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Finding the Specific Will of God in the Old Testament

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol. 7, Part 3

How Do We Find the Specific Will of God for Our Life?

Introduction.

In this edition of Locusts and Honey, we will be reviewing the methods in the Old Testament for determining God’s specific will for our lives.  We will begin by looking at how people in ancient cultures during the time of the Hebrews tried to determine God’s will for their lives.  In contrast to pagan methods of determining God’s will, people in the Old Testament, utilized other means to determine God’s specific will for their lives.    In short we shall focus in this edition on how people in the Old Testament sought the will of God in their lives.  In a future and subsequent we will look at means that people in the time of Christ and in the early church sought God’s will.  We will also touch upon in a future edition some of the methods which believers utilize today.

Pagan Cultures.

Men and women have an intrinsic desire to know what God’s specific will is for their lives.  They have used various means over the years to get an insight into what God wants them to do and how to take advantage of divine forces in order to better themselves and to live successfully.  Some of the methods utilized in ancient cultures include the following:

               Consulting the Stars

People have believed since ancient times that the stars affect their destinies including constellations at the time of a person’s birth.  We see this in cultures as diverse as Zoroastrian, Chinese, and Indian cultures.  We see it in effect today with the use of astrology and horoscopes.  The belief is that the stars control your destiny and that you can know the future through the knowledge of the stars.  The occurrence of extraordinary celestial events were interpreted to have various special meanings for the future including meteors, eclipses and the like.

               Consulting the Dead

Consulting the dead and the use of witchcraft is not a new development but is ancient.  Witchcraft is known in the Bible and we know the example of Saul going to the Witch of Endor to call up the spirit of Samuel so that Saul could get advice.  The use of witchcraft and mediums as a way to determine the future and knowing what to do goes back to ancient times.  The use of mediums, witches and the like were found in numerous cultures and was prohibited by the Bible.  Some verses of interest would be

Deut. 18:10-12; Is. 8:18; Levit. 19:31 and Levit. 20:27.

               Consulting Soothsayers and the Like

At various times people would consult soothsayers, oracles, and prophets.  There were false prophets like the prophets of Baal ( 1 Kings 18:38-40) and others and there were true prophets like Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Nehemiah and others found in the Bible.  Examples of soothsayers and prophets found in the ancient world would be the Oracle of Delphi and the Vestal Virgins found in Rome.  True prophets heard directly from God and passed upon God’s word to people.

               Consulting Entrails

Ancient people would make animal sacrifices and then cut the animals open and make prophecies based upon the entrails of the animal sacrificed.

The above methods were some of many methods utilized by ancient societies to ascertain the will of the gods and to assist individuals in ascertaining what the specific will of the gods were for life.  In addition, ancient people utilized a wide variety of charms, books and superstitious paraphernalia to help them to ascertain the will of the gods and the course of future events. 

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament prohibit the use of divination, witchcraft, consulting mediums and spiritualists, the casting of spells, consulting of the dead and the use of astrology.  Some Old Testament verses on this are : 1 Chron. 10:13; 1 Sam. 15:23; 1 Sam 22:23; 2 Chron. 33:6; Lev. 19:31; Lev. 20:6; Micah 5:10-12; Is. 8:19-22; Is. 19:1-4; Is. 47:8-14 and others.  Some New Testament verses dealing with these practices include: Rev. 18:23; Rev. 21:8; Gal. 5:19-21; Acts 8:9-13; and Acts 19:17-20.

How did the Hebrews determine the specific will of God?

 

               Direct Encounters with God

Various people in the Old Testament had direct encounters with God and as a result received direction for their lives.  These encounters came in a variety of ways.  Sometimes God “appeared” to them.  Sometimes, they heard God or had visions or dreams of God.  Sometimes they had an encounter with the “Angel of God.”  Although who and what the Angel of God is worthy of a full study, many Christian theologians believe that the Angel of God was the pre-incarnate Christ which in effect means that they believe that this is a manifestation of Christ in the Old Testament before his birth to Mary.  Hopefully, in the future we can take a closer look at this question.  The fact of the matter is that God directly had encounters with men and women in the Old Testament directly through a variety of means and methods.  Below are some examples.

Adam—We know from Genesis 3:8-10 that Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the Garden of Eden.  We also know from various verses in Genesis that God spoke to Adam and Eve.

Cain—God spoke to Cain on several occasions.  See Gen. 4:6, 9, 13 and 15.

Noah—God spoke to Noah.  See Gen. 7:1; 8:15; 9:1,8,12.

Abraham—Abraham had a number of experiences with God where God spoke to him and gave him direction.  God used a number of different methods to communicate with Abraham in Genesis 1:12-23.    In Genesis 12:1, God speaks to Abraham and tells him to leave his native land.  In Genesis 12:7, God appears to Abraham and promises to give him the land where he is residing.  In Genesis 13:14, God speaks to Abraham and makes him certain promises.  In Genesis 15:1, God appears to Abraham in a vision.   In Genesis 18, Abraham and Sarah encounter the Lord and two angels and Abraham negotiated with God to preserve Sodom if ten righteous men could be found in the city.  God appeared to Abraham and spoke to him after the birth of Isaac in Genesis 21.  He spoke to him in Genesis 22:1 and the Angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham and preserved the life of Isaac from being sacrificed in Genesis 22:  11, 12 and 15.  In short, God encountered Abraham by numerous methods including speaking to him, appearing in a vision, appearing in a dream, meeting him with two angels, and through the Angel of the Lord.  In the course of these encounters, Abraham becomes the Father of a Nation, the Father of Isaac and gave an object lesson of faith foreshadowing the future sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Jacob—Intriguingly, Jacob’s encounters with God begin after he has fled from his home and Jacob is on his way to the home of his relative Laban.  When he comes to Bethel, he has a dream and sees in the dream a ladder with angels ascending and descending.  At the top of this ladder is God who makes certain covenant promises to Jacob.  (Gen. 28:10-16).  His next encounter is many years later when he has left Laban and is returning to Esau.  Genesis 32:1 says that he met an angel.  In Genesis 32:24-30, there is an account where Jacob wrestles with a “man” all night and refuses to let go until he is blessed.  Jacob names the place where this encounter happened “ Peniel” meaning “For I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.”    Later Jacob returns to Bethel (meaning House of God) and there he is spoken to by God who blesses and changes his name from Jacob to Israel.  (Genesis, Chapter 35).  The encounters of Jacob are fascinating.  They begin with dreams and end with a very close encounter with God.

Moses—Moses encountered God at various times and in various fashions and as a result found God’s will for his life.  Some of the ways involved encountering God at the burning bush, meeting God on Mt. Horeb, meeting the presence of God between the Cherubim in the Tent of Meeting and in various other fashions.  We will look at a few of these.  The important thing to remember is that God is not limited by the way that He communicates with us.  In addition, God uses different methods to meet each of us.

               The Burning Bush

 

In Exodus 3:1-21 we find Moses encountering the “Angel of the Lord” at the burning bush.  In this instance, Scripture equates the Angel of the Lord with God Himself and God reveals his name to Moses as being “I AM.”  God also reveals himself as being “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”.

During the Plagues

From Exodus 3 through Exodus 14, there is a constant dialogue between God and Moses regarding each plague brought upon the Egyptians.   In each instance, God speaks to Moses and gives him precise instructions regarding the plague and Moses responds.

               From Mt. Sinai

In Exodus 19 we find God being present above and on Mt. Sinai.  In this chapter, God manifests His presence not only to Moses but to the people of Israel.  In Exodus 19:9, we find God saying to Moses:  “And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold I come to you in the thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.”” The experience was a frightening one for the Israelites with the presence of a thick cloud, thundering, lightening and the sound of a loud trumpet.  In Exodus 19:18 it says:  “Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire,.  Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.”  God calls Moses up to the top of the mountain, and it is there that he receives the Ten Commandments.  The people of Israel decided that they did not feel comfortable with God speaking directly and so in Exodus 20:18-19 they say to Moses:  “You speak with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

After Moses destroyed the first set of the Ten Commandments, God renewed the covenant with Israel and Moses, Aaron and 70 elders of Israel.  They all ascended to a certain place on Mt. Sinai and , according to Exodus 24:10 saw the God of Israel and ate what we believe was a covenant meal there (Exodus 24:24).  Although many scholars have discussed this account I believe it is a renewing of the Mosaic Covenant where Israel agreed to be the people of God and God, in turn, was to be the God of Israel. After this experience Moses went back up to the top of Mt. Sinai where he remained for 40 days and received instructions for building the Ark of the Covenant, and the Tabernacle and for establishing the Levitical Priesthood (See Genesis, Chapters 25-32).

               From the Tent of Meeting

After the construction of the Tabernacle, Moses generally received direction from God by going into the Tent of Meeting.  The presence of the Lord appeared in the Pillar of Cloud and descended to the door of the Tabernacle and God spoke directly with Moses.  When this occurred, the people of Israel stood at their tents while God talked to Moses and Moses recounted to the people what God said.  See Exodus 33:1-11.  Notwithstanding this, God still spoke directly to Moses from time to time and He also continued to speak directly to Moses in front of the people of God from the Tabernacle.

Moses Wants to Meet God Face to Face

One of the most interesting of the encounters of Moses with God is the request by Moses in Exodus 33:18  to see God in all of His glory.  God’s response in Exodus 33:20 is “You cannot see My face for no man shall see Me, and live.”  This is at first surprising because Moses and the 70 elders at Exodus had seen the God of Israel on Mount Sinai at Exodus 24:10.  However, God is a Spirit and even though Moses and other fathers of the faith had encountered God in various ways, here Moses asks to experience God in his fullness.  God’s response is that Moses request was not possible perhaps because man may experience God but we simply do not have the capacity to experience God in his absolute fullness and infinity.  God’s response to Moses is found at Exodus 33:21-23:  “And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me and you shall stand on the rock.  So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand while I pass by, Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

As a Christian, I see some meaning in these words.  My best ability to see the glory of God is to be placed safely in the rock of ages cleft for me.  There I can come into an experience seeing God.  Although I may not fully comprehend the face of God the Father I can see a representation of the Father’s love for Me in the Risen Christ who is my protection.  Christ is the rock which was struck (“cleft”) for me..  Again, this is just my interpretation.

               Concluding Words on Moses

We have spent a great amount of time reviewing the encounters of God and Moses.  Understanding these various encounters is important because they are diverse.  In some instances, God speaks to the heart of Moses.  He used the Angel of the Lord; there is a burning bush, there is a Cloud of Glory on Mt. Sinai; there is a Meal on Mt. Sinai; there are encounters at the Tent of Meeting and there is an experience where Moses is placed in the cleft of a rock for protection as the presence of the Lord goes by.  God is not limited in reaching his people.  We try to build hedges and dictate exactly how and what God does.  However, His love and desire to reach is not limited by the rules of man.  He is in charge and He reaches out to people and does so in His times and by His methods.  Therefore, do not be discouraged, God loves you and He may use any number of ways to contact you and reach your heart.  At the same time, he has provided us with a number of safety nets to help protect us including the written Word of to keep us safe and to guide us.

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Gideon

Gideon encountered God in the form of the Angel of the Lord in Judges Chapter 6.  Gideon’s reaction was one of fear.  Judges 6:32-33 says, Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord.  So Gideon said “Alas, O Lord God!  For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.” “Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.”  God leads Gideon to go against the Midianites who had enslaved the Israelites.  Gideon is cautious and so he asks God to perform some miracles to assure Gideon that he is doing what God wants.  Those miracles are described in Judges 6:36-40 and we call this situation “laying out the fleece”.   First Gideon puts a fleece of wool on the threshing floor and asks that in the morning that it be full of dew and the ground around it dry.  When the morning occurs, he wrings a bowlful of water out of the fleece.  Just to be sure, he reverses the request the next night.  When morning comes, the fleece is dry but there is dew on the ground.  Through this method Gideon received confirmation regarding the direction of God.

It is probably a very good thing that Gideon got that confirmation because he is told to reduce the size of the Israelite army and goes up against the Midianites with only 300 men and wins a great victory. 

               God Gave Guidance through the Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire

 

God used a Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of fire to lead the Israelites in the wilderness.  The Israelites had tangible evidence of God’s direction of where and when to move.  Exodus 13:21 says, “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night”.  God used this pillar to protect the Israelites from the Egyptians and to lead them.  Many of us use a GPS or a map to guide us.  The Israelites had a Pillar of Smoke and Fire to lead them and apparently this phenomenon continued until they came into the Promised Land.  By following the Pillar and the Ark of the Covenant, the individual Israelite would not get lost.  Today, as we follow the Holy Spirit and the Presence of Christ, we can be assured that we will not get lost or lose our way but instead will go where we are supposed to go, do what we are supposed to do and move when we are supposed to move.  Like the Army of God, we move at the command of our General and do not move without God’s leadership and instructions. 

               God gave Guidance through the Urim and Thummim

 

It is very interesting but the Jews believed that there were three ways to know the will of God.  One way was by the Urim and Thummim which we will discuss below.  The other two methods were by Dreams which came from God and the third method was by the prophetic word.  In 1 Sam. 28:6, God ceased speaking and giving guidance to Saul.  That verse says, “When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.”

The terms Urim and Thummim were some sort of instruments or objects used to discern the will of God.  They were placed in the Ephod of the High Priest.  The Ephod was a vest or sleeveless jacket containing twelve stones on the front of the Ephod, each which had the name of one of the twelve tribes.  We know very little about the Urim and Thummim.  Some believe that it was a parchment with the name of God on it.  Others believe it was like lots.  Generally, but not always, questions were addressed to the High Priest which required a yes or no answer.  We know from Exodus 28:8 that the Urim and Thummim were placed in the Ephod above Aaron’s heart.  (See Ex. 28:8; Levit. 8:8; Deut. 33:8). 

The term Urim and Thummim means “lights and perfections.”  Joshua evidently made use of this method.  Numbers 27:21 says, “Set him (Joshua) before Eleazar the priest (the High Priest and son of Aaron) and before all the congregation and inaugurate him in their sight…Eleazar the priest who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim.”  It is believed that the Urim and Thummim were used in dividing up the Promised Land among the tribes and used to answer important questions such as when to go out to war.  David apparently used the Urim and Thummim.  See 1 Sam. 23:9-11; 1 Sam. 30:7-8)

There is not much mention of the Urim and Thummim after the time of Nehemiah when the Temple was restored.  (See Ezra 2:63 and Neh. 7:65).

Although this method was helpful at various times between the time of Moses and the time of the Restoration of the Temple after the Babylonian Captivity, the method fell out of use.  Some believe that the Thunnim and Urim were lost and others believed that the method ceased working and that God began to work more directly with people instead of just through a somewhat mechanical means.

               God gave Guidance through Dreams

 

Introduction

We know that the world of dreams was a method which God used in the history of Israel.  Not only did God communicate with his people in dreams but he also used dreams as a method of communicating with non-believers for the benefit of his people.  God sent dreams to Abraham, but he also sent them to non-Jews such as Abimelech (Gen. 20:1-7), Pharaoh and to Nebuchadnezzar.  He gave the ability to interpret dreams to people such as Joseph who interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and to Daniel who interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar.  God’s will was often expressed through dreams both in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament.

Jacob—We have previously discussed that Jacob when he fled from Esau and his home came to a place where he went to sleep and had a dream of a ladder in which angels were ascending and descending on to  God  and God made certain promises to Jacob.  That place was named Bethel meaning “House of God.”  God communicated his promises to Jacob through a dream.  See Gen. 28:10-17.

Joseph—One of Jacob’s children, Joseph, had dreams and the ability to interpret dreams.  Joseph dreamed that his family would bow down to him.  This caused a great amount of consternation to his family.  Later his brothers sold him into slavery and in time Joseph became second to the Pharaoh in Egypt and his family did actually bow down to him as he had dreamed years earlier.  In addition Joseph interpreted dreams to the servants of Pharaoh (the baker was not restored to power and died and the cupbearer was restored and survived).   Joseph interpreted and explained dreams which Pharaoh had thereby achieving a position which allowed Joseph both to save Egypt and the Hebrews from famine.  See Gen 37:1-11 and Genesis 40-41.

Solomon—After Solomon became king, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked Solomon what he would ask for.  Solomon asked for wisdom to govern his people, which was a request which pleased God.  (1 Kings 3:5).

Daniel—Daniel was both known for interpreting dreams and having dreams and visions.  He rose to power by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of an image with a head of gold.   The King had made a nearly impossible demand that his “magicians” tell him what the dream was first and then interpret it for him.  Daniel after prayer did both rising to a high position in the Babylonian Empire allowing him both to serve his king and protect his people.  God gave numerous dreams and visions to Daniel.  For Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s interpretation, see Daniel, Chapter 2.  For Daniel’s vision of the end times, see Daniel Chapters 10-12.

Final Comments on Dreams.

In seeking God’s guidance and knowledge of His will, God utilized dreams as  one of the methods by which he conveyed His will to people.  God utilized dreams in the Old Testament; however, he also utilized them in the New Testament.  Peter preaching on the Day of Pentecost at Acts 2:17 said, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”  Peter was quoting Joel 2:28.  Therefore, dreams from God are found in both the Old and New Testaments.  More will be written about this later.

               God Gave Guidance Through the Prophets

Introduction

In our passage above, Acts 2:17 quoting Joel 2:28, it is promised that our sons and daughters will prophesy.  Carefully note that although our examples given of prophecy are men such as Samuel, Isaiah and Ezekiel, the promise is given to women as well.  In the Old Testament, it is believed that Mariam the sister of Moses moved in prophecy (Ex. 15:20).   Other Old Testament women who were considered to be prophetesses were Deborah (Judges 4:4); Huldah, wife of Shallum (2 Chron. 34:22) and the wife of Isaiah (Is. 8:3).  We also find in the New Testament that when Jesus was a baby in the Temple one of the people speaking words and prophesying over him was Anna the prophetess (Lk 2:36).

Moses—We generally think of Moses as a law-giver as opposed to a prophet; however the Bible said that Moses was the greatest prophet of the Old Testament.  Deuteronomy 34:10-12 says:  “But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.”

Samuel—God spoke in a dream to Samuel.  Samuel went on to become one of the great judges of Israel.  He is also the prophet who anointed Saul as King and later David as King.  God gave guidance to Israel, including who should be king, through Samuel the Prophet.  We know that along with Samuel were other prophets.

Elijah—Elijah (along with his student Elisha) led Israel in the prophetic ministry and God spoke to His people many times through these prophets.  Elijah was taken into heaven by a whirlwind and appears to Jesus along with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Most Christian scholars believe that this appearance on the Mountain illustrates the unity of the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah) in the ministry and work of Jesus for our salvation.

School of the Prophets—Apparently there were schools of prophets and prophetic communities.  For further study see 1 Samuel 19:18-21; 2 Kings 2 and 2 Kings 4:38-99.  There are numerous instances where groups of prophets and the “sons of the prophets” are mentioned in the Bible.

Isaiah—Isaiah was one of the greatest of the prophets.  His calling is described in Isaiah 6 where he sees the “Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up with the train of his robe surrounded by angels.”          Isaiah in Isaiah 53 writes one of the clearest descriptions of Jesus Christ and his coming work of salvation.  Isaiah gave directions to various kings about the will of God.

Jeremiah—Jeremiah warned Israel about the need to repent and the coming judgment on Israel by Babylon.

Ezekiel—Ezekiel was a great prophet during the Babylonian captivity who had visions of the “end-times” and a presence of God surrounded by fire and indescribable angelic creatures.

Summary of Prophets

God used prophets to speak to people, kings and nations regarding his will and the need for repentance.  These prophets also spoke to things and events which would come in the future.  However, there were good prophets and bad prophets.  For instance, those who worshipped Baal had prophets and it was Elijah who came up against 500 prophets of Baal and asked the Israelites who they were going to serve-either God or Baal.  Therefore prophecy existed in both true and false forms. 

Moreover, Moses had said that one of the ways that you can know that a prophet is true is that the words of the prophet come true.  Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says, “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”    Unfortunately this may help in retrospect but is not of great help in knowing whether the prophecy is true on the front end.

One of the great difficulties in knowing who the true prophet is and who the false prophet is.  A great example of this was an event which occurred in Jeremiah 28.  Jeremiah had previously been predicting the victory of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  The prophet Hananiah contradicted Jeremiah and said that within two years King Nebuchadnezzar would restore those things which he had taken to Judah.  Jeremiah in Jeremiah 28:6 responded, “Amen! May the Lord do that.  May the Lord make the message you say come true”.  Jeremiah had been wearing a yoke to illustrate the slavery of Babylon and Hananiah broke the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and said that in the same way the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar would be broken in two years.  (Jer. 28:10-11).  Jeremiah left the temple but the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and said that Hananiah had broken a wooden yoke but that it would be replaced with an iron yoke.  Further God said that Hananiah would die within a year because he had taught the people to turn against the Lord.  Hananiah died within the year as God had promised.  (Jer. 28:15-17).

The difficulty with prophecy is that sometimes it takes time to test the prophet and the prophecy.  Prophets that are correct time after time prove their reliability.  However, sometimes we do know the prophet or the track record of the prophet.  The New Testament suggested that prophecy is to be judged by others with the gift.  ( 1 Cor. 14:29 )  At any rate, prophecy is a means by which God speaks to us; however, one must be prepared to test prophecy and to look for the fruits of the prophets.  We will study more about prophecy in the church in a future edition of Locusts and Honey. 

In our last political election there were many “prophets” who predicted political events which did not take place.  We would do well not to rely upon these “prophets.”  Instead of retiring their “prophetic mantles,” they are already back in business with new prophecies and hawking their latest books without breaking stride.

Many of the prophets of the Old Testament would not have survived long in the modern church.  Sometimes the prophets took graphic actions to illustrate the point.  We have already mentioned that Jeremiah was wearing a wooden yoke.  Ezekiel drew an image of Jerusalem on a clay tablet and lay on his side.  He did this for 390 days and this rolled over and laid on the other side to make his point.  (Ezekiel 4).  On another occasion he shaved off his beard with a sword and divided his hair into thirds with one third being set on fire, and another third being stabbed with a sword and the final third being thrown into the wind, to illustrate the fate of Jerusalem’s inhabitants.  (Ezekiel 5).  Isaiah went around naked or nearly naked for three years to illustrate the captivity of the Jewish people.  (Isaiah 20:2-4).  These actions would not have endeared a prophet to the local church today; however God used His prophets in drastic ways to get his message across and to try to bring His people into repentance.

In our next edition, we will look at some of the methods for ascertaining the will of God in New Testament times.

 

 

The Will of God and the Plans of God, Vol. 7, Pt. 2

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol. 7, Part 2

The Will of God and The Plans of God

 

 

In this edition of Locusts and Honey we will be looking at some verses regarding The Will of God.  God has a will regarding mankind collectively and each of our lives individually.

 

Calvinism vs. Arminianism

 

In my opinion, God gives a free choice to follow Him or not. Various denominations spend considerable time debating the differences between free-will (often called “Arminianism”) and “Predestination” which suggests that you don’t really have a choice.  Christians of good faith come out on both sides of this on-going argument.  For my purposes, I come down on the side of free-will believing that each of us has a free choice as to whether we will follow Christ or not.  Those who are Calvinistic may disagree; however a more free-will approach encourages people to share the Gospel with the lost whereas with a more Calvinistic approach allows one to argue that those who God calls to be saved will be saved whether there is evangelism or not.  The Arminian approach believes that Christ died for everyone and that the verses regarding those “elected by God” really refer to those who God foreknew would come to believe in Him.  The Calvinistic approach believes that Christ died to save only those who were given to him by the Father and that the elect are chosen by God before the foundation of the world.

 

Generally Protestant denominations fall within one or the other of the camps.  Denominations taking the Calvinistic view would include most Presbyterian churches and most Reformed and Congregational Churches.

 

Denominations taking a more Arminian view would include most Baptist churches, The United Methodist Church, Wesleyan Churches, the Nazarene Church, Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, Church of God, The Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Church of God, most Pentecostal Churches and the Assemblies of God.

 

 

 

God’s Will

 

Whether we call it God’s will, God’s plans or God’s purposes, we all know in our heart that God has a plan for both the world collectively and for us individually.   In this edition of Locusts and Honey,  we will focus upon the over-arching plans, purposes and will of God in history.  By understanding the “larger” purposes of God, we can better consider God’s individual purpose, will and plan for each of us and how we fit into the larger purposes of God.  I will discuss some of these larger purposes and give some verses to support those purposes. 

 

 

 

               Salvation

 

Introduction.

 

 God came to save and redeem men and women.  Due to the choices made in the Garden of Eden, corruption came into the world and into our lives.  Through the sinless sacrifice of the Lamb of God, men and women are able to be redeemed and to receive eternal life.  I believe that it is God’s will for people to be saved but God does not remove from us free choice just as He permitted Adam and Eve to have free choice, even though their choices brought forth disastrous results.

 

Verses.

 

Acts 2:23—This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

 

2 Peter 3:9—The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

 

1 Tim. 2:4—[God] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

John 3:16—For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that WHOEVER believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

John 6:38-40—For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.  For this is the will of my Father, that EVERYONE who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.        

 

John 17:3—And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

 

Jer. 29:11—For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

 

Rom. 6:23—For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Rom. 10:13—For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

 

Titus 3:5-7—He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

Eph. 2:4-7—But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceedingly riches of his grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

 

              

               Restoration into the Family of God

 

Introduction.

 

Related to salvation, the saving work of Jesus Christ allows us to be restored into the family of God.  We became once more conformed to the image of God and like Jesus Christ. It is God’s will that his table be full.  When those who are invited do not choose to come; God still sends out servants (both the Holy Spirit and believers motivated by the Spirit) into the highways and hedges to invite all to come in regardless of the condition of their life.  Those invited put on the wedding garments, white and pure, of God’s grace and sit at the Holy Table of God.  (A good example is the ex-beggar, Lazarus.)  (Luke 16:25) The earthly family of God can be viewed as a new nation or the New Israel.  We are also the church which is called out from the unsaved.  We find Jesus Christ to be our elder brother and God to be our father.  We become not only a holy nation but a holy priesthood with each of us having the ability to enter into the presence of God.  Instead of being citizens of the Kingdom of Earth, we become citizens of the Kingdom of God.

 

The Bible uses a number of pictures of us as a people called out from the world.  God’s plan was to call a people who would be a “heritage” of the Lord.  As a part of the family of God, we are a new nation, a church, a heritage, a kingdom and a Godly people.  We are called to follow God, to live holy lives and to do good.  We are to be a witness to the nations, a bright and shining city, and a light in the darkness.

 

Verses.

 

Gal. 1:4—Who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.

 

Romans 8:28-29—And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 

Eph. 1:5—He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his well.

 

2 Cor. 3:18—And we all with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

 

1 Pet. 2:9—But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 

 

 

 

               We are sealed with the Holy Spirit

 

Introduction.

 

Part of God’s will was that we would be sealed with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit calls and convicts us of sin and witnesses to the things of God.  It is a mark of being in the Family of God.  The Bible indicates that the Holy Spirit is like a down payment to us from God assuring us that we will inherit the promises of God including eternal life.  (Eph. 1:13-14).  When you become a Christian you are sealed with the Holy Spirit.  Not only are you sealed but it is God’s will that you will be full of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is a promise of our eternal life to come and helps us to be called and to know and commune with God.

 

 

Verses.

 

Eph. 1:13-14–In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,  who is the ]guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

Eph. 5:15-20—Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of Lord is.  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

 

               Holiness

 

Introduction.

 

In coming to Christ, we become a holy people.  It is God’s will that we be a holy people and a holy priesthood of believers.  Instead of doing our will, we now desire to do the will of God.  It is God’s plan and will that you do the works of the Father.  Like Christ, you listen to God and do what God tells you to do.  The High Priest of Israel wore a plate on his turban saying that he was “Holy to God” (Ex. 28:36).  We have each become a high priest and we are to live holy lives.

 

Verses.

 

Eccl. 12:13—The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

 

Micah 6:8—He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

 

1 Thes. 4:3-5—For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.

 

1 Pet. 2:15—For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

 

Eph. 1:4—Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him, in love.

 

Eph. 2:10—For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 

2 Tim. 1:9—Who saved us and called us to a holy calling not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

 

Jn. 15:16—You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

 

               Thankfulness

 

Introducton.

 

It is God’s will that we be thankful.   

 

 

Verses.

 

1 Thes. 5:18—In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

 

 

               To Proclaim God’s Name in the Earth

 

Introduction.

 

It is God’s will that we proclaim God’s name in the earth.  Part of this involves proclaiming the glories of God and God’s plan for salvation.  We are to be fruitful and part of our proclamation helps others to hear the voice of God and to acknowledge God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son through the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Verses.

 

Ex. 9:16—But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

 

Matt. 29:19-20—Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

Although I may not have summarized all the plans and purposes of God, we can be confident that  there are certain large and overarching purposes of God and God’s will.  We know that God wants men and women to be saved.  We can be assured that God is looking to build a people for Himself and this people will be sons and daughters of God.  They will be part of the family of God and will be a nation of prophets, priests and kings.

 

We know that God used Jesus Christ as a means of redeeming man from his sin and that it is through Christ that we are restored into right relationship with God.  It was God’s will that Christ would come to earth and die for our sins and live resurrected as the first among many brothers and sisters.

 

We know that God wants the Holy Spirit to be part of our lives and that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit which is a deposit that we receive now for the eternal life that we are promised in the future.  We know that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and helps to lead us to Christ.  We know that it is through the Holy Spirit that we get power and anointing to do God’s work and to praise and worship God.

 

We know that it is God’s will that we live holy lives, doing God’s will on earth and being fruitful and productive.  God has prepared for us to do good deeds and to bless others.  It is God’s will and plan that we share in the redemptive work of Christ by being his hands, his feet and saying the words of God as led by the Holy Spirit who has the mind of Christ.

 

It is God’s will that we be a prayerful, thankful and praising people.

 

It is God’s will that we share the work of Christ.  We participate in the spread of the kingdom of God by sharing with others with the result that more and more people come into the Kingdom of God and the praise of God is expanded over the earth.

 

These things are some of the “larger” or “over-arching” purposes, plans and will of God.  We may rest assured as we do these things we are doing the will of God.  We can pray confidently knowing that we are praying and acting in accordance with the will of God.  We can also trust that we are not moving alone but that God is directing us and guiding us through His Holy Spirit.

 

In a future edition of Locusts and Honey we will look at how God deals with his specific purposes for each of us and how these specific purposes fall within the currents of God’s overall purposes.

The Will of God and the Plans of God, Pt. 1

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol. 7, Part 1

The Will of God and The Plans of God

 

 

Introduction

 

Many of us want to know what God’s plan is for our lives.  However, in obsessing over this question we become defeated before we ever begin our search for answers.  We ask the wrong question and in doing so, we find that our answer is predisposed to lead us in the wrong direction.  We are somewhat like a man who drives into a service station and asks the person there how he can find his mother who lives in Santa Fe.  In reality the driver made a mistake because his mother really lived in Taos.  Therefore, no matter how precise and correct the directions to Santa Fe, the driver fails to arrive at his mother’s house because he inadvertently asked the wrong question to begin with.

 

We are part of the “Me” generation.  We are interested in things about us.  We are self-centered people in a universe which is by its nature self- centered because it is corrupted by the affects of man’s sin.  Many early astronomers considered earth to be the center of the universe.  It was only later that modern astronomy confirmed that we revolved around the sun rather than the sun revolving around us.

 

Our question about God’s plan about OUR lives is somewhat like the issue that the sun revolves around the earth.  We begin by putting ourselves in the middle of our little universe with ourselves at the center. 

 

The correct question is not how does God fit into your plan and your life.   Instead, the correct question is how do you fit into God’s plan and purposes.  Age and time are likely to teach you that it is not all about YOU.  And yet, that is only half the truth because in another sense, due to the love of God, it is about YOU.  It is for this reason that John 3:16 is so loved by many of us.  In that verse, we learn that God loves us despite that we are both finite and fallen.  God’s divine purpose in one sense does involve us and does involve restoring our broken condition.  The miracle is that God Himself became bruised and broken that we might be restored.

 

Getting Our Priorities Right

 

I do not believe that Jesus obsessed over knowing what God’s will for His life was.  In fact, just the opposite.  In the Model Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray “Thy Kingdom Come” instead of “My Kingdom Come.”  He taught us to pray “Thy will be done” not “My will be done.”  Many of us have spent way too much time praying for our kingdoms to come instead of God’s kingdom to come.  We have prayed that “Our will be done” instead of “Thy will be done.”  We have used God as a magic talisman to achieve inner peace, achieve family and business goals and to achieve both health and wealth for our universes where we reign supreme in the center.

 

The question which we should be asking is what are the plans, purposes and will of God and how do we fit into them.  Jesus spent time in prayer knowing the heart of the Father.  He did what he saw the Father doing.  Jesus, by keeping his eyes on the Father, was able to avoid the self- absorption that many of us fall into.  Jesus went about doing the work of the Father instead of doing his own work and building his own kingdom.  When kingdoms were offered to him he was able to refuse them regardless of whether it was Satan tempting him in the wilderness or the people of Judah trying to make Jesus king or calling down legions of angels to protect himself from harm.  He knew that His kingdom was not of this world.  Today’s church still struggles with whether they are in the business of building the Kingdom of God or the individual kingdoms of pastors, denominations and individual churches.  The two kingdoms (God’s and men’s) are not necessarily the same.

 

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said “Not my will, but Thine be done.”  In short, Jesus at the end of his ministry was still focused upon the Father’s will instead of the will of Jesus himself.  Now as a follower of Christ, shouldn’t I do what Jesus did?  Shouldn’t I be more concerned about what the will of the Father is than what my will is?

 

And so I circle back to my first statement.  If we are overly concerned about our will and how God is going to help us achieve our will, then we are off on the wrong foot at the very beginning of our journey.

 

The first question which we should be asking is what are the real plans, purposes and will of God.  Books have been written on these important questions and some are quite confusing.  In this edition I will try to posit some simple answers to difficult questions.  In one sense, it is presumptuous for me to be writing on topics like the will and purposes of God because many minds and writers much greater than myself have written copiously on these topics.  However, I will try to discuss these topics in a simple manner.  I once had a boss who said if you could not answer a question simply you did not understand the answer.   I will at least try to give simple answers as we address this topic. 

 

Some of the questions which we may encounter are : 

 

·       Why do we exist in the first place?  (Where did I come from?)

·       What are the purposes of God?

·       What is the plan of God?

·       What is our destiny? (Where am I going?)

·       What is the will of God?

·       How do I fit into the will of God?

 

Any of these topics are worthy of a book and indeed books have been written on these key questions.  Some of these topics will be addressed in future editions of Locusts and Honey.

 

This Newsletter, however, will NOT deal with certain difficult questions.  Some of those questions involve how  pain and suffering fits into all of this.  How does God use evil and evil forces to achieve His will or to accomplish His will despite these evil forces.  Another question we will not be dealing with here is the destiny of those who are involved in doing evil.  In short, evil will raise its ugly head but our treatment of it will be swift other than to say that the foot of offspring of woman (Christ), according to Genesis, will be bruised by evil but will crush the head of evil and the foot of the followers of Christ will ultimately participate in this fatal bruising of the Serpent’s head. 

 

Why do we exist in the first place?

 

It seems to me that we can come to some general conclusions based upon Scripture and the Book of Genesis.  Some of these conclusions are as follows:

 

            We Were Not Created in a Vacuum

 

As in many other things we see ourselves as being the center of the universe.  However, we should consider the relationship of God and man to involve more than us.  There are other “spiritual” entities.  For instance, we know that Satan, the Great Serpent of Old as He is called in the Book of Revelation, made an appearance in the creation account.  We know that  there were angelic authorities both good and bad.  Therefore the account of the creation of man and woman involves an environment where there was more than just God, animals and man and woman.

 

  In Psalm 8: 4-5 it says, “What is man that you are mindful of him…for you have made him a little lower than the angels.”  In one sense, we were made a “little lower than the angels” in another sense we have some attributes which may be superior to angels.  Apparently there are aspects relating to the salvation of man.  There are two interesting verses on this.

 

The first verse is 1 Peter 1:12 which  discusses grace that comes to man through Jesus Christ and the glories which come from that grace when Christ returns.  Verse 12 says:  “To them it was revealed that, not in themselves, but to us they were ministering in things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.”  In other words, angels are interested in the fact that we can be redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Angels who have not fallen apparently do not require “redemption” and for those who have fallen, they are apparently reserved for a future judgment.  For this reason, the fall and restoration of mankind and our salvation through Jesus Christ is a matter of great interest to angelic and spiritual authorities.

 

Another verse which seems to confirm this idea is Ephesians 3:10 where Paul is talking about the mystery of Christ’s redemption of the church which Paul describes as the “mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ to the intent that now the manifest wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places….”  Again this verse appears to confirm that the redemption of man makes clear the wisdom of God to angelic authorities (principalities and powers).

 

God’s redemptive sacrifice and the salvation of people who become part of the Body of Christ, is an event that has great meaning not only to men and women but also to the entire universe, including to angelic authorities.  The intersection of angelic authorities with the affairs of men is a topic perhaps for a future study.  However, it should be remembered that when Christ was born, the angels appeared in the heavens to the shepherds and broke into rejoicing.

 

 

            We Were Created in the Image of God

 

We are created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27).  There is a spiritual aspect to mankind which makes us like God.  We have creativity like God and we have an ability and opportunity to connect with God.  There is something in mankind which aspires to be more than just an animal and we have a taste for immortality, growth and creativity.  We are created to have communion with God and to walk and talk with God.  We see this in meditation, prayer, and worship.  We have within us the DNA and identity of God.  In fact Scripture says that we are gods.  (Psalm. 82:6; Jn. 10:34-36).  In being made in the image of God, we have in a spiritual sense the opportunity to be part of the family of God.  The story of Scripture has to do with the fact that man through his choice chose to break the family relationship and to rebel against the Fatherhood of God.  The actions of Christ restore that broken relationship.  Further, God’s plan is to restore us to full status as sons and daughters of God. 

 

The story of Salvation is not just about man, but it also includes the angelic universe and the created earthly universe as well.

 

Understanding God’s purpose for man and creation involves family, fellowship and restoration of our family relationship with Christ.   That restoration is not a cheap restoration but involves pain and suffering by Christ.  In addition as Christ suffered, many of his children suffer in this life through conflict, the pains and tribulations of life and even martyrdom and death.  Yet, on the other side is restoration, healing and eternal life.

 

 

            We were created to share dominion.  

 

Man is to have dominion over the earth.    Genesis 1:26 says, “…let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle over all the earth and over every created thing that creeps on the earth.”  (See also Gen. 1:28).  Likewise Psalm 8:6 says, “You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands….”    We subdue the earth.  This is done by being in the position of caring for our earth.  We are also responsible for the animals and the environment.  We are cultivators and builders.  We are born to have dominion.  However, Satan, to the contrary, seeks to dominate mankind rather than to grant man the freedom to serve others and build them up

 

One of the most difficult areas to demonstrate dominion is over ourselves and our flesh.  Proverbs says that it is harder for a man to control his anger than to rule a city  (Prov. 16:32). 

 

My past experience  indicates that people want to rule over others.  They desire to be politicians and to make rules.  They want to be in authority and are willing to sacrifice both health and wealth to do so.  In addition, people love to be spiritual authorities.  They strive to become pastors and religious leaders even over small churches.  They want to be looked up to, admired and to reign over people.  If you reign over the hearts of people, you also can reign over them physically, emotionally, mentally and psychologically.  Fortunately most pastors are servants but there are some false shepherds who take advantage of their positions as ministers and pastors.   They are eager to lead but not to serve.  As Christians we are to submit ourselves to Christ and then learn to serve our family, our church and the world.   We are trustees of what God has given us and we will be held accountable either in this life or in the next for that trust.

 

 

            We are created to be fruitful and creative.

 

Being made in the image of God, we are creative.  Man was instructed by God to populate the earth.  Genesis 1:28 says, “Then God blessed them and God said to them “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”  The creation of the earth is a “creative” act.  We populate the earth and the reproductive process and the birth of children is creation at work.  Just as God made man, mankind was given the ability to reproduce itself and to raise children.  However, this is not the only creative aspect of life.  We cultivate food, we grow flowers, we engage in art, and do other aspects which result in multiplication and beauty.  As Christians we are encouraged to give birth to spiritual fruit.  We also seek to see people born into the kingdom of God.  All of this is part of the creative, reproductive aspects of life.  God gave birth to us and we give birth to natural children but also to spiritual children and to good works in order to glorify our Creator.  Because we are like our Creator, we create.  Satan on the other hand does not create; instead he kills, steals and destroys.

 

God wants to see his kingdom expand.  God created a nation from one person, Abraham.  He said that Abraham’s progeny would be like the stars in the sky (Gen. 15:5) and like the sands on the seashore (Gen. 22:17).  God wants the kingdom of God to be ever growing and expanding with more and more people coming to know God and to be included into the family of God.  He has commanded us to share the Gospel (Matt. 28:19-20).  He wants people of every tribe and every nation to be part of an ever-expanding Kingdom of God.

 

 

 

 

 

            We are created to have fellowship and relationship with God.

 

Not only are we created in the image of God, we are created to have a relationship with God.  Genesis 3:8 speaks of God walking in the garden where Adam and Eve lived.  Yet sin severed us from that close relationship with God and part of God’s purpose is to restore that relationship.  Also men were cut off from the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22-24).  Part of God’s plan for us is to enable us to partake of eternal life (the Tree of Life) without being bound for eternity with the corrupting effects of sin.  The means for doing this involves the atoning sacrifice of blood of the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  This free gift of God also involves a crushing of the head of the Serpent through a suffering Savior and through God’s love as described in John 3:16.

 

Part of the restoration of man and restoration of our relationship involves returning to the right priorities.  Instead of serving Satan or ourselves, we choose to return to the authority of God the Father.  The first commandment was that we the people of God (whether we are the Old Israel [the Jews] or the New Israel [the church]) are to have no other gods (Ex. 20:4).  We are to serve the Creator not that which is created.  We serve a jealous God (Ex. 20:6).  To some, the fact that God is jealous seems at first sight to be strange.  However, God loves us.  If we see our spouse falling for another person we are jealous and hurt.  This is a by-product of love.  God’s “weakness” is that he loves you and me and wants us to be a part of the family and is even hurt and sorrowful if we refuse and go our own way instead of the way that God has provided (and that provision had a costly price-the death of his only begotten son).

 

            We are created to worship God.

 

The fact that we are created to worship God may seem to imply that God needs us to worship Him.  However, I do not believe that this is the case.  Instead, I think the very nature of God inspires worship.  The creation, nature, angels and the Redeemed all worship God due to whom and what He is.  He inspires worship by His nature.  At the same time, worship is freely given.  Satan chooses not to worship God but to seek to appropriate the worship due God to himself and to cause angels and men to worship Satan.  He even tempted Christ to do the same.  (Matt. 4:8-10).  Those who rebel against God worship things other than God due to the innate desire to worship found in each of us.  To a degree, those who rebel against God are allowed to do so and their destiny is subject to their own choice.  Worship to God is freely given.  Satan however demands worship and will use drugs, addictions and the demonic to rid people of their free choice and keep them enslaved to himself.

 

We have no comprehension of the majesty of God.  God’s glory is powerful.  Moses was unable to see the face of God and live.  (Ex. 24:9-11).  When the Shekinah glory of God entered into the Temple, the priests had to flee.  (2 Chron. 7:2-3)  Ezekiel saw all creation worship God and items too sacred to be described ( Ezek. 1:6).  In the Book of Revelation, the twenty-four elders bow down to God (Rev. 4:4).  Sin precludes us or blinds us from seeing the glory of God but God’s glory will make itself known.  God’s manifest presence is powerful and worship is the natural response of man and angels to the glory of God.

 

Just as God’s glory is majestic, God also shows Himself to the humble and lowly.  He is gentle and kind.  True worship is born of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus explained to the woman at the well that the day would come when people would neither worship God on Mt. Gerizim (the Samaritans) nor in Jerusalem (Jews).  Instead they would worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:23).  The most humble person is welcome to worship God and worship strips people of all race, rank or riches.  In worship we forget about ourselves and our achievements and we join with the angels in praising and worshipping God.

 

In the Book of Revelation, the New Jerusalem has neither sun nor moon for indeed the glory of God is there.  The glory of God is like the pillar of fire leading the Hebrews in the desert (it warms and guides us at night) and it is like the Pillar of Cloud by day protecting us from the heat of day.  The presence of God dwells among His people and the natural response of God’s people is to praise and worship God.  Just as the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40), the living stones of the church cry out in praise to God. 

 

Before proceeding to deal with some of the other questions raised in this edition, our next edition of Locust and Honey will share some Scriptures on worship and important quotes from A. W. Tozer and others on the topic of worship.  Perhaps in some future edition, I might discuss the differences between praise and worship, but that is for another time.

 

 

God and Time Part 2

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol. 6, Part 2

GOD AND TIME

 

 

 

 

Time From a Personal Perspective

 

Several observations have been passed down to me by my parents and others who are no longer here.  First, the young do not seem to be very aware of time except that it passes extremely slowly.  The young are always looking forward hoping to get old enough to drive or to go to school or college or to get married.  As you get older, time seems to increase in speed.  At the later years of your life, you finally look back and reminisce especially at the better memories of your life and at how fast time has passed.

 

Another thing which happens is that things begin to disappear.  Moreover, they are not just things like your eyesight, your hair, your teeth and your looks.  As Shakespeare wrote in his play “As You Like It” regarding the sixth stage of man (Old age) man is “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”  It seems that we deal with a limited supply of time and we should use it wisely.  “The night comes when no man works.”  (John 9:4),

 

I became acutely aware of time and the passing away of things of this world when I was a young married man and took my family to see a very small East Texas oil town here I spent the first years of my life.  When we got to the location, the buildings, homes, school, and community center and refinery were all gone.  Only the foundations were left.  My children teased me about growing up in a barren field.  It turns out the town had been moved when the oil played out to another location owned by the oil company.  Over time, I found other parts of my history disappearing almost before my very eyes.  Some examples follow:

 

  • The hospital where I was born was torn down.
  • The neighborhood where I grew up in Houston was torn down and replaced with high price condos.
  • My grade school disappeared.
  • My Junior High School in New Orleans became a warehouse.
  • My high school changed its name and moved to a different part of the city.
  • My home in New Orleans was wiped out by Katrina.
  • My childhood church shut down and disappeared.
  • The large church where I first served as a deacon and had so many friends has disappeared.  (Perhaps, they were raptured and I got left behind).
  • Whole areas of the city where I lived in Missouri disappeared in the Great Joplin Tornado.
  • All of my old automobiles have been totaled, rusted or consigned to scrap.

 

The disappearance of physical landmarks is bad but it even gets worse when it comes to people.  Over time they began to vanish too.  First it was grandparents, then parents, and others that I love.    Good friends began to disappear.  I lost a number of people who had been mentors and role models to me.  Good friends would suddenly no longer be there.  My friend in High School and my roommate in college passed away.  My best friend in law school died. Like the buildings that disappeared, they began to disappear.  People who have been in war and seen their friends die often have an even deeper understanding of the passing away of friends  than I.  Finally when we get to an advanced age we find that we may have more friends and family on the other side than we have here on this earth.

 

I hope you will not see my comments or experience as being negative.  I believe that God is eternal and will discuss this later.  Further, God has a place of “many mansions” and so I have hope (John 14:2).  However, all of us need to approach life with humility.  The passing of buildings, countries, empires and people is a fact of life.  World kingdoms such as the Persian Kingdom, Rome and Carolingian Empires have all passed into history.   Time marches on.  Just look at your family tree, there are people in it who lived long ago that you know nothing about despite their full and active lives other than the date of their births and deaths.  Alternatively, look at the old scrapbooks for your family (if you have them) and you will see smiling people who are probably members of your family but no one seems to know exactly who they are or anything about them.

 

One of the lessons in all of this to me is that finite man should not get into disputes with an infinite God.  It is like getting into a lawsuit with an opponent who has an infinite budget and you have a very limited legal budget.  The person with the infinite legal budget will probably prevail just by taking his or her time litigating.

 

The same is true when it comes to man and God.  Man can fight against God’s Word all he wants; however, God will win the battle.  He is Eternal and we are not.  An individual’s fight against God will not last more than 120 or so years and then there will be a judgment.  God is in no hurry.  We are in a hurry because we are running out of time; however, God is eternal and is not running out of time.  He can simply wait us out.  If we want to go to war as an individual or country or species, he has the time and resources just to wait us out and let history run its course.  We are in a losing game when we compete with God and the best course is to count our cost before we go to battle (Luke 14:28-33).

 

That is why in Psalm 2, it speaks that the “heathens rage,” Kings and emperors hate to be defeated and challenge God, but God and time will defeat them.  The great stone mentioned in the Book of Daniel rolls downhill and smashes kingdom after kingdom to pieces (Dan. 2:34-35).  People need to make peace with Jesus Christ.  If you decide to ignore or oppose Christ, in time you will lose.  God can simply take the time and wait you out.  Read over Psalm 2 below.

 

 

 

Psm. 2:1-12

 

Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against his anointed saying, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them with In his sore displeasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou

art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of  me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts

of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way,

when his wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed all they that put their trust in him.

 

In short, kings and kingdoms will all pass away and will not prevail over Jesus Christ, the Son, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  In Acts when the authorities in Jerusalem began to persecute the church, the church looked to Psalm 2.  (See Acts 4:24-31).  The early church knew that the authorities would not prevail and that God would bring the opponents of Christ into judgment.

 

God is in charge of time and his judgment will come at the proper time.  God’s exact timing is seen in the Old Testament.  For instance, God did not permit at one point for Israel to take over the Amorites because the iniquity of the Amorites was not complete but God said that that the Israelites would have to return for four generations to deal with the Amorites.  Gen. 15:16.

 

God was not late when he had Abraham and Sarah give birth to Isaac even though it looked like it was too late for them to have children.  God’s timing was perfect even though it looked like children for them would be an impossibility.

 

Scripture indicates that God had an absolute time for the captivity of the Jews in Babylon which was an exact 70 years. (Jer. 29:10-14)

 

God’s judgments do not happen haphazardly either.  We have already mentioned the Amorites, but other judgments came at the proper time including the judgment through the flood which came at just the right time (after the ark was built and the animals and family of Noah were on the inside) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

The Judgments of God came upon Egypt at just the proper time.  Likewise, the judgment of God upon sinful man and the earth comes at a ”set time.”  Psalms 73:2 says, “At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity.”  God is the God of time and timing is his expertise.  Isaiah 60:22 says, “When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen.”

 

The Judgment on this earth for its sin and the Return of Christ will come at just the right time.  The New Testament says that the day is set but the exact day of that Return is known only to the Father.  Matthew  24:36 says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”.  In fact Jesus said at Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority.”  Notwithstanding these clear statements by Jesus, men have made a great deal of money by telling you when that day will be and explaining every detail of the return of Christ.  (In my Library is a publication which I got from a church back in 1988 entitled 88 Reasons why Jesus will come in 1988).  Suffice it to say, God has a date for the return of Christ and a date when the guilty will be judged.

 

Further, God has a time for the Gentile Nations to be saved.  Romans 11:25 states, “A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”  I do not know when this “fullness” will occur but apparently at some point, the time for preaching to the Gentiles will come to an end.

 

In addition God has a set time or times in which a person can be saved.  That set period of time is thought by most theologians to end for each of us at our death.  There are also a number of Scriptures stating that it is “appointed for man to die and after that the judgment.”  God knows the day that each of us will die.  God knows when we are formed in the womb and when we will die.

 

 

The Search for Significance

 

Another issue is that we are a minute creation rebelling against a Magnificent Creator.  We are outmatched in our roles.  We are a small infinitesimal creature on a small planet crying out to the Creator of the universe.  We overestimate our size and the loudness of our voice and we underestimate the size of God   We are a people searching for significance.

 

We find ourselves in Job’s position when God asked Job:  “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats give birth or can you mark when the deer gives birth?”  (Job 39:1)  God knows these things.  Arguing and opposing God is like a pot complaining against the potter who forms it.  (Is. 45:9)

 

Thankfully, we are assured that God loves us and is mindful of us even though we are limited in size and power and also limited in time.  Nowhere is God’s love better expressed than in John 3:16.

 

 

 

God So Loved the World

 

John 3:16-“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

 

The promise to us is not only can we be saved from corruption (spiritual, moral and physical), but that we can join the Family of God and have the gift of eternal life.

 

 

God knows us. 

 

He knows the number of hairs on our head.  In Matthew 10:29-31 Jesus said:

 

 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?  And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.”

 

This is great news.  God cares for us despite our “insignificance”.  He knows when a sparrow falls.  We are worth more than many sparrows.  God is omniscient and He cares about you and me.

 

Moreover, the Old Testament at Psalms 84:3 made it clear that even the sparrow could find safety at the altar of God:  “Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young—even your altars, O Lord of Hosts.”  Even birds were allowed to have nests at the holy places of God.

 

All of this is reflected in a song made famous by Ethel Waters who used to sing His Eye is on the Sparrow at Billy Graham meetings.  The lyrics are worth noting:

 

Why should I feel discouraged,

Why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely,

And long for the heavens, heaven and home,

When, when Jesus is my portion,

My constant Friend is He;

Oh, oh-oh, his eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches, watches over me.

 

I sing because I’m happy

I sing because I am free

For His eye, his eye is on the sparrow,

And I know, I know He watches over me. 

 

 

Conclusion

History and time are relatively insignificant in the face of eternity.  God chose a set time in history for Christ to come and reveal the heart of God and save us by living without sin among us and dying as the sinless Passover Lamb.  Behold the Lamb of God!  In light of eternity and the universe, we seem at first insignificant.  However because of the death of Christ our status has moved from insignificant to significant, and all who are mortal have an opportunity to be embraced by immortality and join the Family of God.  God loves you and cares for you.  His eye is on the sparrow and I know He is watching you.

God and Time Part 1

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GOD AND TIME

 

God and Time-An Introduction

 

In this newsletter, I will be discussing God and time.  This is Part 1 of 2.  Discussion of this topic is challenging because God cannot be captured or bound by a definition.  I believe that one of the reasons that Jesus came to us and was incarnated was that even though we have limited understanding, we can understand the nature of God and his love for us through experiencing Jesus who is “Immanuel” meaning “God is with us”.

Likewise, we do not fully understand time.  Time only has meaning to the extent that it is related to something material.  It must be measured against a standard and by an instrument of measurement.  For instance, we might measure time as a day or as a year by celestial measurement.   Other measurements could involve measuring the rate that an organic element loses its radioactivity or the time in which the earth makes one revolution of the sun or the passing of 12 new moons and the like.  Unless there is something material and an instrument of measure, time appears to be incapable of being measured or of existing as we know it.

In my office, I keep an hour glass and through it sands run marking the passage of time.  Life seems to be like the sands in my hour glass.  The sands of life quickly run out.  Another analogy might be that life is like a candle steadily and inexorably burning down.

An ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said that time is like a river.  “No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he’s not the same man.”  How true that is.  In Part 2 of this piece, I will discuss  some examples of how I have seen the passage of time.

As a general rule, the sands in our hourglass are limited.  Genesis 6:3 says :”My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh; his days shall be 120 years.”  Psalm 90:10 says, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty, yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”

According to my reading of Scripture about years of life, my supply of sand is quickly running out.  Locusts do not have long life spans.  In the context of history our mortal lifetimes appear to be almost tragically short.

Age brings perspective as does suffering to how we see and experience time.  It is for this reason I want to discuss God and Time and the value of serving a God who both loves me (and you) and who is above and beyond time.

 God is above Time

 

Scripture makes it clear that God is outside and above time.  One of the primary names of God makes it clear that God is not bound by time the way we are.  When Moses asks God about what to call him, God responded in Exodus 3:4 that Moses was to say that God’s name was “I AM WHO I AM.”  This has been translated as YHWH or Jehovah and is also known as the Tetragrammaton ( in Hebrew, yodh, he, waw and he or YHWH).  This name appears about six thousand times in the Scriptures.  Because of Hebrew Grammar and the fact that the name is in the Hebrew imperfect form it can mean “I am or I was or I will be.”  There is a sense that actions relating to God have not been completed yet.  As one writer described the translation of the name:  “He IS in the past; He IS in the present; He IS in the future.  He has always BEEN in the past.  He is BEING in the present.  He will BE in the future.”  Jesus identified with this name when he said in John 8:58:  “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  The Jews knew exactly who Jesus was saying he was and immediately picked up stones to try and stone Jesus for blasphemy for claiming that He was equivalent to God (John 8:58-59).  Jesus was identifying himself with the eternal God who stands outside of history.

The names and titles of Jesus indicate the fact that he was outside of our normal concepts of time in that he is the Alpha and Omega.  He is the A and Z, the first and the last (See Rev. 1:8; Rev. 1:17-18; Rev. 21:6-7).  Likewise, Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Is. 48:12-13 says,” …I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.  Yes, my hand has laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens….”  God was present before creation and time began and God is not dependent upon time.  He will also be there after time ceases.

There are numerous verses indicating that both the Father and the Son existed apart from time.  We deal with a few of those Scriptures below.

Is. 57:15-“For thus says the High and Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy….”

Psm. 90:1-2-“O Lord, you have been our protector through all generations!  Even before the mountains came into existence, or you brought the world into being, you were the eternal God.”

2 Tim. 1:9-“Lord…who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

1 Pet. 1:20-“He (Jesus) indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world….”

Eph. 1:4-“Just as He (God) chose us in Him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love….”

As you can see from the above verses, God is eternal and outside of time.  Further God’s plan for Christ to save us and for us to be included as part of the family of God was conceived before the world was created.  It was a plan in the heart of God before time existed that you would have the opportunity to be a part of God’s family and to have fellowship with the people of God.

Death and time can not affect God’s plan (Rev. 20:40).  Death will come to its own end.  The resurrection of Christ and our own resurrection mean that we will no longer be in bondage to death and time.  Further, God does not see time as we see it.  2 Peter 3:8 says, “But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  To us it may seem that Christ died 2000 years ago but to God that may be like two days ago.  Time in the context of eternity may be like the blink of an eye.  Time passes at different speeds even to us.  Time when I am in a dentist’s chair moves more slowly than when I am sitting at the beach where time passes all too quickly.

God’s Timing is Perfect Timing

God has a perfect sense of timing.  His timing is always the correct timing.  During the first part of my life I did not have good timing.  In the investment area, I would sometimes buy stocks when they were high and sell when they were low.  In the second part of my life, I asked God to help me with my timing.  I wanted, for instance, to buy when stocks were low and sell when they were high.  The difference between riches and poverty often revolves around timing.   God does everything with impeccable timing.  Seasons come at their appointed time.  Sunlight comes during the day and stars at night.  Plants bloom in their due season. 

Women who are pregnant understand the passage of time and the birth of children.  They also watch carefully as their child grows and matures.  Sometimes, it seems like they will never grow up.  At other times, it seems that they are unable to stop the passage of time as their child grows, becomes independent and leaves home.  Prophecies also like children have a time and develop.  Prophecies come to pass at an “appointed time” (Habakkuk 2:3).

It is important for us to know the times and seasons of our life.  Solomon said there is a time or season for everything at Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

We need to have the wisdom to take advantage of the seasons in our life.  We should not dance at funerals or mourn at weddings.

A Time for Battle

 

All students of military history know that there is a time to fight and a time not to fight.  Timing is everything.  One of the greatest of the Roman Generals was known as Fabius the Cunctator, meaning Fabius the Delayer.  Fabius saved Rome from falling to Hannibal by delaying and withdrawing, forcing Hannibal to chase him instead of attacking the City of Rome.  He won the war by his tactics of delay and guerilla warfare.  In Texas history, Sam Houston spent much of his time avoiding Santa Anna until Houston’s troops were ready and prepared and then by committing them at the right time he won a decisive victory ensuring the independence of Texas.

The same is true of a number of battles in the Bible.  We all know the story of the Fall of Jericho where on the final day of marching around it seven times, the horns were blown and the walls fell down.  Joshua was giving commands based upon God’s plan and God’s timing.  Had Joshua decided to disobey God and commit his troops prior to carrying out the instructions of God he would have not won the victory at Jericho.

In 2 Samuel 5:22-26, King David was given precise instructions regarding timing to attack the Philistines.  He was told to attack from the rear instead of head on and to “wait for the sound of marching in the tops of the Balsam trees.”  He waited and attacked according to God’s plan and God’s timing with the result that he won a great victory.

In our efforts to achieve victories in the spirit and in life, we need to learn to move according to God’s plan and according to God’s timing.  Timing is everything in battle and in life.

God and Time and History

There are numerous verses regarding the timing of God in history.  Jesus came at a specific time of God’s choosing in history.  Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son.”  The timing was not accidental.  It was not haphazard.  Some theologians and historians have noted that at the time Jesus came to earth it was a time of peace facilitating the spread of the Gospel.  This time of peace was known as the Pax Romana or the Roman Peace.  It was a time in which transportation was effective with Roman roads having  been built throughout the Empire.  In addition, sea lanes were relatively safe from piracy.  Also, the Greek language had spread all over the Empire.  The Greek language was very descriptive and much of the New Testament was written in it.  The Greek words give more shades of meaning than most languages.  In short it was not an accident of time when Jesus came to earth.  Even the birth of Jesus was coordinated with the star which showed the wisemen the way.  It is no accident that Jesus died at the time that he died which was at the time of the Passover for He indeed was the Lamb of God.  There was even a sense of appropriate timing in the miracles of Jesus such as when Jesus instructed Peter to pay the Roman tax for Peter and himself by getting a coin out of the mouth of a fish.  (Matt. 17:24-27)  A study of Scripture evidences that the timing of the birth of Jesus, his ministry and death were all at the proper time.

Getting in Step with God’s Timing

We need a sense of timing in our lives.  Our steps need to be according to God’s time.  Often we move on our own and get out of step and out of line.  We get anxious and move before God tells us to.  Abraham did this and ended up with an Ishmael instead of waiting for God to move through the birth of Isaac.  However, his age was increasing.  He felt like he was getting old and could not wait.  The inability to wait was also a problem that Saul had.  He was unable to wait for Samuel and ended up making his own sacrifices to God instead of waiting for Samuel.  Saul saw his troops beginning to leave and so took matters into his own hand.   Moses at one point was unable to wait and killed an Egyptian and ended up spending 40 years herding sheep in Midian before God was ready to use him.  Some of us have been eager to move on God’s behalf in our witnessing or in taking our own steps to carry out God’s purposes on this earth.  We fear that we will miss an opportunity and it will be too late for us if we do not move instead of waiting for God even if those things may look impossible.

There is a Time to Find God

 

God has appointed a time or season for people to be saved.  The writer of Hebrews in the third and fourth chapters makes a plea that his readers would enter into the seventh day rest of God.  He encourages us not to be like the Hebrews who left Egypt and wandered for 40 years in the wilderness and who hardened their hearts making God angry.  We are encouraged to rest from our works and enter into God’s rest while there is time to do so.  None of us know exactly how much time we have to turn to God.  Some assume it may be a lifetime and are surprised to find that their life is short.  At Hebrews 4:7 it says:

…again He designates a certain day, saying in David (Psm. 95:7), …

“Today, if you will hear his voice

Do not harden your heart.

There are some things which need to be done today instead of waiting.  We need to find God today.  We need to have faith today.  We need to forgive today.  That “today” may be a long period for some and it may be a very short period for others.  You do not need to wait to draw near to God, to repent and to obey His commands.

That thing which God tells you in your heart needs to be done today, please do it today and do not wait for a tomorrow which may or may not come.

Next week, our study of time continues.  However, now it is time for this grasshopper to rest.

 

Locust & Honey, Vol. 4

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol 4

Humility the Forgotten Virtue-Part 3

 

 

We are continuing our study of humility and foot washing.  In Part 3 of this study I am covering the history of foot washing and my own experiences relating to this topic.  Foot washing can help remind us of humility and our rightful position in the church (a position of loving and serving).  On the other hand, foot washing  can also become a “ritual” of the church and not serve the spiritual purpose for which it was intended.  Rest assured, the purpose of foot washing was not so that we could have clean feet.  It is instead so that we can have clean and humble hearts. 

 

Christian Ladies, wash those feet!

 

Seriously, it is not just the ladies who should be washing the feet.  However, to be honest, in the time of Jesus, women were in many instances treated almost like servants or slaves.   Jesus, however,  treated women with dignity and the church did much to improve the role of women. Many women not only financed the ministry of Jesus but also played a significant role in the early church and even in its leadership and expansion.  In fact, women were instrumental in the early growth of the Christian church.

 

Women ran their households and were in charge of the hospitality and caring of the saints.  Their role in caring for their husbands, their children and their extended families often placed them in roles of caregivers and the humble tasks involved in care giving.  It is hard to be in a position of pride when you are cleaning a baby’s bottom.  In today’s society there is an attempt to eradicate many of the differences between men and women by viewing and treating women as men.  We have women superheroes who can outdo men even in feats of strength.  At the same time, men are encouraged to demonstrate their softer side and to act like women.  We therefore, according to the world,  achieve “equality” by having men acting like women and women acting like men.

 

It is my belief that Jesus sees the soul of each of us without respect to race, gender or wealth.  He broke barriers by dealing with the woman at the well and by allowing his feet to be washed by Mary, the sister of Martha.  Jesus desired that we all be humble.  Whatever our standing in life, our gender, our wealth or our education we are called to humility.   Someone once said:  “The ground at the cross is level.” 

 

One of the few verses regarding foot washing after the Lord’s supper is found at 1 Timothy 5: 9-10 where Paul writes:  “Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number and not unless she has been the wife of one man.  Well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet.”  In this instance, foot washing is spoken of like it was part of the normal hospitality that a woman, her husband and family would have extended to visitors and to other believers in the church.  The foot washing might have been done by the woman herself or one of the servants of her household if she were well off.  Another observation is that contrary to denominations today there apparently were no taboos against a woman washing a man’s feet and it does not carry the erotic overtones that it might in various denominations today where men only wash men’s feet and women wash women’s feet and “never shall the twain meet.”

 

Another interesting point, is that many  Christian ladies not only washed the feet of guests to their homes but in the first century are believed to have sought other opportunities to wash the feet of the poor including the feet of prisoners in jails.

 

Foot washing and the Patristic Fathers

 

Humility and foot washing have never been popular virtues in the church.  It quickly became increasingly infrequent in church history.

 

Some of the early church fathers spoke of foot washing but in effect said little about it although it existed.  Some examples of early church fathers mentioning it are Irenaeus (around 180 A.D.), Cement (around 195 A.D.), Tertullian (160-230 A.D.), Athanasius (296-373 A.D.),  and St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)  We also know that it was practiced by the church at Milan around 380 A.D.

 

In 529 A.D. St. Benedict included this statement in the Rule for the Benedictine Order of monks (Chapter 53):  “Let the Abbot give the guests water for their hands and let both Abbot and community wash the feet of all guests.”  In addition,  all of the monks regularly engaged in foot washing of the entire congregation on a regular basis.  The Rule of St. Benedict was the standard for most of the monasteries in the  Catholic Church in the  West.

 

By 694 A.D., the Council of Toledo had associated foot washing with the celebration of Maundy Thursday which was the Thursday before the Crucifixion of Jesus and the time in which the Last Supper was believed to have taken place.

 

A Couple of “Fun” Words

 

 

We who are Protestants, often fail to understand some of the words utilized by our Catholic friends.  One is the words is “Maundy.” “ Maundy” simply refers to the ceremony of foot washing.   “Maundy Thursday” is the Thursday before Easter and is the time in which the Lord conducted the  “Last Supper” and washed the feet of the disciples.  The word “Maundy”  (Middle English maunde; Old French mande) is another form of the Latin word “mandatum” meaning command and referring to the Command by Christ given at the Last Supper that we are “to love one another.”  On Maundy Thursday various church prelates would wash the feet of those below them or of the poor and sometimes give money to the poor as well.  This giving of money was  called “Maundy Money”.

Interesting to me, is that sometimes secular rulers would do the same thing and kings would wash the feet of the poor.  Although this practice died out after the Middle Ages it apparently was continued in Spain up until the Twentieth Century. 

 

One of the many virtues of foot washing is that it brings you a new perspective into life.  For a king to wash the feet of the poor had to remind the king of his mortality and the fact that God loves the poor as much as the rich.

 

Another fun word is “pedelavium.”  In Latin, pedelavium means a footbath but in reality it comes from two Latin words-  pes meaning feet and from levare which is Latin meaning to wash. 

 


Popes Wash Feet Too

 

On Maundy Thursday, the Pope washes feet.  In fact, Pope Francis departed from normal practice in 2013 and washed the feet of two women and the feet of some Muslim men.  In 2016, Catholic practice was revised allowing Catholic priests to wash the feet of females as well as males.  In 2022, Pope Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a prison near Rome.  The ceremony which was private and  involved the washing, drying and kissing of the feet of each of the inmates.

 

Orthodox and Eastern Christians Wash Feet Too

 

Churches in the East also believe in foot washing.  Generally they do it on Maundy Thursday.  Bishops often wash the feet of twelve priests (who rank lower than the bishops).  Abbots who run monasteries wash the feet of twelve of their monks.  In the Coptic Church in Egypt the priest of the church washes the feet of every member of his congregation.

 

Protestants Wash Feet Too

 

Protestants are not to be left out when it comes to the washing of feet.  In many cases this is in connection with Maundy Thursday celebrations but it also occurs at other times as well.  Some of the Protestant groups which on occasion wash feet include the  Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist Churches. 

 

Many churches seeking to return to the First Century patterns include foot washing.  Groups like the Moravian, Anabaptist, Brethren, Amish and Mennonites engage in regular foot washing services.  In addition various Baptist churches are involved in foot washing including many Free-Will , Primitive, Separate and General Baptist Churches.  It is relatively unusual to see foot washing in Southern Baptist Churches;  however, one cannot generalize because each individual Baptist Church may take its own position on foot washing.  Southern Baptists however, believe that there are only two ordinances:  Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

 

My Experiences in Foot Washing

 

Let me preface my account by saying that I came from a family which was loving but not very touching.  We treated each member formally and to some extent with a high degree of modesty.  Things like hugging and kissing were done but only sporadically.  We were a loving family but not a “touchy- feely” family.  Dad and Mom were committed Christians and Dad was a deacon in the church and often the Chairman of the Deacons.  I recount this because some charismatic practices such as Hugging or a Kiss of Greeting was at first unnerving to me.  We were also uncomfortable doing things like holding the hands (especially of another male) while singing “Sweet, Sweet Spirit.”  It simply was not our cup of tea and was not a part of our normal church experience.  In time, I became more acclimated to some of these things.

 

The background is important because I cannot say that I was excited about washing the feet of another guy, regardless of whether I had met the person before or not.

 

At the time I experienced foot washing,  I was an elder of a church and felt that I needed to understand more about foot washing and the humility associated with it.  After a period of time, I located a foot washing ceremony at a Brethren Church and went.  First there was a sermon involving the Lord’s Supper and foot washing.  Next men and women were divided into two groups of men and women.  Men would wash the feet of men and women would wash the feet of women.  You went down the line and the person in front of you washed and dried your feet and then you washed and dried the feet of the person behind you.  In my case, I did not know the person in front of me or the person behind me.  It was both humbling and strange to have your feet washed by someone you did not know and then to wash the feet of someone you did not know.  I suspect that had I known either the person washing my feet or the person whose feet I washed that I would not have been comforted at all.  Of the two experiences, perhaps having my own feet washed was more uncomfortable to me than washing someone else’s feet.  I think it works that way in giving as well.  Receiving is more uncomfortable than giving.  The whole process was somewhat uncomfortable for me.

 

However, Jesus did not call me to be comfortable.  Sometimes he wants us to be uncomfortable.  Sometimes, he wants barriers to come down.  I certainly had barriers against foot washing and had some of those barriers torn down that day.  It is said that St. Francis of Assisi washed the feet of lepers and bandaged their sores.  At any rate, my experience in foot washing for me personally helped to knock down some of the barriers around my life that I had constructed to protect myself.

 

Finally, having your own feet washed or washing someone else’s feet does give you a new perspective in life.  By writing about  humility and foot washing, I am not trying to push you into trying this practice.  If God wants you to try it, he can let you know.  Most of us have a series of events in our lives which can teach us humility.  Just as I don’t look for events to teach me patience, I don’t go out and actively seek events to teach me humility.  Believe there are enough events in our lives, which can teach us both patience and humility if we choose to learn these virtues. 

 

In the next newsletter, I won’t be talking so much.  Instead I will share with you some Scriptures on humility.  The Grasshopper rests until next time.

Locusts and Honey, Vol.3, Pt. 2

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol. 3

Humility the Forgotten Virtue-Part 2

 

 

Last week we talked about how Jesus taught his disciples that they were to serve one another.  He  then demonstrated this principle by washing the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper.  In Part 2 of our study of humility and foot washing, I will be covering a number of different topics and so I apologize in advance for jumping around, but then jumping around is what a grasshopper does and therefore it is perfectly appropriate for a newsletter named “Locusts and Honey.”  Also before we embark upon our journey, you may rest assured that there is a connection between humility and the washing of feet.

 

John the Baptist

 

Since Locusts and Honey were part of the diet of John the Baptist, I will begin with a few comments about John.  John was a cousin of Jesus and had a humble spirit.  Living in the desert he was satisfied with a diet of locusts and honey.  As John saw the ministry of Jesus increase and his own ministry decrease, he did not get mad at Jesus but in a humble spirit acknowledged that it was appropriate that  his ministry must decrease as the ministry of Jesus increased (John 3:30).  Instead of being jealous at the success of Jesus,  John rejoiced at the increase of the ministry of Jesus like the “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29).

 

When John first started talking about Jesus, he said that he (John) was not worthy to loose His (Jesus’) sandal.  Many commentators on this verse comment that the job of washing feet was only an obligation of the lowest servant or slave.  In effect, John was commenting that he (John) was not even worthy to act as a slave and remove the sandal from the foot of Jesus and wash his feet.   (See various commentaries on John 1:27 and Luke 3:16).    The grasshopper now jumps.

 

 

Foot washing in the Roman World

 

Below is a quotation about foot washing in the Greco-Roman world from a write-up by the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rahway, N.J. : 

 

“Footwashing was also a sign of hospitality.  One of the primary forms of footwashing was as a sign of welcome.  According to Thomas, the best documented and most frequent accounts of footwashing are found in contexts where the washing precedes a meal or banquet.  Similar to the Old Testament, footwashing was almost exclusively the duty of slaves or servants.  Not only do servants draw the water, wash the feet, and dispose of the water; but it appears that a slave could not refuse to render this service, no matter how old he or she might be.  Thomas says, “Footwashing could be used as a synonym for slavery.  To wash another’s feet symbolized the subjugation of one person to another.  Those who received footwashing from another were social superiors of those who performed the task. “

 

In many cases, the host instead of having servants wash the feet of the guests simply provided a bowl of water and a towel so that the guest could wash their own feet.  This custom was probably referred to by Jesus when he had gone to a banquet put on by Simon the Pharisee.  Jesus said to Simon at Luke 7:44 “…you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.”  Jump, Grasshopper,  jump.

 

 

Had Jesus ever had his feet washed?

 

Interestingly, Jesus had his feet washed about a week before he instituted the Lord’s Supper.  His feet were washed at a banquet put on by Simon the Pharisee in Bethany.  This event is described in detail in Luke 7:36-50 and John 12: 1-11.  In Luke’s account the woman is described as “a sinner” but in John’s account she is positively identified as Mary the sister of Martha.  In Luke’s account an alabaster jar of fragrant oil is broken and the woman washes the feet of Jesus with her tears, wipes them with the hair of her head and kisses his feet.  In John’s account, the woman is identified as Mary who takes the oil of spikenard and wipes the feet of Jesus with her hair.  According to John 12:1, this occurred in Bethany six days before Passover. 

 

In short, within a week of the Last Supper, a woman had anointed Jesus feet with her tears and precious oil and had wiped his feet with her tears.  In Luke’s account Jesus pointed out that the woman had washed and kissed his feet whereas Simon the Host at the banquet at Bethany had not given Jesus the customary kiss.  (Simon’s son is apparently Judas Iscariot who did give Jesus a kiss of greeting when he betrayed him after the Lord’s Supper a week after the banquet at Bethany).  Jesus also pointed out to Simon that Simon had not given him water for washing his feet (or a towel either) but that the woman (Mary) had washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and anointed them with oil.

 

It is instructive to me that as we consider humility, foot washing and service, the one who showed humility and service to Jesus was not a man but instead was a woman.  As we contemplate service to others and service to Christ we should remember that it was a woman who washed the feet of Jesus not a man.  Likewise, it was Jesus who taught us all that we need to show humility, service and love one to another, by taking on the role of a servant.  Jump, Grasshopper, jump.

 

When was foot washing done?

 

One of the questions that generally is not raised is why foot washing was done at the Last Supper at the time that it was done.  As our earlier discussion pointed out, foot washing was generally something done before the meal.  Why was it done in the middle of the meal (or after the supper portion of the meal) in the instance of the Lord’s Supper.

 

There is no clear answer to this but we can make some conjectures.  We know that the bowl, water and towel were present at the Lord’s Supper because Jesus uses these implements when he gets up to wash the disciples feet.

 

One possible answer is that the bowl, water and towel were present when the disciples came in.  However, there were no servants or slaves to take on this lowly task.  People generally did not wash the feet of people who had the same rank as themselves.  And so, the bowl, towel and water simply sat there during the first part of the Lord’s Supper unused because none of the disciples were going to wash the feet of Jesus or the feet of their co-disciples.  Shortly before coming to Jerusalem, the disciples had been fighting about who was going to sit upon thrones next to Jesus in the Kingdom.  So there the water, bowl and towel sat untouched. Despite the words of Jesus about the greatest being a servant, his disciples were still focused upon thrones not wash bowls and service.

 

Instead of foot washing before the meal, this was skipped altogether until Jesus gave an example and did something unthinkable which his disciples had failed to do.  Jump, Grasshopper, jump.

 

The Greek Word for Humility

 

The Greek word for humility is tapeinoo which means making oneself low to the ground. In Latin the word is humus means ground.  When we discuss people as fitting into classes, we use words like “high”, “middle” and “low”.  Humility indicates being low to the ground or even low class socially.  Jesus, however, said that “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matt. 5:3).  Jump, Grasshopper, but not too high.

 

The Humility of Jesus 

 

Jesus is humble of heart.  In Matthew 11:29, Jesus said:  “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls.”  The fact that the Creator of the Universe would lower himself to become a man through the incarnation is evidence of great humility.  In fact, it would have been an act of humility even if the Messiah had chosen to become the head of the Roman Empire.  A fleshly king is a gigantic step down for the Creator of the Universes and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  However, becoming man was not enough (nor would it have been particularly appreciated by men and women of the lowest rank and position).  The Messiah chose to be incarnated into a poor family, to be born in a stable, to live and  to be raised in the poorest section of Israel (Can anything good come out of Nazareth?-John 1:46).  The Messiah could have chosen to be born beautiful in form so that he could be loved and admired by others.  He did not.  The Messiah (Jesus) is described in Isaiah 53:2 in this way:  “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”  There are no physical descriptions of what Jesus looked like in the New Testament and perhaps that is no wonder because there was nothing which made him physically attractive to men and women.  His attractiveness came from within not from weight, coloring, and handsomeness which we so value today.

 

The humility of Jesus is graphically described in Philippians 2: 5,6, 8 where Paul wrote:  “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped…and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

 

For Jesus, humility and humbleness meant not only being born in a stable and being a baby in a manger, it also meant dying a criminal’s death by being stripped and nailed to a cross so that through his blood our sins might be covered and we might have eternal life.  Jump, Grasshopper, jump.

 

Nakedness as a sign of humility.

 

In today’s carnal society “nakedness” sells.  It not only sells in the pornographic area but it also sells in other areas including television where you have shows such as “Naked and Afraid.”  There is even an interesting Christian podcast entitled “The Naked Bible Podcast.”

 

In one sense, Jesus shed his royal robes of being in the form of God to come to earth as a naked little baby.  In a spiritual sense, Jesus shed his royal robes to join us as a human person.  Leaving aside his royal rights, he chose to be incarnated as a person like us.

 

In John 13:4-5 it says that Jesus…”rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.  After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”  As part of the foot washing, Jesus removed his clothing and girded himself with a towel.  The act of humility was not just the act of washing the feet but it was removing of his clothing and girding himself with the towel.

 

Jesus not only did act as the servant or slave in washing the feet but he also dressed the part.

 

Just as Jesus came into the world naked, he probably left it in the same way.  Here is what Wikipedia says about “Crucifixion”:  “ While a crucifixion was an execution, it was also a humiliation, by making the condemned as vulnerable as possible. Although artists have traditionally depicted the figure on a cross with a loin cloth or a covering of the genitals, the person being crucified was usually stripped naked.”

 

John 19:23 says, “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part and also the tunic.”  The soldiers gambled for the tunic and it was not split so that Psalm 22:18 might be fulfilled.

 

The point is that Jesus was stripped and we believe nailed to the cross when he was naked as part of the humiliation of the Roman style of execution.  This was done before his mother, his relatives, his followers and his disciples who were present.

 

We underestimate the shame and humility experienced by the death of Jesus for us.  As Paul said:  “He humbled himself by becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross”.  Jump, Grasshopper, jump.

 

Concluding Thoughts

 

Love is not proud.  God looks upon the humble heart.  “The bruised reed He does not break”.  Many of us, including myself, have wrestled with the “pride of life.”  However, we are brought to a place of humility.  If we do not come to humbleness through wisdom, we still experience humility through illness, age, loss of material things or loss of those who we love.  Life and death give us the gift of humbleness and humility.  But even if we sometimes experience humility unwillingly, Christ wants us to know that we are blessed and the Kingdom of God is ours.  I am reminded of what Jesus said to Peter in John 21:18 “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.  Thus He spoke, signifying by which death he would glorify God.”

 

John would grow increasingly old and experience the difficulties and trials of old age; Peter would spread out his hands and die on the cross like Jesus. 

 

It is not fun to be humble.  Nonetheless, we all will at some time or another have the opportunity.  However, we will also have the promise that Christ is with us and bring us through to the Kingdom of God.  Rest, Grasshopper, rest.

Locusts and Honey #1

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Pros & Cons: Filling Pool With Well Water | Pool Calculator

 

“Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.”—Matt. 5:4

 

A dear friend who has recently experienced grief asked me for a few comments upon the above verse.  As many of us know, this verse is one of the “blesseds” that appear in the Sermon on the Mount.  In that sermon, Jesus spoke a number of things to the crowd assembled  that day.  His statements appear to contradict what we normally think.  For instance, we are more likely to think that a more accurate saying would be “Unhappy is the person who mourns….”  Yet, Jesus had a way of turning things on their head and giving us a new and revolutionary view of life.  Jesus added other “blesseds” or “beatitudes” which also seemed to be illogical at first glance such as “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst….”, “Blessed are those who are persecuted…”, and “Blessed are you when people insult you….”

 

The Greek Word

 

The Greek word for “blessed” is makarioi.  It is an adjective which occurs about 26 times in the New Testament.  The word simply means “blessed” or “happy.”

 

Comments

 

Both the person asking the question and my own family have experienced the loss of a loved one during the past year or so.  And so how do we look down at the grave of a husband or a child and identify with Jesus’ words that we are “happy” or “blessed” when our heart is still full of pain and grief.

 

Scripture tells us that Jesus knew grief.  In fact Isaiah 53:4 describes the Messiah (Christ) as being “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”  Likewise, Jesus Christ was sympathetic to those who grieved.  Isaiah 42:3 says:  “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”    When we see the body of a person we love lying in death, our hearts indeed could be described as a “bruised reed” or a “smoldering wick.”  We are hurt and there is no way getting around it.

 

  Jesus Christ  shares the pain of our griefs and sorrows.  Isaiah 53:4 says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”  In our mourning, we are not alone, and the presence and activity of Jesus in our life comforts us.

 

The  promise of Christ in Matt. 5:4 is that “…we will be comforted.”  It is part of life to experience pain and eventually to die.  Scripture says that “It is appointed to man once to die…” (Heb. 9:27).  Even Jesus himself was not immune from pain and death.  It is something that we go through.  Even those who experienced the healing power of Jesus or who were resurrected during the life of Jesus eventually died.  People like Jairus’s daughter, the widow of Nain’s son and even Lazarus all experienced death even after their resurrection by Jesus.  Death, and the door way to death which is often suffering, is almost universal (a few exceptions might be people like Enoch or Elijah).  However the vast, vast general rule is that we all suffer and die.  A healing or resurrection in this life is not an exemption from the general rule but only a postponement of the inevitable.

 

But there is hope.  That is what the resurrection of Jesus is all about.  As believers we share in his resurrection and we look forward to a resurrection to come.  That is an extraordinary promise.  Some verses which Paul wrote about this are the following:

 

               The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall  be changed.  So when this corruption has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that which is               written:  “Death is swallowed up in victory”. 

                                                                                                                        1 Cor. 15:52, 54

 

 

               I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have  fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.  For if we believe  that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

                                                                                                                        1 Thes. 4:13-14

 

Death is an enemy.  Yet Jesus pulls back the curtain of life in Matt. 5:4 and proclaims us as “happy.”  We are happy because we know that we will be comforted by God in the future.  We are “happy” and “blessed” because for an instant we see past the illusions of this world and we know that happiness is not found in the material things of life or even in close personal relationships.  The ultimate happiness transcends this life.  It transcends the effects of tragedy and the pain in the here and now.  For an instance, we glimpse eternity and recognize that it is not the things of this life which can make us “happy” or “blessed.”  Our “forever home” is not the dwelling we have here but instead is found in a far country, the Kingdom of God and the New Jerusalem.  The things of earth will never satisfy us again.

 

We are tempted because of our love to wallow in our grief.  However, Scripture warns us not to let grief consume us.  Ecclesiastes 3:4-5 says that “there is a time to weep and a time to laugh and a time to mourn and a time to dance.”  An ancient Christian document, The Shepherd of Hermas (at Mandate 10) reminds us that there is a time to put away sadness because too much grieving and sadness reflects doubt in the goodness and promises of God.  As children of God, we must “cast away sadness” and clothe ourselves in cheerfulness.  We need to remember Isaiah 61: 3 where we are promised to be given “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”  Our ultimate destiny is one of gladness not sadness.

 

We are happy because through Christ we have the promise that death will be defeated.  We have the hope of the resurrection, an eternal life, and seeing those who have followed God.  We have the hope of participating in the Family of God.  We also have the hope of living in a world without sorrow, abuse, disease, pain and suffering.

 

Moreover, instead of the shabby promises of Satan and this world, we are “happy” because we are blessed with the Word of God and the promises of the Living Word.  We are blessed because we are recipients of the everlasting promises of God including the fact that eventually death will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:14) and that for the believer there will be an end to pain and death:

 

               God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more  death, or sorrow, nor crying.  There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

                                                                                                                        Rev. 21:4

Fake Credentials

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Solomon once said that there are many evils under the sun (Eccl. 6:1).  One evil that I have observed is fraud perpetrated upon the church.  One of these frauds is the use of paper doctorates to convince the congregation that the pastor is highly educated.  I first encountered this phenomenon when I was a young college professor at a “Christian” college.  One day I heard about one of our co-professors who had resigned.  The Wall Street Journal had run an article about “diploma mills” where you could get a doctorate by paying a hefty fee.  Apparently a professor in our college had such a diploma proudly hanging on his wall and was forced to resign after the article on diploma mills came out.

Since that time, I have known  many cases where pastors and writers have employed the cheap doctorate or other degree in order to exalt themselves and effectively defraud the Body of Christ.  These individuals better fall in the category of the Scribes described in Luke 20: 46 (NIV) where it says: 

“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.”

It is surprising how often I have seen this situation including with “well-respected” and well-known pastors, religious writers and academicians.    In short, the desire to be esteemed and applauded by the church and the world for being trained and educated have overcome the virtues of being honest and truthful.  These easy doctorates are usually done by mail with institutions that sometimes grant a doctorate with only 30 hours of on-line class work and giving time for “life-experience.”  In short, this is the academic equivalent of credit for “time served.”  The cost of the paper degree is often high and has become a lucrative business for those granting them.

In fact, one extremely well-known writer in the area of end-times studies, proclaimed himself as having a doctorate of divinity (D.D.) but no one has ever been able to substantiate where it came from.  Nonetheless, the gullible have flocked to this individual’s teaching despite his bogus credentials.

Often these cheap but exalted-sounding degrees are given by institutions which have strange-sounding names such as the Southwestern School of South Dakota (a name I made up).  The institutions are bogus and on numerous occasions, the accrediting institution certifying the graduate school granting the doctorate is bogus as well.  In one recent example, I found several well known ministers proud of their doctorates from an upper level theological seminary which had been formed by a person who did not even have a doctorate in theology.  Instead the individual had a degree in Oriental Medicine from another “diploma mill”. 

I am speaking out on these issues because there is a deep dishonesty being perpetrated upon the Church of Christ.  This fraud may be so prevalent in religious circles because we are people of “faith.”  Yet it seems to me that faith should be different from gullibility.  Because most Christians desire to be honest, perhaps they see others as honest especially those who proclaim themselves to be “shepherds” of the sheep.  In the academic area in Christians circles, we apparently have more than one ecclesiastical P.T. Barnum.

Most people are afraid or unwilling to speak out regarding this evil perpetrated upon the people of the church.  Perhaps they are unwilling to be viewed as being “critical” or un-Christian for speaking about this fraud or perhaps they are just uninterested and will leave it to God to judge the dishonest who masquerade as shepherds and leaders.

I, for one, do not believe that you have to give up your intellect or judgment when you follow Christ.  Scripture says that we are be as “harmless as doves and as wise as serpents” (Matt. 10:16).  When you come to Christ, you do not have to leave your brain at home.  False teachers get away with their actions because what they say and do looks good and attractive while no one speaks up.  Often the gullible are simply too busy or too lazy to look carefully at a person’s credentials.

Our Faith has opportunities for those with formal education as those without it.  Paul had formal training as a Pharisee from the great teacher Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).   Jesus, on the other hand, had no formal learning that we know of.  Yet at age 12 he could garner the respect of the teachers in the Jerusalem temple and as an adult could confound the Pharisees and scribes and teachers of his time.  There is ample room for both leaders who are trained and those who are naturally gifted in the Church of Christ.  However, there should be no room for those who fraudulently proclaim themselves as being highly trained and degreed when they are not.  That practice is dishonest.

Easter and The Glorious Church

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                                     As we contemplate the significance of Crucifixion Friday, I am reminded of many sermons of my youth basically taking that position that Jesus was rejected by the Father on the cross because he bore our sins.  Yes, it is true that as the sacrificial lamb Jesus did bear our sins.  However, the sacrifice of the Lamb was NOT rejected by God but was accepted by God and that is what the resurrection is  all about.

I heard more than one sermon on how God looked away from Christ on the cross and that Jesus said “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?´ (Matt. 27:46).  A study of the New Testament evidences that Jesus was a student of the Word of God.  Even as a child he amazed the scholars with his knowledge  of  Scripture.  Luke 2:46-47 says:  “ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”

Jesus understood his destiny as the sacrificial lamb and suffering servant and was intimately familiar with Scriptures dealing with the Messiah.  When Jesus cleansed the Temple of Money Changers,  Jesus said at Matthew 21:13”  My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”  Jesus was obviously making reference to Jeremiah 7:11 which says:  “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? “.  There are numerous other instances where Jesus demonstrated an intimate familiarity with Scripture.

It is therefore not surprising that Christ at the time of his death would once again rely upon Scripture, especially those Scriptures which referred to his life, death, purpose and mission.  One of the greatest chapters dealing with the death and resurrection of the Messiah  is Psalm 22.  That Psalm begins with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psm. 22:1).  Verses 1-3 of that Chapter deal with the feeling of abandonment in the face of intense suffering.  There are other verses that tie this Psalm directly to the crucifixion.  Verses 6-8 say:

            But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

            All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

            “He trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him, for he delights in him!”

This ridicule expressed in Psalm 22 is fulfilled in Matt. 27:42-43 which reports the  voices of the chief priests, scribes and elders mocked Jesus  saying:  “He saved others; he cannot save himself.  He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him.  For he said, “I am the Son of God.”

So there is absolutely no mistake that Psalm 22 refers to Jesus it also says at verses 16-18:

            …a company of evil doers encircles me;

            They have pierced my hands and feet—

            I can count all my bones—

            They stare and gloat over me;

            They divide my garments among them

            And for my clothing they cast lots.

John in John 19:23-24 notes that this is exactly what happened to Jesus  and even says in John 19:24:  “This was to fulfill the Scriptures which says, “they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.””

The Crucifixion prophecies of Psalm 22 were clearly recognized by Jesus on the cross and by the disciples including the Apostle John.

The prophecy of Psalm 22 is not just about crucifixion but it is also one of success, acceptance of the sacrifice of the Messiah and ultimate victory.  Scripture makes clear that the prayers of Jesus and his sacrifice for us were accepted not rejected.  Psalm 22;4 says:  “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted and he has not hidden his face from him but has heard when he cried to him.”

Promises were made to the suffering Messiah in Psalm 22: 27 where it says, “…and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.  For Kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations…”

Jesus quoted the word of God until his dying breath.  In Luke 23:46, it says:  “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice said, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit! And having said this he breathed his last.”  With Jesus’s dying breath he is still quoting Scripture.  Psalm 31:5 says : “Into your hand I commit my spirit, you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”

Jesus was completely aware of his mission and destiny and what the Scripture said about the Messiah.  Jesus relied upon the Scripture.  Today, we His church must do the same.  The

Word of God plays a pivotal role in the destiny and cleansing of the end-time church.  Paul said in Ephesians 5:26-27 that Jesus would sanctify and cleanse the church “with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and without blemish.”  In Jesus’ prayer for his followers in John 17:17, he prays:  “Sanctify them by your truth.  Your word is truth.”  For the church to become clean again, it must immerse itself regularly in the word of God.

As we approach Easter, it is time for the Bride of Christ to separate herself from the dirt, soil and mud of this world.  It is time for a cleansing to begin.  That cleansing will be done only through the word of God and through the fire of the Holy Spirit.