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10/03/2023     Yesterday     Tomorrow


Matthew 5 - 6



Matthew 5

The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:1      Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Salt and Light

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

This is only a few scriptures that mention light.
Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light,
     That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.   KJ
John 5:35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.   KJ
John 12:36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.   KJ
Romans 2:19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.   KJ
2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?   KJ
Ephesians 5:8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,   KJ
Philippians 2:15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
1 Thessalonians 5:5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Anger

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Lust

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Divorce

31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Retaliation

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Love Your Enemies

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 6

Giving to the Needy

Matthew 6:1     “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Lord’s Prayer

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.

10  Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

11  Give us this day our daily bread,
12  and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13  And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
  What's missing? See article below.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Fasting

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Do Not Be Anxious

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

ESV Study Bible


What I'm Reading

Yes, We Can Make the Case for Christianity with Music

By J. Warner Wallace 10/2/2017

     At the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, we often talk about the importance of worldview. Each of us, as Christians, ought to allow our Christian beliefs to shape the way we think about every aspect of life, including the way we consider notions of beauty and artistic expression. That’s why I was delighted to hear about a new concept album from Aryn Michelle, a Christian pop and alternative rock artist. Aryn just released a series of songs (in a collection called The Realist Thing) inspired by William Lane Craig’s book, Reasonable Faith. That’s right, an apologetics album of sorts, walking through “several philosophical arguments for the existence of God and the primary evidences for Jesus Christ as his son.” Sounds interesting, right? Aryn agreed to let me interview her about this groundbreaking effort:

     J. Warner: |Aryn, I will confess that I was not familiar with your work prior to this collection of songs. I was incredibly impressed with the creativity and quality of the effort, can you tell us something about your musical journey?

     Aryn: | I began writing songs when I was fifteen years old. Initially I had hoped that God would use me as a “light in the darkness” in that I would be a believer writing and working in the secular music industry while always maintaining artistry from a Christian perspective. I pursued this goal for almost ten years (and two albums) before I had the revelation that perhaps working within the secular music industry was how I wanted God to use me, but was not necessarily how God had gifted and equipped me. It took me that long to realize that I needed to approach God and ask him how HE wanted to use my life and the giftedness he had given me. I could see that God had brought me up in a background of church music (I’m the daughter of a music minister), and he has given me a heart for the church and for encouraging the people of God. Even when I was not making “Christian” music, followers of Jesus tended to be the ones who responded to my music. About 5 years ago I turned my attention to write explicitly faith-based music in order to encourage believers, dig deep into God’s truth and follow in obedience in using my gifts for God’s calling.

     J. Warner: | In your video you mention being in a place in your life as a Christian where you had many questions. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how Christian apologetics literature helped you to answer some of those questions?

     Aryn: | Several years ago I approached one of our pastors and asked to meet with him to talk about some struggles I was having. I told him that while I felt confident in my heart about my belief in Jesus, I felt like my head had not caught up with where my heart was. I felt like I had been neglecting the life of the mind in regards to my faith. I didn’t often have intellectual conversations with other believers about difficult questions where philosophy and theology converged. I was frustrated that it felt like no one around me was expressing an interest to seek out the answer to hard questions. He gave me the wise counsel that if I had a thirst for knowledge then I needed to ask God to reveal to me answers and also to seek out that knowledge. To read books, to dig deeper, to go out searching. He suggested a few books to start with and from that point I kept reading and eventually decided to tackle Dr. Craig’s book Reasonable Faith. This book was very helpful on my journey into a deeper life of the mind because it comprehensively covered a good deal of what I was hoping to learn. I want to clearly state that I believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit is the greatest witness one can give, but I was thankful to be able to also articulate philosophical arguments for the existence of God and evidences for Jesus Christ as God’s son after reading that book in particular.

Click here to go to source

James "Jim" Warner Wallace (born June 16, 1961) is an American homicide detective and Christian apologist. Wallace is a Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview and an Adjunct Professor of Apologetics at Biola University in La Mirada, California. He has authored several books, including Cold-Case Christianity, God’s Crime Scene, and Forensic Faith, in which he applies principles of cold case homicide investigation to apologetic concerns such as the existence of God and the reliability of the Gospels.

For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory.

By Dr. J. Vernon McGee

     We are now going to look at something that is included in the Lord’s Prayer but which probably should be excluded. You see, the words, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” are actually not in the Lord’s Prayer.

     I would like to give you the Lord’s Prayer from the new Revised Standard Version, but before doing so I would like to make clear that I do not recommend this version as a substitute for the Authorized. It is helpful in several places and constitutes a reference book that is useful for any well-grounded Bible student. The prayer is given as follows:

     Matthew 6:9-13 Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  (RSV)

     It stops there and does not go any further. The statement, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” is not included. Now the question naturally arises, why is it that this petition is not included? The reason is that when the King James Version was translated, the translation was made from the best manuscripts in existence at the time. Since then, better manuscripts have been discovered, and we find this petition omitted from these better manuscripts.

     Now immediately someone is going to ask, “But how does this fit into the theory of plenary verbal inspiration?” And by plenary verbal inspiration we mean that the words of the Bible are inspired. As I see it, that is the only logical explanation of inspiration. Either this is the Word of God or it is not the Word of God. Either it is reliable or it is not reliable. It is not the thoughts that are inspired; it is the words that are inspired. Thoughts can be misunderstood; words cannot.

     There is the story of a young lady who had been studying voice, and the time came for her to give her recital. In her dressing room after the concert, she asked about the reaction of her very famous teacher to her performance. A friend, with difficulty, finally brought forth the statement, “He said that you sang heavenly.” The young lady, quite thrilled, asked if those were his exact words. The friend said, “Well, those were not his exact words, but that is what he meant.” The young singer, still not satisfied, demanded his exact words, which were, “That was an unearthly noise.” You see, it is the words of Scripture, and not the thoughts, that are important.

     We believe in plenary verbal inspiration, but we also believe it applies only to the original documents, most of which have since been lost. But we also believe that the manuscripts we have today are reliable and can be trusted. Many of the manuscripts found have been brought together and all tell the same story. There are some discrepancies, to be sure, but none of these pertain to any of the important doctrines of the Scripture.

     Let us look at the matter of inspiration a little further. There is a striking similarity between the written Word and the living Word, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Both are human and divine. The Lord Jesus Christ is both of God and man. One of the oldest creeds of the church states it accurately: “very man of very man, and very God of very God.” Therefore, you would expect to find the Word of God made flesh growing weary on a dusty road in Samaria and sitting down to rest. You expect to find Him shedding tears of sorrow at the tomb of Lazarus. Neither is it surprising to hear Him claim to be the Messiah as He talked with the woman of Samaria; nor is it strange to hear Him command Lazarus to come forth from the tomb. He was both God and man.

     The Bible is a God-book and it is a man-book. The Word of God has become incarnate in the alphabet of man. The Word of God becomes a book with a binding, printed with printer’s ink, and made into words that men can understand. Men transcribed it by hand even before Gutenberg printed it. It has been translated from one language into another. Scribes have made errors in transcribing the text, and printers have made typographical errors. The limitations imposed upon the Lord Jesus Christ as a man are likewise imposed upon the Bible.

     As a human book it requires a knowledge of the language in which it is studied to comprehend its meaning. There is no magic method by which to memorize the fine passages of Scripture. It requires real study as it does to gain a knowledge of any subject—geography, history, literature, or philosophy. The lazy and careless student cannot come at its meaning by any superstitious method. In Proverbs 25:2 we read: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” God has hidden rich treasures in His Word, but it requires a great deal of searching to discover them. Diamonds are not on the surface. The injunction is: “…Search the Scriptures…” (John 5:39), “Be diligent to present yourself approved…” (2 Timothy 2:15), and “…Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13).

     As a human book, the Bible was written by about forty-five human authors who expressed their thoughts, projected their personalities, and stated their ideas. Nevertheless, they were moved by the Holy Spirit, “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). The Greek word for move is phero and it indicates a sailing vessel borne along by the wind. The Spirit of God worked in these men in a way to secure an inerrant Word of God. This is exactly the claim of Scripture:

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,   ESV

     That word “inspiration” is the Greek theopneustos, meaning “God-breathed.” Nothing less than the plenary verbal inspiration of Scripture will satisfy the language of Scripture and the need of man.

     Although the human authors expressed the full feeling of their hearts and the complete thought of their minds, they nevertheless expressed the exact words of God to men. These men were not pens with which the Spirit of God wrote. Any dictator can make men automatons to express the dictator’s thought and totally submerge the writer’s real intention.  The supernatural element in Scripture is that God did not arbitrarily destroy the personality of the writers, but instead used them to express His complete, adequate, and inerrant will.  The words are God’s. Having completed the canon of Scripture, God has no afterthought to submit as an addendum to the Bible. God perfectly expressed Himself through imperfect men. There is a dual authorship of the Bible that attests to the supernatural. Only God could give a book like the Bible; only God could send a person like Jesus. We have a God-book. It does not yield merely to human intellect.

     The ordinary avenues of knowledge are not sufficient to comprehend its meaning. We get most of our knowledge through the eye gate and the ear gate, but Scripture warns us that these are not adequate to give us divine understanding:

1 Corinthians 2:9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.   ESV

     What the eye gate and ear gate cannot supply, the Spirit of God will compensate. He alone can take divine truths and apply them to our hearts. The facts of Scripture must be learned by human effort, but the spiritual truths must be revealed by the Holy Spirit. The natural man does not have sufficient spiritual IQ to understand the Bible.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.   ESV

 REVELATION means that God has communicated with man.
 INSPIRATION guarantees the accuracy of that revelation.
 PRESERVATION infers that God maintains that revelation in the world.
 ILLUMINATION insists that only the Holy Spirit has the interpretation for man.
 TRANSLATION means the transference of the text of Scripture from one language into another.

     Now that we have examined the solidarity of the setting in which rests this gem — the Lord’s Prayer — let us look again at the phrase that has been omitted in these later translations. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”  It is a most scriptural statement, and for that reason I should like to have it remain as part of the Lord’s Prayer. After the people brought their wonderful offerings for the construction of the temple, David lifted his heart to God in prayer: 

1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.   ESV

     While David elaborated a great deal, it is a prayer of rare beauty and is basically the same petition that we are considering now.

     It is worth noting that in Luke’s record we find that the Lord’s Prayer, as given there, breaks off at a different point from that given in the Matthew account. I have a notion that the Lord broke off at a different place on each occasion of repeating the prayer. And the reason is obvious, for I feel He is attempting to teach something. Since the prayer as recorded in Luke 11:2-4 carries no “amen,” it is thus open to added petitions. It was given to babes in Christ that they might know how to pray. It is the same as how we today teach our little folk to say, “Now I lay me down to sleep….” Before long they have added, “And bless Mommy and Daddy,” and later, other petitions. I must confess that several times I have had to get up off my knees and tip-toe out of the room because of some of the things for which my little girl prayed. I know that the Lord understood her prayers, but I have never discovered why she prays for the little boys and girls in China and then for the boys and girls in Michigan. I do not know why Michigan should be chosen out of the fifty states. These little ones just launch out into the deep, and in this lies our illustration of the absence of the “amen.”

Yours is the Kingdom…
     Now let us look at the three possessions of our God mentioned here. First is the kingdom. We have a great deal to say about the kingdom, and I make no apologies in going over some of this again, for repetition is a sound principle of pedagogy.

     Let us remember that in this magnificent Old Testament prayer, David had in mind the kingdom God had promised to him — that from his line there would come the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ, and He would sit upon the throne of David and rule on this earth. As David lifted his heart to God in prayer, he saw a kingdom lying in the future; he saw that kingdom as a mighty focal point with the great rays of Scripture converging upon it. That is my reason for saying that the church is in the kingdom and we are moving toward that day when the kingdom shall be established.

     The Father said to the Son, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your foot-stool” (Psalm 110:1). After His rejection, Christ was brought to death through crucifixion, was buried, rose from the dead, ascended back to heaven, and took His place at God’s right hand. And today He is bringing many sons home to glory. Thus He is moving world events toward the focal point when this kingdom shall be established upon the earth, He shall reign from shore to shore, righteousness shall cover this earth as the waters cover the sea, and righteousness and peace shall kiss each other.

     We must remember that this kingdom will not come by human manipulation. It will not come by ecumenical movements or any man-made program. It will be established in one way, and that is by the catastrophic and cataclysmic coming of Christ to this earth to put down all unrighteousness and establish His kingdom here in power and glory. And that is what you express when you say, “Yours is the kingdom.”

…And the Power…
     But, my beloved, let us move on to the second possession: “the power.” This is an age of power. It is an age of jet planes, rockets for outer space, and nuclear warheads. But in this age of power, when unheard of things are being accomplished in a material world, it has become the age of powerlessness for the church. As Samson was shorn of his hair, thus has the church been robbed of her power.

     I’m reminded of Thomas Aquinas who entered the place where the Pope was counting the money. Thinking he had entered at a time when he should not have, he turned to walk away. But the Pope saw him and said, “Sir Thomas, no longer can the church say, "'Silver and gold have I none.’” Without even turning to look back, Thomas Aquinas said, “That is right, your Holiness, but no longer can the church say to the impotent man, "'Rise and walk.’”

     This is an age of powerlessness, and yet

Romans 1:4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,   ESV

He also says,

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   ESV

And further,

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”   ESV

     How can these things be? Let us look at the common logic of it. If the electric lights go out in Los Angeles, it does not mean that Hoover Dam has given way. It simply means that somewhere a connection has been broken. Now Christ has had all power given to Him, and if your church is powerless, then some of you had better be walking the line to see where the connection has been broken. Do you recall the incident of the man at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration? He had the little lad who was demon possessed, and he said, “So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him” (Matthew 17:16). How true that is of us today. It should cause us to bow our heads in prayer. Perhaps He cannot trust us with power today because we abuse or misuse it. But thank God He is coming and He will use power to correct the evils of this world. It will take power to get rid of our political regimes. It will take power to put Christ on the throne. He is coming in power! His is the kingdom, the power!

…And the Glory
     And now let us come to “the glory.” What is glory? What is its shape, size, and color? Perhaps you feel that you have never seen it, or you believe that it is spiritual and therefore cannot be seen. Not so, my friend. It can be seen. Every Hebrew word translated as our English word “glory” means something physical. It has been a rich experience for me to go through these words in order to arrive at their real meaning. How my heart longs to see the glory! I trust that you will be interested to look at these words, also.

     The first “glory” means “wide and great” as in this verse: “The heavens declare the glory of God…” (Psalm 19:1). I never look into the starry heavens but that I am reminded of the greatness and vastness of His glory. O, the vastness of the universe! And did you know that it is expanding continually? Surely “the heavens declare the glory of God.”   Every time I look at the stars at night I am reminded of my son Tom's song ...

     Then there is another word associated with our word “glory,” and it means “brightness.” And there is a third word that is translated “beauty,” as in, “…Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:29), referring to the lilies of the field. Just as this universe reveals the vastness of God, so a little flower reveals something of the beauty of God. The One who made the flowers loves beauty, and God is the One who made the flowers.

     But the most common word in the Old Testament relative to the glory of God is the Hebrew word kabod, which means “wealth and worth; dignity and honor; splendor and majesty” and can apply either to God or man. Its primary meaning is that of the external or physical, but it also has an ethical and moral significance. When used, it speaks of the purity and holiness of God; it speaks of His essential character:

Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.   ESV

     Now this word “glory” as used in the Old Testament speaks of a material manifestation of God. Moses said to God on Mt. Sinai, “Lord, I want to see your face,” and God said, “I’ll let you see my glory” (see Exodus 33:20-23). Moses saw God’s glory on another occasion, too. We read that when the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the Lord filled the place. And when Moses and Aaron moved out with the Israelites, the Shekinah presence of God was with them in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. It was a physical manifestation of God. You may recall that when Solomon built the temple, the glory was transferred from the tabernacle to the temple. But somewhere in their long, dreary, sinful history, the glory departed. Ezekiel saw the vision — it lifted up from the temple and abode a moment to see if the people would turn back to God. But they did not, so it withdrew out over the city. It paused again over the city walls to see if the people might turn to God, but they would not. Then it went on out to the Mount of Olives and was caught back into heaven. That was the last view of the Shekinah glory.

Exodus 33:20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”   ESV

     Then after four hundred years of silence, shepherds on a hillside had a manifestation of the glory of God as the angel said, “Glory to God in the highest.” As John said:

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.   ESV

     May I say that the word “glory” has an ethical value here, because in Christ it was not physically manifested, except on one or two occasions. What they saw was that He was innately holy, harmless, undefiled, the One separate from sinners. But when He was born, He laid aside His glory that He had with the Father in heaven. The thing that identified God in the Old Testament no longer identified Him. In the New Testament, we find Him wrapped in the swaddling clothes of humanity and, in due time, grown to full manhood and the service of the ministry. He laid aside that physical manifestation as a garment. In writing of it Paul says:

Philippians 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.   ESV

     For over 2000 years, theologians have been arguing about what it was that He laid aside. What was it that He emptied Himself of? I feel that He laid aside His glory and walked this earth as a man. Oh, He is God, but He laid aside His glory. Then there came that day when He walked with His disciples and “a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). It was not a rain cloud. It was the glory-cloud—the Shekinah glory. That which He had laid aside was waiting for Him, and thus He took, again, all the prerogatives that rightfully were His. He wore it as a garment and entered into heaven!

     At this point of departure He made a statement that we will do well to meditate upon. In telling His disciples that He was coming again, He said,

Matthew 24:30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.   ESV

     Have you ever stopped to think what that sign is going to be? I am not sure that I know, but I would like to make a suggestion. Personally, I feel that when He is to come, the Shekinah glory will flash as the lightning from the east to the west. Thus Shekinah glory will again be revealed upon the earth. There is no glory today — it is withheld. Today you and I are to glorify Him. He said:

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.   ESV

And Paul said:

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.   ESV

     That is the chief business of a Christian. Some will say that soul-winning is the Christian’s chief end. No, that is secondary. To glorify God is our primary business as a professing Christian. Scripture has a word for us here:

2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,   ESV

     You and I are to glorify God regardless of results. We are to glorify Him and bring nothing of disrepute on His name or cause that will drive men and women from His presence. Someday that is what we will spend an eternity doing — glorifying Him. If you do not enjoy glorifying Him here, then I do not think you will enjoy heaven very much. In all fairness, how can you — after thinking quietly upon the undeserved love and goodness of God poured out upon you — fail to want to kneel before Him thankfully in adoration?

“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”


Let us pray

J. Vernon McGee Books

Is the Late First-Century Too Late for Eyewitnesses of Jesus to Have Lived?

By Brian Chilton 5/2/2017

     The more I study the New Testament documents, the more I am convinced that the documents, particularly the Synoptic Gospels, are earlier than expected. Scholars like W. F. Albright and John A. T. Robinson—both who are not necessarily conservative in their approach but respected in their field—date the NT texts much earlier than even most conservative scholars do. Norman Geisler notes,

     “Known for his role in launching the “Death of God” movement, Robinson wrote a revolutionary book titled Redating the New Testament, in which he posited revised dates for the New Testament books that place them earlier than the most conservative scholars ever held. Robinson places Matthew at 40 to after 60, Mark at about 45 to 60, Luke at before 57 to after 60, and John at from before 40 to after 65. This would mean that one or two Gospels could have been written as early as seven years after the crucifixion. At the latest they were all composed within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses and contemporaries of the events. Assuming the basic integrity and reasonable accuracy of the writers, this would place the reliability of the New Testament documents beyond reasonable doubt.”

     Even so, most conservative scholars would date the Gospel of John, the Letters of John, and the Apocalypse (i.e., Revelation) to the latter quarter of the first-century. Is this too late for eyewitnesses to have survived? Can we legitimately expect that eyewitnesses of Jesus in the 30s lived into the 80s and 90s? Actually, the answer is a surprising and resounding, yes! New Testament scholar, Craig Blomberg, explains,

     “Many babies, children, and young adults in the ancient world died because of rampant disease without modern medicine. An ‘average’ is not a maximum upper limit; it is a figure arrived at by adding a group of numbers together and dividing by the number of elements in the group. Records from all over the ancient world describe a considerable number of people living into their fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, and occasionally beyond 100 [Pirke Aboth 5.24]. The percentage of the population in any given place and time that did so was noticeably smaller than it was in developed countries today, and that percentage shrank even faster from one decade of life to the next than it does today. But nothing precludes Matthew, Mark, and Luke from having lived into their seventies.”

     Scholars unanimously agree that the New Testament was completed by the end of the first-century. Therefore, even if it is true that a large portion of the New Testament was completed in the late first-century, it is completely possible that a large body of Jesus’s eyewitnesses were still alive to check the veracity of the documents. Consider this: if the apostle John was 20 when Jesus died and resurrected in AD 33, then he would have been a mere 72-years-old in AD 85, the date when most scholars hold that the Fourth Gospel was written. With Blomberg’s research, it is completely feasible to accept that John could have lived to that age. Thus, we have further reasons for accepting the New Testament’s reliability as eyewitnesses could have lived even towards the end of the New Testament’s completion.

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     Brian Chilton is the founder of BellatorChristi.com and is the host of The Bellator Christi Podcast. He received his Master of Divinity in Theology from Liberty University (with high distinction); his Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Gardner-Webb University (with honors); and received certification in Christian Apologetics from Biola University. He hopes to enter doctoral studies soon in the realm of theology and/or biblical studies. Brian is full member of the International Society of Christian Apologetics and the Christian Apologetics Alliance. Brian has been in the ministry for over 14 years and serves as the pastor of Huntsville Baptist Church in Yadkinville, North Carolina.

Praying for a Breakthrough

By Jon Bloom 10/2/2015

     A breakthrough is a military concept. When one army is able to weaken its enemy’s forces to the point of collapse, a breakthrough occurs allowing that army to invade and take its enemy’s territory.

     But in war a breakthrough only really matters if it occurs at a strategic location. And the evidence that a location is strategic is almost always revealed by the amount of enemy forces amassed to protect it. An enemy led by skilled generals plans to ferociously protect what it prizes highly.

     This means that an invading army can expect its attempt to achieve a breakthrough to be met by a barrier of fierce enemy opposition. Increasingly intense fighting always precedes strategic breakthroughs. Strategic ground is not yielded easily.

     Our Breakthroughs Are Opposed by Powerful Forces | This is as true for spiritual warfare as it is for terrestrial warfare. In the spiritual realm, as opposed to the terrestrial, the church is an invading force. Though we can easily slip into a defensive, circle-the-wagons mindset, Jesus clearly intends for us to be aggressors, not merely defenders. The Great Commission is to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In a world that “lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), that’s militant language. Our mission: to liberate those the devil has taken captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26).

     But we must keep in mind that strategic ground is not yielded easily. Whether we’re battling for breakthroughs against our own stubborn sin or the unbelief of a loved one or breakthroughs in the missional advance of our local church, reaching unreached peoples, rescuing persecuted believers, orphans, sex slaves, or the unborn, we are up against “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). We don’t know exactly what that means, except that these forces are very strong.

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     Jon Bloom serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He and his wife live in the Twin Cities with their five children.

     John Bloom Books |  Go to Books Page

How to Talk about the Afterlife (if you must) 2

By D. C. Cramer 7/14/2011

     The following are some theses—in no particular order—that I believe should help guide discussions of the afterlife, especially those debates currently raging over universalism and hell. These thoughts are purely my own (and even I’m not sure what I think of all of them). By stating these theses, I am not advocating or endorsing any of the views of the afterlife discussed.

     (6) The practical differences between these views shouldn’t be overestimated. Whether an unbeliever suffers forever, is completely destroyed, or suffers for a really long time, it is not a state of affairs that one would desire. So if our evangelism is going to be predicated on the fate of those who don’t accept Christ (which I’m not sure should be our primary motivation, but that’s another discussion), then there shouldn’t be a practical difference between the major evangelical views of the afterlife. Even if one believes—as universalists do—that ultimately all will be saved, one would still want to save people from all the unnecessary suffering they would face in the penultimate afterlife. And as Christians, we would hopefully want all to experience the fullness of Kingdom living now, which should be motivation enough for evangelism regardless of our views of the afterlife.

     (7) The theological differences between these views shouldn’t be underestimated. Most of us believe that God loves everyone and that God is perfectly just. But clearly, what one who believes in eternal conscious torment and one who believes in ultimate universal reconciliation mean by terms like “love” and “justice” are going to radically differ. On the eternal conscious torment view, one has to reconcile one’s definition of love and justice with the notion that God torments (or allows to be tormented) unbelievers eternally (that is, after all, the very definition of the term “eternal conscious torment”). Other views of God necessarily follow from eternal conscious torment, for example, that God doesn’t ultimately get everything he desires: minimally, that all should be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). Of course, one might say that God desires some things more than he desires all to be saved, but then that too is saying something about God and his character. On the annihilationist view, one has to reconcile one’s view of love and justice with the notion that God destroys (or allows to cease existing) unbelievers after death. One also has to deal with some of the same theological ramifications as the eternal conscious torment view discussed above. On the universalist view, one has to reconcile one’s definition of love and justice with the notion that God will give second (and possibly third, fourth, fifth . . .) chances to those who die in utter defiance toward God and utter hatred toward fellow human beings. Even if these postmortem chances include much suffering (see (6) above), this view is clearly working with a different notion of love and justice than the other views. The question then becomes: Which notion of love and justice is most consistent with the whole scope and tenor of Scripture (as well as those nitty-gritty details of Scripture that the exegetes deal with)?

     (8) Each of these positions has both subtle, scholarly articulations and shallow, popular descriptions; care should be taken to distinguish the two. It is always best to take on the best form of an argument and try to refute it than to merely refute popular forms of an argument. However, since popular forms are so, well, popular, it is okay to discuss and refute those too, as long as one specifies that in so doing one isn’t taking on the best version of the argument. So, if popular formulations of eternal conscious torment suggest a sadistic view of God, it is okay to point out the flaws in that view of God. And if popular formulations of universalism suggest a lax view of God, it is okay to point out the flaws in that view of God too. But the most subtle forms of eternal conscious torment try to avoid divine sadism, and the most subtle forms of universalism try to avoid divine laxity; and in debating these issues eventually one will have to deal with these more sophisticated views head on.

     (9) We all have motivations for holding the views we hold, but unless someone explicitly states his or her motivation for holding a view, it is best to leave discussion of motivations out of it. Sure, some universalists probably grew up in oppressive fundamentalist churches from which they are trying desperately to break away. Sure, some who hold to eternal conscious torment can’t stand the idea of someday worshiping next to Osama bin Laden in heaven. But not everyone who holds to these views does so for the same reasons or with the same motivations. Speculating on one’s motivations, then, is just another form of the old ad hominem fallacy, and fallacies are generally best to avoid.

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     This post is by D. C. Cramer, who is a PhD student in religion with an emphasis in theological ethics at Baylor University, a pastor in the Missionary Church denomination, and a regular participant in the Jesus Creed community. Part one can be read here.

Confessions of a Functional Cessationist

By Jason Meyer 10/2/2017

     This article is more about aspirations than answers. I am describing the start of a journey more than documenting how to arrive at a destination. I begin with a confession: I have always been a theoretical continuationist. That is, I have always believed that the gifts of the Spirit continue to this very day.

     I have never adopted the cessationist viewpoint that certain spiritual gifts ceased when the apostolic age came to an end. Paul’s argument that tongues and prophecy will end “when the perfect comes” (1 Corinthians 13:8–10) is a reference to the second coming of Christ, not the close of the biblical canon. I tell my cessationist friends that there is a day coming when I too will be a cessationist: the second coming.

     Even though I have always been a theoretical continuationist, I am far too often a functional cessationist. In other words, I am a continuationist in theory, but I look a lot like a cessationist in practice. This gap between theory and practice pricks my conscience.

     Test Everything — Including Attitudes | Recently, I have been convicted by clear differences between the way the Bible speaks and the way I speak about spiritual gifts. I have said things like “I am open, but cautious” when it comes to sign gifts like prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. That statement about caution rightly stresses the need to “test everything” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Every experience must be examined by the searchlight of Scripture.

     However, in practice, I can take this caution so far that it turns into suspicion and fear. Instead of “open, but cautious,” I am more like “open, but overly suspicious.” I have discovered that Scripture tests our attitudes and not just our experiences. It was a little shocking to see how much my attitude is actually rebuked by Scripture. Paul commands Christians, “Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 14:1). He characterizes the Corinthians as “eager for manifestations of the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:12).

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      (@WePreachChrist) is the pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem Baptist Churchand associate professor of New Testament at Bethlehem College & Seminary. He’s the author of Preaching: A Biblical Theology. He and his wife, Cara, have four children.

I Don’t Take The Bible Literally, And Neither Does Anyone Else

By Glenn T. Stanton 5/1/2017

     Literally no one takes the Bible literally. But otherwise intelligent pollsters and journalists continue to ask the question as a gauge for who takes the Bible seriously—or too seriously.

     A recent report from Pew tells us that only 39 percent of Christians take the Bible literally. This is very bad news for believers’ fidelity to Scripture, but not for the reason you might think. It’s also a poor reflection on the good folks at Pew.

     Why? It’s quite simple: Literally no one takes the Bible literally. NO ONE. But otherwise intelligent pollsters and journalists continue to ask the question as a gauge for who really takes the Bible seriously—or too seriously. And Christians continue to play along.

     Herehere and here are just a few examples of this. It all shows an embarrassing ignorance of how billions of Christians and Jews approach this important and world-changing book hermeneutically. This is unacceptable.

     I’ll Prove It in Ten Seconds | All one need do is open a Bible to any random page. I’ve just slipped my thumb into my closed Bible as I write this and aimlessly opened to Ecclesiastes 10:2, where we read: “The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.”

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     Glenn T. Stanton writes and speaks about family, gender, and art, is the director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family, and is the author of eight books including "The Ring Makes All the Difference" (Moody, 2011) and "Loving My LGBT Neighbor" (Moody, 2014). He blogs at glenntstanton.com.

By John Walvoord (1990)

The Worship of All Creation

     Revelation 5:13–14. John recorded that he heard a mighty chorus not only of angels but of every creature in heaven and earth.  “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’ The four living creatures said, ‘Amen,’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (vv.  13–14 ). The glory of this heavenly scene is in sharp contrast to the dark scene on earth as a time of trouble begins. Christians who have previously endured temptation and trial and often persecution and martyrdom now are free from the ills of earth and leave to others the task of continued faithfulness to God, which might lead to martyrdom of many. The significance of the  fourth and  fifth chapters of the book of  Revelation is to remind the reader of the dark scenes that are yet ahead for the great tribulation and the fact that in heaven there is victory, glory, and majesty, and that in God’s good time His authority will be expressed in the earth in the millennial kingdom.

Prophecy In  Revelation Concerning The End Time

     As revealed in a study throughout Scripture, the events of the end time follow the rapture of the church and culminate in the second coming of Christ. Immediately after the rapture of the church, there will be a time period that may be called a period of preparation. In this period there will emerge a ten-nation group forming a political unit in the Middle East. A leader will emerge who will gain control first of three and then of all ten (cf.  Dan. 7:8, 24–25 ). From this position of power he will be able to enter into a covenant with Israel, bringing to rest the relationship of Israel to her neighbors ( 9:27 ), and beginning the final seven-year countdown culminating in the second coming.

     The first half of the seven years will be a time of peace as the covenant is observed. At the midpoint of the seven years, the covenant will be broken and the political leader will assume by proclamation the position of ruler over the entire world. This will begin the period of persecution, the final three and a half years. For the next three and a half years the world dictator, who previously led the ten nations, will head up a world empire, referred to in  Daniel 7:25 as extending for a time, times, and half a time, that is, for a year, two years, and half a year. The end of his reign at the second coming will be preceded by a great world war ( Dan. 11:40–45; Rev. 16:14–16 ).

Major Events Of Unfulfilled Prophecy

1  •  Rapture of the church ( 1 Cor. 15:51–58; 1 Thess. 4:13–18 ).
2  •  Revival of the Roman Empire; ten-nation confederacy formed ( Dan. 7:7, 24; Rev. 13:1; 17:3, 12–13 ).
3  •  Rise of the Antichrist: the Middle East dictator ( Dan. 7:8; Rev. 13:1–8 ).
4  •  The seven-year peace treaty with Israel: consummated seven years before the second coming of Christ ( Dan. 9:27; Rev. 19:11–16 ).
5  •  Establishment of a world church ( Rev. 17:1–15 ).
6  •  Russia springs a surprise attack on Israel four years before the second coming of Christ ( Ezek. 38–39 ).
7  •  Peace treaty with Israel broken after three and a half years: beginning of world government, world economic system, world atheistic religion, final three and a half years before second coming of Christ ( Dan. 7:23; Rev. 13:5–8, 15–17; 17:16–17 ).
8  •  Many Christians and Jews martyred who refused to worship world dictator ( Rev. 7:9–17; 13:15 ).
9  •  Catastrophic divine judgments represented by seals, trumpets, and bowls poured out on the earth ( Rev. 6–18 ).
10•  World war breaks out focusing on the Middle East: Battle of Armageddon ( Dan. 11:40–45; Rev. 9:13–21; 16:12–16 ).
11•  Babylon destroyed ( Rev. 18 ).
12•  Second coming of Christ ( Matt. 24:27–31; Rev. 19:11–21 ).
13•  Judgment of wicked Jews and Gentiles ( Ezek. 20:33–38; Matt. 25:31–46; Jude 14–15; Rev. 19:15–21; 20:1–4 ).
14•  Satan bound for one thousand years ( Rev. 20:1–3 ).
15•  Resurrection of tribulation saints and Old Testament saints ( Dan. 12:2; Rev. 20:4 ).
16•  Millennial kingdom begins ( Rev. 20:5–6 ).
17•  Final rebellion at the end of the millennium ( Rev. 20:7–10 ).
18•  Resurrection and final judgment of the wicked: great white throne judgment ( Rev. 20:11–15 ).
19•  Eternity begins: new heaven, new earth, New Jerusalem ( Rev. 21:1–2 ).

     The three time periods between the rapture and the second coming of Christ therefore include an introductory period of unknown length, a period of peace of three and a half years, and a period of great persecution for three and a half years. The climax will be the second coming of Christ.  Revelation 6–18 deals with the last seven years or more specifically, the last three and a half years preceding the second coming.

The First Seal: World Conquest

     Revelation 6:1–2. The scroll with seven seals introduced earlier now becomes the key to understanding the events that were prophesied for this period. As the events are fulfilled, a seven-sealed scroll provides the major outline for events leading up to the second coming. Though many have attempted alternate views, probably the best approach is the view that the seven seals are the major events, or time periods, that out of the seventh seal will come a series of events described as seven trumpets, and out of the seventh trumpet will come a series of seven bowls of wrath: judgments on the world just preceding the second coming. The effect is a crescendo of judgments coming with increased severity and increasing tempo as the second coming approaches. Though the book of  Revelation is not written necessarily in chronological order, as will be seen, this outline forms the chronological background and order of revelation of the book of  Revelation to which the Scriptures in this section may be related.

     As John watched, he recorded that the Lamb opened the first seal.  “I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest” (vv.  1–2 ). The symbolism of a white horse in the first century represented a conquering military leader. Later in  Revelation, Christ returns with the holy angels on white horses to conquer the world ( 19:11–21 ). Though there have been different interpretations concerning the white horse and its rider, the context would indicate that there is no real parallel between this rider and Christ as the rider of the white horse, and it is preferable to assume that this rider is the counterfeit Christ, or the Antichrist, the ruler who had previously gained control of the ten kingdoms in the Middle East.

     In a description of the rider on the white horse, it states that he has a bow and a crown but does not mention an arrow. Though Scripture provides no interpretation of this, its probable meaning is that he comes as a conqueror without war. This seems to fit in with all the other passages that relate to this world ruler. He apparently has risen to such power politically that no one is able to stand against him. In the later revelation of this same personage in  Revelation 13, the question is asked,  “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?”Rev. 13:4 ). The answer, of course, is that no one is able to fight him.

Order Of Seals, Trumpets, And Bowls |  Revelation 6:1-16:21

     The interpretation of the first seal raises the question as to where this occurs in end-time events. Probably the most popular view is that this introduces the final seven-year period. However, in the verses that immediately follow, it speaks of terrible disasters overtaking the world, which apparently occur in the second half of the last seven years. Also, the world government begins at the middle of the seven years. Accordingly, it is probable that the book of  Revelation, though recognizing the events of the entire seven years, concentrates on the three and a half years before the second coming as containing the most significant and recognizable signs of the Lord’s return.

The Second Seal: War

     Revelation 6:3–4. John was then invited to consider the breaking of the second seal, which reveals another horse and rider. John wrote,  “When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword” (vv.  3–4 ). As a white horse is symbolic of conquering, so a red horse would be symbolic of war. This is the specific interpretation given to the horse and its rider.

     In the reference to war, it is not necessary to presume that this has in mind a particular war but rather that there are a series of wars in the end time, the most important of which will be at the end of the seven-year period just prior to the second coming of Christ ( 16:13–16 ). The last three and a half years is a time when there is no peace.

The Third Seal: Famine

     Revelation 6:5–6. John was next invited to behold the opening of the third seal, and he wrote,  “When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’” (vv.  5–6 ).

     The aftermath of war, which apparently continues to some extent throughout this entire period, brings famine, especially in the areas where war has devastated their crops. A day’s wages was approximately sixteen cents, or a denarius. A quart of wheat would be sufficient only for one meal. If they bought barley, they could get three quarts, enough for three meals, but would have nothing left to buy oil, wine, or other necessities. The picture is one of famine. The somber and death-dealing character of a famine is symbolized by the fact that the horse is black.

The Fourth Seal: Death

     Revelation 6:7–8. John was next invited to observe the opening of the fourth seal.  “When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth” (vv.  7–8 ). The revelation of the pale horse is quite dramatic as it is actually an unearthly color, somewhat like a pale green, the same word being used in  Mark 6:39, Revelation 8:7; and  9:4. The rider is equally horrifying and is named “Death,” and Hades follows close after. Because Hades is the abode of those who die, when a person dies in this situation, he goes to Hades. The most astounding part of the prophecy, however, is that these are given power over a fourth part of the earth, and instruments of death will include sword and famine, mentioned earlier in the preceding seals, but also plague and the wild beasts of the earth.

     Earlier, the question was raised as to what time frame chapter  6 and following falls in, considering that the last period preceding the second coming is divided into seven years, with the first half a time of peace and the second half a time of persecution. Though it is quite a popular interpretation to find the second half of the seven years in  Revelation with the great tribulation not beginning until chapter  11, the fact that one-fourth of the earth is killed at this point would seem to indicate that the tribulation is already underway.

     If the earth’s population at the time this occurs is six billion, one-fourth would mean the loss of life for 1.5 billion of the world’s population. This would be more than if all the people in North America, Central America, and South America were killed. It still would not equal what is described here. It, accordingly, is difficult to imagine this not being the great tribulation. If that is the case, inasmuch as the second and third seals, war and famine, are part of the process, it would seem to come back to them as well. Likewise, the first seal, because it is a conqueror of the entire world, seems to fit best the last three and a half years, which begin with the ruler taking political charge of the entire world.

     The Bible has much to say concerning this final great tribulation. In  Daniel 9:27 the last half of the final seven years leading up to the second coming is the period in which the world ruler takes over and persecutes Israel and all who are not willing to obey him. The ruler at that time is the person mentioned in  Daniel 9:26 as  “the ruler who will come.” In the words,  “How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it” Jer. 30:7 ).

     Christ added His word of explanation on this in describing the great tribulation in these words,  “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” Matt. 24:21–22 ).

     The distinguishing characteristic of the great tribulation is that it is an unprecedented time of trouble, either before or after. Under this definition, the fourth seal qualifies because never in the history of the world has there been destruction of human life as described here. If this is determined, the earlier seals could easily be seen as a part of the period. In general, this passage of Scripture makes clear that the world is headed for unprecedented trouble but that this will not occur until after the rapture of the church. There are many indications, however, that the earth is vulnerable, as our modern day has multiplied forms of destruction of human life. If the supernatural judgments of God be added to this, it is easy to see how the time of trouble will be described as unprecedented.

          __________________________________________________________________

Every Prophecy of the Bible: Clear Explanations for Uncertain Times

Chapter I | History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions

     Under Nero

     Christ our Savior, in the Gospel of St. Matthew, hearing the confession of Simon Peter, who, first of all other, openly acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, and perceiving the secret hand of His Father therein, called him (alluding to his name) a rock, upon which rock He would build His Church so strong that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. In which words three things are to be noted: First, that Christ will have a Church in this world. Secondly, that the same Church should mightily be impugned, not only by the world, but also by the uttermost strength and powers of all hell. And, thirdly, that the same Church, notwithstanding the uttermost of the devil and all his malice, should continue.

     Which prophecy of Christ we see wonderfully to be verified, insomuch that the whole course of the Church to this day may seem nothing else but a verifying of the said prophecy. First, that Christ hath set up a Church, needeth no declaration. Secondly, what force of princes, kings, monarchs, governors, and rulers of this world, with their subjects, publicly and privately, with all their strength and cunning, have bent themselves against this Church! And, thirdly, how the said Church, all this notwithstanding, hath yet endured and holden its own! What storms and tempests it hath overpast, wondrous it is to behold: for the more evident declaration whereof, I have addressed this present history, to the end, first, that the wonderful works of God in His Church might appear to His glory; also that, the continuance and proceedings of the Church, from time to time, being set forth, more knowledge and experience may redound thereby, to the profit of the reader and edification of Christian faith.

     As it is not our business to enlarge upon our Savior's history, either before or after His crucifixion, we shall only find it necessary to remind our readers of the discomfiture of the Jews by His subsequent resurrection. Although one apostle had betrayed Him; although another had denied Him, under the solemn sanction of an oath; and although the rest had forsaken Him, unless we may except "the disciple who was known unto the high-priest"; the history of His resurrection gave a new direction to all their hearts, and, after the mission of the Holy Spirit, imparted new confidence to their minds. The powers with which they were endued emboldened them to proclaim His name, to the confusion of the Jewish rulers, and the astonishment of Gentile proselytes.

I. St. Stephen
     St. Stephen suffered the next in order. His death was occasioned by the faithful manner in which he preached the Gospel to the betrayers and murderers of Christ. To such a degree of madness were they excited, that they cast him out of the city and stoned him to death. The time when he suffered is generally supposed to have been at the passover which succeeded to that of our Lord's crucifixion, and to the era of his ascension, in the following spring.

     Upon this a great persecution was raised against all who professed their belief in Christ as the Messiah, or as a prophet. We are immediately told by St. Luke, that "there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem;" and that "they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles."

     About two thousand Christians, with Nicanor, one of the seven deacons, suffered martyrdom during the "persecution that arose about Stephen."

II. James the Great
     The next martyr we meet with, according to St. Luke, in the History of the Apsotles' Acts, was James the son of Zebedee, the elder brother of John, and a relative of our Lord; for his mother Salome was cousin - german to the Virgin Mary. It was not until ten years after the death of Stephen that the second martyrdom took place; for no sooner had Herod Agrippa been appointed governor of Judea, than, with a view to ingratiate himself with them, he raised a sharp persecution against the Christians, and determined to make an effectual blow, by striking at their leaders. The account given us by an eminent primitive writer, Clemens Alexandrinus, ought not to be overlooked; that, as James was led to the place of martyrdom, his accuser was brought to repent of his conduct by the apostle's extraordinary courage and undauntedness, and fell down at his feet to request his pardon, professing himself a Christian, and resolving that James should not receive the crown of martyrdom alone. Hence they were both beheaded at the same time. Thus did the first apostolic martyr cheerfully and resolutely receive that cup, which he had told our Savior he was ready to drink. Timon and Parmenas suffered martyrdom about the same time; the one at Philippi, and the other in Macedonia. These events took place A.D. 44.
III. Philip
     Was born at Bethsaida, in Galilee and was first called by the name of "disciple." He labored diligently in Upper Asia, and suffered martyrdom at Heliopolis, in Phrygia. He was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified, A.D. 54.
IV. Matthew
     Whose occupation was that of a toll-gatherer, was born at Nazareth. He wrote his gospel in Hebrew, which was afterwards translated into Greek by James the Less. The scene of his labors was Parthia, and Ethiopia, in which latter country he suffered martyrdom, being slain with a halberd in the city of Nadabah, A.D. 60.
V. James the Less
     Is supposed by some to have been the brother of our Lord, by a former wife of Joseph. This is very doubtful, and accords too much with the Catholic superstition, that Mary never had any other children except our Savior. He was elected to the oversight of the churches of Jerusalem; and was the author of the Epistle ascribed to James in the sacred canon. At the age of ninety-four he was beat and stoned by the Jews; and finally had his brains dashed out with a fuller's club.
VI. Matthias
     Of whom less is known than of most of the other disciples, was elected to fill the vacant place of Judas. He was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded.
VII. Andrew
     Was the brother of Peter. He preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations; but on his arrival at Edessa he was taken and crucified on a cross, the two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground. Hence the derivation of the term, St. Andrew's Cross.
VIII. St. Mark
     Was born of Jewish parents of the tribe of Levi. He is supposed to have been converted to Christianity by Peter, whom he served as an amanuensis, and under whose inspection he wrote his Gospel in the Greek language. Mark was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria, at the great solemnity of Serapis their idol, ending his life under their merciless hands.
IX. Peter
     Among many other saints, the blessed apostle Peter was condemned to death, and crucified, as some do write, at Rome; albeit some others, and not without cause, do doubt thereof. Hegesippus saith that Nero sought matter against Peter to put him to death; which, when the people perceived, they entreated Peter with much ado that he would fly the city. Peter, through their importunity at length persuaded, prepared himself to avoid. But, coming to the gate, he saw the Lord Christ come to meet him, to whom he, worshipping, said, "Lord, whither dost Thou go?" To whom He answered and said, "I am come again to be crucified." By this, Peter, perceiving his suffering to be understood, returned into the city. Jerome saith that he was crucified, his head being down and his feet upward, himself so requiring, because he was (he said) unworthy to be crucified after the same form and manner as the Lord was.
X. Paul
     Paul, the apostle, who before was called Saul, after his great travail and unspeakable labors in promoting the Gospel of Christ, suffered also in this first persecution under Nero. Abdias, declareth that under his execution Nero sent two of his esquires, Ferega and Parthemius, to bring him word of his death. They, coming to Paul instructing the people, desired him to pray for them, that they might believe; who told them that shortly after they should believe and be baptised at His sepulcher. This done, the soldiers came and led him out of the city to the place of execution, where he, after his prayers made, gave his neck to the sword.
XI. Jude
     The brother of James, was commonly called Thaddeus. He was crucified at Edessa, A.D. 72.
XII. Bartholomew
     Preached in several countries, and having translated the Gospel of Matthew into the language of India, he propagated it in that country. He was at length cruelly beaten and then crucified by the impatient idolaters.
XIII. Thomas
     Called Didymus, preached the Gospel in Parthia and India, where exciting the rage of the pagan priests, he was martyred by being thrust through with a spear.
XIV. Luke
     The evangelist, was the author of the Gospel which goes under his name. He travelled with Paul through various countries, and is supposed to have been hanged on an olive tree, by the idolatrous priests of Greece.
XV. Simon
     Surnamed Zelotes, preached the Gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in Britain, in which latter country he was crucified, A.D. 74.
XVI. John
     The "beloved disciple," was brother to James the Great. The churches of Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Thyatira, were founded by him. From Ephesus he was ordered to be sent to Rome, where it is affirmed he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. He escaped by miracle, without injury. Domitian afterwards banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. Nerva, the successor of Domitian, recalled him. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.
XVII. Barnabas
     Was of Cyprus, but of Jewish descent, his death is supposed to have taken place about A.D. 73.

     And yet, notwithstanding all these continual persecutions and horrible punishments, the Church daily increased, deeply rooted in the doctrine of the apostles and of men apostolical, and watered plentously with the blood of saints.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs

The Coming of the Kingdom part 43

By Dr. Andrew Woods 01/26/2016

In this series, the biblical teaching on the kingdom has been surveyed to demonstrate that Scripture conveys that the kingdom is a future reality. Moreover, equating the church with the Messianic kingdom radically alters God's design for the church.

Signs And Wonders

Another area of monumental change occurs in the life of the church when it embraces "kingdom now" theology. As explained in the prior installment, this area relates to embracing hyper-Pentecostalism, which contends that signs and wonders are an absolute necessity in order to effectively evangelize. This approach is sometimes referred to as "power of evangelism." Hyper-Pentecostalism is rooted in "kingdom now" theology. The reason for this nexus between the kingdom and signs and wonders is because the kingdom will be a time of unprecedented miracles ( Isa. 35:5-6 ). If the kingdom, a predicted time of unprecedented miracles, is now a present reality, then so should be the present age. Interestingly, the late John Wimber, a leading advocate of power evangelism, was heavily influenced by "kingdom now" theology. Wimber derived much of his views of the kingdom from the writings of George Eldon Ladd. Ladd taught a view called "Historic Premillennialism," which stands for the proposition that the kingdom is "already but not yet."  Same garbage I learned at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in 2006-2008. While contending that some form of the earthly kingdom will ultimately come in the future millennial reign of Christ, the kingdom had also already been inaugurated in spiritual form in the present age. Ladd maintained that Jesus was currently seated on David's Throne in heaven orchestrating this present spiritual form of the kingdom. Wimber was explicit in linking his belief in modern-day signs and wonders to a present manifestation of the kingdom in his book Power Evangelism:

I was already acquainted with George Eldon Ladd's writings (he was a Fuller Theological Seminary professor), but it was not until I read his book Jesus and the Kingdom that I realized his work on the kingdom formed a theological basis for power evangelism. As I read Dr. Ladd's books, and read afresh the gospel accounts, I became convinced that power evangelism was for today. [1]

Progressive Dispensationalists have also embraced a similar "already but not yet" view of the kingdom. Interestingly, many Progressive Dispensationalists who have adopted an "already not yet" view of the kingdom have also moved gradually in the direction of Pentecostalism. For example, in a book examining the issue of the perpetuity of spiritual gifts entitled Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?, leading Progressive Dispensationalist Robert Saucy opened the door to Pentecostal Theology in a chapter entitled An Open But Cautious View. [2] Other flirtations by Progressive Dispensationalists with charismatic theology can also be cited. [3] Thus, the nexus between the kingdom now theology and modern-day signs and wonders has caused Ryrie to inquire how Progressive Dispensationalism and Cessationism are intellectually consistent and compatible. He asks:

Non-charismatic progressive dispensationalists have not faced the question as to why signs and wonders are not characteristic of the church if in fact Christ is already on David's throne. During our Lord's earthly life many signs validated His claim to be the promised Davidic king for Israel. Now that He is allegedly reigning as Davidic King (according to progressives), why are there not miraculous signs happening today in the "already" stage of his Davidic reign? [4]

In actuality, the present age cannot be characterized as the kingdom for the simple reason that the wide-scale signs and wonders predicted for the kingdom are not a present manifestation. While not disputing the fact that God can and frequently does intervene providentially and miraculously in His creation at times ( Jas. 5:14-16 ), these random occurrences do not correspond to the widespread miracles that will come to the world once the kingdom arrives. Interestingly, although Paul performed many miraculous signs throughout His ministry ( Acts 14:8-12; 20:7-12 ), the New Testament also testifies to a gradual waning of the miracles performed through Paul as his ministry was coming to a conclusion. In  2 Timothy, his final letter, he wrote,  "...but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus" 2 Tim. 4:20 ). Church history also seems to testify of the cessation of certain New Testament gifts. Notice Chrysostom's (A.D. 345-407) commentary on  First Corinthians 12, which is a key chapter dealing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit:

This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place. And why do they not happen now? Why look now, the cause too of the obscurity has produced us again another question: namely, why did they then happen, and now do so no more? [5]

Notice also Augustine's (A.D. 354-430) remarks regarding the cessation of the sign gifts:

In the earliest times, the Holy Ghost fell upon them that believed: and they spoke with tongues, which they had not learned, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  Acts 2:4 These were signs adapted to the time. For there behooved to be that betokening of the Holy Spirit in all tongues, to show that the Gospel of God was to run through all tongues over the whole earth. That thing was done for a betokening, and it passed away...If then the witness of the presence of the Holy Ghost be not now given through these miracles, by what is it given, by what does one get to know that he has received the Holy Ghost? [6]

If the cessation of certain gifts of the Spirit in the life of the church is indeed a reality, then the kingdom, a predicted era of miracles, cannot be confused with the present age. Yet, "kingdom now" theology alters this blueprint and in the process introduces hyper-Pentecostalism into the modern church.

Prosperity Gospel

Yet another errant view so predominant in the modern church and on so called "Christian" television is known as the "Prosperity Gospel." According to this theological perspective, the believer, as the child of the king, is entitled to a life of health and wealth. Thus, if a believer finds himself or herself in a state of financial poverty or physical illness it is because they either do not have enough spiritual knowledge or faith to claim their biblical promises of health and wealth or they have not accessed the various divine verbal laws necessary to speak these realities into personal existence. [7] The Prosperity Gospel represents yet another theological error that finds its roots in "kingdom now" theology. Like the connection to "power evangelism," the relationship between the presence of the kingdom and the promise of health and wealth is easy to understand. The Bible notes the kingdom will be a time of unprecedented healing ( Isa. 35:5-6 ). In addition to universal healing, the kingdom will also epitomize an era of unprecedented material abundance.  Amos 9:13-14 predicts that the  "...the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; when the mountains will drip sweet wine...My people...will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit." Thus, if the kingdom is indeed a present, spiritual reality as maintained by "kingdom now" theologians, then inevitable healing and worldly riches should also be now accessible to every child of God. D.R. McConnell, in his critique of the Prosperity Gospel, well explains the dependency of this false teaching upon "kingdom now" theology.

...The Faith teachers deny that the kingdom of God is in the process of realization, claiming that it is present in the earth to the point that believers can be delivered from all sin, sickness, and poverty of the devil. They...claim that the believer has absolute authority to conquer and eradicate these forces of evil completely from his life. The only process of realization is in the faith of the believer, not in the presence of God's kingdom. In the jargon of biblical theology, the Faith interpretation of the kingdom of God could be labeled as a "hyper-realized" eschatology. The Faith eschatology is "hyper realized" because of its extreme promises to the believer of a life which is absolutely invulnerable to any type of evil. It claims "that the powers of the age to come" have completely come in this life and that these powers can be used at will by the believer with enough faith and knowledge of how to operate them. There is no process of realization of God's kingdom in Faith eschatology; the kingdom can be completely realized in the lives of those who exercise Faith principles. We see this hyper-realized eschatology in the Faith doctrines of healing, authority, prosperity, identification and deification. The over realized nature of Faith eschatology emphasizes the "Now" of the kingdom of God...The... "Not yet" mystery of the kingdom and its powers is distorted by the hyper-realized eschatology of the Faith movement. [8]

In actuality, the present age cannot be characterized as the kingdom since New Testament heroes, such as the Apostle Paul, did not enjoy lives of unlimited health and wealth. Paul suffered from frequent illnesses ( Gal. 4:13 ) and learned to be content both in financial abundance and material scarcity ( Phil. 4:12 ). Illness as well as poverty can be identified in other godly New Testament examples such as  Timothy 1 Tim. 5:23 ), the Macedonians ( 2 Cor. 8:2-3 ), and the Church at Smyrna ( Rev. 2:9 ). If poverty and illness can be a reality in the life of the Christian, then the kingdom, a predicted era of health and wealth, cannot be confused with the present age. Yet, "kingdom now" theology alters this blueprint and in the process introduces the false theology of the Prosperity Gospel into the modern church.

Anti-Israelism

A final area of ecclesiastical change as a consequence of embracing "kingdom now" theology pertains to the advent of anti-Israelism within the church. When the church views itself as the kingdom of God on the earth, it has a tendency to become either apathetic about or even belligerent toward the notion that God will one day establish His future kingdom upon the earth through His work with the nation of Israel. After all, why be concerned about a future kingdom that will come to the earth through the Jew if we are in a spiritual form of the kingdom now and the church has become the new, spiritual Israel. Alva J. McClain notes, "The confusion of our Lord's rule...leads to serious consequences...it makes the present age the period of the Mediatorial Kingdom...it dissolves the divinely covenanted purpose in the nation of Israel." [9]

Thus, it comes as no surprise to discover that the teachings of "kingdom now" theologians are replete with anti-Israel sentiments not only against God's future work through Israel but also toward His precursor to this work as represented by the existence of the modern state of Israel. For example, Gary DeMar expresses such "kingdom now" sentiments when he says, "God has not called us to forsake the earth, but to impress heaven's pattern on earth." [10] He similarly notes, "Christians must be obedient to the mandate God has given to extend His kingdom to every sphere of life, to every corner of the globe ( Gen 1:26–28; Matt 28:18-20 )." Yet just as clear, or perhaps even clearer, than his "kingdom now" theology is DeMar's anti-Israel mentality, when he proclaims:

Where is this "super sign" found in the Bible? Not in the New Testament. There is not a single verse in the entire New Testament that says anything about Israel becoming a nation again. Nothing prophetic in the New Testament depends on Israel becoming a nation again. If Israel becoming a nation again is such "a significant sign," then why doesn't the New Testament specifically mention it? [11]

We find this identical pattern in the teachings of "kingdom now" theologian Gary North. North notes, "The goal of establishing Christ's international kingdom can be presented to citizens of any nation." Elsewhere North observes, "Christians are required to become active in building God's visible kingdom." He similarly explains, "If the Christian church fails to build the visible kingdom by means of biblical law and the power of the gospel, despite the resurrection of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit, then what kind of religion are we preaching?" North also teaches, "The parable ( Matt 13:24–30, 36–43 ) refers to the building of the kingdom of God, not simply to the institutional church." As is the case with Gary DeMar, the anti-Israel sentiment is just as clear in the teachings of Gary North as is his "kingdom now" belief system. Thomas Ice reports, "Gary North has boasted that he has a book already in his computer for when 'Israel gets pushed into the sea, or converted to Christ.'" [12] This disturbing pattern makes it quite apparent that the church runs the risk of becoming progressively more anti-Israel, both in its sentiment toward a future kingdom through Israel as well as toward the modern state of Israel, the further she experiences an ecclesiastical drift into "kingdom now" theology. All things considered, "kingdom now" theology has a deleterious impact on the perspective, purpose, mission, and life of the church in very real, tangible, and practical ways.

Conclusion

As promised at the onset, due to the dominance of "kingdom now" theology in modern evangelical thought, we have completed a lengthy series on the subject of the kingdom. First, the biblical teaching on the kingdom of God has been surveyed from  Genesis to  Revelation. Second, this series set forth some general problems with a New Testament based "kingdom now" interpretation. Third, this series examined the isolated New Testament texts that "kingdom now" theologians use in order to demonstrate their insufficiency to convey "kingdom now" theology. Fourth, this series noted why the trend of equating God's present work in the church with the messianic kingdom is a matter believers should be concerned about since this theology radically alters God's design for the church. My hope and prayer is that God will use this series, and other like-minded resources, to strengthen God's people to stand against the pernicious tide of "kingdom now" theology that is so prevalent in our day.

Continue Reading (Part 43 on Oct 3 web page)

ENDNOTES
[1] John Wimber and Kevin Springer, Power Evangelism.
[2] Robert L. Saucy, "An Open but Cautious View," in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?.
[3] Dan Wallace, "The Uneasy Conscience of a Non-Charismatic Evangelical," online: https://bible.org/article/uneasy-conscience-non-charismatic-evangelical, 1994, accessed 04 September 2015.
[4] Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism.
[5] Chrysostom, Homily 29 on The Homilies On First And Second Corinthians. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/220129.htm.
[6] Augustine, Homilies on the First Epistle of John (Vol. III/14) (The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century). http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170206.htm.
[7] For a book-length critique of the "Prosperity Gospel," see Michael Horton, ed. The Agony of Deceit/What Some TV Preachers Are Really Teaching.
[8] D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel: Updated Edition.
[9] Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom: An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God.
[10] The following quotes (and sourcing) from various "kingdom now" theologians, such as Gary DeMar and Gary North, can be found in H. Wayne House and Thomas Ice, Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse? (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1988), 409-11.
[11] Gary DeMar, End Times Fiction: A Biblical Consideration Of The Left Behind Theology.
[12] Personal letter from Gary North to Peter Lalonde, April 30, 1987 on file; cited in Thomas Ice, "Answering Those Who Oppose Israel," online: www.pre-trib.org, accessed 21 October 2015, 1.

     Dr. Andrew Woods Books

Note I copied this article from The Bible Prophecy Blog.

Dr. Andrew Woods Ministry Page, YouTube Channel, and Church.

Read The Psalms In "1" Year

Book 5 | Psalm 107

Let the Redeemed of the LORD Say So

107:17 Some were fools through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
18 they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

23 Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
24 they saw the deeds of the LORD,
his wondrous works in the deep.

ESV Study Bible

The Continual Burnt Offering (1 Corinthians 15:20)

By H.A. Ironside - 1941

October 3
1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.    ESV

     Apart from the fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, Christianity would be just another religious system, or philosophical speculation. It is because of His triumph over death that our great High Priest is able to save to the uttermost all those who come to God by Him (Hebrews 7:25). What converted Saul of Tarsus and changed him to Paul the apostle was the revelation that Jesus, who had been crucified, is now alive in highest glory. He had seen Him and heard His voice, and he never doubted afterward (1 Corinthians 15:8). Everywhere he went he preached Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18). A message that sees in the cross simply a martyr’s death is not the gospel. The good news revealed from Heaven is that Christ died for our sins, (1 Corinthians 15:3) and that He has been raised again for our justification (Romans 4:25). Today this same gospel is the power of God unto salvation when proclaimed with no uncertain sound in the energy of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

1 Corinthians 15:8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Acts 17:18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities” - because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

Romans 4:25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
  ESV

Once we stood in condemnation,
Waiting thus the sinner’s doom,
Christ in death has wrought salvation,
God has raised Him from the tomb.
Now we see in Christ’s acceptance
But the measure of our own;
Him who lay beneath our sentence
Seated high upon the throne.
Quickened, raised, and in Him seated,
We a full deliv’rance know,
Ev’ry foe has been defeated,
Ev’ry enemy laid low.
Now we have a life in union
With the risen life above,
Now we drink in sweet communion
Some rich foretaste of His love.
--- G. W. Frazer

The Continual Burnt Offering: Daily Meditations on the Word of God


  • Matthew 4:1-17
  • Matthew 4:18-5:4
  • Matthew 5:5-16


     Devotionals, notes, poetry and more

UCB The Word For Today
     Treat your enemy with kindness
     (Oct 3)    Bob Gass

     ‘You will heap coals of fire on his head.’

(Pr 25:22) 22 for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you. ESV

     It’s not enough to simply leave your enemies alone; you must demonstrate God’s love towards them. ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for so you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the LORD will reward you’ (vv. 21-22 NKJV). What does it mean to ‘heap coals of fire on his head’? Charles Swindoll explains that in ancient days, homes were heated and meals were fixed on a small portable stove, somewhat like our outside barbecue grills. Frequently, a person would run low on hot coals and need to replenish his or her supply. The container was commonly carried on the head. So, as the individual passed beneath second-storey windows, thoughtful people who had extra hot coals in their possession would reach out the window and place them in the container atop their head. Thanks to the thoughtful generosity of a few folks, they would arrive at the site with a pile of burning coals on their head, and a ready-made fire for cooking and keeping warm. ‘Heaping burning coals on someone’s head’ came to be a popular expression for a spontaneous and courteous act one person would voluntarily do for another. When you treat an enemy this way, the Bible promises, ‘The LORD will reward you.’ You have a choice. You can experience the short-term satisfaction of retaliating and get into trouble with God for doing it, or show mercy and kindness and be rewarded by God for doing it. So, the word for you today is - treat your enemy with kindness.

Is 62-64
1 Thess 2

UCB The Word For Today

American Minute
     by Bill Federer

     On October 3, 1789, from the capital of New York City, President George Washington issued the first Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. There was reason to rejoice as just one week earlier, the first session of the United States Congress approved the First Ten Amendments, better known as the Bill of Rights, thereby limiting the power and scope of the Federal Government. Washington wrote: “Now, therefore, I do recommend… the People of these United States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

American Minute
The Soul of Prayer
     by P.T. Forsyth, (1848-1921)


     Here, too, we acquire that spiritual veracity which we so constantly tend to lose; because we are in contact with the living and eternal reality. Our very love is preserved from dissimulation, which is a great danger when we love men and court their love. Prayer is a greater school and discipline of divine love than the service of man is. But not if it is cut off from it.

     And no less also is it the school of repentance, which so easily can grow morbid. We are taught to be not only true to reality, but sincere with ourselves. We cannot touch God thus without having a light no less searching than saving shed upon our own hearts; and we are thus protected from Pharisaism in our judgment of either self or friend or foe—especially at present of our foe. No companion of God can war in His name against man without much self-searching and self-humiliation, however reserved. But here humility turns into moral strength.

     Here we are also regathered in soul from the fancies that bewilder us and the distractions that dissolve us into the dust of the world. We are collected into peace and power and sound judgment, and we have a heart for any fate, because we rest in the Lord whose judgments are salvation. What gives us our true stay gives us our true self; and it protects us from the elations and despairs which alternate in ourselves by bringing home to us a Saviour who is more to us than we are to ourselves. We become patient with ourselves because we realize the patience of God. We get rid of illusions about ourselves and the world because our intimacy is with the real God, and we know that we truly are just what we are before Him. We thus have a great peace, because in prayer, as the crowning act of faith, we lay hold of the grace of God the Saviour. Prayer alone prevents our receiving God’s grace in vain. Which means that it establishes the soul of a man or a people, creates the moral personality day by day, spreads outward the new heart through society, and goes to make a new ethos in mankind. We come out with a courage and a humanity we had not when we went in, even though our old earth remove, and our familiar hills are cast into the depth of the sea. The true Church is thus co-extensive with the community of true prayer.

     It is another paradox that combines the vast power of prayer both on the lone soul and on the moral life, personal and social, with the soul’s shyness and aloofness in prayer. Kant (whose genius in this respect reflected his race) has had an influence upon scientific thought and its efficiency far greater than upon religion, though he is well named the philosopher of Protestantism. He represent (again like his race) intellectual power and a certain stiff moral insight, but not spiritual atmosphere, delicacy, or flexibility, which is rather the Catholic tradition. Intellectualism always tends to more force than finish, and always starves or perverts ethic. And nowhere in Kant’s work does this limitation find such expression as in his treatment of prayer, unless it be in his lack of any misgivings about treating it at all with his equipment or the equipment of his age. Even his successors know better now—just as we in England have learned to find in Milton powers and harmonies hidden from the too great sagacity of Dr. Johnson or his time. Kant, then, speaks of prayer thus. If we found a man (he says) given to talking to himself we should begin to suspect him of some tendency to mental aberration. Yet the personality of such a man is a very real thing. It is a thing we can be more sure of than we can of the personality of God, who, if He is more than a conclusion for intellectual thought, is not more than a postulate for moral. No doubt in time of crisis it is an instinct to pray which even cultivated people do not, and need not, lose. But if any such person were surprised even in the attitude of private prayer, to say nothing of its exercise, he would be ashamed. He would think he had been discovered doing something unworthy of his intelligence, and would feel about it as educated people do when found out to be yielding to a superstition about the number thirteen.

     A thinker of more sympathy and delicacy would have spoken less bluntly. Practical experience would have taught him discrimination. He would have realized the difference between shame and shyness, between confusion at an unworthy thing and confusion at a thing too fine and sacred for exposure. And had his age allowed him to have more knowledge and taste in history, and especially the history of religion, he would have gone, not to the cowardice of the ordinary cultivated man, but to the power and thoroughness of the great saints or captains of the race—to Paul, to Thomas a Kempis, to Cromwell with his troops, or Gustavus Adolphus with his. I do but humbly allude to Gethsemane. But Kant belonged to a time which had not realized, as even our science does now, the final power of the subtler forces, and the overwhelming effect in the long run of the impalpable and elusive influences of life. Much might be written about the effect of prayer on the great history of the world.

     Tomorrow begins CHAPTER IV, The Timeliness of Prayer.

--- Forsyth, P. T. (1848-1921).

The Soul of Prayer
Lean Into God
     Compiled by Richard S. Adams


America: Why I love her:
"If we want to keep these freedoms,
we may have to fight again.
God forbid,
but if we do,
let's always fight to win…
Face the flag, son…
and thank God it's still there.
--- John Wayne


     Helping a person in need is good in itself. But the degree of goodness is hugely affected by the attitude with which it is done. If you show resentment because you are helping the person out of a reluctant sense of duty, then the person may recieve your help but may feel awkward and embarrassed. This is because he will feel beholden to you. If,on the other hand, you help the person in a spirit of joy, then the help will be received joyfully. The person will feel neither demeaned nor humiliated by your help, but rather will feel glad to have caused you pleasure by receiving your help. And joy is the appropriate attitude with which to help others because acts of generosity are a source of blessing to the giver as well as the receiver. --- John Chrysostom


Even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardour of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old.
--- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... from here, there and everywhere

History of the Destruction of Jerusalem
     Thanks to Meir Yona

     4. While Josephus was making this exhortation to the Jews, many of them jested upon him from the wall, and many reproached him; nay, some threw their darts at him: but when he could not himself persuade them by such open good advice, he betook himself to the histories belonging to their own nation, and cried out aloud, "O miserable creatures! are you so unmindful of those that used to assist you, that you will fight by your weapons and by your hands against the Romans? When did we ever conquer any other nation by such means? and when was it that God, who is the Creator of the Jewish people, did not avenge them when they had been injured? Will not you turn again, and look back, and consider whence it is that you fight with such violence, and how great a Supporter you have profanely abused? Will not you recall to mind the prodigious things done for your forefathers and this holy place, and how great enemies of yours were by him subdued under you? I even tremble myself in declaring the works of God before your ears, that are unworthy to hear them; however, hearken to me, that you may be informed how you fight not only against the Romans, but against God himself. In old times there was one Necao, king of Egypt, who was also called Pharaoh; he came with a prodigious army of soldiers, and seized queen Sarah, the mother of our nation. What did Abraham our progenitor then do? Did he defend himself from this injurious person by war, although he had three hundred and eighteen captains under him, and an immense army under each of them? Indeed he deemed them to be no number at all without God's assistance, and only spread out his hands towards this holy place, 16 which you have now polluted, and reckoned upon him as upon his invincible supporter, instead of his own army. Was not our queen sent back, without any defilement, to her husband, the very next Evening?—while the king of Egypt fled away, adoring this place which you have defiled by shedding thereon the blood of your own countrymen; and he also trembled at those visions which he saw in the night season, and bestowed both silver and gold on the Hebrews, as on a people beloved by God. Shall I say nothing, or shall I mention the removal of our fathers into Egypt, who, when they were used tyrannically, and were fallen under the power of foreign kings for four hundred years together, and might have defended themselves by war and by fighting, did yet do nothing but commit themselves to God! Who is there that does not know that Egypt was overrun with all sorts of wild beasts, and consumed by all sorts of distempers? how their land did not bring forth its fruit? how the Nile failed of water? how the ten plagues of Egypt followed one upon another? and how by those means our fathers were sent away under a guard, without any bloodshed, and without running any dangers, because God conducted them as his peculiar servants? Moreover, did not Palestine groan 17 under the ravage the Assyrians made, when they carried away our sacred ark? as did their idol Dagon, and as also did that entire nation of those that carried it away, how they were smitten with a loathsome distemper in the secret parts of their bodies, when their very bowels came down together with what they had eaten, till those hands that stole it away were obliged to bring it back again, and that with the sound of cymbals and timbrels, and other oblations, in order to appease the anger of God for their violation of his holy ark. It was God who then became our General, and accomplished these great things for our fathers, and this because they did not meddle with war and fighting, but committed it to him to judge about their affairs. When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, brought along with him all Asia, and encompassed this city round with his army, did he fall by the hands of men? were not those hands lifted up to God in prayers, without meddling with their arms, when an angel of God destroyed that prodigious army in one night? when the Assyrian king, as he rose the next day, found a hundred fourscore and five thousand dead bodies, and when he, with the remainder of his army, fled away from the Hebrews, though they were unarmed, and did not pursue them. You are also acquainted with the slavery we were under at Babylon, where the people were captives for seventy years; yet were they not delivered into freedom again before God made Cyrus his gracious instrument in bringing it about; accordingly they were set free by him, and did again restore the worship of their Deliverer at his temple. And, to speak in general, we can produce no example wherein our fathers got any success by war, or failed of success when without war they committed themselves to God. When they staid at home, they conquered, as pleased their Judge; but when they went out to fight, they were always disappointed: for example, when the king of Babylon besieged this very city, and our king Zedekiah fought against him, contrary to what predictions were made to him by Jeremiah the prophet, he was at once taken prisoner, and saw the city and the temple demolished. Yet how much greater was the moderation of that king, than is that of your present governors, and that of the people then under him, than is that of you at this time! for when Jeremiah cried out aloud, how very angry God was at them, because of their transgressions, and told them they should be taken prisoners, unless they would surrender up their city, neither did the king nor the people put him to death; but for you, [to pass over what you have done within the city, which I am not able to describe as your wickedness deserves,] you abuse me, and throw darts at me, who only exhort you to save yourselves, as being provoked when you are put in mind of your sins, and cannot bear the very mention of those crimes which you every day perpetrate. For another example, when Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, lay before this city, and had been guilty of many indignities against God, and our forefathers met him in arms, they then were slain in the battle, this city was plundered by our enemies, and our sanctuary made desolate for three years and six months. And what need I bring any more examples? Indeed what can it be that hath stirred up an army of the Romans against our nation? Is it not the impiety of the inhabitants? Whence did our servitude commence? Was it not derived from the seditions that were among our forefathers, when the madness of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, and our mutual quarrels, brought Pompey upon this city, and when God reduced those under subjection to the Romans who were unworthy of the liberty they had enjoyed? After a siege, therefore, of three months, they were forced to surrender themselves, although they had not been guilty of such offenses, with regard to our sanctuary and our laws, as you have; and this while they had much greater advantages to go to war than you have. Do not we know what end Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, came to, under whose reign God provided that this city should be taken again upon account of the people's offenses? When Herod, the son of Antipater, brought upon us Sosius, and Sosius brought upon us the Roman army, they were then encompassed and besieged for six months, till, as a punishment for their sins, they were taken, and the city was plundered by the enemy. Thus it appears that arms were never given to our nation, but that we are always given up to be fought against, and to be taken; for I suppose that such as inhabit this holy place ought to commit the disposal of all things to God, and then only to disregard the assistance of men when they resign themselves up to their Arbitrator, who is above. As for you, what have you done of those things that are recommended by our legislator? and what have you not done of those things that he hath condemned? How much more impious are you than those who were so quickly taken! You have not avoided so much as those sins that are usually done in secret; I mean thefts, and treacherous plots against men, and adulteries. You are quarrelling about rapines and murders, and invent strange ways of wickedness. Nay, the temple itself is become the receptacle of all, and this Divine place is polluted by the hands of those of our own country; which place hath yet been reverenced by the Romans when it was at a distance from them, when they have suffered many of their own customs to give place to our law. And, after all this, do you expect Him whom you have so impiously abused to be your supporter? To be sure then you have a right to be petitioners, and to call upon Him to assist you, so pure are your hands! Did your king [Hezekiah] lift up such hands in prayer to God against the king of Assyria, when he destroyed that great army in one night? And do the Romans commit such wickedness as did the king of Assyria, that you may have reason to hope for the like vengeance upon them? Did not that king accept of money from our king on this condition, that he should not destroy the city, and yet, contrary to the oath he had taken, he came down to burn the temple? while the Romans do demand no more than that accustomed tribute which our fathers paid to their fathers; and if they may but once obtain that, they neither aim to destroy this city, nor to touch this sanctuary; nay, they will grant you besides, that your posterity shall be free, and your possessions secured to you, and will preserve our holy laws inviolate to you. And it is plain madness to expect that God should appear as well disposed towards the wicked as towards the righteous, since he knows when it is proper to punish men for their sins immediately; accordingly he brake the power of the Assyrians the very first night that they pitched their camp. Wherefore, had he judged that our nation was worthy of freedom, or the Romans of punishment, he had immediately inflicted punishment upon those Romans, as he did upon the Assyrians, when Pompey began to meddle with our nation, or when after him Sosius came up against us, or when Vespasian laid waste Galilee, or, lastly, when Titus came first of all near to this city; although Magnus and Sosius did not only suffer nothing, but took the city by force; as did Vespasian go from the war he made against you to receive the empire; and as for Titus, those springs that were formerly almost dried up when they were under your power 18 since he is come, run more plentifully than they did before; accordingly, you know that Siloam, as well as all the other springs that were without the city, did so far fail, that water was sold by distinct measures; whereas they now have such a great quantity of water for your enemies, as is sufficient not only for drink both for themselves and their cattle, but for watering their gardens also. The same wonderful sign you had also experience of formerly, when the forementioned king of Babylon made war against us, and when he took the city, and burnt the temple; while yet I believe the Jews of that age were not so impious as you are. Wherefore I cannot but suppose that God is fled out of his sanctuary, and stands on the side of those against whom you fight. Now even a man, if he be but a good man, will fly from an impure house, and will hate those that are in it; and do you persuade yourselves that God will abide with you in your iniquities, who sees all secret things, and hears what is kept most private? Now what crime is there, I pray you, that is so much as kept secret among you, or is concealed by you? nay, what is there that is not open to your very enemies? for you show your transgressions after a pompous manner, and contend one with another which of you shall be more wicked than another; and you make a public demonstration of your injustice, as if it were virtue. However, there is a place left for your preservation, if you be willing to accept of it; and God is easily reconciled to those that confess their faults, and repent of them. O hard-hearted wretches as you are! cast away all your arms, and take pity of your country already going to ruin; return from your wicked ways, and have regard to the excellency of that city which you are going to betray, to that excellent temple with the donations of so many countries in it. Who could bear to be the first that should set that temple on fire? who could be willing that these things should be no more? and what is there that can better deserve to be preserved? O insensible creatures, and more stupid than are the stones themselves! And if you cannot look at these things with discerning eyes, yet, however, have pity upon your families, and set before every one of your eyes your children, and wives, and parents, who will be gradually consumed either by famine or by war. I am sensible that this danger will extend to my mother, and wife, and to that family of mine who have been by no means ignoble, and indeed to one that hath been very eminent in old time; and perhaps you may imagine that it is on their account only that I give you this advice; if that be all, kill them; nay, take my own blood as a reward, if it may but procure your preservation; for I am ready to die, in case you will but return to a sound mind after my death."

          The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, by Flavius Josephus Translator: William Whiston

The War of the Jews: The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem (complete edition, 7 books)
Proverbs 26:3-12
     by D.H. Stern

3     A whip for a horse, a bridle for a donkey,
          and a rod for the back of fools.
4     Don’t answer a fool in terms of his folly,
          or you will be descending to his level;
5     but answer a fool as his folly deserves,
          so that he won’t think he is wise.
6     Telling a message to a fool and sending him out
          is like cutting off one’s feet and drinking violence.
7     The legs of the disabled hang limp and useless;
          likewise a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
8     Like one who ties his stone to the sling
          is he who gives honor to a fool.
9     Like a thorn branch in the hand of a drunk
          is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10     A master can make anything,
          but hiring a fool is like hiring some passer-by.
11     Just as a dog returns to his vomit,
          a fool repeats his folly.
12     Do you see someone who thinks himself wise?
          There is more hope for a fool than for him!

Complete Jewish Bible : An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B'Rit Hadashah (New Testament)
My Utmost For The Highest
     A Daily Devotional by Oswald Chambers


                The sphere of ministration

     
This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. --- Mark 9:29.

     “Why could not we cast him out?” The answer lies in a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. This kind can come forth by nothing but by concentration and redoubled concentration on Him. We can ever remain powerless, as were the disciples, by trying to do God’s work not in concentration on His power, but by ideas drawn from our own temperament. We slander God by our very eagerness to work for Him without knowing Him.

     You are brought face to face with a difficult case and nothing happens externally, and yet you know that emancipation will be given because you are concentrated on Jesus Christ. This is your line of service—to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it in irritation, or by mounting up, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very thing, and all you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way you will never know till you see Him face to face.

     We must be able to mount up with wings as eagles; but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and the living down. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” said Paul, and the things he referred to were mostly humiliating things. It is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say—‘No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountain top with God.’ Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they are efface altogether my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?

My Utmost for His Highest
Art History
     the Poetry of RS Thomas


                Art History

They made the grey stone
  Blossom, setting it on a branch
  Of the mind; airy cathedrals
  Grew, trembling at the tip
  Of their breathing; delicate palaces
  Hung motionless in the gold,
  Unbelievable sunrise. They praised
  With rapt forms such as the blind hand
  Dreamed, journeying to its sad
  Nuptials. We come too late
  On the scene, pelted with the stone
  Flowers' bitter confetti.

Selected poems, 1946-1968
HE WILL BE CALLED “WONDERFUL COUNSELOR”
     Biblical counseling for today

     Born into an influential Israelite family, Isaiah had grown up rubbing shoulders with royalty. Unimpressed with earthly monarchs, Isaiah envisioned a coming king: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.… For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.… A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what He hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge” (Isa. 7:14; 9:6–7; 11:1–4).

     Imagine. Eight centuries before Bethlehem, Isaiah offered up brilliant foreign policy advice: National security begins with God. Just as Judah’s northern neighbors had been scourged by the Assyrians, so their southern counterparts were headed toward defeat at the hands of Babylon. Unless they repented, the people of Judah were staring down the barrel of trouble (
Isa. 1–39).

     In the end, blessed comfort would come (
Isa. 40–66), but it would come only through a right relationship with the Davidic offshoot, a virgin-born King, rich with exquisite qualities and an unending reign. Among His attributes, the predicted Savior would be a Wonderful Counselor (9:6). Imbued with the very wisdom of God, Jesus Christ would not be fooled by appearances or mere words; to the contrary, He would always make the correct appraisal in His dealings with people (11:2–4).

     Although mere mortals can never expect to have Christ’s x-ray vision for the soul (
1 Sam. 16:7; John 2:24), we who are growing in Christ’s likeness (Rom. 8:28–30; Phil. 1:6) can count on the help of the Lord, the One who will one day permit us to know as we are known. In the meantime even those with gifts in counseling only “see through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12, KJV).

Biblical Counseling For Today
Take Heart
     October 3

     For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. --- Romans 12:3.

     After saying, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy,” here [Paul] says again, “by the grace.” (A SELECT LIBRARY OF THE NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH Volume XI: Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans.) Observe the teacher’s lowliness of mind. He means to say that he is in no respect worthy to be trusted in such an exhortation and counsel. But at one time he takes the mercies of God along with him, at another his grace. It is not my word, he would say, that I am speaking, but one from God. “To every one of you.” Not to this person and to that merely, but to the governor and to the governed, to the slave and to the free, to the unlearned and to the wise, to the woman and to the man, to the young and to the old. And by this he also makes his language inoffensive, setting the lessons he gives to all, even to such as do not come under them, that those who do come under them may with more willingness accept such a reproof and correction. And what do you say? Let me hear. “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” Here he is bringing before us the mother of good deeds, which is lowliness of mind, in imitation of his own Master. For as Jesus, when he went up into the mountain and was going to give a teaching of moral precepts, took this for his first beginning and made this the foundation, in the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3), so Paul too, as he has now passed from the doctrinal parts to those of a more practical kind, has taught us virtue in general terms by requiring of us the admirable sacrifice. And being on the point of giving a more particular portrait of it, he begins from lowliness of mind as from the head and tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think but to think of ourselves with sober judgment. We have received wisdom not that we should use it to make us arrogant but to make us sober-minded. And he does not say in order to be lowly in mind, but in order to sobriety, meaning by sobriety here not that virtue which contrasts with lewdness nor the being free from intemperance, but being sensible and healthful in mind. And the Greek name of it means keeping the mind safe.
--- John Chrysostom

Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers
On This Day   October 3
     One Woman’s Crusade


     Was the first Thanksgiving really held by the pilgrims shortly after the Mayflower anchored at Plymouth? Texans claim the first Thanksgiving in America was proclaimed in Palo Duro Canyon by Padre Juan De Cadilla for Coronado’s troops in 1541, 79 years before the Pilgrims.

     At any rate, Thanksgiving as an annual national holiday was slow in coming. Throughout early American history, some leaders issued Thanksgiving proclamations; some did not. Many were against it for various reasons, and Thanksgiving was an on-again, off-again affair … until Sarah Hale got hold of it. Sarah was a young widow with five children and a millinery shop. She used spare moments for writing, and in 1823 her first book appeared. She was soon hired as editor of a small magazine; then, in 1837, she was named editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, the nation’s foremost women’s magazine. Circulation mushroomed. Godey’s wasn’t a Christian magazine, but Sarah, an Episcopalian, was a devout Christian who injected religious issues into her editorials. In 1846 she launched a crusade to establish Thanksgiving as a holiday. She wrote stirring editorials about it, and November issues featured Thanksgiving poetry, stories, and turkey recipes. She pelted politicians with personal letters on the subject, and by 1859 30 governors had agreed to a common day of Thanksgiving.

     Still, no national holiday emerged. As America lurched toward civil war, Sarah tried a new tactic. Disunion, she wrote in 1859, could be averted by Thanksgiving: If every State would join in union Thanksgiving on the 24th of this month, would it not be a renewed pledge of love and loyalty to the Constitution!

     But war erupted in 1861. In 1863 she wrote President Lincoln, laying before you a subject of deep interest … the day of our annual Thanksgiving made a national and fixed union festival. The beleaguered president finally agreed, and on October 3, 1863 he established Thanksgiving as a national holiday for the last Thursday of November. Even in war, Lincoln said, we can count our blessings: “They are gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

  Tell the LORD how thankful you are,
  Because he is kind and always merciful.
  Tell the LORD how thankful you are,
  Because he is kind and always merciful.
  --- Psalm 118:1,29.

On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes
Morning and Evening
     Daily Readings / CHARLES H. SPURGEON

          Morning - October 3

     “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” --- Hebrews 1:14.

     Angels are the unseen attendants of the saints of God; they bear us up in their hands, lest we dash our foot against a stone. Loyalty to their Lord leads them to take a deep interest in the children of his love; they rejoice over the return of the prodigal to his father’s house below, and they welcome the advent of the believer to the King’s palace above. In olden times the sons of God were favoured with their visible appearance, and at this day, although unseen by us, heaven is still opened, and the angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son of man, that they may visit the heirs of salvation. Seraphim still fly with live coals from off the altar to touch the lips of men greatly beloved. If our eyes could be opened, we should see horses of fire and chariots of fire about the servants of the Lord; for we have come to an innumerable company of angels, who are all watchers and protectors of the seed-royal. Spenser’s line is no poetic fiction, where he sings ---
     “How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
     The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant
     Against foul fiends to aid us militant!”


     To what dignity are the chosen elevated when the brilliant courtiers of heaven become their willing servitors! Into what communion are we raised since we have intercourse with spotless celestials! How well are we defended since all the twenty- thousand chariots of God are armed for our deliverance! To whom do we owe all this? Let the Lord Jesus Christ be for ever endeared to us, for through him we are made to sit in heavenly places far above principalities and powers. He it is whose camp is round about them that fear him; he is the true Michael whose foot is upon the dragon. All hail, Jesus! thou Angel of Jehovah’s presence, to thee this family offers its Morning vows.


          Evening - October 3

     “He himself hath suffered being tempted.” --- Hebrews 2:18.

     It is a common-place thought, and yet it tastes like nectar to the weary heart—Jesus was tempted as I am. You have heard that truth many times: have you grasped it? He was tempted to the very same sins into which we fall. Do not dissociate Jesus from our common manhood. It is a dark room which you are going through, but Jesus went through it before. It is a sharp fight which you are waging, but Jesus has stood foot to foot with the same enemy. Let us be of good cheer, Christ has borne the load before us, and the blood-stained footsteps of the King of glory may be seen along the road which we traverse at this hour. There is something sweeter yet—Jesus was tempted, but Jesus never sinned. Then, my soul, it is not needful for thee to sin, for Jesus was a man, and if one man endured these temptations and sinned not, then in his power his members may also cease from sin. Some beginners in the divine life think that they cannot be tempted without sinning, but they mistake; there is no sin in being tempted, but there is sin in yielding to temptation. Herein is comfort for the sorely tempted ones. There is still more to encourage them if they reflect that the Lord Jesus, though tempted, gloriously triumphed, and as he overcame, so surely shall his followers also, for Jesus is the representative man for his people; the Head has triumphed, and the members share in the victory. Fears are needless, for Christ is with us, armed for our defence. Our place of safety is the bosom of the Saviour. Perhaps we are tempted just now, in order to drive us nearer to him. Blessed be any wind that blows us into the port of our Saviour’s love! Happy wounds, which make us seek the beloved Physician. Ye tempted ones, come to your tempted Saviour, for he can be touched with a feeling of your infirmities, and will succour every tried and tempted one.

Morning and Evening
Amazing Grace
     October 3

          YE SERVANTS OF GOD, YOUR MASTER PROCLAIM

     Charles Wesley, 1707–1788

     … salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. (Revelation 7:10)

     The proclamation of the Gospel requires a devoted, zealous spirit. The real purpose of this proclamation is to affect a personal conversion in the hearer, and this experience implies a radical change of lifestyle. The Bible speaks of this change as becoming a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). It involves the convert in at least three new and conscious relationships: To Christ, to the church, and to the world. Conversion means nothing if it does not result in a change from self-centered living to devotion to God and a life of sacrificial service for Him.

     Charles Wesley wrote this text in 1744, a year of unusually severe persecution for the Wesleys and their followers. During this trying year the Wesleys wrote several hymn pamphlets titled Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution. One of these booklets included “Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim.” The text was based on Psalm 93:1–4 and Revelation 7:9–12. The purpose of this text was to encourage their persecuted followers to concentrate on the One “whose kingdom is glorious—who rules over all.” As is generally true, Christians flourish best for God during times of persecution. This was certainly true of the Wesleys and the early Methodists. “God is on the throne; therefore let us cry aloud, and honor His Son and our Savior” became the battlecry. And the more severe the opposition, the stronger became their proclamation of the Gospel.

     May our proclamation, too, always focus on Jesus Christ as the Savior, Lord, and Master of life and eternity. May we not become side-tracked with our own ideas, pet themes, or personal experiences.

     Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim, and publish abroad His wonderful name; the name all victorious of Jesus extol: His kingdom is glorious; He rules over all.
     “Salvation to God who sits on the throne,” let all cry aloud and honor the Son; the praises of Jesus the angels proclaim, fall down on their faces and worship the Lamb.
     Then let us adore and give Him His right—all glory and pow’r, and wisdom and might, all honor and blessing, with angels above, and thanks never ceasing, and infinite love.


     For Today: Psalm 93:1–4; 96:1–10; Mark 10:43, 45; Revelation 7:9–12

     Ask God to keep your spirit consistently zealous for Him. Carry this musical reminder with you ---

Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions
The Existence and Attributes of God
     Stephen Charnock

          DISCOURSE VII - ON GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE

     IV. Use. First, of information.

     1. Christ hath a divine nature. As eternity and immutability, two incommunicable properties of the divine nature, are ascribed to Christ, so also is this of omnipresence or immensity (John 3:13:) “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.” Not which was, but which is. He comes from heaven by incarnation, and remains in heaven by his divinity. He was, while he spake to Nicodemus, locally on earth, in regard of his humanity; but in heaven according to his deity, as well as upon earth in the union of his divine and human nature. He descended upon earth, but he left not heaven; he was in the world before he came in the flesh (John 1:10): “He was in the world, and the world was made by him.” He was in the world, as the “light that enlightens every man that comes into the world.” In the world as God, before he was in the world as man. He was then in the world as man, while he discoursed with Nicodemus; yet so, that he was also in heaven as God. No creature but is bounded in place, either circumscribed as body, or determined as spirit to be in one space, so as not to be in another at the same time; to leave a place where they were, and possess a place where they were not. But Christ is so on earth, that at the same time he is in heaven; he is therefore infinite. To be in heaven and earth at the same moment of time, is a property solely belonging to the Deity, wherein no creature can be a partner with him. He was in the word before he came to the world, and “the world was made by him” (John 1:10). His coming was not as the coming of angels, that leave heaven, and begin to be on earth, where they were not before; but such a presence as can be ascribed only to God, who fills heaven and earth. Again, if all things were made by him, then he was present with all things which were made; for where there is a presence of power, there is also a presence of essence, and therefore he is still present; for the right and power of conservation follows the power of creation. And, according to this divine nature, he promiseth his presence with his church (Matt. 18:20): “There am I in the midst of them:” and (Matt. 28:20), “I am with you alway, even to the end of the world,” i. e. by his divinity: for he had before told them (Matt. 26:11), that they were not to have him alway with them, i. e. according to his humanity; but in his Divine nature he is present with, and walks in the midst of, the golden candlesticks. If we understand it of a presence by his Spirit in the midst of the church, doth it invalidate his essential presence? No; he is no less than the Spirit whom he sends; and therefore as little confined as the Spirit is, who dwells in every believer: and this may also be inferred from John 10:30: “My father and I are one;” not one by consent, though that be included, but one in power: for he speaks not of their consent, but of their joint power in keeping his people. Where there is a unity of essence, there is a unity of presence.

     2. here is a confirmation of the spiritual nature of God. If he were an infinite body, he could not fill heaven and earth, but with the exclusion of all creatures. Two bodies cannot be in the same space; they may be near one another, but not in any of the same points together. A body bounded he hath not, for that would destroy his immensity; he could not then fill heaven and earth, because a body cannot be at one and the same time in two different spaces; but God doth not fill heaven at one time, and the earth at another, but both at the same time. Besides a limited body cannot be said to fill the whole earth, but one particular space in the earth at a time. A body may fill the earth with its virtue, as the sun, but not with its substance. Nothing can be everywhere with a corporeal weight and mass; but God being infinite, is not tied to any part of the world, but penetrates all, and equally acts by his infinite power in all.

     3. Here is an argument for providence. His presence is mentioned in the text, in order to his government of the affairs of the world. Is he everywhere, to be unconcerned with everything? Before the world had a being, God was present with himself; since the world hath a being, he is present with his creatures, to exercise his wisdom in the ordering, as he did his power in the production of them. As the knowledge of God is not a bare contemplation of a thing, so his presence is not a bare inspection into a thing. Were it an idle careless presence, it were a presence to no purpose, which cannot be imagined of God. Infinite power. goodness, and wisdom, being everywhere present with his essence, are never without their exercise. He never manifests any of his perfections, but the manifestation is full of some indulgence and benefit to his creatures. It cannot be supposed God should neglect those things, wherewith he is constantly present in a way of efficiency and operation. He is not everywhere without acting everywhere. “Wherever his essence is, there is a power and virtue worthy of God everywhere dispensed.” He governs by his presence what he made by his power; and is present as an agent with all his works. His power and essence are together, to preserve them while he pleases, as his power and his essence were together, to create them when he saw good to do it. Every creature hath a stamp of God, and his presence is necessary to keep the impression standing upon the creature. As all things are his works, they are the objects of his cares; and the wisdom he employed in framing them will not suffer him to be careless of them. His presence with them engageth him in honor not to be a negligent Governor. His immensity fits him for government; and where there is a fitness, there is an exercise of government, where there are objects for the exercise of it. He is worthy to have the universal rule of the world; he can be present in all places of his empire; there is nothing can be done by any of his subjects, but in his sight. As his eternity renders him King alway, so his immensity renders him King everywhere. If he were only present in heaven, it might occasion a suspicion that he minded only the things of heaven, and had no concern for things below that vast body; but if he be present here, his presence hath a tendency to the government of those things with which he is present. We are all in him as fish in the sea; and he bears all creatures in the womb of his providence, and the arms of his goodness. It is most certain that his presence with his people is far from being an idle one; for when he promises to be with them, he adds some special cordial, as, “I will be with thee, and bless thee” (Gen. 26:3.) “I am with thee, and I will strengthen thee” (Jer. 15:20.) “I will help thee, I will uphold thee” (Isa. 41:10, 14.) Infinite goodness will never countenance a negligent presence.

     4. The omniscience of God is inferred from hence. If God be present everywhere, he must needs know what is done everywhere. It is for this end he proclaims himself a God filling heaven and earth, in the text, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? I have heard what the prophets say, that prophesy lies in my name: if I fill heaven and earth, the most secret thing cannot be hid from my sight.” An intelligent being cannot be everywhere present, and more intimate in everything, than it can be in itself; but he must know what is done without, what is thought within. Nothing can be obscure to Him who is in every part of the world, in every part of his creatures. Not a thought can start up but in his sight, who is present in the souls and minds of everything. How easy is it with him, to whose essence the world is but a point, to know and observe everything done in this world, as any of us can know what is done in one point of place where we are present! If light were an understanding being, it would behold and know everything done where it diffuseth itself. God is light (as light in a crystal glass all within it, all without it), and is not ignorant of what is done within and without; no ignorance can be fastened upon him who hath an universal presence. Hence, by the way, we may take notice of the wonderful patience of God, who bears with so many provocations; not from a principal of ignorance, for he bears with sins that are committed near him in his sight, sins that he sees, and cannot but see.

     5. Hence may be inferred the incomprehensibility of God. He that fills heaven and earth cannot be contained in anything; he fills the understandings of men, the understandings of angels, but is comprehended by neither; it is a rashness to think to find out any bounds of God; there is no measuring of an infinite Being; if it were to be measured it were not infinite; but because it is infinite, it is not to be measured. God sits above the cherubims (Ezek. 10:1), above the fulness, above the brightness, not only of a human, but a created understanding. Nothing is more present than God, yet nothing more hid; he is light, and yet obscurity; his perfections are visible, yet unsearchable; we know there is an infinite God, but it surpasseth the compass of our minds; we know there is no number so great, but another may be added to it; but no man can put it in practice, without losing himself in a maze of figures. What is the reason we comprehend not many, nay, most things in the world? partly from the excellency of the object, and partly from the imperfection of our understandings. How can we then comprehend God, who exceeds all, and is exceeded by none; contains all, and is contained by none; is above our understanding, as well as above our sense? as considered in himself infinite; as considered in comparison with our understandings, incomprehensible; who can, with his eye, measure the breadth, length and depth of the sea, and at one cast, view every dimension of the heavens? God is greater, and we cannot know him (Job 3:26); he fills the understanding as he fills heaven and earth; yet is above the understanding as he is above heaven and earth. He is known by faith, enjoyed by love, but comprehended by no mind. God is not contained in that one syllable, God; by it we apprehend an excellent and unlimited nature; himself only understands himself, and can unveil himself.

     6. How wonderful is God, and how nothing are creatures! “Ascribe the greatness to our God” (Deut. 33:3); he is admirable in the consideration of his power, in the extent of his understanding, and no less wonderful in the immensity of his essence that, as Austin saith, he is in the world, yet not confined to it; he is out of the world, yet not debarred from it; he is above the world, yet not elevated by it; he is below the world, yet not depressed by it; he is above all, equalled by none; he is in all, not because he needs them, but they stand in need of him; this, as well as eternity, makes a vast disproportion between God and the creature: the creature is bounded by a little space, and no space is so great as to bound the Creator. By this we may take a prospect of our own nothingness: as in the consideration of God’s holiness we are minded of our own impurity; and in the thoughts of his wisdom have a view of our own folly; and in the meditation of his power, have a sense of our weakness; so his immensity should make us, according to our own nature, appear little in our own eyes. What little, little, little things are we to God! less than an atom in the beams of the sun; poor drops to a God that fills heaven and earth, and yet dare we to strut against him, and dash ourselves against a rock? If the consideration of ourselves in comparison with others, be apt to puff us up, the consideration of ourselves in comparison with God, will be sufficient to pull us down. If we consider him in the greatness of his essence, there is but little more proportion between him and us, than between being and not being, than between a drop and the ocean. How should we never think of God without a holy admiration of his greatness, and a deep sense of our own littleness! and as the angels cover their faces before him, with what awe should creeping worms come into his sight! and since God fills heaven and earth with his presence, we should fill heaven and earth with his glory; for this end he created angels to praise him in heaven, and men to worship him on earth, that the places he fills with his presence may be filled with his praise: we should be swallowed up in admiration of the immensity of God, as men are at the first sight of the sea, when they behold a mass of waters, without beholding the bounds and immense depth of it.

     7. How much is this attribute of God forgotten or contemned! We pretend to believe him to be present everywhere, and yet many live as if he were present nowhere.

     (1.) It is commonly forgotten, or not believed. All the extravagances of men may be traced to the forgetfulness of this attribute as their spring. The first speech Adam spake in paradise after his fall, testified his unbelief of this (Gen. 3:10; “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I hid myself;” his ear understood the voice of God, but his mind did not conclude the presence of God; he thought the trees could shelter him from Him whose eye was present in the minutest parts of the earth; he that thought after his sin, that he could hide himself from the presence of his justice, thought before that he could hide himself from the presence of his knowledge; and being deceived in the one, he would try what would be the fruit of the other. In both he forgets, if not denies, this attribute; either corrupt notions of God, or a slight belief of what in general men assent unto, gives birth to every sin. In all transgressions there is something of atheism; either denying the being of God, or a dash upon some perfection of God;—a not believing his holiness to hate it, his truth that threatens, his justice to punish it, and his presence to observe it. Though God be not afar off in his essence, he is “afar off in the apprehension of the sinner.” There is no wicked man, but if he be an atheist, he is a heretic; and to gratify his lust, will fancy himself to he out of the presence of his Judge. His reason tells him, God is present with him, his lust presseth him to embrace the season of sensual pleasure; he will forsake his reason, and prove a heretic, that he may be an undisturbed sinner; and sins doubly, both in the error of his mind, and the vileness of his practice; he will conceit God with those in Job, “veiled with thick clouds” (Job 22:14), and not able to pierce into the lower world, as if his presence and cares were confined to celestial things, and the earth were too low a sphere for his essence to reach, at least with any credit. It is forgotten by good men, when they fear too much the designs of their enemies; “Fear not, for I am with thee” (Isa. 43:5). If the presence of God be enough to strengthen against fear, then the prevailing of fear issues from our forgetfulness of it.

     (2.) This attribute of God’s omnipresence is for the most part contemned. When men will commit that in the presence of God which they would be afraid or ashamed to do before the eye of man, men do not practice that modesty before God as before men. He that would restrain his tongue out of fear of men’s eye, will not restrain either tongue or hands out of fear of God’s. What is the language of this, but that God is not present with us, or his presence ought to be of less regard with us, and influence upon us, than that of a creature? Ask the thief why he dares to steal? will he not answer, “No eye sees him?” Ask the adulterer why he strips himself of his chastity, and invades the rights of another? will he not answer (Job 24:15), “No eye sees me?” He disguiseth himself to be unseen by man, but slights the all-seeing eye of God. If only a man know them, they are in terror of the shadow of death; they are planet-struck, but stand unshaken at the presence of God (Job 24:17). Is not this to account God as limited as man—as ignorant, as absenting, as if God were something less than those things which restrain us? ’Tis a debasing God below a creature. If we can forbear sin from an awe of the presence of man, to whom we are equal in regard of nature, or from the presence of a very mean man, to whom we are superior in regard of condition, and not forbear it because we are within the ken of God, we respect him not only as our inferior, but inferior to the meanest man or child of his creation, in whose sight we would not commit the like action: it is to represent him as a sleepy, negligent, or careless God; as though anything might be concealed from him, before whom the least fibres of the heart are anatomised and open, who sees as plainly midnight as noon-day sins (Heb. 4:13). Now this is a high aggravation of sin to break a king’s laws, in his sight, is more bold than to violate them behind his back; as it was Haman’s offence when he lay upon Esther’s bed, to force the queen before the king’s face. The least iniquity receives a high tincture from this; and no sin can be little that is an affront in the face of God, and casing the filth of the creature before the eyes of his holiness: as if a wife should commit adultery before her husband’s face, or a slave dishonor his master, and disobey his commands in his presence. And hath it not often been thus with us? have we not been disloyal to God in his sight, before his eyes, those pure eyes that cannot behold iniquity without anger and grief? (Isa. 65:12), “Ye did evil before my eyes.” Nathan chargeth this home upon David (2 Sam. 12:9), “Thou hast despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight;” and David, in his repentance, reflects upon himself for it (Psalm 51:4); “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” I observed not thy presence, I neglected thee while thy eye was upon me. And this consideration should sting our hearts in all our confessions of our crimes. Men will be afraid of the presence of others, whatsoever they think in their heart. How unworthily do we deal with God, in not giving him so much as an eye-service, which we do man!

     8. How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to sinners! How foolish is it, to imagine any hiding-place from the incomprehensible God, who fills and contains all things, and is present in every point of the world! When men have shut the door, and made all darkness within, to meditate or commit a crime, they cannot in the most intricate recesses be sheltered from the presence of God. If they could separate themselves from their own shadows, they could not avoid his company, or be obscured from his sight. Hypocrites cannot disguise their sentiments from him; he is in the most secret nook of their hearts. No thought is hid, no lust is secret, but the eye of God beholds this, and that, and the other. He is present with our heart when we imagine, with our hands when we act. We may exclude the sun from peeping into our solitudes, but not the eyes of God from beholding our actions. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and good” (Prov. 15:3). He lies in the depths of our souls, and sees afar off our designs before we have conceived them. He is in the greatest darkness, as well as the clearest light; in the closest thought of the mind, as well as the openest expressions. Nothing can be hid from him, no, not in the darkest cells or thickest walls. “He compasseth our path wherever we are” (Psalm 139:3), and “is acquainted with all our ways.” He is as much present with wicked men to observe their sins, as he is to detest them. Where he is present in his essence, he is present in his attributes: his holiness to hate, and his justice to punish, if he please to speak the word. It is strange men should not be mindful of this, when their very sins themselves might put them in mind of his presence. Whence hast thou the power to act? who preserves thy being, whereby thou art capable of committing that evil? Is it not his essential presence that sustains us, and his arm that supports us? and where can any man fly from his presence? Not the vast regions of heaven could shelter a sinning angel from his eye: how was Adam ferreted out of his hiding-places in paradise? Nor can we find the depths of the sea a sufficient covering to us. If we were with Jonah, closeted up in the belly of a whale; if we had the “wings of the morning,” as quick a motion as the light at the dawning of the day, that doth in an instant surprise and overpower the regions of darkness, and could pass to the utmost parts of the earth or hell, there we should find him, there his eye would be upon us, there would his hand lay hold of us, and lead us as a conqueror triumphing over a captive (Psalm 139:8–10). Nay, if we could leap out of the compass of heaven and earth, we should find as little reserves from him: he is without the world in those infinite spaces which the mind of man can imagine. In regard of his immensity, nothing in being can be distant from him, wheresoever it is.

     Second, Use is for comfort. That God is present everywhere, is as much a comfort to a good man, as it is a terror to a wicked one, He is everywhere for his people, not only by a necessary perfection of his nature, but an immense diffusion of his goodness. He is in all creatures as their preserver: in the damned, as their terror; in his people, as their protector. He fills hell with his severity, heaven with his glory, his people with his grace. He is with his people as light in darkness, a fountain in a garden, as manna in the ark. God is in the world as a spring of preservation; in the church as his cabinet, his spring of grace and consolation. A man is present sometimes in his field, but more delightfully in his garden. A vine yard, as it hath more of cost, so more of care, and a watchful presence of the owner (Isa. 27:3); “I, the Lord, do keep it,” viz. his vineyard; “I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it; I will keep it night and day.” As there is a presence of essence, which is natural, so there is a presence of grace, which is federal: a presence by covenant; “I will not leave thee, I will be with thee.” This latter depends upon the former; for, take away the immensity of God, and you leave no foundation for his universal gracious presence with his people in all their emergencies, in all their hearts. And, therefore, where he is present in his essence, he cannot be absent in his grace, from them that fear him. It is from his filling heaven and earth he proves his knowledge of the designs of the false prophets; and from the same topic may as well be inferred the employment of his power and grace for his people.

The Existence and Attributes of God

Sermon On The Mount 1-5
     Sinclair Ferguson


1 Life In The Kingdom






2 The Beattitudes





3 Sermon On The Mount






4 Meaning of the Law





5 Living the Reconciled Life




Lord’s Prayer 1-12 Teach Us To Pray
     Albert Mohler


1 Teach Us To Pray






2 Teach Us To Pray





3 Our Father






4 Holy Name





Lord’s Prayer 5 City of God
Albert Mohler






6 Thy Word Be Done





Lord’s Prayer 7






8 Daily Dependence





9 Forgiven and Forgiving






10 Cause Us To Flee





11 Lecture






Lord’s Prayer 12




Matthew 5-6
     Jon Courson


Matthew 4-6
Jon Courson

click here
09-23-2009



Matthew 5:1-20
Jon Courson

click here
08-09-1989


Matthew 6:9-13
Jon Courson

click here
08-13-1989



Matthew 5:21-48
Jon Courson

click here
08-16-1989


Matthew 6
Jon Courson

click here
08-23-1989

Jon Courson

Matthew 5-6
     Paul LeBoutillier


Matthew 5:1-3
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who Mourn
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the Meek
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 5:6
Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew5:7
Blessed are the Merciful
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the Pure in Heart
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew 5:9
Blessed Are The Peacemakers
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 5:10-16
Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew 5:17-20
Christ...the fulfillment of the Law
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 5:21-26
Jesus Teaches on Anger
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew 5:27-30
The Teaching of Jesus on Adultery
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 5:31-32
The Teaching of Jesus on Divorce
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew 5:33-48
Oaths, Eye for an Eye, Love for Enemies
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 6:1-4
Giving to the Needy
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew 6:5-15
Praying (The Lord's Prayer)
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 6:16-18
Jesus Teaching On Fasting
Paul LeBoutillier





Matthew 6:19-24
Laying Up Treasures in Heaven
Paul LeBoutillier






Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Be Anxious
Paul LeBoutillier




Paul LeBoutillier

Matthew 5-6
     Brett Meador | Athey Creek


Matthew 5:13
Salt Of The Earth
s2-398


07-23-2022



Matthew 5:14-16
Let Your Light Shine
s2-399


07-23-2022


Matthew 5:17-29
m2-408


08-03-2022



Matthew 5:43-48
Love Your Enemy
s2-400


08-06-2022


Matthew 5:31-6
m2-409


08-10-2022



Matthew 6
Prayer
s2-401


08-13-2022


Matthew 6:1-15
m2-410


08-17-2022



Matthew 6:19-34
Prayer
s2-402


08-20-2022

     Brett Meador | Athey Creek
========================================= =========================================


Matthew 5:1-12

The Beatitude Attitudes
Gary Hamrick






Matthew 5:13-16

Salt and Light In The World
Gary Hamrick





Matthew 5:17-20

Do We Really Need the Old Testament
Gary Hamrick






Matthew 5:31-32

Jesus On Divorce
Gary Hamrick





Matthew 5:33-48

Jesus' Standard For Relating To Others
Gary Hamrick






Matthew 6:1-18

Holy Habits
Gary Hamrick





Matthew 6:19-34

Material Management
Gary Hamrick






Matthew 5:33-48

Spiritual Secret Few People Practice Today
When You Fast
Derek Prince





The Nature of the Holy Spirit

John McKinley






Waiting on the Lord - Part 1

Dave Talley





Waiting on the Lord - Part 2

Dave Talley






Sermon On The Mount

Love Your Enemies
Sinclair Ferguson





Can You Truly TRUST The BIBLE?

Randall Price






The Sermon on the Mount

Bill Mounce