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After examining the sacrifice for three days, the person brought the sacrifice to the priest to be examined. The person examined the sacrifice and the priest examined the sacrifice. The priest did not examine the person.
Read MoreSome pastors get the idea they have the power in the church. In reality, the people are the true power of the church. God can very easily replace pastors, but it is more difficult to replace whole congregations! Many congregations have continued to exist for long periods of time without a pastor, but no church can exist without a congregation.
Read MoreSome translations of 2 Corinthians 12:7 say the thorn was given to Paul to prevent him from being puffed up with pride. But would Satan actually send something to us to keep us from sinning?
Read MoreBy grace through faith is how people are saved today. But how were they saved in the Old Testament? This is one of my favorite questions to ask a new group of Bible School students. The answer is, in most cases, one of two. Those in the Old Testament were saved by keeping the law or by animal sacrifices. Nether Jews nor Gentiles were ever saved by the law or sacrifices, though God gave both.
Read More“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:4-5)
All believers have personal and doctrinal differences. Yet, God sees us united in the one body of His Son. God desires us to love each other as we love ourselves.
Read MoreI consider this to be the greatest Christmas passage in scripture. Here Jesus is speaking, and I want you to notice what He said. It says in verse five, "Therefore, when he came into the world," this is when He came into the manger, this is when He became a human being. He's been to the earth many times as the angel of the Lord, as the rock, as the cloud that overshadowed the children of Israel. He was the burning bush that spoke to Moses. He came in so many ways, but in those cases, He always came and then He left. But when He came into a human body, He remained, and still remains in a human body today. It's a resurrected body, but once He took on a human body it would be forever.
Read MoreIf the firstfruits or tithe belong to the Lord, why doesn’t He just keep it in the first place? Why does He bless us and ask us to give a tenth back to Him? Because the Lord says to honor Him with the firstfruits of all our increase (Proverbs 3:9), and there is no show of honor if we don’t give to Him. If the Lord just kept ten percent of our income, there would be no honor for Him to receive. He loves to see us succeed and prosper, but He loves it even more when, of our own free will, we give back to Him.
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“As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10, Psalm 14:3)
This quotation is found in many parts of the Old Testament, the prophets as well as the Psalms. Our verse in Romans 3:10 simply shows God’s word has much to say about itself. But the most important thing is the atmosphere contained in the Word through the whole of the Old and New Testaments. There is no need of any outside source to prove itself. Why is this important? Because the word becomes a part of our lives, controlling, stabilizing and guiding every move we make. We become self-sufficient because the word in us is self-sufficient. We need no outside support or proof of our belief in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
The world compels us to compare ourselves with other religions, philosophies or political views. There is no higher standard in our life than God Himself and His Word. Jesus did not call Himself, “a way”, or “a truth.” You never look for “a truth” to support “the truth.” Jesus is the only way and the only truth. Why do we need anything else?
Old and New Testament Self-Verification
The Old Testament says many times of itself, "thus says the Lord", as well as “it is written.” And the New Testament simultaneously declares, "it is written.” The scriptures do not defend the fact they are written by God. God does not treat His word as theory. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the word treats God’s authorship as fact as we do the theory of gravity.
It Stands Written
A more correct Greek way of saying “it is written” is, “it stands written.” In the New Testament, the meaning of the word written, found in the phrase “it is written”, is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense means the action happened in the past with results that keep coming to the present. Simply put, it stood written long before it was written. It was known by God from eternity past and it only found its way onto parchment when the writers of the Bible transcribed what they heard from the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is eternal. How can something that began in time be used to support something that is timeless?
All of it Has to be True
Jesus handled the Old Testament as the sword of truth in the four gospels. If you do not believe one part, how can you believe any part? If you do not believe what Jesus said about the Bible, then you do not believe what Jesus said about Himself. For He declares Himself to be the revealed word of God and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies written about Himself as the only means of salvation for all mankind.
Hebrews 10:5-7 tells of the first time Jesus spoke about the Old Testament, calling it the “volume of the book it is written of me.” He also told of His knowledge of the mission He was called to fulfill, to do the will of God. Also, as a young child Jesus spoke to the Jewish religious leaders and Mary, of His mission to do the will of God by fulfilling the scriptures of the Old Testament.
At the introduction of His public ministry, Jesus spoke to His hometown crowd from the synagogue as was His custom. He announced that the scripture He was reading from was fulfilled in their ears that day. He knew how to find the scripture from Isaiah though there was no chapter and verse separations. He was well accomplished in handling the Bible which He quoted, and He had written.
After this introduction of His ministry, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by Satan. At each of three temptations of personal testing by Satan, Jesus responded to each with the word of God from the book of Deuteronomy, saying “it is written.”
Jesus was confronted by the crowd and the religious leaders about issues of life. Jesus defended paying taxes from the consistent view of the Old Testament as rendering to God the things of God (tithes and offerings) and to Caesar, the things of Caesar (government taxes).
In marriage and divorce, He went to the Old Testament to Genesis 2, telling how the two in marriage become one. In keeping the law, He told them they did not understand the law or prophets quoting “I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the living, not of the dead.” He confirmed that Abraham was still alive though he physically had left the earth thousands of years before.
Jesus quoted the Word on His resurrection day when He joined two men on the road to Emmaus and spoke of His resurrection. He explained the scriptures of Himself from Moses through the prophets.
The Church is Built on the Scriptures
Christianity is not a religion, nor can it be compared to religions. Although religions contain some truths, they are not the truth. Every aspect of our faith in Christ and in God’s Word is truth, absolute, unchangeable truth. All religions will one day be removed from the earth at the Second Coming of Christ to rule, but the Word of God will live and remain forever as it has existed forever. So, New Testament truth and the Church of Jesus Christ must also be built on Old Testament truth.
The Church is described as “built on the foundation of the apostles (New Testament writers) and prophets (Old Testament writers), Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). As the chief “cornerstone” Jesus joins the two walls of the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament pointed forward to His coming and the New Testament looks back on His eternal work in life, death on the cross, resurrection and ascension into heaven
Acts and the Epistles
Although the Church Age enjoys many benefits unknown in the Old Testament, it must find its foundations for those benefits in the Law and Prophets. This can be found beginning in the book of Acts and running through the New Testament epistles. “It is written” is as common in the New Testament writings as it is in the Old.
In Acts 13:33, Paul taught the religious Jews in the synagogue in Antioch that the means and object of salvation had not changed from the Old Testament. It was by faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ. In Acts 15:15,16 Paul taught the Jews that the Church was prophesied in the Old Testament. See also Acts 23:5.
“It is written” is found concerning our obtaining and walking in righteousness by faith in Romans 1:17. It is used of the fallen nature of all mankind in Romans 3:10.
It is seen again in 1 Corinthians covering many areas of our daily Christian walk (1 Corinthians 1:19,31, 2:9, 3:19, 9:9).
Galatians also builds on the Old Testament telling us “it is written” of the grace of God in the life of Abraham that Gentiles by faith would one day be part of the Abrahamic Covenant (Galatians 3:10,13, 4:22,27). See also 1 Peter 1:16).
Eternity is in Your Side
Psalm 2:1-4 tells us that the “heathen rage and plot a vain (empty) thing”, “rulers take counsel against the Lord and His anointed (the Church)”, yet “He who sits in the heavens will laugh.” How can God laugh at the mocking and ridicule of the world against the Church? God knows the end, how all His plans will come together.
The good news is so do we. We understand God’s plan and know how all will end. We can laugh inside ourselves when we hear their plans of world domination and limiting of the rights of believers in Jesus Christ. God has the final word. His word declares and guarantees it
If God’s word was the final authority for the prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ Himself and the writers of the New Testament, what more do we need? We don’t try to answer the world’s wisdom with our own wisdom. We give our answers from God’s wisdom. As the Christian song says, “At the enemy’s lie, it is written I cry, over and over again.”
The two words that say it all are grace and faith. If you will notice in this well-known verse of scripture, grace comes before faith. Grace is God’s hand reaching out to you filled with “…all the things that pertain to life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:3). Faith is our empty hand reaching out to receive what God is giving us in grace.
Read MoreGod’s Plan for Us “In Christ”
The blessings we possess at the point of salvation were provided for us before the foundation of the world. All of our blessings were planned before we were here and given to Christ. He held them for us until the day we accepted Him and were “in Christ.” He did not need redemption, eternal life, an inheritance, or glorification, we did. He was simply chosen by God as our representative.
We possess nothing on our own but share all our blessings with Christ. Only because we are “in Him” do we have any blessing from God. This is the theme of the first chapter of Ephesians. Verses 1-14 form the longest single sentence in the New Testament. Each verse tells us what God did for us before the foundation of the world. God gave them to His Son to hold until the day we became one with Him.
Ephesians 1:3 says, “…who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…” Verse 6 “He made us accepted in the Beloved.” Verse 7, “…In Him we have redemption.” Verse 11, “…In Him also we have obtained an inheritance.”
God Planned All of This for Us Before We Were Created
In the Garden of Eden, God created and made everything in six days and then made man at the end of the sixth day. Everything was made and prepared for man before he was ever placed in the Garden. Man could not add one thing to God’s completed plan. This is grace.
You are probably wondering why God did not make man first or at least before the last day. It was so man could not help. Grace is God creating a perfect plan and faith is man receiving that perfect plan. God anticipated every need man could have before putting him on earth. Long before man ever faced a problem, God made every answer.
God’s Redemption Plan Was Complete Before the World’s Foundation
It is the same with redemption. Millions of years before Lucifer or Adam fell, God planned every answer for every problem. God was not taken by surprise when His highest-ranking angel fell and became Satan. He was not surprised when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. God cannot be surprised. He knows everything. He is omniscient. Because He is omniscient, He created a plan for every sin and failing of angels or man.
Once Jesus went to the cross and accomplished God’s plan for man’s redemption, He will never have to go back to the cross to redeem us from a sin God did not know about, forget or anticipate. “Christ dies no more” (Romans 6:9). God’s plan was and is complete. What has happened to us since we believed on Christ, what happens to us daily and what will happen to us into our future and eternity is already complete.
In fact, God sees His plan as complete in our life no matter how far from now it is. God is assured today we will be with Him and Jesus in heaven ten million years from now. In fact, He saw us “in Christ”, equipped for every problem and obstacle we would ever face before He created anything, including angels, heaven, earth, Adam or us. Every plan God had for angels, Satan, Adam, or us was based on His foreknowledge. Because He knew what would happen, He made His plans. Nothing can happen to us God has not already foreseen and planned for. Before temptations came, God made a way of escape. Our answers were here before our problems existed. And, our problems are temporary. Our answers are eternal.
I Am Already Glorified
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, them He also called; whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29, 30)
It is called “predestination” because all of God’s answers for my life are based on His foreknowledge. His plan for my destiny was created before the foundation of the world. God not only knew I would receive His Son, Jesus, He foresaw it happen and planned for success in my life every day. This is also why he chose or “elected” me (1 Peter 1:2). He chose me because He knew I would choose Him.
According to our verse here in Romans 8, He also saw me justified and glorified. I am presently justified, but glorification is yet to come. Yet, glorification, like all the other blessings listed, is in the past tense. God already sees me glorified and has since His plan was created. My resurrection body and home in heaven for eternity is more than a guarantee, it is an accomplished fact. So much so, that God already sees me in heaven now. Because I am in Christ, I can be just as sure I will be in Heaven as I am sure Jesus is already there.
Because of God’s foreknowledge and eternally settled plan, it was possible for God to tell Old Testament saints their sins were remitted before Jesus had come to die and bring them salvation.
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)
Everything in all these verses comes to us from God’s grace including glorification, our resurrection body. We cannot even imagine God’s grace. We can only accept it.
God’s Plan for Eternity Brings Us Comfort Today
Romans 8:30 does not say, “He will glorify those He has justified.” But it says, “Whom He has justified (past tense), them He also glorified (past tense).”
We do not have to live our life wondering if God will keep His word. He has not only accomplished what He has given to us but also what will be given.
Again, because we are in Christ and Christ is in heaven, we can be just as sure we will be in Heaven as we are sure Jesus is already there.
How does this bring comfort to us today? If God sees me already in heaven and in a resurrection body, then I must be going to make it through my present problem. In fact, I will not only make it through this problem, but everyone after this. If God sees me past the finish line, that’s how I need to see myself.
What Does A Redeemed Body Look Like?
John says, “…it has not yet been revealed what we shall be” (1 John 3:2). You cannot look at your present body and even imagine what your resurrection body will be like. Many who saw Jesus after His resurrection did not recognize Him immediately. By looking at scripture we can see glimpses of our resurrection body. “So is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body (us) and there is a spiritual body (Jesus). (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)
Our resurrection body is a reaping of a natural body sown into the dust of the ground. In every case we see our body is sown first then raised in harvest time. All believers will die, except for those living at the time of the resurrection. But we will all be harvested at the same time, at the rapture of the Church. At that time our natural body will become a spiritual body, incorruptible, glorious and powerful. It will permanently replace our physical body. Though it is presently made of unredeemed and cursed dust, it is still the temple of the Holy Spirit.
A Unique Position
In Resurrection, we will be given a unique position higher than Old Testament saints. No man or angel has ever had a position like we will have in eternity. The Church Age is unique to all ages before it. We live in a time the prophets could only see glimpses of and angels desire to see and understand what we know and often take for granted.
You have made him a little lower than the angels, You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish that pass through the paths of the seas (Psalm 8:5-8). According to Psalm 8, Adam was a creation unlike anything before him with a unique position under God, over angels and over creation.
Our glorified state will be greater than that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It will also be greater than any Old Testament saint. Even the greatest of the prophets were servants in God’s house. But Jesus and those who are born again are sons in God’s house (Hebrews 3:5,6).
Adam and Eve were never family, but servants in the house of God. They were not, and are not, seated with God on His throne. Adam and Eve were never “in Christ”.
All Old Testament saints were forgiven of their sins and accounted righteous, but never “made the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The Life Is In You
The first act of the Holy Spirit in the Life of believers is to give them eternal life when they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This transformation takes place in our spirit, not in our physical body or our soul (mind, will, and emotions). When we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside our human spirit. At that moment, we are given all of the Person of the Holy Spirit, not half of Him then and the other half at another time.
In John 14:17, Jesus tells His disciples what the ministry of the Holy Spirit would be to the Church after His resurrection. “ The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
The Holy Spirit who lives in us is the same Holy Spirit who lived in Jesus when He walked this earth. Because the Holy Spirit who lived in Jesus raised Him from the dead, our New Birth - the Holy Spirit living inside us - also becomes our guarantee of resurrection. The qualification for resurrection is simply the New Birth.
“ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)
A believer in the Lord Jesus becomes the New Testament temple for the presence of God. The glory of God, which is the presence of the Holy Spirit, moved out of the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death, and after Jesus’ resurrection, came to dwell in the hearts of believers. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”
The Power is Upon You
The purpose of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is to endue us with God’s power. God is not only concerned about our inward man, the human spirit, but also our outward man, our daily life. Our natural man faces the world each day and needs the power of God to overcome it. Since Satan is the god of this world and demonic forces control much of our society, we need His power for our own life, as well as to bless those around us.
When we are clothed with God’s supernatural power, we have confidence in facing any circumstance or demonic attack that comes against us. The infilling of the Holy Spirit sets us free from many of the restraints and insecurities which have held us back, even as believers.
When Lazarus was raised from the dead, he still had to be loosed from the grave clothes which hindered him. Jesus said, “Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44). The Holy Spirit IN us gives us life, but the Holy Spirit ON us gives us power to live the Christian life. It clothes the natural life of the believer with daily miracle power from God. This miracle power is for our life as a witness before the world. It opens us up to the supernatural gifts and demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit, which are so necessary to win the lost. Satan has empowered his followers in the earth, and God wants to empower us to courageously meet and defeat them.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
On the Day of Pentecost, the 120 were praying in one place in total harmony. It was then that the infilling of the Holy Spirit became a reality, and God’s supernatural ability became available to everyone in the Church. Acts 2:3-4 says, “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” This promise of power was not only for those in the Upper Room but for all who would believe on the Lord from that time on, Jew or Gentile (Acts 2:39).
What a Difference!
What a difference this power made in the lives of the disciples! Before the Day of Pentecost, Peter was afraid to admit he even knew Jesus to a young girl who was warming her hands at a fire. Yet, after being clothed with power by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, Peter boldly stood up and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to 3000 religious Jews.
Peter’s sudden courage and dedication in presenting the Gospel did not stop there, either. A few days later, he grabbed the hand of a paralyzed man at the Gate Beautiful, and the power of God raised the man up and healed him. The disciple who once cowered before a little girl’s questions about his relationship with Jesus began to walk in such power from the Holy Spirit that his shadow caused people to be healed as he walked the streets of Jerusalem (Acts 5:15).
Is Satan any less powerful today than he was in Peter’s time? Obviously, he is not. If for no other reason than that, the same power believers needed in the Early Church is needed for believers today. Thank God, the Bible tells us that God is no respecter of persons (Acts10:34). The same power Peter walked in is available to all believers today.
Even Jesus, who had the Holy Spirit within, would not begin to minister until the Holy Spirit came on Him when He was baptized by John at the Jordan River. We need our Jordan River experience today! There is a world of hurting people who are in desperate need of ministry. They do not need a list of impossible rules and empty philosophies from powerless Christians, but powerful demonstrations of the only true and living God. They want to see God in action in their lives and in believers’ lives.
For this reason, the same God Who anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power (Acts 10:38), wants to do the same for believers today!
The Tribulation will occur for seven years after the Rapture of the Church. The just will go to heaven and the unjust will be left on the earth for these seven years. During this time, evangelism will explode and millions will be swept into the Kingdom of God. Those who will get saved will remain on the earth and move right into the Millennium along with all the saints who returned with Jesus from heaven.
The Tribulation is God’s final attempt with mankind to show him the folly of rejecting God. It is satan’s last effort to try to win the world over and to usher in his own kingdom. It is man’s last effort to try to save himself through uniting together in one world government, promising peace forever.
Yes, there will be many terrible things that happen, but there will be many miracles and many souls saved. The world will go from zero saved to total evangelization in seven years. Everyone will hear the gospel and will make the decision for or against Jesus. And we will be watching from heaven, like the witnesses in Hebrews 12: 1.
Psalm 2
Psalm 2 can be described as the “Voices of the Tribulation.” It can be divided up this way: verses 1-3 is the voice of the unbeliever; verses 4-6 is the voice of God the Father; verses 7-9 is the voice of Jesus, and verses 10-12 is the voice of the Holy Spirit.
“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.’
‘I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’
Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” Psalm 2: 1-12
The Voice of the Unbeliever
In verse one, we see that the heathen nations will be in a rage, an actual outrage against the Lord. Sinners believe there is a God. Most of them believe that He is just and right and that He will win out in the end. But strangely enough, many of them will fight Him to the very end. They have a rebellious attitude. But God is absolute and righteous, and one day the final line will be drawn. Then it will be too late to soften those hardened attitudes. God is going to win and those who fought all the way, fighting as if their efforts would stop God, will suddenly discover it is too late to admit their wrong attitude and change their heart.
This verse also tells us that the people will plot a vain thing. The word plot means to meditate. Meditating means to use your imagination to picture yourself in a particular situation, either good or bad. Believers discover a promise in the Word and imagine themselves in that promise - healed, prospering, guided in daily affairs. Unbelievers also use the principle, but so often they paint a picture for themselves of poverty, lack, sickness, and despair.
So what are the heathen nations meditating on in this first verse? They are trying to devise a way to rule the world without God; they want to establish one world government, solving man’s problems with man’s efforts. But God calls this vain. They are meditating on a “vain thing.”
In verse two, we see this attempt made by individuals (“kings of the earth”) and as a group (“rulers take counsel together”). Can you picture a group of intelligent men coming together to draw up a plan to overthrow God? Talk about meditating on an empty thing!
Verse three is also the voice of the unbelievers, the voice of the heathen leaders. They are saying that salvation by faith isn’t necessary; they have their own religion. Everything the Bible teaches will be cast away at it says in the second half of that verse. They will have total disregard for all that Christianity represents.
The Voice of God
What does God think about all this? His voice is heard in verses four through six. Notice in verse four that God laughs about this foolishness. As the leaders of the world are gathering to overthrow God and nullify salvation by faith, God just begins to laugh. He is literally mocking or making fun of them.
The next verse tells us what God does when He is finished laughing. His wrath rises up against the heathen nations. During the Tribulation not only does Satan display his wrath, but God pours out His wrath also. It will be one of the most intense times the earth has ever encountered. During the Church Age, God is holding back His wrath. He is operating in grace. God never pours out His wrath on His children. He disciplines them in love, not in wrath. But when we are all taken to heaven and only the heathen are left on the earth, God’s wrath will be displayed.
Have you thought you can run your own life? That makes God laugh. Will you have to face His wrath? Not if you have accepted Jesus Christ. There was a day that God poured out His wrath on His son Jesus. So when we accept Jesus as Our Savior and Lord, we can enter into God’s favor and we can be assured we will never have to face His wrath.
Even during the Tribulation, a time of God’s wrath, we can still see His patience and love demonstrated. Verse six tells us this. In verse six, God the Father refers to His Son as the means of salvation. Jesus is the king set on the holy mountain, elevated for all men to see.
The Voice of Jesus
Now in verse seven Jesus begins to speak. He quotes His Father first of all. Why is Jesus qualified to be the king on that holy mountain? He came through the virgin birth; He was born without blemish that all mankind has. He was born without the nature of the flesh. Therefore He was qualified to be the redeemer of the world, Jesus as a man is superior to all men. God the Father had begotten Jesus so He could redeem us.
In verse eight, we find another qualification of Jesus: He was obedient to the death on the cross to purchase our redemption. There Jesus reconciled man to God and all the heathen became His inheritance.
Jesus tells us in verse seven what God the Father told Him in the cradle, and in verse eight, what God the Father told Him at the cross. God told Jesus to ask Him for the heathen as an inheritance. And Jesus received that inheritance as the Son of God.
The last verse of the voice of Jesus is verse nine. It refers to a future event when Jesus will prove Himself to be the only one qualified to stand on the hill of Zion because He is going to come and judge the unrighteous. Those kings and rulers in the first three verses will look like fragile pottery next to Jesus, whose truth is as strong as iron in comparison. They will just crumble; all their boasting and mighty efforts will be as dust.
The Voice of the Holy Spirit
In the final three verses of Psalm 2 we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. These words are not only directed toward the heathen leaders during the time of the Tribulation, but they are also directed toward us today. Today is the day of salvation. Don’t wait until the Tribulation to heed the words of the Holy Spirit. Why wait until the Tribulation to heed the words of the Holy Spirit? Why wait when peace and eternal life can be yours right now? So in verse ten, we are admonished to be wise and be instructed.
Notice what comes next. In verse 11 the voice of the Holy Spirit admonishes us to “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” You can’t serve (verse 11) until you are instructed (verse 10). Find out what God wants you to do, then serve Him respectfully and diligently.
A better translation of “trembling” is the word anticipation. The second half of verse eleven tells us to rejoice with anticipation. Why? Because redemption is drawing near. What are we anticipating? The Rapture of the Church. The fact that Jesus is coming back for His own. During the Tribulation, those who get saved will be anticipating the Millennium, when Jesus returns to rule the earth with peace for a thousand years. That is when all the unrighteous will be shattered like pottery; they will be sorted out and thrown away like bad fish from the net.
How can you serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with anticipation? The final verse of Psalm 2, verse twelve, tells us how: “Kiss the Son.” What does a kiss represent? It represents trust in that person. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will never let you down. A kiss, also, represents surrender. Jesus is going to have the victory quit fighting and join the winning side; join Jesus. Finally, a kiss means desire. Jesus desires you greatly and He longs for you to desire Him. Surrender to Him and discover His desire for you.
Salvation has been the same, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament. It is by making peace with Jesus, or “kissing the Son.” Jesus is the object of salvation.
Hope is not wishful thinking, “Well, I hope so.” It is not “pie in the sky hope”, which Frank Sinatra sang of, impossible expectations. It is also not a desperate attempt to cover the torments of life. Niche said, “hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man.”
Read MoreSmith Wigglesworth said that in the last days, the Spirit and the Word would agree more than ever. He simply meant that what we have always known, that the Word does not contradict the voice of the Holy Spirit, will be better understood and practiced just before the coming of Jesus Christ.
Read MoreYour strength is perfected in the trouble when you pull out the sword of the Spirit, when you use the shield of faith, when you practice to become adept with all the weapons of your warfare. Would God have given us weapons if there were no battles to fight? Not only did he give us the supernaturally powerful weapons, He Himself promised to be our present help in the midst of the trouble. Glory!
Read MoreHave you ever wondered why God made Heaven’s streets out of gold or built the foundations of the heavenly city out of diamonds, rubies and other precious gems? The answer is so obvious that it is easily missed – in Heaven there is no place to cash in the gold or gems or to spend money, so why not use them for building materials!
However, on earth we can spend gold and it is God’s will that we have it to spend. He wants us to be financially prosperous so that we can use our wealth to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ!
It is God’s ultimate will that our soul prospers and then, as God can trust us with His riches, our outward man will also prosper and walk in divine health (3 John 2).
God’s plan is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but that it is a growing process. In this process we move from the good to the acceptable, and finally, to the perfect will of God by the renewing of our minds. This growth is similar to the seeds which are sown into the ground and produce some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred-fold return (see Romans 12:2).
In Psalm 1, David tells us that, if we take delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, whatsoever we do shall prosper. Psalm 112:1, echoes this, “…blessed is the man that fears the Lord, that who delights greatly in his commandments.” In verses 2-10, we find a commentary on this which elaborates the blessings that will come to this man who renews his mind with the Word.
The Blessings
The first blessing is found in verse two, “His descendants shall be mighty upon the earth …” The point of this blessing is that financial prosperity is meaningless if your children are an ungodly generation who will squander your wealth. Satan preys upon young people so that godly parents will have no one godly to inherit their wealth and blessings. By patiently waiting to destroy the next generation, Satan can steal all that God has given us. This is why it is imperative that we instruct our children in the Word of God!
The second blessing is found in verse three, “wealth and riches shall be in his house; and his righteousness endures forever.” Notice that righteousness endures forever. It is passed from generation to generation so that those who have the riches will also have the strength and abilities necessary to handle and keep them.
Verse four tells us of another part of prosperity. “Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.” This “light in the darkness” is the guidance God gives us in Satan’s dark world. This includes, what to do with our families, what to do in the affairs of life, as well as what to do with our finances. The reason this man in verse four is prosperous is because he is a giver at heart. The ultimate goal of prosperity is not self-gain, but to be able to be a giver to those in need.
This idea is carried into verse five. “A good man deals graciously and lends, he will guide his affairs with discretion.” As God has graced you, you should grace others. As God’s nature, which is of love and mercy, comes inside you, it should become your nature to reach out as He does and bless others no matter what they look like, live like, or act like. You love them simply because it is your nature to love.
The word discretion means “judgment.” Good judgment is another facet of prosperity. This enables you to assess, evaluate, and judge the affairs of life so that you can maintain all the blessings God has given you.
Furthermore, when a believer remains in the Word and reaps God’s blessings, he becomes stable, and as verse six tells us, “Surely he will never be shaken…” In the time of testing he will not be moved away from God’s Word. Thus, he will be victorious.
This verse also says, “… the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.” Prosperity encompasses the righteous man’s being remembered after he dies. Because of his righteousness people will desire to understand what he had in life. Because of this, he will leave an everlasting remembrance on this earth.
Whereas verse six was speaking of standing fast in times of testing, verse seven is telling of how to deal with evil tidings, “He will not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” When calamity strikes, outward prosperity is of little consequence and often is impotent. However, the key to overcoming calamity is to keep your heart fixed and steady on the Word of God.
Verse eight tells us about another benefit of prosperity – patience – when it says, “his heart is established, he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies.” When you see your enemies prospering even though they are evil, you don’t go running after their way because your heart is established and fixed. Then, when they fall, as they eventually will, you will still be moving on one step at a time because of the patience in your heart.
Verse nine reveals another secret of this man’s (and our) success, “He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor….” It’s told to us again; he is a giver! This reiteration is used to emphasize the fact that we prosper when we are givers.
This verse goes on to say, “… his righteousness endures forever; his horn shall be exalted with honor.” When a horn is exalted, it is turned so that it can catch the blessings that are poured from heaven.
The reaction of the unbeliever to this believer’s receiving all these blessings is graphically described in verse ten. “The wicked will see it, and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth, and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall perish.” It is God’s will that this prosperity grieve the wicked. The ultimate purpose of a believer’s prosperity is to provoke the sinner to jealousy so that when his man-made schemes have failed, he sees God’s prosperity and wants it enough to turn from his own ways to God’s way!
Prosperity Involves More Than Money
Now I realize that we all know sinners who are financially prosperous, but remember, prosperity involves more than money. These same rich people may have poor health, marriages that have fallen apart, or any of a number of problems in their lives. No amount of money can buy freedom from these problems. Freedom can come only from God’s Word.
There are many supposedly “scriptural” arguments against prosperity. I say, “supposedly” because the Word does not contradict itself and we need to rightly discern the Word of God.
One scripture often quoted as “proof” that God is against every believer’s becoming prosperous is 1 Samuel 2:7, “The Lord makes poor, and makes rich: He brings low, and lifts up.” Opponents of the prosperity message interpret this as meaning that prosperity lies totally in the realm of God’s sovereignty. In other words, He makes rich only those He chooses.
Hannah
The Bible does say this. Taken as is, it sounds very convincing, but before we jump to conclusions, let’s look at this verse in context. Hanna, the mother of Samuel, began to prophesy and sing to the Lord when she found out that she was pregnant. In fact, in verse one she says, “My heart rejoices in the Lord'; my horn is exalted in the Lord …” Remember what we said, an exalted horn catches the blessings of God. Hannah may not have had much money, but she was prosperous because she found the key to receiving blessings from the Lord—rejoicing before the Lord. Hannah’s prosperity, like ours, began in her inner man. Then her outer man could turn up her horn to receive God’s blessings.
Hannah goes on to say, “…I smile at my enemies; because I rejoice in Your salvation.” Hannah’s barrenness had been ridiculed by other women, but Hannah was undaunted by the ridicule and was patient, keeping her heart right before the Lord. Because of this, God saw to it that her praises were enlarged over all her enemies and then she became pregnant.
We find out in verse two that by establishing her heart on the Word, Hannah found a place of security in her life. “No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.” Many of the women who were laughing at Hannah were sinners. They looked down their noses at her because she had no children. In the fullness of her joy at being pregnant, she says, “talk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth: for the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed. (1 Samuel 2:3) She warned against talking proudly because, “… God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)
Hannah goes on to say in verse four, “The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.” The phrase, “mighty men” refers to those who think they are self-sufficient and do not need God. We still have men who boast that they are self-made, but that boast is erroneous. We all need others to teach us and train us. We don’t automatically know everything. These “self-made” people merely took advantage of the opportunities that were given to them. What they don’t realize is that God made those opportunities come to pass for sinners as well as for Christians. Furthermore, these sinners will eventually fail if they are leaning on their own strength. If they come against the righteous, God will see to it that they fail.
When these “mighty men” load their bows against the righteous, God will snap the bows like toothpicks. Literally the bows are weapons of warfare. Metaphorically they are people’s mouths. A mouth can be just as deadly a weapon when it is loaded with words against you. In order to preserve the righteous God will destroy a mouth as readily as he will break a bow.
In verse five Hannah tells how things can be turned around by God. “Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have ceased to hunger." The basic idea behind this verse is that overnight success brings overnight failure.
Verses six and seven seem to be full of paradoxes, but in light of the entire text the meaning is clear. “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up.” Whom does the Lord kill? The wicked, the proud, the arrogant. Whom does He make alive? The humble, the righteous, those whose horns are exalted and whose hearts are right before Him. Whom does He bring down to the grave? The wicked. Whom does He lift up? The righteous. We can surmise who is made poor and brought low – the wicked, the arrogant, the proud, the self-righteous. On the other hand, the believer is made rich and exalted before God.
The reason for my covering these scriptures is to show you that while Hannah did say, “The Lord makes poor and makes rich,” she did not mean that God arbitrarily exalts one person above another. What she was saying is that God deals with sinners one way (makes poor) and believers another (makes rich).
Can you see the danger of taking a verse out of context? A scripture out of context may sound entirely different than God intended.
Verse eight and nine tell us how the Lord treats believers. “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them. He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail.”
Then verse ten reiterates the fact that God deals with His adversaries and His anointed in different ways. “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; and He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
The Word of God declares over and over that if you increase in the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, it is His desire that you also prosper and be in health.
When Jesus was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, He was literally delivered into the womb of the earth. Jesus was taken down into the very region of Satan, and the Word says that He was loosed from the birth pains of death.
Read MoreHe took His eyes off of man’s ways and focused squarely on the plans and purposes of God. His thoughts were for others, and He interceded for them. He was never concerned with His reputation as a prayer warrior, but His desire was to see the lives of lost and dying men transformed by the power of God through His intercession.
Read MoreWhich Door Would You Choose?
If two doors were placed in front of you, one marked “Miracles” and the other marked “Blessings,” which one would you choose? If you are like most Christians, you would choose the “Miracles” door, but that would be the wrong choice.
We have assumed for many years that miracles are the goal and pinnacle for the Christian life. We hear stories of supernatural protection against death, money provided through supernatural means, or cars running for days without gas.
We long for those things to happen again in our lives as they did when we first met the Lord. We feel as if we are no longer “spiritual,” but because miraculous things occur to us now only on rare occasions.
Those types of miracles may have happened quite often in your early Christian walk, but would you want to return to those days? If you are like me, your answer is no.
God has something planned for our lives which is better than miracles; it is a life filled with His blessings.
The Longest-Running Miracle in the Bible
God gave a miracle to the children of Israel which lasted the entire 40 years they were in the desert. Each morning, manna fell supernaturally from heaven, and each evening quail filled the camp for meat. All the people had to was walk outside the door of their tent to find food catered by God. What room service!!
God gave man food from heaven for 40 years! But was this God’s best? Had the children of Israel arrived at the peak of their spiritual walk with the Lord? The answer is no.
God had originally intended that Israel stay in the wilderness for no more than one year. At the end of the first year, the entire congregation came to the border of the Promised Land but retreated in fear and unbelief when they heard the report of the 10 spies.
For 39 more years, they wandered in the wilderness until their generation died and their children could go into the land given by God. Yet the miracles of the quail and the manna continued each day, even when they were in unbelief and rebellion to the will of God!
God’s best was for the congregation to eat the crops which grew in Canaan. His desire was to bless them with bigger and better crops than they had ever had before.
The blessings of Canaan did not stop after a period of time, as the manna had; they were to continue and increase. Manna was God’s will for only a short period of time.
God’s best was for Israel to live on His blessings, not His miracles.
The Difference Between Miracles and Blessings
~Miracles are God’s “jump start” into a life of blessings. It is wonderful when they happen but we do not want to live on jump starts.
~Miracles come in a crisis, but blessings keep the crisis from coming.
~Miracles come in small amounts, but blessings come in great abundance.
~Miracles are only enough for you and your family, but blessings are enough for you and others, too.
~Miracles can come even when you are in unbelief, but blessings demand responsibility and obedience.
~In a miracle, God works for you; in blessings, God works with you.
~By definition, a miracle is a divine intervention into the laws of nature. In miracles, God works against nature; but in blessings, God works with natural laws.
~Miracles are temporary, but blessings are eternal.
God only parted the Red Sea one time. The children of Israel only crossed over Jordan miraculously one time. Fire was called down from heaven in Elijah’s ministry one time. Jesus turned water into wine only one time and performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes only twice.
People did not receive loaves and fishes multiplied every day, but ate of the fruits of their labor. As we grow and mature, God wants to bless the works of our hands.
A Life of Blessings
When we are in need of a miracle, our mind is continually occupied with the need. The crisis consumes our time and thoughts. Thank God, He has not lost the recipe for manna. He can still come through with a miracle for us! But this is not God’s best.
God’s desire is for us to be consumed with Him, not our needs. If we are constantly thinking about our needs and how we are going to eat and pay our bills, how are we any better than sinners? Jesus told His followers:
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.” (Matthew 6:31-34)
There are several scriptures in the book of Revelation which reveal the various ministries of the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 1:4, the author, John, says, “John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.” Then in Revelation 4:5, he says, “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Finally, in Revelation 5:6, John tells us, “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”
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