The Raptures (7-30-06)

The Raptures
Bible Study Time 7-30-06

Last week we looked at the Day of the Lord and the fact that the Prophet Amos said that the Day of the Lord was not a day to which the unbelieving Jews should be looking forward. In fact he said that it would be a day of great darkness without a any brightness at all.

We saw that the Day of the Lord is a general reference to the time when Jesus Christ will rule and reign upon the earth, but Amos was pointing out the fact that the nation of Israel will have to go through the great tribulation period before the blessings of the kingdom come to the earth.

Jesus spoke of the great tribulation period in Matthew, Chapter 24, and said that when the world sees the antichrist proclaiming himself to be God in the temple in Jerusalem, those who are wise will run for cover:

Matthew 24:21 (NKJ)
21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

During the evil days of the tribulation period, God will allow the antichrist to destroy the unbelieving Jews while the believing remnant will be protected and prepared for the kingdom. The Lord Jesus went on in Matthew 24 to say that:

Matthew 24:29-31 (NKJ)
29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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.
31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Here we see a rapture of believers at the end of the tribulation period. All of the people in all of the nations will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.

It is interesting to note that the only time the expression “Son of Man” is used in the Old Testament is in Daniel, Chapter 7, where Daniel sees into the future and sees “One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven” to establish a kingdom in which all the nations of the earth serve the Son of Man in an everlasting dominion.

It would seem then that when the Lord Jesus referred to Himself over and over again as the Son of Man, He was making a subtle reference to Daniel, Chapter 7, and to the fact that He was the promised Messiah who will someday come with the clouds of heaven to establish the everlasting kingdom.

In Matthew 24, the time for subtlety had passed as Jesus clearly stated the fact that after the tribulation period, all the world would see Him coming as the Son of Man with the clouds of heaven to establish the kingdom. He said that at that time His angels would sound a great trumpet and gather His elect from one end of heaven to the other.

In I Corinthians, Chapter 15, the Apostle Paul spoke as a minister of the New Covenant. He was anticipating the coming of the Son of Man to establish the New Covenant Kingdom. He said:

I Corinthians 15:50-53 (NKJ)
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Paul was no doubt excited to reveal this great mystery that when the Son of Man returns to gather His elect, He will catch them up into the clouds of heaven and give them a new, glorified body before He descends to the earth to establish the kingdom. Paul said that this was a mystery. It was something that Amos did not know about. It was something that Daniel did not know about, but God used the Apostle Paul to reveal this great mystery that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

It seems that most of the prophets simply envisioned the Messiah coming to the earth to establish the kingdom, but as spectacular as that would be in itself, it’s actually going to be even more spectacular. Paul said that when Christ returns, all believers will get a new, immortal body, whether they are dead or alive. Those living will be raptured and those in the grave will be resurrected. All believers will get a new, glorified body, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Paul said that this would all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. Well, when we look at the last trump of Revelation, Chapter 11, what do you think we find? We find a resurrection and a rapture. Let’s read in Revelation 11 and verse 15:

Revelation 11:15-18 (NKJ)
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: (This is the last of the seven trumpets) And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."

When the seventh trumpet sounds, that will signal the time when the dead will be judged. When God resurrects the bodies of all believers who have died, that will be a judgment in an of itself. Those who are left in the grave are those who will be resurrected after the thousand year reign of Christ to face the Great White Throne Judgment.

But at the last trump of the tribulation period, the dead will be judged and God will give rewards to the prophets and to the saints. Paul gives us more information about this event in I Thessalonians, Chapter 4, where he says:

I Thessalonians 4:15-17 (NKJ)
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore, as the Son of Man comes down with the clouds of heaven, He will catch up the saints into the clouds to meet Him in the air. Sometime after Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians, he apparently heard that some false teachers were teaching that the resurrection and rapture had already taken place, so he wrote his second letter the Thessalonians to emphasize that the resurrection and rapture which is associated with the Day of the Lord cannot take place until after the antichrist is revealed. In II Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Paul said:

II Thessalonians 2:1-3 (NKJ)
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

All of these things that the Lord Jesus was talking about concerning the tribulation period, and all of these things that John was talking about concerning the seventh trumpet, and all of these things that Paul was talking about in these Acts-period epistles relate to the everlasting dominion which will be given to the Son of Man when He returns with the clouds of heaven.

All of the great men of faith in the Old Testament times knew about and longed for this everlasting kingdom, but it was not until after the apostasy of Solomon’s kingdom that the prophets began to reveal the need for a New Covenant. They said that the covenant given at Mt. Sinai did not have the spiritual power to deliver the people from sin and generate the conditions which would be necessary for the everlasting kingdom.

At the last supper, the Lord Jesus offered the wine and said, “This is my blood of the New Covenant.” After the resurrection of Christ, the Apostles went out as ministers of the New Covenant, but it seems that only the Apostle Paul realized the significance of the New Covenant. He is the only one who actually stated that he was a minister of the New Covenant.

During the time period covered by the book of Acts, Paul went out preaching as a minister of the New Covenant, and he said that one reason for the salvation of the Gentiles was to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy. In Romans 11, he said:

Romans 11:7,11 (NKJ)
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

Paul continued to hope and pray that the Jews would accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah so that they could receive the blessings of the kingdom at that time. He continued to look for the coming of the Son of Man who was to come with the clouds of heaven to catch up the Elect, but at the end of the Acts period, God revealed to Paul that the New Covenant had been rejected by the Jews.

God revealed to Paul that the return of the Lord to establish the kingdom had been postponed and that he was to reveal to the world God’s new program for the people of our present age. This program is the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ.

Therefore, after the Acts period, Paul never mentioned the New Covenant again, he never mentioned the earthly kingdom again, he never mentioned the tribulation period or the antichrist again. Instead, he revealed that the Church which is the Body of Christ is a new creation of God in which Jews and Gentiles are brought together in one body and that Christ is the Head of that body.

We today, as members of the Body of Christ, have a heavenly calling rather than an earthly calling. We have nothing to do with the earthly kingdom of Israel’s New Covenant. Rather, we have been seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.

Paul revealed this program for the Church in the epistles which he wrote after the Acts period. These epistles include Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians as well as his letters to Timothy and Titus. In Colossians, Paul said:

Colossians 1:24-26 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

Paul said that this mystery concerning the Church, the Body of Christ, completes the word of God. When John wrote about the tribulation period in the book of the Revelation, he did reveal some new details about the tribulation period, but he was not revealing a new program. He was adding to our knowledge of those programs which had already been revealed. He was actually giving the details of the time when the New Covenant program will come back into play and the kingdom will finally be established in and through the believing remnant of the nation of Israel.

But as Paul revealed the details concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ, he shared with us the fact that even before the tribulation period of the New Covenant program begins, the Church which is the Body of Christ will be taken out of this world to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Philippians 3:20 says:

Philippians 3:20-21 (NKJ)
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

In Colossians 3:1 Paul said:

Colossians 3:1-4 (NKJ)
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Therefore, as we approach the end times, we serve the Lord with confidence, preaching the good news that salvation is a free gift from God which is given to all who believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

Well, I see our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

The Day of the Lord (7-23-06)

The Day of the Lord – Amos 5
Bible Study Time 7-23-06

The Prophet Amos spoke to the nation of Israel and predicted a time of great tribulation and suffering. His words had a near fulfillment and a fulfillment which would come far into the future. He said that the nation of Israel had turned justice into bitterness and had cast righteousness to the ground. The bribes which were given to their judges had deprived the poor of justice. Then Amos said:

Amos 5:16-24 (NIV)
16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: "There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. (Now notice what Amos says.)
18 Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.
19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.
20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light-- pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
21 "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

With His mighty hand, God had delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. He had brought them through the Red Sea on dry land and then to the foot of Mt. Sinai where all of the people agreed to keep the commandments of the Lord. While Moses was up on the mountain, God said:

Exodus 19:5-8 (NKJ)
5 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.

The people promised to keep the commandments, but then they refused to go into the promised land so that God could do all that He had promised. Isn’t that just like many people today? They want to live for God by keeping His commandments, but they refuse to accept the salvation of God by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.”

When the Jews refused to go into the promised land, God led them through the wilderness for 40 years and then brought them back to the promised land. This time they believed in the Lord and entered into the kingdom which God had promised.

God drove out the Canaanites who were living it the land, and the Jews lived under a series of judges for many years. Then God used King David to defeat all of the enemies of the Jews and establish a kingdom of peace through all twelve of the tribes of Israel.

However, the full glory of the Old Covenant Kingdom was not realized until David’s son, Solomon, became the king. Under Solomon, the nation of Israel became the envy of all the nations of the earth. Even the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to listen to the wisdom of Solomon and to see the glory of his kingdom. The Bible says that:

I Kings 10:4-9 (NKJ)
4 . . . when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
5 the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.
6 Then she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.
7 "However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard.
8 "Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!
9 "Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness."

Obviously, the glory of Solomon’s kingdom bore witness to all the world that the God of the Jews was the true and the living God and that God is faithful to fulfill His promises. But the glory of Solomon’s kingdom was as nothing in comparison to the everlasting kingdom which God had promised to David.

All of the believing Jews were waiting for the promised Son of David, the Messiah, who would sit upon the throne of David in a worldwide kingdom of righteousness and peace. In this kingdom there would be no exploitation of the poor and there would be no corruption among those who hold public office.

So how did Israel fall so far away from God by the time Amos came predicting their doom and destruction. As we saw a few moments ago, God said that He despised their religious feasts and their assemblies.

This passage reminds me of the folks today who think that their primary duty to God is to go to church every Sunday. Make no mistake about it, God loves to see believers who enjoy the fellowship of other believers and rejoice in the teachings of the word of God, but God hates it when people go to church for the wrong reasons. Those who go to church to earn their way to heaven or to make up for the sins of the previous week have already demonstrated their lack of faith in the word of God, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Amos told Israel that they were facing a time of great tribulation in which God was going to allow justice to roll on like a river. The people had promised to do all that the Lord commanded. They had promised to love the Lord their God with all of their hearts, but they had gone after the pagan gods of the Canaanites which oddly enough can be traced right back to Solomon.

In spite of all the blessings that God had poured out upon Solomon, Solomon was seduced by the pagan gods of his Canaanite wives. Solomon worshiped these pagan gods, and he even built temples to facilitate their worship. As a result, the Bible says that:

I Kings 11:9-12 (NKJ)
9 . . . the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.
11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
12 "Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

True to His word, when Solomon died, God stirred up the hearts of the people in the northern ten tribes, and they went about establishing their own independent nation. They called themselves the nation of Israel while the two remaining southern tribes called themselves the nation of Judah. The Bible tells us that from the very beginning Jeroboam led the nation of Israel into idolatry. He built golden calves for them to worship so that they would not be tempted to travel to Jerusalem to worship as God had commanded.

As the northern tribes worshiped their idols, the prophets continued to proclaim the validity of the promises concerning the future New Covenant Kingdom. The prophets spoke of the coming kingdom and called it the Day of the Lord, but the people mocked the prophets and often joked about the so called “Day of the Lord”.

I’m reminded of the fact that people today often speak flippantly about hell and holiness and even about God, but one of these days everyone will see the seriousness of all of these things. They’ll see what hell really is, and they will see the value of true holiness which can only be found in Jesus Christ.

The people of Amos’ day often spoke of the Day of the Lord as sort of a slang idiom, but Amos seized the opportunity to teach them the seriousness of their words. He said:

Amos 5:18-20 (NKJ)
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light.
19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him!
20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?

Amos wanted the people of Israel to know that the day of the Lord’s kingdom will surely come, but it will not come until after a day of great tribulation and suffering for all those who refuse to put their trust in the true and the living God. In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul spoke on this very subject. As a minister of the New Covenant, he was looking forward to the fulfillment of all of the promises of the New Covenant, but he knew that many of the Jews would not believe and would, therefore, not inherit the everlasting kingdom. In Romans, Chapter 2, Paul said:

Romans 2:28-29 (NKJ)
28 . . . he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;
29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Then in Romans 8, Paul speaks of the time when the true Sons of God are made manifest. He says that even the creation is eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons of God,

Romans 8:21-23 (NKJ)
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

In the Day of the Lord, the true sons of God will be revealed by means of the fact they are going to be the ones who will be given glorified bodies. Before the kingdom is established in the Day of the Lord, the saints in the grave will be resurrected and the saints on the earth will be raptured, and both groups will be given glorified bodies.

In Thessalonica, this doctrine had led to some confusion in that some false teachers had come in teaching that the resurrection of believers had already occurred. When Paul heard this, he wrote his second letter to them, saying:

II Thessalonians 2:1-4 (NKJ)
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Obviously, Paul wanted to dispel any notion that the rapture and resurrection which is associated with the Day of the Lord had already come for that day could not occur until after the coming of the antichrist in the tribulation period. As Amos said, “The Day of the Lord will be darkness, not light – pitch dark, without a ray of brightness.” This will certainly be a dark day for the those who refuse to believe in the Jesus Christ during the tribulation period.

But all of this stands in stark contrast to the last days of the Church which is the Body of Christ, the Church of our present age. We read in the third chapter of both Philippians and Colossians that the Church is looking forward to the day when Christ will simply appear in the glory of heaven. The curtains of heaven will be folded back, and when Christ appears in the glory of heaven, then we shall appear with Him in glory. There is no hint of the tribulation period or the antichrist in either of these passages that relate to the Church of our present age. But after the Church is taken out, the great tribulation period will begin and then it will culminate in the great and terrible Day of the Lord.

I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

The Process of Time (7-16-06)

The Process of Time
Bible Study Time 7-16-06

It was the Apostle Paul who first gave us an explanation for all of the evil that is so very prevalent in our world today. Early in Paul’s ministry, he went out as a minister of the New Covenant explaining that anybody can become a new creation through simple faith in Christ. This is a powerful doctrine for it teaches that we as human beings can go from being an essentially evil and sinful person to becoming an essentially righteous and holy person.

Obviously, however, an integral aspect of this doctrine is that all humans are essentially sinful and evil until they become a new creation in Christ, and Paul did not back down from that conclusion by any means. Paul said in Romans 7:

Romans 7:18, 21 (NKJ)
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me . . .

As in turns out, if we look back in Chapter 5 of Romans, we see that Paul had already given us a hint as to the origin of man’s propensity for sin. He said:

Romans 5:12 (NKJ)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men . . .

When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, it resulted in the sin nature being passed down to all of his descendants. So with this understanding we should not be alarmed to find a story of envy, hatred and murder in the very first chapter after Adam’s sin. Genesis, Chapter 4, tells us that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground while Abel brought an animal sacrifice. When God refused to accept Cain’s offering, Cain became very angry and ultimately killed Abel.

Now there was no logical reason for Cain to refuse to bring this animal sacrifice. It would have been a simple thing to do, but the devil specializes in making us do some really dumb things. Things that don’t make any sense. And then he is delighted if and when we have to face the consequences of our rebellion.

Many people today are just like Cain. They have chosen not to accept God’s plan for salvation. God has given us the Bible, and He has given us preachers who preach the gospel of the grace of God from pulpits, from street corners, on the radio and on television, but still people refuse to accept the means of salvation which God has provided. The Bible says that:

John 3:16 (KJV)
16 . . . God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Bible warns us that:

John 3:36 (NKJ)
36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; (but) he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

How simple it is for us to have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Isn’t it strange that so many people respond to God’s grace by stiffening their necks and hardening their hearts? But God is so merciful and so gracious. He gives us opportunity after opportunity to get our hearts right with God. When the Bible speaks of Cain’s offering, it actually says that:

Genesis 4:3 (NKJ)
3 . . . in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.

In other words, Cain decided to bring this sacrifice of fruit to the Lord after the process of time. This implies that God had taken the time to explain to Cain and Abel exactly what kind of an offering they were to bring.

God never requires people to do things without first explaining what things they are suppose to do and how they are suppose to do them. God never brings judgment upon people who have never had the opportunity to change their ways and get right with God. God always provides a process of time in which people have the opportunity to get right with God.

In the case of Cain and Abel, we know that God explained to Cain and Abel what sacrifice to bring because the book of Hebrews says that it was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. As a matter of fact, it may have been that in the process of time, Cain had brought the proper sacrifice to God on many occasions but then all of a sudden decided that there was no good reason for God to refuse the fruit of the ground which he had grown.

The devil is so good at sneaking in a thought here and a thought there to undermine the word of God, but the fact remains, we are under no obligation to understand the purposes of God, but we are required to take God at His word. Abel just took God at His word and brought an animal sacrifice by faith. He was rewarded with eternal life and was even granted a place in what many people call the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, and I’m sure Abel will be rejoicing throughout all of eternity that he heeded the instructions of the Lord which were given in that process of time.

When we look at the scriptures we see that God has always provided for mankind a process of time for instruction and warning. Peter called Noah a preacher of righteousness, and many Bible scholars believe that Noah preached to the people before the flood for 120 years to warn them of the judgment to come, but through this process of time, only 8 people entered into the ark and were saved from the judgment waters of the flood.

During the years of the Old Covenant Law, God repeatedly warned the nation of Israel about the dangers of not keeping the Law. Even Moses warned them of the curse that would come upon them if they refused to live by the Law. So the Old Covenant Law was in a sense a process of time in which God instructed the people in the ways of the Law and warned them of the consequences of breaking the Law.

John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus came as ministers of the New Covenant and again we see a process of time for instruction and warning. John the Baptist said that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, but he warned them that the coming Messiah would bring a baptism of fire. He said:

Matthew 3:11-12 (NKJ)
11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

The Lord Jesus taught that He had come to give life and life more abundant. He said, “If you seek, you will find. If your ask, you will receive. If you knock, the door will be opened unto you.” He said:

John 6:51 (NKJ)
51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever . . .

John 7:37-38 (NKJ)
37 (He said) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

John 11:25-26 (KJV)
25 Jesus said . . ., I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die . . .

But as the Lord spread the good news of the kingdom, He also warned the nation of Israel about the consequences of unbelief. He said:

John 15:1,2,5,6 (NKJ)
1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

When the Lord Jesus offered up His life on the cross, He was shedding the blood of the New Covenant. After the cross there was again a process of time in which the Apostles went out declaring that Jesus was the Christ and that He had been raised from the dead. They warned the nation of Israel that the great and terrible Day of the Lord was at hand and that it was time to repent and get their hearts right with God.

In the Apostle Paul’s early ministry, he went out as a minister of the New Covenant and warned the Jews in Romans, Chapter 9, that only a small remnant of the nation of Israel will ultimately be saved and inherit the kingdom, but then in Romans, Chapter 11, he said that someday all Israel will be saved. Well, how does Paul go from a small remnant being saved to all Israel being saved? Obviously, in the kingdom all Israel will be saved but before the kingdom God is going to purge the nation of Israel, and all those who are not abiding in Jesus Christ will be cast into the fires of judgment.

In this process of time, Israel rejected Jesus as her Messiah, and God temporarily set aside the New Covenant program. At that point, God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the Church of our present age, the Church which is the Body of Christ. Our present age is one in which God is demonstrating His mercy and His grace. He is not overtly sending specific judgments upon people for specific sins, but He is using this time as a time of instruction and warning about the judgments to come.

Sometimes we hear people after a natural disaster who say that God sent that disaster as a specific judgment for this sin or that sin, but God is not working that way today. Today, God is demonstrating that He is full of longsuffering and grace. This is the age in which God is simply opening up his arms to receive all those who come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now I have to admit that when I see some of the terrible destruction and death that accompanied some of our recent natural disasters, I have to wonder if God is not giving the world a small taste of the suffering that lies ahead for this planet. I think that if I were lost, it would make me want to get my heart right with God.

And if you are listening this morning and you don’t know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, I hope that you will consider the things that lie ahead for this world. Someday in the future, and it may be very soon, God will catch up His Church to be with Him in heaven and then this age of God’s grace will end, and the very next thing on the calendar for the citizens of the earth is the great tribulation period.

We can be thankful today that we are still in the process of time which God is using to instruct and warn people like he did Cain so many years ago. God is using this time to bring to Himself all those who will heed His call. Those who heed His call will be saved from the wrath to come, and they will rejoice with all of the faithful throughout eternity.

God instructed Abel to bring an animal sacrifice and because of his faith he was given eternal life. Today God has provided the Lord Jesus as our sacrifice for sin, and all those who are willing to put their trust in His finished work upon the cross are given eternal life. It’s just that simple. As Paul told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure being with you this morning, and I’ll look forward to being with again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/