Over the previous seven years, the world and mankind has experienced many wondrous things. At the beginning, millions of people mysteriously vanished into thin air. The world was in chaos, but in the midst of this a leader stepped forward seaming with explanations for all questions. He was suave. He was a political genius. He was a financial genius. He seemed to be able to solve all the world's problems....He even got the Jews and the Palestinians to get along and sign a seven year peace accord; something no one else had ever done.
In the midst of that seven years everything changed. He wasn't the same guy he was 3 ½ years ago. Plagues and pestilence now was world wide. It seemed everything in the sea was dying. It wasn't raining. People were dying all over the world. The armies of the entire world were now staged all around the nation of Israel doing battle. What was once peace was now nothing but war. There were even reports that so many people were dying in the battle in the middle east that the blood was actually pooling on the ground like a massive lake. If things continued on like they were, mankind would never survive.
At the hottest part of the battle, the sky darkened. You couldn't see the sun, moon or stars. The world had experienced dastardly things over the last 3 ½ years; earthquakes, tsunamis, plagues and constant wars. Now there's an eeriness as this massive battle drags on. Something feels different as if what has happened before is just a precursor.
Then the clouds part in the sky. Bright light shines through such as the people of earth have never experienced before. No matter where they are on earth, they can see King Jesus descending from the clouds coming down to earth with a heavenly host. Thousands of angels and the redeemed coming with him from the clouds. As His foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, there is a great earthquake such as the earth has never experienced. For the people who have been saved during the period known as the Great Tribulation, this is what they've been waiting for, their joy cannot be contained. For everyone else in the world, it is sadly time to mourn.
As Jesus touches down, the words coming out of His mouth are like a two edged sword, slaying the enemies of God. As the armies of the world come at Him to do battle He slays them thousands at a time. They soon realize that their efforts are fruitless, but it's too late for them. He defeats the one known as the Antichrist and his cohort the False Prophet and casts them into a lake of fire. He separates the true believers from the non-believers. He takes the Great Beast Satan and binds him and puts him in a prison made especially for him. All the Old Testament Saints and the Saints killed during the Great Tribulation are being resurrected from their graves. He sits in judgment of the fallen angels.
King Jesus has come back at last to set up His millennial reign and bring peace to His creation. For those of us who believe and have been raptured beforehand; or those who have died before Christ's crucifixion; or believed during the Great Tribulation, it is the day we have waited for. It is the day that creation has groaned for since Adam and Eve took a bite and rebelled against God. It is the day that Satan has known would come for eons, and try as he may could not stop it. For all the people who have ever or will reject Christ, it is the most treacherous and terrible of days.
Even so Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Existence and Personality of Satan
THE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY OF SATAN
Introduction
It’s been said, time and time again, “the greatest trick Satan ever pulled, was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.” However, he does exist; and he is real. Satan is real because God explicitly says he is real in the Bible. As believers, with regenerated spirits and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can see Satan for who he is; and we can recognize his methods and his “tricks”. For an unbelieving world, it’s easy for people to say “c’est la vie” or, such is life; and dismiss the things they see going on around them to just the way things are.
In this paper, we will discuss the existence of Satan and his personality. We’ll take a look at what we know of his origin, some of his actions in the Bible, and how he goes about operating in this world. In his personality we’ll look at his cunningness, his hatred for mankind, and his willingness to do whatever it takes to try to thwart the plans of God. It’s important for us to understand that evil doesn’t just happen; and all evil cannot be attributed to Satan alone, as there will be a time in the future during the Millennium where Satan and his demons will be far removed from mankind, and yet man will still rebel against God; but Satan certainly plays a big part in the evil that happens on this earth, as we’ll see.
Satan’s Origin
“We have no genesis of the devil in the Bible as a direct statement. The Bible is not his full history. It gives no intimation of his birth and no description of his creation. The Bible is only concerned with the devil as he has part in the great crisis of man’s history, and only gives us occasional glimpses of him in his work of ruin and death as explanatory, or as putting his acts in striking contrast and opposition to the works and aims of Christ.”
“Peter in his first epistle gives the angel crisis and fall as one of the signal events which illustrates God’s justice, its certainty, and fearfulness. He says, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.” Jude speaks after the same order of God’s inflexible wrath when he tells us that, “the angels kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Bounds, 1922, p. 11-12)
As we can see from the above, the Bible doesn’t really speak about when or how Satan was created, because ultimately, in God’s plan and purpose for mankind it’s really not all that important. What is important to God is that we as believers understand how Satan works against us and is constantly doing so. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” (Eph. 6:11 NIV) “He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.” (1 Tim. 3:7 NIV)
We do however get a glimpse of his beginnings as he was cast from heaven to earth in the book of Ezekiel:
“You were anointed as the guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.” (Ezek. 28:14-17)
Although we don’t know exactly when Satan was created, we do see here that he was created as a special creature by God, who was to serve a special purpose; but his own arrogance and self love caused him to be cast out of the presence of God to become the arch enemy of not only God himself, but God’s other special creature: man.
Satan’s Existence
As was stated above, one of the greatest tricks Satan ever pulled was convincing an unsuspecting world that he didn’t exist in the first place; however, he does exist and believing anything else is dangerous to one’s eternal soul. As Walter Wink states:
“Nothing commends Satan to the modern mind. It is bad enough that Satan is spirit, when our world view has banned spirit from discourse and belief. But worse, he is evil, and our culture resolutely refuses to believe in the real existence of evil, preferring to regard it as a kind of systems breakdown that can be fixed with enough tinkering. Worse yet, Satan is not a very good intellectual idea. Once theology lost its character as reflection on the experience of knowing God, and became a second level exercise in knowing about, the experiential ground of theology began to erode away. “Although mythologically true” Morton Kelsey writes, “the devil is intellectually indefensible, and once it was realized that the conception of the powers of evil was “only” a representation of people’s experience, no matter how accurate, the devil began to fade.” (Wink, 1986, p.9)
While the world may deny the existence of Satan, or at the very least ignore his existence, the Bible declares his it in numerous places; of which we’ll examine a few:
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:4-5, NIV)
“Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." (Job 1:8, NIV)
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (Matt 3:1-3, NIV)
Notice how the Bible refers to Satan on three separate occasions; in Genesis, he is referred to as the serpent; in Job he is specifically referred to as Satan; and in Matthew he is called the Devil and the tempter. Jesus himself had conversation with Satan in the desert while he was being tempted. The Bible, God’s holy word, does not try to make the case that Satan exists; it speaks of him in the sense that he does exist; period. No matter how much the world and mankind would like to think that Satan is not real, it doesn’t change the fact that he is, and that he has a distinct purpose on this earth.
In summing up the existence of Satan, author Richard Mayhue states it very well:
“Earlier in this decade the devil rated a three page spread in Newsweek-“Giving the Devil His Due.” It contained a survey of how American theologians and pastors in general have debunked and demythologized Satan, making him nothing more than a vestigial religious figure who has been trivialized by a thousand superstitions. Kenneth Woodward, noted religious correspondent for Newsweek, concluded with the words the devil undoubtedly welcomed, “In these harrowing times, Satan’s cleverest ploy would be to convince mankind that a pallid, personal devil really does exist.” (Mayhue 1988, 2001 p. 16)
Satan’s Personality
“The Devil is a person of marked emphatic character. Character gives dignity, place and value to the person, or character degrades the person. Character is that which is inner, cut in and graven. Character abides, forms action and shapes life. Character is a fountain. It is the head and stream of conduct; character often versus reputation. Character is what we are. Reputation is what folks think we are. The real and the think are so often two worlds. It would be well every way if reputation were based on character, if the real and the reputed were one. A bad reputation may be coupled with good character. Then the times are sadly out of joint or the environments, and the folks are more sadly out of joint than the times. A good reputation may be but the veneering of a bad character. The devil has this characteristic with him. Reputation is based on character. They are one. His reputation is bad, because his character is worse.” (Bounds, 1922, p. 19)
As stated above, Satan does have a bad reputation, which is derived from his character. He has a bad reputation because he is bad. His character is immoral. His character can be seen in some of the names given to Satan from the Bible: Apollyon (destroyer), Accuser of the Brethren, Beelzebub (prince of demons), Deceiver, Slanderer, and our Enemy. Those names aren’t just given to Satan, he has earned every one of them, through his destructive nature and hatred toward the Holy God who originally created him.
In books such as The Satanism Scare, Satan is once again successful in trickery to convince such authors as David G. Bromley that he doesn’t exist. Mr. Bromley goes on to point out that his thoughts lead to the idea that an “all powerful, all good God would not allow evil to exist in His cosmos He creates, therefore evil cannot exist; but since we can see that it does exist, we can save God’s goodness by limiting His omnipotence, or save His omnipotence by qualifying His goodness; albeit by pinning the evil on someone else.” He goes on to say, “To avoid this choice, a variety of strategies have been employed over the millennia. One solution, however unsatisfactory philosophically, is to resort to the notion of a spiritual power antagonistic to God, such as Satan. The Old Testament has relatively few references to Satan as a personality. Most Hebrew thought before the second century B.C.E. accepted destruction and suffering as originating in God’s inscrutable will. But some Old Testament passages lent themselves to an interpretation that mysterious spiritual powers, subordinate to a God, often did destructive things. In some passages-most dramatically in the book of Job-this power is portrayed as having an independent, malevolent existence.” (Bromley, 1991, p.41)
As we can see from the above, part of Satan’s personality is deceitfulness. He not only convinces people that he doesn’t exist, but in turn convinces people that the very idea of him is to be a scapegoat for the evil committed in the world. If he’s to be explained away as just a character of some fantasy, by whom all the evil of the world is perpetuated, then there is no need for a belief in an all powerful God that would hold him back from conducting all the evil he could ever commit. So, in convincing people he doesn’t exist, he also convinces people there is no God, attributing all the good committed in the world to the goodness and kindness of the human heart.
Another part of Satan’s personality is pride. This particular trait is the thing that got Satan cast out of heaven and out of the presence of Almighty God. It wasn’t enough that God created Satan as probably the most glorious and powerful Angel, Satan wanted to be God; he wanted to ascend to the throne of God and have ultimate control. Lewis Chafer says in his book:
“According to the scriptures, the supreme motive of Satan is his purpose to become like the Most High and, though that purpose was formed before the age of man, it has been his constant actuating motive from that time until now. It is also the teaching of the scriptures that Satan is in especial authority in the present age, he being permitted the exercise of his own power in order that he, and his followers, may make their own final demonstration to the who universe of the utter folly of their claims and their abject helplessness when wholly independent of their Creator. This is definitely predicted in 2 Timothy 3:9 as the final outcome of the attitude of the world in its independence toward God: “They shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men.” (Chafer, 1990, p.63)
The results of Satan’s pride can be seen in the book of Isaiah. “How you have fallen from Heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!” But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15, NIV)
“Accuser of the brethren” is yet another name for Satan, because it’s one of the things he’s very good at. In his book, L. F. McMurray paints a good picture of what Satan does to accuse believers in front of a Holy God. “The word accuser means: one who charges another with short comings or error, and: one who brings charges against another.” “According to the written word, Satan is the accuser, and man is the accused, but both have error where in Satan blames the brethren, and accuses God, and the brethren accuses man and Satan, and then blames God” (McMurray, 2006, p. i)
We can see Satan playing this role in the opening of the book of Job.
6 One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [b] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:6-12 NIV)
We can also see Satan play this role in the book of Zechariah:
1 Then he showed me Joshua [a] the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan [b] standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." (Zech 3:1-4, NIV)
As we can see, it is definitely part of Satan’s personality to try to accuse believers in front of God. This derives from the standpoint that Satan can do nothing against God Himself. Satan is a created being, so try as he might, he can have no power over the Creator, which obviously infuriates him. Therefore, the only thing he can really do to have any effect is to attack God’s other created being, mankind. If he can lure us away from following God and lead us into the pit that has been created for him and his demonic followers, he knows that hurts God. He has made it his purpose to try and take us down any way he can.
The Slanderer is Satan’s second most referred to name in the Bible, and with good reason.
“With great emphasis Christ insists that he (Satan) is the father of that which is false. As the Greek has it, he has not stood in the truth. This has been rendered, he “abode” not in the truth. Now the English word “abide” has the secondary sense of remain, continue, with the implication in such a case as this, that he was once in the truth, but left it. To be sure, this idea is denied by the whole context and by the reason given, but a traditional background is much weightier than the context, and lifts the one statement, “he abode not in the truth” out of its surroundings in order to show that Satan was once in the truth and fell from it.” (www.concordant.com)
We can clearly see Satan attempting to slander even Jesus Himself in John chapter 8 by making people believe he was Samaritan and demon possessed:
42Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
The Claims of Jesus About Himself
48The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
49"I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
52At this the Jews exclaimed; "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
54Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
57"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. (John 8:42-59, NIV)
The implication here is this; if Jesus himself is not even safe from being slandered by Satan, then we certainly have to expect some of this in our own lives. He will try with all his might to discredit us and ruin our witness to those around us.
Satan has desires. He desired Peter, and he desires me and you. If he can bring us down he knows that hurts God, which is ultimately what he wants to do. Robert Love has a great article online in which he states:
"And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.'"{Luke 22:31,32}
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."{1 Peter 5:8} Satan desires and seeks after every accountable person. Everyone is important to him, especially God's children!
The Devil wanted Peter. The Lord said that He would pray for him, that his faith would not fail. We might be prone to feel, like Peter, that we will never forsake the Lord. However, Paul reminds us, "Take heed lest ye fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Why did the devil want Peter? Every man is valuable to the Lord. The Lord reminded Peter of this when He said, "...What God hath cleansed, call not thou common." (Acts 10:15) No man is common. We may, at times, undersell ourselves, as may others; but the Lord knows our true value, and so does the devil. He also desires us.
Satan knew that if he brought Peter down, it would hurt the Lord. On one occasion, he tried to win Jesus over to his way but failed miserably (Matthew 4). The next-best thing he could do was to win over one of His ardent followers. I could do you more harm by hurting your child, or one of your loved ones, than in any other way. So, Satan knew if he was successful in winning over Peter, he could hurt Jesus.
Today, the devil would like to win over the elders--those who teach, counsel, shepherd, advise, etc. He would like to capture some of us preachers, and he has succeeded more than once. Modernism is the order of the day. He has influenced many away from the "Old Paths" into liberalism, institutionalism, humanism, Calvinism, (false teaching concerning imputed righteousness and the extended grace of God); to deny the organizational structure of the local church; to tend toward leveling sharp criticism at those who "contend earnestly for the faith," labeling them as negative; and, he has led others into disgraceful acts of immorality. (www.knollwoodchurch.org)
Finally, Satan is the Father of All Lies. He led Adam and Eve astray in the Garden of Eden by twisting God’s word, and at the final battle between Satan and God he will lie to the nations and get them to follow him against the God of the Bible in a final act of rebellion. One doesn’t have to look too far to find that Satan is still leading people astray through his lies even today. One brief visit to the website “Satanosphere” brings us to an interview with the current High Priest of the Satanic Church, known simply as High Priest Gilmore.
Question: Does the Church of Satan truly consider itself “evil”, or does it in fact seek the abolition of the term?
Answer: “"Good" and "Evil" are purely subjective terms. Our beliefs and practices are beneficial to us, otherwise we wouldn't have adopted them, so we consider them to be "Good" for us. Others might be frightened of our championing of individuality and our willingness to judge and be judged, based on self-chosen standards, so they might see us as "Evil." As our founder, Anton LaVey, used to say, "EVIL is LIVE spelled backwards." So it is all a matter of personal perspective. We see ourselves in a Nietzschean sense as being beyond good and evil.” (http://archives.satanosphere.com)
Summary
In summary, I think the infamous words of the late radio personality Paul Harvey speaks best about who Satan is and what he would like to accomplish.
If I were the devil...
If I were the prince of darkness I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness, and I’d have a third of its real estate and four fifths of its population. But I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree: thee.
So I’d set about however necessary, to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first. I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve, “Do as you please.” To the young I would whisper that the Bible is a myth. I would convince them that man created God, instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is square. And the old I would teach to pray after me, “our father which art in Washington...”
And then I’d get organized: I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies, and visa versa. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
If I were the devil I’d soon have families at war with themselves; churches at war with themselves; and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings, I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames.
If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellect, but neglect to discipline emotions; just let those run wild, until before you knew it you’d have to have drug-sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.
Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing; I’d have judges promoting pornography. Soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls—and church money.
If I were the devil I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.
If I were the devil I’d take from those who have, and give to those who want it, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what’ll you bet I couldn’t get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich.
I would caution against extremes, and hard work, and patriotism, and moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old fashioned—that swinging is more fun. That what you see on TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure.
In other words, if I were the devil I would just keep on doing what he is doing.
Paul Harvey, March 16, 1993
Bibliography
One Accuser Too Many, Don’t Blame God L.F. Holt McMurray 2006 p.i Infinity Publishing 1094 DeHaven St. Suite100 West Conshohocken, PA 19428
Satan: His Motives and Methods Lewis Sperry Chafer 1990 p.63 Kregel Publications
P.O. Box 2607 Grand Rapids, MI 49501
Satan: His Personality, Power, and Overthrow Edward M. Bounds 1922 pp.11, 12
Fleming H. Revel Company London, England
The Satanism Scare David G. Bromley 1991 p.41 Aldine De Gruyter 200 Saw Mill River Road Hawthorne, NY 10532
Unmasking Satan: Understanding Satan’s battle Plan and Biblical Strategies for Fighting Back 1988, 2001 p. 16 Kregel Publications P.O. Box 2607 Grand Rapids, MI 49501
Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence
Walter Wink 1986 p.9 Fortress Press
http://archives.satanosphere.com/story/2001/9/7/121041/3661
http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/TheSpiritWorld/TheSlandererAbodeNotInTheTruth.html
http://www.knollwoodchurch.org/yr1999/a04_satan_desires.html
http://www.tldm.org/news6/PaulHarvey.htm
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Why God Allows Sin
Why has God allowed sin?
God created man for fellowship. As we explore this idea, it’s important to understand the definition of fellowship.
Fellowship -- The companionship of individuals in a congenial atmosphere and on equal terms.
A close association of friends or equals sharing similar interests.
Friendship; comradeship.
It’s interesting that God created both man and Angels with the ability to choose between good and evil, yet the Angels are workers with no chance of salvation; that’s reserved specifically for mankind.
While God is not the author of sin, in His divine purpose He has to allow sin in order for man to be redeemable. If God stopped man from sinning, he just made a robot, and God doesn’t make robots. You can’t have fellowship with someone you make think the same way as you. Therefore, in order to have true fellowship with His creation, He has to allow us the ability to fall away, so He can soften our hearts with His Holy Spirit, so that when we react to the faith that He gives us, we want to have fellowship with God.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 states:
33"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
In God’s divine purpose, He had to allow Adam to sin, so He could give us His law, which would convict us of our sin, so we could realize we needed a way back to God, so He could give us a Savior which would lead us back to Him. In our depravity, we would realize we needed fellowship to survive and that fellowship that we need could only be with God; and when our sin breaks us, we cry out to God for Him to save us from ourselves; then and only then can we realize that we not only need fellowship with God, but we want fellowship with God. And when we want it, that’s when true fellowship can happen; which is what He created us for.
Long way around a short answer.
God created man for fellowship. As we explore this idea, it’s important to understand the definition of fellowship.
Fellowship -- The companionship of individuals in a congenial atmosphere and on equal terms.
A close association of friends or equals sharing similar interests.
Friendship; comradeship.
It’s interesting that God created both man and Angels with the ability to choose between good and evil, yet the Angels are workers with no chance of salvation; that’s reserved specifically for mankind.
While God is not the author of sin, in His divine purpose He has to allow sin in order for man to be redeemable. If God stopped man from sinning, he just made a robot, and God doesn’t make robots. You can’t have fellowship with someone you make think the same way as you. Therefore, in order to have true fellowship with His creation, He has to allow us the ability to fall away, so He can soften our hearts with His Holy Spirit, so that when we react to the faith that He gives us, we want to have fellowship with God.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 states:
33"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
In God’s divine purpose, He had to allow Adam to sin, so He could give us His law, which would convict us of our sin, so we could realize we needed a way back to God, so He could give us a Savior which would lead us back to Him. In our depravity, we would realize we needed fellowship to survive and that fellowship that we need could only be with God; and when our sin breaks us, we cry out to God for Him to save us from ourselves; then and only then can we realize that we not only need fellowship with God, but we want fellowship with God. And when we want it, that’s when true fellowship can happen; which is what He created us for.
Long way around a short answer.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
In His Own Image
Often I have heard when it says in Genesis, “God made man in His own image”, it was referring to the Trinity. Man has a physical body, (God’s would be personified in Jesus), he has a soul, which is his personality, (God shows His numerous time throughout the Bible), and he has a spirit (The Person of the Holy Spirit). While I agree with this, I think it also goes a little deeper than that.
In the Liberty Bible Commentary it states:
The image and the likeness are to be taken as synonymous terms (Feinberg, “The Image of God,” Bibliotheca Sacra 129 (1972 p. 237). They are interchangeable in 5:3. It is not a reference to God’s physical appearance, for God is non-corporeal. Jacob prefers the Lordship idea, while Eichdrodt believes it refers to the Personhood or Self-conscience being concept. Ryrie almost combines both, indicating that man was created in a natural and moral likeness to God. When he sinned, he lost the moral likeness, which was his sinless ness. But at the same time, he still retains the natural likeness of intellect, emotions, and will (cf. Gen 9:6; Jas 3:9). The moral likeness is presently being formed in every believer who allows God’s Spirit to conform him to the image of God’s Son by His Spirit.
When my dog wakes up every day, he doesn’t know he exists, he just exists. When he sees a reflection of himself, he doesn’t know what he’s looking at. God has made us like Himself in the fact that we know who we are. We can reason and think things out for ourselves. Animals have to rely on basic animal instincts, but we see things differently; and we’re the only ones on the earth that do, because we’re the only ones made in the image of Almighty God. We are a self-conscience being; we know we exist and can somewhat wrap our brains around that.
God also made us in His moral likeness. Satan knew exactly what he was doing when he tempted Eve. To paraphrase he said, “God knows that when you eat this fruit, you’ll be like Him, knowing the difference between good and evil”. He wasn’t lying when he said that. As soon as Eve took a bite, she knew the difference between good and evil, because she had just disobeyed God. When God created us in His image, He gave us His moral likeness; and had Adam and Eve never sinned, they could have had fellowship with God forever, but when they did sin, that moral likeness was broken, thus the separation between God and man.
Amazing how in God’s plan we were separated from Him because of the moral likeness, but we still retained the self-consciousness. He let us keep our understanding, so that when He sent His Son to die for us, we would still be able to understand and realize that we needed the repair of the moral likeness. In essence, the last part of John 3:16 could read, “and whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, (be eternally separated from God), but will get his moral likeness back”
And that’s what Jesus does for us. When He makes intercession for us, He is repairing the separation in our spirit and God’s that has been caused by us losing our moral likeness.
In the Liberty Bible Commentary it states:
The image and the likeness are to be taken as synonymous terms (Feinberg, “The Image of God,” Bibliotheca Sacra 129 (1972 p. 237). They are interchangeable in 5:3. It is not a reference to God’s physical appearance, for God is non-corporeal. Jacob prefers the Lordship idea, while Eichdrodt believes it refers to the Personhood or Self-conscience being concept. Ryrie almost combines both, indicating that man was created in a natural and moral likeness to God. When he sinned, he lost the moral likeness, which was his sinless ness. But at the same time, he still retains the natural likeness of intellect, emotions, and will (cf. Gen 9:6; Jas 3:9). The moral likeness is presently being formed in every believer who allows God’s Spirit to conform him to the image of God’s Son by His Spirit.
When my dog wakes up every day, he doesn’t know he exists, he just exists. When he sees a reflection of himself, he doesn’t know what he’s looking at. God has made us like Himself in the fact that we know who we are. We can reason and think things out for ourselves. Animals have to rely on basic animal instincts, but we see things differently; and we’re the only ones on the earth that do, because we’re the only ones made in the image of Almighty God. We are a self-conscience being; we know we exist and can somewhat wrap our brains around that.
God also made us in His moral likeness. Satan knew exactly what he was doing when he tempted Eve. To paraphrase he said, “God knows that when you eat this fruit, you’ll be like Him, knowing the difference between good and evil”. He wasn’t lying when he said that. As soon as Eve took a bite, she knew the difference between good and evil, because she had just disobeyed God. When God created us in His image, He gave us His moral likeness; and had Adam and Eve never sinned, they could have had fellowship with God forever, but when they did sin, that moral likeness was broken, thus the separation between God and man.
Amazing how in God’s plan we were separated from Him because of the moral likeness, but we still retained the self-consciousness. He let us keep our understanding, so that when He sent His Son to die for us, we would still be able to understand and realize that we needed the repair of the moral likeness. In essence, the last part of John 3:16 could read, “and whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, (be eternally separated from God), but will get his moral likeness back”
And that’s what Jesus does for us. When He makes intercession for us, He is repairing the separation in our spirit and God’s that has been caused by us losing our moral likeness.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
What does it mean to be in Union with Christ?
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Rom 6:1-2
In the past, my family and I went to a very law driven, legalistic church. Case in point, on Sunday nights the pastor would start out by saying "look around, see who's not here"; as if your very salvation depended on you being in church on Sunday nights. We didn't know any better.
After this, we ended up going to a church that was very much "Grace" driven. It was a breath of fresh air. We finally started to learn that God actually loved us and wasn't looking to strike us down for every miscue or bad thought. But eventually, we started to realize that if all you relied on was grace, licentiousness would rear its ugly head. Parties where alcohol was served was common place, (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a glass of wine, but this was certainly more than that). People just "accepted" things that were going on in Christians lives because they were "sorting" out their relationship with God.
Being in union with Christ is not about being beaten over the head with the law, and it's not about licentiousness; it's about as much as is humanly possible, understanding the phrase, "Be ye holy, for I am Holy". We're not supposed to drag each other down, but we are supposed to try to live as much as we can the Christian life. "By your fruit they will know you".
"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." Rom 6:3-5
3-5. At this point Paul begins to relate the secret of living a holy and sanctified life, a life which is characterized by being dead to sin. The secret of sanctification is not found in some sanctimonious formula or some deeper or mystical experience with the Lord. The secret is found in three words: (1) know (vs. 3); (2) reckon (vs. 11); and (3) yield (vs. 13). We must be vitally aware of these words as we seek to understand the relationship between justification and sanctification. (Liberty Bible Commentary Vol. II p. 366)
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Rom 6:3 Know that being baptized with Christ into His death means we are dead to sin.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 6:11 As we are dead to sin, likewise we are alive in Christ.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Rom 6:13 Yield yourselves unto God.
So, how do we do this? How do we live a Holy life? How do we live above legalism, yet keep ourselves from licentiousness? Glad you asked. This is where John 15 comes in:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:1-7 NIV
A gardener prunes bushes so they will bear more fruit. The ones that bear no fruit are useless to the gardener, they just take away nutrients from the fruit bearing branches, which is why they are cut off. But the ones that do bear fruit are carefully pruned, so they can bear even more fruit, which is why Jesus allows things to happen in our lives so we will learn to lean on Him more.
"You are clean through the word I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in you" John 15:3-4a It's God's word that keeps us in union with Christ, living out our daily lives in touch with Him, and feeling His Spirit indwelling us. As He tells us in vs. 5-7, if we don't live in His word, we cut ourselves off from the vine. The branch cannot live without the vine. If the branch cuts itself off, no nutrients flow, the branch withers and dies, and is cast away. However, if the branch stays connected to the vine, the nutrients flow and the branch bears fruit for years to come.
And as Jesus said, "By your fruits, they will know you". If Jesus is a grape vine, and we abide in Him, we cannot produce lemons, it's physically impossible.
Being in union with Christ is being in His word. It's about praying to the Father and seeking His will for our lives. It's about producing fruit. It's about feeling that feeling of our first love, Christ's Spirit flowing through our veins, on a daily basis; and never wanting a day to go by that we don't feel it.
In the past, my family and I went to a very law driven, legalistic church. Case in point, on Sunday nights the pastor would start out by saying "look around, see who's not here"; as if your very salvation depended on you being in church on Sunday nights. We didn't know any better.
After this, we ended up going to a church that was very much "Grace" driven. It was a breath of fresh air. We finally started to learn that God actually loved us and wasn't looking to strike us down for every miscue or bad thought. But eventually, we started to realize that if all you relied on was grace, licentiousness would rear its ugly head. Parties where alcohol was served was common place, (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a glass of wine, but this was certainly more than that). People just "accepted" things that were going on in Christians lives because they were "sorting" out their relationship with God.
Being in union with Christ is not about being beaten over the head with the law, and it's not about licentiousness; it's about as much as is humanly possible, understanding the phrase, "Be ye holy, for I am Holy". We're not supposed to drag each other down, but we are supposed to try to live as much as we can the Christian life. "By your fruit they will know you".
"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." Rom 6:3-5
3-5. At this point Paul begins to relate the secret of living a holy and sanctified life, a life which is characterized by being dead to sin. The secret of sanctification is not found in some sanctimonious formula or some deeper or mystical experience with the Lord. The secret is found in three words: (1) know (vs. 3); (2) reckon (vs. 11); and (3) yield (vs. 13). We must be vitally aware of these words as we seek to understand the relationship between justification and sanctification. (Liberty Bible Commentary Vol. II p. 366)
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Rom 6:3 Know that being baptized with Christ into His death means we are dead to sin.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 6:11 As we are dead to sin, likewise we are alive in Christ.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Rom 6:13 Yield yourselves unto God.
So, how do we do this? How do we live a Holy life? How do we live above legalism, yet keep ourselves from licentiousness? Glad you asked. This is where John 15 comes in:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:1-7 NIV
A gardener prunes bushes so they will bear more fruit. The ones that bear no fruit are useless to the gardener, they just take away nutrients from the fruit bearing branches, which is why they are cut off. But the ones that do bear fruit are carefully pruned, so they can bear even more fruit, which is why Jesus allows things to happen in our lives so we will learn to lean on Him more.
"You are clean through the word I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in you" John 15:3-4a It's God's word that keeps us in union with Christ, living out our daily lives in touch with Him, and feeling His Spirit indwelling us. As He tells us in vs. 5-7, if we don't live in His word, we cut ourselves off from the vine. The branch cannot live without the vine. If the branch cuts itself off, no nutrients flow, the branch withers and dies, and is cast away. However, if the branch stays connected to the vine, the nutrients flow and the branch bears fruit for years to come.
And as Jesus said, "By your fruits, they will know you". If Jesus is a grape vine, and we abide in Him, we cannot produce lemons, it's physically impossible.
Being in union with Christ is being in His word. It's about praying to the Father and seeking His will for our lives. It's about producing fruit. It's about feeling that feeling of our first love, Christ's Spirit flowing through our veins, on a daily basis; and never wanting a day to go by that we don't feel it.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Jesus in Genesis
Find three ways that Jesus Christ is pictured in the book of Genesis and discuss how each one relates to Jesus either in His person (deity) or in His work. Be specific. Use sources.
1. A lot of people seem to think that Jesus Christ makes His first world appearance in the New Testament, but we actually get our first mention of Him in Gen 1:26. “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after our likeness”
There are a couple of things to see here. First, we see a mention of the Trinity. When God says “Let Us make man in Our image”, He’s obviously speaking of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In addition, Jesus is God incarnate, so when He states “in Our image”, He’s not just speaking of body, soul, spirit; He’s also speaking of what man would look like, predetermined by what Jesus would look like when He came to earth.
In John 1:3 we read, “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made”, so we definitely see Jesus present here; not only in creation of man, but the creation of everything.
2. Unfortunately, as a testament to man’s depraved heart, we only have to make it to Gen 3:15 before we see a very clear picture of Jesus once again. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel”. Here is God’s provision to heal the rift between God and man and bring redemption through Jesus. He’s clearly speaking here of providing a savior for man; and that while Satan would be able to wound Christ’s physical body on the cross, (bruise His heel), Christ would ultimately win the battle and defeat Satan, Hell, and Death and deliver a crushing blow (bruise your head); so here we’re clearly seeing His work as Savior, redeeming mankind to the father.
Adding to this, in just a few more verses we see another picture of Christ’s redemptive work; Gen 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them”. Where man, after disobeying God by eating of the tree, (representing religion), had tried to clothe himself, God stepped in and made clothes for them out of animal skins, once again a picture of Christ;
Hebrews 9:22 (New International Version)
22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
3. And probably one of the clearest pictures of Christ is when Abraham met Melchizedek. 1This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, Hebrews 7:1 (New International Version)
When Abraham met with Melchizedek in the Valley of Shaveh, Melchizedek brought out bread and wine. The ate together; Melchizedek is mentioned as king and priest to the God Most High; and Abraham gave him a tenth or a tithe of his possessions. Melchizedek is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ in the book of Genesis; and some even believe that he was a Christophany, or a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ Himself. He was a picture of how Jesus would fulfill the offices of profit, priest and king. He had bread and wine with Abram just as he did with His disciples before going to the cross. We know He was a profit. And the fact that Abraham tithed to Him shows that He was more than just some man he met in a valley.
Gen 14:19 “And he (Melchizedek) blessed him (Abraham), and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and Earth: (Melchizedek blessing Abraham means that the standing of Melchizedek was greater than that of Abraham. The reason? Melchizedek was a type of Christ [Heb 7:4,7]
The Expositor’s Bible
1. A lot of people seem to think that Jesus Christ makes His first world appearance in the New Testament, but we actually get our first mention of Him in Gen 1:26. “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after our likeness”
There are a couple of things to see here. First, we see a mention of the Trinity. When God says “Let Us make man in Our image”, He’s obviously speaking of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In addition, Jesus is God incarnate, so when He states “in Our image”, He’s not just speaking of body, soul, spirit; He’s also speaking of what man would look like, predetermined by what Jesus would look like when He came to earth.
In John 1:3 we read, “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made”, so we definitely see Jesus present here; not only in creation of man, but the creation of everything.
2. Unfortunately, as a testament to man’s depraved heart, we only have to make it to Gen 3:15 before we see a very clear picture of Jesus once again. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel”. Here is God’s provision to heal the rift between God and man and bring redemption through Jesus. He’s clearly speaking here of providing a savior for man; and that while Satan would be able to wound Christ’s physical body on the cross, (bruise His heel), Christ would ultimately win the battle and defeat Satan, Hell, and Death and deliver a crushing blow (bruise your head); so here we’re clearly seeing His work as Savior, redeeming mankind to the father.
Adding to this, in just a few more verses we see another picture of Christ’s redemptive work; Gen 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them”. Where man, after disobeying God by eating of the tree, (representing religion), had tried to clothe himself, God stepped in and made clothes for them out of animal skins, once again a picture of Christ;
Hebrews 9:22 (New International Version)
22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
3. And probably one of the clearest pictures of Christ is when Abraham met Melchizedek. 1This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, Hebrews 7:1 (New International Version)
When Abraham met with Melchizedek in the Valley of Shaveh, Melchizedek brought out bread and wine. The ate together; Melchizedek is mentioned as king and priest to the God Most High; and Abraham gave him a tenth or a tithe of his possessions. Melchizedek is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ in the book of Genesis; and some even believe that he was a Christophany, or a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ Himself. He was a picture of how Jesus would fulfill the offices of profit, priest and king. He had bread and wine with Abram just as he did with His disciples before going to the cross. We know He was a profit. And the fact that Abraham tithed to Him shows that He was more than just some man he met in a valley.
Gen 14:19 “And he (Melchizedek) blessed him (Abraham), and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and Earth: (Melchizedek blessing Abraham means that the standing of Melchizedek was greater than that of Abraham. The reason? Melchizedek was a type of Christ [Heb 7:4,7]
The Expositor’s Bible
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