel without repentance.

Paul told Christians not to be deceived.  He said that the unrighteous will NOT inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9).  He taught that people who live this kind of lifestyle have NO INHERITANCE in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5:5).

He said that “because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6) and then exhorts Christians not to be partakers with the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5:7).

This false gospel is called antinomianism, which is a fancy word for “lawlessness.” It was a heresy in the early church. I have heard pastors actually teach that Christians do not have any commands to follow.  It is simply ludicrous. They have not the read the NT.

The Political Gospel

This is The Social Gospel.  It is the gospel of Marxism and Black Liberation theology.  It is a political gospel for the downtrodden and oppressed members of society.  This gospel is political and humanistic.  It is economic and social, rather than religious and spiritual.

There are many fallacies of this gospel.  The church should make an impact on society but this gospel teaches that the primary mission of the church is to feed the poor and fight for social reform.

According to this gospel, man’s greatest need is not sin.  According to this gospel, the solution to man’s problem is political, not spiritual.  The answer is not God, according to this gospel, but human government.

The Restored Gospel

The gospel of the Latter Day Saints is called “The Restored Gospel.” Mormons talk about the restoration of the gospel, although the gospel they end up with is another form of the merit gospel.  Mormons believe that that soon after the apostles died, the church became completely apostate.

They believe that the message of the gospel was completely lost and stayed lost for two thousand years until God revealed it again in 1820 to the “prophet” Joseph Smith and the gospel was restored.  That was when, according to them, the true church has now been restored to the earth.

Critics might say that what Martin Luther did for Protestants is not different than what Joseph Smith did for Mormons.  He rediscovered a gospel that the church had long lost for thousands of years but there is an important difference between the two.

Luther did not get a special revelation, add some books to the bible and change the gospel.  He simply preached the gospel in the Bible that was not being preached in the Catholic Church.

That is a huge difference. Luther preached what Paul preached, namely justification by faith, not works.  Joseph Smith preached a gospel of works.  Mormons today teach a salvation by works.

Joseph Smith claimed to restore the true gospel but ended up coming up with a completely different gospel. Paul warned that if anyone changed the gospel (and even if he changed the gospel), he would be cursed.  He called a curse down, not just on the message, but on the people who preach the unbiblical message (Galatians 1:6-9).

The Roman Catholic Church put a curse or anathema on anyone who taught salvation is by grace, not works (Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 9, 12, 13, 14).  Paul put a curse on anyone who preached a gospel of works and not grace.

This message is unalterable.  APOSTLES cannot change the message. Even Paul, the greatest of the apostles, could not change the message. He included himself in this curse. ANGELS cannot change the message.

How many false religions have began with a supposed angel from heaven, resulting in a false gospel.  Muslims believe that the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad in 610 AD in the country of Saudi Arabia, leading to a book (Quran) which contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture and teaches a false gospel.

Mormons believe that the angel Maroni appeared to Joseph Smith in the US in 1823, resulting in another book (Book of Mormon) which contradicts Scripture and teaches another false gospel.

Did Muhammad and Joseph Smith have a genuine experience with some type of supernatural being?  They may have.  That is not the issue.  The Apostle Paul made it clear that even angels cannot change the gospel.

We are to follow the clear teachings of Scripture, not the teachings in another book by a supposed angel from heaven, which contradicts that book.

The Modern Scholar’s Gospel

Some modern biblical scholars argue that the gospel is not about salvation.  The gospel according to N.T. Wright is not a description of how people get saved.  He, and others, argue that the gospel is the message about the life of Jesus, His death, burial and resurrection.  Take, for example, what Wright says in his Paul in Different Perspectives:

“when Paul uses the word ‘gospel’, this is the very centre of what he is referring to: the annoucement that Jesus, the crucified Jew from Nazareth, has been raised from the dead by the creator God, and has been exalted as Lord of the world, claiming allegiance from all alike, Jew and Gentile, great and small, from Caesar on his throne to the poorest child of the humblest slave in the farthest corners of the world.

For Paul, what he means by ‘the gospel’ is not, despite some of our current usage, the description of a way of salvation… but ‘the gospel’ itself refers to the proclamation that Jesus, the crucified and risen Messiah, is the one, true and only Lord of the world.” [3]  If you read  what Paul says, it seems that the modern scholars are right.

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV).

Paul calls this message the gospel. The scholars are right that the focus of the message is on Jesus, but the gospel is also said to be the message of salvation, even in I Corinthians 15.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are SAVED, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. (I Corinthians 15:1-2 NIV)

Paul called the gospel “the power of God UNTO SALVATION” (Romans 1:16).  That is what makes the gospel “good news” (which is what the word means).  Simply recounting the basic facts of someone who lived two thousand years again in the Middle East is not good news.

It is the significance of this death which turns it into the gospel.  Jesus did not simply die, He died FOR OUR SINS, according to the Scriptures, so that we might be saved.  That element is left out in the modern scholarship gospel.

[1]  Catherine Ponder, The Millionaire from Nazareth: His Prosperity Secrets for You (1979).

[2] John MacArthur, Hard to Believe: The High Cost and Infinite Value of Following Jesus (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003). p. 2.

[3] https://ntwrightpage.com/2005/01/03/paul-in-different-perspectives/

Speaking in Tongues

Our Scripture reading for tonight is I Corinthians 14. This is a highly controversial topic. We want to simply look at what the Bible says. What exactly does Paul say about speaking in tongues in I Corinthians 14? What do other passages of Scripture tell us about this gift?

There are many misconceptions and myths about this gift on the part of both charismatics and non-charismatics. While we may not all agree on every detail, this study will challenge whatever you believe about tongues.

Let me say at the outset that I do not have the gift of tongues. I have never spoken in tongues but I have studied the topic for twenty-five years. I wrote a paper on it in 1984. Let’s begin with some introductory material.

Introduction

Tonight we want to look at the topic of speaking in tongues or as biblical scholars call it glossolalia, which comes from two Greek words.  It comes from γλωσσα, the Greek word for tongue (as in the word glossitis, which means inflammation of the tongue) and λαλία, the Greek word for to speak (as in echolalia). Paul gives us a whole chapter dealing with glossolalia. Speaking in tongues was a frequent phenomenon in NT churches.

It was not a universal experience but all scholars agree that speaking in tongues was a very common experience in the first century apostolic church. It was not limited to Corinth. It also took place in Jerusalem and Ephesus and other places.

It was done by both Jews and Gentiles. At Pentecost, a group of Jews spoke in tongues but the Church of Corinth was mostly a Gentile church and many members of the church spoke in tongues. People always say that they want to go back to the NT church. NT churches were charismatic. They spoke in tongues.

The Bible mentions “tongues” (I Corinthians 14:6), “other tongues” (Acts 2:4), “new tongues” (Mark 16:17) and “various kinds of tongues” (I Corinthians 12:10, 28). The KJV mentions “unknown tongues” in I Corinthians 14:2, 4, 13, 14, 19) but the word “unknown” is not in the Greek text.

Speaking in tongues is mentioned in three books of the Bible – Mark (16); Acts (2, 10 & 19) and I Corinthians (12-14). In I Corinthians 12, Paul gives three different lists of spiritual gifts. Speaking in tongues was in all three lists.

So it is mentioned in three chapters of Acts, three chapters in I Corinthians and in one verse in the Gospel of Mark and there is some debate among Bible scholars as to whether the statement in Mark 16:17 is actually part of the Gospel of Mark.

Paul’s View of Speaking in Tongues

What was Paul’s view of speaking in tongues? Paul tells us in I Corinthians what he thought of the practice of speaking in tongues. Did he like it? Was he pro-tongues speaking? Did he hate it? Was he anti-tongues speaking?

Paul tells us. What are some of the purposes of speaking in tongues? Paul tells us. He says several things about tongues in this chapter and this is not just Paul’s view but God’s view (cf. 14:37-38).

1. Speaking in Tongues is Not the Only Gift of the Spirit

It is only one in a long list of gifts of the Spirit (12:8-10). The gifts were sovereign-given AS HE WILL (12:11, 18). God decides what gifts we have. He gave the illustration of the human body which is made up of many parts. The whole body is not an eye or an ear (12:17). It is also not a tongue.

Paul specifically says that all Christians do NOT have the gift of tongues. Thus, you do not have to speak in tongues to be saved (because you can be a Christian and not have the gift of tongues). There is no command in the NT for Christians to speak in tongues. When Paul said, “I wish all of you spoke in tongues” (14:4) that implies that all of them did NOT speak in tongues.

2. Speaking in Tongues is NOT the Most Important Gift of the Spirit

Paul said to seek the “greater gifts” or “The best gifts” (12:31). That just raises the question, What are the greater gifts? Paul answers that question in 14:1-5. He comes out and says, “The one who prophesies is GREATER than the one who speaks in tongues” (14:5; cf. 14:19).

The Corinthians thought it was the most important gift and were seeking it. Paul said that it is one of the lesser gifts and if you are going to seek any of the gift, you should be seeking the more important gifts.

What exactly is prophecy? A prophet is someone who has a word from God. That word could be about anything. How does Paul conclude the chapter (cf. 14:39)? John Chrysostom pointed out the huge difference between the two gifts. One was to be greatly longed for and desired, while the other is just forbidden.

3. Paul was NOT Against Speaking in Tongues

Many non-Charismatics have somehow come to the conclusion that Paul was somehow against speaking in tongues. He was not. How do we know?

Paul said in I Corinthians 12 that speaking in tongues was one of the gifts of the Spirit. It was a supernatural ability that comes from God and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Paul was not against speaking in tongues because he spoke in tongues. Paul was a tongues-speaker.

In fact, not only did he speak in tongues, he spoke in tongues a lot (14:18). He said that he spoke in tongues more than the Corinthians did and that was their favorite gift. They prided themselves on that gift. He apparently did not flaunt his gift like they did.

John Calvin commented on that verse and said that “God bestowed undying honor on tongues in that verse”. Paul said that he wished all of the Corinthians spoke in tongues (14:5). Paul told the Corinthians NOT to forbid people from speaking in tongues (14:39; cf. I Thessalonians 5:19-21).

4. Tongues-Speakers were to Follow Some Rules in Church

Just because Paul said, “Don’t forbid speaking in tongues,” does not mean that any Christian is free to speak in tongues at any time and in any way that he or she wants. Paul gave some very clear rules for speaking in tongues in the public assembly (14:26-28). He also gave three rules for the use of prophecy in the public assembly. What were some of the rules for tongues-speakers?

Three Rules for Tongues

1) The Number

There was not to be more than two or three speaking in the service (14:27).

2) The Procedure

They were to speak on at a time and not all at once (14:27). This was based on the character of God. God is a God of order (14:33) and all things are to be orderly in our church services (14:40).

3) The Necessity

They were to always have an interpreter if they were to speak in tongues in church or they could not speak at all (14:27-28).

Some Charismatics today follow these rules but many do not. Paul had rules for speaking in tongues but he did not prohibit the practice among Christians.

Summary

I Corinthians 14:39 is not a suggestion. It is a command. Dr. A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, summed up Paul’s teaching on tongues in four words: “Seek not, Forbid not.” There is some who say that the charismatic speaking in tongues today is of the devil but if you forbid all speaking in tongues, you are actually quenching the Spirit.

That is very significant. It was one of the last things that Paul said about tongues (don’t forbid it). What’s even more amazing about it is that the Corinthians Church was the church that abused and misused the gift of tongues and Paul still said, “Don’t forbid it”.

Two Kinds of Tongues in I Corinthians 14

Many believe that there is only one kind of tongues in the Bible but Paul mentioned not just one kind but different kinds of tongues (12:10, 28). Paul mentions at least two different kinds of tongues in chapter 14.

1)  There was a PRIVATE use of tongues.

This was done at home WITHOUT an interpreter. This is called the devotional use of tongues. The main devotional use of tongues involves praying. Paul mentions praying in tongues (14:15). It is praying from your spirit, not your mind (14:14). This kind of tongues was addressed to God (14:2).

That is what prayer is. It is talking to God. We can also see that speaking in tongues is a way of speaking to God. This was a private prayer or language. It is another way besides prayer than you can talk to God.

The devotional use of tongues may have also involved praise and singing in light of 14:15. Apparently, this was how Paul mainly used his gift. He spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthians but. If he never told us this, we would not have known.

Apparently, he did this on his own privately. There is no record of him ever speaking in tongues in public and keep in mind this was something that he did a lot, so we probably would have heard about it.

2)  There was also a PUBLIC use of tongues.

Speaking in tongues in the church was allowed, as long as it followed the rules Paul gave (e.g., it had to be done WITH an interpreter).

Common Myths About Tongues

MYTH ONE – Speaking in tongues is a mark of spirituality

There is a big difference between being gifted and being godly. There is a big difference between the Gifts of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12) with the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5). The Church of Corinth was a church that was big on spiritual gifts. That was one of their strengths.

They had all of the gifts (1:6). They had people in the church who could heal. They had people in the church who prophesied. They had people in the church who were teachers. They had people in the church who spoke in tongues but it was also a church that was carnal (3:1).

Gifts are not a sign of spirituality. We saw that in 13:1-3. Speaking in tongues is not a sign of spirituality or even a sign of salvation. Speaking in tongues is not proof of salvation, since it is practiced in many pagan religions.

Many Pentecostals think they are saved because they speak in tongues but there are many charismatics who will stand before Jesus on the Day of Judgment and he will say to them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23).

MYTH TWO – Speaking in tongues was a sign just for the Jews

Many think this gift was a sign to the nation Israel (a sign of judgment on the unbelieving nation). Where do they get this idea? They get it combining two verses. They take I Corinthians 14 which says that tongues are “a sign” and combine it with I Corinthians 1:22 which says that Jews require a sign but there are several problems with this.

To come up with this interpretation, you have to take BOTH I Corinthians 14:22 and 1:22 out of context.  In the context, Paul was only talking about uninterpreted tongues.

When unbelievers heard everyone speaking in tongues at the same time without interpretation, they would think that the speakers were crazy (11:23). It is what is called “strange tongues” in 11:21. His whole argument is that the Corinthians should NOT give this sign to people, because they were only to speak with an unbeliever in church and not all at once.

Are Tongues Just a Sign for Jews?

Many use I Corinthians 1:22 as proof that tongues are a sign to the Jews.  However, that verse is taken out of context.  The passage itself does NOT mention tongues.  It does NOT connect tongues to Israel.  Nor does it connect signs in general to Israel.  Two things should be noted here.

1) Paul does NOT endorse signs for Jews in that passage.

Paul does NOT say that tongues are a sign to Jews. Paul says that they are a sign TO UNBELIEVERS (Jew or Gentile). He does NOT say that they are a sign only to unbelieving Jews (14:22).

Paul does say Paul does say that Jews seek signs (1:22) but he does not say, “Since the Jews seek signs, we should provide them as an evangelistic tool”.

Instead,  he says the exact opposite.  Paul says that the Jews SEEK signs but what the Jews will get is a sermon instead.  They get the message of Christ crucified (1:23), even if it is a “stumbling block” to them, as Paul says.

I Corinthians 1:22  says absolutely nothing about speaking in tongues.  It also does not say that signs are for the Jews.  The Apostle Paul does say that the Jews seek signs but he does NOT say that this is a good thing.

2) Jesus also did NOT say that signs were for the nation of Israel.

Jesus did not look upon needing signs to believe as a good thing. Jesus also said that “an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign” (Matthew 16:4). When the Jews came to Jesus and asked him to show them a sign (16:1), it was a form of unbelief.

Jesus said that NO SIGN would be given to Israel but the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:39). Jesus did NOT say that the Jews will also be given the sign of tongues.

MYTH THREE – The purpose of tongues is to evangelize the lost

Why do many people believe that tongues are for reaching the lost (missionary tongues)? Many believe that the gift of tongues is the supernatural ability to speak a foreign language that you have never studied. That would be an important gift for people on the mission field to have.

In addition, Paul specifically says in I Corinthians 14:22 that tongues are a sign FOR UNBELIEVERS. Many have assumed that the purpose of tongues was for people to preach the gospel to people in their own languages but there are some big problems with this view.

1) That is refuted by I Corinthians 14:23:”So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?”

After saying, “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not” (14:22), Paul goes on to say, “if unbelievers enter church and hear someone speaking in tongues, they think, he is absolutely crazy” (14:23).

2) That is refuted by I Corinthians 14:2:“For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God”.

God didn’t need to be evangelized. If tongues are a foreign language, that is a very strange statement. That would be a strange way to treat a foreign language.

According to Paul, when someone speaks in tongues “No one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit” (cf. 14:28). Even if tongues are indeed real languages, it would be hard to do evangelism with this gift without the gift of interpretation.

Some might say that there was no gift of interpretation at Pentecost. That is true. There the audience heard the tongue-speaking in their own language or dialect without the use of an interpreter but that was the exception in the NT.

Pentecost was a unique event in history (c. 30 AD) and has never been repeated. Everywhere else in the NT, there had to be an interpreter for anyone to understand anything that was spoken in tongues.

3) In Acts 10 & 19 there were no unbelievers present when the Holy Spirit caused people to speak in tongues.

Did people speak in tongues to win the lost in Acts 2? How did they get saved? Was it from the tongues-speaking? No. it was from Peter’s sermon (2:14-36).

The tongues-speaking took place BEFORE Peter started preaching and it saved no one. Speaking in tongues may have gotten their attention but no one got saved by the tongues-speaking. It functioned more like pre-evangelism. See the lesson entitled “The Miracle of Pentecost” for more information.

MYTH FOUR – Speaking in tongues is always a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit

This is the standard Pentecostal interpretation. Were do they get this idea. In the Book of Acts some people who were baptized in the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues (e.g., 10:44-46; 19:6).  However, we need to keep in mind two things here.

1) Speaking in tongues is not the only sign of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:4 says that people “were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with tongues”  I. Howard Marshall points out that the Holy Spirit came on seven people in the Book of Acts and in four of those cases there is NO reference to tongues (4:31; 8:17; 9:17; 13:9).

The Bible says that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit but it never says that he spoke in tongues. That was not the only sign of Spirit filling and it was not the only sign of Spirit baptism.

2) All of the Corinthians did NOT speak in tongues.

Paul makes it very clear that not all of the Corinthians spoke in tongues (12:29-30; 14:5) but all of them were baptized by the Holy Spirit (12:13).

The Greatest Virtue

Our Scripture reading tonight is I Corinthians 13. Let’s read it together. This is one of the most famous chapters in the entire Bible (the love chapter). Even non-Christians call this one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible. Adolf von Harnack, an old liberal German scholar called this chapter “The greatest, the strongest, the deepest thing Paul ever wrote” .

This is very interesting to me. Who do we think of as “the apostle of love”? John is known as the great apostle of love. He wrote the words, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God” (4:16). John was the one who said. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” (4:7).

John was the one who wrote the words, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (4:10) and yet the greatest description of love in the NT did not come from the pen of John. It came from Paul.

With the possible exception of Psalm 23, 1 Corinthians 13 is probably one of the most often quoted portions of Scripture. It is often found on Hallmark greeting cards. It is often read at weddings but has little to do with the kind of love normally associated with newlyweds. This type of love has nothing to do with sex or romance. That is a different word than Paul uses here (ερως). That word is not used in the NT.

There is nothing wrong with that kind of love. God created it but that is not what Paul is talking about here. The word Paul uses in I Corinthians 13 is αγαπη.

It has absolutely nothing to do with how you feel toward someone. It has nothing to do with feelings or emotions. It has everything to do with actions. Incidentally, if that is the only kind of love you have, your marriage will not last.

From a purely literary standpoint, this is an amazing chapter. I teach language arts in middle school and this chapter contains all kinds of figurative language. It contains hyperbole. Does anyone know what that is? Paul uses incredible exaggeration in 13:1-3. This chapter contains personification. Does anyone know what that is?

Paul personifies love and describes it as a person (13:4-7). He uses similes (13:11-12). He uses strong imagery (a banging gong and a clanging cymbal). He uses other literary devices as well (chiasm). Part of it is poetic, although most of the chapter is prose.

This is a great chapter on a number of levels. Few passages of the Bible are read as often, and read as often out of context, as 1 Corinthians 13. What most people do with this chapter is to take it out of its context.

Whenever you read the Bible, you need to always read it in its context. What is the context of this chapter? It is right in the middle of a section (I Corinthians 12-14) dealing with spiritual gifts. Paul makes three points about love in this chapter.

The Necessity of Love (13:1-3)

First, Paul tells why love is necessary or why we need love, especially in connection with spiritual gifts (because that is what Paul is talking about in the context). Paul mentions three spiritual gifts (the gift of knowledge, the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues). He mentions them at the beginning and at the end of I Corinthians 13.

Those three gifts represent ALL spiritual gifts God gave. If you go back to chapter 12:8-10, Paul mentioned tongues at the end of the list, prophecy in the middle and knowledge at the beginning of his list and these three represent the entire list.

They stand for all spiritual gifts. What is Paul’s point? Paul’s point is that without love, all of the gifts do you no good. What he is saying is that ALL gifts without love, not just some of them, do you absolutely no good.

Even the GREATEST gifts without love profit you NOTHING. They may profit others. If you give all of your money to the poor, it will benefit the poor but, if you do it for the wrong reason, you get nothing from it.

The Corinthians had all of the gifts. Paul said at the beginning of the book that the Corinthians were not lacking in any gift (1:6). The Corinthians were big on spiritual gifts but they were not too big on love. Love was the missing ingredient in the church at Corinth.

They had all the gifts but apparently they didn’t have love and that was why there was so much division in the church and why Christians were taking other Christians in the church to court over minor things.

They were causing other believers to sin when they ate food offered to idols because they were not acting in love. There were poor people at their pot lucks but they didn’t feed them. They just stuffed themselves, ate too much and got drunk. That wasn’t very loving. Other churches had love but not the Church of Corinth (cf. Colossians 1:4; I Thessalonians 1:2-3; II Thessalonians 1:3).

Some churches are loving and some are not. The Church of Ephesus used to be a loving church it but lost its first love (Revelation 2:5). The Christian church should be characterized by love. Jesus said, some important things about love in John 13:34-35. That tells me three things.

1) Love is a Command

It is not optional. Husbands are commanded to love their wives. Christians are commanded to love fellow Christians. We are also commanded to love our enemies.

2) Love is a Mark of Christians

Christians should be known for their love of other Christians regardless of race, color, socio-economic background, education level, denomination or personality. Some Christians are a little easier to love than others. If you are genuinely saved, you should have a love for all Christians, not just the ones in your church or theological background

3) Love is a Sign to the World

The world should be able to recognize a Christian not just by his doctrine but by his love.What Paul is really saying is that love is the way that the gifts are to function. Love is the most excellent way to use the gifts. That is very convicting.

Last week, we raised the question, are you using the spiritual gifts God Gave you. This week the question is, Why are you using your gifts? What are your motives? You can do ministry for the wrong reasons (Philippians 1:15-17).

Wrong Reasons to Serve in the Church

1. To earn salvation (Matthew 7:21-23)

2. Pressure from others

Many do not want to serve but only do so because someone twisted their arm.  Some are pressured into serving in the nursery or leading small groups.  These are the kind of church volunteers who usually end up quitting.

3. To please people

That should never be our motive for serving in the church.  We should be more concerned about pleasing God than pleasing people (Galatians 1:10).

4. Pride

Some work in the church to promote themselves. That is a sin that is very easy  for preachers, for singers, musicians or anyone who is constantly in the spotlight.

The Nature of Love (13:4-7)

After telling us why we need love, Paul tells us what love is. Paul personifies love. He describes it as a person. It is a description of the character of Christ. Jesus is patient and kind. He is not jealous or boastful.

Paul describes love as a person and gives it fifteen different qualities of love. Some of those qualities are negative and some are positive. He says what love is and is not. Actually, most of the qualities are negative.

1. Love is patient
2. Love is kind
3. Love is not jealous
4. Love does not brag
5. Love is not arrogant
6. Love does not act unbecomingly
7. Love does not seek its own.
8. Love is not provoked.
9. Love does not take into account a wrong suffered.
10. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness
11. Love rejoices with the truth
12. Love bears all things
13. Love believes all things
14. Love hopes all things
15. Love endures all things

LOVE IS

1. Patient
2. Kind
3. Loves the truth
4. Accepting
5. Believing
6. Hoping
7. Enduring

LOVE IS NOT

1. jealous
2. boastful
3. arrogant
4. rude
5. selfish
6. irritable
7. resentful

Are you a loving or an unloving person? Which list describes you? Where do you see yourself? Ask yourself the following questions. Some of these are convicting.

• Are we patient with people or are we very impatient?

Impatient people cannot stand to wait for anything, even to wait in line at the grocery store. Love is patient.

• Are we kind in the way we talk to people or are we rude, insulting or obnoxious?

Do we say things to put people down or build them up? Love is kind.

• Are we jealous of the attention that other people get?

Are you upset when the spotlight is on someone else and not you? Love is not self-seeking. Love is not jealous.

• Do we boast and brag about our accomplishments? Love does not boast.

• Are we very self-centered and selfish?

Do you focus on yourself and your own needs or the needs of others? The Corinthians were not thinking of the needs of others at the Lord’s Supper. Love is not self-seeking.

• Are we stubborn, rigid and inflexible?

Love does not demand its own way (NLT)

• Are we demanding?

Do we always insist on our own way? Are we bossy and pushy? A control freak? Always trying to control others? Love does not demand its own way (NLT).

• Do we think we are better than other people? Do we look down on others? Love is not arrogant.

• Do we forgive others who sin against us or do we hold grudges against people who have wronged us?

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

• Do we love it when bad things happen to people?

Do we thrive on gossip, rumors and love to get all the dirt on people? Love does not delight in evil.

• Do we like to see people get hurt or injured or Christians fall into sin (because it makes us feel better about ourselves)?

Love does not delight in evil.

• Are we very irritable?

Does everything someone says or does bother you? Do you get angry very easily? The Corinthians did and were taking people to court. Love is not easily angered.

• Are we really critical?

Do we love to find the flaws in other people, instead of their strengths? Love does not delight in evil.

The Supremacy of Love (13:8-13)

Here Paul says that love does not just complete and perfect the gifts, it is superior to all of the gifts. Love is not a spiritual gift. Love is one of the fruits of the Spirit, not one of the gifts of the spirit. Paul mentions nine gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12:8-10.

He mentions nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. It is the first and the greatest of the fruits of the Spirit. Paul says that love is greater than the gifts, all of the gifts. It is greater than the gift of healing.

It is GREATER than the gift of tongues. It is GREATER than the gift of evangelism. It is GREATER than the gifts of healing.  It is GREATER than the gift of prophecy. It is GREATER than all of the gifts. Paul calls it “the more excellent way” (12:31).

But we have to be very careful here. Just because love is more important does not mean that gifts are unimportant. Just because Paul praises love does not mean that despises gifts. It is not that love is good and the gifts are bad. Paul is not saying that love is a substitute for the gifts. He does NOT saying “Don’t follow after spiritual gifts. Follow after love instead.”

He does NOT say, “Don’t seek spiritual gifts.. Seek love instead” or “Make love your aim and earnestly reject spiritual gifts.” Notice that we are COMMANDED to seek spiritual gifts (12:31; 14:1) but we are also COMMANDED to follow after love (14:1). Both are commanded. Both come from God and both are good but love is better. Why?

Love is eternal and the gifts are temporary (13:8-12). Love goes on into eternity. The gifts will not. We will be perfect then. We will have glorified bodies and will not need them. We will not need spiritual gifts in heaven. In the beginning of the chapter, Paul said that gifts without love are worthless. At the end of the chapter, he says that love without gifts will be heaven.

Paul mentions three gifts (knowledge, tongues and prophecy) and three graces (faith, hope and love). That is the gift of knowledge, not knowledge. Knowledge will never pass away (13:12).

There are two different ways to read this but most believe that Paul is contrasting three temporary gifts (knowledge, tongues and prophecy) with three permanent graces (faith, hope and love) . There are three things that fail (13:8) and three things that remain (13:13) and Paul says love is greater than all of them.

Spiritual Gifts

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians. If you remember, the book of I Corinthians is divided into two parts. The first part of the book Paul deals with problems that the church was having. In the second part of the book, Paul answers some questions that the Corinthians had.

They wrote him a letter with some questions. We don’t have that letter. We don’t know what all of their questions were but one had to do with marriage (7:1). One had to do with food offered to idols (8:1) and one had to do with spiritual gifts (12:1) and that is our topic for this evening.

It is an important topic. Tons of books have been written on the topic of spiritual gifts. This study may completely revolutionize the way you look at spiritual gifts.

For some, it will all be brand new but even if you have studied spiritual gifts in the past, there should be some things you learn, because God’s Word is so deep, you can never completely exhaust it. Let’s start this with a basic question: What is a spiritual gift?

Definition of Spiritual Gifts

Let’s start with a basic definition. Spiritual gifts can be defined as ANY ABILITY empowered BY THE HOLY SPIRIT that is used to edify THE BODY OF CHRIST. It is a God-given ability that enables you to effectively serve the body of Christ. It is a supernatural ability given to every Christian to minister and you can minister to a person’s physical, emotional or spiritual needs. This definition can be broken down into several simple points.

1. Spiritual gifts are SUPERNATURAL abilities.

They are supernatural, not natural abilities. We sometimes divide spiritual gifts into two categories –supernatural gifts (healing the sick, raising the dead or casting out demons) and natural gifts (the gift of helps, the gift of giving or the gift of mercy) but, according to Scripture, all of the spiritual gifts are supernatural.

They all come from the Holy Spirit and they are something that we should want. Notice what Paul says in 14:1 (“Pursue love AND EARNESTLY DESIRE SPIRITUAL GIFTS”). They come from God and should be something that we really want.

2. Spiritual gifts are SOVEREIGNLY GIVEN abilities.

The Holy Spirit decides what gifts we have. We didn’t have a choice in what were given. Spiritual gifts are sovereignty given as well (12:11, 18, 28). We cannot choose our talents. We are born with them.

We can’t choose our spiritual gifts either. God chooses what gifts we have, although we can pray for different gifts (14:13). God gives the gifts to people AS HE WILL (as He determines), not “as we will.” He gives different gifts to different people.

Paul says this in I Corinthians 12:8-10. ONE was given one gift. ANOTHER was given a different gift. All were NOT given the same gift. Paul made that clear in 12:29-30. Diversity is rooted in the nature of God himself. God apparently likes diversity. He gives out a wide variety of gifts, just as we see incredible diversity in the world He created.

3. Spiritual gifts are given to EVERY single Christian.

Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift (12:7). There are no ungifted Christians. Every Christian has some spiritual gift and some have a lot more than one. Paul says, “To EACH ONE is given a manifestation of the Spirit,” not “to some is given” or “to a few spectacular Christians is given a manifestation of the Spirit.” The lowest Christian has a spiritual gift but we do not all have the same gift.

These gifts are very different.  The gift of teaching is very different from healing. The gift of speaking in tongues is very different from the gift of giving. Some are gifts are spectacular and very prominent and some gifts are hardly even seen and far less spectacular.

Even people with the exact same gift (teaching), have a different type of gift.  Some people are really good at teaching children. Other people have the gift of teaching and love to teach but hate teaching children.

They are much better at teaching adults. Another example is the gift of healing. You may not have noticed but Paul does NOT mention “the gift of healing” but “gifts of healing” three times in this chapter (12:9, 28, 30). It is always in the plural.

Apparently, there are different gifts of healing for different diseases. No one person has the gift to heal everyone. Paul also speaks of “different kinds of tongues” (12:28). Apparently, there was not just one gift of tongues.

These are examples of how the Holy Spirit does not just sovereignly give people spiritual gifts, he gives out different gifts in different degrees and in some cases different kinds of the same gift to different people.

Not only do we have different gifts from one another but we but we have different degrees of gifts.  God really believes in diversity.  Some preachers have five talents. Some have three talents.  Some have one talent and some do not have any.  They are in the wrong profession.  They need to find a new line of work.  The Holy Spirit does not merely decide who gets what gift. He decides who get how much of each gift.

The question is, Do you know what your gift is? If you do not know, how do you find out? The Bible does not tell you how to find out what your spiritual gift is. Paul assumes that people know. What are some ways people can found out their spiritual gift?

How to Discover Your Spiritual Gift

 1) Pray

Ask God (I Corinthians 14:13) and He will show you and have an open mind to wherever he leads. This is a prayer He will answer because it is a prayer according to his will (I John 5:14)

2) Be Informed

Read the Bible. Read all of the passages in Scripture that deal with spiritual gifts (Roman 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4; I Peter 4). Read books on the subject.

3) Take a Test on Spiritual Gifts

There are many tests you can take to determine what your spiritual gift is.  There are many spiritual gifts inventory tests online.

4) Serve in Different Kinds of Ministries

It will become apparent as you do this. There will be some ministries that you have a passion for and love and are good at and some that are not for you.

5) Seek Confirmation From Others

As you use your gifts, they will be apparent to others. Ask a godly person who knows you well what they think your spiritual gift is.

4. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to EDIFY the body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is here pictured like a bodybuilder who seeks to build up the body of Christ (12:7; 14:12; Ephesians 4:11-12). Spiritual gifts are part of the bodybuilding ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is spiritual body building. If you have a spiritual gift that means that someone in the church needs your gift. Gifts were given “for the common good.”

What Spiritual Gifts are Not

Spiritual gifts are NOT offices

Only a few people in the church have an office or an official title but every member of the church has a spiritual gift. Spiritual gifts are not offices. Why not?

1. A person may have a gift but NOT an office.

There are many small group leaders who have the gift of shepherding but they do not have the title of pastor. There are many women who have the gift of shepherding.  You can learn a lot from some women who do not have the title of “pastor.”

2. A person may have an office but NOT a gift.

A person may hold an office or have a title in a local church and NOT have the gift that goes with that office. There are many people all throughout America who have the title “pastor” but cannot teach the Bible. That is not their gift. They have the title of pastor but what kind of a shepherd does not feed his own sheep?

A man may have the title of “Pastor” but not have the gift of shepherding. Ideally, if you have an office, you should have the gift to go along with that office. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.  A spiritual gift is not the same thing as a church office.

Spiritual gifts are NOT talents

There is an important difference between the two. Natural talents are given to the saved and unsaved and spiritual gifts are given just to BELIEVERS. All people possess natural talents but only Christians possess spiritual gifts.

Many unbelievers have incredible natural talents but they do not have a spiritual gift. A man may be extremely gifted at public speaking. He may be able to entertain people or give a good lecture but that does not mean that he is able to edify the church.

Lists of Spiritual Gifts

We know what spiritual gifts are and now we are ready to look at Paul’s list of spiritual gifts in chapter 12. The interesting thing is that in chapter 12 we do NOT have one list but three lists of spiritual gifts. I want to do some inductive Bible study with you. What are the three lists? There is one in 12:8-10. There is one in 12:28 and one in 12:29-30. The first list is found in 12:8-10. How many gifts are on this list? Nine. What are they?

The first list of spiritual gifts in I Corinthians (12:8-10)

1. Word of Wisdom
2. Word of Knowledge
3. Faith
4. Gifts of Healing
5. Miracles
6. Prophecy
7. Discerning of Spirits
8. Tongues
9. Interpretation of Tongues

Some of the gifts on the list seem to go together. The first two go together (Word of Wisdom and Word of Knowledge). We do not know the difference between those two. One might be more theoretical and one more practical.

One may give information (the scholars and the teacher’s gift), while the other more application (the counselor’s gift). Many have connected this gift with prophecy but I do not see that in the text. The next three go together (Faith, Healing, Miracles).

All Christians have faith. They all have saving faith but they do not all have the gift of faith, the kind of faith that can move mountains. George Mueller had this gift. The two after that go together (Prophecy and Discerning of Spirits). Discerning of spirits is apparently tied to prophecy.

Someone with this gift would be able to tell if a prophecy comes from God or from Satan. The last two on the list go together (tongues, interpretation of tongues). So there are nine gifts of the Spirit in Paul’s first list.

Paul’s second list is found in I Corinthians 12:28. How many gifts are in that list? Eight. What are they? It contains one less gift but there are several gifts in the second list that are not in the first list. How many? Four (Apostles, Teachers, Helps & Administration)

The second list of spiritual gifts in I Corinthians (12:28)

1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Teachers
4. Miracles
5. Gifts of Healings
6. Helps
7. Leadership
8. Different Kinds of Tongues

Paul’s third list is found in 12:29-30. How many gifts are on that list? Seven. What are they?

The third list of spiritual gifts in I Corinthians (12:29-30)

1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Teachers
4. Miracles
5. Gifts of Healing
6. Tongues
7. Interpretation of Tongues

Overview of the Three Lists of Spiritual Gifts

1) I Corinthians 12 has three lists of spiritual gifts. Paul lists a total of thirteen spiritual gifts (unduplicated) in I Corinthians 12.

2) Six gifts are mentioned only one time in all of the lists – Faith, Helps, Leadership, Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge and Discerning of Spirits.

3) There are no new gifts in the third list of spiritual gifts.  They are all mentioned in the first two lists of gifts in I Corinthians 12.

4) Four gifts are mentioned in all three lists in I Corinthians 12 – Prophecy, Healing, Miracles and Tongues.

5) These gifts can be divided into different categories.

Most see three categories based on I Corinthians 12:4-6, although there are more than three here.  Some of these gifts involved WORDS (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, tongues).  Some involved ACTIONS (healings or miracles), while some other of these gifts were displays of incredible POWER (miracles). They were spectacular.  They were visible to everyone.

Other gifts were less spectacular. They were not often visible.  They are more behind the scenes gifts (helps).  Some of these gifts seem to be completely SUPERNATURAL and MIRACULOUS. Other gifts on the list seem like NATURAL gifts (leadership or administration, teaching). Some of these gifts were EXTERNAL (miracles) and some were more INTERNAL (faith).

6) None of the lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament are exhaustive.

The list in I Corinthians 12 is not exhaustive because Paul has two other lists in the NT and includes some other gifts not mentioned in any of these lists. In Romans 12:5-8, Paul mentions some other gifts not mentioned in I Corinthians 12 (the gifts of serving, giving, encouraging and showing mercy).

In Ephesians 4:11, Paul lists some other gifts not mentioned in either Corinthians or Romans (the gift of pastors or shepherds, as well as evangelists). All of the gifts listed in the NT are not necessarily all of the gifts either. None of the lists are exhaustive. People may have other gifts not on any of those lists (e.g., music).

Two Views on Spiritual Gifts

This topic of spiritual gifts is highly controversial. There are two main views on the topic of spiritual gifts. There are two very different ways that I Corinthians 12 is read by Christians (Christians who are conservative and believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God).

I would not do justice to the topic if I did not tell you what the debate is all about I want to give you arguments for both positions. Why do I want to do this? Most Christians know what they believe but they don’t have a clue what many other Christians right down the street believe.

What I want to do is to give you both sides of the debate. What are some of the arguments that both sides give? I can’t list them all but I can list several of their arguments for you to think about. As I do this, I have a challenge for you. This may be impossible but we will try it.

If you believe that the gifts are still around today, try to listen with an open mind to the arguments as to why they ceased. If you believe that the gifts all ceased, try to listen with an open mind to reasons why the gifts are still around today. Evaluate everything from the lens of Scripture. Then, I will make a few simple observations of my own. What are the two views?

The Cessationist View of Spiritual Gifts

Paul mentions a list of nine spiritual gifts in 12:8-10. According to one view, NONE of them exist today. The word of wisdom and the word of knowledge do not exist today. No one has the gift of healing today or the power to do miracles. There are no more prophets today.

The gift of tongues also no longer exists today, according to this view. These gifts all died out around 100 AD. They believe that these gifts were temporary. They believe that there are two kinds of gifts – permanent gifts and temporary gifts. The temporary gifts (like the ones listed in 12:8-10) all died out at the end of the apostolic age.

This is the view of Piedmont International University.  It is the view of people like John MacArthur and Chuck Swindoll. It was also the view of John Calvin. Why do many believe that some of the gifts have ceased? What are some of the arguments for this position?

1. We know that one of the gifts for sure no longer exists, so others may not as well.

Paul mentions apostles in one of the lists of spiritual gifts in this chapter (12:28, 29) and there are no genuine apostles today with the same authority as the The Twelve. If the apostles died out at the end of the apostolic age, maybe some of the other gifts listed in this chapter died out as well?

2. There is an argument from church history.

Many of the early church fathers said that these gifts did not exist in their day.  That is what St Augustine said and he was one of the leading church fathers in the fourth century.

Another prominent fourth century father named John Chrysostom also said  that these gifts no longer occur. He said that not only have these gifts ceased but that it has been so long that we do not even know what some of these gifts are anymore.

3. Many of the so-called “charismatic gifts” were sign gifts.

Gifts of like healing, miracles and tongues were all sign gifts. Their job was to authenticate the message of the apostles (Hebrews 2:3-4; Mark 16:19-20; Acts 2:43; II Corinthians 12:12).  The problem here is that that miraculous gifts in the NT were not limited to the apostles.  This is abundantly clear from the Book of Acts.  Luke mentions several people who had these gifts who were not part of The Twelve.

Stephen was not an apostle.  He was just a deacon and yet we are told in the Book of Acts that he not only performed signs and wonders, he performed GREAT signs and wonders (Acts 6:8).  Philip also was not an apostle but we are told in the Book of Acts that he also performed incredible signs like exorcisms and physical healings of the sick (Acts 8:6-7).

Ananias was not an apostle.  As far as he know, he was not even a deacon.  He may just have been an ordinary lay believer and yet, on at least one occasion, he gave sight to the blind (9:10, 17).

4. The charismatic gifts were part of the foundation stage of the church.

Paul said in Ephesians 2:20 that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.  The church is pictured as a building and the apostles and prophets are part of the foundation of that building. They were foundational gifts to the church. You only build a foundation once.

Once a foundation of a building is laid, it does not need to be laid again. The job of the apostles and prophets was to write Scripture and when every book of the Bible was written, they were no longer needed. God is no longer writing books of Scripture today.

5. I Corinthians 13:10 says that tongues will cease when the perfect comes.

The perfect cannot refer to Jesus because it is neuter not masculine (“that which is perfect” and not “the perfect one”).  Many believe that the perfect refers to the completed Bible. They believe that the perfect came when the last book of the NT was written and the church was given a full and complete revelation from God. James speaks of “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25).

The Charismatic View of Spiritual Gifts

Others believe that ALL of these gifts mentioned in 12:8-10 did NOT cease when the apostles died. This view believes that these gifts are still needed today. They still exist today and some Christians still have these gifts. What are some of their arguments?

1. If some of the gifts ceased around 100 AD, then why did church fathers in the second century (Justin Martyr & Irenaeus ) and third century. (Tertullian) say these gifts still existed in their day?

2. Some of the other gifts listed in this chapter are still around today (teaching, helps, and administration). If they exist today, these other gifts could exist today as well.

Just because apostles were temporary, does not mean that all of nine gifts in 12:8-10 are also temporary. After all, the apostles were people. There was no gift of apostleship. Exhorters exhort, teachers teach, evangelists evangelize, prophets prophesy but there is no verb that goes with apostles. It was an office, rather than a gift.

3. If the gift of prophecy ceased around 100 AD, then why do we find it taking place in the middle of the future Tribulation period (Revelation 10:7; 11:6, 10, 18; 16:6; 18:24).  Why does it take place at the end of the Tribulation period (Joel 2:28-29) just before the Second Coming, if the gift has already ceased?

4. I Corinthians 13:10 CANNOT refer to the writing if the NT in its context.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the closing of the canon.   How do we know this?  The context rules out that interpretation. What Paul says in verse ten is explained in verse twelve.

We are told that the perfect will come (13:10) only when we see “face to face” (13:12). You can only see a person face to face. It is talking about seeing Jesus face to face. Even in the Bible, we do not see face to face but only “face to book.” We are also told that when the perfect comes we will know even as we are known.

That has not happened even with the closing of the canon. There are some things that are obscure in the Bible and even when the Bible gives us whole chapters on a subject (heaven), we only have a glimpse into the future. Even in Scripture, we see “as in a mirror dimly.”

5. If you believe that many of the gifts ceased in 100 AD, you have to disobey clear command of Scripture.

This is a powerful argument for all who take Scripture seriously.  Paul says very clearly that we are NOT to forbid the use of tongues (14:39). It is a command. Yet this is exactly what the non-charismatics do. They forbid people from speaking in tongues.  They outlaw the use of the gift in their church and small groups.  Some have gone from outlawing it to calling the use of it by any professing believer as demonic.

General Observations on the Debate

I would like to make two very simple observations about the debate about spiritual gifts.

1) The Apostle Paul does not address or answer this question in I Corinthians 12.

Paul does NOT address the question of whether the gifts would still be in existence after all of the Apostles died. He doesn’t deal with whether these gifts will still be in existence two thousand years later. The Bible does not categorically state that many of the gifts ceased at 100 AD. What about I Corinthians 13:10? Doesn’t that verse tell when these gifts will cease?

When the perfect comes, the gifts will cease. Yes but Paul does not say WHEN the perfect will come (although the context seems to indicate it will be when we are face-to-face with Jesus). He does not say that it will come in 100 AD and he does not say WHAT the perfect is. There are many different interpretations of what the perfect is.

2) The issue of spiritual gifts should NOT be made a test of fellowship.

Whether all of the charismatic gifts ceased or did not cease at the end of the first century is not a major doctrine of the faith. People can have strong convictions either way but the Bible does not explicitly say. There are essential and non-essential doctrines of the faith. This is a non-essential doctrine.

If you say that you have to speak in tongues to be saved, then it becomes an essential doctrine because it deals with salvation but the view that the gifts continued after the apostolic age is a non-essential doctrine.

Five Errors Regarding Spiritual Gifts

1. Ignorance

The first major problem in the church today is that many people are ignorant about the whole topic of spiritual gifts. Paul said “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant” (12:1).

We have Christians in churches all throughout the country who are spiritually ignorant. They do not know what the Bible teaches on a lot of topics and the topic of spiritual gifts is one of them. Two years ago, Barna did a survey of professing Christians in America and found that only two thirds of them had even heard of spiritual gifts.

2. Laziness

The second major problem in the church today is that people do not use their spiritual gifts. A small group of people in the church do all the work and the rest of the church becomes spectators or pew warmers. The church was never designed to be run by a few paid professionals who do all of the work, while everyone else sits back and watches.

Picture a body and the foot and hand and heart do not work. The church is the same way. In the body of Christ, there are all kinds of parts of the body sitting around doing nothing. They are not performing the function God intended them to perform. That does not describe a healthy body or a healthy church.

Paul told Timothy, “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (I Timothy 1:6).  What does that mean?   This verse tells us three things about spiritual gifts.

One, we all have a spiritual gifts inside of us.  Timothy had one and we all have one.

Second, this verse teaches that gifts can die if people do not use them.  That is true on the natural level.  It is true on the spiritual level.  Gifts are like a fire and fires can die.

Three, this verse teaches that gifts need to be cultivated.  GOD gave us gifts but WE have the responsibility to stir them up. No one can do that for us. This is something that we have to do constantly.  It is not a one-time action.

Talents have to be developed as well. The gift of teaching requires hours of preparation and study. Great musicians spend hours practicing. Gifts have to be developed. Even Michael Jordan did make the varsity basketball team when he first tried out for it in high school.

For those who have the gift of teaching, learning the original languages and getting a seminary degree is one way to develop your gift. Whatever your gift is, use it (Romans 12:6-8). Using the gift God gave you is a matter of obedience.

3. Wrong Ministry

The third problem is that there are other Christians who are working and are very busy. There are some people in all kinds of ministries (and in some cases leading those ministries) without the spiritual gift to do that ministry. A.W. Tozer once said, “About 90% of religious work done in the church is done by ungifted members.”

Our ministry in church should match our areas of giftedness. If everyone in the church actually used their gifts and served in ministries which matched their gifts, you would have a healthy church.

4. Jealousy

The fourth problem is that some Christians are jealous of the spiritual gifts of others (12:15-20).  This is a common problem in the church today.  Many are jealous of believers who have the spotlight on them.  Others are jealous of the gifts of other believers.

5. Pride

The fifth problem is that some Christians look down on other Christians who do not have their spiritual gift (12:21-25).  Some Pentecostals think that everyone should have the gift of healing and if people claim to be a Christian but do not have that gift, they look down on them as if there is something wrong with them.

The Lord’s Supper

Let’s begin by reading I Corinthians 11:17-34. We have a very important topic for tonight. Tonight, we want to look at the topic of communion.

Names of the Ordinance

There are different names in Scripture for it. It is called communion or κοινωνία in Greek (10:16). Some churches call it “Holy Communion”. It is also called The Lord’s Supper (11:20). Another name for it is the Eucharist.  It comes from the Greek word ευχαριστία, the Greek word for “thanksgiving.”

The word ευχαριστία is a really old term for communion that goes all the way back to back to the first or second century (Ignatius, Justin Martyr). It has been called “the love feast” or “agape feast” (Jude 12) and “the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42).

It is  a very controversial topic, which is ironic. An ordinance, which was intended to be a source of unity, has become a source of division in the church. It has become the meal that divides rather than unites. Communion is something that was institutes by Christ Himself. He was the one who started it with his disciples and then He said, “This do in remembrance of me” (11:24, 25).

That is a command. Every branch of the Christian Church, every single denomination (liberal or conservative) practices communion. They call it different names, do it in different ways and for different reasons but they all do it.

If you want to learn about communion, where do you go? There are four accounts of communion in the NT. It is mentioned in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22 and in I Corinthians 11. Each of the accounts adds different details about the ordinance.

If we just had Matthew and Mark, we would not know that this was something that we are supposed to do today but in Luke & I Corinthians we have the words, “This do in remembrance of me” which show that what Jesus did on that Thursday night, the night before he died, was something that was to be repeated over and over again by his followers as a memorial.

Purpose of the Ordinance

What was its purpose? It was not to save people or to infuse grace to people but to be a remembrance (11:24-25). It is a remembrance of what? Jesus’ violent death on the cross for us, His blood that was shed and His body that was broken for us. Why do we need to remember? Apparently, we have a tendency to forget.

The Lord’s Supper is one of the two ordinances in the church. The other is baptism. It is an ordinance (expression of faith and obedience), not a sacrament (means of grace). The word sacrament has a connotation of something that is magical and has some special power.

The Roman Catholic Church believes in something called transubstantiation. It comes from a Latin word. When Jesus said, “This is my body,” Roman Catholics take that absolutely literally.

According to Roman Catholic theology, when the priest holds up the bread and says the words “This is my body,” the bread and wine BECOME the literal body and blood of Christ. They cease to be bread and wine. The bread and wine become transformed into the actual body and blood of Christ.

Problems with Transubstantiation

What would the disciples have thought? How would they have interpreted it? When Jesus held up a loaf of bread and said, “This is my Body”, would they have thought it was his literal body? No, His physical body was standing right in front of them. Would they have thought the cup contained his literal blood? That would be absolutely ridiculous for several reasons.

1. There was absolutely no change in the cup and bread.

It stayed exactly the same after he said these words. When Jesus turned water into wine, it changed composition. They did not stay the same. The bread and wine did not change.

2. That was specifically forbidden in the OT.

It was a violation of Levitical Law. The OT said that you were NOT to eat blood (Leviticus 17:12). God would be commanding his people to do something that He has already forbidden. Jesus would be instruction his disciples to break the commandments of God.

That commandment is actually repeated in the NT (Acts 15:29). The RC interpretation is nothing but cannibalism. They believe they are eating the literal body and blood of Christ. That is why Martin Luther called transubstantiation “a monstrous word for a monstrous idea”

3. Communion is pattered after Passover.

Passover or pesach is the oldest and most important Jewish festival. The Lord Jesus was celebrating Passover with his disciples when he gave us this ordinance. To understand the Lord’s Supper, you have to understand Passover. One of the reasons people are so confused about communion is that they do not understand the Jewish background of the ordinance.

Passover commemorates how God went through the whole land of Egypt and killed the first born son at midnight (Exodus 12:29) but passed over the passed over the houses of the Hebrew slaves.

Similarities Between Passover and Communion

1) Both were memorials.

Passover is called a memorial in the OT (Exodus 12:14 KJV, ESV, NASB). A memorial is what we do to preserve the memory of something or someone. We have memorial services to honor the departed. There was a recent memorial service for the Arizona shooting victims. The Lord’s Supper was to be in remembrance of Christ.

2) Both used symbolic food.

The bread and the wine are symbolic like the other food at Passover was symbolic. Passover lasted a week long but it began with a meal called the Seder. The Passover Seder contained all kinds of symbols to help retell the story of the Exodus. Everything on the menu was symbolic. What was on the menu?

  • Unleavened Bread (which is like saltine crackers without salt). It is even called in the Bible “The Feast of Unleavened Bread” (Exodus 12:17). Jews had to eat unleavened bread for seven days (Exodus 12:15, 19-20; Leviticus 23:6; Deuteronomy 16:3). The main ingredients of bread are flour and yeast. Unleavened bread is bread without leaven or yeast which made the bread soft and allowed it to rise. It is just made of flour, oil and water. Does anyone know why? The Jews were in such a rush to leave and escape before the Pharaoh changed his mind yet again, that they couldn’t wait around for the bread to rise (Exodus 12:33-34; Deuteronomy 16:3). It is quick bread.
  •  Bitter Herbs. This symbolized the bitterness of slavery.
  •  Lamb. This reminded them of the Tenth Plaque. The lamb could not be boiled but had to be roasted (Exodus 12:9).
  •  Wine. They drank four cups of wine. Jews did this and still do based on the four statements found in Exodus 6:6-7. (1) “I will take you out of Egypt”, (2) “I will deliver you from Egyptian slavery”, (3) “I will redeem you with a demonstration of my power”, and (4) “I will acquire you as a nation”.

Jesus took two of the elements from the Passover meal (bread and wine) which were already symbolic and gave them a new meaning. Like Passover, Communion is a symbolic reenactment of a historical event.

By eating and drinking the bread and cup, you announce or proclaim what Jesus did on the cross (11:26). By doing this, you are commemorates an even greater deliverance than Passover.

Instead of commemorating a political liberation (deliverance from Egypt), it commemorates a spiritual liberation from sin and Satan (different type of slavery).

Like Passover, involve substitution. In the Passover, a lamb died in the place of the firstborn son. In Communion, Christ’s body is broken for us. He dies in our place. That is why the NT calls Christ our Passover Lamb (I Corinthians 5:7; John 1:29).

Questions About Communion

1)  Should the congregation eat both the bread and juice or just the bread?

Some churches only let people eat the bread (RCC). Other churches let the congregation eat both the bread and the wine or juice. Which is right?

Jesus gave his Apostles both bread and wine and told them to eat and drink. He did not just give them permission to drink the cup, he COMMANDED them to drink it (Matthew). After giving them the cup, Jesus said, “Drink ye all of it” (KJV). All refers to the disciples, not the wine. The NIV is a better translation. It reads, “Drink from it, all of you” (Matthew 26:27).

Jesus did NOT forbid his disciples to drink the cup and he said that we were to do what he did in remembrance of him. No one has the authority to change the ordinance. It was given by Jesus himself. No church or individual has the right to change what Jesus said.

2) What kind of bread should be used?

Some churches use unleavened bread (Catholics and Lutherans). That is what Jesus used but he was also observing Passover at the time. We are not. We are celebrating the Lord’s Supper. The bread does not have to be unleavened bread. Jesus does not say that it has to be a particular kind of bread.

3) What kind of drink should be used?

Should we use real wine in communion or grape juice? Some churches use wine for communion, because that is what Jesus drank (Matthew 26:29). The Primitive Baptist Church is one of them. Passover Wine is called ‘fruit of the vine’ in the Mishnah & Talmud (Berakoth 6:1).

Jews drank wine at Passover and they drink read wine.  In fact, they drink four cups of wine at Passover. There is a Jewish prayer of thanksgiving for wine which says, “Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the vine.” Some would say that this is what Jesus did and, if it was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for them.

Others say that we should NOT use wine today in our services for a number of reasons. It would be a stumbling block for ex-alcoholics in the service and may not be the best drink for kids or pregnant women. We know that historically Jesus drank wine at Passover but he does not say that you have to use wine and only wine at communion.

Paul says, “In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying…” but he doesn’t say what was in the cup. We see the words “the bread” and “the cup” four times in the text (11:23, 25, 26, 27, 28), instead of “the bread” and “the wine”. Incidentally, Jews today have wine for the adults at Passover and grape juice for the kids.

4) How many cups should be used?

Some use individual cups to drink out and some use a common cup. Which is right?  The individual cup is probably what Jesus used in the first Lord’s Supper. A common loaf of bread was distributed to them all, as well as a common cup. (Mark) and some churches believe it expresses unity better if we all drink from the same cup.

If it seems unsanitary, The American Medical Association did a study of the Common Cup decades ago and concluded that the alcoholic content of the consecrated wine and the practice of wiping the Cup after each communicant receives prevented the spread of germs.

But many churches use grape juice and, even if they used wine and there is someone in the church coughing or sneezing, I personally wouldn’t want to take the chance of getting hepatitis or the swine flu or pneumonia. While it may be what Jesus did in the first communion that does not mean that we have to do that today.

If we have to copy everything Jesus did, we would have to recline, rather than sit while we eat. Leonardo da Vinci depicted everyone sitting at a long table in the 15th century. His “Last Supper” is one of the most famous paintings in the world but it is historically inaccurate. Instead of sitting in chairs, Jesus and the Apostles reclined on cushions (Matthew 26:20; John 13:23).

Instead of eating with a fork and a spoon, we would have to eat with our hands. We would all celebrate the Passover and eat unleavened bread as well. At the time of Jesus it was apparently the custom to use one cup at Passover. Now individual cups are used . Eating simultaneously is another way you can express unity with individual cups.

5) How often should we take communion?

Passover was celebrated only once a year. Communion is observed a little more often. Some churches have communion every single Sunday. A lot of them do. Others have it once a month or just a few times a year. Whose right?

There is good reason to observe it every Sunday. The early church did but on the other hand, there is no command to do it every week. It should be something that we do regularly and, in my opinion, it should be something that we do more frequently, rather than less frequently.

6) Who is eligible to take communion?

Requirements for Communion

1) Salvation

The first requirement is salvation.You don’t have to be baptized to take communion. You don’t have to be a member of a church to take communion. Roman Catholics practice closed communion. Protestants are not allowed to take communion in a RCC. The Lord’s Supper is a family meal. It is intended for every member of the family, not just members of our church. You don’t have to be a certain age.

You also don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be saved. Communion symbolizes your participation in the death of Christ. When we take the bread and the cup, it symbolizes that we share in the benefits of Christ’s sacrificial death. If you are not saved, you should not take communion. The Lord’s Supper is always taken by believers in the NT or was it?

Was Judas Present When Jesus Gave  Communion?

None of the Gospels say for sure but if you read the Gospels carefully and pout two and two together, you can figure out the answer to that question. Matthew and Mark mention four things which happened at this meal in the following order.

1. A warning that one of the Twelve would betray Jesus (Matthew 26:21; Mark 14:18).

2. A question by the disciples, “Is it I?” (Matthew 26:22-25; Mark 14:19).

3. Jesus answers the question (“The one who dips bread into the bowl with him” in Matthew 26:23-29 & Mark 14:20.

The KJV calls it a “sop”. A sop is a piece of bread soaked in a liquid, like a broth (e.g., an Italian Beef Sandwich). At the close of the meal, it was traditional for the host to take a bit of bread, sop up the last bit of gravy and put it in the mouth of a friend. Jesus gave Judas the sop, even though he knew that he would betray him. It was an act of love and friendship.

4. Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-25).

5. Jesus concluded the Lord’s Supper with a hymn (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26).

The Gospel of John does NOT mention Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper but it does give a very important detail that is not mentioned in the other three Gospels. John tells us what happened immediately after Jesus gave Judas the sop.

John tells us that AS SOON AS he took the bread, Satan entered him (13:27) and he left (13:30). That is when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.  Judas would not have been present at this point.

2) Self Examination

The second requirement for the Lord’s Supper is self-examination.  This is an important requirement. It is serious business to take communion. Some people in the Corinthians Church were taking communion incorrectly and God was judging them. How you treat the symbols is a symbol o how you treat Jesus himself.

How you treat the American flag is a sign of how you treat the country (e.g., step on it, spit on it or burn it). Some were getting weak. Some were getting sick and some were dropping dead (11:30). They were doing it in an unworthy manner. Unworthy is an adverb, not an adjective. It is not talking about who you are but how you do it.

Wrong Ways to Take Communion

1. Some take it IGNORANTLY

We do this by not realizing what the symbols stand for, not discerning the Lord’s body and blood which the symbols represent.

2. Some take it CASUALLY

We do this by not taking it seriously or by thinking about other things. We should meditate on the death of Christ when we are taking communion. The whole point of communion is to remember Christ and to center our minds on Him.

3. Some take it IRREVERENTLY

We do this when the symbols are not respect but belittled or mocked. We also do this when we live in unconfessed sin.  That is why we need to examine ourselves (11:31-32). This was to be personal.

Paul says, “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup” (11:28). He does not say that “the Pastor or Elders” ought to examine you but everyone ought to examine THEMSELVES.

 

 

Head Coverings and Headship

Our Scripture reading tonight is I Corinthians 11:1-16. I Corinthians 11 deals with two problems that were taking place in the worship service at Corinth. We will only have time to look at the first one tonight. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first problem is that women were praying with their heads uncovered in the service (11:1-16).

The second problem, which we will look at next week, deals with abuses by the Corinthians at the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34). In the beginning of the chapter, Paul says to the Corinthians “I praise you” (11:2). In the second half of the chapter concerning something else, he says, “I have no praise for you” (11:17).

That is a wise thing to do anytime you have to correct someone. Start positive, because whenever you criticize someone they tend to get a little defensive. It is very interesting to me that Paul starts with the positive. He did that at the beginning of the book. Paul was writing to a carnal church. It was the church with problems.

Some people in the church were sleeping with their step mammas. Some were spending time with prostitutes. Some were taking other members of the church to court over small stuff. The church was full of divisions and cliques. Yet, despite all of this, Paul began the book on a positive note. He opens the book praising the Corinthians.

After praising the Corinthians, he goes on to talk to them about head coverings. It is a rather strange topic and a very difficult topic. This is one of the most difficult passages in the NT. It is a very controversial passage. There is a lot of debate about it. It boils down to this question, Should women wear veils on their heads today when they pray?

There are two main views on this chapter. Some say, “absolutely! That is what Paul said they should do. If you are going to follow the NT, you have to do what Paul said”. Others would say, “It is not required today”. Which view is right?

Both views are held by people who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It all boils down to how do interpret the Bible. Which view is right? I will let you decide. First, let’s look at what Paul says.

In first part of the chapter (11:1-16), Paul says that women are to wear veils. They are to cover their head when they pray or prophesy and men are not to do that. Men are to pray with their heads uncovered. Interestingly, Jewish men today do they exact opposite. They pray with their heads covered. They put a yarmulke (Yiddish) on their head when they enter a synagogue. Now they did not do this in the first century. That practice started later.

Reasons for Head Coverings in I Corinthians

1.  The principle of male headship (11:3).

2.  It is dishonorable or shameful not to do this (11:5).

3.  The order of creation (11:7-9).

4.  The angels who are watching (11:10).

5.  It is the proper or socially acceptable thing to do (11:13-15).

6.  It is the practice of all of the churches (11:16).

Paul appeals to common sense. He tells them to judge for themselves (11:13). Paul tells them that this is obvious (11:14 NLT). He appeals to what other Christians in his day were doing.  It was a common practice.

Are Head Coverings for Today?

Those may sound like great arguments if you live in the first century but what about today. There are two views. The first view says that head coverings for women are normative and are still binding on Christian women today. They see head coverings as a command.

View One – Head Coverings are Normative

There are Christian churches that believe this. Who are they? This would include the Brethren Churches, the Mennonites and the Amish. What are the advantages to this view?

1. It takes the Bible literally.

There is some merit to that approach to Scripture.  It tries to follow exactly what Paul said for people to do.

2. Paul’s arguments appear to go all the way back to creation.

If true, this would indicate that head coverings are normative, not cultural.   However, this argument has some flaws.  There are no head coverings mentioned in Genesis 1 or 2. God created Adam and Eve completely naked. They wore no clothes.

We can’t use the way God created man and woman as the norm for gender clothing styles. Eve did not wear a head covering. What you can prove from Genesis 1 & 2 (and Paul does) is the concept of male headship, as we will see shortly.

Of course, some of the other arguments that Paul used makes little sense today. It is no longer the practice in all the churches that women cover their heads when they pray, even in Bible believing churches. It is not even true that most churches do this. It is no longer the socially acceptable thing to do in this culture.

What is socially proper in our culture is very different from what was socially proper in first century Greece where the city of Corinth was located. In some parts of the word, it would still be a sign of dishonor for a woman to appear in public without a veil (Muslim world) but not in the Western world.

What head coverings mean in one culture and time is very different from what they mean in another culture and time. If a woman today wears a hat in church, we look on it merely as a fashion statement. In the same way, if a woman is not wearing some type of a head covering in church, we do not think the woman is in rebellion.

View Two – Head Coverings are Cultural

The second view sees head coverings, not as a command, but as a custom. Why do you think most Christians believe that head coverings are cultural?

1. Head coverings are not commanded

There is no specific command for head coverings in I Corinthians 11, at least not in the Greek text.

2. Head coverings are specifically called a custom.

Paul calls this a “custom” in 11:6.  The same word is used in John 18:39. Now this was not just a local custom (a local Corinthian custom). It was a universal custom. All of the churches in Paul’s day did this but it was still a custom.

3. Dress is largely cultural.

What is worn in one country is not necessarily worn in another country. God does not dictate a particular style of dress and clothing. The NT does not require a specific uniform or costume that all Christians are required to wear.

Relevance for Today

This brings us to a very important question. How is what Paul says in I Corinthians 11 relevant to us in the twenty-first century? If we live in a completely different culture than the Corinthians did, does this chapter even apply to us? Should we just tear this chapter out of our Bibles?

Well, believe it or not, this chapter is still relevant to us today, even if we do not use head coverings. God’s Word is eternal. Let me give you several examples of other things just like this in Scripture.

  • I Peter 2:17 says “honor the emperor”. We don’t have an emperor. We have a different political system. Does this verse still apply to us? We can take the same principle of honor to political leaders and apply it to a president. There is a difference between a principle or a truth and the application of that principle.
  • Exodus 20:17 says, “Do not covet your neighbor’s ox”. What if your neighbor doesn’t own an ox? We do not live in an agrarian society but we can still apply this verse to ourselves. It is still relevant today. It is relevant in all societies and cultures because covetousness is a universal sin.
  •  Paul said in I Corinthians 16:20, “Greet one another with a holy kiss”. In fact, not only did he say this, it is a command in Greek but we don’t do that too much today. I didn’t kiss too many people at the door. We don’t see too much kissing in church. That is what they did in the ancient near east. In fact, in some European and Middle Eastern countries today people greet one another with a kiss on the cheek. Corinth was located in Greece, which is part of Europe. It was a common practice in the first century (Acts 20:37; Matthew 26:47-49). We live in a different culture today. Can we still apply this verse? The principle of showing affection for one another still applies. In our culture, we express that in a different way (a hug or a handshake).
  •  Jesus washed his disciples feet and then said in John 13:14-15, 17: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”. This was a custom in the ancient near east (I Samuel 25:40, 41; Luke 7:37-38, 44-46).  People wore sandals and walked on hot dusty roads and it was necessary. We don’t do that today. Does this verse still apply today? It is not needed today. In fact, when churches have foot washing rituals, people come with clean feet anyway. It becomes a meaningless ritual. Feet that are already clean do not need to be washed. Jesus said that. This was originally something that was done to meet a real need. The principle of hospitality still applies but how we express that biblical principle varies from culture to culture.
  • In the same way, I Corinthians 11 tells women to wear a head covering whenever they prophesy or pray. We do not wear head coverings in our culture. Muslim cultures still do. What did the head covering symbolize? In Paul’s day, it was a sign of being married. Today, married women can show other signs of being married (changing their last name, wearing a wedding ring, etc).

What lessons can we learn from this chapter? There are several important lessons for us today.

Lesson on Tradition

Tradition is a scary word to some Christians but all tradition is not bad. A tradition is just something that has been handed down. Families have traditions. We have certain things we do at Christmas and Thanksgiving. That may be the time you all go to eat at Uncle Fester’s house. Churches have traditions as well. All churches have some kind of tradition.

The Corinthians had some traditions that were good (11:2). There is a danger to tradition as well. What is the danger? The danger is when tradition becomes equal in authority to Scripture (that is what the Roman Catholic Church believes) or in some cases takes the place of Scripture. We see this with the Pharisees in Mark 7:1-13.

Lesson on Clothing

God created two sexes at creation. He made people male and female, They were created different. They are to look and dress different. Paul says that in I Corinthians 11. Paul says that one way they were to look different was in the area of head coverings. Women were to have them and men were not to have them.

Another way they were to look different was their hair length. Men were to have shorter hair and women were to have longer hair. He does not say how much shorter or how long the women’s hair was to be. He simply makes a generalization.

Even if head coverings are cultural, this principle remains true today. Both men and women today should dress so that they do not look like the opposite sex in whatever culture they live in. In the OT law, cross-dressing was considered an abomination (Deuteronomy 22:5). Some fashion statements are abominable. This verse specifically prohibited transvestites. It is not a new practice. It is at least four thousand years old.

Now some clothes today are not gender specific. Clothing styles differ from culture to culture and change through time. We should wear clothes which reflect the gender expectation of the time. Men should look like men and women should look like women.

This does not necessarily mean that women can’t wear pants. Only men wear pants. The problem with this logic is that people in the Bible times never wore pants. Jesus never wore pants. Men in the Bible wore skirts; they wore robes (Deuteronomy 22:30; Ruth 3:9; Ezekiel 16:8).

They wore what we would all dresses today. The Greeks, Romans and Hebrews all wore tunics. Both men and women wore robes. There were clear differences between the two but they were both robes. Women can wear pants today as long as they wear pants designed for women.

Lesson on Headship

This is a very controversial topic. It is unpopular among women, even some Christian women, and is often misunderstood. It has also been abused by some people. First, let’s look at what the bible says. Then let’s look at what it means.

The NT teaches that the husband is “the head of the wife” (Ephesians 5:22-24). It mentions that in Ephesians 5 & I Corinthians 11. It also teaches that the wife is to SUBMIT to her husband (Ephesians 5:22, 24; Colossians 3:18; I Peter 3:1, 5-6; Titus 2:4-5). That is mentioned in four different books of the NT by two different authors (Paul & Peter).

Incidentally, the Bible does not command wives to submit to all men. It commands wives to submit to their husbands. I Corinthians 11:3 says, that “the head of the woman is man” but the Greek word for woman is the same as the Greek word for wife and the Greek word for man can also mean husband.

Some believe that there is no head of a home. Either or both can function in these roles but The Bible clearly teaches that the husband is the head of the wife. What does this mean? Feminists would say that this is just male chauvinism. There are several things you need to remember about headship to put this into perspective. It will completely revolutionize what you thought the Bible said about this topic.

1. Headship is a command.

It is not optional. Those are not just Paul’s words. They are God’s Words.

2. Headship is for everyone, not just women.

It is a universal principle. It is a principle that exists through out the entire universe. This is not just something that applies to women. Everyone has a head. Everything that exists is subordinate to someone. Wives have a head. Husbands have a head and every other member of the church, because Ephesians 5:23 says that he is “the head of the church”. Even Jesus had a head (11:3). Angels have a head as well. Jesus is the head “over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:10).

3. Headship goes back to creation

Headship does not go back to the Fall. It goes back to creation. Feminists argue that it started with the Fall. There are many hints in Genesis that this was God’s original intention.

 Evidence of Headship in The Book of Genesis

1. God created Adam first, not Eve (I Timothy 2:13).

2.  Eve was created as a helper to Adam, not vice versa (I Corinthians 11:9).

3.  Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20), an indication of his authority over her.

4.  God named the human race man, not woman (Genesis 5:2).

5.  God spoke to Adam first after the Fall (Genesis 3:9), even though Eve sinned first.

6.  Adam, not Eve, is the head of the race (II Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:15)

4. Headship has to do with authority.

There is no getting around this fact. The rest of your body is subordinate to your head. The head tells the body what to do. The church is under the authority of Christ. He is our head. If the wife is under her husband and her husband is under Christ and Christ is under God, some have come to the conclusion that Jesus must not be God, because Paul says that “the head of Christ is God”. That brings us to the third thing to remember about headship.

5. Headship does not necessarily imply inferiority.

There is a big problem with the logic of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. If Jesus is inferior to the Father (because the head of Jesus is God), then you would have to also have to say that women are inferior to men (because the head of women is man). Male headship does not mean that men are superior to women.

It does not mean that they are more important than women. Male headship is patterned after the Trinity. It is a relationship between equals. Jesus was equal to God (John 5:18). He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

The Bible says that men and women are EQUALS. They are spiritual equals . Paul said, “IN CHRIST, there is neither male nor female” (Galatians 3:28). We are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26). Now Americans are unequal in many ways. Some are stronger, smarter, wealthier, taller and better looking than others.

Thomas Jefferson lied to us when he said, “All men are created equal” but we are equal in one sense. We are equal before the law. Both men and women are created in the image of God. They bear God’s image equally. They are equal in their standing before God.

Just because you submit to someone does not necessarily mean that you are inferior to that person. Jesus submitted to his parents when he was young (Luke 2:51). The Father and Son are equal members of the Trinity but they have different roles in salvation. One person of the Trinity came to earth, became a man and died for us and one did not. The husband and wife are also equal but they have different roles in the family.

6. Biblical headship is not dictatorial

Many have the idea that biblical headship gives the right of husbands to boss their wife around. That is not how headship in the Trinity worked. God the Father did not boss the Son around. He did not order the Son to die for the sins of the world. It was what the Father wanted. It was God’s plan from eternity past but the Bible says that Jesus went voluntarily. He chose to die for us. He said, “I lay down my life and no one takes it from me” (John 10:18).

The Bible teaches that Jesus is the head of the church but it also teaches that Jesus loved the church and gave up his life for the church. That is why it tells husbands to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it (Ephesians 5:25). Christ’s headship over the church is not dictatorial but loving and sacrificial.

Christian Olympics

The passage I would like to share with you tonight is found in I Corinthians 9:24-27. It is an incredible passage that is full of applications for us. Paul is writing to Greek Christians in the city of Corinth and he uses an athletic metaphor here to describe the Christian life. If you like sports, if you are athletic, you will be interested in what Paul says here.

The ancient Greeks loved sports and loved competition. They loved them so much that they had four major athletic events in four different cities. They were called the Pan-Hellenic Games. The four were the Olympic Games, Pythian Games, Isthmian Games and the Nemea Games.

The most famous one was the Olympic Games. We still have them today. They happen every four years. London will host the Olympics in 2012. The modern Olympics are only a hundred years old. They started in 1896. The Greeks were the ones who started the Olympics. They started them in 776 BC. The Greeks were big sports nuts.

Every four years a truce on war was declared and they had these games. They attracted spectators and competitors all over Greece. A second major competition in ancient Greece was called the Isthmian Games. They were held every two years and were named after the Isthmus of Corinth where they were held. Paul writes as if he had actually seen some of these games. People came from all over to watch this event.

These games went on until they were banned in 393 A.D. by the Roman Christian emperor Theodosius, who considered them pagan festivals. Why did he do this? Did he just hate sports? No. There were two problems with these games. First, Greek athletes often competed in the nude. In fact, the Greek word for “naked” is γυμνος.   The Greek word for “exercise” or “train” is γυμνάζω.

Second, these events were not just athletic events, they were religious events complete with sacrifices to Greek gods. The Olympics were held in honor of the god Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder in Greek mythology. The Isthmian Games were held in honor of the god Poseidon, the god of the sea. Athletes had to swear an oath to these gods before the games even began.

The Corinthians were Greek. They were familiar with these games. Paul didn’t have to explain them to them. Some of them may have been big sports fans. Paul writes as if he has seen some of these games. He uses all kinds of sports metaphors in his epistles.

He mentions runners and boxers in our passage in I Corinthians 9. Boxing was an ancient Greek sport. In Ephesians he compares our spiritual battle to wrestling. In Ephesians 6:12 he says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

In this particular passage in I Corinthians, Paul uses the metaphor of a race (αγων) to describe the Christian life. The Christian life is compared to a race. For the first fifty years of the ancient Greek Olympics, the foot race was the only contest. Later they added things like wrestling, boxing, the long jump, the javelin, the discus throw and chariot races.

At the end of his life, just before he died, Paul said, “I have finished the race” (II Timothy 4:7). Hebrews 12:1, “Let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.” Some are walking in the race, not running. Foot racing was a popular sport in Paul’s day. What are some characteristics of foot races in Paul’s day?

Characteristics of Foot Races

1. They Require Physical Training (9:25)

People training for marathons can run forty to forty-five miles per week. Swimmers swim ten miles a day to be competitive. Gymnasts work out about six hours a day for six days a week. In ancient Greece, athletes trained for at least ten months before the start of the games. The Christian life involves spiritual training, rather than physical training.

Physical exercise is popular today. Everyone is talking about “getting into shape”. Paul said in I Timothy 4:8, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come”.

Paul was not against exercise. He did NOT say that physical exercise had no value. He said that it has some value (builds muscle, relieves stress, helps with weight loss, good for the heart).

Paul goes on to say that spiritual exercise is far more valuable. Physical exercise will help in this life but that is all it will do. Spiritual exercise is good for this life and the life to come. Godliness is good for this life.

That seems like a strange statement but it has been proved scientifically. There have been all kinds of studies that say that people who are religious and attend church live longer lives and are healthier than those who do not. They have lower mortality rates.

As a general rule, the righteous live longer than the wicked. Paul goes on to say that spiritual exercise is also good for the life to come. It has eternal value. It benefits your soul, as well as your body. It renews your mind. Physical exercise gives you some rewards in this life. Spiritual exercise will give you rewards in this life and the next life.

For some of us, are priorities are completely messed up. Many of us are in great shape physically but are in terrible shape spiritually. Where do we spend most of our time and energy?

We develop our physical muscles pretty well but do very little to develop our spiritual muscles. We give ourselves a physical workout but rarely give ourselves a spiritual workout. Paul says in I Timothy 4:7, “Train yourself to be godly”.

Godliness requires training. It doesn’t happen by itself. What are we doing to train ourselves to be godly? What type of spiritual exercise program are we on (consistent prayer, Bible study, Scripture memorization, one-on-one accountability, small group, church attendance, fasting)?

A. This Training takes Time.

This training in ancient Greece lasted for months. Today, people train for years for the Olympic games. Spiritual training takes time as well. You can train really hard for hours but it won’t do you any good if you do it only once a month or even once a week.

B. It Starts out Slow.

If you are out of shape and begin training to run a marathon, you have to build up your endurance. As with a physical exercise program, you may not see results immediately. When you start praying for the first time, don’t try to pray for two hours.

C. It Requires Discipline.

Athletes had to train on a regular schedule. They had to be disciplined. Training is not always fun. The word “compete” (9:25) is the Greek word αγονίζωμαι. We get our words “agony” and “agonize” from it. For Lance Armstrong, training often meant riding six hours in the mountains in the pouring rain. They have to train, even when they don’t feel like it.

D. It Involves Self Control.

There were many things they had to give up for training. Many of the things they had to give up were perfectly normal and good. They had to stay away from desserts and certain foods. It requires discipline over the sins of the body. Instead of giving up some foods, some of us need to give up some sins and go on a spiritual diet. Self control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22)

2. They Require Concentration.

You have to keep running. You have to look forward. You can’t look back (Philippians 3:13). You can’t stop and take a break. When you are running a race, you can only think about one thing. They are short races.

Ten months of training for a ten minute race. Track events were sprints (200, 400 and at most 4,800 meters). The marathon was not an event of the ancient Olympic Games. The marathon is a modern event that was first introduced in 1896.

It may seem like a long time but the time goes fast. It is not a long race. Your life seems long but it is actually short. The Bible uses a few similes and metaphors to describe the brevity of life. The Bible says that people are LIKE grass and LIKE flowers that fade (Isaiah 40:6-8).

It also says that we ARE mists that are only here for a short time and then vanishes (James 4:14). There was a finish line to the race. The finish line is when we die or Jesus returns.

3. The goal of the race is TO WIN

Athletes in the Olympic Games want to win. They want to bring something home (gold medal). They don’t have the philosophy that “it does not matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game”.

They did not have the attitude that they only thing that really matters is if they just finish the race. They want to win. They are competitive. Paul does not say that this is bad. He says that it is good and that Christians should be the same way.

He says that we should “Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (9:24). It is a command. Run to win. They were not just to run but to run to win. Don’t just run to finish but run to win. Finishing the race is not winning.

You can finish the race and be in last place. Not everyone who runs wins the race (9:24). In any race there are going to be winners and losers. You don’t get the prize just because you ran in the race. You only get the prize if you win. Only the fastest runner gets the prize.

The analogy that Paul uses here is not a perfect one. There are several ways the Christian race is very different from an Olympic track and field event. It is important to see the differences.

  • The prize is different (one temporal and one eternal).
  • In the Christian race, EVERYONE can win.

The prize is offered to each and every believer (though the reality is that many will not receive the prize).

  • Another difference is that we’re not competing against each other. In an Olympic sport, everyone competes against the other person. In the Christian race we can and should actually help one another to win(I Thessalonians 5:11). Some Christians are very competitive, even when it comes to ministry. He said that some preached Christ out of selfish ambition (Philippians 1:17) but we should not be competitive in the church. Paul tells us to do nothing out of selfish ambition (Philippians 2:3).

4. There were several ways you could LOSE the race

You can lose the race by not coming in first place. You can also lose the race by breaking the rules. Races have rules. The winner of the event received the prize only if he followed the rules (II Timothy 2:5).

What were some of the ground rules of the Isthmian Games? It was limited to men. Women were not allowed to participate. It was limited to free men. Slaves could not participate. It was limited to people who spoke Greek and could prove that they had Greek parents.

Foreigners were not allowed to participate, nor were criminals. In addition, you have to train for ten months before you could compete. The ancient Games opened with an oath. This took place right in front a statue of Zeus. A sacrifice was offered and the athletes had to swear that they had trained properly for the prescribed ten months and that they would obey the rules of the games.

Races still have rules even today . When people athletes in the Olympic Games break the rules, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) disqualifies them from the event and takes their medal back. The Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was hailed as the fastest man on earth but in 1988 he was stripped of his goal medal when he tested positive for steroids.

People at one time thought that the American runner Marion Jones was the fastest woman on earth and the best female athlete in the world. In 2000, she was caught using steroids was stripped by the IOC of five Olympic medals in 2000.

In 1913 American Jim Thorpe was stripped of his two gold medals he earned in the 1912 Olympics (decathlon and pentathlon) and banned from further competition after it was learned he had played semi-professional baseball. At that time the Olympics only allowed amateur athletes. In the 1970s that rule was removed from the rules. The IOC later returned his medals.

What are the rules of the Christian race? They are the commands that God has given to us. They are His instructions found in His Word. What disqualifies the Christian from winning the race? Sin disqualifies people, as we will see in chapter 10.

5. The winner of the race received a PRIZE

The athletes all competed for a prize. In Paul’s day it was some kind of a wreath. Today, athletes compete for a gold, silver or bronze medal. There is a prize in the Christian race as well. What is the prize? Is the prize salvation? Many teach that, including John Piper. The Bible teaches that salvation is by grace, not by works. If the prize represented salvation, then salvation would be by works (cf. Romans 9:16 KJV).

Paul would be running in the race, beating his body and making it his slave in order to earn his way into heaven. That would contradict other places where Paul clearly says that salvation is not by any kind of works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:20, 28; 4:1-5; Galatians 2:16). Eternal life is not something that God grants us as a result of our effort or service for Christ.

Paul is not talking about being disqualified from the kingdom but being disqualified from a prize . He says, run, not to obtain life, but to obtain a crown, “a crown that will last forever” (9:25). The Bible describes rewards as crowns (II Timothy 4:8). There is a big difference between salvation and rewards.

Difference Between Salvation and Rewards

1) Rewards are for those who work (Matthew 16:27; Revelation 22:12). Salvation is for those who believe.

Rewards are based on works. Salvation is not based on works (II Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:5).

2) Rewards are earned. Salvation is free.

It is a free gift (Romans 6:23). Rewards you deserve. Salvation you do not deserve. One is based on what Christ has done and one is based on what we have done.

3) Rewards can be lost (Revelation 3:11; II John 8). Salvation cannot be lost.

4) Rewards deal with service. Salvation deals with sin.

At the Judgment Seat of Christ, some Christians will receive awards for faithful service and some will not. A Christian can lose rewards and still be saved (3:15). We know that this is talking about rewards and not salvation from the context.

In I Corinthians 10, Paul gives several examples of what it means to be disqualified for the prize. These examples all come from the history of the nation of Israel.

After the Exodus, two million Jews left Egypt but God had to judge many of these Jews because of sin and many died physically (10:1-10). In fact, MOST of them died (10:5). God scattered some of their bodies in the wilderness (10:5). In one day twenty-three thousand of them dropped dead (10:8). Some of them were killed by snakes (10:9). Some of them were killed by angels (10:10).

Sin disqualified people for the prize. Did all of these people go to hell? If you believe that the prize is eternal life and they did not get the prize, then that is what you would have to believe but this creates a problem. Moses also was disqualified and Moses was a believer.

Remember, Moses disobeyed God. God told Moses to speak to a rock to get water. Instead, he struck it, not once but twice and God said that because of this, you cannot go into the Promise Land (Numbers 20). That shows that personal salvation was not the issue. No one questions whether Moses was genuinely saved.

What is the application for us today? Don’t sin like the Jews in the OT or God will judge you like he judged them. Paul gives some OT lessons for the NT church. If you think that you could never sin like they did or that this could never happen to you, Paul has a warning for you.

His warning to the overconfident is this: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (10:12). Pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Don’t ever think you are invincible or that you are too spiritual to wall into sin. That’s what Peter said (Matthew 26:31-35). Some of the greatest saints in the Bible fell into sin (Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, Moses and Samson).

We can fall into idolatry today (Exodus 32). We may not worship sticks and stones but we can easily put other things before God. We can definitely fall into sexual immorality today, as they did (Numbers 25). One of the chief sins of the Israelites in the wilderness was complaining (Exodus 15).

We can still do that today. We are not immune to any of these sins. The section ends with a word of encouragement (10:13). In the context, this verse is not talking about trials but temptation. It tells us four things about temptation.

Four Lessons about Temptation

1. Temptation is Unavoidable.

We will all face it. God does not promise to remove it. We face temptations every day and some of them are powerful. They do not just come from Satan but from our own sinful natures (James 1:14). What is your greatest temptation?

2. Temptation is Universal.

Even Jesus was tempted. All humans are tempted (“Such as is common to man”), although we are not always tempted with the same things. What tempts you may not tempt me. What tempts me may not tempt you but temptations that come to us are NOT unique. We do not have a special problem. Other people in the world (including some other Christians) have faced the exact same temptation that you are right now facing.

3. Temptation is Limited.

The bad news that we are all tempted and there is a limit to what we can resist. The good news is that God controls every temptation that we face and limits it so that it is not too strong for us to face. He allows us to face only what we can handle and nothing beyond that point.

4. Temptation is Resistible.

With the temptation there is always a way of escape not merely “a way” of escape. The Greek is “THE way of escape”. The way out may be fleeing from it (10:14). That was how Joseph escaped temptation from Potiphar’s wife. The point is that sin is NOT inevitable.

No one can force you to sin. The devil does not make us do anything. Satan can tempt us. God provides the way out but it is up to us to take that way out. God doesn’t force us to use the way of escape, as Guzik points out. If we sin, it is because we choose to sin. If we are tempted right now, we need to find the way of escape (which might be a filter on your internet) and use it.

When it is Wrong to do Right

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians. Last week, we looked at the topic of Christian liberty in I Corinthians 8 & 10 in which Paul dealt with a food issue (food offered to idols). We saw what Christian liberty is, what it is not and what the limitations are to Christian liberty. I Corinthians 9, Paul continues this topic. Let’s read I Corinthians 9:1-23.

Every Christian in the church has the right to respectfully question any Christian leader or anyone in Christian leadership. There are two extremes. Some never question them.

Some Christians do not do that and they use Psalm 105:15 as the proof that we should NEVER question or criticize the pastor. Whatever he says goes. They are untouchable. Many pastors and televangelists claim to be “God’s Anointed”. Is this what the verse is teaching?

Who are God’s Anointed? That verse is talking about prophets, not pastors. Kings in the OT were also called God’s anointed (I Samuel 24:6-7). It is fine for some to say that pastors are God’s Anointed, as long as you realize that, according to the NT, ALL Christians are God’s anointed (I John 2:20).

Furthermore, this verse is talking about harming people. The verb “touch” is parallel to the verb “harm” or “hurt”. Criticizing someone is not harming someone. Sometimes even godly leaders need to be rebuked when they fall into sin. Paul criticized Peter to his face on one occasion (Galatians 2:11-16). Christians leaders are not infallible. Preachers are not untouchable.

On the other hand are people who are church critics. They will listen to a sermon just to find everything wrong with it and to tear it apart. The question we need to think about is this. Do we have a critical spirit? People with a critical spirit are always negative and always complaining and finding the flaws in people. They are not too good at encouraging people or building them up.

Apparently, some of the Corinthians were critical of the Apostle Paul. Some in the church didn’t respect Paul. Some in the church apparently were opposed to his ministry. What did they have against Paul? They were saying that Paul was not really an apostle or only a second rate apostle.

He was not one of the Twelve. He had a real simple message. He was not a great public speaker. He wasn’t as polished a speaker as Apollos and he did not charge for his ministry. Why didn’t he do that? Maybe he wasn’t worth anything. Who are you to tell us what we are supposed to do?

No one likes to be criticized but spirituals leaders cannot avoid criticism. How does Paul respond to some of these charges? He answers them. I teach language arts at school and one of the things we teach is tone. What is the tone of a story or poem? It is the attitude of the author. The tone of I Corinthians changes dramatically in chapter 9.

Christians leaders have the right to respectfully defend their leadership. In chapter 9 Paul gives a defensive of his apostleship. He gets a little defensive (9:3). The way he defends himself is to ask a series of questions (e.g., 9:1-2).

Paul asks eighteen different questions in the first eighteen verses. Many of these are rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions are questions that you don’t ask to get information, because the answer is obvious. It is like asking, “Is the pope Catholic?” They are questions you ask to make a statement, like “Are you out of your mind?”

He talks about his rights. Six different times in this chapter we see the word “right” (9:4, 5, 6, 12, 15 [2]). In I Corinthians 9, Paul mentions two things that he says that he has the perfect right to do. Then he tells the Corinthians why he is not insisting on his rights. Paul is showing in chapter 9 that he practices what he preaches.

In I Corinthians 8, he says that we should not always insist on our rights. In Chapter 9, he mentions two rights that he voluntarily gives up. What are the two rights that Paul mentions? He says that he has is the first thing that Paul says that he has the right to get married (9:5). That was one of Paul’s rights.

Paul could have gotten married. There is no evidence that he ever was. He never talks about being married but he could have gotten married. The other apostles got married and their wives traveled with them. Even Cephas got married.

Who is he? Cephas is the Aramaic name for Peter (kaphos). Peter comes from the Greek name. Why is that important? Roman Catholics believe he was the first pope, although he is never called a pope (father) in the Bible.

If he was the first pope, the first pope got married. Popes today are not married. Remember in the Gospels that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31) and if he had a mother-in-law, he had to have a wife.

Paul had the right to get married but chose not to and he explained in chapter seven why he didn’t. Paul was called to be single and felt that he could minister better single than married with all of the traveling and danger he encountered on his missionary journeys.

Another thing that Paul says that he has the perfect right to is to be supported financially by the Church of Corinth (9:4, 6-14). It answers the question, Do leaders have the right to receive a salary? Should we pay the preacher? This is not a burning issue today but believe it or not there are still a few churches that do not pay their preachers. They do not believe in a professional clergy.

The church is run entirely by volunteers. According to Paul, the church has the responsibility to support Christian workers. Which ones? This chapter is talking about the financial support of people who preach the gospel – evangelists, missionaries or church planters.

Are they the only church workers who should be supported financially by the church? No. Paul said in I Timothy that some elders should be supported financially as well (5:17-18). This is a very important verse. Let’s look at it a little closer. Some people have read I Timothy 5:17 to teach that there are two kinds of elders in the church: teaching elders and ruling elders.

Is that biblical? No. The Bible says that ALL elders should be “apt to teach” (KJV), not just some of them. One of the requirements for elders is that they are “able to teach” (3:2). It is not a requirement for deacons but it is a requirement for elders. If they cannot teach the Bible or the Christian faith to others, they should not be elders. There is no such thing in the Bible as a non-teaching elder.

But then Paul takes this one step further. He says that elders who LABOR in teaching and preaching are worthy of DOUBLE HONOR. What does that mean? It means two things.

  • It means respect (I Thessalonians 5:12-13).

Church leaders who labor in the Word should be treated with respect. They should be treated with respect but not worship. Some pastors in these mega churches (MacArthur, MacDonald, Swindoll) almost have a cult like following. But double honor means something else.

  • The Greek word for “honor” (τιμη) can also mean payment or stipend (like an honorarium).

Double honor can mean double pay or double salary. In this very chapter, Paul said that widows in the church were to receive “honor” and he uses the same Greek word (5:3). He goes on to say certain widows in the church were worthy of financial support (5:9-10; cf. Acts 6:1).

Paul doesn’t say that the pastor who labors in the Word is worthy of double honor (although that is true); he says that THE ELDER who labors in the Word is worthy of double honor. Apparently, a man can serve as both a preacher and an elder (Galatians 6:6; Romans 15:27).

Reasons to Financially Support Church Leaders

What are some of the reasons that church leaders should be supported? Paul gives all kinds of arguments why ministers should be supported financially.

1. Jesus said that they should be supported (9:14).

Jesus taught the “the laborer is worthy of his hire or his wages” (Matthew 10:10) and that includes church workers. They do not work for free. If you do a job, you should be paid for it. That’s what Jesus would do. Wages are a payment, not a gift.

2. Scripture says that they should be supported (9:8-9).

In both I Timothy 5 and I Corinthians 9, Paul quotes a passage from the OT to prove his point and it is the same passage (Deuteronomy 25:4). That is a rather strange verse. It has nothing to do with apostles or prophets or priests. It is a verse about animals (ox). Animals tread out corn on the threshing floor. While they are working, don’t muzzle them. Let him eat some of the grain as they work.

The verse says nothing about the church supporting missionaries but Paul makes an important application from that passage to Christian workers. Apparently, the OT is still relevant to Christians today. Paul makes an inference form this verse.

If animals were allowed to do this, then how much more should people be allowed to do this? If animals were worthy of their wages, should not people be as well? People are much more important than animals (9:10).

3. Experience says they should be supported (9:7, 13).

Paul mentions four different occupations that receive compensation for their work. Soldiers, farmers and shepherds and even priests all lived off of their work. That was true in both Jewish and pagan temples. The idea of paying God’s servants does not begin in the NT. It goes all the way back to the OT.

Paul had the right to support from the Corinthians and he had the right to get married but he didn’t use any of those rights (9:15). Why not? He felt that he had a different call. God called him to be single and God called him to preach. He felt “compelled to preach” (9:16). If you knew how he became converted, you would know why.

Paul had traveled a long way to persecute Christians when Jesus appeared to him in a bright light which blinded him and knocked him to the ground. A voice spoke to him.

It was the voice of the resurrected Christ. For three days, Paul was completely blind and he fasted. He ate nothing and drank nothing. He was then healed and baptized by Ananias. Then he was given his special mission to preach Christ.

Furthermore, he felt that he could have a better testimony without taking any money from the Corinthians to preach the gospel free of charge. Paul didn’t want people to think that he was only in the ministry for the money.

That is why he worked for a living and he worked long hours (“day and night”) too (II Thessalonians 3:8). Paul’s goal was to reach as many people as he could with the gospel (9:19-22).

Paul is not saying that it is always wrong to exercise your rights. There were times in the Book of Acts where he exercised his rights and there were many times when he accepted money from the Philippian Church (Philippians 4:15-18).

He is simply saying that there are times when it might be the right thing not to insist on your rights and he gives us two times when this would be wrong. This is review but what are those two situations?

We should never insist on our rights if it causes someone else to sin. We should not exert our rights to the detriment of others. I have the right to make a good living but not at the expense of my wife and kids.

We should never insist on our rights if it is going to affect our Christian testimony. For the sake of the gospel, there may be some things that we give up that we have the right to so souls can be saved.

Christian Liberty

This evening, we come to chapter eight of our study of the Book of I Corinthians. I Corinthians 8 deals with the topic of Christian liberty. It is a very important topic in Scripture. II Corinthians 3:17 says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Galatians 5:1 says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:13 says, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty.” Jesus said in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

This is a very important topic. Martin Luther wrote a whole book on the subject. John Calvin devoted a whole chapter of his Institutes of the Christian Religion to this topic and yet it is very rarely preached over the pulpit. When was the last time you heard a sermon about Christian liberty? It is not that frequent a topic but Paul deals with this topic in I Corinthians 8 & in Romans 14.

Since it is not talked about that much in the pulpit, this material may be brand new to some of you. Tonight, we will be answering several questions. What exactly is Christian liberty? What are some misconceptions about Christian liberty? How has it been abused? Is Christian liberty absolute? Are there some restrictions that the Bible places on Christian liberty? If so, what are they?

Two Extremes

When it comes to Christian liberty, there are two extremes. Both extremes are completely unbiblical. On the one end of the spectrum are those people who do not believe in Christian liberty. They are known as legalists. Legalists put a whole bunch of rules on Christians that are not optional.

Many of their rules are not in Scripture. They are man-made rules, just like the Pharisees did. They also imposed all kinds of rules on people, rules not based on Scripture but human tradition (cf. Matthew 23:1-4).

Many fundamentalist churches are guilty of this. I am not knocking all fundamentalist churches. I grew up in one but one of the weaknesses of fundamentalist churches is that they tend to be legalistic. Everyone has to think exactly alike on everything. There is no room for diversity of thought, even on minor doctrines (the non-essentials of the faith).

There is nothing wrong with having a personal conviction about something and even sharing what you believe with others. The problem comes when people try to impose their own convictions on everyone else. Let me give you two examples. The first example is in the area of alcohol. In some Baptist circles, all drinking is considered a sin. Is this view biblical?

Now if a person voluntarily chooses not to drink, that is perfectly fine. There are many good reasons for doing that. Excessive drinking causes all kinds of problems and can even be fatal. The problem comes when you try to impose that standard of total abstinence from alcohol on everyone, because the Bible NOWHERE teaches that all drinking is wrong.

Instead, it teaches that all drunkenness is sin. It does teach that in SOME situations drinking is wrong (and we will see what some of those situations are) but it nowhere teaches that ALL drinking is sinful. You have to twist all kinds of passages to come up with that view and some people do that. You can use the Bible to prove anything when you misinterpret it.

To condemn all drinking would be to condemn Jesus, because Jesus drank. If all drinking is sinful, then Jesus would be a sinner, because he drank. I am not encouraging people to drink but on the other hand, the Bible does not forbid all drinking.

Another example is in the area of movies, entertainment. I have heard some Christians say, “If you love Jesus, you will never watch a rated R movie. Christians should only go to G rated movies.”

For some Christians, to be a follower of Jesus means to watch no rated R movies. Is there any verse in the Bible which says this? No. Once again, there is nothing wrong with having a personal conviction like that for yourself.

Many R rated movies are bad and would not be worth seeing but this also throws the baby out with the bathwater. Some rated R movies may be worth seeing (e.g., The Passion of the Christ), which is why other Christians do not bind themselves with a rule like this which is not in the Bible. Some G rated movies are terrible.

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who believe that Christians are able to do anything they want. We are FREE. We have been CALLED to freedom. This group of people also existed in the first century and is called antinomians. They would say, “If we are called to be free, we have the freedom to see prostitutes or watch X rated movies.”

The Corinthians apparently bought this logic and made it a slogan. They went around saying, “All things are lawful.” Paul quotes their phrase twice (6:12; 10:23) but has to qualify it. This is an abuse of Christian liberty. Christian liberty is not a freedom to sin.

Definition of Christian Liberty

Let’s start with a definition. What exactly is Christian liberty? Christian liberty is the freedom from God to do whatever you want to do in any matter that the Bible does not address, either directly or indirectly. It is the freedom to make decisions in your own personal life about things NOT revealed anywhere in Scripture without fear of sinning against God.

Every area of the Christian life is governed by one of three categories. Everything falls into one of these three categories and the three categories of biblical ethics are biblical law, biblical principle and biblical freedom.

Biblical Law

Biblical law deals with behaviors that the Bible addresses directly. The Bible directly forbids things like stealing, lying, disrespect to parents and murdering people. These are all examples of biblical law.

They are moral absolutes. When Paul says, “flee from sexual immorality” (6:18). That is an example of biblical law. When he says “flee from idolatry” (10:14), Paul gives another example of biblical law.

Biblical Principle

There are other things that the Bible does not forbid directly but does forbids indirectly. These behaviors are governed, not by biblical law but by biblical principle. There is no verse in the Bible that tells us not to drive 150 miles on a street in downtown Burlington.

There is no verse of Scripture that tells us not to smoke crack cocaine or watch obscene movies but there are biblical principles in each case which rule out. Is it a sin for Christians to smoke cigarettes? There I no verse in the Bible. No passage in the Bible says, “Do not look at porn.”

Biblical Liberty

The third category is biblical liberty. Biblical liberty deals with things that the Bible is completely silent on. Scripture does not forbid these things, directly or indirectly (music, education, politics). Christians have liberty in those areas.

In the areas that the Bible does not specifically address, Paul says that people should make up their own minds on what they think is the right thing to do (Romans 14:5). In fact, Paul says that are freedom is not dependent on what other people think (I Corinthians 10:29).

Christians will come to different conclusions about some things. We will not all think alike and that is okay. Paul said that we should accept one another and not argue about it (Romans 14:1). He says that we should not look down on people who think differently than we do or judge or condemn them.

How many Christians do you know who are very critical of other Christians who do some things differently than they do, even though these things are not addressed in Scripture (Romans 14:3-4)? In I Corinthians 8, Paul gives us an example of Christian liberty. It is in the area of food offered to idols.

That should immediately raise a red flag or a question. Why is food offered to idols an area of biblical liberty? The Jerusalem counsel made a ruling on that in Acts 15. Shouldn’t this whole issue be a matter of biblical law? The Jerusalem Counsel prohibited Gentiles from eating food offered to idols (Acts 15:29).

This was done BEFORE I Corinthians was written. I Corinthians was written in 56 AD and deals primarily with Gentiles. The Jerusalem Counsel was around 48 or 49 AD and Paul was present at the counsel, so he was aware of the ruling.

So when the Corinthians had a question about food offered to idols why didn’t Paul just refer them back to the ruling of this church council six or seven years earlier? It was the first church council. Is this still binding? Yes.

Ethical Question in the First Century

It is still wrong to go into a pagan temple, make sacrifices to a pagan god and eat meat sacrificed to that god. That is idolatry. The Corinthians raised some specific questions that the Jerusalem council never addressed. What if you happened to buy meat from the market place that had been scarified to an idol? Was that a sin?

Furthermore, it was virtually impossible to go to the market and buy meat that had not been offered in sacrifice the day before. The meat usually tasted good because the pagans usually offered only the best animals in sacrifice. What if a neighbor invited you over for dinner and serves you meat that may have come from a pagan temple? Do you eat it? Paul answers that question in chapter 10.

What if a social gathering (like a banquet) was held in a pagan temple? Were the Corinthians allowed to go and eat anything? Many social events were held in pagan temples. Pagan temples often functioned as the social hall for the entire community.

Were the early Christians supposed to take a big stand against idolatry and be completely anti-social or were they allowed to go and interact with their community and be salt in this setting? That seems to be the context here (cf. 8:10).

This was a big ethical question for Christians in the first century and it had to do with food. It was a big moral dilemma for the Corinthians. It was a big problem, especially for Gentile Christians who bought their meat at the market. The Jews bought their meat from a Jewish butcher, so they never had to deal with this problem.

This was a question that we do not face today in America, although some Christians in other countries still face this. It was a very controversial issue at the time and there were big differences of opinion as to what to do. There were two views. Some said that it was okay to eat in a banquet held at a pagan temple, as long as it was not a religious function.

Paul called them the strong. Others thought that there was something wrong with doing this. Paul called them the weak. Something that would not bother most people bothered them. We tend to think of the strong as the group that was stricter and sterner and less willing to be flexible and the weak as the opposite.

According to Paul, the STRONG believer is much more lenient and flexible, less judgmental and critical on matters that the Bible does not specifically address.

The WEAK believer does not know as much as the strong believer and is more critical and judgmental. Which side did Paul agree with – the strong or the weak? Paul says both of them are wrong. Paul agrees with the strong on several points.

  • Idols do not exist (8:4-6). They are not real.
  • This is an area where there is Christian liberty. Paul says that in I Corinthians 8:9 (“your right”) but Paul also lays down some limitations on Christian liberty.
  • Eating is not a moral issue (8:8; Romans 14:14, 17, 20), unless you eat too much. Some Christians are vegetarian. They do not eat meat. Most Christians eat meat. The Bible says you can eat meat. The NT says that “all foods are clean.” Jesus ate meat. Either way, it is not a moral issue. Paul say eating or not eating  does not make you any more spiritual. Some people think they are more spiritual if they fast. Fasting is not wrong but is not a moral issue.

Limitations on Christian Liberty

There are times when it is wrong to do right. What are some restrictions on Christian liberty? Paul says that Christian liberty is limited by five things.

1) MOTIVE- Does this activity glorify God? (10:31)

2) USEFULNESS – Is it beneficial or useful? (6:12; 10:23)

There are many things that you have the right and are not morally wrong in themselves but are a big waste of time. You have the right to or spending twelve hours a day playing video games but that is not beneficial to you.

2) SELF CONTROL– Are you able to control it? (6:12)

This is another question that will help determine if something is right or wrong. Are you able to control it or does it control you. There are many things that are perfectly fine to do but once they start to control you or once you become addicted to them, they become wrong. Then it is not a question of liberty but of bondage. The addict is not free.

We talked about this when we were in chapter 6. We mentioned that people can be addicted to anything and Paul says “I will not be mastered by ANYTHING.” It is not wrong to enjoy things. The Bible says that God has given us all things richly to enjoy, so it is not wrong to enjoy things. It is wrong to be addicted to things. We talked about some of the signs of addiction as well.

3) CONSCIENCE – Does this activity bother your conscience? (Romans 14:23)

The next question to ask is, Does it bother your conscience? Your conscience is that voice inside you that tells you when you do something wrong.

Your conscience is not always right. Your conscience does not determine right from wrong. It varies from person to person. We may think some things are wrong that God never said are wrong but it is always wrong to sin against your conscience.

If you do something thinking that it is wrong, you have sinned. Paul said “whatever is not of faith is sin.” On the other hand, if there is no Bible verse against a practice and no biblical principle to apply and if it does not bother your conscience, it is not wrong for you to do.

4) TESTIMONY – Would this activity cause another Christian to sin? (8:9-13)

A fourth issue to consider is whether what you do will cause another person to sin. The issue here is not just offending someone but causing them to sin.

Christian liberty is abused when we use it as an excuse to sin or to cause someone else to sin. There are two important points here to note.  People can CAUSE other people to sin (Matthew 18:8; Romans 14:20-21; I Corinthians 8:9-13).

Not only are we not to sin, we are not to cause someone to sin.. It is bad enough if something CAUSES YOU to sin. It is worse when YOU CAUSE another person to sin or stumble.

Jesus said that things that are perfectly innocent and harmless (eye, hand, foot) that can cause some people to sin (Matthew 5:29-30). In the same way, there are some things that we do that may be perfectly harmless to us but may cause someone else to stumble.

What is safe for you may not be safe for someone else, as Barclay points out . Sometimes Christians can be a stumbling block to other Christians. In fact, Paul says that we can not only cause other Christians to sin, we can completely ruin other Christians spiritually by our actions (8:10-11).

It is like the person at the roller rink who falls down roller skating and ten people behind that person also fall down. What are some ways that we can cause someone else to sin?

In I Corinthians 8, some Christians were causing other Christians to commit idolatry.

  • King Jeroboam created two golden calves and created two idolatrous centers of worship for his citizens, one in Bethel and one in Dan (I Kings 12:28-29). Jeroboam led a nation to sin.
  • Some cause others to commit adultery by divorcing their spouse without biblical grounds and remarrying someone else (Matthew 5:32).
  • Parents can cause their kids to sin (Ephesians 6:4).
  • People who introduce kids to drugs and gangs cause them to sin.
  • Some Christian women cause men to sin by the way that they dress. Any man who lusts after women will answer to God but women will answer to God if they cause men to sin by deliberately dressing provocatively.
  • Pornography causes people to sin. It encourages lust.
  • Paul said that a husband or wife can cause a spouse to sin by not meeting the sexual needs of their spouse (I Corinthians 7:5). God takes this very seriously.
  • We can cause others to sin by a poor testimony (Romans 2:21-24; II Samuel 12:14). This is especially true of Christian leaders. When pastors and elders sin, that causes many others to sin (Hosea 4:6).

This is something that God takes very seriously. He takes it personally. When you sin against another brother or sister, you sin against Christ (8:12).

It is even worse when you cause a child to stumble, those who are weak and vulnerable. Jesus said that it is better to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea (Matthew 18:6) than to cause children to sin (e.g., sexual abuse).

Jesus said that having a hundred pound millstone around your neck and being flung into the sea would be a BETTER punishment than what you will get if you commit this crime. It is a serious warning to anyone who would hurt a child, especially a Christian child.

5) LOVE – Can I do this and still love God and others? (8:1-3)

How will what you do affect others? Christian liberty does not mean that you can do anything you want without regard for others. Love takes the needs of others into account. Love does not seek its own good but the good of others (8:1-3; 10:24). One of the characteristics of love is that it is not self-seeking or selfish (13:5).

This is acting the way Jesus would act (11:1). It is the way he did act (Philippians 2:3-5). The irony is that Jesus gave up his life and died for the weak brothers and some in the Corinthians church were not even willing to give up a piece of meat for them.

Is Knowledge Bad?

Jesus did not say, “They will know you are my disciples by how much you KNOW.” He said, “They will know you are my disciples by how much you LOVE.” The Apostle Paul says that knowledge PUFFS UP but love BUILDS UP (8:1).

That sounds like he believed that knowledge is bad and love is good.  Paul says that love is MORE IMPORTANT than knowledge. Love is superior to knowledge (cf. 13:2).  That is a clear biblical teaching but some have gone to the next step and taught that knowledge is bad

Many in and outside the church believe that knowledge is bad.  Thomas Huxley said, “The great end of life is not knowledge, but action.”  D. L. Moody once said, “The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.”  Translation: knowledge is BAD. Transformation is GOOD.

There is only one problem with this theory.  We need BOTH information and transformation. In fact, the way you get transformed is THROUGH Scripture. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). Truth sets people free.

Anti-intellectualism is very prevalent all throughout the Christian church. one of the most ignorant comments have been made in pulpits all across the country.  They are not limited to any particular denomination.

Many preachers believe that there is a dichotomy between the head and the heart. They teach that we need a big heart, not a big head. They teach that study, learning and knowledge are a big waste of time.  They teach that logic and reason are somehow bad.

I heard one preacher say that academic knowledge is useless. In fact, one even said that studying the Bible is useless. Some have even taught that change does not come from learning the Bible.  Anti-intellectualism in the church has a long tradition. There is only one problem with that theory.  It is patently FALSE.  It is completely unbiblical.

Jesus said, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17 NIV).  He also said, “You are already clean because of THE WORD I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3 NIV).  Paul speaks of the washing of the water BY THE WORD (Ephesians 5:26).

God’s Word sanctifies us. It cleanses us.  It washes us. Knowledge of God’s Word sets people free.  It sets people free from bondage.  It delivers them from slavery to sin. It also keeps us from sin in the first place.  Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (NIV).

The Bible is NOT against knowledge.  It is not against study if the Bible. In fact, Jesus rebuked people who were IGNORANT of the Scriptures and they were professing believers in some cases (Luke 24:25; Matthew 19:4; 9:13).

On the other hand, it is possible to know the Bible and not know God.  Some study the Bible for years and even go to seminary but do not know Jesus.  That was the Pharisees.  They were big on Bible study.  That does not mean that bible study is bad, just because they did it.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are big on evangelism. We should not stop witnessing just because of some cultists.   While Bible study is good, it is possible to study the Bible for the wrong reason.  Paul said that some people are “always learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth” (II Timothy 3:7).

What are some wrong ways to study the Bible?  Some study the Bible to apply to others but not themselves.  Some read the Bible only to confirm what they already believe.  Some study the Bible only to learn but not to live.  They are hearers of the word but not doers of the word.

Some only study the Bible intellectually or academically but not spiritually and practically.  Some use their knowledge of the Bible to hurt people, not help people. Paul says, “We know that ‘We all possess knowledge.’ But knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (I Corinthians 8:1 NIV).  The Bible teaches several important things about knowledge.

1. Knowledge is good.

Knowledge is not a bad thing but a good thing.  We all need it.  Paul thanked God for the Corinthians knowledge (1:4-5). Knowledge comes from God.  Paul said this was a gift from God (12:7-8; Proverbs 2:6). He  also said that “in Christ are hidden the all treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3)

The Book of Proverbs says, “wise men STORE UP knowledge” (Proverbs 10:14).  It says that “the prudent are CROWNED with knowledge” (14:18). The Bible does NOT say that knowledge is bad and that ignorance is good. Proverbs says that FOOLS HATE KNOWLEDGE (1:22, 29).

God says that if you hate knowledge, you are a fool (even if you are a preacher).  God also says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).  Knowledge is actually COMMANDED. We are commanded to add to our faith “knowledge” (II Peter 1:5)

2. Knowledge and love are not mutually exculsive.

They are not dichotomies.  You can have both love and knowledge at the same time.  Love builds people up but knowledge can also build people up. We can and should have both. We need it. Paul is not condemning them for having knowledge but for NOT having love.

3. Knowledge alone is not enough.

It is not the only virtue in the Christian life.  The Christian life is more than knowledge. Peter says that we are to “ADD to our knowledge” (II Peter 1:5-6).  We are to add things like self-control, perseverance and godliness to it.  Paul says that knowledge without love only puffs up.

Later in this book, Paul makes the point that knowledge without love is completely worse less.  He says, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am NOTHING.” (I Corinthians 13:2 NIV)  Paul does not say that knowledge is unimportant but that love is MORE important.

The Case for Marriage

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians. Last week, we looked at I Corinthians 7 and saw what the Bible says about celibacy. Paul said that celibacy is good. There is nothing wrong with it. You can spend your whole life as a single person, never marry and your life is not wasted, if that is what God is calling you to do and he does call some people to do that. It is not a Catholic doctrine, it is a biblical doctrine. Jesus said, “The one who can accept this should accept it.” (Matthew 19:12). Some people in the Bible were single (John the Baptist, Jesus, Jeremiah). There are some advantages to being single.

I have been married for twenty-three years. Today, I want to look at what the Bible says about marriage and a few myths that people have about marriage. I have to warn you that some of the material will be of an adult nature but this small group is used to that. I want to look at what the Bible says about marriage. On each point, you will see that our culture says something very different.

Biblical Doctrine of Marriage

1. Marriage is a Relationship that was INSTITUTED BY GOD.

What do I mean? I mean that God was the one who started it. It was His idea. Marriage is not just a human institution. It was not started by man. That is very significant for several reasons.

  • It is OLD.

It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Marriage is older than the practice of wearing clothes. It goes back even BEFORE the Fall of Man. How do we know this? The word marriage is not found in Genesis 1 or 2. We know this from Genesis 2:25. When did they get married? There was no formal marriage ceremony like we have today. God brought the two together and married them Himself.

  • It is GOOD.

If it came from God, it must be good. Everything God does is good. Paul said that celibacy is good (“It is good not to touch a woman”). The Bible also teaches that marriage is good (Genesis 2:18). God called it good. Marriage is good in a lot of ways that most people are unaware of. Did you know that married men and women live longer than those who are single, divorce or widowed? Married people live longer than single people and have a lower mortality rate. Smoking cigarettes cuts seven years off your life. Heart disease cuts about six years off of your life.

Being unmarried cuts about ten years off a man’s life. Married people in general are healthier. They are less likely to develop all sorts of health problems. Married people make more money than those who are not married. The poverty rate is higher for people who are not married. It is not only good for people emotionally (don’t get lonely), it is good for you physically and financially. They have a better standard of living. The Bible says, “Two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

So marriage is good. Everything God did in Genesis one displayed his goodness to man. God created a planet for people to live in and the world her created was perfect. God did not give Adam a dump to live in. He gave him a perfect world. There was no sin. At the end of each day of creation, Genesis says, “and it was good”. Man was created on day six. If God would have created man on day one, he would have drowned. There was no dry land yet. He waits for day six and creates man.

Adam was sinless and living in a perfect world but there was something missing in his life. If you lived in the greatest place in the world, had the best job in the world and ate the best food on the planet but were the only on earth, you would be miserable. To be completely alone on the planet sounds like a Twilight Zone episode. That was Adam’s situation. He had no one to talk to and no one to spend any time with.

This was another sign of God’s goodness to man. Adam didn’t ask God for a wife. God knew Adam’s needs even before he asked. Jesus says that he knows our needs before we ask as well (Matthew 6:8). God not only knew what Adam needed before he did but He created Eve to solve the problem and then brought the two together, making the first marriage in human history. God created marriage to make people happy, not to make them miserable. He created marriage, because He is good.

  • We should not OPPOSE it.

In NT times, some false teaches prohibited marriage (I Timothy 4:1-3). It is one thing to choose to be single, it is another thing to outlaw marriage. That is the mark of a religious cult (Shakers). You say, “Well the Shakers lived in the 1700s, no one would try to do that today.” Did you know in 2005 some feminists in Sweden called for the abolition of marriage? They are led by a woman named Tiiny Rosenberg. Rosenberg is a lesbian. She says “men are animals” and marriage is about ownership, so she wants to abolish it.

Problem? God was the one who started it and statements that marriage should be outlawed do not come from God but from Satan. It is a doctrine of demons. That is what Satan wants. If he cannot outlaw marriage, he will try to devalue it. The institution of marriage is under assault in our day. According to a recent poll, forty percent of Americans say that it is becoming obsolete.

  • We cannot CHANGE it.

If marriage was created by man, then people could change and alter it any time they want and in 2001 the Netherlands did just that (Gay Marriage). If it was started by God, He is the only one who can change it. We have God’s definition of marriage in Genesis 2:24.

2. Marriage is a MONOGAMOUS Relationship

What is monogamy? It sounds like a piece of wood. Monogamy is marriage to only one person at a time. Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”. Notice, it says, “and be united with his WIFE”, not “with his wives”. Paul said the same thing in I Corinthians 7:1-2. “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband (ESV).

If you notice, Paul did not say, “Because of sexual immorality, let every man have TEN wives”. Monogamy is the only kind of marriage that is legal in the US but polygamy is common in some Muslim countries. Islam teaches that a man can have up to four wives if he wants.

Is Polygamy a Sin?

That raises this question, Is polygamy a sin? Critics make two points. They give two arguments for polygamy. They say that many people in the Bible had many wives. Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon all had multiple wives. In fact, Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. They also argue that the Bible never condemns it.

Are these arguments valid? Skeptics do not know the basics of how to interpret the Bible. They commit a few fallacies.

  • God started monogamy.

Man started polygamy. God was the one who created marriage. He started it in the Garden of Eden. God gave Adam one wife, not ten and he lived in a perfect world. The first person to have more than one was Lamech (Genesis 4:19). Lamech was the son of Cain, the one who killed Abel. He was a very wicked man and many since then have followed his practice but it is very clear that monogamy was God’s design for marriage from creation. It is very clear from Genesis that this was God’s ideal.

  • The Bible does not necessarily approve of everything it records.

History is not normative. Not everything recorded in the Bible is approved by the Bible. The Bible records many bad things that people have done, even some believers, but it does not PROMOTE these sinful acts. The Bible gives us a true history. It what happened. It records the rape of Dinah. It records King David committing adultery and murder. It records Noah getting drunk. It records Lot committing incest. It records Samson visiting prostitutes. The historical parts of the Bible record what happened, not necessarily what should have happened.

  • Many things are wrong, even though there is no verse of Scripture condemning something.

The critics assume that something is sinful only if it is directly condemned in Scripture. Sometimes we can use clear biblical principles. There is no verse in the Bible that says, “You shall not smoke pot”. There is no verse in the Bible that says that pornography is sinful. The Bible doesn’t say a word about pornography but it has a lot to say about lust. What about abortion. There is no verse in the Bible that says abortion is wrong. There are plenty of verses on the sanctity of life and verses against shedding innocent blood and other verses on protecting the helpless. The Bible condemns polygamy indirectly, not directly. In fact it is clear from I Kings that Solomon’s wives led to his downfall.

3. Marriage is Heterosexual Relationship

It is a relationship that God originally designed for a man and a woman, not two women or two men. We all know that God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. There is good reason for that. If the first two humans were homosexual, the whole race would have died out. Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”. Notice, it does not say, “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his husband”. I am not going to say anything more about this because we already spent two weeks this year looking at what the Bible says about homosexuality.

4. Marriage is a Permanent Relationship

God designed marriage to last for life. He intended marriage to be permanent. Marriage is for life. Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be UNITED to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” The word “united” in the NIV means to stick together like glue. It has the idea of something permanent, not something temporary. The Modern Hebrew word for “glue” comes from this word. What are the implications of this principle? I would like to give you two (one for married couples and one for singles).

  • If you are married, don’t get divorced, because marriage is for life.

The Bible says that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). God doesn’t just say, “I don’t recommend divorce. It’s not the best plan for your life”. The Bible says that He HATES divorce. Jesus said, “what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matthew 19:6) and that is a commandment. Paul says the same thing in I Corinthians 7:39a (“A woman MUST stay with her husband as long as he lives” – NCV). He gives two different case studies: the case of two Christians who are married (7:10-11) and the case of a mixed marriage of a believer and an unbeliever (7:10-16). In neither case does Paul recommend divorce. The US has one of the highest divorce rates in the world. About 50% of marriages in America end in divorce.

  • If you are single, don’t rush into marriage.

Who you marry is one of the most important decisions you will make. The rest of your life will be affected by this decision. You should take your time to make that decision. You don’t want to marry someone and then say, “I didn’t know he was like this”. As the saying goes, “Love is blind, but marriage is an eye-opener”. Make sure you know the person very well. Make sure that it is God’s will. Make sure the person is really saved, not just whether he is religious or goes to church. I Corinthians 7:39 says, “A wife should stay married to her husband UNTIL HE DIES. Then she is free to marry again, but ONLY to a man who is a follower of the Lord”. The GNB reads, “but only if he is a Christian”.

The Bible says not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers (cf. II Corinthians 6:14-16). A yoke is a bar of wood that goes over two animals. Marriage is a yoke relationship. Married couples are joined for life. Believers should not be yoked with unbelievers. Paul says, “What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” You are mismatched. If you are a believer and your spouse is an unbeliever, you can’t relate to your spouse about the most important thing in your life (no fellowship, no communion). The Bible doesn’t prohibit interracial marriages. It does prohibit interfaith marriages. You can marry someone who is white, black, yellow or green but what a Christian should not do is to marry a non-Christian.

5. Marriage is a Sexual Relationship

Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become ONE FLESH.” Marriage involves people becoming “one flesh”, What does that mean? That is a clear reference to sex. The act of marriage is the act of two becoming one flesh. In 1 Cor 6.16 Paul clearly sees sexual union when he says that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her and quotes Gen 2.24 in support for this. What are the lessons here?

  • God is the one who created sex.

God is pro-sex. It was not created by the adult film industry. It wasn’t created by Hollywood. God created it Many of the church fathers believed that sex didn’t take place until after the Fall, because the first time it is mentioned is in Genesis 4:1 (Adam knew his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain). Valid argument? That is an argument from silence. Genesis doesn’t mention Adam and Eve having sex before this point. Therefore, they did not have sex before Genesis 4:1. It doesn’t say it was the first time that he knew his wife. He just says it was the first time that he knew his wife that she got pregnant. Here’s why that whole idea is simply ridiculous.

  • God physically designed their bodies to have sex.

He created Adam and Eve with sex organs.  He created them as sexual beings.

  • God commanded man to have sex BEFORE the Fall.

God commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” in Genesis 1:28. One of the first commands that God gave was to reproduce and you can’t do that unless you have sex.

  • He created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden without any clothes on.

To believe the Church Fathers, you have to believe that Adam lived in a paradise with a beautiful woman, who happened to be completely naked but they did not have sex, even though they were married and even though God commanded them to do it.

  • God says that Adam and Eve were to be the pattern for other husband and wives (2:24).
  • He created sex but He created it FOR MARRIAGE ONLY.

Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto HIS WIFE: and THEY shall be one flesh.” Who is to be one flesh here? A man and his wife. Notice also the order. A man is to leave his father and mother and then to cleave, not cleave to someone (become one) and then leave your parents. Notice also it says a man is to cleave to his WIFE, not his live-in-sin girl friend.

  • Sex is marriage is not just allowed, it is COMMANDED.

Paul says this in I Corinthians 7:3-5. Paul gives a little marriage counseling here. He says some radical things here. The body of the husband belongs to the wife and the body of the wife belongs to the husband. There is complete equality here. Paul was not the male chauvinist pig as the critics claim. It is the job of the wife to meet the sexual needs of the husband and the job of the husband to meet the sexual needs of the wife. Paul says that if you do not do this, you are stealing from your spouse. You are robbing them.

Today, we have sexless marriages. We have people who are married but sleep in different bedrooms. According to the statistics, about fifteen or twenty percent of marriages in America are sexless. That was never God’s intention for marriage. That problem can be solved but usually takes marriage counseling. Sexless marriages are not problems in themselves but are symptoms of a bigger problem. Most sexual problems are caused by marriage problems, not the other way around. As James Dobson put it, ‘Marriage conflicts in bed are usually caused by marriage conflicts out of bed”

Myths About Marriage

1) It is God’s will for everyone to be married.

Marriage is for everyone. We refuted this one last week.

2) Marriage is easy.

Just because it is good, does not mean it is easy. It takes hard work.

3) Your spouse will meet all of your needs.

Most wives think this. For a husband to meet ALL of her wives’ needs, he would have to be God. That is why many wives need girl friends. I don’t need to bond emotionally with a bunch of guys. As my wife says, “Men are simple creatures”.

4) Marriage will solve all of your problems.

It will solve some problems. It also creates some others.

5) Marriage will make you happy.

If you are unhappy before you are married, you will be unhappy after you are married, though they may experience a brief emotional bounce during their honeymoon.

6) My spouse will know all of my needs.

“If he really loved me, he would know how I feel”. Just because you are married does not mean that you are mind reader.

The Case for Celibacy

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians. We come to the seventh chapter in the book. It starts the second part of the book. The first part of the book deals with problems in the church that Paul brings up. The second part deals with Paul’s answers to questions that the Corinthians had.

The Corinthians had some questions and wrote a letter to Paul asking him a bunch of questions. We do not have their letter but we have his answer to their questions.

Notice how the chapter beings – Now for the matters you wrote about (7:1). It is the second longest chapter in the book. The longest chapter is I Corinthians 15. Let’s read this chapter together.

Tonight I want to answer one question, Is it better to be married to be single? Today we will look at the case for celibacy. Next week, we will look at the case for marriage. What Paul says about celibacy is very important and is rarely heard in our day today. You never hear sermons about this.

Paul gives us in I Corinthians 7 a case for celibacy, especially in the beginning and end of the chapter. He tells why those who are single (unmarried, widows and virgins) should remain single. We have some single people in this room, so this applies to you. What did Paul say about celibacy? He makes three points in this chapter.

Singleness is Good

Notice what Paul says in I Corinthians 7:1, literally, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” (KJV). What does he mean, “It is good not to touch a woman? Touch is a euphemism.  A euphemism is when we use a softer word, rather than a harder word. We use them all of the time. We do not say that someone is old.

We say that they are “senior citizens”. We do not say that something is “used”. We say someone “passed away” instead of died. We say that we are going to the “restroom” rather than the bathroom. We say that it is “pre-owned”. We do not say that someone committed “adultery”.

We just say that they had “an affair”. What do we call a sort that sells pornographic magazines and books? We call it “an adult bookstore”. The Bible uses euphemism as well. Jesus used euphemism. He said that Lazarus was not dead. He was just sleeping. The Bible uses a lot of euphemisms for sex.

In Genesis 4:1, it says, “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain”. You have to do more than to know someone to make a have a baby and you can get pregnant without knowing someone at all but this is just a euphemism for sex, because it is the most intimate way two people can get to know each other.

Leviticus 18:6 says, “None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the LORD” (KJV). The NIV paraphrases, rather than translates the word. That is another euphemism for sex, because that is usually done by two people who do not have any clothes on. In I Corinthians 7:1 we see another euphemism.

Paul says, It is good for a man not to touch a woman” and he is not talking about holding hands or hugging a woman. It is a euphemism for sex and it is used in other places in the Bible (cf. Genesis 20:6; Proverbs 6:29 [“whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent” – KJV]; Ruth 2:9 [“have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee?”– KJV].

Paul says that, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman”. He does not say “It is good for a husband not to touch a woman”. He says, “It is not good for a MAN to touch a woman”. Here he is talking about the unmarried. What does Paul mean that it is GOOD for a man not to touch a woman?

Does he mean morally good? If it is morally good to be single, does that mean that marriage is wrong? That is what Jerome believed. Jerome wrote, “If it is good not to touch a woman, it is bad to touch one: for there is no opposite to goodness but badness”.

He simply means that it is not wrong to be single. Most people tend to get married and we sometimes think that everyone should get married and if you don’t get married, there must be something wrong with you. If you don’t get married, people think you’re gay. Many think that everyone is getting married and if you don’t get married, you are going to be miserable.

To marry is to live happily ever after. Not to be married is to live a life not worth living. Our culture teaches that the most important thing in all of life is to be married.

We put a stigma on singles but Paul says it is perfectly fine to be single and never get married. Jesus never got married. John the Baptist never married. Paul never married, as far as we can tell.

Misreading of I Corinthians 7

Many in the church have completely misinterpreted what Paul says in this chapter. Notice what Paul does NOT say.

1. Paul does NOT say that you are more spiritual if you are single than if you are married.

He does NOT say that being single is morally superior to being married. The Roman Catholic Church has glorified celibacy.

Monasticism was a big deal in the Middle Ages (monks and nuns) and even today Roman Catholic priests cannot get married, because they believe that a man is holier if he is single.

Many of the church fathers believed that marriage came with sin.  Some even  taught that it began after the Fall. They believed that Adam and Eve were virgins. We will see next week why this is wrong.

Incidentally, I don’t know why we call them the “Church Fathers”. None of them had any kids and they were all screwed up in the area of marriage and sex.

The Church Fathers believed that you were holier if you were single. John Chrysostom, for example, in his treatise “On Virginity” said that “virginity is superior to marriage as heaven is to earth or as angels are to men”. Did Paul believe that? No.

2. Paul does NOT command people to be single.

It is his advice for people to stay single. Paul recommends celibacy but Paul is very clear that this is not a command (7:25, 40). It is Paul’s opinion.

3.  Paul was NOT against marriage.

He does not say that marriage is evil or sinful. How do we know this?

  • Paul says that if you get married, you do not sin (7:28).
  • He calls marriage a χάρισμα or divine gift (7:7).
  • He used the marriage relationship as a picture of our relationship to Christ in Ephesians 5:28-33).
  • One of the requirements listed for elders is that they are “the husband of one wife” (I Timothy 3:2).

Paul assumes that they would be married and have kids (3:4-5). This would not be a requirement for elders if there was something unspiritual about marriage.

4. Paul says that to forbid marriage is a doctrine of demons (I Timothy 4:1-3).

It is a sign of the apostasy when people say this. Most of the Apostles were married (I Corinthians 9:4-5) and Paul never condemns them for this. Peter was married, because Jesus healed his mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15, Mark 1:29-31, Luke 4:38-39). You have to be married to have a mother-in-law.

Catholics believe that Peter was the first Pope. He was not but, if that’s the case, then, the first Pope was married. Popes today cannot get married. The Pope is not the head of the church. The Bible says that Christ is the head of the church.

Certain cults have forbidden marriage. The Shakers believed that marriage was incompatible with the Kingdom of God. They believed that you cannot be a Christian and be married. That group, which started in the 1700s, eventually died out.

Singleness has Some Advantages

Paul says this in 7:32-35. Of course, there are also some disadvantages to being single, but for not, let’s think of some of the advantages. What are some advantages to being single?

1. More freedom and independence.

You can do what you want when you are single. If you want to throw all of your socks on the floor, you can do it. If you want to come home at three in the morning, you can. You have no curfew. In some cases, you have more of a freedom to minister.

Paul could not have done the kind of ministry he did, traveling from town to town and exposing himself to constant danger, if he were married and had a family. This is not always the case. Some ministries can be done much better in the context of marriage.

This small group is one of them. This is a ministry that Anne and I do much better together than I could ever do on my own. You are also free to take some more risks when you are single. If you want to be a missionary in some dangerous part of the world, you can do it.

The contemporary Christian musician Rich Mullins once said that the difference between being married and single is that when you are single, you can pick up hitchhikers. It is not worth taking a risk if you have a wife and kids but if you are single and someone slits your throat, it doesn’t matter.

2. Less responsibility.

You only have to cook for one. You can do what you want when you are single. You are not accountable to any other human. You are only accountable for yourself. This can actually be a bad thing. Marriage has a way of making people grow up. Being married and having kids makes you more mature and more responsible.

3. More control over your money (financial advantages – lower cost of living).

4. Not having to tolerate another person’s annoying habits (pick their nose, passes gas or snore).

5. There are certain circumstances in which celibacy would be more of a blessing, than a curse.

Paul said, “Because of the present crisis or distress, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is” (7:26). There are certain circumstances in which it would not be good to be married (war, persecution, Holocaust). The Tribulation period will be the greatest period of distress that the world has ever seen (Matthew 24:21).

Jesus said that it will not be good during the Tribulation Period to be pregnant (Matthew 24:19). That may explain why in Revelation, there are 144,000 people in the Tribulation Period who are set apart to God and are single (Revelation 7:3-4).

God said that the Prophet Jeremiah could not get married or have kids. Why? He lived at a time when judgment was coming. Jerusalem and the temple were about to be destroyed. A military invasion was about to take place (16:1-4).

There is no special crisis in America which would prevent people from getting married. In Paul’s day, there may have been one. What are some other advantages?

Singleness is Not for Everyone

Both Paul and Jesus said this. Paul was single. He loved being single and wished that all of the Corinthians were single (7:7). However, Paul also knew that singleness is not for everyone. Why not?

Why Celibacy is NOT for Everyone

Celibacy requires a special GIFT from God (7:7).  God does not call people to a lifetime of celibacy unless He gives them the gift for it. You either have gift of marriage or the gift of singleness. Not everyone who is single has the gift of celibacy. Some are single by circumstances, rather than by choice.

Do You Have the Gift of Celibacy?

The real question is, What is YOUR gift? How do you know if you have the gift of celibacy? What are some signs that you may have this gift?

A. If you have the gift, you have no interest in marriage.

You can be single and be perfectly happy. The fact is that not all single people want to be married. The gift of celibacy is the special ability that God gives to some people to remain single and enjoy it.

B. If you have the gift, you do not struggle with sexual lust (7:8-9) or are able to control your desires.

C. Celibacy requires a special CALLING (7:17-20).

It is something that God leads some people to do. The questions here is, What has God called YOU to do. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 19:10-12.

The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” (NIV)

Let’s look at what Jesus says and what he doesn’t say. Jesus says there are three kinds of people who should NOT get married. Jesus describes three types of eunuchs.

Three Kinds of Eunuchs

The first type are those who were BORN EUNUCHS. They are hereditary eunuchs who are born with a physical problem and they are incapable of having sex.

The second type are those who have been MADE EUNUCHS by others (surgical eunuchs). This could be done to punish people (slaves). Boys before puberty were castrated to keep them singing at a higher pitch (castrati).

This took place during the Baroque period (1600-1750). Seventy percent of opera singers of the Baroque Period were castrati. There have been cases of voluntary castration. Sometimes it is done for medical reasons (prostate cancer).

It would be great if we could do this to convicted sex offenders. The testes produce testosterone, which in turn produces sex drive. That is why castrated men were used to guard the harem.

The third type of eunuchs are there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (religious or eunuchs). They MAKE THEMSELVES eunuchs, not physically but spiritually. This passage raises a few questions.

Did Jesus glorify celibacy? No. Jesus did NOT say that all people should be eunuchs but the people who have the gift to do this should do it. Jesus says, “If you are able to receive it, you should”. What’s the implication? If you are not able to receive it, you shouldn’t.

Is Jesus talking about homosexuality? That is a common view today in some circles. Jesus mentions eunuchs who are born that way. Many homosexuals think that they were born that way and that Jesus is talking about them but this is simply not the case.

What is the definition of a eunuch? It is someone who does not have their testicles or someone who has been castrated. A homosexual has his sex organs. The problem is not that they do not work but that they are used on the wrong sex.

Ten People Who Will Not Go to Heaven

Tonight, we will look at an extremely important passage. It is found in I Corinthians 6:9-11. It answers the question, Who will not be in heaven? Jesus explained who WILL inherit the kingdom (Matthew 5:3, 10; Mark 10:14).  Paul tells us who will NOT inherit the kingdom.

Many think that these people will be in heaven.  Paul says that these people will be EXCLUDED from the kingdom. They won’t go to heaven. If you want to know who is NOT going to Heaven, all you have to do is to look at this list. Greek scholar A. T. Robertson calls this “a roll call of the damned.”

Some of these groups of people may be found on some church membership rolls but they will not be found in Heaven’s rolls. Their names will be absent from the Book of Life. There are ten groups of people that will not be in heaven.

What are the sins that made Paul’s list of top ten in I Corinthians 6? Are you on the list? I want to look at these ten sins and make some general observations about them. I am going to list the ten classes of sinners. Every Bible translates these words slightly different.

I Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (NKJV).

Ten Sinners Not in Heaven

1) Sexually Immoral

2) Idolaters

3) Adulterers

4) Effiminate

5) Homosexuals

6) Thieves or Robbers

7) Greedy or Covetous

8) Drunkards (substance abusers)

9) Slanderers (verbal abusers)

10) Swindlers or Extortioners

Facts about Paul’s Sin List

1) Many of these sins fall into different CATEGORIES

What are some of the categories mentioned in this list? Most of them (seven in particular) are either sex sins or money sins. You might call it sexual immorality or financial immorality.

One is a RELIGIOUS sin.  Idolaters are people who worship a false god, people who have a false religion. They may actually be moral but they worship a false god. Their fate will be the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).

One is a VERBAL sin.  “Revilers” refers to people who say all kinds of hateful things out of their mouth and are verbally abusive. That made the top ten list. There are many people who wouldn’t think of committing some gross sexual sin but do this all the time. They insult and ridicule people. Some political commentators and people in the media are guilty of this. It is the Greek word for a slanderer (λοίδορος). Are you a reviler? Do you slander people? When Jesus was reviled and insulted, he did not revile people back (I Peter 2:23). We are not even supposed to associate with professing Christians who are revilers (I Corinthians 5:11).

One is a FOOD sin.  Paul mentions drunkards. John Calvin thought this applies to over eating (gluttony) as well. I usually agree with John Calvin but I think he is wrong here. Getting drunk, getting completely stoned and wasted is not like eating one too many French Fries at MacDonald’s. Alcohol is not only a beverage, it is a drug.

Four are SEXUAL sins.  Almost half of the sins on the list are sexual (two of the sins deal with heterosexuals and two deal with homosexuals).  Paul mentions fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, and sodomites. In fact, adulterers and homosexuals sound very similar in the Greek text. One is μοίχοί and one is μαλακοί. There is no getting around that fact the passage here condemns homosexuality.  On the other hand, it is not the only sexual sin on the list.  The passage also condemns many heterosexuals.

One sin is a GENDER sin.  It mentions feminized men, men who act like women or try to become women.  Many Bibles say that one group that will not make it into the kingdom are the “effiminate” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

Three are FINANCIAL sins.  They have to do with money.  Paul mentions thieves, greedy, and swindlers.  Two of those financial sins are actual crimes.  One is not.

2) Some sins in the list are REPEATED

Paul gives two different words for stealing (robbers and extortioners or swindlers). Thieves will not be in heaven. The Greek word that Paul for thieves is κλέπτης (from which we get the word “kleptomaniac”). The Bible says that Judas was a thief (John 12:4-6). He was the treasurer for Jesus and the Apostles. Apparently, he did not just do it once, he did it continually.

Last week, we saw some in the Corinthian Church who were stealing from other people in the church. They were ripping them off. Paul reminds us that robbers will not be in heaven. When we think of a swindler, we think of someone like Bernie Maydoff who defrauded people of billions of dollars.

Paul gives two different words for homosexuality (effeminate, homosexuals), The first word (μαλακοί) is a little broader than just homosexuality but would include the passive homosexual partner.

3) This list of vices is NOT exhaustive

Are these the only people who will not be in heaven? No. How do we know this? This is not a complete list. It doesn’t even mention murderers. They are mentioned in Revelation 21:8. Paul says this three times in the NT and each time his list is slightly different (cf. Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7).

4) Many of these sins are perfectly LEGAL

Stealing and slander are not legal. Extortion is illegal.  It is a crime but most of the sins on this list are perfectly legal. Greed is legal. In fact, some would say that it is part of the American Dream.  Idolatry is legal. Our constitution says that you have the freedom to worship anyone or anything you want.  You can worship one God, many gods or no God.  Sexual immorality is legal today.  What is legal is not necessarily moral. What you are allowed to do is not necessarily what you should do.

5) Many of these sins are COMMON in our day

Paul’s list is up-to-date, even though it was written two thousand years ago. These sins were common in Paul’s day and they are still common to this day. The lesson here is that what many are doing, what most people are doing (in some cases) is not what you should do. That is undemocratic. The majority is not always right. What is popular is not necessarily right. That is why Paul says in Romans that we are not to be conformed to the world (Romans 12).

6) Many of these sins are SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE

They are not considered wrong (e.g., fornication, homosexuality, greed). Homosexuality was accepted and tolerated in Paul’s and our day is no different. The Bible looks on it as a sin, not an alternative lifestyle. It is a sin that keeps people out of heaven.  Paul’s statement is completely counter-cultural.

Many of the things on his list are not regarded as wrong today.  Homosexuality is socially acceptable.  Gay marriage is legal in the US.  Drunkenness is regarded as a sickness or a disease by the medical community. It is just an addiction that people have. You may have an addiction to coffee, while someone else has an addiction to alcohol and alcoholics can’t control their drinking. Is this a valid argument?

The Bible does not look on drunkenness as a sickness but as a sin. Interesting, none of the other things mentioned in Paul’s list are diseases. Adultery is NOT a disease. Idolatry is NOT a disease. Greed is NOT a disease. Theft is NOT a disease.

All of the other nine things mentioned are MORAL CHOICES. Why would God keep people out of heaven because of a disease? We can call drunkenness what the world calls it or what God calls it. The Bible calls drunkenness as a work of the flesh. It is a work of the sin nature. The Bible does NOT say that drinking keeps you out of the kingdom of heaven. The Bible does NOT say, “Don’t drink wine” but it does say “Don’t be DRUNK with wine” (Ephesians 5:18).

Jesus drank wine. Paul drank wine. They were Jews. It was part of their culture. The Corinthians drank wine. They were getting drunk at the communion table. What the Bible condemns is not the use but the abuse of alcohol. In the same way it does not condemn sex. God was the one who created it. There is nothing wrong with it (Hebrews 13:4). The Bible only condemns the abuse of sex.

Four Powerful Lessons for Today

1) Many people think they are saved when they are not.

There is a serious warning in this passage and it is addressed to professing Christians. It is addressed to the Church at Corinth and the warning is this: “Do not be deceived”. Many think that they are going to heaven but they are actually going to hell. Many people in the Corinthians Church thought they were saved. They thought they were going to heaven. Many church members today have the same problem (cf. Matthew 7:21-23).

Many people think that they are carnal Christians when they are not Christians at all. If you go to church on Sunday but live like the devil the rest of the week, you are probably not saved. Some have even been taught the lie that if you are saved, you have eternal security and if you have eternal security, then it doesn’t matter how you live, because you are going to go to heaven anyway.

You might was well live like the devil. Paul would say that you are just deceiving yourself. The wicked will not inherit the kingdom. Just going to church, even regularly, and getting baptized will not save you. You can’t live any way you want and go to heaven. That is not eternal security. It is antinomianism.

2) When you get saved, there is a change in your life.

After giving this long list of sins, Paul says “and such were some of you”. Some of the Corinthians lived like this before they became Christians. That is what some of them WERE (past tense) but they are no longer that. There are different because at salvation three things happened. They were washed (which you need because sin makes you dirty and salvation makes you clean), sanctified (set apart to God positionally) and justified.

There are some BIG BUTS in this passage.  Notice three in this one passage alone. And such were some of you: BUT ye are washed, BUT ye are sanctified, BUT  ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (I Corinthians 6:11 KJV).  The KJV follows the Greek text here. You can’t separate religion from morality. As James says, faith without works is DEAD. If you are genuinely saved, there is going to be a change in your life. If you are different on the inside and you have been genuinely saved, you will be different on the outside.

3) Not everyone will inherit the kingdom.

The Bible teaches that some will enter the kingdom and SOME WILL NOT. Some will possess the kingdom and some will be EXCLUDED. Some will inherit the kingdom and some will not. That refutes the doctrine of universalism. Universalism teaches that EVERYONE will one day be saved.

The Bible teaches that God loves everyone. God loves the world (John 3:16). The Bible also says that God does not want anyone to perish (I Timothy 2:3-4). It also teaches that many will perish. In fact, it says that MOST will perish (cf. Matthew 7:13-14). Paul says that many people will get in. Not all will enter the kingdom of God.

4) Even the worst sinners can be saved.

Paul said “such were some of you.” Some of the members of the Corinthians Church were former homosexuals. Some were adulterers. Some worshiped idols but then they got saved. Paul doesn’t say that all of the Corinthians lived like this before they were saved. He doesn’t even say that most of them did. He said that some of them used to live like that.

The lesson here is that God can save anyone – murderers, crack heads, prostitutes, and drunkards. This shows the power of the gospel. Real change is possible but it has nothing to do with Barack Obama or any other politician. This refutes the idea that “once gay always gay” or “once an alcoholic always an alcoholic”.

John Calvin pointed out over 500 years ago that even though Paul says that the wicked will NOT inherit the kingdom of God, technically the wicked CAN inherit the kingdom. People who do not know the Bible very well sometimes ask questions like, Can God saved murderers? Can God save homosexuals? Can God save prostitutes? The answer is that God can save everyone WHO REPENTS. Everyone one of the ten sins listed in I Corinthians 6:9 can be forgiven and has been forgiven.

Jesus said that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven (Matthew 12:31). Even the darkest sins that we can commit can be forgiven. The sin of sodomy can be forgiven.

That was a sin so wicked that God wiped out the entire city but even the wicked sodomites could have their sins forgiven by God if they repented and turned from their sins. The worst sin on the planet was crucifying Christ and the people who did this were told that if they repented, they would be saved.

Interesting Questions

1) Do you have to be sinless to go to heaven?

Paul does NOT say that you have to be sinless to go to heaven. Sinless perfection is not possible. You do have to have all of your sins forgiven to go to heaven but you do not have to live a sinless life to go to heaven. That is not even possible. Paul is not teaching a works salvation. The kingdom is not earned, it is inherited.

An inheritance is something that you get when you die as a gift. It is not something that you work for to receive. It is something that you get because you are part of the family. The Bible teaches that all believers are heirs (Ephesians 1: 14, 18; Colossians 1:12; 1 Peter 1:4; Acts 20:32); Romans 8:17 Titus 3:7)

2) Can a Christian commit any one of these sins?

He does NOT say that a Christian cannot commit one of these sins. Who is there who has never had a covetous thought? A true believer could commit any one of these sins.

There are examples in the Bible of believers committing some of these sins. David committed adultery. Solomon committed idolatry. He married all of those pagan wives and started building temples to pagan gods because he loved his wives so much.

Noah got drunk after the Flood. Samson committed sexual immorality. He was visiting prostitutes and he is the one who is listed in the great faith hall of fame in Hebrews 11. Ananias and Sapphira were guilty of greed. A Christian can commit any sin and still go to heaven but a Christian cannot habitually live like any of these sinful lifestyles and still go to heaven.

3) Does this teach that you can lose your salvation?

Some have used this passage to teach that you can lose your salvation. Does Paul teach that? He does NOT say that you will lose your salvation. He doesn’t say that if you commit these sins you will lose your inheritance and be disinherited.

He just says that if you commit these sins, you will not get an inheritance. An inheritance is only for members of the family. The implication is that you were never saved. He doesn’t say anything about losing an inheritance.

4) Can you be gay and be a Christian?

Entire books written on a topic on both sides.  Some say you can be gay and be a Christian.  We talk about gay evangelicals today.  We have not only GAY CHRISTIANS today, we have GAY CHURCHES.  We have GAY DENOMINATIONS.  We have GAY MINISTERS.  Others say you cannot be gay and be a Christian.  The question is not, what do people think about this question but what does the Bible say?  What does God say about this question?

What the Bible says is completely counter-cultural.  It is different from what society says.  It is different from what modern psychology says.  It is different from what the news media and entertainment industry says.  God’s thoughts are NOT our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Jesus says, “What is HIGHLY ESTEEMED among men is DETESTABLE in God’s sight” (Luke 16:15-16).

Paul says in this passage that homosexuals will NOT enter the kingdom. These are not my words.  I did not write them.  The Bible says that they will NOT go to heaven.  Paul does not say if people do these things, they will not get any rewards in heaven.  He says that they will not be there.  He also says that a lot of heterosexuals will NOT be there either.  Scripture does NOT just single out homosexuals.

That is not to say that Christians can fall into all types of sins, including sexual sins and even homosexual sins.  Christians can fall into adultery and even murder.  King David committed adultery and murder but he repented.  He was not a serial adulterer.

This passage is not talking about people who struggle with and fall into a particular sin but continue in that sin and even justify it  and claim it is not even a sin and reinterpret the Bible to justify their sin.  They say that God made them that way and make the Bible to say what they want it to say.

It is one thing to reject the Bible and its clear teaching on a variety of topics.  It is quite another matter to claim to be a Christian and accept the Bible as the inspired, authoritative Word of God but to live completely contrary to what it teaches and justify that behavior.  The latter claim to believe the Bible but revise and reinterpret it, making it say something that it does not say.  A gay Christian is biblically an oxymoron.  A Christian adulterer or a Christian drunkard is also an oxymoron.

The Christian and the Courtroom

We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians. We have a rather strange topic for tonight. Tonight, we will be looking at “The Christian and the Courtroom” or the Christian and lawsuits. It answers the question, Is it ever right for a Christian to take someone to court? Is legal action ever appropriate for Christians? What do you do if some cheats you?

What do you do if someone in the church rips you off? What did Jesus say about lawsuits? We will look tonight at that and what Paul says in Corinthians 6. We will also look at how what he says applies two thousand years later when the situation is different.

As we will see, this passage is also often misunderstood. It has been misinterpreted and misapplied by people. There are no clear-cut answers to some of these questions. Let’s read I Corinthians 6:1-8.

What is the problem that Paul deals with in this chapter? Christians were taking other Christians to court. Now in Chapters one to three, we saw Christians in Corinth not getting along and being divided but here they take it to the point that they are taking on another to court and they were doing it before pagan judges.

They were letting unsaved people who do not even know the Bible try to resolve the differences between two Christians who had some kind of a dispute.

How did this problem start? Apparently, one member of the Corinthian Church cheated another member of the church and the one who was victimized took legal action. Why did they do this? Let me suggest two reasons. One, the Corinthians, like most Americans today, were obsessed with their rights. They were big on their rights.

Two, the Corinthians loved to go to court. It was in their blood. They lived in ancient Greece. The Greeks loved to sue. Everybody sued people. It was a way of life for the Greeks. They were almost as fond of litigation as Americans are today. We live in a litigious society. People are suing people over everything and anything.

Paul was shocked. He said, “DARE any of you take any Christian to court before a pagan judge”. Why did he say this? He said this because Paul was Jewish. The early church was Jewish. The Jew believed that it was wrong to take their disputes before pagans.

They considered it a form of blasphemy to take another Jew to court. Jewish rabbis said, “It is a statute which binds all Israelites, that if one Israelite has a cause against another, it must not be prosecuted before Gentiles.” That was the rabbinic view.

Now the fact is that the Jews didn’t always do this. They took Jesus to a Gentile governor and Paul to Gentile judges as well. But when the Church began, it was one hundred percent Jewish (Acts 2). When did the first Gentile join the church? Acts 10.

Of course, today the church is made up mostly of Gentiles but the early church was Jewish. They will still Jews and did what Jews did. This was one of the things that they did. Paul applies the same principle to the church, as we will see.

Paul gives a couple of reasons why Christians should not do this.

1) We will judge the world (6:2).

Jesus told the Apostles that they would judge Israel (Matthew 19:28). Paul says that all Christians will judge the world, not just Israel. Christ will be the final judge but in some way we will participate in that judgment. We will rule WITH Christ. (Romans 8:16-17; II Timothy 2:11-12; Revelation 2:25-26).

2) We will one day judge angels (6:3).

This is shocking. Angels are the highest order of beings. They are the highest class of created beings. Man is lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:6-7). There are animals, man and angels and people are lower than the angels but Paul says that Christians will judge angels. What does this mean? Does it mean that we will judge bad angels or all angels? No one knows. This is the only time the Bible says this.

3) Secular courts have pagan judges.

They don’t know God or the Bible. How can you get justice from them. They are ungodly (6:1). Apparently, some of the Corinthians thought that they could get a better deal with pagan judges than with Christians.

4) It is a poor testimony (6:7).

Even if you win, you lose. When kids have a problem they go to their parents. The parents solve the problem themselves. They don’t take it to courts. They settle it within the family. If you are a Christian, you are part of God’s family. In chapter five, Paul said that we do not judge those on the outside (5:12). Here he says that we do not go to the outside with family matters. We deal with them inside the family.

Now how does what Paul says apply today? That is the million dollar question. Most people misinterpret what Paul is saying in I Corinthians 6. Paul is giving us some principles to live by, not a legal code. There are several things Paul does NOT say in I Corinthians 6.

Abuse of I Corinthians 6:1

1. Paul does not say that secular law courts have no value.

Paul said that the powers that be are established by God (Romans 13:1-7). God set up courts. God establishes civil government. Courts are part of human government. That is how evil is punished. Human courts serve a useful function in human society. They are instituted by God to maintain law and order.

2. Paul does NOT say that all lawsuits under every circumstance are wrong.

Paul does not say that Christians are forbidden to file a lawsuit against someone. He does not say that Christians can never press charges against someone. Paul does not say that.

3. Paul does not say that Christians can NEVER take another Christian to court for any reason.

That is the general rule. Are there any exceptions to this rule? Are there times when it may be the right thing to prosecute or even sue other Christians?

Paul was dealing with financial disputes in I Corinthians 6, not violent crimes. He was dealing with disputes about money or property. He was addressing civil cases, NOT criminal cases. Romans 13 says that it is the job of the state to punish crimes against people, even crimes against Christians.

There may even be some times when a Christian has to take another Christian to court over financial matters (ex husband is not paying child support).That brings us to this question.

When are Lawsuits Wrong?

1) Lawsuits are wrong when they are petty.

In I Corinthians 6, Christians were taking other Christians to court over TRIVIAL things (6:2). They were making a big deal over something that was minor. These were what we call today frivolous lawsuits. Civil lawsuits cost the US economy over 200 billion dollars per year! According to the US Federal News, every taxpayer in the US is now paying a “lawsuit tax” of around $700 – $800 per year.

2) Lawsuits are wrong when they are done for the wrong reason. 

Some people file suits out of greed, rather than justice.  The primary reason people file lawsuits today is money.

3) Lawsuits are wrong when they damage your Christian testimony.

Be very careful about taking another Christian to court. When two Christians have disputes and bring their disputes before the unsaved, it affects the way the world looks at Christians.

Two weeks ago, just before our church softball game, a player on another team was ejected from the game. He was a big guy and he was angry. He was mad at the umpire. Other people told him to calm down and he got mad at them. He was calling people all kinds of names.

About ten guys had to physically restrain a player as he lunged at a few people on the other team.  One player on our team was a state trooper. I looked at him and expected him to save the day but he looked completely helpless.

After the incident, I turned to him and said, don’t you have any hand cuffs in the car or pepper spray or a gun?” He said, “I don’t have anything on me”. The I thought that someone should tell the Park District to file charges against the man for disturbing the peace but then I thought of I Corinthians 6 and remembered that this was a church league. No one got hurt.

4) Lawsuits are wrong when they are not necessary.

The question that has to be asked is whether a lawsuit is really necessary.  Is it something that could and should be avoided?

5) Lawsuits are wrong when they are not the last resort.

Legal action against someone generally should not be the first step. It should be the last step. We should do everything we can to avoid them (cf. Matthew 5:26-26). It should not be something that we rush into (Proverbs 25:8).  Other things can be tried first (mediation, arbitration).

Responding to Injustice Today

What do we do if there is someone in the church who is not just someone that you do not like or someone that you have a problem with but is someone in the church who has actually cheated you? What do you do if someone has taken advantage of you and even stolen from you? What do you do? There are four options.

1. Talk to the person directly and try to get it resolved (Matthew 18:15).

The Bible teaches that if someone sins against you or offends you or cheats or tries to take advantage of you, you have the responsibility to go to that person and confront them lovingly and tell them. They may not even know that they are doing it.

2. Try to get other people to talk to the individual (Matthew 18:16).

If the first step doesn’t work, try this step. Jesus was talking about sins, not crimes but the same principle would apply to minor disputes that people have.

3. Use the local church if your dispute is with another believer (Matthew 18:17; I Corinthians 6:4-5).

Go to the elders. Find arbitration in a local church. If the offender will not hear the church, he is to be excommunicated. If you study church history, you will find that the early church took Paul literally.

Paul said, “Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers” (6:5) and the early church did just that. They had courts set up for the first several hundred years of the church, just like the Jews had done.

The Jews had their own law courts. There is a book written in the fourth century called Apostolic Constitutions that says that these courts were to meet on the second day of the week and the deacons and elders were to be present (II.47). It was a real court. They were to call witnesses and listen to evidence (II.49-51).

The church can’t deal with criminal matters. That is in the hands of the state (Romans 13) but it can and probably should help solve trivial disputes that Christians have with each other. What does that assume?

It assumes that you have some wise people in the church who know God’s Word. The leaders of the church have to be the kids of people that you can feel comfortable going to help resolve some of these things. Unfortunately, church courts do not exist anymore.

Not too many churches have them. One thing that Paul doesn’t deal with are disputes between Christians in different churches. Paul doesn’t deal with this problem. Keep in mind that all churches do not practice church discipline.

4. Take legal action.

This is not recommended and should be done only as a last resort but there may be times when it is the right thing to do, even for Christians. In some cases, it is a matter of justice. Society would be better off. Someone else may get hurt if the person is not brought to justice.

It is not always wrong to insist on your rights. Paul did that. He was falsely accused by the Jews. The Jewish Court called the Sanhedrin brought serious charges against Paul, some worthy of death. He appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:1-12).

That was his right as a Roman citizen to have your case tried in Rome. Romans could appeal their case to a higher court. He didn’t just say, “I will be defrauded and take the wrong”. He took advantage of his rights as a Roman citizen and we can take advantage of our rights as American citizens.

That is not wrong. Paul went to Rome and the Caesar in power at the time was Nero who eventually beheaded Paul but that wasn’t until seven years later. He was at least able to write a few more books of Scripture by then. It is okay to protect yourself. Jesus said so (Luke 22:35-38; Matthew 10:23). It is perfectly appropriate to use the law to protect you.

On the other hand, we should not take this too far. We shouldn’t love to go to court. In fact, Jesus said, “And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” (Matthew 5:40).

Now Jesus is using a little humor here. Jesus had a sense of humor. The Jews in his day wore two garments: an outer garment (cloak) and an inner garment which was worn next to the skin (tunic or coat).

Jesus says, “If someone sues you for your inner garment, give him the outer garment as well”. I guess you go out of the courtroom naked. The NLT renders it, “If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too”.

What’s the point? Someone wants to sue you over something minor, don’t make a big deal about it. It would cost more to take the person to court than to buy a new shirt. The philosophy of the world is that if someone wants to sue you, then you counter sue.

5. Take the wrong.

If going to court will damage your testimony or bring shame to the cause of Christ, it is better to take wrong. In chapter 5, Paul said the church was to judge wrong.

In chapter 6, he said that the church is sometimes to take wrong. Sometimes it is right to take wrong and sometimes it is right to judge wrong. Sometimes, we should take the wrong in financial matters and be willing to be defrauded.

Sometimes, it might be right to take the wrong in criminal matters. Jesus said, “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” (Luke 6:30).

Compare that to Matthew 5:42. What is the difference? Luke mentions someone stealing something. Luke mentions a case where you are robbed. Someone takes something of yours.

Demon Possessed or Demonized

Evangelicals often debate whether Satan can possess Christians. A more basic question is whether Satan can possess anyone at all. Deliverance Ministry advocates believe that Satan cannot possess people but can demonize people. What’s the difference between the two terms? The chart below explains the differences between the two concepts.

Categories

 Demon  Possession

Demonization

Intensity Severe Mild to Severe

Different levels of demonic involvement

Solution Requires exorcism from another person May or may not require exorcism
Location Inside Inside or Outside
Effects Invasion (ownership) and control Influence and control but not ownership
Victims Limited to Non-Christians Affects Christians and Non-Christians
Involvement Passive (involuntary) Passive or Active (voluntary or involuntary)

Proper Translation of ΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΣΟΜΑΙ

What is the proper translation of δαιμονίζομαι? Should it be translated “demon possessed” or “demonized”? Some have argued that “demon possessed” is a mistranslation of δαιμονίζομαι. This argument is not limited to charismatics. Alfred Edersheim (1883), who was a cessationist, also believed that “demonize” was a better rendering of δαιμονίζομαι than “demon possessed.” What reasons are given for translating δαιμονίζομαι “demonized”?

Reasons for the “Demonized” Translation

  •  The Greek word for “possession” is never used in conjunction with demons. They argue that the word “demon possession” is not in the Bible. They state that the word does not come from the Bible but from Josephus.
  •  Satan does not have possession or ownership of people, only God does. Believers cannot be owned by Satan because they have been bought with a price (I Corinthians 7:23). Christians have the Holy Spirit and cannot be possessed by demons.
  •  The issue is not ownership but control. To be possessed with a demon means to be under the power (which means influence) of a demon, but it does NOT mean that the demons owns the person. Like being under the influence of alcohol, the more you drink (or get yourself into bondage), the more you come under its influence.
  •  The word “possess” has many modern connotations which are inaccurate. One immediately thinks of the 1973 movie The Exorcist. Therefore, they prefer the term “demonized” to “demon-possessed” and argue that it is a much better translation of the Greek.

Strengths of the “Demonize” Rendering

Perhaps the strongest argument raised is that δαιμονίζομαι is not about mere ownership but control. We use the term “possess” to refer to both. We possess some things that we own and completely control. We possess other things that we have little or no control over (e.g., cancer, bad genes).

Thus, the Bible also speaks of people “having a demon” (people possessing demons). It also speaks of demons “possessing” people. In one sense, people possess a demon. In another sense, demons possess them.

In the first case, possession does not involve control. In the second use of the word, it does involve control. Control is part of both demon possession and demonization. It is much greater is demon possession. In demon possession, a demon invades the body of another person and takes complete control over it, in some cases even controlling the person’s voice.

Weaknesses of the “Demonize” Rendering

1. To say that “demonize” is a better translation of the Greek δαιμονίζομαι is misguided.

The word “demonize” is not a translation of δαιμονίζομαι but simply a transliteration of it. It does not tell us what the word means. If the word “possess” is too specific, then the word “demonize” is too general. It waters down the word and does not really tell us anything. That may explain why no English translation of the NT renders λαμβανομένος “demonize.”

2. All of the cases of the word δαιμονίζομαι in the NT are severe and required exorcism by another person.

The word δαιμονίζομαι is never used of simple temptation or influence by Satan on the outside by Satan. Demon possession implies control from the inside. The fact that the demons “entered into” people” had to be “cast or driven out” and “went out” of people after the exorcism shows that they were on the inside.

3. In fact δαιμονίζομαι is in the passive verb voice.

The recipient or victim of the demon is completely passive in the process, which is consistent with demon possession.

4. In no case in the NT is the word δαιμονίζομαι ever used of a Christian.

Contrary to some evangelicals who believe that Christians can be demonized, the word δαιμονίζομαι is used thirteen times in the NT (Matthew 4:24; 8:16, 28, 33; 9:32; 12:22; 15:22; Mark 1:32; 5:15, 16, 18; Luke 8:36; John 10:21). It is used seven times in Matthew, four in Mark, once in Luke and once in John. Twelve times it is used of demoniacs and once it is used with reference to Jesus. In John we are told that Jesus’ actions are not consistent with the term δαιμονίζομαι.

Interestingly, δαιμονίζομαι is NEVER used of a believer in the NT. In fact, some of the demoniacs became believers AFTER the exorcism (e.g., Gerasene Demoniac). Satan spoke through Peter (Matthew 16) but Peter was not demon possessed. He did not require an exorcism. Satan also afflicted Paul with a physical illness (II Corinthians 12) which originated from “a messenger of Satan” and yet Paul was also not demon possessed, nor was the word δαιμονίζομαι ever applied to him.

5. “Demon possession” is a perfectly valid translation of the Greek word δαιμονίζομαι.

All of the standard Greek Lexicons translate δαιμονίζομαι “demon possessed (so BAG, NIDNTT [Brown], EDNT [Balz & Schneider], PGL [Lampe], TDNT [Kittel], Louw-Nilda, Thayer, Abbot-Smith, Liddell & Scott, Vine, Kittel, UBS Greek Dictionary, LKGNT (Rienecker & Rogers), GAGNT (Zerwick & Grosvenor). If there is no Greek word for “demon possession” in the NT, then why do all of the Greek lexicons say that that is exactly what the word δαιμονίζομαι means?

6. Two different Greek words for “possessions” are used in connection with demonization – οίκία (Mark 3:27) and ύπάρχω (Luke 11:21).

In order to exorcise a demon, Jesus had to bind the strong man (Satan) in order to get his “possessions”. The statement that “the Greek word for possession is never used in conjunction with demons” is simply inaccurate.

7. The notion that Josephus coined the term “demon possession” is also incorrect.

In the Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus speaks of free men “possessed by demons” as τούς ύπο τών δαιμονίών λαμβανομένος (VIII.46) but, when describing a “possessed man” (VIII.47) immediately after, Josephus uses the Greek word δαιμονίζομαι by itself. Josephus does not use a special word for “demon possession.”

He uses the word “demon” with λαμβάνω (a common word in the NT, though never used of demon possession). He also uses the exact same word used in the NT (δαιμονίζομαι). Josephus had an unbiblical view of demons.  He believed that demons were the “spirits of the wicked, that enter into men that are alive and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against them” (Wars of the Jews 7.6.3)

Biblical Doctrine of Assurance

Tonight, I want to try to answer the question, Can people really be sure of their salvation? I want to look at the topic of assurance of salvation. It is a little different from the topic we looked at last week. Eternal security and assurance of salvation are not the same thing. Now it is one thing to have eternal life. It’s another thing to know that you have eternal life.

It is one thing to be saved. It’s another thing to know for sure that you are saved. There is a difference between a fact and knowledge of a fact. I may have won the lottery and not know it yet because I didn’t watch the news. Just because I don’t know it yet doesn’t change the fact. This is an extremely important topic. There are many Christians who have absolutely no assurance of salvation. They hope to be saved. They are trying to be saved. They are doing their best to be saved but do not have any certainty of salvation.

Believe it or not, this is also a very controversial topic. Not everyone believes in assurance of salvation. Entire denominations deny that we can have any assurance of salvation. If you are an Arminian, you can’t really have any assurance of salvation. Arminians teach that you can lose your salvation. The Roman Catholic Church does NOT believe in the doctrine of assurance. They would call it pride and arrogance to claim to know right now that you are going to Heaven. They would say that that is impossible. No one can know possibly that.

There are two extremes when it comes to assurance of salvation. One the one side are the Roman Catholics who say that assurance of salvation is impossible. No one can know this. On the other side of the coin are people who have a false assurance of salvation. We saw in the last two weeks from Matthew 7 that many people think they are going to heaven who will not be there.

In fact, we know from polls that most people think that they are going to heaven. A 2005 ABC News Poll said that 85% of Americans believe they will go to heaven. Why do you think that is? Most people in the world believe that salvation is by works and most people believe that they are basically good and God is going to let them into heaven. Most people have no concept of their own sinfulness before God or that they stand condemned before an infinitely holy God.

Jesus said the exact opposite in Matthew 7:13-14. Jesus said that few people will get into heaven. The word “few” does not mean a small number of people. In Revelation, there is an innumerable group of people in heaven, hundreds of thousands of people (cf. Revelation 9:9 ff.) but apparently a lot more people will be in hell. The vast majority of people will be in hell. Hell is like a highway. It is a broad road and a lot of people are on that path. Few are on the narrow road leading to life. These are Jesus’ words, not mine.

Jesus speaks of two roads, two gates. How many religions are in the world today? According to researchers, there are about ten thousand religions in the world.  I had to look this up. There are ten thousand religions in the world but only two ways or two roads, according to Jesus. What are they?

There is the easy road and the hard road. There are also two gates. What are they? There is the narrow gate and the wide or broad gate. There are also two destinies. What are they? Life will be the eternal destiny of some. Destruction will be the eternal destiny of most. I guess Jesus wasn’t a Universalist. He didn’t say that there was one destiny, heaven, and everyone is going there. Jesus says that here are two groups of travelers on two different paths going to two completely different destinies.

What do you think the broad way is called the easy road? It has few rules. It is the permissive road. You can do whatever you want on that road. Sin is tolerated and accepted. You can decide for yourself what is right or wrong on this road. This road is nonjudgmental. It is the popular road. It is very diverse and inclusive. It is the road based on human reason (Proverbs 14:12). Why is the narrow gate called hard?

It is hard to ride on because this road may entail suffering and persecution. It is more unpopular. People on this road are called “narrow minded”. This road is narrow. It is politically incorrect. It is more exclusive and restrictive. It has more rules. There are some moral absolutes on this road.

The real question is not where the majority of people are headed when they die it is? Where are we going when you die? Do we know where you are going for sure when you die? Are you certain? How do you know? Can we even know this or is it just arrogance. That question is answered in I John 5:13 which says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life.”

He did NOT say, “I write these things so that you may HOPE TO HAVE or HOPE THAT YOU WILL HAVE eternal life”. John said that we can know that we have eternal life. It is NOT pride or arrogance to say that we know that we have eternal life. The Bible says that this is something that we can know that we have.

What is the difference between I John 5:13 and John 20:31? The Gospel of John was written for unbelievers. It was written so that people may HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. I John was written for believers. It was written so that believers will KNOW THEY HAVE eternal life.

The million dollar question is, HOW can we know that we are saved? How can we know that we have eternal life? There are three ways we can know that we have eternal life.

An Objective Assurance

The first proof is the biblical proof (cf. I John 5:9-13). It is based on the character of God. When God says something, it is true. When he makes a promise, he keeps it. Last week we read John 3:16 (“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”).

Last week we talked about what it means to believe. We saw that faith is not just intellectual. Believing in Christ is more than just believing certain things ABOUT him. The demons do that. Saving faith involves truth. You have to ask him and trust him to save you from your sins. If you believe and trust Christ for salvation you can KNOW that you have eternal life.

Some say but I don’t know when I first got saved. You may not know how old you were. Do you have to know when you got saved to be born again? It doesn’t matter when you first believed. It’s not necessary to know when you first became saved. The only thing that matters is if you believe right NOW. That is all that matters. You don’t have to know your birth day to know that you are alive. You just have to believe now.

Who is this promise of assurance addressed to? “I write these things to you who BELIEVE in the name of the Son of God”. What tense is the word “BELIEVE”? It is present tense in Greek and in English. It’s not past tense. A lot of people have an assurance of salvation based on something they did thirty years ago.

“Thirty years ago, I walked to the front of the church and received Christ as Savior. I don’t go to church now or live for the Lord. I don’t even believe half the things in the Bible but I am sure that I will be in heaven”. John has no words of assurance for this individual. You have to believe right now.

The first proof of assurance is OBJECTIVE. The Bible says so. God says it and we believe it. If anyone who genuinely believed in Christ from his heart were to perish and not have eternal life, then God would be a liar. The Bible says that God CANNOT lie (Titus 1:2). The Bible says that it is IMPOSSIBLE because it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). Assurance of salvation is not presumption if you believe but faith. It is simply taking God at his Word. This is not based on our feelings but on the promise of God.

Notice also that John does NOT say, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you WILL HAVE eternal life when you die”. He says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you HAVE eternal life”. The verb “have” is in the present tense. It is something that you can have now and it is something that you can know that you have now .

An Inward Assurance

And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us (3:24).

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit (4:13)

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16)

The first proof of salvation was the book says so. The second proof of salvation is the Holy Spirit says so. This is an INWARD proof. If you are saved, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He lives in you. If you are genuinely saved, the Holy Spirit will tell you that you are saved. He will testify with you spirit that you are a child of God. We will hear the voice of the Spirit. It will not be an audible voice but if we are saved, we will hear that voice.

The question is, Are we listening to that voice? Of course, this also creates a problem. We hear all kinds of voices in our head. This proof is more subjective than objective. How do we know that what we are hearing is the Holy Spirit and not some bad pizza? This voice says the same thing as Scripture and it is confirmed by our life.

An Outward Assurance

This proof is not objective or inward, it is outward. If you are genuinely saved, you have the Holy Spirit on the inside and you are different on the outside. We saw last week that you become a new creation, almost like a different person. Some changes will take place overnight. Some changes in your life may take a few years.

The point is that after salvation there will be a long pattern of growth in your life. We obey God’s commands, which assumes that we even know what they are (cf I John 2:3, 5; 4:24; 5:2). We love other Christians (2:9-11; 3:14-15, 17-19; 4:7-8, 12, 20) and we live a righteous life (1:6; 2:15-17, 29; 3:6-9).

Doctrine of Eternal Security – Part II

Last week we asked a very important, as well as controversial question and it is this: Can Christians lose their salvation? Does the Bible teach “Once saved, Always Saved” or does it teach that you can be “Saved Today and Lost Tomorrow”? We said that the body of Christ is divided on this topic. There are some Christians who believe that you can lose your salvation and have some very good verses for their position.

There are some Christians who say that you cannot lose your salvation and they also have some good verses to support what they believe. I said last week that there is truth to both sides but in order to understand it you have to understand five things. If you do not see all five of these truths, you will end up with a completely false or imbalanced view of salvation. Last week, we looked at the first two points. Today, we will look at the next three.

Last week, we looked at several verses that teach the doctrine of eternal security. Jesus said in John 10 that he knows his sheep and gives them eternal life. He says that they will never perish and uses a double negative in Greek to emphasize that fact.

He says that no one will or even can snatch them out of his hand. The sheep are in Jesus’ hand and in the Father’s hand, so they are perfectly safe, because, as Jesus said, “the Father is greater than all”. We saw in John 6 that the saved are a gift from the Father to the Son.

We also saw that all of the sheep will come to Jesus and when they come to him he accepts them, regardless of their background or past. No one is rejected. Jesus then promises to keep all that come to him and not lose any. All will be raised up on the last day. We saw the chain of salvation in Romans 8.

Paul says that everyone God foreknew, he predestinated. Everyone he predestinated, he called. Everyone he called he justified and everyone he justified he glorified. No one was lost in the process. It is an unbroken chain of salvation

I have a question for us to think about. Doesn’t the doctrine of eternal security just encourage people to sin?

Does this doctrine mean that you can do absolutely anything you want and you are still going to heaven, because there is no way you can lose your salvation? Does this mean you can have can commit premarital sex, adultery or even homosexuality, because nothing you do can change your eternal destiny once you are saved?

Does it mean that we can commit any sin, including murder, and still go to heaven? You may or may not have heard of the 2009 LA Fitness shooting but on August 4th, 2009, some fruitcake enters a Pittsburgh fitness club with a gun, shut the lights off and fired 50 rounds into an aerobics class. He killed three people and injured nine others.

What you probably did not know about this man is that he was a professing Christian. He wrote on a blog that he believed that “you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven”. He believed in eternal security. That only leads us to our next question.

Does this doctrine encourage people to sin? Does the Bible teach the doctrine of OSAS? Yes it does. Does it encourage people to sin? No. That is a doctrine of demons. What is the problem here? The problem is that people are only reading half of the Bible. Beware of reading only the parts of the Bible that you really like (the promises) and avoiding the parts that you do not like (warnings).

Yes, the Bible says that the sheep have eternal life and will never perish but it says “Don’t be deceived. The wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9). It specifically says that the sexually immoral and murders will NOT inherit the kingdom.

I am going to share you three things about eternal security, because I believe that the Bible teaches all four. I have gone on the Internet and haven’t seen these five points anywhere but the Bible teaches all four of them.   We have already looked at the first two.  The first point was that people who are saved are eternally secure.  The second point was not everyone is saved who claims to be saved.

People Who are Saved Show Signs of Salvation

One verse that shows this is II Corinthians 5:17. When we become a Christian, Paul says that we become “a new creation”. It’s almost as if we become a different person. The old person that we were before we became a Christian is gone. It doesn’t exist anymore. Paul says, “All things are new.”

Salvation is not just a change in a person, it is a radical change (a child of the Devil to a child of God, go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light) and if you are really saved, your life will be different, a lot different. There are all kinds of testimonies of people who used to be crack heads or prostitutes or practicing homosexuals or cold blooded killers before their life was completely transformed by the gospel.

The Apostle Paul is an example of someone who changed one hundred and eighty degrees after he got saved. Before he became a Christian, he tried to stamp out the Christian religion. After he got saved, he tried to spread it as far as he could, preaching to everyone and taking three missionary journeys. Before he became a Christian, he persecuted Christians.

He went around arresting men, women and children. When they fled to another city, he traveled one hundred and fifty miles to track them down. After he became a Christian, he was the one was being persecuted, arrested and beaten for his faith.  Has there been any change in your life, since you became a Christian?

Now, all of us have not lived a life of sin. Some of us may have become Christians when we were five. If you are physically alive, there are signs of it. You have some vital signs (pulse, heart beat, breathing). If you are spiritually alive, there are signs of it as well. There should be some clear differences from you and from nonbelievers. Are there any signs in your life that you are genuinely saved? What are some signs that a person may be saved?  If there is no change in your life, you’re not saved.

In 1974 Larry Flynt began publishing a well known pornographic magazine. In 1977, someone witnessed to him and he claimed to be a Christian. He went around saying that he was born again. Did he change his life and stop making pornographic magazines? Not at all. He continued to do what he had always done. There was no change. Was he saved? No. We need to be sure that we are saved (II Corinthians 13:5).

We are very quick to examine and test others to see if they are saved but before we do that we need to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith ourselves.  Someone said that this is the difference between Methodists and Presbyterians. He said, “A Methodist knows he’s got religion, but he’s afraid he may lose it. A Presbyterian knows he can’t lose it, but he’s afraid he hasn’t got it.”

Is there any fruit in your life. Christians should bear fruit. The Bible teaches that we should all be fruity Christians. Jesus said “by their fruit you will know them” (Matthew 7:20). He said a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 12:22). What is Jesus saying here? In the context, he is talking about false teachers but there are some general lessons we can learn.

  • Jesus uses trees as metaphors for people (cf. 7:16-19).
  • He says that there are two kinds of trees (good and bad trees).
  • You can tell the difference by looking at the fruit on the tree.

The fruit tells you what kind of tree it is. You can tell whether someone is saved or not by the way a person lives. Now what is Jesus saying? Even the best tree makes rotten fruit now and then. Jesus is saying that you might have two trees that are both apple trees. They look like the same kind of tree until you get a little closer and look at the fruit and see that one is a good tree and one is a bad tree. They may be wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Last week, we read a very disturbing passage in Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus is going to invite some people to enter Heaven (25:34). He is going to tell other people to depart into hell (7:23). In fact, in Matthew 25, Jesus just tell people to depart, he tells the goats to depart INTO EVERLASTING FIRE prepared for the devil and his angels (25:41). The people in Matthew 7 were shocked to hear that from Jesus.

These people were not Hindus or Muslims but professing Christians who call Jesus Lord, are religious, work in the church, are engaged in ministry and do all kinds of things in Jesus name. Why don’t they get into heaven. What was wrong with these people? Let’s look at Matthew 7:23. There Jesus says, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

The problem with these people who were very religious (called Jesus Lord and did things in Jesus name) is that EVILDOERS. That is what Jesus called them. You can be religious and still be an evildoer. Look at the Muslim fanatics who are blowing up buildings and chopping people’s heads off. They are very religious but they are also evildoers. It’s one thing to be religious. It’s another thing to be moral. God is not impressed with people who are religious and immoral at the same time.

This point was brought out very clearly in the OT (Isaiah 1:10-17). You can also profess the name of Christ, claim to be a Christian, get baptized, work in the church and live a life of sin (cf. Titus 1:16; I John 2:3-4). James says that faith without works is DEAD (2:14-26). It does absolutely no good. It saves no one.

 People Who are  Saved Never Commit Apostasy

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” There are several questions that I want to ask about this verse.

John 3:16 and Perseverance

1)  How do you get eternal life?

John 3:16 says very clearly that eternal life can be received simply by believing in Christ.  It does not say that you have to do good works to earn your salvation.

2)  Who gets eternal life?

Eternal life is offered to everyone.  John 3:16 says “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”

3)  What does it mean to believe?

How do you know if you have believed? Is believing in Christ the same thing as believing that George Washington was the first President? Saving faith is not just intellectual or academic or mental. The demons have that kind of faith. They believe that Jesus is the Son of God but they are still demons. Faith involves knowledge but it also involves trust. It is not belief ABOUT Christ but trust IN Christ that saves the soul.

Knowing who Jesus is saves no one. You have to first believe that you need to be saved and ask him to save you. You can be dying and have medicine that will save you. Knowing the medicine will treat your disease and how effective it is does you no good unless you take it. Knowing Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world does you no good unless you personally ask him to save you from sin.

4)  Does believe mean believe one time only?

Most people do not realize that the word believe in John 3:16 is in the present tense in Greek. That generally means a continual process, not just a one-time act of faith.

5)  What happens if you stop believing?

What if you make a profession of faith and were even baptized but later become a total atheist. Are people saved who used to believe but no longer believe?  Some say that they are. Charles Stanley, a famous Baptist pastor, wrote a book on eternal security. It is in our church library. He says they are still saved. He’s wrong.

The Bible says that you are saved IF YOU CONTINUE TO BELIEVE. Some people do not know this but it is what the Bible says, not once but over and over again (cf. I Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:23; Hebrews 3:6; 12-14; I John 2:24).

The Bible says that people who commit apostasy will be lost (Matthew 24:13; II Timothy 2:12). Apostasy is not the same thing as backsliding or falling into sin. Apostasy takes place when you completely renounce the Bible and the Christian faith and say, “I don’t believe it anymore. I am no longer a Christian”.

It is total and permanent. There are many reasons why this happens (false teaching, persecution, temptation to sin, weak faith). How many students who go off to college give up their faith and never get it back? Those kind of people are not saved and will not be in heaven.

Let’s go back to John 10. Last week we saw this great promise of eternal security. Jesus says this group of people will never and can never perish but who are these people? What does Jesus say about them? They listen to Christ’s voice and follow him (10:27) and in Greek this is in the PRESENT TENSE. It is something that is continuous and habitual. If you no longer follow Christ or listen to his voice and haven’t done so for thirty years, then the promise of John 10:28 doesn’t apply to you. You are not one of his sheep.

6)  Will a true believer commit apostasy?

No. The reason that they do not commit this sin is that God keeps them from this sin. We are kept BY THE POWER OF GOD and not by our own power (I Peter 1:4-5 KJV; Jude 24; cf. I John 2:19; Hebrews 10:36-39). That makes sense in light of John 10, because remember that we’re in Christ’s hand. He is holding our hand, we are not holding his. But that does not mean that we do not take these warnings seriously.

Doctrine of Eternal Security – Part I

Tonight, we want to try to answer several questions: Can Christians lose their salvation? Can a saved person ever become lost? Does the Bible teach “Once saved, Always Saved” It is a very controversial question. This is a question that has divided the body of Christ but it is important to know what the Bible teaches on this subject. This may be one of the most important questions anyone can ask.

Churches that are part of the Arminian/Wesleyan/Holiness tradition (Methodist, Nazarene, Mennonite, Pentecostal, Assemblies of God) believe that Christians can lose their salvation. Churches in the Reformed or Presbyterian tradition believe in the “once saved, always saved” (OSAS) doctrine.

Most Baptists believe in eternal security, especially Southern Baptists, but not all Baptists accept this. There are Free Will Baptists who do not believe in eternal security. They are a strange species of Baptists.

Both sides have very good verses. If you think that you can’t lose your salvation, Arminians can show you some pretty convincing verses that say you can. If you think that you can lose your salvation, Calvinists can show you some pretty powerful promises in Scripture that make this impossibility. Which side is right?

I believe that one side is right but there are elements of truth on both sides. Arminians focus on the warnings in Scripture and there are real warnings. Calvinists generally focus on the promises in Scripture. What we need to do is to believe both the promises and the warnings.

I am going to summarize what the Bible teaches in four main points. There are many misunderstandings about what the Bible really does teach on this topic. You need to understand all four of these points. If you stop at the first point, you can easily be lead into error or come to a wrong conclusion. If you come from an Arminian background, try to listen to all four points. Don’t get hung up on the first point. Many of your questions will be answered in the other four points.

People who Believe in Christ are Eternally Secure.

I want to give you three passages which give proof for the doctrine of eternal security. There are many other passages we could look at but these three present an excellent case for the position. If they do not convince you, I doubt four other passages would as well.

John 10:28-30

This is a passage that has been abused and we will come back to it later and see what it does not say but what it does say is pretty amazing. Jesus says several things about his sheep. He says, “I give them eternal life”. Eternal life is a gift. It is not earned. The only condition in John is to believe. Thirty-five times in John faith is the only condition of salvation (e.g., 3:18, 16; 5:24). Jesus says, “I give them eternal life”.

That proves Jesus is God. Only God can give someone eternal life. If you notice, Jesus does not say, “I give them six months life or ten years life” but “eternal life” (life that lasts forever). On top of that, eternal life is something that we can have right now, not something that we get when we die”. It is a present possession. Notice the present tense verb in John 5:24.

Then Jesus says, “and they shall never perish”. In fact, in Greek it is a double negative (never ever by any means perish). In English, you are not supposed to use a double negative. In Greek you use a double negative to emphasize something. Jesus uses the strongest possible language to say that his sheep will never perish – None of them.

Jesus didn’t say that some of them will perish and some of them will not perish. He didn’t say that they might not perish. He said that they will NEVER perish. In ANY of his sheep ever perish (and Arminians believe that in fact MANY of them will perish), then Jesus would not have used the double negative here to make absolute emphasis that they will not perish.

The Jesus says that “no one can snatch them out of my hand” (10:28b). The KJV says “to pluck.” The Greek word means to take something suddenly and violently. Arminians say, “while no one can snatch us out of his hand, we can jump out. We have free will” but there are several problems here.

  • Jesus said, “no one can snatch them out of my hand” and no one means NO ONE. In 10:28 he said, “No one WILL snatch them”. In 10:29 he says, “No one CAN snatch them”, as if to say, “Not only won’t this happen, it can’t happen”.
  • Jesus already said, “they will NEVER perish” (double negative). If they jump out of his hand and perish, this would not be true.
  • We are not holding on to Jesus’ hand, like a little child holding their parents hand as it crosses the street. He is holding on to us. He is not in our hand. We are in his hand and we are not just in Jesus’ hand, we are in the Father’s hand (10:28, 29). We are doubly protected.
  • Jesus says, “my Father is greater than all” (10:29). Does the all include the sheep? Of course, it does. For the sheep to jump out they would have to be stronger than the Father and Jesus would have to be a bad shepherd (cf. 10:11). What shepherd would protect the sheep from wolves but let them wander anywhere they want and do whatever they want? He wouldn’t be a good shepherd if he didn’t restore them when they wander.

John 6:37-44

This passage teaches five important things about Christians in relation to eternal security.

1. Believers are a gift from the Father to the Son (6:37).

John 6:37 says, “All that the Father GIVES ME will come to me”. In John 10:29 Jesus said about his sheep, “My Father, who has GIVEN them to me, is greater than all”. Every Christian is a gift from the Father to the Son.

2. ALL that the Father gives Jesus will come to him (6:37).

It is a certainty. They will come to Christ, they are drawn to Christ, not by the Son but by the Father (6:44).

3. When they come to Jesus, He always accepts them (6:37).

He doesn’t reject or refuse anyone who comes to him. NIV says, “and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” Jesus will not turn any of them away.” He accepts them, regardless of their background, regardless of their past, regardless of what terrible things they have done (cf. 6:40). He says this in the strongest of terms. Jesus uses another double negative here to emphasize this fact – “I will by no means never ever cast him out”.

4. Jesus doesn’t lose any who come to Him (6:39).

None of the sheep are lost (cf. John 18:8-9).

5. The sheep will be raised up on the last day (6:40, 44).

Jesus himself will raise them. So the Father gives them to the Son. They come to the Son. The Son accepts and keeps them.

Romans 8:28-30

Paul describes the chain of salvation. It is a chain made up of five links (foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, glorification). The links starts in the past before the world began and goes all the way into the future. . What is important to note about this chain is that none of the links are broken.

Those that God foreknew were predestined. The predestined were called. The called were justified and the justified were glorified. Paul does not say that “some of those justified were glorified” or “most of them were glorified”. The OSAS doctrine makes since here, because all of the justified will one day be glorified (cf. Philippians 1:6).

Not Everyone is Saved who Claims to be Saved.

This second point is extremely important. A classic example of this is Judas. What do we know about Judas?

Judas: Case Study

1) He made a PROFESSION of faith

He claimed to believe in Jesus and told other to believe in Jesus as well.

2) He even had an official POSITION

He was an Apostle of Jesus Christ. There were only twelve of them on the planet.

3) He had tremendous PRIVILEGES

He got to travel with Jesus for three whole years, hear everything he taught and see his actual miracles. That was a special privilege. Not everyone got to do that.

4) He was given special POWERS

He had special powers as an apostle of Jesus Christ.  Jesus gave special powers, not just to some but to all of the apostles, including Judas (Matthew 10:1) – the power to cast out demons and to heal EVERY disease and sickness. That power was given to ALL of the Apostles.

5) He was PRAISED

Judas was a well respected as an important follower of Jesus, so much so that they put him in charge of the money (John 12:6).  You don’t just put anyone in charge of money. You only put someone you can trust in that position.

What happened to him? He became a traitor. He betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver and then went out and hung himself. There are some Charismatic and Pentecostal groups who are going around teaching that Judas was a Christian who LOST his salvation, because he betrayed Christ. Some have even said he lost his salvation because he committed suicide. How could a disciple of Christ end up on hell? Did Judas lose his salvation?

The question assumes that he was saved in the first place. Was Judas saved? There are many reasons why people think he might have been saved. He was a disciple of Jesus (Luke 6:13). How could any of the disciples of Jesus end up in hell (Mark 14:21)? Being a disciple simply means being a follower of Jesus. It does not necessarily mean that you are saved. In fact, in John 2:11 after his first miracle many of Jesus’ disciples believed in him for the first time.

Was Judas Saved?

1) Jesus called him a devil (John 6:70). This was BEFORE he betrayed him.

2) Jesus called him an unbeliever (John 6:64a).

3) The Bible says that he was a thief (John 12:6).

That says something about his character.  Paul said in I Corinthians 6:9-10 that no thief would enter the kingdom. Former thieves could enter the kingdom that that is why Paul said “and such was some of you”.  It is also why one of the thieves on the cross died entered the kingdom.  He repented and got saved before his death but no one who dies as a thief will enter the kingdom.

4) Jesus called him “a son of perdition” or “a child of hell” (John 17:12), a term that is used for the Antichrist (II Thessalonians 2:3).

5) Jesus called him unclean in John 13:11 because he had not experienced the cleaning of salvation.  Judas was the dirty disciple.

6) Jesus said that it would have been better if he were never even born (Mark 14:21)

7) He is called the son of perdition (John 17:12). Jesus says that one of the Twelve was not clean or saved (John 13:10). This was stated BEFORE he betrayed Jesus.

The lesson we learn from Judas is that you can think you are saved and not be saved. Everyone else can think you are saved and you may still not be saved. In fact, you may go to church every week and not be saved. You may even hold a position in church (elder, deacon, Sunday School teacher) and not be saved.

Did Judas Repent?

On the surface, it looks like Judas did repent of his sin.  He showed several signs of repentance.

1) He acknowledged that Jesus was completely innocent.

He acknowledged that he had betrayed “innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4).

2) He confessed his sin.

He said, “I have sinned”.  He took full responsibility for what he did.  He didn’t blame anyone for his actions.  By itself, this means very little. King Saul said “I have sinned”.  Many hard core criminals will also say these words.

3) He felt sorry for what he did.

Some versions read that Judas “repented” (KJV) in Matthew 27:3 but the Greek word used there (μεταμελομαι) is not the normal word for repentance.  While it can refer to repentance (Matthew 21:29), it generally just means remorse or regret.  Judas was sorry for what he had done.

4) He returned the money (Matthew 27:5).

He could have kept it for himself but he did not do that.  He returned it to the authorities.  What we do not see Judas ever do is to confess his sin to God or ask to be forgiven, like King David did when he sinned.  Nor do we see it result in a changed life.  Instead, it resulted in death.

He went out and hanged himself.  His actions only resulted in despair and death, not forgiveness, peace and a changed life.  Paul says that true repentance does not result in death (II Corinthians 7:10).  It is worthwhile to compare Judas’ so-called repentance with Peter’s repentance.  Both were sorry for what they had done but only one experienced biblical repentance.

Matthew 7:21-23

Let’s read one of the scariest things Jesus ever said. It is found in Matthew 7:21-23. What Jesus says here is shocking. Let me point out a couple of things about these people.

1) They are professing Christians.

He isn’t talking to Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims. “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy IN YOUR NAME, and IN YOUR NAME drive out demons and perform many miracles?’” These people call Jesus Lord. They don’t just call him “rabbi” or “great teacher”. They call him Lord. They do things “in Jesus’ name”. That is mentioned two or three times.

2) They believe the right things about Jesus.

They know who Jesus is.  They know that He is Lord. They are doctrinally orthodox. They believe the right things. They acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ.

3) They are religious.

They go to church. They are church members.  They are outwardly religious individuals.

4) They are church workers.

They are engaged in actual ministry. There are some things they are doing for Jesus (preaching, prophesying, miracles, casting out demons, teaching as SS class, VBS, AWANA). They weren’t lazy. They actually did some things and they did not just do little things for Jesus. They did some big things. They cast out demons. They performed miracles. They didn’t just preach, they uttered real prophecies. Jesus didn’t deny that they did these things. They may have had a successful ministry in the eyes of men.

What does Jesus say to them? Jesus says, not just “depart” but “Depart from ME”. I never knew you and they are shocked. They expected to be in heaven. Jesus said that MANY people will be shocked. He didn’t say that there would be a couple of people who say this. There will be lots of them. Wow! Jesus said that there will be MANY church workers who will not be in heaven and they will be surprised when this takes place. II Thess. 1:8-9

A month or two ago I had an interaction with a professing Christian who made an anti-Semitic comment. I responded that Jesus was also Jewish. He responded, “Yes but Jesus is my homie”. I was thinking to myself, Jesus is not your homie. He is your Creator and one day he will be your Judge. He will be the one who will decide whether you go to heaven or hell. Many who think that Jesus is their homie will one day discover that he doesn’t even know them and doesn’t want to have anything to do with them.

They seemed to know Jesus (called him Lord) but he did not know them. Did these people lose their salvation, as some teach? No. They were never saved in the first place. He said, “I NEVER knew you”. He didn’t say, “I used to know you but now I don’t. We used to be close but not anymore.” Of course, Jesus knows everyone. What this means is that he never knew them in personal relationship. Jesus knows his sheep (John 10; II Timothy 2:19).

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven You have to call Jesus Lord to be saved. Jesus didn’t say, “No one who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom”. However, a mere profession of Jesus as Savior and Lord does not save anyone.

Just because you have joined a church and go every week doesn’t mean you are saved. Just because you are from in a Christian family doesn’t mean you are saved. Just because you have been baptized doesn’t mean you are saved.

Just because you have taught Sunday school for fifty years doesn’t mean you are saved. Religion doesn’t save people. The Pharisees who crucified Christ were religious people. Muslim terrorists who are devoted to killing innocent people are religious people. That is why we need to examine ourselves to see if we are really saved (II Corinthians 13:5; II Peter 1:10).

Three Undeniable Proofs of the Resurrection

We are studying the resurrection of Christ. Last week, we looked at five naturalistic explanations of the resurrection by unbelievers. Today, I also want to look at proofs for the resurrection. Luke says that there are many convincing proofs of the resurrection (Acts. 1:3). Not only can we prove that Jesus rose from the dead, Luke says that there are MANY proofs of his resurrection (not just one or two) and the proofs are strong.

The Greek word that he uses is proofs indicates the strongest type of legal evidence.  In today’s language, it would mean “beyond a reasonable doubt”. There was solid evidence for the resurrection. Unfortunately, many Christians today do not know what the proofs are.

Evidence for the Resurrection

What is the evidence of the resurrection? Let me share with you three proofs of the resurrection that no critic can deny.

Proof One – Jesus’ Tomb was Empty

The first proof of the resurrection was the empty tomb. It is mentioned in all four of the Gospels. The tomb was empty on Easter morning. That is a fact that no critic can deny. If anyone does deny it, ask them, Where is the body of Jesus? It has never been found. Opponents of Christianity have not really denied this. They simply said that the disciples must have stolen the body (Jewish response) while the guards were sleeping (Roman response).

Proof Two – The Early Church Believed Jesus Rose from the Dead

This is a fact that no critic can deny. Even the most skeptical NT scholar has to admit that the early church believed that Jesus rose from the dead. In fact, not only did they believe it, they were willing to risk their entire life on it. They were willing to die and be martyred for this belief.

The question then becomes, Where did this faith come from? How did the early Christians get this strong faith in the resurrection of Jesus? How did then come to believe this? It did not come from contemporary Judaism. One could say that the early Christians must have been very gullible but, as we have seen, this was not the case. Some of them were very skeptical (Thomas) and slow to believe the message (Apostles).

Proof Three – People Claimed to See Jesus

This is a fact which no critic can deny. The earliest Christians had experiences which they believed were literal appearances of the resurrected Christ. This is the primary proof of the resurrection in the NT. What convinced the early Christians was NOT the empty tomb. What convinced them were the appearances.

The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus

1) Jesus appeared multiple times to people

He did not just appear once.  There are eleven appearances of Jesus within a forty day time period between his resurrection and ascension. Jesus appeared five times on Easter Sunday. Five of those eleven appearances took place on Easter Sunday.  Some people saw Jesus more than once.  Peter saw him six times.

2) Jesus appeared in different geographic locations

He appeared in the city of Jerusalem.  He appeared in Emmaus (seven miles away).  He also appeared in Galilee (eighty miles to the north).

3) He appeared to men and women

Jesus appeared to both genders.  The women saw him first.  He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.

4) He appeared to individuals and groups of people

Jesus appeared to individuals but most of His appearances were to groups of people.  He appeared to both large groups and small groups of people.

5) He appeared to both friends and enemies.

Jesus didn’t just appear to his friends either. He appeared to Paul, who was at the time an enemy of Christians and a persecutor of the church (after the forty days, appearance number twelve). He even appeared to one skeptic – Thomas. Thomas was a complete skeptic, as we will see.

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.  Then he appearance to the rest of the women on their way back from the tomb. He appeared to Peter and the two from Emmaus in the afternoon and he appeared to the ten Apostles in John 20. There were only ten apostles there. Judas was not with them, because he was dead and Thomas was not there either. We don’t know where he was.

There is a very important lesson from this. When you are not with God’s people (don’t come to church or skip small group), you miss out. Thomas was not with the Apostles. Jesus appeared to all of them and he missed it. Jesus appeared five times on Easter Sunday and then did not appear to anyone for a whole week.

Eight days later, Jesus appeared to the Apostles again and this time Thomas was with them (John 20:26-29). What was Thomas’ reaction to all of the appearances? He doubted that they took place. It is easy to criticize Thomas here but we have to remember that all of the other Apostles had the same reaction (Mark 16:9-14).

Is Doubting Thomas a Good Role Model?

Thomas did not believe the other apostles that Jesus rose from the dead and said that he would not believe them until he saw the risen Jesus himself. In fact, what he actually said was, ““I will not believe unless I stick my finger in the hole in his hand and put my hand in his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). We call him Doubting Thomas today.

Is Thomas a good role model for us today? Is anyone here a Thomas? How many think that Thomas was right to doubt? Is it okay to be a doubter? How many think that Thomas was wrong to doubt? Both are actually right.

Thomas is one of the most fascinating of the Apostles. He had some good qualities. Many things about Thomas are commendable. There are some things about Thomas that I like.  In some ways, we should be like Thomas.

Positive Aspects of Doubting Thomas

1)  He didn’t just jump to conclusions.

2)  He didn’t just follow the crowd.

3)  He wasn’t gullible or naïve (Prov.14:15).

4)  He thought for himself. He was an independent thinker.

5)  He used reason and logic, rather than just emotions.

6)  He demanded proof. Faith had to be based on evidence.

7)  He asked questions, rather than just taking everything at face-value.

It’s good to ask questions, as long as they are genuine questions.  Some ask questions, not to get information, but just to argue.  The Bible does speak of “foolish questions” (II Timothy 2:23; Titus 3:9).  Questions by themselves are good, not bad.  We are commanded to love God with our mind as well as with our heart.

However, some things about Thomas are not good. There are some things about Thomas that I do not like.

Negative Aspects of Doubting Thomas

1) Thomas was not just a doubter. He was an UNBELIEVER

That is what Jesus called him. He said, “Do not be unbelieving but believing” (20:27). Was Thomas a believer? You say, of course he was. He was an apostle but Judas was an apostle and he was not a believer but at this point he did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

2)  Thomas was NOT really open-minded

He is not a sincere seeker. He was not open to all of the evidence. He had all kinds of evidence staring him in the face. He had the TESTIMONY of the women, the nine other Apostles who had seen Jesus and he had the FACT of the empty tomb but he refused to believe it, just like many people today who do not believe despite an abundance of evidence.

We have atheists who do not believe in God, although the evidence is overwhelming. John and Peter at least checked out the women’s story of the empty tomb. They ran to the tomb to check it out. Thomas refuses to believe, despite the evidence. It did not matter how many apostles told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, he didn’t believe. “If Jesus really rose from the dead, how come I haven’t seen him? I am an Apostle too”.

3) Thomas refused to believe unless he has PHYSICAL PROOF

He demanded proof and the proof had to be visual and tactile. He wanted to both see Jesus and touch Jesus himself before he would believe he rose from the dead. There are millions of people in the world today just like Thomas. There are many scientists today who are unbelievers because they based everything on empiricism. Anything that cannot be seen, measured and empirically analyzed is rejected.

Belief in God is rejected, because it can be proven empirically. Belief in heaven and hell is also rejected. Belief that we all have a soul inside us is also rejected. Thomas has become the patron saint of skeptics (cf. John 4:48). How many of us believe in Jesus? All of us. How many of us have actually seen Jesus? None of us.

4) He TESTED God

If God is really up there, let him do this or that and then I will believe”. In Greek he uses a double negative, which is the way to emphasize things. It is like he said, “There is no way in the world that I will believe he rose from the dead, unless I stick my finger in the hole in his hand and put my hand in his side.” “I won’t believe in God unless he heals me of my cancer”. Usually God does not respond to things like this but in this case he did. The Bible tells us not to do this. It says, “You shalt not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7).

Despite his unbelief, Jesus appears to Thomas and doubting Thomas became confessing Thomas (John 20:28). He appeared to him a second time in John 21 and a third time in Acts 1, so he had at least three appearances of Jesus. Incidentally, we learn something else here about the resurrected body of Christ. Jesus had a glorified body.

He was able to walk right through a locked door (John 20:19, 26 Luke 24:36). His body could appear and disappear (Luke 24:31) but he was not always bright and shining like the sun. Here Mary is talking right to him and mistakes him for the gardener, just as the two disciples walking to Emmaus mistook Jesus for just another traveler. His body also retains its scars (cf. Revelation 5:6). He still had the wound in his hands and side. Our resurrected body will not retain our scars. It will be perfect.

Proof Four – Lives Were Changed

This is also a fact that no critic can deny. What turned Peter from a coward, who fled at the scene of the arrest, denied Christ and trembled at the presence of a servant girl into a bold preacher of the gospel who was eventually martyred for his faith?

What turned the Apostle Paul from the great persecutor of the church to a great preacher, missionary, author of two-thirds of the NT and eventually a martyr. The good thing about giving your testimony about how God has completely changed and transformed your life after salvation is that no one can argue with it. People can argue with this passage or that passage but they can’t argue with a changed life.

Answering Objections to the Resurrection

Can the Resurrection of Jesus be explained naturally?  I would like to examine with you several classic non-miraculous explanations of the resurrection.  We will critique each one.  This is not original to me.  What I am going to share with you is very well known in apologetic circles but not everyone is familiar with this information.

Explanation #1: Jesus did not die on the cross

The apparent death theory says that Jesus did not really die on the cross.  This view was more common in the 18th and 19th century than it is today but, even today, this theory is not dead.  If you think that no one really believes this today, you are wrong.  The author of The Passover Plot (1965) held this view. Many Muslims believe this as well.  The Koran says that Jesus did not die on the cross.  Surah 4:157 of the Koran says:

“That they said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’ but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.”

This explanation says that Jesus just loss consciousness and fainted, due to the loss of blood.  This is usually called the swoon theory.  To swoon is to faint.   This theory says that Jesus fainted on the cross.  People thought he was dead and took him down from the cross.   While he was in the cool tomb, the healing ointments and strong scented spices, helped to revive him.  When he appeared to his disciples, they were so stupid that they thought he rose from the dead.

There are a couple reasons why people might believe this theory.  This did happen in the ancient world.  It was rare but it did happen.[2] Keep also in mind that Jesus was only on the cross for six hours.  When people were crucified, they did not die quickly.  It normally took two to three days for one to die by crucifixion.  Crucifixion was a slow painful death by asphyxiation or suffocation.  The victim stayed on the cross until he was unable through sheer exhaustion to push himself up to breathe.  The Romans often sped up the process by breaking the legs of the victim with a mallet.

This would prevent the person from pushing himself up to breathe.  It was a humane way of shortening the agony of crucifixion.  Interestingly, he NT tells that Jesus’ bones were NOT broken on the cross (John 19:30).  One top of this, the Bible says that Jesus uttered a LOUD voice just before he died (Matthew 27:46, 50; John 19:30).  Some would say that this proves that his strength was far from exhausted.

This theory look pretty good on the surface but there are some problems with it, big problems.  As you will see, it takes far more faith to believe this theory than it does to believe in the resurrection of Christ.

Problems With the Swoon Theory

The Wounds

Jesus should have been killed from his woundsThe heavy loss of blood makes death highly probable.  According to the Roman Centurion who oversaw the crucifixion, he was dead (Mark 15:43-45).  For more information on the medical aspects of Jesus’ crucifixion, you can read a study that was done by the Mayo Clinic[3].  There was another study done by the American Medical society in 1986[4].  His hands and feet were pierced.  His back was beaten with a whip with lead balls and sheep bones tied into leather thongs.  Many people died from the scourging alone.

His side was pierced with a spear.  He had a spear wound to the chest, which many physicians believe would have entered his heart and punctured his pericardium, a sac of water around the heart, because John 19:34 says that when they did this to Jesus blood and water came out.  This shows that Jesus’ lungs had collapsed.  Even if Jesus was still just alive after the crucifixion, he would not have been alive long.  Then Jesus is buried and goes without food and medical care the rest of Friday to Sunday.   Let’s say that he somehow survived this.  Stranger things have happened.

The Grave Clothes

Jesus would then have had to untangle the grave clothes. Jesus was wrapped in pieces of cloth and covered with 75 to 100 pounds of spices (John 19:39-40).

The Stone

There was a heavy stone at the entrance of the tomb that weighed one to two tons.  All of the Gospel writers mention this.  The women couldn’t move it and even if Jesus had survived crucifixion by some miracle, he would have been unable to move the stone by himself.  A half-dead swooning man could not have moved it.  Who moved the heavy stone? Even if by some miracle, Jesus was able to push the stone out of the way and get out, he had another problem.

The Soldiers

The tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers.  How could an unarmed swooning corpse overpower all of the Roman guards?  Let’s say somehow he was able to do this.  That leads us to our next problem.

Unrealistic

If Jesus was able to crawl out of the tomb half dead, walking on pierced feet and appear to his disciples after surviving the scourging, crucifixion, without food or water for several days, what would have been their reaction?  They would have felt sorry for him and tried to give him medical attention.  They would not get the impression that he raised from the dead.  Instead they would think that he somehow miraculously survived death but never died.

Implication

Had Jesus been able to somehow get past this problem and convinced his disciples that he had indeed raised from the dead when he had merely swooned, this would only make Jesus a deceiver and an impostor   This is not what proponents of the swoon theory believe.  This is not what Islam teaches about Jesus.

Unanswered Question

But, even if we get past all of these problems, we have one more problem and it is this.  What happened to the body of Jesus? Advocates of this theory have no answer.  They have to believe that he survived the crucifixion, made some appearances for forty days and then just completely disappeared and vanished without explanation.

Explanation #2: Jesus was not the one who died on the cross

A second explanation is called The Substitution Theory.  It is a widely held view in the Muslim world today.   According to this view, Jesus was not the one who died on the cross.  Advocates of this view believe that God caused someone else to appear to be Jesus and that a substitute died in his place. God would never have stood by watching while his enemies crucified his Son. One day you might encounter someone who actually believes this.  How would you answer this view?  What are some problems with this view?

Problems with the Substitution Theory

The Judas Factor

There is no room in the narrative for a substitute because of the Judas factor.  One of Jesus’ own Apostles turn Jesus in and he is in custody until his death.  There is no doubt that they got the right man, since he was turned in by a disgruntled apostle and identified by a kiss.  There is no time for anyone to take his place.

Implications for God

What does this theory make God out to be?  The substitution theory makes God out to be the source of the greatest deception in religious history.  It makes God out to be a deceiver.  According to this interpretation, God deceived mankind into thinking that Jesus was crucified when in fact he wasn’t?  Even Jesus’ mother, family members and closest followers were deceived into thinking Jesus died on the cross, according to this theory.  It makes God the author of the biggest hoax in history.  It is wrong about God.

 Implications for Jesus

What does it make Jesus out to be?  A false teacher.  Jesus was the one who said that he would be killed (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34). This theory makes Jesus out to be a deceiver as well.  It is wrong about Jesus.

 Implications for Salvation

What does this theory think of the cross?  The cross is seen as a bad thing, not as the means of salvation for the world.  This view says that God would never have stood by watching while his enemies crucified his Son.  God planned the crucifixion.  Not only did God allow the cross, He actually planned it.  It was his will for Jesus to suffer on the cross (Isaiah 53:10).  As Peter said in the NT Jesus was killed, not only by wicked hands, but by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). It is wrong about the cross.

Explanation #3: The Body of Jesus was Stolen

This was the earliest explanation of the resurrection (Matthew 28:12-15).  That was the official Jewish response to the resurrection. There are two basic elements of this theory.  First, this theory says that the disciples stole the body of Jesus (Theft Theory).  Second, the same disciples then went out and preached that Jesus rose from the dead, a deliberate fabrication, according to this theory, which they knew to be false (Conspiracy Theory).

Before we look at some problems with this theory, I want to ask this question.  Who could have possibly have wanted to steal the body of Jesus?  If anyone would have stolen the body who would it have been?  The Jews would not have stolen the body of Jesus.  They asked the Romans to guard it so it was not stolen.   The Romans would not have stolen it.

There was a Roman seal on the tomb and Roman guards, professional soldiers assigned to guard the tomb against theft.  They had opportunity but no motive.  The only ones who would have possibly stolen it were the Christians.  The argument goes that they stole the body to make it look like Jesus rose from the dead.  The questions is, Did they do that?  The answer is no.  There are several reasons the disciples did not steal the body to prove the resurrection.

Problems with the Theft Theory

No Motive

The disciples did not even believe in the resurrection.  The Apostles did not believe in the resurrection when Jesus announced it beforehand (cf. Luke 18:31-34).  They did not believe it afterwards when the women told them about it.  They thought they were crazy (Luke 24:11).  The disciples had no motive to steal the body, since they did not understand that Jesus was going to rise from the dead. The women went to the tomb carrying spices early Sunday morning to anoint a dead body (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1).

 No Opportunity

Even if they did understand this, there is no evidence that they had the courage to do this (the timid Galileans were in hiding from fear).  Nor is there any evidence that they had the opportunity to do this.  The tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers.

The claim is that the soldiers were sleeping when they stole the body.  It is unlikely that they were sleeping on the job.  It was an offense punishable by death for Roman soldiers to sleep on the job.  If they were sleeping, how do they know for sure that the disciples stole the body?  Even if they were sleeping, it is a little unlikely that they could have moved the stone and stolen the body without waking anyone up.

The Grave Clothes

John adds an important detail.  He says that the body of Jesus was gone but his grave clothes were left in the tomb (John 20:5-7).  If they did steal the body, they would have taken everything.  They would not have stolen the body completely naked.  They would have been in a hurry that that would be dishonoring to the body.

 Logical Implications

Even if you can explain all of these problems, you have to assume that the early Christians were simply liars and impostors   They were willing to risk being arrested, tortured and killed, beheaded or fed to lions for something that they know to be false.  Is it possible that they did this?  It is possible but highly unlikely.  People die for a lie all the time.  Look at all of the Muslim terrorist who blow themselves up for a lie but they don’t know it is a lie.

History has shown that people WILL give their lives for what they believe is true, but not for what they know is false.  This theory has the early Christians dying for something that they know to be false.  That involves a psychological miracle.  Whatever else you can say about the early Christians, they were not dishonest people.  They gave the world some of the highest ethical and moral teaching it has ever known.

The Appearances

This theory has no explanation for the appearances.  It is one thing to claim that the disciples stole the body of Jesus.  That might explain the empty tomb but it doesn’t explain any of the appearances of Jesus.

Explanation #4: The Apostles just thought they saw Jesus

This is called the Hallucination theory.  The appearances are simply visual hallucinations, induced by a state of excitement and pious enthusiasm.  They imagined that they saw and spoke with him.  What are some problems with this theory?

Problems with the Hallucination Theory

The Empty Tomb

It doesn’t explain the empty tomb at all, just the appearances. If they just saw hallucinations, then what happened to the body of Jesus?   Why is the tomb empty?  This theory has no explanation.  If the apostles had hallucinated and then spread their hallucinogenic story, the Jews would have stopped it by producing the body but they couldn’t do this, because the tomb was empty.

Not Anticipated

Hallucinations occur in people who are anticipating or on expecting something to take place.  The disciples did NOT expect Jesus to rise.  The women’s first thought on seeing the tomb open was NOT that Jesus had risen, but that the authorities had moved the body.  Faith in the resurrection did NOT create the appearances because the women who went to the tomb didn’t have any faith in the resurrection.  They were expecting to find a dead body to anoint.

When the women told the disciples about the resurrection, they didn’t believe them.  They thought they were crazy.  In fact, so far from anticipating and imaging that they were seeing Jesus, some who saw him did not even recognize him at first.  Two disciples walked seven miles, talking to Jesus, and they didn’t know who he was (Luke 24:13-16).  This is very interesting.  Why did Jesus disguise who he was for these seven miles?  Jesus wanted these two disciples to learn what the Scriptures taught FIRST before he revealed to them who he was.

Their eyes were not opened as to who he was (24:31) until he had first opened their Scriptures to them (24:32).  Jesus didn’t want their faith to be based just on experience but on the Scriptures.  In John 21, seven disciples went fishing.  Jesus began talking to them and they didn’t recognize him at first (John 21:1-13). Of course, he was also a hundred yards away.  There is a good application from that story.

The application is that should not trust ourselves.  They had fished all night and caught nothing.  What did Jesus say?  Without me you can do NOTHING (John 15:5).  They didn’t just fail, they worked hard and failed and they failed in the area that they had some expertise.  They felt proficient in this area.  These men were professional fishermen.  They knew how to fish.  They worked hard and saw no results (cf. Psalm 127:1).

Wrong Profile

Hallucinations usually occur in only certain types of people.  They occur in people who are mentally or emotionally unstable (paranoid or schizophrenic individuals).  Jesus didn’t just appear to a few impressionable or hysterical women.  He appeared to many different types of people.  He appeared not only to Mary Magdalene who had seven demons in her at one time (Luke 8:13) but also to some rugged fishermen and tax collectors.  He appeared to Paul who was highly educated.

Group Appearance

Hallucinations tend to be individual, private and personal.  They are subjective rather than collective.  Hallucinations are linked in an individual’s subconscious.  No two persons will experience the same hallucination.  Jesus appeared to groups of people, as well as to individuals.  Jesus appeared to five hundred people at once (I Corinthians 15:6).  This is even more remarkable than five hundred private “hallucinations” at different times and places of the same Jesus. Five hundred separate Elvis sightings may be dismissed, but if five hundred people saw, touched and talked with him in the same town at the same time, that would be a different matter.  It is impossible for five hundred people to have the same hallucination simultaneously.

Meals

Hallucinations do not eat (John 21:1-14; Luke 24:30). They had breakfast waiting on them.  The Lord Jesus made breakfast and was waiting for them on the shore.  Visions and hallucinations do not make breakfast.  The disciples not only saw Jesus, they heard him, walked with him, touched him and even ate with him.  He cooked for them.

Cessation

It also doesn’t explain why the appearances all stopped after forty days.  If they were just hallucinations, why didn’t they continue?

 Explanation #5: The Resurrection is a Myth

Perhaps the most popular theory against the resurrection today among skeptics and secular humanists is the view that the resurrection is a myth. It is just a legend that developed and evolved over time. They would argue that the worship of a dying and rising god comes from paganism (Tammuz in Mesopotamia, Adonis in Syria, Attis in Asia Minor, and Osiris in Egypt). This was propounded by Sir James Frazer, who gathered a mass of parallels in his monumental work The Golden Bough (1906, reprinted in 1961).

Is the resurrection a myth, just like the pagan gods Horus, Mithras, and Osiris? Did Christianity just borrow from pagan mystery religions? No. Modern biblical scholars have soundly refuted this which was more popular a hundred years ago.

Problems with the Myth Theory

False Analogy

Neither Horus, Mithras, and Osiris were historical persons. Jesus was. We can prove that he actually lived. He is mentioned by three secular historians in the first century. Two was Roman (Tacitus, Suetonius) and one was Jewish (Josephus) and none of them were even Christian. Jesus’ life and death were actual events in history. Since the pagan gods were not real persons, never really lived, never really died, they never really rose from the dead. In addition, none of the so-called pagan savior gods died for anyone else and they did not die for sin. That is a uniquely Christian belief.

The Empty Tomb

If the resurrection of Christ is all a myth, then why is the tomb empty? The resurrection was preached by the early Christians in the very city in which Jesus was killed only a few weeks after his death. It would have been very easy to disprove that message by the enemies of Christianity had the tomb not been empty.

The Eye Witnesses

The fact that there were all kinds of eye-witnesses to the event is evidence that the event is not a myth. When Paul wrote the Book of I Corinthians fifteen or twenty years later, many of the eye-witnesses were still alive and could be interviewed (15:6).

Internal Evidences of Authenticity

1)  The Appearance to Women

It is interesting to me who was the first person that Jesus appeared to after he rose from the dead. He appeared FIRST to Mary Magdalene when she was by herself (Mark 16:9; John 20:1-18). Mary had already been to the tomb two times. The second appearance of Jesus was to a group of women (Matthew 28:8-10). Jesus appeared to the women first, NOT to Peter or the Apostles, even though the Apostles were the foundation of the church. That is very significant. Why?

In the ancient world women were not legal witnesses. They could not testify in court. The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, said, “From women let no evidence be accepted, because of the levity and temerity of their sex”. Anyone who would try to make up a story of the resurrection in the first century would not have women to be the first witnesses of the resurrection. Their testimony was considered worthless. That is evidence that the story is genuine and that the Gospels are historical.

2)  Presence of Variations in the Narrative

The fact that we have four Gospels, not one and the fact that they are very different from one another is further evidence that the resurrection story is not a myth. How many women went to the tomb? Was it one (John), two (Matthew), three (Mark) or more (Luke)? Did they go when it was dark (John) or light (Mark)? Was the stone rolled away before they got there (Mark, Luke, John) or after (Matthew? Did they meet the angels inside the tomb (Mark, Luke, John) or outside the tomb (Matthew)? Were the angels sitting (Matthew, Mark, John) or standing (Luke)?

Did Mary Magdalene see an angel on her first trip to her tomb (Matthew, Mark, Luke) or did she not see an angel (John)? Did Peter learn about the resurrection (Luke) or just the empty tomb (John) from the women? Did the angels tell the women to go to Galilee (Matthew, Mark) or to stay in Jerusalem (Luke)? If anyone would want to make up the story of the resurrection, they would want to deliberately avoid any contradictions.

In a real court case, different witnesses would not describe the same incident in exactly the same way. If they did, one might think that there is a conspiracy. Minor variations in the story are not necessarily contradictions. They are actually evidence that the narrative is truthful. None of the four Gospels were interested in giving a complete history of everything that happened that morning.


[1] B.B. Warfield, “The Risen Jesus,” http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/bbwrisenjesus.htm

[2] Josephus, The Life of Flavius Josephus 75; Herodotus, History of the Persian Wars vii, 194.

[3] www.frugalsites.net/jesus/crucifixion.htm

[4] Edwards, William D., Wesley J. Gabel, and Floyd E. Hosmer (1986), “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” Journal of American Medical Association, 256:1455-1463, March 21.  Other resources are cited at http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/119.

Jesus Forsaken by God

On Good Friday, we remembered the sufferings and death of Christ.  Crucifixion was one of the most barbaric forms of punishment in the ancient world. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, described crucifixion as “the most wretched of deaths.” It was viewed with such horror that, Seneca wrote that suicide was preferable to crucifixion.

Jesus was on the cross for six hours. We know that because Mark tells us that he began to be crucified at the third hour (15:26) and he died just after the ninth hour (15:34). That is six hours but those six hours can be divided into two parts.

The first three hours were in the morning from nine to twelve noon. The second three hours were in the afternoon from noon to three PM. The first three hours were in the day light. The last three hours were in darkness. At noon when the Sun normally shines its brightest stopped shinning. There was darkness all over the land.

In the first three hours, the focus is on Jesus enduring THE WRATH OF MAN, how he suffered at the hands of man. That is when we see the mocking of Jesus, casting lots for his clothes, asking if he is the Messiah to come down from the cross (Mark 15:26-31; Matthew 27:32-44).

In the second three hours, the focus is on Jesus enduring THE WRATH OF GOD, how He suffered at the hands of God. Christ’s biggest suffering on the cross was not at the hands of men but at the hands of God. That is what the movie “The Passion of the Christ” could not show.

Seven Powerful Words of Jesus

They are called “The Seven Words” by Christians but they are really seven sentences, not seven words.  The first three sayings were given in the first three hours on the cross. The first three were words of love. They are followed by two words of suffering and two words of victory.

1. The First Word was a WORD OF FORGIVENESS.

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. (Luke 23:33-34 NIV)

Jesus spoke that word as the Son speaking to His Father.  It was a word of forgiveness for his ENEMIES, a word for those who did not deserve it. His first words after being nailed to a cross were words of forgiveness.  Technically, this is not forgiveness but a prayer for forgiveness.

Jesus did not say, “I forgive you.”  He did not say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” even though the Son of Man had authority on earth to forgive sins (Mark 2:10).  If Jesus did that and unconditionally forgave them, they would not need to repent or believe to be saved.  At Pentecost, Peter spoke to people and accused them of crucifying their Messiah.  He told them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:38).

It is not a statement of forgiveness but a prayer and this prayer was answered on the Day of Pentecost.  We can learn from what Jesus does here by this prayer.  Jesus prays that they would be forgiven.  He actually prays for his murderers. These were words spoken from the cross and not twenty years later. These were words spoken in excruciating pain. Jesus died with a prayer of forgiveness. Jesus thought of others in his time of greatest need.

2. The Second Word was a WORD OF SALVATION.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?

We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  (Luke 23:39-43 NIV)

This was a word of salvation to the repentant thief. Jesus spoke that word as the Savior.  It was a word of prophecy.  It was a PROMISE as well as a PREDICTION.  It was a promise of heaven given to a convicted felon who was dying.  It was completely undeserved.  This man had done nothing to merit paradise.  It was a word of complete grace.

3. The Third Word was a WORD OF COMPASSION.

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:26-27 NIV).

Jesus spoke that word as a Man.  This saying was spoken to both Mary his mother and John his disciple.  He spoke a word of compassion to his mother. He expressed concern for his mom after he died and wanted to make sure that she was taken care of. He provides a caregiver for his mother before he dies.  Jesus is obeying the Fifth Commandment.

4. The Fourth Word was a WORD OF ANGUISH.

And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a LOUD voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34 NIV).  The second three hours emphasizes the work of atonement.  It focuses on Jesus bearing the sins of the world.  Jesus experienced separation from God for the first time ever.  This was not a word of despair, as we will see, but a word of anguish.

5. The Fifth Word was a WORD OF PAIN.

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28 NIV).  The fourth and fifth words are words of pain. “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” deals with emotional and spiritual pain.  “I thirst” deals with physical pain.

Jesus does not complain about his scourging.  He does not complain about the nails in his wrist or feet.  He does not complain about the crown of thorns.

His only complaint was about being thirsty and he did that so the Scripture would be fulfilled.  It is the one word that shows the humanity of Jesus more than the others.  The last time he had a drink was before his crucifixion.

6. The Sixth Word was a WORD OF ACCOMPLISHMENT.

A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30 NIV).

Jesus completed the mission God gave Him to do.  The debt to sin was fully paid.  “It is finished” was a shout of triumph.  He does not say, “I am finished.”  He says, “It is finished.”

7. The Seventh Word was a WORD OF SUBMISSION.

Jesus called out with a LOUD voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46 NIV).  The last two words were spoken second before he died.  The words “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” were the last words Jesus spoke before he died, as Jesus surrenders to the will of the father in His last breath.

What I would like to focus on this evening is the fourth saying of Jesus on the cross – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Ever since I became a Christian, this saying has always fascinated me. What does it mean? I always assumed that we will just never know what that means. It is one of the great mysteries of the Bible.

Even the great Martin Luther said of this saying, “God forsaken of God, Who can understand it?” He’s absolutely right but tonight, we want to try to shed some light on this. What did He mean?  It is the most mysterious and perhaps misunderstood of the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross.

The Most Important Saying of Jesus on the Cross

The Fourth Word is different from the other six. It was accompanied by total darkness. “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land” (Matthew 27:45 NIV).   The darkness came when the Sun normally shines the brightest.  It was not gradual but sudden.  As one person put it, “It was just like someone turned out the lights.”  It also covered the whole land.

The saying was also spoken in a loud voice.  Most people when they are about to die speak in a whisper. Jesus has been on the cross for six hours with nails through his hands and feet. He is being asphyxiated. He is dehydrated. He is in incredible pain. He is just about ready to die and he says this in a loud voice.  Several things make this saying unique.

1) It is the ONLY saying of Christ on the cross that is repeated.

All of the other sayings are mentioned only once. Apparently, this one was important enough to repeat.

2) It is the ONLY saying of Christ mentioned in three languages.

Mark records the saying in Aramaic – Eloi, Eloi (my God), lema (why) sabachthani? (have you forsaken me). Matthew records a mixture of both Hebrew (Eli, Eli) and Aramaic (lema sabachthani) and both have a Greek translation for the people who do not know Aramaic or Hebrew.

Why did they record the words in Aramaic? Because that was the language Jesus spoke. Jesus didn’t speak English. Aramaic was his native tongue. That is why the Passion of the Christ is in Aramaic.

There are many Aramaic words in the NT (raca, mammon, Rabboni, Gologotha, maranatha, Gethsemane, Cephas). When we hear the words in Aramaic, it puts us right there at the foot of the cross, so we can hear the actual words coming out of his mouth.

3) It is the ONLY saying of Jesus on the cross that is found in two Gospels.

By reading all of the Gospels, we know that Jesus said seven sayings on the cross but if we only read Matthew or Mark, we would think this was his only saying on the cross, because this was the only one they record,  Mark was the first Gospel to be written.

None of the Gospels record all seven sayings. Matthew and Mark have only one saying (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Apparently, they thought this was the most important saying of all seven. Luke mentions three other sayings (23:34, 43, 46) and John (19:26-27, 28, 30) mentions three other sayings.

Meaning of this Saying

What did Jesus mean when he said, “My God, my God, why have you FORSAKEN me? Was Jesus really forsaken? He was rejected by the nation and forsaken by his followers, his family and friends. Two of his disciples turned on his. Peter denied him. Judas betrayed him. At the time of his arrest, all his disciples deserted him and ran away (Mark 14:50).

But Jesus does not say, “My God, my God, why have THEY forsaken me? He says, “My God, my God, why have YOU forsaken me? Did God really forsake Jesus on the cross? Yes. He didn’t just think he was forsaken or feel forsaken. He was forsaken. Jesus said he was forsaken. He never lied.

Notice, while God forsook Jesus, Jesus never forsook God. He doesn’t die cursing God or renouncing God. He still calls him God and not just God but his God (“MY GOD, MY GOD, why have you forsaken me?).

He was submissive to God the Father even until his last breath. Now before he died, Jesus said that the Father was WITH him (John 3:2; 8:29; 16:32). The question is why would the Father who LOVED the Son (John 3:35; 5:20; 10:17; 17:24) and was WELL PLEASED with the Son (Matthew 3:17) and was WITH the Son before the cross, forsake and abandon the Son while He was on the cross in his hour of greatest need, his darkest hour?

1. His Death was a Sacrifice for Sin

The only thing that separates us from God is sin. He died as a sacrifice for sin, as an offering for sin. Because Jesus was a sacrifice for sin, the Father had to forsake him. The cross was a judgment on sin. Jesus was under a curse on the cross because of sin (cf. Galatians 3:13).

Paul said that Jesus who knew no sin became sin on the cross so that we might become the righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21). What did he mean that Jesus became sin? He did not become actual sin. Jesus was not a practicing sinner on the cross.

He was made sin for us but he was not made a sinner for us. It was not an infusion of sin. It was an imputation of sin. Our sin was put to his account. He never committed a sin personally. He “knew no sin”. He was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). Jesus was made sin for us, not personally but substitutionally.

The interesting thing is the time that he died. Jesus died at the time of the Passover, which only happened once a year. He died at the NINTH hour. According to Josephus , the ninth hour was the very hour that the Passover lambs were to be killed in the Temple. Jesus died as our Passover lamb (I Corinthians 5:7). John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)

2. His Death was a Substitute for Sinners.

He died for OUR sins, not his own. That is the gospel, that Christ died “FOR our sins according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:4). He was pierced for OUR transgressions, crushed for OUR iniquities (Isaiah 53:5), not his own. God laid on him OUR iniquity (Isaiah 53:6). He bore OUR sins in his body on the tree (I Peter 2:24).

He died FOR sins as a substitute – just FOR the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous (I Peter 3:18). He took our place. He bore the punishment we deserve. He was forsaken by God for you’re your sins and for mine. Let’s think about that for a minute.

Think of all of the sins you have ever committed. Jesus paid the penalty for each one. If we sin three times a day times 365 is about a thousand times a year. If we are 50, it is 1000 times 50 which equals 50,0000 sins. If one person can have at least 50,000 sins, how many sins do you think all the people in the world have, all 6.8 billion people on earth today?

How many sins do you think all of the people who ever lived had? Jesus died for the sins past, present, and future. He died, not only for sins, He died for ALL kinds of sins of ALL people who have ever lived since the beginning of the world.

Jesus suffered more on the cross that anyone will ever suffer in Hell. The worst place of suffering in the Bible is not Hell. It is not the Lake of Fire. The worst place of suffering in the Bible is the cross. No one in Hell will ever say, “It is finished.” They will never finish paying the penalty for their sin. They will be in hell forever and never completely pay the penalty.

Jesus bore the penalty of the sins of everyone and he did it in just a few hours. As John MacArthur, says, “God was punishing His own Son as if He had committed every wicked deed done by every sinner who would ever believe”

The cross is a stumbling block to people. Paul said it was (I Corinthians 1:18-22). Many do not like the idea of substitutionary atonement. Critics say that it is simply not fair to transfer the penalty of sin from a guilty person to an innocent person. That may be true if God found some poor innocent person in the world and made them bear the punishment of everyone but that is not what happened.

God did not transfer the penalty from a guilty to an innocent person. Her bore it himself voluntarily at cost to himself, not at cost to anyone else. Jesus is God; He isn’t just an innocent third party. He is the judge himself. The one who determines the punishment for sin and passes judgment takes that punishment upon himself voluntarily . No one forced him to do so (John 10:18).

Liberals call John 3:16 cosmic child abuse – a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed. The problem with this is that the Son went willingly. It is actually the greatest act of self-sacrifice the world has ever known.

Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). Paul takes this one step forward in Romans. He points out that Jesus didn’t die for good people but for bad people, for sinners (5:6-8).

Application

Jesus’ death does not save anyone unless we believe. We have to personally accept him as Savior. Have we believed? Either Jesus pays the penalty for sin or we pay or own penalty.

The Doctrine of Sinless Perfection

Do Christians sin? Did you know that some denominations teach the doctrine of sinless perfection?  The Wesleyans teach that a person who has been saved and born-again can achieve SINLESS PERFECTION in this lifetime. They believe in something called “entire sanctification”.

One of the articles of faith for the Church of the Nazarene says, “We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.”

During the “testimony” period of the church service an old woman stood up and praised God that she had lived the past umpteen years sin-free, thanks to Entire Sanctification. The visiting minister (who never did like this doctrine in the first place) hatched an evil plan to deflate this gross spiritual arrogance.

He first complemented her on such a feat. Then he sprung the trap on her: “You must be quite proud of such an accomplishment as this- living all those years without sin!”

Of course she fell for the bait, and especially liked having been singled out for all that attention. She stood up and said that yes, she was indeed quite proud of her sinless life. At that, the minister slammed down his twenty-pound Bible upon the pulpit as he raised his voice to boom out across the auditorium “Pride’s a sin!!! Now sit down, and learn what 1st John 1:8-10 means.

There is another story about a group of men that were getting ready to preach at some conference. One claimed to be sinless and they got in an argument. Another man went and got a bucket of water and poured it on his head and the man started cursing.

About twenty years ago, I was doing some door to door evangelism and I knocked on the door of a man who claimed to be sinless. His wife was standing right behind him. No verses I used seemed to have any impact on him, so finally I said, “You know this man is a sinner. You have to live with him”. She didn’t say anything but she did smile because she knew I was telling the truth.

Why would any Christian think that sinless perfection is possible for believers? One verse they use is Matthew 5:48. In that passage, Jesus says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”   This is a verse that has been misinterpreted by several different groups.

Two False Interpretations of Matthew 5:48

THE FIRST FALSE INTERPRETATION – τέλειός (“perfect”) in Matthew 5:48 means sinless perfection and is attainable in this life. The argument is threefold.

One, τέλειός (“perfect”) refers to sinless perfection.

Two, Jesus commands us to be perfect.  Perfection is a command.

Three, sinless perfection is possible in this life.

If Jesus commanded it, it must be possible.  OUGHT implies CAN.  If we have an obligation to do something, we must have an ability to do it.  Jesus would not command us to do something that is impossible.

Biblical Evaluation

a) The Greek word τέλειός (“perfect”) does not always refer to sinless perfection.

The word τέλειός is used in Hebrews 5:14 and clearly does not refer to sinless perfection.   The passage says, “But solid food is for the mature (τελειος), who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”.  Jesus meant when He told the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:21.

Jesus answered, ”If you want to be perfect (τελειος), then go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. If you do this, you will have treasure in heaven.”  Jesus is not saying if the rich man sells all of his possessions that he would become sinlessly perfect.

b) Sinless perfection does NOT fit the context of the passage.

Jesus talking about loving your enemies in Matthew 5:43-48.  When we love our enemies, we become like God. That is what He does. In the context, this means “to be perfect in love”. We know that this is the correct interpretation from the parallel passage.

Luke’s version of this is “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).  The verse is a command and it is something which is indeed attainable but it is not a command to be perfect but a command to love as God loves.  God loves his enemies.

THE SECOND FALSE INTERPRETATION – τέλειός (“perfect”) in Matthew 5:48 means sinless perfection and is NOT attainable in this life.

The argument here is that Jesus is intentionally setting the standard for perfection and commanding it to show that it is unattainable.  The only way to become righteous is not by works but by imputation (Romans 4:3, 5, 6, 11, 22, 24)

Biblical Evaluation

a) Good works are possible in Matthew (5:16; 6:1).

Jesus speaks of the disciples doing both “good deeds” (5:16) and “righteous acts” (6:1).  He even speaks of the Pharisees having a certain kind of righteousness and said that his followers were to surpass it (5:20).  Jesus does not say that the Pharisees were not good.  He says that they were not good enough.

Jesus does not use the term “works” in the same way that Paul used it.  He is not talking about works as a means of salvation and is not contradicting what Paul said.  The whole point of the Sermon on the Mount is for the disciples to live better than the Pharisees.  It was never intended to be a way to earn salvation by works.

b) The whole context is NOT dealing with imputed righteousness (cf. 5:10; 6:1).

Righteousness in Matthew is moral, not imputed.  Matthew never uses the term “righteousness” to refer to imputed or forensic righteousness.  The danger is trying to Matthew 5:48 through Paul’s eyes, rather than through its immediate context.

Other passages that are used to teach sinless perfection are found in I John. Four times in the book, he seems to say that Christians don’t sin at all. In fact, not only does he say that Christians don’t sin, he says that they cannot sin (3:9). Below are the following verses in the NLT.

Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. (3:6)

Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. (3:9)

So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. (3:9)

We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. (5:18)

Do these verses teach sinless perfection? No. That doctrine is not only refuted by everyday experience, it is refuted by I John itself. Other verses in I John say very clearly that Christians DO in fact sin (I John 1:8, 10; 2:1; 5:16-17). I John 1:10 is in the past tense but I John 1:8 is in the present tense.

It is not talking about sin in the past. It is not only wrong to say that some Christians in this life are sinless, it is blasphemous. It calls God a liar. God says, “for all have sinned (past tense) and are falling short (present tense) of the glory of God” Romans 3:23).

What then did John mean “Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin”? What did John mean? All three times he uses the present tense verb. There are two possible ways to interpret this.

John could be using the customary present tense referring to a person’s custom or habit. If that is what he was using, John is talking about an ongoing, continual, habitual pattern of unrepentant sin, not one brief isolated act of sin. A person who claims to be a child of God but does not repent of habitual sin, and does not practice righteousness, is not in fact a child of God. This is one view.

The other possibility is that John is using the Gnomic Present, referring to what is characteristic of a person’s life. (“Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.’ – Matthew 7:17).  Good trees may bear bad fruit from time to time.

The Gnomic present doesn’t deny such a possibility. It simply says it is uncharacteristic. A good tree does not typically and normally bear bad fruit. Then it would not be a good tree but a bad one. Sin is perfectly normal and natural to the unsaved but it is not normal or typical for the Christian.

When John says that a Christian “cannot” sin, he is not saying that it is a physical impossible for a Christian ever to sin but that it is unnatural or abnormal for a Christian to sin. In the same way, Jesus said, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them” (Mark 2:19). We know this because in I John 3 he says Christians “cannot sin” but in I John 2 he says “but if they do sin”.

So we know that Christians can and do sin. If we went around the room, we could all name the one or two weakest areas in our life.  The next question we want to answer is, How do we repent? What are the steps involved? What does the process of repentance look like for a believer? It is not rocket science. It is very simple. I want to give you six steps of repentance.

The Six Steps of Repentance

1. Recognize

The first step to repentance is to admit you have done something wrong. This involves complete honesty and transparency. Take responsibility for what you have done. If you don’t realize that you have sinned, you can’t repent. If you don’t know if you have anything to repent of, you can ask God and He will reveal it to you (Psalm 139:23-24) or you can just ask your wife. She will gladly tell you all of your faults.

2. Regret

The second step of repentance is regret or remorse. If you know you did something wrong but you don’t feel bad about it, if you’re not sorry for what you have done, if you are not ashamed at what you have done, if there’s no contrition, there’s no repentance.

3. Resolve

The third step of repentance is the desire to change. If you know you have done something wrong but you don’t feel bad about it, you probably will not have any desire to change and, if you don’t have any desire to change, there’s no repentance.

4. Recite

The fourth step of repentance is to confess your sin to God and ask him to forgive you. I John 1:9 says, ”f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Notice, if you confess, the result is not only forgiveness but cleansing from sin, because sin doesn’t just make us guilty, it makes us unclean in God’s sight.

We don’t merely need to be absolved from guilt but purified from stains. After committing adultery, David didn’t just ask to be forgiven but to be cleansed and washed (Psalm 51:7). Notice also, I John 1:9 says that God is “faithful and just” to do this. He is not just merciful and kind. This is a promise you can rely on.

But there is something in this verse that you might not have seen before. Notice also that forgiveness is conditional (cf. Matthew 6:14-15). “IF we confess…” What if we don’t confess our sins? Then we are not forgiven? But you say, “I thought we were already forgiven when we got saved?”

In fact, I John says that we are already forgiven (cf. 2:12). There are two kinds of forgiveness. As Lewis Sperry Chafer pointed out, there is forgiveness for believers and forgiveness for unbelievers. When an unbeliever gets saved, he or she is forgiven. That forgiveness happens one time and affects one’s standing before God.

When a believer sins and has un-confessed sin in his life, his relationship with God is affected. If a child is rebellious to a parent, he is still a child. He is still a member of the family but his relationship with his parents is affected by his actions. Every time we sin, our relationship with God is affected and we need to confess our sins every time we sin, not to get saved or to become a member of the family but to live in fellowship with God.

It affects state, not standing. Jesus gave an excellent example of this principle I John 13:8-10. If you take a bath and then walk around on the sand, you don’t need to take another bath. You just need to wash your feet off. If we are saved we have had a salvation bath (I Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5). When we walk around in the world and get dirty, we don’t need another bath. We just need to confess our sins.

5. Reform

The fifth step of repentance involves a changed life. True repentance produces fruit (Acts 26:20; Matthew 3:8). One example of this was Zacchaeus. He made fourfold restitution (Luke 19:8). Notice that confession and repentance are not the same thing. Confession of sin is one aspect of repentance but it is possible to confess your sin, to say “I have sinned” and not truly repent. King Saul in the OT said, “I have sinned” (I Samuel 15:24, 30) but his very next words were “honor me now” (I Samuel 15:30)

Judas said after betraying Jesus, “I have sinned” (Matthew 27:4) but he never genuinely repented. He went off and killed himself. Suicide is not a fruit of repentance. It is a work of the flesh.

If you genuinely repent, you have to not only feel sorry for your sin and confess it to God, you have to prove you really mean it by changing your life. You have to forsake our sin. You have to stop doing what you were doing (cf. Luke 15:11-20). If there is no change in your life, there is no genuine repentance.

6. Replace

The six step of repentance is to replace the bad behavior with good behaviors. In Paul’s language you have to not only put off some behavior’s, you have to put on other behaviors (Ephesians 4:20-27; Colossians 3:8-16) Paul uses the metaphor of clothes.

Every day, we take off clothes and put on clothes, although Paul is not talking about clothes. He is talking about conduct. It involves a negative and a positive action. If you just try to do the negative, it won’t work. If you quit smoking, you have to do something in its place.

If you have a problem with food, the solution is not to avoid eating at all but to eat the right foods, instead of the wrong foods and in the right amount. If you hang around with the wrong kind of people who are a bad influence on you, the solution is not “no friends” but better friends.

Paul says in Ephesians, if you have a problem with stealing, you need to not only stop stealing, he needs to be generous with people and give to them (Ephesians 4:28). Again, Zacchaeus is an example here. After ripping people off as a tax collector, he promised to not only make restitution but to give half of his possessions to the poor (Luke 19:8).

Characteristics of Pride

Today, I want to talk about what the Bible says about pride. We sometimes use the word pride in a good sense, meaning proper self respect. In fact, even the Bible uses it in this sense (Proverbs 17:6; Galatians 6:4; James 1:9-10). The Bible also uses it in a bad sense. The world only uses pride in a good sense as a virtue, not a vice.

It says that we should have pride in ourselves, in our school, in our country, in our race. James Brown wrote a song in 1968 entitled, “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”. Cinco de Mayo celebrates Hispanic pride. The world takes pride in its sin (gay pride). We even talk about “southern pride”.

God sees pride not just as a sin but a very big sin. In fact, it made his list of the top seven sins in Proverbs 6:16-19 and it is at the very top of the list. Proverbs says that it is one of the things God HATES (6:16-17; 8:13). Pride was the first sin. You could call it the root of all evil. The Bible says that God resists the proud (James 4:6).

Pride is not a sin limited to non-Christians. Christians can have pride. God judged several OT kings who were believers for pride (Hezekiah and Uzziah). But what exactly is pride? How do you know if you are proud? I want to share with you twenty characteristics of pride.

20 Characteristics of Pride

1. You boast about yourself.

You always think you are the best at things. Pride comes out in words. The Bible speaks of “proud words” (Revelation 13:5). When I think of boasting, I think of King Nebuchadnezzar who said, “Is not this the GREAT Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by MY mighty power and for the glory of MY majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). Muhammad Ali was also known for his proud words.

Ali said in 1964: “I am the greatest! I’m the greatest thing that ever lived. I don’t have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest.” In 1975, he wrote his autobiography and he titled it The Greatest. Scripture says that if we are going to boast, we should boast about God (cf. Jeremiah 9:23-24). Do you like to boast or brag? Do you toot your own horn?

2. You like to draw attention to yourself.

The Pharisees did this by blowing the trumpet before they did a good deed (Matthew 6:2, 5; 23:5). You exalt yourself all of the time. That is what Satan did (Isaiah 14:13-14). He tried to take a higher position that he was never meant to have and that God never gave him. Are you a show off? Do you want to stand out in the crowd? Make a name for yourself? Do you wish you were famous?

3. You are self-centered.

Everything is about you. You act like you are the center of the universe. When you talk to others, you spend hours talking about yourself and your problems. You are self-absorbed and narcissistic. Are you a self-centered person? Do you lack empathy for others? Are you upset when the spotlight is on someone else and not you? Does it make you jealous or envious?

4. You love to be honored by people.

Some people love the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 12:43). You love to be respected because of your title or position and if you are not, it bothers you. (Matthew 23:6-7). Did you see the exchange between Senator Barbara Boxer and Brigadier General Michael Walsh of the US Corps of Engineers two months ago (June 2009)? Walsh was testifying in a senate hearing.

Boxer asked him a question. He started to answer and said, “Ma’am” when Boxer cut him off and said, “Do me a favor. Could you say senator instead of ma’am? I worked so hard to get the title, so I would appreciate it”. That was a joke because in the military ma’am is a term of respect but it wasn’t a big enough term for the democratic senator from California. Do you like people to pat you on the back and tell you how good you are and stroke your ego? Do you want people to be impressed with you? Are you offended and hurt when you do not get credit for what you do?

5. You refuse to ask for help when you need it.

Many who are lost are too proud to stop and ask for directions. There is a myth that real men don’t ask for directions. Are you too proud to ask for help when you need it?

6. You do not like being under the authority of another person.

Instead of being submissive to authorities, you question authority and despise people telling you what to do. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to feminists is over the whole question of submission. It does not matter how clear biblical teaching is on the subject. They simply refuse to do it. What is your attitude toward authority? Are you to proud to submit to God-ordained authorities over you?

7. You are stubborn.

The OT term for being stubborn is to be “obstinate and stiff-necked”. That’s what God called the Jews. I Samuel 15:23 says that “stubbornness is like idolatry” (KJV). Some people are never willing to compromise or listen to any other viewpoint. They are very rigid and inflexible. Are you a very stubborn person?

8. You are power hungry.

How many people do we know who are into power? They want a position or job because they like the power that comes with it. They insist on having their way all of the time. They like to control the people and events around them. They tend to be bossy, pushy, tyrannical, or a bully. Are you a control freak? Do you love to control others? Does having power make you feel good?

9. You are emotionally insecure.

An insecure person is a person who lacks confidence in their own value and ability. Most people are insecure about something but if it is serious enough it can become a personality disorder. Often people by to overcompensate and boost their self-image by jealousy or pride (e.g. boasting). Do you have any of the following thoughts: “I am no good at anything,” “I can never do anything right,” “No one could ever like, respect or accept me”, “Why would anyone care what I say or think?”

10. You think you are superior to others.

You think you are better than other people. You may think you are superior either physically superior (stronger) or better looking (more attractive) or economically superior (wealthier) or socially superior (live in a better house or a nicer neighborhood or drive a fancier car) or intellectually superior (higher IQ, better grades or more degrees than someone else) or morally superior.

This self-righteous Pharisee felt morally superior to the tax collector. A poor self-image often drives people to act superior to disguise and overcompensate their inferior feelings. Do you have a superiority complex?

11. You look down on others.

Because you feel superior to others, you feel contempt for certain people, like the Pharisee did in Luke 18:9. You may look down on them because they are not as educated or as smart or as wealthy as you are. You may look down on them because of the way they look, dress or talk. You may look down on them because of where they live or the car someone drives or because they have a disability of some kind. Do you look down on and snub your nose at certain kinds of people?

12. You are highly critical of others.

You don’t just think feel contempt for others, you say critical things about them. The problem with being critical of others is that we have all have a tendency to see the flaws of others clearly but to not see any of our own flaws (Matthew 7:1-5). Are you a critical person? Do you always find the worst in people and focus on the negative, rather than the positive?

13. You say things to put people down.

Because you are critical of others, you say things to put people down, insult them, and call them names. We can insults people’s race, gender, size, skin color, looks and even their family (Yo Mamma jokes). We forget that words hurt people. The Bible says that some people sharpen their tongues like a sword (Psalm 64:3) and use their tongues to hurt people. The Bible says that the person who mocks and teases people has a problem with pride (Proverbs 21:24). Do the words that you use tear people down or lift them up?

14. You have an inflated view of yourself and your own abilities.

You think you are better than you are.  You have an inaccurate self- image. The world thinks the solution to low self-esteem is high self esteem. There are all kinds of books that tell you how you can get high self esteem. According to Paul, the solution is not to think of ourselves too low or too high (two extremes) but to have an accurate picture of ourselves.

That is biblical self-esteem. Many of us have average abilities but in our head we think we are better than everyone else. Romans 12:3 says, “Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to”. Don’t go around with your head too big. Do you have a big ego?

15. You are argumentative.

Arguing is not always a sin. We are to give reasons for the faith (I Peter 3:15). and you can’t do that without arguments. Paul went into the synagogue and reasoned with people from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2; 18:4). Apollos even held public debates about whether Jesus was the Messiah (Acts 18:27-28) and you have to use arguments when you debate anyone. But there is a difference between arguing and being argumentative.

God told Moses to do something (Exodus 3:1-10) and he argued with God (Who am I that I should go? What if they do not believe? But I am not eloquent? Why don’t you send someone else?) and God finally got angry with him (Exodus 4:11-12, 14-17).

It is like when you tell your kids to do something and they always argue with you. They love to argue, instead of obey their parents. A proud person loves to argue and loves strife. The Bible says that pride breeds quarrels (Proverbs 13:10; 20:3). Do you argue for the sake of arguing (i.e., just to be difficult)? Do you argue out of a rebellious spirit?

16. You do not like to be corrected.

A proud person does not respond well to criticism, even constructive criticism. Criticism implies that there is something wrong with you and a proud person does not want to admit this. He would have to swallow his pride to admit this. Proverbs says, “he who hates reproof is stupid” (12:1) and “he who hates reproof will die” (15:10). Anyone who is married knows about correction. Do you get defensive and mad whenever you are corrected? Do you always take it personally?

17. You think you know everything

It doesn’t take long for people who think they know everything to find out that they really don’t know anything. I Corinthians 8:2 says, Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much” (NLT). We see this, especially in teenagers. Parents can’t tell them anything, because they already know it all.

Sometimes we think that we know more than God. How many have said, “I know the Bible says homosexuality is “an abomination”, something God hates but I do not think there is anything wrong with it. It seems perfectly natural to me. ” Are you a know-it-all? Do you think your know more than your parents, your teachers and your friends? Do you think you know more than the Bible? (Proverbs 3:7; 12:15).

18. You never admit when you are wrong.

You never apologize. You never say you are sorry, even after you make a mistake or hurt someone by your behavior. Pride keeps people from apologizing for their actions. Do you always think you are right? Do you ever apologize for things?

19. You tell lies to yourself.

The Bible says that our heart is “the most deceitful of all things” (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT). The Bible says that the pride in our heart can deceive us (Obadiah 1:3). That is why many who have a substance abuse problem never quit. They are in denial that they have a problem and they are in denial because they lie to themselves.

Denial is a defense mechanism in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true, despite overwhelming evidence. Sigmund Freud came up with the concept. Do you ever lie to yourself about things?

20. You rationalize your sin.

God’s Word clearly condemns you but you justify what you are doing. What are some excuses people have for sin?

Modern Rationalizations of Sin

• “It is just the way God made me.” “It’s just my personality. It’s the way I am.”

•  I am not hurting anyone”.

• “No one will ever know about it”.

• “I will never get caught”.

• “I was born that way. It’s genetic. I have a gay gene.”

• It is someone else’s fault.

• “The devil made me do it.”

King Saul tried to rationalize his sin (I Samuel 15). Do you make excuses for sin or do you take full responsibility for your actions, as David did in Psalm 51?

 

Anatomy of a Sin

I. The Crime (II Samuel 11:1-4)

 

Stages of sin.  1) You see something. 2) You think someting.  3)  You desire something  4) You plan something  5)  You do something 6) You become addicted to something (John 8:34).  Sin beconmes habitual 7)  It becoes a way of life.

This morning, I want to look at the fall of Israel’s greatest king – King David (I Kings 2:10; I Chronicles 29:26-28). David founded a dynasty of kings which ruled Judah for over four hundred years. He lived three thousand years ago. He ruled for forty years (1005-965 BC). Today, we will be looking at one of his weakest moments as king. What were his sins?

1. Laziness – “He belonged in the battle; instead, he was in the bedroom” The context is that the Israelite army is out fighting. Kings normally led their armies into battle. David decides to stay home instead.

2. Lust

3. Covetousness

4. Adultery

5. Murder – He committed what we could call today murder one (premeditated, planned murder). Other people besides Uriah were killed because of this plan (II Samuel 11:17, 24).  The man who wrote the Psalms wrote a murder note.

6. Abuse of power – David was the most powerful man in the nation and he abused his power as king. What he did makes the whole Watergate incident look like nothing. That abuse of power involved a break-in to a building (breaking and entering). This was much
more serious.

7. Treason – He ordered the deaths of one of his own soldiers who was fighting for him and caused the death of others in the process.

8. Selfishness

9. Caused others to sin – Uriah to get drunk, his wife to commit adultery, and his military commander to commit murder. He ordered his military leader to commit murder.

Notice the snow ball effect of sin. One thing causes another thing which causes another thing. David was not where he was supposed to be, so he saw something he was not supposed to see. Because of what he saw, he has an affair with Bathsheba. Because of his affair with Bathsheba, she gets pregnant. Because she gets pregnant, he sends Uriah home to his wife. Because he refuses to do this, David has him killed.

Because he has him killed, God chastens him for a whole year. One sin led to another (covetousness, adultery, murder). We saw that with Clinton Sex Scandal with a 22 year old intern. It started with adultery. When confronted about it, he lied to the American people. Lying led to other sins (perjury and obstruction of justice). Several things made this sin by King David even worse.

• David was a married man. Not only was he married but he had seven other wives . He already had a harem full of women. Since David was already a polygamist, one would think he would have had less reason to commit this sin. That is the problem with polygamy. If one wife does not satisfy you, then ten more will not either.

• David was a believer. Not only was he a believer, he was a mature believer. David was about 50 at the time when this took place. He had been on the throne for 20 years and had been a believer for 30 years or more. I guess the lesson here is on the depravity of man. No matter how many years we have been saved, we are all still capable of some of the worst sins.

We have a tendency when we read this account to point the finger at David and think we are superior because we may not have committed these sins but we need to remember what Paul said in I Corinthians 10:12: “if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” David was a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14). God made a special covenant with him. This was the man that loved God and a few chapters before he committed this sin wanted to build God a house (II Samuel 6). If King David, who was God’s anointed, could fall into a sin like this, we can fall into a sin like this.

• The man he killed was one of David’s best soldiers (cf. II Samuel 23:39). That is not just wrong, it is stupid. The wicked King Saul tries to kill David. Two times David had an opportunity to kill him and he refused to do so. Then he goes off and kills Uriah the Hittite. He doesn’t kill a bad man when he has the chance but does kill a good man, a man of integrity and a friend. He returned Saul’s evil with good and Uriah’s good with evil.

II. The Conception (II Samuel 11:5)

III. The Cover-Up (II Samuel 11:6-13)

Once Bathsheba became pregnant, David brought him back home and tried to get him to sleep with his wife. It sounds like a strange cover-up. “Go home and sleep with your wife to cover up my adultery”. With any other man, this would have worked but not with Uriah, so he killed him. The murder was done to cover up the adultery.

That is pretty stupid to try to cover up one sin with an even greater sin. Of course today, with our modern technology the sin of adultery would be covered-up with an abortion. That is very common response to unwanted pregnancy. David also covered up the sin by marrying Bathsheba. After Uriah died, it was no longer adultery, although not too many people were fooled. Less than nine months later a baby was born.

IV. The Chastisement (Psalm 32:3-4; 51:8, 12).

Hebrews 12:7-11 says that when we sin God chastens us or disciplines us. It is actually a sign that we are saved, a sign we are one of God’s children. It shows you are part of the family. Only children get spanked by their parents. When David sinned, he was chastened by God.

We are not told that God chastened David in II Samuel. We are told that by David in the Psalms. There is about a year gap between II Samuel 11 and II Samuel 12. David has an affair with Bathsheba. Nine months later the baby is born. Some time after that, a child is born. Nathan does not come to rebuke David until some time after the child was born. For about a year God chastened David for his sins of adultery and murder. David says that this chastening was day and night and was heavy (Psalm 32:4). What did that chastening involve? Based on hints from the Psalms, it at least involved three things. These are some of the same things we face when we have un-confessed sin that we do not deal with.

• Intense Guilt for what he had done (Psalm 51:3). Guilt led to depression and probably some sleepless nights.

• Lack of Joy (Psalm 51:12)

• Physical problems (Psalm 32:3-4; 51:8). David became physically ill on the outside and depressed and guilty on the inside.

V. The Confrontation (II Samuel 12:1-12)

Just as the prophet Samuel had to confront King Saul, the prophet Nathan now has to confront King David. David and Nathan were friends. In fact, David and Bathsheba eventually had a son named Nathan (II Samuel 5:14), probably named after this prophet. When we think of Nathan, we think of someone known for rebuking David but Nathan did not just have a ministry of denunciation. He did not just go around and castigate people. He was God’s prophet. He told people what God told him to tell them.

In chapter 12, he gave David a message of rebuke (II Samuel 12:7-10) but he also gave him a message of forgiveness (II Samuel 12:13). On another occasion, he gave David a message of encouragement (II Samuel 7:4-17). This condemnation had several characteristics.

• It was patient. Nathan probably knew about this for a long time but he waited a whole year until God told him to confront David about it. Timing was important.

• It was bold and direct. “Thou art the man”. It must have taken a lot of courage to say that. Nathan could have been killed.

• It was also tactful. Nathan’s method of rebuking David was ingenious. He didn’t just walk in the door and call him a heartless killer, a Peeping Tom, a rapist and a wife-stealer. There’s a right and a wrong way to say things. Nathan used tact in speaking to David. We are to speak the truth in love. Paul says in Colossians 4:6, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone”.

He says in Galatians 6:1, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” Nathan tells David a story about someone else. It was a story David could relate to. It had a pet lamb in it. David was a shepherd and loved sheep. Nathan did not confront David about his own sin until David criticized some in the story for doing the same thing he did. Nathan then used David’s own words to convict him of his own sin.

VI. The Confession (II Samuel 12:13a; Psalm 51:1-7, 9-17)

What does it mean to really confess your sin? We can learn from David what is involved in a genuine confession of sin.

1. He was completely honest and transparent about what he had done. He does not deny it. He does not say, “I didn’t do it”. That is what Bill Clinton did on January 26, 1998, when he pointed his finger to the American people and said, “I did not have sex with that woman… These allegations are false”. He also didn’t try to blame others for what he did. “I did it but it was not my fault. I was just tempted by Bathsheba. She lured me to sin.”

2. He saw the seriousness of his sin.

• He saw who he primarily sinned against. said, “I have sinned AGAINST THE LORD” (II Samuel 12:13b). He didn’t say, “I sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah”. He acknowledged who he really sinned against (cf. Psalm 51:4). He sinned against God because he broke God’s law and because he despised God’s Word (II Samuel 12:8, 10).

• He didn’t say, “Yes, I did it but it is not really that bad. It was done in my private life and what I do in my private life is nobody else’s business.”

• The punishment for adultery and murder in the OT was death. David deserved to die for what he did and he knew it. That is why he pleads for God’s mercy (Psalm 51:1), because if he got justice, he would be dead.

3. He showed genuine remorse for what he had done.

4. He asked to be forgiven (Psalm 51:2).

5. He also asked to be cleansed and washed (Psalm 51:7).

6. His life was changed. David never did again commit adultery.

He didn’t just try to bring religious offerings in to compensate for his disobedience (Psalm 51:16-19). David didn’t say, “I broke God’s law but that is okay. I will just throw a few more animals on the altar and God will be pleased”.

VII. The Consequences (II Samuel 12:13-20)

• David was forgiven of his sin (II Samuel 12:13b; Psalm 32:1-2, 5) and would not die, even though he deserved to (II Samuel 12:13). That is major. You can commit adultery and murder and still be forgiven. No sin is too great to forgive. Did David deserve to be forgiven? No (grace). But even though David was forgiven of his sin, he still suffered the consequences of his sin. If you have premarital sex or commit adultery, you can be forgiven but you still might suffer some consequences (pregnancy, divorce, STDs). If I put a nail in a piece of wood, I can take it out but it will still leave a hole.

• He loses a son (II Samuel 12:15-20). The Bible says, “The LORD struck the child” (II Samuel 12:15). He did not just get sick and die or natural causes. That raises a very interesting question. Why did this baby die? It sounds like he died, not because of what he did but because of what his parents did? Is that fair and doesn’t it contradict passages like Deuteronomy 24:16?

The simple answer is that Deuteronomy is giving instructions for human judges. Human judges are not supposed to put a child to death for the father’s sins. It does not mean that God can’t do that. Of course, that only raises another question. Does God have to keep his own commandments? Greg Koukl, who has an apologetics ministry (Stand to Reason), and I would like to share with you his answer to this question. He says, if you own a great mountain bike, do you have the right to take it all apart and spread the pieces everywhere? Of course, you do. It’s yours. You can do what you want with your own things.

What if someone else did that to your bike? That would be wrong. God tells us not to murder other human beings but God has the right to destroy his own property. He created this world. The universe is God’s. He can do what he wants with it. He gave us all life and He can take it back whenever he wants. As Koukl says, “It’s not immoral for God to take the life of His own property.” Koukl asks the question, Does God have to keep the Ten Commandments?

He points out that many of them do not apply to Him. “He doesn’t have to honor His parents. He doesn’t have parents. What about coveting? Thou shall not covet. What is coveting? Isn’t it desiring something that is not your own? Is it possible for God to covet? What is there that is not properly His? Nothing, therefore God can’t covet”. God can’t steal anything if He owns everything.

Koukl says, “(The Ten Commandments are) in many ways an expression of (God’s) character, but they are expressions of His character that have a certain application to human beings who are His subjects and the rules do not apply to Him in the same way.” So God had every right to take the life of this child. Why he did, we don’t know. One scholar suggested He did so because “the woman did not belong to him but to Uriah. The child cannot belong to David. He cannot enrich himself through his sin, and in a sense, justice is done to Uriah.”

• He lost his testimony with unbelievers (II Samuel 12:14). The unsaved love to see Christians fall into sin. It is on the front page of every paper.

• He would be doomed to family problems the rest of his life (II Samuel 12:10-12). It starts in the very next chapter (II Samuel 13). David was also snared by outward beauty, committed a sexual sin and defied and disregarded the law of God. Two of his sons followed that example and did the same: Amnon in II Samuel 13 and his son Absalom in II Samuel 16. David took someone else’s wife, so his wives would be also taken and given to someone else. David had Uriah die by the sword, so three of his sons died by the sword: Amnon (II Samuel 13:29), Absalom (II Samuel 18:15) and Adonijah (I Kings 2:25).

• God brought good out of a bad situation (II Samuel 12:24-25). David went on to marry Bathsheba (II Samuel 11:26-27). She ends up being his favorite wife and the mother of four of his children. The inheritance went to Solomon. Solomon was heir to David’s throne. He became the next king and he was one of Bathsheba’s sons, not one of his other wife’s sons. God took one of the dumbest things David ever did, one of his biggest mistakes and brought some good out of it in the end.

A Good Man Lost

Today, we are going to a case study of two people, two completely different people.  They were polar opposites.  One was a good guy, and one was a bad guy.  One man looked good before God.  The other man just looked good before men.  One of these men went to Heaven and one went to Hell.

These two men are found in a parable only recorded in the Gospel of Luke.  It is a famous parable.  It is a shocking parable.  It is an offensive parable.  In this parable, the good guy looks bad and the bad guy looks good.  Many preachers have entitled this parable, “A Good Man Lost and A Bad Man Saved.”

The shock here is that the repentant sinner went to heaven, while the religious person went to hell.  The preacher went to hell. The one who went to Hell looked pretty good and the one who went to heaven looked pretty bad.

The Pharisee had a good reputation.  He was religious.  He was moral.  He followed all of the rules.

The tax collector had a bad reputation.  Agents of the IRS today are not seen as bad as they were in the Jesus’s day.   In the first century, they were seen like prostitutes, child molesters or drug dealers.

Rome occupied Israel and the taxes went to Rome.  Tax collectors in Jesus’ day worked for Rome. They worked for the enemy.  They were considered traitors to their own country.

In addition to that, they were extremely wealthy.  They had a reputation for being dishonest and corrupt.  They ripped people off.  Nobody liked them.

The man who looks good on the outside and feels good about himself went to Hell. The man who looked bad on the outside and felt terrible about himself went to Heaven.

This is not just a parable about two men but about two types of men.  There are only two kinds of people in Jesus’ day and we still have the same two types of people today.  We have whole religions based on each type of person.

Some religions believe in salvation based on GRACE.  Some believe in salvation based on WORKS.  Some religions are based on MERCY and some are based on MERIT.

This parable illustrates these two groups. Here, you have two men. They were both were Jews.  They were both religious.  They both went to church. They were both were on their way to Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem.

They both prayed. They both prayed to God. In fact, both prayed to the same God.  They both went to a prayer meeting. They both prayed in the same posture and in the same place. They were at the same place at the same time doing the same thing but God only heard one of the prayers.

You can pray frequently and fervently and still not be heard by God.  You can be a child of God and not be heard when you pray.  This is the second parable of Jesus in the same chapter of Luke on prayer.

Which individual describes us? All of us are either Pharisees or Publicans. Are we more like the Pharisee or more like the tax collector?  This Pharisee was not all bad.  He had some good points.

Lessons from This Pharisee

1. You can be religious and lost

This Pharisee was religious.  He went to church.  He went to a prayer meeting.  There is nothing wrong with being religious but it is not enough to save you.  There are people who are very religious but are lost. There are many Muslims who pray five times a day. They are very religious and very devout, just like this Pharisee.

Religion does not save anyone. When Paul visited the idol worshipers in Athens, Greece, he said that they were very religious (Acts 17:16, 22) but their religion did not save them. Later on, he told the same group of people that the day of judgment was coming and they needed to repent (Acts 17:30-31).

2. You can be moral and lost

The Pharisee was moral.  He was not a bank robber. He did not cheat on his taxes. He didn’t run around on his wife. He kept his marriage vows. He was a law-abiding citizen and was well-respected in the community. He was very moral outwardly (Matthew 23:25-28).  It is good to be moral but good works do not save anyone (Galatians 2:16).

3. You can be zealous and lost

This Pharisee was zealous.  He went over and above what other Christians do.  He was an overachiever. This Pharisee did not just fast; he fasted two days a week (Monday and Thursday). The Mosaic Law only required him to fast one day a year on the Day of Atonement.

That wasn’t enough for him. He went beyond what was required.  He fasted over a hundred more days a year.  Most Christians pray but not too many of them fast today.  Most of us eat too much.

This Pharisee did not just pray and fast but he tithed.  He gave up his income for God.  He gave up food for God and he was religious.  Many Christians today do not do that.

This Pharisee tithed MORE than was required. The Law only required you to tithe corn, wine, oil and cattle (Deuteronomy 14:22-23). The Pharisees didn’t just tithe food, they tithed herbs and spices (cf. Luke 11:42; Matthew 23:23).

You can tithe in church and still be lost. This Pharisee tithed himself straight to Hell. The lesson, once again, is that good works do not save, even if you do a lot of them (Romans 10:1-3; Galatians 1:14).

Fatal Flaws of the Pharisee

1. He was proud

Even though this Pharisee was religious, moral and zealous, he was still unsaved. Why? There is one reason – Pride. The Pharisee was not rejected because he was religious or moral or zealous but because he was proud.  He told God, “I want to thank you that I am better than other people.”

This Pharisee thought he was morally superior to others.  He had a superiority complex. He looked down on other people.  He had scorn and contempt for them.  This man, not only had a resume, but he also had a measuring stick.[1]  He was proud and what came with pride was a critical, judgmental spirit.

Who are some of the people we tend to look down on today? Punk rockers, teenagers with body piercings and Gothic clothing, pregnant teenagers, divorced men and women, homosexuals, prostitutes, gamblers and junkies, immigrants and illegal aliens, those who are of a different religion, people with disabilities, poor, smelly homeless people who don’t exactly belong in our churches.

[1]https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2020/02/the-parable-of-the-pharisee-and-the-tax-collector/

2. He was self-centered

This Pharisee was full of himself.  He had an inflated view of himself.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.

Notice how many times you see the pronoun “I” in Luke 18:11-12.  In the NIV, he uses the word “I” four times in two verses.  He is supposed to be praying but instead of praying, he is boasting.  He was self-centered and self-absorbed.

He is very thankful, but he is not thankful for God.  He is thankful for himself and what he has done and accomplished.  As Erik Raymond, points out, the man had his resume with him.  He highlights all of his strengths before God.

There are many modern versions of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector on the Internet. The first one I found many years ago but do not remember the source.

Modern Versions of This Parable

Evangelical Republican – “I thank you that I am not a homosexual, a pro-choicer, an evolutionist, or even like this welfare mom, an irresponsible drain on society. I voted for your servant, George W. Bush. I send my children to a private Christian school and I’m thinking about homeschooling next year. I give money to the American Family Association and Focus on the Family so that values will not disappear in the United States.”

Liberal Christian – “I thank you that I am not like this Fundamentalist: intolerant, judgmental, a bible-literalist, you know, an all-around jerk. I employ the latest in the critical apparatuses and scientific methodologies. I read the Jesus Seminar. I make sure people understand that you will not judge them but are there to help them actualize their reality, whatever reality they choose.

Pentecostals– “I thank you that I am not like any other person on the entire planet. I don’t watch TV, go to movies or listen to secular music. I don’t go to restaurants that serve alcohol. I certainly do not drink. In fact, I have purged my life of all fun. I believe in holiness.”

Praise and Worship Leader – “I thank you, Lord” (eight times) that I am not singing hymns.” (three times)

Timothy Reynolds gives another modern retelling of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.[1]


[1] http://biblicalpreaching.net/2007/06/30/luke-189-14-contemporizing-a-parable/

An elder arrived early for the service and sat down on the other side of the chapel from the young lad he’d never seen before. He looked like one of the gangsters that hung around outside the swimming pool and were nuisance with their skate boards. The elder bowed his head to pray as he always did and said, “Thank you, Lord, that by your grace I have been kept from that sort of life and was a member of the church and had a good job by the time I was this guy’s age.” The young lad didn’t even bow his head or close his eyes, but just said, “God, I don’t even know why I’m here, but I know I need you. Please forgive me for ignoring you.”

Clay Gentry gives several other modern versions of this parable[2].  He applies it to “The Dressed-Down Christian and the Dressed-Up Christian”.

Two Christian men go to church and sat on same pew, one a younger, dressed-downed Christian, the other an older, dressed-up Christian.

As the two men sat on the same pew, the younger, dressed-down Christian prayed, “God I thank you that I’m not other Christ followers, ritualistic, traditionalist, or even like this guy sitting on the other end. I’m authentic; I’m sold out for You; and I don’t put on a facade by dressing-up to worship You.”

But the older, dressed-up Christian quietly prayed to himself, “God, I’m not perfect. I have failed Thee often. In Your steadfastness, have mercy on me a sinner.”

I tell you, this man left the church service justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

He also applies the parable to “The Home-School Mom and the Public-School Mom”.

Two moms take their children to the park to play, one a home-schooling mom, the other, a public-school mom.

As the two women watched their children play together, the home-schooling mom prayed, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other women, selfish, unfit mothers, poor homemakers or even like this woman who ships her kids off to public school. I raise my own kids; I protect them from worldly influences; and I ensure that my kids have a godly, Bible-based education.”

But the public-school mom, humbly prayed, “God thank you for my children. Please help me be a godly mother.”

I tell you, this mom went home justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts herself will be humbled, but the one who humbles herself will be exalted.

He applied the parable to “The Fit, Athletic Woman and the Slightly, Overweight Woman”

Two women go the grocery store to do their weekly shopping, one the fit, athletic type with a normal body mass index and the other who was slightly overweight.

As the two women waited in line to check-out, the fit, athletic woman prayed, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other women, lazy, unhealthy, poor homemakers, or even like this fat woman in front of me. I work out three times a week; I take care of Your temple by carefully watching what I eat; and I only feed my family good healthy foods.”

But the woman who was slightly overweight, humbly prayed, “God, thank You for all that You provide for me and my family. We don’t deserve it.”

I tell you this woman went to her house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts herself will be humbled, but the one who humbles herself  will be exalted.

Salvation for the Tax Collector

The tax collector was saved after this prayer.  He was saved instantly.  He did not have to wait until he died to be saved.  Jesus said that he went home “justified before God” (Luke 18:14 NIV).  If you want to be saved, you have to do the four things the tax collector did.

1. He admitted he was a sinner

The tax collector does not boast about his good deeds, like the Pharisee did. He knew he was a sinner. He does not deny it.  He felt guilty.  He felt bad.  He felt so bad that he could not even look up to heaven.

In fact, he does not just say, God have mercy to me a sinner”. He says, “God have mercy to me THE sinner”. Paul also said that he was “the chief of sinners” (I Timothy 1:15). The worst sinners are actually the best candidates for salvation. They know they need to be saved. That is why Jesus said what he did in Matthew 21:31.

There are two extremes. Some people are so wicked that they think that they are too bad to be saved. Other people are so moral that they think that they are too good to be saved. If you do not think you are a sinner, you can’t be saved, because you won’t see your need (cf. Mark 2:17).

2. He felt sorry for his sin

The tax collector does not try and excuse himself. He does not try to justify himself and say that, while he is a bad person, he is not as bad as some other people in the world or that while he is a bad person, he cannot help being bad.

He takes full responsibility for his sin. We know he knew he was a sinner from his body language: he beat his chest as an act of contrition, prays from a distance and doesn’t even look up to heaven, because he feels so guilty

3. He confessed his sin to God

The tax collector says the sinner’s prayer and is saved (Romans 10:13). You have to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. He is the only one who can save you. You have to ask Him to save you. The Bible says that “salvation is of the Lord”. This prayer was short, simple and sincere. The words are not magical. You can say the words and not mean them.

4. He prayed for  forgiveness

You can admit you are a sinner, feel bad about your sin, even confess it to God but not take this final step.  The tax collector prays for mercy.  He asked to be forgiven of his sin.  He does not ask to get what he deserves but what he does not deserve. If God gave us what we all deserve, we would all be in Hell.

How to Overcome the Flesh

Last time I led the group, I shared six steps to repentance. If you need to repent of a sin, you need to do six things. The topic for this week in Steve Gallagher’s book The Walk of Repentance is entitled “Overcoming the Flesh”. Before we talk about overcoming the flesh, we have to define what the flesh is. Gallagher never defines the term. What is the flesh? What does that word “flesh” (σάρξ) mean in the Bible? The word is used in three ways.

Three Uses of the Word “Flesh” in the NT

First, it is used of the soft part of the body (muscle, fat, skin, soft tissue) in contrast to the hard part of the body (bones). For example, see Luke 24:39.

Second, it is used of the whole body. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh”. I John 4:2 says, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God”. II John 7 says, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world”. What does the word flesh mean in those passages?

It means that Jesus because a real man and took on a real body. What did Paul mean when he spoke of having “a thorn in the flesh” (II Corinthians 12:7). It means that he had some type of physical problem in his body. We don’t know exactly what the problem was. What did Paul mean when he said, “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh” (Philippians 3:2)?

Paul is talking about the Judaizers who said that you have to be circumcised to be a Christian and he calls them mutilators of the flesh who just want to mutilate the body. There was nothing wrong with circumcision perse but these Judaizers had abused the rite.

Paul says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” (Ephesians 5:31), which is a quotation from the Book of Genesis. One flesh is clearly physical. In fact, it is a reference to the sex act in marriage.

If there was any doubt about that, Paul made it clear in I Corinthians 6:16, “Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” That verse specifically equates flesh with the body.

Other times, the word “flesh” does not mean simply body. It has a deeper meaning. The third meaning of flesh is the sin nature. We see this in Galatians 5:16-24 (ESV)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

What does flesh mean here? It cannot mean body. Paul is not saying if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the natural urgings of the body when it is hungry and thirsty. Notice the works of the flesh. Paul lists fifteen of works of the flesh, just as he lists nine virtues that make up the fruit of the Spirit. These fifteen works of the flesh are not an exhaustive list (cf. 5:21).

Notice also that they are not all sensual sins or sexual sins. The first four are but he also includes religious sins (e.g., idolatry). Worshipping the wrong God is also a sin of the flesh. Religion can be just as much a work of the flesh as sex. That’s an interesting concept. False religions (Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism) are works of the flesh. We live in a time when everyone wants to be politically correct.

We have freedom of religion but God says that false religion is sin. It is completely counter-cultural. There are also some mental sins (hatred, jealousy, envy, selfish ambition). They are sins of the thoughts or mind. Your body may not do anything. God created the body. Your body is not evil. Flesh in this sense is the sin nature, as the NIV renders the term.

This brings us to the topic of the two natures of the believer. I have the greatest respect for John MacArthur as a Bible teacher. He is a great expositor of Scripture but one area I disagree with him is on the two natures of the believer. He believes that Christians have only one nature.

He has attacked the idea of two natures in the believer. That creates big problem. If the believer no longer has a fallen nature but has only one nature, and that nature is “divine,” and cannot sin then how do we account for the believer’s sinning?

The Bible teaches that Christians have two natures (Romans 7:21-23). All of us have a sin nature. We do not just choose to sin, we have a sinful nature and we got it from birth. We inherited that nature from Adam (cf. Mark 7:20-23). Where do these things come from? Jesus says from the heart.

As someone said, “It is not the environment that messes man up; man messes up the environment”. When we become a Christian, we received a new nature. Paul said in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” and we received a new nature. Jesus said, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6).

A non-Christian has only one nature (sin nature) and are controlled by it (Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3). We have two natures and Paul says that we are not controlled by our sin nature, like the unsaved are.

How are we to deal with the sin nature? How do we overcome the flesh?

Steps to Overcome the Flesh

1. Recognize

That it is a daily struggle. It is a battle. He called it a war. That is not what some teach. Some teach if you live a victorious Christian life, you will not struggle with sin. Paul seemed to struggle with it. All you have to do is to read Romans 7. If you don’t know you are in a battle, you will always lose. You will never get to the point where the sin nature is gone until you are in heaven. And there is no second blessing or spiritual experience that makes a struggle with sin impossible.

2. Resist

There is a true story about a pastor who was given a letter by a young man. He graduated from one of the finest Christian schools in the Chicago area. During his days on that campus, he was known and respected as a godly man. Recently he wrote an open letter to his friends in which he declared that he has lost his faith and was writing to announce that he is coming “out of the closet” as an active homosexual.

As this pastor read his letter, he was struck by one word that appears six times in various forms in his letter. The word is “struggle.” The young man spoke of his “struggle” with sexual temptation, his “struggles” with his feelings, his “struggles” to live the Christian life, and in the end, his “struggle” with life itself. Finally he decided that the struggle was not worth the effort so he decided to stop struggling and to give in. So now he is “in the lifestyle” with all that that phrase implies.

Here was a man who had a struggle, the struggle was hard. His solution to the problem was simply to give in to the temptation. Instead we are to resist the sin nature (Titus 2:11-12; I Peter 2:11).

3. Rely

Paul says, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16). So if the way you overcome the flesh is to walk in the Spirit, what does it mean to walk in the Spirit? How do we walk in the Spirit? What does that look like?

To “walk in the Spirit” (KJV) means to “live by the Spirit” (NIV). How do you live by the Spirit? I think it means two things.

1) Walking in the Spirit means doing what the Holy Spirit tells you to do.

How do we know what the Holy Spirit wants us to do? God has written a book and that book is inspired by the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:21). It is called “the sword of the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). This is something that we are to do every day. The word “walk” or “live” is in the present tense in Greek. It means continually. We have to be in the Word daily to walk in the Spirit – reading, memorizing, meditating, applying, obeying.

2) Walking in the Spirit also means relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

It means being open and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit may lead you do things. You may not have a verse of Scripture. Galatians 5:16 talks about walking in the Spirit. Galatians 5:18 talks about being led by the Spirit just two verses later.

How do we know if we are walking in the Spirit? If we are walking in the Spirit, we will display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). That’s the context. Paul said, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” If we are gratifying the desires of the flesh or sinful nature, we are not living by the Spirit.

If our life is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, we are walking in the Spirit. If it is characterized by the works of the flesh, we are not. In fact, we may not even be saved. Paul said, “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21; Romans 8:5-7, 12-13).

Is Repentance a Condition of Salvation?

What do you have to do to be saved? Is faith the ONLY condition of salvation?  Can a person be saved without repenting?  Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952), the founder and first president of Dallas Theological Seminary wrote, “the New Testament does NOT impose repentance upon the unsaved as a condition of salvation.” [1]  Is he correct?

One of the strongest arguments for this position comes from the Gospel of John.  John was written so that people might have life and get saved. It is the only book of the Bible written for that the express purpose of telling people how to get eternal life (John 20:31).  John is evangelistic in nature. The Gospel of John uses the terms “ believe” or “faith” about one hundred times but does not mention the verb “repent” or the noun “repentance” at all.

The Fourth Gospel teaches that the ones who BELIEVE in Jesus become the children of God (1:12).  It says that believers shall NOT perish but have eternal life (3:16).  It teaches that whoever believes is NOT condemned (3:18) and will NOT come into judgment but has passed from death to life (5:24).

If repentance was part of the gospel, then John would have mentioned it. The purpose of John was to tell people how to receive eternal life.  That is the whole purpose of the book.  If you have to repent to get eternal life, then John would have mentioned it but he does not do so, not even once.  Is this a valid argument?

It sounds pretty good (especially if John was the only book in the Bible) but there is a problem. This argument makes a LOGICAL fallacy. It is an argument from SILENCE. To find the condition or conditions of salvation, we should not limit ourselves to the Gospel of John or any other book of the Bible. We need to look at the whole counsel of God. We need to look at everything God says in His revealed Word.  There are other verses in the Bible which also deal with salvation.

It is a big mistake to only read half of the Bible. Some in the charismatic movement just read the Book of Acts and ignore other portions of Scripture.  Furthermore, the argument from silence is a weak argument.  A specific word may not be found in the text but the context may still be taught.  The words  “rapture” and “incarnation” are not found in the Bible but are both clear scriptural teachings.

John does focus on belief.  It is a key term in his gospel. The word “believe” is used 98 times in John (compared to 34 times in the Synoptic Gospels and 16 times in the rest of the NT). John may not use the word “repent” in his Gospel but that does not necessarily mean that he does not believe in the concept of repentance.  The concept of repentance is clearly taught.

Many have pointed out that, in the Fourth Gospel, Christians are portrayed as those who love the light (3:19), come to the light (3:21-22), hate the darkness (3:20-21), obey the Son (3:36), practice the truth (3:21), worship in spirit and truth (4:23-24), honor God (5:22-24), do good deeds (5:29), love God (8:42), follow Jesus (10:26-28), and keep his commandments (14:15). [2]  You can preach the gospel without using the word repentance and John has the concept of repentance in the Fourth Gospel.

Six Myths about Repentance

1) The only thing you have to do to be saved is to believe

This myth teaches that repentance has nothing to do with salvation, which is strange because it is tied to the Great Commission in Luke 24.  Repentance is said to be a condition of salvation in many passages.  Repentance is said to be “UNTO LIFE” (Acts 11:18) and “FOR the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38; 3:19).  Jesus said that if you do not repent, you will PERISH (Luke 13:3).

2) Repentance is synonymous with faith

Charles Ryrie[3] believes that faith and repentance are just synonyms, as many others do.  As a young Christian, I was discipled largely from the writings of Donald Grey Barnhouse and Charles Ryrie.  They were my two favorite writers as a young Christian.

Ryrie is very good and breaking complex things down and making them easy to understand but faith and repentance CANNOT be just synonyms. That would make the command to repent and believe in Mark 1:15 completely redundant.  “Repent and believe the gospel” would just mean to “believe and believe the gospel.”

Mark 1:15 does NOT just say to “believe the gospel.”  It says to “repent AND believe the gospel.”  There would be no need to repent and believe the gospel if to repent means to believe the gospel.  It would make it pointless for Paul to testify “both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, AND faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21 ESV), if they are the exact same concepts.

The two are related concepts.  Some say that repentance is part of faith but the two are not entirely synonymous.  It is possible to repent but not believe.  It is also possible to believe but not repent.  That is why we have to command to repent AND believe, not just a command to repent and not just a command to believe.  The order is always the same: “repent and believe,” not “believe and repent.”

3) Repentance just means a change of mind

This myth holds that repentance is just mental.  It is merely changing the way we think. In Greek, the word means “change of mind” but in Hebrew it means a “change of action.”  Both are correct.  One leads to the other.  Change of actions begins with a change of mind or attitude.

John the Baptist preached repentance.  In fact, he preached a baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins. However, he did NOT just tell people to change their mind.  He told the Pharisees to change their behavior (Luke 3:10-14) and bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8).

The Apostle Paul taught the same thing in Acts 26:20.  If repentance just means a change of mind, there would be no need for people to produce fruit consistent with repentance.  A change of mind would be all that is needed.

King Saul in the OT and the Apostle Judas in the NT are examples of people who had a change of thinking.  They both had a change of mind.  They both said the words “I have sinned” (I Samuel 15:24; Matthew 27:4).  They both admitted that what they had done was wrong but neither one of them repented in the biblical sense.

Repentance which is only a change of mind is NOT biblical repentance.  It begins with a change of mind but it is demonstrated by actions.  It is translated into actions.  It is proven by works.  Repentance without works is dead, just as faith without works is dead.  Biblical repentance is not just intellectual or mental.  God is interested in far more than a change of mind.  He wants a change of heart and a change of life.

4) Repentance is a work

Many reject the notion of repentance because they see it as man-made efforts of self-righteousness that are done to gain merit before God.  The Bible clearly teaches that we are not saved by works.  Repentance is not a work because it is a GIFT.  The ability to repent is a gift from God.  It is called a a gift of God in many passages (Acts 5:30-31; 11:18; II Timothy 2:25).

5) Repentance is unbiblical

Some seem to think that it is a man-made teaching invented by a church.  Repentance is a clear biblical term. It is all through the Bible. The OT mentions repentance and the NT mentions repentance.

John the Baptist preached repentance for salvation. He preached “a baptism of repentance FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS” (Mark 1:4). John said, “The kingdom of God is near. REPENT and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).

Jesus preached repentance. Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17). He taught that repentance was necessary for salvation. Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).

6) All repentance is the same

The Bible teaches that there is true and false repentance, just as there is true and false faith.  The Bible talks about a faith that saves and a faith that does not save.   It talks about a repentance that bears fruit, just as it talks about saving faith which also bears fruit.  It talks about a repentance that leads to LIFE (Acts 11:18) and a false repentance that leads to DEATH (II Corinthians 7:10).  Judas repented but his repentance did not lead to life.  It lead to despair and death (Matthew 27:3-5).

Jesus COMMANDED repentance to be preached to ALL NATIONS as part of the Great Commission (Luke 24:46-47). Peter preached repentance for salvation. On the day of Pentecost, he said, “Repent and be baptized FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF YOU SINS” (Acts 2:28).

In Acts 3:19, Peter said, “Repent and turn to God, SO THAT YOUR SINS MAY BE WIPED OUT.” In Acts 5, Peter said that God exalted Jesus to his own right hand as Prince and Savior so that “he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel” (Acts 5:31).

In Acts 8, Peter tells Simon Magus: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. REPENT of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart” (Acts 8:20-22). Paul preached repentance. Paul said that “God now COMMANDS all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:31).

The Biblical Teaching on Repentance

If you put all verses these together, we learn the following things about repentance. This is a brief summary of the biblical teaching on repentance.

1. Repentance is BIBLICAL

There are some on the Internet who teach that if you preach repentance, you are preaching heresy.  You are not preaching heresy, you are preaching the Bible.  Repentance is a a biblical concept.  It is a biblical term.  It is found all through the Bible.  It is not limited to Jews.  It is not limited to the Old Testament.  It is also in the New Testament.

2. Repentance is ESSENTIAL

It is essential for salvation, not optional.  It is not just a biblical concept, it is a command (Acts 17:31).  It is called “repentance UNTO LIFE” (Acts 11:18).  In the OT, God tells people to TURN AND LIVE (Ezekiel 18:32).  If you do not repent, you cannot be saved.  It is a matter of life and death.  If you don’t do it, Jesus said, “you will PERISH” (Luke 13:3).

If you do not repent, you sins cannot be forgiven and you cannot be saved.  There is no salvation without repentance. A gospel which teaches that you can continue to live in sin and still be saved is not the biblical gospel.  It is a false gospel.

3. Repentance is UNIVERSAL

Repentance is for everyone.  It is for “ALL PEOPLE” (Acts 17:31) and “ALL NATIONS” (Luke 24:47), not just some people or some nations. It is for both Jews and Gentiles.

4. Repentance is IMPORTANT

Repentance is part of the gospel. It is mentioned in the Great Commission (Luke 24:46-47). It is a condition of salvation. It is FOR the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). The NT says, “Repent and turn to God, SO THAT YOUR SINS MAY BE WIPED OUT” (Acts 3:19).

[1] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, III, 373 (emphasis mine).  The citation can be accessed online at http://www.bibleone.net/print_tbs45.html.

[2] C. Samuel Storm, “The Lordship Salvation Debate,” Enjoying God Ministries (November 6, 2006),   http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/the-lordship-salvation-debate/; John MacArthur, “Repentance in the Gospel of John,” https://www.gty.org/library/articles/A238/repentance-in-the-gospel-of-john.

[3] Charles Ryrie, So Great Salvation, p. 88.

Four NT Pictures of Satan

For the next few weeks I want to study what the Bible teaches about Satan. Who is Satan? What does he do? Today, I want to look at four metaphors for Satan and what they mean. The NT uses three metaphors to describe Satan. I want to look briefly at these four metaphors and the lessons we can learn from them.

Satan is a serpent

The serpent gives us the first picture of Satan in the NT. What is Satan’s role as a serpent? His role is to tempt people to sin, to get them to disobey God. That is what he did to Adam and Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:1-6). Eve talked to a snake but this snake was not scaly, slimy and repulsive.

It was beautiful. It was intelligent. It was “more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made” (3:1). Satan was inside of this animal. What we some of the ways Satan tempted Eve and still tempts people today?

1) He raises doubts about what God clearly said.

“Hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1 KJV). Does the Bible really teach this? Are you sure you have the right interpretation?

2) He misquotes Scripture.

Satan said, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from ANY tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). Did God say that? No. He said that they could eat “from ANY tree in the garden” (Genesis 2:16).

3) He directly contradicts what God has clearly said.

God said, “If you eat from the fruit of the tree, you shall surely die”. Satan takes those very words, turns them around and says, “If you eat from the fruit of the tree, you shall NOT surely die”. He directly contradicted what God said and he still does that today. God says that Jesus is God. Satan says that he is not God. God says that hell is real. Satan says that it is not real.

4) He uses half-truths to deceive people.

Jesus said that Satan is not only a liar, he is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). He invented lying. The first lie in the Bible was found on the lips of Satan and every lie since then comes from Satan. Satan does use pure lies but most of the lies he told to Adam and Eve were actually half-truths (not die, eyes opened). Half truths are much harder to detect. What are some half truths today?

One is that a loving God would never send any of his creatures to an eternal Hell. That is false but it does contain an element of truth. God is love. Another is that if you are sick and pray to be healed but are not healed, it is because you did not have enough faith.

It is true that when you pray, you do need to have faith (cf. James 1:6-8) but faith is not the only condition of answered prayer. It doesn’t matter how much faith you have if you are praying for something that is not God’s will.

5) He uses a disguise.

He tempts people indirectly (through an animal God created, a serpent). He uses their own family (Job 2:9) and friends (Matthew 16:21-23). This is a big one and leads us to our next point.

Satan is an angel of light

Satan poses as AN ANGEL OF LIGHT, not a demon of darkness (II Corinthians 11:13-15). He has a way of making good look bad and bad look good. How he does this is interesting. He never appears in his true form, lest he be exposed for who he is. The way he does this is by using a disguise.

He makes himself look attractive and appealing. He will use education to deceive people. He uses religion to deceive people. He uses ordained ministers to deceive people. He will even use the Bible to deceive people by misinterpreting it and quoting it out of context.

He doesn’t appear as a demon with horns and a pitch fork. He makes what is evil, bad and false look good and true and admirable. He has a way of making good look bad and bad look good.

He has servants or “ministers” (as the KJV says) and some of those ministers are ordained and pastors of churches. They work for Satan but pose as “ministers of righteousness”. Donald Grey Barnhouse once said, “When you are looking for the Devil, don’t forget to look in the pulpit”.

Jesus spoke of people who are wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). They look like sheep but they are really wolves on the inside and they teach doctrines of demons (I Timothy 4:1), not doctrines about demons but doctrines which come from demons and from Satan himself.

Satan is very effective at this. The Bible says that he does not just deceive individuals; he deceives whole nations (Revelation 20:3). He has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9)

Satan is a hungry lion

As a lion, Satan opposes everything God is doing and tries to stop it. He attacks, persecutes and even kills many of God’s people (Revelation 12:1-4, 13-17; I Peter 5:8). The picture here is not a serpent or angel but a HUNGRY LION. You may say, “I have never been persecuted for my faith. I have never been arrested and jailed, because I was a Christian or beaten, because I am a Christian”.

However, in much of the world today (e.g., Muslim countries), Christians are persecuted for their faith and in much of church history true believers have been persecuted for standing up for the truth. We know from human rights reports that there are many countries in the world where there is still religious persecution.

In some cases the government officially sanctions it and in some cases they just tolerate it. This persecution comes directly from Satan. How is Satan like a lion? What do we know about lions? I did a little research on lions to find out a little about them.

1) They work at night.

They are nocturnal animals. They wait for the coolest darkest times to hunt. Lions are inactive for 20 hours a day. Lions spend a lot of their time resting. Lions often sleep for most or all of the day, especially in extreme heat and they don’t just sleep during that time.

They mate one hundred times in a twenty-four hour period. That must be the secret of their strength. Lions work when it is dark. Satan works day and night. He never sleeps but his kingdom is a kingdom of darkness.

2) They are dangerous

They are called the king of the beasts for their courage, bravery and fighting skills. They may look cute but these cats are really killing machines. They are extremely dangerous. They have long, sharp claws on each of their four paws. They have sharp teeth and
powerful jaws. Lions are extremely violent. They are out to kill. Jesus called Satan a murderer (John 8:44).

3) They are terrifying

A lion’s roar can be heard up to five miles away. Facing a hungry lion would be horrifying. It is nothing to joke about. While people make jokes about Satan, he is really nothing to joke about.

4) They work in groups

Lions are the only cat that works in groups. They live in groups of fifteen or more animals called prides. They are social animals. They usually hunt in groups of two or three. They set up an ambush to surround and kill their prey. Satan does not work alone. He has a group of demons that help him do all of the evil that he does in the world.

5) They are predators

They have a good sense of smell. They slowly and silently stalk each possible victim (like our cat does). Satan walks around looking who he can devour. Remember in the Book of Job, Satan said that he roaming through The earth and went back and forth in it (1:7).

6) They are not invincible.

Lions are not always successful when they hunt, which incidentally is done by the females. They usually score only one kill out of several tries. They can be easily backed down or killed by elephants and water buffalo. A pack of hyenas can also back down or even kill a solitary lion!

David killed both lions and bears before he became king (1 Samuel 17:34-36 RSV). Satan is not always successful when he tries to tempt, deceive and devour people. He can be defeated (cf. I John 4:4).

Satan is a dragon

The Book of Revelation describes Satan as a dragon, a big red dragon, a big ugly dragon with seven heads and ten horns (12:1).  This is a metaphor for Satan.  He is not really a red dragon with a long tail.  This is apocalyptic language.  It is symbolic.

What does Satan do as a dragon?  He persecutes the saints.  Satan is red because he is a murderer.  He is the one who inspires and motivates martyrdom and persecution (12:4, 17).  He attacks, persecutes and even kills many of God’s people.

You say, “I have never been persecuted for my faith.  I have never been beaten, arrested or jailed because I am a Christian” but persecution can take many forms.

In much of the world today (e.g., many Muslim countries), Christians are persecuted for their faith in a way that we are not persecuted here in America.  There are many countries in the world today in which there is still religious persecution.  In some cases, the government officially sanctions it and in some cases it just tolerates it.  Satan is the one who is behind persecution of believers in the world today.

Jesus’ View of the Bible

Last week, we looked at what Paul said about the inspiration of the Bible in II Timothy 3:16-17. Tonight, I want to look at what Jesus said about the Bible. What was Jesus’ view of the Bible? We are Christians, followers of Christ. What did Jesus view of the Bible? One of the strongest arguments for the inspiration of the Bible is the testimony of Jesus Christ.

This is actually a very important lesson. If you take all of his statements and put them together, we have a very clear picture of what he thought of the Bible. Jesus’ view of the Bible was very conservative – a biblical literalist (practically a fundamentalist). What Jesus said about the Bible is very different from what liberals and higher critics say about the Bible.

What did Jesus Think About the Bible?

1. You are a FOOL if you do not believe the Bible (Luke 24:25)

In the context of Luke 24, Jesus had died and several women head to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. When they get there they find the stone rolled away and two angels talked to them but they do not see Jesus yet. They go back tell the Apostles what happened. The Apostles do not believe them.

Peter runs to the tomb and confirms that the tomb is empty. Still there had been no appearance of Jesus. Meanwhile, two people walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. On the way, they do a lot of talking about what happened in the last three days and even that Sunday morning. Jesus appears in disguise and begins talking to them. He asks them what they are talking about.

When they tell him, how does Jesus respond? Jesus is talking to two OF HIS DISCIPLES who are very sad (24:17) because the one they loved and followed had died and Jesus rebukes them, although they do not know that they are talking to Jesus. He uses some very strong language here.

Jesus doesn’t just say that they are wrong in their thinking about him or off base. He calls them fools and he is not speaking to pagan unbelievers but to his own followers. Some Christians are just foolish. Why does he call them fools? Because they didn’t believe all that the prophets had spoken (24:25).

This is quite interesting.  Today, liberals and skeptics would say that you are a fool if you believe the Bible (naïve and not too smart). Jesus says that you are a fool if you DON’T believe the Bible. Now these disciples believed MUCH of what the OT prophets said.

The problem is that they didn’t believe ALL that the prophets had said. Jesus expected them to believe it ALL from Genesis to Malachi (every bit). They believed that the coming Messiah who would rule and reign. They just didn’t believe that the coming Messiah would suffer and die.

They believed some of the prophecies, just not all of them. Today, some theologians have the opposite problem. They believe all that the prophets said about the suffering Messiah but they don’t believe that he will return to the earth and rule and reign for a thousand years in the Millennium. Of course, Christians today have an even different problem.

The problem of most Christians today is not that they don’t believe what the prophets spoke. They don’t know what the prophets spoke, because they never read the OT Scriptures. Most Christians today do not know the OT very well. They only know the NT and some of them do not even know that very well.

2. God’s Word is TRUTH (John 17:17)

Jesus said that God’s Word is TRUTH (John 17:17). The opposite of truth is error. Many say that the Bible is full of all kinds of errors and contradictions. They would say that there are a lot of things in the bible that are not true. Jesus said that God’s word is truth. Jesus believed that the people in the Bible really lived.

OT Stories Jesus Accepted as Historical

1. Jesus believed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were real people (John 8:56, 39; Matthew 8:11).

2. Jesus believed David (Matthew 12:3-4) and Solomon (Matthew 12:42; 6:29) were real people.

3. Jesus believed Adam and Eve were real people (Mat. 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-8).

4. Jesus believed Noah was a real person (Matthew 24:37-39).

5. Jesus believed that Moses was a real person (Matthew 8:4).

6. Jesus believed The Flood really took place (Mat. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27).

7. Jesus believed in the story about Jonah being swallowed by a whale (Mat. 12:39-41).

8. Jesus believed Sodom and Gomorrah were real cities that were supernaturally destroyed by God (Mat. 10:15; 11:23-24).

9. Jesus believed Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt (Luke 17:32).

10. Jesus believed that God supernaturally gave manna from heaven to Israel (John 6:31, 49, 58).

3. ALL of Scripture is inspired (Matthew 4:4)

If Jesus believed that the Bible is inspired, the next question would be, How much of the Bible is inspired? Jesus said that ALL of it is inspired. He said that EVERY word of Scripture proceeded from the mouth of God (Mat. 4:4).

This is consistent with what Paul wrote that “ALL Scripture is inspired” (II Timothy 3:16). On two occasions, Jesus quotes the OT but instead of saying, “Moses says” something, he says, “God says” something (Matthew 19:4-5; Mark 7:9-12).

What Moses says, God says. That is inspiration. Liberals believe that the Bible only tells me what Moses said or Isaiah said or Paul said. It only gives us their opinions on things but their opinion may be no better than ours.

4. Scripture CANNOT be broken (John 10:35)

What does that mean? People break the Scriptures every day by not obeying them. People break the Ten Commandments. He criticized the Pharisees for making void or nullifying or canceling the Word of God by their own traditions (Mark 7:13).

Some churches today still do this. They put their traditions on an equal par with Scripture or actually put tradition over Scripture and reject Scripture to follow their own tradition.

John 10:35 has nothing to do with obedience. It has to do with accuracy and authority. It means that the Scriptures cannot be proven false. Modern paraphrases read: and the Scripture doesn’t lie” (Message), “If the Scripture which cannot be untrue” (LB), “The Scripture is always true” (NCV) and “We know that what the Scripture says is true forever” (GNB).

5. Everything in Scripture MUST be fulfilled (Luke 24:44)

All of the unfulfilled prophecies will one day be fulfilled. He did not just say that EVERYTHING will one day be fulfilled. He said that it MUST be fulfilled. Jesus said that everything will be fulfilled down to the last jot and tittle, to use the KJV language (cf. Matthew 5:18).

Matthew 5:18 is a passage which has been misunderstood. First, let me explain what a jot and tittle is. The KJV has Jot, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Yod, a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It looks a like our comma.

A tittle is a decorative mark or accent mark on the edge of the Hebrew Yod. The difference between a lowercase l and a t is a little stroke mark. The difference between an O and a Q is a little mark.

Jesus is not talking about inspiration, although it is true that all of the letters were inspired. He is not even talking about preservation of the Scriptures, that all of it will be preserved. The jots and tittles of the Bible actually did pass away.

We do not have any of the original manuscripts of the Bible. We have NONE. They are all gone. We only have copies and copies of copies of manuscripts. He is talking about the reliability of the Bible. All of it will be fulfilled, down to the jot and tittle, the smallest letters of Scripture and the smallest parts of the smallest letters (punctuation or accent marks).

6. God’s Word will NEVER pass away (Matthew 24:35)

Jesus said that God’s Word would NEVER pass away (24:35). In fact the word never in Greek is a double negative for emphasis. Put another way, Scripture is eternal, as the Psalmist says (Psalm 119:89). Heaven and earth will pass away. God’s Word will not. Both Peter and Isaiah say that God’s Word lasts forever (cf. I Peter 1:23, 25; Isaiah 40:8). In contrast to grass, which is temporary, it lasts forever.

What does this mean that Scripture is eternal, that God’s Word lasts forever and will never pass away? One man told me that he believed that he would be taking his Bible to heaven. One man replied to him that, while his Bible was going to heaven, the notes in his margins were staying on earth.

The idea that we will take our Bibles to heaven when we die completely misses the point. Jesus wasn’t saying that the Bible is physically indestructible. Bibles have been burned through out history. When Jesus said, “My word will never pass away,” He meant that everything he said will take place, everything he predicted and promised, down to the last jot and tittle. He wasn’t talking about the physical pages.

7. Ignorance of the Bible leads to ERROR (Matthew 22:29)

Jesus always appealed to the Scriptures as his final authority when arguing with his the religious leaders of the day (Scribes, Pharisees). Jesus argued with his opponents and used the Bible. When they didn’t know the Bible, he said, “You do err not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God” (Mat. 22:29; Mark 12:24). That describes a lot of people today, including some Christians who don’t know the Scriptures.

Jesus said that ignorance of the Scriptures leads to ERROR. When Jesus talked to the Bible scholars of his day, the Scribes and Pharisees, he often said, “Have you never read” or “go and learn what the Scripture means” and he would quote a verse. That used to really irritate them. Jesus told this to the professional Bible scholars who thought they knew everything and they knew nothing.

Inspiration of the Bible

What does it mean that the Bible is inspired? This topic is very, very important and there is a lot of confusion even among Christians on the doctrine of biblical inspiration. These are some of the questions, we will try to answer.

We will just focus on only one passage and some of the implications of that one very famous passage. We will look at what the apostle Paul said about inspiration in II Timothy 3:16-17. What do we learn about inspiration in this passage?

What Inspiration does NOT Mean

Scriptures is inspired. Scripture doesn’t become the Word of God or contain the Word of God. It IS the Word of God. Notice what Paul says is inspired and what is not inspired.

1. The writers of Scripture are NOT inspired just their writings.

Today, we talk about an inspired poet or an inspired writer but that is not how the Bible uses the term. There are no inspired Scripture writers, only inspired Scripture writings (γραφή).

2. The copies of Scripture are NOT inspired, just the original documents.

That causes a real problem. We don’t have any original manuscripts written by John or Paul or Moses or Isaiah in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. None of them exist. No archaeologist has ever found them. We only have copies of manuscripts and copies of copies. Is that a problem?

Not really, because we have over 5300 Greek manuscripts of the NT. Plus, there are over 10,000 in Latin and over 9,300 other early versions totaling over 24,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in existence today. We have far more NT manuscripts than we have of any other ancient historical document. No other ancient book is even close.

It is the most reliable, best attested ancient writing known today. Homer’s Iliad has only 643 copies and its oldest copy was written five hundred years after the original. Homer wrote it in 900 BC and the earliest copy we have was written in 400 BC. We have a copy of John 18 that is date 125 A.D (P52), about twenty-five years after the book was written.

What about the OT text. Our Hebrew Bible is called the Masoretic Text (MT), because Jewish scribes who copied the OT text in the Middle Ages were called the Masoretes. It was written in 900 A.D but we did not know how accurate the copies were until 1947 when the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) were discovered.

When the two sets of manuscripts were compared, very few changes were found. The MT was found to be identical to the copies of the OT found in the DSS in over ninety five percent of the text. The remaining five percent consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen or variations in spelling.

3. The Translators of Scripture are NOT inspired, just the original autographs.

There are some bad translations. That is the fallacy of the modern infallible English Bible movement, which says the KJV translation is inspired (the view of the “KJV Only” people). This creates a problem. If the translators are not inspired, then how can anyone know the Word who does not know Greek and Hebrew?

Translations are inspired ONLY to the extent that they accurately reflect what the Greek and Hebrew says but no translation is perfect. We know that because when the NT was written, it contained some quotations of the OT in it.

All of the OT quotations were translated into Greek in the NT. The OT was quoted as Scripture in the NT and yet most of the time (about 80% of the time), it is quoted in the LXX, which is not even that great of a translation. There are three hundred quotations of the OT in the NT and two-third of them are in the LXX.

The Extent of Inspiration

Paul doesn’t say “some Scripture is inspired” or even “most Scripture is inspired by God”. He says, “All Scripture is inspired by God. Every book, every chapter, every verse, every word of the Bible is inspired. There is no such thing as partial inspiration, because all of it is inspired.

One of the problems with the red letter Bibles is that might give some the false notion that statements of Jesus in red have a greater authority than the statements in black but all Scripture is inspired. The red print is not any more inspired than the black print.

All Scripture is inspired, not just the parts that you like or that move you emotionally. Now this doesn’t mean that the entire Bible is equally important or equally moving. Jesus said that some parts of the law were weightier than others (Matthew 23:23) but all of it is inspired and all of it is profitable (Cf. John 3:16 with II Chronicles 3:16).

All of the Bible is equally true, equally inspired but not equally important. The NT is not more inspired than the OT. The Gospel of John is not any more inspired than I Chronicles.

The Source of Inspiration

The Scriptures were not inspired by man but by God. The Greek word Θεόπνευστος literately means “God breathed” (so NIV). Scripture is God breathed, not man breathed. What does that mean? It does not mean that God breathed into the Bible or breathed into man’s words.

That would be the active voice in Greek. It means that God breathed out the Bible. He breathed out His own words through man. In Greek the verb has a passive voice. What it means is that the Bible comes from God. He is the source of it. The Bible is God produced.

Now just because the Bible is God-breathed doesn’t mean God dictated it all word for word. That is a common myth about inspiration. Some of the Bible was dictated (The Ten Commandments) but most of it was not.

We know that the Bible was not the result of divine dictation because it does not have one divine literary style. Paul does not write like John and Isaiah does not write like Moses.

God produced the Bible but he did it through human authors who produced His very words in their own literary style and grammar (cf. I Thessalonians 2:13; Matthew 1:22-23; Acts 1:16; Mark 12:36). People wrote the Bible but they wrote exactly what God wanted them to write. What are the implications of this?

It makes the Bible unique. No other book in the world is inspired by God. The world is basically divided into people who believe that the Bible is a book given by God through man and other people who believe it is just a great book by man about God.

It makes the Bible extremely valuable (Psalm 119:72, 127).  It means that the Bible is something that we should spend the rest of our lives trying to read understand, obey and apply.

The Results of Inspiration

Paul says that there are four areas that the Bible is profitable – teaching, rebuking, correcting and training (two are negative and two are positive) .

Doctrinal Teaching

Many try to make all Bible study devotional or practical or just look for applications but there is a place in Bible study for teaching, dealing with what the Bible teaches about this or that topic (KJV – “doctrine”). The first thing that Paul said the Bible was profitable for was doctrine.

Refuting Error

A second purpose of the Bible is to refute false ideas that people have (false doctrine, false teachers, false religion, false thinking, worldly thinking). It tells us what is wrong with what the rest of the world thinks is right and does.

Correcting Error

A third purpose of the Bible is to show people what is wrong in their lives (Hebrews 4:12). God’s Word is like a mirror. It shows us our sins (James 1:22-25).

Holy Living

The Bible not only tells us how to not live, it tells us how we should live. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105) The Bible does not just show us our sins, it tells us how to change. It has a cleaning effect (John 15:3; Ephesians 5:25-26; Psalm 119:9, 11).

Just as soap gets the dirt out, the Bible helps us to get the sin out of our lives, so we can live right. God gave us the Bible not just to learn doctrine in our heads, so we can all be Bible fatheads, as James MacDonald used to say, but to change how we live and to live godly lives.

Is the Bible is profitable in other areas?

Liberals read this a different way. Paul said that the Bible is profitable in these four areas. They argue that it is NOT profitable or useful in science, history astronomy and biology. Only the moral and spiritual teachings of the Bible are inspired. How would you answer that?

1. The text says “ALL Scripture is inspired”, not just some of it (the moral and spiritual parts).

All means all and that includes Scripture that is historical or scientific. Scripture was not intended to be a history textbook or a science textbook. That is not why God wrote the Bible but that does not mean when the Bible talks about scientific or historical matters, it is wrong. All Scripture is inspired by God.

2. If all Scripture is inspired by God, it must be true because the Bible says that God cannot lie.

He is a God of truth (Isaiah 65:16) and it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18). That is why Scripture says that the Bible is true (Psalm 119:142, 160). Every word of God proves true (Proverbs 30:5 ESV, NLT). The Bible is God-breathed and God does not have bad breath.

Technically, there are some errors in the Bible. Satan told Adam and Eve in the garden if they ate from the tree that they would not die. It was a lie and it is found in the Bible but it is found on the lips of Satan, so we can say that the Bible contains errors but teaches none. Everything in the Bible is not true but everything the Bible teaches or affirms is true.

3. If the Bible cannot be trusted on earthly matters, how can it be trusted on heavenly matters, as Jesus said (John 3:12). If it is full of historical and scientific errors, what’s to say that it is also not full of spiritual and moral errors?

The Purpose of Inspiration

The purpose of the Bible is “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (3:17). It is also able to equip the woman of God for every good work. It just so happens that Paul was writing to Timothy, so he focuses on the man of God.

The Sufficiency of the Scriptures

This verse is very important. What it teaches is something called the doctrine of the sufficiency of the Scriptures. The Bible is all you need. Now this doctrine has been greatly misunderstood. The Bible is not all you need to do a lot of things. It is not sufficient for car repairs or home repairs. It is not the only thing you need for medicine or cooking.

The Bible is not sufficient for a lot of things but it is sufficient for faith and practice. It is all we need for “life and godliness” (II Peter 1:3). Following the Bible is all you need to be equipped to do every good work. What does the sufficiency of Scripture mean?

1) The Bible contains all that we need to believe about God.

We do not need the Bible and additional revelation (the Bible and The Book of Mormon). We do not need the Bible and tradition. Some churches believe in doctrines not taught in the Bible (purgatory, Immaculate Conception, infant baptism, praying to saints). The Bible is all we need.

We do not need the Bible AND tradition. The Pharisees added all kinds of traditions to Scripture. We should believe only the doctrines that are directly taught in Scripture or indirectly taught. The doctrine of the Trinity, for example, is not taught directly in Scripture but is based on an inference of Scripture.

2) There is no good work that God wants you to do, other than what is taught in Scripture.

As Paul says, the Bible can equip for every good work. If you do everything the Bible says you will live a blameless life (cf. Psalm 119:1-3). You don’t need the Bible and something else to live a godly life.

3) It also means that there is that nothing is sin that is not forbidden in Scripture either directly or indirectly.

There are many things which people have said are sin that the Bible does not say is sin. We have to beware that we do not become like the Pharisees and “teach as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7).  The Roman Catholic Church, for example, teaches that birth control (contraception) is a sin but there is no verse in the Bible that it would be wrong for a husband and wife.

Now if it is used by two unmarried people, that it another question. Then it is a case of people who want to disobey the Bible and try to avoid the negative consequences associated with disobedience (STD, pregnancy). In that case, it would be wrong because it encourages disobedience to a clear command of Scripture. “I’m going to disobey the Bible but that’s okay because I’m using protection”. Roman Catholics also say that eating meat on Friday is a sin . Again, this is not based on Scripture.

Some have said that interracial marriage is a sin or that it is a sin for women to wear pants or that it is a sin for a Christian to go to a movie. Yet you will not find any verse in Scripture that says. In fact, there are some examples in the Bible of interracial marriages.

There are other things which are not directly forbidden in Scripture but are indirectly forbidden. The Bible does not say, “Thou shalt not smoke crack cocaine” or “Thou shalt not speed” but it does tell us to obey the laws of the land. Speeding is illegal, unless you live in Germany.

The Bible does not say, “Thou shalt not smoke cigarettes”. The Bible doesn’t make any mention of tobacco. It is native to North and Central America, and the people who wrote the Bible lived in the Middle East, but the Bible does talk about not being addicted or come under the control of anything and that would include an addiction to Nicotine.

Cigarette smoke is also harmful to yourself and others around you. There are verses about stewardship. We are to be good stewards of the body God has given us. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Smoking causes is bad for the body. It causes cancer.

The Bible does not say it is a sin to look at a pornographic magazine or computer screen but it does say that it is a sin to lust after another woman and that it is the very purpose of pornography. While the Bible does not mention pornography, it does have a lot to say about purity.

In fact, purity is a command in Scripture (I Timothy 5:22). It talks about having a pure heart (Matthew 5:9; Psalm 51:10), pure thoughts (II Corinthians 7:1; Philippians 4:8), a pure speech (Isaiah 6:5; Ephesians 5:4), pure eyes (II Peter 2:14; Matthew 5:28-29) and a pure body (Jude 8; Romans 1:24; I Corinthians 6:18-20).

The Bible also does not say, “Thou shalt not gamble or play the lotto” But there are principles which would rule out gambling. It is addictive and habit forming. We are to be good stewards of the money God has given us (throwing your money away). It encourages laziness. It also encourages covetousness. Gambling is motivated by greed. Why do people gamble? They want to get rich, very rich and without working for it.

Nowhere does the Bible say, “Thou shalt not spend all day watching television and playing video games”. There was no television or video games in biblical times but there are verses that talk about not wasting your time. Paul tells us to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16; cf. Psalm 39:4-5). There are also tons of verses that talk about not being lazy (Proverbs 12:24, 27; 13:4; 20:4; 21:25; 26:13-16).

Spiritual Deception Today

This morning, I want to look at spiritual deception today. Let’s begin by reading a classic passage on the fall of man.  It is one of the most important chapters of the Bible.  It is  extremely important theologically.

Adam’s sin has theological implications for original sin. This section is dripping in applications. is a lot in this passage about spiritual deception today.  It still takes place.  People all over the planet are deceived.  They have believed lives.  Many have believed lies all of their lives.

Genesis 3:1-3 shows us some of the ways that Satan tempts people today. He uses some of the same tactics he used in the garden with Adam and Eve (cf. II Corinthians 11:3).  He deceives people the same way.

Nine Tactics of Spiritual Deception

1. Raise doubts about what God has said

“Hath God said?” Did God really say this? (Genesis 3:1). Is the Bible really God’s Word? Did Moses really write the Pentateuch? Did Isaiah really write the book of Isaiah? Was the world really created by God, just as Genesis says? Did Jesus really say the things that are attributed to him in the Gospels? That is the whole point of the Jesus Seminar.

Now we should read the Bible with an open mind and even raise questions as to what it means and how to apply it to our lives and how one passage relates to another passage. God expects us to use our minds when we read and study the Bible but others go a step further and question the inspiration or authority of the Bible. That comes directly from Satan.  Beware of this tactic.

2. Misquote and misapply Scripture

This is a common tactic today.  Satan said, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from ANY tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). Did God say that? No. He said that they could eat “from ANY tree in the garden” (Genesis 2:16). There was one and only one exception to this prohibition. Satan still does that today. He distorts the Word of God. Cultists do this all the time.

How many times do we hear people quote Bible passages completely out of context? They will use words “Thou shalt not kill” (KJV) as proof that capital punishment is wrong. Serial killers and mass murderers cannot be put to death because the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill”. It is actually not what the Bible says. The Bible does not say, “You shall not kill”. It says, “You shall not murder”.

People also say that it is always wrong to criticize someone no matter how evil they are or wrong they are, because Jesus said, “Judge not lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1).

The only way not to be deceived when someone misquotes Scripture or takes it out of context is to thoroughly know Scripture inside and out. If we don’t know the Bible, we will not know when someone is taking it completely out of context.

That is why Paul tells us that we need to “rightly divide” the Word of Truth (II Timothy 2:15), because it can be wrongly divided. When taken out of context, the Bible can be used to justify anything. It was used to justify slavery in the 19th century.

Why did Satan misquote Scripture here? He does this to make his question a little biased. A biased question or a leading question is worded in a particular way that one answer is favored or it makes an assumption. Is it really true that you are not allowed to eat from any tree here? The implied answer is, “of course not”. Satan uses a leading question.

A leading question suggests an answer to the question. The media uses leading questions all the time. If Satan would have asked a non-leading question, he would have asked, Is there anything you are not allowed to do in the garden? Do you have any prohibitions? That question would have been open ended.

3. Directly contradict what God has said

God said, “If you eat from the fruit of the tree, you shall surely die”. Satan takes those very words, turns them around and says, “If you eat from the fruit of the tree, you shall NOT surely die”.

He directly contradicted what God said and he still does that today. It is very common to hear people in society do this today.  The Bible teaches very clearly that Jesus is God, God is a Trinity and Hell is eternal and yet many will say that Jesus is not God, that God is not a Trinity and that an eternal Hell does not exist.

The Bible says that homosexuality is a sin. The Book of Leviticus two times calls it an “abomination” (18:22; 20:13). An abomination is not just any sin, it is a really bad sin, one of the worst types of sins.

Others today say it is not only not one of the worst types of sins, it is not a sin at all, just an alternative lifestyle. It can’t be wrong, because some people are born that way. If you do not know the Bible very well, you will not know which is correct.

If you don’t know the Bible, you will not have a clue how to answer the Jehovah’s Witnesses when they knock on the door. Now you can’t master the Bible overnight.

It takes a lifetime to study but we do need to be studying it every day. What I find astounding is that Eve did not question Satan when he directly contradicted God’s Word. She accepted what he said very uncritically.

4. Encourage disobedience to what God has said

“You will be better off if you disobey, than if you obey” or “It is okay to disobey because there are good reasons to do so.” If you follow the Bible and live a holy life, you will miss out on some things. God clearly says that it is wrong for a believer to marry an unbeliever but Christians do it anyway in disobedience to a clear command of Scripture.

Scripture says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (II Corinthians 6:14) but many do it any way. Why do they do it? Satan has somehow convinced them to put their will above God’s will. Perhaps they justify it by thinking that they will somehow lead their unbelieving spouse to Christ.

Of course, as you know, even if they do this, it is still the wrong thing to do. Nothing ever justifies disobedience to a clear command of Scripture. King Saul learned this painful lesson. Saul was given very clear instructions from the prophet Samuel.

He was ordered to kill a group of extremely wicked people and animals in divine judgment for sin. He killed some people and some animals (I Samuel 15). He saved a few animals, so he could use them for worship. He came up with an excuse why he could disobey God.

Samuel was not impressed. He said, “Because you have rejected the Word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” (I Samuel 15:23). Anyone that encourages you to disobey God, disobey the Bible is speaking through Satan. Remember Job’s wife (Job 2:9-10)?

Remember Peter’s comment to Jesus which came directly from Satan (Matthew 16:21-23)? How about friends that say, “Don’t do what your parents told you to do”? They are encouraging kids to flat-out disobey one of the Ten Commandments. That is demonic.  Beware of this tactic.

5. Make God look bad

Satan tries to make God look bad to Adam and Eve. “There’s this great tree right in the middle of the garden. There’s nothing wrong with it. It looks good.

It taste’s good and God won’t let you have it. If the tree is good for you why would God withhold it from you? If God really loves you, would he withhold anything good from you?” Satan wanted Adam and Eve to think that God was unloving.  He still tries that tactic today.

People today say that a God who sends anyone to an eternal Hell cannot possibly be a God of love. They say that a God who does not accept sincere people from other religions is just plain intolerant. They say that a God who ordered the execution of the Canaanites, as the OT says that he did, is guilty of sheer genocide.

Whenever you hear anything like this, you know that it comes straight from Satan. It is a doctrine of demons (I Timothy 4:1). The demons in that passage were trying to make God look unfair by forbidding marriage.

6. Make sin look good

Satan does a good job of making sin look very attractive. Society does this today.  Satan made Adam and Eve think that they would be better off if they sinned, than if they didn’t sin.

The Devil said, “The tree looks good. It tastes good and it will make you smart. You will be as smart as God.” Satan has a way of making sin look good. The Bible says that sin has pleasures (Hebrews 11: 25; Proverbs 9:17).

The evangelist John R. Rice used to say that the devil has some beautiful apples. They are red and shiny. They smell good and their first bite is sweet but all of Satan’s apples have worms in them.

Satan uses bait to get people to sin (addictive substances, pornography, sexual immorality, etc.) but when we take the bait, we get the hook as well, to use a fishing analogy .

If one temptation doesn’t work, Satan will change his baits to get people to sin. All of us have a weakness for something. That is where Satan will try to get us. We saw that with Samson. Satan could not defeat him physically but was able to defeat him in his area of weakness, his love of pagan women.

7. Use half-truths to deceive people

Jesus said that Satan is not only a liar, he is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). He invented lying. The first lie in the Bible was found on the lips of Satan and every lie since then comes from Satan. Satan does use pure lies but most of the lies he told to Adam and Eve were actually half-truths. Satan still uses half-truths today.

In fact, they are much more effective because they have an element of truth in them. Beware of those who use the truth to deceive people, who tell you something that is true, but leave out important information that should be included, to create a false impression. Advertisers sometimes do this all the time.

The Half Truths of Satan in Genesis

1) He told them that when they ate from the forbidden tree that they would not die (Genesis 3:4).

After they ate from the tree, they did not immediately drop dead. In fact, they lived about a thousand more years. What he did not tell them was that the second they ate from the tree, they both died spiritually and would eventually die physically.

2) Satan promised Adam and Eve that when they ate from the forbidden tree, their eyes would be opened (Genesis 3:5).

They did eat from the tree and their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:7) but what did they see? They saw their nakedness, their guilt, their shame and their helplessness.

3) He told them if they sinned that they would become like God (Genesis 3:5).

In one sense they did become like God. They became morally independent. They began to decide for themselves what is good and bad, rather than letting God decide. This was only a half-truth because, when they sinned, they actually became less like God.

God is sinless. God does not know good and evil by experience. When they sinned, they became more like Satan than they became like God. In one sense, they were already like God, because they were both created in God’s image.

4) Satan told them what they would get if they ate from the forbidden fruit but he didn’t tell them what they would lose.

He didn’t tell them that, if they ate from the one tree, they would get kicked out of the garden and not have access to any of the trees of the garden anymore. If he told them that, they would never have eaten from the forbidden fruit.

8. Use tact to deceive people

This is a tactic that Satan still uses today.  Satan used tact in two ways in the Garden of Eden.

  • He used tact in how he got Adam to sin.

Satan didn’t tempt Adam directly but tempted him through Eve. Satan’s goal was to get Adam to sin. He was the head of the race When Adam fell, the whole race fell (I Corinthians 15:22).

There were a couple of different ways he could have done this. He could have tempted Adam first. He could have tempted Eve first or he could have tempted them both at the same time. What Satan did was to tempt Eve first and then used Eve to get Adam to sin . It was a brilliant strategy in more ways than one.

Eve was the weakest link. She was not told the prohibition of 2:16-17 directly but probably heard it from Adam . Eve would have been more open to the serpent’s words and Adam would be more open to a suggestion by his wife than by the serpent directly. It also shows the effect that wives can have on husbands.

God cursed the ground because Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree (Genesis 3:17). Is Adam not supposed to listen to his wife? She was created as a helper. He should listen to her, except if she tells him to flat-out disobey a clear command of God.

  • Satan also used tact in what he said to Eve.

He starts the conversation with a question. The first thing he said to Eve was not “I am Devil. I hate God and I am here to deceive you and hurt you”. Disobey God. The Bible is false.” That would not have convinced Eve to sin. It would have convinced Eve to get completely away from him.

9. Use disguises to deceive people today.

He speaks through other people and things. We already saw how Satan spoke through Peter. Apparently, Satan can not only speak through a Christian, as well as a non-Christian but he could also speak through an Apostle.

He disguised himself as an animal but not just any animal. He didn’t appear to Eve as a roaring lion. He appeared as a serpent, the most attractive and wise creature that God made (Genesis 3:1a).

He disguised himself as a snake but not the slimy, repulsive creature we think of a snake today. Paul said that he disguises himself today as an angel of light, not an angel of darkness, to trick and deceive people (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

The Humanity of Christ

As we study basic Bible doctrines, the next doctrine we come to is the person of Christ. Who exactly is Jesus? What does the Bible teach about Jesus? Theologians call this “Christology”. Jesus asked his own disciples who they thought that he was in Matthew 16:13-16.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Who would people say that Jesus is today?  The Jesus of modern-day Judaism is just a great ethical teacher, a rabbi.  He taught some great ethical principles, like love your neighbor and forgive your enemies but is not God.  The Jesus of Islam is a little bigger. According to Islam, Jesus was a prophet.

Islam believes that Jesus performed miracles but even Muslims do not believe that Jesus died on the cross or rose from the dead. The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in an even greater Jesus than this. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is not just a teacher or prophet but an angel.

What does the Bible teach about the person of Christ? It teaches two things. It teaches that Jesus is both God and Man. This is the Christian view of Jesus. It is accepted by all branches of the Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox).

It is the historic position of Christians from all denominations for the last two thousand years. The Bible teaches that Jesus is fully humans and fully divine. I want to start today by looking at the humanity of Jesus. This is actually one of my favorite topics.

You might say, “Why do we need to spend a week on this topic?” Everyone on the planet believes Jesus was a man. Two reasons: One, there are some great applications that we can learn about the humanity of Christ; Two, in the early church there were false teachers who said that Jesus was not a real man.

They believed in a heresy called docetism. Docetism taught that Jesus did not really come in the flesh, did not have a real human body, and did not suffer and die on the cross. They believed that this was all an allusion.

The word “docetism” comes from the Greek word δοκέω which means to think or to seem. Docetism held that Christ only seemed human but really wasn’t. He only appeared to be so. These teachers believed that Christ was God. They didn’t believe that he was man. Today we have the opposite problem.

Most people today accept the fact that Jesus really existed in the past and was a real man. Even the most radical NT scholars like Rudolf Bultmann and D. F. Strauss never questioned that. What they rejected is the idea that Jesus was God.

One of the main reasons that many didn’t believe that Jesus was human and had a real body was something called Gnosticism (another heresy in the early church). Docetism was actually a form of Gnosticism.

Gnosticism taught that matter is evil. They believed that the body was evil but the spirit was good. In 1945 some books written by actual Gnostic writers were discovered in Egypt in the town of Nag Hammadi. It is now called the Nag Hammadi Library. You can read them.

One book written by a Gnostic is called The Acts of John. It was written in the second century. It is not an inspired book. It is part of the New Testament Apocrypha. It claims to be written by the Apostle John but was actually written by a Gnostic. The Acts of John has the Apostle John saying, “Jesus and I walked on the moist sand but only I left foot prints, nor did he blink his eyes” (93).

The Acts of John also says that when Jesus was arrested, John fled to a cave in fear. At the time of the crucifixion, that dark cave became light. Jesus appeared in the middle of the cave and said laughing, “They think they are putting me on the cross but you know I am here. You will hear that I suffered but I did not suffer. You will hear that I was pierced and the blood flowed from me but it did not” (97-101).

Gnosticism is not completely dead. There are some forms of it even today. Did you know that Muslims do not believe that Jesus died on the cross? Muslims teach that Judas, not Jesus, died on the cross. Islam teaches that Allah took Jesus to heaven just before the crucifixion. The Quran says:

They (the Jews) have said, they killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of God. In fact, they never killed him, they never crucified him – they were made to think that they did. All factions who are disputing in this matter are full of doubt concerning this issue. They possess no knowledge; they only conjecture. For certain, they never killed him. No, God took him up unto himself” (Surah 4:157).

Many books of the NT were written to combat Gnosticism, such as Jude, I & II John, though not III John. That book deals with a personal, rather than a doctrinal problem. Cf. I John 4:1-3; II John 7-11.  I want to begin by reading a few verse which say that Jesus was a man (Acts 17:30-31; I Timothy 2:5).

Not only is he called a man in the NT but Jesus’ favorite title of himself was “The Son of Man”. That is what he called himself most of the time. It was his self-designation. He called himself the Son of Man, not the son of Mary and Joseph or even the Son of David. Most of the time, he called himself the Son of Man (84 times in the Gospels).

So let’s explore this topic. What does it actually mean that Jesus was fully human? In what ways was Jesus exactly like us? We do not normally think about Jesus in these terms. We usually think about how different Jesus is from us – perfectly sinless, fully divine (God), born of a virgin, able to raise the dead, walk on water and turn water into wine, etc.

In other ways, Jesus is exactly like us. In fact, you might be surprised how many similarities Jesus had with us. Here are eight ways that Jesus is just like us.

Jesus had a Real Physical Birth

All of us came into the world through a physical birth and Jesus was no exception. He went through a real birth process (Galatians 4:4). The Gospel of Luke describes it. Of course Jesus’ birth was different from ours in a lot of ways.

Most of us were born in a hospital, surrounded by doctors and nurses. Jesus was born in a barn next to some smelly animals.  His birth fulfilled biblical prophecy.  Ours did not.  He was born of a virgin. We were not. He was born sinless. We were all born with a sin nature.  His birth was surrounded by angels.

Luke mentions an angel that appeared to two people before he was born (Zechariah and Mary) and another angel that appeared to the shepherds after he was born.  Our birth was not announced by an angel.  No angel told our parents what to name us, like they did Jesus. No angel announced ours. His birth was different from ours in another way.

Jesus had Real Ancestors

He had real ancestors. The first verse of the NT says that Jesus was “the son of David, the son of Abraham.” He had real parents.  He had real grandparents.  Some of you have studied your genealogy.   The NT gives us two different genealogies of Jesus.  He had two different genealogies because he had two different parents.

Jesus had a Real Physical Body

Jesus had a normal human body with blood in his veins, like we do (John 1:14; Luke 24:39). Now many times in the OT God manifested himself physically in a theophany but that was temporary. The incarnation is permanent. For all eternity, Jesus will be the God-Man (theanthropic). Now there may have been some differences between Jesus’ body and ours. He was sinless but he still had a physical body, like we do.

  • Because he had a body, Jesus knew what it was like to be hungry.

Jesus knew what it was like to be without.  He knew what it was like to go without a meal. He fasted for forty days (Matthew 4:2). Jesus can relate to hunger. He knew what it was like to be without a home (Matthew 8:20).  Jesus was not a homeowner.  He can also relate to homelessness.

Jesus can relate to poverty. He grew up in a poor family. We know this from the offering that Mary and Joseph made in the Temple forty days later. The OT law stated that a woman who just had a baby could not take part in religious services for over a month, because she was regarded as unclean.

When she did appear, an offering was to be made. If a person was to poor to offer a lamb, doves or pigeons could be offered (Luke 12:6-8). Mary and Joseph offer the poor person’s offering.

  • Because he had a body, he knew what it was like to get tired.

Jesus knew what it was like to be tired, exhausted (John 4:6; Luke 23:26). He got tired, just like we do and slept just like we do (Mark 4:38). In fact, not only did he sleep but apparently, he was a heavy sleeper. Here you have a heavy storm. The wind is blowing hard.

The boat is moving up and down. Water is splashing on the boat. The disciples are terrified and a few of them were experienced fishermen and Jesus is sound asleep on the boat, sleeping like a baby.  Apparently, it is not wrong to take a nap when you are tired.  Jesus took one.

  • Because he had a body, he knew what it was like to feel pain.

Jesus felt pain when the Romans struck him in the head, put a crown of thorns on his head, a spear in his side, a whip on his back and nails in his wrists and feet. Jesus felt physical pain.  He also felt emotional pain.

He felt the pain of REJECTION by his own people. He was rejected by his own people. He felt the pain of desertion. He even felt the pain of rejection by the Father who forsook Him on the cross.

He felt the pain of BETRAYAL by his friends.  He knew what it was like to be betrayed by Judas, to be stabbed in the back by one of his own apostles.  He knew what it was like to be betrayed by his friends and deserted by his followers.

He also felt the pain of RIDICULE by his enemies (mocked, spat on).

Finally, he felt the pain of FALSE ACCUSATION. He was accused of things which he simply did not do. He was accused of blasphemy, of breaking the Sabbath. He was also accused of treason.

He felt the pain of REJECTION by his own people. He was rejected by his own people. He felt the pain of desertion. He even felt the pain of rejection by the Father who forsook Him on the cross.

He felt the pain of BETRAYAL by his friends.  He knew what it was like to be betrayed by Judas, to be stabbed in the back by one of his own apostles.  He knew what it was like to be betrayed by his friends and deserted by his followers.

He also felt the pain of RIDICULE by his enemies.  The Roman soldiers insulted him and mocked him.  They spit on him.

Finally, he felt the pain of FALSE ACCUSATION. He was accused of things which he simply did not do. He was accused of blasphemy, of breaking the Sabbath. He was also accused of treason.

Jesus Grew Up

Not only did Jesus have a physical body but that body had to grow up and develop (Luke 2:52). Not only did his body grow but his mind grew as well. Jesus went through the ordinary learning process that all children go through. He learned to walk, to talk, to eat, to read. Believe it or not, he was once a teenager. He may have had freckles at one time. He even knew what it was like to be a misunderstood teenager.

Many have wondered what Jesus was like as a child. The NT talks about Jesus as a baby (birth, circumcision) and then skips thirty years to his public ministry. It does give us only one story about Jesus being left behind in Jerusalem at the age of twelve (Luke 2:42) but NO stories about Jesus as either a child or a teenager.

This has led many questions about what Jesus was like in “the silent years”. It has led many with vivid imaginations to come up with ideas about what Jesus was like as a child. None of these stories are in the Bible. None of them are inspired. They are part of the New Testament Apocrypha. But they are very imaginative and entertaining.

I will mention four of these stories all taken from a book called The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. This book is not the same as The Gospel of Thomas (which has nothing to do with the childhood of Jesus). It is not inspired but was written in the second century (140-170 AD). We know this because Irenaeus quotes this book around 180 AD.

In chapter four of The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is a bit of a bully. One day he was walking down the street. Another kid was running and bumped into him. He said to the person, “You won’t get where you’re going” and the child fell down and died on the spot.

In chapter nine of the The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus and his friends were playing on the roof of a building, like kids do. They sometimes do dangerous things. One of the kids fell off the roof and died. When the other kids saw what happened, they were scared and all ran away but Jesus stayed right there. When the parents of the dead child arrived on the scene, they saw their dead son.

They saw Jesus on the roof. They put two and two together and assumed that Jesus pushed him off the roof, so they began to accuse him. Jesus denied it but they continued to yell and scream and Jesus for throwing their son off the roof. So Jesus finally jumped off the roof like Superman, stood by the boy, raised him from the dead and then asked the boy if he pushed him off the roof. The parents were amazed and began to worship Jesus.

In chapter thirteen of The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus and Joseph were working in the carpenter’s shop. They were trying to build a bed for a rich man. Joseph needed a larger piece of wood than he had and became upset. Jesus tried to calm Joseph down and told him to pull on one end of the wood, while he pulled on the other end. The piece of wood was miraculously stretched to size.

In chapter fourteen of The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is portrayed as a smart aleck in school. His father didn’t want Jesus to be illiterate, so he hired a teacher to teach Jesus Greek and Hebrew.

But Jesus knew more than the teacher. He said to him as they were learning the alphabet, “If you are so smart, tell me the meaning of A and I will tell you the meaning of B”. His teacher got so mad that he struck him in the face. Jesus then began to curse his teacher who then immediately fell to the ground.

Some of these stories may be a little entertaining but they are all fictitious. People simply invented them and they contradict some basic details of Scripture. The NT says that Jesus didn’t perform any miracles as a child. We know that because John 2:14 says that the FIRST miracle that Jesus performed was around the age of thirty when he turned water into wine at a Jewish wedding.

Jesus was Born into a Real Family

Jesus not only had a real family.  He had a mother and a father. He had grandparents.  He had aunts and uncles.  He had siblings.  He as not an only child. He had brothers and sisters. Not only did he have them but he had lots of them.  He come from a large family.

The Gospels mention the names of four of his brothers and speaks of his sisters in the plural, which means there were at least two of them (Matthew 13:55-56; Mark 6:3). This means there were at least seven kids in the family. Because of the Virgin Birth, these would be half-brothers and sisters biologically. Genetically, they had the same mother but not the same father.

There were five boys in the family. Jesus was the oldest. His other brothers were named James, Joseph and Judas and Simon. Someone said that his parents started all of their kid’s names with the letter J. When they got to the fifth child, they couldn’t think of another name with J, so they named him Simon. We do not know the names of his sisters.

So Jesus had real brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, not everyone accepts this as fact. Did you know that two branches of the Christian Church (Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox) do NOT believe that Jesus had brothers and sisters. There is a reason why they believe this. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church believe in a strange doctrine called the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary.

It is something that is found in the NT Apocrypha. According to this doctrine, Mary was a virgin before Jesus was born, when Jesus was born and after Jesus was born. They believe that she remained a virgin the rest of her life. It is a rather strange idea that Mary and Joseph were married for years but never had marital relations. Their marriage was never consummated.

Was Mary a Perpetual Virgin?

According to the Roman Catholic Church, she was but Matthew 1:25 says that Joseph had no sexual union with Mary “until she gave birth to a son”. The word “until” clearly implies that Joseph had union with Mary after she gave birth to a son.

Luke 2:7 says that Jesus was Mary’s “firstborn”. The word firstborn clearly implies that others were born after him. Jesus is called Mary’s firstborn son, not her only son.

This whole doctrine is based on the unbiblical idea that there is something sinful or unholy with sex in the context of marriage. Yet the Bible teaches that sex in marriage is holy (Hebrews 13:4).

The Greek Orthodox Church believes that these were not brothers but step-brothers and step-sisters. They believe that Joseph was married twice. His first wife died. Joseph was a widower and these were children from a previous marriage.

Did Jesus have Step-Brothers?

There are several problems with the step-brother theory. First, it does not explain how Jesus could be called Mary’s firstborn. Second, this would make Joseph’s oldest son heir to the throne of David, not Jesus.

Roman Catholics give a different argument. They argue that the “brothers” of Jesus are not literal brothers but cousins (perhaps the children of Mary’s sister). How do they arrive at this interpretation?

The Greek word for brother (άδελφός) is used in the LXX for relatives. It was used of an uncle/nephew relationship, rather than a brother relationship. Lot, for example, was called Abraham’s “brother” but he was actually his nephew (Genesis 13:8; 14:14-16).

That sounds like a good argument but it has one problem. It is all based on how άδελφός is used in the LXX. The word may be used that way in the LXX but it is NEVER used that way in the NT. In the NT άδελφός only means brother. It sometimes means a literal brother or a spiritual brother but it always means brother. In fact, there is another word for cousin used in the NT (Colossians 4:10)

Not only did Jesus have a mother, step-father, brothers and sisters, he also had a real aunt and uncle.  In fact, we even know their names.  The Bible mentions the name of his aunt and we know from reliable church history the name of his uncle. How do we know this?

The Gospels tell us that there were four believing women who witnessed the crucifixion.  According to John, the four women at the crucifixion were three women named Mary and the Virgin Mary’s sister.

We did not even know that the Virgin Mary had a sister if it were not for John.  John 19:25 says, “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” Here again we see three women named Mary at the cross and another woman who was Mary’s sister.

According to Mark, the four women at the same scene were three women named Mary and Salome. Mark 15:40 says,  “Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome.”

Mark was written first and Matthew used Mark when he wrote his Gospel. If you put John and Mark together, you can conclude that Salome was Mary’s sister.  This would mean that Salome was Jesus’ aunt.

According to Matthew, there were three women named Mary, along with mother of James and John.  Matthew 27:56 says, “among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

If you put Matthew and John together, you can conclude that Mary’s sister was the mother of the two apostles James and John.  That would make James and John Mary’s nephews.

It would also mean that James and John were Jesus’ cousins.  That helps explain two things.  It explains why Jesus entrusted his mother to the Apostle John (John 19:26).  John was not only a believer, he was related to Mary. Jesus was asking John to take care of his aunt.

It also explains why Salome asked Jesus for special favors from Jesus for her sons James and John.  Her asking for James and John to have chief seats in the kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23) was a form of nepotism which Jesus rejected.

We know from reliable church history who Jesus’ uncle was.  John 19:25 mentions “Mary the wife of Clopas”.  According to church history, CLOPAS was Joseph’s brother (Jesus’ uncle).  According to church history, he took over as the head of the Jerusalem church after James and was later martyred.  We know this from the fourth century church historian Eusebius who quotes the second century writer Hegesippius.

“After the martyrdom of James and the conquest of Jerusalem which immediately followed, it is said that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still living came together from all directions with those that were related to the Lord according to the flesh (for the majority of them also were still alive) to take counsel as to who was worthy to succeed James.

They all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the Gospel also makes mention; to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Saviour. For Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph”.[1]

“But there is nothing like hearing the historian himself, who writes as follows: Certain of these heretics brought accusation against Symeon, the son of Clopas, on the ground that he was a descendant of David and a Christian; and thus he suffered martyrdom, at the age of one hundred and twenty years, while Trajan was emperor and Atticus governor.

And the same writer says that his accusers also, when search was made for the descendants of David, were arrested as belonging to that family. And it might be reasonably assumed that Symeon was one of those that saw and heard the Lord, judging from the length of his life, and from the fact that the Gospel makes mention of Mary, the wife of Clopas, who was the father of Symeon, as has been already shown”[2] .


[1] Eusebius, Church History, III.11.1-2

[2] Eusebius, Church History, IV.32.3-4


Jesus had a Real Job

In Matthew, Jesus is called “the carpenter’s son” (13:55) but in Mark he is simply “the carpenter” (6:3). Before his public ministry, Jesus worked as a carpenter. He was a cabinet maker.  Joseph probably owned a small furniture shop.  If anyone was overqualified for a job, it was Jesus. He was the one who created the universe. He made the planets, all the stars, the vast ocean, all the incredible varieties of plants and animals. What does he do for a living? He makes ploughs, tables and chairs for people in a lowly carpenter’s shop.

Jesus was Tempted

Jesus knew what it was like to experience temptation. He was tempted by Satan. In fact, Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted “in every way, just as we are”. It doesn’t say that Jesus was tempted in some ways we are tempted but in EVERY way. Does this mean that every single temptation that people face today, Jesus faced? Not really. Jesus experienced the full range of human temptation, not every specific manifestation.

Jesus was not tempted to watch soap operas all day. There was no television. He was not tempted to steal someone’s IPOD.  He was not tempted to cheat on a test in school. He never went to school. He was not tempted to view Internet pornography. There were no computers in the first century.

He wasn’t tempted to be a wife beater. He was not married. He was, however, tempted in the same ways we are tempted (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life). Hebrews 4:15 says because Jesus knew what it was like to be tempted, he can relate to us when we are tempted.

There are a couple of important differences between his temptation and ours. First, Jesus was tempted to sin many times but he never did sin. He never yielded to temptation. We are tempted to sin and many times give in to the temptation. Jesus never did.

It is not a sin to be tempted. It is only a sin to yield to that temptation. Second, when we are tempted, it is usually done by our own sin nature (James 1:14). Jesus was perfect. He didn’t have a sin nature. He had to be tempted directly by Satan or one of his demons.

Jesus had Real Emotions

Some human emotions are sinful (e.g., jealousy, hate or revenge) but many emotions are perfectly normal human emotions. We experience them and so did Jesus.

  • Jesus knew what it was to be happy.

The Bible mentions Jesus having joy (John 15:11; 17:13; Luke 10:21). The Bible nowhere says that Jesus laughed but there is evidence in the Gospels that he did have a sense of humor. He used plays on words (puns) in his teaching (Matthew 16:18; 23:24).

  • Jesus knew what it was like to be sad.

In the OT, he is called “the man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). The Bible mentions Jesus having “loud cries and tears” (Hebrews 5:7). In fact, he cried in public on occasion (John 11:35).

  • Jesus knew what it was like to be angry.

It may come as a surprise to some but Jesus got angry at times. The Bible says so (Mark 3:5; John 2:13-15). In fact, one time he got so angry that he grabbed a whip and began knocking tables over in the Temple, spilling money all over the place. Our problem is that we normally associate anger with sin but anger is a normal human emotion. It can be used in a good or bad way. There is a right time and way to be angry (James 1:19; Ephesians 4:26).

  • Jesus knew what it was like to be depressed.

You could not be human if you never got depressed. Everyone gets depressed sometimes. Jesus was no exception. Mark 14:33 says that Jesus was “deeply distressed and troubled”. The NLT reads that Jesus “began to be filled with horror and deep distress” as he thought about what was going to take place the following day. Jesus was understandably upset, terrified and depressed. The next verse says that his soul “was exceedingly sorrowful to the point of death” (Mark 14:34).

  • Jesus knew what it was like to show love.

Jesus showed love (John 11:5, 38; 13:23; 15:9; Mark 10:21) and compassion (Matthew 9:35-36; 15:29-32; 20:29-34) for people. Jesus had genuine compassion for the sick, the hungry and the needy.

The Deity of Christ

In our last class, we began looking at the person of Christ. We raised the question, Who is Jesus? Jesus asked his own disciples who they thought he was. Many people have different opinions and ideas. According to Scripture, Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Last week we looked at the humanity of Jesus, the ways in which he is just like us. Today, we will be looking at the deity of Jesus, the ways that he is totally unlike us.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is both God and Man. We cannot explain it fully. In fact, Paul calls it a mystery. We do not understand it completely but the Bible teaches both. God is immortal. He can’t die and yet the human Jesus could die. God cannot be tempted (James tells us) and yet Jesus was tempted by Satan.

God never changes, grows or develops but Luke tells us that the human Jesus did grow up. God never gets hungry or thirsty or sleepy or tired but Jesus as a man experienced all four. God is omniscient. He knows all things but there was at least one thing that Jesus said that he did not know (Mark 13:32).

We can’t explain all of these things. They are paradoxes. They are two things which seem to be contradictory but in fact are not. Donald Grey Barnhouse once gave a good example of this.  Normally the closer to a fire you get, the warmer you get but it is possible to get closer to a fire and get colder.  When you climb up on a mountain or go on an airplane, it gets colder, even though you are closer to the Sun. It is a paradox.

BIBLICAL EVIDENCE

What we want to look at now is the evidence that Jesus Christ is God. The evidence is unmistakable and overwhelming. Many do not believe that Jesus is God and will try to use the Bible to prove it. Would you know how to answer them?

We want to look at the evidence in Scripture for the deity of Christ but we also want to answer objections that some cultists have to this doctrine. We cannot look at all of them but I would like to try to answer some of them. How do we know that Jesus is really God?

Jesus is directly called “God” in Scripture.

In some places Jesus is directly called God. It is a fact that θεός is used as a christological title of Jesus in the NT.  In fact, Jesus is not just called “God” one or two times. He is called “God” MANY times (cf. John 1:1, 18; 20:28; I John 5:20; Romans 9:5; Hebrews 1:8; Titus 2:13; Acts 20:28; II Peter 1:1). John calls Jesus God four times.  Paul calls Jesus God two times.  Peter calls Jesus God one time and the author of Hebrews calls Jesus God one time.

Perhaps one of the strongest modern objections to the deity of Christ come from the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Jehovah’s Witnesses argue in their New World Translation that John 1:1 should be translated “and the Word was a god.” This was the subject of my M.A. thesis at Western Kentucky University in 1987.

It is very common for Christians to routinely dismiss Jehovah’s Witnesses who give arguments in support of their translation because most of them are ignorant of Greek.  That is the wrong approach to take.  It commits a common logical fallacy (ad hominem).  It attacks the opponents, rather than their arguments.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only ones to give such a translation “and the Word was a god” in John 1:1c.  Several others have given the translation as well.  The rendering is also found in several obscure 19th century Unitarian translations.  The translation is given in the 1800s by Thomas Belsham[1], John S. Thompson[2] and Benjamin Wilson[3] but the translation is very rare and is not found in any major translation of the Bible.  Does the translation have any merit from a grammatical point of view?

Arguments for “a god” the Translation

1. The word “God” in John 1:1 is used two different ways in Greek.

John 1:1 is made up of three clauses in Greek.  The noun θεός is used two times in John 1:1.  One time it is used of the Father and one time it is used of Jesus. It is used with the article and without the article in Greek.  When the word θεός is used of the Father, it is preceded by the Greek article (ό θεός). When it is used of Jesus, the article is absent (θεός).

2. The translation “the Word was a god” is grammatically possible.

There is no indefinite article (a/an) in Greek.  When a word in Greek has the article, it is definite.  When it does not have the article, it may be indefinite.  The word θεός in John 1:1c does not have the Greek article.  Therefore, they believe that it is indefinite.  There are many examples in John of nouns without the article in Greek (like θεός ) which are indefinite.

  • The word “prophet” in John 4:19 is anarthrous and is indefinite (“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet“).
  • The word “devil” in John 6:70 is anarthrous and is indefinite (“Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”).
  • The word “murderer” in John 8:44 is anarthrous and is indefinite (“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning”).
  • The nouns “thief” and “robber” in John 10:1 are anarthrous and are indefinite as well (“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber”)  The translation is grammatically possible.

[1] Thomas Belsham, et al., The New Testament, in an Improved Version: upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome’s New Translation, with a Corrected Text, and Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1809)

[2] John S. Thompson, The Monotessaron; or The Gospel of Jesus Christ, According to the Four Evangelists; Harmonized and Chronologically and Arranged in a New Translation from the Greek Text of Griesbach (Baltimore: J. Robinson, 1809).

[3] Benjamin Wilson, The Emphatic Diaglott, Containing the Original Greek Text of what is commonly styled the New Testament (According to the Recension of Dr. J.J. Griesbach) with an Interlineary Word for Word English Translation (New York: Fowler & Wells Company, 1864).

3. The noun θεός is used of men who are not God, even in the Fourth Gospel.

The word θεός is used 83 times in the Fourth Gospel and in one place it is used of men (10:34-35), a quotation from Psalm 82. In Psalm 82, the Hebrew word for God (elohim) is used of men (82:6). Jesus even quotes that passage in John 10. Human judges in the OT were called “God”, not because they are divine beings but because of their position of authority.

The argument would be that just because Jesus is called θεός does not necessarily mean that he is God.  Since the word θεός is used of men, they would have no problem using the term with reference to Jesus and would not deny his godship. They argue Jesus is a god in the same sense that Jewish judges in Psalm 82 were gods.

Problems with the “a god” Translation

1) The translation violates the historical background of the Fourth Gospel.

The author of the Fourth Gospel was a monotheist, as were all the writers of the NT.  John was not a polytheist.   He was Jewish.  He believed in one God. As a good Jew, he knew that there are no gods. They simply don’t exist.

The Bible makes that perfectly clear.  Jehovah’s Witnesses base their religion on Isaiah 43:10 where the Lord talks about His witnesses.  Of course, in the context the witnesses are Jewish (43:1).  Furthermore, the rest of the verse says,

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. (Isaiah 43:10)

This is abundantly clear from the Bible.  Every other God beside Jehovah is a false god.  God says in Isaiah 44:6, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” He says in Isaiah 45:6, “there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

The Jehovah’s Witness translation is based on the belief that there are two Gods – one called “the God” (the Supreme Being) and one called “a god” (some kind of inferior deity or secondary god).

As Bruce Metzger (1914-2007), the distinguished NT scholar from Princeton Theological Seminary, says, “It must be stated quite frankly that, if the Jehovah’s Witnesses take this translation seriously, they are polytheists.”[4]  It would be logically impossible for a monotheist to refer to anyone as “a god” in a literal sense, since a monotheist does not believe they exist in the first place.

[4] Bruce Metzger, “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jesus Christ: A Biblical and Theological Appraisal,” Theology Today 10:1 (April 1953), p. 75

A Jehovah’s Witness once told me that there are “gods and lords” and based this on I Corinthians 8:5. This is the classic case of someone taking a verse out of its context. All you have to do is to read the verses right before and right after it to see this. Paul said in I Corinthians 8:5 that there are only SO-CALLED GODS, not real gods.

They are gods in name only. The very next verse says that he believed in ONE GOD (8:6). Furthermore, in 8:4 he says, “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.” Paul believed in one God and called him “THE ONLY GOD” in I Timothy 1:17.

John also believed in one and only one God (cf. 5:44; 17:3). Being who and what he was he couldn’t possibly have written, “the Word was a god.” Jehovah’s Witnesses often quote Acts 28:6 as a parallel passage.  In that passage, the inhabitants of Malta call the Apostle Paul “a god” but they were polytheists.

The translation makes perfect sense in Acts 28:6. They said, “he is a god”. Luke is not giving his own beliefs but those of idolatrous pagans and is accurately reporting what they said. However, the indefinite translation of θεός makes absolutely no sense in John 1:1.

[5] Acts 28:6 is also different grammatically from John 1:1.  In both cases θεός is used with the article in Greek but in John 1:1 θεός precedes the verb and in Acts 28:6 θεός follows the verb.  It is not syntactically parallel.

The only other time that θεός is used in the singular as a predicate noun and is found before the verb in the Fourth Gospel is John 8:54 (Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me“). No one, not even the Jehovah’s Witnesses translate θεός in that passage “a god.”

2) The translation is grammatically flawed.

Jehovah’s Witnesses argue that ό θεός means “God” and θεός means “a god”.  They argue that the absence of the article with θεός is theologically significant but that argument cannot be substantiated from the Greek New Testament.  The word θεός is used over 1300 times in the Greek New Testament.  It is well-attested that θεός and ό θεός are used interchangeably in the NT [6].

They are even used interchangeably in the Gospel of John.  The word θεός is used 83 times in the Fourth Gospel.  It occurs 63 times with the article and 20 times without the article in Greek.

The forms θεός and ό θεός are used interchangeably in John.[7]. Not only are θεός and ό θεός used interchangeable in the NT as a whole and in the Gospel of John more specifically, but they are also used interchangeably in John 1:1-18.

The word θεός is used nine times in first eighteen verses of John.  Seven times θεός is used of the Father (1:1 [2], 2, 6, 13, 13, 18) and two times θεός is used of the Son (1:1c; 18).  Both times when θεός is used of the Son the Greek article is not present.

However, about half of the time when θεός is used of the Father it is used without the Greek article (1:6, 12, 13, 18) and the other half of the time it is used with the Greek article (1:1 [2], 3).

The other times in this section when God the Father is referred to the word  θεός is found WITHOUT the definite article, the Jehovah’s Witnesses do not translate θεός “a god.”  If they followed this logic consistently, John 1:6 would read: “There was a man who was sent from a god.”

John 1:12 would read, “Those who believed in his name, he gave the right to be called children of a god.”  John 1:13 would read, “children who were born of a god” (1:13) and John 1:18 would read “no one has ever seen a god.”

In each one of those passages the word for ‘God’ does NOT have the definite article in Greek, yet not even the Jehovah’s Witnesses translate any of those verses in the same chapter indefinitely.  The only time that they translate θεός “a god” in this section is in John 1:1.

The one place you would expect to see a distinction between the two is in John 1:18. The Father and the Son are both mentioned in that passage. Both are called “God.” With this logic, you would expect the Father to be called ό θεός and the Son to be called just θεός.

But, when you look in the Greek text, you will find that both are simply called θεός. There is simply no evidence that John intended any clear distinction between the two terms. The two forms are used interchangeably even in the Prologue of the Gospel of John.

[6] Samuel G. Green, for example writes, “We find θεός (God) almost interchangeable with ό θεός  (Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek New Testament [Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1912], p. 186).

[7] For example, John says παρά θεοϋ in 1:6; 9:38 and παρά τοϋ θεοϋ in 5:44; 6:46; 8:40.  He says έκ τοϋ θεοϋ in 7:17; 8:42, 47 and έκ θεοϋ in 1:13.  John says υίόν θεοϋ in 19:7 and υίός του θεοϋ in 1:34, 49; 3:18; 5:25; 10:36; 11:4; 20:31 as J. Gwyn Griffiths points out ( “A Note on the Anarthrous Predicate in Hellenistic Greek,” Expository Times 62 [1950-51], p. 315).

3) The translation is ruled out by the immediate context of the passage.

The key to the correct interpretation of a passage is always the context. Does the context of John 1 and the Gospel of John as a whole support the idea that Jesus is a god or some lesser deity? No, the context of John 1 describes this individual as the creator of ALL things (1:3, 10). The very language of that passage calls to mind the first verse of the Bible.

“In the beginning, God (elohim) created the heavens and the earth.” The OT repeatedly says that the Lord (Jehovah) is the maker of heaven and earth (Isaiah 51:13, 16; Psalm 115:15; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 146:5-6). In John this individual is said to be one with the Father (10:30) and equal with the Father (5:18).

While it is true that on rare occasion, the word “God” is used of men, there is a big different between the use of θεός in John 10 and the use of θεός in John 1.  Three things are true when the term θεός is used of men.

  • When used of men, the word θεός is used in the plural, not the singular.  It is used in a collective or corporate sense.  No one individual judge is called “god”.  The word θεός is used in the singular in John 1.
  • When used of men, the word θεός is used metaphorically.  It is not used in a literal sense, given the fact that real gods do not exist.  It is metaphorical because those individuals are only “CALLED gods” (John 10:35).  They are not real gods.  They were gods in name only.
  • When used of men, the word θεός is used is sarcastically   John 10:34 quotes one line from Psalm 82:6.  Psalm 82 is one of the most sarcastic passages in the Bible.  Jehovah’s Witnesses usually do not quote the verse in context.  The verse right after Psalm 82:6 reads: “I SAID, “YOU ARE GODS”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ BUT YOU WILL DIE LIKE MEN; you will FALL LIKE EVERY OTHER RULER“.

Conclusion

Several things can be concluded from the use of θεός in John 1:1 worth noting.

1) The use of θεός in John 1 is in the singular, not the plural.

2) John 1 is NOT dealing with human judges in the context.

3) John 1 does NOT use θεός metaphorically or figuratively.

4) John 1 does NOT use the term θεός sarcastically.

5) Jesus is called θεός because He is the Creator of ALL things (1:3).

Jesus is NOT called God in John 1:1 because the Word of God came through him (cf. 10:35).  He is called God because THE WORLD came through him (cf. 1:3, 10).  Only God can create things out of nothing.  John 1 is a clear allusion to Genesis 1.  In fact both chapters in Greek begin with the same two words (Έν άρχή) or “in the beginning.”

Creation is an attribute of Deity.  It is true that sometimes the Bible uses the word “God” figuratively or metaphorically in the Bible. But this is very rare in the Scriptures and every time the Bible uses the term in this way the context makes it perfectly clear.

John 14:28 and the Deity of Christ

The Jehovah’s Witnesses would reply at this point would be, “If this is true, then why did Jesus say, ‘The Father is greater than I’? John 14:28 is a favorite verse of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It seems to fit their theology. They read this verse and believe it means that the Father is ontologically greater than the Son. If the Father is greater than the Son, He must be a greater kind of being than the Son. It sounds like a good argument on the surface but let’s take a deeper look.

The way you answer this argument is one word – CONTEXT.  Is this the view of Jesus which is found in the Gospel of John? Is this the kind of being that John describes in his Gospel? If it is, they are right. If it isn’t  then they have misread the verse. Let me give you several reasons from the Gospel of John why Jesus cannot be ontologically inferior to the Father.

One, He is called “God” (John 1:1, 18; 20:28; I John 5:20).

If the Father is greater ontologically than Jesus, then why are both the Father and the Son called God, not once but four times. Sometimes the article is used with God and sometimes it is not. John 20:28 has the definite article in Greek. It cannot be translated “a god.” God is a title, not a proper name but even in John Jesus has the same name as God. In John Jesus calls himself I AM (8:58; cf. 18:6), a clear allusion to the divine name in Exodus 3:14.

Second, He said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9).

Jesus said this in the very same chapter that he said, “The Father is greater than I.” If the Father was ontologically greater, then this statement would not be true. It would be like saying, “If you have seen me play basketball, you have seen Michael Jordan.” If they are the same kind of being with the same attributes, the statement would be true.

Three, He is said to be one with God (10:30).

Could The Father be ontologically greater than the Son if the Father and Son are one? If Jesus was simply saying that He and the Father were one in spirit and purpose, the Father could still be ontologically greater. That verse could mean that (even some evangelicals have taken that view) but there are so many other verses in John which put Jesus on the same par with God and that is how the Jews understood Jesus (cf. 10:33).

Some say that the Jews completely misunderstood Jesus but if that is the case, why didn’t he say so? Why didn’t he say, “Oh, no, you have it all wrong. I was not claiming to be God. I was merely claiming to be one in purpose with God.” Jesus does not deny the charge. He simply says that what he said was not blasphemy. Actually the Jews only got the charge half right. Jesus was not a “man who was making himself God” (10:33 NKJV) but God who made himself a man

In the context, the Father and the Son seem to be one, not just in purpose but in power. Both have the job of protecting and preserving the sheep. Jesus said that the ones who believe in Him “will never perish and no one will pluck them out of my hand” (10:28). He goes on to say in the next verse that we are in the Father’s hand as well.

It is a picture of absolute security. We are safe because we are in Christ’s hand the Father’s hand. We are not holding on to them. They are holding on to us. And then Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” What Jesus is saying is that he and the Father are the same kind of being. They possess the same attributes.

Four, Jesus is said to be equal with God in the Fourth Gospel (5:10-18).

a) He is said to be equal in honor.

If the Father is a greater kind of being, He would be greater in honor but Jesus said that the Son was to receive the same honor as the Father and that by everyone (5:23). That is either sheer blasphemy for anyone else to say. It would be blasphemy for Paul or even the greatest angel of heaven to say, “Honor me as you honor the Father” but it was not blasphemy for Jesus to say this.

b) He is equal in possessions.

Jesus said that everything that the Father had was his (16:15; 17:10). This statement is unthinkable for any creature to say.

I want to look now at the indirect evidence for the deity of Christ. This evidence is powerful and all of it comes from the Book of Isaiah. Some have called Isaiah the Gospel of the Old Testament or the fifth gospel because it tells us so much about Jesus (birth, miracles, death, burial, resurrection, second coming, kingdom). In each one of these passages, the OT says something about God which the NT applies to Jesus. The logical conclusion is that Jesus is God, although the verse doesn’t say it directly.

So far we have seen that Jesus must be God because he is called God. Skeptics and cultists are not convinced and have all kinds of objections. But even if we did not have any of those verses in the Bible, even if Jesus was never directly called God in the Bible, there is still plenty of evidence in Scripture that he is God.

Evidence from Isaiah of the Deity of Christ

1) Isaiah 6 contains a vision of God. This individual is called “the Lord” (6:1) and “The Lord of Hosts” (6:5). In the NT we are told that the person that Isaiah saw was Jesus (John 12:37-41).

2) Isaiah 8 mentions a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall (8:13-15; 28:16). Who is this stone and rock? The Lord Almighty (8:13). The NT quotes this very same passage and says that the stone of stumbling is Jesus (Romans 9:30-33; I Peter 2:6-8).

3) Isaiah 40 mentions a voice is said to prepare people for God’s coming. It will prepare the way for the Lord and make a highway for God (40:3). All four of the Gospels in the NT say that the voice is John the Baptist. In fact, even John the Baptist claimed to be the voice that Isaiah spoke about (John 1:23). John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ. His job was to prepare people for coming of the Messiah.

4) Isaiah 41 calls God a Redeemer (41:14). In the NT, Christ is our Redeemer (Galatians 3:13; I Corinthians 1:30; Revelation 5:9).

5) Isaiah 44 calls God “the first and the last” (44:6).  Those same words are applied to Jesus in Revelation 1:17.

6) Isaiah 45 says one day that “every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear” to God. The NT quotes this passage, applies it to Jesus and says that one day “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11).

7) Isaiah 42 says God is the Creator (42:5). The NT Jesus is the creator of all things.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have an answer for this one. They say that God created the world but He did it through Jesus (the agent of creation). This sounds good but there are a few problems with this and both of the problems come from the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah 44 tells us very clearly who made “all things” (44:24).

According to this verse, it is the Lord who did it. In addition, the verse says that God created the world BY HIMSELF. It also says that he did it ALONE. Isaiah 45 also says that God created the universe (45:18). The chapter also says repeatedly that He is God and there is no other (45:5, 14, 19, 21, 22).

Not only did God create the universe by Himself, He did not use any other god to do it for Him.In Isaiah 43, God is said to be a Savior for Israel (43:3).  In fact, it says that God is the only savior and that apart from Him, there is no savior (43:11). Jesus’ very name means “savior.” An angel of the Lord told Mary while she was pregnant that the baby inside her would “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

In fact, he is called, not just the Savior of the Jews but the Savior of the world (John 4:42; I John 4:14). The NT says that, not only is Jesus the Savior, he is the only Savior. Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”