Fight In Shining Armor (Ephesians 6:10-17)

January 10, 2024

Ephesians 6:10-17 – ¹⁰Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. ¹³For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. ¹⁴Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, ¹⁵and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God.

On January 16, 1991, President Bush announced the invasion of Iraq. In his speech, he outlined the ferocity of the enemy, the suffering of the innocent, and the valiance of American troops who joined the battle. He said, “No President can easily commit our sons and daughters to war. Ours is an all-volunteer force, magnificently trained, highly motivated. The troops know why they’re there…Our goal is not the conquest of Iraq. It is the liberation of Kuwait.”

It was a costly fight that demanded much of those volunteers.

In our text, Paul points our way and says, “There’s a battle going on and the Lord wants you to join it.” We have all we need for victory. But, the Lord’s army is made up of those who volunteer.

Ephesians 6:10 – ¹⁰Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.

We’ve come a long way from chapter 1, verse 1. Paul took us from eternity past to eternity future. He’s described where we’ve been and where we’re going. He talked about the spiritual wealth we have – the grace and the power and the protection and the enabling. He just finished describing day-to-day Christian life in the home, in the workplace, in our relationships. Now he says, “Finally.”

It’s a term that can mean “for the remaining time,” or “from now on.” These are marching orders. And they begin with, “Be strengthened by the Lord.”

Life is difficult. We face hazards and challenges. But you can be strong as a Christian. In fact, you’re supposed to be strong – spiritually strong, mentally strong, emotionally strong – more and more capable as a believer. That doesn’t mean we don’t struggle, but God’s plan for you is strength. And He’s the One Who does it. You don’t strengthen yourself. Be strengthened by the Lord and His vast strength – the strength that Paul said is working in us back in chapter 3, verse 20.

How do we receive this strength? How do we cooperate with God’s desire to increase our spiritual capability? Verse 18 says prayer is one way. Through prayer we are strengthened and we help strengthen others.

We’re made strong by walking with God. As we walk worthy, God is able to fortify us and do His powerful, cosmic work through us in the city and the home, on the job and at the kids’ soccer game.

Isaiah says, “Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength.” It happens as we exercise faith.

We’re also made strong, the Bible says, in our weakness. As we surrender to God’s will, as we allow His grace to operate in us, we become stronger and stronger.

Ephesians 6:11 – ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.

Spiritual strength is not just so we can look good. We used to watch Survivor. There were always contestants with perfectly sculpted physiques, but when it came to dragging the heavy box out of the surf, across the sand, onto a platform, it became clear their muscles were for looks, not labor.

God’s strength is for application, not appearance. We need to be strong because we have a very powerful, highly organized, savagely motivated adversary. He is no tin-pot tyrant – he’s the ruler of this world. And he has declared war on the Lord and all His people.

How powerful is the Devil? Consider what he did to Job. After given permission by God, the Devil exerted power over people, inciting them to violence. He exerted power over the elements, bringing a hurricane to Job’s house. He even exerted power over the health of Job’s body.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out that Satan has enough power, and enough pride, and enough of a winning record that he had total confidence when he came against the Son of God Himself.

With that said, he is no match for the Lord. There is no question Who will emerge victorious in this cosmic struggle. In fact, the war is already won. And the Lord now turns to us and says, “Take My armor. Take my weapons. Take my battle plan and you can share My victory over this enemy.”

Thanks to God, you can stand against the Devil’s schemes. “Schemes” is the word we get the word “method” from. What are the Devil’s methods? There are lots of them – he’s an expert at his craft.

His attacks come in the form of persecution against God’s people. Or pollution of their minds and culture. He attacks us with fear and deception and temptation. He conspires to get you angry at God for one reason or another. He sends wolves into the Church, spies among friends, to do his terrible work undercover. He has many effective methods.

This is why we need the armor of God. There’s that great moment in Captain America: Civil War where Iron Man and Cap are punching it out and Tony Stark is getting thrashed. The voice in his suit calls out, “You can’t beat him hand-to-hand!” And it was true. Tony Stark needed the armor to analyze the fight pattern and harness its fantastic power to defend himself.

The Devil is real but, the New Testament is clear: We don’t have to be afraid of him and he has no power over us because God has given us His armor, His power, His revelation, so we can stand. Stand means not only up on our feet, but to “hold out in a critical position on the battlefield.”

But, as one commentator points out, “Standing firm requires effort. It does not automatically happen.” We have to understand what’s going on on the spiritual level and take our position and duty seriously. We need to recognize that the Devil’s plan is to devour anyone he can. His life goal, his job, his hobby, his side-gig, his five year plan is to destroy your life if he can. And he has lots of resources at his disposal. But we have more. We have greater. We have the splendid armor of God – the very armor He wears Himself. But it will not help us if we don’t put it on.

I read a story of a Georgia police officer named Tim Smith. His department issued him a bulletproof vest, but he decided not to wear it. He responded to a call about a man with a gun. He pulled the car over, the suspect came out shooting and hit Tim in the chest. And now Tim is dead.

Ephesians 6:12 – ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

This is such an important verse. Humans are not your enemy – not really. It’s the power behind the bad boss, the schoolyard bully, the deadbeat dad, the political antagonist that is the problem. Think of Abigail and Nabal, Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, Paul and Felix. For the believer, the other person was not a hated enemy. They understood that there was a spiritual situation unfolding.

Our fight is with this dedicated group of demonic forces. Paul describes it as close up, hand-to-hand wrestling with a unified coalition of foes who have colonized every corner of the world.

Ephesians 6:13 – ¹³For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

I like this because, in verse 11 Paul says, “Here’s your armor.” And we might think, “Ok, great. I’ll hang that next to my rain coat in case I need it.” But then Paul says, “Take a look right outside your door here at the battlefield and the enemy troops headed your way.” And then we get to verse 13 and Paul again says, “So, here’s your armor. Go ahead and put it on. You’re in this fight.”

For the second time Paul calls it the full armor of God. We need every piece. It won’t do to pick and choose. It’s sufficient to defend our lives and gain ground against our enemy, but we need it all.

I saw a part of a football game over the holidays and during one play a receiver, apparently, decided he didn’t need the chin strap on his helmet. Well, he caught the ball and was hit by a defender. The helmet immediately popped off and, as the receiver went down, another player’s knee went straight into his head. He was missing a piece. Put the chin strap on!

Our orders are to resist the Devil. There are those who make a big show of talking to the Devil, even taunting him. I have to agree with Skip Heitzig who said, “Don’t talk to the Devil.” He’s smarter than you, stronger than you, more experienced than you, and totally dedicated to destroying you. Resist him and he will flee from you. But don’t trash talk the Serpent of Old.

Ephesians 6:14 – ¹⁴Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,

Paul keeps telling us to stand. Christians need not cower. Standing means we’re stable on our feet. It means we’re ready to fight or rescue. There’s not much we can do from the ground. God’s desire is to keep you on your feet – to keep you from stumbling or getting knocked down.

In these verses, Paul describes our gear. Based off some of the terms he used, you can make the case that he was envisioning a certain type of infantry soldier that could do the job of a skirmisher when necessary or fall back to be a part of the phalanx of defense.

As Paul speaks, he makes many references to Isaiah, particularly chapter 59. In Isaiah we see God wearing many of these very items, which makes sense because it’s His armor that He shares with us.

We start with the belt of truth. A belt is central. It hold things together. Soldiers would hang things on the belt. Recently, my beloved, $16 ratchet belt broke. It was a Sunday morning before first service and I felt a snap and suddenly my belt wasn’t a belt anymore. I had to ask Kelly to bring me some other belt from home because I was having a wardrobe malfunction.

It’s the belt of truth, not of feelings. Not of fads. It is God’s eternal, constant truth that holds and girds everything together. That’s what we hang the rest of our life on.

Next, we see the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness protects us – our hearts and other vulnerabilities. And remember: It’s Christ’s righteousness that has been given to us, not our own self-righteousness. Paul’s not saying, “Make your own armor out of good deeds.” All your righteousness is just filthy rags. That’s no good for combat. Instead, we are clothed with Christ’s righteousness, and that protects us when we put Him on.

Ephesians 6:15 – ¹⁵and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace.

Shoes make a difference. No one wants to hike in high heels. The Gospel keeps us on our feet, giving us navigation and direction. But the Gospel also keeps us on our toes, reminding us that time is short and every day we can engage on mission. Readiness means prepared for combat.

But, notice: Paul uses the word peace here. It’s a good reminder that we are liberators, not subjugators. God’s goal is to save captives, reconcile enemies to Himself. To bring peace.

We live in a very antagonistic time. Everyone is against everyone else. Let’s walk in forgiveness and peaceful reconciliation as far as it depends on us. God calls us to unity, not hatred.

Ephesians 6:16 – ¹⁶In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

The missiles are coming. Maybe an arrow, maybe a javelin, maybe something big launched from a catapult. The shield of faith is strong enough to protect us. Paul is referencing a large shield, probably around 2 feet by 4 feet. They helped you and the people around you. Soldiers would often line up together to create a wall of shields.

Faith helps us and the people around us. There was a Roman battle that happened a little before Paul wrote Ephesians. After the fight, a centurion counted 220 darts sticking into his shield.

Soldiers would soak their shields in water to help protect from fiery projectiles. That’s a great picture: Our faith being soaked in the Living Water. Soaked in the Word, soaked in the Holy Spirit.

The shield of faith is for every situation, not just times of obvious spiritual warfare. Fiery arrows can come out of nowhere. Maybe you see the archers up on the hill, or maybe there’s an ambush set for you. An ambush of temptation. An ambush of discouragement. An ambush of disappointment. We hold the shield of faith in every situation because we believe that it would be a bad thing if that arrow of temptation hit us – that arrow of discontent. It always comes back to understanding what God has revealed and believing that what He says is true and then responding accordingly.

Now, it’s no fun to think about fiery darts coming our way, but on one level, if they’re not, that’s probably a problem. If you are not a target, maybe you’re not in the fight. Maybe you’ve been incapacitated, or in the mind of the enemy, you’re more of a help than a hindrance.

Ephesians 6:17 – ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says, “‘Take’ is really receive or accept. The previous items were laid out for the soldier to pick up. The helmet and sword would be handed him by an attendant or by his armor-bearer.”

The Lord provides all these resources, but in a special way He hands us salvation, He sends us the Spirit. Take them. Put them into operation. Walk in the provision you’ve received.

If you’re a Christian here tonight, you are saved. You’ve got the helmet. You know it works. Markus Barth writes, “[We] go into battle and stand the heat of the day in full confidence of the outcome…for [we] wear the same battle-proven helmet which God straps on His head (according to the original meaning of Isa 59:17).”

With this armor we receive a sword – the word of God. Paul doesn’t use the word logos here, but the word rhema. Jesus Christ is the Word, the Logos. He’s right there beside us on the battlefield. In our hands is the rhema – that which has been said and revealed to us in the inspired canon. When Jesus wrestled with the Devil He said, “Man shall not live on bread alone but on every rhema that comes from the mouth of God.” And we remember how, after each volley from Satan, our Lord used Scripture to resist him. That was the weapon and it was absolutely effective.

These are heavy images. A new Christian might say, “Hey, I’m not ready for the front lines.” But we are ready because it’s the Lord’s strength, the Lord’s equipment, the Lord’s strategy, the Lord’s power working through us. We don’t have to be afraid of spiritual warfare.

But we should be realistic about it. It’s no laughing matter. Our enemy will fight to the bitter end. And our involvement may lead to heavy blows falling on us. What did Paul say to the Galatians? “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” But this is our calling and privilege.

Witold Pilecki was a Polish soldier who fought the Nazis. The Poles heard some things that didn’t add up when it came to what the Nazis were doing with their prisoners. And so, in 1940, Witold intentionally allowed himself to be taken to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. For two and a half years, Witold gathered intelligence and worked to get the truth out.

At times, Witold felt overwhelmed by his mission. But, he soldiered on, even once “[giving] up his own planned escape through the sewers to an inmate in more imminent danger.” He eventually did escape Aushwitz and then kept fighting the good fight. He was captured again in 1944 and sent to a POW camp. There, he cared for the younger inmates, who took to calling him “Daddy.”

Witold was liberated from that prison at the end of the war. And then there were other fights to join – other dark forces to oppose. I won’t spoil the ending, I’ll just tell you that from man’s perspective, Witold’s final chapter was a tragedy. From the perspective of the lives he saved and the good work he did? The life of The Auschwitz Volunteer was a triumph of good over evil.

Christian: Are you ready to get in the fight? Put on your gear, go where you’re commanded, stand in strength and victory and confidence that the Lord will do what He has promised in you and through you.

Rebel, Rebel, How Could You Know? Cyrus, I Love Him So. (Isaiah 48:1-22)

January 7, 2024

“What if…?”

It’s a question film makers like to explore. It is fiction based on alternative history exploring what might have happened if certain historical events or figures had been different. President John F. Kennedy surviving assassination is a popular topic in alternative history. Ditto the Nazis winning WW2.

I asked bing for a list of live action shows that are based on an alternative history. The list was at 65 and still growing.

By far the most spectacular “What if…?” in human history was what Jesus proposed.

Called The Lament of Jesus, the Lord looked out over Jerusalem and is quoted by Matthew saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (23:37).

There is a lament of that very sort in our text: “Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea” (v18).

The LORD’s intentions to bless them were undermined by their willful disobedience. They were rebels who would endure the ‘alternative’ history of captivity in Babylon. I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 Jesus Is Merciful To Anticipate Your Disobedience, and #2 Jesus Is Gracious To Accelerate Your Obedience.

#1 – Jesus Is Merciful To Anticipate Your Disobedience (v1-11)

The Book of Isaiah, and the entire Bible, places the ethnic descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob center stage. The apostle Paul told us why when he wrote the letter to the Romans. “They are… God’s chosen people. God showed them His glory. He made agreements with them and gave them His Law. The Temple is theirs and so are the promises that God made to them. They have those famous ancestors, who were also the ancestors of Jesus Christ” (9:4-5 CEV).

God calls Israel “the apple of His eye” (Zephaniah 2:8). Like it or not, Israel has been, is today, and always will be, the most significant nation on earth.

Despite her constant failures, God would not ever “cut [Israel] off.” When necessary He would “test” them – discipline them – “in the furnace of affliction.”

If you have the KJV, it says, “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” History certainly reveals that they are God’s “chosen,” but afflicted, nation.

The modern nation of Israel is the fulfillment of many prophecies. From 1948 forward they have been “tested.” They are currently being tested. Not just by the war against Hamas, but by the majority of nations and their open antisemitism.

Israel will face its greatest testing when they are the main actor in the future 7yr ‘Time of Jacob’s Trouble.’

Isa 48:1 “Hear this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah; Who swear by the name of the LORD, And make mention of the God of Israel, But not in truth or in righteousness;

Isa 48:2 For they call themselves after the holy city, And lean on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is His name:

As always the LORD looks within, to the heart:

“Not in truth” means deceived. They were self-deceived into thinking that God would never allow His city and His Temple to fall. It had been standing almost 500 years. They would shortly discover that the Temple and the city were secondary to repairing His relationship with them.
“Not in… righteousness” means they were trusting in their outward show of religious practices, in self-righteousness based on works.

Self-deceived & self-righteous are the characteristics of every person who has not believed God.

Isa 48:3 “I have declared the former things from the beginning; They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

Isa 48:4 Because I knew that you were obstinate, And your neck was an iron sinew, And your brow bronze,

Isa 48:5 Even from the beginning I have declared it to you; Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, And my carved image and my molded image Have commanded them.’

It would be about a century before the rise of Babylon to the status of a world power. The LORD predicted it. We saw previously that He also predicted the fall of Babylon, mentioning by name a yet unborn king, Cyrus of Persia, as its conqueror.

Believers & unbelievers ought to look around and be stunned by the current trends that God predicted in the first century.

Isa 48:6 “You have heard; See all this. And will you not declare it? I have made you hear new things from this time, Even hidden things, and you did not know them.

Isa 48:7 They are created now and not from the beginning; And before this day you have not heard them, Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’

“Created now” means done now. The LORD was revealing something to them that was new and could not be found in any previous revelations.

Isa 48:8 Surely you did not hear, Surely you did not know; Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb.

The LORD was talking directly to the future Jews. His predictive prophecies about Babylon & Cyrus could only be explained by the fact that He is the one, true God Who knows and controls the future.

The second sentence in verse eight can read:

“From before birth you were called a rebel” (ESV).
“From the moment of your birth, I knew you would rebel” (CEV).
“Your heart was turned against me from your earliest days” (BBE).

Which was it – before birth, at the moment of birth, or from earliest days? We are sinners from womb to tomb. We call this The Doctrine of Original Sin. The good folks at gotquestions.org write,

The term original sin refers to Adam’s sin of disobedience in eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and its effects upon the rest of the human race. Original sin can be defined as “the moral corruption we possess as a consequence of Adam’s sin, resulting in a sinful disposition manifesting itself in habitually sinful behavior.” [We have] no ability to overcome sin apart from the [grace] of the Holy Spirit.

How does God the Holy Spirit apply grace to save us? He must either force you to believe, or free you to believe:

In the forced case, God’s grace is irresistible – meaning God causes you to have faith and be born again before you believe. Regeneration, they say, comes before you can exercise faith.
In the freed-will case, God’s grace is resistible – meaning you receive Jesus by faith and are then born-again.

There are two things that seem irrefutable to us:

For one, there are passages that bluntly say God’s grace is resistible (e.g., Acts 7:51).
For two, the Bible always puts faith (believing) before regeneration (e.g., Acts 16:31).

Isa 48:9 “For My name’s sake I will defer My anger, And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off.

Isa 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Isa 48:11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.

“For My name’s sake,” “For My own sake, For My own sake,” for “My glory.” He’s not a glory-hound. His glory revealed is evangelical. He wishes to save the lost and perishing.

The LORD “restrained” Himself in the sense of not giving them what they deserved, which was to be permanently “cut off.” That is mercy. Instead He “refined” them in “affliction.”

This isn’t the kind of refining God allows in order to purify. This is direct discipline for disobedience.

“For I knew that you would deal very treacherously.” How did God know? That may seem obvious. After all, He is God. He must therefore have a perfect foreknowledge of the future. But does His foreknowledge of events foreordain that they must occur? Or is there room for us to act freely? These questions are usually worded, “Is God Sovereign, and/or Do we have free will?” Let’s go to the extremes:

On the extreme sovereignty bandwagon are those who say, “If there is one single maverick molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled.” Before you embrace this, understand that you will be adopting a meticulous determinism by which God becomes the author of sin, responsible for every evil that happens, and that somehow it glorifies Him.
Beating the extreme drum for free-will are Open Theists. Because God loves us and desires that we freely choose to reciprocate His love, He has made His knowledge of, and plans for, the future conditional upon our actions. Though omniscient, God does not know what we will freely do in the future.

We are not ‘extremists.’ Of course God is sovereign! His sovereignty is so great that He can allow mankind to exercise genuine free will, compensating for it when necessary through His providence.

Isn’t it obvious that Israel could have chosen otherwise? Of course it is! In fact, it says as much in v17-19. It is simultaneously true that the LORD always acts to keep the plan of redemption on track.

If you find you are changing the plain sense of the Bible so that it ‘fits’ into your system, you are subordinating Scripture to your own wisdom.

Jesus is merciful to anticipate your disobedience.

Jesus anticipated the apostle Peter’s disobedience. He warned Peter that he was being targeted by Satan. The devil wanted permission to sift him as wheat. Peter would, in fact, deny the Lord. But Jesus had prayed for Peter and would restore him.

This is mercy. God tells us that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3). Why the morning? Because God anticipates our daily disobedience. He greets us with His mercies so we can get out of bed and walk with Him.

#2 – Jesus Is Gracious To Accelerate Your Obedience (v12-22)

John Newton was no one-hit wonder. The slave-trader turned clergyman said, “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.” Mercy clears the deck for Jesus to engulf you in His grace.

Isa 48:12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.

Isa 48:13 Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together.

The Person in these two verses is the Creator of heaven and earth. “First” and “last” mean He was not part of creation. He was not Himself a created being. He was “first” and “last,” alpha and omega, beginning and end. His name is Jesus!

Isa 48:14 “All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; He shall do His pleasure on Babylon, And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

Isa 48:15 I, even I, have spoken; Yes, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way will prosper.

This is another person. The LORD “called him… brought him…[and] will prosper [him.]” He will strong arm the “Chaldeans” and conquer “Babylon.” We know him from earlier in Isaiah, and from history. It’s Cyrus the Great, who was not yet born.

Notice the phrase, “the LORD loves him.” He was a loved unbeliever. God really isn’t willing that any should perish. He really does “so love the world.”

The LORD announces this to an assembly of His chosen. Undoubtedly you opened a gift that had some assembly required. The manufacturers definition of “some” is what frustrates me. Just put on the box, “Major assembly required by sophisticated single-purpose tools you wish you had in your man-cave.”

Our God is great at assembling. I’ve been fascinated by the insight that any time we get together we are a unique ‘assembling’ of God’s. When we arrive, who we see and greet, where we sit, what we hear and say… It will never be the same.

We come as living stones to be built as the Lord’s Temple. Think legos. You can build a variety of things depending on the blocks you’re given. Same with us. What does the Holy Spirit want to build? Depends on who assembles. Overcomers, Assemble!

Isa 48:16 “Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit Have sent Me.”

Wait; is this a clear, undeniable reference to God as Trinity?? Jesus “was [always] there,” meaning for eternity. He was there with “the Lord GOD and His Spirit.” Father… Son… Spirit.

The Father & the Spirit “sent” Jesus to earth in the incarnation. It’s Christmas in Isaiah 48!

Isa 48:17 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go.

God’s direction in your life is custom designed with the intent that you will “profit” if you follow His lead.

Isa 48:18 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Isa 48:19 Your descendants also would have been like the sand, And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand; His name would not have been cut off Nor destroyed from before Me.”

God’s original plan for Israel after they exodused from Egypt was for them to conquer the Promised Land in a matter of days, not decades.

Had they “heeded [His] commandments” the promises of verse 18 & 19 would have been immediate. Instead the nations of the world are still waiting for the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of the Lord, and for Israel to take her proper place.

Wait a minute. How would that have worked out? Don’t know. But God said it would have.

God’s wisdom is greater, higher than ours let’s not bring Him down to our level for the sake of thinking we’ve figured out everything.

Isa 48:20 Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, Declare, proclaim this, Utter it to the end of the earth; Say, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”

The remnant ought to think of it as a new Exodus. It was occasion for singing and shouting praises.

Sadly, many had grown comfy in Babylon and stayed put. Fear had kept them from the Promised Land after Egypt. Prosperity did after Babylon.

Isa 48:21 And they did not thirst When He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

If you were the richest man in the world, it would be like having a counterfeit penney compared to the torrent of God the Holy Spirit living within you.

It’s good to recall God’s previous spiritual blessings. Can’t think of any because you’re suffering too much? Too many tears? Post a Job meme up with the caption, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him… He also shall be my salvation” (13:15-16).

Isa 48:22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

Albert Barnes wrote, “Many of their countrymen [would choose] to remain in Babylon. They had formed connections there, amassed wealth, and refused to attend those who returned to Judea to rebuild the Temple.”

Staying in Babylon would be comfy, but they would not experience God’s peace.

We are born knowing that rock blunts scissors, scissors cuts paper, and paper covers rock.

Peace blunts, cuts, and covers comfort. Peace comes from God; comfort is worldly. Alexander Whyte said, “You do not really care for God’s mercy or His [peace] either, so long as you live in any sin. And it is well that you do not; for you can have neither. Your peace will be like a river, when you put away your sin; but not one word of true peace… can you have till then.”

Ever drive a Tesla? Then you know what acceleration is. (You might find out what a lithium fire is, too). But man, it is 0-60 in lickety-split.

Walk with the Lord and His living water will become a torrent accelerating your growth.

Prophecy Update #770 – Traffic Stop

January 7, 2024

In the last book of the Bible we are given a list of the merchandise that is key to commerce in the future Great Tribulation. “Merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men” (The Revelation of Jesus Christ 18:12-13).

We call the merchandizing of people, human trafficking. Jeffrey Epstein was a financier and convicted sex offender who became widely known for his involvement in sex trafficking. Implicated by the Epstein prosecution are folks like Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz, Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, and William Jefferson Clinton. A recent headline read, Bill Clinton to be unmasked as ‘John Doe 36’ in Epstein sex case.

Epstein died in prison. Cause of death was ‘suspicious suicide.’

The recent very excellent film, The Sound of Freedom, is set in the world of trafficking. It’s being widely criticized. TIME magazine wrote, “While it doesn’t take a direct political stance or invoke QAnon, the fervent support for the film from the right has resulted it in being labeled “MAGA-friendly” and embraced by both mainstream conservatives and far-right conspiracy theorists.”

Trafficking is not the only activity devaluing human life. In Australia teenagers as young as 14 could get voluntary assisted dying. Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyene thinks children should have the same choices as adults in how they end their life as “Young people under the age of 18 can also experience intolerable end-of-life suffering through terminal illnesses.”

In the Netherlands anyone from the age of 12 can request euthanasia, but parental consent is required if a child is under 16. There is no age requirement in Belgium.

The devaluing of human life is one of many signs of the End Times. The Bible predicts things like Biometrics, Artificial Intelligence, cashless commerce, the manipulation of human DNA, global government, the exponential growth of human knowledge, one-world religion, instantaneous global communication, the rise in popularity of the occult, a falling-away from the faith in Christendom, and the rebirth of national Israel.

All of these are increasingly trending in the news – just as you’d expect.

We live in the Church Age, between the first coming of Jesus and His return to establish and rule the Kingdom of God on earth. His return will be preceded by a seven year time of incredible trouble upon the earth. Most commonly it is called the Great Tribulation, but the prophet Jeremiah calls it the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. It is a reminder that God will use that time to reveal Himself to unbelieving Israel. By the end of the seven years all Israel will be saved.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of the 7yr Great Tribulation by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Slave Yourselves! (Ephesians 6:5-9)

January 3, 2024

Ephesians 6:5-9 – ⁵Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ. ⁶Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. ⁷Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, ⁸knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord. ⁹And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

You should embrace your role as a slave. That was Paul’s message to the Christians who really were slaves in the church at Ephesus. The slave population was somewhere between 10% and 33% of the empire and probably quite a few of the members of the church were from this group.

After many words promising God’s power and His using you in His unfolding work in the cosmos – after hearing that the Lord breaks down all these walls and grants us access to Himself and gives us hope and purpose and so much more – now Paul says, “Be the best slave you can be.”

If you were actually a slave, how might that make you feel? But, did you notice? He didn’t just say it to actual slaves. He included freemen. He included masters. And, as a matter of fact, he includes all of us. But he also includes himself. Paul, James, Peter, Jude, and Timothy all identify themselves as slaves of God in their New Testament writings.

Now, we live in a culture that prizes – almost worships – personal freedom. Personal liberty. My rights. It’s baked into our American mentality. And while I’m extremely glad that we live in a relatively free society, the truth is you and I should embrace our roles as slaves.

The Biblical perspective on life, even daily life, is that we are God’s children, we are His friends, but we are also His bondservants, assigned and distributed into a life path by our King. Our actions, attitudes, and behavior in the home, in the workplace, in the public square, in relaxation, in crisis, are all supposed to filter through this perspective, where we recognize that my life is not primarily about how comfortable I am or how successful I am. The point of my life is to receive God’s love, be a conduit of His grace, and glorify Him in the process.

Because this is the Biblical perspective, because God is doing an eternal work through my life, because the Gospel applies in every generation and in every situation, that means that my circumstances do not determine who I am or what I should do. Circumstances are real, they matter to us and to God, but they are not the determining factor of your life and your walk with the Lord.

Some of the people listening to Paul’s letter had very difficult circumstances. Some did not. The message was the same. And it’s the same for us.

Ephesians 6:5 – ⁵Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ.

What did it mean to be a “slave” in Ephesus? Scholars are often quick to point out that slavery then wasn’t quite the same as it was in American history. For example, people sometimes put themselves into slavery voluntarily to pay debts. Some data shows that, around this time, 50% of slaves were freed before age 30. Some slaves were cooks or bakers or furniture makers. Some were carpenters, some letter carriers, some musicians or actors or teachers, or even physicians.

But that was not the case for all slaves. Others experienced extreme abuse and misery. Slaves working in mines and quarries worked with no downtime and died in large numbers. One historian wrote, “Death in their eyes is more to be desired than life, because of the magnitude of the hardships they must bear.”

In a home things might be just as bad. It was not illegal for a master to rape his slaves. And, some were taken as sex slaves. Not everyone volunteered for indentured servitude. Many were kidnapped or taken through conquest. Ephesus was a hub for the Roman slave trade. Slaves might come from Israel, or Arabia, or Africa. Slaves came from Ireland, Scotland, Eastern Europe.

So you have the skilled craftsman working with gold and jewels who signed up for slavery to pay off debts. And then you have people be brutalized and abused after being kidnapped from their homeland. In-between, you had jobs that weren’t so bad, but weren’t so good. There were things that you certainly wouldn’t do if you were self-employed. For example (and I’ve been saving this piece of research since our very first study in this book): You may recall that Ephesus had a famous public toilet that was used by people throughout the day. You can visit the ruins today and sit on the seats, though they ask you not to utilize the facility.

Ephesian masters would send their servants to go down and warm the seats before using the toilet. So, there you are, working in the house, and your master says, “Head on down and warm my seat.” Your job was to go and sit there, while other people sat around you doing their business, and wait till your master came to do his. I’ve plunged a few toilets at work, but I’ve never had to do that!

So this is the range of experience. And to all of these slaves, Paul says obey as if your master was Christ.

When he says fear and trembling, he doesn’t mean to cower, he means with respect. And then he says in the sincerity of your heart. This way of living comes from the depths of the new life we have in Christ. Our attitudes, words, and behaviors well up from the fount of grace the Lord has put in us.

Sincerity is a word that means integrity, and bountifulness, and generosity. God commands them to be generous as slaves. Now, we are not slaves, though I’m sure some of you feel chained to your desk or your boss is a taskmaster. These verses apply to our life at work.

You may not love your job, you may want out of your job, you may be overqualified for your job, you may see a lot of wrongdoing at your workplace. But, the fundamental command God has for you as you work is: Work respectfully, treating your fellow employees and your boss with grace and generosity because you should think about your job as if you were doing it for Jesus Christ. Because as far as He is concerned, you are!

Ephesians 6:6 – ⁶Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart.

What Paul is saying is not only challenging to us, it was also challenging to the Roman culture. You see, guys like Aristotle said slaves were just living tools. They had no rights. Culturally and legally they did not have the option to obey. But here’s Paul, speaking in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he’s says, “No, you are a free moral agent. You are an individual with value and dignity and the capacity to choose whether you will do what God says you can do or to not do that.”

And it wasn’t just “have a good attitude.” Paul challenges all of us to have the highest quality of work, not just for our own career advancement, but because it is right. In a mind-blowing revelation, Paul says, “You’re in a job somewhere. It may not be what you want, but there you are. As you work, energized by God’s grace, as you accomplish your job with integrity and respect and diligence, you are doing God’s will! He counts it as ministry. He counts it as service to Him.

Some Roman slaves had very individualized or limited roles. One job, for example, might be to drape the toga on his master. That menial, seemingly unnecessary job, can be spiritually glorious. God is that involved in our day-to-day. He’s that interested in our lives.

Ok, but what if my slave job was in the mine? What if I’m being sexually exploited? Those are very hard circumstances and hard questions. We can look to a Biblical example like Joseph in the book of Genesis. He knew something about being enslaved, about serving in a cush job and in the worst job imaginable. He dealt with situations where his Godliness clashed with his circumstances. It wasn’t easy, but he was able to stay true to his faith and be used by God all along the way.

At the same time, he suffered greatly. It’s not that God wanted him to suffer, but that difficult road led to the salvation of thousands of people. He is an Old Testament example of the New Testament reality that God’s strength is made perfect not in our comfort, not in our ease, but in our weakness.

That’s one reason why Paul didn’t say, “Just escape your slavery.” Some say, “Why didn’t the New Testament writers come out more strongly against slavery?” Some go as far as saying the Bible endorses slavery. It doesn’t. What Paul recognizes is that slavery was a reality in their time. Just like having to work is a reality for the vast majority of people. And God does scatter His people into all these places and corners so that they can shine the light of the Gospel in all places.

The Gospel does lead to the abolition of slavery. We’ve seen that in history and we’ll see elements of it in our text. But Paul is talking about here-and-now Christianity in practice. And he says, “Ok, you are slaves. Here’s the way you should slave.” Now, if you could buy your freedom, great. If you master wanted to free you, Paul didn’t say, “No, stay as a slave.” But it was always about glorifying God and doing what was Godly, even if your circumstances weren’t good.

Paul met this guy named Onesimus. He became like a son to Paul. As an old man, Paul was so helped by Onesimus and he wanted him to stay and be a part of the ministry. But then he found out that Onesimus was a runaway slave. And he told him, “The right thing to do is for you to go back and present yourself to your master.” Luckily, his master was a Christian and Paul even knew him. But that’s how serious Paul was about not reacting to circumstances, but living with Christian character. “Go back to the slavery you escaped and be a Christian there.”

If you are a Christian, the goal of your life is not the exaltation of yourself. The goal of your life is the exaltation of Jesus Christ in whatever circumstance you’re in.

Ephesians 6:7-8 – ⁷Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, ⁸knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.

So, for like the millionth time, Paul says “As to the Lord. As to the Lord.” You’re not actually working for your boss, you’re working for Jesus. You’re not a cog at your company, you’re an emissary of Christ’s Kingdom, on location. Everybody wants to be stationed in Hawaii. But Lemoore needs staff.

In verse 8 Paul includes free citizens, too. This isn’t just a slave thing, it’s a Christian thing. And though a Christian may be unrecognized or under-compensated, the Lord promises to reward our day-to-day faithfulness in the life He has scattered us into.

In Colossians 3 and 4, Paul says very similar things as we’re reading here. But there he says, “the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done.”

God is watching. He cares about our conduct. He pays attention to the things we do and the things done to us. You may have a terrible boss who doesn’t treat you right. In the end, God will hold them accountable. Meanwhile, we must keep a Biblical perspective. Your boss isn’t the problem! In fact, your boss is an opportunity. They are a potential sibling in the family of God. And your behavior may be the one demonstration of Gospel grace they see.

One of the important things we learn here is that oppression is not an excuse for wrong-doing. That’s a popular idea in our culture right now. If I decide I’m oppressed, then I’m excused for bad behavior or lashing out or abandoning my duties. But that’s not Godly. It’s not the Christian way.

Slavery wasn’t a “good” thing. But, for the Ephesians, their work situation was an opportunity to exercise faith. Did they believe that God was in charge? Did they believe that vengeance belonged to Him? Did they believe that the best is yet to come? Did they believe that life was not defined by circumstances but by the power of God? For some of these people, this was a very hard ask.

It shouldn’t be so hard for us. That doesn’t mean some of you don’t face difficulties at work. But do we believe God? That my work is really about me doing it for Jesus? That I can be gracious and diligent even when circumstances aren’t good? Do I believe that the Lord is looking out for me, or do I think I should demand all of my rights and take revenge for the wrongs done to me?

In our final verse, Paul turns to masters.

Ephesians 6:9 – ⁹And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Some commentators say, “Paul didn’t have much to say to the masters because there were so few attending the church.” But notice the beginning of this verse: “Masters, treat your slaves the same way.” So verses 5 through 8 apply to masters and verse 9 applies to masters.

He tells them, “In addition to being respectful and generous and having the proper perspective on who you’re really serving in your day-to-day life, you need to give up the threat of violence against your servants.” Frank Thielman writes, “[with these words] Paul has cut the thread that held the institution of slavery together.”

The threat of violence was all masters had to make slaves obey. But Paul reprograms the perspective here, too. He says, “This person isn’t your property. They aren’t a living tool. They aren’t a tea cozy to warm up your toilet seat. They are just like you, because guess what: You are a slave, too. You have a Master in heaven. And He sees every single person as equal.”

When Paul wrote to Onesimus’ owner he told him, “I want you to receive Onesimus back into his job as a slave, but you are no longer to think of him as a slave. He is much more than a slave, he’s your brother, and not just your brother, but a dearly loved brother.”

When Paul says “without threatening,” it not only means don’t threaten to hurt them. It literally means, “you need to loosen up.” Masters had a moral responsibility to their slaves. That was very counter-cultural. It would require a serious dedication and change of heart for a Roman owner.

Ben Witherington writes, “Both parties are called on to be proactive, not reactive to their situations. In both cases their eyes must be on the Lord and on how to please Him.” To do so, they must ignore what culture said. They abandoned the Roman ideas of how this relationship was supposed to work. Instead it was all about my duty to Christ and how to be flowing in grace toward others.

Now, of course, not all masters were Christians. Not all slaves were Christians. But these callings weren’t about whether the other person was a believer and doing what they should. It was about your life, your choices. As a slave, you’d have to set aside some wrongs. As a master, you’d have to set aside a lot of your “rights.” But God says, “If you do this, I am glorified, lives are changed, and reward is waiting for you.”

So now for you and me. We live in a culture obsessed with personal freedom and personal rights. We live in a time when it’s accepted and expected for everyone to just sue their way out of discomfort. We live in a society where any time we feel unhappy one of the first solutions is to find a different job or work to change our circumstances or escape as quickly as possible.

These are not the Biblical answers. God may want you to change jobs. But Ephesians 6 reveals that your circumstances are not the determining factor of what you should do. Earthly circumstances may discourage or deflate you, but they do not define you. You are defined by the calling of God and the power of God and the specific path carved out for you to discover and walk in. As we walk, God tells us, “By the way, My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” But that’s good news. Because we do face difficulties. We are surrounded by nonbelievers. What a wonderful thing to know our 9-to-5 has value and worth and dignity. That our faithfulness in small, seemingly menial things, counts as doing God’s will, and He will reward us for it. We can be excited about whatever we do, because God says, “I’m with you and you’re doing it for Me and I’m watching and I’m counting it.”

Our part is perspective which should make us the best workers in whatever job we have. We recognize that we are children of God and friends of God, but we also want to be like the apostles and self-identify as the slaves of God, or we can use bondservants if that feels better. It may not make every circumstance feel easy, but it keeps our purpose in the forefront. And it gives us a rudder and fuel and spiritual navigation for daily life.

My Bare Lady (Isaiah 47:1-15)

December 31, 2023

“Is there hope for America?”

Here are three responses from experts:

#1 “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favors.”

#2 “The God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”

#3 “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The experts, in order, were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.

So… How are we doing as a nation?

It’s like the Days of Noah out there! Weird marriages… a near total disrespect for biblical morality… seemingly unrestrained violence everywhere.

One thing that we have discovered as we’ve studied Isaiah is that God deals with nations, not just individuals. It has given us opportunity to talk about our own nation in the plans and purposes of God. And yes, we are in trouble.

Isaiah predicts the demise of the Kingdom of Babylon. He does so with a poignant illustration. He starts off calling her “O virgin daughter of Babylon.” But He quickly adds, “Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen.”

Human history is littered with conquered empires. In every case, though we may not know the details, it is in accordance with God’s plan that redemption for everyone would come through the nation of Israel.

Before we ever answer the question, “Is there hope for America?” there are two preliminary questions. I’ll organize my comments around them. #1 Are We A Daughter That Comes To Dust? and #2 Are We Daughters Who Consort With Devils?

#1 – Are We A Daughter That Comes To Dust? (v1-8)

“Don’t think of it as dust. Think of it as the soil of some great past civilization. Maybe the soil of ancient Babylon. It staggers the imagination.” Pigpen says that in the timeless classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Our text explains the “dust” of Babylon.

Isa 47:1 “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called Tender and delicate.

The “Chaldeans” were an aggressive people-group in Babylon. Over time their name came to be synonymous with Babylon.

When the Bible refers to a “daughter,” singular, she represents the entire nation. “Daughters,” plural, refers to individual citizens (both male & female).

God was about to bring them to dust; from virginal to violated.

Isa 47:2 Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers.

Isa 47:3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, And I will not arbitrate with a man.”

Babylon would be conquered and instead of the tender virgin they would become common slaves.

God “will not arbitrate” means that this judgment was final. Once it began, He wouldn’t relent.

Yes, God is the God of second chances. We sometimes say, “It is never too late to come to Jesus and be saved.” We see this in God’s dealings with the Assyrian Empire. God relented when Nineveh repented!

At times it becomes too late. You cannot be saved after you die, for example.

One commentator writes, “Our Creator blesses each nation with a span of time so it might prosper and do well, but this blessing ends when a nation becomes degenerate, rebellious, and unfit for self-rule. When God determines that extended mercy for a nation has no redeeming effect, He marginalizes or destroys that nation.”

Isa 47:4 As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.

The Jews would be taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. They would be slaves in his realm. Slaves need to be redeemed. They need someone to purchase them and set them free.

Their slave-status in Babylon lasted 70 years. With help from the new reigning world empire, Medo-Persia, the Jews would return to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls and its Temple.

Isa 47:5 “Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For you shall no longer be called The Lady of Kingdoms.

Albert Barnes commented, “The appellation, ‘Lady of kingdoms’ is equivalent to… ‘the mistress of the world;’ and the idea is, that Babylon [was the] mistress, and that all other cities were regarded as servants, or as subordinate.”

Isa 47:6 I was angry with My people; I have profaned My inheritance, And given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.

The LORD gets angry. I don’t think we can comprehend His anger until we, too, are in glorified bodies that cannot sin.

God decided to ruin (profane) Jerusalem and the Temple – a truly big deal to Him. He must secure the repentance of His chosen people.

There is a pretty common TV & movie trope in which the antagonist tells one of his stooges to teach someone a lesson. The stooge then kills the person, much to the disliking of his boss. He didn’t mean for him to kill the guy.

Babylon was the stooge who went too far disciplining the Jews for the LORD. The Chaldeans showed them no mercy. For an example the LORD accused them of elder abuse.

Before the defense of Helm’s Deep Aragorn stirred the forces of Rohan by shouting, “Show them no mercy, for you shall receive none.”

Isa 47:7 And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’ So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the latter end of them.

Joseph Benson reminds us of the sheer fortitude of the city:

If we consider that the city of Babylon had no less than one hundred gates made of solid brass; that its walls were two hundred feet high, and fifty broad, according to the lowest account given of them by historians, and, according to some, three hundred and fifty feet in height, and eighty-seven in thickness, so that six chariots could go abreast upon them; that it was defended by the river Euphrates, and supplied with provisions for many years; it might well be deemed impregnable: and such a city as this might, with less vanity than any other, boast that she should continue forever, if any thing human could continue forever.

To give you a little perspective, the Statue of Liberty is 305’ tall.The Persians devised a plan whereby they diverted the course of the Euphrates River so that they could go in under the wall. While the residents of the city were distracted, i.e., drunk, the Persian army marched under the walls of Babylon unnoticed. It was claimed the city was taken without a fight.

I think the LORD gave them this strategery.

You know who else has strategies? The Devil. He wants to work them on you. The fall of Babylon can be a lesson for us. The lesson isn’t “Don’t drink,” although that’s not such a bad idea. The lesson is, “Don’t do anything that makes you vulnerable.”

Get your guard up and keep it up!! There will never be a time in your life that you can escape spiritual warfare. There are no furloughs, not even bereavement leave. The devil is a psychopathic liar and murderer. He will pile-on in the worst of times.

Isa 47:8 “Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, Who dwell securely, Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, Nor shall I know the loss of children’

Verse eight captures the general opinion of Babylon’s population. They believed themselves invulnerable and possessing wisdom superior to that of any other culture.

King Nebuchadnezzar set the tone. One fine day he said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”

While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoke: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses” (Daniel 4:31-32).

His humbling resulted in his conversion as per chapter four of Daniel.

The illustration God uses, the “virgin daughter,” is how the Babylonians thought of themselves. It’s nothing new for people to think highly, but wrongly, of themselves. In the Book of the Revelation we see this in the church of the Laodiceans. The gap between how they saw themselves and how Jesus saw them was a Grand Canyon. If you think they are not a good comparison because they were not saved, substitute the church at Ephesus. With everything they had going on there’s no way they thought of themselves as having left their first love.

There is no “how to” here, no Humility for Dummies. Jesus spoke to the Laodiceans and the Ephesians directly by his Word. We assume that some received it, and that some did not. From studying the men and women in the Bible, and godly men and women throughout the church age, it seems to come down to this. Like the apostle Paul you should be able to declare that you are the chief of sinners (First Timothy 1:15). Simultaneously you praise God’s amazing grace in your life. The result ought to be joy unspeakable and full of glory.

#2 – Are We Daughters Who Consort With Devils? (v9-15)

The remaining verses emphasize the occult. Mentioned are “sorceries” (2x), “enchantments” (also 2x), “astrologers,” “stargazers,” and “prognosticators.”

Babylon depended heavily on the “wisdom,” “knowledge,” and “counsels” of the occult. Aren’t you glad we don’t do that in America?

I wish that were true. By all metrics, the occult and occult practices are on the rise:

According to a survey conducted in 2021, about two in ten Americans believe in spells or witchcraft.
In an October 2022 article, nbcnews commented, “Witchcraft, which includes Wicca, paganism, folk magic and other New Age traditions, is one of the fastest-growing spiritual paths in America.”
In 2018 NBC posted an article titled, Number Of Witches Rises Dramatically Across US As Millennials Reject Christianity.

Isa 47:9 But these two things shall come to you In a moment, in one day: The loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness Because of the multitude of your sorceries, For the great abundance of your enchantments.

I should mention that their astronomy was considered by some more like science. After all, the Persian Magi correctly identified the star that (somehow) led them to find and worship “He who would be born as King of the Jews.”

Church father Origen, stated that the Magi had a copy of the prophecy of Balaam (found in Numbers 24) about the star coming out of Jacob. It was revealed to them by Daniel. Tertullian, circa AD 190-210, stated that astrology is idolatry, but he believed that the science of the Magi was totally different from the pagan form of astrology.

Isa 47:10 “For you have trusted in your wickedness; You have said, ‘No one sees me’; Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; And you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

God calls their occult “wisdom and knowledge”- “wickedness.” A side-effect of their practices was it “warped” them into thinking they were like God. They “said in [their] heart, I am.” They had the “I” trouble that led to Satan’s rebellion and fall.

Add to that they said, “No one sees me.” This likely refers to them thinking that, since they were like God there was no deity who could judge them.

Isa 47:11 Therefore evil shall come upon you; You shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, Which you shall not know.

Daniel describes the feast which took place on the night Babylon fell. We explained how King Cyrus took Babylon effortlessly.

The chapter ends with obvious sarcasm. The LORD shows how pitiful was their wisdom and knowledge compared to His omniscience; how puny was their might compared to His omnipotence; how precious was and is His omnipresence compared to their magicians being as vulnerable as stubble is to flame.

There is one more ‘omni’ that isn’t listed. God is omnibenevolent, meaning perfectly & powerfully good. It may not have seemed that way to the Chaldeans, but they had opportunity to obey Him and know His goodness. The choice was theirs.

Isa 47:12 “Stand now with your enchantments And the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth – Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you will prevail.

Isa 47:13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, And the monthly prognosticators Stand up and save you From what shall come upon you.

Isa 47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble, The fire shall burn them; They shall not deliver themselves From the power of the flame; It shall not be a coal to be warmed by, Nor a fire to sit before!

Isa 47:15 Thus shall they be to you With whom you have labored, Your merchants from your youth; They shall wander each one to his quarter. No one shall save you.

Interesting, this reference to “merchants.” We are made aware in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that there will be a Babylon in the Last Days. It will be the capital of the Earth ruled by the antichrist.

We read, “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore” (18:9-11).

I doubt you get together with friends and break-out a Ouija (WEE-je) Board. Somebody is; or I should say 25m somebodies (based on sales).

Just because we’re not conducting pagan rituals it doesn’t mean there might not be some things that we would be better off avoiding. After all, the world around us is a spiritual Babylon.

Will some future Pigpen say, “Don’t think of it as dust. Think of it as the soil of some great past civilization. Maybe the soil of ancient America.”

We can ask one additional ‘expert,’ Abraham Lincoln:

We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

I want to take a bi-partisan approach here. You pick the slogan that best aligns with your vote:

We need to Build Back Spiritually.
We need to Make America Repent Again.

In the end we will agree that the nation of Israel is, for lack of a better word, the greatest nation ever. Of the myriads of reasons we could cite, I like what the apostle Paul said. Speaking of ethnic Jews in chapter nine of the Book of Romans he describes Israel as “to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

Simply put, the Savior of the world was born through the nation of Israel. Can anything be greater?

Every other nation is thereby called to a support role in furthering God’s plan and in anticipating His rule.

Prophecy Update #769 – Masters Of (Mystical) Arts

December 31, 2023

Someone has said, “Because the Bible is the only book which gives us an accurate forecast of the future, we must turn to its pages in order that we may be delivered from inexcusable ignorance and be prepared as God unfolds His prophetic program.”

We reserve a few minutes to discuss current trends that you’d expect from reading Bible prophecy.

We are futurists. We interpret all unfulfilled prophetic passages as future events in a literal, physical, apocalyptic, and global context.

Biometrics, Artificial Intelligence, cashless commerce, the manipulation of human DNA, global government, the exponential growth of human knowledge, one-world religion, instantaneous global communication, and the rebirth of national Israel are End Times developments the Bible predicts.

All of these are increasingly trending in the news.

We haven’t talked much about the predicted rise of the occult. In The Revelation we are told, “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts” (The Revelation 9:20-21).

That passage discusses events in the seven year Time of Jacob’s Trouble that we call the Great Tribulation. It makes sense that interest in the occult would be rising prior to the Tribulation… and it is.

Witchcraft is on the rise. According to a January 2023 article I read:

Wiccans or Pagans number 1 to 1.5 million people in the U.S [2014 Pew Research Center].
Both religious and nonreligious Americans hold New Age beliefs [pewresearch.org].
Google searches for “spell casting” have increased fourfold since 2016 [Global News].
Witchcraft influencers have thousands of followers on Instagram.
Almost 19 billion views are recorded in a community of TikTok called “WitchTok.”

The millennial generation and Gen Z have fallen victim to witchcraft more than any other age group. Just in time for the antichrist. He will be the greatest influencer the world has ever known.

A Master of Arts (MA) degree in witchcraft, magic, and occult science is scheduled to be offered starting September 2024 at the University of Exeter in England. The professor says she’s seen a ‘surge in interest’ from students.

I went to the college website. It’s for reals, as we like to say for emphasis. While poking around, I came across this incentive: “Graduate with the skills to, and knowledge needed to, influence and drive business strategies that make a positive contribution to the environment and society.”

What department do you think is offering this degree? The program is part of the Department of Arab & Islamic Studies.

I’ll briefly mention UFO’s. Or maybe I should simply ask, “What is up with all the positive talk about UFO’s & aliens?” All of a sudden it is mainstream.

For example, thehill.com posted an article in mid-2023 titled, How the search for UFOs went mainstream. The UFO phenomena is completely compatible with supernatural activity. Many prophecy teachers have suggested that UFO’s will offer an explanation for the rapture.

The occult is on the rise – just as we expect it would be.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of the 7yr Great Tribulation by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Father’s Christmas

December 27, 2023

A non-canonical book is one that was not recognized as belonging to the 66 inspired books that comprise the completed Bible.

Undoubtedly the most famous of these books is The Book of Enoch. In Jude we read, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 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.” nThese are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage” (v14, 15 & 16).

Take a guess: How many non-canonical books do you think are referred to in the 66 inspired books that comprise the completed Bible?

At least 20 in the Hebrew Bible & 13 in the New Testament.

Some you might say, “O, yeah, now I remember:

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians before First Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:9).
The Book of Jasher is mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and Second Samuel 1:18 and also referenced in Second Timothy 3:8.
The Book of Gad the Seer (also called Gad the Seer or The Acts of Gad the Seer) referenced in First Chronicles 29:29.

Mennonite scholar David Ewart has mentioned that Nestle’s Greek New Testament lists some 132 New Testament passages that appear to be verbal allusions to non-canonical books. Also in the NT at least 4 pagan authors are alluded to.

Last week I told you that I have been looking at some first century writings by the so-called early Church fathers. I’m doing it because there is a movement growing in popularity to return to what is being called historic pre-millennialism. It is a view of the future that insists the Church fathers taught a post-tribulation rapture. They insist that no Church father is on record ever mentioning a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church.

We talked about a reference from Irenaeus that was clearly pre-tribulational. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John.

They are not correct, but even if they were, it would make no difference. What does the Word say? It says, in Daniel 12:4, that much prophecy was to be “shut up” until the end of the ages. Irenaeus says as much. We thus expect new developments in our eschatology.

One more observation regarding the end times. It is also growing in popularity to identify the antichrist as a Muslim. It is therefore interesting to learn that Irenaeus (and others) insisted he would be from the tribe of Dan. Again, it is not authoritative. But if you had a choice between a guy who occasionally talked to the apostle John and a modern commentator…

Let me say this before we go too far. These extra biblical, non-canonical books are not inspired. We are not to read them the way we read the Word of God. Having said that, however, since the Bible pretty often refers to them, we certainly can glean from them, too.

While scanning YouTube, my research assistant, who happens to be my wife, came across some early Church father’s references to the birth of Jesus. It’s super cool.

In the spirit of this Christmas season and the universal call to encounter Christ anew, let us look back in time at what some of the ancients had to say about Christmas and the Nativity.

I’ll start with the best of the best, Julius Africanus. He was a Christian historian who lived and wrote from AD 160-240.

He recorded the Magi’s own account of the star of Bethlehem and Christ’s birth.

(This account is found in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, under Africanus – Existent Writings; free to download on e-Sword).

And we came to that place then to which we were sent, and saw the mother and the child, the star indicating to us the royal babe. And we said to the mother: What art thou named, O renowned mother? And she says: Mary, masters. And we said to her: Whence art thou sprung? And she replies: From this district of the Bethlehemites. Then said we: Hast thou not had a husband? And she answers: I was only betrothed with a view to the marriage covenant, my thoughts being far removed from this. For I had no mind to come to this. And while I was giving very little concern to it, when a certain Sabbath dawned, and straightway at the rising of the sun, an angel appeared to me bringing me suddenly the glad tidings of a son. And in trouble I cried out, Be it not so to me, Lord, for I have not a husband. And he persuaded me to believe, that by the will of God I should have this son.

Then said we to her: Mother, mother, all the gods of the Persians have called thee blessed. Thy glory is great; for thou art exalted above all women of renown, and thou art shown to be more queenly than all queens.

The child, moreover, was seated on the ground, being, as she said, in His second year, and having in part the likeness of His mother. And she had long hands, and a body somewhat delicate; and her colour was like that of ripe wheat; and she was of a round face, and had her hair bound up. And as we had along with us a servant skilled in painting from the life, we brought with us to our country a likeness of them both; and it was placed by our hand in the sacred temple, with this inscription on it: To Jove the Sun, the mighty God, the King of Jesus, the power of Persia dedicated this.

And taking the child up, each of us in turn, and bearing Him in our arms, we saluted Him and worshipped Him, and presented to Him gold, and myrrh, and frankincense, addressing Him thus: We gift Thee with Thine own, O Jesus, Ruler of heaven. Wert things unordered be ordered, wert Thou not at hand. In no other way could things heavenly be brought into conjunction with things earthly, but by Thy descent. Such service cannot be discharged, if only the servant is sent us, as when the Master Himself is present; neither can so much be achieved when the king sends only his satraps to war, as when the king is there himself. It became the wisdom of Thy system, that Thou shouldest deal in this manner with men.

And the child leaped and laughed at our caresses and words. And when we had bidden the mother farewell, and when she had shown us honour, and we had testified to her the reverence which became us, we came again to the place in which we lodged. And at eventide there appeared to us one of a terrible and fearful countenance, saying: Get ye out quickly, lest ye be taken in a snare. And we in terror said: And who is he, O divine leader, that plotteth against so august an embassage? And he replied: Herod; but get you up straightway and depart in safety and peace.

And we made speed to depart thence in all earnestness; and we reported in Jerusalem all that we had seen. Behold, then, the great things that we have told you regarding Christ; and we saw Christ our Saviour, who was made known as both God and man. To Him be the glory and the power unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

Irenaeus (AD 120-200), the disciple of Polycarp:

In Book 3, Chapter 18, Section 1, Irenaeus talks about the importance of Christ’s birth from a virgin, highlighting the connection between the Virgin Mary and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah’s birth: “The Virgin Mary, being obedient to His word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God.”
Another reference can be found in Book 3, Chapter 19, Section 1, where Irenaeus discusses Jesus as the Word Incarnate: “For the Word of God, who is God, from the beginning, is in fact the divine substance of the Father, and therefore the Word became flesh, and the Son of God became the Son of Man.”

Church father Origen of Alexandria (AD 185-253) in Against Celsus 1:60, stated that the Magi had a copy of the prophecy of Balaam, found in Numbers 24, about the star coming out of Jacob. It was given to them by Daniel after the time of Cyrus’ taking the kingdom. Origen also stated, in Against Celsus 1.58, that historical records indicated that the Magi were not Chaldeans, but Persians.

Tertullian (AD 190-210) stated, in Idolatry 1.9, that astrology is simply a form of idolatry, but he believed that the science of the magi was totally different from the pagan form of astrology.

From here we jump to circa AD 400. The following excerpts are taken from the Christmas sermons of a few of the guys.

St. Leo the Great, Sermon on the Feast of the Nativity, AD 400’s.

The birth of Christ is the source of life for Christian folk, and the birthday of the Head is the birthday of the body. Although every individual that is called has his own order, and all the sons of the Church are separated from one another by intervals of time, yet as the entire body of the faithful being born in the font of baptism is crucified with Christ in His passion, raised again in His resurrection, and placed at the Father’s right hand in His ascension, so with Him are they born in this nativity.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 300’s). “But let us believe in Jesus Christ, as having come in the flesh and been made Man, because we could not receive Him otherwise. For since we could not look upon or enjoy Him as He was, He became what we are, that so we might be permitted to enjoy Him.”

John Chrysostom (AD 349 – 407) was famed for his preaching epithet, “Chrysostom” which means golden-mouthed. His Nativity Sermon:

Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been implanted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels.

Jerome (AD 347-420), best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, popularly known as the Vulgate. In On the Nativity of the Lord, wrote, “He found no room in the Holy of Holies that shone with gold, precious stones, pure silk, and silver. He is not born in the midst of gold and riches but in the midst of dung, in a stable, where our sins were filthier than the dung. He is born on a dunghill in order to lift up those who come from it: “From the dunghill He lifts up the poor.”

I’d rename his sermon, Dung da-dung-dung

I’ll Betrothe For Christmas (Matthew 1:18-25)

December 24, 2023

Matthew 1:18a – ¹⁸The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way…

In most of our favorite Christmas movies, things do not work out the way the main characters expect. Along the way, they experience a lot of frustration and let down. Charlie Brown can’t quite figure out what Christmas is all about. In Home Alone, the McCallisters’ meticulous plans are all derailed. Nothing goes right for the Griswold family in Christmas Vacation – not the turkey, not the lights, not even the drive to get the tree.

And then there’s George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life. Staring out over that bridge it seemed his whole life had worked out wrong. But then an angel appears and gives him the true perspective on things. In all of those Christmas classics and others still, by the end, the main characters, often the dad, realize that what they thought they were looking for wasn’t really what mattered most. What they really needed was something else.

Matthew’s telling of the arrival of the Savior focuses on the man who would become Jesus’ adoptive father: Joseph. Joseph was a good man – faithful and willing to do hard things. We’ll see that in our text. But, Joseph’s life was not quite working out the way one might have hoped.

You see, he was a descendant of David. And, even if he never actually thought that he should be king, at very least it would be hard to know that you are a member of the royal family, but instead of ruling in luxury, you were a poor carpenter, subjugated by a pagan empire, which was forcing you to take a long and costly trip back to a random town attached to your ancestors.

Joseph would never be king. That was to be expected, unfair as it was. What wasn’t expected was how things suddenly went sideways in his personal life when Jesus arrived in His Incarnation.

Matthew 1:18b – After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew knew she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. Mary knew it. But apparently she hadn’t explained her visit from Gabriel to her betrothed husband, Joseph.

In the Jewish customs of the time, there was a period of engagement – a year – before the man and wife started living together. But, that betrothal period was legally binding. That’s why Joseph is going to be called Mary’s husband in the very next verse. If you wanted out of betrothal, you would have to officially divorce.

Mary being pregnant was a big problem, culturally speaking. It would scandalize their families and communities. Joseph undoubtedly loved Mary. He wanted to marry her. But now, if he wanted to be faithful to God’s Law, he had a duty to either divorce her quietly, or bring her to strand trial before the Jewish leaders. Under the Law, those were his only 2 options.

Matthew 1:19 – ¹⁹So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.

Joseph was a remarkable man – a man of care and character. We see, on the one hand, he wasn’t going to ignore the Law of God, even if it meant having to part ways with the woman he loved. He “demonstrate[s] that his love for God [was] stronger than his love for Mary.” But it’s clear that he did love Mary. Even though she seems to have totally violated their relationship and marriage contract and social convention, it was important to Joseph that she not be disgraced publicly. He chose this quiet option that saves face, not for him – it saves face for Mary.

Joseph examples for us the fact that real righteousness always includes mercy. In that way, Joesph’s righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. It was a foreshadow of the way Jesus would treat the woman caught in adultery in John 8.

But, the Law was the Law, and so Joesph started making arrangements to break off his relationship with his fiancé.

I imagine his heart was absolutely crushed. He’s a good man. He’s a righteous man. If I were him, I can imagine I’d pray something like, “Lord, what am I supposed to do? I can’t live out my royal blood right. I’m a poor laborer. I’m getting pushed around by the Roman Empire. I’m trying to carve out a little life for myself and start a family with what little prospects I’ve got. I’m serious about following the Law and honoring You as God of my life. And now my marriage can’’t happen?”

Matthew 1:20 – ²⁰But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

We’re not told whether Mary tried to convince him. But we see he was thinking a lot about it. He didn’t act emotionally or in haste. He considered the situation, and made what he thought was the best decision moving forward. The problem is, he didn’t have all the information he needed to make this life decision. He didn’t know the levers of providence that were in motion.

So, before Joseph can make his ‘best’ decision, the Lord changes the situation. In all those Christmas movies, there’s always a pivot-point. George Bailey meets Clarence. Charlie Brown hears God’s Word from Linus. Kevin McCallister talks to the scary, bearded neighbor.

How interesting that the angel called Joseph, “Joseph, son of David.” A lot of good the family name had done him so far in life. But we see that God knows what is true about you, God installs eternal value in you, God sees the culmination of His work in you, even if the rest of the world passes you by. It didn’t matter to Rome that he was a son of David. It didn’t matter to the Innkeepers of Bethlehem. But it mattered to the Lord and the Lord had not forgotten. In fact, the Lord had decided to give Joseph a personal, hand-tailored part to play in the drama of redemption.

This is what God wants to do with every single child of God! Your life may not be working out according to your five-year plan or the dream you had when you were a little boy or girl. But God has a providential plan that is shaking up the cosmos, displaying His grace and glory and power to all the powers in all the heavens. And He has written a part for you to play.

The angel clears up where Jesus came from, but things were still sticky. Joseph was being asked to live a sacrificial life for the rest of his life – a life of social embarrassment. People would whisper everywhere they went. His whole life would now be oriented not around his own dreams or his own greatness, but instead, his whole life would revolve around this job that God had given Joseph and Mary to do: Raise and nurture the Messiah. But how could they possibly do it ‘right?’

The angel continued in verse 21.

Matthew 1:21 – ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

You are to name Him. Mary had an incredible, unique calling placed on her life. She would bear the Christ into the world. Jewish mothers for millennia had hoped to be chosen by God to be a part of this work. So, on the one hand, Mary has this monumental job that she is remembered for. But, she would need help. A lot of help. And the Lord expected Joseph to serve with her in this endeavor. He couldn’t do what she was asked to do, but what he could do was help and support and provide and protect and lead and partner with her in raising the Messiah in their home!

His name would be Jesus. Scholars explain that depending on whether you study how the name sounds or what its etymology is, the name means “He will save,” or, “Yahweh is salvation,” or “O save, Yahweh!” or, “Yahweh saves, He and not another.”

This is Who Jesus is. The little Baby in the nativity set is God Himself, come in human flesh. Fully God and fully man. He came for one reason: Someone had to die for the sin of the world. Someone had to pay the fine that we all owe for all the wrongs we’ve done and the wrongs done to us.

There is just One Savior. And we are a people who need saving. Who will rescue humanity from our downward spiral? Who will save us from our failures and mistakes and sin? The average Christmas movie is usually vague in the end. It’s togetherness or family or just not being so tightly wound. But we all know the Griswolds are going to have a terrible Christmas next year. The McCallisters weren’t any better in Home Alone 2. Those vague “just be nicer” messages don’t really hold water.

We need saving. God knew it before we did and He made a plan. His plan was to come Himself, born of a virgin, to live a sinful life, die a death He did not deserve, rise again the third day. This was the only way that He could bridge the gap between God and man and reconcile us to Himself.

Matthew peels back the curtain to show us how this has been God’s glorious plan of salvation all along.

Matthew 1:22 – ²²Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ²³See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

What God promises, He will do. No matter what. That’s why Joseph and Mary didn’t need to be afraid. It didn’t mean things wouldn’t be hard – in fact, they’d be running for their lives in a few verses – but God is a God of promise and presence. Not presents, though He loves to give gifts, presence, meaning His desire is to be with us. Coming into the earth in His Incarnation, He said, “Ok, I’m the eternal God, I hold everything together in the palm of My hand. But I’ve got a new name I’d like you to use for Me: Immanuel. God with us.”

Matthew 1:24-25 – ²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her ²⁵but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

Joseph was a man of faith in action. Once God spoke, it was time to do. He named Him Jesus. This was the first of three midnight dream-meetings with angels that Joseph would experience. After each one he did exactly what the Lord asked.

But there were many other days without angel visits were Joseph also did what the Lord asked. It must have been hard to know that you have the King of kings in your care, but you can’t give Him a palace. There wouldn’t be many nights of feasting. There were no royal robes or grand parades. Just the three of them, and then siblings that came later. Living small, living far from home for awhile. It may have felt like things didn’t work out the way you’d want. Their life may have felt small and insignificant or meager. But what God cared about and wanted for them was working out just fine because He was the One accomplishing it by His own power and grace.

You and I are not called to foster the Messiah. But He has other callings for you and me. We discover them by loving Him and being in His presence, by hearing His Word and doing what we’ve been told. We join in His magnificent, Kingdom work as we relinquish control of our life’s decisions and instead allow Him to direct and propel and move us through this walk we’re on with Him. If you feel things are not working out, look to God’s gift, His Son, our Savior, Who is still with you, still Immanuel even now and writing you the most important part you could ever play.

Church Fathers And The Bride

December 20, 2023

Tonight we need a glossary of terms before we can start:

Resurrection is rising from the dead into the permanent physical glorified body all believers in Jesus will receive in order to live without sin for eternity.
The rapture is the event when Jesus transforms living believers at His return. Because they never die they must be instantaneously changed in order to be caught-up to Heaven by the Lord.
The Great Tribulation is the most common name of the future 7yr period of God’s wrath being poured out upon the earth.
The Second Coming is the return of Jesus to earth.
The Millennial Kingdom, or the Millennium, is the Kingdom of God on earth that Jesus will establish and rule upon His return.
Pre-millennial means that Jesus will return to earth at the end of the Great Tribulation to establish His one-thousand year reign. His return precedes the kingdom.
A dispensation is a way of ordering things – an administration, a system, or a management. In theology, a dispensation is the divine administration of a period of time; each dispensation is a divinely appointed age.

For going on a year I’ve been encountering the growing popularity of post-tribulationism. This is the belief that the church will be resurrected and raptured after the Great Tribulation. The church will have to endure those seven years.

As I got a little bit deeper into it I discovered there is a resurgence of interest in what is called “historic pre-millennialism.”

What we believe the Bible teaches is called “dispensational pre-millennialism.” Let me give you a quick comparison:

Historic pre-millennialism teaches that the church will be resurrected & raptured at the Return of Jesus, not before. Dispensational pre-millennialism sees in Scripture a pre-tribulation resurrection & rapture of the church. The church is kept from the Great Tribulation.
Historic pre-millennialists do not make a sharp distinction between the nation of Israel & the church. One of the main contributions of dispensational pre-millennialism is acknowledging that God distinguishes between ethnic Jews, Gentiles unbelievers, and the church.

It’s called “historic” because they argue that all early church guys were premillennial, and no early church guy ever believed in the pretribulation rapture. Thus they are returning to what they believe was the historic doctrine of the early church. Some will go so far as to label our view as a false teaching.

It is relatively easy to show that for about the first 300 years of church history, everyone was pre-millennial.

Around AD 300 came two other approaches:

Post-millennialism holds that Jesus Christ establishes His kingdom on earth through His preaching and redemptive work in the first century and that He equips His church with the Gospel, empowers the church by the Spirit, and charges the church with the Great Commission to disciple all nations. Eventually the vast majority of people living will be saved. Increasing Gospel success will gradually produce a time in history prior to Christ’s return in which faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of men and of nations.

A-milennialists reject the view that Jesus Christ will physically reign on the earth for exactly one thousand years. Rather, they interpret the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20 as a symbolic number, not as a literal duration of time. A-millennialists hold that the millennium has already begun and is simultaneous with the current church age. They do believe that Jesus will return in final judgment and establish a permanent reign in the “new heaven and new earth.

Augustine is an important guy in church history. in his early days affirmed pre-millennialism, but later changed to a-millennialism, causing the view to become popularized together with Pope Gregory the Great. Some protestant scholars call it the Roman apostasy.

Because the Roman church strongly condemned anything but amillennialism, it became dominant for about 1200 years. This started to change after the Reformation. Protestants returned to pre-millennialism. Some discovered the dispensational pre-millennialism taught in the Bible, including the pre-tribulation resurrection & rapture of the church.

The historic pre-millennial people I have encountered insist that there is no mention of a pre-tribulation resurrection & rapture until it was proposed in the 1800’s.

Even if that were true, it would not nullify the doctrine if it is taught in the Bible. But… Is it true?

Let’s consult two important early church guys: Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. They both were disciples of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John.

Wow! That’s big. Irenaeus wrote that he occasionally spoke with John. These guys were getting the good stuff right from the source.

Justin was born in Nablus, Israel, in AD 100. As a student of Polycarp, he wrote several works on various topics, including Bible prophecy. Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho is a discussion with a Jew regarding the superiority of Christ and Christianity. Trypho presents objections, and Justin answers them. (Some identify Trypho as a historical rabbi, and others believe that Trypho is a fictional character and that Justin simply used the dialogue as a literary device). He was eventually martyred in Rome in AD 165 for being a Christian.

Here are three quotes from him:

“The Man of Sin, spoken of by Daniel, will rule [three] times and a half, before the Second Advent.” Dialogue 32.
“There will be a literal one-thousand-year reign of Christ.” Dialogue 81.
“The man of apostasy, who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against believers.” Dialogue 110.

Moving on to Irenaeus. According to Dr. Ken Johnson,

Irenaeus was born in in Smyrna in AD 130. He became a student of Polycarp and testified that he occasionally spoke to the very old apostle John. In approximately AD 170, Irenaeus wrote a five-volume work entitled Against Heresies. It deals mostly with the cults and heretics of his day but also touches on prophecy, especially when there was a cult that was misinterpreting a biblical prediction for its own purposes. He died in AD 202.

You can read Against Heresies on-line; it’s not hard to find. In fact, a simple Google search of any of these guys will reveal their writings translated into English.

Let’s highlight Irenaeus. All of the quotes can be found in Against Heresies.

“There is a resurrection of the Just that takes place after the destruction of the Antichrist and all nations under his rule. Many believers will make it through the Tribulation and replenish the earth. In the Resurrection we will have fellowship and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings. The new heavens and earth are first created and then the new Jerusalem descends. These are all literal things, and Christians who allegorize them are immature Christians” (Against Heresies 5.35). This is very premillennial.

He makes a strong statement for the pre-trib Rapture. “When in the end that church will suddenly be caught up from this, then it is said, ‘There will be tribulation such as not been since the beginning, nor will be.’ ” (Against Heresies 5.29).

Irenaeus wrote this about he Number 666. “The name of the Antichrist equals 666 if spelled out in Greek. Do not even try to find out the number of the name until the ten kings arise. Titan is one Greek word that totals 666. (Against Heresies 5.30).

The Ten Nations: “Ten kings will arise from what used to be the Roman Empire. The Antichrist slays three of the kings and he is then the eighth king among them. The kings will destroy Babylon, then give the Babylonian kingdom to the Beast and put the believers to flight. After that, they will be destroyed by the coming of the Lord. Daniel’s horns are the same as the ten toes. The toes being part iron and part clay mean some kings will be active and strong while others, weak and inactive. And the kings will not agree with each other” (Against Heresies 5.26).

The Abomination of Desolation: “In Second Thessalonians, the ‘falling away’ is an apostasy and there will be a literal rebuilt temple. In Matthew [chapter 24], the ‘abomination spoken by Daniel’ is the Antichrist sitting in the temple as if he were Christ. The abomination will start in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week and last for a literal three years and six months. The little horn [11th] is the Antichrist” (Against Heresies 5.25).

Antichrist from the Tribe of Dan: “The Antichrist shall come from the tribe of Dan. That is why the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in the Apocalypse” (Against Heresies 5.30).

These writings are not inspired by God the Holy Spirit. They do give us insight into the teaching of the original apostles.

I should mention that the post-tribbers refute Irenaeus’ pre-trib resurrection & rapture statement. I think it’s strong. But let’s say they are right. Would we be wrong?

Irenaeus said this about the time of the end: “Daniel the prophet says ‘Shut up the words, and seal the book even to the time of consummation, until many learn, and knowledge be completed.’ For at that time, when the dispersion shall be accomplished, they shall know all these things. But Jeremiah also says, “In the last days they shall understand these things.” Jeremiah 23:20 For every prophecy, before its fulfillment, is to men [full of] enigmas and ambiguities. But when the time has arrived, and the prediction has come to pass, then the prophecies have a clear and certain exposition” (Against Heresies 4.26).

If Irenaeus was post-trib, or mid-trib, or pre-wrath, it isn’t clear either. What he just said here is perhaps more important. Some things in prophecy were “shut.. and sealed” until the “dispersion is accomplished.”

For centuries, the Jewish people were dispersed across different nations after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile in 586 BC and the subsequent Roman expulsion in 70 AD. However, in 1948, Israel was officially recognized as an independent state, marking the fulfillment of this prophecy as the Jewish people returned to their ancient homeland after almost 2000 years of dispersion.

If suddenly the doctrine of the pre-tribulation resurrection and rapture was understood having never been considered – well that is the kind of thing Daniel & Jeremiah meant could and would happen in the End Times.

Also consider that drawing a hard distinction between ethnic Jews, unbelieving Gentiles, and the church was something revealed much later. The church is something very special. It was not revealed at all in the Hebrew Bible. It was a mystery until NT times.

So, while all this is super interesting, we know what Jesus said & meant: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

Something incredibly interesting I discovered about these guys. The idea that Jesus will return to set up His Millennial kingdom in the Jewish year 6000 is taught by many influential ancient church fathers.

Again quoting Ken Johnson,

The first coming of Jesus Christ was about 4000 years after Creation. These ancient church fathers taught the Second Coming would be about AD 2000. The most descriptive is in the Epistle of Barnabas which devotes an entire chapter on this issue. Remember, this does not mean they were correct; but if they believed and taught this, it proves the ancient Christians were premillennial. With the calendars being confused and inaccurate, we can’t say for certain when the year 6000 will occur. An approximate range would be between the years AD 2030 and 2067, although it could occur even earlier.

Barnabas: “Of the Sabbath He speaketh in the beginning of the creation; And God made the works of His hands in six days, and He ended on the
seventh day, and rested on it, and He hallowed it.
Give heed, children, what this meaneth; He ended in six days. He meaneth this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifyeth a thousand years; and this He himself beareth me witness, saying; Behold, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end. And He rested on the seventh day. This He meaneth; when His Son
shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day” (Epistle of Barnabas 15:3-5).

Irenaeus: “The day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed. It is evident, therefore, they will come to an end in the six thousandth year” (Against Heresies 5.28).

Hippolytus: “The Sabbath is a type of the future kingdom… For “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years.” Since, then, in six days the Lord created all things, it follows that in six thousand years all will be fulfilled” (Fragment 2; Commentary on Daniel 2.4).

Commodianus: “We will be immortal when the six thousand years are completed” (Against the Gods of the Heathens 35). “Resurrection of the body will be when six thousand years are completed, and after the one thousand years, the world will come to an end” (Against the Gods of the Heathens 80).

Victorinus: “Satan will be bound until the thousand years are finished; that is, after the sixth day”(Commentary on Revelation 20.1-3).

Methodius: “In the seventh millennium we will be immortal and truly celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles” (Ten Virgins 9).

Lactantius: “The sixth thousandth year is not yet complete. When this number is complete, the consummation must take place” (Divine Institutes 7.14).

Christians are always terrified that we will be accused of date setting. In the first century, it made sense that God would provide information, specific information, about dates.

We believe, do we not, that it was possible to calculate the very day the Lord would make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Daniel lets us know it would be 483 years after the decree of the Persian king Artaxerxes to Nehemiah on March 5 of BC 444.

When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 there were also many documents that were found in caves not far from the Dead Sea. Discovery was also made of buildings next to the Dead Sea. It has been argued that the buildings were where the Essenes lived and the scrolls found in the caves, the Dead Sea Scrolls, were placed there by the them.

The Essenes were an apocalyptic sect of Judaism. Although it can’t be proven, scholars suggest John the Baptist was an Essene.

They had their own calendar. It is claimed that they predicted His death in AD 32.

This quote is from a site that delves into the Essene calendar:

The Jewish calendar states that 2021 is the year 5781AM (Anno Mundi – year of creation) while

the Essene Calendar tells us it is the year 5946AM. There is a 165 year difference between them. The Essenes also said that the very last Jubilee, a 50 year period, will begin in 2025AD or, in their Calendar, 5950AM. With a “Day like a Thousand Years” we see the 6 days of Creation prophetically being finished according to the Essenes Calendar around 6000AM or 2075AD for us.

You’ll Never Be God’s Beast Of Burden (Isaiah 46:1-13)

December 17, 2023

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each, I noticed Footprints in the Sand. At times there were two sets of footprints; other times there was only one. Curious to know why, I asked the Lord.

The Lord replied, “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, My child, is when I carried you. The times when you have seen two sets of footprints, My child, you insisted I put you down so that you could go your own way, in your own strength.”

That’s not the way it goes…But maybe it should be?

In the original composition there is no concern about the two sets of footprints. They are only there to make the point that there are times the Lord must carry you. Turns out, those times are all the time!

God says so in verses three & four. “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, Who have been upheld by Me from birth, Who have been carried from the womb: Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.”

“Upheld,” “carry,” “carried,” and “bear,” “from the womb even to your old age.” The Lord carries us through our entire life.

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 The World Is Out To Crush You, and #2 The Lord Is Here To Carry You.

#1 – The World Is Out To Crush You (v1-2 & 5-13)

When we use the term “the world” we mean the fallen condition of God’s Special Creation that now exists on account of Adam & Eve disobeying the LORD in the beginning. Satan has installed an antagonistic, chaotic system. He is a liar and a murderer.

Satan’s psychologies, philosophies, politics, and religions are lies. They blind you from seeing your need for a Savior who can take your burden of sin upon Himself so that you are forgiven.

I have a bachelors degree in psychology from the prestigious UC campus in Riverside. I’ve asked forgiveness often! The psych department focused on Comparative Psychology. We studied animals to try to understand human behavior. Why would we do that? It’s the evolutionary approach.

They have (had?) a colony of macaque monkeys. One assignment was to sit all day to observe their behavior. I’m being serious. Most of their time was spent grooming one another.

While I’m confessing… I also have a bachelor’s in philosophy. Existentialism was all the rage at UCR. Here is all that you need to know about existentialism. At the graduate level, they urge you not to commit suicide. I’m serious. Existentialism poses an existential threat to your life.

Meanwhile the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a godless person with a worldly education has more wisdom than even a new believer in Jesus. Which one, for example, is going to be in Heaven?

Isa 46:1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded, A burden to the weary beast.

“Bel” and “Nebo” were the father-and-son god team of Babylon. Their idols rode on carts that beasts of burden hauled – with some difficulty because of their weight. Rather than lifting burdens, these idols created them for their worshippers.

There is no single agreed upon biblical definition of idolatry. We define it as “idols, images, or any God-substitutes.” It is helpful in discussing and determining idolatry to remember the biblical statement that “covetousness is idolatry.” Anything or anyone you covet substitutes for God because it is evidence you are not content with Him.

Your God-substitute can only make things worse because its source is satanic and it has no power to help.

Regarding religion Jesus said, “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4).

The apostle Paul chastised the believers in Corinth saying, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” (First Corinthians 6:2-3).

Isa 46:2 They stoop, they bow down together; They could not deliver the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity.

Isaiah is describing the near-future of Israel. The Jews would be conquered by Babylon and taken there, held captive there. Babylon’s so-called gods would figuratively “bow down together” when King Cyrus of Medo-Persia conquered them.

Skip to verse five.

Isa 46:5 “To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal And compare Me, that we should be alike?

Isa 46:6 They lavish gold out of the bag, And weigh silver on the scales; They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.

Isa 46:7 They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it And set it in its place, and it stands; From its place it shall not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer Nor save him out of his trouble.

We immediately agree that idols and images are powerless. Covetousness, however, is pervasive. It can be hidden in our hearts where it becomes septic.

Isa 46:8 “Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors.

Has God done things for you? Of course He has. Remember them; recall them. Then “Act like a Christian!”

Singer Johnny Fontaine went to his Godfather for help. He started to sob, saying he didn’t know what to do. The Godfather grabbed him by the hands and told him, “You can act like a man!” Then he slapped him and said, “What’s the matter with you!”

We all have some of Johnny Fontaine in us and we often require a spiritual “slap in the face.”

Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’

Several times in the last few chapters the LORD reminded His chosen nation that He alone can, with 100% accuracy, predict the future. Not only that, but His “counsel,” i.e., His plan, will succeed.

Isa 46:11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.

King Cyrus was “the bird of prey from the East.”

Cyrus would help the Jews return to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls and the Temple. He would serve the Lord. As far as we can tell, Cyrus was never saved. All the more our surprise at God using him.

Isa 46:12 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, Who are far from righteousness:

Isa 46:13 I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory.”

Commentators argue whether God was addressing Babylonians or Jews who were “far from righteousness.” Probably His chosen nation – but why not both?

In verse thirteen God promised that all of their drama with Assyria, Babylon, and Persia would not hinder the plan of redemption. He would “bring [His] righteousness near.” I think God was talking about the first coming of Jesus to die & rise from the dead. Righteousness was near because Jesus was here. The apostle John said that their “hands” “handled” the Lord (First John 1:1). They touched the God-man.

Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself makes it possible for God to declare people righteous. He has taken upon Himself the sins of the world. Those who believe have their sins exchanged for His righteousness.

Someone has insightfully said, “There are two kinds of gods in this world: The kind you carry and the One who can carry you.”

If you are burdened in any way, it isn’t from the Lord.

#2 – The Lord Is Here To Carry You (v3-4)

The LORD considers Israel His child. Children are carried in the womb, miraculously protected and provided for. They are carried for some time after. The LORD portrays Himself carrying His children all their days.

Isa 46:3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, Who have been upheld by Me from birth, Who have been carried from the womb:

The imagery of Jesus constantly carrying me suggests an effortlessness on my part. I add nothing except that I must by faith believe He will never leave me or forsake me.

Expand on that as a personal devotion. It’s amazing.

Let’s modernize this idea of being carried and say I’m in a wheelchair that the Lord is pushing. He is setting the speed and choosing the direction. I am resting.

Why would I bail? Two reasons. First – Because the Lord pushes my wheelchair like it’s Mr.Toad’s wild ride.

The Lord has what I call ‘opposite thinking:’

He tells us to rejoice in trials.
Weakness is strength.
If you humble yourself He exalts you.
You are expected to take “pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake” (Second Corinthians 12:10).
God “has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are” (First Corinthians 1:27-28).

Every step in the the life of Jesus on earth was a mind-boggling opposite of what was expected. Born of a virgin? In Bethlehem? From Nazareth? Learning obedience for the first thirty years of His life on earth? The Cross before the Crown? It is all weirdly wonderful.

Secondly, I want to leave footprints in the sand. No one wants to be carried or confined to a wheelchair. It is a surrender to weakness and handicap. God’s strength being revealed in my weakness is poetic on the pages of Scripture. In my own life – not so much.

Isa 46:4 Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

The very fact we age to “gray hairs” and die reminds us something is fundamentally wrong. God’s plan to send Jesus rights all wrongs. But not yet.

So I’m in my wheelchair, trusting Jesus, when all of a sudden a burden gets dumped in my lap. Maybe, as with me, a diagnosis you’d rather not have.

Jesus is still handling the load. Allow me to illustrate. People in wheelchairs at Disneyland will have kids & grandkids sitting on them. They’ve got packages hanging off them and off the chair. Everyone in their party uses the wheelchair as storage.

None of that weighs them down; it is added weight for the one pushing. We, however, believe we are being burdened, sometimes beyond what we can bear.

James begins his NT letter, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (1:2). Do you? Do I? If we did we would sing,

Joy in the World, My Trial has Come,

Let Gene Receive it’s Sting

The apostle Peter understood that the believers he was writing to were “grieved” by their trials. But he immediately told them the purpose of trials was to refine them as a refiner refines gold in the furnace. He told them to “rejoice with joy, inexpressible and full of glory” (1:8).

Believers in Christ enjoy fellowship with their Lord. One particular kind of fellowship is “the fellowship of His suffering” (Philippians 3:10).

The early apostles believed that participating in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering was part of our preparation for sharing in His future glory.

Like Job before me, I want to be able to declare, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5).

The apostle Paul suffered from a long-term illness or disability which he called “the thorn in his flesh.” He let Jesus carry him, saying, “[Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (Second Corinthians 12:9).

I’ve used the illustration many times, but it’s just too good not to. You remember that scene in Jaws when Quint, Hooper, and Brody were below deck on the Orca. They started comparing wounds that they had received over the years. They were boasting, wanting to have the worst wound.

The apostle Peter was told by Jesus, “When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me” (John 21:18-19).

The church fathers say that Peter was crucified at Rome, about 34 years after this, with his head downward. Clemens says that he was led to the crucifixion with his wife, and sustained her in her sufferings by exhorting her to remember the example of her Lord. He also adds that he died, not as the philosophers did, but with a firm hope of heaven, and patiently endured the pangs of the cross.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary reads, “As Jesus followed the Father’s will, so His disciples should follow their Lord whether the path leads to a cross or to some other difficult experience.”

Sometimes I feel sorry for believers who have no trials. They are missing the fellowship of His suffering.

You can’t be upset with me about ruining Footprints in the Sand for you. My version extols the single set belonging to Jesus.

Maybe we rewrite it again to show tire tracks.

If you came today burdened and seeking relief, one way to get it is to help another believer with their burden(s). “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 NIV).
If you are not a believer, please perk-up:

In Isaiah 53:11 we read, “By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.”

Hebrews 9:28 says, “Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many.”

First Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.”

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