Monthly Archives: July 2014

God Gets “Historical”

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A man was talking to his friend and he said that every time he and his wife have a disagreement, she gets historical.  His friend tried to correct him by asking if he meant to say that she gets hysterical.  The man said that he did not misspeak, but that his wife gets ‘historical’ by bringing up everything that he ever did!

In 2 Kings 21 beginning in verse 10, it appears that God is getting ‘historical’ with the kingdom of Judah.  Manasseh, who committed a great deal of evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 21:1-9), has caused the nation to commit the sin of idolatry.  Indeed, Manasseh is said to be worse than the Amorites that God removed from the land prior to the Israelites inheriting it (2 Kings 21:10).  Because of the sins of Manasseh and the kingdom of Judah, God is going to cause them to go off into Babylonian captivity for a 70 year period of correction.  God had a tremendous amount of patience with Israel, but now that patience is up. Israel’s winepress is just about full, and there will be no way to avert what is to come.  God says, “they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day” (2 Kings 21:14b-15).  God gets ‘historical’ in that He reminds them of how long their transgressions against Him have been building.

Our God is a God of patience (Romans 15:5) and of longsuffering (1 Peter 3:20).  God waits upon man to turn his life around and to come to Him (2 Peter 3:9).  However, there is a limit to God’s patience.  We only have this life in which to come to God and have our sins washed away and removed from our record through the act of baptism (Acts 2:38; 22:16).  If we want to make sure that God is not historical with us on Judgment Day, then we need to make sure that we do what He said to do.  If we will simply obey Him, God will blot out our sins and will remember them no more (Heb. 8:12; 10:17).

The Return of the King

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the_lord_of_the_rings__the_return_of_the_king_wallpaper-1024x768What do you think about when you think about a king making his triumphant entry into the city? Do you picture a warrior looking man riding a large white stallion or an armored warhorse? How often do you picture that king being meek or lowly and riding on a small, young donkey?

All four of the gospels give the account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As Jesus makes His final entry into that city, He is not riding a large steed, but instead is riding upon the colt of a donkey (Mat. 21:5). This illustrates to us that the idea that Jesus was going to come as a conquering hero in order to overthrow the Roman Empire and establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem is an erroneous idea. Indeed the Jews were expecting the Messiah to be this type of political/warrior leader. They were wrong.

Jesus did not come to earth to establish an earthly kingdom, for He told Pilate at His trial that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Christ’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, that was to be established when the power of the Holy Spirit came upon His apostles (Mark 9:1; Acts 1:4-5; Acts 2:1-4). Thus Jesus did not enter Jerusalem as a conqueror, but as a spiritual Lord and Savior.

Scripture tells us that Jesus will return someday to take His followers up to heaven with Him (John 14:3). There will be a return of the King on that day, in which all the nations of the earth will be judged (2 Cor. 5:10). The question is, are you ready for the return of the King? Are you a part of His spiritual kingdom today?

Both Lord and Savior

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Jesus - Morning-LightIn the gospel accounts of Jesus it is common to see many people who came to Jesus for one reason or another. Some came because of illnesses or demons. Some came to be fed with physical nourishment. Some, such as the Pharisees, came to Jesus in order to trap Him or accuse Him. Many who came to Him were not willing to be led by Him, however.
In the parable of the minas, the citizens (who represent the Jews who rejected Christ) do not want the nobleman (who represents Jesus) to rule over them. They even send a delegation after him to try to make sure he does not receive his kingdom (Luke 19:11-27). In the end, when the king returns, they are slain before him in judgment. Likewise, there are many today who want the atoning blood of Jesus to cover their sins, so they accept Jesus as a savior. However, they are unwilling to follow His commands and allow Him to rule in their lives.
It is not for us to pick and choose like this when it comes to Jesus. God has made Jesus to be both our Lord and our Savior (Acts 2:36). If we want Jesus to cover our sins with His blood so that we can have redemption, then we must also accept Him as the Lord of our lives. God has made Christ the ruler. We must be willing to follow. Jesus suffered death on the cross so that we could be saved. Can we look at that and say, “Thanks, but I’m going to live my life as I see fit?” Therefore, when we come to Jesus for salvation, we need to be willing to accept Christ as our Lord.

Freedom!

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stone.tif In April 1775 British Redcoats and American colonists squared off in Lexington, MA in what was to become known as the “shot heard round the world.” The battle that began in April continued into June 1776, when a committee of five men (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston) was selected by the Continental Congress to draft the Declaration of Independence, thus sealing America’s desire for freedom from England.
But there is another freedom that came to men long before the American Revolution. Over 1,700 years prior to that fateful April day in Lexington, MA, man was granted freedom from sin. Jesus Christ, who had come to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), died on the cross so that men might be relieved of their burden of sin. Jesus declared in His ministry that those who would abide, or live in, His word would be His disciples, and His true disciples would know the truth, which would make them free (John 8:31-32).
In order to be free from sin, the word of God must abide in the believer. If we choose to not allow God’s word to abide in us, if we choose to abide in the world instead of God’s word, then we are not His disciples. And if we are not His disciples, then we will not know the truth and we will not be free from our sins. But thanks be to God, that if we do live in His word, we can enjoy that ultimate freedom. Let us study what God’s word has to say about true freedom and enjoy an independence from sin that can only come from Jesus Christ!

Who is This Jesus?

Posted on by under Christian Evidences

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People may often wonder about Jesus and who He really was.  It has been said by some that Jesus was just a good man, or that He was only a prophet, but that He was not the Son of God.  What evidence do we find in God’s word about who Jesus really was?  When Jesus and His disciples approached the region of Caesarea Philippi He asked them what the people thought about who He was.  They answered Him that some thought that He might be John the Baptizer, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.  However, when He asked His apostles who He was, “Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Matthew 16:16 NKJV).

How did Peter know who Jesus really was?  One reason is that Peter had been travelling with Jesus for some time and had seen the things that Jesus was able to do.  Some of what Peter had seen is recorded for us in Matthew chapter 8, which chronicles several of the miracles of Jesus.  In this chapter we can see that Jesus exhibited power that mere men or prophets simply did not have.  Specifically, there are 5 such miracles that demonstrate the power of Jesus over several aspects of life.

The miracles of Jesus in chapter 8 of the book of Matthew include the following:

  1. The healing of the leper (Mat. 8:1-4), which demonstrates Jesus’ power over the seen or external world.  All could see that the leper had the disease, but no one else could have healed him other than God.
  2. The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mat. 8:14-15), which demonstrates Jesus’ power over the unseen or internal world.  She had a fever, and while others may be able to tell by her demeanor that she was ill, none but God could see the internal cause of the fever.
  3. The healing of the centurion’s servant (Mat. 8:5-13), which demonstrates Jesus’ power over time and space.  It was not necessary for Jesus to travel to the centurion’s home to heal the servant, He was able to do it from a distance.  This shows that Jesus had a power that mortal man does not posses.
  4. The calming of the storm at sea (Mat. 8:23-27), which demonstrates Jesus’ power over nature.  No mere man could have accomplished this feat as even His disciples exclaimed, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27b).
  5. The casting out of demons (Mat. 8:28-32), which demonstrates Jesus’ power over the spiritual realm.  Again this shows that Jesus was more than a man and that He really was the Son of God.

We see that the purpose of miracles was to confirm the message that was spoken (Mark 16:20).  Therefore, it is not unusual that Matthew shows these 5 miracles here in chapter 8 as Jesus has just finished delivering the Sermon on the Mount (Mat. 5-7).  Indeed, at the end of that great sermon the people realized that Jesus was not like other men.  “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mat. 7:28-29).  Thus the miracles of Jesus help to prove to us just who He really is, that being the Son of God and a member of the Godhead.