The New Covenant (5-28-06)

The New Covenant
Bible Study Time 5-28-06

We saw last week that the first man, Adam, was not born of the flesh, but he was born of the Spirit, for God blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living being. The life which is given by the Spirit of God is holy and pure. It is eternal in character, but Adam forfeited that life of the Spirit when he chose to eat of the forbidden fruit. All men since the time of Adam have been born of the flesh, cursed with mortal bodies and a nature which is opposed to God.

The book of Matthew gives the genealogy of the Lord Jesus from the time of Abraham and lists all the men who were begotten by other men, but then it says that:

Matthew 1:18
18 . . . the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, the Lord Jesus entered into the curse by taking upon Himself a mortal body which was subject to death. However, He was born of the Spirit because the life which was in Him was the life of the Holy Spirit of God. Mary was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Where the first Adam failed to live by the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ, whom the Bible calls the last Adam, lived in complete submission to the Spirit of God. As a result, He was qualified to take upon Himself the curse of sin. He did so by shedding His blood upon the cross of Calvary so that He could give the life of the Spirit of God to all who believe in His name. Paul said in I Corinthians that the first man, Adam, became a living being, while the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

When Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus by night, the Lord told him that he had to be born again, or literally born from above, before he could see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus that 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 life that comes from the Spirit of God.

The Bible tell us that in the tribulation period, God will send two witnesses. They will be the prophets of God, and they will have the power to stop the rain from heaven. They will have the power to turn the water into blood. They will have the power to breath fire from their mouths to destroy anyone who tries to hurt them.

The Bible says that when these two witnesses have completed their work, the devil will make war against them and kill them. Their dead bodies will lie in state for three and a half days while the people of the earth rejoice and send gifts one to another. In Revelation 11, the Apostle John looks into the future and says that:

Revelation 11:11-12 (NKJ)
11 . . . after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

Notice that it will be the breath of the life of God that will enter into them. They will stand on their feet, and then they will be called up into heaven. Well, just as surely as the Spirit of God will give life to the dead bodies of these prophets, the Spirit of God gives life to our dead spirits when we believe in Jesus Christ. And just as surely as the Spirit of God gives life to our dead spirits, God will someday give eternal life to our mortal bodies when God calls us up to be with Him in the glory of heaven. He shall change our vile body that it may be like His glorious body.

This promise of life from the Spirit of God was something that God promised in the Old Testament. It was to be the predominant feature of Israel’s promised New Covenant. In Jeremiah 31, the Lord spoke to the nation of Israel, saying:

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NKJ)
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

This New Covenant will bring in the glorious kingdom which will bring blessing to all of the nations of the earth. Jeremiah said that in this kingdom, all men will know the Lord. There will be no need for anyone to go tell his neighbor about the Lord. There will be no need for anyone to go to the remote corners of the earth to tell the lost about the Lord, for in this kingdom everyone will know the Lord.

The Lord speaks through Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36 and expands upon the role of the Holy Spirit in this New Covenant Kingdom. In verse 24 the Lord speaks to Israel and says:

Ezekiel 36:24, 26-28 (NKJ)
24 " . . . I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
28 "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

However, Isaiah spoke of the great tribulation and distress that the whole earth will go through before this kingdom is established. Isaiah 24 says:

Isaiah 24:1, 3 (NIV)
1 See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants--
3 The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word.

Isaiah 24:19-23 (NIV)
19 The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls . . .
21 In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days.
23 The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously.

Israel’s New Covenant Kingdom is going to come to the earth but only after much tribulation. Zechariah speaks more specifically of the tribulation that will come upon Jerusalem. In Chapters 12 and 14, the Lord says:

Zechariah 14:2-3 (NIV)
2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women (ravished). Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.

Zechariah 12:6-10 (NIV)
6 "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.
7 "The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.
8 On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them.
9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

Notice that in this time of great tribulation, the Lord has David on His mind. In II Samuel, Chapter 7, the Lord promised David that one of his descendants would sit upon the throne in this everlasting kingdom, and all of this great tribulation is merely a precursor to the glorious New Covenant Kingdom.

David was so looking forward to this kingdom. We see his rejoicing in Psalms 47, where he sings:

Psalms 47:1-9 (NKJ)
1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
2 For the LORD Most High is awesome; he is a great King over all the earth.
3 He will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding.
8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.
9 The princes of the people have gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

But as much as David loved to praise the Lord for the glory of the coming kingdom, he was also able to praise the Lord for His mighty display of power during the coming tribulation period. In Psalm 46, David again sings to the Lord:

Psalms 46:1-7, 10, 11 (NKJ)
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered His voice, the earth melted.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Through Zechariah the Lord said that the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will look on Him whom they have pierced, and they will morn, but He also said:

Zechariah 9:9-12 (NKJ)
9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 . . . his dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.'
11 " . . . because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Israel has seen her King lowly and riding on a donkey, but she has not yet seen His dominion which extends to the ends of the earth and is based in the blood of their covenant. What covenant was the Lord talking about? It was the New Covenant. What blood was the Lord talking about? It was the blood of Jesus. Jesus said at the Last Supper, “This is my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many.”

After Israel rejected Christ throughout the Acts period, God temporarily set aside the New Covenant Kingdom program. He took the blood of the New Covenant which was shed for many and applied to the sins of the whole world so that any and all who believe in the finished work of Christ might be born from above with the everlasting life of the Spirit of God.

The believers of our present age are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Church which is the Body of Christ. Someday, we will be caught up to be with the Lord, and then the New Covenant Kingdom will once again be offered to the nation of Israel. After much tribulation, the nation of Israel will be saved, and the Lord Jesus will reign as King over all the earth.

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

Power from on High (5-21-06)

Power from on High
Bible Study Time 5-21-06

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, saying:

Galatians 4:4-6 (NKJ)
4 . . . when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"

From this we see that Jesus Christ was born of a woman so that we might be born of the Spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus:

John 3:6-7 (NKJ)
6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

In the first chapter of Matthew, Matthew gives the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, saying that Jesus Christ was the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Then he goes through the lineage of Christ, saying that Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah, and so forth and so on until we get to the birth of Jesus. At that point, Matthew says:

Matthew 1:18
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

All of the men listed in the genealogy of Jesus were born according to the flesh, but Jesus Christ was born on this wise: Mary was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

God gave a hint concerning the virgin birth of Christ in Genesis, Chapter 3, when Adam and Eve first sinned. The Lord pronounced a curse upon Satan, saying:

Genesis 3:15 (NKJ)
15 . . . I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

God said that it would be the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of Satan, not the seed of the man or the seed of the man and the woman. From the time of that first sin, God patiently waited as mankind grew more and more sinful and farther and farther from God, but as we saw in Galatians 4, “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman to redeem those who were under the law.”

In I Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul spoke of Christ and referred to Him as the last Adam. He said, “The first man, Adam, became a living being, but the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

When Adam came into being, he was born of the Spirit. He did not have an earthly father. The Bible says that God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and then Adam became a living being.

Adam lived for 930 years, and can’t you just imagine Adam telling his children and grandchildren and many generations of great-grandchildren all about the creation story? What a wonderful story that must have been to listen to.

But, as we know, the story had some sad news too. Adam and Eve sinned and lost the life that had been given to them by the Spirit of God. They could not pass on to their children the life of the Spirit of God. All men who came after Adam were born according to the flesh, and Romans 8 says that the fleshly mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be.

When Christ came, however, He was not born according to the flesh. He was born according to the Spirit. Now this does not mean that Christ was just a spirit being any more than Adam was just a spirit being. They both had bodies of flesh, but their bodies were given life by the Spirit of God, and in that sense, they were not born of the flesh, but they were born of the Spirit. Where the first Adam had failed to live according to the Spirit, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, would dedicate Himself completely to the Spirit of God, and He would make it possible for all believers to be born again by the working of the Holy Spirit.

Notice that Paul did not say that Christ was the second Adam. That would imply that a third or a forth Adam might come after the Lord Jesus, but Paul was emphatic when he said that Jesus Christ was the last Adam.

Jesus Christ came to live a perfect live, in perfect obedience to the Father and in total submission to the Holy Spirit. He came to destroy the curse of sin and the power of Satan. There would be no need for another Adam. There would be no need for another virgin birth.

As Christ took His last breath while hanging upon the cross, He exclaimed, “It is finished!” He had fulfilled all of the righteous requirements of the Law. He had fulfilled all that the prophets had written. He had done all that was necessary to break the curse of sin and the power of Satan.

The Seed of the woman had bruised the head of the serpent. This wound, as of yet, is just a bruise. Satan is still functioning in our world today, but he has been wounded. Someday, God is going to take the Church of our present age out of this world. Then He will turn this world over to Satan and the antichrist. At the end of the seven-year tribulation period, Jesus Christ will catch up the tribulation saints, and then return to the earth with all of the kingdom saints from Abraham to that time.

He will cast the antichrist and the false prophet into the lake of fire. He will bind the devil and cast him into the bottomless pit. After a thousand years of peace on the earth, Satan will be loosed to stir up one final rebellion against Jesus Christ. At that time, Satan’s rebellion will be destroyed with fire from heaven, and Satan, Himself, will be cast into the lake of fire.

The entire spectrum of this future scenario has been made sure by the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, for by His death He paid the penalty for sin, and by His resurrection He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them.

Therefore, Jesus Christ is the last Adam, and He is a life-giving spirit. He was born of the Spirit, and lived by the Spirit. He was raised from the dead by the Spirit, and He gives the life of the Spirit to all who believe in His name.

When Nicodemus came to the Lord by night, he said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

In His reply, Jesus did not beat around the bush with Nicodemus. Immediately, He said, “Most assuredly, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said unto you, 'You must be born again.'”

After His resurrection, the Lord spent 40 days with His disciples, teaching them about the kingdom. Luke says that Christ commanded His disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father. He told them that John truly baptized with water, but they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit in just a short time.

Because of Christ’s death burial and resurrection, those men were ready to be born of the Spirit, and shortly thereafter, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God was poured out upon them. Acts 2 says:

Acts 2:1-4 (NKJ)
1 Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Luke goes on to tell how the people who gathered outside the house thought the disciples were drunk, but Peter stood up and explained that this was the fulfillment of the prophet Joel who said:

Acts 2:17-21 (NKJ)
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days . . . that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Clearly, Peter was expecting the kingdom to come at any moment. He was expecting the events, which we now know, will happen at the end of the tribulation period. As far as Peter knew, he was in the last days just before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Peter went on to tell the crowd that they had crucified the promised Messiah. He reminded them that Jesus did miracles while He lived among them, and now they, the apostles, were doing miracles to prove that Jesus was alive and that He was the Messiah.

Those who heard Peter’s message were convicted of their sin, and when they ask what they should do, Peter said:

Acts 2:38-39 (NKJ)
38 . . . "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Notice that Peter never said a word about Jesus dying for their sins. Peter simply told them that they had killed the Messiah and that they should repent and get right with God.

Today we preach a different message. We preach that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And this is the gospel message which was given to the Apostle Paul.

In Paul’s earlier ministry during the Acts period, He proclaimed this message as he went preaching the gospel of the kingdom. During that time, there was a different program for the Jews and the Gentiles as was acknowledged at the Jerusalem Council in Acts, Chapter 15. However, throughout the Acts period, Israel steadfastly refused to accept Christ as her Messiah, and as a result, God set Israel’s kingdom program aside.

At that point, God called out the Apostle Paul to reveal the Church which is the Body of Christ. In Ephesians, Chapter 2, Paul revealed that on the cross, Christ broke down the middle wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentile, and He brought the two together in Himself in one new man. He revealed that now Christ has reconciled both Jew and Gentile in one body through the cross.

Today, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit but without the miracles which were so evident during the time of Israel’s kingdom program. Those signs were given for the Jews to leave them without excuse when they stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment.

Today, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Paul says in Colossians 2:

Colossians 2:11-13 (NKJ)
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

This is the means by which we are born of the Spirit today. We are raised with Christ through faith in the working of God who raised Christ from the dead. In Ephesians 5, Paul says:

Ephesians 5:8,14-17 (NKJ)
8 . . . you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
14 . . . "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, who was born of a woman but conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. God sent forth His Son so that we might receive the Spirit of God and be born again.

If you don’t know the Lord Jesus today as your personal Savior, you are still walking in darkness with no ability to understand what the will of the Lord is. The Lord Jesus said:

John 11:9-10 (NKJ)
9 . . . “If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 "But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

God wants to illuminate your path so that you can walk uprightly without any fear of stumbling. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. In Him is life and the life is the light of men. There is no light apart from Jesus Christ. Put your faith in Him today and your will experience what it means to be born of the Spirit.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure studying with you this morning, 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/

Choices (5-15-06)

Choices
Bible Study Time 5-14-06

Joshua of the Old Testament is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus. In fact, the name Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua which means Savior. When the angel told Joseph that Mary had conceived a child by the Holy Spirit, the angel concluded:

Matthew 1:21 (NKJ)
21 " . . . she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

As you read the Old Testament, Joshua first appears on the scene in Exodus, Chapter 17, while the children of Israel were traveling from the Red Sea to Mt. Sinai. The Amalekites had gathered to attack Israel at Rephidim, and Moses called upon Joshua to gather his men for battle. Moses stood at the top of a nearby hill and held his staff high in the air as Joshua defeated the Amalekites. For Joshua, this was but a taste of things to come for Joshua would later lead the nation of Israel to victory over all of the pagan nations living in the land of Canaan.

The life of Joshua is generally divided into two parts. First, Joshua served as Moses’ assistant. When God called Moses up to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the Law, the Bible says that Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and then Moses went up to the mountain of God. This is a picture of Jesus Christ in His first advent because Jesus Christ came as the servant of God. Jesus said:

John 6:38 (NKJ)
38 " . . . I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

The Apostle Paul admonished the people in Philippi with these words:

Philippians 2:5-8 (NKJ)
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

But then Paul says:

Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJ)
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This brings us to the second aspect of Joshua’s life which covers that period of time after Moses’ death. This is the time in which Joshua served as the Commander in Chief of the Army of God, leading the nation of Israel to victory over the pagan nations of the land of Canaan. Of coarse, this pictures the Lord Jesus at His second coming when He will return from heaven on a white horse with His robe dipped in blood. Revelation 19 says that in righteousness He will judge and make war against the antichrist and his army of unbelievers.

Now, we know today, because of the writings of the Apostle Paul, that believers of our present age will be taken up into heaven at least seven years before the Lord Jesus returns to defeat the antichrist. We, as members of the Church, the Body of Christ, will be taken up into heaven, then there will be the seven years of the great tribulation period during which the antichrist will rise to power. Toward the end of the tribulation period, Christ will catch up the believers of the tribulation period, and they will return with Christ to the earth to wage war with the antichrist and then rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

The book of Joshua describes the various battles that took place as the nation of Israel conquered the land of Canaan. It describes the division of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel, and it also describes Joshua’s final words to the nation of Israel. Joshua was a hundred and ten years old by this time, and he spoke to the people as the prophet of God. Joshua, Chapter 24 says:

Joshua 24:1-2 (NKJ)
1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2 And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.

God wanted to remind the children of Israel that Abraham and his father and brothers were idolaters. They had worshiped the idols of the Chaldeans on the other side of the Euphrates Rivers up until the point when God called Abraham out of paganism to follow the true and the living God.

It was important for Israel to know that their many victories over the Canaanites were not just because of their own faithfulness to God, but they were also a result of Abraham’s faithfulness to God. God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants, and God was fulfilling His promise to Abraham. In this we see an example of how God blesses even the generations that follow those who are faithful to the Lord.

God continues in Joshua 24, saying, “I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them.”

Even the plagues that God sent upon Egypt through Moses were specific judgments upon the pagan gods of Egypt. God is a jealous God, and He will not share His glory with another. The plague of flies was a judgment on the god of the flies. The plague of the frogs was a judgment on the god of the frogs, and so forth and so on.

In Joshua 24, God goes on to remind the children of Israel that He was the One who had led their fathers out of Egypt and had brought them through the Red Sea. He was the One who had destroyed the Amorites and the Moabites before the Jews even got to the promised land. He was the One who had delivered all the land of Canaan into their hands and had driven out the pagan nations. God said:

Joshua 24:12-13 (NKJ)
12 'I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow.
13 'I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'

At this point Joshua speaks for himself, saying:

Joshua 24:14-15 (NKJ)
14 "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

The nation of Israel had a decision to make. It was a decision that would affect their lives and the lives of their children for many years to come. Would they be willing to put away the pagan gods and serve the Lord? This was a very important decision.

As I read this account, I can’t help but think of the people who say that they don’t want to influence the beliefs of their children when it comes to religion. They say that they will raise their children the best they can, and then their children will be able to decide for themselves about religion when they get old enough to understand.

Well, Joshua was speaking for the Lord when he presented the children of Israel with this decision, but God was not about to put this decision upon them without giving them the information they needed to make a good decision. God knows that good decisions are based on reliable information, so God reviewed the whole history of the nation of Israel before asking them to decide. Then, in the light of this glorious history, Joshua asked them to choose for themselves whether they wanted the blessings of God or the misery and suffering that comes to those who refuse to follow the Lord. With this information, the Jews were able to make a good decision, and they said:

Joshua 24:16-18 (NKJ)
16 . . . "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods;
17 "for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed.
18 "And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

So the children of Israel renewed their covenant with the Lord that day, and the Bible says that Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

The Jews made the right choice because they had good, reliable information upon which to make their decision, and they had effective leaders like Moses and Joshua who were willing to teach them the truth and then live by the truths they taught. Oh, how much we need effective spiritual leadership in our homes, in our churches and in our country. Leaders who are willing to stand for the truth.

What a difference it makes in a home when the parents are willing to stand up for the truth of God’s word and teach their children about the righteous God who created all things and then gave His Son to die for the sins of the world so that those who believe might have eternal life.

What a difference it makes when churches have pastors who are willing to stand up for the truth of God’s word. Who fight spiritual battles with the spiritual weapons provided by the Holy Spirit of God: the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, and the sword of the Spirit.

What a difference it makes when a country has leaders with a firm commitment to the principles of truth and honesty. Who are led by the Holy Spirit to protect those who are defenseless and provide for those who cannot provide for themselves.

God had blessed Israel with strong, effective leadership in Moses and Joshua. They taught the truth and lived by the truth, and the Bible says that:

Joshua 24:31 (NKJ)
31 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

However, as time went on the children of Israel did turn away from God. During the time of the judges, Deborah sang a song which said:

Judges 5:7-8 (NKJ)
7 Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel.
8 They chose new gods; then there was war in the gates; not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

The nation of Israel chose new gods. They forgot about the history lesson that Joshua taught them or maybe they just stopped believing it. Either way, they chose new gods, and there was war in the gates. Israel was defenseless before her enemies.

People today have the same choice to make that Israel had to make. Will we serve the true and the living God or not. God has given us a free will, and we are free to choose. However, today, we have an advantage over the Jews of the Old Testament because today we have the completed word of God. We can see the purpose of the Old Testament Law and the fact that it was given as a tutor, or schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ.

The Old Testament Law promised physical blessings on this physical earth, but today, we have the opportunity to receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus said, “I did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill the Law.” He lived a perfect life and then offered His life upon the cross of Calvary as the spotless lamb of God so that all those who believe might have everlasting life.

If you have never trusted Christ as your personal Savior, won’t you make that decision today. God has given us all of the information that we need to make a well-informed decision. He has given us the word of God, and He has given us pastors and teachers to explain the word of God to us. If you choose to follow Christ, then you will know what a blessing it is to be able to say as Joshua did, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

I see our time is gone. It’s been a pleasure studying with you this morning, 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/

Behold the Glory (5-7-06)

Behold the Glory
Bible Study Time 5-7-06

Moses first caught a glimpse of the glory of Jesus Christ while he was herding his sheep in the back side of the wilderness. Off in the distance he saw a bush which was engulfed in flames. This was not so strange in itself, but what caught his attention was the fact that the bush was not consumed by the flames. The bush just kept on burning and burning.

As Moses approached the bush to investigate, a voice called out to him, saying, “Moses, Moses!” (Exodus 3)

Moses said, “Here I am.”

The voice said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father-- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

At that point, the Bible says that Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

I have often wondered how well Moses knew the Lord before this time. We know that he lived the first forty years of life in the house of the King of Egypt. How much Moses knew about his people or their heritage we can only speculate.

But here in the dessert, as Moses stood before the burning bush, God told Moses to go back to Egypt and bring the Jews up out of Egypt to the land of Canaan. At this point, Moses asked, “If the Jews should ask, what is Your Name?” This would indicate that if Moses knew God, he didn’t know Him very well, and we can be fairly certain that Moses had never had such a one on one meeting with God before.

What a difference this personal encounter with God was going to make in His life. Even as Moses stood talking to the true and the living God, he could not have imaged all that he was going to see and all that he was going to accomplish because of this one on one encounter with God.

Many people today know about God, but they’ve never had a personal encounter with God. Simply knowing about God will never bring a change in our lives. It’s not until we get one on one with God, confessing our sins and trusting Him for forgiveness, that God is able to make us a new creation in Jesus Christ.

Armed with this personal relationship with God, Moses was now ready to stand before the most powerful king in the world. He was positioned to deliver the entire nation of Israel out from under the bondage of slavery. He was ready to separate the waters of the Red Sea and hold them back while the nation of Israel walked across on dry land. By simply opening his heart to God, he had positioned himself to be the one who would give the greatest set of civil and moral laws that the world has ever known. All of these things lay just ahead in Moses life as he moved from knowing about God to knowing God.

Notice what it took for Moses to get to know God. First, he observed what was going on around him. Second, he listened to the word of God as he investigated the things he observed. Third, Moses believed the word of God, and he did what God told him to do.

Many people today never seek to know God because they fail to observe what is going on around them. They just go about their everyday lives, making money, marrying and giving in marriage as the people did in Noah’s day, but they never stop to see the incredible things that God is doing all around them.

One doesn’t have to read the papers everyday to notice that the world we live in is getting worse and worse. There are wars and rumors of wars. We see famine and disease. We see corruption and every sort of immorality. The global weather patterns as well as the global economy seem very fragile.

And yet in the midst of all this instability, we see the nation of Israel which according to all reasonable probabilities should have disappeared from off the face of the earth thousands of years ago. But here we are in the year 2006, and Israel is still alive. In fact, she continues to dominate the headlines. Israel is like the burning bush. She continues on through the fire, and she has yet to be consumed.

People who take an honest look at our world today will find themselves drawn to the voice that came from the burning bush. They will listen to that voice as they investigate what they see around them, and the Bible says that those who seek the truth will find it. Jesus Christ is the truth, and all who seek Him will find Him.

God has not make it hard for people to be saved. He has made it perfectly clear in His word what it takes to be saved. As Paul told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

As we have seen, Moses observed what God was doing, he listened to what God was saying, and he believed what God was saying. Then after he believed, he did what God told him to do. As a result, God was able to change his life from a life of frustration and disappointment to a life that was nothing short of spectacular.

However, Moses did not find it easy to trust the Lord. When God challenged him to return to Egypt, Moses was skeptical. He had lived for forty years with some bitter memories of his last days in Egypt, and he had some agonizing conflicts when it came to his Jewish brothers back in Egypt.

Sure, Moses had killed an Egyptian, but wasn’t that Egyptian beating a fellow Jew? Wasn’t Moses simply trying to protect a Jewish brother. When the Jews who knew about the murder threatened to expose Moses, Moses had to run from Egypt, and he must have felt betrayed by his own people.

As we go out and talk to people about Jesus Christ, we can expect to find some people who are like Moses. When they look at their past experiences, they may feel nothing but frustration and disappointment. They may feel like they are living their lives on the backside of the desert. These past experiences may hinder their faith when they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You may have noticed that God didn’t really ask Moses if he would like to go back and deliver the Jews from slavery. No, God simply informed Moses that this was what He was going to do. However, in spite of this proclamation, Moses was reluctant. He didn’t really know God well enough to trust Him, so Moses asked, “Who am I that I should do this?” And then he asked, “What if they don’t believe that You are the One who has sent me?”

God told Moses to cast his staff down on the ground. When he did, his staff turned into a serpent. God said, pick that serpent up by the tail. When he did, the serpent turned back into a staff.

God told Moses to put his hand inside his shirt. When he pulled his hand out, it was white with leprosy. God had Moses put his hand back inside his shirt, and when Moses pulled his hand out this time, his skin was like normal skin. God was willing to give Moses these signs to bolster his confidence in the power of God.

Now this willingness on the part of God to give signs to people, is something that is unique to the Jews. The Apostle Paul said, “The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” (I Corinthians 1:22)

God has never given Gentiles signs. He never gave the Gentiles of Noah’s day a sign to prove that the flood was coming. He never gave the Gentiles of Nineveh a sign to prove that they were on the verge of destruction. When the Gentiles experienced the miracles of the Acts period, even those miracles were given as a sign to the nation of Israel so that they would believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Now don’t get me wrong, God does not expect us, as members of the Body of Christ, to believe in Jesus Christ without any evidence. God does give us plenty of evidence to substantiate our faith, but the greatest evidence of all is the internal evidence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said:

John 6:44 (NKJ)
44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father . . . draws him . . .

That means that those who come to Christ in faith have been drawn to Christ by some very strong evidence that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He is man’s only hope of salvation. However, today this evidence does not come in the form of outward signs and miracles. It comes by the conviction of the Holy Spirit as we respond to the word of God. Hebrews 11 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

If the Greeks seek after wisdom, then certainly this is the kind of wisdom that we should seek. The wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit will come from the word of God, and it will be confirmed by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.

As Moses listened to the voice of God, he had some physical miracles to confirm the words of God, but I believe that it was the pulling of the Holy Spirit that really convinced Moses of the power of God. It was the pulling of the Holy Spirit that kept Moses from turning around and walking away.

It is interesting to note that even though Moses was given miraculous signs to verify the words of God, these signs did not reveal the glory of God. It was not until after Moses believed the word of God and dedicated himself to following the Lord that he saw the glory of God.

What a great privilege it is to see the glory of Christ, but that is a privilege that is available to all believers today. John said:

John 1:14 (NKJ)
14 . . . the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Here John spoke as one who had believed the words of Christ and had dedicated his life to following Christ. Those who believe God’s word and follow Christ will behold the glory of Christ.

From the time Peter first started following the Lord Jesus, he saw the Lord do many miracles, but it was not until after Peter made his confession, saying, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”, that Peter was allowed to see the glory of Christ.

Matthew says that six days after Peter’s confession:

Matthew 17:1,2,5,6 (NKJ)
1 Jesus took Peter, James, and John . . . up on a high mountain by themselves;
2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, . . . His clothes became as white as the light.
5 . . . (And) behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; . . . suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"
6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

Peter saw the miracles, but He never saw the glory of the Lord until after he confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. When Peter saw Christ in all of His glory, it had a tremendous impact on his life. In Peter’s second epistle, he was speaking of himself and the other apostles when he said:

2 Peter 1:16-19 (NKJ)
16 . . . we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but (we) were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

If you don’t know Christ today, don’t let disappoints in your past keep you from seeing the glory of Jesus Christ and experiencing all that God has for you in this life and in the life to come. If you believe that Christ died for your sins and if you dedicate your life to following Christ, you can see the glory of Jesus Christ.

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

Knowing Jesus (4-30-06)

Knowing Jesus
Bible Study Time 4-30-06

For the past few weeks, our young people and children at the Peace Church have been working in a unit of study entitled, “Knowing Jesus.” Many people are content to know only the Jesus of secular history and archeology, while others know only the Jesus of popular novels and movies. But what a blessing it is to look into the Bible and see what God’s word says about who Jesus really is.

When Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”, they answered, “Some say you’re John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the other prophets who has come back from the dead.” In this we see that Jesus was as controversial in His own day as He is today. Immediately after their reply, Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”, and this is the question that every person since the time of Christ has had to answer for himself.

The people of Jesus day believed that Jesus was a great prophet, and people today say pretty much the same thing. They say, yes, Jesus was a great prophet, or He was a great teacher, but they’re content to leave it at that. However, if Jesus was a great teacher then surely we should listen to what He taught. In John 14, the Lord told Philip, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” In John 10:30, Jesus declared to the multitudes:

John 10:30 (NKJ)
30 "I and My Father are one."

Clearly, Jesus taught that He was one with God, the Father, but John 10 goes on to say that when the Jews took up stones to stone Jesus, Jesus said:

John 10:32-34,37,38 (NKJ)
32 . . . "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?"
33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."
34 (Then) Jesus answered them,
37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."

Jesus said, if you can’t believe my words, then take a look at my works. If my works are from God then surely you must believe that I am from God. He said, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me.

Who else but God could heal the lame, give sight to the blind and raise the dead? Oh, how He pleaded with the Jews to at least take a look at the miracles and believe, but when all was said and done, Jesus came unto His own and His own received Him not.

While Jesus was on the earth, even the disciples did not know the full extent of who Jesus really was. The disciples saw the mighty works of the Lord Jesus and believed that He was the Son of God. When Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”, Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

The word Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word, Messiah, which means “the anointed one”. Therefore, Peter was confessing that Jesus was God’s anointed One, the promised Messiah. The Jews had been waiting for the promised Messiah since the time of Abraham for God had promised to send a person who would deliver them from their enemies and raise them up to be a blessing to all of the nations of the earth.

They knew that the Messiah would be a person who was sent from God, but few if any really understood that He would be God in the flesh. However, this was not something they had to understand in order to be saved. All they had to believe was that Jesus was the promised Messiah who was the Son of God. Jesus said:

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

Some 60 years after the death of Christ, the Apostle John spoke of Jesus and said:

John 1:1,3,4 (NKJ)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

How John had grown in his knowledge of Jesus. As John wrote these words, I can just imagine him looking back on his time with the Lord, thinking, “Lord, if only I had known who you really were, I would have worshiped you and served you with a greater sense of appreciation and gratitude.”

Those of us who know the Lord should ask ourselves if we are growing in our knowledge of Christ. God wants us to know Jesus more completely, more fully, as we journey through this life. The better we know Him, the more effective will be our worship and our service.

As the disciples walked with the Lord, none of them could have imagined that Jesus was actually Jehovah God of creation. It was not until after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ that the Apostle Paul said:

Colossians 1:15-16 (NKJ)
15 (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

The disciples believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and because of their faith in Him, they were given eternal life. They did not know that He was the God of creation, and neither did they know that He had come to offer His blood as the sacrifice for sin. Luke, Chapter 18, says:

Luke 18:31-34 (NKJ)
31 (Jesus) took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.
32 "For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.
33 "They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again." (But then in the next verse it says)
34 (the disciples) understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

For people today to be saved by faith, they have to believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins, but that was not the case while Jesus was on the earth, and neither was it the case as the Apostles ministered in the early part of the book of Acts. At the time of the last supper, Jesus spoke of the purpose of His shed blood.

Matthew 26:26-29 (NKJ)
26 . . . as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

Jesus was speaking as the Messiah, saying that He must shed the blood of the New Covenant before the kingdom could come. He said that this blood of the New Covenant was His blood and that it was to be shed for the remission of sins. Again, the disciples were blinded to the significance of His words.

It was not until the Apostle Paul came along that the gospel as we know it today was revealed. In Romans, Chapter 3, Paul said:

Romans 3:25-26 (NIV)
25 God presented (Christ) as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. (God) did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--
26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

The blood of Jesus allows God to forgive the sins of those who believe. If God on a whim decided to forgive the sins of some while refusing to forgive the sins of others, that would be unjust, that would be unfair, and praise the Lord, God can not tolerate injustice. Therefore, He gave His Son as a sacrifice for sin so that He could be just in His forgiveness of the sins of those who believe in Jesus.

So as we think of knowing Jesus, we see that Jesus did mighty miracles while He was on the earth to prove that He was the only begotten Son of God. While Jesus was on the earth and during the early years after His resurrection, people were saved by believing that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah. Today, God calls us to believe that Jesus offered His blood as the payment for sin. Paul said:

1 Corinthians 15:1-4
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel . . .
2 by which . . . you are saved . . .
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

But as we study the book of Ephesians, we see that there is another aspect of Jesus that we need to understand if we are going to really know Jesus today. In Ephesians 1, Paul says:

Ephesians 1:22-23
22 (God has) put all things under (Christ’s) feet, and (has given) Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Here we see that an understanding of the fullness of Christ must include the knowledge of His role as the Head of the Church which is His Body. Today, all believers are members of God’s glorious heavenly Church. This Church is not an earthly organization, but it’s a living organism. It’s the Body of Christ.

As members of the Body of Christ, we have the opportunity to know Christ in a way that believers of others ages could not have imagined. We can revel in the fact that He is the God of creation, and yet He was willing to leave heaven to take a body of flesh to die for the sins of the world. We can rest in the awesome realization that Jesus Christ is the God who transcends all of the earthly types and figures of the Old Testament Law. We can see that these types and figures were merely shadows of Christ. Today we move beyond the shadows to the substance of Christ. Paul said in Colossians 2:

Colossians 2:16-19 (NKJ)
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

As members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, we have the opportunity to come to Christ, not on the basis of miracles which we have seen but on the basis of faith in God’s word. Jesus said to Thomas:

John 20:29 (NKJ)
29 " . . . because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, and He is asking you and me that same question today. Who do you say that Jesus is? Your answer to that question will determine your relationship to Christ as you live this life, and it will determine your eternal destiny.

If you don’t know Jesus Christ this morning as the One who came to die for your sins, you can first of all acknowledge these facts, and then you can make it personal by getting on your knees and saying, “God, I need to be saved. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and I’m asking you to forgive my sins because Jesus died for my sins on the cross.” If you pray this prayer, God will save you and give you eternal life.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, 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 Cornerstone (4-23-06)

The Cornerstone
Bible Study Time 4-23-06

In Psalm 118, the psalmist praised the Lord, saying:

Psalms 118:21,22 (NKJ)
21 I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

In days of old, the stone masons would cut the stone which would then be carried to the construction site. If the stone didn’t fit, the builders would cast it aside. In Psalm 118, the psalmist praises the Lord because the stone which was rejected by the builders has become the chief cornerstone of the building.

Of coarse, this is a reference to Jesus Christ and the fact that He came to earth as the cornerstone of the kingdom of God. He was perfectly designed by God to complete the work of the kingdom of God.

God started building the kingdom at Mt. Sinai when He gave the Law of Moses, but the Law was not able to bring in the promised eternal kingdom. The Old Testament Kingdom was glorious by human standards. Heads of state came from all around to see the glory of it, but that kingdom fell far short of God’s standard for the promised eternal kingdom. The Old Testament kingdom had divisions and rivalries within the kingdom, not to mention the idolatry and immorality. The eternal kingdom will have none of these things. The Law was perfect, but it lacked the power to bring humans beings into the righteousness of God.

Jesus Christ came into the world to shed the blood of the New Covenant which put the Law of God in the hearts of those who believe in Jesus.

Romans 8:3-4 (NKJ)
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Jesus Christ was the rock who was perfectly suited to complete the work of the kingdom. He came performing mighty miracles and preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but He was rejected by the builders.

The builders were the religious leaders of Jesus day. They were the ones who were supposed to be building the kingdom of God, but when they saw Jesus, they decided that He was not fit for the kingdom of God so they cast Him aside and crucified Him on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ is the stone who was rejected by the builders but will someday still become the cornerstone of the kingdom.

Zechariah speaks of the cornerstone and says that the cornerstone will come from the tribe of Judah. As we know, Jesus Christ was of the house and lineage of David and was, therefore, of the tribe of Judah. As Jacob lay upon his death bed, he gave this blessing to Judah, saying:

Genesis 49:10 (NIV)
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.

The scepter was the symbol of kingdom authority, and Jacob knew that the scepter would be given to a descendant of Judah and that all the nations of the earth would obey him. When Jesus comes to rule over the earth, He will be known as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Isaiah also spoke of the cornerstone, saying:

Isaiah 28:16 (NKJ)
16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; . . .

But Isaiah also said that this precious stone would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Isaiah 8:14). Well, that fits the analogy. When the builders cast off one of the stones, it makes sense that someone may stumble over it. Isaiah said that the nation of Israel will stumble over this stone from heaven.

Jesus Christ came to earth, born into the tribe of Judah, but before He could take the scepter of the kingdom, He was rejected and cast aside by the builders of the kingdom. At one point the Lord Jesus asked the Jewish leaders about the meaning of Psalm 118. He asked:

Luke 20:17 (NKJ)
17 . . . "What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone'?

Jesus’ point was clear. They could reject Him. They could kill him. But He would still become the chief cornerstone of the kingdom. This infuriated them because it implied that there was a power in heaven which was greater than they, and that there was nothing they could do to overthrow the plan of God.

Jesus wanted them to really think about what they were doing. They needed to think about the consequences of their actions. Jesus went on to say:

Luke 20:18 (NIV)
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

Jesus warned these “builders of the kingdom of God” that they had better not be too hasty in their decision to cast off this rock for those who do will either stumble over the rock and be broken to pieces or they will be crushed when the rock falls on them.

In Acts, Chapter 4, Peter and John were brought before the council of Jews for healing a lame man and preaching the resurrection of Christ. At the hearing Peter revealed the grace of God by offering them salvation through the cornerstone which they had rejected. Verse 9 says:

Acts 4:9-12 (NKJ)
9 "If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
10 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
11 "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'
12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

These men were stumbling over the rock which they had cast aside, and they were about to be broken into pieces. History tells us that by the year 70 A.D. the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans, and the Jews were either killed or driven from the city. Peter offered them salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, but they steadfastly refused.

In I Peter, Chapter 2, Peter encouraged the Jewish believers, saying:

1 Peter 2:6-9
6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,"
8 and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Peter wrote these words to the Jewish believers. He did not write it to the unbelieving Jews, and neither did he write it to the believing Gentiles. The Gentiles were never told that they would become a royal priesthood or a holy nation. Paul spoke to us, as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, and said that we too are a special people. He said that we are:

Titus 2:13-14 (NKJ)
13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

There is no word here about a royal priesthood or a holy nation. The Church is composed of a heavenly people and our hope is the appearing of Christ, but the hope of Israel relates to this earth. Peter was looking for the day when Christ will return to establish the earthly kingdom, and that is exactly what the psalmist had in mind when he said, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Let’s look at that once again in verse 19 of Psalm 118.

Psalms 118:19-24,26 (NKJ)
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! . .

When we sing verse 24, we usually emphasize the word DAY and say, this is the DAY the Lord has made, but the context shows that the emphasis should be on the word LORD. This is the day the LORD has made because He is the One who has made the rejected stone the chief cornerstone. He is the One who has brought about the fulfillment of the promised kingdom. In that day the nation of Israel will sing, this is the day the Lord has made, and they will sing, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

When Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey just before His crucifixion:

Matthew 21:9 (NKJ)
9 . . . the multitudes . . . cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!"

Obviously, the crowds believed that Jesus was the Messiah who had come in the name of the Lord. It was not the common people who rejected the cornerstone of God; it was the builders, the religious leaders of the people of God. They were the ones who had the authority to put their faith in Christ and offer up the reigns of government, and Christ was not about to overthrow the established government of God.

These religious leaders were determined to cast this rock aside, and they were blinded to the consequences. They rejected Christ, and their city was destroyed, but far worse than that is the fact that someday they will stand before God at the Great White Throne of judgment where they will be sentenced to the lake of fire.

Jesus said that some would stumble over the rock while others would be crushed by the rock when the rock falls on them. At the end of the tribulation period, Jesus Christ will return as the cornerstone of the kingdom, and this time He will come with a sword in His hand. He will not be rejected at His second coming. At that time, He will crush the empire of the antichrist as well as the unbelieving Jews.

Daniel saw these things in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the human statue. The statue represented the Gentile empires that would rule over Israel before the setting up of the kingdom. The empires were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Empire of the antichrist. Daniel said:

Daniel 2:44-45 (NKJ)
44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
45 "Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold-- the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

In this way the hope of Psalm 118:22 will be fulfilled; the stone which the builders rejected will return from heaven to destroy the Gentile nations, and that stone will become the chief cornerstone of the eternal kingdom of righteousness.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. It’s been a pleasure studying with, 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 God of the Living (4-16-06)

The God of the Living
Bible Study Time 4-16-06

In Mark, Chapter 12, the Sadducees came to the Lord Jesus with some of their trick questions. As unbelievable as it may sound, the Sadducees were religious leaders, and they did not believe in the resurrection from dead. How can you be a religious leader and not believe in life after death? Obviously, they did not have much to offer the people in terms of hope, and if you’re like me, your probably wondering what on earth even possessed them to get involved in religion in the first place?

That question seems to be answered for us in passages like Mark, Chapter 12. These men were not interested in helping people find God, and they were not interested in helping people find salvation. They were interested in only one thing, and that one thing was power. They loved the power that religion gave them to control the lives of the people.

Well, when Jesus came along teaching the scriptures with authority, they felt threatened, and they hated Jesus. So they came to Jesus time and time again trying to trap Him with their questions. In Mark 12, they said:

Mark 12:19-27 (NKJ)
19 "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

Then they described a hypothetical situation in which a married man died with no children. Each of his six brothers in succession married his surviving wife, but each of his brothers also died without children, and then the woman died. The question for Jesus was this:

Mark 12:23 (NKJ)
23 " . . . in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife."

The Lord Jesus, of coarse, knew that they did not believe in the resurrection, and so He could see their hypocrisy and their ignorance concerning the issue of the resurrection. Drawing upon His divine wisdom, the Lord said:

Mark 12:24 (NKJ)
24 . . . "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?
25 "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
26 "But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
27 "(God) is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken."

What a beautiful answer! They quoted Moses in their question, and He answered them with Moses. He said, “Have you not read the book of Moses? In it God said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and that means that God is not the God of the dead, but He is the God of the living.”

Just think about that. Isn’t that a powerful statement? God is the God of the living. Even in the first chapter of Genesis, it’s clear that God is the God of the living. On the fifth day God said:

Genesis 1:20,21,24 (NKJ)
20 "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, . . ."
21 (And) God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves . . .
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind

Our God is the not the God of the dead; He’s the God of the living. He is the life giving force of the universe. By the word of His mouth, He created all living things. But notice what happened when man was created in Genesis 2. Verse 7 says:

Genesis 2:7 (NKJ)
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Certainly, we have to agree with the psalmist when he spoke to the Lord and said, with You is the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9). Life, itself, flows from God as easily as the water flows from the snowed capped mountains in the spring. God spoke the word and all living creatures came into being. He formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Our God is the God of the living and with Him is the fountain of life.

He is the God of the living because He is the living God. We do not serve a God made of wood or stone. We serve the living God. The heart of fallen man has a hard time with this. Human reasoning resists the idea of a living God because that implies that man is subject to a power that is higher than he.

Today, we idolize wealth and power and those who have wealth and power, but in ages past, people made idols of wood or stone. After they carved them to suit themselves, they declared them to be god. In this way they could create a God who was subject to them. This infuriated God, so when He gave the Law, the very first commandment He gave was:

Exodus 20:3-6 (NKJ)
3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Again, the point is clear, man is indeed subject to the living God. He is not subject to our authority, but we are subject to His, and He has His own standard of righteousness which is different from our own. In Isaiah 55, He says:

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJ)
8 " . . . My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," . . .
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Man’s natural inclination is to resist God’s authority, but God says, remember, I am a jealous God, and I will punish your iniquity. However, I am a merciful God, and I will show mercy to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Through the ages, God has demonstrated for Jews and Gentiles alike that He is the true and the living God by His judgments and also by His mercy. He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but He revealed His mercy by sparing the city of Nineveh when they repented. The God of the Bible is the true and the living God, and He has the ultimate authority over the affairs of the earth.

When Jesus Christ came to the earth, He revealed to us the true and the living God. John spoke of Jesus and said:

John 1:14,17,18 (NKJ)
14 . . . the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

The Lord Jesus came as the very expression of the true and the living God, and with Him came the life giving force of God. John said:

John 1:1,4 (NKJ)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Jesus said,
John 6:48-51,47 (NKJ)
48 "I am the bread of life.
49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

Over and over again the Old Testament writers spoke of the death, burial and resurrection of the Christ. In amazing detail, David spoke in Psalm 22 of the crucifixion. In the first verse, he utters the very words of Christ upon the cross, saying:

Psalms 22:1 (NKJ)
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

In verse 16, he elaborates, saying:

Psalms 22:16-18 (NKJ)
16 . . . dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.

David saw the cross of Christ, but he also saw the resurrection of Christ. Psalm 16 says:

Psalms 16:9-10 (NIV)
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

As Peter said on the Day of Pentecost:

Acts 2:29-32 (NIV)
29 "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.
32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

What a beautiful message for this Easter Sunday! It’s just as beautiful now as it was when Peter spoke it 2000 years ago. Jesus Christ is alive. He is risen from the dead.

Even today, those of us who know the Lord as Savior can stand up with Peter and say that we, too, are witnesses of the fact that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. We have not seen Him as Peter and the other apostles did, but we have experienced the resurrection life that He gives us by His Spirit. Jesus Christ is the fountain of life, and He says:

John 7:37-38 (NKJ)
37 "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 4:14 (NKJ)
14 "whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

This resurrection life, however, is just a down payment on the glory which shall be revealed in us. Someday, Jesus Christ will change these mortal bodies of ours and give them immortality. Whether living or dead, we shall all be changed.

Paul said that the first man, Adam, became a living being when God blew into him the breath of life, but the last Adam, who is Christ, became a life giving spirit. We have borne the image of the man of dust, but we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man, who again is Jesus Christ. Already, we are citizens of heaven from which we look for the Savior who shall change our lowly body and make it like unto His glorious body.

As you celebrate Easter today, I hope you will rejoice with me in the fact that our God is not the God of dead, but He is the God of the living.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning, it’s been a pleasure studying with you. 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 Faithful Spies (4-9-06)

The Faithful Spies
Bible Study Time 4-9-06

When the children of Israel left Mt. Sinai, it took them 11 days to reach Kadesh Barnea on the border of the promised land. As we see in Deuteronomy, Chapter 1, and verse 21, when they arrived at Kadesh Barnea , Moses said:

Deuteronomy 1:21 (NKJ)
21 'Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.'

Well, after seeing God part the waters of the Red Sea and after seeing the awesome signs of God’s presence at Mt. Sinai, you would think that the children of Israel would be filled with confidence in this God who had promised to protect them and give them the land of Canaan. But such was not the case. In verse 22, Moses said:

Deuteronomy 1:22 (NKJ)
22 " . . . everyone of you came near to me and said, 'Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.'

Don’t you such kind of have to wonder where this is coming from. God said, go, and now they were saying, wait a minute, first let’s send some spies to spy out the land. This was not God’s idea.

Actually, this venture was doomed to bring failure and disappointment to the children of Israel because they were sending these spies in to see if they could conquer the land, and God never told them that they could conquer the land. God said, I have set the land before you. I have given you the land. The children of Israel needed to rely upon the strength of the Lord. Sending these spies in was only going to reveal their own human weaknesses unless they were willing to look through the eyes of faith.

The fact that the children of Israel wanted to send in spies to view the land was not a bad idea in and of itself. If they had said, we know that God is willing and able to give us the land. God has promised us the land, and what He has promised He will do, but let’s just send in some men to take a look so that with God’s help we can come up with the very best plan of attack. If they had said this, I am confident God would have been very pleased. God does not want us to be foolish as we walk by faith. That’s why Moses said in verse 23:

Deuteronomy 1:23-25 (NKJ)
23 "The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.
24 "And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.
25 "They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, 'It is a good land which the LORD our God is giving us.'

Then Moses reminded them of their rebellion and said:

Deuteronomy 1:26 (NKJ)
26 "Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;

Here we see what was really in the hearts of the people. Their hearts were full of doubt and fear, and that’s why they wanted to send in the spies. They were just looking for an excuse to keep from going into the land.

Now let me just stop and ask you this. What excuses are you making to God today? What excuses have you made that are holding you back from all that God has called you to be and all that God has called you to do. Excuses like these are all based on the lies of the devil.

The devil was deceiving the children of Israel to keep them from going into the promised land. It is sad how susceptible they were to the lies of the devil. But that is the way human nature is. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to see through the lies of the devil.

All that the children of Israel could see was the danger ahead. They could not see the powerful deliverance that God provided for them when they left the land of Egypt, when all the firstborn sons of Egypt were killed by the death angel because they were not covered by the blood of the Passover lamb. They had forgotten about the fact that the Egyptians loaded them down with all kinds of gold and silver and clothing before they left Egypt. God had revealed His awesome power not only in Egypt but also at the Red Sea and then again at Mt. Sinai.

Satan’s deception is also made evident by the fact that the children of Israel really had no viable alternative to going on into the land of Canaan, but still they refused to go in. Did they really think they would be safer in the wilderness? Where would they get water? What would they eat? But for the power of God, they would die in the wilderness. Satan had truly blinded their eyes to the glorious power of God.

All they had hoped for was at their fingertips. While in Egypt, they had prayed for God to deliver them, and God sent Moses. They had hoped to return to the promised land, and now here they were encamped along its border. All they had to do was go and possess the land, but did they go? No. They rebelled against the command of the Lord their God. Moses said:

Deuteronomy 1:27,28 (NKJ)
27 " . . . you complained in your tents, and said, 'Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28 'Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, "The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there."'

This provides a great lesson for us today. How many people today are blinded by the devil to the great salvation which God has provided for us? All of the joy and all of the peace and all of the love that people are desperately seeking, God is offering through Jesus Christ. All we have to do is reach out and take it.

All we have to do is look back at the mighty works that God did for the nation of Israel to know that the God of the Bible is the true and the living God. All we have to do is look at the great miracles that Jesus performed, and we can know that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. All we have to do is look at the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and we can know that all of the Old Testament scriptures were given to lead the world to Jesus Christ. All of these things God has provided, but still people shrink back in unbelief, and Paul says that:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (KJV)
3 . . . if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

So people today are blinded to the truth of the gospel just as the Jews at Kadesh Barnea were blinded to the kingdom which lay before them, and like the Jews at Kadesh Barnea people today have no real alternative to Jesus Christ. There is not another religion on the face of the earth that offers forgiveness for sin. All other religions are religions of good works. Just do the best you can and then hope for the best. They do not offer forgiveness for sin because they have no means of forgiveness.

Jesus Christ offers forgiveness for sin because He died on the cross for our sins. He made atonement for all sin. Therefore, He can offer forgiveness. No other religion comes close. People who try good works for salvation often end up frustrated, and they turn back to their old ways. This is like turning back to Egypt with all of its misery and despair.

Jesus Christ is the only real alternative when it comes to hope for the future. He offers forgiveness for sin and the hope of eternal life. If you find yourself being paralyzed by sin, and you’re afraid of dying because you don’t know what monsters you will face on the other side, turn to Jesus Christ and believe. Paul wrote to Timothy and said:

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJ)
7 . . . God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I spoke to you a moment ago about Weldon and Doris Rightmer who served the Lord faithfully at the Liberty Heights Chapel for so many years. Recently, Doris Rightmer was in the hospital for some surgery, and she was such a source of encouragement to everyone who came to visit her. When people came to see her, she would quote this verse:

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJ)
7 . . . God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

What a beautiful testimony! Whenever we find ourselves experiencing a little fear, we can turn to the Lord and trust in Him. That’s what King David did. He said in Psalms 53:

Psalms 56:3 (KJV)
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

The Jews were afraid of the giants on the other side of the Jordan River, and if you find yourself being afraid of the giants that are on the other side of this life, you can put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you believe that He died for your sins, He will forgive your sins, and He will give you eternal life. When the children of Israel shrunk back in fear because of the giants in the land of Canaan, Moses said:

Deuteronomy 1:29-30 (NKJ)
29 . . . Do not be terrified . . . of them.
30 'The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

Moses did not try to deny that Israel’s enemies were real. He knew they were going to have to face many strong enemies, but He also knew the power of God. He knew that God was going to fight for them with the same power that He had revealed in Egypt and the same power that He had revealed at the Red Sea. He knew that if God be for us, who can be against us?

Now before we close I’d like for us to look at Joshua, Chapter 1, for just a moment, where God speaks to Joshua after the death of Moses and, of coarse, after Israel has wondered in the wilderness for forty years. In verse 1 we read:

Joshua 1:1-3 (NKJ)
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying:
2 "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to . . . the children of Israel.
3 "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.

Joshua 1:10-11 (NKJ)
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
11 "Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.'"

Then Chapter 2 says:

Joshua 2:1 (NKJ)
1 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.

Of coarse we know that God spared Rahab’s life because she believed in God, but here we see that Joshua sent out spies before leading the children of Israel into the promised land. As I mentioned earlier, it’s not a lack of faith to gather information so that we can make plans for the future. It’s not a lack of faith, that is, if we do it believing in the power of God and trusting God to lead us in His perfect will. God does not want us to be foolish in our approach to the future. He wants us to be wise and to walk in wisdom.

Did you know that God gave us the Bible so that we can make good, solid plans for the future? He didn’t want us to go into eternity without knowing the means by which we could be received eternal life. The Bible is God’s way of providing us with the information that we need.

If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, the question for you today is this. Will you be willing to make your plans for eternity based on the information that God has provided in His word. 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.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. It’s been a pleasure being with you, 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/