November 30, 2004

Around the world this week millions of Christians are giving further study to the pivotal chapter 8 of Daniel. Their motivation? The direct command of Jesus: He says to “read” and to “understand” the book of the “prophet Daniel” (Matt. 24:15). Daniel is so clear that teens can grasp his message.

a. A massive counterfeit of the true gospel would arise out of the ruins of the fourth world empire--pagan Rome. Daniel “saw” this power grow like a “little horn” which became “exceeding great” (8:9), far surpassing either the Medo-Persian or Grecian Empires. It was “terrible” because it secured the military support of the state to enforce its paganized counterfeit “Christian” teachings.

b. The political power of the pagan Roman Empire changed into the religious and political power combined in this “exceeding great” organization that professed to be a Christian church. Its growth is declared in a parallel Scripture passage to become very popular and secure the “worship” of “all who dwell upon the earth” except those whose names are “written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). God’s people must study and be exceedingly careful!

c. Both Daniel and the Revelation declared that this professedly Christian church would “wear out the saints of the Most High and think to change” the holy Sabbath of the Lord which God declares He cannot change (Psalm 89:34). This period of papal persecution of “the saints of the Most High” was to last for 1260 years (538-1798 A.D.; see Dan. 7:25 with Rev. 12:6; 12:14). But the evil is to be revived in “the mark of the beast” (13:11-17).
 

d. Daniel describes this phenomenon of history as a re-birth of ancient paganism, which was a “continual” affront to God (Dan. 8:11, 12; Psalm 74:3, 10, 22, 23; Isa. 51:13; 52:5; Hab. 1:17; Nah. 3:19). In its baptized form God describes this counterfeit “Christian” power as “Babylon” and declares to all the world that it is “fallen” (Rev. 14:8; 18).

e. God’s call therefore is to “come out of her, My people.” That is, separate from every trace of apostasy and embrace wholeheartedly what Paul describes as “the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:5, 14).

November 29, 2004

The great Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries grossly misrepresented to the Arab world the character of the God whom Christians profess to worship. A significant portion of present Muslim hatred of Christianity can be traced to there. The very word “Crusade” inflames them with what they consider is moral outrage.

Jesus commands Christians, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel . . .” (Mark 16:15), which must be GOOD news--or it’s not truth. Its essential element is a message of reconciliation with God: “We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God,” pleads His messengers (2 Cor. 5:30). But the “Left Behind” novelists’ characterization of God’s character does anything but reconcile alienated people to Him.

If an enemy sticks a pistol in your face and demands, “Love me or I’ll pull the trigger!” could you be reconciled to him that way? This is not an oversimplification of the issue; human beings who have never understood the gospel (due to its being distorted to them) are not by nature reconciled to God. “The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). That “enmity” has been created by the lies and distortion of Satan ever since Eve was deceived in Eden. God pities these confused people who have been lied to. The Father sent His Son into the world to correct these misapprehensions, and those of us who believe in Him are to represent Him aright to the world.

Thus there are two basic approaches to the task of reconciling the world to God: (1) the “Left Behind” method that employs fear as the principal motivation (there is anecdotal evidence that it is hugely successful, but can you trust the supposed evidence?), and (2) “the everlasting gospel” outlined in Revelation 14--the message of three special angels in the last days (vss. 1-14). This can be identified as “the third angel’s message in verity,” a presentation of the reconciling message of God’s grace and His agape that is yet to come into its own world-wide. God has promised that when the message is revealed to the world in its clarity, it will cut through all the confusion that “Babylon” has amassed; all the hindrances that block people’s pathway to the Father through Christ will be exposed in the final message, “Babylon the great is fallen, . . . Come out of her, My people”! (Rev. 18:1-4). We need to understand the message more clearly!

November 28, 2004

From the beginning of his ancient rebellion in heaven, the fallen archangel has specialized in misrepresenting God. He has distorted every facet of His character of love, making Him appear to be vengeful, harsh, cruel.

Now in this very time when the darkened world darkened desperately needs to be “lightened with [God’s] glory” and when God’s true people should be most competent to represent Him in His true light (Rev. 18:1-4) comes the most clever distortion of His character. And it is darkening the earth with a popular message that can only alienate people further away from God.

Nicholas Kristol, writing in the N Y Times, deplores the popular picture being portrayed of Christ. “If America’s secular liberals think they have it tough now, just wait till the Second Coming. The ‘Left Behind’ series, the best selling novels for adults in the United States, enthusiastically depict Jesus returning to slaughter everyone who is not a born-again Christian. The world’s Hindus, Muslims, Jews and agnostics along with many Roman Catholics and Unitarians, are heaved into everlasting fire. ‘Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and . . . they tumbled in, howling and screeching.’” The message? Get baptized, be “born again,” . . . or else.

Kristol goes on to ridicule the Millerites who predicted the cataclysmic return of Jesus in 1844, “a lousy record” he says of mistaken failure. But a closer look reveals that they didn’t spew the same rabid bigotry as the “Left Behind” preachings. True, they sincerely believed Christ was to return in 1844, but their actual history reveals that their message was, “Be reconciled to God” through the revelation of His love, not through religious terror. For sure, those who finally proclaim a message to “lighten the earth with glory” will lift up the cross of Christ to “draw all unto” Him who will be willing to appreciate His true character of love. They will not secure “baptism decisions” through terror. The last rays of light from earth’s setting sun will be a final revelation of God’s true character of love.

November 27, 2004

There is a downside to the Thanksgiving weekend, noble as the idea of giving thanks may be: our tendency to stuff ourselves by appetite excess. It’s really bad for our health.

Jesus said something that seems almost directed specifically to us at Thanksgiving (and Christmas) time. In His context in Luke 21 He is discussing life in the “time of the end” in which overwhelming evidence says we are now living (Dan. 11:35; 12:4). Jesus has been describing what it’s like to live with the constant terror threats we now have (Luke 21:25, 26). “We” have an obsession with pleasure and luxury at the same time (when President Lincoln gave us our solemn Thanksgiving Day as an official holiday he had no thought that it would birth the Macy’s Parade; see Matt. 24:37, 38 for a parallel passage to Luke).

What Jesus is concerned about for our own good is this giving in to the clamors of appetite: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness . . . , and so that day come upon you unawares” Luke 21:34). What day?

He tells us in verse 31: “Know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” The expression “at any time” is a sober reminder: suppose the Holy Spirit should elect to impress upon our minds some solemn thought that pivots our eternal salvation but it finds our minds stupefied by intemperance which we have to sleep off; then we miss the precious opportunity to learn something vitally important.

Living is serious business now.

November 25, 2004

Thanksgiving is traditionally the day for eating turkey and maybe other unhealthful foods, sometimes even to excess, and then saying we are thankful for it all. But the person who has begun to glimpse the reality of the Gospel as good news better than we have thought, will find something else crowding out mere thanksgiving for material blessings: a deep sense of gratitude for Christ dying our second death for us.

It’s something we mortals think very little about. The Gospel as Good News evokes from honest human hearts a profound sense of gratitude. But such a sense is impossible unless we appreciate the value of what we have received, or what it cost the Savior to procure it for us. Sometimes explorers have noted that very primitive people have no sense of gratitude. They simply take what is given them with no show of saying thanks. They just do not realize obligation until they become educated. Our preoccupation with material blessings at this season of the year is the direct result of our not understanding what it cost the Savior to redeem us:

(1) We say it with reverence--He died our second death (Rev. 2:11; Isa. 53:12). And His human nature suffered as did His divine nature. His sweating drops of blood in Gethsemane bears witness to the soul-agony He went through. And the hatred and ingratitude of those He came to save did not make His burden any lighter.

(2) He gave Himself forever to the human race. How would you like to give your entire life to living in a leper colony in the African jungle--never to come home again? That is infinitely inadequate to portray the eternal sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

(3) With his blood He bought the life and happiness of every human being, even of those who do not believe and who hate Him. He has made it possible for the wicked to enjoy life (if enjoy they can!). His grace is given, not merely offered, to every person. So, more clearly than we can realize, “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15).

November 24, 2004

It’s astonishing when you stop and just look: no less than 23 times we find the word “understand” or “understanding” in the book of Daniel! And then as if the Lord Jesus wanted to re-impress that thought on us, He uses the same word in His plea for us to read and study that particular book: “When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, . . . (whoever reads, let him understand)” (Matt. 24:15). It appears that the Savior is capitalizing on that key word that permeates the prophetic book.

The translators of the NKJV do some interpreting here instead of translating: by printing those 5 words in black instead of red they tell us that Jesus didn’t say them, didn’t say “read” and “understand,” that someone through the ages (maybe Matthew) slipped them in to His discourse without the authority of Jesus. This has been the view of “higher critics” for many years; but since “understand” is the most prominent word in Daniel, it makes sense to take it as a personal reminder from Jesus Himself that it is our Christian duty to acquire an “understanding” of what the Holy Spirit explains to us in Daniel.

Please don’t throw up your hands in despair, saying, “It’s over my head!” The Holy Spirit would rather teach you to “understand” Daniel than give you a billion dollars, and you would be far more enriched. It would be wealth that no one can ever rob from you!

But don’t play games with the Lord. No half-hearted dilettantish curiosity for a brief sermonette or two; the Holy Spirit is quite serious. For those who are not in dead earnest, the news isn’t very good, but for those who seriously ask to be taught truth, it is very good: “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but . . . none
of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (Dan. 12:10). A sincere prayer for understanding and a reasonable effort to acquire it will be rewarded--to your everlasting delight. Grab the Lord’s promise and run with it!

It’s time we learn to believe it.

November 23, 2004

Want a bracing breath of fresh air? George Matheson is the man whose loved fiancée ditched him when he became blind, and who wrote the poem that millions have sung, “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go . . .” In his physical blindness he became gifted with Christlike vision.

In the recent Memorial Service for author Donald Karr Short, his son chose one of his father’s favorite hymns, Matheson’s great paradox in verse:

Make me a captive, Lord, And then I shall be free;
Force me to render up my sword, And I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life’s alarms When by myself I stand;
Imprison me within Thine arms And strong shall be my hand.

My heart is weak and poor ‘Till it a Master find;
It has no spring of action sure--It varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move ‘Till Thou hast wrought its chain;
Enslave it with Thy matchless love, And deathless it shall reign.

My will is not my own ‘Till Thou hast made it Thine;
If it would reach a monarch’s throne--It must its crown resign.
If only stands unbent, Amid the clashing strife
When on Thy bosom it has leant And found in Thee its life.

It’s the eternal, unbreakable law of the Kingdom--“If any man will come after Me,” says the Prince of life, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). The divine paradox: “Except a corn of wheat fall in the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:24, 25).

It’s time we learn to believe it.

November 22, 2004

The Bible tells us that the time will come (let’s hope soon!) when the Lord’s church on earth will “make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb” (see Rev. 19:7, 8). The “marriage” is something that hasn’t yet been consummated, after all these 6000 years. The hold-up in the “marriage” taking place is that “His wife” (the church) obviously has NOT yet “made herself ready.”

How will “she” do so? Will it be a super-efficient works program, a mighty “revival and reformation” motivated by the most intense spiritual fear ever known--the “seven last plagues” (see Rev. 16).

No bride ever “makes herself ready” for the marriage if she is afraid of her bridegroom, and moves under coercion from him. In fact, “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18), and the word used there for “love” includes conjugal love between husband and wife (see Eph. 5:25, Greek, agape). Nothing can motivate a woman to “make herself ready” for a wedding except a heart-response on her part to what she perceives in her fiancee is genuine love.

Any bride in such a wedding is herself a little illustration of the church at last responding to the Lamb of God, her true Lover.  Any respect a woman has for a bridegroom because he’s wealthy (a good banker), or powerful (a general), or handsome (a movie star), or even good (a prophet), soon withers unless the man makes it abundantly clear to her that he loves her more than he loves any other woman in the world.  That’s what any woman is like--(at least if she’s in her right mind).

“The marriage of the Lamb” is based on the same principle. No church will ever “make herself ready” for marrying Christ unless she has discovered the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, of the love He has for her. And being a “woman” of mature and marriageable age (in spiritual maturity), the church will come to the place where “she” will grow out of the egocentric mind-set that has characterized her supposed devotion to Him.

November 21, 2004

If you had been living in the time of Jesus, do you think you would have felt worthy to be called as one of His disciples? The honest truth is that those twelve men were not outstanding personalities, at least most were not. Only three or four give evidence of gifts of leadership. In fact they were not called to be “leaders.” They were called to be witnesses. And it doesn’t take a great personality to be a witness!

Among the three or four who were leaders is John. When we read his sweet, gentle, gracious three letters written near the end of his life, we can’t imagine what he was like at first. We read that at first he was harsh, boisterous, ambitious, combative, critical, impetuous, outspoken, proud, resentful, revengeful, self-assertive, violent in spirit. (Where did I get those phrases? All in the Index!) That’s the kind of man that John was when the Lord invited him to leave his fishing business and follow Him in that special 3-year “university training” course.

Some four or five times in his Gospel, John speaks of himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:20). Sounds strange. Was he boasting, telling everybody that he (John) was sort of “teacher’s pet”? If so, how do you think the other disciples felt? Didn’t Jesus love them too? (Of course they may all have been dead by the time John wrote his Gospel; but that wouldn’t forgive his apparent arrogance.) This has bothered me a long time. Then I remembered: the word John used when he said Jesus loved him was agape; and agape is the kind of love that loves bad people, ugly people, arrogant, harsh, rude, violent people. I think John may be saying, “Folks, the agape of Jesus singled me out simply because I was the most violent, harsh, combative, unworthy of the lot! No, he was not being proud when he said, speaking even after the resurrection, that he was the disciple whom Jesus especially loved. He meant that he was the one who needed that love the most! And look what it did to him. Receive that love yourself--that’s all you can do and that’s all that John did.

November 19, 2004

The nation has been absorbed in hand-wringing over the plight of our children and youth who are watching thousands of bloody murders on the screen, and for whom murder in cold blood is glamorized thereby. They are being desensitized, “natural affection” being driven out of their souls. Not many as yet have thrown bombs and bullets at us, but the satanic hatred seethes in many of their breasts. All they need is some automatics in their hands. What can be done to help? is the anguished cry echoed in newspapers and newsmagazines.

Should we show them more violence? No; but the Bible startles us with the suggestion, YES. The most ultimate violence that has ever been perpetrated was the murder of the Son of God, and the Bible tells us that these children and youth need to see it. It wasn’t merely putting a Man to sleep as bullets and bombs do; it sent Him to the second death. And Jesus says the story must be told: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die” (John 12:32, 33). The apostles everywhere proclaimed “Christ crucified,” sparing nothing in telling the gruesome details. They gloried in the story, not because it glamorized violence, but because it was the only cure for violence.

It was not mere human sadism that drove the scribes and Pharisees to demand of Pilate, “Crucify Him!” They were obsessed with a mysterious hatred of God Himself, the roots of which linger in the dark shadows of every human heart. It was not only deicide; it was the dark desire to blot God and His righteousness out of the universe. The murderers of Jesus were Satan-possessed; and they held up a mirror for us all to look and see ourselves--what we would be and what we would do if we had been in their place, but for the grace of God.

But how can telling the story of the cross help violence-saturated children and youth? God resurrected Him! And He judged His murderers; and the world has judged them likewise. It’s the story of the Murder of all murders because it follows the plot through to its end--which no ordinary human murder ever can do. “It won’t help hardened criminals!” someone objects. Don’t be too sure; that old, old story, properly told, is the only hope this dark world has, and youth and children need to hear it--soon.

November 18, 2004

The Scripture says we are to “render therefore to all their dues: . . . honour to whom honour” (Rom. 13:7). We must heed this injunction, and “render honour” to the memory of a man of God who has just been called to lay down his armor in the service of the Lord--Donald Karr Short (1915-2004). He entered his rest just a week ago.

He is little known in either the world or the church. He blossomed virtually unseen in the “desert.” Few have known of his profound writings. His heart was gripped by “present truth” right up to his last day. He closed his life record with “honor,” yet was maligned by colleagues over the greater part of half a century. Some day, somewhere, sometime, some one will be raised up who will appreciate his writings and the contribution he made to the spiritual growth of Christians. His memory shines bright as an honest, loving man.

He liked to use Scripture phrases for the titles of his books, such as, “MADE LIKE . . . HIS BRETHREN” and “THEN SHALL THE SANCTUARY BE CLEANSED.” These particular two have of course been controversial, and have often been condemned but never refuted. (A significant number of people worldwide have discovered and treasure them.) The former is a study of how close Jesus has come to humanity in His incarnation. Short’s particular denomination has been riven with confusing controversy over what nature did Christ “take”: did He come in the sinless nature of Adam before the fall (the popular “Immaculate Conception” dogma)? Or did He in His incarnation “take upon Himself” the fallen, sinful nature of mankind, yet live therein a life of perfect righteousness, thus “condemning sin in our flesh” (Rom. 8:3, 4)?

Short boldly propounded the latter view. Some believe his treatise is a masterpiece of reason and logic, expressed in a modest, sanctified spirit. It is of course directed to his own denominational colleagues, but the issues are destined to rivet the attention of Christians everywhere, of all churches.

November 17, 2004

Someone has asked a question that also perplexes many others: how could Jesus pray all night long without falling asleep? It’s in Luke 6:12: “and in those days, . . . He went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Seems incomprehensible to us sleepy humans!

His wonderful ministry has run into a heart-rending problem: the leaders of His one true church are turning against Him.  In 5:21, we see their opposition as they “began to reason” against Him: “Who is this which speaketh blasphemy? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” That’s a bitter spirit here!

Then this negative “reasoning” begins to grow among these leaders. The “scribes and Pharisees murmured against His disciples. . . .” (vs. 30). In 6:7, they start to lay traps for Him; note this underground hatred:  they “watched him . . . that they might find an accusation against Him.” Remember, this is still the true church of that day! And remember, Jesus is human (as well as divine) and He has to learn as He goes along. He has a delightful ministry going--the “common people heard Him gladly” (Mark 12:37), and everywhere they welcome Him as He teaches, and heals the sick. These are the happiest days seen on earth since Eden--the Son of God has brought the joy and light of heaven to fallen humanity!

But this promises to be the most painful experience Jesus has ever had. He can’t help but think, and think, and pray about what’s gong on. Why must this mysterious opposition cloud His sunlit sky? He begins to discern “the shadow of a cross arise upon a lonely hill.” He HAS to pray! The praises of the people no longer make Him happy. He begins to realize: those same ones will soon yell and scream, “Crucify Him!” He feels an enormous responsibility as “the Lord [begins to] lay upon Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6), and He knows that His duty is to prepare to go to hell and die the second death for us. It’s gong to be the most harrowing heart torture any human (or even God!) has ever endured. Here was plenty to keep Him on His knees all night!

Note to Readers: Donald Karr Short is resting. Many readers of Dial Daily Bread will remember him as a speaker and author of books about the “most precious message” of Christ's righteousness. At the beginning of Sabbath evening as the sun was setting, November 12, he fell asleep in Jesus. A Memorial Service will be held in the Fletcher, North Carolina, Seventh-day Adventist Church Sabbath afternoon, November 20. Further details can be available from Robert and Grace Wieland at 530-878-2444.

November 16, 2004

When Jesus was about to leave His disciples alone in this unfriendly world, He encouraged them with a promise: He would send the Holy Spirit as His Stand-in, His Replacement, a “Comforter” (says the KJV), yes, His very Presence. In John 16:7-11 He describes how it’s best “for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.”

The Holy Spirit is Jesus Himself “abiding” with us, living with us as our Companion, unseen but no less real than when Jesus walked personally with the disciples by the Sea of Galilee. He walks with us “unseen” as verily as the resurrected Jesus walked with those two disciples Sunday evening on their way to Emmaus, when their eyes were “holden” and they did not “see” Him (Luke 24:13ff). He talked with them along the way. So He does with us.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is determined that we shall not “backslide” after our wonderful Week of Revival meetings--ever! Jesus, as the Holy Spirit, takes the initiative day by day, prodding us, reminding us, yes, “convicting us of sin” (John 16:8). More than that, He personally reminds us of “righteousness” which means He won’t let us forget the way we should live; at every cross-road we come to He “convicts” us of the right way to go. He never abandons us to wander in a fog! And if we listen to that prodding, that reminding, that “conviction of sin [and] of righteousness,” and we don’t beat Him off and insult Him, then He graciously “convicts [us] of judgment,” meaning, “the prince of this world” [Satan] is “judged” [cast out] of our lives. He “convicts” us of triumph over sin; we see His power in our lives.

In other words, in plain language, it’s impossible for us to “backslide” unless we do what Stephen said the scribes and Pharisees did: “you always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51, NKJV). The Holy Spirit says He will take you by the hand as a father leads a little child, or maybe the Hebrew means, take you in His “arms” but He says we squirm away from Him (see Hosea 11:3, 4, TEV). There’s no need for backsliding--it’s time to see it as sin!

November 15, 2004

What is the cause of “backsliding”? From time immemorial it has been the problem of God’s true people. Jeremiah says they have been “slidden back by a perpetual backsliding,” God says through Hosea they are “bent to backlsiding from Me” (Jer. 8:5; Hos. 11:7).  Their backsliding was apparent as early as the time of the Judges just after the time of Moses--the story is up and down continually, mostly down, right on through the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament. Finally in 586 B.C. the kingdom of Judah (God’s true people) suffered a massive destruction. But even in Babylon and ever afterward, the “backsliding” went on until they rejected and murdered the Son of God.

God continually has invited His people to “return” to Him (Jer. 3:12, 14). And He has promised to “heal your backslidings” (3:22).

The word does not occur in the New Testament, but the word “lukewarm” is there, just as bad, maybe worse, describing God’s true people in these last days (Rev. 3:7).

Why is it that so often after we have had a wonderful series of “revival meetings” and our hearts have been stirred, that after a few weeks we find we have begun backsliding again? The world has crept in; we have gotten too busy to keep our promise to give the Lord quality time in Bible study and prayer and witnessing, and again we lose that plateau experience. Is it possible that there is a fundamental reason why this problem has gone on for these thousands of years, ever since Moses?

The problem began at Mt. Sinai; from that truly “mountain-top” experience in meeting the Lord and hearing Him speak His holy law with His own voice with fire and thunder and earthquakes, in only a few weeks the people had backslidden to worshipping idols again (Ex. 32:1-6)! The problem: they had fastened themselves under the old covenant (19:8). We need the New.

November 13, 2004

Millions of Christians worldwide this weekend will contemplate Daniel 7, one of the prophecies Jesus especially says we must “understand” (Matt. 24:15).  It makes possible understanding events happening around us today. Speaking in the New York Times for November 7, Professor Bruce E. Cain declares that President Bush “has done what no religious leader in the past has been able to do, he has united the Protestants and the Catholics,” which means, he adds, that he has “remade the political equation, . . . overwhelmingly.”

Daniel 7 as paralleled in Revelation 13 is God’s portrayal of the rise of Catholicism and Protestantism, and how their being “united” will bring the entire world to the spiritual crisis of all the ages. Revelation 13 declares that the result of this being “united” will cast “all that dwell upon the earth” in a position that challenges the holy law of God and threatens the religious and civil liberties of those who choose to remain loyal to “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (cf. 14:12). The only way to make sense out of world history from now on is in the light of the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation.

Further, those prophecies cannot be discerned in their true significance except in the light of what happened on the cross where Jesus Christ died to save the world. Everyone who would “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” will be drawn to study (a) the prophecies of Daniel/Revelation and (b) to ”behold” the cross where the Son of God died to save the world (John 12:31, 32; Rev. 13:8).

November 12, 2004

“Thou shalt not kill,” says the holy commandment. Yet this date commemorates the day on which the killings in World War I finally came to an end; and by extension it has become the date on which we remember the killings of World War II. Now our daily media is filled with killings; again it is patriotic to kill.

We cling to God’s promise that He will “make wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in sunder, and burns the chariot in the fire,” which being interpreted means, He burns the
Humvees and warplanes and assault rifles, and causes mankind to “be still, and know that [He is] God” (Psalm 46:9, 10).

When, O when, Lord? People love life, no matter how painful it is; why is “the earth [still] filled with violence,” and the innocent still must suffer? (Gen. 6:11, 18). Suppose you and I could have a personal interview with God--would we discover that He cares about all this suffering? Is He a Person who can care? Yes! This is on His heart night and day--all through the year-end holidays even. We would ask Him, “Why don’t You fulfill that promise in Psalm 46?” What would He say?

He wants to, more than anything; but He must have a people “with Him” whom He can trust implicitly, people who, like Him, care. An immediate challenge is before us this very week: millions around the world are giving special attention to Daniel 7 this coming weekend.  Jesus said it deserves our very special attention (Matt. 24:15) in order for us to understand how to cooperate with Him in bringing this pain and violence to an end. Do you love learning that truth more than you love your sports and TV? Where will you find Jesus this weekend? With those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matt. 5:6).  Come to where He is! He has promised to “fill” those who are hungry. That’s good news.

November 11, 2004

A great world church is experiencing a “revival and reformation” in seeking a preparation of heart for the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Sincere people are pressing their petitions upon God’s “throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16). It is increasingly being recognized that the last-days developments are beginning to take place before our eyes.

For example, Revelation 13 is unraveling before us. The great two-horned beast of vss. 11-18 is progressing from its character of having “two horns like a lamb” to a new stance of “speaking as a dragon” (vs. 11). It’s not political party persuasion; that new stance is national purpose. Now the nation is committed to the principle of preemptive war. Issues of vast global import are to be settled by overwhelming military might. “Faith” in religion is now at the forefront of attention. The nation’s “voice” resounds through the globe. Luke 21:26 is here.

Yes, it is time for those who cherish “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” to awaken. It’s impossible for a world church to pray for “revival and reformation” without Heaven responding in some way. The insistent inroads of worldliness must be counteracted by an unprecedented infilling of the Holy Spirit, a “standard [being] lifted up against the enemy” (cf Isa. 59:19).

Prophets and apostles of past ages longed to see our age when (a) the New Covenant will at last come into its own (Jer. 31:31-34), when (b) Joel’s prophecy of the Holy Spirit being “poured out” on youth will be realized (2:28-30), when (c) the “earth [will be] lightened with glory” in a final message of righteousness by faith, (d) a message that will “lift up Christ and Him crucified” in clarity and power never before so realized (John 12:31, 32; 1 Cor. 2:1, 2; Rev. 18:1-4).

And side by side will come the Enemy’s deceptively designed counterfeits of “revival and reformation” (Matt. 24:24; Rev. 13:13, 14). Let us walk softly before the Lord just now and not reject His “eyesalve” (3:18).

November 10, 2004

The apostle John nails down some good news logically: “If we ask anything [in prayer] according to [God’s] will, [1] He hears us. And [2] if we know that He hears us, [3] whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14, 15). We “have” them--that is, on deposit credited to our personal account in God’s Bank of heaven; when we need them most, we’ll realize them. (John’s context is ministering salvation to your needy “brother.” That’s always “according to His will”!)

I have prayed a thousand times for something that IS according to God’s will--Paul’s prayer in Romans 12:3: “I say, through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” Lord, save me from arrogance, from pride, from making a fool of myself! King Nebuchadnezzar strutted about saying, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built . . . for the honor of my majesty?” “That very hour” he was brought down to the level of a cow (Dan. 4:30, 33). Apparently that was the level that he “ought to think.” After 7 years of insanity he realized that every breath was given him by the “grace” of God, and he “thought of himself” correctly (vss. 34-37).

But how lowly should I “think of myself”? Am I “nothing”? A “worm”? (Psalm 22:6). Paul says: “think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” As Christ my Savior hung on His cross in the darkness, forsaken by everybody including God (Matt. 27:46), He thought of Himself as “a worm, and no man” (Psalm 22:6). That hurt! But He went through that experience so I might never have to think of myself as a “worm.” God does not want me to “think of myself” as “nothing” but as someone redeemed by that costly sacrifice of the Savior. Now, “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). By His grace, this miserable arrogance of the love of self is crucified with Him.

Said John Bunyan in The Pilgrim’s Progress: “He that is down need fear no fall, / He that is low, no pride./ He that is humble ever shall / Have God to be his guide.” He breathed the atmosphere of heaven, says one wise writer.

November 9, 2004

Are you longing for some solid truth, firm as a rock, that you can trust, that’s also good news? Here it is in Titus 2:11-14:

(a) It’s truth taught by the “grace of God that brings salvation to all men” (vs 11). It’s not a fear motivation. The “grace” is that “much more abounding” kind that’s greater than all our sin (Rom. 5:20). And it’s given, not merely offered, to “all men.” It overwhelms you when you think about it. “Every man” does one of two things: he either receives it or he rejects it.

(b) That grace (not fear!) teaches us to “say No!” to every temptation to sin that Satan can fling at us (NIV). That’s where our problems are--“worldly lusts.”

(c) We don’t naturally know how to do it, but that “grace” teaches us to “live soberly, righteously, godly, in this present world” right where we are. The worst sinner learns under that tutelage. It’s being in school with Christ as the Teacher. (That’s a great privilege!)

(d) We cherish “the blessed hope” of seeing Him come again--we believe His literal second coming is that soon! Yes, we do! (vs. 13).

(e) That otherwise impossibility is accomplished by comprehending how He “gave Himself for us” (vs. 14). It’s looking, beholding, grasping, absorbing, the four grand dimensions of a love (agape) that passes knowledge (Eph. 3:16-19). When you gaze at His cross, the lethal bites of the “serpent” are healed (John 3:14, 15). Yes! Yes!

(f) Why did He “give Himself for us”? To save us “in sin”? No, to save us from all of it (vs. 14 again). You see yourself as the believing thief crucified with Him--yes! Self dies with Him. You share His cross, by living faith.

(g) What He’s doing is to “purify to Himself” 144,000 people in a time when the Enemy says it’s impossible to happen (vs. 14 again; see also Rev. 7:1-4; 14:1-5).

Whether that’s a literal or symbolic number is not the point. What you must believe is that the Savior loves you so much that He invites you to be among them, to “overcome even as [He] overcame” (Rev. 3:21). He wouldn’t invite you if it were not possible.

November 6, 2004

The editor of MINISTRY, the most prestigious magazine published for pastors, said in an editorial last summer that a “haze” of confusion still rests on the landscape of the church regarding the “new covenant” which the Bible talks about. That haze has been there for the better part of the last 2000 years.

But Paul’s fiery letter to the Galatians makes it clear as bright sunlight. And Revelation makes clear that the new covenant will be “the everlasting gospel” that is to be proclaimed to all the world and must “lighten the earth with glory” before Jesus can come the second time (14:6, 7; 18:1-4). In other words, the gospel of the new covenant is what will prepare a people everywhere to be translated at His coming (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). If so, it must be greatly different than the old covenant!

How does Galatians make the new covenant so starkly simple to understand? It says the new covenant is God’s out-and-out promise not only to save us after we die, but to make us radiantly happy here and now and forever (cf 3:14-24, for example). It’s illustrated in the story of Abraham--he is singled out as THE “father” (or protégé) in whom all who are to be saved are to be “called.” In Genesis 12:2, 3, God called him to a special session of promises-making--seven that gave him everything anyone could dream of, for now and for ever. And they were all God’s promises, not his. Abram’s job was to believe what God promised him.

It took him a lifetime to learn what it meant to believe what God promised. Finally in chapter 22 he understood when he “offered up Isaac,” his own “only begotten son.” Then he understood what it cost God to make those fantastic promises (Heb. 11:17). No one will be saved at last except as “a child” of Abraham (Rom. 4:16). This is another way of saying that those who are finally translated will be a people who have at last understood what was involved in the sacrifice of Christ on His cross. Their maturity of understanding is illustrated in a “woman” who comes at last to understand a Man so well that she is qualified to be His bride (Rev. 19:7, 8).

November 5, 2004

When we read Matthew 24 or Luke 21, the conviction is overwhelming that we’re living in what Daniel says is “the time of the end” (Dan. 11:35;
12:4).

At the same time, the conviction overwhelms us that the last message Revelation says must “lighten the earth with glory” will be the lifting up of Christ on His cross (18:1-4; John 12:32, 33).  God has honest-hearted people all over the world. Lifting up their Savior on the cross will “draw” them all to Him, He says; “a short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Rom. 9:28). It won’t take a l-o-n-g time for the Lord to “finish the work” once He has a people who se hearts are moved and melted by His agape seen at the cross.

That “short work” will accomplish not only the proclamation of “the truth of the gospel” to all the world in one generation (Gal. 2:5; Matt. 24:34), but what we have thought must take decades or even centuries: to prepare God’s people to meet Christ when He returns. First Thessalonians 4:16, 17 will be completely fulfilled: they will get ready to be “translated” as Hebrews 11:5 describes Enoch’s experience. All done in “a short work”!

Right now is the time when the Lord’s “beatitude” is being fulfilled: “Blessed [happy] are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6). Are you hungry and thirsty?

There’s nothing the God of heaven wants more than to give you that hunger and thirst. Ask for it!

November 4, 2004

How good is the “good news” of God’s Gospel?

(1) God the Father loves you as much as does His Son (John 3:16).

(2) He is “drawing” every human being to Himself (John 12:31-33).
(3) No one can come to Him unless He takes the initiative to “draw” that person (John 6:44).
(4) Everyone who wills to respond to that “drawing” will be received by Jesus; He promises never to turn even one shy, sinful person away (vs. 37).
(5) God has taken the initiative to “deal” to every one of us a measured “gift” of faith. Don’t bemoan your alleged lack of faith! It’s not true.  (Rom. 12:3).
(6) Nothing but our own choice to resist that “drawing” can keep us out of heaven (John 3:18, 19).
(7) It is not strictly, precisely, exactly correct to say that “we are saved by faith”: the truth is that “we are saved by GRACE through faith” (Eph. 2:8, 9). And even that is not of ourselves! We don’t have one percent to boast about on our own.

What all this adds up to is this:

(a) If any person is saved in God’s eternal kingdom at last, his salvation will be totally the work of God--a free gift from Him.

(b) If any person is lost at last, it will be totally his work of resisting and rejecting what God is doing for him through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
(c) As with Esau, God has given each of us “in Christ” the gift of the “birthright.” Esau had it; no one could wrest it from him. But of his own choice he “despised” and sold” it. DON’T!

November 3, 2004

There are different kinds of “meditation”: there is the popular Eastern kind, “yoga,” induced by a trance or bodily contortions. This is a direct link to Hinduism, which professes to be a very “spiritual” religion. There is “Transcendental Meditation” which claims to be religiously “neutral.” These forms of meditation are a search for a “higher form of consciousness,” actually a search for “divinity within oneself.” The idea is that God is everywhere--you just need to search him out. He is inside you, unrecognized; you make contact with him through these forms of “meditation.”

Beware; the root idea is pantheism, and it leads one into Spiritualism, away from Christ.

The Bible teaches the true, healthy experience of meditation: Isaac, a faithful, God-reverencing young man “went out to meditate in the field at the eventide” (Gen. 24:63). Precious experience! And we know what he was meditating about--yearning to meet his one and only, Rebecca. David would lie awake at night, he says, “to remember [the Lord] upon my bed, and meditate on [Him] in the night watches” (Psalm 63:6). He begs the Lord to give him the gift of the Holy Spirit so that “the meditation of my heart [may be] acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord my strength, and my Redeemer” (19:14).

Does this take time? Of course! Does it require mental application? Disciplining the thoughts? Self-control, so you don’t go to sleep all the time? Yes! You discipline your thoughts, “casting down imaginations, . . . and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). You base your meditation on biblical truth; you exercise control of your mind, and thus you welcome the Holy Spirit into your time of spiritual fellowship with God--who is your personal Heavenly Father and Savior FROM sin. Cherish such meditation!

November 2, 2004

The Bible tells us over and over to “fear not” as we get closer to the final events of time. “I will fear no evil,” says the person who believes that the “the Lord is [his] Shepherd” (Psalm 23:4). “Do not fear, little flock,” says Jesus, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). In common language it means the Father has fun giving you the inheritance of His kingdom while the world has despised you. All who believe the Good News of the gospel of Jesus will be tested as Daniel and his faithful friends were tested by the fiery furnace, the challenge of Belshazzar, and the lions’ den (chapters 3, 5, 6). There will be those who believe the 23rd Psalm, and there will be those who don’t. “All who dwell on the earth will worship [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). But the Lord Jesus will have a people true to Him!

For such faith in “the Lamb of God” to be established in us will mean an appreciation of what it cost Him to save us by His death on His cross. Those “who follow [Him] wherever He goes” (14:4) will indeed be a “little flock” compared to the majority; Jesus is jealous for His honor. He says, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. . . . He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:32-34, 38, 39).

Does it make you tremble? Don’t fear! Keep close to Jesus in His closing hours; let self be “crucified with Him” and then “perfect love [agape will] cast out [your] fear” (1 John 4:18).

November 1, 2004

The couple came to me for marital counseling, members of my congregation. “We quarrel about everything,” they said; “we just can’t be happy together. We think God is against our marriage because we did everything the wrong way--we rebelled against our parents, we eloped, we never asked for His guidance. We both want to be Christians, but since He had nothing to do with our marriage, it seems like His curse is on it. Shouldn’t we just divorce?”

I didn’t know what to say; I silently prayed for guidance. More legalism wouldn’t help.

Then I thought of what I had read in Psalm 87, what it really says. If you are a pagan born in some heathen country and then you become converted to the God of Israel, He changes your birth certificate and makes it read that you were born in Zion! That’s what justification by faith does for you; God’s acceptance and blessing go back to before you were born!

“You didn’t know the Lord, but all this while He knew you; He brought you to each other knowing that you two were made for each other! He considers you two as ‘born in Zion.’  He knows the end from the beginning, and “calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17). His love is retroactive, so is His guidance.”

They had never thought of that; the last I knew they were still together, happy.