25 Pentecost A Year

25 Pentecost – Sunday

Posted November 2, 2008

Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9 -- Corrective Discipline;
Psalm 90:12-17 -- Number Your Days;
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 -- The Day of the Lord;
Matthew 25:14-30 -- Parable of the Talents;

Hosea:

God’s love for Israel is like that of a good father for his child. He called his son to come out of Egypt. The more he called Israel the farther they strayed from him. They kept worshiping Baal and idols, although it was the Lord who had taught them how to live according to his Word and had led them by the hand (or carried them in his arms). They didn’t realize the Lord was their healer. The Lord led them gently “with cords of compassion and bands of love” (Hosea 11:4). The Lord’s bridle in their mouth was gentle. The Lord stooped down to feed them.

How then could the Lord abandon them and give them up. How could the Lord destroy them as he had Admah and Zeboiim (wicked cities destroyed by God along with Sodom and Gomorrah)? The Lord’s heart recoils from that prospect, and he has compassion for them.

The Lord restrains his fierce anger. He will not destroy his people. God’s ways are not like ours. He is Holy, perfect in righteousness and goodness. He will not come to destroy us.

Psalm:

Let us ask the Lord to teach us to use our time in this world to learn divine wisdom. May the Lord have pity on us and come to save us. May we experience his steadfast love daily, and early in life, so that our lives will be full of joy and gladness. May our Lord give us as many days of gladness as we have been afflicted, and as many years of goodness as we have experienced evil. Make God’s power and works known to his servants and their children. May God’s favor be upon us and give us success in the work he has given us to do.

1 Thessalonians:

Christians are not to speculate on times and seasons of Christ’s return (Acts 1:6-7; Matthew 24:36). That day will come suddenly and unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people think they have peace and security, the day will come like the labor of childbirth upon a pregnant woman, and it will be unavoidable. But Christians are not spiritually ignorant so as to be caught by surprise.

Christians are children of the spiritual day and light, not of night and darkness. People sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. Since we are people of the light let us be sober, and let us put on the armor of faith and love like a breastplate to protect our hearts, and the hope in salvation like a helmet that protects our minds. It is God’s will for us to be saved through our Lord Jesus Christ, and not to experience wrath. Jesus died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we will live eternally with him. So we should encourage strengthen one another like this.

Matthew:

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who prepared to go on a long journey. He called his servants to him and distributed money to them, according to their abilities, to manage while he was gone. He gave five talents (each talent worth a thousand dollars) to the first servant. To the second he gave two talents, and to the third he gave one talent. The servant with the five talents used them in trading and doubled the money. The second servant also did likewise and doubled the money. The third servant with the one talent went and buried it in the ground.

After a long time the master returned and summoned his servants to account for the money. The first servant who had made five talents was commended and the master gave him greater responsibility. So also the servant who had made two talents was commended and rewarded with greater responsibility. The third servant told his master he knew the master to be a hard man who took advantage of others, so the servant was afraid and had hidden the talent in the ground. The master condemned the servant for his wickedness. At the least, the servant should have put the money in a bank where it would have been safe and earned interest.

The master took the talent from the wicked servant and gave it to the servant who had the ten talents. Jesus declared that those who have will be given more, but those who (think they) don’t have, will loose everything and will be cast into outer darkness, where they will have sorrow and misery.

Commentary:

The Lord does not want to destroy us but to save us from eternal destruction (John 3:16-17). He has given us his Word in the Bible, and in Jesus Christ, who is the “living Word,” the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word lived out in this world in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14), to show us how to have the best life possible now in this world and eternally in God’s kingdom in heaven.

Jesus is the fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy that God would call his son to come out of Egypt (Exodus 4:22-23). God did call Jesus out of Egypt where his parents had taken him at God’s command, to keep Herod from killing him as an infant (Matthew 2:15). God called Israel to come out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness into the Promised Land. Jesus is our “Moses” who gains our release from slavery to sin and death by Satan, the “Pharaoh” of "Egypt," this present worldly kingdom, and leads us through the spiritual wilderness of this world and into the heavenly Promised Land. We are all God’s children, because he is our Creator, and he calls us to come out of “Egypt” and follow Jesus.

God has always intended from the beginning of Creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him. He has designed this creation to allow us the freedom to choose whether to obey him or not, but he has limited Creation and we ourselves by time, because he is unwilling to tolerate disobedience for ever, or at all in his eternal kingdom, or it wouldn’t be heaven.

This lifetime is our opportunity to seek and find and have fellowship with God our Creator (Acts 17:26-27). This lifetime is our opportunity to learn true, divine, eternal wisdom, not what the world falsely calls wisdom. This lifetime is our opportunity to be spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life. All this is only possible through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the only way to find and know God. Jesus is the divine eternal wisdom of God, (1 Corinthians 1:7-25; 2:1-8). Jesus is the only one who gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). Jesus is the only way to have true eternal life (John 14:6). It is the indwelling Holy Spirit who causes us to be spiritually “reborn.” The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

We have all sinned and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23). The penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God’s only provision for our forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and salvation from eternal destruction (Acts 4:12; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). God has foreseen our need and has come, through Jesus Christ, to save us. God will give us many days of gladness now and more, eternally in heaven, to compensate the affliction we experience in this lifetime. He will give us an eternity of goodness to make up for the evil we experience in this world.

Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience his love for us daily. Let us know the importance of the days we have been given and commit ourselves to trust and obey Jesus early in life so that we will have as much time as possible to experience his love and the joy of his presence, and so we can serve and please him as much as possible. If we commit to serving him he will reveal his will, his power and his saving works to us, and he will give us the abilities and resources we need to serve and please him and accomplish his will.

We are to make the most of the time we’re given. We should seek the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit and be “discipled” within the Church before going into the world to carry on Jesus’ mission to bring forgiveness and salvation to a spiritually lost and dying world (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8). We cannot accomplish Christ’s mission in our own physical ability, but only by the guidance and empowerment of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).

We’ve all been given the gift of time and the opportunity to seek and find God. He has given us the gift of his Word in the Bible, and he’s given us forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Christ as a free gift. All we have to do is accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord in faith.

Jesus is our master whether we acknowledge him or not. He has given the same gifts to all whether we recognize them and value them or not. Jesus has gone to a country far away, and left us in charge of this world. He has promised to return, and then we will be accountable to him for what we have done with what he has given us. Are we investing the gifts he’s given us in ways that will be of eternal value?

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

25 Pentecost – Monday

Posted November 3, 2008

Psalm 131 -- Hope in the Lord;

Background:

The superscription of this psalm indicates that it was intended to be used by pilgrims ascending to the temple in Jerusalem. It is attributed to David, the great shepherd-king of Israel.

Psalm:

The psalmist humbles himself before God. He doesn't pursue his own desires; he does not indulge in human pride; he doesn't pursue understanding beyond ordinary human ability. Instead he disciplines his inner being to be quiet within him, like a child at a mother's breast. God's people are urged to place their hope in the Lord now and always.

Commentary:

When we seek God's Word, we must learn to wait humbly and patiently before the Lord. We must learn to quiet and restrain our human desires and ambition. We must be willing to surrender what we think we want, in order to know and do what God wants.

We must learn to trust the Lord's Word, without first understanding fully, and without requiring proof. This doesn't mean that we should not test the spirits to see if they are of God (1 John 4:1-3). We should pray back what God tells us to make sure that we have understood. God will never tell us to harm ourselves or others, or to do anything contrary to God's Word, the Bible. That's why we should read the entire Bible.

In the “information age” we're used to getting instant answers. Even the telephone has been superceded by the internet and the computer. The most difficult thing I had to learn when I first came to Jesus was to wait upon the Lord. Calling the pastor on the phone seems so much more direct and certain than waiting on the Lord. But the pastor, however well-meaning, can only be certain, if that, of God's will for his own life. The Lord wants us to seek and know him personally and directly.

I do know God's will for me at this moment and that I am in his will daily, which that is wonderfully assuring. The best advise I can give anyone is to seek God's will for themselves by daily Bible reading, meditation and prayer, as the Lord has guided me to do.

The Lord has given me a wonderful opportunity for evangelism ministry on the internet. I've had influence beyond what I could ever have imagined. In the last four years he has never failed to provide me daily with insight into his Word and a message to proclaim, and I have never been unable to publish.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

25 Pentecost – Tuesday

Posted November 4, 2008

Malachi 2:1-2, 4-10 -- Indictment of the Priests;

Background:

The name, Malachi means “my (i.e. God's) messenger.” He is considered a prophet within and to the ministry of the temple.

Malachi:

The Lord says to the priests through Malachi, that if the priests do not listen (hear and obey God's Word) and make the commitment to glorify God's name, God will give them a curse instead of a blessing. Yes, the Lord has already cursed them because they did not take God's warning seriously. The Lord declares that he will rebuke their offspring. They will be disgraced as with dung on their faces and the faces of their offspring, and God will expell them from God's presence. Therefore they will know that this command is God's Word to them, and that the covenant with Levi (the priestly tribe) will be enforced.

God's covenant with Levi was a covenant of life and peace, and God gave him life and peace, so that he might fear (have appropriate awe and respect for the power and authority of God). Levi, the patriarch of the tribe, did fear and was in awe of God's name (his person, character, and power, and authority). He taught the true instruction (Word of God; God's Law, the Scriptures), and he did not depart from God's true Word. He trusted and obeyed God and lived in peace and righteousness (doing what is right, true and good according to God's Word), turning many from sin (disobedience of God's Word). The priests of God should guard (divine) knowledge, and God's people should seek it from God's priests because they are God's chosen messengers. But the descendants of Levi have turned aside from obedient trust in God's Word and by false teaching have caused many of God's people to “stumble” spiritually.

The Lord declares that the descendants of Levi have corrupted God's covenant with Levi. Because they have despised, and abased God's teachings and have shown prejudice in their instruction, God is making them despised and abased in the attitudes of God's people. Isn't God the father of us all? Isn't our Creator the only true God? Why then are we profaning God's covenant with our fathers and being faithless in our dealings with one another?

Commentary:

God established his priesthood by covenant (by sacred promise) between God and Levi (and his descendants). The priests of God promised to preach and teach God's Word by word and example, faithfully and accurately. The priests of God were to be mediators between God and God's people and servants of God and God's people for the people's welfare. Levi is the example of a faithful priest of God. Levi respected and glorified God's name by teaching God's Word faithfully by word and example. As a result many learned and turned from sin to obedient trust in God's Word. The priests of God are his “messengers,” and must guard the true accurate Word of God. God's people should seek to know, trust and obey God's Word.

In Malachi's time, the priests were using their position to serve and please themselves. They were interpreting God's Word to make themselves look righteous, and to make God's people servants of their tradition. They were glorifying themselves rather than God.

In the time of Jesus physical ministry on earth the religious leaders were still doing the same things that Malachi warned against. Jesus' coming marked the end of the Old Covenant of Law and the temple sacrificial system. The Jewish religious leaders wanted to preserve their old traditions instead of entering the New Covenant of Grace (unmerited favor; a free gift). By their rejection of the promised Messiah Jesus Christ, Judaism became a dead end. They still had a “religion,” but God had departed from it* (had expelled them from his presence; compare Malachi 2:3).

The Christian Church is the heir of Judaism. The Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is the example of the new “messenger” (“apostle”) of God. Paul is the prototype of the modern, “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple and apostle of God through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ. Paul guarded and transmitted faithfully and accurately the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:2, 15; 2 Corinthians 4:2). Jesus is the “Living Word” of God, the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God's Word lived out in this world in human flesh (John 1:1.3, 14).

Unfortunately, in too many instances today, the “nominal” Church, particularly in America, is in the same position as Judaism at the time of Jesus' first coming. Isn't Christian Ministry too often a merely a “career choice?”Aren't many “priests,” “ministers,” and “theologians” distorting God's Word to suit their own bias and agendas? Don't some seek their own glory rather than God's? Don't many assert and teach their “traditions” instead of God's Word? Aren't many more concerned with “ritual” than with obedient trust in God's Word?

God's Word contains wonderful promises but also ominous warnings. We will either trust and obey God's Word or we will receive the consequences God's Word was intended to warn us to avoid.

God's covenant with his people is intended to provide us with true, spiritual, eternal life and peace with God and one another. God's Word was given to us so that we could have awe and respect for God's power and authority. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Any one who does not have awe and respect for God's power and authority doesn't understand or believe in God. Whatever else they know isn't sufficient, because they have missed the reason and purpose of life in this world, which is to seek and find God (Acts 17:26-27).

In a sense, we are all God's people because he is our Creator, whether we acknowlege him or not. Jesus Christ is God's only provision for our salvation from eternal condemnation and destruction in Hell. No one can come to know God, divine truth and have eternal life except through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right.

*I do not believe that the Jews are irrevocably and eternally lost; but they will be saved only by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Matthew 23:37-39; Romans 11:1-32).

25 Pentecost – Wednesday

Posted November 5, 2008

1 Thessalonians 2:8-13 -- The Work of the Messenger;

Paul was not only willing to share the Gospel with the Thessalonians but also his own life and being, because he cared deeply for them. Paul was a “tent-maker” who earned his own living at his trade while he proclaimed the Gospel, so as not to financially burden the Thessalonians. God and the Thessalonians are all witnesses to the behavior of Paul and his helpers. Paul was like a father to the Thessalonians as his children, teaching them to lead a life worthy of God’s calling to God’s kingdom and glory. Paul rejoiced that the Thessalonians had accepted the Gospel proclaimed by Paul as the Word of God.

Commentary:

Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was literally a “tent-maker,” a common trade among nomadic people, but had also been formally educated in Judaism. Paul had apparently not known Jesus during Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Paul was zealous for God and Judaism, and viewed the sect of the Nazarenes (Jesus’ disciples; Christians) as heretical. He was on his way to Damascus with authority from the temple in Jerusalem to arrest Christians when he was confronted by the risen and ascended Jesus (Acts 9:1-5). Paul repented (Acts 9:9), accepted Jesus as his Lord (Acts 9:5) and became obedient to Jesus (Acts 5b-9). He was “discipled” by a “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple named Ananias (Acts 9:10-17), until Paul was “reborn” (Acts 9:18-19a), and then Paul became the prototype and example of the modern, post-resurrection, born-again disciple and apostle that each one of us can be, proclaiming the Gospel (Acts 9:19b-20).

Paul was fulfilling the Great Commission which Jesus gave to his disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) to be carried out after they had been “born-again” by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1: 4-5, 8). Paul was making “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to make “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 1:6; 2:2).

It takes “born-again” disciples to make “born-again” disciples. Unless one has been “born-again, how can one teach another to be “born-again?” Unless the Church makes “born-again” disciples how can they produce “born-again leaders?

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

25 Pentecost – Thursday

Posted November 6, 2008

Matthew 23:1-12 Woe to Scribes and Pharisees

Jesus told his disciples, and the crowd that had gathered, to follow what the Scribes and Pharisees taught because they were founded on the authority of Moses, but not to do what they were doing, because they didn't practice what they preached. They made their teaching a heavy burden to others, which they had no intention of bearing themselves. Everything they did was to gain the approval of people but it was all just outward appearance and pretense. They made their phylacteries (headbands with a pouch for scriptures on the foreheads with between the eyes) conspicuous, and their robes indicating their office were embellished with fringe, to gain the approval of people. They enjoyed being deferred to at public events like feasts, synagogues and the public marketplace. They liked being acknowledged as rabbis (religious teachers).

Jesus taught his disciples not to be called rabbi, because Jesus is their teacher, and they were not to call anyone father, because God is our father in heaven. Jesus' disciples were not to be called master, because Jesus is their only master. Jesus said that in his kingdom the greatest will be the one who serves the others. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and the humble will be exalted.

Commentary:

Jesus warns us that it isn't those who call Jesus "Lord," and who call themselves "Christians," who will be saved from eternal destruction, but those who trust and obey what Jesus teaches (Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46). Christians are by definition disciples (Acts 11:26c) of Jesus Christ who trust and obey all that Jesus teaches (and have therefore been spiritually "born-again"). If Jesus is our Lord we will do what he says.

Those who participate in religious ritual to have human approval will have only that. Ritual won't save us; church membership or church attendance won't save us, doing "good deeds" won't save us. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12) can save us from sin (disobedience of God's Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10) and eternal death (which is the penalty for sin; Romans 6:23).

We have been born into this temporal world physically alive but spiritually "unborn." This lifetime is our opportunity to seek God and find him (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). This lifetime is our only opportunity to be spiritually "reborn" (John 3:3, 5-8). Only Jesus gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). Spiritual rebirth is a discernible ongoing event. Any one who is unsure and has to ask a "religious authority" hasn't been "reborn" (Acts 19:2).

There are two major false teachings in the nominal "Church" today that were present in the first-century Church and are refuted in the New Testament. One is "Cheap Grace,"* teaching that salvation is by God's grace (free gift, unmerited favor), which is true, but without the requirement of discipleship and obedient trust in Jesus' teachings, which is false. The other is "Salvation by Works:" teaching that we have to earn salvation by keeping certain rules or by doing certain "good deeds;" not so! Salvation is grace as a free gift to be received by faith (obedient trust); not by doing works of the law or good deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9; see False Teachings, sidebar, top right).

The problem with Judaism at the time of Jesus' first advent (coming) was that the religious leaders knew the Word of God, but didn't do it. They sought the approval of humans instead of God's approval. They enjoyed their status in society and their power over other people, but didn't carry out their responsibility to God to be shepherds of the people.

In lots of ways the nominal "Church" and society are in the same position today as Judaism and Israel at the time of Jesus' first advent. There are many false teachers and false prophets (Matthew 24:11, 24). Many people aren't willing to hear sound scriptural (recorded in the Bible) apostolic (as received from Jesus and taught by the Apostles) doctrine, but will seek teachers who will "tickle their ears" with myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4). The only way to avoid being deceived is to read the Bible, completely, and daily, seeking the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

*See: The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., NY 1963 ISBN 0-02-083850-6

25 Pentecost – Friday

Posted November 7, 2008

Isaiah 49:12-17 -- Return and Restoration;

Background:

This portion of Isaiah is thought to have been written right before the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. to Cyrus of Persia, who allowed the exiles to return to Israel during the following generation.

Isaiah:

Through the prophet, God declared that he would bring the exiles back to their land from where they had been scattered, including Syene, which is on the border of Egypt with Ethiopia, now called Aswan, on the right bank of the Nile. Creation will break forth in rejoicing, because the Lord has had compassion on the afflicted and has comforted his people.

Zion thought that the Lord had forgotten and forsaken them. But the Lord could no more forget Israel than a pregnant or nursing mother can forget her child. Even if they could forget, the Lord would not. The Lord has them "tattooed" on his hands; their security is constantly in his concern. Those who build up Israel will prevail over those who seek Israel's destruction, and their destroyers will flee from them.

Commentary:

The Southern Kingdom of Judah was the remnant of Israel after the Northern Kingdom of the ten tribes were absorbed into the Assyrian empire. The Northern Kingdom effectively ceased to exist after the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. They had been repeatedly warned, by God's Word and prophets, to turn away from idolatry and return to obedient trust in God, but they had refused to heed the warnings until it was too late.

The Southern Kingdom didn't learn from the example of the Northern Kingdom, so God lifted his providence and protection from them and allowed their enemy, Babylon, to carry them off to exile. Before their exile God promised that he would bring them back from after seventy years and that promise was fulfilled. Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar in 587 B.C. The remnant of Israel was released from exile in Babylon, had returned to Israel, and had rebuilt the temple by 517 B.C., by permission of Cyrus of Persia who had conquered Babylon.

Israel thought they had been forgotten and forsaken by the Lord but he kept his promise. The re-builders prevailed over their destroyers. Amazingly, Cyrus not only released the exiles, but returned the gold and silver utinsels that Nebuchadrezzar had looted from the temple. Cyrus also gave the Jews money and authorization to the provincial government to give them aid and materials to rebuild the temple.

God hadn't forgotten and forsaken Israel. God bore the marks of his people indelibly on his hands, literally fulfilled in Jesus Christ by the nails of the cross (John 20:24-28). Those who built up Israel, including Cyrus, prevailed over Israel's destroyers, Nebuchadrezzar and the Chaldean (Babylonian) Empire.

Israel returned a revived and restored people, but ultimately they forgot the lessons they learned in the exile. When the Messiah, Jesus, appeared they were not prepared to accept and receive him. The result was that Jerusalem and the temple were again destroyed, by the Romans, in 70 A.D., and the Jews were scattered throughout the world. The nation of Israel ceased to exist until reestablished following World War II.

The temple has never been rebuilt. That is significant, because the Old Covenant of Law was dependent upon the temple sacrificial system. Judaism effectively ended at the crucifixion, when the veil (curtain) of the temple, separating the people from the the presence of God in the holy-of-holies, was supernaturally torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). That symbolized that a new and better way had been opened into the presence of God through Jesus Christ, by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:19-23).

Jesus is the only way to know divine, eternal truth, the only way to have forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God's Word; Acts 4:12; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right), restoration of fellowship with God, and true, eternal life (John 14:6). Only Jesus gives the gift of spiritual rebirth through the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only through his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

25 Pentecost – Saturday

Posted November 8, 2008

2 Peter 3:3-15 -- The Second Coming;
Luke 17:20-33 -- The End of the Age;

2 Peter:

In the last days, there will be scoffers who ridicule the promise of the Second Coming (John 14:3). Following their own fleshly desires, they will ask where is the sign of the fulfillment of that promise, since, (in their carnal minds) nothing has changed on earth from the beginning of Creation. They deny that the world which once existed was formed by water, out of water (Genesis 1:1-2, 6, 9), and was destroyed by water (Genesis 7:11-12). The new world is destined to be destroyed by fire (Genesis 9:8-17; Matthew 25:41; Luke 12:49; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10) on the Day of Judgment, when Christ returns.

Remember that God's experience of time is different from our own. From the perspective of eternity a day is the same as a millennium, and a millennium is the same as a day. The Lord is not slow in coming; the slowness we perceive is his forbearance. He doesn't want anyone to perish eternally, but that all should repent and be saved. But the Day of the Lord will come suddenly when we least expect, like a thief. Then the heavens will pass away and the physical elements will be destroyed with fire. The earth and everything upon it will be burned up.

Since this is so, we should consider what we should be doing in our lives, so that we can be holy (consecrated to God's service) and godly (living according to the nature and character of God) while we wait for and try to hasten the the coming day of God, when this Creation will be destroyed by fire. We await the fulfillment of God's promise of a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness will be the standard of life.

So let us be zealous to avoid any sort of sin and to remain at peace with God and mankind. Remember that the Lord's forbearance is our salvation, as Paul (Saul of Tarsus) also wrote, by the spiritual insight given to him (consider Luke 24:45).

Luke:

The Pharisees (a legalistic sect of Judaism) had asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming. Jesus replied that the coming of God's kingdom would not coincide with signs which humans could observe, nor will it be confined to a specific location. The Day of the Lord will be like a flash of lightening, which lights the sky from horizon to horizon. But before his (Second) Coming, the Lord must suffer and be rejected by this generation.

Jesus compared the Day of the Lord to the days of Noah. In Noah's day, humans carried on their earthly lives until the day Noah entered the Ark. And then the flood came and destroyed them all (except Noah and his family).

Jesus also compared the Day of Judgment to the days of Lot (the nephew of Abraham (Abram), who settled in Sodom; Genesis 11:31; 13:5-13). God warned Lot to flee Sodom with his family, and that day Sodom was destroyed (with Gomorrah; notoriously sinful cities), by fire and brimstone (molten sulfur) from heaven.

The Day of the Lord's return and revelation will be like that. We are warned not to be like Lot's wife, who looked back longingly at her home and was turned to a pillar of salt. On that day, we must not attempt to take our possessions with us, or long for our worldly life. Whoever tries to keep his worldly life will loose it, but whoever willingly surrenders his worldly life will receive true, eternal life.

Commentary:

These are the "last days," before Christ's return! This is the generation which must choose to accept or reject Jesus as the Messiah. There are plenty of scoffers who ridicule the doctrine of the Second Coming. There are many, though, who believe the physical evidence of a great flood in the primordial era, supporting the Biblical record that God destroyed the wicked on earth once with water, and will destroy it again with fire.

From my single exposure to the theory of relativity in high school Physics (before the Space Age), I understand that the speed of light is the cosmic speed limit, and that if one were to approach the speed of light, time would slow down. At the speed of light, time would stop. To me this supports the concept of eternity (John 1:4-5)

I believe that the "Shroud of Turin" is the world's first photograph, and that Jesus' resurrection created a photographic negative image on the linen Shroud by pure light. Whether the Shroud is authentic or not, it illustrates my concept.

"End-Times Prophecy," the signs of Jesus' Second Coming," has a fascination for many today. I believe that the preaching of the approaching Day of Judgment is important to call people to repent and prepare for the coming of the Lord, but people should not get caught up in endless speculation (1 Timothy 1:4). Christians are not to try to determine the signs of the coming Day of Judgment (Acts 1:6-7).

Why should we work to accumulate what is not eternal? If we have food and clothing for today, that is sufficient. Jesus commands us to seek our daily bread one day at a time (Matthew 6:11). Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness first and most importantly. If we do that, he assures us that we will have every other thing we need besides (Matthew 6:25-34). God's Word is our spiritual daily bread (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). If we try to ensure our physical security before we seek God's kingdom, we will never achieve it, because we will always need "just a little bit more;" and we will never attain the kingdom of God.