January 30, 2006

The little book of Hosea in the Old Testament creates within us a hunger to understand more. How could the Lord, our heavenly Father who is Himself love (agape), who wants us all to be happy—how could He do what He did to poor Hosea, His faithful prophet? He commanded him to “love” a woman (not just pretend to) who seemed incapable of a fidelity-love (or heart-submission, Eph. 5:22) in return! (Hos. 3:1, 2). Hosea’s unhappy love affair became an illustration of Christ’s unhappy love affair with Israel. Dare we say that His love affair with His remnant church is also an “unhappy” one (for Him!), as was Hosea’s with the woman he truly loved? Why is this book in the Bible? Does it have special meaning for these last days, this great Day of Atonement in which we live today?

On Christ’s part, to have to go on forgiving ad infinitum, generation after generation, century after century, loving His people with a conjugal love never requited—must this be for another century? Or forever? Must they be forever motivated by an egocentric desire for their personal reward? Can they never sense a concern for His heart-love, a purpose of their heart that He receive His reward transcending their yearning for their reward? Can His Bride-to-be at last “make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7, 8)?

The book of Hosea says “yes!” It tells us to take heart; as Gomer at last grew up, we can grow up too! Hosea’s “many days” of waiting ended before he died (cf. 3:4; ch. 14).

The story in the book ends in the major key to transcend its familiar minor key of conjugal frustration and pain. The wearied prophet, with Gomer his at last repentant wife, walks off stage hand in hand with her in an enduring “till-death-do-us-part” love. Heart-repentance on her part became finally possible. He could at last look into her eyes and see the long-awaited heart-understanding. We are comforted to know that Hosea finally joins Job, Moses, Joseph, yes David, at their end receiving “the desire of [their] heart” (Psalm 37:4).

We all have a “desire of thine heart” awaiting fulfillment; let it be a worthy one that we can cherish, unashamed, for eternity. Thank you, Gomer, for finally growing up; 2006 must be time for us to grow up! But still, the Lord can’t force us; we must move, ourselves.

January 30, 2006

The media reports that the new pope has issued his first encyclical entitled “Deus Caritas Est” (God is love in Latin), a study of Eros and Agape. Is he now proclaiming a Protestant view of the gospel? If so, that would be news, wouldn’t it?

We’ll have to wait until we can read his 71 page dissertation; but of this we can be certain: when he believes, understands, and proclaims agape as the Bible proclaims it, he will renounce his Roman Catholicism. The reason is that agape is a love that is “strong as death,” “many waters cannot quench it” (Song of Solomon 8:6, 7). It constrains to the total crucifixion of self, led Christ to “pour out His soul unto death,” and to die the “death of the cross,” which included His dying the second death of the human race (cf. Isa. 53:12; Phil. 2:5-8; Rev. 2:11). Such agape is impossible if we believe the doctrine of the natural immortality of the human soul—the foundation dogma of Roman Catholicism, imported and adopted from ancient paganism. If that dogma is true, Christ could not have died on His cross, and His gospel is a farce (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3, 4). Jesus truly died—the real thing! Paganism has no placed being woven into the gospel of Jesus.

May the Holy Spirit open the eyes of Benedict XVI to see and understand how “the gospel ... [not the church!] is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).

January 27, 2006

A group of us were meeting in Bible class, discussing what the Bible teaches about families. “It’s not good for the man to be alone,” God said (Gen 2:18), and neither is it good for a woman to be alone but the Bible doesn’t say that. The Bible does speak of great blessings for unmarried women such as Anna (Luke 2:36-38).

Then the teacher said, “It’s better for a young woman to remain single than to marry a wrong man” (some people don’t believe that and end up with sorrow). Then one young woman asked, “How can you know when someone is the wrong man?”

The teacher frankly didn’t know what to say, finally suggested: “One thing the wrong man might try to do is to praise and flatter you so as to take something from you that should not be his.” Hopefully, something good may have gotten across.

Then he suggested: “Maybe a better question to ask is, How can one prepare to be ready when the right man comes along?”

The answer is obvious: something more than legalistic obedience to the commandments (obedience IS important) but confidence in the Lord. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:3, 4). That “feeding” is interesting: the confidence that Christ has redeemed you, not merely wants to; yes, the confidence that you are beautiful in His sight (who else’s sight matters so much?). The quiet confidence that you are “in” because of what you know He has done for you—it sets you free to be the real you that God has made you to be. You sail through life singing: “He [she] that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” (Prov. 15:15, KJV).

The right man is never looking for an edition of Marilyn Monroe; when he sees such a woman as Proverbs describes, he goes wild with longing.

January 26, 2006

Have you ever been so baffled, you didn’t know what to do; you were afraid of the future; you’d made a mess of things in the past; you knew you didn’t have any credit for good behavior to bolster up your prayers; how could you expect any blessing from the Lord?

Deep in your heart comes this feeling which we all have sometimes—God can’t really bless me or even accept me unless I can “produce.” Yes, it’s fear, and unless you’re ready for translation like Enoch or Elijah, you wrestle with it.

Could you dare to believe that the Father condescends to accept you, and that He has done so “in Christ,” and even promises you eternal life—without your earning it? Would that be an immoral thing for God to do? Well, He did it for Abraham in Genesis 12:2, 3, in those seven New Covenant promises. And He does it for you. He intends for you to claim them by faith.

Jesus gives you permission to call His Father your Father. Anyone can pray the Lord’s prayer. He can also read Psalm 23 and claim the Lord as his Shepherd. God has left His door to His house open for “whosoever will” to dwell there (cf. vs. 6; Rev. 22:17). (If you’re trying to win souls, get someone on his knees, to pray those prayers!)

How did I get this idea in my mind, or heart? It came through Galatians. Forget your TV or radio or your CD’s, and read and appreciate that book. It sounds like a back-door way to understand the New Covenant but it’s the way that helped me. The Heavenly Father actually loves you personally! Let Him win your heart, and obedience to His law becomes your delight. Then you “stand fast.... in the liberty” Christ gives you (5:1).
 

January 25, 2006

U.S. NEWS treats us this week to a review of the history of U. S. Presidents who have served in wars since 1812. The span of history nearly parallels that of the biblical grand Day of Atonement. It was a veteran of the War of 1812 who discovered in the Bible that the 2300 year prophecy of Daniel 8:14 was due to begin fulfillment in 1844. “Atonement” means reconciliation, and this final era of judgment is the call to the world to “fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come” (Rev. 14:6, 7).

This final prophetic period has witnessed the unanticipated rise of the feeble 13 colonies of England to the leadership of the world (the second nation with “two horns like a lamb” of Rev. 13:11). This nation has made possible a world missionary movement. But before it could lead, it had to throw off the moral curse of slavery; hence the horribly severe Civil War which Lincoln recognized as a divine punishment. Thoughtful people have recognized also that it could not have been God’s primary will that the unspeakably terrible disasters of World Wars I and II should subject humanity to such nearly universal agony. To accomplish God’s blessed work of final atonement did not require such human agony to be endured by millions.

God has expressed in the Bible a formula how such disasters need not be necessary to His blessed work of the Day of Atonement: let God’s church proclaim to the world the “sealing message” that prepares a people to stand before the throne of God “without fault,” and be ready to meet the Son of God personally when He comes the second time (see Rev. 14:1-6; 14, 15; and 7:1-4). God LOVES the whole world, and His church must learn to cooperate with Him and reveal His character to the world.

January 24, 2006

A recent issue of TIME magazine reports that the Roman Catholic Church is re-thinking the idea of “limbo” which for centuries has been thought to be the fate of babies that die without being “baptized.” It’s not hell, the Church thought (thank God!), nor can it be heaven where they “see God,” they thought (cf. Matt. 5:8). It’s some place in between where innocent babies nevertheless can be happy forever, so the Catholic scholars have thought.

I have always been interested for I was told that before I was born I had a baby sister, Margaret Delight, die at 6 weeks, unsprinkled. The bereavement must have deeply wounded my mother for the baby was her firstborn; two boys coming later could never have taken that place in her heart. Then my dear mother had to die when I was two, before she had had the opportunity to learn what Paul calls “the truth of the gospel” as I have been privileged to learn about it (cf. Gal. 2:5, 14). I have been told that my mother had to carry heavy burdens since her alcoholic lawyer-father left the financial support of the family to her teenage care.

Since I have known that whatever He is, God is “love” (agape). I have wondered what He can do with Margaret Delight in the day of the first resurrection (1 Thess. 4:16, 17; John 5:28, 29). I don’t think “limbo” would be good enough for my baby sister since I have learned that the Lord Jesus Christ died for her as He died for everybody, and that in so doing He gave her the gift of salvation “in Himself.” When my dear mother arises in that first resurrection (by the much more abounding grace of Christ), I can foresee an angel bringing that little girl into her arms for Jesus had promised her that He will give her “the desire of [her] heart.” She must have known about that promise (do you? Read it in Psalm 37:4).

The Bible is clear that 1000 years will follow that first resurrection (Rev. 20:6) in which many things that never were learned in this life will be—including Bible School lessons and classes. Wouldn’t it be great if I could be privileged by the abounding grace of the Savior to help teach my baby sister? And what a thrill if my dear mother could be in my class, too?

It’s interesting that the Roman Catholic Church is re-thinking this problem of “limbo.” The Good News of the Gospel is better good news than we have all thought it can be!

January 23, 2006

The last verses of the Old Testament are a promise from God: “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers....” (Mal. 4:5, 6). Reconciliation of alienated hearts will be the burden of his message and the subject of his success in ministry and of his identification.

A literal appearance of the translated Elijah may not be the necessary fulfillment of the promise because Jesus said that the coming of John the Baptist fulfilled it in His day. In fact, it was not the personal presence of the Baptist that was the fulfillment; it was his message (Matt. 11:7-14).

Elijah was a frail mortal man “subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17), and the Baptist, also. But both men identified themselves with God so closely that they stepped into the emergencies of their day and took action as though the cause of God depended on them individually. The way the Bible introduces Elijah on the stage is strange: he just suddenly appears in the office of king Ahab without the normal fanfare of introduction for a prophet, nothing that says “the Lord spoke to Elijah....” Elijah appears as one who came out of Gilead moved by his own deep convictions. He did not seek to become the Lord’s messenger, but he responded to what was for him an overwhelming motivation of truth. We could say, “the love (agape) of Christ constrained him” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14), that is, love for Israel and love for the honor of the God of Israel. In this respect, Elijah is a true forerunner of those who will await the coming of Christ—they are so concerned before the world and before the universe for His glory that they would rather sacrifice their own personal salvation than be disloyal to Him.

Thus there will be thousands of individuals in all lands and cultures who will be little “Elijahs” manifesting the faith-inspired courage of this one man, reproducing in their little environment or culture a fresh display of the power of the true gospel—all together enlightening the earth with the call, “Babylon the great is fallen..... Come out of her, My people” (Rev. 18:1-4). “Elijah” may be here already, or very near! Let’s not overlook him.

January 22, 2006

We don’t know who it was but somebody once asked Jesus the really hard question: “Lord, are there few who are saved?” He gave an honest answer: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” He will at last be forced to inform the “many,” “I tell you I do not know you, where you are from..... There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” In the last judgment they will argue with Him vociferously, “We ate and drank in your presence, and You taught in our streets” (Luke 13:23, 24, 27, 28). Sorry, He says; “I do not know you.” “Few are chosen,” “the laborers are few,” etc. (Matt. 9:37; 22:14).

But wait a moment; get the full picture. The “144,000” of Revelation 7:1-4 seems like a tiny number from earth’s billions, yet when John views them through the zoom lens they turn out to be “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations,.... clothed with white robes” (vs. 9). “In their mouth was found no guile [falsehood].” The TEV says “they have never been known to tell lies,” but their being “without fault” in the judgment does not mean they never have sinned; they are a pretty sorry lot down at the end of the sinful human race where “the love [agape] of many [has grown] cold” (Matt. 24:12), but they have been “justified by faith.” That means, like Abraham, sinful as he was, when he “believed” his faith was “counted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3) and he stood before the throne as though he had never sinned! The sins of those who believe are cast into the ocean deeper than the Titanic and can never be retrieved.

Don’t worry whether you are one of the “few” or “many.” Thank the Father that His Son whom He “gave” died your second death, and rejoice every moment of your life from now on. You will then obey from the heart!
 

January 21, 2006

On a cold wet night, you’re tired, and you’re half asleep, and you’ve just gotten into bed and you’re comfy and snug, you don’t want to be disturbed by someone banging on your door, do you? (Cf. Song of Solomon 5:2-6.)

But suppose that’s a capital “S” and the Someone is your divine Lover. You’re so snug and comfy spiritually that you’re satisfied like you are. His “knocking” bothers you.

But the Someone knocking and knocking persistently finally leaves. It grieves Him to do so; but Scripture does say that He can be grieved and driven away (Eph. 4:30). His name is “Immanuel,.... ‘God with us’” (Matt. 1:23). He is forever human as well as forever divine. He is so-o-o patient, but not infinitely so. We fool ourselves tragically if we assume that His patience is never ending. It isn’t.

Meanwhile, you have some change of heart while lying snug in your warm bed; you mature a bit in your thinking. You stop considering only your own selfish comfort in bed. A miracle in your own heart begins to take place—you actually begin to think of Him, that Someone outside in the cold, wet, hungry, and lonely for you, knocking on your door, wanting to come in, to you. He loves you! And you have callously kept Him out there in the wet and cold while you luxuriate in your feelings of self-satisfaction. “I am rich,.... and have need of nothing,” you have been saying to your soul (cf. Rev 3:17).

This biblical Old Testament scene is what the faithful and true Witness is thinking of when He writes that great seventh Letter to the “angel of the church of the Laodiceans” (Rev. 3:14-20).

If He has spent several years knocking, knocking, could you blame Him if he walks away so when you finally get up to open the door, he is gone? If Ephesians says He can be “grieved,” that walking away is not to be wondered at.

January 20, 2006

The Regent Business Review Published an excellent article about the problem that impacts millions: “Conquering Lust on the Job.” Thank you, Regent, for talking openly about a life-or-death issue, and for publishing a well-written piece.

The results of scientific surveys say that the majority of Christian men have a problem with either real, printed, or electronically produced pornography—including the short skirts of women at work. (Women have problems, too.)

The article offers a host of practical suggestions to the harassed businessman on how to avoid or curtail exposure to temptation. Self-denying common sense. Good advice. Do it. You have a wife at home and kids; don’t betray them. Keep clean. The article frankly quotes the Bible commandments as rules that must be obeyed.

And they must.

But God knows we need more than rigorous law and good advice, even divine law—unless it is understood in the light of the New rather than the Old Covenant. The Ten Commandments are severe Old Covenant rules unless the great Preamble is understood and believed (Ex. 20:2): Christ has (past tense!) “brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” He has Himself conquered lust “in the likeness of [our] sinful flesh, on account of sin; He condemned sin in the flesh [our flesh!], that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled [the word means perfectly!] in us....” (Rom. 8:3, 4). Through such New Covenant faith the ten laws become ten promises; our salvation does not depend on us promising to keep those rules; it depends on our believing His promise to us. Get acquainted with Jesus as He truly is—the One “in all points tempted like [not unlike] as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15, KJV). “He also Himself likewise took part of the same [flesh and blood]” that we inherit from the fallen Adam (2:14). Open your heart to appreciate what Jesus accomplished on His cross—He died your second death, conquered hell for you. Let this truth of His cross be the anchor of your soul in raging storms of temptation.

January 19, 2006

At least three of God’s holy Ten Commandments zero in on family fidelity, indicating that His love for the world (cf. John 3:16) includes His concern that the bonds of marriage remain unbroken. A great proportion of the world’s agony follows sexual infidelity. In the first issue of Newsweek for 2000, George F. Will pleaded for some new “John Wesley” to save Africa from self-destruction through the sexual promiscuity that spawns much of the AIDS plague.

One thoughtful writer in Spectrum magazine said: “Fornication causes more suffering in America than theft and perjury and random violence combined.... high rates of illegitimacy, single parent families, school dropouts following pregnancies,.... children who get involved in crime, drugs, poor educational performance, and often lifelong poverty..... Fornication is an evil far greater than modern society likes to acknowledge. It is sad that even churches are unwilling to give this sin the attention it so richly deserves” (Vol. 24, No. 2, p. 64). Straight talk!

Children find it hard to obey the 5th commandment to honor their parents when their parents behave dis-honorably; obedience to the 7th requires purity before marriage; and the 10th plumbs the depths of sexual irresponsibility—“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” (Ex. 20:17), thus condemning pornography, the beginning of adultery.

A Savior in stained glass cathedral windows is too far away; the world must (and yet will, thank God!) see Him presented as the One near to us, “Immanuel, God with us,” who knows our temptations, and who “condemned sin” in our human flesh and sinful nature, the One who can save from (not in), sin (cf. Matt. 1:23; Rom. 8:3, 4; John 12:32, 33).

January 17, 2006

In our recent modest excursus into the Song of Solomon (SS), we dwelt on Christ’s use of the love portrayed there as illustrating His love for His pure, true church. Someone asks, Are you limiting the SS to that stratospheric theology way over our understanding? Is there no value in the book re human sexuality? Or is it frankly dangerous to read with that in mind?

No, it must be that God intended the book to be read as sexual human beings because it was He who created us male and female and the love within sex is not something shameful of itself (the shame has been displaced as a consequence of the fall in Eden; it was not originally associated with sex per se).

The book is a primer on the love that is in sex—pure love, love that is forever, where a promise is a promise and commitment is heart-commitment forever (“Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me. Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself..... Water cannot put it out. No flood can drown it. But if anyone tried to buy love with his wealth, contempt is all he would get,” 8:6, 7, TEV).

It’s about married love that is free of the poison of shame or guilt, as love was in Eden, when given by God. True, the couple ask not to be interrupted in their love (2:7; 3:5; 7:4, TEV), but that’s not for guilt or shame or fear of detection.

God put the book in His holy Bible; let Him speak through it! Youth need to read it with understanding. It is inspired. Jesus Himself quoted from it. The rewards of loving obedience to the ten commandments of God are immense! And in this great final Day of Atonement the much more abounding grace and love of Christ is to lighten the earth with glory as Elijah the prophet proclaims his message of reconciliation (Mal. 4:4, 5; Rev. 18:1-4).

January 16, 2006

Conservative, thoughtful Christians world-wide recognize that the Song of Solomon (SS) belongs in the Bible. They see that it is quoted in the New Testament—yes, even by Christ Himself, and that this fact seals its legitimacy in the Bible.

The most poignant story in the book is that of the Lover (Christ) coming to the woman whom He loves (His church), knocking on her door to be let in, and being callously denied and rebuffed (SS 5:2-6). It is now recognized that Jesus quotes from this passage in His appeal to the seventh church of Revelation 3:20— Laodicea. This is the meaning that permeates Christ’s last Letter to His people.

The lady so loved has already gone to bed; it’s rainy and cold outside (this is made plain in vs. 2), so it’s also chilly inside and she is too snug and warm and cozy in bed to want to bother to get up and let him in (vs. 3).

In the Septuagint version, the divine Lover keeps on knocking persistently. He is lonely, He longs to be with her, to consummate their love; she alone is the object of His love. He offers Himself to her, but she disdains Him. She is thinking only of herself and her own selfish ease in bed.

When she comes to herself and realizes what has happened, she is ashamed, thinks at last about Him, gets up to let Him in; but when she does open the door at last, He is gone.

Could it be that across the span of centuries the church must look and look for Him—for that sweet and intimate union once corporately despised (vss. 6-8)?

January 13, 2006

This week around the world millions of Christians are studying together a most unusual topic—it may shock you: The Song of Solomon, a book in the Old Testament that not many have given attention to.

Some people wonder why it’s in the Bible for it’s so sexually explicit. One test of why an Old Testament book is there is if Jesus quoted it, or one of the apostles. Well, Jesus did quote it! Several times, in fact. That alone tells us that it’s a good book to study! The fact that it’s about love and sex does not discount it, for it was God Himself who created us humans to be male and female (Gen. 1:27), and built into us the sexual attraction for each other (vs. 28). Sexual love is not per se something evil; its distortion and its being trivialized with the expulsion of God—that is the problem behind a huge proportion of the suffering there is in the world, including the horror of AIDS.

Two examples of how Jesus quoted the Song of Solomon are: (1) John 7:37-39: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out [He didn’t need a PA system; His voice could be heard by everyone!], saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” The only “Scripture” He could be quoting is S.S. 4: “My sweetheart, my bride [the church!] is.... a private spring,.... fountains [that] water the garden, streams of flowing water” (vss. 12, 15, TEV). It’s a divinely inspired love poem that speaks to the deepest recesses of a human heart, almost beyond mere words.

(2) S. S. 4:7: “Thou art all fair, my love [again, the church!]; there is no spot in thee” (KJV). Perhaps the time hasn’t quite come yet for Jesus to say that of His church, but the time is coming when He will! Paul quotes this verse in his Ephesians 5:25-27: “as Christ also loved the church,.... cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,.... not having spot.” This will be completely fulfilled in the glorious “cleansing of the sanctuary” that is now going on according to the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Time’s up; more tomorrow, the Lord willing.

January 12, 2006

It was in our little Bible Study group in our local church that we were discussing Paul’s words about “the shield of faith” in Ephesians 6:16 (“above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one”).

The leader of the group asked, “What IS faith? What is the definition of faith?” Different ones quoted Hebrews 11:1, “substance of things hoped for,” “key to unlock heaven’s storehouse,” “breath of the soul,” etc., etc., all telling what faith DOES, but no one defining what faith IS so we can learn how to obtain it.

“Faith is trusting God!” was the general idea, the same as the popular Evangelical leaders who believe and teach the doctrine of natural immortality. But anyone who believes that the human soul is naturally immortal is unable to understand what happened on the cross of Christ—thus automatically blinded to what faith IS, certainly so in the light of “the everlasting gospel” of Revelation 14:6, 7. Driving a Model T is better than going by ox-cart; but why can’t we “grow up” out of our infantile understandings (Eph. 4:15)?

The inspired apostle comes close to a definition of faith in these words: “You, being rooted and grounded in love [agape], may be able to comprehend.... the width and length and depth and height—to know the love (agape) of Christ which passes knowledge.” A thoughtful and reverent-minded author in a magazine article of July 24, 1888 had the idea: “You may say that you believe in Jesus, when you have an appreciation of the cost of salvation. You may make this claim, when you feel that Jesus died for you on the cruel cross of Calvary, when you have an intelligent, understanding faith that His death makes it possible for you to cease from sin, and to perfect a righteous character through the grace of God, bestowed upon you as the purchase of Christ’s blood” (emphasis added).

It hurts to “grow up.” But never will any church succeed in lighting the earth with the glory of “the everlasting gospel” (Rev. 18:1) until we learn to “appreciate the cost of our salvation” purchased at the cross of Christ. That’s beyond contented spiritual infants.

January 11, 2006

The Press-Enterprise of Riverside ran a disturbing column by Leonard Pitts. He had discovered e-mails that had flown back and forth between Michael Brown (head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and his subordinates during the Katrina hurricane disaster. While people’s homes were being demolished and many were dying, these officials were callously discussing what clothes to wear on TV that would make them look good. And Governor Kathleen Blanco’s aides were doing the same, says Pitts. His column is titled, “Preening Amid Disaster.”

Then he comments: “Is it really necessary to point out that when people—your countrymen, no less—are homeless, hungry and dying in the face of natural disaster, your first duty as an official, not to mention as a member of the human race, is not to do political calculus or worry about how you look on camera? It is to help” (emphasis mine).

Pitts probably didn’t get the connection, but he was alluding to the biblical Day of Atonement. It was the one day in the ancient calendar year when Israel were to fast in sympathy with God who is forced to bear on His heart the pain and agony of a world in disaster. It was a day for self-centered, proud, worldly people (like us all) to be “reconciled to God” and learn to love our fellow men (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19). That ancient typical day prefigured our modern antitypical “Day” of Atonement that encompasses the “cleansing of the sanctuary” of Daniel 8:14. It’s a time of judgment. We’ve been into that “Day” some 160 years; as “members of the human race” we cannot “preen” and thoughtlessly wallow in luxuries and dissipations while multitudes of our fellow humans exist and die in agony. Jesus Christ invites us to “overcome” and sit with Him on His throne as He “overcame and sat with [His] Father on [His] throne” (Rev. 3:20)—in other words, share with Him executive authority in bringing to an end the agony in this world. Big invitation!

January 10, 2006

The righteousness of Christ now can cleanse from the one greatest sin of all time. According to John’s profound statement in 3:14-19, it’s the sin of unbelief, not the mere passive ignorance of never knowing but the active sin of disbelieving truth. “He that believeth not is condemned....” That “not” discloses the darkest guilt of sin.

But what is unbelief, this sin of disbelieving? It’s the sin committed by the most righteous people on earth, those to whom God’s Messiah was sent (the Savior of the world). They made the eternal Prince of glory become the slain “Lamb of God” by the people who slew Him. The cross of Christ extends its arms over the universe of God—the truth of eternity encapsulated in time at Calvary for us to “see.”

Unbelief is the sin of cherishing hard hearts that cannot be melted, of eyes that cannot shed tears of repentance, of souls that “survey the wondrous cross” with callous disregard. It’s the sin of hearts unmoved by the love (agape) that “constrains” any believing heart to total consecration to the One who died our second death for us. It’s poisonous sin, the most subtle and deadly of all time.

Unbelief is the sin that infiltrates the great world church of Laodicea, the “seventh” and last of all time, the church that torments the resurrected Son of God to the point of acute nausea (Rev. 3:14-21). Each individual professed believer in Christ is a microcosm of the world church, no one holier than everybody else, all sharing a corporate sin of unbelief, all desperately needing a corporate repentance before God, all awaiting the long-promised Elijah who will proclaim a heart-reconciliation, the final atonement. Let’s not cap off history by crucifying the Lamb of God afresh. Let’s overcome where ancient Israel failed.

January 9, 2006

The Biblical picture we have of Jesus is of Someone always happy, always on top of the world, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, cuddling children in His arms, healing Peter’s wife’s mother of fever, raising the dead son of the widow on her way to the funeral, calling Lazarus out of his tomb, miraculously feeding five thousands—here’s the one Man on earth living in the bright sunshine of His heavenly Father’s blessed approval, “in Whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). We want to live like Him!

But never has there been anyone so plunged into the horror of deepest depression, as this Jesus. From the highest top He must be cast down to the lowest bottom. Writhing in the agony of the darkest curse of God, He cries out in anguish, “Why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). This is no Hollywood acting; the cumulative pain of the entire world’s horror of despair is penetrating His deepest sense of feeling and conviction. Not only is the burden of the world’s guilt of sin being laid upon Him, He is being “made to be sin” in His own deepest soul. At last we see what it’s like for a man to be in real hell where the last ray of hope is gone.

The crucified wretches that the pagan Romans torture by the thousands are given a sedative so they can black out; not Jesus. He won’t taste it (vs. 34). Every cell of His being must remain conscious to know the utmost horror of hell.

But wait: “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell,” He says (Acts 2:27). Before the resurrection can come the third day, He must believe His way out of hell on His cross; His soul must be resurrected there in spirit, so He can die in glorious triumph, shouting so heaven (even Muslims) can hear Him, “It is finished!” Take your Bible and read Psalms 22, 69.

January 8, 2006

You have seen the veterinarians in the animal shelters testing a stray dog to see if it is suitable for adoption into a home where there are children. When the dog is hungry they set food before it, and while it is eating, someone pretends to want to take the food away. If the dog snarls and acts viciously, sorry, it has passed its final test: no adoption for it! It’s shut out of adoption by its own unfitness for it. There is no redemption for it.

And quite possibly, its failure to pass its test may not be because of the real nature of the animal: it has been abused by its previous owner! And so, it must die. This is a very, very inadequate illustration of our final judgment!

We humans also are being “tested” to determine if we are fit to find a home in God’s eternal kingdom. Some are being “accounted worthy to obtain.... the [first] resurrection from the dead;” they are “blessed and holy” (Rev. 20:6). Others are “accounted” not “worthy” (Luke 20:35). They exhibit a snarling, vicious spirit toward the righteousness that will pervade eternal life in heaven. God is merciful to all and grants each what he/she really wants; if He should transport unwilling people to the New Jerusalem they would be miserable there. Therefore in love and kindness He grants them what they want—they will “welcome destruction” rather than spend eternity in purity and holiness.

But what about those who have been “abused” through no fault of their own? There are helpless slave-prostitutes in Thailand, their humanity cruelly trampled upon. How will a loving and righteous God judge them? Jesus said there will be prostitutes saved at last (Matt. 21:31, 32). Thank God, perfect justice will be done, with compassion and mercy. May God grant us the soul-winning spirit of Christ’s love that proclaims His pure, powerful Good News to people whom Satan has abused! There may be hope if we can tell them the truth!