Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of that article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to listen to an article on the internet, go to:

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

If you would like to receive an article as an mp3 audio file, just send me an e-mail to that effect.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast – October 6, 2007

Preparation – Joe Fischer and Sons

Devotional – Bobby Patterson
Fall Retreat 2007 -- September 28-30, 2007
Summer Camp 2008 -- July 18-21, 2008

The Earthly Kingdom (BST 9-16-07)

The Earthly Kingdom
Bible Study Time 9-16-07

Now, we’ve been talking about the kingdom that will bring about the restoration of all things. After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus spent 40 days with His disciples, and Luke records in Acts, Chapter 1, that the Lord spoke to His disciples of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Then Luke says that:

Acts 1:4-5 NKJV
4 . . . being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

From this we see that at that time there were two distinct baptisms. The baptism associated with John the Baptist was a baptism in water, while the baptism associated with the Lord Jesus was to be the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is never at time when the Bible brings these two baptisms together as one. They are always independent one from the other.

John the Baptist was actually the first to make this distinction. At one point:

John 1:29-34 NKJV
29 . . . John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'
31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."
32 And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.
33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

The Apostle John was the one who wrote about these comments by John the Baptist, and certainly he was one who understood this distinction between water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Chapter 4 of John’s Gospel, John said:

John 4:1-3 NKJV
1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),

The Apostle John knew, as did John the Baptist, that Jesus did not come into this world to baptize people with water, but He came for the purpose of making the baptism of the Holy Spirit available to all who would believe in Him.

The Old Testament saints had water baptism, but they did not have the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament saints all looked forward to the day when the baptism of the Holy Spirit would come because that was the baptism that would make possible the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.

Water baptism had always been an important aspect of the Old Testament Law. Under the Law, whenever a person was ceremonially unclean, they would have to wash in water before they could reenter Jewish society. Therefore, none of the Jews considered it to be the least bit strange that John the Baptist would ask sinners to repent and be baptized in water.

Jesus came not only to fulfill the Law but to take believers into a realm of purity and holiness that only the Holy Spirit of God could provide. So in Acts, Chapter 1, when Jesus spoke to His disciples about the Kingdom of God, He concluded His teaching with the glorious truth that they would be baptized by the Holy Spirit within just a few days.

Well, the disciples got the point. They understood that the coming of the kingdom was dependent upon the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, so they asked the Lord point blank:

Acts 1:6 NKJV
6 . . . "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

But Jesus said:

Acts 1:7 NKJV
7 . . . "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

Obviously, the Lord Jesus knew things that He was not at liberty to discuss with His disciples at that time. All the disciples had to know was that the power of the Holy Spirit was going to come upon them in just a few days and that this would open the door for the blessings of the kingdom to come to the earth.

Now, it seems obvious that when the disciples asked Jesus if He was going to restore the kingdom at that time, they were thinking of an earthly, political kingdom. They were hoping that when the Holy Spirit came, Jesus would come to the earth very shortly thereafter and exercise His power as the Son of God to defeat the Gentile nations and establish His kingdom over all the earth.

That’s what Peter had in his mind as he spoke to the Jews on the very day that the Holy Spirit was given. Peter explained that the speaking in tongues which they had witnessed was actually the fulfillment of Joel’s prophesy. He said:

Acts 2:14,16,17 NKJV
14 . . . "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
16 . . . this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;

When Peter spoke of the last days, he wasn’t talking about the last days of the world, as if the world was about to come to an end. Peter was talking about the last days of the age in which they were living.

Just before Jesus was crucified, the disciples had asked Jesus what events would occur as signs of the end of the age. Jesus told them to look out for the abomination of desolation which the prophet Daniel had predicted.

Since all of Daniel’s prophecies had to do with the age of Gentile dominion over the earth, this tells us exactly what age the disciples were talking about. The disciples wanted to know what signs will occur as the age of Gentile dominion comes to an end.

Well, that’s exactly what Peter and Joel were talking about when they spoke of the last days. They were talking about the last days of this age of Gentile dominion which will be followed by the age in which the nation of Israel rules the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Acts, Chapter 2, Peter went on to say that Jesus did many miracles to prove that He was the Messiah, but instead of being exalted by the people and glorified as King, He was crucified. Then Peter told them that Jesus had been raised from the dead and had been exalted at the right hand of God in heaven.

There are some believers who believe that this point in history is where the Church of our present age began. They see the gift of the Holy Spirit, and they conclude that this is the beginning of the Church which is the Body of Christ.

According to this point of view, the kingdom of God did come to the earth here in Acts, Chapter 2, and Christ has been ruling over the earth through the Church from His throne in heaven ever since that time. Since the Jews rejected Jesus, God rejected the Jews and decided to give Israel’s promised kingdom to the believing Gentiles.

This point of view is often called Covenant Theology because it assumes that the covenant blessings which God promised to Israel were transferred to the Church of today. Covenant Theology technically holds to the idea that God has given the Christian Church of today the task of conquering the unbelieving world either by evangelism or by military force so that God can establish His political will on the earth. They take the Lord’s prayer as a command to establish the will of God on earth as it is in heaven.

In contrast to this, there are those who believe that God simply set the nation of Israel and her promises aside on a temporary basis so that He could call out the Church of today as a separate body of believers. This point of view is referred to as Dispensational Theology because it says that God has had distinctly different programs for different people at different times through the ages.

Covenant Theology says that the tribulation period took place during the early years after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and it says that the next item on God’s agenda is for Christ to return to separate believers from unbelievers so that believers can enter into the New Heaven and the New Earth while the unbelievers are cast into the Lake of Fire.

Dispensational Theology says that the next item on God’s agenda is for Christ to catch the Church up into heaven so that He can resume His dealings with the nation of Israel during the tribulation period. At the end of the tribulation period, Christ will return to the earth, defeat the antichrist and rule over the earth for a thousand years. After this thousand year period, all unsaved people will stand before the Great White Throne judgment of God before they are sentenced to the Lake of Fire.

In spite of the basic differences between these two systems of Biblical interpretation, both sides have a great deal in common. Most Dispensationalists recognize that the spiritual blessings which were promised to Israel have been carried over into God’s program for the Church of today. All believers recognize that believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ and that as a result of this baptism we have access to the power of God through the Holy Spirit. We all believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to convict the believer of sin and deliver the believer from sin.

Also, most Covenant theologians acknowledge some of the concepts of Dispensational Theology. They would acknowledge that Old Testament Jews did think that the promised kingdom would be a political kingdom which would be dominated by the nation of Israel. They would agree that the Apostles were anticipating an earthly, Jewish kingdom as they went out preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. And they would probably acknowledge that Peter and the other eleven Apostles had this Jewish political kingdom in mind as they went out preaching during the Acts-period.

This in itself would imply a change in God’s program for mankind. Even if God knew in the Old Testament that He was ultimately going to give the kingdom to a Gentile Church, He never said anything about that until after Israel rejected Christ. Therefore, at some point God would have to change His program for mankind to start revealing this fact to believers.

This brings even Covenant Theologians to the point of having to determine when the first program ended and the second one started. In other words, when did God start telling believers that He was going to give the blessings that were promised to Israel to a Gentile Church.

History tells us that it was not until after the Roman Empire became Christian under the Emperor Constantine that men like St. Augustine came to the conclusion that the tribulation period was over and the kingdom had begun. This made sense to them because Christians were no longer being persecuted, and all of a sudden Christians had the power to dominate the world.

There is no evidence to suggest that any of the Apostles ever gave up on the idea of a literal, earthly, Jewish kingdom. Men like St. Augustine looked at verses at the end of Galatians Chapter 3, where Paul said:

Galatians 3:26-29 (NKJ)
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

They look at Romans 14:17 where Paul said:

Romans 14:17 (KJV)
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

These verses appear to give evidence that God had changed His program from a political Jewish kingdom to a spiritual Gentile kingdom. However, Covenant Theology fails to account for the fact that the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans said that the Gentiles were only being grafted into Israel’s kingdom program. He emphasized that God had not cast aside the nation of Israel, and in fact, he said that someday all of Israel will be saved. This, of course, is referring to the believing remnant of Jews who will survive the tribulation period and enter into the kingdom.

It is precisely because of statements like these by the Apostle Paul that I personally hold to the Dispensational point of view. If all of the Apostles believed in a literal Jewish kingdom, they must have believed that for a very good reason, and that reason was that God had promised the kingdom to Israel and God never goes back on His promises.

After all, God said through Jeremiah that as long as the sun and the moon and the stars shine in the heavens, He would never reject the nation of Israel forever. He has rejected them for this period of time in which we live today, but that is only temporary and it’s only for the nation as a whole. Individual Jews can be saved today through faith in Jesus Christ just like anyone else, but God has temporarily set aside Israel’s kingdom program while He builds the Church and brings it to completion.

Now, there still remains a very important issue which Dispensationalists have to address, and that is when did God set aside Israel’s kingdom program so that He could start calling out the Church? If all of the Apostles continued to hold to the hope of the earthly, Jewish kingdom throughout their lifetimes, when did that hope get set aside?

The fact is that as we look at the scriptures, we can see clear evidence of the change even though we cannot pinpoint the exact moment when the change occurred. When we look at Paul’s writings, we see that in his Acts-period epistles, he spoke frequently about Abraham, the New Covenant, the tribulation period, the antichrist, and so forth. But when we get to Paul’s prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, we find no mention of any of these things.

As it turns out, it is in these little epistles where Paul says that he has been given the revelation concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ. And it is in these epistles where Paul tells us that this revelation is something that God never revealed to anyone at any time throughout the previous ages.

Therefore, Paul and the other Apostles never had to change their point of view in regard to God’s program for man. They just kept right on believing in that kingdom which will indeed someday be established upon the earth.

As time went on the program for the Church which God revealed through Paul came to the forefront while Israel’s kingdom program faded into the background. Paul never even had to say specifically that Israel’s kingdom program had been set aside. God was perfectly capable of providing for the transition through His own sovereign will.

It is because of this divinely inspired transition that Christians today emphasize the spiritual blessings that God has provided for us rather than the earthly kingdom that God promised to Israel.

The earthly kingdom is not our hope, but it is so very important for us to understand because that kingdom is the focus of most of the Bible. We have to acknowledge it and understand it in order to understand the Bible. With this understanding, God is free to use all scripture to thoroughly equip the saints for the work of the ministry of the Church which is the Body of Christ.

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

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of that article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to listen to an article on the internet, go to:

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

If you would like to receive an article as an mp3 audio file, just send me an e-mail to that effect.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast – October 6, 2007

Preparation – Joe Fischer and Sons

Devotional – Bobby Patterson
Fall Retreat 2007 -- September 28-30, 2007
Summer Camp 2008 -- July 18-21, 2008

The New Covenant (BST 9-9-07)

The New Covenant
Bible Study Time 9-9-07

James Dobson once told about a marine who was severely wounded in the terrorist bombing in Beirut. When his commander visited him in the hospital, this marine had so many tubes running in and out of his body that it was said that he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he was still alive.

As the commander drew near, the marine motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. Though his body was racked with pain, this marine wrote a brief note and passed it back to his commander. The piece of paper had only two words: "Semper Fi." This is the Latin motto of the Marines, and it means "forever faithful." With those two words, this marine spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed so much for our liberty and our security. Sacrificing limb and life, they have remained faithful even to the end.

I like to think of this illustration when I think of the faithfulness of God. We often sing the song, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, but can we really grasp the faithfulness of God? Our minds can hardly grasp the unselfish, undying faithfulness of those who have fought and died for our country, but God’s faithfulness to all of mankind and to each and every individual who had ever been born is something that I’m sure we will never fully understand until the day we see Him face to face.

Even though we go through difficult times, even though we go through dark times, God always brings us through. And when we look back, we see His faithfulness. David said:

Psalms 23:4-6 NKJV
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell* in the house of the LORD Forever.

Then, of course, Jeremiah was the one who actually said:

Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Jeremiah had suffered greatly as a result of his ministry among the Jews. God had called him to one of the most difficult ministries one can imagine. He was called to go to his own country to tell them to surrender to the enemy. He had to tell them that God had set His face against them.

As you can imagine, Jeremiah was ridiculed, mocked and tortured, but God was faithful to Jeremiah. Even though God did destroy Jerusalem just as Jeremiah had predicted, Jeremiah was kept safe. In the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Jeremiah said:

Lamentations 3:1-24 NKJV
1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of (God’s) wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
6 He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.*
14 I have become the ridicule of all my people — Their taunting song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
18 And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD."
19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"

Jeremiah knew the faithfulness of God, and when we look at God’s plan for mankind and for the creation, we see nothing but the faithfulness of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they passed from the realm of life into the realm of death, but God provided the sacrifice that would cover their nakedness and protect them from the curse of sin. At that time, God promised that a Great Deliverer would come into the world through the woman.

Later, God saw the wickedness of man, and He decided to destroy every living thing that lived on land, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. As Jeremiah said, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”

Shortly after the flood, mankind rebelled against the Lord again at the tower of Babel, but God was faithful to man. Out of the confusion, God called a man named Abraham. God saw faith in Abraham, and as a result, God counted Abraham’s faith as the equivalent of righteousness. God told Abraham that the Great Deliverer would be one of his descendants.

After another period of about a thousand years, the descendants of Abraham grew into a great nation, and David became the king of Israel. God promised David that the Great Deliverer would be Israel’s Messiah and that the Messiah would establish the throne of David on the earth in an everlasting kingdom. David was told that in this kingdom all the Gentile nations of the earth would bring their sacrifices and their praise to the Son of David, who will rule the earth as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

This kingdom will bring an end to the curse of sin. It will bring an end to suffering and pain. It will bring an end to death. Even the creation itself will be restored to its original beauty and glory. All of this would depend upon the coming of the Messiah and upon Israel’s willingness to submit to the Messiah.

Well, the Messiah did come, and His name was Jesus. He was not born into a royal family, but He was born into a family of very modest means. In fact, as you know, He was born in a stable in Bethlehem because there was no room for them in the inn.

Jesus grew up and did great miracles to prove that He was the Messiah, but in spite of His miracles, He was rejected and crucified by the nation of Israel. To everyone’s surprise, however, He was raised from the dead on the third day, and after spending 40 days with his disciples, He was taken up into heaven.

Ten days later, the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were given special knowledge, and they were given the power to heal and cast out demons. One day, as Peter and John were entering into the temple to pray, Peter healed a lame man and then spoke to the Jews who were standing nearby, saying:

Acts 3:19-21 NKJV
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,*
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Before the creation could be restored, the kingdom would have to come, and before the kingdom could come, the nation of Israel would have to put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. But there was one more thing that had to happen before any of this could happen. Before any of this could happen, the nation of Israel would have to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins.

The curse of death came upon the creation and upon mankind when Adam sinned in the Garden. Therefore, the penalty for sin had to be paid. The book of Hebrews says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin.

The animal that was sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve was a picture of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. Noah offered an animal sacrifice to God when he came out of the ark, and this symbolized that the ultimate restoration of the creation would be based upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ. When Abraham took his son, Isaac, up on Mt. Moriah and laid him on the altar, this was a picture of the fact that someday God would offer His only begotten Son as the sacrifice which would pay for the sins of the world.

Just before Jesus was crucified, He went up into the upper room to observe the Passover with His disciples. Matthew says that:

Matthew 26:26-28 NKJV
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.

Jesus had to shed the blood of the New Covenant, and it was this New Covenant which was to purify the nation of Israel. Jeremiah 31 says:

Jeremiah 31:31-33 NKJV
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.

The New Covenant was to be based on the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and it will purify the nation of Israel when they do finally accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Then the nation of Israel will be ready to serve the Lord as a kingdom of priests as they minister to the Gentiles nations. Jeremiah goes on to say:

Jeremiah 31:34-38 NKJV
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."
35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name):
36 "If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever."
37 Thus says the LORD: "If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD.
38 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be built for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

Jeremiah knew the faithfulness of God, and that God would never forsake Israel or His promises to Israel. Someday Israel will serve the Gentile nations of the earth as a kingdom of priests, and it will be Israel’s privilege to lead the Gentile nations into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah, Chapter 2, says:

Zechariah 2:10-12 NKJV
10 "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the LORD.
11 "Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
12 And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

During the kingdom, the Lord will dwell in Jerusalem in the midst of the Jewish people, but the Gentiles nations will be joined to the Lord and will become the people of God.

All of this could have happened immediately after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for the blood of the New Covenant had been shed. However, the Jews rejected Jesus throughout the Acts period, and God began to reveal the church of our present age. In our church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, and our church is not anticipating a place in the earthly kingdom. We are citizens of heaven, and we look for the Savior who will catch up to be with Him in heaven.

But God has not forsaken His promises to Israel. Someday when the last person is saved and the Church is complete, God will take the Church up into heaven, and then He will once again reach out to the nation of Israel with the gospel of Jesus Christ. At that time, the Jews will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will believe. The kingdom will come, and the Jews will lead the nations to know the Lord. At that time even the Gentile nations will say:

Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

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

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of that article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to listen to an article on the internet, go to:

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

If you would like to receive an article as an mp3 audio file, just send me an e-mail to that effect.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast – September 1, 2007

Preparation – James Hickerson and Sons

Devotional – Leon Fischer
Fall Retreat 2007 -- September 28-30, 2007
Summer Camp 2008 -- July 18-21, 2008

The Secret (BST 9-2-07)

The Secret
Bible Study Time 9-2-07

Last week we looked at the fact that Daniel was given special information concerning the time when the kingdom would be restored to Israel. Daniel had been hoping and praying for a return to the glory of David’s kingdom or the glory of Solomon’s kingdom, but God gave Daniel a vision of Israel’s future kingdom which was nothing short of astonishing. Daniel could see that the ultimate restoration of Israel’s kingdom would also mean the restoration of all things.

When the Lord Jesus began His public ministry, He and His disciples went out preaching that the kingdom of heaven was a hand. The kingdom and the restoration of all things did depend upon the coming of the Messiah, and since Jesus was the Messiah, the kingdom was at hand. All Israel had to do was believe that Jesus was the Christ.

However, the Lord Jesus came unto His own, but His own received Him not. He was despised and rejected, and He was crucified upon the cross. After His resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit came upon His disciples who did many miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit. God caused these miracles to prove that Jesus had been raised from the dead and to prove that if the Jews would believe in Jesus, He would return to the earth from heaven to establish the kingdom and restore all of the creation. In Acts, Chapter 3, Peter challenged his fellow countrymen, saying:

Acts 3:19-21 NKJV
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,*
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Peter said, if you guys will just repent and believe what I’m telling you, Jesus will come back to set up the kingdom, and Peter reminded them that this hope of the kingdom was not something new, but it was something that all of God’s holy prophets had talked about since the world began. Indeed, this was nothing new.

When John the Baptist was born, Zechariah’s tongue was loosed and he exclaimed:

Luke 1:68-70 NKJV
68 "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David,
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began,

We don’t know exactly how much the earliest of the prophets knew about God’s plan for the future, but it’s clear that they knew more than what is recorded in the Old Testament scriptures. Take Abraham for example. From the book of Hebrews, we know that Abraham was looking for a heavenly city. That means that He knew about the New Jerusalem which will come down out of heaven. Moses said nothing about that in the book of Genesis.

Just how much did the other early prophets know? We know that God told the devil, in the presence of Adam and Eve, that a person would come in the future who would be the Seed of the woman. God said that Satan would do battle with this Seed of the woman and that Satan would bruise His heel. But God also said that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of Satan.

From this Adam and Eve new about the man who would someday come into the world as the great deliverer, the one who would defeat the devil, redeem mankind and deliver the creation from the curse of sin.

Jude tells us that Enoch was also a great prophet of God. He said:

Jude 14-15 NKJV
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about (certain men), saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

So Enoch was a great prophet, and he knew about the coming of the Lord and the fact that the Lord would judge the ungodly at His coming. But how much more did Enoch know about the future?

Enoch lived on the earth until his son, Methuselah, was 300 years old. Even Adam lived until Methuselah was 243 years old. Therefore, it would appear that many great prophesies were given and past down all through the years between the time of Adam and the great flood of Noah’s day.

When we look at these facts, it becomes clear that the great flood was an act of God’s grace. The other alternative would have been for the Lord to come to the earth before the flood for the final judgment of mankind. Just think of all the men, women and children who have lived since that time who have had a chance to be saved simply because God did not decided to end it all at that time.

Zechariah knew that his son, John, was to be the forerunner of the Messiah, and he rejoiced to see the fulfillment of promises which had been spoken by the prophets since the world began. Peter said that if his fellow countrymen would repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, God would send Jesus back to fulfill all of the promises which God had spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets since the world began.

We don’t know exactly how much the earliest of the prophets knew about the future, but we know that they have been talking about the coming Messiah and the restoration of all things in some form or fashion since the world began.

With the calling out of Abraham, however, the prophesies started to get much more specific, at least as far as the written record is concerned. God told Abraham:

Genesis 22:18 NKJV
18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

Abraham knew that the Seed of the woman would be the Messiah who would deliver the earth out of the hands of the devil, and he knew that this Messiah would make it possible for the New Jerusalem to come down out of heaven to the earth. The writer of Hebrews says:

Hebrews 11:9-10 NKJV
9 By faith (Abraham) dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

About a thousand years after Abraham, God gave more information concerning the Messiah to David. God told David that the Messiah would come not only through Abraham, but He would come through David as well. God told David:

2 Samuel 7:12-14 NKJV
12 "When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son . . .

After David’s kingdom, the children of Israel started drifting away from the Lord, and prophets such as Isaiah came on the scene. These prophets warned the people of the coming judgment, but they also gave more information about the coming Messiah. Isaiah said:

Isaiah 7:14 NKJV
14 . . . Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.*

From this the faithful Jews knew that the Messiah would not have a human father. They also knew that the Messiah would be God in the flesh because one of His names would be Immanuel, which means: God with us. Isaiah also gave a prophesy about David’s father, Jesse, saying:

Isaiah 11:1-5 NKJV
1There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

Finally Isaiah said:

Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace, There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

So as we go through time in the Old Testament, we see that the focus of the Messianic prophesies gets narrower. At first the Messiah was simply pictured as someone who would be born of a woman. Then He was to be a descendant of Abraham and also a descendant of David. He was to be born of a virgin, and the Spirit of the Lord was to be upon Him.

Isaiah spoke as a member of the nation of Israel when he said, unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. And certainly, when the Lord Jesus did come to the earth, He came to the Jews. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. At one point, the Lord Jesus said:

Matthew 15:24 NKJV
24 . . . "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

As Jesus sent His disciples out, He said:

Matthew 10:5-7 NKJV
5 . . . "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as you go, preach, saying,'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

The kingdom of God, which had existed in heaven since before the beginning, was ready to come to the earth, bringing all of its glory and splendor to the earth. Indeed, it would have come to the earth if the nation of Israel had been willing to receive it.

The nation of Israel stood on the banks of the Jordan River at Kadesh Barnea and on the word of ten spies, they decided that the giants of the land were too big, too fierce to conquer, so they turned their backs on the kingdom that God was offering them. And as Jesus and the disciples went out preaching the gospel of the kingdom, the Jews were standing at the threshold of the greatest kingdom the world could ever imagine, but once again, they refused to go in. This time it was a simple matter of refusing to believe that Jesus was their promised Messiah.

If only the Jews had believed, the entire earth would have enjoyed the Kingdom of God on earth. They would have enjoyed all of the blessings of heaven while living on the earth, but the Jews refused God’s invitation to believe.

Today, that offer of the kingdom is no longer on the table. Regardless of how many Jews believe and regardless of how many Gentiles believe, that kingdom will not come to the earth. And it doesn’t matter how many people accept Christ today, Jesus will not return to the earth to rule and reign until after all believers have been taken up into heaven to be with the Lord. Even after that event, there will be seven years of tribulation before the Lord Jesus returns to set up the kingdom.

Well, how do we know all these things? We know them because when Israel rejected the message of the kingdom during the Acts period, God gave a special revelation to the Apostle Paul to explain what was going to happen next. None of the prophets had foreseen the rejection of the resurrected Christ. So what was God going to do?

As it turned out, God decided to do what He had always known He would do. He decided to start a new church. He decided to start the Church which is the Body of Christ, and this is the church to which all believers belong today.

In this church, the Jews have no special privilege or position. Now, that doesn’t mean that the Jews have been demoted. It simply means that Jews and Gentiles alike, when they believe in Jesus Christ, are promoted into a church which has a heavenly calling and is blessed with all spiritual blessings.

The message of the Messiah, who would come to deliver the earth and restore all things, was a message which had been given by the mouth of all the prophets since the world began. But this message concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ is a message which God kept secret since before the world began. God chose the Apostle Paul to reveal this great truth to the world.

Paul said that as members of this Church, believers today were actually chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Paul called this truth the truth of the mystery because until it was revealed to him, it had been hidden in God from the beginning of the ages.

Well, I see our time is gone. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to studying with you again next week at this same time.

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of that article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to listen to an article on the internet, go to:

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

If you would like to receive an article as an mp3 audio file, just send me an e-mail to that effect.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast – September 1, 2007

Preparation – Joe Fischer and Sons

Devotional – Leon Fischer
Fall Retreat 2007 -- September 28-30, 2007
Summer Camp 2008 -- July 18-21, 2008

The Restoration (BST 8-26-07)

The Restoration
Bible Study Time 8-26-07

Last week, we looked at Daniel’s prayer of confession. Daniel had been taken captive and carried away into Babylon. God had allowed this to happen because Israel had refused to live by the laws of God. Daniel was heartbroken when he later heard about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

Ezekiel was there in Babylon with Daniel when God gave Ezekiel a message for the people. He said:

Ezekiel 18:2-4 NKJV
2 "What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge'?
3 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.
4 "Behold, . . . The soul who sins shall die.

The children of Israel were consoling themselves that they were not the ones who were responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews. They commonly quoted the proverb that said, “the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” They conveniently excused themselves from any wrongdoing. They simply thought that they were being punished for the sins of their fathers.

They may have thought back on the days of Manasseh who did such evil in the sight of the Lord that the Lord told Manasseh:

2 Kings 21:12-13 NKJV
12 . . . 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.
13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

The Jews in Babylon knew that God had promised the captivity of the Jews because of Manasseh’s sin, so it was much easier for them to think of their own misery as being a result of Manasseh’s sins. They never thought about the fact that God had actually postponed that judgment for Josiah because Josiah repented and turned Israel away from her sin.

Ezekiel saw that many of the unbelieving Jews in Babylon were claiming that they had done nothing to deserve the punishment of God, so Ezekiel said, no more. No more will you say, the teeth of the children are set on edge because the father‘s have eaten sour grapes. He said, the soul that sins, it shall die.

Ezekiel 18:30-32 NKJV
30 "Therefore . . . Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.
31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"

Daniel took to heart the words of Ezekiel and though he was a very godly man, he got on his knees before the Lord to confess his sins and the sins of his people. He said:

Daniel 9:4-5 NKJV
4 . . . "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,
5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.

Daniel didn’t say, my people have sinned. No, He said, we have sinned and committed iniquity.

Daniel knew the Lord, and he knew that no man could stand before a just and a holy God and claim to be without sin. To confess the sins of others without admitting one’s own guilt would be the ultimate proof of the sin of pride and arrogance. Daniel wasn’t just putting on an act for God when he confessed his sins; his confession and his contrition were very real.

So when Daniel first started to pray, God sent the angel Gabriel to tell Daniel some astonishing things. Daniel had been praying about the restoration of the temple and the restoration of the city of Jerusalem. He said:

Daniel 9:16-17 NKJV
16 "O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.
17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.

Daniel longed for the restoration of the temple, the city and the kingdom. As a young man he had experienced the joy of worshiping the Lord in the temple where the very presence of the Lord was. Ezekiel said that he saw in a vision the time when the glory of the Lord left the temple in Jerusalem. What a sad time for all of the true believers. The presence of the Lord had left the temple, but they also knew that someday the presence and the glory of the Lord would return to the temple.

Daniel knew from the writings of Jeremiah that the children of Israel would be allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city after 70 years. When Daniel first heard the words of Jeremiah, he may have thought that after 70 years the temple would be rebuilt and the glory of the Lord would return to the earth. But that was not going to happen, and God wanted Daniel to know that. It was a harsh reality, but God always wants us to know the truth. After all, it’s the truth that sets us free.

Daniel knew that you can’t have the kingdom without the presence of the Lord. Many years after Daniel, the Apostle Paul came to the same conclusion. He said, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

When the children of Israel did return to Jerusalem after 70 years, and after they did start rebuilding the temple, Ezra said that:

Ezra 3:12 NKJV
12 . . . many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes.

We don’t know if they were weeping for joy or if they were overcome with sadness when they saw what was to be the new temple, but we do know that they had every reason to be sad. Even though it was God’s will for them to return to rebuild the temple, the glorious presence of the Lord was never going to fill that temple.

That temple would serve as the center of Jewish worship for hundreds of years, but it would not be blessed with the presence of the Lord. Without the presence of the Lord, you don’t have the kingdom of God, and that’s exactly what God wanted to talk to Daniel about.

In Daniel, Chapter 9, the angel Gabriel told Daniel in essence that from the time that the Jews went back to rebuild Jerusalem, it would be another 490 years before the true restoration of the kingdom.

Do you think this was a crushing blow to Daniel? I mean, seventy years must have seemed like a long time to Daniel, but now he learns that it will actually be 490 years before the glory of the kingdom is restored to Israel.

One might think that Daniel would be crushed to hear this, but the text gives no indication that he was. Oh, he was no doubt astonished and amazed, but it doesn’t seem that he was disappointed.

Up to this point Daniel had never seen the true magnitude of what God was planning for Israel. He had always thought in terms of God bringing back the glory of the kingdom as it was under David and Solomon. But as wonderful as that kingdom was, its glory would be miniscule compared to what God has planned for Israel in the future.

I think that when Daniel caught a vision of the coming kingdom with immortal beings ruling over the entire earth with the glory of the Son of God actually dwelling in Jerusalem, he never looked back with longing for the Jerusalem of his day. God knew that Daniel’s vision of the future was too small, and it was causing Daniel to suffer spiritually. So God helped Daniel to think a little bigger. Actually, he helped Daniel to think a whole lot bigger. Once Daniel saw the magnificent glory of the future kingdom, how could he set his affections on anything less. He knew that the kingdom of the Messiah was worth waiting for.

Well, the Jews went back to rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but the true believers knew that the restoration of the kingdom was yet to come. They looked forward to the day when the Messiah would come to the earth. They looked forward to the day when the glory of the Lord would fill the temple and all of the earth.

When Peter, James and John were with the Lord on the Mt. of Transfiguration, they saw the glory of the Lord, and on the way down the mountain, they asked the Lord about the coming kingdom. They asked:

Matthew 17:10-11 NKJV
10 . . . "Why . . . do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
11 Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first* and will restore all things.

Daniel had said that the restoration of the kingdom would be in 490 years, but he had also said that the Messiah would be cut off after 483 years. As Jesus spoke to his disciples, it had been 483 years, and the time for the death of the Messiah had come. Jesus said:

Matthew 17:11-13 NKJV
11 . . . "Indeed, Elijah is coming first* and will restore all things.
12 But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."
13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

Jesus was falsely accused and convicted. He was crucified upon the cross, but after three days He was raised from the dead. Acts, Chapter 1, says that after the Lord’s resurrection, He spent 40 days with the disciples, speaking to them of things concerning the kingdom. He said:

Acts 1:5 NKJV
5 . . . John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

This was proof that the time for the kingdom had truly come. The Lord had spoken through Ezekiel and said:

Ezekiel 36:27-28 NKJV
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.

The disciples had witnessed the Messiah’s resurrection from the dead, and now the Spirit of the Lord was going to come upon them. The kingdom of heaven was at hand, so they asked the Lord, point blank:

Acts 1:6 NKJV
6 . . . "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Are you really going to establish the kingdom at this time? But Jesus said:

Acts 1:7-8 NKJV
7 . . . "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me* in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

It had been 483 years since the Jews went back to Jerusalem from Babylon. Now, would the kingdom come after 7 more years? According to Daniel, that seven years was going to be a terrible time of tribulation.

Jesus had confirmed this when He said, before the coming of the Son of Man the world will see great tribulation such as has never been seen before. So after the spirit came upon them on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples must have had this in mind as they went out preaching the gospel of the kingdom. They were not surprised at all when they were severely persecuted, and they considered it an honor to suffer for Christ’s sake.

After Peter healed the lame man at the temple gate, Peter seized the opportunity to preach to the people, saying:

Acts 3:19-21 NKJV
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,*
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

The times of refreshing referred to the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit within the heart of every believer. The times of restoration of all things referred to the time when the Lord returns to the earth to fill the temple and the earth with His glory. In the kingdom associated with the Old Covenant Law, the presence of the Lord came down to dwell in the midst of the people. In the kingdom that is associated with the New Covenant, the presence of the Lord will come down to dwell in the people before He dwells among the people.

Peter and the other apostles went out preaching the message of the kingdom. Those who believed were baptized or immersed into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ by the Holy Spirit. The times of refreshing came upon them. But in spite of many miracles, wonders and signs which were given to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit, the nation of Israel as a whole refused to accept that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

As a result, God started calling out the church of today. Someday, we who are members of the church will be caught up to be with the Lord in heaven. At that point, the message of the kingdom will once again go out to the Jews during the great tribulation period. The believing Jews will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and then the Son of Man will come with the clouds of heaven to fill the temple and all of the earth with the glory of the Lord.

Thank you for studying with me this morning. It’s been a pleasure for me, and I’ll look forward to studying with you again next week at this same time.

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of that article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to listen to an article on the internet, go to:

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

If you would like to receive an article as an mp3 audio file, just send me an e-mail to that effect.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast – September 1, 2007

Preparation – Joe Fischer and Sons

Devotional – Leon Fischer
Fall Retreat 2007 -- September 28-30, 2007
Summer Camp 2008 -- July 18-21, 2008

The Love of God (Part 2)(BST 8-19-07)

The Love of God
Bible Study Time 8-19-07

Last week we looked at the fact that God has given valuable information to us because He loves us. It’s one of the ways that God shows his great love for us. The information that God has given us in the Bible is absolutely critical to our success in this life and in the life to come.

In the Bible we find information that will help us in our relationships with one another. It’s very popular in our day and age to focus on this information. We live in a complicated world, and it seems that it is more and more difficult for people to get along with each other. Whether it’s relationships at home or relationships at work, or relationships between the leaders of the world powers, if we read and study the Bible, we will find great information that will help us to get along better with one another.

However, the truth is that the Bible really focuses more on information that will help a person establish and maintain his relationship with God. After all, if we don’t have a good, healthy relationship with God, we are not likely to have good relationships with the people around us.

The Bible is also very clear about the fact that those who fail to establish a relationship with God will someday face the judgment of God. The Bible never sugarcoats the harsh reality of the judgment of God.

The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and death is God’s penalty for sin. God told Adam and Eve that in the day that they ate the forbidden fruit, they would surely die. When the children of Israel were taken away into Babylon because of their sin, Ezekiel warned them that the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Paul said in Romans 6 that the wages of sin is death, but then he added the good news that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus said:

John 5:26-29 (NKJ)
26 " . . . the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,
27 "and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
28 "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 "and come forth-- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

As it turns out, there is only one good deed that a man can do that will qualify him for the resurrection of life, and that good deed is to believe in the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

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."

God wanted us to have this information because He loves us. He wanted us to be able to enter into a loving relationship with Him so that we could enjoy all of the blessings of God. But those who fail to put their faith in Jesus Christ are destined to face the full wrath of God.

If it were not for the Bible, we would not know that this earth is headed for a time of destruction and tribulation that is almost unimaginable. Jesus said that just before His second coming, “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. He said that there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places,” but then He said that these things will be just the beginning of sorrows.

If it were not for the Bible, we would not know that there is a place of everlasting fire which God has prepared for the devil and his angels. Nor would we know that all those who are raised from the dead to face God’s Great White Throne of judgment will be cast into the lake of fire when it is determined that their names are not written in the Book of Life.

God loves all people, and He wants all people to be saved from the wrath to come. As we saw last week, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and that grace was demonstrated when God told Noah about the coming flood. It was according to God’s grace that God told Noah exactly how to build the ark. When the rains came and reservoirs of water from within the earth erupted, the ark had to withstand what was no doubt a crushing surge of churning water. As we all know, the ark that Noah built provided a place of safety for all who entered it by faith.

For 120 years Noah warned the people of the judgment to come, but only Noah’s closest family members were willing to heed that warning. Even after Noah and his family entered the ark, God left the door open for seven more days, and God’s message to them was clear. The salvation of God is available to all who will heed God’s word.

God takes no pleasure in the suffering of those who experience the judgment of God. When the children of Israel were in Babylonian captivity, God spoke through Ezekiel and asked:

Ezekiel 18:23 (NKJ)
23 "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

Ezekiel 18:27-28 (NKJ)
27 "Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive.
28 "Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Ezekiel 18:30-31 (NKJ)
30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.
31 "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?

Ezekiel went on to prophesy of the day when God will indeed given Israel a new heart. In Chapter 36, God spoke to Israel and said:

Ezekiel 36:26-28 (NKJ)
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.

This was good news for the people who were living in Babylon with Ezekiel. They must have been encouraged to think that God was planning to take them back to Jerusalem, but Ezekiel had said nothing about how long the people would be there in Babylon. It appears that many thought that God would take them back very soon, and some were postponing the weddings of their children, thinking that they would just wait until they returned to Jerusalem.

However, Jeremiah was still living in Jerusalem, and he had a word from the Lord for all those living in Babylon. He said:

Jeremiah 29:6 (NKJ)
6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters-- that you may be increased there, and not diminished.

There was no reason to postpone their wedding plans because they were going to be there in Babylon for a while. God did not want their numbers to diminish because He was planning to bring the Jews back to Jerusalem, but God said:

Jeremiah 29:7-10 (NKJ)
7 . . . seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD.
10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.

Can’t you just see the shock in the faces of those who heard this message from Jeremiah? They must have been shocked and extremely disappointed. Many of the older people must have realized that they would die there in Babylon. They would never see Jerusalem again. Could this possibly be true? Yes, it was the word of the Lord.

Daniel was living in Babylon at this time, and in Daniel, Chapter 9, Daniel wrote about his disappointment. He said:

Daniel 9:2-5 (NKJ)
2 in the first year of (the reign of Darius), I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,
5 "we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.

Daniel was crushed. When he heard that he might never see Jerusalem again, he immediately got on his knees before the Lord to beg for the mercy of the Lord. He was probably one of the most godly men of all the Jews, but he took personal responsibility for the sin of his people.

Then notice how Daniel mourned for Jerusalem. He says:

Daniel 9:16-18 (NKJ)
16 "O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.
17 "Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.
18 "O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.

At this point, Daniel was really feeling the pain of his captivity. His soul was in agony, but Daniel knew the One that He could call out to for help. He knew the love of God, and he knew the mercy of God, so he called out to the Lord.

Then after a long time of prayer, Daniel was interrupted by the angel Gabriel who said:

Daniel 9:22-23 (NKJ)
22 . . . "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.
23 "At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

Wait a minute. Why was it that God decided to tell Daniel the meaning of the vision? Was it because Daniel had confessed the sin of his people? Was it because Daniel had refused to eat the king’s meat which had been offered to idols? Was it because Daniel had continued to pray even though it meant that he would be thrown into the lion’s den? No, it wasn’t for any of these reasons. It was because Daniel was greatly beloved. Daniel was greatly loved by the Lord.

So what did God do? He sent Gabriel to give Daniel some information which would be very important to Daniel. It’s kind of surprising that Gabriel’s message was a comfort to Daniel because it wasn’t all good news. But God knows exactly what we need, and only He can meet our needs.

In essence, God told Daniel that after the 70 year period when the Jews would return to Jerusalem, it would be another 483 years to the coming of the Messiah. Well, how was that piece of information suppose to help Daniel? We talking about something that’s 500 years away. Well, sometimes what we need more than anything is to get our minds off of ourselves and onto God’s plan and purpose for the ages.

There is definitely something comforting about thinking about and meditating upon God’s plan and purpose for the ages. It gets your mind off of your own personal problems and gets your mind on the fact that God really is in control of all things, and that is more important than anything else that we could possibly face in this life.

God had more important things for Daniel to think about than whether or not he would ever see that old city back in Palestine that had been burned to the ground. God had big plans for Daniel. He had many more visions for Daniel to see and interpret, and then Daniel was going to be one of those saints who will be resurrected from the dead to actually see the New Jerusalem that will come to the earth while the Son of God rules over all the earth. In the last verse of the book of Daniel, God told Daniel:

Daniel 12:13 (NKJ)
13 "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."

I’m sure that after Daniel’s many visions of the future, he probably still had a great fondness in his heart for the good old days when he was free to worship the Lord in the very sanctuary of the Lord there in Jerusalem, but Daniel knew that that was not to be his focus in life. Daniel was content to focus his attention upon the information that God was giving him about the future of the nation of Israel, and he was content to rejoice in what he knew would be his place in that glorious future. What a place of honor that will be.

Well, there are times when we feel down and discouraged that the very best medicine for us is to focus our attention on God’s revelation to us. God loves us, and He wants us to know the information that is written in the Bible. He has made us in such a way that we respond to the word of God with joy and a sense of peace.

When we do focus on the word of God, it’s not very long before we start to realize that truth of God’s word, that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

I see our time is gone. Thank you for joining me for Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to studying with you again next week at this same time.

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/